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HomeMy WebLinkAboutMinutes CC - 05/16/2016 - MINS 05 16 16 REG (Migrated from Optiview)Regular Meeting of the Milton City Council Monday, May 16 , 2016 at 6 :00 pm Page I of 16 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 May 16, 2016 at 6:00 PM, Mayor Joe Lockwood presiding. INVOCATION Pastor Jerry Dockery, Crabapple First Baptist Church -Milton, Georgia CALL TO ORDER Mayor Joe Lockwood called the meeting to order. ROLL CALL Councilmembers Present: Councilmember Thurman, Councilmember Kunz, Councilmember Lusk, Councilmember Hewitt, Councilmember Longoria, and Councilmember Mohrig. PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE (L ed by Mayor Jo e Lockw ood) APPROVAL OF MEETING AGENDA (Agenda Item No. 16-110) Motion and Vote: Councilmember Hewitt moved to approve the Meeting Agenda with the following changes : • Move Agenda Item Numbers 16-116 and 16-117 , Consideration of Resolutions for Appointing Members to the Design Review Board and Planning Commission to after Approval of Meeting Agenda. • Add an Executive Session to discuss personnel , potential litigation, and litigation. Regular Meeting of the Milton Ci ty Council Monday, May 16 , 2 016 at 6 :00 pm Page 2of16 • Add after the Executive Session a discussion regarding Ivey versus the City of Milton settlement agreement. Councilmember Thurman sec onded the motion. The motion passed unanimously (6-0). Councilmember Mohrig was ab sent for the vote. Councilmember Mohrig arrived at 6:17 p.m. GENERAL PUBLIC COMMENT Tim Becker, 15625 Canterbu ry Chase, Milton, Georgia 30004 Tonight , I want to speak to a new rezoning . Yesterday , I received a notice of rezoning for a property access from Donegal Lane ; a dead-end road in Vickery Creek Subdivision which itself was rezoned using CUP rezoning in 2008. The property in question is currently zoned AG-1. Once again, a developer has come into the city with a pocket maximization scheme. Once again , a developer is asking for an extension of sewer. Once again , a developer is asking for higher density than is currently allowe d under AG-1 zoning. Once again , we are witnessing a rezoning request with disregard for our ci tizens . Consider the fact that this notice for rezoning was issued just nine days before the community zoning information meeting. And , no information has been provided with the notice. None could be found on the city 's website. How are citizens supposed to respond in such a short perio d of time and with no information? This is unfair. I am seeing a pattern here. The community gets short notice and little information. Of course , this will suppress attendance which the developer and sometimes councilmembers will later site as evidence of community support. The results are higher density , sewer extension , repercussions from a previous CUP rezoning. It is the same old story in Milton . The drip, drip , drip of sewer and density creep. The de velopers get the goodies and citizens pay the price. Once again , I urge council to conduct a comprehensive evaluation of our zoning process with the goal of reforming the zoning process to make it citizen centered. Today , I actually walked Vickery Creek Subdivision and distributed flyers. I spoke at length with three residents . They were looking at the prospect of construction traffic going through their neighborhood for the next several years. They are looking at homes that do not comply with the architecture and size of homes in their neighborhood. And, there are other numerous issues . They are rightfully concerned about safet y and their property values. I urge council to be proactive and seek out nearb y residents to hear their concerns. Thank you. Laura Rencher, 1060 Birmingham Road, Milton, Georgia 30004 I want to bring to your attention an important matter related to city ethics in Milton. I have recognized over the past couple of years that complaints by citizens are not handled candidly by the city. The most recent compl aint is one that my husband made regarding the behavior of an appointed city board member. My husband submitted a complaint about the incident that happened Regular Meeting of the Milton City Council Monday, May 16 , 2016 at 6 :00 pm Page 3of16 just before a council meeting in November. At this interaction, an appointed city board member approached me, made false accusations about my property , argued with me and stated that he was against us getting our variance approved . While this may not have been very significant if this person was just another citizen , the fact is , this man had the power to actually impede our variance . This abuse of power should have elevated concerns by the city officials as to possible ethical problems and political corruption. However , just the opposite happened. The complaint was sent to the city at the beginning of December and it is now May 16th . Last week, we just received a response from the interim city manager stating his limited options to address the situation none of which included investigation. I am aware that there were other complaints submitted to the city during the same time period regarding a city committee member. One complaint was taken so seriously that the council would not approve the new officers without investigation. Other complaints by citizens were also thoroughly investigated so I am left to wonder why some citizen's complaints are investigated and others are not. It appears that in the City of Milton , some citizen complaints are investigated thoroughly and others are ignored completely. I noticed this also applied to citizen complaints about emails that were anonymously leaked and distributed last October . These emails circumvented the open records process , were not redacted and were selectively chosen to undermine the conservation subdivision ordinance. This is a serious breach of ethics, lack of transparency , and demonstrated exceedingly poor judgement by the person who did it. Clearly, the person that released the emails knew this action was not ethical as she or he chose to release the emails anonymously in the middle of the night and to circumvent the open records process. The only people who had contact with the emails were the City Manager, Attorney , Mayor , and Council so the list of offenders is limited. The status of the potential offenders indicates that this action is also an abuse of power by a city employee or official. Yet, an investigation was never conducted to identify the person. Again, there are red flags of ethics violations of political corruption with no investigation. From my experience, I have learned that investigations do not happen unless requested by the Mayor or Council. If this does not happen, there is no process for citizens to hold officials and board members accountable other than a formal ethics complaint. Ethic complaints are expensive, public, and often a very involved process that requires citizens to make accusations of ethics violations in writing and provide proof. Then three attorneys subpoena information , listen to testimony, examine the evidence and situation then give a recommendation to the council. The problem with this process is that it requires the citizens to provide evidence of wrongdoing when the person has no access to investigate the behind closed doors workings of the city. In this case , there is no way to know exactly what happened and why without an investigation being conducted. From the outside, the situation looks as though the past city manager intentionally chose to investigate other complaints while ignoring mine . Even after repeated attempts to bring the issue to his attention. I don't think it is unreasonable to ask why this happened. I have waited almost six months for a response from the city with no answers. As a result, at this time, I am filing an ethics complaint regarding this incident and subsequent lack of action on the part of the city . This is not my choice and I do not see it as my responsibility to investigate the situation. However , my complaint is serious and the city's response is completely unacceptable. Abuse of power at any level should always be taken seriously. Intimidation and bullying are not acceptable regardless of who the offender or complainant are or how decision- makers feel about either person. I am not going to back down or go away . If the city's leadership is not going to hold the offenders accountable , the citizens have no other choice than to take this route to ensure ethical decision making and behavior. Regular Meeting of the Milton City Co unc il Monday, May 16 , 2016 at 6 :00 pm Page 4of16 Francia Lindon, 14810 East Bluff Road, Milton, Georgia 30004 ' I wanted to make a comment about the April 25th meeting . I was here for the long meeting and I thought it was an incredible example of democracy at work. And, I wanted to thank you for taking the time to research the background that was necessary to rule on a complex issue. That you didn 't simply rely on public comment and you went the extra mile to understand what the different issues were and to get facts that supported them. I thought you did a really good job interacting with the applicant to get answers to questions that you had and coming to a resolution. I think with all democracies , there has to be a point where some compromise is made. That night proved a really good example of coming to a compromise so that issues could be resolved. I just wanted to thank you for sticking it out and for doing your job. CONSENT AGENDA 1. Approval of the Financial Statements for the Period Ending April , 2016. (Agenda Item No. 16-111) (B ernadette Harvill, Finance Manager) 2. Approval of an Agreement between the City of Milton and Special Events Network, LLC for the Movies at the "Flicks & Food Trucks" Summer Event Series on June 4 , July 2, and August 6, 2016. (Agenda Item No. 16-112) (Court ney Spriggs, Public Outre ach Coordinator) 3. Approval of a Professional Services Agreement between the City of Milton and PSD Software, LLC to Provide Asset Management and Work Order Software. (Agenda Item No . 16-113) (Ca rter Lu cas, Assistant City Manager) 4. Approval of a Professional Services Agreement between the City of Milton and Phase 3 Marketing and Communications for Brand Implementation , Website and Graphic Support. (Agenda Item No. 16-114) (A ngela Th ompson, Co mmunications Manager) Motion and Vote: Councilmember Lusk moved to approve the Consent Agenda Items. Councilmember Kunz seconded the motion. The motion passed unanimously (7-0). Regular Meetin g of the M ilton City Council Monday, May 16 , 2016 at 6 :00 pm Page 5of16 REPORTS AND PRESENTATIONS 1. Proclamation Recognizing Memorial Day. (Presented by Co un cilm ember Bill Lusk) 2. Presentation of the Ci ty of Milton FY 2015 Annual Audit. (Pr esented by A dam Fraley, Ma uldin & J enkins, LL C) FIRST PRESENT A TI ON 1. Consideration of an Amendment to the Charter of the City of Milton, Georgia for the Purpose of Clarifying the Income Limitations Applicable to the Homestead Tax Exemptions Available to Seniors Age 65 and Over and Disabled Persons with Moderate to Low Incomes. (Agenda Item No. 16-115) (Ken J arrar d, City Attorn ey) Motion and Vote: Councilmember Kunz moved to appro v e the First Presentation Agenda Item. Councilmember Lusk seconded the motion . The motion passed unanimously (7-0). PUBLIC HEARING (No ne) ZONING AGENDA (No ne) UNFINISHED BUSINESS 1. Consideration of an Ordinance to Amend Milton City Code , Chapter 18 , Emergenc y Management Services. ORDINANCE NO. 16-05-276 (Agenda Item No. 16-107) (First Presentation at May 2, 20 16 City Co unc il Meeting) (Matt Ma r ietta, Em ergen cy Ma nager/Fir e Ma rs hal) Matt Marietta, Emergency Manager/Fire Marshal In 2006 , when the city was formed , the public safety and fire departments were combined and Chris Lagerbloom was the head of those departments. In 2009 , when Chris Lagerbloom became the ci ty manager, we separated those two departments adding a Police Chief and Fire Chief. Shortl y thereafter , we changed all the city ordinances that pertained to the two departments being Regular Meeting of the Milton Ci ty Council Monday, May 16 , 2016 at 6 :00 pm Page 6of16 combined as one. A little whil e ago , I was reading through all those ordinances and much to my chagrin, I noticed that one of the ordinances had not been changed. It is in the Emergency Management section of the city ordinances. So , this change simply recognizes the fact that the two departments have separated , albeit a long time ago , and the revised language reflects that change . Motion and Vote: Councilmember Hewitt moved to approve Agenda Item No. 16-107 . Councilmember Thurman seconded the motion. The motion passed unanimously (7-0). The following Agenda Item Numbers 16-116 and 16-117, Consideration of Resolutions for Appointing Members to the Design Review Board and Planning Commission, were moved by Motion and Vote to after Approval of Meeting Agenda. NEW BUSINESS 1. Consideration of a Resolution Appointing Michael Stevens to the City of Milton Design Review Board for District 2/Post 2. RESOLUTION NO. 16-05-373 (Agenda Item No. 16-116) (lvfay orJoe L ockwood) Motion and Vote: Councilmember Thurman moved to approve Agenda Item No. 16-116 appointing Michael Stevens to the City of Milton Design Review Board for District 2/Post 2. Councilmember Longoria seconded the motion. The motion passed unanimously (6-0). Councilmember Mohrig was abs ent for the vote. 2. Consideration of a Resolution Appointing Wilson Borden to the City of Milton Planning Commission fo r District 2/Post 1. RESOLUTION NO. 16-05-374 (Agenda Item No. 16-117) (lvfayor J oe Lockw oo d) Motion and Vote: Councilmember Hewitt moved to approve Agenda Item No. 16-117 appointing Wilson Borden to the City of Mi lton Planning Commission for District 2/Post 1. Councilmember Kunz seconded the motion. The motion passed unanimously (6-0). Councilmember Mohrig was absent for the vote. Regular Meeting of the Milton Ci ty Counc il Monday, May 16 , 2016 at 6 :00 pm Page 7of16 3. Consideration of a Motion to Override the Mayor 's Veto Regarding RZ16-02NC16-0l. (Agenda Item No. 16-118) (Ken J arrard, C ity Attorn ey) Ken Jarrard, City Attorney Councilmember Thurman previously recused herself from this agenda item and identified those reasons in prior meetings. She is recused and abstained from this agenda item tonight. The rules governing the conduct of meetings and the ethical propriety with respect to recusals allows the recused member to stay at their station as long as the meeting is occurring in public which this one is. So , the recusal will stand for the record and Councilmember Thurman is allowed to remain at her station but otherwise not participate . PUBLIC COMMENT Vance McGaughey, 255 Meadowood Drive, Roswell, Georgia 30004 The property that we own is in Roswell but we are surrounded on three sides by Milton and our property is adjacent to the property that was in question on April 25th. At that meeting , I was greatl y impressed by Councilmember Kunz 's presentation and your thoughtful research on what a true conservation subdivision is. And , how you rightly pointed out that we all want to preserve the land . We all love the picturesque scene of the horse farm and the house sitting back on ten acres and the fence in front of it. I wish we could take a picture and stop time and keep it that way. But , as you pointed out, once the people who own that horse farm pass away and their children inherit it , there is nothing that can stop them from putting it up for sale. So , we reall y didn 't know how to have a subdivision and conserve land until several years ago when community septic systems were created . Community septic systems have proven to be effective everywhere and have been recommended as a very fail safe method. These systems have allowed subdivisions like Serenbe as you mentioned . Yes , you have higher density on a smaller section of the land but the rest of the land is left in its natural state where you are preserving the most beautiful part of the land. As an example , that beautiful ten acre horse farm where the house sits back , if it sold , the whole thing would become a subdivision from the street on back. If you do it as a conservation easement subdi vision , you would have the houses to the back side of it on higher density but the front part that you see , the barn and the pasture , is all preserved. It is preserved in the co v enants. It can never be built on , ever, just as it is in Serenbe . You can do this with five acres , ten acres, bigger tracts of which we put together the consortium, the five property owners , which was otherwise called Lahkapani , which these two properties , the McVay and WJ's property, are the 64 acres , of which , 35 acres would now be preserved. And , I urge you, if you have not walked this property , it is beautiful 100 year old hardwoods , the y are going to be preserved and , otherwise , legally under the diameter of a tree that could be cut down. The y don 't match what is called a true specimen tree , it could all be gone , but it is beautiful woods , beautiful forest , beautiful trails , that is going to be preserved and the y are going to build the 45 houses very discretel y, very nice back Regular Meeting of the Milton City Council Monday, May 16 , 2016 at 6:00 pm Page 8of16 from the road , and the rest of th e land will be preserved. If the conservation subdivision is not passed with something like this, that entire yard could be turned into the one acre subdivisions. You wouldn't have community land , community trails , community access where you can walk the beautiful trails and preserve the land. I urge you, there is an old saying, you know what Pasqual ' s Wager is; ifl believe there is a God and there isn't, then I have lost little . lfl believe there isn 't a God and there is , I have lost much. If you don 't overturn the veto and this is not passed, you will have lost much in what can be done to preserve the land in both Milton and Roswell and truly turn it into an ideal conservation subdivision. But, if you pass it, and it doesn 't turn out to be as perfect as we would have liked, you have lost very little because it is only one chunk and you never have to pass it again or address it again. You can continue to have the one acre subdivisions. So , I urge you to consider Pasqual's Wage r and to pass this because if you don't or to overturn the veto, you would have lost much. We will lose all the land we are trying to preserve. Thank you. Bernard Wolfe, 1000 Lackey Road, Milton, Georgia 30004 I have spent four years putting together the Lahkapani concept. I have shared it with Roswell and Milton every step of the way from the beginning. So , is there anything in this that you would not approve of? I have always said that my feedback is that not only do we like this we encourage you to do it. As Vance said, the Sweet Apple community is along the format we are using for Lahkapani. And , the essence of that , I will explain it a different way, they are using small lots. Small lots can be really good or they can be really bad. The really bad ones are the ones you have this uproar where you have these houses crammed together on small lots and they become urban blight. The other way to keep this is to have a footprint; that is what we call them in Lahkapani. You have green area but within th at you have footprints where the house goes and you would have a small lot to accommodate that. They are separated; they are not crammed together. And, the whole idea is that the smaller the footprint the more woods you have. The idea is that you place those houses where if you look out the back of every house, all you will see is woods. And, you will have a place you can take a walk which is what I like to do after a long day where you can go out in the woods and relax. The other thing I wanted to mention is the water treatment system. I am in agreement with all the concerns that everybody has with that. The community septic systems are proven and are good but any that are done need to be something that is going to work and can be monitored by the EPD or Mi lton. The systems that are being considered here do that. They can be monitored. They are capable of having sensors that can be accessed through a modem. Also , as it has been said before , these are regularly serviced, usually there is someone on site. The one in Serenbe; I actually have about a twelve slide video that if it comes to that , I can show you . They are very simple. They are based on two inch PVC pipes. They are very easy to service and you can have an onsite guy that can service it. If anything goes wrong you basically just need a toolbox with some wrenches and PVC . The pumps involved, the ones I saw, you all may have seen them too; it is one that looks like a little barn. The barn is empty except the two pumps. The pumps are things you can buy at Northern tools or the Ace hardware up in Woodstock, they're readily available . The other thing is the one I seen in Serenbe , do the construction of it where you have tanks. If you have a failure it is going to be days before it turns out to be a problem. So it is very safe. The reason that we are interested in those is not higher density to put in a bunch of houses at a real high level , the reason we are doing it is so you don't have to tear down the woods around a house that you do with a septic tank the whole idea is to reduce overall density. The lower the density you have a division , it's been proven there is severely papers of that can increase the Regular Meeting of the Milton Ci ty Council Monday, May 16 , 2016 at 6:00 pm Page 9 of 16 property value of us the loaner by 30% or 29%. It increases the value and has said you land owners , means can sell your property more quickly as a land owner, as well as a home owner. The other thing this does is allows you to do a development where you have roads that are more simple, and the drainage is taken care of. What this translates into is the development costs less and the maintenance cost for the municipality is less . Everyone wins in this , that 's why we call it 2l5 t century development. I have invited everyone to come v isit Lahkapani most of you hav e . One thing I do want and I am trying to do is get the folks that live on Ebenezer Road, they are scared to death about what 's going to happen with Sweet Apple. What's that going to do to my property? They don 't realize yet that Sweet Apple is adjoining Lahkapani , and we got three or more mouths of trails through these virgin w oods that the plan is to see if these people can also hav e access to , you know the liability issues and other things to do. But we want them to realize that next door, literally, they can walk right down and the y will be able to enjoy what they have. Actually they will feel it enhances their life experience , quality of life by being on Ebenezer Road and have the Sweet Apple done and then have the Lahkapani done in a similar manner in the future. The final thing I will say is Lahkapani do to its nature , is basically sequestered by surrounding ridges and theses ridges are flat on top . Some of those may be done in a way the Brightwater is doing them, others we have quite a few people that say I just want to have a place I can escape , we may sale an entire ridge to one person where they can do it that way. That is my comment and thank you for what you do. Charlie Bostwick, Brightwater Homes, 230 Hammond Dr, Sandy Springs, Georgia 30328 I will be very brief, I just want to thank you all for how much work that every one of you is putting into this. Of course , I want to say that I oppose the veto and hope you override it tonight, but mostly wanted to make sure I had a yellow card turned in, in case you have any questions tonight I am here for you and to let you know we are completely committed as we have been to creating a great project for Milton and hope we have the chance to do that eventuall y . Thank you. Walter Rekuc, 615 Scarlet Oak Trail, Milton, Georgia 30004 Thank you so much for everything you do and for all the effort you put into all these meetings and I understand all some of these meetings can get awful long and lengthy. I too hav e attended many meetings that would end at 12:30 , 2 in the morning , 3 in the morning and they nev er very much fun and eventually decisions had to be made. I am not sure if it meant any difference whether if it was at 2 o 'clock or 9 o 'clock with some people whether if the decision they like was made that time or later in the day . Zoning in general are tough , you have to look at not only at what you're dealing with but in many cases who you 're dealing with. I can remember a case very vividly from my Roswell experience where there was a great development on King Road not far from Brook Field West and a developer wanted to come in and put a really great project very similar in density , size , lot size , homes and such right across the street. Home owners on Hackett Road, along King Road , and Brook Field West you would have thought they would be coming in with some ty pe of building that would be of ill-repute of some sort, but they fault it and the de v eloper stood up and said "listen guys hate to say this but if you don't approve this , I am going to go to other folks and something is going to happen with that property eventually and you may hav e better with what's in your hand no w, then what you may have in the future." Well , sure enough the council w ent ahead, I think that was a meeting that lasted until about 2 in the morning they turned it down . Well I don 't know how many of you have been to Roswell High School but that 's what actually got Regular Meeting of the Milton Ci ty Co uncil Monday, May 16 , 2016 at 6 :00 pm Pa ge 10of16 built at that location and I am not going to say those folks on Hackett Road liked what they got built with the ball fields and everything else backing up to them and many of the other things. But the big thing is the developer was a good guy . We as a community need to look at also who we are dealing with and can you work with that person. Not just in the perspective of one project, but where they stand in all the projects . People when work with a project there is going to be situations that come up, this is one where you don 't have perhaps every bit of technology to your knowledge . There is a lot of things that come about, I remember the first roundabout that got built and how much public objection that there was to it. I remember sidewalks , communities that didn 't want sidewalks because they felt it w a s going to lead to robberies , break-ins and everything else . It was found to be something good in a community. I think again the first person off the block is always the toughest. Sometimes knowing that you 've got something that is probably going to be less density than what you would 've had is probably very worthwhile to look at. Working out the problems with somebody who is willing to work with you is also a very important thing. Thank you for your help and thank you for what you do for us. Ken Jarrard, City Attorney I hope to be able to walk you through some of the procedural steps in this process. I have about eight slides I would like to show you and obviously the public will see them as well. Then, I want to turn the presentation over to the Mayor for the action item you have in front of you . Then, afterward, depending upon the outcome , I may have additional information to share with you. The first slide is a flowchart from the City of Milton 's zoning code. At the bottom, you will see boxes with the top box being the City Council and then underneath on the right there are boxes that indicate either approve or defer and on the left are boxes that indicate either deny or withdraw. This is the guidance we give to citizens. This is the ordinance that you have adopted and it anticipates that there are two functions that the council will take with respect to zoning; either to approve or defer or to deny or withdraw. The Milton zoning code is consistent with state law which also anticipates an approval or denial. The case I have sited in front of you is important. The applicant, a property owner that has a zoning request in front of a board, submits an application to have his property rezoned after being approved by the Planning Commission. He went through the process and received a recommendation from the Planning Commission. The applicant had a clear legal right to have a Board of Commissioners either adopt the recommendation by the Planning Commission or reject it. This duty is not satisfied by the failure of the board to act. Going back to the minutes from the April 25th meeting. The minutes state that Councilmember Kunz made a motion to approve the rezoning agenda item and it passed 4-2 with Councilmember Thurman recusing. This was a motion to approve. And, as you all know, when there is a zoning agenda item, staff has put in the meeting packet an ordinance because that is the way you adopt zonings in Milton. It is done by way of an ordinance because zoning is a legislative function of government. The motion was to approve that legislation. The ordinance states that it shall become effective upon adoption by the Mayor and City Council. It goes on to state it must have approval by the Mayor and City Council a s well as the signature of the Mayor. So, for the legislation to become active , the council must approve it and the Mayor must sign it. The Milton Charter provides that any ordinance adopted by the city is subject to four outcomes. Regular Meeting of the Milton City Council Monday, May 16 , 2016 at 6 :00 pm Page 11 of 16 1. The ordinance can be returned to the clerk signed in which case the ordinance is effective and has the force of law. 2. The Mayor can return the ordinance to the clerk unsigned in which case the ordinance is effective and has the force of law. 3. The Mayor can decline to return the ordinance to the clerk at all in which case after the Mayor has had it for ten business days it is effective and has the force of law. 4. The Mayor can veto the ordinance which nullifies or voids the ordinance absent veto override . This agenda item tonight pertains to section 3 .21 ( c) of the Milton Charter which states that an ordinance vetoed by the Mayor, which we know has occurred, shall automatically be on the agenda at the next regular meeting of the City Council for consideration. That is what you are here to decide upon this evening. The last sentence states that the City Council may override a veto by the Mayor and adopt any ordinance, which in this case was an ordinance of approval, which has been vetoed by the affirmative votes of at least five councilmembers not including the Mayor. So, in this situation, Councilmember Thurman is recused and the Mayor may not vote , therefore , it would take an affirmative vote of approval to overcome the veto by all the councilmembers remaining. Rules for the override are as follows : • The Mayor may not vote on the override. • The Mayor should not make a motion or second on the override. • The Mayor may discuss the item. • The Mayor can run this portion of this meeting. If council overrides the Mayor 's veto, the ordinance of approval will become effective and have the force of law. If the veto is not overridden, the veto stands , and the council at that point has neither approved nor have you denied the rezoning and therefore the zoning must to be returned to council for further consideration. Mayor Lockwood First of all, I want to say that this has been a tough decision to make especially since I was on the losing side of the vote. I wanted to do it for the right reasons and not because I had voted differently. The statement I sent through our social media site clarifies everything. In my opinion, there was too much questioning . Councilmember Longoria I just want clarification on a slide that you had in your presentation, if we were not able to override the veto, then no action will have had taken place on the applicant 's rezoning request, so we go back to where we were before the meeting on April 25th . Is that correct? City Attorney Jarrard That is correct and depending on what the council's action is tonight, I plan on walking you through exactly what I think happens next. Re g ular Meetin g of the Milton City C oun c il Monday, May 16 , 2016 at 6:00 pm Page 12 of16 Councilmember Longoria Also , for clarification, we take minutes and publish those minutes prior to the start of some meeting in the future that basically documents everything that we did . When we put together the minutes , do we normall y give ourselves some kind of a score that shows how well we did in the meeting, we followed all the rules , we m ade some mistakes , we did this many things that were in error , etc. Do we give ourselves any type of a grade ? City Attorney Jarrard I am not aware of any type of a gr ade. Councilmember Longoria We normally follow the rules , correct? We have a v ery high standard for following the rules , is that correct? City Attorney Jarrard Absolutel y, correct. Councilmember Longoria So , can you point to any mistake s that we made at the April 25th meeting that would have some type of an impact on the decision that we made as a council ? City Attorney Jarrard Well , there are two way s to answer that question. Could I address anything that I have an y concerns about ? Well , because I have advised you in m y capacity of City Attorney , therefore , within the context of some of the issues that have been raised by other parties. Within the context of potential scrutiny that may be brought to our decision , I would prefer not to go into those details if that would be agreeable to the council. From the standpoint of the information you received , and from the standpoint of the di scussion, I thought the issue was fully vetted. Councilmember Longoria I 'm sorry , Ken. That was an unfair question. I probably should hav e asked you if you can point to any procedural problems that we had that we didn 't follow the rules that govern our meeting or the proper voting procedure to make that decision. City Attorney Jarrard I am an advocate for spirited debate. So , I did not find any flaw in a lengthy debate and the citizens should be proud that you are actually willing to let the deliberation process take place in front of them . With respect to the multi ple motions that were made that evening , I am comfortable with the motions that w ere made . The re were several motions made and some of them were denied and some of them were tied . Regular Meeting of the Milton City Council Monday , May 16 , 2016 at 6:00 pm Page 13of16 Councilmember Longoria There was nothing simple or easy about the meeting on April 25th. However, when I was elected as a city councilmember, I expected meetings like that. I knew that what I was signing up for included difficult decisions. Decisions that were not going to have clear support and would be difficult to understand and passionate supporters on both sides of the issue. I enjoyed the meeting on April 25th. I thought it was exactly what Ken mentioned; a great example of how government works. That is why Milton was formed; to have local control. We listened to two and a half hours of very passionate citizens express their opinions and we asked a lot of questions. I think we did a good job. I am confident in the decision we made and how we went about making that decision. Therefore , I am going to vote to override the Mayor 's request for a veto. Councilmember Lusk I want to ask the city attorney if due process was served. There have been several conversations in the community questioning the process. What is your definition of due process and do you think we complied with that legal concept? City Attorney Jarrard Due process is the opportunity to meaningfully participate. Typically, it contains a notice and the opportunity to be heard. Zoning laws in Georgia set forth the minimum standards by which zonings must be enacted. I believe it allows for each side of the debate to have a total of ten minutes. The Milton City Council allowed a lot more time than that. So , you certainly provided an opportunity for those in opposition and those in favor to address the council. The council made at least one or possibly multiple extensions of time and even at one point reopened the hearing to allow the few minutes left for the opposition. So , yes , due process was served based on the Georgia zoning laws and an opportunity for all sides to be heard. Councilmember Lusk Having vetted this issue for six and a half hours , if this was an easy decision to have made we would have made it in the first five minutes . I came on this board knowing it was not going to be an easy process . We have come up against some difficult issues in the past several years and I think we have all spent equal amounts of time in deciding and discussing these issues. To state that it is anything other than that; I think that is a misstatement. I think we have done a better than average job in serving the public and the issues that we have been faced with. Councilmember Kunz I agree with Councilmember Longoria and Councilmember Lusk. April 25th was not an easy night. We all participated in a six and a half hour debate to try to find solutions to some tough issues. I give credit to our council , staff, citizens , etc . I am proud of what we did and how we reached a decision. I commend our council for their hard work, however, I understand the Mayor 's decision to ask for a veto . I think we did a great job that night and I will also override the Mayor 's request for a veto. Regular Meeting of the Milton City Council Monday, May 16 , 2016 at 6 :00 pm Page 14of16 Councilmember Hewitt If we always strive to do the right thing and go over and above the minimum, I support keeping the veto in place and giving us an opportunity to discuss this issue over again . Therefore, at that point, there will be no doubt in anyone's mind that due process occurred. Councilmember Mohrig I concur with the comments everyone is making. We heard a lot of public comments and looked at every angle of the issue. It was not an easy night. Ifl vote to uphold the Mayor's request for a veto, it is not because I feel like we did not do a good job or have due process, but because it will give us a chance to discuss it again and , therefore, it will eliminate any doubt in the public 's mind that we have given the issue a very fair opportunity and are a clear and honest government. City Attorney Jarrard Given the outcome of the vote , obviously there were not five votes in favor of overturning the veto, therefore , per your Charter, the veto stands . Therefore , I will give you the rest of my power point presentation. At this point, per the Charter, the veto by the Mayor has not been overridden, therefore the veto stands. Case law provides that a veto works to void or nullify the proposed enactment that was the subject of a veto. The enactment was an ordinance for approval of the rezoning which now stands defeated. The veto of an ordinance for approval is not the equivalent of an affirmative act of denial. The applicant has a clear legal right to an approval or denial by the city council. Motion and Vote: Councilmember Longoria moved to overturn the veto by the Mayor of Milton (Agenda Item No. 16-118). Councilmember Kunz seconded the motion. The motion passed (3- 2). Councilmembers Longoria and Kunz were in opposition. Mayor Lockwood did not vote and Councilmember Thurman recused herself. Motion and Vote: Councilmember Kunz moved to advertise for a public hearing with RZ16- 02NC16-01 to return to Counci l for further consideration with the following timeline: June 6, 2016 for First Presentation and June 20, 2016 for Zoning, Public Hearing and Ratification . Councilmember Mohrig seconded the motion. The motion passed (5-1). Mayor Joe Lockwood was in opposition. Councilmember Thurman recused herself. Regular Meeting of the Milton City Council Monday, May 16, 2016 at 6 :00 pm Page 15of16 4. Consideration of a Waiver of Conflict Affirmatively Waiving any Actual , Potential or Apparent Conflict oflnterest Arising from or Attributable to Jarrard & Davis, LLP's Simultaneous Representation of the City of Milton and Tunnell, Spangler & Associates (TSW) as a Subcontractor to TSW in a matter unrelated to the City of Milton. (Agenda Item No. 16-119) (Ken Jarrard, City Attorney) Ken Jarrard, City Attorney Whenever my office receives an assignment, in this case it is a review of an agreement that the City of Milton may be entering into with Tunnell , Spangler & Associates, we conduct a conflict check as we do with all the new matters we receive. My office is working in another jurisdiction and municipality in which we are preparing and presenting a bid on some work and TSW is bidding along with us . We do not have any attorney/client relationship with them but we are in a business relationship with them. So , I thought it was best to bring a conflict of waiver to you. I can assure you that the review of the contract will be zealous and we will look out for the City of Milton in its best interest. There will be no special treatment given to this entity just because we happen to be working together on another project. I would respectfully request that the council give due consideration to waiving any potential conflict. Motion and Vote: Councilmember Hewitt moved to approve Agenda Item No. 16-119. Councilmember Kunz seconded the motion. The motion passed unanimously (7-0). MAYOR AND COUNCIL REPORTS Councilmember Kunz I just want to commend Councilmember Lusk on all the hard work that he puts into our Memorial Day celebration. He will be putting up crosses , so if anyone wants to help , it would be greatly appreciated. EXECUTIVE SESSION Motion and Vote: Councilmember Longoria moved to go into Executive Session to discuss personnel , potential litigation, and litigation at 7:57 p.m. Councilmember Hewitt seconded the motion. The motion passed unanimously (7-0). Regular Meeting of the Milton City Co uncil Monday , May 16, 2016 at 6:00 pm Page 16of16 RECONVENE Motion and Vote: Councilmember Kunz moved to reconvene the Regular Meeting at 8:18 p.m. Councilmember Lusk seconded the motion. The motion passed unanimously (6-0). Mayor Lockwood was absent for the vote. The following agenda item was added during the Executive Session. Consideration to approve the Settlement Agreement and Full and Final Release of Claims between Charles E. Ivey and Sargent Hickerson, Lieutenant Griffin (Milton Police Department) , the City of Milton Mayor and City Council, and Gallagher Bassett Services. Motion and Vote: Councilmember Lusk moved to approve the Settlement Agreement and Full and Final Release of Claims between Charles E. Ivey and Sargent Hickerson, Lieutenant Griffin (Milton Police Department) the City of Milton Mayor and City Council, and Gallagher Bassett Services. Councilmember Mohrig seconded the motion. The motion passed unanimously (6-0). Mayor Lockwood was absent for the vote. ADJOURNMENT (Agenda Item No. 16-120) Motion and Vote: Councilmember Thurman moved to adjourn the Regular Meeting at 8:20 p.m. Councilmember Hewitt seconded the motion. The motion passed unanimously (6-0). Mayor Lockwood was absent from the vote . Date Approved: September 7, 2016 Sudrftl~t:aty Clerk STATE OF GEORGIA COUNTY OF FULTON CITY OF MILTON ) ) ) ) ) AFFIDAVIT RE: CLOSURE OF OPEN MEETINGS Personally appeared before the undersigned officer, dul y authorized under the laws of the State of Georgia to administer oaths, JOE LOCKWOOD, who in his capacity as Mayor and the person presiding over a Council meeting of the CITY OF MILTON , and after being first duly sworn, certifies under oath and states to the best of hi s knowledge and belief the following: At a Regularly Scheduled City Council Work Session Meeting held on May 16 , 2016, at 6 :00 PM the Council voted to go into closed session and exclude the public from all or a portion of its meeting. The legal exceptions applicable to the exempt matters addressed during such closed meeting are as follows: [Check or initial as appropriate] 1. __ discussion or voting to authorize negotiations to purchase, dispose of, or lease propert y; authorizing the ordering of an appraisal related to the acquisition or disposal of real estate ; entering into contract to purchase , to dispose of, or lease property subject to approval in a subsequent public vote; or entering into an option to purchase, dispose of, or lease real estate subject to approval in a subsequent public vote pursuant to O.C.G.A , 50-14-3(b)(l)(B-E); 2. X discussing or deliberating upon the appointment, employment, compensation, hiring, disciplinary action or dismissal , or periodic evaluation or rating of a public officer or employee or interviewing applicants for the executive head of the city with the vote on any such matter coming in public pursuant to O.C.G .A. 50-14-3(b)(2); 3 . _X_ attorney/client privilege in order to consult and meet with legal counsel pertaining to pending or potential litigation , settlement, claims, administrative proceedings or other judicial actions brought or to be brought by or against the agency or any officer or employee or in which the agency or any officer or employee may be directl y involved , pursuant to O.C.G.A. 50-14-2(1). 4 . other (explanation): I certify that the subject matter of the closed meeting or the closed portion of the meeting was devoted to matters of official business or policy, with the exceptions provided by law as set forth above.