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2021-02-02 Handwritten MinutesL. Gamiotea Handwritten Minutes, February 2, 2021, Page 1 of 5 CITY OF OKEECHOBEE, FLORIDA FEBRUARY 2, 2021, REGULAR MEETING HANDWRITTEN MINUTES BY LANE GAMIOTEA I. CALL TO ORDER Mayor Watford called the regular meeting of the City Council for the City of Okeechobee to order on Tuesday, February 2, 2021, at 6:00 P.M. in the City Council Chambers, located at 55 Southeast 3rd Avenue, Room 200, Okeechobee, Florida. The invocation was offered by Watford followed by the Pledge of Allegiance led by Council Member Jarriel II. ATTENDANCE MAYOR & CITY COUNCIL ATTENDANCE by Clerk Gamiotea. THOSE PRESENT WERE: Mayor Dowling R. Watford, Jr. Council Member Wes Abney Council Member Clark Council Member Jarriel Council Member Keefe Staff in attendance: City Attorney John Fumero City Administrator Marcos MontesDeOca City Clerk Lane Gamiotea J.J. Smith Executive Assistant Robin Brock Other staff in attendance: GSC Patty Burnette Police Major Hagan Finance Director Riedel III. AGENDA AND PUBLIC COMMENTS A. Mayor Watford asked whether there were any agenda items to be added, deferred, or withdrawn; consent item B was withdrawn, New business item A deferred to next meeting; and add Items G.s Ex 6 and H. Update Fire Dept Ex 7 B. Motion by Council Member Jarriel, seconded by Council Member Keefe to approve the agenda as amended. VOTE: Mayor Watford Yea, Council Members Abney Yea, Clark Yea, Jarriel Yea, Keefe Yea. Motion CARRIED. C. There were no agenda item forms or comment cards submitted for public participation for any issues not on the agenda. IV. PRESENTATION AND PROCLAMATIONS A. Call the 2021 Special Election by Proclamation Mayor Watford proclaimed a Special Election to be held May 4, 2021 and read the following into the record: “Whereas, under and by virtue of the provisions of the Charter, Elections Chapter 26 of the Code of Ordinances for the City of Okeechobee, and Florida State Laws, it is the duty of the Mayor to proclaim and call a Special City Election at the time and manner provided therein; and Whereas, proclaiming a Special City Election shall be issued by a Proclamation, at least 90 days prior to the date of holding such election, signed by the Mayor, and attested by the City Clerk; and Whereas, such Proclamation shall specify the office or offices to be filled, the cause of the vacancy of such office or offices, and the date of the expiration of the terms of such office or offices; and Whereas, the City Clerk shall publish the Proclamation in the local newspaper at least twice, once being in the fifth week and once being in the third week, prior to the week in which the Special City Election will be held; and Whereas, as provided by said Elections Chapter 26, individuals are to qualify with the City Clerk commencing at 12:00 noon on February 8, the first Monday following the issuance of this Proclamation, and not later than 12:00 noon on February 12, the Friday following; and upon being duly qualified as a candidate shall be entitled to have their name placed on the ballot for the Special City Election. Now, Therefore, I, Dowling R. Watford, Jr., Mayor of the City of Okeechobee, Florida do hereby proclaim and declare that a SPECIAL CITY ELECTION is to be held on MAY 4, 2021, by the duly qualified electors of the City of Okeechobee for the purpose of electing ONE (1) CITY COUNCIL MEMBER to serve upon taking the oath of office following said Special Election through January 6, 2025, and until their successors are elected and qualified. The cause of said Special Election is due to the resignation on November 30, 2020, by the individual who was to take office on January L. Gamiotea Handwritten Minutes, February 2, 2021, Page 2 of 5 4, 2021. Said Special Election shall be held during the regular hours of voting; to be held in the County polling or voting places within the Municipal Precinct, which have been established by the Supervisor of Elections and Board of County Commissioners for Okeechobee County; or Vote-by-Mail as provided by State Law. In Testimony and witness of the foregoing Notice of 2021 Special City Election, I have hereunto set my hand as Mayor of the City of Okeechobee, Florida, and caused the corporate seal of said City to be affixed, and attested to by the City Clerk, this 2nd day of February, 2021. B. Recognize South Florida Fair Scholarship Recipient Bailey Harden. Jarriel, appreciate and proud of Bailey Harden, in attendance recognized as a SFFS recipient. She addressed the council, president of Okee Jr Cattlement Associatio n happy to lead other youth, thank you for having me. Ultrasound tech and Ag business. DW – groups members? 4H and FFA showed since 6, member of both. V. CONSENT AGENDA Motion by Council Member Keefe, seconded by Council Member Clark to approve consent agenda item A [January 19, 2021 Regular Meeting minutes] WITHDRAWN: Item B [Ratify the appointment of J.P. Zeigler as the 5 th member on the General Employees Pension fund Board of Trustees, term ending Dec 31, 2021 replacing Willie Hall who was moved to elected fund member 2 of 2 VOTE: Mayor Watford Yea, Council Members Abney Yea, Clark Yea, Jarriel Yea, Keefe Yea. Motion CARRIED. VI. NEW BUSINESS A. Introduction of Okeechobee County School Board Buddy Mentoring Program by Director of Grants and Special Programs, Heather Dobbs (Exhibit 1). B. Motion by Council Member Keefe , seconded by Council Member Abney , to award Bid No. PW 02-00-12-20, FDEP Agreement No. LP 47020, to B&B Site Development, Inc., in the amount of $184,813.65 for SE 8th Avenue Stormwater Conveyance (Exhibit 2). Bids were also received by Boromei Construction $222,257.00, Sunshien Land Design, Inc $296,084.54, and Cobb Sitej Separator box discharge by the bridge repair road next to that section and replace the north drainage 300 to 400 feet only be repaved. WA how long? MDO – leass than 60 days. Shut down with detours around to 10 th. Mainteanea nd transporataion plan, only effect a few homes, set up detour to 10th avenue DW SE 8th Ave closed? MDO yes no prolong closures, intermitted lane closures. DW know this is contractor been busy on other big projects, can we handle this? MDO hes presnt and can answer any questions and that was discussed at the pre bid meeting, confident he can do it. VOTE: Mayor Watford Yea, Council Members Abney Yea, Clark Yea, Jarriel Yea, Keefe Yea. Motion CARRIED. C. Motion by Council Member Clark, seconded by Council Member Jarriel, to approved additional costs to BIS Digital in the amount of $3,557.19 for on -site setup, installation, and training for the new audio and video equipment (Exhibit 3). MDO – screen capture wasn’t within the new quote, this is the last portion. Other dollars applied for CARES, assured by County they would follow within that amount. The city will have to cover this expenditure. BJ – last change order. MDO – hope so, believe they are overwhelmed with the amount of work they have had to. Escribe from last meeting was separate. WA – original had training on that quote and now there’s more. DW – two sessions of training instead of one. MDO - appreciate J.J.’s help today. DW – WA – cost to date including this? L. Gamiotea Handwritten Minutes, February 2, 2021, Page 3 of 5 MDO $21,000 + this. WA – ADA? No that was escribe. This is the audio and video capture to go out on zoom and you tube. It has been very difficult to work with them. VOTE: Mayor Watford Yea, Council Members Abney Yea, Clark Yea, Jarriel Yea, Keefe Yea. Motion CARRIED. D. Motion by Council Member Clark, seconded by Council Member Jarriel, to approve a budget amendment for legal services in the amount of $25,000.00 for additional code enforcement foreclosure fees (Exhibit 4). MDO – dollars budgeted, applied when came to the lablor attorney and pension due to fire dept closure. This is the foreclosure dollars. Oct and Nov through Dec may have to come back again. Go through with Bob and John, also that we aren’t making money on these but track for net at end of year. A lot o this is catch up from years that should have been done that have not been. Net at end of day and keep month to month, get with Bob and John, pay for up to now to keep up on board. MC – foreclosure and expenditures are the legal fees back in, where in budget? MDO – general fund not dept but will track closely, something new for us since so much more. MC – oen of the foreclusres a fine reduction that reduced by council? DW – that wasn’t a foreclosure, that was stopped, people bought houses and then fine was reduced, new owners brough up to code. MDO – track what is pending and cost for services, this is years of things that wasn’t done, reason they weren’t done because they didn’t make financial sense to move foreard with them and wy they sat there. DW – how many properties? BP – 6 or 7 cases ….. issues …. Sometihhg we are going to have to discuss … MDO – just like SRO officers, pay out for them and receipt BP – code enforcement aspect, they have exhausted everything, thjen a legal issue, code enforcement to this point is self balancing except fo rbalanceing foreclosures can ge expensive. JF – 8 cases, awarded attorney fees in these cases, and most clean up from a decade, smooth running code enforcement is in the works, avg $3,000 per case, getting better and faster as well, this number is unusally high. BJ – always recover we have invested, fees to file for foreclosure, don’t need to go in the whoe for doing them, think you all are going to get a figure on that. BK – when youll have that back to us? MDO each si case by case. BK – the find structure redone. MDO – whatever the fine is plus costs to us. BK – no the re doing of the Appendix G fine matrix. MC – the 10% is recent it used to be down even further. BP – impressed with work were getting from the attorney, filling in a hole and think its going well, close to where council expects us to be. Fred has retired now, new staff in place for a month, still got to get them to school and attorneys assisting on a daily basis. BJ – fee schedule that isn’t random, spell out what fee its going to be. JF – hard costs to city not negotiatble talking about the penalty side to revamp the matrix side and stick to it, providing special magistrator for final order, look at pros and cons, once program up and running don’t want you all flooded with requires. Getting settlement offers on some of these cases. Settlement authority is within the city council. Recommend delegate settleemtn offers to Chief to use common sense, high profile cases can be sent to council, most don’t deserve to be sent to council level. My attorney update too so killed 2 birds with 1 stone. BK – demolition ordinance? BP – next item to work through. VOTE: Mayor Watford Yea, Council Members Abney Yea, Clark Yea, Jarriel Yea, Keefe Yea. Motion CARRIED. E. Consider and adopt a Citizen Board/Committee Selection Matrix (Exhibit 5). DW – asked staff to come up with a fixed system and you have what staff has presented Motion by Council Member Jarriel, seconded by Council Member Clark, L. Gamiotea Handwritten Minutes, February 2, 2021, Page 4 of 5 VOTE: Mayor Watford Yea, Council Members Abney Yea, Clark Yea, Jarriel Yea, Keefe Yea. Motion CARRIED. F. Consider an appointment to the Flagler Park Design Review Advisory Committee, replacing regular member Frank Irby (Exhibit 6). Clark motion to move Jennifer to regular member and Paulette to alternate; Abney 2nd. VOTE: Mayor Watford Yea, Council Members Abney Yea, Clark Yea, Jarriel Yea, Keefe Yea. Motion CARRIED. G. Motion by City Council Member Keefe, seconded by Council Member Jarriel to approve a request from Okeechobee Christina Academ to temporarily close .SW 2nd Ave from SE 6th to 7th Streets on February 12, 2021 from 8 am to 2:30 PM for a school field day. VOTE: Mayor Watford Yea, Council Members Abney Yea, Clark Yea, Jarriel Ye a, Keefe Yea. Motion CARRIED. H. Chief smith All firefighters except one not eiligivle have sumitted application with OCFR. Preback ground and LD have been completed. Tentative job offer letters have been receive bycity fires from franklin… FF union meeting with the city and attry was conducted recently. Franklin schedule meeting with FF in near future with county HR regarding question and coments to discuss expectionat. Having monthly meetings between me and Franklen and support staff. General dialy operations, mitigate issues regarding schduld rie times for medic class. Timeline issues and rediness for June 1, 2021. Fire prevention transfer of data and preparation for permit aprojects that will bot be complicated prior to June 1. Ensure ladder truck is crtified transfer of knox box location and ensure county authorization to rekey, approximately 20 wihtin the city, that way no issues there. Help prepare city fire fighters for transaction to county. Assist OCFR with their grants regarding the upgrade for SCBA. Breathing appraatice Paramedic Class all have completed 2nd semester, all successful, kept professional attitude, scheduling is tough but doing it. Entering 3 rd semester, have to get their ride time in and clinicals at ER, then ready to take state test. Everything goes as expected we should be close to the June 1 timeline. COVID has caused delays in ride times. Help prepare them, same company that is teaching the medic school I hired him to reviewe the SOP and protocols so they will be more prepared to step in and do the job. Paying to help them prepare for the state exam which is the most stress for them and the hardest part of the entire thing. Slight OT to help them get prepared, would imagine you would support trying to help them. Transition training. All new employees of OCRF receive task book, city FF received task book early to expidite orientation process. OCFR modified this process for the city FF. Have been given projected shift assignments. Allow sFF to get to know each other an and understand expectations, personalities were matched up and helped with stress of know where they will be plugged in on the county shifts. OCFR are allowing our city ff to egin required ride time (72 hours) while they are on duty here at the station. Orientation city FF are in the process fo completing required orientation requirements including the task book, right times, administration, protocol, training in order to be prepared for June 1 transition. Transition itself, new employees report 0800 June 1, to the county a ll them that are planning on going, finish hands on training, closution of that week to their assigned shifts. FF will be ready to do, nice to see this appreicte county working with my department. Feel that Juen 1 date is workable, most part task book should be complete, done everything we can from the city to get them parepared. COVID-19 FF are practing extreme caution during these type of calls. Related cass have doubled and tripled in the last 60 days, the burn rate of our PPE has increased as well. DW – vaccination? HS – offered it to all, only 2 or 3 accepted. DW – reasoning? HS – uncertainty of it. DW – encourage them to do it, I have gotten my first shot of two. Unless doctor says not to I encourage them to do it. HS – little scary using first responders to test it out. It kind of scared everyone with the way they have even presented the information. L. Gamiotea Handwritten Minutes, February 2, 2021, Page 5 of 5 DW – personal thought I encourage them. More of the county from what I understand more took advantage of the vaccine. HS – I will speak with them. MC – how many? HS – no positives. MC – county? HS don’t know. MC – think it was 14. BK – time line issues, do you need assistance in that? Nothing specific just the unknowns that can arise. Overall outlook is positive. WA – thank county for stepping up and helping and make this transition easier. As far as the agreement goes, everything going fine? No issues JF – fully executed, union talked about exit agreement. WA – burn rate for the PPE? HS – after first initial time, the stock piling has stopped, the county gets it from the state and they are sharing with the city. WA – encouraging to hear it is going well. VOTE: Mayor Watford Yea, Council Members Abney Yea, Clark Yea, Jarriel Yea, Keefe Yea. Motion CARRIED. VII. CITY ATTORNEY UPDATE JF – 108,822.00 in code enforcement judgment leans. Charter – quickly coming to a series of meetings, various forms of government from strong mayor to others, email going out, ccing council on these emails, putting together a straw man. Leaps and assumptions made. What we currently have and if it aint broke don’t fix it. Mayor powers could spend hours on this, meaty. City clerk positions is another big one to be looked over, many ways to handle that position. This is only a starting point to begin the meaty discussion. VIII. COUNCIL COMMENTS WA – none BJ – none BK – code enforcement, other item property upkeep during the foreclosure process. The unkept property still an issue, going toward foreclosure, can we have our landscape people or someone to take care of the violation and have that costs assigned to the foreclosure amount. DW – nuisance ordinance for public safeity is how we have to handle that. JF – correct, if the city has to take self help, then under the nuisance providiosn, another ordinance that needs to be addressed to bring to modern measures. Specific property? BK – yes. DW – not part of the code enforcement. Who makes that determination? JF – delaration by council to deem public nuisance, health safety and welfare. MC – COVID issue, calls with people work with health department and issues last week. Governors office called and State health department. Attended BOCC last week. Seniors vaccination pod Thurs AM at ag center in vehicle. Testing and vaccination issues in this county, communication and process has been handled poorly. Happy valentines day. DW – gates open at 6 am, vaccine 500, 65 and up, resident of the state of florida. Issue is we haven’t received enough vaccine. Chair Burroughs have emailed numerous times, ha te to brag tell you TB doing everything he possibly can. He has made some good contacts, knows who to contact in the gov office, he is working tirelessly on this, BOCC has gotten flack, doing everything they possibly can, will go smoother. State registration process, miss understanding if we are participating in it or not Okee county on there. That is a good thing. Don’t have to get in line or call 100 times, at least you know at some point you will get a call back. People I talked to said if I could just get on the list, once get the old people done then more on. FL has the highest senior rate of vaccinations than any other state. Only getting 300 vaccines for our county with tens of thousands of seniors. IX. Mayor Watford adjourned the meeting at 721 P.M. CITY OF OKEECHOBEE, FLORIDA FEBRUARY 2, 2021, REGULAR MEETING HANDWRITTEN MINUTES BY J.J. SMITH CALL TO ORDER Mayor Watford called the regular meeting of the City Council for the City of Okeechobee to order on Tuesday, February 2, 2021, at 6:00 P.M. in the City Council Chambers, located at 55 Southeast 3rd Avenue, Room 200, Okeechobee, Florida. The invocation was offered by DW followed by the Pledge of Allegiance led by Council Member BJ II. ATTENDANCE MAYOR & CITY COUNCIL ATTENDANCE by Clerk Gamiotea. THOSE PRESENT WERE: Mayor Dowling R. Watford, Jr. Council Member Wes Abney Council Member Clark Council Member Jarriel Council Member Keefe Staff in attendance: City Attorney John Fumero City Clerk Lane Gamiotea Executive Assistant Robin Brock Other staff in attendance: Police Major Hagan City Administrator Marcos MontesDeOca Administrative Secretary Jacob Smith GSC Patty Burnette Finance Director Riedel III. AGENDA AND PUBLIC COMMENTS A. Mayor Watford asked whether there were any agenda items to be added, deferred, or withdrawn; consent item B was withdrawn, New business Item A deferred; New business items added Item G Ex 07 and Item H FD Update Ex 06 B. Motion by Council Member BJ, seconded by Council Member BK to approve the agenda as presented. VOTE: Mayor Watford Yea, Council Members Abney Yea, Clark Yea, Jarriel Yea, Keefe Yea. Motion CARRIED. C. There were 0 agenda item forms or comment cards submitted for public participation for any issues not on the agenda. IV. PRESENTATION AND PROCLAMATIONS A. Call the 2021 Special Election by Proclamation WHEREAS, under and by virtue of the provisions of the Charter, Elections Chapter 26 of the Code of Ordinances for the City of Okeechobee, and Florida State Laws, it is the duty of the Mayor to proclaim and call a Special City Election at the time and manner provided therein; and WHEREAS, proclaiming a Special City Election shall be issued by a Proclamation, at least 90 days prior to the date of holding such election, signed by the Mayor, and attested by the City Clerk; and WHEREAS, such Proclamation shall specify the office or offices to be filled, the cause of the vacancy of such office or offices, and the date of the expiration of the terms of such office or offices; and WHEREAS, the City Clerk shall publish the Proclamation in the local newspaper at least twice, once being in the fifth week and once being in the third week, prior to the week in which the Special City Election will be held; and WHEREAS, as provided by said Elections Chapter 26, individuals are to qualify with the City Clerk commencing at 12:00 noon on February 8, the first Monday following the issuance of this Proclamation, and not later than 12:00 noon on February 12, the Friday following; and upon being duly qualified as a candidate shall be entitled to have their name placed on the ballot for the Special City Election. NOW, THEREFORE, I, Dowling R. Watford, Jr., Mayor of the City of Okeechobee, Florida do hereby proclaim and declare that a SPECIAL CITY ELECTION is to be held on MAY 4, 2021, by the duly qualified electors of the City of Okeechobee for the purpose of electing ONE (1) CITY COUNCIL MEMBER to serve upon taking the oath of office following said Special Election through January 6, 2025, and until their successors are Handwritten Minutes, February 2, 2021, Page 1 of 5 elected and qualified. The cause of said Special Election is due to the resignation on November 30, 2020, by the individual who was to take office on January 4, 2021. Said Special Election shall be held during the regular hours of voting; to be held in the County polling or voting places within the Municipal Precinct, which have been established by the Supervisor of Elections and Board of County Commissioners for Okeechobee County; or Vote -by -Mail as provided by State Law. IN TESTIMONY AND WITNESS of the foregoing Notice of 2021 Special City Election, I have hereunto set my hand as Mayor of the City of Okeechobee, Florida, and caused the corporate seal of said City to be affixed, and attested to by the City Clerk, this 2nd day of February, 2021. B. Recognize South Florida Fair Scholarship Recipient Bailey Harden. BJ-know this young lady for some time Im trustee with fair we have scholarship committee they always say we have most polite young people in interviews. She okeechobeean cowgirl, involved with youth, proud to know her and bring her out tonight. Respect starts in the family and proud to be living in Okeechobee. Thank you for all you do and congratulations on your scholarship Bailey Hardend am a cowgirl I guess I enjoy cattle industry and working ranches. Shows me how most cattle industry is in okee and I am also president of the ??? to hopefully. Plan to go to IRSC and be ultrasound tech and stay in Okeechobee DW-Any 4h or Okeechobee groups BH-4h since 8, livestock since 6 first year I wasn't an FFA officer Council -thank you and congratulations. We look forward to seeing you back in okeechobee V. CONSENT AGENDA Motion by Council MemberBK , seconded by Council Member MC to approve consent agenda item A [January 19, 2021 Regular Meeting minutes] WITHDRAWN: Item B [Ratify the appointment of J.P. Zeigler as the 5th member on the General Employees Pension fund Board of Trustees, term ending Dec 31, 2021 replacing Willie Hall who was moved to elected fund member 2 of 2 VOTE: Mayor Watford Yea, Council Members Abney Yea, Clark Yea, Jarriel Yea, Keefe Yea. Motion CARRIED. VI. NEW BUSINESS A. Introduction of Okeechobee County School Board Buddy Mentoring Program by Director of Grants and Special Programs, Heather Dobbs (Exhibit 1). Deferred B. Motion by Council Member BK, seconded by Council Member WA, to award Bid No. PW 02-00-12-20, FDEP Agreement No. LP 47020, to B&B Site Development, Inc., in the amount of $184,813.65 for SE 8th Avenue Stormwater Conveyance (Exhibit 2). MDO-third bid of contract wanted to use the grant dollars hopefully this is a stepping stone for additional dollars DW-is this lowest bid mdo-yes MDO-install water box on se 8th for outfalls improve water, 300-400ft to be paved DW-upstream is north? MDO-yes WA -how long will this take? MDO-under 60 days, 90 overall. Temp shutdown at that point with detours. Will only affect a few homes, divert most traffic to 10th WA -there are a lot of homes back there including mine MDO-contractor is aware and working it out MDO-closure will not be all the time or every day DW-this contractor has been busy on large contract, can they handle this right now? MDO-we have spoken about it, confident it will be completed as made VOTE: Mayor Watford Yea, Council Members Abney Yea, Clark Yea, Jarriel Yea, Keefe Yea. Motion CARRIED. C. Motion by Council Member MC, seconded by Council Member WA, to approved additional costs to BIS Digital in the amount of $3,557.19 for on -site setup, installation, and tringin for the new audio and video equipment (Exhibit 3). MDO-This has been a long road one last time that came up with licensures for screen capture that was not included in original talks. This is the last bit to complete this and get Handwritten Minutes, February 2, 2021, Page 2 of 5 screen capture and things to youtube. The other dollars were applied for CARES act have not heard back County has assured it was submitted and qualified for CARES. WA -is anything else going to come back? MDO-I believe this is the last change order. BIS has not been easy to work with I think they are overwhelmed right now. WA -seems very confusing with these change orders. Its now showing onsite training now as well MDO-they will be doing two trainings onsite. Audio recording and video capture. DW-who is BIS? MDO- they've been here awhile this is their wheelhouse, frustrating with how long. We set this up in sep/oct to happen in Dec. BK-did this go out to bid? MDO-single source so we didn't have to WA -what is cost to date MDO-right around $24,000 WA -this takes care of the ADA MDO-no that is the eScribe box This will cover Zoom audio out VOTE: Mayor Watford Yea, Council Members Abney Yea, Clark Yea, Jarriel Yea, Keefe Yea. Motion CARRIED. D. Motion by Council Member MC, seconded by Council Member BJ, to approve a budget amendment for legal services in the amount of $25,000.00 for additional code enforcement foreclosure fees (Exhibit 4). MDO-We did have dollars budgeted we did apply those dollars when it came to laborer attorney services and pension attorney services they were above and beyond the initial contract. We're going have to come back again and see cost for additional foreclosures want to make sure when we get fees paid we can track net from year. This is backlog of years of cases that were not done. MC -When we do the foreclosure and the expenses of the CE dept are the legal fees part of that? JF-yes MC -will it go back in general fund? MDO-yes MC- on one of the foreclosures was fine reduced? DW-we didn't foreclose on that house that change of ownership MDO-we have one gentleman who has bought a few of these houses to clean up. These will have more costs than the fees charged DW-idea how many properties? Avg foreclosure cost? RP-6 or 7 foreclosures. We have two different things we have CE aspect once council directs CE has exhausted options then it is legal issue. Foreclosures can get expensive JF-based on 8 cases we have $18,000 dollars in attorney fees already awarded. This is backlog and not normal. We should have a smooth running operation soon. Avg about $3000 per case right now. BJ- this ties in with reducing fines need to make sure we recover fees we don't need to go into the hole. I think you were going to get together for a figure on that BK-do you know when youll have that back to us. The fine structure we discussed MDO-whatever the fine is plus legal fees BK-no restructuring the ordinance JF-that's something I am going to work on these 90% reductions has been going on for some time and doesn't make sense. I know you guys are training new staff RP -been pleased with work from attorney on CE its been a lot of work everything is going well. I think were close to where the council is expecting us to be. Fred has retired and new staff has been in place a month COVID making tough to get into training. BJ-included in that needs of be fee schedule that's not random JF-absolutely, in terms of hard costs incurred by city that is nonnegotiable in my opinion. We want to revamp the matrix to make it more realistic and look at providing magistrate with . Once program is up and running don't want everyone running to council. Some people are trying to settle cases with lawyers. Recommend in future delegating settlement process to Chief Peterson. Most are fairly straightforward, don't need to be brough to council BK-We have no demo ordinance but know its been issue in the past has that ever been broached up here? RP -it has the last attorney was tasked to create this but didn't finish it. JF is working on it and will have something in near future to bring to you. VOTE: Mayor Watford Yea, Council Members Abney Yea, Clark Yea, Jarriel Yea, Keefe Yea. Motion CARRIED. E. Consider and adopt a Citizen Board/Committee Selection Matrix (Exhibit 5). DW-we had asked staff to come up with matrix to use with judging board applicants for appointment. 10 pts for 1 st place for 10 applicants. This seems fair way to do it. Acceptable to others? BJ-need motion? DW-1 believe so BK- are these two different ways? Motion by Council Member BJ , seconded by Council Member MC , VOTE: Mayor Watford Yea, Council Members Abney Yea, Clark Yea, Jarriel Yea, Keefe Yea. Motion CARRIED. Handwritten Minutes, February 2, 2021, Page 3 of 5 F. Consider an appointment to the Flagler Park Design Review Advisory Committee, replacing regular member Frank Irby (Exhibit 6). MC- Motion for Jennifer Tewksbury to regular member and Paulette Bragel to alternate WA - second VOTE: Mayor Watford Yea, Council Members Abney Yea, Clark Yea, Jarriel Yea, Keefe Yea. Motion CARRIED. G. Temp street closing for Okeechobee Christian Academy Motion by BK, second by BJ to approve BJ-one question do we require liability insurance on all? MDO- yes VOTE: Mayor Watford Yea, Council Members Abney Yea, Clark Yea, Jarriel Yea, Keefe Yea. Motion CARRIED. H. Fire Department update status and class HS-Thank you for addon, realized Chief Franklin had discussed these items last week and wanted to discuss. Want to go over potential employment, transition migration and the paramedic class. Everybody has submitted applications, one was not eligible. Backgrounds and DLs are complete. Tentative job offers have been offered by Okee County Fire Rescue. They didn't have exact amounts, these are minimum. Included everyone on there. Then we have union meeting between MDO and JF they can discuss. Chief Franklin has scheduled a meeting with our Firefighters and their HR and go over expectations and answer questions. We have monthly meetings between us and County so we can discuss operations issues. We need to about scheduling of medic class and ride time as well as timeline issues. Everything is going as expected at the moment. Meeting with fire prevention to discuss plan reviews to get onto their software. Ladder truck is en route to Ft Myers for third party certification. Knox Box is cheaper than $2,000 door. Will need to transfer these keys to county so they can unlock these boxes. Franklin asked about SCBAs we both have 2007 editions and would like to get a grant to get newer SCBAs. Medic class all firefighters have completed second semester they are all doing well I think you should be pleased with their schedule and attitude. They are in third and final semester and are doing ride time and ER time and testing done. Preparing to take the state test. Projecting end Feb/Early Mar for graduation. Going over SOPs for County so they are prepared for moving over. Utilizing IRSC prep class for passing the exam as this is the most difficult and stressful. Slight overtime but not much. Transition training includes Task Book and there should be no problem completing these tasks. Each firefighter was supplied a book and they have already started working on them. City firefighters have been given projected shift assignments county has worked with me on this to set right people up on the right shifts. Help everyone get to know each other ahead of time and cuts down on stress. They are also working on completing orientation. All guys will report at 0800 on June 1 and will begin onboarding and will then move to their shifts as quickly as possible. We feel like that June 1 date at the moment is attainable and the task books and etc should be completed by then. With COVID 19 we have been fortunate with this. We are very stringent with this. The COVID related calls have doubled and tripled in the past 60 days and the amount of equipment used will reflect this. DW-have they taken vaccine? HS-it was offered 2 or 3 took it. DW-1 would encourage them to do that HS-in beginning there was a lot of information and speculation. DW-I'm no expert but White house calls and experts I was on call with I would highly encourage everyone who can to get vaccine. I believe a lot of the County has taken theirs MC -how many have been positive? HS-0 MC-1 have heard a lot of County had it? HS- I can't speak to that BK-is there timeline issues you need help with? HS-nothing specific just general things that may come up WA-1 would like to thank County for stepping up and helping with this process. As far as agreement goes is everything good? JF-no issues, agmt is fully executed. Met with union and spoke about exit plans that will be offered to personnel WA -is grants able to help with ppe? VOTE: Mayor Watford Yea, Council Members Abney Yea, Clark Yea, Jarriel Yea, Keefe Yea. Motion CARRIED. VII. CITY ATTORNEY UPDATE JF — in regards to CE we have 18,000 in fees and 100000?? In lien fees. As relates to Charter Review we are approaching very important few meetings including strong mayor, etc issues. Ive put together model charter to begin discussions. I had to make assumptions about the form of government we have now, aint broke don't ix it. Right now the Mayor is for Handwritten Minutes, February 2, 2021, Page 4 of 5 ceremonial than anything else. Sometimes this is an advantage to a mayor being elected. These are some of the things being discussed. City Clerks is another. Some are dept head, some report to council and some are elected. This model charter is only a beginning point VIII. COUNCIL COMMENTS WA — BJ — BK — Other item was property upkeep of code violators during foreclosure process. CE goes through process CC approves foreclosure the unkept property is still an issue would it be possible to have our landscape people or someone take care of the violation and add that to assessed fines? JF-if city has to undertake self help that would fall under nuisance provisions which is another ordinance we need to modernize. What is proper procedure if that's not through code enforcement. JF- CC needs to make declaration about public safety MC — COVID 19 issue concerning working with Health Dept about vaccinations. I think County commission addressed those concerns about seniors and vulnerable vaccinations. They are having pod vaccinations at AgriCivic Center for 65 and up. MW-we have not received enough vaccines. Commissioner Burroughs and I have been back and forth concerning this and Burroughs is doing everything he can for this. IX. Mayor Watford adjourned the meeting at 7:21 P.M. Handwritten Minutes, February 2, 2021, Page 5 of 5