Regular Monthly Meeting
BLOOMINGDALE SPECIAL TAXING DISTRICT
3509 Bell Shoals Road, Valrico, FL 33596
Date: Monday, December 12, 2016
Call to Order
President West convened the regular monthly meeting of the Bloomingdale Special Taxing District at 6:30 p.m., December 12, 2016. There were enough Trustees present to establish a quorum.
Trustees in AttendanceTrustees Absent
Chris PappMark Vargo
Tom Leech
Jay Kittle
Dave WestAlso in Attendance
Rusty JonesMiriam Leech—Office Manager
Mark HorstMichael Hayes—Accountant
Mr. Rick Pitrowski—Merit, Inc.
Danielle Knight—Merit, Inc.
Public
Rich Dunnigan, Somerset HOA President
Public Comments
Rich Dunnigan
Mr. Dunnigan is a resident at 4627 River Close Blvd., Valrico, FL, 33596, in the Somerset neighborhood and president of the Somerset Homeowners Association (HOA). He attended the meeting for community support and to stay informed. He had no public comments.
President’s Comments
President Westnoted that the Board had a light agenda for the meeting.
Approval of November 14, 2016, Regular Meeting Minutes
Trustee Leech noted one correction to the minutes: delete the word “brought” in the Rid-O-Rust paragraph of page 4. The correction was made by Mrs. Leech.
Trustee Leech moved to approve the minutes of the November 14, 2016, meeting. Trustee Papp seconded the motion. The vote was unanimous. The motion passed.
Financial Report for November 2016
Michael Hayes of Ferraro & Hayes presented the Fiscal Year 2016 Audit to the Board. He noted an accrued amount of $53,000. The budget was over for the year by $6,000; this has been disclosed to Hillsborough County. The net income for the year was positive, and the FY16 Audit passed.
Mr. Hayes also presented the November 2016 financial report to the board. At the end of November there was $171,219.54 in Regions Bank. This amount reflects special assessments of $140,129.40. Total expenditures to date are $57,450.15. Mr. Hayes reported that monthly budget allocation amounts will be indicated in the December 2016 financial report.
Approval of November 2016 Financial Report
Trustee Leech moved to accept the financial report for the month of November. This was seconded by Trustee Kittle and the vote was unanimous. The motion passed.
Property Manager’s Report for October
A copy of this report is attached to these minutes.
Mr. Pitrowski reported the following:
Trash Cans—Trash cans were delivered and are being installed.
Bell Shoals Road Widening—Mr. Pitrowski met with Mr. Ben Kniesly, Project Manager, and reported that:
- All Bloomingdale entrances will be cut back and sidewalks will be within 18 inches of the walls.
- A design plan is being worked on for the entrances to Bloomingdale; they will be uniform. We should know more in January.
- No walls will come down.Almost all flower beds will be gone.
- BSTD has one well on the south side of Garnet that will be part of a lawsuit for acquisition of property. The BSTD will automatically be listed in all property acquisition lawsuits; Mr. Pitrowski asked if the BSTD can sign a release on all but the one involving the Garnet well, and Mr. Kniesly indicated that he thought that was possible. This will cut down on the number of lawsuits to be addressed by the BSTD attorney. BSTD will be a party to the lawsuit involving the Garnet well so that the cost of replacing that well can be recouped from that property owner. That well will be removed.
Trustee Kittle noted that if the entrances are impacted by the widening, there is an impact on the property owners/property values of Bloomingdale even though the community does not own the land.
Trustee Horst noted that the construction at Culbreath and Bloomingdale entrance already has had a negative impact on the presence of the community because of loss of signs and landscaping.
The Trustees indicated that they would like to make sure Commissioner White attends the January meeting, or one as soon as possible, and invite the Bloomingdale Homeowners Association to that meeting to discuss impacts on the Bloomingdale community given the Bell Shoals widening. Mrs. Leech will contact Commissioner White’s office a second time (an invitation has already been extended to the Commissioner to discuss the condition of sidewalks in Bloomingdale).
- The District will need to put together a proposal for a new well to replace the one at Garnet. Construction will begin after property acquisition, and construction will begin at the south end of Bell Shoals.
Trustee Kittle suggested asking the County to install the new well as they are working on the widening project. Mr. Pitrowski indicated we can inquire as to whether the County will install the well.
- The center medians at each entrance will be cut back; Mr. Kniesly that Newland Homes would probably pay to move the flag poles, electrical outlets, and irrigation for those medians.
Trustee Horst indicated that the BSTD should push hard on having landscaping replaced at the impacted entrances.
Fence—Erindale wooden fence was pressure washed by the County. The Trustees gave Mr. Pitrowski the approval to paint the fence green. Trustee Leech will let Mr. Pitrowski know if his son is available to paint the fence for community service.
Florida Prime Fund—Florida Prime is a State-run fund for governmental agencies. The Northdale Special Tax District, who collects almost exactly two-thirds of what Bloomingdale collects in assessments, last fiscal year earned $1,814.73 in interest from this fund. He expects the District could add between $2,500 and $2,750 to overall revenues if the District funds were moved immediately. Funds can be transferred to checking within 24 hours.
Trustee Pappindicated he would like to do more research on the fund and other options.
The discussion on the Florida Prime Fund was tabled until January.
Sidewalk Audit—Mr. Pitrowski distributed a report on the unsafe sidewalks in Bloomingdale. He distributed copies by e-mail to all of the County Commissioners. The report will be given to the Bloomingdale Homeowners Association (BHA).
Rid-O-Rust—Savings from Buccaneer = $18,730 per year; Cost of Florida Rust = $9,300 after install; Total Annual Savings = $9,430 (Install three 55 gal tanks and one 100 gallon is $735). The Rid-O-Rust contractor, Florida Rust LLC, is ready to roll.
Trustee Horst moved to suspend the Rid-O-Rust portion of the Buccaneer contract and to contract Florida Rust LLC pending submittal of vendor package to take over Rid-O-Rust maintenance. This was seconded by Trustee Papp and the vote was unanimous. The motion passed.
Irrigation Issues—Mr. Pitrowski and President West drove the property last week with both Chris Witherington and Brian Niehaus because of concern over irrigation and potential dead turf. Buccaneer is working on a proposal to replace all dead turf to include penalties for any dead turf that died on their watch. More to come on this next month once report and proposal are in hand.
Electrical Issues—There are a lot of electrical boxes (irrigation) that are rusted out, missing covers, etc. One box had a small fire. Mr. Pitrowski recommended having an electrical contractor do a comprehensive inspection of all boxes and provide a proposal for work that needs to be done throughout the District. He has RFP’s out, and will present at the January meeting. Padlocks will be added to electrical boxes once work is determined.
Overall Performance of Buccaneer—Pitrowski reported that overall Buccaneer is doing a good job, with the exception of the irrigation. He gave them a B+.
2(13:32)
Correspondence
None.
Committee Reports
Budget Report—Trustee Horst—Nothing to report.
Tax Roll and Assessment—Trustee Jones—Nothing to report.
Landscaping and Capital Improvements—President West—Nothing to report.
Contracts and Renewables—Trustee Papp—Nothing to report.
Trustee Papp noted his frustration that the all-inclusive maintenance contract is not well written, especially given the legal fees paid in FY16. He will review and discuss with Mr. Pitrowski what areas of the contract need to be tightened up or modified.
Trustee Papp indicated that he would like to have full Board approval before Attorney Jack Holsonback is invited to attend a Board of Trustees meeting.
Christmas Decorations—Trustee Jones—Nothing to report.
President West noted that there had been inquiries from residents inquiring as to why there were no Christmas decorations in the District this year.
Community Relations—Vice President Leech—Nothing to report.
Old Business
Resident Landscaping Survey—Trustee Leech provided a draft survey to be given to residents to gauge landscaping priorities given the BSTD budget constraints.
Trustees will e-mail comments on the survey by December 16 to Trustee Leech. It was agreed the survey was a good start. It remains to be determined as to how to distribute and tabulate the survey.
Website Signs—Mr. Pitrowskiis working with Signs by Mineo for website signs to be attached to the larger Bloomingdale signs.
BSTD Strategy Outline—Trustee Leech provided a draft BSTD Strategy Outline for the Trustees to review.
Referendum Re-Vote—Based on information provided by the Hillsborough County Supervisor of Elections and the County attorney to hold a re-vote on the tax assessment referendum, the Trustees decided to hold off 1 year on the re-vote. The Trustees would like more time to communicate with the residents.
New Business
Trustee Horst indicated he would like to look at replacing the signs and landscaping at the Bloomingdale Avenue/Culbreath Road entrance. President West requested a copy of the documents from Hillsborough County on replacing the landscaping. Mrs. Leech will e-mail the documents.
Reminders
- Thursday, December 22 -Check signing
- Monday, January 9 - 6:30 p.m. Regular meeting
Adjournment
Trustee Leech moved to adjourn the meeting. This was seconded by Trustee Jones and the vote was unanimous. President West closed the meeting at 8:38 p.m.
Respectfully submitted,
Mark VargoDavid P. West
Correspondence and Recording SecretaryPresident
Minutes Distributed Electronically to Board Members.