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HomeMy Public PortalAbout20090625CityCouncilMinutesPrepared 7/13/09dw Page 1 of 24 20090625 City Council Minutes Mayor Buelterman called the Consent Agenda meeting to order at 6:30pm on Thursday, June 25, 2009. Council Members present were Mayor Pro Tem Wanda Doyle, Charlie Brewer, Barry Brown, Dick Smith and Paul Wolff. Councilman Eddie Crone was absent due to illness. Also present were City Attorney Bubba Hughes, City Manager Diane Schleicher and Interim Zoning Administrator Dianne Otto. Mayor Buelterman listed the following items on the Consent Agenda:  City Council Minutes for 06/11/09  Special Event Application for Eastern Surfing Association District Contest 7/8, 7/25, 8/15, 9/12, 10/10, 10/24 and 11/07 2009. Requesting Application & Beach Permit fees Waived.  Beach Task Force requests to have Erik Olsen conduct a study to investigate the Estill Point area for the feasibility of using that sand on North Beach or other possible “hot spots” on the front beach. Estimate of up to $20,000 under Budget Line Item #100-6125-54-1402  14th St Drainage Project: Change Order #1: Add Alternative-Overlay 14th St. $55,750 Budget #320-4210-54-1400. (Previously approved by council however, we will budget the whole project per the CIP out of SPLOST instead of General Funds in the 2010 Budget. City Manager stated this had already been approved but she wanted to do it in a more formal way.  Community Development Department: Job Classification for the Dept Head and Budget Proposal for 2010. Budget proposal included assumes one more month of a planning Consultant (30 Day notice) and 11 months of salary for a new department head. Mayor Buelterman adjourned the Consent Agenda. Mayor Buelterman called the regular meeting of the City Council to order at 7:00pm. Those present at the Consent Agenda were also in attendance for the regular meeting. Reverend Edna Adkins gave the invocation and everyone recited the Pledge of Allegiance to the Flag. Mayor Buelterman announced the Visioning Workshop on July 27th, 2009 and the Sharing Tybee Stories Event at Pier on Sunday 4:00-6:00 Citizens to Be Heard Tybee Beautification Association representative announced the Tybee Prom Saturday, July 18th 7:00 pm-12:00am at the American Legion. She also stated the TBA contributes over $20,000 annually in supplies and services to clean up the beaches & highways of Tybee as well as other contributions and support to the island. Prepared 7/13/09dw Page 2 of 24 Saturday, July 4th at 6:30 am there is a beach sweep and asked for volunteers to help clean the beaches. Tybee Fest representative spoke and informed the council that the Southeastern Tourism Association recently named the Pirate Fest as one of the top 20 events in the southeast in an 11 state area. The economic impact to Tybee shows to be $1.2 million. Positive feedback from the last Mardi gras event. We will be working closely with DPW to make sure everything is done that is expected. He also spoke on the Labor Day Bash in support of the fire truck support on the pier. Henry Levy addressed the budget and requested support for a certified study for the toll road. Cullen Chambers spoke as Chairman of the Board of the Better Hometown Program. He spoke in support of retaining the program and the Better Hometown Coordinator. Sandra Luxinburg spoke to the council about the personal emergency at her home and the quick and professional response of the city’s police department. She also praised the Marine Rescue Squad and the lifeguards for always being willing and ready to help. Mayor Buelterman presented the Proclamation to the Citizens proclaiming July 1st-7th, 2009 as Independent Week on Tybee Island. Councilman Smith made announcement that Tybee was voted #1 Cleanest Beach in the World by Health Magazine. Mayor Buelterman asked the City Manager to prepare a Press Release to inform our citizens. Consent Agenda: A Motion by Councilman Wolff to approve the Consent Agenda was seconded by Mayor Pro Tem Doyle. The vote was unanimous. Local Requests: Special Event Application: Labor Day Beach Bash 9/06/09 – Tybee Island Tourism Council Requesting fire dept vehicle put on pier before performance and off pier after performance. Also requesting the City waive the fees for fire detail, application fee ($100) and other city fees associated with this production Councilman Wolff asked if the fire marshal requires truck on pier. Chief Sasser said we normally do for a first line of defense if there is a problem. Truck 8 is the lightest and the only option due to the condition of the pier. Chief Sasser recommended truck removed as soon as fireworks are rendered safe. Mayor asked about extra patrol during Prepared 7/13/09dw Page 3 of 24 fireworks & July 4th. City Manager stated there is extra coverage and stand by police and fire department planned. Sasser said there will be extra crew for the truck on the pier and at the base. Discussion was held on cost of this. Councilman Brewer confirmed about 10 people @$12.00 x 5 hrs=$600 and application fee of $100 is the cost. Mayor Pro Tem asked about what the other fees mentioned on the application is. City Manager replied it could be DPW services. Councilman Wolff suggested a cap on services cost. Councilman Brewer reminded everyone to remember cost vs direct effect. Make sure we review items that affect our direct economy. A Motion by Councilman Brewer to approve Special Event Application for the Labor Day Beach Bash, place fire department truck on the pier & provide coverage of that cost, and have city services clean up the beach the next day at the cost of the normal budget amount in DPW, was seconded by Councilman Brown. After City Manager asked for clarification on duration of fire truck on pier and Councilman Smith asked if motion included all items listed on application, Councilman Brewer amended his motion to state, fire truck coverage would be at fire chief’s discretion and to include all items as listed on application. The vote was Brewer, Brown, Doyle and Smith in favor and Wolff opposed. Special Event Application: Tybee Island Pirate Fest 10/9-10/10/2009 Tybee Island Tourism Council- The applicant requests the following: 1) Closing of South End parking lot between Tybrisa and Silver on 10/7 & 10/8 and again on 10/12. The Closing of South End parking lot between Tybrisa and 18th St. on 10/8-10/11 and permission for a RV to be stationed by TIMSC and lifeguard building during the event. 2) Permission for tent to remain in the South end parking lot with lot closed between Tybrisa and 17th Street until 10/20 at 4:00pm. To be used by the Arts Association’s 13th Annual Festival of the Arts. 3) Use of the North Beach parking lot 10/10 from 1:30pm-3:00pm. 4) Permission for a horse drawn carriage in the parade. The parade route street closures are at the TIPD discretion. 5) Waiver of city parking lot fees when needed; DPW services as requested ($2,300); application fee ($100), and other fees/charges associated with this production. 6) Permission to hang 3’x5’ flags on light poles along butler, Tybrisa and Strand. A Motion by Councilman Brewer to approve application was seconded by Councilman Brown. Councilman Smith asked about the RV. The applicant replied it is for the band. Councilman Brown confirmed with applicant on the tent situation, City manager wanted clarification on the tent installation. Doyle asked if the cost was already in DPW’s budget. Mrs. Schleicher stated it was built in to the DPW labor budget. She also recommended a cap be put on services. Councilman Smith also recommended a cap. Councilman Wolff also recommended cap on services and if DPW exceeds this it is billed Prepared 7/13/09dw Page 4 of 24 to applicant. Doyle agreed with Councilman Wolff and reiterated council does support the events but have to monitor the dollars being spent. Councilman Brewer amended his motion to approve application with the tent installation being reviewed by the Infrastructure Committee and a cap on city services provided at $2400.00 was seconded by Councilman Brown. The vote was unanimous. Councilman Brewer asked for staff to put dollar values on all requests in the future. Special Event Request: New Year’s Eve Fireworks-Tybee Island Tourism Council Applicant requests Fire department detail as needed and waiver of city fees for the detail and the application fee of $100. A Motion by Councilman Smith to approve was seconded by Mayor Pro Tem Doyle. The vote was unanimous. Councilman Wolff asked about Tybee Beautification assisting DPW with clean up the morning after the fireworks. Special Event Request: Mardi Gras Tybee 2/13/10-Tybee Island Tourism Council Applicant Request the following: 1) The parade route street closures are at the TIPD discretion. Proposed staging along Solomon and route starting at 2nd Ave to end on Strand Ave. 2) Closing of South End parking lot between Tybrisa and 100’South 2/12-2/14 at noon. 3) Waiver of- parking lot fees as noted, DPW services as requested ($700), application fee of $100, and other fees /charges associated with this production. 4) Permission to hang 3’x5’ flags on light poles along Butler, Tybrisa and Strand Avenues A Motion by Councilman Wolff to approve with a cap of $800 on city services (includes application fee) was seconded by Mayor Pro Tem Doyle. Vote was unanimous. Consideration of Bids, Contracts, Agreements and Expenditures Mayor Buelterman asked Councilman Wolff to give information on the crosswalks. He stated it had been discussed in the Infrastructure meeting and it is suggested that this be tabled for now and possibly worked into the budget in a contingency manner. What they have asked GA Power to do is set up a sample light on the West side of Butler facing inland so they would be more turtle friendly, maybe with amber filters. Biggest concern is to illuminate the crosswalks and they said even if the poles are not directly next to the crosswalk they can angle the lights to still illuminate the crosswalks. We want to make sure this will serve the purpose we need for public safety. They are going to put some up in the dark spots for us to look at, no charge to the city. His suggestion is to focus on the crosswalks now as that is a $6500 budget item for just the light bill a year. Mayor Buelterman asked if they were going to install them and Wolff answered yes. The lights are going to cost $30.45 a month a piece. We need to use as few as Prepared 7/13/09dw Page 5 of 24 possible in solving our lighting and safety problems and keep them turtle friendly. Suggestion is to do no more than 14 lights just for the crosswalks. Councilman Brewer clarified GA Power had been asked to put up 2 types of lights. One is a spotlight but the concern is people across the street would see it and might have a glare problem. The other is a cobra head light with a flat bottom that won’t have a glare issue, and then we look at both applications and see if we are getting the needed lighting on the crosswalk. Mayor Buelterman confirmed no action tonight. Consideration of Ordinances, Resolutions: A Motion by Councilman Wolff to approve the Budget Ordinance was seconded by Councilman Smith. Mayor Pro Tem Doyle asked for confirmation that everyone has the same budget worksheets. Bonnie Kline presented a Power Point presentation to Mayor & Council of the following (attached as part of the approved minutes) Summary of Budget Principles Reduce overall expenditures Use Limited resources to fullest extent possible Protect core City services Minimize impact on taxpayers Even though we are looking at the short term (yr or 2) we need to Plan for the long-term Maintain current fund balance level Mrs. Kline also reviewed the Administrative Cuts by Department Heads (attached as part of approved minutes) The Beach Related reductions would come from the one cent set aside from the tax dollars Tybee keeps from the hotel/motel tax. And the lobbying contract being cancelled. Ms. Kline stated there were also some changes to the proposed budget for the campground. Mainly there is a full-time camp operator position that is going to be reduced to part-time seasonal. Ms. Kline stated she had been asked to calculate if there was a cost of living adjustment (but it is not added into the budget). After going thru each department it calculated out to .75% impact for 6 months (effective 1/1/2010). This includes salaried, part-time, over-time, taxes city would pay, increased retirement. Mayor Buelterman confirmed the total impact to the budget would be $37,320 for 6 months and Ms. Kline answered yes, that is correct. Questions to Mrs. Kline: Mayor Pro Tem Doyle asked explanation of $59,000 vs $64,000 for fire department protection bay. Mrs. Kline explained they had found an alternative cover for $6000. Prepared 7/13/09dw Page 6 of 24 Doyle also asked about the amounts for Mobi Mats and fencing if they could be separated. Mrs. Kline confirmed they could. Mayor Buelterman confirmed with Mrs. Kline that eliminating matching grant funds would not affect Grants already received/approved in the year such as the sidewalks. Councilman Brewer asked Mrs. Kline to differentiate between the dollar amounts for the two zoning items. Mayor Pro Tem Doyle asked and confirmed the Pier Restroom Trailer was an additional one. Mayor Buelterman asked what are Tybrisa Roads and Sidewalks. The City Manager explained it was a project started last year with some preliminary engineering with the infrastructure committee to make the street at the base of the pier go two ways, the roundabout more functional and sidewalk repairs further up by Butler and the Seven Flags Park. Mayor Pro Tem asked the city manager and/or Mrs. Kline if the total amount could be separated out so they would know how much for sidewalks, etc. Councilman Smith asked about the $380,000 for “The Woods” project. The process is in progress for a wetlands permit according to Downer Davis. We will have to do this. City manager stated we are dependent on the contractor and need to do both (the city owned with the privately owned being done by the same contractor) at the same time. Mayor Buelterman asked if we are firm on the cost. Mr. Hughes replied this is the amount worked up with Ms. Allen if the project is done all in one year. He also agreed it would be a lot less if done at the same time. Councilman Brown asked if the $82,000 for the sidewalks was only for the portion on Butler between Tybrisa (16th St.) and Izler. The City Manager explained the estimates we received about a year ago. $34,000 + 10%, as estimates are a little dated, for that portion on Butler, other engineering cost in front of the Strand was $41,400 + 10%. City Manager confirmed this was for safety as well as cosmetic. Mayor asked how much it would take to just replace or repair for safety. The City Manager explained it was about 80 sq. ft @ 12.00 ea and was confirmed by Joe Wilson to be about $5,000 to be able to replace a 5ft wide monolithic sidewalk for safety. Mayor Pro Tem asked what kind of training we are talking about at the campground. Ms. Schleicher replied there are two types: RV training and general parks & recreation training. We are keeping the RV training and taking out the parks & recreation. Doyle asked what amount is the training budget. Ms. Schleicher replied $4626.00 is the training budget. Councilman Brown asked what the line item # is for Maintenance/Lawn Care at the Campground. Ms. Kline replied that is Contract Labor #6180-52-3850. Councilman Brewer asked to back up to the $1.25 million reduction in the budget. We heard about it in the last meeting, you came out and said we need to make this reduction. What caused that and why did we hear about it in the last 20 days before going into the final budget? Was this an unexpected turn here or what happened? Ms. Kline replied no, we always had the option to use the fund balance to balance the Prepared 7/13/09dw Page 7 of 24 budget. Brewer replied if that is the case then we would have had to use the fund balance to make this up. Ms Kline replied if everything would have been included and kept in, that is correct. Councilman Brewer replied so up until 20 days ago we were looking at a fully loaded budget, with a fund balance at a maximum level we like to have, then there was some detour and 1.2 million was reduced out of the operating budget that would have pulled the fund balance down by an equivalent amount unless we make this adjustment, is that a correct way of stating this? Mrs. Kline replied yes that is correct. Mayor Buelterman stated that is based on our wish list council created at the workshop. Councilman Brewer stated he did not think these were wish lists; we are taking out uniforms, snacks, beach renourishment. We were being led to believe that was going to be a proper and correct budget and then all of a sudden there was a $1.2 million deviation. He is still concerned of how this happened at the last minute; it was not the wish list items. This implies there was something not right in the calculations and some kind of last minute change of $1.2 million. I am trying to understand this. Mayor Buelterman stated part of it was we were being conservative on our revenue estimates. Brewer answered I just want everybody to be clear on this. Mrs. Kline said if you look on Page 3 of 24 you will see the original budget column for the proposed 2010 budget balances with the use of $1.2 million prior year fund balance. That is where that came from. We could go with that in it but that is how much we would draw down from it. This is an alternative. People have offered up suggestions to not have to do this. Mrs. Schleicher commented we decided also to try and close that gap by leasing some of our large capital items but we ended up not leasing them and instead put them back into the fund balance because we rolled back the 10%. She asked Mrs. Kline if we had gotten the draft audit yet. Councilman Brewer stated we should have started this budgeting process based on what we thought would be the amount of money we had to actually work with in this budget. You gave it to all your departments and department heads and asked, give me what your budget is going to be. You roll that up. And it was equal to a certain amount of dollars. We got those dollars in an earlier workshop and work with those numbers and we get right up to where there is 20 days till a final budget and there is a $1.2 million decrease. I find that to be very intriguing, that we did not know six weeks ago that there was a $1.2 million dollar reduction in the revenues. Did we just learn the revenue numbers in the last week? What happened? Mrs. Kline replied it was in the original one she gave out showing it was coming out of the fund balance. Mayor Buelterman stated in other words this was what was given to us originally. Mrs. Kline stated we collect what the department heads want and what they think is needed to do their jobs. They are not looking at the revenue sources because they don’t know it. All we do is get it all together. If it comes up a million short who do I go to say we are not going to have this much, we need to cut back? That is what this process in my mind is doing. Councilman Wolff asked wasn’t that fund balance surplus primarily what we cut out of the original budget for this year? It amounted to over $900,000 left. Mrs. Kline replied yes, a lot of it is made up of that. Wolff replied he just wanted to clarify that this is basically money we saved compared to what we had originally budgeted, by cutting the 10% in every department. It’s not like its coming out of the blue. Prepared 7/13/09dw Page 8 of 24 Councilman Smith stated we also have to know it is the wish list from all the departments not just council. It is the amount they requested to do their jobs. Mayor Buelterman asked at the end of this (budget process) can we see a short little statement about the fund balance we have compared to what other communities have. Councilman Wolff stated that in a workshop he and Mrs. Kline attended with Sabrina Cape, one of the statements is that most communities shoot for a 1 or 1 ½ month unreserved fund and we have 3 months. Also we need to look at and consider is it is good to have a 3-5% contingency that is undedicated within the budget that year and we are way low on that as we go thru this process we can put a little bit more in that variable. Also more specifically he would like money to address grants he has been working on just during the past two weeks. He has spent a lot of time in Atlanta and at the GMA Convention this week with both former & current directors of GEFA talking about how the stimulus money is going to be distributed throughout the state. They are both directly responsible for that. He has been assured we could get some of that stimulus money for primarily energy efficiency programs and some of that will come as a pure grant and some would require a 50% match. I would like to suggest as we move thru this process we look at energy efficiency upgrades and probably some pilot projects that include photovoltaic’s to add solar power to city hall, for example, or the gym. That would be an investment in an ongoing decrease in our operating and maintenance expenses. That could be done for 50 cents on the dollar. So he would really like us to be trying to work this back into the contingency balance so we would have something to match grants. Mayor Buelterman asked Mrs. Kline if we have something in this budget for this year’s contingency. She replied $25,000 for services related to the non-profits. Mayor Buelterman complimented Councilman Wolff on doing a good job. Councilman Brewer stated he had been making notes and putting items brought up into three categories- Safety-Pedestrian Warning Signs, Eliminating message boards-with wrecks on bridges this is a safety issue and we need to be cautious about reducing this out of the budget. Mayor Buelterman asked for confirmation from Mrs. Kline if this was to buy instead of rent and she confirmed it was. Brewer continued he also had the sidewalks as safety. Others were in terms of Administrative Cost was reducing the mayors travel, training & education budget and the councils travel & education budget. Is this an administrative cost that we can save or as Councilman Wolff just mentioned we learn things at the schools and is this something we can bring back and improve the quality of the services here in the city? He shared with the council he has the City of Thomasville’s Five Year Plan. Their city manager has just taken and revamped their entire budget. It was a year long process. Starting with each department and each employee in the city government. It was a very detailed planning. He suggested next year having a workshop giving us a better understanding of the budget process. It should not be something that starts up in March and we get a lot of numbers thrown at us and it moves at a rapid pace and we really don’t have time to digest the budget like we should. Each council should bring back something to the workshop from their Prepared 7/13/09dw Page 9 of 24 training workshop. Brewer then continued on his budget notes other items include efficiency, maybe changing out some department heads and reducing the cost. Less cost, less people. Impact on Tourism: The restroom facilities at the pier, maybe has been worked out now. Can we put the extra one at the foot of the pier where the heaviest traffic is. The City manager answered she sent a letter to the county manager and she got a verbal commitment from him and is waiting for the written response. Brewer stated he is not sure what the process is going to be but eliminating a uniform budget is pure administrative cost, prioritize what is important, safety, efficiency, tourism. We want to make sure what we do does not compromise tourism either. Mayor Buelterman suggested if everyone was agreeable to take the one page of suggestions the staff has come up with to make budget reductions, go thru them individually and council could make motion on each. And those would be amendments to the budget, but please be specific. Brewer confirmed he would be able to discuss the campground budget at the end and the Mayor confirmed. A Motion by Councilman Wolff to reduce the Travel & Education budget for mayor & council by 10%, rather than eliminating it entirely, specifically line item #3500-3507 and 3700-3707 was seconded by Mayor Pro Tem Doyle. Vote was unanimous A Motion by Councilman Brewer to eliminate the next 3 items (Reduce Council meeting snacks-$300, Uniform budget-$350, Volunteer Appreciation budget $2,000) which amounts to $2650 was seconded by Mayor Pro Tem Doyle The vote was unanimous. A Motion by Mayor Pro Tem Doyle to delete full time position and reinstate part-time position in the clerk’s office was seconded by Councilman Brewer. The vote was unanimous. A Motion by Councilman Brewer to Reduce the City Manager’s books budget to $100 and eliminate the City Manager’s uniform budget-$300 was seconded by Mayor Pro tem Doyle. The vote was unanimous. A Motion by Councilman Brown to keep the Fire Dept protection bay in budget at a cap of $65,000 was seconded by Councilman Brewer. The motion failed with Councilman Wolff and Brewer and Mayor Pro Tem Doyle opposing. Councilman Brown and Councilman Smith voted in favor. Councilman Brewer asked if there is a preventative maintenance impact. Is this a luxury or what is the value, is this going to increase the life of the equipment and lessen maintenance? Mayor Buelterman asked for Chief Sasser to address questions. He replied he thought so. We have approximately $76,000 worth of equipment including the boat. This is also safety issue. Out in the open it could be sabotaged. The mayor asked if splost funds for public safety buildings could be used for this. The city attorney responded he did not think so. Councilman Wolff asked if the amount was for a completed concreted enclosed building and Sasser replied it is. Wolff asked if the Prepared 7/13/09dw Page 10 of 24 temporary amount was like an open sided aluminum carport and Sasser said yes. Wolff then asked if that with some kind of zip up canvas sides would be ok until the new public safety building was built 3-5 years, as this would include 1 or 2 bays for the fire department? Councilman Brewer agreed with Councilman Wolff that the $65,000 should be put in to the public safety building. Councilman Brown and Mayor disagreed and said this expensive equipment and should be protected. Councilman Wolff asked about the usage of the equipment and Sasser explained they have been used very recently on rescues. Mayor Pro Tem commented on meeting with citizens and their recommendation was to look at things that were essential to keeping this city running. She does not feel this is one of those essential items and that is why she opposes. A Motion by Mayor Pro Tem Doyle to approve $6000 alternative protection cover was seconded by Councilman Wolff. Mayor Pro Tem Doyle and Councilman Brewer, Smith and Wolff voted in favor. Councilman Brown opposed. A Motion by Councilman Brown to make the DPW part-time position a full time position at an additional cost of $15,000 was seconded by Mayor Pro Tem Doyle. The vote was unanimous. Mayor Pro Tem commented that Mr. Wilson has a 2 part department- the Public Works and Parks & Recreation. He needs an assistant in both areas. Councilman Brewer asked what the value to increasing the hours is. City Manager answered to give the advantage to the 2 co depts. By having the two assistants cross trained. Brewer asked if this was essential to keep the city running as had previously been pointed out. City manager commented this position was already part- time and was already working 28-30 hours a week this was only adding an additional 10 hours and benefits that is what the $15,000 covers. And it would increase the coverage in the busy department. A Motion by Mayor Pro Tem Doyle to eliminate $100,000 matching grant funds seconded by Councilman Brewer. Doyle amended motion to allow $25,000 to be moved to contingency for matching funds, was seconded by Councilman Brewer. The vote was unanimous. Councilman Smith suggested if grant comes up we can get the matching funds from the contingency. A Motion by Mayor Pro Tem Doyle to eliminate fence cloth but keep in $15,000 for Mobi-Mats was seconded by Councilman Brewer. The vote was Brewer, Doyle, Smith, and Wolff in favor. Councilman Brown opposed. Councilman Brown asked the cost of the fence clothing to cover up DPW. Answer was $8,000. Prepared 7/13/09dw Page 11 of 24 A Motion by Councilman Brewer to reduce the budget by $30,000 and $125,000 for items #20 (to reflect the expiration of lobbying contract and the beach renourishment set-aside) was seconded by Mayor Pro Tem Doyle. The vote was unanimous. A Motion by Councilman Wolff to add Zoning dept head, eliminate part-time admin assistant position, and remove consultant, per city manager’s recommendation was seconded by Mayor Pro Tem Doyle. The vote was unanimous. A Motion by Councilman Brown to defer “The Woods” (Solomon) rehab project by $380,000 was seconded by Councilman Wolff. The vote was unanimous. A Motion by Councilman Smith to eliminate the Green Space set aside amount of $180,000 was seconded by Brewer. The vote was Doyle, Brewer, Brown, and Smith in favor and Councilman Wolff opposed. A Motion by Mayor Pro Tem Doyle to cut $72,940 for Tybrisa and retain $10,000 for the sidewalks was seconded by Councilman Brown. The vote was unanimous. A Motion by Councilman Brewer not to eliminate the $39,890 for the pier restroom trailer was seconded by Mayor Pro Tem Doyle. After discussion of already 2 restrooms being so close together and possibility of placing signs referring to each other’s location, Brewer and Doyle withdrew motion. Mayor Buelterman commented this was very good and thank you. A Motion by Councilman Brown to defer the $39,890 for the pier restroom trailer was seconded by Councilman Smith. The vote was unanimous. A Motion by Councilman Brown to remove the $36,000 for Pedestrian Warning Signs failed due to no second. A Motion by Councilman Wolff to move $36,000 to Contingency for the Pedestrian Warning Signs pending the final bids was seconded by Councilman Brewer. The vote was unanimous. Mayor Pro Tem asked for comments from the infrastructure committee and Councilman Wolff explained moving the funds to contingency would be better because there are several options and possibilities with different costs associated. A Motion by Councilman Smith to continue to rent message boards as we need them failed due to no second. A Motion by Councilman Brown to purchase the electronic Message Board for multiple reasons at $13,300 was seconded by Councilman Brewer. The vote was Doyle, Brewer, Brown and Wolff in favor, and Smith opposed. Prepared 7/13/09dw Page 12 of 24 A Motion by Councilman Brewer to eliminate $79,000 for the Better Hometown Position and Program failed due to no second. A Motion by Councilman Smith to leave The Better Hometown position as is ($49,886 salary portion only) was seconded by Councilman Wolff. The vote was Doyle, Smith and Wolff in favor and Brewer and Brown opposed. Mayor Pro Tem Doyle asked if that included everything the way it is. If we are cutting some things somewhere, the supplies, holiday decorations have been discussed and if we are going to cut that is where it should be. Councilman Smith asked if Doyle meant to cut all of it. She replied yes. Councilman Brewer led discussion on work product from that department. Also communication issues on special events. How many grants have been written or received? Councilman Smith commented that the program is only 6 months old. It takes 1½ -2 years to become certified as a Better Hometown Community. At other better hometowns grants have provided many renovations to the downtowns and theaters. He felt it would be short sighted to stop the program at this time. Councilman Brewer commented he thinks the city government should not duplicate what other organizations or groups are doing in the city. If we keep the program there needs to be some restructuring. Mayor Pro Tem agreed with Councilman Smith we need to give the program a little more time working with the other groups. If it doesn’t seem to be working then we can then do away with it. Councilman Wolff commented on the minutes of the board and the coordinator’s action plans. Moving forward there is a lot going on and the coordinator is needed to keep it going. He would like to ask the coordinator since we are all tightening our belts, if we can cut some other things out like the cell phone etc but keep the position. Councilman Brewer commented,” If you can’t measure it you can’t manage it.” The program needs to be measured and structured. He would stand behind it if it is measured and shows value. Councilman Brown asked if we are writing grants would the businesses be given this money to fix their facades up or loaned this money at a low interest rate or what? Councilman Wolff answered there are programs that do both. There is a lot of money out there but most of it is going to require matching funds. Again it takes a city representative to tap into it. Councilman Smith recommended reading the materials for the Better Hometown Program. A Motion by Mayor Pro Tem Doyle to cut ½ half of the amount of the $8392 Travel & Education budget for Better Hometown Program was seconded by Councilman Brewer. Motion was amended by Doyle & Brewer to eliminate $5000. Mayor Pro Tem Doyle, Councilmen Brewer, Smith and Wolff voted in favor and Councilman Brown opposed. Councilman Wolff asked Ms. Morton what it is covering and if cutting by 10% would be enough to allow the very necessary training. She replied they had been relatively conservative but part of working towards the designation of Better Hometown it is required that board members go to the Main Street Institute. Mayor Buelterman confirmed it was not only her but the board also. She replied to Councilman Wolff she Prepared 7/13/09dw Page 13 of 24 could look at cutting it 10%. Wolff also asked about the $240 cell phone in the budget and she said she uses it quite often but it would be up to council if they wanted to cut it. Mayor Buelterman stated it was not on the list of suggested cuts so maybe they could look at that later. Councilman Smith asked about just a cell phone allowance in which the reply from city manager was they already do that. Councilman Brewer asked if any other city boards were covered or compensated for training. Mayor Buelterman answered planning commission, beach task force. Brewer asked if he could get a break down on what amount is for the board and what is for the coordinator. Diane Otto replied she had detail of the $8392 which shows $5,000 is towards studies (such as a marketing study), $240 cell phone, $1400 is travel & related, $1047 is dues & fees, and $705 is education & training. Mayor Buelterman suggested just to cut the studies amount that would actually be a little more than ½. If they want to come back later and ask for a study they can. A Motion by Mayor Pro Tem Doyle to remove the supply and materials (Holiday Decorations) $20,650 from the budget was seconded by Councilman Wolff. Mayor Pro Tem Doyle, Councilmen Brewer and Brown voted in favor. Councilmen Smith and Wolff opposed. Diane Otto gave the detail as Pole Banners-$8,000 Lit Pole Decorations-$7000 “Lights On” Parade- $600 Annual Sidewalk Sale $700 not yet implemented program –Third Thursday $3500 Remainder is printing, handouts, meeting supplies. Councilman Wolff asked what specifically would the pole banners be and Ms. Otto replied it is all Christmas holiday decorations. Ms. Morton explained she is working with DPW and other committees to check what other light decorations etc need to be replaced, to make island more Christmas. Councilman Brewer stated the power bill is a flat fee rate. Councilman Brewer made comment about the North End Business District not having any of the Christmas fare. He suggested leaving in an amount to be able just to extend the decorations to include that area. Mayor Pro Tem Doyle stated the big lighted panel strung across the road was paid for by donations from the businesses and citizens and that’s why they are where they are. Mayor Buelterman stated it is not the year to spend $20,000 on Christmas decorations. Councilman Wolff agreed. He also commented that three councils ago they actually spent $20,000 on the big light panels and Mayor Buelterman voted against it then. Doyle said it would have been more if the donations had not come in. Mrs. Schleicher stated if its councils decision not to spend money on Christmas decorations it would only be $15,000-($8,000 for Pole Banners, $7,000 Lights) it would keep money in for the other promotional items. Mayor Pro Tem asked what the money is spent for because the businesses do everything, unless it is advertising. Councilman Wolff suggested only cutting the $8,000 and leave in the other. He commented on Third Thursdays 12 events would be another way to bring people out to the island on a week day. Diane Otto explained this would only be for 4 months during the off season. Prepared 7/13/09dw Page 14 of 24 A Motion by Councilman Wolff to reduce the Campground budget by $27,494 for personnel and travel was seconded by Mayor Pro Tem Doyle. Doyle, Brewer, Smith and Wolff voted in favor and Councilman Brown opposed. A Motion by Councilman Wolff to approve the 1st Reading of the Budget Ordinance as amended was seconded by Mayor Pro Tem Doyle. The vote was Mayor Pro Tem Doyle, Councilmen Smith and Wolff in favor. Councilmen Brewer and Brown opposed. Mayor Buelterman stated he was assuming council did not want to add the $291,000 as a cost back in to budget therefore closing the campground. He asked if someone wanted to make a motion. No motion. Mrs. Kline asked if the cost of living adjustment should that have been on the table? Councilman Brewer asked if we just approved the campground budget because he was getting ready to discuss it. Mayor Buelterman asked to take a short break and come back. Councilman Wolff commented the budget still had to be balanced. It was not yet. Mayor Buelterman said we would go over everything else after break. Mayor Buelterman called a break at 9:06pm and the meeting was called back to order shortly afterwards. Mayor Buelterman asked for a motion to approve the 2nd Reading. Councilman Brown asked if we had ever gotten a true final finished audit on the last year. Mrs. Kline said no. We have sent them everything. Councilman Smith stated he had spoken to them and they had sent a draft, Mrs. Kline was to do some things on that and send it back for a final print. She replied they had done that. Mr. Hughes stated he had also spoken to them and they said it was done and we should be receiving it. Councilman Smith said the new CPA’s that will be working with us on this yearend, are finished with work thru 3/31/09 and will have it to us the end of August. Mayor Pro Tem asked if the staff or council has any concerns that we are looking at approving a budget for the next year when we have not gotten the audit back. Councilman Brown stated he did. City Manager replied they do but they have no control. There are some numbers we would like to see on the final adjustments that we are comfortable with and can give to council and we are unable to do that and are at their mercy. Mayor Buelterman said luckily we have someone else in place that will be responding in a timelier manner. Mayor Pro Tem asked Mr. Hughes if there is nothing we can do. She asked him to please get it here. He stated there is really nothing else to do it is done. We are just waiting on it. In the future we could write in some penalty clauses in the audit contract but that is opening up other issues. It is a tough problem. Mayor Buelterman commented if the audit comes back with problems we can always Prepared 7/13/09dw Page 15 of 24 amend the new budget to correct it. Mayor Pro Tem responded now she can sleep tonight. A Motion by Councilman Smith to approve the 2nd Reading of the Capital & Operating Budget Ordinances as amended was seconded by Mayor Pro Tem Doyle. The vote was Smith, Doyle and Wolff in favor. Brewer and Brown opposed. A Motion by Mayor Pro Tem to amend the Supply & Material budget for the Better Hometown Program to include $1700 for the following: $200 Printing, $200 Handouts, $700 Sidewalk sale, $600 Christmas Parade was seconded by Councilman Smith. The vote was Doyle, Smith and Wolff in favor, Brewer and Brown opposed. Diane Otto requested to give line by line detail of the $20,650 to show it was not all Christmas decorations and some of it was needed to allow the program to function. It was detailed at: Books & Periodicals $250 (Historical Society),$200 Printing, $200 BHT Handouts, $200 meetings, $3500 for 4 months on Third Thursday , $700 annual sidewalk sale advertising and supplies, $7,000 was lit pole decorations (20), $8,000 was for 50 pole banners, $600 was for Lights on Christmas Parade. A Motion by Councilman Brewer to add $55,000 for toll road study if the city manager can negotiate it for steps 3 & 4, seconded by Councilman Brown failed with Smith, Wolff and Doyle voting to oppose. Councilman Brewer commented that the City Manager had spoken to the company that did the travel study in 2004. In the back of the study they had listed future steps. One of them was the consideration at the time the traffic got to a level that a toll road should be a possible consideration. Mayor Buelterman asked if the toll road he was talking about would include the widening of the bridges and road. Councilman Brewer said no, it would be at the entrance to Tybee for funding of our things. It is the state’s responsibility for the other it is not our duty. The study gives a total of $100,000. Four Task- 1) update the study $35,000, 2) develop a Preference survey $20,000, 3) Revenue forecast & Finance Plan- Data on revenue estimate, Mr. Levy has already done a pencil sketch. 4) Toll plaza concept $10,000 –What’s required- location, lane requirements, toll attendants, electronic arms, resident entrance, roadway improvements. Have city manager work with HGBD to eliminated the first two items, therefore a $55,000 study could be done and take to the bank and generate numbers to pay for a parking deck, supplement the beach renourishment, take care of the infrastructure. He is aware there would be issues. You put up a toll plaza, you take on the responsibility of maintaining Hwy 80 and that should be factored in. He is asking for council to have some vision and put a stake in the ground that Tybee is moving forward with the recognition that we need the 4 lane, parking issues etc. We need a funding mechanism, it may not be the final and there could be other funding streams coming in but this $55,000 could move us closer to going to an investment firm and find the money to do a project like this. Prepared 7/13/09dw Page 16 of 24 Mayor Pro Tem Doyle commented that she doesn’t disagree with Councilman Brewer but we have spent all this time and no employees are getting merit raises, not starting COLA raises till January, making all the other cuts, she had to do something not a pleasant task to her and cut all the Christmas lights and she just does not see this right now with everything until we know where we stand after all the cuts we have already made. Councilman Wolff stated he agreed with Doyle right now we need to stay focused on widening the roads and bridges at least raising them above rising sea levels. If it comes, it will take a long time and we can do the study while the widening is being done. Mayor Buelterman commented if the state will pay for it let them. The core committee is looking at a study for the bridges and the roads. What if we are told a toll at the beginning of Hwy 80 is the only way we could pay for the bridges and the road. Then we would have two. Councilman Brewer stated then we could say we already have one in place. We could negotiate with state if it came to that. City Manager asked about the COLA. Mayor Buelterman stated this is the 1.5% Cost of Living. He suggested we wait until the information on the millage from the county comes in as that will be well in advance of January 1st when this would take effect. Council agreed. Councilman Brewer commented we have waited all year to have the Incode loaded where we are tracking all the expenses on line and not on a side spreadsheet. He asked Mrs. Kline if she can state the date when Incode would be loaded with this budget and it would be operational. She replied yes, effective July 1st. He asked to confirm at that time we would only be operating on Incode and not on a side sheet. She responded we have always been operating in Incode, still printing out monthly reports; it is the year to date figures that the Excel is giving her. He said he did not understand that several months ago. They were asking about the Incode numbers. He asked Mayor Pro Tem Doyle if she had asked and she said yes she had asked and was told because we changed the fiscal year we were not getting the balance sheets. The city manager confirmed what council wanted now was Incode balance sheets that have the correct numbers. She replied because of the change in fiscal year the percentages would not make sense. Mrs. Kline responded she could give the balance sheets now actually it was not the balance sheet it is the profit & loss statements, the year to date figures. The balance sheet of point in time has never been a problem and there are no budget figures in there, in the accounts. Mayor Pro Tem could we have been getting balance sheets all along? Mrs. Kline answered yes. She thought they were only interested in the cash. That is why she was doing the cash reports. Councilman Brewer asked isn’t the cash balance sheet typically a financial instrument that a business looks at each month to see where they stand with their cash and making sure they don’t run out of cash and they can pay their bills and things like that? Mrs. Kline answered if you say so; we don’t pay bills without having cash. He then asked Mrs. Schleicher isn’t a cash balance statement something we require here to know where we Prepared 7/13/09dw Page 17 of 24 stand? She answered, when we write checks we make sure we have money. We don’t write checks if we don’t have cash, if that is what your concern is. Councilman Brewer asked if financial statements and cash balance statements aren’t typical documents you produce at the end of the monthly cycle of the business. Mrs. Kline said sure, and he stated obviously we’re not getting them are we. Mrs. Kline said she would be glad to do it. Councilman Brewer said he would like a report back at the next council meeting. Mayor Buelterman then asked if she was going to get it by July 30th, as this process started July 1st, we would be able to get those statements. She confirmed yes and it would be with the real budget and have everything. Councilman Brewer commented at every council meeting the council should have a financial packet that shows us where the finances are and we are tracking through Incode and we would feel more confident in everything. Councilman Brewer than addressed the campground. He has looked through a one year budget report to understand the relationship between the revenue, the expenses, the debt service and what the monthly operating conditions were at the campground. In November, 2008 total revenues were $39,520, debt service was $29,000. Total expenses were $69,000. The revenues under expenses were $29,000. Looking at the bottom line in each month in June we lost $66,000, in July we lost $224,000. When I say lost, if this was a business and I looked at how I faired that month it would tell me I lost $224,000. Mrs. Kline responded, not really. Councilman Brewer asked her to help him with the not really. She said if this was a typical business that bond principal payment would not appear on a profit & loss statement. He asked what that represented. She said paying down the bond. Mayor Buelterman stated your mortgage basically. She said it is increasing your equity in the business it is really not an expense. The interest on the other hand is an expense. He then moved on to August, that didn’t have that payment in it. We took in $56,000 our debt service was $30,000, total expenses were $108,000 we lost $52,000 as we’re operating as a business. In September we took in $40,000, $33,000 in debt service, expenses were $85,000, we lost almost $46,000. Everyone can see the flow of the money. October we lost $32,000, November $29,000, December $43,000, January $32,000, February $21,000, March $5,000 and we just made a profit this month of $27,000 so I’m asking, one of the things I learned in my finance course is that cities don’t do well operating businesses. They are not geared to think, act, and work as a business. We are a municipality oriented thinking we have plenty of money, just move it around and cover the expenses and don’t worry about it. One of the questions every month is, we are losing this money and we are supplementing it thru the general fund, is that correct. Mrs. Kline answered yes. Brewer than stated then all the campers that come and stay at that campground those months was subsidized by the general fund. Mayor Buelterman said that is one way to look at it. Brewer asked Mrs. Kline is this correct? He then redirected the question to council. Should we be looking at other strategies? Maybe closing the campground off season? A lot of companies do when the revenues are down and the expenses are up cause they are fully staffed, there are some fixed costs we are bearing here when there is no revenue. We are just working right thru it and assume it is ok to continue to drop Prepared 7/13/09dw Page 18 of 24 these kinds of dollars. Are we as a council ok to continue losing this kind of money at the campground without looking at alternative strategies? Look at the months in the winter looking above the debt service we have revenue, and just eliminate the off season expenses over there. Councilman Brown said he thinks Brewer has a point in the direction he’s heading and maybe he needs to ask Mr. Hemphill or Mrs. Kline to run some numbers on working a skeleton crew during the off season instead of fully staffing it and do we need a store? Is that competing with our other businesses? Mayor Pro Tem asked if he would want to be in a campground where you didn’t have a store to go to in case you needed something like ice, etc. We need to think about this. Councilman Brown stated we just need to look into it. Councilman Brewer asked what we are going to do to fix this problem. Mayor Buelterman said you can look all over the island and the businesses don’t close down all winter, there are very few that do. Councilman Brewer stated we have an infinite number of dollars here and the general fund is a free bank that we can pull money out of to run the campground. That is what this is all about. Mrs. Schleicher said she is aware council got this late but there is an amended campground budget that has got red on it in your packets. She stated she appreciated the challenge the council has given. One of the adjustments was the full-time benefited operating maintenance position has been converted to seasonal. The revenues have been dropped significantly down because we don’t want to overstate our revenue. It is only 15% above last year. Looking at the Trend Analysis we did have a huge slump in the fall which you see the YTD represents that. The campground has rebounded very well since December and has grown steadily month to month all across all areas especially rentals are going up every month. We took the YTD and added 15% to adjust the revenues. On the flip side if you adjust the revenues you have to adjust the expenditures. And she believes that is what council wants to see is some restraints on spending. If you look at the expenditures, we have reduced already on salaries( which includes that position you have already approved) evaluated spending on other salaries, took our pencil out and made sure we had really good numbers on other services. We have whittled down in a number of areas. As you can see our garbage contract went down, took down a golf cart, and took out a lot of things in the supply side. What we ended up doing is making sure we adopt a little bit stricter expenditure side. So we don’t spend more and it is balanced. We have set caps on line items and really tried to cut down. Mayor Pro Tem Doyle asked city manager if when they had met with Sabrina Cape, we asked about the Enterprise Fund. She answered yes, she had said it is up to what we want to do, if we recognize we are going to continue to have a short fall we can put it in the general fund if we want to. Mayor Buelterman said it doesn’t make any difference though it’s just an accounting thing. Mrs. Schleicher commented the thing about the Enterprise Fund is if you have a short fall it is very transparent. Councilman Smith stated in the General Fund you are not creating an additional debt to the campground. You put it in there and raise the Prepared 7/13/09dw Page 19 of 24 taxes, raise the millage rate just the way you were told in the minutes when it was bought then you don’t create the second debt. Right now the way he sees it an advance in the General Fund current year 2008 is $669,000. Correct. Operating as an Enterprise Fund we are borrowing money from ourselves to pay back the borrowed money from bond authority. It is just a cycle. It’s never going to get paid back, it gets worse. If you put it in the General Fund you have to cover it by increasing the millage rate or take it out of the Fund balance. He has copies of the minutes of the Executive Session where it was purchased if anyone wants a copy. He confirmed with Clerk of Council they would be Open Records. City Manager asked if it was the consensus of the council to approve the line items in the Enterprise Fund but then convert it into the General Fund. Mayor Pro Tem asked if the staff feels comfortable with that or should someone like Sabrina Cape or our new Auditors look at this and give us some advice. Mayor Buelterman and Councilman Smith agreed. We can then look at what is in the best interest of the city. Councilman Wolff agreed good idea to look into other possibilities and thanked staff for reworking the budget. Once this is paid for we will be padding the General Fund from the campground. Based on this year’s numbers it has improved in every way. Councilman Brewer asked, improved in every way, how much money has the campground lost in the past 11 months? He said he had asked for Sabrina Cape to come down here 2 months ago and got zero support. We only lost $45,000 that month. We could have spent $500 maybe and had something to look at now. He asked Mrs. Kline what we’ve lost in the past 11 months. Mrs. Kline estimated about $450,000 was the amount of cast it used. To talk about it as a business you have to take out the bond principal payments, capital outlay is not an expense of that period. You cannot count it on the profit & loss. You record it as an asset and depreciate it over the period of its useful life. Mrs. Kline asked to clarify what Ms Cape had said about the Enterprise Fund. It depends on what the intent is. If the intent is for the campers to pay for the expenses of it that is what makes the Enterprise Fund. If it gets to the point that tax money is the primary source of revenue then it should go in the General Fund as a department. Mayor Buelterman than asked staff to send all the information to Ms. Cape to review and give us a suggestion as to what option would be better for our city moving forward. Councilman Brown commented to Councilman Brewer that he had run into Ms. Cape and she informed him she had been scheduled for a meeting here over the weekend but it had been canceled. Mrs. Schleicher replied no that is not what happened. Tybee requested with all the other cities on a list but it was all full and we were put on a waiting list. GMA was handling it for us. So we never got a meeting. Councilman Wolff commented he had some ideas, and in the interest of coming up with a budget that is more closely balanced, and not having to pull so much from the unreserved fund, he talked to Mrs. Kline about these ideas, if they are all feasible, it’ll cut it about $57,000 and depending on rather we can do a GMA lease purchase on the Prepared 7/13/09dw Page 20 of 24 garbage truck which is $60,000 , we can conceivably put another $45,000 on top of that and have close to $100,00 which would balance it out. As he went to review the list, Mayor Buelterman asked how long it was. Councilman Wolff replied not very. Mayor wanted to remind him we are contributing money back into the fund balance based on the 10% cut we made this year. It has not been factored in yet. Councilman Wolff asked Mrs. Kline if that was true. She replied the Fund Balance for this year includes what was left from last year. Councilman Wolff said he thought it had already been worked into this. Mrs. Kline said no. Mayor Buelterman said that is the money we saved this year by being frugal. Councilman Wolff said $900,000. Mayor said yes. Councilman Wolff asked if it had not been worked into this. Mrs. Kline, Mrs. Schleicher and Mayor Buelterman said no. Mayor Buelterman stated he is trying to get everyone very clear on; we are contributing more money to the Fund Balance, which is so much higher than what anybody else has. He said everyone should campaign on that when they run for re-election. Councilman Brewer said he will feel more comfortable when he sees the numbers. Mayor Buelterman commented on Councilman Wolff’s list if it becomes needed we can look at them at that time. Mayor Buelterman thanked Mrs. Kline for all her hard work. City Manager’s Report – Diane Schleicher Mrs. Schleicher gave an update on the Old School Building and YMCA Building project. The concern was what walls were being removed. She showed the plan and what walls would be removed. Mayor Buelterman asked how much this is going to cost. Mrs. Schleicher said the council had already approved $30,000. Other things being done was in the halls we are putting insulation and sheet rocking to improve the fire rating and the weatherization level. And we will be replacing the windows with the same style as on the north side of the building. In the storage room we got rid of all the junk and the records are being combined to be more efficient. Vivian Woods is working with DPW to do that and any overflow records are going into the TEMA room. It is staying intact the way it is and we will be changing the locks out since we have city records in there we want to control access. That will give Mrs. Woods time to work through all those records as she works through the records management program she is doing now and consolidate all of that. She didn’t have plans for the YMCA building but on the south side we are removing the wall in the bathroom so on the south side it will be one big room and that is in progress. We also added more insulation and making the windows on the south side more energy efficient. We also put more electrical on the north side where the weight room is because Ms. Brodofsky is going to put the Aerobics Room from the south side to the north side and all the weights on the south side and she has those electrical needs. We will have a B2 study done when we get to putting the a/c’s before we get to the final decision and also look at the day camp room because there has been some moisture issues there and we will try to take care of that. Prepared 7/13/09dw Page 21 of 24 Councilman Brown pointed out the windows are being replaced on the south side also and he asked if the smoke detectors and fire devices were being put in as requested. Mrs. Schleicher responded we are putting the additional battery operated because of the EMT suite and camp room. But outside of the $30,000 we are going to come back and we are looking at the specs on pull-down alarm systems. Councilman Brewer asked about the central hall way insulation and fire protection. Are we working with the engineer on this because normally you are concerned with insulation in the exterior walls and not inner core of the building? What level of design assistance are you getting with this? Mrs. Schleicher stated we did have an architect come in from HGBD and look at the fire rating and he spoke with the fire marshal. We were losing a lot of air thru the hallway because it used to be some kind of skylight or something that was not sealed up properly and that is why we are sealing it up and the fire marshal wanted us to sheetrock when we started weatherizing because of the extra hour of fire rating it gave us. Councilman Brewer asked if calculations were going to be done on the a/c units and Mrs. Schleicher responded yes. Councilman Smith asked the City Manager if there were advertising requirements on the dept head position in community development dept. She replied no but she was going to try for a month lead time because of advertising and interviewing and because of the good climate she thought there would be some good applicants. Councilman Smith said she was going to combine that time with the 30 days for the consultant contract to expire and it would coincide with the new head coming on board. If council wants to adjust the budget we can but she is just trying to move on. Mayor Pro Tem asked about the Job Classification and is it the same as before. Mrs. Schleicher replied no, the pay grade is lower and the duties are different because that department has been restructured. We don’t have code enforcement in that department along with other things so that is why she is asking councils approval on this. Councilman Brown asked what it was going to be called now. She responded Planning and Zoning Manager if that pleases the council. Mayor Buelterman asked if it was ok with everyone and council concurred. Council, Officials and City Attorney considerations & Comments Mayor Jason Buelterman Mayor asked the City Manager to look into placing trashcans and ashtrays that can withstand salt water air, etc from 14th to 17th Street on Butler Ave. (Councilman Brown suggested hot dip galvanized). She will bring back for approval with cost. Mayor Buelterman asked what can be done about the major congestion on Hwy 80 at the intersection of Tybee Oaks. Mayor Pro Tem commented on the speeders and safety issues with pedestrians. She has tried in vain to get crosswalks and is afraid something is going to happen. She requested more police presence and said someone is going to Prepared 7/13/09dw Page 22 of 24 get killed. Mayor Buelterman said this is just one more negative thing about not having control over the road we can only continue to work with DOT. Mayor Buelterman asked how long is it after you get your water bill till you get a late charge. City Manager answered 20 days. Mayor asked if it is $15. Mrs. Schleicher answered $15 since we’ve gone to the monthly billing; it used to be $28. What happens when there is a late list we start a cut list and depending on how much and how late someone has been and if they are carrying over a balance from last month, if they get cut? We have been doing a lot more calling. There is a lot of administrative work involved. It is not based on a percentage of the bill but how much staff time is involved. Mayor Buelterman said people are just going to have to learn to pay on time. We have received a lot of emails, but we knew we were going to get a lot when we changed to monthly. If everyone is in agreement we will keep to this and hopefully people will learn to pay on time. He thought it was less than 20 days when he put it on the agenda based on what was said in emails. Bubba Hughes Request for extension of setback variance previously approved by council on 07/10/2008 Rodney Hickox 11 Naylor St. PIN 4-0002-03-012 Zone R-1B A Motion by Mayor Pro Tem Doyle to suspend the time accruing on previously granted variances, for a period of 12 months while the City considers whether a text amendment would be appropriate was seconded by Councilman Smith. The vote was Doyle, Smith and Brewer unanimously in favor. Councilman Brown and Councilman Wolff recused themselves. Mr. Hughes said the problem is we do not have an ordinance that permits extensions of variances. We receive a number of requests because of the economical times. He went on record to state everyone needs to be treated the same way in the absence of an ordinance. We can’t make exceptions for one. Mr. Hughes gave suggestion for motion. Planning Commission will be looking at this also at their workshop in July with Article 5. Mr. Hughes report on litigation: Mr. Hughes gave a report on resolution of the one case that was determined adversely to the city and council, rather than continue to accrue cost; they settled and paid off the judgment. American Towers: Expansion of cell tower ground lease A Motion by Councilman Smith to allow City Attorney to continue negotiations to expand the cell tower ground lease space was seconded by Councilman Wolff. Vote was unanimous. Prepared 7/13/09dw Page 23 of 24 This is behind the police station. They want to add 480sq ft to the space they presently occupy. They are offering an additional $675 for rent. We are almost at capacity on the antennas on the water towers. The reason the company wants ground space is they are trying to get another service in. What makes this a little more attractive is our lease has a revenue clause in it, if they lease to another customer we get 10% of that rent. Councilman Brown asked if we have any other closed right-a-ways on the south end. Councilman Smith said he proposed using city property for additional cell towers last meeting. Mayor Buelterman asked him to bring it back with specific locations. Mayor Buelterman asked Mr. Hughes about the Hand Escrow Agreement. Mr. Hughes said we are closer. The request for the fees was originally at $7,000 and is down to $5,000 and there are a few other things he will try to get back on by next meeting. Mr. Hughes asked if the Infrastructure committee or anyone else knew anything on the application for the permit from DNR on 14th Street Drainage. Mrs. Schleicher said it is moving forward. Mr. Hughes also reported on the Chatham County Mutual Benefit and Use Agreement regarding Debris Removal. Mrs. Schleicher had requested him to look into an additional contract for emergency debris removal services based on those that the county had already gone through the bid process with. Nothing is wrong with having a backup plan in case the original company could not respond where the hurricane, etc had come through or if it hit Tybee and not Chatham County. The city manager felt this process could save the cost of going out on our own. Jimmy Brown has concerns about reimbursements from FEMA because of it not being done the right way to start with. Mr. Hughes is asking for some guidance. Mayor Buelterman commented he had asked the city manager to meet with someone from Ashbritt, who he and Mayor Pro Tem had met at the hurricane conference in Austin. Mayor stated he is not as interested in additional debris removal as much as all the other services they provide. They can do drills; deal with transportation logistics, getting big things out here. They have a long laundry list of services they can provide. Right now all we have is debris removal. I suggest we add on and it makes sense for us to have more than say Pooler has. We are going to have a whole host of issues to deal with and if you have a pre-existing contract, and another issue is keeping track of all the money so when it comes time for FEMA to reimburse you have all your ducks in a row, which a lot of places have had problems with. Mrs. Schleicher said what she is looking for is a standalone contract with Ashbritt. And as Chatham County had already gone thru the competitive bid pricing process she was hoping to piggyback off of that pricing but have our own contract and not have a Mutual Aid contract with Chatham County but our own stand alone contract. That way we have 2 debris removal services but we also get the host of all the other services that Ashbritt can provide if we need them. As long as it meets the test that has been bid competitively and has already been done. Prepared 7/13/09dw Page 24 of 24 Mayor Buelterman than asked if we still get FEMA’s reimbursement and if it is free. Mrs. Schleicher confirmed yes. Mayor said he doesn’t understand why we wouldn’t do this, he and Mayor Pro Tem Doyle met with them and they have been there done that and have worked with disasters, hurricanes specifically and he thinks they would be a big help if we ever get hit. Mrs. Schleicher stated they were at the local GMA Hurricane Conference as well and did a session. Councilman Wolff stated as we were going through the whole process several years ago with our emergency management planning and reviewing these companies, once we had signed the contract with the debris removal folks we ended up getting another company that is going to do the paperwork and monitor them to make sure we are FEMA compliant and FEMA is going to pay them too. Mayor Buelterman stated only on the debris removal side of it. Wolff said yes, but a couple of these companies do provide other services and in the emergency management class Saturday, the mayor and fire chief of Port Wentworth gave a good demonstration and they do drills out there. He said maybe we could talk to him about doing some practice drills. Mayor Buelterman said that is the only thing we would have to pay out of pocket is maybe some simulations but he did not think they were that expensive. Another thing is water, which is a huge thing if we had someone to provide that. We need to depend on ourselves, especially with FEMA it took them weeks to get to Mississippi. He asked council if everyone was in agreement to look into this. Council concurred. It would be brought back if we have to do a contract or anything like that. A Motion by Councilman Wolff to go into Executive Session to discuss Real Estate, Personnel and Litigation was seconded by Councilman Brown. Vote was unanimous. Executive Session A Motion by Councilman Wolff to end Executive Session and return to regular meeting was seconded by Councilman Smith. Adjournment: A Motion by Councilman Wolff to adjourn was seconded by Councilman Smith. The vote was unanimous. ___________________________________ Mayor Jason Buelterman _________________________________ Vivian O. Woods, Clerk of Council