City Council

1 CITY OF COLLEGE PARK 2 MAYOR AND CITY COUNCIL 3 REGULAR SESSION 4 NOVEMBER 21, 2022 5 6 MINUTES 7 8 Mayor Motley Broom called the meeting to order at 6:01 p.m. 9 ACTION: Councilman Clay moved to take up an Executive Session at 6:01 p.m. to discuss 10 real estate, litigation and personnel, seconded by Councilman Allen and motion 11 carried. 12 13 Executive Session ended at 7:22 p.m. 14 Mayor Motley Broom called Regular Session to order at 7:30 p.m. 15 16 1. Opening Ceremonies. 17 18 A. Pledge of allegiance to the flag. 19 20 B. Invocation by Chaplin Walker 21 22 2. Additions, Deletions, Amendments, Or Changes To The Agenda. 23 24 ACTION: Councilman Clay moved to remove item 7c. Consideration of and action on a request 25 for approval of Expiration of Speed Detection Device Permit(s) on December 31, 26 2022, seconded by Councilman Allen and motion carried by all those present. 27 28 [Councilman Gay exited Council Chambers at 7:34 p.m.] 29 30 3. Presentation Of Minutes Of City Council. 31 32 A. Regular Session held on November 7, 2022. 33 34 ACTION: Councilman Clay moved to approve Regular Session Minutes dated October 17, 35 2022, seconded by Councilman Carn and motion carried by all those present 36 37 B. Work Session held on November 7, 2022. 38 39 ACTION: Councilman Clay moved to approve Workshop Session Minutes dated October 17, 40 2022, seconded by Councilman Allen and motion carried by all those present. 41 42 4. Proclamations, Resolutions, Plaques, And Announcements. 43 44 5. Remarks Of Citizens. 45 46 a) Jamelle McKenzie (Dr. Leithea Williams time was donated to Ms. McKenzie) said 47 good evening, Mayor Broom and councilman. I have quite a few announcements 48 tonight. I will try to move as quickly as I can in my public comments. As you are 49 aware I wear three hats in the City of College Park. Director and Founder of our 50 Chaplaincy Corps, CEO of the IGNITE Resource Center, and chairperson of the 51 Business Industrial Development Authority. I have announcements for all three of 52 those organizations because we have some fabulous things that have been going on. 53 The first one is that we celebrated five years in the chaplaincy program at the City of 54 College Park Police Department. I'm very proud of our program and the men and the 55 woman that are a part of this program. It was formed in 2017 under former Chief of 56 Police Keith Meadows along with our now Interim Chief of Police McCrary who was 57 Lieutenant McCrary at that time. Over the past five years, our chaplains have cared 58 for our officers, firefighters, city employees and members of our community in times 59 of sadness and times of joy, and just being there to be a listening ear. I'm really proud 60 of Chaplain Walker who I had the privilege of selecting for the chaplainship program. 61 In fact all four of our chaplains are, Chaplain Walker, Chaplain Dent, Chaplain 62 Sparks, and Chaplain Stephen Alexander. One of the greatest accomplishments that 63 we have had these past years is that our Chaplain Marjorie Dent, my mentor and a 64 lady that I've looked up to for years, completed all the requirements for the Doctor of 65 Ministry in law enforcement chaplaincy. She is now officially Reverend Dr. Marjorie 66 Dent and I want us to give her a hand. Dr. Dent entered the chaplaincy through the 67 City of College Park, so she is definitely a success story. We're so proud of her 68 accomplishment and what she is going to continue to do as a chaplain in the City of 69 College Park. 70 71 [Councilman Gay returned at 7:41 p.m.] 72 73 Secondly, we have the IGNITE Resource Center which held our Thanksgiving 74 giveaway at the GICC this past Saturday, November 19th. We were able to serve from 75 that day and today because turkeys are still being delivered. We have served over 76 1,200 people since Saturday with turkeys, books, financial, and health resources. We 77 even had the opportunity to assist Hosea Helps as they ran low on turkeys and we had 78 a supply. I want to give a special shout out to Councilman Ambrose Clay and 79 Councilman Ken Allen for your support. The two of them they were involved in the 80 planning of this event and they rolled up their sleeves, and they worked at the event. 81 I want to say thank you for all of your support and I want to say thank you to all of 82 you for your continued support. We want to shout out all of our corporate sponsors, 83 our 107 volunteers and we had a good time because it's more of a blessing to give 84 than it is to receive. We also had the College Park Woman’s Club that donated 417 85 books to make the number of books that we gave away that day 1,800 books, and 86 we're very excited about that. 87 88 Thirdly, December 8th, it's a Thursday, BIDA will be having our Business Industrial 89 Development awards ceremony. We will be giving six awards away at this event to 90 spotlight businesses in our community that we feel have done some outstanding 91 things. It has been a tough two going on three years now and we just want to highlight Page 2 of 15 Regular Session 11/21/2022  92 these business owners and celebrate them and let them know that we are glad that 93 they have chosen College Park to do business. That will be at 6:30 p.m. We'd like to 94 invite all of you and you all will be getting invitations to that. 95 96 The last announce I have to say we were getting ready for the Thanksgiving giveaway 97 on Friday and I just have to shout out to the Public Works department. They came out 98 and they helped us get things set up. We have an amazing team. I just think that all 99 the departments of our city are amazing. The GICC staff were amazing as they usually 100 are and we also had our Police Department there. I just want to say a special thank 101 you to all the officers of the city that were involved in making that Thanksgiving 102 giveaway a smashing success and blessing families. My last announcement is that 103 from December 20th to December 22nd, we will be celebrating families and senior 104 citizens in the City of College Park. For three days we will be at the Tracey Wyatt 105 Recreation Center. [Time expired] 106 107 b) Charles German of 4535 Herschel Drive said good evening council members and 108 Mayor Broom. I want to roll out a program that I think is needed in the wards. I 109 happen to be a chess coach at my school and we just had a scholastic chess tournament 110 where we did not do too well and only because of the lack of support, which I think 111 we can rectify. We're going to go ahead and initiate a community-wide program for 112 chess throughout the schools and throughout the community. As a certified chess 113 director, I think the schools will be on board. I know Fulton County will. So will 114 Atlanta, and this should be something that should help College Park an advocate for 115 a very old sport. Kids will profit from it. A lot of kids will be event because of 116 scholarships and not to mention fellowship, and international recognition. Majority 117 of the winners yesterday were females, mostly Indian. We’ll be rolling that out and 118 thank you very much. 119 120 c) (Read verbatim by City Clerk Ms. Ames) Demetris Taylor said Salutations to all of 121 the Elected Officials, Respectfully. I am Demetris Taylor, Secretary and 122 Parliamentarian for The College Park Citizens Association and I reside in WARD 2 123 in the Embarcadero Club Apartments. As a former BIDA Co-Chair, during my tenure, 124 the Hawthorne development was supposed to have been a development for HOME 125 OWNERSHIP.....and it was supposed to have been AFFORDABLE HOUSING..... 126 and without going into the particulars, this same development is NOW OFFERING 127 RENTALS!! They have sent a letter stating that they do NOT HAVE any homes for 128 sale! WHAT HAS HAPPENED with the deal?? WHY are we accepting this?? 129 EVERYTIME, we have had development, we keep getting the okie doke....the deal is 130 set up one way and then the developer changes the rules and come cry wolf and 131 crocodile tears for a new deal and then YOU ALL agree and then BLAME BIDA for 132 it!!! 133 134 Councilman GAY....Councilman CARNE....WHAT is going to be done? There are 135 rumors circulating that instead of the 10% of homes that were negotiated into the 136 contract for rentals, the developer wants to renegotiate for 20% of the homes to be 137 rentals!! IS THIS TRUE??? If this is true, that would mean that the 60 homes they Page 3 of 15 Regular Session 11/21/2022 138 have already built WILL BE ALL RENTALS....and HOME OWNERSHIP will be 139 put on the BACK BURNER YET AGAIN!!!! WE NEED ANSWERS! Another 140 point: Councilman CARNE... Where are our LARGE TRASH CONTAINERS for 141 Embarcadero Club Apartments? Yes, we were told Public Works came out to speak, 142 but NOTHING has been done at this point. We have also inquired about the LIGHTS 143 in the complex that the city needs to replace!! Come travel thru at night and see for 144 yourself why this is important for us!! And lastly, IT IS VERY UPSETTING to hear 145 that College Park DENIES people their Unemployment benefits!! Now, it's not my 146 business share the particulars, BUT I can say that in this ECONOMY, to DENY 147 someone their UNEMPLOYMENT when it was OBVIOUS that YOU wanted them 148 GONE from the company IS TOTALLY FOUL!!! SHAME ON ALL OF YOU WHO 149 CONTINUE TO BE THE PROBLEM AND NOT THE SOLUTION! Thank you for 150 your time.. and I HOPE someone will ADDRESS any and/or ALL that I have stated!! 151 152 d) Marjorie Dent of said good evening Mayor & Council. It's good to be here. Just a few 153 minutes of appreciation for all the comments. I’d like to extend deep felt thanks to 154 Interim Chief McCrary and all officers who helped me complete the journey of the 155 research project. The name of the project is how chaplains can facilitate trust with law 156 enforcement through the ministry of presence and pastoral care. These are the 157 participants: Chief Tom Kuzniacki, Interim Chief McCrary, Officer Ronnie Wyatt, 158 Captain George Wilson, Anthony Paniagua, Nicholas Duffy, Colonel David Block, 159 Sergeant Donna Smith, Officer Belinda Porch, Officer Jennifer Balliew and of course 160 Major Ward and Major Patterson. You are an integral part of me being able to make 161 it to the end. Jamelle McKenzie and Dr. William Walker, I appreciate the effort you 162 made and encouraged me in the spite of many obligations you have. College Park 163 Police Department thanks for blessing us with celebrating five years of being the 164 Chaplains. College Park Police Officers, you are the best. I love you and appreciate 165 you and to God be the glory. Of course Chief Wade Elmore, my friend thank you. 166 167 e) Ken Jenkins of 4062 Glenda Drive said I am here about the Rocklyn Homes situation. 168 I want to start out by reading something I got off the website. It says Rocklyn Homes 169 of Duluth, Georgia holds a license and two other licenses according to the Duluth 170 license board. Their building scores 83 which does not rank in the top 50% of the 171 Georgia contractors. Their license was verified as active when I checked. If you're 172 thinking about hiring Rocklyn Homes, we recommend that you go check our bidding 173 system and get another estimate. I don't understand, but if Rocklyn Homes is building 174 something for us and they're not in the top 50% of builders, it seem to me like we 175 have a problem. I've been monitoring this housing development for a couple years 176 now and when this came to be, we were promised affordable housing and 177 homeownership. That was the whole premise of Rocklyn Homes coming in. I 178 understand the Folia group had it at the beginning and they backed out. We're here 179 for clarification on the status of Rocklyn Homes because it changes from week to 180 week. They started out at $300,000 and a couple months later they're at the low 181 $400,000. I don't understand that. From the beginning as a community, we asked the 182 questions why were there so many things going on to make it go up a hundred 183 thousand dollars. We were told several different things and none of them really made Page 4 of 15 Regular Session 11/21/2022 184 sense to us. The building went off (stopped). During that time they had two units there 185 under contract or supposedly under the contract. A month later they go back to 186 $300,000. Now somebody's on the contract of $400,000 and it goes back down to 187 $300,000, I don't know what it is but something's not right. If I'm looking to purchase 188 a home and I ride through there looking like I’m going to purchase a home and I see 189 it at $300,000 one day and $400,000 the next day. I think the houses are outpriced. 190 191 I went to the website and pulled up Renaissance of South Park and Southwind, both 192 of them in Fairburn prices at $200,000. Those are comparable to our neighborhood. 193 Cascade that also has the same thing. All those or most of those are sold out. There's 194 so much inconsistency at this point and it's frightening. So last week, I went on the 195 website and the homes weren't for sale anymore. Now, they're for rent at $2,550 to 196 $2,900. At the end of the day there's something going on there. I'm trying to find out 197 who monitors that through the city because it shouldn't be a citizen. Although, I don't 198 mind doing it, because this is my neighborhood, but I think that we should hold them 199 accountable for whatever's going on. It doesn't seem to be good now. (Time Expired). 200 201 [Eleanor Cornelius yielded her time to Mr. Jenkins] At the council meeting on 202 November 15, 2021, the development agreement was solidified with Rocklyn homes 203 and there was an agreement that the building would be responsible to maintain a 204 maximum 10% rental on any homes that had been built. At this time there's 65 homes 205 over there and that means only 6.5 rentals should be allowed per the contract with the 206 City of College Park. 207 208 We’re frustrated. We have enough rentals. I have two rentals behind me. One rental 209 up the street and one's getting ready to be done. The reason I know the rentals because 210 I contacted the owners and doing a little homework. But there have been several of 211 complaints filed against Rocklyn. I'm not going to read them because I don't want to 212 get into the negative part of it. My main thing is that College Park owes its citizens 213 more than that. The whole premise was affordable housing and new homeowners. I 214 don't want this to become a rental area. I've been here almost 40 years and a lot of my 215 friends moved on and got$600,000-$800,000 homes. I live here, my daughter lives in 216 Ward 1 and we pride ourselves on College Park. We may not all see eye to eye and 217 that's fine. I'm not going to get mad. It's just the nature of the beast but I just think 218 that some things need to be done in regards to monitoring their progress and making 219 sure that this doesn't become a rental area. 65 rentals dumped in Ward 4 would be a 220 disaster and it really don't make any sense. I've heard some things saying that the rates 221 have gone up high. I bought my home in 1984 and the rate was 13.88%. If I can do it, 222 they can do as well. That's all I have to say and like I said, this isn't here to point 223 fingers or anything like that. This is here to rectify a problem that I see developing. 224 One other question, I would like to get answered, is the development in Ward 2 or 225 Ward 4. That's something to take into consideration because on the council notes or 226 one of them, it says Ward 2 and on the other one it says Ward 4. 227 228 f) Tangie Warrior of 4673 Winthrop Drive said I speak on behalf of myself, Xeron 229 Pledger at 4350 Janice Drive, Katrina Williams on Janice drive and others. Many Page 5 of 15 Regular Session 11/21/2022 230 times we get secondhand information that can mean that the facts could or could not 231 be totally accurate or someone is not being transparent with the information. Either 232 way, we're not receiving certain information. We have addressed not hiring 233 Department Heads until a permanent City Manager has been hired. We have discussed 234 the $900,000 investment in a park. The property taxes that will impact our seniors and 235 the millage rates that was voted on after many residents made recommendations to 236 consider before voting to increase it. Today we want to address the Hawthorne 237 situation on Herschel Road. We have seen the sale price in the $300,000 raised to 238 $400,000 and back down again. We understand that the market has changed but we 239 must monitor property value and use comps before we can create an unusable price. 240 The next issue is we understand that the initial agreement was to rent 10% of the 241 properties in the community but we have recently been told that the 65 units that are 242 currently there are listed as rentals. We would like more information on this because 243 Ward 4 is responsible about this the entire city. We want to promote home ownership 244 in our community and this is not the current approach. We need to rethink certain 245 decisions that are being made and we are not trying to force College Park residents 246 out but with $425 to $450,000 of homes in Hawthorne Station renting properties that 247 are overpriced, raising taxes and raising millage rates, makes me wonder what the 248 goal is with Council. It is frustrating to so many and some are suffering in silence. 249 We wanted to speak out. Thank you. I want to wish y'all a Happy Thanksgiving. 250 251 g) Subrenia Willis said good evening, Mayor and Council. I just want to say Happy 252 Thanksgiving. I'm just so thankful for the journey of being a citizen of College Park. 253 Yesterday, I was so touched by my Councilman Ambrose Clay for putting an effort 254 to give dinner baskets to citizens in our community. I'm partnering with a local church 255 Victory. I want people to come to church not only to receive a basket but reciprocate 256 our giving. If we're not growing, we're not connecting. It meant a lot. Councilman 257 Carn also came out. We got to just continue to help to build community, build 258 relationships because this is a wonderful city. I've given a lot of community service 259 hours to make a difference in this community and over the last couple of years it's not 260 been hard but my mom always taught me the golden rule, do unto others that you 261 would have them to do unto you. I stayed working, I stayed diligent, and with that 262 God has continued to sustain and give me strength. I tell you, I'm stronger than I've 263 ever been and I'm just super excited. I'm super thankful and I'm super grateful. I just 264 want to tell each of you, have an awesome Thanksgiving and continue to love each 265 other. I thought about how do we look to our neighbor on each side and just say hey, 266 I love you. Do we love our neighbors? Are we doing our best to be the best that we 267 can help without looking for shine because we have a hurting community? We have 268 youth literacy rate of 90 but over 90 percent our kids are not getting what they need. 269 They need food and we got to step in to save our community. We got to save our 270 children because everybody don't have it. 271 272 h) Rex Willis said hello Mayor, Council, and City Manager. Subrenia touched on a lot 273 of things I wanted to say. I'm very thankful for each of you. What you do is not an 274 easy job to get up here and do what you do and deal with all the things that impact so 275 many people's lives. I know it's tough but that's what we signed up for when you take Page 6 of 15 Regular Session 11/21/2022 276 that hand. Brother Jackson took me around and a lot of things I didn't know what was 277 going on and seeing a lot of great things going on in the city. As Jamelle said earlier, 278 a lot of great things are going on in the city. I want to say congratulations to IGNITE 279 for a great event they put on Saturday. I like to say congratulations to Ms. Dent for 280 continuing being successful in the chaplain program. Thank you Joe for coming out. 281 I have to say as Subrenia said about Councilman Clay, I've been known Councilman 282 Clay for 16 years and he came out. We don't talk a lot but these last two years we 283 have more than ever. He got up before the congregation yesterday when he came and 284 supported us at the church. He got a little emotional and so did I. I want to tell you 285 Councilman Clay, the words that you said about our home and the things we have 286 been through, it touched me so deeply. I know your wife lost their home so I think 287 that was a connection there but thank you so much for coming out and saying those 288 words. Just having the compassion which we all need to have in the world. 289 Compassion for each other as Subrenia stated. Joe, thank you for always supporting, 290 coming out, and making a difference. We got to continue helping people who need 291 help. Jamelle, you've done a great job and I want to acknowledge that again. She has 292 a non-profit and so do we. We're not in competition as we both are trying to help our 293 community and make a difference. It's enough room with all the help and needs in 294 this city. We both can work in union together. Happy Thanksgiving to everybody and 295 be blessed. Again Ambrose, please from my heart, I'm telling you, you touched me 296 deeply. Thank you very much and I appreciate it. 297 298 i) Beulah Lindsay of 3568 Hershel Road said I should first start off by apologizing. I'm 299 a little late so perhaps the topic that I wanted to speak on has already been addressed 300 but I received a flyer about Bobby Wilson being nominated for the CNN Hero of the 301 Year. I don't know whether that has been mentioned tonight but I was thrilled to get 302 that information. I have gone to his farm so many times and I'm certain most of you 303 know of him, his farm, and what he does in College Park. I think it would be remiss 304 of us if we if we did not get behind him and support him because he has supported 305 this community and the communities around Atlanta. We have an opportunity to 306 hopefully get recognized on the big window with CNN. He certainly deserves it. He 307 has worked very hard and as a result of that I have a little garden myself. I went by or 308 tried to go by the other day to see if I could get some collards to fix but just having 309 an organic farm here in College Park and all that he does for so many people, he has 310 been teaching children how to garden. I thought, my goodness, it would be remiss of 311 us if we did not stand behind him. He's a part of our community and we're supposed 312 to be about helping. We have until December 6th to vote on CNNheroes.com and vote 313 for Bobby Wilson. He’s the only person in Georgia out of the ten. I read about the 314 others too and they certainly are deserving but I know him personally, we know him 315 personally and he's a part of us. I'm asking everyone to vote for 10 days so please take 316 the time to do that and share it with others. I've been sending it to everybody. I put it 317 on Facebook and everything. Had I not gone and perhaps you have been advertising 318 it, I may not have known. I just wanted to say that. Thank you. 319 320 6. Other Business 321 Page 7 of 15 Regular Session 11/21/2022 322 A. Mayor and Council consideration of and action on a request for approval of Resolution 323 2022-36 to rename Rhodes Street to Lottie Miller Boulevard. 324 325 Councilman Carn said it goes without saying this is something long overdue. Our history in the 326 City of College Park resides with people like the Miller family and we have so many families that 327 are worthy of recognition. I do want to look at some other families and individuals that have 328 dedicated a good chunk of their lives towards the betterment of College Park in terms of how we 329 can recognize them and honor them. I think this is a good start. 330 331 ACTION: Councilman Carn moved to approve Resolution 2022-36 to rename Rhodes Street to 332 Lottie Miller Boulevard, seconded by Councilman Clay and motion carried. (All 333 voted yes). 334 335 7. Bids, Change Order Requests and Contracts. 336 337 A. Consideration of and action on an Intergovernmental Agreement (IGA) between the 338 City of College Park and Fulton County for Animal Control Services. 339 340 ACTION: Councilman Clay moved to enter into an Intergovernmental Agreement (IGA) 341 between the City of College Park and Fulton County for Animal Control Services, 342 seconded by Councilman Allen and motion carried. (All voted yes). 343 344 B. Consideration of and action on a request for replacement of one basketball ramps at the 345 Gateway Arena for the NBA College Park SkyHawks. 346 347 ACTION: Councilman Clay moved to approve a request from Executive Director of the GICC 348 and Gateway Arena Mercedes Miller for one basketball ramps at the Gateway Arena 349 for the NBA College Park SkyHawks, seconded by Councilman Allen and motion 350 carried. (All voted yes). 351 352 C. Consideration of and action on a request for approval of a proposed agreement between 353 the City of College Park and Evergreen Solutions, LLC to conduct a Classification and 354 Compensation Study and to authorize the Human Resources Director to negotiate an 355 agreement with Evergreen Solutions, LLC with substantially the same terms as the 356 City's form services agreement. 357 358 Councilman Clay said I don't have a lot of questions and we've gone through this several times 359 while I've been on council. I assume we're going to take into account the inflation and the 360 competition from other cities and so forth in the study. 361 362 Director of Human Resources and Risk Management Dr. Dwight Baker said yes sir, all those things 363 will be considered. 364 365 Councilman Clay said we have some people that have stuck with us despite the small increases 366 over the past few years, so I think it's the right time to do it. I think that's part of what's behind the 367 millage rate increase this year that we approved. Page 8 of 15 Regular Session 11/21/2022 368 369 Councilman Carn said I'm not against it don't get me wrong but Dwight, we've talked about this a 370 few times. We know that there's a lot of staff that are underpaid, this is not news to us. You only 371 have so much money to go around and it's tight everywhere, but I don't see why we would spend 372 money on something when we know the answer we're going to get back, we don't pay enough. 373 Since I got back, I've been pushing to make sure that staff gets fair pay and decent salaries. I wish 374 we could just do a metro comp and try to come up the level without spending $41,000. 375 376 Councilman Allen said I've been involved with compensation studies for years and I think they do 377 have some merit because you can measure different things, but you must be very careful when you 378 try to measure a person's value to College Park versus the person's value to another city. I caution 379 you make sure that you're taking other things into account as well. 380 381 Councilman Gay said the bid final tabulation, I noticed the third bidder price is 50% higher than 382 everybody else. They’re the only minority contractor and my concern is have you spoken to them 383 to find out why they're so out of range? Did they get a misunderstanding or something? 384 385 Dr. Baker said no, I have not spoken with them. I will follow up with them. 386 387 Councilman Gay said I don't want them to come back and say that we didn't clarify something. 388 I've seen that since I've been up here. 389 390 ACTION: Councilman Clay moved to approve a request from Director of Human Resources and 391 Risk Management Dr. Dwight Baker for a proposed agreement between the City of 392 College Park and Evergreen Solutions, LLC to conduct a Classification and 393 Compensation Study and to authorize the Human Resources Director to negotiate an 394 agreement with Evergreen Solutions, LLC with substantially the same terms as the 395 City's form services agreement, seconded by Councilman Allen and motion carried. 396 (All voted yes). 397 398 8. Unfinished (Old) Business. 399 400 None 401 402 9. New Business. 403 404 None 405 406 10. City Attorney’s Report. 407 408 None 409 410 11. City Manager’s Report. 411 412 Interim City Manager Jackson Myers said Brady Center had a great luncheon for the College Park 413 seniors this week. I think that it was a great turnout and a great event. I was happy to be there. 414 Happy Thanksgiving to everybody. I'm also proud that the Rhodes Street bridge is going to be Page 9 of 15 Regular Session 11/21/2022 415 Lottie Miller Boulevard and we're hoping to have the structure itself completed. The weather's 416 kind of put me behind but I hope to have it done by December. 417 418 Monday, December 5th I just got an email that from 2 p.m. to 3 p.m. we're going to talk about the 419 homeless with Fulton County. We're going to have a Zoom link. If anybody would like to have 420 access to that, I'd be glad to pass it on to you, but I think that that's something that we should be 421 looking into for our homeless people. 422 423 12. Report Of Mayor And Council. 424 425 Councilman Clay said I have two items tonight. The first one is following up on the public 426 comment about the Metro Atlanta Urban Farm. I do have a link on my website, 427 Clayoncouncil.com. It gives you the link directly to the website where you can vote for the farm. 428 I think I put it in the email that I sent out that we've had a partnership with the farm for many years 429 now. It has been a true partnership for the city and with the farm. We've shared geological 430 information that helped them. We have on occasion help them get compost and in return, they have 431 extended to our employees and residents the ability to have a plot of land. If anybody's been up to 432 the farm for the training sessions that they've had or the agricultural meetings, it's always been a 433 positive thing for College Park. They've already received grants for a study that they were doing 434 with New York University, I may have the wrong university. It was several years ago that I got 435 involved in that and that was a study on airport noise impact on residents in the area. I would 436 encourage you to vote since we have been a partner and it's not like there are a lot of organizations 437 in the city that do good things. I'm certainly advertising it right now and perhaps we can put it on 438 the city website, the bulletin board, or the LED display. 439 440 The other thing I wanted to mention and it's something I have a lot of concerns about. Althea, you 441 know what I'm going to bring up. I got my utility bill one day after it was due. It took 22 days from 442 the day the billing was generated to the day that I got it in my mailbox. The envelope was not 443 beaten up, did not have grease marks from where it had been in the machine, it was not torn, it was 444 pristine. I caught it early because I do my billing on the computer and I saw that I hadn't paid my 445 utility bill yet. I double-checked and I thought maybe I lost it or maybe I misplaced it. I called up 446 Customer Service and I got a copy of my bill emailed to me. I wrote out a check and my wife took 447 it up to the service window. That was about three or four days before it was due because God 448 knows how long it takes things to go through the post office these days. My point is, I can't believe 449 I'm alone. We’ve got people that we’re cutting off because they didn't get the bill until after the 450 date, and there's no way they're going to be able to mail it back. If you're elderly and you're 451 homebound, you've got a problem. We need to consider how we're going to address improving 452 things. We had a solution a couple of years ago when we brought in machines from Pitney Bowes. 453 I still don't understand why it was not possible to get those machines to work. I think we need to 454 take a look at that and maybe we have to get Michael Hicks involved and look at making another 455 pass and bringing somebody else in to enable us to do the billing in-house to mail these things out. 456 If nothing else, we ought to give it a try. I can't believe it's all the post office but maybe it is. 457 458 Councilman Carn said Mr. Wilson was second on my list. We've got so many good folks doing 459 good things in this city and the problem is we don't properly recognize folks. We don't get the 460 information out about the good things that are happening and we got to do a much better job at Page 10 of 15 Regular Session 11/21/2022 461 that. Mr. Wilson came in and put in a tremendous investment into this city and has fed people for 462 over a decade in College Park. The CNN Hero was a big deal when I got back and found out about 463 it. The City of Atlanta, 10 miles up the road gave Mr. Wilson a city-wide proclamation. They 464 recognized our resident for the job that he's doing and he's not even in the City of Atlanta. I just 465 think it's a shame that we've ignored this. City Manager this isn't on you, but we have to do better 466 with getting information out to the community. That's the whole purpose of having a website. I 467 want to see us do better. I don't see any reason why we can't provide a link for it. 468 469 Congratulations again to Mrs. Dent. That's a major accomplishment and that's something that 470 should be on the website. If we don't recognize our folks for the accomplishments that they're 471 doing, who's going to recognize them? We have to talk about the good stuff going on in this city 472 and we're not talking about it enough. It seems like only a selected things go on our website for 473 some reason or another but that's got to stop. I think everything good should be going on our 474 website. We need good press and the website's a big part of it. I was told at the last planning 475 commission meeting; we didn't have a quorum and there was some important business involving 476 a certain medical facility that was looking to come into the city. There were some crucial approvals 477 that they were looking to move progress on but there wasn't a quorum there. I know my planning 478 commissioner was there, but I think there's another meeting coming up and folks just remind your 479 people we have some important stuff here and they can't afford to miss these meetings right now. 480 I know everybody can't make it to every meeting, but we need to make sure we have a quorum for 481 that next planning commission meeting. 482 483 The other thing I wanted to talk about is local participation and doing business with the City of 484 College Park. That's something that has been sorely lacking since I've gotten back. There are a lot 485 of talented folks in this community that do good work. I have someone in one of my apartments, 486 Mr. Johnson, who is an amazing builder and carpenter that does work all over Metro Atlanta. He 487 supported elected officials in College Park and he can't get a call back from certain ones about 488 doing some business with this city. You have people struggling trying to start a business. We want 489 to give them the first shot at it because they're paying taxes here and they've paid into it. City 490 Manager, you know a lot of this is you, but I want you to look at this with Purchasing and I would 491 like for us to come up with a formal policy in terms of extra preference towards residents. 492 Everybody can't put together a road or a huge project but I'm sure there are some little things in 493 City Hall for residents to do that they qualify for. At the beginning of next year, I'd like to do 494 another one of these how to do business with College Park. I did two before over the years and 495 they went well. We did them in the Convention Center with the City Manager and Department 496 Heads and they talked about some of the kind of work they do and requirements and so forth. A 497 lot of people don’t know you could do business with governments and I want to make sure we put 498 on another one of those first couples of months of the year. Last thing I had, Ken I want to see if 499 you and I have some time to I want to put together a multi-family meeting with the City Manager. 500 We've been talking about some ideas and I to do a brainstorming session. City Manager, we're 501 going to try to set that up sometime next week and it's a few departments I want to make sure 502 they’re there because we can toss around some ideas of how to get some of this multi-family 503 straightened. 504 505 Councilman Allen said Jamelle and IGNTE, your folks did a fabulous job helping out the hungry. 506 I saw lots of kids coming out of there with books and smiles on their faces and I saw a lot of parents Page 11 of 15 Regular Session 11/21/2022 507 with a lot of good food that they took. So thank you for all your support. On December the 1st, 508 Drip Through Coffee on Virginia Avenue is going to celebrate four years and they're going to have 509 Coffee with a Cop. So, if you want to go and have a cup of coffee with a cop and sit down and 510 talk, they'll be doing that between 9 a.m. and 12 p.m. Go have a cup of coffee with a cop and tell 511 them how much you appreciate what they do for the city. I know we had the census not too long 512 ago and I don't know as I haven't been involved with this before, but do we look at restructuring 513 the Wards at all based on the census? 514 515 Mayor Motley Broom said we lost 12 people. I'm sure we can have a conversation about it. 516 517 Councilman Allen said it might be good to have a conversation to kind of talk about that. Again, 518 vote for Bobby Wilson. I voted last time, but everybody go vote. Light up the city is going to be 519 on the 28th, please come out and have a walk down the street. The Christmas parade is going to 520 be on the 3rd so come out and be part of the parade. The last thing I got was a video from a friend 521 of mine that lives here in College Park. She has a ring doorbell and, on that doorbell, showed 522 somebody coming up to her house, a porch pirate, and taking packages. All of you out there that 523 are getting packages for Christmas, if you're not there, have somebody pick them up for you 524 because these porch pirates are going around and taking everything. Be on the lookout and help 525 out your neighbors. 526 527 Councilman Gay said to start with Lottie Miller. For those of you who may not know that is the 528 street that goes into Six West across from the Racetrack. I think the city has about $9 million 529 invested in that road and bridge. During the last council, I had talked to this body about paying 530 homage to Lottie Miller. I don't even know Lottie Miller. I've learned a little bit more about it by 531 just the spirit of seeing all of those people come back to the reunion every year. I just thought that 532 this council fulfil a commitment that the former Mayor and former Councilmembers agreed to do. 533 So, thank you for keeping that commitment. It reminds people of who those people were, how they 534 lost their homes, and how we gained from their loss. Forever we can pay homage to Lottie Miller. 535 The next one is Family Dollar and the community center. If anybody has been to the Family Dollar 536 on Riverdale Road, I boycotted that for two years. In my office, the whole back of my wall is a 537 community center. I could be wrong but if you look at the approximately three to four thousand 538 multi-family dwellers from Washington Road to Camp Creek to Ward 4, I believe and I still 539 believe that we need a community center. I believe that we need somewhere where we could have 540 the same appreciation as the other centers almost like a state of art YMCA. Mind you, I've never 541 got the votes for that we've never got those votes. We did get a $19, 000 study when we spent 542 $225,000 for the study for the Arena but we've never gotten three votes to build what I believe is 543 an amenity for your families. 544 545 When the Arena was built, an architectural firm decided to do a rendering of what the Jamestown 546 shopping center would look like. If anybody had ever seen the Jamestown shopping center, we’d 547 all said it's an eyesore. We decided to repurpose the Jamestown shopping center and make it a 548 community center state of the art. The reason why I brought that back up is that as long as I'm on 549 Council I’ll continue to fight for what I believe is an amenity that would bring value to our 550 community. Chick-fil-A is in our city, and they give a couple of million dollars to other cities. 551 Those are millions of dollars that could be put into our community. I thought we were gonna get 552 a grocery store but we're getting a Family Dollar with a grocery store and it was gonna be the first Page 12 of 15 Regular Session 11/21/2022 553 model of Family Dollars. He saw us up here not on the same page, he took it to the marketing 554 department of Family Dollar. I didn't know that Family Dollar depends on a real estate agent and 555 that's why you got so many. They just build what they tell them and they assume that they've done 556 all of the demographic studies. So we got this big group out in the parking lot and another group 557 at the other church upset about Family Dollar. I'm not a fan of Family Dollar and I'm going to say 558 for the record that I go in that store probably twice a day. Love it or hate it, wanting a community 559 center gave us a Family Dollar. 560 561 My last comment is Rocklyn homes. Rocklyn homes did not start here with us. I spent 45 minutes 562 talking to one of the gentlemen back there but I'll repeat it, Rocklyn homes was going to be a John 563 Wheeling development, that's why there's a street cut on Williamsburg Drive and that's why it's 564 one on Jesse Dent but that bank crashed and developers started to walk away from it. Fast forward 565 10 years later the Folia group, which was a son and dad, got into his truck and drove to this city. 566 That's how that thing got started and believe it or not, the Folia group built some amazing 567 properties. We spent a year and Tangie decides she can’t keep hanging with us. They didn't have 568 enough resources to develop the whole 70 Acres, if they hadn't still been here, you'll have trees 569 back there. They were going to build a spec home and they're gonna build a houses as they sold. 570 So what happened, COVID came and they had to foreclose. We didn't get left with a stick of pipe 571 and Rocklyn came. But since you want to know the owners of the Buffalo Bills financed that 572 development. The owner of the Buffalo Bills knew the families and they got involved. The 573 development agreement that talks about the houses was done by William Moore to the Folia group 574 and it transferred to Rocklyn. As far as whose Ward that was, I just found out that's Councilman 575 Carn's Ward. He reminded me when he got elected that was his Ward. Half of it is in Ward 2 and 576 the other is in Ward 4. What’s being built now is actually in Ward 2, the 65 houses. I agree with 577 this group. I live next to a rental house and we have rentals all over our Ward. That's why we were 578 so excited that we thought we were going to get home ownership because if you don't own 579 something you don't take a lot of value. But there is one thing I learned there is a new generation 580 of people that don't buy houses and they're not necessarily low-income. There is a new market of 581 people that don't want to commit to 15–30-year loans. I believe that Rocklyn homes thought that 582 at an interest rate of 3 or 4% would sell out quickly because houses sell quickly in our Ward. They 583 didn't know that the federal government was going to raise the interest rate to 7% and that was still 584 going up. You got $25 million invested and we got 65 houses that you thought were going to sell 585 until the feds raised interest rates. What does that have to do with Family Dollar? Well, we didn't 586 want the Family Dollar but now it’s becoming a staple in our community. Yes, we still want more. 587 Yes, we're gonna hold Rocklyn accountable. We would love home ownership, but this is happening 588 in real-time. I asked my community to be concerned but also be intelligent about the situation. 589 590 Mayor Motley Broom said I think it is true that we do not have $25 million invested in Hawthorne 591 Station. We have far more invested in the future of this city and Hawthorne Station becoming all 592 rentals is untenable. We agreed as a council in 2019 to have an HOA that would have 10% rentals 593 and enforce that portion of the development agreement. As a body and as a city, we have a public 594 policy interest to raise the level of home ownership in the City of College Park. We are seeing 595 throughout the country and especially in Metro Atlanta corporate investors coming in and doing 596 filter subdivisions or buying up houses in our neighborhoods. When you get those text messages 597 or calls saying, I can pay cash for your house, think about the larger implications of that. 598 Homeownership is the greatest opportunity most Americans have to generate wealth and pass that Page 13 of 15 Regular Session 11/21/2022 599 on to the next generation. This is a fight we should be buckling up for because it matters for the 600 future of our city. It was a discussion that I had last week at the National League of Cities. Their 601 City Summit was last week from Tuesday through Saturday in Kansas City and I had the 602 opportunity to speak on a panel regarding corporate investment in single-family ownership. There 603 were two professors from Rutgers and Cornell and a council member from Huber Heights, Ohio. 604 We all talked about our experiences with that and how rapidly the landscape is changing. I did 605 extend an invitation to the professor from Cornell to come down because she's done a study on our 606 area and she wanted to see it up close and personal. I'm happy to show that because it is changing 607 the face of not only our community but communities throughout Metro Atlanta. 608 609 I also want to extend my thanks and congratulations to the great mayor of Union City Vince 610 Williams. He concluded his year as president of the National League of Cities and did an 611 outstanding job. I was really happy to be able to thank him for all of his contributions not only to 612 NLC but as a former president of the Georgia Municipal Association as well. He represents Union 613 City, our region, and the entire state in our nation very well and he always makes us proud. It was 614 a great opportunity to talk with him as well. We had done several other workshops and Mr. Myers 615 and I talked about this a little bit there are some innovations in Public Works that were presented 616 at that National League of Cities conference and some really interesting things that they're doing 617 in Kansas City, Santa Fe, and in other cities through a collection of data to make Public Works 618 more efficient. Sanitation pickups saw some information about technology to help folks on both 619 sides who are delinquent and to help the city as well. I also took a tour to see what Kansas City is 620 doing in terms of mobility solutions and increasing access through bike and pedestrian transit. 621 622 We had a round table with Mayors and council members from Colorado, Florida, California, 623 Maryland, and Wisconsin about Public Safety. I think one of the great things that we can do is rip 624 off and duplicate. If it's working well somewhere else, we can tailor it to our needs. I saw the 625 mayor of Tempe, Arizona who was doing a very innovative approach to combating affordable 626 housing concerns there. Developers contribute to a fund where the city can work to develop 627 affordable housing and it's worked out very well for everyone. The National League of Cities City 628 Summit is in Atlanta next year so it should be a great opportunity to connect with folks from around 629 the country. 630 631 Tomorrow night, I've got a town hall at 7 p.m. in the public safety building. I hope that folks will 632 be able to attend and we'll be streaming it as well. We'll be talking about budget 101 and Finding 633 the Flint project because I want to make sure that there's adequate information out there. I know 634 that there's been some erroneous information about a project of $900,000 and that's not accurate. 635 So we're going to have a presentation and answer questions about that and make sure that folks 636 have the facts to understand the project a little bit more. We’ve also invited the gentleman who's 637 doing our search for a City Manager so he can update you on the process and the progress of that 638 search. Next Tuesday on November 29th from 10 a.m, to 4 p.m., we've got the Senior Summit over 639 at the Wyatt Rec. Center. We've got so many folks from Fulton County, AARP, estate planning, 640 and the list goes on. You can call 404-669-3755 to sign up. It is entirely free, and refreshments and 641 lunch will be served. I want to thank IGNITE for its Thanksgiving giveaway. I also want to thank 642 Sheriff Labat, he was at the intersection of Old National today handing out turkeys and we 643 appreciate his support for not only our city but the entire South Fulton region. I want to thank Page 14 of 15 Regular Session 11/21/2022 644 Recreation and Cultural Arts for the Denim and Diamonds program because it looked outstanding. 645 I wish I could have been there, but I was in 20-degree Kansas City. 646 647 I want to be clear about Mr. Wilson because I think that there's some discontent about the lack of 648 promotion and I believe that we were going to talk about it tonight to discuss how we could help. 649 I think the point was that we were going to discuss it tonight so we could have a game plan. I do 650 believe that there was at least social media information put out about our new chaplain who is a 651 doctor as well. I think we can always communicate better and there is never a thing as over 652 communication but I do think that we are making some efforts and I appreciate those efforts and 653 am always willing to try to keep moving the needle forward. 654 655 13. Executive Session. 656 657 ACTION: Councilman Carn moved to approve Mayor Motley Broom and Interim City 658 Manager Jackson Myers to authorize salary adjustments, seconded by Councilman 659 Allen and motion carried. (All voted yes). 660 661 14. Approval of Executive Session Minutes. 662 663 ACTION: Councilman Clay moved to approve Executive Session Minutes dated November 21, 664 2022, seconded by Councilman Carn and motion carried. (All voted yes). 665 666 15. Adjournment. 667 668 Mayor Motley Broom declared the meeting adjourned at 9:04 p.m. 669 670 671 CITY OF COLLEGE PARK 672 673 674 _________________________ 675 Bianca Motley Broom, Mayor 676 677 ATTEST: 678 679 680 ________________________ 681 Shavala Ames, City Clerk 682 Page 15 of 15 Regular Session 11/21/2022