Yearly Archives: 2010

Council of Civic Association
General Meeting Minutes
November 9, 2010
City Hall, 8th Floor
7:30 PM

1. Call to order. The meeting was called to order by President Doug Sterner at 7:30 PM.

2. Board members present: Genia Ellis, Juanita Gray, Marilyn Mammano, Donna Mergenhagen, David Parker, Shirley Smith, Bruce Tanner, and Tom Welch.

Board members absent: Gabriel Ocasio-Davila, Tom Welch

Guests attending:

3. Minutes. Motion made to accept the minutes of the September 14, 2010 meeting made by Marilyn, seconded by Betty Shelly and approved with unanimous consent.

4. Treasurer’s Report. Tom was not able to attend, but sent a written report. A motion to accept the report was made by Genia Ellis, seconded by Betty Shelly and approved with unanimous consent.

5. Police Report. Capt. Don Bolanger from operations support provided the report. He reported that crime is down 3% overall. There has been a 12%
reduction in robbery, and a 15% reduction in burglaries, but reminded everyone that the holidays are here and advises everyone that when purchasing expensive items such as electronics, bring them right home, do not go to other stores to shop to reduce threat of robbery. Do not leave your purse or anything else in your vehicle when it is unattended. When pulling in to a parking lot, look around and check your surroundings. Be aware of others sitting in their vehicles. Many time people sitting in their vehicles are typically not there to shop, but more likely checking out shoppers and vehicles. During the holidays “Operation Grinch” begins where shopping centers are flooded with marked police vehicles and police on horses. Everyone was also reminded to be aware of the surroundings when fueling your vehicles.

6. Noise Ordinance Changes. Mike Maloney, Code Enforcement Manager spoke on the noise ordinances speaking on behalf of Valerie Bohlander from the Code Department who was unable to attend. The process is in the middle stages and is a tough ordinance to enforce to reach a balance between protecting the resident and allowing businesses to operate and prosper.

The city commission created an action plan in 2009 and 2010 and got a lot of data and went to the entertainment district. Based on the data received, recommendations were made for the commission and mayor to consider. There is a concern about the enforceability of the ordinance. The mayor and commission will now provide direction on where the ordinance goes from here. The enforcement is difficult due to overtime budget constraints, resulting reactive rather than proactive behavior. Until more direction is given from the mayor it is premature to provide more specific information at this meeting. There is also a concern regarding generators and after hours construction. Questions were then taken from the floor.

7. Centennial Commission Centennial Presentation by Susan Gillis. Susan has been hired by the city temporarily to identify project and plan the events around them. Susan has six written books on Fort Lauderdale history, and designed a cover for Ft. Lauderdale in decades. A brief audio-visional presentation took place.

There will be four components to the portable displays, one in Fort Lauderdale, one Gateway to Everglades, one Tropical Wonderland in the 1920’s, and one The Venice of America on the history of Ft. Lauderdale. They are also working on traveling trunks aimed at children with replica artifacts that children can handle and learn about ft. Lauderdale history.

Susan has an intern and volunteers to help with assistance on centennial events.
Questions were taken and additional information about events and ways to create and participate in the celebration were also discussed. It was also announced that plaques will be put in parks around the city to provide information about the person the park was named for

8. Board of Directors Meeting. There will be a board of directors meeting on Nov 22, 2010.

9 Broward Pantry is having a food drive. Collection boxes can be requested and the panty will collect the boxes.

10. Holiday Party will take place on Dec 14. Members were requested to bring a dish to share. Ham and turkey provided by council.

11. Ad hoc Code Reform. Richard Mancuso was not in attendance. Winter & Company will meet with P&Z on Nov 30 for further discussions reported by Genia.

12. Membership – District Representatives. A District 1 rep is still needed reported by Marilyn and they are still looking.

13. Nominating Committee. Genia Ellis will chair with the following members being Betty Shelley from District 1, Madelyn Klein from District 2, Kathy Curry from District 3, and David Parker from District 4. Shirley Smith will serve as an alternate.

14. By-laws. Doug asked for those interested in serving on the by-laws committee. If interested n participating in the committee, please contact Doug.

15. Centennial Photo Event for the Council. Ft. Lauderdale in photos – 100 years later. Marilyn spoke and advised that the general public will be asked to provide photos of Ft. Lauderdale today with various categories (4) color or b/w, amateur or professional. Prizes will be given out. A series of presentations will take place in a number of different venues culminating in an awards event in a location to be determined. More information will be available at next meeting. This is the only official council centennial event.

There being no further business, the meeting was adjourned at 8:52 p.m.

Bruce Tanner, Recording Secretary

COUNCIL OF FORT LAUDERDALE CIVIC ASSOCIATIONS
General Membership Meeting
Tuesday, October 12, 2010

Report: Due to the lack of a quorum no official business was conducted.  In lieu of minutes of the meeting the following report is offered as a record of the proceedings.

The meeting began at approximately 6:15 pm.

Police Report – Capt. John Dale of the FLPD Criminal Investigations unit reported that violent crime in Fort Lauderdale has declined over the same period last year.  The murder rate is 50% lower than 2009, auto theft is down 65%.  Burglaries, both auto and residential have increased. He also reported that the FLPD has received a grant for an automated license plate reader.  Within a 20 day trial period where one car was fitted with the device and operated during 2 shifts, 16 stolen cars and 20 stolen tags were identified.

Forum on Ballot Amendments #8 and #4 – Dr. Joel Herbst, South Area Superintendent of Broward Schools offered an overview of the proposed State Constitutional Amendment #8 which will be on the Nov. 2, 2010 ballot.  The amendment calls for revising class size requirements for public schools.  The amendment would allow a school to use an average per school rather than the current limit which is based on each classroom.  The amendment, if passed, would also raise the limits for each grade grouping.  Dr. Herbst did not take a position on the Amendment.

The next topic discussed was Amendment 4 which would require referenda for the adoption or amendment of Local Government Land Use Plans.  Speaking in favor was Bett Willett of Hometown Democracy.  Opposed was Courtney Crush, a local land use attorney.  Each side was given 5 minutes for an opening statement, followed by 3 minutes each for rebuttals.  By toss of a coin the pro side elected to go last.  There was also a 15 minute Q&A period where members of the audience asked questions of both sides.  Finally both speakers were given 2 minutes for a closing statement.

The meeting ended at approximately 7:30pm.

Council of Civic Association
General Meeting Minutes
September 14, 2010
City Hall, 8th Floor
7:30 PM

1. Call to order. The meeting was called to order by President Doug Sterner at 7:32 PM.

2. Board members present: Juanita Gray, Donna Mergenhagen, David Parker, Betty Shelly, Shirley Smith, Richard Mancuso, Doug Sterner, Bruce Tanner and Tom Welch

Board members absent: Genia Ellis, Marilyn Mammano and Gabriel Ocasio

3. Approval of Minutes. A motion was made by Dave Parker to approve the minutes of the July 13, 2010 meeting, seconded by Betty Shelly and approved with unanimous consent.

4. Treasurers Report. Tom Welch provided a report for the period of June 1, 2010 through August 31, 2010. The beginning balance on June 1 was $8,796.61 and the end balance on August 31, 2010 was $8,006.31. The bank account was transferred to BB&T. Due to the slow summer season there was a modest $18.32 in income and $817.95 in expenses. There is a CD that will mature on September 28, 2010. A motion was made by Shirley Smith to accept the report, seconded by Betty Shelly, and approved with unanimous consent.

5. Police Report. Capt. Mike Gregory from District 1 provided the police report and reported that citywide violent crime is down 9%, there is a 2% reduction for property crimes, and overall crime is down 3% so far this year. Arrests are up 7% from the same period last year.

Red light cameras were also discussed and a handout provided by Capt. Gregory was reviewed. No points go on your license for running red lights and your insurance cannot be increased. The violation is against the owner of the vehicle, not the driver. The police department verifies and authorizes violations, not the outsourced company that maintains the camera system. State law requires that tickets must be issued no more than 30 days from the date of the violation.

If a homeowner association wants a presentation about the red light camera program it can be requested.

6. Announcement/Guest Introductions. Doug Sterner pointed out that next month the meeting time and location will change. On October 12 the meeting will take place at 6 PM and will be held in the cafeteria since the city is holding a workshop on selecting a new city manager.

The council received a letter from Jorg Hruschka thanking everyone for supporting Christmas in July.

At a prior board meeting, it was asked that there be a discussion of the noise ordinance the city is considering. According to Valerie Bohlander she is not able to put on a presentation as they are still sorting things out. They will have a presentation for the council at some time in the future.

At the October meeting, Amendment 4 will have people coming to speak about both sides of the issue which has to do with approval for development projects.

Betty is also working on a presentation for Amendment 8 at the October meeting.

7. Hal Barnes – Neighborhood Services & NCIP Grant. Hal announced that the Florida Neighborhood Conference and the structure has changed considerably. The conference is now set up as non profit and does not rely on the city for sponsorship. The 2011 will be held in Fort Lauderdale. Pier 66 will be the host facility, Thursday July 7-9, 2011. The conference will take place within the hotel and not using city facilities. A general review of the program for the conference was took place. The conference has been scaled back in cost primarily due to economic considerations. It is projected that there most likely be 200-300 attendees which is less by comparison to the event in prior years.

Hal also announced NCIP and BCIP grant applications will be accepted through next Friday at 4:30 when the grant cycle closes. From there they will go through the process including presentations and recommendations. These are matching grants with the City of Fort Lauderdale. The amount of money available through grants will be determined and confirmed when the city budget is approved. $450,000 is anticipated for neighborhoods, and $90,000 for businesses.

Hal also is the liaison to the city utility advisory committee for a meeting on Sept 28 which AT&T who will put on their AT&T U-verse presentation.

8. Special Election District 1 Representative. Drew Pickens resigned and that position needs to be filled. Doug Sterner asked for nominations but there were none. A motion to defer filling the vacancy was made by Richard Mancuso, seconded by Donna Mergenhagen and approved with unanimous consent..

9. Committee Reports

Centennial Committee Donna Mergenhagen reviewed the progress of the event and indicated that things are moving forward quickly. One of the goals of the committee is to see that groups that exist work to create celebrations. Donna reviewed and provided ideas on how to create events including park openings, park plaques dedications, and acknowledgement of state historic markers.

The report also provided ideas for how to create events including a variety of tours. There are several tours already that will be posted to the web site.

Ad Hoc Code Reform Richard Mancuso. Richard Mancuso reported that the committee met with staff to discuss lack of progress and lack of product produced. At the open house for planning department and to express concern. There will be a more thorough report at the next meeting.

Membership District Representatives Dave Parker reported that the 911 event on Las Olas had a great turnout. It was the third year for the event with representatives from neighboring cities attending. The annual event continues to grow.

Juanita Gray reported that she is trying to attend as many homeowner association meetings as possible.

Committees Gabe Ocasio. Gabe was not able to attend the meeting so the report was postponed until the next meeting.

Education Advisory Board Betty Shelly A report will be made next month.

New Business

For the Good of the Community – Dave Parker spoke about an event on September 20 for the Sailboat Bend Civic Association.

There being no further business, the meeting was adjourned at 8:40 PM.

Bruce Tanner, Recording Secretary

Council of Civic Association
General Meeting Minutes
July 13, 2010
City Hall, 8th Floor
7:30 PM

1. Call to order. The meeting was called to order by President Doug Sterner at
7:30 PM.

2. Board members present: Genia Ellis, Juanita Gray, Marilyn Mammano, Donna Mergenhagen, Gabriel Ocasio, David Parker, Betty Shelley, Shirley Smith, Doug Sterner and Bruce Tanner.

Board members absent: Drew Pickens

3. Approval of Minutes. A motion was made by Genia Ellis to approve the minutes of the June 8, 2010 meeting, seconded by Shirley Smith and approved with unanimous consent.

4. Treasurers Report. Tom Welch did not have a treasurers report for the meeting. There was a motion to defer the treasurers report by David Marshall seconded by Gabriel Ocasio, and passed with unanimous consent.

5. Police Report. Russ Hanstein provided the police report. In June there was a spike in part one crime which increased by 4% in the entire city which was the only increase in over a year. Action plans have been implemented, which resulted in crime decreasing by 8% from last month. Pain clinic problems were also addressed. There is not a lot the police can on their own with pain clinics because HIPA must be involved. HIPA has worked with the police and done four joint venture projects like review of the clinic near Holy Cross, when the department of health, code enforcement and police went in they were able to shut down the clinic. All of the medications were confiscated and the doctor on the site turned in her license. The next day, both clinics owned by this individual also closed down.

Most recently a review was performed at the Park Place Medical Group on SE 4th Avenue, which is not associated with Broward General. Their medical records and pedigree were reviewed which provides the information for how many pills are allowed. Upon leaving, almost 90,000 pills and approximately $14,000 in cash was confiscated. The location has dramatically increased the charge for clients to go in which has been drastically decreased the number of clients.

6. Announcements and Guest Introductions.
Judge Eileen Connor was introduced.
Hal Barnes was acknowledged and announced that NCIP grants applications are now open and announced where workshops will take place. September 24 is the deadline for applying.

7. Scheduling announcements by Doug Sterner. The next meeting for general membership will be September 14. There will be no meeting in August. There will be no board meeting in July, but the board will meet on August 24 in advance of the next general membership meeting.

Doug also announced that Drew Pickens submitted his resignation. There will be an election forthcoming for District 1 to fill the position.

8. Old Business.

9. Committee Reports.

Centennial Committee. Donna Megenhagen reported that the commission approved the hiring of Susan Gillis as historian consultant, who was selected as best of the RFP’s for the position. Ms. Gillis is widely published, and has been a curator for many years. Donna hopes to have Ms. Gillis come to a meeting to provide a general presentation before the centennial.

Donna also showed the Official Centennial Registry Application which can result in the sanctioning of projects.

Donna also reported that all other centennial events and projects will have to be paid for by fundraising, as all of the available funding has been used. Everyone was encouraged to put a project together to celebrate the centennial celebration.

Ad Hoc Code Reform Richard Mancusco reported that a few months ago an update was provided to the commission. Next week at Planning and Zoning another presentation will take place. Comments on the draft document, which has been available on the web site, have been being accumulated by Genia Ellis. Everyone was encouraged to review the documents and provide comments.

Membership €œ District Representatives. Juanita Gray reported that the June meeting of the District 3 Commissioner took place at River Land Park. Senator Chris Smith and Representative Perry Thurston attended. Additional town hall meetings are scheduled for candidates.

Education Advisory Board€œ Betty Shelley reported that some magnet schools are being cut. The advisory board is concerned about many things going on in the city because of enrollment going down in Ft. Lauderdale and funds increasing in other areas. There will be no meeting in July. Meetings will resume in August.

10. Planning & Zoning Presentation. Greg Brewton, from Planning and Zoning Department spoke about PUD. In 2002 staff presented to P&Z the PUD ordinance which allows development that may not meeting underlying zoning requirements of a property, but if it met some of the criteria, that it could provide a better product and could be considered for approval. Three PUDS (Planned Unit Developments) have been approved since 2002. Satori and Sailboat Bend have been approved and built so far. There are others in the review process. Questions and answers were provided for the members of the council.

11. New Business. None.

12. Neighborhoods Conference Report. Genia Ellis and Jo Ann Kitchen Simmons attended the conference. Genia reported that this was a smaller conference than it has been in the past, because it is transitioning which will help make hosting the event easier. The State Planning Committee is lobbying to bring the conference to Ft. Lauderdale for next July. Meeting with local hotels for reasonable goods/services can make Ft. Lauderdale a great location to host the event. Genia was interested in homeless tasks forces in Tampa and St. Pete and Orlando and had the opportunity to learn a bout ordinances used in other cities, since they have different things to offer, for example, sleeping on the street is allowed, but not sleeping in the parks. Feeding of the homeless in different cities was also reviewed. CPTED (Crime Prevention Through Environment Design) for public safety was also of interest to Genia. She brought a large number of conference documents to share via disk for any interested neighborhood.

Jo Ann Kitchen Simmons also attended for the first time and reported that the most the most valuable information she found was relating to homeless and ways to decease the number of people on the street. Round tables instead of benches for example deter people from sleeping on the benches. Jo Ann spoke about the formation of the groups for children like those that partner with the Police Athletic Association. There needs to be more offered to the youth to keep them safe. Jo Ann also attended a workshop on foreclosed properties and the need to improve communication between property owners and code enforcement.

More information with specifics on ideas learned at the conference that can be implemented in Ft. Lauderdale was requested for the next meeting.

There being no further business, the meeting was adjourned at 9:10.

Respectfully submitted,
Bruce Tanner, Recording Secretary

General Meeting
June 08, 2010
Minutes

Call to Order by President Sterner at approximately 7:30 PM followed by the pledge of allegiance.

Roll call was made Vice President Mammano who announced that there was a quorum of members present.

Meeting Minutes were provided by e-mail, posted to the web page and were available at the meeting.  By a unanimous vote of the members present, the minutes were accepted as presented.

Treasurers report was provided by Tom Welch indicating a working balance of $3,264.40 was available in the General Fund and that the Ascencia CD currently was value at $5,532.21 totaling a net worth of $8,796.61.  The Treasurers report was accepted by a unanimous vote of the members present.

The Fort Lauderdale Police Department did not make a report as is customarily done on city-wide issues and crime.

LIGHTHOUSE OF Broward, Kevin Johnston, Development Coordinator  provided a brief presentation to the membership about the services provided at their Fort Lauderdale location at 650 N. Andrews Avenue.  The objective of this organization is to assist those blind or nearly blind in maintaining a lifre of independence through training and assistance.  The membership is invited and encouraged to tour the facility.

PEDESTRIAN SAFETY œ City Staff were invited to address the concerns of member neighborhoods and residents and to provide an update on the plan being developed and the intended implementations.

Assistant City Manager David Hebert introduced the team and identified what areas they would be covering.  Assistant Chief Steve Kinsey provided an overview of the current regulations available for enforcement and a variety of approaches being tested and implemented and others under consideration.  He clearly emphasized that all approaches will be budget driven in these challenging economic times.  During the first phase of the plan will be enforcement of existing laws, public outreach for education and the testing of signage currently being done on the beach.  He defined the most recent state legislation regarding pedestrians in the right of way which was enacted in 2008.

Patrol Officer Juan Figona provided statistics of the current success of the FLPD in enforcement and answered questions regarding pedestrian ways (sidewalks) and how bicycles are allowed to use those areas.

Petula Burke, Public Information Office, provide a number of handouts and defined the program underway for educating children so that they take the information home.  There were further discussion as to how this information might be best used in hotels, airports and the like to educate visitors and to assist our international visitors in learning local regulations.  The PIO is working on a webpage link that will have information on crosswalks, bicycle and driver safety.

Heslop Daley, Traffic Engineer, advised that because the roads are county input would be required from them.  He also indentified possible sources of funding such as grants or money from the parking fund that could be considered.

SPECIAL ELECTION œ The Council of Fort Lauderdale held a special election to select a recording secretary to complete the existing term of member David Marshall.  A nomination was made from the floor on behalf of Bruce Tanner, South Middle River Civic Association.  No other candidates applied to run for the position and Bruce Tanner was unanimously elected by the members present.

CENTENNIAL COMMITTEE REPORT €œ Donna Mergenhagen reported that the committee had hired a historian with funds allocated by the city.  It Is anticipated that forms will be made available to neighborhoods for information.  Additional marketing is being done and the generation and maintenance of a master list of events that will be happing during the centennial year.

AD H OC CODE REFORM€œ Genia Ellis reported for Richard Mancuso and updated the membership on the recent NDRC workshop held by the city on June 2nd.  Winter and Company provided a 140 page document that was to reflect the comments and concerns of the residents and to identify a plan and phasing for implementation.  The same presentation will be provided to P&Z on June 16th to update that Board and obtain additional information.  The general consensus of the very few people that attended the workshop was there was an inadequate amount of time to review the documents before the workshop.  Secondly, the data at first review omitted a large number of items initially proposed by the Council and that  it appeared to be a relative generic document in part and was offering little or no incentives.  It had also a selected form based approach to regulation which was not an approach found acceptable by the Council when last discussed.

The original committee has committed to reviewing the documents and compiling those comments to be sent back to the city.  All neighborhoods are encouraged individually to do the same thing.  The committee agreed to attempt t have a working document ready by the August board meeting.  Each resident is encouraged to go on-line, read the document, and to complete the comment form available for submission.

DISTRICT REPRESENTATIVES œ each representative present gave an update on what was being done to encourage additional membership in the area and of other events of interest in their district.

NEW BUSINESS

Drew Pickens was commended on the proposed e-newsletter that was used for the most recent meeting to include the agenda.  This vehicle provides many new possible uses to get information out during the month.  It was also noted that the web address should be added to the form.

Sheri Roberts of Neighborhood Services announced the opening of the new NCIP/BCIP Grant cycle on June 16, 2010.  All neighborhoods are encouraged to participate.

Secondly, Ms. Roberts provided a flyer on the upcoming Florida Neighborhood Conference in St. Petersburg and encouraged neighborhoods to take advantage of this opportunity.

Genia Ellis inquired as to whether this Council would be allocating funding to attend this conference as we have in the past.  After a spirited discussion, the members present voted to provide $500 each to (two) Council members or alternates to attend, provided they had not used Council funds to attend in the past.  The objective is to encourage members who have not attended before to become involved.  This passed by a vote of 8 to 2.

Meeting adjourned at 9:18 PM.

Respectfully submitted by Genia Duncan Ellis at the request of Doug Sterner.