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09-01-1981 Regular MeetingSeptember 1, 1981 The regular scheduled meeting of Mayor and Council was held pursuant to the Charter on September 1, 1981, at Smyrna City Hall. The meeting was called to order at 7:30 o'clock p.m. by presiding officer Mayor Frank Johnson. All council members were present. Also present was City Attorney Charles Camp, City Clerk Willouise Spivey, Water Supervisor Larry Dunn, Acting Fire Chief Hubert Cochran, Fire Prevention Bureau Captain Jim Tidwell, Police Chief R. E. Little, Parks and Recreation Director Bill Johnston, Building Inspector Dan Steely, Civil Defense Director Jim Farley and representatives of the press. Invocation was given by Police Chief R. E. Little, followed by the pledge to the flag. Citizen Reports: Sue Brissey of 471 Havilon Way said at the last meeting $300 was approved for construction of sidewalks on King Springs Road at South Cobb but could not understand why the City would spend this money, when the other part of the sidewalk. was covered with mud,.grass and weeds and almost impossible to walk on. John Steely said if she knew of a problem such as that, all she had to do was call the Public Works Department and they would take care of it. John asked Larry Dunn to send a crew over to clean the sidewalks on King Springs Road between South Cobb Drive and Griffin School. Variance: Jim Tolleson said that.when'Ken Minchew began construction of Afton Downs, we did not have the fee -simple classification in our ordinance and he built under the RM-12 zoning, with variances. In the variances, he was restricted to one (1) 1,000 square foot unit per cluster. When the fee -simple classification was adopted it allowed for more than that, which has placed a burden on Mr. Minchew. He would like to have a variance now to allow him the option of building 1,000 square foot units as his market demands, instead of the -one unit per cluster as was originally approved. Jim madeza motion this variance request be granted. �Jack'Shinall seconded the motion which carried by a 7-0 vote. There were noncommercial building permits to bring before council. - Jerry Mills made a motion the minutes of.August 3, 1981 be approved as submitted. Elbert Coalson-seconded the motion which carried by a 7-0 vote. Jim Tolleson made a motion the minutes of August 17, 1981 be approved as submitted. Jim Hawkins seconded the motion which.carried by a 7-0 vote. Discussion of Tax Digest Factoring: Jim Tolleson said the information on the. factoring of the tax digest was received last night and council had not had time to go over it in depth, and.made a motion this be tabled. Max Bacon seconded the motion. Jim. Tolleson amended his motion to state this would.be brought up September 21st for discussion. Max Bacon seconded the amendment. After discussion, Jerry Mills made a motion the rules be suspended to allow for discussion. Mayor Johnson stated this was not a germane motion to suspend the rules for discussion, after a motion had been made to table. Vote on the motion .to table failed by 3-4. Voting for was Jim Tolleson, Max Bacon and John Steely. Opposed was Elbert Coalson, Jack Shinall, Jim Hawkins and Jerry Mills. With failure of the motion to table, Mayor Johnson said the floor was now open for discussion. Jim Tolleson said again that he felt council had not had enough time to study the information on the factoring and felt it should be discussed further before making a decision. John Steely said he felt we should consider a .rollback of ad valorem taxes due'to the-'13% factoring by the State, and we'shohld.also consider giving the employees a raise; but felt it would be unfair;to call for a vote tonight with as many different ideas as there were around the table. Max Bacon -said there was a lot of money involved, and he was not going to play politics with something this important just because it was an election year. Jack Shinall said there had been accusations made that he was playing politics with this and said he had always made it known how he stood on taxes. Jack said there were several things to consider tonight; the citizens of the City and our employees. There were quite a few city employees in the audience, and Jack said he was happy to see them here. City taxes have gone up 46% since 1977; and now it was requested that they go up another 13%. The employees of the City need a cost of living raise because they deserve it, but we also deserve to give the citizens a break. His proposition was that taxes,be rolled back one -mill and give all city employees a 5% cost of living increase. Jack said he felt this was fair, and held no admonition against anyone present. Originally, he had wanted to roll back taxes to completely offset the 13% factoring and give the citizens a break, but after talking with Mr. Coalson 'and others, he decided on the compromise. Continued - September 1, 1981 Jim Hawkins said the information was received several days ago, but council had not had the opportunity to discuss it until yesterday. Jim said there were several different ideas presented at the meeting and he felt that to delay it until after qualifying for the election would appear to be very political. He also was in favor of giving the employees a raise, but had a different idea on how to do it, and felt it should be discussed further. Elbert Coalson said he would certainly vote to table this tonight if there was another council meeting before qualifying but he wanted the people of Ward 6 to know how he felt. Mr. Coalson said he would hold out for a 10% increase for employees and not roll back ad valorem taxes at all. He felt our employees are underpaid, and the City of Smyrna had the lowest salary scale of any city in the county, with the exception of Powder Springs. Mr. Coalson said if he was defeated this year by saying he wanted to give the employees a raise, then he would be here as a private citizen next year trying to get them a raise, and if we can't afford to keep them we should let the county take over. Jim Tolleson said there was no doubt the employees needed a raise and felt they would get it, but council needed to agree on how to go about it. John Steely said he agreed with Mr. Tolleson, and if he had to vote on a 10% increase tonight he would have to vote against it because he did not know all the facts. He would hate to cheat the employees out of that, by having it brought up prematurely. Elbert Coalson said everyone had the facts and figures before them. It will cost $251,057 to give raises to everyone except department heads, and $266,149 for all employees including department heads. The raise would not go into effect until the first of October, and Mr. Coalson said he would like to make a motion tonight to approve these raises. Mayor Johnson suggested that, since there were so many differences of opinion, we should wait and have it on the agenda for the next meeting. At that time, council would be sure of how much additional monies would be received from the factoring and how it would be disbursed. He felt, without a doubt, there was a raise to be given but would like to see it brought back to the next meeting after proper study. Elbert Coalson made a motion the people in the audience be allowed to participate in the discussion. Jerry Mills seconded the motion to suspend the rules. Vote on the motion carried 6-1, with Jim Tolleson opposed. Sue Brissey said this was her money being discussed, as a taxpayer, and had no objection to giving the employees a raise. In fact, they needed more than 10% and she would not object to the increase in taxes. David Farmer of the Smyrna Police Department said the employees of the City had stood behind the Mayor and Council 100% over the last two years. Employees have not received a cost of living raise during these two years, and he felt if council passed up this opportunity to give a raise they would be making a mistake. After further discussion, Elbert Coalson made a motion a 10% cost of living raise be given to all employees, except department heads. Motion died for lack of a second. John Steely made a motion this be tabled to the next meeting to allow council time to meet and reach an agreement. Max Bacon seconded the motion which. carried 7-0. Mayor Johnson assured employees present that this question would be resolved at the next meeting. Committee Reports: Max Bacon said it was an untrue statement to say that he was afraid to discuss the tax rollback tonight because someone might qualify against him. Max said he would have been ready to vote tonight, if the figures had all been together. (Streets) Jerry Mills read a request from Parks and Recreation that they be allowed to hang a banner on the corner of Spring and Atlanta Road advertising their Fall Festival on Saturday, October loth. The banner is 6 yards long and would be hung on October 2nd, and moved to Jonquil Park on October 7th, then removed October llth. Jerry made a motion this request be granted. John Steely seconded the motion which carried by a 7-0 vote. (Inspections) Jim Hawkins said he would like to read a proposed ordinance change concerning the fee schedule for impounded dogs, which would bring us in line with Cobb County's rates. The proposed change was read as follows: Continued - September 1, 1981 Section 4-29(b) The owner of any dog impounded may, within five (5) days after notification, reclaim such dog upon the payment of an impounding fee as set by Mayor and Council and on file as of the date of impoundment in the office of the City Clerk, plus a boarding fee as established by Mayor and Council and filed in the office of the City Clerk as of the date of impoundment. Jim said this amendment will be brought up at the next meeting for a vote. Jim Hawkins said council had only met one time to discuss the tax factoring and he did not know until late this evening that it would be on the agenda. He wanted to go on record by saying he was not in favor of any department head getting a cost of living raise and any excess money the City may have should go to the lower paid employees. It was also his idea to give a 5% increase across the board, with the exception of policemen and firemen, and he would like for them to get a 7,% increase. Any difference in the salary increases and additional tax revenues would be used to roll back taxes, which should be about one-half mill. Jack Shinall said his proposal was a'one mill rollback in taxes and a 5% cost of living increase, which he thought was fair, with none of the extra money remaining in the General Fund. Jack Shinall thanked the employees in the Water and Street Departments for getting the water meters.changed and said it has saved the City about $30,000 a month. Jack Shinall said the first correspondence we had received concerning the Sewer System Evaluation Study was to deny the funding. Since then, Mayor Johnson and Commissioner Barrett have written letters asking for reconsideration of our appli- cation, and it now looks as if we have about a 90% chance of receiving this Federal grant. (Police) Elbert Coalson said the Police Committee had met with Judge Reeves and Chief Little concerning the following proposed addition to the Code of Ordinances, which has also been approved by the City Attorney. Mr. Coalson read the amendment as follows: Section 8-19 Power to Seal Records in Certain Cases The Judge of Recorders Court of the City of Smyrna shall have the authority, while sitting as court of first instance in criminal cases or as final arbitor in municipal offenses, to seal to all persons except criminal justice officials, all criminal records of said municipality, including but not limited to records of arrest, fingerprints and photographs, whether maintained in the police agency of the City or elsewhere in said City, related to any individual upon a finding by such judge that such order is necessary and appropriate to preserve the future welfare of such individual; that such order is warranted by unusual circumstances of the case; that such order would not be against the best interests of the public health, safety, welfare and morals of the City or its citizens; and that one of the following conditions shall exist: When upon call of a case for trial, the charges against the individual are dismissed upon motion of the arresting officer, or because of the lack of prosecution of such charges by the arresting officer, the City, or any prosecutor. When there appears to the Court any suspicion of infringement of the constitutional rights of the accused. When the individual has satisfactorily completed any work release requirements, or made satisfactory restitution to any aggrieved party, or attended school, traffic school or other meetings as specified by the court. Provided, however, this paragraph shall apply to youthful or first offender cases only. When the individual record involves traffic and misdemeanor charges which -may become a bar to acceptance into military service or private employment and an affidavit to that effect is presented to the Court executed by a citizen of Cobb County, Georgia other than the offender or accused. Provided, no such order shall become permanent until thirty (30) days after the court has furnished the Mayor and Council and Chief of Police of the City Continued - September 1, 1981 with a written -report of such action listing the name of the individual, nature of.the offense and cause for such action, during which time the Mayor and Council or Chief of Police shall have the right to interpose any objection to.the Court for such order.. Such sealed records shall be kept apart from the regular files of the Police Department and the.City, under lock, and shall not be a part of the records of Smyrna Police Department and shall not be subject to review, comment or report.by the City or any,of.its Departments except upon.specific request for sealed report by criminal justice officials.. Any such.order,.so expunging the records of an individual who has been arrested, shall in no way constitute an adjudication of any illegal or wrongful action on the part of.the arresting officer, or..of the.City. Elbert Coalson.made a"motion this ordinance amendment be approved, seconded by Jack Shinall. Chief Little said as"long as the information would be available to the criminal justice officials, he had no problem with the ordinance. Attorney Camp said the main area where the ordinance would apply would be to'youthful offenders who are not eligible to be tried in juvenile court. This would be for a first time, or even second time basis for a different offense. Vote on approval of the "ordinance carried 5-1-1. Jim Hawkins voted against the motion and Max Bacon abstained. John Steely said he wanted the employees to understand that he wants them to have raise, and they deserve one. His only objection to it being brought up tonight is that he wants to be fair to them and if salaries are adjusted, it should be from the bottom of the scale and not the top. Announcements: CMA_meeting September 8th at Smyrna City_ Hall; next council meeting September 21, 1981. With no further business, meeting adjourned at 8:37 p.m. ************************ September 21, 1981 The regular scheduled meeting of Mayor and Council was held September 21, 1981, at Smyrna City Hall. The meeting was called to order at 7:30 o'clock p.m. by presiding officer Mayor Frank Johnson. All Council members were present. Also present was Police Chief R. E. Little, Acting Fire Chief Hubert Cochran, Public Works Director Jim David, Parks and Recreation Director Bill Johnston, City Attorney Charles Camp, City Clerk Willouise Spivey, Civil Defense Director Jim Farley, Building Inspector Dan Steely and representatives of the press. Invocation was given by Elbert Coalson, followed by the pledge to the flag. Proclamation: Mayor Johnson stated the President has declared the week of September 20-26, 1981, as National Cystic Fibrosis Week and recognized poster child Susan Abdinoor along with her parents who reside at 4282 Antler Trail in Smyrna. Mayor Johnson read a proclamation for Cystic Fibrosis Week in Smyrna and presented it to the Abdinoors along with his best wishes. Citizen Reports: Opal Bird of 705 Burbank Circle stated she and her husband supported a substantial pay increase for our policemen. Wink Winkenhofer stated he was in support of pay increases for city employees and felt if Council did not take this opportunity to increase salaries'substantially, we would lose a lot of good employees. Mr. Winkenhofer said he felt the employees needed the pay raise more than the taxpayers needed a small tax cut, and urged council to look for other ways to cut expenses. Rezoning: Reed Konigsmark requested rezoning of property on Cherokee Trail from R-15 to RD for the construction of one duplex. Elbert Coalson presented a petition, to be made a part of these minutes, signed by 27 residents of Cherokee Trail in opposition to the.rezoning. Mr. Konigsmark said he felt sure the units could be rented for $450 per month, which would attract desirable tenants, and he