Transcript

Event transcript
Good evening and welcome to the June Watkinsville City Council meeting. 00:00:14
We've got an exciting night ahead of us. It's been an exciting couple weeks for the city of Watkinsville. We're going to share and 00:00:20
recap some of that news in the in this meeting, so. 00:00:24
Share and make sure all the monitors are working. 00:00:30
Hopefully this is not on TV on Apologize, I thought it was on the newspaper. 00:00:33
People probably rather watch Netflix and City Council meeting right So. 00:00:38
Figure could be a reality show. 00:00:43
Sorry about that. 00:00:48
All right, OK, so we have a quorum here. It looks like we have perfect attendance. Always grateful for that. And we'll start with 00:00:50
the pledge. Let's all stand and address the flag. 00:00:54
I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands, one nation under God, 00:00:59
indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. 00:01:06
So Sharon, you might still have one monitor off over here. I don't know what's going on with it. 00:01:21
No, it just shows on screen. 00:01:26
But the other one. 00:01:28
There we go. OK. 00:01:47
So we're going to start off the meeting with a couple, couple moments recognitions that will that will that will dig into a little 00:01:49
bit. The first one of those and I'll have them come forward is the recognition of our all America city delegation. So if those who 00:01:56
are a part of that delegation could step forward. 00:02:03
Maybe gather up front and then we're going to share when you once everybody gets up here, we'll share a video and then I'll make 00:02:10
some remarks about that and take a photo. 00:02:14
And you can face either screen I guess. Face the audience. You can see it on the screen. 00:02:21
Mayor Pro Tem Tucker. 00:02:35
She got a T-shirt, she said. 00:02:39
Hey y'all about to be wheels up from Denver and excited to get out there and tell the Watkinsville story out to the world as we 00:03:13
get ready to compete for all American City Awards. I'm representing the WTK and I can't wait to see everybody in did. 00:03:19
Are you ready? Ready. You ready? We're going to see what happens here. 00:03:32
Folks getting here, getting ready and ESP folks about having a big adventure, right? Yeah, yeah. Off the red rocks. 00:03:54
Chief GAIL, pop it in. 00:04:01
If you have a story, why not tell it? 00:04:15
Hello Evans, how can we stated you are all winners, I mean get to this point. 00:04:45
This community uses public input to. 00:04:57
Community spaces. 00:05:02
This is concerning its natural surroundings and this community is training miracles possibilities the elementary city of walking. 00:05:05
So Sharon, does this work over here? 00:06:04
I will say this delegation was just a key. All of you played such an important part, our young leaders especially. 00:06:39
You know, you two young men, the way that you memorized your lines and nailed that talking about rocket field. I'll never forget 00:06:48
the crowd laughing when you talked about sliding into dog poop and getting the restrooms fixed up. Leah, you and Colin, I just 00:06:54
think you all were the heart and soul of of our group. Your smile, your hugs. I think they hugged y'all 200 people on the first 00:07:00
night when jittery Joes gave out coffee and hugs at at a big event. It was just, it was just wonderful. 00:07:07
Taxpayer dollars to do that. So tremendously excited and grateful for this team. Watkinsville is a small town that's not afraid to 00:08:07
dream big. 00:08:11
And that's what sets us apart. We're a small town that dreams big, and then we go push those dreams. And I'm grateful to each of 00:08:16
you for making time to do that and for being part of our team. So from the bottom of my heart, thank you very much. We'll be in 00:08:20
touch. I do want to have a meeting. 00:08:25
A brief meeting so we can talk about what we learned and what we might want in the future, what you guys saw that you liked about 00:08:30
it as we move ahead. But I'm extremely grateful to each of you for taking the time and the energy and time away from your families 00:08:35
and donating your talents and your treasure to Watkinsville for this trip to Denver. So this is our delegation now. Let's give 00:08:40
them a round of applause again. 00:08:45
And Sharon, I don't know that there's anything else we need to share about them. I will say, you know, we'll have, we have this 00:08:59
shield. You'll see all the city stuff pop up around the city. We're excited about the opportunities and what it's created for us 00:09:04
in the future. But we'll have a break in a few minutes. If you all want to saw it out of here, you're welcome to. You don't feel 00:09:08
like you have to stay and listen to us talk about budget and variances and all those kind of things. So. But thank you all for 00:09:13
coming tonight. So. OK, great. Yep. 00:09:18
I think while I'm up here, we'll just go ahead and move into, we'll move into our next item. Krisha, if you want to step forward, 00:09:42
am I saying that right? 00:09:46
Sorry. 00:09:51
Just step over here with me for now and then we'll give you a minute, Krisha. 00:09:53
Has done our art walk project Outback. And if you haven't been Outback, maybe those of you who are leaving, if you want to slide 00:09:58
out the back door, you can check it out, but we have a lot more people. 00:10:03
We have a lot more people now. 00:10:08
Through coming from Harris Shoals Park up to the new playground at ESP and so Christine Tucker, mayor Pro Tem, had a great idea of 00:10:11
let's use art to make that experience more compelling as you come to the new to the new play area there the playground of 00:10:16
possibilities, which is. 00:10:21
But we're thrilled, and I don't know if you want to take just a minute to say a little bit about, say a little bit about that 00:11:02
work. 00:11:05
Sure, it's been a wonderful opportunity to get to make these sculptures. I've have done a good bit of work around Athens. I'm in 00:11:08
the Athens native and I've been lucky to get to mosaic around the town of Athens, but I've never gotten to do mosaic sculptures, 00:11:13
and certainly not. 00:11:19
And so this, this opportunity gave me a chance to learn how to make these and, and support them with about 5 strong men. And, but 00:11:26
I appreciate getting to work with Christine and Sharon and then Toby and Mark were so great at getting the site all prepared. And 00:11:35
yeah, and the city of Watkinsville and OCAF also supported the project. So it's been a pleasure and it's part of my heart. They 00:11:44
actually, I have a little plaque on their, but they honor my sister Michelle, who is a veterinarian. 00:11:53
And then she loved reptiles and amphibians and had a giant Python for about 30 years that named Naomi. So I did a sculpture of 00:12:02
Naomi to learn how to do the sculptures. And that's three feet wide and that seemed pretty large, but those, you know, 6 feet, I 00:12:09
think the turtles, so. 00:12:15
You know, it's been a pleasure and, and, and there's so much fun and I hope the kids and everybody else enjoys them. Thank you, 00:12:23
Krishna. 00:12:26
Mayor, Mayor. 00:12:30
Why don't you join us? 00:13:34
You want to stand sort of in front of this so we can stand for the heartland side. 00:13:36
Hey, I'm not sure that makes on just right in the middle here now if you want to. 00:13:43
Steps. This is where. 00:13:47
All right, great. 00:13:52
All right, there you go. All right, here we go. 00:13:53
All right. 00:13:57
I. 00:14:00
OK, we'll move on into the business part of the meeting. This business, the meeting is being broadcast simultaneously online via 00:14:19
the Suite 1 Webcasting public portal. Those who can't attend the meeting are always welcome to watch at that link. It's on the 00:14:25
City Council information page on our website under the Government tab. The portal allows the public to view and listen to the 00:14:31
meeting in progress, along with the meeting materials associated with the items that Council will be discussing. 00:14:37
So with that, we'll move on to the meeting minutes. Council, you've had time to review the May 15th regular meeting minutes. Any 00:15:18
discussion? If not, I'll entertain a motion. I make a motion to approve. 00:15:24
We have a second. 00:15:31
Second, any discussion? 00:15:33
All in favor say aye aye. Motion carries unanimously. We'll move to approval of agenda. 00:15:35
One item I will need to remove off the table, our agreement with the Christian Church, which is listed under new business until 00:15:42
next month, but we are having positive conversations there regarding downtown parking. Any other amendments to the agenda? 00:15:49
OK, hearing none, I'll entertain a motion to approve the agenda with the change noted. 00:15:57
I make a motion to approve the agenda with the one change noted. Do we have a second? Second. All in favor say aye aye. 00:16:01
All right. I believe we have some new police officers here with us tonight, an attorney, right, man, You'll be handling the oath 00:16:10
of office. I'm not sure if there's any other discussion prior to that. 00:16:14
Had a chance to talk to one of them earlier. 00:16:26
Use the mic please, Joe. 00:16:31
That you are not the holder of any unaccounted for public money due this State or any political subdivision or authority thereof. 00:17:08
That you are not the holder of any office of trust under the Government of the United States, any other State or any foreign State 00:17:14
which you, by the laws of the State of Georgia, will be prohibited from holding. That you are otherwise qualified to hold set off 00:17:20
according to the Constitution and laws of Georgia, and that you will perform the duties of your office in the best city of 00:17:26
Watkinsville. 00:17:32
To the best of your ability, without fear, favor, affection, reward, or expectation thereof. If you that oath, you can say I do or 00:17:38
I do, so help me God. 00:17:43
All right. Congratulations each of you, your official now. 00:17:49
And if you could please administer the oath, I have copies right here for you to sign if you could do so at this time, please. And 00:17:53
I have blue pens for each of you to use. And if you all will do so, I would appreciate it. 00:18:00
I. 00:18:17
And gentlemen, if you'll. 00:18:29
Maybe stay where you are. I know we like to get photos with family if we can after the swearing in. And Chief, I didn't know if 00:18:31
you had anything you want to share about these gentlemen. I know you've got a report coming up as well. Is there anything? 00:18:35
Do that in the report. 00:18:41
OK, If we want to have Officer Williams, if you've got a family member here with you, why don't you step forward with the chief 00:18:44
and your family member and get a photo? 00:18:48
We need to the move to the middle. 00:18:59
All right. 00:19:07
Officer Wilburn, if you and your family want to come forward or do you want one with just your wife? Officer Williams, are you 00:19:12
good? You want me to just your wife or is it OK to have the chief and all your photos? 00:19:17
It's not going to start off on that. 00:19:22
Day. 00:19:28
Center up a little bit this way, yeah. 00:19:32
There you go, you'll take a picture before I can tell. 00:19:38
All right. 00:19:40
Got it. 00:19:43
Good officers. 00:19:47
Community policing team. 00:20:32
No pressure. Thank you, Chris. Appreciate it. 00:21:39
OK. We'll move into financial reports. Everyone should have received whoops, everybody should receive their balance sheet. We are 00:21:45
on par factory. We're exceeding our revenues by a fair amount. Some of that's due to different, different revenue sources that 00:21:51
came in, some unexpected ones, higher interest on some of our accounts than we expected to get. So that's good news. The expenses 00:21:57
are running lower, that's also good news. So of course, everything's not finalized till the audit is done. The auditors are coming 00:22:02
in. 00:22:08
July 11th I think and then back again in October. So process begins again. So any questions on the balance sheet or anything on 00:22:14
that general fund? 00:22:19
So Splash 3 reports a couple things to note on this. So the. 00:22:25
And then Thomas Farm, we've got phase one. We'll share some pictures of that fencing the bathroom renter, which is on the consent 00:23:07
agenda tonight, and some trail work, which is also one of the items on the agenda tonight. And then all the resurfacing projects 00:23:14
that we just recently had, again, they'll be pictures under the mayor's report. So that comes out of this bucket of money. 00:23:20
And then just a reminder, splash three started in October 21 at sunsets in September of 27. We're showing about a 5% increase over 00:23:28
the last fiscal year. So that's always good. And our bank balance is a little bit more than $1,000,000. 00:23:36
On T plus, that's our transportation special local option sales tax. Those funds right now have been encumbered for sidewalk 00:23:45
segments. There's a couple that we're still waiting on along Main Street. And then also something that will be that's on the 00:23:52
that's going to be discussed tonight is the a loan and a grant from the State Road Tollway Authority and from Georgia Transport 00:23:59
transportation infrastructure Bank. And so those we had we do have money that will be. 00:24:07
Expended in this account to pay back a loan, A10 year loan at 1.59%. So we're waiting on all that paperwork and hopefully tonight 00:24:14
you guys will move that, advance that forward. 00:24:20
So that is our tea SPLOST and then just a little info on that. So we are seeing over last year a 6% increase. Again, that's always 00:24:27
good and our bank balance is a little more than $720,000. 00:24:32
American Rescue Plan reports these are the funds that were given to communities in 2021 to try to help communities deal with a 00:24:39
multitude of issues that the COVID situation caused. The only. So right now we have encumbered funds for our police officer 00:24:47
retention initiative. We have a couple that are finishing up their payments. We have one outstanding opportunity for an officer to 00:24:54
obtain that. It's a $10,000 initiative or retention. 00:25:01
Bonus over a three-year period and then tonight and so the balance is around $96,000. So tonight on the consent agenda, which 00:25:09
apparently nobody's pulled anything off. So you guys will be voting on making that money available for the Thomas Farm Preserve 00:25:15
project. 00:25:21
Any questions on any of those? 00:25:27
OK, I'll move to economic development. 00:25:30
So we are Julia. How far are we 97%? 00:25:34
Getting all our business licenses, we got a few stragglers and some things we're trying to verify. Some of these businesses may 00:25:38
not still be around, but we we have you know, we're at the end, we start the cycle again in September, October. And just as we're 00:25:45
getting everybody cleaned up from the last year, we started New Year. So but everything seems to be moving ahead with that. And 00:25:51
then on our excise taxes, both alcohol and hotel, motel, we are on target. 00:25:57
A little bit low on hotel, then we budgeted a little bit more on alcohol than we budget. So, but it works out to the amount of 00:26:04
money that we anticipated. So there you go. 00:26:08
And then on our building permits, we've got 11 permits for six projects, several that are over at the Trove residential 00:26:13
neighborhood and then some other just, you know, HVAC, plumbing kind of renovations, things like that. Any questions? 00:26:20
Good day. 00:26:29
All right, so a few updates for the from the Downtown Development Authority. If you have not already marked your calendar for 00:26:33
August 3rd, please do. 00:26:39
Hopefully everyone will be back in town getting geared up for school and we are having a wonderful BBQ competition and Bake Off 00:26:47
tailgate party. Yeah, I see someone may be putting in their calendar right now. Way to go so. 00:26:54
It is also going to benefit Bethel Haven, which is a local nonprofit that helps with mental health issues and will just be a lot 00:27:02
of fun. That'll be a rocket field. More information will continue to come. We do have a few more entries for actually being part 00:27:11
of the competition for either BBQ or the Bake Off. And this is not for professionals, this is for amateurs. 00:27:19
Also a few months ago we talked about the poetry contest that we did in partnership with the library and the templates have been 00:27:29
successfully made on the 3D printer that the library has. If you have not yet checked out the library Little Plug, it is amazing. 00:27:37
Go to wire park, check out the library and so be looking for. I think Friday is when the stenciling are going to be done. It's 00:27:45
with chalk, so eventually it'll go away. However, with our no rain in the forecast forever, it might be there for a long time. 00:27:53
So it's going to be in downtown, one is going to be kind of in front of Blind Pig area and then ones on the opposite side of the 00:28:02
street kind of near Oconee Outpost. So it's a great excuse too if you have not been downtown recently to come check out the poetry 00:28:09
and check out some of our businesses and restaurants. And then lastly. 00:28:16
I have to share the sad news that our DDA director Kate Patterson has decided to step down from the position. 00:28:25
She needed to just have more time with her family and so she has done a tremendous job of really setting the foundation for our 00:28:32
DDA. She took our little fledgling group and for Ddas, Downtown Development Authority. I guess it does say that up there. 00:28:44
And really? 00:28:55
She's incredibly organized. 00:28:58
She has helped create a tremendous website. 00:29:00
Created events for our community that has helped our restaurants and our local retailers really thrive. 00:29:04
Help put on art events has done a tremendous amount and is actually going to even even though today was technically her last day, 00:29:11
is going to continue to help with the the tailgate party as well because she's just that kind of person that is going to start 00:29:17
what she finishes. So we are going to miss her. She has been a great asset to our city, but this does mean that there is a new 00:29:23
opportunity available. 00:29:29
For someone to come and take this role and the the job description is on our website and we are really looking for somebody that. 00:29:36
Is excited about our community, about our downtown, and really wants to help continue to see Watkinsville thrive. So if you know 00:29:49
of somebody that you think might be a good fit for this, please encourage them to take a look and to apply. 00:29:57
Thank you, Christine. We will move on to the Police Department, report Chief Gale. 00:30:07
Good evening again. I just, you know, I want to again introduce our two new part-time officers because they bring such a wealth of 00:30:16
experience. Joe Williams, he had many years on a DUI task force where he led many investigations. So we, we are building on our 00:30:26
professionalism and one it will increase our enforcement actions out there, but it will also impart. 00:30:35
The training and education for our younger officers. So I'm very excited. And Officer Wilburn, I worked with him at the 00:30:44
university, so he's got a wealth of experience in the military. So we draw on all experiences and I'm just thrilled about having 00:30:51
these gentlemen on our team and they will help on particular events. They're not going to be full time. 00:30:58
This Friday, hopefully they will help us. We are going to be hosting. 00:31:06
Governor's off honors or governor's office highway safety, traffic enforcement and education event. So here in the city. So drive 00:31:11
safely, follow the rules as you should always. But we are going to be hosting a training event and then we'll be going out and 00:31:18
doing some enforcement activities and our you know, as I noted in in the report, our officers are continuing with the training and 00:31:26
that it I, I rely heavily on that because it is building our. 00:31:34
Our credibility and our professionalism with the depth of training and now the experience that's going to be out there. We're just 00:31:42
building, building us stronger and we're going to be lean as always. But it, it just makes me very confident on our abilities and 00:31:49
keeping this community safe and moving down. You can see where officers have been very active with enforcement activities, writing 00:31:56
reports, citizen contacts, the security checks, you know, that's a large number. 00:32:04
And, you know, officers get out of the cars, not always, but many times they do. And they'll encounter citizens, they'll talk to 00:32:12
them, they provide assistance all the time. It really is something to be proud about. And, and I get up here every month and I say 00:32:17
it, but I mean it. 00:32:22
And so this week we, we hosted a meeting with the chiefs of our district. So from Gwinnett, there's some departments in Gwinnett, 00:32:29
smaller departments that are still in the kind of cuts off, but they're in our district. So we hosted a training event where we 00:32:36
brought in a resource here that they at the the same resource. I don't know if you all are familiar, but a wonderful, wonderful 00:32:43
resource for law enforcement in our area and for. 00:32:51
The victims of sexual assaults. And so it was wonderful to have that experience, incredible training. A lot of the chiefs didn't 00:32:58
know that all the services were available and now they are. So it served its purpose. And I'm proud that yes, we're small, but we 00:33:05
are bringing out the best of our community and and really bringing people to our community see what we have. So I hope you share 00:33:12
the pride, I know you do with me. So are there any questions? 00:33:18
So it doesn't back up down on experiment station. And so you, you keep your traffic focused in One Direction and keep it off of a 00:33:57
different way where if, if a car decides to turn left at rush hour in the morning, everybody's going to get backed up and it locks 00:34:05
everything down. And it has worked out quite well. So it seems to be working out great. Thank you for that. 00:34:13
All right. Thank you. 00:34:22
All right, we'll now move into a public hearing. Thank you all for coming. Safe travels home. Yep. 00:34:29
2024 property tax mileage rate, is that what right, Manager Dickerson. OK. 00:35:05
Get this movement for here. 00:35:12
Then we also had a another work session, but we cancelled that because we're rolling back the mood, right, and didn't anticipate 00:35:45
any public feedback. So tonight will be our third public hearing on the budget and that's where we are. So manager. 00:35:53
Fill in whatever I missed, otherwise I'll let you take it. Right. So the first hearing is on the proposed property tax mileage 00:36:02
rate. As the mayor said, this is the announcement that was in the paper and basically the city's property. Next, sorry, the city's 00:36:09
property net tax digest for 2024 has been estimated a little bit more than $243 million. That's an increase of 6% or 13.8 million 00:36:17
/ 2023 property values and it pretty much reflects new development and or improvements to existing properties. 00:36:25
At the city's current mileage rate, which is 2.921, this would have resulted in an increase of .165 mills over the rollback rate 00:36:33
of 2.756 and would have generated roughly around $40,000. The mayor challenged me and my staff to not take that mileage increase. 00:36:40
And so we are keeping the the revenue, The proceeds from the property tax will remain the same as last year. So we've rolled back 00:36:48
the military we're recommending to rollback of 2.756. 00:36:56
And we'll talk. Just show you real quickly another little screen here, maybe hard for some people that are in the audience to see. 00:37:04
But basically what that means is for someone that is in a $300,000 home and has Homestead, they'll see about a $19.52 difference. 00:37:12
So it's a reduction. And if you're in a 500,000, you'll see about a $32.75 reduction on the commercial end because you don't have 00:37:19
Homestead. Those reductions are a little bit different. I think we've got 3333 O 8 for a $500,000. 00:37:27
Property. 00:37:35
40, I can't read it, 48 or 4962 for $750,000 property. And I'll point out that not only is the city rolling back their mileage 00:37:36
rate, but the county is too. I believe the Board of Education may be staying the same, but we'll talk a little bit in the budget 00:37:44
process. When we start talking about the budget in a minute, I'll share a little bit about how we compare to other communities in 00:37:51
the area. We've had a lot of citizen feedback about property taxes and we've kept them low historically last year. 00:37:59
We did, we were very open about that. We did bump them up a little bit to help pay for the Thomas Farm Preserve property very 00:38:07
specifically, but we're really pleased to be able to roll it back this year. And, and historically in Watkinsville, we've prided 00:38:11
ourselves on having low property taxes. 00:38:16
OK, so at this point, we'll open up a public hearing. 00:38:25
Anybody wants to step forward and address the property tax mileage rate, feel free. 00:38:29
Not seeing a bunch of people jump up, so I will close the public hearing on that. We'll move now to the public hearing regarding 00:38:34
the recommended fiscal year general fund capital and operating budget. 00:38:39
And now we'll get to talk a little bit about that. So the sorry so and then again maybe kind of difficult to see on that, but 00:38:45
we're we're recommending that 3.2 and some change $3.2 million. 00:38:51
Budget. 00:38:59
I think I've got that right and I'm the projected surplus at the bottom. Unfortunately, I was trying to a correction to this 00:39:01
spreadsheet for capital and it shows that we were projecting a deficit that is actually incorrect and that's because of a very 00:39:08
last minute change. But the capital request this year is for 119,000. That's what's showing up in that little spot. So we'll make 00:39:14
sure that's corrected. Julie may want to check Exhibit A. We may need to make it make sure it's clear how that was calculated. 00:39:20
So we'll talk a little bit about revenues. So general fund revenues we're projecting again 3.246 that's an increase of about 11%. 00:39:28
Our neighbors, I don't, I didn't check with the county, but I know Clark County is also seeing about 11% increase in their overall 00:39:32
budget. 00:39:37
Basically we're talking our three biggest revenue streams, our local options, sales tax, which is about 30%, property tax which is 00:39:43
21 and insurance premium tax which is 8%. That's a tax that each one of us pay. When you take out insurance just like your 00:39:49
franchise fees, those are charged to you and then pass through the through the utility to the city. I will point out again just 00:39:55
and I know it's always easy to compare with Clark County, but I know Clark County's property taxes as a percentage of their 00:40:01
general fund. 00:40:07
Is 51%. 00:40:14
So sort of point that out, we are doing a lot with very little. 00:40:15
Again, local option sales tax, that's 7.77% based on an agreement with the county. That is what it was agreed to. I think it was 00:40:20
last year, maybe the year before now I can't remember. It's 10 years and we are estimating that it will go up a little bit, not 00:40:28
much being very fairly conservative about what that will be over the next fiscal year. Again, property tax, we just talked about 00:40:35
that rolling it back. So we we decreased the revenues that were projected to so we would not have to take that $40,000 increase. 00:40:43
Again, it's important to understand property taxes are based on the value of that property come January 1. So anything that 00:40:51
happens we now January 1 and the end of the year doesn't get picked up for the for the tax bill that gets picked up next year when 00:40:55
they relook at your property in January. 00:41:00
And then just because I think it's always good for people to understand sort of what the value is. So again, property taxes are 00:41:06
fairly low consider, I mean, obviously citizens participate in the sales tax and they participate in in the insurance premium tax 00:41:12
and some of the other franchise fees and things like that. But but for the most part. 00:41:17
The city's revenues are coming from external sources, not from the citizens who live here. So, but it's important to see that. So 00:41:23
for instance, the fiscal year 25 cost for garbage is $23 a month per household or $276 a year. I know that it would be more like 00:41:30
$29.00 a month if you had to use a private hauler and and you were outside the city limits, probably not for and it would not 00:41:36
include leaf and limb service. So I think it's a great value that we're getting in addition public safety, which is a big part of 00:41:43
our budget. 00:41:49
That costs roughly each household cost us about $648 per household every year for this next fiscal year. So I think that's 00:41:56
important to to look at that. 00:42:01
As well, I already shared this, so I don't know that I need to go back through that, but that's that's our property tax. 00:42:07
Monies and then. This is a comparison I referred to earlier. 00:42:14
This is from 20/22. I couldn't find a 2023. They'll probably put it in their budget this year. I did go along to see if Clark 00:42:18
County had done this because this was something they generated, but I do think it's important to note the lowest mileage rate in 00:42:24
this general area is is Watkinsville and Oak County County. 00:42:29
And then if you look at. 00:42:36
Total taxes by market value. The stars are Watkinsville. 00:42:38
So higher property, lower taxes, higher property value. 00:42:42
And then on the expense side, it's always important to understand we do a lot, very little. I am so pleased and appreciative of my 00:42:49
staff who many of us were several different hats because that's what you do when you're a flat organization. You don't have a lot 00:42:55
of opportunity to to add people. So we have 21 full time employees, one part time employee now. 00:43:01
Engineering, attorneys fees, the things we have to do just to keep everything. 00:43:42
Working. 00:43:47
Point out the two largest expenditures, not looking at departments, but expenditures or police services and garbage and leaf and 00:43:51
limb. So again, these are right across the board. Every community. When you hear about communities that want to start, you know, 00:43:56
breakaway and become a city, the first thing they talk about is police and then the next thing to talk about is garbage. So not 00:44:01
unusual. These are very common in a lot of communities. 00:44:06
And then again, as I pointed out, a lot of what we do is people, we do use a lot of tools. We have a lot of resources, but our 00:44:13
biggest resource, most important resource or personnel. So 50% of our personnel are employed are direct employees of the city and 00:44:20
then another 20%, so 70% to another 20% of our contract labor. 00:44:26
And then on the capital side, so to understand pretty much anything valued at $5000 or more that will last, you know, five to 00:44:36
seven years is on our capital budget and we have an improvement plan that goes out roughly 20 years. We look at it every year. We 00:44:41
decide if we can move things forward or backward, if we need to move backwards. And typically we budget a depreciation expense in 00:44:47
the operating budget. We did not do that this year. We felt like what was on the table was not, it wasn't necessary to add 00:44:53
additional money. 00:44:59
To that fund, I think roughly we have around $300,000 in that account. We're fortunate to be able to use some of our splice money 00:45:04
or our special purpose local option sales tax money to supplement some of our capital purchases. And so that's why we did not do 00:45:09
it this year I. 00:45:14
And not by the capital fund that we have. 00:46:52
And then again, there is the worksheet and we will need to just make sure everybody understands there's not a deficit that is just 00:46:56
a calculation error because I was trying to correct something earlier tonight that it is a balanced budget with no, no fund 00:47:02
balance contribution or increase in property taxes. 00:47:09
Thank you, Manager Dickerson, very comprehensive report. At this point, we'll have a open it up for a public hearing. All the 00:47:17
people who want to step forward and address the budget, please do so. 00:47:22
Not everybody at once. 00:47:28
All right, we will close the public hearing. 00:47:30
On the budget, we vote on that later, correct? OK. 00:47:34
We'll now have a public hearing on the variance for 56 Dooley St. I see the Shays here and I think we'll probably hear from our 00:47:39
engineer 1st and then the applicant will come forward. Is that correct, Mr. Campbell? Yes, Sir, Thank you. Mr. Wright. OK, so 56 00:47:44
Dooley Street is at the corner of Dooley St. and Jackson St. 00:47:50
The parcel is approximately 6/10 of an acre and it is owned detached residential. The request for this variance is to reduce the 00:47:57
side set back as dictated by the zoning code from 10 feet down to five feet. So if you go to the next slide that gives you an idea 00:48:04
from an aerial standpoint of of where the where the lot is located there at Dooley and Jackson St. the house actually faces again 00:48:11
Dooley St. has a Dooley St. access this particular. 00:48:19
Request, if you will, is actually for something that's accessed off of Jackson there on that that corner lot. So, so here's the 00:48:27
plat from 1995, I believe it is from Mr. Ray Woods that shows that location. This one's inverted from the aerial images that you 00:48:34
just saw, but it's where the the house has been obviously for for some time that is showing the platform 95 and where that you can 00:48:41
see that kind of horseshoe access from from either roadway there based on that recorded plat. 00:48:48
So there's the structure. 00:48:57
That is being requested, that is currently built, that is access from Jackson Street, that is within. 00:49:00
Five feet or less than 10 feet I should say, from that side property line so we can go to the next. 00:49:07
Again, there's a picture of the house from the corner. You can see that a front porch with the American flag that's facing Dooley 00:49:15
St. This picture was taken before Jackson St. was was repaved. So if you have a chance to go back out there that it doesn't look 00:49:20
the same as as when this picture was taken, but just gives you a little bit of a context there. So the applicant is requesting a 00:49:26
variance associated with the construction of that covered parking area there that is next to the adjacent property that is a long 00:49:32
Jackson Street and, and. 00:49:38
Be happy to answer any other questions. I do want to point out as as a city attorney usually points to, there is criteria 00:50:16
associated with a variance request. This is specifically listed within the code. You can see there that it is up to mayor and 00:50:22
council to review these readings requests, but you're supposed to review them based on those specific criteria. That is an A 00:50:27
through F criteria that is listed there. Just as a reminder, that's also in your council packet. But again, be be happy to answer 00:50:33
any questions you might have. 00:50:39
All right. Thank you. Mr. Campbell. If the applicants want to step forward and add anything, that's great. And then I'll open the 00:50:47
public hearing. 00:50:50
Yeah, I'm Josh Shea, and this is my wife, Jennifer, 56 Dooley St. About three years ago, We I. 00:50:57
Put a concrete parking pad at the end of our existing driveway, which we've been using for 10 years and leave next door and 00:51:04
everything so. 00:51:08
Back in March, I said, let's go ahead and put a carport on because we nothing to shelter our cars and she bought a new car. So so 00:51:13
we built both it and my bad small town, I did not get a building permit. So this is how this all came about. So I that that's to 00:51:21
be determined if this goes forward or not. But we built it when it was that Toby called us to say, hey, you need a building 00:51:28
permit. When that came about, we did all the things and we were. 00:51:36
Over the set back liner or building line if you would. So go with Lee and Melanie next door and they said they were OK with it. 00:51:44
Basically put the carport at the end of the existing driveway which we've been using for 10 years, which has been there probably 00:51:50
for the House of 1942. So I don't know how long has it been there. So we just use the existing driveway. We didn't alter anything 00:51:56
and it turns out. 00:52:02
Long story short, leave the fence line, which I assume is our property line is not our property line leaves to own both 00:52:09
properties. He just put the fence where it was convenient for him. So, so it looks, it looks like we got a lot more room than we 00:52:15
do. We actually have much less than we thought we had. So it's our mistake, our error. We just ask that and we're going to make it 00:52:21
and we'd like if we move forward, put a metal roof on so it ties in with the rest of the neighborhood. We shouldn't be the rest of 00:52:27
our house. We've built it to kind of. 00:52:33
Mirror what we've What is existing structure now? 00:52:39
I. 00:52:45
Existing one you see there off of Jackson at one point they did yes well and and. 00:53:24
Where this one is particularly tricky is because your your address is duly right and your front porch is duly. And so it could be 00:53:31
argued that this is not so is the variance just for the set back OK, because that also was a little unclear in the application. So 00:53:38
it's not front facing, it's only the then they have double jeopardy. Yeah. 00:53:46
Thank you. 00:53:54
Other questions from Council. 00:53:57
I don't want to stay there for a second. I think that's fine. At this point, we'll call the public hearings. Anybody want to come 00:54:00
forward and speak to this? 00:54:04
We received any comments from the public. 00:54:09
Other than the Morgans, OK. And that was in your packet. All right, hearing none, I'm going to close the public hearing at this 00:54:11
point. Council. Any other questions for the applicants? 00:54:15
OK y'all can take your seat. 00:54:21
A comments or I'll entertain a motion. 00:54:25
Or do we do a motion? OK, yeah, it's closed. Yeah, we're voting on the variance, so. 00:54:33
Yes, I'm just going to point out that if you do approve the variance, then they will be subject to a double building permit fee 00:54:40
because they did not receive a building permit that probably will only be like a total of $200.00. It's not a very expensive thing 00:54:46
and I think they're aware of that, so. 00:54:51
Point so we do want everybody to be treated fairly you know so if you. 00:54:58
Don't get that building permit done in time, then. Then there is a you know, don't get it in time, you know, you get the fine. So 00:55:03
I have a. 00:55:07
This is really maybe a question for our engineer and it seems to know our code very well. What is the the the code for? Like just 00:55:12
like a pavilion or a? 00:55:20
It's not well defined, so it, it kind of falls under the general accessory structure because it can be used for other things. But 00:55:28
in general terms, you know, the maybe the most dangerous word in all of Watkinsville code is the word garage. But that's probably 00:55:36
a good thing if, if there's nothing that's more contentious than that, this is this is not a garage, but it is an area that is 00:55:43
used for covered parking. But again, it's an accessory structure. 00:55:51
For the purpose of the code for the purpose of the variance tonight, any of those such structures are still subject to that. 00:55:58
Again, it's a 5 foot side set back that they're requesting code requires the side set back as it would be determined by this lot 00:56:06
as it was determined and the the code from or the platform 1995, it's 10 foot and so it's it's not a rear, it's not a front, it is 00:56:13
a side, but it would be subject to whatever we would choose to call the structure would fall under the the same terminology there. 00:56:20
So I think what I am before we make a motion that I'm just kind of. 00:56:28
Struggling with is this isn't really a garage and so. 00:56:33
I I feel weird voting on a variance about a garage when it's not a garage. Is that am I being should I not worry about that? I 00:56:40
mean This is why I'm asking the the powers that be here if that really matters just as far as like I have. 00:56:47
So let me ask you this way, if we approve this, does that then give them permission to close it in and create it an actual garage? 00:56:57
Or is it just, well, maybe an attorney could advise us? Yeah, there's a good point. You know, we make an accessory, make an 00:57:03
exception for, you know, the variance would be for an accessory structure rather than a garage. If, you know, if that's if that's 00:57:08
our preference. Raj says it has to be enclosed. 00:57:14
Right, this is not going to be enclosed. 00:57:21
Then they're asking for a variance to not enclose it set back in front facing, not front facing. 00:57:24
But it really is. But yeah, it is. But it doesn't matter. I don't believe on on the various requests at all. I ever wrote the word 00:57:32
garage. I don't believe that was any any of my verbiage at all. I don't know where that's what I see. I see what you're looking at 00:57:38
there. That did not come from from us. We don't we don't want a garage, OK. 00:57:45
Yeah, yeah. 00:57:52
All right. So does everybody come, are you comfortable that's using the structure around a detached, the variance would be for a 00:57:56
detached or an accessory structure. Excuse me, is that we're calling it Mark Joe? 00:58:02
I'm fine with that. And if you look at the photograph clearly, it looks much more like a picnic shelter, a pavilion or a gazebo. 00:58:09
It does not look like. 00:58:13
Right. Dangerous word in the Watkinsville code. So we don't want that word. We know it's a hot button. 00:58:48
A lot of folks, all right. 00:58:56
So if we're comfortable with that, that's a great call out, Christine emotion around. 00:58:59
Variance for the accessory structure at 56 Dooley St. 00:59:04
I make a motion to approve the variance for the accessory structure. 00:59:10
Well, my love to make a caveat with it. Go for it. Yeah. It it it's just that I I get it when you think your property line is 00:59:17
something in your neighbor who created that property line is fine with it. I mean, I I get it. It was it probably looked like it 00:59:23
was well over 10 feet. So and you're willing to. 00:59:30
I have to know that he's gone for 10 years. 00:59:37
All right, so the motion without all the extra stuff is for the variance variance to approve the variance for the accessory 00:59:41
structure that is not a garage with the with the side set back of five feet, right, with the side set back of less than 10 feet. 00:59:49
OK, that's your motion. Do we have a second? We have a second. Any discussion hearing none all in favor say aye, any opposed? 00:59:58
All right, motion carries 5. 01:00:07
Thank you both for coming under appearances we have known under. 01:00:11
Old business, we have none. Under new business we have some budget related items that will move quickly through. So we've as you 01:00:16
all know we have to do a public hearings and adopt A budget separately. So I'll entertain a resolution to adopt the 2024 property 01:00:22
tax mileage rate at this point unless there's any discussion. 01:00:29
To make a motion to accept the 2024 mileage rate. 01:00:37
We have a 2nd, 2nd. 01:00:42
All right, any discussion hearing none, all in favor say aye, aye. Any opposed? 01:00:45
All right, Item 13, this will be the adoption resolution for an adoption of the 2025 budget, noting that on Exhibit A and that I'm 01:00:50
sorry, mayor, this one didn't get switched again. This is last minute my fault to try to catch it. But the the one that the only 01:00:56
difference in this one and the other one is it should say 119,000 and some change for capital. So we'll we'll make sure it's 01:01:01
correct. 01:01:07
Copy of Exhibit A, which will reflect no deficit at the bottom, as this one does, but also an item in capital for $119,851. 01:01:15
Council, any discussion regarding the budget? 01:01:23
Hearing none, I'll entertain a motion. 01:01:27
I'll make a motion that we. 01:01:31
Approve the budget. I have a motion amended. 01:01:33
Exhibit A. 01:01:37
Correct. Do we have a second? 01:01:38
2nd. 01:01:41
All right. We have a motion. We have a second. Any further discussion? 01:01:43
All in favor say aye aye. Any opposed? 01:01:46
Motion carries 5O. 01:01:49
All right. Yep. Next up, we have 1090 Business Blvd. I think Mr. Bell is here with us. If you want to step forward. We have a 01:01:53
wastewater capacity application request. Manager Dickerson will give a report and then we'll let the applicant offer his name and 01:01:58
address and he can share anything he wants to. Yeah. So very briefly, Mr. Bell needs sewer connection for commercial space. There 01:02:04
are. 01:02:09
1090 business Blvd. to service 2 bathrooms and two employee cat for two employment. I'm sorry A2 employee cabinet shop. 01:02:15
Oconee County Water Resources always has to review these, even though the council has the right to. 01:02:24
Approve the water, wastewater capacity. They do have to review the request. They have agreed that 260 gallons a day is what is 01:02:31
needed. And so that is what you see on your chart. We do have a balance available now that is either not been encumbered or that 01:02:37
has not been encumbered or not already approved and being used of a little bit more than 3600 gallons a day left until we get the 01:02:43
hopefully the next allotment at the end of the year. 01:02:50
And so that's what the county says. They're going to use two people. 01:02:57
A day, Yes. OK. 01:03:01
No. So the the question was where does that number come from? So the county isn't owns and operates the wastewater and water 01:03:06
system and they have policies and procedures and that's how they calculate. And we don't really don't have a lot to say about 01:03:12
that. It's a utility just like your power and your gas. So those questions probably be best directed to them. 01:03:19
But Mr. Bell, you're not doing, not installing anything that uses water. This is just for a bathroom. Is that correct? Correct. 01:03:25
OK. I mean, I'm going to note for the record that I'm going to note for the record, for the record, that's absolutely ridiculous. 01:03:32
260 gallons per day for a bathroom for two people. 01:03:38
But there's nothing we can do about at this point. But yes, it is ridiculous. All right, Mr. Bell, why don't you? If there's 01:03:46
anything else you want to share about your application, feel free. Otherwise, we'll move to a vote. Yeah, that should be. That 01:03:50
should be. 01:03:54
I have a new tenant that we are we had to use it as storage before. So a new tenant needed to access the bathroom. So there's not 01:03:58
there's not septic on that building. I'm familiar with the building in the no no septic. It's too small of a lot for. 01:04:06
Yep, unfortunate. Well, I make a motion to approve. I think these employees should get to use the bathroom a lot, apparently. 01:04:16
All right, we have a motion. Do we have a second? 01:04:26
Second, all right, we have a motion, we have a second. We assume that these numbers, the water will be running all day long there 01:04:29
and. 01:04:33
But all in favor say aye aye. And is there a any opposed hearing? None. Motion carries 5 O Thank you, Mr. Bell for coming in. 01:04:37
All right. Next up, we have approving an award for in contract for the aggregate trails at Thomas Farm Preserve. For those of you 01:04:48
have been following this project, this is these would be the portion of the trails that are not paved primarily towards the back 01:04:53
of the project. 01:04:59
Project and so Manager Dickerson, if you want to offer a report on that, that would be great. Well, thank you, Mayor. 01:05:04
So we're going to ask tonight that you award Mark Thomas Enterprises the contract for the construction installation of these 01:05:12
aggregate trails for amount not to exceed $90,000. That money will come right now as being earmarked out of the special purpose 01:05:19
local option sales tax three under roads, bridges and streets. Also ask that you agree that you approve the contract, which has 01:05:26
already been reviewed by the contractor as well and allow the mayor and city clerk to sign all those relevant documents. 01:05:34
Little history. In February of this year, the council approved reprogramming some funds so that we could do some improvements to 01:05:41
Thomas Farm Preserve, which was acquired in September of last year. Those improvements include adding restroom facilities, 01:05:47
fencing, lighting, signage and construction administration. 01:05:54
On April 18th we released an RFP for 3.46 miles of pedestrian trails, which would be aggregate trails. 01:06:00
And then on May 6th we received, we had the opening of those price proposals and the we received only one proposal that was from 01:06:08
Mark Thomas Enterprises for 117,000. 01:06:12
In addition to our posting on the website, which Council Councilman Garrett recommended last year, we've started doing fairly 01:06:19
regularly. It was also advertising the economy enterprise and provided directly to Todd Smith Grading and Mark Thomas Enterprises 01:06:25
as they had reached out to us hearing that when the park became available, you know when the park became active, they both those 01:06:32
entities said, hey, let us know you know when this opportunity arises. So we notified them directly. 01:06:38
In February of 24, we've got several, we had some volunteers that are helping with a Backcountry trial. Sorry, Backcountry trail 01:06:46
that is not part of this RRFP. The mayor and I met before this meeting. There's a little bit of confused, there was a little 01:06:53
confusion on what I put down. But as far as budget wise, everything I think works out fine and we won't have any issues. But the 01:07:01
30 inch back back trail is being done by volunteers and that's on the on the outskirts goes through the through the woods. 01:07:09
On February 15th, again Council approved a budget for these Thomas Farm improvements. 01:07:17
And. 01:07:23
These are the, these are the three, the six, six foot aggregate trail which is a little bit more than a mile, an 8 foot aggregate 01:07:26
trail which is a little more than 1/3 of mile and then 30 inch back back country trail which is not part of this. Now we did 01:07:33
receive a pricing for that from Mr. Thomas, but we back that out and that's how we come up with the not to exceed $90,000. 01:07:40
Happy to answer any questions. 01:07:48
Go back to that last trip so. 01:07:51
That we're doing the the 1st and the 2nd, correct? Yeah. And, and again, there's there's so there's a whole bunch of. 01:07:53
Request. 01:08:34
And then what about it? I know that Mister Thomas as part of his contract with us separately was doing some other work as as the 01:08:36
parking lot work and some of the grading around the circle, that kind of circle area by the house included in that other work that 01:08:42
he's doing. Yes, yeah. So, so I think that's, I mean, obviously he knows the property and he does this work for a living. He came 01:08:48
in. I mean, obviously I don't have a whole bunch to compare it with, but I did share it with one of the other contractors who's 01:08:54
interested in the other bid. 01:09:00
OK. Any other anything else to report? 01:09:36
OK, OK. 01:09:39
Council questions for the manager. 01:09:41
Alright, um. 01:09:46
In that case, I'll entertain a motion. 01:09:48
I make a motion to approve. 01:09:52
We have motion to approve. Do we have a second? 01:09:54
We have a motion, We have a second. All in favor say aye aye. We have an abstention. We have one recusal. 01:09:57
Council, I think it should be noted Councilman Thomas is recused throughout on financial matters related to the Thomas farm matter 01:10:06
given his. 01:10:11
Although he's not a direct family member, he is a descendant of the Thomas family, so. 01:10:16
All right, our next item and I think we'll talk a little bit more about this in the Mayor's report, but so I won't belabor it now, 01:10:22
but Chair, and if you just want to do the administrative part of the G Tib grant, Jennifer, I know you're a big Walker, you'll 01:10:27
appreciate this news. So Sharon, why don't you? 01:10:32
Let's see what we need to do here real quick. And you may you may want to do a little bit more here because I don't think we 01:10:38
planned in the banner support, but you can do. That's right. OK Comes up here. Yeah. So, So Councilman Thomas and I, a week ago, 01:10:44
two weeks ago Thursday. It was a week ago, Tom Flash, right. Two weeks ago. Yeah. It's been fast. We were. We got to go to 01:10:50
Atlanta. We got some great news from the governor's office that we had applied for a Georgia Transportation Infrastructure Bank 01:10:56
award. 01:11:02
To help us accelerate sidewalks along Simonton Bridge Rd. That's been a big requested item for our citizens for a long time. 01:11:08
But the cost to do that is tremendous given some of the right away challenges and wetlands and other things. So we learned that 01:11:16
we're getting a loan, a low interest loan of $2.2 million and a grant of $1.53 million to help us kick start that project. Based 01:11:22
on our numbers, we think that's going to enable us to build a sidewalk and pathway that will connect Rocket Field all the way to 01:11:29
Thomas Farm Preserve and on to Simonton Place subdivision, which is the most challenging part of of the Simonton Bridge quarter. 01:11:35
None of it's really easy but but. 01:11:42
Yeah, just that a whole lot of people applied and we were one of five. 01:12:51
That got it. So again, you know, great things are happening here in Watkinsville. So super glad that we were able to secure this, 01:12:56
this money to to build this project. 01:13:02
You do have exhibit A&B in the packet. That is something that we did have to complete this past week so that they could go ahead 01:14:16
and get the documents pulled together. We're going to nail down a date sometime probably after July 10th to close on the loan and 01:14:22
and handle the grant stuff and get all our paperwork started so we can get this project underway. And again, I think the date on 01:14:29
the contract is going to be we're shooting for January of 2026 to have this completed. So we'll see how that works. 01:14:35
So not allowed, you know, if you happen to run into any members of our local delegation, Representative Weed, our Senator Kouser, 01:14:42
Representative Houston Gaines or the governor, please thank them for their support for this. They were huge supporters of this 01:14:48
project and they understand what, what something like this means for Watkinsville. And, and we spent a fair time, amount of time 01:14:53
explaining to them the importance of this project. So please be, please express your gratitude when you run into them because this 01:14:59
is a game changer for us. 01:15:05
So OK. 01:15:11
All right, so I would ask for a motion to approve the G tab loan and grant awards and the amounts listed on the screen, and I'll 01:15:13
entertain a motion to that effect. I make that motion. We have a motion for mayor Pro Tem. Do we have a second? Second. We have a 01:15:19
second from Councilman Campbell. All in favor say aye. Any opposed motion carries 5O. 01:15:25
All right, Item 17 was tabled. 01:15:34
Consent agenda I will notice Note for the public, the consent agenda is in a different spot. 01:15:36
This time that it usually is, and that's because several of the items on there were impacted by the budget. So we couldn't approve 01:15:42
the consent agenda till the budget was approved. So that's why it's at the back end of the meeting. But seeing as council didn't 01:15:46
pull anything off, I'll entertain a motion to approve the consent agenda. 01:15:51
I'll make a motion to approve the consent agenda. All right. Second. 01:15:57
2nd 2nd from Councilman Campbell. Any discussion? 01:16:02
Hearing none all in favor say aye. 01:16:05
Right, motion passes. We'll move on to public comments. 01:16:08
We've got a few guests here, if anybody wants to step forward, you're welcome to. 01:16:13
All right. 01:16:21
Do not have any. We'll move on to the mayor's report. 01:16:22
We were fortunate. We talked a month or two here, we approved significant funds for repaving and those projects are done and I 01:16:29
think they look great. Niagara Drive, Jackson Street and Simonton Way were all completed along with School St. one side of School 01:16:35
St. 01:16:41
I will note Jackson St. in particular had had some real challenges. 01:16:48
And School St. of course, we've been really battling some historical issues and that road was totally rebuilt as part of this 01:16:53
process. Pretty big lift. So grateful sharing to you and the staff for your work on that. Also didn't mention during the G tip 01:17:00
conversation, Sharon did that application and led the way and we're really grateful to you for your work on that. But on this as 01:17:07
well, looks really great. Big improvement. Hair Shoals. We finally got the old ball field fencing down. 01:17:14
And we are moving forward on our plans to begin hair Shoals work in earnest. I think the next slide shows a rendering of what we 01:17:22
want that space to look like when it's done. That's called, that was called Giardini Field, named after a former mayor. We intend 01:17:29
to call that the Giordini Green. So get that spruced up and reopened, probably have a package to go out to bid using splash 01:17:36
dollars in the future to get that area looking good. Harris Shoals is. 01:17:43
Has a lot of work down there. I just asked for patience. It's a bit of a work in progress in terms of how it looks right now. But 01:17:52
you have to understand we're slowly doing this construction project one piece at a time. But I've no doubt when it's done, it will 01:17:56
be, it'll be better than it's ever been. So we're grateful sharing to you and the staff work on that and keeping our call slow by 01:18:01
doing that in house, even if it takes a little bit longer. 01:18:05
We've done some additional improvements at Rocket Field. You may have noticed you've seen benches go in, picnic tables going in 01:18:12
for people to use at different spots. Public works, we appreciate them handling that. 01:18:17
Work has already started at Thomas Farm. You may notice the fence along Simonton Bridge Rd. We've also fenced off the old barn. 01:18:24
Someday we hope to fix up the old barn, but for now it's a rather attractive nuisance and we want to make it very clear to the 01:18:30
public that once they go out there, the barn is not a not a place to. 01:18:36
Not a place to play or, you know, to climb or to visit until we get that, until we get that ready for public use at a later date. 01:18:42
So excited to have work underway out there in addition to what we approve tonight. 01:18:48
We have one thing when you get legal equipment. 01:18:56
Can I rectify mention the holiday while we're. Yeah, One other thing I just want to recognize today is a day it's a federal 01:19:02
holiday, Juneteenth. I don't know that, you know, it's a relatively new, relatively new holiday, but it is a. 01:19:08
I think it's worth mentioning that you know Juneteenth is the date that I. 01:19:15
Enslaved people in Galveston, TX learned about their freedom June 19th, 1865. That's 89. You know, some people say, what's 01:19:20
Juneteenth? Why do you celebrate June 19th? We've got to remember when the US declared independence on July 4th, 1776, there was a 01:19:27
whole group of people in America who were not free, right? And they weren't free until 1863 when President Lincoln read the 01:19:34
Emancipation Proclamation. And then many of those people didn't even learn about that until June 19th, 1865. S. 01:19:42
I think it's important that. 01:19:50
That we recognize that, that we recognize that today is a federal holiday and council may want to discuss subsequently whether 01:19:52
that should be a holiday for City of Watkinsville employees. So I won't be, you know, if it's just something that we might want to 01:19:57
consider in February at our planning retreat, if that's something worth considering for next year's budget cycle. So that's all 01:20:02
the mayor has. 01:20:07
OK. 01:20:14
Yeah, so I. 01:20:20
Christina is not going to be here next month. She celebrates a big birthday. We won't say what the number is, but there is a 01:20:22
number on her cupcake there. And Mark, Mark, our city engineer Mark Campbell also celebrates birthday. That's actually this month. 01:20:28
And and because she lit that before the mayor started there. Are you starting to burn down? So you may want to. 01:20:33
Before you do that. 01:20:40
Yay. 01:20:42
So happy birthday, Mayor Pro Tem Tucker and Engineer Campbell. We're grateful for both of you and hope we get many more years of 01:20:47
having you in the chambers with us. So thank you for everything. Yep, and enjoy your. 01:20:53
Meeting away your time away next next month. 01:20:59
For those of you don't know, Mayor Pro Tem Tucker is one She once told me that she wasn't going to she wasn't going to travel for 01:21:03
the rest of the year. And I think she I think that resolution lasted for about one month and then she was she was off again. So 01:21:10
anyway, we're grateful, grateful that you can always make it back for our meetings and we'll miss you when next month and engineer 01:21:16
Campbell, we're grateful for you and when he has a milestone, Sharon, I think we we need to have a. 01:21:23
Keep an eye on that. Yep. 01:21:31
All right, Council, reports Councilman Garrett. 01:21:34
Nothing from Councilman Garrett County Massey. 01:21:38
All right, Mr. Thomas. 01:21:41
I just enjoy our small town of 3000 and hope that it stays to be a cute small town of 3000 for years to come. 01:21:43
All right, Mayor Pro Tem Tucker. So I was reflected. It was a real privilege to get to go to Denver with the delegation and got to 01:21:53
know some different members in our community and. 01:21:59
Was reflecting on that today at our DDA board meeting and I am just so impressed with the people in our community. 01:22:06
And. 01:22:16
The mayor and I have been talking about this. We, we want to make sure that everybody knows. 01:22:18
That. 01:22:23
There are ways for everyone to get involved. I mean, that's one of the things about being a small community. We need lots of 01:22:25
hands. We don't want the same people doing things all the time because people get burned out. And so I don't want anybody to to 01:22:31
see the things that the city is doing and think. 01:22:37
Oh, that's so great. And just kind of sit by the sidelines, like we need people to get involved and we want people to get 01:22:43
involved. This is a community where all voices are valued and heard, and I hope people always feel that way. So. 01:22:49
Thank you, Christine. That's a great perspective. Councilman Campbell. 01:22:56
The video that we frankly was a key to US winning the award that told the Watkinsville story. We probably, if that's not on our 01:23:35
website, we need to figure out how to get that on there. And then the recap video. And then from the city, Christine, Sharon and 01:23:41
Chief GAIL, thank you for being there. 01:23:47
You know, there was one person who never jumped on stage with us during that process, but she kept everything moving behind the 01:23:53
scenes, and that's manager Dickerson. She never wants a lot of attention. She never asked for it. But Sharon? 01:23:58
You know I. 01:24:06
As we won the grant, as we won that award, it may be once again realized that without a really talented city manager, none of that 01:24:08
would have happened. And I think it goes without saying how grateful we are to you and to all that you and your team do to to make 01:24:14
these things happen in Watkinsville. The the projects that we earn, the recognition that we even were chosen because of would not 01:24:20
have happened without you and your staff's work. So. 01:24:26
It goes without saying, I know how you kind of saw it in the background in these moments, but I think it goes without saying that 01:24:33
you and your team deserve a ton of recognition for everything that it took to make us an all American city too. So thank you so 01:24:37
much for that. 01:24:41
Yeah, you did, you did mention my team and I could not, it's not a one person here. I mean, there's all 21 of us are working hard 01:24:50
to make these things happen. But it it's great when you have a, you know, when you, when everybody understands their role. Y'all 01:24:56
role is to is set the vision and then to give it to us and tell us to make it happen. And everybody here, you know, values that 01:25:03
and is really appreciate your vision. We we love the vision. We think it's, I mean everybody that works here. 01:25:09
Embraces it and wants to make it happen and that's what we do on a daily basis. So we appreciate that very much. Thank you. I 01:25:16
don't think there's any need for an executive session tonight. So unless there's any other business to come before this group, we 01:25:20
will. 01:25:25
I'll entertain a motion to adjourn. I make a motion to adjourn. Is there a second? Second. All right. 01:25:30
All in favor say aye. 01:25:36
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Transcript

Event transcript
Good evening and welcome to the June Watkinsville City Council meeting. 00:00:14
We've got an exciting night ahead of us. It's been an exciting couple weeks for the city of Watkinsville. We're going to share and 00:00:20
recap some of that news in the in this meeting, so. 00:00:24
Share and make sure all the monitors are working. 00:00:30
Hopefully this is not on TV on Apologize, I thought it was on the newspaper. 00:00:33
People probably rather watch Netflix and City Council meeting right So. 00:00:38
Figure could be a reality show. 00:00:43
Sorry about that. 00:00:48
All right, OK, so we have a quorum here. It looks like we have perfect attendance. Always grateful for that. And we'll start with 00:00:50
the pledge. Let's all stand and address the flag. 00:00:54
I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands, one nation under God, 00:00:59
indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. 00:01:06
So Sharon, you might still have one monitor off over here. I don't know what's going on with it. 00:01:21
No, it just shows on screen. 00:01:26
But the other one. 00:01:28
There we go. OK. 00:01:47
So we're going to start off the meeting with a couple, couple moments recognitions that will that will that will dig into a little 00:01:49
bit. The first one of those and I'll have them come forward is the recognition of our all America city delegation. So if those who 00:01:56
are a part of that delegation could step forward. 00:02:03
Maybe gather up front and then we're going to share when you once everybody gets up here, we'll share a video and then I'll make 00:02:10
some remarks about that and take a photo. 00:02:14
And you can face either screen I guess. Face the audience. You can see it on the screen. 00:02:21
Mayor Pro Tem Tucker. 00:02:35
She got a T-shirt, she said. 00:02:39
Hey y'all about to be wheels up from Denver and excited to get out there and tell the Watkinsville story out to the world as we 00:03:13
get ready to compete for all American City Awards. I'm representing the WTK and I can't wait to see everybody in did. 00:03:19
Are you ready? Ready. You ready? We're going to see what happens here. 00:03:32
Folks getting here, getting ready and ESP folks about having a big adventure, right? Yeah, yeah. Off the red rocks. 00:03:54
Chief GAIL, pop it in. 00:04:01
If you have a story, why not tell it? 00:04:15
Hello Evans, how can we stated you are all winners, I mean get to this point. 00:04:45
This community uses public input to. 00:04:57
Community spaces. 00:05:02
This is concerning its natural surroundings and this community is training miracles possibilities the elementary city of walking. 00:05:05
So Sharon, does this work over here? 00:06:04
I will say this delegation was just a key. All of you played such an important part, our young leaders especially. 00:06:39
You know, you two young men, the way that you memorized your lines and nailed that talking about rocket field. I'll never forget 00:06:48
the crowd laughing when you talked about sliding into dog poop and getting the restrooms fixed up. Leah, you and Colin, I just 00:06:54
think you all were the heart and soul of of our group. Your smile, your hugs. I think they hugged y'all 200 people on the first 00:07:00
night when jittery Joes gave out coffee and hugs at at a big event. It was just, it was just wonderful. 00:07:07
Taxpayer dollars to do that. So tremendously excited and grateful for this team. Watkinsville is a small town that's not afraid to 00:08:07
dream big. 00:08:11
And that's what sets us apart. We're a small town that dreams big, and then we go push those dreams. And I'm grateful to each of 00:08:16
you for making time to do that and for being part of our team. So from the bottom of my heart, thank you very much. We'll be in 00:08:20
touch. I do want to have a meeting. 00:08:25
A brief meeting so we can talk about what we learned and what we might want in the future, what you guys saw that you liked about 00:08:30
it as we move ahead. But I'm extremely grateful to each of you for taking the time and the energy and time away from your families 00:08:35
and donating your talents and your treasure to Watkinsville for this trip to Denver. So this is our delegation now. Let's give 00:08:40
them a round of applause again. 00:08:45
And Sharon, I don't know that there's anything else we need to share about them. I will say, you know, we'll have, we have this 00:08:59
shield. You'll see all the city stuff pop up around the city. We're excited about the opportunities and what it's created for us 00:09:04
in the future. But we'll have a break in a few minutes. If you all want to saw it out of here, you're welcome to. You don't feel 00:09:08
like you have to stay and listen to us talk about budget and variances and all those kind of things. So. But thank you all for 00:09:13
coming tonight. So. OK, great. Yep. 00:09:18
I think while I'm up here, we'll just go ahead and move into, we'll move into our next item. Krisha, if you want to step forward, 00:09:42
am I saying that right? 00:09:46
Sorry. 00:09:51
Just step over here with me for now and then we'll give you a minute, Krisha. 00:09:53
Has done our art walk project Outback. And if you haven't been Outback, maybe those of you who are leaving, if you want to slide 00:09:58
out the back door, you can check it out, but we have a lot more people. 00:10:03
We have a lot more people now. 00:10:08
Through coming from Harris Shoals Park up to the new playground at ESP and so Christine Tucker, mayor Pro Tem, had a great idea of 00:10:11
let's use art to make that experience more compelling as you come to the new to the new play area there the playground of 00:10:16
possibilities, which is. 00:10:21
But we're thrilled, and I don't know if you want to take just a minute to say a little bit about, say a little bit about that 00:11:02
work. 00:11:05
Sure, it's been a wonderful opportunity to get to make these sculptures. I've have done a good bit of work around Athens. I'm in 00:11:08
the Athens native and I've been lucky to get to mosaic around the town of Athens, but I've never gotten to do mosaic sculptures, 00:11:13
and certainly not. 00:11:19
And so this, this opportunity gave me a chance to learn how to make these and, and support them with about 5 strong men. And, but 00:11:26
I appreciate getting to work with Christine and Sharon and then Toby and Mark were so great at getting the site all prepared. And 00:11:35
yeah, and the city of Watkinsville and OCAF also supported the project. So it's been a pleasure and it's part of my heart. They 00:11:44
actually, I have a little plaque on their, but they honor my sister Michelle, who is a veterinarian. 00:11:53
And then she loved reptiles and amphibians and had a giant Python for about 30 years that named Naomi. So I did a sculpture of 00:12:02
Naomi to learn how to do the sculptures. And that's three feet wide and that seemed pretty large, but those, you know, 6 feet, I 00:12:09
think the turtles, so. 00:12:15
You know, it's been a pleasure and, and, and there's so much fun and I hope the kids and everybody else enjoys them. Thank you, 00:12:23
Krishna. 00:12:26
Mayor, Mayor. 00:12:30
Why don't you join us? 00:13:34
You want to stand sort of in front of this so we can stand for the heartland side. 00:13:36
Hey, I'm not sure that makes on just right in the middle here now if you want to. 00:13:43
Steps. This is where. 00:13:47
All right, great. 00:13:52
All right, there you go. All right, here we go. 00:13:53
All right. 00:13:57
I. 00:14:00
OK, we'll move on into the business part of the meeting. This business, the meeting is being broadcast simultaneously online via 00:14:19
the Suite 1 Webcasting public portal. Those who can't attend the meeting are always welcome to watch at that link. It's on the 00:14:25
City Council information page on our website under the Government tab. The portal allows the public to view and listen to the 00:14:31
meeting in progress, along with the meeting materials associated with the items that Council will be discussing. 00:14:37
So with that, we'll move on to the meeting minutes. Council, you've had time to review the May 15th regular meeting minutes. Any 00:15:18
discussion? If not, I'll entertain a motion. I make a motion to approve. 00:15:24
We have a second. 00:15:31
Second, any discussion? 00:15:33
All in favor say aye aye. Motion carries unanimously. We'll move to approval of agenda. 00:15:35
One item I will need to remove off the table, our agreement with the Christian Church, which is listed under new business until 00:15:42
next month, but we are having positive conversations there regarding downtown parking. Any other amendments to the agenda? 00:15:49
OK, hearing none, I'll entertain a motion to approve the agenda with the change noted. 00:15:57
I make a motion to approve the agenda with the one change noted. Do we have a second? Second. All in favor say aye aye. 00:16:01
All right. I believe we have some new police officers here with us tonight, an attorney, right, man, You'll be handling the oath 00:16:10
of office. I'm not sure if there's any other discussion prior to that. 00:16:14
Had a chance to talk to one of them earlier. 00:16:26
Use the mic please, Joe. 00:16:31
That you are not the holder of any unaccounted for public money due this State or any political subdivision or authority thereof. 00:17:08
That you are not the holder of any office of trust under the Government of the United States, any other State or any foreign State 00:17:14
which you, by the laws of the State of Georgia, will be prohibited from holding. That you are otherwise qualified to hold set off 00:17:20
according to the Constitution and laws of Georgia, and that you will perform the duties of your office in the best city of 00:17:26
Watkinsville. 00:17:32
To the best of your ability, without fear, favor, affection, reward, or expectation thereof. If you that oath, you can say I do or 00:17:38
I do, so help me God. 00:17:43
All right. Congratulations each of you, your official now. 00:17:49
And if you could please administer the oath, I have copies right here for you to sign if you could do so at this time, please. And 00:17:53
I have blue pens for each of you to use. And if you all will do so, I would appreciate it. 00:18:00
I. 00:18:17
And gentlemen, if you'll. 00:18:29
Maybe stay where you are. I know we like to get photos with family if we can after the swearing in. And Chief, I didn't know if 00:18:31
you had anything you want to share about these gentlemen. I know you've got a report coming up as well. Is there anything? 00:18:35
Do that in the report. 00:18:41
OK, If we want to have Officer Williams, if you've got a family member here with you, why don't you step forward with the chief 00:18:44
and your family member and get a photo? 00:18:48
We need to the move to the middle. 00:18:59
All right. 00:19:07
Officer Wilburn, if you and your family want to come forward or do you want one with just your wife? Officer Williams, are you 00:19:12
good? You want me to just your wife or is it OK to have the chief and all your photos? 00:19:17
It's not going to start off on that. 00:19:22
Day. 00:19:28
Center up a little bit this way, yeah. 00:19:32
There you go, you'll take a picture before I can tell. 00:19:38
All right. 00:19:40
Got it. 00:19:43
Good officers. 00:19:47
Community policing team. 00:20:32
No pressure. Thank you, Chris. Appreciate it. 00:21:39
OK. We'll move into financial reports. Everyone should have received whoops, everybody should receive their balance sheet. We are 00:21:45
on par factory. We're exceeding our revenues by a fair amount. Some of that's due to different, different revenue sources that 00:21:51
came in, some unexpected ones, higher interest on some of our accounts than we expected to get. So that's good news. The expenses 00:21:57
are running lower, that's also good news. So of course, everything's not finalized till the audit is done. The auditors are coming 00:22:02
in. 00:22:08
July 11th I think and then back again in October. So process begins again. So any questions on the balance sheet or anything on 00:22:14
that general fund? 00:22:19
So Splash 3 reports a couple things to note on this. So the. 00:22:25
And then Thomas Farm, we've got phase one. We'll share some pictures of that fencing the bathroom renter, which is on the consent 00:23:07
agenda tonight, and some trail work, which is also one of the items on the agenda tonight. And then all the resurfacing projects 00:23:14
that we just recently had, again, they'll be pictures under the mayor's report. So that comes out of this bucket of money. 00:23:20
And then just a reminder, splash three started in October 21 at sunsets in September of 27. We're showing about a 5% increase over 00:23:28
the last fiscal year. So that's always good. And our bank balance is a little bit more than $1,000,000. 00:23:36
On T plus, that's our transportation special local option sales tax. Those funds right now have been encumbered for sidewalk 00:23:45
segments. There's a couple that we're still waiting on along Main Street. And then also something that will be that's on the 00:23:52
that's going to be discussed tonight is the a loan and a grant from the State Road Tollway Authority and from Georgia Transport 00:23:59
transportation infrastructure Bank. And so those we had we do have money that will be. 00:24:07
Expended in this account to pay back a loan, A10 year loan at 1.59%. So we're waiting on all that paperwork and hopefully tonight 00:24:14
you guys will move that, advance that forward. 00:24:20
So that is our tea SPLOST and then just a little info on that. So we are seeing over last year a 6% increase. Again, that's always 00:24:27
good and our bank balance is a little more than $720,000. 00:24:32
American Rescue Plan reports these are the funds that were given to communities in 2021 to try to help communities deal with a 00:24:39
multitude of issues that the COVID situation caused. The only. So right now we have encumbered funds for our police officer 00:24:47
retention initiative. We have a couple that are finishing up their payments. We have one outstanding opportunity for an officer to 00:24:54
obtain that. It's a $10,000 initiative or retention. 00:25:01
Bonus over a three-year period and then tonight and so the balance is around $96,000. So tonight on the consent agenda, which 00:25:09
apparently nobody's pulled anything off. So you guys will be voting on making that money available for the Thomas Farm Preserve 00:25:15
project. 00:25:21
Any questions on any of those? 00:25:27
OK, I'll move to economic development. 00:25:30
So we are Julia. How far are we 97%? 00:25:34
Getting all our business licenses, we got a few stragglers and some things we're trying to verify. Some of these businesses may 00:25:38
not still be around, but we we have you know, we're at the end, we start the cycle again in September, October. And just as we're 00:25:45
getting everybody cleaned up from the last year, we started New Year. So but everything seems to be moving ahead with that. And 00:25:51
then on our excise taxes, both alcohol and hotel, motel, we are on target. 00:25:57
A little bit low on hotel, then we budgeted a little bit more on alcohol than we budget. So, but it works out to the amount of 00:26:04
money that we anticipated. So there you go. 00:26:08
And then on our building permits, we've got 11 permits for six projects, several that are over at the Trove residential 00:26:13
neighborhood and then some other just, you know, HVAC, plumbing kind of renovations, things like that. Any questions? 00:26:20
Good day. 00:26:29
All right, so a few updates for the from the Downtown Development Authority. If you have not already marked your calendar for 00:26:33
August 3rd, please do. 00:26:39
Hopefully everyone will be back in town getting geared up for school and we are having a wonderful BBQ competition and Bake Off 00:26:47
tailgate party. Yeah, I see someone may be putting in their calendar right now. Way to go so. 00:26:54
It is also going to benefit Bethel Haven, which is a local nonprofit that helps with mental health issues and will just be a lot 00:27:02
of fun. That'll be a rocket field. More information will continue to come. We do have a few more entries for actually being part 00:27:11
of the competition for either BBQ or the Bake Off. And this is not for professionals, this is for amateurs. 00:27:19
Also a few months ago we talked about the poetry contest that we did in partnership with the library and the templates have been 00:27:29
successfully made on the 3D printer that the library has. If you have not yet checked out the library Little Plug, it is amazing. 00:27:37
Go to wire park, check out the library and so be looking for. I think Friday is when the stenciling are going to be done. It's 00:27:45
with chalk, so eventually it'll go away. However, with our no rain in the forecast forever, it might be there for a long time. 00:27:53
So it's going to be in downtown, one is going to be kind of in front of Blind Pig area and then ones on the opposite side of the 00:28:02
street kind of near Oconee Outpost. So it's a great excuse too if you have not been downtown recently to come check out the poetry 00:28:09
and check out some of our businesses and restaurants. And then lastly. 00:28:16
I have to share the sad news that our DDA director Kate Patterson has decided to step down from the position. 00:28:25
She needed to just have more time with her family and so she has done a tremendous job of really setting the foundation for our 00:28:32
DDA. She took our little fledgling group and for Ddas, Downtown Development Authority. I guess it does say that up there. 00:28:44
And really? 00:28:55
She's incredibly organized. 00:28:58
She has helped create a tremendous website. 00:29:00
Created events for our community that has helped our restaurants and our local retailers really thrive. 00:29:04
Help put on art events has done a tremendous amount and is actually going to even even though today was technically her last day, 00:29:11
is going to continue to help with the the tailgate party as well because she's just that kind of person that is going to start 00:29:17
what she finishes. So we are going to miss her. She has been a great asset to our city, but this does mean that there is a new 00:29:23
opportunity available. 00:29:29
For someone to come and take this role and the the job description is on our website and we are really looking for somebody that. 00:29:36
Is excited about our community, about our downtown, and really wants to help continue to see Watkinsville thrive. So if you know 00:29:49
of somebody that you think might be a good fit for this, please encourage them to take a look and to apply. 00:29:57
Thank you, Christine. We will move on to the Police Department, report Chief Gale. 00:30:07
Good evening again. I just, you know, I want to again introduce our two new part-time officers because they bring such a wealth of 00:30:16
experience. Joe Williams, he had many years on a DUI task force where he led many investigations. So we, we are building on our 00:30:26
professionalism and one it will increase our enforcement actions out there, but it will also impart. 00:30:35
The training and education for our younger officers. So I'm very excited. And Officer Wilburn, I worked with him at the 00:30:44
university, so he's got a wealth of experience in the military. So we draw on all experiences and I'm just thrilled about having 00:30:51
these gentlemen on our team and they will help on particular events. They're not going to be full time. 00:30:58
This Friday, hopefully they will help us. We are going to be hosting. 00:31:06
Governor's off honors or governor's office highway safety, traffic enforcement and education event. So here in the city. So drive 00:31:11
safely, follow the rules as you should always. But we are going to be hosting a training event and then we'll be going out and 00:31:18
doing some enforcement activities and our you know, as I noted in in the report, our officers are continuing with the training and 00:31:26
that it I, I rely heavily on that because it is building our. 00:31:34
Our credibility and our professionalism with the depth of training and now the experience that's going to be out there. We're just 00:31:42
building, building us stronger and we're going to be lean as always. But it, it just makes me very confident on our abilities and 00:31:49
keeping this community safe and moving down. You can see where officers have been very active with enforcement activities, writing 00:31:56
reports, citizen contacts, the security checks, you know, that's a large number. 00:32:04
And, you know, officers get out of the cars, not always, but many times they do. And they'll encounter citizens, they'll talk to 00:32:12
them, they provide assistance all the time. It really is something to be proud about. And, and I get up here every month and I say 00:32:17
it, but I mean it. 00:32:22
And so this week we, we hosted a meeting with the chiefs of our district. So from Gwinnett, there's some departments in Gwinnett, 00:32:29
smaller departments that are still in the kind of cuts off, but they're in our district. So we hosted a training event where we 00:32:36
brought in a resource here that they at the the same resource. I don't know if you all are familiar, but a wonderful, wonderful 00:32:43
resource for law enforcement in our area and for. 00:32:51
The victims of sexual assaults. And so it was wonderful to have that experience, incredible training. A lot of the chiefs didn't 00:32:58
know that all the services were available and now they are. So it served its purpose. And I'm proud that yes, we're small, but we 00:33:05
are bringing out the best of our community and and really bringing people to our community see what we have. So I hope you share 00:33:12
the pride, I know you do with me. So are there any questions? 00:33:18
So it doesn't back up down on experiment station. And so you, you keep your traffic focused in One Direction and keep it off of a 00:33:57
different way where if, if a car decides to turn left at rush hour in the morning, everybody's going to get backed up and it locks 00:34:05
everything down. And it has worked out quite well. So it seems to be working out great. Thank you for that. 00:34:13
All right. Thank you. 00:34:22
All right, we'll now move into a public hearing. Thank you all for coming. Safe travels home. Yep. 00:34:29
2024 property tax mileage rate, is that what right, Manager Dickerson. OK. 00:35:05
Get this movement for here. 00:35:12
Then we also had a another work session, but we cancelled that because we're rolling back the mood, right, and didn't anticipate 00:35:45
any public feedback. So tonight will be our third public hearing on the budget and that's where we are. So manager. 00:35:53
Fill in whatever I missed, otherwise I'll let you take it. Right. So the first hearing is on the proposed property tax mileage 00:36:02
rate. As the mayor said, this is the announcement that was in the paper and basically the city's property. Next, sorry, the city's 00:36:09
property net tax digest for 2024 has been estimated a little bit more than $243 million. That's an increase of 6% or 13.8 million 00:36:17
/ 2023 property values and it pretty much reflects new development and or improvements to existing properties. 00:36:25
At the city's current mileage rate, which is 2.921, this would have resulted in an increase of .165 mills over the rollback rate 00:36:33
of 2.756 and would have generated roughly around $40,000. The mayor challenged me and my staff to not take that mileage increase. 00:36:40
And so we are keeping the the revenue, The proceeds from the property tax will remain the same as last year. So we've rolled back 00:36:48
the military we're recommending to rollback of 2.756. 00:36:56
And we'll talk. Just show you real quickly another little screen here, maybe hard for some people that are in the audience to see. 00:37:04
But basically what that means is for someone that is in a $300,000 home and has Homestead, they'll see about a $19.52 difference. 00:37:12
So it's a reduction. And if you're in a 500,000, you'll see about a $32.75 reduction on the commercial end because you don't have 00:37:19
Homestead. Those reductions are a little bit different. I think we've got 3333 O 8 for a $500,000. 00:37:27
Property. 00:37:35
40, I can't read it, 48 or 4962 for $750,000 property. And I'll point out that not only is the city rolling back their mileage 00:37:36
rate, but the county is too. I believe the Board of Education may be staying the same, but we'll talk a little bit in the budget 00:37:44
process. When we start talking about the budget in a minute, I'll share a little bit about how we compare to other communities in 00:37:51
the area. We've had a lot of citizen feedback about property taxes and we've kept them low historically last year. 00:37:59
We did, we were very open about that. We did bump them up a little bit to help pay for the Thomas Farm Preserve property very 00:38:07
specifically, but we're really pleased to be able to roll it back this year. And, and historically in Watkinsville, we've prided 00:38:11
ourselves on having low property taxes. 00:38:16
OK, so at this point, we'll open up a public hearing. 00:38:25
Anybody wants to step forward and address the property tax mileage rate, feel free. 00:38:29
Not seeing a bunch of people jump up, so I will close the public hearing on that. We'll move now to the public hearing regarding 00:38:34
the recommended fiscal year general fund capital and operating budget. 00:38:39
And now we'll get to talk a little bit about that. So the sorry so and then again maybe kind of difficult to see on that, but 00:38:45
we're we're recommending that 3.2 and some change $3.2 million. 00:38:51
Budget. 00:38:59
I think I've got that right and I'm the projected surplus at the bottom. Unfortunately, I was trying to a correction to this 00:39:01
spreadsheet for capital and it shows that we were projecting a deficit that is actually incorrect and that's because of a very 00:39:08
last minute change. But the capital request this year is for 119,000. That's what's showing up in that little spot. So we'll make 00:39:14
sure that's corrected. Julie may want to check Exhibit A. We may need to make it make sure it's clear how that was calculated. 00:39:20
So we'll talk a little bit about revenues. So general fund revenues we're projecting again 3.246 that's an increase of about 11%. 00:39:28
Our neighbors, I don't, I didn't check with the county, but I know Clark County is also seeing about 11% increase in their overall 00:39:32
budget. 00:39:37
Basically we're talking our three biggest revenue streams, our local options, sales tax, which is about 30%, property tax which is 00:39:43
21 and insurance premium tax which is 8%. That's a tax that each one of us pay. When you take out insurance just like your 00:39:49
franchise fees, those are charged to you and then pass through the through the utility to the city. I will point out again just 00:39:55
and I know it's always easy to compare with Clark County, but I know Clark County's property taxes as a percentage of their 00:40:01
general fund. 00:40:07
Is 51%. 00:40:14
So sort of point that out, we are doing a lot with very little. 00:40:15
Again, local option sales tax, that's 7.77% based on an agreement with the county. That is what it was agreed to. I think it was 00:40:20
last year, maybe the year before now I can't remember. It's 10 years and we are estimating that it will go up a little bit, not 00:40:28
much being very fairly conservative about what that will be over the next fiscal year. Again, property tax, we just talked about 00:40:35
that rolling it back. So we we decreased the revenues that were projected to so we would not have to take that $40,000 increase. 00:40:43
Again, it's important to understand property taxes are based on the value of that property come January 1. So anything that 00:40:51
happens we now January 1 and the end of the year doesn't get picked up for the for the tax bill that gets picked up next year when 00:40:55
they relook at your property in January. 00:41:00
And then just because I think it's always good for people to understand sort of what the value is. So again, property taxes are 00:41:06
fairly low consider, I mean, obviously citizens participate in the sales tax and they participate in in the insurance premium tax 00:41:12
and some of the other franchise fees and things like that. But but for the most part. 00:41:17
The city's revenues are coming from external sources, not from the citizens who live here. So, but it's important to see that. So 00:41:23
for instance, the fiscal year 25 cost for garbage is $23 a month per household or $276 a year. I know that it would be more like 00:41:30
$29.00 a month if you had to use a private hauler and and you were outside the city limits, probably not for and it would not 00:41:36
include leaf and limb service. So I think it's a great value that we're getting in addition public safety, which is a big part of 00:41:43
our budget. 00:41:49
That costs roughly each household cost us about $648 per household every year for this next fiscal year. So I think that's 00:41:56
important to to look at that. 00:42:01
As well, I already shared this, so I don't know that I need to go back through that, but that's that's our property tax. 00:42:07
Monies and then. This is a comparison I referred to earlier. 00:42:14
This is from 20/22. I couldn't find a 2023. They'll probably put it in their budget this year. I did go along to see if Clark 00:42:18
County had done this because this was something they generated, but I do think it's important to note the lowest mileage rate in 00:42:24
this general area is is Watkinsville and Oak County County. 00:42:29
And then if you look at. 00:42:36
Total taxes by market value. The stars are Watkinsville. 00:42:38
So higher property, lower taxes, higher property value. 00:42:42
And then on the expense side, it's always important to understand we do a lot, very little. I am so pleased and appreciative of my 00:42:49
staff who many of us were several different hats because that's what you do when you're a flat organization. You don't have a lot 00:42:55
of opportunity to to add people. So we have 21 full time employees, one part time employee now. 00:43:01
Engineering, attorneys fees, the things we have to do just to keep everything. 00:43:42
Working. 00:43:47
Point out the two largest expenditures, not looking at departments, but expenditures or police services and garbage and leaf and 00:43:51
limb. So again, these are right across the board. Every community. When you hear about communities that want to start, you know, 00:43:56
breakaway and become a city, the first thing they talk about is police and then the next thing to talk about is garbage. So not 00:44:01
unusual. These are very common in a lot of communities. 00:44:06
And then again, as I pointed out, a lot of what we do is people, we do use a lot of tools. We have a lot of resources, but our 00:44:13
biggest resource, most important resource or personnel. So 50% of our personnel are employed are direct employees of the city and 00:44:20
then another 20%, so 70% to another 20% of our contract labor. 00:44:26
And then on the capital side, so to understand pretty much anything valued at $5000 or more that will last, you know, five to 00:44:36
seven years is on our capital budget and we have an improvement plan that goes out roughly 20 years. We look at it every year. We 00:44:41
decide if we can move things forward or backward, if we need to move backwards. And typically we budget a depreciation expense in 00:44:47
the operating budget. We did not do that this year. We felt like what was on the table was not, it wasn't necessary to add 00:44:53
additional money. 00:44:59
To that fund, I think roughly we have around $300,000 in that account. We're fortunate to be able to use some of our splice money 00:45:04
or our special purpose local option sales tax money to supplement some of our capital purchases. And so that's why we did not do 00:45:09
it this year I. 00:45:14
And not by the capital fund that we have. 00:46:52
And then again, there is the worksheet and we will need to just make sure everybody understands there's not a deficit that is just 00:46:56
a calculation error because I was trying to correct something earlier tonight that it is a balanced budget with no, no fund 00:47:02
balance contribution or increase in property taxes. 00:47:09
Thank you, Manager Dickerson, very comprehensive report. At this point, we'll have a open it up for a public hearing. All the 00:47:17
people who want to step forward and address the budget, please do so. 00:47:22
Not everybody at once. 00:47:28
All right, we will close the public hearing. 00:47:30
On the budget, we vote on that later, correct? OK. 00:47:34
We'll now have a public hearing on the variance for 56 Dooley St. I see the Shays here and I think we'll probably hear from our 00:47:39
engineer 1st and then the applicant will come forward. Is that correct, Mr. Campbell? Yes, Sir, Thank you. Mr. Wright. OK, so 56 00:47:44
Dooley Street is at the corner of Dooley St. and Jackson St. 00:47:50
The parcel is approximately 6/10 of an acre and it is owned detached residential. The request for this variance is to reduce the 00:47:57
side set back as dictated by the zoning code from 10 feet down to five feet. So if you go to the next slide that gives you an idea 00:48:04
from an aerial standpoint of of where the where the lot is located there at Dooley and Jackson St. the house actually faces again 00:48:11
Dooley St. has a Dooley St. access this particular. 00:48:19
Request, if you will, is actually for something that's accessed off of Jackson there on that that corner lot. So, so here's the 00:48:27
plat from 1995, I believe it is from Mr. Ray Woods that shows that location. This one's inverted from the aerial images that you 00:48:34
just saw, but it's where the the house has been obviously for for some time that is showing the platform 95 and where that you can 00:48:41
see that kind of horseshoe access from from either roadway there based on that recorded plat. 00:48:48
So there's the structure. 00:48:57
That is being requested, that is currently built, that is access from Jackson Street, that is within. 00:49:00
Five feet or less than 10 feet I should say, from that side property line so we can go to the next. 00:49:07
Again, there's a picture of the house from the corner. You can see that a front porch with the American flag that's facing Dooley 00:49:15
St. This picture was taken before Jackson St. was was repaved. So if you have a chance to go back out there that it doesn't look 00:49:20
the same as as when this picture was taken, but just gives you a little bit of a context there. So the applicant is requesting a 00:49:26
variance associated with the construction of that covered parking area there that is next to the adjacent property that is a long 00:49:32
Jackson Street and, and. 00:49:38
Be happy to answer any other questions. I do want to point out as as a city attorney usually points to, there is criteria 00:50:16
associated with a variance request. This is specifically listed within the code. You can see there that it is up to mayor and 00:50:22
council to review these readings requests, but you're supposed to review them based on those specific criteria. That is an A 00:50:27
through F criteria that is listed there. Just as a reminder, that's also in your council packet. But again, be be happy to answer 00:50:33
any questions you might have. 00:50:39
All right. Thank you. Mr. Campbell. If the applicants want to step forward and add anything, that's great. And then I'll open the 00:50:47
public hearing. 00:50:50
Yeah, I'm Josh Shea, and this is my wife, Jennifer, 56 Dooley St. About three years ago, We I. 00:50:57
Put a concrete parking pad at the end of our existing driveway, which we've been using for 10 years and leave next door and 00:51:04
everything so. 00:51:08
Back in March, I said, let's go ahead and put a carport on because we nothing to shelter our cars and she bought a new car. So so 00:51:13
we built both it and my bad small town, I did not get a building permit. So this is how this all came about. So I that that's to 00:51:21
be determined if this goes forward or not. But we built it when it was that Toby called us to say, hey, you need a building 00:51:28
permit. When that came about, we did all the things and we were. 00:51:36
Over the set back liner or building line if you would. So go with Lee and Melanie next door and they said they were OK with it. 00:51:44
Basically put the carport at the end of the existing driveway which we've been using for 10 years, which has been there probably 00:51:50
for the House of 1942. So I don't know how long has it been there. So we just use the existing driveway. We didn't alter anything 00:51:56
and it turns out. 00:52:02
Long story short, leave the fence line, which I assume is our property line is not our property line leaves to own both 00:52:09
properties. He just put the fence where it was convenient for him. So, so it looks, it looks like we got a lot more room than we 00:52:15
do. We actually have much less than we thought we had. So it's our mistake, our error. We just ask that and we're going to make it 00:52:21
and we'd like if we move forward, put a metal roof on so it ties in with the rest of the neighborhood. We shouldn't be the rest of 00:52:27
our house. We've built it to kind of. 00:52:33
Mirror what we've What is existing structure now? 00:52:39
I. 00:52:45
Existing one you see there off of Jackson at one point they did yes well and and. 00:53:24
Where this one is particularly tricky is because your your address is duly right and your front porch is duly. And so it could be 00:53:31
argued that this is not so is the variance just for the set back OK, because that also was a little unclear in the application. So 00:53:38
it's not front facing, it's only the then they have double jeopardy. Yeah. 00:53:46
Thank you. 00:53:54
Other questions from Council. 00:53:57
I don't want to stay there for a second. I think that's fine. At this point, we'll call the public hearings. Anybody want to come 00:54:00
forward and speak to this? 00:54:04
We received any comments from the public. 00:54:09
Other than the Morgans, OK. And that was in your packet. All right, hearing none, I'm going to close the public hearing at this 00:54:11
point. Council. Any other questions for the applicants? 00:54:15
OK y'all can take your seat. 00:54:21
A comments or I'll entertain a motion. 00:54:25
Or do we do a motion? OK, yeah, it's closed. Yeah, we're voting on the variance, so. 00:54:33
Yes, I'm just going to point out that if you do approve the variance, then they will be subject to a double building permit fee 00:54:40
because they did not receive a building permit that probably will only be like a total of $200.00. It's not a very expensive thing 00:54:46
and I think they're aware of that, so. 00:54:51
Point so we do want everybody to be treated fairly you know so if you. 00:54:58
Don't get that building permit done in time, then. Then there is a you know, don't get it in time, you know, you get the fine. So 00:55:03
I have a. 00:55:07
This is really maybe a question for our engineer and it seems to know our code very well. What is the the the code for? Like just 00:55:12
like a pavilion or a? 00:55:20
It's not well defined, so it, it kind of falls under the general accessory structure because it can be used for other things. But 00:55:28
in general terms, you know, the maybe the most dangerous word in all of Watkinsville code is the word garage. But that's probably 00:55:36
a good thing if, if there's nothing that's more contentious than that, this is this is not a garage, but it is an area that is 00:55:43
used for covered parking. But again, it's an accessory structure. 00:55:51
For the purpose of the code for the purpose of the variance tonight, any of those such structures are still subject to that. 00:55:58
Again, it's a 5 foot side set back that they're requesting code requires the side set back as it would be determined by this lot 00:56:06
as it was determined and the the code from or the platform 1995, it's 10 foot and so it's it's not a rear, it's not a front, it is 00:56:13
a side, but it would be subject to whatever we would choose to call the structure would fall under the the same terminology there. 00:56:20
So I think what I am before we make a motion that I'm just kind of. 00:56:28
Struggling with is this isn't really a garage and so. 00:56:33
I I feel weird voting on a variance about a garage when it's not a garage. Is that am I being should I not worry about that? I 00:56:40
mean This is why I'm asking the the powers that be here if that really matters just as far as like I have. 00:56:47
So let me ask you this way, if we approve this, does that then give them permission to close it in and create it an actual garage? 00:56:57
Or is it just, well, maybe an attorney could advise us? Yeah, there's a good point. You know, we make an accessory, make an 00:57:03
exception for, you know, the variance would be for an accessory structure rather than a garage. If, you know, if that's if that's 00:57:08
our preference. Raj says it has to be enclosed. 00:57:14
Right, this is not going to be enclosed. 00:57:21
Then they're asking for a variance to not enclose it set back in front facing, not front facing. 00:57:24
But it really is. But yeah, it is. But it doesn't matter. I don't believe on on the various requests at all. I ever wrote the word 00:57:32
garage. I don't believe that was any any of my verbiage at all. I don't know where that's what I see. I see what you're looking at 00:57:38
there. That did not come from from us. We don't we don't want a garage, OK. 00:57:45
Yeah, yeah. 00:57:52
All right. So does everybody come, are you comfortable that's using the structure around a detached, the variance would be for a 00:57:56
detached or an accessory structure. Excuse me, is that we're calling it Mark Joe? 00:58:02
I'm fine with that. And if you look at the photograph clearly, it looks much more like a picnic shelter, a pavilion or a gazebo. 00:58:09
It does not look like. 00:58:13
Right. Dangerous word in the Watkinsville code. So we don't want that word. We know it's a hot button. 00:58:48
A lot of folks, all right. 00:58:56
So if we're comfortable with that, that's a great call out, Christine emotion around. 00:58:59
Variance for the accessory structure at 56 Dooley St. 00:59:04
I make a motion to approve the variance for the accessory structure. 00:59:10
Well, my love to make a caveat with it. Go for it. Yeah. It it it's just that I I get it when you think your property line is 00:59:17
something in your neighbor who created that property line is fine with it. I mean, I I get it. It was it probably looked like it 00:59:23
was well over 10 feet. So and you're willing to. 00:59:30
I have to know that he's gone for 10 years. 00:59:37
All right, so the motion without all the extra stuff is for the variance variance to approve the variance for the accessory 00:59:41
structure that is not a garage with the with the side set back of five feet, right, with the side set back of less than 10 feet. 00:59:49
OK, that's your motion. Do we have a second? We have a second. Any discussion hearing none all in favor say aye, any opposed? 00:59:58
All right, motion carries 5. 01:00:07
Thank you both for coming under appearances we have known under. 01:00:11
Old business, we have none. Under new business we have some budget related items that will move quickly through. So we've as you 01:00:16
all know we have to do a public hearings and adopt A budget separately. So I'll entertain a resolution to adopt the 2024 property 01:00:22
tax mileage rate at this point unless there's any discussion. 01:00:29
To make a motion to accept the 2024 mileage rate. 01:00:37
We have a 2nd, 2nd. 01:00:42
All right, any discussion hearing none, all in favor say aye, aye. Any opposed? 01:00:45
All right, Item 13, this will be the adoption resolution for an adoption of the 2025 budget, noting that on Exhibit A and that I'm 01:00:50
sorry, mayor, this one didn't get switched again. This is last minute my fault to try to catch it. But the the one that the only 01:00:56
difference in this one and the other one is it should say 119,000 and some change for capital. So we'll we'll make sure it's 01:01:01
correct. 01:01:07
Copy of Exhibit A, which will reflect no deficit at the bottom, as this one does, but also an item in capital for $119,851. 01:01:15
Council, any discussion regarding the budget? 01:01:23
Hearing none, I'll entertain a motion. 01:01:27
I'll make a motion that we. 01:01:31
Approve the budget. I have a motion amended. 01:01:33
Exhibit A. 01:01:37
Correct. Do we have a second? 01:01:38
2nd. 01:01:41
All right. We have a motion. We have a second. Any further discussion? 01:01:43
All in favor say aye aye. Any opposed? 01:01:46
Motion carries 5O. 01:01:49
All right. Yep. Next up, we have 1090 Business Blvd. I think Mr. Bell is here with us. If you want to step forward. We have a 01:01:53
wastewater capacity application request. Manager Dickerson will give a report and then we'll let the applicant offer his name and 01:01:58
address and he can share anything he wants to. Yeah. So very briefly, Mr. Bell needs sewer connection for commercial space. There 01:02:04
are. 01:02:09
1090 business Blvd. to service 2 bathrooms and two employee cat for two employment. I'm sorry A2 employee cabinet shop. 01:02:15
Oconee County Water Resources always has to review these, even though the council has the right to. 01:02:24
Approve the water, wastewater capacity. They do have to review the request. They have agreed that 260 gallons a day is what is 01:02:31
needed. And so that is what you see on your chart. We do have a balance available now that is either not been encumbered or that 01:02:37
has not been encumbered or not already approved and being used of a little bit more than 3600 gallons a day left until we get the 01:02:43
hopefully the next allotment at the end of the year. 01:02:50
And so that's what the county says. They're going to use two people. 01:02:57
A day, Yes. OK. 01:03:01
No. So the the question was where does that number come from? So the county isn't owns and operates the wastewater and water 01:03:06
system and they have policies and procedures and that's how they calculate. And we don't really don't have a lot to say about 01:03:12
that. It's a utility just like your power and your gas. So those questions probably be best directed to them. 01:03:19
But Mr. Bell, you're not doing, not installing anything that uses water. This is just for a bathroom. Is that correct? Correct. 01:03:25
OK. I mean, I'm going to note for the record that I'm going to note for the record, for the record, that's absolutely ridiculous. 01:03:32
260 gallons per day for a bathroom for two people. 01:03:38
But there's nothing we can do about at this point. But yes, it is ridiculous. All right, Mr. Bell, why don't you? If there's 01:03:46
anything else you want to share about your application, feel free. Otherwise, we'll move to a vote. Yeah, that should be. That 01:03:50
should be. 01:03:54
I have a new tenant that we are we had to use it as storage before. So a new tenant needed to access the bathroom. So there's not 01:03:58
there's not septic on that building. I'm familiar with the building in the no no septic. It's too small of a lot for. 01:04:06
Yep, unfortunate. Well, I make a motion to approve. I think these employees should get to use the bathroom a lot, apparently. 01:04:16
All right, we have a motion. Do we have a second? 01:04:26
Second, all right, we have a motion, we have a second. We assume that these numbers, the water will be running all day long there 01:04:29
and. 01:04:33
But all in favor say aye aye. And is there a any opposed hearing? None. Motion carries 5 O Thank you, Mr. Bell for coming in. 01:04:37
All right. Next up, we have approving an award for in contract for the aggregate trails at Thomas Farm Preserve. For those of you 01:04:48
have been following this project, this is these would be the portion of the trails that are not paved primarily towards the back 01:04:53
of the project. 01:04:59
Project and so Manager Dickerson, if you want to offer a report on that, that would be great. Well, thank you, Mayor. 01:05:04
So we're going to ask tonight that you award Mark Thomas Enterprises the contract for the construction installation of these 01:05:12
aggregate trails for amount not to exceed $90,000. That money will come right now as being earmarked out of the special purpose 01:05:19
local option sales tax three under roads, bridges and streets. Also ask that you agree that you approve the contract, which has 01:05:26
already been reviewed by the contractor as well and allow the mayor and city clerk to sign all those relevant documents. 01:05:34
Little history. In February of this year, the council approved reprogramming some funds so that we could do some improvements to 01:05:41
Thomas Farm Preserve, which was acquired in September of last year. Those improvements include adding restroom facilities, 01:05:47
fencing, lighting, signage and construction administration. 01:05:54
On April 18th we released an RFP for 3.46 miles of pedestrian trails, which would be aggregate trails. 01:06:00
And then on May 6th we received, we had the opening of those price proposals and the we received only one proposal that was from 01:06:08
Mark Thomas Enterprises for 117,000. 01:06:12
In addition to our posting on the website, which Council Councilman Garrett recommended last year, we've started doing fairly 01:06:19
regularly. It was also advertising the economy enterprise and provided directly to Todd Smith Grading and Mark Thomas Enterprises 01:06:25
as they had reached out to us hearing that when the park became available, you know when the park became active, they both those 01:06:32
entities said, hey, let us know you know when this opportunity arises. So we notified them directly. 01:06:38
In February of 24, we've got several, we had some volunteers that are helping with a Backcountry trial. Sorry, Backcountry trail 01:06:46
that is not part of this RRFP. The mayor and I met before this meeting. There's a little bit of confused, there was a little 01:06:53
confusion on what I put down. But as far as budget wise, everything I think works out fine and we won't have any issues. But the 01:07:01
30 inch back back trail is being done by volunteers and that's on the on the outskirts goes through the through the woods. 01:07:09
On February 15th, again Council approved a budget for these Thomas Farm improvements. 01:07:17
And. 01:07:23
These are the, these are the three, the six, six foot aggregate trail which is a little bit more than a mile, an 8 foot aggregate 01:07:26
trail which is a little more than 1/3 of mile and then 30 inch back back country trail which is not part of this. Now we did 01:07:33
receive a pricing for that from Mr. Thomas, but we back that out and that's how we come up with the not to exceed $90,000. 01:07:40
Happy to answer any questions. 01:07:48
Go back to that last trip so. 01:07:51
That we're doing the the 1st and the 2nd, correct? Yeah. And, and again, there's there's so there's a whole bunch of. 01:07:53
Request. 01:08:34
And then what about it? I know that Mister Thomas as part of his contract with us separately was doing some other work as as the 01:08:36
parking lot work and some of the grading around the circle, that kind of circle area by the house included in that other work that 01:08:42
he's doing. Yes, yeah. So, so I think that's, I mean, obviously he knows the property and he does this work for a living. He came 01:08:48
in. I mean, obviously I don't have a whole bunch to compare it with, but I did share it with one of the other contractors who's 01:08:54
interested in the other bid. 01:09:00
OK. Any other anything else to report? 01:09:36
OK, OK. 01:09:39
Council questions for the manager. 01:09:41
Alright, um. 01:09:46
In that case, I'll entertain a motion. 01:09:48
I make a motion to approve. 01:09:52
We have motion to approve. Do we have a second? 01:09:54
We have a motion, We have a second. All in favor say aye aye. We have an abstention. We have one recusal. 01:09:57
Council, I think it should be noted Councilman Thomas is recused throughout on financial matters related to the Thomas farm matter 01:10:06
given his. 01:10:11
Although he's not a direct family member, he is a descendant of the Thomas family, so. 01:10:16
All right, our next item and I think we'll talk a little bit more about this in the Mayor's report, but so I won't belabor it now, 01:10:22
but Chair, and if you just want to do the administrative part of the G Tib grant, Jennifer, I know you're a big Walker, you'll 01:10:27
appreciate this news. So Sharon, why don't you? 01:10:32
Let's see what we need to do here real quick. And you may you may want to do a little bit more here because I don't think we 01:10:38
planned in the banner support, but you can do. That's right. OK Comes up here. Yeah. So, So Councilman Thomas and I, a week ago, 01:10:44
two weeks ago Thursday. It was a week ago, Tom Flash, right. Two weeks ago. Yeah. It's been fast. We were. We got to go to 01:10:50
Atlanta. We got some great news from the governor's office that we had applied for a Georgia Transportation Infrastructure Bank 01:10:56
award. 01:11:02
To help us accelerate sidewalks along Simonton Bridge Rd. That's been a big requested item for our citizens for a long time. 01:11:08
But the cost to do that is tremendous given some of the right away challenges and wetlands and other things. So we learned that 01:11:16
we're getting a loan, a low interest loan of $2.2 million and a grant of $1.53 million to help us kick start that project. Based 01:11:22
on our numbers, we think that's going to enable us to build a sidewalk and pathway that will connect Rocket Field all the way to 01:11:29
Thomas Farm Preserve and on to Simonton Place subdivision, which is the most challenging part of of the Simonton Bridge quarter. 01:11:35
None of it's really easy but but. 01:11:42
Yeah, just that a whole lot of people applied and we were one of five. 01:12:51
That got it. So again, you know, great things are happening here in Watkinsville. So super glad that we were able to secure this, 01:12:56
this money to to build this project. 01:13:02
You do have exhibit A&B in the packet. That is something that we did have to complete this past week so that they could go ahead 01:14:16
and get the documents pulled together. We're going to nail down a date sometime probably after July 10th to close on the loan and 01:14:22
and handle the grant stuff and get all our paperwork started so we can get this project underway. And again, I think the date on 01:14:29
the contract is going to be we're shooting for January of 2026 to have this completed. So we'll see how that works. 01:14:35
So not allowed, you know, if you happen to run into any members of our local delegation, Representative Weed, our Senator Kouser, 01:14:42
Representative Houston Gaines or the governor, please thank them for their support for this. They were huge supporters of this 01:14:48
project and they understand what, what something like this means for Watkinsville. And, and we spent a fair time, amount of time 01:14:53
explaining to them the importance of this project. So please be, please express your gratitude when you run into them because this 01:14:59
is a game changer for us. 01:15:05
So OK. 01:15:11
All right, so I would ask for a motion to approve the G tab loan and grant awards and the amounts listed on the screen, and I'll 01:15:13
entertain a motion to that effect. I make that motion. We have a motion for mayor Pro Tem. Do we have a second? Second. We have a 01:15:19
second from Councilman Campbell. All in favor say aye. Any opposed motion carries 5O. 01:15:25
All right, Item 17 was tabled. 01:15:34
Consent agenda I will notice Note for the public, the consent agenda is in a different spot. 01:15:36
This time that it usually is, and that's because several of the items on there were impacted by the budget. So we couldn't approve 01:15:42
the consent agenda till the budget was approved. So that's why it's at the back end of the meeting. But seeing as council didn't 01:15:46
pull anything off, I'll entertain a motion to approve the consent agenda. 01:15:51
I'll make a motion to approve the consent agenda. All right. Second. 01:15:57
2nd 2nd from Councilman Campbell. Any discussion? 01:16:02
Hearing none all in favor say aye. 01:16:05
Right, motion passes. We'll move on to public comments. 01:16:08
We've got a few guests here, if anybody wants to step forward, you're welcome to. 01:16:13
All right. 01:16:21
Do not have any. We'll move on to the mayor's report. 01:16:22
We were fortunate. We talked a month or two here, we approved significant funds for repaving and those projects are done and I 01:16:29
think they look great. Niagara Drive, Jackson Street and Simonton Way were all completed along with School St. one side of School 01:16:35
St. 01:16:41
I will note Jackson St. in particular had had some real challenges. 01:16:48
And School St. of course, we've been really battling some historical issues and that road was totally rebuilt as part of this 01:16:53
process. Pretty big lift. So grateful sharing to you and the staff for your work on that. Also didn't mention during the G tip 01:17:00
conversation, Sharon did that application and led the way and we're really grateful to you for your work on that. But on this as 01:17:07
well, looks really great. Big improvement. Hair Shoals. We finally got the old ball field fencing down. 01:17:14
And we are moving forward on our plans to begin hair Shoals work in earnest. I think the next slide shows a rendering of what we 01:17:22
want that space to look like when it's done. That's called, that was called Giardini Field, named after a former mayor. We intend 01:17:29
to call that the Giordini Green. So get that spruced up and reopened, probably have a package to go out to bid using splash 01:17:36
dollars in the future to get that area looking good. Harris Shoals is. 01:17:43
Has a lot of work down there. I just asked for patience. It's a bit of a work in progress in terms of how it looks right now. But 01:17:52
you have to understand we're slowly doing this construction project one piece at a time. But I've no doubt when it's done, it will 01:17:56
be, it'll be better than it's ever been. So we're grateful sharing to you and the staff work on that and keeping our call slow by 01:18:01
doing that in house, even if it takes a little bit longer. 01:18:05
We've done some additional improvements at Rocket Field. You may have noticed you've seen benches go in, picnic tables going in 01:18:12
for people to use at different spots. Public works, we appreciate them handling that. 01:18:17
Work has already started at Thomas Farm. You may notice the fence along Simonton Bridge Rd. We've also fenced off the old barn. 01:18:24
Someday we hope to fix up the old barn, but for now it's a rather attractive nuisance and we want to make it very clear to the 01:18:30
public that once they go out there, the barn is not a not a place to. 01:18:36
Not a place to play or, you know, to climb or to visit until we get that, until we get that ready for public use at a later date. 01:18:42
So excited to have work underway out there in addition to what we approve tonight. 01:18:48
We have one thing when you get legal equipment. 01:18:56
Can I rectify mention the holiday while we're. Yeah, One other thing I just want to recognize today is a day it's a federal 01:19:02
holiday, Juneteenth. I don't know that, you know, it's a relatively new, relatively new holiday, but it is a. 01:19:08
I think it's worth mentioning that you know Juneteenth is the date that I. 01:19:15
Enslaved people in Galveston, TX learned about their freedom June 19th, 1865. That's 89. You know, some people say, what's 01:19:20
Juneteenth? Why do you celebrate June 19th? We've got to remember when the US declared independence on July 4th, 1776, there was a 01:19:27
whole group of people in America who were not free, right? And they weren't free until 1863 when President Lincoln read the 01:19:34
Emancipation Proclamation. And then many of those people didn't even learn about that until June 19th, 1865. S. 01:19:42
I think it's important that. 01:19:50
That we recognize that, that we recognize that today is a federal holiday and council may want to discuss subsequently whether 01:19:52
that should be a holiday for City of Watkinsville employees. So I won't be, you know, if it's just something that we might want to 01:19:57
consider in February at our planning retreat, if that's something worth considering for next year's budget cycle. So that's all 01:20:02
the mayor has. 01:20:07
OK. 01:20:14
Yeah, so I. 01:20:20
Christina is not going to be here next month. She celebrates a big birthday. We won't say what the number is, but there is a 01:20:22
number on her cupcake there. And Mark, Mark, our city engineer Mark Campbell also celebrates birthday. That's actually this month. 01:20:28
And and because she lit that before the mayor started there. Are you starting to burn down? So you may want to. 01:20:33
Before you do that. 01:20:40
Yay. 01:20:42
So happy birthday, Mayor Pro Tem Tucker and Engineer Campbell. We're grateful for both of you and hope we get many more years of 01:20:47
having you in the chambers with us. So thank you for everything. Yep, and enjoy your. 01:20:53
Meeting away your time away next next month. 01:20:59
For those of you don't know, Mayor Pro Tem Tucker is one She once told me that she wasn't going to she wasn't going to travel for 01:21:03
the rest of the year. And I think she I think that resolution lasted for about one month and then she was she was off again. So 01:21:10
anyway, we're grateful, grateful that you can always make it back for our meetings and we'll miss you when next month and engineer 01:21:16
Campbell, we're grateful for you and when he has a milestone, Sharon, I think we we need to have a. 01:21:23
Keep an eye on that. Yep. 01:21:31
All right, Council, reports Councilman Garrett. 01:21:34
Nothing from Councilman Garrett County Massey. 01:21:38
All right, Mr. Thomas. 01:21:41
I just enjoy our small town of 3000 and hope that it stays to be a cute small town of 3000 for years to come. 01:21:43
All right, Mayor Pro Tem Tucker. So I was reflected. It was a real privilege to get to go to Denver with the delegation and got to 01:21:53
know some different members in our community and. 01:21:59
Was reflecting on that today at our DDA board meeting and I am just so impressed with the people in our community. 01:22:06
And. 01:22:16
The mayor and I have been talking about this. We, we want to make sure that everybody knows. 01:22:18
That. 01:22:23
There are ways for everyone to get involved. I mean, that's one of the things about being a small community. We need lots of 01:22:25
hands. We don't want the same people doing things all the time because people get burned out. And so I don't want anybody to to 01:22:31
see the things that the city is doing and think. 01:22:37
Oh, that's so great. And just kind of sit by the sidelines, like we need people to get involved and we want people to get 01:22:43
involved. This is a community where all voices are valued and heard, and I hope people always feel that way. So. 01:22:49
Thank you, Christine. That's a great perspective. Councilman Campbell. 01:22:56
The video that we frankly was a key to US winning the award that told the Watkinsville story. We probably, if that's not on our 01:23:35
website, we need to figure out how to get that on there. And then the recap video. And then from the city, Christine, Sharon and 01:23:41
Chief GAIL, thank you for being there. 01:23:47
You know, there was one person who never jumped on stage with us during that process, but she kept everything moving behind the 01:23:53
scenes, and that's manager Dickerson. She never wants a lot of attention. She never asked for it. But Sharon? 01:23:58
You know I. 01:24:06
As we won the grant, as we won that award, it may be once again realized that without a really talented city manager, none of that 01:24:08
would have happened. And I think it goes without saying how grateful we are to you and to all that you and your team do to to make 01:24:14
these things happen in Watkinsville. The the projects that we earn, the recognition that we even were chosen because of would not 01:24:20
have happened without you and your staff's work. So. 01:24:26
It goes without saying, I know how you kind of saw it in the background in these moments, but I think it goes without saying that 01:24:33
you and your team deserve a ton of recognition for everything that it took to make us an all American city too. So thank you so 01:24:37
much for that. 01:24:41
Yeah, you did, you did mention my team and I could not, it's not a one person here. I mean, there's all 21 of us are working hard 01:24:50
to make these things happen. But it it's great when you have a, you know, when you, when everybody understands their role. Y'all 01:24:56
role is to is set the vision and then to give it to us and tell us to make it happen. And everybody here, you know, values that 01:25:03
and is really appreciate your vision. We we love the vision. We think it's, I mean everybody that works here. 01:25:09
Embraces it and wants to make it happen and that's what we do on a daily basis. So we appreciate that very much. Thank you. I 01:25:16
don't think there's any need for an executive session tonight. So unless there's any other business to come before this group, we 01:25:20
will. 01:25:25
I'll entertain a motion to adjourn. I make a motion to adjourn. Is there a second? Second. All right. 01:25:30
All in favor say aye. 01:25:36