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06/17/1993 COMMUNITY REDEVELOPMENT AGENCY June 17, 1993 The City Commission, meeting as the Community Redevelopment Agency, met in regular session at City Hall, Thursday, June 17, 1993 at 4:30 P.M., with the following members present: Rita Garvey Chairperson Richard Fitzgerald Member Sue Berfield Member Arthur X. Deegan, II Member Fred Thomas Member Phil Henderson Ex-officio Member Lillian Trickel Ex-officio Member Also Present were: Michael J. Wright Executive Director Milton A. Galbraith, Jr. Attorney Jerry Sternstein Economic Development Director Cynthia E. Goudeau Secretary ITEM II. - Minutes: Member Deegan moved to approve the minutes of the June 3, 1993, meeting. The motion was duly seconded and carried unanimously. In order to provide continuity for research, the items will be listed in agenda order although not necessarily discussed in that order. ITEM III. - Unfinished Business a) Rules of Conduct - Res. #93-2 The CRA has been working on their rules of conduct over several meetings and is now considering the resolution to establish the rules. Member Fitzgerald questioned rule #5 now that the Commission has changed their meeting dates. He felt it would be appropriate to change so the CRA is only meeting prior to one of the Commission meetings in a particular Commission meeting week. Member Thomas felt the rules could be left as they are and any meetings not needed could be canceled. The Attorney stated they may want to change the wording to regularly scheduled evening meetings. Member Thomas again expressed his opinion that it would give the CRA flexibility to leave the resolution as it is currently written which would say that the CRA would meet prior to regularly scheduled business meetings of the Commission. Further discussion ensued regarding whether or not to change the rule. Member Berfield stated she would prefer Monday meetings, not Thursday meetings. Member Thomas stated he agreed but he was just wanting to keep flexibility of allowing meetings before any of the Commission meetings. Member Fitzgerald felt the rule should be specific as to the scheduled meetings of the CRA. The Executive Director pointed out that if a special meeting was needed, other than the Monday meeting, there would be time to notice it and hold it before a Thursday evening Commission meeting. Consensus of the CRA was to change the first sentence of rule #5 to read as follows: The agency shall meet immediately prior to the conduct of regular daytime meetings of the City Commission and may schedule worksessions as needed. In response to a question, it was indicated these meetings would not be every Monday but on the Mondays on which there is a City Commission meeting. Member Thomas pointed out in rule #15, (a), the word "the" should be removed from the last full line of text. The Attorney presented Resolution #93-2 and read it by title only. Member Thomas moved to pass and adopt Resolution #93-2 as amended and authorize the appropriate officials to execute same. The motion was duly seconded and upon roll call, the vote was: "Ayes": Fitzgerald, Berfield, Deegan, Thomas and Garvey. "Nays": None. b) Public/Private Partnership Jerry Sternstein, Economic Development Director, listed some current public/private partnerships. Member Deegan stated these were ventures, not partnerships. Mr. Sternstein agreed and suggested if the CRA is interested in a Community Development Corporation (CDC), there would be a need to recapture the information from the Planning and Development Department regarding the demographics and distressed area information that was compiled for the Enterprise Zone. Member Deegan moved that the Executive Director of the CRA, over the summer months, form a Community Development Corporation, using the City's Enterprise Zone as the target area and also over the summer months, prepare the application for a planning grant as per the information that came from Tallahassee. The motion was duly seconded. Member Deegan elaborated on his purpose stating the CDC is subject to receiving grants from the State and working with banks to form lending bodies. It is his purpose to do for the business community what has been done for residential areas in the Enterprise Zone. He stated an agency older than five years old can not ask for the planning grant and therefore the CDC which would be formed would make this request. This would provide $50,000 each for two years. He stated it is not a competitive grant. He stated after the two years of planning grants, an administrative grant would be applied for. Member Fitzgerald questioned what commitment of City funds would be needed. Member Deegan stated there would be no City commitment as this would be funded through the CRA with the Executive Director working with the Economic Development Director. The Executive Director stated the Planning Department staff would have alot of the information needed. Member Deegan felt the Executive Director should use CRA funds and staffing to do this project. Member Fitzgerald still expressed concern regarding the administrative costs for this. Member Deegan again expressed his belief that it should be handled by the Executive Director and the Economic Development Director and that this would be the most important project for them to be working on over the next few months. Member Fitzgerald still asked what the potential costs may be. Member Deegan indicated the postage to create the election in the Enterprise Zone for the Board of Directors would be the cost he foresaw and that the CDC would have to take care of itself. He stated his target date for accomplishing this would be September 30, 1993. Mr. Sternstein indicated that using the current Enterprise Zone would allow the use of the 1980 census and that 50% of the work has already been accomplished. He stated costs would be minimal and the Enterprise Zone has already been declared blighted. Member Deegan felt the Downtown Development Plan could be used as the plan for the area. Mr. Sternstein also indicated that he had talked to Scott Ferris regarding the incubator proposal and that it would be able to be tied in to a CDC. Member Deegan restated his motion. Upon the vote being taken, the motion carried unanimously. c) CETA (STEPPS) Building Report Mr. Sternstein reported he had received one public contact from Gem Star Realty. He sent information to them on June 4th and had not had any further contact. He stated another contact does not wish to go public but may be interested in either the CETA or Bilgore property. He requested further direction based on the discussion at the last meeting regarding revising the ad, essentially dropping that the building was constructed in 1943. Member Thomas stated he would like to readvertise and to advertise for lease or sale and drop the construction in 1943. Chairperson Garvey questioned whether or not it was the time to attempt to sell the building as what happens on the Annex property across the street could affect the value of the property. Member Deegan stated he would like to have a discussion regarding all of CRA property. Member Fitzgerald re-emphasized the reason for leasing the property at this time was that if there were improvements to the Annex property, the value of the property would increase. Member Deegan stated he was ready to consider any proposals for purchase. Chairperson Garvey expressed concerns regarding being obligated to sell the property if an offer was made. It was stated that as long as this is not done through an agent and there is no specific price, there would be no obligation to sell if the CRA did not feel the offer was in its best interest. Member Thomas moved to readvertise the property for sale or lease striking the words "constructed in 1943". The motion was duly seconded. Member Deegan requested the motion be amended by adding the words "and otherwise market". Member Thomas accepted the amendment and the seconder accepted the amendment. Upon the vote being taken on the amended motion, it carried unanimously. ITEM IV. - New Business a) Funding for Beach to Downtown Trolley On March 18, 1993, the Commission approved a three month continuation of the beach to downtown trolley service, which will expire June 30th and directed staff to propose alternative funding sources. The Commission has now expressed an intention to continue the service for an additional three months, July through September, to allow time for the formation of a private non-profit corporation to oversee the trolley services. The Commission has requested the CRA provide the estimated $32,100 funding for this period. It is recommended a budget amendment be approved and funding be transferred to the City General Fund from the current year revenues of the CRA. CRA financial statements, as of April 30, 1993, indicate that approximately $310,000 is available in the fund for appropriation to specific projects. Member Thomas moved to approve a budget amendment to appropriate $32,100 of CRA fund monies to provide funding for the three month continuation of the beach to downtown trolley service and that the appropriate officials be authorized to execute same. The motion was duly seconded. Member Fitzgerald questioned whether or not the proposed non-profit corporation and trolley service would be ready for consideration prior to this expiring. The Executive Director stated he felt it would be and the monies required for that are in the budget. Upon the vote being taken, the motion carried unanimously. ITEM Chairperson and Vice-Chair Member Thomas stated the rules, which have been adopted, require the election of a chairperson and vice-chair. He moved that the chair of the CRA be Mr. Fitzgerald and the vice-chairperson be Ms. Garvey. The motion was duly seconded. Chairperson Garvey expressed concerns regarding the rule requiring the election be in April. Discussion ensued regarding the rules just being put into effect. It had been stated once the rules were in effect, the CRA would abide by those rules. The Attorney indicated the Chairperson has never been elected for the CRA and that a new organization would not wait until April to elect the officers. Member Berfield questioned whether or not Member Fitzgerald would accept the appointment. Member Fitzgerald indicated he would accept the appointment at the moment. Upon the vote being taken, the motion carried unanimously. Member Deegan requested an update on the recruitment of the space inventory. Mr. Sternstein indicated he has a draft of a memo that would be going out the first of the next week and he will be requesting direction from the DDB. He indicated all the field work is finished and the inventory should be ready for use in a couple of weeks. Member Deegan reminded the members they had agreed that along with regular financial reports, they would also like reports on the goals/objectives of the Executive Director. He requested that at the next meeting the following topics be discussed: 1) overall CRA properties; 2) the use of the DDB inventory; 3) update on the retail recruitment area; and 4) the incubator. The Executive Director reported that the CRA owns three properties, the Bilgore site, the garage and the CETA building. He stated City staff is working with Al Justice to finalize the sale of the Sun Bank building. One problem that has occurred is the need for parking and he stated they are looking at two sites, those being the Pierce Street garage and the Bilgore site. He questioned whether or not the CRA was interested in making CRA property part of the Sun Bank proposal. Member Deegan questioned whether or not they wished to close at the same time and whether this should be a separate proposal. The Executive Director indicated it would be one deal with two parts. Member Berfield questioned whether or not the building and garage were sold as one deal to the City. The Executive Director indicated the City did not purchase the CRA half of the parking garage. He further indicated the purchasers of the building have indicated a need for additional parking of about 200 spaces and economics are more important to them than location. He indicated he has told the parties there is no negotiating room in the sale and that direction must come from the Commission. Member Thomas stated it boils down to it costs less to put the parking on the Bilgore site. The Executive Director indicated this would depend on the price of the land. He stated one half of the garage is not on the tax rolls and if the garage is sold, it would place it back on the tax rolls. He indicated that if the Bilgore property is used, it would be flat parking and there would be no additional opportunity for tax growth on that property. Member Deegan concurred that he would prefer to not sell the Bilgore site. Chairperson Garvey agreed she would prefer the deal be negotiated for the parking garage. Member Thomas indicated there was another piece of the puzzle with the Executive Director stating this would be a General Fund issue. Member Thomas clarified that the purchasers of the Sun Bank Building intend to do some landscaping on the back side of the building and want to buy the city owned parking lot behind the Sun Bank Building. Member Deegan expressed concerns that the lot is used quite a bit and he was concerned about giving up additional parking in the downtown area. He stated the County should be approached regarding using their parking after hours. General consensus was for the City Manager and City Attorney to continue negotiating with the purchasers of the Sun Bank Building. Member Berfield questioned whether or not a closing date had been set and it was indicated this has not been set at this time as negotiations are continuing. The Executive Director indicated that some of the negotiating points are: they want more parking, they are reluctant to pay all closing costs and there was some concern regarding a nonconformity to code. ITEM - Adjournment: The meeting adjourned at 5:44 P.M.