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World of Westchase

May 2008

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Supervisors have occasionally discussed placing limits on board members’ telephonic attendance but have declined to establish physical attendance requirements. Supervisors are paid $200 to attend each meeting, regardless of whether they attend the meeting in person or by phone. For 15 consecutive months, Sanchez, whose seat is up for election in November, has wholly or predominantly attended his district’s meetings by phone, physically attending only latter portions of the January 2008 meeting and meetings between June and September of 2007. The most recent meeting Sanchez attended entirely in person was in January 2007.
 

Despite the session’s revolving door – CDDs Attorney Erin Larrinaga had to retrieve Edgerley for a key vote after she had retreated to the restroom to answer her cell phone, again temporarily costing her board its quorum – supervisors managed to pass some significant motions. Both boards voted to take the next step toward a merger, reviewed their 2009 draft budget, approved a new contract with district management firm Severn Trent, and addressed their landscaping company’s second graded failure since November 2006. Opening their meeting, supervisors heard from TruGreen LandCare’s Matt Dreiling and Steve Vonessen, both of whom took charge over Westchase’s landscaping approximately six months ago. Vonessen stated he was appearing to appeal TruGreen’s failing grade in March. Under the district’s contract for landscaping, TruGreen’s landscaping work undergoes a monthly, independent inspection by OLM. If the grade falls below an 87, 20 percent of TruGreen’s monthly compensation is The Meeting at a Glance • After hearing TruGreen LandCare representatives appeal their March failing score for landscaping, supervisors voted to reduce the contractual penalty of 20 percent of that month’s payment to 10 percent. • Supervisors approved the final draft of a new management contract with Severn Trent Services, representing a $78,000 cut in costs over the current contract. • Supervisors voted to continue working towards a merger of the districts, instructing staff to develop a merger agreement between the districts and a timeline. • Supervisors approved an expenditure of $3,250 to purchase and install no soliciting signs at the entrance of each Westchase village. • Supervisors instructed Field Supervisor Doug Mays to explore options and acquire quotes for replacing the lettering on street signs within The Greens and Harbor Links/The Estates.

withheld. In November 2007, TruGreen received its first failing grade in its three-year contract but supervisors waived the penalty and warned Dreiling to sit down with OLM representatives and district staff so that he understood their expectations.

Vonessen, a TruGreen regional manager, described the failing grade as unfair, repeatedly pointing out that eight of 15 points were subtracted for turf color and arguing that Westchase’s appearance was superior to any other landscaped areas within fifteen miles. “I’m here really to appeal the score,” he stated. “I think it’s unfair. That’s my stance.” Vonessen stated he was appearing despite what he described as an “unprofessional” phone call from OLM’s Tommy Medlock, who did the March inspection. Vonessen stated that Medlock warned him that his appearance before supervisors would not be in the long-term interest of their relationship.

Dreiling repeatedly emphasized that no one had explained to him exactly what a point in the grading system represented.

Other than CDD Supervisor Bill Kemerer, who stated he believed the appearance of the community had declined in the past two years, most supervisors who addressed the TruGreen staff agreed that the appearance of the community was largely good. They did, however, refer to a memo Medlock had sent them delineating the areas of TruGreen’s underperformance. The memo, which discussed problems with turf fertility, turf edging and mulching, stated, “OLM’s job is to make sure that all of your property is properly maintained, not most of the areas.”

Among other issues, Medlock’s memo stated that the landscape contract required TruGreen to bevel the edges of beds prior to mulching. The memo stated the beveling, designed to keep mulch from spilling out of beds, had not been done prior to mulching.

Dreiling, however, argued that Medlock had inspected the property in the middle of the mulching project and did not take into consideration that TruGreen had not yet finished the work. He stated they were going to go back and complete the beveling when the mulching was complete.

Medlock’s memo also explained the loss of all points for turf edging. “It is clearly stated in the specifications that metal blade edgers are to be used when edging all turf bedlines and tree wells. It has been noted for quite some time that the service provider continually allows weedeaters to be used to perform this task.”

Dreiling, however, argued that OLM’s March 18 maintenance punch list stated there were no maintenance carryover items from the Feb. 21 inspection punch list. “There’s now a huge problem between us and OLM,” Dreiling stated, adding that losing half of the turf fertility points was unjustified because half of Westchase’s turf did not look bad. Dreiling also decried the inspection process as subjective, pointing out that OLM had sent three different inspectors to review Westchase in the six months he has supervised work in the community.

Countering Dreiling, Kemerer stated the process had been subjective for nearly three years without complaint. “There was no definition of a point when you signed the contract,” he said. Kemerer added that he had no intention of being dragged into making judgments about the quality of the landscaping because that was what the board had hired OLM, a horticultural firm, to do.

CDD Supervisor Casale, who had encouraged Dreiling in November to sit down with staff in order to fully understand their expectations, also took a firm hand, faulting Dreiling for failing to notify the board that he still did not understand the scoring process after that meeting. “I don’t buy that you guys don’t understand how they come up with the score,” he said. “We’ve had five meetings since then. Never heard from you.”

CDD East Supervisor Sanchez also stated he was not interested in second guessing OLM, but, like CDD Chair Mark Ragusa, felt the board needed to work with TruGreen so that they better understood OLM’s scoring.

After Vonessen stated it wasn’t fair to penalize TruGreen two months of profit for failing, Supervisor Kemerer made a motion to simply penalize TruGreen 10 percent of March’s payment.

CDD Chair Mark Ragusa, however, argued that both the boards and TruGreen did not understand OLM’s scoring adequately and the boards shouldn’t jeopardize their relationships with either vendor. “I think 10 percent is harsh,” he stated.

CDD Supervisor Lechman, however, disagreed, arguing that the boards were placing a problem with TruGreen at the feet of OLM. “I think our patience is done,” he stated to the TruGreen representatives.

“Are you embarrassed when you drive here?” challenged Dreiling.

“That’s not the point,” Supervisors Edgerley and Lechman responded in unison.

“If you have the option of bidding [the landscape contract],” said Vonessen, “I suggest you do it.” He added, “I feel threatened by OLM every month.”

After supervisors asked CDD Field Supervisor Doug Mays his advice on the matter, Mays said that while he didn’t necessarily disagree with OLM, he felt the 20 percent penalty was excessive.

After a series of motions seeking a unified response from the two boards, both boards ultimately passed motions reducing the penalty to 10 percent of March’s payment. The motion passed 3-2 on the CDD, with Supervisors Casale and Bob Argus opposed, and 3-1 on the CDD East, with Supervisor Sanchez opposed.

Ragusa concluded the topic by asking staff to arrange another meeting including Mays, OLM, TruGreen and a supervisor from each board. After the meeting, CDD staff informed WOW that the meeting would be held on April15 at 7 a.m.

Later in the session, supervisors directed District Manager Andy Mendenhall to review the landscape specifications and bid process to enable the boards to move quickly if hiring another contractor should become necessary.

Larrinaga then briefed the boards on negotiations with Severn Trent officials regarding indemnification and liability limits within the proposed management contract. Supervisors then approved the new agreement, representing a $78,000 cut in costs over the current contract, by margins of 5-0 on the CDD and 3-1 on the CDD East, with CDD Chair Greg Chesney opposed.

Stating that new state law requires the districtd to offer preliminary information on assessments to the county in June for inclusion on trim notices, Mendenhall and Alan Baldwin, a member of Severn Trent’s financial team, reviewed a draft of the 2009 budget.

Praising the two for the level of detail included in the draft budget, supervisors offered several comments.
 

•	Supervisor Casale emphasized the need to keep an eye on the year’s assessment collections, which are running below prior years’ collections.
•	Emphasizing the need for the districts to maintain current fund balance levels in case of a merger, Supervisor Kemerer asked Baldwin to budget additional funds in the CDD East to cover both 2009’s off-duty deputy patrol, but also to repay the deficit created by its re-activation in 2008, for which no funds were budgeted.
•	Supervisors asked for clarification about the final payment in 2009 on a $2 million loan taken four years ago for the Capital Improvement Program, which refurbished the districts’ parks, pedestrian tunnels, boardwalks and bridges.

Following reports from Mendenhall and Mays, supervisors addressed a possible merger of the two Westchase districts. While the topic of the merger was originally the first agenda item after roll call, discussion of the matter had been pushed later in the meeting in the hopes that all supervisors would be present to participate. Stating he was confident that the two absent supervisors, Supervisors Sylvester and Sanchez, would have no opposition to proceeding, CDD East Chair Greg Chesney made a motion directing staff to continue with the process of merging the two districts.

The merger would reduce the two Westchase boards, geographically divided by St. Joseph’s Health Clinic on Linebaugh Avenue and consisting of five supervisors each, to a single Westchase-wide board of five supervisors.

In recent months, work toward a merger was delayed by Larrinaga’s investigation of how elections for a merged district would have to be conducted. An opinion from Florida Attorney General Bill McCollum ultimately held that a merged district in Westchase would have to conduct elections for ten years like a newly created district (similar to the way Westchase Voting Members are selected instead of placing them on November’s General Election ballot). The opinion initially gave some supervisors pause.

Last month, however, Chesney stated that the community would benefit and the districts’ efficiency and liability issues would be resolved by a merger and pressed for a vote. Supervisors, however, delayed discussion a month because it was accidentally left off the March agenda.

When Chesney made the motion, however, Supervisor Edgerley cited the cost savings in the new management contract and questioned whether the financial rationale for a merger still existed.

CDD Supervisor Kemerer, however, argued it did. Citing the fact that district staff will no longer have to spend time mathematically allocating each expenditure between the two districts, Kemerer said, “There will be all kinds of savings.” Kemerer also expressed frustration at the boards’ pace at addressing a merger. “Fundamentally, there seems to be a constant attempt to delay the process.”

Chesney guessed that a merger would still likely save the community $15,000 to $20,000 annually. Kemerer, however, argued it would be more. “You just can’t tell me the [management] fee won’t drop considerably.”

“I think we should just go forward and do it,” agreed Edgerley.

The motion for merger, echoed by Supervisor Casale on his district, directed Mendenhall to develop a clear merger timeline, delineating all milestones upon which the districts will hold further votes. Any of those milestones, including a decision regarding which five of the ten sitting supervisors will take seats on the merged district, could still derail the process.

The vote to proceed with merging passed on the CDD 3-2, with CDD Chair Mark Ragusa and Supervisor Lechman opposed, and 3-0 on the CDD East.

In other matters:
 

•	Supervisors heard from Westchase Community Association (WCA) Director Carlos Quiros, who shared plans for the WCA’s new office structure adjacent to the Village Swim and Tennis Club. The offices will require the relocation of the current sidewalk leading to Baybridge tunnel. The CDDs transferred ownership of that sidewalk to the WCA in recent years and Quiros stated he was sharing the information in the spirit of cooperation.
•	Supervisors approved an expenditure of $3,250 to purchase and install no soliciting signs at the entrance of each Westchase village.
•	Supervisors directed Field Supervisor Doug Mays to acquire more information about a $17,000 bid for renovating the districts’ staff offices in the hopes of lowering the quote.
•	Supervisors agreed to have CDD Engineer Tonja Stewart review a road study for Harbor Links/The Estates at a cost of $500 to enable deputies to enforce speed and traffic laws within that gated neighborhood.
•	Supervisors requested CDDs Attorney Erin Larrinaga review a West Park Village resident’s request that he be allowed to construct a pool two feet into a CDD maintenance easement on his property.
•	Supervisors instructed Field Supervisor Doug Mays to explore options and acquire quotes for replacing the lettering on street signs within The Greens and Harbor Links/The Estates. Roads and signage within gated communities are not maintained by the county; residents of those villages generally pay for such repairs.
•	After Field Supervisor Doug Mays made a brief presentation on storm sewer screens, which he stated could enhance the water quality in Westchase retention ponds, supervisors directed him to explore possible grants covering their high costs and the possibility of testing a few on ponds most plagued by trash and landscape debris.