Loading...
Minutes 05-22-10 MINUTES OF THE COMMISSION RETREAT HELD AT THE INTRACOASTAL CLUBHOUSE, 2240 N. FEDERAL HIGHWAY, BOYNTON BEACH, FLORIDA, AT 8:30 A.M., ON SATURDAY, MAY 22,2010 Participants : Jose Rodriguez, Mayor Marlene Ross, Vice Mayor William Orlove, Commissioner Woodrow L. Hay, Commissioner Steven Holzman, Commissioner Kurt Bressner, City Manager James Cherof, City Attorney Lori LaVerriere, Assistant City Manager A Team Building Commission Retreat The Commission gathered at 8:30 am and enjoyed a continental breakfast before beginning the session. Jeannine Rizzo, Consultant with ThelnsideEdge, was the facilitator for the Team Building Retreat. She began with a review of why each of the participants had assumed their roles within the City of Boynton Beach. The central themes were to improve communication with the citizens, address challenges and find solutions, concerns relating to lack of trust and the need for City leaders to work as a team with everyone. Clearer roles and responsibilities and respect for the positions were also indicated as a theme. The completed questionnaires had revealed the prioritized program initiatives of each of the participants. Ms. Rizzo had ranked the responses as follows, noting some of the initiatives were interrelated: 1 . Downtown 2. Old High School 3. Economic Development 4. Green Sustainability 5. Expanded Amphitheater/Relocate Police Department One of the first questions to be answered was if it was the end result that was important or that it was done "my way". Listening more was imperative because the paths may be different, but the result the same. Personal agendas needed to be set aside now that the elections were over. Perceptions and assumptions may have to be changed to be more accurate of true feelings. Meeting Minutes Commission Retreat Boynton Beach, FL May 22, 2010 Ms. Rizzo pointed out there were four components of face-to-face communication; facial expressions, tone of voice, body language and words. Body language conveyed 55% of the communication, tone of voice 25%, facial expressions 13% and words only 7%. Emails or written documents lost 68% of the message being sent. Punctuation was critical in word documents to convey emotion and feelings. Follow up was essential for credibility and partnering with other social media outlets may be needed. An organization's vitality is fed by employee passion and customer devotion. Leadership has two parts, strategic and operational. Strategic leadership involves vision, culture and strategic imperatives. Operational leadership included making policies and procedures, and address fairness and justice. Employees must be happy to gain customer devotion. Leadership should reflect the vision and strategies and not simply react to issues. Policies should be set based on the impact on the whole. Leaders should encourage "buy-in" of the policies and educate those involved with the reasoning behind the decisions. It is imperative that policies have to support vision and the vision should not be about changes in a plan. Any change needs to be transitioned into policies. Resistance to change should not be fought. It could be best to let go of the change and move on. Leadership has to change to achieve success, if there is opposition. It must move beyond the issue and relationships. Possibilities need to be sought and skepticism should be viewed as an opportunity to educate and inform. It is important to listen rather than anticipating and assuming to respond. Listen empathetically to what is really being said. Do not talk over someone else's words. There are five levels of listening. The lowest level would be to ignore, then pretend to listen, selectively listen, listen attentively and the highest level being empathetic listening. Individual DISC assessments had been done and the tabulations were reviewed. The assessment is based on observable behavior and maps different characteristics. It is important to know how to speak others' language for communication to be effective. All styles of behavior are necessary and assist in understanding others' behavior. The assessment measures behavioral attitudes of dominancy, influence, reaction to constraints and consistency levels. Dominancy measures the approach to problems and challenges. Influence measures the approach to contact with others. Constraints are a measure of one's ability to work with procedures. Consistency is whether the approach is fast or slow. The assessment gave values to natural and adaptive responses. Charts of the natural and adaptive responses of the participants are attached to the minutes. It was explained adaptive responses were draining. If natural and adaptive responses are consistent, you should be energized at the end of the day. The assessment divided 2 Meeting Minutes Commission Retreat Boynton Beach, FL May 22, 2010 behavioral traits into four quadrants. Those whose assessment fell in the D quadrant were generally controllers, driven, task oriented and usually visionaries. The I quadrant contained behaviors that were social and included team players. They were upbeat and optimistic. Those who resist change, avoid conflict, were passive doers and executors fell within the S quadrant. They were very careful and focused. The C quadrant included traits of accuracy, detail oriented, judgmental and critical. They strive to follow the rules. Ms. Rizzo gave guidance on how to interact with each of the quadrants of the assessment. She stressed it was important to understand each other to make a good team. Ways to adapt styles were reviewed. Respecting the strengths of each other would make a good team. (There was a 45 minute break for lunch) Ms. Rizzo focused on how to approach issues and solve problems by working together as a team to achieve success. To be effective, the team had to first resolve to do something and recognize that too much information could stall action. The realization had to be to do what you can do working within the parameters given in any situation. Collective efforts could solve problems. Project management entailed four steps. 1. Define - Establish the scope, define objectives, limit risks, document assumptions, choose a course of action, evaluate alternatives, plan communications, establish a change management plan. 2. Plan - Create a schedule, assign resources, create a budget 3. Manage - Control work in progress, provide feedback, negotiate resources and resolve differences. 4. Review - Turn over deliverables, hold project review, release resources, document successes and failures, celebrate accomplishments. The participants were broken into two groups. One group addressed the initiative of development of the downtown area. The other group worked on preservation of the Old High School. The outcomes of the discussion groups were reviewed. Preservation of the Old High School Initiative Scope: Objective: Preserve for public/community use Identify possible uses. Historic designation may be restrictive Funding, public support, economic viability The risks identified were assumed. Risks: Assumptions: 3 Meeting Minutes Commission Retreat Boynton Beach, FL May 22, 2010 Evaluation of Alternatives: Fiscal analysis, do nothing, demolish Course of Action: Identify uses compatible with Downtown Master Plan, identify financial vehicles, identify public support Management Plan: Market options, public involvement to sell vision and educate community on benefits Plan Communications: Use of social media, develop volunteer base, buy-a-brick plan Plan: Create schedule to design and identify scope by 12/1/10 Assign resources - grants Create budget - obtain cost of design/build operation. Discussion followed that the scope did not include a private/public option. The goal should be to preserve the Old High School and not limit the possibilities. The Historic Preservation Board should carefully focus their role in making recommendations. If the preservation were taken to a referendum vote it would be a different timeline. The possible wording of a referendum was discussed and whether it should include a definitive dollar amount. Various social media could be used to educate and inform the citizens on the project. It was noted the Downtown Master Plan included the Old High School, and the Town Square Plan in 2005 had an option that some elements could be used. Attorney Cherof cautioned all decisions were "in concept only" until implemented. The element to move forward would be the allocation of funds and contract negotiations. He advised a review of the Downtown Master Plan would be in order. Mayor Rodriguez indicated he was working with an individual to restore the Old High School in a private/public relationship. He had agreed not to disclose the developer's name until there was real potential. Commissioner Orlove suggested a workshop to share information and garner consensus. Mayor Rodriguez related only basic information had been exchanged with nothing tangible to bring to the table. He was committed to the City of Boynton Beach to put together a private/public relationship. It would include small retail businesses, a small rest area with something to eat available and some space for cultural events and office type space. Commissioner Orlove volunteered to create a marketing plan when there was public support. Both the City Manager and CRA Executive Director had been engaged in the conversations and City staff had been allocated to gather further information. Downtown Development Plan Initiative Scope: Define area as Ocean Avenue to Boynton Beach Boulevard from 4th Street to Seacrest. East of Federal Highway was eliminated as part of the Federal Highway Corridor Plan. Heart of Boynton and Marina were separate 4 Meeting Minutes Commission Retreat Boynton Beach, FL May 22, 2010 Course of Action: Attract new businesses, be pedestrian friendly and make it a destination hub. People in the downtown area would sustain all businesses. CRAlCity had non-consistent goals Financing - TIF allotments. Future location of City Hall and Police Department downtown would show stability of the area. Employee needs would fuel other businesses No downtown, residential housing, small businesses, affordable housing, dissolve CRA and run through City Reaffirm Downtown Master Plan Decide future Police Department and City Hall Change Management Plan Economic Development: Risks: Assumptions: Alternatives: Discussion on the initiative revealed keeping the Police Department downtown could be a deal killer. Mayor Rodriguez contended it would lengthen the redevelopment scheme. The property on Gateway Boulevard was prime commercial real estate converted to public use. Commissioner Hay offered that any plan would need to include refurbishment of old businesses as well as bringing in new business. Commissioner Orlove disagreed with removing the Marina from the plan. It was a destination. Commissioner Holzman wanted to direct the focus to downtown with the Marina being a complement to the plans. Attorney Cherof noted the Marina was its own business and area and would be under different management. Commissioner Orlove envisioned Ocean Avenue as a cobblestone street and pedestrian friendly. Mr. Bressner suggested the best course would be to identify a manageable area and get some quick wins. A decision on the Police Department needed to be made to move forward. Facility improvements to City Hall and the Police Department would be quick wins. Commissioner Hay noted Boynton Beach had the second largest CRA district. If the downtown area was developed without the other CRA areas being done parallel would create dissention with the surrounding residents. Commissioner Holzman disagreed and stressed the timing of the quick wins would show success, so focusing on one area would be more beneficial. Mayor Rodriguez stressed a focused effort was needed or the City could end up with nothing. The projects in the Heart of Boynton were out for RFP and would be coming out of the ground soon. Vice Mayor Ross recalled the Heart of Boynton community liked the definition of downtown. Commissioner Hay emphasized that buildings had been torn down in the Heart of Boynton yet nothing had been done to replace the housing. He reiterated if the Commission wanted a buy-in from the residents a move to make visible change and land banking was important. The Heart of Boynton needed a quick fix too. 5 Meeting Minutes Commission Retreat Boynton Beach, FL May 22, 2010 Commissioner Holzman offered the streetscape on Seacrest would be a quick win. Commissioner Orlove pointed out geographically the downtown area did not include the Heart of Boynton. Ms. Rizzo stressed it was important to listen to each other and drive the process. It was important to have open dialogue, but hold on to the vision. Prioritizing was paramount to achieving goals and working as a team. She thanked the City for allowing her to take part in the team building experience and concluded her presentation. Attorney Cherof discussed Robert's Rules of Order. The Commission had adopted Robert's Rules of Order to provide structure. The Chair is the focal point of the Commission and the audience. Only the chair could recognize audience participation, other could not. It was proper to address the Chair and only the Chair could determine whether public comment would be appropriate. The Commission can move to override the Chair's ruling so somebody could speak. Attorney Cherof recommended allowing the Chair to run the meeting. The Chair should be the only one to address individuals in the audience. A pamphlet on parliamentary procedures was distributed and a copy is attached to the minutes. Only an individual who voted in the affirmative or an individual not present can request reconsideration of a ruling. The custom in Boynton Beach has been that a Commissioner not present for a vote can request reconsideration of the issue. Any matter defeated can be brought up in the future There has been liberal interpretation to allow some time to elapse before the request for reconsideration. Anyone voting on the prevailing side of a motion can bring it back for consideration at the next meeting. If not part of the prevailing vote, it was customary to wait to respect the decision made. A matter could be brought back if the facts change and/or the board agrees to reconsider. He stressed that a motion to reconsider can be ruled out of order by the Chair. A motion for reconsideration that does not appear on the agenda needs a supermajority vote to proceed. Attorney Cherof stressed the role of the City Attorney is not to be a sixth Commissioner. The Commissions role is to understand Robert's Rules of Order. He cautioned that reconsiderations give the appearance that outsiders have great influence. Commissioner Hay commented he had received complaints about that the placement of the podium for public audience obstructed the view behind the speakers and some citizens could not physically stand in line for long periods. Mr. Bressner suggested reinstituting the use of cards to identify those present who wanted to be heard on any issue. There was consensus to review the past practice. Attorney Cherof emphasized that pubic meetings were business meetings and not town hall type meetings. Robert's Rules of Order should be used as a tool and not a sword. 6 Meeting Minutes Commission Retreat Boynton Beach, FL May 22,2010 The Sunshine Law was addressed. There are three elements of operating in the Sunshine. First, notice is required, second, meetings have to be open to the public and third, minutes of the meetings must be taken. The notice requirement is 24 to 48 hours in advance of the meeting. No two members of the Commission can meet, directly or indirectly on matters to come before the City Commission. Phone calls, emails or text messages can be violations. It would be best to assume any conversation is subject to the Sunshine Law and monitor your activity. If it is important to discuss it should appear on an agenda. The purpose of the Sunshine Law is clear; every member of the public should be able to observe how you arrive at a decision and implement that decision. A third party cannot be used as a conduit. The Commission is permitted to socialize, but cannot discuss City business. Any gathering where two or more members of the Commission are present can be risky. It is a matter of perception, but a pattern can be established. A common sense approach has to be taken. There is an element of persuasion that could be perceived. The civil and criminal penalties of violations were discussed. The use of emails for one- way communication is acceptable. Any replies would be dangerous. Under no circumstances should the Reply to All function be used. Other than your own personal notes on a subject, everything else is considered public records and should be coordinated through the Clerk's office. There does not need to be any justification, specific format or identity of the requester for public records. The City of Boynton Beach has a policy that the Public Record requests be given priority and be fulfilled in a timely manner. Exemptions from Public Records are phone numbers and Social Security numbers of law enforcement, code enforcement and Human Resources personnel. Ethics was another area covered by Attorney Cherof. He pointed out the City of Boynton Beach did not have its own Code of Ethics, but a decision had been made to follow the state guidelines. Voting conflicts would arise if there would be personal gain, or a gain for business associates or family members. Commissioner Orlove requested that Attorney Cherof and Mr. Bressner reviewed the recording or filing of information relating to a Commissioner's expense accounts. Mayor Rodriguez thanked everyone for attending and felt is was important to promote open communication. The retreat concluded at 4:16 pm. (Continued on the next page) 7 Meeting Minutes Commission Retreat Boynton Beach, FL May 22,2010 ATTEST: CITY OF BOYNTON BEACH illiam love, Commissioner \7 /</,:~___,./>~::> ~/ J / /' {"C: <:'",(' c- 4:,)';/ ,..~:~~ Woodro y, Commissioner 8 City of Boynton Beach City Commission Retreat May 22, 2010 Influence/sense of community represent younger faces Younger Pov To give back Increase involvement- to make an impact To get things done Education Youth Families 30s/40s Be a participant of local & social activities Be involved with activities in community to move forward based on commission desires II THE SUCCESS INSIGHTSQI)WHEEL NIITUf(A l - - IMPLEMENTOR ~ E-< ~ ~ o o u c D 00 ~ Uo />0 ~ s ~~ o o~ I ~~ RELATER Copyright@ 1992,1998. Target Training Intemational,Ltd. II "d ~ CI.l c: )- o ~ II THE SUCCESS INSIGHTS~WHEEL A))Am j) '_ ....L IMPLEMENTOR ~ E-- i ~ o o u c D 00 ~ v0 />0 1'P <P~ ~O S ~~~ I RELATER Copyright@ 1992,1998. Target Training Intemational, Ltd. II "tl ~ v:l c:: > o t'l'1 ::0 City of Boynton Beach City Commission Retreat May 22,2010 Trends/Themes Communication - building consensus Challenges/solutions Lack of trust Work as a team Understanding roles Agreement/alignment of initiatives City of Boynton Beach City Commission Retreat May 22,2010 Plan: 1. Create Schedule: Design/build; timeline (scope; use; next steps) by December 1, 2010. 2. Assign Resources: Public/private grants; fund appropriation 3. Create Budge: Obtain cost estimate; operation and maintenance cost estimate (design & build costs) project phasing needed? Manaae: City of Boynton Beach City Commission Retreat May 22, 2010 Appropriation of Funds High School Preservation - to be determined Scope agreement/uses - December 1, 2010 Grants/funding sources City funding decisions Historic property Identify possible uses January 2009 - commission adopted downtown development plan approved 2010 - Commission focus has to saving the building (no formal policy decision) Commission decision - referendum? City of Boynton Beach City Commission Retreat May 22, 2010 Old High School 1. Scope = Preserve for private/public/community use 2. Objectives = Identify possible uses with preservation strategies national historic registry? 3. Risks (constraints) = Funding priorities; current building condition public support (lack of); economic viability 4. Document (assumptions) = building can be structurally preserved. Public support exists; financing exists; viable users or owners 5. Evaluate Alternate = Fiscal analysis; do nothing; demolish; input from preservation board 6. Course of Action = Commission decision to preserve; indentify compatible use(s) with Downtown Master Plan; identify financing vehicle (s); garner public support 7. Management Plan = Marketing options; public involvement sell vision & community benefits 8. Plan Communications = Social Media; develop volunteer base "Buy a Brick" Program City of Boynton Beach City Commission Retreat May 22, 2010 Downtown Development (Marina district is separate from HOB - Heart of Boynton) * Defined area: Ocean Avenue - 4th Street - Boynton Beach Boulevard - Seacrest Boulevard - Federal Highway* Economic Development .:. Existing businesses - retention, expansion, etc. .:. Attract new business .:. Pedestrian friendly (business owners/operators) .:. Destination social hub Risks .:. BB CRA issues/inconsistent goals .:. Financing Assumptions .:. Will City Hall & PD facility stay? .:. T.I.F. $$ available? Alternatives .:. No downtown .:. Residential redevelopment affordable housing, small business development .:. No CRA Course of Action .:. Reaffirm Downtown Master Plan .:. Decide on where to place both City Hall & PD (3-4 Commission Meetings) Change Management Plan .:. As is - to be? .:. Present to the publiC/business community Communication Plan .:. PSAs; City's website BBTV, charrette City of Boynton Beach City Commission Retreat May 22, 2010 Next Steps - Downtown .:. Identify areas to demonstrate quick wins L City Hall/PD .:. Consider HOB - Heart of Boynton Beach L Quick fixes? City of Boynton Beach City Commission Retreat May 22, 2010 Mayor Jose Rodriguez - private/public partnership business/cultural Comm. Bill Orlove - Communications/marketing plan to promote Kurt Bressner, City Manager - Utilize staff to do fact finding