BOARD OF COUNTY COMMISSIONERS

LEON COUNTY, FLORIDA

MINUTES - REGULAR MEETING

FEBRUARY 17, 1998

The Board of County Commissioners of Leon County, Florida, met in regular session with Chairman Joanos presiding. Those in attendance were Commissioners Thaell, Yordon, Maloy, Host, Sauls, and Proctor. Also in attendance were County Attorney Herb Thiele, County Administrator Parwez Alam, Deputy Clerk Bill Bogan, Jr., and Secretary Sandra C. O’Neal.

Invocation was provided by Commissioner Yordon and was followed by the Pledge of Allegiance to the Flag.

AWARDS AND PRESENTATIONS

RESOLUTION:

Commissioner Thaell presented the attached Resolution to Ms. Budd Bell for her contributions and accomplishments particularly as it relates to the education and welfare of children:

 

  1. INTRODUCTION OF NEW EMPLOYEES
  2. Ms. Debbie Warren, Human Resources, introduced the following new employees: Matthew Bridges of MIS; Sherry Brown of Library; Tameka Leslie of Facilities Management.

    CONSENT AGENDA

    Commissioner Maloy moved, duly seconded by Commissioner Sauls and carried unanimously, to approve the following Consent Agenda as described:

  3. BILLS AND VOUCHERS
  4. The Board approved the County bills and authorized the Chairman and the Clerk to issue the proper warrants: $1,499,042.03

  5. MINUTES APPROVAL
  6. The Board approved the Minutes of December 3, 1997 Joint City/County Comprehensive Plan Cycle 97-2 Amendments Adoption Hearing and Cycle 98-1 Plan Amendments Transmittal Hearing.

  7. CONTRACT FOR "THE FAMILY VISITATION PROGRAM" LEASE AGREEMENT
  8. The Board considered whether to accept a $50,294 contract from the Department of Children and Families to expand The Family Visitation Program of Tallahassee, and approve a lease for a building at 715 W. Gaines Street to house the program. The Board approved the contract with the State of Florida Department of Children and Families to expand the Family Visitation Program of Tallahassee, the lease agreement (College Avenue Company/Leon County), and the attached budget amendment:

     

     

  9. GRANT FROM THE DEPARTMENT OF CHILD AND FAMILIES FOR CONTINUATION FOR DEPENDENCY MEDIATION PROGRAM AND BUDGET AMENDMENT

The Board accepted the grant in the amount of $26,666.56 from the Department of Children and Families for continuation of the Dependency of Mediation Program in the Leon County Juvenile Division, and the attached budget amendment:

 

6. PROPOSAL TO NAME THE NEW FACILITIES MANAGEMENT COMPLEX "LEON COUNTY FACILITIES MANAGEMENT", THE ADMINISTRATIVE OFFICES BUILDING "OFFICES"; AND THE SHOP AND WAREHOUSE, THE "WAREHOUSE"

The Board approved the proposed names: The New Facilities Management Complex would be named Leon County Facilities Management, the Administrative Offices Building would be named "Offices" and the Shop and Warehouse would be called "Warehouse."

7. RELEASE OF MAINTENANCE AGREEMENT AND SURETY DEVICE FOR LAKESHORE GARDENS

The developer, Century Development of Tallahassee, Inc., requests that the maintenance agreement and surety device for Lakeshore Gardens be released. The Board released the maintenance agreement and surety device.

8. BUDGET AMENDMENT TRANSFERRING FUNDS FOR FY 1997/98 FLORIDA ASSOCIATION OF COUNTIES TRUST (FACT) INSURANCE PREMIUM

A budget amendment is needed in order to adequately fund the new "Designated Wrongful Employment Practices" and the base rate increase in the County’s FY 97/98 general liability coverage. The Board authorized staff to transfer $53,655 from Non-operating funds to pay for the General Liability Insurance Premium increase for FY 97/98. See attached budget amendment request:

  1. PURCHASE OF VOICE LOGGING RECORDER FOR THE 9-1-1 SYSTEM

The voice logging recorders currently installed on the 9-1-1 System located at the Leon County Sheriff’s Department and the Tallahassee Memorial Regional Medical Center (TMRMC) have reached the end of their service life and require frequent repair to maintain an operational status. The Board waived the bid process and approved the purchase of two Seltronics Eyretel Inc., voice logging recorders for the amount of $48,454. (This price includes a one-year on-site warranty service.)

10. FY 1996/97 YEAR-END BUDGET ADJUSTMENTS

The Board approved the attached year-end budget amendments for FY 1996/97 to reconcile and balance deficient funds and object accounts within County Departments and Divisions:

 

GENERAL BUSINESS

11. RESPONSE TO ADMINISTRATIVE ORDER NUMBER 98-01

The agenda request explained that in August 1997, Chief Judge Sauls made a request to the Office of the State Courts Administrator (OSCA) to inventory, survey, and evaluate the existing status of automation of the Second Judicial Circuit, and in particular the courts in Leon County. After receiving the OSCA Report and the response provided by Leon County MIS Division, the Chief Judge determined that the existing CJIS (Criminal Justice Information System) will be "fast track" upgraded and that the current civil systems, with the exception of probation which will be moved into CJIS, may be upgraded from Courtview to Courtview 2000 and be interfaced or merged with the upgraded CJIS. To accomplish what the Chief Judge has proposed, Administrative Order No. 98-01 was signed on February 5, 1998.

County Administrator Alam advised that the Chief Judge is requesting the Board to fund a position of executive assistant to manage the technology, administer and supervise the fine and cost recovery enforcement program, and direct all criminal and civil systems within the Second Judicial Circuit under the Chief Judge’s direct control and supervision. The position will ensure the maintenance and operation of an integrated and coordinated criminal and civil operating and database management and information system. Mr. Alam advised that this position is one that the Superior Court has authorized for all judicial circuits. The County will fund the position until July 1, if the state does not fund the position, then it will be brought back to the Board for consideration.

Commissioner Host moved, duly seconded by Commissioner Yordon and carried unanimously, to approve staff’s recommendation Option 1: Establish and fund, until July 1, 1998, the position of Executive Assistant to the Chief Judge at the annual salary of $76,200 (includes benefits); provide $100,000 for other contractual services and $50,000 for equipment, expenses, and licensing to upgrade the judicial information and services systems, criminal and civil, of the court, as directed by the court, with such development, enhancement and implementation to be supervised and directed by the Director of the Court Judicial Information and Services Unit (Executive Assistant to the Chief Judge), to accomplish the necessary integration, interfacing and compatibility to enable and meet the needs and requests of all users as well as assure a year 2000 compliant criminal and civil system no later than July 5, 1999. These costs will be funded from the new revenue ($545,000). See attached budget amendment:

 

12. REPORT ON PROJECTS WITH EXPIRED VESTED RIGHTS FROM THE COMPREHENSIVE PLAN

This agenda item is the report on projects with expired vested rights from the Comprehensive Plan. Commissioner Host asked if this report was the same one the Board received previously. Mr. David McDevitt, Community Development, explained that this report concentrates on expired vested rights and the previous report discusses all projects that have received vested rights.

The Chairman explained that the report has already been accepted and there is no need for action, that the agenda item was generated because of the next agenda item (regarding the Chow vesting issue).

13. CHOW VESTING MATTER

This issue is to determine whether or not the Chow family property is vested from the 2010 Comprehensive Plan. County Attorney Thiele explained that a few weeks, the Board requested information on vesting for the Chow property which is located in the Gwyndale Planned Unit Development (PUD). Mr. Thiele explained that this is one of the vested properties that had both an underlying development order which expired as well as a vesting certificate which was subsequently issued which vested the property after that, but with the conditions for infrastructure installation within a period of time. The infrastructure was not installed within the certain period of time and so both the underlying development order and the conditional vesting certificate both expired. Mr. Thiele explained that the issue that has come up is regarding the lack of notification to the Chow family and that it is staff’s position that notification was provided. Mr. Thiele stated that as a matter of law, development orders expire whether notice is provided or not, and the notification which was provided on the vested certificate was sent to the person(s) who were the applicants for the vesting and this is consistent with past practice; title searches are not conducted to determine if there are subsequent purchases of the property. He further advised that expiration of the vested rights should remain untouched; the property is developable but it would have to be developed in accordance with the lake protection standards.

Commissioner Yordon stated that in this particular case there are two factors which make this situation unique; the land was sold to the Chows and the notification was sent to Miami and the Chow family was living in Tallahassee, so they did not receive the notice. Commissioner Yordon stated that the Chow family thought that since a stormwater facility was built on their property for the associated development in the PUD, that it was infrastructure.

Mr. Thaell referred to the previous report (submitted on February 17, 1998) and quoted comments in the agenda request: "Should the Board wish to make provision for restoration of vested rights in specific cases, an ordinance amendment would be required, such amendment would provide criteria upon which vested rights could be restored and provide for an appeals processing in those special cases." County Attorney Thiele responded by advising that the vested rights ordinance could be amended to permit reapplication by those persons who had their vesting certificate expire and that language could be drafted with some very limited and specific criteria by which a designated body would make that judgment. He further explained that all of the vesting in the last agenda item (Item 12) were based upon what is called "statutory vesting" which is a development order, and he suspects that many of them were not vested based on the common law grounds that were available if they did not have an development order. Mr. Thiele stated that this is one way to approach the situation and there may be other ways, but cautioned that an ordinance would need to be adopted that would have criteria by which the Board could also turn them down.

Mr. Chow circulated a notification (application of vesting status) that essentially states that he is vested from the Comprehensive Plan, and referred to the amended vested certificate that was mailed to Miami. Mr. Thiele responded by advising that virtually everyone who received vested status received the same letter; at that time, the property was vested but if property were vested based on an underlying development order, such as this case (a preliminary plat and a PUD); when the underlying development orders expire, then this causes the vesting to expire (pursuant to the ordinance). Mr. Chow further stated that it was his interpretation that there was a deadline of October to apply for vested status, which he complied with, and if he had known that an underlying development right was part of the issue, his family would have complied.

Commissioner Yordon advised that he is willing to support Mr. Chow’s position but not at the peril of opening Pandora’s box for the rest of the county, and that his advocacy would come with the time it would take to go through the process of amending the ordinance in order to make it available for the Chow family to apply.

Following a lengthy discussion, Commissioner Yordon moved and was duly seconded by Commissioner Thaell to approve Option 3 (Further direction to staff): Ask the County Attorney to bring back a process for the Board to consider, a prospective ordinance change that would allow re-vesting.

Commissioner Thaell indicated that the Planning Commission may be the appropriate review body and this would take it out of the political realm. Commissioner Yordon stated that he hoped the review body would be the Commission. Mr. Thiele advised that the Board could choose any forum they desired although the Planning Commission is already in place and is prepared to do so. Commissioner Yordon indicated that this decision could be made when the amendment comes back to the Board.

Chairman Joanos referred to the expired vested property in Oakbrook Subdivision and asked if the ordinance amendment would affect Oakbrook other properties on the list. Mr. Thiele advised that if their factual circumstances were similar to Mr. Chow’s, then they would be able to have vesting reestablished. Commissioner Yordon stated that he would be surprised if their factual circumstances were similar. The Chairman stated that he was attempting to understand the "factual circumstances" with this issue, and indicated that he was amenable to opening them all up to vesting.

Commissioner Yordon stated that perhaps when the ordinance amendment comes back from the County Attorney it would address a clarification and definition of infrastructure, noting that there was infrastructure on the Chow property in the form of a stormwater facility). Commissioner Yordon suggested that the amendment be crafted in a way which would address the uniqueness of a situation without other properties falling in the same category, ones that are similar or fall in the gray area.

Commissioner Host stated that he would like to have a discussion with Mr. Chow to better understand the issue.

The motion on the floor carried 6 – 1 (Commissioner Joanos voted in opposition).

  1. APPOINTMENTS TO INDIGENT HEALTH CARE ADVISORY COMMITTEE

It was in order for the County and City Commissioners to appoint members to the Indigent Health Care Advisory Committee to provide advice and oversight for the next two years. These two years are considered critical for indigent health care as the Welfare Reform changes are fully implemented. Dr. Art Cooper, Health Department Director, explained that the task force would enhance the indigent health program and oversee the changes occurring with Welfare Reform.

Commissioner Thaell briefly reported that the State Challenge grant of $125,000 was received and just last month, the 1,000 school-age children were enrolled in the Healthy Kids program and this is the direct result of the work of the task force.

Commissioner Sauls moved, duly seconded by Commissioner Thaell and carried unanimously, to approve Option 2: Appoint all (24) of the nominees to be members of the Indigent Health Care Advisory Committee and seek the City’s concurrence. See attached list:

15. RATIFICATION OF ACTIONS TAKEN AT THE FEBRUARY 10, 1998 WORKSHOP ON EXTENSION OF SALES TAX

Commissioner Host moved and was duly seconded by Commissioner Maloy to ratify the actions taken at the February 10, 1998 Sales Tax Referendum workshop. (At the workshop, the Board was directed to take the necessary preparations for a fall referendum on extension of the sales tax for fifteen years for the following categories: Joint Communication, Lakes Restoration, Flood-Prone Acquisitions, Roadway Flooding Projects, Greenways Acquisition/Parks Development, Transportation. Staff was also directed to work on a method of conducting a public survey/poll to determine the public’s interest in the various projects.

County Administrator advised that staff is working on methods of conducting a public poll/survey to determine support for various projects, and there will be a joint City/County workshop conducted on March 11, 1998 on the referendum issue. Commission Yordon stated that if the City Commission does not become a full-fledged partner in this referendum, it would be difficult to make this happen. The City appears to be sending the message that they are interested in having only two issues on the ballot, the roads and the communications issue. Commissioner Yordon indicated that until the joint workshop on March 11, the ballot language is "way up in the air" right now.

Commissioner Proctor focused some discussion on funding greenways in his district, the southside district, and stated that the poll would shed some light.

The motion on the floor carried 6 – 1 (Chairman Joanos voted in opposition).

PUBLIC HEARING

16. PUBLIC HEARING – PROPOSED AMENDMENTS TO TELECOMMUNICATIONS ORDINANCE

Pursuant to the following legal advertisement, a public hearing was conducted on proposed amendments to the Telecommunications Tower Ordinance. On January 13, 1998, the Board directed staff to prepare proposed amendments that would effectuate a solution to areas of concern. Those areas included: 1) that a notice of intent to replace an existing communication antenna be provided to affected property owners; 2) that only communications towers may be replaced for the purposes of relocation; 3) that no existing towers be replaced in a residential preservation zoning district; 4) that a notice of a tower’s continuing use as a communication tower be provided to the County periodically; and 5) that adequate security be posted to ensure removal of a preexisting tower.

Ms. Karen Walker, Holland & Knight, 315 South Calhoun Street, appeared representing PrimeCo Personal Communications, stated that she understands that the reason this ordinance amendment is before the Board tonight is because of the Tung Hill Drive tower situation which PrimeCo was involved in. She indicated that PrimeCo does have concerns regarding the amendment, primarily with the prohibition on the replacement of towers in residential districts. Ms. Walker suggested that the purpose of the original telecommunications ordinance was to limit the number of communications towers in Leon County by encouraging the co-location of towers. She alleged that prohibition of the replacement of towers in residential districts will increase the number of towers in Leon County because existing towers will already be located on the site and new applications for towers will be coming in. Ms. Walker suggested that it would be better to replace the towers rather than installing new ones.

Commissioner Yordon explained that under the amendment, towers could be placed in the Residential Preservation (RP) district but would be required to be placed an appropriate distance from other residential property. He stated that this is what PrimeCo did not do (in the Tung Hill Drive area).

Commissioner Yordon discussed having an amortization clause that would run concurrent with the length of the lease of the property that would keep the tower from staying up infinitum when they may not be used or needed.

Ms. Walker suggested that the ordinance specify who is responsible for providing the "Notice of Continuing Use" (the person that owns the tower or the person leasing the tower). She also recommended that there be a process for notifying or reminding people to send in the notice. Mr. Thiele stated that this could be done administratively.

Ms. Walker indicated that PrimeCo opposes the bond requirement in the ordinance.

Mr. David McDevitt, Community Development, recommended that the language be a Type C site plan review which is the methodology that would bring it back to the Board and provide notification.

Commissioner Thaell moved and was duly seconded by Commissioner Host to approve Option 1 (conduct the public hearing on the proposed amendments to the Telecommunications Tower Ordinance and adopt same) with the following two amendments: Add a clause on page 3, line 2 "except for non conforming communication towers which receive approval through a Type C site and development plan approval process" (which means it goes through the Board of County Commissioners) and insert the phrase on page 1, line 26 "provided that a Notice of Continuing Use is submitted by the communication tower owner." Pursuant to Board direction, the County Attorney advised that he would establish an administrative procedure which will notify the communication tower owner at the appropriate time that a "Notice of Continuing Use" is due to be filed with the Department of Community Development.

A reminder was mentioned by Commissioner Yordon that the telecommunications antenna tower issue would come before the Board again in approximately six months due to "sunsettng." The issue today was a correction and the Board still needs to see the letters on whether or not co-location has taken place.

The motion on the floor carried unanimously. (See attached Leon County Ordinance Number 98-01:

COUNTY ADMINISTRATOR

a. The Board scheduled a joint workshop with the City for Wednesday, March 11, 1998 from 1:00 – 4:00 p.m., to discuss extension of the sales tax, fire services agreement, the Mayor’s requested visioning process, and possibly the solid waste issue. (The Chairman advised that the solid waste issue may be resolved prior to the joint meeting.) Ms. Laurie Ringquist, Administrative Services Director, will coordinate and provide one complete workshop packet for the Board.

b. Advised that the March 16, 1998 joint workshop on the 2020 Long Range Transportation Plan has been canceled, and that a regular MPO meeting will be held at 3:00 p.m., on that day instead.

CITIZENS TO BE HEARD

  1. Ms. Candy Hicks, 3385 West Lakeshore Drive, and Mr. Donald Winters, 2005 Lee Avenue, appeared and requested that the Board determine that a variance is not required for construction of their home in Zone A of Lake Jackson area. Ms. Hicks made the following comments:

Chairman Joanos explained that the subject property is located in the Lake Jackson Basin, Zone A, where extraordinary measures have been taken to protect the lake and impervious area is limited to a minimum. He explained that this item is scheduled to come before the Board next week as a variance request and the cost of the variance is $1,645. Commissioner Joanos stated that he was comfortable with the original determination that led to the issuance of a permit.

Following a brief discussion, Commissioner Yordon moved and was duly seconded by Commissioner Maloy to remove the variance from next week’s agenda and grant them the ability to move forward under the original findings from staff. Commissioner Yordon stated that it was clear that the applicants took a significant number of steps up-front , architecturally and other ways, "in the spirit of exactly of what was intended. "

Mr. Kevin Pope, GEM, explained that the item was scheduled on the agenda for next week as an advertised public hearing and noted that this also involves a neighborhood dispute and residents have planned to come to that meeting and argue the issue. The Board inquired as to how staff made the decision to reconsider the need for a variance. Mr. Pope explained that the neighbors pointed out an error in staff’s review of the original permit, that it was a mistake in interpretation by a staff member which allowed the calculation of the disturbed area to include just the support footers of the house rather than the entire structure. He further explained that the language of Zone A does not refer to impervious area but disturbed area, which includes structures; the misinterpretation was to just use 400 sq. ft. of footer rather than 4,000 sq. ft of house and that made the difference; the total disturbed area with the current plan is approximately 9,000 sq. ft. which includes the driveway, etc. Mr. Pope explained that the Board does not have the advantage of the agenda material for next week, but pointed out that staff’s review of this issue is that there is no significant environmental impact to granting the variance to the applicants.

County Attorney Thiele advised that, in essence, the Board’s motion is that no variance is required for what they (applicants) have applied for.

The motion on the floor carried unanimously. The County Attorney suggested that next week’s agenda show that the variance hearing has been cancelled.

b. Ms. Barbara Brooks requested assistance with sidewalks and streetlights on the Ross Road area. The Board directed staff to look into the sidewalk matter and possibly assist Ms. Brooks in developing a petition for the neighborhood could use to request lights from the appropriate utility provider. Mr. Mike Willett, Public Works, stated that his staff would prepare a petition for Ms. Brooks and look at the sidewalk issue.

DISCUSSION ITEMS BY COMMISSIONERS

CHAIRMAN JOANOS:

Announced that he attended a school concurrency workshop and would provide information to the Board on the workshop.

There being no further business to come before the Board, the meeting was adjourned at 6:55 p.m.

APPROVED:__________________

Manny Joanos

Chairman

ATTEST:

 

________________________________

Clerk of the Circuit Court