Those in attendance for the Council Meeting were as follows:
Mayor – Lois Salter
Council Members: Betty Covington, Frank Lombardi, Ken Massaroni, Delicia Reynolds and David Steventon.
City Attorney- Dick Carothers
City Clerk- Jackie Wall
Public Works Director- Marcie Zielazienski

Citizens Present-8

CALL TO ORDER
Salter called the meeting to order at 6:10 PM at 4043 Berkeley Lake Road.

CITIZEN COMMENTS
There were no citizen comments.

MINUTES
Covington motioned to accept the minutes from November 6th, November 20th and December 4th, amending November 20th to change the figure on page 4 from $24,000 to $25,000. Massaroni seconded the motion. Covington, Lombardi, Reynolds and Massaroni approved the motion. Steventon abstained as was not at the meetings. Motion passed.

FINANCIAL REPORT
Reynolds motioned that the financial report should be accepted as filed. Lombardi seconded the motion and all were in favor.

STAFF AND COMMITTEE REPORTS
Salter said she had received reports from the Ordinance Enforcement Officer and the Police Chief and asked if there any comments. There were no comments.

ANNOUNCEMENTS
Salter announced that there was a Planning and Zoning meeting the night before and the developer for the Henderson Property had brought along a new plan reducing the number of houses from 90 to 80. They had advised him to hold a public meeting regarding the development.

Salter announced that Bob Herb had been elected as the new Chairman of the Planning and Zoning Committee.

OLD BUSINESS
COMCAST FRANCHISE AGREEMENT-CAROTHERS
Carothers said that he had the contract ready for Comcast and that all he needed was for council to decide whether the Franchise fee be set at 3% or 5%.

There was a short discussion regarding this and it was generally decided to leave it at 3%.

Reynolds motioned to authorize the mayor to enter into a contract with Comcast with a 3% franchise fee. Lombardi seconded the motion. Covington, Lombardi, Reynolds and Steventon approved the motion. Massaroni abstained. Motion passed.

The representative from Comcast offered the city some funds to be used to sponsor a city community event and asked that the city contact him about that.

PUBLIC WORKS PROJECTS-ZIELAZIENSKI
Dalton/Downey Pond
Zielazienski summarized the report she had sent to council. The bids for the culvert were due back the following day. A Landscape plan has been developed. The City is waiting for a response from the BLHA to indicate their commitment to remove the silt from the cove.

Road Safety
Zielazienski has written a letter to the Gwinnett County Department of Transportation for advice on how to proceed to address the issue of safety of the curve at 50 Lakeshore Drive and requested the help of his department in implementing all the recommended safety measures both there and everywhere else identified around the lake.

Zielazienski requested information as to how the matter of guard rail expense and installation could be handled through the Gwinnett County DOT as the homeowner has requested the guard rail in particular.

Dam
The work on the dam is now completed and the fences have been reattached. Safe Dams discovered a problem with the Spillway and will be forwarding an official letter detailing what will need to be done.
Zielazienski said she had also spent considerable time on filing several reports on behalf of the city: Municipal Separate Storm Sewer System (MS4) 2002-2003 Annual Report, Phase 1 Storm Water Management Program (SWMP) Modification and MS4 Permit Re-application and the Georgia Greenspace Program (DNR) on expenditure of FY-01 and FY-02 money.

2004 BUDGET-2ND READ
Massaroni moved to approve the Budget for 2004 based on the recommendations made at the December 4th council meeting. Lombardi seconded the motion and all were in favor.

ASSET AUDIT- WALL
Wall described the process by which she had put together the asset audit. She described the new list and the recommendations the auditor made. She said she still had to apply the security labels and would try to finish them by the New Year.

There were questions about why the list was requested in the first place and it was determined it was a new Georgia law.

NEW BUSINESS
CITY HOLIDAY JANUARY 2ND, 2004
Massaroni motioned that the Mayor and Council of the City of Berkeley Lake declare that January 2nd, 2004 to be a City Holiday. Lombardi seconded the motion and all were in favor.

ORDINANCE TO READOPT ALL ORDINANCES-FIRST READ
Reynolds motioned to leave the first read of the ordinance to the new council in January. There was no second.

There was general discussion as to why the Ordinance needed to be passed at all. Bernie Cohen described the circumstances that led to it
Lombardi motioned to put the Ordinance on First read, Massaroni seconded the motion. Covington, Lombardi, Massaroni and Steventon were in favor of the motion. Reynolds opposed the motion. Motion passed.

OTHER
Salter said Dave Garramone had emailed her that afternoon and had asked her to speak on his behalf regarding the sign ordinance. She said he said that he thought that it was unfair for signs to have to be so far from the centerline of the road. He is trying to sell his house and he said the sign would be so far away, no one could read it.

Massaroni said that the whole issue should be discussed at a later date when all the facts and details could be collected and reviewed.
Salter said she would ask the Ordinance Enforcement Officer to look at the existing ordinance and circumstances to determine if any changes to the ordinance were needed.

It was pointed out that the City Attorney should review any recommendations in order to protect the city against any other sign violations such as billboards.

CITIZEN COMMENTS
Dana Nigh- 4006 S. Berkeley Lake Road
Nigh asked that the survey into road safety issues also include the possibility of the new subdivision on North Berkeley Lake Road. She said there would be a large increase in the amount of traffic on the road. A report should also be made to the Planning and Zoning Committee so it can be taken into account when approving the new development.

LOMBARDI MOTIONED TO ADJOURN THE MEETING AT 6:48 PM, MASSARONI SECONDED THE MOTION AND ALL WERE IN FAVOR.