City Council

City of Bowdon Mayor and Council Meeting/Public Hearing Monday, January 8, 2024 7:00PM Mayor and Council Chambers, 182 Grammar School Road I.- VI. Agenda Items: The Mayor and City Council met for a regular meeting and Public Hearing on Monday, January 8th, 2024. The meeting was called to order by Mayor Jim Chaffin at 7:00PM. City Attorney Kevin Drummond then conducted the swearing-in of new Mayor Randy Saxon, new Ward 2 Councilmember Bobby Elliott, and re-elected Councilmember Wes McEntyre. The invocation was led by Mayor Pro-tem Jan Johnson and was followed with the Pledge of Allegiance. At this time, Mayor Saxon announced that he had asked Councilmember Marty Johnson to serve as Mayor Pro-tem for the upcoming year. Members present: Mayor Randy Saxon Mayor Pro-tem Marty Johnson Councilmember Jan Johnson Councilmember Wes McEntyre Councilmember Bobby Elliott Staff present: City Manager Gary Bullock City Attorney Kevin Drummond Police Chief Mark Brock City Clerk Susan Pierce Main Street Director Jan Gibbs The minutes from December 18, 2023 were approved with no objections. The agenda was approved with no objections. Recognition of Bowdon High School Red Devil Football Team – State Champions for 2023 Mayor Saxon recognized the Bowdon High School Red Devil Football Team, who won the State Championship for 2023 Class A Division II. The mayor presented Coach Fendley with a certificate of recognition from the city, and Coach Fendley made some remarks expressing his appreciation. VII. Public Hearing – Planning Commission recommendation on the updates to the Manufactured/Mobile Home Ordinance Mayor Saxon asked if there were any public comments or questions concerning the ordinance updates for manufactured and mobile homes. There were none. Motion by Councilmember Jan Johnson to exit the Public Hearing; second by Councilmember McEntyre; motion carried unanimously. VIII. Public Comments None. VIII. Business Session  City of Bowdon Mayor & Council Meeting Minutes January 8, 2024 A. Decision on updates to the Manufactured/Mobile Home Ordinance - The Planning Commission met on January 4, 2024. After their discussion, the board voted to recommend that the updates to the Manufactured/Mobile Home Ordinance be approved. The vote was unanimous. City Attorney Kevin Drummond gave an overview of the changes being recommended. 1. The biggest change is to allow manufactured homes and mobile homes only in zoning districts R-4 Residential and MHP Mobile Home Parks. 2. Dimensional requirements for MHP Mobile Home Parks – increase minimum lot size from 4000 square feet to 7000 square feet in area and from 50 feet in width to 60 feet in width. Mr. Bullock asked if an existing mobile home park who wanted to expand would have to abide by the updated ordinance or would be “grandfathered in” since it’s already a mobile home park. If the plans were already approved it would be grandfathered in, but if not, they would have to abide by the new ordinance. 3. There was a discrepancy in lot size for R1-30 Single Family homes. Sec. 61 Zoning Districts says the minimum lot size is 32,670 square feet, but then in Section 72, the lot size is 30,000. Section 61 is being corrected to read 30,000 square feet. 4. On Article 8, Dimensional Requirements, the table is being updated to reflect the minimum MHP lot size to 7000 square feet with 60 feet in width and 115 in depth. Mr. Drummond asked if there were any questions. He said there were discussions about possible conditional use permits for other zoning districts. Mr. Jerry Rollins asked if it would be possible to create a new manufactured home community similar to Indian Creek Village. It would be located on Barrett Road across from Clayton Homes. He said he was planning to have ½ acre lots. Part of the property would need to be annexed into the city, and the zoning would need to be changed to R-r Residential. Motion by Mayor Pro-tem Marty Johnson to approve the recommended updates to the Manufactured / Mobile Homes Ordinance as presented; second by Councilmember Jan Johnson; motion carried unanimously. B. Approval of Amendments to GMEBS Retirement Plan – Georgia Municipal Association updated some of the outdated language in the retirement plan to make it compliant with the new tax laws. Motion by Councilmember McEntyre to approve the amendments to the GMEBS Retirement Plan as presented; second by Councilmember Elliott; motion carried unanimously. C. Intergovernmental Agreement with Carroll County for Gymnastics Center improvements – Mr. Bullock said we received a letter from Mr. Drummond and Stacey Blackmon, both from Tisinger Vance, letting us know that there could be a conflict of interest in the IGA since Ms. Blackmon is representing the County and Mr. Drummond is representing the City of Bowdon. He does not feel there will be any issue with conflict of interest. The IGA states that the gymnastics building will be over one million dollars, renovating what’s there and expanding it. Based on that and the fact that a vast majority of our participants live in the County and outside of the City of Bowdon, and the County cannot accommodate all of the participants who are interested in the County program, therefore they gravitate to us. We have an excellent program, so the County is willing to make this grant for our renovation and expansion. They agreed to the 10- year straight amortization, and after 10 years the debt is forgiven. They did add a paragraph that we put up a plaque to be negotiated between both parties.  City of Bowdon Mayor & Council Meeting Minutes January 8, 2024 Motion by Councilmember Jan Johnson to approve the acceptance of the Intergovernmental Agreement with Carroll County for Gymnastics Center improvements; second by Mayor Pro-tem Marty Johnson; motion carried unanimously. D. City Manager reports – We have a lot of activity in the city. We had a conference call with Environmental Protection Division about our Wastewater Treatment Plant. We are asking for an alternative backup treatment for some of the process. We will be applying for an amendment to our permit to do that. We’ve got 2 valves that have to be replaced and we are waiting on the control to operate the valve which should come in sometime next month. EPD is pleased with our expenditures to improve the plant. We had a visit from USDA, and they were extremely pleased with the way the plant looked. We are looking at replacing valves at the Water Treatment Plant which will probably be in the next budget. The infrastructure project loan is signed so we will be starting on it soon. We have a little more field work to do then we’ll start designing what needs to be done. E. Department Reports – no comments IX. Financial Session A. Property Tax Unpaid Balance summary – no comments B. December Financial Reports – no questions C. Cash balances as of 01/04/2024 – no comments Motion by Councilmember Jan Johnson to enter into Executive Session to discuss pending litigation; second by Mayor Pro-tem Marty Johnson; motion carried unanimously. X. Executive Session Motion by Councilmember Jan Johnson to exit Executive Session; second by Mayor Pro-tem Marty Johnson; motion carried unanimously. Motion by Councilmember Jan Johnson to adjourn the meeting; second by Mayor Pro-tem Marty Johnson; motion carried unanimously. XI. Adjournment _________________________ ________________________ Mayor Randy Saxon City Clerk Susan Pierce