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HomeMy Public PortalAbout20100722 Minutes Minutes prepared 9/14/10vw Page 1 of 7 20100722 City Council Minutes DRAFT Mayor Buelterman called the Consent Agenda meeting to order at 6:30pm on Thursday, July 22, 2010. Council Members present were Mayor pro tem Shirley Sessions, Wanda Doyle, Bill Garbett, Frank Schuman, Sr., Kathryn Williams and Paul Wolff. Also present were City Attorney Bubba Hughes, City Manager Diane Schleicher and Zoning Director Jonathan Lynn. Mayor Buelterman listed the following items on the Consent Agenda:  Community Resource Committee Appointment-Libby Bacon CORE MPO Citizen’s Advisory Committee-Clerk is to advertise 2 openings with a deadline of Friday, August 6, 2010-Appointments will be made August 12th. Application for Special Event Beer/Wine Alcohol License. Applicant: Susan Smith for Savannah Area Chamber of Commerce Location: Tybrisa Pier & Pavilion Date: 8/19/2010. Special Event Application for 2011 Tybee Wine Festival Date: April 15-17 Applicant: Friends of the Tybee Theater Location: Tybee Lighthouse grounds. Special Event Application for Lights on For Tybee Date: December 3, 2010, 6:30pm Applicant: Tybee Island Better Hometown Location: Tybrisa Roundabout Special Event Application for Tybee Holiday Parade Date: December 4, 2010 11:00am Applicant: Tybee Island Better Hometown Location: 5th Street to Butler to end at Strand. Memorandum of Understanding with Georgia Main Street Program Resolution authorizing Georgia Fund 1 to transfer our monthly LOST money into our new Suntrust Account. Tybee Island Memorial Historical Cemetery Guidelines and Regulations Chatham County Letter/Resolution-Hwy 80-Added to Meeting Minutes A presentation was given by the Department of Natural Resources outlining ways the DNR provides information and resources to the public. Presenters were Brad Gane, Karl Burgess and Sonny Edwards. Mayor Buelterman adjourned the Consent Agenda. Mayor Buelterman called the regular meeting of the City Council to order at 7:10pm. Those present at the Consent Agenda were also in attendance for the regular meeting. Hank Perry of Trinity Chapel gave the invocation and everyone recited the Pledge of Allegiance to the Flag. Mayor’s Announcements Mayor Buelterman thanked city staff that participated in the Hurricane exercise conducted on July 14th. He said it went very well and we learned a lot of lessons but overall we are prepared. Wanda Doyle said the Public Safety Committee was briefed on the exercise by Jimmy Brown and had requested he give a presentation to council after all of the final determinations are made. Proclamations and Recognitions Minutes prepared 9/14/10vw Page 2 of 7 Mayor Buelterman announced John Dowell as Employee of the 1st Quarter of 2010-John works in the Water/Sewer Department. Mayor Buelterman announced Sandy Herring as Employee of the 2nd Quarter of 2010-Sandy works in the Department of Public Works. Martha Reimann of the Department of Cultural Affairs presented the Main Street-Better Hometown Designation to the City of Tybee. Mayor Buelterman recognized Chantel Morten and the BHT Board members for their hard work on getting this designation. Reports of Staff, Boards, Standing Committees and/or Invited Guests Woody Hemphill presented the Monthly Financial Report for the River’s End Campground ending June 30, 2010. Chantel Morton gave an update on the Better Hometown Initiative. Citizens to be heard Mr. Mark Trotter said initially he was requesting an amendment to the code to allow a beach chair rental business on 6th Street and 7th Street. He said after meeting with the City Manager and hearing the issues of having a rental business in a residential area he wanted to amend his request to be a North Beach Location for his business. He observed that there were approximately 700 to 1,000 people on that section of the beach on each day that he visited that area. Lisa McKenzie addressed the North Beach Grill situation. She said she has no personal agenda here but was a concerned citizen that felt she should come and speak. She said when she first heard about the situation of a city official leasing the North Beach Grill through a lease governed by the city at an extremely low below market rent she was floored. She said it doesn’t matter who the official is but what does matter is the impropriety of the situation. She said the outside attorney hired to review this case and in his opinion quoted several decisions in cases such as these that have gone before the Supreme Court and were found to be unethical. He also points out that our own Tybee Ethics Ordinance Section 23-3/23-4 and 23-8 would not allow for this situation to be legal. He further points to Georgia Law O.C.G.A. 36-30-3, which essentially states the same thing. He then tells the city how to correct the issue with our city official staying in the lease and staying on council. She explained that the attorney recommended a blind trust be established that allows for the other partner involved in the business to be the managing partner thereby eliminating the appearance of impropriety. She said business licenses and alcohol license have already been issued for this business and the reason the other partner did not submit the applications is because of being in default on his lease payments to the city . She asked if those issues had been resolved and whose name the business was in. She said she understood that the city had offers to buy out the lease and if the managing partner was in default from back rent then the original lease would have been made null and void and could have essentially been terminated at that time back in 2009. She said if another attorney has to tell the the city how to fix an unethical situation then that in itself is unethical. She said this situation will come under scrutiny and open a can of worms for each construction repair, advertising, voting on council regarding event permits or paving of the North Beach Grill parking lot because all of our events in theory could take business away from the North Beach Grill which would intern affect the vote of this council member. She said she also questions our Minutes prepared 9/14/10vw Page 3 of 7 Ethics Commission and council going into Executive Session to discuss this and vote on it because she thought it was illegal to vote in Executive Session on anything except to buy real estate. She asked how a consensus of opinion differs from an actual vote and she is not sure this is not a violation of the Georgia Open Meetings Act. She said in reading the minutes from the Ethics Commission Meeting, they had two members resign from the Forever Tybee Organization in order to vote on this matter even though one member stated that they still remain close personal friends of some years standing of the official. These two Commission members supported this council member during the election vigorously and even if they resign from the forever Tybee organization; are they still a member of the Tybee neighbors group which is another organization that supported this council member very loudly and clearly. How can their vote not be construed as biased? Ms. McKensie asked how this city could allow this lease not to be renegotiated to reflect market value when it came up for renewal the last time. She said the rent is $1,200 a month which is about $14,400 a year. The market rent on this property due to its location is about $4,000 monthly with an annual income of around $48,000 a year and if you tack on a percentage of monthly sales it could even be higher. She said she knows council just approved a budget with lots of cuts in order to balance it and she knows one of the things cut were salaries for long time city employees. She thinks it would behoove the city to get a better understanding of real estate transactions in order to help out our revenue issues. She asked why a city employee should have to suffer when this should be a $50,000 a year lease. She said if she were a fellow city council member, she might resent the fact that she was put into the unnecessary position of deciding whether or not the city council person in question is indulging in unethical behavior or is using the city lease for personal gain. She said council worked very hard to get elected and ran on the platform of clear, open and transparent government and most were supported by the forever Tybee organization and were very vocal about the ethics of the past councils, even purchasing bumper stickers that read “Got Ethics”. She said this attorney has given you seven examples stating that this is illegal and unethical. Now as council members you are faced with an actual real life ethics dilemma involving one of your own. Mayor pro tem Sessions asked Mr. Hughes to address whether this situation was illegal or unethical. Mr. Hughes said Ms. McKensie was referring to the opinion of Mr. McRea and some of the cases he discussed in the letter. Mr. Hughes said he had a conflict so some of the issues were referred to Mr. McRea for his opinion. Mr. Hughes said if a council member has a financial interest in a transaction that the government is involved in, in a contract sense it is void because it is not lawful. He said it it is not illegal in the sense that there was a crime committed. Cathy Liberatori and Carol Husein requested to conduct a stand up paddleboard rental business and provide instructions on the beach. Ms. Husein explained their business plan to council. Ms. Schleicher asked what location they planned to run their business out of. Ms. Husein said they are flexible but ideally it would be where the public could access them; possibly on either side of the pier or at North Beach. Mr. Garbett said the ordinance at Tybee limits the number of beach businesses located on the beach and there are a number of existing businesses that rent paddleboards. He asked if they would consider not actually being on the beach. Mayor Buelterman explained that there have been a number of people requesting to sell wares on the beach etc. but he believes they have been turned down out of respect for the existing business owners that pay taxes on Tybee. Ms. Husein said they are not opposed to a store front and are planning on eventually eventually having a designated store for just paddle boarding but even the initial investment for equipment to rent on the beach is huge and they are footing the expense themselves. She explained the boards are usually twelve feet long and are very unwieldy to carry Minutes prepared 9/14/10vw Page 4 of 7 especially if there is a strong wind and most people do not have a rack system on their vehicles that could handle this type of board. Mr. Wolff suggested they consider a business plan much like the Kayak businesses that transport their kayaks to a central location for customers to be able to utilize them without having to carry them and would allow Ms. Husein and Ms. Liberatori to have their business located in a remote location. Ms. Husein said the problem is people don’t know what they are unless they see them. She said she recently bought a truck to haul equipment and the trailer idea has been on their minds. Ms. Liberatori said they can rent a storefront but they need the visibility of the beach. Mr. Frank Kelly addressed council concerning the beach chair rental business request. He said the existing beach rental businesses do not have trash receptacles or cigarette butt receptacles at their locations. He said if council is going to look at the ordinances maybe they could look at the lack of trash receptacles. He said the beach businesses on Tybee do not pay taxes on Tybee but on Hilton Head they pay 2% and on Jekyll they pay 3% back to the city just like hotel tax. He said the money could help with renourishment as well as cleanup. Mr. Jay Burke said they employ about twenty kids at their beach rental businesses and in his opinion they do a good job of picking up trash in the morning and afternoon. He said if the city wants to ban cigarette butts on the beach he is all for it but doesn’t think it needs to be turned around on beach rental businesses to enforce an existing problem. He said they have the locations north of the pier and they worked hard to get that ordinance in place. He said his dad started it over 55 years ago. He said he doesn’t have a problem with anyone opening up a business at one of the offset ramps and there is probably ample business over there for both businesses. He asked when enough is enough and said Tybee doesn’t want residential and commercial mixed type businesses. He said it seems every year someone comes down here and thinks Tybee is having a good year; why don’t we make some money. He said they established their business by working hard and they are grateful for Tybee allowing it. Mayor pro tem Sessions asked Mr. Burke what he considered to be an equitable fee considering where they are today with the renourishment issue. Mr. Burke said he doesn’t believe the city will get enough money off of the beach businesses to clean up the beach and provide lifeguards. He said being 2 ½ to 3 miles long we have a limited amount of commercial real estate land but he is not opposed to sitting down and mediating with the city. Ms. Williams responded to Ms. McKensie’s earlier comments and said that she and Ms. McKensie disagree on a lot of issues including the personal aspect of her comments. She said she did initially apply for the liquor license in her name because she wanted to be transparent about what she was doing. She said she and her partner are planning on applying but needed to get through this process first. She said it was not because he could not get a liquor license. She said all of those situations would have to be remedied in order to get a liquor license. She said most of the cases Mr. McRea’s letter cited were about city council selling goods and services to the city and that is clarified in part of his opinion. Consideration for the Consent Agenda A Motion by Paul Wolff to approve the consent agenda was seconded by Frank Schuman. The vote was unanimous. Consideration Local Requests & Applications-Funding, Special Events, Alcohol License Minutes prepared 9/14/10vw Page 5 of 7  Request for Beach Chair Rental Business. Applicant: Mark and Amy Trotter Location: 6th Street and 7th Street. Mayor Buelterman asked Mr. Hughes if our ordinance intended for there to only be one business at each location. Mr. Hughes said that was the intention. Mr. Wolff said council needs to take a good look at this ordinance that looks as if it was last amended in 1983 with just a minor change in 2007. He doesn’t see a conflict with the residential area if the ordinance is amended. He asked if the vendors had to pay $300 for each of the 9 locations listed in the ordinance. Mr. Lynn said yes along with a business license fee. Mr. Wolff said they need to take a look and update this ordinance. Mayor Buelterman said they considered allowing a beach business in the residential area but the neighbors opposed it and council ended up not approving it. Mr. Wolff said there is no provision for removing the equipment in an emergency situation like a hurricane. He said that alone makes it worth revisiting. Ms. Doyle said if you visited and took a poll of the people living at 6th and 7th Street you would find the residents don’t want them in the residential sections. She said 10th Street has shown us the citizens do not want it. She said the Burke’s have a location at 13th Street but the residents don’t want umbrellas set up out there on the beach. She said there are issues and the residents pay taxes on this island so that needs to be taken into consideration. A Motion by Wanda Doyle to deny was seconded by Shirley Sessions. The vote was Doyle, Sessions, Garbett, Williams and Wolff in favor of denial and Schuman opposed. Request to Conduct Stand Up Paddleboard Rentals & Instructions on the beach Applicant: Cathy Liberatori. A Motion by Wanda Doyle to deny was seconded by Bill Garbett. The vote was Doyle, Garbett, Sessions, Williams and Wolff in favor of denial and Schuman opposed. Special Event Application for Tybee Island Pirate Fest Date: October 8-10, various times and locations (mainly at SE Parking Lot) Applicant: Tybee Fest A Motion by Paul Wolff to approve on condition of Tybee Fest receiving a permission letter from DNR was seconded by Kathryn Williams. The vote was unanimous. Special Event Application for 14th Annual Tybee Island Festival of the Arts. Date: October 16-17, time TBD Applicant: Tybee Arts Association Location: SE Parking Lot A Motion by Paul Wolff to approve was seconded by Wanda Doyle. The vote was unanimous. Public Hearings Request for Private Parking Lot, 203 14th Street-Applicant: Jack Rosenberg Minutes prepared 9/14/10vw Page 6 of 7 A Motion by Bill Garbett to approve with Jonathan Lynn’s recommendation of 3 spaces along 14th St. and 4 spaces along 2nd Avenue was seconded by Frank Schuman. The vote was Garbett, Schuman, Doyle, Sessions and Wolff in favor and Williams opposed. Consideration of Bids, Contracts, Agreements and Expenditures  Approval of proposal for Phase 1 of the Memorial Park Grant A Motion by Paul Wolff to approve awarding bid to Peacock Construction for energy upgrades to City Hall, Gym, Cafeteria, Old School, YMCA and Fire Station for the amount of $194,100 was seconded by Kathryn Williams. Motion Amended by Mr. Wolff to add and authorize the Mayor to sign the contract after City Attorney’s review was seconded by Ms. Williams. The vote was Wolff, Williams, Garbett, Sessions and Schuman in favor and Doyle opposed. Consideration of Ordinances, Resolutions 2nd Reading Ordinance to Amend Section 58-179 of the Code of Ordinances Pertaining to Regulatory Fees Applicable to Resident Vendors A Motion by Bill Garbett to approve was seconded by Wanda Doyle. The vote was unanimous. Council, Officials and City Attorney Considerations & Comments Jason Buelterman Report on Preliminary Feasibility Study for the Tybee Charter School Mayor Buelterman requested to hold off on this item. Bubba Hughes After the Fact Variance Issues Mr. Hughes requested to hold off on this item. T-Mobile Lease Amendment Mr. Hughes requested to hold off on this item Minutes prepared 9/14/10vw Page 7 of 7  Ethics Issue on North Beach Grill & its ownership and opinion of the Ethics Commission. Kathryn Williams stepped down and did not participate in this discussion and vote. A Motion by Paul Wolff to accept the Ethics Commission’s decision and both letters of opinion provided by Mr. McRae was seconded by Frank Schuman. The vote was Wolff, Schuman, Garbett and Sessions in favor and Doyle opposed. Executive Session A Motion by Paul Wolff to go into Executive Session to discuss Litigation and Personnel was seconded by Frank Schuman. The vote was unanimous. A Motion by Paul Wolff to go back into Regular Session was seconded by Kathryn Williams. The vote was unanimous. Adjournment A Motion to adjourn by Paul Wolff was seconded by Frank Schuman. The vote was unanimous.