DSAC Minutes 08/02/2000 RAugust 2, 2000
TRANSCRIPT OF THE MEETING OF THE
DEVELOPMENT SERVICES ADVISORY COMMITTEE
Naples, Florida, August 2, 2000
LET IT BE REMEMBERED, that the Development Services
Advisory Committee, in and for the County of Collier, as the
governing board of such special district as has been created
according to law and having conducted business herein, met on
this date at 3:30 p.m., in REGULAR SESSION, at the Conference
Room "F", Horseshoe Drive, Naples, Florida, with the following
members present:
CHAIRMAN:
STAFF MEMBERS PRESENT:
ALSO PRESENT:
DALAS D. DISNEY
CHARLES MORGAN ABBOTT
R. BRUCE ANDERSON, ESQ.
ROBERT L. DUANE, AICP
MARCO A. ESPINAR
BLAIR A. FOLEY
BRIAN E. JONES
DINO J. LONGO
THOMAS MASTERS, P.E.
THOMAS R. PEEK
C. PERRY PEEPLES
VINCENT A. CAUTERO
JACK CROGNALE
TOM KUCK
ROBERT MULHERE
RON NINO
ED PERICO
PATRICK G. WHITE, ESQ.
DAVID ELLIS
MATT BIXLER
ED RILEY
Page I
August 2, 2000
CHAIRMAN DISNEY: Since we have a quorum we'll go ahead
and start.
I will call to order the August 2rid, 2000 meeting of the
Development Services Advisory Committee.
The first item is do we have any additions to the agenda,
anyone?
Mr. Cautero?
MR. CAUTERO: Just one addition I'd like to propose to you
under old business and I would propose it is Item 4D, as in David,
a discussion with the committee on the status of the activities of
the office of the fire code official and the fire code official, Mr.
Riley, is here today, tonight, and that we've talked about in the
past.
And I'd like to bring you up to date on what has been
happening with the task force that was formed and some
discussion with the board of county commissioners yesterday.
CHAIRMAN DISNEY: Very good. Any other revisions to the
agenda? No one?
MR. PEEK: Move approval.
MR. LONGO: You so move, and second.
CHAIRMAN DISNEY: All those in favor, say aye, please.
Any opposed?
None?
All right. The next item is the approval of our minutes of the
July 5, 2000 meeting. Are there any revisions to it before we get
the motion for approval? Any changes?
Is there a motion for approval?
MR. MASTERS: Motion to approve.
MR. PEEK: Second.
CHAIRMAN DISNEY: All those in favor, say aye, please..
None opposed? Okay.
Item 3A, Staff Announcements Summary of the Ordinance
Amendments.
Mr. Cautero--
MR. CAUTERO: Yes.
CHAIRMAN DISNEY: -- could you bring us up to date?
MR. CAUTERO: Yes, Mr. Chairman. You have a sheet in your
packet after the minutes showing the standard summary
proposal and its amendments which have been approved by the
board of county commissioners over the past few months.
Page 2
August 2, 2000
Nothing new here. It's basically the same as last month but
there is one item that I did want to talk to you about.
Yesterday the board of county commissioners continued an
item that is one that presented a little bit of difficulty for us
because it fell in between your two meetings times, between
your July meeting and your August meeting, and that was a
revision to the impact ordinances in dealing with golf course
impact fees.
We're trying to tighten up the language pursuant to the audit
that the Clerk of Courts performed earlier this year and found
that our procedures in collecting impact -- transportation impact
fees for golf courses was lacking.
And we -- you probably read the article in the paper or had
heard about it. There was a little over $2 million that the Clerk
had calculated that we hadn't collected in the span of a little
over two years.
We have made great strides in fixing the system and
interpreting the ordinance as well as collecting most of those
impact fee moneys that were due to the county.
And the County Attorney's office, in working with our staff,
had reached an agreement that an ordinance amendment was
necessary. Unfortunately, it wasn't drafted in full until after, or
in a form where we can present it to you until after your July
meeting but prior to today's meeting. The good news is the
ordinance was continued and we will have a chance to get your
input.
Those are one of the things that is unfortunate because your
ordinance does call for your review of those kinds of ordinances.
The ordinance attempts to identify the point at which the golf
course impact fee is collected and I'll be very brief because I
don't want this to dominate the meeting and also to talk about
alternative fee calculations.
We are having a disagreement right now with the Clerk of
Court on the exact wording of some definitions; specifically, the
definition of building permit.
We have come to define a building permit in this county for as
long as the codes were in effect as the certificate or the
document that you receive in order to construct a building or a
vertical structure.
Page 3
August 2, 2000
The problem with the golf course is you're talking about
development that doesn't necessarily involve a structure even if
a golf course is constructed. That is not part of the golf course.
A clubhouse is constructed but it is not part of the actual permit
approval for the golf course necessarily.
So, you're talking about horizontal development; moving dirt,
putting in a drainage system, putting in utilities and so forth.
That does not require a building permit.
The approval is in a site development plan or it could be a site
improvement plan or it could be a preliminary work authorization.
And those of you in the consulting field, especially engineering,
are pretty much aware of that.
So, therein lies the issue and that's the purpose of what the
ordinance amendment is about. This is a temporary and interim
ordinance amendment prior to the omnibus ordinance
amendment that would take place in October when all of the
impact fees are consolidated to a set of new guidelines that the
consultant has been charged with.
So, that ordinance amendment was continued yesterday. We
received no discussion and we will revise that ordinance as soon
as we can.
CHAIRMAN DISNEY: And you said that that will come back
around to us so we'll have an opportunity to see that, Vince?
MR. CAUTERO: Yes. We plan to bring it to your subcommittee
and I would like to recommend that your land development
regulation subcommittee and/or your construction committee
meet this month and we'd like to bring those drafts to your -- to
at least one of those committees, maybe both, and then here it is
September. The earliest we could go is September 12th to the
board. We may not do that either.
It could be later, depending on the language that we've
agreed to with the Clerk, but unfortunately we were in one of
those boxes where we went through several drafts and we didn't
have anything that we are able to present until after your
meeting had already taken place.
We could have called the meeting of your subcommittee but --
to do that, but I felt a little uncomfortable doing that because the
full committee would have not necessarily had disclosure and it
wouldn't -- you know, I just felt uncomfortable with that because
I didn't think it was my place to call a meeting of your
Page 4
August 2, 2000
subcommittee without the full committee being aware that -- CHAIRMAN DISNEY: So, we'll run it through subcommittees
and then bring it back here to full committee next --
MR. CAUTERO: September.
CHAIRMAN DISNEY: Okay.
MR. CAUTERO'. The earliest the board could hear it would be
after your meeting anyway.
CHAIRMAN DISNEY: Okay. The reporter reminds me that
please identify as we go around so that -- if I don't do it prior so
that we can get it -- everybody identified on the record. Okay. You have 3B, Miscellaneous Items.
MR. CAUTERO: Yes. Just one announcement. I'd like to
introduce Patrick White, who is our newest addition to the staff.
He's an Assistant County Attorney.
We talked about this position before, the position David
Weigel and I had talked about months ago and the board
approved.
Patrick is an Assistant County Attorney who will be housed in
this building permanently working in development services
matters and he most recently was with the County Attorney's
office as an assistant in Lee County.
So, he's very much familiar with the issues in the region and
has hit the ground running already in helping us with some
development applications and ordinance amendments and just
general work, especially in the growth management plan, and
we're pleased to have him. I just wanted to introduce him to
everybody.
CHAIRMAN DISNEY: Patrick introduced himself at the
beginning of the meeting. Welcome, Patrick.
MR. WHITE: Thank you. And anybody who did not get one of
my business cards, I'm handing them out.
MR. ABBOTT: I've got room on my card here.
MR. WHITE: That's what I was saying earlier. They're free for
those who -- but I'm looking forward to working with you all
because certainly I understand that our office hasn't had the
opportunity to work with you before and I think they're getting in
on the ground floor, if you will, of what's going on in terms of
regulations in the mind set of the development community is
essential.
Page 5
August 2, 2000
So, hopefully we'll have a, as Vince put it, permanent working
relationship and I appreciate the opportunity to let me sit in.
CHAIRMAN DISNEY: Welcome. Thank you for being here.
Anything else under miscellaneous?
MR. CAUTERO: Just one other item. There's a vacancy on
the committee that was created when Mr. Dillon resigned. It has
been advertised. The closing deadline is August 18th, so I will
have resumes for you at your September meeting.
CHAIRMAN DISNEY: Very good. Thank you, Vince.
Moving on then to old business, Item 4A, Budget and Building
Expansion?
MR. CAUTERO: Thank you again, Mr. Disney.
The continuation of the item last month or the month before --
I'm losing track of time here -- I have some sheets in your budget
-- excuse me -- in your booklet that talk about the revenue and
appropriations in the community development fund and this is an
issue that we spoke about when we talked about the potential
fee increase in order to make up the shortfall for expanded.
I'd like to put just a couple of sheets up on the overhead to
talk about that.
We met with the CBIA round table on Monday and had a very
productive meeting and we talked earlier about the possibility of
spending more than $5 million in cash for the building expansion
and that number was recommended by the finance committee.
Again, for those of you who weren't here or just as a reminder,
the finance committee made that recommendation prior to these
numbers being finalized. That meeting was held a long time ago,
several months ago, and that number was floated to the board of
county commissioners and it is reflected in the appropriation
revenue sheets.
That's why your operating cost goes down approximately
$10,000,000 from here to here, from the forecast to the current
service.
Again, a little bit of a refresher. The adopted budget is
self-explanatory. The forecast is what we anticipate spending
prior to September -- to October 1st of this year and the current
service is the proposed budget, so that's -- that's the little primer
on the terminology we use in Collier County in the budget
process.
Expanded are additional programs in the fiscal year. Current
Page 6
August 2, 2000
services is normal, is a continuation of the programs that we
have in place.
It's not to be confused with base level. Some of you may have
heard that term and you may hear us use it in budget hearings.
That's also an important term.
Base level of those -- base level of those programs that are
the minimum that are needed to be provided to meet state
mandate, federal government mandate or local ordinance.
That's not for discussion right here, but I just wanted you to
be aware of that. Expanded services are those above and
beyond.
So, what we've told you at the last meeting was that these
expanded services in the various departments or sections that
make up the development services function, we are going to
have $1.7 million and change needed in new appropriations next
year.
Again, that is provided that only five million was spent on the
building expansion. The finance committee was -- was very
much amenable to revising that and so was the county manager,
so I would like you to talk about that today. I know you will, and
we're prepared to entertain a recommendation and possibly
spend more money, which would lower the debt service burden.
That number comes down. The budget director tells me that
number would come down about $150,000 if we spent six million
instead of five million.
In a moment we'll get into some of the specifics about the
building expansion cost. Jack Crognale from facilities
management was kind enough to come today as there is some
document in here on how they arrived at that but I will tell you
that's relative of this discussion or almost relative. And here's
why.
We know the project is going to cost over six million. We
know that. I mean, I don't think anybody can argue that when we
build a garage and expand this building 40,000 square feet. We
know we're going to be over that.
If we spend that in cash, the loan then is up to whatever else
we need, and we're estimating up to not to exceed three and a
half more million dollars. So, that affects the debt service, not
the outlay in the cash. So, that number could come down each
year and that's good because then this expanded number comes
Page 7
August 2, 2000
down.
But let's say for argument sake we do borrow three and a half
million. This number then comes down $150,000, so you're
talking about 1.61 million.
I have to give you some new information that's not reflected
on this sheet. It's already outdated because of yesterday's board
meeting.
The board approved the program to -- that they've been
talking about for two years now and they charged me with
coming back with numbers on three different occasions. And
yesterday we came back with final numbers and the board
approved it unanimously, an aggressive housing and
development services program in Immokalee to coordinate with
-- to coordinate a multi -- sorry -- a multidepartment program
where new staff members are hired to set up a permanent office
in Immokalee to work with property owners and substandard
housing and also to work with all the mobile home parks in order
to bring these mobile home parks into compliance with the land
development code, which is going to require a very detailed and
involved effort on our part.
We told the board members that the first year of costs for that
program and then in ongoing costs would be approximately
$577,000, but just under 200,000 of that would come from ad
valorem taxes because there will be code enforcement officers
involved.
The majority of that in the $370,000 range would come from
this fund because that's exactly what those employees would be
doing. They would be working in the development services area
reviewing site plans. We would take some money in but we don't
have an estimate of how much money we're going to be taking
in. We anticipate very little.
And that money probably wouldn't come in for the first two
years. The first year or so is going to be prep, preparation for the
program. It will involve building inspections, it will involve site
development plan review, it will involve working with property
owners to have them apply for site development plan review and
so forth.
It's a development services office, if you will, in Immokalee.
So, you have to -- you take one fifty off that, you add three
seventy, you're about $2 million.
Page 8
August 2, 2000
We -- we told you at the last meeting that the 15 percent fee
increase would bring in about 1.4 million. So, that still isn't
enough. However, one of the things we talked with the CBIA
about, and they were amenable, there are things we -- there are
different things we can do if the committee is still amenable to
looking at the fee structure to make up for the expanded rather
than taking it out of reserves.
And the reason we're having the discussion again, for those of
you who weren't here, as a reminder, is we could go into the
reserves, but keep in mind we have GIS and we're going to be
spending approximately two to $3 million over the next few years
which always was anticipated from out of reserves, a very
appropriate use of the reserve funds.
That's what the committee was anticipating. That's what the
community is anticipating, using that money, a very good use of
the funds.
Ongoing costs to maintain it into the future would come from
future reserves that we build up if we take more money in than
we spend but we wouldn't anticipate new people paying for the
GIS. It's everyone else.
Like the scanning equipment that Bob purchased for the
records room, you were very clear about the fact you wanted at
least the purchase of the equipment and the training for the
employees to get up to speed to come from reserves and then a
surcharge would be for use in the future.
The same concept with GIS. The bottom line is yes, we can
use reserves. Nobody is saying we can't. But we're going to run
out in two to three years, maybe four years, if we spend all of the
money that we need to on the building expansion, the debt
service back even with rent coming in.
We anticipate that that reserve money -- that reserve will --
will eventually be eaten up. Why? Because you have the GIS
money that we're going to have to spend, plus I have to make up
that two million a year somewhere because this is the amount of
money that we're bringing in.
If this number was higher, it wouldn't be a factor, but we're
anticipating 10.5 -- excuse me -- that's the appropriation. The
revenue number is actually 200,000 less than that, that 10.5 and
the expanded service, as you can see, as a component of that.
So, there are different ways to tackle the problem. And one
Page 9
August 2, 2000
that we talked about, which we did visit with this group about on
one occasion previously, was the use of valuation tables that are
current from the Southern Building Code Congress and not the
current tables that we're using, which are about 12 years --
MR. MULHERE: 12 years old.
MR. CAUTERO: -- 12 years old, would serve our purpose.
I can't tell you that, you know, we're going to come here in
good conscience a few years ago and say we need to get rid of
those. Why? Because look how much money, you know, we're
making, we anticipate making from those tables $7 million, plus
some money in Immokalee, $7.2 million. That's a lot of money.
We could look at a combination of those tables, plus
proportionate fee increases in the development review function
area and the building permit area would let the tables take over,
we can do that calculation.
Our recommendation isn't to tell you today we need this
percent fee increase. We don't want to say that to you today,
because if we do, it would probably be about 18 percent.
What I would like to say is that we need to raise somewhere
between 15 and 20 percent in order to make up that $2 million
shortfall for next year rather than dip into reserves only because
of the anticipated expenses.
We're only having this discussion because of the building
expansion, the Immokalee program and GIS. It's the only reason
why we're having it. It's not because I need more money in the
bank.
I think three to $4 million is a very good number in the bank
but, again, keep in mind, it's two million bucks a year that we're
going to have to spend to administer the programs the board has
asked us to administer without the revenue coming in to match
that.
So, what I'd like you to do is maybe you can form a temporary
subcommittee, not just bring it to one of your subcommittees,
and have as many members as possible on it or have special
meetings if the whole group wants to be involved and actually go
over the numbers from the SCCI tables and Ed could do some
calculations and show what we anticipate that coming in as and
then maybe do some kind of a calculation along those lines and
leave it open ended and say we need to strive towards this. This
is what we're going to do.
Page 10
August 2, 2000
CHAIRMAN DISNEY: So, you want an ad hoc committee.
MR. CAUTERO: I'd like an ad hoc committee. I'd like to
recommend you an ad hoc committee for this purpose. But one
of the things we don't want to discount is looking at those
valuation tables and seeing what they may bring in.
I think it's an all or no proposition in terms of whether you use
that number or not but that doesn't mean we can't control the
percentages either. Those tables could bring in more than 15, 18
percent alone in the building area. Well, then, we can just
temper that a little bit if the committee feels that's too high as
an example.
CHAIRMAN DISNEY: Okay. There were some questions.
Mr. Duane first, please.
MR. DUANE: Vince, a few years ago the road management
department was principally funded through general revenue
funds and I think I recall that we shifted some of those -- MR. CAUTERO: Yes.
MR. DUANE: -- costs over to this department. Then I believe
the environmental department needs to be funded through
general funds and we put some of those, that funding, on to
development services, and I'm all for trying to do anything we
can for Immokalee, but $400,000 to come out of, you know, this
departments', you know, surplus fund to work through future
revenue increases for something arguably to benefit the
community as a whole, am I missing something? Is that not
something that might not be as viable for the general taxpayer to
-- to pay a little more than just a third of that as opposed to
development services making up the lion's share of the
difference?
MR. CAUTERO.' Well, if I understood your question correctly,
stop me if I'm wrong, I believe you're asking whether or not the
program in Immokalee is -- is properly funded from the
development services fund with the community development
fund. And I would say that that is an appropriate use of those
funds but I think the --
MR. DUANE: Is or isn't?
MR. CAUTERO: Is.
MR. DUANE: Is.
MR. CAUTERO: But I think the, quote, point of your question
as to what may not be an appropriate use of the funds right here
Page11
August 2, 2000
and that's what you're talking about.
These -- these are the numbers right here and what is coming
out, almost $1.7 million per year, from this fund into other
departments and that goes back to the project. The board had to
be worked on in 1996 or 1997 when the commission said we
want as much of your division to be funded by that fund as
possible.
And I said, well, there are specific uses for those funds. The
state statute is very clear that you can only use building permit
funds to support the enforcement of the code and the
development services function is -- is basically Ron's section and
Tom's section.
That's -- that's what I call the development services function
in the planning department and they have their own funds that
they rely on. They are not whole. They're almost there because
of the -- the work that we've done with those fees, adjustments
we've made. We've cut some corners.
That was a charge the county manager gave me five years
ago, try to make that department, if you will, that function, as
self-sustaining as you possibly can. We are not there yet but
we're in much better shape than we were when I came in five
years ago.
Some money from the building portion of that fund, there are
two components of that fund, is the development review
component, which is all the money you pay for the current
planning section and the engineering section, and then there's
the building department component, which is the lion's share,
which is the $7 million and change.
The one unique thing about this community is when this fund
was set up, I -- I was told, and I believe it to be true from people I
talked to, they knew that. They knew the building permit fund
was going to bring in the lion's share, but they threw it all into
one pot. And that's when the development services department
was formed.
We talked about this before, not only at this meeting but in
private. If you're going to make that whole, you're going to look
at, in my opinion, substantial fee increases in the development
review side. And every time we've said that, that has been the
end of the discussion here. And it's -- well --
MR. DUANE: You have to understand my point.
Page 12
August 2, 2000
MR. CAUTERO: Yes.
MR. DUANE: Every time we need more money, we just --
MR. CAUTERO: Right, but--
MR. DUANE: - and we shift the funds around and now it's
adding up.
MR. CAUTERO: It is adding up and we have to do something
about it. And I was afraid of this when the board asked for this in
1996 or '97.
The board charged me with telling them what functions in
these other departments; housing, natural resources,
comprehensive planning and even a piece of code enforcement
are related to new growth and development.
And I said, well, here are the functions that they provide and
here are the functions that they provide to support some of the
work that's being done in development services. And the board
took that, and it was 445,000 then, and the board raised it to
745,000, and now it's 1.7 million.
MR. DUANE: Does that include the 400,000 or not?
MR. CAUTERO: For Immokalee?
MR. DUANE: Yeah.
MR. CAUTERO: No.
MR. DUANE: Now it's two million. I don't want to belabor the
point but that's a good thing for --
MR. CAUTERO: But -- but I think that answer -- I think the
remark you made does need to be further refined in all fairness.
The Immokalee program, I believe, is appropriately funded by the
Community Development fund because that's exactly what those
people are going to be doing. They're going to be doing the same
thing; Tom's people, Ron's people and Ed's people do in
Immokalee except for code enforcement.
But the board was very clear because we recommended that.
We said, do not fund the code enforcement function from this
fund. The program is 570,000 and change. 200,000 of that is
coming from tax dollars, the rest from this fund.
So, I think you -- for the purposes of the discussion we're
having right now, I really think you need to take the Immokalee
program off the table. That's the key number. That goes to other
departments. That's something we have to deal with, whether
we like it or not, and I hate to be the bearer of bad news. I'm not
necessarily saying I agree with it but I work for the county
Page 13
August 2, 2000
commission and that's what they've charged me with, dealing
with that.
MR. ABBOTT: I came in a little late on this.
CHAIRMAN DISNEY: Mr. Abbott.
MR. ABBOTT: What was the discussion that -- what was their
justification?
MR. CAUTERO: For what?
MR. ABBOTT: For adding the burden on us with the 1.2 or
whatever. Is this close to --
MR. CAUTERO: It was based on an analysis that Mike
Smykowski and I did four or five years ago where they asked me
to determine what percentages of what departments were
working in conjunction with or supporting development services
functions.
MR. ABBOTT: I understand that part.
MR. CAUTERO: Okay.
MR. ABBOTT: You said this came just recently at this latest
county commission meeting?
MR. CAUTERO: That was yesterday.
MR. ABBOTT: I'm losing something here.
MR. CAUTERO: Yeah. I think the piece you missed was the
board motioned yesterday to approve our report that they asked
for on the Immokalee housing program setting up a permit office
in Immokalee and we recommended seven staff members at a
cost of $577,000 per year.
Actually, that number is going to come down the second year
a little bit even with inflation because that includes new vehicles
and equipment that are one time expenses, but 200,000 of that is
coming out of tax dollars.
The rest of it -- so, this number -- I think you missed this part.
This number, if we spent six million in cash instead of five --
MR. ABBOTT: Yeah, I came in right on that.
MR. CAUTERO: Okay. This number comes down 150,000
because that number comes down 150,000 but then you've got to
add 377,000, so you're at two million. Subtract one fifty but then
add three seventy-seven. MR. ABBOTT: Right.
MR. CAUTERO: So, you're at two million.
Can we use reserves? Absolutely. Absolutely. But we're
using it every year and we're going to have GIS and unless we
Page 14
August 2, 2000
see some dramatic increase in permanent activity above and
beyond what we've seen in the last few years, we're going to run
out of money in three or four years.
CHAIRMAN DISNEY: Well, Vince, you're looking for an ad hoc
committee. I don't know if there are other specific questions
that anybody has at this point to -- to try to clarify.
Maybe we could -- we could ask for volunteers for an ad hoc
committee to go through this, this budget, on a line item basis
and try to sort through that or, as a suggestion, anybody else
wants to bring back something, we'll entertain it.
Any volunteers for an ad hoc committee to review this -- this --
this budget and how to -- how to resolve the issue long term?
MR. DUANE: I think you're going to have to draft us.
CHAIRMAN DISNEY: I can do that.
MR. PEEK: I'll volunteer.
CHAIRMAN DISNEY: All right. We've got Tom Peek, Brian
Jones.
MR. JONES: Question. Vince, would you be able to assist us
at this ad hoc meeting?
MR. CAUTERO: Oh, absolutely. Oh, sure.
MR. DUANE: You're on your own.
MR. CAUTERO: We anticipate that this committee will
actually roll up their sleeves and sit around going page by page
and line by line over the fees.
So, if I can just go over that committee again, the members?
Mr. Peek, Mr. Jones.
CHAIRMAN DISNEY: Dino Longo. I'll volunteer for it.
Anyone else?
Mr. Abbott.
MR. ABBOTT: All right.
CHAIRMAN DISNEY: Thank you.
MR. MASTERS: If Charlie is doing it, that's enough.
MR. ABBOTT: We're always in the same mud hole.
MR. JONES: Mr. Chairman, I have a question. Brian Jones.
The development services, this Immokalee project, we're
decentralizing the development services review by having a
separate review, plans review people over there on -- I'm
assuming that's a full-time basis?
MR. CAUTERO: It's a very good question. I wouldn't
necessarily say we're doing that and here's why. If someone
Page 15
August 2, 2000
comes in off the street, that staff would be prepared to review
the work. We're equipped to do that now in the Immokalee office
by opening it two days?
MR. MUI. HERE: Three days a week.
MR. CAUTERO: Three days a week. And then if anybody has a
permanent application that they submitted at the Immokalee
office, it goes through the same process that people would go
through here. That's still going to be maintained.
However, this staff would be able to perform that function if
we need them. This -- this staff is going to really be centralized
on one project. That doesn't mean somebody walking in off the
street with a brand new home construction or commercial
couldn't use these -- these five or six staff members that will be
working out there, five actually in development services to code
enforcement.
They will be charged with the affordable housing issue and
eliminating as much as we possibly can substandard housing.
That's going to be their charge. There's going to be two code
enforcement investigators, multicertified inspector, a planner, a
staff supervisor, who is going to be a working supervisor out
there and two customer service individuals to handle the
paperwork.
Their charge is to work on a very detailed program that will
involve working with mobile home park owners and property
owners in order to rehabilitate structures or demolish structures
or move structures and so forth.
The board is very serious about that. They want us to start
red tagging people that have homes that are not up to code and
they want us to work on a program, relocate families that live in
substandard housing.
MR. JONES: The costs -- I'm somewhat concerned with the
cost impact of -- of having a full -- a full staff over there for the
amount -- my feeling is that it may be kind of like the Maytag man
over there. The people are going to be there, ready to do that
with very, very little to do --
MR. CAUTERO: No, no, no. People aren't going to come to
them. They're going to go out into the community. We know
exactly where we have to go.
And I apologize if I was remiss in not explaining that to you.
This will not be customer driven by the customers themselves.
Page 16
August 2, 2000
This program is initiated by the staff. We know who the 95
owners are, the 95 mobile home parks.
So, we've already started working with some of the property
owners in that regard. And some of them said, we can't comply
with some of your demands in your ordinances unless you give us
incentives. We even went that far as to tell the board what
incentive we have to give some of the property owners before
official code enforcement action takes place.
This will involve surveying the community, a very detailed
survey that will take about a year of all the substandard homes,
and actually going in and creating the work. These people are
not going to be waiting for applicants to come to their door.
We're actually going to be initiating the work which is going to
be controversial.
MR. ABBOTT: Do you have bullet proof vests in the budget?
MR. CAUTERO: I believe they had already ordered those.
CHAIRMAN DISNEY: Mr. Anderson.
MR. ANDERSON: The relocation costs, are those included in
that budgeted amount?
MR. CAUTERO: No.
ANDERSON: And where is that money going to come
MR.
from?
MR.
CAUTERO: I don't know.
MR. ANDERSON: Shouldn't that be factored in this program
before we start throwing people out on the street?
MR. CAUTERO: We hadn't planned in the first year that that's
even going to happen, so that's one of the reasons why we didn't
tackle that.
Secondly, we, in not only looking at that cost figure, which we
need to, you're absolutely correct, we plan on -- on testing the
waters and working with as many agencies as we possibly can,
including Harvest for Humanity and Habitat for Humanity in the
community, the newly formed Community Development
Corporation and the Empowerment Alliance.
It's those four organizations that we hope to enter into
partnerships with. We've already had some preliminary
discussions with Habitat about temporary housing for
individuals.
We anticipate there will be no relocation costs in the first
year, so that's something we have to look at as we go down the
Page 17
August 2, 2000
line. But we can tell you certainty that that first year cost is
$577,000. I may be a little off but that's the ball park.
CHAIRMAN DISNEY: Okay. Go ahead. Mr. Peek?
MR. PEEK: Tom Peek.
Do we need to set a meeting date for that ad hoc committee?
MR. CAUTERO: Yes. I'd like to -- if you'd like to do that now
that would be perfect, rather than us call you all and asking you
to look at your calendars. If we can do that now, that will be
great.
MR.
MR.
MR.
MR.
MR.
MR.
PEEK: How soon will you be prepared for us?
CAUTERO: A week or ten days.
PEEK: How about next Wednesday afternoon at night?
MULHERE: Wednesday night? That's fine.
PEEK: How long do you want us for?
CAUTERO: The first meeting, probably an hour and a half.
MR. ABBOTT: 3:30 then? We have the rural fringe committee
meeting. That starts at four.
MR. CAUTERO: We can go into another conference room.
MR. MULHERE: We can take another conference room. That's
good timing. August 9th at 3:30.
CHAIRMAN DISNEY: Thank you, Tom. I had that on my list.
MR. PEEK: What's the date?
CHAIRMAN DISNEY: August 9th.
MR. PEEK: Do we need to reserve other dates now?
MR. CAUTERO: Sure. That would be a good idea.
Oh, I don't -- you mean as backup dates or just for additional
work?
MR. PEEK: For additional work.
MR. CAUTERO: I think we can wait until August 9th to do that
because we're not -- this isn't eminent. I don't have to have this
to the board September 12th.
Are you on the committee, Perry?
MR. PEEPLES: No.
MR. ABBOTT: Yeah, he is. He's taking my place.
CHAIRMAN DISNEY: Let me run through the committee
members. Tom Masters, Brian Jones -- MR. MASTERS: No, Peek.
CHAIRMAN DISNEY: I'm sorry. Tom Peek.
MR. PEEK: I'd be happy to have Tom Masters show up.
MR. ABBOTT: This is how it works.
Page18
August 2, 2000
CHAIRMAN DISNEY: Wrong Tom. Sorry.
Tom Peek, Brian Jones, Dino Longo, Charlie Abbott and Dalas
Disney. And we're going to meet Wednesday, August the 9th,
3:30 p.m.
MR. CAUTERO: Probably in C.
CHAIRMAN DISNEY: Conference Room C.
MR. CAUTERO: If the conference room is not -- we'll go -- we'll
pick another venue.
MR. ABBOTT: And all members are invited to attend?
CHAIRMAN DISNEY: All members are invited. If you wish to
come, please feel free.
Okay. If there's nothing else on that issue, then we'll move
along.
4B, Municipal Code Corporation. There wasn't anything in our
packets on that.
MR. CAUTERO: No, there wasn't because we didn't have
anything in writing but we do have some verbal information I'd
like to share with you.
The issue, I think, centered around whether or not we were
able to get hard copies quicker from Municipal Code Corporation.
For those of you on the subscription lists, when the
ordinances were amended, the issue of the internet came up as
to whether or not we'd be able to access the information on the
web quicker and what some of the rules and regulations are.
Patrick has had some communication with them and worked
with them closely in Lee County. He can share some thoughts
with us and then maybe we can get some further direction from
the committee.
MR. WHITE: One of the problems that Lee had was that there
was a significant lag between the point in time in which an
ordinance will be promulgated and then it will be subsequently
published in the hard copy.
My experience is that there really isn't any greater
expediency or an earlier time that you get those on the web
because I believe that they used the published pages to create
the web site.
Now, that may or may not be the case in Collier. We need to
review that factually by contacting the Municipal Code, plus
there is the opportunity for us to look at the contract we have
and the next revision or annual renewal of that contract to see if
Page 19
August 2, 2000
there's some opportunity to put them into a time certain that
they'd have to have publication out, otherwise there'd be some
type of a penalty.
In other words, if we had the hard copy within 60 days from
the date of it being passed by the board or us getting them the
information they need to have.
But short of that at this point, I'm not sure there's more we
can add to that.
CHAIRMAN DISNEY: Thank you, Patrick.
MR. WHITE: Do you have any questions?
CHAIRMAN DISNEY: I think your purpose there was precisely
what Mr. Anderson was asking to happen.
MR. MULHERE: Could I add something? Bob Mulhere.
CHAIRMAN DISNEY: Yes, sir.
MR. MULHERE: I recall that when we negotiated with
Municipal Code to have Collier County's land development code
placed on the web, the Municipal Code web page, there was a
commitment and I -- I'd have to agree with Patrick. I don't know
if it was contractual or not, and we can -- we can check. Don
Blalock on my staff negotiated that arrangement.
But I believe there was a commitment and I think 60 days was
the time frame, that within 60 days of receipt they would have
that available on the web.
But I do think Patrick's right, that they're probably not living
up to that because my guess is they're waiting until they've got
the document and then that's what they're using to update the
web page. It makes sense.
One thing I thought that we could commit to here, and I
mentioned this to Vince in the short term, until we can perhaps
get a little higher level of service out of them, is that we
certainly could -- something we do internally is provide all of you
with a copy of the board's amendment package, the ordinance
amendment, that would be delivered to the board.
Now, that would not be codified. That's what Municipal Code
Corporation does, but at least you would have the amendment.
You would see how the new language -- and you can do what we
do, which is place it into our LDC until we get that codified
version.
MR. DUANE: Those could be -- I brought this up last week
because I was thinking there had to be a better way to distribute
Page 20
August 2, 2000
this information so we could make copies for the general public
and sell them if they wanted them.
MR. MULHERE: Yeah, I'm sure we could. It's public
information. What we can't make copies of is the Municipal Code
codified information, other than a copy of pages but -- MR. WHITE: Patrick White.
That's true. The ordinances themselves are available on the
Clerk of Court's page and has the actual ordinance and they can
be printed a page at a time and, quote-unquote, downloaded, but
that's really not an efficient means when you've got an LDC
package that may have, you know, tens of pages in it.
But -- and the copy quality isn't great but there's also the
public records aspect of getting it from the Clerk as hard copy
paying the per page cost.
If that's something the county is willing to do, kind of in the
business of providing public records, then we can look at what
the costs would be.
CHAIRMAN DISNEY: Okay. So, we'll follow through with that?
MR. MULHERE: I think -- you know, that's an interim
improvement until we can look at the Municipal Code to perhaps
develop, you know, a higher level of service from them.
CHAIRMAN DISNEY: Okay. Very good. Thank you.
Any other comments or questions?
Mr. Duane, are you okay with that?
MR. DUANE: Yes.
CHAIRMAN DISNEY: Okay. Thank you.
Item C, Vince, is FEMA meeting update.
MR. CAUTERO: Thank you.
Before we talk about the actual memo that's in your packet,
let me say that we received word from the city manager of
Naples that the city does no longer wish to participate in the
interlocal agreement with us for the flood plane management
coordinator position which was funded half by all the county and
half by the City of Naples to pay for Bob Devlen's salary.
However, the city manager did notice us after he wrote a
letter -- he sent us a separate letter stating that this project on
the flood insurance rate map update or firm -- firms, as we call
them, he would see that -- Bob would see that project through so
we would be able to utilize him in that regard.
Page 21
August 2, 2000
So, I just wanted to make you aware of that. We do have a -- a
solution though. Ed has been in contact with a former employee
who is willing to come back and take the position at the
part-time salary and is also certified in planning review, so we
might be able to make this a win-win for all of us in having to
work some overtime in that regard.
The memo is self-explanatory, that Bob Devlen has written, in
your packet. It looks like the consultants are at an impasse.
Apparently the comment period will not begin until late March or
early 01, which is good news because of all the work that has
been taking place.
And on Page 2 of the memorandum, it looks like Devaki and
Tomacello were at that impasse and the technical reasons for
that impasse and the work they were doing is in here.
Ed might be able to answer a few questions about it, but it
doesn't look like we have anything new to report to you other
than what's in here. I think we have some -- some engineers that
are in disagreement right now over the amendments.
CHAIRMAN DISNEY: Any questions or comments from the
committee on this issue? Yeah.
MR. LONGO: Vince, when's it take effect for Bob Devlen?
I mean, is he --
MR. CAUTERO: September 4th would be the actual
completion date or the end date. However, the city manager
said anything related to this project we still have Bob's services,
but if there's any new projects and so forth, we'll be giving it to
the employee that Ed hires and that employee would be brought
up to speed as well on this project.
But September 4th is the -- is the date that we no longer have
the agreement with City of Naples, so the money that we're
spending for next year that we -- that's in our budget we'll be
able to use to pay -- so it's transparent. We'll be able to just pay
that employee that money.
MR. LONGO: Is Bob still going to work for the city?
MR. CAUTERO: Yes. Bob -- good question. I'm sorry.
The reason that Mr. Rambosk gave is that they have other
assignments that they want Bob to work on in the city. He's
their employee. He's not ours. So, they can break the
agreement. We could break the agreement with them, too, at
Page 22
August 2, 2000
any time.
He's their employee; therefore, they broke the agreement,
which means they no longer require our funding and they've
given him additional responsibilities.
MR. LONGO: And is the title for your guy going to be
Compliance Management Coordinator for the county? MR. CAUTERO: Yes.
MR. LONGO: So, you'll work with Devlen on this particular
project.
MR. CAUTERO: Yes.
CHAIRMAN DISNEY: Very good.
If there are no other questions, we'll go to our added item, D,
and that is a discussion on the fire code official activities. MR. CAUTERO: Thank you.
As this committee is aware this is an issue that we've
discussed before and even at subcommittees. A task force was
formed by CBIA and the fire --
MR. RILEY: Fire Marshals and the Fire Code Official's Office.
MR. CAUTERO: Okay. As Mr. Riley has indicated, the Fire
Code Official's Office and the Fire Marshals of Collier County
formed a task force in conjunction with CBIA to look at the whole
issue of fire plan review. There had been issues in terms of
backlog and turnaround time and so forth that affects the entire
process. It isn't a one-sided thing.
As you know, Ed -- for those of you who don't know, when Ed
was hired, I guess, about a month and a half, two months ago --
MR. RILEY: Almost three months ago.
MR. CAUTERO: Three months ago. Time flies --
MR. RILEY: Time flies when you're having fun.
MR. CAUTERO: From Fort Myers to serve as new Fire Code
Official to replace Wayne Bryan.
And I thought it would be a good idea if we talked a little
about the issue today and you have a chance to meet Ed and see
him and talk about what is happening in that area.
We wrote a report to the board at their request. We wrote a
memorandum that was attached to a very brief executive
summary and basically talked about the turnaround times.
The board didn't want to discuss it. They just accepted the
report and went on.
So, I'll let Ed say a few words about some of the progress
Page 23
August 2, 2000
they've made with the task force.
MR. RILEY: So far we've identified some of the issues. The
CBIA has given me some rough guidelines on a level of service
that they would like to see.
I put together what it would take to -- to provide that level of
service in terms of manpower, et cetera. I gave them a budget of
how much it would cost to do that and we are still in the process
of going through on how to -- to fund that.
The current funding source is not adequate to add the
additional staff that's necessary. I will be adding -- I've already
got the approval in the current budget handled by what we have
coming in. Now I can put one person on.
I've been -- I'm the fifth person in line now. Four have turned
me down so I'm down to the bottom of the list.
The salary that we've had to go to is high to try and bring
somebody in. Hopefully I'll have an answer by Friday because
that individual is coming here to visit the facility, look around
and we'll see if I can get that person on.
That person does not bring us to the level of service without a
considerable amount of overtime, which is what we're expending
now, a considerable amount of overtime to keep up.
So, I still need one additional staff member above that for plan
review. That should get us to where we can meet the level of
service as outlined or described by the CBIA, which is basically a
two-week turnaround first review and two-day turnaround on
re-reviews or resubmittals. That's 95 percent of the initial
reviews.
And just for your information, I ran our log for the month of
July. Our average turnaround was 2.33 days. We have two plans
that took ten days, ten working days to review, one at nine, and
the rest were seven days or less. But that was a considerable
amount of overtime in order to accomplish that.
Bob is doing the lion's share of the plans. I'm also doing plan
review, which is taking away from some of the other duties that I
need to do, so it's imperative I get somebody else in as soon as
possible so that I can work on other issues with the utilities
committee and we're looking at changing the STP requirements,
submittals, so that we can streamline that and cut down on any
substantial changes.
We're looking at a utilities committee. We're trying to look at
Page 24
August 2, 2000
the land development code, the utilities code and FTA 1141
where we have inconsistencies between those codes, put that
all together in a single document so you don't have to reference
back and forth.
I have a meeting tomorrow. I'm the first one to start that, to
bring something to the utilities subcommittee to look at to try
and streamline that process.
I'm working closely with Ed Perico with some other issues.
We just moved into a new space that gives Bob some quiet
space. He got a room with a door where it's not noisy where he's
able to do some better work.
There's a lot of things going on, a lot of different areas and
obviously it's not going to all happen overnight, but the biggest
thing is that we are meeting with the affected individuals such
as the alarm industry, fire alarm industry, fire sprinkler industry.
We're setting up subcommittees, real close to having a check-off
list of information for submittals for fire alarm plans so that we
get everybody on the same page.
We have several other issues at CBIA that we want to tackle
after we get past the staffing and level of service issue including
some inspection information.
I also want to do educational seminars, if you will, for the fire
inspectors and the industry to try and bring everybody up to the
same level so that the industries understand what we are looking
for consistently and I can get the inspectors in the field looking
at the same things the same way so that there is sameness no
matter where you go in the county.
That's very difficult to do but that's the goal and it's going to
take a lot of education.
I will say that I meet with the fire inspectors once a month
and the fire marshals twice a month, taking information that they
have, try to reformulate on how we do things, make decisions
and standardizations, and it's come a long way in the last three
months but it has a long way to go.
But we're committed as is the -- as are the fire districts and
the fire marshals to -- to make everything as smooth as possible
and provide the level of service that we need to provide.
CHAIRMAN DISNEY: Mr. Foley.
MR. FOLEY: Blair Foley.
I just wanted to -- I've had the pleasure of working with Mr.
Page 25
August 2, 2000
Riley over the last couple of months and I had no idea of all your
other commitments and time frames and it's been a pleasure. I
know you've been -- you've been stressed and pressed to the
limit, but we've had -- we've had several projects, our firm, and
you've always had the time to sit down and meet with our
engineers at our company, and, you know, if you could add to
staff, I think that's a great improvement, in the right direction.
But I just wanted to thank you for the work that you've done
so far since you've been here. It's definitely noticed from my
position.
MR. RILEY: One thing I would like to comment on, I -- I
recommend that the people who are doing new projects set up a
meeting before we start in the preliminary stages where we can
go over certain issues. Hydrant placing is a big thing, fire
department connection placings is a big thing.
And the earlier we can get those things ironed, it makes the
progress -- the process goes so much easier later on if we don't
have those insubstantial changes.
And I find more and more the engineers are doing that right
now. They've started to call and started coming in, so it will help
make things run smoother.
CHAIRMAN DISNEY: Thank you.
Dino has a question.
MR. LONGO: Ed, are you prepared to come back to this -- this
committee with a budget for your proposed --
MR. RILEY: Not at this time. I've got that information, but we
need to go through CBIA yet before I bring it back here. I'm
working on that submittal in a -- in a format that we had spoke
about and that isn't completed yet. I hope to have that by our
next CBIA meeting.
So, after that, then I'll bring it to this organization, yes.
CHAIRMAN DISNEY: Good. Thank you.
I just want to comment that Dino Longo, Charlie Abbott and
myself, Mario Lamendola and a number of other folks have been
sitting on this committee and it's been very, very productive.
Ed's been forthcoming with information that our subcommittee
couldn't get many months ago. So, that's -- it's a real pleasure.
Thank you, Ed.
MR. RILEY: Thank you.
MR. CAUTERO: Just one other thing before you go to the
Page 26
August 2, 2000
subcommittee reports. The county manager is asking me to
work on a project that we're going to be talking to the committee
about, at least your -- probably your subcommittee construction
code first and then working part and parcel with this whole issue
of turnaround time and so forth.
You remember a couple of months ago when we all had the
serious backlog, which has dissipated for the most part, but still
not at the point where we all would like to be due to the impact
fee issue when the impact fees were raised in April.
The county manager has asked us to work on a tracking
system and just using a generic title of development services.
Basically, what happened was we added five new staff
members that were in the proposed budget that we work with
now and four of those people have been hired, three in the
inspection area.
What the county manager has asked to us do collectively is
try to come up with some kind of methodology that we make up
and have the board approve where we say here's the intake point
on a permit on a given day, Day X. What is the standard that the
industry wants to see on what I call the point of first contact? I
just made this up. The letter, the first letter.
More often than not, people call Ed or his staff or me and say,
my permit has been in there for three months. They don't mean
from this date to this date. They mean after that when they've
had all these comments going back and forth, you know, letter Y,
letter Z and letter A and so forth. They've got all this.
That's what they're arguing about and talking about over the
whole another set of discussion, whole another set of
parameters. This is the critical point.
So, what Tom Olliff has asked me to do is he said, when you
start feeling pressure, when this date starts getting further and
further apart, if the industry says -- I'm just making this up, too,
based on comments people have said to me and you even heard
some of Ed's comments.
This seems to be the standard that people want to live with
that is acceptable. This is what I've heard in the five years I've
been here. There is no quantification. I mean, I've read this in
no book, but this is what people say. And I don't mean to make
light of it. People have said, we expect some kind -- they say, I
want my permit in ten to 15 days. They don't mean that on a
Page 27
August 2, 2000
developmental review application.
Let me talk to my engineers here. How many site
development plans have been approved in ten to 15 days? I don't
know.
But, what they're saying is, we would like from the day this
becomes an official application that you take in to the point
where you let my people know what's going on, that seems to be
the acceptable point of contact, ten to 15 working days, which is
two to three weeks. The same with the building construction
permit irregardless of whether it's simultaneous review, when
the application is complete to here.
Now, when you go from here to the actual issuance of the
permit, that's a completely different story, which brings up a
whole another set of -- a whole another discussion.
What Tom has asked us to do is say as this number starts to
get bigger, you know, 20 to 30, 31 to 40, 41 to 50, et cetera, you
need to add staff and you need to add them automatically and we
need to have preapproval by the board.
That's what he wants us to work on, that methodology for
inspections as well as plan review. So, we're going to be -- the
subcommittees should be busy in the fall. We need to create this
methodology from scratch. This is what we're going to be doing.
MR. ABBOTT: You need to write in red on the other side, you
know.
MR. CAUTERO: Yeah. And that's the other side of it. In other
words, if these numbers shrink, the staff should shrink in some
kind of proportion.
CHAIRMAN DISNEY: Right. Right. But Blair has a question.
MR. FOLEY: Blair Foley.
That was kind of my question because you guys have
operated within the ten to 15 window for construction plan
review, which our firm does. And if you -- Vince, you're starting
to get outside of that limit now sometimes.
What happens if you keep adding stuff? That was my point
exactly. Are you going to just start -- are you going to add
part-time staff? I mean, is that the first step?
MR. CAUTERO: Could be. I mean, that's something that we
have no preconceived notion. That's what we want to talk to you
about. We want to get your input on that.
MR. FOLEY: It could be difficult to add the staff. Okay. We're
Page 28
August 2, 2000
now -- you know, we're within this window so one of you guys has
to go.
MR. CAUTERO: You have to really be careful about how you
set it up.
MR. FOLEY: And we've been successful here in this town for
a long time. There's going to come a time when there may be
some kind of maxing out and some slowing down, some windows
of opportunity for some slower growth. CHAIRMAN DISNEY: Mr. Abbott.
MR. ABBOTT: How many people are part-time now?
MR. CAUTERO: In which department?
MR. ABBOTT: In this entire building, in development
services? One time there used to be a bunch. There was a lot of
39-hour people.
MR. CAUTERO'- We have none in planning and building, we
have two in code enforcement. A handful of people part-time.
CHAIRMAN DISNEY: Okay. Vince, you'll bring this back to us
at an appropriate time or is this -- MR. CAUTERO: We may--
CHAIRMAN DISNEY: -- until the subcommittee --
MR. CAUTERO: We may wait until September on that, which
is next month.
MR. FOLEY: A whole 30 days away.
MR. CAUTERO: Yes.
CHAIRMAN DISNEY: Subcommittee reports; Land
Development Regulation Committee. Mr. Duane?
MR. DUANE: We met on one issue, which was expanding the
number of areas that the code enforcement board and the code
enforcement department could issue citations on and their
suggestion for expanding the areas, we would list citations with
essentially the index of our land development code which was
okay because we went through the list and I think we were all in
agreement that probably 90 percent of those topical headings if
there were viable enforcement problems, we ought to have the
opportunity for these violations to be issued.
Possibly that could rectify having to go to a code enforcement
board later, so I think in concept we were all in philosophical
agreement with that.
Mr. Anderson brought up an excellent point as to what
Page 29
August 2, 2000
standards would really engovern (sic) the person issuing the
citation because we wanted to avoid any willy-nilly citation. We
wanted them based on substance and we discussed some of the
statutory requirements for what would govern those kind of
determinations to be made.
And I believe the consensus of the committee was that
Patrick would come back before us today and share with us. I'm
not sure we had the right operative statute as to what was really
going to be the language that governed the code inspector, but I
think Mr. Anderson thought that the reasonable man standard
was perhaps a better standard to use than the one that
previously appeared in the draft ordinance, which appeared to
give maybe a little more discretion to staff.
But that's my summary and, Bruce, I'm sure you can add to
that if you care to but your points were well taken from me.
MR. ANDERSON: Thank you, and I don't care to.
MR. DUANE: Okay. Thank you.
MR. WHITE: Patrick White.
I'll just comment that we're moving the draft board using the
language as suggested by Mr. Anderson and as approved by the
subcommittee.
CHAIRMAN DISNEY: Very good. Thank you.
Construction Code Subcommittee. Mr. Longo.
MR. LONGO: We had no meeting.
CHAIRMAN DISNEY: Very good. You--
MR. ABBOTT: But We had the fire meeting but that's a little
bit --
MR. LONGO: That was not the subcommittee.
MR. ABBOTT: I understand but it has ramifications to it.
CHAIRMAN DISNEY: Utility Code. Mr. Peek.
MR. PEEK: We did have a meeting on July the 27th and we
have minutes of that meeting for those who did not get them.
CHAIRMAN DISNEY: Would you care to summarize for us?
MR. PEEK: Yes, I will.
Referring to that set of minutes on the first page, there were --
there are two items identified there in the first full paragraph.
We had a presentation concerning the mobile automated meter
reading system as proposed to go in service and what that really
says is that they have a vehicle that, if you have the right kind of
meter in the ground, you can drive down the street and it
Page 30
August 2, 2000
automatically records the readings from the meters and gets
certain other intelligent data from this reading that would tell us
that the meter is not functioning properly and other things.
So, it's the way the industry is growing and it's the way to
help stop the growth of the meter readers, the number of meter
readers that you need.
As an example, an area that takes now six hours to read the
meters with this device, they can do it in 30 minutes. They get
better data than they get now and in a more user friendly form
for them to prepare other kinds of reports.
And, so, the subcommittee had recommended to this
committee that it recommend approval of that by the board of
county commissioners.
The bottom line cost, what that would mean to the consumer,
it will mean no increased costs to the present customers. To
those new customers coming on line, it will be an increase of
approximately $150 for the meter costs because that's the
difference in the price of this intelligent electronic piece that's in
this meter, so that's the only cost for consumer to the -- to the
new customer coming on line is about 150 bucks of additional
costs for the initial meter.
And we, as the subcommittee, felt that was an acceptable
increase in costs to get that additional kind of data.
In the long run, it will reduce -- it will be offset by the
operational costs of having a contained number of meter readers
instead of growing a meter reader for every 2500 new meters
they put in or something, you'll stop the growth of the meter
readers.
The second item that's discussed in the -- and shown in these
minutes is the third full paragraph under old business. The
subcommittee did vote to recommend the adoption of the
amended utility ordinance that were, as stated here, three minor
corrections, which will be made, but that is just an ordinance
that we've been working on for months to try to get it up to date.
And, so, that likewise is recommended for approvals.
So, with that, as the chairman of that committee, I would
recommend to this committee that this whole committee support
those actions taken by your subcommittee.
And I would so move that we do so.
MR. FOLEY: Second.
Page 31
August 2, 2000
CHAIRMAN DISNEY: Second by Mr. Foley.
Any discussion?
All those in favor, say aye.
Opposed? None.
MR. PEEK: Additional items, for your information, the utility
details the drawings that are a part of the code, they are now on
the county's web page, so if you have need of those, you can get
to them through the web page.
And the last bit of information or request that I need to share
with you is a follow-up on what Tom Kuck made last month to
this full committee. We had 15 people meet in a subcommittee.
We had one member of this committee there. That's me. And I'm
not sure if we've got other members of this committee that are
even on that subcommittee.
If they are, I wish you'd make yourself known because I want
to try to entice you to come to the meetings and if you aren't, we
need some more people from this full committee on that
committee.
The people that are probably the most appropriate to be on
that committee are those two guys because they're the other
engineers on this committee that have some knowledge of
utilities, direct knowledge of utilities, and how it can apply, so --
MR. ABBOTT: Draft them.
MR. FOLEY: It sounds like we have been.
MR. PEEK: More than drafting them. I need to get them to
make a commitment that they'll come to the committee
meetings.
CHAIRMAN DISNEY: Is there anybody here that is a member
of that, the utility subcommittee?
MR. JONES: I'm a member.
CHAIRMAN DISNEY: You are?
MR. JONES: I missed the last two meetings.
MR. FOLEY: I'm a member of Bob's committee but I'll be
happy to be a member of that committee.
MR. PEEK: I'm a member of both of those committees but we
really do need some more people on this utility code
subcommittee because--
MR. FOLEY: I will. That's fine.
MR. PEEK: -- we've got a lot of the industry people and a lot of
the county regulator people that are showing up really regularly
Page 32
August 2, 2000
and there's a lot of good work going on there and we just need
some more tie to this main committee than I can afford because
if I'm out of town, we don't have any direct -- well, Mr. Kuck is
always there, and thank goodness for him. Anyway that's the
end of my plea.
CHAIRMAN DISNEY: Very good. Well--
MR. FOLEY: I'll be happy to come.
MR. PEEK: And the committee normally meets every fourth
Thursday at 3:00 p.m. in this room.
CHAIRMAN DISNEY: Okay. We'll plea again to those who are
members of the committee to please be there and if Thomas
Masters or Blair Foley, if you could attend, that would be a great
assist. Thank you very much.
Thanks for the great summary, Tom.
New business. Do we have any new business?
MR. PEEK: Wait. Let me back up for that. I'll accept the
thanks for the summary but we really need to thank Tom Kuck
because he is very good about getting these minutes out every
month after our meeting and having them here for our full
meeting, as you've noticed, over the months that he's done it, so
I -- we need to --
MR. FOLEY: I thought you did this.
MR. PEEK: I do, sure I do. The credit needs to go where the
credit should and that's to Tom Kuck and his getting things
accomplished.
CHAIRMAN DISNEY: Well said. Thanks for your comment
and, Tom Kuck, thanks very much. Appreciate all of your efforts.
Now, back to new business. Any new business? We didn't
have anything on the agenda. Mr. Anderson.
MR. ANDERSON: Yes. I think everybody got a copy of the
new ethics legislation with our agenda packet and I just wanted
to put a motion on the table that we request a legal opinion from
the County Attorney's office as to whether the committee
members are required to make a financial disclosure filing and
what type under this new legislation. MR. FOLEY: I'll second.
CHAIRMAN DISNEY: We have a motion and a second.
Any further discussion?
Page 33
August 2, 2000
No? All those in favor, say aye.
Any opposed? There are none.
Very good. Thank you.
Any other new busy items?
CHAIRMAN DISNEY: No? We'll go around the table.
Committee member comments. Anyone have a comment to
make?
MR. ESPINAR: Just one quick comment. I just stopped off at
the office and got a package from the U.S. Army Corps of
Engineers, and I opened it and it was letter stating that the final
draft of the ElS has been completed.
MR. DUANE: When is it going to be released?
MR. ESPINAR: It's available. It is available. In my package
was an abridged version. I just saw it so I haven't even looked at
it. And in there it said if you want the full thing, you can -- it's
available right now.
CHAIRMAN DISNEY: That's excellent news. Thank you.
MR. WHITE: Is it on a web page anywhere?
MR. ESPINAR: I was running late.
MR. MASTERS: It didn't list one. It gave a contact person.
MR. ESPINAR: I could look at the letter. I could fax it to you
if you want me to.
CHAIRMAN DISNEY: All right. No other member comments?
Comments from our visitors? No?
MR. ELLIS: Just that --
CHAIRMAN DISNEY: David Ellis.
MR. ELLIS: -- I got a call in from Edison Community College
and they're looking for someone to become certified to be the
person who teaches the building -- the new building code
courses.
We've gotten the community college to do the classes but
they need a human being to go to a class that Florida folks, the
folks -- they're doing the last over in Miami. It's going to be on
August the 28th.
By getting certified, you will be the instructor that the
industry uses and the community college uses, which means
you'll get paid to do it. But if anybody is interested or you know
anyone that's interested in teaching classes like that, let us
know.
I just need somebody -- it will be kind of a -- you'll have steady
Page 34
August 2, 2000
work or whoever does it will have steady work for some time
because it's going to be interesting and exciting but the class --
the training is August 28th. We need to find somebody for that.
CHAIRMAN DISNEY: Very good. Thank you, David.
Any other comments or Motion to Adjourn?
MR. ABBOTT: Motion to adjourn.
CHAIRMAN DISNEY: And a second?
MR. DUANE: Second.
CHAIRMAN DISNEY: All those in favor, say aye.
And none opposed.
There being no further business for the good of the County,
the meeting was adjourned by order of the Chair at 4:50 p.m.
DEVELOPMENT SERVICES ADVISORY COMMITTEE
DALAS DISNEY, CHAIRMAN
TRANSCRIPT PREPARED ON BEHALF OF GREGORY COURT
REPORTING SERVICE, INC. BY ROSE M. WITT, RPR
Page 35