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- 9

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

PUBLIC HEARING
There were no comments for the budget public hearing.

MINUTES
Zielazienski motioned that the minutes of the meeting of December 2nd 2004 be accepted. Guthrie seconded the motion. All were in favor of the motion. The motion passed.

REPORTS
Sipe motioned to accept the November Financial report. Zielazienski seconded the motion. All were in favor of the motion. The motion passed.
Reynolds motioned to accept the 2003 Audit report. Sipe seconded the motion. All were in favor of the motion and the motion passed.
Salter said she had also received a report from the police, but not the OEO this month as she was still working with Sewell on the format.

MAYOR’S MESSAGE
Salter announced that the Directory had been delivered and packaged with the Mayor’s Message, and other information and would be delivered shortly by volunteers. She thanked the clerks, Jackie Wall and Carol Seitz for their hard work. She said that all but one of the Home Owner Associations had volunteered to deliver their directories and she thanked them. Emails had also been sent to tell everyone they were coming. They should be put on driveways and not in mailboxes.
Salter reminded everyone that City Hall will be closed on December 23rd, and 27th.

Salter asked Council to get materials for the council meeting to the clerk a week before the meeting so they could get their packets earlier.

Salter said she was also recruiting people to be committee members. No one is turned down and she asked that everyone thought about possible new candidates and contact her with suggestions.

OLD BUSINESS
Infrastructure repairs
Zielazienski said that the easements had been defined and the deeds sent to Carothers to prepare the easements for the property (between 380-398 Lakeshore Drive) on the lakeside of the large pond.

Consideration of Budget 2005
Salter said that at a previous meeting Council had said it was ok not to spend the entire budget in some categories, events for example. However the current ordinance says that she should not err 10% above or below budget and Cohen had offered to re-write the section.

Cohen said he had re-written the whole chapter. He said he was giving it to the Ordinance committee, the Treasurer and then Carothers to look at. He said it should be ready for the second meeting in January for Council members to see.

Frank Lombardi 20 Lakeshore Drive
Lombardi said that the general revenue was going up $172,000; he asked where it was coming from. He also asked what the budgeted $100,000 for ‘Other financing Uses’ was for.

Cohen said that additional revenue was from SPLOST and other grants. He said the SPLOST money was an estimate made by the County based on past history. He said that the State will pass a bill that will freeze property taxes at the next session. He said that it will cause a problem in the future for the city due to the high bond payments. He said that the idea was to accumulate some money to pay down the bond early. By 2008, $400,000 plus interest could be paid towards reducing the bond payments. He said it may mean paying off the bond by 2010 and therefore saving money from our taxes.

Lombardi asked what would happen if future councils decided not to do that.

It was agreed that future councils could not be bound to do this but it was hoped that they would.

Guthrie read the new changes that have been suggested by the Council to the budget with the additional grants and reduced money for SPLOST:
Revenue General changed to $786,847.90 for a Total Revenue of $993,932.90
Total General Government now reads $199,800.05.
Total Public Works should now read $355,745.90
Other Financing Uses now reads 99,851.95
Total Expenses is now $993,932.90

Pam Williamson (Treasurer) 3996 S Berkeley Lake Rd
Williamson asked that the ‘Other financing uses’ line item be changed to ‘Addition to reserve’.

Cohen motioned to accept the revised budget. Guthrie seconded the motion.

In discussion, Reynolds said that she did not like being taxed for the ‘Addition to reserve’ as it was tax money not being spent. She also said she did not like the contingency being increased to $40,000 as contingency was not spent this year. She said it was taxing citizens for $140,000, which was not being spent and she was opposed to that.

Cohen said he thought that the contingency would be spent. He said it was necessary to pay for the Comprehensive Plan this coming year which could cost $20,000 plus. He said it was difficult to define a sum and add a line item for it because no one knew how much it will cost but it is a state requirement that it be completed.

Reynolds said that she would like it documented in the minutes and in the worksheet, that the high amount of contingency is put aside for that reason.

Sipe reiterated the reasons for setting money aside for paying the bond down sooner so that more money would be left to operate the City after SPLOST expires.

Pam Williamson (Treasurer) 3996 S Berkeley Lake Rd
Williamson said that further revenue comes from building permits generated from projects like the River District. She said that all the money from SPLOST is in the budget to be spent.

Cohen, Guthrie, Sipe and Zielazienski were in favor of passing the budget. Reynolds was opposed. The motion passed.

It was noted that the budget cannot be fully adopted until January as it is state law that you cannot pass budget at same meeting as the Public hearing.

Chapter 3 department admin amendment (first read 11/4, amended 11/18) – Sipe
Sipe motioned to amend the Chapter 3 currently on first read with the following amendments:
3-602-2c cosign - change "Cosign (with the Mayor) all contracts"... to "Countersign (at the Mayor's prerogative) contracts"... so the Mayor does not have to ask the department heads to countersign a contract, but she can do so.
3-602-2g reporting - added "regular basis" and "status of department" to strengthen it and make it clearer.
Sipe said that the following change was the biggest change as there was concern that a council member can control what a committee does.
3-602-2i committee - change the existing text:
"With input from council, define the scope of any committee related to the department. Attend said committee's meetings and encourage their input to, and participation in, the affairs of the department to the greatest extent possible."
- to -
"Based upon input from the mayor and council, define the scope of committees related to the department. (So the Mayor and Council defines the scope) Encourage committee input to, and participation in, the affairs of the department to the greatest extent possible. Include formal committee recommendations in department reports. (So committee recommendations have to be included in department reports) Committee members may alternatively choose to address council directly at their discretion." (In case it is not done in a timely manner and are changed).
3-606 facilities department - changed "office equipment" to "capital office equipment" so only larger items of equipment need to come under the facilities department.
3-612 public works department - merged redundant sentences and added missing reference to the Storm Water Management Committee.

Zielazienski said that current ordinance is incorrect for the way the government currently is, and has been, functioning. She said that the revised ordinance is a vehicle that sets forth framework to support aspects of city government. She said it was beneficial to the community as it allows Council members to come to decisions based on hands on experience in the community. She said she had discussed aspects of the ordinance with the community and re-read the recommendations. She said Sipe was receptive to the suggested changes, and has amended text for the changes three times, and it has resulted in great improvement through a positive process.

Zielazienski said that she felt that these changes corrected the issues she had.

Sipe said that he did not see problems with changes proposed except 3-602.1 which he foresaw possible problems with if the Mayor were not doing their job properly and council would not be able to do anything about it.

Zielazienski said that it was very important to her that council members should not be directing employees.

Sipe asked if it addressed Guthrie’s HR concerns.

Guthrie said it addressed some of the HR issues but she would like to see the changes as a whole in one document to see how everything fits in. She said some of the balance of power issues were addressed but she still had issues with check and balances, and overall accountability. She said she had added more to her list: unnecessary bureaucratic red tape and process flow. She said that it should be clear who goes to whom for what and should be user friendly. Guthrie said she had issues with all of 3-601 and is troubled by how it relates to the charter in section 3:10 ‘There shall be a director of each department or agency who shall be its principal officer. Each director shall, subject to the direction and supervision of the mayor, be responsible for the administration and direction of the affairs and operations of that director's department or agency.’
Guthrie said the Charter says that the director has to be a compensated employee, is the highest level under the mayor, appointed solely based on their professional qualifications. She said creating the level of department officials creates a new organizational structure with a brand new entity that does not report to the Mayor.

Carothers said that it is not a direct conflict with the Charter but it does create a dual level of reporting that does exist. A department official does have supervision/oversight of department heads, as does the Mayor in the Charter. The department head is an employee, and under Zielazienski’s proposed changes would report to the Mayor and therefore it is clearly not against the Charter in that aspect.

Guthrie said that the committees would still fall under the jurisdiction of the department official.

Sipe said that the Mayor still appoints the committees, and Carothers agreed.

Sipe agreed to accept the amendments Zielazienski offered as part of his motion.
Zielazienski agreed to second all the amendments.

In discussion, Reynolds asked what would happen if a council member does not want to co-sign a contract.

Sipe said that not co-signing would indicate they were not in agreement with the contract.

Guthrie said that to truly see if the amendments change the proposal that she would rather see the completed document as a whole.

Sipe said he would recommend that she abstained from the vote.

Guthrie said the changes by Zielazienski are substantial and make a significant difference and no one had seen the changes up until now.

Sipe said that the changes were substantial changes, but well defined. He said that delay drags it out unnecessarily. He said that the changes should be implemented. He said he believed it was a good framework with a low risk. He said that many changes have already been made and it is now clear.

Reynolds said that Zielazienski’s changes theoretically give more comfort. However, the City Clerk works or supports almost every department, which could create a conflict.

Sipe disagreed and said that the clerk works in the administration department and only reports to the Mayor. If she supports in other departments, she is not working for another department official.

Guthrie asked why the changes are now necessary as the changes are substantial and more back to the original ordinance. She said the verbiage about City manager could be fixed more simply.

Sipe said he wanted the council members to be more involved in city administrative duties, which are currently exclusively the job of the city manager but are being done by mayor. It allows everyone to be involved. For example, there have been questions about whether Zielazienski’s role as head of public works is legal, and this would clarify it.

Guthrie asked how the department official system would be so different from the current liaison system with Zielazienski’s changes.

Sipe said that the officials would be more responsible in working with the scope of the committee. It also defines who would set the scope.

Guthrie said it could be more simply resolved by scope being set by consensus of Mayor and council.

Sipe said it also defines roles, which helps ‘checks and balances’. As the City grows, the Mayor may not be able to do it all. He said other cities do it too. He said he felt it was a positive, low risk framework which solves all possible scenarios brought up in previous discussions.

Guthrie said that Carothers had said that this system was a more informal structure in most cities and not as formalized

Cohen said that it was not apparent in other cities, as they are often bigger. He said that Council needed to get more involved and are not obligated to do anything now.

Zielazienski said that new Council members look and search for what they are supposed to do. She said that this offered a framework where things are written down and offered good guidance towards the structure of government in the City code.

Steve Robinson- 540 Lakeshore Drive
Robinson asked for the opinion of the Mayor and Councilmember Cohen

Salter said that Council members becoming more involved is an admirable goal and a positive direction to move in, but she said she was not sure what is gained by the ordinance that could not be done by informally agreeing to do it that way (as with Zielazienski’s role). She said that there was nothing in the new ordinance that she could not live with, but she questioned whether there was a need for the additional formality. She asked whether Zielazienski, for example, was on firm ground in her current role without need of the ordinance.

Carothers said Council has the ability to do same thing without the ordinance. It does not establish an official framework but Council could choose to do it that way.

Zielazienski said that Council members in Lilburn are certain of their roles in their departments.

Carothers said that very little is written down in Lilburn, even before they had a City Manager. He said it is even more informal now they have a City Manager.

Salter said that currently nothing is written down between Zielazienski and Salter and it works well in the current situation.

Zielazienski said that was the case, but asked whether it should be that way.

Sipe said that whether or not it is a good idea, it is what will be voted on. He said it can be modified after a trial or test period as it is not charter change.

Salter said Sipe had said that it was a trial that could be changed several times. She said there were areas that worried her and other citizens and asked therefore whether it could be passed with a sunset provision, so it would clearly be a trial period with a set time frame. She said she was torn as she felt that the current way worked well but was willing to try it for a while. She said she felt Guthrie’s concerns about hearing the changes and not being able to see it.

Sipe said the Ordinance was not intended to be permanent and can be adapted later.

Marilyn Childress 4363 S Berkeley Lake Rd-
Childress asked for an explanation of the scope. She said the Mayor still selects the committee members but is limited if she is not allowed to set the scope. She said there are problems if there is a disagreement between Mayor and Council. She said that the Mayor should set the scope of the committee.

Childress said she had been the Chair of a Committee who had problems with the liaison. She said that if the department officials were mandated, it would stifle the membership, as people would not want to be told by the council members that they elected how to run their committees. She said she felt that it was a big step in the wrong direction if council members, who were elected, are put in charge of the committees. She said that at a meeting Sipe had attended he had said that if the committee came up with a certain decision that he would make sure that it would not get passed by the council, and that stifled what people were going to say or do. She said that the Mayor should be in charge, and the ordinance reads that the Department officials are in charge.

Sipe said that conflict came up in committees where there was conflict in direction as to what they should and should not do.

Childress said that in her committee it was not a conflict in what they were doing but resulted from a conflict of scope between Salter and Sipe. She said that she could not see what the organizational chart of the city would look like with this ordinance. There was no way of knowing who is going to answer to whom, and it is not well defined. She said that not listening to the recommendation of the ordinance committee, which was not to approve the ordinance, was also going away from what the committees were charged to do.

Debbie Robinson- 540 Lakeshore Drive (Ordinance Committee chair)
Robinson described the process so far and said that voting on a version with yet more changes that had only appeared that evening appalled her. She said that misinterpretations of a single word could confuse a whole situation. She said her committee had a more limited scope by providing a service to Mayor and Council to review ordinances. Her committee had worked on the ordinance but it had changed again very shortly after their recommendations were put forward. She said she hoped that the sundown idea would be for a short time period so more time could be spent in reviewing the changes.

Cohen said that the existing code needs to be changed. He said that this was a positive attempt to meet future changes. He said that the City would be receiving large sums of money from SPLOST and that it would result in the need for more activity from Council, for them to be involved, and working with the groups. He said he would go along with the changes forwarded. He pointed out that it was not cast in stone, and that ordinances can be changed, within two meetings. He asked that it be tried the way it is, so government can have a better infrastructure.

Frank Lombardi 20 Lakeshore Drive
Lombardi said he still felt the same discomfort as Zielazienski, and agreed with Guthrie’s concerns. He applauded Childress for tackling a committee issue head on. He said he still believed that the City should be run by a professional City Manager and not an elected official. However the original ordinance was not implemented properly, and should be removed. He said he agreed with Guthrie that it could be done more simply, and not by adding a level of bureaucracy. He said it appears that it decentralized authority and accountability. He said good accountability was necessary but this ordinance was more confusing. He said that it seemed that Council was not listening to the comments from citizens, or the citizen committee, which was a big disappointment. He said Council should go back to the table until they are comfortable and do not have to vote for it until they feel comfortable. He said it takes more effort to undo it. He said the Mayor had offered a good diplomatic solution but it may not be practical.

Debbie Robinson 540 Lakeshore Drive
Robinson clarified that the Ordinance committee has not reviewed the ordinance with all the current amendments.

Pam Williamson 3996 S Berkeley Lake Rd
Williamson said that Sipe had addressed many of her concerns. She said that Zielazienski’s amendments brought it back together but she shared Guthrie’s concerns that the changes are radical and that everyone should have time to review them and consistently go through the thread. She asked that council consider not putting it to a final vote until they really understand Zielazienski’s changes.

Rebecca Spitler 3825 Berkeley View Dr
Spitler said it seemed that the Ordinance was over complicated for such a small city, and she could not visualize the structure. She also agreed that all the amendments should be added into a final document and that everyone should see the changes in a full document before finally voting. She said she also agreed with other opinions that it should not be voted on that night.

The Clerk read comments received in writing from Jane and Charles Hardwick (770 Lakeview Lane)
“(1) The Mayor must retain the ultimate accountability of all appointees, employees, delegates and committees. The Mayor may then delegate responsibilities on specific projects to councilpersons etc. However the Mayor still retains ultimate control and accountability.
(2) If the Mayor does a lousy job, there is always impeachment! If the Mayor’s delegate cannot perform or does a lousy job the Mayor may simply appoint a new delegate for the assignment. I believe that is our current structure. If anyone other than the Mayor wants total control, that person must simply get themselves elected Mayor. We certainly hope the current council is not again “ knocking at the door” of a city manager form of government. There is no need to visit again that expensive, additional layer for our tiny city government.
(3) All the current recommendations for change to chapter 3 should certainly not be rushed through just because we are at year-end. After the multiple revisions, the final finished product should be well publicized. Perhaps as a enclosure in the Mayor’s monthly newsletter for at least a month for citizen input and perhaps more revisions based on the input. Then the Council’s “reads” procedure should be based on the final publicized version.
(4) Removing power from the Mayor and giving it to one or more council persons appears to be more of a charter change than an ordinance. In that case, all citizens must be involved by public hearings etc.”

Sipe said that lots of progress had been made and issues have been largely addressed. He said Zielazienski’s recommendations have removed bigger fears. He said it is a living document which can still be changed and it is a framework for a lot of positive input to have in place for 2005 with a sundown provision.
Sipe proposed that the proposal on 1st read be put on 2nd read and adopted as fully amended. Cohen seconded the motion.

Zielazienski said the motion includes the sunset provision. She said lots of energy had gone into it, and Council had tried to do what is best for the community and not for personal gain. She said it was not in stone, but a breathable instrument.

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

Salter said that she believed that everyone had worked hard in considering the ordinance without attention to personal gain and she applauded their efforts.

Chapter 3 ordinance enforcement amendment (first read 11/18) – Sipe
Sipe agreed to postpone this amendment until the next meeting as more work needed to be completed on it.

NEW BUSINESS
Other
Salter read a resolution into the minutes (Please see attachment) whereby Jackie Henderson gave the City of Berkeley Lake a tract of land consisting of 0.36 acres lying between Bayway Circle and South Berkeley Lake Rd known as Fowlers Mill in honor of her husband Robert J ‘Bob’ Henderson, with the provision to maintain it as a nature reserve.
Reynolds motioned to accept the gift. Zielazienski seconded the motion.

In discussion, Reynolds asked about any liability the City may have.
Carothers said there was liability insurance to cover it but the City was agreeing to maintain it in the future.

Tom Kitchens (150 Bayway Circle) was asked about its current condition and he said that the lining needs to be replaced with a heavier copper.

Salter said that she had told Henderson that and Carothers said he would remind her as it was the contractors’ responsibility. Council agreed to that caveat.

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

ADJOURNMENT
THERE BEING NO FURTHER BUSINESS, COHEN MOTIONED TO ADJOURN THE MEETING AT 9:45 PM. REYNOLDS SECONDED THE MOTION, AND ALL WERE IN FAVOR. THE MOTION PASSED.