May’s meeting opened with the Public Hearing on Proposed Increased Use Fees for Park Reservations and Gate Clickers.
Before the board voted on the park reservation fee proposal, Office Manager Sherida Cook informed the board how the county processes park reservations, so they had an up-to-date comparison. She reported that the county recently stopped allowing the use of water slides in their parks; their rental charge is for shelters only and any greenspace is rented at an additional cost. They also require vendors to provide their own generators. Chairman Matt Lewis thanked Cook for her report but summarized that Baybridge and Glencliff are community parks and the CDD would not want to pass on additional rental charges or restrict the use of bounce houses. With no challenges from the audience, the board approved the original proposal to increase fees from $75 to $150 for non–bounce house bookings and from $100 to $250 for bookings including a bounce house. The board also voted to approve an increase in the fee for gate clickers from $35 to $45 to cover costs.
During his report, Engineer Robert Dvorak confirmed he was ready to take the Community Trail project to the Water Management District, and he had arranged for a pre-application meeting for June 26. He informed the board that the meeting would be auto-transcribed and would be added to the parent file of Westchase permits. Supervisor Chris Barrett asked if there was anything the CDD could prepare in anticipation of receiving a ‘yes’ to the project. Dvorak suggested that whilst his team can engineer the bridges and design the system, he would recommend engaging Ivy Clinton from VHB to help with the safety and human elements.
Dvorak was pleased to report the completion of the bank modification at Pond 125 but resident Graham Smith politely disagreed claiming there was still a large dip that would collect water. Lewis reminded Mr. Smith that Dvorak’s original design included 3 inlets, but other residents had declined the use of pipes. Dvorak conceded that the dip would collect rainwater coming off roofs etc., but not from the lake. He added that the berm will do its job and that the pond will be closely monitored during the wet season.
Following on from the April meeting, Attorney Erin McCormick confirmed she had been in talks with TECO real estate regarding the pipe damage on the east side of Countryway near Glencliff Park. Since providing them with the specific TECO pole numbers, the contact had gone quiet. Lewis was concerned that they could be waiting on information they may or may not get and Barrett agreed that they should make a motion to get the work done before the rainy season starts and not wait for a response from TECO. The motion passed 5-0.
After introducing Mark Vega, the new district manager from Inframark, McCormick reminded the board that the last agreement for District Management Services was made in 2008. Supervisor Greg Chesney wanted to be clear that there were no issues with the current service but, as the oldest contract they have, he felt it was the CDD’s duty to the community to put out an RFQ. With the rest of the board in agreement, McCormick would publish the RFQ for any interested firms with a deadline of the July workshop.
David Sylvanowicz began his field manager report with a before and after photo of a blocked skimmer in pond 112 in the Bridges. Sylvanowicz was confident that it was this blockage that had caused Baybridge Park to flood during the rainy seasons over the last few years. He went on to say that during the recent drought, his team had been able to make a lot of improvements to this and other blocked skimmers. Barrett thanked him for his “aggressive approach.”
Following the current vendor’s decline in service, Sylvanowicz entered into a new working agreement with a different Street Sweeper service. The new cost would be $2250 for each community sweep to be completed 6 times a year with a budgeted seventh service just in case. The new vendor uses differed machines – residents should notice an improvement and a decrease in the amount of leaf product that ends up in the drains. And on the question of whether the community should purchase their own machine, Sylvanowicz confirmed that it would take 14 years to justify the cost, not to mention the added expense for maintenance and repairs.
During discussions for another tree permit request, Supervisor Reggie Gillis asked if there would ever be a point when the board would pay for the removal of a tree if it was causing a hazard. Sylvanowicz reminded the board that they had given him a remit to remove trees that were dangerous or diseased. Barrett also questioned the use of Crepe Myrtles as a replacement for oaks, suggesting that they were too easy for residents to prune and potentially decimate. Lewis agreed that it was time to revisit the approved tree list for the community.