HomeMy Public PortalAbout20060427_TybeeCouncilMinsCouncil Minutes
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Meeting of 2006-04-27 City Council Minutes
Mayor Buelterman called the Agenda Meeting to order at 6:30PM.
Council Members present were, Sessions, Crone, Pearce, Doyle, Williams and
Wolff.
Also present were City Attorney Edward Hughes and Assistant City Manager Dee
Anderson.
Mayor Buelterman gave an update on possibly naming the Pier and also the
Strand in Honor of Walter Parker. He said he had contacted Pete Lakakis and
he said he didn’ t have a problem with it. We want this to happen when Walter
comes to the meeting on the 11th. Everyone agreed. Mayor Buelterman said it
will be awhile before they can have a dedication on site because of the
signage that has to be completed beforehand.
Ms. Williams asked if we could have a big sign on the pier concerning the
dedication.
Mayor Buelterman said they would have to contact Chatham County for
permission.
Mayor Buelterman listed the items on the consent agenda as, Special Event
Applications for the Beach Bum Parade on May 26, Tybee Christmas Parade on
December 2nd and the Polar Bear Plunge on January 1.
Mayor Buelterman asked if the Tybee Arts Association 2005 funding could be
put on the consent agenda. The amount is $3,000 and Mr. Anderson said there
is $60,401 in contingency.
Council agreed to include it on the consent agenda and Ms. Williams said it
should not happen again because Ms. Fox cut checks in January for any grants
awarded this year and all of the organizations will have received their
checks.
Minutes for 4/13/06 were included on the consent agenda. Ms. Sessions said
that in the future Vivian will e-mail the minutes draft to council members
for review.
Mr. Hughes said the easement for Cindy Cupp could be put on the consent
agenda because they have talked about it in a previous meeting. He told
Council members it is a house on Lewis Avenue and the city is moving a line
about 10 feet at our expense. He said apparently a lot of the area drains to
this property.
Mr. Anderson asked if the Bike Patrol could be added. He said they plan to
add two additional officers to patrol Tybrisa and the Strand area only.
Ms. Williams said in light of the discussions at the Beach Business Committee
meeting earlier she thinks this is an excellent move on our part.
Mayor Buelterman said $13,728 is the total salary for these officers and
asked if the other Beach Patrol people made the same amount. Mr. Anderson
said yes if they are off duty officers from other agencies.
Mayor Buelterman asked about the hours. Mr. Anderson said they would patrol
during the evening only on weekends. He said they did this about 10 years
ago. Mr. Wolff said the Business owners seemed to want this. Mr. Anderson
said he could remember years ago not wanting to go down there and it was
nicknamed the combat zone.
Mayor Buelterman asked if they thought two were necessary. Ms. Doyle said
according to the Business people yes and that was one of the first issues
brought up at the BBC first meeting. Mr. Wolff said he would like to request
that they split up for more island coverage because he has noticed them
staying side by side. He said at least they could patrol opposite sides of
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the street. Mr. Anderson said he and Mayor Buelterman had a meeting with
Chief Price about those concerns and he is supposed to be addressing them.
Mayor Buelterman asked if that money would come out of contingency. Mr.
Anderson said it would have to. They decided to put it on the consent agenda.
Mayor Buelterman closed the consent agenda meeting.
Mayor Buelterman called the regular council meeting to order at 7:00PM on
April 27, 2006. All Council members were still in attendance along with the
City Attorney and Assistant City Manager. Mr. Dan Snyder did the invocation
and Jimmy Carter of the Tybee Memorial Color Guard posted the colors.
Everyone recited the pledge of allegiance.
Mayor Buelterman and Council Members welcomed Vivian Woods as Clerk of
Council and thanked her and Mr. Anderson for doing a good job.
Mr. Henry levy introduced Council to the Dark Sky initiative saying several
years ago the lights were so bright in Tucson Arizona there was interference
with the National Astronomical Observatories 20 high powered telescopes.
Tucson initiated a program of dimming their lights that became known as the
Dark Sky Initiative. He said he has provided Council with copies of some of
the proposed ordinances around the country that consist of dimming the lights
and making sure no lights shine to the sky.
They only shine on what they are supposed to light. It also limits the amount
of lumens allowed on signs and they are encourages to be black with light
writing or if they are white they have to be dim. This will cut down the
amount of light that is reflected in the air particles so that you can see
the stars. There are four advantages:
1) We will be able to see the stars
2) We will be able to attract visitors from all over if we qualify for the
Dark Sky Initiative. They will come to look at the Stars during the
months when it is dark and cold and we don’ t have a lot of visitors.
3) Reduce the amount of electricity that is used.
4) It has a traffic advantage in that you won’ t be going from a dark area
into a bright area that affects your driving vision.
He said there are two stumbling blocks which are the lighthouse and Hilton
Head. He said the lighthouse is a light that is supposed to light a projected
path to come into Savannah and it doesn’ t need to light 365 degrees around
the whole Island. It only needs to light 15 or 30 degrees.
If we adopt the initiative and we are getting visitors we may be able to talk
Hilton Head into doing the same thing.
Betty Ann Brooks from the Tybee Tour of Homes presented gift bags to Council
Members and reminded everyone about the Tour of Homes on May 20, 2006. She
said they expect 1000 visitors and they requested Mayor and Council make it
Tour of Homes Day. She presented Mayor Buelterman with a small wooden camper
depicting the Campground.
Chris Freeman from the Tybee Beautification Committee announced a native
plant sale at City Hall on may 6th 10:00AM until 12:00PM they will have a
native plant speaker.
He said his group has come up with a couple of proposals to fight litter on
the beach and Pier and Pavilion.
The first proposal is to install Litter Bag Dispensers at the beachside exit
of the 7 wooden crossovers that are adjacent to the two large south end
parking lots. We want to mount them below the existing litter signs. He said
some of the signs are too far in the ground. He said they feel this is a way
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for the Beach patrol to enforce that litter must be contained at all times if
there are actual fee litter bags for visitors.
They are 100% biodegradable and they are preprinted with educational
information about cigarette litter in particular. He said the cost to Tybee
Beautification will initially be $2500 to purchase the seven dispensers and
also purchase 6000 butt bags. He said they will try to get some State of
Georgia Grant Money and solicit larger businesses to help defy the cost. He
has talked to Dean Morris, the vendor on the pier and he said he has people
come and ask him for bags nearly every day. He said this is an initial test
for this summer season and if they are successful they will want to expand
the areas their available. He said they are hoping to distribute flyers to
hotels and vendors encouraging people to use the bags.
Mr. Freeman said his group has agreed to purchase five cigarette butt
receptacles for the pier and pavilion. He said Mr. Morris said they had
dispensers last year but they would be tipped over every night so he took
them out. He said the dispenser is seven inches wide by five inches deep by
18 inches long and is tamper proof and lockable. He said Mr. Morris has
agreed to empty them as part of his daily cleaning.
Mayor Buelterman told Mr. Freeman to call Mr. Lipsey with Chatham County for
permission.
Ms. Wanda Howard was not present but Mayor Buelterman declared April 29, 2006
as Beta Sigma Phi Day to honor their 75th Anniversary.
Mr. Gary lackey introduced himself as a candidate running for School Board
president of Savannah Chatham County Schools. He is a retired principle and
teacher.
Mayor Buelterman and Chief Price presented the City Employee of the Quarter
to Tiffany Wall Desautels. Chief Price said He can’ t say enough good things
about her and if anybody deserves recognition she does. Tiffany is running
the 911 system and the CAD system.
Mark Williams from the Public Works and Water Sewer Department gave his
report to Council stating that they had completed several re reads for high
water usage and we had EPD out on April 12th at the Waste Water Treatment
Plant to do the yearly inspection. They said everything was running fine at
our plant. We have two new employees, James Lucas and Danny Higgins that we
are training for the Water and Sewer daily operations. He said Joshua Smith
is being trained as a new operator at the Wastewater plant. They are working
with Atlantic, Atlantic with repairs on the main water well but it should be
back on line late next week. They cleaned the lot behind lift station number
9 and repaired several water leaks. They had 4 employees attend a Chlorine
Safety Class.
For Public Works they had 200 man hours for beach trash and litter pickup.
They had 220 man hours for street trash pick up. They laid 600 ft of Storm
drain and pipe and installed 6 catch basins on Solomon and Algers and
repaired pipes and catch basins at 18th and Chatham. They put
down 18 tons of asphalt at various locations island wide to fill street cuts
and pot holes. They graded and spread clay on the ball field at JC Park. They
removed the Dead Palm trees from the area in front of Memorial Park, Tybee
School and TS Chu Terrace. Approximately 50 acres of grass was cut in the
parks and along city rights of way and 15 miles was cut along the sidewalks.
They repaired picket fences in several places along the strand. They repaired
benches at 12th Street and Butler and 2 at the 16th Street Bathrooms. They
repaired snow fencing in several locations and put up new fence to stop dune
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traffic. They assisted with the set up of the lifeguard station and painted
the outside doors of the old school as well as installing hooks on all public
restroom stalls.
Mr. Wolff asked that Mark clarify about the beach advisories in the last
couple of weeks. Mr. Williams said the beach advisory they had was at the
Polk Street Station and it represented a block of samples that were taken. He
said he has been in contact with the EPD and the DNR on this and for the
single samples they were very low but on the block of samples
Was just above the threshold but they are expecting since they have been
steadily going down on the individual samples that the block sample they took
today to read below the threshold.
Ms. Williams said referring to DPW repairing the Street Cuts that she thought
that was the responsibility of the builder. Mr. Anderson said it is for a
certain period of time but after a year the city maintains the road. He said
those were old cuts that DPW repaired. Mr. Williams said they could have been
2 or 3 years old and the sand underneath is unique in that it will start
moving around if the water table gets high and they will start sinking. He
said they are trying to make contractors go in and pack good dirt around the
cuts, add concrete and then go over with a layer of asphalt to try to prevent
some of the sinking.
Ms. Williams said she knows it has been a concern on S. Campbell and the one
on Jones is very rough. Mr. Anderson said the one on S. Campbell has been
repaired by the contractor in the last two weeks. Mr. Williams said regarding
the one on Jones that they thought a layer of asphalt would keep it from
sinking.
Mr. Wolff asked if there were plans to fix the sidewalks to be ADA compliant
before the season gets cranked up. Mr. Anderson said they can’ t get that
done before the season but they have an $80,000 grant and their goal is
August because it has to be engineered and the plan submitted to the DOT as
part of the grant. It has to go out for bid.
Mr. Anderson asked if the Dune signs have come in yet. Mr. Williams said yes
and they are putting them up now.
Mr. Wolff said the flags at the Park of 7 Flags are getting ratty and he
asked who was responsible for replacing them. Mr. Anderson said Mr. Nobles
and he replaces them every 4 months.
Mayor Buelterman asked Mr. Williams to respond to the letter about South
Campbell. Mr. Williams said he looked at the last manhole on the City Septic
System and it is very shallow. The pipe going south is about 2 feet below the
surface of the road. That 6 inch line cannot be extended any farther. He said
if they were to get some type of Gravity system down that way his
recommendation would be to put a submersible grinder station if they had a
right of way that was wide enough in there around the Horse pen Fence area.
He said they could then possibly run gravity lines back to that lift station
and then send a force main back to the original city line that is right there
at that manhole.
Mayor Buelterman asked if a bigger line serving just those houses solve the
problem. Mr. Williams said he would not advise the city to take on any
grinder pump lines. He said they are extremely difficult to deal with and his
recommendation would be a gravity system if it could be done. It is more
expensive. He said the 1 ¼ inch line that was run down there originally was
done by resident years ago. He believes there are 5 or 6 people on that line
and he is not going to say it is too small because he has seen 200 residents
on a 2 inch line before. He said he has seen lemon pumps before too.
Mayor Buelterman asked that Mr. Williams have an Engineer look at it an give
an analysis of what we need to do concerning the capacity of the 1 ¼ inch
line. Mr. Wolff said while we are at it he would like to get as many of the
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septic tanks off as possible. He asked Mr. Williams to work that into the
assessment.
Elizabeth Johnson the president of the MSC Foundation reminded everybody
about the Turtle Trot on the 29th and the release of the sea turtle that has
been in rehab. She reminded everyone about the Sea kayak race on Mothers Day
weekend on the 13th of May. She announced the competitors for the race. She
said Capt. Mike will have a boat out offering views of the race for $20.00
per person. At 1:00 he will host an eco tour with a shrimp boat drag.
Sandy Major announced the Tybee neighbors meeting on May 4th at 7:00PM at the
cafeteria. She said they will have two focus groups going on. They have been
approached by Ann Royce who is a consultant working with CAT and she wants to
discover how CAT can be useful for Tybee island.
Ms. Major said the second focus group is about trees and Daniel Westcot is
the forester serving our area. He worked with the DCA planning team and he
will be helping us develop strategies about how we can protect and nurture
our trees.
Katrina Murray thanked Council Members that came to the Tybee Tourism Council
meeting and presentation last Tuesday. She said the presentation will begin
airing on the Tybee Government channel tomorrow at 8:00AM and 5:00PM seven
days a week. They appreciate all the input from everyone.
Mr. John Major said he appreciates Mr. Williams coming out to take a look at
the situation on South Campbell and he wants to add that you can’ t see by
just looking but that 1 ¼ line is only about 3 inches below the surface. He
said the people that scrape the roads would not think about that and he is
not sure whose problem that would be if all 6 grinder pumps go off at the
same time. It would be a repeat of another incident that left a house full of
sewage. He said he would rather it be addressed before an emergency happens.
Mayor Buelterman said the city ended up paying for some of that and it is the
city’ s problem and they will look into it.
Mr. Jason Nobles presented his report on the Parks and Recreation Dept.
He said they have made preparations to improve the restroom and include the
additions of tissue dispensers in the men’ s restrooms and soap dispensers in
all the restrooms. We are purchasing signs that will state the hours of the
restrooms and signs allowing the male staff to close the restroom for
complete cleaning. We also want to secure the restrooms overnight to cut back
on vandalism and they will be cleaned on a continuous run with time depending
on the depth of cleaning necessary.
They are advertising for the part time seasonal position to assist with
cleaning the restrooms. With a staff of two they are responsible for the
restrooms the JC Park grounds, Park of 7 Flags grounds cleaning Gym and
Cafeteria, two classrooms and hall in the old school building and the fire
department. He thanked Daniel Westcot of the Ga. Forestry Commission that
came and assisted them with making sure the newly planted trees will thrive.
They have moved a few Oaks that were planted to close together and placed
beds of mulch around the trees. They have placed tree gators water devices on
the trees to keep them watered the first year. They have staked all trees to
help prevent wind damage provide support. They are practicing what they
learned in the Tree Care Workshop they attended.
He recently completed a Leadership 1 course with the Parks and Recreation and
UGA. He said he learned how to convince City Officials to set Parks &
recreation as a priority in our community. He said he also learned how to
address discipline, ethics, conflict and communication and customer service.
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He invited Council to attend the GRPA conference that will be held in
Savannah with him. He said they will finish spreading the mulch at JC Park
now that the current mulch has compressed and they are making sure they are
maintaining proper safety levels for the playground equipment. He said the
Gym is open to the public Monday thru Friday 2:00PM to 6:00PM and Monday and
Wednesday 6:00PM to 8:00PM for pick up basketball and Saturday and Sunday
from 12:00PM until 5:00PM. They have plans to open the Gym earlier in the
summer months once schools out.
They have processed special event applications and 33 vendor permits for the
Spring Fling over the last weekend. They placed two new park benches at JC
Park. They have ordered the new picnic tables for the city parks and the
tennis courts are scheduled to be resurfaced by the end of May.
Mr. Crone asked if he could go in the Gym by himself if he wanted to shoot
baskets without it being open. He said we have a million and a half dollar
gym and we aren’ t using it. Mr. Nobles said we are using it. Mr. Nobles said
he would get Mr. Crone a key if he wanted to get into the Gym at 7:00AM or
9:00AM. Mr. Nobles said if it becomes a strong demand for the Gym to be
opened earlier then he will open it earlier. He said they opened the Gym at
10:00AM for the last three weeks when the kids were out of school on spring
break. He said they did not turn anyone away that wanted to come in before
their regular hours as long as they were there.
Ms. Williams asked what the 8 hour employees at the Gym do with the other 4
hours of their shift if the Gym is only open 4 hours. Mr. Nobles said he has
two part time positions in the Gym and they can be up to 6 hours but not 8
hour shifts. Mr. Crone said Mr. Nobles needed to make his staff full time so
that they could keep the parks cut.
Mayor Buelterman asked if staff was basically going back and forth to make
sure the bathrooms are clean. Mr. Nobles said that is their main priority on
the weekend. Mayor Buelterman said he has requested that a log book be kept
on when the bathrooms were cleaned.
Ms. Williams asked about a supervisor spot checking the bathrooms. Mr. Nobles
said he will come in early to get his work done and be able to drive around
and do spot checks. Mr. Crone said he and Ms. Doyle are going to do spot
checks over the weekend also.
Ms. Jan Fox of the Finance Department said the adjusting entries have been
received from the auditors today. She said they should have a good draft by
next week of the financial statements. She said as of March 31st financial
statements our revenues are tracking well with Building Permits, Franchise
Taxes and Parking Revenues way above budget. Building revenues are showing
$40,000 ahead of budget. Electric Franchise tax is $43,000 ahead of budget
and parking revenue is $66,000 ahead of budget.
Unfortunately the 3% by the drink tax is tracking $50,000 below estimate.
At the end of March all of the departments are reporting less than 25% of
their budgets used, so everyone is on plan.
We will find out May 2nd after the GEFA Board meeting whether we will get the
additional funding for the Butler Ave. water line. Plan B will be to defer
the balance of the capital spending in the water sewer fund until we can get
funding. We will have our next reverse auction on May 16th for two trucks, one
for DPW and one for W/S and a van for parking. The RFP for Pay & Display
meters and campground management are ready to be advertised as soon as we get
Council approval. She said they have an ad in the paper to hire an Accountant
to take over the Centralized Procurement Position that Vivian Woods vacated.
Ms. Fox said the budget adjustment was to cover the cost of advertising in
the HR department. We have spent a lot this year in advertising for the City
Manager and Clerk Positions. She requested $3,000 out of contingency fund for
that. She said Zoning is over budget in their supplies and finance is
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offering to cover it. She said also the SPLOST drainage and roads budget
adjustment was pulled because she never received confirmation on the drainage
project.
Ms. Frankie Conaway of Parking Services presented her March report. She said
they did 695 pieces of mail, repaired 168 meters and sold or issued 482
parking decals, wrote 1,633 citations and pursued 952 tags. They collected
$37,407 in parking fines, decal revenue was $9,900, and lot revenue was
$32,724 for a total of $80,031 for the month of March and including 65 bags
of coins.
Ms. Doyle asked what the procedure is for checking meters. She said she had
received an e-mail from someone that said they drove around for 40 or 50
minutes and every meter they went to was broken. She asked if they are
checked or if they wait for a phone call. Ms. Conaway said they check the
meters on a regular basis and their electronics will say out of order if they
are working incorrectly. Generally if someone comes to the office with a
ticket that says the meter was broken we immediately check the meter to
verify there was a problem. She said generally a broken meter problem comes
from using nickels, dimes and pennies.
Ms. Conaway requested adding another full time position to her staff. She
said the work load is increasing and the season is getting longer. The
gentleman in question has learned to help or substitute for the meter repair
specialist and he has had 5 years of exceptional service to the city as a
seasonal part time employee with no benefits. Also Human Resources requires
full time status or a cut back of his hours which would be grossly unfair.
Ms. Conaway said the position does not exist at this point but he is a very
good employee and she would hate to lose him because the position is not
there. Mayor Buelterman asked what the cost would be with benefits and
everything. Ms. Conaway said she did not. Mr. Anderson said if the pay &
display meters go in where they are proposed then Ms. Conaway will be able to
cut several part time employees. Mr. Anderson said it will free up 3
positions as well as a second shift. Mr. Wolff said the pay & display
equipment would free up time spend collecting coins also. Ms. Conaway said
she understands the new equipment will let them know electronically if it
needs to be emptied and they will not have to devote a full day to
collections. Ms. Doyle said since the pay & display meters have not been
approved this is premature.
Mayor Buelterman explained the advantages of pay & display. Ms. Conaway said
these are supposed to be a part of the HDR plan that will improve the whole
island over a long term period. The benefits in starting with putting the
units in the parking lots are: it will eliminate the second shift; it should
greatly improve traffic flow because they would be able to open 15th & 17th
Streets to two way traffic. It would give more efficient use of enforcement
personnel. We wouldn’ t need to run change, count spaces, cover lunch breaks
and there would be no booths to worry about. Money will no longer be handled
at all by personnel which is always a plus in a revenue situation. No more
security risks from money accumulating in booths along with balancing and
depositing. All lot revenues can be audited. The loss of one unit would not
shut down the whole system. If we had a lightning strike on our lot it would
shut down the whole system because the gates wouldn’ t be operable. She said
customers not only want to use debit and credit cards but they expect to be
able to. Mayor Buelterman asked if she expected them to being in more
revenue. Ms. Conaway said they will be losing the extra $2.00 up front from
the Gates but we anticipate people will overpay since they are using plastic.
Also once that customer has paid the time and left, it is not like a parking
meter where someone could come along and use the remaining time. Mr. Anderson
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said once the whole Island is done the system should pay for itself in 4
years. Mr. Wolff added that these meters will give people a parking ticket
that they can use for parking in the lot on the other side of the island not
just the lot they buy it in. We are trying to make the Island more visitor
friendly. Ms. Conaway said Savannah has had these machines for over two years
and they have been very pleased with them.
Ms. Fox said there will be additional funding needed for these because the
original bid was for $225,000 to put them on the streets. To put them on the
lots will cost an additional $140,000 in the form of an equipment lease and
fund it in next year’ s budget and pay it off. She said another benefit of
the pay & display is they can be programmed for multi day passes so that
people that want to kayak over to little Tybee and camp will be able to pay
for their parking for the days they will be gone.
Ms. Sessions asked if there is a place on the island for visitors to get
change. Ms. Conaway said parking services gives change from 9:00 until 5:00 7
days a week. Council told Ms. Conaway that they appreciate the job parking
services does.
Chief Jimmy Price gave the Police Department report. He said they have been
busy patrolling the traffic and issuing citations and watching out for
speeders. He said they put the lifeguard station in two or three weeks ago
and we are fully staffed on the weekends. Chief Price said on Easter Saturday
they had a traffic count of 16,003 cars and he doesn’ t know where Ms.
Conaway put them, but that was probably the second highest count they have
had other than the 4th of July. He said there were 11,000 or 12,000 cars the
next day because the weather was so nice.
Chief Price said concerning the Bike patrol that they would be running about
6 or 7 hours on Friday and Saturday and a little on Sunday depending on the
crowd.
Mr. Anderson asked for the 4 Engineering Companies that responded to the RFP
for Engineering Services for Tybee to make their presentations to Council.
The Four Firms Represented was, Ward Edwards, EMC, HDR/Stevenson Palmer and
Hussey, Gay, Bell & DeYoung.
Mr. Anderson said about a month ago we put two hour parking only sticker on
the meters on Tybrisa Street. It wasn’ t received well so we did a survey of
the business owners. He said they didn’ t have a problem with the two hour
parking as long as it was enforced only from 9:00 until 5:00 and they want
the people with parking decals to be exempt. He said earlier in the Beach
Business Committee there were some recommendations that they can try out to
see how it will work. He said there will be several 30 minute only parking
spots to try and help the businesses.
Mayor Buelterman opened the Public Hearing on the Water/Sewer line extension
from Polk Street to McKensie on the South side of Hwy 80. Mr. Williams said
right on McKensie and Laurel there is an existing city sewer system manhole.
There are developers on the other side of hwy 80 that want to have sewer run
to that area. The city is interested in getting some of those septic systems
removed so we had planned a cost share with the developers in that area. They
took the initiative to have an Engineer look at it and had a survey done of
the whole area. From that survey Mark Boswell came up with a design of a
sewer system coming from that manhole at Laurel and across hwy 80 with a jack
and bore and supply in a phase the area to be developed. Since the survey is
for the full area which is Breezy Point all the way to Cason Ave. we thought
that as developers came on we would be able to extend that line over time to
include the whole area. Right now we are just considering the area that the
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developers are involved in. Mr. Williams said the hearing is to see who wants
to be involved in the first phase of the project. He said from the Engineers
design we are going to go to some contractors and get an initial estimate.
Mr. Crone said all of that information should be in by the next water and
sewer meeting.
Ms. Angel Shroeder said there are people that live on the South side of Hwy
80 that have been begging the City to put water and sewer in there for years
and now we can supply water and sewer to developers as a 1st phase. She thinks
the developers should pay for all of it.
Ms. Carrie Effird said along with her sister Amy Gastor they own 1010 Hwy 80.
She said they own Tybee Vacation Rentals and they plan on building a space
for their office. She said their lot cannot be developed unless they can tie
into the sewer line because due to the size of their lot and the new building
codes they can’ t put a septic system back there. Ms. Effird asked that the
city expedite this project to get the bids out so that all these properties
that are within 100 feet of the Marsh and currently on Septic systems can be
converted to sewer. She said it is a public utility that they are entitled to
and they are asking the city to do that. Mr. Keitzman said there are a lot
more people involved in this besides just the developers. He said the
existing businesses that are located there including, real estate,
restaurants and kayak shops need this as well as the developers. He said in
order to expedite this project the landowners decided to provide the funds.
He said he believed the city had budgeted $90,000 for this project so that’ s
available to be used. He said every thing has been approved by Mark Williams
and Downer Davis. Mr. Crone asked if the Engineering was complete. Mr.
Williams said no but the preliminary plan has been approved by himself and
Downer Davis.
Mr. Hughes said they could put it out for request for proposals and see what
the cost would actually be. He said if the project comes in at $300,000 we
will have to decide what the cost share is. He said they had discussed
possible assessments on property owners to extend water and sewer on down.
Mr. Hughes said there are a number of options but getting a ballpark figure
should be the first step and you can get that through the RFP. Mr. Crone said
they need to do it the quickest and fastest way so we can get started on it
legally. Ms. Sessions asked if there was a letter from Downer in their
packets. Mr. Williams said there is a letter in Zoning that we just received.
Mayor Buelterman asked Mr. Williams to clarify who this project would
potentially provide services for. Mr. Williams said it would be for all the
existing businesses as well as future businesses between Breezy Point and
Cason Ave. Ms. Sessions said she supports the project but they have received
nothing from the City’ s perspective. Ms. Doyle said she has the same
concerns she feels someone has dropped the ball because these ladies and Mr.
keitzman are waiting and we need to know what is going on as far as the city
is concerned. She said they need numbers in front of them to look at. Mr.
Anderson said the drawing that was submitted would be used to do an RFP. He
said they are trying to get permission to put out the RFP to get prices to
come back to Council with. Mr. Wolff said if Downer has approved the project
that would be the same as having our own person doing the plans because he
represents the city.
Ms. Fox said this was on the agenda to make sure all of the people that live
or own property in the area are aware of what’ s going on. We have gotten the
plans in and the RFP is under construction and she doesn’ t have any
estimates from contractors but that is the next step and we will be drawing
up the RFP in the next couple of weeks. She said this was a public hearing
that was advertised to let all the people know it is under consideration so
if they want to participate they can. Mr. Hughes added that it was also a
notification that a potential for an assessment exists. He said another
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option if there isn’ t enough money in the budget is to impose an assessment
on those owners that will benefit by it. Mr. Keitzman said he thought the
amount of money appropriated was enough to not only do the sewer but also the
water. Mr. Williams said they plan on it but they don’ t know the cost yet.
Mayor Buelterman declared the public hearing closed.
Mayor Buelterman opened the business meeting with the consent agenda items
which consist of; The Beach Bum Parade on May 26th, The Christmas Parade on
December 2nd, The Polar Bear Plunge on Jan 1st,The Arts Association Funding for
2005, The Minutes from April 13, 2006, The Easement for Ms. Cupp. Mr. Pearce
motioned to approve, Mr. Wolff seconded and the motion was approved
unanimously.
Council asked that the Engineering Firm selection be put on the Agenda for
the next meeting. Ms. Sessions recommended the City generate a report card on
vendors to establish Tybee’ s experience with them on a semi or annual basis
or maybe after each project. She said having the water and sewer committee in
place has helped with bringing two sides of an issue together. Mr. Hughes
said projects can go ahead while this process is being done.
Mr. Pearce motioned to approve an RFP for cost estimates being issued for the
Sewer Water Line extension, Mr. Wolff seconded. Mr. Anderson said they know
they are not near putting a shovel in the ground but we have never done a
cost share or an assessment so we wanted Council to be aware of this along
with the people in the area that will be affected. They will ultimately have
to tie into this line because of our ordinances and state laws. He said they
may not have come to the meeting but they have been calling and getting
answers from Staff all week. Ms. Fox said the process to get estimates will
take 3 or 4 weeks. Mr. Crone said the way he understood it at the water sewer
committee meeting; the Engineer was going to have a couple of contractors
give an estimate on it. Ms. Sessions said they need to take into
consideration the fact that Finance has lost Ms. Woods in that position and
they need to be considerate of that even though Ms. Fox is confident that she
can meet the time frame.
The vote was unanimous.
Mr. Pearce motioned to approve the concept of the Dark Sky Initiative and he
added that Staff and City Attorney will need to make recommendations about
the specific ordinance we may want to have in the future. Mr. Wolff said
maybe Mr. Levy would volunteer to chair a committee and one of the things
that would qualify us is a five year plan meaning we would not have to spend
the money on this immediately. Under Mr. Levy’ s leadership we can devise a
plan and set up a proposal where we can comply with this initiative within
five years. Basically he said it is a matter of adjusting street lighting and
enacting ordinances that limit the number of lumens in signs. Mr. Levy said
they do not need him if they have faith in their planning commission because
it is all spelled out in the proposals he gave them and it is not that
complicated. Ms. Williams said this is a wonderful idea and with our sea
turtle population it is critical that we control the light that is shinning
in areas that it doesn’ t need to be. Mr. Crone recommended they wait for the
new city manager to get here. Mayor Buelterman asked if they could take Mr.
Levy’ s recommendation to let the planning commission look at the ordinance
issues and let the city manager look at the city’ s compliance issues. Mr.
Pearce accepted that as part of his motion, Mr. Wolff seconded the extended
motion, and the vote was unanimous. Mayor Buelterman asked that Council be
very clear about what they want the Planning Commission to do on this and
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highlight the ones we want them to look at. Mr. Levy volunteered to present
the Dark Sky Initiative at the Planning Commission Agenda meeting.
Mr. Pearce motioned to approve the litter bags from the Beautification
committee being installed on the existing signs that are high enough and DPW
Staff working with them on the other 2 that are too low, Mr. Wolff seconded,
and the vote was unanimous.
Ms. Williams motioned to approve putting the pay & display meters out for
bid, Mr. Wolff seconded, and the vote was unanimous.
Mayor Buelterman asked Mr. Anderson if the Parking Services employee is going
to leave if they don’ t approve this tonight. Mr. Anderson said they have had
to cut his hours because he was going over the allowed hours for part time
employees. Mr. Hughes said all they can deal with is creating the new
position within that department. Mr. Wolff motioned to create the position,
Mr. Pearce seconded. Ms. Williams said she agreed with Ms. Doyle that this is
a premature request until we get the pay & display meters up the part time
people are not going to be let go so I think we should wait and make this
decision after the pay & display meters are put in. Ms. Sessions said they
needed a clearer job description for the position and the skill set required
and then they would know what position they are creating. Mr. Wolff withdrew
his motion and Mr. Pearce withdrew the second. Ms. Doyle asked where the
money comes from for this person to be full time. Mayor Buelterman said when
it is presented to them again he wants to make sure Council knows that. Ms.
Williams said it is helpful for Council if things like this are included in
the budget for the year when it is being planned. Mr. Anderson said no one
had any idea that the season would start so early. He said the numbers are
they are $60,000 over revenue and they have the same number of cars as they
do in July.
Mr. Crone motioned to have an Engineer look at the 1 ¼ inch line on South
Campbell and see if it is adequate. Mr. Pearce seconded, and the vote was
unanimous. Mr. Lovett said a 1 ¼ inch line is plenty adequate for 5 or 6
houses but it is not deep enough.
Mr. Pearce motioned to approve the budget adjustment for HR, Ms. Williams
seconded, and the vote was unanimous.
Ms. Williams motioned to approve the bike patrol, Mr. Wolff seconded, and the
vote was unanimous.
Ms. Sessions said concerning the action items list. She said a lot of things
on it had been postponed or completed or they need to be dealt with by the
new city manager. Mayor Buelterman said he had gone through and checked stuff
off and a lot of it had been done. Ms. Williams suggested that the list be
circulated to Staff members and have them e-mail Vivian back with the status
of items their responsible for. She said there are a lot of items that have
been talked about that needs to be added. Ms. Sessions said that would
require Council to go through the minutes and pull out the action items that
were not added. Mr. Wolff asked that Vivian create a new list after Staffs
input and then delete the completed items so that they will have a clearer
picture of what hasn’ t been done. Ms. Sessions said she likes the format and
seeing what they have done by the end of the year will be a good thing. Ms.
Williams said she would not want anything deleted until after they have seen
it to see who signed off on it and then maybe delete the years 04 and 05 and
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leave the current year. She asked if they could e-mail items to Vivian and
copy Council for things to be added.
Ms Sessions asked Mr. Anderson about the steps taken concerning the Solomon
Ave. dust. Mr. Crone said he had talked to Mr. Williams today and they were
going to try to get the rocks up. Mr. Anderson said they went out either
Saturday or Easter Sunday and watered down the road so that they could sit on
their porch for Easter Sunday.
Ms. Williams asked when Mr. Anderson would come back with an ordinance to
allow parking on private property with a permit. He said the ordinance
previously presented is probably close but they will meet on it again and
have a recommendation on it by the 11th.
Ms. Doyle said it was brought to her attention by a former Mayor and City
Council Members that they used to have agenda meetings before City Council
meetings and not consent agenda. It was an actual set meeting a week before
or the Tuesday before Council meetings to go over the agenda and hash things
out. She said a couple of things that have happened tonight show her this
needs to be done. She says even though she goes over the agenda and the
paperwork she is given there are things she doesn’ t know about. She asked
Mr. Pearce if he was on Council when they did this. Mr. Pearce said that was
before he was on Council and they had the agenda meeting and just one Council
meeting. Mr. Wolff said they get their packets on Friday before Council and
if he has questions he calls the department head. He said they all have the
option of getting more information from the people that are putting the items
on the agenda. Mr. Crone said they are not paid for four or six meetings a
month and if they are going to have that many he wants a raise. Ms. Sessions
said she supports Ms. Doyle’ s concerns and when they ran for office they
knew it was going to be a lot of work and it is. She said she agrees with Mr.
Wolff also in that those of us that can review the agenda can ask questions
sooner. She said it would be nice if they could hear the same questions. She
said having a little bit more of a support summary on the Agenda would be
helpful. She suggested they use their e-mails more to communicate with each
other and if they had a little bit better package it would help. Mr. Anderson
said Ms. Woods had mentioned that at the department head meeting and they
intended to provide more information. Mayor Buelterman said he had talked to
Ms. Woods as well and wanted more information for the public on the agenda.
Ms. Williams said their retreats will also help them address this need. She
said unless it is an emergency they should not have big issues popping up.
Mr. Wolff said he has talked to other municipalities and they have a brief
synopsis for each agenda item so there are fewer questions because they know
all of the details beforehand. Ms. Doyle said that would be okay with her.
Mr. Crone said they are having a lot of problems with parking on Estill
Avenue on the weekends. He said he had talked to Mr. Williams and about
making room for more parking there. Mr. Williams said he has gone back maybe
100 ft and the only significant thing was about 10 pine trees about 8 to 12
inches. He said that he and Danny and Jimmy felt they could take the trees
out themselves without any outside help. He said the ground is fairly level
and they could put in crush and run. Mr. Wolff asked if they could do angle
parking to have enough parking spaces. He said Ms. Conaway said they can’ t
justify the expense of putting parking meters there. Council said they will
look into this.
Mr. Crone said Garney has turned in the final bill and it has the change
order with it and it needs to be approved so that we can write them a check.
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Mr. Crone motioned to approve the final bill submitted by Garney for payment,
Mr. Wolff seconded. Mayor Buelterman said the original contract amount was
3.3 million and we are deleting a previous change order of $256,000 so would
it be correct to say that it went over budget by $172,000. Mr. Crone said
that would be correct. And the vote was unanimous.
Mr. Wolff said the Beach Task Force has asked that Council authorize them to
draft a proposal to ask DNR how we can move sand back and forth along the
beach between renourishments. He said this would solve some problems
particularly around the anchor at the curve where there is considerable
erosion and the sea wall is already exposed by 3 or 4 feet. We could go down
there with a track hoe and dump truck and move sand to the places where we
need it. We are also looking at getting Engineering on that to see how we can
retard erosion by putting in some kind of structures. He said he has seen a
presentation on sand built tubes that are being used in many areas and they
seem to be really successful. This would be a preliminary step to get DNR
approval to allow us to move sand. We would still have to give them a
proposal of exactly what we intend to do and how we intend to do it every
time. Mr. Wolff motioned to authorize BTF to draft the proposal. Mr. Crone
seconded for discussion. Mr. Pearce said he opposes this unless there is a
Coastal Engineer or Geologist involved because he believes the best thing for
the beach is to allow it to accrete naturally. He said beach erosion is a
sophisticated science.
Mayor Buelterman said they would not let us do that. He said this is to allow
us to ask them if we can do this within parameters that are environmentally
friendly and conducive to natural accretion of the beach. Mr. Crone suggested
making a part of the motion to have DNR come and look at the proposed
projects and say yes or no. He said there is a bunch of sand across from
Ocean Plaza that could be used or moved somewhere. Ms. Sessions requested an
example. Mr. Wolff said for example where the sand bars are building up at
the south end tip of the island. It seems that with proper engineering we
could hire a small dredge to go out there or take a track hoe to the edge and
scope sand and have it trucked to the hot spots. Mr. Wolff said they do it at
St. Simons Island and other areas along the coast. There would be oversight
by DNR and the Corp and our Coastal Engineers. Mr. Wolff said this might
extend the period between renourishments. Ms. Sessions said everyone knows
what kind of beach or lack of beach they have at St. Simons and she doesn’ t
want us to do anything to jeopardize what we are trying to do with the
federal funding. Mayor Buelterman said this was in the Beach Management Plan
that they approved and the DNR just said this is something else they needed
to get approval to even think about doing this. It would still have to go
through Eric Olson and the DNR before approval. Mr. Wolff said this would let
us know under what conditions we would be able to move sand and they will
come back with conditions but we have to approach them first. Mayor
Buelterman said he would like to investigate areas where property owners have
granted easements to the city to allow for the renourishment and when sand
accretes there the city would have the right to do something with that also.
Mr. Wolff said Mr. Spraque on the Back River is having his house taken over
by sand it is actually under his house. Mayor Buelterman said that is a fine
example it has taken them 6 months to get an answer from DNR about moving
that sand from under their house. Mr. Crone said we have to be very careful
especially on the Back River because one day there could be 6 feet of sand
and 2 days later there isn’ t any. He said if the sand is moved fifteen or
twenty feet down from Mr. Sprague’ s house his sand will go and then he might
come to the city and want his sand back. Ms. Williams said she needs more
information because in a Turtle training meeting and Mark Dodd mentioned how
poorly the last renourishment had been done in terms of sand compaction. Mr.
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Wolff said Eric Olson would be giving us the plans telling us exactly where
to take it from and where to put it. Ms. Williams asked if they get the
recommendation and it isn’ t something they can support would they be able to
squash it. Mr. Wolff said yes. The motion carried with five voting in favor
and one, Pearce opposed.
Ms. Williams talked about the Beach Business Committee. She said they
received a thorough report from Mr. Anderson regarding staff issues. We also
shared advertising opportunities on the local cable. We also formed sub
committees that will be meeting with one working on tax incentives and
another working on off season events and parking and another working on the
mission statement and so forth. She said they would meet with Chief Price
next week to discuss some concerns with vandalism and inappropriate behavior
on Tybrisa.
Ms. Williams asked for Ethics advisory board appointees from Ms. Sessions and
Mayor Buelterman. Ms. Sessions nominated Sonny Seiler and she said she will
give him a copy of the ordinance because he wanted a clear understanding of
what he would be doing. Ms. Williams said he could also contact Linda Gladdin
with any questions.
Ms. Williams gave an update on the Skate Park RFP that was opened last week
and a evaluation meeting is planned for Tuesday with the design review
committee to go over the plans. Mr. Crone asked if Ms. Williams had read the
minutes from the January 04 meeting. He said it was a special meeting on the
Gym and we said there was supposed to be nothing else concrete put in
Memorial Park. Mayor Buelterman said this was brought up two retreats ago and
we will have to address that with a vote. Ms. Williams said when it was
discussed at the retreat we discussed putting it behind the police station
and many Council members did not want it there. She said her concern is not
the location but her understanding was that since they were acquiring 7 acres
of Green Space they might be able to mitigate that. Mayor Buelterman said he
thought they had voted on having it in Memorial Park.
Mayor Buelterman said in regards to Police Officer Pay, he wants to make sure
we are staying up with all the other surrounding municipalities and make sure
we are able to train and retain and attract good Police Officers. Mr.
Anderson said three years ago the city had a class and comp survey and in
that study it recommended that our police officers go up in pay quite a bit.
He said it has been brought up 3 or 4 times in the last several years but not
acted on. He said they could pull out just the Police Department and apply
cost of living projections. Mayor Buelterman said he is afraid of losing our
Police Officers to Savannah and Chatham County and they should be paid
fairly. Mr. Pearce motioned to have the information brought to Council
concerning pay raises for the Policemen, Mr. Crone seconded. Ms. Williams
said it would be helpful if they could see what the Chief recommended for pay
increases in the past and how much of that was cut from his department’ s
budget. The vote was unanimous.
Mayor Buelterman said he had attended the Hurricane Conference and one of the
first things he wants to do is putting signs or something that would give
elevations if there is a storm surge and what it would do to Tybee.
He said they didn’ t have it in Mississippi and people there were shocked
when the Storm Surge came up. Mr. Anderson said they had looked into those
signs and the price would be $155.00 each.
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Second Reading for the Amended Ordinance 2-2-5 District-Poling Places because
of the renovations being done at the community center the poling place has to
be relocated. Mr. Crone motioned to approve, Pearce seconded, and the vote
was unanimous. Mr. Hughes said the Board of Elections is taking care of
getting Justice Department Approval.
Second Reading for the Amendment to Ordinance 6-1-10-Aid to Construction.
Allowing fees to be used for Water and Water Line purposes in addition to
Sewer and Wastewater treatment purposes. Mr. Crone motioned to approve, Mr.
Wolff seconded, and the vote was unanimous.
Mr. Wolff motioned to go into Executive Session to discuss Real Estate,
Litigation and Personnel, Mr. Pearce seconded, and the vote was unanimous.
Mr. Wolff motioned to come out of Executive Session and Adjourn, Mr. Pearce
seconded, and the vote was unanimous.