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HomeMy WebLinkAbout07-18-2013 regular meeting City Council of Peachtree City Meeting Minutes July 18, 2013 7:00 p.m. The Mayor and City Council of the City of Peachtree City met in regular session on Thursday, July 18, 2013. Mayor Haddix called the meeting to order at 7:00 p.m. Other Council Members in attendance: George Dienhart, Vanessa Fleisch, Eric Imker, and Kim Learnard. Announcements. Awards. Special Recoanition There were none. Aaenda Chanaes Imker moved to consider 07-13-06 Consider Cancellation of August I City Council Meeting to right after 07-13-01 Public Hearing- FY 2013-2014 Operating Budget & PIP, adding that if the motion passed it could affect the agenda items that followed. Learnard seconded. Motion carried unanimously. Minutes June 17. 2013, Workshop Minutes June 20,2013, Regular Meeting Minutes Fleisch moved to approve the June 17,2013, workshop minutes and June 20, 2013, regular meeting minutes as written. Learnard seconded. Motion carried unanimously. Monthlv Reports Haddix noted there was an additional document on the dais - the quarterly Fire Department report. There were no comments on the Monthly Reports. Consent Aaenda 1. Consider Request from Highland Subdivision HOA 2. Consider Budget Amendment - FY 2013 Budget 3. Consider Surplus of Public Works Vehicles & Sale of F150 to Airport Authority Haddix noted there were additional documents on the dais - the staff memos for Consent Agenda items 2 and 3. Fleisch moved to approve Consent Agenda items 1 - 3. Learnard seconded. Motion carried unanimously. Old Aaenda Items 04-13-11 Discuss/Consider Countywide Special Purpose Local Option Sales Tax (SPLOST) Haddix noted there was an additional document on the dais - the staff memo. City Manager Jim Pennington said the proposed SPLOST was moving forward at an expeditious speed, adding the County Commission was expected to send out a call to the cities that night. Changes had been made to the proposed distribution since Council had last discussed the subject at the June 17 workshop. The County had looked at what was actually needed for its stormwater projects, and the distribution formula had changed drastically. The City's share would increase by $1,689,256 or 13% if the SPLOST passed. The total amount the City could expect from the SPLOST would be $14,554,860 million. Pennington continued that he had met with the managers of Fayetteville and Tyrone, and they had looked at the formula and projects to ensure the distribution was favorable to all parties. Fayetteville and Tyrone had worked closely with the City during the Local Option Sales Tax City Council Minutes July 18, 2013 Page 2 (LOST) negotiations, and the City wanted to ensure they would be treated equitably in the distribution. All three city managers agreed to make the same recommendation to their Councils - to support the distribution. Learnard clarified the County's share would go down 17.8%, according to the chart included with the staff memo. Pennington said yes, noting that the third page of the memo was the City's proposed list of projects, which included bridge and tunnel projects along with street and cart path paving. There was also an updated list of the priority ranking for streets and cart paths on the dais, which was needed for the future whether the SPLOST was approved by the voters in November or not. Haddix clarified that Pennington was asking for approval of the distribution formula. Pennington said yes. Imker clarified that Council needed actually to vote on the distribution so the County would receive formal notification. City Attorney Ted Meeker confirmed this, adding that an intergovernmental agreement would be circulated prior to the election. Imker said that, with the additional funds the proposed distribution would give the City, he saw no reason not to forward Council's approval to the County. Learnard agreed. Haddix said he had no argument with the City getting more money if the SPLOST passed. Imker moved to approve the Core Infrastructure Analysis distribution of funds as provided in the meeting packet. Dienhart seconded. Motion carried unanimously. New Aaenda Items 07-13-01 Public Hearing - FY 2013-2014 Operating Budget & PIP Financial Services Director Paul Salvatore gave a quick overview of the proposed 2013-2014 operating budget and Public Improvement Program (PIP). Salvatore said the three biggest concerns this fiscal year included the Tax Digest values, which seemed to have stabilized as there had been no further decline, but had also shown no significant growth (just under 2%, and there were appeals still being processed); the depletion/discontinuation of prior SPLOST funds for transportation infrastructure; and the percentage the Local Option Sales Tax (LOST) being reduced due to population shifts. The expense challenges included the continuing demand for upkeep and maintenance of City facilities and other infrastructure (public areas, parks, etc.) and the continuing need for technology upgrades, both hardware and software. The highlights of the proposed budget included: A decrease in total millage rate of 1.25% - no change in Maintenance & Operation (M&O) rate, bond rate decline of approximately 0.1 mill due to bonded debt reduction (Airport Authority bond payoff); and 2% Cost of Living Allowance (COLA) proposed for employees - would be first COLA since October 2008; and Funding included for comprehensive pay/classification study (any cost to implement to be determined - no funding included); and One new position proposed in Fire Department (pending outcome of current Public Safety Departments study) - Logistics Specialist (civilian); and $2.5 million Facilities Bond for continued infrastructure needs for City buildings; and City Council Minutes July 18, 2013 Page 3 Technology upgrades: Final phase of hardware implementation Software upgrades for Police Department, Human Resources, ERP (enterprise resource planning), and better stronger web presence City-wide and interface with citizens. Salvatore looked at the five-year financial model, noting an increase in the millage rate could be needed in 2015 if the SPLOST was not approved and if Council did not want to ask the voters for a General Obligation (GO) bond. If both the SPLOST and the GO bond referendums failed, they would have to work the maintenance funding for roads and cart paths into the General Fund budget. Salvatore pointed out that 2014 was planned to be the last year to use Cash Reserves by design. Moving forward the budget should be balanced, and the additional funding over the 20% target for Cash Reserves would be used as a Millage Rate Stabilization Fund. Salvatore said there would be a resolution for that fund along with the annual budget resolution. Salvatore went over the PIP, which outlined the capital expenditures. He noted that approximately $640,000 worth of the projects would be added to the SPLOST list, if it passed, or to the GO bond. A resolution of reimbursement would be needed for the City to reimburse itself if any funds were spent on the projects. Other items on the list would be part of the project list for the new Facilities Bond. Mayor Haddix opened the public hearing. No one spoke for or against the proposed budget. The public hearing closed. No action was required. The vote on the budget was scheduled on August 15. 07 - 13-06 Consider Cancellation of August 1 City Council Meeting Imker pointed out that the City Manager's recommended budget was not changing based on the County Tax Digest, and only one public hearing was needed for the budget and the millage rate. Cancelling the August 1 City Council meeting was an opportunity to save staff time. Haddix noted three of the items (07-13-02 Public Hearing - Consider Variance from Rear Building Setback, 123 Crown Court; 07-13-03 Public Hearing - Consider Variance from Parking Ordinance, 991 Peachtree Parkwoy North; and 07-13-04 Consider Rezoning - GC to We, Wisdom Pointe Retail Center, Wisdom Road/SR 74) on the July 18 agenda included requests for continuation to the August 1 meeting, which fell within the 45-day time period required by City ordinances for Council to hear variance requests. The August 15 meeting would not meet the time requirement. The public hearings would have to be re-advertised. He added that the applicant for the Crown Court variance had changed her travel plans so she could attend the August 1 meeting. Haddix said cancelling the meeting would not really save any staff time, and it could be problematic. Dienhart said Council had been hired by the voters to do a job. It was nice to have a day off, but they should do the job they were hired to do. Haddix agreed, saying he could not justify causing the citizen a problem and causing extra work for staff. It could be a very short Council meeting. City Council Minutes July 18, 2013 Page 4 Imker said a two-week delay would be inconsequential for the variance and rezoning requests, and the effort to re-advertise was just making a phone call to make it happen. He did not see the extra eftort required, and it would save a lot of staff time. Fleisch suggested holding one meeting on August 8 rather than August 15, asking if the legal notices would still need to run again and who would pay the cost. Pennington said the City would pay for the notices to run again. Fleisch asked if holding one meeting on August 8 would have any issues. Imker asked if holding one meeting on August 8 would be a problem as far as the advertising for budget approval and setting the millage rate. Salvatore said the ad for the millage rate had to run for two weeks prior to the scheduled hearing. It would run on Wednesday, July 24. Salvatore said the millage rate adoption had a September 1 deadline, and he would have to check the calendar to see if August 8 would be enough time. Staff had planned to have the approval of the budget and the millage rate on the August 15 agenda, but they did not have to be done at the same time. Fleisch said she wanted to do what was necessary to ensure everything was done correctly for the budget and the millage rate. Dienhart noted that Imker had said one reason to cancel the August 1 meeting was to save staff time, asking what the other reasons were. Imker said another meeting was not needed to work on the budget, and the hearing had just been completed. People seemed to be happy; the less government, the better. Dienhart agreed, but reiterated that Council had been hired to be at Council meetings two days a month, saying they owed it to the citizens to be there. Haddix said a citizen had already rescheduled her vacation so she could be at the August 1 meeting. He did not want to cause the citizen any difficulty by changing the date again. He was at City Hall often, and one more time in a month was not a big deal. Public Information Ofticer/City Clerk Betsy Tyler clarified that all three public hearings had to be re-advertised because of the move to August 1, and that had been done to meet the time deadline. Two of the items had to be continued due to staff error, and the other had to be continued because the Planning Commission had not had a quorum for its July 8 meeting, which meant the required recommendation to Council was not available for July 18. Haddix asked how an August 8 Council meeting would impact the Planning Commission calendar. Tyler said the next Planning Commission meeting was scheduled for July 22. Their normal meeting date was the second Monday of each month. Haddix said there was the potential that the Planning Commission would not be make a decision on July 22, possibly continuing the agenda item to August 12. He could not support cancelling the meeting or rescheduling for August 8. Imker said none of the three agenda items were that critical that they had to be done immediately on August 1, with all due respect to the applicant who changed her plans. Imker said that was the wrong approach, noting Council had been delayed over a year on similar things. Imker said two weeks would not hurt anyone. Dienhart said it was a sad statement that Council could not be available two days a month to the people that elected them. Fleisch added that she had not realized everything that been discussed, saying there probably was not much on the agenda other than the three public hearings. She had not realized the City would incur the cost of the re-advertising. Imker moved to cancel the August 1 Council meeting. Learnard seconded. Motion failed 2 (Imker, Learnard)-3 (Haddix, Dienhart, Fleisch). City Council Minutes July 18, 2013 Page 5 07 -13-02 Public Hearing - Consider Variance from Rear Building Setback, 123 Crown Court Staff requested a continuance to August 1 . Learnard moved to continue the variance for 123 Crown Court to August 1. Fleisch seconded. Motion carried unanimously. 07 -13-03 Public Hearing - Consider Variance from Parking Ordinance, 991 Peachtree Parkway North Staff requested continuance until August 1. Learnard moved to continue agenda item 7-13-03 until August 1. Fleisch seconded. Motion carried unanimously. 07 -13-04 Consider Rezoning - GC to LUC, Wisdom Polnte Retail Center, Wisdom Road/SR 74 Staff requested continuance until August 1. Learnard moved to continue agenda item 07-13-04 until August 1. Fleisch seconded. Motion carried unanimously. 07 - 13-05 Discussion of Placement of Bike Rental Stations at Locations In the City Dienhart said he wanted to gauge how Council felt about having staff look at the possibility of bike rental stations at several locations in the City. He said most cities did not have the infrastructure in place the City had, and he felt it was a low-cost way to enhance the quality of life. His intention was to direct staff to look into it if Council saw any value in it. Haddix said it had been looked at by the first Council he served on, and it was not found to be plausible. If this Council felt things had changed, then it should be reexamined. He just wanted to let everyone know. Dienhart said things might be different now, adding the industry had grown to allow people to swipe a card, grab a bike, and go. Haddix said, at that time, the City would have spent more than was brought in, and it would still interfere with private enterprise. A compromise approach might be for the City to contact the companies that rented bikes locally to see if they were interested. Dienhart said the bike stations could go in any central location, such as City Hall and the Library. If the private sector was already doing it, that was fine, too. It was just an idea to possibly enhance the lifestyle in the City. If not, that would be fine too. Fleisch said she always tried to be respectful of staff time, asking if Dienhart envisioned the rentals being a private enterprise or City-run. She noted that Citibank sponsored the bike rental program in New York City. Dienhart said he did not envision the City being in the bike rental business, adding he did not think the City could get a sponsorship like there was in New York City. He had considered a local company possibly putting the kiosks out and running the business. Staff might come up with a better idea. Fleisch asked who the typical customers would be. Dienhart said he did not know; the research had not been done. Fleisch noted that Dolce and the Holiday Inn had their own bikes for visitors to use. The Trek store rented bikes. Dienhart said the Trek store was in Kedron, which was not a central location. He did not want to politicize this, but wanted staff to look at it. Fleisch said she City Council Minutes July 18, 2013 Page 6 had also spoken with someone at Bicycles Unlimited, which was in a central location, and they had stopped renting bikes four years ago because it was not profitable. Haddix said he only expected staff to send a letter describing the program and asking a company if they were interested, and that would be the extent of staff contact. He was not thrilled with the idea, and Learnard and Imker agreed. Haddix added it was always good to think outside the box. Council/staff Topics Pennington asked Council for a consensus on the July 4 fireworks and parade. It had taken a long time to put both events together, and the biggest question was when the fireworks would be held. He continued that the City was contractually committed to having the fireworks during Labor Day weekend, and there was a penalty clause in the agreement with the vendor if another date was selected. It took considerable man hours to prepare. Staff consensus was that Friday, August 30, would be appropriate. A lot of people would be leaving for the three- day weekend, and might wait until Saturday morning to leave. Monday night, September 2, would be a school night. Staff asked Council to help make a decision. Dienhart and Learnard asked why Friday was considered rather than Saturday. Police Chief H.C. "Skip" Clark said there was no right date. If the fireworks were on Friday night, people might postpone their plans and start their weekend on Saturday. Any of the days had pros and cons. Pennington added that they would not capture the same audience as they would have on July 4. It was a long weekend, and people tended to travel on long weekends. Haddix asked if anyone in the audience had any comment. Terry Ernst said he would prefer either Friday or Monday, adding there was a race at the Atlanta Motor Speedway on Monday night. Friday would be better for the Police and Fire Departments and would not take away from their long weekend. Pennington said those were some of the points staff had looked at. In addition, the Atlanta Cup soccer tournament would be held at the Baseball/Soccer Complex (BSC) that weekend. He noted that the following weekends were also full of activities, including the Cancer Wellness Walk on September 7, Shakerag Arts & Crafts Festival on September 22, the Dragonboat Races & International Festival on September 28. Alzheimer's Walk on October 5, and the Great Georgia Airshow October 11 - 13. Dienhart said he was concerned that people would be working on Friday, and they would not come to watch the parade. Pennington said the parade was not being rescheduled. Dienhart pointed out that people had spent time and money on their floats and for candy. Pennington said that would set a precedent for a Labor Day parade. Dienhart said they could make sure people understood it was a rescheduled Fourth of July parade. Pennington said the parade took 720 man hours to hold. Forty-four police officers would be needed on-site, in addition to the officers on regular duty in the City at the same time. He noted one long-term City employee had never had July 4 off in 27 years with the City. Learnard said Tyler had done a good job on the stories about the cancellation of the events, all of which had been geared toward re-scheduling the fireworks only. It was sad the parade had been washed out, but it had been washed out. .:~~_~~7 City Council Minutes July 18, 2013 Page 7 Haddix said people enjoyed fireworks any time of the year, but the Fourth of July parade was just that. The thrill factor of July 4th was gone. However, whatever suited the public was fine with him. Dienhart asked how many people had registered for the parade. Community Services Director Jon Rorie said there had been 147 entries, 15 from Fayette County, and the rest from the City. Ernst said people spent a lot of money on the parade and putting their floats together in July, and he did not think most people could put it together again this soon. Dienhart said that expense was his concern and asked the impact would be the parades in future years and whether people might not participate. Pennington said as much money as could be was being refunded. Certain issues could not be controlled. The rain affected everything the City did, and this was the heaviest year of rain in 38 years. There had been a drought the last five to seven years. Things changed, and they had to be prepared when these things happened. Haddix asked for a consensus on the day for the fireworks. Learnard said Friday could work with the right publicity campaign, noting the many conflicts during the weekend. The consensus was Friday night. Learnard said cancelling the events had to be a very hard decision to make. Pennington said staff had a good set-up, and they had done a fantastic job. It had been a hard decision. Imker confirmed that $28,000 for the fireworks was a use or lose deal. Pennington said the cost was just shy of $28,000, and there was a penalty of $3,750 for rescheduling. The money had to be paid, rain or shine. Pennington said there had been discussions and ads in several venues regarding the Great Georgia Airshow (GGAS). The staff Special Events Team (SET) met on July 8, but there was nothing to report as no application packet had been submitted for the GGAS. There had been some discussion of a night show, but no one had any experience with that. The City was getting requests for free support from the Fire and Police Departments, which was Council's decision, but Pennington said he would not recommend it. Pennington reported that installation of the City's new phone system had begun. The computer upgrade was continuing. Haddix said he was getting complaints about the appearance of the Post Office. Pennington said he had also gotten complaints. The City had no control over the Post Office, but staff planned to see the postmaster and ask politely for some improvement. Haddix asked that a report be published in the UPDATES. Learnard asked for an update on the library roof replacement. Rorie said it was very close to being finished. The weather had been a factor in the delay of completion. Fleisch asked Tyler to provide some information on the Best of the Road contest for geocaching. Tyler confirmed the City was in the running for Rand McNally's Best of Road for Geocaching. There were over 300 caches in the City, including at Lake Mcintosh. People could vote once per day every day through September 3 at bestofroad.com. ~ ,-, City Council Minutes July 18, 2013 Page 8 Learnard asked Pennington about a rumor that the Board of Commissioners had voted to halt the dredging of Lake Peachtree. Pennington said he had also heard the rumor, but had not been able to get confirmation. Haddix said there had been a request from the Lake Peachtree Homeowners Association (HOA) to postpone the dredging. Learnard said the request was to lower the lake level to allow for repairs of docks by homeowners. The dredging was supposed to take place every eight years per the City's intergovernmental agreement with the County. Haddix said he was copied on the letter to the Fayette County Water System that requested the lowering of the lake and a hold on the dredging, adding it was obvious they should be done in tandem; however, he had gotten no word on any follow-up on the request. Pennington said he would contact County Administrator Steve Rapson. Meeker said there was no need for an executive session. Learnard