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HomeMy Public PortalAbout170_010_Ethics Commission Minutes for March 10 2014 Ethics Commission Minutes March 10, 2014 Meeting Members Present: Dennis Alexander, Katherine Garlington, Ben Goggins, Danny Hill, Kathy Jackson, Michael Pappas, and Frances Kay Strickland. Members Absent: Ex-Officos Present: Janice Elliott, Recording Clerk Invited Guests: Roll: Danny Hill called the meeting to order. Roll was taken. A quorum was present. Minutes: Ben Goggins motioned for the minutes of the January 15, 2014 meeting be approved. Dennis Alexander seconded. Minutes were approved. Respondent's Response: All members were handed a copy of the response from the respondent to review. Pending Complaint: All members were handed a copy of the complaint to review. Discussion: A packet was given to the Ethics Commission which contained: 1. a time line of events for the ethics complaint from the complainant and from respondent was given to the commission. 2. an open records request to the Clerk of Council on behalf of the Ethics Commission, March 3, 2014 regarding the property on Laurel Avenue, owned by Tim Ramaker. Danny Hill asked which pavers were installed at this property and the date the pavers were installed. He attached all documentation received from the records request to the time line. Those documents contained an email from—Diane Otto, Planning and Zoning Manager, dated March 4, 2014; a letter to Doyle Landscaping from EMC Engineering Services referencing 2-piece lowcountry cobble permeable paver for driveways, dated October 3, 2013; pages from the LCP catalog for the 2-piece lowcountry cobble paver. 3. an ordinance that was passed on February 14, 2013 —04A- 2013. An ordinance to amend the code of ordinances pertaining to section 3-080 regarding off-street parking requirements for the City of Tybee Island, Georgia. It states in this ordinance (Sec. 0- 080,C5)—All newly constructed and replacements of more than 50% of existing driveways serving residential uses shall be constructed of materials designed to allow retention of the first one-inch of storm water. Time line of events: • February 14, 2013 Ordinance No. 04A-2013 was passed by the City Council which amended the code of ordinances pertaining to section 3-080. • March 14, 2013 City Council voted on termination of City Manager • March 20, 2013 e-mail from City Engineer on pavers tested for Laurel Ave • March 21, 2013 email from City Manager to Zoning/Planning Manager on driveway's and water testing • March 26, 2013 email from City Manager to Zoning/Planning Manager on invoicing for driveway/water test on Laurel Avenue • March 26, 2013 email from Zoning/Planning Manager on "single family driveway inspections" • September 16, 2013 letter from City of Tybee to driveway material manufacturer or installer on(1) one inch-retention requirement per sec. 3-080(C)(5) from Zoning/Planning Manager • October 18, 2013 letter from Zoning/Planning Manager to driveway material manufacturer or installer clarifying current ordinance sec. 3-080(C)(5), concerning water retention of pavers There was discussion: Count 1 The pavers did not fail according to the manufacturer. The City changed the requirements in the February 14, 2013 ordinance. Testing was no longer required. The city engineer suggested that the pavers were not compliant with the ordinances under which the permit was issue (old ordinance), but the pavers were completed under the new ordinance and so no testing should have been applied. In Count 1 the complainant stated that Doyle Landscaping failed the water test,but there is no proof that they failed. In fact the engineering firm confirms that the pavers do meet the requirements. There were no fine issued from the city therefore the respondent could not have used her position to sway the fines. It seems that Count 1 of the complainant is incorrect and can be eliminated due to the fact that it was proven that the pavers were not sub-standard, installed after or at the time a new ordinance was passed that required no testing, no penalties were fined and therefore no favors were asked for relief for penalties that did not happen. Count 1 was based on an incorrect assumption. Count 2 Refers to the word"moratorium"was used by the City Manager in an email to Planning/Zoning Manager. It was discussed there was no moratorium, but an ordinance had passed not to include testing. The testing stopped after the ordinance was passed. A better choice of words should have been used. The building material was approved by EMC engineering firm in a letter dated October 3, 2013. There was discussion on the disclosure of emails. There was no obligation to fully disclose the emails unless there was an open records request. The question was asked how the ordinance was promulgated to anyone that was going to install pavers. It is obvious that it is on the books for engineering purposes. It was stated that someone applying for a building permit would be given the new information. Letters were sent from Zoning/Planning in September and October 2013 notifying all contractors of the changes. It was questioned why these notices did not go out sooner since the ordinance was changed in February. Not sure why the Zoning/Planning department waited to get the information out, but perhaps this was the earliest the department could get the notices mailed. The commission was made aware that once an ordinance has a second reading; it becomes law and is posted on the website. It was suggested by Danny Hill for the commission to listen to the audio portion of the March 14, 2013 council meeting submitted by the complainant. It was discussed that since Counts 1 and 2 failed on the facts that the motive was not valid. There was nothing proven which did not move anyone to do anything bad. The compliant sounded reasonable,but was based on misinformation. The pavers met the current specs. The complainant thought the paver did not. It was suggested to get the documents sooner to the commission members so that they would have more time to review all the material. The procedural process of the ethics commission may need to be updated. Katherine made a motion to dismiss count 1 of the complaint. Mary Frances Kay Strickland seconded. Motion passed unanimously. Katherine made a motion to dismiss count 2 of the complaint. Michael Pappas seconded. Motion passed unanimously. Both complainant and respondent will be notified of the decision. Danny Hill will schedule the next meeting on a Monday afternoon at 4:30 pm for approval of the minutes. He will check with the clerk for possible dates in the upcoming weeks. Procedural changes and budget request will also be discussed. Adjournment: Frances Kay Strickland motioned to adjourned. Dennis Alexander seconded. Motion carried. Meeting adjourned. 03/13/2014—Minutes Approved 04/07/2014