City Council

1 2 CITY OF COLLEGE PARK 3 MAYOR AND CITY COUNCIL 4 REGULAR SESSION 5 April 18, 2022 6 7 MINUTES 8 9 Present: Mayor Bianca Motley Broom; Councilmen Ambrose Clay, Joe Carn, Ken Allen, 10 and Roderick Gay; City Manager Darnetta Tyus; City Clerk Shavala Ames; City 11 Attorney Winston Denmark. 12 13 Absent: None. 14 15 [Councilman Gay exited Council Chambers at 7:31 p.m.] 16 17 1. Opening Ceremonies. 18 19 A. Pledge of allegiance to the flag. 20 21 B. Invocation by Pastor Stacie Alexander 22 23 2. Additions, Deletions, Amendments, Or Changes To The Agenda. 24 25 Mayor Motley Broom said I know we need to add consideration of and action on Cyber Security 26 A. Madam City Manager, where would you like to add that? 27 28 City Manager Darnetta Tyus said we should add it under New Business 10b. 29 30 Mayor Motley Broom asked any other additions, deletions, amendments, or changes? 31 32 Councilman Carn said City Manager I've got a couple of add on items: KidsFest Community 33 Festival and City-wide Job Vacancies. 34 35 Ms. Tyus said we will add those to New Business 10c. and 10d. 36 37 ACTION: Councilman Clay moved to add to the agenda: Item 10b. Cyber Security A, Item 10c. 38 Kids Fest, Item 10d. City-wide Job Vacancies, seconded by Councilman Carn and 39 motion carried (All voted yes). 40 41 3. Presentation Of Minutes Of City Council. 42 43 A. Regular Session held on April 4, 2022. 44 45 ACTION: Councilman Clay moved to approve Regular Session Minutes dated April 4, 2022, 46 as presented, seconded by Councilman Allen and motion carried. 47 48 4. Proclamations, Resolutions, Plaques, And Announcements. 49 50 A. Proclamation in Celebration of Woodward Academy Varsity Basketball's 2022 51 Championship Title. 52 53 B. Proclamation in Celebration of Tri-Cities Varsity Boys Basketball's 2022 Championship 54 Title. 55 56 [Councilman Gay returned Council Chambers at 7:41 p.m.] 57 58 C. Proclamation for American Water Works Association National Drinking Water Week 59 "There When You Need It” May 1-7, 2022. 60 61 5. Remarks Of Citizens. 62 63 a. Ingrid Van Orden, 1518 Cambridge Ave, said hello Madam Mayor and Councilmen Clay, 64 Carn, Allen and Gay. My husband and I like to stay in touch with what's happening in the 65 city. I'm here to share some thoughts on where we are and where we're headed. I am 66 grateful for the city support of the development around my church, College Park 67 Methodist. Our affordable housing project and the ministries operating out of our church 68 are due in part to your efforts. So, thank you. This and the development of Six West are 69 examples of good planning. I'd like to see more of this and the city moving forward in a 70 thoughtful way. That's important, especially since the Hawks Arena does not appear to 71 bring in sufficient revenue at this time. We have lived here for 11 years and seen many 72 positive things happening in the last few years. The influx of new restaurants and shops, 73 particularly on Main Street, has been wonderful to see. The upgrades to the parks and the 74 vast improvement in communication from City Hall. Information distributed on social 75 media has improved, and while I do find the text a little bit annoying on really hot and 76 cold days, I think it's really nice to know that I live in a city that cares about people who 77 are housing insecure and don't have access to heating and air. I want to encourage you to 78 stay the course and continue making the improvements needed in the city to make our 79 home an example for other Georgians. With the airport, the MARTA Station and the 80 Convention Center, we are poised to be a good place for people to live and to find jobs in. 81 I hope we are able to continue on this path. Thank you. 82 83 b. Araminta Montague, 1978 Mercer Avenue, said hello, my name is Araminta Montague 84 and I'm a resident of Ward 1. I want to share not only how excited I am to be living in 85 College Park, but also where we are headed as a city. We moved here 10 years ago, took 86 me 15 to convince my husband to get up here, and we have seen so much progress. Six 87 West, the hotels around the International Convention Center, the mural, new restaurants 88 and the improvements to the parks. Our family has thrived and continues to thrive in this 89 city. Six of my kids are sitting back there, but I can't make him stand up. My family is 90 very involved with the arts and we love that Push Push Arts is located right downtown. 91 All of my kids are active in theater and dance, having performed all over Atlanta and 92 Metro Atlanta. One of my daughters takes art classes at Spruill up in Dunwoody and 2  93 Callanwolde, downtown. The opportunity to have these arts programs close to home for 94 children and teens would be wonderful. It's been great to see the city supporting the arts 95 and I'd love to see more of it. We love our neighborhood. My husband works at Woodward 96 Academy, a musician; and I am a former Woodward teacher, now homeschooling are six 97 children. We love that everyone in our neighborhood is friendly and interested in being a 98 neighbor. We appreciate the parks, and we go to Barrett quite often. All of my kids play 99 tennis and the improvements with the tennis courts at Barrett Park are great. Nighttime 100 tennis is great. As a citizen, I want to see thoughtful growth. That's what I understand is 101 happening. We are a diverse and proud LGBTQ supportive family and would love to see 102 cities advocating and being even more inclusive of these communities. We have many 103 new neighbors and appreciate the diversity of the people who are moving in, and it's nice 104 to see that College Park is becoming a place so many want to call home. Thank you for 105 what you were doing to move us forward. We appreciate your service. Thank you. 106 107 c. Vinny Montague, 1978 Mercer Avenue, said hello, my name is Vinny Montague. I am 14 108 years old and a resident of College Park. I'm guessing you don't hear much from people in 109 my age, but I want to speak about what's important to me and others in my age group. I 110 think it would be helpful to have a different point of view. My mom talked about 111 development. Development is important as long as it is thoughtful and intentional. Having 112 a MARTA Station right in the downtown area should mean that we are able to attract 113 businesses and housing within walking distance from the station. I would like to see new 114 businesses such as Walgreens or even Target, my favorite store, to be within walking 115 distance. This would also help with reducing greenhouse gases, an issue that I'm concerned 116 about. As my mom mentioned, we are active in the arts. All of my professional theater 117 experiences have happened in Atlanta, in surrounding cities, even as far away as 118 Lawrenceville. Living in College Park has given me access to many Atlanta theaters I'm 119 proud to have worked with. I would love to perform my own neighborhood. Having access 120 to arts programming for children and teenagers would be awesome. My brother, sisters, 121 and I would all like an opportunity to be part of the process. Perhaps there is a young 122 council that can be created to allow us future voters and taxpayers to provide feedback. 123 Thank you for letting me speak. I appreciate the work you are doing to help improve 124 College Park. Thank you. 125 126 d. Mary McDay, 1940 Princeton Ave, #106, said hello, I came to talk about the bike race 127 that's coming on May 1st. I know that it's important to the City of College Park, but it's 128 also important to the seniors that live in the Longino building. We don't never get any 129 paperwork, or nobody comes to see us or anything. Only thing we know is when we get 130 out up and come out our door, our driveways are blocked, and we can't get. I just ask that 131 you all take in consideration that the effect that they have on us when we try to come in 132 and out of the driveway. I work at my church and when I get up and I can't get out, that 133 means I'm going to be late when I get to church. I don't like to be late going to church; and 134 the people that's out there, they are very rude people. The lady told me last time, that's not 135 important to me. How dare you tell me what's not important to me? She can't do that. I 136 was really upset with her. I don't think that's not fair to the people that live in the Senior 137 buildings. Thank you. 138 3 139 e. Dennis Adams, Embarcadero Club Apartments [read into the record by City Clerk] I am 140 Dennis Adams and I reside in WARD 2 on Sullivan Rd. My concern is the speed bump 141 that has been constructed just North of South Hampton and Sullivan Rd just South of the 142 entrance into the Embarcadero Club Apartments. I don't remember EVER hearing that 143 speed bumps were a concern on SULLIVAN RD. We've only been hearing of this concern 144 for HERSCHEL RD. Sullivan Rd having so many LARGE 18 Wheelers and BUSSES 145 coming down that street until I truly believe the Speed Bumps would INCREASE our 146 traffic and not be as beneficial as anticipated. How are they constructed and who 147 determines how high the bump is to be??? Driving over the ONE bump required an 148 EXTREME amount of caution and with the Busses and Trucks I am seeing this as a 149 potential problem. Now, I can be a little in my feelings because of the SUDDEN change 150 without warning, BUT looking at how this bump is being approached, PLUS the fact that 151 it sits just shy of where the School Bus makes it pick up and drop offs. This will be more 152 of a traffic issue than a SPEED problem. Thank you for your time and careful 153 consideration. 154 155 Ms. Ames said I have no other comments. 156 157 Mayor Motley Broom said if there is anyone who did not get the opportunity to sign in and would 158 like to speak for 1-minute, you can approach at this time. 159 160 f. Subrenia Willis, said I come today as a proud citizen of College Park for over 40 years. I 161 have raised 8 children – now helping to bring up my 15 grandkids that love the City of 162 College Park. This morning I woke up; and a lot of time people say Subrenia, you don't 163 speak up and you don't say what's really on your heart. I have a passion for the city. And 164 I think about education. I think about the trials, the sacrifices that me and Rex made to 165 educate our children. And now still looking at my city; and still schools are not where they 166 need to be in the City of College Park. I don't know if you all know this, but I'm gonna 167 just share a few things. [1-minute time up] And if you all don't mind, I'd like to speak a 168 few extra minutes. 169 170 Mayor Motley Broom said you can go ahead with a 3-minute limit. 171 172 Ms. Willis said that's fine. I traveled many roads. My kids aged from – I sent all my kids 173 to private school, me and Rex did. I traveled every day down to Fayette County, making 174 sure that my kids had the opportunity to get the best education that they could. And when 175 that changed, I had to, we had to make different changes in order to get them into other 176 schools 'cause we knew of their talents. Not only academically, but physically as far as 177 track and field. And with that, we was allotted that opportunity to go to private schools all 178 throughout the City of Atlanta. Whitfield, Our Lady of Mercy, and one of them was 179 accepted to Woodward Academy. I'm saying this to say that we gotta do better. We have 180 to do better. I'm the founder of Favor House, the Georgia Favor Track Club, and the reason 181 that we started the program was because we were going outside of our city trying to 182 educate and to train; and I was saying, why do we have to go outside of our community to 183 have all of these things? Why shouldn't we have things here like that in our own 184 community? And that's what Rex and I set out to do when we started the program. And 4 185 the program has helped hundreds of kids to get good educations to go into D1 schools. Do 186 things on all types of levels once they graduate. But I had to come today to talk to you 187 about my son RJ. About two years ago— [3-minute time up] 188 189 Mayor Motley Broom said I apologize but 3 minutes is the limit. 190 191 Councilman Carn said she can continue as far as I am concerned; and any citizen that needs to 192 finish up, needs to have time to finish up. Let’s use some common sense here. 193 Mayor Motley Broom said Councilman Carn, I appreciate your sentiments, however, 3 minutes is 194 the limit. 195 196 Councilman Carn said I recommend she should be able to continue. 197 198 Councilman Allen said I'd like to hear what she's saying. 199 200 Ms. Willis said it took a lot for me to come up here today. A lot. My son, Rex Willis Jr., 201 came up here two years ago and he talked about my character. But that same young man, 202 I just have to say, graduated from the Naval Academy and he's a Lieutenant in the United 203 States Navy. RJ, that's how I know him cause that's my son, always wanted to go back to 204 school to go to college. He received a fleet scholarship from the United States. They give 205 only maybe four or five of those. RJ was accepted to 7 schools. Harvard, Wharton, 206 Columbia, Cornell, UCLA, University of Chicago and Columbia in New York. On 207 yesterday, RJ signed his commitment. He's going to Harvard. I wanted to let you all know 208 that it can be done when citizens and community work together, great things can happen. 209 If our kids are given the same opportunity, the same resources, they can achieve on the 210 highest level. And I just want to say that College Park, we're going to Harvard. He said he 211 wants to be the first Black Operational of the Navy. So that's high achievement. So, I just 212 want to say I love my city. Thanks for the extra time and I appreciate everything that you 213 all do to make the city a great place to live in. 214 215 The governing body all offered congratulatory sentiments. 216 217 Mayor Motley Broom asked anyone wishing to speak for 1-minute? Seeing none we will move 218 forward. 219 220 6. Other Business 221 222 Ms. Ames explained the Special Event Permit Request. 223 224 Mayor Motley Broom asked any questions for Ms. Ames? 225 226 There were none. 227 228 A. Consideration of and action on a request from Woodward Academy to host an Alumni 229 Event. This is a one-time special event to be held on April 30, 2022. 230 5 231 ACTION: Councilman Carn moved to approve a request from City Clerk Shavala Ames on a 232 Special Event Permit to allow Woodward Academy to host an Alumni Event to be 233 held on April 30, 2022, seconded by Councilman Clay and motion carried. (All voted 234 yes). 235 236 B. Discussion and update on top ten delinquent utility customer accounts. 237 238 Mayor Motley Broom asked if there were any questions for top ten delinquent utility and property 239 tax payers. 240 241 There were no questions. 242 243 C. Discussion and update on top ten delinquent property taxpayers. 244 245 D. Consideration of and action on a request for approval to proceed with the purchase and 246 financing of capital equipment requested during the FY2022-2023 proposed budget 247 process. 248 249 Ms. Tyus said we are open for questions. 250 251 Councilman Carn said I thought we said we are not looking at bank financing for this. 252 253 Director of Finance and Accounting Althea Philord-Bradley said it’s a lease to purchase. That is 254 only for the ladder truck. 255 256 Councilman Clay said I got my questions answered. It’s a replacement, not an additional truck. 257 258 ACTION: Councilman Clay moved to approve a request from Director of Finance & 259 Accounting Althea Philord-Bradley to proceed with the purchase and financing of 260 capital equipment requested during the FY2022-2023 proposed budget process, 261 seconded by Councilman Allen and motion carried. (All voted yes). 262 263 E. Consideration of and action on a request for approval of emergency repair to rehabilitate about 264 90 feet Section of 48inch Corrugated Metal Storm Sewer Pipe crossing east and west under 265 Herschel Road, at a cost of $40,700.00. 266 267 Public Works Director Melissa Echevarria explained the request. 268 269 Councilman Clay said I had a question on the picture about the hole in the bottom of the pipe. It 270 looked like there might be three or four inches below the pipe that may have been undermined. 271 Are you going to backfill that with dirt before they do that? 272 273 Ms. Echevarria said yes, part of the process is definitely televising and cleaning the line. Any other 274 issues we will look at before they spend cast the pipe. 275 6 276 Councilman Gay asked the stormwater pipe, is it under Herschel Road or is it in one of the creek 277 basins? 278 279 Ms. Echevarria said no, it's under. That's one of the reasons why we have the urgency is because 280 we don't want the pipe to fail and to have partial failure of Herschel Road. 281 282 ACTION: Councilman Clay moved to approve a request from Public Works Director Melissa 283 Echevarria on the emergency repair to rehabilitate about 90 feet Section of 48inch 284 Corrugated Metal Storm Sewer Pipe crossing east and west under Herschel Road, at 285 a cost of $40,700.00, seconded by Councilman Carn and motion carried. (All voted 286 yes). 287 288 F. Consideration of and action on a request for approval to allow Kemi Construction Co. Inc, 289 to install 46 feet of 18inch reinforce concrete pipes, two (2) hooded curb inlets on the south 290 side of Virginia Ave. 291 292 Mayor Motley Broom are there any questions for Ms. Echevarria? 293 294 There were none. 295 296 ACTION: Councilman Clay moved to approve a request from Public Works Director Melissa 297 Echevarria to allow Kemi Construction Co. Inc, to install 46 feet of 18inch reinforce 298 concrete pipes, two (2) hooded curb inlets on the south side of Virginia Ave, 299 recommending Kemi Construction in the amount of $30,400.00, plus an additional 300 $4,400.00 for Prime Engineering for the design, seconded by Councilman Allen and 301 motion carried. (All voted yes). 302 303 G. Consideration of and action on a request from Power Director Hugh Richardson for 304 approval of his recommendation on the disbursement of the MEAG Power 2021 Year-End 305 Settlement (YES) refund. 306 307 Mayor Motley Broom are there any questions for Mr. Richardson? 308 309 Councilman Clay said just verifying this will be used to reduce the cost of power for this coming 310 year. Presumably that helps keep the power cost down. 311 312 Power Director Hugh Richardson said that’s right. 313 314 Councilman Carn asked what is the percentage reduction this would equate to for the average 315 citizen? 316 317 Mr. Richardson said it is very low, about 3%. 318 319 ACTION: Councilman Gay moved to approve a request from Power Director Hugh Richardson 320 on the approval of his recommendation of the disbursement of the MEAG Power 321 2021 Year-End Settlement (YES) refund, that $1,000,000 be divided evenly and 7 322 applied to monthly MEAG power bills for 12 months and $1,495,897 deposited to 323 the MCT Fund, seconded by Councilman Clay and motion carried. (All voted yes). 324 325 H. Mayor and City Council consideration in making a formal request before the Metro Atlanta 326 Land Bank Authority (MALB) to formally add the City of College Park as a member of 327 the Land Bank Authority. Please see the memorandum dated March 23 from Economic 328 Development Director Artie Jones, III and supporting documentation. 329 330 Councilman Gay asked will we add our properties to the inventory and what will be the use of it? 331 How does us adding our properties benefit the City of College Park? 332 333 Mayor Motley Broom said we will wait until Mr. Jones returns to discuss this item. 334 335 [Mr. Jones entered Council Chambers] 336 337 Councilman Gay repeated the question. 338 339 Director of Economic Development Artie Jones, III said there are some properties that is in the 340 name of the Land Bank Authority but are under the name of Fulton County and other names. One 341 particular property, in front of Kathleen Mitchell School, there's probably like a 2/10 of an acre 342 piece of property there that's frontage on Camp Creek. It's owned by the Fulton County, but it's 343 under the Land Bank Authority. There are a number of properties throughout the community, it 344 just doesn't have the Land Bank Authority on the deed. 345 346 Councilman Gay asked is this asking us to add our properties to the Land Bank Authority or are 347 you just making us aware of what properties they own? 348 349 Mr. Jones said it’s been almost seven years ago now, we've been working to try to become a part 350 of the Land Bank Authority. We were unsuccessful for about a year and a half, two years; and then 351 they agreed to allow us to join Land Bank Authority. The previous Council provided me with the 352 authorization to write the letter that I'm sending to be added to the Metro Atlanta Land Bank 353 Authority. Back then when they received our letter, they hesitated, and they said we would rather 354 wait until East Point and other cities join the Land Bank Authority. This is before the City of South 355 Fulton became a city. 356 357 Councilman Clay asked how long ago was that? I have been pushing this forever since I came back 358 for GMA; and we got into Clayton with their land bank and it’s been beneficial. 359 360 Mr. Jones said about five years ago. When I was out in Texas, I learned that now East Point and 361 the City of South Fulton were being considered to join the Land Bank Authority. I reached out to 362 Christopher Norman about College Park, and he said yes, they wanted an updated letter from the 363 us. 364 365 Councilman Clay said we've been trying to get in for years. I would really, really, really be upset 366 if East Point and South Fulton were admitted, and we were not. It's not like there are only two 367 slots, is it? 8 368 369 Mr. Jones said no. There are three slots. We were already considered one of those slots. They 370 added the two additional slots for East Point and South Fulton. 371 372 Councilman Clay said OK, we are on the glide path. 373 374 Councilman Allen asked how much is this gonna cost us how much? 375 376 Mr. Jones said they said it was estimated at $100,000 per year. 377 378 Councilman Clay asked what does it cost to be in the Clayton County Land Bank? 379 380 Mr. Jones said this is the first year that we're paying. It's $2500 this year. The thing about it is that 381 Clayton County Commissioner, the Chairman Turner, has been paying for 100% for the Land Bank 382 Authority, legal fees and everything to this point, and now they want the other cities to contribute. 383 384 Councilman Clay asked how much does Atlanta pay to be in the Land Bank Authority? 385 386 Mr. Jones said I'm not sure, but I know it’s significant because they pay for all the staff. The Metro 387 Atlanta Land Bank has a very robust staff. Clayton County Land Bank Authority has no staff. 388 389 Mayor Motley Broom asked any other questions for Mr. Jones? 390 391 Councilman Gay said my question was how does the City of College Park benefit from putting our 392 land free and clear title into the Fulton County Land Bank Authority? Why can't we just sell our 393 own property? 394 395 Mr. Jones said we don't put our property into the Land Bank Authority. If there is a property out 396 there that happens to have a number of liens against it, a lot of taxes, or a bad debt on the property, 397 the Land Bank Authority would receive that property and then they would extinguish all of that 398 bad debt on that property, and then they would make it available for someone that wanted to 399 acquire it for whatever that uses that the Land Bank would allow. 400 401 Councilman Gay asked so they pay off the liens? 402 403 Mr. Jones said yes, they extinguish the liens. They have to get authorization from the Fulton 404 County Board of Education for the Fulton County Board of Education Taxes. They have to get 405 authorization from the Fulton County Board of Commissioners and then they have to get, of 406 course, authorization from the City of College Park for the taxes. 407 408 Councilman Clay said I think the one question that might be in the back of people's mind is to what 409 extent do we control who buys that property? Does it come back effectively to the City to have 410 first right of refusal to have control on that, etc. I remember with Clayton it did, but how does 411 Fulton work? 412 9 413 Mr. Jones said the city of College Park would have the right of first refusal for properties that are 414 within the City of College Park and Land Bank Authority. That's why the Metro Atlanta Land 415 Bank Authority will allow someone an appointee from the City of College Park to actually be on 416 that Board, just like I'm on the Clayton County Board – I would be asked if I want first dibs on it. 417 418 Councilman Allen asked then we have to buy that property back from Fulton County Land Bank? 419 420 Mr. Jones said Fulton County is a little bit different than Clayton County. They have various types 421 of criteria. Sometimes it's a percentage of what the value of the property is. Sometimes it's a 422 percentage of what the bad debt was. Sometimes if there was a lot of maintenance that had to go 423 into that property. I don't know enough about the Metro Atlanta Land Bank Authority to say 424 exactly how much the city would have to pay for any particular property, but we would have first 425 dibs at it. I think one of the highest priorities that the Metro Atlanta Land Bank Authority has is 426 affordable housing. 427 428 Councilman Clay said one of the things we've thought in the past about doing with dealing with 429 properties, was to make them available at little or no cost to Public Safety workers, Police, Fire, 430 First Responders and open it up to other people. We could make some of those properties available 431 as low-cost properties as an incentive for our employees. 432 433 Mr. Jones said I think that is an excellent idea. 434 435 Councilman Allen where would the $100,000 come from budget wise? 436 437 Mr. Jones said Economic Development’s budget more than likely. We cannot budget for that until 438 we become members. 439 440 Councilman Allen asked City Manager could we work that into our budget? 441 442 Ms. Tyus said we'll add it to the list of things we're considering at the end. 443 444 Councilman Carn said I think it's important. I think it's something we definitely need to be looking 445 at. One of the things I like to see is when we have something like this in terms of getting into the 446 charges and fees and ancillaries that may come with this, is to have somebody from the Land Bank 447 coming in to go over some of that stuff. City Manager let's make sure that Mr. Norman, or whoever 448 handles this for them, is gonna be here to explain this thoroughly and answer a few questions here 449 that we didn't have the answers to. 450 451 Mayor Motley Broom asked Any other questions for Mr. Jones? 452 453 There were no other questions. Mayor called for a motion. 454 455 ACTION: Councilman Clay moved to approve a request from Economic Development Director 456 Artie Jones, III from the Metro Atlanta Land Bank Authority (MALB) to formally 457 add the City of College Park as a member of the Land Bank Authority, seconded by 458 Councilman Carn and motion carried. (All voted yes). 10 459 460 I. Consideration of and action on a request for approval to apply for Inveris Training 461 Solutions, Inc. funds to purchase FATS 100P & Bluefire Weapon Simulator. See 462 memorandum dated April 6, 2022, from Interim Chief of Police Sharis McCrary requesting 463 approval to apply for the grant in the amount of $125,000.00 which is a total reimbursement 464 cost back to the city. Also, see attached background information. 465 466 Mayor Motley Broom asked any questions? 467 468 Councilman Clay why is the company giving us a grant and making us purchase the simulator. 469 Does it cost us anything? 470 471 Interim Police Chief Sharis McCrary said we will spend the money and then they will reimburse 472 for that amount. 473 474 Councilman Clay said there must be some advantage to them. How much is the cost per year to 475 maintain this system going forward? Is there a cost in this year's budget to do that? 476 477 Ms. McCrary said it’s for two years. What we were told is most jurisdictions after that two-year 478 time span, will not need any upgrades that third year because there's so much already downloaded 479 on it that we more than likely won't get through all of it. We'll forego that third year and then it's 480 $1600 annually. 481 482 Councilman Clay asked what do they hope to gain by doing this? 483 484 Ms. McCrary said our business and they also will be able to maintain our firing range. 485 486 Councilman Clay said this will be an ongoing relationship with us. 487 488 Ms. McCrary said yes. 489 490 Councilman Clay said as part of the deal with Axon we are getting virtual reality training. How 491 does that training differ from this virtual reality training? 492 493 Ms. McCrary said this virtual reality training through Inveris is superior. You have even more 494 details where it can track the bullet. The supervisors and the people doing the trainings would be 495 able to actually give that feedback to the officers and make corrections. 496 497 Councilman Clay said you shoot a virtual bullet, and they tell you where that virtual bullet would 498 have hit. 499 500 Ms. McCrary said yes, it is a simulator. Axon is a shoot, don’t shoot scenario. 501 502 Councilman Clay asked is it your intent to use both systems? 503 11 504 Ms. McCrary said definitely. It is my intent to make sure that we're integrating this with our 505 Citizens Police Academy, so that we could be as transparent and engaging with the community. 506 507 Councilman Carn asked what systems are we paying them for right now? 508 509 Ms. McCrary said nothing. They will come in to help us maintain the range. Right now, we have 510 been maintaining the range. 511 512 Councilman Carn asked what's the catch? It doesn't seem to make any sense at all. They're saying 513 we got this $125,000 fabulous package that we wanna sell to you, but we also want to give you a 514 grant for it. On Page 100, I see this package for $42,009, what is that charge. Would we have to 515 pay that? 516 517 Ms. McCrary said that is the breakdown of the system. We have a FATS machine from years ago, 518 but it is not operational to too much to repair. 519 520 Councilman Carn said I get the scenarios for training. I'm worried about the pay don't pay scenario. 521 That's what I'm still don't quite understand. After all of this, what are we paying them? 522 523 Ms. McCrary said after two years we have a $1600 annual fee that we will have to pick up. They 524 recommend picking it up in the 4th year. 525 526 Councilman Carn said it sounds too good to be true. 527 528 Councilman Allen asked we're not obligated to buy anything? 529 530 Ms. McCrary said no. 531 532 Councilman Gay said I suggest that we fill a vacancy of Chief. I think we've spent a tremendous 533 amount of money in just the last few months, my recommendation would be that if it's not critical, 534 that we slow down on purchasing until we see what direction is gonna be whomever is the 535 permanent Chief. That would be my recommendation. 536 537 Councilman Carn said let’s just make sure the City Attorney gives a real good look at this thing. 538 Just to see if this thing is as advertised. 539 540 ACTION: Councilman Clay moved to approve a request from Interim Chief of Police Sharis 541 McCrary to apply for Inveris Training Solutions, Inc. funds to purchase FATS 100P 542 & Bluefire Weapon Simulator in the amount of $125,000.00 which is a total 543 reimbursement cost back to the city, seconded by Councilman Carn and motion 544 carried. (All voted yes). 545 546 7. Public Hearings. 547 548 8. Bids, Change Order Requests and Contracts. 549 12 550 A. Consideration of and Action on Agreement for Consulting Services with the Center for 551 Community Progress for Local Implementation Scholarship Program from the Vacant 552 Property Leadership Institute. 553 554 Councilman Gay said I have a procedural question. This action is from Lisa Swan, our Executive 555 Assistant, who sponsored this action? 556 557 Mayor Motley Broom said I did, because I received the contract to sign, so I wanted to put it before 558 the Council. 559 560 Councilman Gay asked should your name be sponsor and not Lisa? For the record, she's an 561 Executive Assistant. 562 Mayor Motley Broom said Ms. Swann entered it into the system, which is probably why her name 563 appears. We'll make sure that that's updated going forward. Does anyone else have questions? 564 565 There were no other questions. 566 567 ACTION: Councilman Clay moved to approve a request on an agreement for Consulting 568 Services with the Center for Community Progress for Local Implementation 569 Scholarship Program from the Vacant Property Leadership Institute, seconded by 570 Councilman Carn and motion carried. 571 572 B. Mayor and City Councils consideration of and action on a request for approval to execute 573 a contract with Carter Construction Partners for the demolition of a residential structure. 574 575 Mayor Motley Broom asked any questions? 576 577 Councilman Carn asked is this an actual house? We own this piece of land? 578 579 Mr. Jones said yes. This land was donated to us by a property owner. The building was locked up 580 but looked like someone was living in the building. 581 582 Councilman Clay asked is there any way that the Fire Department might want to use this as a 583 practice house? 584 585 Councilman Carn said that is probably the best idea I've heard up here tonight. 586 587 Fire Chief Wade Elmore said we couldn’t if it has asbestos. 588 589 Mr. Jones said I had a phase one environmental done on the property and it has no asbestos. A 590 phase two was also done and found out that there's no environmental issues with the property. 591 592 Councilman Clay said burn it down. 593 594 Councilman Carn said let's say you had to clear out that brush with a backhoe or something to 595 give yourself enough latitude to do a burn, I would say absolutely. How much acreage is it? 13 596 597 Mr. Jones said it might be 2/10 of an acre. 598 599 Mayor Motley Broom said it seems like whether or not this can be used as a training house for 600 the Fire Department is something that staff can look into, but if in the event that is not an option, 601 we do have bids to tear it down. 602 603 Councilman Carn said I say we table this to give the Chief a chance to take a look at it. 604 605 Councilman Clay said why don't we approve it, and if you can burn it down and save money, 606 great. If you can't go ahead and demo it. 607 Councilman Carn said so you're not going to pull the trigger unless you can't burn it down, right? 608 609 Mr. Jones said right. 610 611 ACTION: Councilman Clay moved to approve a request from Economic Development Director 612 Artie Jones, III to execute a contract with Carter Construction Partners for the 613 demolition of a residential structure, with the proviso to work with the Fire 614 Department to use the property for fire training; and if the property cannot be used 615 for fire training, to move forward with the demolition in the amount of $25,210.00, 616 seconded by Councilman Carn and motion carried. (All voted yes). 617 618 C. Mayor and Council consideration of and action on a request for approval to execute a 619 contract with Johnson Controls Fire Protection to upgrade the existing outdated fire 620 monitoring equipment at the GICC. 621 622 Mayor Motley Broom asked questions? 623 624 There were no questions. 625 626 ACTION: Councilman Allen moved to approve a request from Executive Director of the GICC 627 and Arena Mercedes Miller to execute a contract with Johnson Controls Fire 628 Protection to upgrade the existing outdated fire monitoring equipment at the GICC 629 with an estimated cost of $78,167.00, seconded by Councilman Clay and motion 630 carried. (All voted yes). 631 632 D. Mayor and Council consideration of and action on a request for approval of a contract 633 renewal of subscription with Amadeus. 634 635 Mayor Motley Broom asked any questions? 636 637 Councilman Carn asked is this annual? 638 639 Executive Director of the GICC and Arena Mercedes Miller said it is. 640 14 641 ACTION: Councilman Clay moved to approve a request from Executive Director of the GICC 642 and Arena Mercedes Miller on a contract renewal of subscription with Amadeus in 643 the amount of $54,322.33, seconded by Councilman Allen and motion carried. (All 644 voted yes). 645 646 E. Consideration of and action on bids received to perform street resurfacing work under the 647 Georgia Department of Transportation (GDOT) 2020 Local Maintenance and 648 Improvement Grant (LMIG) Program. 649 650 Mayor Motley Broom asked any questions? 651 652 Councilman Carn said there’s two streets on here. I thought we had three streets in the last piece I 653 saw. 654 655 Ms. Echevarria said this is 2020 we presented. This is the old carryover. We had to catch up. This 656 is the completion of the other streets that were overdue. 657 658 ACTION: Councilman Allen moved to approve a request from Public Works Director Melissa 659 Echevarria to perform street resurfacing work under the Georgia Department of 660 Transportation (GDOT) 2020 Local Maintenance and Improvement Grant (LMIG) 661 Program recommending HEH Paving Inc. in the amount of $166,347.41, seconded 662 by Councilman Clay and motion carried. 663 664 F. Consideration of and action on a request for approval Kemi Construction Company 665 Incorporated as the on-demand contractor to perform the sewer rehabilitation on Atlanta 666 Street to Virginia Avenue Sewer Main Project. 667 668 Mayor Motley Broom asked any other questions. 669 670 There were no other questions. 671 672 ACTION: Councilman Clay moved to approve a request from Public Works Director Melissa 673 Echevarria for Kemi Construction Company Incorporated as the on-demand contractor to perform 674 the sewer rehabilitation on Atlanta Street to Virginia Avenue Sewer Main Project in the amount 675 of $66,570.00 and approval of the Exploratory Digging in the amount of $14,700.00 for a total 676 cost of $81,270.00, seconded by Councilman Carn and motion carried. 677 678 9. Unfinished (Old) Business. 679 680 10. New Business. 681 682 A. Consideration of and action on a request for approval of Fiscal Year 2021-2022 Budget 683 Adjustments. 684 15 685 Ms. Philord-Bradley said this amendment is appropriating the budget to purchase the capital 686 equipment that the Council approved early on in the meeting and with an amendment of 687 $4,904,468.00. 688 689 ACTION: Councilman Clay moved to approve a request from Director of Finance & 690 Accounting Althea Philord-Bradley on Fiscal Year 2021-2022 Budget Adjustments 691 with Resolution 2022-16, seconded by Councilman Allen and motion carried. (All 692 voted yes). 693 694 B. Consideration on a request for approval of Cyber Security A in the amount of $139,905. 695 696 Councilman Gay said this is a question for the vendor. On your form, you have that you are a 697 Female Business Enterprise, but when we talked earlier, you said you were the owner. Are you a 698 Female Business Enterprise or is that just a misprint? 699 700 Male Speaker said we are a Minority Business Enterprise. The city recognizes Asian Business 701 Enterprise specifically, which we are and that’s what we put on our proposal. 702 703 Councilman Gay said your document have that you are a Female. And that's a different designation 704 than Asian. 705 706 Male Speaker said I saw the document as well. That is the list of the bids that was opened by the 707 city. And I believe that's the document generated by the City Purchasing Department. 708 709 Councilman Gay said OK. What are the cities that have approved this? 710 711 Male Speaker said within the Metro Atlanta Area, we have the City of Atlanta, Hartsfield-Jackson 712 Airport, South Fulton, Henry County and Fayette County. As well as other jurisdictions throughout 713 the United States. 714 715 Councilman Gay said thank you nothing else. 716 717 ACTION: Councilman Clay moved to approve Cyber Security A in the amount of $139,905, 718 which includes the initial fee in the first year, seconded by Councilman Carn and 719 motion carried. 720 721 C. Discussion of Kids Fest. 722 723 Councilman Carn said I think everybody is familiar with Kids Fest and what we used to do there. 724 I just got to tell you a lot of residents missed that event in terms of what we used to do. I know that 725 COVID is still out here, and you know there's still some issues and trepidations. What I was 726 proposing was a scaled down version of what we used to do. City Manager we used to spend 727 somewhere around $90,000 or so on what I remember. The thought was to cut that in half. This 728 was a project near and dear to Councilman Phillips heart and I guess he kind of passed the baton 729 on to me. I look at a lot of cities that are opening up now. East Point, Union City, South Fulton has 730 done several different events and got several more coming. I think the message is clear in terms of 16 731 the city being open for business in terms of community. We've done some great events too. It's 732 been a rough couple of two years, and I think we came out relatively unscathed and we're coming 733 out of the hole. I think this would let folks know that we're back and making progress. 734 735 I also miss having a resident of the year. It's been two years and we've had some residents that 736 have really helped this city get back on its feet. I know I certainly have seen some in my areas and 737 I have definitely missed that recognition; and just miss the opportunity to give something back in 738 particular to the young people. I would like us to find the money and figure out how we can do a 739 scaled down version of Kids Fest. 740 741 Councilman Clay said we morphed City Fest into a Kids Fest. I wouldn't be inclined to do a City 742 Fest, but I could see my way clearer to do a Kids Fest, provided we can keep the costs low and 743 find the money. 744 745 Mayor Motley Broom said we haven't approved the budget yet and I know that we've talked about 746 a number of things that we might like to see in the budget. The way that the budget is organized 747 right now in the proposal that the City Manager has brought to us, with the work of the Department 748 Heads, is one that is for stability. Would it be possible for us to look at this after the first quarter 749 of the budget or after the second quarter? I think that we have a number of things, and I understand 750 that we're coming back. Maybe we can get grants for something like this. I agree with you about 751 getting back to traditions, but we're still not out of the woods yet. 752 753 Councilman Allen said I would like to see a Kids Fest or something of that sort if we could find 754 some sponsors. I'm sure there's some people out there that would sponsor programs like this if we 755 just looked into it. 756 757 Councilman Carn said the thought was to supplement. We're in budget right now, this is why I'm 758 bringing this up. I like to see this added in if we can find the money. I'd like to look at this during 759 this budget session and see how we can make it happen. I think this is well worth spending some 760 money. Some of that $45,000 can come through the DMO funds which we utilized before. 761 762 Ms. Tyus said Council what I would ask is that we be allowed to finish the next two budget 763 briefings as we have them. Allow us to create a list of all the additional things that the Council has 764 suggested, including this, and then the Council collectively make some decisions as to how you 765 want those changes made. 766 767 Councilman Carn said fair enough. 768 769 Councilman Clay said I think that makes sense. 770 771 Councilman Gay said City Manager, we had a discussion about City Fest as well as the Ward 4 772 Festival. I thought I heard a suggestion that was $10,000. I would ask that if you were to give the 773 City Fest consideration, you should have also given the Ward 4 Festival consideration, because as 774 I told you publicly, that was a public event that this body agreed on. As we move forward, if you're 775 going to make considerations, I'm going to recommend that you put similar suited initiatives in the 776 same action-- 17 777 778 Councilman Clay said are you willing to change the name to the-- 779 780 Mayor Motley Broom said gentlemen, gentlemen-- 781 782 Councilman Gay said I would like to respect to be able to talk without being interrupted, if you 783 don't mind-- 784 785 Councilman Clay said I’m sorry-- 786 787 Mayor Motley Broom said hold on, gentlemen. Councilman Gay are you ready? 788 789 Councilman Gay said Mayor, I would like for you to ask Councilman Clay to let me finish talking 790 and not be interrupted. If not, I'll bring my own gavel. So, what I was going to recommend is that 791 there's a festival in Atlanta called the Inman Park Fest. It’s a community festival. It brings 792 approximately 300,000 visitors to the city. When I say Ward 4 Festival that, is just the name. It 793 has grown exponentially to approximately 200%. It is one of the most sought-after festivals in our 794 community. But you don't even have to take my word. You can go to a site called College Park 795 Flickr. 796 797 The second thing I want to say is that this Council need to have the City Attorney take a look at 798 the DMO contract that has not been looked at since it was established by the Fincher and Denmark 799 firm. We need that contract to come back to this Body because cities are rethinking how they spend 800 their DMO dollars. City Manager, I've sent you the email from the Finance Director. I would like 801 the DMO to come here as a workshop. It's time to start having conversations. Other people are 802 listening to me. I'm not up here making speeches. 803 804 Mayor Motley Broom said Councilman Clay? 805 806 Councilman Clay said I have nothing to add to that. 807 808 Mayor Motley Broom said moving on to the next item. 809 810 D. Discussion City Wide Job Vacancies 811 812 Ms. Tyus said we totally recognize the numbers of vacancies that we have. We have Hiring Event 813 that is scheduled for May 7th. We're working out the details of and we will get those to use at the 814 Convention Center. We have approximately 60 vacancies. At the Hiring Event, we're going to 815 offer residents the opportunity to register ahead of time and offer those residents who preregister 816 the opportunity to have on site interviews. All of the department heads will be there set up with 817 booths so that they can actually do the interviews and the introductions to those who are seeking 818 employment. My team that's working on it is Communications, HR, Assistant City Manager as 819 well as Mercedes. We are excited to present the May 7th Hiring Event on behalf of the City of 820 College Park at the GICC. 821 822 Councilman Carn said that sounds great. Is Christa here? 18 823 824 Ms. Tyus said yes, she is. I want to thank Christa because we didn't give her any warning for this 825 and she left her home and came back here to join us, so thank you. 826 827 Councilman Carn said thank you Christa. For the record, when I was here before, I assumed all 828 Department Heads were gonna be at Council Meetings as normal. 829 830 Ms. Tyus said no -- 831 832 Councilman Carn said that's something I wanna discuss later on Ms. Tyus, because I do expect 833 every department here to be at the Council Meetings -- If I can finish, those are my expectations, 834 speaking for myself; and we can discuss that at some other point. 835 836 Ms. Tyus said we should, thank you, sir. 837 838 Councilman Carn said thank you. 839 840 I really didn't realize how many employees we actually had in the city. I know we used to hover 841 somewhere around about 485 upwards of 500 employees over the years. Obviously, that fluctuates 842 year in and year out. I said to myself, well, how many employees do we currently have and 843 compared to how many positions we have? And I was a little bit surprised. I saw 388 employees 844 currently that we had, I figured we were still in the fours. Is this a ballpark of 127 vacancies? Then 845 I see 114 budgeted slots that are vacant. Is that what I'm looking at? 846 847 Director of Human Resources and Risk Management Christa Gilbert said I want to make sure that 848 you look at those that are unfunded. As Ms. Tyus stated, we have about 60 something full time 849 and part time, but we also have you have to look at volunteers. All of that is on that list. I didn't 850 give you the positions I just gave you the numbers. 851 852 Councilman Carn asked all of these in the 114 number are paid positions? 853 854 Ms. Gilbert said yes, that includes seasonal, temps etc. 855 856 Councilman Carn said this report is something good to just take a look at to start with but at the 857 next meeting, just bring us the full picture. 858 859 Councilman Gay said I sent a couple emails. I've been here since 1998. I've been on council eight 860 years. I think I got my Master’s before yours Ms. Tyus. We got into the same Master’s program at 861 DePaul University. One thing that I took seriously was Human Capital, and the loss of staff. This 862 body asked that we do exit interviews. That exit interview was to give us benchmarks as to why 863 people leave or even why people come to us. We've lost a considerable amount of talent. I in fact. 864 In fact, we've lost so much talent. When we ask is that there be an exit interview, there was no 865 response back from the email that I sent you. I'm asking that we continue to do an exit interview 866 to just learn why people are leaving this organization. 867 868 Ms. Gilbert said OK. 19 869 870 Councilman Clay asked what does frozen or unbudgeted positions really mean? 871 872 Ms. Philord-Bradley said the unbudgeted unfunded positions – in the previous two budget 873 processes we froze positions two years in a row. Basically, it’s probably showing those as aren't 874 funded for this fiscal year, but starting July 1st, the recommended budget does appropriate funding 875 for those frozen positions. 876 877 Councilman Clay said you're saying that in the upcoming budget that we are reviewing right now, 878 the frozen positions do have money in them? Even though we're not planning to hire? 879 880 Ms. Philord-Bradley said they are planning to hire. 881 882 Councilman Clay said all the frozen positions, if we're going to hire them, why are we calling them 883 frozen? 884 885 Ms. Philord-Bradley said I guess they're just showing where we are currently as of today. 886 887 Councilman Clay said OK, so they are frozen in the current hiring period, but they are open and 888 funded in the upcoming budget that we are reviewing now. 889 890 Ms. Philord-Bradley said correct. 891 892 Mayor Motley Broom said this is a really good conversation, but it's one that has been sprung on 893 everyone. We're asking questions that would be better answered if Ms. Gilbert, Ms. Tyus. and Ms. 894 Philord-Bradley had an opportunity to have some time to prepare. That’s the benefit of getting 895 things on the agenda as opposed to adding them when we're here because it puts people on the spot 896 and that's not fair. That's not fair to our department heads. It's not fair to anyone. I would ask that 897 we put this discussion on the next agenda. We get the detailed report, and we can have a discussion 898 with all the pertinent information. Does that work for everybody? 899 900 All members agreed. 901 902 Mayor Motley Broom said moving on to City Attorney’s Report. 903 904 11. City Attorney’s Report. 905 906 City Attorney Winston Denmark said s of today, the Governor has not signed our Homestead Bill. 907 As we all know, has 40 days to sign or it would automatically become law. I will continue to 908 monitor that situation. 909 910 Mayor Motley Broom said thank you sir. 911 912 12. City Manager’s Report. 913 20 914 Ms. Tyus said I want to thank Mercedes and her team for the absolute amazing job that they did 915 in hosting 9000 AKA’s in this city for the period of four days. I actually need you all to give her 916 and her team a round of applause for pulling that off. Want to also call your attention to the fact 917 that the survey for the Police Chief is up and running. Our team signed up 20 people today. The 918 coding that they're using has produced a good 40 something responses and they just set it up a 919 couple of days ago. The recruiter has reported an excess of 100 responses to the survey. I spoke 920 earlier about the Hiring Event that we're very excited about organizing. Thank you. 921 922 Mayor Motley Broom said thank you. 923 924 13. Report Of Mayor And Council. 925 926 Councilman Clay - said I want to comment on two things the City Manager said. I was in CVS the 927 other night in East Point, and I saw an AKA walk in with her entourage. I knew it was an AKA 928 because she had a jacket on that said AKA. Not only are we benefiting College Park, but we're 929 benefiting our fellow cities here. 930 931 As far as a survey goes, I took the survey today and got my wife to take it too. I had posted it out 932 to my website. I have to say it was probably the most engaging survey’s I have taken in a long 933 time. You had to really think about the questions. It made you really think about what you were 934 looking at, so I commend whoever designed the survey. I thought it was very well done. 935 936 I had only one item that I wanted to bring up. As I think a lot of people know, I'm on a couple FAA 937 Advisory Committees. I got some interesting information out of it that I think we need to take 938 some action on. I can't quote because some of the research hasn't been published yet. Let me just 939 say that the package delivery, the UAS’s, the UAV's, some people call them drones etc. etc., that 940 the noise level, after launch, is not so bad; but when they're taking off and landing. It could be in 941 the order of 80 DB. That's pretty noisy. There’s some really excellent research going on. I can't go 942 into the details of it because it hasn't been published yet, but there's really good work being done. 943 That's a good thing. I brought this up several years ago and we put it in our ordinances that you 944 could not have a port for a UAV without getting special use. The latest twist seems to be in the 945 industry, they are talking about having trucks that are portable mobile heliports. We need to get 946 that into our ordinance. We need to be able to restrict that or require some kind of permission. I 947 know the State is constantly trying to overrule the city's authority to do things like this, but we still 948 ought to give it our best shot. I would recommend that we look at our ordinance. Maybe it's the 949 City Attorney job to figure where to put the language. 950 951 Another thing I wanted to mention that what is very clear from the research that's going on right 952 now, is that we will have supersonic aircraft landing at Hartsfield Jackson. I can't tell you when 953 because I don't know, and the industry doesn't really know, but you can see this in the aircraft 954 magazines. They are currently building a supersonic test vehicle and it will be designed so that it 955 can fly over land. They've been blocked over land in the United States and that's why the Concorde 956 could only go coast to coast, it couldn't fly over the continental US. These planes will be able to 957 fly over the continental US and they will not create a sonic boom on the ground; however, when 958 they go subsonic there's the potential that the engines could be very loud. It's something that we 959 need to keep an eye on. There's not much we can do about it except make sure that we make our 21  960 case to the FAA that it ain't OK to have the equivalent of an 8080, landing and is a big amount of 961 noise from our residents, particularly in the Ward 4 area, which are right under the flight path. 962 That's all I have. 963 964 965 Councilman Carn - said Ambrose those are some good catches on the airport stuff. Some things 966 you just never think about. City Manager, I want to make sure that Gary is taking a look at some 967 of this stuff specifically that he [Councilman Clay] was speaking on and does some homework on 968 it because that's what we pay him to do. The other thing I will say with meeting with Gary and 969 Tom Nissalke, they talked about a second taxiway at the end of the 4th runway. In the mornings 970 and in the evenings, one of the loudest parts of what we're dealing with is full thrusters as they taxi 971 down the runway. The retaining wall that they built around that U-turn made a big difference. The 972 thought occurred to me, what would it cost to double the size of that wall. That would make a big 973 difference in terms of noise. As they're building that, I love us to maybe try to talk to them and see 974 how high they could make that wall. 975 976 Councilman Clay said maybe you and I ought to go offline and talk about that. I had proposed 977 something like that a number of years ago and for several different reasons. I don't think we need 978 to go into that now. 979 980 Councilman Carn said I want to get an update on some of our developments just in general. I'd like 981 to know where we are with Wally Park, for instance. Maybe at one of the next two council 982 meetings, I want Artie to come in and just give us an update on some of our developments. 983 984 The public comment I got from one of my residents at Embarcadero regarding the speed humps, 985 the idea there obviously is to slow folks down coming to the driveway there at Embarcadero so 986 that residents can exit out and enter the main driveway without the stress of speeding drivers. I 987 hope it slows down the drivers as they approach that driveway so that folks turning in don't have 988 as big of an issue darting in and out. 989 990 The AKA event was nice. I peeked my head in there one of the evenings and it was a great big 991 crowd of folks having a good time. It was really nice to see that. But talking to some of the folks, 992 I asked what are you guys gonna be doing? They named attractions not in College Park. I just said, 993 if we had attractions nearby, they would probably be patronizing those attractions and I know we 994 could get some good revenue from that. I'm hoping Six West solves a lot of that, but great job. 995 996 Couple other things I do want to touch on. Obviously, this community is dependent on us to make 997 the best decisions possible. It's kind of difficult to make those decisions if you're not being fully 998 informed. We want to make our best bets on what's best for this city. And the best way we can do 999 that is have enough information, and that means unrestricted access to our own data. We've got 1000 obviously more than a few computers and servers and systems and software of every variety. The 1001 data that we gather from our residents, from our staff, operations, internal metrics, it's good 1002 information. The only problem is, from what I see is there's a lot of information being restricted 1003 around here and some of it's supposed to be restricted. But not from this Body. I don't think we're 1004 being informed enough. Me being back just a few months in this seat, I wasn't intending on taking 1005 any seat of authority where I'm not receiving the necessary information to make a proper decision, 22 1006 and I don't think that makes sense for anybody else up here as well. City Manager one of the 1007 reasons that we hired you was because you assured us that you would provide us with that 1008 information all of the information that we need. That's the good news. I think we need to do a 1009 better job with making sure we have all the information because it's hard for us to make a decision 1010 with part of the information. 1011 1012 I too always give a heads up. I don't play gotcha with the staff by any sense of that word. I talked 1013 to Christa about what I wanted, and she prepared and got it together for me. I'm not into big 1014 surprises in an attempt to embarrass anybody. I want to see us do the best job we can and I'm sure 1015 you guys want to see the Council and the Mayor do the best job that we can. The only way we can 1016 do that is if we're fully informed. That means giving us the news, good or bad, what we're looking 1017 at, unredacted, so that we can make a complete decision on what it is. 1018 1019 Last thing in terms of my expectations, I know you guys have made a lot of changes up here. One 1020 thing I expect, and this is just my expectation, I expect every Department Head to be at the City 1021 Council meetings regardless of if you're on the agenda or not; we had always done that. It's because 1022 one of these Councilmembers or Mayor may have a question that may not be on the agenda. I think 1023 it makes good sense. It's not unreasonable, and we've been doing it for decades. I don't think that's 1024 a change that's gonna help us by fewer folks being available. I expect all Department Heads to be 1025 up here at each Council Meeting, and I don't know how the rest of you all feel about that, but I 1026 certainly do expect that. 1027 1028 Last thing I say in terms of public comment. Everybody up here was elected to office. Most of us 1029 got elected because we seem like capable folks, capable of representing the people. One trait 1030 everybody up here that got elected is because they're considered a people person by the residents. 1031 I consider myself a people person. I think you have to be a people person up here to be effective 1032 in terms of dealing with the public. The one thing I don't like to see, and I don't wanna see us 1033 degrading to, is a contest of who can shut down the resident the fastest. I don't think that's what 1034 they voted for any of us up here for. I just don't like seeing that happen. I've set up here and folks 1035 have come up here and bashed me on things that I was doing wrong. And I sat and listened to every 1036 minute of it, no matter how long it takes cause, that's just part of the public process. I am and 1037 always have been an advocate for the people. That might be a crazy notion, but that's just me. So 1038 that's all I got. 1039 1040 Mayor Motley Broom said thank you sir. 1041 1042 Councilman Allen said I want to tap into what everybody is being saying. Mercedes, your people 1043 did a great job, but I also wanna have special thanks to the AKA’s for selecting College Park. And 1044 I hope that we as a city will send out a letter to their home office and their local office and we can 1045 present him with a plaque or a proclamation or something. 1046 1047 Ms. Tyus said we did, on behalf of the city, we presented them with a very nice piece of art, 1048 thanking them for participating. We did great. 1049 1050 23 1051 Councilman Allen - said we just need to follow up because it was a great event. I wanna thank 1052 Ignite Jamelle McKenzie. They went around to a lot of seniors this past week and passed out Easter 1053 Baskets, and it made a lot of seniors happy. I saw a lot of smiles and I think that was a good thing 1054 to do. We got two more budgets. Tuesday night at 6:30 and Thursday night at 6:30. Melissa, thank 1055 you very much for the work you did on Hawthorne. I've gotten two or three calls. They just were 1056 very, very happy with it. 1057 1058 We got two signs for Woodward and Tri Cities Basketball, one on the end of Main Street, one on 1059 the other end of Main Street. Virginia Avenue is where most of the students come in with their 1060 parents. When other schools are visiting and playing College Park, they come in through there. I'd 1061 like to see if we can possibly put a sign across there on Virginia Avenue because that's where all 1062 the students come. Hopefully it's not gonna break us. If so, we can take it out of my discretionary 1063 funds. 1064 1065 I talked to AT and Cookie the other day and they will be going by the Longino and Lindsey homes. 1066 Talking to the folks over there and coming back with solutions and then helping them out regarding 1067 the bike race. That's all I've got. 1068 1069 Mayor Motley Broom said thank you sir. 1070 1071 Councilman Gay - said I have a residence named Myron who's having surgery this week. Our 1072 prayers are with you. He told me that he watches us on Zoom, so I was happy to hear that. My 1073 resident Alphonso Stitchcomb his homegoing is tomorrow. I will do my best to be there. I'm sorry 1074 for your family's loss. The Stitchcomb’s are related to me by my great grandmother, who is from 1075 College Park. 1076 1077 Second thing is that there was a family here who talked about performing arts. When I picked my 1078 son up at Tri Cities, there’s a building, it's a magnet program. Inside the building on the wall, there 1079 are African Americans who are nationally known. Kenan from Saturday Night Live, Outkast, and 1080 Kandi Burruss. The list goes on and on. Here's the fundamental difference between what I've been 1081 saying so. Denise Perkins, her sister, is. Attorney Hooker, we all went to school together. She says, 1082 a group of parents started the Magnet Program for Performing Arts. My point is a small space and 1083 a program, like that family who came in here and said that they wanna see more performing arts, 1084 we want the same thing. They don't realize that I'm out here knocking on their doors and we want 1085 the exact same thing. My point is, we have been talking about a Community Center for all these 1086 years, that has never got the buy in of this Council. That's all we're saying. We want a livable 1087 center. We want to invest in human capital. That's a fundamental difference in how I'm trained and 1088 how this body works. Bridges are fine, but when you invest in human capital, you get different 1089 outcomes. City Fest is human capital. Ward 4 Festival is human capital. Jazz on the Lawn is human 1090 capital. It's my belief that the dividends are as rich as infrastructure. But we'll spend millions of 1091 dollars on infrastructure because a couple people can count to three up here, and that's fine. But as 1092 my late father would say, I'm not impressed. Because there's still 5000 people in this city, who are 1093 African American female head of households at or below poverty. They could care less about half 1094 of the stuff that we talk about because they're not even connected to this city. 1095 24 1096 We were talking about airport noise. Yes, Ward 4 is in the lowest decimal of plane noise. The 1097 lobbyist who we give $78,000 a year, as it turns out, the founding attorney ain't even living no 1098 more. We give $78,000. The federal government is not going to change the noise standards. At 1099 least not while I'm up here. I've asked this Council over and over and over to create a uniform 1100 ordinance that make developers put in building material that meets and exceeds the noise standards 1101 because we can't wait on the federal government. As the editor AJC said I never seen a community 1102 where nobody in your city ever talks about noise. We don't even write about y'all when it comes 1103 to noise. I've talked to Gary Young about it. 1104 1105 Next thing I wanna say is, I want to echo one of the Council’s consent. I taught school today. I 1106 listen to the teachers talk about the principal want them to have a meeting. These women are tired. 1107 They make $54,000 a year. They are tired, but they gotta go in their cafeteria to their own staff 1108 meetings. These directors, and I'm happy for them, but these directors are making a lot of money. 1109 They absolutely should be sitting there. I can't speak about my other colleagues, but we make 1110 $1600 a month. Why I do this? Is not to be called, Councilman Gay. I do this is because I told my 1111 family I could make a difference. All those people who have been bias, unfair, unfriendly, they're 1112 not up here anymore. Either they're not here by death or by not getting reelected, but they're not 1113 here. When you make decisions, just think about the bigger picture. 1114 1115 The next thing I want to talk about is tractor trailers. Major Patterson, our Police is writing tickets 1116 for tractor trailers. If you go Sullivan Road, they have parked all these tractor trailer in our Ward. 1117 The other thing is, I seen a tractor trailer trying to turn on Main Street. He almost took the lights 1118 out. What if he hit somebody? We must continue to find a way to balance our community with 1119 these tractor trailers. I saw two of your officers doing a ticket and two tractor trailers drove by and 1120 they didn't even stop. We must take tractor trailer traffic seriously. Not that we don't like tractor 1121 trailers. They are necessary part of our life, but we have to find a way to balance them in our 1122 communities. 1123 1124 I think that the City Attorney needs to look at bringing the DMO contract to this Body. I think you 1125 should talk to Nan Orrick, even if it takes an Attorney General’s opinion. That language is vague 1126 in how those dollars are spent. We can no longer say those dollars are ineligible. We cannot 1127 continue to say that when we fight for dollars for our budget. We can't have them have $2.3 million 1128 of our tax money and then you tell me that is an ineligible use. If it can't pay for City Fest, and if 1129 it can't pay for Ward 4 Festival, then we need to have a conversation. 1130 1131 Exit interviews. It is not fair for us to send an email to a City Manager, and we don't get a response. 1132 Each one of us brings a certain value to this city. We represent the people of this city, so we're 1133 talking for the voices of people, as Ted Price told me. When I ask for exit interviews, it's not 1134 because I'm trying to be controlling. It's not because I wanna be the City Manager. It's because I 1135 believe that if you know why people were leaving, it may not be for reasons that you think, and 1136 we need to know those reasons. For you to lose somebody that's been here 30 years, 16 years and 1137 you add up all that value, you know much money it costs indirectly to replace those people? That 1138 is a lot of indirect dollars. You could not be a profitable city if you're losing those kinds of dollars. 1139 Last I checked nobody in here billionaires. Nobody in here are millionaires. We all got to work 1140 together, and we all got to value each other’s comments. 1141 25 1142 I sponsored the action that the City Manager had the power to hire and fire. I sponsored that action. 1143 I fought for it because I felt that was the right way to manage this city. I didn't do that for it to turn 1144 around and disrespect me. I didn't fight for that action for it to turn around and have people go and 1145 fire people through the City Manager authority. I didn't fight for that right, so that we don't get a 1146 benefit. This person on this mic made that happen. This person on the mic, if he doesn’t get any 1147 votes, in his Ward is going to be respected. We don't got to get the votes, but I'm gonna be up here 1148 for 3 1/2 more years and we're gonna be respected. Councilman Clay gave us the vote for the 1149 splashpad. He gave us the vote for the soccer field when my colleagues wouldn’t even give us the 1150 vote. It was Councilman Clay for the record, but you can't keep interrupting me while I'm talking 1151 constantly because my conversation also has merit. I'm gonna give you the same respect, and I 1152 realize that you do give us your important votes, but respect is critical up here. 1153 1154 Speed humps in Family Dollar. That's our grocery store that we gonna get one day. I was in Family 1155 Dollar and the lady said speed hump on Greenspring don't have markings. If you could make a 1156 note of that Major Patterson. I think I have covered all of mine. Turn it over to you. 1157 1158 1159 Mayor Motley Broom - said thank you sir. I think your theme of respect is a good one to start with. 1160 In regard to the respect that we show our employees, our Department Heads have lives. If we get 1161 our lives together and get our agenda together and make sure that we have the items that are 1162 necessary on the agenda, they shouldn't have to be here. We should be respectful of people’s time. 1163 Our greatest resource in this city, in terms of the organization of the City of College Park is our 1164 people. And taking care of those people means being respectful of the times that they have their 1165 families and other things going on. Our city manager is here at every meeting. If there are questions 1166 regarding a particular department that is not on the agenda, she can have those questions answered 1167 probably within the first hour or two of the next morning. If all our Department Heads were here 1168 at 10:15 at night and had been here since 8:00 AM in the morning, what does that say for someone 1169 who's not on the agenda about the respect that we are showing them? We need to make sure that 1170 the items that we want are on the agenda so they can be properly addressed. Having an opportunity 1171 to ask them a question out of the blue that they're not prepared to answer, is not respectful. Let's 1172 live by our core values. 1173 1174 In regard to the information that we receive, I think it's exceedingly important that we receive 1175 complete information. It's also exceedingly important that the privacy of our residents and those 1176 who share information with us is protected. I don't think anyone and maybe I'm wrong, maybe 1177 they'll come up at the next meeting, but anyone who's provided information to us would say, please, 1178 let's make sure that someone sitting up here gets every single email address of every single 1179 individual in this city. That's not information we need to know. There is certain information we 1180 need to do our jobs. I don't think we should be restricted from that, but large amounts of 1181 information, batch information, that should be protected. Residents don't come to us to turn on 1182 their electric and expect that information is going to be disseminated wider than that department. 1183 If someone wishes to release that information, then they can do so. They can sign off on that. It’s 1184 our responsibility as a city to keep the information of people who share their information with us 1185 secure. That's why we take so much time and make sure that we are dotting every cybersecurity, 1186 “I” and crossing every cybersecurity “T”, to protect that information. If we release that information 1187 in a way that would allow for it to be susceptible to hackers or others who have ill will, we are 26 1188 breaching the trust of the people who trust us. We need to be clear about what we need, but we 1189 also need to ensure that we are doing everything we can to secure the information of the people 1190 who trust us. 1191 1192 If it is the will of this body to change the rules for public comment, I'm fine with that. As the person 1193 who presides over the meetings, I'm trying to maintain a level of consistency. If you wish to change 1194 the rules, that is the will of the body, that is absolutely fine, however, whatever those rules are, we 1195 should follow them. Whatever the rules are themselves, the details of those, is up to this body; and 1196 as far as you gentlemen want to go with that, that is your purview. 1197 1198 I want to thank the Alpha Kappa Alpha for coming to the City of College Park. Because it was a 1199 fantastic weekend, I want to thank Ms. Miller, her team, the ATL Airport District and everyone 1200 who contributed to such a successful weekend and a real showing that the City of College Park is 1201 back. That conventions are ready to happen here, and we are ready to welcome. I also want to 1202 thank American Legion Post 51. The National Commander for the American Legion was in town. 1203 He visited only eight posts in the state of Georgia and the one in College Park was one of them. I 1204 received an invitation to attend, and it was a fantastic meeting learning more about the issues that 1205 the American Legion is championing. I believe the Governor is signing a bill, if not today, later 1206 on this week to exempt retirement pay for veterans from taxation, which is something they've been 1207 working on for the last 15 years. We have to do everything we can to support our veterans and the 1208 service that they have given our country. For those of you who are veterans, the American Legion, 1209 our local post is looking for new members. They're right down the street on Roosevelt Highway 1210 Stop on in and join their great group. I want to thank Ms. Johnson and her team for a successful 1211 Easter Egg Hunt. Look like a great time even though there were some concerns about the weather, 1212 I think there were a lot of lot of young folks who were excited and happy about the outcome of 1213 that. I also want to thank Mayor Peyton Jamison and Steve Kurkoff the City Manager from the 1214 City of Milton. They came down and had lunch with our team. It was a great opportunity to learn 1215 more about the way that they govern and just create more connections because obviously we're 1216 better when stick together. Lastly, no matter how you celebrate, whether it's Easter, Passover, 1217 Ramadan, hope you are having good celebrations as they continue. Hope you had a great Easter 1218 and appreciate everything that all of you do to keep on building the community that we deserve. 1219 1220 Mayor called for a motion on the Executive Session Minutes. 1221 1222 14. Executive Session. 1223 1224 15. Approval of Executive Session Minutes. 1225 1226 ACTION: Councilman Clay moved to approve Executive Session Minutes dated April 18, 1227 2022, seconded by Councilman Carn and motion carried. 1228 1229 16. Adjournment. 1230 1231 Mayor Motley Broom declared Regular Session adjourned at 10:24 p.m. 1232 1233 27 1234 1235 CITY OF COLLEGE PARK 1236 1237 1238 _________________________ 1239 Bianca Motley Broom, Mayor 1240 1241 1242 1243 1244 ATTEST: 1245 1246 1247 ________________________ 1248 Shavala Ames, City Clerk 28