January 2009 City Council Meeting Minutes

January 2009 Minutes

The Woodlawn Park City Council met on January 19, 2009, at Woodlawn Park City Hall. Present were Mayor Tim Robertson, Attorney Matt Carey, Chief Jim Carter, Council Members, Scott Horn, Sherry Hyde, George Langford, Christian Seidt, Greg Claypool, and Doug Watson, Treasurer Charlie Veeneman and City Clerk Chana Elswick.

The meeting began at 7:30 pm.
Tim announced that representatives from the Westport Road Church of Christ were present. There will be a discussion about the Church under Old Business.

The council reviewed the minutes for the December 15, 2008 meeting. Doug made a motion to accept the minutes. Sherry seconded the motion. All voted aye and the minutes were accepted.

Charlie Veeneman gave the Treasurer’s report. He stated the City is 6 months into the year. Total revenue us $154,963.00, budgeted for $339,000.00 with $120,000.00 of prior year transfer. Insurance tax will be over the budgeted amount and interest income will be under the budgeted amount. Expenses are $165,000.00 so far for the year. He reviewed some of the expenses in the report. He stated that trash collection had been figured incorrectly, due to an error in their accounting. This item will be under budget. He stated Hurricane Ike money should be reimbursed. He stated the report looks good for halfway through the year. The Audit for 2007 is finished and 2008 will be finished next month. He will ask the auditor to come to the meeting. Christian asked if the insurance tax will offset the interest income. Charlie stated, yes it will. There was a discussion about life insurance premiums and what could be paid to the City. Greg made a motion to accept the Treasurer’s report. Chris seconded the motion. All voted aye and the report was accepted.
Charlie stated there was a total of $3,800.00 due in back property tax. 1 for 2006 for $589.00, 2 for 2007 for $976.00, and 6 for 2008 for $2,298.00. He stated that the one that owes for 2006 also owes for 2007 and one resident owes for all three years. There is $1,250.00 due in rental license fees. $950.00 is owed by Yvonne Fernandez. Charlie called her, but did not get to talk to her. He asked if he should turn her over to Code Enforcement, or file a lien. Charlie stated she owes $50.00 for 2006, $500.00 for 2007 and $350.00 for 2008. She has paid $450.00 on the total amount owed. Matt stated the Code Enforcement Board can follow-up on all balances owed, and then a judgment lien can be filed. He stated if a judgment lien is filed, the tenant can pay the City not the landlord. Charlie stated he would send the information to Bill Ritz. Bill will send a letter stating she has 14 days from the date of the letter to apply for a hearing. Charlie stated that Mr. Perry told him he started before 1992. Charlie has asked for proof of this. He has not received the proof from Mr. Perry. He will be grandfathered for Business License fee, if he proves he was grandfathered. Charlie had called Mr. Perkins, but has received no response.

Chana Elswick gave the Clerk’s report. She stated she did not have the information for the hit report, but will give it at the next meeting. She is working on a packet for the Census Bureau. Tim stated the Chief had a packet also. She asked all Council members to turn in their Ethics forms.

Chief Jim Carter gave the police report for December. He had 5 house watches, 11 warnings, 1 report of burglary, and 105 miscellaneous runs. He had $66.20 in expenses. The final inspection by the state had been performed and he had passed.

Council Focus
Fences and Building Permits Doug Watson stated he had a request for a garage permit for 6817 Green Meadow Circle. He had issued the approval letter. 801 Beechwood had an addition to the rear and a front porch. There had been no permit request sent to Doug or Metro. An inspector will come out and check on it.
Emergency Preparedness George Langford stated he had talked with LG&E about a meeting. He received an email that Nelson Maynard will come and meet with Council and residents about power outages. He stated he will schedule the meeting and ask residents to come. He asked if the Chief had heard from Metro about the burglary. The Chief stated he had not.
Communication Sherry Hyde stated the only thing was the spring newsletter. She had nothing else to report. The address database is up to date.
Public Relations Tim stated there will be a spring yard sale. Mike Brown stated it was scheduled for 4/11/09.
Streets and Signs Scott Horn stated there had been no action on City Hall. He is working on a spreadsheet for street and sign repairs. There was nothing new on signature entrance signs. Tim requested a meeting for the City Hall Improvement Committee. Bill Ritz asked about the missing street sign for Ahland. Scott does not know where it is. Tim stated there are no street lights on Westport Road. Chief Carter stated you can tell where the road is by the markers. Tim stated the blue tags indicate sidewalks.
Grounds Tim stated he will identify some goals for the future. City Hall landscaping does have a bid for the work.
Welcome Doug stated there were no new residents to welcome. Christian will help Doug with the welcoming new residents and Block Watch. Tim stated the Jefferson Count Clerk had sent out a list of all names and numbers for City governments. He gave the list to Chana.

New Business
Greg stated he had sent a draft copy of a form for use of City Hall. He would like his form reviewed for changes. The form includes fees for rental of City Hall. Mr. Bates asked if the City considered insurance liability. Greg stated he included language pertaining to “held harmless”. He stated there was resident that wanted to start a Mom’s group.

Old Business
Westport Road Church of Christ. Tim stated the City had received the traffic study and the Church was at the meeting to answer questions. Present were Glenn Price, Pastor Poppy, Jeremiah Burn and Bernie Williams. It was stated that 2 code violations had been sent to the Church. One for 6906 Ambridge and one for 6902 Ambridge. Both had been corrected by 01/08/09. Anyone who sees a violation can report it to 895-0342 or call the Church to get it fixed quicker.
Glenn Price stated that within the last 2 weeks the Church had filed with the Board of Zoning, an application for waivers and variances for parking spaces and landscape buffering. The Church will approach neighbors on the west side to see if they want landscaping planted in their yards. He will send copies to Matt and Tim. He passed out a handout to the Council. He stated the Church needs 2 accesses, 1 right turn onto Westport Road and 1 left turn onto Westport Road. The traffic study shows a delay in leaving now. It is not critical to the Church if the access is Westport Road and Ambridge or Westport Road and Kinloch. The Church thinks they have a right to use Kinloch. He talked to Matt Carey about opening Kinloch. Matt stated he could not authorize opening the gate. Russ Williams was told to work it out with Tim. Tim stated he got a notice and sent an email to the Council. Glen Price stated the second page shows the site plan with all 3 accesses . The adjacent neighbor had his driveway paved into the Kinloch right of way. He is not sure when the driveway was built. Glenn reviewed the report and pictures with Council. The last page shows the letter the Pastor wrote to Mrs. Meyers in 2003. She had written the Church about the area being paved. Pastor is not sure of her address. He read from the letter to the Council, He stated he had been the Pastor since 1997 and there was a dirt track across the parking lot when he came. He stated he asked Ken Rice, one of the Church’s oldest members, how long the track had been there and he stated since 1960 or so. He spoke with Carol and Gary Gilmore. The Church owned a parsonage in Woodlawn Park and the Gilmores purchased the parsonage and lived there from 1977-1982. They remember a post and cable were present when they lived there. A resident stated a berm was also there with the post and cable. Becky Ritz asked if this was to keep Woodlawn Park residents from coming through. He looked at the pictures with Church representatives and discussed what they showed. Greg stated he thinks the Kinloch developer did not want Kinloch to abut any paved area. He stated he remembers the berm, but not the cable being dropped. Greg stated the Church has taken it upon itself to pave their lot, remove the berm, which was not theirs and put up a gate. The Pastor stated that Howard Martin would come by his office to talk, on occasion. He mentioned that Mr. Peters had complained about the entrance. He put blocks to stop the access. He thought the Church was using his property. The Pastor suggested the gate and Howard agreed it was a good idea. He thought they had a good relationship. They had informal conversations, not meetings. He stated the City did not tell the Church to put up the gate, it was the Church’s idea. A resident stated that they want access to the City controlled. The Pastor stated the Church was in the City also and had been since 1957. Greg stated it was no the intent of the developer for Kinloch to be a through street. Tim stated that can’t be stated as fact. Greg said to look at the logic and it is true. He stated Howard Martin did not have the authority to tell the Church they could remove the berm. Greg stated the problem is residents aren’t used to traffic coming from that direction. . He stated the Church may want to sell the lot and the entrance could then be used. He stated it is the Council’s responsibility to maintain the integrity of the City. He does not see the need for a second entrance. Glenn Price stated that years from now, that lot will not be commercial because it is zoned for a Church. The Church cannot get any bigger than the current proposal. It has 200 parking spaces now, 220 on the new site. The Church will pay for a traffic engineer, if the City wants one. He stated every driver is responsible to look out for other cars. Tim asked if they were talking about using this as a permanent entrance. Glenn stated he wants to work out a compromise with the City. He wants to look at it the next few weeks and see what is needed. Glenn and Matt can draw up an agreement. He stated that to say there will be commercial development on the site in the future is ridiculous. Tim stated he would like to continue the conversation at the current meeting. He stated $4,000.00-$5,000.00 has already been spent discussing this issue.
Church rep stated that in the current entrance there are people turning left in one lane and right in another. They block each other’s sight. Tim asked about the traffic guard. Church rep stated that the traffic study discouraged the use of traffic guards. A resident stated other large Churches use traffic guards. Chris asked if they had talked to other Cities. Glenn stated they want to do what they are doing on Sundays and that will be the worst it will be. The Chief stated he counted 14 vehicle using Kinloch. Glenn stated the Church wanted the gate open at other times, such as large weddings, 3 or 4 times per year, or for a funeral. Pastor stated that when Westport Road is widened, the Church driveway is shortened, which will block space so cars cannot leave, and cause gridlock. Mike Brown asked if there was a code issue with Metro for the design. Glenn stated the Work’s department had not reviewed the plan. The public hearing will be in March or April. The works department will decide how many entrances are needed. He stated BTM performed the traffic study. Tim asked Chana to write down the list of concerns. Tim stated there was a list of Council concerns. 1. Traffic; residents are not used to occurrence of traffic, 2. Taxes for road maintenance , 3. Illegal incursion, whether it is a legal egress or not, 4. Church to use traffic guard or not.
Matt stated he wants a very specific proposal from Glenn stating the Church wants to use Kinloch on Sundays for 2 hours from 11-1 and occasionally for weddings and funeral, if the lot is full. Glenn stated the Church would like to use Kinloch 9:45-12:45 on Sundays; occasional weddings, when the lot is full, for the occasional significant event, less than 6 per year. There was a discussion about when the gate would be open. Tim stated he wants to know exactly what the Church wants, so Council can review it. Pastor stated the gate had been open during construction when the driveway was blocked. Mr. Bates asked what would happen to the plans if this is denied and would it impact their development. Glenn stated yes it would impact development. Mr. Bates asked if the Church had researched their legal right. Glenn stated the Church thinks they have a right for access. Glenn stated they know there will be congestion if there is not another entrance. He does not know what Metro will require. Greg stated that in prior meetings he had said that the entrance can be breached. Glenn stated Greg keeps stating the Church can sell the property. Glenn stated Greg knows that can’t happen because it would have to go through zoning and would be opposed by City Council.. Greg stated he is worried about setting precedence and the gate cannot be opened if property sells. Glenn agreed that this should be part of any agreement with the City. Matt suggested two general categories of events that the Church wants access to Kinloch. Church services from 9:45-11-45, significant events, i.e., funerals and weddings. The determining factor for access to Kinoch will be if the parking lot is substantially full. Tim requested the City be notified in advance of the circumstance. Pastor stated it might be maximum of 6 times annually. Mid-week daycare will not be par t of opening the gate, unless the regular opening is closed for construction. Matt asked the Church to provide a concrete list of events, then have Council vote on it. Also state the agreement is for as long as the Church owns the property and is a church. Greg stated he reviewed the traffic study and it appears that the traffic is going out Ambridge. He thinks the engineer should estimate the percentage of traffic that would go out Kinloch. Glenn asked Greg to meet with the traffic engineer. Greg stated he is not an engineer and would not know what he is talking about. He said the numbers do not make sense. There was a discussion about the numbers of cars leaving and how they are turning. Matt asked Glenn to write an agreement and send to him. Matt will give it to the Council to review. Tim stated to consider Walser will be three lanes at Westport Road and may need a traffic light in the future. Glenn stated the State is not planning on putting in alight. He said the Church could help defray the cost if one was needed in the future. The Pastor stated that the gate might be open while construction is ongoing and put it in the agreement. He does not know how much trouble this will be for people on Ambridge, after the road is widened and he like to would consider opening both Ambridge and Kinloch in the future. Tim stated the Council had already voted no to open Ambridge. Becky asked if there was anything in the design to designate one as an entrance or exit.
Tim asked Glenn to send a draft to Matt. The council will review it at the next meeting, the 3rd Monday in February. A resident asked what the intentions were for the five rental houses. Pastor stated the Church did not anticipate that by buying five houses they could not use the five driveways for access to the street. Pastor stated they want the houses down and the project to go forward this year. The property will be maintained. There is a gutter down on the blue house.
Christian made a motion to adjourn the meeting. Doug seconded the motion. All voted aye and the meeting was adjourned at 9:08 pm.



Respectfully submitted,

Chana R. Elswick
City Clerk