A
REGULAR MEETING OF THE BOARD OF
FEBRUARY
19, 2008
The
Lake County Board of
INVOCATION
AND PLEDGE
Reverend
William Tyson, Union Congregational Church, gave the Invocation and led the
Pledge of Allegiance.
AGENDA
UPDATE
Ms.
Cindy Hall, County Manager, stated that they had an Addendum 1, which was a
public hearing on the Keg Registration Ordinance, and she also wanted to pull
Tab 24, a presentation regarding child obesity, because they were not quite
ready to bring that forward yet, as well as Tab 21 on the Consent Agenda, since
they were still working on that one.
Commr.
Cadwell stated that they would hear the Addendum 1 under Public Hearings after
Tab 33.
Commr.
Hill stated that she would like to add to her business a discussion regarding
Niagra Bottling Company.
MINUTE
APPROVAL
On a motion by Commr. Stewart,
seconded by Commr. Stivender and carried unanimously, by a 5-0 vote, the Board
approved the Minutes of January 18, 2008 (Special Meeting – Goals Retreat), as
presented and January 22, 2008 (Regular Meeting), as presented.
CLERK OF COURTS’ CONSENT AGENDA
On
a motion by Commr. Stivender, seconded by Commr. Hill and carried unanimously,
by a 5-0 vote, the Board approved the Clerk of Courts’ Consent Agenda, Tab 2,
Items 1 through 6, as follows:
List
of Warrants
Request
to acknowledge receipt of list of
warrants paid prior to this meeting, pursuant to Chapter 136.06 (1) of the
Florida Statutes, which shall be incorporated into the Minutes as attached
Exhibit A and filed in the Board Support Division of the Clerk's Office.
Transfer
of Funds and Unclaimed Excess Proceeds for Tax Deeds
Request to transfer funds from Clerk’s
account to Board of County Commissioners’ account and acknowledge receipt of
Unclaimed excess proceeds for tax deeds totaling $21,407.42
Properties
Placed on Lands Available List
Property placed on the Lands
Available List -
Ordinances
from City of
Request to acknowledge receipt of
copy of Ordinance No. 2007-968 from the City of Mount Dora, annexing property
generally located on State Road 44, North of US Highway 441, Mount Dora,
comprising 38.78 acres more or less, contiguous to the City of Mount Dora and
being annexed in accordance with the voluntary annexation provisions of Section
171.044, Florida Statutes, along with cover letter dated January 16, 2008
conveying said ordinance.
Ordinances from City of
Request
to acknowledge receipt of City of
Ordinance
No. 08-02, Florida Fruit Company Annexation, annexing certain real property
consisting of approximately 80 acres and being generally located south of C.R.
48 and east of Number Two Road, lying in Section 20, Township 20 South, Range
25 East, Lake County, Florida.
Ordinance No. 08-05, Hawthorne Residential Coop Association Annexation, annexing certain real property consisting of approximately 68 acres and being generally located north of County Road 48 and East of U.S. Hwy 27, lying in Sections 13 and 14, Township 20 South, Range 24 East, Lake County, Florida.
Ordinances from
Town of
Request to acknowledge receipt of Ordinances from the Town of Lady Lake, as follows:
Ordinance
No. 2007-37, voluntarily annexing property being approximately 9 acres of land
owned by A F Properties LTD et al, located west of Summit Street and north of
Anderson Lane into the corporate limits of the Town of Lady Lake.
Ordinance No. 2007-38, pertaining to
comprehensive planning in the Town of Lady Lake, amending the Town of Lady Lake
Ordinance No. 81-8-(83), which established the Town of Lady Lake Comprehensive
Plan, providing for small scale Future Land Use Map Amendment.
Ordinance No. 2007-39, redesignating
Zoning Classification for certain property owned by A F Properties LTD et al,
located within the town limits of the Town of Lady Lake, rezoning subject
property located west of Summit Street and north of Anderson Lane from Lake
County Agriculture to Lady Lake Mixed Residential Medium Density (MX-8).
Ordinance No. 207-41, amending
Chapter 5 of the Lady Lake Land Development Regulations, providing a new zoning
classification to allow for one dwelling unit per acre Residential Land
Designation referred to as Single Family Very Low Density Residential (RS-1).
On
a motion by Commr. Stivender, seconded by Commr. Hill and carried unanimously,
by a 5-0 vote, the Board approved the
Budget
Request for approval of the following Budget Change
Requests:
1. Budget transfer - Stormwater Management -
Roads MSTU Fund, Department of Public Works, Road Operations Division. Transfer
$135,430 from Contractual Services to Roads. The
2. Budget transfer - Stormwater Management -
Stormwater MSTU Fund, Department of Public Works, Engineering Division,
Stormwater Section. Transfer $7,955,977 from Professional Services, Land, and
Improvements to various project accounts. This budget change request will set
up project accounting in the Stormwater MSTU for Fiscal Year 2008 retroactive
to October 1, 2007. All Stormwater paid expenses, current encumbrances and
upcoming needs for Fiscal Year 2008 will be placed into project accounts. The
Community
Services
Request
for approval of funding of the Lake County Shared Services Network in the
amount of $25,000 for FY 2007/08. Funding will be taken from the Crime
Prevention Fund established by the County pursuant to F.S. 775.083(2).
Request for approval of the transportation Standard
Coordinator Contract between the Lake County Board of
Request for approval of the transportation Standard Coordinator
Contract between the Lake County Board of
Request for approval of the transportation Standard
Coordinator Contract between the Lake County Board of
Request for approval of the
transportation Standard Coordinator Contract between the Lake County Board of
Request for approval of the
transportation Standard Coordinator Contract between the Lake County Board of
Growth Management
Request for approval of Satisfaction
& Release of Fine Property Owner: Dennis L. & Viola W. Stevens, Code
Case# 2004010009 - Commission District 5.
Request for approval of Satisfaction
& Release of Fine Property Owner: Eric Lee Porter, Code Case# 2005090202 -
Commission District 5.
Procurement
Request for approval to (1) declare
the items on the attached list surplus to County needs, (2) authorize the
removal of all of the items on the attached list from the County’s official
fixed asset inventory system records, and (3) authorize the Procurement
Services Director to sign vehicle titles.
Request
for approval to award ITB# 08-0808 for two (2) each Cab/Chassis with 60K Roll
Off Hoist to Freightliner of Tampa in the amount of $220,924.00.
Request
for approval to award the second low bidder, Wagner 3 Ventures, Inc., in the
amount of $96,428.97 and an Owner's Contingency of $4,821.45 to be used at the
discretion of the Director of Capital Construction - Commission District 3.
Public
Works
Request
for approval and authorization for Chairman to execute satisfaction of the lien
for one road assessment. Commission
District 5.
Request
for authorization to release a letter of credit in the amount of $52,586.00
posted for Meadows at Sunnyside. Meadows at Sunnyside consists of 38 lots and
is located in Section 30, Township 19 South, Range 25 East. Commission District
1.
Request
for authorization to execute Resolution No. 2008-21, accepting
Request
for authorization to release a letter of credit for maintenance in the amount
of $8,733.00 posted for Homestead Hills. Homestead Hills consists of 11 lots
and is located in Section 1, Township 19 South, Range 26 East. Commission
District 4.
Request
for approval of the City of
Request
for approval to write off Special Assessment balance principal plus accrued
interest in the amount of $32.52 and approval to execute and record a Satisfaction
of Lien. Commission District 2.
Commr.
Renick stated that she would like to pull Tab 23 for discussion.
On
a motion by Commr. Stivender, seconded by Commr. Hill and carried unanimously
by a vote of 5-0, the Board approved Tab 22 of the
Commr.
Cadwell asked if the discussion for Tab 23 would be short or if she would like to
do it under her business.
She
replied that they should wait and do it under her business.
COMMUNITY
SERVICES
CONSULTING
FIRM FOR JAIL AND JUSTICE SYSTEM ASSESSMENT
Mr.
Fletcher Smith, Department of Community Services Director, explained that this
agenda item was to recommend to the Board and the National Institute of
Corrections a consultant to work with Lake County to complete the Jail and
Justice System Assessment. He stated
that back in May, they brought this to the Board to recommend from the Public
Safety Coordinating Council (PSCC) that they do this assessment that would look
at the judicial system from the very beginning from the point of arrest as each
case worked its way through the system to see if there were deferral types of
programs to reduce the number of people that were in jail. He related that they were going to be working
on a grant with LifeStream to look at doing a planning grant to perhaps
establish mental health court. He
summarized that this study would look at the system as a whole to see if there
were ways that they could streamline the process to reduce the overcrowding in
jail. He reported that the subcommittee
was made up of Mr. Howard Babb, Public Defender; Mr. Mike Stone, Chair of the PSCC;
Mr. Tony Deaton, Director, Lake County Probation Office; Ms. Susan Berg, Court
Administrators Office; and Major David Mass, Lake County Sheriff’s Office, and
that they recommended two consultants, Mr. Kevin Warwick and Mr. Mark Goldman. He specified that Mr. Warwick was chosen
because of his focus when he did a study, including looking at alternative
programs to incarceration, whereas most of the other consultants focused more
on the facility end of corrections.
On
a motion by Commr. Hill, seconded by Commr. Stivender and carried unanimously
by a vote of 5-0, the Board approved Tab 28, the request from Community
Services for endorsement of the recommendation from the Public Safety
Coordinating Council regarding the consulting firm selected to complete the
Lake County Jail and Justice System Assessment of Mr. Kevin Warwick, and if he
was unavailable or if there was a problem, to go with the second choice of Mr.
Mark Goldman.
PRESENTATION
SUPPORT
AND SERVICES PROVIDED BY WE CARE
Mr.
Fletcher Smith stated that he asked Ms. Andrea Payne, Executive Director, We
Care of Lake County, to do a very brief status report on the first quarter of
work that We Care had done in
Ms.
Payne reported that they have had 167 people referred to them needing We Care
services, and they were able to place 58 of those and had 58 currently waiting;
the remaining 51 were either deemed ineligible for their program, they found
other insurance, or their problem was resolved.
She specified that in the first quarter, they were able to generate
almost $700,000 worth of value of services, and she compared this to last
year’s total of $811,325, which showed that they had seen significantly more
patients and have been able to provide significantly more service this
year. She explained that one of the
reasons for this was that they had more physicians who were volunteering with
them, but commented that they still needed more to be able to see people who
were still waiting and to lighten the load of those physicians who were already
volunteering. She related stories of
some of the people that they had been able to help. She commented that there were a lot of
working poor residents who would take care of their families and their health
if they had health insurance and money to do it and that the We Care program
was seeking more volunteer physicians to be able to take care of more people.
Commr.
Cadwell stated that they could perhaps write a letter as a Board to the medical
society to appeal to them for volunteer physicians. He also mentioned that he appreciated her
efforts to help those people who needed it.
COMMUNITY
SERVICES
MEDICAID
NON-EMERGENCY TRANSPORTATION AGREEMENT
Mr.
Ken Harley, Public Transportation Director, stated that this was another
amendment with the Commission for the Transportation Disadvantaged for their
Medicaid funds and mentioned that their Medicaid funds had been on a roller
coaster ride this year. He specified
that the funds started off at $84,000 per month; then it was reduced down to
$56,000 per month from September through December, and then in January through
June, it was supposed to be $39,000 a month.
However, he related that was going to be changed again, so they would be
coming back with another amendment, because they had gotten those funds
restored back to the full amount starting on March 1. He explained that this agreement was to have
a reduction in their payments from $84,000 to $56,000 per month from September
through December and allowed them to bill Medicaid for over $200,000 for those
few months.
On
a motion by Commr. Stivender, seconded by Commr. Renick and carried
unanimously, by a vote of 5-0, the Board approved Tab 26, the request from
Community Services for approval of the Medicaid Non-Emergency Transportation
Agreement No. 4 between the Lake County Board of
Commr.
Stivender thanked Mr. Harley for his hard work which resulted in getting those
funds from the State.
MINI-GRANT
FOR COMMUNITIES FOR LIFETIME RELATED PROJECTS
Ms.
Allison Thall, Citizens Support Services Director, addressed the Board regarding
a mini-grant that they had applied for and explained that they were seeking
retroactive approval of a Communities for a LifeTime grant through the
Department of Elder Affairs. She
reported that there was a little bit of money that was available for them to
apply for, and they decided to work with their Community Health Worker Outreach
Program to develop a specialized bi-lingual flip directory which had English on
one side and Spanish on the other. She
noted that this would target the low-income, low literacy, and low
socio-economic seniors and would specifically include all human service
information to help them locate services or programs. She also mentioned that they would use the
Community Health Worker staff to help with translation purposes. She related that the grant funds, which would
probably be somewhere between $3,000 and $5,000 would be specifically for
publication purposes. She also pointed
out that there was no match for this grant and that it was nonrecurring.
On
a motion by Commr. Stewart, seconded by Commr. Stivender and carried
unanimously by a vote of 5-0, the Board approved Tab 27, the request from
Community Services for retroactive approval for application for the Department
of Elder Affairs nonrecurring mini-grant for Communities for a LifeTime related
projects.
FACILITIES
DEVELOPMENT AND MANAGEMENT
RE-ROUTING
OF EXISTING PHONE, FIBER, AND CONDUIT LINES –
Mr.
Jim Bannon, Facilities Development and Management Director, mentioned that they
were abandoning
On
a motion by Commr. Hill, seconded by Commr. Stivender and carried unanimously
by a vote of 5-0, the Board approved Tab 29, the request to approve the
re-routing of existing phone, fiber, and conduit lines located under Maud
Street.
GROWTH
MANAGEMENT
DETERMINATION
REGARDING PREPAID IMPACT FEE REFUND APPEAL
Ms.
Angie Thompson, Impact Fee Coordinator, explained that Tab 30 was an appeal of
a denial of a request for refund of prepaid impact fees and that Mr. Russ
Hutton, the person requesting the refund, prepaid for a lot within the City of
Commr.
Hill stated that they just approved a new ordinance and inquired whether this
kind of situation was addressed.
Mr.
Sandy Minkoff,
Mr.
Steven Macek of Macek Enterprises, Inc., addressed the Board to point out that
he was not asking for a refund, but just the ability to use the funds for
another building project in
Commr.
Renick pointed out that the impact fee payment certificate stated that prepaid
impact fees could not be refunded and that the applicant assumed a certain risk
when they prepaid them, but that she was torn about this situation, since he
was not able to build on his present site.
Commr.
Cadwell commented that if the County took some type of action that caused them
not to be able to use their property, then it might be a different
situation. He stated that this was
because of an action by the City of
Mr.
Macek added that the only reason he came before the Board was because he was
impacted by the decision of the City of
Mr.
Minkoff explained that when someone did a prepayment, they were buying an
option at that point, and in this case he took advantage of a lower school
impact fee. He also stated that was why
it was clear that it was not intended to be refunded, and in order to take
advantage of the lower fee, they needed to make sure they had all their ducks
in a row before they prepaid it.
Commr.
Cadwell stated that he agreed with staff on this one, and he thought they
needed to uphold staff’s recommendation.
On
a motion by Commr. Hill, seconded by Commr. Renick and carried unanimously by a
vote of 5-0, the Board moved to uphold staff’s recommendation, which was to
deny the impact fee refund request.
INTERLOCAL
AGREEMENT WITH MUNICIPALITIES REGARDING IMPACT
FEES
Ms.
Thompson explained that this item had to do with the interlocal agreements that
had gone out to all the municipalities as a result of the ordinance that the
Board passed in December, and they were asking for Board approval to allow the
County Manager or her designee to sign these agreements when they came in so
they did not have to bring each individual agreement back to the Board.
On
a motion by Commr. Stivender, seconded by Commr. Hill and carried unanimously
by a vote of 5-0, the Board approved Tab 31, a standard Interlocal Agreement
between the Lake County Board of
PROCUREMENT
ENGINEERING
SERVICES CONTRACT FOR STORMWATER IMPROVEMENTS
Mr.
Barnett Schwartzman, Procurement Services Director, explained that this was a
routine award for engineering services and was a one time contract. He related that the award was being
recommended to the highest ranked bidder, with whom they negotiated a price
they considered fair and reasonable. He
pointed out that this was only a departmental item because of the dollar value,
and he recommended approval.
On
a motion by Commr. Stivender, seconded by Commr. Stewart and carried unanimously
by a vote of 5-0, the Board moved to award and execute the contract with Dyer,
Riddle, Mills & Precourt, Inc. for engineering services for Lake Eustis
Drive/Lakeshore Drive Stormwater Improvements in the amount of $172,981.00.
PUBLIC
HEARINGS
MT.
PLYMOUTH-SORRENTO PLANNING ADVISORY COMMITTEE
ORDINANCE
Mr.
Sandy Minkoff,
AN
ORDINANCE OF THE BOARD OF COUNTY COMMISSIONERS OF LAKE COUNTY, FLORIDA,
AMENDING LAKE COUNTY CODE CHAPTER 2, ARTICLE IV, DIVISION 14, ENTITLED “MT.
PLYMOUTH-SORRENTO PLANNING ADVISORY COMMITTEE;” AMENDING THE FUNCTIONS, POWERS,
AND DUTIES TO PROVIDE FOR A NARROWER FOCUS AND ASSISTANCE WITH CREATION OF LAND
DEVELOPMENT REGULATIONS; AMENDING THE MEMBERSHIP TO PROVIDE FOR SEVEN MEMBERS
SERVING TWO YEAR TERMS; AMENDING THE PROCEDURES TO ALLOW FOR QUARTERLY
MEETINGS; AMENDING THE SUNSET PROVISION TO ALLOW FOR TERMINATION OF THE
COMMITTEE BY FORMAL ACTION OF THE BOARD OF COUNTY COMMISSIONERS AT ANY
TIME; PROVIDING FOR INCLUSION IN THE
CODE; PROVIDING FOR TRANSITION; PROVIDING FOR SEVERABILITY; AND PROVIDING FOR
AN EFFECTIVE DATE.
The
Chairman opened the public hearing.
There
being no one who wished to address the Board, the Chairman closed the public
hearing.
On
a motion by Commr. Stewart, seconded by Commr. Renick and carried unanimously
by a vote of 5-0, the Board approved Ordinance No. 2008-8, changing and clarifying
the role of the Mt. Plymouth-Sorrento Planning Advisory Committee.
ADDENDUM
NO. 1-I
KEG
REGISTRATION ORDINANCE
Mr.
Sandy Minkoff,
AN
ORDINANCE OF THE BOARD OF COUNTY COMMISSIONERS OF LAKE COUNTY, FLORIDA,
CREATING SECTION 3-7, LAKE COUNTY CODE, ENTITLED KEG REGISTRATION; PROVIDING
FOR COUNTWIDE APPLICATION; PROVIDING FOR DEFINITIONS; PROVIDING FOR DUTIES OF
THE VENDOR; PROVIDING FOR DUTIES OF THE CLERK OF COURTS; PROVIDING FOR GENERAL
REGULATIONS; PROVIDING FOR PENALTIES; PROVIDING FOR INCLUSION IN THE CODE;
PROVIDING FOR SEVERABILITY; AND PROVIDING FOR AN EFFECTIVE DATE.
Mr.
Minkoff noted that Ms. Kimberly Williams, Assistant County Attorney, sent the
Board two proposed changes to the ordinance, which staff would like to have
considered if they elected to go forward with this today.
Commr.
Stivender commented that she had worked with all the agencies on getting this
started, and it did go to the State, but not passed by them. She thought that even if it saved one or two
lives, they needed to try it.
Commr.
Cadwell stated that they wanted to do what they could, but if there was a large
problem in the County of parents buying alcohol for their underage children,
they had a lot bigger problem than what a keg ordinance was going to cure.
The
Chairman opened the public hearing.
Ms.
Debi MacIntyre from the Safe Climate Coalition, stated that keg parties were
used in
Sergeant
George Delahoz from the Florida Highway Patrol stated that in the last five
years in
Captain
Leroy Oliver with the Lake County Sheriff’s Office addressed the Board to show
support for the Keg Registration Ordinance, and stated that he had been a law
enforcement officer in
Mr.
Bob Whitworth, Chaplain and Victim Advocate for the Lake County Sheriff’s
Office, stated that he had to give death notifications too many times about the
juveniles in the County who had died in an automobile accident because of
alcohol, and each time he had seen the pain that was etched and would be
forever etched on the faces of the parents.
He commented that the fact that the fatality was caused by alcohol adds
to that pain. He hoped that the County
would be far-sighted enough to do everything they could to prevent that, and he
thought that this legislation could have a positive impact in the County.
Ms.
Rebecca Oden, Special Agent with the Division of Alcoholic Beverages and
Tobacco and the Department of Business and Professional Regulation, explained
that her job was to enforce the state statutes as well as county and city
ordinances that were passed in regard to alcohol and tobacco laws within the
State. She related that she had seen
that kegs were a large supply of cheap alcohol for any individual that wished
to purchase it. She reported that the
Pacific Institute for Research and Evaluation put out what they considered the
regulatory strategies for preventing youth access to alcohol and what they
called best practices, and one of their recommendations was that a keg
registration be in place to allow the tracking of the keg. She specified that the average number of kegs
sold in
Ms.
Kyleen Fischer, District 5 Representative for the Lake County School Board and
Advocate for the Shared Services Network of Lake County, opined that they had a
very vibrant education system in
Ms.
Delrita Guzman, Upward Bound Program Manager at Lake Sumter Community College,
stated that her students had talked about the impact this ordinance would have
on their youth, and there were student supporters in Lake County from Tavares
High School and pre-college program participants of Upward Bound that were
preparing for a post-secondary institution that would be speaking in support of
this ordinance.
Mr.
Christopher Stepp from
Ms.
Janice Icker stated that aside from the fact that underage drinking was
illegal, it was a high risk to both individual and society. Ms. Erin Crowe reported that drinking and
driving was the leading cause of death among youth from the ages of 15 to 20,
and in one study, 37 percent of eighth grade females who drank heavily reported
attempting suicide. Ms. Icker added that
approximately 10 percent of female high school students had been raped from the
drinking of alcohol.
Ms.
Katelyn Crowe suggested that they start tagging kegs and limiting the number
per store or per distributor or raise the prices. She noticed from working in a grocery store
that the price of beer had not risen as much as the groceries had, and she
thought that the higher the price, the less consumption and alcohol-related
problems they would have. Ms. Christine
Primeau commented that she believed it was very important for teenagers to
support this ordinance, and teens who drank were different from adults who drank. She cited research which showed that teens
were more likely to drink a lot in a small amount of time and that teens also
seemed to be able to stay awake and drink longer than adults. Also, she reported that adolescents needed to
drink only half as much as adults to suffer the affects of alcohol. She commented that this ordinance would
affect underage drinking, making it more difficult for teens to access alcohol,
and was why they supported it.
Mr.
Daniel Hernandez told a true story regarding a keg that was purchased for a
cousin’s party, which resulted in teens getting out of control and
fighting. This resulted in someone
pulling a knife, ending in three deaths and an injury. He believed that this could have been
prevented if an adult was responsible enough to know not to purchase the keg.
Ms.
Amanda Clements thanked the Board for letting them come before them and
commented that they were tomorrow’s future.
She pointed out that if people were dying because of drunk driving and alcohol
consumption, they should try and prevent it.
She related that many students would not sign the petitions supporting
the ordinance, which she believed was an indicator of how many of those
students drank.
Mr.
Steven Stubbs, a senior at
Ms.
Laura Dean Mooney, Chairman of the Public Policy and Government Affairs
Committee of the National Board of Directors for Mothers Against Drunk Driving
(MADD), stated that she was in strong support of the keg registration ordinance
that
Mr.
Chris Osborne, Coordinator, Youth Alcohol Prevention at the Florida Office of
Drug Control, stated that their office supported keg registration, not only on
a local level, but also at the state level.
He reported that currently 30 of the states had keg registration and
that underage drinking cost the citizens of the State of
Ms.
Ellen Snelling with the Florida Coalition for Alcohol Policy pointed out that
Mr.
Mitch Rubin, Executive Director of the Florida Beer Wholesalers Association,
addressed the Board in opposition to the keg ordinance. He started out by saying that their
organization opposed underage drinking and worked hard to curtail it. He agreed that underage drinking was a
problem in
Commr.
Stivender pointed out that they had also been working on educational programs
with the Safe Climate Coalition and the Shared Services Network, such as
Sticker Shock that puts the stickers on the cans, and they had a lot of
distributors within
Mr.
Minkoff explained that they looked at the pre-exemption argument, and their
opinion was that they thought they could support the ordinance and that it was
not the only alcohol regulation that they had.
He also pointed out that there was no case law that would support either
of the positions, so if it were challenged, it would be something that they
would advocate in court.
Mr.
John Williams, President and part owner of Wayne Densch, Inc., the
Anheuser-Busch distributor in the northern part of
Mr.
David Spinler, Vice President of Sales for Wayne Densch, Inc., gave a brief
update on some of their consumer awareness and education programs. He related that they worked with local law
enforcement doing sting operations, which they have funded; have worked with the
Lake County Education Foundation; and have provided speakers for
Mr.
Jeff Schenk, a resident of
Captain
Oliver addressed the Board to rebut some of the opponents’ statements, and
cited a
There
being no further individuals who wished to address the Board, the Chairman
closed the public hearing.
Commr.
Cadwell expressed concern about Page 3, Item 3 of the ordinance which stated that
“it shall be illegal to possess an unregistered keg in
Captain
Oliver stated that the concern was that police officers had discretion after
looking at the totality of the offense, and they would make a decision. He stated that if the person with a keg was
an adult, the officer could either give a verbal warning and educate them to
the fact that the County had keg registration, write them a summons, or make a
physical arrest. He commented that
chances were that they would make a decision using their judgment after looking
at the totality of the factors.
Commr.
Stivender commented that within a year, they should have statistics which
showed the effectiveness of the ordinance and that she did not think if would
affect the beer distributors’ business at all.
Commr.
Stewart asked if the ordinance would require tagging the four-gallon plastic
kegs.
Mr.
Minkoff responded that the ordinance would apply to any container which would
hold four or more gallons.
Commr.
Renick stated that she did not want to give anyone the impression that this was
something that would prevent underage drinking or drunk driving, but that this
was just one small step that they could do.
She thought this might make someone think twice before purchasing
alcohol for underage drinkers and that it was worth taking the step to find out
if it was effective or not. She also
felt that if there were some unintended consequences as a result of the
ordinance, they could deal with those as they came up.
Commr.
Stewart commented that education and encouraging their youth to make good
choices was important and that this problem had been around for a long
time. She also stated that this
ordinance was not perfect, but it certainly was a step in the right direction.
Commr.
Hill stated that she was certainly concerned about underage drinking, but it
sounded to her like they had a major problem and needed something more than
just a tag. She believed that they
needed representatives from every facet of the community working on this issue
together. She was concerned that the way
the ordinance was written would not be effective or enforceable and had too
many loopholes. She thought they should
make the ordinance better.
Commr.
Cadwell asked Captain Oliver to ask the Sheriff to give them a yearly report in
conjunction with the Clerk of the Court citing the statistics related to this
ordinance, so at the end of a year, they could look at that to determine the
effectiveness of the ordinance.
Commr.
Stewart commented that what they were initiating today was a work in progress,
and in a year from now when they had the statistics, they would have an idea of
what they could do to strengthen the ordinance.
She also agreed with Commr. Hill that there were some loopholes that
people could get around.
Commr.
Hill stated that one thing it would do was to bring the awareness that their
County had a problem, which would help in the first year.
Commr.
Cadwell commented that he did not think this was particularly a good piece of
law, but the mission was such that it had at least three of the Commissioners
supporting it. He stated that he was
going to support it at this point, and they would see if it worked or not.
On
a motion by Commr. Stivender, seconded by Commr. Renick and carried unanimously
by a vote of 5-0, the Board approved Ordinance No. 2008-9 regarding keg
registration, as amended by the
RECESS
AND REASSEMBLY
At
11:00 the Chairman announced that they would recess for five minutes.
OTHER
BUSINESS
APPOINTMENT
TO HISTORICAL MUSEUM ADVISORY COMMITTEE
On
a motion by Commr. Stivender, seconded by Commr. Renick and carried unanimously
by a vote of 5-0, the Board appointed Ms. Jackie Kinsler as the Historical Society
Member, Mr. Robert Grenier as Historical Society Alternate Member, and Mr. Norm
G. Morin as District 2 representative to vacant positions on the Historical
Museum Advisory Committee.
APPOINTMENTS
TO COMPREHENSIVE HEALTH CARE COMMITTEE
On
a motion by Commr. Hill, seconded by Commr. Stivender and carried unanimously
by a vote of 5-0, the Board approved the appointments of Mr. Jim Judge,
Executive Director, Lake-Sumter EMS and Mr. John Simpson, Clinical Quality and
Education Manager, Lake-Sumter EMS to the Comprehensive Health Care
Committee. Mr. Judge will serve as the
Lake-Sumter EMS appointed member and Mr. Simpson as the alternate member.
APPOINTMENTS
TO LIBRARY ADVISORY BOARD
On
a motion by Commr. Hill, seconded by Commr. Renick and carried unanimously by a
vote of 5-0, the Board approved the appointment of Ms. Cynthia Burch to serve
as Fruitland Park Public Library’s member representative and of Mr. Michael
Sweeney to serve as alternate member representative; and appointment of Ms.
Mary Malaszek to serve as Leesburg Public Library’s member representative and
of Mr. John L. Johnson to serve as alternate member representative on the
Library Advisory Board.
REPORTS
-
REORGANIZATION
OF LAW LIBRARY
Mr.
Sandy Minkoff,
Commr.
Renick stated that this issue fit in with the one from Tab 23 that she pulled
at the beginning of the meeting and asked if it was alright if they talked
about both things together. She
commented that even though she knew that everyone needed more space, she was
concerned about possibly spending more money for expanding rather than pulling
back on lease space after the amendment passed.
Commr.
Cadwell stated that he had been meeting with Ms. Cindy Hall,
Mr.
Minkoff noted that as far as the law library component, they would be
terminating the lease on the currently leased facility, which was a fairly
substantial rent, and the new space that mediation would require was a
relatively small space. He stated that
if the Board did not elect to approve Tab 23, then they would have to look for
other space for that mediation program to implement the law library.
Commr.
Cadwell commented that the mediation program saved the County money on court
cases.
Commr.
Hill added that the location of that was very vital and that it was important
to be close to the courthouse, which was one of the reasons they wanted it to
stay in that location, at least until the
Mr.
Fletcher Smith, Community Services Director, addressed the Board to explain
that the space that was in Tab 23 and referred to in Tab 37 was Building B at
the DCF (Department of Children and Families) complex where the office was
located. He opined that it was a very
good space, and stated that they were looking into at least four offices, which
would be between four and five hundred square feet for them to function. They also were going to move some existing
staff in there that were overcrowded, such as the WeCare program, which had a
huge amount of walk-in traffic of people applying for assistance and were
currently in only a 150 to 200-square foot office that was very cramped. He also mentioned that they were going to
move Transportation Disadvantaged over from Building E to Building B if they
were able to lease additional space, which would leave more room for Housing and
Community Development for additional staff with the tornado assistance program
and for normal growth of their program, and they were thinking of moving the
Community Health Worker Program to Building B as well. He opined that they certainly would fill that
space up very quickly.
Commr.
Stewart asked if it would be cheaper to continue to lease one half of the
current space for the Law Library or to move the Law Library into that
building.
Mr.
Minkoff responded that the per square foot price where the law library
currently is was significantly higher than what the new space would be and that
Ms. Quinnette Durkin from his office might be able to give them the square
footage.
Ms.
Durkin specified that the current space was 3,000 total square feet.
Mr.
Minkoff commented that even half of that space would be a lot more than what
the mediation program would need.
Ms.
Durkin stated that they would need about 500 square feet.
Commr.
Cadwell remarked that the programs Mr. Smith talked about were the types of
programs that would probably grow when there were cutbacks, because they were
community-based programs and would save them money in the long run.
Mr.
Smith also added that they would certainly be expanding and growing based on
the grants that they were getting and the services that they were providing out
in the community.
Ms.
Hall noted that they would be freeing up where the current law library is, and
money-wise it would be kind of a wash in the general fund and would provide
space for the mediation rooms.
Commr.
Renick stated that she was not aware that it was a wash as far as what they
would be saving, and the fiscal impact listed in the backup of $166,000
suggested to her that it would be an additional cost to them.
Mr.
Durkin specified that it was approximately $4100 a month, and it was $16.26 a
square foot for the current space for mediation space and the law library.
Commr.
Cadwell stated that they needed to know what would be spent otherwise.
Commr.
Stivender commented that putting several offices in Building B would keep those
divisions together.
Mr.
Minkoff pointed out that $166,000 was for the entire lease and that the new
space was a much smaller part of that.
Ms.
Hall asked what the trade-off on the new lease versus what they would be giving
up at the law library would be.
Ms.
Durkin answered that they would be giving up 3,000 square feet at the law
library and assuming 3,264 square feet, but the money was a little
different. She specified that they were
paying $16.26 and would be paying $15.82 a square foot, but it contained 264
more square footage.
Ms.
Hall clarified that it was very close to a wash, but not quite.
Commr.
Renick stated that she would not have a problem with that.
On
a motion by Commr. Stivender, seconded by Commr. Hill and carried unanimously
by a vote of 5-0, the Board approved Tab 23, the request from the County
Attorney for approval of the lease agreement between Lake County and Richard J.
Fritch and M. B. O’Kelley, as Trustees of Lakco Land Trust for lease space
located at 1300 Duncan Drive (Buildings B and E) for the Department of
Community Services and approval of related budget transfer in the amount of
$40,000.
On
a motion by Commr. Renick, seconded by Commr. Stewart and carried unanimously
by a vote of 5-0, the Board approved Tab 37, the reorganization of the Law
Library as proposed by staff.
GROVELAND
ANNEXATION ISSUE
Mr.
Minkoff gave an update regarding the Groveland annexation issue and stated that
they were prepared to go last night. He
related that they pointed out to Groveland a week or so ago some problems with
their legal description, and they ended up postponing the first reading again
and had to re-advertise it. He assumed
they would be back there in March.
REPORTS
–
HOMELAND
SECURITY GRANT
Mr.
John Jolliff, Deputy Fire Chief, stated that in April they got the Board’s
approval to apply for a grant through the United States Fire Administration,
and three weeks ago they received word from Congressman Rick Keller that they
were going to get $331,200 through the Firefighters Assistance Grant awarded by
Homeland Security. He related that they
were going to upgrade all of their self-contained breathing apparatus with this
money, which was used when firefighters entered into hazardous
atmospheres. He thanked the Board for
giving them the opportunity to apply and Ms. Laura Nichols from his office for
helping him write the grant.
REPORTS
– COMMISSIONER HILL – VICE CHAIRMAN AND DISTRICT 1
NIAGRA
BOTTLING COMPANY CLARIFICATION
Commr.
Hill wanted to clarify some things and dispel some misunderstandings regarding
things that had been written in regard to the Niagra Bottling Company’s
comments at the Northeast Lake Chamber of Commerce Meeting last Thursday,
February 14, in Paisley. She wanted to
make clear that neither she nor any other
Commr.
Renick added that there was quite a bit of misinformation out there and that
the rumor that the company already had their approval from St. John’s River
Water Management District was not true.
Mr.
Minkoff stated that he had filed a response with
REPORTS
– COMMISSIONER RENICK – DISTRICT 2
APPOINTMENT
TO THE LOCAL PLANNING AGENCY
Commr.
Renick stated that Commr. Cadwell had brought up the appointment of Mr. Bill
Benham to the LPA at the last meeting, but she did not see the urgency of that
at the time. However, she did not
realize that there were going to be so many people absent for the LPA meeting
scheduled for Thursday, and they were all anxious to keep the process going. She thought that they might be able to
appoint a person now to the LPA so that they would have a quorum for that
Thursday meeting.
Commr.
Cadwell stated that he did not see a problem filling one of the at-large
positions today and then taking up the others next week.
On
a motion by Commr. Renick, seconded by Commr. Stivender and carried unanimously
by a vote of 5-0, the Board voted to place the appointment of Mr. Bill Benham
to the LPA on the Agenda.
On
a motion by Commr. Renick, seconded by Commr. Stivender and carried unanimously
by a vote of 5-0, the Board approved the appointment of Mr. Bill Benham as an
at-large member to the LPA.
COMMISSIONER
STEWART – DISTRICT 4
CHILD
CARE AWARENESS MONTH PROCLAMATION
On
a motion by Commr. Stewart, seconded by Commr. Stivender and carried
unanimously by a vote of 5-0, the Board approved the execution of Proclamation
No. 2008-22 proclaiming March 2008 as Child Care Awareness Month in Lake County
and April 6, 2008 as Parents and Children’s Day in Lake County.
4-H CHILDREN’S COMMUNITY PROJECT
Commr.
Stewart stated that the Commissioners received a letter from an 11-year old
young lady named Angelina, who was a member of 4-H and was doing a Children’s
Community Project. She noted that last
month, there was a record-setting number of abused children taken out of homes
in
CITIZEN
QUESTION AND COMMENT PERIOD
Ms.
Marilyn Whitney wanted the Board to look into a concrete company that bordered
her home which created noise at all hours of the day and night and created dust
clouds which permeated the area. Ms.
Amye King, interim Growth Management Director, informed the Board that she
believed this was a current code enforcement case, and the Board assured Ms.
Whitney that staff would get any of her questions answered and that they would
make note of any of her concerns.
Mr. Roy Hunter, Northeast Lake
Chamber of Commerce, stated that he was disappointed in the comments that the
Niagra Bottling Company made regarding Commr. Hill that were noted earlier and
knew those comments were wrong. He also
mentioned that Commr. Hill was scheduled to be the guest speaker at the next
Northeast Lake Chamber of Commerce meeting on Thursday, March 13, at 6:30 p.m. at
ADJOURNMENT
There
being no further business to be brought to the attention of the Board, the
meeting was adjourned at 11:45 a.m.
____________________________________
WELTON
G. CADWELL, CHAIRMAN
ATTEST:
__________________________
NEIL
KELLY, CLERK