Those in attendance for the Council Meeting were as follows:
Mayor: Lois Salter
Council Members:
Bernie Cohen, Debbie Guthrie, Delicia Reynolds, George Sipe and Marcie Zielazienski
City Clerk- Jackie Wall
City Attorney- Dick Carothers
Citizens Present- 8

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

MINUTES
Sipe motioned that the minutes of the meeting of October 7th, 2004 be accepted as presented. Guthrie seconded.
In later discussion, Reynolds pointed out that she had not been at the August 12th meeting, so she had abstained from the vote at the last meeting and this was not reflected in the minutes. The minutes were amended to show that.

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

REPORTS
Report on County aquatic / athletic center – Chris Holben
Holben reported back on the meetings he had attended for the center. The master plan (attached) showed the facilities that would be built if the 1% penny tax (SPLOST) referendum was passed on Election Day. The Construction will cost 12 million and could begin in 2 years. It will close at 11 pm like all other Gwinnett County parks. Currently, the Basketball courts will be removed because some necessary land was not acquired. He described the swimming pools, tennis courts, track around a multi use field and two bathroom areas.

Holben suggested that once the bid process starts, the City should try to be involved at the planning and development stage, as it is then any silt problems should be considered - prior to construction. His only other concern would be about noise if band practice was to be allowed there late at night. He said there would be overhead lights there but they would be a new down-light system.

Zielazienski motioned to accept the September 2004 financial reports. Sipe seconded the motion. Guthrie, Zielazienski, Sipe and Cohen were all in favor of the motion. Reynolds opposed the motion. The motion passed.

Salter said she had received the OEO’s report. There were no comments on it.

MAYOR’S BUDGET MESSAGE AND OTHER ANNOUNCEMENTS
Salter said that the Mayor’s message would be posted the next day.

Salter presented her budget, which was accompanied by notes of explanation. She summarized the salient points:
• She hoped that the Millage rate would stay at 4.35.
• The rise in income from building permits would be as a result of the building of the first phase of Berkeley on the River- 35 homes in 2005.
• Interest revenues would go down as there was less money invested and interest rates were currently lower.
• The residual equity transfer would be a little over half of the amount needed to be transferred last year.
• She explained the costs of codifying the City Ordinances using Municode.
• She said she had budgeted for only 19 meetings a year. She hoped to save money by having less meetings as it currently cost about $500 per meeting- with chapel rental, City Attorney fees and administration costs.
• She said she had budgeted for some travel but not for the GMA conference in Savannah. She said that although it could be valuable, she would not recommend it, because after researching costs (numbers shown in the notes) she felt it was too expensive.
• She said hours had been increased at City hall this year, and although this was over budget, the allocated Public works salary, which had not been used this year, had funded the extra hours.
• One item of Capital improvement was included- a new copier machine for City Hall.
• The contingency budgeted was to cover operating expenses for 30 days.

OLD BUSINESS
Infrastructure Repairs- Zielazienski
Zielazienski said that the County was still working on the plans for the necessary easements for the project 398 Lakeshore. She was hoping that she could get them to the City attorney as soon as possible, as it was to be funded by a matching funds grant, which needed to be spent this year.

Zielazienski said that the dredging of the lake had cost $26,250. Council had already approved $25,000 and it had already been paid to Aquatic Solutions. However, further approval was needed for the extra $1625, which was within the 10% contingency previously approved

Zielazienski motioned to approve the final $1625. Guthrie seconded the motion.

Reynolds asked if this would cover the whole of the invoice for Aquatic Solutions. Zielazienski said it would.

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

Consideration of Waste Management Proposals
(This was brought forward on the agenda)
Salter read the proposed prices bid by the waste companies for the contract: Advanced Disposal Services $33.54 a quarter, BFI $9.97 a month, equaling $29.91 a quarter, DreamSan $41.25 a quarter, United/Robertson $54.75 a quarter and Waste Industries $47.25 a quarter.
There were representatives from the following companies at the meeting:
Steve Edwards- Advanced Disposal Services, Brian Wintjen- BFI, Gary Parker- United/Robertson and Erica Pines- Dream san. Each of them made a brief comment about their proposal. Council then asked each of the representatives several questions about their proposals.
Carothers recommended that only the services offered in the proposals should be considered, not additional written or verbal ones offered afterwards.

Guthrie recommended that Council take more time to get references. She suggested the decision be postponed until the next meeting, and all were in favor of the idea.

Consideration of Possible City Events- Salter
Salter gave out more details for the events she was recommending. There was a short discussion about the D Day event and whether it should be a Veterans event. Council recommended that the details be given to the events Committee to make further recommendations upon.

Arbitration Board, response to their recommendations
Sipe responded to the Arbitration Board’s recommendations and thanked the committee for their work. He took each point and commented on them. He agreed with their conclusion that there was no need for an arbitration board for appeals. He agreed that ordinances referring to it should be changed and that codifying the ordinances using Municode may be helpful. He said he agreed with the OEO using a two-step procedure as recommended. He said he was unaware of any problems of conflict of interest within P & Z, but he had emailed Chairman Bob Herb to comment on this issue. He said he would explore the other issues further, and said he would introduce an ordinance taking the comments into consideration at a later meeting.

There was discussion regarding the three-step procedure currently used by the OEO, which provides for a warning to be issued before a citation. The committee felt that if an ordinance was broken, then a citation should be issued without a warning.

Guthrie suggested that the City website be updated to reflect the dissolution of the Arbitration Board once in effect and, per Committee recommendation, that the City handbook should be updated to include the consequences of breaking ordinances.

Marilyn Childress, speaking as chair of the Arbitration Board, emphasized that the recommendation of the board was that penalties should be more stringent and that citizens should be made aware of the consequences of breaking ordinances. Salter said she had just written a Mayor’s Message to go out tomorrow reiterating information about consequences.

Ordinance 4-101.3 Delinquent taxes, 2nd read – Cohen
Cohen motioned to put the ordinance on second read, and adopt. Zielazienski seconded the motion. All were in favor of the motion, and the motion passed.
Cohen also recommended that a letter be spent out by regular mail to those who still owed taxes informing them of this new ordinance.

Resolution on 2001 SPLOST fund arrangement with Lawrenceville - Cohen
Cohen explained the fund arrangement with Lawrenceville. Each City was allocated equal funds for Transportation and Parks and Recreation. Berkeley Lake needed further funds for Transportation, and Lawrenceville had agreed to swap their allocation, as they needed funds for Parks and Recreation.

Cohen motioned to accept the resolution to swap the park funds with the City of Lawrenceville for their transportation funds. Sipe seconded the motion.

Reynolds asked how the money would be spent. Cohen said it would match what the City already has from City assistance fund to fix the area between Webb and Brice on Lakeshore Drive. Storm water falls under transportation in the County allocated categories. He said that the City could claim the money once it was done and it will not have cost the City anything. Any left over money could be used to survey for another area.

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

Cohen also motioned that the Mayor sign the necessary documents to allow the County to give the City the SPLOST money remaining in the 2001 SPLOST. Sipe seconded the motion and all were in favor. The motion passed.

NEW BUSINESS
Consideration of Budget 2005
Cohen suggested Council discussion on the budget be postponed until next meeting as it would be after Election day and the result of the SPLOST referendum would be known. Council agreed.

Salter reminded everyone that the Public Hearing for the budget would be on November 18th as well, so there was time for discussion.

Mail theft- Cohen
There was discussion regarding the theft of mail from mailboxes and possible solutions to the problem.

Salter said that both the City policemen and the County policemen had been informed. She has also asked the Postal Inspector for a drop box at City Hall.

Waste Contract
There was discussion about issues with the waste contract proposals. Reynolds noted that one proposal was not signed, one financial statement was unaudited and one proposal looked like there was significant negative working capital.

Carothers said if it was not signed, it is not official and he suggested that it should not be considered. He suggested that calls could be made to clarify the financial statements but if that was the case, then the other vendors should be called to clarify the other issue too. He reiterated that whatever is submitted should be used to make a judgment on and taken at face value.

3 way stop at Berkeley on the River - Reynolds
Reynolds asked Sipe if he had spoken to anyone at the County.

Sipe said he had been unable to arrange a meeting yet, but it was not for a lack of effort on his part, and promised to continue to aggressively purse it.

City Directory
It was decided to postpone the printing of the directory until the decision had been made regarding the waste contract at the next meeting in two weeks.

THERE BEING NO FURTHER BUSINESS, COHEN MOTIONED TO ADJOURN THE MEETING AT 9:20 PM. GUTHRIE SECONDED THE MOTION, AND ALL WERE IN FAVOR. THE MOTION PASSED.

Respectfully submitted by Jackie Wall, City Clerk.