Those in attendance for the Council Meeting were as follows:
Mayor – Lois Salter
Outgoing Council Members: Frank Lombardi and David Steventon. Current Council Members: Ken Massaroni and Delicia Reynolds Incoming Council Members: Bernie Cohen, George Sipe and Marcie Zielazienski

City Attorney- Dick Carothers
City Clerk- Jackie Wall

Citizens Present-20

CALL TO ORDER
Salter called the meeting to order at 7:35 PM at 4043 Berkeley Lake Road.

CITIZEN COMMENTS
There were no citizen comments.

MINUTES
Massaroni motioned to accept the minutes from December 18th 2003. Lombardi seconded the motion. Lombardi, Reynolds, Massaroni and Steventon approved the motion. All were in favor.

FINANCIAL REPORT
Reynolds motioned that accepting the December 2003 financial report should be postponed until the next meeting as it was not all up to date yet. Lombardi seconded the motion and Lombardi, Reynolds, Massaroni and Steventon were all in favor.

STAFF AND COMMITTEE REPORTS
Salter said she had received reports from the Ordinance Enforcement Officer and the Police Chief and asked if there any comments. There were no comments.

OATH OF OFFICE FOR NEWLY ELECTED OFFICIALS
The City attorney administered the oath of office to the newly elected officials: Lois Salter as Mayor and Bernie Cohen, George Sipe and Marcie Zielazienski as Council Members.

MAYOR'S MESSAGE
Salter announced the death of long time resident Bob Henderson. Jackie Henderson asked only for thoughts and prayers for her family. She said there would be the visitation the next day at 6pm and the funeral would be on Wednesday at 2pm.

Salter announced the receipt of the resignation of Sipe as Commissioner on the Planning and Zoning Committee.

Salter said that the incoming council members had a meeting with County Commissioner Burt Nasuti, to introduce themselves, and to ask for support for the City of Berkeley Lake. Nasuti had told them that a Citizen Guidance Committee would be formed in about six months for the new Swim facility on Peachtree Industrial Boulevard that she had previously described, and that Nasuti had said that a citizen of Berkeley Lake would be invited to join it. Salter asked if anyone were interested in that position to let her know. She described some of the facilities they hoped would be developed there which included both indoor and outdoor facilities as well as classes etc for seniors.

Salter said she had received a mailing about free Radon testing kits, which are available from the state Health authority. Gwinnett County is one of the worst counties for Radon levels in the state and it is found where granite is part of the terrain. Berkeley Lake does have significant amounts of granite. She asked that citizens contact her for further details.

Salter said she had discussed creating some new, (and rejuvenating some old) citizen committees. She said there was a handout with details available for citizens to sign up. She asked citizens to talk to her to volunteer or ask further questions.

OLD BUSINESS
Re-adoption of all ordinances, 2nd read and adoption – Massaroni
Massaroni summarized the Ordinance, which was put on first read at the December 18th meeting and motioned to put it on second read and adopt it. Cohen seconded the motion and all were in favor.

NEW BUSINESS
Election of Mayor Pro Tempore – Salter
Cohen nominated Sipe as Mayor Pro Tempore, Zielazienski seconded the motion.

In discussion Massaroni suggested Zielazienski had more experience in City matters and asked her if she would accept nomination. Zielazienski said she would.

Massaroni motioned Zielazienski be Mayor Pro tempore. Reynolds seconded the motion.

Cohen’s motion was voted upon and Cohen, Sipe and Zielazienski were in favor. Massaroni and Reynolds opposed the motion,. Motion passed to elect Sipe as Mayor Pro Tempore.

Amend banking signature authority – Salter
Salter suggested that the Mayor, Mayor Pro tem and Chair of the Finance Committee be signatories on the City accounts.

Sipe motioned to accept this. Cohen seconded the motion.

In discussion Reynolds asked whether the Treasurer would have signatory authority and Salter clarified she did not include the Treasurer.

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

Council meeting dates and format – Sipe
Sipe motioned to modify meeting schedule, to include both the first and third Thursday of the month as regularly scheduled council meetings at the chapel. He said the meeting would be called to order at 7:30 pm but there would be a chance for citizens to meet the Mayor and Council and discuss any issues with them between 7 and 7:30 pm. Citizen comments would be invited at appropriate times during a meeting and at the regular time at the end of the meeting if necessary. He asked that the meeting should aim to end by 9pm, 9:30 pm at the latest. Cohen seconded the motion and all were in favor.

Carothers clarified the regularly scheduled meetings were set by resolution and not by ordinance.

Amend P&Z commissioner terms (3-701-2) – Sipe
Sipe motioned his proposal to amend chapter 3 to restore the original term back to 5 years from 3 years as it had been originally and explained why this would be beneficial to the city. He said the revised ordinance changes one paragraph and spells out the terms.

Cohen seconded the motion.

In discussion, Massaroni said he was not sure how it had changed, but the notion of putting it on a regular schedule had already been established. He said this would be on first read but suggested Sipe looked at the minutes from October 17th and November 21, 2002 between then and the next meeting to see when this issue was dealt with.

Sipe said it would still not change his desire to revert the terms to a five-year schedule.

All were in favor of putting the motion on first read.

Appointments – Salter
• City Clerk
• City Treasurer
• OEO
• City Attorney
Salter said the City Charter dictates that the appointments had to be postponed until the first regular meeting of the year.

Salter appointed Jan McKinney as City Judge with Margaret Washburn as an auxiliary City Judge.

Massaroni motioned that this be so and Cohen seconded the motion. All were in favor.

Salter appointed Rodney Hammond to the Planning and Zoning Committee to replace George Sipe.

Sipe motioned that this be so and Zielazienski seconded the motion. All were in favor.

Salter said Bob Herb should be reappointed to the Planning and Zoning Committee as he had recently been elected Chair.

Sipe motioned that this be so and Cohen seconded the motion. All were in favor.

Homeowner association council liaisons
Salter said that she had asked that a Council member be appointed to all Homeowner Associations (HOA) for liaison purposes. She suggested that Zielazienski be appointed to the BLHA as she was already working with them on other issues. Massaroni suggested that someone else would be appointed to Miramont to show that there was interest from the lake community in sub-division issues. Sipe agreed to be appointed to Miramont. Massaroni was appointed to River Mansions and Berkeley Commons and Cohen was appointed to Berkeley Walk and Berkeley Field.

Massaroni motioned that this be so and Sipe seconded the motion. All were in favor.

Massaroni suggested that council meet once a quarter at Berkeley Walk clubhouse in an effort to encourage outreach in the rest of the community. He also suggested that the HOA presidents be invited regularly for planning meetings too

Sipe suggested that this suggestion be made to the HOA presidents.

Zielazienski said although it was a good idea, Berkeley Walk clubhouse was a difficult room to set up and the chapel had already been rented for the council meetings.

Massaroni said that although it was inconvenient, it may still be a good idea to do it occasionally as a show of interest to the rest of the community.

Salter said she would talk to the HOA about the idea and report back to council.

Repair of Lakeshore Drive, selection of contractor – Zielazienski
Zielazienski said she had received three bids based on alternate #4 engineers’ drawings- one for $96,395.50, one for $105,600 and a bid for $204,176. The bid for $96,395.50 was from Strickland Pipeline, who are installing the sewer line and replacing the spillway outfall pipes. The bid for $105,600 is from Renfroe Mining and Grading, the contractor who did the work on the dam and the pipe replacement work in Berkeley Walk. Strickland Pipeline is the lowest bid but it could be mid March until they finish the sewer line due to having encountered solid rock. After speaking with the contractors regarding scheduling, she recommended accepting the bid from Renfroe Mining and Grading.

Zielazienski motioned that the bid of Renfroe Mining and Grading in the amount of $105,600 be approved and that a contract start date be set at January 28th, 2004 or earlier if both parties are ready and agree. She further motioned that the City attorney be directed to finalize an agreement with the Berkeley Lake Homeowners Association to commit the city’s fixed funds allocation of $25,000 plus 10 % contingency for siltation removal in the Coker/Robinson Cove, to obtain the easements and to prepare the contract with Renfroe Mining and Grading.

Sipe seconded the motion and all were in favor.

Repair of Lakeshore Drive, agreement for removal of siltation – Sipe
Sipe said it was good news that the start date had been decided. He said that the City will now enter into a binding agreement with the contractor. The homeowners affected were now looking to the BLHA to review and accept the City’s offer for removal of the silt as it is a major concern of theirs. Once that is completed the homeowners are willing to sign the easements required to fix the road. Regardless, the City will enter into the contract to start on January 28th, so the road will be opened just as soon as the work is completed.

OTHER NEW BUSINESS
Communication- Massaroni
Massaroni said that former councilman Steventon had brought up the issue before regarding email for communication. He suggested that in the interest of open communication that a forum be created on the web site for communication among council members instead of emails, so there would be no behind the scenes communication. He said the public could then see communication that was going on between meetings.

Sipe said he liked the idea but recommended that the communication committee look at this. There was further discussion as to whether citizens would be able to comment on the same forum. Sipe also discussed an alternative idea of making email accessible to the public. The general idea was that all city business should be public except those things discussed in executive session.

Sipe reiterated that all the ideas should be forwarded to the Communications Committee and for them to make a recommendation as to the best way to achieve this.

Mailing- Zielazienski
Zielazienski said she had seen several situations in which she felt the Mayor should have been able to communicate information to citizens as events unfold. She said she wanted to give the mayor the flexibility to communicate as needed and not on a set schedule.

Zielazienski motioned that the Mayor communicates as needed via US Mail in lieu of the City government page currently published in Reflections. Sipe seconded the motion.

There was discussion as to whether the communication would be a message from the mayor or from the city government in general. It was generally decided that it should report general information to the citizens and not opinion but not be restrictive so as to encumber the mayor in informing citizens. Cohen suggested the communications committee could develop guidelines as to what could be communicated in a mail out. But that the mayor should be able to go ahead and send out all the information regarding what had occurred at this meeting, as there was so much. Then the motion could be changed at a later date.

Cohen, Sipe and Zielazienski were in favor of the motion, Massaroni and Reynolds opposed the motion, motion passed.

Recognition- Salter
Salter said she wanted to recognize Julie Stuart as she was recently elected to Georgia Chapter of the Sierra Club Executive Committee, which represents 15,000 Sierra Club members, and she congratulated her in that regard.

CITIZEN COMMENTS
Jane Hardwick- 770 Lakeview Lane.
Hardwick suggested that an end date be included in the road contract and that a penalty clause be added if it was not finished in time. She also suggested that a penalty be added to the contract should the contractor remove any trees that were not part of the contract. She said that this had been done successfully in other areas of the state.

Marlyn Childress 4363 S. Berkeley lake Road
Childress asked whom to call should there be an incident such as they had experienced recently when a car had caused damage in their front yard, as when they had called the police, they said they were unable to do anything about it.

Salter suggested that Officer Doug McClure be called and that she would make sure that citizens knew who could be called if such an incident happened again. It was suggested that this information could be included in the upcoming mail out

Debra Robinson 540 Lakeshore Drive
Robinson asked for clarification regarding the landscaping for the culvert project. She also asked how long the project might take.

Zielazienski reiterated that the previous council had already passed the landscaping costs. She said she hoped the project would take about three weeks and that she would talk to the city attorney regarding including an end date in the contract.

THERE BEING NO NEED FOR AN EXECUTIVE SESSION, MASSARONI MOTIONED TO ADJOURN THE MEETING AT 8:30 PM. ZIELAZIENSKI SECONDED THE MOTION AND ALL WERE IN FAVOR.

Correct as of January 12, 2004