During the Sept. 2 CDD meeting, supervisors continued sidewalk repair discussions and set a date for a ribbon-cutting ceremony for the West Park Village Plaza Renovation.
Chairman Matt Lewis began the September meeting by opening the floor to audience questions/comments. A resident of the Shires queried the board on the disappearance of two trees in his neighborhood. He explained that the live oaks were originally replaced with Cyprus trees, then Crepe Myrtles, but now there were no trees. He added that it looked terrible. Lewis could not recall a request for trees to be removed on Derbyshire but asked Field Manager David Sylvanowicz to visit the site and report back.
The resident also asked why residents had to pay the same price to rent a park gazebo as non-Westchase residents. Supervisor Chris Barrett explained that unfortunately, the county did not allow the community to charge discounted rates for residents, since it is a public park.
Following a request at last month’s meeting, Engineer Robert Dvorak estimated that the cost to assess the sidewalks and generate a map for Phase 1 of the potential sidewalk repair project would be between $3,500 and $4,500. He reiterated that unless the board was serious about following through on the project to improve the sidewalks, there would be no point in carrying out the survey. Barrett confirmed that the board fully intended to pursue repairs during the upcoming fiscal year and a motion to have Dvorak move forward with an assessment for Phase 1 passed 4-1 with Supervisor Greg Chesney dissenting.
Following Hurricane Debby, Dvorak received concerns that the water level of pond 125 in Stonebridge was very high. He explained that this was not an isolated incident. He added that he had hoped that the work the county had done last year to clear out a pipe under Linebaugh would solve the issue, but the problem has persisted. Dvorak said that in the past, former Field Manager Doug Mays had pumped water out of the ponds, but this was not a permanent solution. He went on to explain that the network of pipes connecting the ponds is inefficient and does not maximize the hydraulic system. The Supervisors agreed that the matter needed immediate attention. Dvorak ended his report by saying there was no easy solution, but he would get creative in looking for improvements.
During her brief report, Attorney Erin McCormick recounted a conversation with Alan Ruiz of Vertex where he stated the cell tower will be completed by September 27, which is within the dates outlined in the amendment to the contract. Once the tower is complete, T-Mobile will have 60 days to install its antenna. AT&T had not yet confirmed their schedule.
McCormick was pleased to announce that the agreement with RedTree had been finalized and the new landscaping team had begun work that day.
With that in mind, District Manager Andrew Mendenhall confirmed there was still the outstanding issue of holding back payment from the former landscapers for overcharges, damage and failure to fulfill contractual duties.
Mendenhall reminded supervisors that it was the time of year to consider salary reviews and bonuses for CDD staff. Before going into detail, he suggested that even though Sylvanowicz had been working for them less than a year, the board should consider a bonus for him as he had been, “thrown in the deep end” with a lot of unforeseen challenges. Chesney reiterated this before making his suggested increases of a 10% raise to the hourly rate of field staff and $10,000 increase in salary for Sylvanowicz. He recommended a $5,000 bonus for field staff and a $10,000 bonus for Sylvanowicz. Supervisor Jim Wimsatt recognized that Office Manager Sonny Whyte had also faced challenges over the past few months, and, like other years, she should be awarded the same bonus as the Field Manager. The board unanimously approved the proposed salary increases and bonuses.
Sylvanowicz had a number of short updates during his Field Manager’s Report: The West Park Village improvement project was nearing completion; the restoration of the nature trail at Baybridge Park was slated to begin early in September; and new landscapers RedTree started their contract with an army of workers and initial interaction had been positive.
Sylvanowicz also noted that RedTree had asked for a 30-day extension to complete their irrigation audit. McCormick explained that she was keen to receive the audit sooner rather than later so that she could determine how much payment should be withheld from the previous company for mistakes made. In order to foster a good relationship with the new firm, the board approved a motion to extend the audit by 15 days.
Finally, Sylvanowicz informed the board that he had been approached by a local art teacher who wanted to start a mural project in the Baybridge Tunnel. All supervisors were excited by the idea and agreed to discuss details at the September workshop.
As the meeting was ending, Barrett suggested setting a date for a ribbon-cutting ceremony to mark the completion of the West Park Village improvement project. Please mark your calendars for October 24 at 6:30 p.m. This date aligns with the Westchase Park Village Spooktacular, which runs from 5-8 p.m.
