Loading...
HomeMy WebLinkAbout11-03-2011 regular meeting ,.,.... City Council of Peachtree City Meeting Minutes November 3, 2011 7:00 p.m. The Mayor and City Council of the City of Peachtree City met in regular session on Thursday, November 3, 2011. Mayor Don Haddix called the meeting to order at 7:00 p.m. Other Council Members present: Vanessa Fleisch, Doug Sfurbaum, Kim Learnard, and Eric Imker. Announcements, Awards, Special Recognition Representatives from the Governor's Office of Highway Safefy recognized fhe Peachtree City Police Department for setting an example for the State of Georgia and fhe country in the National Law Enforcement Challenge. Citizen Comment There was none. Agenda Changes There were none. Minutes Imker said he had requested an amendment in the October 6, 2011, minutes to correct an error relating to the five-year impact of the bonds. Sturbaum moved to approve the October 6, 2011, regular meeting minufes as amended and the October 20, 2011, regular meeting minutes as presented. Imker seconded. Mofion carried unanimously. r-. Consent Aaenda 1. Consider. storm.....ater Facility Ma,intenance Agreement - Walgreen's 2. Consider Addendum to EnterpriS'eVehicle Lease Agreement Learnard moved to approve the Consent Agenda. Sturbaum seconded. Motion carried unanimously. Old Aaenda Items 10-1 O-CA 1 Consider Alcohol License - NEW - Private Club/Bar, 300 Clover Reach City Clerk Betsy Tyler addressed Council, saying that applicant Dar Thompson was present. Tyler said Council had approved the license for Thompson's esfablishment in October 2010 and Thompson had paid his $5,500 license fee for 2011 at that time. Some construction issues had delayed the project, and Thompson had kept statf up to date on the progress. However, staff did not note that the six-month period following the license approval had lapsed. Peachtree City's ordinance stipulated that, if an alcohol license is granted but the business does not open within six months, Council had to approve an extension and the license fee was forfeited. Tyler said Thompson was working fo open in December of 2011, which meant he owned $2.750 for the license. He also added an additional bar, which required a $550 fee for 2011, which totaled $3,300 for the license for the remainder of 2011 and $6,600 for the 2012 license. Thompson had requested that the original $5,500 be applied to his FY 2011 and 2012 licenses, meaning he would not owe any additional payment for 2011 and would pay $4.400 .lor 2012. Thompson confirmed that was his request. ~ Tyler continued that in previous years, businesses had come to Council to request license extensions and refunds or credit forfees that had been paid and unused. Imker said there seemed to be a precedent and asked Tyler if part of the issue was due to an oversight on the part of staff for not notifying Council about the six-monfh deadline. Tyler City Council of Peachtree City November 3, 20 II Page 2 cOnfirmed fhis. Imker said he wanted to assure local businesses that the City was business friendly and businesses should not be penalized due to an oversight. He supported approval. Fleisch clarified that he favored applying the existing fee, and Imker confirmed. Learnard moved to reapprove the alcohol license for Tommyco, Inc" and the applicants request for credit for the fees already paid. Sturbaum seconded. Motion carried unanimously. New Aaenda Items 11-11-01 Public Hearing - Consider Reaffirmation of Multi-Family Rezoning Moratorium Having no members of the public Wishing to speak, the Mayor closed the public hearing. Tyler said Council had adopted the multi-family rezoning moratorium in effect for over 10 years. The moratorium prohibited property owners from submitting a request to rezone property for multi-family development, but it did not affect the development of property already zoned for multi-family use. Applicants for rezoning had to first come to Council to request that the moratorium be lifted for their property before submitting the rezoning application. Sturbaum moved to reaffirm the multi-family rezoning moratorium. Fleisch seconded. Motion carried unanimously. 11- 11-02 Presentation from Friends of the Library Paul Lentz, secretary of the Peachtree City Library Corporation, also known as the Friends of the Library, explained that the organizofion was created in 1973 to bring library service to Peachtree City to improve on the weekly book mobile that came from Griffin. The group currently -. supported the library operations and had 140 members. The organization had made over'$20,000in purchases and donations for the Library in 2011. including three new computers for the children's department, helping to sponsor the Summer Reading Program, purchasing books and videos, and seeing $10,000 in books donated. The Friends also helped sponsor the Exceptionally Good Times Program for disabled young adults, hosted the book sale, and contributed 1,600 volunteer hours in operation of the Library. Last year, the Friends began a monthly program featuring Georgia aufhors as speakers, which had been very popular. Lentz said that the future focus for the group included issues that would affect library operations everywhere, including the growth of e-books and non-traditional media, as well as funding sources (public and private) for library services. He noted thaf the Peachtree City Library had 250,000 visits each year. The Friends of the Library's principal funding source was through the sale of used books, and they would be looking for additional funding sources to support their work. They would also continue to focus on membership and recruiting. Lentz then addressed an issue of local library operation concern. The previous week. County Commission Chairman Herb Frady had stated that withdrawing from the Flint River Regional Library System, which had been discussed at the County level. was off the table. However, Fayette County's membership would be up for renewal in the coming year. -. Lentz explained that, each year, Fayette County put a total of $136,000 toward Flint River membership, with $105,000 coming from Fayette County, $24,000 from Peachtree City, and $7,000 from Tyrone. In return, the County received over $225.000 in services, including access to 9.6 million items from 300 libraries across the state, T-1 Internet lines, and online access to City Council of Peachtree City November 3, 20 II Page 3 - databases, software. and grants. Membership also helped provide the audio book downloads and e-books for devices like iPad and Kindle. Wifhdrawing from the Flint River system would require an estimated $450.000 in transition and set- up costs and an estimated increase in operations of $400,000 per year. He encouraged Council to support continued membership in the Flint River System. Lentz concluded by saying the Friends bylaws established their mission to support the role of the Peachtree City Library through program sponsorship and additional funding for materials. Since the disbanding of the Library Commission. the group also served to provide citizen input and representation. Haddix said he thought he spoke for all of Council when he said that Peachtree City wanted to keep what was currently in place for the Library. He thanked Lentz and the Friends of the Library for their work, Learnard asked when the next meeting for the Friends of the Library would be held. Lentz clarified that the group only held formal meetings twice per year. the next being on Thursday. December 1. 7:00 p.m. The monthly events served in lieu of regular monthly meetings, and interested members of the public were welcome to all the functions. ",--" Imker asked how the issue of withdrawing from Flinf River had originally arisen. Lentz said he was speculating. but there had been an August article in a local paper about the regional system withdrawing funding for the County Library Manager. The County then began considering withdrawal from the system. Lean'1ard noted that last week the County had voted to fund the County Library Manager position. Imker asked if membership in the Flint River System was considered or renewed annually, and consensus indicated membership renewal was every 10 years. Council/Staff Topics City Manager Jim Pennington informed Council that the new sewer system for Fire Station 84 had not yet been approved and he would be talking to City Attorney Ted Meeker about some of the requirements. The Kedron pool bubble construction was moving forward at a good pace. Construction on the rear of the Library was nearly complete. but dust had raised the issue of having the Library carpets cleaned. Acting Community Services Director Jill Prouty reported that Regents Public Library Advisory Committee and Georgia Council for Public Libraries would be meeting at the Peachtree City Library on Monday. November 7. Learnard said she wanted to make couple of clarifications based on recent online discussions about the City's budget. She noted the budget was available on the City's web site and wanted to point out where people could find information about the Development Authority of Peachtree City (DAPC) funding. ,.-., Haddix said this was a discussion related to the upcoming November 8 Municipal Election and could not be discussed. Learnardsaid she wanted to clarify where people could look on the web site. Haddix said they would not discuss election issues at Council meetings. Learnard appealed the motion of the chair. Haddix overruled. said Learnard was out of order. said the ruling could not be appealed, and called for Executive Session. City Council of Peachtree City November 3, 20 II Page 4 "...., City Attorney Ted Meeker clarified that a member of Council couid appeal a ruling by the chair with a motion. Haddix indicated that election campaign issues couid not be discussed in Council Chambers. Learnard said she was not discussing election issues. She was asking to look at the City budget on the City web site. Haddix said this was a campaign issue. Meeker said there were state ethics laws addressing what could be discussed related to elections. Learnard said she would respect those iaws. Learnard again moved to appeal the action of the chair. Imker seconded. Motion carried with four voting in favor (Mayor Haddix did not cast a vote). Learnard asked staff to display the City's web site, noting the web address and links to the Finance Department page. She said the budgets were all online, and each one gave a nice, concise summary of the City with reader's guide. She encouraged people to take the time to review the online budgets. Learnard also noted that Council had passed the budget unanimously and there was $7,500 in new funding dedicated to the DAPC in FY 2012. Imker asked if that money had already been appropriated, and Assistant Finance Director Janet Camburn confirmed it had. Learnard then said she wanted to discuss the City's budget process, saying it was very transparent. Work on the budget began with the annual Council Retreat, followed by multiple workshops, and public hearings. She continued that, in addition to what occurred in public meetings, much more went on behind the scenes among the City Manager and Directors and Chiefs. This year, Dr. Pennington presented his best budget to Council after working with staff, and Learnard said she appreciated the streamlined process. She said Council did not see some of the requests that departments initially made that were not included in the budget that was presented. Learnard continued that there had been some online campaign discussion about a public safety records management system, and she was not going to address the discussion, but she read about it in the paper and had not heard of it, and Council did not discuss it or vote on it. It was something Dr. Pennington and his chiefs and directors addressed behind the scenes and it did not come to Council. Haddix said the audience had heard a nice campaign on some items that could be disputed, and they would leave it to the candidates to discuss, noting there had been information in the public sphere about the records system that the public found. Sturbaum moved to enter Executive Session to discuss a personnel issue at 7:40 p.m. Learnard seconded. Motion carried unanimously. Sturbaum moved to reconvene in regular session at 7:49 p.m. Learnard seconded. Motion carried unanimousiy. There being no further business, Sturbaum moved to adjourn the meeting. Learnard seconded. Motion carried unanimously. The meeting adjourned at 7:50 p.m. f'"""\ ~ll:Lo/