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20080419 Work Session minutes
City Officials present at the work session were Mayor Jason Buelterman, Wanda Doyle, Eddie Crone,
Dick Smith, Barry Brown, Charlie Brewer and Paul Wolff. Also attending was City Manager Diane
Schleicher, CFO Bonnie Kline, Economic Development Director Brannyn Allen, DPW Supt. Joe Wilson and
City Clerk Vivian Woods.
Mayor Buelterman introduced Henry Levy who gave a presentation to council on making Hwy 80 a toll
road to Tybee.
Joe Wilson said he had EMC do a road rating. He gave a copy of the rating schedule to council for their'.
review. He said the red list reflects the roads needing replacement in 0 -5 years. He explained the cost
listed is only for the asphalt. He said some of the roads will need to be milled. He said he received a
price quote of $70 a ton, which he feels is an excellent price. He said the estimated cost for asphalt for
the roads on the red list is $457.463. Mr. Wilson said the cost reflects just paving and doesn't include
milling or profiling because not all roads will need it. Mr. Wilson estimated milling and profiling could
increase the cost 15% to 20 %.
Mayor Buelterman asked how much money was in this year's budget for roads. Ms. Schleicher answered
$200,000.
Mr. Wilson gave council a CI P plan for six, seven and eleven years on projects that will include drainage,
paving and crossovers. He sa d he based it on around $200,000 yearly.
Mr. Wilson said the problem
and we have 36.5 miles of pa
paving 1.5 miles a year.
✓ith the LARK program is they only give us money to pave 2,000 feet a year
ed surface on Tybee. He said to address it on a 30 yr. plan we need to be
Mr. Wilson presented a 6 year master plan to council and explained the projects he has prioritized for
2008. He listed those projects as 14th Street paving at $36,400; Drainage work on 14th Street at
$175,700; Rebuilding the 6th Street Crossover at $17,000 and the Marine Science Center Crossover at
$15,500. The total projected cost for 2008 is $244,600. Mr. Wilson said he could use SPLOST funds for
some of this work.
Mr. Wolff asked if anyone had checked into 3 -19 Grants because there is money available particularly
for drainage. Ms. Alien said he would help Ms. Schleicher get the information on the 31 -9 grants.
Mr. Wilson said the prices Iis ed on the master plan are construction costs at today's prices. He said
crossovers are costing $128
foot and Asphalt is costing $70 a ton. He said the cost will go up.
Mr. Wilson said the DPW master plan was generated using a budget number of around $250,000
annually. He said if $200,000 is put into the budget with supplemental money from SPLOST or Grants,
the master plan can be used to address the infrastructure needs of the island.
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Mr. Wilson said he had gone over the drainage concerns starting with Hwy 80 and working his way back
towards the island. He said he had all of the drainage problems (outfalls) addressed up to 10th Street.
He said from 11th Street down is where he needs to concentrate his efforts. He said 14th Street has a lot
of issues with drainage because it holds a lot of water and is an old concrete pipe that has been
compromised in a couple of places. He said we need to redo the catch basins. He said when we do a
project like that we need to repave the whole road. He said this will address a significant amount of
flooding issues on 14th Street.
Mayor Pro Tem Doyle said the Master Plan's that Mr. Wilson presented have been needed for a long
time and they outline what needs to be done in the next 6,7 and 11 years. She asked Mr. Wilson if he
needed guidance from council on which plan to implement. Mr. Wilson said he broke everything down
to a 6, 7 and 11 year plan in order to give council funding options. He said council controls funding and
how much he can do depends on how much money they give him. Mr. Wolff asked if council gives Mr.
Wilson more money up front, if the 11 year plan could be accomplished in 6 years. Mr. Wilson said that
is theoretically correct except you can't see drainage and you might wonder where the money is going;
Mayor Buelterman asked if the Byers Street Crossover was already in the budget. Mr. Wilson said yes
but this year he has to get the permitting stage taken care of and he would like to work on it in the fall.
He said he has two short crossovers consisting of the Marine Science Center and 6th Street that he
intends to complete this year and he could take some of the money left over to offset the cost of the
Byers Street Crossover which was estimated at sixty thousand dollars. Ms. Schleicher said the budget for
infrastructure, crossovers and drainage has three hundred and twenty thousand dollars in it. She said if
they are able to get the permit there would be enough money to complete the Byers Street Crossover.
Mayor Pro Tem Doyle asked if it would take that long to get the permit. Ms. Schleicher said she thinks it
will because of the need to coordinate with the homeowners association because they will be doing the
road opening. Ms. Doyle said she was told by Burke Day that he can help us get that done. Mr. Wilson
said yes he can help us get the permit for the crossovers. He said the problem comes from citizens in
section II of the Racquet Club wanting to open up the roadway. He said the conveyance of all of his
stormwater goes off of Bay and Byers so he has to address that first before they open the right of way.
Mayor Buelterman asked of the crossovers were under a 7 year life cycle. Mr. Wilson said he based his
estimate on a 15 year lifecycle. Mayor Buelterman said he is for the non wood synthetic, last forever
decking. Mr. Brown said they have interlocking material now that doesn't require nails. Mr. Wilson said
the recycled plastic materials are getting better every day. He said the cost per linear foot of treated
lumber for material and labor is $128. Mr. Wilson said he would be glad to look into other materials but
the prices on the list are for treated wood. He said the cost for synthetic materials could be triple the
amount but it would last forever. Mr. Wolff said they should come out better in the long run using
recycled plastic because the primary cost is labor. Mr. Brewer said let's take a life cycle approach
instead of cheap and quick. He requested to see the numbers along with the life cycle impact so that
council can make an informed decision.
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Mr. Brown asked Mr. Wilson if he found the area on 13th and 14th Streets held a lot of water because
they were low. Mr. Wilson said on 10th and 11th Streets they have drainage and down the road on 12th,'
13th, 9th and 11th Streets they have gravity flow drainage fields into the dunes. He said they have been
there a number of years and their design is not as effective as he would like; they do work and they just
have to be blown out every once in a while. He said the sand dunes from the beach renourishment have
actually impeded the preexisting flow of stormwater that used to go off of the streets and onto the
beach. He said that's why DNR permits people to pump their water over the dune and into the dunes.
Mr. Wolff asked if Mr. Wilson had gotten any further on inter -dune discharge that was previously talked
about between 8th and 14th. Mr. Wilson said on Butler Avenue between 8th Street and on half way back
towards 7th Street it drains back towards 7th Street. He said between 8th and 9th it drains towards 9th. He
said the lowest invert elevation he has is on 7th Terrace. He said he has drain lines all the way down on
7th Street and it will drain. He said he cannot get drain lines down on 8th Street because they would be
sticking about 18 inches out of the ground because it is so low. Mr. Wolff asked if it was possible to get
DNR permission to dig out a retention area in the dunes. Mr. Wilson said the dunes are probably a
distance of 15 feet from the lowest to the highest in that area. Mr. Wolff said he is talking about piping
through the first interior dunes and creating a retention area between them. Mr. Wilson said the DNR
will let you do that but you will have to use a directional bore and have some type of pumping system to
pump it out. Mr. Wilson said the retention area would not last long because the sand shifts and it would
fill up fast.
Mr. Brewer asked if there was inexpensive technology that could be utilized to alleviate the untreated
runoff from roads into the marsh buffers as we do these drainage improvements. Mr. Wilson said he is
working on a holistic approach to drainage on the island. He said the parking Tots and hwy 80 is where
you have the most traffic. He said the biggest pollutant you will find is what is called fines, which are
very fine particles. He said one aspect of addressing the fines is sweeping. He said the 2nd thing is trying
to install catch basin filtration systems which catch a lot of fines and trash at the top of the water shed.
He said he is upsizing the outfalls so they have retention. He said he is trying to leave grass swells
between Jones and Butler to slow the water flow down and allow it to percolate. He said he is working.
with UGA to start putting oyster beds at the end of the outfalls because they purify the water. He said
an oyster will purify two gallons of water in an hour. He said this could be an ecotourism project
because he needs help with it. He said they have located 13 sites at the end of the outfalls off of 80 and
on the island. He said in cooperation with the oyster shell reclamation center at DPW they could get
environmental groups, kayakers and 4 -H kids that can bag the oysters and go out and set them at low
tide at the outfalls. He said oysters will gravitate towards that location like seeds and they will get
started on it but oysters don't like silt and that's why he is trying to keep the fines from coming out by
sweeping, catch basin filtration and grass swells. Mr. Brewer asked if fines filtration systems had already
been installed. Mr. Wilson said yes they are installed on the Strand. He said there was a
misunderstanding with the contractor because he understood through Hussey, Gay, Bell and DeYoung
that they were supposed to be installed on every catch basin. Mr. Brewer asked if Mr. Wilson would
bring photos of projects for future presentations. Mr. Wilson said yes he would. Mr. Brewer asked if any
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oyster banks had been installed. Mr. Wilson said they won't be installed until next year. He said he is
working with UGA at the Skidaway Institute to set up a plan and they are going to try for Grant money
next year to get started. He said that will give him time to get his outfalls upsized. He said you have to
have water flow in order to install them. Mr. Wilson said Mr. Daniels from the Skidaway institute has
installed some out on Horsepen Creek where a boathouse is located and you can see along the bank at
low tide that the oysters have started to grow.
Mr. Wolff asked how the catch basins are working. Mr. Wilson said they are working and doing their job.
He said he had them cleaned out again before the contractor left. He said he wants to see what happens
in the next 6 months during our summer season. Mr. Wilson said fines are the worst problem because
they are brought in on cars. Mr. Wolff said he recently heard asbestos from break shoes was also a
problem and this type of filter would filter that out. Mr. Wilson said the mercury, anti freeze and oils
adhere to the fines and if you can catch the fines you are eliminating a lot of your heavy metals. He said
he thinks it would probably catch the asbestos because there are a lot of new effective filtration systems
out there. Mr. Crone said most of the brake shoes used now do not contain asbestos.
Mr. Brewer suggested Ms. Schleicher and Mr. Wilson take pictures of the catch basins and oyster beds,
and do a little PR to the community to let them know we have this kind of technology working for us. He
said he would like to see our community talk about the things we are doing like: This is Joe working on
this project and take credit for the good things we are doing for the community and the environment.
Mr. Wilson said when they start doing the oyster beds they can have tourist that want to leave a
footprint on our island participate in bagging and putting the oyster shells out. He said when they come
back years later they can say, hey look what I did. Mr. Brewer said we talk about helping businesses and
promoting our Island and there are a lot of ways to get creative. Mayor Buelterman asked Ms.
Schleicher to have Michael do a press release on that. Mr. Crone said we could give the restaurants the
bags to collect shells in. Ms. Schleicher said we should give Joe credit where credit is due. Everyone
agreed. Mr. Wilson said he isn't looking for credit but just wants to take a holistic approach to
stormwater because we have the best filtration system by having the Marsh out there.
Mayor Buelterman asked for a list to be generated titled task list. He said number one will be to have
Michael do a press release. Ms. Schleicher said it will get done this week. Mayor Buelterman asked for
the 2 "d item on the list to be what council needs to do to get the 14th Street repaving and drainage
going. Ms. Schleicher said basically if there are no objections to Joe's list then he can proceed because
the money is already in the budget. Mayor Buelterman asked for an estimate of cost increase for the
Crossovers on the list to be built out of synthetic material. Mr. Wilson said he would run the numbers
up.
Mr. Smith said earlier this month he met with Ms. Allen and Courtney Power who did the Master Plan
for us. He said they discussed a storm water utility and the funding that could be generated from a
storm water utility. He said Ms. Power told him a feasibility study would cost $4,800. He said a storm
water utility could generate $200,000 a year as it has in several small cities in Georgia. He said he would
like to see them move forward with having her do the feasibility study for us. Mr. Wilson said we are
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under Chatham County now because they are a phase I utility. He said they do a lot of our legal and
administrative work for us. He said he does the MS4 every year along with filling out the reports and
conduct inspections for them. He said he would feel comfortable being underneath Chatham County for
now along with the other 6 cities that are in the county. Ms. Allen said it would stay that way. She said,
the creation of a Storm water utility has nothing to do with permitting. The separation of the stand
alone utility is to leave the city accountable. Mayor Buelterman said he doesn't have a problem with
looking into that as long as it doesn't delay them getting one of these plans knocked out. Mr. Smith said
it's just a way to obtain the $200,000 we are planning to spend on them. Mayor Buelterman said it
wouldn't slow Joe down in going out to get bids on the projects. Ms. Allen said when the Tour De
Georgia is over she will meet with the City Manager and walk her through the proposal. Ms. Schleicher
agreed.
Mr. Brewer asked for a schedule with timelines to share with the community to show the city's
commitment to get it done and also advise the community months in advance that their streets will
have work done so they can prepare for it.
Strand Update
Mr. Wilson said they are addressing signage issues. Mayor Buelterman asked if it was because skate
boarders are skating on it because they don't have anywhere else to go because it is illegal to skate on
Tybee Island. Mr. Wilson said he was putting up a sign saying no bicycles on the sidewalk and people
rode right past him. Mayor Buelterman said that's why communities build skate parks and it isn't
because the kids want it but it's because they have problems with kids skating on nice stuff that gets
ruined. Mayor Buelterman asked what the total cost was for the project. Ms. Schleicher said the
contract was for $1.3 million. She said we also lost the grant for the sidewalks. She said you add in the
power company's contract for $50,000. She said you were looking at a hardscape budget of $1.4 million
and you had $1.7 million in the budget between SPLOST, Grant and the General Fund. She said they lost
the grant and the change orders totaled $126,000 including the $72,000 for the sidewalks. She said the
figures reflect that change orders totaled less than 10 %. Mr. Wolff asked if Georgia Power was fixing the
light posts and sidewalk surrounds. Ms. Schleicher said they have done as much as they are going to do
with leveling the lampposts. She said every light works. Mr. Brown asked if they were going to fix the
patchwork around the base of the light on the Southend as Mr. Lovett asked them to do. Ms. Schleicher
said they may have to revisit that have them come and work on it. Mr. Brown said they were asked to
cold joint the cold joint. Mr. Brown asked if Mr. Wilson's, DPW's and Water and Sewer's time had been
figured in the hard cost of the project. Mr. Brown said all of the staff time including Ms. Schleicher
should be calculated into that project's cost. Ms. Schleicher said she did include the direct labor cost on
the compactor site. She said they can discuss all of the cost at the Infrastructure committee meeting.
Mr. Brown asked if scuppers were cut into the block wall by Tybrisa parking lot in order to allow the
water from the parking lot on Tybrisa to drain over the top of the sidewalk into the catch basin at 16th
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Street. Ms. Schleicher said yes. Mr. Brown asked why we spent $4,000 or so to catch the gutters going
from the other side. Ms. Schleicher said Hussey, Gay & Bell said that we should allow them because its
only rain water and rain water sheets everywhere. She said the only water we should control is the
water coming off of drains and is condensation like. She said when it rains it sheets and what is coming
off of the parking lot is just rain water. Mr. Brown said he would like to ask Hussey, Gay & Bell about all
of the gas and oil leaking off of that parking lot and what it will do when it runs across our brand new
sidewalk. He said he understood the reason to be it kept the blank sheets of water from creating
slippery spots on the sidewalks and now they are saying it's alright for the oil and grease from Tybrisa to
go underneath those scuppers and across the sidewalk. Ms. Schleicher said she had that discussion with
the engineer because Mr. Wilson had a problem with it but the engineer thought it should be allowed
and we couldn't block it because it had always gone across there and was just rain water. Mr. Brown
asked why we didn't put a catch basin in there to tie it to storm water drains underneath the sidewalk
like we did for the other side. Ms. Schleicher said according to our engineer it is a different kind of
water.
Mayor Pro Tem Doyle asked where we are with the trash compactor. She asked if certain people are
being allowed to keep their roll -offs. Ms. Schleicher said Mr. Wilson can tell Council about the schedule
on the compactors but they are going to be located behind the Sea Breeze in the city right of way and
behind Chu's convenience store on Lovell. She said they will have an eight yard compactor behind Chu's
and two eight yard compactors behind the Sea Breeze. Mr. Wilson said the compactors will probably be
in place in about three weeks. Ms. Schleicher said enforcement concerning carts in the overlay district is
handled by policy and procedures and it is hard to conduct enforcement unless you have ordinances in
place. She said our current ordinance says you cannot have a cart on the curb at the Street more than 24
hours. She said there have been businesses in the past that have stored their carts on the Street
because there was no alternative. She said we have now given them an alternative. She said if we had
the compactors in place we would have enforced the policy equally. Mr. Brewer said lately because of
his business he has been on the strand at 2:OOam and it's a zoo. He said when the bars close people are
in the Street yelling and getting sick and stupid. He requested Ms. Schleicher have police personnel on
that Street to provide enforcement. Mr. Brewer said another problem he has observed is blowing trash
in the morning. He requested Ms. Schleicher have someone from DPW go down on Tybrisa and the
Strand in the morning and pick up the garbage that is left from the weekends and blowing around. Mr.
Brewer asked about the hump in front of Doc's Bar. Ms. Schleicher said the hump in front of Doc's
functions two ways with one being it's a speed hump and the other is it's a pedestrian crossing and it
functions to slow cars down and let people know. She said it also improves the drainage on Tybrisa. Ms.
Schleicher said the ultimate solution for blowing trash is not having the carts in the street. She said we
do need to do more garbage pickup but up to 80% of the blowing trash will be addressed by not
allowing carts in that district. She said you will have 1% of the businesses complain about having to take
their garbage to the compactors but we have spent 1.7 million dollars and they need to change their
way of doing business. Mr. Wolff asked about the ash trays. Ms. Schleicher said she ordered 15 ashtrays
and they should come in next week.
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Brannyn Allen said she and Mr. Hughes have drafted the language for the overlay district but the Tour
de Georgia event took priority along with additional obligations. She plans to present the ordinance to
Planning Commission in May. She said the area the overlay district will apply to will be what they are
calling the South End District from 14th down to 17th and the Strand to Butler. It will change the zoning
requirements for instance it would apply to trashcans on the sidewalk, storage of trashcans, the use of
the compactors, landscaping requirements, allowing for outdoor dining and addressing signage in the
district. She said it is a land use tool that acts as an economic development tool. Mr. Wolff asked if we '
are prorating the cost of the compactors to the businesses that are using them so that we are getting
out of garbage billing. Ms. Allen said we are trying to model what the City has done on River Street
which is just to charge the businesses what they would have paid for dumpsters or roll -offs.
Mr. Brewer asked for an assessment of implementing the Master Plan. He said he wants to hear that we
are working on it day to day and the community will know that we are not waiting to one day throw a
switch and implement the master plan. He said he would like for the message to go out that the Masteer
Plan is not an on or off but an ongoing series of activities. Ms. Allen said they started implementing the
Master Plan before it was even adopted. She said anything they can do to get the word out will be
helpful but council needs to understand this will not be a weekly update. She said they will not be able''.
to go down the short term work program on a weekly basis. She said even though it says short term it is
5 years. She said starting with the May 8th council meeting they will see a reference as to what zoning
district a petition is in and what character area is it in according to the master plan. She said the analysis
will be based on compatibility for zoning as well as compatibility of character area. She said the update
she gives at the meeting in May will not only be a department report but will include progress on the
plan. She said three of the first five issues on the short term work program have been completed. Mr.
Brewer said the only way to change this Island is to put out a very strong statement about the things
that are being done and are being done well. He said as long as the statement isn't made and there is a
lack of communication to the community then the extremist kind of groups will stand up and make
comments taking up a lot of time. He said this will be dealt with if we will just let the people know the
good things that are being done in our community.
Ms. Doyle asked if it would be possible to do quarterly or semi - annual reports on the Master Plan. Ms.
Allen said she would include reports on the Master Plan when she submitted her department quarterly
reports to council. She said it's important to not tie the Master Plan in with just her department because
it is city wide. Mr. Brown asked if Ms. Allen was working on a plan for the C -2 district. Ms. Allen said the
better hometown coordinator would be working on economic development in what is identified in the
master plan as the two business districts.
Ms. Doyle asked if the coordinator could work with DOT to address some type of crosswalks in the C -2
district where people are afraid to cross the street. Mr. Brown said increased Police presence is needed
there to slow people down. Mr. Wolff said the DOT has maintained that one is not needed because of
our traffic count but he believes DOT is not conducting the count during the summer season. Mayor
Buelterman said when we do the $150,000 project we could just get permission from DOT and come up
with an additional $15,000 to do one more and it will solve the problem. Mr. Brown requested the
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patrol car be parked there on busy days to slow people down. Mayor Buelterman asked that items from
the work session be placed on a City Council Work Shop Punch List for City Manager Diane Schleicher to
address. Mayor Buelterman said his item on the list would be to look into adding crosswalks and a
flashing light down there. Ms. Schleicher asked if City Council would like for her to send a letter to the
DOT requesting a crosswalk on Hwy 80 in that busy area. Mayor and Council said yes. Ms. Doyle said
McKenzie Street would probably be the best location for a crosswalk.
Mr. Brewer asked Ms. Allen about small businesses wanting to serve wine to visitors at their shops and
what ordinance addresses the prohibition of it. Ms. Alien said it is not in our ordinance but it is a state
law. She said they have to have an alcohol license where they are transacting business. She said that
was the directive from the Department of Revenue. Ms. Allen said a representative of the Department
of Revenue will come to a meeting in May and answer questions. Mr. Brewer said at the C -2 district on
Hwy 80 people are always parking in the fire lanes and blocking the view of people trying to get out onto
Hwy 80. He requested yellow striping be painted on these areas to alert visitors that no parking is
allowed there. Ms. Allen said Mr. Wilson was already talking about striping those areas to allow visitors
a clear line of vision for the driveways and defining where the no parking areas are. Mr. Brown said
there is a trailer parked at Lullwater that has been hit by cars twice. Ms. Schleicher said they are hoping
DOT will allow the city to put white or yellow striping on those areas. She said they are planning to come
to city council with an ordinance prohibiting overnight parking of boats, trailers and trucks on Hwy 80.
She said this will make it easier for Mr. Wilson and his crew to sweep the streets and clean out the storm
drains early in the morning.
Mr. Smith asked when council was going to allow Ms. Allen to start looking for a better hometown
coordinator. He said he would like to see this person in place about the same time as the presentation .
of the overlay district. Mr. Wolff said there is a lot of grant money out there for better hometowns. Ms.
Schleicher explained it would have been nice to have that person in place to coordinate the tour de
Georgia events. Ms. Allen said the sole purpose for the existence of a better hometown coordinator is
to act as a liaison between the city and the businesses. She said it is a fantastic program that has paid for
itself many times over in other communities. Mr. Brown asked if this would eliminate the Economic
Development Committee. Ms. Allen said in order to be designated a better hometown it requires a
better hometown board of directors. Mr. Smith requested the better hometown coordinator position be
put on the next agenda for city business. Mr. Smith asked that the way - finding signs be implemented at
the same time. Ms. Allen said an RFP is being put together for the way - finding signs.
Ms. Allen said she would like to have a draft of the entire re write of the Land Development Code
submitted for council's review by the end of May. Mr. Brewer asked if Ms. Allen intended on additional
streamlining of the system for petitions to council. Ms. Allen said there is a lot more to be streamlined.
She said she has done what she can with the ordinances we have in place. She said it will take some
amendments to the Land Development Code and the Planning Commission by laws to finalize some of
the streamlining. Mr. Brewer said he would like to see something define what really needs to come
through the ordinance process. Ms. Allen said that is one of the ordinance amendments that she has
spoken about and it will be presented in May.
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Ms. Schleicher asked at which meeting the hometown coordinator position should be placed on the
agenda. Mayor Buelterman said the 2nd meeting in May under new business.
Ms. Allen said she is not ready to present the recommendations for facility fees. She said the numbers
the she and John Redmond worked on factored in the parks which are the most expensive community
facility that they oversee. She said the numbers reflected we are at about a two hundred thousand
dollar deficit annually. She said she would like direction about how to handle the facilities and maybe
evaluate the fees. Mr. Brewer said recently one of the groups said they wanted to have the use of one of
the facilities because they had done yard work and landscaping. Ms. Allen said in talking with Ms.
Sessions at Hands on Savannah she said there is a dollar amount value placed on volunteer work and
they use it for grants all of the time but they have never used it for facilities but she doesn't see why
they couldn't. She said for instance if someone puts in sixty hours what does that equate to in real
dollars and would that then be used to offset facility fees. Mr. Brewer said we need to recognize good
contributions by volunteers. Mr. Wolff referred to a letter submitted by Tybee Beautification in which
they said they logged 283 hours this year which is $5,300 worth of service to the community. He said
they are the ones picking up trash on the side of the road. He said we need to distinguish between local
non profits and quantify what they are doing for the island in terms of hours spent on public projects.
He said we need to work with some of the business oriented outfits like the marriage brokers or
whatever to promote usage of city facilities like the guard house or cafeteria for wedding venues. Mayor
Buelterman said this sounds like a job for the better hometown coordinator. Mr. Brewer said we need',
to define an actual usage fee using the maintenance, utility bills and monthly insurance fees to
determine a figure for rental or trade off of services. Mr. Wolff said residents need a better rate
because their property taxes are helping to pay for the facilities. Mr. Brown said if non profits request,
to use the buildings we should let them. Mr. Wolff said can we ask that any non profit interested in
using the guard house submit a formal request to the city and include hours of volunteer work
completed. Mr. Crone said they won't be able to use it if it is already booked. Mr. Wolff said most
meetings are conducted on weekday afternoons. Mr. Wolff asked if we are charging the Arts Association
for use of the teen center building. Ms. Schleicher answered no and said the Association has never paid
to use the other room. Mr. Wolff said there you go everyone else will raise cane if we charge them for
facility use. Ms. Schleicher said the only buildings being charged for use are the guard house and the
gym. She said the Historical Society pays the fee for using the guard house for their meetings.
Ms. Kline said she was asked to look at the Water and Garbage funds and see what it would take to
make them self sufficient. She said she has identified two areas where both funds have borrowed
money from the general fund. She said she is putting together an RFP for garbage services to hopefully
get a few people to bid on it. She said there are some issues where waste management is charging us
versus the number of carts we can verify. She said the fund borrowed three hundred thousand dollars
from the general fund for the water dept. She said if they assessed all three thousand water accounts a
one hundred dollar charge it would wipe out that entire amount. Mr. Wolff asked if the deficit isn't
currently two hundred thousand dollars based on the current rates. Ms. Kline said yes. He said what we
may be looking at is incorporating a two or three year plan that will incorporate the loan and the deficit
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on an annual basis so that we are solvent from now on and do the COLA that will hopefully keep up. M.
Schleicher explained that the purpose of Ms. Kline's proposal was to show with the gap that we are
basically talking about five dollars a customer. She said when we go to tiered rates and get some money
in a capital account it will not be the big monster everyone is afraid of. She asked council to consider
possibly going ahead and putting a surcharge per meter while we are waiting for the rate study. She said
our water bonds have a requirement that we put away some capital money and we are not in
compliance with our bonds. She said if we are on a by- monthly billing it will be $9.76 a customer and
when we go to monthly billing it will be $4.88. Mr. Smith said we are going to have to add to our
treatment plant and the only way to accomplish that is through bonds and if we are not in compliance
with this bond, won't that bonding authority look at us strange. Mr. Wolff said there is a mandate this
year to implement conservation rate structures statewide so we can't just do a flat increase, we have to
incorporate this into the tiered rate study that we are doing. Ms. Schleicher said we are going to do
both. Mr. Brewer said he is concerned about everyone paying the same per meter charge without it
being based on water consumption. He said you have the little retired lady living by herself that uses
fifty gallons a month and a large business is using three thousand. He said it should be based on a
proportional scale. Mr. Smith said this is an ongoing problem that we have had for years and we do not
know who used what of the three hundred thousand dollars so a per meter charge is the fairest way and
the easiest way. Mr. Brewer said we should wait until we get the tiered structure and use this three
hundred thousand as a rate rider that will ride on it for a period of time to recover that money and
everyone will pay their fair share at the appropriate scale. Ms. Schleicher said even though the rate
study is due in June you may not get it on the books until July. Mayor Buelterman said since this is time
sensitive we could have it on both meetings and it would be approved within a month.
Ms. Kline said she used the number of carts instead of the number of customers because there is a
variance in numbers. Mayor Buelterman said the city subsidizes the sanitary fund for one hundred and
fifty thousand dollars. Ms. Kline said she is working on an RFP for recycling, dry trash, etc. and she will
ask people to bid on the services separately. Mr. Wolff said he feels this is something they can address
now because he thinks the bids will not be that far off of what we pay now. Mr. Brown asked if this will
get rid of the wal -mart garbage cans that are sitting by the curbs. Ms. Schleicher said there should be nio
wal -mart garbage cans sitting beside the curbs. Ms. Schleicher said the City Marshal should be enforcing
this and she will put it on the list. Mr. Wolff said this is an enterprise fund and there should be no
subsidies for anyone because this fund is supposed to be self sufficient. He said self sufficient is where
we need to go with it. Mayor Buelterman said this could be an incentive for businesses to utilize the
compactors. Mr. Wolff asked if we are going to charge the businesses enough to pay for the compactors.
He said we want to be fair to the businesses but the businesses need to pay their full weight of what we
are paying for the compactors. Ms Schleicher said she believes it will work that way because we will own
the compactor and the businesses will pay for the haul charge.
Mr. Brewer asked how much we subsidize the recycling program on Tybee. Mr. Smith said we subsidize
it by forty thousand dollars. He said the citizens pay seventy five thousand dollars. Mr. Brewer requested
clarity on just what the recycling program cost the city. He said he wants assurance that if we are paying
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them to pick up recycling it is actually making it to the recycling center and not being hauled to the
dump. Mr. Wolff said he talked with the people that run the county solid waste program and they are
considering doing recycling for the Islands. He said he asked if they would be willing to let Tybee piggy
back on their program and they said yes. Ms. Schleicher said she was told by waste management that
because they have a regular truck picking up recyclables the public perception is that they are not being
recycled. She said she was told the recyclables do go to a recycling center to be sorted. Mr. Brown said
he saw them take a recycling container and dump it in the back of the regular garbage truck with the
regular garbage container. Mr. Wolff asked If Ms. Kline is looking into how much it will cost to do our
own recycling as part of the bid process. Ms. Kline said yes. Ms. Doyle said all of this is in the process and
let's give Ms. Kline a chance to get this done. Ms. Schleicher asked if the rate change should be on the
agenda for the 2nd meeting in May. Mayor Buelterman said yes and council agreed to select the middle
option increase of $3.96 monthly and retire the amount by 6/30/09.
Mr. Hemphill said he was asked to come up with a plan to bridge the gap between where we were at
the end of fiscal year 2007 and going into 2008 at the campground. He said he understands there was a
three hundred and thirty thousand dollar shortfall and we need to come up with a capital plan or
revenue plan for how we can bridge that gap. He gave council a plan for a three phase process. He said
the first and least expensive is to add sewer to existing sites that have electric and water. He said they
would pay for themselves the first year. He said they could possibly add cabins at the campground which
previously had been good revenue providers. He recommended putting the cabins around the
swimming pool to eliminate the party atmosphere. He said the dimensions of the cabins he looked at
were 12 feet wide by 30 feet deep and they sleep about four people. He said the third item is the
campground expansion and he has worked with the engineer to bring the cost down since their earlier
bid came back as eighty thousand dollars over the budgeted amount.
Mayor Buelterman asked about zoning at the campground. Ms. Schleicher said the re- zoning of the
campground will be part of Ms. Allen's work on the Land Development Code. Mr. Brewer asked if the
payback included the cost of outfitting the cabins. Mr. Hemphill said no the cost to put refrigerators and
furnishings would be additional. He said campers would be required to bring their own food preparation
and linen items. Mr. Brown asked if they sell those items at the camp store. Mr. Hemphill said yes.
Mr. Smith asked about use of laundry facilities. Mr. Hemphill said we currently have one Laundromat
and a portion of the new bathhouse will be an additional laundry facility. He said they presently have
four washers and four dryers and during the summer it is a long wait and they definitely need more. Mr.
Smith said in talking with the campers over last weekend the only complaint they had was the ladies
bathroom not having stalls. Mr. Hemphill said about fifty percent of the people love the bathroom
because they can go in and lock the door and use the toilet, sink and shower in one room but when you
consider there are one hundred and sixteen sites their wait can be too long. Mr. Brown asked if Mr.
Hemphill had considered a modular bathroom. Mr. Hemphill said the modular bathrooms require a lot
of maintenance compared to a concrete block permanent structure.
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Mayor Buelterman asked for Mr. Hemphill to prioritize the items on the list. Mr. Hemphill said the first
item to add sewer to existing sites would yield the quickest payback but the second item would probably
make more money but he is concerned about the turnaround coming into the season. Mr. Wolff asked if
Mr. Hemphill was planning on doing these during the fall season. Mr. Hemphill said they can do it either
way. Mr. Wolff said we have a new budget coming up in July. Mr. Wolff asked if Mr. Hemphill could
accomplish the first two listed items without stretching it too much. Mr. Hemphill said yes. Mayor
Buelterman said doing the first item is a no brainer. Mr. Hemphill said since this budget has enough to
get the sewer hook ups done we could focus on that item and plan on the others later during budget
planning.
Mr. Wolff asked about the campgrounds cash flow this year. Mr. Hemphill said they were up five
thousand dollars in March compared to last year. He said overall he would guess they are right where'.
they were last year at this time which is around one hundred and fifty thousand dollars through March.
Mr. Brown requested a hard number on putting in the sewer lines to the existing campsites. Mayor
Buelterman asked why we would go ahead with items one and two and not consider number three. Ms.
Schleicher said Mr. Hemphill could go ahead with items one and two and not need additional staff
because the improvements would be to existing sites. She said they don't know if the expansion area
was part of a dump and what will be required to put sewer in; so they can do items one and two fairly
quickly to go ahead and close some of the revenue gap with the two hundred thousand that is already in
the budget. She said if the cost changes dramatically they will come back to council.
Mr. Smith asked Ms. Kline to find out how much in debt we are for the campground.
Ms. Schleicher asked for guidance from council on the new budget. Mayor Pro Tem Doyle said she
would like everyone on council to prioritize items for this next budget and she wants to have a budget
workshop to be able to have a discussion between council members and staff. Mr. Crone said his priority
is infrastructure and putting two hundred thousand in there is not going to get our infrastructure back !
where it needs to be.
Mr. Brewer asked who drives the budget to accomplish all the things that council approves. Ms.
Schleicher said when council approved the budget initially there was a bit if a freeze that delayed the
expansion of the campground. She said that ended up being a good thing and she feels there is always a
reason for the way things happen. She said now we are in the busy season and that is the reason for the
delay. She said the reason Mr. Wilson didn't move forward with his budgeted projects is that he was
finishing up the road study. She said since the bid for Ft. Screven came in under budget he knows there
is additional money from SPLOST that can be used for drainage. Mayor Buelterman asked what amount
should be set aside in contingency for a project. Ms. Schleicher said she thinks fifteen percent is the
lowest that should be set aside and some as high as twenty five percent depending on the project. She
said the accounting rule is you can't do greater than twenty five percent on change orders for a
government contract.
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Mayor Buelterman asked council for their opinion about having a retreat to set goals and priorities
somewhere off island. He said we may even consider a facilitator. Mr. Crone said he had attended three
meetings with facilitators and they hadn't facilitated anything. Ms. Doyle said it depends on who you get
to facilitate. Ms. Woods said she will compile the information on locations and facilitators for council't
review.
Ms. Schleicher gave council the Memorial Park Plan and report for discussion. Mayor Buelterman said
we should move forward with this in some way, shape or form. Mr. Brown asked what is wrong with the
way Memorial Park is now. Mayor Buelterman said let me start with the area where the turnaround is
adjacent to the playground; it is not safe. He said drainage is a problem and the rain garden idea is
wonderful. He said landscaping is not good and the trail is very small and there are no sidewalks. Mr.
Brewer said we have a great project by a group of volunteers. He said the former council asked the
group to put in concepts that were not going to be approved by the incoming council based on their pre-
stated positions during campaigning. He said Memorial Park needs improvements and he wants to get it
out of the political arena and make decent decisions on what's best for the future considering the cost
of the park. He said we don't have the budget for it. He said he would like to hear from the Veteran's
Memorial Committee now that the dog park is gone. He said they need a park plan that doesn't have the
skate park and dog park in it. He said his understanding is that most of council feel Memorial Park
should be centered around the memorial and that's why they removed the dog park.
Ms. Doyle asked about the rain garden cost and maintenance. Mr. Wolff said the rain garden would
solve the drainage problem in that low area. He said the gardens were positioned to buffer the
memorial area. Ms. Doyle asked if there was consideration given to putting slanted parking off of Jones.
Mr. Wolff said he thinks they decided to put parallel parking on Jones to buffer the bike trail and slow
down traffic on Jones. He said Gary Sanders said parallel parking actually serves as a traffic calming
device. He said they planned on a ten or fifteen foot walking and bike trail on the inside of the tree line
off of Jones. He said he doesn't know what to do about the sidewalk at the Fire Department because of
Chief Sasser's concerns. Mr. Smith said the Fire Department on Wilmington Island has a trail and
sidewalk in front of their driveway and he has never heard of there being an accident or mishap there.
Mr. Wolff said he agrees and the proposed location is the logical place to put it. He said when there is a
Fire Truck coming out of there the kids are going to see it.
Mr. Smith said when groups use the pavilion for an oyster roast they cannot bring their trucks in to
unload them. He said his other concern is the lack of a fence by the playground to keep children from
running towards Butler Ave. Ms. Doyle said the fence was a part of the original plan but because of
money they did not put it up and she agrees with Mr. Smith. Mr. Smith said he would like to see Jaycee
Park fenced for the same reason including keeping animals out. Mr. Wolff said there is a swinging gate
located at the end of the turnaround for loading and unloading only which would give access to the
pavilion.
Mayor Buelterman said if you compare Jaycee Park with Memorial Park you can see that Jaycee Park has
a master plan and it's beautiful and Memorial Park has been Hodge - podged for years. Mr. Brown said
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the group did a fine job on the plan it's just very expensive and he doesn't like the helicopter pad
location. Mr. Wolff said that is where Chief Sasser wanted the pad. Mr. Brewer said you wouldn't want
emergency vehicles on the grass because they are very heavy and you couldn't push a stretcher through
the grass. Ms. Schleicher said she talked with the Fire Chief and he said his SOP for an incoming
emergency helicopter is they send a fireman or lifeguard to clear the area and guide the helicopter in.
She said she offered to move the palm trees and she was told the helicopters don't want to be that close
to the power lines.
Mr. Brewer said he has seen a lot of parks with an amphitheater with outdoor circular seating to enable
groups to come in and have lectures. He said the movies in the park could be incorporated into an
amphitheater to give adults and children something to do. He said at some point council needs to look
at a list of all the attributes in the park and put a cost and prioritize them. He said he feels they have
several additional steps to go through. Mayor Buelterman said he feels the veterans' memorial at the
Jones Street location is a more tranquil setting but they need to ask the veterans group if they prefer the
other location on Butler. Mr. Crone said the veterans' memorial is a non issue because the group wants
it back on Jones. Mr. Wolff said the veterans' memorial was given priority and they are moving ahead .
with that project so he wants the first priority for the city to be addressing the drainage and parking
area. He said he thinks those will have to be done together in order to open up that space. Ms. Doyle
asked if that included the rain gardens. Mr. Wolff said yes the rain gardens are part of the drainage. Mr.
Brown said he thinks parallel parking on Jones is a bad idea. Mr. Wolff said Chief Price liked the parallel
parking. He said the savannah tree foundation said they would do another tree planting project here
once this plan is approved.
Mayor Buelterman asked if they could agree in principle with the plan. He said it would have to come
back to them for the money for the individual projects which they can vote on. Mr. Wolff said he thinks
there is an opportunity for a grant for the rain garden. Mayor Buelterman asked if the parking spaces
would be metered. Mr. Wolff said there will be a play and display on Jones.
Mr. Brewer asked if there was a plan for improving the restrooms in memorial park. He said improving
the restrooms is another fundamental thing that has to be done. Mayor Buelterman said we do have a
half million dollars coming in SPLOST and we can increase it to improve the restrooms. Ms. Schleicher
said Mr. Wilson is sending out RFPs to re- stucco and re -tile the bathrooms in the parks along with the
beachside ones to upgrade the bathrooms. She said that will include partitions in the ladies bathroom at
Jaycee Park. Mr. Crone said we have to use what we have because if we tear them down FEMA might
not let us build them back.
Mr. Smith said he would like for council to look at a conceptual approval of this plan without the
amenities that have been removed by council from the budget or park. He said let's get ideas of cost for
the drainage. Mr. Brown asked if they considered sub surface drains during this planning stage. Mr.
Wolff said they did not look at that and the DCA thought they could address all the drainage issues with
rain gardens and suggested we put a cistern in the middle of the park to use to irrigate the landscape.
Mayor Buelterman asked Ms. Bentley about the drainage. Ms. Bentley said the committee recognized
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they were not drainage experts and they recommended Tara Merrill be consulted because of her
expertise with green growth guidelines. Mayor Buelterman said when we approve the plan conceptually
we can ask the city engineer to look into the drainage in the park. Mayor Buelterman said to put this on
the agenda for the 2 "d meeting in May under new business and list it as conceptual approval.
Mr. Brown asked Ms. Bentley what they recommended to pave the sidewalk. Ms. Bentley said they
considered pervious material but decided they would recommend whatever is appropriate to make
them ADA compliant. Mr. Brown said grass block would work and they are ADA compliant. '
Mayor Buelterman said Diane and him met with Pete Liakakis and Russ Abolt just to let them know we
are interested in looking into the possibility of taking over the pier with the understanding that former
Mayor Walter Parker had tried to take over the pier before but couldn't sell the City Council on the idea.
He said we left the meeting with the agreement that Diane and Russ are going to figure out if the
revenue we can generate by creating a tax allocation district would be sufficient to pay for maintenance
and up keep. Ms. Schleicher said she has had a follow up meeting with Russ Abolt and there are some
negative things with one being she doesn't see the county doing any maintenance to it before we get it.
She said they seem to think they need to replace a few roof shingles and it's a go. She said they never
put money into a maintenance fund so basically they have been band - aiding it. She said they do not
insure the pier and they expect the only thing to be left from a storm would be the concrete abutments.
She said they had it engineered to hold a second story when it was built. She said the vendor's contract
is running out this fall and he is complaining about needing money to do this and that because it is
falling apart. Mayor Buelterman said the vendor is saying there are more people using the restrooms
because Tybee tore down theirs. Ms. Schleicher said she is concerned because it was expressed at both
meetings that they associate turning over the pier as being tied to us taking on CAT. Mayor Buelterman
said he believes there is a way to do it by figuring out the extra revenue that could be brought in by
creating a district using Tax Incremental Finance or Tax Allocation District in that area. He said we need
to find out how much we would need to pay in a premium to replace the pier if it were knocked out by a
storm. He said once you create that district instead of fifty percent of our tax money going to the county
the tax money from that district would come to us. Ms. Schleicher said that would have to be voted on
in a referendum by Tybee voters and they would need to understand this is tax money they pay anyway
the only difference is they are coming to Tybee. Mr. Smith said the tax district should just include the
overlay district. Ms. Schleicher said the pier is included in the overlay district. Ms. Schleicher said you
would take a revenue bond in anticipation of the TIF and go ahead and replace the roof; you anticipate
the increments to pay on the bonds. Mr. Brewer asked for someone from Carl Vinson that is an expert
on TIF and TAD to come to council and give them information. He said we have to be very careful not to
put ourselves in a bad situation but it is a common funding technique. Mayor Buelterman said they
might be willing to do the analysis for free. Mr. Wolff said Ms. Allen is knowledgeable about this tax
districts. He said Pam Jerdin is really good on tax districts; he has done them in Fitzgerald. Mayor
Buelterman said the tough sell is the county but he thinks it can be done by saying we will take over the
pier and you won't have to pay to replace it. Ms. Schleicher said Ms. Allen did this type of advising in her
previous position. Mr. Smith said you can get a tremendous amount of revenue from not only a
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convention center but also a restaurant in connection with the convention center. Mayor Buelterman
asked Ms. Allen to do a presentation on TIF and TAD and ask an expert from Atlanta to do an analysis of
what we can expect in the way of revenues. He asked Ms. Schleicher to determine the insurance cost.
Mr. Brewer said there have been issues about people submitting their resumes after deadlines and we
need to address that. He said we need to clean up the posting process first. Mayor Buelterman said now
there is like a fight between people wanting to be on committees. Mr. Wolff said the Planning
Commission is distinct from every other committee on the Island because they report most directly to us
and he agrees they should be appointed by council but as far as other committees they have skill sets
that he may or may not have. He said the Beach Task force, The Audit Committee, The Arts Commission,
Economic Development Committee and the Ethics obviously needs to remain independent. He said he
thinks those committees should ask for people to apply. He said they need to vet those and send them
to council for approval. He said he thinks that is fair to the committee people who have taken the time
to learn these things and they know what works together and what doesn't. Ms. Woods asked council
to formalize the process and require the committee chairman's to present recommendations to council
for new members and have council appoint them so that committee appointments become a part of the
record. Mr. Brewer said we seem to be getting a lot of politics in the committees. He said in reviewing
the audit committee minutes he was concerned with them developing policy and the membership being
heavily associated with one of the groups. He said they have more access to staff than he does. He said
they can audit a department and say tell me how you do that and why. He said council doesn't do that.
He said his impression from reading the minutes was there were a lot of policy issue discussions. He
asked if the committee went into departments and talked with department heads. Ms. Schleicher said
she thinks they are only talking with the Finance Director. Ms. Doyle said Mr. Smith is the council liaison
for the audit committee. Mr. Smith said he doesn't receive the notices of when the meetings are held.
Ms. Doyle asked who the chairman was. Mr. Smith said John Major. Ms. Doyle said he needs to let you
know. Mayor Buelterman asked Ms. Woods to put something together in writing and e-mail to council
for their review regarding the process for committee appointments.
Mayor Buelterman said it's important that we recognize the volunteers for the various committees. Mr.
Brown said he has volunteered all of his life and has never kept an hourly record of how much time he
spent. Mayor Buelterman said he would contact the chairman of the audit committee and let him know
he needs to contact the liaison about the meetings. Mr. Smith said Ms. Woods should be notified of all
committee meetings before the first of the month so they can be posted on the group calendar for
council.
Ms. Doyle asked if council liaisons should be reporting back to council on the committees. Mr. Wolff said
his experience is that the committees will ask the liaison to approach council if there is something they
want. Mr. Wolff said he thinks it is more appropriate for the chair of the committee to get on the
agenda with whatever request or information they want to share with council.
Mayor Buelterman went through the list of council requests as follows:
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Mr. Brewer requested Mr. Bodine do a press release about the oyster shells;
Mr. Wilson will move forward with the 14th Street paving and drainage;
Ms. Schleicher and Ms. Allen are going to get the Storm Water Utility Study moving forward;
Cost analysis of synthetic verses wood crossovers;
City Council is going to support the City Manager in moving forward with the trash compactor;
Crosswalks at Hwy 80 -Letter to DOT
Hometown Coordinator position on the agenda for the 2nd meeting in May under new business;
Having Georgia Power Pay for fixing the sidewalk rather than a patch job;
Move forward with the middle option on the Sanitary Fund;
Move forward with items one and two on the campground using money from the budget;
Conceptual approval of the Memorial Park Plan on the agenda for the 2nd meeting in May;
Ms. Allen is to give a report on TAD and TIF and getting GMA or Carl Vinson to do the revenue analysis;
Mayor will contact John Major to make sure he lets Ms. Woods know about the audit meetings;
Ms. Woods will come up with a methodology for appointing members to committees;
Confirming that recycled waste is going to a recycling facility;
Striping the fire lanes on Hwy 80;
Ms. Allen will address the master plan while doing her department reports.
Mr. Brown asked why the power lines weren't buried on 16th Street while they were addressing the
power lines on the Strand. Ms. Schleicher said they tried that and it had to do with a voltage change
when you go with the transformers that would have affected the businesses. She said their experience
is when you go with that you have to give the businesses a three year lead time because they have to
change out their appliances. She said they did a survey of the businesses and determined they had old
appliances such as air conditioners. She said and also in order to be able to go underground and reach
these transformers it would take time to get to them because of easements. She said they worked on it
from four to six months to try to get it underground with a private electrical consultant and with Georgia
Power.
Mayor Buelterman adjourned the meeting.
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Vivian 0. Woods, Clerk of Council
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or Jason Buelterman
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