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An outline of the potential Vernon Avenue development site can be seen in this diagram provided to the City Commission in October.
CRESCENT CITY – As newcomers to the city commission started their journey and others settled back into their familiar roles, the board moved forward multiple ordinances Monday night.
The ordinances addressed increasing water and gas service deposits, funding the installation of a new sewer line and amending the city’s code of ordinances to comply with Crescent City’s new trash cans, among other topics.
Crescent City’s first four public hearings moved forward and will take effect because Monday night marked second readings of these ordinances. The fifth public hearing was only the city’s first and the topic must return to the board in December.
Public hearing 1: Increasing water and gas service deposits
The commission approved, in a 4-1 vote, raising water and sewer rates for residential renters, redefined the price for commercial deposits and increased the one-time fee to connect or reconnect onto the city’s water and sewer system.
Residential water and sewer rates will remain at $75, according to city documents. The residential rental water deposit fee increased from $150 to $200 after the board’s approval.
“We have an issue with people, especially with renters, that they’ve walked away and they left us to hold the bill and hopefully this will discourage that,” Mayor Michele Myers said.
The commercial water deposit charge switched from $100 to a three-month average.
“Commercial deposits will be changed to a calculation of the average of three months’ use for the location,” City Manager Charles Rudd said in a memo addressed to the commission.
Customers and returning customers hoping to reestablish service on the city sewer/water system now must pay a one-time fee of $50, rather than the previous fee of $35.
Commissioner Lisa DeVitto voted against the ordinance changes Monday.
“I’m the one that suggested we get the data on this. I never really saw the data. … I know staff recommends it, but we didn’t see any data,” she said.
Public hearing 2: Transferring funds from the Wastewater Expansion Fund to the Wastewater Fund
This approval authorized a $400,000 fund transfer, which is slated to go toward upcoming city projects and expenses.
The ordinance passed in a 3-2 vote with newly-elected Commissioner C.J. Bailey and DeVitto casting dissenting votes.
According to another memo from Rudd included in Monday’s agenda packet, the money is going to be used to install a new sewer line and lift station along Oakwood Street. City officials said the project should only cost about $357,000. The installation is to make way for future planned development along County Road 308, Vernon Avenue and Oakwood Street, city documents from October state.
“The report that we have I believe … is that all but three of those lots up along Oakwood have sold,” Myers said.
Rudd told the commission there are multiple developers planning to build homes in that area, and Myers said the long-term goal is to get the whole area around Oakwood and Vernon off septic tanks and onto a sewer system.
“This way, as they develop, we’re not going back in after the fact and asking them … how can we convert (the developments) over to (our system,” Myers said. “It’s trying to get ahead of it.”
Bailey suggested the commission table the issue and wait to vote until after the board discussed lifting the city’s moratorium on impact fees, which are “charges imposed by local governments against new development,” according to The Florida Legislature’s Office of Economic and Demographic Research.
“We will never get that money back. That’s $400,000. We’re basically going to put the infrastructure in for this developer to make money,” Bailey said.
Resident Diane Sykes asked if the city could instead apply for grant money. Rudd responded saying city officials applied for a grant from the Community Development Block Grant Program but it would take 18 months to be able to break ground and “this project needs to go now.”
Resident Tracy Eckhardt advocated for the sewer system project, calling the need for the system overdue. She referenced a Lake Como campaign that is trying to discourage sewage from being dumped on Putnam County land and said the last thing residents in South Putnam want is more septic.
“If you can re-look at the impact fees for the future, that’s great but this is a second reading,” Eckhardt said. “This has already started. This needs to move forward.
DeVitto voted against the ordinance because she said the commission did not have a list and ranking of where the city needs sewer expansion.
Public hearing 3: Amending the city’s code of ordinances to define trash receptacle
In September, the commission voted 4-1 to upgrade the city’s trash cans from 35 gallons to a 96-gallon can.
Monday’s second reading only changed the city’s code or ordinances to reflect the change in trash can size. The language change passed in a 3-2 vote with Bailey and DeVitto opposing the decision.
DeVitto cast the lone dissenting vote in September, saying the board should consider everyone’s needs and wishes. Five residents spoke against the 96-gallon bins during the September meeting – one of those residents being Sykes, who presented the commission with a petition signed by 20 people protesting the large cans.
She returned Monday to voice her opposition.
“There are many of us in town … who are older and will have difficulty with these trash cans,” she said. “I, for one, am just going to leave mine out on the street and take my trash to it.”
Bailey did not explain his reason for voting against the language change Monday.
Public hearing 4: Repealing the police pension plan and enacting a substituted trust fund
The commission unanimously agreed to move this ordinance forward Monday.
After the commission voted in 2021 to disband the Crescent City Police Department, the agency’s pension plan was replaced with this trust fund, according to agenda documents.
State law required the board to approve the trust fund, City Attorney Bobby Pickens said, but city officials do not handle the account.
Public hearing 5: Amending the Fiscal Year 2021-2022 budget to match actual revenues
This ordinance will need to come before the board again in December for a second and final public hearing. Still, the board moved it forward in a 5-0 vote Monday.
“This is a closeout of the previous fiscal year,” Rudd explained. “Essentially, a year ago we adopted a budget with projected revenues and anticipated expenses. And as we’ve gone through the year, we come back to you now with the actuals, the actual revenue numbers and actual expenditures.”
City officials projected general fund revenues to be $1,906,002, for example, but the actual revenues totaled $2,194,817, city documents show.
The updated budget documents do not show any financial loss for the city.