MINUTES
OF MEETING
PORT
OF THE
COMMUNITY
IMPROVEMENT DISTRICT
The regular meeting of the Board of
Supervisors of the Port of the Islands Community Improvement District was held
Present and constituting a quorum
were:
Richard Gatti Chairman
Bernard Wolsky Supervisor
Ted Bissell Supervisor
John Robinson Supervisor
Richard Burgeson Supervisor
Also present were:
Darrin Mossing District
Assistant Manager
Daniel Cox District Counsel
Ronald Benson District Engineer
Numerous residents
The following is a summary of the
actions taken at the April 19, 2002 meeting.
A copy of the tape recording of the meeting is on file at the District
office.
FIRST ORDER OF BUSINESS Roll Call
Mr. Gatti called the meeting to
order at 10:00 a.m. Mr. Mossing called
the roll.
SECOND
ORDER OF BUSINESS Approval of the
Minutes of the March 7, and March 15, 2002 Meetings
ON MOTION by Mr.
Wolsky, seconded by Mr. Bissell, with all in favor, the minutes of the March 7,
2002 and March 15, 2002 meetings were approved.
THIRD
ORDER OF BUSINESS Approval of
Termination of Easements for Lots 53 and 54, Port of the Islands, Phase II
Mr. Cox
stated the owner of these two lots is going to add an addition to their house
that would encroach upon the easement area.
Once they do that, they are not going to be able to sell that second lot
to anyone anyway. The reason we have
these interior easements is to provide the services to the two adjacent lots.
Mr. Benson has looked at this
particular easement area, and we have no improvements in that area at this
time. We would be able to serve the lot
that still remains on the other side of the property with the perimeter
easements that exist on those two lots.
Mr. Gatti asked is this between the
two lots?
Mr. Cox responded yes, it is between
the two.
Mr. Benson stated they are the
single owner of the two lots.
Mr. Gatti asked what about the
stormwater; no problem?
Mr. Benson responded no.
Mr. Bissell asked they will only pay
one water and sewer though?
Mr. Cox responded no, they will
continue to be assessed as two lots.
ON MOTION by Mr.
Bissell, seconded by Mr. Wolsky, with all in favor, the termination of
easements for Lots 53 and 54, Port of the Islands, Phase II was approved.
FOURTH
ORDER OF BUSINESS Consideration of
Award of Contract for Irrigation/Reuse System Project
Mr. Benson stated we rebid this
project earlier this week. If you
recall, last month we had accepted bids and the low bid was $222,700, with the
engineer's estimate of $195,650. It was
rebid and the bid that you have before you is for $185,687.50, which is $10,000
less than the engineer's estimate. It is
about $37,000 less that the bid you received last month.
Mr. Gatti asked not to be picky, but
what was the second low bidder last month?
Mr. Benson responded the second low
bid was $222,941.50. We had one bid that
was non-responsive.
Mr. Gatti stated in essence, we
saved $35,000.
Mr. Benson stated yes. We have reviewed the references for this
bidder and also know the bidder. They do
good work. There is a bid bond. Everything appears to be in order. We recommend that you award the contract to
Kyle Construction.
If you recall, originally I told you
it was going to be somewhere between $150,000 and $200,000. We received a grant from Big Cypress Basin
and South Florida Water Management District for $75,000, provided that we spend
at least $150,000. We do have $75,000
towards this.
Mr. Mossing stated we will have to
tell you where the rest of the money in the budget is. I think we were planning for $150,000
originally in the budget.
Next month we will start our budget
process. We will take a close look at
our cash flow and where we are at. We
may need to utilize some reserve funds to complete that, and we may need to
consider some type of rate increase for our utilities to replenish those funds
over the next couple of years.
Mr. Gatti stated this is not the
appropriate forum for this discussion, but the idea of using reclaimed/reuse
water is an absolute must, the way South Florida Water utilization is going,
and the way South Florida is looking at redistribution. When does our redistribution come up - our
allocation of water?
Mr. Benson responded we are
currently in an extension, actually, not a renewal. At some point in time they will ask us to
renew.
Mr. Gatti stated the fact that we
are using reuse water for irrigation and not using potable water for
irrigation, builds a very good case for our water allocation in the
future. This is a very good move, even
if it costs us some money and even if we have to make an investment at this
point.
Maybe not in our lifetime, but in
the foreseeable future, we will be seeing closed loop systems where not only
will this be used for irrigation, but it will be used for potable water,
too. I would strongly recommend the
program.
Mr. Wolsky asked we have until
December to complete it?
Mr. Benson responded that is
correct.
Mr. Wolsky stated it will take three
months to build, approximately.
Mr. Benson stated let me give you an
update on the permit. We have contacted
DEP. Our understanding is they have all
the information they need. The person
who is writing the permit is on vacation.
Hopefully, when they are back, that will be one of their high priority
projects to finish our permit.
Mr. Gatti asked can we start work
without the permit?
Mr. Benson responded no, I would not
advise that.
Mr. Gatti asked can we put the pipe
in the ground without it connecting, without the permit?
Mr. Benson responded we could
potentially do that if we needed to meet the terms of our agreement.
Mr. Gatti stated we are going to
want to beat the rain. Because, that is
what these prices are predicated on.
Mr. Benson stated the contract does
have a provision that allows us to not give the notice to proceed immediately
upon award. You are right, it may only
make sense to do the construction earlier than later. When this fellow gets back from vacation we
will talk to him and see what we can do.
Mr. Bissell asked they verbally gave
you approval on this permit?
Mr. Benson responded that is from
talking to people, yes. There have been
some technicalities. In actuality, DEP
on this type of thing is not used to dealing with systems as small as
ours. We are trying to get them not to
hold us to every single requirement that they would hold Collier County to, for
a very large system, as long as we are protecting the public. That is just going to save us money.
A Supervisor asked does the
contractor acknowledge that we have not received the permit yet?
Mr. Benson responded yes, and we
have a 90/120 day period to give the notice to proceed. We do not have to start this contractor until
we have that. We will not do anything
that is not legitimate, as far as having someone start work without a
permit. What Mr. Gatti was asking was is
there a way to get another permit just for the pipe, instead of the whole
project.
Mr. Gatti stated a dry pipe permit.
ON MOTION by Mr.
Bissell, seconded by Mr. Wolsky, with all in favor the contract for the
irrigation reuse system was awarded to Kyle Construction in the amount of their
low bid of $185,687.50.
FIFTH ORDER OF BUSINESS Staff Reports
A. Attorney
Mr. Cox stated the reason I did not
schedule the executive session is that we have to actually hold that in a
public meeting like this one. There are
very limited reasons for which that meeting can be held. Actually, just a status update would not
qualify for that anyway.
Basically, the case is it is still
on hold. We have filed our answer, and
so have several property owners individually.
Allstate, of course, has filed their answer. We have raised several affirmative defenses,
they are called.
The case management conference is
scheduled for May 9th, which is probably when the Judge will give us more
direction as to when we can begin and when discovery must end, and when we have
to file a memorandum with the Court that identifies the issues to be resolved
and what attempts were made to resolve those without the Court's
involvement. We will then be on track to
be scheduled for our hearings, and I would think that the Judge is going to try
to wrap this up this year.
Mr. Wolsky stated when we first went
into this case, you asked everybody to maintain quiet while the case was
proceeding - not to grant any interviews, et cetera. Was that not the case?
Mr. Cox responded I do not
recall. It may be very well that I
did. Up until the point we file our
answer is really when it is critical.
Mr. Gatti stated I am going to cut
you off, please. If we are going to talk
about this case, we are going to go into an executive session. I do not want to go into it in an open meeting. I appreciate your update. Is that appropriate?
Mr. Cox stated yes, and I do not
mind finishing answering that question, because I will not get into the details
of the case.
Mr. Gatti stated I cut it off, so
let us leave it cut off. Anything else?
Mr. Cox stated Mr. Benson brought up
the subject the other day that we had not received the notice to bid on the
surplus pump from the County. We checked
into that, and their records show that they sent out the notice to bid to about
15 people, including my office, but I do not find it anywhere in my files. The sum of it is that nobody bid on the
pump. It is still sitting there. Looking
at the statute, I do not see what happens if no one bids. Then we get back to the statute that says
that the County can dispose of surplus property to an entity such as a
Community Development District for nominal consideration or no
consideration. Therefore, we are back to
that point of approaching them and asking them to just donate it to us.
Mr. Gatti stated I suggest we
approach our Commissioner, because he is looking to help us.
Mr. Cox stated for them to donate it
under that statute, it requires the Board of County Commissioners' approval, so
we would have to talk to each of the Commissioners anyway at some point to let
them know what is going on. It would
probably get placed on the consent agenda, and not even be an issue.
Mr. Gatti asked should we initiate a
request of some sort?
Mr. Cox responded yes, we will do
that.
Mr. Wolsky stated I can send him an
E-mail.
Mr. Cox stated it would help. If you want to send him and E-mail, but I
will reinitiate the request that we made originally that they donate it to us,
or set some nominal consideration.
Mr. Benson stated yesterday I talked
to the project manager for Collier County on the project where this is being
surplused and told this woman that Port of the Islands - she has always known
we wanted it - I said, we want it. We
did not get the notice. That is why we
did not bid. Do not do anything with
this. Do not just junk it, because we do
want it.
B. Engineer
Mr. Benson stated at the request of
the Board a few months ago we started building the map of the infrastructure in
the community.
Mr. Benson outlined the elements
contained on the map and gave a brief report on the pumps.
C. Manager
There being none, the next agenda
item was addressed.
SIXTH
ORDER OF BUSINESS Supervisor's
Requests and Audience Comments
Mr. Lauffer stated I want to
congratulate Mr. Robinson taking care of the water leak that has been going on
for two or three months. It probably
amounts to three or four thousand gallons a month.
SEVENTH
ORDER OF BUSINESS Approval of
Invoices and Financial Statements
Mr. Bissell stated after my
discussion with Mr. Mossing here, I recommend that we pay the bills as
presented.
ON MOTION by Mr.
Bissell, seconded by Mr. Wolsky, with all in favor, the invoices and financial
statements were approved.
EIGHTH ORDER OF BUSINESS Adjournment
ON MOTION by Mr.
Robinson, seconded by Mr. Burgeson, with all in favor, the meeting was
adjourned.
Darrin
Mossing Richard
Gatti
Assistant
Secretary Chairman