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| The following summary minutes have not been approved by Simpsonville City Council. An official copy of the minutes will be available after adopted by City Council at City Hall 118 NE Main St. Simpsonville. Pursuant to the Freedom of Information Act, notice of this meeting date, time, place and Agenda was posted on the bulletin board at City Hall and faxed to the newspapers, radio stations, television stations and any concerned citizens. |
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| SIMPSONVILLE CITY COUNCIL WORKSHOP MEETING Council Chambers 2nd Floor – City Hall 118 N. E. Main Street Tuesday, January 28, 2003 – 6:30 p.m.
ROLL CALL: Councilmember Ron Bridges ALSO PRESENT: David Holmes – City Attorney INVOCATION BY COUNCILMEMBER CURRY PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE DEPARTMENTAL REPORTS Mr. Holmes: Mr. Mayor, while Chief Major is coming to the microphone I just wanted to tell you that you have in your packets Departmental Reports which you are used to getting. In addition to that I’ve asked the different department heads to come to your workshop meeting and make an oral presentation to you about things going on in their department. Tonight’s the first night that’s happened so I just wanted you to understand what we’re doing to change and why we’re doing what we’re doing. Mayor: Thank you very much. Chief Major a. Chief Jess Major – Fire Department Mayor: Can you point that at your lips please. Chief Major: If you’ll bear with me I’m under the cold that seems to be going around. I’ll be brief I have three things I’d like to bring to your attention. First being Greenville Water System has notified the Police and Fire Departments that we have antennas and cables installed on their water storage tank off Varsity Drive that’s in violation of OSHA Rules and Regulations. Chief Reece and I met with Ken Ferguson with the Greenville Water System last week to get specifics as to what has to be done and what type of time table they expect this to follow. We’ve asked a representative of Diversified Electronics who do radio maintenance for the Police and Fire to identify our cables and antennas and provide us with a cost analysis on what needs to be done. They asked that we expedite this and get it clear in about a three month period. So the people from Diversified are just waiting for the weather to break to climb up and identify what belongs to us and let us know what kind of cost is going to be involved. Secondly, at the recommendation of the City Safety Committee we are initiating a first response by Fire Department First Responders any time a city employee is hurt or injured on the job. We feel that this will provide a cost savings to the City by department personnel addressing immediate level of care needed. Examples of this would be a sense of whether an employee needs to be seen by a doctor’s office visit rather than a very expensive trip to the ER. We also believe that this will provide a system of support whereby one city employee is reaching out to another. And lastly, I’m asking you for permission to retire Engine #2. This is a 1971 Ford Commercial 750 gallon per minute pumper. It has not been able to pass the annual pump service test for the last two years. It has a history of mechanical problems and it was evaluated by the City’s mechanic this fall. He found numerous rusted pipes throughout and agrees that with the age and condition he has recommended that we not spend any more money trying to bring this engine back up to Fire Department standards. It also should be noted that in our recent ISO inspection we received no credit for this engine due to it’s condition and for the fact that it will not pass the pump test and I’m recommending to you that this engine be turned over to Public Works. That’s the end of my report - can I answer any questions about what I’ve talked to you about. Ms. Thomas: What will Public Works do with it? Mayor: Ride it in the Christmas Parade (laughter) Ms. Thomas: Can you use it for like watering plants and things Mr. Carter: You could use it for watering plants (inaudible) flushing storm drains and things Ms. Thomas: Oh, okay, so it’s Mayor: Anyone else. Will we need to replace that engine – obviously if it wasn’t working we didn’t have it to begin with right Chief Major: Yes sir. We will address that issue at the coming budget when we’re better prepared to explain the condition of the remaining reserve equipment and where we stand. It would be very foolish for this truck with the age it is and a commercial truck to put any more money into it and they can utilize it down there washing streets and things like that that would probably be the wisest thing to do with it. Mayor: We’re probably in a better mood now than we would be when we start doing budget. But we’ll defer to your judgment on that. Anyone else. Mr. Talley Mr. Talley: Is that thing worth trying to sell if Mr. Carter don’t have any use for it. Outside of watering shrubs Chief Major: Mr. Talley I would have to refer to Mr. Holmes in regards to that. The fear is when you sell something like that where the liability ends. I don’t know how much paper work we’d have to create to have a trail to relieve us of any responsibility. I’ve been approached by smaller departments, volunteer departments asking would we donate that truck to them or would we sell that truck to them – what it would cost if council decided to take it out of service. Some departments totally shy away from doing that sort of thing for fear of liability coming back. I would want to talk to Mr. Holmes more about that before stating an opinion one way or another. Mr. Talley: Okay Chief Major: There is a glut of those trucks on the market right now so there probably wouldn’t be a great list of buyers out there for it. Mr. Talley: What – anything on your mind of what we could do with it Mr. Holmes: I would have some of the same concerns that Chief Major does but right now it looks like the City has need of it so I wouldn’t recommend that you sell it because if Public Works Department has a use for it let’s keep it here and use it. I mean it would be worth more to us to keep it in service in another department than it would be for us to try to sell it to someone else. Mr. Talley: Go for it Mayor: Okay, anyone else – thank you very much Ms. Thomas: Do we need to let him know whether that’s okay or not Mr. Holmes: We would do that at your voting meeting – we’re just presenting this to you at workshop for discussion and then we’ll bring it back to vote on next meeting. Mayor: Alright, next Mr. Carter. Joe Carter’s going to tell us about the Public Works Department. b. Joe Carter – Public Works Department Mr. Carter: Mr. Mayor, members of Council. I guess the biggest thing we can talk about is brush right now. We’ve made, with the exception of Westwood and we’re in the Westwood area now – that’ll make our second trip throughout the City and should be through Westwood by the end of this week and then we will start regular cycle back going through like we should be on a regular cycle by the first of next week. The landfill started charging for loads for us to take. We’ve got about 400 loads down here at Heritage Park that we haven’t taken. We’re trying to work a deal with Henson right now to see if Henson will do something. Landfill is $28.50 a ton that could be somewhere between $32,000 to $33,000 to take those 400 loads to the landfill so we’re trying to work a deal with Henson and I’ll let you know how that works out. We have met now with the FEMA Representatives. One was down there again this morning. The paper that all of you all saw I think showed us getting $58,000. That was an estimated figure but anything that we can justify is what they will pay you so we could get more than that or less than that but whatever we have documentation to support. But we should be close to that if not over just a little bit because it is going to cost a good little bit to get rid of this. Mayor: Would disposing of this brush that you were just talking about Mr. Carter: The East Georgia Rd to give you an update on the Church on E. Georgia Rd. The Army 122nd Engineering Corp has pulled back because of certain things going on. They put us on hold again. Don’t know when they’ll be coming up but his e-mail said due to operation requirements of this unit we will be unable to commit to working on this project at this time. It is possible that we could assist the City of Simpsonville at a later date but we are unable to provide an estimated date at this time. So – the paving list that we’ve already gone over. I got with Dom and we’ve got about $200,000 from last year’s money and this year’s money. The list that I had presented to you all was somewhere around $400,000 so we’ll just take the list and go from the top. I’m going to meet with Greenville County and try to piggy-back their contract so we can get a better rate and get those folks in to help us when it comes time to do that. There’s a couple issues we’re working on just to let you be aware of. I talked with Barry when he was here. We was going to do a light – put a light on Richardson statute over here. That we haven’t done yet because we had Christmas Decorations up at that time and but that was one of the projects we was wanting to do. The library was a project that we were going to start some work on. Public Works did put the roof on and get it secure. The – it needs heat put in it – just to get it through the winter and cold weather and bad sheet rock and frozen pipes and to secure the building we need to put heat in it. There’s probably – you’ll probably see some more issues on that come up maybe at budget time because I don’t know that we have the money to do everything that we need to do to it. With the roof on it that’s one thing but we do need to put the heat in it and I think there is money to do that – I don’t know how much more but I know that we have money to do that. Mayor: Excuse me for interrupting but what happened to the heat that was in it – did it just quit or what Mr. Carter: No, the unit got taken out of it – I think the unit was bad or older or whatever and the unit got taken out when they were stripping out and cleaning out the building. Mayor: Okay, thank you. Mr. Carter: An update on the storm water. Everybody was asking about the storm water deal with Greenville County. Greenville County has hired a company to come in and do the initial checks and see what we have and where we stood and that’s going to be a kind of lengthy project. It’ll probably be a year or two before we’re involved with it as far as what we’ll have to do to comply with what all they find. So, right now they’re meeting – we’ll have a meeting in probably another 2-3 months to see what the status is with those folks but in the near future as of this budget you probably won’t see anything but next budget there will probably be some items that we need to comply with this under the clean water act. And that’s all I have if somebody has questions or concerns. Mayor: Does anyone have questions – Mr. Gecy Mr. Gecy: Do we have a good mulching machine and are we mulching any of this brush. Mr. Carter: No sir, we have a chipping machine but not a mulching machine. Chipper is a small machine – you can feed small brush through it not much in excess of 6 inches or whatever. Mr. Gecy: I noticed the large pile at the railroad tracks behind Mauldin’s Public Works Department. I don’t know if you noticed how big that got at one time but it’s all gone now and they mulched a lot of that stuff up there I mean is that a very expensive process – it’s a piece of equipment I know but is there some way we could borrow one. Mr. Carter: The guy in Mauldin – they hired the guy – from what I can understand from Mike Watkins over there they hired a guy to come in and he set up a machine – I’ve talked to him and he’s going to come in the morning to look at this pile we’ve got – to see about mulching it up and that was one of the things we was talking about was mulching it and leave it sit there and if people wanted it give it away or whatever. This guy was talking about he’d make us mulch it and haul it off because he sells mulch so we may can work out something with him and it won’t cost us too much and it’ll take care of it. Mayor: Yeah, you still have the floor. Mr. Gecy: With regard to potholes. Now I’m going to speak for Hunters Woods if everybody doesn’t mind – we have increased traffic and we do have an increase in pot holes. We got to blame it on something and I’m going to blame it on traffic – we need to get those looked at – there’s a couple of interesting pot holes coming up but is there any way we could appeal to APAC to like your routing traffic through here is there a budget for helping to pave these roads or fixing these pot holes. Is that a possibility or is that a pipe dream. Mr. Carter: I don’t think it would be but Ms. Thomas: I thought they addressed that – didn’t somebody ask that question at one of those public hearings I thought somebody asked that question Mayor: As I recall somebody asked it and they never answered it – but that’s just my recollection Mr. Gecy: Well we have – it has really affected Hunters Woods Drive. You can go in like 20 yards and there’s a pot hole that was so bad and I think there’s a – I think I reported it. I think there’s a water leak Mr. Carter: That’s what we think. We went and looked at it and water works is supposed to come out tomorrow to look at it Mr. Gecy: It seems an icy patch was there the other morning from that pot hole that hole and then down on as it turns to go back up the hill to the back entrance of Davenport, down in that valley it’s a really really bad spot it’s getting worse from the traffic. Those, and that of course opens up to the idea that we turned down buying the pot hole patching truck last year but how many pot holes you know the joke was - we could fix all the pot holes in a couple of weeks and wouldn’t have – we’d have this $100,000 truck. But are there really – are there some complaints from around the City - do we have a problem with pot holes now with this real cold weather Mr. Carter: And that’s what causes it the cold weather gets under it and brings the – it goes through the crack in the asphalt and shoves back up and makes a pot hole – Mr. Gecy: And how are we fixing those are we just doing temporary patches Mr. Carter: Temporary patches Mr. Gecy: So, didn’t we have some talk about when the vote lost to buy the truck – wasn’t there some comment that we could hire a firm – your argument was to justify not buying the truck that we could hire somebody to come in and fix these pot holes correctly and we could pay them on a contractual basis instead of buying this truck. What happened to that idea Mr. Carter: To be honest with you I don’t remember that. It might be Mr. Gecy: Well that was one of the arguments though Ms. Thomas: That was in our discussion he wasn’t privy to that Mr. Gecy: Well no, well yeah that was one of the arguments that came out against buying the truck that we could contract with somebody to fix pot holes per pot hole Mayor: But I think the main conversation was that these fellows can do an adequate job with what they had for the number of pot holes we have Mr. Gecy: Yeah, but he did admit though that they patch potholes and not fix them – you know it becomes a pot hole again pretty rapidly. That was my only question. Thank you. Mayor: Okay, anyone else. Alright, thank you very much.
a. Bob Keely – 222 LaDean Ct. Simpsonville, SC 967-2460 I thank you for the opportunity to speak to you tonight. I come to you as a parent, a coach and a business man. And my concern is I moved here in 1978 and started my children in the Recreation Department and I’ve raised four children and they’ve done a great job. My concern is the new facility. A little background. I spent 10 years in the field of Parks & Recreation doing undergraduate and post-graduate work and most of the communities I have visited are known by their Parks & Recreations and programs that they offer, not only to the youth, the young adults, but to the seniors and this is very important that the community stand it’s reputation on the Parks & Recreation. I’ve been here 25 years and can look outside and see where it’s grown in 25 years and it looks like it’s going to continue to grow even more so I think that the quality of life that the residents have in this community is well earned. And I wanted to tell you my appreciation to the council and to the Mayor and Planning and forethought on working on this new facility which should make it one of the best in the area and through this I know you’ve gotten negative reaction but anytime anybody takes a step forward you’re going to get negative reaction and I think your foresight to go ahead with this planning is very appreciated if not to me to the residents and my family and I just wanted to thank you for your continued effort to provide the good quality for the youth, the adult community. Thank you very much. Ms. Thomas: Thank you sir Mr. Bridges: Thank you Mayor: Thank you. Next is Richard Allen b. Richard Allen 603 Foxhound Court, Simpsonville, SC – 963-8291 Ms. Thomas: Thank you. Mayor: Thank you. Alright, next Mr. Kent Maxwell. If you’ll state your address for the record then you can begin c. Kent Maxwell 103 Wemberly Dr. Simpsonville, SC 963-8490 Ms. Thomas: Thank you. Mayor: Thank you. Okay those were all the folks we had sign up tonight and we appreciate your coming. Next item on the Agenda is Council Comments. Anybody have any comments. Ms. Thomas. COUNCIL COMMENTS Mayor: I’m glad you answered that because I was going to ask to. Alright, anyone else. Mr. Gecy. Mr. Gecy: Just a comment about the bid opening last week when the recreation complex, just for the record. When are we expected to make a decision on a contractor. Is there some date that we had that has to be – that this has to be done by? Mr. Holmes: Mr. Gecy I’m sure there is and I’ve been making – trying to make contact with Wood & Partners to get you a time period but we’ve been gathering information like Hospitality tax looking at where revenue would come from and I’m also trying to get a time table from Wood & Partners that I can present to you for when we need to meet and discuss and get a contract mailed out but I don’t have anything at this time. Mr. Gecy: And that’s supposed to come out Mr. Bridges: Oh, yeah it seems to me like it’s just 3-4 weeks Mayor: 30 days Mr. Gecy: 30 days – so we’ll know something pretty soon. Mayor: Have to Mr. Gecy: Well, with regard to the financing. If we choose a contractor, that’s the first step of course but financing does it look pretty promising – the increase in hospitality tax that we’re appreciating so far – does it look like a pretty simple process to put the financing in order Mr. Bridges: It’s never simple Mr. Holmes: You’ve asked a big question and the answer is that’s what we’re working very hard on right now. I can tell you that our collections on the 2% tax is right on target. That still looks positive and based on the growth but we are still having meetings with our financial advisor to see what we can do and what we can propose to do. I just don’t have anything on that right now. Mr. Gecy: Just a general question. Thank you. Mayor: Okay, anybody else. Mr. Curry: If anybody’s wondering about Pat getting her driver’s license at Wal-Mart her car is parked in two spots down there – I think she thinks that line on there Ms. Thomas: That’s my target. Mayor: Alright, Mr. Bridges Mr. Bridges: I’d like to ask Mr. Carter did that help from the City of Greenville and Greenville County picking up these limbs and things did that come through Mr. Carter: Yes sir, they worked on Saturday and the following Monday. Mr. Bridges: I knew it was supposed to but I didn’t know if it did Ms. Thomas: That was great – Mayor: If we haven’t thanked them properly yet I think this council should send a letter of thanks for that. It was actually the City of Greenville that picked mine up and I was – I thought I was in some sort of trance or something when I saw the City of Greenville out there. Anyone else. CITY ATTORNEY’S REPORT Mayor: And if I might add the list we should prioritize those with the most important thing to you being number 1 on the list and less importance down. Mr. Holmes: Alright, I’ve heard from Mayor Waldrop. He wants to attend the Municipal Association Winter Convention on February 26th at the Adams Mark Hotel in Columbia, I believe that’s a Friday. It’s an all-day event. Mr. Holmes: Convention is not the proper terminology though – it’s just not a convention it’s a Mr. Curry: Tuesday and Wednesday Mr. Holmes: Well I think the 25th is when they’re having sessions – but this is just where you would meet with their staff. They will talk with you about legislative issues and then that evening they typically have a reception with folks from the general assembly and I know the Mayor wants to go – if anyone else wants to go you need to let us know so that we can make those arrangements and notify the Municipal Association. Alright – does anybody else know if they want to go. Alright, Mayor Waldrop and Mr. Curry is that it. Of course you’re going down on Thursday Mr. Curry: Tuesday, Tuesday and Wednesday Mr. Holmes: Alright Mr. Gecy: Mr. Curry – is that class – so we need to be down there Tuesday morning Mr. Curry: Tuesday morning to take the whole class – I’m going Mr. Gecy: Right, I need to go to. What time does it start Mr. Curry: 9:00 or 10:00 Mr. Gecy: But that’s the same thing that goes on all week and culminates with the Friday event Mr. Curry: No – two days – Mr. Gecy: So that’s a separate – that’s not Mr. Curry: Tuesday and Wednesday Mr. Gecy: And Friday is Mr. Curry: No, no Mayor: May I suggest you all get with Mr. Holmes and he’s got a brochure or something and work out with dates and get all signed up. Alright, next Mr. Holmes: That’s it – that’s all I have Mayor: Wow, I like it. Alright, next item is Old Business OLD BUSINESS: a. Acceptance of FY 2001-2002 Audit Report Mr. Holmes: Mr. Mayor you should have gotten – you got your Audit Report it was presented to you – the only reason I’m bringing it up to you tonight is that you normally workshop these things before you vote on it and we’re going to ask you to vote simply to accept it – you don’t adopt it but you take some formal action that you’ve received it and it’s now one of your official records. If any of you have any questions if you’ll get them to us we’ll try to get those questions answered for you before your next voting meeting. Mayor: Okay, thank you sir. NEW BUSINESS: a. Discussion of Standing Council Committees Mr. Talley: Well year’s ago when we had committees and we had them up until 1991 or 1992 or 1988 Mayor: 1992 Mr. Talley: 1992 – they were voted out. And naturally they always worked because the three people like you’re talking about different departments – police department and whatever three people on the committee – they worked with the department head – in fact back in those days those committees were absolutely in charge so to speak if you want to get down to brass tacks Mr. Gecy: Well it was before you had an Administrator Mr. Talley: Right, but then we come up with an Administrator and that’s when we all felt that committees and administrator just wouldn’t work or maybe wouldn’t work is a bad term but we just thought it would be more convenient for the person, the administrator to handle his job better without six people breathing down his collar from each department and I believe frankly it would confuse the administrator, it would confuse the department heads today if we had that many people involved in it Mr. Gecy: Well, why would we be so different than 90% of Municipalities in the State of South Carolina? I mean, I’ve done some research and there are some that don’t use it – some have done away with it – but Mr. Talley: But what do they do Mr. Gecy: Well that’s what we’re trying to – we’re having a debate finally on something. I’m trying to learn I want to hear opinions from people who have operated with committees. Now one objection I heard was well one guy would just like to sit down at Public Works and kind of tell them what to do. But I think we all feel like we’re better than that Mr. Talley: Well back in those days you didn’t do that Mr. Gecy: But I’m saying – that’s one of the objections is that that would be the problem. But I think we’re all better than that – I think we all have a dedication to getting as much information and having a challenge to be able to say here’s a question about recycling Joe had a question about recycling he walked away from that podium several times not knowing if we had decided to do recycling or not – for the longest time but I think if we had committees – that’s an example where we could possibly have a committee -–listen to Mr. Carter’s proposal – add up the numbers –bring that to a council and vote on it and it’s done and how many times have we tabled something and walked away and said – one council member say to the other or even the Mayor – didn’t we vote on that – or what did we do about that – those are the very things that I think we can handle if we had standing committees – to be charged with something – some job to take care of and all the personalities that might be involved in it whether this guy might be better on this committee it would just be a decision that had to be made by an entire council and I just feel like we could share more information and concentrate on an issue and not have to meet when we didn’t have to – I mean it would be a committee standing waiting to count police cars – like I’ve heard – and like you probably wouldn’t want committees for that reason – but I don’t think as – but if you could go to a committee and you could say I’ve got a question about a patrol car whether we should buy this patrol car or not and ask that committee to meet and bring the fees the schedule to us, check with the finance people and present that as a committee chairman present your request to the council – I mean it’s already gotten to three people on the council who understand so that you don’t have to sell this whole thing in a few minutes at that podium in a minutes time has to try to give us information about a patrol car – an important purchase like a new patrol car – this committee has studied this issue and gone over the facts and concentrated on that issue – as opposed to you standing up there and just trying to sell us on the idea – now the other idea would be to get to a few people – the department head to get to a few people who he knew were in favor of that patrol car and you get it done that way – but that’s not how a council operates. That’s how we’ve kind of operated but I think if we had the committee form where if there was a question for the Public Works or the finance department – there’s a question about our bonds or how much debt we have – how many of us know what our debt limit is – but that finance committee chairman and his committee would know that. That’s three people on council that would know that and I’ll tell you right now there’s probably a majority up here that doesn’t know the answers to those things. What’s our debt limit – where do we stand right now – how many bonds do we have and how many can we issue – but if there was a Finance Committee in place they would know that answer if they did their job. If they had a question, if the department head had a question – and if you’ll go to that group. And I would propose that we have a Chairman and two other members – another one could be a Chairman and two other members. And like I say there are communities that have done away with it – there are communities that are struggling with it and there’s a community that says I don’t know how we would get along without it – the Chief of Police last night in Greenville at City Council meeting would not even imagine – now that’s a big city now I understand, they have a City Manager that takes care of a lot of things but he says he very rarely goes to Ms. Sofield for anything – she’s the chairman of the Police Department but she is in turn in contact with the City Manager that anything that pops in that Police Department he knows how to get it to the council and it’s through those committees. And they handle and study issues before you have to stand at that podium and present your case in public to the council. It’s a way to get in a sense kind of privately but not privately because all committee meetings should be posted and everyone should know when they are and attend if you wanted to but you could get to three people on that council to explain your position and then debate that issue – it’s a little more bang for your buck than our department head having to try to sell us especially now without an Administrator because our new Administrator, whoever it might be I would hope that one thing they would do is make sure all the information is passed from one council member to the next so that everybody knows and is on the same page. But at least your committees when there’s a question or something that the Administrator wouldn’t handle or would refer to the council and make a decision it could start in these committees and I think that’s something really to consider but everybody would really have to do their job. I mean everybody would have to be fair and honest and know that you could not tell the Police Chief what to do with his cars or tell Joe where to go pick up trash or not to pick up trash or something like that or what to do with the Finance Department. But if we all did that as a council it couldn’t help but run smoothly and we’ve experienced things that weren’t done by our past Administrator. We’ve experienced things that were like left out and we’ve asked ourselves did we not talk about that two months ago or last year even and I think that would take us a long way to not ever have to say didn’t we vote on that – didn’t we talk about that – it would help us to take an issue, dissect an issue, have it brought to council in a proper form and disposed of and go on to the next challenge. Because that’s what our job is up here to just make policy and the easiest way we can get all that information I think would be the best. I’m finished. Mayor: Pretty good – Mr. Talley Mr. Talley: Like, the Chief, I know you’re picking on him tonight if he wanted to know something about a car or purchasing a car – wanted it brought before council for approval or whatever – he’s supposed to go to the City Administrator Mr. Gecy: Exactly, but we don’t leave all the information and all the decisions to the Administrator Mr. Talley: Then the Administrator and the – that’s what he’s for Mr. Gecy: But he brings it to council in just a meeting like an administrator report – well we have a need for a patrol car it’s going to cost $28,000 what do you all think and that’s how it comes to us Mr. Talley: Well what else – if we had a committee what would we do Mr. Gecy: But if there was no discrepancy on his patrol car Chief you’re getting a new patrol car did you know that – if there was no discrepancy on it then the committee wouldn’t have to get involved – the Administrator would handle that. I don’t mean get involved in everything only when the administrator or the council felt it was a decision that needed to be decided through some research and with all – Joe get back to us on something – when that quote was made to you to get back to us on something then wouldn’t you like to know that you could have a committee that you could take all your information to the next morning and present that instead of waiting until the next council meeting – now come on say yeah. Ms. Thomas: But that’s not fair – that’s not fair at all Mr. Gecy: I’m only picking on you because it’s easiest to do right this moment. I’m not making an insinuation. He got a car – my point is very simple Mr. Curry: Be a good politician and say no comment Mr. Gecy: My point is very simple is it’s to share information to help us make policy and make it better and easier – not to ever get involved in running a department because I think we have the best department heads in place right now – we have a pretty smooth running council I just think it would make it better. It will make it better and everybody would have to do their share and it just make sense to me – it’s a way to stimulate ideas and to dissect ideas and to bring ideas to fruition and that would encourage more ideas. If there was a channel to be able to get ideas brought in, talked about and then voted on and gotten over with one way or another the committees could serve a real person. Thank you. Mayor: Mr. Talley Mr. Talley: Let’s discuss this 7, 8 and 9 and table at Hobb Knobb or whatever it is Mr. Gecy: That’s a good point but I think the public – I like to see the public listen to what our responses are. That’s why I brought it up in public. They won’t hear our responses down there – Mr. Talley: I have no problem with it being brought up in public and but I’ll sit and I can bring you up to date back when the committees was the boss – if you want to use them terms – they run the city so whenever we got an administrator we wanted one person to be doing that and we would be the policy makers and that’s how it got where it is today. The Mayor at any time I assume can appoint an ad hoc committee anytime he wants to Ms. Thomas: Anyone can Mr. Talley: Well you can appoint a committee then if you want to Mr. Curry: Go ahead and ad your hoc Mr. Gecy: I don’t want to go back to the days when, I’m not professing that I want these council people and these committees to say I’m their Public Works guy and this is how Public Works is going to be run and Mr. Carter doesn’t know what to think. I want us to be able to have an easier way to dissect information and bring new ideas and yes we will talk about it but I wanted to have some input from all of us. If anyone else has a comment Ms. Thomas you were hot and cold about this idea Ms. Thomas: I still am. I still am and I’ll tell ya the reason why is because I see the advantages because I have served on council also when there was committees back in the day as they say – the only way that I could support the committees would be if it was to the advantage of the department head more than anything and I think their input is very very important. I also see on the point that the only job we are supposed to do is make policy and with an administrator if you have the right person in that position the idea is that these department heads have as well as the ideas that we have won’t be squelched and just you know don’t want to think about that because it means work for me type of thing and I don’t – we haven’t had the advantage of having that – so far – so you know I can see both ways – being on a committee can be fun – it can be a drag but I don’t want to be on a committee that somebody is calling me when the garbage doesn’t get picked up – you know – I want to be there for the department head and to see that his job runs smoothly and I could see situations to where gosh we beat that thing to death on what was that ordinance that we were trying to get through – that street cut – good Lord we talked about that thing for months – now on that particular case if we’d had a committee as an advocate for the department I can see where that would really work – I think my only draw back as far as committees are is if you have a structure and guideline and everybody is willing to go with that I really don’t have a problem with it but I’ve seen it go awry and you know once you institute something like that it is a bear to get it gone – so I really don’t know and that’s why I run hot and cold on it because I can see both sides to it but I wouldn’t say no I’m against it the committees because structured the right way I think that there’s a place for them – but it would have to be very stringent and not be overbearing or anything – but I see where your coming from as far as being an advocate and being able to get the information together – well for example when we bought that ladder truck – man we needed a committee for that – you know because there was so much information and so much of it that wasn’t necessary to get and so much of it that was and had maybe standing committees and they were just used on that basis I don’t think that would be a bad idea at all. Mr. Gecy: You know you’ve mentioned standing committees and then things go awry – things can go awry without standing committees Ms. Thomas: Ain’t that the truth Mr. Gecy: Let’s don’t blame that explicitly on that but I guess that’s enough for the purpose of moving on Mr. Mayor I’ll yield the floor. Mayor: Well I appreciate that – I’d just like to say to comment
on the comment that you made – this has been debated in public several
times down through the years so this is not the first time – but
it’s certainly worth talking about and I appreciate your comments.
Alright, next item on the Agenda is review of the new City Policy Book. b. Review of New City Policies Book Ms. Thomas: Could I ask a question Mr. Holmes – when we voted the old Policy out and we vote this new policy manual in – is everything that was in the old policy – is there anything like it’s grandfathered or do you start fresh with this or is this pretty much kind of pick up where that left off Mr. Holmes: That’s a little bit of a complicated question to answer but our intent is that the old policy will be done away with then and it will automatically pick up with this new one but then there will be a series of meetings we’re going to have the staff to educate them about the changes and why the changes were made so that will take a while – that’s why the question is a little bit of a complicated answer but our intent is that we will do away with the old and start with the new when you vote on it next month. Ms. Thomas: Thank you Mayor: Alright, anyone else. So you’re going to present those to us just as we file out or – Mr. Holmes: I’ll give them to you tonight before you leave. SET AGENDA ITEMS: Mr. Holmes: Ms. Tuttle’s going to tell you what we have currently – tell you what that list is that we have already Ms. Tuttle: Try too. We have the rezoning on Jonesville Road which is a second reading; we have to revoke the City Personnel Policy which would be second reading; resolution to adopt the new city policies; approve the Audit by vote; and vote to retire Fire Engine #2. Anything else. Mayor: You can add something now or something in between – Mr. Pelar Mr. Pelar: The appointments to the Planning Commission, BOZA Board – all the reappointments. Mayor: Okay – anyone else have anything tonight – Mr. Gecy Mr. Gecy: Mr. Pelar are you saying that we’re going to announce our appointments at that time Mr. Pelar: We’re going to vote on them yes Mr. Gecy: We’re going to vote on them – when is that committee going to make that decision or have they already met and made that decision Ms. Thomas: No they haven’t Mr. Pelar: One of the things and I’ll refer to Mr. Holmes we had talked about coming up with a standard operating procedure and a way to present a slate of names to the council to vote for the different positions that are open and that's one of the things I want to talk about at the retreat and get that finalized so that we can do that that following Tuesday I believe. Mayor: Okay, anyone else – Agenda items. Alright hearing none we have a need for an Executive Session to discuss a contractual matter regarding Charter Cable and to discuss the City Administrator search once again. I’ll entertain a motion in that regard. Mr. Gecy: So moved Ms. Thomas: Second Mayor: I have a motion and a couple seconds – all those in favor signify by saying Aye (AYE) opposed No – Aye’s have it – we’ll be in recess for I hope not long. Thank you. EXECUTIVE SESSION:
ADJOURNMENT:
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Respectfully submitted, |
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