CITY OF BERKELEY LAKE

4040 BERKELEY LAKE RD.
BERKELEY LAKE, GA 30096-3016
PUBLIC HEARING
CITY COUNCIL MEETING
February 11, 1999

Those in attendance for the City Council meeting were as follows:

Mayor - Marguerite Cooke

Council Members: Anthony Arakawa, Kelly Goff, Tom Kitchens, Sherwin Levinson, Sherry Ruys

City Attorney - Dick Carothers

Public Works Director - Bob Flaherty

Zoning Enforcement Officer - Stanley Kelly

City Clerk - Marcie Zielazienski

CITIZENS PRESENT - Approximately 8

The City Council meeting was brought to order by Mayor Cooke at 4043 S. Berkeley Lake Road at 7:05 p.m. Mayor Cooke announced that there was an important event to celebrate. She received a call today from Senator Thomas Price, who called to extend his congratulations that the new City Charter just passed the State Senate today. It has already passed through the House, so only needs the signature of the Governor, which should happen within a couple of days.

The Invocation was presented by Elizabeth Branstead, a resident of Berkeley Lake and president of the Berkeley Lake Homeowners Assoc.

APPROVAL OF MINUTES:

The following corrections were noted for the minutes of January 14, 1998.

Page 9 - First paragraph, third line. Responsible should be changed to responsibility.

Page 8 - Second paragraph, last sentence. New elections to the two offices will need to be made at that time. Elections should be changed to appointments.

Page 8 - Fifth paragraph. Note that Mr. Goff withdrew his second to the motion.

Page 8 - Note that Mayor Cooke thanked Mrs. Ruys for her work on the City Hall Expansion Committee and the City Decorations Committee.

Mr. Goff motioned for approval of the January 14, 1999 minutes with those changes noted. Mr. Kitchens seconded, and vote for approval of the motion was unanimous.

APPROVAL OF FINANCIAL REPORT:

Mr. Kitchens motioned for approval of the financial statement as submitted. Mrs. Ruys seconded, and vote for approval of the motion was unanimous.

STAFF REPORTS:

The ZEO Report was reviewed. Mayor Cooke thanked Mr. Kelly for his inclusion of the letters, maps, etc. that relate to his report - most helpful.

Mr. Kelly explained that the two homeowners that had not secured Use Permits were contacted to arrange for payment. Collected $343 from one and $510 from the other.

After some discussion and with no further questions forthcoming, Mayor Cooke asked that the ZEO Report be approved as submitted. There were no objec- tions, so Mayor Cooke noted approval.

The Police Report was reviewed. After some discussion and with no further questions forthcoming, Mayor Cooke asked that the Police Report be approved as submitted. There were no objections, so Mayor Cooke noted approval.

Because the Mayor and City Council need more time to review the report of the Director of Roads and Public Works, approval was deferred until the March meeting.

Mr. Flaherty said the only pressing issue is the approval of the landscape plan submitted by Gwinnett County and Rockdale Pipeline. Mrs. Ruys and he are reviewing plant varieties. Some more greener material will be added by planting Magnolias. The plantings are fairly dense, and Rockdale Pipeline would like to plant the area before the pipeline construction takes place. Mr. Flaherty expects to get a written, one year guarantee that plants that do not survive will be replanted.

Mr. Levinson commended Mr. Flaherty for the replanting work that has been done. It looks great! Mayor Cooke said that Mr. Flaherty, personally, has been out there doing a great deal of planting. There are only about 500 trees left to plant out of the 4400 ordered and delivered.

COMMITTEE REPORTS:

Reports of the following committees were discussed:

• City Park Enhancement Committee - Sherry Ruys
• Financial Affairs Committee - Kelly Goff
• Homeowners Advisory Board - Mayor Cooke
• Ordinance Enforcement & Emergency Management - Tom Kitchens
• Traffic Control Committee - Tony Arakawa
• Gwinnett Municipal Assoc. Meeting - Sherwin Levinson

CITY PARK ENHANCEMENT COMMITTEE - Mrs. Ruys reported that the City Park Enhancement Committee has had one meeting, but there is nothing to report yet. Expect to have a recommendation by the next meeting.

CITY HALL EXPANSION COMMITTEE - Mrs. Ruys reported that the final figures for the City Hall expansion were $14,277. The budget was $22,500, so the job was accomplished a good percent under budget. Therefore, believe the expenses for wiring additional electricity for the computers and copier can be included in the expansion expense, etc.

Mayor Cooke and the Council thanked Mrs. Ruys for a job well done.

FINANCIAL AFFAIRS COMMITTEE - Mr. Goff reported that the committee has received a preliminary of the audit statement for 1998. This was completed within approximately 90 days compared to six months last year. This was made possible because of the work that was done by Mrs. Reynolds and Miss Marcie on setting up our new accounting procedures on Peachtree software. This made a tremendous difference. Expect next year to be able to get the audit expenses reduced because much of this work can now be done with Peachtree Accounting. Mr. Goff thanked Mrs. Reynolds and Miss Marcie for the job they have done.

The Finance Committee reviewed some of the suggestions that were made at the community planning meeting on January 24. One of the suggestions was to raise taxes to accumulate funds to pay off the bond early. The consensus of the committee is that it would not be a practical thing to raise taxes or even keep them at a high level in order to pay off the bond early. This is because the current residents would be sacrificing a great deal now for what would be a reward later, but many of them probably will not be living here then to enjoy the reward.

HOMEOWNERS ADVISORY BOARD - Mayor Cooke reported that she has scheduled a meeting of the Homeowners Advisory Board for 9:30 a.m. on February 27. All of the homeowners association presidents or their board of directors representative will be there. There are two new homeowners presidents - Chuck Frost for Berkeley Walk and Bill Crawley for Berkeley Field. Mr. John Jenkins is expected to be elected the new homeowners president for River Mansions, but Marcy Medinger will probably still be representing River Mansions at the meetings.

ORDINANCE ENFORCEMENT COMMITTEE - Mr. Kitchens reported that the Ordinance Enforcement Committee is working to finalize the ordinance enforcement plan. Mr. Carothers will be given a final draft soon for his review, and once approved, this plan will be ready for presentation to the Council. The Committee has recommended the establishment of an arbitration board, warning letters, fines (proportional to the violations), Recorder’s Court, and is working on recommendations for changes to current ordinances.

EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT - With respect to the emergency management, have spoken with the representative the City’s representative at Federal Emergency Management, who has indicated that within the next few days, Berkeley Lake should be receiving the financial report that shows the approval of the sum that was approved for installation of a siren (early warning) system in the City. Once the financial confirmation is received, then the installation of the system can begin.

Several persons were invited to meet with Frank Daniell to prepare for disaster response in Berkeley Lake. He will be training the Mayor and some of our citizens. Mr. Kitchens, Mr. Levinson and Mr. Flaherty will be attending a once a month meeting with County and city representatives to prepare for disaster response. This is a complex operation, but it is important to get to a level where we can handle a large scale emergency.

Mayor Cooke thanked Mr. Kitchens for all the work he has done.

TRAFFIC CONTROL - Mr. Arakawa reported that there are currently three types of grants that being pursued. One is from the Gwinnett County Community Development Program, and two are from the Georgia Department of Community Affairs. One of the grant types is called a Local Development Fund Grant, which is a radon awareness grant. These grants will be pursued and more information will be forthcoming.

In regards to traffic control, the job description for police officer is being finalized. Mr. Arakawa feels the City has a handle on a good working relationship with the officers, indicative this last month by a major reduction in the speeds. Believes a lower number of tickets are been written because people are really aware that there are police in the community now. Mr. Arakawa commended Officer Dunlap and his group for that.

GWINNETT MUNICIPAL ASSOCIATION - Mr. Levinson reported that the meeting of the Gwinnett Municipal Assoc. presented a great opportunity to be able to check out the Gwinnett Civic Center. The food was excellent. It was a warm, fuzzy meeting where key people in the County government congratulated each other on how well things were going.

The congratulations were well deserved. They have huge job with the great amount of growth that the County has had, and it’s remarkable that things go so well. When one calls some of the other county offices in the Atlanta area, it is almost impossible to reach someone, then there is a "run around". When one calls the Gwinnett offices, they get to talk to someone. Gwinnett is well run, and the people seem to care about what the citizens think. Could not expect a lot more than that. 

CITIZENS COMMENTS 

Mr. Bill Downey (527 Lakeshore Drive) referred to an item that will be coming up on the agenda later, which involves his property. Requested that rather than make comments at this time, would like to have a few minutes when the topic comes up to comment then.

Mayor Cooke reminded that Council has requested that anyone wishing to speak more than three minutes should request to be placed on the agenda to be given sufficient time. Mr. Downey felt three minutes was enough time for his comments. 

WORKING SESSION

ORDINANCE FOR CITY CLERK & CITY TREASURER (second read):

Mr. Levinson reviewed that there were two changes. Those were to add the Mayor to the list of those advised by the City Clerk in the City Clerk job description, and to add to a portion of the City Treasurer description that this employee will sit as a member of the Financial Affairs Committee.

Mr. Levinson motioned for a second read and approval of the Ordinance for City Clerk & City Treasurer with those changes stated. Mrs. Ruys seconded the motion. After some further discussion regarding the job description for City Treasurer, vote for approval of the motion was unanimous.

APPROVAL OF POLICE JOB DESCRIPTION:

Mr. Goff motioned for approval of the police job description. Mr. Kitchens seconded the motion.

Mr. Arakawa explained that he had gathered information regarding this type of work in cities similar to Berkeley Lake. This information was shared with Officer Dunlap and Mr. Carothers before moving forward with the job description.

Mr. Levinson inquired if the enforcement of City ordinances was an open question at this time. Mr. Arakawa said it is. Have presented to Mr. Carothers that this is an area that must be shaped, because there most likely will be ordinances within the City that fall outside the jurisdiction of the County. Will have to figure out some legal arm that can enforce those.

Mr. Levinson asked if the police officer is an employee of the City when working for the City. Officer Dunlap explained that his authority for enforcement, even when working for the City, is still derived through Gwinnett County. The County is not going to allow any County police officer to enforce any city ordinances or to be deputized. Does believe that there are a lot of the City ordinances that are going to fall within the scope of ordinances that can be enforced through County ordinances or State statues. Might end up with one or two City ordinances that cannot be fitted in, and if that is the case, Mr. Arakawa has suggested that another City employee could be used to enforce that particular ordinance.

Mr. Levinson asked Officer Dunlap if it would be within his authority to deliver a citation that is a purely a City matter. Officer Dunlap said he could deliver it but could not write it.

Mr. Kitchens asked Officer Dunlap if he would be allowed to sit on an arbitration board. Officer Dunlap will check into this. Initially, he does not see any conflict because this is not an elective office.

Mr. Levinson asked if Mr. Arakawa or another Council Member was chosen as the police chief, could they write citations Mr. Carothers explained that this would present a difficulty. The ZEO is probably the one to enforce City ordinances. For instance, if the City Clerk should be authorized to write an ordinance violation citation, she is also the clerk of the municipal court. She would be a witness and a clerk at the proceeding, which could present a problem. In most jurisdictions, it is the ZEO or another building official.

Some discussion ensued. Mrs. Ruys questions whether the zoning official would be the one to write a citation for a barking dog, for example. Mr. Carothers suggested that the job title for the ZEO could be changed to City Enforcement Officer or Ordinance Enforcement Officer. Mayor Cooke asked Mr. Kitchens to address this matter in the preparation of the job descriptions for the ZEO and the Director of Public Works.

Mr. Levinson pointed out the job description implies that all the police officers who do work for the City would be required to attend the City Council meetings. He suggested that the wording in this duty include the word "as assigned" because all of them shouldn’t have to attend each Council meeting.

Vote for approval of the police job description was unanimous.

FINANCIAL AFFAIRS COMMITTEE ORDINANCE (first read):

Mr. Goff has reviewed the ordinance is in favor of making this committee a standing committee. Mr. Levinson motioned for approval of the ordinance on a first read. Mr. Arakawa seconded the motion.

Mr. Levinson suggested that this committee consist of a Council Member, the City Treasurer, and three citizens of the community. Mayor Cooke suggested that maybe, since the Mayor is responsible for preparing and presenting a budget, according to our ordinances, then the Mayor should be the one to chair this committee. However, feels that it is fine if there is someone on Council or a citizen in the community that is particularly qualified to do that.

Mr. Levinson explained that he is proposing that a Council Member be on the committee because the Mayor is responsible for proposing and presenting a budget, but the Council has to approve it. Would be nice to have some "meshing" of opinions on the proposed budget before getting into the approval process. At least one Council Member should be involved in the development of the budget.

Mr. Goff agreed with Mr. Levinson. Feels it would not be advisable to have the Mayor sit as chairman of a committee that has to recommend to the Mayor. This would stop the interplay between the Mayor and the Financial Affairs Committee.

Mr. Goff amended the motion to say that the five members of the Financial Affairs Committee should include a member of Council and the City Treasurer. Mr. Levinson seconded the amendment to the motion. Vote for approval was unanimous.

Mr. Levinson proposed adding the wording, and for a budget letter, in the sentence where the duty is stated that the Committee "shall be responsible for making recom- mendations to the Mayor for the budget for the next fiscal year."

Mr. Levinson motioned to add, "and for a budget letter." Mrs. Ruys seconded the motion.

Mr. Levinson suggested that the ordinance should state that another duty of the Financial Affairs Committee is to invest City funds. Mr. Carothers said that he would have to work on the wording, but maybe could say something like, "such other duties as may be delegated by the Mayor and Council." Mr. Levinson motioned to add Mr. Carothers wording on this matter. Mrs. Ruys seconded.

Vote for approval of the three amendments to the duties of the Financial Affairs Committee was unanimous. Vote for approval of the motion to place the Financial Affairs Committee Ordinance on a first read was unanimous.

RIVER HOLLOW PLAT APPROVAL:

Mr. David Hegner, the owner of the property at 3956 S. Berkeley Lake Road was asked to speak to Council. He informed that the property of 6.58 acres has been subdivided into four lots, which meet all the planning and zoning criteria for Berkeley Lake, and the plans have been approved by the Atlanta Regional Commission.

Mr. Kelly advised that the plan was approved unanimously by the Planning and Zoning Commission.

Mayor Cooke reminded Council that this would be a preliminary approval. The plan will come back to the Council once it is finalized, but, for the most part, what is on the current plans is what will be on the final plat.

Mrs. Ruys asked how close this property is to the Chattahoochee River. Mr. Hegner informed that it is 1000 ft. from the river to the road. He further explained that no trees will be cleared except where the actual home will set. There is already a large natural cleaned area. Mrs. Ruys asked about the erosion control for the grading required to put down the necessary impervious surfaces. The Environmental Protection Division is getting really tough and do not want this agency coming down on the City because the erosion control is insufficient.

Mr. Kelly said that erosion control will be the responsibility of the builder. Mr. Duckett advised that erosion control criteria is stated on the plat. Mrs. Ruys pointed out that the stream control buffer should be changed from 25 ft. to 35 ft.

Regarding the statement on the plat - written to protect the City from lawsuit of the people who build on this property should the dam break - Mr. Carothers is of the opinion that the Dam Breach Zone Plat language is about as good as it can be. The law in Georgia is rather loose in this area. Dams are regulated, but not much effort was put into regulating what goes in below a dam. Even though the law is quite clear that the issuance of a building permit will not subject the City to liability, Dam Breach Zone Plat language was put on the plat in order to put all subsequent purchasers on notice that there is a big pile of water sitting just upsteam from them.

Mrs. Ruys wonders if the City’s liability insurance will go up if construction is allowed below the dam. Mr. Carothers will check into this but advises that if an occupancy permit is not issued, then Berkeley Lake will be in court trying to demonstrate a reason why not.

Mr. Levinson inquired if any of the approval seen here actually mean that EPA regulations have been met. Mr. Hegner explained that what he has found out is that disturbance of any ground that is within 2000 feet of the river must be approved by the ARC, so everything that is on the plat is per ARC standards.

After some further discussion, Mr. Levinson motioned to accept the preliminary plat. Mr. Arakawa seconded. Mr. Levinson motioned to amend the main motion to make it subject to changing the stream buffers from 25’ to 35’. Mrs. Ruys seconded the amendment to the motion. Vote for approval of the amendment to the motion was unanimous.

Mr. Flaherty will pursue a question regarding how large the sewer line, which will be brought off the main line at the river, should be with consideration being given to future additional attachments.

Vote for approval of the main motion with the amendment was unanimous.

It was noted that the accepted plat has the Dam Breach Zone Plat language on it.

RECOMMENDATION FOR CITY CLERK POSITION:

Mayor Cooke referred Council to her letter dated February 9, 1999 regarding the process of the selection of a City Clerk to replace Miss Marcie, who has requested that she become the City Treasurer. There were a number of candidates, who live here in Berkeley Lake, who expressed an interest in the position. From the resumes it was determined that a number of the applicants were particularly well qualified, and those people were interviewed. With her education, experience, and skills Mrs. Ann Mayton stood out.

Mayor Cooke asked for Council’s approval of Mrs. Ann Mayton for the position of City Clerk. Mr. Levinson motioned that pursuant to 39-401 of the City Code, the City Council elect Mrs. Mayton to the position of City Clerk. Mr. Goff seconded the motion, and vote for approval was unanimous.

Mr. Levinson motioned that the City Council elect Miss Marcie to the position of City Treasurer. Mrs. Ruys seconded the motion, and vote for approval was unanimous.

REPORT ON DOWNEY PROPERTY:

Mr. Bill Downey (527 Lakeshore Drive) addressed the City Council regarding a continuing erosion problem on his property. He said he has received a copy of Mr. Duckett’s letter. In the third paragraph, Mr. Duckett says the outflow from the pond follows a rip rap lined channel until it joins an existing drainage way which proceeds to a pond formed by the fill for Lakeshore Drive.

Mr. Downey stated that this is not a drainage way. The area is a stream bed, and prior to the development of the Miramont subdivision, it was exactly that - a stream bed that was fed by one or two springs or underground steams. Subject to the development of Miramont the area was heavily treed with a heavy cover of leaves, mulch, and so forth.

In the next paragraph Mr. Duckett states that the retrofit structure is intended as a measure to be used during the construction process to allow the pond to accumulate silt that runs off during times when the ground is unstable. Concerned that if this retrofit is removed, as Mr. Duckett is recommending, there may be an increase in the speed of the water flowing down steam.

Before Miramont there was supposed to be an erosion and sedimentation plan, and if the original plan contemplated storm water runoff in this area, why wasn’t this area surveyed and looked at by someone to see if it was the correct type of soil to allow this volume of water runoff.

Regarding the alternate path area, it seems the erosion there is not quite as bad, but the size of the hole there now is about eight feet wide. It is a large sink hole. Before Miramont, there was a very small hole in the ground where one could hear the water running under the ground.

There is a comment about sediments that have flowed into the pond. Pointed out that this is referring to the existing pond that is adjacent to Lakeshore Drive. That rip rap was put in the pond in 1996 to try to contain and prevent the sediment from continuing to flow under the road and into the lake. The agreement was that this would be a temporary thing, and at some point I would like to do something with that pond so would have to do something with that rip rap.

Seems that Mr. Duckett’s recommendations will only move the problem down stream. The basic problem appears to be the volume and the amount of storm water runoff that comes out of the little detention area. Suspect that there will be damage wherever rock ends and the water hits the soil. Isn’t there some way to restrict the water flow, to slow it down.

Mr. Duckett commented that with the pond itself, the structure that is in there is containing water in the very bottom of the pond longer than it is supposed to. That is why there is vegetation. Normally, the retrofit is removed. It can stay there, but removing it would maybe only increase the flow by a small amount because it only restricts the very last flow that comes out. Usually, this is moving quite slowly anyway. Removing the retrofit would allow better maintenance of the pond. The bottom could be grassed and would be easier to take care of than the vegetation that is in there right now.

Soil pipes are just never installed during a construction period. There are a lot of engineering things people in or out of the industry can think of that would be good in addition to what is done, but most of things are expensive or time consuming, and for one reason or the other are not done. Soil pipes are one of them. Unless there is an extreme case, it is normally assumed that if water has been flowing there in the past, then water will continue to flow without causing problems. Sometimes water will work its way through a hard layer of soil into a soft layer, and that is probably what happened here. Once this happens, the soil can erode much faster than ever before.

About moving the problem downstream, it appears that everything below the rip rap has carried this high volume of water and has sustained itself very well, except for the plunge pool area. Where there is water running, there will have to be some maintenance now and then.

The only location in the area that appears to require attention is the "plunge pool" area. "It is recommended that this area be stabilized by filling in with granite rip rap. This will bridge over the poor soil and provide an impervious surface for the water to pass across. The placement of the rip rap should leave a concave surface that will direct the flow to the center of the channel and extend from the stable area above the present pool to the well below the current area "feathering" back into the natural stream bed."

There is a way to reduce the flow. It can be done, but the pond would have to be redesigned into a much larger pond. The pond volume could be made greater and the outlet flow could be made smaller, which would reduce the flow. Considering the remoteness of the location and how difficult it is going to be to even get rip rap in there, think my recommendation is a reasonable solution to try at this point.

Mr. Kitchens inquired if the original erosion control plans were designed such that they took conditions such as this into consideration and was the criteria met by the developer Mr. Duckett said the plans were reviewed and approved, and to the best of his knowledge the developer did meet the criteria. The developer was even told to add some additional lines of silt fencing and hay bales in that area because there was a lot of water going down through there.

Mr. Duckett explained that erosion plans that are required for construction are very different than those that are required for long term. During construction, they are temporary. The only long term measure that is in this area being discussed is the rip rap channel. That is intended to carry the high velocity of water as it first comes out of the pond. This gives it a chance to dissipate and slow down a bit.

Some further discussion ensued. Mayor Cooke said City Council has done as Mr. Downey asked. A qualified hydrological engineer has been retained to evaluate the situation and make appropriate recommendations to permanently resolve this situation. She asked Mr. Downey if he was satisfied.

Mr. Downey said he would like to meet with Mr. Duckett sometime on site to get a better idea of how much rock, etc. Still thinks the problem is just being moved downstream. Really would like to do something in the pond area to restrict the flow.

When Mr. Downey and Mr. Duckett meet on site, Mr. Arakawa suggested that Mr. Flaherty be present also.

Mr. Duckett suggested that there should be a 25’ access on someone’s property to get to that pond. Need to look at where that is.

Mr. Downey objects to the fact this it appears that his property is being used as a drainage way. The entire development of Miramont was approved by the City of Berkeley Lake. This is presenting a problem and wishes to see if the City is willing to help solve it.

Mr. Kelly reviewed that during the construction phase, he found Ryland Homes to be very attentive. At one pond 35 rows of siltation fences and hay bales were put in. They responded immediately to any complaint. Some sink holes did develop, but the conservation people advised that they not be filled in because they were natural sink holes. At one point water was undermining Lakeshore Drive - was going around the culvert and threatening the integrity of the road. Ryland put the rip rap into the pond to force the water into the culvert.

Mayor Cooke informed Mr. Downey that his concerns are a matter that will probably come up in Executive Session given what he has just said regarding the responsibility that he thinks the City has in correcting this situation.

Mr. Downey commented that if the City decides to do something, would like an opportunity to be able to meet on site before anything is done. Mayor Cooke told him he would be notified.

EMERGENCY CHAIN OF COMMAND:

Because of the tornado of April 9, 1998, it became apparent that there needs to be a formal chain of command in case of another emergency. A meeting was held in Lake Berkeley Chapel, with Mr. Frank Daniell and several members of Council. He proposed a tentative chain of command. By State law, the Mayor is to be in the City and the first person on the chain of command. The next logical person would be the Mayor pro tem. Mr. Kitchens would be third in command as the Director of Berkeley Lake’s Emergency Management Committee, and then, perhaps, the Director of Roads and Public Works should be fourth on the chain of command.

Mayor Cooke reviewed that since she would be expected to remain in the City in the event of a disaster, someone else would have to be the liaison with the County and be at the County command center, she asked that the other three team members attend the Emergency Management Steering Committee meeting a week or so ago at the County headquarters.

Mr. Levinson commented that the person who is the acting mayor will be needed in the City. The Mayor pro tem should be at the County at that time. Suggested that the Director of Roads and Public Works should be in the City as the coordinator of search and rescue and road clearing. The City Clerk may act as the coordinator of communications.

Mayor Cooke suggested that the Emergency Management Committee should be a standing committee. Maybe a City Council member should be the chair of this committee.

After some further discussion, Mr. Goff motioned to have Mr. Carothers write an Emergency Management Ordinance to establish an emergency management team. Mr. Levinson seconded, and vote for approval of the motion was unanimous.

MISCELLANEOUS:

Mayor Cooke asked the Council Members to sign up for attendance at the GwMA meetings. A list was passed around. Council Members and employees also signed up to take a turn at providing refreshments at a meetings.

Some security measures for City Hall were discussed with no motions forthcoming.

Mr. Kitchens motioned to replace three (3) "no trespassing" signs on the dam. Mr. Levinson seconded the motion, and vote for approval was unanimous.

Mr. Arakawa inquired about the letter received from a resident, Mr. Richard Kushner (409 Lakeshore Drive) complaining about the debris on the Greenspace around his property. Asked Mr. Flaherty if he had checked the site being referenced. Mr. Flaherty explained that this was a seriously storm ravaged area. Mr. Kushner has already had the County debris removal team come and work on the property.

Mrs. Ruys explained that the letter says the City paid for a lot of the property around the City to be cleaned up, and now he wonders why this cleanup wasn’t done also. Think he needs a letter to let him know that the City did not allocate funds for private property. After some further discussion, it was determined that Mayor Cooke will respond to the Mr. Kushner’s letter.

Mr. Levinson inquired if the unkempt property law applies to property owned by the City. Mr. Carothers explained that the Gwinnett County ordinance would not apply in the City anyway. Suggested that everyone should take a good look at that ordinance. There is a lot of very strong enforcement provisions in that. What Berkeley Lake does not have is someone to go out and do the work so it can be billed back to the property owner. It is very difficult if a contractor has to be brought in to do it. Will get copies of the ordinance to all members of Council so they can consider how to make it apply to Berkeley Lake.

EXECUTIVE SESSION:

Mr. Levinson motioned for the Council to go into Executive Session for the purposes of discussing personnel matters, land acquisition & potential litigation. Mr. Goff seconded, and vote for approval of the motion was unanimous.

After the Executive Session the City Council Meeting was resumed. No citizens were present.  

THERE BEING NO FURTHER BUSINESS, MR. LEVINSON MOTIONED FOR ADJOURNMENT. MR. ARAKAWA SECONDED, AND VOTE FOR APPROVAL WAS UNANIMOUS. THE NEXT CITY COUNCIL MEETING IS SCHEDULED FOR FEBRUARY 11 AT 7:00 P.M.

Respectively submitted,

Marcie E. Zielazienski

City Clerk/Treasurer