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HomeMy WebLinkAboutRegular Commission Meeting April 2, 2019 REGULAR MEETING COMMISSION CHAMBER APRIL 2, 2019 Augusta Richmond County Commission convened at 2:00 p.m., April 2, 2019, the Hon. Hardie Davis Jr., Mayor, presiding. PRESENT: Hons. B. Williams, Garrett, Sias, Fennoy, Frantom, M. Williams, Davis, D. Williams, Hasan and Clarke, members of Augusta Richmond County Commission. Mr. Mayor: All right, good afternoon, everybody. I know it’s raining out and a little cloudy and gloomy but this is a good day. We’re excited to be here to do the people’s business. I’m going to call this meeting to order. The Chair recognizes Madam Clerk. The Clerk: I call your attention to the invocation portion of our agenda which will be delivered today by the Rev. Dr. Timothy R. Green, Jr., Pastor of the Jenkins Memorial CME Church after which we would like to ask Mr. James Riles if he will please lead us into the Pledge of Allegiance. The invocation was given by Rev. Dr. Timothy Green, Jr., Pastor, Jenkins Memorial CME Church. The Pledge of Allegiance to the Flag of the United States of America was recited. The Clerk: Reverend Green, in recognition Office of the Mayor Hardie Davis Jr., by these presence be it known that Rev. Dr Timothy R. Green, Jr., Pastor of Jenkins Memorial CME Church is Chaplain of the Day his spiritual guidance and civic leadership serves as an example for all nd citizens of Augusta. Given under my hand this 2 Day of April 2019 Hardie Davis Jr., Mayor, thank you. Mr. Mayor: Would you join me in congratulating our Chaplain of the Day. (APPLAUSE) Madam Clerk, let’s go to Recognitions. The Clerk: RECOGNITION(S) Special Olympics World Summer Games th A. Congratulations! Jay Flythe and Kevin Enright for their 5 place finish in Table Tennis at the Special Olympics World Summer Games in Abu Dhabi. (Requested by Mayor Pro Tem Sean Frantom and Commissioner Mary Davis) The Clerk: At this time we have the distinct honor to recognize two young men who served our community very well. At this time we would like to ask Jay Flythe and Kevin Enright to please come forward. Mayor Pro Tem and Mr. Mayor, would you please come down we’ve got a couple of presentations and we’ll start with Jay first. We’ll share these recognitions, Office of the Mayor Certificate of Recognition given to Jay Flythe Olympian Abu Dhabi 2019 Special Olympic Summer Royal Games. Whereas Jay Flythe with no prior experience playing table tennis 1 stth competitively until February 21 2019 was selected on March 6 2019 along with two other residents from Augusta to begin their journey to participate in the Special Olympics World Summer Games in Abu Dhabi representing the United States. Whereas Jay’s sport was table tennis th where he competed in the singles competition placing 5 the doubles with his partner a Special th Olympic Georgia Athlete from Gainesville, Georgia placing 4 and in the final competition in the th unified doubles where Jay played as a team finishing 5 place. Whereas Jay Flythe is a remarkable person and while he was outplayed in every match, he never gave up and actually improved with each match. Through it all he was able to possess a positive attitude and continue to smile and laugh throughout the competition. Jay represented his country, state and the City of Augusta with excellent sportsmanship and determination therefore the City of Augusta recognizes your commitment to athletic excellence and for inspiring others to perform at their best with your message of empowerment and self-motivation. We congratulate you for participating and placing in the Special Olympic Summer World Games, congratulations Jay. (APPLAUSE) The Clerk: Office of the Mayor Certificate of Recognition given to Kevin Enright local coordinator, head coach Special Olympic Georgia Augusta Georgia Stars 2019 Special Olympic Summer World Games. Whereas Coach Kevin Enright with no prior experience playing table stth tennis competitively until February 21 2019 was selected on March 6 2019 along with three other residents from Augusta to begin their journey to participate in the 2019 Special Olympic World Summer Game representing the United States at the recommendation of Dr. Karen Carter of the Augusta Developmental Specialists. Whereas Coach Enright competition sport was table tennis where he teamed up with local Jay Flythe to compete in the Unified Double Table Tennis th Competition and finishing in 5 place therefor the City of Augusta recognizes your commitment to athletic excellence and for inspiring others to perform at their best which is exemplified by your local and distinguished service. We congratulate you for participating in the 2019 Special Olympic nd Summer World Games as Coach and Special Olympics Unified Partner given this 2 Day of April 2019 Hardie Davis Jr., Mayor, congratulations Coach. (APPLAUSE) Mr. Enright: Okay I wasn’t ready for this part so, I’ve been doing Special Olympics now for 24 years been local coordinator, head coach. I founded the Augusta Starts. Jay has been with me basically since day one; he was exemplary in Abu Dhabi. Like I said he never lost focus. He got better with every game. I actually thought we were about to win one match and then I blew it I think so he didn’t do it I did it. But yeah, Jay’s excellent. We had a great time over there and we are so thankful to be back home so thank ya’ll. Oh by the way he played like 40 games in the two weeks that we were over in Aby Dhabi so for him all the practices we had before and just to watch him progress through each game and get better and better and not give up so my hat’s off to him, thank you. (APPLAUSE) Mr. Mayor: Jay, Coach, congratulations. You make Augusta proud, you represented us well, thank you so much congratulations. (APPLAUSE) The Clerk: RECOGNITION(S) March Years of Service B. Congratulations! 2019 March Years of Service (YOS) Recipients. 2 The Clerk: I call your attention to Item B under our Recognition portion of the agenda we’ll ask Ms. Sylvia Williams of our Human Resources Department to please come forward as we officer our congratulation in recognition of our 2019 March Years of Service Recipients. Ms. Williams: Thank you, Madam Clerk. Good afternoon Mayor Davis, Commissioners, special quests, department directors and citizens of Augusta, Georgia. My name is Sylvia Williams Employee Relations and Training Manager. Today it is my esteemed pleasure to recognize the March Years of Service Recipients. For the Month of March 2019 we had 20 employees celebrating between five and 20 years of service with Augusta, Georgia this afternoon we would like to recognize our 25 to 50 Years of Service Recipients. For the Month of March the total years of service in institutional knowledge being celebrated here today is 405 years. When I call your name, please come forward. Timothy Owens, Sheriff’s Office 25 years. (APPLAUSE) James Pratt, Central Services 25 years. (APPLAUSE) Mary Smith, Superior Court 25 years. (APPLAUSE) Walter Ashley, Sheriff’s Office, 30 years. (APPLAUSE) Nancy Johnson, State Court Solicitor, 30 years. (APPLAUSE) Is there anyone here whose name I did not call? Okay congratulations to our Years of Service Recipients please join me in a round of applause as we thank these employees for their loyal service to Augusta, Georgia. (APPLAUSE) Mr. Mayor: All right, Madam Clerk, I’m going to mention a few things and then we’re st going to have a Point of Personal Privilege from the Commissioner from the 1. I want to remind everyone that April is Child Abuse Prevention Month. It’s a very significant issue across this country and certainly here in the City of Augusta as we come to bring awareness to the issues related to child abuse, and again this month is prevention month. As we come together for our sons and our daughters, parents, public servants and community leaders may you all be engaged and if you see something say something and do something. Our children often times are our most vulnerable. We have a responsibility to take action when we see things or hear things and to mobilize a community that works for all of our children not just a select few. Today is also National Service Recognition Day. This is an annual initiative that takes place the first Tuesday in April and is led by the Corporation for National and Community Service. The National League of Cities of which Augusta is a member of the National Association of Counties NACO which Augusta’s also a part of and Cities of Service honoring AMERICORP members and Senior Corp Volunteers. If you’re tweeting it’s #National Services Works. On this coming Monday April the thth 8 from 5:00 p.m. until 9:00 at the Augusta Common the 20 Edition of the Mayor’s Master’s Reception will be taking place. As always, free food and entertainment, live entertainment from Oh No Stereo and Damian Hall formerly of the group Guy, celebrity guest appearances, NFL players and more will be there on The Commons for 2019. We’re excited to be honoring former Mayor Bob Young who gave us this idea some 20 years ago to host the Mayor’s Masters Reception as a way for golf patrons from across the world who may not get inside the ropes an opportunity to be engaged in the conversation. I want to take a moment to share just a few things with the members of this body as all of us are aware one of the most important issues that we’ve been engaged in is the issue of the Lock and Dam. There have been a series of community meetings st and stakeholder engagements and I want to thank this body for being in attendance on the 21 of March for the public hearing that we hosted which was a real public hearing; it gave folks the opportunity to engage. I also want to thank Ms. Bonner, Attorney MacKenzie and the team for making sure that we had a court reporter who would be able to record that information and make 3 sure that those comments go in our submission for the entire public comment period and to all of our citizens who came out and participated in that event. On this past Thursday there was a meeting that was hosted by our member of the Georgia Ports Authority current Vice Chair and soon to be Chairman of the Georgia Ports Authority, Will McKnight, brought members of the Georgia Ports Authority here to meet with myself, Ms. Jackson, Tom Wiedmeier, Mayor Pro Tem, Mayor Bob Petit and his team and our Chamber President. That meeting was an interesting meeting. It was an informative meeting, it was an instructive meeting where there was much discussion, very candid discussion about how we arrived at this place. I think what’s important in terms of takeaways and the thing that we want to share today, and the Mayor Pro Tem he’ll speak to this issue as well is that we have consistently been unified in our approach with regards to the issue that is before us and what gives both communities. In fact, we have referred to this as a community and when we speak of community we’re talking about Augusta, North Augusta and our neighboring partners who have all locked step are speaking in locked step with regards to this issue. I want to share that the State of South Carolina is aggressively engaged in this matter to include Senators Graham and Scott. I want to acknowledge the good or our own representative Rick Allen who has not been silent in this issue. I’ve said it before that our other elected leaders have been largely silent with regards to this matter. I’m waiting to hear from Senators Perdue and Isaacson who remain silent with regards to this issue and I would ask each and every member of this body to reach out to them. What we’ll do is we’ll have Marcus and the team send out contact information so we can call all of those individuals and talk about the matter that’s at hand with regards to where Augusta and North Augusta are. There’s most recently a letter that was sent out on this past Friday by Mayor Petit. We were copied on that letter expressing grave concerns with the communication that was sent to both of us by Colonel Hibner regarding the information that was put out during the public work session that they hosted and the subsequent letter talking about the cost associated with the alternatives. I think this matter again continues to rise to the level of being our most significant threat in this region and in this community. We are continuing to see good progress by our internal team who is working on comments in a joint fashion with the work that’s being done by Tom Wiedmeier and our consultants in making sure that we’re getting the right comments. We’re addressing the issues that are before us and they are responding to all of the potential questions from an economic growth perspective, from a cost perspective and how it impact us here in the city and also in North Augusta. And we just want to give an update that there’s still a great deal of work the comment period closes on 16 April, on 16 April at 4:00 p.m. We will have our comments end before that time but there’s still a great deal of work. I’m going to yield and ask the Mayor Pro Tem if he’ll chime in at this point with additional comments. Mr. Mayor Pro Tem: Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Those sentiments exactly the way I feel. Being a part of these meetings for the last few months it’s been very frustrating to represent this community and feel like the goalpost continues to move and the numbers keep changing on this. We’ve got to continue to fight as one in this community. We’ve got to continue support with what Tom Wiedemeier and Tom Robinson are doing to try to get us to a better place as the comment thth period ends on August 16 I mean April 16. And I’m frustrated that the fact that we haven’t heard from Governor Kemp, we haven’t heard from Perdue, Isaacson and it seems like in South Carolina they’ve got, everybody’s at the table, everybody’s on the same sheet of music and here in Georgia we just can’t get that to happen. Obviously because of the SHEP and things in Savannah I guess it’s politically what’s kind of happening in Georgia. It’s just disappointing because we are supposed to be one Georgia and as a community we’re going to continue to fight, 4 we’re going to continue to do all we can and um, but this whole process has been complex, it’s been frustrating. Every time we have a meeting the numbers change, the agenda changes how things are going. I mean you saw that they came out and said that 1-1 can’t even happen before the comment period was even over and that’s frustrating. When the matrix was theirs in 1-1 was one of their options not ours so thank you for the opportunity to speak, Mayor. Mr. Mayor: Okay I also want to take a moment there’s this overarching theme that for whatever reason continues to take shape in this community. There are a number of certainly community stakeholders and interested parties in this conversation but with regards to the City of Augusta the cities of North Augusta, I want to emphatically say as it’s been said before but for whatever reason it keeps coming up, it keeps coming up but the Savannah Riverkeeper does not speak for the City of Augusta. The Savannah Riverkeeper does not speak for the City of Augusta. The Savannah Riverkeeper does not speak for the City of Augusta. And for whatever strange reason again this issue is complex enough that we don’t necessarily want to see divisive lines being created but when you’ve got individuals representing entities who are speaking unilaterally and have been given carte blanch to speak on this matter but not speaking in unison or in unanimity with the local government that’s problematic. And I want to again say for the record that that is not how this works and we are, we have a joint team that’s putting together comments that will be the basis for how we proceed as a city and again that’s important for us from the City of Augusta. th All right, the Chair recognizes the Commissioner from the 6. Mr. Hasan: Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Mr. Mayor, once again I want to commend you for the public meeting that you held a couple of weeks ago. It was an excellent opportunity for people to truly be heard. But also in light and I apologize to yourself and the Mayor Pro Tem if I missed this and that is as a result of the meeting you had the other day and some of the Georgia Port Authority coming here membership coming here what was the takeaway, and if I missed it I apologize. Mr. Mayor: Well, you ask a very significant question and I’ll be quite frankly honest with th you says the Commissioner from the 6 our takeaways were they wanted us at the table. As the Mayor Pro Tem indicated the goalpost moved and there wasn’t anything substantial other than they want to “help get to a good place”. What they did not tell us and we could not ascertain was what is that good place. The questions were very direct from both North Augusta and Augusta. What is that good place and what is it you are prepared to do because as the non-federal sponsor it’s your call at the end of the day. It is the Georgia Ports Authority and GDOT. It’s their call at the end of the day what ultimately happens. And what we stated emphatically is that we’ve heard this narrative about Georgians first and One Georgia. The last time I checked Augusta’s still part of Georgia and while there is great support and we too support the SHEP Expansion Project Savannah Harbor Deepening don’t do that at the demise of the City called Augusta because what has happened and again it was clear as a result of the deepening it impacted the waters there. The solution was let’s push that to Augusta, that’s what has happened. And so we’re still having more conversations but the comment period is what is critical right now and what we were told by our representative on the Ports Authority was put all of the comments there to include the issues that will affect how we operate today from a water supply, from a navigation and recreation perspective and as you do that expect real answers from not only the Corp but also the Ports Authority as well. 5 Mr. Hasan: Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Mr. Mayor: Yes, sir. All right, Madam Clerk, the Chair recognizes the Commissioner st from the 1 for a Point of Personal Privilege. Mr. Fennoy: Yes, I would like to take this opportunity to thank everyone for their support of the cookout the barbeque that we had this past Friday in order to raise money for the Heart Walk Foundation in honor of Andrew Jefferson and in honor of Commissioner Grady Smith. But I would also like to take this opportunity to apologize for the chaos that existed this past Friday. We started off way behind but and then once we got behind it was difficult for us to catch up. I can assure you that if we have an event like this next year or anytime in the near future that would not happen again. Because of your support and the support of the community, we was able to raise over $4,000 dollars for this event. I would also like to take this opportunity for those of you who were not there to show you a little video that Leidra Collins out at the Utilities Department and Jessica Williford out of the Administrator’s Office put together. It’s only about maybe two minutes so if I could have two more minutes, Mr. Mayor --- Mr. Mayor: Absolutely --- Mr. Fennoy: I don’t ask for much. Mr. Mayor: --- you don’t. Mr. Fennoy: (APPLAUSE) Again, thanks again for your support and look forward to doing this again next year. And, Mr. Mayor, this was put together by two of our employees one Leidra works for Augusta Utilities and Jessica works out of the Administrator’s Office so they did a good job. Let’s give them a round of applause. (APPLAUSE) Mr. Mayor: Fantastic congratulations super --- The Clerk: Very talented ladies. Mr. Mayor: --- yes, we’ve got the best employees in the whole State of Georgia that’s right, right here in Augusta. All right, Madam Clerk. The Clerk: I call your attention to the Consent portion of our agenda Items 1-23, Items 1- 23. Mr. Mayor: All right, the Chair will entertain any motions to add or remove from the consent. The Chair recognizes the Mayor Pro Tem. Mr. Mayor Pro Tem: Mr. Mayor, I’d like to pull agenda items number 3 and number 5 please. th Mr. Mayor: Okay, the Chair recognizes the Commissioner from the 8. 6 Mr. Garrett: I’d like to make a motion to add in the addition to the consent agenda. Mr. Mayor: All right, without objection. Mr. Fennoy: Adding what? Mr. Mayor: Adding this. The Clerk: The consent the addendum --- Mr. Mayor: Addendum to the consent agenda. The Clerk: --- appointing District 8 representative to the Planning Commission. Mr. Mayor: All right, without objection. All right, the Chair recognizes the Commissioner th from the 10. Mr. Clarke: Pull Item 6 please. th Mr. Mayor: The Chair recognizes the Commissioner from the 9. Mr. M. Williams: I need to pull Item number 9, Mr. Mayor. Mr. Sias: Move to approve. Ms. Davis: Second. CONSENT AGENDA PUBLIC SERVICES 1. Motion to approve Adult Entertainment ordinance amendment to the Augusta, Georgia Code, Title 6, Chapter 1, Adult Entertainment, Section 6-1-3(g), to provide that an erotic dance establishment business tax certificate holder is eligible to obtain on-premise consumption alcohol licenses subject to the regulations of the Augusta Alcohol Ordinance, and provides that the establishment is in compliance with Section 6-1-9 of the Adult Entertainment Ordinance that provides location requirements.(Approved by the Commission on March 19, 2019 – second reading. 2. Motion to approve the Planning & Development Department requests approval of the attached Regulatory Fee Schedule that will correct previously approved Ordinance #7652; Augusta, Georgia Code, Administrative and Regulatory Fee Structure, Section 2-1-3©; to provide and effective date, and to waive the second reading. (Approved by Public Services Committee March 26, 2019) ADMINISTRATIVE SERVICES 4. Motion to approve the demolishing of the old Law Enforcement Center complex at 401 Walton Way with funding from SPLOST VII and to immediately begin getting a project manager on board to design and build a new Juvenile Justice Center with the Administrator 7 to come back with plans at the next committee meeting. (Approved by Administrative Services Committee March 26, 2019) 7. Motion to approve the proposed draft of the dedication plaque for the following project: Georgia Cyber Center Parking Facility. (Approved by Administrative Services Committee March 26, 2019) 8. Motion to approve Amending Housing and Community Development’s (HCD’s) 2015 Public Facility Contract with Association Latina de Servicios of Del CSRA (ALAS) (for a building at a new location) to reflect the change in scope of work from New Construction to Acquisition. HCD will provide funding in the amount of up to $140,000 to ALAS for the sole purpose of acquiring the site location for the renovation of a low-income clinic. ALAS will be responsible for renovating the building into a medical center and parking lot to offer services to the low/moderate income population of Augusta-Richmond County. (Approved by Administrative Services Committee March 26, 2019) 10. Motion to approve Housing and Community Development Department’s (HCD’s) request to provide funding to seven (7) low-to-moderate homeowners in need of decent, safe and compliant housing. (Approved by Administrative Services Committee March 26, 2019) 11. Motion to approve of Professional Service Agreement for the Laney Walker/Bethlehem Revitalization Project to Greater Augusta Arts Council on behalf of Housing and Community Development Department (HCD). (Approved by Administrative Services Committee March 26, 2019) PUBLIC SAFETY 12. Motion to approve Memorandum of Understanding between Georgia Emergency Management and Homeland Security Agency and Augusta-Richmond County Emergency Management Agency for Grant Applications. (Approved by Public Safety Committee March 26, 2019) 13. Motion to approve Memorandum of Understanding between Georgia Emergency Management and Homeland Security Agency and Augusta-Richmond County Fire Department for grant applications. (Approved by Public Safety Committee March 26, 2019) FINANCE 14. Motion to approve establishing a Street Light Sub-committee composed of the five committee chairmen (chairpersons). (Approved by Finance Committee March 26, 2019) ENGINEERING SERVICES 15. Motion to approve and award Preliminary and Final Engineering Design Consultant th Services Agreement to Cranston Engineering in the amount of $428,182.14 for the 5 Street Improvements Project as requested by the AED. Award is contingent upon receipt of signed agreement. RFP 18-283. (Approved by Engineering Services Committee March 26, 2019) 16. Motion to approve and award Preliminary and Final Engineering Design Consultant th Services Agreement to Clark Patterson Lee in the amount of $228,325.00 for the 6 Street Improvements Project as requested by the AED. Award is contingent upon receipt of signed agreement. RFP 18-279. (Approved by Engineering Services Committee March 26, 2019) 17. Motion to approve an Ordinance amend the Augusta, Georgia Section 4-2-6 related to Landfill Fees; To repeal all code sections and ordinances and parts of code sections and ordinances in conflict herewith; to provide an effective date and for other purposes provided 8 herein of the Augusta Code-Fees for Environmental Services Department Landfill Fees. (Approved by Engineering Services Committee March 26, 2019) 18. Motion to approve and award Preliminary and Final Engineering Design Consultant Services Agreement to Hussey Gay Bell (HGB) in the amount of $2,078,797.19 for the Broad Street Improvements Project as requested by the AED. Award is contingent upon receipt of signed agreement. RFP 18-311. (Approved by Engineering Services Committee March 26, 2019) 19. Motion to approve and award Preliminary and Final Engineering Design Consultant Services Agreement to Goodwyne, Mills & Canwood (GMC) in the amount of $279,000.88 th for the 13 Street Improvements Project as request by the AED. Award is contingent upon receipt of signed agreement. RFP 18-258. (Approved by Engineering Services Committee March 26, 2019) 20. Motion to approve and award Preliminary and Final Engineering Design Consultant Services Agreement to Infrastructure Systems Management, LLC (ISM) in the amount of $685,061.06 for the Greene Street Improvements Project as requested by the AED. Award is contingent upon receipt of signed agreement. RFP 18-312. (Approved by Engineering Services Committee March 26, 2019) 21. Motion to approve revisiting the Tree Ordinance, evaluate it and determine where changes can be made. (Approved by Engineering Services Committee March 26, 2019) PETITIONS AND COMMUNICATIONS 22. Motion to approve the minutes of the regular meeting of the Augusta Commission held on March 19, 2019 and Special Called meeting held March 26, 2019) APPOINTMENTS 23. Motion to ratify the following Legislative Delegation appointments Mr. Lionel Prather and Ms. Jeannie Allen to Augusta Canal Authority; Mr. Jimmy Blount and Robert Lowery to the Small Business Citizens Advisory Board; and Taylor Bryant to ARC Animal Control Board. ADDENDUM 27. Motion to approve the appointment of Ms. Trisha Mallis to the Augusta Planning Commission representing District 8. (Requested by Commissioner Brandon Garrett) Mr. Mayor: All right and that’s with the understanding that we’re adding to the consent agenda the addendum item. All right, voting. Motion Passes 10-0. \[Items 1, 2, 4, 7, 7, 8, 10-23, 27\] The Clerk: PUBLIC SERVICES 3. Motion to approve a donation in the amount of $10,000 to hold a James Brown Birthday rd Bash Community Event of Friday, Mayr 3 at the Augusta Common as the primary venue and work with the Coliseum Authority to hold the event at the Bell Auditorium and/or the 9 James Brown Arena as a secondary venue in case of inclement weather. (Approved by Public Services Committee March 27, 2019). Mr. Mayor: All right, the Chair recognizes the Mayor Pro Tem to speak to the matter. Mr. Mayor Pro Tem: Thank you, Mr. Mayor. So when I brought this item forward last week this was the idea of the Miller Theater to have it at their venue with or without Commission support to be frankly. And so when we talked about it last week I felt like we were kind of taking their idea because number one they’ve had over 150 events there last year. Number two, they’re not they’re owned by I mean they’re run by a management company that runs all their venue and number three, they wanted the opportunity to fill the venue working with the James Brown family to show it off to people that maybe have never been in that venue. So I would hope that if my colleagues if you don’t want to support it, then don’t support it. That’s fine but understand that it’s going to happen whether it’s our support or not. I mean they wanted to do this; they worked with Deanna Brown to make this happen and that’s why I’m going to make a motion that we approve the $10,000 dollars to hold it at the Miller Theater as we stated last week. Ms. Davis: I’ll second it. Mr. Hasan: I’d like to make a substitute motion, Mr. Mayor. Mr. Mayor: Okay all right, just hold just a second. All right, I’ve got a motion I’m going th to come to you in just a second to the Commissioner from the 6 but I want to get some, I noticed st probably a lot of debate. The Chair recognizes the Commissioner from the 1. Mr. Fennoy: Mr. Mayor, I had some reservations about this event being held at the Miller Theater and because of the reservations I had I went and had a sit down conversation with Coco Rubio at the Miller Theater so I could get some clarity on some issues. One has to deal with the celebration that took place at the Bell Auditorium that our former Mayor sponsored the attendance, another was the distribution of the tickets. And really I was prepared to move forward with supporting this at the Miller Theater but then I look at the news and one of my colleagues made the statement that if it’s not going to be held at the Miller Theater it’s not going to be held at all and I kind of was surprised by that statement and it looked like I didn’t have an option. So that’s where I am with the James Brown event. th Mr. Mayor: Okay all right, the Chair recognizes the Commissioner from the 6. Mr. Hasan: Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Further make comments first. Mr. Mayor, our position last week for all of those that addressed this issue other than the Mayor Pro Tem himself, we all respect the fact that we think it’s a good idea. It never was should we support it it’s just if we’re going to have it for the community we need to put it in the best possible place to win in terms of the facility having an opportunity to participate. Yes, I wholeheartedly agree that when former Mayor Copenhaver had the event which is holds to capacity between 2,500 and 3,000 it was not filled but just recently those numbers were around 2,300. But even if I take my colleague at the numbers Mayor Pro Tem’s numbers that he gave last week he estimated about 1,600 persons people attended the Bell Auditorium at that particular time was still at 300 more than the capacity 10 for the Miller Theater and so with that being said, Mr. Mayor, I recommend giving the best chance to win. I think also last week I do understand there’s a disconnect by what Coco does. I mean I applaud him when we look and see what happens down Broad Street in this day and time. He’s taking much of the credit for that at the end of the day but at the same time we want the public to have the best opportunity to participate in this. We need to say that The Commons would be primary exactly what we have here and so I make a motion that we a substitute motion that we accept it as read here the motion’s that before us today. That’s my substitute motion. Mr. Fennoy: Second. th Mr. Mayor: Okay the Chair recognizes the Commissioner from the 9. Mr. M. Williams: Thank you, Mr. Mayor. I was approached by the Mayor Pro Tem as well about doing this project doing this event at the Miller and I supported it then but I shared with him at that point I support the city’s help sponsoring it but I thought the venue was just too small. I did attend the event at the Bell when it was held over there and in my opinion I didn’t look at the entire building but it was filled to capacity I thought. And even the people who attended walked out of there saying you know if there would be another one you know they was more than ready and willing to come especially when it’s free. So I don’t see how we can expect to get a crowd for a man with a stature like James Brown and I don’t mean the one on Broad Street his statute is to what he’s done in the music industry all over the world and especially around the CSRA. Now let’s not forget we’re not talking about just Augusta. You’re talking about the central surrounding areas. You’re talking about, and I’ll just stop at Millen. I could go so far as Statesboro but from Millen on back this way you talk about Martinez, Lincolnton I mean if ya’ll are talking about doing something seriously for a man of that stature we need to be open minded and say let’s take it. I mean I’ve got no problem with the Miller. If you can turn the Bell Auditorium into the Miller or if you can take the James Brown Arena and make that the Miller, I’ve got no problem. The location is not good. The congestion is bad when you go over there to try to do this; it’s not feasible to do that. Now I’m not in the entertainment business, Mr. Mayor. I don’t own a venue, I don’t sponsor anything but common sense tells me that you shouldn’t pack people or try to pack people in a facility like that that close with the parking even when you’ve got a paid event and it’s filled, it’s congested. I was just down there a few weeks ago when, what’s the entertainer’s name, Ms. Bonner, I can’t think now ya’ll got me --- Mr. Fennoy: Jeff Osborne. Mr. M. Williams: --- Jeff Osborne, thank you, sir. That’s when you need to buy me a ticket right? Mr. Fennoy: Manhattan. Mr. M. Williams: In Manhattan I was there then I had to buy my own ticket. But the point was it was packed house. It was congested then moving around the bathroom had a line outside. So this is not about the Miller, this is not about, this is about doing an event that the city’s going to put dollars into and you’re going to do it free why not make it convenient for everybody that will attend. Now everybody ain’t going to go but the capacity will be overwhelming trying to go 11 into that facility to do that. So I’m going to support the motion the substitute motion that District 6 Commissioner made I just don’t think that we can do it. Now if the Miller’s going to do it on their own and don’t need our support I mean you know I understand that but let’s be real. We’re not doing it to invite the people of Augusta. We’re doing it to a special group that’s going to get in their first because I don’t how unless of all us, Mr. Mayor, done missed the calculations and we don’t know what a crowd looks like versus what somebody else knows what a crowd looks like. So I’m going to leave it right there. I’m going to support the substitute motion because I think that’s the right thing to do if you’re going to do it and if somebody else wants to do something free I’ve got no problem with that. So if they want to support a free event down there, have at it. nd Mr. Mayor: The Chair recognizes the Commissioner from the 2. Mr. D. Williams: Mr. Mayor, can I ask the event planner a question? Mr. Mayor: All right, Mr. Rubio, if you’ll approach this microphone to my left, all right if you’ll direct your question. Mr. D. Williams: Yes, sir a quick question. This $10,000 dollars would that be the cost of the entire event? Mr. Rubio: No, that would be part of the expenses for putting on the concert. Mr. D. Williams: Has your organization looked into the cost of having it at another venue in town? Mr. Rubio: No, we have not and the reason for this and maybe it just wasn’t clear from the beginning if I was an individual promoter I would gladly do it at The Commons and if it rained I’d be glad to move it to the Bell Auditorium or the James Brown Arena. Mr. D. Williams: Okay, one other question. Mr. Rubio: The Miller Theater is run by SMG which is a management company that runs the theater and it’s a different management company then what runs the Bell Auditorium so that in itself just prevents us from doing this event really somewhere besides the Miller Theater. And the only reason we wanted to do it at the Miller was because there was nothing planned for May rd 3 2019 to honor Mr. Brown so being that I work at the Miller Theater for SMG who was hired by the Augusta Symphony we wanted to do something for Mr. Brown at the Miller Theater. And really cannot do it somewhere else because we wouldn’t want to compete with Global Spectrum and Chris Byrd who we’re friends with it’s just, you really can’t do that. Mr. D. Williams: Okay, thank you --- Mr. Rubio: Yes, sir. Mr. D. Williams: --- thank you, Mr. Mayor. 12 th Mr. Mayor: Thank you. The Chair recognizes the Commissioner from the 4. Mr. Sias: Thank you, sir. What my real concern here at the moment is there’s a good possibility we could have two events or one and a half events doing the same thing and with the discourse this is I don’t want to say creating but it seems to be carrying with it I’m very concerned about that. We’re taking what could’ve been a celebration of one of our greatest musician in American History and we are creating some chaos around it. So my question is are we going to celebrate James Brown or his birthday or are we trying to promote a venue and I don’t have a problem with either one. But the thing that I think that concerns me is when we take private entities and without a plan we try to mix public funding into it and I think that wasn’t well thought out in the beginning as to how we got to here. I asked Mr. Rubio a question and I think I said that right --- Mr. Mayor: Rubio, that’s right, yes, sir. Mr. Sias: --- I don’t know if that will be the answer but I’m going to ask him to answer that question then I’ll go back and finish my comment, Mr. Mayor. I asked him a question could he do two events? Mr. Rubio: Two events on the same day, two concerts on the same day could possibly --- Mr. Sias: --- (unintelligible) two rather the same day or the next day but could you do but could two be done? Mr. Rubio: --- right we couldn’t do it on consecutive days because we have a concert the day before and we have a kickboxing tournament on the day after so really the only day we have rd available is May 3. Mr. Sias: Okay, so I’ll finish up my comment with this. If this marriage is not going to work why don’t we have a amicable divorce of this issue and let the Bell do what they’re going to do. And if my colleagues and the city decide they want to do something else that’s fine but I hate to see this event no matter who does it turn into a push and pull. So I’m really concerned about that and I think this body’s a little bit better than that so I think if we’re going to divorce this, let’s get an amicable agreement and move on, thank you that’s my comment. Mr. Mayor: All right, thank you as well and I’ve got a couple of other down here. I’m th going to go to the Commissioner from the 5. Mr. B. Williams: I would also like to ask Mr. Rubio a question. I do have a concern about the size of the venue but also who or how would you distribute the tickets if you were to hold it at the Miller and you only have 1,300 seats, so how would you distribute the tickets? Mr. Rubio: The plan that we have to distribute tickets would have three ways to get tickets. The first way would be there would be a certain amount of tickets that you can get online and you would be able to get, one person get two tickets online. The next set of tickets would be available only at the box office. You would have to go to the box office to get tickets and again that would 13 be one person gets two tickets. And then the last set of tickets we have we would release those the day of the show so those would be first come first serve and everybody would be able to get one ticket per person the day of the show. That way we think it would let people have different options on ways to get the tickets. And we would announce it, like we announce all our shows, when tickets will be available and then you know we then would have them available to the public. Mr. B. Williams: So when you say for all of Augusta you mean first come first serve pretty much with tickets. Mr. Rubio: Pretty much with tickets. Well um, we have a limited seating you know seating capacity so it would be first come first serve. Something to keep in mind I think is the show we had at the Bell and I helped with that show also and we had some bigger names on that bill with Ms. Sharon Jones. She was still alive and she performed. We had Greg Porter, George Porter excuse me from the Meteors and some other you know bigger names like that that performed. For this show we don’t really have a big name you know we have JMAB which is the James Brown Academy of Music pupils that Deanna Brown sponsors and then we also have the James Brown Band which is different members of the band that would be coming in to town to perform. We have a host that we are bringing Bootsie Collins. He doesn’t play anymore because of health issues. He would be more of a host so those acts also Deanna Brown especially has said that she would love to have those bands perform at the Miller and we were you know trying to you know accommodate her. Mr. B. Williams: And I want to support this. I just wonder how those people would feel if they didn’t get an opportunity to go, thank you. Mr. Mayor: Thank you. All right, thank you --- Mr. Rubio: Thank you. Mr. Mayor: --- all right, so I’m going to mention a couple of things the caption that is rd. before us speaks to holding a James Brown Birthday Bash Community Event on Friday May 3 I’m aware of this happening one time before. And it was an event, it was a good event but in mind we want this to be a great event. We want it to be a great event that affords citizens in Augusta yes, to be a part of it but more than anything we want it to be an event that provides an opportunity to have stellar artists to come in. Last year and again these are I’m going to tie the two together and I think there’s a nexus to do that. This body voted to put a $100,000 dollars in the budget for the Soul Food Festival and we used that term for the express purpose of not infringing on this thing called James Brown. There was a purpose for us not doing that. But the genesis behind it was to take this music icon that we are so fortunate to have in our city that we could use that as our call kind of like what happens with the Masters Tournament and bring people from across the world to our city for a musical festival. Now in my mind during that same time we talked about to effectively do that and successfully do that it would take about a year to plan to do it the right way and what we have in front of us is what I would view as a component of that, not the full festival. And to the Commissioner’s point and he couldn’t have been more on point than his comment with the fact that we don’t want to besmirch the good name of someone who has sampled the world over from a music perspective who just happened to tell everybody that I’m from Augusta, 14 Georgia. So while I’ll understand that the conversation today is about where it’s going to be held at I also understand and I’m going to yield to the Mayor Pro Tem here in just a second if we’re going to plan and fully engage in this thing called a Soul Food Festival only because we “can’t use the name James Brown Festival” then we’ve seen this work before. Just a couple of years ago we traveled to Baltimore where they have a two-day festival. It used to be a four-day festival. It’s a two-day festival drawing over a 100,000 people over two days from all walks of life who come together to enjoy national entertainment, local food and much more around the healthcare or medical component meeting the needs of citizens. I will tell you that while people are proud of Baltimore I’m even more proud of Augusta and we’ve got more to offer because we have a music icon who was here. And so what I would like to ask this body to do is let’s take the sting out of the conversation and let’s hit the pause button for a moment, come back and let’s talk about this so I’m going to give the Mayor Pro Tem an opportunity to weigh in. And again any community group can rent out the Miller Theater and have an event there and I’m not saying that The Commons is better than the Miller. I love going to the Miller I’m not saying the Miller’s better than JBA. I love going there as well. All of these are venues that happen in our city and just as the event in Baltimore, it happened in multiple locations because of how huge it was and people from everywhere showed up to take advantage and get the benefit of that and it was a free event, over two days, because of major national sponsors who put an event like that together because you can’t do something of that magnitude by just throwing it together. And so what I want to caution this body on is just getting tied across the steering column and we’re trying to drive something when in fact we should allow it to organically come together and be of a benefit because we said it takes effectively a year to put something like this together to be successful and to meet the needs of a community like ours. So I’m going to yield I want the Mayor Pro Tem to speak and then we’ll make a decision on what we want to do. Mr. Mayor Pro Tem: Thank you, Mr. Mayor --- Mr. Mayor: Yes, sir. Mr. Mayor Pro Tem: --- when you’re elected you, well I’m elected and I base my decisions on facts not emotions. And there was Mr. Jarvis Sims reached out to Coco Rubio last week and Coco put everything in writing as well as a budget and I was told it was going to be forwarded to all the Commissioners yesterday with a budget and everything. It wasn’t obviously and that’s the reason my stance on the news yesterday was it’s the Miller’s idea and it’s going to be at the Miller it’s only at the going to be at the Miller because they said it in an email that’s it’s only going to be at the Miller. So that’s why at the beginning when we said this I said it’s fine we can vote it down. It’s not a big deal but it’s still their idea their event they’re going to have it regardless whether we support it or not. So that’s the reason my stance was it was based on fact of what I had already gotten on this issue and I apologize maybe I should’ve sent it but I thought it was getting sent out to everybody so at the end of the day it’s their idea. We can vote it up or down. Their relationships if we support the substitute motion it’s not going to happen anyway so I mean again we don’t have to support it and I understand that but thank you, Mr. Mayor. Mr. Mayor: Yeah no, thank you. All right, so let’s go to the underlined motion Item 3 that’s here right now and I think what you said was spot on with regards to what’s in front of us. 15 What this is is just a request in the amount of $10,000 to support the community bash. That’s what I’m hearing. There’s a group there’s a separate group that wants to --- Mr. Hasan: Mr. Mayor, can I answer that for you? Mr. Mayor: --- hold on, I’m going to come back to you. I’m talking to the Mayor Pro Tem is that the case --- Mr. Mayor Pro Tem: I agree --- Mr. Mayor: --- it’s the same group? Mr. Mayor Pro Tem: --- I was expecting them to basically take it out. Mr. Mayor: Okay --- Mr. Hasan: Mr. Mayor, let me respond to that. Mr. Mayor: --- all right hold on, Commissioner, I’m coming to you, just pause. All right, again I’m reading the underlined I remember what your substitute motion was. All right, I’m going th to come to the Commissioner from the 6. Mr. Hasan: Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Mr. Mayor, I’d really like to say last week when Coco was before us The Commons came up and he said he wouldn’t have a problem having it there however, I’m sorry, it was still like my colleague said. It was still with the intent that Coco would pretty much oversee the event; it was never taking him out of the event. Now however I’ve got two things I want to do. I agree with Commissioner Sias we probably shouldn’t let this be something that becomes a divider of this nature. I don’t mind amending my motion just to take it off the agenda but I would like to say this prior to that. I kind of, and if I misunderstood the statement just now, I’m going to apologize in advance. For Mr. Sims if that happened to reach out to Coco if it was not about what’s before us here then I got a problem with that because it should’ve been because that’s what the motion was here. The motion was not to have it anywhere else. This was what our motion was right here. Whether we got it or not is not my concern. My concern is that this was the motion, this was what we were going to be voting on today. Now we can always do a substitute motion, we can always put another motion on the floor, but to reach out for anything it should’ve been you know Coco do you have what it’s going to take to be at The Commons because that’s what we anticipate voting on so I have a problem if that was done that way. But, Mr. Mayor, for the sake of knowing that this event will happen anyway based on what my colleague is saying, I just make it that we take it off the agenda. I make my substitute motion just take is off the agenda then and let it happen anyway because the venue’s too small for us to I think as a government to invest in because assuming that the community don’t get the benefit of it and take your advice and look forward as of the day so I’m preparing for next year. Mr. M. Williams: I have a question, Mr. Mayor. th Mr. Mayor: All right, the Chair recognizes the Commissioner from the 9. 16 Mr. M. Williams: Yes, sir, I need to know why the information wasn’t sent out. Did my Clerk get this information and did not forward it is what I need to know because this should’ve been sent to all of us. So can somebody answer that would it be the Clerk or somebody? Mr. Mayor: I certainly can’t. Madam Administrator, you were motioning a moment ago. Ms. Jackson: Yeah, I want to clarify two things. Yes, Mr. Jarvis Sims and myself contacted Coco in regard to the issue of having it at The Common and follow up to the motion that you all passed in committee last week. Mr. Frantom, I don’t know if we had a miscommunication. What I sent to you on Friday was I have not shared this with anyone since this was your agenda item. Do you want to communicate Mr. Rubio’s response to your colleagues? Sure. So I took that to mean you would be doing the communication not staff. If we had a misunderstanding, I’m sorry. Mr. Frantom: Okay. Mr. M. Williams: Mr. Mayor, if I can respond since I got my answer? Mr. Mayor: Sure, okay. Mr. M. Williams: And had that went to the Clerk who’s supposed to handle that type thing we would’ve had this information that we needed to have, and there’s been a problem when we talk to the Administrator, the Administrator talks back to us then we talk to our colleagues because all our colleagues don’t I guess communicate as well as we ought to be. But the point is everything needs to go through the Clerk’s Office we would’ve had a better understanding, we’d have had better knowledge of what we’re doing. We wouldn’t have some of this debate we’re having now. So as long as that was cleared up that it didn’t go to the Clerk and the Mayor Pro Tem was supposed to have communicated that with whatever group he communicated with but I can’t support putting taxpayers’ money in this event because I know the facility’s not going to be to meet the capacity of the building if you do a free event with taxpayer’s money because every taxpayer who didn’t go are going to say they was going but they couldn’t go so we’re going to have some issues with that. If they’re going to do it anyway then we didn’t have to come to the table at all. They got the money to do it I guess anyway so why are they asking for the ten? th Mr. Mayor: All right, I understand. Okay all right the Commissioner from the 6 has made a substitute motion that he has amended. Mr. Hasan: Yeah, I’m amending my substitute motion with what being said the event is going to happen anyway I make a --- Mr. Mayor: Yeah, all right --- Mr. Hasan: --- let’s take everything as information. Mr. Mayor: --- all right, move that we receive this as information. 17 Mr. Hasan: It’s going to happen anyway. Mr. Sias: Time to move on. Mr. Mayor: All right, we’ll receive this as information. All right. Mr. M. Williams: What are we receiving I mean because if I vote now to receive this as information --- Mr. Mayor: Well, you’re not voting, you’re just receiving as information just receiving as information. Madam Clerk, we’re going to move to Item 5. The Clerk: ADMINISTRATIVE SERVICES 5. Motion to approve tasking the Administrator with sending a letter to Bloc Global reminding them of the due dates of certain documents regarding the Depot Project for the City’s review. (Approved by Administrative Services Committee March 26, 2019) Mr. Mayor: All right, the Chair recognizes the Mayor Pro Tem. Mr. Mayor Pro Tem: Thank you, Mr. Mayor. I agree with the aspect of sending a letter but if I’m wrong please state it, Mr. Mayor, but don’t we have a intergovernmental agreement between the DDA and Bloc Global? Mr. Mayor: That’s true. Mr. Mayor Pro Tem: So shouldn’t this letter go to the DDA because this is their deal, shouldn’t it go to the DDA? Mr. Mayor: I believe that that’s true as well. Mr. Mayor: Well, I’d ask the maker of the motion then I guess to change it to the letter to the DDA instead of Bloc Global. Mr. Hasan: I don’t have a problem with that, Mr. Chair, Mr. Mayor. Mr. Mayor: Okay. Mr. Frantom: I’d like to make a motion to that changing that to the changing Bloc Global to DDA as stated in the motion that’s on the screen please. Mr. Mayor: Okay --- Mr. Hasan: Second. 18 Mr. Mayor: --- all right, we’ve got a motion and a second, voting. Motion Passes 10-0. The Clerk: Item number six, Mayor? The Clerk: ADMINISTRATIVE SERVICES 6. Motion to approve bid award a contract, not to exceed $85,450.00, to Jones Lang LaSalle Americas, Inc. (JLL) for advisory and support services related to conversion of the Lake Olmstead Minor League Stadium into an Amphitheater (RFQ 19-309). (Approved by Administrative Services Committee March 26, 2019) Mr. Clarke: Yes, on item number --- Mr. Hasan: I gave him the green light Mr. Mayor. Mr. Mayor: He’s still young, he’s still young. All right, wait until the Chair recognizes you --- Mr. Clarke: On item number --- Mr. Mayor: --- I hadn’t recognized you yet. I’m giving some coaching first. All right, the th Chair recognizes the Commissioner from the 10. Mr. Clarke: Are you sure? Mr. Mayor: Absolutely. Mr. Clarke: Okay, I just want a little bit of clarification on what exactly is the $85,000 dollars going to be spent on. I see that it’s for advisory and support services exactly what does that entail? Mr. Mayor: Madam Administrator. Ms. Jackson: I can start off and certainly Ms. Douse can add if I miss something important but basically what we are charging them with doing is helping you all make decisions to program that facility i.e. what size should it be, do you want bleachers, do you want all lawn chairs, where should the parking for the facility be you know is going, the biggest question for me is is it more cost effective to tear down the current structure and build back new or try to do a conversion. So they would be analyzing the cost associated with those things as well as laying out a program to the point where we could then bid the project out and get construction estimates to do what needs to be done, whatever we decide needs to be done. 19 Mr. Clarke: So in other words if they come in and say we think you ought to tear it down, the deck that we just rebuilt, then we just blow that money. That’s what it amounts to. Ms. Jackson: They will try to design a facility based upon what you all indicate that you want so yes that, anything is within the realm of possibilities based upon where we are. Mr. Clarke: Well, if we’re going to indicate what we want, can’t we convey that properly? Ms. Jackson: The purpose of this was to bring in somebody with a firm that has experience in designing similar facilities so that they can advise us as you make decisions about what you want. Mr. Clarke: Okay, that’s all, Mr. Mayor. Mr. Frantom: Motion to approve. Mr. Sias: Second. Mr. Mayor: I’ve got a motion and a second, voting. Mr. Clarke votes No. Motion Passes 9-1. The Clerk: ADMINISTRATIVE SERVICES 9. Motion to approve the purchase of two (2) 2019 Dodge Durango Special Service SUV’s, one (1) for the Richmond County Marshal’s Office and one (1) for the District Attorney’s Office utilizing Georgia Statewide Contract 99999-SPD-ES40199409. (Approved by Administrative Services Committee March 26, 2019) th Mr. Mayor: The Chair recognizes the Commissioner from the 9. Mr. M. Williams: Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Who’s going to address this? Mr. Mayor: All right, we’ll have Ms. Douse and Mr. Crowden, if they’ll approach. Mr. M. Williams: Ms. Douse and Mr. Crowden, either one of y’all, I want you to take me through the process that got us to this point. Mr. Crowden: Each year Fleet Management sits down and looks at the public safety vehicles this is supported out of SPLOST 7 so we looked at each department independently to determine what their possible needs might be. Along with that we have communication with the department head about what their desires are as well. In this case both the District Attorney who lost her vehicle in a vehicle accident and the Marshal who is going to take a 2005 Impala out of 20 service has his vehicle down and both of them have requested the Dodge Durango Special Unit which is for Public Safety. Mr. M. Williams: Okay and this process went from your office to what, what’s the next step? Mr. Crowden: We do the specifications, we coordinate and send our specifications through Procurement. They review it. They assure it’s in compliance. We sent them a list of potential vendors. They review that make sure that’s satisfactory and then they publish the bid. Once the bid is, they publish the bid and all bids come back from the vendors through Procurement. Procurement does a tab sheet to make sure everybody’s in compliance. The vendors are in compliance and the once they’re satisfied they pass the results of the bid down to us we then make a recommendation back through the Procurement Office based on our evaluation of the bids that were submitted. The Procurement Office then notifies the appropriate vendor that they were the winners of the bid and subsequently the ones that were not selected for the bid be notified, them as well. Once they get the acknowledgement back from the vendor they notify us to proceed with the procurement process. Mr. M. Williams: Help me walk through that process. I mean I’m with you, I’m tracking so far but that process goes from Procurement and everybody’s done followed those steps. Does it go straight to the Commission or does it go, help me out. Mr. Crowden: Sure, we’re not at the point where it comes to the Commission yet because we don’t have all the information for you to make the decision we don’t have the pricing (inaudible). Mr. M. Williams: So this didn’t go through committee. Mr. Crowden: Pardon me. Mr. M. Williams: This did not go through committee. Mr. Crowden: Yes, sir, it did. It went through last committee. Mr. M. Williams: I’m trying to get you to walk me through the steps. Mr. Crowden: I’m sorry okay well once we have the tabulations back I draft up an agenda along with the supporting documentation, the tab sheets, evaluations for the old vehicles. Once that’s done I send to Takiyah for final approval. She reviews it, she makes any edits or comments on the agenda, sends it back to me. I put it in the NOVUS Agenda System. At that point it’s channeled through Finance, Procurement, Legal to get their stamps before it comes on to the agenda. Mr. M. Williams: And after you go through all of those steps Finance, Procurement and Legal it goes to the committee. 21 Mr. Crowden: That’s correct. Mr. M. Williams: And after that? Mr. Crowden: It goes to Commission. Mr. M. Williams: It goes to Commission. Okay, Mr. Mayor Pro Tem, I’m going to make a motion to approve this agenda item --- Mr. Hasan: Second. Mr. M. Williams: --- I just wanted to get that process that the way the purchasing works through all those steps that Ron just went through even the Legal side of it you follow all of those steps, is that right? Mr. Crowden: Yes, sir. Mr. M. Williams: Okay, I’m making a motion. Mr. Mayor Pro Tem: I’ve got a motion and a second any other comments? The Clerk: Who seconded it? I didn’t get that. Mr. Mayor Pro Tem: Hasan. Mr. Hasan: I seconded it. The Clerk: Okay, thank you. Mr. Mayor Pro Tem: Please vote. Mr. Clarke out. Motion Passes 9-0. Mr. Mayor: Madam Clerk, I think we’ve got three remaining items that are before us I’m going to go to 25 and 26. The Clerk: APPOINTMENTS 25. Consider a recommendation from the Community Service Board of East Central Georgia to fill a vacancy due to the passing of Commission Andrew Jefferson and they’re recommending Commissioner Brandon Garrett. Mr. Sias: So moved. 22 Ms. Davis: Second. Mr. Mayor: We’ve got a motion and a second, voting. Mr. M. Williams: I’ve got a question, Mr. Mayor. th Mr. Mayor: Okay, suspend. The Chair recognizes the Commissioner from the 9 state your inquiry. Mr. M. Williams: The District 5 Commissioner who was Andrew Jefferson did the East Central, did the Board recommend that that person to be there or is that an appointment through this --- Mr. Mayor: The Chair recognizes Madam Clerk. Mr. M. Williams: --- how did that happen? The Clerk: The East Central Service Board of Central Georgia there are, there is a position on that board that they request be filled by an elected official or an appointed official. The time that Commissioner Jefferson was appointed, the Commission chose to elect one from its own board to be the person to fill the elected and/or appointed position. Mr. M. William: So either or I get that I get that --- The Clerk: Yes, sir. Mr. M. Williams: --- I guess my question, Mr. Mayor, don’t we have the authority to appoint wouldn’t it be feasible for the District 5 Commissioner who is replacing the District 5 previous Commissioner to be appointed to that board? I’m hearing I mean I’m taking a Commissioner I hadn’t talked to either one of those Commissioner whether it be Mr. Garrett or Mr. Williams down there. But if Commissioner Andrew Jefferson previously was there it seems like everything’s like it seems I know Mr. Mayor but, it seems like he would be the next person to go in that same position taking that seat. Mr. Mayor: Well the gentleman asked a very valid question one that I don’t have the answer for as I’m not privy to making appointments to these different boards and authorities. But I think that what Madam Clerk is indicating is that these are general consensus appointments? The Clerk: They are consensus appointments. Mr. Mayor: Right, so I believe that I’m hearing Brandon Garrett as a recommendation. The Clerk: It’s just the recommendation, right. Mr. M. Williams: From? 23 The Clerk: From the Board. Mr. M. Williams: But not from this board. The Clerk: No, sir --- Mr. M. Williams: Okay --- The Clerk: --- it’s from the East Central Georgia they’re recommending --- Mr. M. Williams: --- East Central I understand that. The Clerk: --- right, it’s just a recommendation. You have the prerogative to accept or reject. Mr. M. Williams: And there’s many a person on the board but I don’t think it’s preference to who it is they need to fulfill the board. Mr. Mayor: All right, do you have a all right so the caption is clear it says consider recommendation from the Community Service Board --- \[Meeting recesses due to the activation of the fire alarm\] Mr. Mayor: All right, we’re going to call we’re going to reconvene and call this meeting back to order. Madam Clerk, I recollect that we had a motion and a second on the floor to accept the recommendation for adopting Brandon Garrett as the Committee Board Member. The Clerk: Yes, receiving the recommendation it was in discussion period. Mr. M. Williams: We didn’t have a motion I don’t think, Ms. Bonner. The Clerk: Yes, Mr. Sias and Ms. Davis motioned. Mr. M. Williams: I want to make a substitute motion. th Mr. Mayor: Okay, the Chair recognizes the Commissioner from the 9. Mr. M. Williams: My substitute motion is to allow the District 5 Commissioner, Mr. Williams, to fill that seat that the District 5 Commissioner previously had. Mr. Hasan: I’ll second that. Mr. Mayor: Okay, I’ve got a motion and a second. I’ve got a substitute motion with a th proper second. All right, the Chair recognizes the Commissioner from the 5. Mr. B. Williams: I want to make a substitute motion to the substitute. 24 Mr. Mayor: I have a suggestion. Mr. Hasan: If you’re not interested is he interested, oh okay, okay. Mr. B. Williams: We’ll just make it simple. I yield to the appointee. Mr. M. Williams: Mr. Mayor, you could’ve told everybody at the same time. Mr. Mayor: Yeah I could have but I wanted him to speak to it since that’s what he was going to try to address it. Mr. M. Williams: I’ve got no problem with that I mean if he wants to yield to it. Mr. Mayor: Okay all right, you withdraw your substitute motion? Mr. M. Williams: Yes. Mr. Mayor: Okay, very well. All right, we’re back to the underlined motion, voting. Motion Passes 10-0. The Clerk: APPOINTMENTS 26. Consider recommendation from the CSRA Economic Opportunity Authority, Inc. to reappoint its current membership to a four-year term. th Mr. Mayor: The Chair recognizes the Commissioner from the 9. Mr. M. Williams: Who’s going to address this? Mr. Mayor: Madam Clerk, can you read the appointees? The Clerk: It’s in your book but I’ll read their letter. Ms. Bonner, the Augusta-Richmond County appoints to the CSRA Economic Opportunity Board of Directors have expired. A list of the perspective nominees is attached. The conscientious participation of our board members is greatly appreciated and the board respectfully requests that you take necessary action to have these members reappointed to our board. They have all indicated their interest in giving their continued service to our board and the community. As this action is critical to the functioning of our board, we are requesting that you put these appointments on your next agenda. Sincerely, Mr. Marion Barnes, Chair Person, Dr. Louise Rice, Treasurer, Ms. Brenda Bonner, Ms. Linda Lamar, Ms. Gwendolyn C. Roundtree, Mr. Augustus C. Thurman. Ms. Davis: Mr. Chair, Mr. Mayor, I’m sorry. 25 Mr. Mayor: The Chair recognizes the --- Ms. Davis: I was just going to make a motion to approve. Mr. D. Williams: Second. Mr. Mayor: I’ve got a motion and a second, voting. Mr. M. Williams abstains. Motion Passes 9-0-1. The Clerk: ADMINISTRATIVE SERVICES 24. Discuss the procurement and decaling of city vehicles in accordance with city/state laws. (Requested by Commissioner Marion Williams) th Mr. Mayor: The Chair recognizes the Commissioner from the 9. Mr. M. Williams: Thank you, Mr. Mayor. This is an item that’s been in front of us for quite some time but I’d like to hear from first of all I guess about the decaling of the city vehicle. Ms. Bonner, can you read I guess Section Code 36-80-20? The Clerk: 36-80-20. Motor vehicles owned or leased by governmental entities to be identified with a decal or seal. Exceptions: A. Every motor vehicle which is owned or leased by any county municipality, regional commission, county or independent school system, Commission, Board or public Authority or which has been purchased or leased by any public official or public employees with public funds shall have affixed to the front door on each side of such vehicle a clearly visible decal or seal containing the name of or otherwise identifying such governmental entity. B. The requirements of Subsection A of this code shall not apply to 1: Any vehicle used for law enforcement or prosecution purposes or 2: Any vehicle owned or leased by a county, municipality, public housing authority expressly exempt from the provision of this code shall by ordinance or resolution adopted by the governing authority of county, municipality or public housing authority following a public hearing on the subject held no more than 14 days prior to the adoption of the resolution of ordinance. Any such public hearing shall be advertised one time in the legal organ of the county at least 7 days prior to the hearing date. Any such exemption under this paragraph shall be for a period of no more than 12 months at a time and may be renewed annually following a public hearing as required by this paragraph and advertisement as required by this paragraph. O.C.G.A. 36-80-20 official code Georgia annotate. Mr. M. Williams: All right, Ms. Bonner, the reason I asked you to read that the only exemption was law enforcement I think and not the Mayor’s Office is that, am I correct in that? The Clerk: Are you talking to me, sir? Mr. M. Williams: Yes, ma’am or the Attorney or anybody who can translate. 26 The Clerk: Well, the Commission back in 2000 did pass an ordinance exempting the transportation for the Mayor at that time following the necessary public hearing in accordance with the Georgia law. Mr. M. Williams: So what I’m to understand and I guess my colleagues already understand it but is that after the public hearing that would decide whether or not the Mayor’s vehicle will be have an affixed logo or city seal on it after the public hearing or just, maybe I’m asking the wrong one, Mr. Mayor, maybe I need to ask the Attorney to translate that into law in plain language so we can better understand it. Mr. MacKenzie: Sure, so there’s two different exceptions you could use to decide whether it qualifies under the law enforcement prosecutorial purposes section or you could go the other route which is Subpart Number 2 under B which is you would have the hearing as described in here. The hearing isn’t where anybody from the public would decide. You just have to have the hearing as a prerequisite before the Commission makes the decision to allow for the exemption under Number 2. Mr. M. Williams: So why is a hearing necessary? I mean can you explain what the law intent was to have a hearing if there’s not going to be effective, they’re not going to have any weight on it why would there be a hearing and maybe you can tell me what the law maker’s intent was. Mr. MacKenzie: The legislative intent behind a statute like this is so that the public would be aware that there are some vehicles and there are circumstances that there are reasons why the government has decided they don’t need to have the decals. Mr. M. Williams: Okay, so before this vehicle goes into service are you iterating to us that that’s supposed to take place? Mr. MacKenzie: I think you have two potential exemptions that could apply. Subsection 1 Subsection 2. In the past what’s been utilized is Subsection 2 where you go the hearing route. I don’t think anybody’s really even thought about or contemplated whether or not there’s a law enforcement or prosecutorial purpose which is kind of a different issue but that’s the other option. Mr. M. Williams: I mean this has got nothing to do with law enforcement and so I mean one would be out anyway that’s that wouldn’t even apply because we’re not talking about law enforcement or anything of that nature so why would we even consider that one? The only thing to be considered is Option 2, is that right? Mr. MacKenzie: I mean you’re talking to lawyers so we see things with different colors and I think there is a basis to consider Option 1 but I think that’s for this body to discuss and consider whether you’d like to go Option 1 (inaudible). Mr. M. Williams: Explain that to me so I’ll understand. 27 Mr. MacKenzie: Option 1 has the language that says any vehicle used for law enforcement or prosecution purposes and I’ve attached a copy of what I distributed to you which goes into some of the Mayor’s functions under both Consolidation Act as well as the Augusta Georgia Code which does include insuring the enforcement of the Augusta Code so that is within the realm of the scope part of the duties of the Mayor (inaudible). Mr. M. Williams: You’re really talking like a lawyer now. You’re talking like one that ain’t been doing a good job but you’re trying to fit something in. I’m asking you as an attorney for this government, not for the Mayor, not for this council but for the City of Augusta to give me a ruling or give me an understanding of the law that you just tried to put in place right there by saying that the Mayor has the authority to I guess arrest of do something with law enforcement, I don’t know what you’re trying to convey to us, but you hadn’t did that yet. So I don’t even know the question to ask to the Attorney now, Mr. Mayor, because his answer’s not very positive here. So I’m going to on to the next part of this and that’s the procurement of this vehicle, Mr. Mayor. The next part is I guess I need to talk to Ron, you and Ms. Douse I guess to be the person, Central Services. Ms. Douse, again now we talked earlier about it about a vehicle that we bought for the Marshal’s Department and the process now. Is that the same process we use for to purchase this vehicle? Ms. Douse: No. Mr. M. Williams: Okay, can you describe what process was used for the purchase of this vehicle? Ms. Douse: Sure, the Commission approved the purchase of a Tahoe for the Mayor’s Office with competitive bidding and because none of our vehicles that we purchased in the past followed this particular method meaning that the Commission preapproved the purchase of a vehicle, we sought counsel from the Procurement Department and procured it in a similar fashion as we did when we purchased the Sheriff’s Suburban a few years ago. Mr. M. Williams: Okay and it was applying with state law or city law what (unintelligible) what because I mean there’s two different ones. We used one earlier by the city; this is by state law, is that right? Ms. Douse: You would really need to ask that question to the Procurement Department as to which law our procurement method selected was used. Mr. M. Williams: Okay, can someone from Procurement? Mr. Mayor: Let me also address this as Ms. Sams comes up. I want to draw the Commissioner back to Item 9 which he pulled and doesn’t speak to the issue of laws being used. What it says is they utilized a Georgia statewide contract for the purchase of the vehicle and that statewide contract provides you with a series of benefits as it relates to the pricing and how you can procure that vehicle. That’s what that speaks to specifically. 28 Mr. M. Williams: And that’s what I was trying to get to this one, Mr. Mayor, because we didn’t use a series of benefits that we could’ve used for this government to lower the cost of a piece of equipment, an automobile that we ended up purchasing at a higher rate. We might as well have approved the first vehicle you asked about the SUV because the total of this thing came to almost the same total as the SUV you were speaking of so evidently we didn’t use what we should’ve used. And I’ve got an issue with that because it didn’t come before the committee like the Marshal’s car did, like we did and this one just came straight to the Commission. Who approved that? Mr. Mayor: We did. Mr. M. Williams: We did --- Mr. Mayor: We did --- Mr. M. Williams: --- when. Mr. Mayor: --- not only did you approve that but as you just heard this body approved the purchase of a Chevy Tahoe. What happened initially is the conversation was predicated upon approving a similar vehicle as to what was purchased for the Sheriff. Mr. M. Williams: No, sir, the Sheriff don’t have a Tahoe --- Mr. Mayor: Well (unintelligible) --- Mr. M. Williams: --- now I’m going by your word now. I’m listening to my lawyer, one word can get you in or out, Mr. Mayor, and you said a Tahoe and that’s what we ended up approving --- Mr. Mayor: --- okay, let me finish. Mr. M. Williams: --- but the purchasing came up with a Suburban. Mr. Mayor: What was on the agenda was a Chevy Suburban --- Mr. M. Williams: That’s right. Mr. Mayor: --- a debate ensued about well no, because you read the paper and you read in the paper that it was going to cost $80,000 dollars without thinking about the fact that this was a fleet vehicle and the City of Augusta would not be paying $80,000 dollars for a fleet vehicle. And so the debate that ensued was a series of other vehicles whether it be a Ford Explorer or a Chevy Tahoe and this body decided on purchasing a Chevy Tahoe. That’s what this body did. Mr. M. Williams: I need to hear from the Purchasing Department to find out what process because the process did not, wasn’t a normal process. It didn’t go through the normal procedure that it always goes through. I questioned Ron, he’ll be the first to tell you I question everything 29 he comes up here with so I certainly would’ve questioned this one had it came through Finance or anything else through the committee process. But now the vehicle’s already been bought and delivered and addons added on to it so Ms. Sams, can you tell me about the process? Mr. Mayor: All right, Ms. Sams, can you suspend? I’m going to go to the Commissioner th from the 8 and then I’m going to come back. Mr. Garrett: I was just going to make a motion to receive all this as information. Mr. Fennoy: Second. Mr. Mayor: Okay, all right, I’ve got a motion and second to receive this as information -- - Mr. Hasan: Mr. Mayor? Mr. Mayor: --- I’m coming to you, I saw your hand. Mr. M. Williams: Well --- Mr. Mayor: --- the Chair recognizes, I’m coming back to you. The Chair recognizes the th Commissioner from the 6. Mr. Hasan: Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Mr. Mayor, my only concern is not with you it’s more up here about what was done here. As Ms. Douse just said it identified the process that we wanted to be used which was competitive bidding. Now if he was not going to do that it has nothing to do with historically what you’ve done with the Sheriff’s vehicles or anything. It said competitive and I view that as different from what you all done now if you view that as being competitive then so be it. I don’t. My real concern is too when I look at when they were talking about a cost factor. Now I’m still in the range of what Commissioner because I say $43/45,000. I see base price, I see premiere price and things of that nature. But, Ms. Jackson, I’d just like to use a reference point here to you to what you, and I’m just going to bring you in for a moment here and I’m going to try to leave out venue names but all my colleagues will understand what I’m reading here. It says General Counsel MacKenzie made the Commission aware of your request to revise the language of the policy regarding the ‘blank’. At this time there’s not support for making any changes. My point in reading that is that you did see the wisdom and letting the gentleman know who you’re responding to that the Commission had made a decision. In this instance I think we had made a decision on two fronts. We made a decision on the process we wanted to use and had pretty much had talked about reference those cost factors. It would’ve been best for we probably wouldn’t have had this conversation if somebody would’ve came back and said okay the options are limited and what you sent us said and I’m trying to remember this now you said we know. Well, right now for 2019 that process is closed and I’m paraphrasing this but however we can get in and get a vehicle for the Mayor in ’19 but he won’t get the vehicle until November, is that pretty much? Ms. Jackson: I think if I recall correctly and I will ask these two ladies to help me out if I don’t get this right. But I think if we were to get, this was about the last opportunity to get a 2019 30 vehicle because there aren’t many of those left on the lot. I think we will be ordering a 2020 vehicle and that’s what would have been delivered in November. Mr. Hasan: Well, it goes back to what my colleague Commissioner Frantom (unintelligible) really ya’ll should’ve conveyed that to us just like you did to this gentleman here based on the nature of the conversation you heard as around the purchase of the vehicle that would’ve been appropriate to say okay we need to let the Commission know that they’re having heartburn anyway let’s just inform them about what action and get their permission to move forward. As Ms. Douse said it just deviated based on the cost of the previous purchase the way the Sheriff’s vehicle was purchased and didn’t follow what I perceived to be competitive bidding which would probably be sealed and other vendors and what have you as opposed to just out shopping vehicles the way you done. I understand the timeline. I understand everything you sent us but it kind of deviated from what we actually voted on in terms of competitive pricing. If you learn from Rob, from Mr. Crowden, after the fact that these timelines are going to be impacted, the model is going to be impacted. That would’ve been better to let us know that. I’m going to move on without an answer for any of that, Mr. Mayor. I’m going to go to something else our Attorney just did. I really take offense to the Attorney putting law enforcement in terms of becoming the Mayor. I was wondering why you were putting the things, that’s not what that was (unintelligible) referring to, Attorney MacKenzie, that’s not what that was referring to. Because they tell you law enforcement or prosecutors are prosecutors. It’s telling you that. It’s very specific what it’s making reference to. That is a very long stretch for you to assume that the law enforcement that we don’t need a public hearing on this vehicle by state statute. I think that is a misrepresentation of your office, that is total misrepresentation of your office and if that’s the way you’re going to practice law, I make a motion that we terminate our service with you right now. Mr. M. Williams: I second that. Mr. Mayor: Okay all right the gentleman yields the microphone. All right, we’ve got two things that are before us right now. Ms. Sams, if you’ll come back, if you’ll come back I think the th Commissioner from the 9 has a couple of questions he wanted to ask you. And we’ve got a motion and a second to receive this as information but I’m going to yield to the Commissioner th. from the 9 State your inquiry. Mr. M. Williams: Ms. Sams, my first inquiry was --- Mr. Hasan: Mine was a substitute motion, Mr. Mayor. Mr. M. Williams: --- my first question would be, Ms. Sams, is there anywhere in your documents anywhere in your transactions that we specified a year for this vehicle or any other vehicle. Did we specify a 2018, 19 or 20 because I’m trying to figure out how did we get to ’19. So were there specifications that we said when we approved this automobile that it would be this year or I mean because I’m trying to figure out how we got there. That’s the first thing I want to know. Ms. Sams: Okay the approval process that was used by this body and according to the approval letter received it said that approved to purchase, the purchase of a Chevrolet Tahoe for 31 the use of the Mayor’s Office from Capital Expenses from Capital Expense Funds and to authorize competitive bidding for this purchase. Mr. M. Williams: So it was not a 2,000 whatever because the process does take some time and if you specify like someone finally did for ’19 and I need to know where that came from then that makes us get in a different, a different track, a fast track to try to get a ’19 because it’s already April now. So had this specified ’19 I could agree with that but we didn’t do that. That wasn’t written down anywhere unless somebody in the Clerk’s Office or the Administrator’s Office decided to do that or somebody in Purchasing I don’t know where it come from --- Mr. Mayor: All right --- Mr. M. Williams: --- so I need to know how did that get there. Mr. Mayor: --- Ms. Sams, suspend. Mr. Mayor: Wait a minute now. How are you going, I’m asking this question and you’re going to tell her to suspend. Mr. Mayor: I did. All right so I’m going to answer your question, all right? Ms. Sams just read for you the motion that was adopted by this body if I remember correctly and again I shouldn’t even bother to do that. I won’t even fool with doing that. I remind you what the vote count was, I won’t even fool with doing that. But you just heard what the motion was. The motion said competitive for a Chevy Tahoe. It didn’t say whether it was a 2018 or 2020 or 2019 but more importantly it didn’t say for a price ‘x’ which is probably going to be your second question. And so what this was this body made a decision from a conversation that took place and again first in Executive Session and then came here a week later. That was the conversation wait a week later and we come out here and then we would then move forward with that. And that’s what happened. At no point in time was there a number, a cap, a limit placed on it again understanding that this was a fleet vehicle using our fleet process in securing a vehicle through Capital Funds. This vehicle was procured based on what this body approved and adopted. That’s what took place. Mr. M. Williams: I still hadn’t heard, Mr. Mayor, what Donna Williams or Tim Schroeder or whoever put the ’19 inside. I want to know who specified because it is a fleet purchase, it should’ve went through the normal process that Fleet goes through. Now it takes some time to do that, I get that, but what I don’t get is who decided to rush it. There wasn’t no cost, there wasn’t no date, but somebody put a date on it and I guess somebody put a cost on it. But I need to know where did, who broke the link in the chain? How did it get to that point where somebody decided we need to rush this through in order to get a ’19? Had it finished up it may have been in November when the car arrived and then in 2020 because you couldn’t have gotten a ’19 I get that. Now I might not get much but I do understand a little bit about cars but my point is that somebody changed it and maybe it wasn’t you, Mr. Mayor, but I want to know who changed it. I want to know, because if that’s been changed I don’t know how many others been changed as well now. Mr. Mayor: Nobody changed anything. 32 Mr. M. Williams: Well, how did ’19 get in there? Mr. Mayor: Well, you just posed the question to me. You posed the question to me and I’m going to answer the question. So unfortunately there is no break in the chain. This has moved forward as the Commission adopted it and voted on it and there was strong support for this. So what I’m going to do at this point just, we’re going to try to dispose of all of these matters in front. I have a motion and a second to receive this as information. I want to vote, voting. Mr. M. Williams: Ms. Bonner, put this back on the next Commission agenda for me please. We can vote it down then too but we’re going to talk about it sooner or later because the process is wrong and I think somebody done broke the law in my opinion so that’s my opinion. Mr. Hasan: Mr. Mayor, we’ve got another motion on the floor. Mr. Mayor: Okay, all right --- Mr. Sias and Mr. Frantom out. Mr. M. Williams votes no. Motion Passes 7-1. Mr. Mayor: --- I want to state for the record for our media personalities that are panning the cameras and writing articles no one in this government broke the law. No one. No one needs to spend time trying to besmirch Ron Crowden, Takiyah Douse or Geri Sams. They have done their job. They have done their job. Mr. M. Williams: Somebody done done what they shouldn’t have done, Mr. Mayor. Mr. Mayor: And I’m going to go a step further. Not only have they done their job, they’ve done a stellar job as they have in every time past. And again if there’s a reason for anybody to be upset whether it’s a personal thing or whether it’s again an uncomfort, a discomfort with where we are now, it’s a decision, a personal decision and clearly there’s a level of discomfort with where we are. As I’ve said before the Commission as you heard just read, adopted a motion that had all of the parameters in it, all of the parameters in it. No one, no one broke the law, violated it or anything to that extent. Mr. M. Williams: Ms. Bonner, did you get my request, Ms. Bonner --- Mr. Mayor: (unintelligible) not to do that where unintelligible --- Mr. M. Williams: Did you get my request about putting it back on the agenda? The Clerk: Yes, sir. Mr. M. Williams: Thank you, on the next Commission agenda please. Mr. M. Mayor: --- I think that was our last agenda item. 33 Mr. Hasan: Mr. Mayor, I’ve got a vote on the table, a motion and a second on it. Mr. Mayor: That was our last agenda item. Mr. Hasan: No, sir. I made a motion for terminating the, so you can vote it up or down. We need to vote on it. I’ve got a second on it. Mr. Mayor: So I don’t think that there’s any new business or a new agenda item in front of us (unintelligible) --- Mr. Hasan: So we’re not going to vote on it, Mr. Mayor? Mr. Mayor, I really don’t, you can vote it up or down the point is to respect the fact that I put the motion on the floor. That’s all I’m saying. Mr. Mayor: Well --- Mr. M. Williams: And you’ve got a proper second on it. Mr. Mayor: --- at the appropriate time we’ll have a conversation about that. Mr. Hasan: Well, Mr. Mayor, and I would hope my colleagues, you may not agree with what the motion I put on the floor but I hope you respect me even if you vote against it. The Mayor don’t have the authority not to disrespect a motion and a second on the floor now. Mr. Mayor: This meeting is adjourned. Mr. M. Williams: We’ve got enough. We can call another meeting. We’re here. The Mayor Pro Tem, you need to (inaudible) --- Mr. Hasan: You can vote it up or down but don’t give the Mayor that kind of control. Mr. M. Williams: --- there’s a quorum here. I don’t care if you vote it up or down just take the vote. Mr. Fennoy: Commissioner --- Mr. Hasan: Yeah --- Mr. Fennoy: --- that’s not an agenda item. Mr. Hasan: --- I can make that motion though, Commissioner. I can make that motion. Mr. Fennoy: So anytime we have a meeting we can make a motion to --- 34 Mr. Hasan: We deviate from the agendas all the, we deviated today to take if off the agenda. We deviated today. Mr. M. Williams: It was on the agenda (inaudible). Mr. Hasan: It was on the agenda. I didn’t think he would interpret, let me let’s have a question, Commissioner. It is no way possible for our Attorney to give us the interpretation that put the Mayor under law enforcement. That is totally different and to do that he’s not working for this Commission, he’s working for the Mayor. The first time this issue came up he said he had not even looked at the issue and we know it was a contentious issue and then to come back this week, let me tell you why he’s doing it for you, you know and ya’ll probably read but let me say for the record he is doing it but clearly the law enforcement or the prosecutorial persons don’t have to go through the hearing. He knows that if we do it any other way there should be a public hearing and he’s trying to skirt that process with that frivolous ruling that he’s giving us. And I think that’s a disservice and disrespect to this government. Yes, you have to do a public hearing. Mr. Fennoy: But didn’t we vote not to do a public hearing? Mr. Hasan: You can’t not vote not to abide by state law, Commissioner? Mr. Fennoy: We did. Mr. M. Williams: No, we didn’t. Mr. Fennoy: What did we vote, Ms. Bonner? The Clerk: To hold it in 12 months. Mr. Hasan: But you violate state law. That’s why he gave you that ruling there because any other you’re supposed to have a hearing. He realizes that. Mr. Fennoy: You said we voted to have a hearing in 12 months? Mr. Hasan: You can’t do that. So in the meantime you know what that means, Commissioner? That means in the mean, let me tell you what it means then. In the meantime it means the emblem’s supposed to be on the vehicle because the hearing is what takes it off. Mr. Fennoy: The emblem (Unintelligible). Mr. Hasan: If you do not have the hearing, the emblem, the hearing’s what takes the emblem off. Up until you have the hearing you’ve got an emblem on the Mayor’s vehicle. Mr. M. Williams: Ask ya’ll’s Attorney down there what he says again. Mr. Hasan: That’s what the hearing is for. The hearing is simply just to take it off. That’s what the hearing is for. 35 Mr. Fennoy: Ms. Bonner, could this get to be a hearing before the next committee the next meeting? The Clerk: If you vote to hold it --- Mr. Fennoy: Well --- The Clerk: --- we have to advertise it in the newspaper. That’s how we did it before. The law says it has to be published. Mr. Hasan: No, we can go ahead and do it now. We can make the vote to do that. I don’t have a problem supporting that. Mr. Fennoy: --- we ought to have it next Thursday. The Clerk: The public hearing? Mr. Hasan: But we have to authorize --- The Clerk: Why don’t we say if you’re going to do it in accordance with the state law. It gives us the timeline when we have to do it --- Mr. W. Williams: Madam Clerk, if we can’t take the Commissioners’ vote --- The Clerk: --- is that what you’re saying? Mr. Fennoy: (Inaudible). Mr. M. Williams: --- if we can’t do that how can we do this over here now? Because if we can do that, Commission Hasan made a substitute motion to terminate the Attorney and I seconded it. The Clerk: If you elect someone among you to preside then you can (inaudible). Mr. Hasan: You don’t have to support it. Just don’t give the Mayor that kind of authority. You’re putting yourself in a bad position to walk out on something like that. It’s up to you all. Ya’ll are going to regret it. \[MEETING ADJOURNED\] Lena Bonner Clerk of Commission 36 CERTIFICATION: I, Lena J. Bonner, Clerk of Commission, hereby certify that the above is a true and correct copy of the minutes of the Regular Meeting of The Augusta Richmond County Commission held on April 2, 2019. ______________________________ Clerk of Commission 37