Those in attendance for the Council Meeting were as follows:
Mayor: Lois Salter
Council Members:
Walter Anderson, Bernie Cohen, Debbie Guthrie, Tom Kitchens and George Sipe
City Clerk- Jackie Wall
City Attorney- Dick Carothers
Citizens Present- 16
               
CALL TO ORDER
Salter opened the meeting at 7:30pm at 4043 South Berkeley Lake Road.

APPROVAL OF OR CHANGES TO THE AGENDA
Salter asked Council for approval of the addition of three further items to the agenda and Council agreed.

MINUTES
Sipe motioned that the minutes of the meeting of March 16th 2006 be accepted. Anderson seconded the motion.  All were in favor of the motion. The motion passed.

REPORTS
Financial  reports.
Guthrie motioned to accept the un-audited financial reports for March 2005. Kitchens seconded the motion. All were in favor and the motion passed.
 Mar_06_Balance.pdf
 Mar_06_Detail.pdf
 Mar_06_Summary.pdf

Public Works Committee- Randy Kirkus
Kirkus said the committee had met once again since the last council meeting. He said they were still discussing the methodology for assessing Stormwater and road projects around the city, and would report back with their findings as soon as possible. He said that he had a road assessment program used by the City of Suwanee, provided by the City Engineer, to see if a similar one could be incorporated into the city plan. He said that there was a quote for patching for the road preparation for the LARP resurfacing of Valley View Lane but further quotes were being sought. He also described a sinkhole that had developed in Berkeley Walk that was being dealt with.

BLC - Betty Covington
Covington described a recent walk through the greenspace with a state forester and some council members where a further review was made regarding the water bar request from the previous meeting. She said that the state forester said that the area was self-correcting with pine trees dropping pine needles along the trail, which was now preventing erosion. There was only one area that could be a problem, which could be reviewed again in six months. It was agreed to let the BLC use their expertise and best judgment if a water bar needed to be placed there later, and they could spend up to the $700 approved at the last meeting if they used pressure treated wood, otherwise they would need to return to council with their request.

Police Report
Salter noted that Council had received a report from the police.

Ethics Day
Guthrie motioned to accept the final draft of the Scot Wrighton report of the Ethics Day as minutes for the meeting as reviewed and approved by council. Kitchens seconded the motion and all were in favor. The motion passed.

MAYOR’S  MESSAGE
Salter said she had submitted a report for her Mayors Message in order to save time.   However she noted that there would be a blood drive on Earth Day, and asked if there were any more volunteers to sign up as there needed to be a minimum number.

Salter received consensus from Council to allow the city to pay for half the police coverage to be used for the Chapel Spring Fun Run as was the usual practice.

Salter said she had a request from a resident asking if the use of lawn chemicals could be banned from the city; Council said they did not think this was a practical idea.

Salter said the same resident also asked whether one provider could be appointed to clean out septic tanks to get cheaper prices, however there had already been some investigation into this and there were too many variables in pricing for different individual septic systems.

Salter asked Council about her suggestion for signs at the entrances of the city regarding extra police coverage. There was general agreement that there should be signs but council wanted to know where they would be placed, what it would cost and make other suggestions as to what they should say to be more precise. They agreed to come up with some suggestions for the next Council meeting.

Salter asked if Council wanted to have another training workshop day with the Carl Vinson Institute of Government next year. It was decided to make the decision later in the year.

Salter asked Council if they wanted to go ahead and try to get the City of Ethics designation. There was consensus that they should go ahead, and Guthrie volunteered to spearhead the effort.

Additional notes from the written Mayor’s Message to council :
‘Signs and fire hydrants on Ridge Rd. were defaced recently by graffiti.  We sent pictures to the county’s gang expert who said these were not gang signs, but probably local kids.  It was removed and the hydrants repainted, but vandals stuck again.  The signs with the new graffiti have been removed and replaced.  Jackie bought some graffiti remover for instant use if the area is small enough for us to remove quickly. Otherwise the county says that they normally just replace the signs as it is so difficult to remove’.

OLD BUSINESS 
Precision  Planning- Barbara Carroll
Carroll introduced  Bill Cornell and Elizabeth Hudson from Precision Planning. They described their company and the projects they had already worked on for the cities of Lilburn, Suwanee, and Snellville. They said that 70% of their architectural work was with local government. They described the needs assessment process, their checklist for pre-design services, site evaluation services, and the conceptual design phase to establish vision for the project, including site, and cost estimation services.

O-06-34 Alcohol Beverage Ordinance- Guthrie O-34-06d_Ch_6_ABO.pdf
It was noted that the seating requirements and percentage of food to alcohol had been changed since the last meeting, but the remaining details had stayed the same.

Guthrie motioned to adopt to adopt Chapter 6 Alcohol Beverage Ordinance, Anderson seconded the motion.

It was clarified by the City Attorney that no further legal action was required to adopt this ordinance.

All were in favor of the motion and the motion passed.

NEW BUSINESS
Renewal of Waste Removal Contract- Steve Edwards, Advanced Disposal Services.

Salter said Council members had received a letter and an email regarding the request to increase the price and an extension to the contract term for Advanced Disposal waste services.

Edwards said Advanced Disposal was proud to work for the city, and he described the services they had added to the City’s contract since the contract began in January 2005. He said he was requesting an increase in the contract price by $1.68 per quarter due to the increase in fuel costs.

After some discussion it was agreed that the price would be increased from July 1st, 2006 and the contract would be extended for a further two years from the end of the current contract.

Kitchens motioned to accept the proposal for the exact same agreement for 30 months locked in for new rate of $35.22 per quarter beginning in July 2006. Sipe seconded the motion

It was agreed this could be achieved by an amendment to the existing agreement which Edwards would provide and Carothers would review.

All were in favor of the motion and the motion passed.

BLHA request to remove geese
Salter said she had received a request from Bryan Stuart, President of BLHA for the city to contribute approximately $2500 for the removal of the geese on the lake, which were becoming a problem again. She said they had been removed before two years ago by BLHA. Salter also noted that the city’s wildlife management volunteer, Liz Nicholas, had observed some of the same geese are back.
It was noted that that the geese were not causing damage to city property.  The method of collection was described by Randy Kirkus. It was noted that this would not affect all the citizens in the city, only BLHA property and private residences and that city taxes should not be used to support one organization.  Carothers agreed.

It was agreed that the BLHA should be granted limited foot access (no vehicles) to the lake from the dam in order to round up the geese, however, they should notify city hall when they will be on the dam. Salter said that Tom Woolsey of Safe Dams was aware of the request for access and had no problem with it.

R-25-06 Land Acquisition Policy - Salter R-25-06_Land_acquisition.pdf
Salter said that she had asked Council about adopting such a resolution on March 18th, and she read an email she had sent to council which said, “I have watched with interest for some time the issues in other jurisdictions regarding what is disclosed and when to citizens in land acquisition efforts.  Even before Gwinnett Co. changed their procedure in this regard I personally preferred Cobb County's which is pretty much what Gwinnett changed to.  It would be my request to you all that in future we negotiate with other entities privately to agree on a price and nail it down with earnest money and a contract specifying that we will buy the property at that price at a specified time, or lose the earnest $.  Before that time we should publicly discuss this with citizens to get their input and only then proceed if their support is obtained.  I suggest this to you not because I think it is becoming politically correct, although I do, but because I have for some time believed it would be the right thing to do.”  However she noted the new policy language which Carothers had prepared had only just been sent to council.

Guthrie motioned to adopt the Land Acquisition Policy Resolution as Council had been aware of the request for some time. The motion failed for lack of a second.

There was concern that some members of council had not had sufficient time to review the exact contents of the document. Council agreed to review the policy in time for the next Council meeting

There was some discussion as to why all of the proposed ordinances had not been run by the Ordinance committee. It was noted that the committee  was to advise council and some of the ordinances were more legal documents in nature, such as the Alcohol Beverage Ordinance, and did not require further review from the citizens committee. Those that the Mayor felt citizen input would be requested on were referred to the committee. It was also noted that the ordinance committee was also already working on Chapter 3 as requested by the Mayor in her committee tasks at the beginning of the year, which was a big job in itself.

O-35-06 Ch 38 Greenspace.  O-06-35b_Ch_38_Greenspace.pdf
Salter said that this ordinance had been looked at by the BLC but not by the ordinance committee as it contained the information already in the ‘Deed of Conservation Easement’, and the content was therefore the same.

Kitchens motioned for Ordinance Ch 38 Greenspace be put on first read as presented. Anderson seconded the motion.

In discussion it was noted that Council had still not decided whether specific locations or lots should be noted in the ordinance.

All were in favor of the motion and the motion passed.

O- 36 06 Ch 30 Livestock O-06-36_Ch_30_Livestock.pdf
Sipe motioned for Chapter 30 Livestock to be put on first read to include the exclusion of wildlife rehab and any indoor animals in the definitions. Anderson seconded the motion.

There was discussion about why the ordinance was being introduced and it was decided its purpose was to reinforce current ordinances. It was noted that this ordinance should be more specific and detailed, and be reviewed by the ordinance committee should they choose to do so.

All were in favor of the motion and the motion passed.

Septic Tank Extension request
Anderson said that this was an administrative issue, and the applicants all met requirements laid down in the septic tank ordinance for an extension. 

Anderson motioned to approve the administrative extension for 52 Lakeshore Drive and 760 Lakeshore Drive as presented by the City Clerk. Kitchens seconded the motion. All were in favor of the motion and the motion passed.

Driveway Reconstruction as a result of paving
Salter said that the proposal was forwarded as a result of driveway problems associated with the repaving of Lakeshore Drive.

Kitchens motioned to approve the proposal. Guthrie seconded the motion for the purpose of discussion.

There were concerns about the cost of the engineering for this project, and the criteria used to determine which driveways had the problems.

Randy Kirkus, Chair of the Public Works committee, noted that there are other safety issues associated with high ‘drop offs’ on the side of the road, too. He suggested an engineered proposal removes some risk and liability for future problems.

It was suggested that more detail should be requested to describe each individual driveway project, but there was still concern about the costs involved in professional engineering services. It was reiterated that the costs are for correcting problems that are  a result of not  having such engineering and oversight services before.

The motion was withdrawn.

Council requested layman type descriptions from the engineer to clarify exactly what the issues are on each individual driveway.

Residential USPS Mail Security.- Guthrie
Salter said the issue was in regard to mail theft. She said she had set up a petition previously for a public mail box to be situated outside City hall. However the Post Office  is actively removing mailboxes and needed a minimum amount of mail to be deposited which we would probably not be able to meet.  They had also offered mailboxes for residents of the City at a new City Hall. She said she had also asked if Berkeley Commons and Capital Commons could be encompassed into the same Duluth 30096 zip code as the rest of the city instead of the Norcross 30092 zip code to make their mail delivery more efficient, which they were considering.

Guthrie said another option may be to get a mail drop box where people enter and exit Berkeley Lake and where businesses may be likely to utilize the boxes. She said it may also be possible to offer citizens more secure incoming mail while it is sitting in their mailbox by getting a bulk deal on security mailboxes by citizens directly ordering from one company. She said that she would be willing to contact a vendor to see if they would be interested in such a program.

Salter asked Guthrie to go ahead and see if she could find a willing vendor. Salter also said she would continue to ask about the same zip code for everybody, and Sipe offered to contact the congressman to see if the City could get a mailbox.

City Hall Planning- Barbara Carroll
Carroll introduced her committee to Council and then read the following into the minutes:
‘The facilities committee, Virginia Andreu, Dan Huntington, Pamela Orkis, Carol Seitz and myself have researched the various approaches used in the preliminary process of building a new City Hall facility.
The committee has visited five municipalities in Gwinnett County and spoken with city administrators with planning and building experience and, as a result, has interviewed companies engaged in planning and /or building city hall facilities. We have had three companies appear here before City Council to give short presentations on their firm’s capabilities and how they would use those capabilities to assist us with our project.

Having done our due diligence, it is the committee’s finding that the planning and community involvement phase must be our first concern. In interviewing the various companies, it is our determination that those companies focused on doing architectural design and building have chosen to add planning to their list of fare in order to represent a complete package, even though it may not be their emphasis nor their best asset. While council has heard an abbreviated and formal presentation, the committee has had a couple of hours with each of these companies to ask, not just the obvious questions, but those about building community involvement through communication. We found, in most cases with architectural/design/build companies, we had to ask about their approach to these issues in order for them to be actually addressed as they were never a part of their original presentation. And then it seemed like an afterthought. The committee believes we should begin by using a firm whose main focus and expertise is in planning through needs assessment and building community consensus with the best track record in citizen communication, so as to get everyone on board. We can then proceed, with that firm’s assistance and with a clear and definite plan in hand, to choose a company for the design/build phase.

Therefore, it is the committee’s recommendation that for the preliminary planning phase of this project, City council engage Urban Collage, a planning firm with an impeccable track record for planning and garnering community enthusiasm through town hall meetings and extensive communication.

For council’s information and consideration, Urban Collage’s professional fee range for a project of our size is $8,000-$10,000 plus reimbursable expenses (copies and travel which usually run around 10%). They bill monthly based on percentage of completion. If council chooses to accept the committee’s recommendation to engage Urban Collage, we will have them present Council with a formal proposal for your acceptance.

To reiterate, having personally checked references, I have been told wonderful things about them “they brought people on board enthusiastically with the project who would before have nothing to do with it”, “if I had to do it again without Urban Collage, I wouldn’t”, and ”on a scale of 1-10, I’d give them a 15!”

Engaging Urban Collage, in the committee’s opinion, is joining with the number one planning firm in the city to get the ball rolling on our project’.

Carroll reiterated that Urban Collage was the only company that really emphasized bringing the community on board in the planning stage for a new city hall.

It was agreed that the committee did an excellent job.

Guthrie motioned to request a proposal from Urban Collage to get their fee and a description of their services. Kitchens seconded the motion. All were in favor of the motion and the motion passed.

SPLOST citizen representative
Salter said that she was nominating Rebecca Spitler to represent the city, and there was a consensus of council for her appointment.

Deputy City Clerk
Salter described what had happened so far in the process of finding a new Deputy City Clerk. She requested using a ‘temp’ agency to find a candidate as there had not been much success so far in finding a suitable candidate, however the long term fee could be $3000, and she needed Council’s approval for that.

Guthrie reiterated the advantages to using an agency. She also noted that there was money in the budget as a result of recent staff changes. Council agreed Salter could go through an agency.

There was discussion as to the process if such a person was found before the next Council meeting who was not employed by the agency, and whether the Mayor could appoint someone without the approval of council.

Guthrie motioned to authorize the Mayor and City Clerk to select and make an offer to a new Deputy Clerk. Anderson seconded the motion for the purposes of discussion.

There was further discussion as to whether the Mayor should be able to appoint the new Deputy Clerk herself with the authorization of Council. The consensus was that the City Clerk and the Mayor should both be comfortable with the candidate first.

Guthrie changed her motion to authorize the mayor to appoint  a Deputy City Clerk of her selection. Anderson seconded her motion. Guthrie, Anderson and Kitchens were in favor of the motion, Sipe and Cohen were against the motion. The motion passed.

Salter said she would still try to give Council as much information as possible regarding any candidates and an opportunity to meet them before the appointment if it was possible.

EXECUTIVE SESSION
Cohen motioned to enter executive session to consider land acquisition and legal issues. Anderson seconded the motion. All were in favor and the motion passed.
Cohen motioned to exit executive session. Anderson seconded the motion. All were in favor and the motion passed.

THERE BEING NO FURTHER BUSINESS, COHEN MOTIONED TO ADJOURN THE MEETING AT 11 PM. ANDERSON SECONDED THE MOTION, AND ALL WERE IN FAVOR. THE MOTION PASSED.

Respectfully submitted by Jackie Wall . Approved by Council on May 18th, 2006.