Cape City Council to meet twice Wednesday
Special meeting preceeds regular session
The Cape Coral City Council will have two meetings Wednesday, a special meeting before its regular one. The first being at 3 p.m. and the second scheduled for 4:30 p.m.
The special meeting, which will be held in conference room 200A at City Hall, will be held to discuss the performance and raises for the city attorney and city auditor and other staff evaluations.
The regular meeting will feature a rather light agenda, at least on paper, with city officials giving council an update on not only the recovery efforts in the aftermath of Hurricane Ian, but also an update on the EnerGov permitting system.
No backup materials on either topic were available.
Among the items council is going to discuss is a resolution providing for hardship deferrals of special and legacy assessments, and of certain fees for certain property owners and their properties for this fiscal year.
Each year, city staff receives hardship applications from property owners wishing to defer all or a portion of certain special assessments/fees.
Applications are reviewed and either approved or denied. Applicants that do not meet the criteria are provided written instructions for the appeal process.
Deferred assessments are paid for by the general fund, which this year totals $94,914.87.
The city will also consider an ordinance regarding evaluation and appraisal amendments to the comprehensive plan.
According to the staff presentation, per state law, local governments are required to evaluate and appraise their comprehensive plan every seven years.
Instead of developing a report that evaluated every single policy in the Comprehensive Plan, local governments are required merely to review what state requirements developed in the past 7 years are missing from the plan.
In addition, local governments are permitted to add any other changes to the Comprehensive Plan during this process.
The city met with the commission monthly from May to October 2021 to review proposed changes and obtain input from the public.
The city is required to submit a letter to the Department of Economic Opportunity identifying the amendments needed to redress the missing state requirements and identify major city-initiated changes to the plan, which it did in September 2021.
The city has 365 days to make the changes identified (EA-based amendments). Failure to do so restricts the city from adopting more changes to the plan and Future Land Use Map.
On the consent agenda, the city will vote to approve purchases of capital equipment, vehicles and the corresponding peripheral equipment for the new fiscal year within the city’s many revenue funds.
The total request is estimated at $20,536,303 and is allotted in: equipment – $7,229,040; fleet – $8,345,218; maintenance – $631,545; and, software – $4,330,500.
A consent item is passed unless it is pulled for discussion and is voted against.
Council meetings are held at City Hall at 1015 Cultural Park Blvd.
To reach CHUCK BALLARO, please email news@breezenewspapers.com