City Council

1 CITY OF COLLEGE PARK 2 MAYOR AND CITY COUNCIL 3 REGULAR SESSION 4 OCTOBER 17, 2022 5 6 MINUTES 7 8 1. Opening Ceremonies. 9 10 A. Pledge of allegiance to the flag. 11 12 B. Invocation by Chaplin Walker 13 14 2. Additions, Deletions, Amendments, Or Changes To The Agenda. 15 16 ACTION: Councilman Clay moved to remove item 6a. Public Hearing for the NW Clayton 17 LCI, add 7d. Capital Improvement Projects for Georgia International Convention 18 Center and Gateway Arena, and add 8f. Water System at John Calvin, seconded by 19 Councilman Carn and motion carried. (All voted yes). 20 21 3. Presentation Of Minutes Of City Council. 22 23 A. Regular Session held on October 3, 2022. 24 25 ACTION: Councilman Clay moved to approve Regular Session Minutes dated October 3, 2022, 26 as presented, seconded by Councilman Carn and motion carried. (All voted yes). 27 28 B. Workshop Session held on October 3, 2022. 29 30 ACTION: Councilman Clay moved to approve Workshop Session Minutes dated October 3, 31 2022, as presented, seconded by Councilman Allen and motion carried. (All voted 32 yes). 33 34 4. Proclamations, Resolutions, Plaques, And Announcements. 35 36 5. Remarks Of Citizens. 37 38 a) Jamelle McKenzie of 2447 Odell Way said I don't know if it's gonna take three minutes, 39 but I want to begin by just acknowledging that it was amazing weekend that we had here 40 in the City of College Park. For those of you that were able to attend the Fall Festival and 41 the ribbon cutting for the splash pad, I just want to say to Councilman Gay, you did a 42 fabulous job. I've never seen anything like that in the City of College Park and I just want 43 to thank you and all the staff for all that you did. I'm sure it'll be brought up again. Ignite 44 was there and we gave away over 800 books for our Read to Succeed. As you know, we've 45 held Read to Succeed events in every wards. The last ward was Ward 4 and we were really 46 happy to be able to be a blessing to so many people and to see people out this past weekend. 47 I also want to say thank you for the award that was given to me on behalf of the City of 48 College Park which was for outstanding leadership as being the chairman of the Business 49 Industrial Development Authority as well as my role as the Executive Director of Ignite. I 50 think that when people give you flowers, you ought to say thank you. I'm very honored to 51 serve in the capacities that I serve. I love this city and I love to see what's going on and the 52 positivity. I didn't speak at the hearing because I've already made my voice clear and from 53 what I've heard, Mayor and Council let us consider the voice of the people. Let us hear 54 what the people are saying. What I'm hearing is that maybe there are some other options. 55 Let's continue to investigate the other options that we can find. Let's use transparency and 56 if we can give this time maybe this is something that we don't have to do this week or this 57 month or this by the end of this year. Tax revenues are coming in and they're going to be 58 increased. I know we need the money and I do trust you that you will find it and do what's 59 best on behalf of the citizens of College Park. Thank you again for your time. 60 61 b) Bertha Hightower Smith of said good evening honorable Mayor Motley Broom, fellow 62 Councilmen, and officers of the city. We want to thank you for the opportunity to stand 63 before you tonight. I am here along with some of the committee members for preserving 64 the African American Heritage of College Park. The old African American community in 65 College Park was situated west of Main Street. Like many other Southern African 66 American communities during segregation, this community was thriving and economically 67 self-sustaining with businesses, churches, schools, etc. We stand on the shoulders of our 68 ancestors of College Park who lived in and built this community. The great City of College 69 Park as you know in the latter 70s and 80s, the citizens of this community were uprooted 70 and misplaced due to the land purchase by the Atlanta Hartsfield Airport. The homes and 71 businesses were torn down. I come to you with a proposal for preserving the rich heritage 72 of this community. Number one, obtaining Price Barbershop and the house adjacent to it 73 positioning for both structures to be placed on the historic registry for the purpose of 74 creating a museum. Number two, historical markers where churches, schools, businesses, 75 etc. were once occupied. Number three, bricks with the names and addresses of the 76 indigenous families. These bricks are to be laid on the sidewalk in front of the museum. 77 Number four, museum be placed with the Chamber of Commerce to create visibility as a 78 tourist attraction and utilizing tour guides to the historic sites. Lastly, we would like to have 79 a seat at the table for creating and assisting with historical data and placement. 80 81 c) Ginger Blackstone of 1928 Walker Ave said good evening. I'm gonna be quick, I'm a little 82 confused about all of the historic comments down here. I understood that there were some 83 historic plaques that are going to be placed by Kennesaw State. I've been trying to segue 84 the College Park Historical Society which was in the 80s and everyone's started with my 85 great grandmother as a founding member. We have a number of people who are not white. 86 I do live in Ambrose's district but what I am trying to do and have been trying is to do is 87 embrace our city as a whole. I don't care what your heritage is. If you’re College Park, 88 you’re College Park. I grew up here and lived in Newton Estates which was not built for 89 the black community. We were totally segregated. I didn't get to have any black friends Page 2 of 18 Regular Session 10/17/2022  90 and they didn't get to have any white friends. We were taught on both sides to be afraid of 91 one another. Well we aren't like that now; we have a very mixed and beautiful community. 92 I'm thrilled to hear that there's an over marginalized group again to embrace the black 93 historic place. I am confused about the Kennesaw thing. I'm wondering if there's any money 94 coming from College Park to do that because we never receive a penny for our 501©3, 95 which is the official College Park Historical Society. I see a real value in merging this but 96 there's not a lot of money and COVID put the cabbage on it. The last presentation we had 97 was Black History Month in February and it would have been right as COVID kicked in. 98 Someone came in and took items right through the window, but I know someone had to 99 use a key because they couldn't climb through it like that. They stole a signed picture from 100 Walt Bellamy who is no longer with us. They stole a football jacket; they stole things that 101 couldn't be replaced. Too much access to that building and it has cut down tremendously 102 under our current record, but we had no funding there. We don't ask for funding. We are 103 not a black community, we're a community. I just want y'all to know we are here. Thank 104 you very much, I appreciate it. 105 106 d) (Email read verbatim by the City Clerk) Last week, on October 13th, a grant program our 107 city checks every box for, passed us by. The 200 million dollar US Department of 108 Transportation “Reconnecting Communities” Grant for discretionary planning and capital 109 improvements aligned perfectly with the needs of our community and our new Bridge BUT 110 we missed the deadline and barely knew about it. 111 Mayor and Council PLEASE give support to our city with a staff member (interim at least) 112 dedicated to helping the Office of Economic Development to get the materials together in 113 a unified, accessible way for this office to put College Park in the running for these kinds 114 of funds. 115 125 communities will share these funds and we won’t be one of them. Thankfully, the tri- 116 cities will still have an opportunity to receive the USDOT money because East Point 117 applied and the Aerotropolis “Greenway Plan” was added in the eleventh hour. 118 We are worthy of these funds. Please support our city staff so we don’t miss out again. 119 Thank you, Grace Lunsford 120 121 e) Mr. Stanley Muhammad of 4342 Lafayette Lane said I emailed my comment earlier but I 122 thought I would just say them in person. First, I want to say that I’m a proud citizen of 123 Ward 4. My wife, myself and my grandchildren was blessed to go to the wonderful event 124 in Ward 4. It was an absolutely wonderful event. Councilman Roderick Gay, I want to 125 commend you. One thing I want to say that I like about Councilman Roderick Gay is that 126 every time I see him, I see him with his family. It's strong families to make a strong 127 community and we have to start repairing the family. I see his wife all the time and his 128 children supporting him and what he does. We have so many dysfunctional families in 129 College Park, single family households that we need to start addressing. It's a good image 130 and I don't think it's a hypocritical or political image. It was a peaceful event because we 131 had our wonderful Chief of Police who had those soldiers who were wonderful and 132 hospitable. It was peaceful, there was no bad incident. We have a good Chief of Police and Page 3 of 18 Regular Session 10/17/2022 133 what baffles me is that I look on the website and see you’re looking for another Chief. 134 What also baffles me, I was at the pastor leadership conference of yours Mayor and you 135 unveiled the wonderful black City Manager but now she's gone. I see an Interim City 136 Manager, Mr. Myers. I don't know what happened and no one's saying anything to us as 137 constituents. What's going on? We have a good black Chief of Police and I don't want to 138 hear about her being harassed because you think you got the power. You're not the power 139 and God's going to show you you're not the power. You need to humble yourself and you 140 need to start listening to what the people want or God will remove you. You might say I'm 141 sick of him, well maybe we’re sick of you too. We're sick of you actually making decisions 142 that don’t reflect the will of the people, so take it down. I don't agree with this City Manager 143 Mr. Myers for many reasons about complaints on him. How did he become an interim? 144 What happened to our black City Manager? You just get rid of people because you feel 145 like it and that's not how life works. I pray that you reconsider the way you're thinking and 146 the way you're treating these heads of staff. They're not your slaves and you're not God. 147 God will one day show you you're not him, humble yourself. I close with the Bible, when 148 the corruption or the corruptible will put on the incorruptible God. I bless you with the light 149 of understanding as I greet you in peace. As-salaam Alailkum. 150 151 f) Ken Jenkins of 4062 Glenda Drive said I have been there approximately 39 years. I'm 152 coming to the podium to speak on the City Manager. Not to say Mr. Myers is doing a good 153 job or a bad job but we've been working under the premise of interim for over about a year 154 now. I really think it's hard to do business when somebody has the label interim. An interim 155 coach isn’t going to the Super Bowl, the head coach is going to go to the Super Bowl and 156 he's going to pick who he wants to pick. I think that process needs to be taken into 157 consideration because the City Manager needs to know the people that he's hiring in his 158 different departments. This isn't a negative comment but I just think without that direction, 159 we're going to be stumbling along the way and that's kind of where we've been over the 160 last year or so. I think it's imperative that we put priority on whoever we're going to get for 161 City Manager and let them pick their team and let them go forward. I think it's going to be 162 a lot easier to come together as a city if we have somebody that's going to lead us that way. 163 Thank you so much. 164 165 g) Larry Brady Evans of 2112 West Princeton said that’s where I've lived for the last 63 years 166 of my life. I've heard the ugly and the bad. It's not for me to judge, it's the truth of the 167 matter. Tonight, I like to greet you all in the greetings of peace and understanding. I like to 168 greet you all with the good that I've gotten over the past month of living here in the City of 169 College Park. I'm the only original resident that lives in the black community that my 170 former neighbors were speaking of. I’d like to commend you Mayor for your reward that 171 you got for serving as one of the 100 women to do what you do. Roderick Gay, I can't say 172 nothing no different than what I've already heard. You did an outstanding job and you may 173 be very proud to be in College Park. I saw people from all wards, it wasn't just your ward 174 it was all. That's what we all are part of, the human race. When we start to respect each 175 other with truth as God has created us, I think there'll be peace and healing in the land. I Page 4 of 18 Regular Session 10/17/2022 176 want to give a special thanks to the Fire Department, those guys came out and they 177 represented beautifully with the children and everybody personally. A tree fell in my 178 community, and it was on a Saturday, and I had no power. College Park Power was out 179 there in 30 minutes; and they had this guy, I want to commend him and his family. They 180 call him Squirrel, who went up that post and got my power back on. That says a lot to me, 181 so I’d like to commend all of you all. I've heard the good, the bad, and the ugly. So, let's 182 move forward that God's will be done not our will, but thou will be done. Thank you that 183 came before you in the greetings of peace. 184 185 h) Sharonda Dobson said I'm new here and I'm actually thankful to be a part of what you all 186 are doing tonight by coming together and sharing ideas to try to make the community better. 187 On a very positive note, I am here with Subrenia Willis, and I have an honor of being here 188 with her today because she was part of the event that just happened on October 4 th. It was 189 through the Atlanta Business League which is an organization that recognizes the top 100 190 black women of influence. These women have significantly impacted the Metro Atlanta 191 Community due to dedication and hard work. They all have demonstrated their 192 commitment to the citizens of Metro Atlanta by maintaining significant involvement in 193 participation in community and civic activities. In October, your very own College Park 194 community leader Subrenia Willis was the second award finalist of success against the 195 odds and received this great honor and recognition for her contributions. Subrenia was 196 personally showcased at this 38th annual Super Tuesday conference where she received 197 this award and I think she should be commended on all the things she has done so far in 198 the College Park community and the things she continued to strive to come to do. I'm here 199 as an honor to be her friend and a witness to her receiving that award. Just knowing all the 200 things she has done as far as contributing to this great community, I just wanted her to 201 receive recognition for that and thought that would be something great for you all to 202 celebrate. 203 204 i) Subrenia Willis said it's been a tough week and many of you know we lost our home in the 205 fire. The next day I had to show up for Super Tuesday to get the award and it was hard for 206 me. I met Ms. Rhonda there and just listening and hearing the story and I shouted out 207 College Park and what a great city. I just wanted to be there to show up but sometimes 208 things hit you and they hit you hard and you have to be able to keep moving forward. I just 209 want to say thank you all. College Park Fire, y'all are wonderful. College Park Police 210 Department, y'all are wonderful. Council, you all are wonderful. Thanks for being there 211 because that was a tough night and everybody worked hard to take care of that situation. 212 So I just want to say thank you. On Saturday I attended the Fall Festival over at Phillips 213 Park and that's community. I had such a wonderful time and just seeing people enjoying 214 themselves and the activities. That was a day well spent. Thank you all. 215 216 j) Rex Willis said good evening. Subrenia took some of my words so I'm going to be quick. 217 I have so much respect for Fire. I really got a chance to see what they really do and they 218 really fought that fire. If they hadn't fought so hard it would have got the house on the side Page 5 of 18 Regular Session 10/17/2022 219 of us and behind us. That fire really burned. So thank you College Park for working so hard 220 and it makes me feel good. My son is a firefighter, so it's a part of that. Ambrose, thank 221 you for coming by taking a moment and I really appreciate that. Joe, you came by, thank 222 you very much. Ken, you came by also, I appreciate it. Roderick as Subrenia said, what 223 you did on Saturday was so awesome. Thank you for the award. I support you and you 224 really do care about your Ward and you do a lot of great things. I know sometimes people 225 feel you come off the wrong way but you really fight for your constituents and that's 226 important. Thank you, Jackson, for reaching out, I appreciate it and many others. It was 227 very devastating to lose over 40 years. Now, I didn't hear from the Mayor. I'm not going to 228 be smashed but I didn't feel right. I'm her neighbor. Anybody else I know she would have 229 reached out. We had something today with Jack Longino. Jack would have been there, well 230 he's my friend so I'm not knocking that but I'm a constituent regardless of the politics. Just 231 a text saying hey Mr. Willis I'm sorry to say you lost your house. That's sorry. You been 232 talking about that since you've been in here, you're going to bring us together and I haven't 233 seen it. People can say Rex, you come down here all the time. Yeah, cause I get off my 234 butt and do something about supporting this community. Subrenia have continued fighting 235 for the city, representing the city. Jack never was vindictive. Roderick, you voted for his 236 name, she didn't want his name up there. I shouldn't be saying it but I'm gonna say it 237 because people need to know who can represent them behind closed doors. I'm not going 238 to go behind you and talk about you. If I got something to say, I’ll say it to your face. We 239 do need to come together. We need to love more of each other, but being vindictive because 240 I don't support you, that's wrong to kick you when you're down, it's wrong. 241 242 k) Xeron Pledger of 4350 Janice Drive said I wanted to come up and just kind of first thank 243 you. I did an event a few weeks ago called Push for Change and I wanted to thank Mercedes 244 Miller and Daryl Lloyd over to GICC for working with us to try to get that event put 245 together. I want to thank our Captain Wilson and Major Ward for coming and being 246 panelists for our event. The Push for Change event was an event for where we’re working 247 to fight against violence, to fight against the things that our young people see and ultimately 248 changed what they see. Then hopefully change what they do and ultimately change the 249 decisions that they make. It was great for them to be a part of that. Mayor, thank you for 250 coming out and bringing greetings for our Gala on that evening. I say all of this because as 251 I sit and I listen to everyone on that day, it showed me that when we come together, the 252 City of College Park it could be phenomenal. When everybody put their personal agendas 253 aside and focus on the things that are important for the community, it showed me how 254 phenomenal it could be. So as I sit and I listen to the things that are going on, where people 255 have vendettas, personal agendas, personal objectives, it defeats the purpose of community. 256 I've had conversations with Gay, I've had conversations with the Mayor, I've had 257 conversations with Carn and I've had conversations with Clay but I haven't spoken to you 258 as much Councilman Allen; but I've even had conversations with some of the people that 259 are here in the audience and we have to figure out what steps can be taken to where we 260 separate ourselves from the personal agendas and figure out what we can do collectively 261 to push this city forward. It's a sad situation when we have a black eye due to the fact that Page 6 of 18 Regular Session 10/17/2022 262 things are being said about how we do things in silos opposed to how we can be beautified 263 as we talk about doing things collectively. You guys know me as I'm constantly in the 264 community having conversations with people, I'm not going away. I have to agree with 265 something that my friend said earlier about the Interim City Manager. I'm not sure what 266 the situation is with the City Manager or what happened to the last City Manager however, 267 it's kind of challenging for the City Manager to be the person that runs the day-to-day 268 operations but not being able to oversee the hiring practices or the hiring of those that are 269 coming in as department heads and other positions. That's something else I think that we 270 need to consider as well. Think about what we need to do to have a full-time City Manager 271 so that person can understand the personalities and the dynamics of what's going on with 272 the city. 273 274 6. Public Hearings 275 276 7. Other Business 277 278 A. Consideration of and action on a request from New Hope World Outreach to a hold a 279 Community Outreach event on October 29, 2022, from 10:00 a.m. until 3:00 p.m. at Zupp 280 Park. 281 282 Councilman Allen said I just have a couple of questions. Are you going to be renting all the 283 pavilions? 284 285 Ms. Gibson said not all three, we really only need one. We just need an open space. This is an 286 event that we did a couple of years ago but it was at the airport executive park where we have a 287 small church there. We gave out free food, free clothing, free games and the Police and the Fire 288 Department was there. We've given out a hundred coats to two schools in College Park with the 289 principal because the kids did not have coats. We're looking to do more community outreach where 290 we can help the community even though we're small. 291 292 Councilman Allen said the other comment I have, we had an event there not too long ago, are you 293 going to be having any loud music or loudspeakers. 294 295 Ms. Gibson said we'll have speakers, but they won't be loud. 296 297 Councilman Allen said the reason why I asked because there's a cemetery right next door and the 298 last time they had an event they had a gravesite service for someone. There was loudspeakers and 299 music which kind of disrupted the service. Make sure you get in touch with the cemetery to let 300 them know that you're going to be there and there's not going to be any loudspeakers. 301 302 ACTION: Councilman Carn moved to approve a request from City Clerk Shavala Ames to 303 allow New Hope World Outreach to a hold a Community Outreach event on October 304 29, 2022, from 10:00a.m. until 3:00 p.m. at Zupp Park, seconded by Councilman 305 Clay and motion carried. (All voted yes). 306 Page 7 of 18 Regular Session 10/17/2022 307 B. Consideration and action for approval of the proposed 2023 City Council Meeting 308 Schedule. 309 310 Councilman Gay said is this any different from the last calendar year. 311 312 City Clerk Shavala Ames said no. 313 314 Councilman Clay said there is one correction though, you had included a first meeting in July, 315 which we don't normally have, and you responded to me that it was a mistake. 316 317 Councilman Allen said the 20th of February is the President's Day. 318 319 Ms. Ames said we don't celebrate for President's Day. 320 321 ACTION: Councilman Clay moved to approve a request from City Clerk Shavala Ames to 322 adopt the 2023 City of College Park Council Meeting Schedule, seconded by 323 Councilman Gay and motion carried. (All voted yes). 324 325 C. Consideration of and action on a Resolution to amend proposed Homestead Legislation. 326 327 City Attorney Winston Denmark said in the initial resolution we adopted, the gross income was 328 not adequately defined and so this amendment to the legislation would define or tether gross 329 income to a full retirement age as that term is defined in the Social Security Act. That is an 330 objective benchmark that would avoid kind of fluctuations and it would be as that statutory term 331 were amended by Congress. We would still be bound by a full retirement age as that term is defined 332 in the statute. 333 334 Mayor Motley Broom said that's approximately $40,000. 335 336 Mr. Denmark said $40,000 for single then it would be doubled that so you would get credit for you 337 and a spouse. 338 339 Councilman Clay said I want to make sure that we're all in sync on this. I've had dialogue back 340 and forth with Danielle. She made a couple changes, and it was to improve the wording a little bit 341 in there. The one thing that is not spelled out in detail, is it only addresses the case of someone 342 living with their spouse. It doesn't specifically say that if you're not living with your spouse the 343 income limitation on the federal tax filing is $40,000. I just want to make that clear. I don't want 344 everybody thinking that everybody gets $80,000 as opposed to $40,000. 345 346 Councilman Carn said what is the full retirement age currently. 347 348 Mr. Denmark said I believe it's 67. 349 350 Councilman Carn said from my understanding it’s just a matter of time that it’s going to lower in 351 the future at some point with the boom of senior citizens coming into the next 10 years supposedly. 352 Page 8 of 18 Regular Session 10/17/2022 353 Councilman Clay said the clarification is it's the amount Social Security grants you at full 354 retirement, but it is effective in our case at 65. 355 356 Councilman Carn said so our numbers is not changeable. 357 358 Mr. Denmark said that's an important clarification. For our purposes, you're eligible at age 65 to 359 receive the homestead exemption and how we calculate the income is based on the full term of 360 age. 361 362 Councilman Gay said at 65 years of age, this resolution means you make can't exceed $40,000 per 363 person? 364 365 Mr. Denmark said it would be the gross income limit of what you would get at full retirement age 366 for Social Security which is about $40,000 a year. 367 368 Councilman Gay said if a schoolteacher has a very small pension, they would be ineligible because 369 they have this pension over their social security limits? 370 371 Mr. Denmark said no, we're looking at gross income and so it would just be a number. It would 372 depend on how much that individual earned. 373 374 Councilman Gay said I propose this Senior Exemption a year ago during COVID. I spent maybe 375 four hours on a Zoom call with Ms. Miller and Councilman Clay. I never would have thought in a 376 million years that this would have created such controversy from being signed by the Governor to 377 being threatened by the Secretary of State to come down here and force us to put on a ballot. Still 378 to this night we're still on this. I just wish we would put this much passion on some other thoughts. 379 This is amazing that this took the turn that it took and yet it still has to be passed by the Governor. 380 What does this cost because when I proposed this, we were careful to calculate the cost through 381 the tax office. When the governor signed it was $1.8 million. 382 383 Director of Accounting and Finance Althea Philord-Bradley said I’m sorry, you quoted $800,000. 384 385 Councilman Gay said no, we had two other proposals that we asked you to give us a cost of the 386 legislation. What does this cost us? 387 388 Ms. Philord-Bradley said about $180,000. 389 390 ACTION: Councilman Allen moved to approve a request from City Attorney Danielle 391 Matricardi to amend Resolution 2022-27, seconded by Councilman Clay and motion 392 carried. (All voted yes). 393 394 D. Capital Improvements at the GICC (Update Only) 395 396 Director of the GICC and Gateway Arena Mercedes Miller said good evening, Mayor and Council. 397 I just want to give an update on the capital improvements that we're doing at the GICC. First of 398 all, we are trying to keep money in Tourist Product Development (TPD). Currently we have a Page 9 of 18 Regular Session 10/17/2022 399 budget of $675,000. Also SPLOST, which is over a million dollars. I do need to explain that these 400 are special revenue funds and you have to use them for a specific reason by law. We can use them 401 for the Convention Center or any improvements and some of them only on the side of Clayton 402 County. So these are not funds that can be used for anything else in the city. This year we are going 403 to put cameras over in the golf course and have those cameras connected to our security office at 404 the Convention Center because we've had a couple break-ins over there. We also had a fire panel 405 that we had on the budget. To replace the fire panel is about half a million dollars. We need 406 wayfinding signage around the building, so we will be replacing the way finding signage. We also 407 have two bids for the roof repair that we mentioned at one of the other meetings. We are trying to 408 save a lot of the SPLOST funding so that we can get the roof glazed to extend the life of the roof. 409 The other things that we are getting is an internal digital signage. We also have a board that gives 410 you information regarding the flights at the airport. Those need to be replaced as they are no longer 411 working but we're going to use SPLOST money. We'll still have money sitting there in case we 412 have an emergency or if we have any emergency repairs at the Convention Center. 413 414 Councilman Clay said I wish some of the people who were here during the hearing for the millage 415 rate increase who made the comment about we ought to be looking for ways to cut costs, save 416 costs, etc. Mercedes, I want to compliment you. I think you are the perfect example of coming up 417 with creative ways to stretch our money. 418 419 Ms. Miller said thank you and I really appreciate that. 420 421 Councilman Carn said ditto on that. Mercedes definitely knows how to make a nickel holla but 422 that's exactly what we're looking for and she does a wonderful job of that. She is an example of 423 savings. She’s also an example of some of the things that we dealt with earlier this year whereas 424 again grabbing the reins of our budgetary process. We have to have it and in order to have control 425 of our budgetary process. Our department heads have to be free to bring to us the issue so we can 426 allocate appropriately. 427 428 Councilman Allen said I just like to echo in what everybody else is saying. You've done a fantastic 429 job over there. When things were tight during COVID you had to lay off a lot of people. You did 430 take the reins, so I appreciate it. It also speaks to your crew and the people that you have working 431 for you. They all do a fabulous job, so thanks for those people as well. 432 433 Councilman Gay said when you said that the SPLOST could only be used in Clayton County, are 434 those the same SPLOST dollars that could be used in the Godby Road part of Clayton County? 435 436 Mr. Myers said yes. Part of Godby Road is in Clayton County which is past the Tracy Wyatt 437 Recreation Center. I didn't want us to lose the Clayton County T-SPLOST so I'd ask for more 438 money than we would ever be able to get, but we're only going to get 1.2 out of it. 439 440 Councilman Gay said I think it's very much needed but I also would like for us to also consider 441 that side of Clayton County because as you go towards West Fayetteville for me, that's some 442 opportunity for capital projects. 443 Page 10 of 18 Regular Session 10/17/2022 444 Mr. Myers said yes sir, we did that in the previous years. We used that money for the fire station 445 in Clayton County and West Fayetteville Road. We felt that this this cycle would be something 446 that would be more beneficial to the citizens and everybody by collecting this money for the GICC. 447 448 8. Bids, Change Order Requests and Contracts. 449 450 A. Consideration of and action on agreement with Kennesaw State University Museums, 451 Archives and Rare Books to develop a historical exhibit in the city. 452 453 Mayor Motley Broom said I believe this was sent back to legal so we can secure an understanding 454 regarding the intellectual property. 455 456 Mr. Denmark said the way the agreement was originally written, Kennesaw State would own the 457 intellectual property even though we were funding the project and that was counter-intuitive and 458 against what traditionally happens. Generally, when you pay for the project, you own the 459 intellectual property. In section five of the agreement, which is on packet page 121, we have 460 revised that language to provide that the City of College Park would own intellectual property 461 however we would allow Kennesaw State to use it for non-commercial purposes because they may 462 need to promote themselves or do some other things. We want to be fair to them and allow them 463 to use it but at the same time we want to retain the ownership right to that and that's reflected in 464 section five. 465 466 Councilman Clay said I didn't like the idea of losing the rights to that, but I wanted to bring up 467 something else. On Friday I had a meeting with Ms. Robinson Abdullah and a newly formed 468 citizens group who are trying to preserve the history of Price’s Barbershop and the building next 469 to it. I couldn't go into detail with them, nor can I go into detail in this meeting. I also discussed it 470 with Councilman Carn that I thought it was a worthy thing to do to represent the African American 471 community that had been here as a parallel community for many years before the airport expansion. 472 I recalled that we were doing this project and so I believe the intent is to have a center and a 473 walking trail. You'll go to see the signs and they'll bring up historical landmarks like Prices 474 Barbershop, the Brady Center or Calvary Baptist Church. I suggested that even though they wanted 475 to use it as a historical center, I thought it could tie together with this walking trail. I have made a 476 request from the Economic Developer Director Michelle Alexander, and she has consulted with 477 the people that are potentially going to have the property. The other thing the group is asking, and 478 they asked at the public comment was to be able to participate as a reviewer. There's supposed to 479 be a public focus group that would look at the material that had been prepared and so forth. I would 480 like Jackson, if we could talk to them and see if that group could participate to make sure that the 481 facts are correct in there. 482 483 Councilman Carn said thank you Ambrose for that black history moment. I'm glad we put that 484 language in as I considered it a work for hire. I stressed this when this fella came down here 485 proposing this that he reached out to some of our local community folks in terms of the true history 486 of African Americans in this community. We have been through a lot, we've been marginalized, 487 and obviously discriminated. I want to make sure that this outfit ties in with our local community 488 and gets the buy-in. 489 Page 11 of 18 Regular Session 10/17/2022 490 Councilman Gay said I absolutely think that the historical part of College Park that they represent 491 is significant. It doesn't necessarily say African American. We had a resident come down to talk 492 about the History Center. I've been part of that History Center, believe it or not and I don't want to 493 minimize all of our history. Not just our black history but all our history because it's just been as 494 much positive and all that. I'm proposing more than a plaque. I'm not talking about $37,000 I'm 495 talking about a seat at the table at Six West. The next thing I want to say is there's some significant 496 African American achievements in other parts of the city. The first settled in Ward 4, they should 497 be recognized. Walt Bellamy and Richard Langford. Even if you look at Jamestown at the 18 acres 498 when John Portman who designed the skyline of Atlanta graduated from Georgia Tech, that was 499 his first assignment to build Jamestown. If we're going to spend $37,000 let's dig into it and 500 understand what it is. The other thing I want to say is that there is a $10 million grant called the 501 Library of Museum Signs. The amount of time we put on this we could also look at bigger grants 502 to bring bigger dollars to our community. 503 504 ACTION: Councilman Clay moved to approve a request from City Attorney Danielle 505 Matricardi for an agreement with Kennesaw State University Museums, Archives 506 and Rare Books to develop a historical exhibit within the City of College Park, 507 seconded by Councilman Carn and motion carried. (All voted yes). 508 509 B. Consideration of and action on a request on the purchase of Nova Switches for Distribution 510 Automation in the amount of $367,620.00. 511 512 Councilman Carn said Hugh when you come in its always big numbers. This is basically a big 513 circuit breaker and it reroutes. 514 515 Director of Power Hugh Richardson said it's quicker for restoration to our customers. Nevertheless, 516 this is something that's gonna get folks lights on just a little bit faster and that's a good thing but it 517 ain't cheap. 518 519 Councilman Allen said I think it's important we get it back on as quick as we can. Power restoration 520 might help a lot in some of the other areas. 521 522 Councilman Gay said I was involved when you first brought it to us but one of the biggest 523 complaints in my Ward was power outages. I think it's technology that we just gotta have. 524 525 ACTION: Councilman Gay moved to approve a request from Power Director Hugh Richardson 526 for the purchase of Nova Switches for Distribution Automation in the amount of 527 $367,620.00, seconded by Councilman Allen and motion carried. (All voted yes). 528 529 C. Consideration of and action on a request on the purchase of electrical material for 530 construction and maintenance in the amount of $695,209.10. 531 532 Councilman Allen said we talked about this earlier and I was wondering why you didn't go with 533 one contractor and again it's another opportunity for us to save money throughout the city. Thanks 534 to you and your folks as you went to each one and took the best and the cheapest to save money. 535 Page 12 of 18 Regular Session 10/17/2022 536 Councilman Gay said is any of this in Rockland homes? 537 538 Mr. Richardson said yes it is. It’s some more material for that and for the Summer B project on 539 West Fayetteville. 540 541 Councilman Gay said a lot of this can be reimbursed? 542 543 Mr. Richardson said that’s right. 544 545 ACTION: Councilman Clay moved to approve a request from Power Director Hugh Richardson 546 for the purchase of electrical material for construction and maintenance in the amount 547 of $695,209.10, seconded by Councilman Allen and motion carried. (All voted yes). 548 549 D. Consideration of and action on a Power Purchase Contract with ATL Data Centers. 550 551 Mr. Richardson said to put this simply, we're asking to fast forward our existing contract by 13 552 months. It's something I really hate to do but it's something we have no option to not do. That's to 553 go ahead and cancel our current contract with 30-day notice and give them a new contract which 554 will move them from a fixed rate to an hourly interval rate. Going forward, the interval rate will 555 include some adders and include a franchise fee. So, it's only a win for us in this situation as far as 556 revenue. 557 558 ACTION: Councilman Carn moved to approve a request from Power Director Hugh Richardson 559 on a Power Purchase Contract with ATL Data Centers, seconded by Councilman 560 Clay and motion carried. (All voted yes). 561 562 E. Consideration of and action on a Power Purchase Contract with Clean Blok Data Center. 563 564 ACTION: Councilman Clay moved to approve a request from Power Director Hugh Richardson 565 on a Power Purchase Contract with clean Blok Data Center, seconded by Councilman 566 Allen and motion carried. (All voted yes). 567 568 F. Consideration and action of looping in the water system at the end of John Calvin Avenue 569 from Interim City Manager Jackson Myers. 570 571 Councilman Clay said this was approved actually by Council a couple years ago. It's in my Ward 572 at the end of John Calvin. I apologize to the people who lived there and who have to put up with 573 the water. The real estate agent that sold on the property told them it was in the works, they were 574 right, but it didn't get done. These people have been putting up with discolored water due to 575 sedimentation in the pipe. It's not dangerous but it makes your plumbing look terrible and who 576 wants to drink brown water. It was approved and I passed the information to Jackson from the 577 minutes that showed that it was approved. It's something that I think Jackson has moved lightning 578 fast on and it's ready to go. 579 580 Councilman Allen said do we have a time frame. 581 Page 13 of 18 Regular Session 10/17/2022 582 Mr. Myers said we're going to start on it within two weeks. I found out that we already had the 583 materials here, so it didn't take me very long. I talked to the housing authority and we're going to 584 do a little rerouting on it to make it easier than what it was before. 585 586 ACTION: Councilman Clay moved to approve a request from Interim City Manager Jackson 587 Myers concerning the water system on John Calvin Ave., seconded by Councilman 588 Carn and motioned carried. 589 590 9. Unfinished (Old) Business. 591 592 None 593 594 10. New Business. 595 596 None 597 598 11. City Attorney’s Report. 599 600 None. 601 602 12. City Manager’s Report. 603 604 Mr. Myers said good evening Mayor and Council. We're still working with our legislative 605 delegates about the ambulances service and hospitals. I'm concerned about that. We’re working 606 with our lobbyists to make sure that we get more service in the city because it's coming out of 607 Grady, and it takes hours for Grady to get here or able to service. We only have two transporters 608 here and we can't transport unless it's absolutely emergency. I talked to Chief Taylor and we're 609 going to change it to a storefront for the public safety building. Also they poured the second half 610 of the Rhodes Street Bridge, so now the decking has been completely poured out there. We got a 611 grant for the solar panels at the Public Safety building. We're going to interview for the Police 612 Chief on November 1st and at the GICC. The 25th of October at 11 o'clock we're going to have 613 the Atlanta Vietnam Veterans Business Association Memorial. 614 615 13. Report Of Mayor And Council. 616 617 Councilman Clay said I am very touched by the ceremony today for the dedication of the building 618 in memory to Jack Longino. I think he touched a lot of people and I think he contributed 28 years 619 of his life to the betterment of the city. I was very pleased about the ceremony. As far as next week 620 goes, I will be out of town on travel for the city and I will not attend the memorial event but please 621 extend my best wishes for that event. A lot of people have given their service to our country, and 622 I think it's a fitting thing that that memorial is in front of our auditorium. 623 624 Councilman Carn said good event this evening for Mayor Longino. It was good to see folks come 625 out. It was good to see Jack's mom there and I think it meant a lot for her to be able to see this. I 626 think this is something that Jack should have seen when he was here but that was then, this is now 627 and I'm glad we got it done. I'm not pleased in the manner in which we had to get it done, pushing, Page 14 of 18 Regular Session 10/17/2022 628 and the difficulties and delays. There are certain things that you shouldn't delay but it was a good 629 event. I was glad to see Mrs. Bellamy and Mrs. Phillips and some of our folks there. Mr. Brady, I 630 definitely appreciate your comments and I just got to say you just don’t age. 631 632 I want to talk about these front-facing services. They're important to residents at the end of the day 633 and there are a lot of back room things that make the front facing services possible and more 634 efficient; but at the end of the day most residents don't care about the back room operations of it. 635 Police, Sanitation, these are the important things to residents and how we provide them. The 636 mechanism that we do it, they're less concerned with and more concerned with the promptness of 637 the service and the affordability of it at the end of the day. To our residents, I would recommend 638 you come to every meeting that you can to hear what's going on. It is very important on the local 639 level. It affects you more than you even imagine. A lot of the public comments were good 640 comments because it came from the residents. At the end of the day these are the people that are 641 responsible for our bills as well as staff salaries. We don't get a salary up here, we get a stipend. 642 But they pay the freight for all of this and at the end of the day I always say that public comments 643 is the most important part of any meeting. I feel like without public comments there is no meeting 644 because that's what we're all up here for. You get criticized, you get beat up on and chewed on and 645 that's just part of the course. We're not perfect and we all want to do better and we've been making 646 good progress. I think we're going to be doing a whole lot better coming the first of the year. You 647 get us a solid City Manager in here and I think we're going to be okay. 648 649 I want to congratulate Ms. Willis for her recognition. I want to congratulate the Mayor for her 650 recognition as 100 most influential women. I was raised by women. That was my nucleus family, 651 so I've been raised to have a lot of respect for women. I have three daughters and I have one 652 granddaughter. Women carry such a big and unfair burden in this society and in this city as well. 653 There are a lot of things that I see happening that are just so unfair and unjust on the national level 654 and on the state level. I just say to myself, there’s such a double standard with so many different 655 things and so much unfairness that goes. In this city, women represent the majority of the 656 population. Not only that the majority of the homeowners in this city are women. if we want to get 657 specific black women the majority of the renters in this city are women. Before I got elected we 658 had one woman up here representing the women in this community Cynthia Jones. I used to say 659 and I still say, any meeting that I'm in if there's not a woman in the room in that meeting, I don't 660 consider it a real meeting. Not in this city because it's hard to carve out the obvious and I'm so 661 proud to see our female department heads that do a great job for us. I just want to take a minute 662 out and let y'all know how much we all appreciate you all but you bear extra burdens and in 663 fairness, just be frank some guys don't have to bear that burden. I just want y'all to know it's not 664 lost on me and I really appreciate it. I do think this city does operate sometimes in too many silos 665 and sometimes they're too many cliques who have their favorites over here and some groups have 666 their favorites over there. It's not a competition. We got to sit down and put our heads together and 667 do this thing collectively. I'm hoping that this City Manager, once we get someone in here, that 668 they have a complete understanding of what it is we're looking for and our expectations. 669 670 In terms of discussions up here. I don't mind being interrupted, I never mind being interrupted. It's 671 part of a free-flowing discussion up here and the truth be told, we've never really had a big problem 672 with discussions up here. I got back here in January and there was some big differences. These are 673 my feelings, I want to be free to discuss things and again I don't mind being interrupted. It's not an Page 15 of 18 Regular Session 10/17/2022 674 insult to me or anything like that if somebody jumps in. Nobody up here knows it all but some of 675 the best ideas come through unrestricted discussions. What I'm trying to say is that we need a little 676 elbow room up here to talk some of this stuff around. It's not going to always follow a certain script 677 and again I'm not that picking on someone interrupting me at all. My word isn't the final word but 678 I want to hear from everybody as there's another side to everything. 679 680 I mentioned earlier that today was the first day of early voting. We have a deplorable rate of civic 681 participation in this city. I think we've got to do better. I think we need to try to get our residents 682 to understand what this process is all about in terms of voting. It's basically the reposition 683 representation of your existence in public as far as the government is concerned. Voting is money. 684 Its money involved when a neighborhood doesn't get something. There's some neighborhoods that 685 I could eyeball and I can say that neighborhood has a 20% or lower rate of voter participation just 686 by looking at the neighborhood. I've done a lot of study with voting. I've managed precincts for 687 Fulton County for many years before I even considered running for any office. When residents 688 vote and participate, they get the attention of the elected representatives and sometimes that 689 attention is disproportionate but that's a natural occurrence. It's hard when you only have one pot 690 of money and you've got so many things that you have to do. 691 692 Councilman Allen said the dedication for Jack Longino was very good and well-deserved. It's nice 693 to see the sign up there that says Jack P. Longino. Councilman Gay, you did a fabulous job. You 694 put a lot of time into that festival and I'm sure you got an extra paycheck for putting in all that. 695 Thanks for all your work because you made the whole thing work. I was gonna suggest painting 696 the plywood at the police station white just to make it look better but I see Jackson's already 697 working on that. There's a lot of new retirement ideas programs that are that are showing up so I 698 think we probably need to take a look at a way we can reduce some costs. The last thing, get out 699 there and vote. I got out there and there were not many people in line. You could go right next 700 door at the library to vote. 701 702 Councilman Gay said I see a couple of my constituents still in the audience. Brother Muhammad, 703 Mr. Robert sitting in for I.T. I just want to thank you all for hanging out with us so long. Thank 704 you for coming. All y'all came Saturday, thank you. I enjoyed seeing you. Thank you for your 705 blessings to Pastor Troy, I’m sure he appreciated that. I don't know if my constituents actually 706 voted for me but we don't always get along. But one thing we can agree on, we always come 707 together as family and respect each other. I respect y'all and I appreciate what all y'all do. The 708 festival was I think God came down and hung out with us for a day because I myself have not 709 experienced that type of energy in a really long time. It was organic and a lot of this stuff wasn't 710 even planned. I get in trouble if I start thanking people but I want to say something. We was given 711 money for the first time from the city. For the first time in six years we were given money to kick 712 that thing off. It took me a month to raise that money and to actually not do anything for my family 713 to make that happen. I'm not complaining about it because it was I enjoyed it but we've had other 714 festivals where they were completely funded by the city this year. But that's our creed, we always 715 do what we have to do and it comes together. I just think that here on council we need to start 716 being more respectful or equitable. We should have gotten the same amount of funding as other 717 events. We should not had to have worked that hard for something that gives back to our 718 community. You know one thing I learned about that festival was that I've never seen staff be so 719 professional. I mean some people didn't participate but the ones who participated, I learned from Page 16 of 18 Regular Session 10/17/2022 720 them. I don't want to call people names because I don't want y'all start bothering them but that's 721 some people name I just got a call. If you don't hear your name, it's not intentional, but Ms. Miller 722 blessed us. Our interim Public Works Director he blessed us and his staff was phenomenal. I mean 723 they came out for four weeks. Lance was phenomenal, he spent a week at the splash pad making 724 sure that water came out of that thing. It was a lot of people there and for a crowd that size as a 725 Police Department, we saw the Police. Let me tell you with a crowd that size and something was 726 to happen, we would not have been prepared. That should have been a much-planned Police 727 project. I mean that respectfully but having said that nothing happened, but there are two police 728 officers who stepped up. That was Sergeant Dixon, a community office who just stepped up. She 729 just became a leader and she just came outside and did everything she needed to do. Officer 730 Paniagua, this man brings his entire family and he stepped up to the plate and they stuck out it out. 731 All of you directors were amazing. So I just want to personally say on behalf of Ward 4 and on 732 behalf of my family, I really appreciate what y'all did and I would have nothing but love for y'all. 733 734 Mayor Motley Broom said let me start with an apology to the Willis family because if anything 735 that I did exacerbate your pain in regard to losing your home to a fire, I want to apologize all the 736 way. I reached out to city personnel about that situation but I did not reach out personally and if 737 that caused additional pain or was seen in a way that was characterized as vindictive or anything 738 else, my apologies. I would never want to set that kind of example as I walk in these shoes and for 739 that I'm sorry. Councilman Gay, your hard work paid off. It was a fantastic festival. I know you've 740 gotten lots of accolades this evening. I really wanted to go down the slide but I restrained myself. 741 742 Saturday afternoon was also the College Park Rams homecoming. We had a lot of events going 743 on in College Park on Saturday. It was just a great day to be out and about. Today was a really 744 touching ceremony as well. I was glad to see the entire Longino family present and if this building 745 deserves to be named after anyone, it is Mayor Longino. I want to express my gratitude for the 28 746 years that he spent serving this community and representing us on the local, state and federal levels 747 to continue to work for this city. Speaking of working on the federal level, I am off to Washington 748 tomorrow evening. I've been invited to the White House to participate in an event called 749 Communities in Action Building a Better Georgia; and a number of the Mayors across the state 750 and community leaders have been invited as well. Looking forward to representing the city and 751 talking about some of the ways in which we have been working through the last couple of years 752 and initiatives to continue to strengthen our community and build the community that we deserve. 753 I also spent some time at the discount mall this afternoon. I want to thank Interim Chief McCrary, 754 and her team who've been involved in that situation and the Fulton County Sheriff's Office for 755 their efforts that are ongoing because there is a lot of stuff in there. There's a lot of material that is 756 allegedly counterfeit materials. It's going to take some time to inventory that material but we are a 757 better community because our law enforcement is looking out for us on a daily basis. I'm grateful 758 for everyone's efforts in that regard. 759 760 We will have a special guest at our next meeting for our Workshop as I've extended an invitation 761 to Kay Love from GMA to discuss how we should be running our meetings. This was one of the 762 things that we talked about at our retreat and Ms. Love will be at our Workshop so we can have a 763 more robust discussion about how we should proceed and make sure that we are tending to the 764 business of the community and doing that in an efficient manner, but also making sure that we 765 are sharing all the information that we need to share as well. I will be reaching out to each one of you because Regular Session Page 17 of 18 10/17/2022 766 I was speaking with Ms. Francis Kennedy about Keep America Beautiful, and we'd like to 767 coordinate and do a Keep America Beautiful project in each one of your Wards. We will start 768 talking about that, I think tomorrow, to see where she'd like to target that and how we can 769 collaborate on that. 770 771 Lastly, Mr. Myers you've been hard at work and I know that there were some comments throughout 772 the day. I just wanted to say that while you are in interim status, we do appreciate the work that 773 you're doing in this position every single day. Thank you for your efforts because a lot of them go 774 unsung but just wanted to take the time and appreciate everything that you have done in this role 775 since you stepped in. Thank you. 776 777 ACTION: Councilman Carn moved to recess Regular Session to enter into Executive Session 778 at 9:57 p.m. to discuss personnel, litigation, and real estate, seconded by Councilman 779 Clay and motion carried. (All Voted Yes). 780 781 14. Executive Session. 782 783 ACTION: Councilman Carn moved to exit Executive Session at 11:14, seconded by 784 Councilman Clay and motion carried. (All voted yes). 785 786 15. Approval of Executive Session Minutes. 787 788 ACTION: Councilman Clay moved to approve Executive Session Minutes dated October 17, 789 2022, seconded by Councilman Carn and motion carried. (All voted yes). 790 791 16. Adjournment. 792 793 Mayor Motley Broom declared the Regular Session adjourned at 11:15 p.m. 794 795 796 797 798 CITY OF COLLEGE PARK 799 800 801 _________________________ 802 Bianca Motley Broom, Mayor 803 804 ATTEST: 805 806 807 ________________________ 808 Shavala Ames, City Clerk 809 Page 18 of 18 Regular Session 10/17/2022