Villa Rica City Council December 3, 2013
The Mayor and Council of the City of Villa Rica, Georgia met on Tuesday, December 3, 2013 at 6:00pm in the Holt-Bishop Justice Center, Municipal Courtroom at 101 Main Street. Those in attendance were, Council Members Dean, Marchman, Best, Holland and Henrickson. Also in attendance were City Attorney David Mecklin, City Manager Larry Wood, City Clerk Barbara Daniell and other staff and citizens totaling 37.
Meeting called to order by Mayor Pro Tem Rusty Dean (Mayor Collins was not present for this meeting)
Invocation by Councilwoman Marchman
Pledge of Allegiance
Councilman Holland asked Mayor Pro Tem if he could say a few words and then proceeded to thank the voters of Ward 5 for allowing me to serve for the last 4 terms which adds up to 16 years and was defeated at election by Danny Carter and he is a very capable person and has served with me on council and believe the city is in much better than it was when I took office.
Approval of minutes from Council Meeting on November 5, 2013(Holland stated that on page 5 should read 3/2), November 12, Called Work Session, and November 19 Call Council meeting. Marchman made motion to approve minute with changes/Henrickson seconded – 5/0 – motion carried
Financial update: - For Current month: Cash Accounts, $9.1 million; General Fund Revenues, $334,005; General Fund Expenditures, $419,587; Water/Sewer Revenues, $403,970; Water/Sewer Expenditures, $285,846; Capital Project Expenditures, $63,613; SPLOST Capital Expenditures, $84,858. Year to Date: General Fund Revenues, $5,836,373; General Fund Expenditures, $5,420,124; Water/Sewer Revenues, $3,644,445; Water/Sewer Expenditures, $3,390,716; Capital Project Expenditures, $684,570; SPLOST Capital Expenditures, $668,976.
Consent Agenda Item/s: Basketball Uniforms
(Please note: This item does not require a vote. This item(s) is a budgeted item which has already been approved by council and is listed here to make council aware that this money is now being spent. If item(s) need(s) discussion it should be moved out of Consent Agenda and placed under appropriated heading.)
Presentation by Villa Rica Library Board – presented gifts to outgoing council members and city manager.
Mayor Pro Tem Dean asked if we needed to amend the agenda. City Clerk stated that we needed to add 4 items for approval under #8 as 8b, 8c, 8d, and 8e
Public Comment/s:
John Hannabach, 3106 Golfers Lane, I just wanted to come forward to express my appreciation to the outgoing councilmembers and Larry for their support, service and attention giving to city needs.
Shirley Marchman, thanked the city during the passing of my mother, especially to the mayor, Rusty, Larry and the Police Department, thank you very much.
John Mount, 214 Rockmart Road, just want to thank the city for their continuing to improve and install sidewalks. Those along the railroad, at Hwy. 61 & Rockmart have helped a great deal and look forward to this continuing around the city.
Old Business
Swear in Industrial Development Authority Board members – Kurt Kraft & Dale Schwarzkoph – City Clerk issued oath to Kurt Kraft; Dale Schwarzkoph was not in attendance and will be sworn in at the next meeting of the Industrial Development Authority.
2014 Budget Additions/Deletions – Holland made a motion to take no action on the budget and to move this item to the January council meeting since 3 of the current councilmembers will not be her in 2014 and allow the new members to take action on this budget/Henrickson seconded – 3/2 (Marchman/Best) – motion carried (Marchman asked prior to second, if we could go ahead and approve and they could always go back and make changes next year if needed. Dean stated yes but this way they can approved and move forward without having to advertise and make changes).
Wood told Mayor Pro Tem that we skipped over the financial report. Luke presented and information is updated above.
City Charter Update – Best presented this to the council as the first reading, will come back to council in January for second reading and vote. Clerk explained this had to have 2 readings and has to be advertised 4 times and be voted on at the January meeting.
New Business
Personnel Policy Change re: Holiday Pay – Holland made motion to move item to January agenda since this was the Mayors item/Henrickson seconded – 5/0 – motion carried
Memorandum of Understanding – Southwire – Wood stated this was approved by the Villa Rica Development Authority for the expansion of Southwire with a tax reduction of city and county taxes but not school tax with !00% the first year and reducing each year for 10 years and in the 10th year it will it will be a zero reduction. Henrickson made motion to approve/Holland seconded – 5/0 – motion carried
W&C Annual Up-Date of the Utility Operations – Steve Kenney made annual presentation to council no vote required. (presentation packet in council folder kept at city hall as well as on video). Wood stated they have submitted their proposed budget which is included in the budget presented to the council and it was his recommendation we extend their contract with the approval of that budget.
Jackie Lane Well Improvements – Woodard & Curran – with all the problems with this well and the cost of $33,270 to upgrade and fix we recommend that we no long pump out of this well. The operating cost and other cost you are only saving about $5000 per year and we just would recommend simply stop drawing water but it will still be available for emergencies. Holland made motion that we no longer pump water from this well/Henrickson seconded – 5/0 – motion carried
Hubbard Court Lift Station-pump/motor replacement - $7,282 – the pump is failing and the impeller cannot be adjusted and we request that council approved so we can move forward with this repair. Holland asked if this is buying a whole new pump. Holland made motion to approve/Henrickson seconded – 5/ 0 – motion carried
McCurdy Road Lift Station – replace worn pump and motor - $13,759.64 – has a worn out pump and has two pumps and needs two pumps. This is due to what the customers are putting into the system. Holland asked about screens and Steve explained you cannot install screens on this system. Henrickson made motion to approve/Holland seconded – 5/0 – motion carried
Bivins Road Lift Station – rebuild damaged impeller/pump - $7,500 –we need to replace pump due to items customer is putting into the system. This just happened so I don’t have exact figures but it is around $7500 to replace these pumps. Henrickson made motion to approve/Holland seconded – 5/0 – motion carried
Brandywine Lift Station – replace impeller, shaft, misc. repairs - $4,500 –repair on the impeller and seal for this system and this is just a case of ware. Henrickson made motion to approve/Holland seconded – 5/0 – motion carried
Lake Cowan Pumps – replace impeller, shaft and misc. repairs - $6,000 the impellers help us increase draw for Lake Cowan - Holland made motion to approve/Henrickson seconded – 5/0 – motion carried
2014 Alcohol License Renewals – this basically a house keeping item and all business have paid for their licenses. Holland made motion to approve/Best seconded – 4/1 (Marchman) – motion carried
ABL-07-13 – Retail Package Wine & Wine Tasting, Uncorked on Main, LLC – applicant Donice Wood has passed a background check conducted by Villa Rica Police. Location of business is at 211 Main Street. Donice Wood came forward and stated they feel they will be an asset to the downtown areas and ask for your approval. Floor was opened for public comments, there being no public comments floor closed and reverted back to council. Best asked if this was a prelude to allowing someone to open a liquor store in Villa Rica. Mecklin stated that we have not authorized anyone to open this type of business in Villa Rica, that you much have a referendum in order to do that. Beer and wine are approved for sale but distilled spirits are not. Best stated he was asking this question so it will be in the minutes for future reference and questions. Holland, don’t we have to have a petition, Mecklin yes at least 30% of the voters have to sign petition. Holland made motion to approve/Holland seconded – 4/1 (Marchman) – motion carried
VA-08-13 – Variance for Villa Rica Tax Service of Villa Rica– Hyde stated that applicant was requesting a variance for the purpose of placing an additional sign on his property. The UDC allows for one monument sign for 600 ft. of road frontage and this property only contains 217 ft. of road frontage. The current monument sign on the property is already a non-conforming sign. Applicant applied for a temporary sign until the end of the 2014 tax season which would be the end of April. Staff recommends denial of the request but planning commission recommended approval for 6 months. Holland asked if council approved the original sign which is too big, Hyde stated it was approved before the sign ordinance was changed. Hyde stated that the applicant was not present and applicant has asked to postpone until January. Dean does our sign order approved a temp banner sign that they could use. Hyde stated yes but it cannot be placed in the right of way, so they could move and put up a temporary banner sign. Dean stated they could put up a banner off the right of way. Hyde corrected original statement regarding banner, they can only be up for 120 days. Dean stated he thought it was longer for a moved business, Hyde yes for a moved business it is 6 months, for a temporary banner it is 120 days. Holland stated there was room on the permanent sign for this business and Hyde state they do plan to move that that sign but did not want to lose any of their business. Dean opened floor for a public hearing: Larry Cohrs stated applicant said they would move the sign off the right of way but has not done that. There being no further comments, reverts back to council. Holland made motion to deny the variance/Marchman seconded – 5/0 – motion carried
Ord-09-13-UDC – Article t-5.15, Multi-Family Residential Design – recommend changes to the residential guide line. First recommendation is to double the amenities in the complex giving a bonus if one of the amenities is open to the public and the second to increase the density of a multi-family complex. Reason is we have had a good many request and staff thing is would be good to increase the quality of multi-family that we have. We are going from 8 units per acre to 12 units per acre. Staff is looking at what other cities are doing so there may be other changes. Deans asked if she was going to bring more changes, Hyde stated yes. Henrickson stated if someone comes forward with a request council can make that decision then. Henrickson made a motion to deny this request. Holland thinks it would be better to come back with the entire package. Henrickson made a motion to table and to bring back with more details/Holland seconded – 5/0 – motion carried (Mecklin stated that we will have to re-advertise when this comes up)
ZM-01-13- Adoption of Official Zoning Map – staff recommends the adoption of the Zoning Map and this is basically a house keeping matter which includes a few changes. One downtown and one at Edge Road and annexation you approve a couple months ago. Dean opened the floor for public comments, there being no comments, public comments closed and reverts back to council. Holland made motion to approve/Best seconded – 5/0 – motion carried
Proclamation of “Bring One for The Chipper” – City Clerk read proclamation for council and attendees. Marchman made motion to approve/Best seconded – 5/0 – motion carried
Consideration of Contract/s:
Latimer & Hughes Construction, Villa Rica - Library Roof - $45,500 + $50 per sheet to replace decking as needed – Gary presented Latimer & Hughes as the recommend contractor for the library roof and stated that he received good recommendations from clients and that this is a local company.
Holland made motion to approve/Henrickson seconded – 5/0 – motion carried
City Update – no city update
Executive Session – no executive session
Adjourn – Holland made motion to adjourn at 7:29pm/Best seconded – 5/0 – motion carried
______
J Allen Collins – Mayor
ATTEST:
______
1 | Page