Transcript

Event transcript
All right, welcome to the January Watkinsville City Council meeting. We have a quorum here tonight, and we will start with the 00:00:29
Pledge of Allegiance. Let's all rise. 00:00:34
I pledge allegiance to the flag. 00:00:42
Of the United States of America. 00:00:44
And to the Republic, for which it. 00:00:46
One Nation. 00:00:48
Under God, indivisible. 00:00:49
With liberty and justice for all. 00:00:52
All right, Council, you have the minutes from December 17th in your packet. I'll entertain a motion for approval or modifications. 00:00:59
Make a motion to approve the minutes. 00:01:07
We have a motion. Do we have a second? 00:01:09
I'll second. 00:01:11
All right. We have a motion, we have a second. Any discussion? 00:01:12
Hearing none, all in favor say aye aye. 00:01:14
Motion carries. We'll move to the agenda. There's no changes to the agenda, so I'll entertain a motion to approve the agenda. 00:01:17
Make a motion to approve the agenda. 00:01:23
Do we have a 2nd I'll second? 00:01:24
All right, we have a motion. We have a second. 00:01:27
All in favor say aye aye. 00:01:29
Motion carries. 00:01:31
We'll move to the administration of. 00:01:33
Oath of office for the mayor and newly elected council members, I think. 00:01:35
Our counselor is going to try to do all that at once. 00:01:38
Michael Ketchet. 00:01:44
All right, all right. If our new officials will stand and raise your right hand, please. 00:01:48
And I will state the whole oath, and then you will say I do, I do. So my God, at the end, do each of you solemnly swear or affirm 00:01:54
that you will faithfully execute the office? 00:01:59
Of Councilperson of the City of Watkinsville and to the best of your ability, support and defend the Constitution of the United 00:02:04
States, the Constitution of Georgia. 00:02:09
And the charter, ordinances and regulations of the City of Watkinsville. And that you are not the holder of any unaccounted for 00:02:14
public money. 00:02:18
Do this state or any political subdivision or authority thereof, and. 00:02:22
That you are not the holder of any office of trust. 00:02:27
Under the government of the United States. 00:02:30
Or any other state or any foreign state which you. 00:02:33
By the laws, the state of Georgia would be prohibited from holding. 00:02:36
And that you were otherwise qualified to hold said office according to the Constitution and laws of Georgia. 00:02:39
And that you have been a resident of your district. 00:02:46
And the City of Watkinsville for the time required by the Constitution. 00:02:48
And laws of this state. 00:02:52
And that you will perform the duties of your office. 00:02:54
In the best interest of the City of Watkinsville to the best of your ability, without fear, favor, affection, reward, or 00:02:57
expectation thereof. 00:03:01
If you agree with that oath, you can say I do or I do so help you God. 00:03:05
You all are official. We'll do the signing after. 00:03:09
After the meeting, congratulations. 00:03:13
All right, moving along we will. 00:03:24
To council for nominations for a mayor Pro Tem. 00:03:27
I will entertain nominations at this point. 00:03:32
Since Christine is not here, I nominate Christine Tucker. 00:03:36
What happens when you miss the first? The organizational meeting? Do we have a second? 00:03:42
Well, since Christine's not here, I will second his nomination. We have a motion, we have a second. Are there any further 00:03:46
nominations for mayor Pro Tem? 00:03:50
Hearing none, we'll close the nominations. Any discussion? 00:03:55
Hearing none, all in favor of electing Christine Tucker mayor Pro Tem say aye aye. 00:03:59
Any opposed Christine is not here to voice her opinion. 00:04:04
So she. 00:04:08
Is mayor Pro Tem? 00:04:09
All right, we'll move on into the rest of the agenda. Before we start that, I will give a quick reminder on our public input 00:04:11
process. As I like to say, we're a little less formal here. 00:04:15
And some of our other meetings. So that means members of the public who want to address the mayor and council can do so at the 00:04:19
noted times on the agenda. 00:04:23
Or at the discretion of the Council. 00:04:26
Umm Comments shall be only directly relating to agenda items. Speak from the podium. 4 minutes per person. 00:04:29
Refrain from debate argument. Personal attacks are irrelevant discussion. 00:04:34
Address the merits of the pending matter. 00:04:37
And address remarks to council. Council won't speak to litigation, attorney-client or personnel matters. 00:04:39
Also, if it is not a. 00:04:44
Not a noted time on the agenda. Council does have discretion to end or not allow public comment, but generally we try to be. 00:04:47
Pretty informal about that if we can. 00:04:54
We will move on to financial reports. 00:04:57
And I'll turn it over to manager Dickerson. 00:05:00
Thank you, Mayor. 00:05:02
So the balance sheet, general fund reserve. 00:05:04
Reports or not. 00:05:07
Included in this. 00:05:08
Month's budget. I'm sorry, beating. 00:05:09
We're working on trying to do all the reconciliations for the end of the year. 00:05:11
And all the changes that the auditors require along with the fact that y'all know our finance directors, also our Municipal Court 00:05:15
clerk. And so right now she's shorthanded short staffed. 00:05:20
We will get that to you just as soon as we can. We'll get it posted online so people can see that as well. But we are we're doing 00:05:25
fine, not, not any concern at this point. 00:05:28
With how things are going with that on SPLOST front, we have. 00:05:33
Our SPLOST 3 report. 00:05:36
So we have a little bit more than. 00:05:38
$86,000 in revenue for the month of December. 00:05:41
This is the SPLOST that we'll talk a little bit about, the one that will follow this tonight later in the meeting. This one ends 00:05:46
in set on September 30th of 2027. 00:05:50
So we brought in a little bit more than $101,000 and we have a balance of about 1.4 million, I'll remind you all that. 00:05:55
Right now we are using this fund to be reimbursed for the Simonton Bridge Rd. project. So. 00:06:02
That loan is coming back in and then eventually. 00:06:08
Will be taking loan payments out of that, but as we spend money, the money's being reimbursed. So that's why the balance is a 00:06:10
little bit higher. 00:06:13
Than it normally would be. 00:06:16
We'll talk a little bit later about some of the project areas that first Bloss 4, but first boss three, we have public safety rec 00:06:18
and parks roads. 00:06:21
And multi government facilities and signage and. 00:06:25
Obviously, as I just said, Simonton Bridge Rd. one of our bigger projects is coming out. Part of it is coming out of SPLOST 3. 00:06:29
On teeth lost our transportation. 00:06:36
Projects, we have a little bit more than $75,000 that came in through the end of December. This one will. 00:06:39
Sunset in the end of March of 28. 00:06:47
And. 00:06:50
There's a show about $84,000 that came in a little bit more than $84,000 that came in on that. 00:06:52
This one's at 7.77%. The SPLOST 3 was at 8 point. 00:06:58
Think 8.63%. 00:07:02
And then some of the projects again Sumton Bridge Rd. we split. 00:07:05
Support of the Sompton Bridge Rd. project. The loan. 00:07:09
Between T splost and splost. 00:07:12
And then obviously a lot of Rd. resurfacing that we've done, we've spent out of. 00:07:14
Out of the two splost. 00:07:18
Any questions? 00:07:20
OK. 00:07:23
On the economic development front, business licenses went out. 00:07:24
And they're coming in slowly trickling in, but we've got a little bit more than $4000 in those payments. 00:07:29
Little more than 1100 and insurance payments. 00:07:35
And all of our alcohol applications came in that a little right at $14,000. 00:07:38
On our excise collection, so alcohol and hotel motel we're actually trending a little bit better on. 00:07:45
Both of those, we'll see if that continues. 00:07:50
But uh. 00:07:53
We're we're on mark with our budget on that. So that's good news. 00:07:54
And then we've had 7 permits for seven projects during the month of December, with one exception, one that snuck in the end of 00:07:58
November that didn't get collected but I get counted. 00:08:02
But seven different projects. 00:08:07
Sort of all over the map on that. 00:08:09
Any questions? 00:08:10
OK. All right. 00:08:13
Next up, Downtown Development Authority Jan Watson Greer if you want to. 00:08:16
Offer an update that would be great. 00:08:20
The DA board met. 00:08:26
Recommended UH. 00:08:28
To vote in favor of the strategic plan that was recently. 00:08:30
Completed. 00:08:34
There'll be more on that later in. 00:08:35
The meeting. 00:08:38
The courthouse renovations. 00:08:40
We are working with the county to mitigate the impact. 00:08:42
On those renovations on our downtown businesses. 00:08:45
We have new businesses, we have Magpie clocks. 00:08:50
They were. 00:08:53
Formerly in Town Center, they moved out to Bells and they are now very excited about coming back. 00:08:54
To Town Center, they're moving into the Macy Gray location that was. 00:09:01
I vacated December 31st. 00:09:06
Great Foundations that is a commercial real estate company out of Atlanta that has moved into. 00:09:09
The Watkinsville First Christian Church is building at the corner of 1st and Symington Bridge. 00:09:15
And then Corcoran Classic Living is another real estate residential real estate company. 00:09:21
That is currently in Athens. They are opening a second location on Main Street in Russell Walls. 00:09:26
Law office that he has vacated. 00:09:34
And then upcoming events, February 18th will be our DDA. 00:09:36
Annual retreat at 8:30 AM at 51 Barnett Shoals Rd. 00:09:40
And then what we're very excited about is on March 7th, the Viewfinder Season 4. 00:09:45
Premier event will be held as a fundraiser for OCAF. It will be at Rocket Hall and it will be a really unique and interesting 00:09:50
event we're going to. 00:09:55
Throw a nice big party for. 00:10:00
The season 4 premiere that is Iceland and. 00:10:03
The episode is just breathtaking, so hopefully everybody will be. 00:10:05
Able to attend. 00:10:09
That's it. 00:10:11
Great. Thank you. 00:10:12
All right, Next we'll hear from Chief Harwood with the Police Department report. 00:10:15
Thank you all for having as always so. 00:10:18
How to get started? Officer Claire has begun as a shadow phase in his field training, so. 00:10:20
It is he's he's on about 8 1/2 weeks now. 00:10:24
We'll do that for a few weeks and see how he does things on his own. Just shadowing. 00:10:28
Georgia Post approved his radar, so his radar and radar certified. 00:10:32
He's really excited about that and. 00:10:36
Been educating some of. 00:10:39
Pasir the roads in Hawkinsville. 00:10:42
Detectives Houseman has been recertified to work ICAC investigations. So basically it's in the Internet. 00:10:45
Crimes against children, which is very important these days to protect our children, our community, so. 00:10:52
His certification is is. 00:10:57
Good to go on that through the yak. 00:11:00
Commission, we're going to complete Taser training on January 29th if anyone would like to join us again this year. 00:11:03
Officer Claire will be taking volunteer exposure, so proud of him for doing that and. 00:11:13
So if anybody would like to join us and then. 00:11:19
He's excited. He's very excited about Mama names the other day and we're discussing it and I told him if he was really nervous 00:11:23
about it, he'd get pepper sprayed in the face beforehand and then get tasty and never even built. 00:11:29
Just last a little longer so. 00:11:37
He he's doing a great job. I can't say enough good things about Officer Claire. Very, very good attitude and a very good fit for 00:11:39
our agency. 00:11:43
So in February as I wrap up the policies this month. 00:11:47
We're going to start our end servers high liability. 00:11:50
Critical task training start in February and work some different policies throughout the year. 00:11:53
Incorporate those. 00:11:57
As we go forward. 00:11:59
On special announcements, Sergeant Lawrence Wade has passed completed a sixth year anniversary which we're very proud of. He was 00:12:01
just outside and I think he had to leave but. 00:12:05
What a great, great asset to have. 00:12:11
Enjoy working with him and proud to have him on our team. 00:12:13
We're working with Steve Scruggs over at Harter Grades to improve our our range, firearms range and. 00:12:17
Just making it safer. We did have a couple ricochets. 00:12:22
The last time we're out there, we want to make sure we don't do that, so we brought in some more robotized more sands, sand to 00:12:26
build the berm higher and get some more distance out of it. 00:12:30
And then on police vehicles. 00:12:36
Working on experiment. We're having to tweak a few cars but. 00:12:38
We're going to try and experiment for probably a month or so to see Runner Cruise lights. 00:12:41
On shift so we can be more present and hopefully. 00:12:45
Reduce speeding as well. 00:12:49
We probably will write less warnings if we're running cruise lights and. 00:12:52
Actually clock a speeder. 00:12:56
Get a citation instead of a warning. 00:12:59
But I just want to see, you know, what people, what citizens think about it and just try that and then. 00:13:01
Experiment with it. 00:13:06
So we are having to get a few of the cars tweaked. They're set. 00:13:07
There's different settings. 00:13:10
The intensity of the Blues. Too high and they flicker. 00:13:12
While you're going down the road, it's kind of like a GSP, so. 00:13:14
We took one and had a program where it's 5%. 00:13:18
So it's a very dim blue, like a true cruise light. 00:13:21
We just got the first one done today, so we'll get all them. 00:13:24
Situated and see how that works out. 00:13:27
We have 3 arrests. OK, we'll go to the stats for December 3. Arrest, a couple of domestic calls. 00:13:30
Suspicious calls. 00:13:38
And alarms and fire and. 00:13:40
Is usually our top three. 00:13:42
I like to keep track obviously of. 00:13:44
Of domestic, we did have a couple felony. 00:13:46
Charges too in there, some theft but. 00:13:49
Very low. 00:13:52
Each each month is 01 or two, which is that's what we want so. 00:13:53
And zero use of force reports so. 00:13:58
Y'all have any questions on that? 00:14:01
Do we know how many arrests the county makes in the city? 00:14:03
Like the all account for that at all and your reports. 00:14:06
Would do not. These are. 00:14:09
Our arrest, yeah, I can get that staff start adding it if we. 00:14:10
If you'd like to see that, I'm just kind of curious if it's significant or if it's like. 00:14:14
Just similar to our number if it's usually a zero, unless they're specifically called to an event or something like that. 00:14:19
We took that and we made the charges in US. 00:14:27
That's the. 00:14:31
Simple, salt and disorderly. The four. 00:14:32
So we actually took those charges ourselves. 00:14:35
But you're saying you only had two arrests, But weren't there more arrests than two involved with that incident? There was 3, but 00:14:38
yeah, I put 4IN parentheses on the same date right there. 00:14:42
So technically it would be 6. 00:14:46
But that's not in the total arrest. 00:14:49
Data on the chart in December. 00:14:51
If not, I put 3 down. OK, all right. 00:14:53
Yeah, I just counted as one incident in my head. That's how sometimes I think people I think of incidents, yeah. 00:14:55
All right. 00:15:05
Any other questions for the chief? 00:15:10
Thanks for what I'll do. I know it was a busy December. 00:15:12
With the parade and everything else. 00:15:15
Thank you, thank you, thank you. 00:15:16
All right, we'll move to the consent agenda. I don't think we need nothing changing with bank signature. So we won't need to do 00:15:18
that, but we will need to approve. 00:15:23
Qualifying fees for 2026 election, you guys had an opportunity to review that, Any questions before we move on? 00:15:27
All right, I'll entertain a motion to approve the consent agenda. 00:15:33
Make a motion to approve the consent agenda. 00:15:38
Do we have a second? 00:15:40
I'll second any discussion. 00:15:42
Hearing none, all in favor say aye aye. 00:15:45
All right, motion carries unanimously. 00:15:47
All right, we'll move to our first public hearing of the night. 00:15:49
I'm sure the engineer and the manager will have. 00:15:52
Something to add, but just very simply, this is going to be a formerly government owned property. 00:15:56
That is being rezone from public institutional to historic Maine. 00:16:01
I'll let Engineer Campbell. 00:16:06
Talk 1st and then Darren, we may have you come up if you have anything you want to add at that point. 00:16:08
Then we'll have a public hearing on this to discuss the rezone. 00:16:13
Allow people in favor, people opposed. 00:16:16
We'll close that public hearing, then we'll actually vote on the rezone, so. 00:16:19
Engineer Campbell. 00:16:23
Thank you, Mayor. 00:16:24
So again, 10 Court St. is less than. 00:16:25
2/10 of an acre. 00:16:28
It is directly adjacent to the existing courthouse. 00:16:30
Downtown and it is currently zoned. 00:16:33
Public, institutional, but that's the purpose of this agenda item is for. 00:16:35
Rezoning it to. 00:16:39
Historic Maine. 00:16:41
So if you're not familiar with where it is, there may be a time where you went there to vote early. 00:16:43
If you were around long enough, you may have gone to have some plans reviewed there at at some point in time, so. 00:16:48
But that is as the location again. 00:16:53
It's just off of main streets directly adjacent to the to the courthouse. 00:16:56
So there's a relatively recent survey of that again showing that the existing brick building that is on that parcel takes up. 00:17:00
The majority of that parcel, but it is. 00:17:08
Surrounded by. 00:17:10
Court Street. 00:17:12
So again, this may be the view you're. 00:17:14
Kind of familiar with is you're driving around the courthouse. So this is. 00:17:16
What we would say had kind of from the north facing South. 00:17:19
And then the subsequent. 00:17:22
Picture would be from the. 00:17:24
Opposite direction more from the South, facing north. 00:17:25
On that you can see the rear of the building. 00:17:29
For that one way traffic flow. 00:17:31
Again, the the property was originally platted. 00:17:35
In September of 1949. 00:17:37
That was before a building was constructed at that location. 00:17:40
And then the the request by the applicant is it's not for a change. 00:17:44
At that location, it's really just to bring that location into compliance since it's no longer publicly owned. It was. 00:17:48
Purchased from Oconee County in 2022. 00:17:54
And so it's going from public, institutional. 00:17:57
To historic Maine as the request made by the applicant. 00:18:00
I'm happy to answer any questions. 00:18:03
All right, Mr. Brett, anything you want to add to that? 00:18:06
I'd love to go through the committee. 00:18:09
All right, well, we'll call you up if we have any questions. Council this. 00:18:12
Council, any questions before we get started with the public hearing? 00:18:16
All right, we have a public, We're going to open up a public hearing. As I said at the start, you'll have 4 minutes to speak if 00:18:19
you have any questions, concerns or comments about. 00:18:23
The matter that the engineers presented, please come forward to the podium. 00:18:28
All right, looks like we have none. Can I close the public hearing? 00:18:35
All right, we'll close the public hearing. We'll now move to. 00:18:38
The vote regarding. 00:18:41
Regarding the rezone. 00:18:43
Do we need to hear anything else from you, Mr. Campbell? Are you Mr. Reitman? 00:18:45
Manager Dickerson. 00:18:49
Mr. Britt, anything you want to say? 00:18:51
All right, Council, are there any plans for that? 00:18:53
Mr. Brick, come on up. It's all right. 00:18:57
So I need to get my address and all that or just. Yeah, OK, Darren Britt. 00:19:02
2591 Snows Mill Rd. Bogart. 00:19:07
Yep, nothing definite. We have talked to A. 00:19:09
A business in town that. 00:19:13
Also use it as an accessory. Use. 00:19:15
I'll be honest with you, my partner's been in. 00:19:18
Mississippi for a month, duck hunting. So so. 00:19:21
He's been talking to him more than I have, but we don't have anything 100%. We're just. 00:19:26
Obviously it's sitting there, his own public institution. We can't lease it out or do anything so. 00:19:30
To get some. 00:19:35
To get a tenant, get some income, we. 00:19:37
Got it. Get it historic mine and get it like the property around there so. 00:19:39
So yeah. 00:19:42
Any other questions for Mr. Britt? 00:19:44
All right, hearing none, I'll entertain a motion to approve the rezone. 00:19:47
I make a motion to approve the rezone. 00:19:51
Do we have a second? 00:19:54
I'll second. 00:19:56
We have a motion in a second. Any further discussion? 00:19:57
Hearing none all in favor say aye, Any opposed? 00:19:59
Motion carries unanimously. 00:20:03
All right. Thank you, Mr. Britt. 00:20:05
We've got no appearances under old businesses, old business we have. 00:20:07
Adopt Strategic down Downtown Strategic development Plan manager Dickerson if you want to offer a report on that. 00:20:12
Yeah. So just a reminder of sort of the timeline. 00:20:17
This process kicked off in May or June with a. 00:20:22
A grant from Georgia. 00:20:25
Power of I think $35,000. 00:20:27
In June, we held some public engagement sessions. In July, the city LED some additional public engagement sessions. 00:20:30
And during after that. 00:20:38
Engagement and up until September. 00:20:40
Our consultants were working to finalize the strategic plan met with. 00:20:44
Had meetings with both the DDA and then came. 00:20:49
Before council in November to present it. 00:20:52
Ask for feedback and as far as I know, you know you. 00:20:54
All the feedback was incorporated. 00:20:57
Basically our plan structure, where, where are we now, where we're going, how do we get there? 00:21:00
And there were. 00:21:04
Immediate short-term and long-term goals set and so if this plan is adopted tonight. 00:21:06
This will be our framework going forward. We'll begin to actually work on. 00:21:12
Whatever policies or programs have to be put in place to get these actions taken care of and start budgeting for those in the 00:21:17
future. 00:21:20
All right, we had a deep dive on this last month. You know how our crew crew likes to work a plan. So we're going to raise our 00:21:29
hand and then we're going to. 00:21:32
Turn them loose on these things. 00:21:36
You know so. 00:21:39
Just want to be sure you have all spent some time with this. Obviously the DDA supportive of this, is that right, Jan? 00:21:40
So this will be our. 00:21:46
Our priorities when it comes to downtown over the next few years unless something emerges that we don't anticipate. 00:21:47
But I think it's a high quality plan and gives us a great road map that's. 00:21:53
Reasonably sized for what we can afford to do in Watkinsville. 00:21:57
And, and thank you, thank our partners and our friends at Georgia Power for helping us fund that. 00:22:01
So I would love a motion to. 00:22:06
Proved to adopt the downtown strategic plan. 00:22:08
At this point. 00:22:11
Motion to approve. 00:22:14
And adopt the downtown strategic development plan. 00:22:16
We have a motion for Mr. Campbell. Do we have a second? 00:22:20
2nd, We have a second from Councilman Garrett. 00:22:23
Any further discussion? 00:22:26
Hearing none all in favor say aye. 00:22:28
All right. Motion carries unanimously. Jan, you got your work cut out for you. 00:22:30
OK. We'll move on to new business. 00:22:34
So believe it or not, it's already time to start talking about SPLOST 4. 00:22:37
It comes around faster and faster the older I get and the more sales tax revenue we get. 00:22:43
That's a credit to. 00:22:49
Chairman Daniel, who's here and his team and. 00:22:50
They've done a really nice job of. 00:22:52
Building a retail engine in the county and spa does become. 00:22:54
Very important to all the local governments in Oak County County, so I'm going to let. 00:22:58
Manager Dickerson give us a summary of SPLOST 4. 00:23:01
The process, the timeline, the proposed project areas that we're going to consider. 00:23:05
I may have Chairman Daniel come up after that. I know he's not a man of many words, but at least to give us a little bit on the 00:23:10
county's perspective, this does require an MO UI think it's called with the. 00:23:14
Or an intergovernmental agreement with the county so that they can go on the ballot. So Sharon, I'll turn it over to you. 00:23:19
And then Chairman Daniel, if you want to say a few words after that, we'd welcome you up to the podium as well. 00:23:25
OK. Thank you, Mayor. 00:23:29
So on the screen you'll see this is the SPLOST 4 timeline. 00:23:30
The Board of Commissioners for Oconee County has already reviewed. 00:23:34
They've met the chairman, has met with the mayors. The IGA has been approved by Oconee County Board of Commissioners. 00:23:38
And we're at the point where we need to approve our IGA and the resolution and then? 00:23:44
The Board of Commissioners will then follow. 00:23:48
Up with a resolution, the Board of Elections will have a meeting call for the election and then we'll have the election on May. 00:23:50
19 sounds really quick and it hopefully will be but. 00:23:55
I think what's important here is the board, the. 00:23:59
County Board is responsible for initiating the process and calling the referendum. 00:24:02
And then and then the resolution that will call for the for the referendum. 00:24:06
The coordination between a lot of the cities and stuff is, like I said, has already occurred and then. 00:24:10
Once both bodies have approved the IGA and the resolutions, then it will go before. 00:24:16
Before the. 00:24:22
Voters to vote on. 00:24:23
We have. 00:24:25
Prepared for. 00:24:27
Potential areas, and I guess I'll call them buckets or project areas. 00:24:30
That, we think, would be instrumental. 00:24:34
For us in SPLOST 4, they're very some they're. 00:24:37
Basically the same as what we have right now. So we have transportation and infrastructure and you'll see. 00:24:40
A number of bullets underneath that, what that would cover. 00:24:45
Umm, sidewalk construction, potential rails to trails, intersection improvements, rights away, stormwater drainage, those types of 00:24:48
things that could be covered under. 00:24:52
You know, it could be used, the money could be used for. 00:24:57
Public safety facilities and equipment. 00:24:59
Again, what it is public facilities and equipment, public safety facilities and equipment and then. 00:25:02
Parks and Rec. 00:25:07
Could be improvements to parts, could be actual pathways. It could. 00:25:09
Be public art on the on that property could a whole bunch of different things. A lot of flexibility I think in their acquisition 00:25:13
of land if needed. 00:25:17
And then community government facilities, signage and or equipment is sort of a. 00:25:22
Catch all and we'll talk real briefly about. 00:25:25
What we're thinking. 00:25:28
And I will mention that. 00:25:30
All of these, there's a little. Thankfully, there's a lot of. 00:25:32
Flexibility. 00:25:35
And how monies are spent. So it could be. 00:25:37
Like for instance at Thomas Farm, if we needed additional trails, we could either take money out of parks and recs or we could 00:25:39
potentially take it out of transportation depending on how how it's done and and connected. So. 00:25:44
What we're recommending at a 7.77%. 00:25:49
Rate which has been negotiated with the county. 00:25:54
We would be looking at about 7,000,000 if we got the full amount. We always budget less than that, although you all know that 00:25:57
we've been getting a lot more than that. We always try to be conservative, so we projected about 83%. 00:26:02
Right now we're suggesting a little bit more than a million in transportation. 00:26:09
A little bit more than half a million in public safety. 00:26:13
1.3 million in rec and parks and three million in government facilities. 00:26:16
Go back to the slide before SO. 00:26:21
One of the things under government facilities is a new City Hall. That's something we've been talking about for a while. 00:26:23
And it may be good timing, it may not be. If it's not used for that, there are other facilities such as the. 00:26:29
Former Thomas family home. 00:26:35
At Thomas Farm. 00:26:37
That may turn into something It could be a Community Center or a museum. That money could be used there as well. 00:26:39
Any types of improvements to this facility if we don't end up leaving this facility could be used here. 00:26:45
Signage. We've talked about some additional signage and then maintenance and technology, the big thing for us. 00:26:50
If we were to stay here and or move. 00:26:57
Is we broadcast this, we we sort of Band-Aid this thing together a little bit. We're not quite as sophisticated as the county. 00:26:59
But our broadcast video camera system was. 00:27:05
Put in place, you know. 00:27:08
In 2020, so we're already six years old now. 00:27:09
You all know how things basically go out of date, so we'll be looking at something like that at some point if we stay here or if 00:27:12
we have to move. 00:27:15
So. So the plan is it right now the tentative plan is to have those monies. 00:27:19
Set aside in that manner, and that's. 00:27:24
What the opportunity for? 00:27:27
Public input and the Council's feedback is to know. 00:27:28
Whether or not you want those in those buckets like that, there are opportunities should let's say we don't do a new City Hall or 00:27:31
something and that 3,000,000 doesn't use. 00:27:35
There are ways within the. 00:27:39
Intergovernmental agreement that can be. 00:27:41
Modified if needed. So like if that doesn't ever have, if it's not going to happen. 00:27:43
Then we can work through that. 00:27:47
So. 00:27:49
All right, Chairman Daniel, anything you want to? 00:27:53
Share. 00:27:55
Splice is very important to the community for getting our infrastructure built up so. 00:28:02
We'll collect anywhere from 75,000,000 to 90 million total. 00:28:08
For countless cities and the county. 00:28:11
By having this IGA, we're allowed to collect for six years with no cap. 00:28:14
So even if we collect more 90,000, we don't have to stop collecting, we get to collect for full six years, so. 00:28:18
Appreciate your. 00:28:24
Favorable vote to approve this. 00:28:25
The timing on this is structured so that if something was to happen with a vote, for some reason it didn't pass in May, we'd have 00:28:28
the opportunity to come circle back at a later date before SPLOST expires. 00:28:33
So at one other point, so on the referendum, the the citizens will not see this exhibit. This exhibit is part of our 00:28:37
intergovernmental agreement with the county. That's why I said we have. 00:28:42
A little bit more flexibility. 00:28:47
Those citizens will simply say, do you want to approve 90 million or whatever the total is? 00:28:48
For this extra penny. 00:28:53
The detail. The devil's in the details. So again. 00:28:55
If, should something go topsy turvy, we have the ability to go back. 00:28:58
To the county and change things if we have to so. 00:29:01
We haven't had to, but hopefully. 00:29:05
And you all have heard my spiel on SPLOST and T SPLOST before, but I'm going to say it again. This is a very efficient way for us 00:29:07
to fund operations. A significant portion of those funds come from. 00:29:12
Individuals from across the region who are drawn to our retail hub and. 00:29:17
Places like Costco and. 00:29:20
Walmart and Lowe's and. 00:29:22
In fact, a lot of them are probably there tonight, buying up all the groceries and generators and everything else but. 00:29:24
You know, those pennies come back here, but a lot of those pennies are coming from other communities. 00:29:30
Umm, so anyway. 00:29:34
That's umm. 00:29:36
That is the recap on Splash. Now is the time for questions. 00:29:37
I assume, I assume we're going to do a broadcast. This is to you, Chairman. I assume we're going to do a broadcast like a social 00:29:48
media broadcast again like we've. 00:29:52
We've done in the past. 00:29:57
OK, Yeah. 00:29:59
I feel like. 00:30:00
You know, the more we put it out there. 00:30:02
Better chance we have our communication teams already working. 00:30:04
A separate website like we did before, there's a. 00:30:07
That GIS. 00:30:10
They're working on all that. We have a town hall meet, you know, February 10th. 00:30:14
That'll be the focus for our for our community. 00:30:18
Is the swamp of that member. 00:30:21
Yeah, everybody's got to get out and push it. That's right. Absolutely. 00:30:23
Yeah. I think it's really important that we educate the voters about this, especially how efficient it is in terms of. 00:30:27
You know, as a, as a. 00:30:32
And also we need to, you know, I'm not going to. 00:30:34
Goes off totally on this, but there are discussions at the state level about property taxes right now. 00:30:35
But I think it's really important for us all to remember in our roles how you know we need. 00:30:40
Diverse revenue stream. 00:30:45
You know, just like a good business, government needs diverse revenue streams and we provide an Oconee County. 00:30:47
In Watkinsville, a lot of value for low property taxes and it's really important that our citizens understand that. 00:30:53
By having low the way we keep property taxes low. 00:30:58
Part of the way that we do that is with. 00:31:01
With squashed and T splost and lost. 00:31:04
And I remind people all the time, the average property tax in Watkinsville is a. 00:31:07
About enough to pay for the trash that you're getting picked up, but it probably wouldn't cover your leaf and limb and your police 00:31:10
protection so. 00:31:13
There's a lot of value in our little community, and it's important that our leaders at the state understand that too, that just 00:31:16
because there may be some. 00:31:19
Folks who like to do high property taxes, that's not the way we approach it. No county, county it's and frankly, it creates a lot 00:31:23
of the value that's in people's homes, the school systems. 00:31:27
The sidewalks, the parks, that's one of the reason that the home values appreciate so much in Oconee County counties, those 00:31:31
services that are delivered with those tax dollars. 00:31:35
All right, I'll step off my soapbox and I'll ask for a motion to approve the IGA. 00:31:38
With Oconee County for the 2027 spots for. 00:31:44
Yeah, I'll make a motion to. 00:31:50
Passed the IGA with. 00:31:52
With the county, all right, we have a motion from Councilman Thomas. 00:31:55
2nd 2nd from Councilman Campbell. 00:31:58
Any further comments? 00:32:01
Hearing none, all in favor say aye aye. Motion carries unanimously. 00:32:02
We'll move on to public comments. Same rules as before. Come to the podium. Give us your address. 4 minutes per person. 00:32:07
I don't see any of. 00:32:14
The people who had. 00:32:15
Have these characteristics tonight, but no debate, argument, Personal attacks are irrelevant discussion. 00:32:16
Council can't speak to litigation attorney Klein or personnel matters. 00:32:22
4 minutes for whoever wants to come first. 00:32:25
Jimmy Williamson 1389 a Free Gen. Rd. 00:32:34
Walking through. First of all, thank you for what you did. I really appreciate what you all know how you serve this community. 00:32:37
Yes, I'll have her. 00:32:46
No. And also when you're talking about the park, I'm gonna tell you I really enjoy the park. I think that's just a great example 00:32:48
of how government. 00:32:51
This you know how they work and that's why we let government do certain things and we don't let private sector do certain things. 00:32:55
And that segues into what I want to talk about. 00:33:01
I like to talk about or point out some things I've been observing at the Norton Road traffic circle that was put in place a while 00:33:03
back with the Wire Park development. 00:33:07
I travel that road probably 6 to 8 times a day living on McCready and going to the University of Georgia in Pathens. 00:33:12
When it was first constructed. 00:33:18
You know it was just a curve and when it was first constructed. 00:33:19
It appeared to be small to me, but you know, I don't have a trained technical eye, but it appeared to be small. 00:33:22
And I didn't think much about it until I started seeing certain driving behavior. 00:33:28
And and then I started, I reached out to a few people, let you know what I was seeing. 00:33:32
But what I. 00:33:37
That traffic circle I think was built way too small. 00:33:38
I looked up G dot standards to see traffic circle standards. 00:33:42
Based on speeds of roads and. 00:33:45
You know, looking at warrant studies and things like that. 00:33:48
And I'm having a I'm not an engineer. I want to qualify myself right there. So I may be reading it all, but it's hard for me to 00:33:50
think. 00:33:53
That that traffic circle fits any of those G dot standards. 00:33:56
When I look at the examples of traffic circles that are being. 00:33:59
Built in this county. 00:34:02
They don't. This one seems to be really small compared to the ones we build in the county even on. 00:34:04
It was just like the one they just did a High Shoals Rd. I mean that seems to be a similar type of traffic flow even though it's 00:34:08
only three points of entry. 00:34:12
Versus 4 over there, but the speeds are the same volumes of traffic, traffic. I don't know if you realize what Norton Road is 00:34:15
really picked up. 00:34:19
A lot of people trying to bypass Simonton Bridge in downtown Watkinsville skirting around. That's a pretty busy Rd. 00:34:22
Compared to what it used to be years ago. 00:34:28
If you look at evidence out there at the traffic circle, you'll see where people are very seldom staying on the roadway. 00:34:31
You'll see that I think your Rd. departments had to go out there and replace the internal signs where? 00:34:38
A trailer knocked it down. 00:34:43
It's too small for anything other than a basic passenger car truck. 00:34:45
It's a UPS constantly having to maneuver, go off into the road or back up. 00:34:50
If it's just a pickup truck dragging a trailer or a boat trailer or something. 00:34:54
That it's hard for them to maneuver that traffic circle. 00:34:58
And the the big thing, it got my observations in which I reached out. 00:35:01
Was I see now that people's driving behavior has changed due to the fact that the inadequate design. 00:35:05
And they're going to the opposite side of the circle and going against one, going against the one way traffic. 00:35:12
And you know, I know they're doing wrong. 00:35:17
I'm not trying to say that. 00:35:19
It's anybody's fault but the person that makes that bad choice, but the reality is I think the inadequate design is forcing people 00:35:21
to do things that are unsafe. 00:35:24
And I and from my experience and the things I've did for years for for 32 years. 00:35:28
I find when people do things like that creatures habit, they just kind of blindly start doing it and what I'm scared of is that 00:35:34
somebody's gonna get that routine. 00:35:38
And they're going to just do it one night or one afternoon and they're going to hit some my head on out there. 00:35:42
The other thing that I've noticed here lately. 00:35:47
Is wire parks traffic is picking up which is good. 00:35:49
You know, I live out there and I love. I know go out there. I like everything about the place. 00:35:52
And now we're building the residential section back there in the back. 00:35:56
I'm starting to notice that. 00:36:00
People that are inning from the wire park. 00:36:02
The fact that the traffic circle is not large enough doesn't allow for queuing and staging like you would see on a normal traffic 00:36:05
circle. We're supposed to be pulled in. It's almost acting like a three-way stop now. 00:36:09
And I think people get confused and they don't know who has the right away. 00:36:14
So I would you know. 00:36:18
You know, when I look at that, I get real concerned that you know. 00:36:20
A private developer did. I think county and city should build roads. 00:36:24
Because you are arguing building the right way. You're going to look at them. You're going to invest the money. 00:36:27
I'd love to see the warrant study that was done. 00:36:31
I would, I would. 00:36:34
You know, probably wrong, but I would guess that maybe 1 wasn't done because most people don't want to spend $20,000 to see 00:36:35
traffic counts and patterns and it weren't studied with predicted what the volume was going to go to that the addition of those 00:36:39
houses. 00:36:43
But the. 00:36:48
I it looks to me. 00:36:50
And again, this is Jimmy Williamson's viewpoint observations. I'm not trying to say somebody did this. 00:36:51
But it looks like we just jammed it in out there. 00:36:56
And we jammed it in between the utility pole and the hydrant. 00:36:59
And where the other man's property drops off because we didn't want to fill in the dirt because that was going to cost money or do 00:37:02
the land acquisition, nor did we want to move the the utility public, the Georgia Power. 00:37:07
Utility pole or the hydrant? 00:37:11
And now we've created a situation. I think it's unsafe. 00:37:13
And I think it's going to be become a real burden for the people that live and use that facility as the volume picks up out there. 00:37:17
Because I don't know how many zones are zoned right there. 00:37:23
But it looks like there's a good bit. You already got the townhouses and apartments. 00:37:25
And they only have the one front really driveway coming out that side. 00:37:29
And now we have this traffic circle that I think is very inefficient for what's being expected of it. 00:37:33
So I would ask that y'all would take a look at redoing this. It looks like you're going to get some tea splice dollars. I mean, if 00:37:38
you know. 00:37:41
You're already doing a lot to build up that corridor from the park. 00:37:45
The Walking path going over to Wire Park. 00:37:48
And it just seems like if you know, we should, you know, while I really appreciate The Walking and biking and all that. 00:37:51
The majority of traffic we see is car traffic. 00:37:56
And we already know that's a high volume area trying to boil downtown. I like the fact that people are avoiding downtown. 00:38:00
And it skirts around, but I think we need to give them a good way to get around that area. 00:38:05
So I'm just asking if you would please look at that before somebody gets hurt or we start having a lot more griping. 00:38:09
Thank you. 00:38:14
Thank you, Mr. Williamson. 00:38:16
Any other public comment? 00:38:20
We don't have any. I'll make a quick response to that. And then I don't know if Engineer Campbell wants to win at all tonight or 00:38:24
not. If you don't, that's totally fine, Mark. I know that's a lot to take in. 00:38:28
This will be on the agenda for our February our February planning session, I do think. 00:38:32
Even if the developer hit. 00:38:38
Did what they were supposed to do there. I do think this merits us taking another look at it. We have funds set aside in SPLOST 00:38:40
and TRT. SPLOST specifically for. 00:38:43
Traffic improvements. Traffic calming. 00:38:47
That we could. 00:38:50
Potentially put into this. Now I know it's a little bit weird and that the. 00:38:51
Private sector guy was supposed to take care of it, but if they did what they were supposed to do and it still doesn't meet the 00:38:54
needs of what? 00:38:57
Our citizens want what the county needs and I think we should probably take a look and see what we need to do to address this so. 00:39:00
Engineer Campbell will have thoughts at the right time. I don't know if tonight's the right time. If it's not, shake your head. 00:39:05
That's fine. 00:39:07
But we will. 00:39:10
But we are going to need to tackle that situation and see what see what we can do. 00:39:11
There to make that work a little bit better. I think you can even see it's pretty. 00:39:16
I don't have any of Jimmy. For those who don't know, the former police chief at the University of Georgia, he didn't offer his 00:39:20
qualifications, but. 00:39:23
Even to my untrained eye, when I was just see a bunch of red clay around the outside of a traffic circle, it's pretty obvious that 00:39:27
something's going on there that we may need to address. So it does slow cars down. I think a point that has been made to me by 00:39:32
others, and it's probably true, is. 00:39:36
Those trucks probably aren't going any slower around that traffic circle than they had to around that curve years ago. 00:39:41
Because you had to come to pretty much a. 00:39:46
Complete stop to go around that curve, but. 00:39:47
I think we do have to look at what's there now and and what we need to do to accommodate that situation. And frankly, I want that 00:39:50
to be an inspiring entrance into Wire Part 2. I don't want it to be a bunch of knocked over. 00:39:55
Signs because trucks can't navigate it, no. 00:40:00
So anyway, more to come on that. Jim, we appreciate you or Mr. Williamson, appreciate you coming in and offering that feedback. So 00:40:02
Yep, Yep. 00:40:06
Anybody else for public comment? 00:40:10
Council, anything y'all want to say? 00:40:13
Were you all good, Brett? I know you've made your feelings known about that traffic circle before, so. 00:40:15
I don't like it either. Since the day it was built, yeah. 00:40:20
Yep, Yep. 00:40:23
All right. 00:40:27
We don't have any other public comments and we'll go through the mayor's report and then we may get y'all out of here pretty soon, 00:40:28
so. 00:40:31
Umm, we had an exciting, exciting way to start the year with the Walk for Peace. 00:40:34
I think most of us probably saw the monks walk through Watkinsville. I do think it's important that we recognize our first 00:40:40
responders, Police Department, county folks who made that. 00:40:44
Safe for them. It's not easy when you're walking from Fort Worth to Washington, DC, and it's really exciting to see all of our. 00:40:48
Little communities to come together to help help these gentlemen make that walk. 00:40:55
Through Watkinsville and it was really great to see the community come together and. 00:40:58
You know, celebrate something that was very simple but but turned out to be a special day. 00:41:02
How many of y'all were here during the torch relay? 00:41:08
My mother only won the Olympic 96 anyway, that was that was kind of cool. It reminded me a little bit of the torch relay, you 00:41:12
know, and seeing people on 441. 00:41:16
It had been a long time since I've done that. If you haven't done it yet, take the Citizens Satisfaction Survey. Sharon, How many? 00:41:21
Any idea how many responses we've had? 00:41:25
Well, as of last Friday, we had 159 and I'm sure we've got more now because we've been. 00:41:29
Pushing it out there, so. 00:41:34
So we've got one for every county in Georgia, but we could use some more so. So if y'all could encourage folks, I just sent the 00:41:35
link out via text to about 20 people and then encourage them to pass it along. But. 00:41:41
It's it's quick, but it's really helpful. One of the things I want us to do is we're going to do this every year. 00:41:47
And that way we can. 00:41:52
You know, we're going to manage, you know, you manage what you measure, right. So that way we're going to understand what our 00:41:53
citizens are really looking forward to help us. 00:41:56
Understand what their needs are, what we're doing well, where we can improve, what their concerns are. 00:42:00
So. 00:42:04
Thomas Farm Preserve, The Watkinsville Garden Club went out and did some really nice landscaping improvements in the area closest 00:42:07
to the house. 00:42:10
That's the first phase. More is to come out there, but that's going to look really nice. 00:42:14
In terms of what they were doing. 00:42:19
Also need to recognize Athens seed and garden. 00:42:21
For donating a significant amount of soil amendment and products for free, they're wonderful. 00:42:24
Corporate citizens, we're really grateful. 00:42:28
Grateful for them. 00:42:30
Harris Shoals Park. 00:42:34
We're doing a. 00:42:36
Having to do some sewer line improvements down there. So if you see something. 00:42:37
That looks like. 00:42:41
Looks like we've done some digging down there. It's not a giant armadillo, but in fact we're replacing replacing a sewer line from 00:42:43
the restroom. 00:42:46
And that's what's going on down there. 00:42:50
Simonton Bridge Rd. Pedestrian improvements. A few updates. We've installed the RFB. 00:42:52
That will allow safe passage between Morgan Manor and the new park, but we are waiting on. 00:42:57
The striping to go in and then we'll officially open that up and have the lights start working. 00:43:02
Speaking of lights, we are working with Georgia Power to lower the brightness of the lights on that corridor. 00:43:07
I think that's popped up in the Citizen survey a little bit. It looks like a runway. We never intended them to be so bright. 00:43:13
But the Georgia Power is actually having to get something manufactured. 00:43:18
And they'll do that in April, but they're in charge of the maintenance on those lights, so we're waiting. That's no cost to the 00:43:21
city. 00:43:23
To make that change so they'll be reducing the brightness. 00:43:26
Over the past month, you probably noticed we also began work on the rest of the Relay connector. That's the sidewalk that's going 00:43:28
to go from Thomas Farm Preserve. 00:43:32
To Watkinsville First Baptist and eventually connect to Wire park. So if you saw that grading and clearing. 00:43:36
Along Simonton Bridge Rd. That's what that's for. 00:43:41
And then the covered bridge is coming along. So this these photos look like they're probably from. 00:43:44
Mid-december. We've come a long way since then. 00:43:50
We now have a roof on. A lot of the stone work is done. You're seeing how the progress has gone here. 00:43:53
We've got a lighting plan. 00:43:59
That's what it looked like the other night with some of the interior lighting that we were testing. 00:44:00
So the bridge is really coming along, hoping that the bridge itself will be done by our next meeting and then we probably will 00:44:06
have another two or three months to get the rest of the sidewalk. 00:44:10
Landscaping and along that corridor. 00:44:14
We had a funny incident, I don't know if you all heard about it, but we had a lithium battery. 00:44:19
Set fire to the back of the trash truck in Morgan Manor at some point in January. Is that right, Sharon? 00:44:24
You know what happens when the trash truck catches on fire? 00:44:30
They dump the load in the middle of the road. 00:44:33
And so in Morgan Manor this happened while we had a detour on Simonton Bridge Rd. 00:44:35
So we had so our thankfully the driver was safe. The truck was saved. 00:44:41
Curbside came out quickly and cleaned all that up, but this is just a reminder that we do not need certain items in the trash 00:44:46
because they can create real. 00:44:50
Problems, and it would have been awful had something happened to that. 00:44:54
Garbage well, not just brand new truck, I mean it's full of fuel. I mean it could have been it could have been really dangerous 00:44:57
so. 00:45:00
Anyway, so please remind folks to pay attention to what they put in the trash. 00:45:04
We are hiring for several positions so encourage. 00:45:07
Friends with those you know who are looking for work to look at our website and apply for those jobs. 00:45:11
The Woodruff Meadow is still making progress. We've got people. 00:45:15
We've got people growing stuff from seed, we've got stuff. 00:45:19
You know, going in we've got shrubs, but that's a citizen LED project. They've raised the funds to do most of that work or do all 00:45:22
that work. 00:45:25
And it's going to honor Alice Woodruff. And we're also kind of resetting around the Ivy Maple in that area in there. 00:45:30
So we got a storm coming this weekend. It looks like it's maybe looks like it might not be as intense. 00:45:35
As we anticipated, but that could change from day-to-day last night, you know. 00:45:43
People were in panic mode tonight, maybe not quite so much, but we really don't know what's going to happen so I would encourage 00:45:47
everybody to go ahead and prepare. 00:45:50
You see some tips here. There's also a lot of them online. 00:45:54
And pay attention to, you know, the information that CJ Worden and the county are putting out. 00:45:57
Or a reliable weather source. There are a lot of weather sources that just want you to click on. 00:46:02
Their web page or their Facebook feed? 00:46:07
And they're always going to tell you it's going to snow so. But it's probably not the most trustworthy site. Jimmy, do y'all put 00:46:09
stuff out too around all this? Yeah. 00:46:13
So the university is also very reliable. And then there's a meteorologist at the university named Marshall Shepherd and and he's 00:46:19
my go to for weather information. He's a. 00:46:22
Very reliable as well, so watch out. Watch the counties page. 00:46:26
Bro counties emergency services. 00:46:31
The university has great resources and rely on. 00:46:33
Folks, but also. 00:46:37
Prepare. Have your water, your space heaters, etc ready. 00:46:38
All right, then, we have a special birthday. 00:46:43
That we want to celebrate. Connie, I think you started the tradition of having the old pictures here, right? So. 00:46:49
All right. 00:46:57
So happy birthday, Connie. I don't know what how much Hairspray you had to use back then, but you know, the ozone layer is 00:47:00
probably still recovering. So but happy birthday, we're grateful. 00:47:04
Grateful that you're here. 00:47:10
I did forget to mention Sharon. We do have our council retreat. 00:47:12
Scheduled is that February. 00:47:15
It's a Monday in February, February 23rd, so it'll be after our next meeting, but I do want to go ahead and advertise it. That's 00:47:18
when we plan everything for the year ahead. 00:47:22
It's open to the public. I think it's a nine to one. 00:47:26
9 to one or two. 00:47:30
I think we're all going to be there, but I want to be sure the public is aware. You can come for part or all will publish the 00:47:31
agenda. 00:47:34
And it'll be broadcast live as well. 00:47:37
But a lot of people wonder, well, when do you talk about all the stuff that you guys do? Well, we take that. We take four or five 00:47:39
hours. 00:47:41
We outline our priorities. We'll talk more about spots, T spots, the downtown plan. 00:47:44
And then we'll prioritize and that really gives staff the guidance that they need to work for the rest of the year. 00:47:48
I would also encourage everyone. I mentioned it earlier, I'm not going to belabor it now, but pay attention to what's going on at 00:47:53
the Gold Dome we've got. 00:47:56
New representative down there and Eric Gisler. We have some others who are. 00:47:59
Older hands that are going to retire, but there are some proposals down there that will impact local government if they go 00:48:03
through. 00:48:06
We'll hear more from GMA. I imagine John's hearing from a CCG, Imagine the school boards are talking about that. But some of those 00:48:10
proposals. 00:48:13
Are being pushed through and I always tell people, look, if you don't like your property taxes, there's a simple way to solve it 00:48:18
and that means vote us out. 00:48:21
OK, so talk to us about property taxes if you feel like they're too high in the city or in the county. 00:48:24
I know John has been on a crusade to lower those and reduce those. 00:48:30
We've both rolled ours back pretty consistently through the years. 00:48:34
You know, the school board, I think, did likewise last year. 00:48:38
But I like to remind my friends in Atlanta, there's a simple way you can solve things in local government, and that's our local 00:48:41
populations can decide whether they like our policies or not. It's real hard for us to affect what happens in Atlanta, but it's 00:48:46
real easy for citizens to affect what's going on out here when it comes to things like that. 00:48:51
But I think there's a lot of value. 00:48:56
Out here in what we do and how we run things. 00:48:57
I'll turn to Council at this point for your reports. 00:49:01
Councilman Garrett Post One. 00:49:04
Birthday girl Councilwoman Massey. 00:49:07
All right, Councilman Thomas reports. 00:49:10
Councilman Campbell. 00:49:13
Nothing. Umm. 00:49:14
But you're recovering and feeling all right there. 00:49:15
OK. All right. 00:49:20
Councilman Campbell learned that the hard way. 00:49:21
We. 00:49:25
Do we need the executive session or not tonight? 00:49:27
No, OK. 00:49:29
All right, all right, we will skip the executive session. 00:49:30
And a motion to adjourn. 00:49:35
Make a motion to adjourn. 00:49:40
I'll second. 00:49:42
All in favor say aye. 00:49:44
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Transcript

Event transcript
All right, welcome to the January Watkinsville City Council meeting. We have a quorum here tonight, and we will start with the 00:00:29
Pledge of Allegiance. Let's all rise. 00:00:34
I pledge allegiance to the flag. 00:00:42
Of the United States of America. 00:00:44
And to the Republic, for which it. 00:00:46
One Nation. 00:00:48
Under God, indivisible. 00:00:49
With liberty and justice for all. 00:00:52
All right, Council, you have the minutes from December 17th in your packet. I'll entertain a motion for approval or modifications. 00:00:59
Make a motion to approve the minutes. 00:01:07
We have a motion. Do we have a second? 00:01:09
I'll second. 00:01:11
All right. We have a motion, we have a second. Any discussion? 00:01:12
Hearing none, all in favor say aye aye. 00:01:14
Motion carries. We'll move to the agenda. There's no changes to the agenda, so I'll entertain a motion to approve the agenda. 00:01:17
Make a motion to approve the agenda. 00:01:23
Do we have a 2nd I'll second? 00:01:24
All right, we have a motion. We have a second. 00:01:27
All in favor say aye aye. 00:01:29
Motion carries. 00:01:31
We'll move to the administration of. 00:01:33
Oath of office for the mayor and newly elected council members, I think. 00:01:35
Our counselor is going to try to do all that at once. 00:01:38
Michael Ketchet. 00:01:44
All right, all right. If our new officials will stand and raise your right hand, please. 00:01:48
And I will state the whole oath, and then you will say I do, I do. So my God, at the end, do each of you solemnly swear or affirm 00:01:54
that you will faithfully execute the office? 00:01:59
Of Councilperson of the City of Watkinsville and to the best of your ability, support and defend the Constitution of the United 00:02:04
States, the Constitution of Georgia. 00:02:09
And the charter, ordinances and regulations of the City of Watkinsville. And that you are not the holder of any unaccounted for 00:02:14
public money. 00:02:18
Do this state or any political subdivision or authority thereof, and. 00:02:22
That you are not the holder of any office of trust. 00:02:27
Under the government of the United States. 00:02:30
Or any other state or any foreign state which you. 00:02:33
By the laws, the state of Georgia would be prohibited from holding. 00:02:36
And that you were otherwise qualified to hold said office according to the Constitution and laws of Georgia. 00:02:39
And that you have been a resident of your district. 00:02:46
And the City of Watkinsville for the time required by the Constitution. 00:02:48
And laws of this state. 00:02:52
And that you will perform the duties of your office. 00:02:54
In the best interest of the City of Watkinsville to the best of your ability, without fear, favor, affection, reward, or 00:02:57
expectation thereof. 00:03:01
If you agree with that oath, you can say I do or I do so help you God. 00:03:05
You all are official. We'll do the signing after. 00:03:09
After the meeting, congratulations. 00:03:13
All right, moving along we will. 00:03:24
To council for nominations for a mayor Pro Tem. 00:03:27
I will entertain nominations at this point. 00:03:32
Since Christine is not here, I nominate Christine Tucker. 00:03:36
What happens when you miss the first? The organizational meeting? Do we have a second? 00:03:42
Well, since Christine's not here, I will second his nomination. We have a motion, we have a second. Are there any further 00:03:46
nominations for mayor Pro Tem? 00:03:50
Hearing none, we'll close the nominations. Any discussion? 00:03:55
Hearing none, all in favor of electing Christine Tucker mayor Pro Tem say aye aye. 00:03:59
Any opposed Christine is not here to voice her opinion. 00:04:04
So she. 00:04:08
Is mayor Pro Tem? 00:04:09
All right, we'll move on into the rest of the agenda. Before we start that, I will give a quick reminder on our public input 00:04:11
process. As I like to say, we're a little less formal here. 00:04:15
And some of our other meetings. So that means members of the public who want to address the mayor and council can do so at the 00:04:19
noted times on the agenda. 00:04:23
Or at the discretion of the Council. 00:04:26
Umm Comments shall be only directly relating to agenda items. Speak from the podium. 4 minutes per person. 00:04:29
Refrain from debate argument. Personal attacks are irrelevant discussion. 00:04:34
Address the merits of the pending matter. 00:04:37
And address remarks to council. Council won't speak to litigation, attorney-client or personnel matters. 00:04:39
Also, if it is not a. 00:04:44
Not a noted time on the agenda. Council does have discretion to end or not allow public comment, but generally we try to be. 00:04:47
Pretty informal about that if we can. 00:04:54
We will move on to financial reports. 00:04:57
And I'll turn it over to manager Dickerson. 00:05:00
Thank you, Mayor. 00:05:02
So the balance sheet, general fund reserve. 00:05:04
Reports or not. 00:05:07
Included in this. 00:05:08
Month's budget. I'm sorry, beating. 00:05:09
We're working on trying to do all the reconciliations for the end of the year. 00:05:11
And all the changes that the auditors require along with the fact that y'all know our finance directors, also our Municipal Court 00:05:15
clerk. And so right now she's shorthanded short staffed. 00:05:20
We will get that to you just as soon as we can. We'll get it posted online so people can see that as well. But we are we're doing 00:05:25
fine, not, not any concern at this point. 00:05:28
With how things are going with that on SPLOST front, we have. 00:05:33
Our SPLOST 3 report. 00:05:36
So we have a little bit more than. 00:05:38
$86,000 in revenue for the month of December. 00:05:41
This is the SPLOST that we'll talk a little bit about, the one that will follow this tonight later in the meeting. This one ends 00:05:46
in set on September 30th of 2027. 00:05:50
So we brought in a little bit more than $101,000 and we have a balance of about 1.4 million, I'll remind you all that. 00:05:55
Right now we are using this fund to be reimbursed for the Simonton Bridge Rd. project. So. 00:06:02
That loan is coming back in and then eventually. 00:06:08
Will be taking loan payments out of that, but as we spend money, the money's being reimbursed. So that's why the balance is a 00:06:10
little bit higher. 00:06:13
Than it normally would be. 00:06:16
We'll talk a little bit later about some of the project areas that first Bloss 4, but first boss three, we have public safety rec 00:06:18
and parks roads. 00:06:21
And multi government facilities and signage and. 00:06:25
Obviously, as I just said, Simonton Bridge Rd. one of our bigger projects is coming out. Part of it is coming out of SPLOST 3. 00:06:29
On teeth lost our transportation. 00:06:36
Projects, we have a little bit more than $75,000 that came in through the end of December. This one will. 00:06:39
Sunset in the end of March of 28. 00:06:47
And. 00:06:50
There's a show about $84,000 that came in a little bit more than $84,000 that came in on that. 00:06:52
This one's at 7.77%. The SPLOST 3 was at 8 point. 00:06:58
Think 8.63%. 00:07:02
And then some of the projects again Sumton Bridge Rd. we split. 00:07:05
Support of the Sompton Bridge Rd. project. The loan. 00:07:09
Between T splost and splost. 00:07:12
And then obviously a lot of Rd. resurfacing that we've done, we've spent out of. 00:07:14
Out of the two splost. 00:07:18
Any questions? 00:07:20
OK. 00:07:23
On the economic development front, business licenses went out. 00:07:24
And they're coming in slowly trickling in, but we've got a little bit more than $4000 in those payments. 00:07:29
Little more than 1100 and insurance payments. 00:07:35
And all of our alcohol applications came in that a little right at $14,000. 00:07:38
On our excise collection, so alcohol and hotel motel we're actually trending a little bit better on. 00:07:45
Both of those, we'll see if that continues. 00:07:50
But uh. 00:07:53
We're we're on mark with our budget on that. So that's good news. 00:07:54
And then we've had 7 permits for seven projects during the month of December, with one exception, one that snuck in the end of 00:07:58
November that didn't get collected but I get counted. 00:08:02
But seven different projects. 00:08:07
Sort of all over the map on that. 00:08:09
Any questions? 00:08:10
OK. All right. 00:08:13
Next up, Downtown Development Authority Jan Watson Greer if you want to. 00:08:16
Offer an update that would be great. 00:08:20
The DA board met. 00:08:26
Recommended UH. 00:08:28
To vote in favor of the strategic plan that was recently. 00:08:30
Completed. 00:08:34
There'll be more on that later in. 00:08:35
The meeting. 00:08:38
The courthouse renovations. 00:08:40
We are working with the county to mitigate the impact. 00:08:42
On those renovations on our downtown businesses. 00:08:45
We have new businesses, we have Magpie clocks. 00:08:50
They were. 00:08:53
Formerly in Town Center, they moved out to Bells and they are now very excited about coming back. 00:08:54
To Town Center, they're moving into the Macy Gray location that was. 00:09:01
I vacated December 31st. 00:09:06
Great Foundations that is a commercial real estate company out of Atlanta that has moved into. 00:09:09
The Watkinsville First Christian Church is building at the corner of 1st and Symington Bridge. 00:09:15
And then Corcoran Classic Living is another real estate residential real estate company. 00:09:21
That is currently in Athens. They are opening a second location on Main Street in Russell Walls. 00:09:26
Law office that he has vacated. 00:09:34
And then upcoming events, February 18th will be our DDA. 00:09:36
Annual retreat at 8:30 AM at 51 Barnett Shoals Rd. 00:09:40
And then what we're very excited about is on March 7th, the Viewfinder Season 4. 00:09:45
Premier event will be held as a fundraiser for OCAF. It will be at Rocket Hall and it will be a really unique and interesting 00:09:50
event we're going to. 00:09:55
Throw a nice big party for. 00:10:00
The season 4 premiere that is Iceland and. 00:10:03
The episode is just breathtaking, so hopefully everybody will be. 00:10:05
Able to attend. 00:10:09
That's it. 00:10:11
Great. Thank you. 00:10:12
All right, Next we'll hear from Chief Harwood with the Police Department report. 00:10:15
Thank you all for having as always so. 00:10:18
How to get started? Officer Claire has begun as a shadow phase in his field training, so. 00:10:20
It is he's he's on about 8 1/2 weeks now. 00:10:24
We'll do that for a few weeks and see how he does things on his own. Just shadowing. 00:10:28
Georgia Post approved his radar, so his radar and radar certified. 00:10:32
He's really excited about that and. 00:10:36
Been educating some of. 00:10:39
Pasir the roads in Hawkinsville. 00:10:42
Detectives Houseman has been recertified to work ICAC investigations. So basically it's in the Internet. 00:10:45
Crimes against children, which is very important these days to protect our children, our community, so. 00:10:52
His certification is is. 00:10:57
Good to go on that through the yak. 00:11:00
Commission, we're going to complete Taser training on January 29th if anyone would like to join us again this year. 00:11:03
Officer Claire will be taking volunteer exposure, so proud of him for doing that and. 00:11:13
So if anybody would like to join us and then. 00:11:19
He's excited. He's very excited about Mama names the other day and we're discussing it and I told him if he was really nervous 00:11:23
about it, he'd get pepper sprayed in the face beforehand and then get tasty and never even built. 00:11:29
Just last a little longer so. 00:11:37
He he's doing a great job. I can't say enough good things about Officer Claire. Very, very good attitude and a very good fit for 00:11:39
our agency. 00:11:43
So in February as I wrap up the policies this month. 00:11:47
We're going to start our end servers high liability. 00:11:50
Critical task training start in February and work some different policies throughout the year. 00:11:53
Incorporate those. 00:11:57
As we go forward. 00:11:59
On special announcements, Sergeant Lawrence Wade has passed completed a sixth year anniversary which we're very proud of. He was 00:12:01
just outside and I think he had to leave but. 00:12:05
What a great, great asset to have. 00:12:11
Enjoy working with him and proud to have him on our team. 00:12:13
We're working with Steve Scruggs over at Harter Grades to improve our our range, firearms range and. 00:12:17
Just making it safer. We did have a couple ricochets. 00:12:22
The last time we're out there, we want to make sure we don't do that, so we brought in some more robotized more sands, sand to 00:12:26
build the berm higher and get some more distance out of it. 00:12:30
And then on police vehicles. 00:12:36
Working on experiment. We're having to tweak a few cars but. 00:12:38
We're going to try and experiment for probably a month or so to see Runner Cruise lights. 00:12:41
On shift so we can be more present and hopefully. 00:12:45
Reduce speeding as well. 00:12:49
We probably will write less warnings if we're running cruise lights and. 00:12:52
Actually clock a speeder. 00:12:56
Get a citation instead of a warning. 00:12:59
But I just want to see, you know, what people, what citizens think about it and just try that and then. 00:13:01
Experiment with it. 00:13:06
So we are having to get a few of the cars tweaked. They're set. 00:13:07
There's different settings. 00:13:10
The intensity of the Blues. Too high and they flicker. 00:13:12
While you're going down the road, it's kind of like a GSP, so. 00:13:14
We took one and had a program where it's 5%. 00:13:18
So it's a very dim blue, like a true cruise light. 00:13:21
We just got the first one done today, so we'll get all them. 00:13:24
Situated and see how that works out. 00:13:27
We have 3 arrests. OK, we'll go to the stats for December 3. Arrest, a couple of domestic calls. 00:13:30
Suspicious calls. 00:13:38
And alarms and fire and. 00:13:40
Is usually our top three. 00:13:42
I like to keep track obviously of. 00:13:44
Of domestic, we did have a couple felony. 00:13:46
Charges too in there, some theft but. 00:13:49
Very low. 00:13:52
Each each month is 01 or two, which is that's what we want so. 00:13:53
And zero use of force reports so. 00:13:58
Y'all have any questions on that? 00:14:01
Do we know how many arrests the county makes in the city? 00:14:03
Like the all account for that at all and your reports. 00:14:06
Would do not. These are. 00:14:09
Our arrest, yeah, I can get that staff start adding it if we. 00:14:10
If you'd like to see that, I'm just kind of curious if it's significant or if it's like. 00:14:14
Just similar to our number if it's usually a zero, unless they're specifically called to an event or something like that. 00:14:19
We took that and we made the charges in US. 00:14:27
That's the. 00:14:31
Simple, salt and disorderly. The four. 00:14:32
So we actually took those charges ourselves. 00:14:35
But you're saying you only had two arrests, But weren't there more arrests than two involved with that incident? There was 3, but 00:14:38
yeah, I put 4IN parentheses on the same date right there. 00:14:42
So technically it would be 6. 00:14:46
But that's not in the total arrest. 00:14:49
Data on the chart in December. 00:14:51
If not, I put 3 down. OK, all right. 00:14:53
Yeah, I just counted as one incident in my head. That's how sometimes I think people I think of incidents, yeah. 00:14:55
All right. 00:15:05
Any other questions for the chief? 00:15:10
Thanks for what I'll do. I know it was a busy December. 00:15:12
With the parade and everything else. 00:15:15
Thank you, thank you, thank you. 00:15:16
All right, we'll move to the consent agenda. I don't think we need nothing changing with bank signature. So we won't need to do 00:15:18
that, but we will need to approve. 00:15:23
Qualifying fees for 2026 election, you guys had an opportunity to review that, Any questions before we move on? 00:15:27
All right, I'll entertain a motion to approve the consent agenda. 00:15:33
Make a motion to approve the consent agenda. 00:15:38
Do we have a second? 00:15:40
I'll second any discussion. 00:15:42
Hearing none, all in favor say aye aye. 00:15:45
All right, motion carries unanimously. 00:15:47
All right, we'll move to our first public hearing of the night. 00:15:49
I'm sure the engineer and the manager will have. 00:15:52
Something to add, but just very simply, this is going to be a formerly government owned property. 00:15:56
That is being rezone from public institutional to historic Maine. 00:16:01
I'll let Engineer Campbell. 00:16:06
Talk 1st and then Darren, we may have you come up if you have anything you want to add at that point. 00:16:08
Then we'll have a public hearing on this to discuss the rezone. 00:16:13
Allow people in favor, people opposed. 00:16:16
We'll close that public hearing, then we'll actually vote on the rezone, so. 00:16:19
Engineer Campbell. 00:16:23
Thank you, Mayor. 00:16:24
So again, 10 Court St. is less than. 00:16:25
2/10 of an acre. 00:16:28
It is directly adjacent to the existing courthouse. 00:16:30
Downtown and it is currently zoned. 00:16:33
Public, institutional, but that's the purpose of this agenda item is for. 00:16:35
Rezoning it to. 00:16:39
Historic Maine. 00:16:41
So if you're not familiar with where it is, there may be a time where you went there to vote early. 00:16:43
If you were around long enough, you may have gone to have some plans reviewed there at at some point in time, so. 00:16:48
But that is as the location again. 00:16:53
It's just off of main streets directly adjacent to the to the courthouse. 00:16:56
So there's a relatively recent survey of that again showing that the existing brick building that is on that parcel takes up. 00:17:00
The majority of that parcel, but it is. 00:17:08
Surrounded by. 00:17:10
Court Street. 00:17:12
So again, this may be the view you're. 00:17:14
Kind of familiar with is you're driving around the courthouse. So this is. 00:17:16
What we would say had kind of from the north facing South. 00:17:19
And then the subsequent. 00:17:22
Picture would be from the. 00:17:24
Opposite direction more from the South, facing north. 00:17:25
On that you can see the rear of the building. 00:17:29
For that one way traffic flow. 00:17:31
Again, the the property was originally platted. 00:17:35
In September of 1949. 00:17:37
That was before a building was constructed at that location. 00:17:40
And then the the request by the applicant is it's not for a change. 00:17:44
At that location, it's really just to bring that location into compliance since it's no longer publicly owned. It was. 00:17:48
Purchased from Oconee County in 2022. 00:17:54
And so it's going from public, institutional. 00:17:57
To historic Maine as the request made by the applicant. 00:18:00
I'm happy to answer any questions. 00:18:03
All right, Mr. Brett, anything you want to add to that? 00:18:06
I'd love to go through the committee. 00:18:09
All right, well, we'll call you up if we have any questions. Council this. 00:18:12
Council, any questions before we get started with the public hearing? 00:18:16
All right, we have a public, We're going to open up a public hearing. As I said at the start, you'll have 4 minutes to speak if 00:18:19
you have any questions, concerns or comments about. 00:18:23
The matter that the engineers presented, please come forward to the podium. 00:18:28
All right, looks like we have none. Can I close the public hearing? 00:18:35
All right, we'll close the public hearing. We'll now move to. 00:18:38
The vote regarding. 00:18:41
Regarding the rezone. 00:18:43
Do we need to hear anything else from you, Mr. Campbell? Are you Mr. Reitman? 00:18:45
Manager Dickerson. 00:18:49
Mr. Britt, anything you want to say? 00:18:51
All right, Council, are there any plans for that? 00:18:53
Mr. Brick, come on up. It's all right. 00:18:57
So I need to get my address and all that or just. Yeah, OK, Darren Britt. 00:19:02
2591 Snows Mill Rd. Bogart. 00:19:07
Yep, nothing definite. We have talked to A. 00:19:09
A business in town that. 00:19:13
Also use it as an accessory. Use. 00:19:15
I'll be honest with you, my partner's been in. 00:19:18
Mississippi for a month, duck hunting. So so. 00:19:21
He's been talking to him more than I have, but we don't have anything 100%. We're just. 00:19:26
Obviously it's sitting there, his own public institution. We can't lease it out or do anything so. 00:19:30
To get some. 00:19:35
To get a tenant, get some income, we. 00:19:37
Got it. Get it historic mine and get it like the property around there so. 00:19:39
So yeah. 00:19:42
Any other questions for Mr. Britt? 00:19:44
All right, hearing none, I'll entertain a motion to approve the rezone. 00:19:47
I make a motion to approve the rezone. 00:19:51
Do we have a second? 00:19:54
I'll second. 00:19:56
We have a motion in a second. Any further discussion? 00:19:57
Hearing none all in favor say aye, Any opposed? 00:19:59
Motion carries unanimously. 00:20:03
All right. Thank you, Mr. Britt. 00:20:05
We've got no appearances under old businesses, old business we have. 00:20:07
Adopt Strategic down Downtown Strategic development Plan manager Dickerson if you want to offer a report on that. 00:20:12
Yeah. So just a reminder of sort of the timeline. 00:20:17
This process kicked off in May or June with a. 00:20:22
A grant from Georgia. 00:20:25
Power of I think $35,000. 00:20:27
In June, we held some public engagement sessions. In July, the city LED some additional public engagement sessions. 00:20:30
And during after that. 00:20:38
Engagement and up until September. 00:20:40
Our consultants were working to finalize the strategic plan met with. 00:20:44
Had meetings with both the DDA and then came. 00:20:49
Before council in November to present it. 00:20:52
Ask for feedback and as far as I know, you know you. 00:20:54
All the feedback was incorporated. 00:20:57
Basically our plan structure, where, where are we now, where we're going, how do we get there? 00:21:00
And there were. 00:21:04
Immediate short-term and long-term goals set and so if this plan is adopted tonight. 00:21:06
This will be our framework going forward. We'll begin to actually work on. 00:21:12
Whatever policies or programs have to be put in place to get these actions taken care of and start budgeting for those in the 00:21:17
future. 00:21:20
All right, we had a deep dive on this last month. You know how our crew crew likes to work a plan. So we're going to raise our 00:21:29
hand and then we're going to. 00:21:32
Turn them loose on these things. 00:21:36
You know so. 00:21:39
Just want to be sure you have all spent some time with this. Obviously the DDA supportive of this, is that right, Jan? 00:21:40
So this will be our. 00:21:46
Our priorities when it comes to downtown over the next few years unless something emerges that we don't anticipate. 00:21:47
But I think it's a high quality plan and gives us a great road map that's. 00:21:53
Reasonably sized for what we can afford to do in Watkinsville. 00:21:57
And, and thank you, thank our partners and our friends at Georgia Power for helping us fund that. 00:22:01
So I would love a motion to. 00:22:06
Proved to adopt the downtown strategic plan. 00:22:08
At this point. 00:22:11
Motion to approve. 00:22:14
And adopt the downtown strategic development plan. 00:22:16
We have a motion for Mr. Campbell. Do we have a second? 00:22:20
2nd, We have a second from Councilman Garrett. 00:22:23
Any further discussion? 00:22:26
Hearing none all in favor say aye. 00:22:28
All right. Motion carries unanimously. Jan, you got your work cut out for you. 00:22:30
OK. We'll move on to new business. 00:22:34
So believe it or not, it's already time to start talking about SPLOST 4. 00:22:37
It comes around faster and faster the older I get and the more sales tax revenue we get. 00:22:43
That's a credit to. 00:22:49
Chairman Daniel, who's here and his team and. 00:22:50
They've done a really nice job of. 00:22:52
Building a retail engine in the county and spa does become. 00:22:54
Very important to all the local governments in Oak County County, so I'm going to let. 00:22:58
Manager Dickerson give us a summary of SPLOST 4. 00:23:01
The process, the timeline, the proposed project areas that we're going to consider. 00:23:05
I may have Chairman Daniel come up after that. I know he's not a man of many words, but at least to give us a little bit on the 00:23:10
county's perspective, this does require an MO UI think it's called with the. 00:23:14
Or an intergovernmental agreement with the county so that they can go on the ballot. So Sharon, I'll turn it over to you. 00:23:19
And then Chairman Daniel, if you want to say a few words after that, we'd welcome you up to the podium as well. 00:23:25
OK. Thank you, Mayor. 00:23:29
So on the screen you'll see this is the SPLOST 4 timeline. 00:23:30
The Board of Commissioners for Oconee County has already reviewed. 00:23:34
They've met the chairman, has met with the mayors. The IGA has been approved by Oconee County Board of Commissioners. 00:23:38
And we're at the point where we need to approve our IGA and the resolution and then? 00:23:44
The Board of Commissioners will then follow. 00:23:48
Up with a resolution, the Board of Elections will have a meeting call for the election and then we'll have the election on May. 00:23:50
19 sounds really quick and it hopefully will be but. 00:23:55
I think what's important here is the board, the. 00:23:59
County Board is responsible for initiating the process and calling the referendum. 00:24:02
And then and then the resolution that will call for the for the referendum. 00:24:06
The coordination between a lot of the cities and stuff is, like I said, has already occurred and then. 00:24:10
Once both bodies have approved the IGA and the resolutions, then it will go before. 00:24:16
Before the. 00:24:22
Voters to vote on. 00:24:23
We have. 00:24:25
Prepared for. 00:24:27
Potential areas, and I guess I'll call them buckets or project areas. 00:24:30
That, we think, would be instrumental. 00:24:34
For us in SPLOST 4, they're very some they're. 00:24:37
Basically the same as what we have right now. So we have transportation and infrastructure and you'll see. 00:24:40
A number of bullets underneath that, what that would cover. 00:24:45
Umm, sidewalk construction, potential rails to trails, intersection improvements, rights away, stormwater drainage, those types of 00:24:48
things that could be covered under. 00:24:52
You know, it could be used, the money could be used for. 00:24:57
Public safety facilities and equipment. 00:24:59
Again, what it is public facilities and equipment, public safety facilities and equipment and then. 00:25:02
Parks and Rec. 00:25:07
Could be improvements to parts, could be actual pathways. It could. 00:25:09
Be public art on the on that property could a whole bunch of different things. A lot of flexibility I think in their acquisition 00:25:13
of land if needed. 00:25:17
And then community government facilities, signage and or equipment is sort of a. 00:25:22
Catch all and we'll talk real briefly about. 00:25:25
What we're thinking. 00:25:28
And I will mention that. 00:25:30
All of these, there's a little. Thankfully, there's a lot of. 00:25:32
Flexibility. 00:25:35
And how monies are spent. So it could be. 00:25:37
Like for instance at Thomas Farm, if we needed additional trails, we could either take money out of parks and recs or we could 00:25:39
potentially take it out of transportation depending on how how it's done and and connected. So. 00:25:44
What we're recommending at a 7.77%. 00:25:49
Rate which has been negotiated with the county. 00:25:54
We would be looking at about 7,000,000 if we got the full amount. We always budget less than that, although you all know that 00:25:57
we've been getting a lot more than that. We always try to be conservative, so we projected about 83%. 00:26:02
Right now we're suggesting a little bit more than a million in transportation. 00:26:09
A little bit more than half a million in public safety. 00:26:13
1.3 million in rec and parks and three million in government facilities. 00:26:16
Go back to the slide before SO. 00:26:21
One of the things under government facilities is a new City Hall. That's something we've been talking about for a while. 00:26:23
And it may be good timing, it may not be. If it's not used for that, there are other facilities such as the. 00:26:29
Former Thomas family home. 00:26:35
At Thomas Farm. 00:26:37
That may turn into something It could be a Community Center or a museum. That money could be used there as well. 00:26:39
Any types of improvements to this facility if we don't end up leaving this facility could be used here. 00:26:45
Signage. We've talked about some additional signage and then maintenance and technology, the big thing for us. 00:26:50
If we were to stay here and or move. 00:26:57
Is we broadcast this, we we sort of Band-Aid this thing together a little bit. We're not quite as sophisticated as the county. 00:26:59
But our broadcast video camera system was. 00:27:05
Put in place, you know. 00:27:08
In 2020, so we're already six years old now. 00:27:09
You all know how things basically go out of date, so we'll be looking at something like that at some point if we stay here or if 00:27:12
we have to move. 00:27:15
So. So the plan is it right now the tentative plan is to have those monies. 00:27:19
Set aside in that manner, and that's. 00:27:24
What the opportunity for? 00:27:27
Public input and the Council's feedback is to know. 00:27:28
Whether or not you want those in those buckets like that, there are opportunities should let's say we don't do a new City Hall or 00:27:31
something and that 3,000,000 doesn't use. 00:27:35
There are ways within the. 00:27:39
Intergovernmental agreement that can be. 00:27:41
Modified if needed. So like if that doesn't ever have, if it's not going to happen. 00:27:43
Then we can work through that. 00:27:47
So. 00:27:49
All right, Chairman Daniel, anything you want to? 00:27:53
Share. 00:27:55
Splice is very important to the community for getting our infrastructure built up so. 00:28:02
We'll collect anywhere from 75,000,000 to 90 million total. 00:28:08
For countless cities and the county. 00:28:11
By having this IGA, we're allowed to collect for six years with no cap. 00:28:14
So even if we collect more 90,000, we don't have to stop collecting, we get to collect for full six years, so. 00:28:18
Appreciate your. 00:28:24
Favorable vote to approve this. 00:28:25
The timing on this is structured so that if something was to happen with a vote, for some reason it didn't pass in May, we'd have 00:28:28
the opportunity to come circle back at a later date before SPLOST expires. 00:28:33
So at one other point, so on the referendum, the the citizens will not see this exhibit. This exhibit is part of our 00:28:37
intergovernmental agreement with the county. That's why I said we have. 00:28:42
A little bit more flexibility. 00:28:47
Those citizens will simply say, do you want to approve 90 million or whatever the total is? 00:28:48
For this extra penny. 00:28:53
The detail. The devil's in the details. So again. 00:28:55
If, should something go topsy turvy, we have the ability to go back. 00:28:58
To the county and change things if we have to so. 00:29:01
We haven't had to, but hopefully. 00:29:05
And you all have heard my spiel on SPLOST and T SPLOST before, but I'm going to say it again. This is a very efficient way for us 00:29:07
to fund operations. A significant portion of those funds come from. 00:29:12
Individuals from across the region who are drawn to our retail hub and. 00:29:17
Places like Costco and. 00:29:20
Walmart and Lowe's and. 00:29:22
In fact, a lot of them are probably there tonight, buying up all the groceries and generators and everything else but. 00:29:24
You know, those pennies come back here, but a lot of those pennies are coming from other communities. 00:29:30
Umm, so anyway. 00:29:34
That's umm. 00:29:36
That is the recap on Splash. Now is the time for questions. 00:29:37
I assume, I assume we're going to do a broadcast. This is to you, Chairman. I assume we're going to do a broadcast like a social 00:29:48
media broadcast again like we've. 00:29:52
We've done in the past. 00:29:57
OK, Yeah. 00:29:59
I feel like. 00:30:00
You know, the more we put it out there. 00:30:02
Better chance we have our communication teams already working. 00:30:04
A separate website like we did before, there's a. 00:30:07
That GIS. 00:30:10
They're working on all that. We have a town hall meet, you know, February 10th. 00:30:14
That'll be the focus for our for our community. 00:30:18
Is the swamp of that member. 00:30:21
Yeah, everybody's got to get out and push it. That's right. Absolutely. 00:30:23
Yeah. I think it's really important that we educate the voters about this, especially how efficient it is in terms of. 00:30:27
You know, as a, as a. 00:30:32
And also we need to, you know, I'm not going to. 00:30:34
Goes off totally on this, but there are discussions at the state level about property taxes right now. 00:30:35
But I think it's really important for us all to remember in our roles how you know we need. 00:30:40
Diverse revenue stream. 00:30:45
You know, just like a good business, government needs diverse revenue streams and we provide an Oconee County. 00:30:47
In Watkinsville, a lot of value for low property taxes and it's really important that our citizens understand that. 00:30:53
By having low the way we keep property taxes low. 00:30:58
Part of the way that we do that is with. 00:31:01
With squashed and T splost and lost. 00:31:04
And I remind people all the time, the average property tax in Watkinsville is a. 00:31:07
About enough to pay for the trash that you're getting picked up, but it probably wouldn't cover your leaf and limb and your police 00:31:10
protection so. 00:31:13
There's a lot of value in our little community, and it's important that our leaders at the state understand that too, that just 00:31:16
because there may be some. 00:31:19
Folks who like to do high property taxes, that's not the way we approach it. No county, county it's and frankly, it creates a lot 00:31:23
of the value that's in people's homes, the school systems. 00:31:27
The sidewalks, the parks, that's one of the reason that the home values appreciate so much in Oconee County counties, those 00:31:31
services that are delivered with those tax dollars. 00:31:35
All right, I'll step off my soapbox and I'll ask for a motion to approve the IGA. 00:31:38
With Oconee County for the 2027 spots for. 00:31:44
Yeah, I'll make a motion to. 00:31:50
Passed the IGA with. 00:31:52
With the county, all right, we have a motion from Councilman Thomas. 00:31:55
2nd 2nd from Councilman Campbell. 00:31:58
Any further comments? 00:32:01
Hearing none, all in favor say aye aye. Motion carries unanimously. 00:32:02
We'll move on to public comments. Same rules as before. Come to the podium. Give us your address. 4 minutes per person. 00:32:07
I don't see any of. 00:32:14
The people who had. 00:32:15
Have these characteristics tonight, but no debate, argument, Personal attacks are irrelevant discussion. 00:32:16
Council can't speak to litigation attorney Klein or personnel matters. 00:32:22
4 minutes for whoever wants to come first. 00:32:25
Jimmy Williamson 1389 a Free Gen. Rd. 00:32:34
Walking through. First of all, thank you for what you did. I really appreciate what you all know how you serve this community. 00:32:37
Yes, I'll have her. 00:32:46
No. And also when you're talking about the park, I'm gonna tell you I really enjoy the park. I think that's just a great example 00:32:48
of how government. 00:32:51
This you know how they work and that's why we let government do certain things and we don't let private sector do certain things. 00:32:55
And that segues into what I want to talk about. 00:33:01
I like to talk about or point out some things I've been observing at the Norton Road traffic circle that was put in place a while 00:33:03
back with the Wire Park development. 00:33:07
I travel that road probably 6 to 8 times a day living on McCready and going to the University of Georgia in Pathens. 00:33:12
When it was first constructed. 00:33:18
You know it was just a curve and when it was first constructed. 00:33:19
It appeared to be small to me, but you know, I don't have a trained technical eye, but it appeared to be small. 00:33:22
And I didn't think much about it until I started seeing certain driving behavior. 00:33:28
And and then I started, I reached out to a few people, let you know what I was seeing. 00:33:32
But what I. 00:33:37
That traffic circle I think was built way too small. 00:33:38
I looked up G dot standards to see traffic circle standards. 00:33:42
Based on speeds of roads and. 00:33:45
You know, looking at warrant studies and things like that. 00:33:48
And I'm having a I'm not an engineer. I want to qualify myself right there. So I may be reading it all, but it's hard for me to 00:33:50
think. 00:33:53
That that traffic circle fits any of those G dot standards. 00:33:56
When I look at the examples of traffic circles that are being. 00:33:59
Built in this county. 00:34:02
They don't. This one seems to be really small compared to the ones we build in the county even on. 00:34:04
It was just like the one they just did a High Shoals Rd. I mean that seems to be a similar type of traffic flow even though it's 00:34:08
only three points of entry. 00:34:12
Versus 4 over there, but the speeds are the same volumes of traffic, traffic. I don't know if you realize what Norton Road is 00:34:15
really picked up. 00:34:19
A lot of people trying to bypass Simonton Bridge in downtown Watkinsville skirting around. That's a pretty busy Rd. 00:34:22
Compared to what it used to be years ago. 00:34:28
If you look at evidence out there at the traffic circle, you'll see where people are very seldom staying on the roadway. 00:34:31
You'll see that I think your Rd. departments had to go out there and replace the internal signs where? 00:34:38
A trailer knocked it down. 00:34:43
It's too small for anything other than a basic passenger car truck. 00:34:45
It's a UPS constantly having to maneuver, go off into the road or back up. 00:34:50
If it's just a pickup truck dragging a trailer or a boat trailer or something. 00:34:54
That it's hard for them to maneuver that traffic circle. 00:34:58
And the the big thing, it got my observations in which I reached out. 00:35:01
Was I see now that people's driving behavior has changed due to the fact that the inadequate design. 00:35:05
And they're going to the opposite side of the circle and going against one, going against the one way traffic. 00:35:12
And you know, I know they're doing wrong. 00:35:17
I'm not trying to say that. 00:35:19
It's anybody's fault but the person that makes that bad choice, but the reality is I think the inadequate design is forcing people 00:35:21
to do things that are unsafe. 00:35:24
And I and from my experience and the things I've did for years for for 32 years. 00:35:28
I find when people do things like that creatures habit, they just kind of blindly start doing it and what I'm scared of is that 00:35:34
somebody's gonna get that routine. 00:35:38
And they're going to just do it one night or one afternoon and they're going to hit some my head on out there. 00:35:42
The other thing that I've noticed here lately. 00:35:47
Is wire parks traffic is picking up which is good. 00:35:49
You know, I live out there and I love. I know go out there. I like everything about the place. 00:35:52
And now we're building the residential section back there in the back. 00:35:56
I'm starting to notice that. 00:36:00
People that are inning from the wire park. 00:36:02
The fact that the traffic circle is not large enough doesn't allow for queuing and staging like you would see on a normal traffic 00:36:05
circle. We're supposed to be pulled in. It's almost acting like a three-way stop now. 00:36:09
And I think people get confused and they don't know who has the right away. 00:36:14
So I would you know. 00:36:18
You know, when I look at that, I get real concerned that you know. 00:36:20
A private developer did. I think county and city should build roads. 00:36:24
Because you are arguing building the right way. You're going to look at them. You're going to invest the money. 00:36:27
I'd love to see the warrant study that was done. 00:36:31
I would, I would. 00:36:34
You know, probably wrong, but I would guess that maybe 1 wasn't done because most people don't want to spend $20,000 to see 00:36:35
traffic counts and patterns and it weren't studied with predicted what the volume was going to go to that the addition of those 00:36:39
houses. 00:36:43
But the. 00:36:48
I it looks to me. 00:36:50
And again, this is Jimmy Williamson's viewpoint observations. I'm not trying to say somebody did this. 00:36:51
But it looks like we just jammed it in out there. 00:36:56
And we jammed it in between the utility pole and the hydrant. 00:36:59
And where the other man's property drops off because we didn't want to fill in the dirt because that was going to cost money or do 00:37:02
the land acquisition, nor did we want to move the the utility public, the Georgia Power. 00:37:07
Utility pole or the hydrant? 00:37:11
And now we've created a situation. I think it's unsafe. 00:37:13
And I think it's going to be become a real burden for the people that live and use that facility as the volume picks up out there. 00:37:17
Because I don't know how many zones are zoned right there. 00:37:23
But it looks like there's a good bit. You already got the townhouses and apartments. 00:37:25
And they only have the one front really driveway coming out that side. 00:37:29
And now we have this traffic circle that I think is very inefficient for what's being expected of it. 00:37:33
So I would ask that y'all would take a look at redoing this. It looks like you're going to get some tea splice dollars. I mean, if 00:37:38
you know. 00:37:41
You're already doing a lot to build up that corridor from the park. 00:37:45
The Walking path going over to Wire Park. 00:37:48
And it just seems like if you know, we should, you know, while I really appreciate The Walking and biking and all that. 00:37:51
The majority of traffic we see is car traffic. 00:37:56
And we already know that's a high volume area trying to boil downtown. I like the fact that people are avoiding downtown. 00:38:00
And it skirts around, but I think we need to give them a good way to get around that area. 00:38:05
So I'm just asking if you would please look at that before somebody gets hurt or we start having a lot more griping. 00:38:09
Thank you. 00:38:14
Thank you, Mr. Williamson. 00:38:16
Any other public comment? 00:38:20
We don't have any. I'll make a quick response to that. And then I don't know if Engineer Campbell wants to win at all tonight or 00:38:24
not. If you don't, that's totally fine, Mark. I know that's a lot to take in. 00:38:28
This will be on the agenda for our February our February planning session, I do think. 00:38:32
Even if the developer hit. 00:38:38
Did what they were supposed to do there. I do think this merits us taking another look at it. We have funds set aside in SPLOST 00:38:40
and TRT. SPLOST specifically for. 00:38:43
Traffic improvements. Traffic calming. 00:38:47
That we could. 00:38:50
Potentially put into this. Now I know it's a little bit weird and that the. 00:38:51
Private sector guy was supposed to take care of it, but if they did what they were supposed to do and it still doesn't meet the 00:38:54
needs of what? 00:38:57
Our citizens want what the county needs and I think we should probably take a look and see what we need to do to address this so. 00:39:00
Engineer Campbell will have thoughts at the right time. I don't know if tonight's the right time. If it's not, shake your head. 00:39:05
That's fine. 00:39:07
But we will. 00:39:10
But we are going to need to tackle that situation and see what see what we can do. 00:39:11
There to make that work a little bit better. I think you can even see it's pretty. 00:39:16
I don't have any of Jimmy. For those who don't know, the former police chief at the University of Georgia, he didn't offer his 00:39:20
qualifications, but. 00:39:23
Even to my untrained eye, when I was just see a bunch of red clay around the outside of a traffic circle, it's pretty obvious that 00:39:27
something's going on there that we may need to address. So it does slow cars down. I think a point that has been made to me by 00:39:32
others, and it's probably true, is. 00:39:36
Those trucks probably aren't going any slower around that traffic circle than they had to around that curve years ago. 00:39:41
Because you had to come to pretty much a. 00:39:46
Complete stop to go around that curve, but. 00:39:47
I think we do have to look at what's there now and and what we need to do to accommodate that situation. And frankly, I want that 00:39:50
to be an inspiring entrance into Wire Part 2. I don't want it to be a bunch of knocked over. 00:39:55
Signs because trucks can't navigate it, no. 00:40:00
So anyway, more to come on that. Jim, we appreciate you or Mr. Williamson, appreciate you coming in and offering that feedback. So 00:40:02
Yep, Yep. 00:40:06
Anybody else for public comment? 00:40:10
Council, anything y'all want to say? 00:40:13
Were you all good, Brett? I know you've made your feelings known about that traffic circle before, so. 00:40:15
I don't like it either. Since the day it was built, yeah. 00:40:20
Yep, Yep. 00:40:23
All right. 00:40:27
We don't have any other public comments and we'll go through the mayor's report and then we may get y'all out of here pretty soon, 00:40:28
so. 00:40:31
Umm, we had an exciting, exciting way to start the year with the Walk for Peace. 00:40:34
I think most of us probably saw the monks walk through Watkinsville. I do think it's important that we recognize our first 00:40:40
responders, Police Department, county folks who made that. 00:40:44
Safe for them. It's not easy when you're walking from Fort Worth to Washington, DC, and it's really exciting to see all of our. 00:40:48
Little communities to come together to help help these gentlemen make that walk. 00:40:55
Through Watkinsville and it was really great to see the community come together and. 00:40:58
You know, celebrate something that was very simple but but turned out to be a special day. 00:41:02
How many of y'all were here during the torch relay? 00:41:08
My mother only won the Olympic 96 anyway, that was that was kind of cool. It reminded me a little bit of the torch relay, you 00:41:12
know, and seeing people on 441. 00:41:16
It had been a long time since I've done that. If you haven't done it yet, take the Citizens Satisfaction Survey. Sharon, How many? 00:41:21
Any idea how many responses we've had? 00:41:25
Well, as of last Friday, we had 159 and I'm sure we've got more now because we've been. 00:41:29
Pushing it out there, so. 00:41:34
So we've got one for every county in Georgia, but we could use some more so. So if y'all could encourage folks, I just sent the 00:41:35
link out via text to about 20 people and then encourage them to pass it along. But. 00:41:41
It's it's quick, but it's really helpful. One of the things I want us to do is we're going to do this every year. 00:41:47
And that way we can. 00:41:52
You know, we're going to manage, you know, you manage what you measure, right. So that way we're going to understand what our 00:41:53
citizens are really looking forward to help us. 00:41:56
Understand what their needs are, what we're doing well, where we can improve, what their concerns are. 00:42:00
So. 00:42:04
Thomas Farm Preserve, The Watkinsville Garden Club went out and did some really nice landscaping improvements in the area closest 00:42:07
to the house. 00:42:10
That's the first phase. More is to come out there, but that's going to look really nice. 00:42:14
In terms of what they were doing. 00:42:19
Also need to recognize Athens seed and garden. 00:42:21
For donating a significant amount of soil amendment and products for free, they're wonderful. 00:42:24
Corporate citizens, we're really grateful. 00:42:28
Grateful for them. 00:42:30
Harris Shoals Park. 00:42:34
We're doing a. 00:42:36
Having to do some sewer line improvements down there. So if you see something. 00:42:37
That looks like. 00:42:41
Looks like we've done some digging down there. It's not a giant armadillo, but in fact we're replacing replacing a sewer line from 00:42:43
the restroom. 00:42:46
And that's what's going on down there. 00:42:50
Simonton Bridge Rd. Pedestrian improvements. A few updates. We've installed the RFB. 00:42:52
That will allow safe passage between Morgan Manor and the new park, but we are waiting on. 00:42:57
The striping to go in and then we'll officially open that up and have the lights start working. 00:43:02
Speaking of lights, we are working with Georgia Power to lower the brightness of the lights on that corridor. 00:43:07
I think that's popped up in the Citizen survey a little bit. It looks like a runway. We never intended them to be so bright. 00:43:13
But the Georgia Power is actually having to get something manufactured. 00:43:18
And they'll do that in April, but they're in charge of the maintenance on those lights, so we're waiting. That's no cost to the 00:43:21
city. 00:43:23
To make that change so they'll be reducing the brightness. 00:43:26
Over the past month, you probably noticed we also began work on the rest of the Relay connector. That's the sidewalk that's going 00:43:28
to go from Thomas Farm Preserve. 00:43:32
To Watkinsville First Baptist and eventually connect to Wire park. So if you saw that grading and clearing. 00:43:36
Along Simonton Bridge Rd. That's what that's for. 00:43:41
And then the covered bridge is coming along. So this these photos look like they're probably from. 00:43:44
Mid-december. We've come a long way since then. 00:43:50
We now have a roof on. A lot of the stone work is done. You're seeing how the progress has gone here. 00:43:53
We've got a lighting plan. 00:43:59
That's what it looked like the other night with some of the interior lighting that we were testing. 00:44:00
So the bridge is really coming along, hoping that the bridge itself will be done by our next meeting and then we probably will 00:44:06
have another two or three months to get the rest of the sidewalk. 00:44:10
Landscaping and along that corridor. 00:44:14
We had a funny incident, I don't know if you all heard about it, but we had a lithium battery. 00:44:19
Set fire to the back of the trash truck in Morgan Manor at some point in January. Is that right, Sharon? 00:44:24
You know what happens when the trash truck catches on fire? 00:44:30
They dump the load in the middle of the road. 00:44:33
And so in Morgan Manor this happened while we had a detour on Simonton Bridge Rd. 00:44:35
So we had so our thankfully the driver was safe. The truck was saved. 00:44:41
Curbside came out quickly and cleaned all that up, but this is just a reminder that we do not need certain items in the trash 00:44:46
because they can create real. 00:44:50
Problems, and it would have been awful had something happened to that. 00:44:54
Garbage well, not just brand new truck, I mean it's full of fuel. I mean it could have been it could have been really dangerous 00:44:57
so. 00:45:00
Anyway, so please remind folks to pay attention to what they put in the trash. 00:45:04
We are hiring for several positions so encourage. 00:45:07
Friends with those you know who are looking for work to look at our website and apply for those jobs. 00:45:11
The Woodruff Meadow is still making progress. We've got people. 00:45:15
We've got people growing stuff from seed, we've got stuff. 00:45:19
You know, going in we've got shrubs, but that's a citizen LED project. They've raised the funds to do most of that work or do all 00:45:22
that work. 00:45:25
And it's going to honor Alice Woodruff. And we're also kind of resetting around the Ivy Maple in that area in there. 00:45:30
So we got a storm coming this weekend. It looks like it's maybe looks like it might not be as intense. 00:45:35
As we anticipated, but that could change from day-to-day last night, you know. 00:45:43
People were in panic mode tonight, maybe not quite so much, but we really don't know what's going to happen so I would encourage 00:45:47
everybody to go ahead and prepare. 00:45:50
You see some tips here. There's also a lot of them online. 00:45:54
And pay attention to, you know, the information that CJ Worden and the county are putting out. 00:45:57
Or a reliable weather source. There are a lot of weather sources that just want you to click on. 00:46:02
Their web page or their Facebook feed? 00:46:07
And they're always going to tell you it's going to snow so. But it's probably not the most trustworthy site. Jimmy, do y'all put 00:46:09
stuff out too around all this? Yeah. 00:46:13
So the university is also very reliable. And then there's a meteorologist at the university named Marshall Shepherd and and he's 00:46:19
my go to for weather information. He's a. 00:46:22
Very reliable as well, so watch out. Watch the counties page. 00:46:26
Bro counties emergency services. 00:46:31
The university has great resources and rely on. 00:46:33
Folks, but also. 00:46:37
Prepare. Have your water, your space heaters, etc ready. 00:46:38
All right, then, we have a special birthday. 00:46:43
That we want to celebrate. Connie, I think you started the tradition of having the old pictures here, right? So. 00:46:49
All right. 00:46:57
So happy birthday, Connie. I don't know what how much Hairspray you had to use back then, but you know, the ozone layer is 00:47:00
probably still recovering. So but happy birthday, we're grateful. 00:47:04
Grateful that you're here. 00:47:10
I did forget to mention Sharon. We do have our council retreat. 00:47:12
Scheduled is that February. 00:47:15
It's a Monday in February, February 23rd, so it'll be after our next meeting, but I do want to go ahead and advertise it. That's 00:47:18
when we plan everything for the year ahead. 00:47:22
It's open to the public. I think it's a nine to one. 00:47:26
9 to one or two. 00:47:30
I think we're all going to be there, but I want to be sure the public is aware. You can come for part or all will publish the 00:47:31
agenda. 00:47:34
And it'll be broadcast live as well. 00:47:37
But a lot of people wonder, well, when do you talk about all the stuff that you guys do? Well, we take that. We take four or five 00:47:39
hours. 00:47:41
We outline our priorities. We'll talk more about spots, T spots, the downtown plan. 00:47:44
And then we'll prioritize and that really gives staff the guidance that they need to work for the rest of the year. 00:47:48
I would also encourage everyone. I mentioned it earlier, I'm not going to belabor it now, but pay attention to what's going on at 00:47:53
the Gold Dome we've got. 00:47:56
New representative down there and Eric Gisler. We have some others who are. 00:47:59
Older hands that are going to retire, but there are some proposals down there that will impact local government if they go 00:48:03
through. 00:48:06
We'll hear more from GMA. I imagine John's hearing from a CCG, Imagine the school boards are talking about that. But some of those 00:48:10
proposals. 00:48:13
Are being pushed through and I always tell people, look, if you don't like your property taxes, there's a simple way to solve it 00:48:18
and that means vote us out. 00:48:21
OK, so talk to us about property taxes if you feel like they're too high in the city or in the county. 00:48:24
I know John has been on a crusade to lower those and reduce those. 00:48:30
We've both rolled ours back pretty consistently through the years. 00:48:34
You know, the school board, I think, did likewise last year. 00:48:38
But I like to remind my friends in Atlanta, there's a simple way you can solve things in local government, and that's our local 00:48:41
populations can decide whether they like our policies or not. It's real hard for us to affect what happens in Atlanta, but it's 00:48:46
real easy for citizens to affect what's going on out here when it comes to things like that. 00:48:51
But I think there's a lot of value. 00:48:56
Out here in what we do and how we run things. 00:48:57
I'll turn to Council at this point for your reports. 00:49:01
Councilman Garrett Post One. 00:49:04
Birthday girl Councilwoman Massey. 00:49:07
All right, Councilman Thomas reports. 00:49:10
Councilman Campbell. 00:49:13
Nothing. Umm. 00:49:14
But you're recovering and feeling all right there. 00:49:15
OK. All right. 00:49:20
Councilman Campbell learned that the hard way. 00:49:21
We. 00:49:25
Do we need the executive session or not tonight? 00:49:27
No, OK. 00:49:29
All right, all right, we will skip the executive session. 00:49:30
And a motion to adjourn. 00:49:35
Make a motion to adjourn. 00:49:40
I'll second. 00:49:42
All in favor say aye. 00:49:44