COMMISSION MEETS
October 6, 2015
MEETING SPECIFICS
The Cedar Key City Commission met on Tuesday evening, October 6, 2015, at City Hall beginning at 6:25 pm, immediately after the Community Redevelopment Agency adjourned. Present were: Vice-Mayor Dale Register, and Commissioners Sue Colson, Royce Nelson, and Diana Topping. Absent was Mayor Heath Davis.
Staff in attendance included: Police Chief Virgil Sandlin, Fire Chief Robert Robinson, Public Works Director Bill Crandley, Planning and Development Administrator/City Clerk Nicole Gill, and City Clerk Assistant Michael Hancock. In the audience were: Linda Dale, Maurice Hendrix, Chris Topping, Bob and Jeri Treat, Chris Camargo, Tommy Pavao, Mandy and Frank Offerle.
PUBLIC COMMENT
$100,000 Grant Received:
Tommy Pavao, park manager for three Florida State Parks, Cedar Key Museum, Cedar Key Scrub and Waccasassa Bay Preserve, presented the City of Cedar Key a check in the amount of $100,000. The check represents the two $50,000 FRDAP (Florida Recreation and Development Assistance Program) grants that Commissioner Sue Colson has been working on for the past year and a half. Colson has conducted multiple public input meetings, gathered area residents’ concerns, and, with that input and assistance from Fred Fox, submitted the grants. Both grants, though entirely different, are for the purpose of improving City Park and Cemetery Point Park; both grants were in the amount of $50,000.
Grant Document Approval:
Commissioner Sue Colson reported that she met with Grant Administrator Fred Fox on Monday, October 5, 2015 and reviewed the two FRDAP grant contracts recently received from the state. She asked for approval to have Attorney Norm Fugate reviews the documents, Mayor Davis, upon his return, to sign and forward them back the state. The meeting was also attended by Bill Crandley, Nicole Gill, Michael Hancock, Mandy and Frank Offerle.
CITY ATTORNEY’S OFFICE
Resolution 366 Passed:
Resolution 366 amends the current rate and charge schedule for the City Marina. The resolution creates an overnight parking fee that will be in effect for Art Festival and Seafood Festival events only, at $50. The resolution further increases the launch fee from $12 to $15 for cash and $16 for credit card payments. Commissioner Colson thought the language of the resolution was not clearly stated, that overnight parking was to be only allowed for the festivals and that the areas for overnight parking were not clearly defined.
At the suggestion of Colson, all commissioners agreed that the language allowing overnight parking at festivals to be “cleaned up” so that it cannot be misinterpreted to allow overnight parking at other times.
Public Service Tax/Utility Tax:
The necessity of submitting a request to Tallahassee for permission to enact this tax required this agenda item. Two readings are required; the request must be in Tallahassee in December in order for the tax to be implemented in April of 2016.
The tax would be placed on electricity and LP and Natural gas going into homes and buinesses. The tax is not on water, commissioners say. According to the Department of Revenue on the MyFlorida.gov website, http://dor.myflorida.com/dor/governments/mpst/, in Florida, “a municipal public service tax is locally imposed and administered by municipalities and charter counties under Chapter 166, Florida Statutes. …Municipal public service tax is levied on six utility services: natural gas, LP gas, manufactured gas, electric, water, and fuel oil/kerosene….” The tax cannot be over ten percent of a user’s bill.
According to City Clerk Nicole Clerk, the city has effected the tax in the past; the tax line item is now on the books but calculated at zero. Commissioners directed Gill to return with numbers articulating how much money the tax would bring in at a 5 or 6 percent rate.
Resident Jeri Treat asked why would the commission lower the millage rate, as it recently did, saving the resident of an average-sized house in Cedar Key approximately $10 a year in property taxes AND then add a utilities tax that would amount to several hundred dollars annually? One commissioner responded, “That lower millage was just symbolic.”
Minimal discussion centered on the fact that property taxes are shared only by property owners while this Public Service Tax would be shared by all. No one clarified that generalization.
CLERK’S OFFICE
Minutes Approved:
Minutes from the September 15 and 21, 2015 meetings were unanimously approved.
ADMINISTRATION
UF Floodplain Contract Approved:
Commissioners unanimously approved the letter of engagement for $4,000 between the City of Cedar Key and W. Thomas Hawkins, Esq. from the University of Florida Conservation Clinic, Center for Governmental Responsibility at the University of Florida’s Levin College of Law.
The letter describes the clinic’s tasks and deliverables. Abbreviated, the clinic will review our floodplain ordinance, review recent FEMA correspondence regarding the floodplain, analyze floodplain management in relation to aquaculture, historical structures, and Cedar Key’s unique circumstances, propose amendments and actions.
Chamber of Commerce Lease:
Commissioners unanimously approved the Chamber of Commerce lease of the Welcome Center on Second Street at the rate of $200 per month.
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