[PAGE 1] 613 COUNCIL MINUTES SPECIAL WORKSHOP MEETING January 6, 2015 A special workshop meeting of the City Council of the City of Jacksonville was held Tuesday, January 6, 2015 beginning at 5:30 PM in Meeting Rooms A and B of Jacksonville City Hall. Present were: Mayor Sammy Phillips presiding; Mayor Pro-Tem Michael Lazzara and Council Members: Jerry Bittner, Randy Thomas, Bob Warden, and Angelia Washington. Council Member Jerome Willingham was unable to attend. Also present were: Richard Woodruff, City Manager; Ronald Massey, Deputy City Manager; Gayle Maides, Finance Director; Glenn Hargett, Assistant Manager for Communications and Community Affairs; Wally Hansen, Public Services Director; Susan Baptist, Director of Recreation Services; Michael Liquori, Director of Park Facilities; Carmen Miracle, City Clerk; and John Carter, City Attorney. *A video recording of the Council Meeting is presently available for review on the City’s website. CALL TO ORDER Mayor Sammy Phillips called the meeting to order at 5:32 PM. ADOPTION OF AGENDA A motion was made by Councilwoman Washington, seconded by Councilman Thomas, and unanimously approved to adopt the agenda as presented. DISCUSSION RELATIVE TO DECLINING PARTF GRANT Richard Woodruff, City Manager stated that several months ago unanticipated developments were discussed with Council in the redevelopment of Phillips Park including rescinding the former approval of the PARTF Grant. On the Agenda tonight in formal session, there was a proposed resolution specifically authorizing staff to execute the documents and to rescind the grant. Prior to that formal action, staff wanted to give Council the opportunity to ask any additional questions they had on the matter. He recommended if Council was comfortable with rescinding grant, to direct staff to return $400,000 of the $500,000 match to the Capital Reserve fund and place $100,000 in a Phillips Park improvement fund. The potential improvements to be made to Phillips Park at this time would be determined at a future workshop. [PAGE 2] 614 In response to a question from Mayor Phillips, Susan Baptist, Director of Recreation Services stated that the feedback received from the State indicated they would not hold it against the City for returning the grant since it was due to unforeseen environmental issues. The State realized it would be several years before the required environmental assessment took place and that would put us out of the range for completing the project on time. It was more advantageous to politely turn the funding back in so that it could be used for other projects in the State. Councilman Warden asked if the vision for Phillips Park would still be the same and was the $100,000 being reserved for items in that vision. Mr. Woodruff stated that there had been meetings between the Recreation and Parks staff and the Facilities Maintenance staff to look at repairing the picnic shelter. The asphalt flooring needed to be replaced and leveled, so they were looking at installing a new concrete floor. The picnic structure would also be refurbished. Those items were in the grant. The negative side of spending any money now was that money spent now would not go towards the 50% grant match. However, the park was heavily used and it would be at least three years or more before the environmental assessment was completed. Staff would bring back to Council specificity on how the $100,000 would be used and only then would it be used. Councilman Thomas asked if the matching funds were to be financed. Mr. Massey stated no, it was designated from the 4¢ Capital Reserve fund. Council voiced approval of the action. Mr. Woodruff stated that the decision was made not to fill the Recreation and Parks Director position since Susan Baptist and Michael Liquori had been doing an excellent job. Ms. Baptist’s title was now Director of Recreation Services and Mr. Liquori’s title was now Director of Park Facilities. ONSLOW COMMUNITY OUTREACH REQUEST FOR FUNDING THROUGH COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT BLOCK GRANT PROGRAM Mr. Woodruff made a public disclosure that his wife Gwen Woodruff was a member of the Onslow Community Outreach Board and had served in this capacity for approximately two years. When this matter came forward, he asked Lillie Gray, Community Development Administrator to check HUD guidelines and John Carter, City Attorney to determine if this involvement in any way put the City or him in a conflict. Mr. Carter stated there was no conflict under the law as Mr. Woodruff was not a decision maker and did not have a financial interest in [PAGE 3] 615 the matter, but it was appropriate for him to make public disclosure. Ms. Gray said there was no conflict with HUD as his wife did not have a financial interest in this matter. Dr. Don Herring introduced members of the Board and the Executive Director in attendance prior to presenting his proposal. He presented the interest of Onslow Community Outreach in a $1.5 million investment in the New River neighborhood. Their desire was to use a building that was currently available as a hub for expanded services that they already operated and to provide new services to the neighborhood. Their facility at 600 Court Street had served them well, but the need for a larger building was critical to improving and expanding services. They could not operate a round the clock shelter because the space had to be vacated each morning to allow for soup kitchen operations. They were currently in the process of due diligence on the building and getting all their details together. An outline of their vision for the potential new site is attached to the official minutes as Exhibit “A.” Mr. Woodruff stated that the Community Development Block Grant Program had as one of its goals to help low income neighborhoods which included addressing the needs of the homeless. The agenda item on tonight’s formal agenda was not an item that said Council would provide money towards this purpose. The agenda item was to formally change the adopted CDBG program. Ms. Gray stated that the agenda item was asking Council to amend their current Action Plan for FY14-15 to discontinue the CREATE program which was a partnership with Coastal Carolina Community College. Staff knew the CREATE funding would not be used and wished to allocate the funding into this activity so it would be available at such time as Council was prepared to disperse the funds. Mayor Phillips asked if it would impact the City’s ability to continue the work downtown as far as cleaning up blight. Ms. Gray said that would not be impacted. Mr. Woodruff stated that because they did not want to do anything negative towards the college, staff met with the college and confirmed that they did not have student enrollment in the classes that could use the CREATE funding. Councilman Thomas asked what the CREATE program was designed for. Ms. Gray stated that it was a program in partnership with the college where students enrolled in the construction program would help build affordable housing. The students were not paid for labor as it was training for them, but the funding was used to pay for the materials. Because of the [PAGE 4] 616 down turn in housing construction, it had been five years since that funding was used. Funding for the CREATE program came from CDBG allocations. Mr. Massey stated that the actual agenda item allowed the Plan to be amended. The Plan would then be brought back to Council as Ms. Gray went through the process. Mayor Phillips asked if the 600 Court Street location would continue to be used by Onslow Community Outreach. Dr. Herring stated yes as there would be a three to five year transitional period. Councilman Bittner asked if there would be any zoning issues. Mr. Woodruff stated that the current UDO as adopted stated there could be no homeless shelter within 500 feet of a residential structure. If they occupied the building on Hargett Street, Council would have to look at modifying the UDO. Staff discussed this matter and determined that Council may consider changing the UDO to say if a homeless shelter was within 500 feet of a residential structure, a Special Use Permit was needed which would require a public hearing. Mr. Woodruff stated it was important for Council to understand what was involved in the $1.5 million budget. Dr. Herring said that it included the purchase of the building which at this time was $750,000 and the necessary renovations required in the building. Mr. Woodruff stated that Danny Bryan, Inspections Administrator had reported that one of the first things required to meet Code requirements would be the installation of a fire sprinkler system. That system alone would cost $100,000 to $130,000. Mayor Pro-Tem Lazzara asked if there was any County participation and did they currently receive any County funding. Dr. Herring stated at this time they were vetting with City partners, but would be approaching all partners as there was opportunity for County support. They received approximately $40,000 in County funding a year which made a direct impact. Mayor Pro-Tem Lazzara asked if Dr. Herring felt there was any concern from the businesses in the New River Shopping Center. Dr. Herring stated that he hoped by keeping the front area facing Hargett Street as the community front and their core services to be served from the rear and side of the building the businesses wouldn’t be concerned. Mr. Woodruff stated that in the UDO one of the stipulations was that the Director of Development Services had the authority to require a community meeting on any rezoning. If the UDO was changed to allow a Special Use Permit, a public meeting would be required where the residential and commercial property owners were notified. He knew that Onslow Community [PAGE 5] 617 Outreach were good stewards and would reach out to the commercial ventures and the community long before that point was reached. Councilman Thomas asked if the upfitting would trigger any stormwater improvements or requirements. Mr. Woodruff stated that he did not think that would happen as the site was 99% impervious because of all the previous paving and the building size. Councilman Warden asked how many square feet did Onslow Community Outreach currently have on Court Street. Dr. Herring stated it was about 5,000 square feet so the new building would be a significant increase in capacity. Mr. Woodruff stated that the current building was for their daily operation of administration, soup kitchen and shelter. The vast majority of the building on Hargett Street would be used for Flex Space and would be heated and cooled differently than the space that would be used on a daily basis. RECESS/RECONVENE Mayor Phillips recessed the meeting at 6:05 PM for a short break. Mayo Phillips reconvened the meeting at 6:19 PM. CITY SEAL Using Exhibit “B” attached to the official minutes, Glenn Hargett spoke about proposed modifications to the City Seal. He reviewed history and different iterations of the seal through the years. The proposed changes would include: 1) a simpler, less cluttered, scalable seal that was more likely to be presented in a proper way, 2) the reflex blue color would be avoided because it was a difficult color to use in printing, and 3) all of the marks of the City of Jacksonville would be brought together as much as possible to tie branding efforts. Mr. Woodruff stated that except for the relocation of several items, it appeared the only item removed from the seal was the seagull. Mr. Hargett stated that was correct. Mayor Pro-Tem Lazzara said that from the production side, the yellow and font of the wording Caring Community was hard to recreate. The part that he liked about the changes was unifying the fonts, tying it in with the TDA seal, and the standardization of the colors. Councilman Bittner stated he was a traditionalist, but he felt the new seal was attractive. Mr. Woodruff stated that if a change was going to be made, an official agenda action would be needed. Mr. Hargett asked that with the adoption of the new seal, a graphic branding standard also be adopted. [PAGE 6] 618 Mayor Pro-Tem Lazzara asked if the new seal was adopted, how would it affect police vehicles. Would change occur over time, or would standardization happen quickly so everything looked the same. Mr. Hargett said it would be worked in. Mr. Woodruff stated a larger package including these changes would be brought back for Council’s review. He would have actual logos made available so Council could look at the seal and not just look at a computer rendering. Every City vehicle needed to have the City’s name and seal appropriately displayed. Councilman Bittner asked if the display of the seal on all vehicles be part of a policy adoption. Mr. Woodruff said he thought it already was stated in a policy, but if not we would see that it was. ADJOURNMENT A motion was made by Councilman Bittner, seconded by Councilman Thomas, and unanimously adopted to adjourn the meeting at 6:54 PM. Adopted by the Jacksonville City Council in regular session this 3rd day of February, 2015. ______________________________ Sammy Phillips, Mayor ATTEST: ______________________________ Carmen K. Miracle, City Clerk [PAGE 11] Official City Seal Discussion Seal Slide #60 1981 Slide #66 [PAGE 12] Blue Smudge Slide #73 [PAGE 13] Seal Tahoma Spelled Out Guides Hits and Misses [PAGE 15] Goals • Simpler, Less Cluttered, Scalable Proposed Changes • More likely to be properly presented • Avoid Reflex Blue • Tie branding efforts • Give alternate choices Slide #87 Slide #88 Slide #89 Slide #90 Slide #91 [PAGE 16] Slide #92 Slide #93 Reversed One Color Versions [PAGE 18] Slide #106