Fire Station 4 to be ‘Fully’ Staffed due to Upcoming Hood Rd Closure

---

The June 2nd City Council Meeting, with four council members present (Ms. Marino absent), began with recognition of Sherri Pla as PGA Southeast Chapter Youth Golf Development Professional of the year. Next was to be the 2015 Audit Report – but the presenter was delayed and so City Manager Ferris was asked to give his report.

Of impact to City residents: Hood Road at the Turnpike will be closed very soon for a period of 60-120 days, in order to replace the bridge. Fire Station 5 (aka 65) is a backup to Fire Station 4 (aka 64) (which has been the subject of public comment for several months) and access to Mirasol would be impacted by the closure. The City will temporarily staff Station 4 to full capacity for 120 days, using over-time. City Manager Ferris said that data collected during the closure, plus the outside study commissioned to review Fire/Rescue current and future needs, will be timely and sufficient to determine staffing proposals for the 2016/2017 Budget cycle.

During Items for Council Action/Discussion towards the end of the meeting, the council voted 3:1 against supporting the Infrastructure Sales Tax. Vice Mayor Jablin reiterated his position from the first vote held a couple of months ago, that the sales tax increase was regressive. Council Member Premuroso also re-stated that the County should be able to handle this through their existing budget or via bonds and that the School Board solutions should be separate. Mayor Tinsley stated that since the County, if millage is held flat, would be gaining $48 million in extra revenue, there should not be a sales tax increase. Council Member Levy voted for supporting the sales tax, since the Cultural Council/Economic development component had been removed from the proposal. All agreed that despite their nay vote the referendum would be on the ballot in November. Also discussed was the probable incorporation vote of Westlake  (formerly Callery Judge Groves) by its four residents purportedly to over-ride density limits currently imposed by the County. While it wasn’t clear that anything could be done, the Council voted 4:0 to oppose the incorporation and to have the Mayor write a letter taking that position.

Also of resident interest, City Attorney Lohman reported on the status of the Election Run-off (see judge ruling details here) and recommended that the City join in David Levy’s appeal, along with the Supervisor of Elections. His rationale was that the City was involved already due to the City Clerk being named in the suit, as well as already being obligated to pay the SOE’s legal fees. Council Member Levy recused himself, and the remaining members voted 3:0 to join the suit.

Public Comment included:

• Mami Kisner, thanked the Council, City Manager and Police Chief for their accessibility, and responsiveness to Corey Jones’ family and community.
• A resident concerned about illegal drug sales occurring in a neighborhood in the area NE of Northlake/Military Trail. Both the City Manager and Chief Stepp seemed very surprised by the information and referred the resident to Asst. Chief Shannon at the back of the room.
• Abbey Baker, Matt Baker, Craig Goldenfarb and Ron Kaplan of Mirasol all spoke on Station 4 staffing, and response time issues.
• Kathy Beamer, of Shady Lakes, requested that improvements be made to 117th Ct first, then redo the traffic study, prior to modifying Shady Lakes Drive. She stated that the residents’ trust had been breached by no providing a wall, a berm or any real noise abatement in the most recent proposal.
• Tom Cairnes and Steve Mathison, both of the PGA Corridor Association spoke, with Mr. Mathison specifically appreciating their inclusion in the current review of the Impact Fee process.

The Consent Agenda, Ordinance 5, 2016 and the other 3 Resolutions on the Agenda passed 4:0.