Minutes of the
REGULAR MEETING
For the
City Council of Lookout Mountain, Georgia
November 20, 2008
PRESIDING: Thomas G. Gifford, Mayor
PRESENT: Council Members Dennis Eischeid, Daniel Pettway, Sandy Gothard, Catherine Kelley, David Fussell, City Attorney Bill Pickering, Police Chief Wallace Taylor and City Clerk Dana Driver.
CALL TO ORDER: Mayor Gifford called the meeting of the City Council to order at 5:30 p.m. at City Hall, 1214 Lula Lake Road, Lookout Mountain, Georgia.
APPROVAL OF MINUTES: The minutes of the called meeting held October 14, 2008 were approved as submitted. The minutes of the called meeting held October 21, 2008 were approved as submitted. The minutes of the regular meeting held November 6, 2008 were approved as submitted.
SAFE ROUTES TO SCHOOL GRANT APPLICATION – Dr. Terry Stevenson and Mr. Art Phemister of Fairyland School came before the Council to request that the Mayor be authorized, on behalf of the City, to sign a “Safe Routes to School” grant application. The grant would provide funds to create a pathway for Fairyland students as well as education & information to families to encourage students to walk to school. The grant is a 100% grant and no matching funds are required by the City. Motion was made, seconded and passed unanimously to allow the Mayor to sign the grant application.
GOLF CART/MOTORIZED VEHICLE – Mayor Gifford reviewed the golf cart discussions of the last several meetings. Several hand written and online petitions were received by the Council from David Bennett. The City currently abides by Georgia law which effectively does not allow golf carts on city streets. Golf carts could be allowed on City roads only, but not on State highways, only if the City issued an ordinance that permitted this. The Mayor asked for a motion from the Council and no motion was forthcoming. Therefore, the decision was made to continue under the State law regarding the use of golf carts and Low Speed Vehicles.
PAUL JOHNSON: FY ’07-’08 AUDIT REPORT - Mr. Johnson presented his audit report for FY ’07-‘08 with all state standards having been met. He explained the city once again finished in a sound financial position and for the year ending June 30, 2008. Copies of the audited financial report were given to the Council.
1827 LULA LAKE ROAD – The Mayor announced that the Planning Commission at the Tuesday, November 11 meeting recommended to the City Council to rezone the property at 1827 Lula Lake Road for Municipal Buildings & Facilities. A Public Hearing will take place on Thursday, December 11, 2008 at 6:30 p.m. The Council will consider an ordinance for the proposed rezoning at its next Council meeting Thursday, December 18, 2008.
SECOND READING - AMENDMENT TO SUBDIVISION ORDINANCE (TO REQUIRE THAT TAXES ON PROPERTY TO BE SUBDIVIDED BE CURRENT) An Ordinance was passed on second reading to amend the subdivision ordinance to require that all taxes and other outstanding obligations be current before any consideration is given to creating or modifying a subdivision.
SECOND READING - AMENDMENT TO ZONING ORDINANCE (TO REQUIRE THAT TAXES ON PROPERTY PROPOSED FOR REZONING BE CURRENT) - An Ordinance was passed on second reading to amend the zoning ordinance to require that all taxes and other outstanding obligations be current before any consideration is given to any rezoning issues.
MONTHLY STORMWATER & SEWER REPORT – Copies of the current storm water activity report were distributed to the Council a copy of which is attached.
MAYOR’S REPORT
1) The Mayor stated he had met with Walker county officials and the other county municipal mayors to discuss the bond issue of the new SPLOST. The sale of the bonds has been delayed due to the financial markets, but the county anticipated their sale within the first half of December.
2) The proposed draft PUD was given to the developer of the proposed Chapelbrow development for his input as to it’s compatibility for this proposed development.
3) The Mayor and the City Clerk met with an IT company to discuss the City’s computer network and backup system upgrades.
4) The Mayor reviewed the ambulance service situation following the announcement by Hutcheson Medical Center they would discontinue their service Dec. 31. The City has been in touch with the county and is confident they will make the right choice and certain that it will be in place by the required Jan.1, 2009.
At the close of the meeting, Councilman Daniel Pettway announced that he was resigning from the City Council due to personal and family reasons. He assured the Council that he would finish some small tasks on the pathway project but would not finish out his term. Mayor Gifford told Councilman Pettway that he would be enormously missed on the Council and expressed sincere thanks for all his hard work and accomplishments. Noting that Mr. Pettway’s decision was not an easy one to make, but the right one for him and his family, his resignation was reluctantly accepted.
There being no further business, the meeting was adjourned.
Respectfully submitted,
Dana Driver