A SPECIAL MEETING OF THE BOARD OF
VISIONING
RETREAT
JANUARY 27, 2006
The
Lake County Board of
WELCOME
Commr.
Hanson called the meeting to order noting that this is their Visioning Retreat
and that the agenda looks really good for where they need to be but that they
need to be looking at where they are going to be 25 years out and thinking about
what they need to do today to get to that vision. Along with that, she hopes there will be
opportunities for each Commissioner to accomplish their different goals during
the year. She welcomed everyone and
stated that she appreciates the work they have already done to get them to this
point. She turned the meeting over to
Cindy Hall,
BACKGROUND
INFORMATION
TAB
1 – UPDATE ON 2004 FOCUS GROUP REPORT
Ms.
Hall stated that they will start with the Focus Area Update noting that studies
were done in the 1990s and two years ago staff was asked by the Board to
provide an update to that Focus Area Report.
The update is included in Tab 1 and noted as Pages 16–24; staff selected
either those items that, at that point, were still not completed or were
ongoing. She stated that, at the
beginning of Tab 1, there are further updates to the 2004 Focus Area Report,
and each of the Department Directors is going to give very brief comments on
those updates. Two weeks ago, senior
managers and staff got together in Eustis at the Chamber of Commerce and had a
preliminary retreat and put together what they thought might be goals for
Ms.
Hall stated that, under the last item noted as Other, Jim Bannon, Director of
Facilities Development & Management, has brought a layout of the Downtown
Tavares area and will discuss another possible location for the parking garage.
Ms.
Hall pointed out that, in the booklet, she has included a letter from Robert D.
Johnson, President, Chamber Alliance of Lake County, which talks about economic
development, and she has informed him that this is one of the items that the
Senior Manager Staff put on their list of goals. At this time, she turned the meeting over to
staff members who would be addressing the Focus Area Update for their
individual departments.
PUBLIC
WORKS
Mr.
Jim Stivender, Director of Public Works, reviewed the information in the packet
relating to Parks and Trails (Lake Idamere, PEAR Park, Twin Lakes Park, and
Pine Forest Park); Stormwater; and Renewal of Extra Penny Tax (All Sales Tax to
date: $16,398,278); and briefly presented
updated information on each item.
Under
discussion, Commr. Cadwell asked why the
Commr.
Hanson felt that, as the Board is going through the update today, staff may
want to not only report on what has been done but add those items that have not
been done.
Ms.
Hall explained that she had felt one way to proceed with this was to take into
consideration that this Report was done in the late 1990s, and to bring to a
close those items; then start with new goals with staff coming back with
implementation strategies for those.
Commr.
Hanson stated that this may be how they proceed but they need to modify it so
that it is an ongoing report and, once these parks and other items are added to
it, to have it set up so that staff reports on it annually and are able to add
to it.
Commr.
Pool stated that the Board talked about the Conserv II property at one time and
had an appraisal done on it. He asked
the County Manager to give him an idea as to whether there are any State grant
dollars available for parks, and if they are trying to capture any of the grant
dollars that other municipalities and counties tend to go for and are there
grants that they are either not going for or not accepting; he would like to
get Board approval for maybe some grant requests from the State for their
parks. He is looking at Conserv II as an
example because it was more money than they wanted to spend and, if there are
grants out there, they should try and capture some of them. The City of
Mr.
Stivender explained that he informed Bobby Bonilla, Director of Parks and
Trails, to be prepared to spend a lot of time in
After
some discussion, it was noted that the Board members had not problem with staff
seeking grants at the State level.
Ms.
Hall stated that she did talk to the County’s grant writers about that
particular piece of property, and staff was told that they could move forward
and seek some of the larger grants for it, but one of the things that they
would need to do is to actually move forward with the acquisition of it. They would need to have a letter from the
current owners saying that they would be willing sellers. Ms. Hall stated that, if the Board is
interested in moving forward with that piece of property, then staff could
pursue that and the grant avenue.
Commr.
Pool explained that he met with the property owners, and they would only be
willing to sell the property; they will not lease it or rent it or give them
time to purchase it. There is an
appraised value on it, and he would like an opportunity to seek out grants for
this and try to negotiate something on that parcel, if it is possible, and
again maybe utilize State dollars, that they are not receiving now, for some of
these offsets.
Commr.
Pool made a motion, which was seconded by Commr. Stivender, to seek out grants
for the Conserv II property; to try and negotiate something on that parcel if
possible; and utilize State dollars that they are not receiving now for some of
these offsets.
Under
discussion, Commr. Cadwell stated that the Board will need to decide where they
are going with that piece of property depending on what type of grant they will
be pursuing such as a park grant and, if they anticipate putting buildings there;
they need to talk about what they actually want to do with the property, if
they had it.
Commr.
Pool stated that he does not disagree and maybe the State would not allow a
building for government use but, if they are going to put a park there, they
would want some type of facility, perhaps even for maintenance.
Commr.
Hanson felt that it might not be necessary to have the motion or vote, because
she thinks that they all assume, if the grants are available, that they are
going to get them.
Ms.
Hall felt that staff would need direction to actually pursue talking seriously
to
Commr.
Pool stated that he does not mind if the Board focuses only on a park; the key
is that Mr. Stivender needs that spur to catch Lake Louisa up to Hancock Road
anyway, so that piece in the front would be something for a park.
Commr.
Cadwell stated that he thinks they need the property but he wondered where they
were going with it, because the road network is a big part of it, and they have
no definite direction to find money.
Mr.
Stivender explained that staff is moving forward with the road design, but they
do not have all of the right-of-way, so the road design will help support that
part of the purchase, and they can use impact fees for that. If the Board wants staff to move forward,
they will start working on a master plan for the site and give the Board about
three options; an option with the School Board; an option without the School
Board; and with or without buildings.
Commr.
Pool stated that buildings are not the part he is concerned about right now,
because he knows that
Discussion
occurred regarding whether there are any restrictions on the property, with
Commr. Pool explaining that the property owners did not want the property to be
sold; if it was sold, they wanted it to come back to them; and they did not
want it to be used for residential or commercial uses. They have a rapid infiltration basin set up
out there, and they would like to be able to continue to potentially own that
site and some how utilize that site, or to replace it with another site nearby
for rapid infiltration.
Commr.
Hanson called for a vote on the motion, which was carried unanimously, to seek
out grants for the Conserv II property, and to try and negotiate something on
that parcel, if it is possible, and maybe utilize State dollars that they are
not receiving now, for some of these offsets.
In
response to Commr. Hill’s questions about the use of the property, Mr.
Stivender explained that the biggest concern for them was having a
neighbor. By having a rapid infiltration
system, they are going to artificially raise the water table in some low areas,
and they wanted neighbors to know that and to be good neighbors because that is
their business. They also did not want
to lease anything because they did not want customers complaining about them.
Commr.
Cadwell stated that, in the appraisal, he did not think they backed out those
restrictions in the value that they would lose on the sell price, and they need
to go through a negotiation process to do that.
Ms.
Hall stated that, in response to the idea of a commerce park, staff did talk to
them about that and they were not interested in that idea; they do want it to
remain under public ownership. She
thinks it would be okay to put public buildings there and a park, but they were
not amenable to the idea of leasing anything.
To
make sure that staff was clear on the discussion, Ms. Hall clarified the
direction that staff is to pursue the entire 200 acres, and they can talk to
them about getting a willing seller letter; and to move forward with grants for
portions that would qualify for whatever grant they pursue, which is likely to
be a park type grant and noting that any environmental issues would be part of
the negotiation process.
Commr.
Cadwell asked staff to contact the school system in writing saying that they
are looking at it again and to ask if they are interested in any of it.
Commr.
Hanson stated that some of her concerns are that the Board is talking about the
property at the Board Retreat and voting on it rather than doing that at a
regular meeting.
Mr.
Stivender explained that staff will work through some preliminaries based on
what they need to do for grants. In
regards to parks, he asked Mr. Bonilla to put all of the trails, parks,
sidewalks, and paved shoulders information together and how all of these are
linked together with all of the schools and how much money has been spent on
all of these types of programs for the last 15 years, and this base information
will show them the location of their most critical links, the most critical
parts in their master plan, and how they can make those happen, which is their
goal. He stated that this will be
presented to the Board in a few months, for the budgeting process, and for public
hearings, to show the public what they have accomplished.
INFORMATION
TECHNOLOGY
Mr.
Steve Earls, Director of Information Technology, reviewed Information
Technology noting two areas of discussion, Intranet Web Site and OnBase
Document Management System, and presented updated information and noting the
very positive effect that streaming video of live Board meetings has been to
the employees within the County and to some of the Constitutional Officers. He also noted that the OnBase document
management system has saved them some money and hopefully they will take it
countywide and get rid of some paper.
Commr.
Stivender stated that she has talked about a policy for the use of public
equipment including cell phones and blackberries, and she knows that staff if
working on it.
Ms.
Hall explained that staff is looking at a countywide cell phone and blackberry
policy that spells out a little more specifically which positions would be
entitled to use these devices and how the whole process would work and,
hopefully, they will get that in place in the next couple of weeks. It has taken a little longer to do this
because it will affect a number of employees, but they have been talking to
different groups of staff to make sure that they accommodate their needs while
they tighten up a bit on the policy, but they certainly do not want to make it
so strict that people are not able to carry forth their job positions. She stated that this is forthcoming and
should be done very quickly.
Mr.
Earls stated that the OnBase management system will really revolutionize the
way they do business within the County.
They can take in documents electronically, store them, make them
available to everyone in the County that needs access to them instantaneously
and over the internet if needed; a lot of departments are looking at going in
this direction. If they do that, it is
going to mean making an investment and being able to support the use of those
new technologies.
ECONOMIC
DEVELOPMENT
Mr.
Greg Mihalic, Director of Economic Development/Tourism, reviewed information
relating to Economic Development and Tourism noting three items that were
updated for discussion, the
Commr.
Stivender stated that this was going to be her question, do they need to go out
and do this again or is the business community now stepping up.
Mr.
Mihalic stated that the business community is certainly stepping up in this
area, but they fit a niche that the business community is not in; they require
their lots to be five acres and above; they do not allow lot splits. If the County was trying to maximize the
profit of their land, they would allow quarter acre lots, and they would put
mini-warehouses all over it, but those are not allowed and the idea was to not
get into this area. They wanted larger
businesses and larger lots, so they were not competing with the private sector
in other areas of the County, and they have done this every effectively by
holding to those rules and regulations.
Commr.
Stivender explained that they now have closure to the
Commr.
Pool wanted to know how quickly the Board needed to respond to the clay storage.
Mr.
Mihalic explained that the property being used for clay storage will be worth
more in five years and, in fact, they have had inquiries on those lots from
adjoining property owners. There is probably
about $3 million to $4 million worth of assets in this property, but you would
obviously need another place to put that clay and materials.
Commr.
Stivender interjected by saying that, in the PEAR meeting the other night, this
was one of the points that Mr. Stivender brought up for discussion, that some
of the property may be used to store County stockpile.
Mr.
Mihalic continued the discussion and reviewed the information pertaining to
average annual wage, which is now $13.62 an hour effective February 1, 2006;
and the Jobs Growth Investment Trust program that was revised to create a
greater interest to hire the disabled among the employers of Lake County; and
to create an award which subsidizes the costs for training the disabled worker.
INFORMATION
OUTREACH
Ms.
Kelly LaFollette, Information Outreach Manager, reviewed the information
pertaining to Information Outreach noting that their focus goal was to enhance
the County’s presence and perception in the community; 235 news releases were
sent to various media outlets. She
explained that last year they began participating in the
Commr.
Stivender noted that she took a copy of everything that the Information
Outreach Department has done to a meeting that she went to on Monday, and she
thinks this is the best department that the Board has put money behind.
BUDGET
Ms.
Regina Frazier, Director of Budget, stated that she has provided everyone with
a copy of the new Budget in Brief booklet that staff has put together.
Commr.
Pool referred to Page 2 of the booklet, Millage Rates, and asked staff to put
an asterisk there with information about the incinerator, to help explain the
jump in millage rates.
Ms.
Frazier explained, in more detail, the information in the backup relating to
Budget, which included Rate Studies Update; Sheriff’s Office; Citizen Action
Request Line; and New Integrated Financial Software; noting that the RFP for
the rate studies for roads, libraries, parks and fire will be going out on the
street tomorrow so they expect to see some results six to nine months from now
and perhaps implementing that in another year.
She noted that the School Board is also conducting its own study for the
school impact fees.
Ms.
Frazier stated that staff put together the Federal funding requests for the
lobbyists and there is potential legislation that could inhibit the ability of states
and counties to impose utility taxes, a communication services tax. The Government Finance Officers Association
(GFOA) is putting out their position on this to prevent any legislation from
inhibiting their ability to create those taxes.
She would like to include something in their cover letter with their
Federal funding requests that states their position to oppose any legislation
that would change that and get a consensus from this Board, which she got at
this time.
EMPLOYEE
SERVICES
Ms.
Sharon Wall, Director of Employee Services, addressed the goals that staff was
asked to update, Performance Evaluation Forms; Customer Service; and Employee
Development/Training Program; and provided additional detailed information.
Commr.
Stivender addressed the insurance coverage currently offered to employees and
explained some of the problems she and others are facing with the current plan.
Ms.
Wall pointed out that staff has received other similar comments, and they are
already in the process of evaluating the current insurance plan.
Commr.
Stivender explained the difficulty that many employees are having with terminal
illnesses, and she is concerned that their medical bills are not being covered
with the plan, as well as the cost for medication, and she was looking for
ways, perhaps with fundraisers, or some type of financial program, to help
their employees who cannot pay for their medication.
Ms.
Hall explained that insurance has been a topic that has come up at every
Employee Advisory Committee meeting, with Ms. Wall pointing out that there were
some conversion issues and basically they are working with an outdated plan.
Ms.
Hall stated that they are trying to work with individual employees who may have
had some issues but overall they have many contracts that combine their health
plan, and it may be that they need to look at the whole plan to see if they
need to make some revisions to it.
In
regards to fundraisers, Ms. Hall explained that one of the things that came up
in the Employee Advisory Committee meetings a number of times is the sick leave
bank, and the way that it is handled and perhaps they need to make it a little
more accessible or broader. At the last
meeting, they were presented with a proposed revision to the sick leave bank
from a sub-committee, and staff will be reviewing it and, since that is already
an established program, they are hoping to make it a little bit better and more
usable. There is a fundraiser policy in
place that the Board adopted a couple of years ago, as she explained and, if
anyone wanted to pursue something like that, they could present their request
to the Employee Advisory Committee.
Commr.
Hanson wanted to know if there was a way to set up a foundation for those types
of needs, and Ms. Hall suggested that right now the best way to handle that
would be through their insurance plan and, if it is not covering the needs of
the employees at the level they feel is appropriate, then they need to do
something and identify those problems.
Ms.
Hall requested that first the Board let staff look at the insurance plan in
general and see if they want to make structural changes to that because that
might be the best way to have a more universal approach to address some of
those issues.
PUBLIC
SAFETY
Mr.
Gary Kaiser, Director of Public Safety, reviewed the detailed information
provided under Public Safety, Emergency Management Division; Completed
Construction of Fire Stations; New Fire Stations; E-911 Communications Division;
and stated that staff hopes to go to bid next month on the
Mr.
Kaiser explained that staff is pursing with Sheriff Chris Daniels some
alternatives to communication problems and are applying for some grants to try
to secure some specific equipment.
Mr.
Kaiser stated that they are pleased with the ongoing internal reorganization of
fire rescue. They have been able to
reduce the ratio of chief officers to firefighters, from one to nine, to one to
19, which means they are not as top heavy administratively and have done all of
this within the existing budget.
Commr.
Cadwell stated that the Board probably needs to go ahead and put the Paisley
fire station on the Board agenda. He had
said he would meet with Roy Hunter and other concerned folks who put together a
presentation through the Planning Department along with the Public Safety
Department, and he will go over it with them, but it is probably time that they
move forward with that station.
Mr.
Kaiser stated that they need to pick a location for that station and then pursue
the acquisition of property; they do have the funding for it.
Ms.
Melanie Marsh, Assistant County Attorney, reviewed the Focus Area Update for
the
COMMUNITY
SERVICES
Mr.
Fletcher Smith, Director of Community Services, reviewed the Focus Area Update
for Community Services and provided detailed information on the Community
Development Block Grant; Probation and Court Services (Vehicle Immobilization
Program); Veterans Services; and Lake Soil and Water.
FACILITIES
DEVELOPMENT AND MANAGEMENT
Mr.
Jim Bannon, Director of Facilities Development and Management, explained that
the Focus Area Update for Facilities Development and Management had one item,
Cagan’s Crossing Library, which was the only thing that was addressed in the
original Report. The design has been
finalized and construction documents are now 100% complete. Staff will be coming to the Board to show
them the final design and will asking for Board approval to put the project out
to bid. Construction will begin in the
summer of 2006 with completion in Spring/Summer of 2007.
GRWOTH
MANAGEMENT
Ms.
Carol Stricklin, Director of Growth Management, reviewed the Focus Area Update
for Growth Management, which included the Community Based Plan for Town of
PROCUREMENT
SERVICES - ENVIRONMENTAL SERVICES
Ms.
Hall pointed out that, as staff went through these updates at their retreat a
couple of weeks ago, the only departments that did not have a page were both
Procurement and Environmental Services.
She stated that this did not mean that they did not have anything that
was important but Environmental Services apparently had accomplished everything
already so there was nothing that they came up with that was incomplete at that
time; Procurement Services already has a number of things that they will be
working on as far as processes and improvements that will be advantageous for
the County.
RECESS
& REASSEMBLY
At
10:30 a.m., Commr. Hanson announced that the Board would be taking a ten minute
recess.
TAB
2 – GOALS FROM SENIOR MANAGEMENT RETREAT – JANUARY 13, 2006
Ms.
Hall stated that, at the Senior Management Retreat held on January 13, 2006,
staff came up with eight goals that would answer the question what do they want
Lake County to be in 25 years. She asked
the Board how they would like to proceed with these items, with it being noted
that, as suggested, they can discuss each one and decide what action they want
to take on the item.
A.
Lake County is a High Performance Organization
Ms.
Hall reviewed Lake County as a High Performance Organization and stated that it
is important that the internal service departments, such as Procurement,
Budget, IT, and Employee Services really make the organization as a whole
function well because, without those services and without them functioning
well, then the operating departments, such as Public Works and Public Safety,
cannot function well at all. They want
the energy of organization to come from within and radiate through the
organization. She stated that they want
it to be a very desirable place for people to work, so the people in the inside
are excited about working for
B.
Lake County is a Leader in Multi-jurisdictional Cooperation
Ms.
Hall stated that they have talked a lot about Lake County and their
relationships with not only the cities, but neighboring counties, and other
entities within the County, and staff feels that they are in the position, and they
are the ones that have the opportunity and perhaps the obligation, to be the
governmental entity that pulls everything together because they are
countywide. Their thinking is that they
want
The
Board members presented their feelings on this item, with staff noting that
this would involve asserting the role, but Commr. Stivender pointed out that it
needs to be done in a way that it does not appear that the County is trying to
take over but to assist and facilitate ideas and opportunities.
Ms.
Hall stated that staff may be able to look at this type of thing at their level
and bring back and brainstorm with the Board some ideas.
Commr.
Cadwell stated that there needs to be something to get the elected officials
together more often especially city officials and to get face to face with
them. He wants to meet with them on a
business level. Commr. Hill pointed out
that the League of Cities would like to have opportunities to meet face to face
with the Commissioners more often with some of it being issue driven, but with some
it on a little bit more of a social level.
Commr. Cadwell noted that there are other counties that have
inner-governmental councils, and he thinks they should look at other vehicles
that are out there. It was pointed out that the Commissioners do have
opportunities to meet with the League of Cities at their luncheons, which they
have all done in the past.
Commr
Hanson stated that, even though the cities are already doing this, there is so
much more the cities could accomplish if they were working with the counties
and vice versa noting that there are so many other things that they have
probably not even addressed, and that they could address, that would be
beneficial to the whole County.
Ms.
Hall stated that the City of
Commr.
Cadwell felt that, in her discussion with the managers, they need to have
agenda items or perhaps see if there is enough substance to do that; maybe they
could do the meetings regionally and advertise them as joint meetings; this
would allow for a little more structure and communication with the cities. Even
though these meetings may involve a lot of presentations, they need to make
sure they have some real items that they want to come to a consensus on.
It
was clarified that staff will set up a joint meeting with the City of
C.
The Economy of
Ms.
Hall stated that they have had a lot of discussion about the economy of
Mr.
Greg Mihalic, Director of Economic Development/Tourism, explained that a 50-50
optimum is the most productive balance;
Commr.
Cadwell stated that they need to be careful that they do not see more of a
trend toward the senior only communities, which the Board is seeing a great
deal of now and should give them some cause for concern.
Commr.
Stivender stated that she goes to the Chamber Alliance meetings, and Mr. Mihalic
goes to every one of them. She wanted to
let the Board know that Mr. Johnson has gotten this
Ms.
Hall pointed out that identifying and targeting industries might be something
that they want to consider putting some effort and resources behind and moving
forward to create a market for them, because right now the County is not a
market for many of the industries. She
explained that they have a transportation network that is conducive to doing
that; they would actually expand their program to come up with a target
industry program to market themselves and their community and create that
market and bring those industries into the County.
Commr.
Stivender pointed out, in doing that, they need to make sure that the zoning
and Comprehensive Plan and land use issues match or they will get in a
situation like
Commr.
Hill wanted to know if the Board could give some direction to the Economic
Development Council (EDC) on this aspect, because
Commr.
Cadwell explained that the EDC does a great job for the County, but they are a
big picture operation, and Ms. Hall clarified that she is talking about
narrowing their focus down to protect more resources locally and have that
person, or group, doing that just for Lake County. She stated that they will always communicate
with the EDC as to what they are doing in the County.
Commr.
Hanson stated that they have an opportunity for targeted industry, with one
being health care, the light industry that might go along with it, sports, the
environment, several that are already natural.
They have not promoted or targeted them, and the question is do they go
beyond the Job Incentive Program, which is very successful, and are they
willing to put together a plan and what is required to make that happen.
Commr.
Cadwell explained that, over the past few years, tourism and economic
development were joined together and now, especially with what they are doing
with tourism, he has never seen a more out front program than what they are
doing right now, and he is wondering if they are at a point where they need to
break those apart; he was never comfortable putting them together to start with
and, even though Mr. Mihalic has done a great job, tourism is growing, and now
he thinks they may need to look at two different groups, or two different
people, to handle these programs.
Commr.
Hanson stated that, as the Board works with the joint planning areas (JPAs)
with the cities, some cities already have a commerce park, but some do not and,
if they want to encourage those types of land uses in and around the cities,
they need to work with them in the JPAs because that is an important item.
Commr.
Pool explained that Wal-Mart had their “soft” opening yesterday in
Commr.
Hanson clarified that, when she mentioned health care, it was no health care per
say but more the technology, the manufacturing of those types of items that
might be light industry and, if they do not look at that, there will be an
imbalance and taxes will continue to go up because they will increase the
services that are required, as well as the level of service. If they are looking 25 years ahead, these are
some of the questions they need to be addressing.
Ms.
Hall stated that, if this item is a priority of the Board, staff will put some
thoughts together and come up with some ideas to really strengthen their
program for the economy.
Commr.
Hanson noted that
Commr.
Cadwell explained that Lake County was successful with the industrial park, so
they felt that it was their success and have not looked at moving past that and
now, with the Land Plan Amendments coming forward, and the staff’s idea on
targeting some of those industries and maybe doing business a different way, he
thinks they need to do them both pretty quick.
Mr.
Gregg Welstead, Deputy County Manager, stated that he and Ms. Carol Stricklin,
Director of Growth Management, have been talking about just that type of study,
and she has some experience in Orange County with industrial industry.
Ms.
Stricklin explained that, even though the Comprehensive Plan addresses acreage
in industrial, Orange County felt that they needed to identify the location of
those parcels, and the size of them, and determine if they are near the right
transportation routes and are served by utilities and determine what industries
need specific size parcels and really get down to a very specific level to
decide if they had the adequate sites to provide for those industries. In the old Comprehensive Plan, because they
simply had urban, suburban, and transition, they did not really set aside lands
for industrial. With the Comprehensive
Plan update that will have more specific categories, they will be able to set
aside specific lands, but the level of analysis that is needed probably is beyond
what they are doing with the Comprehensive Plan, and they would need a specific
study that looks at those targeted industries, because each industry is going
to have its own locational criteria.
Commr.
Stivender discussed having a countywide inventory of what is actually needed in
the County, and Mr. Mihalic explained that they had a property inventory system,
but the realtors would not keep it up to date; they did not want to remove the
land they had already leased or sold so it got dated and now they are referring
them to other regional databases and not specifically Lake County. They have to be located with a good
transportation system and zoned properly and they have to be business friendly,
and they have to know the population of the municipalities and cannot be just
the unincorporated area.
Commr.
Pool pointed out that, as you look at the transportation network, he feels that
the turnpike is the key corridor for these opportunities, and people can still
get to the Metro-Orlando area and north
Mr.
Mihalic noted that the City of
D.
Under
this item, Commr. Hanson asked staff to include water and perhaps a ferry as a
type of transportation; she noted that this was presented by myregion.org.
Mr.
Jim Stivender, Director of Public Works, stated he will be making a
presentation to the Board on Feb. 7, 2006 about the South Clermont Connector
and bringing that project to the Board for them to award.
E.
Social Services are Provided to Those in Need Throughout the Entire County
Ms.
Hall explained that staff felt it was important for social services to be
available to those in need throughout the County but not at the County’s
provision; that the social services would be provided through non-profit
organizations or other private sector organizations, but the County could take
a lead in facilitating them.
Commr.
Stivender stated that this is similar to the other one, with bringing
businesses into the County; they need to make sure that they have the land uses
for these types of opportunities, because that has been as struggle in the past,
to find an area where people can come in and conveniently put in affordable
complexes, i.e. affordable housing.
Commr.
Hanson stated that, when she was at myregion.org last week, they also mentioned
social capital as a term, not just for social services, but getting the
community involved more with solving the problems, and they also talked about
volunteerism and some of those items that actually become an asset and benefit to
the County. She noted that churches and
volunteers would be included in the list of those who could help with problem
solving in the County. The County has
come a long way on volunteerism, and Ms. Helena Osborne-Ponsi, Volunteer
Coordinator, has done an outstanding job with the program, and she continues to
work on it and has a lot of great ideas.
Commr.
Cadwell stated that one of the things that the Board needs to make sure of, as
it monitors those services, is that some of them are not as glamorous and not
so nice to do and, if there is nobody providing that service, then they need to
try and help somebody provide it or get into that business themselves.
Commr.
Hanson noted that there is a wonderful program, Human Care Network, that is
being provided through United Way and the Salvation Army, and it is faith based
but throughout the County and Sumter County, they are creating a network
working with churches and different centers to provide for not only food banks
but other needs, and it is a coordinated system that reaches some of those people
that the County is not able to reach and Mr. Fletcher Smith, Director of
Community Services, is really involved with it.
She is not sure where Affordable Housing works in but they need to be
looking not at just the placement of affordable housing but what makes a home
affordable and their policies and how they inhibit or help with this.
Commr.
Stivender stated that she raised the issue of affordable housing when they were
discussing impact fees, and she had asked staff to look at some type of extra credit
or discounts to help those people, because most people who work do not make
$60,000 or $70,000 a year and cannot afford a $200,000 house.
Mr.
Smith noted that the grant amounts were increased when the fees increased; Ms.
Stricklin explained that
Commr.
Cadwell stated that, when you pay that dollar amount, and you end up with all
of the affordable housing in one place, that creates the problem with the
credit and being able to buy your way out; it does not create a community like
you need to create and all of this needs to be reviewed for the Comprehensive
Plan.
F.
Ms.
Hall explained that, through the whole branding process, the environment of
Lake County was kind of a main thing that came up over and over again, and
everyone agreed that the preservation of environmental resources are critical.
Commr.
Hanson pointed out that they do not really have anything listed just for water
quality and quantity, and she thinks they should include the connectivity of
the trails, and the hiking, as well as the wildlife corridors.
G. Urban Development is Well Planned and Implemented
There
was a lot of discussion on urban development, as reported by Ms. Hall, and it
is happening not only in cities, but in the unincorporated areas. Their discussions were more geared towards
how they want, or do they want, urban development to be in the unincorporated
area. If they do want to allow for it,
then some of those items noted under G. would be those things that they would
want to put into place, to ensure that the urban development was well done
within the unincorporated areas. She
explained that utility services become kind of a critical issue as to whether
they are provided and who provides them in the unincorporated area or, if they
are provided by the cities, are they required to annex into the city at some
point in time, just as they are now. The
whole idea of public providers and wholesale agreements for water was brought
up by Carol Stricklin, Director of Growth Management, and Ms. Hall turned the
meeting over to her to talk about that idea.
Ms.
Stricklin explained that, if the Board wants to see urban levels of development
that would remain in the unincorporated area but in the past has not wanted the
County to become a utility provider, there are some other ways to approach that
whether it is private providers like in South Lake County or working with the
municipalities that have planned capacity, that would be willing, on a
wholesale basis, to provide water service, but the County or a private provider
is the retailer and distributes the service and collects the fees. The services are actually provided through
the County or through a franchise agreement with the County and, therefore,
annexation is not always a prerequisite for utility service.
Ms.
Hall referred to the last item, urban form is designed (outlined) by green
space and density and clustering is appealing, which is really how the layout
of how the current incorporated area would look as far as the defined green
space areas and defined areas where there would be housing of different
types. The green space definition would
be the first step as to defining where the development takes place.
Commr.
Hanson stated that she knows they have some areas of the County that are
urbanizing, perhaps not to the point of being cities but certainly villages,
and they are working with Mount Plymouth and Sorrento. She thanked the Board for their financial
commitment and staff commitment to continue the Mount Plymouth/Sorrento Study,
and their meeting last week was really very productive. She stated that there are other areas, Astor,
Ms.
Stricklin explained that there are parts of South Orange, the Orange Lake
Country Club area, that are served by City of
Commr.
Hanson stated that one of the concerns, as she found with Eustis providing the
service to Sorrento Springs, was that the price in many cases will go sky high
to the residents; they live in the County yet they get services from the City. There is no political relationship between
those citizens in the unincorporated area and the City, so it has created some
problems there.
Commr.
Pool explained that most cities have built a condition into their water rate
structure that, if it is out of the outline and shown on the unincorporated
area, they are allowed to charge 25% more for the water than what they charge a
city resident. He referred to The
Plantation, a unique scenario, and explained that it is located in rural
Commr.
Hanson stated that the difference in that example, The Plantation, they provide
the services, which is a different situation than a historic community that is
continuing to develop.
Commr.
Pool stated that he did not know if the Chairman was asking them if they want
to continue with that thought as they go forward, to allow or deny, but it is
something, if done correctly and is properly planned, that can be an asset to
the County.
Ms.
Stricklin did not feel that the question starts with the utility question; it
starts with the question at the end of the day as to whether, as they build
out, it is the vision that those urbanized areas will ultimately all be
centered within the city, or is there some vision that, where they develop in
urban ways, it is going to remain as a series of unincorporated communities,
whether they are self-contained, or historic villages, or new areas/new
villages.
Commr.
Cadwell felt that the answer to whether the Board wants all of those cities to
end up being in the city would be no, because he thinks there are some specific
areas; i.e.
Ms.
Stricklin pointed out that, if the answer is they do see urban development in
the unincorporated area, utilities is one of the big things that drives where
that occurs and how that occurs, and that is how they get to the utility
question.
Ms.
Hardy stated that the Water Alliance is moving forward very carefully and is
dedicated to only the study now, but the County actually does sit on what could
be the beginning of a regional utility authority.
Commr.
Cadwell stressed that they not leave this meeting with anybody thinking the
County wants to get into a regional utility authority, and the other Board
members were in agreement.
Ms.
Hardy stated that it is at least in a leadership role, and where there have
been needs in some villages, where there is a big need, they have been able to
use some things like rural agricultural development grants to provide some
things, so they occasionally are involved a little bit in this need.
Commr.
Stivender felt that the Board probably wanted to be a facilitator when there is
discussion about these issues and know what is going on but they do not want to
be in business.
Commr.
Hanson wanted to know if the Board wanted to talk about Mount Plymouth/Sorrento
and decide where they want to go from here.
Commr.
Cadwell stated that years ago the Board did a study and decided it was not going
to get in the utility business; they looked at it again about four years later
and again said they were not going to get in the utility business. Most of that discussion was all based on the
south end of the County where development was taking place and, at that point,
they said they were not going to get in that business. He explained that Commr. Hanson is talking
about traditional neighborhoods that have got some needs where the County may
end up being the provider in those neighborhoods.
Commr.
Hanson stated that the Comprehensive Plan said that the two areas at that point
that the County may want to consider were Astor and Mount Plymouth/Sorrento,
and that was 20 years ago. She is hoping
that the study will answer some of the questions, but she is not sure they have
enough time for the development that is going to go in there, and they may run
into a time crunch, so the Board may want to look at it even before then.
Ms.
Hall stated that she is hearing that the Board actually is amenable to this suggestion
that, in fact, there is the desire to have some urban-like neighborhoods in the
unincorporated areas and, if that means they need to look at ways to help
provide utilities in some way, that they can actually talk about how that might
be best to handle.
Commr.
Hill stated that she would like to have more discussion on this item before
they make any definite decision.
Ms.
Hall noted that more information on this item will be brought to the Board in a
workshop, and staff will keep the Board updated on the item addressed in the
letter from Chamber Alliance.
H.
Appearance of Lake County is Esthetically Pleasing and Well Designed
Under
Appearance of Lake County, Ms. Hall noted that this would include uniform
countywide design standards along major corridors, hopefully in cooperation
with municipalities. The goal would be
in 25 years, as people drive through
Commr.
Stivender stated that she thinks the Board members all want that but she wanted
to know how they would address all of the historical structures, etc., along
the corridors and whether they want to retrofit these things.
Commr.
Cadwell explained that Commr. Stivender was not talking about retrofitting the
County; she is talking about when new things happen and those buildings go away. He stated that the Board addressed this issue
in the sign ordinance, which is the only thing that the County has that may
even try to do this.
Mr.
Welstead stated that this would involve incentivizing businesses that are not
going to go away, to come up to those standards.
Commr.
Pool stated that the West Orange-South Lake Transportation Task Force tried to
figure out a complete overlay from Ocoee, Winter Garden, Oakland, Clermont and right
on through, to find out what kind of things they would like to see, and it was
a very nice presentation, but the business community did not want to invest, or
change anything, so the issue was dropped from their discussion. They even thought about, over a ten year
period, giving them some incentives, or some way to maintain tax levels where
dollars would be put back into that corridor without an expense to them but,
because they did not like the idea, they dropped it.
The
Board members felt this item needed to be addressed a little at a time, and to develop
a strategy very carefully.
C.
Economy of
Commr.
Hanson referred to Item C. Economy, and stated that agriculture needs to be
mentioned in there, and they need to look at ways to keep them in business
without selling their property.
TAB
3 a. - VISION STATEMENTS
Commr.
Hanson stated that, back in the Board’s original Vision for
Ms.
Hall referred to the Vision,
It
was noted that these were acceptable by the Board.
Tab
3 b. – Community Involvement Opportunities
Ms.
Kelly LaFollette, Information Outreach Manager, explained the idea that was
presented by Ms. Hall about a Speakers Bureau, which she stated would be a good
avenue to open the lines of communication and get the word out to the public on
certain topics. They want to look at
developing a Lake County Speakers Bureau, which would be comprised of select
employees; there would be a catalog of speakers and topics that certain civic
groups could choose from; they would try to require a two weeks notice; these
will be canned speeches; there will be an online catalog that would be updated
and maintained with the latest topics; they are looking at a minimum size of
eight people; it would be free of charge; and it would accessible to anyone in
the County. She will be working with the
departments to select these people, and to determine certain topics that people
will find interesting. In terms of
overtime for employees, Ms. LaFollette explained that staff will address this
issue, but most of the people would probably be exempt employees that would not
get paid overtime. She noted that Chris
Patton will be marketing the program, and they will be advertising it on line
and will be sending out news releases to try to build the awareness of it. She noted that, to the credit of Community
Services, Library Services has a program as such and staff will be joining the programs
together and will be using their resources as well; they have speakers already
in place.
Commr.
Cadwell pointed out that the Board needs to be involved more with some of the
holiday activities, and he would like the Information Outreach Department to
research these activities, because he feels that the Board needs to participate
on a higher level at events such as Martin Luther King Day.
Ms.
LaFollette explained that staff tries to help coordinate these events with the
cities and their marketing, and Mr. Patton tries to promote them, because he
has those media contacts.
Mr.
Mihalic stated that Economic Development/Tourism prints for those non-profit
activities right now, and they did Martin Luther King Day, but they do not do their
graphic designs.
The
Board felt that the County needs to make this offer to those entities for
national holiday events, and to be a little more pro-active and select those
that they would like to help with if they do not come to the County. Ms. LaFollette noted that the County has
offered its services in many instances and can work to build those
relationships.
Under
this item, Ms. Hall stated that she wanted to mention that, as part of the
fundraising policy, Community Services came to her and the Employee Advisory Committee
and requested that they have a fundraiser for the Boundless Playground, and the
Committee unanimously passed that request. She noted that this process has been
working very well.
Tab
3 c. Citizens Committees – Environmental Protection and Ag Committee
Ms.
Hall stated that staff wanted to get some feedback from the Board on two
different committees; one is the Agricultural Advisory Committee, which is not
active at this time and does not need to move forward at this time. The Board directed staff to move forward the
Environmental Protection Board and pointed out that, on Pages 40-42, it
outlines the Purpose, Duties, and Membership of that Board. Staff wanted to know if this was the makeup
that the Board is interested in moving forward with for that advisory board and
whether it would be a good idea to revise some of those responsibilities. It was clarified that this would be an
advisory board, not an enforcement board.
Discussion
occurred regarding possible revisions because of the land acquisition process,
with Commr. Hanson explained that the Environmental Protection Board became
nonfunctional mostly because of its makeup; she would rather not have each of
these necessarily designated but leave it up to the Commissioners to appoint a
couple of members from the community.
Commr.
Cadwell explained the importance of having specific designations from specific
professions or agencies, and Commr. Hanson noted that they were good to have
but the others could be ex-officio members. Ms. Hardy explained that, when they
were restructuring the committee, staff asked them to create a Technical
Advisory Committee, so they have access to that expertise.
Staff was directed to revise
the Environmental Protection Board, to have four at-large members; and one individual
from each district to be brought forth by the District Commissioner; for a total
of nine members.
Discussion
occurred regarding issues that developed with the Agricultural Advisory
Committee, with the Board asking staff to keep the line of communication open
with agriculture agencies and individuals involved in agriculture, and to stay
in contact with the
Tab
3. d. Naming Policy
The
Naming Policy was sent out to the Board for consideration, and Ms. Hall stated
that, even though it is not in a policy format, it does have the elements of a
policy and, as they are building parks and buildings and getting into more of
an infrastructure program, staff would like to have some type of policy in
place that they can answer requests or questions about how buildings, parks,
etc. would be named. She noted that this
information was pulled from a number of sources and compiled as something that
might work for them, and she is asking for any changes or direction on how to
proceed with this idea.
Commr.
Stivender referred to the request that has been made from Ferndale Preserve,
which she has sent on to the
Ms.
Hall explained that it does require having additional signatures on a petition,
which she did receive with the Ferndale Preserve request, and it requires that
the person who it is named after has some relationship to the thing, i.e. a
park activist, or something that would tie the name to the facility. In that particular case, the gentleman was
tied to education, so she did not know if that would fit real well into this
particular policy; it might be more suitable for a school.
After
some discussion, it was clarified that this will be a Board policy, and they will
have the final vote. Staff was directed
to put together a formal Policy for Naming Facilities, with the information
brought forth today, and to bring it forward to the Board.
Commr.
Stivender addressed signage, and Ms. LaFollette explained that it will be in
the Standards Manual that is being developed and distributed with the new logo
and will include how to use it; and there is a section on signage. This has been discussed with Public Works and
they are in agreement. She noted that
they were actually looking at just the visual aspect but they can add that
component, the distance from right-of-way, etc.
RECESS
& REASSEMBLY
At
12:10 p.m., Commr. Hanson announced that the Board will take a 15 minute
recess.
DOWNTOWN
PARKING GARAGE
Commr.
Hanson stated that the last item is not on the agenda, but it has been asked
that the Board bring up for discussion the parking and downtown facility.
Ms.
Hall explained that, in November, the Board gave staff direction to have their
architect develop a conceptual design for two locations for the parking garage
and that has been taking place, and it is an item that staff will be bringing
back to the Board on February 16, 2006 in a workshop. The two locations include the block directly
across the street from the
Commr.
Stivender stated that a couple of years ago the Lake Region property was
available and she brought it forward for discussion, but the newspaper reported
negatively about her for talking to the City of Tavares, because the City
wanted to maintain their tax base and have retail but that was not part of
their overall development plan. The
Board decided, at that time, to discuss something like a public/private partnership
with the City, and through discussions, they looked at the whole site, which
included the two smaller parcels on the north side of Ruby Street that are owned
by Lake Region. She did not know if any
drawings were ever done to determine whether those two smaller parcels would
accommodate their parking needs, or if they were even available for purchase,
but the city administrator was okay with the scenario, as long as it did not
include the larger
Mr.
Bannon explained that the architects are producing designs for the two sites
that were suggested at the November meeting, the block across the street from
the
Commr.
Cadwell felt that, if they are not able to come to any conclusion on the site
across the street from the
Commr.
Hill explained that the Tax Collector and Property Appraiser have given them
sort of a space perimeter that they would need and number of parking spaces,
and she wanted to know if they could add a level garage onto that building,
perhaps a lower floor garage and that would take care of their parking needs.
Mr.
Bannon stated that, at the moment, it is a building with two options; one
option is that it can be designed directly on the footprint that the County
already owns. If that is an issue, then you
would have to make it three levels, with parking on the lower level that would
be exclusively for the needs of the Property Appraiser and Tax Collector.
Commr.
Hill explained that the needs for those offices, the Tax Collector and Property
Appraiser, are an in-out type of operation for only a limited time, but it is
high volume.
Mr.
Bannon stated that he would want to ask for comments from the Tax Collector and
Property Appraiser about that idea. They
have both instructed him and indicated that they like the idea of coming
directly off the street and not having to rise up a level because of their clientele. The first level would be parking; the second
level would be their lobby and service; the third level would be more office.
Commr.
Hill explained that those offices serve a number of people with disabilities,
and there may be enough space on the County owned property, but she did not
think they would be able to get 60 spaces on that property.
Mr.
Bannon noted that the footprint that they have at this time is not going to
accommodate the parking needs of the Tax Collector and Property Appraiser; it
is just their building.
Commr.
Cadwell stated that, when he met with Mr. Bannon, his idea was to break it into
maybe even three small parking garages, but it would be cost prohibited to do
that; at least this gives them another option to look at including a smaller
garage perhaps on part of this footprint,
if the original option is not available.
Mr.
Bannon explained that the projected need of the County is around 900 to 1,000
spaces, but the study has not been completed.
To meet their parking needs, they would need six levels of parking,
which is basically the height of the existing
Commr.
Pool stated that the two parking lot idea may be the right one, if they can do
it and still be able to build the expansion to the judicial facility, even
though he does not know the cost effectiveness of doing them on a smaller scale.
Mr.
Bannon stated that obviously Mr. James C. Watkins, Clerk of Circuit Court, and the
Honorable Don Briggs, Administrative Judge, would have comments about that idea
as well. Their issue would definitely be
curtailing future growth of the judicial facility.
Commr.
Hill addressed the parcel noted as #10 shown on the map, the old health
department building, and asked if the Sheriff would be opposed to building his
office on that site and doing something similar to what is being proposed for
the Property Appraiser and Tax Collector across the street.
Commr.
Cadwell stated that the idea of getting the Sheriff out of his current building
was to get those cars out of that area, because it will compile their parking
problem if they leave him downtown.
Mr.
Bannon noted that he has not had a conversation with the Sheriff about putting
an office at the site that Commr. Hill has suggested.
Commr.
Cadwell stated that the two original options plus the one they are talking
about today gives them three options, and he feels that this is as far out as
he would like to go in developing a plan. He hopes at the end of the day they are able
to do what they originally wanted to do across the street from the
Administration Building; if not, they need to have some realistic options and
that is the reason he brought these other options forward. He hopes that staff will continue to work on
the number one choice, the property across the street.
Commr.
Stivender stated that she does not want the project to get slowed down. She went with Ms. Hall and Mr. Bannon when
they met with Judge Briggs and Mr. Watkins and others and that was their main
point; do not slow it down no matter what they do; the County has to get it
done so they can start on the judicial facility expansion.
Commr.
Cadwell wanted to know if everybody was agreeable to let staff analyze these
proposed options but knowing that the first site is still their first choice
and that they hope that is where their efforts are going.
Mr.
Bannon stated that the architects will be presenting to them the schematic
design and numbers associated with what they are doing here on February 16,
2006.
Ms.
Hall clarified that they are going to look at 500 spaces in the top right hand
corner that the County currently owns of the judicial facility; and the other one,
which is kind of an “L” shape around their current buildings.
Mr.
Bannon stated that they may need to expand a little bit into some of this
surface parking that is presently there, which is not in their ownership. This is the area that Commr. Stivender has
referred to as the Legion Region parcel.
When staff comes back they will show them those options.
Commr. Pool asked that Mr. Bannon scale out the 500 car
parking garage for them so that they can see how much it takes up of that right
hand corner of the judicial facility site.
OTHER
BUSINESS
ZONING
HEARING PROCEDURES
Commr. Cadwell stated that, after the rezoning hearing the
other night and, after watching staff struggle with what they were doing at the
end of a long day, and with that being probably their most important case, it
was eight o’clock at night, and the Board was making intricate changes; in his
opinion, it was not a good way to do business.
He would like to have staff look at ways they can do a better job in the
planning process for their meetings; not the way the meeting was run, but to
look at something different for zoning hearings. Some counties take items and create a consent
agenda for zoning cases, and he feels that some of the cases on the last agenda
could have qualified as a consent agenda.
As they are making those changes and trying to negotiate and make
everybody understand those changes, they need to have a process where they will
automatically take a break before they actually vote, so they all understand
the changes, and to give staff time to get the information in order. He suggested letting the current staff come
up with some policies and bring them to the Board so they can do their job
better in regards to those types of cases.
Commr.
Hanson stated that both of those are very good recommendations, and she also
thought that having the actual language written down to approve was very
helpful to the Board.
Commr.
Cadwell stated that there are other ways, and Mr. Minkoff’s office will need to
be involved, to hold those public hearings and make sure everybody’s rights are
reserved.
COMMISSIONERS
Commr.
Stivender informed the Board that she may not be present for the zoning meeting
in March. The only case that is hers is
the County’s case, the fire department zoning in
ADJOURNMENT
There
being no further business to be brought to the attention of the Board, the
meeting adjourned at 12:48 p.m.
__________________________________
CATHERINE C. HANSON, CHAIRMAN
ATTEST:
__________________________
JAMES
C. WATKINS, CLERK