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All right. Good evening everybody. Welcome to the special called meeting of the Watkinsville City Council on August 30th. 00:00:00
Well, Councilman Thomas be calling in tonight, Julie. 00:00:08
Was not heard from him, but we do have a quorum. Four or five members are here and we're grateful for that. Let's start with the 00:00:12
pledge, Joe, if you could lead us, please. 00:00:17
I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America, and to the Republic for which it stands, one nation under God, 00:00:23
indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. 00:00:29
All right. Welcome. It's good to see some new faces here tonight and some old friends. Glad you all are here. I do want to start 00:00:41
off with recognizing that we have had. 00:00:45
Terrible incident in Florida and South Georgia today, and I just want to extend our thoughts and prayers to everyone affected by 00:00:51
Hurricane Natalia. 00:00:54
Some of that footage was horrific and I know it's not over yet, but what an impact. 00:00:59
Florida, So our prayers are with the folks down there. This meeting is being broadcast simultaneously online via the Suite 1 00:01:03
software. Those who can't attend the meeting can always watch our meetings and access them via the link. You can also access all 00:01:09
of the meeting information and listen into the meeting as we go. For anybody with hearing impairments, there's a hearing loop 00:01:15
installed here in the chamber which will allow you to listen to the meetings. 00:01:21
If you have a telecoil and your hearing device, you'll be able to hear anything said into the microphone. Headsets are also 00:01:28
available at the sign in table for your use as well. Please be sure to sign them. 00:01:32
Return them to the table after the meeting. This meeting agenda was posted on August 25th and since this is a special called 00:01:38
meeting tonight, public comments were not placed on the agenda. It is in the discretion of the Mayor and Council whether to allow 00:01:43
public comments or not. We anticipate doing that for anybody who does want to speak on the matter at hand. 00:01:49
At this point, I will entertain an approval of the agenda. 00:01:56
Council, Any questions or comments or adjustments you want to make to the agenda? 00:02:01
I make a motion to approve the agenda. We have motion to We have a second. 00:02:06
Second, any discussion. 00:02:11
All in favor, say aye, aye, motion carries. All right. Tonight we have items on the agenda related to the Thomas Farm property 00:02:14
that we decided to purchase a few months ago and has been under contract. We got good news in the past few weeks and that that's 00:02:20
we've been awarded a three and a half $1,000,000 loan from the Queen Water State revolving fund. The interest rate on that Sharon, 00:02:26
I think is 1. 00:02:33
.6 three 1.63% Wish I could find money that cheap anywhere else but 1.63. That's. 00:02:40
That is hard to beat, so we're thankful. Thankful for that. 00:02:50
Opportunity, I think we've talked at length about the transformative nature of this of this park and this opportunity for the 00:02:53
city, both in terms of the additional green space that we're going to be adding, the potential reduction and the reduction of 00:02:59
potential traffic on Simonton Bridge Rd. 00:03:04
The environmental benefits that are associated with calls, Creek and the. 00:03:11
In the ponds and frankly, the opportunity for the public to access a beautiful site right in the heart of Watkinsville. I'll 00:03:15
remind everyone there's 1/3 of an 1/3 of a mile of Cause Creek frontage on this property, 33 acres of woods. 00:03:21
60 acres of pasture, 5 acres worth of ponds, all of which will be available to the public. 00:03:27
To enjoy. 00:03:33
We do have, as I said, three items that we need to cover that are all about that. They're basically all different appropriations. 00:03:36
We have to agree to accept the money, money from the Clean Water State Revolving Fund. 00:03:41
We'll have to approve a percentage of money that we received in the American Rescue Act plan to dedicated to this acquisition and 00:03:47
then we'll appropriate some additional money out of our spouse three funds in the green space to cover the balance of that. But I 00:03:54
do think it probably makes sense since I'm guessing whoever's here to discuss this tonight would probably want to be heard on the 00:04:00
matter before we vote that we allow anybody who does want to speak to come forward tonight. 00:04:06
Our typical rules. This isn't a formal public hearing, but will apply our typical rules. And those Joe, you may have to back me up 00:04:13
if I don't get these. Remember all these 4 minutes per speaker. 00:04:18
Address the matter at hand which is the on the agenda tonight. We have the the Thomas Farm Park funds and funding. Address your 00:04:24
comments to council and keep everything respective and on topic. So we'll do 4 minutes apiece for anybody who wishes to speak 00:04:30
tonight. If you somebody else has already said what you want to say then you feel free to just say hey you know they speak for me. 00:04:36
So if you want to speak, come to the podium and and state your name and address for the record. We'll go from there. Joe, did I 00:04:41
miss anything? 00:04:47
OK. All right. Mr. Smith, welcome back. 00:04:55
Thank you. Can you hear me? 00:05:01
First thing. 00:05:04
The agenda, that is. 00:05:07
Doesn. 00:05:11
Any public. 00:05:13
I'm wondering if the ordinance or by the charter that you can even have this meeting unless. 00:05:16
Having the agenda that the public has an opportunity to speak. 00:05:24
I'm taking issue with. 00:05:30
Because it's not online. 00:05:32
I've watched this process from. 00:05:40
And I for the first. 00:05:46
Monday morning this week I. 00:05:49
That this was a low interest loan. 00:05:55
And when the neutral. 00:06:00
When is the public going to know about? 00:06:03
You're paying 4.55 million for property 45,000 an acre. 00:06:09
45,000 an. 00:06:15
You're borrowing 3.55 million. 00:06:20
From some agency or some Regulatory agency in Atlanta. 00:06:23
And I have yet to figure out. 00:06:28
Appraisal Hey, this is. 00:06:33
Conservation. 00:06:37
Group. 00:06:38
I've printed out a little bit about it. It's called a conservation fund. 00:06:41
I have no clue how y'all are managing this or how you're doing it, but you're paying 4.55 million. 00:06:49
And the appraisal is 3.55 million, you got the appraisal in December? 00:06:56
And four months. 00:07:03
We're negotiating a contract for 3.55 and negotiating the contract for 4.55 million. 00:07:06
Now I want to clear something up. There was some meeting 2-3 months ago where the minutes said that Bob Smith is against this 00:07:13
plan. I never said that. 00:07:19
I only ask questions, so I hope that you'll correct the minutes that I'm not against this plan that Thomas family are dear, dear 00:07:24
people in Oconee County. 00:07:29
We used to have a Peach on just like the Thomas it. 00:07:36
Mark sold pieces under Pete's Dental in downtown Rochester. So did I. 00:07:39
I've never been against the Thomas has never been against the property. 00:07:47
I want to know why we can't have a open, honest discussion about things that are going on in this city. Why are you paying 4.5 00:07:52
million when you have an appraisal for 3.55 million yet the appraisal in December and four months later? 00:08:02
We're negotiating the price for $1,000,000 more. 00:08:11
And I did some math on that. 2900 people in Watkinsville, that's 345 people just for the $1,000,000 over the purchase price, over 00:08:17
the appraisal price. And for a family of five, that's $17125. 00:08:25
For the entire purchase. 00:08:35
For a family of five, there's $7845 for this purchase. I'm deeply concerned that we have Harris chose parking, we have another 00:08:36
park. How are you going to maintain those two parks? And more importantly? 00:08:43
How you going to maintain this part? 00:08:51
Open, honest, transparent government. 00:08:58
Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Smith. 00:09:01
Anyone else? 00:09:06
Welcome back, Mrs. Maltsby. 00:09:10
Carolyn won't speak Evan Taylor's Landing. Been a resident here for about 20-6 years and had the pleasure of driving by Thomas 00:09:13
Farm almost every day, so I was happy. 00:09:20
Delighted to hear that it would not be developed. 00:09:27
But I do have some questions. So could you tell us a little bit about the clean water? I'll just give you all my questions if you 00:09:31
want to jot them all down and just. 00:09:36
Things that the citizens might want to know Clean Water State Revolving Fund. It says it's administered by the Georgia 00:09:41
Environmental Finance Authority. I'm assuming those are state. 00:09:47
Organizations, but if you could elaborate the American Rescue Plan Fund, I know we've been on that for a while. I can't remember 00:09:53
recall. 00:09:58
Everything about that bet on. 00:10:03
Backpage. 00:10:06
It says that it is. 00:10:09
The standard allowance of $10 million for government services under the eligible category of revenue replacement and lost revenue. 00:10:13
So I'm assuming again that's a government fund that we have access to. I'll walk you through all that when we get. And it was 00:10:21
increased to $10 million on April 20th. What was it before? 00:10:27
I'll walk you through it, OK, and let's. 00:10:34
Going down to appropriated for the 100 acre Thomas Family Park. Is that the park name? I know there's a process to officially make 00:10:39
something a park. Yep. OK, I'll answer all the questions. 00:10:46
And then in regard to the sloth funds. 00:10:54
There was no amount. 00:11:01
Given. 00:11:04
The new park, I guess you're going to announce that here tonight or is it the three? 00:11:06
40 It's so small. Yeah. We'll explain all that. We'll explain all that when we introduce the agenda item. Yep. Great. 00:11:11
And let's see. 00:11:18
One of the notes said that. 00:11:21
You had added and I'm sorry I can't read it. Was it $256,000 to the splice fund back in? 00:11:25
February. Yep. Was that, Could you explain, was that an overage? We took a memorial, yeah. So yeah, just keep going with the 00:11:33
questions and we'll talk them all out when you get. 00:11:38
In a way, it would be better to ask questions after you've you've done it, but before you vote, and then I wouldn't have to do 00:11:43
this. 00:11:46
And. 00:11:52
Sorry, can't read it. 00:11:57
The amount left in the Harris SHO. 00:12:01
Because. 00:12:04
All of those amounts are they to remain the same as budgeted and slaughtering? 00:12:07
For the other parts, well, what manager Dickerson tackle that when we come around to it? Yep. 00:12:11
It seemed like there might be an adjustment and. 00:12:17
Finally, if the appraisal that Bob is referring to is indeed correct, is that accurate? OK. Thank you. 00:12:22
Any other questions or comments? 00:12:35
And we'll. 00:12:39
I think just because we have interested citizens here tonight, maybe what we can do is introduce the items, get a motion in a 00:12:41
second. 00:12:44
And then we. 00:12:48
Once we have a motion in a second, I'll tackle sort of explaining some. 00:12:50
Based on what I've heard, Sharon, if you want to jump in with. 00:12:54
Any gaps in council, if y'all want to respond to anything too, I think that's fine. This is an important purchase for the city, so 00:12:57
I want everybody who's here to have the opportunity to understand our thinking. I don't think any of you were here when we had the 00:13:01
council meeting where we announced it and we spent a fair bit of time on it that night and unpacked it, but I definitely want 00:13:05
y'all. 00:13:09
Have a clear picture of what we're doing and how we're doing and why we're doing it. 00:13:14
Sharon, at this point, do you want to introduce all three items? 00:13:19
Let's do it that way. Then we'll do motions and seconds on them individually, but I think because it all sort of fits together, if 00:13:24
you could introduce those. 00:13:27
Then for the questions that aren't answered through that process, we'll answer those. 00:13:31
And then council can add anything they want to as well. 00:13:35
Sure. 00:13:40
Not really sure how to introduce better than you've already introduced about the resolution, but basically we have boilerplate 00:13:43
documents that have to be signed and resolution has to be passed if we want to accept this low interest money from the Georgia 00:13:48
Environmental Facilities Authority. 00:13:53
We have roughly $1,000,000 then we'll talk about that in the next items, but we'll have about $1,000,000 out of our existing funds 00:14:00
out of American Rescue plan and SWOSS refunds that will make up the difference that we did not get in the in the in the loan. So 00:14:06
do you. 00:14:11
So yeah, just to yeah, to unpack it a little bit more. So so basically the the clean water. 00:14:17
State revolving fund Missus Maltzby is administered by JIFA and we were hopeful, but you couldn't count on it, that we may be 00:14:24
granted the low interest loan from GFA. 00:14:30
That was part of where Mr. Thunderbird, Mr. Smith, you made reference to Mr. Thunderbird from the Conservation Fund. 00:14:36
Their mission is to. 00:14:43
Green space. And that's what they do. And he suggested that that might be a potential resource for us to look at. You know, in 00:14:45
terms of cheap money, cheaper than the bond market, cheaper than you can go to for your bank, because their mission is to 00:14:50
preserve. 00:14:54
Green spaces that impact water quality. We have 1/3 of an acre on Carls Creek here, which runs into the Oconee River, and then we 00:15:00
also have acres and acres of wetlands as well. 00:15:04
So they deem that this project is worth the loan and loans those funds us. They also provide loans for wastewater systems. If you 00:15:09
looked at who the other cities were that were awarded, you know they were replacing sewer system, sewer pipes, water systems, but 00:15:15
they have a green space fund as well. So that's the role that this organization played. So they're providing funds at the 00:15:21
appraised value level. 00:15:26
We could not come to terms with the property owners at the appraised property value. What we did determine is that over time the 00:15:33
property value would increase. Mr. Thomas had also had many other offers for more than three and a half, $1,000,000 for this 00:15:40
property. So we had to have a willing buyer and a willing seller. And as I've told lots of people, this was more than the city 00:15:46
wanted to pay and it was a lot less than the Thomas's wanted to take. 00:15:52
But sometimes that's how real estate works and that's how we landed on the number and we decided that. 00:16:00
Overtime that 20 or 30 years from now when you know hopefully my grandchildren are enjoying that space and the neighbors are 00:16:04
enjoying that space, that that's what's really important is that the property is preserved. 00:16:10
For use in the future and again to limit potential development on that quarter, there's a lot of different scenarios that could 00:16:16
happen on that quarter. 00:16:20
So the first resolution that Mrs. **** that Mrs. Manager Dickerson introduced is to accept that three and a half million. The next 00:16:25
two are related to how we're going to appropriate other funds to get there. So the American Rescue Plan Act funds missus Maltby. 00:16:31
Funds for this purchase. So that is just been sitting on our balance sheet and hasn't been allocated or specifically dedicated to 00:17:17
anything. 00:17:20
For the original purpose of the American rescue plan, which was for COVID related measures and and such, we can use them for 00:17:57
whatever we want. So the council took the the standard allowance and that way these monies can be used for whatever again, with 00:18:03
the intent of it being transformative and that's what the mayor spoke to. 00:18:08
So that's the American Rescue Plan Act and then SPOS 3. 00:18:15
Transportation related funds coming available. 00:18:50
Through that project we wanted to just redistribute funds, the transportation related funds in SPLOST 3 to the other items that we 00:18:52
would not have like parks, public safety and government facilities. So at that meeting council increase the green space line item 00:19:00
to 200 and from 290, I'm sorry up 290,000 to 456,000 appropriating 240,000 for the purchase of this land. 00:19:08
What we need today is an additional 100,000 that will cover. We've already spent some money on this, including. 00:19:17
The survey, the evaluation of the dams, legal expenses, purchasing agreement on title search, those kind of things. We've our 00:19:24
spent some money on that, but we also have closing costs, loan fees and then the purchase price of the land as well as some site 00:19:31
initial site work that will be done. So that makes up the additional 100,000 that we need to make this whole. 00:19:38
So we're pulling money out of several different buckets to cover the cost in addition to the loan from G. 00:19:45
If I heard correctly back in February, I'm sorry if you're going to see if you do have to get every people there online. I 00:19:51
appreciate it. Thank you. 00:19:55
So back in February, you just changed the buckets as you must. 00:20:02
To you took out transportation money and allocated it to the green space acquisitions. 00:20:08
The the council reallocated some monies. Yeah, from transportation in Floss 3 because T Spice money was going to become available 00:20:14
in April and it made sense to go ahead and make that change. 00:20:19
It wasn't just in that. There were in other categories as well. Great. And on the one of the questions, I forgot you had extra 00:20:25
time, so that's fine. Yeah. I think you got about a minute left, so yeah. 00:20:32
What's that the effect of the loan payment on the monthly budget and what is the loan payment for? Yeah, we actually, Yep, thank 00:20:39
you. So Sharon may want to offer the specific number, but we actually with the mileage rate that we disclosed at budget time, the 00:20:46
mileage increase was designed to be able to cover the cost of debt service. So we'll you know the the. 00:20:53
The mileage increase will cover, will cover the debt service and and probably you know, will help us offset some of these other 00:21:01
cost increases. Yeah, yeah, so. 00:21:06
And then we wanted to disclose that up front. So we, we put that in the press release, we announce that up front. We didn't want 00:21:11
you know anybody to say, hey, you're not being fully transparent about it. And honestly, it's probably been the only time I've had 00:21:16
people come up to me and say, hey, that's I'd be for that, for that 'cause I'm willing to do it, it amounts to $137 per year for 00:21:21
$300,000 house. 00:21:26
It's about 11 to $12.00 a month to preserve, you know, 5% of the proper 4 to 5% of the property in Watkinsville. 00:21:32
So that's how the numbers shake out. 00:21:39
So, Council, we've introduced item one. 00:21:43
Can I get a motion in a second to entertain that? 00:21:47
I make a motion that we approve accepting the loan from people. 00:21:50
You have a second. 00:21:56
Yes, so moved. 00:22:00
OK, we have a second second. So we have a motion in a second council. This would be your time to ask questions. 00:22:02
About this, or if you want to respond to anything that was. 00:22:09
I just. 00:22:14
Phenomenal that we are able to borrow at such an incredibly low rate and. 00:22:15
Well done all the work that went into finding this kind of resource to make this possible. 00:22:21
OK. 00:22:29
Any other comments? 00:22:32
All. 00:22:35
Hearing none all in favor of approving the resolution, say. 00:22:36
Aye. All right. We'll move on to the second item which would be approving an appropriation of $745,000 from American Rescue Act 00:22:40
plan for the acquisition of. 00:22:45
The 100.837 acres known as the Thomas family. 00:22:51
Manager Dickerson, is there anything we haven't discussed that you want to add here? Well, somebody may ask why are we only doing 00:22:55
745,000 when we clearly have 51,000 extra Part of that, the main reason for that is if you spend more than $750,000, we would be 00:23:02
required to do a single audit for this purpose and that would cost us another 15 or $20,000. So there's no need to do that. We've 00:23:08
got, you know, the extra 5000 we need elsewhere. And so that leaves the council still $51,000 in American Rescue plan to do for 00:23:15
some other projects if they wish. 00:23:21
All right. So that's the item. Is there a? 00:23:31
For. 00:23:34
Make a motion to approve the 745,745 thousand from the American Rescue Act Plan Fund. 00:23:40
All right. Is there a second? I second. All right, so we have a motion. We have a second. I'm going to take an unusual step here. 00:23:48
I know we got some members of the public who have not commented tonight. 00:23:52
If there's anything you do have questions about or want to comment on. 00:23:57
Before we vote, this is your moment. I know we've got folks here. 00:23:59
All right. Thank you, Mr. Smith. You've used your for Mr. Smith, you've used your 4 minutes. 00:24:04
You've used your floor. You did not. You did not have a boat with a with a voice vote. I've not voted yet. I said it was. You had 00:24:10
a vote, but you did not raise call the names for a vote for something that's magnificent. 00:24:17
So I'll call this no, we don't. We don't do voice votes for most of our votes. But thank you. 00:24:25
Yep. 00:24:29
OK. Seeing none, no comments all in favor say aye, aye. Any opposed? 00:24:32
Let the record show the first two votes are unanimous from who's here. 00:24:41
Item 3 Approve appropriating an additional 100,000 from the Splice 3 fund. 00:24:44
Parks and green space for additional expenses related to the acquisition. 00:24:50
44,375 and loan fees 50,000 for initial site work and closing costs. Manager Dickerson Anything else there? 00:24:54
Council entertain a motion to approve. 00:25:06
I make a motion to approve appropriating the additional 100,000 from Sloss 3 fund is there. 00:25:08
2nd. 00:25:16
All right. We have a motion in a second. Any questions or comments? 00:25:17
Hearing none all in favor, say aye. Aye. Any opposed? 00:25:22
Motion carries unanimously. 00:25:25
That is our final item on the agenda. I'll entertain a motion to adjourn. 00:25:28
I make a motion to adjourn second. 00:25:32
All in favor, Say aye. 00:25:35
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All right. Good evening everybody. Welcome to the special called meeting of the Watkinsville City Council on August 30th. 00:00:00
Well, Councilman Thomas be calling in tonight, Julie. 00:00:08
Was not heard from him, but we do have a quorum. Four or five members are here and we're grateful for that. Let's start with the 00:00:12
pledge, Joe, if you could lead us, please. 00:00:17
I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America, and to the Republic for which it stands, one nation under God, 00:00:23
indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. 00:00:29
All right. Welcome. It's good to see some new faces here tonight and some old friends. Glad you all are here. I do want to start 00:00:41
off with recognizing that we have had. 00:00:45
Terrible incident in Florida and South Georgia today, and I just want to extend our thoughts and prayers to everyone affected by 00:00:51
Hurricane Natalia. 00:00:54
Some of that footage was horrific and I know it's not over yet, but what an impact. 00:00:59
Florida, So our prayers are with the folks down there. This meeting is being broadcast simultaneously online via the Suite 1 00:01:03
software. Those who can't attend the meeting can always watch our meetings and access them via the link. You can also access all 00:01:09
of the meeting information and listen into the meeting as we go. For anybody with hearing impairments, there's a hearing loop 00:01:15
installed here in the chamber which will allow you to listen to the meetings. 00:01:21
If you have a telecoil and your hearing device, you'll be able to hear anything said into the microphone. Headsets are also 00:01:28
available at the sign in table for your use as well. Please be sure to sign them. 00:01:32
Return them to the table after the meeting. This meeting agenda was posted on August 25th and since this is a special called 00:01:38
meeting tonight, public comments were not placed on the agenda. It is in the discretion of the Mayor and Council whether to allow 00:01:43
public comments or not. We anticipate doing that for anybody who does want to speak on the matter at hand. 00:01:49
At this point, I will entertain an approval of the agenda. 00:01:56
Council, Any questions or comments or adjustments you want to make to the agenda? 00:02:01
I make a motion to approve the agenda. We have motion to We have a second. 00:02:06
Second, any discussion. 00:02:11
All in favor, say aye, aye, motion carries. All right. Tonight we have items on the agenda related to the Thomas Farm property 00:02:14
that we decided to purchase a few months ago and has been under contract. We got good news in the past few weeks and that that's 00:02:20
we've been awarded a three and a half $1,000,000 loan from the Queen Water State revolving fund. The interest rate on that Sharon, 00:02:26
I think is 1. 00:02:33
.6 three 1.63% Wish I could find money that cheap anywhere else but 1.63. That's. 00:02:40
That is hard to beat, so we're thankful. Thankful for that. 00:02:50
Opportunity, I think we've talked at length about the transformative nature of this of this park and this opportunity for the 00:02:53
city, both in terms of the additional green space that we're going to be adding, the potential reduction and the reduction of 00:02:59
potential traffic on Simonton Bridge Rd. 00:03:04
The environmental benefits that are associated with calls, Creek and the. 00:03:11
In the ponds and frankly, the opportunity for the public to access a beautiful site right in the heart of Watkinsville. I'll 00:03:15
remind everyone there's 1/3 of an 1/3 of a mile of Cause Creek frontage on this property, 33 acres of woods. 00:03:21
60 acres of pasture, 5 acres worth of ponds, all of which will be available to the public. 00:03:27
To enjoy. 00:03:33
We do have, as I said, three items that we need to cover that are all about that. They're basically all different appropriations. 00:03:36
We have to agree to accept the money, money from the Clean Water State Revolving Fund. 00:03:41
We'll have to approve a percentage of money that we received in the American Rescue Act plan to dedicated to this acquisition and 00:03:47
then we'll appropriate some additional money out of our spouse three funds in the green space to cover the balance of that. But I 00:03:54
do think it probably makes sense since I'm guessing whoever's here to discuss this tonight would probably want to be heard on the 00:04:00
matter before we vote that we allow anybody who does want to speak to come forward tonight. 00:04:06
Our typical rules. This isn't a formal public hearing, but will apply our typical rules. And those Joe, you may have to back me up 00:04:13
if I don't get these. Remember all these 4 minutes per speaker. 00:04:18
Address the matter at hand which is the on the agenda tonight. We have the the Thomas Farm Park funds and funding. Address your 00:04:24
comments to council and keep everything respective and on topic. So we'll do 4 minutes apiece for anybody who wishes to speak 00:04:30
tonight. If you somebody else has already said what you want to say then you feel free to just say hey you know they speak for me. 00:04:36
So if you want to speak, come to the podium and and state your name and address for the record. We'll go from there. Joe, did I 00:04:41
miss anything? 00:04:47
OK. All right. Mr. Smith, welcome back. 00:04:55
Thank you. Can you hear me? 00:05:01
First thing. 00:05:04
The agenda, that is. 00:05:07
Doesn. 00:05:11
Any public. 00:05:13
I'm wondering if the ordinance or by the charter that you can even have this meeting unless. 00:05:16
Having the agenda that the public has an opportunity to speak. 00:05:24
I'm taking issue with. 00:05:30
Because it's not online. 00:05:32
I've watched this process from. 00:05:40
And I for the first. 00:05:46
Monday morning this week I. 00:05:49
That this was a low interest loan. 00:05:55
And when the neutral. 00:06:00
When is the public going to know about? 00:06:03
You're paying 4.55 million for property 45,000 an acre. 00:06:09
45,000 an. 00:06:15
You're borrowing 3.55 million. 00:06:20
From some agency or some Regulatory agency in Atlanta. 00:06:23
And I have yet to figure out. 00:06:28
Appraisal Hey, this is. 00:06:33
Conservation. 00:06:37
Group. 00:06:38
I've printed out a little bit about it. It's called a conservation fund. 00:06:41
I have no clue how y'all are managing this or how you're doing it, but you're paying 4.55 million. 00:06:49
And the appraisal is 3.55 million, you got the appraisal in December? 00:06:56
And four months. 00:07:03
We're negotiating a contract for 3.55 and negotiating the contract for 4.55 million. 00:07:06
Now I want to clear something up. There was some meeting 2-3 months ago where the minutes said that Bob Smith is against this 00:07:13
plan. I never said that. 00:07:19
I only ask questions, so I hope that you'll correct the minutes that I'm not against this plan that Thomas family are dear, dear 00:07:24
people in Oconee County. 00:07:29
We used to have a Peach on just like the Thomas it. 00:07:36
Mark sold pieces under Pete's Dental in downtown Rochester. So did I. 00:07:39
I've never been against the Thomas has never been against the property. 00:07:47
I want to know why we can't have a open, honest discussion about things that are going on in this city. Why are you paying 4.5 00:07:52
million when you have an appraisal for 3.55 million yet the appraisal in December and four months later? 00:08:02
We're negotiating the price for $1,000,000 more. 00:08:11
And I did some math on that. 2900 people in Watkinsville, that's 345 people just for the $1,000,000 over the purchase price, over 00:08:17
the appraisal price. And for a family of five, that's $17125. 00:08:25
For the entire purchase. 00:08:35
For a family of five, there's $7845 for this purchase. I'm deeply concerned that we have Harris chose parking, we have another 00:08:36
park. How are you going to maintain those two parks? And more importantly? 00:08:43
How you going to maintain this part? 00:08:51
Open, honest, transparent government. 00:08:58
Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Smith. 00:09:01
Anyone else? 00:09:06
Welcome back, Mrs. Maltsby. 00:09:10
Carolyn won't speak Evan Taylor's Landing. Been a resident here for about 20-6 years and had the pleasure of driving by Thomas 00:09:13
Farm almost every day, so I was happy. 00:09:20
Delighted to hear that it would not be developed. 00:09:27
But I do have some questions. So could you tell us a little bit about the clean water? I'll just give you all my questions if you 00:09:31
want to jot them all down and just. 00:09:36
Things that the citizens might want to know Clean Water State Revolving Fund. It says it's administered by the Georgia 00:09:41
Environmental Finance Authority. I'm assuming those are state. 00:09:47
Organizations, but if you could elaborate the American Rescue Plan Fund, I know we've been on that for a while. I can't remember 00:09:53
recall. 00:09:58
Everything about that bet on. 00:10:03
Backpage. 00:10:06
It says that it is. 00:10:09
The standard allowance of $10 million for government services under the eligible category of revenue replacement and lost revenue. 00:10:13
So I'm assuming again that's a government fund that we have access to. I'll walk you through all that when we get. And it was 00:10:21
increased to $10 million on April 20th. What was it before? 00:10:27
I'll walk you through it, OK, and let's. 00:10:34
Going down to appropriated for the 100 acre Thomas Family Park. Is that the park name? I know there's a process to officially make 00:10:39
something a park. Yep. OK, I'll answer all the questions. 00:10:46
And then in regard to the sloth funds. 00:10:54
There was no amount. 00:11:01
Given. 00:11:04
The new park, I guess you're going to announce that here tonight or is it the three? 00:11:06
40 It's so small. Yeah. We'll explain all that. We'll explain all that when we introduce the agenda item. Yep. Great. 00:11:11
And let's see. 00:11:18
One of the notes said that. 00:11:21
You had added and I'm sorry I can't read it. Was it $256,000 to the splice fund back in? 00:11:25
February. Yep. Was that, Could you explain, was that an overage? We took a memorial, yeah. So yeah, just keep going with the 00:11:33
questions and we'll talk them all out when you get. 00:11:38
In a way, it would be better to ask questions after you've you've done it, but before you vote, and then I wouldn't have to do 00:11:43
this. 00:11:46
And. 00:11:52
Sorry, can't read it. 00:11:57
The amount left in the Harris SHO. 00:12:01
Because. 00:12:04
All of those amounts are they to remain the same as budgeted and slaughtering? 00:12:07
For the other parts, well, what manager Dickerson tackle that when we come around to it? Yep. 00:12:11
It seemed like there might be an adjustment and. 00:12:17
Finally, if the appraisal that Bob is referring to is indeed correct, is that accurate? OK. Thank you. 00:12:22
Any other questions or comments? 00:12:35
And we'll. 00:12:39
I think just because we have interested citizens here tonight, maybe what we can do is introduce the items, get a motion in a 00:12:41
second. 00:12:44
And then we. 00:12:48
Once we have a motion in a second, I'll tackle sort of explaining some. 00:12:50
Based on what I've heard, Sharon, if you want to jump in with. 00:12:54
Any gaps in council, if y'all want to respond to anything too, I think that's fine. This is an important purchase for the city, so 00:12:57
I want everybody who's here to have the opportunity to understand our thinking. I don't think any of you were here when we had the 00:13:01
council meeting where we announced it and we spent a fair bit of time on it that night and unpacked it, but I definitely want 00:13:05
y'all. 00:13:09
Have a clear picture of what we're doing and how we're doing and why we're doing it. 00:13:14
Sharon, at this point, do you want to introduce all three items? 00:13:19
Let's do it that way. Then we'll do motions and seconds on them individually, but I think because it all sort of fits together, if 00:13:24
you could introduce those. 00:13:27
Then for the questions that aren't answered through that process, we'll answer those. 00:13:31
And then council can add anything they want to as well. 00:13:35
Sure. 00:13:40
Not really sure how to introduce better than you've already introduced about the resolution, but basically we have boilerplate 00:13:43
documents that have to be signed and resolution has to be passed if we want to accept this low interest money from the Georgia 00:13:48
Environmental Facilities Authority. 00:13:53
We have roughly $1,000,000 then we'll talk about that in the next items, but we'll have about $1,000,000 out of our existing funds 00:14:00
out of American Rescue plan and SWOSS refunds that will make up the difference that we did not get in the in the in the loan. So 00:14:06
do you. 00:14:11
So yeah, just to yeah, to unpack it a little bit more. So so basically the the clean water. 00:14:17
State revolving fund Missus Maltzby is administered by JIFA and we were hopeful, but you couldn't count on it, that we may be 00:14:24
granted the low interest loan from GFA. 00:14:30
That was part of where Mr. Thunderbird, Mr. Smith, you made reference to Mr. Thunderbird from the Conservation Fund. 00:14:36
Their mission is to. 00:14:43
Green space. And that's what they do. And he suggested that that might be a potential resource for us to look at. You know, in 00:14:45
terms of cheap money, cheaper than the bond market, cheaper than you can go to for your bank, because their mission is to 00:14:50
preserve. 00:14:54
Green spaces that impact water quality. We have 1/3 of an acre on Carls Creek here, which runs into the Oconee River, and then we 00:15:00
also have acres and acres of wetlands as well. 00:15:04
So they deem that this project is worth the loan and loans those funds us. They also provide loans for wastewater systems. If you 00:15:09
looked at who the other cities were that were awarded, you know they were replacing sewer system, sewer pipes, water systems, but 00:15:15
they have a green space fund as well. So that's the role that this organization played. So they're providing funds at the 00:15:21
appraised value level. 00:15:26
We could not come to terms with the property owners at the appraised property value. What we did determine is that over time the 00:15:33
property value would increase. Mr. Thomas had also had many other offers for more than three and a half, $1,000,000 for this 00:15:40
property. So we had to have a willing buyer and a willing seller. And as I've told lots of people, this was more than the city 00:15:46
wanted to pay and it was a lot less than the Thomas's wanted to take. 00:15:52
But sometimes that's how real estate works and that's how we landed on the number and we decided that. 00:16:00
Overtime that 20 or 30 years from now when you know hopefully my grandchildren are enjoying that space and the neighbors are 00:16:04
enjoying that space, that that's what's really important is that the property is preserved. 00:16:10
For use in the future and again to limit potential development on that quarter, there's a lot of different scenarios that could 00:16:16
happen on that quarter. 00:16:20
So the first resolution that Mrs. **** that Mrs. Manager Dickerson introduced is to accept that three and a half million. The next 00:16:25
two are related to how we're going to appropriate other funds to get there. So the American Rescue Plan Act funds missus Maltby. 00:16:31
Funds for this purchase. So that is just been sitting on our balance sheet and hasn't been allocated or specifically dedicated to 00:17:17
anything. 00:17:20
For the original purpose of the American rescue plan, which was for COVID related measures and and such, we can use them for 00:17:57
whatever we want. So the council took the the standard allowance and that way these monies can be used for whatever again, with 00:18:03
the intent of it being transformative and that's what the mayor spoke to. 00:18:08
So that's the American Rescue Plan Act and then SPOS 3. 00:18:15
Transportation related funds coming available. 00:18:50
Through that project we wanted to just redistribute funds, the transportation related funds in SPLOST 3 to the other items that we 00:18:52
would not have like parks, public safety and government facilities. So at that meeting council increase the green space line item 00:19:00
to 200 and from 290, I'm sorry up 290,000 to 456,000 appropriating 240,000 for the purchase of this land. 00:19:08
What we need today is an additional 100,000 that will cover. We've already spent some money on this, including. 00:19:17
The survey, the evaluation of the dams, legal expenses, purchasing agreement on title search, those kind of things. We've our 00:19:24
spent some money on that, but we also have closing costs, loan fees and then the purchase price of the land as well as some site 00:19:31
initial site work that will be done. So that makes up the additional 100,000 that we need to make this whole. 00:19:38
So we're pulling money out of several different buckets to cover the cost in addition to the loan from G. 00:19:45
If I heard correctly back in February, I'm sorry if you're going to see if you do have to get every people there online. I 00:19:51
appreciate it. Thank you. 00:19:55
So back in February, you just changed the buckets as you must. 00:20:02
To you took out transportation money and allocated it to the green space acquisitions. 00:20:08
The the council reallocated some monies. Yeah, from transportation in Floss 3 because T Spice money was going to become available 00:20:14
in April and it made sense to go ahead and make that change. 00:20:19
It wasn't just in that. There were in other categories as well. Great. And on the one of the questions, I forgot you had extra 00:20:25
time, so that's fine. Yeah. I think you got about a minute left, so yeah. 00:20:32
What's that the effect of the loan payment on the monthly budget and what is the loan payment for? Yeah, we actually, Yep, thank 00:20:39
you. So Sharon may want to offer the specific number, but we actually with the mileage rate that we disclosed at budget time, the 00:20:46
mileage increase was designed to be able to cover the cost of debt service. So we'll you know the the. 00:20:53
The mileage increase will cover, will cover the debt service and and probably you know, will help us offset some of these other 00:21:01
cost increases. Yeah, yeah, so. 00:21:06
And then we wanted to disclose that up front. So we, we put that in the press release, we announce that up front. We didn't want 00:21:11
you know anybody to say, hey, you're not being fully transparent about it. And honestly, it's probably been the only time I've had 00:21:16
people come up to me and say, hey, that's I'd be for that, for that 'cause I'm willing to do it, it amounts to $137 per year for 00:21:21
$300,000 house. 00:21:26
It's about 11 to $12.00 a month to preserve, you know, 5% of the proper 4 to 5% of the property in Watkinsville. 00:21:32
So that's how the numbers shake out. 00:21:39
So, Council, we've introduced item one. 00:21:43
Can I get a motion in a second to entertain that? 00:21:47
I make a motion that we approve accepting the loan from people. 00:21:50
You have a second. 00:21:56
Yes, so moved. 00:22:00
OK, we have a second second. So we have a motion in a second council. This would be your time to ask questions. 00:22:02
About this, or if you want to respond to anything that was. 00:22:09
I just. 00:22:14
Phenomenal that we are able to borrow at such an incredibly low rate and. 00:22:15
Well done all the work that went into finding this kind of resource to make this possible. 00:22:21
OK. 00:22:29
Any other comments? 00:22:32
All. 00:22:35
Hearing none all in favor of approving the resolution, say. 00:22:36
Aye. All right. We'll move on to the second item which would be approving an appropriation of $745,000 from American Rescue Act 00:22:40
plan for the acquisition of. 00:22:45
The 100.837 acres known as the Thomas family. 00:22:51
Manager Dickerson, is there anything we haven't discussed that you want to add here? Well, somebody may ask why are we only doing 00:22:55
745,000 when we clearly have 51,000 extra Part of that, the main reason for that is if you spend more than $750,000, we would be 00:23:02
required to do a single audit for this purpose and that would cost us another 15 or $20,000. So there's no need to do that. We've 00:23:08
got, you know, the extra 5000 we need elsewhere. And so that leaves the council still $51,000 in American Rescue plan to do for 00:23:15
some other projects if they wish. 00:23:21
All right. So that's the item. Is there a? 00:23:31
For. 00:23:34
Make a motion to approve the 745,745 thousand from the American Rescue Act Plan Fund. 00:23:40
All right. Is there a second? I second. All right, so we have a motion. We have a second. I'm going to take an unusual step here. 00:23:48
I know we got some members of the public who have not commented tonight. 00:23:52
If there's anything you do have questions about or want to comment on. 00:23:57
Before we vote, this is your moment. I know we've got folks here. 00:23:59
All right. Thank you, Mr. Smith. You've used your for Mr. Smith, you've used your 4 minutes. 00:24:04
You've used your floor. You did not. You did not have a boat with a with a voice vote. I've not voted yet. I said it was. You had 00:24:10
a vote, but you did not raise call the names for a vote for something that's magnificent. 00:24:17
So I'll call this no, we don't. We don't do voice votes for most of our votes. But thank you. 00:24:25
Yep. 00:24:29
OK. Seeing none, no comments all in favor say aye, aye. Any opposed? 00:24:32
Let the record show the first two votes are unanimous from who's here. 00:24:41
Item 3 Approve appropriating an additional 100,000 from the Splice 3 fund. 00:24:44
Parks and green space for additional expenses related to the acquisition. 00:24:50
44,375 and loan fees 50,000 for initial site work and closing costs. Manager Dickerson Anything else there? 00:24:54
Council entertain a motion to approve. 00:25:06
I make a motion to approve appropriating the additional 100,000 from Sloss 3 fund is there. 00:25:08
2nd. 00:25:16
All right. We have a motion in a second. Any questions or comments? 00:25:17
Hearing none all in favor, say aye. Aye. Any opposed? 00:25:22
Motion carries unanimously. 00:25:25
That is our final item on the agenda. I'll entertain a motion to adjourn. 00:25:28
I make a motion to adjourn second. 00:25:32
All in favor, Say aye. 00:25:35
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