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HomeMy Public PortalAbout20070726CCMinutes20070726 City Council Minutes Mayor Buelterman called the Consent Agenda Meeting to order at 6:30pm. Council Members present in addition to the Mayor were; Sessions, Doyle, Williams, Crone, Wolff and Pearce. Also present were; City Attorney Bubba Hughes and City Manager Diane Schleicher. Mayor Buelterman listed items on the Consent Agenda as: Confirmation of the Director of Planning, Zoning and Economic Development-Brannyn Allen Special Event-USMC Toys for Tots 5K Run/Walk on September 8, 2007 DOT Revised list of Roadways One Day Alcohol Permit-Tybee Fest Lei’bor Day Luau- September 2, 2007, Memorial Park Two Day Alcohol Permit- Tybee Fest Pirate Fest-October 5 & 6, 2007, South Beach Parking Lot Amended Resolution for Ad Hoc Public Safety Committee extending time to 12 months and appointing new members; Bill Cannon, Charles Burel and Pat Locklear. Datamatic Purchase, License and maintenance Agreement Ms. Doyle asked if the DOT list confirming speed limits would stop Tybee from requesting something different. Mr. Hughes said we can send a letter with the list notifying them; we may request changes as needed for safety concerns. Ms. Williams asked for Action Items to be discussed during the Consent Agenda. She asked if DNR had shown any interest in scheduling a CoastFest Event on Tybee. Mayor Buelterman said they did not seem interested but there are two festivals with one being a national event called Coast Week. He said we could do something on Tybee for that event. Ms. Williams said Tybee Beautification has been sponsoring a Beach Sweep during that event for several years. Mayor Buelterman said they offered to allow us to have a booth at the Brunswick event. He said the Coast Fest is scheduled for the first weekend in October of this year in Brunswick. He said he would contact them to try to get it Scheduled on Tybee next year. He said he believes it is scheduled in Brunswick because that is where the DNR’s Main office is located. Ms. Williams said during the course of their terms the Council has approved new ordinances, amended ordinances as well as staff implementing policy and procedures. She said she feels it is very important to keep the public informed as to any changes or new ordinances on the books. She said we need to develop a procedure to do that so it is done consistently every time the ordinances change. She said take for instance the Animal Control Ordinance that was approved last meeting. She said unless people were here or they watch it on cable, how are they supposed to know about that. She asked that guidelines be developed by staff to address this in order to get the information to as many people as possible. Ms. Schleicher said we could put a page on our website containing scanned copies of ordinance changes. She said as Municode is updated we could start over with a new list. Ms. Woods said she has computer files containing the ordinance changes and they could be applied to the website. Ms. Williams said for instance it is now illegal to tether an animal and unless someone browses Municode for fun they would not be aware of it. She said just take out the common things and make people aware of them so they will not get upset if they receive a citation. Ms. Schleicher said the best avenue for contacting our residents is the Water Bill. She said a little shortened blurb showing the information would be the best way to let people know. She said she will only hit the high points. Ms. Williams said that was a good idea. Mayor Buelterman closed the Consent Agenda meeting. Page 1 of 5 Mayor Buelterman called the regular meeting of the City Council to order at 7:00pm. City Officials present at the Consent Agenda meeting were still in attendance. Mr. Dan Snyder of All Saints Episcopal Church gave the invocation. Everyone recited the Pledge of Allegiance. Mr. Noel Perkins representing the Metropolitan Planning Commission gave a brief presentation regarding the SAGIS system. He said the SAGIS system provides Geospatial information to everyone in Chatham County. He said they also coordinate, facilitate and manage GIS related projects. He said their goal is to provide a one stop location for geospatial data that everyone can access. Staff Sgt. Ryan Frapier of the United States Marine Corps in Savannah announced the 12th Annual Freedom Run on Tybee. He said this event has been very successful and lets everyone know that the Toys for Tots campaign has been kicked off. He said Toys for Tots is a non-profit and basically every penny they earn goes towards purchasing Christmas items for the age groups from 8 to 14 that are usually neglected at the toy drops. He said this years run will be on September 8th at 8:00am. David Laing of the Savannah Celtic F. C. announced the Tybee Island Beach Soccer Classic on August 25th and 26th, between 3rd and Center Street. Mayor Buelterman asked if he was expanding the tournament space. Mr. Laing said no that actually the same two adult fields will be utilized with one being used to hold two children’s games. He said they had 4 tents with 1 being for registration and the other 3 for cooling off. Ms. Schleicher said Chief Price had concerns about the distribution of soft drinks and water being interpreted as vending on the beach. Mr. Laing requested 6 parking passes for the weekend. Mr. Laing said their website is: beachsoccer.savannahceltic.com. Mayor Buelterman announced the following names of the people that will serve on the Ethics Commission, contingent on their meeting the qualifying conditions: Carolyn Smith Fretwell Crider Randi Bryan Pam O’Brien Danny Hill Walker Beeson Michael Sullivan Sue Off, Auxiliary member Ginger Strickland, Auxiliary member Ms. Sessions asked what the next step would be in the process. Mr. Hughes said the next step would be to hold an organizational meeting to set up how to deal with complaints. Ms. Schleicher said she will arrange the organizational meeting. Mr. Crone said they should have to sign an oath that will be kept on file. Mayor Buelterman said they will have to sign an oath and it will be maintained on file. Mayor Buelterman opened the business meeting and called for a motion on the Beach Soccer Classic. Ms. Doyle motioned to approve the Beach Soccer Classic, Mr. Crone seconded. Ms. Doyle amended her motion to include six parking passes, Mr. Crone agreed. Ms. Doyle amended her motion to include following the recommendations of Chief Price. Mr. Crone seconded for discussion. Mr. Crone asked what the difference would be for the Page 2 of 5 sponsors to give soft drinks away verses the Teams bringing coolers. Ms. Williams asked if Ms. Doyle’s motion included the number of tents. Mayor Buelterman explained that the staff recommended just one tent. Ms. Williams asked if that would give people a place to register and a place to cool off. Ms. Schleicher said the Chief does not have a problem with a registration tent or a cool off tent as long as it doesn’t give the appearance of vending. She said he requested the advertising be toned down. Ms. Schleicher suggested they could advertise in the goodie bags that are given out. Ms. Doyle said she didn’t have a problem with them giving out soft drinks and water. Ms. Williams said if we allow it this time and find that they do advertise too much then next time we will say no. Ms. Schleicher said she didn’t think the Chief would object if the drinks are given away in a low key manner without banners etc. promoting it. Ms. Doyle agreed to add distribution of drinks to her motion. Mr. Crone seconded and the vote was unanimous. Mr. Pearce moved to approve the appointment of the Ethics Commission members as named earlier by the Mayor, Mr. Wolff seconded and the vote was unanimous. Mr. Wolff moved to approve the Consent Agenda items as discussed earlier during the Consent Agenda Meeting, Ms. Williams seconded and the vote was unanimous. Mayor Buelterman gave an update on the meeting held between the City of Tybee, MRS and Mike Scarborough. He said they met with the attorney’s and hashed out an agreement regarding the MRS moving their fence. He said the city would have to extend a portion of the old right of way to allow for the fence to move. He requested that Mr. Hughes get a draft of the agreement drawn up for Council’s review. Mayor Buelterman said the agreement should include the amount it will cost the city. Mayor Buelterman requested a new City Flag with the new seal on it be adopted for the 120th Birthday Celebration. He requested that the existing City Flag donated by Jason Ball be displayed in a case in City Hall. Ms. Doyle suggested the City Seal on a white background would be attractive. Mr. Hughes said a copy of the flag should be attached to the minutes and a resolution for a new flag has to be approved. Mayor Buelterman said he will bring the flag up at the second meeting in August, giving us enough time to order the flag and have it ready for the birthday celebration. Mayor Buelterman said the State Senate Study Committee will meet on Tybee tentatively on September 21st. He said they will bring in experts from DNR and the Corps to look at ways of finding a constant revenue stream for Beach Renourishment. He said they will also look at ways to get the renourishment done this year before next summer. Mr. Crone said he thinks Tybee should increase parking rates to accommodate the beach renourishment. Mayor Buelterman said they will be looking at adjustments to Hotel/Motel Tax rates etc. He said they will also look at possibly trying to get money from the county and state. Mayor Buelterman explained the criteria for setting up the Memorial Park Master Plan Committee. He said a representative from the following groups should be included: The Veterans Organization, Tybee Beautification, Tybee YMCA Board of Directors, DCA Specialist on Parks and Recreation, Somebody that knows something about skate parks, A Neighbor of Memorial Park. He said additionally he would like to have Hillary from the YMCA be involved at some point. He said Joe Wilson from DPW should be involved in the planning because of underground utilities. Ms. Williams suggested someone from the Dog Park group. She said Diane Schleicher will be on Page 3 of 5 the group as well. She suggested two neighbors and recommended taking Gary Sanders up on his offer to provide his professional expertise at no charge. She said she and Diane Schleicher had a discussion earlier on the Memorial Park Parking Plan that could be included in this. Ms. Doyle suggested someone from the Garden Club. Mayor Buelterman said he hopes the committee will look at everything in Memorial Park including the paths and plantings. Ms. Doyle asked if they planned on 1 person from each group. Mayor Buelterman said yes because the bigger the committee is, the harder it is to accomplish anything. Ms. Sessions asked if the committee should include someone with no opinion on whether or not to have a skate park. Mayor Buelterman said yes, an interested citizen that is not a neighbor. Mayor Buelterman asked Ms. Schleicher to review their request and put something in writing for Council’s review. He said there should be a cap on how many people but should include one or two people that are just interested citizens. Mayor Buelterman suggested Alan Jones and Ms, Sessions suggested Henry Levy. Mayor Buelterman said the committee should include someone from Public Safety. Ms. Schleicher asked if the Fire Chief, YMCA, DPW and City Manager could be staff support to the committee. Mayor Buelterman asked Ms. Schleicher to get correspondence out to the groups so they can choose their representative. Ms. Schleicher requested Ms. Doyle provide a contact number for the Garden Club. Ms. Williams said Beth Smith is the president. Mr. Hughes said the city has an existing contract on the Buckley property that has been extended twice and is good through the end of this month. He said the GEFA Grant has been approved for $206,460 and the documentation is here in order to be executed and sent in for the money to be wired to us. He said it has to be signed by the Mayor and fedx’ed in order to get the money to close on Tuesday. Ms. Schleicher said there were concerns about how much land was build-able. She said the railroad bed was used in the calculation by the appraiser. She said they felt there was approximately 10,000 sq feet but no topographical map was made. She said in order for the city to have public access to extend the trail we have to purchase the property. She said the city will get fee simple land from Battery Row as another piece for the trail. She said we are trying to fit the pieces together to extend the trail as we go but there is no guarantee that we can obtain all of the pieces. Mayor Buelterman said Tybee has passed two resolutions that have been sent to the DOT requesting to have a segregated bike lane added when the Lazaretto Creek Bridge is widened and they have refused. He said Charlie Fenwick with Ft. Pulaski talked to DOT and they suggested having that request put in the County Transportation Plan called the TIP and the DOT would include the bike/walking lane on the bridge. Mr. Wolff said he talked to Mr. Fenwick about the Master Plan for the Park which included public comment. He said a lot of people requested extending the bike trail all the way to the edge of the park property which goes all the way down Battery Park. He said if that is part of the park’s master plan then the park service will pay 50% of all the trail improvements which will include those on Tybee. Mayor Buelterman asked about the status of the $100,000 Federal Grant money that Tybee had applied for. Ms. Schleicher said Antoinette Norfleet had positive comments but we will not know until all of the paperwork has been submitted with the survey and the check is in hand. Mr. Pearce moved to approve, Mr. Wolff seconded. The motion carried with Pearce, Wolff, Sessions and Williams voting in favor and Doyle and Crone voting in opposition. Mr. Hughes said this approval is for the Resolution and Agreement. Page 4 of 5 Ms. Schleicher said the Road Warranty Ordinance will protect us for two years after a road cut has been fixed. She said we will have a letter of credit or a bond and will be able to go back to the contractor for repair. Mr. Wolff moved to approve the Road Warranty Ordinance for 1st Reading, Ms. Williams seconded, and the vote was unanimous. Ms. Schleicher said the reason for the 1st reading of the water billing services is to get on track to change the billing cycle to monthly. She said the fireflies are being installed on meters for the automated meter reading system and monthly billing will allow us to implement a tiered water rate structure. As soon as that installation is complete we will bring this back for 2nd reading. Mr. Wolff said, he and Jan Fox had worked on the tiered rates a couple of years ago but they were not able to implement them due to the bi-monthly billing. He said the tiered water rates are going to be required according to the new state water plan for conservation. Ms. Schleicher said some Tybee citizens have said it will be easier to budget for monthly billing. Ms. Williams said monthly billing has been a recommendation on our audit. Ms. Williams moved to approve for 1st Reading the Text Amendment to change Water Billing Services to monthly, Mr. Wolff seconded, and the vote was unanimous. Mr. Hughes introduced an amendment to the animal control ordinance that will allow the use of amusement ponies at children’s birthday parties. Mr. Pearce moved to approve for 1st Reading, Ms. Doyle seconded, and the vote was unanimous. Ms. Williams moved to approve for 2nd Reading the amendment to the Noise Ordinance, Mr. Wolff seconded, and the vote was unanimous. Mr. Pearce moved to go into Executive Session to discuss Personnel and Litigation, Mr. Wolff seconded and the vote was unanimous. Mr. Wolff moved to return to Regular Session, Ms. Sessions seconded, and the vote was unanimous. Mr. Crone moved to adjourn, Mr. Wolff seconded, and the vote was unanimous. _______________________________________ Mayor Jason Buelterman _____________________________________ Vivian O. Woods, Clerk of Council Page 5 of 5