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- 6
               
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 one further item to the agenda, and a change in the order of the meeting, and Council agreed.

OLD BUSINESS- PUBLIC WORKS
Valley View Lane
Salter said that Council had received an email quote from Rich Edinger, City Engineer, regarding the work to prepare the road surface for the LARP paving.

Edinger recommended Council approve Farmer Construction to prepare the surface for Valley View Lane for LARP paving which consists of curb milling, crack sealing and patching.

Sipe motioned to approve the work for a total of $9694, Kitchens seconded the motion, and all were in favor. The motion passed.

River Mansions
Salter said that there was still discussion going on between the City Attorney and Puckett Construction’s attorney regarding the work already completed in River Mansions. She said she felt that work to fix the area should be completed by another company. There was general agreement that this should be the case.

Edinger described the work that needed to be done which included tapering the gap between the edge of the gutter and the asphalt, and the driveway drop-offs. He said that the work would mainly need to be done by hand due to the nature of the work, and finished with a small roller. Guthrie described other work like crack sealing which needed to be done as the area had not been prepared properly before the paving. The paving had also created some run off and pooling issues. Edinger said that these issues could be solved at the same time as the work being done on Valley View Lane by the same contractor, as the contractor would buy the asphalt by the ton. The city attorney asked for a video to be made of the current issues prior to the work beginning to keep a visual record.  Guthrie requested that Edinger get pricing information on the curb repairs that still need to be made in River Mansions.

There were concerns expressed later by Dave Garramone of River Mansions that the drop off between the shoulder and gutter should be repaired in a way so as not to be a safety hazard. He also was concerned that water run off would not be affected in front of driveways.

Edinger assured him that the above average width of the road meant that it should not be a problem once the work was completed. He said the road grade would help the water run off.

Anderson motioned to approve the $17,000 requested to fix the paving issues at River Mansions to include solving the ponding issues as discussed. Guthrie seconded the motion.

The motion was withdrawn to extend the scope.

Anderson motioned to approve the $17,500 bid from Farmer Construction to fix the paving issues at River Mansions as described by Edinger with an additional amount not to exceed $2000 to also do the crack sealing, and to address the ponding issues.

In discussion the City Attorney assured Council that this work would not jeopardize the discussion with Puckett Construction.  He also noted that although the road surface had not been prepared properly prior to paving as council had requested, it had also not been in the Puckett contract. 

Guthrie seconded the motion and all were in favor. The motion passed.

Lakeshore Drive
Anderson said that he wanted to see further information regarding the driveway reconstructions as he was not sure all the driveways affected were included. However as they were not a safety issue, he said he was more concerned about the shoulder drop off as a higher priority issue.

Edinger said that he had also asked Farmer Construction to review the shoulder drop off’s on Lakeshore Drive but they had not gotten back to him yet. He said the problem was a safety issue, and he described how it could be solved by building up the shoulders. There was discussion about the inconsistency of the shoulders, and the lack of shoulders in some areas. It was noted that the building up of the shoulders may also allow walkers to step off the road to avoid cars and bikes and this was an ideal opportunity to do that. There was also concern expressed by Salter about building shoulders on the lake side of the road where any erosion would cause silt build up in the lake.

Edinger said that these areas would have erosion control mats.
There was some discussion about parking pads, and whether some of those are also affected. It was agreed that only those that were not concrete or paved would be addressed.  Council asked Edinger to review all the driveways again and describe the issue at each driveway, as well as review where the shoulder drops are affected.

It was agreed that the clerk should write a letter to each affected homeowner to ask them if they wanted the city to address their issue or not.

Stormwater projects
Edinger said that design phase was almost completed and the bids would be brought to council by the July council meeting. Salter asked that most would be ready by June 1st, so they could be advertised as soon as possible.

MS4 Permit
Edinger said that Clark Patterson would do the MS 4 permit for approximately $3000.

Sipe motioned to approve CPA completing the MS 4 permit either based on the hourly rate or a set amount not to exceed of $3000, whichever was the cheapest. Kitchens seconded the motion and all were in favor. The motion passed.

MINUTES
Guthrie motioned that the minutes of the meeting of April 20, 2006 be accepted. Kitchens seconded the motion.  All were in favor of the motion. The motion passed.

It was agreed not to approve the write up of the Town Hall meetings as minutes, as no business was conducted. It was agreed they should act as a report of the meetings, as they were not as precise as meeting minutes normally are.

REPORTS
Financial  reports.
 April_06_Balance.pdf
 April_06_Detail.pdf 
 April_06_Summary.pdf

Guthrie motioned to accept the un-audited financial reports for April, 2005. Kitchens seconded the motion. All were in favor and the motion passed.

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

MAYOR’S  MESSAGE
Salter said she had submitted a written report for her Mayors Message in order to save time which said:

I want to thank the Berkeley Lake Lifesavers, our City’s Relay for Life team, which raised $6500 to combat cancer.  We have again broken all previous records under the able leadership of Lori Ziemba.  Lori, unfortunately for us, is moving away and I am currently looking for someone to lead next year’s team.  If anyone’s interested in doing so, please contact me.

Please don’t forget the BLEMA meeting scheduled for this Saturday at 9 AM in the Chapel.  All citizens are welcome and encouraged to attend.

As often happens the county will send us information on which to base our considerations about setting a millage rate for next year at the very last minute.  I expect that (again this year) we will be forced to have a called meeting to meet their deadline.  We expect to hear from them on May 26.  I just wanted to suggest that Council members be thinking ahead about this, since we won’t have long for deliberations.

In response to some Council concern about vehicles driving off Peachtree Industrial into our greenspace, I had sometime back asked our police to watch regularly for this to happen or for vehicles that they might see down below the road there.  They have been doing so, and have not seen any other vehicles there but occasional county personnel who seem to be doing some type of work in the area.

I have scheduled a meeting with an Atlanta Regional Commission representative for the afternoon before council meeting.  I may have something to report to you from that.

As a response to the latter comment, Salter clarified that the meeting was to discuss the study of a 12 mile corridor of Buford Highway, and any issues that may affect the city as a result of that. She said she had reiterated that the City roads were already used as a cut through, and she was concerned that the closing of the junction of Pleasant Hill and Buford Hwy would make the problem worse. She said she was also concerned about any Stormwater run off resulting in any improvements made to the road.
 
OLD BUSINESS 
R-25-06 Land Acquisition Policy - Salter  R-25-06_Land_acquisition.pdf
Kitchens motioned to adopt the Land Acquisition Policy Resolution, Guthrie seconded the motion and all were in favor. The motion passed

O-35-06 Ch 38 Greenspace.  O-35-06d_Ch_38_Greenspace.pdf
Guthrie motioned for Ordinance Ch 38 Greenspace version D be put on second read as presented. Sipe seconded the motion.

Guthrie said there were many last minute changes, and she wanted council to review it further before it was adopted.

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

O- 36 06 Ch 30 Livestock  O-36-06b_Ch_30 Livestock.pdf
Guthrie motioned for Ordinance Ch 30 Livestock version B be put on second read and adopted as presented. Sipe seconded the motion for the purposes of discussion.

There was further discussion about the wording, and whether wildlife rehabilitation should still be added back in the ordinance. It was agreed to include the follow exemption as 30-303:
‘Exemptions shall be granted for persons who are licensed to perform short term rehabilitation on injured wildlife.’

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

Signs regarding police coverage- Salter
There was much discussion about adding signs warning that we have extra police coverage in the City as Salter had suggested, as well as the wording for such signs.  There was some consensus that the concept of adding extra signs should be looked at holistically in terms of a positive educational campaign working towards a ‘safe city’, as a follow up to the road safety town hall meeting.

Road Safety Considerations
Salter said that she had been requested to get more data regarding police statistics for the City. She said that Officer McClure had completed a report to the best of his ability given the time it takes to compile such a report by road for the whole city. She summarized one citizen’s suggestion to Educate, Measure, Monitor and Enforce, and noted it was a good acronym for a myriad of suggestions.

Salter said she had also noted the following expressed by citizens at the meeting:
The request for ‘Children at Play’ signs; looking at the whole city as well as Lakeshore Drive in terms of road safety; further investigation into the county’s installation of sidewalks along Berkeley Lake Rd; the need for statistics from the police; the possibility of lowering speed limits around the city; the cost of  cameras; the installation of dangerous curve signs; the reporting of fast public vehicles such as school buses; encouraging citizens to be accountable for themselves, both walking and driving: and a ‘safe city’ campaign.  Regarding the request for statistics, she noted the statistics that she had presented council which had been prepared at her request by Doug McClure.  This included a historical study for the years 2003, 2004, 2005 divided out by each individual street in the city and detailing both accidents and 5 different kinds of crimes.

Salter also noted that she had read of another city using plain-clothed policemen at junctions who would pretend to be doing something else, and who could radio to a police car further ahead if a traffic law was broken. She said it could be a cheaper way to quickly implement another method of enforcement than speed tables or cameras. There was general consensus that this was a good idea, and the police should be asked to work in twos occasionally, on random days in random areas.

Guthrie asked if a committee should be formed to foster a “Safe City’ campaign as suggested by a citizen. She also suggested that the police who worked undercover should keep detailed records of any tickets or arrests made for analysis purposes. It was suggested that some kind of street sign analysis could also be completed to decide what kind of signs should be erected and where.  Anderson agreed to ask ‘Streetsmarts’ to do a short presentation to council about the services they could perform for the city.

Urban Collage- Guthrie
Guthrie motioned to accept Urban Collage's proposal including the two optional meetings for a total maximum fee of $11,000 plus a cap of $1500 for reimbursable document reproduction expenses, and to authorize the Mayor to sign a contract to this effect upon its review and approval by the City Attorney. Anderson seconded the motion.

In discussion, Cohen said he thought this should be postponed until a location for city hall was decided upon. It was reiterated to him that the consideration of the possible locations of a city hall and site analysis was part of the Urban Collage proposal.

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

Residential Mail- Sipe
Sipe said that he had contacted John Linder’s office, and had spoken to both Don Green and Derek Corbett about the possibility of adding a drop mail box outside city hall. Sipe said they were surprised at such a small request, and they had promised to work on it.

NEW BUSINESS
Stormwater Utility
Sipe motioned NOT to accept the county’s invitation to join the Stormwater utility. Kitchens seconded the motion.

In discussion Sipe described what the Stormwater Utility would do. He said it would take the management of Stormwater outside of the jurisdiction of the City of Berkeley Lake. He said that it would be expensive for the citizens as it involved an increased payment over a five year period, which would only eventually be spent within the city limits. He said that so far only Lilburn amongst the cities in Gwinnett County had agreed to join the Utility due to their location and circumstances around their city. He said that there were some complications in not joining the utility but there were ways around it which the Gwinnett Municipal Association was working on. The group was also talking about other possibilities such as forming a group to provide similar services.

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

Cohen said he was unhappy about the way this was handled in terms of the City hiring an engineer during private negotiations before the council was informed about it. He said that the city was charged for the services and the money was ear-marked for something totally different in the budget. He said it required a vote of council to hire such an engineer, and it was not announced formally and openly. He asked for an opinion from the city attorney.

Carothers asked to respond at the next meeting.

Time limits for tree permits
Salter said she had received a request from the ordinance Enforcement Officer to formalize a time limit to cut trees after a permit has been issued. She said that the OEO had suggested a maximum of 30 days.

In discussion Council agreed that 90 days may be a better time limit, and asked that this be added to the Tree ordinance and brought before council at the next meeting.

Use of the City logo
Salter said she had received a request from a citizen to use the city logo to make flags/tags. She said she had told him the logo was protected and needed the permission of Council to use it.

In discussion there was agreement that an individual should not be given permission to use the city logo and they would only consider such a request if a homeowners association requested it with specific details after signing the legal trademark licensing agreement.

Business License
Salter said she had also received a request from a citizen for the city to revisit the idea of issuing a business license. The clerk said she had regular requests from citizens, and also thought that there was a long term need once the city had commercial properties. There was discussion about resurrecting the occupational tax and regulatory fees documents that the previous council had considered, and council agreed to go back and review those under the lead of Anderson.

Zip Code
Salter said she had spoken to Sandy Wyrick, the county manager of delivery programs for the USPS regarding either having our own zip code, or bringing the whole city into one zip code, particularly to help Berkeley Commons who get their mail from the City late. She asked whether council was interested in her pursuing requesting our own zip code as it would cause the citizens some problems in changing their stationery etc, however it could also result in lower insurance premiums, particularly for those with a Norcross zip code. She said this request could only be made once every few years. Council suggested that the Salter contacted the Homeowner Association Presidents first to get their feedback , and to also include the question in the next Mayor’s Message before proceeding with the application.
 
Special Called meetings
Salter said that setting the millage rate required Council to have a number of special called meetings and public hearings due to the timeline required for the city to return the information to the county. Those dates would be Monday, 5th June at 7:30 pm, Thursday, June 15th at both noon and 7:30 pm, and Thursday, June 22nd at 7 pm. She also asked council to consider anything they would like to be noted to the financial affairs committee in determining the millage rate.

Guthrie motioned to meet at the above mentioned times and days. Anderson seconded the motion. All were in favor and the motion passed.

CITIZEN COMMENTS
Beth Gilbert 883 Lakeshore Drive. Gilbert asked that council take the opportunity to widen the shoulders on Lakeshore Drive while the work was being done to make them safer, so that walkers would be able to move off the road more easily and safely in the event of traffic approaching, and she thanked council for their work on making it a safer road.

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

Cohen motioned to exit executive session. Kitchens 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 June 5th, 2006.