MINUTES OF
MEETING
CORAL SPRINGS
IMPROVEMENT
DISTRICT
The regular meeting of the Board of
Supervisors of the Coral Springs Improvement District was held on Monday, March
21, 2005 at 4:05 p.m. at the District Office, 10300 NW 11th Manor,
Coral Springs, Florida.
Present and
constituting a quorum were:
Bob Fennell President
Bill Eissler Vice
President
Glen Hanks Secretary
Also present
were:
George R.
Keller, Jr. Manager
Dennis Lyles Attorney
John McKune Engineer
Dan Daly Utility
Billing
Ed Goscicki Severn
Trent Services
Roy Kroker Seven
Trent Services
Roger Moore Severn
Trent Services
Joni Hayworth District
Staff
Jan Zilmer District
Staff
Roy Gold Coral
Springs City Commissioner
FIRST
ORDER OF BUSINESS Roll
Call
Mr. Fennell called the meeting to
order and Mr. Keller called the roll.
SECOND ORDER OF
BUSINESS Approval of
the Minutes of the February 28, 2004 Meeting
Mr. Fennell stated each Board
member received a copy of the minutes of the February 28, 2004 meeting and
requested any additions, corrections or deletions.
Mr. Hanks stated on page 4, in the
top line, it should read, “ 10% design drawings, 10% bidding and 80%
permitting.
Mr. Eissler stated also on page 4,
in the fourth line from the top, I was not referring to lime down the well.
Mr. Fennell stated on page 6, in the
first sentence of the last paragraph, the words “is despite” should be
deleted. On page 10 in the second line
of the last paragraph it should read, “…complaining about various different
problems.”
On MOTION by Mr. Hanks seconded by Mr.
Eissler with all in favor the minutes of the February 28, 2005 meeting were
approved, as amended.
THIRD ORDER OF
BUSINESS Co
Mr. McKune stated the original
contract amount for the rehab of Plant C and D is $1,283,638.65. This particular change order increases that
amount by $66,232.06.
Mr. McKune further explained the
engineer’s summary of changes consisting of eight item relating to furnish
labor, materials, equipment for 12” DIP in area of additional lime sludge
dewatering ponds; drain Wastewater Plant B and perform emergency repairs to
mechanism shaft and bearing; field weld walkway supports in Plant C; demolish
and remove 300 cu. ft. of additional clarifier center shaft foundation
concrete; disassemble Plant E RAS pump and suction piping; fabricate and
install a new clarifier scum collection box and transfer pipe; increase size of
air headers feeding Plants C and D, and fabricate temporary connection of new
air piping to existing Plant D; and modify connection of new 24” stainless
steel air header and cut into existing blower discharge piping.
Mr. Eissler stated when the
contractor gives you the backup, you check it and acknowledge the changes. Are they checked by Mr. Moore?
Mr. Moore responded I go over these
with Mr. McKune before they come to the Board.
Mr. Eissler asked are you both in
agreement these are reasonable charges by the contractor and had to be done?
Mr. McKune responded yes.
Mr. Hanks asked were the last two
items because Plant E is working so much better with increased air that we
decided to do this with Plants C and D?
Mr. McKune responded one blower
running by itself was not adequate to run both plants, and the old blower was
buried underground.
Mr. Hanks asked will this have a
reduction in our operating costs?
Mr. McKune responded as long as we
are running only one blower.
Mr. Moore stated for item 8 by
moving over the headers by 15’ we could use the space for an electrical room,
hoping to save money in the future.
On MOTION by Mr. Eissler seconded by Mr.
Hanks with all in favor Change Order No. 1 to Intrastate Construction Corporation
Contract for Wastewater Plants C and D rehab for a Net Increase of $66,232.06
was approved.
FOURTH ORDER OF
BUSINESS Staff Reports
A.
Attorney – Lake
Maintenance Agreement with Lake Coral Springs Association
Mr. Lyles stated I contacted Mr.
Weinberg’s office regarding this agreement and the schedule of a meeting. We have not set a date and he knows we are
moving forward. We are waiting on a
formal agreement to bring back before the Board.
B.
Engineer
1. Monthly Water & Sewer Charts
The monthly
charts are made part of the public record and attached hereto.
2. Update on Construction Analysis and
Capital Improvement Plan for Next Five Years
Mr. McKune stated Plant C is working
well and is doing what we expect it to.
We are in the process of cleaning out Plant B.
Mr. McKune further explained the
projects that were completed, in process and to be completed.
Mr. Keller stated we are looking at
the Capital Improvement Plan on a big picture basis, and we will have the total
cost for funding and options as to how to do that as we move forward.
Discussion of
Issues with CSID Employees
Ms. Walker, Mr. Zilmer and Mr. Daly introduced themselves
to the Board.
Mr. Fennell stated I invited some of
our employees to this meeting because of the issues we have been going
over. As President, I wanted to thank
them for their continued support to CSID as we move forward. We want you to know we understand some of the
issues, and some we do not, and we are fully supportive of our employees as
well as our managers; and we are looking for a way to improve the whole system,
as well as the consumers. We are looking
for a number of different changes, and I wanted you to hear from us. CSID has been through a number of different
changes and it is going through another change right here. It has gone from a paternalistic organization
where Westinghouse ran the place, to where Mr. Moyer and his abilities were
running it, to now where we are running it on our own with contract management
services. All of those organizations and
relationships are gone. They made their
money and they moved on. We are looking
to how best set up the organization over the next few years and we are asking
for your help as well as the professional managers and counselors. I know it is a tricky thing going forward,
but we are open to ideas and changes and we want to make this a positive
working environment. We, [the Board],
live here and we are buyers of the services and are representatives of the
residents in the District. I see some
things we need to do that we have not done before and we are going to ask for
your help to look at these things, if you are so inclined to do that. We need to evaluate the employees we have who
work for us, and the services we buy on a more periodic basis. There are certain things we need to change
and we need to get your help with. I saw
the personnel manual we have, and we have an employee at will policy, which is
a legal issue that almost every corporation of every size has now days. However, there is a way we would like to
handle people, complaints and those kinds of things. We need to develop an open door policy. What people do if they have an issue or
complaint with their boss and how do they bring that forward and how far it can
go up. I am not sure what that policy
should be, but you, as representatives of our employees, have a hand in
developing that along with management.
Another issue we have is jobs not being well defined, and a possible
issue of what is a fire-able offense.
Most companies have set offense such as theft.
Mr. Zilmer stated we have a
four-step procedure for fire-able offenses.
Mr. Fennell stated we also need an
evaluation policy. In a lot of cases it
was, “I know John and I know he is doing a good job”; however, we need a formal
evaluation process for all employees as well as our management services, which
is more of a problem for us as the Board.
Mr. Eissler stated next month we
have our special meeting and a lot of that will come up as to how the
management company can better serve CSID and where our CSID employees fit in
the organization. We need to look at
everything. Some things may be better
done by the management company; and some things may be better done by our
employees. There needs to be a happy
medium. STS will lay out what they can
do for us, how they want to do it, and their recommendation as to how we should
do it. I am looking forward to hearing
what they say.
Mr. Zilmer stated personally, the
workshop idea is a great idea.
Mr. Fennell stated we buy various different
functions; and we are looking for feedback on the joint employees, which is a
tough thing to do because some get two and three checks.
Mr. Zilmer stated some get three,
and we have had four at one point. It is
a cost sharing and cost savings between the districts so you can pool your
resources.
Mr. Fennell asked how are you with
those issues and how is it working?
Ms. Walker responded I have been
here for 20 years.
Mr. Zilmer stated we have lost a few
districts over the years, Coral Bay, North Lauderdale; and the employee who
worked on those districts lost a portion of their salary.
Ms. Walker stated I do the
accounting and financial for both CSID and NSID. Where are you going to find someone to share
my salary with?
Mr. Zilmer stated it is legal as
long as the bottom line is the person is making a minimal wage.
Mr. Fennell asked how about the
employee benefits?
Mr. Zilmer responded it is based on
an annual basis. The District
contributes 6% quarterly. If you make
$25,000 from NSID and $25,000 from CSID, each District contributes 6% of their
expenses into the retirement plan.
Mr. Fennell asked whom do you work
for?
Mr. Zilmer responded we have been
here for so many years, we don’t see a difference.
Mr. Daly stated I also handle eight
or so more districts for STS under the utility billing side.
Mr. Goscicki stated also STS
contributes money back to CSID for Mr. Daly and Mr. Zilmer’s services to other
districts.
Mr. Eissler stated to say this is
convoluted would be an understatement of a great proportion. It has taken me three years to try to figure
out how this all worked. I think this
Board is very competent, but we can be unelected at next elections and have
three new members. We serve at the will
of the residents. This is where it is
important that whomever manages us on a day-to-day basis has to be competent
because they need to advise the Board.
That is one of my fears. If I do
leave this Board I want to know that whoever sits in this seat knows there are
competent people helping to run this organization.
Mr. Fennell stated from the
accounting function, I am looking to see how much should we bring
in-house. I would like us to be in
control of our own money. I would like
CSID in control. On the other hand, you
may tell us we cannot afford to do that and we need to have a relationship with
another district or firm. Another part
of this is our attorney. Up to now
everything has been cooperative and management has been the glue with Mr. Moyer
when he started with Westinghouse. We
have different managers, better or worse we don’t know yet, and we probably
need more understandings with the other groups of whom we share, who we do
share, who we don’t share and on what basis.
I am not sure how this should go.
We probably need some emergency employee relationships with others like
we have with emergency water responses.
We also need to formalize that in some way, rather than having an
understanding through the management group because the management group may
change.
Mr. Lyles stated these local
districts have on a pro-rata payment basis part-time employees that work for
them. They have a direct employment
relationship with each of these local districts. The mechanism you spoke of, as an emergency
shared employee relationship, will be more appropriate if they have employees
that you will need shifted to you. They
don’t have employees you don’t have. You
have the same employees but allocate their time on an as needed basis on a
preset pro-rata payment formula. You don’t
want to have that emergency backup. You
may want to have an agreement between the districts of entities, approved by
their respective Boards, saying you recognize we share employees and in an
emergency we agree and are okay with our employee spending all their time with
District A and will not insist upon our pro-rata share of that employees time
during that emergency. You have direct
employees. You have your own resources.
Mr. Fennell asked how many employees
does NSID have?
Mr. Zilmer responded 40 and 12 are
shared employees split between CSID and NSID.
Mr. Fennell asked what about Turtle
Run?
Mr. Zilmer responded it only has one
employee. Pine Tree has two and Sunshine
has eight. They benefit by the shared
personnel.
Mr. Fennell asked above and beyond
our districts, is STS using some of our employees up north?
Mr. Zilmer responded those are STS
employees.
Mr. Daly stated the only shared
employees with STS are Mr. Zilmer and myself, our services are reimbursed to
CSID.
Mr. Fennell stated we are looking to
see if lines are drawn properly and does it make sense as we are grouped
now.
Mr. Zilmer stated I was also the STS
HR liaison for a lot of years, and a lot of personnel directors looked at the
policy and STS had concerns as to what their liability with these
districts. It is something that needs to
be looked at.
Mr. Fennell stated I wanted to thank
you personally for all that you have done over the years.
Mr. Zilmer, Mr. Daly and Ms. Walker
stated thank you.
Mr. Eissler stated we need to ask
ourselves, “If this was your company, how would you run it? What makes sense? What doesn’t make sense?” That is what we are going to do in
April.
Mr. Zilmer stated periodically
things needs to be looked at. I worked
for an employee who would make us write down exactly what we did and we would
re-evaluate it. It makes a lot of sense.
Mr. Fennell stated going forward as
a business we have changed from a growth firm to an in-place business and we
need to ask ourselves how can we run more efficiently as well as plant
replacement. We are looking for things
to save us money, time, issues, with keeping the same quality and products we
have. I have been putting pressure on
management constantly to do that, which is a different viewpoint from what the
utility has had up to now. We are not
adverse to spending capital to save money.
Are we better bringing all the accounting in-house, or is there a better
way to save money? We are looking at all
kinds of ways to become efficient. Do
you have any comments?
Mr. Hanks stated my only thought is
how these employees are shared and it lends itself to them being on a
consulting relationship with each of the districts. It is an unusual arrangement.
Mr. Fennell stated in some cases,
one employee has too many bosses. That
can be an issue and which district gets priority. It can be a significant problem.
Mr. Hanks stated we need to think
about it in respects of being hit by a hurricane. Who is the one person who will handle each
one of the pump stations and check on the water plant? It should be Mr. Moore. Where is his time split--Sunshine, NSID and
CSID? In an event such as that who gets
first pick.
Mr. Goscicki responded because he is
a STS employee, we will bring in whatever additional resources we need and we
did that this year with the 2004 hurricanes.
Mr. Fennell stated we are looking
forward to the meeting next month. We
have an open door policy and I think it is time for management and employees to
get together and think about what we can do to make this the best water
district in the county, if not the state.
We need to make some improvements and move forward.
Mr. Zilmer stated we have a lot of
happy employees and we don’t have a large turnover. I just hired two employees. We are working on a new employee manual with
Mr. Moore and the managers. If you have
any thoughts on this, please let me know.
Presentation to Board from
Coral Springs City Commissioner Gold
Mr. Gold stated I am the chair for
the Coral Springs Waterway Cleanup for the last 10 years and this organization
has helped us quite a bit over the last 10 years with a financial contribution
and manpower. We appreciate it. This year we had 277 volunteers from Coral
Springs. We are honored by your help
along with Broward Beautiful, Lowe’s
The Board thanked Commissioner Gold
for the honor.
C.
Manager
1. Workshop
Scheduled for April 14, 2005 at 1:00 p.m.
Mr. Keller stated at the
workshop meeting a gentleman named Mr. Herb Marlowe will be the facilitator for
the workshop and will be in touch with you individually to obtain your input
and expectations.
2. Security
Matters
Mr. Keller stated on the issue of
security, there have been a number of discussions relating to efficiency and
cost savings. There has been sentiment
expressed that as successful as the armed 24-hour security has been, that
perhaps it is at a level higher than we need and an expense we may not
need. If that is your direction, at what
point do you want to move forward, at what time frame for termination, expectations
for options such as cameras, swipe cards and things of that nature. There was also a desire to not have the
structure open to the public because the impact of personnel.
Mr. Fennell stated the sense I had
was we needed some type of nighttime security, and increase the security along
the 4’ fence that anyone can jump. The
residents need a place to drop off their payments and have a turn around for
that. Do we need full time security
personnel or can it be rolled into nighttime plant operations?
Mr. Moore stated to increase the 4’
fence to 6’ with barbed wire is $13,000.
To do the perimeter of the canal area is $40,000 in fencing; however,
there are two new technics. One is a
direct buried wire for $20,000, or an 8’ high laser beam. It is about half the price of the fence and
it will keep the aesthetics of the bank the same.
Mr. Eissler asked with the buried
wire, who will be notified of the intruder and what happens then?
Mr. Moore responded if we do away
with security, we have some options. We
have a minimum of two people 24 hours a day 7 days a week. If someone trips the wire, the operator will
be called and they can either investigate or call 911. Some HOA have card readers, and it will cost
$5,000 for the reader and $5,000 for the cards.
We can also look into putting one in as you exit the gates. To add a camera in three places, anyone after
five can push a button, be seen by a District employee to release the gates for
entrance, at a cost of $10,000.
Mr. Fennell asked what do the
operators think about doing security?
Mr. Moore responded that is the way
we operated before 9-11. They used to
make rounds every two to three hours.
Our current security has pen identifiers at certain locations. We are looking at chips to ensure they make
at least three rounds, and if a contact is not made an alarm goes off.
Mr. Goscicki stated STS would not
recommend that your staff become security guards. The goal is to create a secure parameter,
upgrade the fencing, additional monitoring, and call security. They are not trained for security.
Mr. Eissler stated I agree. No more armed guards.
Mr. Fennell stated we need to keep
the place secure from kids and vandals.
Mr. Moore stated we are also looking
to see how the microwave systems can be used.
Mr. Fennell asked do we need
something around the canal?
Mr. Moore responded in terms of
phasing: phase 1 is upgrading the 4’
fence and the entrance gate, phase 2 in next year’s budget could be the canal
if we think it is necessary.
Mr. Fennell stated at one time we
hired the police to drive around at a major expense. There are usually two needs for
security—external and internal. What do
we do about internal security? At
Motorola I had to show my briefcase going in and going out.
Mr. Zilmer stated we had people
removing aluminum in front of the security guards. Now the guards write down your license
plates.
Mr. Fennell asked have we had any
issues since we had the guards?
Mr. Zilmer responded no.
Mr. Keller asked what is the
consensus of the Board?
Mr. Fennell responded to move in the
direction of decreasing security, and the new camera system. Is there a way to tie the camera into the
pump stations?
Mr. Keller responded we can bring
forward definite costs, and the termination of the security with Navarro.
Mr. Zilmer stated you can hire
security that is unarmed.
Mr. Eissler stated I would like to
do that immediately until we make a further decision.
On MOTION by Mr. Eissler seconded by Mr.
Hanks with all in favor amending the security contract with Navarro from armed
guards to unarmed guards affective immediately was approved.
Mr. Daly stated I don’t believe
customer service has been harmed in any way since the gates have been closed,
and with the Internet it has made it easier.
Mr. Hanks asked when was the last
time you paid the Bell South bill in person?
Mr. Daly responded you can’t, or
FPL.
Mr. Fennell stated we have two
individuals at all times 24 hours a day.
If we find we need additional personnel to take on the security portion,
we need staff to tell us that. I don’t
have a problem if we hire someone part time to be conscious of security. We also need a test for responses for
security, hurricane emergency responses and chlorine issues, and probably a
CSID employee should take on those generalized functions.
Mr. Goscicki stated your operations
manager who coordinates your emergency response times should be coordinating
that effort.
Mr. Fennell stated we have a lot of
dangerous chemicals around and if something happens, it needs to be handled promptly. Do we have a special team that handles health
issues?
Mr. Moore responded under emergency
response, our primary problem is chlorine.
Mr. Fennell stated one manager
should be in charge of safety and security.
When will we get rid of the last chlorine tank?
Mr. Moore responded we are about 90
days out to get the sodium-hydrochloride building up and running, then the
chlorine cylinders will be transferred.
Mr. Eissler stated I believe it was
a design flaw. It is a simple system and
will be corrected.
D. Complaints Received/Resolved
There not being any, the next item
followed.
FIFTH ORDER OF
BUSINESS Supervisor’s
Requests and Audience Comments
There not being any, the next item
followed.
SIXTH ORDER OF
BUSINESS Approval
of Invoices
There being no questions or
comments,
On MOTION by Mr. Eissler seconded by Mr.
Hanks with all in favor the March Invoices were approved.
SEVENTH ORDER
OF BUSINESS Adjournment
There being no
further business,
On MOTION by Mr. Eissler seconded by Mr.
Fennell with all in favor the meeting was adjourned at 5:15 p.m.
Glen Hanks Robert
Fennell
Secretary Chairman
AGENDA ITEMS
FOURTH ORDER OF
BUSINESS Staff Reports
D.
Attorney – Lake
Maintenance Agreement with Lake Coral Springs Association
Mr. Lyles stated I contacted Mr.
Weinberg’s office regarding this agreement and the schedule of a meeting. We have not set a date and he knows we are
moving forward. We are waiting on a
formal agreement to bring back before the Board.
E.
Engineer
1. Monthly Water & Sewer Charts
The monthly
charts are made part of the public record and attached hereto.
2. Update on Construction Analysis and
Capital Improvement Plan for Next Five Years
MANAGER’S
REPORT – SECURITY ISSUES/COSTS