Loading...
Minutes 02-01-18 MINUTES OF THE CITIZENS OVERSIGHT COMMITTEE HELD ON THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 1, 2018, AT 6:30 P.M. AT THE BOYNTON BEACH CITY LIBRARYCCONFERENCE ROOM A 208 S. SEACREST BOULEVARD, BOYNTON BEACH, FLORIDA PRESENT: Adam, Kerr— Chair Tim Howard - Assistant City Manager Jude Avril -Vice Chair Jerry Taylor—Regular Member Mary Nagel- Regular Member Alexandria "Nicole" Wilson — Regular Member • Call to Order—Adam Kerr, Chair Chair Kerr called the meeting to order at 6:31 p.m. Roll call was taken. All present. • Should any members not be able to make the meeting; contact Tim Howard (HowardT(c�bbfl.us) or(561) 742-6012 by 1 pm of the day of the meeting as the meeting may be cancelled for lack of a quorum. • Roll Call of Committee Members *Adam Kerr, Chair *Jude Avril, Vice-Chair *Alexandria Wilson *Jerry Taylor *Mary Nagle • Approval of July 13, 2017 Minutes (Copy attached) — Kindly review in advance of meeting Alexandria "Nicole" Wilson, commented the minutes indicated the Sara Sims project was pulled off the budget. Tim Howard, Assistant City Manager, noted the second paragraph on page three indicates at the public workshop in July, there was a Sara Sims $300,000 line item for fencing. It had been inadvertently left off the PowerPoint presentation in July, but when the budget was approved and adopted in September, it was included. He clarified the funds were for fencing and irrigation. Motion Mr. Taylor moved to approve the minutes. Ms. Wilson seconded the motion that unanimously passed. Meeting Minutes Citizen's Oversight Committee Boynton Beach, Florida February 1, 2018 • New Business • Tim Howard to review FY2016-17 funding/project status Mr. Howard explained the surtax began in January 2017. Due to the Resolution that created the Committee and the County language that passed, oversight of the expenditures for the One-Cent Surtax is required and the Committee is to report back to the City Commission to affirm they have reviewed the projects approved and the expenditures spent were made in accordance with the projects the City Commission approved. He recommended a report be made to the City Commission for the period January 2017 to September 2017, which will coincide with the City's fiscal year. The first page of Mr. Howard's handout was a summary of what to place in the report. In February 2017, the City Commission passed a budget for R17-023 where they adopted a budget for the surtax funds for that fiscal year. It was estimated the City would receive $3.2 million in revenue and the City budgeted $3.2 million for improvements in areas they wanted the funds to be spent. Staff requested the projects be placed in categories that were broad and not overly project specific because during the first year of receiving the surtax, there would be a delay in receiving the funds. The vendor collects the funds, sends them to the State who then remits funds back to the County. The January funds collected were received in March/April. Staff did not want to recommend approving specific projects until they got under way. The City Commission approved dollar amounts for sidewalks and ADA work on sidewalks, street improvements and the Oyer Park parking lot resealing. As of September 30th, of the $3.2 million in estimated revenue, the City collected $3.1777 million, which is very close to the estimate the City is accruing $330,000 a month which. In August 2017, the City Commission approved an item for restriping to County Paving of Delray Beach for $175,000. The procurement method used was Public Works utilized a piggyback on a City of West Palm Beach Paving contract that was competitively bid. The City Commission also approved two additional sidewalk projects in the amount of $150,000 and $19,000 based on quotes on September 19th, which were not finished by end of the month. It was brought to the City Commission because those items were approved and issued to local business with a Boynton Beach Business Tax Receipt, which was a priority for the Commission, The work was completed in October. Mr. Howard explained the aforementioned projects comprised the activity for the year. Mr. Howard explained remaining monies for capital projects not spent in one year would roll over to the next fiscal year for the exact same type of project, unless the City Commission decides differently and the City Commission had not. The $1.3 million rolled over into the current year for street improvements and Public Works will spend the money this year. It does not affect adopted current year projects because funding for them was the cash from last year. There was a lag in the construction. 2 Meeting Minutes Citizen's Oversight Committee Boynton Beach, Florida February 1, 2018 Staff tried to figure out many issues such as incoming funding and local business preferences. The City previously had a street repaving program that had been deferred for the last few years. Staff was trying to kick start the program, but it took more staff time than anticipated. The City had not conducted a review of the current sidewalk and road conditions. The City was aware of some issues from constituents, but no inspections had taken place. It was an activity for 2017. • Annual report to City Commission and City Manager as outlined in Resolution R17-020 Suggested report from Committee A copy of the Resolution creating the Committee was included with the meeting materials. Section four, page two required an annual report be made to the City Commission showing conformance with the requirements and they summarize what was done. The handout was for reference and Mr. Howard submitted a suggested format for the report. The report will be submitted to the City Commission via an agenda item and he recommended someone from the Committee be present when it is given. Mr. Howard requested suggestions or edits. He noted next year's report would be different because of how many projects would be awarded and there will be an attachment. The members reviewed the documents and noted a discrepancy on the Fund Summary. Sidewalks were listed at $1.15 million and should be $1.5 million. Rollover funds were $1.15 million for sidewalks; $1.3 million was for street improvements; and $100 thousand for Oyer Park. Vice Chair Avril asked how the City handles diversity with local contractors for approved contracts. Mr. Howard responded local business preference is based on the business having a City Business Tax Receipt for one year. The local business can also be awarded the work if it is within 5% over the lowest bid amount. He clarified the local business preference concentrates on the business being in the City, not the diversity per se and staff will track it. Vice Chair Avril asked how the Committee would make recommendations to ensure contracts are awarded. Mr. Howard explained the purpose of the Oversight Committee is to review and ensure the projects the Commission approves moves forward. All the funds need to be spent on infrastructure. Diversity is an issue that will be addressed in other arenas and formats. This year, one issue was after the approval of the surtax was in place, the City was discussing the local business preference because this would be the majority of the City's capital projects. It was in an area they could try and engage local business. It is still a challenge for some services, even for local businesses. The City was fortunate there are local businesses who can handle the sidewalk and paving work; however, with major paving work, smaller local businesses do not have the equipment. Mr. Howard noted Public Works worked hard to use a few vendors in the City for that type of work. Conversely, the City can only award so many projects because when there are two small vendors, they will be overloaded time wise. Staff struggles to determine if the 3 Meeting Minutes Citizen's Oversight Committee Boynton Beach, Florida February 1, 2018 City wants the projects done quickly or if can they be spread out. Part of the job is to make the best recommendations to the City as possible. Staff tries hard to keep things moving timely realizing there are conflicting issues with timing. Mr. Taylor explained many projects have been sitting for years due to lack of funds. Now that the City has the funds, it is hard to tell someone who has waited for years to have the sidewalk fixed, the City cannot address it. There has to be a balance. Chair Kerr explained the County put up signs on Congress Avenue and Miner Road indicating the project is a One-Cent Surtax project. The City has smaller signs as well. While the City has its portion of the surtax for projects, the County had deferred projects in the City such as Congress Avenue, which is a huge project. The City consistently receives comments. Ms. Nagle announced she received a postcard the State will be redoing Federal Highway. Motion Mr. Taylor moved to approve with the corrections noted. Ms. Nagle seconded the motion that unanimously passed. • Approved projects for FY 2017-18 The last document contained projects the City approved in September for the time-period of October 1, 2017 to September 30, 2018. The funds are tracked and in a dedicated fund. The spreadsheet contained a blue column for projects the City Commission adopted. He explained this is the format the City uses for capital improvements. Public Works grouped the individual projects by park or building. These could include items such as air conditioning or other items that need to be replaced. Mr. Howard advised the City Commission wants quarterly reports from him and Public Works how the projects are going, what has been started, and what has been completed. Mr. Howard submitted the first one, which this information was part of although it is a work in progress. There is a comment section so if a project is awarded and ran into permitting problems, had issues with the Engineering Department or they had to get approval from a different agency, it would be documented. The columns reflect if the item was adopted by the City Commission, if the item was awarded and then if paid. The City Commission could award it and there is a lag. Page two had items for the Meadows Park playground. A contract was awarded, but it had not yet not been paid as it is being delivered and had to be installed. A purchase order was issued giving an idea of what currently the City is doing plus what funds rolled over. Staff was also trying to determine what makes sense and what items could be grouped together to obtain better pricing. If there are similar items, such as painting a building exterior, is it better to get a quote from a contractor for all five buildings or split them up. 4 Meeting Minutes Citizen's Oversight Committee Boynton Beach, Florida February 1, 2018 There are many items in the works, either on the streets or for which staff is trying to get quotes. Each agenda will show items awarded that will be on the list. Sara Sims Park is a unique project. It is on page three, but this project is co-funded between the City and CRA to leverage the project. There are conceptual plans already drawn with said improvements publically discussed at meetings. At the last CRA meeting, they approved a task order with Kimley Horn for the final design and bid documents. When the City gets the bid documents and they make the award, the City will pay for a portion of the park improvements as both entities will pay for the project. It is a $1.3 million project that will really be an improvement in the area,that will include new irrigation sod, lights walkways and pavilions. One item on the list pertained a partial payment for Exagrid, which was an IT purchase. Mr. Howard explained documentation was a work in process and he hoped it would communicate all they wanted, the January to March projects would be layered on this and will send it to the Committee members. He hoped many projects would be finished at the same time when other activities occur. They are diligently working on paving, trying to get more sidewalks and paving finished. If the Committee would like, they could schedule another meeting. From a budgetary standpoint, the City Commission holds their budget workshops in July and adopts the budget in September. Staff works on next year's budget the next month. From February to May, the City will start get estimates of property values and State revenues by the end of May. In June, staff puts the budget together and presents it to the City Commission to review and then hold public workshops in July. He suggested holding another meeting in May since the workshops are held in July and the City adopts the budget in September, which would include General Fund; Utilities projects for the next year and the Surtax projects. Mr. Howard will see what projects Public Works has for the list and it will give an update on what remains so the members can get a feeling for the activities. The members agreed. Ms. Nagle asked if there has always been a concerted effort to hire locally regarding paving jobs. Mr. Howard explained historically when cities pave, there is a paving program because most cities allocate about the same amount of money each year for paving. If a City issues its own bids for a project, it takes between 90 and 120 days for staff to draft the document, advertise it, evaluate the responses and have the City Commission make an award. Then the bid could be accessed by others and the work could be done. Many small to medium size cities look to the County or the largest city in the County knowing they would have a paving bid and piggyback the bid. It was easy, efficient, and expedient as they already had the specifications because paving is paving, and there are certain types of overlay and sizes. Larger agencies awarded bids on a per unit price is transferrable from nine miles of roadway to two miles. It was efficient, but it was mainly larger companies that did the work. Delray Beach has large paving company that West Palm Beach uses. Pompano Beach also has a large paving company. When 5 Meeting Minutes Citizen's Oversight Committee Boynton Beach, Florida February 1, 2018 staff talks about trying to hire locally, staff had to discuss that in some areas, there will have to be a concerted effort, while also recognizing some types of projects and activities they wanted to do, warranted taking the time and effort to look at local businesses. With projects that did not warrant looking locally, it was important to support staff. Staff learned if they did specify in the bid they wanted 9 to 12 miles of sidewalk work done in 60 days, it would have to be a big company, with a large staff and lots of equipment. If staff indicates they want a street done, they could get a local company with less staff for the job because it could still be done in 30 days, The flip side is it does cause additional work for staff because it has to be viewed differently than just a street; it is viewed as a neighborhood. They would do the same work for a neighborhood project as they would for Boynton Beach Boulevard. The City engaged staff and indicated that was the way to handle the task, but they understand with paving and big pavement jobs, there are no local companies. Mr. Howard supported in those instances,the City use the local contract in place. They work with staff to see if could be done locally. • Other items None. • Adjournment Motion Mr. Taylor moved to adjourn. Ms. Nagle seconded the motion that unanimously passed. The meeting adjourned at 7:13 p.m. • Future meeting dates - TBD s Catherine Cherry Minutes Specialist 6