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Minutes 04-14-14 MINUTES OF THE FINANCIAL ADVISORY COMMITTEE MEETING HELD ON MONDAY, APRIL 14, 2014 AT 6:00 P.M., IN THE CITY LIBRARY CONFERENCE ROOM A, 208 S. SEACREST BLVD., BOYNTON BEACH, FLORIDA PRESENT: Jeffrey Grady, Vice Chair Tim Howard, Finance Director Fakhry "Ed" Boulos Dolores Schlesselman Christine Stella ABSENT: Steven Grant, Chair 1. Call to Order Vice Chair Grady called the meeting to order at 6:00 p.m. Roll call followed. A quorum was present. 2. Approval of February 24 and March 10 2014 Minutes Motion Ms. Schlesselman moved to approve the February 24 and March 10 minutes. Ms. Stella seconded the motion that passed unanimously. 3. Other Business A. Vacant Lot List Review Ms Stella was tasked to speak with Lake Worth and Delray Beach representatives about similar studies they have done in regards to vacant lots. Lake Worth did not have any information, but liked the idea of utilizing their vacant lots. Delray Beach now has a "green officer" who has a science background and wants to involve the community to look for ways to go greener. Vice Chair Grady inquired if Boynton Beach has a forester. Mr. Howard responded Ms. Glenda Hall is the forester but, is mainly focused on plant life on City properties. 1 MEETING MINUTES FINANCIAL ADVISORY COMMITTEE BOYNTON BEACH, FL. APRIL 14, 2014 Ms. Stella commented she met with Mr. John Morgan, the green officer for Delray Beach, and mentioned wanting to contact his counterpart in Boynton Beach Mr. Howard stated he should contact the City Manager's Office. Mr. Morgan indicated there are similar vacant lots in Delray Beach that were turned into residential and /or community gardens His plan is to incorporate art work in public spaces as well as potential energy sources. Their discussion led to talking about utilizing the Lake Ida /LakeEden area and a possible partnership with Delray Beach to make it a true lakeside community within an oceanside community. It would incorporate spaces with art and educate people on alternate energy sources. Vice Chair Grady remarked it sounded like a good connection and perhaps Delray Beach would be willing to share some information on their experiences with vacant lots. Mr. Morgan is currently putting together a one, five and ten year work plan. Ms. Stella will keep in contact with Mr. Morgan. Mr. Howard commented the City's Development Department has some involvement in the building aspect of projects and deals with developers to do some of the enhancements. Ms. LeJeune deals with the City side of city owned properties Vice Chair Grady will leave the discussion of vacant lots as an open item on the agenda for further discussion once Chair Grant returns. Mr. Boulos thought it was a good suggestion to turn vacant lots into residential parks and wondered if there was a map to see how the lots connect. Lots near canals and parks would be another option. Vice Chair Grady commented the Delray Beach program will probably have qualification criteria for their vacant lots. Boynton Beach has many small vacant lots which can be better utilized. B. City Services Survey Vice Chair Grady commented he made notes to add to the March 10 minutes. A few questions on the survey were removed and some were added. He thought people respond better when they can fill in the information rather than choose a category. Some of the questions have the same categories as the 2013 survey. The last question of the survey asks for comments which is a good place to get information and ideas. The text box will be limited to 300 characters which is about two to three sentences. If someone has a good idea and leaves their contact information the City Manager could contact the person for more information Vice Chair Grady inquired who would edit the survey through Survey Monkey. Mr. Howard responded the I.T.S. Department can set up the survey with the questions and make revisions as needed. Vice Chair Grady will give the questions to Mr Howard to forward to the I.T S. Department. Once Mr. Howard receives a preliminary survey back 2 MEETING MINUTES FINANCIAL ADVISORY COMMITTEE BOYNTON BEACH, FL. APRIL 14, 2014 from I.T.S., he will forward it to the members for their review. The new survey will be an updated version of the 2013 survey instead of creating a new one. Mr. Boulos had reservations about the survey. He stated a survey should show how the results will be used and questioned how the results of last year's survey were used. Mr. Boulos commented the survey Mr. Scott Kline from Development did last year, which was geared towards business people, did not apply to a medium size business. Mr. Kline held a breakfast to discuss last year's results. Some comments made about the City were; lack of vision, lack of action and how the City's focus turned from the downtown area of Boynton Beach to the Renaissance area A restaurant owner who attended the breakfast stated the City has been talking about developing the downtown area since 1966 and nothing has happened since then. Commissioner Fitzpatrick was also at the breakfast and spoke about the environmental issue of water levels rising and the green footprint. He also mentioned 20 years ago, Delray Beach and Boynton Beach were basically on the same level of service. However; in the past 20 years, Delray Beach has surpassed Boynton Beach and the Commissioner wants to find out what the differences are. Mr. Boulos stated the survey, as it is, would not help Commissioner Fitzpatrick discover what those differences are. Vice Chair Grady commented the survey the Board has been tasked to do by the City Manager's Office is to assist with the City services. The business questions have been taken out and it focuses more on what residents think in terms of what services the City offers and how they can be improved. Mr. Boulos stated he would like to see more direct questions that ask people what they feel is important to them and what they would like to see in the downtown area to truly get an idea of how to redevelop it. Vice Chair Grady thought this was a good idea and perhaps next year the questions could be geared more towards residents and City development. Ms. Schlesselman understood Mr. Boulos and thought the findings of Mr. Kline's survey could be incorporated into the City services survey. She felt 10 questions were enough and did not want to narrow it down anymore for fear of excluding good ideas people might otherwise have. Hopefully, comments made at the end of the survey would bring attention to specific issues. Ms. Stella questioned if the City Manager would combine the results from the business survey and the service survey to come up with a strategy plan. Mr. Howard replied this was the first year the Economic Development Survey was done which was a result of an initiative of the City Manager to concentrate more on economic development. The target audience and the purpose of the survey was business oriented. The Economic Development Survey results would possibly be used for developers to understand the process about lot and /or zoning issues. The results of the 3 MEETING MINUTES FINANCIAL ADVISORY COMMITTEE BOYNTON BEACH, FL. APRIL 14, 2014 service survey will go to the City Manager and the City Commission to be used in conjunction with the budget process. They will review the results and determine if there are any new issues or if they are ongoing issues the City has been struggling with. The results of the survey can be used to either support items the Commission wants to see on the general operating budget versus a long strategic plan for redeveloping certain areas. Delray Beach has spent a number of years working on their downtown area and has stayed on track from their original conceptual plan Vice Chair Grady thought it was a good idea to add the phrase "or development" to question number 10 so it reads; "What specific suggestions do you have for improvements or changes to City services or development? He also commented the I.T.S. Department can do a key word search for specific information but, with an open ended like question number 10 it may be difficult. Mr. Howard stated in the past, I.T.S. was able to run a one page report just with the results of the open ended questions to see if there were any similarities or if the responses were completely different. Vice Chair Grady questioned if personal information or inappropriate comments will be redacted because the results will eventually become public information. Mr. Howard replied the standard response is; anything a person submits to the City is considered public record When the City sends out information, personal information such as social security numbers and addresses are redacted based of specific jobs and titles of City employees Motion Ms. Schlesselman moved to submit the survey to Mr. Howard for processing by the 17 S. Department. Ms. Stella seconded the motion that passed 3 -1 with Mr. Boulos dissenting. Ms. Schlesselman inquired whether or not the economic development results will be available for review. Mr. Howard will send the results to the members. Ms. Schlesselman inquired if there had recently been a preliminary budget meeting. Mr. Howard responded the City started the budget process by sending out the necessary forms and a tentative calendar to departments. The department requests are due back on April 14 or 15 At the last City Commission meeting they approved the actual July dates for budget meetings. Ms. Schlesselman mentioned an article in the newspaper commenting people do not know where the money for the new Police Station is coming from. Some of the candidates during elections alluded to the money coming from the budget or possibly to bond out. Mr. Howard responded the City Commission has entered into a contract with a consultant to update the study for the Police Station. Once the consultant submits 4 MEETING MINUTES FINANCIAL ADVISORY COMMITTEE BOYNTON BEACH, FL. APRIL 14, 2014 his preliminary cost report there will be a meeting with the City Commission at which time financing options will be discussed. The meeting may take place at a City Commission meeting or as a separate workshop. The date(s) will be in the beginning of July to coincide with the budget meetings. Ms Schlesselman inquired if the Financial Advisory Committee would be involved at some point next year to discuss the issue of the money for the Police Station. Mr. Howard replied the City Commission would have a workshop with the public. It would not come before the Financial Advisory Committee, 4. Comments /Announcements Mr. Boulos commented there were two topics he was responsible for but had not had the chance to look into them. One project was whether or not the Golf Course switched over to solar, wind or generated energy and the other project was residential versus commercial taxes. Mr. Boulos would have information at the next meeting. Vice Chair Grady requested an item; "Assigned Tasks" be added to the agenda for the next meeting to discuss updates of assigned responsibilities 5. Scheduled Future Meetings • Monday, April 28, 2014 • Monday, May 12, 2014 6. Adjournment Mr. Boulos moved to adjourn the meeting. Ms. Stella seconded the motion that passed unanimously Vice Chair Grady adjourned the meeting at 6:51 p.m. ce 01 Morales Records Coordinator 041614 5