HomeMy WebLinkAboutMinutes CC - 12/12/2011 - 12-12-11 WS Mins (Migrated from Optiview)Work Session of the Milton City Council
Monday, December 12, 2011 at 6:00 pm
Page 1 of 12
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 recorded.
The Fork Session of the Mayor and Council of the City of Milton was held on December 12, 2011
at 6:00 PM, Mayor Lockwood presiding.
Council Members Present: Councilmember Karen Thurman, Councilmember Zahner Bailey,
Councilmember Bill Lusk, Councilmember Joe Longoria, and Councilmember Tart.
Councilmember Hewitt was absent/excused from the meeting.
Mayor Lockwood:
• Work Sessions are an informal setting to update Council on business items.
• No votes will be taken during these sessions.
• There are five (5) items on our Agenda tonight.
• Public comment is allowed that is germane to an Agenda Item.
• If you wish to speak you are required to fill out a comment card and turn it into the City Clerk
staff.
• Public comment will be allowed for a total of 10 minutes per agenda item and no more than 2
minutes per person.
• Public comment will be heard at the beginning of each Item.
• Once the item is called, no other comment cards will be accepted.
There was no general public comment.
City Clerk Gordon read Agenda Item #1.
1. Discussion Regarding Draft List of City Charter Areas to be Reviewed by Charter
Commission for Consideration of a Final List to be Approved at January 9, 2012
Council Meeting.
(Presented by Chris Lagerbloom, City Manager)
City Manager Lagerbloom:
• The Resolution that you all adopted at the December 5, 2011 meeting directed us to provide
some information for the Work Session in December as to our thoughts with respect to the
Charter and maybe some areas that we would ask the Charter Commission to look at.
• The Charter Commission work will kick off as early as January 15 with substantive type work.
• I am working on scheduling a meeting with them prior to the Christmas Holiday.
• By us making recommendations of things we think they should look at, those are things that they
can or might look at.
• It is an independent group and they have the ability to look at what they want to look at.
• With this document, we can provide some framework by which we want them to look at.
• I, as well as your staff, looked at the Charter to find things that we think could be more efficient.
• We looked to see if any places in the charter may have conflicting information.
0 We also looked for items that need to be cleaned up.
Work Session of the Milton City Council
Monday, December 12, 2011 at 6:00 pm
Page 2 of 12
• The Charter Commission is a five member Commission.
• They will have a deliverable that is due in six months from December 5th
• That deliverable is due back to the General Assembly.
• The millage rate cap is addressed in two sections in our Charter.
• It is in section 1. 12, definitions, and is definition number 40(a).
• It is also listed in section 6.11.
• The millage rate is fixed at 4.73.
• To increase the millage rate, it has to be recommended by resolution of the council and approved
by the majority of the eligible voters by referendum.
• That is almost nearly impossible.
• We are in the process with moving forward with public safety facilities on highway 9 and
bringing on a financial advisor for the City of Milton.
• We will struggle with a superior bond rate if the millage rate is frozen in the charter.
• 1 am not here to advocate that you increase the millage rate, I just believe that it will be difficult
to do so if that strong cap stays in place.
Councilmember Thurman:
• I would like to point out that if you are registered to vote in Milton, you are included in the count
until you have not voted for seven years or you register elsewhere.
• 50% of the registered voters in Milton may not even live in Milton anymore.
City Manager Lagerbloom:
• It would be beneficial for the Charter Commission to look at the powers that are assigned to the
Mayor.
• The mavor ha$ VP_.tn power lett if the May nr were to Vetn nn nrtinn of the rn,.;nCil, if would
require a simple majority to override the Veto.
• This simply doesn't make sense.
• In 3.22(b)(4), it suggests that the Mayor is the only person that can execute contracts.
• I believe someone else should be able to execute a contract just to keep purchasing decisions
moving forward.
• In 3.22(b)(8) suggests that the Mayor would appoint city Council members to oversee various
departments of the city.
• We haven't done that yet, but there is also a section in the charter that speaks to Council's
interaction with staff. I believe this is worth a discussion.
• Under ordinance adoption, there is nothing that says that we have to have two readings on two
different days to adopt an ordinance.
• There are places that adopt ordinances at one presentation.
• By having two reads, it allows for the citizens to read more about the topic.
• This might warrant the Charter Commission's review simply for a more efficient process.
• We could present an ordinance one time and it would speed up the process by about 14 days.
City Attorney Jarrard:
• Chris and I have discussed this and Chris is correct.
• If the Charter only requires only one public presentation then that is all that you need.
0 I like having the two readings because the maximum opportunity for public involvement.
Work Session of the Milton City Council
Monday, December 12, 2011 at 6:00 pm
Page 3 of 12
City Manager Lagerbloom:
• I am looking for anything that I am presenting that you would not like to see come forward in
January as appendix A to the resolution.
• If you don't want for it to be changed, I can take it off.
Mayor Lockwood:
• I believe it's not a bad idea to have it on there twice so citizens have additional time to hear
about it.
• We also need to be aware of the fact that they don't have to look at our list if they don't want to.
• I believe we shouldn't have this on there if we don't want any changes made to it.
City Manager Lagerbloom:
• The next item comes to term limits.
• They are in the charter currently as two full four year terms.
• Is that something that you would like them to look at?
Mayor Lockwood:
• I would like to do away with term limits or extend them.
Councilmember Longoria:
• I believe we should take a look at this item.
• I believe having term limits is a good idea.
City Manager Lagerbloom:
• Next is the specification of salaries for the elected officials.
• The charter currently lists a dollar amount.
• Would you like for the Commission to look at making a possible percentage option or should we
keep it specific?
Mayor Lockwood:
• I believe that in 10 or 20 years, it may need to be adjusted with the cost of living.
• I think it would be fair to enact for future terms.
• I like the idea of not having a specific number.
Councilmember Hewitt:
• Is this the only review of this Charter?
City Manager Lagerbloom:
• This is the only revision that the Charter mandates.
• It is not to say that it is not amendable from time to time but it would have to go through the
state.
• This is the one time that the General Assembly is looking for this independent body to come
forward with recommendations.
Councilmember Longoria:
• I believe that something like this should be subject to some type of language that allows
flexibility for practicality years from now.
Work Session of the Milton City Council
Monday, December 12, 2011 at 6:00 pm
Page 4 of 12
City Manager Lagerbloom:
• Contract execution is something we have already spoken about.
Y 1 believe it is worth it for the Charter Commission to take a look at.
• I believe that the purchasing agreements should be purchasing decisions as opposed to an act of
council.
i I believe there is a conflict in the City Managers sections 3.25 and 4.10. They suggest that the
City Manager has the authority to hire department heads but in section 4.10 it suggests that the
City Manager doesn't have the authority to get rid of them.
I would think that you all would like for that to be aligned.
® In section 3.10(c) and 3.10(d), it speaks to the day to day direction of staff.
• We want your input in how we operate; I just don't want conflicting sections.
• Section 4.15 says that the Mayor and Council are responsible for writing the rules and
regulations that deal with personnel policies.
I would suggest that you all should have the approval authority but not the responsibility for
authorship and ownership.
• I think that section would he more annrnnrintely written that vrni direst it he Anne inctenrl of
doing it yourself.
• For the selection of Mayor Pro Tem, we have two sections of the charter that conflict.
• One suggested that the Mayor Pro Tem is selected and serves a four year term concurrent with
the Mayor and the other suggests that the selection of the Mayor Pro Tem occurs during each.
election.
• The practice has been for the Mayor to appoint someone in conformance with 3.11 as opposed to
3.29.
• I do have a few minor items as well that need to be cleaned up.
• '-,ectinn 1 -1 1 define.-, nnr cnrnnrate hnnnrlariec nnil Fm not c„ra uil,nt flip Cliartar Cnmmiceinn
will want to do with this.
• The definition of our boundaries as a municipality relies upon the fact that counties that surround
us have appropriately identified their boundaries.
• In section 2.15, prohibitions, it uses the term `valuable gift' but it does not define valuable gift. It
would be nice to have a definition.
• Section 3.12 appears to be very vague and it deals with inquiries and investigations.
• Codes and codification, in the last five years we have had some technology enhancements in
place that made a couple of sections relatively obsolete.
• Section 3.23(b) deals with the City Manager appointment qualifications, compensation, and
removal.
• I think the timelines are too long. There is essentially a 90 day window to make that decision.
• Section 4.11(g) states that you will appoint members to the boards as a majority of council but a
majority of council can only remove them for cause. I would like to review that.
• Section 6.24 and 6.28 are two sections that deal with the budget. They put them in a time frame
that is not realistic.
® Section 7.16 deals with transitions and how we wound transition from Fulton County to the City
of Milton.
• That transition has been completed; I don't see that there is any reason to have a transition plan
that is completed.
0 Tonight, I am looking for anything that you would like for me to add.
Work Session of the Milton City Council
Monday, December 12, 2011 at 6:00 pm
Page 5 of 12
Councilmember Longoria:
• In section 1.12(b)(34), retirement: I would like for the commission to look at how they can add
some wording in there to the effect such planning and financial decisions have a predictable
impact on the city's budget.
Councilmember Thurman:
• In article 5, 5(11)(d) under Judges: It says that the chief judge shall serve a term of four years
with the term of the Mayor but may be removed for cause by a vote of five members of the City
Council or upon action taken by the judicial qualification commission.
• I believe it shouldn't have to be for cause.
• With it being a right to work state, I don't believe we have to have a cause.
• I believe if it is time to make a change, we should be able to make that change.
• I believe it doesn't need to be by a vote of five.
Councilmember Hewitt:
• I would like to see them consider setting another time for a future Commission review, possibly
5 or 10 years out.
• I believe it would be beneficial to have a review timeframe set with the Commission.
City Clerk Gordon read Agenda Item #2.
2. Discussion Regarding the Use of MARTA Offset Funds.
(Presented by Carter Lucas, Public Works Director)
Carter Lucas:
• Back in 2010 the city was awarded a grant from MARTA for the amount of $613,000.00.
• Those grant funds were intended to be used to enhance the MARTA transportation system.
• Part of the use of those funds, we had to have a list approved and included for the transportation
improvement plan.
• At that time, rather than restrict ourselves we created a list of seven projects.
• The seven projects added up to 1.65 million dollars.
• To date, we have done four of those projects.
• The four projects totaled to $431,818.00 leaving us with $181,182 to finish the grant.
• I want to come tonight to discuss the remaining projects to decide what we wanted to focus our
efforts on.
• We have sidewalk upgrades with seven different locations of potential sidewalk upgrades and
costs associated with those upgrades.
• The cost for sidewalk upgrades would be about 1.2 million dollars for all of those.
• Bus shelters were another potential.
• A bus shelter without advertising is one that we would have to pay for and a bus shelter with the
advertising is one that MARTA would pay for at our request outside of this grant.
• The third potential project was the gateway signage and streetscapes.
• I am bringing these for feedback on where we might want to focus the $181,000.00.
• We also have the option of adding our own funding to that as well.
• We could opt to do one project or we could do a part of a larger project with the MARTA funds.
Work Session of the Milton City Council
Monday, December 12, 2011 at 6:00 pm
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Councilmember Zahner Bailey:
• How do the sidewalk projects compare from a prioritization standpoint when looking at our
transportation master plan?
Carter Lucas:
• I think they are in the order on the list as I would prioritize them.
Councilmember Hewitt:
• I would be interested in concentrating on the sidewalks.
Mayor Lockwood:
• I would also be interested in sidewalks.
Councilmember Lusk:
Is there at time limit Or spending these funds?
Carter Lucas:
• Not until we sign the agreement and then we have two years to complete the project.
• We have not signed an agreement yet on these funds.
Councilmember Thurman:
+ 1 would prefer to fill in the areas that we knew were not going to be filled in by someone else for
connectivity that we need in areas where we're not going to have to redo them in a short period
of time.
Councilmember Zahner Bailey:
•
An additional consideration for the money is we could use the funds to create pocket parks in
Milton.
Mayor Lockwood:
• Could you come back with something that gives us the most valuable use of this money to see
what would benefit the city most?
Carter Lucas:
• I can come back with the agreements for the top two or three projects for discussion on a regular
agenda.
• We will also look at the properties that are available for pocket parks as well.
City Clerk Gordon read Agenda Item #30
3 e Discussion on a Cost of Service Study.
(Presented by Chris Lagerbloom, City Manager)
City Manager Lagerbloom:
• I spent the last month trying to figure out Councilmember Tart's question about financial
sustainability and give you some fact based data.
Work Session of the Milton City Council
Monday, December 12, 2011 at 6:00 pm
Page 7 of 12
• I think this is something that we should consider doing and it would be a relatively modest
investment to give us a long range financial planning tool that could be used and modeled into
the future as the Planning Commission makes decisions on types of development.
• In Georgia, we have two experts in doing cost of service type work for city and county
governments.
• One is at Georgia Tech and one is at the University of Georgia.
d 1 have spoken with Dr. Jeff Dorfman and Alfie Meek about what I would like to accomplish and
have asked for their help.
• The question now is whether or not you are satisfied with the level of service as it exists today or
whether that level of service needs to be modified and what that level of service might cost.
Dr. Jeff Dorfman stated that as a new city, the City of Milton has a need for some fiscal planning
tool to assist it in making informed decisions as it plans its future land uses and makes
developmental approval decisions.
The City of Milton would benefit from knowing where it stands fiscally relative to different land
uses, what impact new developments would have on the city budget and what the future budgets
might look like under different development scenarios.
• Having such information, will help the government, service providers, and citizens understand
the financial impact of the decisions they are making.
Dr. Jeff Dorfman proposes to provide three services to the City of Milton.
® They don't all three have to be done but the one that is the base is the cost of service study.
The other two would be enhancements to that, a fiscal impact model and the third is a simulation
of several growth scenarios and patterns for Milton over a 20 year horizon.
• The cost of service study provides a snapshot of the current city budget that separates revenues
and expenditures by land use type.
• This provides the city with average information on the fiscal impact of residential development,
commercial development, and farmland.
The cost of service study will also show the break even home value for the City of Milton.
• The fiscal impact model will provide estimates of the fiscal impact of different developments in
the city budget.
0 The model will separately analyze the revenues and costs of projects by type, location, and
density of development.
• Estimated revenues and cost allocations will be based on input from city staff along with expert
analysis of government financial information.
• The model will provide estimates of the fiscal impacts of developments over time as well as
compute a net present value.
Mayor Lockwood:
• I would be in support of looking into this further.
0 It will be before us again by the second meeting agenda in January.
Work Session of the Milton City Council
Monday, December 12, 2011 at 6:00 pm
Page 8 of 12
City Clerk Gordon read Agenda Item #4.
4. Discussion of an Ordinance to Amend Chapter 42, Secondhand Goods, by Adding an
Article III, Precious Metals Dealers.
(Presented by Ken Jarrard, City Attorney)
City Attorney Jarrard:
• I would like to recommend that I speak to Agenda Items # 4 and 45 together.
• These two items are closely affiliated.
• I believe it will benefit us for putting our regulations in place instead of waiting and trying to
regulate what is already here down the road.
• The public policy objective is to set forth a regulatory construct to try and make sure these
institutions do not foster and augment criminal activity.
• The police chief will have some control in the processing and application process.
• We can do that by regulating what you can and cannot pawn or bring in as a precious metal.
• The primary of this item is the record keeping.
• The record keeping will include fingerprinting the individuals that bring these items in for a
transaction.
• A color photograph of the individual processing the transaction.
• The retention of the product for a certain period of time.
Currently we have 45 days for retention listed, but that is open for discussion.
• An application for a pawn shop would require three character references.
• The 5,000 ft distance between certain establishments may have to be adjusted to a distance that
does not work as a prohibition.
• WP Will r.nmP hnAlr nPXt wPPlr With n rnlrnlntinn that is mnrP rPaennahlP than S 000 ft
+• � .. ��e �... ���� ..»..�. .�..... ..vv�+ .. a.aa .... v»av»a»�avaa .aaws a✓ aaavav avu.�vaa..avav uauaa ✓,vvv ae..
• The city upon receiving an application has 45 days to review it.
• The review will take place by the police chief as well as your finance director.
• The council will be called upon to approve or deny the application.
• You will have the power to suspend, revoke, or place these businesses on probation based upon
false information in the application, deceptive business practices, violations of city ordinances,
commission of a felony by members of the pawn shop business, or failure to maintain necessary
records keeping and books.
• We will want records of all property pledged, traded, pawned, or exchanged.
• We will want manufacturing model, serial number, material, style, kind, color, design, number of
stones if jewelry, etc.
• There will be a tag placed upon the pawn material that will remain with the item until sold.
• Proper identification must be secured by the person tendering the item for pawn.
• It must include address, telephone number, race, sex, height, weight, driver's license number,
date of birth and social security number of the person submitting the pawned item.
• Additionally, we will require photographs and fingerprints.
• No new items unless receipt provided.
• The store shall retain those photographs and fingerprints for four years.
• That is a lengthy retention schedule.
• We will also have to set up help with the police chief and with the city manager.
• These records can be shared with local, state, or federal law enforcement if need be.
Work Session of the Milton City Council
Monday, December 12, 2011 at 6:00 pm
Page 9 of 12
• All pawnbrokers will make a daily report for the previous 24 hour period and submitted to the
police chief.
• A fee shall accompany each reported transaction.
• We have a prohibition against the pawning of glass from buildings, copper lining of wire,
bathtubs, lead pipes, etc.
• Hours of operation would allow Sam — 9pm Monday through Thursday, Bpm to l Opm on Friday
and Saturday and closed on Sundays.
• Pawn shop owners and employees would have a duty to report to Milton Police if they
reasonably believe that the goods had been stolen.
Councilmember Zahner Bailey:
• If the city starts to allow pawn shops, the state requires certain reporting and requirements of the
police department.
• A lot of this is effectively required if we have pawn shops.
• When you have someone whose items were stolen, some jurisdictions believe that 30 days is not
enough.
• Most jurisdictions go beyond the state's requirements.
Mayor Lockwood:
• The real answer is to have the state change the rules to have everyone on the same playing field.
Councilmember Longoria:
• 1 think the important thing you have said, Ken, is that the idea behind adopting an ordinance to
cover this is to make sure we don't get into a grandfather clause situation with businesses who
have set up before we had an ordinance.
• Is there a way for us to adopt an ordinance that can be changed over time, such that we don't
create any grandfather clauses and the businesses that set up in Milton have to abide by the
ordinance whether or not we change it or how often we change it?
City Attorney Jarrard:
• Yes, there is. The way these are set up is by annual licenses.
• They will expire at the end of every year, and every time you renew you have to come into
compliance.
Councilmember Longoria:
• Why can't we put the state language in our ordinance for when a business shows up wanting to
be a pawn shop or precious metals dealer?
City Attorney Jarrard:
• You can do that.
• We can modify this ordinance in any way we want.
• This ordinance is very similar to your alcohol ordinance.
Work Session of the Milton City Council
Monday, December 12, 2011 at 6:00 pm
Page 10 of 12
Councilmember Zahner Bailey:
• I don't believe that the state holding period of 7-10 days is long enough.
• I feel strongly that it is not adequate.
• We want to attract businesses, but we do not want to attract any business that provokes negative
activity.
Councilmember Longoria:
• We have had nothing at this point other than what exists at the state level.
® We haven't, nor do we want to, become a Mecca for these businesses.
• I don't believe we should spend all of our time and effort on the holding period date and setback
distances right now when we don't have any businesses to regulate.
Mayor Lockwood:
e 1 would like to suggest that we take a look at what our surrounding neighbors are doing and
make ours a smidge tougher so that we are not reliant only on state.
• As we said before, we can always change the ordinance to accommodate our needs in the future.
City Attorney Jarrard:
• To Councilmember Longoria's point, it is currently mentioned in our code but there isn't much
information on it.
9 To the Mayor's point, we car, certainly pini m our surrounding neighbors.
® When you pull some jurisdictions in, you will find similarities except for the length of time to
hold.
• I am looking for direction for our next meeting.
City Manager Lagerbloom:
• I believe we could pull together information from the similarities in cities except for the striking
differences.
• I believe we have put enough work into this, and I believe we need to come to a conclusion.
• I believe this is absolutely worth regulating.
• If we could figure out our numbers that we are comfortable, we will be done.
Councilmember Zahner Bailey:
• I would like consideration on putting the holding time period to 30 days instead of 45.
City Manager Lagerbloom:
• I think we should look at some distance requirements between two similar facilities (as in two
pawn shops) and possibly 1,000 ft from residential property.
Councilmember Longoria:
• What is the intent of putting a distance on the pawn shop?
® 1 believe that we are essentially disabling the business with the setbacks.
0 Either we want the pawn shops in Milton or we don't.
Work Session of the Milton City Council
Monday, December 12, 2011 at 6:00 pm
Page 11 of 12
City Attorney Jarrard-,
• My take away from this meeting is to come back with a revised ordinance, come up with
distances between uses, a reasonable holding period time from other jurisdictions and state law,
and the information that the person tendering the pawned item has to provide.
• I believe you might want to know what state law, other jurisdictions, and what we are proposing
has to say to that.
Fred Edwards, 915 Hopewell Place Drive, Milton, GA:
• I am on the planning commission, but I am currently here to speak individually.
• I have been a coin dealer for nearly 50 years.
• Presently I trade in gold and silver in Alpharetta.
• There are several points that have been made on pawn shops.
• Don't we presently have ordinances in Milton that say we cannot have pawn shops under zoning
codes?
• I think you are right on with the ordinance other than the timing and distance.
• Pawn shops are growing fast.
• As far as employees, is it fair to have 45 days to check out an employee for pawn shops but not
for alcohol sales?
• I believe you should have to have the same regulations as you do on alcohol.
• Precious metal dealing is a very volatile business.
• The price of gold and silver fluctuates so often, it is important to be able to buy and sell rather
quickly.
Councilmember Thurman;
• Consignment shops such as antique stores can become subject to this ordinance,
• Having a setback with not allowing them closer than 5000 ft together would be a problem,
especially in the Crabapple area.
• 1 am concerned that this ordinance is too broad and it may affect businesses in Milton that we
would like to keep here, like antique shops.
City Attorney Jarrard-,
• I believe if we cut the language to end after stating "within a fixed period of time." Then we will
be okay with the Antique shops.
Councilmember Zahner Bailey-,
• As far as precious metals, I believe we need to really pay attention to the holding period of
precious metals.
• If we make the holding period too low, then we won't have the opportunity to recover items if
they had been stolen and sold.
Work Session of the Milton City Council
Monday, December 12, 2011 at 6:00 pm
Page 12 of 12
City Clerk Gordon read Agenda Item #5.
Discussion of an Ordinance to Amend Chapter 42, Secondhand Goods, Article II,
Pawnshops and Brokers.
(Presented by Ken Jarrard, City Attorney)
Discussion on Agenda Item #S was discussed with Agenda Item #4.
After no further discussion, the Work Session adjourned at 8:04 p.m.
Date Annroved: December 19; 201 1
s
Sudie AM Gordon, City Clerk Joe Lockwood, r