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
Leonard
Gross Supervisor
Ted
Bissell Supervisor
Also present were:
Darrin Mossing District
Assistant Manager
Daniel
Cox District
Counsel
Ronald
Benson District
Engineer
Tim
Stephens Field
Manager
Various
residents
FIRST
ORDER OF BUSINESS Roll
Call
Mr. Gatti called the meeting to
order at
SECOND ORDER OF BUSINESS Approval of Minutes of the October
19, 2001 Meeting
Mr. Gatti stated enclosed are the minutes of the
There not being any,
ON MOTION by Mr. Bissell, seconded by Mr. Wolsky, with all
in favor, the Minutes of the
A. Attorney
Mr. Cox stated I had a request at
the last meeting from the Board to do a little research, and I need to report
on that, if I could. The first plat filed for the subdivision out here was
filed in 1984. t
was before the existence of the CDD.
Mr. Gatti asked so I can catch up,
you are reporting on what?
Mr. Cox responded basically who has
the maintenance responsibilities for certain drainage, et cetera. The developer
at the time was Port of the Islands, Inc.
They reserved to themselves all of the roads, the drainage facilities,
and the water and sewer distribution systems that are within the subdivision.
After we established the CDD here on the property and sold the bonds and got
the proceeds, we acquired these systems from the developer as a part of buying
the water treatment facilities and sewage treatment facilities. The next one
that was platted was Evening Star Cay. Evening Star, the roads, water and sewer
distribution facilities were dedicated to the District and they were Tracts A,
B, C and D, which are essentially these maintenance and landscaping areas and I
believe the pool area were dedicated to the CDD, as well. The CDD does have the
ownership of those and maintenance responsibilities for the landscaping of the
roads through here. The one I guess everybody is most interested in is the
Cays.
Mr. Gatti asked before you leave
that, what about the street lighting?
Mr. Cox responded there is no
mention in the plats. I did not see
anything about the street lighting.
Mr. Gatti stated because one of
those areas, the street lighting is private, if I am not mistaken. They have
their own streetlights on the first one, Evening Star.
Mr. Cox stated there was not
anything on the plat about that, that I remember seeing.
Mr. Gross stated we take care of
that.
Mr. Cox stated the first portion of
the Cays that is platted - actually, all of this was platted at one time,
except these were reserved as future development tracts - Sunset Cay, Venus
Cay, Windstar and Wilderness were the first phase of the Cays. The roads were dedicated to the CDD, along
with, it appears, the drainage easements and maintenance responsibility for
those drainage easements. Those are
along the rear of each of the lots and they bisect certain lots or go along the
perimeter, actually, between different lots - the lateral easements. There are
also some utilities and conservation easements that are dedicated to the
District. Those were referred to as
Tracts E and F. I believe there is a drainage lake down in here. Tract F is
also where the lake is. I understand there is a lake in here but I do not
recall seeing anything about that, either, on the plat, as to whom that was
dedicated to. In conjunction with that, there was a reservation to the
developer, Harbor Club, Inc., which allowed them to continue to use the roads
and drainage facilities, as long as they were constructing improvements within
the subdivision. The next phase that was filed was the Stella Maris Phase. The
road was dedicated to the District with the responsibility for maintenance of
the road. There was dedication of the
drainage easements that run to the rear of each of the properties and between
certain lots, lateral easements. The dedication was to the Stella Maris
Homeowners Association with responsibility for maintenance, with a dedication
to the Port of the Islands Community Improvement District to allow them to use
the drainage facilities, but with no responsibility for maintenance as well as
a reservation to the developer to allow the use of the roads and drainage
facilities while they were continuing to develop the rest of the project. There
is access easements, walkway easements, landscape
buffer easements, and what are referred to as special purpose easements, which
may include this lake. There again, there were dedications to the Port of the
Islands Community Improvement District with no responsibility for maintenance,
and a dedication to the homeowners association with responsibility for
maintenance.
Mr. Gatti stated the bottom line is
that - and I think we are talking about Stella Maris, primarily - we are
responsible for the roadway, but we are not responsible for the drainage.
Mr. Cox responded not for
maintenance of the drainage easements; that is correct.
Mr. Wolsky stated that is spelled
out in the plat.
Mr. Cox responded that is correct.
Mr. Wolsky asked what about that
pond at the end of Stella Maris, the one that belongs to the Stella Maris
Master Association?
Mr. Cox responded there is a
dedication to allow the use of these drainage easements - or special purpose
easements, they are called. The District can use them, the developer has
reserved the right to use them, but responsibility for maintenance is with the
homeowners association.
Mr. Wolsky asked the development
around can use it?
Mr. Cox responded that is correct.
Mer. Wolsky stated some people have
been questioning me about it. One of them told me this morning that their
lawyer says that there is no easement for anyone to use that except the master
association.
Mr. Cox responded it appears from
the plat, the special purpose easements, which is what I believe that they are
referring to there, the District definitely has the right to use it, and the
developer appears to have reserved the right to use it. The lake is part of the
primary drainage system, and we do have responsibility for maintenance.
However, the smaller lakes in here, we do not. The perimeter drainage
easements, we do not have any responsibility for maintenance.
Mr. Wolsky asked is there a
possibility that your secretary could type those out and I could have a copy?
Mr. Cox responded yes. Are there any
other questions?
Mr. Gatti asked as long as we are on
the attorney's report, we got a letter from Allstate; are you going to talk
about that a little bit?
Mr. Cox responded I had not really
planned on it.
Mr. Gatti stated let me make it a
little easier then. Would you explain what that letter asks for?
Mr. Cox responded sure. Over the
past couple of years, when we levied the assessments and passed the budget each
year, we typically would certify a tax roll to the Collier County Property
Appraiser and Tax Collector for them to put our assessments on the tax bill for
all of the properties within the District. Back about two years ago, Allstate
became concerned about six of the properties that are located within the District
that had become, in their opinion, risk for going further into default on the
payment of their taxes. Because of the level of tax certificates that were on
those properties already, it became apparent in Allstate's mind that tax
certificates might not sell, therefore, they would not get their money through
that tax sale process. The alternative method that we can use for collecting
our assessments is to bill the property owners directly. If they do not pay by the deadline that is
laid out in the statute, then the District has the option to foreclose directly
against the property, rather than wait for a tax certificate sale.
Mr. Gatti asked the District or
Allstate?
Mr. Cox responded the District.
Mr. Mossing stated upon direction of
Allstate. We probably would not take it
upon ourselves to do that; however, if the bondholder instructed the Board to
go forward with the foreclosure, then we would be obligated to do that.
Mr. Cox stated that is how the lines
get blurred on who is foreclosing on what. This year, we have already certified
our rolls. We did the same thing. We got the six properties off the roll,
direct-assessed those, and everyone else was still billed through their
property tax bill - through Roger Carlton's office. Allstate is now asking us
to monitor these properties. Also, any of those that go to tax certificate sale
this year, they want us to direct-assess next year.
Mr. Gatti asked rather than going
through Carlton's office?
Mr. Cox responded correct. We will have more than six parcels next year,
most likely.
Mr. Gatti asked does anybody
understand that?
Mr. Wolsky stated what they are
trying to do is be in a position to foreclose by not having a lot of
certificates out.
Mr. Gatti asked when are we going to
have to address this?
Mr. Mossing responded next budget
cycle. We will have to monitor it. The end of March is the latest that you can
pay your property taxes before it starts to go into tax certificate sale
status. We will monitor that and have a report at the end of March as to which
properties are potentially going to have to be direct-assessed.
Mr. Gatti asked you do not need any
action from us now?
Mr. Cox responded no.
Mr. Gatti asked do we have to
respond to that letter?
Mr. Mossing responded let me add, I
need to clarify with Mr. Bloom, as Mr. Wolsky pointed out, the letter states
March 31, 2001. What that would really mean is that anyone who was delinquent
this past March, would get correction notices, be take the assessments off the
tax roll, and the bill today directly. I was under the impression they were
referring to what Mr. Cox stated, come March 31, 2002, we would get a report of
any properties that were delinquent at that point would be direct-assessed in
November 1, 2002. My understanding was
it would be the assessment for 2002. I
will clarify that. Basically, I do not
believe there is any action for this Board to take. However, if they want us to
take the action that I just explained, then I will come back in December with
an agenda item.
Mr. Cox stated I am pretty certain
that is a typo, because before the assessment resolutions were passed this last
budget cycle, I talked to Allstate and they told me to keep just the same six
properties off roll.
Mr. Mossing stated I will clarify
that.
B. Engineer
Dr. Benson stated the agreement with
the South Florida Water Management District, Big Cypress Basin, for the grant
is $75,000 has a term of one year. The
effective date of that agreement was February 2nd of this year. We are going to need to talk to the District
and explain to them that we need an extension, because we will not be able to
incur all the costs by February 2nd. That is the date you previously
questioned.
Mr. Gatti asked have we started any
phase of that?
Dr. Benson responded you have completed
the design of the project. The permitting work has been done. That is the
second part of my report on this. As I have mentioned a few times before, we
have had to work with the State D.E.P. because this community does not exactly
fit technically all the criteria in the rules, although with the intent of the
rules we would. We have worked with the permit folks and had an understanding
that they are working with us, and that we will get a permit. As we are meeting here today, I believe that
a couple of people from D.E.P. wanted to come out and see the community so they
would understand where the water for reuse is going, and have a little bit
better understanding of the system. I
believe that is our last step to get this permit approved. We should have a permit very shortly. The
plans and specifications have been prepared previously. What we now need to do is advertise for bids.
At this point, what I would suggest the Board consider is maybe going ahead and
giving us authorization, in conjunction with the attorney and management staff,
put out an advertisement to contractors for a bid date. We could include in
that advertisement a length of time in which the bids would be good for, which
obviously allows us to get the permits in hand.
I believe we have all the easements now.
All the steps are pretty much there. I think at this point, if we went
ahead and advertised for bids, and award the bid to the contractor either
contingent on the permit being in hand, or else we just wait to actually give
them the award when the permit is issued.
Mr. Gatti asked how long do we have?
As I understood what you said, the work should be completed by February 2nd.
Dr. Benson responded if they do not
give us an extension, yes, we have until February 2nd. I believe we will be able to get an
extension. I will make that contact.
Mr. Gatti stated Clarence is in
Saudi Arabia, but we could talk to Aneth and he will give us an extension.
Dr. Benson stated I think they will
work with us, considering what the complications were.
Mr. Gatti asked how long an
extension would you ask for, six months?
Dr. Benson responded I think that
would be reasonable. The actual work
that we are talking about does not take that long, construction-wise. It is
mainly putting in pipe from 41 back to the wastewater plant. That is fairly
easy work.
Mr. Gatti stated it seems on the
surface that it is an easy thing to do. We got the grant and so forth, but it
just drags out and on and on. Is there a
turf battle between D.E.P. and the BNR?
Dr. Benson responded not
exactly. D.E.P. has rules that are for
the protection of public health and safety, obviously. In order to protect people, in this situation
they had passed a rule last year. The
rule was that if you added anything to reuse water other than the reuse water,
you would have had to go through a whole bunch of hoops relative to this other
water source. The bottom line was, they
were trying to make sure that the other source of water was as good as the
reuse water. Well, we have an existing situation where we have irrigation that
meets all the rules. It has been in
effect for ten years or more. We did not
want the expense and potential problems of them saying we could not use the
canal anymore, because you need the canal water for fire protection and all the
other things that go with this system. The other situation is that we were
going to use a supplemental water source, being the raw water from your wells -
the water goes to your water treatment plant, then it is treated and you drink
it. Their question was, how do we know
the water from your wells is good enough.
Basically, their questioning is, is the water from your wells as good as
your reuse water, which is the treated effluent. We have gone through how to
get around a technical rule, and they have agreed. One of the options would have been we would
have had to go for variances, and it would have been an expensive, drawn-out
process. We talked them out of
that. They said, you probably could get
the approval, but you would have to go all the way to Tallahassee, and you
would incur a bunch of things. Therefore, we worked with them at the local
level, it just took a little longer, because we had to get to the right people
and people have changed. Now we have an
understanding. I am sorry it has taken so long, but that was the low-cost way
of going about it.
Mr. Wolsky asked should we then go
ahead and ask for bids?
Mr. Gatti responded if nobody has
any objection to it.
ON MOTION by Mr. Wolsky, seconded by Mr. Bissell, with all in
favor, staff is authorized to solicit bids for contractors on the reuse system.
Dr. Benson stated I will make sure
that the language of the advertisement is okay with Mr. Cox, then Mr. Mossing
will take care of the advertising. We
will provide the plans and documents to bidders, and they will purchase those.
One other item, we have been telling you for a number of months that we have
been working with Collier County to get some surplus equipment to be part of
this project. They had an irrigation
pump station that they are putting in a new one. The old one has been
available. We had an understanding with
Collier County that it would be available for the Islands as surplus equipment.
We almost had a glitch in that and Mr. Stephens helped out. It almost went to
Everglades City, but we have ended up getting it. Mr. Stephens talked to folks in Everglades
City and they said they did not really want it. That was part of the cost
savings to make this project fit within your budget. Again, the budget is $150,000, of which they
would match half of that cost.
Mr. Gatti stated I have really been
concerned that once we got that grant we do not want to lose it. Things just
seem to drag on and on.
Dr. Benson stated this piece of
surplus equipment will be available in the next month. Again, that kind of drug out, too.
Mr. Gatti asked do you need anything
on the surplus equipment, transportation costs or anything?
Dr. Benson asked did we get an
approval for a small amount of money to have that transported?
Mr. Gatti responded you have $5,000.
Dr. Benson stated I think we did
that a number of months ago, if there was a transportation cost. I think we may even have that to the point
where it may be very minimal, if any.
Mr. Gatti stated assume you have
it. If you need to spend some money on
it for transportation, do it.
Mr. Mossing stated I think we have a
general understanding that you need to do whatever it takes to get that
equipment delivered.
Dr. Benson stated it is at the Lalee
subdivision. It is not that far.
Mr. Gatti asked can you comment at
all on the pump station that is going in?
Dr. Benson responded when the
wastewater plant was abandoned at the airport location, we utilized an existing
pump station and just replumbed it to basically pump wastewater to the north
end of the property. The owner of that
property, in order to developer the property, needed to relocate an old pump
station. It was old when we
rehabilitated it years ago. We worked with them and basically made an
arrangement, and I think it was brought to this Board and approved, that they
would pay the entire cost of the new facility.
They would relocate it out near the road, which is a lot easier for you
to maintain. You are getting a brand new
station at no cost, in a better location, and they are paying the costs in
order to free up their site for development.
Mr. Gatti asked that pretty well
accepts the whole south end here, right?
Dr. Benson responded yes. You are
getting an improvement at no cost.
Mr. Gatti asked the point I wanted
to make was, somebody is watching over that, right?
Dr. Benson responded I believe Mr.
Stephens was to keep track of that. If
he had any questions he was to contact our office.
Mr. Gatti stated we want to make
sure we follow-up on is, when these activities go on, that we are going to
inherit, that we have input into what is going on. I see they are having a little bit of
trouble. I do not know why they are
dewatering that area now.
Dr. Benson stated I am not sure of
the details. In general, on those kind
of activities - at least it is my understanding historically - that the field
manager, he is here - he sees what is going on.
If he has any questions, he then contacts us. That obviously keeps our costs to the
District to a minimum. We work with him.
Mr. Gatti stated when you get a
chance, get an update on what is happening and let us know.
Mr. Bissell stated they are pumping
constantly, that I see; is there a problem there? They put in the silo a couple of weeks ago,
but they are still pumping. Why are they
still pumping? After they are connected
- the sewer is connected to it - is this water going to seep in there? Are we going to be pumping that kind of water
all the way up there?
Mr. Wolsky stated they are just
dewatering the hole.
Mr. Bissell asked why?
Mr. Wolsky responded they have to
get in the hole to put in the pumps and stuff.
Mr. Stephens stated they have to fix
their inverts down below, and then also get their pump bases set down there.
Dr. Benson stated they have to connect
all the pipes to that structure. They
have to get the water out of the hole, which is around, in order to get the
pipe connections made.
Mr. Bissell asked when are they
going to do that?
Dr. Benson responded I think that is
what they are doing now. I drove by
before the meeting just so I could eyeball it out the car window. That is all I know.
Mr. Gatti stated the moral of the
story is, keep your eye on what is going on and let us know that everything is
being done in accordance with the plans and specifications. We are depending on you to do that. In terms of what is going on, they put the
well down and then the silo, and now they are putting in the pumps and the
piping to it. In this interim, there is a lot of ground water and stuff like
that. They put a dewatering system around it, and that is what you see going on
on the street. It is ground water. They are keeping that hole dry. We just want to know that that goes in
right. Let us know.
Dr. Benson stated the pump station
is a Collier County standard pump station.
Mr. Gatti asked who signs off on the
acceptance of that pump station?
Dr. Benson responded the engineer
who works for the developer who did the permitting through the State of
Florida.
Mr. Gatti asked who is that?
Dr. Benson responded I believe our
firm has inherited that work. It used to
be another firm that is no longer in town.
Mr. Gatti asked you guys will sign
off on it?
Dr. Benson responded someone in
another department in our firm, but they would do the inspection. They have to sign a certification and send it
to the State of Florida that it was built to the standards it was
permitted. The standards that Collier
County has do not allow ground water to be leaking into the pump station and
having to pump that up to the plant. Therefore, no, it should be sealed. One
other thing that was mentioned in last month's minutes. We have taken and developed this map over the
years. We have identified various District-owned features. Obviously, the roads are one, utilities are one,
location of property - like for the irrigation pump station, the
water/wastewater plant - we are going to keep adding things, just at this
point, with Magic Marker on this demo exhibit, until we get all the things that
you would like to have on this map. That
is obviously the way to keep the development costs to a minimum. Once it is
developed, we will then have that information, as far as what is shaded and
what is identified, entered into the same computer drawing. We can then plot that twice as big and in
color. You can then have a nice final
end product. Mr. Gatti stated we are going to have this map at our meetings,
because we make reference to stuff and then people can see what we are talking
about.
Mr. Wolsky asked can you put that
out electronically in the format that an average user of a PC could use?
Dr. Benson responded I believe we
can get it converted over to a file format that you could use. Right now, it is not, but we can probably do
that.
Mr. Wolsky stated I would love to
have something like that on my computer in case somebody asks how this is
arranged and so forth. Because, this one
has the Magic Markers all over it, and it is good for this purpose, but it is
not good for possibly the next purpose that you would want to use it for.
Dr. Benson stated I will get you a
diskette with a general standard format you could use with just the base
map. That will be no problem. As I said,
what we need to know is, what things you would like to have on this map that is
going to end up twice as big and be in color, and look a little bit nicer than
these Magic Markers.
Mr. Wolsky stated a little box down
in the corner that identifies all the names of these - Old Florida and Harbor
Club and so forth - who they are, would be one thing that I would submit to be
put on there.
Dr. Benson stated as Mr. Cox has
mentioned, there is drainage features that you have to maintain in various
locations on the property. We will put
that maybe in blue - drainage along the roads and here, and that is part of your
system. The drainage, obviously, that is
in these other properties that are developed that you do not maintain, we are
not going to show. We are just going to
show what you maintain. We will show,
probably, where the pump stations are for the wastewater system. We can add things - whatever it is you would
like to see.
Mr. Gatti stated I assume you do
that in layers, so that you can hide one layer and just put up what you would
like.
Dr. Benson responded yes.
Mr. Mossing stated I asked Dr.
Benson to put on there, maybe in green, the landscape areas that we maintain,
so if that comes up. It will be a good
reference for Mr. Stephens in coordinating with the landscape contractors and
say these are the areas that we are currently maintaining. I think that question comes up now and again
on the landscaping. We will have the landscape, the roads - the District
roadways that are to be maintained - and add, even as far as maybe putting in
the lift stations that we have throughout the property so when he does his
annual engineer's report, we can go and say, these pumps - these lift stations
are thirty years old. We are going to
replace these in this year, and this is our renewal and replacement program,
and these are where all of our facilities are located.
Mr. Gatti stated that will be
excellent, because it helps us address the questions of the residents when they
come and ask questions. For example, Mr.
Morris implied that perhaps the plat that said that Stella Maris Homeowners
Association had the responsibility for maintenance of the drainage, that that
perhaps was not valid. I assume that
what your presentation said this morning, Mr. Cox, is that it is valid.
Mr. Cox stated it is clear from the
face of the plat that that is what was intended.
Mr. Gatti stated it would help us to
field these questions without having to call you guys.
Mr. Mossing stated Dr. Benson says
that if the hotel allows us, we can keep one board here at the hotel, and one
board at Mr. Stephens' office, so that we will have it available for everyone
to look at. He says he can do all of
this and keep within the $500 budget that you approved.
C. Manager
Mr. Mossing stated we did receive a
check for $2,003 from the Collier County Tax Collector, which represented the
payment of back taxes on the M-2 parcel.
They are starting the development of that project. Therefore, their construction loan, as part
of that, they had to pay their back taxes on that property. Which resulted in approximately $51,000 for
our general fund operations and $37,000 for our water and sewer
operations. The balance went to the debt
service.
Mr. Wolsky asked is M-2
multi-family?
Mr. Mossing responded yes.
Mr. Wolsky asked that is not in this
month's financial report, right?
Mr. Mossing responded no. The cash balances are reflected on the balance
sheet. The money is in the account and
is reflected, but the revenue is part of the prior year's revenue. Just for
information at this point, previously approved by this Board was part of the
M-2 and Parcel 4 - I am not sure if it is A or B - for Harbor Club to transfer
ERC's, they have completed everything in accordance with the rule that the
Board adopted. However, one of the
provisions of the Board is that their current year assessments be up to speed
and paid current. Because there was a delay in getting their development loan
and paying their taxes through 2000, their next year's assessments are now part
of the rule, which are not due until March 31st of 2002. They do not want to
pay their property taxes until March 31st.
However, as part of the rule states that you need to have all of your
assessments current. I believe at the
next meeting they may be coming to this Board requesting a variance to delay
the payment of their current year's assessments until they are technically due
on March 31st.
Mr. Gatti asked "they"
being?
Mr. Mossing responded Harbor Club
Development. That is not the hotel; that is Mr. Burgeson. They will be coming
back to the Board, because we cannot finalize that transfer, because in
accordance with the rule, they have not completed all of the items on the
checklist.
Mr. Wolsky asked is Mr. Hardy still
involved, or is that only Mr. Burgeson?
Mr. Mossing responded to be honest
with you, I am not sure.
Mr. Wolsky stated Mr. Hardy is
listed in the Department of State's records as being president of the
corporation.
Mr. Bissell stated somebody told me
that Mr. Burgeson is no longer involved with Mr. Hardy.
Mr. Mossing stated I am just letting
you know that that request will be coming back to this Board at probably your
December meeting.
Mr. Gatti stated when we get the
request we can ask these questions and determine if it is pertinent to what we
are looking at. I would like to stay
away from any kind of rumors.
D. Field
Manager
Mr. Gatti stated I got something
from the EPA having to deal with water protection. I guess the state is going into some sort of
a formal water protection act where all local water facilities or distributors
will have an opportunity to get that state revolving fund money. All it means
is that you can get state funds for about three percent. I do not know if that is good news or bad
news. What it proposes is that we can get an SRF for anything we want to do to
protect that plant. I have asked you to look at this a couple of times. We are doing whatever we possibly can to
protect that plant. What is the
Sheriff's reaction to all of this?
Mr. Stephens responded they are
patrolling the facility on a regular basis - usually at least once or twice a
shift. They came out and went through
the facility and recommended us putting some more lights in - as many lights as
we could. We put four or five different
lights in. Just basically to secure it,
keep all the lights on at night. They did not recommend a dog. They said somebody could poison the dog if
they wanted to get in or shoot it. It was not even an option. That was mentioned before. There was no other feasible thing to do. For
us, 24-hour security is not something that would be financially feasible.
Mr. Gatti stated it does not make
sense, because you can get into the system a thousand places right here on this
site. All you have to do is put a pump onto a hose bib and you can get into the
system.
Mr. Stephens stated with regard to
the filters, I told everybody we put the filters on last month. We did, for two
days, and we had to take them back off-line. We had to take all the media back
out and we put all new media in. We have
it going again, and everything is good now.
It just would not work the way we tried to do it, because the media is
layered.
Mr. Gatti stated you have to
stratify it. If you do not stratify it,
you are not going to get the percolation.
Mr. Stephens stated exactly. When we took it out, it was taken out at sand
and rock, and there are seven different sizes.
Mr. Gatti asked were you able to get
the nozzles you needed?
Mr. Stephens responded we got the
nozzles, yes. We got some knock-in inserts because they were German-made and it
was going to take another two weeks if we would have ordered the nozzles, so we
went ahead and got inserts. We got that
all taken care of.
Mr. Gatti stated I have asked Mr.
Stephens to call me on occasion whenever something happens that involves
everybody here. I will pass that on to
the rest of the Board, as he gives me the information, so that we kind of know
what is going on. The people ask about
things, and we sit there like a lump on a log.
Therefore, he has been doing that, and I will be passing it on.
Mr. Bissell asked is our chlorine is
back down now?
Mr. Stephens responded it was
actually up some today. We put the filters back on, we use less chlorine as we
go. We are down to using less than ten
pounds a day of chlorine, where we were - without the filters - using like
around twenty pounds.
Mr. Wolsky stated we are coming back
down to normal.
Mr. Stephens stated we are reducing
the chlorine.
Mr. Gatti stated tell us about
mosquitoes.
Mr. Stephens stated I sprayed night
before last. Today, there were none that I saw. We are trying to do it just as
needed.
FOURTH ORDER OF BUSINESS Supervisors' Requests and Audience Comments
Mr. Wolsky stated I have a question
about mosquitoes. If the West Nile Virus
becomes a problem in this area, would it come under the purview of the CID to
perhaps organize people to get mosquito magnets; are you familiar with the new
developments?
Dr. Benson stated I looked at
that. They are expensive.
Mr. Wolsky stated we used it here
for a month.
Dr. Benson asked how did you like
it?
Mr. Wolsky stated it worked pretty
well.
Dr. Benson stated about $1000/$1500
for one that would cover an acre. It is
stainless steel.
Mr. Stephens stated it costs about
$15/$20 for gas.
Dr. Benson stated the initial
up-front cost, I think, was around $1500 for one-acre coverage. There are about 200 acres in the whole
project, maybe.
Mr. Gatti stated I hear where you
are coming from, but do we want to do this?
Mr. Wolsky stated I do not know,
that is why I brought it up. Because I
know the thing was developed by Florida State at Gainesville. They have been working on this stuff for a
long, long time, and apparently it works.
I mean, it is not aerial spraying, it is good for the environment. I would imagine that maybe even in
conjunction with the residents, you know, the residents putting one on their
property.
Mr. Gatti stated that is what I
would like to see. In fact, we talked
about it down on our end, where two or three of us were going to buy one and
locate it strategically in our area. I
would rather see it done by area, rather than get the CID involved. That is my personal opinion.
Dr. Benson stated if the West Nile
Virus becomes a real problem there might be state funding.
Mr. Gatti stated that could be,
too. Let us keep an eye after that and
see if we can get some funding, then we would do it.
Mr. Bissell asked you were
discussing some problem about a water leak; has that been taken care of?
Mr. Mossing stated no, it has
not. I believe that they need to come
back to this Board and request that.
They have not received a credit. They need to come back to the Board and
request an adjustment.
A Supervisor stated what happened
is, they had a leak here in the main line.
It is apparently a personal thing between Mr. Robinson and the
District. They were aware, but did not
tell Mr. Robinson and did not shut the water off.
Mr. Stephens stated let me explain
how this happened. We had a high water
flow at the plant. We checked at the hotel here to see - there was nobody here,
so that cannot account for a high water flow.
In the rainy season there was a lot of water on the ground, so our first
thing to do is to start looking for a leak in the main line. We proceeded to
look and found the leak on the second day.
It was coming out of the sea wall down here. There was a broken line at the marina. I went and turned the water off at the meter
at that point, and then I came and told Mr. Robinson. He told me, well I saw that, but I did not know
that was what that was, because there was so much ground water, it could have
very well been ground water.
Mr. Wolsky asked who said "I
saw that"; Mr. Robinson said that?
Mr. Stephens responded yes. He had seen that the day before. It was on the customer side of the
meter. That is the problem. He did not actually consume it, it was a
water break. He would like to have some
kind of a break on the price of it because he did not use it as
consumption. That is up to the Board.
An Audience member stated we were
down by the dock and we saw a leak. We
went and came into the hotel and told the woman at the desk. She told the older gentleman that does the
maintenance.
Mr. Wolsky stated last year, before
I left people commented about a leak down there at the marina on the wall, and
that was in May or June, before all the rain. It was going on for a long time.
Mr. Stephens stated it had gotten
worse, because our flow went from like normally 60,000 a day and it jumped up
like to 100,000-plus gallons a day.
Going through that meter, there was fifty or sixty thousand a day. I think it used probably five or six hundred
thousand gallons, or something. To me it
was not the hotel's fault. I think what
happened is it was underneath that slab down there, the sidewalk, and it
settled and broke the pipe.
Mr. Wolsky stated it is the contractor's
fault, but you cannot go back against the contractor. That is the cause, we
think?
Mr. Stephens responded yes. I
believe so. It is up to the Board.
Mr. Mossing stated I thought it was
just an irrigation bill. Granted, I
think that would be a reasonable request, if there is wastewater charges
associated with it. I was under the
impression that it was just an irrigation only meter. I will make a note and check on that. Again, either way it is a request that needs
to come back to the Board.
Mr. Bissell stated the only reason I
brought it up is because we have had this question arise before with Mr. Huang
when he owned the hotel. Remember, we
discussed what they had was a major water leak, and it turned out to be in the
washing machines. At that time, I think
Mr. Cox told us that if water goes through the meter, there is nothing that the
CID Board can do to absolve that or to remedy that; is that correct?
Mr. Cox responded that was before my
time.
Mr. Mossing stated that is our
standard procedure, is if water goes through the meter, it is the
responsibility of the property owner.
Mr. Wolsky stated that is true not
just here, it is true within the City, too.
I know I had leaks and you have to tell them you have a leak, turn it
off, then have them inspect the leak, and they will give you credit for
it. It is up to the owner. I agree.
Mr. Mossing stated the position we
have taken with the owners is we said, that is not a staff recommendation we
can make. If you want a break on that
bill, you need to come back to the Board and discuss that. I am sure you will have input at that point.
Mr. Bissell asked where Sprint went
out there and dug that big hole, are they going to come in and sod that, or
seed it, or do something with it?
Mr. Stephens stated the District is
going to have to do that. We dug the
hole. We had a break there. We had a pressure relief valve on our
irrigation system that broke right there.
There was a leak there before, right at a plug. It is the end of the line where we are going
to tie in from the wastewater plant over there.
We were trying to let that go until they got that tied in, but it got so
bad we had to do something about it. We
initiated that and repaired that. Big
Cypress is going to sod that area.
Mr. Bissell asked the lights on the
sign on the north side there, the bushes are in front of the light and some of
the lights do not work; is that our responsibility to fix that?
Mr. Stephens responded I talked to
Big Cypress about keeping those bushes trimmed back from the lights there. The lights are broken from weed eaters, lawn
mowers, or whatever.
Mr. Bissell asked that will be taken
care of?
Mr. Stephens responded yes, we are
working on that right not.
Mr. Bissell asked do we have deeds
for property our wells are on, and do we have an easement for our wires going
from our plant out to the wells?
Dr. Benson responded I think that is
correct. I think we do on the
wells. I believe there are easements for
access and the utilities. The wires
would be in that same easement.
Mr. Bissell asked the well property
itself, do we have a deed for that?
Dr. Benson stated I think that is an
easement also. I would have to double
check. You have the rights to have those
wells in that location, and you have the rights for the pipes and wires to get
from Point A to Point B.
Mr. Bissell asked do we have the
right to take a certain amount of water out of that aquifer?
Dr. Benson responded that is right.
Mr. Gatti asked is there something
critical there?
Mr. Bissell responded no. Just for my own knowledge, I was
wondering. Some day, the way Collier
County is developing, if there is no more water available, they may want to
come out and tap ours.
Mr. Wolsky stated that is not
controlled by Collier County.
Dr. Benson stated that is controlled
by the Water Management District. You
have the rights to that water in a sufficient quantity per day, per year to
meet the needs for this community as planned.
That is your water.
Mr. Bissell asked when we were
talking a couple of months ago and I asked about the discount that was given
because somebody paid up; do you remember that?
It is not in this one, but there was a discount given in the budget
because they had paid up taxes early.
Mr. Mossing stated when you get your
tax bill, if your bill is $1,000, that is what you pay if you pay on March
31st. Each month prior to that, you get
like a one percent discount.
Mr. Bissell stated when they develop
over here right across the canal, there are two manholes - they are supposed to
be. On the plans, there is a proposed
manhole to be put in; is that necessary?
Dr. Benson stated there is a pump
station where wastewater is collected.
Mr. Gatti stated rather than tying
up everyone else's time, why do not you look at the plans with the engineer and
then he can answer those for you.
Dr. Benson stated the developer has
the rights to connect into your sewer system.
Mr. Bissell stated yes, but do they
need another manhole, which means they will dig up the street. We have beautiful streets over there, and we
do not want it, if possible, to end up like it is over here.
Dr. Benson stated I would have to go
look at the plans. I reviewed the plans
a long time ago, and what they were proposing seemed reasonable and standard in
the industry. I could go look at that.
ON MOTION by Mr. Bissell, seconded by Mr. Gross, with all in
favor, the December Board meeting was rescheduled from December 21, 2001 to
December 14, 2001.
An audience member stated I would
like to follow-up to our telephone conversation a couple of months ago. For us snowbirds, could you just kind of
bring us up to date on the bond situation?
Mr. Gatti stated we are not going to
do that this morning. We have been
through this thing about 15 times, and for us to take another half hour to do
that - talk to Mr. Mossing after the meeting.
Mr. Cox stated nothing has really
changed.
An audience stated the last time I
was here I talked about cutting across the streets. I believe you directed the manager to have an
engineer look at the streets and see what was wrong with them, if there were
any deep holes.
Mr. Gatti asked Dr. Benson, would
you take a look at that? What happens is, we asked the guys to pave them and
they did, and there has been some settlement. They are going to have to go back
in there and do something. There are
about six bad cuts across the entire length that are all bad.
An audience member stated it needs
to be taken off and redone.
Mr. Gatti asked how about if we make
you a committee of one to supervise that for us?
The audience member responded I
would be glad to. If you will give me
the authority to get it done.
Mr. Gatti stated all right. To get
an asphalt contractor out here to do anything big is a problem. To get them to do something small is
impossible. They just will not do it. They will not bother with it. You cannot pay them enough. Therefore, when Mr. Burgeson has some work
done, we will have this other work done and stay with them. Whoever's responsibility it is, let us get
the work done. It is the logical time to
do it when we have other work going on.
Mr. Wolsky stated the question is if
we contract ourselves or somebody else to do the work, it is approved and
passed by the County or whoever does the inspection and it settles, who is
going to pay for the improvement; that becomes the question. Who is responsible for the settlement?
Mr. Gatti responded the answer is
whoever made the cut. The owner is
responsible. The reason you get
settlement is because the contractors do not want to take the time to compact
the ditch in six or eight or twelve inch layers. They just want to fill in the hole, cover it
up, maybe put some water in it to get some initial settlement, and then we end
up with what we have. The person
responsible is the people that had to have that cut made initially.
An Audience member asked as
follow-up on the north side, what is the CID responsible for as far as
maintaining the boulevard up north?
Mr. Gatti responded up to the hotel
- the building there.
An audience member asked how do we
get compensated for that?
Mr. Gatti responded it is ours. It
is our property.
Mr. Wolsky stated it is in our
budget.
An audience member asked does the
hotel pay assessments?
Mr. Gatti responded sure, they pay
just like everybody else. They are
obligated to pay.
Mr. Cox stated the north hotel's
assessments are still delinquent. I
should not even say that, because the north hotel is separate property
ownership. No, they have not paid their
taxes.
An audience member asked do we put a
mechanic's lien on them?
Mr. Cox responded we already have a
first priority lien based on our special assessments. We direct-assessed them for the bond portion
of their obligation.
Mr. Gatti asked before we get into
this, what is your question?
An audience member stated I just
wondered if we were getting any return from the property owners over there.
Mr. Gatti stated no, we are not.
Mr. Cox stated it is accruing
interest and penalties for non-payment, but if you do not collect it.
An audience member asked if the
property ever sells, do we have a complaint?
Mr. Cox responded yes.
An audience member asked in regard
to the leak, I noticed a contractor the other day hook to a fire hydrant with a
hose and uses it; can we use fire hydrants for water any time we want?