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HomeMy WebLinkAbout634 - MINUTES - City Commission MINUTES OF WORKSHOP DANIA BEACH CITY COMMISSION FIRE DEPARTMENT TRANSPORT REIMBURSEMENT CHARTER REVIEW COMMITTEE RECOMMENDATIONS THURSDAY, DECEMBER 9, 2004 - 6:00 P.M. 1. Call to Order Mayor McElyea called the workshop to order at 6:00 p.m. 2. Roll Call Present: Mayor: C.K. McElyea Vice-Mayor: Bob Mikes Commissioners: Bob Anton Commissioner: Robert Chunn Patricia Flury City Manager: Ivan Pato City Attorney: Thomas Ansbro City Clerk: Louise Stilson Charter Review Board Members: Kurt Ely Jay Field John Bertino Al Jones Gary Luedtke arrived at 6:30 p.m. 3. Fire Department Transport Reimbursement Fees and Program Captain Bruce Caruso, Dania Beach Fire Department, introduced Darryl Hartung, Doug Sharman, and Rick Francais from Advanced Data Processing, Inc. He noted the City has not increased their transport fees since April 2002. Darryl Hartung, Senior Manager of Advanced Data Processing, Inc. (ADP), advised they are the largest ambulance billing company for Florida and they do the billing for most of the Fire Departments in Broward County. He commented one of the major components of success in EMS billing, is how cities-structure the billing process. The actual cost of providing care is generally well over $1,000 per transport, but for Dania Beach the cost is between $2,000-$3,000; yet the average reimbursement is $200-$300. He advised the two principal payers are Medicaid and Medicare, but they limit the amount of dollars.they are willing to pay, and EMS agencies are obligated to accept as full payment what they allow. He commented most funds collected are from insurance companies, followed by Medicare and Medicaid. These agencies pay differently depending on the level of service received. He advised Medicare has been increasing the amount they are willing to pay, but they will only pay the lower of what you bill them or what they allow. They are proposing to increase the base fee rates, and adding a citizen/resident policy so if you are a resident of Dania Beach and do not have insurance, you would not be held responsible for your bill. If you do have insurance, then we would accept the insurance payment or Medicare and Medicaid payments. Any non-resident who does not have insurance would be charged and would be obligated to pay; this is a requirement of the Medicare program. He advised the City's fees are below the median and average charges for Broward County. They are recommending an increase in the base fee rates and to charge the same amount for ALS (Advanced Life Support) and BLS (Basic Life Support). They recommended a$450 fee for ALS and BLS; $550 for ALS2; $9/Mile; and the adoption of a City-Resident Policy. He noted they believe this increase would produce an additional $100,000 in revenue for 2005. Vice-Mayor Mikes would like the first transport for City residents to be free, per year; then a nominal charge such as $100 for additional transports because people will abuse it. Mr. Hartung commented another option could be a lesser charge for residents, such as Medicaid allows. Commissioner Flury asked how they could charge residents if they do not capture residents in the data collection. . Mr. Hartung responded it would be part of the policy for the Paramedics to note whether or not the patient is a resident of Dania Beach. Commissioner Flury asked for clarification on the Indigent Policy and procedure. Captain Caruso explained the Compassion Policy would allow them to settle the transport bill for less than the amount charged for patients or estates that send us legal documents for people who do not live in Dania Beach. Commissioner Flury is not thrilled with a Compassion Policy for people who do not live in Dania Beach. Captain Caruso noted if something needs to be changed it can be done before the Resolution is presented at the regular Commission meeting. The Compassion Policy gives the Fire Department a Commission-approved procedure because they currently are not allowed to write- off any accounts. Fire Chief Ken Land remarked these are opportunities brought forward for a Commission decision. We can modify or customize them to the Commission's desires. Commissioner Flury thinks it is an appropriate fee structure; she does not think we should have a no-charge policy because people will drive here from out of town in order to have a Dania Beach Minutes of Workshop 2 Dania Beach City Commission Fire Department Transport Reimbursement Charter Review Committee Recommendations Thursday,December 9,2004—6:00 p.m. address so they can be taken to the hospital free of charge. She does not see the need for a Compassion Policy if we are not going to charge the residents. If there is a need for a Compassion Policy, we should stick to federal guidelines for the poverty level. Commissioner Anton questioned what type of collection we could expect with a Compassion Policy. Mr. Hartung responded the Compassion Policy deals with transports who have been charged and we expect this policy would be prospective. The upside is the City does not currently engage a collection agency; this Compassion Policy could result in additional revenues that we would not otherwise receive. He feels the impact on the budget will be minimal either way. Patricia Varney, Finance Director explained, the Compassion Policy would allow the attorney to negotiate with an estate and we would be able to receive partial payment, as opposed to no payment. Regarding Collection Agencies, it is very difficult to get a Collection Agency to work on a $400 charge. Captain Caruso advised transports are increasing, but feels that abuse of the transport is very small. He noted we have a duty to provide a service. He does not believe the system would be abused by anything they have proposed. He also clarified 65% of their pay comes from private insurance and they currently charge lower rates than other cities in Broward County. • Vice-Mayor Mikes felt it was very important to put the disincentive in there because these transport costs are not the true cost to the taxpayers of the City. If we advertise that transports are free, we may receive more calls. He will support a free first transport only. Commissioner Flury asked how a person's residency is established. City Attorney Ansbro responded a resident is required to have a mailing address in the City, or with appropriate proof, show they are a resident of the City without a mailing address. Captain Caruso clarified the Resident-Only Policy means that once a patient is established to be a resident of this City, using what is in the Resolution and attachments, then, the only bill that will be sent is to their insurance company. The resident will not receive an invoice. Mr. Hartung clarified the patient will receive a letter, if no insurance information has been received from the Paramedic, requesting the patient provide us with any insurance information they might have. He commented other cities with Resident-Only Policies collection rates are very good; and perhaps having a lower fee for residents, which some other cities currently do, is another approach. City Manager Pato .questioned if we could use the Compassion Policy, as opposed to the Resident Policy, where hardships exist for Dania Beach residents. Minutes of Workshop 3 Dania Beach City Commission Fire Department Transport Reimbursement Charter Review Committee Recommendations Thursday,December 9,2004—6:00 p.m. Captain Caruso responded yes. He read the policy for the Commission and explained how it worked. He commented they would like the Commission to action at the next regular meeting because as of January 1, 2005, Medicare will increase their reimbursement rate. We currently are 4% behind, and the recommendation is for another 3% increase which would make us 7% behind the Medicare reimbursement rate. Commissioner Flury stated she does not have a problem with the fee increase, but would like to proceed with the Compassion Policy for a year before offering the free issue. Vice-Mayor Mikes stated he supports a general fee increase. Captain Caruso clarified the Commission's direction is to remove the Resident Policy and leave the Compassion Policy. 4. Proposed Charter Revisions City Attorney Ansbro advised this is the fourth and final workshop. Tonight is an opportunity to fine tune the Ordinance before the first public hearing next week. Mr. Bertino asked if all the items would fail if the first question failed. • City Attorney Ansbro responded that was correct. He advised if the first question is approved all future proposed changes would have to go to referendum. Currently there are eight items that the Statutes require that must be changed by referendum only. If the proposed changes are adopted by the voters, the Charter can only be changed by referendum. He remarked the Charter is our Constitution; it can only be changed by referendum. Commissioner Flury is adamantly opposed to question number one. Commissioner Anton does not agree with the $250,000 appraised value for surplus property. He remarked CRA property will be considerably in excess of this price, and questioned if this would have to go to referendum. He also asked if we trade Boisey Waiters for the property behind it, would it be required to go to referendum. City Attorney Ansbro responded the $250,000 cap was set by referendum years ago. Therefore, it can only be changed by referendum. He thought the Commission agreed the $250,000 limit was reasonable at the last meeting. Commissioner Anton commented you can barely buy a house for $250,000. He wants the parcels protected,but he does not want us to be locked into a referendum. City Attorney Ansbro explained even if we make no changes to the Charter, a referendum would be required to sell any real property valued over $250,000. He clarified that properties obtained • by the City for the CRA would be required to go to referendum vote if the value is above Minutes of Workshop 4 Dania Beach City Commission Fire Department Transport Reimbursement Charter Review Committee Recommendations Thursday,December 9,2004—6:00 p.m. $250,000. He advised we could insert a provision to exclude CRA properties as a referendum question for the voters to approve. He commented Vic e-Mayor.Mikes will remember why this provision was added to the Charter. Vice-Mayor Mikes commented we could say the protection exists for all park property currently in the City; and this would not apply to any properties acquired through the CRA program. He commented somebody will get a lot of criticism in the upcoming election if you put it on the ballot and people think you are removing protection from the parks. He remarked if people don't support the Boisey Waiters center and they want to leave it the way it is, so be it. City Attorney Ansbro suggested new wording: provided, however, that the park property is valued by an appraiser at a value over$250,000 it requires a referendum. Vice-Mayor Mikes is concerned about the parcel for the Fire Department; he is leery about a simple majority vote determining the outcome of it because he knows what is going to happen. Somebody is going to make a deal with a developer and that is what is going to happen. He remarked you need more protection for public property than.a three-fifths vote. It is best to err on the protection side; if it is inconvenient for a referendum, so be it. City Attorney Ansbro again advised under the current Charter, which was approved by referendum in 1991, it requires a four-fifths vote to adopt a resolution declaring property surplus. Secondly, if it exceeds $250,000 it has to have a referendum. • Commissioner Anton remarked now we have an opportunity to change it. He agrees with Vice-. Mayor Mikes that we need to find a way to tie the properties up that involve our parks, but we do not need to paint ourselves into a corner. Nobody really knows what will happen with redevelopment in downtown Dania. We are elected by the people to make these decisions and there comes a time when you have to make those decisions. He does not have a problem with referendums for parks or for the I.T. Parker Center, which could be considered a park. City Attorney Ansbro asked for consensus because he is not getting any direction. Vice-Mayor Mikes proposed alternative wording for property that is not designated as a park, is valued at over $250,000, with a unanimous vote of the City Commission, could be sold. This would require a total consensus of the Commission which is what Ft. Lauderdale did. Commissioner Flury asked if we were referencing the. CRA area. She asked if that was agreeable to everybody. The Commissioners were in consensus that it is a separate area. Commissioner Flury commented the City Attorney should put strong wording that prohibits any Commission from ever selling any parks, public land, or City property without the unanimous vote of the Commission. City Attorney Ansbro asked if the idea was to remove the $250,000 limitation and put that in place in lieu of it. Minutes of Workshop 5 Dania Beach City Commission Fire Department Transport Reimbursement Charter Review Committee Recommendations Thursday,December 9, 2004—6:00 p.m. Vice-Mayor Mikes can see the exception for the CRA, but he is uncomfortable with pulling out Boisey Waiters because he thinks it will affect our neighborhood parks; and the criteria we established to make it easy for Boisey Waiters also makes it easy to start disappearing neighborhood parks. He commented there is a little bit of a conflict there. He would prefer the ultimate protection of a referendum for the existing parks. He suggested it might be easier to make the exception for Boisey Waiters. City Attorney Ansbro responded he could identify it by name. Commissioner Anton remarked it is not just Boisey Waiters; it could be any other piece of property we may acquire in the near future. He agrees with the existing parks; he does not have a problem with any land the City owns that is designated as a park being incorporated in there. He is not looking at getting rid of parks; he is just not willing to paint ourselves, or future Commissions, into a corner that they will not be able to take care of business. He commented that $250,000, whether it was in the Charter before or not, is immaterial. We have an opportunity to correct that because it is too little of an amount. Vice-Mayor Mikes is really uncomfortable with what Commissioner Anton is saying because it opens up a loophole in the whole process. Commissioner Flury remarked now we have three items; we have dealt with the CRA. The second item is the existing parks and the ultimate protection should be in there. These properties simply can never be sold without referendum. The third item is any other City-owned property; either you send it to referendum or it has to have a unanimous vote by the Commission. She asked what the problem was with sending it to referendum if we already carved out the CRA. She does not see a problem with sending it to referendum. Vice-Mayor Mikes would like the strongest language to protect parks because there will be more pressure on future Commissions to develop a commercial use on these properties. He agrees with Commissioner Flury on CRA acquired properties, and if you want to designate something in that CRA as a park for development, then you need to have protections. Laurence Leeds, Director of Community Development, advised that Boisey Waiters is designated as park and recreation space on the FLUM (Future Land Use Map). I.T. Parker is probably designated the same way. City Attorney Ansbro commented if we use that as the tie-in, any property designated as a park on the FLUM, it would suffice. The one parcel that eludes everything is the Fire Department parcel. Vice-Mayor Mikes commented we have a consensus on the CRA, but if we designate a park in the area it should have some protections. We also want our current parks protected, and it is not just selling of the parks, but lease use that prohibits public use as a park. • Minutes of Workshop 6 Dania Beach City Commission Fire Department Transport Reimbursement Charter Review Committee Recommendations Thursday,December 9, 2004—6:00 p.m. . City Attorney Ansbro pointed out that was already in there. He asked how the third area was supposed to tie-in with the rest. We have the CRA; we have any existing parks; and any future parks designated by the City Commission. Commissioner Anton questioned if we are trying to rush things through just to get it on the ballot. It took the Board a year to go through the Charter, and now we are trying to rush through it in a very short period of time. He asked if we were making a mistake by doing this. Mayor McElyea thinks we are rushing it. City Manager Pato shared some of the concerns that exist about what we are doing. The Commission is not making any substantive changes to the election process; he suggested the Commission correct some of the problems in the Charter and take time to develop the other areas. He expressed that staff is concerned about the direction the Charter is headed. Some of the things being considered could be addressed through an Administrative Code that could be updated on a regular basis. He wanted it on the record that we are very concerned about how this is moving and some of the things in it. He thinks these items need to be debated. City Attorney Ansbro pointed out we are stuck with the $250,000, unless we change it. If you miss this opportunity you will have to wait another two years, unless we have a Special Election. Mr. Ely asked why the new Charter becomes set in stone. . City Attorney Ansbro explained before 1973, no city had any power to do anything unless it was given by the Florida Legislature. In 1973, cities obtained Home Rule (Chapter 166) which allowed cities to make changes.to some items by Ordinance. Once a new Charter is adopted the Statute says everything must be changed by referendum ballot only. Commissioner Flury feels skiddish and thinks we are rushing things. She felt the purpose was to look at seats and think about a two year Mayor and to do some major things, but this Commission opted not to do those things and they are not on the ballot. She thinks we should look at the non-controversial items and wait two years before making the other changes. Question 1 Commission consensus to remove this item from the ballot. Question 2 Commission consensus to remove this item from the ballot. Question 3 Commission consensus to remove this item from the ballot. • Minutes of Workshop 7 Dania Beach City Commission Fire Department Transport Reimbursement Charter Review Committee Recommendations Thursday,December 9, 2004—6:00 p.m. • Question 4 Commission consensus to keep this item on the ballot. Question 5 Commission consensus to keep this item on the ballot. Question 6 Commission consensus to keep this item on the ballot. Question 7 Commission consensus to remove this item from the ballot. Question 8 Vice-Mayor Mikes suggested a language change on the ballot question. The City Charter currently generally enables the City Commission to act by simple majority vote of the Commission. It is proposed that the Charter be amended to require the affirmative vote of at least four members of the City Commission in order to approve any agreement affecting Dania residents or lands as a result of modification to, or change to, Ft. Lauderdale airport operations. Commissioner Anton suggested changing at least four members of the City Commission to a unanimous vote of the City Commission. City Attorney Ansbro suggested alternate language: to the residents, or the land, or both. Commission consensus to keep this item on the ballot with unanimous vote and alternate wording. Question 9 Commission consensus to remove this item from the ballot. Question 10 City Attorney Ansbro advised the entire provision would not be amendable if it is included in the Charter. Commissioner Anton sees no problem with it because it makes the City Manager accountable to the City Commission and takes the politics out of the City Manager's office. . Commission consensus to keep this item on the ballot. Minutes of Workshop 8 Dania Beach City Commission Fire Department Transport Reimbursement Charter Review Committee Recommendations Thursday,December 9,2004—6:00 p.m. • Vice-Mayor Mikes asked for wording to be included to protect parks and CRA areas. City Attorney Ansbro will bring something forward at the meeting on Tuesday. Commissioner Anton wanted to raise the value of City property from $250,000 to $750,000 before being required to go to referendum ballot for any public property. Vice-Mayor Mikes felt this would not protect the City or the people. Commissioner Flury agreed with Vice-Mayor Mikes. She does not see the problem because we have already carved out the CRA and the parks. City Manager Pato asked what he would do if the City foreclosed on a piece of property valued at $255,000, and he was instructed by the Commission to sell the property. City Attorney Ansbro responded he would need a Special Election to ask the voters if the property could be sold. City Manager Pato felt a $30,000 cost for a Special Election to sell a $255,000 piece of property was not reasonable. He remarked we had four properties this year that the Commission said to sell, and one of them was over $250,000. Commissioner Anton remarked we are going on the pretext that future Commissions will be corrupt. Vice-Mayor Mikes remarked we are trying to put in protections that should have been there years ago. Commissioner Flury remarked a tremendous amount of work was done on this document. It is her understanding they should continue this review after the new Commission is elected and work through these items. Vice-Mayor Mikes suggested what he thought was a reasonable compromise: selling property up to $250,000 with a four-fifths vote, and up to $500,000 with a unanimous vote of the City Commission. City Attorney Ansbro will revise the language for Tuesday night. Al Jones remarked the Commission never addressed how the Charter Review Board would be constructed. He felt there should be more representation of minority members of the community. ® Minutes of Workshop 9 Dania Beach City Commission Fire Department Transport Reimbursement Charter Review Committee Recommendations Thursday,December 9,2004—6:00 p.m. • 5. Citizen Comment Jay Field commented the Charter Review Board considered many alternatives to how we run our elections. He felt the Commission should consider running for seats, as opposed to running at- large. He also has a problem with Special Elections for filling vacancies. He thinks the language needs to be clarified concisely, so the average person can understand it. City Attorney Ansbro responded he cannot make it any clearer. Mr. Field again asked the Commission to consider eliminating at-large elections. Joe Van Eron remarked progress has been made in the City during the past 3-4 years. He said he attended the first Charter Review Board meeting and questioned the fact that the public was not aware that a Charter Review was going on. He is not taking away from the work that the Charter Review Board did; the people on the Board were very dedicated. He thinks we need to review the way we review our Charter because what happened is that five people's opinion is coming forth through two people appointed by each person, and in many cases political allies as opposed to the will of the people. The people were not part of this process; the average citizen did not know this was going on. He asked how in clear conscience the Commission could ignore some of the very important things that took place at a lot of those meetings. He is not saying the Commission's decisions are wrong, but they are the decisions of five people executed by ten people appointed by the five people, and there has not been public input. He questioned how ® many things are going to go forward that are not the will of the people. He remarked the public is not informed and are not given the opportunity to be involved. He believes if they were given the opportunity to be involved we would not be having this kind of discussion; we would be moving forward with Charter revisions that are relevant and reflective of the citizens and the opinions and beliefs of everyone in this City. He does not believe this process was reflective of that. He remarked we are trying to make a Charter review and what really needs to be reviewed is how we review our Charter. He thinks the process was flawed and not representative. Vice-Mayor Mikes thinks this was inappropriate. He remarked you will not see community participation at many City meetings. It is very difficult to get community participation. He remarked that Mr. Van Eron insulted the members of the Board because they are representative of organizations and groups and have been key persons in those groups. He remarked this is a highly technical subject in a lot of areas. It is very difficult to throw away a Charter and pick up a new one. It is very difficult for a Committee to take the Charter and all it encompasses and just completely throw it away and start new again. He thinks the Committee did an excellent job. Mr. Van Eron stated he agreed with Vice-Mayor Mikes that the Board did an excellent job. But the fact is that there was no public participation and very little, if any,public notice. Vice-Mayor Mikes responded our meetings are televised and this was discussed. He also noted the Board meetings are posted on the Bulletin Board at the entrance to City Hall. ® Minutes of Workshop 10 Dania Beach City Commission Fire Department Transport Reimbursement Charter Review Committee Recommendations Thursday,December 9,2004—6:00 p.m. 6. Adjournment Mayor McElyea adjourned the workshop at 8:27 p.m. CITY OF DANIA BEACH ATTEST: C.K. MCELY -�' MAYOR-COMMISSIONER L"OUISE STILSON CITY CLERK Approved: January 11, 2005 Minutes of Workshop 1 1 Dania Beach City Commission Fire Department Transport Reimbursement Charter Review Committee Recommendations Thursday, December 9,2004—6:00 p.m.