MINUTES OF MEETING
NORTH SPRINGS IMPROVEMENT DISTRICT
The regular meeting of the Board of
Supervisors of the North Springs Improvement District was held
Present and constituting a quorum
were:
Matt Lauritzen President
Salvatore J. Mendolia Secretary
Bob
Miner Supervisor
Also Present Were:
Rich Hans District Staff
Dennis Lyles Attorney
Donna Holiday Recording Secretary
John McKune Gee & Jenson
Roger Moore District Staff
Bill Joyce District Staff
Joseph Guttuso WCI
Vince Peluso S.F.W.M.D.
Mr.
Lauritzen called the meeting to order at
SECOND ORDER OF BUSINESS Approval of the Minutes of
the November 6, 2003 Meeting
Mr.
Hans stated that each Board member had received a copy of the minutes of the
There
not being any,
On MOTION by Mr.
Mendolia seconded by Mr. Lauritzen with all in favor the minutes of the
Mr.
Lyles stated the reason we need to modify the agenda is that I am appearing
before the Broward County Legislative Delegation on your behalf at
I
want to report to you that Mr. Lauritzen and I along with Mr. Fennell of the
Coral Springs Improvement District Board of Supervisors met with Representative
Ritter this past Monday to discuss this bill, her feeling that changes need to
be made to the way Board members are elected, and her feelings on things
generally related to the District.
Essentially, the way we left the meeting was in a very positive
way. Representative Ritter does not
intend to hold up our bill at the hearing today and that has occurred for one
reason or another in the past. She has
agreed to propose an amendment as this Board and the C.S.I.D. Board proposed a
year ago, that Chapter 189, F.S. which covers all special districts in the
State of Florida be amended to provide that when the Board members feel it is
appropriate and timely, the manner of electing members of the Board of
Supervisors will be converted from a landowners election to an electoral vote
by all the registered voters within the District. It will be up to the Board to make that
decision and to implement that rather than having it done by someone else
forcing the Board to do it and rather than having to go through the expense and
trouble of a petition and referendum process which was another way of achieving
the same result. Based on the direction
of this Board and C.S.I.D.’s Board, we proposed that again and this time
Representative Ritter feels comfortable that that concept is a workable concept
and she is going to, with your support, propose such an amendment once we get
into the legislative session in
Mr.
Lauritzen stated I think Ms. Ritter’s main objective is that we be elected by
general election. We don’t have a
problem with that.
Mr.
Lyles stated as you will recall a couple of years ago we had a bill filed that
would have changed when you are elected, how you are elected, how many people
are on the board, it would have mandated your meeting times, really taken away
your elected official discretion on a number of items and that bill was vetoed
in Tallahassee. We are discussing the
follow-up to that and we don’t want to be in a position where we are hiring lobbyist’s and fighting over vetoing a bill that doesn’t
work in the Board’s best interest. I
think the compromise on the table is exactly what you asked for last year when
we proposed an alternative to what was on the table then. With that in mind, I think it is wise to be
cooperative and to work with Representative Ritter and the other members of the
delegation to have a bill that we can live with and operate under and I think
that is what we have now.
Mr.
Lauritzen stated I originally thought she wanted five Board members but that is
not an issue with her anymore. She is
fine with three members.
Mr.
Lyles stated C.S.I.D. is within the City of
Mr.
Mendolia stated I concur with what you said in reference to the way to handle
this.
Mr.
Lauritzen asked do you just need our verbal support on record?
Mr.
Lyles responded yes. We will need
something in the future in writing to show this is the Board’s position that
the amendment that Representative Ritter is proposing is with the support of
the Board. We will do that but the
session doesn’t start for a couple of months and we will be timely if we do
that at the next meeting. It depends
also on what happens tonight. If you
agree with the outline of the outcome of the meeting that we attended, then I
have what I need to go to the delegation meeting today and get that part of the
process out of the way.
Mr.
Lauritzen stated thanks, for a job well done.
We should also take up the request for an increase in the fees at this
time.
Mr.
Lyles stated this will keep it consistent with C.S.I.D., the same changes in
the cost of living index over the years since 1996 when the fees were first
established. This is the first time I
have asked you to take a look at the fee schedule.
On MOTION by Mr. Mendolia seconded by Mr. Lauritzen with all in favor the request for a modification to the Attorney fees was approved in accordance with the attached letter.
THIRD ORDER OF BUSINESS Update on Drainage Basin
Study by Vince Peluso of S.F.W.M.D.
Mr.
Peluso stated we have been working cooperatively with your district on the
overall compliance issue of the Everglades Forever Act and meeting water
quality standards for discharge. We have
done the basin as a whole and looked at potentially using some lake area north
of this District to minimize the need to discharge off-site. The next phase will be to model the
Discussion of Matching Funds Available from S.F.W.M.D.
Mr.
Peluso stated we have a cooperative agreement with you. We had matching funds and we are funding half
the money being spent on monitoring water quality and setting up telemetry and
we paid for half the pump station calibration to determine the exact
flows. We extended that contract by two
years. In the extension there is an
understanding that we are going to give you the $38,000 that we have left in
our budget for this cooperative agreement.
That is going to be 50% of certain capital improvements and other items
that Mr. Moore has identified as being high priority.
Mr.
Moore stated
We
would like to have $39,000 to match
Mr.
Peluso stated we will give you the money in a lump sum and it is up to you when
you spend it as long as you document it.
By 2007 they hope to have the
Mr.
Hans stated I believe we need acknowledgement that you agree with the program
Mr. Moore outlined to utilize the matching funds from
On MOTION by Mr. Mendolia seconded by Mr. Lauritzen with all in favor the extension of the cooperation agreement with S.F.W.M.D. for the matching funds and the program for expending said funds was approved.
FOURTH ORDER OF BUSINESS Consideration of Change
Order No. 8 for Heron Bay East Pod 5 and Heron Run Drive Phase II with Florida
Sewer and Water for a Net Increase of $11,286.70
Mr.
McKune stated this is for addition of some curbing and the cost of this change
order is a WCI responsibility.
On MOTION by Mr. Mendolia seconded by Mr. Lauritzen with all in favor Change Order No. 8 for Heron Bay East pod 5 and Heron Run Drive Phase II with Florida Sewer and Water for a Net Increase of $11,286.70 was approved.
Mr.
Hans stated the letter from Gee & Jenson indicates that the plans meet all
the requirements of the District and they recommend approval of the
request. This is a permit request for
drainage into the S-2 Canal.
On MOTION by Mr. Mendolia seconded by Mr. Lauritzen with all in favor the permit request from WCI for Parkland Golf & Country Club Pod 3 surface water management was approved subject to the conditions listed in Gee & Jenson’s letter.
Mr.
McKune stated this request is for a lake excavation permit for the northwest
corner of the District. The plans have
been reviewed and approved by our firm.
Mr.
Craven pointed out the area on the map and stated this is an excavation permit
for the new lakes.
On MOTION by Mr. Mendolia seconded by Mr. Lauritzen with all in favor the lake excavation permit request from WCI for Heron Bay North Plat 1 was approved subject to the conditions listed in Gee & Jenson’s letter.
B. Engineer
Mr.
McKune stated I have two additional items that were not on the agenda. For some time we have been building tennis
courts at Heron Bay Commons and they now want to put in the landscaping and
brick pavers at the bicycle racks in the amount of $33,900 and an additional 33
days added to the contract. We decided this was the most cost effective and
quickest way to accomplish this work.
On MOTION by Mr. Mendolia seconded by Mr. Lauritzen with all in favor change order 3 for the tennis court expansion for a net increase of $35,900 and an additional 33 days was approved.
Mr.
McKune stated two months ago you approved a change order to the Felix Contract
to release 50% of the retained moneys to them and that would have represented
about $250,000 for work already done. The day after you approved that change order we were informed by
Felix that the bonding company was reducing their staff on the job. When I spoke with Mr. Lyles we agreed not to
pay them because we were afraid they were not going to get the job done in an
expeditious manner. We did not release
the money. Since that time, they have
done some work, we have received our certification from the health department
that the plant is completed and we can use all the facilities. We are days away from the final certificate
of occupancy on the major structures. We
can reduce their retainage to 5%. We
will still retain about $370,000 of their money after this check.
There
not being any, the next item followed.
There not being any, the
next item followed.
SIXTH ORDER OF BUSINESS Supervisors Requests and
Audience Comments
There
not being any, the next item followed.
On MOTION by Mr. Mendolia seconded by Mr. Lauritzen with all in favor the requisitions and invoices were approved.
On MOTION by Mr.
Mendolia seconded by Mr. Lauritzen with all in favor the meeting adjourned at
Salvatore J. Mendolia Matt
Lauritzen
Secretary President