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HomeMy WebLinkAbout02-09-2016 Retreat WS City Council of Peachtree City Workshop Minutes Tuesday, February 9, 2016 6:30 p.m. The Mayor and Council of Peachtree City met in workshop session on Tuesday, February 9, 2016. Mayor Fleisch opened the workshop at 6:30 p.m. Others attending: Terry Ernst, Mike King, Kim Learnard, and Phil Prebor. City Manager Jon Rorie previewed the series of workshops that would replace the traditional City Council Retreat: • February 9, 2016-FY 2015 Goals and Objectives Review • March 2, 2016 -Statistics and Trends (changes in workforce, population, demographics) • April 5, 2016-Citizen Engagement-Surveys, Assessments, Expo • May 3, 2016-Services Levels required to focus on our "Brand" • June 7, 2016-City Council Goals and Objective - FY2016 Prioritization Finale • June 27, 2016-City Council Budget Workshop • July 5, 2016-City Council Budget Workshop Rorie then reviewed the City's mission statement: The Mayor, Council Members and Employees of the City of Peachtree City recognize that our primary responsibility is to provide high quality services to our residents. We are therefore committed to: • Ensuring residents a safe and healthy environment in which to live, work and enjoy leisure time • Providing consistency in the delivery of municipal services in a fiscally responsible manner • Responding in a courteous, timely, and effective manner to the expressed needs, concerns, and expectations of our residents • Promoting a sense of community through family oriented activities and citizen involvement. Rorie said the Mayor and Council had a lengthy list of goals and objectives in 2015, and handouts were provided to those attending. The workshop would review the status of each one and determine how to move forward. Rorie then emphasized that the City and its employees existed to serve and reviewed the major services provided Peachtree City, including recreation, the path system, roads and traffic improvements, landscaping, police, stormwater, and the amphitheater. Rorie noted that every resident had their own perspective on what was necessary, what was adequate, and what needed to be improved. The challenge was prioritizing those services and the funding for the various impacts and demands to achieve high-quality services. The important questions that consistently had to be evaluated: 1. What results are we trying to achieve? 2. How would we know if we were achieving them? 3. What Strategies are we using to achieve the results? 4. Are these strategies working? 5. What can we do differently to achieve results? City Council Minutes February 9, 2016 Page 2 Rorie said that, in reviewing the individual goals and objectives, some would be categorized as complete, but might need tweaking. Others would be classified as ongoing, and the remainder would be marked for further direction or future thoughts and ideas. Completed goals: • Employee Pay & Classification Study (adopted by Council) • Annexation Workshop (workshop held) • Traffic Study for Highway 54 West (study complete, accepted by Council, and forwarded to the Georgia Department of Transportation [GDOT]) • Review & Update Path Master Plan (workshop held) • Determine feasibility of employee operated salary study (included in Pay & Classification Study) • Determine feasibility of updating village signage (policy adopted on subdivision signage, maintenance schedule implemented) • Determine feasibility of community garden expansion (not feasible based on land available) • Determine feasibility of expanding Keep Peachtree City Beautiful (KPTCB) to include collection of all outdoor City trashcans (contracted with KPTCB for expanded service) • Prioritize & expand golf cart resurfacing projects (target for FY 2016 was nine miles of path resurfacing) • Implement annual November review of previous fiscal year surplus and reserves for reallocation into upcoming budget (unaudited numbers presented in December workshop) • Analyze need for TAD/CID (voters did not approve initiative in referendum) • Revisit connector road from Line Creek Retail to Southern Conservation Trust Line Creek Nature Area entrance (included in the development agreement for The Overlook) • Determine best method for maintaining City Grounds (organizational changes implemented and maintenance cycle implemented) • Hire Planning & Development Director (Mike Warrix hired in August) • Establish approved golf cart crossings of state highways (City submitted 9 crossings to GDOT. GDOT denied 7 locations, approved a crossing on SR 54 at Lexington/Broken Bow, and a tentative approval at Cooper Circle if other connections are provided) • Engage in the County-wide Visioning Initiative (participated, and to some extent ongoing) • Create policy for subdivision sign maintenance and replacement (policy adopted and implemented) • Update impact study of the 2007 West Village Annexation (completed and ongoing as development progresses) • Review and prioritize golf cart master plan including Cedarcroft, Giddings & Camden Apartments (staff requested a potential easement to facilitate path, but homeowners refused) • Update Emergency Plan to better define Council roles and spokesperson duties (adopted in September) • Consider Increasing golf cart registration fee to $15 every 3 years • Review Court fines as they relate to golf cart fines Ernst noted that the subject of highway crossings for golf carts was not a dead issue. Rorie agreed there were other options, but this listing referred to at-grade crossings. In Progress: • Dredge Lake Peachtree City Council Minutes February 9, 2016 Page 3 • Upgrade Battery Way Dock infrastructure • Examine funding options for path work (how to obtain funds, not how to spend the funds) • Develop long-term plan for City Center Parks (including City Hall Plaza, Drake Field and connection to All Children's Playground, Battery Way Park, Island and restrooms) • Review/finalize organizational structure (Public Works and Community Services) • Improve access for carts crossing Crosstown Drive (reviewed but significant cost to program) • Extend right turn lane coming out of Planterra onto SR 54 • Continue to build and improve relationship with ARC • Evaluate North Lagoon of Lake Peachtree - Dredging? Siltation sources? Silt collector? Ownership? • Report on Stormwater bond usage, long term projections, and eventual rate reduction (rate reduction not recommended due to number of remaining projects) • Evaluate Commission & Authority interview and appointment process for wider Council involvement? • Complete an inventory of City-owned sewer lines and lift stations to convey to WASA • Determine optimal maintenance costs for normal levels of service • Request state change in municipal election cycle to even-numbered years Rorie said the next list needed additional direction from Council. Going Forward: • Connect annexed areas to path system (Publix East) • Review and update City Charter- Learnard indicated she wasn't sure of a compelling reason to move forward with any charter changes at this time. Council seemed to agree. • Discuss funding a Film Coordinator position to work with FCDA-King said this was something that came from the Development Authority a few years previously, but with the changes in management,was sort of preempted. Learnard said this could come off the list. • Evaluate expanding transportation options for Peachtree City Seniors-Learnard said there should be a better County system for this. Rorie said Fayette Senior Services offered this service. Learnard suggested including something in the resident service due to the aging population, and compare resources and services to neighboring counties. Prebor said he was told Fayette was an average of seven years older than other counties. Rorie said the ARC would be providing more information on this at the next Retreat Workshop. • Get informed on the pros and cons of backyard hens-Council eliminated this goal, noting hens were allowed on larger properties. Learnard said she had supported the group asking for this, but interest had fizzled. • Review employee benefits including Defined Benefit vs 457 Plan, how proposed raise percentages are included in proposed budget-King said it needed to be addressed. Rorie noted that some adjustments had been made to health benefits this year to lower City costs, and staff would continue looking at those as the time neared for the Affordable Care Act provisions to take effect in 2020. Ernst said he was pleased, as an employee, with the retirement plan, noting that the 457 was optional for employees. Rorie said, personally, he would be the first candidate to go to defined contribution; however, younger employees might not see that benefit. Consensus was to bring back pros and cons to defined benefit and defined contribution plans during the budget process. • Revise authority bylaws-Staff was working on some of the terms, if only to space out the selection interviews. Prebor asked about term limits. King asked about Council Members City Council Minutes February 9, 2016 Page 4 serving on some of the boards. Rorie said there had been discussions about having a liaison that was a non-voting member versus having one serve as a voting member. That would require changing the enabling legislation on many of them. Learnard did not feel that was necessary. Rorie said that ended the presentation on the existing goals and said Council had a blank sheet for moving forward. City Engineer Dave Borkowski had a presentation on the Lake Peachtree Lagoon. Lake Peachtree Lagoon Silt Trap Borkowski said a silt trap had been installed at the SR 54 bridge several years ago consisting of a rip rap (stone) barrier. It had not been cleaned since 1997. Borkowski said the trap was useful, but not very much so due to its small size. There were a lot of factors (rate of sediment inflow) that the City did not have to know how big the trap should be. Borkowski continued that getting permits to clean or enlarge the trap would require a significant amount of time. Total cost to excavate or enlarge was also an unknown, but would require the construction of a permanent access area for regular maintenance (the access road was removed after the 1997 dredging). Borkowski said he was not sure how useful a new trap would be. The current dredging included several large bowls/pits that would help to trap sediment moving forward. Learnard said the new water agreement with the County included the City in the responsibility for dredging, but also gave the City responsibility for the silt entering the lake. Some of the inlets off Hip Pocket needed work and the City needed to take a broader view on mitigation. Prebor asked about costs to to work with a consultant in identifying the silt sources. Learnard felt there was a lot of silt from the widening of SR 74 South. King asked if these tributaries were something the City could address in-house. Fleisch suggested including Water System Manager Lee Pope in discussions on mitigation strategies and a timeline for the next year's budget. Borkowski noted that the lagoon north of SR 54 did not appear to have silt, and said the amount of silt did not impact the stormwater heights, only the reservoir water storage capacity. The cost estimate for the lagoon was $2 million to excavate the lagoon by two feet. Council Suggestions Learnard asked for a status update of the stormwater detention area at the Overlook. Borkowski said the final plans had been approved, which included the wetlands detention area. The developer should begin construction soon, and Southern Conservation Trust would continue to be involved. Learnard said she felt the City made a mistake in removing the connector road to Planterra Way and asked if the City could take another look at that. Rorie said it was an appropriate time to retain access point, versus curbing. Prebor said getting information to citizens was important, and he liked what had been done on the web site. He had seen products soliciting citizen input via social media and suggested budgeting for that type of thing. Fleisch said the City would provide the topic and it would go on the main page of the web site, and the vendor would monitor the response rate. Ernst noted the Police Department had done a tremendous job on social media, so they might have some input. Prebor suggested advertising this information. City Council Minutes February 9, 2016 Page 5 Prebor then continued with Code Enforcement, saying he wanted them to have whatever resources they needed. He was pleased with the amount of action they were taking, but felt there were still a lot of violations that needed to be addressed (semi parked in a back yard was one example). Prebor noted that they still had flip phones when he ran for office, and they needed smart phones to take pictures. Rorie noted the system had to be assessed in conjunction with the resources. Prebor asked about the Fayette Visioning Group, saying there was now another group. He felt the City should pick a group, support it, and keep the focus. He said he would like to see the objectives for the next meeting when these groups meet so Council could determine if something was being accomplished. Fleisch asked about some type of mechanism for citizens to report problems. They had looked at "see, click, fix" but had waited due to the cost to see if BS&A had a similar component. She asked about the status of this. King said Council had agreed in theory to forming a committee to set priorities for infrastructure improvements and a potential Special Purpose Local Option Sales Tax (SPLOST). He said that needed to move forward. Rorie said there also needed to be negotiations on the distribution. The whole idea was to have the discussions early so Council was not discussing it in August. Rorie asked each Council Member and the Mayor nominate a citizen, and he hoped for one or two Council Members to serve. He said he preferred the citizen engagement versus having all of Council sitting on the group. Rorie concluded by saying he would compile a new master list of the items discussed that evening and include specifics as to what was the goal for each. As the workshops continued, Council might have more to add. Fleisch adjourned the meeting at 7:52 p.m. AmokI �I rte. .—fir r :etsy Tyl -r, City Clerk Vanessa Fleisch, Mayor