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Item R1 MEMORANDUM Office of the County Administrator TO: Board of County Commissioners FROM: Thomas J. Willi County Administrator DATE: July 11,2005 SUBJECT: County Divisions' Monthly Activity Report for June, 2005 MONTHL Y ACTIVITY REPORT - JUNE, 2005 MANAGEMENT SERVICES . Negotiate with Firefighters - Contract is being finalized for Unit 1; Unit 2 is being prepared. . Negotiate with Teamsters - Meeting broke off after about 5 hours; another meeting scheduled for July 28th. . Research Health Savings Accounts & Health Reimbursement Accounts - Presented findings to BOCC in June. Preparing RFP for presentation to Board in September . Began draft of Cost Recovery RFP to recoup costs on Motor Vehicle Accidents within Monroe County . Established a time line for presenting proposal for purchasing card. Tentatively plan on presenting in August of agreement with provider. . Filled vacant position in Group Insurance; one employee in OMB out on medical leave most of June. . Secured draft and reviewing same for Billy Wagner's consulting contract. . Continuing preparation of budget . Negotiated with Richard Collins regarding splitting responsibilities for Risk Management - will extend Maria's appointment as Acting Risk Administrator through September 2005 allowing her time to prepare for and take first exam in ARM series. 1 . Issued 627 purchase orders, handled 1463 pieces of mail, conducted 8 bid openings during June. . Posted 17 jobs; handled 82 applicants and hired 6 people during June. FIRE RESCUE . In concert with the County Attorney's Office, gained BOCC approval for contractual changes to allow volunteer fire and EMS personnel to be reimbursed at higher rates based on training, certification and responses. . A Firefighter II certification course has been scheduled to commence in August . Processing of five new hires has been completed. They will begin work July 5, 2005. Two vacancies remain. We remain concerned about the quality of applicants being attracted from the mainland since a shortage of paramedics to draw from exists state-wide and housing is more affordable in mainland communities whose fire departments offer much higher starting pay. . Facility upgrades to Joe London Fire Training Facility continued. Shelter tarps for fire apparatus have been replaced. The training office in the trailer has had phone service installed. Hazards and trash around complex have been removed. . Annual maintenance on all SCBAs was completed in June. . Annual maintenance on all Hurst hydraulic rescue equipment was completed this month. . In partnership with Comcast Cable, began airing PSA's promoting the "File for Life" program directed toward the elderly residents of the County. Web site upgrades . Two fire stations were added to the site. . "Wanted" poster was posted for Captain Zavalney's bail money to be raised during the Muscular Dystrophy Association's annual "Lock Up". PUBLIC SAFETY . Resurfaced cargo apron and installed new taxiway connector at Florida Keys Marathon Airport (MTH). . Began construction for new guidance signs and taxiway lights project at MTH. 2 . Identified alternatives and met with Florida Department of Environmental Protection (FDEP) about operating permit renewal for Cudjoe Key Lined Landfill. . Initiated an electronics recycling program. . Prepared hurricane shelter retrofit project survey and submitted to Florida Department of Emergency Management (FDEM). . Conducted numerous meetings regarding hurricane preparedness activities; subjects included: evacuation strategies, sheltering for General Public, Persons with Special Needs & Medical Management Patients, support for and evacuation of essential personnel of governments, utilities, hospitals, etc. . Prepared preliminary assignments for Emergency Support Functions (ESF). . Recipient of NACO Award for Staged/Phased Evacuation and Interagency Coordination. . On-going coordination with local school district about incorporating EHP A into new schools and retrofit of existing facilities. . On-going coordination with various radio stations about co-location at County communications facilities and towers. . Added some photographs to website. . Made some corrections to web pages. . Redirected separate MTH site to County's website. . Changed DNS & IP numbers. GROWTH MANAGEMENT . Reviewed potential affordable housing sites for Land Authority and the preparation report to be completed in early August. . Drafted ordinance in response to the Board authorized "Zoning in Progress" to require that 30 percent of redevelopment projects of 10 units or more be affordable and to authorize the conversion of affordable housing allocations to market rate if an affordable housing deed restriction is placed on an existing unit that meets specific standards. 3 . Reviewed draft Key Largo CommuniKeys Plan and Stock Island Harbor Plan prepared by consultants and submitted review comments to consultants. . Reconvened Scenic Highway Advisory Group to review progress on the interpretive scenic highway master plan and FDOT policy on right-of-way acquisition; completed field review with State and consultant for the design phase of the Overseas Heritage Trail from MM 16.5 to 30; and received notice of $200,000 grant award for invasive exotics removal along U.S. Highway l. . Presented Tavernier Historic District Guidelines and Corridor Development Guidelines to the public and Planning Commission. . Presented Big Pine Key Corridor Plan to Planning Commission and received endorsement of the plan by that body. . Provided oversight on the installation of 135 moorings in Key West Mooring Field and 130 No Wake Zone markers in Islamorada and removal of 14 derelict vessels and several thousand pounds of marine debris throughout the Keys. . Moved forward on actions concerning State lands leases at the "Swimming Hole" on Big Pine Key and boat ramp on Card Sound Road. . Solicited a Request for Bids on pump-out boat (due date of July 6). . Continued work on contracting for aerial photographs of the Keys including securing funding from other agencies; acquired new GPS equipment; prepared draft Fire Rescue map index; and placed Tier data on County web site. . Completed initial work on changes in building permit and planning fee schedules; anticipate that the proposed new schedules will be presented to the BOCC in August. PUBLIC WORKS . Completed demolition at Quay property. . Complete guardrail repairs on Card Sound Road. . Completed cleanup of County (Chris Johnson) property on Little Torch Key. . Completed renovation of rest rooms and AD.A improvements at Higgs Beach. 4 ENGINEERING . The Engineering Division is currently working on 50+ projects either directly or indirectly. They are in various stages from planning to construction and in most cases they are advancing along. . Just completed (in house) the design of Big Pine Key Roads 10 which includes stormwater improvements, a new bike path to the Big Pine Key Community Park, and roadway improvements to 18 streets in the Sands Subdivision area. Bids for construction will be received and opened August 11th. . Also, now heavily involved in the design of the new "McCoy Terminal Complex". As a result, we were able to reduce project estimates by $3.0 million while improving the functionality of the facility. We recently completed a RFQ for a construction contract for this project utilizing a Construction Manager at Risk. Proposals are due August 1 ih. This is the first time this project delivery method is being used by Monroe County. It is intended to fast track construction while increasing quality of work and reducing- perhaps eliminating change orders. Our ambitious goal is to start construction on the "McCoy Terminal Complex" by the first of the year. KEY WEST AIRPORT Meetings: . Monthly Airline Managers Meeting to discuss operational issues and prep for Hurricane season. . Held kick off meeting with all parties involved in the bond issue for the new Terminal Complex. . KWIA Ad Hoc Committee on Noise met to discuss progress on the NIP (Noise Insulation Project) and the selection of Architectural and Engineering teams for Phases 5, 6, and 7. . Met with the Director and her staff of the Key West Art and Historical Society to develop the plan for the Mario Sanchez Children's Park here on the Airport. . The Architectural team from URS in Tampa met with us to discuss progress on the plans and permitting for the new McCoy Terminal Complex. . The monthly general airport meeting was held to discuss the many airport construction projects ongoing. . Attended final Firefighters Union negotiation session. . BOCC meeting in Marathon. All airport items bulk approved 5 . Participated in a teleconference with the FAA Airports District Office (ADO) concerning progress with the Environmental Assessment (EA) for the Runway Safety Area (RSA). . Met with legal staff to discuss airport legal issues. . Two trips to Marathon to work out lease issues with airport tenants. . Growth Management staff met with us to work out concerns over vegetation and buffer requirements for the Major Conditional Use permit for the new Terminal Complex. . Met with our ARFF Chief and Chief Clark Martin to discuss pros and cons of the county taking over our firefighting function. . Consulted with the County Clerk concerning the selection process to obtain accounting services for the construction of the new terminal complex. Accomplishments: . Passenger numbers are up 8.6% for the month and 11.9% year to date. . Even though we averaged 100 flights per day and handled nearly 60,000 passengers in June, there were no security violations noted by either our security staff or the TSA. . The hangar project is coming along well, with 16 of the 20 new hangars near completion. . The marking and seal coating project has begun as has the installation of the new segmented circle and wind cone. . Phase 3 of the Noise Insulation Program (NIP) is well underway with 22 of38 homes completed. . In June, received very competitive bids for NIP Phase 4 putting the cost of construction at $5,000 less per home than previous phases. This will allow us complete 60 homes in Phase 4 and cover all of the soft costs in Phase 5 with the $4.4 million that the FAA has allocated for our noise projects in FY 06. . Wildlife survey has been completed and sent up to the FAA. We expect that they will direct us to complete a wildlife management plan with emphasis on bird strikes. . The new terminal project has received approval from the County's Development Review Committee (DRC) and has been forwarded on to the Planning Commission for review and approval. . Completed training on "Exceptional Customer Service." We hope to begin a passenger customer service program here at the airport. Web site updates: . Updated airline information. . Updated and corrected information on rental cars. 6 . Updated F AQ page. COMMUNITY SERVICES . Transcribed minutes of the Florida Keys Council for People with Disabilities (FKCFPWD) meeting. . Scheduled meeting location for the next FKCFPWD meeting in July, 2005 . Updated FKCFPWD website. . Updated Community Services Division Administration web site . Updated the Monroe Express (Bus) web site . Traveled to Tallahassee for CPM 2 Level 8 and Graduation . Distributed CPM 3 Level 2 Notebooks and Reading Books . Traveled to Marathon for first day of CPM 3 Level 2 class to take the instructors box of handouts and Flip Chart paper . Scheduled meetings for July so that Jerry O'Cathey could meet with all Department Heads and Animal Control Contractors UF/IFAS/Monroe County Extension . Participated in the final clean marina survey with FDEP, USCG Auxiliary, and FKNMS of Mangrove Marina in Tavernier. The marina passed inspection and will be awarded Clean Marina Status later in the year. . Visited 17 marinas and fishing related businesses from Key West to Long Key to discuss the reef fish tagging program with interested parties and to distribute posters to marinas and other fishing related businesses. One new volunteer angler was signed up with a tagging kit. In addition, checked on 4 out of 5 of the freezers at selected business to assess grouper carcass collections and to discuss progress with the managers/owners of the businesses where the freezers are kept. . Participated in the NOAA Fisheries Turtle Safe Workshop held in Key West for reef fish and shark longline fishermen. . Developed a 17 page "Outline of the Gulf of Mexico grouper industry limited entry management plan proposal" that summarized the Gulf of Mexico Grouper Industry Limited Entry Steering Committee's decisions to date and provided 7 supporting analytical rationale. The draft document was the basis for discussion during the fourth meeting of steering committee in Madeira Beach, FL, also moderated by myself. The committee readdressed a number of measures that NOAA Fisheries indicated needed to be strengthened to reduce the potential for increased effort by part-time fishermen (i.e., latent effort). . Spoke on US 1 Morning Magazine radio show about the turtle safe workshop in Key West and the upcoming Tropical Fruit Fiesta. Participated in two radio interviews with US 1 radio and Conch FM radio during the Tropical Fruit Fiesta. The Keynoter and Reporter newspapers published article on hurricane protection for boaters with the title "Last year shows what floats your boat". A second news article on lightning protection was published in the Keynoter with the title "Protect your boat, self'. . Held three Master Gardener Preview Sessions in Key Largo, Marathon and Key W est to introduce the Master Gardener program and interview candidates for this year's intensive Master Gardener training program. Fourteen candidates will start the course in July. . Invited to present a paper "Iguana Be Gonna" at the Florida State Horticultural Society meeting in Tampa, and wrote one news article "Pine Rocklands" that was published in the Key West Journal and sent out to all the newspapers countywide. . Performed horticultural site visits to the Navy Admiral's home to examine the Royal palm tree with a hole forming in trunk (Key West) and examined Foxtail palm nutrition problems at St Peter's Church (Big Pine Key). Additionally, held a landscaping workshop for eight Monroe County Public Works employees on "How Trees Grow in the Urban Environment" and did a walk-through with the group of the Gato Landscape to show and share with them how trees should be taken care of. . Answered over 50 calls from residents regarding numerous plant problems from residents County-wide. . Attended the Tropical Ag Fiesta held at the Fruit and Spice Park in Homestead to promote Monroe County Extension, and to participate with experts in Miami- Dade County. . Principal organizers for the 7th Annual Tropical Fruit Fiesta held June 25 in Bayview Park, Key West. Over 3000 people attended the event and enjoyed the following activities: Tropical fruit plants for sale, tropical fruits for sale and sampling, tropical fruit auction, children's events, educational workshops with University of Florida Speakers, a Home Grown Fruit Contest, and much more. The event was very well received, and well attended. 8 . Taught three different sessions at the Founder's Park Summer Day Camp program in Islamorada to 127 youth. The session topics included marine science, recycling and nutrition. . Participated in the Fiesta de Nifios event in Key West which was a children's party in conjunction with the Cuban-American Heritage Festival. Information about 4-H/Extension was distributed; additionally, 4-H Aerospace curriculum was introduced. Visitors were encouraged to create their own rocket and paper airplanes. The Tropical Fruits of the Keys & Cuba youth poster art contest was completed. Approximately 100 poster entries were received from several schools primarily in the Key West area. First State Bank in Key West co-sponsored this event. They announced winners at the Fiesta de Nifios Cuban-American Heritage celebration. Additionally, they displayed the contest entries in their bank lobby located on Simonton Street in Key West. All entries were displayed at our Tropical Fruit Fiesta in Key West on June 25th. . Applied for and received a $9,500 grant from the Florida 4-H Foundation to implement a youth leadership hurricane preparedness program during the months of July, August and September. The program called 4-H Summer of Service (SOS) will be completed in collaboration with the Monroe County Department of Emergency Management and the Red Cross. . Wrote one article entitled "New Research Could Help with the Safe Use of Mosquito Repellent" which was distributed to all the media outlets in the Keys. A press release was prepared and sent announcing the 4-H SOS program. . The Monroe County School poster art contest "Fruits of Cuba and the Florida Keys" artwork was displayed in the children's area and winners announced. This project was partnered with First State Bank and the Cuban American Heritage Festival as a joint venture. Many children participated in the event as a result of the contest and good publicity for Monroe County was the result of our efforts. The Tropical Fruit Fiesta will be held in Key Largo in 2006. Public Libraries . WEB SITE UPDATE: Over 20 hours have been spent during June updating the library web pages. These pages include the Library's Information Portal (<http://ipac.keyslibraries.org/ipac20/ipac.jsp?profile=remote>) as well as the www.keyslibraries.org <http://www.keyslibraries.org/> pages hosted by Virtual Town Hall. Most of this time has been spent on the Information Portal in anticipation of debuting an enhanced site by early fall. During June 2005, over 14,000 searches were conducted on the Information Portal. Work on the Virtual Town Hall site has included adding a legal resource page, maintaining calendars for each library location, updating staff listings, and adding additional links to library resources. 9 Activities and Events: . Library Administrator, Anne Layton Rice, met with middle- and high-school teachers, consultants, and curriculum advisors to discuss the School District's new local history curriculum. The library will actively partner with the School District on this project by providing students with historical documents in electronic format. . The Library's National Endowment for the Humanities grant, "On the Waterfront: Preserving Key West's Past" ended June 30th. Our local newspapers published numerous stories about this successful project. Local donations will sustain preservation efforts on these artifacts for several more months. . The new Library Advisory Board District 4 representative was approved by the BOCC. We look forward to welcoming Brad Trout at the next meeting of the Library Advisory Board. . Tom Hambright provided "Juneteenth" African-American heritage programs for the Bahama Village Land Trust Coalition and the Key West Sunrise Rotary. . Friends of the Key West Library donated $ 27,000.00 to the Library for materials, children's programs, and Library projects . 474 Monroe County residents signed up for new library cards in June. This brings our total library cardholders to 29,720. . Over 500 children participated in the libraries' Summer Reading Programs in June. Events have included puppet shows, Wild Bird Center presentations, papier- mache art, and a farcical presentation of "Cinderella" by Fantasy Theatre. 10