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All right, Good evening. Welcome to the November Watkinsville City Council meeting. We have a quorum here. Glad we have perfect 00:00:15
attendance tonight. We'll start with the Pledge of Allegiance. 00:00:20
Shannon Brock, if you'd lead us in the pledge, please, Sir. 00:00:26
I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands, one nation under God, 00:00:30
indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. 00:00:37
I'll call you Chief because that's what I always called you. We're thrilled to have you back in here with us tonight for a special 00:00:45
occasion. And it's just great to see your smiling face in the chambers again tonight. So thank you for leading us with that. 00:00:53
The fine print that I get to begin every meeting with. 00:01:05
That our lawyers tell me. I have to say if you have hearing impairments. 00:01:08
CC icon in the lower right of the video window. When the video from tonight's meeting is posted online, closed captions will 00:02:13
automatically appear. Interest in parties could also view a transcript of the meeting under the tab titled Transcript. As a 00:02:18
reminder, notice of the Council meeting along with the current month agenda is posted one full week before the meeting to allow 00:02:22
the public sufficient time to provide comments in writing. 00:02:27
All right. We're going to start with the administration of oath of office for our new DDA board members. I know Erica Fluke is 00:02:32
here. I don't think Brock Tool is. Erica, if you could step forward, Attorney Reitman will administer the oath. 00:02:38
We have one. 00:02:51
Very good evening. Congratulations. And this is somewhat ceremonial because we did administer an oath previously, so you'll be 00:02:52
official. But let's go ahead and repeat this posterity. If you'll raise your right hand, please do you, a citizen of Oconee 00:02:58
County, Georgia, solemnly swear that you will to the best of your ability. 00:03:05
Without favor or affection to any person, without any unauthorized financial gain or compensation to yourself, faithfully and 00:03:13
fairly discharge all the duties and responsibilities that devolve upon you as a member of the Watkinsville Downtown Development 00:03:19
Authority during the term of your service as such member and that you will support the Constitution of the United States and the 00:03:24
Constitution of Georgia. And you are not a member of the Communist Party. You are not the holder of any unaccounted for public 00:03:30
money. Do this. 00:03:36
Or any political subdivision or authority thereof. That you are not the holder of any office of trust under the government of the 00:03:42
United States, any other state, or any foreign state which you would be by the law as the State of Georgia, prohibited from 00:03:47
holding. And that you're otherwise qualified to hold said office according to constitutional laws of Georgia. And if you agree 00:03:52
with that, you can say I do. 00:03:58
Congratulations. 00:04:04
Mrs. Floyd runs a wonderful new business downtown. How long have you been open now? One year called Bird and Brass. If you've not 00:04:10
been to Bird and Brass, you need to visit. It's I'll let you describe it in a moment, but to me it is a wonderful mix of 00:04:16
inspiring. 00:04:21
Lifestyle materials and art and then you also she does art classes and just is in a lovely restored building downtown. 00:04:28
So Miss Flake, if you want to maybe for a minute, just describe your business and maybe why you're interested in joining the DDA 00:04:34
and then we'll turn you loose. 00:04:37
Hang on one second. Joe took the microphone. Hold on, I was ready to go on my next. 00:04:40
Thank you. Yes. So Burden Pass is a gift shop. I'm located just across from Blind Pick Tavern at 13 N Main, and I'm an artist, so 00:04:47
I have a lot of my art there. I also paint ornaments and pet portraits and make wreaths and all kinds of fun, you know, beautiful 00:04:53
crafty things. So so I sell all of those things at the store as well as just an assortment of beautiful gifts and things that just 00:05:00
help people appreciate nature. 00:05:06
And the beauty of nature. So that's kind of the concept behind the store. And I was just so thrilled to join. This has been such a 00:05:13
wonderful community that just welcomed me so well in the last five years. And I just want to be a part of it in a more meaningful 00:05:19
way and just contribute to the growth of downtown. So I'm very thankful. 00:05:26
Thank you. 00:05:33
Congratulations. And Erica, you're welcome to stay as long as you like. Our next item on the agenda is the oath of office for 00:05:39
Police Chief James R Wood. 00:05:44
Mr. Allwood, if you want to come forward. 00:05:50
I'm going to come over here to decide the hearing loop. 00:05:52
And I will read the oath and at the end you can see I do or I do some help of God. Let's raise our right hands. Do James, all 00:05:56
would solemnly swear or affirm that you will faithfully execute the office of Chief of Police for the City of Watkinsville. And to 00:06:04
the best of your ability, support and defend the Constitution of the United States, the Constitution of Georgia, and the charter, 00:06:11
ordinances and regulations of the City of Watkinsville, and that you are not the holder of any unaccounted for public money. 00:06:18
Do this State, or any political subdivision or authority thereof, and that you are not the holder of any office of trust under the 00:06:25
Government of the United States, any other state or any foreign State which you by the laws the State of Georgia will be 00:06:31
prohibited from holding. That you are otherwise qualified to hold said office according to Constitution and laws of Georgia, and 00:06:37
that you will perform the duties of your office in the best interest of the City of Watkinsville to the best of your ability, 00:06:43
without fear, favor, affection, reward. 00:06:49
Expectation thereof, if you agree with that oath, you can say I do or I do, so help me God. 00:06:55
Congratulations welcome. 00:07:01
In chief, I'll just say, you know, we went through a pretty rigorous search process. You rose to the top. We are grateful to you, 00:07:08
grateful for your service before and Jefferson and elsewhere, and excited to see what you bring to Watkinsville in the years ahead 00:07:14
as we seek to be Georgia's best small town. So I'll let you say a few words if you'd like, and welcome to Watkinsville. Sure, 00:07:21
sure. First. 00:07:27
Say thank you. I'm very blessed and very humbled with this opportunity. I want to thank the Lord for giving me direction, guided 00:07:33
me to this and through this journey. You know, I didn't really know what to expect going forward, but I feel very, very, very 00:07:40
thankful that I rose to the top and have this opportunity. I want to thank my wife, who is my best friend and thank her for her 00:07:47
support my family back here. 00:07:54
On the back row, you know your family makes you who you are. 00:08:01
Through the thick and the thin, I want to thank the city. Watkinsville. 00:08:06
The mayor, all the council, city manager, city clerk, finance manager, the Police Department and you know, honestly, that's what 00:08:11
made my decision was I come down here and I felt comfortable. I like the family atmosphere and I just want to be a part of it. I'm 00:08:17
excited and I'm ready to go. Great. 00:08:23
Sure. 00:08:35
Yeah. And I saw, I saw Officer Wade raised his hand when you recognize the family there. So, yeah. Yeah. All right. Yeah. 00:08:36
All right. 00:09:05
Yeah, OK. All right. 00:09:13
Congratulations. 00:09:27
I got a couple. 00:09:48
I failed to recognize when earlier when I was recognizing police chiefs. We do have the police chief of Jefferson here with us 00:10:08
tonight. Chief, thank you for being here. And. 00:10:11
Supporting now Chief Harwood, grateful for all you've done to grow him in his career. So thank you for being here with us tonight. 00:10:16
Yep, thank you. 00:10:22
All right, couple items under point of privilege. First of all, I'd like to invite Tony Ferguson to the podium. It sounds like 00:10:25
we've got some good news Mr. Ferguson might share with us about. 00:10:32
The contribution that will benefit downtown Watkinsville. Yeah. Well, thank you, Mayor. Thank you for having me here tonight. So 00:10:40
Georgia Power for over 100 years, 1883 is when we were formed and we've made a commitment to the communities that we serve. And 00:10:47
that's been our motto for over 100 years, to be a citizen where we serve. And one of the ways that we can do that is giving back 00:10:54
to our community. So we're excited to announce a $35,000 donation to the city of Watkinsville. 00:11:02
To help partner on the Downtown Development strategic Plan. 00:11:09
So we're just glad to be a part of that. Thank you. Great. 00:11:12
Thank you, Tony. 00:11:15
So later tonight, I think it's under consent, but we'll have a, we'll have a budget item to accept those funds and put it into the 00:11:21
budget. And Christine will look forward to you and the DA advising us how we can deploy those funds and put them to work for 00:11:28
downtown. So thank you again, Tony, for all that y'all do. Georgia Power has been a great partner for Watkinsville. 00:11:34
Through thick and thin and when the lights are on and when the lights are off. So, so we're grateful to that. And hopefully the 00:11:42
squirrels stay out of the substation for the remainder of the years the holidays approach. So all right, Next up, we have a 00:11:46
proclamation for. 00:11:51
National Hospice and Palliative Care Month is Matt Howell here. 00:11:57
All right, Mr. Howell is not here then, Julie, I'll just let you kind of read that into the record at some point, or not read it 00:12:02
in the record. Just put it into the record. Then I don't think we need to read that. Next, we'll recognize the fall for 00:12:06
Watkinsville contest winners. 00:12:10
Our third place. 00:12:15
Winner is Miss Carol Ivy. 00:12:17
Carol. 00:12:21
I. 00:12:28
I don't know how Miss Carroll St. got ended. Feel like she wins all of our contests. Congratulations. 00:12:30
Well, there's a reason she's on a permanent First Lady. 00:12:39
But your house is always beautiful. You have to wrap the front door yet for Christmas. 00:12:48
No, that happens. Our second place winner is Miss Megan Richter. All right. 00:12:56
Now where do y'all live? 00:13:08
The Meadow Springs. OK, awesome. Well, congratulations. All right. 00:13:10
And your name? David Steen when you pop in the middle, Megan and you'll. 00:13:14
Each of our. 00:13:34
Burger and so we got a lot of good burgers in town and the mayor gets in trouble if he endorses 1 burger of another. And then Miss 00:14:06
Carol, you've got a $25.00 gift certificate. The Wing House, which also has a great burger, and you've got a copy of the ornament 00:14:12
as well. Sharon, who did our ornament this year. 00:14:17
Klein. 00:14:24
Yeah. 00:14:26
It's a client finds creations later and handmade creations and it's it is inspired by Francis Bird art, which was part of the was 00:14:27
one of the artists that worked on the downtown rock and art right. OK, so this will be available this year to start commemorative 00:14:33
ornament. You'll see them on our tree. So thank you all for participating and congratulations again. You all can stay as long as 00:14:39
you want, but don't feel like you've got to hang around if you don't want to. We'll move pretty quickly through all right, 00:14:45
approval of the minutes council. 00:14:50
You've had the minutes in front of you. We did get do have a correction. I'd like to suggest we had someone review the minutes and 00:14:57
we looked at his comment and decided that we may need to adjust that. So Julie, if you could read the adjustment that we would 00:15:03
Julie and I'd like to recommend and if possible council, if you'd consider amending the minutes to include that language, we'd 00:15:09
appreciate it. Sure. On page 2 under public hearing, Bob Smith S Main St. expressed opposition. We're going to remove expressed 00:15:14
opposition. 00:15:20
And Put alleged that the city might not be abiding by open meetings law regarding the pipe plant property. 00:15:27
OK. I think that's an accurate reflection of what Mr. Smith said. If you all agree, if someone could make a motion to accept the 00:15:36
minutes as amended, that would be great. I make a motion to accept the minutes as amended. 00:15:41
Do we have a 2nd, 2nd? 00:15:46
Any discussion? 00:15:48
All in favor say aye. Any opposed like sign? 00:15:50
All right, minutes are accepted. Approval of agenda. I'd like to move the mayor's report to after approval of agenda, if everyone 00:15:54
is willing to do that. If you're willing to do that, please make a motion indicating so. I make a motion to approve the agenda, 00:15:59
moving the mayor's comments to right after this. 00:16:05
2nd a second. We have a second. Any discussion hearing none all in favor say aye. Any opposed? 00:16:12
All right, motion carries. All right, Mayor's report. I'm going to go through this while we have people here. We've had a lot 00:16:18
happening in Watkinsville. We have the fall Festival. Hard to believe that's been a month already. Time flies. 25 to 30,000 people 00:16:24
was our estimate from Mr. Hibler. I thought it was a second year with the new format and I thought it went off seamlessly. I don't 00:16:30
know if all of y'all were able to be there, but it was really a beautiful day. 00:16:35
It's taking our graphs a few weeks to recover. We didn't have much rain leading into that, but other than that, I think that was 00:16:43
the only, only living creature that didn't enjoy that beautiful day out there was our grass. Otherwise, it was perfect. 00:16:48
Congratulations to these three folks on their re-election unopposed. Congratulations, Brett, Christine and Jeff, happy to have you 00:16:53
all here for another two years. 00:16:59
On November 11th, we decorated, put flags up in honor of veteran's day at the Watkinsville Cemetery. Really grateful to the 00:17:06
National Society, the Daughters, the American Revolution, the John Andrew chapter that helps us with that every year. Connie, 00:17:12
thank you for being out there to help with that that effort. It is, it is not easy sometimes finding, finding those graves and 00:17:18
figuring out who is who. And so Lori Trail and her group have done a great job of mapping that out and identifying it and allowing 00:17:24
us. 00:17:29
Those who have served and sacrificed for their country. 00:17:36
Thomas Farm Preserve tremendously. 00:17:41
Progress over the past month and hard to believe but this at our next council meeting we will have it open. So our date for the 00:17:44
grand opening is December 14th. If you want to put it on your calendar. It looks like we will have, we will have an event around 00:17:52
11:30 out there. Hopefully we have good weather so we're looking at but we'll have some events throughout the day. 00:18:00
Where people can, I think we're planning maybe a leash cutting at the dog park. 00:18:08
Where people can enjoy that, we will have kind of a first walk and run on some of the trails. We'll have some hiking, some 00:18:13
mountain biking, so whatever people enjoy. So December 14th. 00:18:17
But the work that we have still to complete painting the structures, we have signage to go up, kind of punch list type items. But 00:18:23
it'll probably take us, I know it'll take us until the 14th to get all that done and make it safely available to the public. But 00:18:28
it's it's really beautiful. 00:18:33
Great progress at on the Hair Shoals boardwalk. I know there's a lot of interest in that as well and people miss being able to 00:18:40
walk across that. You can see progress shots there as I recall, that sort of the Trek slumber going down. So that should last a 00:18:46
really long time. We're able to reuse most of the number that's underneath that and we're adding new rails and new new trucks 00:18:52
there. So that's going to be really great when it's done and they're making steady progress. 00:18:57
We've also put out to bid the Giardini Green project at Harris Shoals Park. So this is where the old Giordini baseball field was. 00:19:05
So this is a concept rendering. This is what. And then the next one shows sort of the plan view of what it'll look like. This is 00:19:12
on the other side of the Creek. Hopeful to have that well underway in the spring. 00:19:19
And the Simonton Bridge pedestrian connector, some preliminary work has been occurring. You've seen that's right at the Thomas 00:19:30
Farm Parks project, we are hoping to have phase one done, phase one done by spring and the rest of it done by the end of next 00:19:38
year. I'm hoping December 2025, not January 2026. So, so we'll see the. 00:19:46
The utility relocation is taking longer than we hoped it would. So that's kind of pushing our timing back on that. But we're going 00:19:55
to do as much as we can in the short term. 00:19:58
Waters Walk is progressing behind Oconee State Bank. 00:20:02
And a lot of work on infrastructure and underground work there. Again, that's 55 and over only housing. Sharon, what's the unit 00:20:06
count there? 6060 units there. 00:20:12
Back there, this is kind of a now a amenity for the residents and a really nice view that they have. So they've done some nice 00:20:49
landscaping back there and turn that into something nice. 00:20:53
And there's walking paths around that as well. And that that's a 7 1/2 acre parcel that's been preserved back there. 00:20:58
On Morrison St. the residents requested some speed bumps and so we've responded to that. We installed temporary speed bumps. Those 00:21:07
are much more cost effective and we need to repave. They're easy to remove, so you see one on the Business Blvd. side and another 00:21:11
on the residential side. 00:21:16
This guy. 00:21:53
Has been chairman of first started, I think is the city's representative on the library board 10 years ago. And we all know over 00:21:55
the past two years being in charge of a library has not been easy. 00:22:01
And Mark Campbell, we are grateful for your leadership and your services. The Oconee County Library Board Chair. 00:22:07
We know that is you've been in the line of fire on some tough, tough moments and you've more than held your own over the past 00:22:14
couple years. So we're grateful to you for your service and thankful for what you've done and getting the new library opened up in 00:22:19
Wire Park. We also know not every chair gets to do something like that, so that was a big lift. So we're thankful to you for all 00:22:23
your work over the past 10 years. 00:22:28
Last month we recognized the Oconee County middle school cross country team. They were state champions. I always like to recognize 00:22:47
teams that win a state title. This one was the Oconee County boys high school cross country team won a state title a few weeks 00:22:53
ago. It was their third in a row, which is a big deal. Only one other team, the softball team at Oconee's 3P to twice. But they're 00:22:59
the they're the first team to do that in many years and. 00:23:05
Excited for them. 00:23:11
And the girls team took third and you'll see here the boys really wanted to celebrate them too. So they picked up their confetti 00:23:13
and decided to throw it in the air around the girls too. This is the girls the 8th year finishing in the top four. So 00:23:17
congratulations to our cross country teams. 00:23:21
And this guy has a birthday, Jeff Campbell. So happy birthday Jeff, your your council member with a birthday this month. 00:23:26
So we will move on from that to administration and. 00:23:35
Manager Dickerson, I will let you lead the way here. So the first item tonight is the fiscal year 2024 audit. So will Merit is 00:23:39
here with Russian and company and he'll present the audit. 00:23:45
All right. Good evening. 00:23:55
Hey. 00:23:58
Good evening. Depending on how the audit goes. So yeah, yeah, yeah. Evening, maybe I should say. 00:24:01
Thank you all for having us having me here tonight. 00:24:09
I've been working on this audit several years now and it's just. 00:24:14
Awesome to see the progress that's been made here, seeing the preservation of the land and those slides the mayor just shared. 00:24:18
It's just. 00:24:21
It's remarkable to see what what you guys are doing here and. 00:24:26
Not every place that I go and give a presentation to, can I say that. So kudos to you guys. Congratulations. This is an awesome 00:24:30
place and we appreciate the relationship and and hope we can continue it into the future. I hope that County Enterprise was taking 00:24:36
detailed notes on your entire remarks there so. 00:24:42
So. 00:24:51
I'll kind of get into the the meat of why I'm here. So we're here to present the audit. We come and. 00:24:52
Do some on site work multiple times, typically one time during the summer and then we come back again in in the September, October 00:25:00
time frame and we go through a lot. It's pretty extensive process, which I'm sure Lee and Sharon and Julie can alltel you, but 00:25:07
it's. 00:25:13
It's, it's good, it's rewarding. And we, we do kind of find a lot, not a lot of bad things, but we find a lot. And then we are 00:25:21
able to help the city produce these financial statements, which you all have a bound copy of. And you'll see that nice pretty logo 00:25:28
on the front of there. You also have a bound copy of this presentation. So if I go through it too quickly, you can look back 00:25:36
through it and if you have any questions. 00:25:43
I'll be glad to answer any that you have tonight or going forward. 00:25:51
So First things first, this the presentation kind of goes in order of the report. So kind of the first thing I want to highlight 00:25:57
is our independent auditors report. 00:26:02
And it includes the audit opinion, which is really what you pay us for. And it's it's why we're here. We're here to issue an 00:26:08
opinion on the financial statements and their freedom from misstatement. 00:26:15
And for the fiscal year into June 30th, 2024, we've issued an unmodified opinion, which is basically a clean opinion is the best 00:26:22
opinion you can have. So that means we believe these financial statements present fairly in all material respects the financial 00:26:30
position of the City of Watkinsville as of June 30, 2024 and that they are free from. 00:26:38
Material misstatement, whether due to fraud or error. 00:26:47
We also have. 00:26:52
We outlined in this presentation the cities responsibility and our responsibility as an auditor. And we also go through what the 00:26:53
auditing standards are that we go by. I'm not going to bore you with all that, but just know that there are audit standards that 00:27:00
we have to go by while we're conducting this audit. 00:27:06
So next, this is just an overview of what's in the annual financial report. We have the government wide statements. So these are 00:27:15
the statements that provide information on the city as a whole. So not individual fund statements. This is the entire city in 00:27:21
these government wide statements. 00:27:27
Biggest thing here is net position. So this is your equity, so to speak. This is your assets minus your liabilities. We presented 00:27:36
a three-year comparison here I. 00:27:41
This stacked bar chart, I thought this was a pretty good illustration of kind of the work that's been happening, So you'll see. 00:27:49
That investment in capital assets is in blue, your restricted net position is in red, and your unrestricted net position is in 00:27:58
green. 00:28:02
So you'll see that $300,000 increase in unrestricted net position. 00:28:08
And then you'll see that. 00:28:13
About $2,000,000 increase in that investment in capital assets. 00:28:15
I'm sure you guys can probably guess what that's for. That's for that beautiful farm that has been purchased and y'all are making 00:28:20
a park. Well that. 00:28:25
That total amount of that asset goes into this calculation, so that's part of the large increase there. 00:28:31
So this is your change in that position. This is the kind of the bottom line on your statement of activities or your income 00:28:39
statement, as you can see, quite a stark change from 23 to 24. 00:28:45
A large portion of this change is due to capital grants and contributions related to that project, that Thomas Farm project. 00:28:52
These grants and contributions include ARPA. 00:29:03
And then this also includes your T SPLOST and SPLOST revenues. So sales taxes have been strong for the city of Watkinsville and 00:29:06
they continue to remain strong and this change in that position reflects that strength of your sales tax. 00:29:14
So then we'll kind of get into the general fund, which is the primary operating fund of the city. 00:29:24
So this is a depiction of the revenues and expenditures of the general fund. Sorry, those two numbers in 2022 are kind of close 00:29:30
together. But we really don't care about 22, right? We care about 24. 00:29:37
So you'll see pretty large increase in expenditures this year. 00:29:46
And then a solid increase in revenues, but the expenditure is kind of far outpaced that. 00:29:51
These are these are what we call above the line. So these are operating revenues and then I've got some notes here on the non 00:29:59
operating stuff, but you're operating in revenues increased almost $500,000 or about 18% primarily property tax increases, motor 00:30:06
vehicle tax increases and sales tax increases is what makes up that increase in general fund revenue. That's a digest increase not 00:30:14
a rate increase, correct, correct. 00:30:21
Yeah, that's an assessed value increase, Yeah. And that's pretty uniform across the state. I live in Hall County and we've 00:30:29
definitely seen that there as well. 00:30:34
Like revenues, your expenditures are way up. They increased about $3.6 million in 2024, had some increase in public works about 10 00:30:42
percent, 63,000 bucks, but primarily. 00:30:49
That increase is in culture and recreation. 00:30:57
$3.6 million increase in culture and recreation and that's the purchase of the park and the ongoing project there. 00:31:01
And that land acquisition cost we have it about 3.55 million. 00:31:10
So, and that's total, that's not just the land, but that's kind of total everything that had happened as of June 30, 2024. 00:31:16
So. 00:31:25
Other, other items on that statement, the general fund revenue and expense statement, you had proceeds on the sale of capital 00:31:28
assets of about 15,000 bucks and then you had proceeds from the issuance of debt $3.5 million and that's your G4 loan that you 00:31:34
incurred to purchase that property. 00:31:40
That's also on that statement. 00:31:47
This is a breakdown of your general fund revenues by source, not a lot of change here. Biggest percentage is your local option 00:31:50
sales tax. As we talked about, sales tax has been strong. That 19% in red, that's your property tax. So property tax makes up 00:31:58
about 20% of your general fund revenue. Sales tax makes up 30%. So 1550% is made-up by those two. 00:32:06
Line items. 00:32:15
And then this is your general fund expenditures by function. 00:32:18
Obviously, the largest one here is, is the culture and recreation at 58%. That will not always be the case. That was just this 00:32:23
year with the purchase of the park, but then we got public safety and public works coming in at 14 and 10% respectively. Those are 00:32:30
typically your two largest expenditures by function. 00:32:37
All right, so. 00:32:46
This year and every year, we issue a report on the city's internal controls. 00:32:48
We do not upon on these internal controls, but we issue a report on them and this is where we would issue any findings that we 00:32:54
have. 00:32:58
We have two findings this year. They're the same as they've been in years past. They're in the report on pages 58 and 59. And I'll 00:33:03
just kind of summarize them and not get into any any of the details on those. But the first one is a basically a gap training 00:33:11
recommendation, which is a generally accepted accounting principles. And it basically just means that you need ACPA to come in 00:33:18
here and help you kind of get your books or your finances up to. 00:33:26
Standards of generally accepting accounting principles. This is very common, not unusual at all. We issue this finding on many, 00:33:33
many of our clients and this is it's normal. 00:33:39
The second one is what we call our year end clothes finding and it it's pretty similar to the gap training finding and it 00:33:46
basically means you guys need ACPA or an outside account to come in and help you with the accrual work, so recording receivables 00:33:52
and payables. 00:33:57
And just kind of getting things in order to present in the financial statements. 00:34:04
So again, nothing new here. These are these are the same findings as before, so. 00:34:11
If there, if there's any question on those, the details can be found pages 58 and 59. Well, if I can just point out to currently 00:34:16
Lee Black, our Finance Director is receiving some training and we believe that perhaps by this time next year she'll be able to do 00:34:22
that work that you just mentioned. So awesome. That's great. 00:34:27
And I know I've actually seen Lee at some conferences, so I actually know that she's getting some training. Yeah. 00:34:34
So this is kind of the big change this year. 00:34:40
So with the purchase of of the park, you guys took out AG Flone well that that G Fullone is actually backed by our funded with 00:34:44
federal dollars. So those G4 loans this is pretty common, but G for loans oftentimes trigger what they call single audit, which is 00:34:53
a federal grant compliance type audit and it's an engagement. 00:35:01
That's outside the scope of the normal year end audit that the city is has each year. 00:35:10
It's actually on a. It's by different guidelines. So this one is according to the uniform guidance, by the way. 00:35:17
If you ever can't sleep, I would encourage you to open up and read the uniform guidance. 00:35:25
It will cure your insomnia problem. 00:35:30
But that's what we have to go by to perform this audit. 00:35:33
So I guess Long story short, we had no material non compliance findings for the city's accounting for the expenditures under this 00:35:37
federal grant. So awesome job there. 00:35:44
But it is it is a new. 00:35:52
Kind of. 00:35:55
It's not, it's new to y'all, it's not new, but it is a, it's something that we've never had to deal with before. So there's 00:35:57
there's a lot of additional work that the staff had to do to help get this done and we appreciate all your help. 00:36:03
All right. 00:36:12
So what's coming down the pipe? So we got this actually happened this year. The Governmental Accounting Standards Board, they're 00:36:14
kind of who issues a governmental accounting standards. 00:36:19
Again, if you can't sleep, I would encourage you to read all these Gatsby pronouncements. They are very dry. 00:36:26
But they issued statement #100 this year, and it has to do with changes in accounting principles and error corrections. We've 00:36:33
implemented this standard in this report, so. 00:36:39
Just know that it has been implemented, you have taken care of it. 00:36:46
Future reporting changes so next year. Gatsby is going well. They've issued this. It's effective for the cities. 00:36:52
2025 fiscal year Gatsby statement 101 on compensated absences. And it it changes a little bit of the way that we have to show that 00:36:59
liability on the balance sheet. I don't anticipate it to have a large effect for the city, but it's just something I wanted to 00:37:06
make you aware of, but we'll deal with that next year. 00:37:12
All right, that's kind of the the highlights. So here's my contact information. I would encourage you if you have any questions, 00:37:20
concerns, comments, reach out. Be glad to help however I can. 00:37:26
Any questions now that I can answer? 00:37:33
Council, any questions for Mr. Merritt? 00:37:38
Well, thank you all very much and look forward to seeing you again soon. All right, well, I'd like to make just a couple of 00:37:41
comments real quick that we couldn't include in the report because of the requirements for the standards. I did want to point out 00:37:48
the city has resolved a few long standing significant deficiencies identified in previous audits including deposits not being made 00:37:54
in a timely manner. We did not have that finding at all in the sampling and also point out on page 69 it talks about. 00:38:01
Compliance requirements for federal major federal programs. The only federal programs that we participate in the American Rescue 00:38:09
Plan Act, which all cities and counties throughout the state throughout the United States. 00:38:14
Participated in and the Georgia Clean Water State Revolving fund for the G4 loan, which as you pointed out receives funds in this 00:38:20
case from EPA. 00:38:24
Yeah. Thank you for making that clarification. And and I will say that the city finance staff has has done a great job improving 00:38:29
the controls and and the processes over the years. 00:38:34
And we we've certainly had more recommendations in the past. So they've done a good job. You got a lot to be proud of and we 00:38:41
certainly appreciate it. Thank you, thank you. And I mean, all the credit goes to Lee Black. She's doing, she's back in the back, 00:38:49
keeping an eye on the on the recording, making sure that people can can see this from home. But Lee worked tirelessly with. 00:38:57
Will Harris or William Harris and Will and Clay at the Russian office and it is a lot if y'all came in during the audits when they 00:39:06
were here. 00:39:10
You would see stacks and stacks of books and things that Lee has to keep track of and, and pull samples up so that they can, they 00:39:15
can check to make sure that we're abiding by the standards. So kudos to Lee. She did an amazing job. And like Will said, she's 00:39:21
really, we really buttoned up a lot of the issues that we were having before. So Yep. So Lee, I know you can hear us. Thank you. 00:39:26
And, and to all of you, I know this probably seems boring, but ultimately this is the taxpayers money and we take seriously how we 00:39:32
take care of it. 00:39:37
And so that's that's the reason that we've got an auditor is because it's y'all's money. 00:39:44
It's not our money. And so we want to be sure we're spending it wisely. We want to be sure we're doing it the right way. So we'll 00:39:48
thank you for that. Absolutely. We take that responsibility seriously and we appreciate you making sure we're we're doing that. 00:39:52
Yes, Sir. Thank you. Appreciate all of you. 00:39:57
Sharon, were there any budget amendments that were part of that conversation or is that coming later? Yes, and they're on the 00:40:03
consent agenda. They're on the consent agenda. Oh, actually, no, I'm sorry. Hang on a second. 00:40:07
They should have been in your packet, they should follow us, so we do have budget amendments that need to be approved. 00:40:12
OK. All right. 00:40:21
Do we because they are in unless are they going to pop up? Are they in consent? 00:40:23
See if we can print them out for She's behind us about 30 seconds, OK. 00:40:29
All right, and we can. If need be we can. 00:40:33
Can you get up for a moment? It's about 30 second delay. What comes out here before? 00:40:41
If you can, go ahead and just make a couple of copies. 00:40:46
I apologize for that. 00:40:50
They make sure that they're reflected in the packet. 00:40:55
While we wait on that, Christine, do you want to do just or can we go on and do some other stuff and come back to that or Yeah. 00:40:59
I can go ahead and do the administration. We'll just leave 5 open and then we'll just come back and handle those if we go on 00:41:05
through. OK, All right, yeah, we'll talk. We're going to still talk about finances so. 00:41:09
Everybody should have received the balance sheet, the revenues and expenditure reports, really no surprises at this point. We're 00:41:14
up 30% through the year. 00:41:18
On the splash report, So I always like to give you sort of update on that. 00:41:23
So splash 3, we get 8.63% of the total sales that are collected. Sales taxes are collected. While this money has been used for 00:41:27
public safety vehicles, our variable message signs that you see around town. Improvements to Harris Shoals Park, including the 00:41:34
boardwalk that's currently under construction and the Giardini Green Thomas Farm Park allow those improvements are being paid for 00:41:40
three slots 3. 00:41:46
The signage, the green space signage, Mayor showed earlier. 00:41:53
Our entry signage and then our resurfacing projects and, and like between fiscal year 22 and 24, right now our average monthly 00:41:56
revenues are around $83,000 a month. When this project started we estimated only 64. So we are looking at having if, if things 00:42:04
continue to to run this trend having a little bit more than 700, maybe $800,000 for you all to try to figure out how to. 00:42:13
Use on projects in the city. 00:42:22
On the comparison sheet, here's the comparison year by year. You'll see it went from monthly average of 72,000 to 83 to 88 and 00:42:25
right now we're hovering around 90. We have a little bit more than $1,000,000 in Sloss 3 and that will sunset in September of 27. 00:42:33
On T's law, so this is transportation special purpose local option sales tax. So transportation related activities, we have three 00:42:44
different buckets sidewalks, our multi use trails, traffic efficiency improvements and road resurfacing. To date we have triggered 00:42:50
two of those buckets sidewalks. The money that's in there that's been encumbered will actually help service the Georgia 00:42:56
transportation infrastructure. 00:43:02
Bank loan that we got for 2.25 million to build the Simonton Bridge Rd. multi use trail. 00:43:08
We'll also be getting 1.5 million for that project as a grant, which we won't have to repay. And then this will also help pay for 00:43:16
some resurfacing projects. Right now, the project that we're waiting on is the Elmeg project for fiscal year 25, which includes 00:43:23
the entrance drive to Thomas Farm. The cemetery paving. I don't give them to the mayor. Yeah, that's fine. The cemetery paving and 00:43:30
the paving of Mulberry Street, which currently is one of our gravel roads in the city. 00:43:38
Again, right now we have we estimated that over the life of this project we'll have about 78,000 a month. Right now we're 00:43:46
averaging about 72. Again this program unity intent is that we'll grow. So I anticipate we'll we'll achieve you know exceed that 00:43:51
78,000 at some point. 00:43:56
And then when you compare the first year, we didn't have a full year, we only had a few months in that first year, fiscal year 23, 00:44:02
we went from 68,000 a month on average to 73. And I'm sorry, I did not see that I made that error is not 113,000 a month. It's it 00:44:09
is an average. It's actually on your prior sheet it's 72,000. So I will correct that, apologize for missing that. And we have a 00:44:15
little bit more than $620,000 in the bank for that. 00:44:22
And then last but not least, our American Rescue Plan monies, the the federal government said that those monies have to be 00:44:29
obligated by December 31st of this year. There is an item on your consent agenda tonight to go ahead and obligate for a purpose 00:44:36
that next month we will actually have to come back with the exact purchase purpose. 00:44:43
Of some purchase of some sort and I look forward to working with the mayor and the chief on deciding how that money will be spent. 00:44:51
It'll be about $10,000 but the monies right now that have been obligated are for the police public. Sorry public safety premium 00:44:57
pay retention, which is in the report that you received in your packet. You'll understand that we are running out of time for that 00:45:03
so we're asking that money be used for just public safety and like I said we'll come back next month with a specific. 00:45:10
Request to use that because that request has to be approved before the end of the month. 00:45:17
Year and then the other money, the remaining balance the Council appropriated for the Thomas Farm Preserve project and that will 00:45:21
finish out a little bit more than $1,000,000 that we received from the federal government through the ARPA program. Any questions? 00:45:26
Can we retire the spreadsheet then, Sharon? After December, it would be, I don't know if I can retire the spreadsheet until all 00:45:32
the expenses are in, maybe early next year. We'll see. I would love to. 00:45:37
Within the audit that they're accounted for appropriately, sometimes things get shifted, you know, counting in the wrong buckets. 00:46:13
I don't think that's what the print out was from Julie. So no, that's not yeah, that's not the correct one. 00:46:21
And so those are started coming and we also received a alcohol license renewal. 00:47:00
Collections, excise tax collections, we have this short term vacation rental as well, our hotel, motel and our alcohol. Remember 00:47:06
we received them after the fact. So what's showing for October, we won't see until November. So what you see in September is 00:47:12
actually what we received in October for September and we're tracking about where we expected to be. 00:47:18
And then finally on economic development, we have the building permits. We had quite a few very busy time, 23 apartments for 22 00:47:26
projects, have several over at Wire Park that are going on. Looks like people are changing out their HVAC systems, perhaps getting 00:47:33
new ones and just lots of little residential type and commercial type permits that were issued. Any questions? 00:47:40
OK. 00:47:48
All right, Christine, Downtown Development Authority. OK, yes. So we are still searching for our DDA Director. We have some good 00:47:51
candidates. We're starting some interviews, but applications are still open. So some good board progress there. 00:47:58
The DDA is recommending Sorry sorry. That's alright, it's recommending that. 00:48:07
That the mayor appoints an Arts Council. We recognize the importance of Oak Half in our community and the partnership with OCAF. 00:48:16
And so having an Arts Council to help bridge that we think is an important function for the city. And then also perhaps one or two 00:48:23
have one or two members of the DBAB on that because again, we think the arts are incredibly important for our downtown as a whole 00:48:31
as well. 00:48:38
Downtown trick or treat? We have some pictures. 00:48:47
He decided no video, Sharon. Yeah, no. OK, there's some fun video of the mayor. 00:48:51
But it's it's not making the cut. He was the kool-aid man. There we go. There we go. We have a picture. So it was a great success, 00:48:57
lots of fun. I love that we even had dancers. So everyone was safe and fun. Time was had by all. 00:49:05
And we are looking forward to the tree lighting and the parade on Sunday, December 8th. The parade will be at 4. We have our our. 00:49:15
Entries are full with a waiting list, and every year I'm really impressed with the committee who does this. They work hard to make 00:49:27
sure things get smoother and smoother every year and that they're very safe for our community and lots of fun. So mark your 00:49:32
calendars. 00:49:38
And our grand marshals, we have Colin and Leah, who had the privilege of getting to know when we went out to Colorado when we got 00:49:44
the All American City Award. So they are two fantastic citizens that we have. And I'm excited that they get to be the grand 00:49:51
marshals this year. And they are excited. I'm getting text messages from Colin and Leah and they're they're pumped up about being 00:49:58
our grand marshals. Leah told my dad yesterday. She's worked, Leah works at the Helps. 00:50:06
The local at the food pantry acts in Bogart, and even though Leah has to use a Walker and is in a wheelchair, she's still 00:50:13
volunteering and working in the community. She told my dad I just don't want to, don't want to mess up being the Grand Marshall. 00:50:19
So I said I don't think there's any way Leah could mess up with her big smile. So she's she's very excited and I think Colin wants 00:50:26
to also be able to pet the horses too when they're pulling them. So. So anyway, it's going to be a it's going to be a great day. 00:50:32
All right. 00:50:40
Sergeant Hibor. 00:50:42
Tell us about all the things we'll see. If Halloween was as smooth as Christine's, Halloween was as smooth as Councilwoman Tucker 00:50:46
said. All right. 00:50:51
I'm a little sad, I think this is my last time standing up here giving this report. 00:50:57
You know, I'm a little nervous too, because my new boss isn't and my former boss, so I'm really nervous about this one. Don't mess 00:51:03
this up. But no, we've had a, we've had a great month since the last council meeting. Sergeant Wade is scheduled. We got the 00:51:11
approval that he's going to begin his management classes down at the training center in Forsyth. So we're excited for him. 00:51:18
Officer Walker is scheduled to go to an active shooter training class, also down at Forsyth, which he's excited for. He's ready to 00:51:27
go to that. And then Officer Krish completed his gang recognition for patrol course, which he was expanding on some knowledge that 00:51:33
he gained while he was at LAPD. 00:51:40
So it was great to see all three of them. 00:51:46
Moving forward, the new patrol truck is back from being upfitted and it looks great. It drives really well. 00:51:49
Other than that. 00:51:58
Like everybody said, the Fall Festival was a roaring success. We saw a boatload of folks there and everybody had a great time. I 00:52:00
don't know that anybody that I've talked to or that has contacted us had anything negative to say about it. 00:52:07
Then as Councilwoman Tucker said, we've already elaborated on the downtown trick or treating was again a great success. So, but 00:52:15
other than that, we've got the statistics. We had six arrests. Most of them, as you can see, were traffic related, which is about 00:52:22
on par for what we normally see. We had one warrant arrest which was helping Athens, Clark County. They had a simple battery 00:52:29
warrant that we helped them with. And then we had one call for service, which was an aggravated assault arrest. 00:52:36
Other than that we had 165 calls for service. 00:52:44
Since the last council meeting, we had 1070 security checks. So our folks are out here driving neighborhoods and checking areas 00:52:47
and making sure that everybody's being safe, stopping in the businesses and and meeting and greeting folks. We had 37 reports that 00:52:53
were generated. We had 74 citations and 71 warnings, which again, is about on par with what we normally see. It's about a 5050 00:52:59
split. We're giving folks chances. 00:53:06
And then the folks that. 00:53:13
I've already gotten chances. We'd like to see them in this room later on in the month. 00:53:15
Incident reports, we had 25 of those and then we had 12 accident reports. And again, it's about normal for us, which is great to 00:53:21
know. 00:53:24
So but other than that. 00:53:28
Council have any questions? 00:53:30
Absolutely. I appreciate it. Thank you very much. 00:53:36
All right. 00:53:39
Thank you. We'll move on to consent. Nobody asked for anything to come off. I know there are some other budget items in there, so 00:53:41
I'll entertain a motion to approve the consent agenda. 00:53:47
I make a motion to approve the consent agenda. Do we have a second? Second. All in favor, aye. 00:53:53
OK. 00:54:01
All right. We will move on to our public hearing. We have a variance at 111 Farm View Dr. Thank you to the Lucky's for being 00:54:04
patient. 00:54:07
Manager Dickerson and engineer Campbell will offer the report. 00:54:12
And then Mr. Lucky will have you come forward and provide any additional information you want to share. 00:54:16
All right, Mr. Campbell. Thank you, Mayor. 00:54:23
So the subject property is has an address of 111 Farm View Drive. It's actually at the corner of another couple streets we can 00:54:26
talk about as well. But the Vegas request is specifically related to proposed construction on to the existing detached residential 00:54:32
structure is within the neighborhood. So you can see the request there from the ordinance and it's mainly related to a a side set 00:54:38
back. 00:54:44
The the ordinance requires A10 foot side set back. The applicant's asking that be reduced down to. 00:54:51
Three feet. 00:54:56
So if you don't know where 111 Farming Drive is located, you can see that location there on the map. 00:54:57
A little bit of history here going back to Platbook 7. Some of our variances are related to when a property was actually platted. 00:55:06
So you can see this was originally called Crosstalk Subdivision. So you have Rail Drive and some other wonderful things that are 00:55:13
now Farm View Drive. So again, just a history lesson here at City Council tonight. So here's a view of the of the subject 00:55:20
property. So this is at the corner of Woodside Place. 00:55:28
And farm view facing, you know, proximately back to the northeast, really the subject portion of the property is on this specific 00:55:35
side as a sideways related, it's accessed via the existing driveway and it would be an extension of the structure in the direction 00:55:41
that you see here. Now where where vehicle access is already established. You can see probably the remnants of what may have been 00:55:47
an area for for vehicles on that side of the house that was closed in sometime in the past. And now there's an area here that 00:55:53
would be an extension of that. 00:55:59
Structure. So here's the the applicant's request for construction of a covered area over a pavement. It's currently dirt, but it 00:56:05
would be paved on the eastern side of the existing house to be within 3 feet of the adjacent boundary. So you can see the variance 00:56:11
requested with the ordinance setbacks. And then again just to cover it similar to some things that we've done before with the 00:56:16
parking and circulation facilities, because there would be an opportunity for this paved area that's covered for a vehicle to be 00:56:22
located under that. 00:56:28
And this is the variance criteria that's in Chapter 14 of the city ordinance. It talks about the criteria for how a variance is 00:56:34
reviewed by mayor and City Council. You've seen this before, but just want to make sure you understand that criteria. So that is 00:56:40
the the questions tonight. I'm sure the applicant might have something to add to that. I'm happy to answer any questions you might 00:56:46
have as well. 00:56:52
I think I remember seeing in the packet that the neighbor had written a note. 00:56:59
Saying that she was fine with it. I don't know that that's correct. So it was in your packet. Anybody was able to see that online 00:57:04
or download that? It's just not in the slides, so. 00:57:09
Mr. Lucky if you want to come forward and. 00:57:15
Share anything, feel free Council may have some questions or we're going to get you both. OK All right. 00:57:17
Mr. and Misses Mr. Moses state your name for the record, your address and this name is Dennis Lucky. I live at 111 Farmview Dr. My 00:57:24
wife, Ann. 00:57:28
We purchased the property back in. 00:57:35
2002 Our intention was to use it as a rental property. 00:57:39
My wife's mother decided she wanted to move back in town from out of town, so she was our tenant for approximately 15 years until 00:57:45
we decided we'd like to make it our home. When we purchased a property, it was overgrown. You couldn't see the house from the 00:57:53
road. The shrubbery in the front covered the gutters. The property is overgrown with privet with bamboo. 00:58:01
And so I spent a lot of years and a lot of time and hours. 00:58:10
You know, cleaning the property up, this part of our vision in that time since we moved in in 2017, we've totally renovated the 00:58:16
inside. Outside is still under construction. If you ride by there and see different colors of paint, we're waiting, you know, till 00:58:22
we finished to, to give it the final coat. But I've, I've done all the work myself. Two years ago we added a sunroom on the back, 00:58:28
which is gorgeous. 00:58:34
Per her request and close a small carport because I don't own a Volkswagen Bug that would fit in there. 00:58:42
So our plan is just to try to have something to get our cars out of the weather, which my truck many of y'all have seen is a small 00:58:48
bus and it doesn't fit in most places. So that being said, you know, it's just part of our vision, you know to. 00:58:57
To make the the property look better, be better for the whole community. I worked also with a lot of my neighbors in the 00:59:06
neighborhood helping them clean their properties up and prove their properties, build hardscapes or whatever. 00:59:12
Also, in 2020 I received a Georgia real estate license and I did that solely to buy rental properties and after becoming a 00:59:21
landlord for a while. 00:59:25
Got kind of soured out on that and decided I would just sell the things I bought. Well, this one, I'm sorry, my wife said. 00:59:32
Mama wants to look at the house, so before we sell it, let's let her look at it. So she lived there for a while and then we've 00:59:41
been there since. And if you drive by there or if you want to come inside, you'll see that. 00:59:47
It's become a really pretty spot on that corner. And as far as real estate goes, I just believe that, you know, anytime you make 00:59:54
an improvement to a property, it helps all those properties around you, helps the whole neighborhood, which, you know, helps the 01:00:01
whole city. So one other thing, I'm also a business owner in Oak County in downtown Watkinsville. 01:00:09
Local hair salon and and if you want to see my vision for what I do, just feel free to stop by there sometime and come inside. 01:00:18
So all right, any questions for us? 01:00:26
Yes, in the thank you. I walk by your house often with my dog. 01:00:29
So I think in the packet you had some, there were some renderings of the type of thing. So you're not talking about putting up 01:00:36
like a metal kind of carport thing, you're going to build like a more pavilion like as far as I know those metal. 01:00:44
Portable carports are not allowed in the city. I know some of them are grandfathered in that there's one right around the corner 01:00:53
for me on Lawana that's been paved over. And you know, they're really not an eyesore, but I understand the the idea that no, it's 01:01:01
going to be a frame built structure. The hope is to. 01:01:09
Have the the shingles are 7 years old on my roof so to have them be consistent with the original. 01:01:18
Shape, shape and contour of the house. 01:01:25
And and that there is a picture in your packet of a. 01:01:28
Carport that I designed for one of her friends over on Windsor Dr. and that's where I pulled that picture from because I designed 01:01:32
that as well and their builder went with that. 01:01:37
So. 01:01:42
Any other questions? 01:01:45
I can't attest if you stop by, if you're out campaigning or something and you need a door to knock on there the friendliest, 01:01:48
friendliest door to knock on. You might even get to come in and sit down for a while. So this is beautiful. 01:01:53
It's a beautiful home. So they bark, but they don't bite. So I'm just imagining looking at this picture that is in the packet that 01:01:58
you're going to extend the roof line over to the. So it'll all be one structure essentially. And the thing that that I don't love 01:02:04
about a roof line that you continue on out that far because. 01:02:10
My goal is to have a 28 by 28 foot structure and to have the same pitch but. 01:02:17
I don't want it to look like a chicken house, so I put a in there. You'll see a Gable bump out on the front, which is the same 01:02:24
thing that I designed for her her friend's house and it just just to break up the roof line so that you know, it looks more homey 01:02:29
and less. 01:02:34
Of commercial camp. 01:02:41
Questions for Mr. Lucky. 01:02:45
OK. 01:02:47
Thank you all, feel very happy. Appreciate it. At this point, I'll open a public hearing. This does require a public hearing since 01:02:49
it's a variance. So if anyone would like to step forward, public hearing is now open. We'll have 3 minutes for anyone in favor. 01:02:56
Seeing no one in favor, anybody opposed? 01:03:04
Alright, I'll close the public hearing now. We'll come back over to us and we'll vote on the Variance Council. Any discussion? 01:03:07
Hearing none, do I have a motion? 01:03:15
Make a motion to approve the variance for 111 Farm View Drive. 01:03:19
We have a motion, we have a second. Any further discussion? 01:03:24
Hearing none, all in favor say aye aye. Any opposed? 01:03:28
Motion carries 50. Thank you all. 01:03:32
All right. We have no appearances. We have no old business. 01:03:35
We have a resolution can you get you can go back to five. You should have the items in front of the item 5 This is the budget 01:03:41
amendments. 01:03:45
Just the closing and everything of the property on there as well. So these are just tidying up everything, make sure everything's 01:04:20
in where it needs to be for the fiscal year. And these are given to us by the auditors. OK. So this is just adjusting our numbers 01:04:25
to match the audit Council. I'd like a motion to approve the final budget amendment, please. 01:04:31
Make a motion to approve the final budget amendment for 2024. 01:04:37
Do we have a second? 01:04:42
A second. All right. Any questions or discussion? 01:04:44
Hearing none, all in favor say aye. All right, motion carries. 01:04:48
All right, so we are to new business folks were on the verge of wrapping up here you want to. 01:04:53
Hang around. I think don't have too much more to go if we can be just quick on this one share and I know we almost put this on 01:05:01
consent. So I don't think we need to go deep on this program. 01:05:05
So we're asking you to adopt A resolution and approve participation in the First Responder PTSD program. This was brought about, 01:05:10
you may recall, in October of 2018, Gwinnett County police responded to suspicious vehicle call. Officer Antoine Tony was first on 01:05:17
scene. He barely made it out of his car when he was shot 6 times. Sergeant Wilson stayed with him, rendering aid and giving him 01:05:23
CPR. Officer Tony ultimately died from his injuries. This is the House Bill 451. 01:05:30
It was sponsored that brought this about was sponsored by our our own local one of our local representatives Houston Gaines and it 01:05:38
requires that all public entities in Georgia offer supplemental illness specific insurance benefits. 01:05:44
For first responders who are clinically diagnosed by a qualified Dr. with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, or PTSD as we know it, 01:05:51
the bill is also known as the Ashley Wilson Act. Again, Sergeant Wilson was the one who was with the officer when he was shot and 01:05:56
killed. 01:06:00
What this bill mandates is and I'll I can move, move through some of these. I'm sorry. It could have been passing through these at 01:06:06
same time Bill Mondays that by January 1 of this coming year, all public it public entities that have employed or volunteer first 01:06:12
responders that we provide a lump sum and income replacement benefit and Germa, our insurance provider is the only one. Actually 01:06:18
we did check with Anthem to see because we do provide. 01:06:24
The council has provided long term disability insurance for. 01:06:31
Long term disability insurance for our employees, our employees, but Garmas the only one providing this specific service. So it 01:06:37
will be, it will be a one time $3000 payment to help cover uninsured costs and up to 36 months of disability leave payment at 60% 01:06:44
of a first responder salary. Our premium for all of our officers is under $1000. It's something we can certainly handle within our 01:06:50
budget this year. And again the effective date of coverage will be January 1. 01:06:57
All right, so really glad that we're participating in this. I hope we never need it, but if we do, I'm very thankful it's there 01:07:05
and thankful that Representative Gaines got this passed. Council, any questions for the manager? 01:07:11
All right, hearing none, can we have a motion to approve the resolution? 01:07:19
I make a motion to approve the resolution. We have a 2nd, 2nd. 01:07:24
Any further discussion? 01:07:29
All in favor say aye. Any opposed? 01:07:30
All right, we'll move on to the pavilion at Thomas Farm Preserve. 01:07:34
OK, so we are asking the council to award Massey General Contractors the contract for the design and construction of a 30 by 30 01:07:38
foot pavilion to be located at Thomas Farm. Asking that the contract be approved as well. The contractor has seen it and that the 01:07:45
Mayor and City Clerk signed all the relevant documents. In February of this year. Council approved programming plus three funds to 01:07:51
help with Thomas Farm as well as some ARPA money. 01:07:58
In September of this year, we released an RFP for the design and construction of the pavilion. 01:08:06
On November 8th we received price proposals from three companies, Massey General Contractors. The ad alternate is the one we would 01:08:11
be going with $47,800 and some change. Smith and Co at 117 thousand and some change in Bliss products at 95,000 and some change. 01:08:17
We reviewed all those we did send out to 19 specifically direct directly sent to these 19 contractors. We also advertised twice in 01:08:23
the in the paper. 01:08:30
And like I said, we received 3 price proposals back. 01:08:37
We are asking for a not to exceed 60,000 gives us a little bit of room to maybe tighten up the design some and and so that's what 01:08:41
we're asking any questions? 01:08:46
That includes the concrete path. No, it does not include concrete. The concrete pad is budgeted for separately. OK. 01:08:53
All right. 01:08:58
Council, any questions for Manager Dickerson? 01:09:00
What would be the timing on that? Yeah, so well, good question. I think in the contract we said by March or April of next year was 01:09:03
what we were hoping for. So we'll we'll see as we dig into it. Of course weather will determine a lot of it and contractors and 01:09:09
everything else that's going on out there. I said March 1st of 2025 is when we hope to have it done. So the plan would be start in 01:09:16
January and end finish it by March. 01:09:22
And then we anticipate pouring a concrete pad under that. 01:09:29
Probably the concrete pad will be poured at the same time. We'll work with the contractor for that because we need to know where 01:09:32
the footings will be and all that for the post. So, yeah, yeah, just slightly concerned that we were going to build a building and 01:09:37
pour concrete. No, no, no, we're going to. We just budgeted for it differently. We didn't want that to be part of the price. We'd 01:09:41
already sort of got an estimate for the for the concrete pad. Thank you. 01:09:46
All right, Council, do we have a motion? 01:09:52
Make a motion to approve this contract to them and recommend. 01:09:57
Christine's motion. Does anybody want a second? I think. 01:10:07
All right. We have a motion here, a second. Any further discussion? 01:10:12
All in favor say aye. Any opposed? 01:10:15
All right. 01:10:20
Bring us home, Mark. We've got the annual storm water update. Then we'll have right, we'll have to wait and even see citizens 01:10:21
laughing with joy that they get to hear the you don't. You don't have to wait in storm water for the annual storm water update. So 01:10:28
we'll have more time for Christmas parade awards next month, hopefully. But the good news on storm water is it's raining. 01:10:34
Umm, so I was worried about that for a month or so. When it's not raining, we kind of don't know what stormwater is doing. So 01:10:41
those are also sometimes, sometimes when leaves can can pile open some of those things. One of the things I want you to know that 01:10:46
we also have an annual training with our staff. 01:10:51
Annually. 01:11:56
Seeing none about those questions. 01:12:00
Great. Thank you, Mark. Thank you, Sharon. All right, public comments. 01:12:37
If anyone would like to make a public comment, your time to shine, come on up. Comments shall be directly related to matters 01:12:41
tonight, or they could really be about anything you want. Speak from the podium, 4 minutes per person. Refrain from debate 01:12:47
argument. Personal attacks are irrelevant discussion. Address only the matter merits of the pending matter and address remarks 01:12:52
directly to council. Council won't speak to litigation, attorney-client or personnel matters. All right, who wants to speak to the 01:12:57
council tonight? 01:13:03
Oh, Kathleen, Nothing. 01:13:09
All right. 01:13:14
You have frequent fires. OK, All right. Here we go. Come on, Lance. All right. Yeah. Yep, Yep. All right. 01:13:19
Hi, my name is Lawrence Duke. I live at 13 Barnes Shoals. 01:13:28
And I really want to thank you all for putting the tree up at the Baton Court. 01:13:31
It's not to the South, but I'm so I'm hoping we'll add a couple more so it'll actually shade the court. But and I heard that we 01:13:36
might actually get a second light. 01:13:40
And that would be fabulous because then we have the only lighted baton court probably in. 01:13:44
Northeast Georgia. So thank you very much. OK. 01:13:50
Thank you, Lawrence. 01:13:53
Anyone else? 01:13:55
All right. 01:13:57
Hearing none. We are done with that, Council reports. We'll move to Councilman Garrett. 01:13:59
Post 1 nothing to report. 01:14:04
Councilman Massey. 01:14:07
Nothing to report. 01:14:09
Councilman Thomas continue to train. Nothing to report. 01:14:12
Mayor Pro Tem. 01:14:16
All right, Jeff pressures on you. 01:14:18
Say no. 01:14:20
I got nothing. 01:14:24
And even better, I don't think we need an executive session tonight. So I'll entertain a motion to adjourn. I'll make a motion to 01:14:27
adjourn. 01:14:31
Second. All right, all in favor. Say aye, we're done. 01:14:34
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All right, Good evening. Welcome to the November Watkinsville City Council meeting. We have a quorum here. Glad we have perfect 00:00:15
attendance tonight. We'll start with the Pledge of Allegiance. 00:00:20
Shannon Brock, if you'd lead us in the pledge, please, Sir. 00:00:26
I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands, one nation under God, 00:00:30
indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. 00:00:37
I'll call you Chief because that's what I always called you. We're thrilled to have you back in here with us tonight for a special 00:00:45
occasion. And it's just great to see your smiling face in the chambers again tonight. So thank you for leading us with that. 00:00:53
The fine print that I get to begin every meeting with. 00:01:05
That our lawyers tell me. I have to say if you have hearing impairments. 00:01:08
CC icon in the lower right of the video window. When the video from tonight's meeting is posted online, closed captions will 00:02:13
automatically appear. Interest in parties could also view a transcript of the meeting under the tab titled Transcript. As a 00:02:18
reminder, notice of the Council meeting along with the current month agenda is posted one full week before the meeting to allow 00:02:22
the public sufficient time to provide comments in writing. 00:02:27
All right. We're going to start with the administration of oath of office for our new DDA board members. I know Erica Fluke is 00:02:32
here. I don't think Brock Tool is. Erica, if you could step forward, Attorney Reitman will administer the oath. 00:02:38
We have one. 00:02:51
Very good evening. Congratulations. And this is somewhat ceremonial because we did administer an oath previously, so you'll be 00:02:52
official. But let's go ahead and repeat this posterity. If you'll raise your right hand, please do you, a citizen of Oconee 00:02:58
County, Georgia, solemnly swear that you will to the best of your ability. 00:03:05
Without favor or affection to any person, without any unauthorized financial gain or compensation to yourself, faithfully and 00:03:13
fairly discharge all the duties and responsibilities that devolve upon you as a member of the Watkinsville Downtown Development 00:03:19
Authority during the term of your service as such member and that you will support the Constitution of the United States and the 00:03:24
Constitution of Georgia. And you are not a member of the Communist Party. You are not the holder of any unaccounted for public 00:03:30
money. Do this. 00:03:36
Or any political subdivision or authority thereof. That you are not the holder of any office of trust under the government of the 00:03:42
United States, any other state, or any foreign state which you would be by the law as the State of Georgia, prohibited from 00:03:47
holding. And that you're otherwise qualified to hold said office according to constitutional laws of Georgia. And if you agree 00:03:52
with that, you can say I do. 00:03:58
Congratulations. 00:04:04
Mrs. Floyd runs a wonderful new business downtown. How long have you been open now? One year called Bird and Brass. If you've not 00:04:10
been to Bird and Brass, you need to visit. It's I'll let you describe it in a moment, but to me it is a wonderful mix of 00:04:16
inspiring. 00:04:21
Lifestyle materials and art and then you also she does art classes and just is in a lovely restored building downtown. 00:04:28
So Miss Flake, if you want to maybe for a minute, just describe your business and maybe why you're interested in joining the DDA 00:04:34
and then we'll turn you loose. 00:04:37
Hang on one second. Joe took the microphone. Hold on, I was ready to go on my next. 00:04:40
Thank you. Yes. So Burden Pass is a gift shop. I'm located just across from Blind Pick Tavern at 13 N Main, and I'm an artist, so 00:04:47
I have a lot of my art there. I also paint ornaments and pet portraits and make wreaths and all kinds of fun, you know, beautiful 00:04:53
crafty things. So so I sell all of those things at the store as well as just an assortment of beautiful gifts and things that just 00:05:00
help people appreciate nature. 00:05:06
And the beauty of nature. So that's kind of the concept behind the store. And I was just so thrilled to join. This has been such a 00:05:13
wonderful community that just welcomed me so well in the last five years. And I just want to be a part of it in a more meaningful 00:05:19
way and just contribute to the growth of downtown. So I'm very thankful. 00:05:26
Thank you. 00:05:33
Congratulations. And Erica, you're welcome to stay as long as you like. Our next item on the agenda is the oath of office for 00:05:39
Police Chief James R Wood. 00:05:44
Mr. Allwood, if you want to come forward. 00:05:50
I'm going to come over here to decide the hearing loop. 00:05:52
And I will read the oath and at the end you can see I do or I do some help of God. Let's raise our right hands. Do James, all 00:05:56
would solemnly swear or affirm that you will faithfully execute the office of Chief of Police for the City of Watkinsville. And to 00:06:04
the best of your ability, support and defend the Constitution of the United States, the Constitution of Georgia, and the charter, 00:06:11
ordinances and regulations of the City of Watkinsville, and that you are not the holder of any unaccounted for public money. 00:06:18
Do this State, or any political subdivision or authority thereof, and that you are not the holder of any office of trust under the 00:06:25
Government of the United States, any other state or any foreign State which you by the laws the State of Georgia will be 00:06:31
prohibited from holding. That you are otherwise qualified to hold said office according to Constitution and laws of Georgia, and 00:06:37
that you will perform the duties of your office in the best interest of the City of Watkinsville to the best of your ability, 00:06:43
without fear, favor, affection, reward. 00:06:49
Expectation thereof, if you agree with that oath, you can say I do or I do, so help me God. 00:06:55
Congratulations welcome. 00:07:01
In chief, I'll just say, you know, we went through a pretty rigorous search process. You rose to the top. We are grateful to you, 00:07:08
grateful for your service before and Jefferson and elsewhere, and excited to see what you bring to Watkinsville in the years ahead 00:07:14
as we seek to be Georgia's best small town. So I'll let you say a few words if you'd like, and welcome to Watkinsville. Sure, 00:07:21
sure. First. 00:07:27
Say thank you. I'm very blessed and very humbled with this opportunity. I want to thank the Lord for giving me direction, guided 00:07:33
me to this and through this journey. You know, I didn't really know what to expect going forward, but I feel very, very, very 00:07:40
thankful that I rose to the top and have this opportunity. I want to thank my wife, who is my best friend and thank her for her 00:07:47
support my family back here. 00:07:54
On the back row, you know your family makes you who you are. 00:08:01
Through the thick and the thin, I want to thank the city. Watkinsville. 00:08:06
The mayor, all the council, city manager, city clerk, finance manager, the Police Department and you know, honestly, that's what 00:08:11
made my decision was I come down here and I felt comfortable. I like the family atmosphere and I just want to be a part of it. I'm 00:08:17
excited and I'm ready to go. Great. 00:08:23
Sure. 00:08:35
Yeah. And I saw, I saw Officer Wade raised his hand when you recognize the family there. So, yeah. Yeah. All right. Yeah. 00:08:36
All right. 00:09:05
Yeah, OK. All right. 00:09:13
Congratulations. 00:09:27
I got a couple. 00:09:48
I failed to recognize when earlier when I was recognizing police chiefs. We do have the police chief of Jefferson here with us 00:10:08
tonight. Chief, thank you for being here. And. 00:10:11
Supporting now Chief Harwood, grateful for all you've done to grow him in his career. So thank you for being here with us tonight. 00:10:16
Yep, thank you. 00:10:22
All right, couple items under point of privilege. First of all, I'd like to invite Tony Ferguson to the podium. It sounds like 00:10:25
we've got some good news Mr. Ferguson might share with us about. 00:10:32
The contribution that will benefit downtown Watkinsville. Yeah. Well, thank you, Mayor. Thank you for having me here tonight. So 00:10:40
Georgia Power for over 100 years, 1883 is when we were formed and we've made a commitment to the communities that we serve. And 00:10:47
that's been our motto for over 100 years, to be a citizen where we serve. And one of the ways that we can do that is giving back 00:10:54
to our community. So we're excited to announce a $35,000 donation to the city of Watkinsville. 00:11:02
To help partner on the Downtown Development strategic Plan. 00:11:09
So we're just glad to be a part of that. Thank you. Great. 00:11:12
Thank you, Tony. 00:11:15
So later tonight, I think it's under consent, but we'll have a, we'll have a budget item to accept those funds and put it into the 00:11:21
budget. And Christine will look forward to you and the DA advising us how we can deploy those funds and put them to work for 00:11:28
downtown. So thank you again, Tony, for all that y'all do. Georgia Power has been a great partner for Watkinsville. 00:11:34
Through thick and thin and when the lights are on and when the lights are off. So, so we're grateful to that. And hopefully the 00:11:42
squirrels stay out of the substation for the remainder of the years the holidays approach. So all right, Next up, we have a 00:11:46
proclamation for. 00:11:51
National Hospice and Palliative Care Month is Matt Howell here. 00:11:57
All right, Mr. Howell is not here then, Julie, I'll just let you kind of read that into the record at some point, or not read it 00:12:02
in the record. Just put it into the record. Then I don't think we need to read that. Next, we'll recognize the fall for 00:12:06
Watkinsville contest winners. 00:12:10
Our third place. 00:12:15
Winner is Miss Carol Ivy. 00:12:17
Carol. 00:12:21
I. 00:12:28
I don't know how Miss Carroll St. got ended. Feel like she wins all of our contests. Congratulations. 00:12:30
Well, there's a reason she's on a permanent First Lady. 00:12:39
But your house is always beautiful. You have to wrap the front door yet for Christmas. 00:12:48
No, that happens. Our second place winner is Miss Megan Richter. All right. 00:12:56
Now where do y'all live? 00:13:08
The Meadow Springs. OK, awesome. Well, congratulations. All right. 00:13:10
And your name? David Steen when you pop in the middle, Megan and you'll. 00:13:14
Each of our. 00:13:34
Burger and so we got a lot of good burgers in town and the mayor gets in trouble if he endorses 1 burger of another. And then Miss 00:14:06
Carol, you've got a $25.00 gift certificate. The Wing House, which also has a great burger, and you've got a copy of the ornament 00:14:12
as well. Sharon, who did our ornament this year. 00:14:17
Klein. 00:14:24
Yeah. 00:14:26
It's a client finds creations later and handmade creations and it's it is inspired by Francis Bird art, which was part of the was 00:14:27
one of the artists that worked on the downtown rock and art right. OK, so this will be available this year to start commemorative 00:14:33
ornament. You'll see them on our tree. So thank you all for participating and congratulations again. You all can stay as long as 00:14:39
you want, but don't feel like you've got to hang around if you don't want to. We'll move pretty quickly through all right, 00:14:45
approval of the minutes council. 00:14:50
You've had the minutes in front of you. We did get do have a correction. I'd like to suggest we had someone review the minutes and 00:14:57
we looked at his comment and decided that we may need to adjust that. So Julie, if you could read the adjustment that we would 00:15:03
Julie and I'd like to recommend and if possible council, if you'd consider amending the minutes to include that language, we'd 00:15:09
appreciate it. Sure. On page 2 under public hearing, Bob Smith S Main St. expressed opposition. We're going to remove expressed 00:15:14
opposition. 00:15:20
And Put alleged that the city might not be abiding by open meetings law regarding the pipe plant property. 00:15:27
OK. I think that's an accurate reflection of what Mr. Smith said. If you all agree, if someone could make a motion to accept the 00:15:36
minutes as amended, that would be great. I make a motion to accept the minutes as amended. 00:15:41
Do we have a 2nd, 2nd? 00:15:46
Any discussion? 00:15:48
All in favor say aye. Any opposed like sign? 00:15:50
All right, minutes are accepted. Approval of agenda. I'd like to move the mayor's report to after approval of agenda, if everyone 00:15:54
is willing to do that. If you're willing to do that, please make a motion indicating so. I make a motion to approve the agenda, 00:15:59
moving the mayor's comments to right after this. 00:16:05
2nd a second. We have a second. Any discussion hearing none all in favor say aye. Any opposed? 00:16:12
All right, motion carries. All right, Mayor's report. I'm going to go through this while we have people here. We've had a lot 00:16:18
happening in Watkinsville. We have the fall Festival. Hard to believe that's been a month already. Time flies. 25 to 30,000 people 00:16:24
was our estimate from Mr. Hibler. I thought it was a second year with the new format and I thought it went off seamlessly. I don't 00:16:30
know if all of y'all were able to be there, but it was really a beautiful day. 00:16:35
It's taking our graphs a few weeks to recover. We didn't have much rain leading into that, but other than that, I think that was 00:16:43
the only, only living creature that didn't enjoy that beautiful day out there was our grass. Otherwise, it was perfect. 00:16:48
Congratulations to these three folks on their re-election unopposed. Congratulations, Brett, Christine and Jeff, happy to have you 00:16:53
all here for another two years. 00:16:59
On November 11th, we decorated, put flags up in honor of veteran's day at the Watkinsville Cemetery. Really grateful to the 00:17:06
National Society, the Daughters, the American Revolution, the John Andrew chapter that helps us with that every year. Connie, 00:17:12
thank you for being out there to help with that that effort. It is, it is not easy sometimes finding, finding those graves and 00:17:18
figuring out who is who. And so Lori Trail and her group have done a great job of mapping that out and identifying it and allowing 00:17:24
us. 00:17:29
Those who have served and sacrificed for their country. 00:17:36
Thomas Farm Preserve tremendously. 00:17:41
Progress over the past month and hard to believe but this at our next council meeting we will have it open. So our date for the 00:17:44
grand opening is December 14th. If you want to put it on your calendar. It looks like we will have, we will have an event around 00:17:52
11:30 out there. Hopefully we have good weather so we're looking at but we'll have some events throughout the day. 00:18:00
Where people can, I think we're planning maybe a leash cutting at the dog park. 00:18:08
Where people can enjoy that, we will have kind of a first walk and run on some of the trails. We'll have some hiking, some 00:18:13
mountain biking, so whatever people enjoy. So December 14th. 00:18:17
But the work that we have still to complete painting the structures, we have signage to go up, kind of punch list type items. But 00:18:23
it'll probably take us, I know it'll take us until the 14th to get all that done and make it safely available to the public. But 00:18:28
it's it's really beautiful. 00:18:33
Great progress at on the Hair Shoals boardwalk. I know there's a lot of interest in that as well and people miss being able to 00:18:40
walk across that. You can see progress shots there as I recall, that sort of the Trek slumber going down. So that should last a 00:18:46
really long time. We're able to reuse most of the number that's underneath that and we're adding new rails and new new trucks 00:18:52
there. So that's going to be really great when it's done and they're making steady progress. 00:18:57
We've also put out to bid the Giardini Green project at Harris Shoals Park. So this is where the old Giordini baseball field was. 00:19:05
So this is a concept rendering. This is what. And then the next one shows sort of the plan view of what it'll look like. This is 00:19:12
on the other side of the Creek. Hopeful to have that well underway in the spring. 00:19:19
And the Simonton Bridge pedestrian connector, some preliminary work has been occurring. You've seen that's right at the Thomas 00:19:30
Farm Parks project, we are hoping to have phase one done, phase one done by spring and the rest of it done by the end of next 00:19:38
year. I'm hoping December 2025, not January 2026. So, so we'll see the. 00:19:46
The utility relocation is taking longer than we hoped it would. So that's kind of pushing our timing back on that. But we're going 00:19:55
to do as much as we can in the short term. 00:19:58
Waters Walk is progressing behind Oconee State Bank. 00:20:02
And a lot of work on infrastructure and underground work there. Again, that's 55 and over only housing. Sharon, what's the unit 00:20:06
count there? 6060 units there. 00:20:12
Back there, this is kind of a now a amenity for the residents and a really nice view that they have. So they've done some nice 00:20:49
landscaping back there and turn that into something nice. 00:20:53
And there's walking paths around that as well. And that that's a 7 1/2 acre parcel that's been preserved back there. 00:20:58
On Morrison St. the residents requested some speed bumps and so we've responded to that. We installed temporary speed bumps. Those 00:21:07
are much more cost effective and we need to repave. They're easy to remove, so you see one on the Business Blvd. side and another 00:21:11
on the residential side. 00:21:16
This guy. 00:21:53
Has been chairman of first started, I think is the city's representative on the library board 10 years ago. And we all know over 00:21:55
the past two years being in charge of a library has not been easy. 00:22:01
And Mark Campbell, we are grateful for your leadership and your services. The Oconee County Library Board Chair. 00:22:07
We know that is you've been in the line of fire on some tough, tough moments and you've more than held your own over the past 00:22:14
couple years. So we're grateful to you for your service and thankful for what you've done and getting the new library opened up in 00:22:19
Wire Park. We also know not every chair gets to do something like that, so that was a big lift. So we're thankful to you for all 00:22:23
your work over the past 10 years. 00:22:28
Last month we recognized the Oconee County middle school cross country team. They were state champions. I always like to recognize 00:22:47
teams that win a state title. This one was the Oconee County boys high school cross country team won a state title a few weeks 00:22:53
ago. It was their third in a row, which is a big deal. Only one other team, the softball team at Oconee's 3P to twice. But they're 00:22:59
the they're the first team to do that in many years and. 00:23:05
Excited for them. 00:23:11
And the girls team took third and you'll see here the boys really wanted to celebrate them too. So they picked up their confetti 00:23:13
and decided to throw it in the air around the girls too. This is the girls the 8th year finishing in the top four. So 00:23:17
congratulations to our cross country teams. 00:23:21
And this guy has a birthday, Jeff Campbell. So happy birthday Jeff, your your council member with a birthday this month. 00:23:26
So we will move on from that to administration and. 00:23:35
Manager Dickerson, I will let you lead the way here. So the first item tonight is the fiscal year 2024 audit. So will Merit is 00:23:39
here with Russian and company and he'll present the audit. 00:23:45
All right. Good evening. 00:23:55
Hey. 00:23:58
Good evening. Depending on how the audit goes. So yeah, yeah, yeah. Evening, maybe I should say. 00:24:01
Thank you all for having us having me here tonight. 00:24:09
I've been working on this audit several years now and it's just. 00:24:14
Awesome to see the progress that's been made here, seeing the preservation of the land and those slides the mayor just shared. 00:24:18
It's just. 00:24:21
It's remarkable to see what what you guys are doing here and. 00:24:26
Not every place that I go and give a presentation to, can I say that. So kudos to you guys. Congratulations. This is an awesome 00:24:30
place and we appreciate the relationship and and hope we can continue it into the future. I hope that County Enterprise was taking 00:24:36
detailed notes on your entire remarks there so. 00:24:42
So. 00:24:51
I'll kind of get into the the meat of why I'm here. So we're here to present the audit. We come and. 00:24:52
Do some on site work multiple times, typically one time during the summer and then we come back again in in the September, October 00:25:00
time frame and we go through a lot. It's pretty extensive process, which I'm sure Lee and Sharon and Julie can alltel you, but 00:25:07
it's. 00:25:13
It's, it's good, it's rewarding. And we, we do kind of find a lot, not a lot of bad things, but we find a lot. And then we are 00:25:21
able to help the city produce these financial statements, which you all have a bound copy of. And you'll see that nice pretty logo 00:25:28
on the front of there. You also have a bound copy of this presentation. So if I go through it too quickly, you can look back 00:25:36
through it and if you have any questions. 00:25:43
I'll be glad to answer any that you have tonight or going forward. 00:25:51
So First things first, this the presentation kind of goes in order of the report. So kind of the first thing I want to highlight 00:25:57
is our independent auditors report. 00:26:02
And it includes the audit opinion, which is really what you pay us for. And it's it's why we're here. We're here to issue an 00:26:08
opinion on the financial statements and their freedom from misstatement. 00:26:15
And for the fiscal year into June 30th, 2024, we've issued an unmodified opinion, which is basically a clean opinion is the best 00:26:22
opinion you can have. So that means we believe these financial statements present fairly in all material respects the financial 00:26:30
position of the City of Watkinsville as of June 30, 2024 and that they are free from. 00:26:38
Material misstatement, whether due to fraud or error. 00:26:47
We also have. 00:26:52
We outlined in this presentation the cities responsibility and our responsibility as an auditor. And we also go through what the 00:26:53
auditing standards are that we go by. I'm not going to bore you with all that, but just know that there are audit standards that 00:27:00
we have to go by while we're conducting this audit. 00:27:06
So next, this is just an overview of what's in the annual financial report. We have the government wide statements. So these are 00:27:15
the statements that provide information on the city as a whole. So not individual fund statements. This is the entire city in 00:27:21
these government wide statements. 00:27:27
Biggest thing here is net position. So this is your equity, so to speak. This is your assets minus your liabilities. We presented 00:27:36
a three-year comparison here I. 00:27:41
This stacked bar chart, I thought this was a pretty good illustration of kind of the work that's been happening, So you'll see. 00:27:49
That investment in capital assets is in blue, your restricted net position is in red, and your unrestricted net position is in 00:27:58
green. 00:28:02
So you'll see that $300,000 increase in unrestricted net position. 00:28:08
And then you'll see that. 00:28:13
About $2,000,000 increase in that investment in capital assets. 00:28:15
I'm sure you guys can probably guess what that's for. That's for that beautiful farm that has been purchased and y'all are making 00:28:20
a park. Well that. 00:28:25
That total amount of that asset goes into this calculation, so that's part of the large increase there. 00:28:31
So this is your change in that position. This is the kind of the bottom line on your statement of activities or your income 00:28:39
statement, as you can see, quite a stark change from 23 to 24. 00:28:45
A large portion of this change is due to capital grants and contributions related to that project, that Thomas Farm project. 00:28:52
These grants and contributions include ARPA. 00:29:03
And then this also includes your T SPLOST and SPLOST revenues. So sales taxes have been strong for the city of Watkinsville and 00:29:06
they continue to remain strong and this change in that position reflects that strength of your sales tax. 00:29:14
So then we'll kind of get into the general fund, which is the primary operating fund of the city. 00:29:24
So this is a depiction of the revenues and expenditures of the general fund. Sorry, those two numbers in 2022 are kind of close 00:29:30
together. But we really don't care about 22, right? We care about 24. 00:29:37
So you'll see pretty large increase in expenditures this year. 00:29:46
And then a solid increase in revenues, but the expenditure is kind of far outpaced that. 00:29:51
These are these are what we call above the line. So these are operating revenues and then I've got some notes here on the non 00:29:59
operating stuff, but you're operating in revenues increased almost $500,000 or about 18% primarily property tax increases, motor 00:30:06
vehicle tax increases and sales tax increases is what makes up that increase in general fund revenue. That's a digest increase not 00:30:14
a rate increase, correct, correct. 00:30:21
Yeah, that's an assessed value increase, Yeah. And that's pretty uniform across the state. I live in Hall County and we've 00:30:29
definitely seen that there as well. 00:30:34
Like revenues, your expenditures are way up. They increased about $3.6 million in 2024, had some increase in public works about 10 00:30:42
percent, 63,000 bucks, but primarily. 00:30:49
That increase is in culture and recreation. 00:30:57
$3.6 million increase in culture and recreation and that's the purchase of the park and the ongoing project there. 00:31:01
And that land acquisition cost we have it about 3.55 million. 00:31:10
So, and that's total, that's not just the land, but that's kind of total everything that had happened as of June 30, 2024. 00:31:16
So. 00:31:25
Other, other items on that statement, the general fund revenue and expense statement, you had proceeds on the sale of capital 00:31:28
assets of about 15,000 bucks and then you had proceeds from the issuance of debt $3.5 million and that's your G4 loan that you 00:31:34
incurred to purchase that property. 00:31:40
That's also on that statement. 00:31:47
This is a breakdown of your general fund revenues by source, not a lot of change here. Biggest percentage is your local option 00:31:50
sales tax. As we talked about, sales tax has been strong. That 19% in red, that's your property tax. So property tax makes up 00:31:58
about 20% of your general fund revenue. Sales tax makes up 30%. So 1550% is made-up by those two. 00:32:06
Line items. 00:32:15
And then this is your general fund expenditures by function. 00:32:18
Obviously, the largest one here is, is the culture and recreation at 58%. That will not always be the case. That was just this 00:32:23
year with the purchase of the park, but then we got public safety and public works coming in at 14 and 10% respectively. Those are 00:32:30
typically your two largest expenditures by function. 00:32:37
All right, so. 00:32:46
This year and every year, we issue a report on the city's internal controls. 00:32:48
We do not upon on these internal controls, but we issue a report on them and this is where we would issue any findings that we 00:32:54
have. 00:32:58
We have two findings this year. They're the same as they've been in years past. They're in the report on pages 58 and 59. And I'll 00:33:03
just kind of summarize them and not get into any any of the details on those. But the first one is a basically a gap training 00:33:11
recommendation, which is a generally accepted accounting principles. And it basically just means that you need ACPA to come in 00:33:18
here and help you kind of get your books or your finances up to. 00:33:26
Standards of generally accepting accounting principles. This is very common, not unusual at all. We issue this finding on many, 00:33:33
many of our clients and this is it's normal. 00:33:39
The second one is what we call our year end clothes finding and it it's pretty similar to the gap training finding and it 00:33:46
basically means you guys need ACPA or an outside account to come in and help you with the accrual work, so recording receivables 00:33:52
and payables. 00:33:57
And just kind of getting things in order to present in the financial statements. 00:34:04
So again, nothing new here. These are these are the same findings as before, so. 00:34:11
If there, if there's any question on those, the details can be found pages 58 and 59. Well, if I can just point out to currently 00:34:16
Lee Black, our Finance Director is receiving some training and we believe that perhaps by this time next year she'll be able to do 00:34:22
that work that you just mentioned. So awesome. That's great. 00:34:27
And I know I've actually seen Lee at some conferences, so I actually know that she's getting some training. Yeah. 00:34:34
So this is kind of the big change this year. 00:34:40
So with the purchase of of the park, you guys took out AG Flone well that that G Fullone is actually backed by our funded with 00:34:44
federal dollars. So those G4 loans this is pretty common, but G for loans oftentimes trigger what they call single audit, which is 00:34:53
a federal grant compliance type audit and it's an engagement. 00:35:01
That's outside the scope of the normal year end audit that the city is has each year. 00:35:10
It's actually on a. It's by different guidelines. So this one is according to the uniform guidance, by the way. 00:35:17
If you ever can't sleep, I would encourage you to open up and read the uniform guidance. 00:35:25
It will cure your insomnia problem. 00:35:30
But that's what we have to go by to perform this audit. 00:35:33
So I guess Long story short, we had no material non compliance findings for the city's accounting for the expenditures under this 00:35:37
federal grant. So awesome job there. 00:35:44
But it is it is a new. 00:35:52
Kind of. 00:35:55
It's not, it's new to y'all, it's not new, but it is a, it's something that we've never had to deal with before. So there's 00:35:57
there's a lot of additional work that the staff had to do to help get this done and we appreciate all your help. 00:36:03
All right. 00:36:12
So what's coming down the pipe? So we got this actually happened this year. The Governmental Accounting Standards Board, they're 00:36:14
kind of who issues a governmental accounting standards. 00:36:19
Again, if you can't sleep, I would encourage you to read all these Gatsby pronouncements. They are very dry. 00:36:26
But they issued statement #100 this year, and it has to do with changes in accounting principles and error corrections. We've 00:36:33
implemented this standard in this report, so. 00:36:39
Just know that it has been implemented, you have taken care of it. 00:36:46
Future reporting changes so next year. Gatsby is going well. They've issued this. It's effective for the cities. 00:36:52
2025 fiscal year Gatsby statement 101 on compensated absences. And it it changes a little bit of the way that we have to show that 00:36:59
liability on the balance sheet. I don't anticipate it to have a large effect for the city, but it's just something I wanted to 00:37:06
make you aware of, but we'll deal with that next year. 00:37:12
All right, that's kind of the the highlights. So here's my contact information. I would encourage you if you have any questions, 00:37:20
concerns, comments, reach out. Be glad to help however I can. 00:37:26
Any questions now that I can answer? 00:37:33
Council, any questions for Mr. Merritt? 00:37:38
Well, thank you all very much and look forward to seeing you again soon. All right, well, I'd like to make just a couple of 00:37:41
comments real quick that we couldn't include in the report because of the requirements for the standards. I did want to point out 00:37:48
the city has resolved a few long standing significant deficiencies identified in previous audits including deposits not being made 00:37:54
in a timely manner. We did not have that finding at all in the sampling and also point out on page 69 it talks about. 00:38:01
Compliance requirements for federal major federal programs. The only federal programs that we participate in the American Rescue 00:38:09
Plan Act, which all cities and counties throughout the state throughout the United States. 00:38:14
Participated in and the Georgia Clean Water State Revolving fund for the G4 loan, which as you pointed out receives funds in this 00:38:20
case from EPA. 00:38:24
Yeah. Thank you for making that clarification. And and I will say that the city finance staff has has done a great job improving 00:38:29
the controls and and the processes over the years. 00:38:34
And we we've certainly had more recommendations in the past. So they've done a good job. You got a lot to be proud of and we 00:38:41
certainly appreciate it. Thank you, thank you. And I mean, all the credit goes to Lee Black. She's doing, she's back in the back, 00:38:49
keeping an eye on the on the recording, making sure that people can can see this from home. But Lee worked tirelessly with. 00:38:57
Will Harris or William Harris and Will and Clay at the Russian office and it is a lot if y'all came in during the audits when they 00:39:06
were here. 00:39:10
You would see stacks and stacks of books and things that Lee has to keep track of and, and pull samples up so that they can, they 00:39:15
can check to make sure that we're abiding by the standards. So kudos to Lee. She did an amazing job. And like Will said, she's 00:39:21
really, we really buttoned up a lot of the issues that we were having before. So Yep. So Lee, I know you can hear us. Thank you. 00:39:26
And, and to all of you, I know this probably seems boring, but ultimately this is the taxpayers money and we take seriously how we 00:39:32
take care of it. 00:39:37
And so that's that's the reason that we've got an auditor is because it's y'all's money. 00:39:44
It's not our money. And so we want to be sure we're spending it wisely. We want to be sure we're doing it the right way. So we'll 00:39:48
thank you for that. Absolutely. We take that responsibility seriously and we appreciate you making sure we're we're doing that. 00:39:52
Yes, Sir. Thank you. Appreciate all of you. 00:39:57
Sharon, were there any budget amendments that were part of that conversation or is that coming later? Yes, and they're on the 00:40:03
consent agenda. They're on the consent agenda. Oh, actually, no, I'm sorry. Hang on a second. 00:40:07
They should have been in your packet, they should follow us, so we do have budget amendments that need to be approved. 00:40:12
OK. All right. 00:40:21
Do we because they are in unless are they going to pop up? Are they in consent? 00:40:23
See if we can print them out for She's behind us about 30 seconds, OK. 00:40:29
All right, and we can. If need be we can. 00:40:33
Can you get up for a moment? It's about 30 second delay. What comes out here before? 00:40:41
If you can, go ahead and just make a couple of copies. 00:40:46
I apologize for that. 00:40:50
They make sure that they're reflected in the packet. 00:40:55
While we wait on that, Christine, do you want to do just or can we go on and do some other stuff and come back to that or Yeah. 00:40:59
I can go ahead and do the administration. We'll just leave 5 open and then we'll just come back and handle those if we go on 00:41:05
through. OK, All right, yeah, we'll talk. We're going to still talk about finances so. 00:41:09
Everybody should have received the balance sheet, the revenues and expenditure reports, really no surprises at this point. We're 00:41:14
up 30% through the year. 00:41:18
On the splash report, So I always like to give you sort of update on that. 00:41:23
So splash 3, we get 8.63% of the total sales that are collected. Sales taxes are collected. While this money has been used for 00:41:27
public safety vehicles, our variable message signs that you see around town. Improvements to Harris Shoals Park, including the 00:41:34
boardwalk that's currently under construction and the Giardini Green Thomas Farm Park allow those improvements are being paid for 00:41:40
three slots 3. 00:41:46
The signage, the green space signage, Mayor showed earlier. 00:41:53
Our entry signage and then our resurfacing projects and, and like between fiscal year 22 and 24, right now our average monthly 00:41:56
revenues are around $83,000 a month. When this project started we estimated only 64. So we are looking at having if, if things 00:42:04
continue to to run this trend having a little bit more than 700, maybe $800,000 for you all to try to figure out how to. 00:42:13
Use on projects in the city. 00:42:22
On the comparison sheet, here's the comparison year by year. You'll see it went from monthly average of 72,000 to 83 to 88 and 00:42:25
right now we're hovering around 90. We have a little bit more than $1,000,000 in Sloss 3 and that will sunset in September of 27. 00:42:33
On T's law, so this is transportation special purpose local option sales tax. So transportation related activities, we have three 00:42:44
different buckets sidewalks, our multi use trails, traffic efficiency improvements and road resurfacing. To date we have triggered 00:42:50
two of those buckets sidewalks. The money that's in there that's been encumbered will actually help service the Georgia 00:42:56
transportation infrastructure. 00:43:02
Bank loan that we got for 2.25 million to build the Simonton Bridge Rd. multi use trail. 00:43:08
We'll also be getting 1.5 million for that project as a grant, which we won't have to repay. And then this will also help pay for 00:43:16
some resurfacing projects. Right now, the project that we're waiting on is the Elmeg project for fiscal year 25, which includes 00:43:23
the entrance drive to Thomas Farm. The cemetery paving. I don't give them to the mayor. Yeah, that's fine. The cemetery paving and 00:43:30
the paving of Mulberry Street, which currently is one of our gravel roads in the city. 00:43:38
Again, right now we have we estimated that over the life of this project we'll have about 78,000 a month. Right now we're 00:43:46
averaging about 72. Again this program unity intent is that we'll grow. So I anticipate we'll we'll achieve you know exceed that 00:43:51
78,000 at some point. 00:43:56
And then when you compare the first year, we didn't have a full year, we only had a few months in that first year, fiscal year 23, 00:44:02
we went from 68,000 a month on average to 73. And I'm sorry, I did not see that I made that error is not 113,000 a month. It's it 00:44:09
is an average. It's actually on your prior sheet it's 72,000. So I will correct that, apologize for missing that. And we have a 00:44:15
little bit more than $620,000 in the bank for that. 00:44:22
And then last but not least, our American Rescue Plan monies, the the federal government said that those monies have to be 00:44:29
obligated by December 31st of this year. There is an item on your consent agenda tonight to go ahead and obligate for a purpose 00:44:36
that next month we will actually have to come back with the exact purchase purpose. 00:44:43
Of some purchase of some sort and I look forward to working with the mayor and the chief on deciding how that money will be spent. 00:44:51
It'll be about $10,000 but the monies right now that have been obligated are for the police public. Sorry public safety premium 00:44:57
pay retention, which is in the report that you received in your packet. You'll understand that we are running out of time for that 00:45:03
so we're asking that money be used for just public safety and like I said we'll come back next month with a specific. 00:45:10
Request to use that because that request has to be approved before the end of the month. 00:45:17
Year and then the other money, the remaining balance the Council appropriated for the Thomas Farm Preserve project and that will 00:45:21
finish out a little bit more than $1,000,000 that we received from the federal government through the ARPA program. Any questions? 00:45:26
Can we retire the spreadsheet then, Sharon? After December, it would be, I don't know if I can retire the spreadsheet until all 00:45:32
the expenses are in, maybe early next year. We'll see. I would love to. 00:45:37
Within the audit that they're accounted for appropriately, sometimes things get shifted, you know, counting in the wrong buckets. 00:46:13
I don't think that's what the print out was from Julie. So no, that's not yeah, that's not the correct one. 00:46:21
And so those are started coming and we also received a alcohol license renewal. 00:47:00
Collections, excise tax collections, we have this short term vacation rental as well, our hotel, motel and our alcohol. Remember 00:47:06
we received them after the fact. So what's showing for October, we won't see until November. So what you see in September is 00:47:12
actually what we received in October for September and we're tracking about where we expected to be. 00:47:18
And then finally on economic development, we have the building permits. We had quite a few very busy time, 23 apartments for 22 00:47:26
projects, have several over at Wire Park that are going on. Looks like people are changing out their HVAC systems, perhaps getting 00:47:33
new ones and just lots of little residential type and commercial type permits that were issued. Any questions? 00:47:40
OK. 00:47:48
All right, Christine, Downtown Development Authority. OK, yes. So we are still searching for our DDA Director. We have some good 00:47:51
candidates. We're starting some interviews, but applications are still open. So some good board progress there. 00:47:58
The DDA is recommending Sorry sorry. That's alright, it's recommending that. 00:48:07
That the mayor appoints an Arts Council. We recognize the importance of Oak Half in our community and the partnership with OCAF. 00:48:16
And so having an Arts Council to help bridge that we think is an important function for the city. And then also perhaps one or two 00:48:23
have one or two members of the DBAB on that because again, we think the arts are incredibly important for our downtown as a whole 00:48:31
as well. 00:48:38
Downtown trick or treat? We have some pictures. 00:48:47
He decided no video, Sharon. Yeah, no. OK, there's some fun video of the mayor. 00:48:51
But it's it's not making the cut. He was the kool-aid man. There we go. There we go. We have a picture. So it was a great success, 00:48:57
lots of fun. I love that we even had dancers. So everyone was safe and fun. Time was had by all. 00:49:05
And we are looking forward to the tree lighting and the parade on Sunday, December 8th. The parade will be at 4. We have our our. 00:49:15
Entries are full with a waiting list, and every year I'm really impressed with the committee who does this. They work hard to make 00:49:27
sure things get smoother and smoother every year and that they're very safe for our community and lots of fun. So mark your 00:49:32
calendars. 00:49:38
And our grand marshals, we have Colin and Leah, who had the privilege of getting to know when we went out to Colorado when we got 00:49:44
the All American City Award. So they are two fantastic citizens that we have. And I'm excited that they get to be the grand 00:49:51
marshals this year. And they are excited. I'm getting text messages from Colin and Leah and they're they're pumped up about being 00:49:58
our grand marshals. Leah told my dad yesterday. She's worked, Leah works at the Helps. 00:50:06
The local at the food pantry acts in Bogart, and even though Leah has to use a Walker and is in a wheelchair, she's still 00:50:13
volunteering and working in the community. She told my dad I just don't want to, don't want to mess up being the Grand Marshall. 00:50:19
So I said I don't think there's any way Leah could mess up with her big smile. So she's she's very excited and I think Colin wants 00:50:26
to also be able to pet the horses too when they're pulling them. So. So anyway, it's going to be a it's going to be a great day. 00:50:32
All right. 00:50:40
Sergeant Hibor. 00:50:42
Tell us about all the things we'll see. If Halloween was as smooth as Christine's, Halloween was as smooth as Councilwoman Tucker 00:50:46
said. All right. 00:50:51
I'm a little sad, I think this is my last time standing up here giving this report. 00:50:57
You know, I'm a little nervous too, because my new boss isn't and my former boss, so I'm really nervous about this one. Don't mess 00:51:03
this up. But no, we've had a, we've had a great month since the last council meeting. Sergeant Wade is scheduled. We got the 00:51:11
approval that he's going to begin his management classes down at the training center in Forsyth. So we're excited for him. 00:51:18
Officer Walker is scheduled to go to an active shooter training class, also down at Forsyth, which he's excited for. He's ready to 00:51:27
go to that. And then Officer Krish completed his gang recognition for patrol course, which he was expanding on some knowledge that 00:51:33
he gained while he was at LAPD. 00:51:40
So it was great to see all three of them. 00:51:46
Moving forward, the new patrol truck is back from being upfitted and it looks great. It drives really well. 00:51:49
Other than that. 00:51:58
Like everybody said, the Fall Festival was a roaring success. We saw a boatload of folks there and everybody had a great time. I 00:52:00
don't know that anybody that I've talked to or that has contacted us had anything negative to say about it. 00:52:07
Then as Councilwoman Tucker said, we've already elaborated on the downtown trick or treating was again a great success. So, but 00:52:15
other than that, we've got the statistics. We had six arrests. Most of them, as you can see, were traffic related, which is about 00:52:22
on par for what we normally see. We had one warrant arrest which was helping Athens, Clark County. They had a simple battery 00:52:29
warrant that we helped them with. And then we had one call for service, which was an aggravated assault arrest. 00:52:36
Other than that we had 165 calls for service. 00:52:44
Since the last council meeting, we had 1070 security checks. So our folks are out here driving neighborhoods and checking areas 00:52:47
and making sure that everybody's being safe, stopping in the businesses and and meeting and greeting folks. We had 37 reports that 00:52:53
were generated. We had 74 citations and 71 warnings, which again, is about on par with what we normally see. It's about a 5050 00:52:59
split. We're giving folks chances. 00:53:06
And then the folks that. 00:53:13
I've already gotten chances. We'd like to see them in this room later on in the month. 00:53:15
Incident reports, we had 25 of those and then we had 12 accident reports. And again, it's about normal for us, which is great to 00:53:21
know. 00:53:24
So but other than that. 00:53:28
Council have any questions? 00:53:30
Absolutely. I appreciate it. Thank you very much. 00:53:36
All right. 00:53:39
Thank you. We'll move on to consent. Nobody asked for anything to come off. I know there are some other budget items in there, so 00:53:41
I'll entertain a motion to approve the consent agenda. 00:53:47
I make a motion to approve the consent agenda. Do we have a second? Second. All in favor, aye. 00:53:53
OK. 00:54:01
All right. We will move on to our public hearing. We have a variance at 111 Farm View Dr. Thank you to the Lucky's for being 00:54:04
patient. 00:54:07
Manager Dickerson and engineer Campbell will offer the report. 00:54:12
And then Mr. Lucky will have you come forward and provide any additional information you want to share. 00:54:16
All right, Mr. Campbell. Thank you, Mayor. 00:54:23
So the subject property is has an address of 111 Farm View Drive. It's actually at the corner of another couple streets we can 00:54:26
talk about as well. But the Vegas request is specifically related to proposed construction on to the existing detached residential 00:54:32
structure is within the neighborhood. So you can see the request there from the ordinance and it's mainly related to a a side set 00:54:38
back. 00:54:44
The the ordinance requires A10 foot side set back. The applicant's asking that be reduced down to. 00:54:51
Three feet. 00:54:56
So if you don't know where 111 Farming Drive is located, you can see that location there on the map. 00:54:57
A little bit of history here going back to Platbook 7. Some of our variances are related to when a property was actually platted. 00:55:06
So you can see this was originally called Crosstalk Subdivision. So you have Rail Drive and some other wonderful things that are 00:55:13
now Farm View Drive. So again, just a history lesson here at City Council tonight. So here's a view of the of the subject 00:55:20
property. So this is at the corner of Woodside Place. 00:55:28
And farm view facing, you know, proximately back to the northeast, really the subject portion of the property is on this specific 00:55:35
side as a sideways related, it's accessed via the existing driveway and it would be an extension of the structure in the direction 00:55:41
that you see here. Now where where vehicle access is already established. You can see probably the remnants of what may have been 00:55:47
an area for for vehicles on that side of the house that was closed in sometime in the past. And now there's an area here that 00:55:53
would be an extension of that. 00:55:59
Structure. So here's the the applicant's request for construction of a covered area over a pavement. It's currently dirt, but it 00:56:05
would be paved on the eastern side of the existing house to be within 3 feet of the adjacent boundary. So you can see the variance 00:56:11
requested with the ordinance setbacks. And then again just to cover it similar to some things that we've done before with the 00:56:16
parking and circulation facilities, because there would be an opportunity for this paved area that's covered for a vehicle to be 00:56:22
located under that. 00:56:28
And this is the variance criteria that's in Chapter 14 of the city ordinance. It talks about the criteria for how a variance is 00:56:34
reviewed by mayor and City Council. You've seen this before, but just want to make sure you understand that criteria. So that is 00:56:40
the the questions tonight. I'm sure the applicant might have something to add to that. I'm happy to answer any questions you might 00:56:46
have as well. 00:56:52
I think I remember seeing in the packet that the neighbor had written a note. 00:56:59
Saying that she was fine with it. I don't know that that's correct. So it was in your packet. Anybody was able to see that online 00:57:04
or download that? It's just not in the slides, so. 00:57:09
Mr. Lucky if you want to come forward and. 00:57:15
Share anything, feel free Council may have some questions or we're going to get you both. OK All right. 00:57:17
Mr. and Misses Mr. Moses state your name for the record, your address and this name is Dennis Lucky. I live at 111 Farmview Dr. My 00:57:24
wife, Ann. 00:57:28
We purchased the property back in. 00:57:35
2002 Our intention was to use it as a rental property. 00:57:39
My wife's mother decided she wanted to move back in town from out of town, so she was our tenant for approximately 15 years until 00:57:45
we decided we'd like to make it our home. When we purchased a property, it was overgrown. You couldn't see the house from the 00:57:53
road. The shrubbery in the front covered the gutters. The property is overgrown with privet with bamboo. 00:58:01
And so I spent a lot of years and a lot of time and hours. 00:58:10
You know, cleaning the property up, this part of our vision in that time since we moved in in 2017, we've totally renovated the 00:58:16
inside. Outside is still under construction. If you ride by there and see different colors of paint, we're waiting, you know, till 00:58:22
we finished to, to give it the final coat. But I've, I've done all the work myself. Two years ago we added a sunroom on the back, 00:58:28
which is gorgeous. 00:58:34
Per her request and close a small carport because I don't own a Volkswagen Bug that would fit in there. 00:58:42
So our plan is just to try to have something to get our cars out of the weather, which my truck many of y'all have seen is a small 00:58:48
bus and it doesn't fit in most places. So that being said, you know, it's just part of our vision, you know to. 00:58:57
To make the the property look better, be better for the whole community. I worked also with a lot of my neighbors in the 00:59:06
neighborhood helping them clean their properties up and prove their properties, build hardscapes or whatever. 00:59:12
Also, in 2020 I received a Georgia real estate license and I did that solely to buy rental properties and after becoming a 00:59:21
landlord for a while. 00:59:25
Got kind of soured out on that and decided I would just sell the things I bought. Well, this one, I'm sorry, my wife said. 00:59:32
Mama wants to look at the house, so before we sell it, let's let her look at it. So she lived there for a while and then we've 00:59:41
been there since. And if you drive by there or if you want to come inside, you'll see that. 00:59:47
It's become a really pretty spot on that corner. And as far as real estate goes, I just believe that, you know, anytime you make 00:59:54
an improvement to a property, it helps all those properties around you, helps the whole neighborhood, which, you know, helps the 01:00:01
whole city. So one other thing, I'm also a business owner in Oak County in downtown Watkinsville. 01:00:09
Local hair salon and and if you want to see my vision for what I do, just feel free to stop by there sometime and come inside. 01:00:18
So all right, any questions for us? 01:00:26
Yes, in the thank you. I walk by your house often with my dog. 01:00:29
So I think in the packet you had some, there were some renderings of the type of thing. So you're not talking about putting up 01:00:36
like a metal kind of carport thing, you're going to build like a more pavilion like as far as I know those metal. 01:00:44
Portable carports are not allowed in the city. I know some of them are grandfathered in that there's one right around the corner 01:00:53
for me on Lawana that's been paved over. And you know, they're really not an eyesore, but I understand the the idea that no, it's 01:01:01
going to be a frame built structure. The hope is to. 01:01:09
Have the the shingles are 7 years old on my roof so to have them be consistent with the original. 01:01:18
Shape, shape and contour of the house. 01:01:25
And and that there is a picture in your packet of a. 01:01:28
Carport that I designed for one of her friends over on Windsor Dr. and that's where I pulled that picture from because I designed 01:01:32
that as well and their builder went with that. 01:01:37
So. 01:01:42
Any other questions? 01:01:45
I can't attest if you stop by, if you're out campaigning or something and you need a door to knock on there the friendliest, 01:01:48
friendliest door to knock on. You might even get to come in and sit down for a while. So this is beautiful. 01:01:53
It's a beautiful home. So they bark, but they don't bite. So I'm just imagining looking at this picture that is in the packet that 01:01:58
you're going to extend the roof line over to the. So it'll all be one structure essentially. And the thing that that I don't love 01:02:04
about a roof line that you continue on out that far because. 01:02:10
My goal is to have a 28 by 28 foot structure and to have the same pitch but. 01:02:17
I don't want it to look like a chicken house, so I put a in there. You'll see a Gable bump out on the front, which is the same 01:02:24
thing that I designed for her her friend's house and it just just to break up the roof line so that you know, it looks more homey 01:02:29
and less. 01:02:34
Of commercial camp. 01:02:41
Questions for Mr. Lucky. 01:02:45
OK. 01:02:47
Thank you all, feel very happy. Appreciate it. At this point, I'll open a public hearing. This does require a public hearing since 01:02:49
it's a variance. So if anyone would like to step forward, public hearing is now open. We'll have 3 minutes for anyone in favor. 01:02:56
Seeing no one in favor, anybody opposed? 01:03:04
Alright, I'll close the public hearing now. We'll come back over to us and we'll vote on the Variance Council. Any discussion? 01:03:07
Hearing none, do I have a motion? 01:03:15
Make a motion to approve the variance for 111 Farm View Drive. 01:03:19
We have a motion, we have a second. Any further discussion? 01:03:24
Hearing none, all in favor say aye aye. Any opposed? 01:03:28
Motion carries 50. Thank you all. 01:03:32
All right. We have no appearances. We have no old business. 01:03:35
We have a resolution can you get you can go back to five. You should have the items in front of the item 5 This is the budget 01:03:41
amendments. 01:03:45
Just the closing and everything of the property on there as well. So these are just tidying up everything, make sure everything's 01:04:20
in where it needs to be for the fiscal year. And these are given to us by the auditors. OK. So this is just adjusting our numbers 01:04:25
to match the audit Council. I'd like a motion to approve the final budget amendment, please. 01:04:31
Make a motion to approve the final budget amendment for 2024. 01:04:37
Do we have a second? 01:04:42
A second. All right. Any questions or discussion? 01:04:44
Hearing none, all in favor say aye. All right, motion carries. 01:04:48
All right, so we are to new business folks were on the verge of wrapping up here you want to. 01:04:53
Hang around. I think don't have too much more to go if we can be just quick on this one share and I know we almost put this on 01:05:01
consent. So I don't think we need to go deep on this program. 01:05:05
So we're asking you to adopt A resolution and approve participation in the First Responder PTSD program. This was brought about, 01:05:10
you may recall, in October of 2018, Gwinnett County police responded to suspicious vehicle call. Officer Antoine Tony was first on 01:05:17
scene. He barely made it out of his car when he was shot 6 times. Sergeant Wilson stayed with him, rendering aid and giving him 01:05:23
CPR. Officer Tony ultimately died from his injuries. This is the House Bill 451. 01:05:30
It was sponsored that brought this about was sponsored by our our own local one of our local representatives Houston Gaines and it 01:05:38
requires that all public entities in Georgia offer supplemental illness specific insurance benefits. 01:05:44
For first responders who are clinically diagnosed by a qualified Dr. with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, or PTSD as we know it, 01:05:51
the bill is also known as the Ashley Wilson Act. Again, Sergeant Wilson was the one who was with the officer when he was shot and 01:05:56
killed. 01:06:00
What this bill mandates is and I'll I can move, move through some of these. I'm sorry. It could have been passing through these at 01:06:06
same time Bill Mondays that by January 1 of this coming year, all public it public entities that have employed or volunteer first 01:06:12
responders that we provide a lump sum and income replacement benefit and Germa, our insurance provider is the only one. Actually 01:06:18
we did check with Anthem to see because we do provide. 01:06:24
The council has provided long term disability insurance for. 01:06:31
Long term disability insurance for our employees, our employees, but Garmas the only one providing this specific service. So it 01:06:37
will be, it will be a one time $3000 payment to help cover uninsured costs and up to 36 months of disability leave payment at 60% 01:06:44
of a first responder salary. Our premium for all of our officers is under $1000. It's something we can certainly handle within our 01:06:50
budget this year. And again the effective date of coverage will be January 1. 01:06:57
All right, so really glad that we're participating in this. I hope we never need it, but if we do, I'm very thankful it's there 01:07:05
and thankful that Representative Gaines got this passed. Council, any questions for the manager? 01:07:11
All right, hearing none, can we have a motion to approve the resolution? 01:07:19
I make a motion to approve the resolution. We have a 2nd, 2nd. 01:07:24
Any further discussion? 01:07:29
All in favor say aye. Any opposed? 01:07:30
All right, we'll move on to the pavilion at Thomas Farm Preserve. 01:07:34
OK, so we are asking the council to award Massey General Contractors the contract for the design and construction of a 30 by 30 01:07:38
foot pavilion to be located at Thomas Farm. Asking that the contract be approved as well. The contractor has seen it and that the 01:07:45
Mayor and City Clerk signed all the relevant documents. In February of this year. Council approved programming plus three funds to 01:07:51
help with Thomas Farm as well as some ARPA money. 01:07:58
In September of this year, we released an RFP for the design and construction of the pavilion. 01:08:06
On November 8th we received price proposals from three companies, Massey General Contractors. The ad alternate is the one we would 01:08:11
be going with $47,800 and some change. Smith and Co at 117 thousand and some change in Bliss products at 95,000 and some change. 01:08:17
We reviewed all those we did send out to 19 specifically direct directly sent to these 19 contractors. We also advertised twice in 01:08:23
the in the paper. 01:08:30
And like I said, we received 3 price proposals back. 01:08:37
We are asking for a not to exceed 60,000 gives us a little bit of room to maybe tighten up the design some and and so that's what 01:08:41
we're asking any questions? 01:08:46
That includes the concrete path. No, it does not include concrete. The concrete pad is budgeted for separately. OK. 01:08:53
All right. 01:08:58
Council, any questions for Manager Dickerson? 01:09:00
What would be the timing on that? Yeah, so well, good question. I think in the contract we said by March or April of next year was 01:09:03
what we were hoping for. So we'll we'll see as we dig into it. Of course weather will determine a lot of it and contractors and 01:09:09
everything else that's going on out there. I said March 1st of 2025 is when we hope to have it done. So the plan would be start in 01:09:16
January and end finish it by March. 01:09:22
And then we anticipate pouring a concrete pad under that. 01:09:29
Probably the concrete pad will be poured at the same time. We'll work with the contractor for that because we need to know where 01:09:32
the footings will be and all that for the post. So, yeah, yeah, just slightly concerned that we were going to build a building and 01:09:37
pour concrete. No, no, no, we're going to. We just budgeted for it differently. We didn't want that to be part of the price. We'd 01:09:41
already sort of got an estimate for the for the concrete pad. Thank you. 01:09:46
All right, Council, do we have a motion? 01:09:52
Make a motion to approve this contract to them and recommend. 01:09:57
Christine's motion. Does anybody want a second? I think. 01:10:07
All right. We have a motion here, a second. Any further discussion? 01:10:12
All in favor say aye. Any opposed? 01:10:15
All right. 01:10:20
Bring us home, Mark. We've got the annual storm water update. Then we'll have right, we'll have to wait and even see citizens 01:10:21
laughing with joy that they get to hear the you don't. You don't have to wait in storm water for the annual storm water update. So 01:10:28
we'll have more time for Christmas parade awards next month, hopefully. But the good news on storm water is it's raining. 01:10:34
Umm, so I was worried about that for a month or so. When it's not raining, we kind of don't know what stormwater is doing. So 01:10:41
those are also sometimes, sometimes when leaves can can pile open some of those things. One of the things I want you to know that 01:10:46
we also have an annual training with our staff. 01:10:51
Annually. 01:11:56
Seeing none about those questions. 01:12:00
Great. Thank you, Mark. Thank you, Sharon. All right, public comments. 01:12:37
If anyone would like to make a public comment, your time to shine, come on up. Comments shall be directly related to matters 01:12:41
tonight, or they could really be about anything you want. Speak from the podium, 4 minutes per person. Refrain from debate 01:12:47
argument. Personal attacks are irrelevant discussion. Address only the matter merits of the pending matter and address remarks 01:12:52
directly to council. Council won't speak to litigation, attorney-client or personnel matters. All right, who wants to speak to the 01:12:57
council tonight? 01:13:03
Oh, Kathleen, Nothing. 01:13:09
All right. 01:13:14
You have frequent fires. OK, All right. Here we go. Come on, Lance. All right. Yeah. Yep, Yep. All right. 01:13:19
Hi, my name is Lawrence Duke. I live at 13 Barnes Shoals. 01:13:28
And I really want to thank you all for putting the tree up at the Baton Court. 01:13:31
It's not to the South, but I'm so I'm hoping we'll add a couple more so it'll actually shade the court. But and I heard that we 01:13:36
might actually get a second light. 01:13:40
And that would be fabulous because then we have the only lighted baton court probably in. 01:13:44
Northeast Georgia. So thank you very much. OK. 01:13:50
Thank you, Lawrence. 01:13:53
Anyone else? 01:13:55
All right. 01:13:57
Hearing none. We are done with that, Council reports. We'll move to Councilman Garrett. 01:13:59
Post 1 nothing to report. 01:14:04
Councilman Massey. 01:14:07
Nothing to report. 01:14:09
Councilman Thomas continue to train. Nothing to report. 01:14:12
Mayor Pro Tem. 01:14:16
All right, Jeff pressures on you. 01:14:18
Say no. 01:14:20
I got nothing. 01:14:24
And even better, I don't think we need an executive session tonight. So I'll entertain a motion to adjourn. I'll make a motion to 01:14:27
adjourn. 01:14:31
Second. All right, all in favor. Say aye, we're done. 01:14:34
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