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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2006-04-19 Marine Advisory Board Minutes • City of Dania Beach Marine Advisory Board Meeting Wednesday,April 19'b,2006 The meeting was called to order by Chairman Clive Taylor at 6:05 p.m. Members present: Debby Bradford Brian Carroll Mike Grady John Kofouros Craig McAdams Bernard Swindell Clive Taylor Louis Webb William Wosenitz Members absent: Ray Lair Charles McKenna Billy Phipps Carol Stokrocki Others present: Mark Felicetty,Senior Facilities Manager(Parks&Rec.) Officer Jason Little,BSO Hakeem Ismail,Marina Supervisor(Parks&Rec.) Suzanne Witz Bud Witz 5 students observers from South Broward High Chairman Taylor welcomed the guests and students. A question was asked in regard to the minutes. Chairman Taylor explained the meeting is taped and the tape is transcribed by Ms.Witt Copies of the minutes and agenda are mailed out to the board • members by Kathy in Mr.Pato's office. Minutes of the previous meeting were presented for approval. Motion to approve as written made by Bernard Swindell,seconded by Louis Webb. Motion carried. Copies of a fetter dated March 23'"from City Manager Pato to Chairman Taylor were distributed to the board members. The letter stated Mr.Leeds was unable to attend the March le board meeting as scheduled because he had an unexpected,last minute conflict. The letter also stated attendance at the board meetings by city personnel will depend on the subject matter the board intends to discuss. The letter made no mention of assignment of a liaison for the board. Chairman Taylor told the board a representative from the Finance Department had been scheduled to attend the meeting this evening but since the lifeguards are under recreation and the marina may be under recreation,Mark Felicetty,Senior Facilities Manager,Parks and Recreation is our guest this evening. Hakeem Ismail from Parks and Recreation is also present. Chairman Taylor then asked Mr.Ismail what big capacity is with the marina. Mr.Ismail said he is the Marina Supervisor. On learning Mr.Ismails position with the marina,Chairman Taylor said he had a number of questions he wanted to ask Mr.Ismail. Mr.Ismail agreed to answer anything he could. He was asked if he is the Dock Master,are all the marina slips filled,are there any live aboards,what is happening in regard to maintenance and upgrading the facilities. When Mr.Ismail began answering the questions he did not use a mike so part of his answers were not picked up on the tape. Mr.Ismail said he is the acting Dock Master.Most of the slips at the marina are filled and there are no live aboard.. There is maintenance work being done but it is going to take quite some time. 1. • • Chairman Taylor then asked Mr.Ismail if rentals are currently paid to the City and what has been done in regard to leasing. Mr.Ismail replied he had nothing he could report in that regard. At the present time everything is in transition and he had been instructed that rate structure and issues will be decided at the upcoming City Commission Meeting. Chairman Taylor explained to Mr.Ismail that about nine months ago City Manager Pato had asked for the boards help with suggestions and recommendations for the marina. Since that time the marina has been the main project the board has worked on. There has been a lot of time and effort put forth on the part of the board members. Information from other marinas in South Florida was carefully collected and recorded. A detailed blueprint of information and recommendations regarding getting everything repaired,up and running and a schedule of operation had been prepared by Mr.Kofouros. Next,Mr.Grady had some questions for Mr.Ismail.He asked what was the date the City took over the dock,are the people who presently have boats there now paying the City and are they paying in advance. Mr.Ismail said the date the City took over was March 1",2006,and the rent is now going to the City. He went on to say he didn't know whether or not they were paying in advance because that is all handled by the City Nuance Department. He stressed that anything that has to do with the payment or money is handled by the Finance Department. Mr.Grady next asked about whether or not the renters have provided proof of insurance.Mr.Ismail again said that is all handled by the Finance Department and he could not comment on it. Mr.Grady had one additional question,that being is there 24 hour security. Mr.Ismail said there is always somebody there from the security company. Mr.Felicetty commented he had placed that issue on a resolution for the last Commission Meeting and it was approved. Several members of the board asked Chairman Taylor if he had addressed the Commission on any of the above mentioned issues. His answer was no. He bad not discussed the issues with any of the • Commissioners or Mr.Pato.He reminded the board that at the board meeting in February Mr.Pato was asked if he had forwarded the boards recommendations and proposal to the Commission. Mr. Pato had said he had not passed any of the information along to the Commission but he promised he would see that the Commission received the recommendations and proposal before March 1". Chairman Taylor said he had assumed the Commission had received all the information by this time. On several occasions Mr.Pato had indicated he felt the Commissioners would want to either schedule the issue for a regular Commission meeting or else meet with the board for a workshop. However Chairman Taylor said he has not received any word from either the Commissioners or Mr.Pato in this regard. Mr.Wosenitz commented that at a recent Commission meeting he had heard that Mayor Flury and the City Manager were going to hire a consultant to take care of everything. He said Mr.Palo has had the boards report since December. The report covers the extensive work done by the board. The report may be still sitting on Mr.Patos desk The board has no way of knowing whether or not the Commissioners have seen it. If they are talking about hiring a consultant,then where does that leave the board?. is the board just spinning its wheels? Chairman Taylor said"That's a good question and I can't answer it" Chairman Taylor asked Mr.Ismail if he had inherited any paperwork from the people that were running the marina before,something with renters names and addresses and if any of them owed any money. Mr.Ismail said all the information he received was turned over to the Finance Department. Mr.Kofouros commented the board had discussed a number of issues over the last nine months. This had been done at the request of City Manager Pato. A great deal of time and effort bad been put forth toward trying to help the City establish a marina that would not only provide residents of • 2. • the City with a convenient,secure,attractive place for their boats but would also attract quality commercial endeavor,compliment other City projects and benefit the City financially. Mr.Kofouros was asked what happened to his research. He replied he had met with the City Manager in December and provided him with the board information and proposal. Mr.Pato attended the February board meeting and told the board the information was still in his desk at that time because the details of the transfer were still being worked out. He promised the board the report would be in the hands of the Commissioners before the marina takeover on March 1° Now we find ourselves in April,the marina has been taken over and the City 6 actively running it.None of our efforts have gone before the Commission so now I don't know what should be the boards next step. Mr.Grady suggested the information and proposal be sent to each of the Commissioners. He said "Let them either throw it in the trash or read it" He felt they should at least have an opportunity to see it. He said"A lot of time and effort has gone into tbis project As an advisory board,we've had all our people working on it and coming up with a project and all of a sudden it gets presented to one person and he sits on it" Chairman Taylor said "it's public information and we are an advisory board. We were appointed to advise the Commission,not just one person." A discussion followed. A motion was made by Mike Grady that copies of the proposal be made available to each of the Commissioners. The motion was seconded by Bernard Swindell. Motion carded unanimously Mr.Wosenwitz asked a question about the dredging project that is supposed to take place. Chairman Taylor said he has been trying to get the area underneath the US#1 bridge on the Dania Cut Off Canal included in the dredging but so far he hasn't had much success. He plans to go to the Broward County Marine Advisory Board and try to get them to agree that under the bridge should be added. Chairman Taylor explained that Mr.W osenwitz question concerned an item which the board had discussed quite sometime ago,having to do with a grant regarding an overall waterway inventory map. • The next item discussed was derelict boats.Chairman Taylor complimented Officer Jason Little for his good work on the derelict problem. He has prepared a booklet of pictures of derelicts and one of the derelicts pictured belongs to one of our former board members. Officer Little said he has been patrolling the Dania Cut Off Canal and the New River Canal looking for derelict vessels. He had identified seven in the Dania Beach area. He also contacted Officer Frank DeLatoire,who is the officer with FWC who handles derelict vessel removal in connection with the grant program. He said currently the State hasn't been providing funding for derelict removal since 2001. However he is optimistic that since this area has been clobbered two years in a row by hurricanes,some funding may be provided in the near future. The problem with barges was also discussed Chairman Taylor asked the board what items they felt should be included in the next meeting agenda. It was agreed that first and foremost should be the marina. The derelict boat problem should also be an agenda item. Also the presence of a code person would be very helpful. A general discussion followed. The entire board expressed disappointment and concern on the loss of Capt.Glenn Morris as the board liaison. He has truly been a great asset to the City. He contributed many extra hours and services above and beyond the scope of his employment There being no additional business to bring before the board,Chairman Taylor adjourned the meeting at 7:20 p.m. Respectfully submitted Clive Taylor,Chairman Suzanne Witz • 3.