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HomeMy WebLinkAbout1598853 - MINUTES - CRA MINUTES OF VIRTUAL MEETING DANIA BEACH COMMUNITY REDEVELOPMENT AGENCY TUESDAY, JULY 28, 2020 - 5:30 P.M. 1. Call to Order/Roll Call Chair Lewellen called the meeting to order at 5:33 p.m. Present: Chair: Lori Lewellen Vice-Chair: Lauren Odman Board Members: Chickie Brandimarte Bill Harris Tamara James Executive Director: Rickelle Williams City Attorney: Thomas Ansbro CRA Secretary: Thomas Schneider 2. Citizen Comments There were no comments at this meeting. 3. Administrative Reports 3.1 Administrative Report Director Williams reviewed highlights of the information included in the agenda packet regarding the proposed budget, the business survey, the PATCH, the next loan-to-grant conversion request to Broward County, closing dates for the first four homes in the housing program, partnering with the Casino and Dania Pointe for upcoming events, the beautification program(special participant Evelyn Williams), and Dania Beach signage. 4. Presentations 4.1 Commercial Property Improvement Grants Director Williams noted because of COVID-19, the CRA is not hosting grand openings for businesses and are utilizing a different approach. She presented videos on Commercial Property Improvement Grant recipients Associates MD Medical Group, The Fish Grill and Alex's Flamingo Groves and Gift Shop, which will be used as marketing tools for the grant program. A brief discussion ensued regarding improvements made to The Fish Grill, particularly the new sign. 5. Consent Agenda Items Removed from ConsentAgenda: #5.5 5.1 Minutes: Approve Minutes of June 9, 2020 CRA Board Meeting 5.2 Travel Requests: None 5.3 RESOLUTION NO. 2020-CRA-009 A RESOLUTION OF THE BOARD OF DIRECTORS OF THE DANIA BEACH COMMUNITY REDEVELOPMENT AGENCY("CRA") OF THE CITY OF DANIA BEACH, FLORIDA, AUTHORIZING THE PROPER CRA OFFICIALS TO ENCUMBER AN ADDITIONAL AMOUNT NOT TO EXCEED TWELVE THOUSAND TWO HUNDRED NINETY-EIGHT DOLLARS AND FORTY-FIVE CENTS ($12,298.45) WITH WEISS, SEROTA, HELFMAN, COLE & BIERMAN, P.L., TO CONTINUE TO PROVIDE LEGAL SERVICES AS SPECIAL COUNSEL TO THE CRA; PROVIDING FOR CONFLICTS; FURTHER, PROVIDING FOR AN EFFECTIVE DATE. 5.4 RESOLUTION NO. 2020-CRA-010 A RESOLUTION OF THE BOARD OF DIRECTORS OF THE COMMUNITY REDEVELOPMENT AGENCY ("CRA") OF THE CITY OF DANIA BEACH, FLORIDA, ESTABLISHING A LOTTERY SYSTEM AND AWARDING TWO (2) PARTICIPANT-COMMITMENTS FOR BENEFITS OF TWENTY THOUSAND DOLLARS ($20,000.00)PER HOUSEHOLD UNDER THE FIRST-TIME HOMEBUYERS PROGRAM OF THE AT HOME DANIA BEACH PROGRAM; PROVIDING FOR CONFLICTS; FURTHER, PROVIDING FOR AN EFFECTIVE DATE. Vice-Mayor Odman motioned to approve the Consent Agenda, with the exception of Item #5.5; seconded by Board Member James. The motion carried unanimously. Chair Lewellen administered the lottery drawing for Item 5.4 and drew the names of the two awardees; first place was Corinthian Jones and second place was Daudi Jean-Louis. 5.5 RESOLUTION NO. 2020-CRA-011 A RESOLUTION OF THE BOARD OF DIRECTORS OF THE DANIA BEACH COMMUNITY REDEVELOPMENT AGENCY("CRA"), OF THE CITY OF DANIA BEACH FLORIDA,ESTABLISHING THE DANIA BEACH CRA SMALL BUSINESS RESILIENCY REIMBURSEMENT GRANT PROGRAM AND AMENDING THE FISCAL YEAR 2019-2020 BUDGET BY ALLOCATING FIFTY THOUSAND DOLLARS ($50,000.00) TO FUND THE GRANT; PROVIDING FOR CONFLICTS; FURTHER, PROVIDING FOR AN EFFECTIVE DATE. City Attorney Ansbro read the title of Resolution#2020-CRA-011 Minutes of Virtual Regular Meeting 2 Dania Beach Community Redevelopment Agency Tuesday,July 28,2020—5:30 p.m. Chair Lewellen questioned whether the grant is limited to small businesses of five or less employees. Director Williams replied yes; consideration is for micro-sized small business. Chair Lewellen asked Director Williams if she was able to research the number of small businesses of that size in our City. Director Williams stated she has no way of retrieving that particular information. She did research and the City has 2,200 businesses within the CRA that have business tax receipts. Chair Lewellen spoke of ensuring that small businesses are not limited to purchasing only PPE items, but also allowing funding to be used for anything they need help with. Director Williams projects the funding to go rapidly. Additionally, they are looking into the grant being reimbursable to assist businesses that have already utilized resources. The CRA is being conservative trying to keep a balanced budget through the end of the fiscal year. Board Member James asked if we are doing any phasing that could possibly increase the amount. She is going to reach out to the City Manager to mirror something like this for businesses that are not in the CRA. Director Williams replied there is a potential to identify more funds, but would prefer to start here, and ask for a budget amendment at the next meeting for additional funding if necessary. She would not want to give a number on the spot, but would not rule out potential funding. She prefers to wait until August 25th so we can evaluate this. Board Member James asked if there would be a savings from the travel budget due to COVID; she is willing to donate her budgeted money for travel to donate to the small businesses. Director Williams responded the travel cost savings would be looked at and provided to the Board at the next meeting. Vice-Chair Odman thought the travel money was previously allocated and given to the small business grant already. She felt all travel money should be utilized in this effort. Director Williams answered she has been working on the budget to identify cost savings. If Vice-Chair Odman and Board Member James want to specify that their travel budgets go towards the grant, she would like to bring it back to the Board to identify the allocation to the Board. Vice-Chair Odman said the other Board Members should be asked to donate their travel money as she does not foresee travel happening. Chair Lewellen requested to hear from the Finance Director whether the money is needed for something else other than PPE. Minutes of Virtual Regular Meeting 3 Dania Beach Community Redevelopment Agency Tuesday,July 28,2020—5:30 p.m. Director Williams noted CRA staff would meet with Finance on Thursday about their budget. Frank DiPaolo, Director of Finance, agreed that after looking at the budget on Thursday with CRA staff they would be able to identify any cost saving revenues. We will take a good look at everything as a whole and will come up with a reasonable solution. Chair Lewellen would like to explore using the travel allocation for more than just PPE items. The businesses need help with rent,payroll, and even building repairs. Director Williams noted when the shutdown began, she brought forward to the Board the possibility of initiating a program that addressed rent or payroll assistance. There is no provision for this in the existing CRA Plan. We would need a CRA Plan amendment and budget amendment to do so. When we started the reopening phase, through outreach, we identified that some of key needs of the businesses,based on reopening, were PPE and marketing. Chair Lewellen commented she would like to explore other avenues, as well, as opposed to making it strictly for PPE. Director Williams said the other eligible uses for the grant that are justifiable under the CRA Plan could be looked into; there is flexibility if the need falls within our discretion with the intention of the grant. If there is something justifiable based on the language of the grant, the Board does have flexibility to honor the grant. Board Member Harris asked if we could do some in-service programs for the availability of funds from the Economic Injury Disaster Loans (EIDL) as well as the $1.3 million still available in the PPP. It is a lot of paperwork, but he is willing to help, as the responses have been good. Director Williams responded she knows the SBA has virtual technical assistance; we can increase promotion of that and connect people with those who are administering the grant. She would like to do an in-service training, but given where we are with the pandemic, she would like to try the virtual route first, and would promote the SBA's virtual mentoring training. Board Member Harris noted he helped three businesses with the EIDL loan; the resources are there. Director Williams said she would bring it back August 25t', after exploring all avenues, for approval of additional funds, and would like to keep it at a lower amount in order to spread it out among many businesses. Board Member James motioned to adopt Resolution #2020-CRA-011; seconded by Board Member Harris. The motion carried unanimously. 6. Proposals and Bids Minutes of Virtual Regular Meeting 4 Dania Beach Community Redevelopment Agency Tuesday,July 28,2020—5:30 p.m. There were no proposals on this agenda. 7. Discussion and Possible Action 7.1 Styrofoam regulations - Thomas Ansbro, CRA Attorney CRA Attorney Ansbro noted Chair Lewellen was approached by a local environmental activist to see if the City would be in interested in adopting an ordinance to prohibit the use of Styrofoam products in the City. He spoke of cities that have adopted an ordinance and explained it prohibits vendors and distributors from marketing, selling and providing Styrofoam products in the cities. This would affect the CRA and City, and would preclude new contractors or vendors from using those products unless they were a part of the few allowable exceptions. We propose to give a six-month time period to gear up for this. This would add to the successful plastic straw ordinance and would be an additional effort to help the local environment. Board Member James questioned if this is only for City properties. CRA Attorney Ansbro explained any vendor or food truck on City property would be prohibited from the use or distribution. Board Member James asked if it includes private events and organizations that receive City funding. The exemption would have been more effective if we could have made it like the straw ordinance. She wants to make sure private events are spelled out clearly as to what applies to them. CRA Attorney Ansbro said this would be defined for second reading of the ordinance. Board Member Brandimarte felt this is not the right time for this. At the IT Parker facility, Styrofoam products are used; dishes are not washed by hand. She does not approve of this ordinance applying to restaurants. CRA Attorney Ansbro clarified restaurants would not be affected. The state pre-empted counties and cities from regulating the restaurants. This is a small, but significant way, to let people know those products are not desired to be used on City property. The law would take effect in six months. Board Member James suggested we put the effective date six months after everything opens back UP. CRA Attorney Ansbro noted he does not know what trigger event would determine that everything is open. We can revisit it in six months and possibly push it out farther before it is enforced. Chair Lewellen agreed we could always revisit it to push out enforcement. Minutes of Virtual Regular Meeting 5 Dania Beach Community Redevelopment Agency Tuesday,July 28,2020—5:30 p.m. CRA Attorney Ansbro reviewed the timeline of passage and enforcement based on the Commission directive. Vice-Chair Odman commented that if you wait six months, you might wait another six and another six. We should come up with a benchmark, some measurable criteria for what that means for the majority of the Board. She is anti-single use products and felt losses should be eaten and investment in paper or plant-based products be made. We need to come up with something to measure the initiation of enforcement or else we will keep pushing the date back. CRA Attorney Ansbro said the ordinance would be adopted but only enforced under the Commission direction. Board Member Brandimarte noted she would rather buy the time. Chair Lewellen said give it six months and at that time, revisit it; she is hopeful by that time we will have a better sense of things. Board Member James agreed we need something measurable, and suggested six months after the City has opened back up to give people the opportunity to use their inventory. This would allow vendors to understand in order to start budgeting for stocking up on those particular products before the enforcement date. This will prevent coming back and forth with the enforcement. CRA Attorney Ansbro clarified this only applies to City facilities, City events and City vendors. Director Williams felt the CRA Board would have to come to a consensus. CRA Attorney Ansbro said a six-month wait period would be built into the ordinance. Next February, the six months will expire and at that time, we will bring it to the CRA Board and City Commission to revisit for a further extension or enforcement conditioned on a watershed moment. The Board consensus was to make it effective in February, but enforcement would not occur until it comes back to the Board and Commission, and the Commission says it is ready to be enforced. 8. Board Member Comments Board Member Brandimarte read from a brochure entitled House Rules that provided health safety precautions while dining in restaurants in order to prevent the spread of COVID-19. Board Member Brandimarte thanked the City for donating food boxes to the Meadowbrook condominium residents. 9. Information Items Minutes of Virtual Regular Meeting Dania Beach Community Redevelopment Agency Tuesday,July 28,2020—5:30 p.m. There were no items on this agenda. 10. Adj ournment Chair Lewellen adjourned the meeting at 6:46 p.m. ATTEST: COMMUNITY REDEVELOPMENT AGENCY r THOMAS SCHNEIDER, CMC ORI EW LEN CRA SECRETARY CHAIR—CRA Approved: August 25, 2020 DANIA BEACH o0�+�utr�o�vEwrrNNt Minutes of Virtual Regular Meeting 7 Dania Beach Community Redevelopment Agency Tuesday,July 28,2020—5:30 p.m.