Annexation, Waste Management and More on Agenda for April 12th, 2023 Sebastian City Council Meeting

Sebastian City Council will be holding one of their twice monthly City Council Meetings on April 12th, 2023. Many of interest items will be on the agenda for the April 12th, 2023 Sebastian City Council Meeting.

Two Second Readings and Public Hearings

Two Second Readings and Public Hearings will be held at the April 12th Sebastian City Council Meeting regarding a voluntary annexation of 40.23 acres of land by owner Daniel Hess of Double R&D Inc.

The R&D Property is north and west of single family development; the Hess Property is east of vacant property.

The current zoning for the R&D Property in the unincorporated Indian River County limits is both Rural Residential and Agricultural. If the property is annexed into the City, the zoning will change to Planned Unit Development. The property would fall under a greater 80+ acre development within Sebastian’s land development regulations.

The first seconding reading and hearing is specifically about the annexation itself while the other second reading and hearing is about a request for a small scale comprehensive plan future land use map regarding the R&D Property.

Unfinished Business – Solid Waste Collection Services Agreemen

Sebastian City Council will be untabling previously tabled agenda items regarding an agreement with Waste Management, Inc, for once a week universal garbage pickup for residential and commercial property. The agenda item will give authorization for City Manager Paul Carlisle to carry out the required tasks for the agreement with Waste Management.

The other agenda item being untabled is a first reading to the public of an ordinance to grant an exclusive franchise agreement to Waste Management, Inc, which means Waste Management will be the sole company to provide waste pickup services for residential and commercial properties in the City of Sebastian.

New Business

Four items are listed under New Business for the April 12th Sebastian City Council meeting.

The first item will be to award Wright Construction Group the contract to design and build four hangars at the Sebastian Municipal Airport, per RFQ 23-0. Authorization to negotiation a Guaranteed Maximum Price Contract is included in the agenda item.

It is noted that the Agenda Item for the contract does not require the City of Sebastian to expend any funds.

$1,256,000 will be coming from the Florida Department of Transportation (FDOT) and the City of Sebastian will match those funds at $314,000. Total funds for the project will be $1,570,000.

Purchase of Employee Short-Term Disability Insurance

Second agenda item will be to approve a new employee benefit for City of Sebastian employees, Short-Term Disability Insurance. The Short-Term Disability Insurance will be purchased from Lincoln Financial Group. Funds will be appropriated from the Enterprise, Stormwater and General Fund Budget Reserves.

The City of Sebastian says the rationale for purchasing the Disability Insurance policy is due to COVID-19 increasing the need for more sick time to be used than years prior, leaving employees with no sick time when a major illness occurs, such as heart disease. It is noted that the City of Sebastian provides Long-Term Disability as a benefit, which kicks in after 90 days of disability.

The City of Sebastian also intends to use the Short-Term Disability Insurance to help cover the 90 day gap for when the Long-Term Disability Insurances goes into effect.

The Short-Term Disability policy will start after 7 days of disability and be available for all City of Sebastian Full-Time employees working more than 30 hours a week.

The cost of the Short-Term Disability Insurance Policy will be $32,815 each year/annually. Funds will be appropriated from the City’s Enterprise, Stormwater and General Fund Budgeted Reserves to pay for the Short-Term Disability Insurance Policy.

Third and Fourth Items Under New Business

Third item under new business is approval for the purchase and installation of two Air Conditioning Units. The air conditioning units will be installed at the Sebastian Historic School Building. A 10 year extended labor and parts warranty is included with the new air conditioning units.

Two of the AC units at the Sebastian Historic School Building were created in 2006 and in March 2023 started having problems. Multiple vendors have recommended replacement of the AC Units.

After the purchase order was placed to replace the two AC units, two more AC Units (manufactured in 2006) stopped working on the west side of the Sebastian Historic School Building.

The two sets of units are pairs and have been recommended for each pair to be replaced by one big unit for each area of the building.

The first set has been estimated by City Staff to cost $9,752.08 while the second set has been estimated to cost $9,252.08.

Costs for the two replacement units together have been estimated to be a total of $19,004.16 with a total budget of $25,000. Funds will be used from the Discretionary Sales Tax. All purchases over $15,000 have to be approved by the Sebastian City Council.

The last new business item will be a discussion of the annual setting and review of goals and objectives for the City’s Charter Officers, per their contracts with the City. Charter Officers for the City of Sebastian include City Manager (Paul Carlisle), City Clerk (Jeanette Williams) and City Attorney (Manny Anon, Jr.).

The Charter Officers are the three individuals personally hired by the Sebastian City Council.

The review for the Charter Officers is set to take place in June, as it does each year.

Proclamations

At the beginning of each Sebastian City Council meeting there are usually proclamations given out by the City Council, which are usually presented by the Mayor of Sebastian, of which is currently Fred Jones.

The following Proclamations will be given at the City Council Meeting:

• National Public Safety Telecommunications Week – April 9th to April 15th, 2023

• National Volunteers Week – April 16th to April 22nd, 2023

• National Child Abuse Prevention Month – April 2023

• National Arbor Day – April 28th, 2023

• International Earth Day – April 22nd, 2023

• Water Conservation Month – April 2023

• Indian River County Healthy Start – Janay Brown, Community Liaison

Brief Announcements to be Made at April 12th City Council Meeting

There will also be the following brief announcements given at the City Council Meeting:

• April 14th – Chamber of Commerce Concert at Riverview Park (in Sebastian) – Group Therapy (County Music) – 5:30PM to 8PM

• April 22nd – Natural Resources Board Earth Day Celebration – Riverview Park (in Sebastian) – 9AM to 4PM

• April 22nd – Paper Shredding & Electronic Recycling Event – Riverview Park – 9AM to 12PM

• April 22nd – Spring Cleaning for Unwanted Household Items – Barber Street Sports Complex – 9AM to 12PM

Click here to view the April 12th, 2023 Sebastian City Council Meeting Agenda

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