City Council Regular Meeting

CITY OF STONECREST, GEORGIA Honorable Mayor Jason Lary, Sr. Council Member Jimmy Clanton, Jr. – District 1 Council Member Rob Turner- District 2 Council Member Jazzmin Cobble – District 3 Council Member George Turner- District 4 Tammy Grimes – District 5 CITY COUNCIL MEETING MINUTES August 10, 2020 7:00 p.m. Virtual Meeting Available to the Public via YouTube Live I. CALL TO ORDER: Mayor Jason Lary II. ROLL CALL: All members present. III. INVOCATION: Invocation was led by Council Member Rob Turner. IV. PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE V. APPROVAL OF THE COUNCIL AGENDA: Motion 1- was made by Council Member Jazzmin Cobble to add under New Business, Item C. Contract Management and was seconded by Council Member George Turner. Motion passed 4-2 with Mayor Jason Lary and Council member Jimmy Clanton voting nay. Mayor Jason Lary suggested to Change the item under Presentations to be: a. DeKalb County Police Chief Swearing In, b. Mayor’s Community Development Award and c. Mayor’s Mid- Year Update. Motion 2 was made by Council Member Rob Turner to approve the agenda with above formentioned changes and was seconded by Council Member Tammy Grimes. Motion passed 4-2 with Mayor Jason Lary and Council member Jimmy Clanton voting nay. VI. MINUTES: a. July 9, 2020 Special Called Minutes 1  Motion 3- was made by Mayor Jason Lary to approve the minutes from July 9, 2020 Special Called Meeting and was seconded by Mayor Jason Lary. Motion passed unanimously. b. July 13, 2020 Public Hearing Meeting Minutes c. July 13, 2020 City Council Meeting Minutes d. July 27, 2020 City Council Meeting Minutes Motion 4- was made by Mayor Jason Lary to table the minutes from July 13, 2020 Public Hearing, Minutes from July 13, 2020 Council Meeting and minutes from July 27, 2020 Council Meeting until August 24, 2020 and was seconded by Council Member Rob Turner. Motion passed unanimously. e. August 3, 2020 Special Called Meeting Minutes Motion 5- was made by Mayor Jason Lary to approve the August 3, 2020 Special Called Meeting Minutes and was seconded by Council member Rob Turner. Motion passed unanimously. VII. PRESENTATIONS: a. Mayor Lary swore in Chief Mirtha Ramos as Chief of Police for DeKalb County and Stoencrest. b. Mayor’s Community Development Award presented to Usman Gandhi of Hiram Properties in his effort to improve Stonecrest by developing a modern commercial site at Klondike road and Brownsmill Road (Klondike Corners.) c. Mayor’s Mid-Year Update Staff gave a complete update on each department thus far in 2020. VIII. APPOINTMENTS: a. City Manager Appointment Motion 6- was made by Mayor Jason Lary to suspend the regular meeting and to go into executive session for Personnel Matters and Pending Litigation and was seconded by Council Member Rob Turner. 2  Motion passed unanimously. Motion 7- was made by Mayor Jason Lary to adjourn Executive Session and to resume Regular Session and was seconded by Council Member Jimmy Clanton. Motion passed unanimously. Motion 8- was made by Mayor Jason Lary to delay the decision to vote on City Manager to another time and was seconded by Council Member Jimmy Clanton. Motion passed unanimously. IX. PUBLIC COMMENTS a. City Clerk Megan Reid read aloud the Public Comments. -- Concerned Citizens of South DeKalb Good afternoon, The residents of South Dekalb are unified in our opposition to the building of a toxic concrete recycling plant being built in our residential area. Would any of you want to live next door to this carcinogen producing dump??? Of course, you wouldn’t want it near YOUR house. Why would you think we want it near OURS? We are demanding that you all IMMEDIATELY place a Stop Work order on the Metro Green site on Miller Road. The TRO does absolutely nothing for us right now. Please put that “ Stop Work Order” on at your 8/10/20 meeting. The citizens are tired of the stall tactics and special called meetings. The time is NOW. Please listen to your constituents. Isn’t that who you are supposed to represent? Thank you, Concerned Citizens of South Dekalb -- Monica Gilbert August 10, 2020 Public Comment – Monica Gilbert Good evening Mayor Lary and Council, My name is Monica Gilbert and I have been a resident of South Dekalb County for over 36 years and have lived 32 of those years in now what we call the City of Stonecrest. I am not considered one of the founding fathers of Stonecrest nor a part of its inner circle, but I did, however, vote for it to become a city. Stonecrest would not have become a city unless the citizens living in portions of Lithonia voted for it. Our affirmative YES votes were needed to fulfill your cityhood dream. Now that your dream has been fulfilled, we the citizens, have earned a seat at the table. We should be respectively and attentively listened to. 3  I oppose toxic recycling businesses of any kind in our beloved Stonecrest/South Dekalb. It's a known fact that the air quality will be negatively and adversely affected by its byproduct. We don’t need this in Stonecrest! What kind of an environment are we leaving for future generations? What kind of environment are we creating for us to live our last days? What about the noise, traffic, possible road repairs, etc.…? Many people of color suffer from numerous underlying medical conditions and the toxicity from a recycling company is not what we need in Stonecrest! We're dying from Covid 19 by the hundreds of thousands because of some form of toxicity! I am 63 years young and do not consider myself an "ASS" or “IGNORNANT.” What I am is a concerned citizen who wants the best for Stonecrest. Please know the way we talk to, and about people, our tone and mannerism says a lot about us. A lot of people are watching Stonecrest, so let's put our best foot forward and respect the opinion of others. Let’s work together for a better Stonecrest! In closing, Mayor Lary, you recently mentioned John Lewis and C T Vivian were so very proud of cities ran by African Americans. What you say is true, but I think they would question why toxic plants, dollar stores and gas stations are now slated as the primary businesses for future economic growth for said cities. Respectively, Monica Gilbert -- Tracy Hickman and Family Hello Megan and CM-Turner, I would like to ask the Mayor and the council to issue a stop work order on Metro Green if not already (please lock the gates). It is within your power as the Council to do so and it is in the best interest of the citizens of Stonecrest and the neighboring cities to stop the work being done daily at the Metro Green site off Snapfinger Woods Dr. The permit to work was issued although they were not compliant with Dekalb County. I do not care who is to blame EPD, Mayor Lary, Dekalb County, Zoning, etc. We want to fix the blame and correct the issue and get them out of our neighborhood. Therefore we are asking that not only you place the stop work quickly, we are asking that the stop work order remain in place and will not be lifted until the Dekalb County court has issued a hearing date and ruling. I do appreciate (I think) the filing of the TRO, we do not know how long this will take, hence the request to stop them from working. And we are not sure of the details for this filing but understand all legal strategies cannot be discussed publicly. Therefore we are hoping that we can trust that this proceedings and filing are in our best interest. We are watching this meeting tonight and outside doing a car rally! We will continue to fight to stop this plant from coming into our city! We hope you understand we only want what is right for us and we hope you all feel the same. 4  Tracy Hickman and Family, Stonecrest Citizens -- Faye Coffield CAUTION: This email originated from outside your organization. Exercise caution when opening attachments or clicking links, especially from unknown senders. First let me acknowledge the movement of Home Deport into the Lithonia Industrial Boulevard corridor. I would like to thank Home Depot for selecting an area which was already zoned for their intended use and will have no negative impact on the homeowners and residents of Stonecrest. Hopefully more companies will follow their example and move into one of the already zoned commercial areas which do not impact residents. My first concern is when will city hall reopen to the public. Our children are returning to school, in person and virtually. If it is safe enough for a retrn to school, why can't city hall open for public meetings? With regard to Home Depot I would like to know the following: 1. Where they given a tax credit or tax waiver? If so how much and for how long? 2. Will there be a specific number of Home Depot jobs set aside for Stonecrest residents? 3. Why is there no STOP WORK order in the Metro Green matter? I understand there is a request for a Temporary Restraining Order. However why is there no STOP WORK ORDER until the Temporary Restraining Order can be decided? 4. After the fiasco with Metro Green, is there an effort to evaluate all properties in Stonecrest to determine if there are conflicts between existing zoning. i.e. are some parcles zoned for development which is inconsistent with the current zoning? By that I mean are there other properties which were rezone residential from commercial but still have adjoining properties that are commerical. Stonecrest has the ability to become one, if not the best small city in the State of Georgia. Faye Coffield -- "...Power Concedes Nothing without Demand.... Frederick Douglas Courage is standing up against injustice even when everyone else remains seated. Faye X. PUBLIC HEARING None. XI. OLD BUSINESS None. 5  XII. NEW BUSINESS a. Stonecrest 2020 Paving Project - Phase 2 Approval There was much discussion regarding the parameters of the Purchasing Policy and there needs to be clarification to make sure this is not in violation of the Purchasing Policy. Motion 9- was made by Mayor Jason Lary to defer the decision until August 24, 2020 and was seconded by Council member Tammy Grimes. Motion passed unanimously. b. COVID-19 CARES Act IGA Approval Motion 10- was made by Mayor Jason Lary to approve the COVID-19 CARES Act IGA as read and was seconded by Council Member Jimmy Clanton. Motion passed unanimously. c. Contract Management Mayor Jason Lary heard the requests from City Council Members pertaining to having documents regarding most recent Contract. Mayor Jason Lary said he would have the documents on August 17, 2020. XIII. EXECUTIVE SESSION None. XIV. CITY MANAGER UPDATE Happy Birthday Council Member Tammy Grimes. XV. CITY ATTORNEY None. XVI. MAYOR AND COUNCIL UPDATES Council Member Jimmy Clanton- None. Council Member Rob Turner- Be safe and wear a mask. 6  Council Member Jazzmin Cobble- Happy Birthday to Council member Tammy Grimes and a special Happy Birthday to Mason (Council Member Jazzmin Cobble’s Son.) Council Member George Turner- Census 2020 deadline is set for September 30, 2020. Complete Count Census Meeting is set for August 12, 2020 at 6pm. Council Member Tammy Grimes- None Mayor Jason Lary- None XVII. ADJOURNMENT Mayor Jason Lary adjourned the meeting at 11:41pm Read and adopted in the regular meeting of the City Council held on this 14th day of September, 2020. __________________________ Mayor Jason Lary ATTEST: _______________________________ Megan P. Reid, City Clerk 7