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10-05-1981 Regular MeetingOctober 5, 1981 The regular scheduled meeting of Mayor and Council was held pursuant to the Charter on October 5, 1981 at 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, Police Chief R. E. Little, Fire Chief Hubert Cochran, Parks and Recreation Director Bill Johnston, Assistant Public Works Director Vic Broyles, Building Inspector Dan Steely, Civil Defense Director Jim Farley and representatives of the press. Invocation was given by Jim Hawkins, followed by the pledge to the flag. Proclamation: Mayor Johnson read a proclamation in support of PTA membership week and presented it to Jessye Coleman Council President Alice Surber. Ms. Surber introduced Betty Smith, State PTA Membership Chairman and Pinky Gilbert, Council Membership Chairman. Rezoning: Mayor Johnson read a letter from Mildred Scott requesting that her application for rezoning of property on Ridge Road from R-20 to RD be withdrawn at this time. Max Bacon said there seemed to be a lot of questions about this rezoning and he was approached several weeks ago by some citizens in Cedar Cliff Subdivision to support the rezoning. He had never committed himself one way or the other, but there were some rumors going around that he was pushing for it. Max said he had only talked to one person in the subdivision who was against the rezoning but he had kept an open mind, and the rumors were totally unfounded. Jerry Mills asked Attorney Camp to give the legal requirements for withdrawal of a zoning application. Mr. Camp said a zoning application can be withdrawn within 72 hours, for any reason, and it cannot be resubmitted for one year. Citizen Reports: (1) Mike Gloyd of Atlanta Office Machines located outside the City stated he had a problem with an ordinance regarding'a business license that he had been cited for. The citation was issued for doing business without a license at his typewriter repair service on South Cobb Drive. Mr. Gloyd said that although the business signs were up, he was still in the process of moving into the building when he was cited. Mayor Johnson advised Mr. Gloyd that he was in violation of a city ordinance and had been cited, so he should go to court and appeal that decision back to Mayor and Council if he so desired. Mr. Gloyd said he felt the ordinances were not being enforced fairly. He had a list of businesses that had contracts with the City of Smyrna, and they did not have business licenses in the City. (2) Pete Dover of 629 Burbank Circle represented a group of citizens to protest the use of sensitizer burglar alarm systems by three businesses on Cherokee Road. Mr. Dover said these alarms go off at all hours of the day and night. He felt the business owners should either put the alarms in good repair or change over to another system. Mr. Coalson said this was in his ward, and he had already talked to Mr. Dover and Chief Little about the problem. They are in violation of the City r� ordinance and Mr. Coalson asked City Marshal Dan Steely to check into it and report back to Mr. Dover. (3) Al Sorenson from Ward 1 said he had been concerned with our police department for several years and had seen too many good employees leave because of low pay. He spoke in favor of raises for policemen and firemen. Mayor Johnson said at the last meeting all employees had received a 7,% pay increase, which amounted to a 122% increase over the last year. Our starting salaries are probably higher now than Cobb County. Rezoning: C. E. Flowers and Carman and Alice Wright applied for rezoning ofproperty located on Woodruff Drive from Neighborhood Shopping to Office & Institutional. Mr. Tom Wilder of the Georgia Lung Association and Wit Carson represented the applicants. There was no opposition to the rezoning request. Mr. Wilder said they were seeking the rezoning for construction of a 2-story office building which would be used solely by the Georgia Lung Association. Jim Tolleson said the Planning and Zoning Board had unanimously recommended the rezoning and made a motion it be approved.. Jim Hawkins seconded the motion which carried by a 7-0 vote. Bid Opening: Bids for a copy machine for Public Works were opened, read and recorded as follows: American Photocopy of Atlanta $ 2,195.00 Xerox $ 4,270.00 A.B. Dick $ 2,495.00 ($6,995.00 alternate) IBM $21,592.00 Lanier $ 49995-.00 Continued - October 5, 1981 Jack Shinall made a motion these bids be turned over to committee with a recommen- dation back to full council at the next meeting. Jim Hawkins seconded the motion which carried by a 7-0 vote. Bid Opening: Bids on the renewal of employees health insurance were opened, read and recorded as follows: FOWLER AGENCY Life, ADO $ 1,088.50 (Monthly cost, prices American National Insurance Medical $17,763.52 good until 12/1/81) Dental $ 2,526.44 Maternity $ 1,158.26 FOWLER AGENCY Life $ 985.86 (Monthly cost) ADO $ 109.54 Dep. Life $ 58.96 Medicare $ 8,760.40 Add. for Dep. $12,234.20 (per employee) Medicare $ 82.50 (supplemental -per employee) Medicare $ 27.52 (dependents) Dental $ 7.84 (employee) Total estimated monthly premium: $25,982.90 LIBERTY NATIONAL Life $ 1,190.16 (Estimated monthly premium) ADO $ 198.36 Comprehensive $ 7,393.12 Medical Employee Total $ 8,781.64 Dep. Life $ 76.3.8 Comprehensive $10,485.50 (dependents) Medical Total-Dep. $10,561.88 Total estimated monthly premium: $19,343.52 PRUDENTIAL Emp. Life $ .379 (Monthly rates per employee) AD&D $ .078 Dep. Life $ .343 Emp. Medical $ 37.48 Dep. Medical $ 72.16 Medicare Supp. $ 27.19 EQUITABLE Emp. Life $ .39 per $1,000 AD&D $ .06 Dep. Life $ .33 per family Emp. Health $ 41.80 per employee Dep. Health $ 80.49 per family Medicare $ 31.20 Dental-Emp. $ 5.76 Dental-Dep. $ 11.30 Medicare $ 8.65 Max Bacon made a motion these bids be turned over to committee with their recommen- dation back to full council. Jim Hawkins seconded the motion which carried by a 7-0 vote. Jim Tolleson made a motion we request bids for termite control for all city buildings to be opened at the next council meeting. Jack Shinall seconded the motion which carried by a 7-0 vote. Variance: Nick Kipreos requested a variance at 860 Concord Road to build within 40 feet of the right of way instead of the required 50 feet. Mr. Kipreos said he had purchased the building for a restaurant and needed the variance to allow him to expand for more seating room. There was no opposition, and Jim Hawkins made a motion the variance be granted. John Steely seconded the motion which carried by a 7-0 vote. Variance: Control Data Corporation requested a zero -foot side yard variance from the 10 feet required. David Bleakman with Patterson Engineering Company represented Control Data Corporation. Jim Tolleson read a letter from the Building Inspector Continued - October 5, 1981 stating he could not see any problem with the variance and the Fire Department also did not foresee any problems. The property line would be used -.as a common parking area to be used by Control Data and Sons of Italy restaurant. A letter was also presented from Sons of Italy stating they had no objection to the variance. There was no oppositon and Jim Tolleson made a motion the variance be granted. John Steely seconded the motion which carried by a 7-0 vote. Commercial Building Permits: Building permits were presented by Inspector Dan Steely and upon his recommendation the following permits approved: (1) Munich West, Old Spring at Spring Road, requested a permit for construction at a total estimated cost of $140,000. Plans have been reviewed by the Fire Marshal and Inspections Department. Mayor Johnson said this property has not been annexed into the City and the building permit should be presented again after the final annexation hearing on October 19th. (2) Williams Enterprises, 1295 Hawthorne Avenue requested a permit for construction of a new office building at a total estimated cost of $270,000. Plans have been reviewed by the Fire Marshal and Inspections Department. Jim Hawkins made a motion the permit be approved, seconded by John Steely. Vote on the motion carried 7-0. John Steely made a motion the final plat for Unit 2 of Falling Waters be approved. Jim Tolleson seconded the motion which carried by a 7-0 vote. Presentation of Audit: City Clerk Willouise Spivey stated the audit was presented last Thursday by Wallace Pate and reported the General Operating Fund has come from �t a $215,000.deficit to a black figure of $79,382. The Water Revenue, E&C and Sinking ' Funds have also come from a red figure last year. Approval of Minutes: Elbert Coalson made a motion the minutes of September 1, 1981 be approved as submitted. Jim Tolleson seconded the motion which carried 7-0. Jim Tolleson made a motion the minutes of September 21'. 1981 be approved as submitted. Max Bacon seconded the motion which carried 7-0. Committee Reports: (Parks) Bill Johnston reminded everyone of the Fall Festival October loth at Jonquil Park. (Finance) Elbert Coalson said Wally Pate had done a. tremendous job auditing for the City and made a motion he be retained. Jerry Mills seconded the motion which carried by a 7-0 vote. (Civil Defense) Jim Farley said we had a power failure several days ago and the. emergency generator failed to start because the batteries needed replacing. Cost of the batteries, installation and other repairs will total approximately $1200. Elbert Coalson made a motion this expenditure be approved, to be paid from the Contin- gency Fund. John Steely seconded the motion. This generator serves the police station and main fire station and keeps the telephone lines open when a power failure occurs. Vote on the motion carried 7-0. Jim Farley said $1500 had been approved from Revenue Sharing to repair the rescue truck and was allocated for the first quarter expenditures. Jim requested that he be authorized to put the vehicle in the shop for repairs., since there is only one in the area qualified to make repairs on these military -type vehicles. Mr. Farley was' told to go through the Garage Committee for authorization. Jack Shinall made a motion a 4-way stop sign be placed at the intersection of Timber- land and Parkwood. Jerry Mills seconded the mozion which carried 7-0. Jack Shinall made a motion the estimate of $1002 for sidewalk repairs on Powder Springs Street be approved. The sidewalk being replaced is between Wayland Court and Rosalyn Lane, made necessary because the street is actually higher than the sidewalk. Jim Hawkins seconded the motion which carried by a 6-1 vote, with Jim Tolleson opposed. Jim Hawkins made a motion for approval of 372 feet of curb.and gutter on Church Street, to Clifton Road. The estimate for this work is $959, to be paid from State Grants. Jerry Mills seconded the motion which carried by a 7-0 vote. Jim Hawkins said the air conditioning at the Library had been out for quite some time and -when it was checked this week, it was discovered that the heat does not work either. Jim made a motion that bids be requested for a new neating and air conditioning unit for the Library, to be opened at the next meeting. This expenditure has already been approved in the Revenue Sharing budget. Jerry Mills seconded the motion which carried 7-0 . Continued - October 5, 1981 Jim Hawkins said the county has begun construction of sidewalks on King Springs Road, from Concord Road to King Springs Park. Jim said he has been working on this project for over 2 years and this was one of his goals as councilman. Jim thanked Wit Carson who was present and all the county commissioners, and also Max Bacon for his help in this project. (Streets) Jerry Mills reminded all council that their priority lists for paving under the LARP program needed to be turned in right away. Jerry Mills read a letter from himself to the Mayor and Council concerning the merger of the Smyrna Fire Department with Cobb County as follows: "Gentlemen: We have been considering a merger of the Smyrna fire department and the Cobb County Fire Department for almost a year. I believe it is vital that we move on this proposal NOW. Our fire department personnel want to merge. The Fire Chief of Cobb County wants to merge. Several county commissioners have told me informally that they favor merger of the departments. The last two Cobb County grand juries have recommended merger. This merger will produce several benefits to the citizens of Smyrna immediately: 1. We will have better fire protection; better and more versatile equipment, and shorter response time. 2. We will eliminate confusion as to which department covers a particular j area. 3. We will have lower insurance rates; down from Class 6 to Class 5. 4. Our firemen will.be better paid and have more career opportunities; more incentive to continue to train and improve their capabilities. 5. We will be able to raise the pay of our police officers without increasing taxes. WHAT ARE WE WAITING FOR? Now I realize that there is some reluctance to embark on a bold new plan during an election campaign. Most of us would rather not "rock the boat until after election day. But'we really cannot afford to wait. If we are going to merge during the coming calendar year we need to make a commit- ment to Cobb County now so the Fire Chief can include the added functions in his 1982 budget. (The 1982 Cobb County budget is being developed NOW) It costs us $776,409.00 per year (1981) to operate our fire department. Inflation will push that figure up again next year. It takes five. mills to generate $776,409.00 in the city of Smyrna; Cobb County's fire district tax is 3.6 mills. _ Cobb County wants the City of Smyrna to share the cost of operation for the first year, and they are asking us to commit $550,000 for that purpose. This seems fair enough, in light of the fact that we will spend about $800,000.00 for fdre protection — next year if we do not merge the departments. If we accept the offer of Cobb County, we will still have a saving of substantial proportions; enough to enable us to raise the pay of our policemen to levels that will be competitive in the area without a tax increase. In fact, after the first year, after we have paid our one -timeshare of $550,000.00 for fire operations, we will be able to reduce the tax rate by 3.6 mills and still have enough to sustain the higher salaries for our police officers. The time to act on this proposal is NOW! I propose to make a motion at this week's meeting of the Smyrna City Council to authorize the Mayor to procede immediately to conclude an agreement to merge the two departments on or before January 1, 1982. I ask all of you to support this proposal for the good of our city and for the benefit of our citizens. Respectfully submitted, s/JERRY MILLS c/Chairman, Cobb County Board of Commissioners" Jerry Mills made a motion the Mayor be authorized to proceed immediately to conclude an agreement to merge these two departments on or before January 1, 1982. Jack Shinall seconded the motion. Max Bacon said he was Chairman of the Fire Committee and the intent of Jerry's proposal was good, but we are still in negotiation with the county, and as of today, Continued - October 5, 1981 Harry Ingram said there was just no way the county could accept the proposal. He further stated the only way they could generate the money would be to raise county taxes. Max said he felt this should stay in committee for further negotiations, but the main problem now is the county does not have the available money. Jim Tolleson asked Jerry why he had set the time limit for an agreement. Jerry said the county was drawing their budget now; their fiscal year will end December 31, 1981. Jerry read a letter from Cobb County Fire Chief W. D. Hilton to the Cobb County Board of Commissioners as follows: "Gentlemen: On May 14, I was asked to present to you a proposal relating to the merger of the Smyrna Fire Department with the Cobb County system. Some of you have asked for additional information; therefore, I will reduce to writing the "meat" of that proposal. As you know, the Grand Jury of March -April, 1981 supported the proposition of this merger which was stated in the presentments of the January - February term. There.has been a great amount of interest shown by the Mayor and Council and citizens of the City of Smyrna in support.of this merger. I met with the executive body of the City atone of their regular meetings around the first of May. Since that time they have held two public hearings in order to get citizen input either for or against this proposal. There were no citizens at either of the meetings who were opposed. As stated to you in the conference on May 14, the merger would be beneficial to the County in a number of ways, but more prevalent in the area of time and distance response, especially in the Cumberland- Galleria area. Another benefit would be that of not being continually concerned with the City of Smyrna annexing the high value property in that area. As related to you in earlier letters, the annexation procedures by.the cities have continually usurped fire district funds that were badly needed by this deparatment over the past several years. I can get those figures for you if you so desire. There are some drawbacks that the Board must consider in approaching this proposal. The main one being the financial liability that the County must take if the merger is completed. The present budget for the City of Smyrna Fire Department is approxi- mately $950,000.00. The revenue to be derived through the 3.6 mill fire tax from the City of Smyrna would only be $410,000.00. You can see that we will be about $550,000.00 short. I have had numbers of calls from the Mayor and Council members asking where we are with this proposal. I made a counter proposal to them for consideration in which I asked for -the City to contribute to the County fire fund. the above mentioned $550,000.00 for the first year's operation. This would still allow them as a City to net savings of about $411,000.00. Councilman Bacon speci- fically seemed to be encouraged by this suggestion and was to contact various members of the Board of Commissioners to discuss this issue. The City.of Smyrna would reap a number of benefits; however, I will only elaborate on a few. The first, thing that would occur should the merger take place is that the citizens of the City would have their insurance classification reduced•almost immediately from a class six to class five. The City would be allowed to redeem, at a point in time, the fire staiton located on Spring Road to be used for their Parks and Recreation Headquarters. This could take place after we merged that station equipment and personnel with our Station #5 equipment and personnel somewhere in the immediate vicinity of Cumberland,and Gal.leria. The members of the Smyrna Fire Department appear to be 100% in favor of this merger, including the present Fire Chief, Hubert Cochran. They can see additional benefits as County employees over being City employees. Each employee would be merged into the system provided he/she meets the criteria to be established at a future date. As of this point I see no reason why all the employees would not be retained. The City of Smyrna would completely and totally get out of the firefighting business. They could exert their attention and efforts toward other areas.of City government that have more pressing needs. As I stated to you in the meeting mentioned above, of the 14 mills that the City is charging their citizens for City taxes, over 9 mills is going for fire prozection alone. The citizens would be charged 3.6 mills and could have their city taxes reduced by up.to six.mills if the City so desired, or they could be reduced less than that and allow the City more money to expand other services that they need. If the Board intends to pursue this merger proposition, this -department -along with Personnel and Finance would need at least two -months lead time in order to get all the accurate figures on total cost. In the meantime, I will be waiting to hear from you and no further action will be taken by this office until that time. Respectfully, s/CHIEF W. D. HILTON" Continued - October 5, 1981 Commissioner Wit Carson was in the audience and following a question from Max Bacon, said he did not think it was possible to merge these two departments by January 1, 1982. Jim Hawkins said he hoped we would hold off on negotiations with the county until after the first of the year, with the new administration because this was something that would affect the City for many years. Jim said he did not think a lame duck Mayor and Council should handle this; he thought it was being handled propery through committee and should stay there. Commissioner Carson said this had caught him by surprise. His understanding was that Mr. Bacon was repre- senting the City and Mr. Paschal the County, in negotiations, and felt this action tonight might be a little premature. Following further discussion, vote on the motion failed 3-4. Voting for was Jerry Mills, Jack Shinall and Elbert Coalson. Opposed was Jim Tolleson, Jim Hawkins, Max Bacon and John Steely. Attorney Camp stated that legally, he did not think we could simply give up our fire department and tell the County it was up to them to provide protection for our citizens. Jim Tolleson said the grading on Pasadena Blvd. had begun, thanks to the efforts of a lot of people. (Sanitation) Jim Tolleson said that when garbage cans were left sitting out, it was because the can had a hole in it and trash would not be picked up until a new liner was purchased. Mayor Johnson said that 21 city streets were being resurfaced by the State under , the LARP program. The Fall Festival will be October loth, and the next council meeting on October 19th. With no further business, meeting adjourned at 8:55 p.m. ************************ October 19, 1981 The regular scheduled meeting of Mayor and Council was held October 19, 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, Police Chief R. E. Little, Acting Fire Chief Hubert Cochran, Parks and Recreation Director Bill Johnston, Water Department Supervisor Larry Dunn, Building Inspector Dan Steely, Civil Defense Director Jim Farley and representatives of the press. Invocation was given by John Steely, followed by the pledge to the flag. Citizen Reports: (1) Randall Courtney, owner of the'Jean Rustlers at 570 Cherokee Road was present representing a group of other business owners on Cherokee Road to call attention to an establishment recently opened on Cherokee Road called the Tattoo Parlor. Their complaints consisted of the nature of the business which., serves no significant benefit to the public, operating hours of the business; with people waiting outside for the owner to come in. There is loud talking and laughing, with other shopping center patrons being unwillingly exposed to the noise. There are also excessive signs and blinking lights giving the store an adult bookstore admosphere, with pictures of nude persons located in the front part of the business.' Mr. Courtney asked council to revoke the license of this establishment. Jerry Mills said the Police Department and Inspections Department should check the business concerning the nude pictures and report back to council with their recommendation if it was disorderly. Attorney Camp said we could not deny a person a legitimate business license and this has the cloak of legitimacy until proven otherwise. A license cannot be revoked without first having a show cause hearing and giving the owner an opportunity to be heard. Mr. Camp said the issuance of the license was proper, but as far as the nude photos are concerned, that is something that we will have to check out. Mr. Coalson said this was in his ward and he was unaware there was a tattoo parlor there. Also, he was surprised that Mr. Phillips would rent a building to someone having a business such as this. Mayor Johnson said our business license schedule did not have a specific category for a tattoo parlor and anytime a person applied for a license in the absence of a specific category, they were issued a -license under a general commercial category.