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City Council - 30 June 2008 Agenda

6:30 P.M. – WORK SESSION Main Street Conference Room

7:00 P.M. - CALL TO ORDER: Mayor Nancy Harris
INVOCATION:  Councilmember Bomar
WELCOME RESIDENTS: Harris Orchards | Village at Albion Farm

  1. Consent Agenda
    1. APPROVAL OF JUNE 9, 2008 MINUTES , JUNE 26TH AND JUNE 27TH PUBLIC HEARING NOTES ON PROPOSED PROPERTY TAX INCREASE
    2. RESOLUTION EXTENDING HIGWAY-COMMERCIAL (HC) MORATORIUM
      As approved on July 9, 2007 and extended on January 28, 2008 the temporary moratorium on accepting special use permits and special conditional permits for the Highway Commercial (HC) district is currently set to expire on June 30, 2008. Approval of this item amends the current moratorium and extends the time for expiration to August 31, 2008, preventing the acceptance of applications for developments associated with Auto Sales, Auto Repair & Modular Home Sales. The Planning Commission, individual developers & The Council for Quality Growth had no objection to staff’s request to extend the current moratorium until August 31, 2008.
    3. ORDINANCE TO AMEND THE DULUTH CODE – MILEAGE REIMBURSEMENT
      Approval of this ordinance amends Chapter 2, Article III, Section 2-47 (2) of the Duluth Code to increase the mileage reimbursement to $.585 per mile for business travel and medical mileage to $.27 per mile following the revised IRS 2008 Standard mileage rates.
  2. Public Hearing
    1. RESOLUTION TO SET TAX MILLAGE RATE – TAX YEAR 2008 – 5.191 MILLS
      Each year, Gwinnett County Tax Assessors are required to review the assessed value of taxable property in the County. This is called a reassessment process. When the total digest of taxable property is prepared, Georgia Law requires that a “rollback” millage rate must be computed that will produce the same total revenue on the current year’s new digest that last year’s millage rate would have produced had no reassessments occurred.

      The City of Duluth FY09 Budget was prepared using the same millage rate as last year, which is 5.191. Since the Mayor and Council have elected to maintain that rate, and it is higher than the rollback rate, two prior public hearings were held on June 26th and June 27th in order to allow the public an opportunity to express their opinions on this increase. This public hearing meets the requirements as set by state law, and approval of this resolution will set the millage rate at 5.191 mills.
  3. NEW BUSINESS
    1. ROAD PROJECT STATUS REPORT – BRON CLEVELAND REQUEST
      Representatives from Bron Cleveland will be present to discuss the status report on the road projects and request additional funding for the Hospital Connector project.
    2. AMENDMENT TO SOLID WASTE CONTRACT WITH UNITED/ROBERTSON
      In reviewing the anticipated revenues derived from United Waste franchise fees and the anticipated cost associated with subsidizing trash bags, Staff has discovered that the funds are no longer sufficient to cover the entire bag subsidy. An amendment is proposed for Council’s consideration to increase the cost of the 32 gallon bags by $1.00 per box. Additionally, 15 gallon bags are now available.

      An amendment to delete in its entirety Section III (D) Residential and replace with the following verbiage, effective July 1, 2008.

      (D) The Company shall direct bill the participating retail stores for such plastic bags at a rate of $1.35 per bag, or a total cost of $27.00 per box of twenty (20) 32-gallon bags and $1.07 per bag, or total cost of $16.05 per box of fifteen (15) 15-gallon bags. The Company will send a monthly statement to the City, which includes the invoices from the retail stores for the number of boxes of bags purchased by each retail store. The City will be charged a “Bag Differential” fee of $.07 per bag, or a total cost of $1.40 per box of twenty (20) bags (for 32-gallon size only) sold to the retail stores. These rates are effective July 1, 2008. The Company will send a monthly statement to the City, which includes the invoices from the retail stores for the number of boxes of bags purchased by each retail store and for the number of boxes of bags purchased by the

      City for resale to seniors who qualify. Seniors who qualify will be allowed to purchase up to four (4) boxes of the 32-gallon bags at a cost of $14.00 per box or purchase up to four (4) boxes of the smaller 15-gallon bags at the rate of $11.00 per box. The Company will inventory all participating retailers and any stock at the City on or before July 1, 2008. These fees may be increased annually according to the Cost of Living Adjustment described in Section IV.
    3. ORDINANCE - CITY OF DULUTH FISCAL YEAR 2009 BUDGET ADOPTION
      The Mayor and Council reviewed the FY09 budget as presented by Staff during work sessions held on May 6th and May 14th. City Administrator Phil McLemore presented the budget during a properly noticed public hearing on June 9th and accepted public comment at that time. The Mayor and Council to consider an ordinance adopting the FY09 City of Duluth operating budget as presented, with stated revenues based on a millage rate of 5.191.
    4. ORDINANCE TO AMEND THE FY09 BUDGET – CARRY FORWARD - $83,437
      The following items were budgeted in FY08 but the expenditures have not yet been made. Therefore it is necessary to carry these items forward into the FY09 budget.

      A contract was entered into with Go-Go Creative to develop a brand for the City. It was anticipated that the City would be invoice for some of the contract in the FY 08 budget. To date the City has not been invoice for any of the contract so it is necessary to carry forward the $30,000 that was budget into the FY 09 budget.
      The City of Duluth’s Community Orientated Policing Services has prior year cash donations in the amount of $13,436.50 that need to be carried forward to FY 09 to support the programs many initiatives.
      The City is currently working with the Public Safety Building contractor to have bulletproof glass installed in that building, but have not yet received a quote on the cost. It is request that funds budgeted for this project in FY 08 in the amount of $40,000 be carried forward to FY 09 to pay for this project.
    5. ORDINANCE TO AMEND THE DULUTH CODE – MOTOR VEHICLE EXCISE TAX
      The City of Duluth does not currently have an ordinance in place to collect excise taxes on car rentals. Gwinnett County has specifically noted that they are permitted to collect from rental agencies within our limits if we do not collect. The City Attorney has reviewed similar ordinances and prepared one for Duluth. Cities and Counties are provided with the authority to levy and collect at the rate of 3% of the rental charge, provided the funds are used for a specifically defined purpose as provided for in the law. We currently have two licensed car rental facilities in city limits. Staff recommends Council consider adoption of the ordinance as presented, with the income designated for three purposes: 1) promotion of industry, trade, commerce and tourism; 2) capital outlay projects as defined; and 3) security and public safety related to capital outlay projects.
  4. MATTERS FROM CITIZENS
  5. MATTERS FROM COUNCIL/DEPT HEADS/CITY ATTORNEY
    1. CONTINGENCY REQUEST - $27,000 – RISING FUEL COSTS
      Due to the continued increase in gas, oil, and diesel, a transfer from contingency (MC-02-08 100-102-111057201) in the amount of $27,000 to Fuel and Oil (GG-08-08 100-921-321053126) is necessary to pay the April and May Gwinnett County fuel billings as well as vehicle oil changes.
    2. LINE ITEM TRANSFERS – END OF FISCAL YEAR 2008 BUDGET - $122,938
      While the City of Duluth 2008 overall budget figures are sufficient to cover expenses as projected, several individual line item transfers are needed. Approval of this item authorizes the following:

      Move $226.00 from 100-214-132051110 (Salaries) to 100-214-132051130 (Overtime) to cover overtime paid to the Downtown Manager while acting as interim Downtown Manager.

      Move $273.00 from 100-301-159051291 (Salaries) to 100-301-159051291 (Performance Compensation) to cover reclassification of performance compensation payment from benefits. (Records Officer.)

      Move $8,033.00 from 100-304-111057301 (Peace Officers Annuity F/B) and $5,162.00 from 100-304-111057308 (County Drug Abuse Treatment) to 100-304-111057309 (Indigent Defense) to cover cost of additional court fine ticket payouts.

      Move $81,074.00 from 100-304-265053172 (Cash Bond Refunds)of which $23,658.00 to 100-304-111057302 (Peace Officers Professional Training) and $9,914.00 to 100-304-111057303 (Local Crime Victims Assistance) and $2,272.00 to 100-304-111057305 (Brain & Spinal Injury Fund) and $19,188.00 to 100-304-111057307 (Jail Construction/Staffing Fund) and $26,042.00 to 100-304-111057311 (Drivers Education/Training Fund) to cover cost of additional court fine ticket payouts.

      Move $1,082.00 from 100-601-611051110 (Salaries) to 100-601-611051112 (Part-time Bunten Road Maintenance) to cover additional staffing cost.

      Move $27,082.00 from 100-807-322351130 (Uniform Division Overtime) to 100-807-322351292 (Uniform Division Benefits) to cover additional cost due to staffing changes.

      Move $6.00 from 100-906-321051110 (IT Salaries) to 100-906-321051291 (Performance Compensation).
    3. AUTHORIZATION FOR TEXT MESSAGING – MAYOR’S CELL PHONE
      As requested by Mayor Harris, the Council to consider authorizing text messaging capabilities for the City cell phone. The Mayor intends to reimburse the City for the cost of this option.
  6. ADJOURNMENT

UPON ADJOURNMENT: A WORK SESSION OF THE MAYOR AND COUNCIL WILL BE HELD IN THE MAIN STREET CONFERENCE ROOM TO DISCUSS SPLOST PROJECTS.