MINUTES OF MEETING
NORTH SPRINGS IMPROVEMENT
DISTRICT
The regular meeting of the Board of Supervisors of the North Springs
Improvement District was held on
Present and constituting a quorum were:
Salvatore Mendolia
President
Steve Mendelson
Secretary
Also present were:
John Petty
Manager
Dennis Lyles
Attorney
Jane Early
Engineer
John McKune
CH2M Hill
Jean M. Rugg
Brenda Schurz
Janice Larned
Tara Lynn-Patton
WCI Communities, Inc.
Mike Hessler
WCI Communities, Inc.
FIRST ORDER OF BUSINESS
Roll Call
Mr. Mendolia
called the meeting to order and Mr. Petty called the roll.
SECOND ORDER OF BUSINESS
Approval of the Minutes of the May 10, 2006 Meeting
Mr. Petty stated each Board member received a copy of the minutes of the
There not being any,
On MOTION by Mr. Mendolia seconded by Mr.
Mendelson with all in favor the minutes of the
THIRD ORDER OF BUSINESS
Consideration of Permit Requests
A.
Ms. Early stated
this is a simple surface water permit for the construction of lakes. It meets all
requirements.
Mr. Petty asked has there been any change to the surface
area?
Ms. Early responded no. They
meet the required acreage.
Mr. Mendolia asked who is paying for this?
Ms. Early responded it will be by funding agreement, which you will see
under award of contracts. There
will be a District bond issued.
Mr. Petty stated it will be part of our system.
On MOTION by Mr. Mendolia seconded by Mr.
Mendelson with all in favor the permit request for the Parkland Village Lake
Excavation was approved.
B.
Wal-Mart Store #4498-00 Winn-Dixie Takeover
Ms. Early stated
the Winn-Dixie on the northwest corner of
Mr. Mendolia asked are they going to open a Super
Wal-Mart?
Ms. Early responded no. I do
not believe so.
Mr. Mendolia asked do you know if it is strictly
food?
Mr. Petty stated from what I understand from the business review it is
strictly food.
On MOTION by Mr. Mendelson seconded by
Mr. Mendolia with all in favor the permit request for the Wal-Mart Store
#4498-00 Winn-Dixie takeover was approved.
FOURTH ORDER OF BUSINESS
Consideration of Award of Contract and Associated
Agreements
A.
i.
Award of Contract
ii.
Work Authorization #160
iii.
Funding Agreements #449 and #450
Ms. Early stated on May 18, 2006 we received bids for the
Mr. Mendelson asked who is going to be paying for part of
it?
Mr. Petty responded the District will take on a certain amount and the
rest will be borne by the developer at their expense and risk. If we have excess funds at a later date,
there is a back way for us to pay it.
The funding agreement is for $873,372 and it is for the lake
portion. There is a funding
agreement for water and sewer. We
are putting a small piece of water and sewer. We have to put a culvert and a bit of
the infrastructure. This funding
agreement amounts to $40,400.
Everything else will be paid by the property owner, which is Tousa
Homes.
Mr. Petty asked under these types of agreements where we are funding less
than half of the total amount, are we still in control of the
contract?
Ms. Early responded I do all of the pay estimates and review everything,
which comes in.
Mr. Petty asked how much of the project will be turned over to the
District? Will we be obtaining
facilities through grants?
Ms. Early responded the lake was dedicated to the District by plats and
then the water and sewer portion.
Mr. Mendolia asked is what we just broke down within this number of
$2,199,999?
Ms. Early responded yes.
Mr. Mendolia asked why is it under Triple R. Paving,
Inc.?
Ms. Early responded that is how much they bid. Of this amount, the portion of the lake
excavation, which is the District’s, will be $873,372. The water and sewer, which will be along
NSID is $40,400. This is within the
Triple R. Paving, Inc. bid. The
remaining amount will be paid by Tousa Homes. When I get a pay estimate, I split it
and tell everyone who pays what. We
will prepare the requisitions for the funding agreements. At some point when the bond is sold, the
District’s portion will come out of the bond.
Mr. Mendolia asked can you break down what you said on this
paperwork?
Mr. Early responded yes. If
you look at items eight, nine and ten, it amounts to the water and sewer. The portion of the bond I break down by
percentage. Item one, three, five,
six and seven are for the NSID lake portion, which will be paid out of the bond
issue. The District is going to pay
for de-mucking the lake area, digging the lake and putting in the culvert.
Mr. Mendolia asked is this within the number of
$2,199,999?
Ms. Early responded yes.
Mr. Mendolia asked why can we not break it up by what goes to Triple R.
Paving, Inc.?
Ms. Early responded it all goes to Triple R. Paving, Inc. Triple R. Paving, Inc. is the only
contractor and this is his bid for the entire job. We only received one
bid.
Mr. Mendolia stated that was my other question.
Ms. Early stated we cannot get any bidders. We faxed it. We advertised it for a month in the
paper two times. We did not get any
bidders. I have another job I did
not receive any bidders for.
Mr. Petty stated it is convoluted and your concerns are our
concerns. We were talking with the
engineer so these types of agreements are presented to the Board in a more
easily digestive format in the future.
We know we have these basic agreements and responsibilities. We are looking to see as they come in if
we are filling up, if we reached our end cap, when is the new one and the old
one going away. We are talking
about having the status on each project.
We hope this will help answer many of these questions. As for the availability of contractors
we are doing okay. I am glad we
have a competent one out there. It
is hard to find good people.
Ms. Early stated he has all of his equipment out there. The funding agreements have a breakdown
showing who is paying for what.
On MOTION by Mr. Mendelson seconded by
Mr. Mendolia with all in favor the award of contract for the
B.
i.
Award of Contract
ii.
Work Authorization #162
iii.
Funding Agreement #452
This is for Phase
II of Cypress Pointe. We already
have Cypress Pointe Phase I done.
We only received one bid and it is from Florida Sewer and Water, Inc. in
the amount of $1,489,994.35. This
requires a funding agreement with WCI Communities, Inc. The amount of the funding agreement is
for $340,349.50. WCI Communities
will pay for all of the paving and drainage. The District is responsible for D, E and
F, which totals $340,349.50.
Mr. Mendolia asked are there any problems with
this?
Ms. Early responded we only got one bid.
Mr. Petty stated it is close to the engineer’s
estimate.
Ms. Early stated it is also close to what they have been
bidding.
Mr. Mendelson asked is it within the range you were looking
for?
Ms. Early responded that is correct.
On MOTION by Mr. Mendelson seconded by
Mr. Mendolia with all in favor the award of contract for Heron Bay North Plat 1
Phase II to Florida Sewer and Water, Inc in the amount of $1,489,994.35, Work
Authorization #162 and Funding Agreement #452 were
approved.
C. Pine
Island Road Extension
i.
Award of Contract
ii.
Work Authorizations #163 and #164
iii.
Funding Agreement #451
Ms. Early stated
the funding agreements should be #451 and #453. We also received only one bid from
Triple R. Paving, Inc. in the amount of $1,816,153.92. A portion of this project is being paid
out of the new bond for Parkland Golf and Country Club and Supplement 3. There are two funding agreements we
need. There are two turn lanes,
which will be going into
On MOTION by Mr. Mendelson seconded by
Mr. Mendolia with all in favor the award of contract to Triple R. Paving, Inc.
for the Pine Island Road extension in the amount of $1,816,153.92, Work
Authorizations #163 and #164, and Funding Agreements #451 and
#453.
FIFTH ORDER OF BUSINESS
Consideration of Change Orders
A.
Change Order No. 4 – Triple R. Paving, Inc. for Nob Hill Road, University
Drive (Phase 2) and County Line Road for a Net Increase of
$24,735
Ms. Early stated
this job was completed and filed.
Going through the paperwork we could not find when this particular change
order came before the Board. This
is a follow up to get it approved by the Board. The change order was paid for by WCI
Communities, Inc.
Mr. Petty asked does this mean it is a housekeeping
issue?
Ms. Early responded that is correct.
On MOTION by Mr. Mendelson seconded by
Mr. Mendolia with all in favor Change Order No. 4 with Triple R. Paving, Inc.
for
B.
Change Order No. 4 & Final –
Ms. Early stated this is a final balance change order. The project is complete. It is to finalize the quantities
adjusted to the as-builts. At the
end you will see there is a decrease to WCI Communities, Inc. in the amount of
$17,065.77 as well as a decrease to the NSID contract in the amount of
$24,496.
On MOTION by Mr. Mendelson seconded by
Mr. Mendolia with all in favor Change Order No. 4 and Final with Florida Sewer
and Water, Inc. for Heron Bay Northeast “Greenbrier” for a net decrease of
$41,561.77 was approved.
SIXTH ORDER OF BUSINESS
Staff Reports
A.
Manager’s Report – Distribution of Proposed Budget for Fiscal Year 2007
and Consideration of Resolution 2006-5 Approving the Proposed Budget and Setting
a Public Hearing
Mr. Petty stated
a copy of the proposed budget was distributed. There are some on the back table for any
audience members who wish to look at it.
We do this in order to disseminate to the public for their input as well
as to local government for their review.
This is a proposed budget and it is not adopting anything final. It is coming from your manager based on
projects the manager and engineer wish to bring before the Board or items the
Board has asked for during the last fiscal year. We ask you to approve this so we can
send it out, discuss it at future meetings and set a public hearing where we can
adopt a final budget. We will send
it to the property appraiser to set the assessments. I would like to go over some items and
tell you why we changed the numbers.
The third page, which is actually page one, is a line item break down of
the general fund. You will see
salaries went from $42,687 to zero.
This is because of a change from our sister district, CSID. We are modifying the way we are applying
the personnel share. CSID will be
responsible for all of the employee costs and will work with NSID in the same
manner. It will do so through
ownership of the employee and will part it out to us for our benefit at the same
rate as before. We will do it
through Interlocal Agreements from Mr. Lyles’ office.
The costs are not reflective of any increase other than the cost of
living with one exception. The
retirement program is being amended to change from a contribution to an IRA type
benefit to one with the State of
Mr. Mendolia asked is it a 401K?
Mr. Petty responded no sir.
This is a participation in the State of
The next item going up a bit is technology sharing. This is not a new item. You were sharing this with CSID through
Severn Trent Services. This is for
the main frame computer system, the software running your utility billing
program and your human resources system.
This system is approximately eight years old. It is time to rebuild it. CSID will be doing it at a cost of
approximately $250,000. We are
putting it in a singular line item so you can monitor it.
Electronic storage document is a new line item. We estimated it at $5,000. It will be provided by Severn
Trent. We started this
process. You have a large stack of
blue prints. You can see the
documents we handle financially.
These are all paper documents we do not store electronically. Our concern is we cannot wait to do this
because of the hurricanes. It is
time to store these electronically.
We brought in a large system to handle the blue prints. We have a new copy machine at CSID,
which will convert all copied documents to and electronic format. CSID is building a storage system with
redundancy back up so we have access to these files. In the case of an emergency, they will
be leaving the site.
The next item is transaction overlay in the amount of $5,000. This refers to our shared cost with
CSID. We just completed a special
audit of the accounting functions of the District to share. It is Ms. Walker’s office, our
management service and how we interact with our equipment. We came through in a good report. The weak spot is there are single
entities responsible for 99% of the accounting functions. If something should happen to Ms.
Walker, we will be in trouble. This
is a secondary system so all actions hitting the accounting function are written
down in a transaction style journal so it can be rebuilt at anytime by
anyone. We call it a double entry
overlay.
The next item I want to talk to you about is building rent. It has maintained its current
position. We feel it will probably
go up in future budgets because it has not changed in 15 years. It is for the space we rent in this
building. The point I am trying to
make is CSID has been a good neighbor and partner.
Other current charges were $1,500 in the past. We cannot have millions of dollars
sitting there in case of an emergency.
We have to figure out in our budgeting whether or not it is accurate and
to what degree. Other fees and
charges are contingencies. This
budget is plus or minus five percent.
Instead of being at $1,200 for miscellaneous fees and charges, I would
like you to consider five percent as a more accurate way of trying to anticipate
the fees and charges we do not anticipate during the budget process. We will look in other areas of the
budget to hold the reserve more closely to a number more reflective of an
immediate cost for a financial position, which will carry us to the issuance of
a note. It is something we need to
get through the first 30 days.
If you go to field operations, salary and wages is your field crew. Because of the expansion of the
District, we have more lakes and canals to maintain. The increase is for a new crew to begin
addressing it. Pension expenses are
similar. Keep in mind we are
converting from an IRA style to a
Mr. Mendolia asked what about health insurance?
Mr. Petty responded our staff is getting older. Young people in this community will be
harder to come by as the cost of housing increases. The next item, which went up is electric
due to additional flows we will be pumping from additional lakes and
canals. Insurance is a relatively
small increase based on the rumors flowing after Hurricane Wilma on what is to
be expected of increases. Even
though it is an increase, we are doing okay.
We have a new item called aquascaping. This is for plants we are required to
plant within our lake system. They
are used in littoral zones. It is
mandated in quite a few areas. This
is a dollar amount, which goes in for plants destroyed by things like heavy
winds, chemicals entering the water supply by accident and those dying from
other natural conditions. We have
seen plant material die off and we are now in a position where we need to spend
money to replenish the area.
Project management contract was for Mr. Moore in the past. We filled the position with either
onsite personnel or my contract administration from here. I am familiar with operations to this
degree. The next thing is other
current charges, which is our contingencies. We are considering the accuracy of the
budget and we would like to recommend five percent plus or minus. This means you will finance five percent
of the operations.
Dues, licenses and subscriptions are for our aquatic guys to maintain
various licenses they need to get in order to spray with aquatic chemicals. In the past we used a contractor for
littoral plantings. It is intended
with this new crew they not only be the typical boat applicator in a canal, but
to also go to the next level of applicator. This way they will be able to handle the
mitigation areas as well as plantings and specialized applications on a wetland
environment. We can save money by
having this be in house.
Capital outlay is an estimate from accounting, which is basically between
last year and the year before, based on expectations. The reserves are at a similar level as
last year and you will see details in the budget. This is from what the Board discussed in
previous years as to what is a level of assurance for certain equipment and
machinery. We want to have funds
available if they fail to work.
Those were the changes I wanted to speak to you about. On page five I want to point out
management fees. We will discuss
this further when we talk about the water and sewer budget. The presentation from Severn Trent
Services is for your management finance and the recording secretary duties we
give you as well as a great deal of new items we discussed today such as
document management and overlays.
Ms. Larned’s expertise in finance is a welcomed addition to the team and
is being provided to NSID. Ms. Rugg
is extremely reliable and we are grateful she is with us. Hopefully I have shown there is a new
found commitment to the management responsibilities for the District. It is our intent to resell to you our
services and for you to know exactly what we are providing.
Unless there are additional questions, the rest of this is a work in
progress with definitions coming in over time. The rest is in line with what we did in
the past. We have been in contact
with some of the sub-parts of the general fund. We talked with the Parkland Isles
Landscaping Committee and discussed what they want their expenses to be. We have a nice number they are familiar
with in our proposed budget. We
will be working with them on their estimates as we go through better definitions
with the landscaper. We will put in
actual numbers when they get estimates.
WCI Communities, Inc. has been good at presenting and discussing their
numbers. What we have in the
proposed budget is what we gave them as a maximum box they have to fit
into. We took last years
assessments and increased them by 30%.
We are 99% done with the agreement.
Mr. Lyles has been working directly with their attorney. The only thing I have to go through is
the transition document, which needs to be attached for fixed assets. Under the new policy, WCI Communities,
Inc. will operate this facility and we will give them 1/12 of whatever the
single line item was for the operation.
Their task is to keep residents happy in a recreational facility we
supply. We have some additional
costs in the budget. On page 19 you
have the details.
I will refer you to the top where you have management contract. You will see under the proposed budget
many numbers have been pushed up to the management contract. This is not the proposed number from WCI
Communities, Inc. It is the cap we
feel can be considered. They have
to fit within this. They look to us
to give them guidance in this matter.
They are doing very well.
Under this contract the District will hold them responsible for
satisfaction to the residents. If
the residents are unhappy with the managers of the facility, they can ask us to
fire them. We will consider it if
we have enough residents complaining.
Mr. Mendolia asked what about the subject of additional tennis
courts?
Mr. Petty responded there are funds available in our construction
account, which the District may be able to utilize to construct additional
tennis courts. It appears as many
as six courts can fit on the existing property available. We can get more courts if we modify the
end of The Commons, which touches our swale. It appears we can have a nice program
and we will bring it to you before we adopt the final budget.
Mr. Mendolia asked how long?
Mr. Petty responded we will probably be ready at the next meeting.
Mr. Mendolia asked will it be finalized?
Mr. Petty responded no sir.
We will have a proposal to give you for the budget.
Mr. Mendolia asked the subject is how many courts will there be? How are they going to do it? Do they have a layout or
survey?
Mr. Petty responded we are working on it as we speak.
Mr. Mendolia stated this has to move on. We have been talking about this for a
few months.
Mr. Petty stated I will be glad to expedite.
Mr. Mendolia asked where are the Board’s figures?
Mr. Petty responded on page one.
Mr. Mendolia stated I believe it is time to consider an increased fee for
the Board.
Mr. Petty stated there is a process to follow for such
consideration. Mr. Lyles is
familiar with this process and it will be his office, which will guide us
through it. I see no reason why we
cannot consider this during the budget process.
Mr. Lyles stated we cannot consider it during the budget process because
it is capped by the special act establishing the District. The law will supersede any internal
processes the Board and staff will want to pursue. We will be required to seek an amendment
to the special act, which authorizes the District to operate and gives it its
powers. What we can do is going to
require us to go into next year’s legislative session. We can prepare a special bill, file it
with the Broward County Delegation Legislation, take it to
We can also address the bidding threshold as well as the compensation
reimbursement for the Board. I do
not know how it will be received. I
cannot predict you will receive a positive reception. It is very easy for elected officials to
say, “No. We are going to hold the
line on these expenses. We are not
going to approve it.” They may say
yes because it has been the same fee for the past 30 years and it is time for it
to be adjusted. It will require
lobbying and effort on your part as President to justify this matter. You may want to enlist the service of a
lobbyist to help with this change as well as other changes to benefit the
District. You might want to see if
CSID wants to share the cost. They
have some of the same problems you do.
It is a way of doing it in a more efficient and less expensive way.
The management and efficiency study committee the Broward County
Commission sets up was looking into special districts and water drainage
districts all over the county.
Their preliminary draft report has come out. As far as I know it is not final. The report, which will go to the
commission, makes a recommendation that the Board members of special districts
be elected in the same fashion and at the same time as city and county officials
and no longer in landowner elections.
The county may or may not want to pursue this. If the county does pursue this, it will
require a special amendment to your special act. If they do want to pursue this next
year, it will be the time to piggy back into a process with the adjustment to
the reimbursement to the Board members.
I feel the staff should take your request and direction to proceed to
find the best way to implement it as things shape up in the coming months.
Mr. Petty stated staff has a long list of items we would like to address
on our establishing document. We
would like to update and modernize many things. The election issue is one we need to
begin discussing. I have no
personal opinion on it. We have a
large amount of landowners in NSID we should talk to see if they have any
concerns before we volunteer ourselves to this program. I do not believe there will be a
problem. We are an urban area and
it is intended by current legislation that this is how a special district should
evolve. I want to make sure we
consult with our major landowners to make sure they do not have any
concerns. It is time we do
this. For budgeting purposes, we
can put a line item in under administration with a dollar value.
Mr. Lyles stated it is beyond any process we can adopt at the District
level. It is controlled by state
legislature. We have to go to them
if we want to have an amendment.
Mr. Petty stated if we are successful, this change may become effective
October of next year.
Mr. Mendolia stated it is good for future Supervisors to push it and
process it.
Mr. Lyles stated staff will take this as direction and we will pursue
it. Do you have a figure you want
to suggest to the Board in order to budget it?
Mr. Petty responded let me check with the current lobbyist the District
is using.
Mr. Lyles stated I am talking about the line item you will have in case
the legislature approves the increase.
Mr. Petty stated we can pick it up with our five percent. Resolution 2006-5 is “a resolution of
the Board of Supervisors of the North Springs Improvement District approving the
budget for fiscal year 2007 and setting a public hearing thereon pursuant to
Florida Law.” The public hearing
will be held on August 9, 2006 at 4:30 p.m. in this office.
On MOTION by Mr. Mendelson seconded by
Mr. Mendolia with all in favor Resolution 2006-5 approving the proposed budget
and setting a public hearing on August 9, 2006 at 4:30 p.m. in the District
Office was adopted.
B.
Attorney’s Report
There being no
report, the next item followed.
C.
Engineer’s Report – Consideration of Rate
Increase
Mr. Petty stated
we have consideration of a rate increase which was submitted by CH2M Hill. We have looked at the fees and they are
not out of line with what other corporate engineering firms are charging. In reference to Ms. Early and Mr.
McKune, their value is beyond measure.
We ask you to consider this.
Mr. Mendolia stated I agree with you. They are fantastic and I depend a great
deal on them.
On MOTION by Mr. Mendolia seconded by Mr.
Mendelson with all in favor the rate increase submitted by CH2M Hill was
approved.
SEVENTH ORDER OF BUSINESS
Approval of Requisitions and Invoices
Mr. Petty stated in the future we hope to add to this a break down by
projects.
Mr. Mendolia asked what are these refunds to WCI Communities,
Inc.?
Mr. Petty responded I want to make sure I look at them before I spit
anything out. As we are doing final
change orders for these contracts there are lower numbers. The checks come to us and I believe we
give them their shares. You have
some water and sewer bills in your general fund.
Mr. Mendolia asked are these the deposits being
refunded?
Mr. Petty responded they are either getting their deposits back, which is
a refund because they are moving or it is a correction because we read their
meter wrong.
On MOTION by Mr. Mendelson seconded by
Mr. Mendolia with all in favor the requisitions and invoices were
approved.
EIGHTH ORDER OF BUSINESS
Supervisor’s Request and Audience Comments
There not being any, the next item followed.
NINTH ORDER OF BUSINESS
Adjournment
There being no
further business,
On MOTION by Mr. Mendolia seconded by Mr.
Mendelson with all in favor the meeting was adjourned at 5:30
p.m.
Jean M. Rugg
Salvatore
J. Mendolia
Assistant Secretary
President