MINUTES
OF MEETING
PINE
TREE WATER CONTROL DISTRICT
The
regular meeting of the Board of Supervisors of the Pine Tree Water Control
District was held on
Present and constituting a quorum were:
David Rosenof President
Margaret Bertolami Vice
President
Paul Brewer Secretary
Donna Benckenstein Assistant
Secretary
Mimi Bright Ribotsky Assistant
Secretary
Also present were:
John Petty Manager
D.J. Doody Attorney
Warren Craven Engineer
John McKune CH2M Hill
Jean M. Rugg
Janice Larned
Darryl Kisson
John Hart Wrathell,
Hart, Hunt & Associates
Madonna Dellolio Wrathell,
Hart, Hunt & Associates
Michael Szymonowicz Wrathell,
Hart, Hunt & Associates
Irving Rosenbaum New
Community Strategies
Robert T. Mearns New
Community Strategies
Dennis Baldis Governmental
Management Services
Richard Hans Governmental
Management Services
Luis Hernandez Governmental
Management Services
Neil Kalin Special
District Services
FIRST ORDER OF BUSINESS Roll Call
Mr.
Rosenof Called the meeting to order and Mr. Petty called the roll.
SECOND
ORDER OF BUSINESS Approval
of the Minutes of the May 4, 2006 Meeting
Mr.
Rosenof stated each Board member received a copy of the minutes of the May 4,
2006 Meeting and requested any corrections, additions or deletions.
Ms.
Ribotsky stated my name is spelled wrong on the first line of page six. In the last paragraph of page 24,
“Turnbridge” is spelled “Ternbridge” and “Woodier Oaks” should be “Whittier
Oaks”.
On MOTION by Ms. Ribotsky seconded by Ms. Bertolami with all
in favor the minutes of the
THIRD
ORDER OF BUSINESS Questions
and Comments on Proposed Budget
Mr.
Petty stated at the last meeting we gave you a proposed budget for discussion
and dissemination purposes. It is
standard policy for us to put it on the next agenda to discuss if any Board members
wish to make changes or get further information on a line item.
Mr.
Rosenof asked does anyone have any questions or comments about the budget? When we talk about the actual through a
certain amount that includes items of which we have cost recovery, I do not
want to overstate our budget if we have been reimbursed for some of the costs.
Mr.
Petty stated no sir. It would have shown
up as a revenue source in the budget.
Mr.
Rosenof stated the total projected for the attorney fee is $10,000. If $5,000 of it was cost recovery, would it
show under other revenue?
Mr.
Petty responded no sir. If it was under
cost recovery, it would not be part of this budget. It would be part of the authorization for the
attorney to enter into such agreements during the year.
Mr.
Rosenof asked did the actual through
Mr.
Petty responded not from the explanation you gave.
Mr.
Rosenof asked are you looking for a motion?
Mr.
Petty responded no sir. It is for
discussion purposes only.
FOURTH
ORDER OF BUSINESS Attorney’s
Report – Status on Title Work
Mr. Doody stated the issue has been resolved to great
degree. Mr. Craven provided me direction
with respect to the title work. It
appears the only entity we will need to deal with regarding the canal is
Ms.
Ribotsky asked did we find any other potential areas?
Mr.
Craven responded no.
Ms.
Ribotsky asked do you think this is our only property?
Mr.
Craven responded no. I did not look.
Mr.
Doody stated we isolated this canal to
Mr.
Craven stated there are only two major areas of concern as it affects the
drainage. It is the canal on the north
side of the Sawgrass Expressway and the canal we are currently addressing. If they were filled in or closed up, we would
have a problem draining everything. We
have other areas where there are questionable right-of-ways and easements, but
they are limited to local areas which do not have a major impact on the
District.
Ms.
Ribotsky asked will we never end up in an NRCS title issue where we will miss
out on potential funding for clearing them?
Mr.
Craven responded this will be a policy decision upon the part of the
Board. We have a number of areas where
we have flowage rights coming through where by we drain water to another
subdivision and ultimately to our outfall.
Those lakes, water bodies or whatever you want to call them, are owned
by the HOAs. I am not addressing those
situations. You need to look at this.
Ms.
Ribotsky stated if another storm happens and we have to apply for things, the
first thing we will do is a title search.
If we did a title search and it shows joint ownership, do we know if we
can do a joint application? Rather than
go through the quitclaim deed process, will it be okay to do an application in
conjunction with
Mr.
Petty stated the intent is to work on major drainage canals, which Mr. Craven
has talked about. There are secondary
issues we are not addressing at the moment.
We are going after the principal issues, the issues we are most
concerned with, which were raised during the NRCS application process problems
we discussed at the last meeting. You
will be continuing to look at proper title and ownership, not only for NRCS,
but for any practical application of government funds and maintenance thereof.
This
is something we needed to do all along.
We are on the right track. We
have a good start. I do not know if we
covered every possible nuance of a hurricane hitting next year, but if we can get
ownership for the primary corridors, we are covering the vast majority of costs
involved with a hurricane event.
Mr.
Craven stated it was discussed in the December meeting and you gave me
direction to look at all of the right-of-ways.
I am willing to do this, but they are not pressing at the moment. We have a different fire to put out. It does not take long to determine where we
have problems. The resolution to the
problems may take little time.
Mr.
Rosenof stated you attack the easiest ones first to get them out of the way.
Mr.
Craven stated after we get past this initial phase.
Mr.
Doody stated to address Ms. Ribotsky’s concern, it is a valid point. Historically, the ownership or title to the
canals has never been an issue of concern.
No one ever exercised any control or maintenance other than the
District. The issue arose when I had to
certify to it on a legal basis. We are
turning it up a notch for lack of a better term. It was never done with formality. We are formalizing what was done. We have gone a long way towards formalizing
the main system. It is a correction of
historic practices we are trying to address.
Mr.
Petty asked can you give me a time estimate of the process?
Mr.
Doody responded 60 to 90 days. I will be
working with the Deputy County Attorney next week. I have a professional relationship with
her. I anticipate there will be a level
of cooperation, but I believe the county commission is off for July. They are in recess; therefore we anticipate
getting on the agenda for August or September.
Mr.
Petty stated the reason I asked such a question is because Mr. McKune from CH2M
Hill, who has been doing a great deal of work for the hurricane clean up, has
developed a good relationship with NRCS.
He was able to get NRCS to put us on the list of approved projects if we
can get the contract signed.
Mr.
Doody stated call me next week after I speak to Ms. Azcoitia and I will give
you an accurate representation.
Mr.
Petty stated I do not want to get the Board’s hopes up because I believe it is
a small window. We thought the window
was closed. They opened it after Mr.
McKune basically stayed out on their porch for a night. It is a possibility if we can get title in
the window they will allow. NRCS is not
going to give us a big window. If we can
sign it within a time frame, we might be able to get some money back.
Ms.
Ribotsky asked are you saying it needs a county commission vote?
Mr.
Doody responded I believe so.
Ms.
Ribotsky stated I imagine the way they will do it is by passing a resolution
supporting the deed. Given the amount of
funding we can get, can we request they pass the resolution contingent upon
something? We have done it before in the
city commission.
Mr.
Doody stated I will try.
Ms.
Ribotsky stated when there is a time pending and we tell them the amount of
dollars at risk, we can ask them to pass the resolution saying they will
authorize the deed contingent upon whatever.
This way we can capture it during June.
Mr.
Doody stated I will call tomorrow.
Mr.
Petty asked since you are asking for a political resolution from the county, is
it preferable to contact the City of
Ms.
Ribotsky responded yes. We can pass an
independent resolution to this affect.
Mr.
Doody stated let me work with you in this regard and you can reach out at that
point once I ask the question downtown.
Ms.
Ribotsky stated the City of
Mr.
Doody stated it is a statutory process.
It is not political so I am not sure if it will have any bearing on
it. I will make the inquiry.
FIFTH ORDER OF BUSINESS Engineer’s Report
There being no report, the next item
followed.
SIXTH
ORDER OF BUSINESS Consideration
of Award of Contract for Canal Clean Up
Mr.
Petty stated we asked our engineers to put this out to bid so if you wished to
consider this construction project and clean up at tonight’s meeting you would
have the pertinent information. Mr.
McKune has put it out to bid. We have a
summary of the bid. The bid is being
contested. At this time I will turn it
over to Mr. McKune to explain who the apparent low bidder is, the amount and
talk about his conversations with the contractor who submitted the concern with
the bid process.
I
will give you my opinion on it and I will defer to counsel. We have not adopted formal rules for this
process, which leaves it up to staff to do the review of anyone’s complaint on
a bid process. We asked the engineer who
prepared the bid specifications to look at the claim, talk to the person who
filed it, see if there is any merit to it and report at tonight’s meeting.
Mr.
Rosenof stated it is a big spread.
Ms.
Ribotsky stated we had one of these on the city commission. The reason for the big spread we had was
interesting. We had six bids come
in. They were all between $1.2 Million
and $1.5 Million. One came in at
$800,000. It turned out the reason was
because the applicant owned a landfill near where the work was being done. There may be a reason for this being lower.
Mr.
Petty stated Mr. McKune is familiar with most of the contractors capable of
doing this work. He has two contracts
currently in the $6 Million range of this type of work in the City of
Mr.
Craven asked who is filing the complaint?
Mr.
McKune responded Arbor Tree and Land Company.
Whether or not they have a basis will be up to Mr. Doody and Arbor Tree
and Land Company’s attorney.
Ms.
Ribotsky asked what is their basis for the complaint?
Mr.
McKune responded they are saying the low bidder did not strictly and literally
adhere to the requirements and specifications.
They list things such as not having a copy of the general contractor’s
license in the bid package. They have a
general contractor. They have a
license. It was not in the package. We are getting to the point where if you want
to do a strict, literal, interpretation you will have one answer, which will be
his attorney’s answer. In my opinion, it
is an informality.
Ms.
Ribotsky stated when you say one thing, like a general contractor’s license, I
would look at it aside. If there were
six “one things” I would say they have a substantial complaint. How many are there and what are they?
Mr.
Petty responded what we asked the engineer to review and opine on tonight is if
this is a material or non material deviation submitted by the low bidder. We can talk around it all we want about the
quantity and etcetera, but we need to ask the engineer if it is material or non
material.
Mr.
McKune stated in my opinion, everything in his complaint is non material. There is one item, which is questionable to
the Board. Did the main items require
the work be able to be done from the waterways because of the locations and the
rights-of way? They have done waterway
work. They have not done it to this
great of an extent from a barge with big equipment on the barge.
Ms.
Ribotsky stated I view it as material.
Mr.
McKune stated I understand, but they have worked from the water and they are
prepared to plead their case with their experience.
Mr.
Rosenof asked is there a requirement for a payment and performance bond?
Mr.
McKune responded yes.
Mr.
Rosenof stated then I do not care if they have experience or not.
Ms.
Ribotsky asked do you have a copy of this complaint?
Mr.
McKune responded yes.
Ms.
Ribotsky asked does it list the reasons on it?
Mr.
McKune responded yes.
Mr.
Rosenof stated if the surety is willing to post a bond so they can do what they
say they are going to do, we are being subjective to say they cannot.
Mr.
Petty stated I agree. This is why we
asked for the performance criteria and this is why the engineer’s first
reaction is to say these are non material deviations. We need to ask counsel if he sees any
exposure for this Board since we do not have adopted rules for handling this
type of complaint. It falls to general
practices.
Mr.
Rosenof stated I am looking at the spreadsheet.
Somebody wants six months and somebody wants two months. Is there a reason why he is taking so long to
do it?
Mr.
McKune responded it is the total amount of time, which will be allowed by
NRCS. He thinks he can get the job done
within 90 days.
Mr.
Rosenof asked are there liquidated damages or anything you know of?
Mr.
McKune responded yes.
Mr.
Rosenof asked what are the liquidated damages?
Mr.
McKune responded I believe this one is $1,000 per day.
Mr.
Petty stated they are considerable. This
specification mirrors SWCD, which is a $3 Million plus contract currently
ongoing and the CSID contract, which is $1.8 Million and is 90% complete. These specifications were done under pressure
after the hurricane in cooperation with NRCS and FEMA by Mr. McKune. They are considered to be the best
specifications out there for this type of work.
Mr.
Craven asked did the low bidder bid on any other projects?
Mr.
McKune responded yes. He was the low
bidder on another job in
Mr.
Doody responded this is the first I heard of this. I have not seen any documents. I am not aware of any complaints. I can tell you the Florida Case Law
recognizes a major versus a minor deviation.
With all due respect to the Board I am not prepared to give you any
direction on this.
Mr.
Petty stated this matter happened yesterday and we were not able to bring it to
his attention. We were able to bring the
conclusion of the discussions with the contractor from today’s conversation.
Mr.
Rosenof asked how long are the bids good for?
Mr.
McKune responded 90 days.
Mr.
Rosenof stated I would like counsel to review the complaint. I would hate to wait another month, but I do
not want to put the Board and homeowners in jeopardy should any of these
complaints turn out to be material. It
is prudent to ask for counsel’s review and to bring it up at next month’s
meeting. Does anyone have any questions
or comments?
Ms.
Ribotsky responded I request we get a copy of the complaint.
Ms.
Bertolami asked is there any other procedure such as a telephone conference
call, which will bring us closer to two weeks rather than a month?
Mr.
Petty responded we can call a special meeting.
Ms.
Ribotsky stated I would rather have that.
Mr.
Rosenof asked how long will it take you to review this?
Mr.
Doody responded if I can get it tomorrow and review it over the weekend, I will
be prepared to go next week.
Mr.
Rosenof stated with my experience in these matters, his complaint will probably
have technical issues with it as well.
Mr.
Doody stated he is arguing the low bidder did not comply with the terms of the
bid. I have to determine if it is a
major or minor deviation on part of the District. I am not coming to a predetermined opinion at
this point.
Mr.
Rosenof asked let us see if we can ask the manager to convene a special meeting
as soon as possible after Mr. Doody’s review.
Do you need a motion to table it?
Mr.
Doody responded yes sir.
On MOTION by Ms. Bertolami seconded by Ms. Benckenstein with
all in favor consideration of award of contract for canal clean up was tabled
until Mr. Doody can present the Board with direction on the complaint made by
Arbor Tree & Land, Inc. at a special meeting.
Mr.
Rosenof stated this item was tabled. Do
we need to do it to a certain date?
Mr.
Petty responded no sir. We are not
continuing the meeting. You asked for a
special meeting.
The
record will reflect Mr. Brewer joined the meeting.
EIGHTH ORDER OF BUSINESS Supervisor’s Requests
There
not being any, the next item followed.
NINTH ORDER OF BUSINESS Audience Comments
There
not being any, the next item followed.
TENTH ORDER OF BUSINESS Approval of
Financials and Invoices
Mr. Rosenof asked are there any questions or comments on the
invoices?
There
not being any,
On MOTION by Ms. Benckenstein seconded by Ms. Bertolami with
all in favor the financials and invoices were approved.
SEVENTH
ORDER OF BUSINESS Presentations
of Proposals for Management Services
Mr. Doody asked are there any questions I
can go over before you recess?
Mr.
Rosenof responded let us talk about procedural issues. Remind us again on the timing. How long do they have to do the presentations?
Mr.
Doody responded they can have a presentation of up to 20 minutes. They then have 10 minutes for questions or
comments. You allocated 30 minutes for
each presenter.
Mr.
Rosenof asked how many presenters do we have this evening?
Mr.
Doody responded we have five. Other than
this, I have no comments. One entity
contacted me to confirm. I believe they
are at
Mr.
Rosenof asked if we take notes, are they public record?
Mr.
Doody responded yes.
Mr.
Petty stated this is off the subject, but there are extra people in the
audience.
Mr.
Rosenof stated I did notice.
Mr.
Petty stated this is Ms. Larned, our Treasury Director for Severn Trent. Behind her is Mr. Kisson, a financial advisor. I brought them here in the case you did award
contract, we arranged for a financing instrument to fund such a construction
project. Unless you want to talk to them
tonight, I will bring them to the next meeting. The secretary will stay for the record to take
notes. My intention is to leave during
the other presentations.
On MOTION by Mr. Rosenof seconded by Ms. Bertolami with all
in favor the meeting recessed at
The recessed meeting reconvened at
The first presentation is from Wrathell,
Hart, Hunt and Associates.
Mr.
Hart stated we became who we are in January of 2005 because we recognized the
dynamics in the industry had a great deal of upheaval taking place with such
consistency of performance in so many years, but some things changed. We also recognized the existing number of
Districts within the State of
The
second thing we analyzed for over a six month period of time was the model of
service delivery, which had been existing for a long time. We found one of the things being brought up
most of the time was dissatisfaction of service and not feeling completely
serviced. When someone was hiring the
outside manager, there was a need for there to be confidence, personal
relationship and the feeling you were getting the first and foremost
attention. You did not always have to
wait until there was a crisis before you heard from them. We found we needed to be a company dedicated
to being proactive and more suggestive in how you should be managing the
District or to improve the management of the District.
We
found this is the best definition of a true service oriented business and
therefore, we needed to understand what kind of people we wanted to bring
together who were going to be interacting with people like you. I want to go to Mr. Wrathell because he was
with Severn Trent for six or seven years.
He was tutored by the gentleman who was the father of this industry, Mr.
Moyer. He grew up through the process
and has a tremendous background in the industry. He has managed over 50 Districts in the State
of
My
background is varied. I had 25 years
with Meryl Lynch. I ran two major
engineering firms. I ran Keith &
Schnars for approximately five and a half years as operating partner. I have approximately 20 years worth of
concurred public service, as a municipal elected official, a mayor for three
terms and serving in the county commission for a couple of terms. More importantly than all of this blended
together, it provided me with an understanding as to when it came to districts,
each district has its own interests; whether it is making sure the canals are
properly cleaned up and more importantly making sure there are reserve funds
set up so you do not find yourself in an assessment crisis. By bringing Mr. Wrathell together with me we
found we had a few people with both experiential backgrounds as far as CDD
management was concerned and someone like me with a financial background as
well as an engineering background mixed with public service.
As
a third leg of this partnership, with a background in his own investment banking
business, Mr. Hunt has been the president and owner of a company called Gardner
Michael. It was one of the few
consistent surviving investment banking firms and is headquartered in the State
of
I
want to close by saying we have dedicated ourselves as a company to client
service as our first provision of importance.
We will never say anything against anyone else because there are very
good providers of service in this business.
We want to make sure you know if we provide somebody we say is going to
be here to do the job, they will be here to do the job. If we tell you we are going to give financial
accounting and other information on time, it will get there on time and it will
be correct. We went from zero districts
in January 2005 to 24 districts now throughout the State of
I
would like to introduce to you Mr. Szymonowicz and Ms. Dellolio. Mr. Szymonowicz will bring you through some
of the specifics of the presentation and then we will open it up to questions
and answers.
Mr.
Szymonowicz stated good evening. I am
the director of financial services for Wrathell, Hart, Hunt and
Associates. My official background is in
economics. I have a Masters Degree from
Ms.
Dellolio stated I am a graduate of the
Mr.
Szymonowicz stated if we are so fortunate to be chosen, the two of us will be
the people you will be dealing with on a daily basis with regards to the
financial side of the District’s operations.
As required by the stipulations of the RFP, I was involved with the
initial meeting with your District Engineer and walked some of the fields as
well as canals of the District to familiarize myself and get a grip on the
reality of the District.
In
talking with the District Engineer and upon doing some research, I found this
District has been in business for over 40 years. It was originally created in 1961 to provide
drainage for some residential portions as they existed at the time. The District has since expanded as the
agricultural portion of this area has decreased in size and it essentially
provides drainage to the eastern portion of the City of
The
District encompasses approximately 2,200 acres and it is currently governed by
Florida Statute Chapter 2001-320, which mandates representatives of the two
municipalities be present on the Board.
The primary services provided by the District are water control, aquatic
weed control, ground water recharge canal rights-of-way, swale mowing, cleaning
of canals and culvert inspection services.
The District utilizes two of its own employees to provide these services
and shares a field supervisor as well as other resources with CSID.
The
water control system is gravity based and consists of a major canal, which
takes water from south to north into the
The
primary maintenance responsibility is canal maintenance. This includes aquatic weed control as well as
right-of-way cleaning and mowing. The
majority of these services are provided by District staff and supervised by the
field supervisor. There is periodic
mowing of swales in the back of the homes in the Pine Tree Estate area of the
District. Regarding this particular part
of the service, I know the District had some problems as some of the residents
have not lived up to their responsibilities.
They either destroyed the swales or not maintained them to the standards
the District wanted them to. Although
these areas are not directly the responsibility of the District, there is a
chance to work with the municipalities to try to use some of the municipal
powers, specifically code enforcement, to make sure the swales are maintained
by the rightful owners. To provide these
services the District primarily relies on its two employees. For some other services such as inspection of
culverts and some of the underwater sections of the system, it uses third party
vendors.
The
management model we are proposing, should we be accepted, is to provide
financial services through me. The
treasury and assessment roll services will be provided by Ms. Dellolio and two
other staff members. Administrative
services will be provided by two staff members under the direction of Mr.
Wrathell as the District Manager, in cooperation with the existing District
staff supervised by the field supervisor, which is shared with CSID. We believe the sharing of resources is a
prudent approach, which the District has wisely chosen. We will recommend the sharing of resources be
continued. We feel there is considerable
knowledge in the two personnel and in the supervisors, who know the daily
operations of the District, to know how to best structure and guide the system
to its intended use. We will work
effortlessly with them to make sure their needs are supported without being overbearing
in trying to change the direction of the District too quickly.
The
particular services we recommend in the management section will be to attend
all the meetings of the Board of Supervisors and to provide dialogue with the
Board on all issues relating to the District.
We will identify policies and analyze their administrative as well as financial
impact on the District. We will prepare
the annual budget and implement it throughout the year. We will prepare District contracts as
required in cooperation with the District Attorney. We will ensure compliance of statutes and to
record all meetings. We will coordinate
contract administration for the third party vendors.
On
the financial side we will provide this service in house. We will assist the District Manager in
preparing the budget. We will record
financial transactions. We will make
sure the invoices are paid on time. We
will prepare assessment rolls, which at this time are on a per acre basis. We will ensure District funds are properly
invested in accordance with District investment guidelines. We will coordinate with the independent
auditors.
Mr.
Rosenof stated I do not want to cut you off, but we want to leave some time for
questions and answers. Can we wrap this
up?
Mr.
Szymonowicz responded this is the last slide.
Mr.
Rosenof stated I know you started late, but I do not want to get too off track.
Mr.
Szymonowicz stated absolutely. There
will be some administrative duties, which will consist of preparation of
meeting agendas, advertising notices, transcribing minutes, serving as a
steward of public records and any other general administrative services as
required. If I may, I would like to
briefly tell you what we feel are the greatest challenges to the District. It is not so much in the administrative set
up of the District, but it is in dealing with the aftermath of the storm. We feel an important part of your roles as
Supervisors is looking into the needs of the District. We will recommend you devote sufficient
financial resources for clean up of damages and you devote financial resources
for mitigation for future damages, which is something the current District
Manager is recommending.
Ms.
Ribotsky stated you are obviously a newcomer to the field. Explain what you learned over the last year
with your 24 transitions, what you failed at and how you think you can do
things better.
Mr.
Hart stated the first 11 Districts we acquired transitioned over from an
existing provider. The breakage we had
was in the first 60 to 90 days. We
wanted to make sure all of the records were transitioned over. Our first bumps were because nine
transitioned all at once in the first 60 to 90 days. Of the 24 districts we have, 17 of those have
transitioned from an existing provider and seven were new districts. As I said in my opening remarks, we have 14
more in formation. We learned in the
first three to four months on how to do this right. We created a system, which is simple. We work co-operatively with whatever districts
are transitioning to us to make sure all of the records are there and we make
an assessment to make sure we have everything we need.
Mr.
Rosenof asked are your offices moving to Coconut Creek?
Mr.
Hart responded that is correct.
Mr.
Rosenof asked do you see a need for having the offices for this District within
Coconut Creek or do you need office space elsewhere?
Mr.
Hart responded they will be in Coconut Creek.
We will be locating our office within five minutes of the central part
of this District.
Mr.
Rosenof asked what resources can we share with your other districts similar to
how we do with CSID?
Mr.
Szymonowicz responded I know you share some hardware and you share Mr.
Frederick with CSID. Most of our other
clients are located on the west coast of
As
we mentioned, we feel the sharing of resources with CSID is a prudent
approach. We have similar arrangements
in many of our districts in the west coast.
We have shared employees. We have
shared contractors. We have shared
facilities. We know how to structure
interlocal agreements in a way for both districts to utilize resources in a way
they will not over bill their resources.
They are not building towards the maximum point, but they are
anticipating what will be the most likely level of services utilized and
acquire services in a way so they can provide services at a reasonable cost to
the residents.
Ms.
Ribotsky stated I am looking at your list of references and it is interesting
that you are moving from
Mr.
Hart responded we have grown out of our headquarters’ legitimate use of size. We need to find more space. We have a field operation in
Mr.
Rosenof stated if there are no other questions, we thank you very much.
The second presentation is from New
Community Strategies.
Mr.
Rosenof stated before we start, let us do a quick introduction so you know who
is here.
The
Board and Ms. Rugg introduced themselves.
Mr.
Rosenbaum stated we met with Mr. Craven so we are familiar with your
District. We do quite a few
districts. With me is Mr. Mearns. He is with our company and was the city
manager for his county. We worked
together for approximately 19 years. The
third member of our team was unable to be here.
He had a family emergency. His
name is Mr. Wallace. He is our finance
person. He is the Finance Director in
As
you can tell we know everyone else in the business as they come in because we
all cross paths along the way. It is
nice to see this much interest. I will
talk to you about my company and how it is different. We all take different approaches and each
district is different. Mr. Mearns
manages a district, which not only does water control, but does recreation and
a host of other things. He manages the
Indian Trail District in the
I
will start out by telling you about our company. We have been in business for approximately 10
years. We manage other similar
districts, including the Belmont Lakes CDD and the Coral Bay CDD. We do financial analysis and management for
the finance departments of the City of Bal Harbour,
We
have 12 full-time employees and 6 part-time employees. We are adding people as functions expand. We also manage a couple of HOAs. It is not our core business. We do planning work. We have a full-time grant writer on
staff. If this arrangement goes forward,
the grant writing services will be available to the District. We have gotten a few grants related in the
water management area. We have gotten
beautification grants in the districts we manage in
We
also do municipal planning work and support work for the City of
Our
staff has been around
When
I left city management 12 years ago, after 25 years in it, I became a college
professor. A college professor’s
compensation is not good. I started this
company and we started special districts.
We did Belmont Lakes CDD in
As we went along, we added entities. Mr. Wallace joined us approximately four
years ago when he retired from
We
added the
Mr.
Mearns stated I am the District Manager and Treasurer of the Indian Trails
Improvement District in
The
employee base has grown from 15 in 1995 to 65 today and they want to add more
because the demand is great. The
population sky rocketed. There are
17,100 acres. Out of the 17,100
assessable acres, there are approximately 13,000 homes and they are down to
1,500 lots left. You can see the growth
is astronomical. With the growth there,
we are having a continuing clashing of cultural styles. Dealing with this growth issue is one part of
it, but more importantly I try to focus on what our true mission is. What are we in business to do? Water goes up and water goes down. It is pretty much running an operative canal
system. Of the road maintenance system
and the park system, the water system is number one. They may have other issues, but their water
control system is excellent. We have a
person on board who operates the system.
We work with SFWMD, but at the same time it has its downfall because
people do not understand the system. I
deal with the citizen aspect of it, explaining to people in a rational way why
we cannot do whatever we feel like with the canal systems.
It
keeps coming back to the same. What is
the mission? It is what you have to ask
yourself. If the mission is water
control, then you need to have someone locally who understands the engineering
aspect of it. I am not an engineer. There are people who do this. You want someone who can put it all
together. When I worked with Mr. Rosenbaum,
he was a big picture person who can still focus on main points. I am the nuts and bolts guy. I take all of these parts and put them
together. This is why we work so well
together. The open space program he
mentioned was an idea he came up with and I helped put together. It is the same way with a water control
district. You have different elements
and need to put them together in a cohesive way to make everything work.
I
do not know your relationship with SFWMD, but they are a source of money. I do not know if you are getting the grants
you should. We just picked up a grant
last week for $50,000 to study some of the flow ways. They came to us. You must have a good relationship with
them. I do not know if you do or
not. I hope you do.
This
comes down to a couple of things. I
truly believe you want somebody local who you can call up with your needs and
have them on the spot. This is what we
do. We are a growing company and we
respond in a rapid manner. We believe in
high levels of service. You also need
someone who has intergovernmental relationships. It is very important. If you want to exist alone, it is okay. I do not think it is a wise choice because you
are part of a larger system and you have to tap into the system as a resource. They are there for us and they are there for
you. You need to take advantage of
it. Relationships with other special
districts are good because you get to share ideas.
The
Florida Association of Special Districts annual meeting is in Duck Key. I was in
Ms.
Ribotsky asked do you manage any water districts in
Mr.
Rosenbaum responded no. The county map
says the water districts are actually CDDs.
We have lakes and other water structures, but we do not manage a canal
system like you do here other than Indian Trails.
Ms.
Ribotsky asked where will you site staff?
Mr.
Rosenbaum responded preferably at this end of the county. It is important to be close and to be
responsive. The whole idea of this
business is responsiveness and communications.
You need to know what is going on.
If something goes wrong, people need to know. What were the failures of government last
year? Communications were not as good as
they should have been. We are a
government and we need to do this.
Proximity is important and communication is important.
Ms.
Benckenstein asked who will attend the meetings?
Mr.
Rosenbaum responded the manager in charge of the project, which will be Mr.
Mearns, and I attend the meetings. If
you go to the redevelopment meeting in
Ms.
Bertolami asked from your research, have you identified any particular areas
you see this District needing improvement on?
Mr.
Mearns responded I cannot really comment on it other than the question I have
regarding your relationship with water managing. It should be your top priority. When I asked about this District being
associated with other special districts, it is something you need to develop a
relationship with. In terms of the daily
operations, I will have to get deeper into the District.
Mr.
Rosenbaum stated we do not have the specific knowledge of the daily
operations. Some of the things you think
about such as aesthetics and the quality of maintenance, we currently have a
higher standard in most communities than we had five years ago. Some of the drainage structures probably need
to be refurbished. We met with Mr.
Craven and we asked the questions, but we do not have the specific information
to address it. It is something we bring
back to the Board. We go out there and
research. It is not something we do
unilaterally. This is a process of a
building relationship with a team. We go
out there and if there are problems or new ideas, we bring it back. If you look at what Mr. Mearns was talking
about with the Florida Association of Special Districts, they are bringing new
ideas. Districts did not get grants
before. They never received grants. Districts are getting grants now, not only
from SFWMD. They are getting
beautification grants, projects with the county and recreational grants. Those are things you might want to explore if
it is in your mission.
Mr.
Mearns stated we are not agents of change.
There is one thing, which should be done in the beginning by any
organization coming in. You need to do a
management analysis. You need to have an
inventory of your capital needs, your assets and their condition. You need to bench mark all of these
things. If you need to develop a capital
improvement program, you need to know it now so you do not have a failure in
the future you did not anticipate. It
goes back on your shoulders and you need to know it. You also need a best management practice
analysis. Are you doing the right things
at the right time and in the right way?
They are not changes. It is a different
way of looking at the situation. You
need to do this. It is something we
bring to the picture. We have a number
of specialists working for us who are use to doing these things. It is what we do.
People
in your position do not like surprises.
Let me tell you where surprises come from. They come from issues not being addressed,
information not being passed and sitting on facts. You need to know right away what is
happening. It is important. Whether you choose us or someone else, please
insist this Board undertake this process.
Mr.
Rosenbaum stated the other thing is the new accounting standards, GASB 34. You are looking at your public inventory
unlike in the past where cities, special districts and all public entities use
to be able to let these things deteriorate and walk away from it. You cannot do it now. The inventory is there and the information is
there. You have to look at maintaining
your assets. It has become a fiscal
issue. It is something, which needs to
be addressed as you move forward.
Mr.
Mearns stated when I got to Indian Trail it became apparent very quickly they
were vastly behind the times in many of their processes and procedures. I was mortified at how they purchased things
and how they filed things. It was
bad. I hope you are not there. I have no reason to believe you are. It never hurts to have a different set of
eyes look at the same thing because you get the proverbial second opinion. It gives you cause to think about where you
are in the stream of your management.
Whether you choose us or someone else, it will be beneficial to you.
Mr.
Rosenbaum stated it is what we did in Indian Trail. We brought the entire team in from our
company. The proper thing to do is find
out what problems you have and address them.
You have the opportunity to discuss if something is a possible problem
and what you are going to do. Bring
everything out. Communication is
important. Let us communicate about the
problems and find out what is going wrong.
After years of doing this, the most common thing we say to each other is
we have seen this before. What you do is
so important. People do not realize how
important drainage districts are in this county. They need to be run well. Our job is assisting you to make it
happen.
Mr.
Rosenof stated thank you very much.
The third presentation is from Governmental
Management Services.
Mr.
Rosenof stated I do not think we need do introduce ourselves. The floor is yours.
Mr.
Hans stated let me just make a quick introduction about the company,
Governmental Management Services. We are
a family of companies. We have three
independent operations. One is in
You
are familiar with most of our experiences.
We worked with this District before.
I have and Mr. Hernandez has. Mr.
Baldis has not, but I can tell you about his experiences. We will open up the floor to questions and
concerns.
Ms.
Ribotsky stated your fees are close to double most of the other fees.
Mr.
Hans stated our fee might be higher. As
far as structure and management, we may work about the same as what you are
paying.
Ms.
Ribotsky asked how negotiable is this number?
Mr.
Hans responded it is a pretty firm number.
We know what we need to do and the level of service you are
requiring. Because we will have a field
manager included in the fee it will eliminate the fee of a shared employee you
were paying in the past and will not need.
Mr.
Rosenof asked are you proposing to share a field manager?
Mr.
Hans responded he will be the direct oversight of your two employees.
Mr.
Hernandez stated what we are trying to present is a complete presentation of
what the District needs. What you see
here is an entity, which is being shared.
Due to the fact he does not work for us, we can no longer maintain the
position available. Our field manager
will fulfill the position. It is
included in the price.
Mr.
Ribotsky asked are you open to the idea of continuing to use Mr. Frederick as
the field supervisor? I think having a
common supervisor with CSID has advantages.
Mr.
Hans responded we are open to what the Board desires.
Ms.
Ribotsky asked if this is the case, how will your fees change? We need to compare apples to apples and we
cannot do this.
Mr.
Hans responded it will be roughly $10,000 less.
I am not sure of the structure managing this District without having a
field manager from our office being the direct contact person for any
problems. It is the most efficient way
of doing it. We can do it, but I do not
know if it is the best way. Our
presentation is with the field manager.
Mr.
Rosenof asked who will be our day to day contact?
Mr.
Hans responded your day to day contact will be Mr. Baldis. You will have his cell phone number. If any residents have problems, there will be
a call to him and chances are he will be out there the same day to talk with
the resident.
Mr.
Rosenof asked who is our financial contact?
Mr.
Hans responded the treasurer for the District who will be handling the day to
day money will be Ms. Powers. Mr.
Hernandez and I, as the District managers will be attending the meetings. We are both working together on
districts. It will not be if I am not
here, Mr. Hernandez will not know what happened. We will both have an amount of understanding
of what is going on.
Ms.
Ribotsky asked since both of you have experience with the District, what
changes from a year ago will you make to be more effective?
Mr.
Hans responded the oversight and the day to day maintenance of having someone
who is out there addressing the clean ups and maintenance. We will not let things get out of hand as far
as vegetation growing in swales and fences going up without finding out about
them until six months after they are there.
Those are typical ongoing problems when you do not have a good
oversight. Mr. Baldis is proactive on
seeing things change and making sure there are permits if people are building
fences.
Mr.
Hernandez stated Mr. Baldis is working with a District, which is next to
PTWCD. He is known within the District
and is involved with the field operation.
We will be getting involved and based on his experience; we will be
coming back to the Board with any improvements we can present.
Mr.
Rosenof stated thank you very much.
The fourth presentation is from Severn
Mr.
Petty stated I have been with you since October. Before I came to the District, you saw quite
a few people during the transition period for Severn Trent. The respect they were giving your District
was not the respect you deserved.
Hopefully, I responded better than my predecessors. It is my intent.
We
gave you a proposal. You can tell we are
a credible firm. We have solid
resources. I do not want to go too much
into it. Let me highlight the areas I
feel we excel in when comparing us to the other highly credible
professionals. We are the most
experienced management company. Our
history goes back 30 years. I have 25
years with this company. I am one of the
few who still has 25 years experience, but we still have experience as a
company. We are the largest firm. We still have the largest number of
clients. We still have the largest
number of resources and personnel.
We
offer specialties, which make us stand out amongst our competitors. When I say our competitors, many of them were
valiant assets of our firm before they went out on their own and I do not wish to
demean their credibility. Should you
choose any of the firms presenting tonight, you will be well served. I still think we are the best party. I hope you realize it too.
We
have a document management system in house we developed and work with. It has been in place for at least 10
years. The person handling our document
management is Ms. Rugg who you probably have known for the 10 years she has
been here. She was number two behind Ms.
Holiday for most of the time. She has
been running the department for the last two years by herself and doing a great
job. She was working the document
management system for Ms. Holiday and doing districts. She has picked up the best points of Ms.
Holiday and has left out the non desirable points of Ms. Holiday. We are very happy with the work she has done. We hope you are too.
She
has a staff of approximately 12 people.
She has three document management systems she maintains for the public
records of our districts, including PTWCD.
She has a proprietary scanning system, which takes any signed documents
and puts them in optical storage as required by state law so in the case of an
emergency we have all of the documents for your District going back to
1998. Before that time, she keeps all of
the paper records for this District available.
She has another system she uses, which I refer to as PC Docs. I believe the new name for it is Document
Management Five. It is the same company,
but it has been upgraded. It is a state
of the art relational data base for any documents. It does anything under the sun. We have it at approximately 80% capability
because we are not a library. That is
used by all of our people on staff so all of our work papers, as they are
created, are stored on this system. This
way everything we do for you is public record.
She
has another one, which is somewhat experimental. It uses artificial intelligence. We take our data base she has, which is
basically the documents she has created such as the minutes, the agendas, all
the PDFs scanned in and it uses artificial intelligence for its search. We are trying to find out if it gives us
better search capabilities. We are
trying to get as fast as the Google style system you see on the internet. We are finding out this data program has nice
features we may be using. There are
three systems and it sets us apart when it comes to handling the public records
for your District.
We
have our own IT department in house. At
times I wish I did not have to say it out loud.
If you are running a Windows system, which we are and it is how your system
is run as well your administration is run, you need these guys. We had Hurricane Wilma last fall. Our building was hit as were many in
Ms.
Rugg stated eight days.
Mr.
Petty stated they worked non stop and then brought all of the equipment
back. We have a nice document management
system and people, which have been dedicated to PTWCD for a long time. We have an IT department, which helps to back
it up. We have systems to back it up. We feel this sets us apart.
We
just got done building our own government accounting program. I do not know how familiar you are with any
type of broad based software system, which says it is going to do
everything. These have specifically been
the abyss for any government employee to find themselves in to try and
implement one of these and make it work.
We hit the abyss. Ms. Larned
pulled us out. She is the Treasury
Director for our firm and has been with us since the fall of last year. She has shown us the error of our ways in a
great deal of places. One of them being,
buying a new software program without running it for six months. We currently have a customized program for
special districts. It is functioning
very well and we will be extremely proud of it.
We do not believe any of our competitors have anything close.
It
was built specifically for special taxing districts, which our firm has 30
years experience in. We were the ones
who had the money to put in to such a system and we have the experience to
build it a certain way. It is a complex
data base and building it for your specific work flow is the hard part. We feel we have done it. The team working on PTWCD is relatively in
tact, even though you have seen several different managers before me causing
you to review your options. Let me tell
you who is behind the scenes, which you do not see.
You
know Ms. Rugg. You probably know Ms.
Slaughter who is her number two person. You
also have Ms. Larned who works on your District and worked with me on obtaining
financing for the new construction project you are thinking of doing. It is going to be approximately a half a
million dollars. We have a nice program
to show you. We are able to show it to
you tonight. We worked hard to have it
ready. We have a commitment letter from
the financial institution for you tonight if you want to consider it. I will try to get it in. Mr. Kissoon has been working with the bank
for the last 30 days telling them what PTWCD is and building the case for you
having a good credit rating. He works
with us on special projects for a great deal of our districts. He has been working with PTWCD during the
issue of hurricane debris removal with FEMA and NRCS.
Mr.
Zilmer has been doing pay roll for the field guys for 19 years. Ms. Walker has been doing the accounting for
PTWCD for 19 years. Mr. Daly has been doing
the data base management of your old accounting system, which we are bringing
out the new one. He was maintaining the
old system for 16 years. You know Mr.
Frederick. You have me, which I hope you
are getting to know.
The
companies you have seen tonight are competent.
They know districts. I feel this
District may be in a state of transition depending on how you evaluate the
debris removal at your next meeting. I
am not one to speak of the past, since I have only been here since
October. I can tell you what my
impressions are. It appears PTWCD has
been in a stewardship position for a long period of time. You are the agency who has received drainage responsibilities
from many different areas. You were
maintaining it to the best of your ability based on oral or handshake
agreements. Staff has been working with
you in this regard for a long period of time.
There is no construction project.
There is no expansion. There were
a couple of job considerations, which were specific subdivisions, but no major
changes to the drainage system.
You
are looking at a change now. By taking
ownership of the canals, the system and the banks, you are changing it from a
stewardship role to an ownership role. I
will be very proud if you consider me in this future as well. I will end here and see if you have any
questions.
Ms.
Benckenstein stated when I first came on, which was approximately a year ago,
there was someone different at each meeting.
You just mentioned there are many people in your staff who have been
working on PTWCD for many years. Can you
tell me why we had so many different managers?
Mr.
Petty responded I will give you an example.
The management service we provide is a consulting service. It is how Mr. Moyer started it up 30 years
ago. With his expertise on running
districts, he got new districts. The
record keeping and accounting were cost recovery items. They were necessary functions for the
job. His main job was providing
consulting services. Land management
development consulting services was what he had on his card. That is where he got his reputation from and
how he built the company. Accounting
grew as a necessity. Records grew as a
necessity. These are not profit
vendors. They are cost recovery we do
for the client.
When
Severn Trent Services was purchased from Mr. Moyer, Mr. Moyer stayed up until
two and a half years ago. The corporate
structure became too cumbersome for Mr. Moyer.
He still loves his work and he still has a strong feeling for all of the
entities he worked with. The corporate
experience is difficult for a founder. In
an engineering firm where you are a consultant, you will find when your
engineers get enough experience they split off.
That is what happened to us.
There was a reason for being so.
The founder left. They looked at
their options and some very capable people from Severn Trent Services saw a
future as independents. You saw a couple
of them tonight and I believe you have one more to see. This is not bad or good. It is a fact of life. This is what happens in the cycle of a
maturing company. We have a great deal
to offer at Severn Trent Services. These
people have a great deal to offer.
Ms.
Benckenstein asked will you be the one attending the meetings all of the time?
Mr.
Petty responded there is a reason why I am staying. This is my company. I was the first employee and I am not letting
anyone else have it. Mr. Moyer started
the company and he sold the company. I
was not one of the payable people on the list.
This is what I have.
Ms.
Ribotsky asked can you talk about if you propose the fees to change, any
improvement you would like to make over what we are doing or staffing changes?
Mr.
Petty responded I am excited about you making this change from a maintenance
District to one with ownership. I met
with the City Manager for
You
have a good start. You have a field crew
of three men, which can grow to whatever you need. If you need people to mow the grass and
swales like they were doing for a long time, we can give you those people. We can expand. We have the core machine and these guys have
been around forever. They know how to do
it. We can do this. I would love to show you how to do this. I would love to be able to be responsive to
you instead of coming to the meetings with excuses. Will I change the number of people? I would love to be able to increase them
based on the responsibilities of this District and the needs of the residents.
I
am a firm believer in communication. I
am a firm believer in a great deal of things.
My priority is to take direction from the Board. At these meetings I will give you my
recommendations, but I will do whatever you tell me to do. It is my job.
It is also my job to offer counter points. I would like to see us get more involved and
have a bigger crew. I would like to see
us do the swales. I believe the swale
drainage is ours. I believe it is ours
because we can probably do it better than the city. We know drainage. It is our job to handle drainage. We understand what will block flow and what
will not block flow. We have the pumps
and know how to bring the equipment to fix it.
I would love to have the City of
Ms.
Benckenstein stated the City of
Mr.
Petty stated we did not get a call from the City of
Ms.
Ribotsky stated it will be
Mr.
Petty stated it is a nice area.
Ms.
Ribotsky stated we have to figure out which District it is going to go into and
have an expansion of the District perhaps.
Mr.
Petty stated I would like to be a part of it.
Communication is a big deal. It
is important in government for the people you work for, which are the
residents, to understand what you do and put value to it. If they do not put value to it, how do they
know what you are doing? I know in the
past, PTWCD has kept its cost for information to residents to a minimum because
our idea was to keep costs as low as possible.
I suggest we get bigger on communication so residents understand who we
are and what we do. In particular if we
take on some of these drainage responsibilities.
There
are many new ideas out there we are implementing with some of your sister
districts. I would love to show them off
to you, but they are not applicable now.
There are many new things we are trying.
The website concept we talked about last month is part of the
process. There are additional document
management systems we can implement to make available to all residents over the
internet so they have access to all of these documents and can read them. They will not have to call us for the
minutes. They will be able to access
them off the web.
We
would like to see some better attention to the engineering process. There is a recommendation for the facility
report to be evaluated every five years by every drainage district. It is part of CDD requirements and special
taxing districts. We would have our
engineer evaluate our system every five years and give us the status on
it. We would put the report out and try
to gage ourselves in our annual operation to get it.
Mr.
Rosenof stated one of the other presenters had a grant writer on their staff.
Ms.
Bertolami stated a company of your size has many resources to come up with
creative funding.
Mr.
Petty stated yes. Do we do many
grants? The answer is no. It is more complicated if I go in depth. I will go in there a bit to get in trouble
with Ms. Larned and then I will turn it over to her. In her experience as Finance Director for
Ms.
Larned stated each grant and what would be available should be evaluated on its
own merit. Everyone has to look beyond
the immediate value of getting the dollars.
You have to look at the long term commitments, which may come in the
succeeding years. It ultimately falls to
the residents and whether or not they are willing to make a long term
commitment.
As
the Board representing the District, it is something needing to be taken into
consideration other than the immediate value of receiving the cash versus
trying to generate your own. It still
meets the same needs and you do it by maintaining your own control. When you take grants, in some cases you end
up losing control as the Board in representing your constituents. This is what needs to be looked at in every
case.
Mr.
Petty mentioned my experience in
Mr.
Petty stated when she says we have grant writers; we do not have anyone with
this title. They are financial analyst
working under her treasury services.
They do analysis of the benefits for such things. The only ones I know of going through us for
grants for the park system is the City of
Mr.
Brewer stated the only concern I have from the standpoint of the District is in
regard to what they said about grants. As
a Board we have a responsibility to have money.
We are going to get in trouble if we go a half a million dollars this
year and we go $2 Million next year.
Where do you stop when you say, “Maybe we should have had a half a
million dollars and we have no money?”
We are running this thing on a shoe string. It is easy to say we are going to borrow a
half a million dollars for Hurricane Wilma, but what if we get hit next
month. We do not have money. We could hardly do the studies to find out
how to get money.
Mr.
Petty stated the money we have available for you is not to cause harm. We think what you just said does cause
harm. You have $474,000 in reserve. The cost for cleaning this up is
approximately $490,000.
Ms.
Ribotsky stated everyone has their own different reserve philosophy based on
whether it is a portion of assessments or a portion of the total budget. When you say we have $400,000 in reserve,
sitting here as the Vice Mayor I’m saying, “That is pretty good. The whole City of
Mr.
Petty responded it is a policy we will ask the Board when you consider the
construction program as part of your budget.
It was our intent. Let me talk a
bit about the philosophy and I will again turn it over to Ms. Larned. When we looked at the loan, we looked at how
much money we had available to us. We have
$474,000. If we take all of this money
out, what do we live on for the next three months being we have no more money
coming? All of the assessments will be
paid. How will we live for the first
three months of the next fiscal year because we will not get assessments until
January?
Mr.
Rosenof stated assuming there is not another storm.
Mr.
Petty stated I have a carry forward plus what if there is another storm? This is why we said we must have this
financing mechanism. We feel we have a
good thing for you to consider. We are
happy with it. It does not solve your
issue of what we have for reserves.
Ms.
Ribotsky stated my philosophy is it should be during the three months for a
cash flow crisis. It is not necessarily
to have enough money for every single major disaster, which might happen.
Mr.
Petty stated your philosophy is cost conscious because those three months are a
real issue. It is not a possibility, it
is real. You will need the money to
survive and at the end of December you will be close to broke. We like to have three months as a common
business practice. We sometimes do not
call it part of the reserve. We call it
carry forward. We do reserve funds where
you go out and tax the existing homeowners for the possibility of a calamity. My presentation to you is to not tax existing
residents for future benefits, which might be gone by the time you use their
money. They are paying you for a system,
which should be kept in good working order.
You have great credit. You can
either have the money in cash or you can have a financial policy. I am going to recommend you have a financial
policy in place so if you have the need for money, you get the money at the
time and the residents pay for the benefits when they receive the use of those
funds.
Ms.
Benckenstein asked do you mean like a line of credit?
Mr.
Petty responded exactly.
Mr.
Rosenoff stated if there are no more questions, let us wrap it up.
The fifth presentation is from Special
District Services, Inc.
Mr.
Kalin stated I will leave my contact business card if anyone needs it.
Mr.
Rosenof stated let us do our introductions once again.
The
Board and Ms. Rugg introduced themselves.
Mr.
Kalin stated I am representing Special District Services, Inc. with the desire
to provide your District with full management services. I know this has been a long day for most of
you and I will make this as short and concise as possible.
Our
firm is a
Hopefully,
Mr. Doody circulated our company profile and everyone has one with them. Special District Services, Inc. was founded
in 1993 by Mr. Pimental, President, and Mr. Norris, Executive Vice
President. This executive management
team has combined over 82 years of experience serving special and general
purpose local governments in the private sector development industry. I personally have 15 years experience in the
local government sector, 13 of those years were spent as District Director Manager
with full management responsibilities at South Broward Drainage District
servicing a population of 250,000 residents.
Our
team of staff members includes consultants, a finance director, accounts
payable and receivable clerks, records keeping clerks, administrative
assistants and a certified public accountant along with several experienced
district managers. For the purpose of
continuity and to develop a relationship with the district, our firm has the
ability to assign to your District a manager who you, your staff and
constituents can communicate and share ideas with. Our firm, in addition to management of
special districts, has had extensive experience in the drafting of special act
legislation, administration of assessment rolls, special assessment methodology
reporting and election procedure administration.
Whether
it is aquatic weed management, stormwater management or developing your annual
operating budget, Special District Services, Inc. has the tools to deliver a
rewarding public and private partnership.
On behalf of Special District Services, Inc., I would like to thank the
Board for the opportunity to speak before you this evening. I will entertain any of your questions. A great deal of what I said is included in
your booklet, but I gave an overview.
Ms.
Benckenstein asked who will be attending our meetings?
Mr.
Kalin responded it will be me. I live in
Ms.
Ribotsky stated one of the things your proposal omits is a fee.
Mr.
Kalin stated I am prepared to provide you with it this evening. The lump sum management fee is $36,000.
Ms.
Ribotsky asked are there other costs?
Mr.
Kalin responded there are out of pocket expenses, which will be
additional. Your usual and customary
legal advertising is required. Postage,
telephone and office supplies are additional.
Ms.
Ribotsky asked are special meetings or anything over a certain amount of
meetings additional?
Mr.
Kalin responded no. It is included in
the lump sum fee.
Ms.
Ribotsky asked are field operations not included?
Mr.
Kalin responded that is correct.
Ms.
Ribotsky asked how do you propose to handle field operations since you do not
have an office here?
Mr.
Kalin responded it will have to be negotiated.
We will have to discuss how it will be handled.
Ms.
Bertolami asked do you have any particular recommendations for our District?
Mr.
Kalin responded I had an opportunity to sit with Mr. Craven and I have an idea
of your geographic boundaries. I have
not toured your District. We looked at
it on air. At this time, I do not have
any recommendations to the Board on how the District should or should not be
run.
Ms.
Bertolami asked do you see any trends in districts?
Mr.
Kalin responded the constituents are becoming more educated and more demanding
on Boards. They are savvier. They want to know where there tax dollars are
going and they want accountability, which is reasonable.
Ms.
Ribotsky stated you mentioned you live in
Mr.
Kalin stated yes I am.
Ms.
Ribotsky asked have you previously had other districts in
Mr.
Kalin responded no. There was a small
district, but Special District Services, Inc. does not manage the district any
longer. If you need the name of the
district, I will be happy to provide it.
I do not have it this evening.
Mr.
Rosenof stated thank you.
Mr.
Kalin asked may I ask when the selection will be or is there another process?
Mr.
Rosenof responded we are considering this a workshop and there will be a
discussion at our next meeting as to what steps we want to take. We do not have a definitive timeframe mapped
out. This is informational to see what
the other options are if we do indeed choose to change. We may not choose to change. This is for the Board to figure out who the
other players are and what their qualifications are.
Mr.
Kalin stated please take my card. If
there is anything you might have a question on or you feel I have not covered,
please call me and I will get you the answer.
ELEVENTH ORDER OF BUSINESS Adjournment
There being no further business,
On MOTION by Ms. Benckenstein seconded by Ms. Ribotsky with
all in favor the meeting was adjourned at 8:20 p.m.
Jean M. Rugg David Rosenof
Assistant Secretary President