City Commission Meeting Summary - February 11, 2009
The City Commission met in regular session and took the following action (with Commissioner Mustian participating by telephone):
Item 1 - Accepted the presentation of Green City Gold Certification from Ms. Suzanne Cook, Executive Director of the Florida Green Building Coalition (FGBC), and thanked the staff and the community-at-large for their efforts in the City of Tallahassee being the first city in Florida to be awarded this Gold Designation under the FGBC Green City Local Government Standard (brought forward by Environmental Policy & Energy Resources [EPER])
Mayor Marks, Commissioner Lightsey and EPER Director Cynthia Barber accepted this award.
Items 2-3 - Voted 5-0 (Commissioner Mustian voting telephonically) to approve the staff's recommendations presented in Consent Agenda Items 2-3, taking the following action:
Item 2 - Authorized a three-year maintenance agreement expenditure with Ventyx Energy, LLC, pending approval of funds in each budget year, for Wholesale Energy Services (WES) computer-modeling software, "CougerPlus", and authorized the Director of Energy Services to execute the agreement - for a fiscal impact of $35,813 in FY2009 (Option 1 recommended by Energy Services)
Item 3 - Approved the award of bid for renovations of the Tallahassee Senior Center 2nd floor kitchen to Council Contracting, pursuant to Contract #1813, in the amount of $64,732, and authorized ECD to execute the contract (Option 1 recommended by Economic and Community Development [ECD])
Item 4 - Voted 5-0 (Commissioner Mustian voting telephonically) to reaffirm the City's commitment to Delta Airlines for intra-Florida and Washington, D.C. air service, committing the City to up a revenue guarantee of $375,000 for intra-Florida service and $125,000 for Washington Reagan Service, if needed (recommended by Aviation)
Items 5-8.1 - By consensus, introduced Ordinances Nos. 09-Z-01, 09-Z-02, 09-O-06, 09-Z-09 and 09-O-08, and set the ordinances for public hearings as recommended, starting at 6:00 p.m. in the City Commission Chambers, 2nd Floor of City Hall, 300 South Adams Street:
Item 5 was a staff recommendation to introduce Southeast Community Medical Campus PUD Rezoning Ordinance No. 09-Z-01, which would amend the existing Southeast Community Medical Campus Planned Unit Development (PUD) Concept Plan and reduce the area of the PUD from 31.98 acres to 30.99 acres (PRZ #080022), and set public hearing on the ordinance for February 25, 2009 (Option 1 recommended by Planning).
Item 6 was a staff recommendation to introduce Ox Bottom Meadows PUD Rezoning Ordinance No. 09-Z-02, which would amend the existing Ox Bottom Meadows PUD, totaling 36.36 acres located on the northwest corner of Ox Bottom Road and Thomasville Road (PRZ #080023), and set the ordinance for public hearing on February 25, 2009 (Option 1 recommended by Planning).
Item 7 was a staff recommendation to introduce Ordinance No. 09-O-06, which would amend the Land Development Regulations amending appropriate sections of Chapter 10 to implement Comprehensive Plan Reform changes from Comprehensive Plan Amendments 2005-1-T-35, 2005-2-T-026 and 2006-2-T-09, and set the ordinance for public hearings on February 25 and March 25, 2009 (Option 1 recommended by Planning)
Item 8 was a staff recommendation to introduce Central urban Rezoning Ordinance No. 09-Z-09, which would rezone the CU Central Urban Zoning District to the CU-12, CU-18, CU-26, CU-45 and OS Open Space Zoning Districts (PRZ #080027), and set the ordinance for public hearings on February 25 and March 25, 2009 (Option 1 recommended by Planning)
Item 8.1 was a staff recommendation to introduce Ordinance No. 09-O-08, which would add duties related to Fertilizer Ordinance variances to the authorized duties of the Environmental Code/Variance Board, and set the ordinance for public hearing on February 25, 2009 (Option 1 recommended by Legal)
Item 9 - Voted 5-0 (Commissioner Mustian voting telephonically) to adopt the recommended 2010 Federal Legislative Program (Option 1 recommended by the Office of the Mayor/Intergovernmental Relations)
Item 10 - Voted 5-0 (Commissioner Mustian voting telephonically) to approve the procurement of eight (8) front-end loaders and eight (8) residential garbage side-loader trucks from RDK Municipal Truck Center, Inc., the top-ranked firm, in the amount of $3,488,992 - replacing 25 vehicles with 16 new vehicles, reducing the Solid Waste Fleet by 9 vehicles and receiving credit for the trade in of existing vehicles at an estimated value of $500,000--$600,000, reducing the actual cost to under $3 million (Option 1 recommended by Solid Waste and Fleet Management)
Item 11 - Voted 5-0 (Commissioner Mustian voting telephonically) to adopt staff recommendations 1, 2, 3, 4, 6 and 7, implementing a Local Economic Emergency Fast Tracking Program for Public Sector Projects, and adopting Ordinance No. 09-O-13, allowing public sector projects to be reviewed under the proposed fast-track process (Option 1 recommended by Legal)
The Commission delayed taking action on Recommendation #5 for two weeks, relating to reducing the fee associated with traffic concurrency for both public and private sectors.
Commissioner Lightsey requested that the staff provide some data on the proposal to cut traffic concurrency requirements on a scale of 50%-75%, and any ability to work with fees for multi-modal kinds of structure as opposed to roadways.
Commissioner Katz requested that the staff consider ways of ensuring that the cost of road projects were reflective of actual costs.
Commissioner Gillum suggested that the staff consider the potential of expanding concurrency free zones, which would be served by multimodal transit.
Unagendaed Speakers -
Mr. John Fleming, 2588 Centerville Court, member of the Chamber of Commerce Board of Directors, appeared before the Commission in support of the Delta Airlines guarantee proposal, Agenda Item 4, and he expressed particular support for the addition of a non-stop flight to Washington, D.C. Additionally, he encouraged the Commission to extend the fast-tracking program to include the private sector.
Mr. Thomas Hickman, 1768 Indian Creek Drive, Birmingham, AL, representing New Horizon Retail Development, appeared before the Commission and discussed the impacts of concurrency regulations on the private sector in driving up the cost of development. He also encouraged the Commission to extend the fast-tracking program to include the private sector.
City Commission Information and Sharing of Ideas -
Mayor Marks discussed his intent to attempt to establish a group of citizens to consider what the City could do to stimulate the local economy.
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