City Council

1 CITY OF COLLEGE PARK 2 MAYOR AND CITY COUNCIL 3 REGULAR SESSION 4 June 20, 2022 5 6 MINUTES 7 8 Present: Mayor Bianca Motley Broom; Councilmen Ambrose Clay, Joe Carn, Ken Allen, and 9 Roderick Gay; Interim City Manager Jackson Myers; City Attorney Winston 10 Denmark; City Clerk Shavala Ames 11 12 Absent: None 13 14 1. Opening Ceremonies. 15 16 A. Pledge of allegiance to the flag. 17 18 B. Invocation by Chaplin Walker. 19 20 2. Additions, Deletions, Amendments, Or Changes to the Agenda. 21 22 ACTION: Councilman Clay moved to delete from the agenda item 8f. consideration of 23 renewal contract with The Collaborative Firm; and add to the agenda 7f. consideration of a 24 broker of records; and consent agenda for items 8d. renewal of a federal lobbying services 25 agreement between the City of College Park and The Ferguson Group (TFG), 8e. renewal of 26 the FY 2022-2023 agreement between the City of College Park and Adullam Ministries, 8g. 27 agreement with Fincher Denmark LLC to provide general legal services, 8i. renewal of the 28 City’s annual contract with Monica Ewing as Chief Judge for the College Park Municipal 29 Court, 8j. renewal of the City’s annual contract with Kenneth E. Morrow Judge Pro Tempore 30 for the College Park Municipal Court, 8k. renewal of the City’s annual contract with Kimberly 31 Cornwell as City Solicitor for the College Park Municipal Court, 8l. renewal of the City’s 32 annual contract with Clarence D. Mitchell as part-time Solicitor for the College Park Municipal 33 Court., 8m. renewal of the City’s annual professional services agreement with The Firm for 34 Justice & Liberty for public defender services, and 8n. renewal of the City’s annual contract 35 with Warren Bond as City Photographer for College Park, seconded by Councilman Allen and 36 motion carried. 37 38 3. Presentation of Minutes of City Council. 39 40 A. Regular Session held on June 6, 2022. 41 42 ACTION: Councilman Clay moved to approve Regular Session Minutes dated June 6, 43 2022, as presented, seconded by Councilman Allen and motion carried. 44 45 B. Work Session held on June 6, 2022. 46 Page 1 of 17 47 ACTION: Councilman Clay moved to approve Workshop Session Minutes dated June 6, 48 2022, as presented, seconded by Councilman Carn and motion carried. 49 50 C. Regular Session Minutes on May 16, 2022. 51 52 ACTION: Councilman Clay moved to approve Regular Session Minutes dated May 16, 53 2022, as presented, seconded by Councilman Allen and motion carried. 54 55 4. Proclamations, Resolutions, Plaques, And Announcements. 56 [There were none.] 57 58 5. Remarks of Citizens. 59 60 Mayor Motley Broom said Ms. Ames please state the guidelines for Citizen Remarks. 61 62 City Clerk Shavala Ames said we are going by the guidelines that you can sign in at 7:00 p.m. If 63 you do not sign in, you can speak for three minutes. You cannot donate those three minutes to any 64 other speaker. When the Public Comment portion is closed, there will be no additional comments 65 taken after that time. 66 67 Mayor Motley Broom said thank you. 68 69 a. Jamelle McKenzie, 2447 Odell Way, said good evening to everybody, it's good to see you 70 all. I want to talk about College Park for a quick second and then talk about Ignite. I've 71 lived in several different places during the course of my life, but I've never lived anywhere 72 quite like or more special than College Park. My husband and I hadn't planned to move 73 here originally because we had heard so many negative things about this beautiful city. 74 But, once we decided to live here, we realized that we had located a place, unlike any other 75 place that exists. In this city, we have experienced true southern hospitality, a place of 76 inclusion, and a hidden utopia. I say all that to say that I know that we have been 77 experiencing some tough times. Many things that we don't understand and some things that 78 we will never understand, but I am not giving up on College Park. I see endless possibilities 79 for our city and I’m excited about what is coming ahead; because I believe that I have not 80 seen nor heard, nor has it entered the hearts of man what God has prepared for this great 81 city. So, let's keep the faith and let's continue to work together to create a community where 82 every person can thrive. 83 84 I come here today to introduce to you one of the newest members of our Ignite team who 85 is one of our birthright legacy students. Our College Park resource center is featured in 86 Fulton County's summer internship program because we are providing employment for 87 youth throughout Fulton County and we're excited about that. Ms. Serenity Barnes, who is 88 our intern for this summer, is going to be attending Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University 89 in Florida come August. She's getting a full-ride scholarship and we're going to give her 90 some scholarships as well. She's going to be majoring in Aeronautical Engineering, but she 91 has a passion for the community and so she's serving with us. We have employed students. 92 We have 18 students enrolled in our program. We have Ms. Rose our Operations Manager, Regular Session 06/20/2022 Page 2 of 17  93 Ms. Jalandra who is my direct assistant, and then we have some other staff as well. We 94 want to thank you again for the opportunity to serve the great city of College Park. We are 95 grateful, thank you again have a great evening. 96 97 Councilman Allen said does your intern want to be a pilot. 98 99 Ms. Serenity Barnes said yes. 100 101 Ms. McKenzie said Serenity lives right here in College View Hills, so we're excited 102 because she's truly one of our Ward 1 students and residents. We're very proud of her for 103 becoming a leader now and a leader in the making. 104 105 b. Johnnie Williams, 2241 Lyle Road, said good evening Mayor and Council. I'm here to talk 106 about this new position in the Sanitation Department. To me, it's a waste of money. You 107 don't need a secretary in that department, you can continue as it has been. Stop wasting 108 money, you know that is my money. Secondly, why did we celebrate Juneteenth Friday 109 instead of today? Today is the holiday. Most people did not have sanitation pickup and 110 when they are doing something new, they should put those flyers in with the bill or before 111 we get our bill. That would help us. Also, it's a lot of seniors that don't have internet, so it 112 would work better to have the flyers in with the bill. They would see that and then they 113 would know when the garbage pickup is due. 114 115 c. Garland Watkins, 1717 Rugby Ave, said good evening Mayor and members of Council. 116 Jamelle kind of stole my thunder there, I don't think she knew I was going to stand up here 117 and talk about appreciation. But anyway, it occurs to me and other citizens and constituents 118 in the community that much of what you hear day in and day out centers around problems 119 or criticisms. What I wanted to do in my brief three minutes is bring a little balance to the 120 equation. I just want to touch on five things that I think make a positive impact on College 121 Park and on me personally. Firstly, those signs you see at East Main and Rugby saying, 'no 122 train horn,' I've lived with train horns and without train horns. Many years it's been 123 soothing, somewhat nostalgic, of the clickety-clack of the train. So, thanks for making that 124 happen. 125 126 Secondly, I want to put in a good word for the Sanitation Department; the folks who run 127 the recycle center, the folks who pick up the garbage, and for me, especially the folks who 128 pick up yard debris. I'm always digging in the yard, pruning and raking, knowing all I have 129 to do is get it out to the street and they'll take care of the rest. It makes for a great experience 130 that you won't find everywhere in Atlanta. 131 132 Thirdly, I want to thank you for your support of the redevelopment of the College Park 133 First United Methodist Church area. After a 130-year history, it was very close to closing 134 its doors, and now at the risk of sounding a little bit too pious, we're creating a new thing. 135 In my best Paul Revere imitation, I will tell you the Methodists are coming, the Methodists 136 are coming. The North Georgia Conference of the United Methodist Church is going to be 137 joining us on that block and they are greatly encouraged by what they've seen in College 138 Park. Regular Session 06/20/2022 Page 3 of 17 139 140 Fourthly, why wouldn't they come? We're right next door to the world's busiest airport and 141 our MARTA station is pure gold. I've taken advantage of MARTA more times than you 142 can imagine. I had a job in Sandy Springs that would have been out of the question were it 143 not for MARTA. Talking about going to the airport, so much of the stress is relieved by 144 being in such proximity. It's a godsend and I appreciate what you do to stroke those 145 relationships with MARTA and the airport. 146 147 Finally, I am thankful that one can establish his identity in College Park. Attending sessions 148 like these or maybe your little Ward meetings, that's a good way to do it. 149 150 Mayor Motley Broom said Ms. Ames. 151 152 City Clerk Ames said I have no others that signed in but I do have email remarks. 153 154 d. (Read by City Clerk) Randy Godfrey, 1966 Lyle Road, said what you do as Mayor and 155 Council is critically important for our city. We thank all of you for your time and effort. 156 While we have herculean expectations for you and you regularly exceed them, we are 157 thankful for you. It is not surprising that occasionally you fail - we ask a lot of you. For 158 world-class organizations, failures are viewed as opportunities to learn and grow. One of 159 your most important responsibilities is to hire a City Manager. Somewhere along the path 160 of searching, hiring, and firing our City Manager - mistakes were made and we failed. 161 162 I beg that you please pause, reflect, and adjust processes before moving forward with 163 another search. 164 165 • Are we clear now on what characteristics should be of our next City Manager? 166 • Are we clear now on organizational roles and responsibilities - do we know what we 167 expect he/her to do? 168 • Do we know if the search firm we pay to find him/her is aware of our needs? 169 • Is there any change required in the interview and vetting process? 170 • Do we have the right stakeholders involved - should there be a citizens committee 171 established to help with the search? 172 173 Also - world-class organizations are transparent. This transparency strengthens our 174 confidence in you. As a council, without revealing personnel matters, will you commit to 175 providing a report of how your shortcomings in this process to identify the right city 176 manager and how you will do things differently moving forward? 177 178 Make a Great Day! 179 Randy Godfrey 180 181 e. (Read by City Clerk) Dennis Adams said GREETINGS AND SALUTATIONS MAYOR 182 AND COUNCIL. I AM DENNIS ADAMS AND I AM A RESIDENT IN THE 183 EMBARCADERO CLUB APARTMENTS ON SULLIVAN RD IN WARD 2. I AM 184 CONCERNED ABOUT THE DEVELOPMENT COMING IN WARD 4. THERE IS Regular Session 06/20/2022 Page 4 of 17 185 NEW HOUSING AND I AM HEARING THAT THERE IS A NEW DEVELOPER, AND 186 NEW PRICE POINTS AND THESE PRICE POINTS ARE MUCH LARGER THAN 187 ORIGINALLY STATED. 188 189 MY QUESTION IS... HOW DID THE PRICE POINT OF UNDER $250K INCREASE 190 TO OVER 400K AND YET NOTHING IS BEING DONE TO MAKE SURE WE HAVE 191 THE AFFORDABLE HOMES THAT WERE SO ELOQUENTLY DISCUSSED BY 192 COUNCILMAN GAY DURING HIS CAMPAIGN???? 193 194 THESE AFFORDABLE HOMES WERE THE CRUST OF HIS CAMPAIGN AND NOW 195 THEY ARE NO LONGER AFFORDABLE HOMES THEY HAVE BECOME MARKET 196 RATE, AM I CORRECT??? 197 198 WHAT IS THE CITY DOING ABOUT AFFORDABLE HOMES???? WE HAD 199 CONTROVERSY OVER THE 18 ACRES IN JAMESTOWN BRINGING 200 AFFORDABLE HOMES THAT WERE KNOCKED OUT OF THE EQUATION AND 201 NOW THESE NEW HOMES ARE NOT AFFORDABLE?? 202 203 IS THERE ANY TRUTH TO WHAT I'VE SAID?? PLEASE EXPLAIN 204 205 THANK YOU, 206 MR. DENNIS ADAMS 207 Mayor Motley Broom asked is there anyone who did not sign that would like to speak? 208 209 g. Rose Stewart said good evening Mayor and Council. I'm Rose Stewart, Operations 210 Manager for Ignite College Park Resource Center. I do have one announcement. As you 211 all know we have had two successful read-to-succeed events. They have been quite 212 successful, and we had another event scheduled for Wednesday, but we are going to cancel 213 that event because of the extreme weather conditions. We want to make sure our citizens 214 are safe so we will not be having those events this Wednesday. Thank you. 215 216 h. Sally Nordomi said good evening Mayor and Councilman, I’m Sally Nordomi. I would 217 like to say that I’m glad that we have those humps, that's what I refer to them as. I’m asking 218 that they'd be marked a little better maybe with some yellow markings. I think by this time 219 I’ve remembered where most of them are. Although I don't speed, I have to slow down 220 about five miles an hour to go over them and that's fine. I just want to know when they're 221 coming up. I would like to request that the city put extra stripes in yellow or white on those 222 security areas. 223 224 Mayor Motley Broom said does anyone else wish to speak. Seeing no others we will move forward. 225 226 6. Public Hearing 227 228 Mayor Motley Broom said we need to determine if we're going to set some public hearings. Items 229 6a, 6b, and 6c are just requesting to set the public hearings not to have them tonight. We want to 230 make sure that we are cognizant of having the ability to have a hearing before deciding. Regular Session 06/20/2022 Page 5 of 17 231 232 233 A. Request to Set a Public Hearing for July 11th for an Amendment to the Comprehensive 234 Plan. 235 236 ACTION: Councilman Clay moved to approve a request from City Planner KC Krzic to 237 set a Public Hearing for July 11th for an Amendment to the Comprehensive Plan, 238 seconded by Councilman Allen and motion carried. 239 240 B. Request to Set a Public Hearing to consider a Conditional Use Permit at 2510 W Point Ave 241 in the M2 - Heavy Industrial Zoning District. 242 243 Councilman Clay said I had some comments and questions on this, and I’ve already passed them 244 on to Ms. Krzic. I want to put it in the record that I want to hear answers to those questions from 245 the person that's going to do the development. Particularly the person that did the traffic study. 246 247 ACTION: Councilman Clay moved to approve a request from City Planner KC Krizic to 248 set a Public Hearing to consider a Conditional Use Permit at 2510 W Point Ave 249 in the M2 - Heavy Industrial Zoning District, seconded by Councilman Allen 250 and motion carried. 251 252 C. Request to Set a Public Hearing for July 11th to consider a rezoning at 0 Mercer Ave from 253 R2 - Medium Density Residential to DC - Downtown Commercial. 254 255 ACTION: Councilman Clay moved to approve a request from City Planner KC Krizic to 256 set a Public Hearing for July 11th to consider a rezoning at 0 Mercer Ave from 257 R2 - Medium Density Residential to DC - Downtown Commercial, seconded by 258 Councilman Allen and motion carried. 259 260 7. Other Business 261 A. Consideration of and action on a request for approval of the Local Option Sales Tax 262 (LOST) Resolution. 263 264 ACTION: Councilman Clay moved to approve a request from Interim City Manager 265 Jackson Myers on the Local Option Sales Tax (LOST) Resolution, with 266 corrections, seconded by Councilman Allen and motion carried. 267 268 B. Discussion and update on top ten delinquent utility customer accounts. 269 270 C. Discussion and update on top ten delinquent property taxpayers. 271 272 D. Consideration of and action on a request for approval to replace one Life PAK 15 Cardiac 273 Monitor Device. 274 Regular Session 06/20/2022 Page 6 of 17 275 ACTION: Councilman Clay moved to approve a request from Fire Chief Wade Elmore to 276 replace one Life PAK 15 Cardiac Monitor Device in the amount of $34,576.33, 277 seconded by Councilman Gay and motion carried. 278 279 E. Consideration of and action on a request for approval to pay an invoice from Ten-8 Fire & 280 Safety in the amount of $31, 921.81 for the repair of Truck-2 (Unit#20). 281 282 ACTION: Councilman Clay moved to approve a request from Fire Chief Wade Elmore to 283 pay an invoice from Ten-8 Fire & Safety in the amount of $31,921.81 for the 284 repair of Truck-2 (Unit #20), seconded by Councilman Carn and motion carried. 285 286 F. Consideration of and action of a broker of record. 287 288 ACTION: Councilman Clay moved to approve a request to continue with APEX as our 289 Broker of Record with the proviso that we require that the fee that will be 290 charged for the first month of insurance will be deducted from the annual 291 premium that is finally negotiated for the 12 month period, seconded by 292 Councilman Allen, Councilman Carn and Councilman Gay abstained, and the 293 motion carried. 294 295 8. Bids, Change Order Requests and Contracts. 296 297 A. Mayor and Council consideration of and action on a request for approval of Fence Bid for 298 Splash Pad at Charles E. Phillips Park. 299 300 ACTION: Councilman Clay moved to approve a request from Director of Recreation and 301 Cultural Arts Michelle Johnson on Fence Bid for Splash Pad at Charles E. 302 Phillips Park, seconded by Councilman Allen and the motion carried 303 304 B. Consideration of and action on a request for approval of emergency sewer repair at 305 Auditorium Way for $123,876.50. 306 307 Councilman Gay said is this a budgeted item, it doesn't indicate what it is. 308 309 Director of Recreation and Cultural Arts Michelle Johnson said this is a part of the CDBG grant. 310 I apologize for not notating it. Councilman Allen even brought that up. 311 312 ACTION: Councilman Clay moved to approve a request from Director of Recreation and 313 Cultural Arts Michelle Johnson on the emergency sewer repair at Auditorium 314 Way in the amount of $123,876.50, seconded by Councilman Gay and motion 315 carried. 316 317 C. Consideration of and action on request for approval of bids received for solid waste 318 disposal services for residential and commercial solid waste. 319 Regular Session 06/20/2022 Page 7 of 17 320 Public Works Director Melissa Echevarria said our recommendation is to go with the existing 321 business that we use, BFI Transfer System of Georgia for public services. They were not the lowest 322 bid. The lowest bidder is 30 miles out, so we are going with our current one because of the fuel 323 cost, staff, and the wear and tear on our fleet to go 30 miles each way. It's just not adequate or 324 efficient for us. For our other programs in the city, if we go with the lowest bidder, they will suffer 325 as well. 326 Councilman Clay said so you're considering the total cost. Are they going to continue the same 327 services in regards to recycling? 328 Ms. Echevarria said yes. 329 Councilman Clay said that’s good. That's such an important program to a lot of citizens. 330 Councilman Carn said my question is along the lines of the distance. We're responsible for that 331 cost I’m assuming? 332 Ms. Echevarria said right. We lease our vehicles and then we fuel them here. 333 Councilman Carn said no, that makes perfect sense. How many tons are we talking about? Is that 334 a monthly deal? 335 Ms. Echevarria said no it's per ton. Which is dropped off at the transfer station. 336 Councilman Carn said so what's an average week? 337 Ms. Echevarria said it varies here. Anytime there's a holiday or if people are off for a period of 338 time, typically we'll have more but it varies. 339 Councilman Clay said they do have an average of 1300. 340 Councilman Carn asked for 1300 on average for a week or month? 341 Councilman Clay said a month. 342 Councilman Carn said you mentioned holidays in general. One of the issues I had with Public 343 works over the years was the planning for holidays. We seem to have an issue during the major 344 holidays. We know these things are coming and that's the day we have workers off duty. This is 345 when it piles up and the four, six, and eight-yard dumpsters are overflowing in the apartment 346 communities and at the convenience stores. I'm hoping we can come up with some type of plan 347 that works where those holidays so we can figure out how we can get some kind of coverage. 348 Ms. Echevarria said I think we can consider having on-call, but a lot of our staff have families too. 349 During those times they want to spend that time with their families. What I can do is consider an 350 on-call crew, but it's voluntarily. 351 Councilman Clay said Melissa would it be possible, and it depends on location, to just provide an 352 extra trash container? Most of the trash is from Christmas wrapping. 353 Ms. Echevarria said I can look at it and see if we can have some viable options. Regular Session 06/20/2022 Page 8 of 17 354 Councilman Clay said that would save some money on having people paid overtime over 355 Christmas and also allow them to stay home too. 356 Councilman Carn said I wouldn't want the expense necessarily of an on-call outfit. I understand, 357 of course, that people want to be home with their families, it's the holidays. I don't know how we 358 arrange things with our Police Department but this is a City operation. At the end of the day, some 359 folks have to be at work. I'm assuming everybody in the police patrol doesn't go home because it's 360 Christmas, but I'd like to see us try to figure out something. 361 Councilman Allen said the current trash is right off of Norman Berry Drive behind the police 362 station. Is that where we drop off? 363 Ms. Echevarria said yes, it’s just a couple of miles. 364 Councilman Allen said that’s not far at all. Thursday when you all picked up due to the holiday, I 365 just want to thank your crew because they came up and down our street at least four or five times 366 looking for trash because people didn't realize that Friday was our holiday. So, thank you to those 367 crews for coming up and down the streets several times going above and beyond. 368 Ms. Echevarria said also on Friday, for every resident that called the after-hours number or sent a 369 Q-Alert, I sent them the trash schedule and it's also going to be in this month's utility bill. 370 Councilman Carn said I was going to ask about that, I’m glad that you did that because I wanted 371 to make sure that was covered. What exactly happened with the trash pickup? 372 Ms. Echevarria said we did it the day before. Keep in mind this was the first year the city 373 acknowledged Juneteenth. It's not a typical holiday that we normally have so it caught everyone 374 off guard. In January of this year, we posted the sanitation schedule on all social media outlets. I 375 do feel like we're missing the senior population and again it's going to be in this upcoming utility 376 bill. We will continue to do that moving forward because everybody do not utilize social media. 377 Mayor Motley Broom said there’s a great opportunity. I think as uncomfortable as it was for 378 everyone, it shows us we can always communicate better. I appreciate what you and your team 379 have done. Moving forward I think it's probably something that if we can get it in the utility bills 380 at the beginning of the year. Everyone can put it on the refrigerator and have that access. It's a 381 learning opportunity, we don't ever always get everything right, but I think we'll be better moving 382 forward. 383 Councilman Carn said is Juneteenth a holiday for the city. 384 Ms. Echevarria said yes, it was adopted last year. 385 Councilman Carn asked what day. I understand it was on a Monday. 386 Ms. Echevarria said some people opted to observe it today like the federal government, U.S. Post 387 Office, and even banks. 388 Councilman Carn said is there a reason we didn't want to line up nationally with the rest of them. Regular Session 06/20/2022 Page 9 of 17 389 Mayor Motley Broom said I think we adopted the calendar and we had Friday as the Juneteenth 390 holiday. I think next year we'll make sure that it aligns with the federal calendar. 391 Councilman Carn asked city hall was closed Friday? 392 Ms. Echevarria said yes and that the many calls that I did receive. They kept saying your closed 393 Monday, but I informed them we're observing it today, Friday. 394 Councilman Carn said I didn't know we were closed. I didn't know if it was Monday or not. I'd 395 assume we weren't celebrating Juneteenth because we have a council meeting. 396 Mayor Motley Broom said we had an email that went out about city hall closing in observance of 397 Juneteenth, but this is a learning opportunity. We'll know next year to make sure that everyone is 398 as informed as possible. 399 ACTION: Councilman Clay moved to approve a request from Public Works Director 400 Melissa Echevarria on bids received for solid waste disposal services for 401 residential and commercial solid waste recommending BFI Transfer System of 402 Georgia at an annual cost of $772,200.00, seconded by Councilman Carn and 403 motion carried. 404 405 Mayor Motley Broom said moving into the consent agenda items 8d., 8e., 8g., 8i., 8j., 8k., 8l., 8m., 406 and 8n. 407 408 ACTION: Councilman Clay moved to approve consent agenda items 8d. renewal of a 409 federal lobbying services agreement between the City of College Park and The 410 Ferguson Group (TFG), 8e. renew the FY 2022-2023 agreement between the 411 City of College Park and Adullam Ministries, 8g. agreement with Fincher 412 Denmark LLC to provide general legal services, 8i. renew the City’s annual 413 contract with Monica Ewing as Chief Judge for the College Park Municipal 414 Court, 8j. renew the City’s annual contract with Kenneth E. Morrow Judge Pro 415 Tempore for the College Park Municipal Court, 8k. renew the City’s annual 416 contract with Kimberly Cornwell as City Solicitor for the College Park 417 Municipal Court, 8l. renew the City’s annual contract with Clarence D. Mitchell 418 as part-time Solicitor for the College Park Municipal Court., 8m. renew the 419 City’s annual professional services agreement with The Firm for Justice & 420 Liberty for public defender services, and 8n. renew the City’s annual contract 421 with Warren Bond as City Photographer for College Park, seconded by 422 Councilman Carn and motion carried. 423 424 H. Request approval by Mayor & Council to renew a one (1) year contract with Argus Event 425 Staffing, LLC for unarmed security services for the GICC and Arena. 426 427 Councilman Clay said I understand that you're expanding the scope. I think you worked out a good 428 arrangement for us during COVID. 429 430 Councilman Carn said I worry about the Convention Center probably more than I should. I always 431 say that we can’t afford to have an incident to happen at the Convention Center. 2022 security isn't Regular Session 06/20/2022 Page 10 of 17 432 the type of security that I think of when I think of real security. Any security guard that's allowed 433 to have this [holds up cell phone] on the clock, I just have to say, how much security are we actually 434 getting? Maybe it is just me getting old and is a sign of the times, I just want you to make sure that 435 you're cracking the whip on these contractors. They got to take that job as serious as we see it here, 436 and I hope everybody sees it the way that I do. 437 438 Convention Center and Arena Executive Director Mercedes Miller said I know that sometimes 439 people's phone can be a distraction, but people's phone can also be a big help. Those guards do not 440 have weapons, their phone is like a weapon to deter people. 441 442 Councilman Carn said I get it. Just stay on them. You have been doing a good job, maybe I am 443 just paranoid. 444 445 ACTION: Councilman Carn moved to approve a request from Convention Center and 446 Arena Executive Director Mercedes Miller to renew a one (1) year contract with 447 Argus Event Staffing, LLC for unarmed security services for the GICC and 448 Arena, seconded by Councilman Clay and motion carried. 449 450 9. Unfinished (Old) Business. 451 [None] 452 453 10. New Business. 454 [None] 455 456 11. City Attorney’s Report. 457 [None] 458 459 12. City Manager’s Report. 460 461 Interim City Manager Mr. Jackson Myers said I was wanting to know if we need to add a stop sign 462 on Victoria and Cambridge. I know it's not a four-way stop right now but it's just a two-way stop. 463 Would you like us to take a look at adding a stop sign on Victoria Street? 464 465 Councilman Clay said I was going to make that request. 466 467 Mayor Motley Broom said I’ve gotten feedback about that as well. 468 469 Interim City Manager Mr. Myers said so we'll have our Police Department do a study on that and 470 then we'll have the City Attorney come up with a resolution. Then once the resolution is passed, 471 we'll install it. Remember we've got a retreat on July 8th – 9th. Public Information Officer should 472 be starting sometime after the fourth of July. The other thing, the housing authority had some heat 473 and air issues. I made a phone call to Coca-Cola on Friday. Chief Ron Taylor and I got a pallet of 474 water from Coca-Cola delivered to the public safety to hand out during the heat wave. Thanks to 475 Coca-Cola for bringing a pallet of water out. 476 Regular Session 06/20/2022 Page 11 of 17 477 We have also been talking lately about the capital five years capital improvement plan for the city. 478 So, I asked the Collaborative Firm to take a look at working with the various staff members from 479 the City Planner, to work on the five-year capital improvement plan. Senator Warnock had put in 480 some public safety technology and equipment. It's supposed to be happening next month. 481 482 Mayor Motley Broom said these asks that they are putting in. That money is not coming to us yet, 483 so I just want to make sure they're on that. 484 485 Interim City Manager Mr. Myers said a lot of times I’m just trying to get you updated to understand 486 what we're trying to do when we're out there. As we go forward, Congressman Scott had asked for 487 nearly $6 million for the southeast lift station down here because it's been around for many years. 488 We've asked Representative Williams about a $100,000 for stormwater, so we're working out there 489 trying to come up with various funding opportunities. 490 491 13. Report Of Mayor And Council. 492 493 Councilman Clay said I have several things. First, to follow up on what Mr. Myers said in regards 494 to the housing authority and air conditioning. Mayor, I sent you a note. We haven't had a chance 495 to talk but I've made multiple offers in the Residents’ meeting at the housing authority. The power 496 company will come out and do an energy check on your facility, and it's free. They'll come out 497 with a heat gun and they'll measure the temperature intake and outgo of the air conditioning system. 498 There's a certain amount of temperature differential you're supposed to achieve; and if it's not 499 doing that, there's usually something wrong with it. I made that offer at the housing authority on 500 several different occasions. It’s particularly important this year because we're experiencing a lot 501 more heat early and I don't think it's going to get better. Unfortunately, with the potential of global 502 warming, we will see more of it. I would urge everybody to take good care of their air conditioning 503 system and if you think there's something seriously wrong, the power department will come and 504 check that for you. It's particularly important for people, even in apartments. That's their main bill 505 outside of rent and these are tough times with inflation. 506 507 I don't know whether everyone read in the AJC but there's been a series of articles on apartment 508 complexes; the conditions there and the way apartment rent has gone up. Did everybody on 509 Council see the article about residences being rehabbed and converted into rentals? Now the 510 official word is that we are about 75% or so rental, primarily due to apartment complexes. We 511 almost had a new subdivision that would have been all rental owned by REIT. We have a 512 significant number of BNB’s, boarding houses, and some halfway houses. Generally, the owners 513 of these places don't even live in College Park, and some may be investment groups that are even 514 more remote and more ambiguous. Those owners don't have a lot of stake in our city, and I think 515 we need to wake up and change things before it is too late. This is not the city I want to live in. 516 Winston, maybe you guys could do something in the way of creativity. Danielle and I have worked 517 on several things in the past, not directly related to this, but what can we do concerning a better 518 halfway house ordinance? What can we do with restricting the number of rentals in a certain block 519 or something? 520 521 City Attorney Mr. Denmark said I’m looking at that very issue for another client right now. 522 Regular Session 06/20/2022 Page 12 of 17 523 Councilman Clay said that’s excellent, we can share the cost. Another thing I wanted to mention, 524 I’d like to follow up on Councilman Carn’s statement from the May 16 council meeting about 525 educating people on the legal liability incurred from carrying a gun. Everybody should know by 526 now that the State of Georgia has relaxed the law on carrying a firearm. I lived in Phoenix for 25 527 years and I had a concealed carry license there, in fact, I still do. When I got my license in Phoenix, 528 I had to go through a firearms training course. I had to learn firearm safety, etc. We have a citizen's 529 police academy here and one of the things they do teach is firearm safety. I'm wondering Chief 530 McCrary, would it be possible for us to extract a portion of the Police Academy on how to carry 531 and deal with firearms safely if people are going to carry them? Winston, as a part of that ,we could 532 do a briefing on how much trouble you can get yourself in. That might be a good thing to do as a 533 follow-up to putting on a course for our younger people, particularly those who might be carrying 534 guns. 535 536 Lastly, I have just come back from a three-day trip to visit a company that provides something 537 called PRT, personal rapid transit. Some of you will remember several years ago, Jack Longino, 538 Artie Jones, and I went out to Boston to see something that had been advertised at a conference 539 down at the GICC called pod cars, J-Pods. I was very impressed with what we saw out there. It 540 was a working system, and in some ways, it almost looked like a ride in an amusement park. There 541 will be some other trips that are coming up. The city did not pay for it, and it was put on by our 542 CID’s. The Community Improvement Districts are paying off. They're doing a lot of good forward- 543 thinking. There is a possibility that we might have a test track in the City of College Park and I’m 544 looking forward to that if we can do that. This wouldn't be a deployment of a full system, this 545 would be an actual test track and it would serve a public purpose. I’ll keep you guys informed but 546 we're going to be following up this week. I'm trying to go through my notes from the trip and get 547 together with other people on their notes. I was able to talk to a guy who is the CEO of the company 548 and is also an electrical engineer. We were able to talk about the technical details and I’m 549 impressed with the system. It's light-years beyond what we saw three or four years ago, so I'm 550 looking forward to seeing if we could get that in College Park.. It would be an amazing thing for 551 the metro area. 552 553 Councilman Carn said a lot of good things coming up. Ambrose, I figured you would be in hog 554 heaven at that event, that's why I recommended that you go down there. There was a rumor going 555 around that College Park wasn't interested but we are very interested in those things. Fulton County 556 has a lot of opportunities that they get on the federal level; and because we got a great relationship 557 with them, they're bringing a lot of those federal dollars for pilot programs. They can pick any of 558 these 15 municipalities and they're picking us for these opportunities. I don't want to leave those 559 opportunities on the table. One of the other ones that a couple of the commissioners are talking 560 about, is Fulton County may be offering us the opportunity to receive federal grant dollars for tiny 561 homes within the City of College Park. I know we have a commercial developer at the end of 562 Godby Road that's putting together something, but this would be a good opportunity for us. I don't 563 know how many houses there are, but they have free funding for the city that they select. The idea 564 is the city can utilize these homes for staff and give a half mortgage as they are fully paid for 565 homes. I think it's a no-brainer. City Manager, I'd like us to take the opportunity to look at it. 566 They've been talking about this for a couple of months and at some point, they're going to go on 567 somewhere else where someone would be happy to give them a half an acre. I want us to see if we 568 can find somewhere in the city where we have half an acre to spare. Regular Session 06/20/2022 Page 13 of 17 569 570 City Manager, I know I asked for a few things before you got here that I hadn't gotten yet. I wanted 571 an expense report from the Spin the District project and DMO. I asked for that at the last council 572 meeting, so just make sure I get that. Public Works, I called last week to inform you of the walking 573 trails. The grass and the trimming have been excellent. I don't know what's changed over the last 574 four or five months but there was a huge difference in terms of upkeep and trimming over there. It 575 looks really good as I walked it one morning and I had to call you and let you know it looked good. 576 577 I mentioned at the last meeting that I need two additional speed humps along Frontage Road along 578 the apartment corridor, parallel to Camp Creek. There are a lot of speeders that have decided to 579 speed up and down there because it's behind Camp Creek and a lot of times they cannot be seen. 580 If we could get two humps there wherever you deem appropriate, I’d appreciate that. Also, I do 581 want to mention the no-truck parking signs that are needed over there. The truckers that live in the 582 apartments and visit the apartments, they'll park their trucks along that road thinking it's a truck 583 stop since nobody's using the road in there. I want to see those signs go up, so people know. I also 584 still have that purple light on Frontage Road that needs to be switched out. The rest of the lights 585 are great. I asked about two meetings ago, I'd like to get the MARTA bus service back along 586 Frontage Road now that it's been repaved and the bridge is back up. The apartment communities 587 want that service back along the corridor because of how dangerous it is for people walking across 588 Camp Creek Parkway with just a painted crosswalk. The apartment managers are requesting that 589 if MARTA is coming back to that corner, they want a camera there. I know we used to have a 590 camera at the parking spot and the flock camera going out at that four-way stop there. 591 592 I understand we have the draft of the potential firearm charges as a result of the constitutional carry 593 bill. Chief you mentioned that we had something that I wanted us to take a look at. Ambrose is 594 right, there's firearm safety and then there needs to be training on firearms consequences because 595 we could have a dangerous proposition here. 596 597 There is an apartment renter's bill of rights that the City of Atlanta has dropped in terms of 598 legislation. City Manager, I'd like to see if we could get a copy from the City of Atlanta to see if 599 there is anything in there that can help our residents. I would say they have a tremendous 600 disadvantage in terms of getting the repairs and things that they need to get done. It's very hard for 601 us to come in unless there's something so disastrous going on in that apartment building. 602 603 Lastly, I asked about an Economic Development update, so if you can get that on the next agenda 604 or workshop agenda, that would be great. I just need an update on all the Economic Development 605 projects. I want us to all get an update on some of the projects that have been ongoing and bring 606 in some of the folks to see where they're at. For example, I understand there's another hotel that's 607 looking to be built in or around the Convention Center on the Roosevelt Highway side. 608 609 Interim City Manager Mr. Myers said sir, I sent you an email on that. Some of those things are still 610 under letters of intent and we have to be careful. We'll be able to talk about those offline. 611 612 Councilman Carn said maybe I’m not getting my emails. If I could get those because I was looking 613 for it and maybe I’m not getting it. I also asked about the Parks and Recreation report and I haven’t Regular Session 06/20/2022 Page 14 of 17 614 gotten it either. We talked about the groundbreaking for the bridge potentially with Congressman 615 Scott, and I gave you Senator Warnock's information so we can work on that. 616 617 Councilman Allen said I have a couple of things. First of all, Councilman Clay when I was in 618 London a few years ago, if you got caught committing any crime and you had a gun on you, it was 619 a mandatory seven-year prison sentence. That slowed down gun-carrying an awful lot but again 620 that was years ago. I want to thank Parks and Recreation. Thursday they had a helicopter landing 621 and aviation awareness for the students. If you haven't seen the helicopter come into College Park 622 and land on Badgett Field, it is nice. The kids were so attentive, they enjoyed talking to the captain 623 and enjoyed looking at the helicopter. I think the Tumbleweeds were even out there taking pictures. 624 If you want to get a picture taken with the helicopter, come and watch it land. I think the next one 625 is going to be in July, so be sure you look out for that notice. 626 627 I want to thank C.W Matthews for their tour of Rhodes Street. Thank you very much for arranging 628 that. 629 630 Councilman Gay said I just have a few things. First off to the young lady from the Ignite group 631 that's considering Aviation, congratulations. I spent 10 years at the Atlanta Airport in my later 632 adult life and I noticed there were very few people of color who majored in aviation. So, for you 633 to do that and to recognize Embry-Riddle that has paved the way for women and minorities. So, 634 congratulations to you and your family. 635 636 I was called about coyotes due to the increase in land clearance and was told that our animal control 637 needs to work with Fulton County on considering trapping coyotes. They said a lot of the feral cats 638 are attracting the coyotes with the land that we've lost and some seniors you know are seeing 639 coyotes in their yards. I wish that we could be a little bit more proactive and try to educate the 640 people about coyotes as well as what we could do to trap them or discourage them from coming 641 to the community. 642 643 The next thing is the senior tax that needs to go on the agenda before the deadline. I think it's 60 644 days before the election. It's been signed by the governor and from my understanding, it's a state 645 law when it's signed by the governor. I know the language was changed but the citizens need to 646 make that decision on whether it's going to move forward. I have a lot of seniors who have called 647 me. They're very concerned and we need to put that on the ballot. 648 649 I want to just clarify that I did not run on Rocklyn Homes as an affordable housing complex. It 650 was never considered affordable housing. What we did say is that it's going to bring a middle-class 651 demographic to our city and our community. There are affordable homes that this Council and 652 Mayor have voted on. Speaking of Rocklyn Homes, Chief we need to start riding up there. They're 653 starting to frame houses and bringing in a lot of material. By the way, this organization is the fifth 654 largest home builder in the nation and chose College Park, and something should be said as to why 655 their marketing people decided that this is a great city to invest $70 million. 656 657 The next thing is the Rhodes Street Bridge and the bond that we voted on. I think we agreed that 658 several million of those dollars would go to street paving. I'm not sure about the other Wards but 659 in Ward 4, only five streets have been paved since 1998. There are 25 streets in our Ward. Regular Session 06/20/2022 Page 15 of 17 660 661 The last thing is the recycling center, its pros, and cons. We're starting to get a lot of dumping and 662 this is nothing new. People just are not respecting the area. We're starting to get hazardous waste 663 and furniture. Do we need to continue with the recycle center at the 18 Acres? Are we making 664 money and are there other ways for citizens to recycle their glass, paper, and plastics? It's becoming 665 a high-maintenance area for our Public Works and I don't know how you balance that out. 666 667 Mayor Motley Broom said we will be traveling to Savannah later this week for the Georgia 668 Municipal Association Convention. Very excited about several things that will be going on there. 669 One of the things that we will be doing is a presentation on our parklets; the outdoor dining that is 670 on Main Street. GMA selected us as one of eight presentations that will go during their rapid-fire 671 session to talk about that process and how the entire community gathers together to put their money 672 where they live. So, we're looking forward to that opportunity. 673 674 I wanted to let everyone know that Wayfield Foods on Main Street is undergoing a major 675 renovation and they will be closed for four weeks in July. So please plan accordingly. I think we'll 676 all be excited about some of those updates, but I know that it is one of the anchors of our 677 community and it will be an inconvenience to a number of our residents. Here's an opportunity to 678 see if we might be able to coordinate something in terms of transportation. It's been one of those 679 things that have been on my mind since I learned of that. Mr. Myers perhaps we can put our heads 680 together to see if there might be something that could be done. 681 682 I want to congratulate the Main Street Academy, they opened up its STEAM Lab last week. They 683 spent $2 million to educate and uplift our kids. It is a phenomenal development in that school and 684 having served on the board for several years when the school moved into that building, the 685 basement was a place where we did not want kids to go because we were concerned about what 686 they might do down there. Now, there are amazing classrooms and learning labs and it is all part 687 of how we keep on building the community that we deserve. So, congratulations to them. 688 689 I wanted to thank our Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis for an excellent full-force 690 summit last week. I had the opportunity to learn even more about some of the challenges that our 691 community is facing. I came right back and talked with folks about how we learn more, how we 692 better serve our kids, and how we better serve our community. So, I want to thank her for that 693 opportunity to get law enforcement and elected officials together all in the same room to make 694 sure that we are working together because it is vitally important as we move forward. 695 696 To your point Councilman Allen about the helicopter landing, we got some great coverage from 697 that from Fox 5. 698 699 Councilman Carn said speaking of uplifting our kids, I know we've been talking around for a 700 couple of weeks about potentially doing another Kids Fest. I know we have a major event coming 701 up in terms of a back-to-school event in August and my thought was maybe we could just combine 702 them since that event is going to be at the Convention Center. Combine it as a reduced version of 703 the Kids Fest. I'd like us to do something along those lines of bringing the kids back to school. We 704 already have some of our business partners in College Park that do business with us regularly, and 705 I was told that they would be willing to contribute something as well. Regular Session 06/20/2022 Page 16 of 17 706 707 Mayor Motley Broom said I think we probably need to put that on the agenda. I’ll take a motion 708 to go enter into Executive Session for the discussion of personnel. 709 710 ACTION: Councilman Carn moved to enter into Executive Session at 9:04 p.m. to 711 discuss personnel, seconded by Councilman Clay and motion carried. 712 713 Executive Session adjourned at 9:04 p.m. Regular Session reconvened at 9:31 p.m. 714 715 14. Executive Session. 716 717 ACTION: Councilman Clay moved to approve Personnel A, seconded by Councilman 718 Allen and motion carried. 719 720 15. Approval of Executive Session Minutes. 721 722 ACTION: Councilman Clay moved to approve Executive Session Minutes dated June 20, 723 2022, seconded by Councilman Carn and motion carried. 724 725 16. Adjournment. 726 727 Mayor Motley Broom declared the Regular Session adjourned at 9:33 p.m. 728 729 730 731 732 733 734 735 CITY OF COLLEGE PARK 736 737 738 ________________________ 739 Bianca Motley Broom, Mayor 740 741 742 743 ATTEST: 744 745 746 _______________________ 747 Shavala Ames, City Clerk 748 749 Regular Session 06/20/2022 Page 17 of 17