HIAWASSEE CITY COUNCIL MEETING MINUTES
February 5^th, 2019

The February 2019 City Council Meeting was called to order at 6:00 pm in the Courtroom at City Hall by Mayor Liz Ordiales.

Present in addition to the Mayor were Council members Patsy Owens, Nancy Noblet, Amy Barrett, Kris Berrong, and Anne Mitchell. Also present were Police Officer John Carter III and Economic Development Director Denise McKay.  New guests included Charles and Doug Nickelson, Joell Kinsey & Carol Stroud, local business owners and Pat Malone, WJUL

Council member Kris Berrong gave the invocation which was followed by the Pledge of Allegiance.

Mayor Ordiales explained to the new guests the process by which the City conducts meetings.  There are two meetings held monthly, the City Council sessions in which the City legislates the business of the City, approving, amending, disapproving ordinance, resolutions, contracts, etc.  At this meeting public comment is limited and in order to address the council, prior arrangement to be included on the agenda is necessary.  The work sessions were also explained as the vehicle where audience participation is allowed, encouraged and requested.  The work session is an informal meeting and a sign is posted on the square monthly to inform and solicit participation from the citizens. Mayor Ordiales proceeded to explain that unless there is an emergency that requires attention, there will never be any new business discussed at the City Council meetings that were not presented and discussed at the prior work session. 

The final agenda was presented and motion to approve was made by Patsy Owens, second by Nancy Noblet, with unanimous passing. 

There were no old business items, 

There were no new business items. 

Motion was made by Anne Mitchell to approve the consent agenda, second by Patsy Owens.  The Consent Agenda consisted of Minutes from meetings dated 12/4/18, 12/17/18, 1/10/19, 1/28/19 and the October and November financials.  It was explained that 2 months of financials were being approved due to not having a City Council meeting the first Tuesday of January. January 1^stwould have been the first Tuesday and the council voted to not have a council meeting that day.

Motion was made by Anne Mitchell to approve the Sign Ordinance, second by Kris Berrong. After lengthy discussion led by Anne Mitchell regarding the treatment of the banners, the following changes were made: 
            1. Removal of the limitation of 60 days per banner
            2. Removal of the limitation of 5 banners per year per business
            3. Removal of price of $15 per banner
            4. Addition of verbiage to account for removal of banners not in compliance. 

The motion was carried out with a unanimous vote to approve the ordinance as amended.  

Motion was made by Anne Mitchell to approve the first reading of the Home Rule ordinance to allow 2 readings at 1 meeting.  The motion was second by Patsy Owens.  Mayor Ordiales explained in detail the purpose of the ordinance which is to expedite clearly approved and discussed issues that require either a new ordinance be put in place or an amendment to an existing ordinance. One of the examples cited was the implementation of the Brunch Rule.  This brunch rule was passed by the legislative body at the state Capitol in early 2018.  In order to approve this ordinance in the City, the action needed to be put to a vote to the citizens.  During the November 2018 elections, city voters were asked to approve or disapprove the change of hours for Sunday sales from 12:30PM to 11:00AM.  Voters chose by a 67% margin to accept this change. In order to make that change in the City, an amendment to the existing alcohol ordinance was needed.  This approval took 2 months due to the 2 read ordinance in place.  The approval of the home rule ordinance would have allowed for this process to have been expedited to 1 meeting for both readings.  The vote was called and voting in favor were Patsy Owens and Anne Mitchell, voting against were Kris Berrong, Amy Barrett and Nancy Noblet.  The introduction of the ordinance was denied.

There was no need for entry to Executive Session

Motion to adjourn the meeting was made by Amy Barrett, second by Nancy Noblet, unanimous agreement.  Meeting adjourned at 7:05pm