City Council

1 CITY OF COLLEGE PARK 2 MAYOR AND CITY COUNCIL 3 REGULAR SESSION 4 MARCH 6, 2023 5 6 MINUTES 7 8 Present: Mayor Bianca Motley Broom; Councilmen Ambrose Clay, Joe Carn, Ken Allen and 9 Roderick Gay; Interim City Manager Jackson Myers; City Attorney Winston 10 Denmark; City Clerk Shavala Ames 11 12 Absent: None 13 14 1. Opening Ceremonies began at 7:46 p.m. 15 16 A. Pledge of allegiance to the flag. 17 18 B. Invocation by Chaplin Dent. 19 20 2. Additions, Deletions, Amendments, Or Changes To The Agenda. 21 22 MAYOR MOTLEY BROOM: Mr. Myers, any additions, deletion, amendments, or changes to 23 the agenda? 24 25 MR. MYERS: Yes, Madam Mayor. We would like to take off the consideration and action 26 request to upgrade and replace the phone system. 27 28 MAYOR MOTLEY BROOM: So that would be item 7(a)(3)? 29 30 MR. MYERS: Yes. 31 32 MAYOR MOTLEY BROOM: So that is removed from the agenda. So the consent agenda will 33 consist of two actions in regards to trucks and payment for this Valentine's social, correct? 34 35 MR. MYERS: Yeah, consideration of trucks, two trucks, yes, and a payment, Proof of the 36 Pudding. 37 38 MAYOR MOTLEY BROOM: Any other additions, deletions, or amendments to the agenda? 39 40 MR. MYERS: No, ma'am. 41 42 ACTION: Councilman Clay moved to remove from the consent agenda Item 7a3. 43 Consideration of and action on a request to replace the current Cisco and Enterprise 44 phone services with Windstream from the agenda, seconded by Councilman Carn 45 and motion carried by those present. (Councilman Gay was absent). 46 47 3. Presentation Of Minutes Of City Council. 48 49 A. Regular Session held on February 20, 2023. 50 51 ACTION: Councilman Clay moved to approve Regular Session Minutes dated February 20, 52 2023, seconded by Councilman Carn and motion carried by those present. 53 (Councilman Gay was absent). 54 55 B. Work Session held on February 20, 2023. 56 57 MAYOR MOTLEY BROOM: Thank you, gentlemen. That is unanimous. Item 3(b) is approval 58 of the workshop minutes from February 20th. 59 60 COUNCILMAN CLAY: Motion to approve as presented. 61 62 COUNCILMAN CARN: Motion to approve. 63 64 MAYOR MOTLEY BROOM: Thank you, Councilman Carn, heard you first. Is there a second? 65 66 COUNCILMAN CLAY: That's a second. 67 68 MAYOR MOTLEY BROOM: Thank you, Councilman Clay. All those in favor? 69 70 COUNCILMAN CARN: My motion was with discussion. I had one item. 71 72 MAYOR MOTLEY BROOM: Okay. I apologize, sir. Go right ahead. 73 74 COUNCILMAN CARN: This is 3(b) packet page 49, line 298. "You're not going to get the 75 civility you're looking for." If we can add the word "the" in there? Going to get the civility 76 you're looking for. 77 78 MS. AMES: Okay. We'll double check. 79 80 COUNCILMAN CARN: And that was all I had. 81 82 MAYOR MOTLEY BROOM: Thank you, Madam Clerk for double checking on that. 83 84 COUNCILMAN CLAY: Second. 85 86 COUNCILMAN CARN: Even if it's not there, I want to make sure you put that there. 87 88 MS. AMES: I think the direction is put the verbatim transcript. 89 90 MAYOR MOTLEY BROOM: What was said was said. So, if it's not said, then we don't add it 91 later, because they are the minutes of the Body. 92 Regular Session Page 2 of 35 03/06/2023  93 COUNCILMAN CARN: Well, I'd like that put in there to convey what I was saying, but double 94 check it anyway. 95 96 MS. AMES: Will do. 97 98 COUNCILMAN CARN: All right. Thanks. 99 100 MAYOR MOTLEY BROOM: All those in favor? 101 102 RESPONSE: AYE. 103 104 MAYOR MOTLEY BROOM: Any opposed? Any abstentions? Councilman Gay, is your -- 105 106 COUNCILMAN GAY: Since I was out, I'm going to abstain. 107 108 MAYOR MOTLEY BROOM: All right. Councilman Clay, Councilman Carn, and Councilman 109 Allen are in favor of approval of those workshop session minutes. Councilman Gay abstains. 110 The motion passed. 111 112 ACTION: Councilman Carn moved to approve Workshop Session Minutes dated February 20, 113 2023, seconded by Councilman Clay, Councilman Gay abstained and motion 114 carried. 115 116 4. Proclamations, Resolutions, Plaques, And Announcements. 117 118 A. Certification Ceremony for Keep College Park Beautiful as an affiliate in good standing 119 with Keep America Beautiful. 120 121 B. Proclamation designating April 15th as the City of College Park Household Hazardous 122 Waste and Shredder Day. 123 124 C. Presentation of a Proclamations to US Soccer Foundation & Dick's Sporting Goods Grant 125 Funding for Mini Pitch Build to the City of College Park. 126 127 D. Presentation of the 2022 Comeback Safety Program of the Year Award by Elizabeth 128 Warren, APEX Insurance and Ashley Bonner, Trident Public Risk Solutions. 129 130 E. Introduction of New Employees - February 2023 131 132 Jayla Dallis – Police 133 Yakira Stephane – Police 134 Omari Lewis – Police 135 Alona Beadles – E911 Communication 136 Samantha Wade – Municipal Court 137 Desha Greenaway – Arena & GICC 138 Montrel Walker – GICC Regular Session Page 3 of 35 03/06/2023 139 Frederick Walker – Human Resources 140 141 F. Presentation of City All-Star of the Month - February 2023 142 143 LT. Scott Preves – College Park Fire Department 144 145 5. Remarks Of Citizens. 146 147 MAYOR MOTLEY BROOM: Next up is remarks from citizens. Ms. Ames? 148 149 MS. AMES: Yes, ma'am. Our first person to sign in Paul Longino, 1825 Rugby Avenue, to 150 discuss streets, mail, red lights, and street lights. 151 152 a) MR. PAUL LONGINO: Good evening, everybody. 153 154 THE BODY: Good evening. 155 156 MR. LONGINO: Glad to be here. Couple of comments, just real quick. The roads and the 157 streets in this city are a disaster since the water breaks. That was at Christmas time. We have 158 good weather this week, can we see about getting them fixed? Got a million dollar house 159 with a pot hole in front of it on Rugby for sale. It's not good. 160 161 COUNCILMAN CLAY: We also have a shortage of metal plates too. 162 163 MR. LONGINO: Metal plates ain't got nothing to do with it Ambrose. Pave the road, pave 164 the road. The leaks fixed; pave the road. Mellow Mushroom, Rugby -- East Main been over 165 a year metal plate over there; pave it. Street lights on Main Street are out. I've asked about 166 it two or three times to the power department. Power bill -- get a power bill, hey, y'all know I 167 don't live at 1825 Rugby? Returned. Yellow sticker on it. Bring it in to the city; asked 168 what's going on. The lady at the window says, not a problem, there's a whole stack right over 169 there. Literally, there's a stack over there this high. You know why they're there? Nobody 170 can tell me. But I'll tell you this, third party billing. They've coded the envelope incorrectly, 171 so when it goes to the mail department to be sorted, it kicks it out. I've figured that out. So, 172 y'all figure it out, because I'm not paying late charges and neither are the 150 envelopes that 173 are sitting over there. It's not right. Whoever is in charge of that, third party billing, needs to 174 fix the problem. Okay. That's all I got to say. 175 176 MAYOR MOTLEY BROOM: Thank you, sir. Appreciate it. Ms. Ames? 177 178 MS. AMES: Next, we have Keith Sylvester, 3100 Godby Road, to discuss excessive sewage 179 charge and contract breach. 180 181 b) MR. KEITH SYLVESTER: Hello everybody. This is my first time here so I'm going to 182 make this real quick, but that guy there, he made it a little bit easier for me. I live in South 183 Hampton Estates, and for the last couple of months, we are being charged about $200 more 184 than what is in our rental agreement. I brought the money orders showing what we've paid. Regular Session Page 4 of 35 03/06/2023 185 And I have a copy of the lease on my phone. We're paying about a hundred and eighty-three 186 dollars for the last two months. It started off as $95. And I've complained about it to the 187 rental office. I've called -- excuse me, I'm a little nervous because I've never spoken in a 188 place like this before. But I've contacted the place that owns the property, the management 189 company, which is out in Cobb County somewhere. They don't return calls. The management 190 office, the girls that work there, they don't return calls. I go there, they lock the door. And, I 191 mean, I work for MARTA and also lease an ice cream truck, and they're taking my wife and 192 I, our little bit of money that we have saved. I just want some help with it. If somebody can 193 point me in the right direction; somebody can say something. It's getting to be a lot of 194 money. I mean, maybe not some of you, maybe some up in here and sitting up there, but it's a 195 lot of money to be overcharged what's in your agreement, and then nobody is going to 196 change or try to move. So if somebody can help out, I would appreciate it. 197 198 MAYOR MOTLEY BROOM: Thank you, sir. Mr. Myers, can you follow up? 199 200 MS. AMES: Next, I have Althea Morris, no address, and no topic of discussion was stated. 201 202 MS. MORRIS: No topic of discussion; sorry. 203 204 MS. AMES: Okay. So, I'm moving on to my email comments. 205 206 c) The first comment is from Russell Gibbons. And it reads: Hello, my name is Russell 207 Gibbons, and I'm citizen of College Park, Fourth Ward, Councilman Roderick Gay. I 208 reside on White City Road and I have a few issues that I need addressed. One, the speed 209 and flow of traffic on White City Road is dangerous. Drivers use White City Road as a 210 freeway to Roosevelt Highway. Between the hours of 7 to 9 a.m. and 4 to 7 p.m., it is 211 impossible to walk my dog, or take a walk on this road. I spoke with Councilman Gay 212 concerning this issue. He advised me to send an email to Mayor and City Council; that 213 was last year. No response or actions have been taken. I have spoken with several 214 individuals concerning this matter and still no resolution. I'm requesting that speed 215 bumps be installed to slow down the speed of traffic on this road. Two, the old tires that 216 are dumped on White City Road, can the city simply remove these tires, please. Three, 217 the prostitution. This has been an ongoing issue that no one is willing to address and 218 solve. I would like the city to partner with South Fulton to put an end to this persistent 219 issue. I take Janice route avoid coming down White City Road and prostitution. The 220 prostitutes stand in the middle of the road and you have to drive around them. 221 Councilman Gay has done an amazing job in Ward 4, but he alone with citizens in Ward 222 4 need the help of the City of College Park to make this Ward, and other Wards, a place 223 to live, work, and play. Thanks, Russell Gibbons. 224 225 d) My next comment is from Marcus Calloway, and it reads: Greetings, are you able to 226 provide an update on Six West master plan? Obliged. 227 228 MS. AMES: And those are all my comments. 229 Regular Session Page 5 of 35 03/06/2023 230 MAYOR MOTLEY BROOM: Thank you, Ms. Ames. If anyone wishes to speak for three 231 minutes and they did not have the opportunity to sign in, they can do so at this time and 232 approach the podium. 233 234 MR. LARRY EVANS: Good evening, Mayor and Council. 235 236 MAYOR MOTLEY BROOM: Good evening. 237 238 MR. EVANS: My name is Larry Brady Evans. I reside at 2112 West Princeton Avenue, 239 College Park, Georgia. I just want to remind you all, I said it then, and I'm going to saying it 240 again. The streets that's being constructed from Camp Creek Parkway to the Brady 241 Recreation Center, it's causing a lot of problems for the people getting access to the Brady 242 Recreation Center. And they have the tendency -- I don't know if their GPS working or not, 243 but they keep coming past my home. And I have to direct them to tell them to come back out 244 because the road is blocked. And I live in Princeton Avenue. I live in a home that money 245 can't buy right now. So at this time, I would like for you all, probably, if you could, 246 Ambrose, since you're our Ward Councilman, could you put a street sign there, or something, 247 to block it because it's so inconvenient for the passengers who's trying to get to the golf 248 course, as well as for me, where I live because I have to direct traffic, so to say. And when 249 they turn around, it just ruins the landscaping down in there. So I hope and pray that you all 250 can take care of that. And commend you guys for the work that you did during Black 251 History month. And I thank you all. God bless the City. Peace. 252 253 MAYOR MOTLEY BROOM: Thank you, sir. Ma'am? 254 255 MS. MARCELLA CREW: Good evening Mayor and Council. My name is Marcella Crew. 256 257 MAYOR MOTLEY BROOM: Could you speak up just a little bit more. Thank you so 258 much. 259 260 MS. CREW: Yes, ma'am. Can you hear me? 261 262 MAYOR MOTLEY BROOM: Barely. 263 264 MS. CREW: Okay. I'm sorry. My name is Marcella Crew. I live at 3100 Godby Road in 265 College Park. I wanted to speak well, I wasn't going to speak today, but I wanted to speak 266 to some changes to the area. When I first moved to Atlanta graduating from college more 267 than 20 years ago, my first location to move to was College Park because I heard a lot of 268 good things about College Park. 269 270 MAYOR MOTLEY BROOM: Ma'am, can you get a little bit closer? I think they're having a 271 little bit of difficult hearing you. 272 273 MS. CREW: Yes. Okay. I've moved back to College Park. I've been living back in College 274 Park the last four years. I wanted to speak today in regards to the ownership -- in regards to 275 apartment complexes in the community where we live. It's very substandard. You have Regular Session Page 6 of 35 03/06/2023 276 people over there that are disabled like myself. I'm disabled now because of a bad accident. 277 You have senior citizens over there. You have people over there with children. A lot of the 278 management companies over that apartment complex has been five or six managers, two or 279 three owners since I've lived there in the last four years. That's been very substandard. I just 280 wanted to see if you guys could talk to them. I know that you can't make them do anything 281 because they own the apartment complex. But due to that behavior, due to that living, I am 282 moving away from there in the next few weeks. No one -- you know, it's not like the rent 283 over there is 1500, $2000. It's not like it's Midtown or somewhere in Cobb County or 284 anywhere; it's College Park. But that doesn't mean that we have to live just any kind of way; 285 you can just treat people any kind of way. You don't want to talk to people. You don't want 286 to open the doors when people come to pay their rent. When they have work orders and 287 concerns, you don't want to answer the phone. You don't want to talk to people outside. 288 They have loose dogs out there in the area. I'm afraid to take out my trash. My neighbors 289 that live next door to me, Mr. And Mrs. Sylvester, they have to help me take out my trash. I 290 have to call them on the phone and they drive me to take out my trash. This is a weekly -- 291 this has been going on since last summer. And I don't feel like anyone should live like that. 292 And it's just not a good situation over there for those people. Not a good situation in the 293 whole area and I just wanted to see about bringing some changes to the area, because there's 294 a lot of good people over there. And it doesn't matter what kind of financial income you 295 have, whether you're a millionaire, whether you're a disabled person making a monthly 296 check, everyone deserves to live somewhere that is fair, that is decent, that is nice, that they 297 can call home and be at peace, and don't have to worry about gunshots and people getting 298 killed in the next building. And that's all I have to say about that. 299 300 MAYOR MOTLEY BROOM: Thank you, ma'am. Did anyone else wish to speak? Seeing 301 no others, we'll move on to the next item on the agenda. 302 303 6. Public Hearings 304 305 7. Consent Agenda 306 307 A. Consideration of an action on a request to approve the consent agenda as outlined. 308 309 1. Consideration of and action on a request to purchase a 2022 F-150 4x2 Supercrew 310 Truck to replace a 2007 Ford F150 in the amount of $47,630.00. 311 312 2. Consideration of and action on a request to purchase a 2022 F-150 4x2 Supercab 313 Truck to replace a 2007 Ford F150 in the amount of $36,950. 314 315 3. Consideration of and action on a request for approval of payment to Proof of the 316 Pudding at the Georgia International Convention Center for the Police 317 Department 15th Annual Senior's Valentine Social in the amount of $19,707.50. 318 319 MAYOR MOTLEY BROOM: We need to discuss the consent agenda. And there are three 320 items on it. Mr. Lewis has two of them. Consideration of and action on request to purchase a 321 2022 F 150 super crew truck, and then a 2022 F 150 4X2 super cab. I believe these are the same Regular Session Page 7 of 35 03/06/2023 322 items that we discussed during our consent agenda workshop at our last meeting; is that correct, 323 Mr. Myers? 324 325 MR. MYERS: Yes ma'am. 326 327 MAYOR MOTLEY BROOM: And at the time, they'd not gone by finance; is that correct? 328 329 MR. MYERS: That's correct. Finance had them. And so, Willis Moody looked at them and 330 gotten them straightened out. 331 332 MAYOR MOTLEY BROOM: So these have gone through finance. Have there been any other 333 changes, other than they've gone through finance, and they've been checked by finance? 334 335 MR. MOODY: No change. 336 337 MAYOR MOTLEY BROOM: Questions for Mr. Lewis. Councilman Clay? 338 339 COUNCILMAN CLAY: I have no questions. 340 341 MAYOR MOTLEY BROOM: Councilman Carn? 342 343 COUNCILMAN CARN: No questions. 344 345 MAYOR MOTLEY BROOM: Councilman Allen? 346 347 COUNCILMAN ALLEN: No questions. Got mine last time; thank you. 348 349 MAYOR MOTLEY BROOM: Councilman Gay? 350 351 COUNCILMAN GAY: No questions. 352 353 MAYOR MOTLEY BROOM: All right. Thank you so much. 354 355 MR. LEWIS: Thank you so much. 356 357 MAYOR MOTLEY BROOM: And the other item on the consent agenda is a consideration of 358 and action on a request for approval of payment for Proof of the Pudding for the Police 359 Department's 15th annual Senior Valentine's social. Any questions for Chief Rogers on this one, 360 Councilman Clay? 361 362 COUNCILMAN CLAY: No question. 363 364 MAYOR MOTLEY BROOM: Councilman Carn? 365 366 COUNCILMAN CARN: No questions, Chief. Great event, well attended. I think it went really 367 well. Regular Session Page 8 of 35 03/06/2023 368 369 CHIEF ROGERS: It did. We're looking to make it big and better for next year. 370 371 MAYOR MOTLEY BROOM: Councilman Allen? 372 373 COUNCILMAN ALLEN: No questions. Just a fabulous, fabulous event. Thanks to everybody 374 that was involved. 375 376 MAYOR MOTLEY BROOM: Councilman Gay? 377 378 COUNCILMAN GAY: I agree it was a great event. But I do have a question about the invoice. 379 The invoice is from Proof of the Pudding, but it has several vendors under Proof of the Pudding. 380 And having had events over there -- can you just explain, is Proof of the Pudding the contractor, 381 or should the other invoices be going to the city? This might be a finance question. I saw food, 382 sound and stage. I'm trying to find it. But I've done numerous events and they've always been 383 itemized. So I'm wondering how 384 385 CHIEF ROGERS: When we received the invoice 386 387 COUNCILMAN GAY: I think the question is for Ms. Miller. 388 389 MS. MILLER: The contract is done internally by our catering staff who works for Proof of the 390 Pudding. But on their contract, it is, I think it's the sound system. We're doing one billing, and 391 internally we separate it. So, on site would get their money, Proof of the Pudding would get 392 theirs, and then the building would get ours. 393 394 COUNCILMAN GAY: You separate them internally? 395 396 MS. MILLER: Yes, sir. 397 398 COUNCILMAN GAY: I think that's what threw me off. Because when I have events, I have to 399 get an invoice from each person. 400 401 MS. MILLER: We separate it internally. 402 403 COUNCILMAN GAY: In going forward, in the future, could it be given to us itemized? Would 404 that be an accounting nightmare? 405 406 MS. MILLER: To give you? 407 408 COUNCILMAN GAY: Can you break it down to where you pay -- instead of you giving a 409 check to Proof of the Pudding, can you pay each vendor? 410 411 CHIEF ROGERS: It will be internally. 412 413 COUNCILMAN GAY: Oh, you'll cut a check? Regular Session Page 9 of 35 03/06/2023 414 415 CHIEF ROGERS: Yes, internally. Instead of just having four or five different invoices for one 416 event, everything fell under that invoice. 417 418 MS. MILLER: GICC; correct. 419 420 COUNCILMAN GAY: Okay. Thank you. 421 422 COUNCILMAN CARN: One other question. So this is additional, because it wasn't budgeted 423 in last year's budget? 424 425 MAYOR MOTLEY BROOM: This is a budgeted item. It just exceeds $10,000 426 427 COUNCILMAN CARN: Okay. I got you. So we put the same amount in the budget, upcoming 428 budget, I'm assuming; right? 429 430 CHIEF ROGERS: I'm asking for more. 431 432 MAYOR MOTLEY BROOM: Thank you, ladies and gentlemen. We're trying to move forward. 433 Is there a motion to approve the consent agenda? 434 435 COUNCILMAN CLAY: Move to approve the consent agenda. 436 437 MAYOR MOTLEY BROOM: Thank you, Councilman Clay. Is there a second? 438 439 COUNCILMAN ALLEN: Second. 440 441 MAYOR MOTLEY BROOM: Thank you, Councilman Allen. All those in favor? 442 443 RESPONSE: AYE. 444 445 MAYOR MOTLEY BROOM: Any opposed? Any abstentions? Motion passes. The consent 446 agenda is passed. 447 448 ACTION: Councilman Clay moved to approve the consent agenda as outlined, seconded by 449 Councilman Allen and motion carried. 450 451 8. Other Business 452 453 A. Consideration of and action on a request from the Atlanta Airport District for approval to 454 host a cycling race event, Spin the District, and related festivities on Sunday, April 30, 455 2023 from 8:00 a.m. until 8:00 p.m. 456 457 MAYOR MOTLEY BROOM: Item 8(a) is consideration of and action on a request from the 458 Atlanta District for approval to host a cycling race event, Spin the District, on Sunday, April 459 30th. Ms. Smoak, good evening. Regular Session Page 10 of 35 03/06/2023 460 461 MS. COOKIE SMOAK: How are you? 462 463 MAYOR MOTLEY BROOM: Doing well. How are you? 464 465 MS. SMOAK: Awesome. 466 467 COUNCILMAN ALLEN: And Andria Towne. 468 469 MS. SMOAK: We're here and we're asking for your consideration because it's that time of year 470 again and we're excited about this event. We've certainly taken into consideration the senior 471 living facility. We're going to do exactly what we did last year, have a golf cart there, available 472 to move folks in and out; a person stationed at the gate. We're going over to visit with them prior 473 to, and we're going to cater in lunch that day. 474 475 COUNCILMAN CLAY: I read the plan. 476 477 MS. SMOAK: Good. I wanted to make sure. 478 479 MAYOR MOTLEY BROOM: Questions, Councilman Clay? 480 481 COUNCILMAN CLAY: That was my only question and they sent me a copy of the plan, so I'm 482 a happy camper. 483 484 MAYOR MOTLEY BROOM: Councilman Carn? 485 486 COUNCILMAN CARN: That was my biggest issue last year, where the tenants could not get 487 out of their driveways and go out and about. Looks like you guys planned a little better and 488 resolved the problem this time around. So, glad to see y'all covered that. All right. Looks good. 489 And this is, again -- is this something that we're putting on ourselves, or is there a sponsor 490 cycling -- isn't there a cycling club that -- 491 492 MS. SMOAK: Well, there's a lot of different sponsors. It's in conjunction with USA Crits. And 493 what is it? Speed week happens at twilight, so it's all in conjunction. 494 495 MS. ANDRIA “AT” TOWNE: The entity that does a lot of their -- that does the infrastructure of 496 the races of the East Point track club, they have experience in doing these types of events and 497 there's staffing around that. 498 499 COUNCILMAN CARN: Okay. I asked, because if a resident wanted to participate, what are 500 the steps? Are they able? What's the fee? If you could send us something where for residents 501 that want to participate, here's the number you call, or you go online and register here or there, or 502 whatever, what's the process. If you can just send that to me. I don't need you to explain it to me, 503 but if you can just send a step by step, if it's a way for folks to participate. 504 505 MS. TOWNE: No problem. I just want to make sure it's for the race registration; right? Regular Session Page 11 of 35 03/06/2023 506 507 COUNCILMAN CARN: Yes. 508 509 MS. TOWNE: I think we can go ahead and say that we would also, if it's a College Park 510 resident, offer them free registration. 511 512 COUNCILMAN CARN: Now, you're talking. All right. That sounds good. 513 514 MS. SMOAK: Now, are we going to see you this year, Councilman Carn? You told me you ride 515 bikes. 516 517 COUNCILMAN CARN: I do ride bikes. And I'm going to check with the Misses, but I think I 518 can handle that spin; it doesn't look too bad. 519 520 MS. TOWNE: We'll have to create a special link, or something. We'll work through the 521 logistics and send you something, so we can make that happen. If residents have this link, they 522 can get free registration. 523 524 COUNCILMAN CARN: Okay. Sounds good. And do you include bicycles with training 525 wheels? 526 527 MS. TOWNE: Well, they have every level. 528 529 COUNCILMAN CARN: I think I can make it around there. Ken, you want to give it a try? 530 531 COUNCILMAN ALLEN: I did. 532 533 COUNCILMAN CARN: You already went, huh? Are you going this year? 534 535 COUNCILMAN ALLEN: Possibly. 536 537 COUNCILMAN CARN: Well, if you go, I'm going. 538 539 MAYOR MOTLEY BROOM: Any other questions, Councilman Carn? 540 541 COUNCILMAN CARN: No. Glad to see you guys doing it again. 542 543 MAYOR MOTLEY BROOM: Councilman Allen? 544 545 COUNCILMAN ALLEN: It's a fantastic event. I did ride. And if you can ride a bike 27 miles 546 an hour, you can keep with the people that's -- it's very -- making a turn at 25 miles an hour is 547 tough on a bike. But, anyway, I just think people need to know that last year, people from 33 548 states came to little College Park, Georgia, to ride in this race. They also came from 14 different 549 countries to ride in the race. So it's a big race. People have a lot of fun. They do have a kid's 550 race. If you've got a kid that has a bike, and you people listening out there, bring your kid, bring 551 your bike. I think you're having a crawfish boil or something again this year? Regular Session Page 12 of 35 03/06/2023 552 553 MS. SMOAK: Yes. 554 555 COUNCILMAN ALLEN: Plenty of food. It's a great event, great day. And it's good for 556 College Park. Everybody needs to get out. Go out there. The weather is always good. I don't 557 want to jinx it this year, but the weather is good. So, fantastic event. Thank y'all for bringing it 558 to College Park. 559 560 MAYOR MOTLEY BROOM: Thank you, sir. Councilman Gay? 561 562 COUNCILMAN GAY: Yes, ma'am. I just have two comments. I don't know if it would be 563 logistically possible, but I wanted to let you know that Main Street has been continued down to 564 Herschel. So Main Street now goes all the way down to Herschel. We have the signs changed 565 and everything. And so, what we did to try pay homage to that was that we had that artist put 566 those bikes on that mural on the end. I wanted to see a lane of bikes. But that's all I got was four 567 bikes out the deal. But having said that, at the end of Main and Herschel, there's a Fulton County 568 parcel that we're trying to attract bikers to use. Because I've actually met them at the gas station. 569 I don't even know what I was about to say, but -- so I just like to, in the future, Spin the District, 570 maybe we can incorporate that area of Main Street, maybe a solo race or something, turnaround? 571 572 MS. TOWNE: We certainly are happy to talk about it for sure. I do know one of the reasons we 573 have not been on Main Street at all, we've been off of it, is because it's a State highway. It's a 574 whole different animal. But we're certainly happy to talk about it. We'd love to do something -- 575 576 COUNCILMAN GAY: I know they ride up and down it. 577 578 MS. SMOAK: Oh, they do. 579 580 MS. TOWNE: Well, that's part of the reason we created the series, because there are hundreds of 581 cyclists every single day that go down Main Street. And so, the goal is to get people to come 582 spend their money in College Park when they get done riding or whatever. So we're happy to talk 583 through all of that. Just know one of the reasons we haven't done that yet is because it's a State 584 thoroughfare which is a whole different thing. 585 586 COUNCILMAN GAY: Sure. 587 588 MS. TOWNE: But we'd love to talk about it. 589 590 MS. SMOAK: Yep; absolutely. 591 592 MAYOR MOTLEY BROOM: All right. 593 594 COUNCILMAN ALLEN: Move to approve. 595 596 MAYOR MOTLEY BROOM: Thank you, Councilman Allen. Is there a second? 597 Regular Session Page 13 of 35 03/06/2023 598 COUNCILMAN CLAY: Second. 599 600 MAYOR MOTLEY BROOM: Thank you, Councilman Clay. All those in favor? 601 602 RESPONSE: AYE. 603 604 MAYOR MOTLEY BROOM: Thank you, gentlemen. That is unanimous. 605 606 ACTION: Councilman Allen moved to approve a request from City Clerk Shavala Ames for 607 the Atlanta Airport District to host a cycling race event, Spin the District, and 608 related festivities on Sunday, April 30, 2023 from 8:00 a.m. until 8:00 p.m., 609 seconded by Councilman Carn and motion carried. 610 611 B. Consideration of and action on a request for approval of Fiscal Year 2022-2023 Budget 612 Adjustments and City of College Park Resolution No. 2023-05. 613 614 MAYOR MOTLEY BROOM: The next item on the agenda is consideration of and action on a 615 request for approval of fiscal year 2022 23 budget adjustments. Good evening, Ms. Philord- 616 Bradley. 617 618 MS. PHILORD BRADLEY: Good evening, Mayor and Council. The total adjustment to the 619 general fund budget is $4,270,141, which 3 million of the adjustment is a carry forward to fund 620 this capital initiative previously approved in prior year budget. And those capital expenses will 621 be financed by a transfer from car rental and hotel/motel tax. The remaining million dollars the 622 remaining $1,035,161 appropriates the revenue from the adoption of the millage rate increase, 623 which is also funding the 15 percent increase in salaries for all certified fire fighter personnel. 624 And the final budget amendment is to the T-SPLOST fund. And that amendment is recognizing 625 the bond proceeds received during fiscal year 2022 in the amount of $10,634,500, which actually 626 brings the total budget from $148,760,807 to $165,152,948. Any questions? 627 628 MAYOR MOTLEY BROOM: Councilman Clay? 629 630 COUNCILMAN CLAY: I got my questions answered in advance, so I'm good. 631 632 MAYOR MOTLEY BROOM: Councilman Carn? 633 634 COUNCILMAN CARN: I have a couple. Let's see, the first set of capital items, the 3.2 million, 635 what does that include, just in general? 636 637 MS. PHILORD BRADLEY: The detail, I've provided Exhibit G. It includes HVAC unit 638 replacement, vehicles, at least 25 vehicles ordered for the police department. 639 640 COUNCILMAN CARN: Okay. So that's the 25, because I want to know if this included the 641 new this is not newly requested vehicles? This is the requested vehicles for last year? 642 643 MS. PHILORD BRADLEY: Correct. Regular Session Page 14 of 35 03/06/2023 644 645 COUNCILMAN CARN: So this doesn't include the new -- obviously, we haven't approved that. 646 647 MS. PHILORD BRADLEY: Correct. 648 649 COUNCILMAN CARN: These two amounts here, the hotel/motel tax, the 1.7, and the car rental 650 tax, the 1.4, now were these just unappropriated funds, or were they earmarked for a particular 651 expenditure? 652 653 MS. PHILORD BRADLEY: They were earmarked from prior year. I didn't make the transfer, 654 because we did not purchase the equipment, so I am making that transfer this year. 655 656 COUNCILMAN CARN: Okay. So this is part of that 657 658 MS. PHILORD BRADLEY: Whole package from prior year. 659 660 COUNCILMAN CARN: Package of the five year that we didn't do. Okay. Got it. I think that 661 was it oh, also, you know, we talked about everybody got the sheet from Dwight about the 662 vacant positions. And somewhere north of about 6 million dollars in budgeted money, of 6 plus 663 million, in vacant positions -- so last year, I guess, we had some of the same issues with 664 vacancies. Walk me through that money that's unspent on positions, does that just carry forward 665 on over, or how much of that is pulled out for other expenditures, and so on and so forth? What 666 would happen to that? 667 668 MS. PHILORD BRADLEY: Typically, what happens is any budget that's available, I normally 669 there's a budget adjustment at the end of the year to make sure that the departments don't exceed 670 their overall budget appropriated. So whatever savings we have from budgeted positions, I would 671 transfer to other departments that are normally over budget. But whatever is remaining at the end 672 of the fiscal year, it rolls back into the general fund reserves, whatever we don't spend and we 673 actually receive. 674 675 COUNCILMAN CARN: Okay. So our 36 million, and that's general, is that operating? 676 677 MS. PHILORD BRADLEY: That's the general fund, operating. 678 679 COUNCILMAN CARN: So, essentially, there would be, you know -- well, minus the addition, 680 obviously, that we're going to be doing now; that I guess we're going to approve in a minute. If 681 you subtract that 6 million away, it's like 30 million; right? 682 683 MS. PHILORD BRADLEY: Which 6 million are you referring to? Are you referring to what 684 Dr. Baker provided as far as the -- 685 686 COUNCILMAN CARN: Yeah. 687 688 MS. PHILORD BRADLEY: Depending on what we actually receive in revenue. 689 Regular Session Page 15 of 35 03/06/2023 690 COUNCILMAN CARN: Okay. 691 692 MS. PHILORD BRADLEY: So that would have a -- it would determine what's remaining and 693 that what will actually roll into fund balance reserve. 694 695 COUNCILMAN CARN: And, I guess, the point is it's a significant amount of the general fund 696 budget and operating budget that's going to be, you know -- and hopefully we fill some of this, 697 obviously, before July. But it'd only be a very small portion of that that goes back 698 699 MS. PHILORD BRADLEY: And it's not all general fund -- I'm sorry to interrupt -- it's not all 700 general fund. 701 702 COUNCILMAN CARN: It's not. 703 704 MS. PHILORD BRADLEY: Correct. 705 706 COUNCILMAN CARN: All right. That's good to know. 707 708 MAYOR MOTLEY BROOM: Mr. Myers, do you have something to add? 709 710 MR. MYERS: I was just going to say it's not all general funds, it's enterprise fund. Some of the 711 positions are out of enterprise funds which wouldn't have anything to do. 712 713 MS. PHILORD BRADLEY: And some of the departments have already moved some of that 714 funding to other line items, as far as if they're over budget, or they need additional items, 715 operating items. If they have a savings in the salary line item, they would typically contact us, 716 send us an email with the form and request that those funds be transferred to another account. So 717 there's a lot of things that can happen. Especially, with the positions that are vacant, they may 718 have used those funds for expenses such as temp services. 719 720 COUNCILMAN CARN: And myself and Dr. Baker, we talked about that earlier today that I 721 know that some of that money has already been pulled away. 722 723 MS. PHILORD BRADLEY: Correct. 724 725 COUNCILMAN CARN: As we come down into the budget cycle here, which we're coming to, 726 I want to make sure -- I guess we'll have some information in terms of departments, in terms of 727 what was pulled out of vacant positions, and where that went. So we'll have a rough idea, you 728 know, what we're looking at here. Okay. That answers my questions. 729 730 MAYOR MOTLEY BROOM: Councilman Allen? 731 732 COUNCILMAN ALLEN: No. We talked this afternoon. You answered all my questions. Thank 733 you very much. 734 735 MS. PHILORD BRADLEY: You're welcome. Regular Session Page 16 of 35 03/06/2023 736 737 MAYOR MOTLEY BROOM: Councilman Gay? 738 739 COUNCILMAN GAY: I just have a quick question, and it may have already been answered. 740 Will there be any more budget adjustments between tonight and the budget hearing when we 741 complete our budget? 742 743 MS. PHILORD BRADLEY: I'm sorry -- there probably will be. 744 745 COUNCILMAN GAY: Okay. 746 747 MS. PHILORD BRADLEY: There probably will be; yes. Because I know Michelle has a 748 couple of items she's bringing forward so; yes. 749 750 COUNCILMAN GAY: Okay. And the other question I have: Are we receiving the most tax in 751 this fiscal year, in this budget year? 752 753 MS. PHILORD BRADLEY: Yes, we are. 754 755 COUNCILMAN GAY: Will it be adjusted on the revenue side? 756 757 MS. PHILORD BRADLEY: Yes, once we figure out how much it actually -- we're supposed to 758 be receiving. There's been an issue with the State and they're trying to reconcile that right now. 759 760 COUNCILMAN GAY: All right. 761 762 MR. MYERS: Sir, it doesn't have anything to do with us. We're waiting on the Department of 763 Revenue to get it straightened out, and we’ve been working due diligently. We've also talked to 764 the other two cities about it that have the most. Some of them are getting a little shorter. We got 765 the majority of it, but we can't spend it yet. As soon as we get it straightened out, we'll go forth 766 and make things happen out there in each one of your Wards. 767 768 COUNCILMAN GAY: I would love to see an eligible use of those funds. 769 770 MR. MYERS: The eligible use of those -- 771 772 COUNCILMAN GAY: Now, I got an idea, but I would like to see if -- 773 774 MR. MYERS: The eligible use of those funds is we have a sanitary sewer that's in the middle of 775 the road that needs to replaced or repaired. We can go in and replace and repair that sanitary 776 sewer, the street, and then we can also turn around and pave the street. And so, we'll have new 777 paving on wherever those sanitary sewers. If we have water lines that run across the street, we 778 can repair those water lines that we've talked about earlier. And being able to use the most sales 779 tax. to replace those water lines and the streets. So that's -- it's a big character. We're also trying 780 to use the most for southeast lift station. That's been there since 1979, and that needs to be Regular Session Page 17 of 35 03/06/2023 781 upgraded. I mean, I've got a whole laundry list. I mean, I don't mean want to take up a lot of 782 your time. 783 784 MAYOR MOTLEY BROOM: Is there a motion? 785 786 COUNCILMAN CLAY: So motion. 787 788 MAYOR MOTLEY BROOM: Thank you, Councilman Clay. Is there a second? 789 790 COUNCILMAN CARN: Second 791 792 MAYOR MOTLEY BROOM: Thank you, Councilman Carn. All those in favor of approving 793 budget amendment? 794 795 RESPONSE: AYE. 796 797 MAYOR MOTLEY BROOM: Thank you, gentlemen. That is unanimous. 798 799 ACTION: Councilman Clay moved to approve Resolution 2023-05 Fiscal Year 2022-2023 800 Budget Adjustments, seconded by Councilman Carn, and motion carried 801 802 803 9. Bids, Change Order Requests and Contracts. 804 805 10. Unfinished (Old) Business. 806 807 11. New Business. 808 809 12. City Attorney’s Report. 810 811 MAYOR MOTLEY BROOM: City Attorney's report? 812 MR. DENMARK: Nothing this evening, Mayor. 813 814 13. City Manager’s Report. 815 816 MAYOR MOTLEY BROOM: City Manager's report? 817 818 MR. MYERS: Well, I guess I get to talk again; right. Anyway, I just wanted to keep you 819 updated, the Collaborative Firm, you know, on 1884 John Wesley and College Street, you know, 820 they have a building that they want to build there. And they started out with three stories. I just 821 got the report last week that they can't build a three story. They can only build a two story and 822 they were 9 feet too tall. So I've already talked to Michael Hightower, so he's really making the 823 arrangements to redo his building there; just to let you know. So he should have something in the 824 next couple of weeks. He's trying to get the drawings done by April, like I said, April Fool's, to Regular Session Page 18 of 35 03/06/2023 825 get the drawings done which was said before. But, yes, he has got his FAA approval, but it's 826 only two stories. 827 828 COUNCILMAN CLAY: Jackson, how could it get this far this long they wouldn't know he 829 couldn't -- he wouldn't know that he couldn't build a building that high? 830 831 MR. MYERS: I told him the first day he dug ground out there. So it's not that he wasn't aware 832 of it, it just took him a while for his engineer to send off the FAA report. 833 834 COUNCILMAN CLAY: Okay. Because that's a well-known fact. 835 836 MR. MYERS: Yeah, especially, right there. Michael Gresham from Fulton County has reached 837 out, he's talking about College Park tiny home project. I've talked to Michelle Alexander; I don't 838 know if she's still here or not. And I'm also going to talk to the city planner about working with 839 them and the environmental survey. If you guys have anything that you want to add or anything, 840 but we'll be working on and bringing it to you for the property for them to build the tiny homes 841 on. And so, I'm just trying to keep you up to date of what's going on with the tiny homes. 842 843 So Michelle Alexander, again, and the Collaborative Firm is going to work on -- because it's in 844 the TOD. We're going to have to rezone it, so it could be -- tiny homes can go in. But I think it's 845 a great location. It's close to the MARTA station, close to downtown, homeownership. I think 846 it's going to be a great thing for our College Park. It's across from the FAA. We also have, which 847 I put on your desk there, just so everybody know, as you got the GMA. I wanted to make sure 848 everybody knew about the GMA. I wanted to say it's the 23rd through the 27th, March 30th. I'll 849 make sure they put it on your calendar. I just got it today, so I'll make sure your calendars all 850 have it so you can take time to register. 851 852 I also got today, which I put on your table up there, it's from the Atlanta Airport Community 853 Improvement Districts we talking about. They wanted to come back the 20th of March. They 854 want to take a look at this transports that you went to and talked about. So I just gave you some 855 additional background information in advance so you would be aware of; its upcoming on March 856 20th. Then tomorrow, we're sending it to Scott -- no, it's not Scott -- Senator John Azar -- 857 858 MAYOR MOTLEY BROOM: Ossoff. 859 860 MR. MYERS: Ossoff; I'm sorry -- trying to hurry up; anyway, to request for our water tank, for 861 our water supply tank. We're going through and asking for that. And then, again, Congressman 862 Scott, March 20th, we're also going to send off and request for some funding from him for our 863 water tank. We're trying to do everything for emergency so we don't have this. If we ever have 864 a freezing problem, we get cut off, we want to be able to have continuance supply to our city. 865 Then, I guess, Fulton County is working with the Board of Health. And I see that Councilman 866 Carn was talking about that. Councilman Clay is working on a restroom, so, I guess, he had a 867 meeting. And they're going to have another meeting in the next couple of weeks about the 868 restroom over there. And we're also -- I got Herbert looking at a basketball court for over in 869 Phillips Park. And we also had a meeting with CDGB about the playground equipment. So and 870 within the next year, I say year, because we don't what the weather was, we had 74 inches of Regular Session Page 19 of 35 03/06/2023 871 rain. A lot of them don't understand 74 inches of rain just makes more mud when you're trying 872 to make mud to actually compact the streets. So, anyway, we're looking at CDGB to upgrade so 873 they'll be the last swing set. That's it. 874 875 MAYOR MOTLEY BROOM: Thank you, sir. 876 877 14. Report Of Mayor And Council. 878 879 COUNCILMAN CLAY: I received a letter today as an email today, as well as the Mayor, 880 about a home that's along this street; it's a dead end off Vesta going south. And a tree went down 881 there and there is still a piece of the tree limb in the street. You don't need to get up. It's just in 882 the street there. Could you check into that? There's a whole lot of pieces of tree in the yard of 883 the home on the corner. And there's nothing we can do about that; that's the owner's 884 responsibility. But the one that's sitting out in the street should be -- whether it should be there, 885 or not, can we take care of that and get that off, please, 886 887 MR. DENMARK: I'm sorry, Councilman, you were directing that to the City Manager? 888 889 COUNCILMAN CLAY: Sorry. City Manager? 890 891 MR. MYERS: Yes. I was trying to think where you were talking about there on Vesta Avenue, 892 because our city limits has a sharp 90 degree turn down there. So I'll have to ask Tim to take a 893 look at it. Because some of that tree may be in East Point and not necessarily in College Park. 894 895 COUNCILMAN CLAY: On that 896 897 MR. MYERS: As you're going down Vesta, yeah, that last house, there's a gas thing down there 898 and our city limits goes over the hill. 899 900 COUNCILMAN CLAY: It's not the last house. 901 902 MR. MYERS: Okay. 903 904 COUNCILMAN CLAY: It's the one closest to Vesta. 905 906 MR. MYERS: All right. We'll check it out. 907 908 COUNCILMAN CLAY: Okay. Check that out. The other thing relates to that, but it's a general 909 problem and that is the Comcast and AT&T and any of the utilities that we don't control in the 910 city. When a tree goes down and they make repairs, they leave dead cable, which people are 911 afraid to touch. When I saw this email today, Mayor, I went out there. And I know what cable is 912 what and so forth. I rolled up three dead cable, about 20 feet a piece, put them off to the side of 913 the yard. The Comcast metal tubing that carries the high frequency that the TV, the cable TV, the 914 internet kind of thing, that was down in the yard. Comcast has run its orange -- which is usually 915 a code for fiber, but I think this is just plain old coaxial cable. They've run that across the front 916 of the neighbor's yard. So if someone comes in on their front steps and trips over it, it's not the Regular Session Page 20 of 35 03/06/2023 917 people that own the property, nor the renters that are renting there. I talked to the people there. 918 So I cleaned up some of it, just myself. And I don't think Hugh Richardson is here, but our City 919 Manager is here. 920 921 MR. MYERS: Anyway, so what I'm going to do when we talk about enterprise funds, like you 922 talked about the gas company, the Comcast, and all that, I will talk to our City Attorney and have 923 him rewrite a letter to those people that are serving us within our city, they're paying to -- serving 924 our right of ways, but it says in there that they're supposed to hold us harmless. And if we do 925 have any areas like that, our City Attorney will advise them that they need to come back out here 926 and clean up our right of ways because that's part of our agreement. 927 928 COUNCILMAN CLAY: Now, these people, they have this metal tubing in their yards so they 929 can't mow the yard. And I find this all over my Ward, and I'll bet that my fellow councilmen 930 have the same problem. So they'll just leave dead wires, or coaxial cable, what have you, in the 931 yard. And I've seen them there for, literally, years. I mean, Paul Longino mentions the roads 932 being torn up, well, we've got a whole problem with utility cables all over. 933 934 MR. LONGINO: Send them a lawsuit. 935 936 MAYOR MOTLEY BROOM: Sir, hold on. 937 938 COUNCILMAN CLAY: So that's an issue I think that we really need to address. 939 940 MR. MYERS: Yes. Well, we've got contracts on all those. And so, I just talked to the attorney 941 after I talked -- before I talked to him, I talked to you, I talked to him. So we're going to move 942 forward with the contract and sending them all out and asking them to follow the contract. 943 944 COUNCILMAN CLAY: Okay. That's all I have. 945 946 MAYOR MOTLEY BROOM: Thank you, sir. Councilman Carn? 947 948 COUNCILMAN CARN: I've got quite a few things, pretty big laundry list more than usual. 949 Let's see, where do I start? First, I want to thank some of our residents that came out, Mr. Keith 950 is it Sylvester? 951 952 MR. SYLVESTER: Yes. 953 954 COUNCILMAN CARN: Thank you for taking the time and coming out, you know, being at 955 work all day and coming and sitting in these meetings, I know it's kind of long and drawn out, 956 but it's very important. The issues that have been going on at 3100 have been unacceptable for 957 way too long. City Manager, I didn't know if Code Enforcement was still here, but I see Michelle 958 is still here. Folks, the conditions in our apartments, and I've said it many, many, many times up 959 here before are completely, totally, unacceptable. In any other city, these apartments, some of 960 them, would have been condemned within 60 days. And we just seem to at the end of the day, 961 I think it's a lack of expectations. And I'm not pointing the finger at staff. It's a lack of our 962 expectations. I sat up here and pushed to straighten out some of these issues, if we really wanted Regular Session Page 21 of 35 03/06/2023  963 to straighten them out. But I don't know if the interest is here to actually really straighten these 964 things out. I started having meetings with staff and City Manager about these multi family issues. 965 Ken Allen and I represent 70 percent of the apartments in this community. And guess what, we 966 started to make some progress with looking at getting some changes done. But as we started to 967 gain momentum, guess what happened? Well, we were suddenly kind of slowed down a bit from 968 doing what needed to be done; and that's unacceptable. But I'm not interested in slowing down, 969 because this stuff needs to be taken care of it. I got calls over the weekend in our city at one 970 apartment complex, and I'm not going to mention the names of the complexes, I don't want to 971 throw them under the rug, but you take your pick. 972 973 Again, for the record, not all of our apartments are in bad shape, but too many of them are, far 974 too many of them are. One tenant complained about mold and mildew throughout her bathroom, 975 in her bathtub. And she had been complaining for weeks about this to management. No results, 976 promises to get it fixed. We don't have the staff. All these great spectacular excuses. She has a 977 son that has bronchitis. Now, the doctor is saying it's making it worse. It's affecting his health. 978 We talk about health issues. This is ongoing issues and problems that would not be accepted in 979 other cities. I'm gonna say it again. These are ongoing problems that persistently we tolerate. 980 And we sit here and we do not do enough, in my opinion. Now, I understand we're understaffed 981 and we have issues going on and we're in transition and all of that. That doesn't change one iota 982 for the average resident that's suffering and living in unacceptable conditions because they feel 983 they're forced to by a landlord. Now, apartments are private entities. It's a private business, so 984 there's only so much that we can do. But we were having these meetings to talk about the things 985 that we can do. And there's lots that we can do. 986 987 Now, I'm going to insist that we continue these meetings. City Manager, I want to have a 988 meeting once every two weeks on the conditions of these apartment communities. And I 989 understand that and I'm going to make a motion for that. And if this Body does not want to do 990 that right now, then you vote it down. But it needs to be done. I don't want a week to go by that 991 we are not addressing this concern in this city. And I'm gonna make a motion for these meetings, 992 City Manager, with the departments that are appropriate for working on this. There are lots of 993 things we can work on, even though we don't have a head inspector. For instance, the business 994 license modifications for multifamily. There are lots of things that we can be working on all in 995 the interim and all in the while. And I'm making this motion that we have one meeting every two 996 weeks concerning multi family issues in this community until we get these problems resolved, 997 and we start to get this on the ball. So that's my motion, and I'm making that motion. 998 999 MAYOR MOTLEY BROOM: Councilman, at this time, that motion is out of order. And I 1000 believe we were waiting for the City Attorney to come up with the scope of what the committee 1001 would look like. Mr. Denmark, how far are you on that? 1002 1003 COUNCILMAN CARN: Excuse me. I was talking. I had the floor. 1004 1005 MAYOR MOTLEY BROOM: I understand. Mr. Denmark, how far are you on that? 1006 Regular Session Page 22 of 35 03/06/2023 1007 MR. DENMARK: I sent a draft over, but I need to talk to the City Manager about it. I can have 1008 it complete. I'm measuring time of day, Mayor. So if we want to do it for the next meeting, I 1009 can have it for the very next meeting. 1010 1011 COUNCILMAN CARN: City Attorney, I want you to move forward with what it is you've been 1012 doing. In the meanwhile, I want these meetings held, and I want us to work towards solutions. 1013 And I do not want to waste another week. I'm making a motion, again, to have at least bi weekly 1014 meetings concerning this. That's my motion. 1015 1016 MAYOR MOTLEY BROOM: And at this time, your motion is out of order. 1017 1018 COUNCILMAN CARN: How is my motion out of order? This Body can make a motion 1019 whenever it sees fit. How's that the case? Explain to me how my motion is out of order, when 1020 motions have been made in these public comments -- and council members’ comments many 1021 times here. Explain to me how that's out of order. 1022 1023 MAYOR MOTLEY BROOM: Sir, your motion is out of order. 1024 1025 COUNCILMAN CARN: City Attorney, is my motion out of order? I'm making a motion. Is it 1026 out of order? 1027 1028 MR. DENMARK: By tradition, this Council has frequently made motions during comments of 1029 Mayor and Council. 1030 1031 COUNCILMAN CARN: That's why we have a Parliamentarian and a City Attorney. I am 1032 making a motion. 1033 1034 MAYOR MOTLEY BROOM: Mr. Denmark, as the presiding officer of the Body, I make the 1035 determination whether or not a motion is within order. 1036 1037 COUNCILMAN CARN: That's not true. That is not true. 1038 1039 MAYOR MOTLEY BROOM: Mr. Denmark? 1040 1041 COUNCILMAN CARN: City Attorney. 1042 1043 MR. DENMARK: The chair can certainly make that opinion, but the Body can certainly take a 1044 vote to overrule the chair on that. 1045 1046 MAYOR MOTLEY BROOM: Okay. 1047 1048 COUNCILMAN CARN: And this is the reason why. And I want people to keep this in mind, 1049 folks, contrary to popular belief, this is a council led form of government. And it's not that, 1050 because I say it is. It's because the state of Georgia says it is. That means the city council sets 1051 public policy here. And no one person sets it on their own. Now, the Mayor may sometimes vote 1052 on an issue, but only in the event of a tie. But there's only one Body in this city that sets public Regular Session Page 23 of 35 03/06/2023 1053 policy, and that's this city council. So, again, I am making a motion to begin to restart and have 1054 meetings concerning this. I think this is a top priority for the city; as a matter of fact, I know it 1055 is. And if this Body feels that it is not, for whatever reason, then vote it up or down. That is my 1056 motion. 1057 1058 COUNCILMAN GAY: Second with discussion. 1059 1060 MAYOR MOTLEY BROOM: We'll start discussion. Councilman Clay? 1061 1062 COUNCILMAN CLAY: Well, I have no issue with following up on the situation in the 1063 apartments. We've got a problem all over the metropolitan area. It's been on the front page of 1064 the newspaper multiple times. I have a suggestion with regard to these meetings. First off, I 1065 don't know whether every two weeks a magical number is. And the second thing is it's more 1066 effective to schedule a meeting regularly on a monthly basis, like the first and third Wednesdays, 1067 or something like that, rather than saying every two weeks. It's easier for people to remember 1068 those dates. So if I were making the motion, I wouldn't make it every two weeks. I would make 1069 it twice a month on a regular basis; that's just a technical thing. 1070 1071 COUNCILMAN CARN: Ambrose, and I hear what you're saying. But, personally, I don't think 1072 every two weeks is enough as bad as this issue is. And I've lived in an apartment complex in this 1073 city for almost 10 years. So I can tell you firsthand, this isn't something I heard about. I don't 1074 think two weeks is enough? Honestly, this needs to be something that we meet on every single 1075 week. And meeting like that would be easier as a reminder. But this is a problem that we need 1076 to nip in the bud and get staff on. And staff was starting to make progress on it. The only way 1077 you get progress done is if you insisted something get done and you make it a priority. And I 1078 want this to be made a priority. Once a month is not enough. That is not going to start to resolve 1079 these problems for the majority. And I repeat, the majority, of our residents who live in 1080 apartment complexes. We are 75 percent rental. And I don't know if the public realizes that. So 1081 it's a bigger problem in the city than a lot of people realize. So, no, I don't accept once a month. 1082 I'm not going to accept that, with all due respect. 1083 1084 COUNCILMAN CLAY: I wasn't suggesting once a month. I said twice a month. 1085 1086 COUNCILMAN CARN: Oh, I'm sorry, did you say twice a month? 1087 1088 COUNCILMAN CLAY: I just said don't make it every two weeks. It keeps shifting throughout 1089 the month. 1090 1091 COUNCILMAN CARN: Twice a month is every two weeks. That's what I asked for. I thought 1092 I heard once a month; I'm sorry. 1093 1094 COUNCILMAN CLAY: I was just trying to be helpful. 1095 1096 COUNCILMAN CARN: I'm on board with once a month. Again -- I'm sorry -- I'm on board 1097 with twice a month. That's my motion, City Manager. You pick the day that works for staff. Regular Session Page 24 of 35 03/06/2023 1098 And I want us to stay on top of this until we start to make more progress on this. That's my 1099 motion. 1100 1101 MAYOR MOTLEY BROOM: Councilman Allen? 1102 1103 COUNCILMAN ALLEN: I'd like to hear what Winston's write up would be concerning 1104 apartments. I do think we need to get together and meet. I think if we get together and meet 1105 once the group gets together, and you decide on a committee, and I'll be more than happy to be 1106 on that committee. Once the people get together, I think they can decide how often they should 1107 meet, whether it be once a month or whether it should be more often. But I think that committee 1108 that's looking at it and I'd be more than happy to be on there. 1109 1110 MR. DENMARK: If I may, Madam Mayor and Councilman Allen, what I did was, the last time 1111 Council addressed the issue of a task force, I sent -- following that meeting, I did a write up, 1112 which would have been an agenda cover. Because what I offered to do was to draft a resolution, 1113 but the Council wanted to discuss it more at a work session. So I drafted an agenda, but I sent 1114 that a couple of weeks ago. It was my expectation that it was going to be on a work session 1115 agenda at some point after I sent the agenda cover. And I left it open ended so that Council could 1116 put meat on the bone in terms of precisely how you wanted the task force to look. 1117 1118 And so, as far as I'm concerned, my task is complete. I've sent that. If Council wants me to do 1119 more than just send an agenda cover that sets the table for the Council to have a discussion -- if 1120 you want me to actually draft a resolution, or to propose the structure of a task force, I'm happy 1121 to do that, which is what I offered the first time, but the Council said, no, we want to talk about it 1122 at a work session. I'm a hundred percent fine. So I'm just expecting it to be on a work session 1123 agenda, or you will give me further direction tonight and I'll do more. 1124 1125 MAYOR MOTLEY BROOM: Councilman Gay? 1126 1127 COUNCILMAN GAY: Well, you know, a lot of people think that I'm just -- so I'm trying to 1128 stomp for Ward 4. But the truth of the matter is, I get called often about most of y'all complexes. 1129 For example, I got called about Walker Avenue. I'm dealing with noise from the upstairs to the 1130 downstairs. The tenant feels like she should call me. I'm at Rugby Valley taking complaints. I'm 1131 throughout the city. I guess, my point is, if we're going to take exception and use our authority to 1132 restrain what's within our discretion up here, then as our chief officer, we need to also go to these 1133 apartments, you know. I can go to them. And so, you know, there's an election coming up. And I 1134 hope you candidates, you elected officials, don't go knocking on these people doors. Because 1135 you've had four years to knock on their doors and figure out what are their problems. 1136 1137 COUNCILMAN CARN: Councilman, one thing I will say also, at a second complex, this 1138 weekend, one of the buildings with 16 units in one building has had no water for four to five 1139 days. I guess tomorrow it'll be another day; no hot water. Are y'all hearing me? Meanwhile, we 1140 want to talk about discussing it in committee. If you want to know who should get together and 1141 decide how and when we should meet and construct the committee, you're looking at it; the 1142 people that you elect to do it. But once again, I do not think this is something that we pass off to 1143 anybody else. If we're committed to fixing these multi family issues and these substandard Regular Session Page 25 of 35 03/06/2023 1144 living conditions here, then we will commit to doing it. And I'm not talking about tomorrow, 1145 next week, I'm talking about tonight. Because people are suffering tonight. So we're going to 1146 vote this up or down, and you all tell me what your pleasure is. And, hey, I won't be mad at you. 1147 1148 But I'm going to do the job that I was hired, and I was elected, to do up here. And that's make 1149 sure my people and residents in Wards 1, 2, 3, and 4 are covered properly. The apartment 1150 community represents over 70 percent of our city's population. So there's nobody up here that 1151 doesn't have multifamily residents. So, again, I get what you're saying. I understand all of that. 1152 It's our job. It's our committee. I want these meetings to take place once every two weeks. City 1153 Manager, you put together staff that's supposed to be there and we'll have these meetings, and 1154 we'll get some of this stuff resolved. Because that's exactly what the taxpayers expect us to do. 1155 So my motion is on the floor and I think I had a second. 1156 1157 MAYOR MOTLEY BROOM: You did. 1158 1159 COUNCILMAN CARN: All right. 1160 1161 MAYOR MOTLEY BROOM: And I'm speaking, because this community has dealt with a 1162 generation of disinvestment in our apartment community. Feigning as if this happened 1163 overnight, this happened a month ago, this happened a year ago is absurd. We've known about 1164 it. People have turned their backs. People have said that it's worth more to them personally to 1165 have their own gains and they haven't been people focused. They haven't been focused on the 1166 folks who matter. Having a meeting to have a meeting, to say we've had a meeting, is useless. 1167 1168 We've got to be focused. We understand that there are major issues going on. We understand 1169 people are not being treated as they deserve to be treated. Every single day, every one of us up 1170 here works to build the community that we deserve. And there are people in our community who 1171 are not living in the way that they deserve. Not in the way that anybody deserves. We ask to 1172 stay in our lane. Our City Manager runs the day to day operations of this city. And we have 1173 gone for a really long time without a Chief Building Inspector, who can actually step in and do 1174 some of the work that needs to be done to get apartments up to code. 1175 1176 There's a lot of missing pieces. But to insinuate that anyone up here would want to have anyone 1177 living in any condition for any second longer than right now is -- it's kind of beyond. Because 1178 each one of us is working for this city. And I'm not finished yet. Because when we support 1179 apartment owners who are willing to slap lipstick on a pig and still treat people like they are 1180 nothing, when it benefits us, when folks are getting free apartments, or asking for friends to show 1181 up, and they get deals on the side, it's just not right. It's not right in any way, shape, or form. We 1182 all have a responsibility up here. And if the Body sees fit to go ahead and have meetings twice a 1183 week -- I'm sorry -- twice a month, like the motion, without some precision on that, so be it. All 1184 those in favor? 1185 1186 RESPONSE: AYE. 1187 1188 MAYOR MOTLEY BROOM: All those opposed? Any abstentions? The motion passes 1189 Councilman Allen, did you vote? Regular Session Page 26 of 35 03/06/2023 1190 1191 COUNCILMAN ALLEN: I vote for it. I want to have meeting two weeks to start with and then 1192 we'll move from there. 1193 1194 MAYOR MOTLEY BROOM: Councilman Clay? 1195 1196 COUNCILMAN CLAY: AYE. 1197 1198 MAYOR MOTLEY BROOM: All in favor, it is unanimous. 1199 1200 ACTION: Councilman Carn motioned to meet with Department Heads every 2 weeks to 1201 discuss apartment issues, Councilman Gay seconded and motion carried. 1202 1203 MS. AMES: Question? Is that for every two weeks or twice a month? 1204 1205 MAYOR MOTLEY BROOM: Every two weeks? 1206 1207 COUNCILMAN CARN: Every two weeks. 1208 1209 COUNCILMAN CLAY: Wait, whoa, whoa, whoa. I thought we adjusted the motion to say 1210 twice a month. 1211 1212 MS. AMES: He did not adjust it. 1213 1214 MAYOR MOTLEY BROOM: He did not adjust it. It was every two weeks. 1215 1216 COUNCILMAN CARN: Or twice a month, which is every two weeks. 1217 1218 MAYOR MOTLEY BROOM: The motion is every two weeks, and that was approved 1219 unanimously. 1220 1221 COUNCILMAN CARN: There's a difference? 1222 1223 COUNCILMAN CLAY: It is what it is. 1224 1225 COUNCILMAN CARN: Now, if I'm mistaken, twice a month is every two weeks; is that not? 1226 1227 COUNCILMAN ALLEN: No. 1228 1229 MAYOR MOTLEY BROOM: No. But the 1230 1231 COUNCILMAN CARN: There's four weeks in a month. 1232 1233 MAYOR MOTLEY BROOM: Sometimes five. But the motion has passed. Do you have 1234 anything else to add, Councilman Carn in your remarks? 1235 Regular Session Page 27 of 35 03/06/2023 1236 COUNCILMAN CARN: Yes, I do. I want to thank Council for trusting me on this. What these 1237 meetings are going to do, and what they were doing Ken and I were kind of spearheading these 1238 meetings with the City Manager. And we were systematically going over the expectations and 1239 the things that we could actually improve from public works, sanitation in the apartment 1240 communities, to expectations in terms of business license before an owner of a complex can do 1241 certain things in those complexes. We were going to raise the bar, and we're going to raise the 1242 bar where these type of unacceptable living conditions are going to be eliminated in College 1243 Park. And the owners of these complexes, they're going to have one or two options. One is 1244 they're going to put millions of dollars of improvements into these apartments like they're 1245 supposed to be done, or they're going to close them up, and they're going to sell them; one or the 1246 other. 1247 1248 And that's my opinion on it. And, again, I want to thank you all for trusting me on making sure 1249 that this is something that's going to benefit, I think, every citizen from every Ward. A couple 1250 other things I did have. Economic development: City Manager, I want you to get with 1251 Economic development and set up a meeting with Mr. Jason Bauck; is that right, Michelle? Is it 1252 Back or Bauck with Pond. I have some concerns that I wanted to discuss with him regarding 1253 Hawthorne Station. I'd like you set that up as soon as possible. Residents have been asking me 1254 about exactly what's been going on in terms in front of the RaceTrac gas station along Camp 1255 Creek. Now, a lot of people may figure that everybody knows that we're developing Six West. 1256 1257 But you may be surprised a lot of people have no idea what's going on back there. And they've 1258 been asking, well, what's happening? And somebody mentioned tonight about an update on the 1259 Six West master plan or what we're doing over there. So I think it would be great to have a 1260 quick presentation on what's going on, what we are doing, how things are progressing, and 1261 what's going on. I see Larry Brady nodding and he's been here 60 plus years, and he may not 1262 know everything that's going on. And he's been here all his life. Now imagine the folks that just 1263 got here a few months ago, they'd like know what's happening. And I think its good stuff that's 1264 happening. And I think we need to talk about it. This is the largest development project in this 1265 city's history. So it's worth discussing, and it's worth updating folks on, because this is a big 1266 deal. I'd like to get the contact information on the Apex Insurance person that came by, Mrs. 1267 Warren. I had some questions about multifamily insurance, I wanted to reach out and ask her 1268 about. So I don't know who has the contact with the Apex Insurance. Dwight, if you can get that 1269 to me, I'd really appreciate it. There is a daycare center within the FAA building -- I don't know 1270 if people were aware, but I met with the owner, Mr. Hill. And, according to him, they've got 1271 some available space, vacancies, there with the daycare system with the reduction of government 1272 employees in that building. Now, he told me that they give a significant government discount for 1273 folks to keep their kids there, and they're allowed to have kids that don't work in the FAA 1274 building, I'm told.I thought it might be a good idea for someone for staff to talk to them, because 1275 my thinking was, we may have some employees that are here that work with us that may be 1276 looking for affordable daycare that's nearby that they can walk across the tracks there and drop 1277 the kids off. Obviously, it's pretty safe and secure. He has a pretty highly rated there's a score 1278 for that, it's called -- he gave me the name for the score, but it's a rated score for Georgia 1279 childcare facilities. But, anyway, I thought it might be something to look at. I figured maybe 1280 some of the staff employees may be looking for a nearby daycare opportunity. Last thing I got, I 1281 was down at the Capitol this morning. It's Crossover Day. This is the day where one bill has to Regular Session Page 28 of 35 03/06/2023 1282 pass from one house legislative body to the other, to go on before the end of the session. One of 1283 the bills I've been working on, and working with the representative this isn't one of our local 1284 folks this is Representative Carpenter, he's out of Dalton. His bill is House Bill 404. I like the 1285 ring of that, because it's our area code. House Bill 404 puts requirements and standards on 1286 owners, and folks that rent houses, or rent apartment communities. And for the first time in 1287 Georgia, there's a bill that would require standards that'll fit for human habitation in our 1288 apartment communities. When I heard about it in December, that sounds like music to my ears, 1289 and I wanted to meet this fella. And we've talked several times about the Bill. It is gaining 1290 support. It passed the House; I think unanimously, or maybe with one dissenting vote, which is 1291 pretty unheard of nowadays in the partisan gold dome. This Bill had some other features that also 1292 prevents landlords from overcharging, in terms of deposits and things like this; so it's a good 1293 Bill. And it leaves enough ambiguity into fit for habitation where it's broad enough and he 1294 designed it in a way where the counties and cities can set their own standards for fit living in 1295 apartment complexes and rental property. And the State Bill backs up what the cities and what 1296 the counties establish; this is what's fit for us. This may be fit for Coffee County. It may not be 1297 the same for what's fit in Fulton County, for instance. So it's a good Bill, and it's headed over to 1298 the Senate. And I want College Park to keep their fingers crossed, because it's a State Bill; it 1299 would be State law. But, in particularly, for us, I am very much hoping that this Bill does pass. 1300 And, you know, you have Republican, Democrat; this guy happens to be a Republican, but I 1301 work with him all the time. And I work across the aisle whoever wants to do things to better our 1302 communities. And this is one Bill I definitely have to applaud. And I know it wasn't on our 1303 legislative agenda with our lobbyist, but City Manager, I want you to reach out to our lobbyist 1304 who we're playing good money to watch the Bills we want watched. And I want to make sure 1305 that Bill gets across the Senate, so it can become law and we can use it to better our city as well. 1306 That's House Bill 404. All right. So that's all I got. 1307 1308 MAYOR MOTLEY BROOM: Thank you, sir. Councilman Allen? 1309 1310 COUNCILMAN ALLEN: Couple of things. Coming up in April, we'll have budget reviews. 1311 And for those of you that want to listen to what's going on, and how your money is spent, I think 1312 you can go on the City's website and see the dates. Is that not correct, I believe, and attend the 1313 budget hearings and see how your money is spent. Congratulations to the folks that Keep College 1314 Park Beautiful. I think that's great. And in line with that, cleanup day is going to be March 25th. 1315 So, again, you can volunteer. You can help out keeping College Park beautiful. 1316 1317 So the College Park Main Street Association is having a wine stroll and music on March the 1318 16th. Everybody come out and enjoy the music. Enjoy the wine stroll, be part of the City. 1319 Again, another great event. And thanks to Cookie Smoke and Andria Towne for bringing the 1320 cycling event to College Park. It's just a great event. It brings in, again, people from 33 different 1321 states attended and 14 different countries. So that's good for College Park. And that's all I have. 1322 1323 MAYOR MOTLEY BROOM: Thank you, sir. Councilman Gay? 1324 1325 COUNCILMAN GAY: Yes. I have a few items. First off, we have a resident, Mr. & Mrs. 1326 Harris who lost his father. Mr. Harris is an ideal constituent. You couldn't ask for a better 1327 family to be in your community. Sorry about your loss, Mr. Harris. Sorry, I couldn't make the Regular Session Page 29 of 35 03/06/2023 1328 home going today. I just wanted to touch on all been said on 3100. That property was in my 1329 Ward before it was annexed out of our Ward. So I have a lot of history with 3100. 3100 also is 1330 split in half by 3110, which is on the city side, so it's kind of an awkward property. But I will tell 1331 you what I learned from that complex. You're right, there's an awful lot of tenants, awful lot of 1332 owners. It changes ownership a lot. And because of that, it was a challenge when I was over it. 1333 But what I did find that works, is that, one, we offered the city police free rent. I don't know if 1334 that's still an option over there. The second thing I know that worked over there, I personally 1335 had town hall meetings in that center, probably, every other month, and let the people come out 1336 and voice their concerns. 1337 1338 And, thirdly, I used to have one on one with the property manager. Even though they changed a 1339 lot, I made it my point to get to know my property managers. So those are just three 1340 recommendations until we get other options. We had a property, 2601 Roosevelt Highway, it 1341 was probably the most deplorable property in College Park. I got pictures. It was probably 1342 Little Vietnam I don't know if I can say that, but it was in bad shape. So the former building 1343 inspector, Oscar Hudson and myself, along with the police chief, we convened with a meeting 1344 and we sent two certified letters. And then we got Winston Denmark's office to do a 1345 condemnation order. I think that's when a condemnation order is appropriate. But what came out 1346 of that is just at the eve of the condemnation order, it was sold. And I'm glad to say that it was 1347 sold to an outfit that just put 10 1/2 million dollars making it one of the more premiere properties 1348 in our city. So there are some good outcomes out of bad outcomes. 1349 1350 Do anybody know if we had Rocklyn Homes -- was that last Saturday? 1351 1352 MAYOR MOTLEY BROOM: Saturday before last. 1353 1354 COUNCILMAN GAY: So, Rocklyn Homes had a groundbreaking. Mayor and Council, all 1355 elected officials came out, which says that we are still -- we can disagree to disagree, but we still 1356 come and show unity when we can, when our schedules permits. So kudos Rocklyn Homes. 1357 They did a great job. I know they still have a lot of growing pains, but we're just excited to have 1358 them in our community. They are an economic benefit, an all-electric apartment. And I tell you, 1359 my son, Blake, has a classmate who went to Columbia. And she married a Nigerian lawyer; 1360 they're both lawyers. You know they want to move to Rocklyn Homes? So what's my point? 1361 That's something that attract that type of talent and that demographic to our city. So, 1362 unfortunately, no, I can't get everybody over there, but we can bring new people to our 1363 community and expand our reach. The other thing I want to say is window ordinance. I 1364 sponsored window ordinance legislation. Our former City Manager, she didn't even put it on the 1365 agenda. But what this looks like is that we're getting so many homes that are being bought by 1366 investors. And they're remodeling them quickly. In two weeks, the house is rebuilt or remodeled. 1367 But because some of our Ward has a lot of noise, impacted by the noise, I wish that we could 1368 look at an ordinance that would, when they go get their permit, they're going to do windows, or 1369 even insulation, or attic fans. The point is, because we have waited for years on the FAA to 1370 lower the noise to raise the noise standard, I believe that we can get a lot of our noise mitigated 1371 if we, the city, took an opportunity to create an ordinance that requires the builders, or the 1372 owners, to follow the FAA noise mitigation standards. So what that means is, they've already got 1373 a blueprint of what window ratings should be, type of -- they already have that blueprint. And Regular Session Page 30 of 35 03/06/2023 1374 our former airport director and I, we worked on it, but he retired. I'd like to bring that 1375 conversation back up. The next thing is -- we don't have to discuss this tonight. I would like to 1376 have a meeting, or workshop or something, I'm confused about rentals. I'm confused about short 1377 term rentals versus Airbnb. So I got a call from a businesswoman, who just moved on my Ward 1378 on Herschel Road, and she said she was cited for having an Airbnb. And I said, well, we don't 1379 allow AirBnB’s. And we went through this long spill about the benefits of AirBnB’s and 1380 disadvantages. So she said, I live in the property. I only rent it on the weekends. So then I called 1381 and found out that if you own your own property, according to what I understand in the email, 1382 State law allows you to do what you want with your rooms. You can rent them out for, what, a 1383 week, a month. So I would like to have some clarity -- maybe that's when the attorney comes to 1384 Wednesdays, maybe he can give us some clarity. Because I don't want to give the lady the 1385 wrong information. Then you also said you were working on something for Rogers Automotive. 1386 We haven't heard anything back on that. 1387 1388 MR. DENMARK: Yeah, a lawyer in my office is working on that, and I'll give you an update 1389 tomorrow. 1390 1391 COUNCILMAN GAY: And why that's important is because what we notice in the spring, 1392 because they don't have a dryer for cars, they bring the cars out and wrap them in plastic. I don't 1393 have a problem about it not looking slightly, but imagine that plastic, it's thin, blow over to that 1394 playground and smother one of them children. I mean, things can help. So we just want to make 1395 sure that we're aware of that. Guardrail on Highway 29. The 10 million dollar renovation, they 1396 don't have a guardrail that takes them from the apartments to the bus stop or to the store. And so, 1397 we would love to lobby our DOT people -- our GDOT people. I see they just got a new African 1398 American director. I saw her in the news, maybe we can call her and get some of them to get 1399 that guardrail on Highway 29, Jackson? Why I got the white post? 1400 1401 MR. MYERS: Yeah, those candlesticks? 1402 1403 COUNCILMAN GAY: They've been there. 1404 1405 MR. MYERS: I know. I have sent off the request to District 7. 1406 1407 COUNCILMAN GAY: District 7? 1408 1409 MR. MYERS: Yeah. 1410 1411 COUNCILMAN GAY: That would be great, because you know what 1412 1413 MR. MYERS: I'm trying to get them to give us a couple of hundred thousand dollars. I really 1414 truly was working on that. 1415 1416 COUNCILMAN GAY: I believe you, but, you know, this old lady told me the squeaky wheel 1417 get the oil. I only have two more. The Ward 4 town hall meeting is March 16 at 7 o'clock. The 1418 Ward 4 town hall meeting is March 16 at 7 o'clock at the Public Safety complex. We have a lot 1419 of stuff to fill in that two hour window. So people who are watching us on YouTube and City's Regular Session Page 31 of 35 03/06/2023 1420 Facebook, please plan to attend. There is a wine stroll. We could not cancel this. We could not 1421 reschedule. We rescheduled it twice. So my thought is we stop, we get a glass of wine, and then 1422 we come to the meeting. 1423 1424 COUNCILMAN ALLEN: There you go. 1425 1426 COUNCILMAN GAY: That way everybody be chill. They'll be no fight. At least that's my 1427 plan. I think I got one more. Listen, this is on a really sensitive nature, and I just want to put it 1428 out there. There's a city that several of the directors were indicted. This was last month. I read 1429 the complaint. And believe or not, it boils down to just, maybe, it could just have been a 1430 miscommunication. But my point is, we got to really be careful on our bidding process. We 1431 cannot just, you know, bring stuff down here and it's not all of the documentation is not in the 1432 package. Their only complaint was that they interfered with a competitive bidding process. That 1433 was the criminal complaint. They interfered with a competitive bidding process. So I don't want 1434 that to be this great city. And that's all I have. 1435 COUNCILMAN CARN: Councilman Gay 1436 1437 MAYOR MOTLEY BROOM: Sir, wait, hold on. Is that in relation to what Councilman Gay 1438 just said? 1439 1440 COUNCILMAN CARN: Well, I had one short item. It can wait until your comments. 1441 1442 MAYOR MOTLEY BROOM: No, no, go ahead. 1443 1444 COUNCILMAN CARN: You know, our budget season is coming up and we're doing budget 1445 hearings. I thought it might be a good idea for us to try to discuss in terms of the direction we 1446 want to go in this budget. Normally, what we would do, at some point, is sit down with the City 1447 Manager, the Finance Director, and the five of us and kind of give some direction in terms what 1448 we're looking for. If any of you all were here last year when we had our budget hearings, you 1449 might have noticed some strange things. It may have seemed a little bit -- well, I guess disjointed 1450 a bit. But there were things up here that we were saying -- well, obviously, this is a serious need 1451 and that's a serious need. But at the end of the day, it just wasn't in somebody's game plan. 1452 1453 But here's the thing about it; it's our budget and it's our job to spend the money where the 1454 residents need it the most. So I wanted to see if we could get back to that and at some point, 1455 before the end of March, at least have a sit down and a planning directional meeting in terms 1456 what we're trying to do, what we're looking for with this budget. And I thought that'd be a good 1457 idea to getting back to that practice. So that is not the same experience that we had up here in 1458 public with the budget last year. And I think that's something we need to do if we can find time 1459 to do, if we can fit it in somewhere. So that's what I would like to do. I'd like to know what 1460 y'all's pleasure is. But I think it would make things go a whole lot smoother when we start 1461 having budget hearings. 1462 1463 MAYOR MOTLEY BROOM: Well, I don't know if the five of us can meet with the City 1464 Manager and the Finance Director without-- 1465 Regular Session Page 32 of 35 03/06/2023 1466 COUNCILMAN CARN: Special called meeting-- 1467 1468 MAYOR MOTLEY BROOM: Hold on. I'm just speaking -- without doing a notice and -- I 1469 mean, if there are specific concerns that you have, it may be beneficial to sit down with the City 1470 Manager to discuss those. In terms of the pace of the budget -- 1471 1472 COUNCILMAN CARN: Well, I can't sit down with the City Manager -- 1473 1474 MAYOR MOTLEY BROOM: I'm still talking. Sir, I'm still talking -- in regard to the actual 1475 pace of the budget hearings, that part, where we review each thing. I mean, I think the concerns 1476 of each council member are absolutely important as we move forward in this process. What do 1477 you propose the discussion itself look like to set up for the budget hearing? 1478 1479 COUNCILMAN CARN: Well, it's not a pace issue. What I'm suggesting is what we used to 1480 always do. Before we went into budget session, we would sit down with the City Manager, the 1481 Finance Director, and get everybody's input in terms of what direction we want to go in. There 1482 have been times where we've said, before staff starts budget process and sounding, as they call it 1483 in Fulton County, budget soundings, we would set a direction. All right. We want a 5 percent 1484 cut across the board, for example, we've done some years. Other years, we were in better shape. 1485 Other years, we said we want to go in this direction. We want to look towards this. We need 1486 more technology, or whatever have you, but a direction so that we're not on one page and City 1487 Manager and staff is on another. 1488 1489 I want us to make sure we're on the same page for setting this budget. This is the most important 1490 document annually for any city. And, folks, and I'm talking to our residents out there, to the 1491 camera, it's important that we sit down and plan with staff before staff and City Manager and us 1492 decide, well, frankly, how to spend your money. So I think it would be worth having a meeting 1493 about that and making sure we're all in the right direction. And, of course, we're not going to 1494 agree on everything; we're not supposed to. But I think it's worth making sure we have that 1495 meeting to set the tone in terms of the direction we want to go in as a Body. 1496 1497 MAYOR MOTLEY BROOM: Mr. Myers, may I make a suggestion that at our next meeting for 1498 actually, do we have a meeting in April prior to budget discussions? Is our first meeting 1499 1500 MR. MYERS: We have March 20th. 1501 1502 MAYOR MOTLEY BROOM: Is the first meeting in April prior to any budget meeting? 1503 1504 COUNCILMAN CLAY: The 4th is the budget. 1505 1506 MAYOR MOTLEY BROOM: So it would make more sense logistically to do it at the March 1507 20th workshop session. 1508 1509 COUNCILMAN CLAY: Our meeting is the 3rd. Our first meeting is the 3rd. And the first 1510 budget meeting is on the 4th. 1511 Regular Session Page 33 of 35 03/06/2023 1512 COUNCILMAN CARN: So April would be too late. 1513 1514 MAYOR MOTLEY BROOM: It would make sense to have a discussion about this at the next 1515 meeting then? 1516 1517 MR. MYERS: Yeah, March 20th. 1518 1519 MAYOR MOTLEY BROOM: All right. Great. So as always, I have my one on ones, March 1520 21st is the date for this month. If you would like to sit down and talk with me, give me a call, 1521 404 669 3755. Again, that's 404 669 3755. If that time doesn't work, we can always work out 1522 something else. I am happy to chat and talk about anything that you would like to discuss. But 1523 those one on ones are set every single month, and I look forward to talking with everyone. As 1524 Councilman Carn noted today, today is Crossover Day in the Georgia Legislature. Last week, I 1525 had the opportunity to testify in regard to HB517, which was a Bill that was slated to preempt 1526 our ability to regulate building design standards, including things that we have already said you 1527 can't do in our new development in Six West. And so, a lot of times, the proposals that were put 1528 forth would have limited our ability to control what the residential section of Six West looks like. 1529 Luckily, that Bill is not moving forward. I want to thank President Julie Smith of Tifton; the 1530 Mayor of Tifton, who is the president of GMA, Mayor Michael Caldwell from Woodstock, and 1531 also Jeffrey Ruggeri, who is the planning director in Macon. They all came out, as well, to talk 1532 about some of the concerns in regard to HB517 and the abilities for cities to be able to determine 1533 what is best within our own jurisdictions to make sure that we are providing safe, stable, decent 1534 housing. We are actively looking for members of our youth council. If you know teens, ages 1535 Ms. Ames, what are the ages? 13 to 17; is that right? 1536 1537 MS. AMES: 8th grade to 12th. 1538 1539 MAYOR MOTLEY BROOM: 8th grade to 12th grade. So if you know an 8th grader to a 12th 1540 grader, who lives in the city of College Park, who is interested in our youth council, please reach 1541 out to Ms. Ames in the City Clerk's office. We know that at least one of them, is that right, is 1542 headed with us to the National League of Cities Conference in Washington, D.C., later on this 1543 month. Our youth council is a great opportunity for our next generation to learn more about how 1544 our government works. So we would love to see more participants, because we've got some 1545 neighboring cities that have some pretty fabulous youth councils, and we are working to get ours 1546 there as well. My congratulations, as well, to Keep College Park Beautiful, because they're 1547 doing some fantastic work. And we're very excited about their progress and how they're helping 1548 us continue to develop the community that we deserve. And do not forget the wine stroll on 1549 March 16th. Tickets are now available, and you can go to our website to sign up and get your 1550 glass and enjoy the concert afterwards. At this time, I'll take a motion to approve the executive 1551 session minutes. 1552 1553 15. Executive Session. 1554 1555 16. Approval of Executive Session Minutes. 1556 Regular Session Page 34 of 35 03/06/2023 1557 ACTION: Councilman Carn moved to approve Executive Session Minutes dated March 6, 1558 2023, seconded by Councilman Allen and motion carried. 1559 1560 17. Adjournment. 1561 1562 Mayor Motley Broom adjourned the meeting at 9:43 p.m. 1563 1564 1565 1566 1567 1568 CITY OF COLLEGE PARK 1569 1570 1571 1572 _________________________ 1573 1574 Bianca Motley Broom, Mayor 1575 1576 1577 1578 1579 1580 ATTEST: 1581 1582 1583 ________________________ 1584 Shavala Ames, City Clerk 1585 1586 Regular Session Page 35 of 35 03/06/2023