COUNCIL MEETING

June 16, 2005

 The meeting was called to order by Mayor Rozier with Councilman Waller leading in prayer.  The minutes of the May 19, 2005 meeting were reviewed.  Councilman Tyler made a motion to approve the minutes, Councilman Ray seconded the motion and it passed with four affirmative votes.  Councilman Wedincamp abstained from voting since he was not present at the May 19^th meeting.

OLD BUSINESS:

Attorney Dickey reported that the EPD has indicated that they will lift the moratorium in 2005 on the permitting of wells and increases in withdrawal permits from the Floridian Aquifer since according to their preliminary studies, there is no intrusion of salt water in this area.  Attorney Dickey stated that there are some questions, however, about how soon this will happen and if this action will allow Bloomingdale to obtain additional water.  Attorney Dickey pointed out that he feels EPD’s position on the lifting of the moratorium has vindicated Bloomingdale’s lawsuit and has filed motions asking that the Judge expedite a decision on our lawsuit.  Mayor Rozier advised council that based on the information from EPD he had contacted Chris Stovall with Thomas & Hutton regarding the submission of applications for an increase in our current permit and for a third well to be located in another area of the City.  The Mayor pointed out that according to Water Supervisor Ernest Grizzard our current wells can pump 1,950,000gpd.  Mayor Rozier informed council that he, along with Councilman Johnson, had met with representatives from the City of Savannah concerning possible alternatives for supplying water to Bloomingdale, but he has not yet received their proposal.  The Mayor stated that he felt the City should have Thomas & Hutton submit an application to the EPD to increase our current well permit from 156,000gpd to 2,000,000gpd and an application to install a third well to be drilled from the Lower Floridian with a capacity of 4,000,000gpd.  After discussing the Mayor’s suggestion, Councilman Tyler made a motion to proceed with submission of the applications, Councilman Johnson seconded the motion and it passed with five affirmative votes.

Mayor Rozier recognized Citizen James Lee who advised council that he continues to have problems with the drainage on his property located at #105 Pine Street and nothing has improved since he brought the matter to council’s attention last year.  Councilman Johnson informed Mr. Lee that he knows he has a problem, but since it involves private property he felt that rather than meeting with him individually, Mr. Lee should return to council to discuss the matter because he has no authority to take any action on private property without council’s approval.  Mr. Lee explained that when water dams up between Michael Ray’s residence and the Sapp’s property, it runs onto his property.  Councilman Ray pointed out that the bushes that are planted along the back of Mr. Lee’s property is the reason that the water will not run off, not the construction of the new residence.  Councilman Ray stated that another problem that exists is that the height of Church Street was raised when it was paved and it keeps water from running off of the lots that abut the street.  After continued discussion, the Mayor asked Mr. Lee if he had any suggestions as to how to solve the problem.  Mr. Lee stated that if a pipe could be run along the front of Mr. Ray’s property, it should help alleviate the standing water problem and he would be willing to pay $200 toward the cost of the pipe.  Councilman Tyler asked if there was any fault on the part of the City for the drainage problem and if so, we should try to help fix it, but if not, it needed to be resolved by the property owners.  Councilman Johnson questioned whether or not this was going to help since the problem seems to be between the properties rather than in the front of Mr. Ray’s lot.  Councilman Tyler pointed out that this is one of the areas where the engineers are developing plans to improve the drainage and suggested that before we do anything that we talk with them to see if they can give us some information about alleviating the problems.  Mayor Rozier stated that he would contact Thomas & Hutton and ask them to look at this situation and advise us as to whether or not the drainage work to be done by the City will help their problem and if so, maybe we could go ahead and do the work.  However, if this is not a City problem and is something that involves only these two properties, the owners will have to come up with their own solution.

NEW BUSINESS:

The Mayor reported that the City had received a request from the Life Spring Worship Center to discuss with council their plans to build a new church at #1105 East Hwy 80.  Mayor Rozier recognized Johnny Padgett and Tony Davidson who were representing the church.  Mr. Padgett stated that the members wanted to construct a new sanctuary on the rear of the property which would include classrooms for Sunday School, but there would not be a school operated from the new building.  Councilman Ray asked how they planned to use the building in the front and Mr. Padgett stated that it would be used as a youth building and would continue to be used for the school.  Councilman Ray asked how many people the new sanctuary would hold and Mr. Padgett advised him that it should seat between 1,000 and 1,200 people.  Councilman Ray pointed out that the Georgia Fire Marshall would have to get involved in the approval of their construction plans.  It was also noted that the church would have to obtain the services of an engineer to prepare a drainage plan for the property as required by the City’s Stormwater Management Ordinance and submit it for approval prior to the issuance of their building permit.  Councilman Tyler advised Mr. Padgett that in order for the City to be sure that adequate sewer service was being provided, the church would have to have their engineer present information showing their calculated flows for the new building to make sure the grinder pump would be properly sized.  Councilman Tyler pointed out that this was one of the problems that occurred when the City was not advised that the existing building was going to be used as a school because the grinder pump was installed based on the building’s use as a church, not a school.  Councilman Tyler asked if the church anticipated any increase in the number of students in the front building and was advised by Mr. Padgett that there were no plans to increase the school’s enrollment.  Mr. Padgett stated that the members also wanted to install a construction access off of Main Street and council agreed to allow the temporary driveway provided it was installed by the City.  Councilman Wedincamp suggested the church consider providing an exit onto Main Street from the church parking lot to reduce the amount of traffic entering Hwy 80.  After this discussion, council agreed to the issuance of a “conditional use” permit to the Life Spring Worship Center for the construction of a new sanctuary on their property at #1105 E. Hwy 80.

The Mayor recognized Mark Bryant who requested council’s input on various options for the development of 154± acres located on the Jimmy Deloach Parkway at Towles Road.  Mr. Bryant stated that one option was to rezone the property for the construction of a storage warehouse and/or container yard for businesses interested in its access to the Georgia Ports.  Mr. Bryant reported that with a 150% expansion of the ports in the next several years, there would be a need for this type facility.  Mayor Rozier pointed out that he was familiar with the property he was referring to, but it seemed to be very wet to him and asked if he had checked into the wetlands issue.  Mr. Bryant stated that although the property has not been delineated, he did have some preliminary reports on the areas that could be developed.  Mr. Bryant indicated that a portion of the property would be used as a dirt pit with any development being around the outside of this area.  The Mayor advised him that the property was currently zoned RA-1 with a rezoning of the property being required for commercial development.  Mr. Bryant was informed that Jimmy Deloach was currently being maintained as a limited access county road, but it was his understanding that the county planned to turn the road over to the state and development of the property along the roadway would have to be with frontage roads.  Both Mayor Rozier and Councilman Tyler expressed their concern about the property being developed as light industry or heavy commercial and stated their preference as residential development with the possibility of light commercial businesses along the front of the property.  Council discussed the rezoning of the property as a combination of residential and light commercial development and this concept seemed agreeable to all provided it met the requirements of the zoning ordinance.  The Mayor suggested Mr. Bryant talk with Councilman Mike Wedincamp and Planning & Zoning Commission Chairman Andrew Rawlings and prepare his request for submission to the Planning & Zoning Commission as outlined in the Zoning Ordinance.

Councilman Johnson advised council that the City needed to take action to dispose of the damaged 1995 Ford Garbage Truck and it was his understanding that the City would have to declare the vehicle as surplus before proceeding with the bidding process.  After a brief discussion, Councilman Ray made a motion to declare the damaged 1995 Ford Garbage Truck as surplus property and to proceed with steps to dispose of the vehicle.  Councilman Waller seconded the motion and it passed with five affirmative votes.  Council discussed the need to set a minimum bid for the truck and the Mayor asked that Councilman Johnson look into the estimated value of the truck in its current condition to determine the minimum bid that should be accepted.

Council was informed that the Cypress Street resurfacing project, as approved at the April 21^st meeting, has been completed.  The Mayor reported that since this project was not included in the FY 2004/2005 budget, council needs to approve an amendment to the budget with payment for the $7,372 to be made from funds on hand.  Councilman Waller made a motion to approve the budget amendment and payment of the bill as presented, Councilman Ray seconded the motion and it passed with five affirmative votes.

Mayor Rozier also reported that council needed to amend the FY 2004/2005 budget for the expenses related to the construction of the roadway behind the Bloomingdale Elementary School totaling $4,269 for the costs to be charged to funds on hand.  Councilman Ray made a motion to approve the budget amendment as presented.  The motion was seconded by Councilman Johnson and passed with five affirmative votes.

Council was advised that Planning & Zoning Commission Chairman Andrew Rawlings reported that members Dexter Shearouse and Jackie Lowman were interested in remaining on the Planning & Zoning Commission for another term.  Councilman Johnson made a motion to re-appoint these members to terms that will expire on June 30, 2009.  Councilman Tyler seconded the motion and it passed with five affirmative votes.

The Mayor submitted the following recommendations from Joe Young on behalf of the Recreation Executive Board:

1)      The reappointment of Debra Brune & Richard Duke retroactive to 6-30-04 with their terms to expire on 6-30-07.  The terms of Mark James and Kischia Young are not recommended for renewal.  (Note:  Action on the renewals of these four members were delayed while the Recreation Department By-Laws were being developed)

2)      The reappointment of James Stringer, Howard Raper, and Terry Landon to terms that will expire on 6-30-08.  The board is not recommending the reappointment of Greg Weissman.

3)      The appointment of James Cannon to serve as Chairman of the Recreation Executive Board, Drenda Randell as the Vice-Chairman and Debra Brune as the Secretary.

It was noted that although Mr. Young was not present at the meeting, he indicated in his memo that he was in agreement with the board’s recommendations.  Based on this information, Councilman Ray made a motion to approve these recommendations.  Councilman Tyler seconded the motion and it passed with five affirmative votes.

Council was advised that the City has received a request from the Department of Revenue regarding the millage rate for tax year 2005.  It was noted that in the past the millage rate has been set at 10mils and then rolled back to zero.  After a brief discussion, Councilman Waller made a motion to set the millage rate for 2005 at 10mils.  Councilman Ray seconded the motion and it passed with five affirmative votes.  Councilman Waller then made a motion to roll the 10mils back to zero for tax year 2005.  Councilman Johnson seconded the motion and it passed with five affirmative votes.

Mayor Rozier informed council that GMA has requested the appointment of a designated representative from Bloomingdale for the annual meeting of the Georgia Municipal Benefits System (GMBES), Workers’ Compensation Self-Insurance Fund (WCSIF), and the Georgia Interlocal Risk Management Agency (GIRMA) to be held on Sunday, June 26, 2005 at 10:00am in Savannah.  GMA is requesting the City appoint Mayor Jay Powell and/or Mayor James Burgess to serve as our proxies if we do not plan to send a representative.  Councilman Johnson made a motion to make the appointments as requested by GMA, Councilman Tyler seconded the motion and it passed with five affirmative votes.

The Mayor reported that this concluded the items presented by the agenda deadline of Friday, June 10, 2005.

Mayor Rozier stated that as an “emergency issue” the council needed to amend the agenda to add consideration of the approval of a resolution for the delay of the adoption of the FY 2005/2006 for up to sixty (60) days from the beginning of the fiscal year with the appropriations for the last fiscal year being the appropriations for the new fiscal year until the adoption of the budget.  Councilman Ray made a motion to amend the agenda to discuss adoption of the resolution.  The motion was seconded by Councilman Tyler and passed with five affirmative votes.  After a brief discussion, Councilman Ray made a motion to approve the resolution regarding the FY 2005/2006 budget.  Councilman Tyler seconded the motion and it passed with five affirmative votes.

During the presentation of reports from committees, Councilman Johnson asked that the Cliftons and Amersons meet with him and the City Attorney after the council meeting to discuss issues related to Poplar Street.  Councilman Ray advised council that we needed to schedule another budget workshop and council agreed to meet on June 23, 2005 at 7:00pm.  There were no other reports from council.

The accounts payable were reviewed with Councilman Ray making a motion to pay the bills.  Councilman Johnson seconded the motion and it passed with five affirmative votes.

Being no further business, Councilman Waller made a motion to adjourn at 8:00pm.  Councilman Ray seconded the motion and it passed with five affirmative votes.

Mayor Rozier and Council members Johnson, Ray, Tyler, Waller and Wedincamp were present at the meeting.