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Minutes 02-10-99 MINUTES OF THE COMMUNITY REDEVELOPMENT AGENCY MEETING HELD IN COMMISSION CHAMBERS, CITY HALL, BOYNTON BEACH, FLORIDA, ON WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 10, 1999 AT 6:40 P.M. PRESENT Gerald “Jerry” Taylor, Mayor Kerry Willis, City Manager Shirley Jaskiewicz, Vice Mayor James Cherof, City Attorney Henderson Tillman, Mayor Pro Tem Sue Kruse, City Clerk Jamie Titcomb, Commissioner Wilfred Hawkins, Support Services Manager I. A. CALL TO ORDER Mayor Taylor called the meeting to order at 6:40 p.m. B. PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE TO THE FLAG & MOMENT OF SILENCE The Pledge of Allegiance to the Flag followed an invocation offered by Mayor Taylor. C. AGENDA APPROVAL Commissioner Titcomb moved to approve. Vice Mayor Jaskiewicz seconded the motion that carried 4-0. (Commissioner Denahan was not present for the meeting.) D. APPROVAL OF MINUTES - JANUARY 13, 1999 Vice Mayor Jaskiewicz moved approval. Commissioner Titcomb seconded the motion that carried 4-0. II. ANNOUNCEMENTS & PRESENTATIONS A. Gateway Park Project, Soma Development - Mike Arnold, President (Unable to attend) Mayor Taylor announced that Mike Arnold was unable to attend this meeting. B. Hotel/Resort/Conference Center Project - Wahoo’s on the Wharf - Dan McGrane (Not ready for presentation at this date) Mayor Taylor announced that this project was not ready for presentation at this time. C. Boynton Beach Promenade Project - LaMar Realty, Larry Finkelstein Larry Finkelstein, LaMar Realty, 114 North Federal Highway, Suite 202, was present to request incentives to transform the Boynton Beach Plaza in phases to conform with the Visions 20/20 plan and interact with the Port Promenade and the Pond Park by creating a destination retail plaza geared to the public, pedestrians and shoppers. 1 MEETING MINUTES COMMUNITY REDEVELOPMENT AGENCY BOYNTON BEACH, FLORIDA FEBRUARY 10, 1999 For its investment, the City would get a local developer who is president, business and property owner who believes in and participated in the Visions 20/20 Plan from its inception with hands- on experience and who will increase the occupancy, assist in continuing the economic development of the area and increase the City’s tax base and sales tax revenue while offering employment opportunities to local residents. Changing the direction of the Plaza to interact with the Promenade and Pond Park is of the utmost importance to help create a destination that would draw outside dollars to the community. Since environmental issues and lot size restrictions would preclude large gathering areas to accommodate the public at the new Pond Park, the transformation of the Plaza is very important. To prepare the Plaza for the future, it would require some demolition, construction, landscape and signage updating, significant capital improvements, probable loss of some of the current tenant base and having to keep some of the space vacant to prepare for the proposed renovations, redevelopment and new tenants. With a start-up investment of approximately $2 million and the City’s assistance, Mr. Finkelstein said he could act quickly in the acquisition of the center and bring about the transformation to prepare for the future vibrant downtown. Other alternatives include purchase of the property by the City, with the City becoming a landlord, then a developer, and seeking an RFP. However, this would take the commitment of significant funds and a minimum of five years. Mr. Finkelstein could provide the same results, in phases over time, with a project that could begin immediately. Mr. Finkelstein reviewed the drawings and introduced Henry Iler and Steve Myott, his architect. One of the drawings depicted the shopping center as it currently exists. Mr. Finkelstein’s proposal involves landscaping the rear portion of the center that would face the pond. Discussions are currently ongoing with national tenants. If those tenants can be secured, an outbuilding would be built. The rear portion of the center would be strictly for pedestrians and would be a good area for an interactive water feature. Mr. Finkelstein said the demolition would include the bar and a few additional slots if the south outbuilding is built. As time progressed, there is a possibility of a similar outbuilding on the opposite side of the plaza. While reviewing the drawings, Mayor Taylor and Vice Mayor Jaskiewicz questioned whether or not there was room available at the rear of this plaza to accomplish what was depicted. Mr. Finkelstein responded affirmatively and explained that the drawings were drawn to scale. Mr. Finkelstein advised that there are long-term tenants in the center. Therefore, at the present time, he would have to immediately address the parts of the property where the monthly tenants exist. The incentives would allow him to keep the vacant spaces vacant. In response to Vice Mayor Jaskiewicz, Mr. Finkelstein advised that he would own this property. Commissioner Titcomb asked if the parking depicted on the former site of the Relax Inn was part of the proposal. Mr. Finkelstein responded negatively and advised that in order to get the necessary 60’ width, 15’ would be needed to even up the roadway with Boynton Beach Boulevard west of the intersection. He showed the parking as a concept. 2 MEETING MINUTES COMMUNITY REDEVELOPMENT AGENCY BOYNTON BEACH, FLORIDA FEBRUARY 10, 1999 Mayor Pro Tem Tillman requested staff’s opinion on this proposal. Wilfred Hawkins, Manager of Support Services, reported that staff did some preliminary investigations on this proposal and the general comments would be that as far as working with anything on the Promenade, Mr. Finkelstein’s proposal could work and the design looks like it could fit in with the Promenade project. Mike Rumpf, Acting Director of Planning & Zoning, said there is no strong problem with this design concept. Mayor Taylor liked the conceptual drawings and believes the design would fit in with what is planned for the Promenade. However, he requested an explanation of the City’s incentives not to exceed $722,150. Mr. Finkelstein explained that part of the incentive would be to allow the property owner to demolish the square footage that is currently income producing and keep those spaces non- income producing to permit marketing to a different type of tenant. Mayor Taylor explained that if the City wanted to do this, it could do it without an intermediary. He feels City incentives are to attract private capital. Once this project is completed it is a profit-driven enterprise. While the City might want to consider some incentives, the request appears to be all encompassing as far as fees and permits. In recreating a CRA, the idea is to improve the tax base so that it continually grows. Part of Mr. Finkelstein’s request is to allow the tax value to remain the same for five years. That would be five years of non-growth for the City. Although he feels this is a great project, he is not certain the City’s money should be spent to get this project. Mr. Finkelstein said the funds would be in addition to the capital necessary to purchase the property. The purchase price of the property is $2 million. The funding would allow him to keep the spaces vacant while the center is being recreated. He would be able to go out and market the property. Mr. Finkelstein said he used the Marina Developer’s Agreement as his model for this request for incentives. Vice Mayor Jaskiewicz pointed out that there was nothing in the Marina Developer’s Agreement with regard to structures. In addition, they would only be reimbursed if the project was completed. In reviewing Mr. Finkelstein’s request, Vice Mayor Jaskiewicz agreed that request #1 was consistent with the Marina Developer’s Agreement; however, she was not certain the remainder of the request was consistent. Mr. Finkelstein feels his request is like a large facade grant in order to redevelop the center to mesh with all of the infrastructure around it. Mayor Pro Tem Tillman feels this is a nice project and he would probably approve it if it were a request from a developer who wanted to do the entire project. He pointed out that there appears to be an idea that the marina set a precedent for capital outlay. That was not the intent. Mayor Pro Tem Tillman feels that if Mr. Finkelstein is able to lay out $2 million, he 3 MEETING MINUTES COMMUNITY REDEVELOPMENT AGENCY BOYNTON BEACH, FLORIDA FEBRUARY 10, 1999 should be able to spend $2.7 million. He does not want the City to set a precedent of laying out money for public use. There are a number of other areas that are outlined in the Visions 20/20 document that need enormous amounts of money. He could not support spending this much of the City’s money on this project at this time. Although the City is spending a great deal of money to spark the redevelopment, that does not mean the City has the money for other projects. Mayor Pro Tem Tillman feels other businesses need to move forward on their own if they wish to participate. He pointed out that everyone would like to have a “City cushion” to sit on while they market their businesses. Mr. Finkelstein said he could market the business without the cushion and fill up the shopping center very easily. However, the idea was to be able to change the tenant profile to a Class “A” center that will merge with the Promenade and the Pond. In response to Mayor Taylor, Mr. Hawkins explained that the discussion Mr. Finkelstein has been having with staff relates to the future direction of the CRA. There are different philosophies the CRA could adopt in encouraging business development. One philosophy the CRA can have is giving, granting, or going in partnership with a developer to make the project happen. The amount of money Mr. Finkelstein is requesting is not available at this time. We have approximately $519,761 to date. Mr. Hawkins feels the philosophy is more important. The CRA must decide if this is one of the vehicles that could be available to encourage development. If that is the case, the next step would be a developer’s agreement. In looking at Delray Beach, they go out and acquire properties. They then offer those properties back to the community for development. They have taken the lead in terms of purchasing and controlling property in order to spur development. It took time for Delray to get to this point because they had to build up the valuation of the CRA in order to have the cash flow. In addition, they floated several bonds to have funds available. It is important to decide whether Mr. Finkelstein’s project is something the CRA could support in concept and is it the type of deal we want to encourage development. Mr. Hawkins further advised that the incentives being requested would be paid for out of the General Fund. If a decision was made to give Mr. Finkelstein cash, it would have to come from the CRA Fund. The City has no final say with respect to the assessment of taxes. Mayor Taylor pointed out that the City needed a spark and catalyst in the downtown. That was accomplished with the marina project. Permit fees were waived, but it was not done with the intention of continuing that practice in the future. In addition, the City invested $2 million in a retention pond and $1 million for the Promenade. The City has created some downtown incentives. Mr. Finkelstein’s request is early in the process and would tie in with what is being done in the downtown. Therefore, Mayor Taylor might be open to discussions on some percentage of impact fees. Mayor Taylor is very pleased with the concept presented by Mr. Finkelstein and believes it is a great idea, but he believes a private developer needs to move forward with money from the private sector. Mayor Pro Tem Tillman also feels there would have to be guidelines in place in order to avoid setting precedents in terms of where the City wants to go with the CRA. 4 MEETING MINUTES COMMUNITY REDEVELOPMENT AGENCY BOYNTON BEACH, FLORIDA FEBRUARY 10, 1999 Commissioner Titcomb feels it is appropriate for the CRA to implement things such as abatement of building fees and relief from tax. He was excited about this project because it is an opportunity for private development to fasttrack the CRA mission. If the City were to do the same project on its own, the price of the shopping center would increase and the time line process would double because of the slow way government works. The only thing Commissioner Titcomb is totally uncomfortable about is the City totally funding physical improvements to the project. He does not feel it is unusual to give incentives with respect to building fees and taxes. There is a great advantage in freezing the tax on the property and allowing time for the property to be developed in a different manner. When it returns to the tax rolls, he believes there would be an increase in valuation that would be advantageous to the City. Commissioner Titcomb is also interested in seeing a fasttrack start to the Boynton Beach Promenade. He does not think the CRA would get into a situation of granting like incentives to every property; however, granting incentives to only the first property may not be enough to send a message to the private community and lending community that the City is serious enough to make these things happen. The City is taking “baby steps” in getting the downtown up and running. Commissioner Titcomb would like to look at the issues of allowing incentives to happen and revisit the issue of whether the City should put money into the projects in terms of paying for some of the improvements. A lot of the money listed in the budget is “soft” money that includes projected money and things that may or may not be able to be made up in other ways. Perhaps the City could plant seed money in conjunction with such a project similar to a large facade grant program, but not in the amount of $722,000. Commissioner Titcomb is also not sure he would want to fund the long-term vacancies. The abatement of fees and freezing of taxes might be the incentives necessary to restructure the phased time line of how a project is implemented. The private sector project and public sector project will begin to feed off each and spur development in the surrounding area. The City will then be in a position where each new developer will be in a lesser position of requiring large underwriting partnerships for the development. Commissioner Titcomb favors the approach that has been taken in this proposal but feels the numbers in terms of grant dollars are higher than the City can afford at this time. It is within the CRA’s purview to grant building fee abatements, tax abatements and any other incentives the CRA could provide. This project is one of the pioneers of implementing the Visions 20/20 project downtown. Commissioner Titcomb advocates staff looking at a way the same type of plan could be brought forward minus the level of capital improvements that are indicated. Many of the cash incentives are projected on the loss of tenant income. There are other ways to address these issues. The City can underwrite the project in the area of abating fees and taxes in order to provide the incentive to get the financing that is necessary. If there are discussions going on with national tenants who have a true interest in the project, some of the fees that are listed in the budget will have sources connected to the improvement of those vendor properties. 5 MEETING MINUTES COMMUNITY REDEVELOPMENT AGENCY BOYNTON BEACH, FLORIDA FEBRUARY 10, 1999 Mayor Taylor disagreed with Commissioner Titcomb’s remark that the incentives provided to the marina project were not enough to spark interest in the downtown. Those incentives alone sparked Mr. Finkelstein to purchase the Barnett Bank property and encouraged him to want to purchase the Plaza property. Investors have purchased Block the south side of the 500 with plans for redevelopment and the entire block across the railroad tracks has been purchased. Therefore, the word has gotten out. While this is a great project that should begin immediately, Mayor Taylor would like someone from the private sector to step up and do it. He believes there is enough interest so that if Mr. Finkelstein does not decide to move forward, others will step in and take over. Mayor Taylor does not believe the City needs to stretch itself to its limits because private capital will come in and do it for us. Vice Mayor Jaskiewicz feels it is unfortunate that because of the minimum value of the properties in the area we have accrued only $519,000 in the CRA Fund. The impetus is the marina project because it will be approximately $45 million of taxable value. Vice Mayor Jaskiewicz would be willing to concede that the building fees and impact fees should be considered to implement a project such as the one presented by Mr. Finkelstein. Attorney Cherof advised that with regard to the issue of tax abatement, the County would have to participate in the decision because they collect the ad valorem taxes. Vice Mayor Jaskiewicz explained that it would not be possible to deplete every dollar that is available for the CRA on one project. She commended Mr. Finkelstein on his project and suggested that he investigate other grants from the County or State. Mayor Taylor concurred that there are competitive grants available through the County that are very lucrative. With respect to the tax abatement program, Commissioner Titcomb said this is a vehicle that has been used very successfully in other areas and the County is a player. Instead of a property by property program, as an overlay zoning, if we consider the CBD as an area right for a tax abatement program, one of the things that could be accomplished is the sparking of development by freezing tax assessments within a given geographical area for a period of time. If the property owners improve the assessed value, when they emerge from the program, the loss of revenue will be more than paid back for that period of time. The fees do not get abated for the owners who do not choose to participate. Mayor Pro Tem Tillman feels this is a good idea but pointed out that the CBD is generally a well-defined area. There could be a sub-area within the CDB that would be a Downtown Development Authority. However, those particular properties must be defined along with a determination of what they will be able to yield and how much of that would go to the DDA. Mayor Pro Tem Tillman feels the CRA is moving in the right direction and with growth, the authorities will appear and be able to do things in the downtown because they will have the ability to gain access to funds. Mayor Taylor summed up the consensus of the Community Redevelopment Agency to be that they are looking at considering some sort of waiver of permit and impact fees that would be acceptable. However, the CRA is not in favor of funding the outlined budget items for this project. Mayor Taylor recommended that Mr. Finkelstein review his request again. 6 MEETING MINUTES COMMUNITY REDEVELOPMENT AGENCY BOYNTON BEACH, FLORIDA FEBRUARY 10, 1999 Mr. Finkelstein said he does not want to deplete the CRA Fund. He plans to move forward with the project although it might not be as quickly as he would have liked. The real assistance that was needed was a small cushion to allow more rapid forward movement. Vice Mayor Jaskiewicz pointed out that each of the individual stores in the Plaza could apply for a facade grant. That would provide a means of accumulating some money. She further recommended that Mr. Finkelstein investigate the “Eastward Ho” funding. Mayor Taylor offered to put Mr. Finkelstein in touch with someone in the County with respect to the funding. Commissioner Titcomb pointed out that this project supposes that the City would begin construction on the Promenade. He questioned when the Promenade project would be ready for groundbreaking. Mr. Hawkins advised that no date has been set at this time. Ocean Avenue will begin before the Promenade. However, there is a possibility that we would catch up to that once we bring the necessary expertise on staff to begin the design of the Promenade. A general conceptual design exists, but no engineering was applied to that design. Mr. Hawkins believes we could start that by the end of the year. It will take more work than the Ocean Avenue project. Mayor Taylor has a deep concern about the number of employees in the Planning Division. This is a critical issue for the City at this point. He urged management to take a strong look at staffing in this Division. He believes the City could keep one person busy doing nothing but in- house projects. Mr. Hawkins agreed that if we continue the growth and development, we would have to increase our manning levels in Planning. This is an item that will be thoroughly reviewed during the upcoming budget process. Attorney Cherof reported that one of the announcements that brought Mr. Finkelstein to this meeting was that the City was interested in entertaining concepts on private/public partnerships. He recommended that the CRA comment on whether or not that invitation is still on the table. Mayor Pro Tem Tillman feels the CRA needs specific guidelines detailing what it wants to review. Those guidelines should include incentives. He does not want people coming in with their hopes high only to be denied by the CRA. Mayor Pro Tem Tillman said this is exactly the point he was trying to drive home at the last meeting. The CRA and its direction must be defined. Mayor Taylor felt this was the most appropriate place for downtown projects to be brought. It was Attorney Cherof’s understanding that the CRA intended to turn to the development community to bring forward the model for redevelopment of some of these parcels including 7 MEETING MINUTES COMMUNITY REDEVELOPMENT AGENCY BOYNTON BEACH, FLORIDA FEBRUARY 10, 1999 the funding. Staff needs to know whether or not they need to take this information and draw a map or leave it to the development community to draw the map and set the destination. When Mr. Finkelstein approached the City, he wanted to know about the process. He was told to invent the process. Attorney Cherof requested input regarding staff’s direction in the process. Vice Mayor Jaskiewicz would not like to see a general rule for every project that goes before the CRA since they need to be judged on an individual basis. Mayor Pro Tem Tillman feels there is a need for a basic concept. The applicant needs to know what to do to move forward. Mr. Hawkins said a broad-based concept was developed. In this proposal, there was a specific request for dollars. The financing is limited now and it is necessary to look at a plan to infuse more money into the CRA. Some of the things we can do are: 1. Investigate waiving permit and impact fees; and 2. Look at what programs can be put in place. Mr. Finkelstein was trying to fasttrack this project. Staff has not had the time to put together programs that the CRA can offer. However, staff will work on ideas for programs that could meet some of the development community’s needs. Mayor Taylor pointed out to everyone that this was the first presentation under the procedure. This was a test. The CRA briefly defined where it can go at this point and where it does not want to go. A major point of agreement was the design of the project that was presented. Commissioner Titcomb believes the CRA needs to set policy regarding appropriating funds. The combination of policies set by the CRA in conjunction with a road map or set of procedures set up by staff will go a long way to resolving the presentations. He would like the City to keep an open door to creativity that might be forthcoming when a private developer submits an idea. III. PUBLIC HEARING None IV. UNFINISHED BUSINESS: A. Parking Authority Report From City Attorney Attorney Cherof explored the possibility of having the CRA operate as a parking authority in the CRA area. There is no suitable model available for doing that since there is no CRA exercising powers in this capacity. The principal objective of doing this was to make sure there was no speculation or acquisition of land in the CRA that would convert those lands to commercial parking lots because there were numerous uses that were more beneficial to the redevelopment of the CRA boundary area. The concept for dealing with that directly is to propose to the City Commission a revision of the CBD requirements to prohibit, as a use, 8 MEETING MINUTES COMMUNITY REDEVELOPMENT AGENCY BOYNTON BEACH, FLORIDA FEBRUARY 10, 1999 commercial parking facilities. A draft Ordinance was attached to the back-up material for this meeting. If the CRA supports the Ordinance, it would appear on the next City Commission agenda. Mayor Taylor questioned how this would affect the current developments that want to construct a parking garage. Attorney Cherof advised that this Ordinance would not affect such developments. There are parking space requirements for all business establishments. This Ordinance addresses prohibiting stand-alone commercial parking lots. This Ordinance is not intended to defeat the requirement for business associated accessory parking. Attorney Cherof also confirmed for Commissioner Titcomb that this Ordinance would not affect parking formulas in any way. Also, the City would be able to provide public parking either in surface lots or structures. Consensus There was a consensus of the CRA to move forward with the Ordinance. B. Parking Study and Recommendation for Consultant - Mike Rumpf, Acting Planning & Zoning Director Mr. Rumpf reported that staff recommends McMahon & Associates to perform the study since their proposal listed a greater number of projects with shared parking analysis. Most of the projects were in the Northeast. An important factor to staff is the location of their office here in Boynton Beach. They can quickly respond to our needs. Motion Vice Mayor Jaskiewicz moved to accept the recommendation of Mr. Rumpf and hire McMahon & Associates for our parking study. Mayor Pro Tem Tillman seconded the motion that carried 4-0. C. Procedure & Brochure re: Presentation of Projects for Review by CRA - Mike Rumpf, Acting Planning & Zoning Director and Wilfred Hawkins, Support Services Manager During the last meeting, there was discussion about the procedure people would go through prior to coming to the CRA. A brochure was prepared and provides an outline of the process. City Manager Willis advised that these brochures would be passed out throughout the City. Mr. Hawkins said staff attempted to maintain flexibility so that people will bring forth their ideas. Staff wants people to have the opportunity to appear before the CRA with their ideas. The guidelines let them know what the CRA is expecting. The criteria can be applied to help meet general objectives. 9 MEETING MINUTES COMMUNITY REDEVELOPMENT AGENCY BOYNTON BEACH, FLORIDA FEBRUARY 10, 1999 D. Report on Expanded CRA Approval from Palm Beach County - Mike Rumpf, Acting Planning and Zoning Director and Wilfred Hawkins, Support Services Manager No report. E. Report on Fasttrack Procedure for CRA Development Proposals - Mike Rumpf, Acting Planning & Zoning Director and Wilfred Hawkins, Support Services Manager Fasttracking will be an open process without too much detail. The City has the ability to fasttrack and would be happy to expedite approvals if everything is in place. V. NEW BUSINESS: A. Establish March date for CRA meeting (date other than March 10, 1999) After brief discussion, a decision was made that the City Commission should sit as the CRA for one additional time. Therefore, the meeting was set for Monday, March 8, 1999 at 6:30 p.m. VI. PUBLIC AUDIENCE Kathy Shabotynskyj has been working with City staff on the Progress Trail in the redevelopment area. They plan to do signage at each of the Progress Trail locations and request common identifiable signage for all redevelopment projects. In reviewing the Visions 20/20 plan, they came up with the idea of using the Compass Rose as the identifiable signage. The verbiage would say “Boynton in Progress” with the project name listed. There was agreement to use the Compass Rose including the City’s logo with the verbiage to be “New Directions in Boynton Beach”. Ms. Shabotynskyj also advised that the committee is looking at putting together a map and putting the progress trail together. They are in the development stage of how the stations will look. The committee is hoping to get the private developers to buy into the plan by including the designs in their projects. They are also hopeful that each of the stations can be sponsored. VII. OTHER Mayor Taylor requested an opportunity to make some comments on an article he read in the newspaper and a discussion that arose at a Chamber gathering about establishing a separate CRA. Mayor Taylor said he has been a big supporter of Chamber Director Kathy Shabotynskyj as well as the Chamber of Commerce when it applied for accreditation. He feels the Chamber is essential for any City. Mayor Taylor also has high regard for Ken Kaleel who is Chairman of the 10 MEETING MINUTES COMMUNITY REDEVELOPMENT AGENCY BOYNTON BEACH, FLORIDA FEBRUARY 10, 1999 Chamber of Commerce and Mayor of Ocean Ridge. The Chamber has strong feelings about having a CRA that is separate from the City Commission. However, the City Commission chose not to do that but arrived at a plan on how the CRA would slowly bring in other people to work with the development of the City. This City is moving rapidly with CRA projects and even if there was a separate CRA, we could not move more quickly. Mayor Taylor requested that the Chamber support this plan and not encourage changing immediately to a separate CRA. This would show cooperation between the City and the Chamber. Mayor Taylor is bothered by the fact that Mr. Kaleel is mayor of a town that allows no commercial development whatsoever, but he is the chairman of our Chamber of Commerce which is the third largest growing city in the County. The CRA must spend its money in a very responsible manner and the people of the community should have a very large role in how the community is developed. Elected officials are held responsible. Some of the people who would be prime candidates for the CRA do not live in this City, but they would be making policy on where the CRA would be going. Over the next few years, we will make a transition. For the time being, the City is on the right track. We are listening and including the Chamber in the process. However, we need the support of the Chamber to keep this going the way it is today. Vice Mayor Jaskiewicz is disappointed because the City Commission’s lack of support for a separate CRA dictated a lot of the views the Chamber is presenting. She takes it as an affront to this Commission. She does not believe any paid CRA could have done as much as has been done so far. The City Commission took on the extra duties and is doing something that has not been done in the past. Mayor Taylor clarified that he was not being confrontational. He made his remarks in the spirit of cooperation. VIII. ADJOURNMENT There being no further business to come before the CRA, the meeting properly adjourned at 8:20 p.m. Janet M. Prainito Deputy City Clerk (Two Tapes) jmp s:\cc\wp\minutes\commredev\021099.doc 11