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TOWN OF BETHANY
BEACH FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 21, 2008
TOWN COUNCIL MEETING TOWN MEETING ROOM
REGULAR MONTHLY MEETING 7:30 P.M.
I.
OPENING OF REGULAR MEETING
A.
Call
to Order and Roll Call
All members of Council were present.
Also present was our Town Manager, Town Clerk and Town Solicitor.
B.
Pledge of Allegiance
C.
Approval of the Agenda
Approved
D.
Approval of minutes of regular meeting held on October 17, 2008
Approved
E.
Approval of minutes of executive session held on October 17, 2008
Approved
F.
Approval of minutes of special meeting/workshop session held on October
20, 2008
Approved
G.
Approval of minutes of special meeting/executive session held on
September 17, 2008
Approved
H.
Approval of Financial Report
Approved
I.
Announcements/Recognition of Visitors and Public Comment
1.
Mr. Lew Killmer was selected by our
Planning Commission as their chairperson for this year
and Mrs. Kathleen Mink was selected as the vice chairperson.
2. DENREC and the U.S. Army Corps of
Engineers have confirmed beach replenishment will take place here
following the Dewey Beach project scheduled for this winter. Repairs to
the crossovers and fencing will also take place before the 2009 season.
3. During our New Business this
evening, we will ask each beach concession bidder to address Council for
five minutes. Following the bidders, the public will be asked to
address Council on the issue and each speaker will be asked to speak for
three minutes or less.
The audience was
provided an opportunity to address the Town Council about any non-agenda
item. Public comment regarding agenda items is requested as
Council addresses each individual item.
J.
Nomination and Possible Vote on Appointment to the Non-Residential
Design Review Committee
1.
Mrs. Faith Denault was selected by our Planning Commission as
their representative on our Non-Commercial Design Review Committee thus
I nominate her to fill the Planning Commission representative seat on
this committee. Her term
begins immediately and will expire on October 14, 2010.
Approved by Council
II.
REPORTS OF MEMBERS AND STANDING COMMITTEES
A.
Report
from Planning Commission (Killmer)
B.
Report from Non-Residential Design Guideline Committee (Killmer)
C.
Report from Cultural and Historic Affairs Committee (Olmstead)
D.
Report
from Budget and Finance Committee (Gordon)
no report - no meeting
E.
Report from Charter and Ordinance Review
Committee (Peterson)
no report – no meeting
F.
Report from Communications Committee (Mulligan)
1.
Any
requests or assignments from Council to the Committee?
G.
Report
from the Town Manager (Graviet)
III.
OLD BUSINESS
-
No old business
IV.
NEW
BUSINESS
A.
Discussion
and Possible Vote on Award for Beach Concession (McClenny)
Discussed by Council subsequent to hearing from two vendors, who bid on
the contract, and from a number of
individuals from the public.
Awarded to Ronald L. Steen
The Town of Bethany Beach published a
request for a beach concession that would rent beach
equipment on the
public beach for the period of March 1, 2009 through October 1, 2014.
Three
proposals were received as of the bid closing date of November 7,
2008. These proposals were
provided to council members for review and
consideration with discussion and possible vote
scheduled for this
evening’s meeting.
- Discussion and Possible
Vote regarding a New Ordinance to Regulate the Size and Number of
Flag and Flagpoles as they Relate to their Permitted Height Above an
Existing
Structure/Building. (Parsons)
This item was tabled at the request of Dr.
Parsons, sponsor.
- (First Reading)
An Ordinance to Replace Subsection
85-3 (b) of the Bethany Beach Town Code with a New Subsection 85-3
(b) which will Require Owners of Rental Properties to Certify as
Part of the Licensing Process that Certain Minimum Safety
Requirements Have Been Complied With (Killmer)
Synopsis
This ordinance implements a new certification process for owners of
rental properties which will
ensure that certain minimum safety
requirements are complied with prior to the issuance of a
rental
license. The ordinance intends to implement minimum safety requirements
that include a
minimum number of battery operated smoke detectors in
each rental unit; deadbolt locksets that do not require interior keys;
Ground Fault Circuit Interrupter (GFCI) protection in all outdoor
receptacles, bathroom receptacles, garage wall outlets, kitchen
receptacles, and all receptacles in crawl spaces; minimum four inch (4”)
high exterior house numbers; and secure window locks for
all windows
within twelve (12) feet of grade and second story windows accessible by
fire escapes or stairs. The certification requires submission of a
notarized form by the property owner. Free notary public services shall
be provided by the town.
No vote was taken as this was a first reading
- (First Reading) On
Ordinance to Strike Chapter, 232, Article I, Section 232-5 “Removal
of Registrants for the Voting Roles” of the Bethany Beach Town Code
and Renumbering of Affected Sections of the Code. (mcClenny)
Synopsis
This Ordinance has been amended to delete Section 232-5 and renumber
the subsequent section in Article I, Chapter 232 of the Town Code as
necessary as well as changing references to renumbered sections in
Article I, Chapter 232. The Ordinance also designates Section
232-11 as “Reserved”. (McClenny)
No vote was taken as this was a first reading
Comment: Several years
ago, in an effort to encourage more property owners to vote, the
town automatically established a process that registers up to eight
property owners per property. The current code states that
"who have failed to vote in the past five municipal elections ..."
"shall be disqualified and stricken from the registration books."
The logic for deleting this section is to prevent property owners
from being stricken from the voting process for not voting during
the past five municipal elections.
- Vote on Proposed Changes to the Town
Council Protocol Manual (McClenny)
a. Insert an alphabetized index
b.
Place the current edition date at
the bottom of each page along with the page number
c. During our August
15, 2008 Council Meeting, New Business item B was discussed and
passed.
This would require wording in the manual to describe
the requirement that an overview of
each proposed ordinance
shall be provided as part of the briefing package. This should
be
added to the manual along with a copy of the sample overview
document.
A standard overview form shall be provided with each proposed
ordinance at the first reading
1.
Responsibility
for providing the overview is with the sponsoring council member.
2. The sponsor may
modify the overview sheet format to suit the specific ordinance.
3. The overview
sheet shall be available to the public with other briefing materials on
any
proposed ordinance.
4. The overview
sheet will include a place to list or summarize substantive public input
on the
issue or to note there has been none.
5.
Utilization of
the overview sheet is not a substitute for reading the proposed
ordinance.
d. Page 9, Cancelled Meetings.
Change the words “a legal holiday,” to
“federal, state and county holidays.”
e. Page 26, Adjournment –
Correct the listed time to 9:30 p.m.
“Upon the completion of all business listed on the agenda, or at
any time by majority vote of
the full Council, the Mayor shall declare
the meeting adjourned. The Council hereby
establishes 10:30 9:30
p.m. as the hour of adjournment
and will not continue beyond 10:30
9:30 p.m. without a majority
vote of the Council. To assist in making the determination to
continue
an item under consideration, the Council should find that discussion,
deliberation and
action on the item could be concluded by 11:00 p.m.
The Council will not hear any new agenda
items past 10:30 p.m. without a
majority vote of the Council. A determination should be made
by Council
that any new item(s) can be discussed, deliberated and action taken
before 11:00
p.m. If agenda items remain after 10:30 p.m. adjournment,
(1) the Council may recess its
meeting to a specified date and time
where it will resume where it left off; (2) a
special meeting may be
scheduled and advertised; (3) the items deferred until the
next regularly scheduled Council meeting. Deferred items will appear
first under
Old Business.”
f.
Modify page 32, G. Minutes;
Recording of Meetings, paragraph 1 to state, “A record of
Town
Council meetings shall be made in the form of minutes and kept in the
town files.
Minutes shall include final motions with votes. The
minutes will include the names of public
speakers and their business or
group affiliation, if appropriate. Town Council discussions and
comments shall be included in the minutes. Minutes are to be a factual
record of the actions
of the Town Council. Town staff shall make
changes to minutes based on the recorded
records of Town Council
meetings but shall not rewrite minutes of a Town Council meeting
unless
directed to do so by a majority vote of the Town Council.”
g.
Page 33; item 4 Audio
Recording of Meetings.
Change “for at least ___ years” to read, “forever”
“Digital recordings stored on compact discs (CD) are made of all
proceedings and are
maintained by the Town Manager. Such discs are
maintained for at least ______ years
forever and are available
for review by any citizen.”
h.
Page 44, Section
VII (1) Standing Committees
i.
Rename C-1/C-2 Commercial Design
Review Committee to
Non-Residential Design Review
Committee
ii.
Delete Intergovernmental
Relations Committee
iii.
Delete Traffic and Parking
Committee
i.
Insert a new item, “Charities.
Recognizing that there are many worthwhile charities,
charitable
organizations and service organizations that provide a public service
our citizen’s
support and are involved with, the Town is frequently
asked to contribute resources, services
and support to these charities.
Although the Town sees the benefit of these many charities
and
organizations, it is incumbent on the Town Council as stewards of our
citizen’s tax dollars
to set specific guidelines for donations of Town
resources, be they monetary or otherwise.
The Town Council believes that support of quasi-governmental
organizations that provide a public
service that are already supported
in part by federal, state, or county tax dollars, and provide a
service
often completely funded by taxpayer dollars in other jurisdictions, is a
worthwhile
expenditure of Town resources. This support is not limited to
monetary donations only but also
includes whatever support is deemed
appropriate by the Town Council to further the goals of these
quasi-governmental entities. Organizations, which fit these parameters and will be supported by the
Bethany Beach Town Council are the South Coastal Library, The Bethany
Beach Volunteer Fire
Company, and the Bethany-Fenwick Chamber of
Commerce.”
All changes were
approved
-
Discussion
and Vote for Authorization to Replace Police Officer in the Bethany
Beach Police Department (McClenny)
Passed
Comment:
As we are currently one officer short of our authorized number of police
officers, the Chief of Police and Town Manager have requested
authorization to fill the position to return our force to full staff.
Consider
a Motion to Cancel the December Town Council Meeting (Parsons)
Passed - there will not be a
regular monthly meeting of the Town Council in December. |
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