CATOOSA COUNTY BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS
ADMINISTRATION BUILDING, 800 LA FAYETTE ROAD
February 20, 2007, 6:00 p.m.
The regular meeting of the Board of Commissioners was held Tuesday, February 20, 2007 at 6:00 p.m. in the Catoosa County Administrative Building, 800 LaFayette Street, Ringgold, Georgia.
County Attorney Patty gave the invocation, which was followed by the Pledge of Allegiance.
Chairman Clark called the meeting to order. The following commissioners were present: William H. H. Clark, Chairman; Ken Marks, Commissioner District One; James F. Emberson, Commissioner, District Three; and Dewayne Hill, Commissioner, District Four. Robert Winters, Commissioner, District Two, was absent.
Additions: Adjustments and Repairs, Site I at the Landfill; Selling Carbon Credits; and Rental Contract for Postage Equipment in Tax Commissioners’ Office; Status on Noise Ordinance; and Legal Advice to Executive Session. By unanimous consent the agenda was approved as amended.
MINUTES
Chairman Clark called for approval of the minutes of the regular meeting of February 8, 2007. There were no corrections and the minutes were unanimously approved as presented.
COUNTY MANAGER REPORT County Manager Brown announced the Public Works Board, along with County Attorney and an engineer, would meet with residents at the Westside Voting Precinct on Thursday, February 22 between 5:30 to 6:30 p.m. for the purpose of discussing the West Chickamauga Basin Sewer Project.
Chief Finance Officer Henson reported on the fourth month of the current fiscal year ending January 31, 2007. He said the operating revenue was $7,560,610, exceeded the budget by $175,796 and exceeded prior year by $1,601,178. Mr. Henson said operating expenditures were $6,769,452, less than budgeted by $348,531 and exceeded prior year by $765, 878. In summary Mr. Henson said the revenue exceeded expenditures by $659,000, favorable to budget and favorable to prior year by $1,963,463. Mr. Henson pointed out the largest factor affecting prior year was the additional revenue, plus the County did not have the capital expenditure it had in the prior year. [Summary of Financial Report attached hereto as Exhibit A]
REPORT ON STATUS OF NOISE ORDINANCE County Attorney Patty reported that he had delivered a proposed Ordinance to the Board of Commissioners prior to the meeting, which would provide for abatement of nuisances in the County. He said the Ordinance was structured so that the Zoning Officials would be in charge of abating a nuisance caused by noise or other things defined in the Ordinance. He said if the Zoning officials had reason to believe that the noise or other matters created a nuisance, they would give a notice to abate to the property owner or the person causing the nuisance. Mr. Patty said that person would have the right to go to court or the Zoning Official could take that person to court, and if the Magistrate found that the matter was a nuisance an Order to Abate would be issued. He said if the person refused to abate upon receiving the Order he would be subject to a fine of not less than $50 or more than $1,000 per day and could be held in contempt. Mr. Patty said his recommendation was that the Board of Commissioners review the proposed Ordinance for the remainder of the week, submit to him any changes they would like made, and then he would send the Ordinance to the Planning Commission to hold a public hearing on it and send it back before the Board of Commissioners for adoption as an Amendment to the Zoning Ordinance.
ADJUSTMENTS AND REPAIRS TO SITE I AT CATOOSA COUNTY LANDFILL Mr. Brown said the Public Works Authority recommended these adjustments, and he deferred to Mr. Meadows to present the matter. Mr. Meadows said the cost of the adjustments would be $50,600 for equipment and supplies. He said Phase I section outlined in the Corrective Action Plan (CAP) went through April. He said if Phase I was successful in stopping the migration, the County would not enter into subsequent phases. Mr. Meadows outlined some of the functions performed by the consultants which included pumping wells, balancing wells, and checking out wells with video cameras, and generally found the source of what they believed was the migration. Mr. Meadows said to continue work by the consultants would be more expensive than if the County employees did the work, and it was the joint recommendation of the consultants and County staff that County employees continue to perform some of the work. He said briefly that would involve manual pumping 17 wells, removing silt from 3 wells and sealing 6 wells that had air leaks. In addition the other wells, for a total of 22, would have an apron placed around them with a soil cover, which would stop the air from going into the wells and would prevent any water from getting into the wells. In addition, a geo membrane with soil overlay would be placed over a vent, which was a source of gas migration. Mr. Meadows said Staff recommended the Board authorize the $50,600 for the aforementioned activities on Site I at the Catoosa County Landfill s a part of Phase I of the Corrective Action Plan. Chairman Clark called for all in favor of approving the recommendation to indicate by saying aye. There was no opposition and the recommendation was unanimously approved.
SELLING CARBON CREDITS Mr. Meadows said he believed the County had between $70,000 and $80,000 in carbon credits between 2003 and 2006. He said they proposed the County take the next step to receive the money through the Chicago Climate Exchange and outlined the steps required to receive/sell these credits. Chairman Clark called for all in favor of granting authority for Staff to move forward with the RFP to indicate by saying aye. There was no opposition and the authority was unanimously approved. [Copy of Steps to Sell Carbon Credits attached Hereto as Exhibit B]
RENTAL CONTRACT FOR POSTAGE EQUIPMENT IN THE TAX COMMISSION OFFICE Mr. Henson presented the contract with Hasler for the postage equipment in the Tax Commission Office in the amount of $585.00. Chairman Clark called for all in favor of the contract to indicate by saying aye. There was no opposition and the contract was unanimously approved. [Contract on File in Commission Office]
PLANNING COMMISSION RECOMMENDATIONS:
Mr. Donald Brown presented the following rezoning recommendations:
Case No 988-06, Kenneth Durham, Nellie Head Road, R-1 to C-2. The Planning Commission denied 7‑0. Mr. Brown said Mr. Durham was interested in operating a neighborhood store and the Planning Commission denied the requested based upon the majority of the property in the area was zoned A-1, R-1, and R-A. There was no one speaking for or against this case. Chairman Clark called for all in favor of approving the Planning Commission decision to deny rezoning to indicate by saying aye. There was no opposition and the rezoning was unanimously denied.
Case No.992-07, Mark Heatherly, Meghan Heatherly Ln., R-1 to C-1. The Planning Commission approved the rezoning 7-0. Mr. Brown said this property was located off Mack Smith Road and was approximately .77 acres that adjoined property currently owned by Mr. Heatherly and zoned commercial. There was no one speaking for or against the rezoning. Chairman Clark called for all in favor of approving the Planning Commission recommendation to rezone the property from R-1 to C-1 to indicate by saying aye. There was no opposition and the rezoning was unanimously approved.
LIBRARY BOARD APPOINTMENT County Attorney Patty indicated Mr. Doug Barrow had resigned from the Library Board. The County Clerk advertised and received applicants to complete the term of Mr. Barrow ending June30, 2009. The applicants were: Sue Lane Helton, Janice Kennedy, Pat Silcox, and Brad Scott. Mr. Patty handed out ballots and after three rounds of voting, the Board failed to get a majority vote for any one candidate. Upon recommendation by Chairman Clark, the Board unanimously voted to table the appointment to the Library Board to the first meeting of March 2007.
CONGESTION MITIGATION AIR QUALITY GRANT Mr. Meadows said Catoosa and Walker Counties had the opportunity to apply for $700,000 of congestion mitigation federal funds this year and the following two years. He pointed out if the County did not ask for these the funds they would probably go to the Atlanta area. He said the deadline for applying was this week and the local match would be 20%. Mr. Meadows said in the event of funding, he and the County Manager had targeted Lakeview Drive and Cross Street intersection for the project, because this intersection, along with two others on Lakeview Drive, were included in the TPO Congestion Management Study as being “hot spots” for congestion at different times of the day. Mr. Meadows indicated the area also had storm water problems, and he hoped to shortly bring a grant request for GEMA funds before the Board for storm water management. He said he felt the two grants would work together. Mr. Meadows said this would be a $400,000 project funded through federal highway funds in the amount of $320,000 with a 20% County match of $80,000. Mr. Meadows said the 20% matching funds would come from the SPLOST storm water funding. Mr. Meadows recommended that staff be allowed to apply for and the Chairman be authorized to sign the application. Chairman Clark called for all in favor of the application to indicate by saying aye. There was no opposition and the authority to file the application signed by Chairman Clark was unanimously approved.
CHANGE WATER BOARD ELECTIONS Chairman Clark said he did not think he had a second for this issue, so there was no use in pursuing the discussion. There was no action on the matter.
Phyllis Williams, Resident. Said she had been studying all the boards in the County, and she was glad to see the issue regarding the Water Board elections. She also addressed the number of people on other boards in the county, the lack of communication between the various boards and the Board of Commissioners, and the amount of money spent paying the board members of the various boards.
There were no other comments by the Commissioners.
EXECUTIVE SESSION Chairman Clark said the Board would go into executive session for the purpose of legal advice. The vote was taken by roll call and the Board unanimously voted to go into executive session for legal advice at 6:30 p.m. The Board voted unanimously to come out of executive session at 7:10 p.m.
ADJOURNMENT There was no further business, and the Board unanimously agreed to adjourn the meeting at 7:15 p.m.
CATOOSA COUNTY BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS
William H. H. Clark, Chairman
Ken Marks, Commissioner, District One
Robert R. Winters, Commissioner, District Two
James F. Emberson, Commissioner, District Three
Dewayne Hill, Commissioner, District Four