HomeMy WebLinkAboutMinutes CC - 09/10/2012 - MINS 09 10 12 WS (Migrated from Optiview)l
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Work Session of the Milton City Council
Monday, September 10, 2012 at 6:00 pm
Page 1 of 11
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 ofthe Milton
City Council Meeting proceedings. Official Meetings are audio and video recorded.
The Work Session ofthe Mayor and Council ofthe City of Milton was held on September 10,2012
at 6:00 PM, Mayor Lockwood presiding.
Councilmembers Present: Councilmember Karen Thurman, Councilmember Matt Kunz,
Councilmember Joe Longoria, Councilmember Burt Hewitt, Councilmember Bill Lusk and
Councilmember Lance Large.
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.
City Clerk Gordon read Agenda Item #1.
1. Discussion of New Pain Management Clinic Licensing Ordinance.
(Paul Frickey, City Attorney)
Paul Frickey, City Attorney:
• Pain Management Clinics are commonly referred to as pill mills.
• The state requires cities to require an occupational tax for these types of businesses.
• Weare presenting to you an ordinance to require this tax.
• There are a few differences with this type of tax requirement versus other taxations.
• The main difference is that it refers to a physician who is primarily engaged in the treatment of
pain by prescribing or dispensing controlled substance medications when the majority of the
patients seen are prescribed or dispensed controlled substance medications for the treatment of
chronic nonmalignant pain.
• Therefore, if the majority of a doctor's patients are seeing him or her for pain medication then
the facility is considered a Pain Management Clinic.
• These businesses have to provide detailed information when registering for a business license.
Work Session of the Milton City Council
Monday, September 10,2012 at 6:00 pm
Page 2 of II
jCity Clerk Gordon read Agenda Item #2.
2. Discussion of Results of Citizens Survey.
(Chris Lagerbloom, City Manager)
Chris Lagerbloom, City Manager
• One of the requirements of the Strategic Plan is that we measure ourselves against some type
of perfonnance.
• We have done this by conducting a citizen survey.
• Our first survey was conducted in 2009.
• We recently conducted the same survey so we have a comparison.
• This survey allows us to benchmark ourselves against other local governments across the
nation.
• 1200 surveys were sent out.
• 234 were returned; a 20% response rate with a 6% margin of error.
• We also did an online survey and the results of that survey very closely matched the survey
that was mailed.
• Ofthe benchmarked jurisdictions, 33% are from the southern states; 46% have populations less
than 40,000.
• The citizens said they would recommend Milton as a good place to live. j
• They mentioned traffic and parks as two areas that needed improvement.
• Public trust was above the benchmark.
• 83% of citizens indicated that they are receiving good to excellent service from our city.
• Less people are watching our meetings on the internet or volunteering with the city; however,
our citizens are actively helping their neighbors.
• The satisfaction of employment opportunities was below 50%.
• 80% said that Milton was a good place to work.
• Our quality of businesses is high as well as the overall appearance of the city.
• Satisfaction with parks and recreation was below the benchmark.
• Also, car travel, walking, bicycling are not easy in Milton.
• 87% responded that police services are good or excellent.
• 96% responded that fire services are good or excellent.
• All other areas such as ambulance service; crime prevention, traffic enforcement, fire
prevention, municipal court, emergency preparedness are well above the benchmark.
• Public schools and libraries are also rated very high.
• Infonnation awareness was 74%.
• Environmental sustainability, cleanliness of Milton, quality ofthe natural environment, air
quality were all rated good to excellent and were well above the benchmark.
• Sense of community, openness and acceptance of people with diverse backgrounds, quality of
childcare, a good place to raise a family, and a good place to retire are higher than the national
benchmark. ]
• Availability of affordable, quality healthcare, food, and preventative health services all rated
high.
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Work Session of the Milton City Council
Monday, September 10,2012 at 6:00 pm
Page 3 of 11
• The quality of the City of Milton employees on knowledge, responsiveness, courtesy, and
overall impression remains flat since the last survey in 2009.
• The citizens are very interested in things that affect family, youth and the business community.
• Our citizens are not very interested in issues affecting the equestrian community.
• Road and sidewalk maintenance, transportation, and Parks and Recreation were rated as the
single most important areas that need improvement.
City Clerk Gordon read Agenda Item #3.
3. Discussion of Milton Branding and Signage Project.
(Jason Wright, Communications Manager)
Jason Wright, Communications Manager:
• I would like to give you an overview of the findings I have found regarding branding and then
show you some of the work I have done.
• What is Milton's brand?
• Does it exist already and if it does, can we refine or capitalize on it?
• If it does not exist, can we implement a new one?
• Branding is simply the city's reputation.
• It is what people say about it.
• It will incorporate several aspects of the government.
• It will be a collaborative process.
• It is more than just a logo or slogan.
• It is driven by our strategic plan.
• What would this kind of study entail?
• We have to know our audience; what do they think about us?
• We need insights and research that is relevant and emotionally charged for it to matter to people
once it is created.
• In addition, we will also need implementation and evaluation of the study.
• We want to prove that the study worked when we are done; that it was a good investment.
• What are the costs?
• Based on several different cities, the cost can range from $50,000 to upwards of $250,000 for
signage and branding of a city.
• We are referring to art and feelings which is very SUbjective.
• Our Vision Statement states that Milton is a distinctive community embracing small-town life
and heritage while preserving and enhancing our rural character.
• In 2011, Milton was recognized as having the highest quality oflife in the state of Georgia and
the ninth highest quality oflife in the southern United States.
• We received this ranking because we have strong economic bases, impressive housing stocks,
and effective educational systems.
• So, whatever we produce, it needs to reflect that we have made it, we live in a very beautiful
place and we have great schools.
• We have five years of history so we don't need to change course and redefine who we are or it
could prove to be disastrous.
Work Session of the Milton City Council
Monday, September 10,2012 at 6:00 pm
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• We have already done a branding study; it is contained in our Strategic plan. J• Our audience is families, businesses, and the equestrian community.
• We have conducted SWOT exercises and city comparisons.
• We have held stakeholder focus groups with feedback and input sessions.
• We have been building our brand over the past several years.
• I would suggest that we keep the horse symbol.
• It signifies vitality, strength, grace, and peace.
• It is indicative of class, wealth, history and common sense.
• It suggests movement, complexity, trust and work ethic.
• Throughout history, horses have been used as symbols because of their long connection to cars,
sports, art and literature.
• I would not keep the Arial font that we have.
• I suggest Trajan font.
• When designing the Trajan font, the designer was influenced by the style of the chiseled writings
of the Romans during the first century AD.
• It is all capitals which indicates authority and stability.
• It is also a neoclassical font which is used to suggest American history, governmental excellence,
legal expertise and historical significance.
• In producing the logo, I wanted something that is classic and instantly recognizable.
• I wanted it to be informed by the community aesthetic by that, I mean, I wanted it to look like it
fit with what we already have.
• Where do we have symbols and fonts all over the City of Milton that advertise for the style of J
life that we have in this area? The answer is neighborhoods.
• I wanted whatever we have to look like it could fit in a neighborhood.
• I wanted people to see the logo and think, "Wow, look at the quality oflife we could have if we
lived here."
• I wanted it to be different from surrounding cities, incorporate what makes Milton special, give
an agrarian past, small town feel, movement, trust, expertise, and professionalism.
City Clerk Gordon read Agenda Item #4.
4. Discussion of City of Milton Budget Revenue and Expenditures/Capital Improvement Project
Pri oritizati on.
(Stacey Inglis, Finance Director)
Stacey Inglis, Finance Director:
• The documents that I handed out to you earlier have been revised.
• Mostly because the actuals have been updated so you can get a better sense of where we are right
now.
• A few changes have been made based upon some things that councilmembers have pointed out Jand things we have noticed when looking at it again.
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Work Session of the Milton City Council
Monday, September 10,2012 at 6:00 pm
Page 5 of 11
• The first change was that in Public Works we pulled $1800 out of the emergency services
allowance and put it into equipment and vehicles account. This was a very minor change and did
not change the bottom line.
• The reason for this was to be able to rent a light tower at Birmingham Park in case there was ever
an emergency that happened at night and we would have to light the park.
• There was also another change in Public Works on the electricity line item.
• We noticed that this line item could change quite a bit based on some updated information we
received.
• This line item decreased by $62,300. So it went from $387,300 down to $325,000.
• In the police and fire department we looked at the holiday pay.
• We realized there was a roller coaster up and down as each fiscal year went by.
• This was due to the city manager holiday and where that fell during the year.
• Therefore, there were 11 holidays in fiscal year 2012 and in fiscal year 2013 there will be 13
holidays.
• So, I have increased both fire and police holiday pay to reflect this.
• Fire increased by almost $6500; police increased by $14,000.
• This increase accounted for the holidays and also included the 5% market adjustment to the
police and fire payroll.
• I had to increase one line item in Information Technology for the maintenance fee for online
payments which increased this line item by $1500.
• All of these changes caused an overall deduction in general fund expenditures and has resulted in
a decrease of $40,713.00.
• So, the bottom line that we need to take out of the fund balance is $1,800,268.00.
City Manager Lagerbloom:
• Is there anything in this budget that you want funded that is not funded at this point?
• Mr. Mayor, I know you wanted feedback from the councilmembers about the $12,000 hazardous
waste and I have received positive feedback regarding this.
Mayor Lockwood:
• Depending on our LOST negotiations we may want to amend our budget mid-year regarding the
need for sidewalks near the new school. We may want to keep this in mind and start addressing
this issue.
City Manager Lagerbloom:
• Yes, we knew that need was coming. We have put on paper where the missing segments of
sidewalk are located and assigned a cost value to each.
Carter Lucas, Public Works Director:
• We have looked at these segments within a half mile of the existing schools as well as the new
Cambridge High School.
• We talked to Fulton County schools about how they run their bus routes and how close to the
schools they get.
• They will go almost as close to the school as they need to.
• Within a mile and a half of a school, they consider them courtesy stops.
Work Session of the Milton City Council
Monday, September 10, 2012 at 6:00 pm
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• They will look at existing conditions and how many students there are to make a determination J
of whether or not they will stop.
• We tried to limit our scope to within a half mile of those schools.
• We have two sections that we will be bringing forward next week.
• One on Webb Road between Windward and Highway 9 and another section on Cogburn just past
Webb Road as you go out toward Rhodes Plantation and the city limit line.
• These fall within our MARTA Grant so we are bringing both of these forward.
• I don't know if we can afford both of these with what is remaining in the grant but we are at least
asking to move those forward to bid.
• We are hoping to get at least one sidewalk on one side of the road.
• We looked at about 7 segments and they range from $133,000 to $293,000.
Mayor Lockwood:
• What would the total be if we did all of them?
Carter Lucas:
• $1.3 million
Councilmember Lusk:
• How much is left in the budget for this?
Carter Lucas: J• $173,000
Mayor Lockwood:
• This may be something we will have to spread over three years and prioritize.
Councilmember Lusk:
• Do you think we have adequate funding in our seed money for the expansion area at Bell
Memorial Park?
City Manager Lagerbloom:
• It is what the budget holds at this point. Let me look at it.
Councilmember Thurman:
• Right now, the City Manager approved budget shows a deficit of $1.8 million. When can we
expect our contribution to the fund balance be for the current fiscal year?
Stacey Inglis, Finance Director:
• I expect the fund balance to be about $8.5 million at the end of this fiscal year. After we take out
$1.8 million, I think we figured it would be around $6.7 million for the end of fiscal year 2013.
Councilmember Thurman: J.
• Will the items in our Capital Projects Fund realistically be used within a two year period of time?
Have you made sure that the items in this fund are things that we will be using over the next
couple of years rather than things that we can allocate now and put in the budget a couple of
years from now?
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Work Session of the Milton City Council
Monday, September 10,2012 at 6:00 pm
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City Manager Lagerbloom:
• Yes, these are real needs attached to real funding.
Councilmember Thurman:
• The Hopewell House is a very large line item expense. Have we looked at the $529,000 that we
have allocated of Milton money to see what we can do to lessen that amount? That is a large
amount of our money that we have allocated to spend on this project.
Mayor Lockwood:
• I think we all agree that is a large amount of money and we can all agree that we would like to
see us spend less than that on the project.
Councilmember Thurman:
• Personally, I would like to see a lower amount put in the budget for this project. A lot oftimes,
you will spend up to what you have on a project. I would like to take some money out of this
project and put it toward sidewalks. I agree that we need to get this house updated so that it can
be used on a regular basis but we don't need the Ferrari version of remodeling. It is showing
$75,000 for the kitchen. That seems excessive.
City Manager Lagerbloom: [ • You have to define what you want. I guess the reason the number is as big as it is that there is
probably a smaller figure we could allocate and get the house open to the public. However, we
were looking at the possibility of using available CDBG Grant Funds as well as tapping into the
program resources of Senior Services North Fulton. In order to do both of those things, you
build a different building versus just opening it to the public. Sure, do I think a lesser amount
could be allocated for this project and the building still be open to the public? Yes, however, we
don't want to decrease this number too much because we have to build it to a standard that will
allow Senior Services North Fulton to use it. The offset to the $529,000 is that in the first three
years is $170,000 of CDBG Funds and almost $340,000 in appropriated money to programming
the facility. There are several hundred thousand dollars that we would potentially have to walk
away from if we don't open it with, for example, a kitchen that can prepare the senior meals, a
handicap ramp making it ADA compliant. There is certainly a cheaper way to upgrade this
house and just open it to the public but we will miss out on funding.
Councilmember Thurman:
• Is there a way to open it, meet all the requirements to receive the funding, but not have it cost
$529,000?
City Manager Lagerbloom:
• I hope so but I don't think that number is ...
[ Councilmember Thurman:
• When you look at all our needs that is a big number to put into one project.
Work Session of the Milton City Council
Monday, September 10,2012 at 6:00 pm
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JCity Manager Lagerbloom:
• Unfortunately, at this point we asked Precision Planning, the experts, to do a cost opinion for us
and we are budgeting against that cost opinion. It is not perfect and, of course, it is conservative
because whenever you give an opinion you don't want to be wrong.
Councilmember Thurman:
• I am hearing from a lot of citizens that they do not understand why we would spend that much
money on that type of facility. And, even when I explain to them that we have to put that much
money into it so that we can receive grant money, it is hard for them to understand how we could
spend that much money on a 2500 square foot building.
City Manager Lagerbloom:
• At this point, you will need to tell me how much money to allocate for this project. We are just
going by what Precision Planning told us it would take.
Councilmember Lusk:
• It is a conservative estimate; however, it is realistic. In order to receive that funding from the
county you have to have a commercial kitchen. We can lessen the budget for the kitchen by
purchasing used equipment. There is probably some earth work cost budgeted which could be
included in the intersection improvements.
Carter Lucas, Public Works Director: J
• Yes, we can budget some of the cost through intersection improvements; however, keep in mind
that this is site work in addition to the building work which I would caution you that while the
allocations may not be exact, I think the overall number is probably pretty close. Anytime you
move not only from a residential structure to a commercial structure, there is a lot involved, and
now we are dealing with a historical structure which requires even more intricate work to bring it
up to code. I would not want to underestimate the work that is going to be involved in this
project.
Councilmember Thurman:
• Are we sure we will get all the money not only for the grant money but the money we will need
to operate the facility as a senior center?
City Manager Lagerbloom:
• No, we are not but I don't know that we would necessarily move forward with funding this
unless we get a favorable result to that.
Councilmember Thurman:
• I have seen parts of Fulton County's budget and it is not .....
City Manager Lagerbloom: ]• I have too and it is bake sales, car washes and coins in the fountains.
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Work Session of the Milton City Council
Monday, September 10,2012 at 6:00 pm
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Mayor Lockwood:
• Even if we allocate the budget we don't have to move forward. $75,000 for a commercial
kitchen is not out of range for a commercial kitchen. If it helps the council, I would be willing to
take out $50,000 of that line item budget if it would force us to work a little harder to keep costs
down.
Councilmember Lusk:
• We have an asset that we are going to have to do some work to if we want to be able to use it.
Earthwork will have to be done. ADA requirements will have to be met. No matter what we do
we will have to make it accessible to the public. There are just some things that cannot be pulled
out of the budgeted cost of this project. I would like to see the budgeted cost of this project stay
where it is.
Councilmember Hewitt:
• I would like to see us open it up with a purpose and not just open it up and hang a sign on it, "for
rent".
Councilmember Kunz:
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• I have also heard from concerned citizens the cost of what we are planning to put into the
building. Ifwe don't go forward with updating it as a Senior Center that the public can use then
our only other option is to sell it. I don't see that happening so we have to find a way to make it
work. I need to feel comfortable that it will be used, and looking at the competition of other
Senior Centers in the area, I'm not sure I am comfortable with that.
City Manager Lagerbloom:
• There is a market demand for Senior Services in the area.
Councilmember Thurman:
• Should we place some of this funding in this year and have some of it in the next fiscal year?
We could use that money for sidewalks now and make a difference in our citizen's lives.
City Manager Lagerbloom:
• Ifwe apply for funding and we don't have the money in reserve it could hurt our opportunity for
funding.
Mayor Lockwood:
• We could keep the funding in the budget then amend the amount during the mid-year budget
amendment.
City Manager Lagerbloom:
• If council agrees, I am comfortable taking $250,000 and putting it toward sidewalks.
Mayor Lockwood:
• I could support that.
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Work Session of the Milton City Council
Monday, September 10,2012 at 6:00 pm
Page 10 of 11
City Manager Lagerbloom:
• Okay, I will put $250,000 toward sidewalks.
City Clerk Gordon read Agenda Item #5.
5. Consideration of a Request from Lester Lee to Grant Sewer Rights to His Property on the Northeast
Corner of Cogburn Road and its Intersection with Bethany Bend.
(Chris Lagerbloom, City Manager)
City Manager Lagerbloom:
• This is a request for Lester Lee to grant sewer rights to his property in the Northeast corner of
Cogburn Road and its intersection with Bethany Bend.
• I will refer you to the picture which represents seven individual parcels.
• I will read you the letter from Mr. Lee outlining his request. It states as follows:
Dear Mr. Lagerbloom,
As we discussed, I am ready to request your assistance in granting sewer rights to our property in
Milton. As you know my partner, Sam Baird, and I own a nine acre parcel of land on the corner of
Cogburn and Bethany. As you also know, this property was originally part of the master residential
development which in part has morphed into the new Milton High School. A development that was
granted sewer rights without extending them to our property. Sam and I along with the respective
developer have drawn up plans for 50% of the site to build twenty townhomes. A product desperately
needed in Milton and then later add a Senior Care Development another product the town needs now
and even more so in the future. Both ofthese projects are unfeasible unless the land is granted access to
sewer. Once again, we are asking for access to the sewer system that the school was granted and
arguably should have been granted to us at the time. This development is not only a needed product in
our town but will also provide a new source of revenue for Milton as well as create jobs and spur
economic growth for the surrounding small businesses.
On behalf of both Sam and L we sincerely appreciate your assistance. I'll end with adding that our
development partner has other site options, namely one in Alpharetta and is eager to begin building. I
would kindly request that you urgently consider our request.
• That was the letter that I received.
• As you know, we are in the final phase of solidifYing a map that is going to be in front of the
Fulton County Commission as well as come to the City of Milton so that we can fmally once and
for all get this IGA done between the county and the city.
• The county has consistently taken the position that if we were to suggest that they add parcels to
the map to grant sewer access to that they would not object or get in the way.
• That is why this request is here tonight because that map is not finaL
• The request officially came in here to our office.
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• I am interested in your thoughts, in this last hour, before this IGA is presented to you for your
consideration, would you want that parcel to be considered.
• Obviously, the land owner has requested it.
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Work Session of the Milton City Council
Monday, September 10,2012 at 6:00 pm
Page 11 of 11
City Manager Lagerbloom:
• What level of authority do you want the IGA to have? Meaning, if you approve the IGA with a
map attached to it, are we supposed to assume that the map is your vision for extending sewer?
Or, does each request for sewer get reviewed on an individual basis?
Councilmember Thurman:
• I think each request should be looked at individually based on Milton's needs.
PUBLIC COMMENTS (None)
After no further discussion, the Work Session adjourned at 8:19 p.m.
Date Approved: October 1,2012.
l Sudie AM Gordon, City Clerk
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