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- 5
               
CALL TO ORDER
Salter opened the meeting at 7:30 pm at 4043 South Berkeley Lake Road.

APPROVAL OF OR CHANGES TO THE AGENDA
Salter asked for two items to be added to the agenda: Pete Rolader's letter regarding Canada geese and the appointment of a temporary OEO.

Sipe motioned to approve those additions to the agenda, Anderson seconded the motion and all were in favor. The motion passed.

MINUTES
Kitchens motioned to accept the minutes from both the June 15th and June 22nd meetings. Guthrie seconded the motion and all were in favor. The motion passed.

REPORTS
Salter said that council had received reports from the Police and the Communications Committee.

Guthrie motioned to accept the un-audited Financial statements for June 2006, Kitchens seconded the motion. All were in favor. The motion passed.
 June_06_Balance.pdf
 June_06_Summary.pdf
 June_06_Detail.pdf 

There was discussion about adopting the 2005 audit and it was decided to postpone it until some council members had a chance to learn more about the audit document at a special work session to be arranged with the auditor.

SPECIAL GUESTS
Stephanie Hopkins, Partnership Gwinnett Visioning Process
Hopkins described her role in her job for the Chamber of Commerce, and the Partnership Gwinnett Visioning Process. She said the purpose of the Visioning Process was to get significant partners together and discuss development opportunities for the whole county. In summary she was asking stakeholders to contribute to the effort. She said that 50% of the costs would be coming from the public entities (Cities and County) and 50% from private entities (business communities).  She said that cities that wanted to be involved were being asked to contribute towards the process based on population, and she described how much each city had contributed so far. She said she hoped the City of Berkeley Lake would contribute $1000 towards this effort.

Rob Carter, Emergency Preparedness
Guthrie introduced Carter and described how she knew him and his company 'Prepare First'. She said that she had once worked for PrepareFirst and was an officer of the company. She said she no longer held that position since January 1st 2006 but for the record she occasionally still did some contract work for the company. She said she had no financial interest in the company.

Carter explained why he felt able to prepare the city for an emergency situation based on work he had already completed at the request of the Metro Atlanta Chamber of Commerce. He said they had paid for much of the research for this process already and this work could be modified for the city. Even though the information was gathered at the request of the Chamber, PrepareFirst is the owner of the material.  He described the services he could offer and the costs involved. He described the easy reference guides he would provide for both the city officials and individual homeowners. He said it was a living document that could also be easily updated.

Kitchens said he had already met with Carter and was very impressed with the service he was offering to provide for the city.  He said he had been involved with both BLEMA and the Gwinnett Emergency Management Association for a long time and had never seen such a well thought out document before. He also offered to research grants to pay for the service.

It was also pointed out that the document was designed to deal with a situation as soon as it happened until other help arrived and covered the basics to provide for that. It addressed all levels of those that would be affected in the city: Leadership, BLEMA and homeowners.

Cohen later asked Carothers to investigate whether this would bring a liability issue to the City if we were to act as first responders in an emergency situation prior to qualified help being able to arrive on the scene.

MAYORS MESSAGE
Salter submitted a written report to council which said the following:
'On July 11, I attended a meeting with GA.’s Commissioner for the Dept. of Natural Resources.  Unfortunately I didn’t learn anything that I hadn’t already learned in my routine reading on matters that might affect the City.  I did manage to talk with the Commissioner individually after the meeting about some loan funds that are available.  I want to explore this further to see if it’s possible and advantageous for us perhaps to renegotiate the bond we currently have at some point in the future and use some of this funding at a much lower interest rate.
We would like to rent a 5' x 10' storage space at Storage USA (on PIB south of South Old Peachtree). This would be an indoor air-conditioned unit.  We could store election equipment, decorations (Christmas and July 4th), extra directories, old financial files (7 yrs worth according to our record retention policy) and other paperwork currently in our inside storage room. This would enable us to access the inside store room better (right now we can't get in there without removing equipment first), and to put BLEMA equipment in the outside storage room for easy access in the event of an emergency. It would also be offsite storage in which we could store duplicate copies of important material.  All would be stored in plastic storage boxes and labeled for easy access. The cost would be $59 a month. 2 months free if we rent for a year, and an initial admin fee of $19. We would need to buy a lock and decide who has access to it. My suggestion would be the Mayor, Clerk, and Mayor Pro-tempore.  Does anyone object to our doing this?

I have asked for and received an update on our Municode project.  They say that we have hit the final cut off for them to receive new ordinances (they have everything we have passed up until now) and they are in the final proof reading stage. It could be up to 3 months before we receive the proof version. Anything we send from now on will be considered a supplement to the new code.

I’m happy to announce that the Capital Commons annexation is completed and that Jackie has ascertained that they will be included in our tax base this year.  Also she has arranged with the county to correct their designation of 2 lots on PIB across from Tull as M-1.  They are now correctly designated as R-100 on county documents.

We have had several recent burglaries in garages and our officers believe the culprits may be teenagers from our own or nearby neighborhoods.   Please lock your cars, keep your garages closed, and watch for anything suspicious around you.  If you see something that needs immediate police attention, call 911.  I have arranged with our police to delay the planned covert officer traffic team in order to focus extra resources on an antiburglary effort.

All citizens of Berkeley Lake are invited to the Moonlight Dunk ‘n Dine this Saturday, July 22nd which is a “Full Moon” evening.  If you’d like to come and meet your neighbors from around the city, please bring an appetizer & drinks.  Meet at the picnic grounds at 6:30 and board a boat.  Thanks to Carol and Steve Seitz for organizing this.

Rich Edinger has sent the bid scope and announcement for shoulder reconstruction on Lakeshore to 6 companies.  The deadline for bids is 3 PM on Aug. 3.

I and other mayors will be meeting tomorrow morning early for breakfast with ARC Chairman Sam Olens, Gwinnett Co. Commission Chairman Charles Bannister and Gwinnett Chamber of Commerce President Jim Maran about local and regional issues.

Two issues have arisen since the agenda was finalized which Council may want to discuss.  One is a letter from Mr. Pete Rolader, longtime resident of our city, regarding his concern about geese.  The other is a candidate for temporary OEO, Mr. Gene Rodgers, whom I have invited to come and meet council members'.

Salter asked for Council's opinion regarding the request for renting a storage unit. There was consensus that a storage unit should be rented. Guthrie suggested that long term a storage unit may need to be further away in order to protect sensitive documents in the case of a serious disaster in the area.

OLD BUSINESS
Audit and RFP for Auditor
There was much discussion about whether there was a need to issue an RFP for an auditor for the 2006 audit.

Guthrie motioned to continue with David Dick of Simmons and Jamieson. Kitchens seconded the motion.

In discussion, Cohen and Sipe said it was time to let someone else look at the books and review them, as they felt it that would be the only way to know if it was a good audit if some one else did the job.

Guthrie said that the relationship of the current auditor with the city was significant, and it was unlikely that a similar level of service could be provided by a bigger and more expensive company.

Kitchens, Anderson and Guthrie were in favor of the motion. Sipe and Cohen opposed. The motion passed

Scrap yard Special Use Permit
Guthrie said that there had been a successful bid to stop the Scrap Yard. She thanked Britt Teilhaber for paying his attorney to attend the meetings. She also thanked Bryan Stuart and Barbara Carroll for their time in attending the meetings. She also thanked Burt Nasuti, County Commissioner, for his part in denying the request.  She said it was important for the city to make sure that its 'Sphere of Influence' included this area.

The clerk said she has already asked for a copy of the Sphere of Influence and she was waiting for the county to send a digital version of it so council could review it.

Ch 22  Buffers, Trees and Landscapes- Tree permit expiration O-38-06_Ch_22_Tree_permit_expiration.pdf
Anderson motioned to put the tree permit expiration ordinance on second read and adopt it. Kitchens seconded the motion.

It was clarified that the ninety days would be effective immediately for permits currently issued.

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

Cohen’s concerns re engineering Fees- Carothers opinion
Carothers submitted a letter to council in response to Cohen’s concerns. It read:
Dear Mayor and Council Members:

Several meetings ago Dr. Cohen requested that I review the issue of whether the Mayor made an unauthorized expenditure of funds in paying for the professional services of Rich Edinger, P.E.,  with Clarke Patterson, for consulting on issues regarding Gwinnett County’s proposed storm water utility.  I have reviewed this matter in the context of our charter, our code, and state law.   It is my conclusion that the Mayor was authorized to expend the sum of $385.00 for those services.

    The circumstances, as I understand them, were that the Mayor believed it to be in the City’s best interest last fall to have an engineer consult with the City and attend meetings concerning the County’s proposed storm water utility and the City’s possible participation in it.  In fact, she specifically called me before obtaining Rich’s services and I advised that I thought it was a very good idea considering the complexity of the engineering issues involved.  It is my understanding that some council members did not know of this expenditure until after Rich’s involvement due to the limited numbers of City personnel who were meeting with the County and the County’s desire that the utility’s proposed operating provisions not be made public until a later time.

    I believe that the Mayor was authorized to expend these funds on behalf of the City pursuant to Section 4-211 of the Code of Ordinances of the City of Berkeley Lake.  That section, as most recently amended by Council action on February 19, 2004, reads as follows:

4-211 Appropriations by the Mayor.  Appropriations by the Mayor, notwithstanding any other provision of this Article, the Mayor may make expenditures of two thousand dollars to meet the requirement of the City without consulting the City Council.  Any such spending shall be only to meet a legitimate need or necessary expense of the City and shall be paid from funds budgeted for that purpose.

    It is clear that this section provides the Mayor with the discretion to determine what is a legitimate need or necessary expense of the City.  The issue with regard to this particular expenditure seems to be whether or not it was paid from “funds budgeted for that purpose”.  It appears that the actual budget which was published by the City of Berkeley Lake included an expense line item for “general government” in the amount of $200,000.05.  It further appears from the copy of the final budget worksheet for 2005 that the general government line item ended up to be $199,800.05.  Berkeley Lake has a subline item within general government expense for “professional services” which appears to have been established at $35,000.00.  The budget worksheet itself references that “engineering services” are contemplated within professional services, and were estimated at $13,000.00.  The City Clerk advises me that the check in question was paid from the professional services account.  As these were engineering services related to the proposed utility, I must conclude that there were funds budgeted for such engineering purposes, and as the amount was less than $2,000.00, the Mayor was authorized to expend those funds.

    I do not read the phrase “budgeted for that purpose” to mean that each specific engineering task which might be an immediate need of the City must be approved by City Council.  In my mind this would defeat the purpose of the ordinance which is to provide the Mayor with some limited discretionary expenditures, which in fact was how the ordinance was characterized in the minutes when adopted.

    If it is the will of the Mayor and Council that we further define the terminology of budget and purpose within the ordinance, I would be pleased to assist you in this regard.  I am hopeful that this is responsive to this issue, and I will be pleased to respond to any questions you may have’.

There was much discussion regarding whether the written opinion about the $385 charge was necessary considering the cost of the research and the city attorney’s time.

Cohen and Sipe felt that it was a concern if the money spent was not legally done, and council had an obligation to pursue the investigation to clarify it.

Guthrie clarified as to why the mayor sent an engineer to a private county meeting, and did not get approval of council to approve the expenditure. It was noted that the meeting was not to be made public and the funds came out of the general government fund in the budget and also fell within the $2000 discretion allowed for the mayor to approve. The net result of the meeting was both a benefit to the city and the Gwinnett Municipal Association who later employed the same engineer to represent the group.

Sipe said the question was whether the mayor had the authority to spend the money and not whom it benefited.

Guthrie read the attorney's opinion which stated that the mayor had the right to spend the money according to an ordinance that Sipe and Cohen had approved with the last council.

Anderson noted that the City Clerk was put in a difficult position by the county.

The attorney agreed he had suggested to the clerk that a professional engineer should attend the meeting and recommended Rich Edinger but that he had not considered the budget issue.

There was further discussion as to whether there could have been another way for council to approve the $385 expenditure without it becoming part of public record. 

Streetsmarts Proposal
It was noted that at least half of the sites noted in the proposal were on Berkeley Lake Road which is a county road, and any surveys should be paid for by the county which would cut the cost in half. This could also be reflected in the city's comprehensive plan in discussion with the county. It was suggested that Streetsmarts do the work but the county be requested to fund it for consistency sake.

There was discussion regarding whether the license plate surveys should be completed as they were expensive. However it was noted that they were effective in order to see where the problems were originating, and how to solve them in relation to who is driving the roads and where. Anderson suggested that volunteers could also be used to do such a survey to save costs. It was also noted that Berkeley Commons and Berkeley Field need to be researched and added if necessary as they were left off the survey.
 
NEW BUSINESS
Partnership Gwinnett Visioning process
There were concerns expressed regarding the $1000 requested by the Gwinnett Chamber of Commerce for the Partnership Gwinnett Visioning Process .  Concerns centered around Berkeley Lake’s population and the amount the Chamber was asking for.

Sipe motioned to allocate $500 for the Partnership Gwinnett Visioning Process, Cohen seconded the motion.

It was noted that the money would have to come from the Contingency fund.

Cohen and Sipe were in favor of the motion.  Anderson, Guthrie and Kitchens voted against the motion. The motion failed.
 
Anderson motioned to allocate $1000 as requested, Guthrie seconded the motion.  Anderson, Guthrie and Kitchens were in favor of the motion. Sipe and Cohen opposed the motion and the motion passed.

Emergency Preparedness for city
Kitchens suggested that council take a look at the proposal submitted that night and discuss it at next meeting. Kitchens also volunteered to investigate grant money that may be available to cover the costs.

Removal of Article 12 from ch 39.  O-43-06_Ch_39-1201.pdf
Sipe motioned that the discussion on this and Ch 43 Building Inspector ordinance be postponed until the next meeting following more discussion with P and Z

Sipe said he felt the following section from 43.202 should remain in the zoning ordinance: No building permit shall be issued except in conformance with the provisions of this Ordinance. The Planning Commission must approve compliance prior to issuance of any Building Permit in the following circumstances:
1. Construction in any residential district, which partitions a dwelling into two or more non-interconnected spaces.
2.Construction in any residential district resulting in more than one kitchen in a dwelling or any kitchen in an accessory structure.

Guthrie seconded the motion. All were in favor and the motion passed.

Ch 41 Flood Plain Management Ordinance O-41-06_Floodplain_Management_Ordinance.pdf
Guthrie motioned to put the flood plain management ordinance on first read. Sipe seconded the motion.  All were in favor and the motion passed

Ch 39.404 Adult Commercial Establishments O-37-06d_Adult_Commercial_Establishments.pdf
Guthrie motioned to put the Adult Commercial Establishment ordinance on first read, Sipe seconded the motion.  All were in favor and the motion passed

Ch 20 Streets, Curbs and Sidewalks Ch_20_Streets_and_sidewalks.pdf
Sipe motioned to put Ch 20 Streets, Curbs and Sidewalks on first read. Cohen seconded the motion.  All were in favor and the motion passed

Resolution to adopt the Gwinnett County's Pre- Disaster Hazard Mitigation Plan
 R-27-06_Disaster_mitigation_plan.pdf
Salter described why the city should sign the resolution as it would allow the city access to federal funds in the event of an emergency.

Sipe motioned to adopt the resolution to sign the Gwinnett County Pre-Hazard Mitigation Plan. Cohen seconded the motion.  All were in favor and the motion passed.

County Wifi grant application  R-28-06_BL_Resolution_for_Wireless_Initiative.pdf
Salter described why she had asked council to make a decision by email due to the short time limit available to apply for the grant. She explained that the resolution as Council had read in the written copy they were sent merely committed the city to take part in discussions should the grant application be successful.

Cohen motioned to ratify the signing of the county wi-fi grant resolution. Sipe seconded the motion.  All were in favor and the motion passed

Septic Tank Inspection Extension Request - Dick Lillie, for 4245 S. Berkeley Lake Rd.
Kitchens motioned to grant the septic tank extension for a year because it meets established criteria. Cohen seconded the motion.   All were in favor of the motion and the motion passed.

Miramont requests regarding signs
Sipe motioned to allow up to $200 to be spent on lighting the city sign on the corner of North Berkeley Lake Rd and Ridge Road. Kitchens seconded the motion. The motion passed.

There was consensus of council that Miramont should be allowed to mount the decorative inserts 'M' in the walls at the entrance of their sub-division. They were not considered signs.

Training Course for Jackie Wall
Salter explained that Wall would like to attend a Management Development Program run by the Carl Vincent Institute of Government as recommended by several other cities. She said however there was not money in the training budget to cover the costs.  Part one and part two of the three part series would take part this year.

Guthrie said that she had researched the course. She described the costs and said that the costs would cover the tuition and the extra hours outside regular work hours for the clerk to attend.

Guthrie motioned to approve the clerk attending Course 1 and 2, to pay for the courses and for the clerk to be compensated for attending. Kitchens seconded the motion.

In discussion it was noted that the training costs would have to come out of the contingency fund.

Kitchens, Guthrie and Anderson were in favor of the motion. Sipe and Cohen were opposed. The motion passed.

Council authorization for .ga.us domain name continuation
The clerk explained that the .us domain name has restricted uses and the city had been asked to sign a contract to say it would only be used under certain conditions which the city does fulfill. She said authorization was needed to allow the Mayor to sign the contract. There was no cost assigned to it and Carothers had reviewed the contract.

Kitchens motioned for the Mayor to sign the contract. Sipe seconded the motion. All were in favor and the motion passed.

Berkeley-Lake.com domain name registration
Sipe motioned to register www.berkeley-lake.com  for nine years at a rate of $14.99 a year to be paid in one lump sum.   Cohen seconded the motion and all were in favor. The motion passed.

The clerk said that the money would come from the Communications budget.

John Jenkins driveway
The Mayor said she had forwarded details to council regarding the issues Jenkins had brought up about his driveway. She said that both she and the city engineer had reviewed the situation and both had thought all had been done that could be. She said she had told Jenkins this twice but he was still unsatisfied and she offered to bring it to council as he was unable to attend and speak for himself.  It was suggested that the engineer could meet Jenkins to discuss the issue, but the engineer had already visited the site and another visit would need to be paid for.

Cohen motioned to support the Mayor's position. Kitchens seconded the motion. Anderson, Cohen, Sipe and Kitchens were in favor of the motion.  Guthrie was opposed as she felt it was a good idea for the engineer to meet with Jenkins.  The motion passed.

Urban Collage point person.
Guthrie said Salter had agreed to be the contact person for Urban Collage at the last meeting. However since then she had spoken to Barbara Carroll, the chair of the Facilities Committee who had already spent some time working with Urban Collage, and she was recommending that Carroll act as a point person working under the Mayor. Carroll not only has the time but also has the expertise in dealing with space management.

Guthrie motioned that Barbara Carroll act as point person for the Urban Collage section of building a new City Hall under the Mayor. Kitchens seconded the motion

Sipe said that there was value to Carroll's background and willingness to serve the city, but it was an important and expensive project, and the Mayor should directly deal with them. Salter said that she had no preference and would be happy to do it or not as Council wished.  She said that Carroll had called her and explained that she did have the expertise in dealing with this kind of service provider. Guthrie said that Carroll and Salter could easily work together and Carroll would welcome input from council.

Guthrie, Kitchens and Anderson were in favor of the motion. Cohen and Sipe were opposed. The motion passed.

Pete Rolader and Canada Geese.
Salter described the information she had received from Bryan Stuart as head of BLHA . The information came both from DNR and the AWARE group. She said that geese were territorial and if some were removed, more geese would move in from nearby  as they did before. There were some other ways of discouraging the geese, such as a goose fence around property, such as the beach. It was suggested that it was possible to let grass grow on the dam to 18” which would discourage geese. It was also possible to addle their eggs. The geese themselves are protected by state and federal law. Salter said that citizens need to stop feeding the geese. She asked council whether they wanted to pay to get geese removed at the request of Rolader. She said that there was some danger to geese in removing them out of season.

Citizen comment: Randy Kirkus 342 Lakeshore Drive
Randy Kirkus said that the BLHA had DNR removed geese last year without drugs during the molting season.

It was agreed that a letter should be sent to Rolader explaining that the city was not planning to remove the geese, and to discourage him from shooting geese as he had suggested in his letter as it was against both state law and city ordinances.  The Mayor was directed to do this.

Temporary OEO
Salter said that Charlie Sewell, OEO, was now home from the hospital following heart surgery but he was not well, and it was unsure when or if he would return. She said Craig Lokey, the Building Inspector, was acting as OEO in the meantime but she said that she had also found a retired OEO who could take his place temporarily.

Sipe motioned to hire Gene Rodgers as temporary OEO at $17 an hour. Anderson seconded the motion and all were in favor. The motion passed.

CITIZENS COMMENTS
Skip Johnson 20 Lakeshore Drive
Johnson said that there were at least five homes that had more than two pontoon boats on the lake. He said he felt it did not help property values. He asked that the city freeze the number of boats currently on the lake.

There was discussion as to whether it was a zoning issue or a BLHA issue. The boathouses are structures and real property but the boats are not a city responsibility.

Carothers said that it was a private lake, and the city could not determine the number of boats on it. He said he had researched a similar issue several years ago, and was fairly certain that was the case.

Randy Kirkus 342 Lakeshore Drive
Kirkus asked how the City would be able to enforce the issue if they did take the responsibility.

Marilyn Childress 4363 S Berkeley Lake Rd
Childress said she was very disappointed as to how much money was spent investigating the $385 legal expenditure by the mayor when she had up to $2000 as authorized by ordinance. She said she felt it was a waste of taxpayers’ money.

She also noted that she felt that the meeting should be run following Roberts Rules of Order. She said there should be a motion made before any discussion and this would make the meeting quicker.

THERE BEING NO FURTHER BUSINESS, COHEN MOTIONED TO ADJOURN THE MEETING AT APPROXIMATELY 10:45 PM. ANDERSON SECONDED THE MOTION, AND ALL WERE IN FAVOR. THE MOTION PASSED.

Respectfully submitted by Jackie Wall. Approved by Council on August 17th, 2006.