There is no Old Business and only a single New Business Item:

1. Financial Report-Lisa Mashburn

There is an Executive Session for personnal .

The request to extend Alcohol Sales to 3:00AM does not appear.

Here's a pic of the Agenda from the City Hall door:

CITY OF REMERTON Worksession Agenda
Monday, November 2, 2009 Council Chambers at 5:30 P.M.

Welcome Guests.
Citizens to be Heard-None

(With the departure of Lydia Day, Council now consists of four members, Sherry Wood, Ryan Gordon, Reggie Stacks and Bill Wetherington.  All were present.  Mayor Cornelious Holsendolph was not present, so Councilman Stacks as Mayor Pro temp presided over the meeting.)

Presentations, Public Hearings and Updates:
Update regarding water distribution-J.D. Byrd, City Administrator-
Presentation regarding Melody Lane project-Von Shipman, City of Valdosta-Lankford/Melody will be 3 lanes with center turn lane and bike paths on both sides. - This is a City of Valdosta & State project.
Reminder: Special Called Worksession on Saturday, November 7, 2009 at 9:00 a.m. to be held at City Hall/Council Chambers - A new City Charter is the topic.
Reminder: GMA District 11 meeting on Thursday, November 29, 2009 at 11:30 a.m. to be held at the Comfort Inn Suites at 1332 St. Augustine Road, Valdosta, Ga.

NEW BUSINESS:
1. Discussion regarding request to amend Alcohol Ordinance to allow for a closing time of 3:00 a.m. - (Minute 3:45) Request presentation by Eric Saunders, owner of Charlie O'Corleys Bar & Grill.  Mr. Saunders' request was based on the loss of revenue which he feels has occurred due to the loss of the additional hour of alcohol sales.   Mr. Saunders reported revenues were down ~$150,000 since the alcohol sales hours were reduced.

There were no other bar representatives present, however council members Wood and Gordon are assumed to support the request since they spoke against it and voted against the ordinance last year.

(Minute 9:15) Chief of Police Mike Terrel spoke next in opposition to extending the hours to 3:00 a.m.  Chief Terrel's opposition was based on the reduction of crime and expenses associated with longer sales hours.

Chief Terrel also noted that the owner of CJ's Pub heard of the proposed hour extension and called in to express his opposition since CJ's revenues were up $15,000 over the same period.

2. Department Reports:
   City Clerk-Lisa Mashburn
   Probation-Jessica Freeman
   Police-Mike Terrell
   Fire/Utilities/Public Works-Ron Woods
   City Administrator-J.D. Byrd

ADJOURN

Council members noted that the bars quarterly statements were in their packets and some of the figures were out of line with the 30% required food sales.  There was some chuckling about one that was either 4% or 0.4%  Someone mentioned that was about one hotdog's worth of sales.

Remerton is no longer a voting station.  Registered voters in the City were notified of the new voting location, but the City did not find out until Monday.

(More later...)

Click here to listen to the Remerton City Council Work Session of November 2, 2009 (~34 mins.)

(At Monday night's City Council Work session the first item under New Business will be: Discussion regarding request to amend Alcohol Ordinance to allow for a closing time of 3:00 a.m.)

It's been ten months, for crying out loud.

Damn, the folks that get kicked out of the Valdosta bars at 2:00AM have nowhere to go.

Remerton is losing tax revenue as well as fines & forfeiture revenue. 

Caseload and income is down in the probation department.

Remerton Police officers aren't getting enough overtime pay.  Local ambulance services are losing income.  County lockup is losing business. Wrecker and collision service are losing business.

This onerous 2:00 last call experiment is not helping with the recovery of our economy.

Heck, forget 3:00AM let's extend it to 4:00AM. It's our civic...no it's our freakin patriotic duty!!!

[Disclaimer: For those readers who are afflicted with the inability to recognize sarcasm...this is an example.]

CITY OF REMERTON Regular Meeting
Monday, October 12, 2009 at 5:30 P.M.

Welcome Guests.
Pledge and Prayer.
Establish Quorum of Council.-
Approval of minutes from Regular Council Meeting, Monday, September 14, 2009.
Citizens to be Heard.

NEW BUSINESS:
1. Consideration regarding renewal of Certificate of Deposits at Bank of Valdosta; Certificate Enterprise Fund $27,171.07 and Certificate of Deposit General Fund $13,600.31. - Unanimously approved
2. Consideration regarding closure of Baytree Place on October 22, 2009 from 5:00 PM to 9:00 PM for 2009 Candlelight Vigil to honor victims and survivors of domestic violence. - Unanimously approved
3. Consideration regarding setting Special Work Session date and time. - Tentative date of Saturday, November 7, starting at 9:00AM.  Announcement will be published in the Times.  This is about revisions to the City Charter.
4. Financial Report-Lisa Mashburn, City Clerk - Report unanimously approved. Four new businesses have received licences since last month.

If you recall the General Fund Account Balances for the last few months, a disturbing trend emerges.  Aug. was about $200 thousand, Sept was about $110 thousand and this month down to about $73 thousand.

Let's hope this is just a season fluctuation or the next item discussed wont be necessary.

5. Consideration regarding Resolution to declare a vacancy on the City Council and to call for a special election to fill the vacancy and for other purposes. (min 11:30)- A formal resolution was prepared and read by City Attorney Brad Folsom that included the acceptance of Lydia Day's resignation from Council and initiating the procedure for an election to fill the vacant seat by election in compliance with the City Charter and the State of Georgia.

The City Charter requires that an election be held if a Council seat will remain vacant for more than 12 months before the next scheduled election.   If less than twelve months remain, a councilman may be appointed.

Congratulations to this Council for following the law.  The prior council, under the the leadership of  then Mayor Peggi Siefret and Mayor Pro Temp Sue Chaney (resident?) ignored the Charter when a member resigned with about 18 months left on the term.  Nothing was done until a vacancy time of less than a year was reached and the then Council appointed Council Member Sherry Wood who was sponsored by Mrs. Chaney.

Upon hearing that the cost of the special election would be $6000-7000 to replace Lydia Day, Council Member Sherry Wood factiously suggested holding a car wash to pay for the election. 

Things were sure easier and cheaper in the "old days" when inconvenient laws and regulations could be ignored.

COUNCIL COMMENTS.
ADJOURN

Click for audio of the Remerton City Council Regular Meeting - 10/12/09 (~17 mins)