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HomeMy WebLinkAboutMinutes CC - 09/12/2011 - WS Mins 09 12 11 (Migrated from Optiview)Work Session of the Milton City Council Monday, September 12, 2011 at 6:00 pm Page 1 of 5 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 Work Session of the Mayor and Council of the City of Milton was held on September 12, 2011 at 6:00 PM, Mayor Lockwood presiding. Council Members Present: Councilmember Zahner Bailey, Councilmember Bill Lusk, Councilmember Burt Hewitt, Councilmember Joe Longoria, and Councilmember Tart. Councilmember Thurman 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 two (2) 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. Interim City Clerk Gordon read Agenda Item #1. City of Milton Budget Workshop - Presentation of Revenues and Expenditures/ Capital Improvement Project Prioritization. (Discussed previously at August 22, 2011 Special Called Work Session) (Presented by Stacey Inglis, Finance Director) City Manager Lagerbloom: • Since the last work session, we have gone through and tightened up the budget. • The big issue was the healthcare increase. • We have negotiated healthcare costs to at least be the same as last year, possibly better. • We will be switching to Blue Cross Blue Shield. • With some of the savings from benefit reduction, I asked for a cost of living adjustment for employees by 2.5%. • We were able to reduce some fees from Fulton County, we would like to put that money into Park enhancements. Councilmember Lusk: • What is miscellaneous revenue? Work Session of the Milton City Council Monday, September 12, 2011 at 6:00 pm Page 2 of 5 Stacey Inglis: • A portion of that is the build out refund. • When we built out city hall, we had leftover money that we had to allocate over five years. • The other portion is from cell tower lease payments. Councilmember Lusk: • Why were there actual costs in 2010 for elections under the City Clerk department? Stacey Inglis: • There was an election in November 2009, which goes in the FY2010 calendar year. Councilmember Tart: • Did we decide what we will do with the Mayor & Council stipend? City Manager Lagerbloom: • It is up to you all. • We have an idea of what we can do to reduce it, we just cannot be in violation of the charter. Councilmember Lusk: %o we need to have legal representation at every council meeting? City Manager Lagerbloom: • It depends on what the agenda items are. • Legal is hard to budget for, especially for the city. • We anticipate a decrease in the budget for it, but we want to be cautious. Councilmember Lusk: • Under IT, what is encode and why haven't we spent anything on it but still budget for it? City Manager Lagerbloom: • It is a new software package that has annual maintenance fees. • Our annual fee will kick in next year. Councilmember Lusk: • For police, we have budgeted 5k for inmate services but we have not used any of that in the past three fiscal years. Why do we keep that? City Manager Lagerbloom: • We have an agreement with the sheriff's office that we will pay if they ever send a bill but they have not yet. Councilmember Zahner Bailey: • I would like to possibly have some sort of educational forum for severe weather radios and what to do in case of emergency. • 1 believe that a siren would do well for our city. 0 Our neighboring cities do use sirens. Work Session of the Milton City Council Monday, September 12, 2011 at 6:00 pm Page 3 of 5 City Manager Lagerbloom: • I believe the radios would be something that we could buy for cheap in bulk and have them set up at stations for people to pick up. • I can get behind that if it is something that you all would like to pursue. Councilmember Zahner Bailey: • As we move forward with construction on the intersection of Birmingham and Providence, would we be able to put a flashing light as a warning light while we are doing construction? Carter Lucas: • We haven't discussed it further, but it is something for staff to look into. Interim City Clerk Gordon read Agenda Item #2. 2. Presentation and Discussion by Better World Books. (Presented by Chris Lagerbloom, City Manager) City Manager Lagerbloom: • Mr. Ward is here tonight from Better World Books. • He has approached the City about the possibility of bringing some of his book recycling boxes into Milton. • We are looking into potentially locating on city owned properties such as our three fire stations and Bell Memorial Park. • Mr. Ward will speak to you and see if this is something we are interested in. Steve Ward: • I have gone to multiple councils around Atlanta with this proposal. • I am very engaged with what we are about and how we go about it that it is a joy for me to work and do what I do. • Better World Books is the largest socially responsible online book seller in the world. • We sell to every country in the world and every book we sell goes to a literacy partner somewhere in the world. • We have raised ten million dollars to date for literacy initiatives around the world. • Of the ten Million, five million goes to public libraries and the other five million goes to nonprofit organizations. • We also donate books that we receive. • We have donated nearly six million books to date. • We just introduced a program called a book for book program. • Every book we sell online, we donate one book to a child in need somewhere in the world. • In addition to the six million that we have donated, we want to add more to it. • We do have two important components. A social component which is the donation of books, the selling of books and giving back to the community and public libraries. • The other component is environmental component. • We received two EPA Gold Standard Awards. Work Session of the Milton City Council Monday, September 12, 2011 at 6:00 pm Page 4 of 5 City Manager Lagerbloom: • I have not been overly energetic about moving it forward because I see the foresighted sign. • I believe that the box does not capture the vision and character of Milton. • I appreciate what this organization does, but I don't believe that the design and look of the box is a fit for Milton. Steve Ward: • In metro Atlanta, we have about 400 drop boxes throughout the city. • We run into cities and governments that object to the drop boxes because of city ordinances • I have never run into this that viewed us as a sign. • Most cities believe that what we do and how we go about it outweighs the codes or objections that the community might have. • I know the box stands out and it was designed to do so. • The size of the box takes up about 1/4 of a parking space. • It hoidS about �IVV to 1VVVIV of books. • We don't allow those boxes to get rust on them. Mayor Lockwood: • What other cities around us use these boxes? Steve Ward: • We are meeting with Cobb County for 15 potential locations for boxes. • I am meeting with Atlanta Fire Chief to put out 20 drop boxes at their fire stations. • We had a kickoff with the city of Norcross. • We have around 15 in Decatur. • We have boxes in Smyrna. • We have about 6 to 8 in Alpharetta and Roswell. • Johns Creek has a significant ordinance about drop boxes. • They have allowed us to put them out and are doing a community wide book drive. Councilmember Zahner Bailey: • I would be interested in trying to do a book drive. • I like the creative ideas that Better World Books has pursued. Mayor Lockwood: • I know that these don't fit the image of Milton, but I also believe it shows that we are proactive in recycling. Councilmember Longoria: • To me, it's not about the collection box. • I believe the issue is that the boxes that we have around for Goodwill are all nonprofit organizations. • Your organization is a for profit organization and that means we would be sponsoring by partnering for these boxes. Work Session of the Milton City Council Monday, September 12, 2011 at 6:00 pm Page 5 of 5 City Attorney Jarrard: • I believe once we get into allowing for profit organization, then we will have to allow another entity. • I think it is a tough line to draw with regulations. • I'm not as concerned with the litigation aspect, but I am more worried about if we allow one, we allow all. Steve Ward: • The idea of the drop boxes are there for the convenience of the citizens. • It makes it easy for them to stop and drop off rather than drive to a collection site. • We do a couple of things that other typical drop boxes companies do not do. • We guarantee 24 hour pick up. • If there is trash anywhere ever around any of our locations, we will come and make sure it is cleaned up. • We go the extra mile to make sure that we keep a clean image and the way we conduct our business. • I will put any of those commitments into writing for the city. Mayor Lockwood: • I would like to hear back what some other surrounding cities do after you meet with them. • Thank you for coming tonight, Steve. City Manager Lagerbloom: • I have had questions about what the Crabapple Park will look like, I have those plans here. After no further discussion, the Work Session adjourned at 7:45 p.m. Date Approved: October 3, 2011. Sudie AM Gordon, City Clerk C Joe Lockwood, a r No Text