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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2005-08-10 Aquatic services workshop City Commission meeting minutes MINUTES OF AQUATIC SERVICES WORKSHOP DANIA BEACH CITY COMMISSION WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 10, 2005 - 4:00 P.M. 1. Call to Order Mayor Castro called the workshop to order at 4:05 p.m. Present: Mayor: Anne Castro Vice-Mayor: Patricia Flury Commissioners: Bob Anton—arrived at 4:11 p.m. John Bertino City Manager: Ivan Pato City Attorney: Thomas Ansbro City Clerk: Louise Stilson Absent: Commissioner: C.K. McElyea Commissioner Bertino motioned to excuse Commissioner Anton and Commissioner McElyea; seconded by Vice-Mayor Flury. The motion carried on the following 3-0 Roll Call vote: Commissioner Bertino Yes Mayor Castro Yes Vice-Mayor Flury Yes City Manager Pato noted Commissioner Anton phoned to say he would be late and to begin the workshop without him. He advised we are looking at options for the way we deliver services, and the Jeff Ellis Group is one of those options. A presentation of two videos was shown; one for beach rescue, the other for pool rescue. Commissioner Anton arrived at 4:11 p.m. 2. Discussion of Aquatic Services City Manager Pato introduced Jeff Ellis. Jeff Ellis introduced Bethany Gilley, Manager of Operations for Hallandale Beach, and Johnny who is the Area Operations Manager. He thanked the City Manager and City Commission of Hallandale Beach for contacting Mr. Pato about services offered to Hallandale Beach. He is aware the City faces difficult budget situations, as well as their desire to provide quality services. He noted they did not come and solicit us, we contacted him. It is not their desire to solicit beach operations because they primarily claim their aquatic safety and risk management services have always been designed for public pools, water parks, and controlled environments where people are within a parameter and controlled environment. He noted 99% of their business is in this sector, however, in their international operations they have more employees in their beach management than in any other service. He welcomed questions from the Commission. Mayor Castro questioned the amount of turnover in Hallandale Beach. Mr. Ellis responded it will continue, it is not just something that happened in the past. He explained when Hallandale came to them with a budget crisis they wanted safety and quality of safety. In order to reduce labor costs in Hallandale, they redesigned the operation to one operations manager; they eliminated the individual facility management and moved it to a supervisor level; and in addition they agreed they would use Hallandale property as a training program to train their in-service management team, three months at pool and three months at beach and then out and designated and sent to another property using their management services. He indicated none of the employees have left the company, they were reassigned to other facilities within their system. He stated there are no fulltime lifeguards; they are now considered seasonal positions. Mayor Castro asked about the hiring practices. Mr. Ellis responded all lifeguards have to be licensed in their program before receiving an assignment. In order to qualify for employment, the employee must agree to be audited at any • time; they must participate in four hours of in-service documented training monthly; they have a drug policy, health policy, and eyesight policy which have to be achieved and met; and be a minimum age of 15 with no maximum age. He noted they do not allow anyone to do water parks or special facilities, including beach work, before they are 16. There is also an interview, background check and quarterly performance reviews. The difference between their employees and somebody else's employees is accountability, which is their number one focus. Mayor Castro asked if special skills were needed for the beach. Mr. Ellis responded yes, and they are site specific in order to manage an emergency within three minutes. He noted that is the core of why they are here; he has no criticism of anyone that works for the City; they are here to provide an alternative that could meet the City needs and be a more economical way to accomplish the same safety goals. He indicated they are not a lifesaving service. He believes the City operates a lifesaving service, not a lifeguarding service. Lifeguarding is very controlled, proactive focus to protect people from drowning within confined zones to guarantee that people who swim are not going to drown. Lifesaving services is open water; people can swim anywhere and have vast distances between a Lifeguard Station and where people may go. Their focus is to protect the people that swim where they can reach them in time to save their lives. If they cannot control the environment, they will not do the job. They must be able to get to someone within three minutes to intervene and save a life. He noted they have been in business for 25 years and have two companies: E&A, which is Ellis and Associates, and it has had 21 drownings in 409 million visitors, none of those were Jeff Ellis operated facilities, they were facilities that used Ellis' lifeguard training, similar to what the City's Minutes of Aquatic Services Workshop 2 Dania Beach City Commission Wednesday,August 10,2005—4:00 p.m. facilities use (Red Cross Lifeguard training). There has never been a drowning at any of their properties. Commissioner Bertino asked if buoys would be used in Dania Beach. Mr. Ellis responded Dania Beach has a unique situation because it has 4-5 Lifeguard towers. He would prefer buoys, but they try to keep their people between the beach guards and outer guards. They may have jet skis, canoes or kayaks, and they always have people deployed in the water if operating under normal conditions. They would need to have limits in order to meet the three minute standard. Commissioner Bertino questioned how they know where to put the buoys. Mr. Ellis responded they are not into the let's see how fast can you swim stuff; they use motorized equipment. Their focus is to make sure that people do not go beyond the parameters set. Commissioner Anton questioned the training the Lifeguards receive for rip currents. Mr. Ellis responded the training is consistent of what our existing services are; the guards are trained to do exactly the same things. However, they heavily rely on equipment versus the swimming out; their control is different in that they do not let people get out too far. • Vice-Mayor Flury commented if we had a quality issue this decision would be very easy. We have good people and have not had problems, but she is concerned about liability and cost. She asked how they would deal with City employees. Mr. Ellis responded they would offer the employees an opportunity to train in their program and be able to work. They value experience; however, it would be the employees' decision because it would be a financial issue. He, personally, would not transfer into a position that pays less. The opportunity is there for current employees, but he does not think it is realistic. Commissioner Anton asked the average age of the Lifeguards. Ms. Gilley responded the average age is 18; some are High School students, others work during the day and attend college at night. Mayor Castro opened the Workshop for Public Input. Honey Malloy, SW 5th Street, remarked if she would have known about this presentation she would have filmed our Lifeguards because they are the best. Our guards train every week and they do not allow anyone to go out too far. She indicated Dania Beach is the number one beach in Southern Living magazine. We have thousands of swimmers; our guards can save people in less than three minutes. She suggested the City purchase jet skis. • Minutes of Aquatic Services Workshop 3 Dania Beach City Commission Wednesday,August 10,2005—4:00 p.m. Billie Phipps, 946 Nautilus Isle, has lived in Dania for more than 44 years and is totally against privatization of our Beach Patrol. Her children learned to swim in the ocean and through the City's summer recreation program. Over the years, they have known most of the lifeguards and have confidence in their experience, and as employees of the City they have the best interest of the people. We live in a marine community with a beautiful beach and a unique Lifeguard program; she finds it hard to believe we are so eager to dispense of this service. She wondered if we would eliminate other departments, and requested keeping the marine patrol. Brian Carroll, 1350 SE 3`d Avenue, commented he has been here only a few months and moved here because of the beach. He likes to surf, fish and be at the beach. He is alarmed about the surfing; he is a skilled swimmer; he is alarmed to hear someone say they would let someone drown because they are out of the controlled area. Our beach is the crown jewel of the City; it is what most people like about this City; if we start closing down swim zones because of the reef and rocks it will turn people away from the beach. He noted our beach has had zero drownings in 30 years, and the beach is the last place to cut the budget. Mr. Ellis thanked the Commission for the opportunity to make a presentation and excused himself from the Workshop. Mike Grady, 4501 SW 42"d Avenue, commented we have a really good product with the people who think the beach belongs to them. He remarked he believes in the City Manager's saying of you get what you pay for. You have to spend a little bit to have good quality; we have a good • situation here and the employees are willing to do more than what he heard in the presentation. Honey Whecker, 203 NE 3`d Avenue, stated she is opposed to replacing City employees with the privatization plan. She understands we need to work on our budget but we will not receive quality service from young people who receive minimum wage. Commissioner Bertino questioned the liability insurance issue. Mary McDonald, Director of Human Resources and Risk Management, responded we are never going to get rid of liability, we will always have it. By having the Ellis Group it pushes some of the liability away and shares some of the liability. She indicated Todd Higley, our insurance consultant, suggested this was a good way to go because we currently are not staffed effectively and our risk is greater this way. Our liability is reduced somewhat by having a firm that will staff it in a way that we cannot. She noted we would see a reduction in Workers Compensation insurance. Mayor Castro noted the Finance Director needed to address the Commission on a totally separate issue. Patricia Varney, Finance Director, commented the Commission had directed staff to obtain funding for the Pier Restaurant and staff went out to bid in July. She received three quotes: Community Bank indicated they would not charge a prepayment penalty, but they have a rate of 6.64% without an additional deposit relationship. Currently we have over $500,000 with • Community Bank, plus a loan of $822,000. Wachovia (5.35%) and SunTrust (5.72%) have Minutes of Aquatic Services Workshop 4 Dania Beach City Commission Wednesday,August 10, 2005—4:00 p.m. • prepayment penalties. She wants direction from the Commission because SunTrust has agreed to waive the prepayment penalty for our existing loan, which equates to $20,000 of today's value. She proposed going with SunTrust because they will waive the prepayment penalty. She needs to close the loan by September 91h and needs direction to draft a resolution for the August 23rd City Commission meeting. The Commission consensus was to go with SunTrust. Mayor Castro noted that Brenda Chalifour and Neal McAliley needed to address the Commission on the airport issue. City Attorney Ansbro noted we had a meeting today with the towns of Davie and Hollywood and we need consensus to go forward with a petition process. He highly recommended we participate. Neil McAliley noted his firm of White and Case has been representing the City of Dania Beach for several years relating to the airport expansion. In June, the FAA indicated in a letter to Broward County that they would change the way the runways are being utilized at the airport; in particular, they would start putting planes on the Crosswind runway and the South runway. He indicated they have done this without any required environmental analysis or disclosure to the public, and it is inconsistent with the County's Ordinances. They think the impacts to Dania Beach would be significant. The County Commission gave direction to the County Attorney to file a petition with the Court of Appeals to challenge this decision by the FAA. He noted it has • been Dania Beach's position to fight efforts by the FAA, and if Dania Beach wants to file a petition our deadline is August 22°d. He recommended filing our petition in Washington next week, which works in our favor because his firm also has an office there. The initial cost would be minimal but this is litigation and could run as much as $100,000 and may take a year. City Attorney Ansbro remarked it is his understanding that the City of Hollywood is not committed but is considering it; and the Town of Davie as well. Attorney McAliley noted there is no guarantee in litigation; he thinks there is a clear violation of federal law and hopes we would win. He noted we would be aligned with the County and it would minimize our downside. Mayor Castro left the Workshop at 5:28 p.m. The Commission consensus was that the City has the money and we should move forward with the petition. 3. Adjournment Vice-Mayor Flury adjourned the workshop at 5:37 p.m. • Minutes of Aquatic Services Workshop 5 Dania Beach City Commission Wednesday,August 10,2005—4:00 p.m. • CITY OF DANIA BEACH ATTEST: ANNE CASTRO MAYOR-COMMISSIONER LOUISE STILSON CITY'CLERK Approved: September 27, 2005 • • Minutes of Aquatic Services Workshop Dania Beach City Commission Wednesday,August 10,2005—4:00 p.m.