A speedy, but thorough, city commission meeting last week led to some necessary routine management throughout the city.
Commissioners needed less than 20 minutes to make an impactful move last week, approving a consent agenda that essentially acted as “housekeeping” for the city.
Mayor Rick Lott took a moment at the start of the meeting to present members of the Daughters of the American Revolution with a proclamation declaring Sept. 17 through 23 would be known in Plant City as Constitution Week.
Lott asked local citizens to join the DAR in “reaffirming the ideals the Framers of the Constitution had in 1787 by vigilantly protecting the freedoms guaranteed to us through this guardian of our liberties.”
Each year, the city receives funding from Hillsborough County for its support of the 9-1-1 Public Safety Answering Point, which is operated by Plant City Police Department. This year, the city received $106,100 after the annual Interlocal Agreement was executed on Feb. 20, 2019.
Hillsborough County has agreed to amend the existing Interlocal Agreement and add another $30,000 in reimbursable funds to the pot. Those funds are going to be used by the city to repair or replace Plant City’s Uninterrupted Power Source that provided temporary power to the city’s 9-1-1 Public Safety Answering Point. The answering point essentially is a call center and ensuring the temporary power source is at its peak condition is essential for a functioning operation, especially with Florida entering peak hurricane season.
Another budget adjustment came in the form of the agreement between the City of Plant City and Hillsborough County for its Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) Program. Commissioners approved a second modification to the agreement for the administration of the annual funds that came in the 2017-18 fiscal year.
The city received $329,800 in CDBG funding specifically for the use of engineering and constructing sidewalk improvements near Madison Park and Wilson Elementary School. This second modification to the agreement extends the arrangement until March 31, 2020, so the city has additional time to complete the construction of the sidewalk improvement project.
The city also authorized an easement agreement with Redrock Pavers, Inc. for the installation of an ingress, egress and utilities access easement to an industrial parcel west of the Turkey Creek Road Improvements storm water pond and mitigation site. The access road near Reece Road alongside this area in question was part of the purchase agreement for the storm water and mitigation site, and it was designed as part of the road improvement project.
The agreement essentially allows the paved access road to be extended to connect to Turkey Creek Road near the Reece Road intersection, as its initial design allows storm water aquatics crews to maintain the proposed storm water pond that manages drainage in the area.
Commissioners were also approached with an interesting issue regarding a past arrangement the city entered into. On June 27, 2016, commissioners approved the purchase of property 4504 Sydney Road and thereafter received a Warranty Deed that conveyed the property to the city. However, the current owner, Redrock Pavers, Inc., requested a quit claim deed for their property after finding the legal description in the Warranty Deed, which was dated Aug. 29, 2016, had unintentionally deeded that the City of Plant City owned the entire tract of land at the location instead of just the section the city had initially intended to purchase.
In order to quickly remedy the mistake, the city will receive an endorsement to the original title policy from Old Republic Title Insurance Company, a Quit Claim Deed from Redrock Pavers, Inc. and a Corrective Deed from Alliant Sydney, LLC, the previous owner. Alliant Sydney, LLC will also provide Redrock Pavers, Inc. with a Corrective Deed to finalize which section of the land the city actually owns.
