Transcript

Event transcript
All right. Welcome, everybody to the August Watkinsville City Council meeting. Grateful for everybody who could be here tonight. 00:00:36
We have a quorum. Four or five council members are here with us tonight. I'd like to start with the pledge if we could all stand. 00:00:43
Now I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands, one nation under God, 00:00:51
indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. 00:00:58
All right. For those who have not been with us before, welcome. I'm Mayor Brian Broderick. We're grateful to all who made time to 00:01:09
come and all who are with us online. We are battling some technical difficulties tonight, so for our guests online, you should be 00:01:13
able to access the packet. 00:01:18
They can, you can hear, but we do not have a video recording available tonight due to some technical challenges we're 00:01:24
experiencing. But we thought we had the choice of offering video to those who weren't here or offering our graphics to the people 00:01:29
who are here. And we thought since y'all made an effort to be here, you should be able to see what we're talking about. So we're 00:01:33
going to do that tonight instead. 00:01:38
While we work through those technical difficulties, for anybody who has a hearing impairment, the city has a hearing loop system 00:01:44
in place here in the council chamber that was installed in 2020. The loop serves as a wireless network for those with hearing aids 00:01:49
or cochlear implants, signals from a microphone or public. 00:01:54
Automatically appear. Interested parties may also view a transcript of the meeting under the tap called Transcript as a reminder 00:02:59
of notice of the Council meeting, along with the current month's agenda is posted one full week before the meeting to allow the 00:03:04
public sufficient time to provide comments and writing to the clerk if they're unable to attend in person. I have to read all 00:03:09
that. Apologies. That's part of the process. All right, we will move on approval of the minutes. Council will entertain a motion 00:03:14
around the July 17th. 00:03:19
Regular meeting. If anyone cares to make one, make a motion to approve the July 17th meeting minutes. 00:03:24
Do we have a second? 00:03:32
Did I hear a second because you weren't here? I need a second. All right. Chuck wasn't here, but he's willing to second. All 00:03:37
right. All in favor. All in favor of approving the minutes. Please say aye. All right. Wonderful. 00:03:44
Approval of the agenda we have did get a request from the developer for the pipe plant parcel to remove that item. So that has 00:03:51
been removed from the agenda tonight. With that, are there any other adjustments to the agenda that need to be made? 00:03:59
I will note under consent agenda, we have some items related to banking services and Oconee State Bank. 00:04:09
I'm involved with Oconee State Bank as a board member, so I'll recuse from that part and Mayor Pro Tem Tucker will leave that part 00:04:17
of the agenda just for information, but hearing no changes. I'll entertain a motion to approve the agenda and make a motion to 00:04:21
approve. 00:04:26
Do we have a second? Second, we have a motion. We have a second. Any discussion hearing none, all in favor say aye aye. Any 00:04:31
opposed motion carries unanimously. We'll move on to administration. As I've said before, most of you have been here before. We 00:04:37
will be. We have noted moments on the agenda for public comment. If you do have something you want to discuss, we do at times give 00:04:44
liberty to members who want to discuss that in the moment that is solely at council. 00:04:50
Council's discretion as well as our legal counsel. We reserve the right to offer that opportunity or not. If you are given that 00:04:57
opportunity awards during part of the normal public input process, we'd ask that you come to the podium. 00:05:02
Of course, with the audit you'll have the actual final numbers, but we seem to be moving along fine on that. Are there any 00:06:38
questions about those reports? 00:06:42
All right, so move on to SLOSS 3. So SLOSS 3 report, remind everyone that this began in October of 2021, ends in September of 27. 00:06:47
It's at 8.63% per our intergovernmental agreement with Oconee County. Right now we are our monthly revenues are averaging about 00:06:55
82,000 and some change. 00:07:02
This SPA 3 is being used mainly for Thomas Farm Preserve, the work that you see along Simonton Bridge Rd. Harris Shoals Park, 00:07:10
which we actually are sitting in right now. The park area has a lot of improvements that are being funded by SPLOS 3. And then 00:07:18
there's $875,000 in G Tib or Georgia Transportation Infrastructure Bank loan that we got for the Simonton Bridge Mulberry 00:07:25
Connector, which the mayor will touch upon later during his report. 00:07:32
There are some funds already encumbered in Splash 3 for to pay that back. 00:07:39
And then this is just your monthly sort of year to year average to see the change. We've got 6% up on average and we have a bank 00:07:45
balance of a little bit more than 1.4 million. 00:07:50
Talk about Floss, sorry T Sloss. So this one began in April 23, ends in March of 28. So it's five years, 7.77% was what we 00:07:58
negotiated with the county. Our average revenue monthly revenues are at 72,000. We think over the course of the 60 month period 00:08:06
that we will be closer to 78, hopefully more than that, but we seem to be doing moving along fine. The again the G Tib loan funds 00:08:13
we've encumbered 1.5 million for. 00:08:20
Thompson Bridge Rd. Mulberry Connector in this T sports project, South main sidewalk that we still have some work to do on the 00:08:28
ELMIG FY25 Rd. supplement, which we'll talk about tonight on item 10. And then future roads resurfacing projects and efficiency 00:08:35
improvements are pulled out of this. And then just your monthly, you know, report average though up about again 6, little bit more 00:08:43
than 6% on that. Our bank balances just under $350,000. 00:08:50
And then our American Rescue Plan report, so these are the monies that the federal government gave to a lot of communities, gave 00:09:01
all the communities in the in the United States and we made a decision, Council made decision, sorry, and to take the standard 00:09:08
allowance up to 10 million. We got a little bit more than $1,000,000. We have used that money for a number of of items you'll see 00:09:16
listed there. The remaining balance has been appropriated including any ongoing interest has been appropriate to the Thomas farm. 00:09:23
Project. It's a little bit more than 97,000 right now. 00:09:31
Any questions about any of those? 00:09:35
OK, we'll go on to the economic development reports. 00:09:38
So business and alcohol licensing, so business licenses and typically in April, so, but we have a few that are coming in new 00:09:43
companies or ones that have were delayed in getting their payments in. So we don't have a lot going on there and we did not have 00:09:49
any alcohol application fees this month. 00:09:56
Or last month. 00:10:02
On the excise tax point out that in June you'll see June of on the hotel motel, far right bottom, bottom it shows 500-6971. Today 00:10:04
we received the money from Airbnb for that will pop that up to around the two 2800 mark or so. So that will will present that 00:10:11
again next month. So you'll have a full picture of fiscal year 24. 00:10:19
And we are on target with that for our budget. So that's really good. And then on? 00:10:27
And this is the for the for July. So we did receive, I believe we received some money even though we only typically show what 00:10:34
shows up in June and July, but we did receive stuff in July that's actually for July. So that's why you get this report too. So a 00:10:39
little bit different. We'll have it cleaned up next month, so. 00:10:45
And then on building permits, we have 9 permits for eight projects and four of the eight projects are actually in Wire Park. 00:10:53
Any questions on any of those? 00:11:01
OK. 00:11:05
All right, so the main thing with Downtown development authority we had on August 3rd the barbecue and Bake Off at Rocket Field. I 00:11:10
know some of y'all were there. It was a fantastic event. There were about 600 arm bands for the all you can eat BBQ sold and then 00:11:18
there were people there because it one of the things that's so important. 00:11:26
In our city is to have space for all kinds of community and so. 00:11:35
This event was free for the public. There was a great band and we had some sponsors that donated water and chips and so people 00:11:39
could just come and enjoy and didn't have to buy a ticket. So there were more than 600 people there at this event and it was 00:11:45
great. Of course, anytime you do something once, there's some things that you want to tweak a little bit for the future, but we 00:11:52
are hoping this will become an annual event. 00:11:58
Umm, so and thank you so much to everybody who helped put this on because I know any kind of it is a big lift. 00:12:05
And then the other thing is we are still in the process of refining what we're looking for in a downtown development director and 00:12:11
in that hiring process. 00:12:17
So oh, and here are our winner. Sorry, I'm just skipping along. So Harold's BBQ was first, it was, I had two favors and it was one 00:12:22
of them. And then the Rotary Club of Oconee was second place and then but Styled in was third place, so. 00:12:31
And then this was for the the desserts, the Bake Off. So Coney Butts and Oh was first place. Food guru was second, and Jack's 00:12:42
cheesecake was third, so. 00:12:49
So much fun. Also, it raised a significant amount of money for Bethel Haven, which is a nonprofit in the area that has sliding 00:12:57
scale counseling services for people. 00:13:03
Do I say? 00:13:11
Yeah, it was about $10,000 that was raised for them. So it was a really wonderful event, not only a great time for the community, 00:13:13
but also raised a lot of money for a really good 'cause. So why does it say $400.00 on the screen? Well, so I'll explain. So, so 00:13:20
these were our expenses, but all the ticket sales went to Bethel Haven. So we didn't see any of that. This was between sponsors 00:13:27
and entry fees. There was a total revenue 3800, we had 3377 and 77 cents in expenses. And so the difference we agreed would go. 00:13:35
The extra money that we didn't need for the expenses would go to Bethlehem. So we paid them for 2223 and then they took all the 00:13:43
ticket sales. OK. So we basically broke even to put the event on and then they got another 10,000 from the sales. 00:13:48
Yes. So we didn't. It did not cost the city taxpayers any money to do this event. And yeah, so it was a great partnership. 00:13:54
Cool. 00:14:03
Win, win, win. 00:14:08
OK. 00:14:10
Welcome up, Sergeant Hilbert. 00:14:11
Give us the report. 00:14:15
Good evening. 00:14:17
Are we on? 00:14:19
Good evening. It's good to see some of you guys again. It's been a long time since I've stood up here and and presented to you all 00:14:21
some new faces that I haven't presented to before. So the August 24 council report, we had a lot of folks that completed some 00:14:29
training. I myself finished the second of three courses in our management process down at the Forsyth Training Academy. I'm also 00:14:36
completed the Taser instructor program, which allows us to host training here and also help. 00:14:44
Other agencies that don't have an instructor in the area, those are really hard to come by. So we finished that up. Sergeant Wade 00:14:51
completed his background safety investigator course, which is going to be helpful and hopefully a whole boatload of new applicants 00:14:57
that we have coming in sometime soon. 00:15:03
Officer Christian. Officer Anglin also completed courses. 00:15:10
For the vehicle, the new patrol truck that you guys see sitting in the parking lot and toodling around town, still very, very 00:15:13
clean. It hasn't gone off to get outfitted yet, but it will soon. As soon as the upfitter down in Augusta lets me know that they 00:15:19
have all the parts and pieces in for it. We want to minimize the downtime with that as best we can. So we're going to hold on to 00:15:25
it until the very last second. Then it should be about a week turn around or so. 00:15:31
For the events that we've got scheduled, obviously everybody knows that football seasons starting up really soon, so please 00:15:38
anticipate the traffic increase on Saturdays where we've got home games because. 00:15:44
We have plenty of it. 00:15:51
When football's in session on Saturday, we had officer helped direct traffic down at Core Blend. They were doing a charity event 00:15:53
down there to help with Lydia's place down on Jerry Smith Dr. 00:16:00
Which is a organization that helps with youth and homelessness and stuff like that. And so they they put on something and had a 00:16:07
great competition between all their competitors and donated all the proceeds from my understanding to Lydia's place and they did a 00:16:13
really great job at that. 00:16:19
For the stats for the month, we had two arrests. Both of those were driving related, no insurance and driving on suspended 00:16:26
license. 00:16:30
We answered 248 calls for service. 00:16:34
We did. 00:16:38
1051 security checks were out there, making sure everybody's houses as safe as humanly possible. 00:16:39
You know. 00:16:45
We had 14 reports that were generated from our calls of service, which is about our average, which is about what we normally see. 00:16:46
Then we had 117 citations or warnings combined that were written over the month, which again is about on average with what we're 00:16:54
normally seeing. And those were split almost 5050 with warnings and citations. So the officers are exercising their discretion and 00:17:01
they're they're making sure that what is beneficial for everybody is what they go with. Some folks need a little more. 00:17:09
Encouragement to slow down. 00:17:16
Other than that, we've got to save the date, which I would like to remind everybody of October 6th. 00:17:20
We're partnered with the Sheriff's Office and the first responders and Georgia Home Partners Realty. 00:17:26
For the Responder 5K that we've been doing for a number of years now. 00:17:34
Swing by, we'll have a lot of events there. They always have a good turn out. You'll get to see me in the dunk tank again. I 00:17:38
always enjoy that. Hope to go first. When it's nice and cold it's always fun. 00:17:43
And other than that, we've got also a public service notice. So one of the calls that we responded to over the last month was a 00:17:50
air conditioning unit, an HVAC unit got stolen from, oddly enough, the defects office down on Greensboro Highway, the entire unit 00:17:56
got taken. 00:18:02
They have 4 units, so it took them a little wit a little bit to realize that they were missing in an air conditioning unit. But 00:18:09
somebody came up and cut all the cables and cut the pipes and. 00:18:15
Put in the back of the truck and off they went. 00:18:22
So we've been working with some of the scrap yards in the area. 00:18:24
Through about six different counties, trying to locate the different parts and pieces for this unit. And it was valued about $5000 00:18:29
for the unit itself. So we're trying to figure out who it was that actually took it, but we were working on a couple of different 00:18:34
ways to do that, so. 00:18:39
Other than that. 00:18:46
Anybody have any questions for the Police Department? 00:18:47
Awesome. 00:18:51
Thank you. Thank you. 00:18:52
All right, I will turn it over to Mayor Pro Tem Tucker. 00:18:56
All right, so we have the. 00:19:00
Consent Agenda, the resolution to approve the one year extension of the contract with the County State Bank for banking Services 00:19:02
to expire August 31st, 2025 and approval of the submittal of GERMA and GMA safety grant applications. Do I there any questions or 00:19:10
discussion or hear a motion to approve? 00:19:18
Are there 2 separate or one? It's all the consent agenda. So just one make a motion to approve the consent agenda. 00:19:29
All right. All in favor, aye. 00:19:38
Motion carries 40. 00:19:42
All right, we will move on to. 00:19:53
And then Mr. Ramasamy, is that correct? Then we'll let you come forward after we hear the report from the engineer. 00:20:25
Thank you, Mayor. 00:20:33
So the address for this request is 1071 Camden Park Drive. So Camden Park is a residential subdivision that is near the 00:20:34
Watkinsville city limits. As you're going out the Simonton Bridge Rd. it would be on the southern side before you would get to 00:20:41
Watkinsville Baptist Church. So the size of this parcel, it's approximately 7/10 of an acre. It is on septic. I think that's part 00:20:47
of the application here as well. 00:20:53
It's zoned attached residential and the variance request is. 00:21:01
Garage related. So it is for a front facing garage. If you'll go to the next slide, again you can see there it doesn't directly 00:21:04
abut the the the railroad tracks. There is a sliver of land owned by Watkinsville first that is between this property and the the 00:21:12
railroad tracks. Just for reference, it is located within a cul-de-sac there in Canyon Park. So hopefully that gives you an idea 00:21:19
of where 1071 is. You can see a plat there from when the subdivision was developed. You may remember that. But again. 00:21:26
The the plat itself is from 2005. So the plans that were submitted by the applicant, I did not include the existing plans which 00:21:34
you may actually have within your packet as part of that, but this is the proposed plan. So the proposed is to create an addition 00:21:41
to the existing structure that you saw there in that cul-de-sac. And while there is an existing garage there, there's a request to 00:21:49
put an additional garage off of that same access or driveway point. 00:21:56
And that additional garage is what would be front facing. 00:22:04
So there's a picture you can see there that is, is the the Street View, if you will, for what you just saw of the existing 00:22:08
structure. I will say approximately where the van you see in that driveway is where the access to the to the the new proposed 00:22:15
addition would be, which would mainly include a garage. It includes a few other things as part of it. Those things would need a 00:22:22
variance. The garage specifically that would be front facing is what would need the variance. So that is. 00:22:29
You know essentially what the request is associated with. I did mention. 00:22:37
That septic plays a part of this. The septic drain field, if you saw as part of the application, it's kind of on the southern side 00:22:42
of the house, if you will. It's not on the northern side of the house based on documentation submitted by Environmental Health. So 00:22:49
the idea to potentially put an addition with a garage that is not front facing would be Hanford or limited by the existence of 00:22:56
that existing septic drain field. I know the applicants here as well, but happy to answer any questions council might have. 00:23:03
All right, Mr. and Mrs. Ramaswamy, if you want to come forward and provide any additional context and we'll let Council ask 00:23:11
questions of either party. 00:23:14
Please just state your name and address for the record. Yeah, my name is Rama Raja Ramasamy. I'm the owner of the house on 1071 00:23:20
Cameron Park Dr. I think he described it well. I think you know what you see on that floor plan, everything in black is the 00:23:25
existing house and everything that's in dark and red color is the extension they would like to make. And that garage, that near 2 00:23:31
car garage would be still on the driveway. It is an extent past the the concrete driveway that we have and it doesn't be with the 00:23:37
septic tank. 00:23:43
And the train fields on the South? Yeah, the southern side of the house. 00:23:49
If you have any questions, I'm happy to answer. OK. If you'll remain up here, that would be great. Council questions to staff or 00:23:56
to the applicant. 00:23:59
So have you gotten any feedback from any neighbors on this? 00:24:03
Yeah, all my neighbors know that we're trying to do this extension for quite some time. So we thought the variance is going to be 00:24:08
for something else. And then we realized this for the front facing garage. And actually we have two in the subdivision right next 00:24:15
to us is the front facing garage that's right from the start. And then we have one another house that was built approximately 10 00:24:21
years ago, 4 houses down that's also front facing garage. So it's not unusual for the subdivision. 00:24:27
We have 10 houses in the subdivision and. 00:24:35
Two of them have front facing the rajas already. 00:24:38
And. 00:24:41
We're trying to put this to accommodate growing family. 00:24:45
I'm assuming you're planning on breaking it and matching the house. Yeah, our, our covenants require that it matches with the rest 00:24:49
of the house and the brick won't be 100% match, but you know, we'll try to make sure it's as close of a match as possible because 00:24:54
it's from about 15 years ago. 00:24:59
Any further questions? 00:25:09
All right, hearing none this is will close the public. Anybody else wish to? 00:25:11
Mr. Ramaswamy, you can have a seat I. 00:25:16
This is a public hearing and that hearing is now open. Is there anyone here with us tonight who would like to address this matter? 00:25:20
All right, See, no one will close the public hearing and now we'll move on to a vote council. You've heard the report from the 00:25:29
engineer, you've heard the request from the applicant. We had no public comments. Does anyone want to make a motion? 00:25:34
I'll make a motion to approve the variance request. 00:25:42
And I second, we have a motion. Yep, go ahead. 00:25:45
Make a motion to approve the variance request that meets all the standards of 14 point O5I. 00:25:51
That we tell the standards of 1405. I thank you. 00:26:04
And I once again second that. 00:26:09
We have a motion and a second. I won't attempt to restate that. Any discussion? 00:26:11
Hearing no discussion, all in favor Say aye. Any opposed? 00:26:16
Motion carries for a thank you. 00:26:20
OK. All right. We have no appearances under all businesses. We have none under new businesses. We have new business, excuse me, We 00:26:24
have approval of the submittal of the fiscal year 2025 Georgia Department of Transportation LMAO grants. 00:26:31
And I'll let Manager Dickerson make a report. 00:26:40
Thank you, Mayor. 00:26:43
So we're asking that you approve the submittal of this FY25 G dot G dot L Meg application to rehabilitate and pave Mulberry Street 00:26:46
and the Cemetery Rd. at an estimated cost of $193,570.00. With a little bit more than 47,000 coming from the ELMIG grant that the 00:26:55
state provided. 21,000 from the match that we budget for in the T spot project and an additional 125,000 and some change from. 00:27:04
T spots as well I'll walk you through. 00:27:14
Some of this. So in August of 21, we had a pavement evaluation of all of our roads. The city has to maintain provided an inventory 00:27:16
and condition rating of all those roads, which gave us a list which was we felt like is a better way to to determine the condition 00:27:23
of Rd. than us just going out and looking at it. So we've been following that since then. 00:27:30
In June of. 00:27:38
June of 2023 we received our FFY 24 L Meg money of $43,590.00. 00:27:41
G dot approved that shortly after that, but before decisions were made about how to use that money, the governor and the 00:27:49
legislature included another 250 million in local Rd. assistance funds to cities and counties throughout the state. And with that 00:27:55
we received another almost $54,000. So we use those funds the the new, what they call local Rd. assistance funds, along with our 00:28:02
local Maintenance Improvement Grant funds and. 00:28:08
Recommended. I think I may have moved on to the next page. Here we go. 00:28:15
Recommended Paving School St. Simonton Way on Jackson Street and Niagara Drive. 00:28:19
And then this year we've received and we got all those done. I didn't add up the total, but we got all those done and those have 00:28:27
been completed. And then in June of this year, we received the FY25 application and the amount that we in the notification that we 00:28:35
would receive around $47,000. And so that's what we're here to decide, ask you to consider how to use those funds. 00:28:43
Again, we received this money from the state on an annual basis to to be used for roads, drainage, bridge, bridges, sidewalks, 00:28:52
etc. 00:28:56
In 20. In 2020. 00:29:02
Sorry, I mentioned last year we use 2021 thousand and T spots funds for to match. Sorry, we use 19,000 last year. This year we're 00:29:06
using 21,000 and T splash funds as our local fund for the G for the Elmet grant. So along with the the G dot money, the L Med 00:29:14
grant money of 47,000 and the city's match of 21,000, we have about 68,000 when we started putting together the application and 00:29:21
looking and I'll have a slide in a minute, it'll show you what we. 00:29:29
Estimated this these are going to cost. We realized we weren't going to have enough money. The grant applications are due in 00:29:36
February. We typically try to get them in early and hopefully get some paving done before that gets too cold to do the paving the 00:29:40
end of the year. 00:29:44
Want to talk about a couple things though, how we how we arrived at the decision of the ones we're going to recommend. The paving 00:29:49
management plan that we talked about doesn't have a pavement condition index for Mulberry Street because that is a gravel or 00:29:54
unpaved Rd. So obviously it is prime for for being paved. The Cemetery Rd. is actually the third worst Rd. on the list. Again, 00:30:00
I'll show you that slide in a minute. 00:30:06
15 months or so before we see that that come forward. So we'll keep it on that and try to bring forward, try to pair it up when 00:30:43
the opportunity arises to to pave that road. 00:30:47
The other Rd. the 2nd Rd. that is listed on the pavement condition rating that is the worst is Williamsburg Place. The challenge 00:30:54
with that is similar to Carl's Creek, only half of Williamsburg places inside the city limits, about a point a little bit more 00:31:00
than 1/10 of a mile and serve 7 residential homes. 00:31:06
This is our proposed project report that will go to the Georgia Department of Transportation. We're recommending Mulberry Street 00:31:43
from 3rd St. to the dead end. And then we're recommending Cemetery Rd. which is a single lane Rd. which makes it maybe a little 00:31:49
bit less expensive because it's not a two lane. And I'll show you what we're estimating 193,000 minus the money that we have from 00:31:55
the grant and the match that's already been budgeted. We'll need another 125,000, which we're going to recommend come from the T 00:32:01
spot. 00:32:06
Project, which is what those funds are supposed to be used for. 00:32:13
Very tiny, tiny, sorry about that. But the very top Rd. I actually typed in Mulberry Street because it wasn't on there. Again, a 00:32:17
gravel Rd. similar to Durham St. and then Williamsburg below it and then Cemetery Rd. So you'll see. We're trying to stick to the 00:32:25
very top and the condition ratings are 20, I think 2020, 734 out of 100, so definitely not in the greatest shape. 00:32:33
Mulberry Street, Just a visual of what Mulberry Street looks like. So you'll see where the 3rd St. label is. That's Rocket Field. 00:32:41
Go a little bit further out and you'll see Mulberry Street and the estimated length of that. 00:32:48
And then Cemetery Rd. 00:32:55
Again, that's a single single line Rd. 00:32:58
So again, we're recommending to submit our application to rehabilitate and pave Mulberry and Cemetery Rd. at cost of what we 00:33:02
estimate will be 193,000. Maybe it'll be less appropriating the funding that Elma gave us a 47,000 and some change, the 21,000 and 00:33:10
teeth lost that has been budgeted and appropriating an additional 125,461 from the teeth floss budget. 00:33:17
All right. Any questions for staff on that? 00:33:29
Repay. So anyway, thank you for your diligence on that, Manager Dickerson. And I think during my Mayor's report, we'll kind of 00:34:02
talk a little bit more about how some of these, some of these areas are going to connect together to over the next couple years. 00:34:08
All right. 00:34:17
I make the motion to approve. We have a motion. Do we have a second? 00:34:18
Second, all right. We have a motion and a second, it's right for discussion if anybody wants to add anything. 00:34:22
Hearing none, all in favor say aye aye. Any opposed? 00:34:27
Motion carries 4 O. 00:34:31
Our friends in the cemetery will be glad to get those roads upgraded. They are in rough shape so. 00:34:33
All right, we'll move forward for public comments and for those of you who are new, we're moving pretty quickly through here 00:34:38
tonight. So we'll just have council reports after that and then we'll have a brief executive session after that. So public 00:34:44
comments, this is the time with you. Have something you want to say? Come on up to the podium. 4 minutes per person, same rules as 00:34:49
before, but if anybody has anything they want to offer us, come on up tonight. 00:34:55
Don't everybody come at once. 00:35:03
All right, we'll move on. 00:35:06
All right. Mayors report, have a few things to discuss. If you've driven down Simonton Bridge Rd. no doubt you've noticed the 00:35:10
progress at the park, very exciting. What you can't see is in the back, in the front we have, we've made significant progress, but 00:35:17
also in the back, most of the trails have been roughed in. We're beginning to put down the aggregate surface on that. 00:35:24
Trail, so it looks really great back there. I went for scouting walk last night. It looked like the Serengeti. There was about 30 00:35:32
deer out there running around and coyotes, Hawks, all the things. So it's really beautiful. People are really going to enjoy it. 00:35:39
It makes makes my heart happy that this this time next year, even in the spring, people be out there. We also started yesterday on 00:35:46
the paved path. You can see there in red and blue. Those are going to be. 00:35:53
The paved path, so that's mainly at the front of the property. 00:36:00
I think the blue ones are 8 feet wide with a four foot aggregate shoulder. The red ones are just eight feet wide. Is that correct, 00:36:04
Manager Dickerson? I think that's right. So those will all be paved paths that will be accessible to folks in wheelchairs and 00:36:11
otherwise. And so we have a great crew out there focused and working on that. You can see the circle there that looks like a semi 00:36:19
circle. We've also will have an aggregate path with a bridge that'll go around the smaller pond in that area while it looks under. 00:36:26
Construction now is a wet one that will then grow back up around that path. So people be able to walk through a natural wetland 00:36:33
that will grow back up. So that that works also underway. I think we have one more slide is that right, manager Dickson? And then 00:36:39
we've also completed work on the restroom and the old dairy barn and house out there. So that's not open to the public yet, but 00:36:45
when it when it does, it's in great shape. So our our bidders did a nice job on that and we'll also tie that in that's. 00:36:51
ADA accessible. And so we'll tie that in with our paved area. So things are moving out there. 00:36:59
It's very exciting to see. Again, we're targeting the end of the year to open up that park to the public. 00:37:04
I know we've, I think we've touched on this a few times, but this is this also sort of connects the dots, but not between some of 00:37:11
the work we're doing in the cemetery and along Mulberry. We are trying to improve Mulberry, but we're also planning a significant 00:37:16
bike pedestrian upgrade in that area too. So you see here, I think is this supposed to be an 8 foot or 10 foot wide sidewalk? 00:37:22
Sharon, do you remember what we skipped? 00:37:27
10 foot. 00:37:34
It's not. 00:37:35
Generally A10 foot wide bike pedestrian path along Simonton Bridge Rd. that would connect Rocket Field to Simonton Place for now, 00:37:38
but it will also connect the park to to downtown, which is really important. You'll see here that it is going to be adjacent to 00:37:44
the park and to the cemetery and then. 00:37:51
We plan to come through the area the the woods between the cemetery and Mulberry to connect with a bridge through there, which 00:37:58
allows us to avoid the really steep grade on Simonton Bridge. So that's that's the plan right now. We have a schedule for that. 00:38:03
Right now we're in the engineering and right away acquisition phase for that project and we're working with various property 00:38:09
owners to get that done. 00:38:15
Waters Walk is underway. Demolition has been completed. 00:38:22
And that project, as Sharon said, will take about 18 months to be completed, but we're excited to finally see that project 00:38:27
underway. That's for 5555 and over only in that project. 00:38:32
I had the pleasure last week of meeting with Representative Mike Collins in Madison and they hosted as Chairman. Daniel and I went 00:38:41
down there. He had some good questions about challenges we're facing. I mentioned some of the difficulties in smaller cities being 00:38:47
able to utilize federal dollars due to a lot of red tape and. 00:38:54
And then we have Constitution. We have Constitution Day coming up sponsored. Our John Andrew chapter is really leaning into that. 00:39:30
Along with some of our other local civic groups. So you'll see here that they've got programs scheduled September 15th at Ashford 00:39:38
for Constitution history and then the Constitution Day bell ringing on September 17th. There may be a firing of cannons or 00:39:45
muskets. I think they're still working through when that happens. I know that always gets people's attention when the cannon goes 00:39:51
off. So just be aware on September 17th if you hear a loud noise. 00:39:57
It's probably it's probably the probably the cannon going off and what's the movies that Mary Poppins where they have the guy next 00:40:04
door who fire the fire the cannon, you know, and every they had to hold all the clocks anyway. It always kind of reminds me of 00:40:08
reminds me of that. So we're. 00:40:12
But we're grateful to the Daughters of the American Revolution for their patriotism and their energy around Constitution Day. 00:40:16
Event that's what we rebuilt rocket field for we said that not only could we have baseball but so that we could have those kind of 00:40:53
community events and it really showed well and Lawrence I'm glad to see you here I've been enjoying seeing all the people playing 00:40:59
potong at the at those areas too. That's been awesome and. 00:41:04
Anyway, it looks it's really great to see people using that too. So thank you for your vision and and your persistence in terms of 00:41:12
getting that done. It's it really is great to see people of all ages utilizing rocket field and what we did out there. 00:41:19
And then the second thing before we move on, I think I might have mentioned this last month, but I'm going to mention it again 00:41:26
because people need to know about it. The governor did approve in July $14 million to advance the Watkinsville bypass project. 00:41:32
That is for right of way acquisition and preliminary engineering, which is huge. 00:41:38
So that that project the route has not been determined. 00:41:46
But the engineering will determine that. There will be public conversations about that, but that is a huge step forward in terms 00:41:50
of reducing. 00:41:53
The traffic in downtown Watkinsville that many of you here and others are have been frustrated by and a lot of our downtown 00:41:57
residents are frustrated by because once you unclog Main Street, it is going to free up so many other things. So we're still years 00:42:03
away from that. Those projects don't happen fast. But that now has what's called a, a project number at the May Courts plan. This, 00:42:10
the funds that have been allocated will accelerate that project even further. 00:42:16
So we anticipate this phase probably taking one to three years to get the engineering and the right away done and then we can move 00:42:23
into final engineering and construction. But that is huge news for the long term health of downtown Watkinsville and for the city 00:42:28
as a whole to get truck traffic. 00:42:33
And a lot of the through traffic out of the city. So that's great news and our final item. 00:42:39
Happy birthday, Chuck Garrett. 00:42:45
August 5th, I think so. We always like to celebrate our council members. So Chuck, happy birthday to you. With that, we'll move on 00:42:49
to council reports and our birthday boy is first. Chuck, you have anything to report? 00:42:55
I recently attended the hazardous mitigation plan with county and Sergeant and Toby was there to keep us all in line. So but it 00:43:02
was very interesting to be there and just I think the county goes to great lengths to make sure we're safe in the city. Police 00:43:10
working alongside of them, but a lot of brainstorming and coming up with ideas and ways to get the public. 00:43:19
Our citizens more. 00:43:28
In team with. 00:43:31
Emergency, we got a lot of information, but a lot of people don't know where to get the information. I know Sharon does a good job 00:43:32
of putting stuff on the on the city web and stuff and just as something going forward to all of us going to have to do. 00:43:39
To make sure you know, when people get their bills, water bills, all kind of things, just letting the citizens know everything 00:43:48
that's out there other than 911 so and also I know they can be shifting the traffic on the. 00:43:56
The roads, everybody going to public starting in the morning, there's going to be a big traffic shift, so. 00:44:05
Be careful, Be careful. 00:44:13
Chuck, are you going to get that project finished for us anytime soon down there? 00:44:17
Nobody wants to take ownership of that, All right, Councilwoman Massey. 00:44:24
All right, Mayor Pro Tem Tucker. 00:44:29
Just I am headed down to Thomasville on Monday for a couple of days for the downtown development. Is it authority? Georgia 00:44:32
Downtown Association? Sorry, there's lots of associations, but I'm excited to learn more from people in our state about just how 00:44:40
to continue to make our downtown thrive and be great. So excited to learn next week. 00:44:48
I did see we have a new store coming into Town Center to replace Burden Brass, which is opened up has expanded and now we have a 00:44:56
children's clothing store. It looks like coming to Town Center. Yes. And if you haven't been to Burden Brass their new location, 00:45:03
it is in Judge Shivers old office and it's a great use of the space. She's also hosting workshops in the upstairs space. So it 00:45:10
gave her the space to expand not only. 00:45:17
She has a lot of original art, but also. 00:45:24
Home Decor and is hosting different workshops so last Saturday there was one on floral design and it's just another community 00:45:27
gathering space so check out Burden brass if you hadn't and we'll welcome these new businesses as they come in as well. It's a 00:45:32
great sound that our main streets filling up very quickly as soon as the space is available for rent they're they're filling up 00:45:37
so. 00:45:43
All right, Councilman Campbell. 00:45:49
Just a little more on the BBQ cook off. We had a follow up meeting after the contest to kind of. 00:45:52
Determine all our roles and so we can get the behind the scenes stuff a little more organized for next year. And we're having a 00:45:58
second follow up meeting Sarah, Melanie and I on Monday. So creating the To Do List for it and see how we can keep improving it. 00:46:06
For real estate and litigation, please make a motion to move into executive session for real estate and potential litigation. 00:46:44
Second. All right, all in favor. Say aye. All right, 3 minutes if you need to see anybody. 00:46:52
All right. Do we have a motion to adjourn? I make a motion to adjourn second. 00:47:00
All in favor, say aye. All right, you have a great evening. 00:47:05
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Transcript

Event transcript
All right. Welcome, everybody to the August Watkinsville City Council meeting. Grateful for everybody who could be here tonight. 00:00:36
We have a quorum. Four or five council members are here with us tonight. I'd like to start with the pledge if we could all stand. 00:00:43
Now I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands, one nation under God, 00:00:51
indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. 00:00:58
All right. For those who have not been with us before, welcome. I'm Mayor Brian Broderick. We're grateful to all who made time to 00:01:09
come and all who are with us online. We are battling some technical difficulties tonight, so for our guests online, you should be 00:01:13
able to access the packet. 00:01:18
They can, you can hear, but we do not have a video recording available tonight due to some technical challenges we're 00:01:24
experiencing. But we thought we had the choice of offering video to those who weren't here or offering our graphics to the people 00:01:29
who are here. And we thought since y'all made an effort to be here, you should be able to see what we're talking about. So we're 00:01:33
going to do that tonight instead. 00:01:38
While we work through those technical difficulties, for anybody who has a hearing impairment, the city has a hearing loop system 00:01:44
in place here in the council chamber that was installed in 2020. The loop serves as a wireless network for those with hearing aids 00:01:49
or cochlear implants, signals from a microphone or public. 00:01:54
Automatically appear. Interested parties may also view a transcript of the meeting under the tap called Transcript as a reminder 00:02:59
of notice of the Council meeting, along with the current month's agenda is posted one full week before the meeting to allow the 00:03:04
public sufficient time to provide comments and writing to the clerk if they're unable to attend in person. I have to read all 00:03:09
that. Apologies. That's part of the process. All right, we will move on approval of the minutes. Council will entertain a motion 00:03:14
around the July 17th. 00:03:19
Regular meeting. If anyone cares to make one, make a motion to approve the July 17th meeting minutes. 00:03:24
Do we have a second? 00:03:32
Did I hear a second because you weren't here? I need a second. All right. Chuck wasn't here, but he's willing to second. All 00:03:37
right. All in favor. All in favor of approving the minutes. Please say aye. All right. Wonderful. 00:03:44
Approval of the agenda we have did get a request from the developer for the pipe plant parcel to remove that item. So that has 00:03:51
been removed from the agenda tonight. With that, are there any other adjustments to the agenda that need to be made? 00:03:59
I will note under consent agenda, we have some items related to banking services and Oconee State Bank. 00:04:09
I'm involved with Oconee State Bank as a board member, so I'll recuse from that part and Mayor Pro Tem Tucker will leave that part 00:04:17
of the agenda just for information, but hearing no changes. I'll entertain a motion to approve the agenda and make a motion to 00:04:21
approve. 00:04:26
Do we have a second? Second, we have a motion. We have a second. Any discussion hearing none, all in favor say aye aye. Any 00:04:31
opposed motion carries unanimously. We'll move on to administration. As I've said before, most of you have been here before. We 00:04:37
will be. We have noted moments on the agenda for public comment. If you do have something you want to discuss, we do at times give 00:04:44
liberty to members who want to discuss that in the moment that is solely at council. 00:04:50
Council's discretion as well as our legal counsel. We reserve the right to offer that opportunity or not. If you are given that 00:04:57
opportunity awards during part of the normal public input process, we'd ask that you come to the podium. 00:05:02
Of course, with the audit you'll have the actual final numbers, but we seem to be moving along fine on that. Are there any 00:06:38
questions about those reports? 00:06:42
All right, so move on to SLOSS 3. So SLOSS 3 report, remind everyone that this began in October of 2021, ends in September of 27. 00:06:47
It's at 8.63% per our intergovernmental agreement with Oconee County. Right now we are our monthly revenues are averaging about 00:06:55
82,000 and some change. 00:07:02
This SPA 3 is being used mainly for Thomas Farm Preserve, the work that you see along Simonton Bridge Rd. Harris Shoals Park, 00:07:10
which we actually are sitting in right now. The park area has a lot of improvements that are being funded by SPLOS 3. And then 00:07:18
there's $875,000 in G Tib or Georgia Transportation Infrastructure Bank loan that we got for the Simonton Bridge Mulberry 00:07:25
Connector, which the mayor will touch upon later during his report. 00:07:32
There are some funds already encumbered in Splash 3 for to pay that back. 00:07:39
And then this is just your monthly sort of year to year average to see the change. We've got 6% up on average and we have a bank 00:07:45
balance of a little bit more than 1.4 million. 00:07:50
Talk about Floss, sorry T Sloss. So this one began in April 23, ends in March of 28. So it's five years, 7.77% was what we 00:07:58
negotiated with the county. Our average revenue monthly revenues are at 72,000. We think over the course of the 60 month period 00:08:06
that we will be closer to 78, hopefully more than that, but we seem to be doing moving along fine. The again the G Tib loan funds 00:08:13
we've encumbered 1.5 million for. 00:08:20
Thompson Bridge Rd. Mulberry Connector in this T sports project, South main sidewalk that we still have some work to do on the 00:08:28
ELMIG FY25 Rd. supplement, which we'll talk about tonight on item 10. And then future roads resurfacing projects and efficiency 00:08:35
improvements are pulled out of this. And then just your monthly, you know, report average though up about again 6, little bit more 00:08:43
than 6% on that. Our bank balances just under $350,000. 00:08:50
And then our American Rescue Plan report, so these are the monies that the federal government gave to a lot of communities, gave 00:09:01
all the communities in the in the United States and we made a decision, Council made decision, sorry, and to take the standard 00:09:08
allowance up to 10 million. We got a little bit more than $1,000,000. We have used that money for a number of of items you'll see 00:09:16
listed there. The remaining balance has been appropriated including any ongoing interest has been appropriate to the Thomas farm. 00:09:23
Project. It's a little bit more than 97,000 right now. 00:09:31
Any questions about any of those? 00:09:35
OK, we'll go on to the economic development reports. 00:09:38
So business and alcohol licensing, so business licenses and typically in April, so, but we have a few that are coming in new 00:09:43
companies or ones that have were delayed in getting their payments in. So we don't have a lot going on there and we did not have 00:09:49
any alcohol application fees this month. 00:09:56
Or last month. 00:10:02
On the excise tax point out that in June you'll see June of on the hotel motel, far right bottom, bottom it shows 500-6971. Today 00:10:04
we received the money from Airbnb for that will pop that up to around the two 2800 mark or so. So that will will present that 00:10:11
again next month. So you'll have a full picture of fiscal year 24. 00:10:19
And we are on target with that for our budget. So that's really good. And then on? 00:10:27
And this is the for the for July. So we did receive, I believe we received some money even though we only typically show what 00:10:34
shows up in June and July, but we did receive stuff in July that's actually for July. So that's why you get this report too. So a 00:10:39
little bit different. We'll have it cleaned up next month, so. 00:10:45
And then on building permits, we have 9 permits for eight projects and four of the eight projects are actually in Wire Park. 00:10:53
Any questions on any of those? 00:11:01
OK. 00:11:05
All right, so the main thing with Downtown development authority we had on August 3rd the barbecue and Bake Off at Rocket Field. I 00:11:10
know some of y'all were there. It was a fantastic event. There were about 600 arm bands for the all you can eat BBQ sold and then 00:11:18
there were people there because it one of the things that's so important. 00:11:26
In our city is to have space for all kinds of community and so. 00:11:35
This event was free for the public. There was a great band and we had some sponsors that donated water and chips and so people 00:11:39
could just come and enjoy and didn't have to buy a ticket. So there were more than 600 people there at this event and it was 00:11:45
great. Of course, anytime you do something once, there's some things that you want to tweak a little bit for the future, but we 00:11:52
are hoping this will become an annual event. 00:11:58
Umm, so and thank you so much to everybody who helped put this on because I know any kind of it is a big lift. 00:12:05
And then the other thing is we are still in the process of refining what we're looking for in a downtown development director and 00:12:11
in that hiring process. 00:12:17
So oh, and here are our winner. Sorry, I'm just skipping along. So Harold's BBQ was first, it was, I had two favors and it was one 00:12:22
of them. And then the Rotary Club of Oconee was second place and then but Styled in was third place, so. 00:12:31
And then this was for the the desserts, the Bake Off. So Coney Butts and Oh was first place. Food guru was second, and Jack's 00:12:42
cheesecake was third, so. 00:12:49
So much fun. Also, it raised a significant amount of money for Bethel Haven, which is a nonprofit in the area that has sliding 00:12:57
scale counseling services for people. 00:13:03
Do I say? 00:13:11
Yeah, it was about $10,000 that was raised for them. So it was a really wonderful event, not only a great time for the community, 00:13:13
but also raised a lot of money for a really good 'cause. So why does it say $400.00 on the screen? Well, so I'll explain. So, so 00:13:20
these were our expenses, but all the ticket sales went to Bethel Haven. So we didn't see any of that. This was between sponsors 00:13:27
and entry fees. There was a total revenue 3800, we had 3377 and 77 cents in expenses. And so the difference we agreed would go. 00:13:35
The extra money that we didn't need for the expenses would go to Bethlehem. So we paid them for 2223 and then they took all the 00:13:43
ticket sales. OK. So we basically broke even to put the event on and then they got another 10,000 from the sales. 00:13:48
Yes. So we didn't. It did not cost the city taxpayers any money to do this event. And yeah, so it was a great partnership. 00:13:54
Cool. 00:14:03
Win, win, win. 00:14:08
OK. 00:14:10
Welcome up, Sergeant Hilbert. 00:14:11
Give us the report. 00:14:15
Good evening. 00:14:17
Are we on? 00:14:19
Good evening. It's good to see some of you guys again. It's been a long time since I've stood up here and and presented to you all 00:14:21
some new faces that I haven't presented to before. So the August 24 council report, we had a lot of folks that completed some 00:14:29
training. I myself finished the second of three courses in our management process down at the Forsyth Training Academy. I'm also 00:14:36
completed the Taser instructor program, which allows us to host training here and also help. 00:14:44
Other agencies that don't have an instructor in the area, those are really hard to come by. So we finished that up. Sergeant Wade 00:14:51
completed his background safety investigator course, which is going to be helpful and hopefully a whole boatload of new applicants 00:14:57
that we have coming in sometime soon. 00:15:03
Officer Christian. Officer Anglin also completed courses. 00:15:10
For the vehicle, the new patrol truck that you guys see sitting in the parking lot and toodling around town, still very, very 00:15:13
clean. It hasn't gone off to get outfitted yet, but it will soon. As soon as the upfitter down in Augusta lets me know that they 00:15:19
have all the parts and pieces in for it. We want to minimize the downtime with that as best we can. So we're going to hold on to 00:15:25
it until the very last second. Then it should be about a week turn around or so. 00:15:31
For the events that we've got scheduled, obviously everybody knows that football seasons starting up really soon, so please 00:15:38
anticipate the traffic increase on Saturdays where we've got home games because. 00:15:44
We have plenty of it. 00:15:51
When football's in session on Saturday, we had officer helped direct traffic down at Core Blend. They were doing a charity event 00:15:53
down there to help with Lydia's place down on Jerry Smith Dr. 00:16:00
Which is a organization that helps with youth and homelessness and stuff like that. And so they they put on something and had a 00:16:07
great competition between all their competitors and donated all the proceeds from my understanding to Lydia's place and they did a 00:16:13
really great job at that. 00:16:19
For the stats for the month, we had two arrests. Both of those were driving related, no insurance and driving on suspended 00:16:26
license. 00:16:30
We answered 248 calls for service. 00:16:34
We did. 00:16:38
1051 security checks were out there, making sure everybody's houses as safe as humanly possible. 00:16:39
You know. 00:16:45
We had 14 reports that were generated from our calls of service, which is about our average, which is about what we normally see. 00:16:46
Then we had 117 citations or warnings combined that were written over the month, which again is about on average with what we're 00:16:54
normally seeing. And those were split almost 5050 with warnings and citations. So the officers are exercising their discretion and 00:17:01
they're they're making sure that what is beneficial for everybody is what they go with. Some folks need a little more. 00:17:09
Encouragement to slow down. 00:17:16
Other than that, we've got to save the date, which I would like to remind everybody of October 6th. 00:17:20
We're partnered with the Sheriff's Office and the first responders and Georgia Home Partners Realty. 00:17:26
For the Responder 5K that we've been doing for a number of years now. 00:17:34
Swing by, we'll have a lot of events there. They always have a good turn out. You'll get to see me in the dunk tank again. I 00:17:38
always enjoy that. Hope to go first. When it's nice and cold it's always fun. 00:17:43
And other than that, we've got also a public service notice. So one of the calls that we responded to over the last month was a 00:17:50
air conditioning unit, an HVAC unit got stolen from, oddly enough, the defects office down on Greensboro Highway, the entire unit 00:17:56
got taken. 00:18:02
They have 4 units, so it took them a little wit a little bit to realize that they were missing in an air conditioning unit. But 00:18:09
somebody came up and cut all the cables and cut the pipes and. 00:18:15
Put in the back of the truck and off they went. 00:18:22
So we've been working with some of the scrap yards in the area. 00:18:24
Through about six different counties, trying to locate the different parts and pieces for this unit. And it was valued about $5000 00:18:29
for the unit itself. So we're trying to figure out who it was that actually took it, but we were working on a couple of different 00:18:34
ways to do that, so. 00:18:39
Other than that. 00:18:46
Anybody have any questions for the Police Department? 00:18:47
Awesome. 00:18:51
Thank you. Thank you. 00:18:52
All right, I will turn it over to Mayor Pro Tem Tucker. 00:18:56
All right, so we have the. 00:19:00
Consent Agenda, the resolution to approve the one year extension of the contract with the County State Bank for banking Services 00:19:02
to expire August 31st, 2025 and approval of the submittal of GERMA and GMA safety grant applications. Do I there any questions or 00:19:10
discussion or hear a motion to approve? 00:19:18
Are there 2 separate or one? It's all the consent agenda. So just one make a motion to approve the consent agenda. 00:19:29
All right. All in favor, aye. 00:19:38
Motion carries 40. 00:19:42
All right, we will move on to. 00:19:53
And then Mr. Ramasamy, is that correct? Then we'll let you come forward after we hear the report from the engineer. 00:20:25
Thank you, Mayor. 00:20:33
So the address for this request is 1071 Camden Park Drive. So Camden Park is a residential subdivision that is near the 00:20:34
Watkinsville city limits. As you're going out the Simonton Bridge Rd. it would be on the southern side before you would get to 00:20:41
Watkinsville Baptist Church. So the size of this parcel, it's approximately 7/10 of an acre. It is on septic. I think that's part 00:20:47
of the application here as well. 00:20:53
It's zoned attached residential and the variance request is. 00:21:01
Garage related. So it is for a front facing garage. If you'll go to the next slide, again you can see there it doesn't directly 00:21:04
abut the the the railroad tracks. There is a sliver of land owned by Watkinsville first that is between this property and the the 00:21:12
railroad tracks. Just for reference, it is located within a cul-de-sac there in Canyon Park. So hopefully that gives you an idea 00:21:19
of where 1071 is. You can see a plat there from when the subdivision was developed. You may remember that. But again. 00:21:26
The the plat itself is from 2005. So the plans that were submitted by the applicant, I did not include the existing plans which 00:21:34
you may actually have within your packet as part of that, but this is the proposed plan. So the proposed is to create an addition 00:21:41
to the existing structure that you saw there in that cul-de-sac. And while there is an existing garage there, there's a request to 00:21:49
put an additional garage off of that same access or driveway point. 00:21:56
And that additional garage is what would be front facing. 00:22:04
So there's a picture you can see there that is, is the the Street View, if you will, for what you just saw of the existing 00:22:08
structure. I will say approximately where the van you see in that driveway is where the access to the to the the new proposed 00:22:15
addition would be, which would mainly include a garage. It includes a few other things as part of it. Those things would need a 00:22:22
variance. The garage specifically that would be front facing is what would need the variance. So that is. 00:22:29
You know essentially what the request is associated with. I did mention. 00:22:37
That septic plays a part of this. The septic drain field, if you saw as part of the application, it's kind of on the southern side 00:22:42
of the house, if you will. It's not on the northern side of the house based on documentation submitted by Environmental Health. So 00:22:49
the idea to potentially put an addition with a garage that is not front facing would be Hanford or limited by the existence of 00:22:56
that existing septic drain field. I know the applicants here as well, but happy to answer any questions council might have. 00:23:03
All right, Mr. and Mrs. Ramaswamy, if you want to come forward and provide any additional context and we'll let Council ask 00:23:11
questions of either party. 00:23:14
Please just state your name and address for the record. Yeah, my name is Rama Raja Ramasamy. I'm the owner of the house on 1071 00:23:20
Cameron Park Dr. I think he described it well. I think you know what you see on that floor plan, everything in black is the 00:23:25
existing house and everything that's in dark and red color is the extension they would like to make. And that garage, that near 2 00:23:31
car garage would be still on the driveway. It is an extent past the the concrete driveway that we have and it doesn't be with the 00:23:37
septic tank. 00:23:43
And the train fields on the South? Yeah, the southern side of the house. 00:23:49
If you have any questions, I'm happy to answer. OK. If you'll remain up here, that would be great. Council questions to staff or 00:23:56
to the applicant. 00:23:59
So have you gotten any feedback from any neighbors on this? 00:24:03
Yeah, all my neighbors know that we're trying to do this extension for quite some time. So we thought the variance is going to be 00:24:08
for something else. And then we realized this for the front facing garage. And actually we have two in the subdivision right next 00:24:15
to us is the front facing garage that's right from the start. And then we have one another house that was built approximately 10 00:24:21
years ago, 4 houses down that's also front facing garage. So it's not unusual for the subdivision. 00:24:27
We have 10 houses in the subdivision and. 00:24:35
Two of them have front facing the rajas already. 00:24:38
And. 00:24:41
We're trying to put this to accommodate growing family. 00:24:45
I'm assuming you're planning on breaking it and matching the house. Yeah, our, our covenants require that it matches with the rest 00:24:49
of the house and the brick won't be 100% match, but you know, we'll try to make sure it's as close of a match as possible because 00:24:54
it's from about 15 years ago. 00:24:59
Any further questions? 00:25:09
All right, hearing none this is will close the public. Anybody else wish to? 00:25:11
Mr. Ramaswamy, you can have a seat I. 00:25:16
This is a public hearing and that hearing is now open. Is there anyone here with us tonight who would like to address this matter? 00:25:20
All right, See, no one will close the public hearing and now we'll move on to a vote council. You've heard the report from the 00:25:29
engineer, you've heard the request from the applicant. We had no public comments. Does anyone want to make a motion? 00:25:34
I'll make a motion to approve the variance request. 00:25:42
And I second, we have a motion. Yep, go ahead. 00:25:45
Make a motion to approve the variance request that meets all the standards of 14 point O5I. 00:25:51
That we tell the standards of 1405. I thank you. 00:26:04
And I once again second that. 00:26:09
We have a motion and a second. I won't attempt to restate that. Any discussion? 00:26:11
Hearing no discussion, all in favor Say aye. Any opposed? 00:26:16
Motion carries for a thank you. 00:26:20
OK. All right. We have no appearances under all businesses. We have none under new businesses. We have new business, excuse me, We 00:26:24
have approval of the submittal of the fiscal year 2025 Georgia Department of Transportation LMAO grants. 00:26:31
And I'll let Manager Dickerson make a report. 00:26:40
Thank you, Mayor. 00:26:43
So we're asking that you approve the submittal of this FY25 G dot G dot L Meg application to rehabilitate and pave Mulberry Street 00:26:46
and the Cemetery Rd. at an estimated cost of $193,570.00. With a little bit more than 47,000 coming from the ELMIG grant that the 00:26:55
state provided. 21,000 from the match that we budget for in the T spot project and an additional 125,000 and some change from. 00:27:04
T spots as well I'll walk you through. 00:27:14
Some of this. So in August of 21, we had a pavement evaluation of all of our roads. The city has to maintain provided an inventory 00:27:16
and condition rating of all those roads, which gave us a list which was we felt like is a better way to to determine the condition 00:27:23
of Rd. than us just going out and looking at it. So we've been following that since then. 00:27:30
In June of. 00:27:38
June of 2023 we received our FFY 24 L Meg money of $43,590.00. 00:27:41
G dot approved that shortly after that, but before decisions were made about how to use that money, the governor and the 00:27:49
legislature included another 250 million in local Rd. assistance funds to cities and counties throughout the state. And with that 00:27:55
we received another almost $54,000. So we use those funds the the new, what they call local Rd. assistance funds, along with our 00:28:02
local Maintenance Improvement Grant funds and. 00:28:08
Recommended. I think I may have moved on to the next page. Here we go. 00:28:15
Recommended Paving School St. Simonton Way on Jackson Street and Niagara Drive. 00:28:19
And then this year we've received and we got all those done. I didn't add up the total, but we got all those done and those have 00:28:27
been completed. And then in June of this year, we received the FY25 application and the amount that we in the notification that we 00:28:35
would receive around $47,000. And so that's what we're here to decide, ask you to consider how to use those funds. 00:28:43
Again, we received this money from the state on an annual basis to to be used for roads, drainage, bridge, bridges, sidewalks, 00:28:52
etc. 00:28:56
In 20. In 2020. 00:29:02
Sorry, I mentioned last year we use 2021 thousand and T spots funds for to match. Sorry, we use 19,000 last year. This year we're 00:29:06
using 21,000 and T splash funds as our local fund for the G for the Elmet grant. So along with the the G dot money, the L Med 00:29:14
grant money of 47,000 and the city's match of 21,000, we have about 68,000 when we started putting together the application and 00:29:21
looking and I'll have a slide in a minute, it'll show you what we. 00:29:29
Estimated this these are going to cost. We realized we weren't going to have enough money. The grant applications are due in 00:29:36
February. We typically try to get them in early and hopefully get some paving done before that gets too cold to do the paving the 00:29:40
end of the year. 00:29:44
Want to talk about a couple things though, how we how we arrived at the decision of the ones we're going to recommend. The paving 00:29:49
management plan that we talked about doesn't have a pavement condition index for Mulberry Street because that is a gravel or 00:29:54
unpaved Rd. So obviously it is prime for for being paved. The Cemetery Rd. is actually the third worst Rd. on the list. Again, 00:30:00
I'll show you that slide in a minute. 00:30:06
15 months or so before we see that that come forward. So we'll keep it on that and try to bring forward, try to pair it up when 00:30:43
the opportunity arises to to pave that road. 00:30:47
The other Rd. the 2nd Rd. that is listed on the pavement condition rating that is the worst is Williamsburg Place. The challenge 00:30:54
with that is similar to Carl's Creek, only half of Williamsburg places inside the city limits, about a point a little bit more 00:31:00
than 1/10 of a mile and serve 7 residential homes. 00:31:06
This is our proposed project report that will go to the Georgia Department of Transportation. We're recommending Mulberry Street 00:31:43
from 3rd St. to the dead end. And then we're recommending Cemetery Rd. which is a single lane Rd. which makes it maybe a little 00:31:49
bit less expensive because it's not a two lane. And I'll show you what we're estimating 193,000 minus the money that we have from 00:31:55
the grant and the match that's already been budgeted. We'll need another 125,000, which we're going to recommend come from the T 00:32:01
spot. 00:32:06
Project, which is what those funds are supposed to be used for. 00:32:13
Very tiny, tiny, sorry about that. But the very top Rd. I actually typed in Mulberry Street because it wasn't on there. Again, a 00:32:17
gravel Rd. similar to Durham St. and then Williamsburg below it and then Cemetery Rd. So you'll see. We're trying to stick to the 00:32:25
very top and the condition ratings are 20, I think 2020, 734 out of 100, so definitely not in the greatest shape. 00:32:33
Mulberry Street, Just a visual of what Mulberry Street looks like. So you'll see where the 3rd St. label is. That's Rocket Field. 00:32:41
Go a little bit further out and you'll see Mulberry Street and the estimated length of that. 00:32:48
And then Cemetery Rd. 00:32:55
Again, that's a single single line Rd. 00:32:58
So again, we're recommending to submit our application to rehabilitate and pave Mulberry and Cemetery Rd. at cost of what we 00:33:02
estimate will be 193,000. Maybe it'll be less appropriating the funding that Elma gave us a 47,000 and some change, the 21,000 and 00:33:10
teeth lost that has been budgeted and appropriating an additional 125,461 from the teeth floss budget. 00:33:17
All right. Any questions for staff on that? 00:33:29
Repay. So anyway, thank you for your diligence on that, Manager Dickerson. And I think during my Mayor's report, we'll kind of 00:34:02
talk a little bit more about how some of these, some of these areas are going to connect together to over the next couple years. 00:34:08
All right. 00:34:17
I make the motion to approve. We have a motion. Do we have a second? 00:34:18
Second, all right. We have a motion and a second, it's right for discussion if anybody wants to add anything. 00:34:22
Hearing none, all in favor say aye aye. Any opposed? 00:34:27
Motion carries 4 O. 00:34:31
Our friends in the cemetery will be glad to get those roads upgraded. They are in rough shape so. 00:34:33
All right, we'll move forward for public comments and for those of you who are new, we're moving pretty quickly through here 00:34:38
tonight. So we'll just have council reports after that and then we'll have a brief executive session after that. So public 00:34:44
comments, this is the time with you. Have something you want to say? Come on up to the podium. 4 minutes per person, same rules as 00:34:49
before, but if anybody has anything they want to offer us, come on up tonight. 00:34:55
Don't everybody come at once. 00:35:03
All right, we'll move on. 00:35:06
All right. Mayors report, have a few things to discuss. If you've driven down Simonton Bridge Rd. no doubt you've noticed the 00:35:10
progress at the park, very exciting. What you can't see is in the back, in the front we have, we've made significant progress, but 00:35:17
also in the back, most of the trails have been roughed in. We're beginning to put down the aggregate surface on that. 00:35:24
Trail, so it looks really great back there. I went for scouting walk last night. It looked like the Serengeti. There was about 30 00:35:32
deer out there running around and coyotes, Hawks, all the things. So it's really beautiful. People are really going to enjoy it. 00:35:39
It makes makes my heart happy that this this time next year, even in the spring, people be out there. We also started yesterday on 00:35:46
the paved path. You can see there in red and blue. Those are going to be. 00:35:53
The paved path, so that's mainly at the front of the property. 00:36:00
I think the blue ones are 8 feet wide with a four foot aggregate shoulder. The red ones are just eight feet wide. Is that correct, 00:36:04
Manager Dickerson? I think that's right. So those will all be paved paths that will be accessible to folks in wheelchairs and 00:36:11
otherwise. And so we have a great crew out there focused and working on that. You can see the circle there that looks like a semi 00:36:19
circle. We've also will have an aggregate path with a bridge that'll go around the smaller pond in that area while it looks under. 00:36:26
Construction now is a wet one that will then grow back up around that path. So people be able to walk through a natural wetland 00:36:33
that will grow back up. So that that works also underway. I think we have one more slide is that right, manager Dickson? And then 00:36:39
we've also completed work on the restroom and the old dairy barn and house out there. So that's not open to the public yet, but 00:36:45
when it when it does, it's in great shape. So our our bidders did a nice job on that and we'll also tie that in that's. 00:36:51
ADA accessible. And so we'll tie that in with our paved area. So things are moving out there. 00:36:59
It's very exciting to see. Again, we're targeting the end of the year to open up that park to the public. 00:37:04
I know we've, I think we've touched on this a few times, but this is this also sort of connects the dots, but not between some of 00:37:11
the work we're doing in the cemetery and along Mulberry. We are trying to improve Mulberry, but we're also planning a significant 00:37:16
bike pedestrian upgrade in that area too. So you see here, I think is this supposed to be an 8 foot or 10 foot wide sidewalk? 00:37:22
Sharon, do you remember what we skipped? 00:37:27
10 foot. 00:37:34
It's not. 00:37:35
Generally A10 foot wide bike pedestrian path along Simonton Bridge Rd. that would connect Rocket Field to Simonton Place for now, 00:37:38
but it will also connect the park to to downtown, which is really important. You'll see here that it is going to be adjacent to 00:37:44
the park and to the cemetery and then. 00:37:51
We plan to come through the area the the woods between the cemetery and Mulberry to connect with a bridge through there, which 00:37:58
allows us to avoid the really steep grade on Simonton Bridge. So that's that's the plan right now. We have a schedule for that. 00:38:03
Right now we're in the engineering and right away acquisition phase for that project and we're working with various property 00:38:09
owners to get that done. 00:38:15
Waters Walk is underway. Demolition has been completed. 00:38:22
And that project, as Sharon said, will take about 18 months to be completed, but we're excited to finally see that project 00:38:27
underway. That's for 5555 and over only in that project. 00:38:32
I had the pleasure last week of meeting with Representative Mike Collins in Madison and they hosted as Chairman. Daniel and I went 00:38:41
down there. He had some good questions about challenges we're facing. I mentioned some of the difficulties in smaller cities being 00:38:47
able to utilize federal dollars due to a lot of red tape and. 00:38:54
And then we have Constitution. We have Constitution Day coming up sponsored. Our John Andrew chapter is really leaning into that. 00:39:30
Along with some of our other local civic groups. So you'll see here that they've got programs scheduled September 15th at Ashford 00:39:38
for Constitution history and then the Constitution Day bell ringing on September 17th. There may be a firing of cannons or 00:39:45
muskets. I think they're still working through when that happens. I know that always gets people's attention when the cannon goes 00:39:51
off. So just be aware on September 17th if you hear a loud noise. 00:39:57
It's probably it's probably the probably the cannon going off and what's the movies that Mary Poppins where they have the guy next 00:40:04
door who fire the fire the cannon, you know, and every they had to hold all the clocks anyway. It always kind of reminds me of 00:40:08
reminds me of that. So we're. 00:40:12
But we're grateful to the Daughters of the American Revolution for their patriotism and their energy around Constitution Day. 00:40:16
Event that's what we rebuilt rocket field for we said that not only could we have baseball but so that we could have those kind of 00:40:53
community events and it really showed well and Lawrence I'm glad to see you here I've been enjoying seeing all the people playing 00:40:59
potong at the at those areas too. That's been awesome and. 00:41:04
Anyway, it looks it's really great to see people using that too. So thank you for your vision and and your persistence in terms of 00:41:12
getting that done. It's it really is great to see people of all ages utilizing rocket field and what we did out there. 00:41:19
And then the second thing before we move on, I think I might have mentioned this last month, but I'm going to mention it again 00:41:26
because people need to know about it. The governor did approve in July $14 million to advance the Watkinsville bypass project. 00:41:32
That is for right of way acquisition and preliminary engineering, which is huge. 00:41:38
So that that project the route has not been determined. 00:41:46
But the engineering will determine that. There will be public conversations about that, but that is a huge step forward in terms 00:41:50
of reducing. 00:41:53
The traffic in downtown Watkinsville that many of you here and others are have been frustrated by and a lot of our downtown 00:41:57
residents are frustrated by because once you unclog Main Street, it is going to free up so many other things. So we're still years 00:42:03
away from that. Those projects don't happen fast. But that now has what's called a, a project number at the May Courts plan. This, 00:42:10
the funds that have been allocated will accelerate that project even further. 00:42:16
So we anticipate this phase probably taking one to three years to get the engineering and the right away done and then we can move 00:42:23
into final engineering and construction. But that is huge news for the long term health of downtown Watkinsville and for the city 00:42:28
as a whole to get truck traffic. 00:42:33
And a lot of the through traffic out of the city. So that's great news and our final item. 00:42:39
Happy birthday, Chuck Garrett. 00:42:45
August 5th, I think so. We always like to celebrate our council members. So Chuck, happy birthday to you. With that, we'll move on 00:42:49
to council reports and our birthday boy is first. Chuck, you have anything to report? 00:42:55
I recently attended the hazardous mitigation plan with county and Sergeant and Toby was there to keep us all in line. So but it 00:43:02
was very interesting to be there and just I think the county goes to great lengths to make sure we're safe in the city. Police 00:43:10
working alongside of them, but a lot of brainstorming and coming up with ideas and ways to get the public. 00:43:19
Our citizens more. 00:43:28
In team with. 00:43:31
Emergency, we got a lot of information, but a lot of people don't know where to get the information. I know Sharon does a good job 00:43:32
of putting stuff on the on the city web and stuff and just as something going forward to all of us going to have to do. 00:43:39
To make sure you know, when people get their bills, water bills, all kind of things, just letting the citizens know everything 00:43:48
that's out there other than 911 so and also I know they can be shifting the traffic on the. 00:43:56
The roads, everybody going to public starting in the morning, there's going to be a big traffic shift, so. 00:44:05
Be careful, Be careful. 00:44:13
Chuck, are you going to get that project finished for us anytime soon down there? 00:44:17
Nobody wants to take ownership of that, All right, Councilwoman Massey. 00:44:24
All right, Mayor Pro Tem Tucker. 00:44:29
Just I am headed down to Thomasville on Monday for a couple of days for the downtown development. Is it authority? Georgia 00:44:32
Downtown Association? Sorry, there's lots of associations, but I'm excited to learn more from people in our state about just how 00:44:40
to continue to make our downtown thrive and be great. So excited to learn next week. 00:44:48
I did see we have a new store coming into Town Center to replace Burden Brass, which is opened up has expanded and now we have a 00:44:56
children's clothing store. It looks like coming to Town Center. Yes. And if you haven't been to Burden Brass their new location, 00:45:03
it is in Judge Shivers old office and it's a great use of the space. She's also hosting workshops in the upstairs space. So it 00:45:10
gave her the space to expand not only. 00:45:17
She has a lot of original art, but also. 00:45:24
Home Decor and is hosting different workshops so last Saturday there was one on floral design and it's just another community 00:45:27
gathering space so check out Burden brass if you hadn't and we'll welcome these new businesses as they come in as well. It's a 00:45:32
great sound that our main streets filling up very quickly as soon as the space is available for rent they're they're filling up 00:45:37
so. 00:45:43
All right, Councilman Campbell. 00:45:49
Just a little more on the BBQ cook off. We had a follow up meeting after the contest to kind of. 00:45:52
Determine all our roles and so we can get the behind the scenes stuff a little more organized for next year. And we're having a 00:45:58
second follow up meeting Sarah, Melanie and I on Monday. So creating the To Do List for it and see how we can keep improving it. 00:46:06
For real estate and litigation, please make a motion to move into executive session for real estate and potential litigation. 00:46:44
Second. All right, all in favor. Say aye. All right, 3 minutes if you need to see anybody. 00:46:52
All right. Do we have a motion to adjourn? I make a motion to adjourn second. 00:47:00
All in favor, say aye. All right, you have a great evening. 00:47:05