Transcript

Event transcript
All right. Welcome to the first meeting of the Watkinsville City Council of 2022. And I think with that we'll dispense with the 00:00:06
traditional welcome and go straight to go straight. 00:00:12
A moment while remember from the past few weeks. 00:00:19
All right. 00:00:43
Yeah. At that point, I was like we performed the national team. 00:00:52
It was a great feeling so. 00:00:55
Sharon, we can, we can cut it now. 00:01:01
The I just I've probably watched that video 10 or 12 or 20 times since since last week, but I had to watch it one more time and 00:01:06
officially get it on the record at the city. 00:01:11
Council meeting that we were celebrating the Georgia Bulldogs and notably we have some of that support staff lives here in 00:01:16
Watkinsville. 00:01:20
So, so anyway, I just want to congratulate our the University of Georgia, our football program. 00:01:25
And and everyone who helped and contributed to that, including the citizens of Watkinsville who did so welcome to the meeting. And 00:01:31
with that, we do have some special activities we have to kick off every January with. And that's the oath of office for myself, 00:01:37
Councilman Garrett and Councilwoman Massey. So if we could all step up here and we will. 00:01:44
Mr. Right when will administer the oath. 00:01:51
All right. How's that? 00:02:05
That's great, All right. 00:02:07
Do this State, or any political subdivision or authority thereof, that you are not the holder of any office of trust under the 00:02:45
Government of the United States, or any other state or any foreign state which you, by the laws of State of Georgia, will be 00:02:51
prohibited from holding, and that you are otherwise qualified to hold said office according to the Constitution and laws of 00:02:57
Georgia, And that you have been in President of your district in the City of Watkinsville for the time required by the 00:03:04
Constitution and laws of this State. 00:03:10
And that you will perform the duties of your office in the best interest of the city of Watkinsville to the best of your ability, 00:03:16
without fear, favor, affection, reward, or expectation thereof. You agree with that oath? Please say I do or I do, so help me God. 00:03:23
All right, very good. Congratulations, you're. 00:03:32
And Clerk Klein has the copies for each you to sign. I will then notarize and she will adjust. 00:03:40
Repeat after me is. 00:03:52
And with that, we're off to the races. We do have a quorum here tonight and appreciate all of you being here our next. 00:03:59
Next activity is the pledge and I'd like to ask my dad, Dad, Thanks for being here. Watkinsville citizen, military veteran, and 00:04:08
all around one of the best guys I know. So Dad's going to lead us in the Pledge of Allegiance. 00:04:14
Excell. 00:04:22
I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America. 00:04:25
And to the Republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. 00:04:30
All right. Thank you all for being here Again, a little bit of housekeeping tonight. We are changing things up for our guests who 00:04:44
may be online. We're using a new system called Suite 1. 00:04:49
That's a webcasting public portal. As some of you may recall. When the pandemic came, we had to adjust what we were doing and we 00:04:54
used a system called RingCentral. 00:04:58
And RingCentral was not built to broadcast City Council meeting. So last year council approved making a making a small investment 00:05:03
and upgrading our system for how we broadcast meetings. We've been trying. 00:05:09
That system out and working alongside RingCentral for the past few months, but the plan all along was the transition to a new 00:05:15
system that was purpose built. 00:05:19
For this, So in the new system, our visitors who are online can now see all the council packet materials, the background on 00:05:23
everything. When you're watching online, the audio should be better. The portal you know is working tonight, but give us some 00:05:29
grace. It is the first time that we've tried it, so we're going to continue to improve that. The one thing that has changed, we 00:05:35
noticed over the past four months that we had very little public feedback on RingCentral. This system at this time does not allow 00:05:41
the public to comment in the moment. 00:05:47
During the meeting. So if a member of the public does want to comment on something, that's on the agenda. 00:05:53
So hopefully this will be a new and improved approach. 00:06:27
The agenda is posted a full week before the meeting, so if anyone from the public cannot be here and they want to make comments on 00:06:31
that agenda. 00:06:35
The agenda is posted in advance and then the packet is also posted well in advance so people can review and make comments on that. 00:06:40
With that, we will move on to the approval of the minutes. Our minutes are from December 15th. I did provide one minor note to the 00:06:47
clerk that needs to be an edit that needs to be made around just adding the number of participants who are at the meeting. Did 00:06:52
anyone else catch? 00:06:57
Edits or changes that need to be made to the minutes. 00:07:02
Hearing none, is there a motion to approve the? 00:07:07
I make a motion to approve the minutes. All right, we have a motion from Mrs. Tucker. Do we have a second? Second. We have a 00:07:11
second for Mr. Campbell. Any comment? 00:07:16
All in favor, say aye, any opposed motion carries 50. Next on the agenda. The agenda is the approval of the agenda. A couple 00:07:21
updates there. Item 13 that was under new business which involve funding for A. 00:07:29
Funding for. 00:07:38
Um. 00:07:40
Funding for the Police Department that can actually be covered in our existing budget, so we don't need to add that to the agenda 00:07:41
so we can actually remove item 13. 00:07:46
From the agenda, I'd ask for a motion on that and any other any other items that you may want to. 00:07:51
Add or remove from the agenda. Please note that we do have several items under consent. So if there's anything that you want to 00:07:58
remove from consent, now is the time to do that so. 00:08:03
I'll entertain a motion to remove item 13 from the agenda and if there's anything that anyone wants to remove from consent. 00:08:08
Speak. 00:08:15
All right, then I'll take a motion on item 13. 00:08:20
To remove that. 00:08:25
Remove that item from new business. 00:08:26
I make a motion to remove item 13 from the agenda. 00:08:28
All right. We have a motion of the second. All in favor. Say aye. 00:08:33
Any opposed that motion carries 50, so we will remove. 00:08:37
13 from the agenda. 00:08:40
And we will move on to Administ. 00:08:42
First item under administration and just a reminder, doesn't look like we have a lot of folks here tonight, but our rule generally 00:08:45
is if you have any public comment, council can allow that comment on an item that is not a public hearing at council sole 00:08:50
discretion. 00:08:54
They have to be related to the agenda items. We need you to speak from the podium for four minutes per person. We don't allow 00:09:01
debate, personal attacks, argument or irrelevant discussion. But again, generally, unless it is a public hearing or something that 00:09:06
requires public input, that allowing that is at the Council's discretion. 00:09:11
First item on administration is the election of a Mayor Pro Tem. Does anyone want to nominate someone for mayor Pro Tem? 00:09:17
I'll nominate Christine for Mayor Pro Tem. 00:09:31
All right, Councilman Tucker has nominated Councilwoman Tucker. 00:09:34
Councilman Thomas, excuse me, has nominated Miss Tucker for Mayor Pro Tem. Is there a second? 00:09:41
The second from Council. 00:09:49
Campbell. 00:09:51
And any conversation or other nominations? 00:09:52
Hearing none all in favor, say aye. 00:09:57
Any. 00:10:00
Congratulations, Mayor Pro Tem Tucker. 00:10:01
All right. 00:10:05
OK. Next item on the agenda is National 211 Day. This is for the United Way of Northeast Georgia and we have a proclamation. 00:10:07
Allison always is here from the United Way tonight, and we have a proclamation for. 00:10:16
211 and this is a national thing. I don't know how many of you have used 211, but it is. 00:10:24
Service that connects local resources to those in need in the community that's administered by the United Way. The date is going 00:10:30
to be the celebration day officially is February 11th, but we want to go ahead and do that in advance. So Allison, I will hand 00:10:35
this to you. Maybe we can take a quick picture and then if you've got a minute, you can offer us a little bit of background on the 00:10:41
United Way and all the good things that you do. 00:10:47
I don't know. 00:10:57
People. 00:11:11
Thank you. I'll do this so people can hear me online. I'm Allison always. I am with United Way of Northeast Georgia. Thank you 00:11:13
guys so much for having me and allowing us to. 00:11:18
Recipients of this proclamation SO211 is our Health and Human Services referral line. This is an asset to our region. When 00:11:23
neighbors are in need, it's really hard to figure out where to start. It can be challenging to decide. How do I find resources? 00:11:31
What do I actually need? That's what 211 is here for. So you can call 211 anytime during the work week, but you can text 211 00:11:38
anytime of day and it's all free and confidential. 00:11:46
Folks with local resources near where they are meeting whatever needs those are. So it can be food, it can be shelter, it can be 00:11:54
support groups, it can be help with jobs and transportation. All kinds of needs are funneled through 211 and they are connecting 00:12:01
you with local resources. At United Way of Northeast Georgia, we're proud to serve this region. We are proud to serve in 00:12:08
Watkinsville and Oconee County. 211 has been a great asset for Oconee County specifically, 89% of the calls and inquiries that 00:12:15
come into 211 are answered and connected. 00:12:22
Folks with those local resources. So we're proud to have this here and we're proud to be a community member for Watkinsville. So 00:12:30
thank you guys so much. This was wonderful and we are always here to serve you. 00:12:36
Thanks. Thank you, Allison. I don't think I had any idea of how much, how many services were provided through 211. So I knew about 00:12:43
it, but didn't know that much about it. So thank you for coming. 00:12:48
Next on the agenda is our Financial Reports manager, Dickerson, if you want to cover that. 00:12:54
And we're going to be down to a slim crowd. Y'all, thanks for coming everybody. You'll have a great night, Yeah. 00:12:59
Financial Reports manager Dickerson. Yep. So we've got a few we do each month. I'm not going to go through the detail on the 00:13:11
general fund, but I do want to point out that we have about $4 million in the bank. 00:13:17
Our revenues are sitting at about 52%. We're about halfway through the year. So you know and revenues coming come in different 00:13:24
times. So that's not really a great measure, but it's good to know right that we at least half of the money in, but the expenses 00:13:29
are only at 42%. Now again there are some things that are outstanding. 00:13:35
Bills that are payment purchases that have been made that we haven't paid for yet but that's still that's still good news too. I'm 00:13:41
Staffs really working hard to try to you know, not spend money unless we need to and of course we're getting ready for budget. So 00:13:47
that's yes did not chief chief said he spends money all the time. 00:13:52
But I. 00:13:59
So that's good news. So if there any questions about the general fund or expenses revenues, I'm happy to answer those now or after 00:14:00
the meeting. 00:14:03
Now. 00:14:06
OK, so the item that is in front of you right now is the SPLOST 1. 00:14:09
Project list and what that provides you is a balance. 00:14:14
$453,000 and some change that is left in. 00:14:18
And the count the money that is in SPLOST one is going to be paired with money and splice 2 some of the money in SPLOS 2. The 5th 00:14:22
the last line that says water and sewer that 904 along with the 400 and. 00:14:30
53 will be right now is going to be used for the sewer line project for sewer line A. 00:14:38
The project balance of the account right now is 1.4 million. 00:14:45
So we have a little, so we have like about 40,000 more than we expected to have. That's not been appropriated by y'all, just just 00:14:51
a little tidbit of information, so. 00:14:55
As the the Parks and Rec project that's 456,000 that pays for the ESP. The fully accessible playground and engineering and 00:15:00
building inspections costs that the city is covering as part of our part of our arrangement with the with ESP. 00:15:08
Are there any questions about spice, two or spice? 00:15:17
And those numbers are a little bit higher. You guys may recall, you know we did see higher numbers in SPLOST. We saw loss at one 00:15:20
in 2020, but we saw an increase in 2021, so. 00:15:25
On Sposs 3, and this is terribly small and I apologize, but Spice 3, these are these again, I'll remind everybody that when you 00:15:31
look at this, what you need to focus on are the blue rows, where they those numbers are the numbers that were approved. 00:15:38
By the referendum and we budget based on 80% of the referendum because we figure we won't get the full amount that works out to 00:15:45
about $61,000 a month and that that'll be important. And then I'll, I'll point out why the items that are in red underneath are 00:15:52
items that have been designated or appropriated by this council already. So those are monies that have been set aside, not 00:15:58
necessarily spent, but set aside to be spent in those categories. 00:16:05
And this is where that's important to look at The 61,000 we average, we are the budget is 61990 a month and we're averaging 71996 00:16:12
right now. 00:16:17
So we try to budget less, just in case. You never know. 00:16:22
Do we have enough high end capacity? Let's say that averages out over five years to $80,000. Do we have enough we built in enough 00:16:26
cushion to utilize all the funds potentially? 00:16:31
Yes, I think so. I mean, I think the key is, is you don't have specific projects that have been designated already, so you have 00:16:38
that flexibility. 00:16:42
To bump up a project or car or scale one back, OK. So that's, I think that's the benefit. 00:16:46
You have that money and you can make adjustments as needed. You haven't really committed to anything except for the items in red, 00:16:53
right? The buckets are the are the numbers in blue are Max that we can spend on the far right column. The referendum numbers are 00:16:58
the Max you can spend, right. OK, but are those, but if you don't get that in, so yeah. So hypothetically if we exceeded that 00:17:03
amount, I guess I'm asking. 00:17:08
What happens to the excess funds? 00:17:14
If you oh you mean if you if instead of 5.579 we got 5.8. 00:17:16
Million or what? I mean, we got more than the referendum. Then you can spend, you can spend it. It's a percentage, OK. It's based 00:17:21
on a percentage for each one of those. 00:17:24
And a not to exceed number, but if I don't know that we will. I mean they always set it high. 00:17:28
But I guess it's always possible. I mean we've got Costco coming and other things and that number is already increasing, so. 00:17:33
Yep. 00:17:40
A little note on ARP So American Rescue Plan fund. That was money that the federal government, the US Treasury. 00:17:43
Or the Congress approved last March, I think March or April and they started out with an interim rule which you guys may may feel 00:17:50
like I beat into your head about how you can spend this money. They were eligible. There are ways you could spend the money 00:17:56
eligible uses and you may recall essential workers or or premium pay for essential workers, water, storm water, broadband was a 00:18:02
category anything dealing with COVID, mitigating COVID and then there was an A category called lost revenue and that was 00:18:08
basically. 00:18:14
Way for governments to say, look, we didn't make the money we should have made this year and you had to do this formula and figure 00:18:22
it out. And I think we figured out we had 235,000 or something about the formula that we could spend and then under that category 00:18:27
you could spend it however you wanted. There was no restriction on. 00:18:32
And not be restricted by that formula. Now if we want to use the formula, if we were somebody a much biggercity and we were going 00:19:08
to be more than than 10 million and we want to use the formula, but we're not even getting that 1.1 million out of this to start 00:19:13
with. So the good news is, is we can use it pretty much how we want and we've gone through this whole exercise where we've set up 00:19:17
these categories and. 00:19:22
I'm not sure how this the federal government has not explained to anybody yet about what our reports are going to look like come 00:19:27
April. Thirty 30th I think is when the first report is due for the what they call the non entitlement units, the cities that are 00:19:32
smaller than 50,000 population. 00:19:38
But. 00:19:44
The good news is we've already got it segregated out. But I mean, so it's not like we got to go figure it out. But the better news 00:19:45
is that the next 548,000 you're gonna get July is not going to be restricted. You can use it for whatever government service you 00:19:50
guys want to use, whether it's capital expense or operating expense. 00:19:56
So, so I think that I think that's good news. 00:20:02
Any questions? 00:20:06
And I just note there is a balance right now as of December 31st of 533,000. We do have some checks that haven't cleared. That's 00:20:08
part of the reason that we've got you know revenues and expenses aren't as high. And we and I will also point out you may remember 00:20:14
that the state of Georgia had funds that they gave to us for our police officers and that's that Georgia. 00:20:20
State Fiscal Recovery Fund First Responder Supplement and we use this account as a pass through. 00:20:27
So the monies came from the state into this account. It just keeps everything nice and neat. It's all ARP money. It's just state 00:20:32
money versus local. 00:20:35
All right. Thank you. Sharon, any questions? 00:20:42
On the financial. 00:20:44
All right. Economic development, all right. 00:20:47
So obviously we are now taking in business licenses. We had 48 business licenses that came in and for alcohol licenses, I'll leave 00:20:50
that there just for a minute. Y'all should have it in your packet, so you can look at who's all already up there. 00:20:58
Why is it gotten their license? 00:21:05
We had a little bit more than 13,000 total. That includes our insurance payments that we also get from from the insurance 00:21:08
companies they're required to pay. 00:21:12
To basically provide insurance in this area, they have to pay a certain amount and that that is a separate report if y'all want 00:21:17
it. Is it $40 per visit? Yeah. 00:21:21
So that is that one. And then we've had nine building permits for 9 different projects. 00:21:26
And we expect we'll start seeing, we've seen quite a few on 111 S Bart Shoals Rd. which I think technically is at 1745 Electric 00:21:33
Ave. Now I think I can't remember it's changing. We're going to start trying to segue to the new Oconee County number for for that 00:21:39
project for Water Park, but right now it's listed as 111 S Martial Rd. So we're we've gotten a few in and we'll start seeing some 00:21:46
activity there. 00:21:52
Any questions? 00:21:59
All right, all right, Chief, you're. 00:22:03
Greetings Mayor and Council. Always a pleasure to be here before you this evening. 00:22:12
Last week I submitted a report that consisted of a bunch of information. 00:22:18
Because it is January, I wanted to kind of highlight and detail some of the aspects that we spent our year doing in training 00:22:24
because training is a very important element in my world and having a highly professional trained law enforcement agency is 00:22:32
valuable to our systems. So in total, we had 781 hours spent training last year. 00:22:39
In my first page that snapshot page. 00:22:47
You have every officer that was employed throughout the year and their high liability classes highlighted. 00:22:50
In the total hours for each officer spent. And then behind that you have a breakdown of each of the officers in the agency and the 00:22:57
classes that they participated in throughout the year. 00:23:02
That is the current, the current officers that remain in the department as we as we are here today. 00:23:08
Is there any questions over any of the training material one? 00:23:16
Training that was done over the last. 00:23:19
Connie, you got questions. I know you didn't know. 00:23:23
I have a comment. I just wanted to thank you for showing this to us because it's so essential. 00:23:28
For y'all to do this. I mean, This is why we hired you. 00:23:38
Partly that you're doing a really great job of making sure that our officers are trained so they can do a really good job, 00:23:41
especially in this climate environment. So thank you very much. 00:23:46
And then I also provided my monthly statistics as well as my speed table data from all my speed signs that we have out here in our 00:23:54
city. 00:23:57
Is there any questions over any of that material? 00:24:02
I had one, yeah. I didn't see the table for. 00:24:06
When we're cold. 00:24:10
4104 Forty one, Yeah, that's, uh, that's not a live reporting sign. So I don't pull that data. I can pull that data as I need it. 00:24:13
But historically, what I found that data to show is consistency. 00:24:20
A very little variation in. 00:24:28
The speed tables that I see and all the things that go through their quantity of cars. So yeah, it requires me to physically go 00:24:32
out to that location and Bluetooth to it and pull the data out and you got to sit there for the duration of time you pulling that 00:24:39
data. I think I suggest it needs to be moved because that's one of the highest speeding roads. I mean there's a lot of. 00:24:45
Traffic on that road that flies through and we've got a lot of complaints about it, yes. 00:24:53
So I had, I had previously had that sign located up closer to Mccree Street, right? Y'all remember? 00:25:00
So I took a period, I think it was like three or four months and I looked at three or four months that I had it at the Mccree St. 00:25:09
location and then I balanced it with the data that I was receiving from the location is currently in and I got much better data 00:25:14
quality out of. 00:25:19
And speed. 00:25:25
At the location it's at now versus the. 00:25:27
Location that was in. My speeds were much. 00:25:30
So basically what was going on is they didn't have any alert telling us slow. 00:25:33
And so they were coming into town and hitting the Mccree St. location at much higher. 00:25:37
So I'll look back that out and that's why I moved it back. So that's why it's back where? 00:25:42
We may want to put it on the opposite side of the road and see what it outbound, see what we get there. 00:25:48
I have AI have a very. 00:25:54
Special piece of equipment that's all in order that will be here momentarily. 00:25:57
Maybe I'll put that in your front yard. 00:26:02
I will say anecdotally, especially since we've reduced the speed limits elsewhere, I probably get more complaints about speed on 00:26:06
North and South Main. 00:26:10
Than any other area of town. The complaints on Barnett Scholes are that it's too slow, but the but the stucker disagrees. I know, 00:26:15
but I mean, you know and I. 00:26:20
Yeah, yeah, so, so, but anyway, the but I do think the South Main. 00:26:26
The folks who live there and and I think I mean I walk that sidewalk all the time, I mean. 00:26:34
I wish there was. I mean, I'm assuming there's just no way y'all can run radar there, right? On that stretch of Rd. we do and we 00:26:38
do routinely check it. 00:26:41
Various times of the day. 00:26:46
But what we find is that the violators are in the threshold that doesn't allow us to pursue. 00:26:48
Citations. That's us there. They're in that. They're in that bubble. 00:26:55
And that bubble would be the speed limit is 35 through there, 45, it's 35. So they're they're less than 45 miles an hour going 00:27:00
through there. Yeah. OK, Well, I'm sure I know Councilman Garrett and there's other others who would be glad to let you borrow 00:27:06
their driveways if you need to, need to run, need a home down there. 00:27:12
All right. Very good. Thank you. 00:27:19
All right. Any other questions for the chief? 00:27:23
All right. Thanks for what you do. 00:27:28
Appreciate. 00:27:30
All right. We're going to move on to the consent agenda. I do know we're going to have to push Item 7 to next month. I've not 00:27:33
gotten confirmation from my nominee that he's able to serve. 00:27:38
Despite all my comments at the start about taking things off the consent agenda, I failed on my own item. So. 00:27:43
Item seven we will have to table, but I'll take a motion to approve the rest of the consent agenda. Councils will Mayor. Actually 00:27:48
item 8 doesn't have to be, it can be removed. Since Mayor Pro Tem has remained the same, we don't need to redo another one for the 00:27:54
bank, so we'll remove item 8 as well. So item 7 tables item 8. 00:28:00
Is off, so I'll take a motion to approve items 9 through 12 on the consent agenda. 00:28:05
I make a motion to approve items 9 through 12. 00:28:11
We have a second from Mr. Campbell. All in favor, Say aye. 00:28:16
Any opposed? 00:28:21
None are opposed, OK? We have no public hearings. 00:28:23
We have no appearances. We have no old business. Y'all just don't. 00:28:26
I've been around a while, Julie, and I've sat here through some 15 minute specials, so we aren't going to break that record, but 00:28:35
this is a nice, nice change. 00:28:38
Just be ready. We will have stuff on the agenda in February. 00:28:42
We removed item 13. 00:28:46
Is there any member of the public here to comment? It looks like there's. 00:28:48
So that takes. 00:28:53
The mayor's report a few things to highlight. 00:28:55
For us this, this month that the trees were planted I think early this morning that you all approve. Thank you for doing that. We 00:29:00
have 3 Willow oaks that have gone in on Main Street. You see two of them there, the third one. 00:29:06
Back closer in front of the historic building. 00:29:13
And then we have three that went in near the Verner pedestrian bridge on Hardin Hill Rd. And those will provide some nice shade in 00:29:15
the years ahead. So we're still looking for the right kind of crepe myrtles to plant. I think we still have a little bit of money 00:29:21
from what Y'all appropriated to use for those, but those are hard trees to find right now. 00:29:27
Up the road, so stay tuned on. 00:29:35
Um. 00:29:38
ESP. If you haven't gotten out there and walked around or seen it, it is it is turning into something special. 00:29:38
The only thing holding them back is the weather. Now I've heard from on the side improvements they need. 00:29:45
They need two solid weeks of sun and they'll have all the concrete down and then they'll be able to move along the landscaping for 00:29:51
this section. 00:29:55
Since this is technically city owned property, we are working closely with ESP to finalize those plans in terms of what trees and 00:30:00
shrubs are going to go into that area that will be. 00:30:04
That'll be planted with some some really nice, really nice mix of under of trees and. 00:30:10
Shrubs, especially back to the right to the City Hall side of the image that you see there. The area to the left up the ramp is 00:30:16
going to be a Plaza somewhere to big City bread. If any of you been there kind of with the with the trees that'll be shaded on 00:30:22
picnic tables and things out there where parents can sit while their kids are playing on the playground back there as well. So 00:30:29
that's really coming along and I would expect in the next few months it's going to really turn out to be to be spectacular. 00:30:36
So the only other update is hard. 00:30:44
The paving job is finished. We're just waiting on the striping, but it sure looks a lot better now that now that that's done. 00:30:49
As we all know the water will certainly drain better now that the road is crowned the right way and everything is going to move 00:30:56
over into that into that storm water system. So again thank you to council for. 00:31:00
Appropriating for that stormwater improvement. 00:31:06
Sewer Lana A There was a meeting. Last at the pre bid meeting was last week at the County Courthouse. There were four different 00:31:09
companies who attended that so I can't remember off the top of my head when those bids are due, but. 00:31:16
February 1st, so so hopefully we'll get the county will get a couple bids on that and we'll be able to get moving on sewer line a 00:31:23
so. 00:31:27
Just as a reminder, we still are. We have applied for a state grant to help offset part of the cost of that as well. So that we 00:31:31
have not heard back on that. That's still in the hopper. So we'll find out more on that later. So I think that's it for me and we 00:31:36
can move along to Councilman Garrett with whatever you've got. 00:31:42
Let's see just. 00:31:50
Make it Make sure everybody knows all the road projects were finished. Harden Hill like you said, And then the Simonson Bridge. 00:31:53
And then the county is letting out of bed tomorrow morning. 00:32:02
Silence and bridges on it so it'll be repaved. 00:32:06
Early spring of. 00:32:10
That'll be a nice, nice improvement there too. So they'll restripe all that as well, yeah. 00:32:13
OK. 00:32:19
That was a busy last week of the year with all that going on. 00:32:21
Week before Christmas, I guess. 00:32:25
Connie, what you got? 00:32:29
I have nothing to report, but I will say that the Simonton Bridge project went along very nice. They did a good job. 00:32:31
I hear that's good folks at that company. All right, Councilman Thomas. 00:32:39
I have nothing to report. I am extremely happy about Hardin Hill though. I drive that road multiple times a day and it is. 00:32:44
Beautiful now, so extremely happy for that. 00:32:51
All right, Councilwoman. 00:32:55
Just to say that in the works is a Harris Shoals Park subcommittee meeting to discuss what is going to help. The old playground is 00:32:58
going to be repurposed and there's some good ideas floating around so that is moving along and also some possibilities with the 00:33:05
Rotary Club for BBQ pits. 00:33:12
All right. 00:33:18
And Councilman Camp. 00:33:20
Nothing to. 00:33:22
All right. Nothing to report. All right. With that, I will entertain a motion to go into executive session to discuss. 00:33:25
Potential litigation and real estate. I make a motion to move to executive session to discuss potential litigation and real estate 00:33:33
and pending litigation. 00:33:37
All right. We have a motion in a second to enter executive session. All in favor, say aye, aye. 00:33:44
All right, we will need a minute before we begin talking this with this new system. 00:33:49
All right, Joe. Go ahead, Mr. Mayor. I'd recommend a motion from a council member, essentially as follows. In an abundance of 00:33:56
caution, I moved to ratify the consent order in the 60 S main Municipal Court case. 00:34:03
All right, We've heard Mr. Reitman's suggestion. Is there a council member who's willing to say so moved, so moved. And do we have 00:34:12
a second? 00:34:15
We have a second ANY. 00:34:19
All in favor, Say aye. 00:34:23
Sounds like that's unanimous. And unless there's anything else that needs to come before this body, we will entertain a motion to 00:34:27
adjourn. I make a motion to adjourn. Do we have a second second? All in favor. We're adjourned. 00:34:32
That was efficient. 00:34:38
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Transcript

Event transcript
All right. Welcome to the first meeting of the Watkinsville City Council of 2022. And I think with that we'll dispense with the 00:00:06
traditional welcome and go straight to go straight. 00:00:12
A moment while remember from the past few weeks. 00:00:19
All right. 00:00:43
Yeah. At that point, I was like we performed the national team. 00:00:52
It was a great feeling so. 00:00:55
Sharon, we can, we can cut it now. 00:01:01
The I just I've probably watched that video 10 or 12 or 20 times since since last week, but I had to watch it one more time and 00:01:06
officially get it on the record at the city. 00:01:11
Council meeting that we were celebrating the Georgia Bulldogs and notably we have some of that support staff lives here in 00:01:16
Watkinsville. 00:01:20
So, so anyway, I just want to congratulate our the University of Georgia, our football program. 00:01:25
And and everyone who helped and contributed to that, including the citizens of Watkinsville who did so welcome to the meeting. And 00:01:31
with that, we do have some special activities we have to kick off every January with. And that's the oath of office for myself, 00:01:37
Councilman Garrett and Councilwoman Massey. So if we could all step up here and we will. 00:01:44
Mr. Right when will administer the oath. 00:01:51
All right. How's that? 00:02:05
That's great, All right. 00:02:07
Do this State, or any political subdivision or authority thereof, that you are not the holder of any office of trust under the 00:02:45
Government of the United States, or any other state or any foreign state which you, by the laws of State of Georgia, will be 00:02:51
prohibited from holding, and that you are otherwise qualified to hold said office according to the Constitution and laws of 00:02:57
Georgia, And that you have been in President of your district in the City of Watkinsville for the time required by the 00:03:04
Constitution and laws of this State. 00:03:10
And that you will perform the duties of your office in the best interest of the city of Watkinsville to the best of your ability, 00:03:16
without fear, favor, affection, reward, or expectation thereof. You agree with that oath? Please say I do or I do, so help me God. 00:03:23
All right, very good. Congratulations, you're. 00:03:32
And Clerk Klein has the copies for each you to sign. I will then notarize and she will adjust. 00:03:40
Repeat after me is. 00:03:52
And with that, we're off to the races. We do have a quorum here tonight and appreciate all of you being here our next. 00:03:59
Next activity is the pledge and I'd like to ask my dad, Dad, Thanks for being here. Watkinsville citizen, military veteran, and 00:04:08
all around one of the best guys I know. So Dad's going to lead us in the Pledge of Allegiance. 00:04:14
Excell. 00:04:22
I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America. 00:04:25
And to the Republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. 00:04:30
All right. Thank you all for being here Again, a little bit of housekeeping tonight. We are changing things up for our guests who 00:04:44
may be online. We're using a new system called Suite 1. 00:04:49
That's a webcasting public portal. As some of you may recall. When the pandemic came, we had to adjust what we were doing and we 00:04:54
used a system called RingCentral. 00:04:58
And RingCentral was not built to broadcast City Council meeting. So last year council approved making a making a small investment 00:05:03
and upgrading our system for how we broadcast meetings. We've been trying. 00:05:09
That system out and working alongside RingCentral for the past few months, but the plan all along was the transition to a new 00:05:15
system that was purpose built. 00:05:19
For this, So in the new system, our visitors who are online can now see all the council packet materials, the background on 00:05:23
everything. When you're watching online, the audio should be better. The portal you know is working tonight, but give us some 00:05:29
grace. It is the first time that we've tried it, so we're going to continue to improve that. The one thing that has changed, we 00:05:35
noticed over the past four months that we had very little public feedback on RingCentral. This system at this time does not allow 00:05:41
the public to comment in the moment. 00:05:47
During the meeting. So if a member of the public does want to comment on something, that's on the agenda. 00:05:53
So hopefully this will be a new and improved approach. 00:06:27
The agenda is posted a full week before the meeting, so if anyone from the public cannot be here and they want to make comments on 00:06:31
that agenda. 00:06:35
The agenda is posted in advance and then the packet is also posted well in advance so people can review and make comments on that. 00:06:40
With that, we will move on to the approval of the minutes. Our minutes are from December 15th. I did provide one minor note to the 00:06:47
clerk that needs to be an edit that needs to be made around just adding the number of participants who are at the meeting. Did 00:06:52
anyone else catch? 00:06:57
Edits or changes that need to be made to the minutes. 00:07:02
Hearing none, is there a motion to approve the? 00:07:07
I make a motion to approve the minutes. All right, we have a motion from Mrs. Tucker. Do we have a second? Second. We have a 00:07:11
second for Mr. Campbell. Any comment? 00:07:16
All in favor, say aye, any opposed motion carries 50. Next on the agenda. The agenda is the approval of the agenda. A couple 00:07:21
updates there. Item 13 that was under new business which involve funding for A. 00:07:29
Funding for. 00:07:38
Um. 00:07:40
Funding for the Police Department that can actually be covered in our existing budget, so we don't need to add that to the agenda 00:07:41
so we can actually remove item 13. 00:07:46
From the agenda, I'd ask for a motion on that and any other any other items that you may want to. 00:07:51
Add or remove from the agenda. Please note that we do have several items under consent. So if there's anything that you want to 00:07:58
remove from consent, now is the time to do that so. 00:08:03
I'll entertain a motion to remove item 13 from the agenda and if there's anything that anyone wants to remove from consent. 00:08:08
Speak. 00:08:15
All right, then I'll take a motion on item 13. 00:08:20
To remove that. 00:08:25
Remove that item from new business. 00:08:26
I make a motion to remove item 13 from the agenda. 00:08:28
All right. We have a motion of the second. All in favor. Say aye. 00:08:33
Any opposed that motion carries 50, so we will remove. 00:08:37
13 from the agenda. 00:08:40
And we will move on to Administ. 00:08:42
First item under administration and just a reminder, doesn't look like we have a lot of folks here tonight, but our rule generally 00:08:45
is if you have any public comment, council can allow that comment on an item that is not a public hearing at council sole 00:08:50
discretion. 00:08:54
They have to be related to the agenda items. We need you to speak from the podium for four minutes per person. We don't allow 00:09:01
debate, personal attacks, argument or irrelevant discussion. But again, generally, unless it is a public hearing or something that 00:09:06
requires public input, that allowing that is at the Council's discretion. 00:09:11
First item on administration is the election of a Mayor Pro Tem. Does anyone want to nominate someone for mayor Pro Tem? 00:09:17
I'll nominate Christine for Mayor Pro Tem. 00:09:31
All right, Councilman Tucker has nominated Councilwoman Tucker. 00:09:34
Councilman Thomas, excuse me, has nominated Miss Tucker for Mayor Pro Tem. Is there a second? 00:09:41
The second from Council. 00:09:49
Campbell. 00:09:51
And any conversation or other nominations? 00:09:52
Hearing none all in favor, say aye. 00:09:57
Any. 00:10:00
Congratulations, Mayor Pro Tem Tucker. 00:10:01
All right. 00:10:05
OK. Next item on the agenda is National 211 Day. This is for the United Way of Northeast Georgia and we have a proclamation. 00:10:07
Allison always is here from the United Way tonight, and we have a proclamation for. 00:10:16
211 and this is a national thing. I don't know how many of you have used 211, but it is. 00:10:24
Service that connects local resources to those in need in the community that's administered by the United Way. The date is going 00:10:30
to be the celebration day officially is February 11th, but we want to go ahead and do that in advance. So Allison, I will hand 00:10:35
this to you. Maybe we can take a quick picture and then if you've got a minute, you can offer us a little bit of background on the 00:10:41
United Way and all the good things that you do. 00:10:47
I don't know. 00:10:57
People. 00:11:11
Thank you. I'll do this so people can hear me online. I'm Allison always. I am with United Way of Northeast Georgia. Thank you 00:11:13
guys so much for having me and allowing us to. 00:11:18
Recipients of this proclamation SO211 is our Health and Human Services referral line. This is an asset to our region. When 00:11:23
neighbors are in need, it's really hard to figure out where to start. It can be challenging to decide. How do I find resources? 00:11:31
What do I actually need? That's what 211 is here for. So you can call 211 anytime during the work week, but you can text 211 00:11:38
anytime of day and it's all free and confidential. 00:11:46
Folks with local resources near where they are meeting whatever needs those are. So it can be food, it can be shelter, it can be 00:11:54
support groups, it can be help with jobs and transportation. All kinds of needs are funneled through 211 and they are connecting 00:12:01
you with local resources. At United Way of Northeast Georgia, we're proud to serve this region. We are proud to serve in 00:12:08
Watkinsville and Oconee County. 211 has been a great asset for Oconee County specifically, 89% of the calls and inquiries that 00:12:15
come into 211 are answered and connected. 00:12:22
Folks with those local resources. So we're proud to have this here and we're proud to be a community member for Watkinsville. So 00:12:30
thank you guys so much. This was wonderful and we are always here to serve you. 00:12:36
Thanks. Thank you, Allison. I don't think I had any idea of how much, how many services were provided through 211. So I knew about 00:12:43
it, but didn't know that much about it. So thank you for coming. 00:12:48
Next on the agenda is our Financial Reports manager, Dickerson, if you want to cover that. 00:12:54
And we're going to be down to a slim crowd. Y'all, thanks for coming everybody. You'll have a great night, Yeah. 00:12:59
Financial Reports manager Dickerson. Yep. So we've got a few we do each month. I'm not going to go through the detail on the 00:13:11
general fund, but I do want to point out that we have about $4 million in the bank. 00:13:17
Our revenues are sitting at about 52%. We're about halfway through the year. So you know and revenues coming come in different 00:13:24
times. So that's not really a great measure, but it's good to know right that we at least half of the money in, but the expenses 00:13:29
are only at 42%. Now again there are some things that are outstanding. 00:13:35
Bills that are payment purchases that have been made that we haven't paid for yet but that's still that's still good news too. I'm 00:13:41
Staffs really working hard to try to you know, not spend money unless we need to and of course we're getting ready for budget. So 00:13:47
that's yes did not chief chief said he spends money all the time. 00:13:52
But I. 00:13:59
So that's good news. So if there any questions about the general fund or expenses revenues, I'm happy to answer those now or after 00:14:00
the meeting. 00:14:03
Now. 00:14:06
OK, so the item that is in front of you right now is the SPLOST 1. 00:14:09
Project list and what that provides you is a balance. 00:14:14
$453,000 and some change that is left in. 00:14:18
And the count the money that is in SPLOST one is going to be paired with money and splice 2 some of the money in SPLOS 2. The 5th 00:14:22
the last line that says water and sewer that 904 along with the 400 and. 00:14:30
53 will be right now is going to be used for the sewer line project for sewer line A. 00:14:38
The project balance of the account right now is 1.4 million. 00:14:45
So we have a little, so we have like about 40,000 more than we expected to have. That's not been appropriated by y'all, just just 00:14:51
a little tidbit of information, so. 00:14:55
As the the Parks and Rec project that's 456,000 that pays for the ESP. The fully accessible playground and engineering and 00:15:00
building inspections costs that the city is covering as part of our part of our arrangement with the with ESP. 00:15:08
Are there any questions about spice, two or spice? 00:15:17
And those numbers are a little bit higher. You guys may recall, you know we did see higher numbers in SPLOST. We saw loss at one 00:15:20
in 2020, but we saw an increase in 2021, so. 00:15:25
On Sposs 3, and this is terribly small and I apologize, but Spice 3, these are these again, I'll remind everybody that when you 00:15:31
look at this, what you need to focus on are the blue rows, where they those numbers are the numbers that were approved. 00:15:38
By the referendum and we budget based on 80% of the referendum because we figure we won't get the full amount that works out to 00:15:45
about $61,000 a month and that that'll be important. And then I'll, I'll point out why the items that are in red underneath are 00:15:52
items that have been designated or appropriated by this council already. So those are monies that have been set aside, not 00:15:58
necessarily spent, but set aside to be spent in those categories. 00:16:05
And this is where that's important to look at The 61,000 we average, we are the budget is 61990 a month and we're averaging 71996 00:16:12
right now. 00:16:17
So we try to budget less, just in case. You never know. 00:16:22
Do we have enough high end capacity? Let's say that averages out over five years to $80,000. Do we have enough we built in enough 00:16:26
cushion to utilize all the funds potentially? 00:16:31
Yes, I think so. I mean, I think the key is, is you don't have specific projects that have been designated already, so you have 00:16:38
that flexibility. 00:16:42
To bump up a project or car or scale one back, OK. So that's, I think that's the benefit. 00:16:46
You have that money and you can make adjustments as needed. You haven't really committed to anything except for the items in red, 00:16:53
right? The buckets are the are the numbers in blue are Max that we can spend on the far right column. The referendum numbers are 00:16:58
the Max you can spend, right. OK, but are those, but if you don't get that in, so yeah. So hypothetically if we exceeded that 00:17:03
amount, I guess I'm asking. 00:17:08
What happens to the excess funds? 00:17:14
If you oh you mean if you if instead of 5.579 we got 5.8. 00:17:16
Million or what? I mean, we got more than the referendum. Then you can spend, you can spend it. It's a percentage, OK. It's based 00:17:21
on a percentage for each one of those. 00:17:24
And a not to exceed number, but if I don't know that we will. I mean they always set it high. 00:17:28
But I guess it's always possible. I mean we've got Costco coming and other things and that number is already increasing, so. 00:17:33
Yep. 00:17:40
A little note on ARP So American Rescue Plan fund. That was money that the federal government, the US Treasury. 00:17:43
Or the Congress approved last March, I think March or April and they started out with an interim rule which you guys may may feel 00:17:50
like I beat into your head about how you can spend this money. They were eligible. There are ways you could spend the money 00:17:56
eligible uses and you may recall essential workers or or premium pay for essential workers, water, storm water, broadband was a 00:18:02
category anything dealing with COVID, mitigating COVID and then there was an A category called lost revenue and that was 00:18:08
basically. 00:18:14
Way for governments to say, look, we didn't make the money we should have made this year and you had to do this formula and figure 00:18:22
it out. And I think we figured out we had 235,000 or something about the formula that we could spend and then under that category 00:18:27
you could spend it however you wanted. There was no restriction on. 00:18:32
And not be restricted by that formula. Now if we want to use the formula, if we were somebody a much biggercity and we were going 00:19:08
to be more than than 10 million and we want to use the formula, but we're not even getting that 1.1 million out of this to start 00:19:13
with. So the good news is, is we can use it pretty much how we want and we've gone through this whole exercise where we've set up 00:19:17
these categories and. 00:19:22
I'm not sure how this the federal government has not explained to anybody yet about what our reports are going to look like come 00:19:27
April. Thirty 30th I think is when the first report is due for the what they call the non entitlement units, the cities that are 00:19:32
smaller than 50,000 population. 00:19:38
But. 00:19:44
The good news is we've already got it segregated out. But I mean, so it's not like we got to go figure it out. But the better news 00:19:45
is that the next 548,000 you're gonna get July is not going to be restricted. You can use it for whatever government service you 00:19:50
guys want to use, whether it's capital expense or operating expense. 00:19:56
So, so I think that I think that's good news. 00:20:02
Any questions? 00:20:06
And I just note there is a balance right now as of December 31st of 533,000. We do have some checks that haven't cleared. That's 00:20:08
part of the reason that we've got you know revenues and expenses aren't as high. And we and I will also point out you may remember 00:20:14
that the state of Georgia had funds that they gave to us for our police officers and that's that Georgia. 00:20:20
State Fiscal Recovery Fund First Responder Supplement and we use this account as a pass through. 00:20:27
So the monies came from the state into this account. It just keeps everything nice and neat. It's all ARP money. It's just state 00:20:32
money versus local. 00:20:35
All right. Thank you. Sharon, any questions? 00:20:42
On the financial. 00:20:44
All right. Economic development, all right. 00:20:47
So obviously we are now taking in business licenses. We had 48 business licenses that came in and for alcohol licenses, I'll leave 00:20:50
that there just for a minute. Y'all should have it in your packet, so you can look at who's all already up there. 00:20:58
Why is it gotten their license? 00:21:05
We had a little bit more than 13,000 total. That includes our insurance payments that we also get from from the insurance 00:21:08
companies they're required to pay. 00:21:12
To basically provide insurance in this area, they have to pay a certain amount and that that is a separate report if y'all want 00:21:17
it. Is it $40 per visit? Yeah. 00:21:21
So that is that one. And then we've had nine building permits for 9 different projects. 00:21:26
And we expect we'll start seeing, we've seen quite a few on 111 S Bart Shoals Rd. which I think technically is at 1745 Electric 00:21:33
Ave. Now I think I can't remember it's changing. We're going to start trying to segue to the new Oconee County number for for that 00:21:39
project for Water Park, but right now it's listed as 111 S Martial Rd. So we're we've gotten a few in and we'll start seeing some 00:21:46
activity there. 00:21:52
Any questions? 00:21:59
All right, all right, Chief, you're. 00:22:03
Greetings Mayor and Council. Always a pleasure to be here before you this evening. 00:22:12
Last week I submitted a report that consisted of a bunch of information. 00:22:18
Because it is January, I wanted to kind of highlight and detail some of the aspects that we spent our year doing in training 00:22:24
because training is a very important element in my world and having a highly professional trained law enforcement agency is 00:22:32
valuable to our systems. So in total, we had 781 hours spent training last year. 00:22:39
In my first page that snapshot page. 00:22:47
You have every officer that was employed throughout the year and their high liability classes highlighted. 00:22:50
In the total hours for each officer spent. And then behind that you have a breakdown of each of the officers in the agency and the 00:22:57
classes that they participated in throughout the year. 00:23:02
That is the current, the current officers that remain in the department as we as we are here today. 00:23:08
Is there any questions over any of the training material one? 00:23:16
Training that was done over the last. 00:23:19
Connie, you got questions. I know you didn't know. 00:23:23
I have a comment. I just wanted to thank you for showing this to us because it's so essential. 00:23:28
For y'all to do this. I mean, This is why we hired you. 00:23:38
Partly that you're doing a really great job of making sure that our officers are trained so they can do a really good job, 00:23:41
especially in this climate environment. So thank you very much. 00:23:46
And then I also provided my monthly statistics as well as my speed table data from all my speed signs that we have out here in our 00:23:54
city. 00:23:57
Is there any questions over any of that material? 00:24:02
I had one, yeah. I didn't see the table for. 00:24:06
When we're cold. 00:24:10
4104 Forty one, Yeah, that's, uh, that's not a live reporting sign. So I don't pull that data. I can pull that data as I need it. 00:24:13
But historically, what I found that data to show is consistency. 00:24:20
A very little variation in. 00:24:28
The speed tables that I see and all the things that go through their quantity of cars. So yeah, it requires me to physically go 00:24:32
out to that location and Bluetooth to it and pull the data out and you got to sit there for the duration of time you pulling that 00:24:39
data. I think I suggest it needs to be moved because that's one of the highest speeding roads. I mean there's a lot of. 00:24:45
Traffic on that road that flies through and we've got a lot of complaints about it, yes. 00:24:53
So I had, I had previously had that sign located up closer to Mccree Street, right? Y'all remember? 00:25:00
So I took a period, I think it was like three or four months and I looked at three or four months that I had it at the Mccree St. 00:25:09
location and then I balanced it with the data that I was receiving from the location is currently in and I got much better data 00:25:14
quality out of. 00:25:19
And speed. 00:25:25
At the location it's at now versus the. 00:25:27
Location that was in. My speeds were much. 00:25:30
So basically what was going on is they didn't have any alert telling us slow. 00:25:33
And so they were coming into town and hitting the Mccree St. location at much higher. 00:25:37
So I'll look back that out and that's why I moved it back. So that's why it's back where? 00:25:42
We may want to put it on the opposite side of the road and see what it outbound, see what we get there. 00:25:48
I have AI have a very. 00:25:54
Special piece of equipment that's all in order that will be here momentarily. 00:25:57
Maybe I'll put that in your front yard. 00:26:02
I will say anecdotally, especially since we've reduced the speed limits elsewhere, I probably get more complaints about speed on 00:26:06
North and South Main. 00:26:10
Than any other area of town. The complaints on Barnett Scholes are that it's too slow, but the but the stucker disagrees. I know, 00:26:15
but I mean, you know and I. 00:26:20
Yeah, yeah, so, so, but anyway, the but I do think the South Main. 00:26:26
The folks who live there and and I think I mean I walk that sidewalk all the time, I mean. 00:26:34
I wish there was. I mean, I'm assuming there's just no way y'all can run radar there, right? On that stretch of Rd. we do and we 00:26:38
do routinely check it. 00:26:41
Various times of the day. 00:26:46
But what we find is that the violators are in the threshold that doesn't allow us to pursue. 00:26:48
Citations. That's us there. They're in that. They're in that bubble. 00:26:55
And that bubble would be the speed limit is 35 through there, 45, it's 35. So they're they're less than 45 miles an hour going 00:27:00
through there. Yeah. OK, Well, I'm sure I know Councilman Garrett and there's other others who would be glad to let you borrow 00:27:06
their driveways if you need to, need to run, need a home down there. 00:27:12
All right. Very good. Thank you. 00:27:19
All right. Any other questions for the chief? 00:27:23
All right. Thanks for what you do. 00:27:28
Appreciate. 00:27:30
All right. We're going to move on to the consent agenda. I do know we're going to have to push Item 7 to next month. I've not 00:27:33
gotten confirmation from my nominee that he's able to serve. 00:27:38
Despite all my comments at the start about taking things off the consent agenda, I failed on my own item. So. 00:27:43
Item seven we will have to table, but I'll take a motion to approve the rest of the consent agenda. Councils will Mayor. Actually 00:27:48
item 8 doesn't have to be, it can be removed. Since Mayor Pro Tem has remained the same, we don't need to redo another one for the 00:27:54
bank, so we'll remove item 8 as well. So item 7 tables item 8. 00:28:00
Is off, so I'll take a motion to approve items 9 through 12 on the consent agenda. 00:28:05
I make a motion to approve items 9 through 12. 00:28:11
We have a second from Mr. Campbell. All in favor, Say aye. 00:28:16
Any opposed? 00:28:21
None are opposed, OK? We have no public hearings. 00:28:23
We have no appearances. We have no old business. Y'all just don't. 00:28:26
I've been around a while, Julie, and I've sat here through some 15 minute specials, so we aren't going to break that record, but 00:28:35
this is a nice, nice change. 00:28:38
Just be ready. We will have stuff on the agenda in February. 00:28:42
We removed item 13. 00:28:46
Is there any member of the public here to comment? It looks like there's. 00:28:48
So that takes. 00:28:53
The mayor's report a few things to highlight. 00:28:55
For us this, this month that the trees were planted I think early this morning that you all approve. Thank you for doing that. We 00:29:00
have 3 Willow oaks that have gone in on Main Street. You see two of them there, the third one. 00:29:06
Back closer in front of the historic building. 00:29:13
And then we have three that went in near the Verner pedestrian bridge on Hardin Hill Rd. And those will provide some nice shade in 00:29:15
the years ahead. So we're still looking for the right kind of crepe myrtles to plant. I think we still have a little bit of money 00:29:21
from what Y'all appropriated to use for those, but those are hard trees to find right now. 00:29:27
Up the road, so stay tuned on. 00:29:35
Um. 00:29:38
ESP. If you haven't gotten out there and walked around or seen it, it is it is turning into something special. 00:29:38
The only thing holding them back is the weather. Now I've heard from on the side improvements they need. 00:29:45
They need two solid weeks of sun and they'll have all the concrete down and then they'll be able to move along the landscaping for 00:29:51
this section. 00:29:55
Since this is technically city owned property, we are working closely with ESP to finalize those plans in terms of what trees and 00:30:00
shrubs are going to go into that area that will be. 00:30:04
That'll be planted with some some really nice, really nice mix of under of trees and. 00:30:10
Shrubs, especially back to the right to the City Hall side of the image that you see there. The area to the left up the ramp is 00:30:16
going to be a Plaza somewhere to big City bread. If any of you been there kind of with the with the trees that'll be shaded on 00:30:22
picnic tables and things out there where parents can sit while their kids are playing on the playground back there as well. So 00:30:29
that's really coming along and I would expect in the next few months it's going to really turn out to be to be spectacular. 00:30:36
So the only other update is hard. 00:30:44
The paving job is finished. We're just waiting on the striping, but it sure looks a lot better now that now that that's done. 00:30:49
As we all know the water will certainly drain better now that the road is crowned the right way and everything is going to move 00:30:56
over into that into that storm water system. So again thank you to council for. 00:31:00
Appropriating for that stormwater improvement. 00:31:06
Sewer Lana A There was a meeting. Last at the pre bid meeting was last week at the County Courthouse. There were four different 00:31:09
companies who attended that so I can't remember off the top of my head when those bids are due, but. 00:31:16
February 1st, so so hopefully we'll get the county will get a couple bids on that and we'll be able to get moving on sewer line a 00:31:23
so. 00:31:27
Just as a reminder, we still are. We have applied for a state grant to help offset part of the cost of that as well. So that we 00:31:31
have not heard back on that. That's still in the hopper. So we'll find out more on that later. So I think that's it for me and we 00:31:36
can move along to Councilman Garrett with whatever you've got. 00:31:42
Let's see just. 00:31:50
Make it Make sure everybody knows all the road projects were finished. Harden Hill like you said, And then the Simonson Bridge. 00:31:53
And then the county is letting out of bed tomorrow morning. 00:32:02
Silence and bridges on it so it'll be repaved. 00:32:06
Early spring of. 00:32:10
That'll be a nice, nice improvement there too. So they'll restripe all that as well, yeah. 00:32:13
OK. 00:32:19
That was a busy last week of the year with all that going on. 00:32:21
Week before Christmas, I guess. 00:32:25
Connie, what you got? 00:32:29
I have nothing to report, but I will say that the Simonton Bridge project went along very nice. They did a good job. 00:32:31
I hear that's good folks at that company. All right, Councilman Thomas. 00:32:39
I have nothing to report. I am extremely happy about Hardin Hill though. I drive that road multiple times a day and it is. 00:32:44
Beautiful now, so extremely happy for that. 00:32:51
All right, Councilwoman. 00:32:55
Just to say that in the works is a Harris Shoals Park subcommittee meeting to discuss what is going to help. The old playground is 00:32:58
going to be repurposed and there's some good ideas floating around so that is moving along and also some possibilities with the 00:33:05
Rotary Club for BBQ pits. 00:33:12
All right. 00:33:18
And Councilman Camp. 00:33:20
Nothing to. 00:33:22
All right. Nothing to report. All right. With that, I will entertain a motion to go into executive session to discuss. 00:33:25
Potential litigation and real estate. I make a motion to move to executive session to discuss potential litigation and real estate 00:33:33
and pending litigation. 00:33:37
All right. We have a motion in a second to enter executive session. All in favor, say aye, aye. 00:33:44
All right, we will need a minute before we begin talking this with this new system. 00:33:49
All right, Joe. Go ahead, Mr. Mayor. I'd recommend a motion from a council member, essentially as follows. In an abundance of 00:33:56
caution, I moved to ratify the consent order in the 60 S main Municipal Court case. 00:34:03
All right, We've heard Mr. Reitman's suggestion. Is there a council member who's willing to say so moved, so moved. And do we have 00:34:12
a second? 00:34:15
We have a second ANY. 00:34:19
All in favor, Say aye. 00:34:23
Sounds like that's unanimous. And unless there's anything else that needs to come before this body, we will entertain a motion to 00:34:27
adjourn. I make a motion to adjourn. Do we have a second second? All in favor. We're adjourned. 00:34:32
That was efficient. 00:34:38