Those in attendance for the Council Meeting were as follows:
Mayor: Lois D. Salter
Council Members:
Bernie Cohen, Debbie Guthrie, Delicia Reynolds, George Sipe, and Marcie Zielazienski
City Attorney: Dick Carothers
City Clerk- Jackie Wall

Citizens Present- 3

CALL TO ORDER
Salter called the meeting to order at 7:30 PM at 4043 Berkeley Lake Road.

MINUTES
Sipe motioned to accept the minutes from March 4th, 2004. Cohen seconded the motion. All were in favor, and the motion passed.

FINANCE REPORT
Cohen motioned to accept the Finance report for February 2004. Zielazienski seconded the motion. All were in favor, and the motion passed.

REPORTS
Salter said she had received reports from the Financial Affairs Committee and the Communications Committee, and asked their representatives to summarize their reports.

Scott Tofil summarized the report for the Finance Committee. He said the Committee had looked at paying off the bond early and explained why this was not to the City’s advantage at the moment. The Committee is developing a cash flow projection plan to enable them to determine what the millage rate should be. The Committee is also looking at long term capital planning to determine when larger projects such as repaving could be projected to happen.

Sipe recommended that the Committee talk to the Public Works committee about that too.

Salter said she was very encouraged by the efforts put in by the Committee so far.

Jackie Wall summarized the Communications Committee recommendations. She said they had looked at their smaller assignments first. She described why they were recommending that the BLHA be asked to apply for their own bulk mail permit.

Wall said they agreed the content of the Mayors message was fine. They are looking into whether citizens could opt to receive their message by email to save money. The Committee are also investigating whether the HOA’s were interested in being part of the welcome baskets initiative. Lastly, their major project is the web site. They had received the passwords from Reynolds, and two of the committee members are taking over as temporary web masters until they find other volunteers.

Salter said the Committee had asked the Mayor to ask for any volunteers to fill the web masters position. She asked if there were any other comments on the report.

Reynolds said that the original policy was that any of the HOA should be allowed to use the bulk mail permit. There was no intention to favor BLHA. She said it was not illegal for the City to allow any one to use to the permit. She said it was normal for mailing houses, for example, to allow their customers to use their one bulk mail permit.
Wall said that the Committee thought the only reason BLHA was using the permit was because of the City pages in the issues, and that as they were no longer contributing to it that they should not be using the permit any more. She said that if it were open to other HOA’s, then that may not be an issue. She said the City also prepays their postage as the Post Office only takes cash or checks. The Committee felt that the City should know who uses the permit to protect everybody involved.

There was discussion about how much the permit costs, and whether use of the City permit could be opened up to the other HOA’s, as well as other non-profit City organizations such as BLOSOMS and the Chapel. Other organizations may not even know that they can use it. It was suggested that the Mayor contact the organizations to let them know that they can use it, and that it be provided as a City service.
Salter said she would email the organizations and put in into her Mayor’s Message.

Reynolds suggested that the Clerk needs to be informed of who would like to use it, so an authorized user list could be generated. The Clerk should request a bulk mail statement from the Post Office. She suggested that the Mayor’s message should say that it would be for non-commercial organizations use only.

Salter said there would be a process put in place, and guidelines as to who can use it, and she would say this in her message. She said it would also clarify the situation to everyone in the neighborhood too. Salter also thanked the Committee for their efforts.

MAYOR’S MESSAGE
Salter announced that she had appointed Josephine Gleason from River Mansions onto the Facilities Committee. She said she had also appointed Sherwin Levinson as Vice Chair to the BLEMA Committee. She said she believed a Vice Chair would be critical if the Chairman were not available.

Salter announced that that the Judge had previously been very forgiving and understanding of circumstances by suspending fines in Court. However now everyone should be aware of the ordinances and procedures, and the Judge is becoming less lenient. At the last Court session, fines totaling $975 were levied $500 for one fine and a bench warrant was issued. She said citizens should now be aware that the consequences were significant for breaking the Ordinances. Salter said she is repeating her suggestion made several times previously that citizens call City Hall before cutting trees, building anything or moving dirt.

Salter said BLEMA Chair Tom Kitchens had been contacted by the Red Cross, and was asked to try to raise money for the “Hero’s Campaign”. All the municipalities had been asked to raise $1000. The campaign is to raise money to replenish the funds of the Red Cross, which were completely depleted with the aftermath of September 11th. She said she had asked the HOA presidents and the Chapel. She said it was tax deductible, and asked that checks be sent to City Hall or to Kitchens by the end of March.

Salter said that the police are concerned with parking on both sides of the road at parties. She said the larger cars leave no room for fire trucks to get through. She asked that everyone ask their guests to park on one side of the road if they have a party. She asked that parking due to construction traffic be on one side of the road too. Roads should be accessible for emergencies.

Salter said there is at least one citizen in the city serving in Iraq- Mark Pombo, son of Jose and Sandy Pombo in River Mansions. She said he has been there for some time. She asked that he be kept in everyone’s thoughts. Salter said that she had asked to be notified when he came home so he could be recognized at a Council meeting. She asked to be notified if anyone knows of anyone else living in the City who is also serving in Iraq.

Zielazienski asked if the Mayor would consider Dixie Kucera to be appointed to the Audit committee.

Salter said if she was willing, she would appoint her tonight. Zielazienski confirmed that she was. Salter then appointed Kucera to the Audit Committee.

Sipe said he would check Chapter 3 to see if there was any problem in appointing a Vice Chair to BLEMA. He suggested adding in the position if it was not already there.

OLD BUSINESS
INFRASTRUCTURE REPAIRS- ZIELAZIENSKI
Dalton-Downey Culvert
Zielazienski said that the culvert on Lakeshore Drive was almost completed. The contractor had to take the material removed from the culvert to a third location as it was so wet, and would not form into a pile. He would be dressing the sides, and calling the paver to complete the work next week.

Road Safety
Zielazienski read the response to her December correspondence to Brian Allen regarding the bend on 50 Lakeshore Drive. One paragraph said, “At either end of the curve, the county will install standard curve signs along with supplemental signs showing the advisory speed limit. In addition we will install reflector lights, and raised pavement markers along the center line, and edge lines throughout this curve. This work should be completed within the next 60 days.” She said she had asked them to paint warnings on the road, but they do not do that, but they could recommend a contractor that could do that. Regarding the guard rail “they would be happy to have DOT staff prepare a cost estimate for this work using their annual contractor and forward it to the City. If the City approves the expenditure, they will perform and inspect the work.”

Zielazienski asked if council would approve getting the estimate.
Cohen suggested installing the signs first, and then seeing if the problem persists.

Salter said she would prefer to get an estimate now as it would not cost anything.

Sipe suggested it was an administrative matter, and she could go ahead if she liked.

Culvert near 184 Lakeshore Drive
Zielazienski said engineers were completing a preliminary survey for easements at the culvert near 184 Lakeshore Drive.

ORDINANCE 3-703-8(M) BERKELEY LAKE CONSERVANCY (BLC) 2nd Read– SIPE
Salter said she wanted to post this on the agenda as a second read, so it could be adopted at the next meeting as had been suggested at the last meeting.

Sipe said it should be considered as a matter of discipline, but Council does have the right to post an ordinance on one day and put it on second read and adopt it as soon as they want too, as it is in the Charter that way.

Carothers said that it could be put on second read and adopted at the next meeting.

Sipe motioned to put Ordinance 3-703 (m) on second read, Cohen seconded the motion.

Salter asked if everyone was comfortable on the current form of the document at this time. She said her goal was that it should be cleaned up at this point, so that at the next meeting it would be ready for adoption.

Sipe said he agreed but it should not be a hard and fast rule, and that the process could be changed if the council agreed it needed to be.

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

ORDINANCE 3-204-1 REGULAR MEETINGS- 2nd Read REYNOLDS
Reynolds motioned to put Ordinance 3-204-1 on second read. Cohen seconded the motion.

Salter asked if everyone was comfortable on the current form of the document at this time. They were.

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

NEW BUSINESS
RESOLUTION RE WORKMAN’S COMP – SALTER
Zielazienski motioned to approve the resolution to include the Mayor and Council in the Workers Compensation plan for GMA. Cohen seconded the motion.

In discussion, Cohen asked if the Chair of P and Z would be covered as a City employee. There was discussion as to whether he would be covered under the current policy.

Citizen Comment
Scott Tofil-3840 Berkeley View Drive
Tofil asked if the Chair of P and Z was paid as part of the payroll. The answer was yes. He said therefore he would automatically be covered.

Carothers said there were special provisions for councils and corporate officers, that they would have to be specifically named to be covered. Some do not opt to be covered.

There was discussion as to how much the council were paid, and whether covering them would be worth it for their salary of $75 a month, as the payout is a percentage of the weekly wage, which would be minimal.

Carothers said the one exception would be driving a car, and if you were hurt on City business.

Zielazienski said the premium difference is minimal, as the exposure to such incidences is low.

Carothers said in addition to a very small compensation, medical expenses however would be paid, and that could be significant.

Citizen Comment
Scott Tofil-3840 Berkeley View Drive
Tofil said that downside would be that the applicant would have to be on City business to claim.

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

FUN RUNS, JUNE 12 & OCT. 16 – SALTER
Dr Theresa Sipe- 401 Lakeshore Drive
Dr Sipe said she was representing the Berkeley Lake Track Club. She described the previous fun runs in which there were participants from all areas of the City. She asked permission to close Lakeshore Drive from 8:30am until 10 am on the suggested days. She also asked for police presence. The previous year the City had paid for the police support for the Spring Fun Run and split the cost on the Fall Fun Run.

Salter explained that the last Council had decided that any City event in the City requiring Police support should split the cost with the City, but the current Council is not bound by that decision.

Salter asked if council were comfortable with the closing the road. She reminded Council that October 16th was also the date for the Fall Earth Day.

Zielazienski asked if the police schedule was adjusted to compliment the same time, so no extra shifts were necessary.

Salter suggested that this should be the case.

There were discussions about the money that was raised for the Chapel. Dr. Sipe said that they were also trying to encourage community involvement in the event, as often those who did not participate in community activities, did participate in these events. A child designs the T. shirt, and it is sponsored by businesses in the city.

Cohen motioned to approve two dates: one in June and one in October. This would include paying for half of the police support on both days. Zielazienski seconded the motion.

It was suggested that the dates of the Fall Earth day would be changed so that they do not coincide. The Mayor and Dr. Sipe would decide the dates between them.

Cohen, Guthrie, Reynolds and Zielazienski approved the motion. Sipe abstained from the vote as his wife had made the request. Motion passed.

DELINQUENT CERTIFICATES OF OCCUPANCY- SIPE
Sipe said that use permits for significant construction require a Certificate of Occupancy (CO). He said there are approximately twenty of these that had not been obtained once construction was completed. He said final inspections had not been completed for different reasons. He said it was important because it closes the loop of the use permit process. The City ensures that final construction is in compliance with the issued use permit. There is potential that something else was built outside the scope of the zoning ordinance. If someone else more expensive was built, then the appropriate fees need to be collected.

Sipe said he was not sure how the list ended up this way, and was not more aggressively handled at the time, however he suggested that the OEO send a notice to everyone on the list informing them how to complete the process and what needs to be done. He suggested they have 30 days to get the CO completed with both the OEO, and the County in some cases. He said in the event they did not comply, that the OEO should proceed to cite them as the code provides. He asked for Councils consensus to go and follow this process. He said the list should not exist in the first place.

Citizen Comment
Scott Tofil-3840 Berkeley View Drive
Tofil asked if it was not illegal for such properties to be occupied without a CO.

Cohen said that yes, and that in future, immediate action should be taken by the OEO to obtain the CO as soon as possible.

Sipe agreed that should be the case.

Salter said she would discuss this with the OEO, and asked for a show of hands to agree. All were in favor.

DUMPING IN GREENSPACE- SIPE
Sipe said that yard trash and trash bags were being dumped in the Greenspace. He suggested signs be posted near the Greenspace, and a penalty to enforce littering. He said the maximum littering fine could be increased to $1000.

Salter said she has brought this to the attention of the HOA presidents, and to the Miramont HOA president Marty Yates in particular, as some residents had access gates along Ridge road, which they used to put their yard trash in the Greenspace to decompose. She said it was possible to match branches form trees to those in certain yards to see where they are coming from, as had been done in the past. Fines could be levied in this way.

There was discussion regarding littering coming from other areas too, such as construction workers fast food wrappers which get thrown into the Greenspace too

Sipe said he would like Council to consider effective ways of stopping people littering the Greenspace.

Dr Theresa Sipe- 401 Lakeshore Drive
Dr. Sipe said that education of the public was also necessary, as yard maintenance crews who are cleaning yards dispose some of the trash in the Greenspace too. She said she knew where this was the case. She said some of this might have been done without the homeowner’s knowledge.

Salter said she would include this in her next Mayor’s Message along with the message about fines.

Carothers said the yard crew is responsible for violating the Ordinances and not the homeowner.

Cohen said he would suggest to the Ordinance Committee that the littering fine could be raised.

Citizen Comment
Scott Tofil-3840 Berkeley View Drive
Tofil said that the yard waste company does pick up weekly, and that residents could be reminded of this too.

Reynolds suggested that the Mayor remind the Seniors’ that they can sign up for back door service too.

THERE BEING NO MORE BUSINESS, COHEN MOTIONED TO ADJOURN THE MEETING AT 8:32 PM. ZIELAZIENSKI SECONDED THE MOTION, AND ALL WERE IN FAVOR. MOTION PASSED.

Respectfully submitted

Jackie Wall, City Clerk