MINUTES OF MEETING
SUNSHINE WATER CONTROL DISTRICT
The emergency meeting of the Board
of Supervisors of the Sunshine Water Control District was held on
Present and constituting a quorum
were:
Russell Parks President
Philip Sobers Secretary
Also present were:
John Petty Manager
Bruce Cranmer Attorney
Cory Selchan Field
Superintendent
Jean Rugg
FIRST ORDER OF BUSINESS Roll Call
Mr.
Petty called the meeting and called the roll.
SECOND
ORDER OF BUSINESS Consideration
of Exigency Project Agreement
THIRD ORDER
OF BUSINESS Consideration
of Removal of Fallen Vegetation from Canals and Banks
Mr. Petty stated the agreement the
Natural Resource Conservation Service is asking us to sign is in response to
Hurricane Wilma. This is the upfront
agency of FEMA and has been allocated the responsibility of debris removal and
emergency recovery for drainage ditches and drainage facilities. FEMA is focusing its efforts on other areas
of responsibility from the storm and has allocated this to this division. I believe we used them last year.
Mr. Selchan stated we did not, they
were out of funding.
Mr. Petty stated I know I have used
them in other districts, such as Pal Mar Water Control District and
others. We submitted our concerns and
got in line. It turns out we were first
in line. It appears from their estimates
all of their money they had available for this storm will be utilized on the
four districts we currently share operational services with.
What you have before you is an
amount of money that will be allocated basically for emergency type debris
removal, which for us means we will concentrate on all such debris that we
think will block drainage at headwalls, outfalls, etc. If you look on the first page next to item A,
they are estimating it to be $470,000.
Mr. Parks asked did they come up
with this figure?
Mr. Petty responded from an initial
estimate that was done and based on the amount of money they have they feel
that will cover it. It could go way
beyond that, this is just for the debris removal. It does not cover things like bank erosion
repair or if there is damage to any structure, such as to the headwall once you
take a tree off and find a crack. This
is not the limit of funds available to you under this emergency situation. It is only the amount we will get from this
particular agency. Once they run out of
monies we go to FEMA and FEMA is ready to service us in that regard. We should get recovery in accordance with the
standards of this emergency as declared which is 75% of debris removal and
other recovery efforts that are in conformance with FEMA standards will be
compensated for as long as there are funds available. It is expected the State will kick in 12 ½%
although that has not been seen yet. It
is the policy and the local agency which in this case is the Sunshine Water
Control District will be responsible for the other 12 ½%.
The secondary item to this is the
one that says Phillips and Jordan. If
you go to page 3 and look up the Sunshine Improvement District, this is a
contractor doing work for the city which our guys asked to give an estimate. They flew over the site with Mr. Selchan to
do a visual inspection and have devised this estimate, which is a ballpark
estimate. The number for Sunshine about
$4.4 million; it is a very big number.
One of the reasons we asked you to
come to this meeting, even though you gave the authority to sign these
documents to the manager, is because of changes in the way FEMA does work. We are going to be dealing with two different
agencies because the dollar figure is around $4.4 million I wanted to bring it
back to you and explain to you where I was heading.
First is to go through the Natural
Resource Conservation Service, I do not have a problem with utilizing it so I
do not get into a bureaucratic problem even though money maybe a little tight
in the beginning. These people do pay as
quickly as FEMA hopes to and I want to stay with that. I recommend you allow me to sign such
instruments, subject review as efficiency, then deal with FEMA to the best of
our ability while the dollars are available with this understanding, that we
cannot take a $4.4 million hit in a single year; this has to be a program that
spans a period of time, whether that be through financing or through the
project itself. As you can see the money
that we will be coming to you with first and the ones we will be executing will
be on the emergency fund, trying to clear flow ways, catch basins and outfalls.
The tree that fell in the middle of a canal or
lake may sit there for awhile and I am going to tell you it is going to cause
us some customer service issues. I am
going to tell you it is causing customer service issues now. The residents would like to put this storm
behind them; they worked very hard to do it in their own yards, they do not
understand why in their backyard where the District is why it still looks like
the world is coming apart. They want the
world to come back together. I
understand that but at the same time I do not want to cause a financial
emergency for residents and entities who cannot afford this clean up that
quickly.
It is our intent to go after this
money, to get it to do emergency debris removals and to do everything in
conformance with the required formats of the Natural Resource Conservation
Service, to store that information for the minimum time require, which I believe
is five years and then go after FEMA for the rest with a long term project in
mind. We will bring that back to you at
a later date and it will include two options.
One will be short term financing from local government sources, county
associations basically which are available for around 3 ½ points and a very low
closing rate of about $5,500. I would
rather not take out it of our account for any reason; whatever we have in carry
forward for reserve I would like to keep because we are heading for a new
season in a couple of months. I am going
to recommend to you that we use the cash flow which could be available to
us. Secondarily, when I come to you with
a program there is going to be an option that will relieve Mr. Selchan of the hundreds
of people calling him demanding the trees be removed. That option is we hire one of these
contractors who works for the city, we piggyback the city’s deal and we spend
the $4 million, which the District will be responsible for and we get this done
in a period of months. They have the
equipment, they are going to come in, Mr. Selchan will focus on it and the
whole place should be cleaned probably by the end of summer, if the storms do
not go crazy on us. Mr. Selchan would
love to have it and normally I would to, other than this is $4 million and that
is a lot of money to leave the city. We
are going to need the capability of handling trees that fall within this
District next year, the year after and the year after that. There is $4 million, we may be able to have some
capability or some type of service that we can rely upon the next time the
trees falls down if we spend it in a more considerate manner. I do not know if that is the case but I would
like to have time to investigate it to see what I can do. I do not know if it is available to build
into our system the ability to handle trees up to a certain size. I know Mr. Selchan could manage people of
this caliber of work and who have this experience, certainly it is a
responsibility we could manage. It is a
dangerous occupation but so is the one we are currently doing.
Mr. Sobers asked has the area been
identified that has the worst scenario?
Mr. Petty responded I will let Mr.
Selchan tell you that, but I can tell you from my drive through there are trees
down on almost every canal that and in those areas not cleaned you cannot see
the water.
Mr. Selchan stated we have very
large cypress and ficus, which are considered nuisance trees.
Mr. Parks asked do we have a
responsibility if a child gets hurt?
Mr. Petty responded you always have
the potential to receive a letter from someone who wishes to, but legislatively
we are protected to a certain degree in this regard and we are covered by
insurance to cover our exposure.
Mr. Cranmer stated we had a case
some years ago where we were joined in an action because a child was injured on
a makeshift dock. It was our canal but
it was adjacent to a condominium association and they had to maintain the
banks. The insurance company took the
case and their position was we did not have liability and it was the
condominium association because they has allowed the dock the kids had built.
Is this $4.4 million available or is
this Philips & Jordan’s estimate?
Mr. Petty responded that is Philips
& Jordan’s estimate. We are bringing
it to you as nothing more than us going to a contractor and saying give me a
ballpark of this mess so you have some idea of what the future requests of
monies will be to you and what the District is responsible for. We hope to get compensation but there is no
guarantee, there is no contract for that.
Mr. Cranmer asked is the $470,000
from the NRCS?
Mr. Petty responded yes, which we
hope to use to recover cost that we incur going after emergency debris removal
at the headwall structures, outfalls, etc.
Mr. Sobers stated I assume Philips
& Jordan have prior experience with this.
Mr. Petty stated I mean no
disrespect to them, but I think it is accurate to call them the gypsies of
FEMA. As emergencies pop up and FEMA
travels they are right behind them. They
are very familiar with the agency and they understand the process.
Mr. Sobers asked are they the ones
currently working within the city?
Mr. Petty responded yes.
Mr. Sobers stated then there is no
need to reinvent the wheel. They are
here and they have a track record.
Mr. Petty stated the figure they
have is a ballpark. We will be working
with our engineer and the FEMA representative in providing what they call a PW,
which is a report that estimates the degree of the disaster and the cost
associated with the same. It goes on
file and as you submit cost they compare it to that and expect the dollars to
come somewhere together.
Mr. Cranmer asked how do we know
this $4.4 million is accurate?
Mr. Petty responded we do not. It is a ballpark number for just the tree
removal, nothing else; a lot of other things have to be considered like bank
repair, headwall structures, access areas, overtime pay, and equipment.
Keep in mind we wanted to give you
something for this meeting so as you considered approval of this NCRS agreement
you would have some idea of the scope.
We will bring back to you a very detailed explanation of the scope of
the responsibilities and the problems associated with Hurricane Wilma at the
next meeting after we go through the PW process with our engineer and the FEMA
representative.
Mr. Sobers stated I am wondering if
the city, now that they have engaged Philips & Jordan has such similar no
allowances and clauses in their contract.
Specifically I am looking at #20 & #21. I am wondering if the city will let us see
what Philips & Jordan proposed to them.
Mr. Cranmer stated the bond issue is
required in case they walk off a job or go out of business, and that is not
likely to happen.
Mr. Petty stated this is not a
serious proposal for services, nor would I ask you to approve such a
document. This has not been reviewed by
the engineer and the scope of services to be provided has not been
defined. Mr. Selchan has evaluated the
extent of the problem and knows it to be massive, but we do not have a tree
count or a percentage of canals that are blocked. He knows from his experience with emergency
conditions, but we are going to need a little more time to do an
accounting.
If you recall the city was not doing
an accounting as they were cleaning up and as the trucks entered their disposal
site they were counting trucks. We are a
little different and to even get access to some of the canals is going to be a
little unique and it is going to have to be watched by our people.
Mr. Selchan stated there are other
contractors working for the city, it is not just Philips & Jordan. We asked for more than one proposal from
these groups of contractors. We have
other proposals which are more inclusive than this one, that are very close to
the same number, but include some bank restoration, stump removal and a lot of
the stuff that is not included in this proposal. Arbor Tree, which I know of, is much more
inclusive in its scope of work. This is
actually piggy backing off of the city’s contract.
Mr. Petty stated what he has built
so far will be compared to the PW that FEMA and our engineer determined to be
reasonable, at which time we will come back with what we feel is appropriate
based on our ability to pull out the emergency material, how much we have, do
we have time to go out for bids, should you declare an emergency and sole
source, should you piggy back, should you do a combination plus in-house
services to try to develope some type of potential. We will talk to you about all of those at the
next meeting.
We will spend the next bit of time
between now and the next meeting spending the money we are talking to you
about, if you approve it, on what we consider to be emergency debris
removal. We will provide the money to
operations through the short term financing I have laid out for you that is
available to us from the Association of Counties, which has an interest rate of
about 3 ½%, it is a short term note of typically about two years. It is built specifically for handling FEMA
emergencies with the understanding that you pay interest only and you pay the
principal when you get it. If you pay it
early there is no problem, closing cost are very low at $5,400. This is how we recommend you go forward. I know you said I can sign the document but
as you can see there is a lot more to it than just the document. Once I start the document I would also like
to start Mr. Selchan going out and getting the work done.
Mr. Selchan stated we want to bring
up to Mr. Cranmer is our Right-of-Entry Agreement. Have you seen the city’s Right-of-Entry
Agreement?
Mr. Cranmer responded no.
Mr. Selchan stated we will get you a
copy. We are going to have to have Right-of-Entry
agreements because the egress is going to be a problem.
Mr. Petty stated there are going to
be areas to get a boat or a pickup through, but you are not going to be able to
get a large piece of equipment through.
Mr. Selchan stated the trees were
are going to be dealing with and the roots balls are extremely large, heavy and
hard to work with. In the storms of the
last few years the trees were not of this caliber.
Mr. Petty stated I am going to ask
you to sign the agreement with Natural Resources Conservation Service, which
says we accept the money under these conditions and be responsible for
compliance. Secondarily, I am going to
ask you to allow staff to enter into contracts of existing nature, piggy back
deals, so that we can spend the $470,000, but you allow us to do so without
another meeting. Thirdly, I am going to
ask you to allow me to enter into on your behalf short term financing for those
monies with the Association of Special Districts.
Mr. Parks stated the $470,000 is not
going to do much.
Mr. Petty stated Mr. Selchan is
going to be thrilled to do something. He
has $10,000 plus $35,000 out of the existing budget. I have said to him, “if you see anything out
there that is a threat to anybody, that can cause physical harm, take it
down.” We called the attorney’s office
to talk about the issue of a tree sitting at about a 22 degree angle and was
about 2’ off the top of the house. He
asked if we were going to take the tree down and Mr. Selchan told him he did
not know if he could. Part of the reason
was he could not take the tree from the lake bank. He was going to have to go on private property
and that is a big deal.
Mr. Cranmer stated if you have a
tree hanging over the top of your house you are going to sign an access
agreement to get it out.
Mr. Selchan stated obviously he was
telling me come now, whatever you want, I will give you my word, but I do not
think that is a good policy.
Mr. Cranmer stated you are going to
be identifying the critical sites.
Mr. Selchan stated we have
identified those areas. We took the
representatives from NRCS to those sites, they wrote what they call a DSR for
those sites, meaning that is what this money is for, exigency meaning emergency
- what you have to do right now work. That
is what this money is for and odds are it will not cover them all, but it will
get the worst of the worst.
Mr. Petty stated there is an
accounting more by category than by address.
Mr. Selchan also has a DVD of the aerial inspection which was done,
which I will make sure everybody gets a copy of.
Mr. Sobers asked once we approve the
interim funds for you to start the worst areas, how soon can we get the wheels
of progress going in terms of making it happen?
Mr. Selchan responded we have a
proposal on the table from Arbor Tree, which gives you rates. It is based on cubic feet of material. If we sign with him we can probably start
next week. He has a lot of equipment in
the area and he has a lot of local contracts.
Mr. Cranmer asked how big are they?
Mr. Selchan responded pretty big.
Mr. Sobers stated one of the things
I am concerned about is the rainy season.
Obviously the soil is going to deteriorate and cause whatever is hanging
to get even weaker. Maybe an idea is to
have preprinted release forms so we have them signed to gain access to the
property.
Mr. Parks asked is there very many
that critical?
Mr. Selchan responded no, not over
homes. Most of them are actually on the
home and if that is the case you can call your homeowner’s insurance and they
will pay to get it off your house. I am
more concerned with the large ficus and Australian pines that are blocking the
waterways. We are lucky this was late in
the hurricane season and into the dry season, if not we would probably have to
go with whoever was willing to do it.
Mr. Cranmer stated I want to make
sure we get written authorization from the right person so the form should ask
them to present their tax bill and they will write the parcel folio number on
the form. I can check the county public
record system to make sure we are having a release signed by the owner, not the
tenant and all of the owner’s not just one of them.
Mr. Selchan stated all of these jobs
have to be done by a monitor. We have a
monitor we asked to supervise this.
Mr. Petty stated there are two
options. Mr. Selchan has checked to make
sure there is another option other than what is built into our District. When you do this work to make sure you are
doing it in accordance with FEMA and filling out the forms, the monitor system
is what they expect. In our case that is
typically done and we are set up to have our engineer be the monitor. It is our engineer who is going to be working
with the FEMA representative to figure out the estimate, which is our allowable
use of funds for this, so whatever monies are expended I like to use the same
person to do that. Now if he is not
available or you think he is inappropriate, Mr. Selchan has another option
which is again part of this group of people who follows these emergencies and
that is their business.
Mr. Selchan stated this is what they
do. They know the process, they know
what our interest are, what they need to do for us and what they have to do to
get our funding and how to handle the residents.
Mr. Petty stated the exception to it
is that is what they tell you and that is their job, but it is your liability
and is why my first pick is going to be the engineer, subject to your
direction. My second pick is a private
contractor.
Mr. Cranmer asked can we get the job
done within 30 days?
Mr. Petty responded I would say
no.
Mr. Cranmer asked what is the notice
to proceed?
Mr. Selchan responded the NCRS will
give that to us once this agreement is signed.
I believe they want to oversee this also, so they will be involved in
some form or fashion.
Mr. Petty stated they will not. Notice to proceed is what we will give our
contractor we have signed with to do the work.
The reason I say it is not going to be through in 30 days is we need
time for Mr. Selchan to gear up, to get the company on line, to see what their
availability is, but once we give them the start to proceed, yes I think they
could do it 30 days.
Mr. Sobers stated my interpretation
is the 30 days is not carved in stone.
Mr. Petty stated I believe they are
trying to get you in the mind set this is for emergency use only and if the
debris can wait let it wait.
Mr. Parks asked how many emergency
sites do you have for this $470,000?
Mr. Selchan responded two very bad and
two more where we hopefully can cover with most of this. One is behind
Mr. Parks asked are there potential
sites you maybe unaware of?
Mr. Selchan responded we have sent
our crews to every canal. There is a
possibility something might have been over looked. The situation is changing as time goes on and
I am beginning to feel the urgency because the residents are starting to take
things into their own hands and it is ending up in the water. Those types of things are hard to control and
hard to prove who did it once it is done.
Mr. Sobers asked in light of what we
are discussing on the agreement, is it be prudent for us to send a page to
particularly the worst affected residents stating we are aware of your
situation and professional crews will be removing it shortly?
Mr. Petty responded I believe it is
a great idea. We have the ability to
communicate to the residents, once we adopt a program, by staking a very simple
sign on a piece of wood on the bank where they are affected.
After today’s meeting we should have
the beginning of a policy. Definitely after
the next meeting we should even have a timetable.
It is important the District develop
some means of addressing this tree issue during storms in some capacity so that
instead of waiting six weeks afterwards you have talked to FEMA and others to
address some of the hottest spots before that time period. You can do that a couple of ways by building
in-house capabilities, you can do that by building up reserves he has access to
at time of emergency under certain conditions.
We can do that by having contracts ready to go with local contractors
instead of waiting for the gypsy guys to come in not knowing who may be on the
team that year. The city has signed a
fairly costly program to have that immediate response; you pay a price for that
assurance.
Mr. Sobers stated I would prefer to
try to award it to local people because the local market has the know how.
Mr. Parks stated it is good for the
community, too.
Mr. Selchan stated this has been
addressed and I believe Mr. Parks was on the Board when we started our
Australian pine removal program and our pump stations became an issue and some
of the funding had to be redirected. The
program got lost in the mix, it was not forgotten, but it had to be put on the
back burner. A lot of these issues have
been address at the city meetings; code enforcement issues and maintenance
issues. Maybe having a program that is
an annual thing and possibly having all of the right-of-ways and easements
cleaned of any trees, bushes and fences so that if we can possibly keep it far
enough away from the right-of-ways so they do not end up in the water in a
storm; do some type of preventative maintenance and naturally the county, state
and everybody is trying to get rid of nuisance trees.
On
MOTION by Mr. Parks seconded Mr. Sobers with all in favor to enter in the
agreement with National Resource Conservation Service for the emergency debris
removal in an amount not to exceed $470,000; authorizing staff to piggy back
existing government agency contracts for emergency repairs not to exceed
$470,000; and authorizing staff to enter into short term financing with the
Association of Counties to fund the emergency repairs in an amount not to
exceed $470,000, executable by the Chairman subject to legal sufficiency was
approved.
FOURTH
ORDER OF BUSINESS Other
Business
There not being any, the next
item following.
FIFTH ORDER
OF BUSINESS Adjournment
There being no further business,
On
MOTION by Mr. Sobers seconded by Mr. Parks with all in favor the meeting was
adjourned.
______________________________ ________ ___
_
John
Petty Russell
Parks
Assistant
Secretary President