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

Citizens Present- 11

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

MINUTES
Cohen motioned to accept the minutes from April 15th, 2004. Zielazienski seconded the motion. All were in favor, and the motion passed.

REPORTS
Rick Waxweiler spoke on behalf of the Berkeley Lake Conservancy (BLC) and their report. He said they had planted two trees for Arbor Day. He said the Eagle Scout, Greg Roberts, was present at the meeting to present his trail proposal.

Sipe said they had received reports from the Ordinance Enforcement Officer and the Police, and there were no comments regarding them.

MAYOR’S MESSAGE
Sipe announced he was chairing the meeting as the Mayor had been at her mother’s funeral and was now attending her daughter’s graduation.

Sipe announced that Governor Perdue had signed House Bill 709, the SPLOST legislation, into law.

Sipe said Earth Day was a great success. He said eighty people collected trash from the roadside and 125 people had used the large trash collection. He thanked Jackie Wall and Carol Seitz for their efforts and organization in particular, as well as everyone else who participated.

OLD BUSINESS
EAGLE SCOUT PROJECT FOR GREENSPACE- GUTHRIE
Greg Roberts described his Eagle Scout project to improve the pathway through the Greenspace from Ridge Road to Lakeshore Drive. He described a list of what he’d like to do with the boys in his troop: widen the existing trail, clear it from obstructions, mulch all or part of it, do some erosion control, and build some benches and trail markers. He said he would be leading the boys in his troop to complete the project, and that he would like approval from the City to go ahead.

Sipe thanked Roberts for his presentation, and said it was a generous offer.

There were questions about where the mulch would come from. Roberts said that there were many tree-cutting businesses that would deliver it to the site, at head and foot of trail to make it easier to spread.
There were questions about the deadline for the project. Roberts explained that he needed to have it completed before his 18th birthday, in two years. He said he would like to start the project late August, early September, when he could also organize his ROTC friends to help too.

There were questions about how many changes could be made to the current proposal, and whether it could be scaled back. Roberts said there would be no problem. He said it would take about a month to get all the final approvals from his scout troop leaders.

There were questions about the need to widen the trail. Roberts suggested that the trail needed widening as there are many tall grasses and shrubs growing into the trail. He said he would cut it away, mulch the trail and cut away the blackberry bushes in particular which grow very quickly onto the trail in the summer months.

Roberts explained that he was mainly required to show leadership in the project, that other skills such as building benches were not a necessary requirement. He said the trail was approximately half a mile long according to his GPS readings. He suggested that Council look at similar projects completed by Scouts at Autry Mill Nature Reserve.
Sipe said that a citizen, Debbie Robinson, had emailed Council some questions and concerns and asked that it be included in the minutes. Sipe said it would be attached to minutes accordingly.

There was concern about the current affect of rain on parts of the trail, which causes erosion. Roberts said he would do some erosion control before mulching the trail or it would wash away.

There was discussion regarding getting input from citizens on the project. It was suggested that Robert’s proposal be included in the next Mayor’s Message to inform the citizens. It was agreed that there was plenty of time to get response from the citizens. The BLC members had agreed with the concept at their last meeting, however two of the group had been unable to attend. It was confirmed that GOLT was enthusiastic about the proposal. There was discussion as to whether the proposal should be part of the Site Management Plan. Waxweiler said that the Site Management Plan could take some time before it would be completed because of other issues.

Sipe said there was a wide range of opinion as to whether anything should be done at all. He said he thought that the citizen majority wants a natural habitat and buffer for Berkeley Lake. He said he was concerned that trailheads invite others to explore the green space. He said that the City is close to Pinckneyville Park, which the public at large are encouraged to use. He said the aim would be not to draw non-Berkeley Lake citizens to the area. He suggested that the information markers be located nearer the middle of the trail to give information or explain its purpose. It could also describe acceptable uses.

Roberts said that the trail markers would not be visible on Ridge Road anyway, as the trial head is already hidden. He suggested the marker on Lakeshore Drive be put farther on the trail too. He also said that the reason he had suggested the trail be widened to 5 ft at first as it would allow for 1 ft growth on the sides during the summer season.

Guthrie asked if the BLC could develop a timeframe for completion of the Site Management Plan before the next Council meeting. She said some Citizens had said they would be more comfortable with an overall site management plan in place before specific projects were begun. She said she was concerned that Roberts’ time would be wasted if it took Council too long to decide on the project, and wanted Council to consider the time that would be involved for Roberts if he needed to find another project at the end of it all.

Sipe suggested that Roberts should be able to use persuading Council as part of the project. He suggested that Roberts may also like to attend a meeting of the BLC.

CITIZEN COMMENTS
Marilyn Childress- 4363 S. Berkeley Lake Road
Childress said she would like to wait for the Site Management Plan, as they may decide the trail needs to be elsewhere. She said that most of the people she had spoken to do not want a trail at all, it should be a Greenspace and just used as a buffer. She said she was concerned that it would encourage the public outside Berkeley Lake to use it more often. She said that as the trail is used, people go off it making their own trails like in the mountains and they damage areas that they are not supposed to be on. She said without the Site Management Plan, they could be doing something that has to be undone.

Tom Kitchens 150 Bayway Circle
Kitchens said that after the tornado of 1998, City volunteers planted 4500 trees in the Greenspace. He said there were two citizen surveys, which said to leave Greenspace as it is. He said any improvements would encourage outsiders, even though we have ordinances against motorized vehicles for example, it would encourage others to use it. He said he did not see a need for any improvement, and had no problem getting through there when he walked through it. He said he appreciated the efforts of the Scout, but he did not see how it would “improve” the Greenspace. He asked that Council consider what Citizens had reiterated twice in surveys- to leave the Greenspace alone.

Frank Mercer- 4379 S Berkeley Lake Rd
Mercer asked what the acceptable uses of the Greenspace are, as he had recently moved to the neighborhood and would like to hike through it.

Waxweiler read the acceptable uses from the Greenspace Agreement.

Waxweiler said he frequently hikes through the Greenspace. He said blackberry stickers do cross the trial during the summer moths and it is very difficult to pass them. He said that there are some hilly areas at the Lakeshore end, which are already eroding and will continue to do so without some work on them. Waxweiler said ticks are also a problem in there. He also said a lack of exercise leads to diabetes and heart disease, and that it had been shown that a way to increase exercise was to allow for accessibility to safe facilities. He said he would rather walk in the Greenspace than on the roads.

Guthrie said that someone is already sawing away logs that have fallen into the pathway. She said that people are already using the trail and taking their own steps to cut back obstructions. She said this activity needed to be considered unless the City is unable to monitor that kind of activity.

Sipe said that it would be a good reminder to be included in the newsletter that although the intentions are good, no actions should be taken without consulting the BLC.

Reynolds described her childhood where she was able to hike in large undeveloped areas. She said she had an appreciation of trees and undeveloped land as a result, and anyone who was deprived of that kind of access may grow up to be a developer and prefer to destroy such areas instead. She said she would like to encourage children to develop an appreciation for the outdoors and the Greenspace. She said that children may then be supportive of such efforts when they grow up.

Zielazienski said that the reality is that there is already a trail and people are using it. She said the question is how to manage it.
Sipe said he did not believe citizens were against the current level of activity, just not outsiders using it.

Cohen said the majority of the population should be considered. He said the proposal should be considered in the community as it stands and should be in the Mayors message. If the opinion in previous surveys stands, then nothing should be done, but if feelings have changed then it should go ahead.

Sipe said that citizen input should be sought. He suggested action items to seek opinions on the web site, through the Mayors message, and to ask the BLC to review that the proposal is compliant with the Greenspace Easement. Having collected any feedback, Council would discuss it again, and make a decision on how it may proceed.
There was general agreement that this should be the case.

INFRASTRUCTURE REPAIRS- ZIELAZIENSKI

Zielazienski said that the Spillway outfall pipe project is finished. She said that the lake is 2 inches from being full, and that the water wheel is turning properly.

Zielazienski said the Dalton Downey Project is finished. The landscaping work is done, and she said it looks great and everyone is pleased with the result.

Zielazienski said she had given Council information for the expenses of the projects. She said that extra costs had been incurred to replace unmarked water lines that had been broken, and to pay for performance bond necessary to complete the project. The original project costs passed by Council were $121,660, however with the additional costs, they would need an additional $16, 805.68 to pay the invoice.

There was discussion about the contractor’s responsibility for broken pipes. It was concluded that the responsibility lies with the City as there would not have been a problem if the work had not been done in the first place.

Reynolds asked if the landscaping costs were included in the $121,660 figure.

Zielazienski said that Council had approved a separate amount of $8000 for landscaping.

Cohen motioned to approve the additional $16,805.68 needed to finish the project. Guthrie seconded the motion and all were in favor.
Zielazienski said the final costs would be in the fall for the dredging of the lake. She said the total cost of the project would end up being about $170,000.

SPLOST PLANNING – COHEN
Cohen said Chris Holben had accepted the Council nomination to be the City representative on the citizens committee for development of the sports facility on Peachtree Industrial Boulevard.

Cohen said that there was nothing else to report on SPLOST other than as Sipe had said, Governor Perdue had signed house bill 709. He said there is a long way to go before it would be known what the money can and will be spent on.

NEW BUSINESS
BERKELEY WALK SIGN LIGHTING- ZIELAZIENSKI
Zielazienski said that Council had received an email from Chuck Wilkerson asking if the City will spend $196 to light up the City of Berkeley Lake sign on Berkeley Walk property entrance. He said that they have a temporary set up which looks very welcoming to the City.

There was also a suggestion that other City signs could be lit at other entrances.

Sipe said that $195 was not much and it was a good idea but there were further questions as to who would pay for the electricity, any ongoing maintenance, and other future responsibilities.

There was discussion about other details, for example about all the other signs, which would need to be known before any decisions could be made. It was suggested that this issue be postponed until more information was available.

SEX OFFENDERS-SIPE
Sipe said that a citizen had contacted the City about a sex offender who was currently living in the City. He said there is a sex offender registry, which is required by law, and it is public information and was available on the Georgia Bureau of Investigation web site www.ganet.org/gbi/sorsch.cgi. He said you can search by zip code or type in “Berkely Lake” (spelled incorrectly on the site). This search says that one person is currently living at 487 Lakeshore Drive. He said Council had some email correspondence with the City attorney to see where the City stands legally. The attorney said that there is no role for the City, but it is public information. There had been suggestions that the public should be notified should a sex offender move into the City.

Carothers recommended that it be the record but that no further action be taken. He said that the under the law, even when on the Sex offender list and that being published, the offender had paid his debt to society. Any action on behalf of the City that would violate those rights would subject the City to liability.

Sipe asked whether the City could publish the information in the Mayor’s message.

Carothers suggested that the Home Owners Associations could be informed so they could do with the information as they wish, but the City should not publish it themselves.

Sipe asked if the City could pass a resolution or Ordinance to ask the Sheriffs office to inform us when these situations occur.

Carothers suggested that was a possibility but that the Clerk could also search the site regularly too.

Sipe said he would contact the Sheriff. He also asked if a trial transcript could be requested as a service to the Citizens.

Carothers suggested that the City should only advise a citizen where they can find the information should they ask.

Sipe summarized that he would contact the Sheriff’s office, the City would distribute any information to the HOA’s, and that the Clerk would help a citizen find further information should they request it.

Guthrie asked if the City should notify the homeowner of the situation if the offender was not a family member.

Carothers said that a private organization or citizen was free to do that but that the City should not get involved from a legal perspective.

THERE BEING NO FURTHER BUSINESS, COHEN MOTIONED TO ADJOURN THE MEETING AT 8:25PM. GUTHRIE SECONDED THE MOTION, AND ALL WERE IN FAVOR. THE MOTION PASSED.

Respectfully submitted by Jackie Wall, City Clerk