COUNCIL MEETING

February 15, 2007

 

The meeting was called to order by Mayor Tipton and Councilman Ray led in prayer.  Councilwoman Winn requested that the citizen recognition be postponed until March 1st since her designee was out of town.

 

The Mayor presented the minutes of the February 1, 2007 meeting for approval.  Councilman Ray made a motion to approve the minutes, Councilman Strozier seconded the motion and it passed with five affirmative votes.  The agenda for the February 15, 2007 meeting was reviewed with Councilman Ray making a motion to approve the agenda with the addition, at Attorney Dickey’s request, of litigation and attorney/client discussion to the executive session scheduled for personnel issues.  Councilman Waller seconded the motion and it passed with five affirmative votes. 

 

Mayor Tipton reported that Councilman Myrick was sick with the flu and could not attend tonight’s meeting.

 

OLD BUSINESS:

 

Mayor Tipton stated that two nominees had been submitted for council’s consideration for appointments as alternate members to the Planning & Zoning Commission and asked that Councilman Rawlings present this information.  Councilman Rawlings stated that Lucy Hamm and Gerald Cook had submitted requests to be appointed as alternates and since both citizens were retired they felt that they had the time to commit to the meetings and workshops held by the commission.  After a brief discussion, Councilman Rawlings made a motion to add Lucy Hamm and Gerald Cook as alternate members for 2007 to the Planning & Zoning Commission.  Councilman Strozier seconded the motion and it passed with five affirmative votes.

 

The Mayor recognized Latrelle Kling who had requested that three items be placed on the council agenda under old business.  1) Ms. Kling presented a petition from citizens requesting that council meetings be audio-taped.  The Mayor asked that copies of the petition be furnished to the City.  Mayor Tipton stated that he felt comfortable with the way we were doing our minutes now and that it had worked well for many years, but he was not opposed to changing it.  The Mayor stated he would like to appoint a committee to look into this issue and have information available for council to review during the next budget preparation period.  During discussion, it was noted that the current equipment is not suitable for recording.  Mayor Tipton appointed Councilman Rawlings to serve on the committee and Councilman Ray volunteered to serve with him, but noted that he would not be able to do anything on this project for several weeks.  The Mayor pointed out that this information should be presented during preparation of the next budget; 2) Ms. Kling asked about the scheduling of the meetings with Chatham County and the citizens on the Master Drainage Plan and the Mayor advised her that the engineers should be submitting the information they were preparing in response to the county’s concerns in the next few days.  Mayor Tipton stated that as soon as we get the information from the engineers the meeting with the county can be scheduled; 3) Ms. Kling’s next agenda item was an update on the proposed fire/safety fee and the implementation schedule.  Ms. Kling asked the status on this item and was advised that there had not been any definite decisions made on the fees.  Ms. Kling then asked some questions regarding SPLOST funds that the county had indicated were designated for the fire department and Attorney Dickey provided comments on her inquiries.  When Ms. Kling continued discussion on the SPLOST funding, Mayor Tipton reminded her that this matter was not on the agenda and he moved on to new business.

 

NEW BUSINESS:

 

Mayor Tipton stated that Latrelle Kling had requested that two items be placed on the council agenda under new business: 1) Ms. Kling questioned the demographic make-up of the Ethics Committee membership because all members were male and in the same age group.  Ms. Kling suggested that in the future the council consider a more varied committee.  Mayor Tipton stated that he felt the City had fair and equal representation and it was a good committee; 2) Ms. Kling stated that she had review the job description included in the advertisement for the City Administrator’s position and questioned whether the City would be able to provide funding for someone with these qualifications.  Ms. Kling asked when the Mayor expected to have the position filled.  Mayor Tipton reported that interviews were still underway.  Ms. Kling was also advised that the current budget included funding for this position.

 

Council was advised the City had received a request from Christopher Carroll to obtain an occupational license to operate Islehoppa Construction Company from #219 John Carter Road which is zoned RA-1.  Mayor Tipton recognized Mr. Carroll who reviewed his credentials with council and stated that there was a 70’ mobile home and a 25’ x 25’ building on the property that he planned to use for the business.  Councilman Rawlings asked if he or any member of his family lived on the property and was advised by Mr. Carroll that no one would be living there.  Mr. Carroll stated that the mobile home would be used for the office and although there were four employees there would be limited traffic in and out of the property.  Mr. Carroll explained he would have some equipment parked at this location with limited repairs taking place in the outbuilding.  Councilman Rawlings explained that since this is clearly a commercial operation, it could not be conducted in a residential zone.  Although the City has provisions for home occupational licenses, this would not qualify since he did not live on the premises and there would be business related activities taking place at this location.  Councilman Rawlings pointed out that there would be a problem with the rezoning of this parcel to commercial since it would be considered spot zoning.  After this information was explained, Mr. Carroll withdrew his occupational license request, but indicated that if he decided to relocate his residence in the future he may return to council with a license request.

 

Mayor Tipton presented a request from James Winn to construct a 24’ x 41’ building on his property located at #308 Miller Street to be used as a garage and for storage.  Since the building consists of an enclosed area of over 500 sq.ft. council must approve the issuance of the permit.  The building will have aluminum siding (beige w/green trim) and will have electricity.  Mr. Winn was questioned as to his plans for the building and he stated that it would be for his private use as a workshop only.  Councilman Strozier pointed out that since he had a home occupation license for the office of his pressure washing business to be operated from his residence, he wanted to make sure he understood that the building could not be used for a business.  Mr. Winn stated that he understood this stipulation.  After council’s review of Mr. Winn’s site plan & details on the building, Councilman Ray made a motion to approve the issuance of the building permit, Councilman Strozier seconded the motion and it passed with five affirmative votes.

 

The Mayor asked Councilman Strozier to provide council with the information related to repairs to the roof of the maintenance building since Councilman Myrick was not at the meeting.  Councilman Strozier reported that the roof had been leaking for some time and there had been at least four contractors to come out to look at the problem, but only one company had provided the City with a bid to make the repairs.  The company, Metal Building Maintenance, had provided three prices including a complete replacement of the roof, a price to replace a portion of the roof and a price to patch the area that was leaking.  The costs ranged from approximately $20,000 to a price of $1,800 to patch the roof.  Councilman Strozier stated that it was the recommendation of the General Services Committee to patch the roof.  It was noted that the current budget included funds to cover the $1,800 repairs.  After a brief discussion, Councilman Strozier made a motion to accept the bid from Metal Building Maintenance to patch the roof for a price of $1,800, Councilman Ray seconded the motion and it passed with five affirmative votes. 

 

Attorney Dickey reminded council that the City needed to establish a minimum amount for purchases and/or repairs that would require a bid process and/or approval from council for future transactions.  The Mayor asked Councilman Ray to work with Attorney Dickey to come up with a proposal for council’s consideration.

 

Councilman Ray made a motion to adjourn into executive session to discuss litigation, attorney/client, and personnel issues.  Councilwoman Winn seconded the motion and it passed with five affirmative votes.  At the completion of the executive session, Councilman Ray made a motion to return to the general session and to execute the affidavit as required by the Open Meetings Act.  Councilwoman Winn seconded the motion and it passed with five affirmative votes.  A copy of the signed affidavit is attached to the original minutes.

 

Mayor Tipton stated that this concluded the items received by the council meeting agenda deadline of Friday, January 26, 2007.

 

Under committee reports, Councilman Rawlings stated that the Planning & Zoning Commission will be conducting a workshop on Tuesday, February 27, 2007 at 7:00pm with member Susan Kendryna presenting information on the development of a city-wide comprehensive plan.  Councilman Rawlings also reported that a workshop will be held on Monday, February 26, 2007 with Planning & Zoning Commission members, elected officials and representatives from International Paper Realty Corporation to discuss IPR’s rezoning request. 

 

Mayor Tipton stated that a pre-bid conference will be held on Tuesday, February 20, 2007 with the engineers and contractors to discuss the Church & Lynn Street paving projects.

 

The Mayor advised council that Al Black with Chatham County had contacted the City about holding an informal meeting for general discussion of the proposed Jimmy Deloach interchange at the Bloomingdale City Hall on April 26, 2007.  This meeting will be advertised and conducted by Chatham County.

 

The accounts payable were reviewed.  Councilman Ray made a motion to approve payment of the bills, Councilwoman Winn seconded the motion and it passed with five affirmative votes.

 

Being no further business, Councilman Waller made a motion to adjourn at 8:30pm.  The motion was seconded by Councilman Rawlings and passed with five affirmative votes.

                                                                              

Mayor Tipton and Councilmembers Rawlings, Ray, Strozier, Waller and Winn were present.  Councilman Myrick was sick.

 

Note:  Section § 50-14-1 of the Official Code of the State of Georgia Annotated requires that the minutes shall, as a minimum, include a description of each motion or other proposal made, and a record of all votes.  These minutes meet the minimum requirements.  However, in an attempt to provide as much information as possible to the citizens, the recording clerk has included additional background data and discussion on the subjects presented to council.  The statements of individuals are not verbatim and may be summary in nature.