Archer City Commission addresses worn-out speed bumps, discusses forming a Citizens Advisory Board

BY DAVID LIGHTMAN

ARCHER, Fla. – At their April 28 meeting, the Archer City Commission addressed the problem of worn-out speed bumps, approved a bid for cleaning at City Hall and the Archer Community Center, approved a bid to strip and wax the floors at the Community Center, discussed forming a Citizens Advisory Board, and approved the purchase of a device to remotely read utility meters.

Public comments

The meeting began with public comments. Laurie Costello asked about surplus property at Public Works and why it hasn’t been put up for sale, since the City needs money. Costello continued, “I also wanted to know why, on the time cards, that we’re still approving overtime. For example, they’ll clock in at 6:53 and out at 6:04, and every day they get a quarter of an hour overtime. Work starts at 7, and this has been ongoing for a while. We’re broke, and for this to be happening is just crazy. Glass has been on 143rd Avenue, in the sidewalk, for over three weeks. I did a work order over a month ago for my neighborhood, and it has not been done yet. I have probably eight work orders, and not one of them has been completed.” Costello asked why the City has “four people on call all the time. That seems way overstaffed.”

Mr. Arnold said, “We need to have a profit and loss [statement]. We need a balance sheet. We need to know how much money we have. Is Amanda working? If she is, what’s the status of the bank reconciliation? There’s no City Manager report… The meter reader, you’re buying one for a couple grand. Is it because we lost the last one? It broke? We just need another one?”

Bill Lewandowski said, “I’d like to second Mr. Arnold’s comment about the status of the finances. It was supposed to be done at the last meeting of the month, and I didn’t see it on the agenda for the last meeting, either. The other thing is, I’m hoping that we’ll have a lot of information on the grant at the community meeting… I hope that there’ll be some discussions on how the grant is going to be monitored and so we don’t have any issues with it… I also would like to find out the status of the rewrite for the land use ordinances. As I recall, that was supposed to happen starting this month. I didn’t see it on the agenda for last meeting, and it’s not on the agenda for this meeting.”

Mr. Arnold asked, “Mayor, when do the questions get answered? I threw a bunch out there.” Mayor Fletcher Hope answered, “Within 30 days… I don’t have any answers for you this evening… Mr. Dallas Lee will be at our town hall meeting on Wednesday, reporting on financial status and plan of action… We need to have our reconciliations done, and as of the last 15 days, we only had one more month done in bank statement reconciliations, which I am totally alarmed about.”

Speed bumps

The first item of business was speed bumps. Commissioner Joan White said many of the speed bumps in town are loose and coming undone, and she has concerns about what that is doing to residents’ tires; she said the speed bumps need to be removed. Hope said, “The ones on SW 170^th Street that are coming up, they need to go back down. I have semi trucks going 50 miles an hour without speed bumps.” White said she thought they should also keep the speed bumps at the Holly Hills neighborhood and the one speed bump at the park. 

Commissioner Iris Bailey made a motion to remove most of the speed bumps except for those deemed necessary, which will be repaired or replaced, and Commissioner Marilyn Green seconded the motion. 

Laurie Costello said, “I would suggest not spending any money right now unless it’s an emergency. We can’t even afford to hire a manager or an accountant or do a lot of things. We don’t even have a profit/loss. So I would suggest not to spend any money… As long as you continue to put speed bumps out there, you’re going to continue paying for (damaged) vehicles. They are definitely made for parking lots. Your signs say speed humps, and they’re not speed humps, they’re speed bumps.” Costello added that emergency vehicles should not have to contend with speed bumps, as that could be another potential liability if someone dies due to a delay.

Another member of the public suggested not removing the speed bumps on 132^nd Avenue.

The motion passed 5-0, and Hope said the item will be brought back with cost estimates before any money is spent on replacement.

Contract for cleaning services

The next item of business was to award a contract to provide cleaning services for City Hall and the Archer Community Center. Interim City Manager Deanna Alltop said staff recommended Crystal Clean, which would charge a flat rate of $250/month for City Hall and $450/month for the Community Center for bi-weekly cleanings. White made a motion to hire Crystal Clean at the quoted prices, and Bailey seconded the motion. It passed unanimously.

Contract for stripping and waxing floors at the Community Center

The third business item was to award a contract to strip and wax the floors at the Archer Community Center. Alltop said they are recommending Mr. Stevens, whose quote was $1,500. Other quotes came in at $1,770 and $7,000. Bailey made a motion to hire Mr. Stevens, and Green seconded the motion. 

Hope said, “I don’t think we’re in a position to afford this. I think we need to consider continuing to get bids. It’s not at a no-return situation at this time, this month. I think we need to keep the bid requests out there. It’s too expensive.”

Bailey said they have been accepting bids for two months. Hope continued, “My position is that we have not reconciled bank statements. We do not know where we’re at. And I just feel that the floor, because I cleaned it with Windex, I guess I’m the one that’s assessing it. I’m not a floor specialist, but I know it can be brought back to a basic sheen right now.”

White said she thought they should accept the bid, since she didn’t think anyone would be cheaper, but they could tell Mr. Stevens not to do the work until they have the money to pay for it. 

During public comment on the motion, Roberta Lopez said, “I don’t think we need to wait one moment. If you really look at that floor, it is horrible. It is really, really bad.”

The motion passed 4-1, with Hope in dissent.

Agreement with FDOT for traffic signal maintenance

The next item was renewing an agreement with FDOT for traffic signal maintenance. City Attorney Kiersten Ballou said the terms are set by FDOT and there is no room for negotiation. White made a motion to renew the agreement, and Bailey seconded the motion. It passed unanimously. 

Citizens Advisory Board

Discussion about forming a Citizens Advisory Board was the next item. During public comment, Roberta Lopez said she thought that creating a Citizens Board is a good idea because of all the problems Archer has. She suggested taking applications from interested citizens at the town hall meeting, and the Commissioners can select five members from the applicants. 

Costello said she agreed that the Board was a good idea. She said, “You have to have a diversity of citizens, because everybody brings something different to the table, and that’s what we need.”

Hope said the Board should receive a list of topics to focus on from the Interim City Manager, and he thought it should be called a Committee instead of a Board, since a Board is more formal and requires notices of meetings. He suggested Alltop should return in June with more information.

Purchase of a device to remotely read utility meters

The last item of business was the purchase of a Sensus AutoGun, a device to remotely read utility meters. Alltop said, “We’ve been limping [the old device] along forever. We even had to go down and pick up… a loaner, at Ocala, several times. The screen is broken. It doesn’t hold a charge. So since our water billing is one of our main revenues, I went ahead and told them go ahead and order it… We did our best to make it last, but it’s pretty much done. That answers Mr. Arnold’s question.”

Bailey made a motion to approve the purchase, White seconded the motion, and it passed unanimously. 

Final public comments

During final public comments, Costello said, “We have so much deferred maintenance, it’s unreal. The retention ponds – there are trees growing in the retention ponds. The fences are breaking down because the weeds, the trees, the branches are breaking down. All those fences should be cleared. In Holly Hill, there is probably a 30-by-40 group of bushes growing inside the retention pond, and they are just mowing around it. Our retention ponds are horrible, and nobody is doing what they’re supposed to do.”