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HomeMy WebLinkAboutMinutes CC - 09/21/2015 - MINS 09 21 15 REG (Migrated from Optiview)Regular Meeting of the Milton City Council Monday, September 21, 2015 at 6:00 pm Page 1 of 22 This summary is provided as a convenience and service to the public, media, and staff. It is not the intent to transcribe proceedings verbatim. Any reproduction of this summary must include this notice. Public comments are noted and heard by Council, but not quoted. This document includes limited presentation by Council and invited speakers in summary form. This is an official record of the Milton City Council Meeting proceedings. Official Meetings are audio and video recorded. The Regular Meeting of the Mayor and Council of the City of Milton was held on September 21, 2015 at 6:00 PM, Mayor Joe Lockwood presiding. INVOCATION Deacon Joe Pupo, St. Thomas Aquinas Catholic Church, Alpharetta, GA. CALL TO ORDER Mayor Joe Lockwood called the meeting to order. 11011, C'AI.I, Councilmembers Present: Councilmember Thurman, Councilmember Kunz, Councilmember Lusk, Councilmember Hewitt, Councilmember Longoria and Councilmember Mohrig. PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE (Led by Mayor Joe Lockwood) APPROVAL OF MEETING AGENDA (Agenda Item No. 15-249) Motion and Vote: Councilmember Lusk moved to approve the Meeting Agenda with the exception of moving Agenda Item No. 15-252 from Consent Agenda to New Business. Councilmember Kunz seconded the motion. The motion passed unanimously (7-0). • Move Agenda Item No. 15-252, Approval of the September 14, 2015 Special Called City Council Meeting Minutes, from Consent Agenda to New Business. PUBLIC COMMENT Margaret Lootens, 3515 Peacock Road, Milton, Georgia 30004 I spoke at the meeting last Monday regarding the issues of transparency and the first thing I would like to mention is that I did not realize until I got here tonight that I have five minutes to speak. On the yellow card, it mentions that you have 10 minutes if you are in support or in opposition of an agenda item. But, it doesn't say that you have 5 minutes so how am I supposed to know if I don't already know before I get here. So, how do I prepare myself for making a comment within the timeframe within the rules? That is the first thing I would like to address in the name of transparency. I would like to follow- up on some of the comments that I said here at the podium. And, some of the comments I had with the Mayor at the exit as I was trying to leave the meeting last Monday. One of them is regarding follow-up. Regular Meeting of the Milton City Council Monday, September 21, 2015 at 6:00 pm Page 2 of 22 I have not heard back from the police chief regarding an appointment that I have been trying to make with the police chief since Deb Harrell was here last year last fall. It has been almost a year and despite numerous attempts on my behalf to email, call, go to the counter in person, I have been denied the opportunity to speak with the police chief. Now, when I look at the amount of time that I have been trying to pursue issues with the police chief, the appropriate person with whom I believe I should address the issues, I have been unsuccessful. And, when I compare that with the amount of time that citizens in our city would have had to look at the budget today, it is appalling. I tried to look at the budget last weekend and the packet item was not there. I had a need to look at some of the Design and Review Board meetings and go back and watch those and I was rather surprised to see that the packet wasn't listed. So, I understand it was posted sometime today but how much notice, how much timely notice does that really give anybody in the city to actually look at this $26 million budget that is going to be approved this evening. I would say that is an insufficient amount of time for people, regular people, who may not have an accounting background and be familiar with reading spreadsheets to get in there and really take a look at how our tax dollars are being spent. So, once again I am here in hopes that we as a city can be more transparent, that we can actually give notice and give it in a timely manner, and that people will follow through on promises or comments that they make. So, that is all I have to say today and I thank you for listening and I hope that you take the appropriate steps to make sure that we, the citizens, do have a better opportunity to learn what is going on with our city and how we, as citizens, can make a difference. Thank you. CONSENT AGENDA 1. Approval of the August 20, 2015 Special Called Work Session Council Meeting Minutes. (Agenda Item No. 15-250) (Sudie Gordon, City Clerk) 2. Approval of the September 9, 2015 Regular City Council Meeting Minutes. (Agenda Item No. 15-251) (Sudie Gordon, City Clerk) The following Agenda Item No. 15-252 was moved to New Business by Motion and Vote under Approval of Meeting Agenda. 3. Approval of the September 14, 2015 Special Called City Council Meeting Minutes. (Agenda Item No. 15-252) (Sudie Gordon, City Clerk) 4. Approval of the Financial Statements for the Period Ending August, 2015. (Agenda Item No. 15-253) (Stacey Inglis, Assistant City Manager) 5. Approval of an Online Registration and Servicing Agreement for the City of Milton and Cirilian, Inc., dba REC 1 for Parks and Recreation Programming Online Registration and Facility Rental. (Agenda Item No. 15-254) (Jason Wright, Innovation and Strategy Manager) 1 1 Regular Meeting of the Milton City Council Monday, September 21, 2015 at 6:00 pm Page 3 of 22 6. Approval of a Resolution Adopting the Capital Improvements Element as an Amendment to the Milton 2030 Comprehensive Plan. RESOLUTION NO. 15-09-347 (Agenda Item No. 15-255) (Kathleen Field, Community Development Director) 7. Approval of a Resolution by the City of Milton Adopting a Policy of the City of Milton with Respect to the Providing of Representation for Milton Elected Officials and Employees in Certain Circumstances. RESOLUTION NO. 15-09-348 (Agenda Item No. 15-256) (Ken Jarrard, City Attorney) Motion and Vote: Councilmember Lusk moved to approve the Consent Agenda as amended. Councilmember Kunz seconded the motion. The motion passed unanimously (7-0). REPORTS AND PRESENTATIONS 1. Proclamation Recognizing Childhood Cancer Awareness Month. (Presented by Mayor Joe Lockwood) FIRST PRESENTATION 1. Consideration to Adopt the Impact Fee Ordinance and to Create Chapter 25 "Impact Fees" in the City Code of Ordinances. (Agenda Item No. 15-257) (Discussed at September 14, 2015 City Council Work Session) (Kathleen Field, Community Development Director) Motion and Vote: Councilmember Kunz moved to approve the First Presentation Item. Councilmember Thurman seconded the motion. The motion passed unanimously (7-0). PUBLIC HEARING 1. Consideration of an Ordinance to Adopt Amendments to the Fiscal 2015 Budget for Each Fund of the City of Milton, Georgia Amending the Amounts Shown in Each Budget as Expenditures, Amending the Several Items of Revenue Anticipations, Prohibiting Expenditures to Exceed Appropriations, and Prohibiting Expenditures to Exceed Actual Funding Available. (Agenda Item No. 15-243) (First Presentation at September 9, 2015 Regular Council Meeting) (Stacey Inglis, Assistant City Manager) Stacey Inglis, Assistant City Manager The goal of the Fiscal Year 2015 budget amendment is to bring everything in line with actuals today with what we project to spend by the end of the fiscal year. In the general fund the revenue will be increasing by $1,501,635 and expenditures will increase by $8,741; the net difference of $1,492,894. Regular Meeting of the Milton City Council Monday, September 21, 2015 at 6:00 pm Page 4 of 22 The major changes in revenues include property taxes which have been billed and are higher than anticipated at this point in the fiscal year. We anticipate tax collections to be $774,473 more than what we have budgeted. Local option sales tax is running higher than projected and is anticipated to be $400,000 more than what was projected in March for the mid -year budget adjustments. Insurance premium tax has also been adjusted to reflect anticipated collections based on prior year revenues received. Councilmember Thurman When will we get the final figure for the insurance premium tax? Stacey Inglis October 15'h. Now, moving on to expenditures; the major amendment in expenditures includes the Public Works and Community Development Department where we transferred three employees from Community Development into Public Works. Other than that, there are some minor moving around of monies between departments. In the City Clerk Department, we are decreasing it by $17,308 for group insurance to bring the budget in line with what actuals are in that department. In General Administration, we are increasing the toner supply line item by $3,500 to reflect actuals spent so far. In Human Resources, this was not included in your packet, after I talked to a few councilmembers this morning we talked about this. Human Resources has a budget for employee training and we sent one employee to Leadership ICMA and it would be better to book that training in the actual department; so we need to move those funds out of Human Resources and into Innovation and Engagement. We are moving $3,200 out of Human Resources into Innovation and Engagement to cover travel for that particular training. In Public Works, I mentioned the transfer of the employees so we are increasing that budget by $202,394 to account for transferring those employees from Community Development to Public Works. Those employees are the Arborist, Construction Inspector, and Plan Review Engineer. In Community Development, you will also see a decrease by $195,545 to move those employees out. In other financing uses, we are increasing the operating transfer out to the Capital Projects Fund of $15,700 to cover the expense of replacing the InterGov software with another module and Incode for business licenses. You will notice especially in the FY16 budget that there isn't an appropriation for InterGov in the Information Technology Department because we are no longer using InterGov. We replaced it with Incode and the other part is Meritage which is software provided by Safebuilt. In the Special Events Fund, there is an increase in the Hotel/Motel Tax Fund line item. It is an operating transfer in from the Hotel/Motel Tax Fund of $10,000. The Hotel/Motel Tax is a pass-through fund. Anything that we receive in that fund either gets transferred out to the Special Events Fund or to the General Fund to cover any costs associated with website maintenance and other things like that. So, Hotel/Motel taxes are coming in about $10,000 more than what we anticipated at this point. The E911 Fund is increasing $80,000 because revenues are coming in higher than anticipated. This is also a pass-through fund. Any monies that we receive from E911, which is the pre -paid wireless, gets passed through and goes to Alpharetta to pay for the IGA that we have with them to provide our E911 services. In the Capital Projects Fund, there are several items that are increasing in revenues. Infrastructure maintenance fees are increasing by $20,000. Penalties and interest on infrastructure maintenance fees, when one of the sanitation haulers does not pay their infrastructure maintenance fees on time, we charge them a penalty or interest. This is a new line item. Sidewalk replacement is increasing by $54,726 which goes straight into the sidewalk paving line item that we have. Infrastructure maintenance fees go into pavement management. Traffic calming is increasing by $1,329 which goes into the traffic calming line item in the Public Works Department. Tree recompense is increasing by $147,000 and is in the Community Development Department. Land fill use fees are increasing by $25,440 that Regular Meeting of the Milton City Council Monday, September 21, 2015 at 6:00 pm Page 5 of 22 goes into Payment Management. Interest revenues are being brought down by $1,295 because it is not coming in as anticipated. Insurance proceeds are increasing by $10,225 and that is going into the New Vehicle line for Public Works. This is for a vehicle that was in an accident and this is the insurance payout for replacing the vehicle. Operating transcend from the General Fund is $15,700 and that offsets the costs for computer software. Any questions on that so far? Councilmember Lusk Have we spent any of the tree recompense funds recently? Stacey Inglis We have spent $7,300 as of 9/1/2015. That was moving trees from a property on Highway 9 over to our park property. It was some plantings that we required from a property owner because they were in the Georgia transmission line easement and they had to be moved. We paid for the cost to move those trees into our park. Chris Lagerbloom, City Manager We anticipate a good many from that line to be planted at our new, City Hall project. The city attorney is real comfortable in using the tree recompense to do a large portion of the landscaping, at least the tree part, at the City Hall in Crabapple. Stacey Inglis We are increasing the CDBG line item by $24,700 to pay for some sidewalks that we are going to be putting in as well as replacing the sidewalk outside the Senior Center. We are increasing the revenue line item for LMIG funds by $78,684 and that is to reflect the actual revenues we received and it offsets pavement management costs for the year. Mayor Lockwood Are there any questions? Is there any Public Comment for this? Sudie Gordon No, we do not have any Public Comment. Mayor Lockwood I will close the Public Hearing. Is there any discussion? 2. Consideration of an Ordinance of the Mayor and Council of the City of Milton, Georgia, to Adopt the Fiscal 2016 Budget for Each Fund of the City of Milton, Georgia Appropriating the Amounts Shown in Each Budget as Expenditures, Adopting the Several Items of Revenue Anticipations, Prohibiting Expenditures to Exceed Appropriations, and Prohibiting Expenditures to Exceed Actual Funding Available. (Agenda Item No. 15-244) (Discussed at August 10, 2015 Work Session) (First Presentation at September 9, 2015 Regular Council Meeting) (First Public Hearing at September 9, 2015 Regular Council Meeting) (Chris Lagerbloom, City Manager) Regular Meeting of the Milton City Council Monday, September 21, 2015 at 6:00 pm Page 6 of 22 Chris Lagerbloom, City Manager Thank you for the opportunity to present this year's budget during this Public Hearing and also for your consideration later in the meeting under Unfinished Business. As the clerk just indicated, the budget has been presented and this is its fourth appearance in front of the council. In terms of how we budgeted this year, we used the same process we have used in past years which is to anticipate the needs of the city for the maintenance and operating budget that we need to put together that continues operating the city in good standing with its current level of service. Then we look at new initiative requests that different departments might have as enhancements to existing services. And we also look to our Capital Improvement Plan, look at funding for seven year plan that has dollars that we anticipate to be available for the projects that seek funding. As in keeping to what the council requested last year, we moved the Capital Projects Budget into a budget that did not take a large project and incrementally fund it over a period of time, rather tried to anticipate when the project will actually happen and fund it in real time. Some overview: We anticipate revenues to be $26,293,278. Not a lot of change in the Maintenance and Operating budget other than moving people to different departments. We have honed in on what is needed to continue to deliver a level of service. Employee Benefits as it relates to Healthcare — This year is better than last year in what we received from Blue Cross Blue Shield. We have gone through open enrollment and through a series of changes to the plan design and therefore split some of the increase that happened with the employees themselves by either decreasing the benefit itself or a decrease in the cost. We brought on a high deductible health plan option this year, which has been used by more employees than I thought. It couples with a HSA, which is where the nation is heading in the future. It allows you to roll dollars over from year to year, so it is actually a pre-tax benefit to the employee to look at one of those for the longer term. The budget does have a 2.5% cost of living adjustment in it for city employees. Technology department asked for a $74,000 initiative to deal with its structure, design and implementation for our transition into a new city hall building. Human Resources asked for a Market Competitiveness Survey and Study. This is an independent look at how we compare to those we compete with in the workplace to retain and recruit good talent. Innovation and Engagement asked for a portable sound system for ceremonies. Relocation of our Municipal Court to the Alpharetta Annex building in Crabapple has been discussed with the City Attorney. The City Attorney and I delivered an agreement to the City of Alpharetta that we felt captured what we discussed when I met with Alpharetta and that document has not come back to me yet, approved by the City of Alpharetta. We were trying to bring it to council tonight for this meeting but it is not ready to come forward because Alpharetta had some comments and changes they want to suggest. We are now focusing on October 5t'. The costs that are in the budget tonight are based on what we talked about previously. I may have to come back to you and say that idea or concept no longer makes sense and make other recommendations depending on what Alpharetta is suggesting to change. I may need to seek additional funding or seek your direction on whether or not it remains a good idea. I don't have any reason to believe that is the case, I think it is still on track but I just can't report that tonight. Police Department has asked for a Krimesite Imager. Fire Department has requested a Public education program initiative, Scot's, that would be used in the schools. It is a costume that would be needed. They also asked for Scot's RIT-PACK III, advanced stroke life support training center and landscape improvements at stations 41 and 43. These are gateway stations into our city and Carter Lucas has requested that we increase the visibility of our city's buildings as one enters the city. Regular Meeting of the Milton City Council Monday, September 21, 2015 at 6:00 pm Page 7 of 22 Parks and Recreation have several initiatives. After trying the Farmer's Market at the pavilion, we saw it was not heavily attended so we are seeking to put in irrigation, as well as, sod there. Also remove the chains that are at the front of the pavilion and replace them with gates. This would allow for children's birthday parties to be hosted here with no need to worry about children getting out into the sidewalk or streets. A fence to surround the utility boxes has also been requested. Ceiling fans have also been requested. Also included in this figure is the cost to remove some of the trees if need be but two trees in the back have root issues. Requesting an alarm system at the Byrd House is included in this number. The initiative includes landscaping services for city parks. We have a couple of parks we feel need a higher level of landscape maintenance, one being right out here on the corner. It is a gateway park and it deserves a little better landscaping. Another item in the Parks and Rec department is to take the vacated position by Tom Gilliam and reclassify it from coordinator position to manager position based on actual job duty conducted by a job task analysis. Community Development has two initiative requests. The first being a part-time conservation project manager that will serve as the point of contact for conservation initiatives. The second being to reclassify the city's architect from a grade 36 to a grade 38 to bring this position classification in line with the job responsibilities performed. Capital Improvement Plan has additional and the anticipated final funding for the City Hall project to match its construction timeline. • Additional funds towards land conservation and the green space bond initiative. • We fund the vehicle replacement reserves and general admin as well as police and fire based upon vehicle replacement reserve schedule which will allow us to purchase future assets to include police cars and fire trucks with cash and without accumulating any debt. • Fire Department has asked to start work towards a live fire training facility this year. Councilmember Lusk The police department could also use the facility for training. City Manager Lagerbloom Good point. We are in the design now for the replacement of Fire Station 42. That fire station was supposed to be replaced by Fulton County 18 years ago and that never happened. We continue to fund bridge replacement, pavement management, resurfacing of existing roads, sidewalk construction, etc. We anticipate future funding for the trail connection to the Big Creek Greenway. We look towards a mobile traffic control center in 2018. We are funding the North Fulton CTP. We are funding Providence Park with $250,000 with additional funding in the future. IGA improvements will take place at Northwestern Middle School. Funding is also included for additional gateway signs and historic markers. The Fund Balance Policy seeks to use anything in excess of 21% toward one time capital projects. In this year, based upon the fund balance and how we finish the end of FYI 5, we have $5,457,000 to allocate toward capital projects. Staff proposes to allocate: $1.5 million toward the new City Hall $2 million toward the acquisition of future park land $750,000 to add to sidewalk construction $200,000 for dam maintenance $1,007,000 we would like to ask the council if we can hold this in an account as we received bids back in October for the Northwest Connector Road in Crabapple. Regular Meeting of the Milton City Council Monday, September 21, 2015 at 6:00 pm Page 8 of 22 Mayor Joe Lockwood left the meeting at 6:45 p.m. Mayor Pro Tem Karen Thurman began presiding over the City Council Meeting. Zoning is transcribed verbatim ZONING Consideration of RZ15-15 — To Amend the Rural Viewshed within the Rural Milton Overlay for Single Family Type Uses. [Sec. 64-114(a)]. (Agenda Item No. 15-242) (First Presentation at September 9, 2015 Regular City Council Meeting) (Discussed at September 14, 2016 Work Session) (Kathleen Field, Community Development Director) Kathleen Field, Community Development Director Thank you, Madame Mayor Pro Tem and members of the City Council. As the City Clerk mentioned, we did discuss this at the workshop last week. And, as I explained at that time, because this item has been advertised it does require some action by the City Council. Staff recommends that the action tonight be to withdraw this item. And, that is because the conservation initiatives that are included in this item will be carried forward and will be part of a discussion, as well as other conservation items that will be discussed as well, when we open up the zoning districts for the single family uses. And, we will consider a package of texts amendments. Those have already been advertised, so you will see them as they move through the process of the Planning Commission and on to you. So, at this point, I would suggest that this item is deficient and that it doesn't include all the items that will be subsequently discussed with the text amendments that you will see in two months. Mayor Pro Tem Thurman Are there any questions of staff? Do we have anyone wishing to speak on this item? City Clerk Gordon We do not. Mayor Pro Tem Thurman The Public Hearing is now closed. Is there any council discussion? Is there a motion and a second? Motion and Vote: Councilmember Lusk moved to withdraw Agenda Item No. 15-242. Councilmember Kunz seconded the motion. The motion passed unanimously (6-0). Mayor Joe Lockwood left the meeting early. End of verbatim transcription Regular Meeting of the Milton City Council Monday, September 21, 2015 at 6:00 pm Page 9 of 22 UNFINISHED BUSINESS 1. Consideration of an Ordinance to Adopt Amendments to the Fiscal 2015 Budget for Each Fund of the City of Milton, Georgia Amending the Amounts Shown in Each Budget as Expenditures, Amending the Several Items of Revenue Anticipations, Prohibiting Expenditures to Exceed Appropriations, and Prohibiting Expenditures to Exceed Actual Funding Available. ORDINANCE NO. 15-09-257 (Agenda Item No. 15-243) (First Presentation at September 9, 2015 Regular Council Meeting) (Public Hearing held at September 21, 2015 Regular Council Meeting) (Stacey Inglis, Assistant City Manager) Stacey Inglis, Assistant City Manager We have already discussed each of the amendments in detail when we had the Public Hearing so to reiterate the revenue appropriation will be increasing for the General Fund by $1,501,635 and expenditure appropriations will increase by $8,741. I will be happy to answer any questions you may have at this time. Motion and Vote: Councilmember Hewitt moved to approve Agenda Item No. 15-243. Councilmember Longoria seconded the motion. The motion passed unanimously (6-0). Mayor Joe Lockwood left the meeting early. 2. Consideration of an Ordinance of the Mayor and Council of the City of Milton, Georgia, to Adopt the Fiscal 2016 Budget for Each Fund of the City of Milton, Georgia Appropriating the Amounts Shown in Each Budget as Expenditures, Adopting the Several Items of Revenue Anticipations, Prohibiting Expenditures to Exceed Appropriations, and Prohibiting Expenditures to Exceed Actual Funding Available. RESOLUTION NO. 15-09-258 (Agenda Item No. 15-244) (Discussed at August 10, 2015 Work Session) (First Presentation at September 9, 2015 Regular Council Meeting) (First Public Hearing at September 9, 2015 Regular Council Meeting) (Second Public Hearing at September 21, 2015 Regular Council Meeting) (Chris Lagerbloom, City Manager) Chris Lagerbloom, City Manager For the record, please refer to the presentation I just made a few minutes ago. For the purposes of adding some clarity to it, we anticipate revenues to be $26,293,278 and we discussed the manner in which the budget was put together and the process that we went through. We worked on the Operating and Maintenance Budget of the city first. We then looked at new initiative requests by department as well as the seven year capital improvement plan. This budget calls for the funding of the Special Events programming as well as to continue the 911 center with Alpharetta as well as how to expend confiscated assets. This is a budget that we recommend for your adoption. It will carry us through September 30, 2016. It also contemplates that we use some of the funds to bring the Fund Balance to bring it back in line with the policy that you set. It also seeks to allocate to the Capital Improvement Projects Fund $1.5 million to the City Hall construction project, $2 million to fund acquisition of future park land, $750,000 to add to sidewalk construction, $200,000 for dam maintenance. In addition, we are asking the approval Regular Meeting of the Milton City Council Monday, September 21, 2015 at 6:00 pm Page 10 of 22 to hold $1,007,000 in a fund until we receive the bids for the Crabapple Northwest Connector Road. At which time, we will make a recommendation to fund that if additional funds are needed or bring the funds back to the council for re -appropriation. I will be happy to answer any questions you may have. Councilmember Longoria Based upon earlier comments from citizens, how do we make the budget available to the general public? Don't we put it up on our website for citizens to view? Is it easy for our citizens to access on our website? City Manager Lagerbloom Yes, the budget is put on our website in the respective City Council Meeting Agenda Packet. In addition, it is advertised in our legal organ the Milton Herald. However, we did notice at 9:14 this morning that the packet had not been put up on our website. So, it was put on our website at 9:14 this morning. With consultation with our City Attorney, he was comfortable with us moving forward tonight with the budget since it had been advertised and available in many places throughout the budget process as well as available in hard copy here at City Hall. The website is only one of many ways that our citizens have access to information. The primary advertising for the budget is the newspaper. Councilmember Longoria Obviously we advertise in the newspaper but we do not publish the budget in the newspaper, so we just provide people on how to obtain those documents if they needed them, correct? City Manager Lagerbloom Yes, that is correct. Councilmember Longoria So the last three weeks the budget has reflected what it is today, correct? City Manager Lagerbloom Correct. Mayor Pro Tem Thurman Are there any further questions? I want to say I really appreciate Chris and Stacey taking the time to meet with me today going line by line over the budget. Is there a motion and a second? Motion and Vote: Councilmember Hewitt moved to approve Agenda Item No. 15-244. Councilmember Longoria seconded the motion. The motion passed unanimously (6-0). Mayor Joe Lockwood left the meeting early. 1 Regular Meeting of the Milton City Council Monday, September 21, 2015 at 6:00 pm Page 11 of 22 3. Consideration of an Ordinance to Create to Create a Conservation Subdivision — Chapter 50, Article V of the City Code of Milton. (Agenda Item No. 15-183) (First Presentation at July 6, 2015 Regular Council Meeting) (Discussed at July 13, 2015 City Council Work Session) (Discussed at August 20, 2015 Special Called Council Work Session) (Ken Jarrard, City Attorney) (THIS ITEM WAS POSTPONED BY MOTION AND VOTE AT THE SEPTEMBER 14, 2015 SPECIAL CALLED MEETING AND WILL NOT BE DISCUSSED.) The following Agenda Item No. 15-252 was moved from Consent Agenda to New Business by Motion and Vote under Approval of Meeting Agenda. NEW BUSINESS 1. Approval of the September 14, 2015 Special Called City Council Meeting Minutes. (Agenda Item No. 15-252) (Sudie Gordon, City Clerk) Councilmember Lusk As I was going through several meeting minutes that were posted on the Consent Agenda, I drew attention to the Special Called Meeting of September 14, 2015 which started at 5:45 PM, considering postponing the CSO. To the best of my recollection, we dispensed with that item within 15 minutes and the next half hour was spent on discussing an Open Records request issue. First, I noticed that issue was not on the agenda and I do not think it deserved discussion. Secondly, that discussion should have been memorialized in our meeting minutes to the extinct other meeting minutes are memorialized, in the printed copy. I know the full text is recorded on Granicus so I would like the City Clerk to put a synopsis of that discussion in our meeting minutes for our approval possibly at our next meeting. Councilmember Longoria Yes, I remember we did have additional conversation but do not remember it lasting that long. I remember the meeting getting over around 6:10 PM. Councilmember Lusk According to the minutes, the meeting adjourned at 6:27 PM when Councilmember Kunz moved to adjourn and you seconded it. Mayor Pro Tem Thurman City Attorney, what would be the proper procedure here since we do have some questions concerning these minutes. Is it proper for us to defer the approval of the minutes and let her go back and re -review them and decide what needs to be added to them and then vote to approve them at a future date? Regular Meeting of the Milton City Council Monday, September 21, 2015 at 6:00 pm Page 12 of 22 Paul Higbee, City Attorney Looking through your procedures, couple items under minutes jump to my attention. First in section 21 there is a provision that more detail information may be included in the minutes at the request of the City Council, which would seem to be the case here. There is a request these minutes to include additional information and then the minutes from the previous meeting shall be corrected if necessary and approved by the City Council at the beginning of each meeting, a majority vote is required for approval. Reading through this, it is certainly an option for the council to defer this until another agenda or to simply have a motion and vote to instruct the city clerk to add certain content to those minutes and then approve those minutes as to be modified. Either way will work. Mayor Pro Tem Thurman What is the pleasure of the Council? It seems like the easiest thing would be to get her to go back and add that to the minutes and approve them at another meeting. Sudie Gordon, City Clerk October 5`h would be the next meeting. Councilmember Longoria Sudie, do you have a way to capture the content of this discussion? Sudie Gordon I can go back on Granicus and we can type it verbatim. We typically just do zoning verbatim but .... Mayor Pro Tem Thurman I don't know if this needs to be verbatim, I just think the general discussion needs to be captured in the minutes. What does the rest of Council think? Councilmember Longoria What are the requirements for minutes? There were two questions that were brought up tonight. The first being, the portion of the discussion that was part of the meeting was not actually on the agenda itself and I am not aware that our discussion has to be limited to only those items that are on the agenda, is that correct? As long as we are in an open meeting, we are covered by the transparency laws to be able to discuss whatever we need to I thought. Now the agenda should be used to guide that discussion but it does not have to limit that discussion. The second question is do the minutes have to capture all discussions that take place or do they only have to capture those things that are deemed important or things we actually take a vote on? Paul Higbee Well again referring to your rules on minutes, they state that the minutes shall specify the names of the councilmembers present at the meeting, the description of each motion made at the meeting, the name of the councilmember who proposed motion, the name of the councilmember who seconded each motion and a record of all votes. The name of each councilmember voting for or against a proposal shall also be recorded. Your internal rules seem to contemplate the minimum requirements of the minutes would be basically any item that resulted in a vote. However, there is a provision that says more detailed information may be included in the minutes at the request of the City Council. I believe it is best practice to have your minutes reflect any tangential discussion that may occur so if a citizen were going through the minutes and found something interesting, they could go and request to hear the actual recording of the meeting regarding that topic. Regular Meeting of the Milton City Council Monday, September 21, 2015 at 6:00 pm Page 13 of 22 Sudie Gordon We actually go above the bar at Milton. We have Action Minutes as well as Regular Minutes. The ones we are looking at here are regular minutes. The action minutes are published within 72 hours and in fact, they go out on social media within 24 hours, the motions and votes. The content rolls into the next meeting to be approved by Council. Councilmember Longoria My point is we put some thought into the rules that govern how we capture minutes. The minutes we captured for this particular meeting adhered to those rules so, the question I am asking is, are we missing something in our rules or are we calling out something we thought was so special that they needed to be captured? There was not a vote associated with it or any decisions made about it. Councilmember Lusk We had a special called meeting for one single purpose and that was to discuss CSO and our regular meeting was scheduled to start at 6:00 PM. We dispensed with the CSO discussion then we morphed into a discussion that was totally unrelated to that, so my opinion is if you are going to establish an agenda for a meeting, which we do every week and we approve that, we need to stick to the agenda. I think each one of us has been instructed from time to time that if we stray off the agenda, we are instructed to get back on topic. This was totally off topic and it did not comply with our standards for conducting a meeting. Also that discussion was not captured in the minutes before us. If we are going to establish rules out and nine years ago we adopted Robert's Rules of Order plus our own rules here to conduct our own meetings in addition to Robert's, I think we ought to stick with them. I do not know why we wouldn't want to capture that discussion in the meeting minutes since that consumed twice as much time as our Special Called meeting did. Councilmember Longoria We are probably spending way too much time talking about this but I remember it being related to the discussion we were on because the Open Record Request was specifically about the CSO. So to me we did not stray off the path and we did not come to a vote. We may have given some direction on whether or not we were going to ask the consultant to provide content. I worry about changing a decision that we put a lot of thought into in terms of how we manage the capturing of the minutes and just want us to continue in that process. Councilmember Lusk If we are going to establish an agenda for the meeting, we need to stick with the agenda. I have been reprimanded before by our City Attorney and several others of us have also been, so I think it is an issue of decorum, consistency, keeping with the rules we have adopted and sticking by them. I don't see why it is a big thing to capture something like that, even though I was opposed to bringing up that issue in the first place. I think it is a stretch to say that it was directly related to the CSO. It actually dealt with the contractual issue that we had with a hired consultant, totally different from postponing the decision on the CSO. Councilmember Hewitt I am fine with adding to the minutes because I think we will see, especially if you are doing verbatim, that it was brought up to help us make a better decision and get a better picture of all the documents the consultant had. I disagree a little with you Bill on the stretch of the agenda having nothing to do with it, but I think if the deal is to capture the minutes, I agree with that. Regular Meeting of the Milton City Council Monday, September 21, 2015 at 6:00 pm Page 14 of 22 Mayor Pro Tem Thurman I agree with that. I think part of the reason why it was brought up in the first place was we were trying to decide whether or not we were going to defer this item. Part of the reason we were going to defer it is to allow us to get additional information that this consultant may have had. Any further comments? Do we have a motion to defer this? Councilmember Longoria What exactly is the motion we need to make? Mayor Pro Tem Thurman We have an item on our agenda that was originally on the Consent Agenda which is to approve the September 14, 2015 Special Called City Council Meeting Minutes, so we need to act on that. Whether or not we approve or defer. Councilmember Lusk I'll make a motion that we defer this item until the next meeting... City Clerk Gordon October 5 1 Councilmember Lusk Pending the City Clerk capturing the discussion held on this particular topic at the Special Called Meeting. Mayor Pro Tem Thurman Is there a second? Councilmember Kunz Second. Mayor Pro Tem Thurman Okay, we have a motion by Councilmember Lusk, seconded by Councilmember Kunz to defer the approval of September 14, 2015 Special Called City Council Meeting minutes, Agenda Item No. 15- 252. All those in favor .... all those opposed. The motion carries. Motion and Vote: Councilmember Lusk moved to defer Agenda Item No. 15-252 until the next Regularly Scheduled City Council Meeting on October 5, 2015 at such time the City Clerk will include in the minutes the discussion held during the September 14, 2015 Special Called Meeting regarding the CSO Consultant. Councilmember Kunz seconded the motion. The motion passed unanimously (6-0). Mayor Joe Lockwood left the meeting early. 1 Regular Meeting of the Milton City Council Monday, September 21, 2015 at 6:00 pm Page 15 of 22 ADMINISTRATIVE HEARING RELATED TO ALCOHOL LICENSE 1. Administrative Hearing Regarding the Possible Suspension or Revocation of the Alcohol License for C.C.E. Group, Inc., d/b/a Montana's Bar & Grill Located at 13695 Highway 9, Milton, Georgia 30004. (Agenda Item No. 15-258) (Ken Jarrard, City Attorney) Stacey Inglis, Assistant City Manager What we have tonight is the first hearing of this kind. It is to have a disciplinary hearing on an alcohol license business. This particular business which is Montana's has failed to get their business license which was due March 31, 2015. After repeated attempts to contact the owners, we had to put into place the enforcement procedures that are outlined in our ordinance regarding alcoholic beverages. The ordinance states the following: • The city has to have due cause; a violation of any laws or ordinances pertaining to the regulation of the business. Since they did not obtain a business license or maintain one, they are in direct violation of city laws. • The City Council shall be authorized to suspend or revoke an alcoholic beverage license or impose other penalties upon the licensee under the conditions set forth in this section. We also followed the steps that are outlined in how to suspend a license. The City Manager had to give at least ten days prior written notice to the licensee of the time, place, and purpose of the hearing and a statement of the charges upon which the hearing before the City Council shall be held. In the packet, there is a copy of the letter that was sent to Mr. Eubank that detailed everything that we were required to do. One of the criteria for sufficient grounds for the immediate suspension or revocation is that the licensee has failed to maintain any and all of the general qualification applicable to the initial issuance of a license as set forth in this chapter. So, under the enforcement section of the ordinance, it states that the applicant has to appear before the City Council under a mandatory hearing and then the City Council will decide the consequences. The City Council can issue a warning, license suspension, or revoke the license. The suspension can be for up to 30 days for the first violation in a twelve month period. Montana's has failed to get its business license. They have also failed to get their alcohol license and/or business license on time ever; since the beginning of the city. They have never been on time. We have always had to go to them and take extra care to make sure they remain in compliance with our city ordinances. We can hear from Mr. Eubank and listen to what he has to say. He still has not gotten his business license renewed as of today. City Manager Lagerbloom After sending the letter, Mr. Eubank and I have been in touch a couple of different times. He indicated that the business license item will be rectified by Wednesday of this week. After sending the letter to him, the communication has gotten tremendously better leading into tonight's hearing. However, once the notice was sent regarding tonight's hearing, I could not undo or reverse that process. Mr. Eubank ■ has indicated to me that he will be in compliance with the business license in the next 48 hours. I believe he is here tonight to affirm that. Mayor Pro Tem Thurman Is our decision today just on whether or not we will have a hearing on the possible suspension or revocation? Regular Meeting of the Milton City Council Monday, September 21, 2015 at 6:00 pm Page 16 of 22 Stacey Inglis This is the hearing. Mayor Pro Tem Thurman This is the actual hearing? Stacey Inglis Yes, and you can decide on the action you would like to take. It can be a warning, suspension for up to 30 days, or revoke the license. City Manager Lagerbloom Or, you can push it out and say that you think it is a material piece of information to know whether or not the business license is, in fact, going to be renewed this week. There would be nothing wrong with moving this hearing out until October 5t to have that piece of information so you don't bring closure to this hearing tonight, but you hold it at bay just in case he does renew his business license this week and obtains the required alcohol license. We can report that information back to the council. Councilmember Mohrig So, right now, the alcohol license is not renewed either; the business license or the alcohol license? City Manager Lagerbloom You can't have the second without the first. Councilmember Mohrig So, both are outstanding? Stacey Inglis No, we have the alcohol license because that was renewed in November; it was supposed to be renewed in November of last year. And, it got renewed on November 19th; it was due on November 15th. But, since it has to renew in November, and the business license is not due until March 31St, there is a lapse. Councilmember Mohrig So, they are out of sync right now. Councilmember Longoria Stacey, how many business licenses are issued by the city? Stacey Inglis Oh gosh, I wasn't prepared to answer that question. Councilmember Longoria You don't have to give me the exact number; just roughly, is it hundreds, thousands, a hand full? Stacey Inglis Bernadette, do you know? Councilmember Longoria Give me a round number; is it hundreds? Regular Meeting of the Milton City Council Monday, September 21, 2015 at 6:00 pm Page 17 of 22 Stacey Inglis It is hundreds. Councilmember Longoria I am trying to establish whether or not this is a normal occurrence within the city. In other words, how many business licenses renew on time? A majority of them? Stacey Inglis Yes, a majority of them. There are penalties and interest that apply if they are not renewed on time. Councilmember Longoria Are we putting some kind of unreasonable economic burden on our businesses with these licenses? Stacey Inglis No sir. Councilmember Longoria Are they expensive licenses? Stacey Inglis No sir. I mean, expensive, I guess, is a relative term. City Manager Lagerbloom Councilmember Longoria, just to give you an idea of what the cost is, Montana's business license last year was $1,106.00. I don't know what the cost of it will be this year because we don't know what the gross receipts are to be able to calculate it. It is probably in that ballpark but we do not have the exact amount. Councilmember Longoria So, you are saying that the renewal process requires a piece of data to come from the business so that we can access what the license is actually going to cost? City Manager Lagerbloom Depending on the type of business it is. Mayor Pro Tem Thurman When was it originally due? Stacey Inglis March 31, 2015. Mayor Pro Tem Thurman And, you said we could defer this for one week and if it... City Manager Lagerbloom Your deferral would have to be a couple of weeks because our next meeting will be on October 5h. You could bring back this hearing on the alcohol license if you wanted to and then we would have the data for you as to whether or not the business license got renewed this week. Regular Meeting of the Milton City Council Monday, September 21, 2015 at 6:00 pm Page 18 of 22 Councilmember Longoria I think that is the appropriate action to take to allow the business to get in sync with what we have been asking them for. That way, at the next meeting we will know. Mayor Pro Tem Thurman Assuming this happens again, and it becomes a habitual thing, then we could take action a little sooner than September. Councilmember Longoria Well, that is a good point, Karen. Do we have a policy that states within so much time after the renewal period we review things and bring it to the attention of... City Manager Lagerbloom Only in extraordinary circumstances would we have gone as far as we have gone tonight. Typically, we send Code Enforcement to the business on multiple attempts to make personal contact to encourage people to renew their business license. If I had the ability or any member of the staff has a quick contact number in the form of a cell phone number or something for the owner in this particular case I have no problem picking up the phone and calling him and saying we need to get you back in; it is time to get renewed. We take extraordinary steps to work with businesses to not be in this position. Frankly, we struck out this year with this one where we could not get a response. Councilmember Hewitt When after the March 31St deadline does it occur when we can do this; when we make the extraordinary steps or not? Stacey Inglis Bernadette, do you want to talk about the process; are you prepared to do that? Councilmember Hewitt The question is when can the 10 -day letter go out before the September 1St deadline? Stacey Inglis It could have gone out April 1St Councilmember Lusk So, part of the question is, what is the grace period after the due date? Stacey Inglis It actually expires on December 31 St but we give them until March 31 St in order get their taxes in order so they can use their tax data to get the renewal. March 31 st is the deadline of the grace period. Councilmember Mohrig So, after March 31St, then late fees and penalties begin to be assessed. Stacey Inglis Yes. Regular Meeting of the Milton City Council Monday, September 21, 2015 at 6:00 pm Page 19 of 22 City Manager Lagerbloom Montana's has been in existence a very long time. It was part of Fulton County before the city was incorporated. It now has a church located in very close proximity to it and if its alcohol license expires, by law it will not be able to renew it. Therefore, we have worked very closely with this restaurant and expended a lot of city resources to make sure it gets in compliance. We do not want to see it go out of business. So, we have not been quick to issue the 10 -day letter. Mayor Pro Tem Thurman At the same time, people need to comply with the rules. City Manager Lagerbloom I agree with you. Councilmember Longoria We are not doing anybody any favors by extending the time period. We should be more predictable in how we address this type of issue. I know this situation is unique; we have never had this procedure come up before. So, in the future we need a more predictable process. Bernadette Harvill, Finance Manager I can address that issue. We have been working very closely with the Code Enforcement Officers now that they have been given clear permission to give citations. We have proposed and we have put in place for them during the next cycle a clearer time line in which finance will report to Code Enforcement to conduct follow-ups. So, the process will be very clear. We will also put the information on the renewal notices so it will be very clear to the business owners so they will know the exact timeline. Mayor Pro Tem Thurman What is before us tonight is whether or not we want to approve, deny, or defer possible suspension. Councilmember Kunz Did you say the business owner is here tonight? City Manager Lagerbloom Yes, before you take any action, Mr. Eubank is here and would like to speak. Christopher C. Eubank, 13695 Highway 9, Milton, Georgia 30004 I have been in the area for eleven years and have never had a citation from the city. The liquor excise tax is current. My liquor license is current. I opened a new store this year and was under funded and got in a jam. That is basically what happened. And, again, if the license is revoked, it will never be a restaurant with alcohol which would be a shame and would also make it not sellable. Mayor Pro Tem Thurman Was the City Manager correct in saying that you will have this rectified by Wednesday of this week? Mr. Eubank It will be done by Wednesday. Regular Meeting of the Milton City Council Monday, September 21, 2015 at 6:00 pm Page 20 of 22 Motion and Vote: Councilmember Mohrig moved to defer Agenda Item No. 15-258 until the next regularly scheduled City Council Meeting on October 5, 2015. Councilmember Kunz seconded the motion. The motion passed unanimously (6-0). Mayor Joe Lockwood left the meeting early. MAYOR AND COUNCIL REPORTS STAFF REPORTS Department Updates 1. Fire Bob Edgar, Fire Chief - Rural Metro Ambulance merger - Final tornado siren being installed - Updating Department job descriptions - Attended the HUD Family Resource Center Grand Opening - Met with the Red Cross to review their capabilities 2. Finance Bernadette Harvill, Finance Manager - Tax bills were prepared at the end of August and mailed out the first week of September. 2015 property taxes are due by November 2, 2015. - We are moving along with our TAG intern from Cambridge High School. He is helping us analyze and update our current purchasing policy as well as working with each member of the finance team to gain an understanding of finance at the local government level. - Finance continues to prepare for the end of FYI and the start of FYI including invoice processing, account reconciliation and budget year transition once the FYI budget has been adopted. - We have made our first draw on the revenue bond in the amount of $6,372,470 to cover expenditures incurred to -date on the construction of Bell Memorial Park. 3. Information Technology David Frizzell, IT Manager Report on VC3's Cloud Security and Reliability: VC3 contracts a third party organization to perform annual audits of their business and technical practices. The most recent was completed in April 2015. The auditor reviews the following items: Regular Meeting of the Milton City Council Monday, September 21, 2015 at 6:00 pm Page 21 of 22 1. VC3's internal policies (Infrastructure, Software, Employees, Procedures, and Data) 2. Cloud Operations (compared to industry best -practices in related business models) 3. Security (Control mechanisms, prevention methods, monitoring, and response processes) The audit reports that VC3 represents their services fairly and that they have suitably designed their operations to conform to industry standards. 4. Innovation & Engagement Angela Thompson, Communications Manager Community Events: Mark your calendars: Crabapple Fest Oct. 3 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Please let Courtney or I know if you are interested in volunteering. Jason Wright, Innovation and Strategy Manager I just wanted to give everybody some updates on the ongoing projects we've got going on. First is online permitting. Vince and Michele have turned in the work Meritage needs to begin standing up the online permitting system. As I understand it, we should begin testing soon. Our parks facility rental and program registration software is through legal and on tonight's consent agenda. Upon execution of the contract, I can use it to set up online rentals. Bell memorial park will be added as it comes online. Our innovation team met informally last week to discuss the parameters of the project and some expectations of participation. I look forward to getting started on this. Our first official meeting will be in October. Lastly, we're working as a team on the measurement and tactical planning portion of the strategic plan. By mid-October we should be able to pull a plan together. 5. Human Resources Sam Trager, Human Resources Director One thing that has stood out to me on the HR Report is loss of work time due to workers compensation. We have had several days each month, up to 28 days most recently, on loss time injuries. I am happy to report that everyone is back at work today so those numbers should be going down in the future. GMA is now outsourcing all of their workers compensation claims. Our coverage is still through GMA but they recently decided to hire a private company to manage their claims. Large losses continue to drive our Health Insurance Plan. We recently had another large loss. 35% of our claims are from seven losses that have exceeded $25,000. Regular Meeting of the Milton City Council Monday, September 21, 2015 at 6:00 pm Page 22 of 22 We have been busy with Open Enrollment this week. We are expecting to receive data from 135 employees. ADJOURNMENT (Agenda Item No. 15-259) Motion and Vote: Councilmember Lusk moved to adjourn the Regular Meeting at 8:00 p.m. Councilmember Mohrig seconded the motion. The motion passed unanimously (6-0). Mayor Joe Lockwood left the meeting early. Date Approved: October 19, 2015 Sudie AM Gordon, City Clerl Joe Lockwood yor 1 J