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HomeMy WebLinkAboutMinutes 12-10-2008 ST. LUCIE COUNTY PROPERTY AND HOMEOWNERS ASSOCIATION Minutes of Meeting December 10, 2008 Convened: 10:00 A.M. Adjourned: 12:45 P.M. The meeting of the Property & Homeowners Association was held Wednesday, December 10, 2008, in Conference Room 3 of the St. Lucie County Administration Building, 2300 Virginia Avenue, Fort Pierce, Florida. Members Present: Craig Mundt, North Beach Association Toni Trabolsi, Coalition of Sandpiper Bay HOA Carole Mushier for Walter Fauth, Fort Pierce South Beach Association Charlie Brown, Indian River Estates HOA Roger Bollman, Indian River Estates HOA Kathleen Ivins, River Park HOA Andrew Stark, Palm Grove HOA Bob Bangert, Holiday Pines HOA Pat Pacitti, Presidents Council HOA James Killoran, Nettles Island HOA Diane Andrews, Queens Cove HOA Also Present: Commissioner Doug Coward, Chairman Charline Burgess, Aide to Commissioner Coward Commissioner Chris Dzadovsky, District 1 Terri Ann Palumbo, Aide to Commissioner Dzadovsky Liz Martin, Aide to Commissioner Grande Deputy Gary Gonsalves, St. Lucie County Sheriff’s Office Havert “Coach” Fenn, representing Lincoln Park Mainstreet Don Pauley, St. Lucie County Road and Bridge Manager Mark Boston, Florida Alliance for Retired Americans Swendy Ariyanayagam, St. Lucie County Code Compliance John Swaine, Hammock Lakes HOA in Indian River County Property & Homeowners Meeting December 10, 2008 Page 2 ITEM 1 – CALL TO ORDER : The meeting was called to order at 10:00 A.M. Commissioner Coward led the Association in the Pledge of Allegiance. The Homeowners’ Representatives and the public in attendance gave self-introductions. ITEM 2 – APPROVAL OF MINUTES : There were no minutes from the November 12, 2008 meeting due to a field trip to the Havert Fenn Center. A correction was noted to today’s agenda, it was the Fenn Center that was toured last month, not the Logistics Center. ITEM 3 – ST. LUCIE COUNTY SHERIFF’S REPORT : Deputy Gary Gonsalves stated that the department is still experiencing problems with property thefts, metals, air-conditioning units, piping from vacant homes being stolen, and a lot of shop-lifting. Some current target areas are North and South Hutchinson Island which have beach accesses and they have seen an increase in burglaries. He said they have a COP program, where volunteers that have been trained to be the eyes and ears for the deputies. They do not carry guns and have no authority to make arrests. He said the department is going to be “beefing” up patrols and more volunteers in those areas. He asked the members of the group to keep on the look out for criminal activity. Mr. Craig Mundt said the Breakers was just hit, the criminals were going through every vehicle that was not locked, taking anything of value. Commissioner Coward suggested that St. Lucie County T.V. (SLCTV) run a public service announcement advising residents to make sure their vehicles are locked at all times. Deputy Gonzalves said that is a great idea, because a gun was stolen from a car in Lakewood Park last week. Mr. Jim Killoran asked whether or not there were any current scams going around targeting the elderly. Deputy Gonzalves said it’s happening outside of this county, but none reported in this county. The scam artist would pretend to be the person’s grandchild asking for money. He explained the scam the caller would use to the group. Mr. Bangert said there is a website that the public can use to find out if a scam or company is legitimate, just log onto www.charitynavigator.com. Property & Homeowners Meeting December 10, 2008 Page 3 Commissioner Coward announced that Commissioner Dzadovsky was running a little late, so he wanted to change the order of the agenda and move to old business. He said what he wanted to accomplish here today is to get a better handle of what issues that you would like to identify and get more information on, and hopefully by the end of the meeting we can prioritize that list, so Charline and I will know what to work on in our forthcoming meetings. ITEM 4 – OLD BUSINESS : Commissioner Coward restated some of the concerns that some of the members had about the U.S. 1 corridor relative to Palm Grove and that he said that the county has expressed its concerns to the Florida Department of Transportation. It is a work in progress and not a county owned road, so there is not much we can do about it. Commissioner Coward asked the members for suggestions on past issues that may need addressed. Mr. Charlie Brown stated that he has not received a copy of the base facility charge for Indian River Estates since 2007. Commissioner Coward said he would follow-up on that issue. Ms. Pat Pacitti said that attention needs to be paid to the beach project on South Hutchinson Island and the needs of the island residents. Mr. Brown said Indian River Estates has a wonderful lift station, but nothing to lift. There wasn’t any money to run the pipes up through Easy Street to the lift station. He asked for an update on when the county might have the money to take care of running the pipes in the street. He said there might be other projects in the county that have gotten half finished before the money ran out. Commissioner Coward was asking direction from the group as to how they wanted him to address the needs of each homeowners association. It was the consensus of the group to address the concerns as a group. Mr. Killoran suggested that the county commissioners write a short article in some of the homeowner association’s newsletters so that it helps everyone keep up with what’s affecting them. Commissioner Coward said that would be a great idea rotating between the commissioners. Mr. Mundt said they send out 1300 newsletters for North Beach Association. He suggested that the members get on Erik Gill, Public Information Officer’s e-mail list, so that they can receive his news releases about things going on in the county. He also Property & Homeowners Meeting December 10, 2008 Page 4 mentioned that there needed to be more discussion on North Hutchinson Island issues. Discussion ensued. Mr. Bangert brought up the high number of foreclosures in the area and how the realtors are trying to get the foreclosures transferred to Section 8 housing, which is not a good deal at all. He also brought up problem with speeding in Holiday Pines Mr. Andrew Stark asked how do you get the banks to keep up the maintenance on the foreclosed properties? Ms. Pacitti said there is a resolution available for the associations, homeowners and property owners to execute, like a door opener to the legislature. She said that she has a copy that the Regency Island Dunes just executed at their last meeting. She said she would gladly forward the resolution to anyone that wanted it. Discussion ensued regarding speed bumps, and changing the school hours. Commissioner Coward explained that the county has no say-so over the school board and their hours to run their buses. He said his responsibility as a county commissioner is to make sure the infrastructure is there, sidewalks, bicycle lanes, etc. Commissioner Dzadovsky said he would like to weigh in on the discussion. He said that he was the president of his homeowners association at Mariner Bay and that they had dealt with some of the speeding issues. He said they originally set up speeding signs that were not FDOT approved, and under the law, the sheriff and police departments could not come into their community and regulate the speed. He said they went to an FDOT approved sign, which gave them the ability to call the police so they can now ticket motorists. He suggested calling Bob Frank at the City of Ft. Pierce to help give them direction. Discussion ensued. Commissioner Coward suggested putting that on next month’s agenda for Deputy Gonzalves to address for us. There was a lengthy discussion under OLD BUSINESS about future topics and field trips which will be provided in the minutes under NEW BUSINESS. ITEM 5 – INTRODUCTION – COMMISSIONER CHRIS DZADOVSKY : Commissioner Coward introduced Commissioner Dzadovsky. Commissioner Dzadovsky thanked Commissioner Coward and the group for inviting him here. He said as the past president of Mariner Bay homeowners association, he shares their pain in trying to get things done. He explained the reason Commissioner Coward volunteered to chair the group this year, even though it was District One’s turn in the Property & Homeowners Meeting December 10, 2008 Page 5 cycle. He said he felt the group should have the full attention they deserve, and as a new commissioner he felt he needed a little more experience “under his belt.” Commissioner Dzadovsky said that in Mariner Bay, there are probably 14 or 15 foreclosures. He said they are unfunded in their maintenance, about $100,000, so we share your concerns with these issues, but collectively you can all work to move local county, and hopefully state government to handle those issues. Commissioner Dzadovsky explained his involvement with the Kids of Hope initiative. He said if anyone had any questions or wishes to volunteer, please call his office at (772) 462-1410. Discussion ensued. Commissioner Coward asked Commissioner Dzadovsky if he had to identify one half dozen of his priority issues, what would he hope to get accomplished in the next couple of years? Commissioner Dzadovsky said that obviously, we have an economic crisis in the county, so we have to figure out where we are going to go economically. We’ve got to create jobs, we’ve got to move away from to many rooftops, and we can’t keep putting the cost of doing business on retirees. A few that come to mind is the Research Park and the Airport. We have to identify areas where we can bring jobs into St. Lucie County. He said that he has heard from the other commissioners that they have that same vision as well. Commissioner Coward said that the county is going to be going through the process of re-evaluating the airport and the airport master plan. He said that the board has expressed a strong desire for public involvement in the process. The committee is just being formed and will be starting up in a month or so. Commissioner Dzadovsky said he wanted to bring up the facts about the HIV Aides epidemic in St. Lucie County that most people are not even aware of. He said that one of the things they are trying to accomplish is through education and testing. This way, we can find out who has the disease, and then try to stop it. He spoke briefly about the county budget and the recent workshop held by the board. Commissioner Dzadovsky summarized by saying that we have to focus on tourist development and bringing and/or creating jobs in our county. He said again, that if any one had any questions, please feel free to call his office at 772-462-1410. Commissioner Coward thanked Commissioner Dzadovsky for taking the time to be with us today. Property & Homeowners Meeting December 10, 2008 Page 6 Commissioner Coward provided an update about tourism, economic development and the proposed Federal Stimulus package offered by the Federal Government. Commissioner Dzadovsky said that he would like to introduce his executive aide, Terri Ann Palumbo. There was a lengthy discussion and update from Commissioner Coward regarding the port, and the proposed plasma arc gasification plant. ITEM 6 – NEW BUSINESS : Commissioner Coward asked for suggestions for topics for next month and for future meeting. The suggestions were as follows: Budget Update ? Economic Development issues ? Foreclosures – maintenance, bank contributions and becoming Section 8 housing ? School Board issues – sidewalks, kids going to school too early, children’s safety ? FDOT – update on current or pending projects ? Grants – our two grant writers have brought in an average of roughly ten to ? twelve million dollars a year, this year they topped out at over forty million dollars Natural Disasters and emergency management issues ? Tour of the Research and Education Center ? It was the consensus of the committee, that in the upcoming meetings to have someone come in and speak about Foreclosures, then the county budget; then someone from the school board. Commissioner Coward opened the floor to anyone that had a non-agendaed item to talk about. Mr. John Swaine said he was from the Hammock Lakes HOA in Indian River County. He said in their development they have two stormwater retention ponds, one was constructed correctly, one was not. He said that that one lake is “eating” its bank away. He said that the residents there are having problems with Walking Catfish burrowing into the bank in their storm water ponds to spawn and wanted to know if any of the other associations had any problems with them. He explained that with the fish being about 20 inches long, they burrow about 18 inches into the bank, so each year that they spawn they are taking about a foot and a half of the bank. He said that St. John’s River Management (SJRWM) is working with them putting down mats along the bank, but that lake is eating into the backyards of residents where they are afraid of structural damage. Property & Homeowners Meeting December 10, 2008 Page 7 Mr. Bangert asked whether or not he was getting any help from Indian River (I.R.) County. He said that he felt that should be the responsibility of I.R. County. Mr. Swaine said no. The canal outside their complex is governed by Indian River Farms Water Management District. None of the members had experienced such problems. It was suggested that if anyone had any ideas or suggestions to please e-mail Mr. Swain @ Jswaine@bellsouth.net with the info. Commissioner Coward asked whether or not the members wanted to keep the same day and time each month for the meeting. It was the consensus of the committee to continue meeting the second Wednesday of the month from 10:00 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. Craig Mundt stated that he is on the Citizen Budgets committee, and if any member had any suggestions or ways of cutting costs in the county, to please let him know. Commissioner Coward thanked the members for coming to the meeting. With no further business, the meeting adjourned at 12:45 P.M. Respectfully submitted, __________________________ Charline Burgess, Aide to Commissioner Doug Coward