Town Council Regular Meeting

Town of Tyrone Council Meeting Minutes January 16, 2014 Present: Mayor Eric Dial Mayor Pro Tem Gloria Furr Council Member Ken Matthews Council Member Ryan Housley Council Member Linda Howard Town Manager Kyle Hood Town Clerk Dee Baker Town Attorney Dennis Davenport Mayor Dial called the meeting to order at 7:00 p.m. The Invocation was given by Mayor Dial followed by the Pledge of Allegiance. Public Comments Matt Griffin who lives at 150 Berry Hill Lane spoke regarding support for an Improv Comedy Fundraiser entitled “Promise…you’ll Laugh!” Mr. Griffin stated that the fundraiser is to assist with Promise Place, a non-profit for domestic violence victims. The family friendly improv show will take place at The Legacy Theatre on Friday, February 28th at 7:30 pm. Tickets are $30 and 100% of proceeds go to Promise Place. He stated that this is a tax write-off for attendees. He also stated that Dina Rimi at Town Hall is a wonderful employee, she was very helpful! Approval of Agenda Council Member Housley made a motion to approve the agenda. Council Member Matthews seconded the motion. Motion was approved 4-0. CONSENT AGENDA: All matters listed under this item are considered to be routine by the Town Council and will be enacted by one motion. There will not be separate discussion of these items. If discussion is desired, that item will be removed from the consent agenda and will be considered separately. Approval of Minutes, January 2, 2014 Council Member Furr made a motion to approve the consent agenda. Council Member Howard seconded the motion. Motion was approved 4-0. 1|Page PRESENTATIONS/RECOGNITION: State of the Town. Eric Dial, Mayor State of the Town of Tyrone - 2014 In preparation for this address, I thought it appropriate to look back at last year’s address to see what we pledged for 2013. This time last year we were in the midst of a battle to protect Tyrone Elementary from closure and ways to minimize the impact of what turned out to be inevitable. Though the school system made the unfortunate decision to close the school, we have spent the last few months in dozens of meetings discussing options on repurposing the building. Most recently we were approved for the Community Choice Grant offered by the Atlanta Regional Commission which will provide our county and town with technical assistance and project management as we move forward with this effort. I am confident that the school building will see a new occupant in 2014, and our town will recognize a positive impact. This time last year, we were also coming to grips with the need for stormwater and infrastructure improvements that had been postponed during the height of the economic downturn. We have completed over thirty projects, some that you see and some that you don’t see, but all of which will improve the way our town looks and functions. Roads were striped or resurfaced, sidewalks and cart paths were repaired or installed, and sewer and drainage systems were maintained or created. We achieved all of this while protecting our taxpayers from an increase in taxes for the 9th year in a row – few can make this claim. It’s also important that we remain committed to promoting a healthy and educated population. Our recreation department sponsors over 30 classes a week, numerous camps, frequent holiday activities, and of course, our annual Founders’ Day celebration. Our library continues to draw much attention with a circulation that averages approximately 7,500 a month and 800 special program participants. The Council and I have the luxury of knowing that the business of this town is well taken care of and we extend our thanks to the staff for your hard work. 2|Page In what is arguably the most important function of any government, we remain vigilant in our dedication to maintaining a safe environment for our people to live, work and play. Through a renewed focus on traffic enforcement and zone patrol visibility, in 2013 we experienced a 36% decrease in Part I crime which includes burglary, theft, armed robbery, and the like. This comes at a time when many other jurisdictions are experiencing an INCREASE in similar crime. We offer our gratitude to Chief Perkins, our hard-working police officers, and our court staff for maintaining Tyrone’s reputation as one of the safest places in Georgia. In direct correlation to our improvements and our reputation, there is great news about our future. 2013 gave us 35 new businesses and an increase of almost 500% over 2012 in new single family structures. This doesn’t even include new occupancy of existing homes. Economic recovery is in full swing and prosperity is right around the corner in Tyrone. We don’t take this for granted and we are grateful to the Lord for our situation. One of His blessings comes in the form of Pinewood Studios and all of the small businesses and residents it promises to bring to Tyrone. While we remain open and inviting to these new businesses and residents, we know that due diligence must be done by making sure we responsibly manage the impact on our town. This is no time to be reactive. We must be proactive. We will discuss and entertain prudent changes to our zoning ordinance with a keen eye turned to our development standards. We also have to assess our current infrastructure capabilities such as roads, paths and sewer to determine what changes need to be made going forward. Two examples that come to mind are the downtown corridor and Highway 74. Our planning commission members understand the history of Tyrone and have the technical knowledge to make wise, thoughtful recommendations. In closing, hopefully you have recognized a common theme in what I have presented tonight. The theme is a commitment to responsible caretaking of the government you have entrusted to the five of us. We take this very seriously and plan to make every decision with your best interests in mind. Thank you for the opportunity to serve, and may 2014 be the greatest year Tyrone has ever seen. 3|Page OLD BUSINESS: NEW BUSINESS: 1. End of Year Financial Summary/Audit Report. Sandy Beach, Finance Manager Ms. Beach stated that the Town is currently soliciting information for the local banks in order to streamline duties, thus saving time and money. At the beginning of this current fiscal year, a finance position was eliminated through attrition and we have been adjusting some accounting duties between the Finance Manager and the Administrative Assistant position. She added that part of that focus involves eliminating waste and verification of using value-added procedures and tasks. In some instances, items were reviewed by the same person multiple times. She stated that Finance will still have controls in place to thwart against theft but that they are trying to eliminate the redundancy and that is an on-going project. She informed Council that she and Mr. Hood discussed the purposes of preparing a CAFR and it was determined that a lot of time was spent gathering information for this report that was primarily only beneficial to the Town of Tyrone through recognition of a certificate and plaque. She added that it was decided that the Town would not prepare a CAFR this year. However, an Annual Financial Report would be provided with plenty of information for Council, management and the citizens. Ms. Beach reported that currently the Town is collecting money for January-March quarterly sanitation services, occupational tax certificates, and alcohol license renewals. She reported that the first part of this fiscal year has seen an increase in Municipal Court fines and fees, as well as in building permits. Currently the Town has received 25 fire impact fees for residential buildings in the first six months of the fiscal year, as compared to only seven in the same period last fiscal year. Ms. Beach stated that at the end of December the Town has a little over 14 months in reserves. She added that in regards to the budget, all but two departments are at or below 50% of their budgeted expenses at the 6 month mark. Planning and Zoning is at 53% due to Safebuilt fees for the increase in building. Public Works has used 59% of their budget due to sink hole and sidewalk repairs. Ms. Beach ended by stating that she would start posting financial and budget reports on the Town website for the Mayor, Council, staff and citizens to view soon. Ms. Beach then introduced John Holden of the Town’s auditing Firm, Rushton & Company, and added that his report would be given on the audit for FY 2013. Mr. Holden thanked Mayor and Council for the opportunity. He stated that nothing came to their attention that required an unmodified opinion of their findings. He reported that at the end of Fiscal Year 2013, the Town’s net investment in capital assets were $7,501,205 which includes streets, sewer lines, buildings and other capital assets. The restricted net position total was $393,233 for monies for specific purposes such as SPLOST (Special Purpose Local Option Sales Tax) projects. The unrestricted net position total was $5,931,153 and the total net position was $13,825,636. For the year, the revenues over expenses were $368,358, which is an increase of approximately $80,000, due to the new Title Ad Valorem Tax. 4|Page Mr. Holden then updated Council on the general fund. He stated that there was a net increase in revenues of $34,889. Property taxes decreased $132,091 at 13.6% due to the decrease in the digest. The Town maintained the same millage rate however, the homeowners paid less in property taxes. Ad Valorem Taxes reflected an increase of 85.2% due to the Title Ad Valorem Tax, LOST increased by 5.8% with a total of $48,221. He reported that Municipal Court fines increased by 35.0% due to a 29.5% increase in the number of cases. Mr. Holden stated that expenditures were down by 7.2% for a total of $215,825 due to several capital outlay projects from Fiscal Year 2012. Mr. Holden reported that the unassigned general fund, fund balance was very healthy at $3,832,506, which is 137.6% of expenditures, for a reserve of 16.5 months. The usual recommendation for reserves is three to four months. The money could be used for an emergency situation or to be set aside for future capital improvement projects. Mr. Holden informed Council that the sewer fund reflected a decrease of $7,693, at 2.2% and a decrease in expenses of $2,857, at 0.9%. The sewer fund showed flat activity, it is a self- sustaining fund. Mr. Holden reported that there was a decrease in sanitation operating revenues of $5,979, 1.7% and a significant decrease in expenditures of $59,520, 17.2%. This was primarily due to the renegotiation of the sanitation contract and an audit discovering overpayment of a few past invoices. He stated that there were no material weaknesses, two deficiencies and one material noncompliance was reported. Mr. Holden reviewed the GASB 68 (Governmental Accounting Standards Board, Statement No. 68) which is Accounting and Financial Reporting of Pensions. He stated that the statement will require governments with pension plans to record and report the unfunded pension liability. June 30, 2013 the amount for the Town’s pension was $130,583. Public Comments Staff Comments Council Comments Executive Session Adjournment Council Member Furr made a motion to adjourn. Council Member Howard seconded the motion. Motion was approved 4-0. Meeting adjourned at 7:20 pm By:________________________ Attest:______________________ Eric Dial, Mayor Dee Baker, Town Clerk 5|Page