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August 21, 1989 Council Meeting August 21, 1989 The regular scheduled meeting of Mayor and Council was held August 21, 1989 at Smyrna City Hall. The meeting was called to order at 7:30 o'clock p.m. by presiding officer Mayor A. Max Bacon. All council members were present. Also present was City Administrator John Patterson, City Attorney Charles E. Camp, City Clerk Melinda Dameron, Acting Police Chief Kent Sims, Fire Chief Larry Williams, Public Works Director Vic Broyles, Personnel Director Jane Sargent, Communications Director Steve Ciaccio, Building Inspector Scott Stokes, Parks and Recreation Director Sherry Reavis, Finance Director Emory McHugh, Faye Wood representing the Library and representatives of the press. Invocation was given by Michael Carey, pastor of Calvary Presbyterian Church followed by the pledge to the flag. /" John Steely presented a crystal jonquil to Jerry Hughes, retiring from the Parks Commission after serving since 1984. Mayor Bacon recognized Senator Hugh Ragan and thanked him for obtaining funds to pave North Cooper Lake Road. CITIZENS INPUT: Nothing to report. PUBLIC HEARINGS: (A) Home occupation license - 4140 Manson Avenue John Patterson said that Thomas McMurrian has requested a home occupation license to develop computer software and act as a management consultant. Business will be conducted from his client's location with no sign of business activity from the home. There was no opposition. John Steely said Mr. McMurrian's application indicated he would have one employee not residing in the home, which is not allowed under our code. However, in speaking with him earlier Mr. McMurrian has indicated that the employee will be handling outside sales work only and will not actually be working in the home. Mr. McMurrian said he understood that there could not be any employees on the premises, no storage of products or equipment and no client contact at the home. .. John Steely made a motion the license be approved with the stipulation that when the business expands to the point that more employes are needed, the license be void. Jack Shinall seconded the motion which carried 7-0. (B) Privilege license - transfer of liquor, beer and wine package license for Sterling Package Store, 1669 Spring Road John Patterson said that agent for Sterling Package background was favorable and John Michael Upchurch has applied as Store. The police investigation of Mr. there was no opposition. the acting Upchurch's Attorney David B. Groff and James P. Wassell also represented Sterling Package as officers of the corporation. Mr. Upchurch said he is a CPA and this is the first time he has been involved with this type business. He is Treasurer of the corporation and will act as a financial advisor but does not own stock in the company. Mr. Upchurch said he had a copy of the city rules and regulations regarding alcoholic beverages and understood them fully. ... Mr. Groff said the request for change of management was submitted to the City before their license was suspended during the sting operation. This change including the termination of Mr. Lange was strictly a business decision. Mr. Upchurch said while he would not work in the store, their policy from now on will be to card everyone who comes into the store, regardless of their age appearance. They also have placed signs inside the store stating they will not sell to anyone unless identification is provided. Jack Shinall reminded Mr. Upchurch that our ordinance is being revised to provide for more stringent penalties for violations. After further discussion, Bill Scoggins made a motion the management change be approved. Bob Davis seconded the motion which carried 7-0. (C) Variance - sign for Exxon, Spring & Atlanta Road. John Patterson said Exxon is requesting a variance to allow an additional sign at their new location on Spring and Atlanta Road. The proposed sign will August 21, 1989 meeting - continued be 60 square feet of copy area and 20 feet in height. The variance has been tabled several times prior to the meeting tonight. Sue Brissey said she did not wish to speak but would like to go on record as being in opposition. Elvin Aycock represented Exxon and said the sign they would like to use will be one-half the size of the sign already on the Spring Road side. They feel they need the sign because of the poor visibility on Atlanta Road to advertise their prices. Mr. Aycock said this facility is a one million dollar investment for Exxon and the business they are doing thus far does not justify the investment. If they cannot increase their volume they will not continue the operation. Mr. Aycock said they have tried everything possible within the guidelines of the ordinance and felt the sign was vital to the operation. John Steely said he could not understand why the existing sign could not be relocated to the Atlanta Road side since they do have good visibility on Spring Road. Jack Shinall asked if they had calculated the change in business when the Atlanta Road construction was completed. Mr. Aycock said construction has already slowed down and they felt that when it was completed, traffic would speed up and make the situation worse than it already is. Ninety percent of their business now is from the Spring Road side and if they move that sign, they felt that portion of their business would also decline. ""' After further discussion Wade Lnenicka said there are good arguments on both sides. He felt Exxon has been a good corporate citizen to the City during their stay; it is a clean operation and the type of business we like to have in Smyrna. Mr. Lnenicka said he was also cognizant of the precedent council would be setting by approving this variance but felt it was a unique situation because of the poor visibility on Atlanta Road. Wade Lnenicka made a motion the variance be approved at this location for Exxon only; any other ownership would automatically rescind the variance. Bill Scoggins seconded the motion which failed 2-5, with Bob Davis, Jim Hawkins, Jack Shinall, Kathy Jordan and John Steely opposed. (D) Variance Cobb Drive. portable storage buildings at Smyrna Hospital, 3949 South ..... John Patterson said that Smyrna Hospital is requesting a variance to allow two 14 x 48 mobile buildings to be used as temporary office space. Moving some of the administrative offices will free up critical square footage in the main building necessary for patient care. There was no opposition. Ernie Carringer represented Smyrna Hospital and said space is at a critical stage. They will relocat the accounting, human relations, marketing and development departments and provide additional space for patient services and care. Mr. Carringer said the buildings will be used temporarily and they are planning for future expansion. The buildings will be directly behind the hospital and not visible from South Cobb Drive. They are constructed to match the siding on the main building and will be tied together with walkways to appear to be part of the main facility. After discussion, Wade Lnenicka made a motion the variance be approved with the stipulation that the buildings be limited to a two year duration and that the variance be automatically rescinded within 30 days after these offices are relocated to a permanent site. John Steely seconded the motion which carried 7-0. (E) Variance - side yard setback at 1003 Natalie Lane John Patterson said that Mrs. Bobbie Allison of Bobbie Allison Construction is requesting this variance to reduce the side yard setback from 23.33 feet to 20.9 feet. There was no opposition. ..., Ken Reese represented Mrs. Allison and said he was the surveyor for this property. Mr. Reese said there is a drop off on the side yard of this lot which made it difficult to lay the lot out. The error was discovered on the final survey. Mr. Reese said he has surveyed the entire subdivision which is about 90% complete and this is the first time they have required a variance. Jack Shinall said the only problem he had was that the home was closed before the final certificate of occupancy was issued by the Inspections Department and that should not happen except in very unusual circumstances. Jack Shinall made a motion the variance be approved seconded by Wade Lnenicka. The motion and second were later withdrawn to allow comments by Mr. August 21, 1989 meeting - continued James Williamson, owner of the house. Mr. Williamson said he just wanted to be sure that if they sold the house at some future date, the next person would not have this same problem. Also, he wondered why this was not caught earlier. Building Inspector Scott Stokes said the encroachment was discovered before footings were poured but it was difficult to measure the setback, because of the topography of the lot. They did require the builder to move the house back about 3 feet but the final survey indicated that they were still over the building line. Jack Shinall made a motion the variance be approved as requested. Wade Lnenicka seconded the motion which carried 7-0. FORMAL BUSINESS: ... (A) Bid openings: Bids for two copy machines to be used in City Hall and Police Department Records were opened, read and recorded as follows: Pitney Bowes $10,531 165 installation $12,061 300 installation Minolta Business Systems $ 9,169.81 each Xerox Corporation $17,620.00 total First Copy Corporation $ 8,767.40 each - Panasonic Danka Business Services $ 8,191.00 each - Savin $11,110.00 - Savin 7065 $ 8,316.00 - Savin 7500 $ 1,382.25 - maintenance $ 1,946.50 - maintenance 7500 program for 7500 program for 7065 Eastman Kodak Company $12,917.50 each - EK90 (State contract price) ... John Steely made a motion the bids be turned over to the Finance and Police Committees for their recommendation back to full council at the next meeting. Wade Lnenicka seconded the motion which carried 7-0. Bids for portable staging were opened, read and recorded as follows: Bil-Jax, Inc. Wenger Corp. $3,929.94 $3,430.00 Bill Scoggins made a motion the bids be turned over the Parks Committee for their recommendation back to full council at the next meeting. Jim Hawkins seconded the motion which carried 7-0. Bids for the central computer upgrade were opened, read and recorded as follows: IBM $27,249.00 600 credit for deletion of feature codes XL/Datacomp $24,900.00 DPE Enterprises $20,630.62 ... Jim Hawkins made a motion the bids be turned over to the Finance Committee for their recommendation back to full council. Wade Lnenicka seconded the motion which carried 7-0. Bids for a new pickup truck for the Community Development department were opened, read and recorded as follows: Beaudry Ford $10,911.00 4.3 litre engine $11 , 390 . 00 5.0 litre engine Bob Davis made a motion the bids be turned over to the Community Development for a recommendation back to full council. Jim Hawkins seconded the motion which carried 7-0. August 21, 1989 meeting - continued BID AWARDS: Bill Scoggins made a motion the riding lawn mower for the Parks Department be awarded to Turf Care Products for the Toro mower at $9,945. John Steely seconded the motion which carried 7-0. Bill Scoggins made a motion the Tolleson be awarded to Gametime companies bidding could not or substituting apparatus. Kathy Jordan playground equipment for Church Street and who was the high bidder at $26,518. Other did not meet specifications and were seconded the motion which carried 7-0. Bill Scoggins made a motion the Holland loader with attachments be awarded to Cobb County Tractor for $17,300. The low bid from Franklin Ford Tractor was a demo model with parts that could not be replaced. Jack Shinall seconded the ... motion which carried 7-0. Jack Shinall made a motion the pickup truck for Public Works be awarded to Wade Ford at $11,800. This is not low bid but consideration was given to the time saved on service calls with a local company. Bill Scoggins seconded the motion which carried 7-0. Jack Shinall made a motion the refuse collector be awarded to Fouts Brothers Nissan, the low bidder for the Dempster model at $63,352.72. Kathy Jordan seconded the motion which carried 6-0, with Bill Scoggins abstaining. COMMERCIAL BUILDING PERMITS: Nothing to report. CONSENT AGENDA: (A) Parade permit - SAA opening day, August 26th (B) Approval to request bids for motorcycles - Police Department (C) Approval to request bids - rescue truck for Fire Department Jim Hawkins made a motion the consent agenda be approved. Bob Davis seconded the motion which carried 7-0. COUNCIL INPUT: Jim Hawkins made a motion the rules be suspended to change the date of the next meeting. Jack Shinall seconded the motion which carried ... 7-0. Jim Hawkins made a motion the first meeting of September be changed to September 5th because of the Labor Day holiday. Bill Scoggins seconded the motion which carried 7-0. John Steely said he would also like to thank the Cobb County Commissioners who helped with funding for paving North Cooper Lake Road. Mayor Bacon said the court had ruled that the City ordinance would not allow council to arbitrarily suspend an alcoholic beverage license for violations regarding sales and although those licenses were re-instated August 11th, felt they had still sent a message to the businesses that they would not tolerate sales to our minors. With no further business, meeting adjourned at 8:48 p.m. ~/?~ A. MAX BACON, MAYOR Ji HN - .....