COUNCIL MEETING

November 18, 2004

 

 

The meeting was called to order by Mayor Rozier with Councilman Ray leading in prayer.  The minutes of the November 4, 2004 meeting were reviewed.  Councilman Ray made a motion to approve the minutes, Councilman Myrick seconded the motion and it passed with three affirmative votes.

 

OLD BUSINESS:

 

Mayor Rozier advised council that Debra Brant had called the City Hall on Friday, November 5th and stated that she had contacted someone to move the two non-conforming mobile homes on her property located at #6 & #8 Brantville Drive.  Ms. Brant is working to have the power disconnected and the wheels put back on the mobile homes so they can be moved.  Council was informed that the City will be removing the grinder pump tanks prior to the moving of these units.  The Mayor stated that, according to the information received from Ms. Brant, the mobile homes should be gone in a couple of weeks.  Council agreed to table any action on this matter until the next meeting.

 

The Mayor reported that the City has not yet received the payment for $1677.14 from William McAllister for costs related to the City’s clearing of his property at #14 Osteen Road.  Mayor Rozier advised council that he had been talking with Mr. McAllister regarding the possible purchase of the property, but council would need to determine how they wanted to handle the collection of these fees.  Attorney Dickey stated that according to City ordinance, in order to pursue recovery of these monies; the City would have to file a lawsuit against Mr. McAllister.  After the discussion, Councilman Myrick made a motion to authorize Attorney Dickey to proceed with the filing of a lawsuit against William McAllister for the $1677.14 owed to the City.  Councilman Waller seconded the motion and it passed with three affirmative votes.

 

The Mayor stated that since Councilman Tyler was not present at tonight’s meeting, he would pass discussion of the bids for increasing the size of the water lines at the eastern end of the City limits and the ditch relocation at Oak Street until next meeting.

 

Council was advised that contact had been made with the owner of the property on Osteen Road that would become an island if the City annexed the properties surrounding it and the owner was interested in coming into the City.  Mayor Rozier pointed out, however, that with recent developments regarding annexations proposed by the City of Savannah, he would like to pass any action on proceeding with the requested annexations until after a series of meetings that are to be held next week regarding Savannah’s annexations.  The Mayor stated that once the City of Bloomingdale received more information about exactly what areas were going to be involved with Savannah’s annexations, they could better address the requests for annexation from the citizens living on Osteen Road.  Citizen Chris Patterson who was one of the petitioners and was present at the meeting agreed to wait until after the City received more information about the other annexations before pursuing his request.

 

Councilman Myrick reported that the Bloomingdale Alliance Church was well on its way to being able to occupy their recently constructed gym and things seemed to be coming together for them to partnership with the City of Bloomingdale to provide use of the gym as the “home gym” for the Bloomingdale Bear’s basketball teams.  Councilman Myrick stated he would keep council informed of the progress toward making use of the gym for the basketball games.

 

Council discussed the proposed part-time building inspector/code enforcement officer position.  Councilman Myrick stated that we needed to establish a specific length of time that we will be receiving applications for the position.  After a brief discussion, council agreed that the notice prepared by the Mayor should be advertised with January 6, 2005 as the cut-off date for receiving applications/resumes.

 

NEW BUSINESS:

 

Mayor Rozier presented a request for a home occupation license from Larry Patton to operate the office of his home repair business from his residence located at #1456 Pine Barren Road.  Since Mr. Patton was not able to attend, his wife, who also works as an employee of the business, was present to answer questions from council.  The Mayor asked Ms. Patton if she understood that there could be no outside traffic related to the business coming to the residence and she stated that she understood this stipulation.  Ms. Patton stated that the residence would only be used for the office of the business since the work was done at the premises of the customers.  Based on this information, Councilman Waller made a motion to waive the public hearing requirement, Councilman Ray seconded the motion and it passed with three affirmative votes.  Councilman Ray made a motion to issue the home occupation license at #1456 Pine Barren Road, Councilman Waller seconded the motion and it passed with three affirmative votes.

 

Council reviewed a request from Roddy Ledlie, who lives at #103 Church Street, to operate the office of his home and garden improvements business from his residence.  Mr. Ledlie stated that he would be the only employee and understood that there could be no outside traffic related to the business coming to the residence.  Councilman Ray asked Mr. Ledlie exactly what kind of work he did.  Mr. Ledlie stated that he designed and constructed the gardens and home improvements for his customers.  After this discussion, Councilman Waller made a motion to waive the public hearing requirement, Councilman Myrick seconded the motion and it passed with three affirmative votes.  Councilman Ray made a motion to issue the home occupation license at #103 Church Street.  Councilman Waller seconded the motion and it passed with three affirmative votes.

 

The Mayor recognized Lanier and Melba Hutchinson, owners of property at #319 John Carter Road, who have requested that council consider annexing their property.  Their property is not contiguous to our current City limits, but there are other owners in the general area that are also interested in being annexed into Bloomingdale.  Attorney Dickey pointed out that with recent changes in annexation laws it is not a requirement that properties be contiguous to our City limits, but in these cases, the county must approve the annexations.  The Hutchinson’s expressed their concerns about being annexed into the City of Savannah.  Archie Burson and Charles Brannen, both owners of property on John Carter Road, also expressed their interest in annexation for better police protection and to avoid annexation into Savannah.  Mayor Rozier stated that he appreciated their interest in coming into Bloomingdale, but asked that they give the City a week or two to find out the results of the series of meetings about the City of Savannah annexations to be held next week.  Mayor Rozier advised the citizens that this matter would be placed on the December 2nd council agenda for further discussion.

 

Attorney Dickey presented the annexation ordinance for the 29.90 acres of the Morgan Family property that is located on Wildcat Dam Road for council’s review and approval.   Mayor Rozier asked if there were any questions or comments from the council or the citizens about the proposed annexation.  Being none,

Councilman Waller made a motion to approve the first reading of the annexation ordinance, Councilman Myrick seconded the motion and it passed with three affirmative votes.  Councilman Myrick made a motion to dispense with the second reading, Councilman Ray seconded the motion and it passed with three affirmative votes.  Councilman Myrick made a motion to approve the annexation ordinance for the 29.90 acres of property located on Wildcat Dam Road owned by the Morgan Family.  Councilman Ray seconded the motion and it passed with three affirmative votes.

 

Mayor Rozier reported that the City had not received any written recommendations from the Planning & Zoning Commission from their November 16, 2004 meeting.  The Mayor pointed out that Chairman Andrew Rawlings and Councilman Mike Wedincamp had left immediately after the meeting to go out of town to a seminar so they were not available to submit the recommendations and the secretary could not be reached.  One of the commission members had advised the clerk that the commission had approved the request from council for the establishment of the zoning of the 29.90 acres of property owned by the Morgan Family located on Wildcat Dam Road that was proposed for annexation from RA-1 to I-1, but there were some changes proposed by the commission on the rezoning request for the Morgan Family’s property located at I-16.  The Mayor stated he would like for council to take action on the establishment of the zoning for the Morgan Family’s property that was just approved for annexation and table the rezoning request on the other Morgan Family parcel at I-16 until we could get clarification from Chairman Rawlings on the commission’s recommendation.  The Mayor asked Henry Morgan if he had any objections and he did not.  Councilman Ray made a motion to approve the establishment of the zoning of the 29.90 acre parcel owned by the Morgan Family and located on Wildcat Dam Road to I-1, “Light Industrial” and to table action on the rezoning request on the Morgan Family property at I-16 until more information could be obtained from the Planning & Zoning Commission.  Councilman Myrick seconded the motion and it passed with three affirmative votes.

 

The Mayor presented a request from Chief Rick Gossett for council’s approval of an administrative personnel pay chart for the police department and the appointment of Jody Heaton as the Certification Manager for the Bloomingdale Police Department.  Councilman Ray questioned the Chief about the submission of this promotion and pay scale since council had already approved the budget for the current year and when the last promotion had been submitted we were advised that it would be the last until the new budget year.  The Chief stated that a pay scale for the administrative staff had not been established, but he did have funds available in the current budget to cover the promotion and pay scale request.  The Mayor pointed out that the Public Safety committee had met and discussed this request.  Councilman Ray reminded the Mayor that there was not a quorum present at the meeting, so no vote had been taken to recommend these changes.  Councilman Waller asked the Chief about Ms. Heaton’s duties.  The Chief stated that she handle all the administrative requirements necessary to maintain our state accreditation status and the day-to-day administration functions of the police department as well as being cross-trained on court clerk procedures.  After the discussion, Councilman Waller made a motion to approve the adoption of the administrative personnel pay chart as presented by Chief Gossett and the promotion of Jody Heaton as the Certification Manager for the police department.  Councilman Myrick seconded the motion and it passed with three affirmative votes.  Councilman Myrick made a motion that the effective date of the pay scale and the promotion would be the beginning of the first pay period in January, 2005.  Councilman Waller seconded the motion and it passed with three affirmative votes.

 

Mayor Rozier reported that the council needed to adjourn into executive session to discuss legal matters.  Councilman Ray made a motion to adjourn into executive session, Councilman Waller seconded the motion and it passed with three affirmative votes.  A copy of the signed affidavit required by the Open Meetings Law is attached.  After completion of the executive session, Councilman Ray made a motion to return to the general session.  Councilman Waller seconded the motion and it passed with three affirmative votes.  The Mayor stated that during the executive session council had discussed some legal issues regarding the City’s lawsuit against the EPD related to water issues.

 

The accounts payable were reviewed.  Councilman Ray made a motion to pay the bills, Councilman Myrick seconded the motion and it passed with three affirmative votes.

 

Being no further business, Councilman Waller made a motion to adjourn, Councilman Ray seconded the motion and it passed with three affirmative votes.  The meeting adjourned at 7:45pm.

                                                                 

Mayor Rozier and Council members Myrick, Ray and Waller were present at the meeting.  Council members Johnson and Wedincamp were out of town.