COUNCIL MEETING 4040 SOUTH BERKELEY LAKE ROAD BERKELEY LAKE, GEORGIA 30096 FULL MINUTES MAY 15, 2025 CPAMLENEDT IN 195b ATTENDANCE Mayor: Lois Salter Council Members: Barbara Geier, Scott Lee, Chip McDaniel and Rebecca Spitler City Officials: Leigh Threadgill - City Administrator, Dick Carothers - City Attorney Members of the Public: 4 Members of the Press: 0 CALL TO ORDER Salter called the meeting to order at 8:00 PM. A quorum of council members was in attendance. AGENDA Salter solicited a motion regarding the agenda. Spitler made a motion to accept the agenda as submitted. Geier seconded the motion. All council members were in favor and the motion passed. PUBLIC HEARING Salter noted that there were no public hearings. CONSENT AGENDA Salter noted the following as items on the consent agenda and solicited a motion: a) Minutes of April 10 ,2025, Council Meeting b) Minutes April 10, 2025, Council Work Session c) Financial Statements of March 2025 - Unaudited Lee made a motion to approve all items on the consent agenda. McDaniel seconded the motion. All were in favor and the motion passed. Council Meeting Minutes May 15, 2025 Page 1 of 3 OLD BUSINESS Salter noted that there was no old business. NEW BUSINESS a) Berkeley Lake Homeowner's Association = Proposal to temporarily lower lake level in January 2026 Threadgill: This proposal comes as a request from BLHA to do something similar to what was done 5 years ago in January 2021. Specifically, the request is to drop the lake by 6 feet beginning in early January and allow it to fill up naturally, which is expected to occur in April according to the proposal. The purpose of the lowering is to allow homeowners to perform maintenance on waterfront structures and for other maintenance purposes, such as debris removal. Geier made a motion to approve the BLHA proposal as presented for a single instance of lake lowering in January 2026. Lee seconded the motion. All council members were in favor and the motion passed. b) Council Chambers Audio Visual Upgrades Threadgill: This proposal comes to you at my request to upgrade the audio-visual capabilities of council chambers to provide better presentation opportunities to applicants, consultants and staff. This should reduce reliance on paper agenda packets, which benefits the environment and reduces staff time in packet assembly. Additionally, it would provide for uniform display of information to be seen by all in attendance for a better experience. After having discussed this in work session, there are some questions that still need to be addressed. At this point, it can be postponed until the June meeting. McDaniel made a motion to postpone the proposal for Council Room Presentation. Spitler seconded the motion. All council members were in favor and the motion passed. PUBLIC COMMENTS Delicia Reynolds, 3685 North Berkeley Lake Road, stated she has been doing a lot of research about snags and stumps. There is no legal definition of a stump. Here are five definitions: the basal portion of a bodily part remaining after the rest is removed; the part of a plant, especially a tree, remaining attached to the root after the trunk is cut; any remaining part; one of the pointed rods stuck in the ground to form a cricket wicket; and a place or occasion for public speaking, such as a candidate on the stump. If you look at forestry definitions, it's a lot more specific, and she made an excerpt of a report from the US forest service, and offered to send a pdf of that. It defines a stump as a dead tree less than 4.5 feet in height. A standing snag is a dead tree greater or equal to 4.5 feet in height, and snags are beneficial to the environment. They provide homes for insects, birds, squirrels, chipmunks, all kinds of things. They should never be removed'unless they pose a danger. They are very helpful to the environment. 4.5 feet is a standard definition called breast height. DBH, or diameter at breast Council Meeting Minutes May: 15, 2025 Page 2 of3 height, is a standard definition used in tree measurement. In fact, in Berkeley Lake's code Sec. 42-192 that very term is used and mentions 4.5 feet. She requests that council and staff use the more explicit definition the forestry service uses instead of an unknown vague description. If talking about trees, we should use a forestry definition and not something that could be used for a body part. Salter thanked Reynolds and requested that she provide the written information by email. ADJOURNMENT There being no further business to discuss, Spitler moved to adjourn. Lee seconded the motion. All were in favor and the motion passed. Salter adjourned the meeting at 8:07 PM. Submitted by: deye Rue Leigh Threadgill, City Clerk F Council Meeting Minutes May 15, 2025 Page 3 of3