City Council

1 2 CITY OF COLLEGE PARK 3 MAYOR AND CITY COUNCIL 4 REGULAR SESSION 5 October 3, 2022 6 7 MINUTES 8 9 Present: Mayor Bianca Motley Broom; Councilmen Ambrose Clay, Joe Carn, Ken Allen, 10 and Roderick Gay; Interim City Manager Jackson Myers; City Clerk Shavala 11 Moore; City Attorney Winston Denmark. 12 13 Absent: None. 14 15 1. Opening Ceremonies. 16 17 A. Pledge of allegiance to the flag. 18 19 B. Invocation by Pastor Stacie Alexander 20 21 2. Additions, Deletions, Amendments, Or Changes to The Agenda. 22 23 3. Presentation Of Minutes of City Council. 24 25 A. Regular Session held on September 19, 2022. 26 27 ACTION: Councilman Clay moved to approve Regular Session Minutes dated September 28 19, 2022, as presented, seconded by Councilman Allen and motion carried by 29 those present. 30 31 B. Work Session held on September 19, 2022. 32 33 ACTION: Councilman Clay moved to approve Workshop Session Minutes dated 34 September 6, 2022, with corrections, seconded by Councilman Carn and motion 35 carried by those present: 36 37 Packet Page 30, line 284 s/b rate not array 38 39 [Councilman Gay entered Council Chambers at 7:33 p.m.] 40 41 4. Proclamations, Resolutions, Plaques, And Announcements. 42 43 A. Introduction of New Employees by Director of Human Resources and Risk Management 44 Dr. Dwight Baker. 45 46 Pamela Massey Police Department 47 48 B. Presentation of the Employee of the Month. 49 50 Morris Cook Department of Recreation and Cultural Arts 51 52 C. Presentation of a proclamation designating October 9-15, 2022, as “National Fire 53 Prevention Week” in the City of College Park. 54 55 D. Presentation of a proclamation designating October 2-8, 2022, as “Public Power Week” 56 and “Green Power Week” in the City of College Park. 57 58 5. Remarks Of Citizens. 59 60 a) Elizabeth Gibson said I'm Pastor Elizabeth Gibson of the New World Outreach and 61 we would like to sponsor a community event with clothing, food, health information, 62 coats, socks and gloves with a popcorn machine, cotton candy, prizes, giveaways and 63 much more. We have community participants such as the Police Department, the Fire 64 Department. The Fire Department will bring out a truck. There will be military 65 recruitment, as well as the United Educational Institute will bring information as well. 66 It's mostly for low-income families in City of College Park. We've had doctors and 67 nurses at the Atlanta VA to donate monies or goods. We have sponsors of Chick-fil- 68 A, BP gas station and broker volunteers of Kathy Collins House of Hope and D Knox. 69 We have done this festival before in the City of College Park in the parking lot but it 70 is no longer allowed and it was before COVID. 71 72 b) (Email read verbatim by the City Clerk) Kimberly Duncan said good evening, I live at 73 3346 College Street College Park and I am very opposed to short term rentals. These 74 have historically caused issues in most areas of the metropolitan area where they are 75 permitted. I would encourage the counsel to require Code Enforcement and Police to 76 have the short-term rentals be blocked with very hefty fines for illegally running short 77 term rentals. Thank you. 78 79 c) (Email read verbatim by the City Clerk) Jamelle McKenzie said my name is Jamelle 80 McKenzie and I reside at 2447 Odell Way in Historic College Park. Unfortunately, I 81 am not able to make this comment in person for tonight due to attending an amazing 82 retreat out of town with the Chick-fil-A Impact Accelerator Cohort of which I am a 83 member. As a resident of this City who is actively involved with over 400 senior 84 citizens, I am sending this email to request that our Mayor and Council will vote in 85 favor of adopting no less than a 10% utility discount for our Senior Residents. 86 87 As we navigate through this new post COVID19 era I am concerned about the burden 88 being placed on members of the Community who are living on a fixed income. I have 89 personally spoken with more than 50 senior citizens living in College Park over the 90 past two weeks who are seeking relief in this area. I informed them that I will speak 91 on their behalf at tonight’s meeting. I know the city is facing challenges of its own, 92 however I believe that if we make the effort to provide this concession good will arise Page 2 of 27 Regular Session 10/03/2022  93 that alleviates the economic concerns that we now face as a city. The travel industry 94 is picking up and we should remain confident that the implementation of intentional 95 strategically sound and some out of the box thinking we will see things begin to turn 96 in our favor as Georgia’s Global Gateway City. 97 98 d) (Email read verbatim by the City Clerk) Tekoa & JoJo said Greetings, hope all is well. 99 My name is JoJo and I am drafting this email on behalf of myself and my wife Tekoa. 100 We have just recently celebrated our (2) year anniversary of purchasing our new home 101 in the cul-de-sac at the end of John Calvin Avenue. We absolutely LOVE our home, 102 neighbors and our neighborhood. Unfortunately, there is a MAJOR downside to our 103 home. We were told by the builder Danny Tate back in September 2020 that there was 104 paperwork already in the works for the city of College Park to fix the issue of 105 discolored water coming from all of the faucets in our home. We are reaching out in 106 hopes that our concerns do NOT fall on deaf ears, yet are taken to heart WITH action 107 behind them to fix what is CLEARLY a city issue that needs to be IMMEDIATELY 108 resolved. This is NOT sanitary and CAN NOT be safe. Our concern continues to grow 109 even greater as we have elders in our family who visit and are also subject to this issue 110 that is out of our control. We are being forced to clean our bodies, clothing, food to 111 cook and dishes to be washed with this disgusting water that at times also has a rotten 112 egg smell as it comes from the faucets. In speaking with our neighbors, it has been 113 confirmed that they too are having the same issues. ALL of our immediate neighbors 114 are elderly and should NOT be subjected to unsanitary water. 115 116 We have been extremely patient with the process, we'd just like to know when 117 something will be done to fix this issue. My wife works from home and is subjected 118 to this ALL day EVERY DAY. We have had several plumbers come by to assess the 119 issue and were told by ALL of them to "not even use this water to brush your teeth, let 120 alone to cook or bathe." The water as of this morning in our toilets is close to the color 121 of egg yolk yellow/brown and there are stains in each of our toilets, sinks and bathtubs 122 because of this issue. This is another point of concern as we are being forced to shop 123 for new toilets, sinks and bathtubs that would NOT have these stains, however this 124 would be a waste of time and finances if the water coming from them is still discolored. 125 We have NOT been able to use the bathtub in our master suite in the two years that we 126 have lived here. This alone is disheartening as the master bathroom was a MAJOR 127 factor in us falling in love with and ultimately buying our home. Any guests that we 128 have had are leery of showering with this water. In addition, our skincare regimen has 129 been for naught as whatever is flowing through these faucets has caused us both and 130 anyone who has visited us to have excessive dry and peeling skin to the extent that we 131 must limit family and friends from visiting. Furthermore, how embarrassing it is to 132 have to explain to EVERYONE that what they see flowing from the faucets and in the 133 toilets is indeed the same water… 134 [Timer went off] 135 136 e) (Email read verbatim by the City Clerk) Demetrius Taylor said Greetings Mayor and 137 Council. This is being submitted Demetris Taylor, former Vice Chair of BIDA and 138 currently the Secretary for The College Park Citizens Association I live in Ward 2 in Page 3 of 27 Regular Session 10/03/2022 139 the Embarcadero Club Apartments I have a question I would like to have answered 140 SOON. Where is the accountability? We the citizens come forth at every meeting with 141 our concerns AND questions, but after we do this... where is the RETURN? Where is 142 the accountability or the PROOF that our concerns have been addressed? When do 143 we get to see the fruits of our voices being heard at the meetings and not just at the 144 ballot box??? We put you in office and we are expecting you to utilize ALL of the 145 resources we have in place to keep the citizens informed AND to show just how 146 transparent we are as a city! When will politicians EVER be as TRUTHFUL and 147 COMPELLING as their campaign speeches?? And this is directed to my Councilman, 148 Mr. Joe Carne. Since January, 2022 you have heard the people at Embarcadero Club 149 apartments about making sure we get LARGER trash receptacles so that we can 150 control our trash... here we are in OCTOBER..the 10th month of the year...and WE 151 STILL HAVE NOT MOVED FORWARD with this endeavor!! I realize their is a 152 process on both ends, the complex and the city, BUT we have NOT HEARD 153 ANYTHING FROM ANYONE!! Again, I ask WHERE IS THE 154 ACCOUNTABILITY?? Thank you for your time and I'm looking forward to YOUR 155 ACCOUNTABILITY 156 157 f) Jojo (no last name stated) said thank you so much for listening to us today. It's 158 frustrating to turn on the faucets in your home that you pay so much money to afford 159 to purchase you work hard to keep it and you turn on the water and it's the color of 160 your skin as it comes out of the faucets. We've had friends come to visit who thought 161 that something was medically wrong with them when they use the toilet. When you 162 clean the toilet, you put the blue tab in there, it's clean and it's green when people have 163 come out of our bathroom like what's wrong, I got to make a doctor's appointment. 164 We're constantly having to explain to people this is kind of what we're dealing with. 165 Like I said we just celebrated two years, we love our home but it's just frustrating to 166 see this and to have to put our own health at risk or anyone else who comes into our 167 home consuming this water. We've had estimates from several plumbers that the pipes 168 under our home are still from the 1960s. This was a renovated home that we purchased 169 and my question is if the city was aware that there was already an issue with the water 170 at the end of John Calvin Avenue, how was there a permit signed off for the builder to 171 be able to even build something. There was already an issue and I can't for the life of 172 me understand how this was already not known by the city. I'm not here to point any 173 fingers or anything, I just want to be able to have our concerns heard which they were 174 and I appreciate it. I drafted this email earlier today as we do travel a lot for work. We 175 were both homes today and turned on the water this morning and it was like who 176 cracked a bunch of eggs in the toilet. I'm just trying to understand how we're supposed 177 to be comfortable with ingesting, bathing, washing our clothes or anything that 178 involves water. How are we supposed to be mentally and physically okay with the fact 179 that this is what's flowing through our faucets? We have not used the master bathtub. 180 We have a four bedroom; three and a half bath and all of the basins and things have 181 stains in them from this water. We have seen the personnel from water and sewage 182 come to the cul-de-sac sporadically and they'll run the water through the fire hydrants. 183 We'll see it come out as if it's just dirt and they'll run it for five-ten minutes or so it's 184 clear. When they leave within the next five to ten minutes the water inside the house Page 4 of 27 Regular Session 10/03/2022 185 is once again back to the same color. I just want to know and our neighbors would like 186 to know as well, how much longer do we have to wait? 187 [Timer went off] 188 189 6. Public Hearings 190 191 7. Other Business 192 193 A. Consideration of and action on a request from the Historic College Park Neighborhood 194 Association (HCPNA) for an exemption to the Advertising Matter Ordinance in order to 195 display directional signs beginning October 3, 2022, for an annual community yard sale 196 scheduled for October 8, 2022, from 8:00am until 2:00pm in the Historic Neighborhood 197 District. 198 199 Permits and Zoning Administrator Sabrina Walters said good evening Mayor and Council. This 200 is the College Park Historic Neighborhood Association 13th year for having this yard sale. They 201 are requesting to be able to place 50 to 90 yard sale signs on the city right-away. 202 Councilman Carn said it’s a great event. I go all the time and I picked up a couple of things here 203 and there. I would love to see something like this city-wide at some point. I don't know how we 204 could look into the possibility of just doing that in other neighborhoods that may want to participate 205 as well. I want us to look into that. Not that we want to hijack the historic neighborhoods 206 exclusivity of it but I mean they can still have this right in that title but I think it'd be a good idea 207 to have it on the same day in other neighborhoods too. 208 Councilman Clay said what you need Joe is a neighborhood association in each of the areas to 209 support it because CPMSA has carried the ball on this for the last 13 years. 210 Councilman Carn said I know there's another one that may have some interest but want us to look 211 into that and see if there's interest. 212 213 ACTION: Councilman Clay moved to approve a request from Sabrina Walters, Planning 214 & Zoning Administrator to allow the Historic College Park Neighborhood 215 Association (HCPNA) an exemption to the Advertising Matter Ordinance in 216 order to display directional signs beginning October 3, 2022, for an annual 217 community yard sale scheduled for October 8, 2022, from 8:00am until 2:00pm 218 in the Historic Neighborhood District, seconded by Councilman Carn and 219 motion carried 220 221 B. Consideration on and action of a request to approve a Senior Residential Rate Revision that 222 is equal to a 10% reduction in the energy charges, effective November 2022. 223 224 ACTION: Councilman Gay moved to approve a Senior Residential Rate Revision that is 225 equal to a 10% reduction in the energy charges, effective November 2022, 226 seconded by Councilman Carn motion carried. 227 Page 5 of 27 Regular Session 10/03/2022 228 C. Consideration of and action on a request to approve the advertisement of the College Park 229 BIDA/ Various purposed transportation which will use Fulton County TSPLOST funds. 230 The City routinely evaluates road condition and maintains a priority based resurfacing 231 program. 232 233 Mr. Myers said what we've got here is we've transferred to Fulton County T-SPLOST. We went 234 out and got a bond through the BIDA program and we had some additional funding that we 235 wanted available to use in order to help travel between businesses and their homes as part of the 236 doctrine. I picked out a few of the streets that we felt that were bad. We might tweak a couple of 237 the streets as we take a look at it a little more. The main streets we may ask for are Overthorpe, 238 Williamsburg or Mount Vernon but we're going to keep it in within the budget. 239 Councilman Clay said I was good up until your last statement. Are you saying you can switch 240 streets but if you have three allocated you can't go for four? You're going to keep the cost and the 241 mileage the same? 242 Mr. Myers said yes sir. 243 Councilman Carn said this is from the new T-SPLOST money? 244 Mr. Myers said it’s from the T-SPLOST that we bought out and borrowed money and then we 245 bonded it before. What we did is, in order to pay back the bond, we're using the Fulton County 246 transportation SPLOST to pay back the bond. 247 Councilman Carn said right. I know we have one pot of money here to deal with essentially 248 $500k. Is this money interchangeable, possibly with sidewalks? 249 Mr. Myers said sidewalks are not what we intended for. We were trying to get the better bang for 250 the bucks by paving. 251 Councilman Carn said I understand but theoretically speaking, it's part of the road work, if we 252 had an interest in swapping something out for sidewalks, is that a possibility? 253 Mr. Myers said everything can be a possibility. It depends on the price of the project you're 254 talking about with the sidewalks. Paving was one of the things that the attorney took before the 255 judge and sidewalks was not mentioned there, as I recall. 256 Councilman Carn said so sidewalks would be not lawful in this money? A judge approved this? 257 Mr. Myers said that's correct. 258 City Attorney Winston Denmark said Councilman, the judge validated the bonds. 259 Councilman Carn said I think we have in terms of boundaries of constraint there. Do we have an 260 option for sidewalks in the mix of this as long as we're not over the limit? You're saying we 261 absolutely do not or is it possible? 262 Mr. Myers said no, it's not possible. Not according to the bond attorney. Page 6 of 27 Regular Session 10/03/2022 263 Councilman Carn said I'm thinking about a piece of road coming up Washington Road to the 264 corner of Lyle where the CVS is on that right hand side. If I'm not mistaken, is that us? That's got 265 to be some of the worst roads. 266 Councilman Clay said absolutely, I have constituents that would love to have a sidewalk. 267 Councilman Carn said I didn't see that pavement on this list. 268 Councilman Clay said keep in mind Washington Road is not even ours. I think they own up to 269 Frontage in that area. 270 Councilman Carn said those houses on that side is us. 271 Councilman Clay said from Lyle then you have Fairway. 272 Councilman Carn said between Lyle and Rugby, that's the worst part of it that I see coming up 273 Washington. 274 Councilman Clay said that's bad too. There's no sidewalk there. It's also that whole area that has 275 a bank and trees so it's a little significant effort there. Well I'm not sure what that has to do with 276 this? 277 Councilman Carn said it's bad but my first thought was the road is super rough and it's a short 278 piece. 279 Councilman Clay said I understand but I don't think it's our road. 280 Mr. Myers said you're correct. It's in and out because I've given you a map before about it but 281 that particular portion, he's talking about between Fairway Crossing and you go up to Lyle, that 282 little portion right there does belongs to the City of College Park and part of it belongs to the 283 City of East Point. But that also is a part of the D.O.T. 284 Councilman Clay said he’s talking between Rugby and Lyle but I don't think that is our road. 285 That's my understanding but I could be mistaken. 286 Councilman Carn said I think we need to reach out to East Point for that at least because it's easy 287 to forget it. It’s at the at the end of East Point and they may not pay much attention to it. They 288 could say that’s us but you’ll never know unless you talk to them. That road hasn't been done in 289 years. Again it doesn't hurt to ask them just to make sure. 290 Councilman Allen said Mr. Myers, let me just make sure I understand. You all had an engineer 291 come out and looked at the roads in each Ward and determine which ones needed resurfacing 292 and these are your recommendations? If we wanted to discuss changing one, could we work with 293 you through that? 294 Mr. Myers said that’s correct. 295 Councilman Gay said what happens next, this goes to an RFP? 296 Mr. Myers said yes. Page 7 of 27 Regular Session 10/03/2022 297 Councilman Gay said when would it be done? 298 Mr. Myers said we can be doing it between now and in the next 12 months, but we're going to 299 put the RFP out and then we'll bring back to Council. 300 Councilman Gay said when do you want us to come and discuss alternate streets? 301 Mr. Myers said first, I got to see what the price is because the consumer price index keeps going 302 up and up. I want to make sure we don't run out of funding. 303 Councilman Carn said are we able to pour in the winter because I thought the asphalt didn't work 304 that well in the winter, or is it concrete? 305 Mr. Myers said asphalt doesn't pour well but concrete can be poured if you put some quick set so 306 that the water doesn't freeze. You could pour concrete in 32 degrees. 307 308 ACTION: Councilman Clay moved to approve a request of advertisement of the College 309 Park BIDA/Various purposed transportation which will use Fulton County 310 TSPLOST funds to routinely evaluates road condition and maintains a priority 311 based resurfacing program seconded by Councilman Allen and motion carried. 312 313 D. Consideration of and action on a request to approve City Holidays for Calendar Year 2023. 314 315 ACTION: Councilman Clay moved to approve a request from Dr. Dwight Baker, Director 316 of Human Resources & Risk Management for approval of the City Holidays for 317 Calendar Year 2023, seconded by Councilman Carn and motion carried. 318 319 8. Bids, Change Order Requests and Contracts. 320 321 A. Consideration of and action on providing information for review of installation of new 322 speed cushions at 18 predetermined locations throughout the city. 323 324 ACTION: Councilman Clay moved to approve a request from Interim Chief of Police 325 Sharis McCrary for the installation of new speed cushions at 3 predetermined 326 locations throughout the city, seconded by Councilman Carn. Motion was 327 withdrawn by Councilman Clay. Motion did not pass. 328 329 ACTION: Councilman Clay moved to approve a request from Interim Chief of Police 330 Sharis McCrary for the installation of speed tables as pilots at 3 predetermined 331 locations throughout the city, seconded by Councilman Carn and motion carried. 332 333 B. Consideration of and action on a request for the emergency repair of HVAC Chiller at the 334 Georgia International Convention Center. 335 336 ACTION: Councilman Gay moved to approve a request for the emergency repair of HVAC 337 Chiller at the Georgia International Convention Center, seconded by 338 Councilman Clay and motion carried. Page 8 of 27 Regular Session 10/03/2022 339 340 9. Unfinished (Old) Business. 341 342 A. Consideration of and action to adopt a funding resolution to be included in submission to 343 GA Department of Nature Recourses' Georgia Outdoor Stewardship Program grant in 344 October. 345 346 Economic Development Director Michelle Alexander said good evening Mayor and Council. We 347 have spoken with Finance and we added some details that we understood were some questions that 348 you had about the nature of the funding that we were requesting to pursue. I think the biggest point 349 of clarification is that the funds would not be matched for this fiscal year, it would be a request for 350 matching in the following next two fiscal years, so there would be time for budget consideration 351 and to accommodate it. We also added specifications about matching the funding that has been 352 secured to date to help us offset that cost. There’s additional fundraising continuing underway, 353 some of it is just pending to see if the city will commit to the project. So the sets of matches we 354 included were the $310,000 donations that has already been raised. There are additional 355 conversations with Porsche, Georgia Power, Chick-fil-A and additional funding from Microsoft 356 and others. So it does give us time to even reduce that further. This will be serving College Park 357 residents and all of the South Fulton south side if you will and have a big economic impact splash 358 for both the impact on our residents but also just for the overall project and the ambitious scale of 359 the project. So you'll be investing where we indicated that the budget would be impacted as it 360 stands today around $600,000. Over a period of two years, we anticipate that will be reduced and 361 we'll keep you posted as we get commitments if you decide to allow us to pursue the grant but for 362 that amount of money you are getting a project that's going to be worth 2.4 million dollars in design 363 and access to this resource and economic development impact. 364 Councilman Clay said Michelle I apologize if I missed your response but let me re-ask a couple 365 questions. The total acreage that needs to be purchased is 7.47 acres is that correct? 366 Ms. Alexander said yes. 367 Councilman Clay said okay and part of that is actually in East Point, is it not? 368 Ms. Alexander said that's correct. 369 Councilman Clay said so are we buying the whole thing and giving it to East Point because it's not 370 our city? 371 Code Compliance Administrator Tasha Hall-Garrison said you are correct. We are requesting to 372 purchase the whole property but we would have an intergovernmental agreement with East Point 373 for their portion of the property which is a sliver of the property. 374 Councilman Clay said and presumably East Point, you've already talked to them and they're willing 375 to pay their portion? 376 Ms. Hall-Garrison said at this point we have not discussed the funding associated with East Point, 377 though they have utilized their Brownfields funds to assist with the environmental studies on the Page 9 of 27 Regular Session 10/03/2022 378 property. We have discussed the IGA with East Point but as far as specific numbers that has not 379 been discussed. 380 Councilman Clay said can we buy property in another city for the benefit of that city without an 381 intergovernmental agreement in place, saying that they will pay their fair share of that? 382 City Attorney Winston Denmark said you could but it wouldn't be wise. There's no restriction on 383 where you can buy property as you can buy property wherever. For the purposes that you 384 articulated that we're discussing this evening, it would certainly be wise to have an 385 intergovernmental agreement otherwise your purposes might be frustrated. 386 Councilman Clay said we can't buy property and give it to a church for example? 387 Mr. Denmark said no you could not. 388 Councilman Clay said so can we buy property and give it to the City of East Point when they don't 389 own it? 390 Ms. Alexander said sorry to interrupt but I don't think that the agreement would be to buy it and 391 then give it to them. It just happens to be located within the City of East Point. One of the beautiful 392 things about the grant, is that it covers the cost of the purchase. So the amount of money that we 393 might seek from East Point is actually part of what we are pursuing as part of this. 394 Councilman Clay said it will be part of the match I would assume. If the grant covers everything 395 and we have to match it. If East Point were to purchase their part of it then our match at the grant 396 would be less. They would have to match part of the grant. When you get down to it and I don’t 397 want to make a big issue out of it but I just want to make sure we do things in the right order and 398 legally. 399 Ms. Hall-Garrison said the portion of East Point's property is actually divided by a stream. That 400 portion is actually going to be allocated for wildlife so that they will have an area that basically 401 human beings are not going to have access to. So that way there would not be funds in the 402 development of that property because that property will be left untouched and that is part of the 403 education that we've been doing through the Georgia Audubon as well as Trees Atlanta to make 404 sure that we are leaving things as they are so that we don't interfere with the wildlife in the 405 community. 406 Councilman Clay said so we're buying property in East Point to facilitate the use of the overall 407 property and the grant that we're obtaining to purchase the overall property. Is that a good way to 408 say it. I assume you're going to talk to East Point about this dollar-wise? 409 Ms. Hall-Garrison said we already have been in discussions with East Point but once again these 410 numbers are tentative and changing as the client changes but we have already had these 411 discussions. 412 Councilman Clay said I'm just talking conceptually; I'm not talking actual dollars. I mean it's a 413 wonderful project no question about it. The next thing is there may be remediation required on this 414 property. We haven't finished the analysis of the property yet, have we? Page 10 of 27 Regular Session 10/03/2022 415 Ms. Alexander said there's been a phase one environmental that has been completed. It has not 416 indicated that there are any issues on the site. A phase two would still need to be conducted. So 417 the terms of the contract with MARTA is currently under review and negotiation with our attorneys 418 about that if there is any liability. 419 Councilman Clay said the bottom-line Michelle, is that I just don't want us to get in the position of 420 acquiring this property and then suddenly find out that we have a huge environmental cleanup to 421 do if MARTA would have had to do had they hung on to the property. 422 Ms. Hall-Garrison said to add, this actual property was part of the multi-purpose grant that we 423 received through Brownsfield. So there are already funds that have been given to the city 424 specifically to this property and that is how we were able to do the phase one through the due 425 diligence process. 426 Councilman Clay said will we have the phase two completed before we take possession of the 427 property? 428 Ms. Hall-Garrison said yes sir, we're waiting right now. Our contractors are scheduled and they're 429 waiting. 430 Councilman Carn said I'm a fan of parks, don't get me wrong. I want to see good development in 431 our city. I do understand that from East Point that there was some Brownfield and EPA 432 contamination issues over there, I'd like to see all of that settled before we consider anything. Who 433 exactly is the conservation fund? Are those local members in that group? 434 Ms. Hall-Garrison said it is a national organization. The representative that has supported this 435 project is Stacy Funderburg, he is the Southeast regional legal representative for conservation fund. 436 Councilman Carn said there's a bigger issue I had as opposed to the environmental issue, 437 infrastructure development. The problem that I have with this is the impact of accessibility. 438 Michelle, I had Jonathan do a map of our parks within College Park. My issue was this 439 infrastructure provision, when we make a decision on terms of where to put things it's going to 440 promote the regional development of a certain enclave and most of our parks and recreation green 441 space is generally in the north end of town, which is the Ward 1 area and Ward 3 in north area and 442 the historic area and that's why. This is more like a like a mini nature preserve as opposed to a 443 park if I'm understanding it correctly. It's a great amenity and it's going to serve a lot of city 444 individuals. With certain types of infrastructure like a park for example you have increased health 445 outcomes obviously. You have less stress, a better environment, property values are better. The 446 impact of it on income and the welfare of the local people is increased. It's going to compound 447 things so it'll make homes more valuable and it'll make neighborhoods more attractive if you have 448 a real nature preserve. How do we allow for some of our less affluent neighborhoods to have the 449 chance to catch up with Ward 1 and Ward 3? I just want to make sure we're consider in all areas 450 of this city and I'm hoping that you all have considered this area at the edge of East Point in terms 451 of accessibility to other areas of our city and other folks in our city that could really use that kind 452 of stress relief. Tasha, you're well aware that most of our residents are apartment community folks 453 and nearly half of those folks don't have access to transportation. Can you tell me the bus routes Page 11 of 27 Regular Session 10/03/2022 454 that would stop at this site? Probably not because that's the type of thing that you're going to have 455 to look at and consider if this is going to be something accessible to everybody. Even with bus 456 service that accessibility is going to be severely marginalized for everybody to have access to it. 457 Our park distribution and green space distribution is little. I had them to look at the acreage to see 458 what we had and where we have it. That's nobody's fault up here as that was 50-60 years ago. The 459 last issue to this in terms of priorities, we can find $600,000 when we want to do something. It's 460 great Coca-Cola’s coming in and Microsoft's throwing in. When we want to do something, the 461 money comes from everywhere and that's great. This is a great project but this project is not going 462 to serve the entire city equally because of access. We got bigger fish to fry. We got stuff that 463 couldn't go into this budget that Department Heads know they needed but that was a different 464 budget cycle that they weren't able to ask for the things that they really needed because of 465 circumstances. That was then and this is now. I look at what's going on with the areas that did not 466 get the things they needed. Mercedes was just up here for a chiller. There are things that are 467 overlooked that we do need to take care of that we have now. 468 Executive Director of the Georgia International Convention Center and Gateway Arena Mercedes 469 Miller said the building is 20 years old. Starting next year, any building that you have that's 20 470 years old and you have not made any major investments, it starts to fall apart. We have managed 471 to put money back into the building a little at a time. Some of the major things are the roof on the 472 south side of the building where we have buckets in the ceiling. We're working on to get the roof 473 reseal because that will prolong it another 15 years. We also need to update our controllers on our 474 air condition system. I mean there's a few things that can't be done all at once so we're going to 475 pace ourselves. 476 Councilman Carn said I saw some other things at the Gateway Center although it's brand new but 477 there's some small minor stuff there. I looked through the Convention Center and I do see some of 478 the nicks and stuff from wear and tear on the doors and the paneling. Keeping that thing pristine 479 is very important. We're covered pretty well with our parks. We do have nice parks and we have a 480 lot of them. Do we have enough? No city does but if I need a new roof for one of my prime money 481 makers, I'm gonna think a little bit about that and take care of what I got first before I pull into 482 something else. Then you got upkeeping maintenance for that park and those seven acres, we don't 483 have a park anywhere near that size in the city? I'm not against doing it but I think we need to take 484 care of what we got first and then let's look at it if it's available next year if we can phase it in. 485 Looking at the other end of the kaleidoscope, maybe we should approach East Point and ask are 486 you interested in this thing. If they want to do it and its wetlands which is undevelopable in terms 487 of other uses, maybe we do it an intergovernmental agreement where they get the land and they 488 apply for the grant. 489 Ms. Hall-Garrison said part of why College Park is eligible is because of the disparately shown in 490 our cities and the difference in the demographics. Secondly, it is located within a mile of each of 491 the MARTA stations and directly down the road from Hapeville so individuals who may not live 492 in the area, there is the bike path or the bike trail for East Main Street. Thirdly, there are 493 opportunities for us to work with our partners such as the DMO who have already spoken to use 494 this as an amenity for those that are coming into the airport or into the Convention Center. This is Page 12 of 27 Regular Session 10/03/2022 495 also another opportunity for us to collaborate. We have already begun discussions and 496 collaborating with some of the Middle Georgia cities that are along the Flint River to provide an 497 attraction and services to expand what is currently offered through the City of College Park. So 498 we have tried to think very holistically about this and not only the opportunity it has for College 499 Park but what it has for the Tri-Cities, what it has for the South Metro and what it has for Middle 500 Georgia. 501 Councilman Carn said I understand what you're saying and it is a good amenity but for a visitor to 502 the Convention Center it's not a great situation if they're buckets in the Convention center. Not 503 only are they up in the roof, but I’ve also seen garbage pails sized refuge containers on the floor 504 of the Convention Center in the breezeways in the hallways to catch the rain. We got to think first 505 things first here. The other thing is all of our major apartment complexes this area is not easy to 506 get to if you don't have your own car. 507 Councilman Allen said I’d like to say I like that you're pushing it back to the next couple of budgets 508 because that will give you time to bring in other investors. I want to speak a little bit to the point 509 that that Councilman Carn mentioned. I went with Tasha and her group in Economic Development 510 down to the Tracy Wyatt Center probably a year ago. I don't know if you remember it but they're 511 working on a walking trail or walking area right next to the Tracy Wyatt Center. In fact Trees 512 Atlanta and Economic Development worked together to plant 52 trees out there where they could 513 have a walking area and where people could come from the apartments and leave their kids in the 514 playground and enjoy this walking area. I know you talked to me about possibly of putting benches 515 and things like this, you could put flowers and you could make that a little nature thing as well. I 516 know you're already working on some of this stuff, so thank you very much for your diligence on 517 the Southside as well. I would like to see us get other investors and other people to have some skin 518 in the game. I don't know if you've heard from anybody that is willing to come on board people 519 like Delta because the Flint River goes right behind Delta Airlines and Virginia Avenue. They 520 might be willing to be part of this and I'm sure they probably would. 521 Councilman Gay said first of all, I want to thank you for your commitment as the councilmembers 522 said on your passion for wanting to see this project. I know what that feels like as I spent since 523 1998 trying to conserve and develop Camp Truitt to a community that would serve all of the city 524 but more importantly Wards 2 and 4, which is an extremely underserved community. I also thank 525 Hannah Palmer, who is the champion of this Finding the Flint. She's came to our city many times 526 so if she sees this or hear this, I do appreciate you guys’ effort. I didn't want to be mean spirited 527 and just say things that didn't make sense and be against the project so I thought I would educate 528 myself about this project. So my goal at this moment is to educate anybody who's listening as well 529 as my colleagues. I wasn't understanding Finding the Flint and the impact for Finding the Flint. 530 I'm a conservationist. This creek will never ever be a large body of water, it'll stay a creek and it 531 would never connect to any of the tributary which is more important. That's the central reason why 532 you would want to conserve it. In other words tributaries take water out and this water went up in 533 New Mexico. I didn't know that the Flint River serves a lot of communities for their drinking water. 534 That's over 516 miles of the Flint River and I just thought it was just this creek that y'all have Page 13 of 27 Regular Session 10/03/2022 535 found. The Flint River can be seen in almost everybody's county with have much larger bodies of 536 water. 537 The other thing I learned is that the Chattahoochee, which at some point they feed together, is just 538 as important to our City of College Park and it is one of the most threatened bodies of water in our 539 state. According to the general accounting principles, I didn’t know that we can budget or spend 540 money and project it on future budgets. At least we haven't done that since I've been on council or 541 we haven't been able to take money out of our general fund and say when we get to those budget 542 hearings in 2023 and 2024, we're gonna make it up. The third thing I want to tell you is that there 543 are a lot of stakeholders that I saw that have been involved in this for a long period of time. They 544 should be part of this conversation just like when Aerotropolis come to us and ask for money. As 545 Mayor Longino taught us, what are the other people doing and why are we the only ones with our 546 skin in the game. I learned that from him. I'm a grant writer, grants come around every year. If you 547 don't miss this cycle then you apply for the same one at the next time. The other thing I learned is 548 that there are other grants that could possibly fund this initiative. We got a grant called the 549 Community Development Block Grant and former Judge Thelma Watts would tell me you can't 550 have it both ways. Councilmember Clay, when we got the Community Development Block Grant 551 you said publicly that you won't support it because we don't have the funds but if we could find 552 the matching dollars that's the only way, we could support it. We went and we found creative ways 553 to find the 20% so we didn't go out to public dollars because we may have one or two council 554 members that support it. We went and we found those dollars. As a result now all future 555 Community Development Block Grants no longer require 20% match. That's a huge savings that 556 they no longer require a 20% match because we were a bit creative. So what I admonish you that 557 you don't give up on your dreams. I’ll closed by saying I was talking to my wife about this and she 558 listens to these meeting at her lunch break and she says she's not a conservationist. It sounds like 559 a slush project. Somebody gonna get three million dollars and they're gonna be having a great time 560 trying to make a creek look pretty. Phillips Park has not been improved in 20 years. We been up 561 here for ages and we are just waiting till we can have equitable distribution. That's $600,000 that 562 could be better spent and we should not spend money that we don't have. I will help you guys look 563 for some more money. I'll join your group. I'll get involved. I'll help you and I mean that sincerely. 564 This body cannot afford to pay $600,000 out of the general fund and we're hemorrhaging cash 565 now. 566 Councilman Clay said I know we've been pursuing this for a while and it's been a dream of Hannah 567 Palmer for years. Frankly I've been amazed at the success that we've had in getting everybody 568 behind this and I'd say everybody loosely. There seems to disagreement up here. Everybody thinks 569 it'd be nice to have something. It's an opportunity to put in a nature preserve in an area that doesn't 570 have one. It benefits multiple cities but they don't seem like they really want it. I'd be the first to 571 say I would have preferred to see a bigger millage rate increase and we had no one in this city 572 show up for the public hearing during the work session tonight about a millage rate increase. If I'd 573 had it to do, I would have argued that we should have a three mill increase rather than a two but 574 that's not going to happen now because we've advertised for two. My paranoia says sometimes you 575 need the right timing and we already have a couple contributors to the $600,000 match. There's 576 nothing to say that we can't get more in another year or so. I'm not an expert on grants as Page 14 of 27 Regular Session 10/03/2022 577 Councilman Gay is as being grant writer and what have you. It strikes me that if I were on the 578 other side looking at it, I would say these guys are ready to go, they're excited about it, they've got 579 the plans, they’ve got people supporting like Coca-Cola. Maybe the opportunity could pass us by 580 and that's what I worry about. I'd be the first to say I was concerned that we discovered three things 581 on the agenda for the last two council meetings that were not in the budget. This isn't even for this 582 budget, it's in the next budget and if we do well in 2023 with the businesses that's coming, we'll be 583 in a much better financial position. If we don't do well and we still believe in this project, there's 584 always a possibility of a millage rate increase again. I shouldn't say that but that's a possibility. I 585 think this is the time to do this. You guys have been incredibly successful about getting grants and 586 I've been amazed at the grants. I understand about the equity issue but let me say this, first off, we 587 can't change the headwaters of the Flint River. It is where it is. 588 Secondly, the College Park Housing Authority, College View Hills is in my Ward. I've been going 589 down to their meetings for a long time ever since I've been on council, and I know what the 590 conditions are like. We’ve probably got one of the best housing authorities around frankly but 591 nonetheless these are the people that do not have a whole lot of money. So if you want to talk about 592 equity and disadvantaged citizens, we have plenty of those in Ward 1, maybe not as many as some 593 of the other Wards but we've got quite a bit. They live probably less than a mile and a half from 594 Barrett Park and I would argue that the Housing Authority is probably about a mile roughly up 595 Main Street from where this park is going to be. I walk a mile and it takes 20 minutes and I think 596 it's very accessible to some people that are disadvantaged. Maybe not as many but we have them 597 all over and we have them in Ward 1. The other comment I had is did you guys fix the trials to 598 trails in the resolution? I brought that up like three times so far. 599 Ms. Hall-Garrison said this is my first time hearing that complaint but it will be taken care of. 600 Councilman Clay said I think the time is right to do the project. I think we're going to make up 601 most if not all of the $600,000. By the way I agree with Councilman Gay on one thing. I thought 602 his comment was very good that he made last time. If you're going to apply for it, apply for it and 603 don't say I'll change my mind if you actually come through the grant process. 604 Councilman Gay said the only correction I like to make is the point of privilege. How is it that he 605 [Councilman Clay] continues to speak on and on and on? Councilman Carn had the floor. The 606 tactic he uses is to continue to talk on and on and change the conversation. That's the only 607 clarification I want to make. 608 Councilman Clay said the Mayor recognized me. 609 Mayor Motley Broom said gentlemen that was not a point of personal privilege on that. I did 610 recognize Councilman Clay. I'm going right back through the order. 611 Councilman Carn said Ambrose as always makes some good points. This is what good government 612 looks like, we discuss these things these that are very important matters. Where's the Finance 613 Director, can somebody go out there and see if she's out in the breezeway? I've talked about this 614 several times, this is not necessarily on you [City Manager] because you got swept into this thing 615 but how in the world can we conduct business here when these Department Heads aren't here to Page 15 of 27 Regular Session 10/03/2022 616 answer the questions that we have? We came up with this alternate version of the speed humps 617 due to the fact that there's enough staff here for discussions for this stuff to happen? I don't know 618 how the rest of you all feel but it's next to impossible to conduct business and deliberate if the 619 Department Heads are not here? 620 [Director of Finance & Accounting Althea Philord-Bradley entered the council chambers] 621 Councilman Carn said two weeks ago we did not have $600,00. Two weeks later we found a way 622 and this city can find money when they're looking for something and when they want to find the 623 money for it. I don't want to go into a new expenditure at the expense of degrading the quality of 624 some of our bread and butter entities that we have like the Convention Center. I'm not going to 625 support something like this if we're not doing things that needs doing in other areas of the city as 626 well. If we can find $638,000 in two weeks then we certainly can patch a roof. 627 The other suggestion I did have was the only two of us up here that have represented this city in 628 its entirety and that's myself as a former commissioner and the Mayor currently. I look at things in 629 a different way as I want to see a benefit for the entire city. Coming back, I did not come back to 630 represent just my Ward because it's a lot more to this city than Ward 2. We're talking about parks 631 and access. Phillips Park, they are in need of a playground upgrade. Lakeshore Drive is probably 632 one of our only main arteries that do not have a sidewalk on it. All of our major drags do have 633 sidewalks and that is a major thoroughfare. Now if we're able to find the money for this Finding 634 the Flint, I think we need to find some money for at least that sidewalk and at least patch the leaks 635 in that Convention Center. Althea, you're good at your job and what you do and you’ll find that 636 money and we're still able to keep the wheels on the wagon. I'd like to see that happen if we're 637 gonna look at this Flint thing. I want to make sure everybody has good access to the amenities 638 that we have and I think that sidewalk kills two birds with one stone. 639 Councilman Allen said Gay I thought you made some very good points. Thank you very much for 640 those, I thought they were very well thought out. Do you have other investors that have come 641 forward and said they would like to invest for this reason? 642 Ms. Hall-Garrison said we did recently receive U-Haul and Microsoft provided grants to be used 643 towards the purchase of the property. Microsoft has increased theirs to offer another grant that can 644 be used towards the development of the park as well as the Coca-Cola Foundation. As far as all of 645 the other grants right now are pending as they're waiting on us to complete the purchase to see if 646 we will receive this grant from DNR. 647 Councilman Allen said I'm old enough to remember when the Belt Line first started and it had just 648 a little piece when they started that and investors were thinking about whether they should be 649 involved or whether they should not. A lot of them wished they had gotten more involved and did 650 get involved when they started expanding it. We're hoping they're expanding it and can bring it 651 out to College Park as well. I see this nature reserve as a learning academy for a lot of the schools 652 around College Park with Woodward being close but I can see College Park Elementary doing 653 field trips over there walking around in the path and talking about the different things with nature. Page 16 of 27 Regular Session 10/03/2022 654 Councilman Gay said thank you for the second round of rebuttal. I was talking to the news reporter 655 the other day as he was out in the parking lot. I think Jackson walked up on us and he says I cannot 656 believe you guys would not vote for that senior tax exemption. He said Brad Raffensperger, the 657 Secretary of State was so angry that he was about to come and he was going to order a ballot and 658 the governor's office said stay out of it. Then all of a sudden, it's a great idea to spend $600,000. 659 So it comes down to what we call an investment in human capital. What is a better investment of 660 our public dollars when you invest in human capital? You invest in a bunch of people who paved 661 the way for College Park. Some of the most prominent seniors came to College Park like the first 662 black sheriff of Fulton County, some of the first black Builders. I could just go on and on. There's 663 a lady named Maddie who lives on Lakeshore and Maddie died of breast cancer last year. Maddie 664 had an alcoholic brother who didn't pay her property tax. While Maddie was dying of cancer, we 665 auctioned it and the guy paid $160,000 for the tax. When she passed the estate couldn't get the 666 property back because nobody had that kind of money. The only thing that people have is property, 667 we don't have nothing else. 668 I can't even comprehend now at 63 how you could comfortably want to spend $600,000 on a creek 669 when all those thousands of people come in this city and made us who we are and we turn our back 670 on $800,000. The second thing I want to say you cannot legally submit a grant a federal grant and 671 say that you have the matching dollars and then you're saying contingent that we get the grant we'll 672 look at that. It doesn't work like that; these are federal dollars. The third thing, Councilman Clay 673 is that this council voted to build a fire station. It was the same conversation we're having tonight 674 and we didn't have an EPA Grant but the conversation came up that MARTA used that creek as a 675 reservoir for its storm water, so remediation needs to be understood way before we talked about 676 writing a grant. The other thing Ms. Garrison is that that EPA mining should be used for other 677 remediation projects. MARTA is only selling that land for $218,000. I don't have a problem if we 678 buy the land. I'll make a motion tonight to buy the land and we'll figure it out later because it’s 679 only $218,000. I'll even compromise that we buy the land, figure out how to buy the lands and 680 hold it but there's no guarantee that we're gonna get it. I'll close by saying you cannot legally apply 681 for a grant if you do not say grant that those monies are earmarked. If you do its fraud. We bought 682 land on Godby Road for what? It $700,000 for the fire station. After we bought the land and 683 somebody came up with the idea that we couldn't use it. So then there was investigation into a lady 684 named Sarah Longino. My point is let's be careful with these public dollars and let's be careful 685 how we deliberate those dollars. 686 Councilman Clay said I move that we move forward with the resolution with the correction of 687 trials to trails. 688 Councilman Carn said I'd like to add a friendly amendment to that motion in terms of sidewalks. 689 Finding some sidewalk funding for Lakeshore as well as making sure we at least cover those 690 repairs at the convention center. Not a new roof necessarily but at least enough to patch that roof 691 up so we're decent in terms of our hospitality center. 692 Mayor Motley Broom said while both of those are very important topics, they are not germane to 693 this motion and so they are out of order. Page 17 of 27 Regular Session 10/03/2022 694 Councilman Carn said I think they're very germane if you want the support of this entire body, I 695 think they're very germane but again that's just my opinion. 696 Mayor Motley Broom said yes sir I understand and as the Chair they are not germane to this 697 motion. I have a couple of questions. Ms. Hall-Garrison and Ms. Alexander, you highlighted 698 $310,000 in commitments and donations thus far to this project, will that offset the $600,000 that 699 the funding resolution contemplates. 700 Ms. Hall-Garrison said currently $160, 000 of that has been allocated for Microsoft and U-Haul to 701 be utilized towards the purchase of the property. Currently we have an agreement from Coca-Cola 702 to do $150,000 towards the development of the park. 703 Mayor Motley Broom said so that $600,000 has already been essentially shaved off. This project 704 is moving forward with active seeking of additional funding from external sources? 705 Ms. Hall-Garrison said correct from external and we are continuing to receive in-kind services 706 from American River Keepers, the conservation fund, Stan Tech Cardinal, Georgia Power. We 707 also have an agreement from Woodward as far as to utilize it for recreation as well as education. 708 So we have a lot of outside support income as well as monetary donations. 709 Mayor Motley Broom said Mr. Myers, in regard to the Georgia International Convention Center 710 that's run under an enterprise fund, correct? 711 Mr. Myers said yes, it is. 712 Mayor Motley Broom said and as such an enterprise fund should pay for itself and that we should 713 not be pulling capital expenses from the general fund for an enterprise fund? 714 Mr. Myers said yes. 715 Mayor Motley Broom said Camp Truitt is a facility and it is an entity that is owned by Fulton 716 County and has been owned by Fulton County for the land? 717 Mr. Myers said yes ma'am. 718 Mayor Motley Broom said it sits in the City of College Park but it is the property of Fulton County, 719 correct? 720 Ms. Philord-Bradley correct. 721 Mayor Motley Broom said Ms. Hall-Garrison, is there an opportunity for this project to positively 722 impact drinking water downstream or at least the water that's accessible to other people through 723 the Flint River? 724 Ms. Hall-Garrison said yes it has direct impacts not only for Middle Georgia due to conservation 725 efforts made in College Park but it also will have direct impacts to Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta 726 International Airport which we have already been in discussions with as far as to ensure that their 727 drinking water is improved in our process. 728 Mayor Motley Broom said can you outline the plans for going after additional funds? Page 18 of 27 Regular Session 10/03/2022 729 Ms. Hall-Garrison said as I stated our collaborators, one in which being the conservation fund they 730 have two staff that are dedicated in assisting with us. They actually have been the ones to help 731 secure the majority of this funding as well as we have additional support through the Brownsfield 732 through Stan Tech and Cardinal which are also available to assist with grant services. 733 Mayor Motley Broom said I think that there's some misunderstanding about where we are in terms 734 of our senior homestead exemption. I believe that there is a resolution that was passed within the 735 last six weeks. I believe that if the voters support that, it will be in line for the 2023 tax season. Is 736 that correct Mr. Myers? 737 Mr. Myers said from my understanding. 738 Mayor Motley Broom said the original resolution that was passed for the senior homestead tax 739 exemption back in November of 2021 that was also set to take effect in the 2023 tax year, correct? 740 Mr. Myers said yes. 741 Mayor Motley Broom said there was never any anticipation by this body or anyone who voted for 742 that to occur in the 2022 tax season, correct? 743 Mr. Myers said that's correct. 744 Mayor Motley Broom said thank you sir. Those are all the questions I have. I'll make one more 745 pass. 746 Councilman Carn said I have a couple of questions. According to the first page on this packet, 747 packet page 71, it says the city will receive up to 2.539 million in funding. I saw that number on 748 the last packet we had when we looked at this the number and what I did not see was 3.3, the total 749 amount. 750 751 Ms. Alexander said it was my attempt to clarify the full value of what this grant delivers in terms 752 of a project and then the impact for the community. 753 754 Councilman Carn said if we're trying to make a decision up here, I think we need the full dollar 755 amounts that we're talking about. That's going to make sense because from the last meeting two 756 weeks ago we did not have the $638,000. This was a two and a half million-dollar project. Two 757 weeks later this is a $3.389 million dollar project. 758 759 Ms. Alexander said that would be the match that would result after the donations. It's not an 760 additional, it's the $637,000 plus the amount of dollars in funding that we're receiving that are 761 committed from external sources comprise that percent of our match. 762 763 Councilman Carn said I don't see a total of what we we're looking at here on this paperwork. We've 764 got $637,900 plus the monies from the community partners is that what you're telling me right? 765 Part of that would cover some of this 3.3 because I understand the 2.5 is contingent only upon the 766 $638,000. 767 768 Ms. Alexander said 2.5 is contingent upon the $638,000 match. Page 19 of 27 Regular Session 10/03/2022 769 770 Councilman Carn said if that happens, where would the rest of it come from to finish the project 771 at 3.389? 772 773 Ms. Alexander said the $637,000 is the number we're estimating. So the gaps are being met by 774 these outside sources to help comprise our 25%. 775 776 Councilman Carn said this additional money will be covered if we can raise the rest of it? 777 778 Ms. Philord-Bradley said no. What I think she's saying is they have received a commitment of 779 about $310,00 so that leaves our share at $678,000. 780 781 Councilman Carn said I'm not very happy in how this was presented to us. Again, we were given 782 a 2.5-million-dollar proposal for a project and two weeks later it’s $3.389 million. 783 784 Ms. Alexander said it's the same amount that we're requesting from the grant. The number has not 785 changed of the grant. 786 787 Councilman Carn said if that's the case I wouldn’t be looking at 3.389 for the total project. I assume 788 the total project was the 2.5. I just wasn't aware as it gave me the assumptions two weeks ago. 789 790 Ms. Alexander said that the total was that because the 25% was what we were presenting as our 791 required match on top of the 2.5. 792 793 Councilman Carn said it's hard for us to kind of gauge what type of money we're talking about in 794 total here to finish the project. Also, let’s make it large enough so that we can read. I asked about 795 that at the last meeting. I miss stuff all the time too, but this is a lot of money and I want to make 796 sure that we can see what we're talking about. At the end of the day I'm not willing to spend this 797 type of money on a new project if we can't accommodate some of the stuff that's long overdue in 798 this city. Every city does not have a Convention Center but if they did have one, they would love 799 to have one. I do not believe that they would let it degrade to the point where you got buckets. I 800 think we need to put the money into it if we're going to consider putting money into a new project. 801 I think we need to put money into sidewalks and I think it's very germane to this because that 802 sidewalk equals access to green space and parks. 803 804 Councilman Gay said I just want to clarify because I'm not really clear on what the councilmember 805 just said. Is the motion that we're going to spend $632,000 out of our general fund for this project? 806 807 Mayor Motley Broom said the motion is to adopt the funding resolution that is to be included in 808 the submission to the Georgia Department of Natural Resources and to correct a typo. 809 810 Councilman Gay said can you explain to me what that means, a fund resolution. 811 812 Mayor Motley Broom said that is on page -- 813 Page 20 of 27 Regular Session 10/03/2022 814 Councilman Gay said -- I haven't read it, just tell me please. Is there a certain amount of money 815 that this motion is going to take out of the general fund? 816 817 Ms. Alexander said the short answer is no. It's actually a commitment for 25% if you are awarded 818 which we don't know the amount we'll actually get awarded. 819 820 Councilman Gay said moving forward we apply for this grant, and we get awarded their grant. We 821 have a funding resolution that now says these partners have said - which by the way, there's no 822 letter commitments. 823 824 Ms. Alexander said there's two attached in the packet. 825 826 Councilman Gay said and that's going to go against if we’re awarded the contract? 827 828 Ms. Alexander said yes sir and this is an intent. So, the language and the resolution says you have 829 this intent. 830 831 Councilman Gay said how about this motion be an intent that we may not fund it. Why don't we 832 have the same option that we made in our resolution in the language of our resolution. What if this 833 body decides we may not fund it, why do we have to commit? 834 835 Ms. Hall-Garrison we get awarded then what happens is there are documents stating that they have 836 confirmation of funds currently and are confirmed to commit if awarded as stated in the letter that 837 was attached to the packet. So, we have a letter of commitment from each of our donors. 838 839 Councilman Gay said I want to clarify this for the record that we do not own Camp Truitt, but a 840 certain elected official sat in a Fulton County Chambers for nine hours to make a statement that I 841 don't know what this is. Yet tonight we're going to spend two hours to try and make sure that we 842 understand what this is. The other thing I'm going to tell you is that if you were to go to the 843 chairman or anybody at Camp Truitt and say College Park is serious about partnering with y'all 844 about promoting a livable center, we would have been had Camp Truitt. Why can't we add 845 sidewalks? It doesn't come out the enterprise fund? Why can't sidewalks be added to this? They 846 do it all the time on other items, why can't we have sidewalks? There are kids who care about 847 getting the school safe. Why can't sidewalks be added to this, it's sidewalks for children going to 848 the school. You want to do the creek, or you want to care about children? 849 850 [Mayor Motley Broom called for the vote] 851 852 ACTION: Councilman Clay moved to approve a request from Community Development 853 Administrator, Tasha Hall-Garrison to adopt a funding resolution to be included 854 in submission to GA Department of Nature Resourses Georgia Outdoor 855 Stewardship Program grant in October with corrections, seconded by 856 Councilman Allen. Councilman Carn and Councilman Gay voted no, Mayor 857 Motley Broom voted yes and motion carried. 858 859 10. New Business. Page 21 of 27 Regular Session 10/03/2022 860 861 None 862 863 11. City Attorney’s Report. 864 865 None 866 867 12. City Manager’s Report. 868 869 Interim City Manager Jackson Myers said good evening Madam Mayor and council. Just to inform 870 you we've have the city hall building renaming scheduled for October 17th and we're talking about 871 doing it at 3:30 which is an hour and a half prior to our meeting. Also the Atlanta Vietnam Veterans 872 Business Association, AVBA is scheduled to have their memorial service on October 25th at 11 873 A.M for a native Major Joseph Bishop. He went to Woodward Academy and everybody's invited 874 out. They're going to have the marching band from Woodward Academy. We also have a College 875 Park legislative delegation meeting tomorrow, October 4th. Rhodes Street Bridge is going to be 876 pouring concrete on October 10th. We got Georgia Environmental Financial Authority, who is 877 giving us money, and so we are putting solar panels on top of the public safety building. The fire 878 that we had over there on Victoria and Virginia was Rex Willis and he had some heirlooms that 879 were in there and some pictures. I'm glad that our Public Safety responded to it but I'm sorry but 880 that they didn't get to save the structure. 881 882 13. Report Of Mayor and Council. 883 884 Councilman Carn said I went by to see the fire that I heard about this morning with the Willis 885 family. I stopped by between the workshop and the council session and that was some devastation 886 there. I was really sorry to hear that, and I definitely want to send my concerns out to the Willis 887 family who’ve done a lot for this community throughout the years. You hate to see that happen 888 with anybody and to a home that you built and to lose something like that. I think we had good 889 discussions up here today and obviously everyone wants to get a chance to speak their peace, 890 deliberate, vote on it; and sometimes it goes the way you want it to go, and sometimes it doesn't. 891 That's just how it goes. I do want to see us put forth a little more effort in terms of making sure we 892 take care of some of the things that we already have that are in need of repair and upkeep. City 893 Manager some of those same items I want to see those on the next agendas, if possible, in terms 894 of taking a look at some of that stuff because I do believe it's stuff that we need to do and I'm sure 895 our residents as well as our visitors at the Convention Center would appreciate that. I would 896 consider an emergency repair. If we had a roof leak in City Hall, I think we would make sure we 897 got that fixed. If we had buckets out there in the lobby to catch water when it rained that's not a 898 good look for our residents. 899 900 I guess before the next meeting we're going to have the voter registration deadline which is October 901 11th. That's the last day to vote if anyone is interested in voting in the general elections in 902 November. College Park has always been pretty low numbers in terms of voter turnout, so I think 903 it's always important that we do something. There was a point where we used to offer voter 904 registration forms when people would come in or moving into the city. We're a very transient 905 population so it's hard to keep a voter rolls here. I don't know if we still do that at all or if that was Page 22 of 27 Regular Session 10/03/2022 906 eliminated since I left but I thought it was a pretty good idea because you have a lot of people that 907 come into town. One other revenue thing we talked about, and I think this has come up a couple 908 of times for me, Chief McCrary, the 911fee that's due to this city. Again, because we're so transient, 909 we miss out on those pennies, and like my grandma used to say pennies make dollars and they add 910 up. The 9-1-1 service fee for cell phones that dial 9-1-1 in this city, there is a portion of that tax 911 that goes to the City of College Park, however that cell phone has to be registered in the City of 912 College Park. I think that would add up and I think that would be something that we need to look 913 at and try to put together a program to encourage newcomers as well as people that lived here to 914 do that so that we receive those pennies. Perhaps we ought to give some kind of incentive to make 915 that change because the good part about them making that change is if or when they move out of 916 the city, it's less likely that they will ever switch that again. I've mentioned it a couple of times 917 and, but I think that's a source of revenues that we haven't considered, and I think we need to 918 consider. 919 920 Councilman Clay said I think it must have been two or three years ago now that we had an issue 921 with continuing complaints about brown water at the end of John Calvin and we had at that time 922 discussed it. I think I'm the one who actually brought it to council because a couple of my 923 constituents including the people that were planning to build this house that you heard about 924 tonight during public comment brought forward. I swear to God we'd have to go back and check 925 the records of the minutes but we approved a connection from the end of John Calvin down to the 926 street behind it which would be Conley. Conley comes in and then turns into JT Alexander if I'm 927 remembering it right. Anyhow we approved that in Council and we put that circulation loop in so 928 that there would not be brown water at the end of that. Now the person that is complaining tonight 929 to my recollection has not contacted me on this and this is the first time I was aware that work 930 hasn't been done. What I would like to know is one, why wasn't it done. Apparently from another 931 email I saw that maybe it was due to the change in the head of Public Works but that was a long 932 time ago that was approved so it should have been committed. We need to fix it, it's not fair to 933 those people that bought that house thinking that it was in the works. The second thing, I had a 934 question from a constituent today about completing our emergency action plan and it was 935 precipitated by the bad weather and the horrific damage that was done in Florida and then in the 936 Carolina’s. So, can we get that done Chief? I did hear a bit of good news today from Mr. Hicks 937 saying that we have a SAT phone now that connects to the emergency mobile site that we have. 938 That means that even if everything goes down, we will be able to get the word out. With every cell 939 tower gone, we will be able to call out in an emergency. That's a good step forward. Thanks for 940 following through on that Michael. Just a comment on the agenda, guys we need to do a better job 941 on the agenda. The item on the speed humps was misleading. There were two items in the agenda 942 that were for approval of the holidays and there were several other typographical errors I won't go 943 into in the agenda. Somebody needs to double check the agenda. Jackson, you guys got a lot to do 944 but somebody needs to double check the agenda when it's prepared and published for council 945 meeting. 946 947 Councilman Allen said I just have a couple of things. I went to the Women's Club program last 948 week, it was great. 125 years deserves recognition and celebration by the whole city. So, thanks to 949 the Women's Club. At the Tracy Wyatt Center last week, the WNBA held a clinic for young girls 950 and they had about a hundred young girls out there. It was great to see that, so thank you very 951 much for that program. The Main Street Association had a mixer, a Tri-Cities mixer with East Page 23 of 27 Regular Session 10/03/2022 952 Point and Hapeville at the Hotel Indigo about a week ago. It was good to talk to the other cities 953 about what was going on in the other cities, so I look forward to having more of those. Like 954 Councilman Carn, I looked at the house of the Willis and I mean the house is completely destroyed 955 along with a lot of memories photographs and everything else. So Rex if there's anything we can 956 do or anything I can do, please let me know. I’m looking forward to the legislative luncheon 957 tomorrow and talking with the legislators about what we think they need to look at and listen to. 958 Lastly, the Police Department, again thanks a lot for Trunk or Treat. If anybody wants to donate 959 money or candy, I guess if they contact Officer Paniagua, he'll take both. I look forward to seeing 960 everybody there. 961 962 Councilman Gay said we have a business in our Ward that continues to be out of compliance of 963 the ordinance. I'm told that if Code Enforcement doesn’t see them in the act there’s nothing we 964 can do. I would like for Legal and the City Manager to help us figure out what legal ways we have 965 to enforce it. When Code Enforcement was under Police, we had an apartment that was continuing 966 to be out of compliance and the Police Department wrote a letter, a quality-of-life letter, and it 967 made a tremendous difference. Mr. Myers since sidewalks came up and it's coming out the general 968 fund, I would like to see it on the agenda. If it gets voted down then it gets voted down, but I think 969 it should come up. I talked with TMSA with their new Executive Director, they said they'll get 970 behind it to try and support it. I think it'll be great to be able to safely walk up and down that street 971 where there's a school. For the record Winthrop, Williamsburg, and Lakeshore are the streets that 972 we’d like paved, so there won't be any misunderstanding. If any council member wants to go and 973 measure it that's fine with me. On Old National we noticed that marketers are posting flyers on our 974 poles and they’re all over up and down the street. I think that's defacing property so I think our 975 Police Department should look at that as the defacing property. The next thing is Camp Truitt, I 976 just want to reiterate since Camp Truitt came up. Camp Truitt is 39 Acres, it's just a gorgeous 977 complex and if there was any opportunity to put the kind of energy that we put into this thing 978 tonight at Camp Truitt, it would be great. All I can do is be prophetic since we’re not getting some 979 of these votes our way. I want to say this to my colleagues, we only hit temporary. We all got 980 expiration dates on us. There is something I want to say prophetically, you will reap what you sow. 981 My granddaddy told me that you'll read good things and you're going to read bad things and you 982 may not see it immediately, but you will. We answer to a higher call than just these action items 983 and when you're not equitable and fair it comes out. I had a situation where I sat up here for years 984 and I was miserable and now that situation is not here anymore. You reap what you sow in life. 985 The next thing that I want to say is that the senior tax exemption came up again. I just want to be 986 clear that I understand that we have a means test that if you get $400 social security and your 987 husband/wife is deceased, you can't make more than $400 to get taxed. You gotta be dirt poor. 988 That's how I understand it, just to break it down in a simple language, you gotta be dirt poor. The 989 last thing, there’s 175 viewers that I see on our social media. I wish those 175 viewers that I 990 continually see watching this will go talk to another 175 people. Guys please start watching, please 991 start listening, please start being aware of what these people are talking about and what they're 992 arguing about. We cannot continue to sit up here and let people make decisions for us based on 993 their interests because that's all it is. There's an election next year. When we gave a black contractor 994 $40,000 that whole Ward 1 was ready to just tear the city down. We spend millions of dollars that 995 don't go to equitable people and where's Ward 1? Nowhere to be found. I hope Ward 4 wakes up 996 and I hope Ward 2 wakes up and in Ward 3. 997 Page 24 of 27 Regular Session 10/03/2022  998 Mayor Motley Broom said the Youth Council applications have been extended for two more weeks. 999 The deadline is now the 14th. If you have an 8th through 12th grader living in the City of College 1000 Park, we want them to be involved in the Youth Council because we want to make sure that we 1001 are developing the next generation of leaders in our community as we continue to build the 1002 community that we deserve. I had the opportunity last week to represent the city at the White 1003 House. I got an invitation to join in the celebration for the Atlanta Braves World Series 1004 Championship, and it was an incredible opportunity. I’m very grateful to the White House Office 1005 of Intergovernmental Affairs for extending the invitation. It was one of those things that you'll just 1006 never forget, so I was pleased to represent the city in that celebration. I want to also thank not only 1007 my colleagues on Council but our community members throughout our city, the South Fulton 1008 region and even folks from North Fulton for showing up at our Local Options Sales Tax Town 1009 Hall last week. It was a great opportunity to continue to discuss this issue, which is so vitally 1010 important to so many people in our county. We have mediation set again on Friday for discussions 1011 with the county in regard to that. It's going to be a penny tax that dictates 10% of our general fund, 1012 so it's a vital part of how we get business done here. This is about Public Safety, Public Works and 1013 all the things that you think about when a when the core operations of a city are entertained. 1014 1015 I am also looking forward to our legislative delegation luncheon tomorrow. We have a number of 1016 our representatives from both the House and the Senate who will be in attendance. There are a 1017 number of important issues that we'll be discussing with them as they go into the legislative session 1018 that starts in January. One of those things is housing reform. As some of you may know, we have 1019 been at the heart of discussions in regard to build to rent legislation and also in regard to design 1020 standards because those are some of the things that we need in College Park. The design of our 1021 houses are not necessarily the things that other communities would contemplate living in the 1022 shadow of the world's busiest airport. That means we have different needs than communities like 1023 Brunswick or Macon or any other place in our great state. I was asked last week to talk at a Housing 1024 and Urban Development conference in November on some of these issues and the influx of 1025 institutional investors that are buying homes in our area. I also had a chance the week before last 1026 to attend additional Georgia Municipal Association training with a practical ethics class and one 1027 regarding public problems and democratic decisions. I tell you that because one of the things that 1028 I find so useful is being with our peers across the state and learning from them, and what works in 1029 their communities so we can bring it back and make our city even better. 1030 1031 I want to thank Ms. Hall-Garrison for two things: one, there is the Region 4 Brownfields New 1032 Grantee Workshop that is happening on Wednesday, and we are hosting that in our auditorium. 1033 It's a big deal as we have benefited greatly from Brownfields grants. Some of the projects that you 1034 are seeing come to fruition in our community are ones that were only possible because we were 1035 able to remediate these areas and then build some really great things. We've done such a good job 1036 of it that the EPA is coming here to talk to new grantees and walk them through the process. I 1037 think it's a real testament to the work that is going on in our Economic Development Department. 1038 I also want to thank Ms. Hall-Garrison for her leadership on the Equitable Dinners Conversation 1039 last night. It was an amazing event. They were held across the city, actually across the metro area; 1040 and their goal was to have 5,000 people at 500 tables talk about some of the issues that are 1041 surrounding how we live. Issues of equity, inclusion, and diversity and it was a very powerful 1042 conversation with participants who were bold and courageous and really open to listening and 1043 learning. I was very grateful to be a part of that. Page 25 of 27 Regular Session 10/03/2022 1044 1045 I wanted to pick up on a couple of issues that that had brought had been addressed this evening. I 1046 wholeheartedly agree that we need to make progress on sidewalks. They are an issue of public 1047 safety and I would support a vibrant discussion about that because I think that as we continue to 1048 build the community that we deserve, we need to improve those quality of life issues and sidewalks 1049 are one of those ways. Lakeshore is one of the areas in which we have some real issues because 1050 we've got kids who are trying to get to school, and we've got people who use that as a connection 1051 to Herschel Road and elsewhere. I think that the nature of how we use our neighborhoods has 1052 changed and so I would welcome that discussion. We have R&B night on Thursday from 6 to 7:30 1053 out in front of our auditorium. We invite everyone to come and enjoy the sounds of R&B. We are 1054 grateful to our Recreation and Cultural Arts department and all of their partners including the 1055 Fulton County Arts commission for putting on this event. I also wanted to echo, I think Camp 1056 Truitt was something that we were discussing earlier, and I do think that it is an absolutely amazing 1057 property with great potential. If there are opportunities for us to work with Fulton County to make 1058 that more of a community asset, I think we should absolutely go for it and we can continue to 1059 examine that. My last understanding was that it was going to be a sports complex but I don't believe 1060 that has come to fruition. 1061 1062 Last week we had a great meeting with representatives from Aerotropolis and our Economic 1063 Development Department to continue to discuss some of the ways in which we are learning and 1064 leading from the southern cities economic and inclusion initiative. We are one of 13 cities in the 1065 Southeast participating in this program that is giving us a foundation to promote and grow our 1066 equitable development. Aerotropolis has thirty thousand dollars to give us on the road to planning 1067 and working towards a more equity focused solutions especially in our Old National-Godby Road 1068 corridor. I’m so looking forward to continuing those discussions as well. Lastly, I want to make 1069 sure that there's a little bit of clarity in regard to the senior tax exemption because I think there's 1070 some misunderstandings about the income limits. Within that resolution that was adopted back in 1071 August, it reflects that the income limit for an individual is that of what the Social Security 1072 maximum is for age 65, which is approximately $42,000. It is in the $40,000 range, so the limit 1073 for a couple would be in the $80,000 range. I don't want there to be any misperceptions or 1074 misunderstandings about that or prohibit those who are eligible for applying if and when the voters 1075 say that is something that should move forward. 1076 1077 14. Executive Session. 1078 1079 ACTION: Councilman Clay moved to approve Cyber Security A in the amount of 1080 $99,513.00, seconded by Councilman Carn and motion carried. 1081 1082 ACTION: Councilman Clay moved to approve Cyber Security B in the amount of 1083 $49,640.00, seconded by Councilman Carn and motion carried. 1084 1085 15. Approval of Executive Session Minutes. 1086 1087 ACTION: Councilman Clay moved to approve Executive Session Minutes dated October 1088 3, 2022, seconded by Councilman Carn and motion carried. 1089 Page 26 of 27 Regular Session 10/03/2022 1090 1091 16. Adjournment. 1092 1093 Mayor Motley Broom declared the Regular Session adjourned at 10:40 p.m. 1094 1095 1096 1097 1098 1099 1100 1101 1102 CITY OF COLLEGE PARK 1103 1104 _________________________ 1105 Bianca Motley Broom, Mayor 1106 1107 1108 1109 ATTEST: 1110 1111 1112 ________________________ 1113 Shavala Ames, City Clerk 1114 Page 27 of 27 Regular Session 10/03/2022