Minutes of the
REGULAR MEETING
For the
City Council of Lookout Mountain, Georgia
August 17, 2006

PRESIDING:  Thomas G. Gifford, Mayor

PRESENT:  Council Members Ray Seipp, Sandy Gothard, and Catherine Kelley; City Clerk Mary Katherine Harper, City Attorney Bill Pickering.  Also present were Chief Wallace Taylor, Municipal Planning Commission Chairman Earl Carstens, Lookout Mountain Tennessee Police Chief Randy Bowden and officers Jim Pursor and Kyle Day, Lt Adam Hurst, Kal Dawson, Jeff Hilkert, Daryl Cole and John Tallman.

CALL TO ORDER:  Mayor Gifford called the meeting of the City Council to order at 5:30 p.m. at City Hall, 1214 Lula Lake Road, Lookout Mountain, Georgia. 

APPROVAL OF MINUTES:  The minutes of the regular meeting held on July20, 2006, were approved as submitted.

KAL DAWSON:  Mayor Gifford presented a plaque to Deputy Fire Chief Kal Dawson in appreciation of 20 years of service to the City.  Mr. Dawson thanked the Council for the recognition and recommended that they appoint his right-hand man Jeff Hilkert as his replacement.  Catherine Kelley made a motion, seconded by Sandy Gothard and the vote was unanimous to welcome Mr. Hilkert as the new Deputy Fire Chief.

FIRE TRUCK:  Mayor Gifford informed the Council that Daniel and Thompson Pettway were currently on their way back from South Dakota with the new fire truck that should arrive on Saturday.

PEDESTRIAN PATHWAY:  Mr. Gifford updated the progress of the pedestrian pathway with news that the Lookout Mountain Methodist Church had accepted the City’s $6,800 offer for the easement in front.  BWS&C had re-submitted the construction plans to GDOT for approval and negotiations with Fairyland School had concluded with a contract impending.

CATHERINE FOX:  Mayor Gifford advised the Council that Catherine Fox had been hired to assist the City with Phase II Storm Water compliance, as it had been determined that exclusion from the plan was not a possibility.  He further advised that she would arrive next Tuesday at lunch to begin start-up training and would stay all day Wednesday.  He closed advising that mapping may incur additional cost to the City, but the EPD could fine the City $50,000 per day for noncompliance.  

SUBDIVISION ORDINANCE AMENDMENT:  City Attorney Pickering read in its entirety an ordinance to amend the Land Subdivision Regulations of the City of Lookout Mountain (Ordinance No.37) to require sewer engineering and storm water impact studies in connection with new subdivision development, to provide for the collection of fees for such studies and for other purposes.  The amendment provides for the City Council to set the fees by resolution, but Mr. Pickering recommended that a fee schedule

Minutes of City Council
August 17, 2006
Page 2

be determined and set.  Mayor Gifford added that amendment would provide for fee recovery and he hoped Catherine Fox could help determine an appropriate fee schedule to adopt.  Catherine Kelley seconded Ray Seipp’s motion to approve the ordinance on its first reading with all in favor.

BUILDING PERMIT FEES:  Municipal Planning Commission Chairman Earl Carstens advised that he had been charged with the duty of codifying the building permit system so that it would pay for itself.  He presented a schedule of fees for permits and inspections explaining that the City needed to add plumbing and mechanical inspections as it currently did not require these.  He suggested that the City begin issuing a certificate of occupancy requiring a final inspection to insure that all permit fees have been paid and inspections passed.  He further suggested that there should be a method for penalizing those who do not comply or complete their project in a reasonable amount of time.  Mayor Gifford thanked Mr. Carstens for the detailed fee schedule and suggested that the Council take time to absorb the information and return next month to discuss a new ordinance with a full Council.  

COVENANT COLLEGE:  Mayor Gifford informed the Council that Covenant College would be back in session tomorrow and he was addressing the incoming freshmen welcoming them to the community.

WEB SITE:  Mayor Gifford advised that the domain had expired so the web site was down as we searched for a new design and domain.  He spoke to a company called 3HD who suggested a web site design possibility at knoxvillesouthwaterfront.com and asked that the Council take a look and report back.

COMMUNITY VISION MEETING:  Mayor Gifford and Councilman Seipp will attend the Coosa Valley Regional Development Center’s 20 Year Community Vision Meeting to discuss future development and keep the City eligible for grant money.

PANDEMIC FLU:  City Clerk Harper advised that she was a member of the government committee of the Pandemic Influenza Planning effort in Walker County and had attended several meetings to assist with implementing a plan for the entire County.  She further advised that this had been passed on to local government by the federal and state governments and compliance was required.

WATER BILLS:  Mayor Gifford advised that Tennessee American Water Company had made a mistake on the June water bills and did not include the charge for sewage.  He stated that the error had been brought to their attention and they were drafting a letter of apology to accompany corrected bills.

There being no further business, the meeting was adjourned.

Respectfully submitted,
Mary Katherine Harper
City Clerk