2015-0115 Regular City Commission Meeting

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Summary Minutes:Regular City Commission Meeting January 15,2015 City of Sunny Isles Beach,Florida 5. SPECIAL PRESENTATIONS 5A. Annual Report on the "State of the City" by Mayor George "Bud" Scholl. Action: Mayor Scholl presented the annual"State of the City"Address. Since he has only been in office a little over one month,much of the progress he will be discussing for this past year was completed under the leadership of former Mayor Norman Edelcup and the prior Commission. He said he is pleased to report that after eleven (11) years in office, Mayor Edelcup has left the City in great standing and we thank him again for his dedicated service. Mayor Scholl said the City's finances have never looked better. We once again lowered the millage rate to $2.6 per$1,000 of taxable value,representing the third year in a row that we have reduced this rate. Property values continue to soar, between increases in existing property values and new construction,our total property value has gone from$6.9 billion to approximately$8 billion,and we expect to see this trend continue. This tax base ensures that we can maintain an excellent position in three (3) critical areas of our City finances: 1) producing a general operating budget to maintain world class levels of service,and this past year our General Operating Budget totaled $44 million; 2) providing sufficient levels of funding to complete our current and future capital project needs, and this past year Capital Projects totaled $38 million; and, 3) maintaining a solid level of general and assigned Reserves, our"rainy day fund", currently at $19 Million, and he noted that Commissioner Aelion had pointed out that our target was$17 Million. We have always taken a conservative and responsible approach to our City finances. Our continuing goal will be to keep taxes as low as responsibly possible while maintaining appropriate funding for our financial stability. Mayor Scholl said this past year has been a busy and productive year for capital projects. Our Beach Renourishment efforts yielded 36,000 cubic yards of sand spread over our beachfront from Sands Point to the north end of the Golden Strand, alleviating a number of known hotspots for erosion on the beach. This was a very successful joint project between the City and Fortune International. City staff is consulting with coastal erosion experts to determine ways to mitigate the seasonal erosion patterns affecting our beachfront. Replacing sand is becoming more difficult and costly, therefore, focusing some major expertise on mitigation will be an upcoming priority. We have completed the replacement of ten (10) lifeguard stands and the expansion of our Ocean Rescue unit,resulting in our City having one of the safest beaches in Florida. Mayor Scholl said Gateway Park is well on its way to completion which is expected to be in August. Several of the Park's main elements are under construction including the 370-car parking garage, approximately 18,000 square feet of restaurant and general meeting space, and the performing arts stage. An elevated pedestrian bridge between the Park and North Bay Road over west bound Sunny Isles Boulevard is to be completed by November. Our State Legislature provided the City with a $500,000 grant for the performing arts stage at Gateway Park,and$500,000 in general appropriations for the 174 Street Stormwater Project. The Intracoastal Parks was completed but the south seawall collapsed in August and emergency repairs are underway,with the entire seawall expected to be completed by Spring. The next and major phase of our utility wire undergrounding has substantially moved forward. The plans to underground the overhead distribution and utility wires on Collins 2