Aldermen Minutes
MINUTES
MAYOR AND BOARD OF ALDERMEN
CITY OF OCEAN SPRINGS
REGULAR MEETING OF FEBRUARY 6, 2007
Be it remembered that the Mayor and Board of Aldermen of the City of Ocean Springs met in a Regular meeting at City Hall in the City of Ocean Springs at 6:00 p.m. on February 6, 2007. Mayor Moran presiding, Aldermen Gill, McDonnell, Lloyd, Weaver, Denyer, Dalgo and Hagan were present. Also present were City Attorney John Edwards and City Clerk Adrienne Howell.
Mayor Moran gave the invocation and led the Pledge of Allegiance.
The Mayor requested that the portions of item 6-a of the Consent Agenda regarding recommendations to the Library Board and Historic Preservation Commission be tabled. Motion was made by Alderman Denyer, seconded by Alderman Dalgo and unanimously carried to table the recommendations to the Library Board and Historic Preservation Commission.
Alderman Denyer requested that items 7-a through 7-j be discussed in Executive Session. Motion was made by Alderman McDonnell, seconded by Alderman Denyer and unanimously carried to pull items 7-a through 7-j to discuss in Executive Session.
Motion was made by Alderman McDonnell, seconded by Alderman Denyer and unanimously carried to add item 4-c to New Business to discuss the tornado that hit The Villages in Florida.
PRESENTATION
Fire Chief Mark Hare accepted a Walmart grant in the amount of $1,000.00 for the Fire Department which will be used to purchase smoke detectors (Exhibit 3-a).
NEW BUSINESS
Ms. Deborah Laney, 508 Pershing Avenue, requested that the speed bump at the end of her driveway not be replaced. The Mayor asked the City Engineer to investigate other types of traffic calming devices and asked Ms. Mohar to coordinate with Gulf Regional Planning to examine the traffic count and speed limit on Pershing Avenue.
Ms. Judy Steckler, Director of the Land Trust presented a request for $25,000.00 to be used as a match for funds received from several grants in purchasing a thirty acre parcel known as “12 Oaks” (Exhibit 4-b). Motion was made by Alderman McDonnell, seconded by Alderman Denyer and unanimously carried to grant the request of $25,000.00 to the Land Trust of the Mississippi Coastal Plain for the 12 Oaks conservation for support of community services and the arts, amend the budget accordingly and spread the letter of request on the minutes (Exhibit 4-b).
The Mayor explained that The Villages in Florida, that raised over $190,000.00 for the Ocean Springs Hurricane Relief Fund, was hit by a tornado and over one hundred and fifty homes were damaged and will have to be rebuilt. She has asked them what the City could do to help and they requested items from Ocean Springs be donated for a silent auction that will be held on February 19, 2007 as a recovery effort. Motion was made by Alderman Gill, seconded by Alderman McDonnell and unanimously carried to request citizens and merchants to donate items to The Villages for their silent auction.
PUBLIC COMMENT
Mr. Fred Moran, developer and manager of commercial properties, complained that the Design Review Ordinance has many flaws, is too restrictive and urges the Board to reconsider and rescind the ordinance.
Mr. Henry Furr, local architect, expressed his concerns about the Design Review Ordinance, and recommended moving forward with a new, complete Zoning Ordinance like Smart Code or something similar.
Ms. Mary Marr Beckman said the Planning Commission worked long and hard on the Design Review Guidelines with the intent to preserve Ocean Springs, not to stop development but to improve the materials and designs.
Ms. Johnny Burnhardt expressed her support of a proposed 2% sales tax to benefit Parks and Recreation projects. She read an excerpt from the 2005 Mississippi State Department of Health which said that our state has the highest cardiovascular disease mortality rate in the nation and is in the top five states for diabetes and obesity. She said one of the number one thing we can do as a community is build enough parks and sports facilities for our children to prevent disease.
CONSENT AGENDA
Motion was made by Alderman Denyer, seconded by Alderman Gill and unanimously carried to approve the Consent Agenda with the exception of item (a) which was pulled by Mayor Moran and items (g), (l) and (m) which were pulled by Alderman Hagan.
Mayor Moran pulled item (a) and requested that the portions regarding recommendations to the Library Board and Historic Preservation Commission be tabled to consider more applications.
Alderman Hagan pulled items (g), (l) and (m) and asked that they be held for Executive Session.
DEPARTMENT REPORTS
Mayor
The Mayor asked that item 7-j be pulled from the agenda.
The Mayor presented a letter from Singing River Power regarding the light survey on Ocean Springs Road with their recommendation.
The Mayor presented an update on the USDA/RD equipment applications (Exhibit 7-k).
Motion was made by Alderman Dalgo, seconded by Alderman Gill and unanimously carried to accept with regrets the letter of intent to retire from Police Chief Kerry Belk and begin the process to fill the vacancy (Exhibit 7-g).
Public Works
Motion was made by Alderman Gill, seconded by Alderman Denyer and unanimously carried to authorize Public Works to work with a developer and provide cost estimates for water and sewer service to a subdivision that will be developed outside of city limits (Exhibit 7-m).
Community Development & Planning
Assistant City Planner Angela Mohar presented a summary of permits issued under the Design Review Guidelines (Exhibit 7-n). Alderman McDonnell said there are developers sitting on good projects because of the guidelines and asked that the issue be fast tracked to allow for quality development. Motion was made by Alderman McDonnell and seconded by Alderman Lloyd to have one person appointed by each Alderman to work with the Assistant City Planner and the Mayor to review the Design Review Guidelines within thirty days and make recommendations. Motion carried with Aldermen Gill, McDonnell, Lloyd, Dalgo, Denyer and Hagan voting aye and Aldermen Weaver voting nay.
Ms. Mohar presented a review of the zoning of Highway Commercial (C-3) Zoning Districts within the downtown area (Exhibit 7-o). Motion was made by Alderman Weaver, seconded by Alderman McDonnell and unanimously carried to send the Government Street corridor commercial zoning back to the Planning Commission for review.
Parks & Leisure Services
Parks & Leisure Services Director Sean Campbell presented a status report of the recreational surveys (Exhibit 7-p) and a listing of recreation upgrades and improvements (Exhibit 7-q). Motion was made by Alderman Hagan, seconded by Alderman Denyer and unanimously carried to accept the list of projects and improvements and ask that purchasing procedures are followed. Alderman McDonnell asked that the Finance Committee review and Alderman Lloyd asked for a biweekly report.
City Attorney
The City Attorney presented ordinances for the adoption of the 2006 International Building Codes and re-delineation of the Fire District (Exhibit 7-r). Motion was made by Alderman Lloyd, seconded by Alderman Denyer and unanimously carried to hold a public hearing to discuss changes before the ordinances for the 2006 International Building Codes and re-delineation of the Fire District are adopted.
Motion was made by Alderman McDonnell, seconded by Alderman Gill and unanimously carried to adopt a resolution to request the Mississippi State Legislature to approve a local/private bill for the City of Ocean Springs to levy a 2% tax on the gross receipts of restaurants and lounges, subject to voter referendum (Exhibit 7-s).
Motion was made by Alderman Dalgo, seconded by Alderman Hagan and unanimously carried to authorize the Mayor to execute a quitclaim deed to Clarence Wilkinson (Exhibit 7-t).
ALDERMAN’S FORUM
Alderman Gill said that he is gathering costs for Fort Bayou Estates decorative street signs and will discuss the matter at the next meeting.
Alderman McDonnell commended the Mayor on the Waterview presentation. He also requested that the issue be revisitied of stop signs at Calhoun and Pershing and Pine and Shearwater to help reduce speed.
Alderman Lloyd said that he understands that Biloxi has cameras on some red lights and asked the Police to investigate.
Alderman Lloyd said there is a drainage situation on Gum Street. Motion was made by Alderman Dalgo, seconded by Alderman McDonnell and unanimously carried to have Compton Engineering investigate the drainage situation on Gum Street and provide a cost estimate.
Alderman Lloyd asked the City Attorney to research the status of the reversion of the property donated by the Broome family on Government Street.
Alderman Lloyd asked that code enforcement check into a property on Woodland and Halstead.
Alderman Lloyd asked how the Mayor’s office is handling phone calls. The Mayor said that the staff takes the calls, contacts the appropriate Department Heads and calls the requestor back with the answer.
Alderman Hagan asked that the Zoning Map be placed as a link on the website.
Alderman Hagan and Dalgo both said they would like the Sign Ordinance reviewed. Alderman Hagan asked the Mayor to work with the Assistant City Planner to make a recommendation on the Sign Ordinance or abolish it.
Alderman Weaver announced that a Community Cleanup Day will be held in April and the details will be announced at a press conference on Friday.
ADDENDUM
Motion was made by Alderman Weaver, seconded by Alderman McDonnell and unanimously carried to adopt the resolutions pertaining to the application of CDBG funding (Exhibit A-1a).
Motion was made by Alderman McDonnell, seconded by Alderman Weaver and unanimously carried to authorize advertising for and publishing an RFP related to the Front Beach Master Plan, pending funding by the Economic Development Administration (Exhibit A-1b).
Motion was made by Alderman Hagan, seconded by Alderman Gill and unanimously carried to adopt a resolution pertaining to the application of the HITDA grant (Exhibit A-1c).
Motion was made by Alderman Hagan, seconded by Alderman Gill and unanimously carried to accept the CDBG Selection Committee’s recommendation to award Architectural Services (Exhibit A-1d).
EXECUTIVE SESSION
Motion was made by Alderman Denyer, seconded by Alderman Hagan and unanimously carried to go into closed session to determine the necessity of going into executive session.
The City Clerk returned to the meeting and announced that a motion was made by Alderman McDonnell, seconded by Alderman Hagan and unanimously carried to remain in executive session to discuss personnel matters in Community Development, Planning, Building, Human Resources, Administration and Police and litigation regarding the Concerned Citizens lawsuit. She also announced that items 6-g, 6-m, 7-a, 7-b, 7-c and 7-d of the Agenda will not be discussed in Executive Session.
Motion was made by Alderman McDonnell, seconded by Alderman Lloyd and unanimously carried to come out of executive session and return to regular session.
Motion was made by Alderman Hagan, seconded by Alderman Gill and unanimously carried to accept the resignation of Patrolman Cory Thompson effective immediately and authorize beginning the process to fill the vacancy (Exhibit 6-g).
Motion was made by Alderman Hagan, seconded by Alderman McDonnell and unanimously carried to accept the suspension of resignation notice of Donovon Scruggs, Community Development Director, to perform tasks as required by the Mayor’s office with the last day of employment being May 18, 2007 (Exhibit 6-l).
Motion was made by Alderman Gill and seconded by Alderman Weaver to authorize employment of Josh Dudte, Landscaper, 30 hours per week, hourly rate $15.00, effective February 7, 2007, pending successful completion of all pre-employment requirements (Exhibit 6-m). Motion carried with Aldermen Gill, McDonnell, Lloyd, Weaver, Denyer and Dalgo voting aye and Alderman Hagan voting nay.
Motion was made by Alderman Weaver and seconded by Alderman Lloyd to authorize the waiver of rental fee of the Community Center on April 22, 2007 for the Duchess Club Spring Tea to promote the resources of the City (Exhibit 7-a). Motion carried with Aldermen McDonnell, Weaver, Dalgo and Hagan voting aye and Aldermen Gill, Lloyd and Denyer voting nay.
Motion was made by Alderman Weaver, seconded by Alderman Dalgo and unanimously carried to authorize the City Clerk or the Mayor to consider an alternate fee structure of rental facilities for not for profit groups who do community service projects for the benefit of Ocean Springs.
Motion was made by Alderman Gill and seconded by Alderman McDonnell to authorize the creation of the City Planner position at a salary range of $43,000.00 to $47,000.00 to report to the Director of Community Development and Planning and to oversee the Assistant Planning Director, Arborist, Landscaper and Planning Clerks. Grant approval of job description and authorization to advertise initially in-house for the City Planner position. If no candidate who applies in-house is selected, then advertise externally (Exhibit 7-c). Motion carried with Aldermen Gill, McDonnell, Lloyd, Weaver and Denyer voting aye and Aldermen Dalgo and Hagan voting nay.
Motion was made by Alderman Gill and seconded by Alderman McDonnell to authorize the extension of advertisement for the positions of Assistant City Planner and Director of Community Development and Planning (Exhibit 7-d). Motion carried with Aldermen Gill, McDonnell, Lloyd, Weaver and Denyer voting aye and Aldermen Dalgo and Hagan voting nay.
Motion was made by Alderman Gill and seconded by Alderman McDonnell to authorize the employment of Greg Wilson, Building Official, annual salary $45,000.00, effective February 12, 2007. Motion carried with Aldermen Gill, McDonnell, Lloyd, Weaver, Denyer and Hagan voting aye and Alderman Dalgo voting nay.
Motion was made by Alderman Gill and seconded by Alderman Hagan to authorize the employment of Melissa Holland Bryant, Human Resources/Risk Manager, annual salary $40,000.00, effective February 12, 2007. Motion carried with Aldermen Gill, McDonnell, Weaver, Denyer and Hagan voting aye and Aldermen Lloyd and Dalgo voting nay.
The Mayor requested that item 7-j be tabled subject to the review of the job description (Exhibit 7-j).
Motion was made by Alderman Hagan, seconded by Alderman Dalgo and unanimously carried to recess until 5:30 p.m. on February 12, 2007.
