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@ @ITEM 2003 -10 -23 CITY COUNCIL MEETING
Mayor Walter Parker called the October 23, 2003 City Council Meeting to order
at 7:00 PM. Those Council members present were Jimmy Burke, Jack Youmans,
Whitley Reynolds, Walter Crawford, Jason Buelterman and Richard Barrow. In addition,
Bob Thomson, City Manager and Edward Hughes, City Attorney were also present.
Bob Thomson gave the invocation and everyone recited the Pledge of Allegiance.
Mayor Parker reminded everyone that this is election time and introduced some of
the candidates who were present. He also mentioned the members of the current Council
who were running for re- election and the mayoral candidates.
Parker said he would like to recognize a special guest tonight. Parker said we
were a little surprised, but glad, to see him, the top Superior Court Judge, Judge Oliver
and with him, State Court Judge, Ron Ginsberg.
Walt Seidel spoke to Council concerning his request to purchase part of the City
right of way on 5th Avenue. Seidel said he had been unable to get an appraisal, however
he had an appraisal done about 12 to 15 years ago. He said the assessed value on his
house had doubled since that time, so he doubled the value on the old appraisal to get the
current value for land he wants to purchase. According to his calculations, the property is
probably worth about $600 per foot. Barrow asked why was he unable to get an
appraisal. Seidel said he had called 4 appraisers, the first 2 said they charged $300 but
couldn't get to it. The third said the charge would be $1000. Seidel said he thought that
was too excessive. The fourth hasn't bothered to call back. Barrow said he understood
there were problems but we need to stick to the guidelines, otherwise everyone would
want to skip parts of the process. Youmans asked how long the property was. Seidel
said there is about 35 ft by 15 ft. of usable space, and that most of it is in the marsh.
Andy Kennedy of Palmetto Race & Event Production, Inc. from Bluffton, S.C.
requested permits for 2 triathlon events next year. He said he had sent a letter, detailing
the events. (Copy attached to these minutes) One race would be on May 2, 2004 and the
other on September 19, 2004. Barrow asked how long it would last. Kennedy said the
one in May is a sprint race and would start at 7:00 AM and last until around 10:00 AM.
The race in September would be a longer race and last until around Noon. Buelterman
asked how many participants would be expected. Kennedy said approximately 200 to
300 participants at each event.
Henry Levy spoke to Council regarding the warning signs at the North end of the
beach. He said that there is not enough information on them; all they say is "No
Swimming ". He said people are still getting hurt because they don't know what the
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danger is and where it is. Levy said the signs should read "No Swimming Between
Signs ".
Mayor Parker opened the meeting for business legally presented.
The first item is the request by Walt Seidel to purchase a portion of 5th Avenue.
Hughes said we should get a survey and see what is high ground. Hughes said there is a
way to do this. We can determine by resolution, declaring it surplus property of virtually
no value. Otherwise, you will have to have a current appraisal. Reynolds said he thought
when they decided to sell some of the City's property, marshland was not included.
Hughes said he thought that was correct under the Green Space Ordinance. After some
discussion, Mayor Parker asked Hughes to look into this and report back to Council his
fmdings. Crawford said he had looked at the appraisals for the other properties that have
been done by professional appraisers, and Mr. Seidel's offer is in excess of those
appraisals.
Crawford motioned to approve the permits for the triathlon, Burke seconded.
Vote was unanimous.
Reynolds motioned to approve October 9, 2003 minutes, Crawford seconded.
Vote was unanimous.
Crawford motioned for approval for the Resolution for Transportation Efficiency
Act support by the City, Burke seconded. Vote was unanimous.
Crawford motioned for approval on 1st reading of amendment to Section 7 -030 —
Tree Ordinance, to add that no fee to be charged for removal of tree if causing or will
cause damage to structure. Buelterman seconded and the vote was unanimous.
Crawford said he had attended the Beach Task Force meeting earlier in the day
and one discussion was the hazards at North beach. These hazards are jagged metal,
concrete from the old seawall and remnants from old jetties. He said these remnants
surface from time to time and pose a real threat to the safety of swimmers. Crawford said
he had thought to get the City to remove these hazards but was afraid of straying into the
Corps of Engineers' jurisdiction. He said Alan Garret, an engineer with the COE, sent a
letter saying they had no objections to the City's removing them. Crawford said he
wanted to bring this to the attention of Council and see if they could agree to have the
City crew remove these 3 or 4 pieces of debris. Parker said they were trying to get the
COE to remove the hazards but were told it might take up to 2 or 3 years for them to
actually do the work. Crawford said yes and he didn't think it would take our crew more
than a day to take care of this. He said I'm not talking about going down and removing
these completely, but just the exposed parts. Burke said these were interlocking steel
jetties that go down about 30 feet. We would need a crane to get them, and then they
might not come up. During the beach renourishment, the contractors said it would be too
expensive to remove them. Parker said why don't we get Billy Pye, Director of Public
Works, to look at this and see what he can do. He can give us some advice; it may be
that we can cut those off rather trying to dig up. Crawford said that was all he was
talking about. City Manager, Bob Thomson said that this may be beyond the scope of
what we can do but he knows of a couple of companies that would help. Pye can
certainly look and determine just what needs to be done. Buelterman asked about the
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status of the warning signs. An example of the signs was shown to the Council.
Buelterman said maybe we could add arrows, showing the danger is between the signs.
Buelterman said that at the last meeting, we discussed enlarging the Lazaretto
Creek Boat Ramp. He said we have had a committee working on this for a long time and
they have overcome a lot of obstacles. One of the biggest obstacles is getting the County
to match the $25,000 to do the work. We have met with County Chairman Billy Hair and
he had agreed to place this on the Commission's November 7, 2003 meeting agenda. It
seems like we won't have to loan the County the money. Buelterman said hopefully the
County will agree to allocate the money and this project can go forward.
Reynolds said at the last meeting, we talked about a planning professional and
wanted to know if Thomson had made any progress in fording someone. Thomson said
rather than have 1 staff person take on all of the responsibilities of urban design,
planning, street - scaping, traffic engineering and everything else, we contacted 4 different
landscaping and design firms which have coastal experience on the Gulf and Atlantic
Coasts. Some also have inland experience. We have explained what we need to all of
them and said we did not want a "cookie cutter" approach. All 4 of these firms will be
making their presentations to Council at the November 13, 2003 meeting.
Jason Cowan, Finance Director, requested that Council approve a budget
adjustment of $$760,000 to the 2003 budget. Cowan said he had gone over the 2003
budget extensively and has identified several areas that need some major adjustments.
The main reasons the adjustments are needed are, Capital Expenditures not budgeted for,
Grant expenditures not budgeted for, and unforeseen increases in hospitalization
insurance as well as property and liability insurance rates. Cowan said we can get the
funds from the revenues /expenditures of $400,000 and from the unreserved fund balance,
which, he said, has the necessary funds needed. He added that using a portion of it would
not bring the balance down to a threatening level. Burke motioned for approval of the
adjustment, Reynolds seconded. Youmans said he didn't want the City to spend any
more that was not in the budget. Vote was unanimous.
Bob Thomson, City Manager, said that we had 3 sizeable projects going on right
now. He said they were the sewer and manhole rehab, storm drains and major
construction of the gym. Parker said that several citizens have asked him about the areas
in the streets and yards that have been dug out, as to when that can expect some paving
and replacing of rock and gravel. Thomson answered that these areas need to settle and
be compacted. We have funds from SPLOST and expect some assistance from the State.
If any of the contractors have to make a cut, naturally they would patch it. After the
projects are completed, we would take an inventory. Thomson said he thought by the end
of February the paving would be done.
Burke said that the plan for a new water line down Butler Avenue by Hussy, Gay,
Bell and DeYoung calls for construction to begin and run into our peak summertime
season. He said there is no way we can do that. They need to move their timetable back,
and if they can't do that, we might have to get someone else. Burke said he had told
them this. Thomson said that he thought Burke's comments might have done some good,
as HGB &D had moved their timetable back. If this doesn't work, then we'll look
somewhere else, Thomson said.
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Barrow asked about the city planner. Thomson said that 1 person can't do it all in
terms of what we need. He said he thought it would be to our best interest to listen to the
4 firms when they give their presentations at the next meeting. He said we would need 1
staff person to coordinate the activities with the firm that is hired.
Parker introduced some late arriving candidates.
There being no further business, Mayor Parker adjourned the meeting.
Clerk of Council
Mayor Walter W. Parker