MINUTES OF MEETING
PORT
OF THE ISLANDS
COMMUNITY
IMPROVEMENT DISTRICT
The regular meeting of the Board of Supervisors of the
Port of the Islands Community Improvement District was held on Friday, June 24,
2005 at 10:00 a.m. at the Egret Room, 25000 Tamiami Trail, Naples,. Florida.
Present and constituting a quorum:
Richard Gatti Chairman
Dale Lambert Vice
Chairman
Ted Bissell Assistant
Secretary
Norine Dillon Assistant
Secretary
Also
present were:
John Daugirda Manager
Dan Cox Attorney
Ron Benson Engineer
Tim Stephens Field
Manager
Numerous Residents
Mr. Lambert called the
meeting to order and called the roll.
SECOND ORDER OF BUSINESS Approval of the Minutes of the May
17, 2005 and May 27, 2005 Meetings
Mr. Lambert stated each
Board member received a copy of the minutes of the May 17, 2005 and May 27,
2005 meetings and requested any additions, corrections, and deletions.
The corrections will be incorporated into the
record.
On
MOTION by Mr. Bissell seconded by Ms. Dillon with all in favor the minutes of
the May 17, 2005 and May 27, 2005 meetings were approved as amended.
SEVENTH
ORDER OF BUSINESS Discussion
Items
A. Mosquito Control Options – Guest Speaker
- Mr. Adrian Salina – Collier County
Mosquito Control
Mr. Salina stated there
are two types, freshwater as well as saltwater.
They are very easy to find and there is actually a process to sift them
out of the muck
and organic matter of a low-lying saltwater basin. If I can point out relative to that, one
little speck is an egg and there are thousands of them in there. Particularly during the non-flood months, the
swamp continues to stay somewhat moist and that is where she likes to lay her
eggs; in the moist organic muck, when water is not there yet. Eggs are there before the high tides come and
flood the low-lying areas. When they
hatch you get larvae’s of which there are four stages; each time they grow they
shed their skin. It takes approximately
six to ten days in our environment to go from egg to adult mosquito. In the larva stage, mosquitoes are ravenous
eaters, also in the larva stage they need to breath air. This is the surface of the water, this is the
head of the larva and this is the rear end of the body which is the breathing
part called the siphon. It spends its
time wiggling to the bottom foraging
for food and moments later wiggling back to the surface because it has to
breath. In three to four days they
transition from larva to pupa. In this
stage, they stop eating, and you can actually make out the adult body in the
pupa casing. Pupa do not need to eat but
they still have to breath so instead of one siphon they have two protrusions on
each side of the head called trumpets.
Once again, they do a lot of wiggling and moving but they have to breath
air so they poke the trumpets up to breath and finally you have adult
mosquitoes.
There are four species we are worried about in our
area. Some have common names and some do
not:
In your case the primary mosquito is the Ochlerotatus
Taeniorhynchus (black salt marsh mosquito).
It is a nuisance, which is to say it is of no human disease transmission
consequence. It is not infectious. It is known to transmit the parasite that
will give dogs heartworms;,
as far as transmitting West Nile’s virus, encephalitis, and the ones we hear
about on the news all the time,
it does not.
Psorophora
Columbiae again is of no disease transmission consequence but it is
aggressive. The most active times for a
mosquito are the dusk to dawn hours.
Culex Nigripalpus has the potential to transmit St. Louis
encephalitis and West Nile virus. This
is not an aggressive mosquito at all, it holds to the fact it is most active in
the dusk to dawn hours and even then, you have to be a cow or a horse or come
out at cocktail hour and let them land on you.
Anopheles species is the main carrier of malaria. Malaria still kills 2 million people a year
in the third world countries.
We are very fortunate in this area in disease
transmission; it is still a rare occasion.
The reason we have so many mosquitoes control agencies across the state,
the country and globally is because they are nuisances and that is what I would
like to talk about. Even with mosquito
control services, we tell our residents 100% mosquito control to knock the
number down to zero is absolutely impossible and I hope to show you why. We must have some sort of tolerance and we
must take some responsibility to protect ourselves. The interesting thing about mosquitoes is the
different species are different shades of black and different sizes.
Mr. Salina’s
showed the Board slides.
This type of mosquito lays her eggs in the environment in
our backyard during non-flood times. It
is wet, moist and mucky and that is where she loves to lay her eggs. She does all the work. She lays the eggs, searches for the blood
meal. If you are being bitten it is
always the female. The male seems to
flutter around once he does his reproductive job not doing a whole lot. If you look at them side by side she is more
robust and heartier looking. That is the
habitat for the Ochlerotatus Taeniorhynchus (black salt marsh mosquito). Our backyard is roughly 1.5 million acres of
protective land of the Everglades, as we know it. State and federal protected land. That means two things;
it is all potential breeding ground, and they are protected. Black salt marsh mosquitoes are migratory;
and the prevailing winds are southeasterly breezes and we have a constant
influx into our district. POI 10 or 15 years
ago consisted ofwas
a hotel and a landing strip.
We should stop here and discuss the question posed to me
about the possibility of mosquito control.
It is very unlikely. Short of
saying no, it is unbelievably unlikely because of the protected surrounding
area of which your community is situated.
By law,
we are prohibited from flying in those types of areas and we have other
guidelines we adhere to and regulations concerning prohibited lands. Even if we were to fly in the area we would
need several miles of a buffer zone around the community so treatment would be
effective. Look how close POI is to 1.5
million acres of protected lands.
The rest of the slides are going to deal with mosquito
operations and the way we go about our business, Mosquito Control 101. You can categorize it into surveillance,
collecting information on mosquito activity, species and populations, how
severe it is, what the need is, larva sighting, applying the material into the
water source and killing the larval stage of the mosquito, and adultaciding,
which is our primary method of mosquito control in the 401 square miles of our
district.
Mr. Gatti asked is the only way you apply the material
from an airplane? Is there any ground?
Mr. Salina responded yes, there is. Surveillance
includes trapping, tracking and monitoring metrological conditions. A count, very primitive and very basic, not
too
technical,
but it works. Basically an
inspector gets out of his vehicle at one of his 12 to 15 count stations and
goes to the designated area established and waits
there for two minutes. How many
mosquitoes can the human body attract in two minutes? I can assure you do not have to stand there
two minutes;,
I can look out of the truck and say I got 50 a minute,
I am out of here. We have 49 traps
throughout the district and,
once again,
they are at homes, governmental offices and places like that. They are electric and have a photosensitive
light switch, and all night long, it attracts
mosquitoes with a low voltage light. Every
morning they are removed and fresh ones are
put on. All of this tracking of
information is very important because we are not going to go out when the
conditions, winds and such,
are wrong. We have a helicopter that can
deposit pellets into the canopy of mangroves.
They eat it and die. We can also
apply it from the truck in liquid form.
All of the products are EPA approved and there are strict guidelines we
go by to use these products. The
material used to kill and control adult mosquitoes is called diveral. It is a quick kill usually within in two to
four hours.
You have seen trucks,
but ground adultaciding is not effective
for us. The units are certainly
attainable to attach to a truck. I have
information I am going to leave with Mr. Lambert about two companies we have
done business with.
Mr. Gatti asked did you say this is not effective for our
area?
Mr. Salina responded that is correct. It is not effect because of how quick adult
mosquitoes can come back into an area.
There is nothing better for effectiveness than an aircraft blanketing an
area. It is not that they are not
effective,
it is because of the area we have to deal with; it is not an efficient way to
do so.
A resident asked is there effective control?
Mr. Salina responded ultimately it is based on Mother
Nature, your surroundings, and the environment.
If you go to Central Florida they probably feel they have mosquito
control. Is there a mosquito control
that is going to help you here? You
might get a few hours reprieve. A truck
would certainly be worth a try, but that would be to your judgment.
A resident asked does the Ccounty
do any treatment here currently?
Mr. Salina responded Collier County does not. We are the Collier Mosquito Control District, and
we are a special taxing district, much like fire departments;,
we have our own board members to handle the fiscal responsibilities but we are
not part of the Collier County government structure.
A resident stated we are paying a fee we are not getting
anything from.
Mr. Salina stated no,
you are not. Only the residents who live
in the district boundaries pay the millage rate.
A resident stated you recently took on Immokalee. Also,
I spend every day on Marco and there are no mosquitoes in the daylight
hours. Whatever you are doing there
obviously works, so what makes Marco different from us?
Mr. Salina responded your backyard is literally
surrounded by federal and state protected areas. We are prohibited from flying in
most of the area.
A resident asked can you treat us non- aerially?
Mr. Salina responded no.
Ms. Dillon asked what other species are affected by the
products you use?
Mr. Salina responded mosquitoes are active when most
non-targets are not. There is always the
question if you are killing mosquitoes what else are you killing? If it will kill a bug will it kill me? No, because of the strict guidelines we go by
and the application has a range we can use from ½ ounce to 1½ ounce per
acre. If we fly too
late in the morning we are going to kill shrimp, bees, and we can hurt other
things but it usually weight specific.
The larger the animal the less critical it is. Dragonflies, bees and those types of things
are what we call non-targets and we want to be as target specific as we can and
because of the operation times we utilize we minimize non-target effects.
A resident asked what do you think of the mosquito deleto
on the market?
Mr. Salina responded it goes back to 1.5 million acres of
protected land. The source of the
mosquitoes is so vast it is overwhelming.
The machine does do what it is designed to do, but you are going to get
them anyway.
Ms. Dillon stated Key Marco, Marco and Woodlands are all
surrounded in some areas by environmentally protected lands. How did they get it?
Mr. Salina responded we have to deal with a very small
area. I do not have a prepared answer
for you but what I can say is as these adjacent properties were added; , does
it get some drift? Yes.
A resident asked Marathon Key is a federally protected
sanctuary yet they have mosquito spraying.
Can you tell me the difference?
Mr. Salina responded I cannot.
Mr. Benson stated the original developer wanted to get
some ( ) determinations;
they entered into an agreement with the State Department of Community Affairs
stating that you can develop this portion to this density and this portion to
this density. This part had to be
totally conservation and they had to agree to no aerial mosquito spraying.
Mr. Salina stated I do not mean this to be insulting but
when you live in the middle of it you have to know how to take care of
yourself. It is split up into 5D’s;
dusk, dawn, dress, DEET and drink. Most
mosquitoes are during the dusk and dawn hours, but not the black salt marsh
mosquito. Mosquitoes are attracted to
dark colors, they are also attracted to perfume scents; shampoo, clothing and
antiperspirant. There are a lot of DEET
products out now and you have to find out for yourself and lastly there is major
localized breeding within the properties.
Ms. Dillon asked is it feasible to make an application to
the EPA to see if it is possible to get an exemption?
Mr. Salina responded you can only ask.
A resident asked how do you get on your program?
Mr. Salina responded it is a formal process.
Ms. Dillon stated we do have a truck that sprays and it
is effective for a few hours.
THIRD
ORDER OF BUSINESS Consideration of Resolution
2005-06 Rescheduling the Date of the Public Hearing
Mr.
Lambert stated the next item is Resolution 2005-06.
There being no questions or
comments,
On
MOTION by Mr. Bissell seconded by Ms. Dillon with all in favor Resolution
2005-06 Rescheduling, the Public Hearing to August 26, 2005, 10:00 a.m. at the
Egret Room, 25000 Tamiami Trail, Naples, Florida was adopted.
FOURTH
ORDER OF BUSINESS Questions and Comments on Proposed
Budget for Fiscal Year 2006
Mr.
Daugirda stated the budget I handed out is June 24th
and the one in the book is May 27th. There is only one minor change of $600 on
page 9 in the pension expense.
Mr. Lambert stated I believe Mr. Goscicki has answered a
lot of questions but do we have any others?
Ms. Dillon stated my only comment;
since we are not adopting this until August, I am is the
concerned that
if we approve certain items in the budget it is cartecarte
blanche blanc
to Severn Trent to spend it. Do you have
any comments on that?
Mr. Daugirda stated you can place restrictions however
you want to. The high levels look like
they are essentially the same as last year.
If you want to assign certain restricted funds for special projects to
have Board approval, you can.
Ms. Dillon asked what about buying equipment, changing
employee’s benefits and that kind of thing?
Mr. Daugirda responded it is a philosophical issue. Sometimes it is delegated to the manager and
the team to do so and other times you can say,
on particular,
items,
we want to put restrictions.
Mr. Gatti stated we approve capital outlay costs. We can make changes and we are not locked
into specific amounts.
Mr. Daugirda stated this is your annual appropriations or
authorization. On the high level, here
is where we are setting the assessments for the year. Here is our large picture-spending plan.
Mr. Gatti stated I apologize to the Board. I went through the budget the other day and
there are some minor things I would like to see in there. I would like to see some bonuses. We do not have to give it to them but at
least identify it in the budget so if we choose to give it to them it is
there. The other thing along the same
line is the per diem. Isn’t there a
chance we are going to need a little money in there?.
Mr. Daguirda asked would it be for the supervisors?
Mr. Gatti responded no, for staff and yourself and
potentially for travel.
Mr. Lambert asked do we have a per diem amount
established to pay staff? Or do we
typically pay expenses?
Mr. Gatti responded it is whatever we want to do.
Mr. Daugirda stated we can insert items and give a
revised version for the next meeting.
Ms. Dillon stated my concern with your comment on bonuses
is,
if you put it in the budget, I want the Board to have a say in whether you
spend it.
Mr. Gatti stated absolutely.
Ms. Dillon stated a question asked of Mr. Goscicki,
and I do not think it has been detailed,
was where we have the fiscal projection 2005,
I do not believe it reflects money we have committed to spend in some
projects. In capital outlay, for
example, we,
as a Board,
have approved some projects and they are not reflected in our 2005
expenditures.
Mr. Lambert stated Mr. Goscicki was going to check on it
because he is under the opinion when we sign a contract, we have incurred a
liability and it should go onto the numbers as a projected cost, but he was not
for sure how it is handled and he is going to get back with us on it.
Ms. Dillon stated it appears as though we have a lot more
money than we have.
Mr. Gatti asked is there any possibility;
say,
for instance,
today,
if we okayed the contract you have that next month,
or sometime during the month,
you could say here is the money available for these projects minus this amount
and this is what you have left?
Mr. Daugirda responded yes.
Ms. Dillon stated I am concerned about how much we are
spending.
Mr. Daugirda stated you want to refine the projected
expenditures for the rest of the year.
Mr. Gatti stated also, what is available each month so
when these projects come so we
know what we have to spend.
Mr. Lambert stated we are actually getting another month
to fine-tune the budget, so let’s take the items we are talking about this
morning, send them to Mr. Goscicki and have him be prepared to insert what he
believes is the proper amount at the next meeting and we can decide if we are
going to include and adopt it on August 26th.
FIFTH
ORDER OF BUSINESS Consideration of Award of
Contract for Water Main Replacement and Irrigation Line Extension
Mr.
Lambert asked do you have any comments you want to make before the Board talks
about this?
Mr. Benson responded the information in section five
contains the bid information and the letter of recommendation. A summary, I believe, was forwarded to
everybody earlier in the month. As
indicated, we received four bids. We
advertised in the newspaper as well as making phone calls to local contractors
to encourage interest. It is very hard
to get bids right now, since everyone is so busy, especially to get a bid that
is a good price. The bids were higher
than estimated when we originally budgeted the project and they were even
higher than our final estimate of $260,000.
The lowest bid was $322,000; unfortunately, we have no control over the
prices.
Ms. Dillon stated you have the low bidder at $322,000 and
the high bidder at $505,000. Why is
there almost a $200,000 difference?
Mr. Benson responded we asked people to bid. They take the jobs they are having a lot of
profit from because they are all very busy.
Mr. Gatti asked are there any roads to be involved in
this?
Mr. Benson responded the projects on Newport Cay,
Morningstar Cay and a couple others we are open cutting the streets to put in
irrigation pipe and later repave the section.
Mr. Gatti stated repaving is not in this bid.
Mr. Benson stated you approved another project for
repaving streets which
we have designed but not bid yet. for
repaving streets. When we designed the project and discussed it
with you,
the agreement was that we were not going to open cut anybody’s driveway; under
the driveway we were going to do directional drills. When we open cut the road for an 8” pipe it
was then going to be patched as part of this project. Where we were going to go with a smaller
pipe, those areas we were opening
cutting but we were placing
a sleeve around the pipe so if you ever had a problem with the pipe you would
not have to tear up the road to make a repair.
We were counting on the fact that this was the area you had already
approved to do paving later.
Mr. Bissell asked is this going to include north to the
plant?
Mr. Benson responded most of that line is along the side
of the road. There isare
one or two places where we cross the road and we were going to open cut the
road and then
patch and then, at
some point in the future,
the road will be repaved.
Mr. Bissell asked do you have a cost to pave Newport Cay?
Mr. Lambert responded we have not gotten
it.
Mr. Bissell asked with both amounts,
how much are we going to have left to put money into the plant?
Mr. Lambert responded my guess is we are going to have to
push the paving to next year.
Mr. Gatti stated I have dealt with Douglas N. Higgins,
Inc., Kyle Construction Company and Mitchell & Stark Construction Company
and,
in answering your question, Mitchell and Stark do very large projects;,
if it is not $2 million they are typically not interested. They are great contractors but they are a
Cadillac. This is an ideal project for
Kyle Construction and Douglas N. Higgins, Inc.
I have never worked with Florida State Underground.
Ms. Dillon stated I have,
with Collier County,
before.
Mr. Gatti stated I spoke with Mr. Charlie Abraham of Kyle
Construction. I asked him what was going
on and he said his labor a year ago was $10 to $12 an hour and I