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HomeMy Public PortalAbout20040527CCMeeting1 1 1 @ @ITEM 2004 -05 -27 City Council Minutes Mayor Walter Parker called the May 27, 2004 City Council meeting to order at 7:00 PM. Those members present, in addition to Mayor Parker, were Jason Buelterman, Eddie Crone, Mallory Pearce, Shirley Sessions, Paul Wolff and Jack Youmans. City Manager Bob Thomson and City Attorney Edward Hughes were also present. Father Costigan of St. Michael's Catholic Church gave the invocation. Everyone recited the Pledge of Allegiance. Mayor Parker said we had several candidates who were running for public offices present tonight and would like to hear from them first. Judge Perry Brannen, candidate for Judge of Superior Court, said his Tybee roots go a long way back. He said when he was a boy, he ran in the dunes, picked sea oats and watched the blimps that flew overhead. He said he had been on the bench for 25 years and would welcome continued support. Bobby Phillips, candidate for Judge of State Court, said he was a long time resident of Tybee Island. He said when he was in the Legislature, he was instrumental in changing the name of our Island from Savannah Beach to Tybee Island. He said he was well qualified to hold this office and if anyone had any problems to come see him. Peter Doliber, candidate for County School Board, said he was an Independent. He said he had the expertise for the job. Doliber said he shares the concerns people have about their kids. He asked for support and votes. Greg Sapp, candidate for County School Board, said he is actively involved with the schools. He says he has a house on Tybee and spends time here. He said he is very involved the charter schools and asked for votes in the upcoming election. Bill Lyght, candidate for 4th District County Commission seat, said he is retired from the Savannah Police Department as Assistant Chief. He said he would do what is necessary to maintain the quality of life. He supports the Stephens -Day Bill, increased Homestead Exemptions and thinks the County should pay part of the cost for beach renourishment. May Ann Heimes, candidate for 4th District County Commission seat, also, said she lives at Tybee. She said she supports land use plans, decreased taxes, better evacuation plans and maintaining the quality of life. Mayor Parker thanked all of the candidates. Leonard Miller, better known as Sandman, spoke to Council and requested the use of fire to enhance his work on the beach. He said the Police Department had told him that he 1 of 14 1 1 could not have fires on the beach. Miller said these would be in tin cans inside the sand castles to give them life. Kellie Lewis, Director of the Marine Science Center, gave Council a brief update on the activities of the MSC. Lewis introduced 2 members of her staff and said she planned to introduce each member to Council during the coming months. Laura Griffith, Operations Coordinator, is in charge of the gift shops, marketing and PR, and Lewis said she was happy to have Laura. Lewis introduced Lindsey Thomas, aquarists, and said they were fortunate to have Lindsey as well. Lewis said Kathryn Williams, one member of the Board of Directors, was here but told Council they already knew her. Lewis said in the first quarter of this year, revenue from education, gifts and admissions was up about $9,000 over last year. She said the auction raised about $10,000, which was about $3,000 over last year. Lewis said they have located 2 turtle nests already this year. Lewis said June 6, 2004 will be Tybee Day and all residents of Tybee are admitted free and can see what the MSC is doing. Lewis said she had to leave the meeting early and would not be present for the discussion on recycling. She said in that light, she would like to speak on behalf of the MSC staff in support of recycling. Sam Adams spoke for Jan Fox of the Audit Committee. Adams said everyone agreed that the financial department of any city should be operated within standards and be open and in a timely manner. Adams said the information should be reliable and correct. He said the Audit Committee is an independent group and only has power to help hire the outside auditor. Adams said the committee has the responsibility to analyze and evaluate and recommend to Council and the City Manager. He said the make -up of the committee is very solid and Jan Fox has been elected Chairperson. He said they have met 3 times and done quite a lot of homework. Adams said there were several areas they feel should be concentrated on. They are: Outside Audit — Goal is a clean audit Budget — Process is in place Risk — Understand areas of risk Compliance — System in place to make sure adhere Conflicts of Interest — Careful attention should be paid to this Reporting — Council should know what the Committee is working on Open & Frequent Communication — Between Council & Committee Timely Reports — Internal and Outside should be timely and accurate Safe Guarding Assets — Should know what is owned, value & how disposed of Cash & Accounts Receivable — Carefully Managed Adams said that was about 8 areas and said he felt they were off to a good start. He said they had a lot of good open communication with the City Manager. Adams said the Committee had some recommendations: They are: Adopt a purchasing policy — know where money is being spent Jim Klutz as volunteer to work on mechanics — would resign from the Committee Adams said there is a lot of work to be done and promised to work hard and keep Council informed. Sessions asked about the findings from the last audit, which were the same ones, reported 4 years ago. Thomson said we had addressed almost all of these items with the Audit Committee and with Chris Lightly. Thomson said we are in process of 2of14 1 1 1 developing a plan and the first thing is to get a Finance Director in to work with the Audit Committee. Adams said the Committee has seen the requirements for this position and believes they are far better than anything else we have done. Adams said the main requirement is experience in Fund Accounting. Mayor Parker said everyone appreciated the work this Committee is doing. Crone said he would like to make sure the City Manager stays on top of this and not get sidetracked. Thomson said he would and this Committee would not let him get side tracked. Sessions asked if the position of bookkeeper had been posted yet. Thomson said no, he felt it would be better to wait until we had a Finance Director and let him be part of the hiring process for that position. Michael Daves, Vice President and General Manager of Comcast in the Savannah area, Joel Gossin, Director of Technical Operations, spoke to Council regarding the cable changeover. Daves said they were very excited to be able to move forward after so many years. Daves said he understood that the last month or so had been very challenging for Comcast as well as for Tybee. He said there was a lot of room for improvement and they will work very hard to do so. He said in the past Tybee lacked support and from now on Tybee will have the needed support from the Savannah Team. Daves said plans were to upgrade the system so much so that we will tie into the Savannah system. He said that is in the planning stages right now. That will bring high -speed cable modems, video on demand, high definition TV and all of the other features associated with cable. Daves said he would like to assure people that they are working very diligently to repair and fix any problems that there may be. He said there had been questions regarding bills showing a past due amount and late fees. Daves said that all has been corrected, all payments are posted and late fees have been adjusted. He said they are making every effort to contact those customers that were affected and let them know that their accounts have been corrected. Daves said they also had had a problem with the telephones and the contractor has repaired that. Buelterman asked if Comcast intended to continue broadcasting our Council meetings. Buelterman said it took Council about a year to get that done and now Andy Young tapes the meetings and takes it to the cable office and runs the tape himself. Daves said the plan is to set up for live broadcasts of the meetings. He said the camera is tied into a live feed and it would be up to Council to decide if it should go out live or have it on a delay. Buelterman asked about additional channels. Daves said we would have whatever Savannah had because we would tie into Savannah Kathryn Williams spoke to Council on behalf of the Tybee Beautification Assn. and said that they had been working very diligently on increased enforcement on beach littering. She said Chief Price had said it would be feasible to have extra officers on the beach for a period of time to enforce the litter ordinance. She said this would show people that we are very serious about litter on the beach. Williams said the TBA supports recycling and has gotten positive feedback in support. Williams said if the City does hire extra officers for litter enforcement, a major media push should be implemented so that people are caught unaware and then the City would receive bad publicity. Carter Hubbard and Clifford Meads, representing the Tybee Island Council said that the Tybee Island Council has put in about $6,000 each year for the July 4th fireworks for the last 12 to 15 years. Meads said that for the last 4 or 5 years the fireworks are not quite as 3 of 14 1 1 robust as they would like. Meads said he was here to request the City contribute $4,000 for this year's display so that they could have a $10,000 display that would do the City well. Sessions asked where did the $6,000 come from and Meads answered from the Hotel/Motel Tax. Meads said the fireworks would be shot from the pier this year and they already had the County permit. Sessions said that she didn't know if we had the money in the budget for this and asked if the Council had approached the businesses regarding additional support. Meads said this was a good idea and that the businesses benefited as well as the City. Henry Levy addressed Council regarding requiring driveways to be made of permeable materials. He said before the City burdens people with this requirement, the City should set the example. Levy said parking lots, sidewalks and streets should be permeable. Pat Locklear spoke on behalf of the Gym Committee. He said the second workshop was held before the Council meeting and the turnout was light, about 20 people. He said a report would be given to Council and thought this Committee should be finished with their recommendations by the end of July. Locklear said that he supports recycling and that it is something we have needed for a long time. John Majors, a resident of Tybee and an owner of a North Beach Condo, voiced concern about the warning signs on the North Beach. He said the signs are confusing and tell swimmers not to swim within 700 yards of marker. Majors suggested mark where old jetties are and say don't swim here rather than signs with arrows and a 700 -yard distance of no swimming. Major requested a review of the situation. Buelterman asked if we had any response to the letter sent to Rep. Kingston about removing the jetties. Parker said he had not heard from Rep. Kingston but he would talk to him this weekend. Mayor Parker opened the meeting for business legally presented. Parker said he would like to start with the Old Business. Pearce motioned for approval of minutes for the May 13, 2004 meeting, Buelterman seconded. Pearce said that there was no motion on the issue for the Fall Festival and he would like that corrected. Vote was unanimous for approval. (A review of the minutes showed that the motion was included.) Parker said the next item would be the request for a major subdivision for Lou Off and the Counihans on Bay, Byers and McKenzie Avenues. Lou Off said the property is just West of Savannah Beach Racquet Club. He said there would be no variances or zoning changes requested. Sessions asked about future variance requests and Off said he had spoken to builders and said no variances are to be requested in the future. Sessions also asked about the question of easements and access. Jody Counihan's representative, Owen Murphy, said they had no objections to the subdivision, however, they are claiming an easement across the property. Murphy said they want to go on record to the extent that it does interfere with the easement. He said they are not waiving any rights to that claim. He said that easement may be disputed, but this is not the forum for that dispute. Sessions asked Hughes if the City should be involved with the question of the easement. Hughes said that the City should not be involved in the easement dispute but the City 4of14 1 1 1 frequently gets involved in issues it should not. Hughes said on the final plat the easement would be shown, and it would be signed by the City. He said this is just the preliminary plat for the first phase of the subdivision and that language was agreed upon previously, which was to be placed on the final plat. Hughes said he wanted to keep the City out of that issue and there was a way to do that by appropriate language on the plat. Buelterman asked if the streets into the subdivision would be public or private. Off said it would be private. One entrance is off of the corner of Bay and Byers Streets and would serve 9 homes, one is off of Estill or Solomon and would serve 3 homes and one entrance is off of Byers and serves one home. Buelterman asked Off if he would consider opening the street to the public. Off said the only thing to be considered would be the privacy of the people who buy homes in the subdivision. Off said if someone drives through, there is no way to stop him or her. He said they are trying to open Byers Street as a public access to the beach and this would help. Pearce said he has reviewed the tree survey with Off and there is room for a driveway. Pearce said there are some live oaks but they are very small. Pearce motioned for approval, Wolff seconded. Buelterman asked if the motion could be amended to keep roads open to the public. Hughes said it was not going to be gated but it would be privately maintained. Sessions said since these were to be private roads, it was said to have it put on the plat that City service vehicles, garbage trucks, fire trucks, etc. would not go down them. Off said they would be using permeable pavers for the roads and they will hold up to heavy traffic. Off also said there will be places in the subdivision for trucks to back up and turn around. Vote was unanimous. Frankie Conaway gave a report of the activities in the Parking Services Department. (Copy attached.) Buelterman asked about the revenue decrease. Conaway said there were more customers because of the hourly rate but the revenue was down. She said the night shift has been implemented and that should help. There were some questions from Council regarding handicap access parking spaces being placed in both lots on the Strand, a coin counting machine and the lots being full. Conaway said she would review these items. Sessions motioned for denial of fire on the beach for L. Miller (Sandman), Pearce seconded for discussion. Youmans said he didn't think this was any different than the fireworks on the beach. Hughes said the fireworks required a special permit. This would require an amendment to the ordinance. Miller said the fire would be contained in cans or glass jars. Chief Price said it would be a safety hazard if left unattended. Vote was 5, Wolff, Sessions, Buelterman, Crone and Pearce in favor of denial and 1, Youmans, opposed. Pearce motioned to accept Jim Klutz's offer and Thomson to meet with him to work out details of the job description and report back to Council at the next meeting, Wolff seconded. Hughes said he still had concerns, not about Jim Klutz, but about the scope of his duties and how he interacts with the staff. Hughes said the hierarchy should be made very clear. Hughes said that his concerns were not directed at Klutz but just the concept. Buelterman asked Hughes if he preferred that we not do this. Hughes said he would prefer we had a Finance Director. He said he would recommend that this not be done for any length of time. Hughes said maybe just until we have a Finance Director and he /she 5 of 14 1 is up to speed on things. Wolff said that what the Audit Committee recommended was that Klutz would come in and reconcile the books, working with Thomson, and then step down once a Finance Director was on board and brought up to speed on everything. Buelterman said he understood that this was to get things started and then on June 10th, Thomson would bring back a written proposal for final approval. Vote was 5, Wolff, Sessions, Buelterman, Crone and Pearce, for approval and 1, Youmans, opposed. Youmans motioned for approval of contribution for fireworks, Wolff seconded for discussion. Parker asked Thomson where would he get the money. Sessions said she would like to go on record saying that anytime someone is coming to ask for money, a form should be filled out that goes through Thomson and let Council know where the money is to come from and if the money is there. She said for the record, no more, and that includes staff or anyone. Wolff said he would like to suggest that before this contribution is approved to come out of the budget at taxpayer's expense, we approach the hotel and motel businesses, and restaurants, and see if they couldn't come up with the $4,000 before we invest more of the taxpayer's money. Youmans said if it weren't for these people coming to the Island, we wouldn't be paying 4.17 millage rate but 12. Thomson said that there is $3,388 in the Holiday Expense Account. Vote was 1, Youmans, for approval and 5, Wolff, Sessions, Buelterman, Crone and Pearce, opposed. Parker asked who was going to approach the merchants. Wolff said that seemed to be the job of the Tourism Council. All agreed. Crone said if they go to the merchants and can't get the money, could they come back. Parker said yes, at the June 10t meeting Sessions asked if action should be taken on the signs at North Beach. Parker said someone would have to look into that first. Sessions said this should be an action item in that case. Chief Jimmy Price gave a brief report of activities in the Police Department. He said all was in hand regarding the G8 Summit. He said he didn't look for much to happen on Tybee. Parker asked about campers. Price said maybe a few, but they had opened Daffin Park in Savannah so he didn't expect many here. Sessions asked about a part-time officer to enforce the litter ordinance on the beach. Price said he didn't have the manpower, other that at the cost of time and a half. He said we wouldn't need someone on the beach until around 3 or 4 o'clock when people are leaving. Price said it should definitely be advertised that it is a $1000 fine. Price said the Police Department had recently passed the on site inspection for recertification from the State. He said Capt. Chris Case was mostly responsible for this. Crone asked about a caution light on Jones Street by Memorial Park. Price said after the Holiday weekend, he would put the vehicle counter on Jones for about 2 weeks and see if a light is needed. Price asked Council about the replacement bids for the animal control truck. Buelterman motioned for approval of a Budget Adjustment of $5,000 to purchase truck, Wolff seconded. Wolff suggested that the old truck be sold at the auction and Price agreed. Vote was unanimous. Sessions motioned to hire a part-time officer dedicated to enforcing the litter ordinance around the Pier area on the beach, Wolff seconded. Vote was 5, Wolff, Sessions, Buelterman, Crone and Pearce, and 1, Youmans, opposed. Dodie Gay suggested Council 6of14 1 1 1 might have considered hiring someone through the revenue department. Sessions said according to Price, that person wouldn't have arrest powers. Mark Williams gave a report on activities in the Public Works Department. (Copy attached.) Wolff asked if the 17 man hours for cleaning the parking lot after the festival, was paid for by the promoter. Williams said he believed so and Parker said Claire Price would know. Youmans said he would like to see a copy of the check. Youmans also asked if the contractors are paying for the use of the parking lot that we leased and they are using. Thomson said he had told Mr. Chu and Mr. Ryan that they would be responsible for one half of the lease. Thomson said he had a meeting scheduled for Tuesday with the site supervisor and would tell him that they would be responsible for any lost revenue that the City would have ordinarily gotten. Sessions asked if Thomson would be sure to put agreement in writing. Mark Williams gave a report on the activities in the Water /Sewer Department. (Copy attached.) Buelterman asked about the old skating ramps and if they could be repaired. Williams said the wood was too rotten for repairs. Sessions asked if he was able to separate the water usage and could tell how much was being used by the showers. Williams said he thought he could get a report that shows that. Sessions said they would like to make an informed decision on removing some of the showers. Sessions asked the City Manager to address some of the items on the Audit Committee report before a Financial Director is hired. Dee Anderson gave a report on the activities of the Zoning Department. (Copy attached.) Anderson said he had met with Mike Deal, the supervisor for the construction company that is using the parking lot. Anderson said Deal agreed that he would get with Thomson and had agreed to pay whatever lost revenue was incurred by the City There was discussion regarding the number of water meter issued for new construction. Wolff motioned that the data and be provided to the Planning Commission so that they can begin working on the Growth Management Ordinance and we can have an ordinance at the July 2004 meeting, Sessions seconded. Vote was 5, Wolff, Sessions, Buelterman, Crone and Pearce, in favor, and 1, Youmans, opposed. Pearce said that it had been brought to his attention that there had been landfill brought to Barry Brown's property on Highway 80. Anderson said he had been reviewing and working on that issue today. He said the Storm Water Drainage is supposed to be enforced by the Director of Public Works and he had been working with Williams. Downer Davis, Engineer for the City has review the drainage plan. Anderson said there is natural swale on the backside of the property. Anderson said in the Land Development Code it is not required to have a drainage plan on subdivisions, but in the Municipal Code it does. Neither Code refers to the other one. Anderson said Mr. Brown had been notified that he is to submit a drainage plan. Thomson asked Council to consider requiring everyone to submit a drainage plan by a certified engineer on any construction project. 7of14 1 1 1 Sessions asked Anderson, as Director of Human Resources, about a memo dated December 31, 2002 from our auditors, regarding salary increase guidelines for employees and worksheets describing new position requests in detail. Sessions asked if we had anything like that. Thomson said yes, there was a study done by Steve Condrey, of the Carl Vinson Institute of Government, which was deferred by last council. Thomson said Dr. Condrey would be presenting this to council, with recommendations for a uniform scale of wage rates at the June 10th meeting. Sessions wanted to know if they could adopt the plan tonight. Parker suggested everyone look at before then, and Youmans said they better look twice all the way through. Sessions motioned that everyone review the proposal and be prepared to adopt or reject at the next meeting, Crone seconded. Vote was 5, Wolff, Sessions, Buelterman, Crone and Pearce, for approval, and 1, Youmans, opposed. Pearce asked if he could have his 2 guests address Council at this time. Pearce said he would like to motion that the City of Tybee Island adopt Owerrie West as a Sister City, Buelterman seconded. Julia Pearce and Dr. Okeri spoke to Council regarding this proposal. Pearce read a letter from the Mayor of Owerrie to Mayor Parker. Sessions asked if we had a Sister City somewhere else and Parker said he believed we did in China. Sessions voiced concern that if someone went to Owerrie in an official capacity, that the City would not be responsible for the expenses. The Council was assured that this would not cost the City any money. Vote was 5, Wolff, Sessions, Buelterman, Crone and Pearce, in favor, and 1, Youmans, opposed. Eddie Crone told Julia Pearce there were boxes of medicine in the Clerk's office for her. She said she would get them tonight. Mayor Parker called for a 5- minute break. After the break, Mayor Parker reconvened the meeting. Wolff said he would like to clarify something for the Audit Committee. Wolff said Thomson was to write a job description for Jim Klutz and get the Mayor's approval. They do not have to come back before Council for a vote. Wolff said we voted to let Klutz and Thomson work out the details. Pearce said they would come back to Council with a report. Buelterman said he had hoped to ask for approval to open bids for the new skate park but the SPLOST money was not received. He said this would be postponed. Buelterman said he would like the lids to get involved and would have a meeting on June 9, 2004 at 7 PM at City Hall. He said hopefully, on June 10th, there would be some money in the bank and we can move forward. Buelterman said about 2 years ago, Council adopted a purchasing procedure policy. He said this policy said anything over $5,000 had to come before Council for approval. Buelterman said he understood this was not being done and this was just a reminder to Council and staff, no exceptions. 8 of 14 1 1 Buelterman said he would like to re- establish the sub - committee of Council members to address water /sewer infrastructure issues. Crone, Sessions and Wolff volunteered to serve. Buelterman said Mark Williams said he would work with them. Buelterman said they had 3 members of Council on the previous committee. Wolff said he would come to the meetings and said Sessions could be the official member along with Crone and Buelterman. Wolff said he had a proposal for recycling from the beaches. Wolff said he had talked with a representative from Anheuser -Busch and they would provide containers with liners for free. Wolff said Public Works would be responsible for the labor to empty them. Wolff said he and Danny Carpenter, Supervisor in Public Works, went to Paper Stock Dealers, which is the company that will be handling our cans, and toured their facility. He said they have already provided a trailer. Wolff said they will pay us market value of aluminum, less .25 a pound. He said, as of last Friday, this would net Tybee .34 per pound. Wolff motioned that we accept Anheuser - Busch's offer and place these containers all over the beach, wherever there is a trash can, Pearce seconded. Youmans asked if we could put these on the beach with the advertisement for beer on them. Hughes said the City is not supposed to promote any products on City property, but he said we have a Coke machine here in City Hall. Hughes said he did have some reservations about it being an alcohol product on these containers. Hughes said he didn't think the City should actively encourage the use of alcohol. Parker said he thought people would see this as just a recycling situation. Dodie Gay said this was proposed before but never happened because of the shortage of manpower and some of the other same issues. She said she recommended this proposal now and predicted that it would be very successful. Buelterman asked about the stability of the containers. Wolff said he thought they were as stable as anything could be. Vote was 4, Wolff, Sessions, Buelterman and Pearce, for approval, and 2, Youmans and Crone, opposed. Wolff said the next item was curbside recycling. Wolff said he and Janice Elliott had been working on this issue for a long time. He said on March 15, 2004 a proposal was put on the table from Waste Management and it would expire on June 15, 2004. He said there were 2 ways to do this: 1. Pick -up trash once a week from October to March. Recycling containers would also be picked up once a week year round. This would enable us to this for $1.75 per month per household. This would enable us to eliminate the recycling containers located at Public Works and save us $2,500 to $3,000 year. Wolff said he like this money used to provide free recycling service to the senior citizens. 2. Pick -up trash twice a week year round but the cost would be $2.99 per month per household. This proposal would include recycling everything except styrofoam and heavy corrugated cardboard. Cost is based on percentage of waste that goes to the landfill compared to what is recycled. Wolff said if we reduce the amount going to the landfill the rate would be reduced. Sessions asked if it could be voluntary. She said her concern is that some people think that this is being pushed on them. The representative from Waste 9of14 1 1 1 Management said the cost would be at least tripled. There was a lengthy discussion regarding the cost increases for trash pick -up. Fuel costs increases are the main reason for increases. Warren Johnson, a Tybee resident, said he wanted the fact that senior citizens get this free in writing. Buelterman said this was a good thing but he would like to look into it further. He said he had sent the proposal to Department of Community Affairs and would like to wait until they can review it. Buelterman said a representative had said the most important thing was making sure the recycling program was set up correctly. He said this rep is willing to come and talk to us on June 10th. Buelterman said we don't have to approve this until June 15th, so we have time. Crone motioned to wait and hear from the representative from DCA, Buelterman seconded. Sessions asked if Buelterman had sent the proposal or the current contract. Buelterman said he had sent both. Pearce said he would like a clarification of the motion. Buelterman said the rep said he would come on June 10th at 6 PM and give a short presentation based on his analysis of the contract and answer any questions. The representative from Waste Management said the one thing you have to do to be successful is to promote the program. He said WM would produce a brochure annually. Wolff asked Waste Management if this offer would still be in effect on June 10, 2004 and the answer was yes, but didn't know if could hold it longer. Vote was unanimous. Wolff said Chuck Powell, a Tybee Resident, had written him concerning the 2 Historic Markers on Highway 80. He said 1 is located near the boat ramp on the West side of the bridge and the other is in the median on the East side of bridge. Wolff said his suggestion was to move these markers to a site near the Tybee Island sign so that people could safely stop and read them. Wolff said DNR and DOT have no problems with moving these markers. Wolff said DOT crew would do the work. Wolff motioned for approval of this proposal, Pearce seconded. Vote was unanimous. Sessions motioned to adopt the purchasing policy that was recommended by the Audit Committee, Wolff seconded. Hughes said there were some typos he would like to see corrected. He said the word "no" was left out in one instance and the word "not" was left out also. Sessions said to add to her motion, contingent on correcting any errors, Wolff accepted. Youmans said we should hire a Finance Director before we adopt any policies. Wolff said this would help protect the City until that happens. Vote was 5, Wolff, Sessions, Buelterman, Crone and Pearce, in favor, and 1, Youmans, opposed. Hughes said we have received a letter from Danny Powers reminding us to set the millage rate. Hughes said the digest is supposed to be here by June 4, 2004. Hughes said there have been many challenges in recent years getting our figures to work out with the County's software. He said we should figure the rollback and determine if we are going to use the rollback and not have a tax increase as soon as possible. Hughes said if we are not going with the rollback and have a tax increase, then we have to have 3 public meetings, advertise them and Powers said he wants the figures back by July 9, 2004. He said our next meeting after that is July 10th. Wolff asked if we could authorize Hughes to do whatever he could to make sure this was done with no increase. Hughes said he was not the one to do this. Thomson said he had a meeting scheduled for next week with the tax assessor's office to get this worked out. He said our auditor, Chris Lightle is going to l0 of 14 1 1 1 attend also. Buelterman said we should see how our exemption works out; this year it is on $100,000 but next year it is $200,000. Parker said we might have to rethink our position. Hughes said the appraisals were completed for the property involved in the land swap with Groover and the Nature Trail. He said the ad should be run next week. At the next meeting there will be a resolution referring to these appraisals that have already been approved. Wolff motioned for approval of the appraisals, Pearce seconded. Vote was unanimous. Hughes said he was to talk to the Chief regarding the golf carts and did not have an ordinance ready at this time. Hughes said by next year, 2005, in order to collect fines, we will have to be in a position to provide legal counsel to anyone who is indigent. He said eventually there would be a cost involved and this was just information for now. Hughes said that this would be discussed at the upcoming GMA Convention. Hughes said there had been a lot of discussion recently on sales on the City sidewalks. He said we have an ordinance that says sales on the sidewalks are prohibited except immediately in front of the place of business. Hughes said a few years ago it was changed to allow the business owner or his designee and this really was confusing. Hughes said the suggestion has been made to eliminate this altogether in the ordinance. Sessions said she thought this came up because of some handicapped people could not get through on the sidewalk because of things placed there by the businesses. Sessions said along those same lines, the rental mopeds have parking decals and they place a sign on City property saying "Rent Me ". She asked if this means that anyone can buy a decal and advertise their business. Hughes said there is a sign ordinance that would address this. Parker asked Thomson to look into this. Sessions asked Council if they wanted to take out the one sentence in Section 9 -1 -20 regarding sales in front of places of business. Sessions motioned to delete that sentence, Buelterman seconded. Parker said we couldn't do it tonight because this is not a public hearing. Parker said to keep in mind that sometimes we allow events to take place that is in a carnival atmosphere in the business district, but we certainly don't want to allow anything that impedes the flow of traffic. Youmans asked if this included the sidewalk signs. Wolff asked if the sidewalks were clearly City property. Thomson said most of it was, but there was an area by Christie's that was not. Parker said that if this were approved, there would be objections for the merchants. Wolff said the merchants could get a special event permit from time to time, and Sessions said we would want to cooperate if they wanted to have a sidewalk sale or similar event. Parker said there is a motion of the floor to draft an amendment to the ordinance. Vote was 5, Wolff, Sessions, Buelterman, Crone and Pearce, in favor, and 1, Youmans, opposed. Hughes said no one approved the adoption of the early retirement window. He said the window opened on May 1, 2004 but Thomson had more information. Thomson said GMA said they were good to go and for us to take care of our procedural issues. Hughes 11 of 14 1 1 1 said we have a temporary amendment to the adoption agreement for the retirement plan that you have to act on. He said this allows the opening of the window and provides the benefits to the employees. Hughes said the problem we had last time was the offering of their health care benefits. He said it could be done the same way with an ordinance. Hughes said Council would have to do something tonight if you want to have this happen. Pearce motioned to approve the temporary amendment to the adoption agreement, Wolff seconded. Hughes said this might be all you have to do. Vote was unanimous. Hughes said he had one other thing tonight. He said if anyone was registered for the GMA Convention, he /she should have received an Email about a Quality Growth Advisory Clinic. Hughes said he thought this would be well worthwhile for Council to attend. He said we are now working on our Growth Control ordinance, which is on the cutting edge. He said it is being held on June 28 and 29, 2004. Thomson said the Clerk had met with Nick Blanos regarding recording the meetings. Thomson asked Diane to explain. She said this would record the meeting on disc and help in writing the minutes. She said you could use the software for several different meetings, which would benefit the Planning Commission, Beach Task Force, the committees as well as Council. Sessions said she attended the demonstration and was impressed. Sessions said it would allow the Clerk to go back and replay something that was said earlier while still recording. Sikes said there were several options, such as a lease, buy outright or lease with option to buy. The cost is about $7,000 or maybe a little less, depending on which option you get. Wolff asked about service agreement. Janice Elliott, who also attended the demo, said they will train and all updates are included. Parker said we could put this in the budget for next year. Buelterman asked if there were other companies we can contact for their price. Thomson said we had called the County to ask them to do something and the Public Works Director said things had gotten a little formal. Thomson said the County required an Intergovernmental Agreement. He said the sample is one with Thunderbolt, which basically allows the County to perform service for towns that can't do them for themselves. Thomson said Mr. Murray said he would bring this up at their meeting tomorrow. Buelterman motioned to approve, Pearce seconded. Vote was unanimous. Thomson said Wolff had done some research and had found a better price on the mats for the beach. Thomson said we have enough money in the Other Capital Expense Fund in the 1998 SPLOST. Wolff said these mats are 52" wide and can be purchased in any length. They are used in South Carolina but have not been used in Georgia. Wolff said he bid on a 43'2" mat, or ring as they are called, and the quote was $2,368. Wolff said he thought that we should measure the 3 ADA crossovers before we order these. Thomson said he would get DNR approval. Thomson asked Council to authorize him to negotiate with a "not to exceed" figure. Sessions asked if he had been in contact with the director of Life Incorporated — Independent Living for Everyone. Thomson said yes, he had talked to 2 gentlemen concerning this. Sessions said she wanted to make sure they were included in this project. Buelterman asked how many rings we need and Wolff 12 of 14 1 1 1 answered 3. Crone said he was at a demonstration in October and you do need the width for turn around and meeting people. Buelterman asked where the money was coming from. Thomson said Chris Lightle was here to answer questions regarding this. Lightle said there are crossover refurbishing projects in process and these mats can be made a part of that. There is money left there, on April 30, 2004 there was $288,000, which does not include the money for the Historical Society, the Marine Science Center or the May expenses for the dune crossover refurbishing. He said you probably have about $150,000. Buelterman said could we say not to exceed $10,000 so if we get a good price, we might be able to get 4 and made this motion, Pearce seconded. Crone said to remember someone had to maintain these mats because the sand would go through. Thomson said they have to be swept. Sessions said that since we had a purchasing policy in place, she would like to see some of the staff doing these projects. Thomson said they could but he was under the impression that MobiMat was the sole provider for this product. He said then Wolff found this other company. Sessions said all she was saying was to share information. Thomson agreed. Thomson said Maggie Keenan and her husband would conduct research in eco- tourism for a non - profit foundation for $750 and would work about 20 hours per week. Youmans said he mention several years ago that there is a department at Savannah State College that do this and have found grants. Youmans said none of the City Managers seemed too interested and never checked into it. Thomson said he would be glad to call. Pearce motioned to approve requiring new driveways to be permeable, Wolff seconded. Hughes asked if including the exception for handicapped or elderly owners or occupants was meant to be included in the ordinance. All agreed and Wolff said in our variance ordinance, physical hardship is not included. Sessions said we should try to adhere to Henry Levy's suggestion that the City also use permeable materials. Buelterman said he voted against this on 1st reading and he would vote against it now. He said we have an engineer look at projects for drainage approval for new construction, and if someone wanted to put in a concrete driveway on an existing house, it will not cause a drainage problem. Wolff said it would have an accumulative effect. Youmans said it depended on the location and what part of the Island the person was on. Buelterman said he would be in agreement with new construction but not all driveways. Vote was 2, Wolff and Pearce, for approval, 3, Youmans, Crone and Buelterman, opposed, and 1, Sessions, abstained. Motion failed. Pearce motioned for approval for parking requirement for dock operators, Wolff seconded. Buelterman asked if it could be on the agenda for the next meeting for 1st reading requiring permeable material for driveways on new construction. Hughes said it would not have to be advertised. All agreed. Youmans said if floating docks were included he would vote for it. Vote was 5, Wolff, Sessions, Buelterman, Crone and Pearce, for approval, and 1, Youmans, opposed. Parker 13 of 14 1 1 1 asked Youmans why he was opposed and Youmans said because floating docks were not added. Parker said they were and Youmans said he would vote for it then. Parker said he had written the Chairman and our representative of the County Commission and asked them to include Tybee when they requested bids for the pier. Parker said he also asked their feelings about letting Tybee control the pier. He said he had not had any response yet except Frank Murray had said he was open. Sessions asked for a copy of the letter. Pearce motioned to adjourn to Executive Session to discuss litigation, personnel and real estate, Youmans seconded. Vote was unanimous. Wolff motioned to return to regular session, Pearce seconded. Vote was unanimous. Buelterman motioned to increase Diane Sikes' salary by 5 %, contingent on her receiving her Clerk's Certification, Wolff seconded. Vote was 4, Wolff, Sessions, Buelterman and Pearce, for approval, and 1, Youmans, opposed. (Note: Crone had excused himself and left the meeting earlier.) There being no further business, Mayor Parker adjourned the meeting. Diane Sikes Clerk of Council Walter W. Parker Mayor 14 of 14