DUNEDIN, FLORIDA MINUTES OF THE CITY COMMISSION WORK SESSION MARCH 17, 2020 9:00A.M. -12:30 P.M. Present: City Commission: Mayor Julie Ward Bujalsk1, V1ce-Mayor Heather Gracy, Commissioners, Deborah Kynes and Jeff Gow Commissioner Maureen "Moe" Freaney (Via Conference Call) Also Present. City Manager Jennifer K Bramley, Deputy C1ty Manager Doug Hutchens, City Attorney Thomas J. Trask, City Clerk Rebecca Schlichter, Finance Director Les Tyler, Commumty Development Planner II Frances Sharp, Economic & Housing Development!CRA Director Robert lronsm1th, Assistant D1rector of Public Works & Utilities Paul Stanek, Community Relations .TV Production Specialist Just1n Catacchio, Information Technology Services Division D1rector Michael Nagy, Parks and Recreation Director Vince Gizzi, Parks & Recreation Administration Supenntendent Lame Sheets, Community Center Program Coordinator Jorie Peterson, Fire Chief Jeffrey Parks, Deputy Fire Chief Erich Thiemann, Fire Marshal M1ke Handoga, Library Director Phyllis Gorshe and approximately five people. CALL TO ORDER 1 Mayor Bujalski called the Work Session to order at 9:00 a.m. City Attorney Trask explained for any action to take place at the Commission level 1t requ1res all meetings to be held in the Sunshine. It is his understanding Commissioner Freaney has recently been on a cruise and has self-quarantined as a d1rect result of the Coronavirus pandemic and the emergency it creates, she is attending this Commission Meeting by way of aud1o. The Attorney General has opmed on th1s m 1992 that so long as there is a quorum physically present at the meeting and so long as an emergency exists a Commissioner can attend the meeting and part1c1pate m the meeting by phone. That is how the meeting 1s proceeding now: The Attorney General Opinion is available for review. The Commission has the authonty to move forward based upon the emergency. 1. PRESENTATIONS 1.a. SUPPLEMENT: COVID-19 Update City Manager Bramley gave COVID-1 9 Update City staff has been working over the weekend and all day Monday to provide an update for the Commission on the Coronawus or COVID-19 as it is better known. Situation Report #5 has been provided to the Commission in the agenda packet, Situation Report #6 just came out last night and has been provided on the dais. Also included in the agenda packet IS the Local Event Programming and Special Events in the month of April that needs to be reviewed. Fire Chief Parks advised: On March 13, 2020 a State of Emergency was declared along with the County and State for the COVID-19 pandemic 20-1 \\_ Work Session Dunedin City Commission March 17, 2020 As of March 16, 2020 at 7:00p.m. per the Department of Health there were 142 confirmed cases m Flonda residents and 5 deaths. In Pmellas there have been 4 cases w1th 2 be1ng presumptive and need to be confirmed through the CDC; of those there currently is no evidence of community spread throughout the Pinellas County cases City staff continues to work with Pinellas County Emergency Management, Pinellas County EMS and the Department of Health. Those are the authorities right now and the City takes , all direction through their authority. The Department of Health is the lead agency; if it does not come through them Dunedin is not followmg it. There are many doctors on the news with their opinions, Dunedin is taking the official opinion from the Florida Department of Health who is Dr. Cho in Pinellas County. The County has put together a c1t1zens' mformation call center wh1ch 1s open Monday - ,Friday 8:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m and Saturday and Sunday from 10:00 am. to 2:00 p.m. at 727-464-4333. They can offer any assistance citizens might need as far as testing locations and any questions; it is similar to a hurricane with information related to Pinellas County. The State also has a COVID-19 call center at 866-779-6121 There is a pandemic plan distributed to the Commission The City is at condition Yellow currently. The City 1s attempting to follow the County guidelines that has a s1milar plan for EMS and they are in condition Yellow also Looking ahead to condition Red the City has handled some of those actions as well in consideration of the State of Emergency. Public Services has been working with the cleaning/custodial people to make sure extra cleaning is ongoing in all City facilities. Those who do not have the cleaning like the Fire Department they have instituted other means to clean the station. From the Fire Department standpoint they have gone to a lockdown of the Fire Stations trying to keep as many public citizens including delivery and so forth out of their buildings to lower the risk to the Firefighters who have enough risk at this point responding to calls which they have already responded to several calls that could be assumptive of COVID-19 they are handling. There is a list of cancellations and postponed activities. ' , To the families there is all kinds of information available about keeping your hands clean, the social distancing and so forth. He thinks everything being seen from the President on down to the Governor 1s to Isolate, don't be in the rystaurants and public places with large groups. The key to this entire process is keeping yourselves away to keep the chances of contracting anything to a minimum. In the Situation Report #6, one myth to clear up is that mosquitos cannot transmit COVID- 19; that is from the Florida Department of Agriculture. The Florida Attorney General's Office has a pnce gouging hotline as well if anyone sees anything throughout the community they can report that to be investigated. Communication City Manager Bramley adv1sed: In regard to the communication plan, from the onset of this incident, using a NIMs term, the City has been communicatmg closely with the Pinellas County Emergency Management 20-2 Work Session Dunedin City Commission March 17,2020 System starting with 2:00 p.m. on Monday they had a conference call with the City Adm1mstration, Pinellas County Emergency Management and all C1ty Managers within Pinellas County. During that phone call they discuss anything that happened from the State over the weekend, putting guidelines rn place and uniformity. Unfortunately uniformity in the cities is not happening. On Tuesday at 2.00 p.m is the Regional Operations Center/Communications (ROC) again with Pinellas County Emergency Management; the State and the Health Department are involved, practically every agency is rnvolved in that phone call in which they update any information they have and what Will be conveyed to the public, that again is about · uniformity in the current situation The C1ty then puts "out a S1tuatron Report to the Boards and Committees, all City employees and to the public on Thursday morning; typically the Situation Report is received from the County on Wednesday and then it is tailored to the needs of the Dunedin community. The emphasis moving forward in relation to a lot of knee-jerk reactions, panicky pe_ople and anxious people; the City uses the Center for Disease Control and the Department of Health guidelines using those from the beginnmg and the City should continue to do so. There are many philosophies as to how many people and so forth, but good guidance is coming from those agencies and the City will continue to do so. City Clerk Schlichter is in charge of communicating with Boards and Committees. She is communicating with the employees herself and the City's Social Media Specialist is communicating with the community as a whole. The City's website is lagging behind, which will be fixed This is ever emerging and changing, and unfortunately the City's , Webmaster is out of the officE:l, so dates have been changed on the Community and Government calendars, but the page needs to be updated. One of the things City staff will be working on in the intervening period is all of the , communication, which is electronic, social media; however, many people do not use social media; therefore, she is working with Library Director Gorshe on communicating and getting the information to those who are isolated and cannot avail. themselves of the information. Mayor Bujalski inquired whether or not the C1ty was going to use Next Door and City Manager Bramley advised she has had a conversation about that and at this point there are no plans; however, there can be more discussion on that issue. Mayor Bujalski noted the County is there, so people can get information there City Manager Bramley stated the impact on the community is obvious and she did have the opportumty yesterday evening to talk to a number of the city's business owners, which she would speak with the Commission on as well. Financial Position of the City City Manager Bramley explained the City wanted to get ahead of this and noted the City uses Bed Tax dollars to pay for the Stadium as well and they wanted to inform the Commission and the community City staff understands and sees the forecast and there is a need to adjust accordingly. Finance Director Tyler advised on the following: 20-3 Work Session Dunedin City Commission March 17,2020 General Fund· Th1ngs that will be impacted in this year's budget are Investment Interest Earnings budgeted every year. Approximately $190,000 for interest in 2020. Based on what has happened in the first 6 months and what is anticipated to happen in the next 6 months the City will not reach that goal, probably it will be more the $100,000 level, short by about $90,000 in that area for that line item in the General Fund.