City Council Meeting
Thank You Employees/Residents – Irma
It’s been a difficult past few weeks for our community, our region and our state. Hurricane Irma brought high winds and heavy rain, impacting everyone in our city.
But Irma also brought out the best that our community has to offer: neighbors helping neighbors both prepare for the storm and recover from Irma, our OFD and OPD first responders compassionately assisting residents and protecting our city and OUC and their staff working with utility crews from around the nation to quickly, but safely, restore power.
Mayor Buddy Dyer thanked City staff, who worked tirelessly before, during and after the storm to serve our community.
Emergency Manager, Manny Soto, gave a presentation on the Emergency Response for Hurricane Irma.
Hurricane Maria/Mexico Earthquake
Mayor Dyer took a moment to recognize those who were impacted by the earthquake in Mexico and Hurricane Maria. Many of our city staff and residents have family in Puerto Rico. City staff has been working closely with the Puerto Rico Federal Affairs Administration to determine how the City can help Puerto Rico with the recovery. Right now they are collecting donations of emergency supplies such as diapers and cleaning supplies at two locations in Central Florida. Click here for more information.
State of Downtown
Join Mayor Buddy Dyer at the Ace Cafe on Wednesday, October 11 at 3:30 p.m. for his annual State of Downtown Address. Hosted by the Downtown Orlando Partnership, the event will provide exciting updates on our thriving Downtown district in a unique setting.
To purchase tickets, visit doporlando.com. If you are unable to attend, you can also watch the address live online at cityoforlando.net/council/watch.
POW
The Mayor’s Veterans Advisory Council will host an official POW-MIA Recognition Ceremony on Wednesday, September 27 at 11 a.m. in the City Hall Rotunda. This event serves to honor our U.S. military prisoners of war and those still missing in action with a symbolic “setting of the table” conducted by UCF’s AFROTC Detachment 159.
The ceremony also features live music, recognition of local former POWs, and a keynote speech by Police Chief John Mina. For information, visit cityoforlando.net/powmia.
Items of Note
FPR Employment Agreements
Council voted on several employment agreements for staff who help manage two of our youth programs – After-School All-Stars and the Parramore Kidz Zone. The City is very proud of these programs which are providing young people in our community with opportunities to help them have success not only now, but also in the future.
After-School All-Stars serves more than 2,600 students at eight middle schools and last year 100-percent of the eighth-graders in the program successfully transitioned to high school. And in the last three years, every high school senior involved in PKZ has graduated and gone on to college, trade school or the military.
B #4 – Lumber/Plywood
- This is a continuing contract for day-to-day operations, not just for Hurricane Irma.
- It replaces a contract with Home Depot that recently expired.
- We have an entire team of carpenters in Facilities Managers who work on City buildings all the time – buildings things and making repairs.
- Facilities and Venues are primary users. They use these materials for building repairs, build outs for events at the stadium and Amway Center, etc.
B #6 – Video Surveillance equipment
- FL Statute Exemption
- 301Security systems; records and meetings exempt from public access or disclosure.
- (1) Information relating to the security systems for any property owned by or leased to the state or any of its political subdivisions, and information relating to the security systems for any privately owned or leased property which is in the possession of any agency as defined in s.011(2), including all records, information, photographs, audio and visual presentations, schematic diagrams, surveys, recommendations, or consultations or portions thereof relating directly to or revealing such systems or information, and all meetings relating directly to or that would reveal such systems or information are confidential and exempt from ss. 119.07(1) and 286.011and other laws and rules requiring public access or disclosure.
- This contract will be used to repair existing, and equip expansion to, City security camera systems.
- Not just IRIS
- Standard camera equipment will be deployed to remediate aging and obsolete equipment
- In addition, as new installations to enhance external security to public safety facilities and buildings frequented by the public.
- The current contract term is effective through September 30, 2019 and there is the option to renew for two (2) additional one (1) year periods.
- This is an indefinite quantity contract. Actual expenditures will vary as usage will be on an as-needed basis at the established unit prices and available funding.
- Based on prior usage reports and information provided by the primary user, the estimated expenditure for the current term is $850,000 and the estimated annual expenditure for the renewal terms is $263,000.
- IRIS BACKGROUND:
- All the cameras at Lake Eola are up and running.
- Only 35 out of 171 are still down.
- Majority – 30 – are in Parramore – which is the area with the most cameras (78 total)
- We continue to work through the process of enhancing all of our IRIS camera systems throughout the City to ensure the cameras are all fully operational, functional and sustainable.
- Enhancements already implemented:
- One of the first enhancements we made was the installation of monitoring equipment that immediately alerts OPD when there is an issue with a camera. This – in addition to the dedicated bucket truck – have been important tools to immediately investigate issues and help to expedite any repairs with the cameras.
- Last year (in 2016), we created and filled a dedicated staff position that is solely focused full-time on maintaining the IRIS cameras and managing any outages.
- In addition, the City has also created a dedicated annual operating budget for the IRIS cameras. (These were previously purchased and operated through grant funding when available.)
- Regarding the entire IRIS system across the City, this entire enhancement project should be complete by the end of this year.
H # 2 – Police – Grant for Backpack X-ray equipment
- Through an $85,160 State Homeland Security Program Grant, sponsored by the Department of Homeland Security, the Orlando Police Department will buy backpack x-ray equipment to be used by the arson/bomb unit.
- This equipment will enhance the security measures the arson/bomb unit is able to deploy and makes it possible to detect explosives or other bomb-making material using instantaneous x-ray technology.
- There are times when OPD responds to calls of “suspicious bags” left at parks, bus stations, sometimes in front of buildings or on benches.
- Through the backpack x-ray equipment, these situations can be assessed – and cleared – quickly.
- This grant was specific to this technology, could not be used for anything else, and requires no matching funds.
- We hope to have the equipment by early 2018.
Ordinance/1st Read #1 – Noise Ordinance
Background:
This ordinance amendment is a combination of several proposed amendments to the noise ordinance that staff has collected over the past few years. Most items are clean-up items designed to make the ordinance easier and fairer to enforce or to keep up with evolving case law regarding local noise ordinances.
In sum, the proposed ordinance changes include:
- Clarifying the definition of multi-use property as any area where commercial use abuts residential use or where commercial uses are adjacent to residential uses across a public right-of-way (this is important since the distance for sound disturbances differs based on residential and multi-use properties)
- Clarifying that noise is measured from the boundary of the real property generating the noise
- Removing the word “annoying” from the prohibition against generating certain “annoying and disturbing noise.” This change is in response to case law striking down a local ordinance relying on the word “annoying” as an adjective for describing unlawful noise
- Clarifying the definition for out of door speakers to “outside and not wholly enclosed within a building or structure” (previously it was defined as “on or about, or is affixed to, the exterior of a building, structure or other enclosed or dedicated space that is either covered or uncovered)
- Provides that permanent out of door loud speaker permits are good for one year from the date of issuance, rather than a fixed one-year cycle
- Clarifies that permanent out of door speakers must be pointed downward and inward toward patrons, rather than towards the right-of-way
- Provides that permanent free-standing out of doors loud speakers may not be elevated more than 5′ off the ground
- Within Downtown Entertainment Area, loud speakers may be used out of doors between 7 pm and 12 am on weekdays and 7 pm to 2 am on weekends
- To provide OPD with the ability to respond to complaints about disturbing noise from vehicles or cell phones, the new ordinance makes it unlawful to make any “unreasonably disturbing noise from any car radio (whether wholly or partially contained within the automobile or not) or handheld mobile electronic device that is of such character, intensity, or duration as to be detrimental to the life, health, comfort, or repose of any individual of ordinary sensibilities residing on or occupying the area.”
- As in the previous ordinance, the use of outdoor loud speakers is prohibited within 1,000 of a place of worship, school, hospital, court, or transit facility during normal business hours.
- But the new ordinance changes the definition of church to be more inclusive while requiring that it be a physical location where regular religious services are conducted and aligns the definition of “public transportation facility” with that in state statute.
Things that remain the same:
- It is unlawful to play any device/create any noise that unreasonably disturbs the peace between 10 pm and 7 am and can be heard at a distance of 15 feet from residential property and 50 feet from a multi-use property* (see definition below)
- Within the Downtown Entertainment Area, it is unlawful to play any device/create any noise that unreasonably disturbs the peace between 12 am and 7 am on weekdays and 2 am and 7 am on weekend
- Exempt noises such as the following remain the same: construction and maintenance activities between 7 am and 9 pm except Sundays and holidays; safety signals and emergency equipment; motor vehicles such as automobiles, trucks, airplanes and railroads regulated by state and federal law
- The use of outdoor loud speakers within 1,000 of a place of worship, school, hospital, court, or transit facility during normal business hours (without permission from the property owner)
