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HomeMy Public PortalAbout20060525_TybeeCouncilMinsCouncil Minutes Page 1 of 8 Meeting of 2006-05-25 City Council Minutes Mayor Buelterman called the consent agenda meeting to order at 6:30PM. Council members present were Shirley Sessions, Eddie Crone, Mallory Pearce, Kathryn Williams, Wanda Doyle and Paul Wolff. Also present were City Manager Diane Schleicher, Assistant City Manager Dee Anderson and City Attorney Bubba Hughes. City Manager Diane Schleicher explained to council the advantages of using waterless urinals. She said they could handle the heavy use because they are being used in the prison system successfully. She suggested that council allow them to start out with two or four of the urinals and install them where the troughs were taken out. She said this would be a trial program to verify the performance standards. She said if they perform as they should the city would start installing them in the other city facilities around the island. Council decided to hold a special meeting on Tuesday, May 31, 2006 at 6:00PM in the TEMA room. This meeting will be to discuss SPLOST items since the deadline to submit the list to Chatham County is June 1st. Council listed the consent agenda items as, waterless urinals, GEFA loan modification, Budget adjustment of $3,366 from Parks Personnel & Benefits to Public Restroom Supplies to purchase Hand Dryers and Baby Changing Stations for the restrooms, Placement of a Mobi Mat at Second and Van Horn with a budget adjustment of $18,000 to give access to the beach for the nursing home patients, Minutes for May 11, 2006, Agreement with the National Park Service which is a cooperative agreement with Ft. Pulaski for equipment use, Savannah Chamber of Commerce Agreement, Bellsouth Agreement and Employment Contract Ratification for Diane Schleicher to correct the starting date on her contract. Mayor Buelterman called the regular meeting of the city council to order at 7:00PM on Thursday, May 25, 2006. All persons previously listed were still in attendance. Father Costigan gave the invocation and the Tybee Memorial Color Guard posted the colors. Everyone recited the pledge of allegiance to the flag. Julian Toporek requested council do something about the dust on Solomon Avenue that is created by cars riding over the white rock that was put in 2 years ago. He requested that the city pave the street. He also said that there wouldn’ t be so much dust if only the people that live there used the street. Mr. Crone said the city had started hauling in dirt on Wednesday and the dirt road should be completed by next week. Marsha Via asked council to create a committee to look at resolutions to the feral cat problem on Tybee. She said there are many stray and neglected cats here and if a non profit is needed she will create one. Ms. Sessions said she had talked with Lisa Scarborough at Coastal Pet Rescue about visiting Tybee council in June to address this issue. Samantha Claar asked council to request a traffic study from DOT regarding a traffic signal at Hwy 80 and Estill Hammock Road. She said according to the DOT they require 1000 cars a day however if we don’ t meet that requirement Council Minutes Page 2 of 8 they will tell us what can be done instead. She suggested that the city put an unmanned police car in the vicinity to slow the traffic. Mary Ingalls of the Tybee Arts Association requested to be allowed to put more of the Turtles at various locations around the city. Ms. Schleicher requested that the police station not be considered because it could be problematic. She also requested that there be an indemnification letter releasing the city from all liability as far as the turtles are concerned. Ben Maher made a presentation to council regarding Modular Skate Parks verses Concrete Skate Parks. He said the modular parks do not keep the kids interest for more than a year. He said regarding the expense of modular verses concrete, the modular would have to be replaced in 4 years like the previous one. He said concrete parks are cost effective and added that a concrete park in Jacksonville Fla. was built in the 70s. Ms. Ward requested that Council locate it in a good area instead of the previous location. Ms. Sessions asked what happens to the water after a heavy rain. Mr. Maher said they put in a French drain and slope everything towards it. Ms. Williams said the concrete is quieter than modular. Mr. Maher agreed saying the sound goes up as opposed to sounding like a megaphone. Mr. Levy said the council has $40,000 set aside and the concrete park would cost in excess of $100,000. Also he is concerned because we have a high water table and the concrete is installed below grade. Katrina Murray of the Tybee Tourism Council said she is looking forward to seeing the figures for April because information requests and traffic has increased. She said Good Morning America had listed Tybee as their number 1 pick for economy beach destinations. She said there was an associated press article that focused on impact from recent hurricane seasons on visitor plans. She said a lot of the festivals have been successful and the Tybee Tour of Homes and Tybee 500 had brought a lot of visitors to Tybee last weekend. She said the first showing of the advertisement spot will be next month in Atlanta. She said they would appreciate any help that the city can give the committee. Mr. Keith Gay requested that Council consider suspending the issuance of parking citations during the months of November, December and January in the interest of goodwill. Mr. Russell Bridges requested council approval of the private parking lots and asked for a waiver to be able to open a lot on his property on Memorial Day weekend. Reverend Hale Bishop spoke in favor of Mr. Bridges saying when he uses the church parking lot which adjoins their lot; they clean up everything that people throw down while using the lot. Also they monitor the church lot when there is a special event such as a wedding to keep people from parking there. Jimmy Carter said he was raised on Tybee. He said the island used to consist of shrimpers and fishermen. He said with the influx of new people on Tybee he is concerned that their heritage and lifestyle will be washed into oblivion. He suggested that they designate sidewalks on Tybrisa as Tybee Heritage Walk. He proposes having bricks installed with names that have been purchased by people wanting to honor their loved ones. He said Wanda Parker said she was interested in purchasing 120 bricks to install in front of her business. He said the bricks could be removed if there was a problem under the sidewalks and reinstalled whereas concrete would need replacement. Mr. Gary Sanders asked Council about expanding the renovation plans for City Hall to include turning the stage into a conference room while maintaining Council Minutes Page 3 of 8 its historical integrity. He proposed a design to include glass partitions across the stage in front of the curtains that would recess when the stage is utilized. He also proposed raising the council platform for increased visibility and adding handicap access to the platform and stage. He said the existing plans call for the upstairs offices to be conference rooms however they will not be handicap accessible if the need arises. Mr. Wolff asked how much additional money would be needed to allow for those renovations. Mr. Sanders said he did not know how much additional money would be needed for construction but he felt it would be in the city’ s best interest to have the renovations to the stage done at the same time as the auditorium. He said he would not charge an additional fee to include the stage in the renovation design. He also recommended the city hire an interior decorator to make sure all materials and surfaces are cohesive in color and suit the building. He said he feels that a decorator could be utilized for a reasonable price. Ms. Schleicher said the plan is to do the renovation in phases so that the auditorium can be utilized for working while the offices are being constructed and after the offices are done the auditorium could be completed. Mayor Buelterman opened the Public Hearing for the proposed 19th Street Park. Mr. Anderson told council about the updated design and that FEMA standards would require a bath to be 10 feet up which is not feasible. Ms. Sessions asked for a survey. Mr. Anderson said they wanted a preliminary approval before spending money on a survey or engineering. Mr. Hughes said a survey would be needed before an approval was given. Mr. Pearce said he was told Mr. Chu did not own the property. Mayor Buelterman introduced letters into the minutes from Todd Lanier, Phillip Baker and Anna Cabaniss. Mr. Pierce Reeve said he does not want a structure built that will be maintained like the existing public facilities. Rachel Perkins requested that a public access space be put there but suggested it not be geared towards high use. Cullen Chambers spoke in favor of the park concept as a concerned citizen that loves Tybee. He said he takes offense at the negative comments regarding the public restrooms. He said the island depends on visitors to bring in state and federal money and he believes that should be a consideration to council. He said if illegal activities are already taking place in the vicinity then it is an enforcement problem that should be dealt with. He believes if the area is cleaned up it would help eliminate the illegal activities. Samantha Claar said she supports the park and suggested a port a potty could be used and the park could be marketed as a reflection park. Maybe a water feature could be located there. She said they need more bathrooms with better maintenance. Mr. Bill Garbett said he agreed with everyone’ s concerns but they do need sanitation facilities on the South end of the island. He suggested looking into an alternative way to have sanitation there. Mr. John Major suggested that a committee be formed representative of both sides so that they might work at a solution. Mr. Adams said he is more aware of the illegal activities. He said there is always a wave of people when the bars close. He said the boom box crowd that drinks, smokes or ingests doesn’ t get started partying until late. He feels the bad activities will increase if the park is cleaned up. He said he has no confidence in the police based on their reputation. Mr. Pearce asked if police have been responsive to the illegal activity. Mr. Adams said he had never heard of anyone being arrested or sent to court. He said the reality is it is a neighborhood problem. He suggested that they consider putting bathrooms at each end of the strand for convenience. Ms. Sessions asked Ms. Schleicher about requested information from the Police Department. Ms. Schleicher read the report from Major Case and added that Major Case is of the opinion that removal of the underbrush and adding Council Minutes Page 4 of 8 lighting would not add to the activities of an illegal nature. Mr. Pearce asked if discussions with the neighbors would help. Mr. Adams said discussions should have been held earlier and meeting now would not be productive. Ms. Williams said the property in question doesn’ t belong to Mr. Chu and no considerations should be given until it does. Ms. Sessions requested a survey with any deed restrictions listed. Ms. Anne Miller of Second Ave. said she sees sex and drugs and a lot more everywhere on Tybee and drowning happens all over the island. She said that is what we put up with to live here. She is in favor of the park. Ms. Amy Lanier read the letter to council from her husband. She said she agrees with Mr. Adams and she doesn’ t want this to be an extension of the strand. Ms. Schleicher recommended that council postpone this decision until the end of July to give staff time to address the deed restriction and to formulate a more complete idea. Mr. Wolff said no loitering signs are in other parking lots so he believes there should be signs put in the small lots as well. Mr. Pearce suggested looking into the police solutions and suggested a neighborhood meeting with Ms. Schleicher. Ms. Williams said she doesn’ t believe the city should pay for the surveys. Ms. Doyle said something should be done about enforcement issues and recommended that council and staff look into this problem. Ms. Williams moved to postpone the decision until the end of July, Mr. Pearce seconded. Mayor Buelterman said council has held 2 public hearings on this issue so we are not trying to hide or force this. The vote was unanimous. Ms. Schleicher recommended that vendors for Pay & Display meters be invited to make presentations about their product. Ms. Schleicher said the ordinance change to Municipal Code section 6-1-15 concerning cut offs and cut off fees is not complete. She recommended the approval of the policy change to remove all accounts from the cut list with a balance of $55.00 or less. Mr. Crone moved to approve the policy change, Mr. Pearce seconded and the vote was unanimous. Ms. Schleicher said the Tourism Council was requesting an increase of $4,000 for the fireworks for 4th of July because of a price increase from the vendor. She said it would require a budget adjustment. Ms. Doyle said the tourism council had originally asked for $6,000 in their budget request for this year and were approved for $4,000. Ms. Williams expressed concern that the contingency fund has been depleted quite a bit. Ms. Sessions said the city already helps with parking, police and cleanup after the fireworks which add up to a significant amount. She asked that the tourism board do pre planning and put the correct amount into their budget request for next year. Ms. Doyle asked if the money could come from another line item and if $2,000 would be alright. Ms. Schleicher said according to Ms. Fox there is no other fund to take the money from other than the contingency fund. She said our contingency is down to $30,000 and that is low this early in the year. She explained that contingency is for emergencies such as maintenance expenses that were not budgeted. Mayor Buelterman said he had talked with Ms. Murray and asked that she request the needed funds from Tybee instead of going to the county because he is going to the county next month to petition for money for beach renourishment. Ms. Sessions said the fireworks have nothing to do with beach renourishment and should not be a considering factor for the county. Ms. Doyle moved to approve $2,000 for the Tourism Council to come from contingency, Mr. Crone seconded, the motion carried with a vote of 4 in favor and 2 opposed. Council Minutes Page 5 of 8 Mr. Nobles said he had set up a meeting with the YMCA, Friends of Tybee Theater and Arts Association for Thursday at the old school to discuss showing movies at the Gym. He said the YMCA has a copyright agreement to show movies publicly and we may be able to utilize that to save the copyright fee. Mr. Nobles asked council to accept the land and water conservation agreement grant. Mr. Wolff said in accepting the grant they would not be committing to a dollar amount. Mr. Wolff moved to approve, Mr. Pearce seconded, and the vote was unanimous. Mr. Wolff moved to approve the items on the consent agenda, Mr. Crone seconded, and the vote was unanimous. Council requested that Ms. Sessions invite Ms. Scarborough of Coastal Pet Rescue to come to a council meeting at her earliest convenience. Mr. Wolff moved to approve requesting a traffic study from the DOT, Mr. Pearce seconded. Mr. Anderson said he will request that they come out on a busy day. Ms. Schleicher said they only come out Monday through Friday during the busiest hours. The vote was unanimous. Mr. Wolff moved to approve the placement of turtles by the Tybee Turtle Tour as long as the locations are pre approved by staff and an indemnification letter is signed so that the city is not responsible and also excluding the following locations, Police Station, Marsh and Campground. Mr. Pearce seconded, and the vote was unanimous. Ms. Williams suggested the Tybee Heritage Walk be tied in with the Tybrisa updates that are already planned. Ms. Schleicher said she had reviewed the Engineering Proposals before going into their experiences with the city. She recommended EMC Engineering based on planning and projects they have done concerning drainage and water and sewer. She said their presentation had shown they had the depth needed for Tybee and their costs were comparable. She said she and staff members had invited Mr. Baumgartner of EMC to come and meet with them and grilled him with all kinds of questions and the exchange was good. She said Staff strongly recommends EMC. Ms. Doyle moved to approve the recommendation to accept EMC as the city engineering firm, Mr. Crone seconded. Ms. Sessions said her biggest concern was that changing engineers would be taking a risk. She said they have an interesting history with HGB&D and that firm had helped them get out of hot water with the EPD. She felt that the last project that was just completed was a good project. She said she hates to see the city dismiss the history they have with HGB&D especially concerning water and sewer. The motioned tied with a 3 to 3 vote with the Mayor breaking the tie in favor of denial of the motion. Ms.Sessions moved to enter into a contract with EMC for drainage and a contract with Hussey, Gay, Bell & DeYoung for water and sewer. Mr. Wolff seconded and asked that the motion include street projects being put out to bid. Ms. Sessions agreed. Mr. Hughes said the city doesn’ t have to have a contract with anyone and all projects can be put out for bid however he would not recommend that because of the importance of this kind of projects. He said he has had very good responsiveness from Mr. Lovett at HGB&D on many different issues. He said council can split out the projects but a lot more will overlap than they realize and that could be a problem especially concerning drainage. The motion carried with a vote of 4 in favor Council Minutes Page 6 of 8 and 2 opposed. Ms. Sessions asked that our vendor’ s be informed of our expectations and a quarterly report card be established regarding associations with vendors so that a written record will be maintained. Mayor Buelterman requested council’ s approval to travel out of state to Washington to urge the senate to approve the 6.3 million dollars of beach renourishment money requested by Tybee. Mr. Pearce moved to approve, Mr. Wolff seconded and the vote was unanimous. Mayor Buelterman said he has requested storm surge signs be made and posted to make the public aware of that danger. Ms. Williams asked if they were going to be put on existing utility poles. Mayor Buelterman said he did not know how they would be put up. Mayor Buelterman said he has a meeting with the County on June 12th to ask for $150,000 for beach renourishment. Mr. Wolff introduced the Green Building Resolution asking that the city adopt green building practices to encourage more contractors to follow suit. He said typically the extra construction expense will be absolved by the savings on utilities and maintenance and the reduction of waste. He added if the extra cost can’ t be recovered in 5 years then they will go for the highest level possible that is feasible. He said he had talked with Cullen Chambers and historic renovations are of particular concern because you can’ t add insulation to existing walls which is a key factor. Mayor Buelterman said in section 5 it says that city council can grant exceptions to this policy when it deems appropriate. Mr. Wolff moved to approve, Mr. Pearce seconded, and the vote was unanimous. Mr. Crone said he wanted to ask Mr. Nobles to go ahead and buy the playground equipment and also redo the bicycle paths and tennis courts. Ms. Doyle asked that the playground equipment be made out of something that will not get too hot in the sun. She asked if the equipment would be for older kids or younger kids. Mayor Buelterman recommended establishing a committee that could give them a recommendation. Ms. Doyle moved to approve playground equipment expenses not to exceed $50,000 and to allow a committee to make recommendations, Ms Williams seconded. And the vote was unanimous. Mr. Crone said the bicycle paths need to be redone and suggested using brick pavers. Mr. Wolff said pervious asphalt would be more reasonable and would look better. He said it is perfect to use for bike paths because of weight limitations. Council requested that staff look into using pervious asphalt for the bike paths and requested bike paths be put on the action items list. Mr. Crone said the resurfacing of the Tennis Courts will not last a year and requested the price difference for putting in new courts. Mayor Buelterman said his college had resurfaced their tennis courts and they had lasted a long time. Mr. Nobles said there was no guarantee made concerning the resurfacing that they had planned on. Mr. Wolff asked if they could phase it in 2 stages. Mr. Crone motioned to redo the Tennis Courts, Ms. Doyle seconded. Mr. Wolff requested that Mr. Nobles get the extended warranty information from the resurfacing company and forward to Ms. Schleicher. The motion to redo the courts was withdrawn. Mr. Crone said the Audit Committee has done a wonderful job but they are stepping out of their bounds. He recommended that any special request for information needs to come from staff instead of committee members. Mr. Crone Council Minutes Page 7 of 8 said a whole list of contracts was given to Mr. Hughes and Ms. Fox to take a look at. Ms. Sessions said maybe they are not giving staff enough time to get the information. She suggested that Mr. Hughes, Ms. Schleicher and Ms. Fox prioritize the list so that it wouldn’ t be so difficult for staff to respond. Mr. Hughes said he thought it would be good for the committee to get accustomed to working with Ms. Schleicher. Ms. Williams said all Audit Committee requests come to her and she will submit them to Ms. Schleicher. Mr. Crone requested that the Water Tower Revenue be used to buy Green Space. Ms. Sessions asked Mr. Hughes if that was allowed. Mr. Hughes said the tower is a part of water and sewer but it makes sense to have the money going where it is needed. Mr. Crone moved to approve using the water tower revenue to purchase green space, Mr. Pearce seconded. Mr. Wolff said they could use the money to service the loan for the new land they have acquired. He said there are available grants to purchase green space. And the vote was unanimous. Ms. Williams gave a quick update on the Ethics Advisory Board and said Linda Gladin was selected as the Chairman and Sue Off will be the liaison with the Audit Committee. She said she is waiting for a name from the planning commission but Paul Wolff is the council liaison. She said they would need a staff member to assist with clerical duties, She said the first meeting will be scheduled for the mid part of June. Ms. Sessions moved to approve Paul Wolff as the official liaison to the Ethics Board, Ms. Pearce seconded and the vote was 5 in favor with Mr. Wolff abstaining. Ms. Williams said the Beach Business Committee (BBC) has requested that council approve free parking for the weekend during the Christmas Parade. She said it was suggested that perhaps it could be for the whole month of December as a goodwill gesture. Mayor Buelterman suggested starting it at Thanksgiving. He asked that Staff look into the financial report for parking services for that time. Ms. Doyle said the BBC wanted the free parking to run through New Years. Ms. Williams said the city receives a lot of negative publicity regarding parking citations issued during the off season. Ms. Schleicher said she will get a week by week analysis for Thanksgiving through February for their consideration. Council decided to make a decision on Tuesday May 30 at a special meeting of council. Mr. Pearce moved to approve the National Park Service cooperative agreement, Ms. Sessions seconded and the vote was unanimous. Mr. Hughes said regarding the Private Parking Ordinance that it was introduced over a year ago and a lot of incidentals were brought up. Mr. Anderson said last summer they were catching people with unauthorized private parking lots every weekend. He said just making it legal during the Holidays listed is enough to help when the parking lots are full and he doesn’ t recommend making it for every weekend because it is residential property. He said he would feel more comfortable if this were to go before the planning commission. Mr. Wolff asked them to require property boundaries be shown with parking spaces drawn in. Ms. Schleicher said they do that in Wisconsin for special events and games and they think of it as a cultural thing. Ms. Williams said she agreed with Mr. Anderson that it would become intrusive to neighbors if allowed every weekend. Mr. Pearce moved to approve for first reading and Mr. Wolff seconded and the vote was unanimous. Ms. Sessions said from an enforcement standpoint it would have to be enforced outside of these holidays. Ms. Schleicher said they can require that a permit be posted on the lots. Ms. Williams added that they should not nail them on trees. Mr. Council Minutes Page 8 of 8 Pearce moved to approve for second reading, Ms. Sessions seconded and the vote was unanimous. Mr. Hughes said the amendment to ordinance 9-5-1 (9) allowing surfboarding and fishing in certain areas and prohibiting fishing within 100 ft of the back river boat launch. He said there had been problems with people fishing at the boat launch and not moving when a boat comes to be put in or taken out. Mr. Wolff asked that it be specific to Alley #3. Mr. Pearce moved to approve, Mr. Wolff seconded, and the vote was unanimous. Mr. Hughes reviewed the DOT (TEA) grant agreement for Tybrisa Streetscape Improvements. He said some of the city’ s 20% portion could be satisfied using the preliminary engineering expenses. Mr. Pearce moved to approve, Mr. Wolff seconded and the vote was unanimous. Mr. Hughes presented the Savannah Area Chamber of Commerce Agreement saying he had edited the document concerning the tourism council because it wasn’ t clear if the council was city affiliated. He has removed Tybee Tourism as a party and would prefer that there be no voting member of council on the tourism board. Mr. Pearce moved to approve the contract as edited by Mr. Hughes, Ms. Williams seconded and the vote was unanimous. Mr. Hughes requested that a copy be sent to Mr. Hubbard at the Savannah Chamber to get his reaction concerning the changes. Mr. Wolff motioned to go into executive session to discuss real estate, litigation and personnel, Ms. Sessions seconded and the vote was unanimous. Mr. Wolff motioned to end executive session and adjourn, Mr. Pearce seconded and the vote was unanimous. ___________________________________ Mayor Jason Buelterman __________________________________ Vivian O. Woods, Clerk