MINUTES OF THE MEETING
OF THE PORT OF THE ISLANDS
The regular meeting of the Board of Supervisors of the Port of the
Islands Community Improvement District was held Friday, October 15, 2004 at
10:00 a.m. at the Egret Room, 25000 Tamiami Trail, and Naples, Florida.
Present and constituting a quorum
were:
Richard
Gatti Chairman
Ted Bissell Vice Chairman
Richard Burgeson Assistant
Secretary
John Robinson Supervisor
Dale Lambert Supervisor
Also present were:
James DeCocq District Manager (by
phone)
Tim Stephens Operations Manager
Noreen Dillon Resident
Numerous Residents
FIRST
ORDER OF BUSINESS Roll
Call
Mr. Gatti called the meeting to order and stated let me give you
some options. The engineer has no business
today, so he is not here. Mr. Cox could
not attend and Mr. DeCocq has been ill for three days and cannot make it. The options we have are one; we cancel the
meeting and reschedule it for another time.
We have to everything.
Two, we open the meeting and not take any actions and
then continue it to a future date. That
way we do not have to re-advertise.
Three, we have the meeting. Mr. DeCocq is available by telephone. There is only one real item here regarding
changing some of the budget numbers. We
have set some numbers on one side of the budget. We are not changing the overall budget, just
where the money will be used. What is
the Board's pleasure?
Mr. Bissell stated I say we have the meeting.
Mr. Burgeson stated this is my last meeting and I say we
have the meeting.
Mr. Gatti stated Mr. Bissell will be the secretary, if he
does not mind. Could you call the roll?
Mr. Bissell called the roll.
SECOND ORDER OF BUSINESS Consideration
of Resolution 2005-01 Amending the Debt Service Fund Budget for Fiscal Year
2003.
Mr. Gatti stated we are going to have Mr. DeCocq when we
discuss Resolution 2005-01. I will let
him explain that. It is simply taking
money out of one pocket and putting it in another. We needed money some place else and we simply
transferred it. Mr. DeCocq will call to
explain that.
Whereupon, this item was continued, and the next item
followed.
THIRD ORDER OF
BUSINESS Staff
Reports
A. Attorney
There not being any, the next item followed.
B. Engineer
There
not being any, the next item followed.
C. Manager
There
not being any, the next item followed.
D. Field Manager
Mr.
Stephens stated I got a couple of stop signs.
We got a few stops signs in. We
went around the neighborhood to see which ones needed replacement. We had one that was faded out badly. We are replacing that one.
Whereupon,
Mr. Robinson joined the meeting.
Mr.
Stephens stated we will have enough I have three. We will have enough.
A
resident asked is that the one that was standing over?
A
resident stated no, that is flat on the ground.
Mr.
Gatti stated let Mr. Stephens know where that is. Whenever we see something like that let Mr.
Stephens know. What about posts?
Mr.
Stephens responded I ordered some posts and the hardware.
Mr.
Gatti stated some day we will form a committee to pick out the signs. When we do, we might want to consider the
same committee concerning themselves with, what I call street furniture. That is the configuration of the stop sign
post, the configuration of any post we use in the area. They cost a bit of money, but that makes the
difference between a mediocre and a first class neighborhood and a really first
class neighborhood.
Mr.
Stephens stated I got the galvanized ones.
Mr.
Gatti stated they give a good look to the neighborhood. We might want to consider the streetlights
when we get our future of the ground.
That is a couple of bucks. You
have the stop signs and you are putting them up and what else?
Mr.
Stephens responded there is nothing else.
Mr.
Gatti asked can you tell us about the mosquitoes.
Mr.
Stephens stated you have plenty. We
sprayed some and replaced the motor on the buggy and sprayed a few times. The new motor, the shaft size is different. I hate to use it any more than I have to
right now. It needs work.
Mr.
Gatti asked what do we need to fix it?
Mr.
Stephens responded we need a mounting bracket where we can mount the motor to
the bracket and attach it to the old bracket.
It will stay in line.
Mr.
Gatti stated this is the worst season for mosquitoes. Could you make this a priority, if you do not
mind? Does the Board have any
comments? I am telling you to do what
you have to do to get it done. How is
the treatment plant running?
Mr.
Stephens responded it is doing well right now. We have new rules.
Mr.
Gatti asked are we having any problems with any of that?
Mr.
Stephens responded yes, we did not pass the THM's. We did not pass the NH5's.
Mr.
Gatti asked what is that?
Mr.
Stephens responded it is regarding your chlorination. When you chlorinate, it kills the
bacteria. If you leave it in there too
long it makes it worse by killing all the bacteria. It is a timely thing, not killing the
bacteria, not too soon. The water
staying in the system too long is what it amounts to.
Mr.
Gatti asked what about our irrigation system?
Mr.
Stephens responded we should be able to start that at the end of this month or
the first of next month. We got the
wells in. That has all been taken care
of. That was one of our big
criteria.
Mr.
Lambert asked did we have irrigation shutdown here a week or so ago for some
reason?
Mr.
Gatti asked was it down?
Mr.
Stephens responded yes, for three days it was down.
Mr.
Gatti asked could it have had anything to do with the power?
Mr.
Stephens responded yes, it trips the breakers off.
Mr. Gatti asked is that when we get lightning
strikes and stuff?
Mr. Stephens responded we do not have an alarm
system there that tells us when it is out.
Usually, somebody will notify us.
Mr. Gatti stated as a message to the community,
when you see something is down like that, you may assume somebody knows about
it, but it does not hurt to call Mr. Stephens.
Mr. Lambert asked does that mean the fire was
down too then?
Mr. Gatti stated that was the serious part.
Whereupon, Mr. DeCocq joined the meeting via
telephone.
Mr. Bissell asked did you get the address of the
man who works with Mr. Stephens.
Mr. DeCocq responded yes, it is a P.O. Box that
we have on file.
Mr. Stephens stated he has a P.O. Box. It is on Marco Island.
Mr. Bissell stated you cannot file income taxes
without an address. If for instance, he
was ill or had an accident. The truck
could be gone and we would not know where to find it.
Mr. DeCocq stated I agree, we need to figure out
where our property is, is my bottom line.
Mr. Stephens stated I know where he lives. He has a physical address, but he does not
use it.
Mr. DeCocq asked could you obtain that physical
address for us to have on file?
Mr. Stephens responded yes.
Mr. Bissell stated there was eighty feet of ¾ inch pipe for samples. Was that buried or overhead? They installed eighty feet of three-inch pipe
to the existing metal building.
Mr. Gatti asked who did that?
Mr. Bissell responded Universal Underground. They charged us $535 to do it and support the
pump.
Mr. Stephens stated I never heard of ¾ inch pipe.
Mr. Bissell stated that is three-quarter inch.
Mr. Stephens stated that was for a sample line to
move the sample line from one location to another. These guys did that.
Mr. Bissell asked is this overhead or
underground? That came to more than five
hundred dollars. Should we have had
something on that or is that just something that needed to be done now.
Mr. Stephens responded there was extra for the
electrical, plus he did not put in there to have electric to hook that light
up.
Mr. Bissell stated he charged us three hundred
dollars.
Mr. Stephens responded yes, he had to get an
electrician to do that. That was a
separate incident.
Mr. Gatti stated for everyone's benefit, when you
have a contractor out here ongoing and something comes up you cannot just stop
and come to the Board for approval and a month or two the contractor has to
come back out here. We must give staff
some license. If it is something that
has a tremendous amount of money involved, that is different. Incidental items that are within the budget,
we have to give staff discretion to be able to do that.
Mr. Bissell asked could we have done that line in
house?
Mr. Stephens responded this was a group
thing. This is the items that they
wanted. They wanted the light, the pump
and the sample light. This was the thing
that this guy was doing. He bid on it
all at once.
Mr. Gatti stated I want to get some of these
items put to bed that we keep bringing up every meeting. Mr. Stephens has a scope of work within his
work within his field. Yes, staff can do
some of these things, but that would take them away from the other things they
were hired to do. Mr. Stephens can put
up stop signs, but that deters him from operating the wastewater and the sewage
treatment. Meeting all these EPA
requirements is complicated.
Staff can do some of this stuff, but when we have
staff do it, they are not doing what they are supposed to be doing.
Mr. Bissell asked what about the new cell phone?
Mr. Stephens responded that is for next year.
Mr. Gatti stated I do not mean to pick on
you. In a government, a municipality
that we have all lived in; they have a staff structure. Some people are assigned to do that and some
for that. We have yourself and your two
helpers. They cannot run this as the
City runs and do all that kind of stuff, because then they cannot run the water
treatment and the sewage treatment plant.
Mr. Lambert stated it would be helpful to me to
have a copy of the job description. This
way we can eliminate some of these types of questions. I do not know what your job entails. I do not know when it borders on the outside
of the scope.
Mr. Stephens stated I gave Mr. DeCocq a list of
the things that we are responsible for.
Mr. DeCocq stated I will be glad to give you a
copy of that list. It is pretty
detailed.
Mr. Lambert stated you can e-mail that to me, if
you like.
Mr. Gatti stated please e-mail it to Mr. Lambert
and make it available to the rest of the Board.
Mr. DeCocq stated absolutely.
Mr. Gatti stated is exactly what I was looking
for. Mr. Stephens and his staff can only
do so much. They can repair and make an
asphalt patch, but then they cannot do the jobs they are supposed to be doing.
Mr. Burgeson asked the EPA test that we
failed. What is the effect?
Mr. Stephens responded a different type of
treatment is what we are looking at down the road. We need to meet with the engineer regarding
what needs to be done.
Mr. Lambert asked is it the potable water?
Mr. Stephens responded yes.
Mr. Gatti stated there are some very foreign
words in here, describing chemicals and so on.
Mr. Stephens stated the drinking water is still
safe. It is just new requirements where
they have starting making their water plants test more now. They are getting stricter and stricter about
the quality.
Mr. Burgeson asked if they continue to fail what
do they do?
Mr. Stephens responded they fine you and then
they try and force you to change something and do something different.
Mr. Gatti stated if the water is unsafe, they
will shut you down.
Mr. Stephens stated we covered it quickly, but
there are a lot of things that can happen.
A lot of things are going to have to improve in the water plant that
will cost us money. There are fines and
then there is shutting it down, which we do not want to think about.
Mr. Lambert stated I just went to a
conference. They recommend that the best
thing for a water plant is a membrane treatment process.
Mr. Gatti stated yes, that is the reverse osmosis. That cost us about 36 cents per thousand
gallons to produce water. Just north of
Fort Lauderdale I went to look at another plant and it costs then $2.80 per
thousand gallons. We are talking five or
six times as much. Reverse osmosis comes
into play when separating salt water into potable.
Mr. Stephens stated they do have a membrane where
you can take the brackish water. It is
still expense any time you change over.
The lime softening plants like what we have here are pretty much a thing
of the past.
Mr. Gatti stated Jupiter draws water from the
Floridian Aquifer and as the salinity increases they grab the top, the brackish
water and convert it.
Mr. Robinson asked is there a plan that we are
discussing on this.
Mr. Stephens responded this is something
new. We will have to continue monitoring
this on a quarterly basis and at the end of the year, say okay. At that point you bring the engineer into it
and see what he recommends.
Mr. Robinson asked do you think we will be doing
the same thing at the end of the year as we are doing now? Is there a plan to improve and try to pass
this or are we just going to keep going?
Mr. Stephens responded I have a small plan to
keep the PH as low as I can and enter the chlorine at the last point of
entry. That is the best we can do.
Mr. Gatti stated we depend on Mr. Benson to tell
Mr. Stephens what the problem is and then he recommends he solution and is part
of this equation.
Mr. Stephens stated Mr. Benson is aware of
it. I spoke to him at the last
meeting. That is the latest treatment
they have. It really gets the water
clean.
Mr. Gatti stated if the Board would like, I
suggest Mr. Benson give us a description of what these problems are and what is
involved. That would be good. Mr. Bissell mentioned a meeting with the new
members of the Board to have an information session involving those who have
been on the Board a long time. Did you
want that prior the next meeting or after the next meeting?
Mr. bissell stated prior to the next meeting if
it can be done legally.
Mr. Gatti stated that would be a good time to do
this.
Mr. Bissell stated if not, we could do it
November 22nd.
Mr. Gatti stated that will be a good time for it,
particularly if the Board has questions and would like to get into the kind of
detail that you would like to have.
Mr. Bissell asked should I set this up with Mr.
DeCocq?
Mr. Gatti stated yes, we want to set up an
introductory Board program after or before one of our regular meetings.
Hearing no response,
Mr. Gatti stated we need to call him back.
Ms. Dillon asked this workshop you mentioned, can
we have it before the swearing in on November 22nd. As a new member of the Board I would like to
have it sooner than later.
Mr. Gatti stated whatever is your pleasure.
Ms. Dillon asked on this water plant issue, is
this something that just surfaced or was it something that was already a
regulation?
Mr. Stephens responded yes.
Ms. Dillon asked do we have procedures in place?
Mr. Gatti responded it is an ongoing
process. That is what our testing accomplishes. Our testing says this is a condition of our
water. The EPA monitors that and if
there are some problems, we get letters saying fix this, this and this. Secondly, they have sort of an ongoing
program where things change and you have to adapt to them.
Mr. Robinson asked are we going to correct
this? We cannot have the EPA come in on
three or four tests and say you guys knew about this, i.e. hooking up the
irrigation system a year-and-a-half ago and you have done nothing.
Mr. Gatti stated I appreciate your point, but Mr.
Benson has to give us the background and tell us whether we can or cannot do
this.
Mr. Robinson stated if we need a major overhaul
of our water treatment plant, we should be aware of it now, not six months down
the line and fail more tests.
Ms. Dillon asked can we do something now as
opposed to waiting until Mr. Benson's at the next meeting?
Mr. Burgeson stated we could call him now.
Mr. Stephens stated it is possible that we might
pass the next quarter or two. When more
people come, it will make it better. The
more we turn the water over, the better it is.
When we store the water a day that makes it worse for these tests.
Ms. Dillon stated I do not think we should wait a
quarter to find out we should have been doing something.
Mr. Bissell stated we will have the same problem
next summer.
Mr. Lambert asked this testing is annual and now
we have to do it quarterly?
Mr. Stephens responded it is not quarterly
normally. It is just that we did not
pass. If you pass, everything is an
annual test, but if you do not it is quarterly.
Mr. Lambert stated once we pass it, we will go
back to annually.
Mr. Stephens stated no, once you fail it, then
you have to pass it so many times.
Ms. Dillon asked I would propose the Board ask
for estimates and ideas as to the final solution would be down the line. I want to know that you fixed it, not just
what you had wrong, but to correct it permanently for the future.
Mr. Gatti stated we may assume that if we do
something mechanical or change this or that, then we can change this
problem. It is a bit more complicated
than that. It is the type of chemicals
we use, the amount of chemicals that we use and the condition of the water when
it comes in, which changes. We have to
depend on Mr. Benson who designed that plant, to give us direction on what the
problems and the solutions and the cost.
Ms. Dillon asked can we do that test
ourselves? We could get the stuff and be
done in a couple of weeks.
Mr. Gatti stated you have to have a major testing
laboratory for that.
Ms. Dillon asked can we send it out?
Mr. Gatti responded you can send it out.
Ms. Dillon asked why do we have to wait until the
next quarter to see if we still have the same problem. We could do it every few weeks.
Mr. Stephens stated I have to report any test we
do.
Ms. Dillon asked even though you are trying to
fix the problem?
Mr. Stephens responded yes.
A resident stated I was wondering why employees
have some of our trucks overnight.
Mr. Gatti responded that is part of the job. He is on call and we allow staff to do it.
A resident asked he is on call and you call him
up and have him come out here?
Mr. Gatti responded that is right.
A resident asked is it twice a year or maybe we
can pay for a cab? Is it every week?
Mr. Gatti responded we cannot settle the
operations of the plant this way. We
will never run the wastewater and sewer plant from here. I suggest we wait until Mr. Benson gets
here and he can answer those questions in a better way for us.
A resident stated my C.I.D. people had to go out
twice. In five years, at Stella Maris,
they have never gone up. We know how to
budget our money. I am wondering how you
budget your money. That is all I am
asking.
Mr. Gatti stated there is a budget process that
is open to the public if you want to be part of it. You are welcome to do so at that time. You cannot operate this organization on the
basis of weekly questions.
A resident stated we do not even know where the
truck is.
Mr. Stephens stated I can have the truck here in
fifteen minutes or so.
A resident asked regarding mosquitoes, is there
any chance since the buggy is not functioning well and has to be retrofitted to
fix it, that is rather vital issue.
Could we not rent one that functions well for the interim? Or maybe we could share one with somebody.
Mr. Bissell asked could we use a universal joint?
Mr. Gatti stated we are not going further into
that at this meeting.
Mr.
Burgeson stated at the last meeting we had installed this motor for the
mosquito spraying. That is almost three
weeks ago. Something is going to be
fabricated. How long does it take to
fabricate something? That should be done
in two or three days.
Mr.
Gatti stated Mr. Stephens will get on it.
Now is the critical time.
Mr.
Bissell asked Mr. DeCocq, when could you, Ms. Rutter and I have our telephone
conference?
Mr.
DeCocq asked what was this conference for?
Mr.
Bissell responded to get these bills, all of our invoices sent directly to Ms.
Rutter.
Mr.
DeCocq stated whenever you are ready.
Mr.
Gatti stated you can call Mr. DeCocq and discuss that.
Mr.
Bissell stated I cannot reach him. I
have called several times.
Mr.
Gatti asked can you call Mr. Bissell when you are feeling better?
Mr.
DeCocq responded sure.
Mr.
Gatti asked do you know what he wants?
Mr.
DeCocq responded yes, we want to try and get all the invoices routed through
Ms. Rutter, so we know everything that comes in and out. I have no problem with that. It is a good idea.
Mr.
Gatti asked are you going to take care of that?
Mr.
DeCocq responded absolutely.
Mr.
Gatti stated can we address Resolution 2005-01 amending the debt service fund
budget for Fiscal Year 2003.
Whereupon
Item Number 2 was re-addressed out of order.
Mr. DeCocq stated you true up your budget with
actuals found in your audit statement and this is basically a ministerial
action required by statute that you true up your budget. While it seems strange because a budget is a
best guess, it is what is actually required under the Florida Statutes.
Mr. Gatti stated so we are aligning our budget to
our actual expenditures.
Mr. DeCocq responded yes. As a point of information, last month or the
month before we did this for the 2003 budget before we even approved our audit
because we had to meet a certain date and now we are coming back and doing it
again to make it the actual.
On MOTION by Mr. Bergeson seconded
by Mr. Lambert with all in favor Resolution 2005-01 amending the debt service
fund budget for Fiscal Year 2003 was adopted.
Mr.
Gatti asked do you have anything else before you go?
Whereupon,
Item 3C was re-addressed.
THIRD ORDER OF
BUSINESS Staff
Reports
B. Engineer
Mr.
DeCocq stated Mr. Benson sent me a report.
I told him I would give his report for him. If you will indulge me I will relay what he
said.
Mr.
Gatti stated you can just give us the critical points if you prefer. Mr. Stephens stated tell Mr. Burgeson exactly
what you need after the meeting so he understands and we can get this done.
Mr.
DeCocq stated number one groundwater-monitoring wells are complete. Startup of the reuse system should be able to
be scheduled by Mr. Stephens per operational needs at the plant. I guess, basically you can bring them on line
as needed at this point.
We
need to start moving forward on this.
Mr.
Stephens stated we need the alarm system set up. That requires an alarm system.
Mr.
DeCocq stated he basically outlines a full scale. We started working on the road resurfacing
and the irrigation line extension project.
The next week an engineer from our office was in the field to inspect
the roads that need to be noted with regard to culvert replacement and anything
in the area of road repair, et cetera.
During
the upcoming month we will begin work on the fire and irrigation pump station
upgrades filter and disinfection project.
I will submit his e-mail as part of the record.
Mr.
Bissell asked could you have copies made and sent to the five Board members,
plus the two that will be going on.
Mr.
DeCocq responded sure, I will mass e-mail it.
Does anyone need a hard copy? I
can do that immediately after this meeting.
If I do not have them all, I will contact you individually to get your
information. That was it from Mr.
Benson.
Mr.
Gatti asked do you know anything about the negotiations allegedly going on with
Florida Investments?
Mr.
DeCocq responded no.
A
resident asked at the last meeting we were going to get some bids for the
signs.
Mr.
DeCocq responded I have two companies who are reviewing the signs and they will
give us construction and permitting bids.
I need a permit and designs for all of them and they will replace
them. Hopefully that will be possible.
Mr.
Gatti stated if you can, get a unit price, so if we want more or less signs we
can do it on an individual basis.
A
resident asked were you going to follow up with him about this meeting?
Mr.
Bissell responded I was going to do that over the telephone. When can you call me?
Mr.
DeCocq responded Monday if you are available.
Ms. Rutter is always in the office, so are you available Monday?
Mr.
Bissell responded yes.
Mr.
DeCocq asked what time do you prefer?
Mr.
Bissell responded 8:00 or 9:00.
Mr.
DeCocq stated 9:00 sounds good. I will
mark it down.
Mr.
Bissell asked would you look at the calendar.
If we cannot do something before November 2nd or between then and the
time they are sworn in, could we have you free on November 22nd? That is a Monday.
Mr. DeCocq stated I will check my calendar and be
more than happy to come over.
Mr.
Bissell asked could we have that at your office?
Mr.
DeCocq stated okay.
Mr.
Wolsky stated I cannot go anywhere on Mondays.
Mr.
Burgeson stated you will not be on the Board after that.
Mr.
Lambert asked do we maintain any type of inventory as far as the equipment the
C.I.D. owns and extra parts and that sort of thing?
Mr.
DeCocq responded not so much extra parts.
We mostly look at the larger capital items. We do not look at the smaller stuff. If Mr. Stephens has anything internally. We do not track vehicles, cell phones and
computers. That type of equipment, we
would have information on.
Mr.
Lambert asked could you put together a list of that for me to look at, please?
Mr.
DeCocq responded I will speak to Ms. Rutter and see if we can put that together
for you.
Mr.
Lambert asked do you have anything you can add to that as far as a list of
major tools and that sort of thing.
Mr.
Stephens asked are you referring only to the big stuff?
Mr.
Lambert responded yes, computers and cell phones and things like that.
Mr.
Gatti asked perhaps we should put a dollar value on it. If you are going to tell
FOURTH
ORDER OF BUSINESS Supervisor's
Requests and Audience Comments
Whereupon, a small portion of the meeting
was unable to be transcribed due to a portion of the recording that was missed
while transferring the tape.
Mr.
Gatti stated I can tell you about contracts, which I have dealt with all my
life. If you are going to tell someone
they cannot do something like submit a bid, first you have to tell him before
he submits the bids. Secondly, you must
have reason to reject them. Those
conditions are what we will be subject to.
You must have a reason for it, legally, and you have to tell them
before, not afterwards.
A
resident stated she has done a lot of things on the underhanded side to say the
least and everyone else works for nothing to submit their proposals and then
she says no, I am keeping it.
Mr.
Gatti stated that point has been past and that property is foreclosed and
subject to the procedures of the Court.
When that goes up for sale, she has no more jurisdiction or license
there than anybody else. It is a matter
of who puts up the most money.
Mr.
Burgeson stated the gun club has approximately forty ERC's, which really is not
meaningful. She went on in her lawsuit
about being charged with more ERC's than she actually developed. Any of this that comes to pass, can we make
sure we are dealing at least five ERC's for the fire department we might be
putting in? It would be a shame if we
got the land and did not have the ERC's and had to buy them.
Mr.
Gatti responded yes, we need to make sure that happens. Let me share with you what I think Mr. Cox
said. You cannot transfer ERC's without
the Board's approval.
Mr.
Burgeson stated but they owe us the money.
We can take the ERC's in lieu of the money. They are only 28 cents on the dollar. How about us getting something for the ERC's?
Mr.
Gatti responded we even went so far as to establish a value for the ERC's. What was that in reference to when we went
through all that conversation?
Mr.
Robinson stated that was part of our first bankruptcy.
Mr.
Gatti stated that was when we were going to negotiate. In fact, we were not going to get anything of
the $143,000. We were going to get just
the ERC's that went with the property, which were considerable.
Mr.
Burgeson asked was that in fact $143,000?
It started out $158,000 and then it went to $153,000. Another $10,000 disappeared.
Mr.
Gatti stated those were the final negotiations driven by Allstate. We received a percentage that was fixed. Whatever that was came down. They negotiated and we received a
percentage. Allstate was the driving
force on that.
Mr.
Bissell stated we received $154,000 and some odd dollars.
Mr.
Gatti stated Allstate was supposed to receive about $480,000 and received about
$420,000 or something like that.
Mr.
Bissell stated they received about $560,000 or something like that. They all received 28 and something percent.
Mr.
Burgeson stated with all this negotiation of land I want to be sure we have the
infrastructure in place.
Mr.
Bissell stated in the Board will do all of this negotiating. That is what I am asking for. We will do the work on it and know exactly
what is going on every step of the way.
Ms.
Dillon stated at the last meeting we discussed going out for bid on the
auditor. Is that happening?
Mr.
Gatti asked we will have to defer to Mr. DeCocq on that.
Mr.
Burgeson stated we were questioning his invoices. He put in that $2,000 extra and he was
supposed to report back to us.
Ms.
Dillon stated he was late with the audit and there were a number of things.
Mr.
Gatti stated we did not approve the $2,000 extra.
Mr.
Burgeson stated he was on speakerphone and did not know what was going on. He was doing it for a loss to start with.
Mr.
Gatti asked that is what he said, but would you do business like that?
Mr.
Bissell stated we did say we wanted to put it out on bids. That would be on the minutes, but we did not
receive the minutes this month.
Ms.
Dillon stated I have a question on what you stated as far as you have to tell
somebody up front if they cannot bid a contract. Can we bring that up to Mr. Cox that we wish
to specify that we do not want here to make a bid because we do not want her
out here any more. She does not have
good credit.
Mr.
Gatti stated that is a personal issue.
Ms. Marchand has as much right as you and I do. Is there a reason why she cannot bid on it?
Ms.
Dillon responded she does not have good credit.
Mr.
Gatti stated that is established through the process. If she can come up with the money, she gets
it. If she cannot come up with the
money, she does not.
Ms.
Dillon asked does she have to come up with the money to pay for her bills up
front, that she has not paid since she bought the place?
Mr.
Gatti stated the Court has established a process that she must follow like
anybody else. She has the same rights as
anybody else, subject to the Court process.
You cannot get personal about this stuff.
Ms.
Dillon stated it is my understanding that she is supposed to charge
month-to-month rent. She has already
sent a bill out. Everybody had to pay
his or her rent through May against what the Court said. Storage, there is no storage out there. There is no zoning for it.
Mr.
Gatti stated that is not true. You can
have storage on C4.
Ms.
Dillon stated I looked it up.
Mr.
Gatti stated the parcel where the boats are stored is C4 and storage is
allowed.
Mr.
Dillon stated that is at a marina.
Mr.
Gatti stated that is C4 zoning, period.
I went through this about two years in depth.
A
resident stated I hope we are not going to take this thing too seriously
because it could adversely affect a lot of us if we do not have the ability to
store our vehicle, boats and trailers. I
would take this with a grain of salt.
Mr.
Gatti stated there was an important point made earlier. This is our community and we have to maintain
it to what we want it to be. There are a
lot of boating people here and a lot of part-time people here. Everybody has an interest. It is our community and we have to protect
what we want.
Ms.
Dillon stated if this option occurs, whoever bids on it, we do not have the
authority to say to somebody, no you cannot build that there as long as it is
within the zoning.
Mr.
Burgeson stated what it is zoned for right now is the worst it could get. It is zoned for trailers. If someone wants to do it differently, it is
only going to upgrade. You are going to
go from trailers to condominiums.
A
Resident stated some of us here like the gun club and secondly, for a lot of
people, the parking and boat storage is really important.
Mr.
Burgeson stated sixty acres is conservation and there is ninety, so you only
have to develop thirty. You cannot
imagine that gun club is going to last much longer. That is Levitt's shop.
A
Resident stated whoever bought it may want to do something else.
A
Resident stated I agree that we need storage out here. I am not saying we do not want storage.
Mr.
Burgeson stated you may be able to have storage on conservation land.
Mr.
Gatti stated my understanding is that Grossman was planning to put storage
right behind us.
Mr.
Robinson stated storage is not allowed on C4 and the way they were going to get
through with putting storage over here is it was going to be boat storage.
Mr.
Gatti stated that is what I thought.
Storage is allowed on C4 as long as it is not adjacent to residential
property.
Mr.
Dillon stated Mr. Burgeson was going to provide us with a defibrillator for
$3,000 or less. We were going to see how
we could work out putting that in the hotel.
That has not gone away.
Mr.
Lambert stated when we were discussing the irrigation being out and how that
affects the fire station, do we still have a problem over there with that
electrical? I heard you say something
about lightning?
Mr.
Stephens responded we have power surges or whatever that will trip those
breakers off. We get power here that is
not consistent.
Mr.
Lambert asked is that off of the main power line?
Mr.
Stephens responded yes.
Mr.
Lambert asked have we ever talked to them about helping us solve that problem?
Mr.
Stephens responded I have spoken to them about it. You cannot get anything out of them.
Mr.
Lambert stated I used to do that kind of work years ago and I expect that they
must have come up with ways since then to help solve that problem. We had an obligation when a customer called
to try to solve the problem.
Mr.
Gatti what sort of thing would you do?
Mr.
Lambert responded there are probably several things we could do. I am concerned when we lose our firefighting
system.
Mr.
Stephens stated they will come out and through a hose in the canal and pump it
out of the canal.
Mr.
Gatti stated your point is well taken.
When we get into finishing the second level of priorities at the water
treatment plant and the wastewater treatment plan, we should take that into
consideration.
Mr.
Stephens stated Mr. Benson will take that into consideration when we refurbish
and upgrade that.
Mr.
Burgeson asked is there a reason why they cannot put a low pressure switch on
that and have an alarm bell in there. We
are there seven days a week and if somebody sees a red flashing light because
we have no pressure on the system, that is a cheap fix.
Mr.
Stephens stated the engineer is recommending an alarm system that calls us.
Mr.
Burgeson asked what are you going to feed it off of?
Mr.
Gatti stated yes, we need some sort of an advance warning. The engineer will work it out.
Mr.
Burgeson stated this should be done now, not let it go for another three weeks
and have a catastrophe.
Mr.
Bissell asked is that our uniform now?
Mr.
Stephens responded this is my old uniform.
Mr.
Bissell asked are they using are new uniforms?
Mr.
Stephens responded yes.
A
resident stated we did have brownouts and I called the electric company and
they put a reading on the transformer for a week. They came back and said it was not our
problem. It was theirs and most of it was
because of the wires being hit by the trees.
FIFTH ORDER OF BUSINESS Approval of Check Register
Mr.
Gatti presented the check register for approval.
On MOTION by Mr. Bissell seconded by
Mr. Wolsky with all in favor the check register was approved.
Mr.
Gatti asked are we going to establish a date for the next meeting?
Mr.
Bissell responded we need to have Mr. DeCocq find out what we can do with it.
Mr.
Gatti asked can you coordinate that?
Mr.
Bissell responded yes.
Ms.
Dillon asked this is not in lieu of a Board meeting, is it?
Mr.
Gatti responded no; it is a kind of overall informational thing that we will
all benefit from.
Mr.
Bissell I am going to ask Mr. DeCocq to be there and his immediate supervisor
and Mr. Moyer and the gentleman who owns Severn Trent. It will be open to the public if anyone wants
to be there. It will not be a closed,
executive session.
Mr.
Gatti stated it will be closed to questions because we cannot have everyone
questioning the people that are here.
Mr.
Burgeson stated I understand it will be over at their office.
Mr.
Bissell responded yes, and everyone will be able to answer questions that the
new and old Board members have.
SIXTH ORDER OF BUSINESS Adjournment
On MOTION by Mr. Wolsky seconded by
Mr. Gatti with all in favor the meeting was adjourned at 11:00 a.m.
Secretary / Assistant Secretary Chairman / Vice
Chairman