MINUTES OF MEETING

SUNSHINE WATER CONTROL DISTRICT

 

            The regular meeting of the Board of Supervisors of the Sunshine Water Control District was held on Wednesday, November 9, 2005 at 6:36 p.m. at the City Commission Chambers, 9551 West Sample Road, Coral Springs, Florida.

 

            Present and constituting a quorum were:

 

            Russell Parks                                                    President

            Mary Macomber                                              Vice President

           

            Also present were:

 

            John Petty                                                        Manager

            Bruce Cranmer                                                 Attorney

            Cory Selchan                                                    Field Superintendent

            Kevin Alvarez                                                   CH2M-Hill

            Jean Rugg                                                         Severn Trent Services

            Janice Moen Larned                                         Severn Trent Services

           

 

FIRST ORDER OF BUSINESS                               Roll Call

            Mr. Parks called the meeting to order and Mr. Petty called the roll. 

 

SECOND ORDER OF BUSINESS                          Approval of Minutes of the   September 14, 2005

            Mr. Parks stated each Board member received a copy of the minutes of the September 14, 2005 meeting and requested any additions, corrections or deletions. 

            Ms. Macomber stated on page five where Ms. Macomber stated I am concerned about the judiciary relationship it is fiduciary.

           

On MOTION by Ms. Macomber seconded by Mr. Parks with all in favor the minutes of the September 14, 2005 meeting were approved as amended.

 

           

THIRD ORDER OF BUSINESS                            Consideration of Resolution 2006-1 Authorizing Execution of Agreements and Other Documents related to the Disaster Relief Funding.

            Mr. Parks stated the third item is Resolution 2006-1.

            Ms. Macomber stated I presume this is in conjunction with the hurricane. 

            Mr. Petty stated yes and it is the standard form so we can start harassing those people for money we may never get.

            Mr. Parks stated they owe you money now do they not?

            Mr. Petty responded yes, sir.  FEMA’s basic response has been to be a checkbook so you can do these projects and eventually have the money come to you.  They have never been considered a speedy funding source.  I can think back to Hurricane Andrew and I believe it took three or four years.  We are in the process and I think for us it is just the issue we want.  We will be glad to go ahead and do the work as long as we know there is compensation so we do not have the raise assessments unnecessarily.

            Ms. Macomber responded exactly.

           

On MOTION by Ms. Macomber seconded by Mr. Parks with all in favor Resolution 2006-1 Authorizing Execution of Agreements and other Documents Related to the Disaster Relief Funding was adopted.

 

FOURTH ORDER OF BUSINESS                          Consideration of Agreement between Sunshine Water Control District and City of Coral Springs for Removal of Vegetation from Designated Box-Cut Canal Banks.

            Ms. Macomber stated it came out very good.  The only thing I noticed was the bidding and hiring is the sole responsibility of the city, but we are consulting so that is okay I guess.

            Mr. Petty responded we write the specifications.

 

On MOTION by Ms. Macomber seconded by Mr. Parks with all in favor the agreement with the city for removal of vegetation was approved.

           

FIFTH ORDER OF BUSINESS                               Award of Chemical Bids 2006

            Mr. Parks stated the next is item is the chemical bids.

           

On MOTION by Ms. Macomber seconded by Mr. Parks with all in favor to award the lowest chemical bid in each category was approved.

 

SIXTH ORDER OF BUSINESS                              Consideration of Engagement Letter with Goldstein           , Zugman, Weinstein & Poole, LLC to Perform the Audit for Fiscal Year 2005

            Ms. Macomber asked why is the Davis & Monk letter attached? Was it by accident?

            Ms. Rugg responded it is their review of what Hoch, Frey & Zugman does.

            Ms. Macomber stated we are talking about Goldstein, Zugman, Weinstein & Poole, was there a name change?

            Mr. Petty responded yes and they have changed their logo to if you noticed.

            Ms. Macomber responded that explains it.

 

On MOTION by Ms. Macomber seconded by Mr. Parks with all in favor the engagement letter with Goldstein, Zugman, Weinstein & Poole for the audit for fiscal year ended September 30, 2005 was accepted.

 

SEVENTH ORDER OF BUSINESS                        Staff Reports

            Mr. Cranmer stated I have not heard anything regarding the country club and the reconfiguration from the city.

            Ms. Macomber responded it sounds like they are moving ahead.  I saw something in the paper about it.

            Mr. Petty stated I am not sure if it was them or the other golf course I saw in the paper.  I know our attorney sent them a letter which said how we could work with them.

            Mr. Cranmer stated they have to go before the Board of Adjustments.

            Mr. Parks stated this was more informative than anything I have seen on the country club project.

            Mr. Petty stated they have not brought anything to the manager’s office or to the clerk’s office.

            Mr. Parks asked are they talking about the one on the back of the club on the pond there?

            Mr. Cranmer responded yes, we have a very low priority facility.

            Mr. Selchan stated there is a small area of maybe a 15’ waterway.  It sits in there and drains their parking lot.  I believe at one time in the area some type of development was going to go in, but never happened so the infrastructure is there if it ever happens.

            Mr. Cranmer stated what they want to do is build some mid-rise apartments with the configuration they have in mind. The configuration will require consideration of a set-back. They want to use our land as part of the set-back, which you cannot do unless we convey it.  Our alternative solution will be to consider having it covered over like we did with the Presbyterian School and they will be responsible for maintaining it, divers and all of that stuff.  First of all to use the land for a set-back it has to be your own land; we are not going to give it to them so they have to go in front of the Board of Adjustments to my knowledge.

            Ms. Macomber stated there was an article in the paper, the Forum or the Sentinel, I do not remember. It discussed the project in a positive way, now whether they were just trying to hype the publicity about it or whatever I do not know. It did not say anything was scheduled.

            Mr. Cranmer stated one of the problems throughout the country is golf courses are dying out with the younger generation.  In order to save the country club what they want to do is build luxury condominiums with a membership in hopes it will keep it alive in perpetuity rather than spend a lot of money in refurbishing the building.

            Mr. Petty stated there was another option they offered us which was to be partners with them and sign on as co-applicants which we were not about to do.

            Mr. Cranmer responded that puts us in a liability because we are not developers and we do not want to be joined in any lawsuit.

            Mr. Selchan asked me to check on our liability involving trees.  There is an old doctrine called Act of God if it is not foreseeable.  The only doctrine to arise where we will be liable is if the tree was diseased where it creates a duty due to negligence, so if we had a diseased tree and they can prove it was a diseased tree that fell on their house you can see we have a liability, but the way it works is the liability follows the tree.  If the tree lands on someone’s house their insurance company is taking care of the problem whether or not they segregate against us is another question, but our liability in the very few cases reported only through negligence.

            Ms. Macomber stated we have to know it is diseased and it has to be on notice.

            Mr. Petty stated Mr. Selchan has been doing this for twenty-five years.  This goes back a long time but also we tell our staff not to go on private property under any condition because they have no right to.  Even if the tree appears to be causing harm they have no right to go there.  They can cut the tree off where our property ends or where our easement is, but never go on private property and provide that service as it would put us in an area of liability.

B.                 Engineer

There being no report, the next item followed.

 

C.                 Superintendent

i.                    Discussion of Right of Ways

ii.         Emergency Response to Hurricane Wilma

            Mr. Petty stated I want to bring to your attention the fact that again your staff lead by Mr. Selchan has risen to the occasion; the work they did is excellent.  I got out there on the fourth day after the storm and by the time I got there he already had the situation under control.  His men had been on stand by under these situations many times in the past and you always worry about flooding.  In this particular case there was not a strong enough rain event to cause this but his people were on call and on stand by to begin with.  Mr. Selchan had his people well trained and well thought out.  I was sitting there thinking here comes a hurricane and Mr. Selchan very calmly said I have a very reliable report which says we should get five inches or less and he verified it to me three different times as my excitement grew.  It turned out it was well under the five inches as I recall and he did not drop water levels four feet and end up with a bigger problem.  He was clearing before the winds evaded.  His guys were out there immediately after the strong winds left and from what I see from the dust cloud over Coral Springs his guys have not stopped.

            Ms. Macomber responded they have done a great job.  Please convey our extreme thanks.  Many of them took away from their own homes to do what they had to do.

            Mr. Selchan stated all of the Sunshine staff and city personnel rode the storm out in our building.  They were not at home, they were there and they cleared the debris out of the way out to get out in the field.  If you are at home you might get stuck there and not be able to get out.  Our staff was ready to go where their equipment was so they could get to the pump stations which was the first thing and then start working their way through to the culvert pipes, bridges and anything we could get.  There are a lot of large trees in the water we cannot get.  We are going to have to contract with someone to have those removed.

            Mr. Petty stated I know the city is also looking forward to congratulating their staff which has acted admirably after the storm.

            The other item I need to bring to your attention at the last meeting we also talked about how we have a new Director of Treasury at our office, Ms. Janice Larned, who is here this evening as you asked that we invite her.  I believe you received a letter from our firm and we are extremely proud of her.  It is the first time we have ever done that and I do not know if it is because she is the prettiest one, the smartest one or both.

            Ms. Macomber responded I must say I am very impressed with your resume. Congratulations you have earned your stripes.

            Mr. Petty stated what I explained to the Board at the last meeting when asked is she something like Ms. Archer, I stated Ms. Archer had her hands in a lot of different things and we are trying to focus the smartest people in specific areas and not make them handymen for everything.  Ms. Larned is going to be in charge of what we call Treasury Services, which is financial accounting and anything that has a dollar value attached to it.

            Mr. Parks asked is Ms. Archer still doing things for you in Tennessee?

            Mr. Petty responded you have a lot of experience with her and I have worked with her since 1990 so we know how good she is at this business and how attentive she is to the clients.  Over the years she has slowed down somewhat, she went to Tennessee, she raised her children and now she is getting back involved.  She is doing some methodologies which are slightly competitive with us, but that is Ms. Archer, so she is keeping busy and I that is good for her.

            Ms. Macomber stated well Ms. Larned congratulations and welcome.  We are glad to have you with us I appreciate you coming tonight.

            Ms. Larned stated I apologize for being late I went to the building across the street.

            Mr. Petty stated she is still a resident of Sarasota.  She comes over here during the week so she is still learning her way around Coral Springs.

            Ms. Macomber stated it is even harder with all the debris piles and no lights.  Mr. Selchan, be sure to bring our thanks back to the crew.

 

EIGHTH ORDER OF BUSINESS                           Supervisor’s Requests and Audience Comments

            There not being any, the next item followed.

 

NINTH ORDER OF BUSINESS                             Approval of Warrants 8742-8768

            Ms. Macomber stated we only have the approval of the warrants left.

 

On MOTION by Ms. Macomber seconded by Mr. Parks with all in favor Warrants 8742-8768 were approved.

 

TENTH ORDER OF BUSINESS                             Adjournment  

            There being no further business,

 

On MOTION by Ms. Macomber seconded by Mr. Parks with all in favor this meeting is adjourned.

           

 

 

                                                                                                                                             

John Petty                                                                    Russell Parks

Secretary                                                                      President