Mayor and Council met for a Work Session January 31, 2011 at the Courthouse with Mayor Wayne Bullard presiding.

　PRESENT:

Mayor Wayne Bullard, Councils: Ralph Clendenin, Mayor Pro Tem Cain, Terry Benjamin, Rose Adams. City Manager Jonathan Sumner, Police Chief Terry Davis, Fire Chief Dwight Bennett, Director Donnie Warren, City Clerk Belinda Chappell.

Mayor Bullard asked if there were any questions concerning the minutes. There were no questions concerning the minutes.

　REVIEW OF BILLS/ BUDGET OVERAGES:

Mayor Bullard asked if there were any questions concerning the bills. Councilperson Adams stated she had questions concerning the invoices from G Waste Management. Adams stated she noticed that Fields Cabinets were still on the invoices and they had disconnected service in September of 2010. City Manager Sumner stated he would research the invoices and get back to Council with the results. Adams stated she noticed there being no tonnage charges for Brigman Cabinets and the Harvey’s grocery store on the invoices from G Waste Management. Sumner stated those businesses would only be charged for the size of the roll-off container and not a tonnage charge. Adams questioned a check that was paid to the order of the City of Hahira for $1,119 dollars for legal fees and wanted to know the reason the check was printed. Sumner stated the legal title work was included in a payment to the City Attorney and the City reimbursed accordingly. Adams noticed the inert debris charges for the month being $2810 dollars and needed an explanation of the charges. PWD Warren stated there had been a lot more debris being taken to the recycle center in the last couple of months and stated the center was averaging about 2 cans per week being emptied, which was an increase from earlier months. Councilman Clendenin stated he was concerned with how many tons a roll-off container would hold. Director Warren stated it depended on what was being emptied in the roll-off, whether it is strictly yard debris, which is not as heavy as couches, refrigerators, TV’s etc. Councilperson Adams stated she noticed the City received an invoice from G Waste Management and also Allgreen Services in the last month and wanted to know the reason the City was receiving invoices from Allgreen. City Manager Sumner stated all of the checks that were cut were made out to G Waste Management but he would research the question and report back to Council.

　PUBLIC HEARINGS:

Chief Davis stated to Mayor and Council that the City had received an application for the sale of beer and wine at the Harvey’s Supermarket. Davis stated a background check was performed as well as a GCIC check on the supervisor of the store and nothing was found to retain the beer and wine license of the store. Chief Davis stated he had spoken to the supervisor of the Harvey’s Supermarket and the scheduled opening date is for March 02, 2011.

Mayor Pro Tem Cain stated the City had received the RFP clarification from legal council, which he requested, due to he did not feel that the bids were responsive to the RFP’s. Cain stated the bid from Veolia presented two options, the first being the option of solid waste disposal tipping fee rate and the second was a solid waste curbside service. Cain stated he did not feel like the two options were in line for the RFP for the lease of the property. Cain stated at the time the City was under contract with an outside agency for curbside service and was not responsible for paying the tipping fees while the contracted service was being performed. Cain stated the bid received from Veolia should not be accepted and thanked Veolia for the interest in the bid. Mayor Pro Tem Cain stated the second bid received was from Allgreen Services and the RFP was responsive to the RFP with the exception of minor contract adjustments, due to the minor contract adjustments, the Council could either reject the bid from Allgreen or could approve the bid pending the City of Hahira and Allgreen could come to an agreement that would be both beneficial to Hahira and Allgreen Services. Mayor Pro Tem Cain asked if there were any questions. Councilperson Adams asked if the advertisement that was placed in the paper regarding the RFP was worded by an Allgreen representative or by City Manager Sumner. City Manager Sumner stated he had received direction from the City Attorney on placing the advertisement in the paper but nothing from the Allgreen representative. Adams had questions on if Council voted to approve or not approve the RFP from Allgreen, did it have to be contract based. Mayor Pro Tem Cain stated the vote would have to be in a written agreement between both parties if the RFP was approved, but that did not hold the City of Hahira to a contract agreement with Allgreen. Adams asked JC Gillenwater, an Allgreen representative, about how many garbage trucks would be traveling through the City of Hahira if the transfer station was approved. Adams stated the DRI that was presented by Allgreen stated there would be about 20 garbage trucks per peak hour with the expectation of two semi trucks. Gillenwater responded all the possibilities had to be written down in the DRI , stating if you limited yourself to just Lowndes County and the company was inspected, you would be caught not doing what you stated you would be doing, so you have to put your whole scope of what you actually service in the DRI. Gillenwater stated all the counties they actually service were written in the DRI but it did not mean the garbage would be brought to Hahira. Adams stated she had a notification of permit on what was going to be built at the site for the transfer station and was confused on actually who would be building at the site because she had permits from Griffin Waste and Allgreen. Gillenwater stated the previous permit with Griffin Waste was no longer valid due to it had to be changed over to Allgreen Service. Mayor Pro Tem Cain gave Mrs. Poston the opportunity to speak on behalf of Veolia. Mrs. Poston stated they had received a legal opinion from their attorney as to whether or not their RFP would be submitted and obviously it conflicted with the City of Hahira’s legal opinion. Poston stated in her opinion it was not feasible to put a transfer station ten miles from a landfill. Poston presented Council with copies of permit notifications through EPD for both Griffin Waste and Allgreen services and stated Allgreen should have never been presented a permit due to they were under no contract with the City of Hahira. Mayor Pro Tem Cain asked if there were any more questions concerning the RFP for the transfer station. There were no further questions at that time.

City Manager Sumner stated to Mayor and Council the individual who wanted to bring the issue of health insurance back in front of Council had withdrawn. Sumner stated he was contacted and informed that the information that was presented to Council at a previous work session was preliminary and now have declined to make a bid. Councilperson Adams stated Mr. Williams with Hahira Insurance tried very hard but due to certain circumstances, he could not compete with the price Hahira was paying for health insurance at that time.

City Manager Sumner stated to Mayor and Council this was an issue that had been discussed in executive session in the past. Sumner stated in a previous meeting Council was interested in soliciting information from the public with respect to actions that would be required by the property owners Norfolk Southern with respect to the Lawson Street crossing. Sumner stated it was indicated at that time that there would be probably a need to show the public some type of design concept, something that the public could see and touch and be more familiar with and be able to ask questions about. Sumner stated J. Glen Gregory Architects were contacted and they were interested in meeting with Council to get ideas of what could be put on the property. Sumner stated in order to keep the process moving forward, there was some preliminary work that was needed and that it did require Council action. Sumner stated he would entertain any questions Council may have. Councilman Clendenin stated he was concerned with the costs of the project. Sumner stated on the proposal the limit was $6500 dollars and that it should not exceed that amount.

Councilperson Adams stated to Mayor and Council that she was interested in getting different proposals from other curbside pickup companies. Adams stated she would like different cost comparisons from other curbside pickup companies to determine if Hahira is in line with what they are paying for the service. Mayor Bullard suggested getting legal clarification from the City attorney before deciding to send out for bid on other options of curbside pickup.

Councilperson Adams stated to Mayor and Council that she felt that the City needed to place on the agenda at the beginning of each year the renewal of the legal, engineering, and auditor services. City Manager Sumner stated he had never found a contract with the City for legal services, and where the engineering was concerned, for the general services that are performed by the engineer there was no contract in the past five years but may have been in the previous years. Councilman Clendenin was concerned with how the City would know if the rate schedule went up on the services. City manager Sumner stated the City is invoiced for services rendered and could provide Council with copies if they desired. Councilman Clendenin agreed that the services should be renewed at the beginning of each year with a rate schedule provided by each company for services.

Mayor Pro Tem Cain stated to Mayor and Council that he had researched the Deep South Authority and had attended a meeting with the Deep South Authority and found that the City of Hahira should be getting the same rates as the Deep South Authority is getting. Cain stated that rate was $23.68 per ton. Cain stated this rate was either with the City doing the service or a private provider. Cain stated he had spoken with Mr. Rogers who is with the Deep South Authority and he stated he would honor that rate to the City but had some problems in the past with the provider the City was using currently. Councilperson Adams stated she was concerned if that meant that Evergreen Landfill would bill the City directly. Mayor Pro Tem Cain stated Evergreen Landfill would bill the City of Hahira directly for the tonnage. Councilman Clendenin asked if the City of Hahira had the opportunity to join the Deep South Authority. Mayor Pro Tem Cain stated the City of Hahira did not have to join, that the City was already a member due to the City being in Lowndes County. Councilman Clendenin stated he was concerned if that included the tonnage for the inert debris. Mayor Pro Tem Cain stated that it would not include the inert debris charges.

City Manager Sumner stated to Mayor and Council that he needed direction from Council if they wished to reapply for the same grant that was submitted last year. Sumner stated he had received verbal indication from the Georgia Regional Commission that they had spoken with representatives from DCA and they had stated that the chances were good. Sumner stated that in the discussion with GRC the potential was there for funding if Hahira was wishing to reapply. Sumner stated one of the requests was for more photographs of the manholes, letters from the citizens in that area, and potentially other problems that needed to be addressed in the northwest quadrant of the City. Councilperson Adams asked what the matching funds were for the project. City Manager Sumner stated the matching funds were $10,000 dollars but if Council wanted to increase the match to $50,000 dollars then it would increase the leverage score for the project. Sumner stated that was something the City could do within the SPLOST VI referendum and that he believed the funds would be available for the project. Mayor Bullard asked what the total cost of the project would be. City Manager Sumner stated the total cost of the project would be around $400,000 dollars.

City Manager Sumner stated to Mayor and Council the Incode training will be held in Tennessee during April 2011 and that he would like for the City Clerk and the Finance Clerk to attend the training. Sumner stated the last training session was invaluable as far as learning all the different options that Incode has to offer that aren’t currently being utilized due to lack of training. Sumner stated there was money budgeted for three people to attend the training and he had spoken to the Mayor about attending but the Mayor would have to get back to him regarding his work schedule conflicting with the training dates. Councilperson Adams stated she could see the City Clerk and Finance Clerk attending the training but that Mayor Bullard was not directly involved with using the Incode software, so she didn’t see if feasible for the Mayor to attend. City Manager Sumner stated he would send Council the estimated cost schedule for the training before the Thursday night Council meeting.

PWD Warren stated to Mayor and Council a new motor was needed at the lift station. Warren stated the City needed about 5 more pumps for the lift stations. Councilman Clendenin stated he was concerned if the motor was a SPLOST expenditure. City Manager Sumner stated it would be eligible through SPLOST.

There being no further business to discuss, the meeting adjourned at 8:45 P.M.

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Mayor, Wayne Bullard

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City Clerk, Belinda Chappell