CITY OF BERKELEY LAKE
4040 BERKELEY LAKE RD.
BERKELEY LAKE, GA 30096-3016
SPECIAL CALLED
CITY COUNCIL MEETING
November 23, 1998

Those in attendance for the called 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
• City Clerk - Marcie Zielazienski

CITIZENS PRESENT - 1

Mayor Cooke called the meeting to order at 7:00 p.m. This meeting was called to address four specific items, i.e., To discuss City Charter revisions; to discuss personnel matters; to discuss pending litigation; to discuss potential litigation.

WORKING SESSION

CITY CHARTER REVISIONS:

Mr. Levinson asked if there were any comments on the changes proposed. He explained that most of the changes were technical, but he saw a couple of questions.

The first question is to whom does the city attorney and the city clerk report It is pretty clear who has the authority to hire, but who has the authority to fire The existing charter and the proposed charter define the city government or city council as a mayor and five council members. The charters direct that the mayor, with the consent of the city council, shall appoint a city attorney, a city clerk, a director of public works, and a zoning enforcement officer, but who should be evaluating performance, and who has the authority to fire

Mr. Levinson would also like to clarify from whom someone should be expected to take their direction from on a day to day basis. Mayor Cooke indicated she assumed the Mayor has that responsibility.

Mr. Carothers was asked for his opinion. He said that he has always personally felt that in the position of City Attorney, he responds to the Mayor and the Council. In most cities the general flow is that if the mayor appoints certain individuals, the council must approve. Has always felt his reporting requirements are to the mayor and council, but the council is the body that will make a decision as to whether he is doing a good job. The council can by ordinance delegate that responsibility to the mayor or any other official or employee if they so desire.

Mr. Arakawa commented that the city clerk should report to council and believes that, within the guidelines written, it is within the rights of the city clerk to report to council.

Mr. Levinson read from the proposed Charter, "All employees serve at will and may be removed from office at any time unless otherwise provided by ordinance." Suggested that is probably fine for the Charter to keep it as broad as possible, but feels details of such reporting should be defined in the City Code.

There was some discussion, i.e., the mayor recommends and appoints - can exercise extreme powers of persuasion - but has no vote for the appointment.

Section 2.29 (c) of the proposed Charter implys that the mayor shall, with the advice and consent of the city council, appoint and remove all officers, departments heads and employees of the city, except as otherwise provided in this charter.

Mr. Carothers interprets this provision to mean that whether hiring or firing, any action which takes place must be done with the advice and consent of council. Also, as the provisions are currently written, the council, without the consent of the mayor, can remove an officer or an employee, and if the mayor refuses to make an appoint- ment, the Council has the authority to make the appointment.

Mayor Cooke suggested that it may be more appropriate to have a city administrator/

mayor because an administrator would be more like an employee of the council.

Mr. Levinson does not think the person performing the powers and duties stated in Section 2.29 should be an employee of the council - the title given this official can be anything, but those duties stated are specific to this position.

Mayor Cooke feels a lot of times, in a difficult situation, the mayor has responsibility for something and has assumed that the authority went along with the responsibility. However, some things have come up where it seems as if the mayor is responsible from a legal standpoint and is responsible to the council and the citizens, but the decision making or the authority was not there. Mr. Levinson suggested that if this is the case, then these things should be clarified by ordinance.

Mr. Goff pointed out that Berkeley Lake is a small city and the only city in the state that has no commercial enterprise. The mayor/city council structure has worked well. Does not want to ‘fix something that is not broken".

After some further discussion, there was a general consensus of Council to leave the charter as is and define the reporting structure by ordinance, Council moved on to the next question.

Mr. Levinson noted that there is no mention of the city treasurer in the charter. Thinks it is important to specify this position and wondered if he should include the city treasurer in the administrative section. The existing charter allows the city clerk/city treasurer to be a member of council. This provision has been removed in the new charter. The new charter, as before, allows the city clerk and the city treasurer to be the same person. There was a general consensus of Council to add the position of city treasurer as stated in the existing charter.

Mr. Levinson will finalize the proposed charter and distribute for Council’s review prior to the December 10 meeting. Mayor Cooke will contact the local legislators to inform that the charter is being passed by the City Council and will be presented.

Mr. Levinson understands that Mr. Kitchens is working on revising the City Code. Mayor Cooke explained that he had agreed to help work on the City Code. Mr. Kenneth Massaroni also volunteered to help. Currently Mr. Kitchens is looking at the ordinance enforcement.

Mr. Levinson would like to see a city code written so that an ordinary person can looke at it and understand it. Would like to do the tree ordinance first.

JOB DESCRIPTIONS:

The job descriptions of the City Attorney, the City Clerk, the City Engineer, a City Treasurer, the City Police Officer, the Director of Public Works, and the Zoning Enforcement Officer were reviewed. No changes were suggested to the job description for the city attorney.

Regarding the job description for the city engineer, it was noted that there is no mention of the responsibility for the dam and spillway. Therefore, who is responsible Mr. Carothers suggested that Mr. Duckett is and probably carries an errors and omissions insurance policy due to the type of work he does. If Mr. Flaherty or another employee of the City were to take responsibility for the dam and spillway, they would need this coverage and would have to charge a lot more.

Mr. Kitchens and Mrs. Ruys are concerned that when Mr. Duckett is responsible to the County, he is in direct conflict with the City where there is a city vs. county issue. Mr. Carothers said there are County regulations a city engineer will sign off on. Mr. Duckett is not under the City’s errors & omissions policy, but if a third party sues the City as the principal and Mr. Duckett was the agent, the the City’s policy would cover some of his expenses.

There was a general consensus that the job description for city engineer should be rewritten - should be more definitive. Also, there is some overlap between the positions of city engineer, public works director, and zoning enforcement officer. Mr. Kitchens suggested that the Georgia Municipal Association might be able to assist with job description preparation. Would like to get job descriptions for each of those jobs and share them with Mr. Duckett, Mr. Flaherty, and Mr. Kelly and refine them to fit our city. Some further discussion ensued.

The job description for public works director was reviewed. Questions were raised as to whether this position should be responsible for the dam and spillway; how much authority does this position have to make decisions without consent of Council; and what correspondence can be generated without review of council. It was agreed that Mr. Flaherty should not be the one to make the ultimate decision. However, do not want him to be paralyzed as to what he can do - maybe could issue some kind of stop work order. Should immediately notify the mayor if there is problem. Then the mayor can decide whether it is matter to come before the city council.

The job description of the ZEO was reviewed. It was noted that the job description was quite specific. Mrs. Ruys does not think the ZEO should be responding to unauthorized open burning - this is covered under County ordinance. Noise regulation enforcement should be handled by the police. Mayor Cooke thinks storm water management should be handled by the public works director.

Mr. Kitchens will look at these issues while defining, as discussed, the responsibilities of the three positions and removing any overlap. He would like to see the ZEO keep a log, a book, with all the activities of any inspections he makes - what he does for each of those inspections; how often he makes those inspections; and what the results are.

The job description of the police officer was reviewed. Mrs. Ruys would like better clarification as to how to get in touch with an officer that works for Berkeley Lake, even when they are not in the vicinity. Some discussion ensued as to whether the officer should be on a pager of the City when working here. It was generally agreed that the job description did not contain specific goals for Berkeley Lake. Mr. Arakawa will work on this job description to better define the responsibilities to fit the City.

The job description of the city clerk was reviewed. Mayor Cooke pointed out the description indicates that the city clerk advises the city council and the city attorney of city business. Thinks the mayor should definitely be included here. Miss Marcie commented that this was written with the definition in mind that the mayor is considered a member of the city council. To avoid confusion, there was general consensus to add "mayor" here.

Mayor Cooke would like to add the word "motions" to the third paragraph where the city clerk keeps full minutes of the procedings together with all ordinances and resolutions. Miss Marcie pointed out the full minutes include the originals of all the motions, resolutions, and ordinances. Some further discussion ensued. This responsiblity was reworded to say the city clerk keeps correct and full minutes of the preceedings of city council, including all ordinances and resolutions passed by the council.

Mayor Cooke moved down to the second from the last paragraph - works with the city attorney, the ZEO, the director of public works, the accounting department, etc., shouldn’t this say something more inclusive such as works with the mayor and personnel This was reworded to say the city clerk will work with all government officials as necessary in the administration of city activities.

Where it states that the city clerk will serve as the chief registra and elections supervisor for the city, Mayor Cooke would like to include the wording, "along with the city treasurer". Thinks the city treasurer will be involved in the election process. Miss Marcie feels there must be a person in charge. It was generally agreed that this responsibility should not be assigned to a city treasurer.

Mayor Cooke wonders if the city clerk job description should include some wording regarding clerical assistance to the mayor. Some discussion ensued with it being noted that the city clerk isn’t the secretary. It was noted that if the mayor or anybody else needs clerical assistance, the council should discuss the possibility of bringing in someone to do clerical work, as asking the city clerk to do clerical work would be no different from asking the city attorney or a council member. This is not part of the job.

Mayor Cooke noted that Miss Marcie has been very good about helping, but finds there are times when she needs help and isn’t sure whether it is appropriate to ask. It was suggested that Mayor Cooke needs to make a working arrangement with a temp service or something like that - anything that fits within the budget.

The open ended statement that the city clerk performs other duties and participates in special projects was addressed. Mr. Carothers pointed out that most job descriptions have open ended statements. This was reworded to say that the city clerk performs other related duties.

The job description for city treasurer was reviewed. Mayor Cooke referred to the item on page one where it refers to the Finance Committee - should be changed to "Financial Affairs Committee".

In the item where the responsibility is stated to publish all notices and documents related to public hearings and adoption of the budget, it was determined that this should be changed to add public hearings "related to financial matters" and adoption of the budget.

Mr. Goff motioned for an Executive Session to discuss personnel matters and potential litigation. The motion was seconded by Mr. Kitchens, and vote for approval was unanimous.

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

Mr. Kitchens motioned that the Miramont detention ponds area be hydro- seeded immediately, and for the City Attorney to write the appropriate document (pertaining to this matter). The motion was seconded by Mr. Levinson, and vote for approval was unanimous.

Mr. Levinson proposed a resolution that the Council resolve to request the Mayor to seek a new City Clerk, with the goal of separation of the City Clerk and the City Treasurer positions. This resolution was seconded by Mrs. Ruys, and vote for approval was unanimous.

THERE BEING NO FURTHER BUSINESS, THERE WAS UNANIMOUS AGREEMENT BY THE COUNCIL TO ADJOURN AT 11.40 P.M. THE NEXT CITY COUNCIL MEETING IS SCHEDULED FOR JANUARY 14 AT 7:30 P.M. A PUBLIC HEARING WILL BE HELD TO HEAR CITIZENS COMMENTS ON THE ZONING ORDINANCE AMENDMENTS AND BUDGET ORDINANCE AMENDMENTS.

Respectively submitted,

Marcie E. Zielazienski

City Clerk/Treasurer