The URL can be used to link to this page

Home My WebLink AboutRegular Commission Meeting March 19, 2020 REGULAR MEETING COMMISSION CHAMBER MARCH 19, 2020 Augusta Richmond County commission convened at 2:00 p.m., March 19, 2020, 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. The Invocation was given by Rev. Marion Williams. The Pledge of Allegiance to the Flag of the United States of America was recited. The Clerk: DELEGATIONS A. Ms. Dilenia Ann Hill-McGruder regarding complaint against Gold Cross Ambulance Services. Mr. Mayor: Ms. Hill-McGruder, if you’ll come to this podium to my right, to your left. If you’ll state for the record your name and address. You have five minutes. Ms. Hill-McGruder: My name is Dilenia Ann Hill-McGruder and what else did you? Mr. Mayor: Your address, address, physical address Ms. Hill-McGruder: Is 1177 Indian Springs Trail, Grovetown, GA 30813. Mr. Mayor: Okay. nd. Ms. Hill-McGruder: I’m here about a complaint against Gold Cross on March 2 It happened at the Private Eye around 8:30 between 8:30 and 8:45. Ms. Dee Burnes right there in the yellow shirt, Ms. Burnes fell on the way out. We play pinochle so after the tournament she fell and slipped, bumped her head on the cement and got unconscious so 911 was called and Gold Cross came. To me it took over 10 minutes. But after filing a complaint Captain Willard from Gold Cross told me it took 9 minutes and 7 seconds. My complaint is that it’s only about 2 minutes from where the accident occurred. When they came there Ms. Burns it was profusely raining that night so we took umbrellas to cover her and we took tablecloths from the tables to cover her as well. However when Gold Cross got there and took her to August University Medical Center they still had the wet tablecloth on her so that she was never provided like another warm blanket or nd anything. She was still in those wet clothes. Upon arriving this is March the 2 of 2020 around 10:30 when I got there they put her in the emergency room so she had IV’s and everything at that thth time. She was moved to the 5 floor on the 4 she was still in her still soiled clothes from falling nd March 2 that night so that means those clothes were still wet. They dried on her. My concern is that the lady that jumped out of the passenger side of Gold Cross upon arriving at the Private Eye said that nobody couldn’t ride with her because it wasn’t an emergency. So my question was what 1 does Gold Cross consider an emergency? She’s 90 years old, she fell, hit her head and was unconscious. If that’s not an emergency I came here today in front of you Commissioners because you guys are in seats of power I wanted to know what is an emergency for Gold Cross and why did it take 9 minutes and 7 seconds being so close two minutes down the road. Mr. Mayor: Ms. Hill, Ms. Hill-McGruder, you ask a number of very relevant questions. I’m not certain again that we while we are the elected body are the ones who should be even attempting to answer the questions in terms of Gold Cross if they were the responding emergency medical service. I would submit that these are certainly questions that you can and should ask them. But as it relates to what constitutes an emergency I believe our EMA Director can answer that but I’m going to yield to, I see some questions from Commissioners. The Chair recognizes th the Commissioner from the 9. Mr. M. Williams: Thank you, Mr. Mayor. My first questions probably would be has she spoken with the company themselves about the length of time? But my real question is the next day you say the clothes was still upon the patient at the hospital? th Ms. Hill-McGruder: That is correct, sir. Ms. Barnes, when I arrived on the 4 not the next thth day it was 24 hours later on the 4 she went up to the 5 floor. And I reported it to the Department of Nurses so Ms. Katherine Maddox gave me her card. She verified that Ms. Dee did have the nd same clothes on from March 2 that night so all I’m saying at 90 years old those wet clothes dried on her. So there was negligence to me on both parts, the hospital ER and Gold Cross for not taking the tablecloth off her and putting on her a warm blanket. Mr. M. Williams: And I get that and that was part of my question because and I’m not making an excuse for anybody I’d like to know what the answers to those questions is but the emergency room, the hospital itself should have a stake in this as well as far as the clothes still being on you say two days after the incident. I mean the wet material on anybody should’ve been removed as qu-ick as possible. I mean I’m not a medical anything but I’ve got that much sense to know that you got to warm people up. But have you spoke to the hospital --- Ms. Hill-McGruder: I have. I filed a complaint with Ms. (unintelligible) in Quality Management --- Mr. M. Williams: --- okay. Ms. Hill-McGruder: --- I have not heard back from her or Captain Willard. Captain Willard did return my call and tell me it took 9 minutes and 7 seconds but when I asked them what was their emergency, I have not heard back from him because I did want to know what do they consider an emergency since the 90-year old bumping her head wasn’t just explain to me what is. Mr. M. Williams: Well, again the Mayor explained it pretty good. We are maybe not the person to answer those questions about the ambulance service but I think they’re due an answer for sure whether you agree with that answer or not I think they should respond. The other thing is I think the hospital needs to answer and be responsible as well for anybody. I mean when an incident like that goes on a lot of times we don’t say nothing and they continue so I think you was 2 in the right frame to go ahead and address that. So Mr. Mayor I don’t know what answer we can provide. There’s a time requirement for response I believe with the ambulance service not just with the ambulance service but with our own ambulance that we run as well with the Fire Department. You can just get there when you feel like it. Any kind of 911 call with my experience, Mr. Mayor, I got to go back being with the Augusta Fire Department for many years. Any time you get a call you go like you know life and death depends on it. You don’t assume that it’s just a fall or something small. When you get that call all lights, all sirens, everything ought to be on to respond to that. But I think we may not be the person to give you that answer but somebody needs to give you that answer. Mr. Mayor: Okay Ms. Hill-McGruder, we have just a few more questions. All right, the th Chair recognizes the Commissioner from the 4. Mr. Sias: Thank you, sir. Ms. Hill-McGruder, I know you all were kind of in a stressful situation out there that evening or that night. Could you give us a little bit of idea how the whole call went from 911 to the time that the ambulance service actually arrived and departed with, Ms. McGruder, can you give us a little understanding of how that happened how was the, was the folks courteous whatever trying to do, can you give us an idea of that? Ms. Hill-McGruder: Yes, I was present so Ms. Dee fell. Someone grabbed the phone right away and called 911. Like I said it seemed to me at the time longer than that 9 minutes and 7 second that Captain Willard said she was on that ground. Even if it was 9 minutes and 7 seconds she stayed on the ground an additional 10 minutes when they got there. And when they first got there when the lady got out of the ambulance the passenger the driver was very professional for Gold Cross but not the passenger female. The first thing she asked was not what happened. She said is she on any blood thinner? That might be an important question but for me I retired back in ’02 to me that the first thing I would want to know what happened then I would go to can I get the victim’s name, is she on blood thinner, whatever other questions I may need to ask. But that should not be a first priority to me, it’s just my opinion, are you on blood thinner? I want to know first what happened. So the driver was very courteous and professional but that female was very unprofessional and I told Captain Willard that and he explained to me that his people sometimes work long hours. And I explained to him as well being retired from Department of Defense we work long hours as well but we have to stay professional especially when we’re dealing with medical issues. I didn’t know there was a cutoff on when we don’t have to be professional anymore because I work 18 hours and I’m tired. Mr. Sias: Okay, so when ya’ll left and you say no one was allowed to ride in the ambulance with the lady, I can’t remember her name you said no one was allowed to ride with her? Ms. Hill-McGruder: No one was allowed to ride with Delores and the lady, the gentleman nicely explained to me the lady said no, very stern but the gentleman said, “ma’am, our policies have changed. I don’t mind personally if you ride but she’s already said no so he was just trying to minimize what she had already done. Mr. Sias: Okay and we may not be able to give you an answer today, Ms. Hill-McGruder, but I think we owe you a follow up on this. So I will definitely appreciate it if you were to submit 3 your complaints to Gold Cross in writing and then we’ll see where we’ll go from there because we do provide them additional funding to help do this business of picking up folks and answering the 911 calls so absolutely we should be providing the best service possible and my apologies that you didn’t get that service on that night. And I’m glad to see, how is she doing these days? Ms. Hill-McGruder: Where her little hip, she complains about her hip but you know she is 90 and she’s strong but you know before I leave this podium I just want you guys to imagine being 90 years and left in your clothes. She’s not my grandmother but she’s a play grandmother to me but it could’ve been you, it could be one of you guys or one of your family members. We just don’t need to be treated like that. Mr. Sias: I totally agree with you, thank you, sir. Ms. Hill-McGruder: And I will submit that letter. Mr. Mayor: Ms. Hill-McGruder, again I believe if you have a report and information if you’ll share that with our Clerk of Commission. My final comment the Chair recognizes the th, Commissioner from the 9 the Chairman of Engineering Services. Mr. M. Williams: Thank you. Ms. McGruder, I need to know was the Fire Department dispatched as well? Most times when there’s an ambulance call the Fire Department shows up sometimes before the ambulance gets there. It depends on the location. Ms. Hill-McGruder: Yes, they did come. Mr. M. Williams: Were they there first? Were they able to assist? Were they able to help being in that business now ourselves as a city with those type equipment and getting there and if they didn’t assist I’m wondering why they came. Ms. Hill-McGruder: Well, they came after. Mr. M. Williams: Oh, they came after. Okay. Ms. Hill-McGruder: Yes, sir. Mr. M. Williams: I guess my question would be to Chief James. Were they dispatched the same time. I have been worried about the ambulance, the Fire Department and the Sheriff’s Department meeting at the same point at the same time. It’s been a bother for me, it’s been something concerning me for a long time. But if the Fire Department is in the ambulance business so to speak doing that and they arrived afterwards and I’m wondering why they didn’t make some attempt to relieve this patient with covering or something that you know. So I think a lot of questions are unanswered but I think --- Ms. Hill-McGruder: Correct. 4 Mr. M. Williams: --- it shouldn’t be just the ambulance service. The hospital, the ambulance service and the Fire Department who was dispatched who shows up and if they’re not going to, I mean we might as well leave them in the station if they’re going to come out and just be a spectator. I’m not saying they did that now. I mean I’m just saying if it’s going to be a service then that’s what we get paid for, that’s the job they have and they’re supposed to be there to assist. They don’t go there just to, have to try to think, Mr. Mayor. Mr. Mayor: Ms. Hill-McGruder, thank you for your presentation. Next item, Madam Clerk. The Clerk: DELEGATIONS B. The Greater Augusta Arts Council to present the result of the public vote on the James Brown Mural on Broad Street. (Requested by Mayor Pro Tem Sean Frantom) Mr. Mayor: All right, the Chair recognizes the Mayor Pro Tem. Mr. Mayor Pro Tem: Thank you, Mr. Mayor, 642 Canterbury Drive Augusta, Georgia. Mr. Mayor: District 7. Mr. Mayor Pro Tem: District 7, that’s right. Due to social distancing today I’ll be representing the Augusta Arts Council as the liaison on this. So over the past few months the Augusta Arts Council sent out through the media and through emails to have people in the community vote on the James Brown Mural located at 879 Broad Street. During that time they had over 8,500 people vote on it on this new mural. As you can see on your screen this was the winner with 35% Mr. Cole Phail of Appling, Georgia and the title of his artwork is the “Spirit of the Funk”. As you can see it’s a great rendition of James Brown. I was notified today from Ms. Durant that we will start this mural as soon as the virus situation settles down but again just wanted to share the winner Mr. Cole Phail of Appling Georgia “Spirit of the Funk” for the 897 Broad Street Mural. Thank you. Mr. Mayor: Mr. Mayor Pro Tem, I believe everyone should’ve received an email that provided the information along with the results from the Greater Augusta Arts Council from Ms. th Durant. All right, the Chair recognizes the Commissioner from the 6. Mr. Hasan: Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Mr. Mayor Pro Tem, is there any rationale, any particular reason as I look at the design here I see the Grandfather of Hip Hop. Is there any particular reason for that? Mr. Mayor Pro Tem: I couldn’t answer anything as far as the mural artwork and why. Mr. Hasan: Do you think that’s an intent or do you think that’s a mistake or do you have any idea? 5 Mr. Mayor: I mean well, if I can interject so he’s commonly referred to globally as the Godfather of Soul, the Grandfather of Hip Hop. I’d have to check in with Ron DMC on that one. Mr. Hasan: Yeah, I just wanted to try to get some clarity on that one because, all right, thank you. th Mr. Mayor: The Chair recognizes the Commissioner from the 9, you should probably come back. Mr. M. Williams: I’m not coming back, Mr. Mayor. Mr. Mayor: No, I’m talking about the Mayor Pro Tem. Mr. M. Williams: No, no he’s good/ I didn’t vote on either one of the murals and I saw them but they all did an outstanding job. I really want to commend everyone who put something together because I mean I really couldn’t distinguish which one should be which. I’m just proud of the outcome and I just can’t wait to see it up on the wall and see what attraction it’s going to do for the City of Augusta so I want to applaud them. I’ve been saying, Mr. Mayor, we’ve been missing a lot of money that people will come to Augusta and spend to look at and visit similar situation and this is a way so, Mr. Mayor Pro Tem, tell the Arts Council hats off. Mr. Mayor: If you look closely at the mural you’ll see the Godfather of Soul, Gospel. You’ll also see I Feel Good, I Knew That I Would and So Good for those of you, the Chair th recognizes the Commissioner from the 10. Mr. Clarke: Thank you, Mr. Mayor. I want to get to use a little bit of my past musical experience. Mr. Mayor: Absolutely. Mr. Clarke: The reason why he is known as the Godfather of Hip Hop is he invented a style of music called Back Beat and stealing from artists soon evolved into sampling. So James Brown’s music has been sampled more than any other artist’s music on the face of this earth. The Hip Hop Beat originated on the downbeat and the backbeat that James Brown invented and Hip Hop artists all around the nation will credit and if you listen to a lot of their music you will hear remnants of James Brown’s beat in that therefore he is the Godfather of Hip Hop. I rest my case. Mr. Mayor: All right, thank you Mayor Pro Tem and the Great Augusta Arts Council. st Okay, the Chair recognizes the Commissioner from the 1. Mr. Fennoy: Yes and I agree with everything that my colleagues have said about James Brown and his international likeness and for that reason I think it’s only fitting and appropriate that we have a James Brown Museum on James Brown Boulevard to so that people can come and see all the things that he has accomplished during his time on tour. th Mr. Mayor: Thank you, sir. The Chair recognizes the Commissioner from the 9. 6 Mr. M. Williams: Mr. Mayor, I agree with my colleagues up to a point and that point is that James Brown is internationally known all over the world. There’s not a place on James Brown Boulevard big enough to host or to do something that will do what is just for James Brown. Now I agree we need a place but James Brown Boulevard just won’t do it. He’s outgrowed that. So hopefully in the future the next group of Commissioners that come on will be able to put something together we can use this model and other models to do just what you said, District 1 Commissioner. Mr. Mayor: All right, thank you, Greater Augusta Arts Council. Madam Clerk, next item. The Clerk: I call your attention to the Consent portion of our agenda if there are any objectors to any of our Zoning petitions would you please signify your objection by raising your hand once the petition is read. I call your attention to: Item 1: Is a request for a change of zoning from a R-1B (One-family Residential) and a Zone A (Agriculture) to a Zone B-2 (General Business) affecting property known as 3902, 3914 Deans Bridge Road with conditions. Item 2: Is a request for a change of zoning from a R-1B (One-family Residential), Zone A (Agriculture) and Zone B-2 (General Business) to Zone R-1C (One-family Residential) affecting property known as 3902 and 3914 Deans Bridge Road with conditions. Item 3: Is a request for a Special Exception to establish a single-family residential development in an R-1C Zone affecting property known as 3902, 3914 Deans Bridge Road. Item 4: Is a request for a change of zoning from an R-MH (Manufactured Home Residential) to Zone R-1E (One-family Residential) affecting property known as 3717 Old McDuffie Road with conditions. Item 5: Is a request for a change of zoning for a Special Exception in a P-1 (Professional) Zone affecting property known as 326 and 330 Greene Street with conditions. Item 6: Is a request for a change of zoning from a B-2 (General Business) and a Zone R- 1C (One-family Residential) to a Zone B-2 affecting property known as 948 Walton Way with exceptions. Item 7: Is a request for a change of zoning from a Zone R-1E (One-family Residential) and Zone R-1C (One-family Residential) to Zone B-2 (General Business) affecting property known as 833, 837, 841, 836 Hopkins Street, 1016, 1020, 1022 Summer Street, 1002 through 1034 (even #’s) James Brown Blvd., 842, 846, 850, 852 Adams Street, 1013, 1015, 1021 Summer Street with conditions. Item 8: Is a request for a change of zoning from a P-1 (Professional) to a Zone R-3 (Multiple-family Residential) to a Zone 55+ Independent Living Facility affecting property known as 105 Robert C. Daniel Jr. Parkway with conditions. Item 9: Is a request for a change of zoning from a B-2 (General Business), R-1A (One- family Residential) and Zone A (Agriculture) to a Zone R-3B (Multiple-family Residential) affecting property known as 3563 Milledgeville Road, 2190 and 2192 Gordon Highway with conditions. The Clerk: Are there any objectors to any of those Zoning Petitions? I call your attention to the Public Services portion of our agenda. If there are any objectors to any of our Alcohol 7 Petitions would you please signify your objection by raising your hand once the petitions are read. I call your attention to: Item 13: Is a request for retail package Beer & Wine License to be used in connection with the location at 3011 Washington Road. Item 14: Is a request for a retail package Beer & Wine License to be used in connection with Lucky 7 located at 1857 Gordon Highway STE. C. Item 15: Is a request for a retail package Beer & Wine License to be used in connection with E Z Go Food Mart located at 1801 Marvin Griffin Road. The Clerk: Are there any objectors to any of those Alcohol Petitions, Mr. Sherman? Number 8 oh Number 10, okay. Are there any objectors to any of those Alcohol Petitions? We have one omission on our Zoning Petition that was not read. It’s Item #10, it’s a request for a change of zoning from an A (Agriculture) to a Zone HI (Heavy Industry) on property known as 3427 Cookie Road. Are there any objectors to this Zoning Petition? Mr. Mayor and members of the Commission, our Consent Agenda consists of Items 1 through 51 with no objectors to our Planning or Alcohol Petitions. st Mr. Mayor: The Chair recognizes the Commissioner from the 1. Mr. Fennoy: Yes, I’d like to have Item #54 removed from the agenda. The Clerk: Just delete it, sir? Mr. Mayor: Delete it. The Clerk: Delete it? Mr. Fennoy: Yes. The Clerk: Just delete it, okay. th Mr. Mayor: The Chair recognizes the Commissioner from the 8. Mr. Garrett: Thank you, Mayor. I’d like to add 53 to Consent. Mr. Mayor: Without objection. All right, it’s on the regular portion of the agenda. Mr. Sias: I must be looking at the wrong one. Mr. Hasan: Mr. Mayor --- Mr. Mayor: I’ll hand you my copy if you need it, it’s a new one. Yeah 53 is again an appointment Community Health Service Board --- Mr. Sias: Okay. 8 th Mr. Mayor: --- all right, the Chair recognizes the Commissioner from the 4. Mr. Sias: I’d like to pull item, let me make sure I’ve got the right number now Item 4. The Clerk: Is that the Old McDuffie Road --- Mr. Sias: Yes, ma’am. The Clerk: --- okay. th Mr. Mayor: Okay, the Chair recognizes the Commissioner from the 6. Mr. Hasan: Thank you, Mr. Mayor. I’d like to pull Item #22 on the new agenda and 27 in the book. The Clerk: Okay, that’s to ratify a Letter of Support? Mr. Hasan: Yes, ma’am. The Clerk: Okay, you had, sir. Mr. Mayor: Now he went back to the previous agenda --- The Clerk: Oh, okay. Mr. Mayor: --- so on the currently posted agenda it is Item #22. Okay all right, the Chair th recognizes the Commissioner from the 10. Mr. Clarke: Thank you, Mr. Mayor. I’d like to pull Items 23, 24, 25 and 26 please. th Mr. Mayor: Okay, the Chair recognizes the Commissioner from the 9. Mr. M. Williams: Mr. Mayor, I’ve got a question about Item 31. st Mr. Mayor: All right, the Chair recognizes the Commissioner from the 1 for a motion. Mr. Fennoy: Before I make the motion, I’ve got a question about Item #53 --- Mr. Mayor: Yes, sir. Mr. Fennoy: --- are we going to consider the recommendation or approve the recommendation? Mr. Mayor: Approve the recommendation. 9 Mr. Fennoy: Okay, but I think the motion ought to reflect that. Mr. Mayor: I agree with that. All right, so let the record reflect that that we’re adding to the Consent Agenda approval of Item 53 as recommended, yes, continue. Mr. Fennoy: I’d like to make a motion that we approve our agenda. Mr. Hasan: Second. CONSENT AGENDA PLANNING 1. Z-20-03 – A request for concurrence with the Augusta Georgia Planning Commission to approve with the conditions below a petition by Om Dugal, on behalf of Georgia Senior Living LLC, requesting a change of zoning from Zone R-1B (One-family Residential) and Zone A (Agriculture) to Zone B-2 (General Business) affecting property containing approximately 1.33 acres and known as part of 3902 and 3914 Deans Bridge Road. Tax Map 139-0-005-03-0 and 139-0-007-00-0 DISTRICT 8 1. The overall development for Deans Mill Subdivision and this approximately 1.33 acre commercial site shall substantially comply with the Concept Plan submitted with the rezoning application. 2. No entrance to the commercial tract shall be allowed directly off of Deans Bridge Road. 3. A Traffic Study will be required to assess traffic impacts from this development on surrounding roadway systems. 4. Building height shall be limited to 3 stories or 55 feet. 5. Uses shall not include liquor stores, gun shops, pawn shops, automobile service and repair, flea markets, travel trailer parks, mini-warehouses, automobile parking lots or automobile sales lots, funeral homes and crematoriums. 6. Any parking lot lighting/security lighting shall be directed away from the adjoining residential properties. 7. Sidewalks shall conform to the Concept Plan submitted with the rezoning application and shall be constructed on both sides of the entrance road to Deans Mill Subdivision. 8. Compliance with the Augusta Tree Ordinance for rear buffer requirements against the adjoining residential properties shall be adhered to. 9. This project shall comply with development standards and regulations set forth by the City of Augusta, GA at the time of development. 2. Z-20-04 – A request for concurrence with the Augusta Georgia Planning Commission to approve with the conditions below a petition by Om Dugal, on behalf of Georgia Senior Living LLC, requesting a change of zoning from ZoneR-1B (One-family Residential), Zone A (Agriculture) and Zone B-2 (General Business) to Zone R-1C (One-family Residential) 10 affecting property containing approximately 33.76 acres and known as part of 3902 and 3914 Deans Bridge Road. Tax Map 139-0-005-03-0 and 139-0-007-00-0. DISTRICT 8 1. The overall development for Deans Mill Subdivision and the adjoining approximately 1.33 acre commercial site shall substantially comply with the Concept Plan submitted with the rezoning application. However, density for the 33.76 acre tract to be rezoned to R-1C shall not exceed the allowable density in the R-1C zone of 7.26 lots/acre should Z-20-5 not be approved. 2. Sidewalks shall conform to the Concept Plan submitted with the rezoning application and shall be constructed on both sides of all interior roads and both sides of the entrance road to Deans Mill Subdivision. 3. A second entrance to the subdivision, meeting City standards for ingress/egress and sufficient for use by emergency response vehicles must be provided. If the current location for the second entrance remains at the intersection of Heartwood Street and Live Oak Road, then Heartwood Street must be improved to City standards out to Karleen Road. 4. A Traffic Study will be required to assess traffic impacts from this development on surrounding roadway systems. 5. This project shall comply with all development standards and regulations set forth by the City of Augusta, GA at the time of development. 3. Z-20-05 – A request for concurrence with the Augusta Georgia Planning Commission to approve with the conditions below a petition by Om Dugal, on behalf of Georgia Senior Living LLC, requesting a Special Exception in the R-1C Zone to establish a single family residential development, to include attached and detached units, not to exceed 7 units per acre per Section 11-2-(A) of the Comprehensive Zoning Ordinance for Augusta, Georgia affecting property containing approximately 33.76 acres and known as part of 3902 and 3914 Deans Bridge Road. Tax Map 139-0-005-03-0 and 139-0-007-00-0. DISTRICT 8 1. The overall development for Deans Mill Subdivision and the adjoining approximately 1.33 acre commercial site shall substantially comply with the Concept Plan submitted with the rezoning application. Density for the 33.76 acre tract to be rezoned to R-1C by Special Exception shall not exceed the density specified on the Concept Plan of 5.15 lots per acre. 2. Sidewalks shall conform to the Concept Plan submitted with the rezoning application and shall be constructed on both sides of all interior roads and both sides of the entrance road to Deans Mill Subdivision. 3. A second entrance to the subdivision, meeting City standards for ingress/egress and sufficient for use by emergency response vehicles must be provided. If the current location for the second entrance remains at the intersection of Heartwood Street and Live Oak Road, the Heartwood Street must be improved to City standards out to Karleen Road. 4. This project shall comply with all development standards and regulations set forth by the City of Augusta, GA at the time of development. 5. Z-20-08 – A request for concurrence with the Augusta Georgia Planning Commission to approve with the conditions below a petition by Nick Dickinson, on behalf of Heritage Academy, requesting a Special Exception in a P-1 (Professional) Zone to establish a private early childhood education center per Section 26-1-(b) of the Comprehensive Zoning Ordinance for Augusta Georgia affecting property known as 326 and 330 Greene Street and 11 contains 0.43 acres. Tax Map 047-4-086-01-0 and 047-4-087-00-0 DISTRICT 1 1. Any necessary Board of Zoning Appeals variances must be applied for and approved before a site plan may be submitted. 2. Insufficient parking is available and a Parking Variance from the Planning Commission will be required before a site plan may be submitted. 3. A Certificate of Appropriateness by the Historic Preservation Commission must be applied for and approved before any building permits may be issued. 6. Z-20-09 – A request for concurrence with the Augusta Georgia Planning Commission to approve with the conditions below a petition by Joe Edge, on behalf of Power Control Systems of GA, Inc. and Gateway to Augusta LLC, requesting a change of zoning from Zone R-1E (One-family Residential) to Zone B-2 (General Business) affecting property known as 833, 837, 841, 836 Hopkins Street, 1016, 1020 Summer Street, 1002 through 1034 (even #’s) James Brown Blvd., 842, 846, 850, 852 Adams Street, 1013, 1015, 1021 Summer Street (27 tax parcels) containing approximately 2.9 acres. A complete list of tax parcels is available in the Planning Commission office upon request. DISTRICT ! 1. The general layout of the development shall substantially conform to the approved concept plan. 2. Proposed commercial shall be limited to B-1 (Neighborhood Business) uses. 3. The project will need variances from the required setbacks, density and loading parking prior to final approval of the Site Plan. 4. The height of the buildings shall not exceed 4 stories or seventy-five (75) feet. 5. Sidewalks must comply with the ADA accessibility standards and specifications of Augusta Traffic Engineering. 8. Z-20-11 – A request for concurrence with the Augusta Georgia Planning Commission to approve with the conditions below a petition by TISHCO Development LLC, on behalf of Nixon Trust, requesting a change of zoning from Zone P-1 (Professional) to Zone R-3C (Multiple-family Residential) to establish a 55+ Independent Living Facility affecting property containing 6.63 acres and known as 105 Robert C. Daniel Jr. Parkway. Tax Map 023-2-001-00-0 DISTRICT 7 1. The general layout of the development shall substantially conform to the concept plan submitted on 2/10/20. 2. The height of the apartment building shall not exceed 3 stories or fifty-five (55) feet. 3. Provide sidewalks along Robert C. Daniel Jr. Parkway abutting the subject property that comply with the ADA accessibility standards and specifications of Augusta Traffic Engineering. 4. Because this is a proposed over 55 development, any change in the residential age requirement must be approved by the Planning Commission. 5. The site plan shall meet all applicable City codes and regulations before disturbing permits may be issued. 9. Z-20-12 – A request for concurrence with the Augusta Georgia Planning Commission to approve with the conditions below a petition by MacArthur Park Apartments, on behalf of Menlo Park Apartments LLC, requesting a change of zoning from Zone B-2 (General Business), R-1A (One-family Residential) and Zone A (Agriculture) to Zone R-3B (Multiple- Family Residential) affecting property containing approximately 21.59 acres and known as 3563 Milledgeville Road, 2190 and 2192 Gordon Highway. Tax Map 068-0-018-00-0, 068-0- 019-00-0 & 068-0-018-01-0 DISTRICT 5 1. The three tracts of property 3563 Milledgeville Road having 20.32 acres, 2190 Gordon Highway having 0.92 acre and 2192 Gordon Highway having 0.34 acre, must be combined into one lot, prior to the start of development. 2. The overall development for MacArthur Park Apartments and this approximately 21.58 acre site shall substantially comply with the Concept Plan submitted with the rezoning application for number of buildings and general configuration and have a maximum density of 17.4 unites per acre (the maximum allowable density for R-3B zoning). 3. Adequate parking shall 12 be provided based on the number and type of units to be constructed and will be verified at the time of submission of a Site Plan; additional parking/guest parking, as currently shown on the Concept Plan, is not required, but is highly encouraged. 4. Building height shall be limited to 3 stories or 55 feet. 5. There shall be sidewalks, meeting City of Augusta standards, adjacent to all public ROWs, with the exception of Gordon Highway, and internal pedestrian sidewalks, meeting City of Augusta standards, to facilitate safe and easy movement of foot traffic throughout the site. 6. Phasing of the development will have to be approved by the City of Augusta at the time of the initial submission of a Site Plan, depicting the overall site and the phases being proposed. Each phase must be a stand-along project as it pertains to stormwater and detention requirements, water, sanitary sewer, internal traffic movement, sidewalks, parking based on number of units and density, and any Fire Department requirements as it pertains to life safety. 7. Any parking lot lighting/security lighting shall be directed away from the adjoining residential properties across Milledgeville Road. 8. Any encroachment into the existing wetlands or state water buffer must be approved by all required agencies. 9. Compliance with the Augusta Tree Ordinance for rear buffer requirements against the adjoining residential properties to the east, along Gordon Highway, shall be adhered to. 10. Issuance of development permits shall be contingent upon submission and approval of a Site Plan meeting all applicable development standards. 11. This project shall comply with all development standards and regulations set forth by the City of Augusta, GA at the time of development. 10. Z-20-14 – A request for concurrence with the Augusta Georgia Planning Commission to approve a petition by Buck Pardee of Haskell, on behalf of FEREQUITY Inc., and Paul M. Davis Trust, requesting a change of zoning from Zone A (Agriculture) to Zone HI (Heavy Industry) on property containing approximately 0.58 acres and known as part of 3427 Cookie Road. Part of Tax Map 135-0-003-05-0 DISTRICT1 11. ZA-R-258 – A request for concurrence with the Augusta Georgia Planning Commission to approve a petition to amend the Comprehensive Zoning Ordinance for Augusta Georgia by amending Section 2 – Definitions, Section 16-1 – R-3Z – Multiple family Residential, and Section 21-B-1 Neighborhood Business regarding Dumpsters and Recyclable Materials Bins. PUBLIC SERVICES 12. Motion to approve Augusta, Georgia receiving Environmental Covenant to enforce restrictions on 1762 Lovers Lane, Augusta, Georgia. (Approved by Public Services Committee March 10, 2020) 13. Motion to approve New Application: A.N. 20-05: request by Boskey H. Bhavsar-Shah for a retail package Beer & Wine License to be used in connection with Masters Xpress, LLC located at 3011 Washington Rd. District 7. Super District 10. (Approved by Public Services Committee March 10, 2020) 14. Motion to approve New Ownership: A.N. 20-06: request by Ritilal B. Patel for a retail package Beer & Wine License to be used in connection with Lucky 7 located at 1857 Gordon Highway STE. C. District 2. Super District 9. (Approved by Public Safety Committee March 10, 2020) 15. Motion to approve Existing Location: A.N. 20-07: request by Raju Vemuganti for a retail package Beer & Wine License to be used in connection to E Z Go Food Mart located at 1801 Marvin Griffin Rd. District 1. Super District 9. (Approved by Public Services Committee March 10, 2020) 13 16. Motion to approve Change Order #2 to Johnson Laschober and Associates in the amount of $64,500 for design and engineering services at Fleming Park. (Approved by Public Services Committee March 10, 2020) 17. Motion to approve the City of Augusta as the owners of the James Brown commemorative sidewalk vinyl graphics to be installed in May and waive the required insurance indemnification as required by the Sidewalk Encroachment Permit for the application. (Approved by Public Services Committee March 10, 2020) 18. Motion to approve a request by Ming Ming Yin for a Massage Operator License to be used in connection with Double Liu 1, Inc. located at 3450 Wrightsboro Rd Ste. 2290. District 5. Super District 9. (Approved by Public Services Committee March 10, 2020) 19. Motion to approve amending Augusta, Georgia Code, Noise, Section 3-6-2 (b and d), so as to amend the hours for events at the Olmstead Stadium, 78 Milledge Road, and to provide an effective date. (Approved by Commission March 3, 2020 – second reading) 20. Motion to deny request for rate increase from RAT-PDEV. (Approved by Public Services Committee March 10, 2020) 21. Motion to approve the Rental Car Concessions and Lease Agreement – GSP (THRIFTY). (Approved by Public Services Committee March 10, 2020) ADMINISTRATIVE SERVICES 27. Motion to approve the award of the RFP #19-271 for the Employee Benefits Consultant contract to EPIC Insurance Brokers and Consultants. (Approved by Administrative Services Committee March 10, 2020) 28. Motion to approve HCD’s Memorandum of Understanding with Fort Gordon in support of the Augusta Housing and Community Development Laney Walker/Bethlehem Redevelopment Project and HCD’s commitment in assisting service members in locating and maintaining safe, adequate, and non-discriminatory local community housing that live in the city. (Approved by Administrative Services Committee March 10, 2020) 29. Motion to approve Housing and Community Development Department’s (HCD’s) request to provide funding to assist one (1) low to moderate income homebuyer with down- payment assistance to purchase a home. (Approved by Administrative Services Committee March 10, 2020) 30. Motion to approve Housing and Community Development Department’s (HCD’s) request to provide funding for the Sand Hills Urban Development’s 2020 Master Plan. (Approved by Administrative Services Committee March 10, 2020) 32. Motion to approve the award of the contract to provide custodial services for various new locations for fiscal year 2020 as follows, Bid Item 19-290: • Housing and Community Development to Diamond Shine Services - $16,804.52 • Planning and Development on Marvin Griffin Road to Pro Cleaning Services - $8,556.00 • New Records Retention Annex on Marvin Griffin Road to Diamond Shine Services - $6,213.21. (Approved by Administrative Services Committee March 10, 2020) PUBLIC SAFETY 33. Motion to approve additional grant funding $3,300 from GEMA for project management to oversee the update of the Augusta-Richmond County Hazard Mitigation Plan and authorize the Mayor to sign a letter to GEMA accepting the additional grant funding. (Approved by Public Services Committee March 10, 2020) 14 34. Motion to approve the Evidence Vault purchase. Custom Vault Bid 20-130. (Approved by Public Safety Committee March 10, 2020) FINANCE 35. Motion to approve month to month agreement for WC TPA services for the month of February 2020. (Approved by Finance Committee March 10, 2020) 36. Motion to approve a request from Superior Court to transfer funds from salary line item 101021112/5111110 to 101021112/5239112 to continue to contract labor line; once the employee returns from worker’s compensation leave funds will be returned to salary line item. (Approved by Finance Committee March 10, 2020) ENGINEERING SERVICES 37. Motion to approve and authorize the Engineering Department (AED) to accept and receive Federal Financial Assistance through Section 319(h) Nonpoint Source Implication Grant Program, grant authorization permitting Augusta, GA’s Mayor to sign all documentation as requested by the AED. (Approved by Engineering Services Committee March 10, 2020) 38. Motion to approve supplemental funding (SA4) for Construction Please of Design Engineering Consultant Agreement to Civil Services, Inc. in the amount of $161,465.60 for th 5 Street Bridge over the Savannah River (Bridge Repair and Restoration) as requested by AED. RFQ 16-247. (Approved by Engineering Services Committee March 10, 2020) 39. Motion to approve funding for Design Consultant Services Supplemental Agreement Two to Cranston Engineering Group, Inc in the amount of $72,640.00 for the James Brown Blvd. th (9 Street) Improvement Project as requested by the AED. RFQ 16-246. (Approved by Engineering Services Committee March 10, 2020) 40. Motion to approve the continued funding of the current On-Call Field and Laboratory Testing for Soil and Construction Material, and Geotechnical Inspection and Investigation (CMT Geotech) Services contract in the amount of $180,240 for James Brown Blvd. Improvements Project. Requested by AED. RFP 19-179. (Approved by Engineering Services Committee March 10, 2020) 41. Motion to approve and accept Section of Harper Franklin Ave. (from Jimmie Dyess Pkwy to its West 1761.46ft) and associated Improvements within road Right-of-Way into Augusta, Georgia Public Roadway System upon receipt of its certified Plat, Deed of Dedication, 18- month Road Maintenance Agreement and required other Legal Documentation as determined by Augusta Engineering Department and Augusta Legal Department. Requested by AED. (Approved by Engineering Services Committee March 10, 2020) 42. Motion to approve award of Lake Olmstead Dredging-Sediment Disposal Site Preparation Construction Services Phase 1 Contract in the amount of $742,856.25 to Waterfront Property Services, LLC dba Gator Dredging in the amount as requested by the AED. RFP 20-121. (Approved by Engineering Services Committee March 10, 2020) 43. Motion to approve an Easement Deed of Dedication and a Release of Aeronautical Use Provisions for Daniel Field. (Approved by Engineering Services Committee March 10, 2020) 44. Motion to approve and authorize Budget Transfer as a Separate Line Item to Augusta Engineering Department (AED) FY2020 Operational Budget to pay for Georgia Municipal Association, Inc. (GMA) FY2020 Services for Telecommunication and Right-of-Way Management. Also, approve such line funding in AED subsequent years operational budgets 15 to pay for yearly future payments to GMA for such services. Requested by AED. (Approved by Engineering Services Committee March 10, 2020) 45. Motion to approve the deeds of dedication, maintenance agreements, and road resolutions submitted by the Engineering Department and the Augusta Utilities Department for Granite Hill Subdivision, Section Four, Phase Two. (Approved by Engineering Services Committee March 10, 2020) rd 46. Motion to approve exercising the 3 option to renew with Georgia-Carolina Paving to provide on-call asphalt and concrete repairs for Bid 16-224. (Approved by Engineering Services Committee March 10, 2020) 47. Motion to approve proposal from McKim & Creed to perform smoke and dye testing in nd the 2 Street Lift Station Sanitary Sewer Collection Area. (Approved by Engineering Services Committee March 10, 2020) 48. Motion to approve Supplemental Agreement Four for the Phinizy Center for Watershed Assessment & Inventory Project in amount of $89,500 for the continue Watershed Geomorphic data collection and Monitoring System maintenance as requested by AED. RFQ 13-149. (Approved by Engineering Services Committee March 10, 2020) 49. Motion to approve supplemental funding (SA1) for Engineering Phases of Design Consultant Services Agreement to Goodwyne, Mills & Cawood (GMC) in the amount of $183,540.00 for the Telfair Street Improvements Project as requested by the AED. Award is contingent upon receipt of signed agreement. RFP 18-266. (Approved by Engineering Services Committee March 10, 2020) PETITIONS AND COMMUNICATIONS 50. Motion to approve the minutes of the regular meeting held March 3, 2020 and the Special Called meetings held March 10, 2020 and March 11, 2020) SUBCOMMITTEE Pension Committee 51. Motion to approve an Ordinance Adopting the 2020 Restatement of the Georgia Municipal Employees Benefit System Defined Benefit Retirement Plan II and General Addendum. (Approved by the Commission on March 3, 2020 – second reading) APPOINTMENTS 53. Consider recommendation from the Community Service Board of East Central Georgia d/b/a Serenity Behavioral Health System to appoint Thomas J. “Jeff” Drake to fill the unexpired term of Lonnie “Jim” Showman. OTHER BUSINESS 54. Mayor Pro Tem Sean Frantom’s employment with the Topgolf Entertainment Company. (Requested by Commissioner Bill Fennoy) Mr. Mayor: All right, I’ve got a motion and a second, voting. Motion Passes 10-0. \[Items 1-3, 5-21, 27-30, 32-51, 52, 53\] Mr. Mayor: Everybody hold on just a minute, just hold on a minute. 16 Mr. Mayor Pro Tem: Mr. Mayor, I’d like a Point of Personal Privilege. Mr. Mayor: The Chair recognizes the Mayor Pro Tem. Mr. Mayor Pro Tem: Thank you, Mr. Mayor. While I appreciate the agenda item on me being deleted I want to set the record straight for the community so there’s no doubt on if anything th was done incorrectly. On May 6 2019 I met with the Tax Commissioner, EDA and Top Golf. th The only time I met with Top Golf was May 6 2019. All we met about was the fact that they were coming to this community. As Top Golf came to this community the county government gave them no financial incentives. During this time they also met with Jarvis, Maurice, the Mayor plus all department heads and reviewed plans. The September minutes that were handed out last week were discussions with Jordon Trotter not Top Golf. Jordon Trotter we had to answer any of those questions as well as they know that I had no discussion with Top Golf. In my hand are the st screenshots from December 31 of 2019 where a recruiter reached out to me, happy to give the media as well, of my interest in applying for Top Golf. It upsets me that something of this nature would be put my career, my family into the media like this. Top Golf saw that my 15 years in the golf business, sales, development with the Ronald McDonald House and engagement in this community that this was the right opportunity for me and my family. I don’t appreciate the attempt to assassinate my character because I lead and help everyone to help make a difference in our community, thank you, Mr. Mayor. Mr. Mayor: Thank you, Mayor Pro Tem. The Chair recognizes the Commissioner from st the 1. Mr. Fennoy: Mr. Mayor, I thought this item had been deleted and I’m going to ask Ms. Bonner to put it back on the agenda in April for discussion rather than discuss it now since it’s been deleted. Mr. Mayor: All right, all right, it’s well within your right to do that. Madam Clerk, we have a number of items that were pulled and I’m ready to go on to the next one. The Clerk: PLANNING 4. Z-20-06 – A request for concurrence with the Augusta Georgia Planning Commission to approve with the conditions below a petition by Valerie Wilkins, on behalf of DVM Community Development LLC, requesting a change of zoning from Zone R-MH (Manufactured Home Residential) to Zone R-1E (One-family Residential) affecting property containing approximately 14.66 acres and known as 3717 Old McDuffie Road. Tax Map 094- 0-089-03-0. DISTRICT 4 1. A traffic study shall be required to determine if road widening, turn lanes, or additional traffic control is needed on Old McDuffie Road. Changes shall be reflected on the concept plan. 2. Sidewalks shall be installed along one side of each street in the development. 3. Guest parking must be provided. 4. The development shall be limited to 87 townhome units. 5. Open space requirement be corrected to eliminate the detention ponds from the calculation. 6. The site plan shall meet all applicable City codes and regulations 17 before land disturbing permits may be issued, including but not limited to Augusta Traffic Engineering and Augusta Utilities. 7. Any necessary variances must be applied for and approved before a site plan be submitted. th Mr. Mayor: The Chair recognizes the Commissioner from the 4. Mr. Sias: Thank you. I have some questions for our Planning and Development Director. Mr. Sherman --- Mr. Sherman: Yes, sir. Mr. Sias: --- on this particular agenda item I noticed there are a lot of, and several other ones as well, there are a lot of other conditions. I don’t object to this project at all. What I’m concerned about is there are a lot of conditions and things that have to be met for this development to move forward and I’m just concerned is how do we verify and follow up on those conditions and things that are required, that are required for this project? And there are several other ones that have a lot of these things basic same basic stuff and I’ll just give you a good example of why I’m really concerned about that. We have a development on a street called (unintelligible) and we found that there were a whole there were very, very there were a whole lot of problems with that particular development that we’re now trying to get straight. So please explain to me how do we verify, go back and insure that these conditions that are for the zoning change because basically once it gets passed that I don’t know how many times it comes back to us to get a look at it. I mean that’s in ya’ll’s wheelhouse then between all of the departments. So answer that question for me if I didn’t make it too long. Mr. Sherman: No, you didn’t and let me start with saying some of the conditions that are listed in this application they’re not conditions that are required by the code it’s just that these are the conditions that the applicant included on their proposed plan so that’s what was reviewed and discussed and that is what was approved. So these conditions they will show up on the site plan when it is submitted for review and then during the field inspections for compliance with the site plan they will be checked or in this case the development plan, well, actually the development plan and the site plans for the individual homes. Mr. Sias: Mr. Sherman, following up, sir? Mr. Sherman, don’t all these developments supposed to have sidewalks? Mr. Sherman: No, sir. Mr. Sias: Why not? I thought we had I thought we passed a thing when I sat on the a long time ago on this I forgot what it was called some subcommittee for --- Mr. Sherman: (unintelligible). Mr. Sias: --- you remember that? Mr. Sherman: I do. 18 Mr. Sias: --- okay and I thought out of that we had sidewalks for all these new developments. Mr. Sherman: If the subdivision is within a, I forget the distance of a school, it’s required or if it’s along a major artery or connector corridor but in this case this is just within the development and the developer is proposing to put it in. So we are tying the development to what was presented to us and that is to include the sidewalks. Mr. Sias: And in your assessment of these things is there some way you tied this and looked at if there’s a main artery or street near there but maybe not it might be set back somewhere or do we then do sidewalks as well? Mr. Sherman: Correct. If it happened to be along a major artery and the property adjoined it then a sidewalk would be required along that if it’s within a distance of a school. Mr. Sias: Okay, thank you. I move to approve. Mr. Hasan: Second. Mr. Mayor: I’ve got a motion and a second to approve, voting. Mr. B. Williams out. Motion Passes 9-0. The Clerk: Item 22 on the current agenda supporting documentation is Item #27 in your th books on the March 17 meeting. PUBLIC SERVICES 22. Motion to ratify Letter of Support between Augusta and The Warrior Alliance. (Approved by Public Services Committee March 10, 2020) th Mr. Mayor: The Chair recognizes the Commissioner from the 6. Mr. Hasan: Thank you, Mr. Mayor, I appreciate that. Mr. Mayor: Microphone, sir. Mr. Hasan: (Inaudible). Mr. Mayor: Commissioner Hasan, Commissioner Hasan, push your button, sir. Mr. Hasan: Oh, I’m sorry. To look at 27 in your book and look at the letter that was written, I remember, a couple of months well about a little over a month ago the representative from Operation Double Eagle or Wounded Warrior or what have you, one of the things that my colleague Commissioner Mary Davis asked him at the end was how could we support you pretty 19 much and would a if I remember correctly here, Commissioner Davis, I don’t want to put words in your mouth but you asked them would a Letter of Support do. And we ratified that and then last week Mr. Ron Houck, Mr. Houck brought a letter to the committee cycle and one of the first things you asked him at that particular time you don’t want this information you want this as something that we’re going to support and so once again we did that. So here we are today. It is the same letter he had last week but however I am concerned about some of the conditions because my assumption was a letter would be a letter that he goes out and solicit financial support or whatever support for it, it would be say hey, I have been able to work with Augusta in terms of getting land or property on the Augusta Municipal Golf Course and as a result of that that is an investment that they’ve made at no cost to the organization, organization and with that they view us as being a legitimate organization in helping our veterans across the nation. However, the letter has gone much further than that I think number one we ought to consider writing a letter of support but what concerns me more than the six bullet points here is what’s on the back page of the letter. It’s saying in addition Augusta Georgia works with the Warrior Alliance to support the fundraising efforts to renovate the Augusta Municipal Golf Course, establish a donorship program through the use of percentage amount of nonmember golf fees for the renovation. Bullet point two, consider Warrior Alliance Social Enterprise offer that provides benefits Augusta Georgia and raise funds for Operation Double Eagle. As an example there may be a product such as a cooling tower that the Warrior Alliance develop a partnership with which is then sold at our golf course where a percentage of sales going towards renovation of Augusta Municipal Golf Course. I don’t think necessarily that was what we entered into and what concerns me as well with that is that we have a standing contract with Cypress and none of these things are included in this contract and it kind of lends support to or lends credence to the same thing we were saying to transportation a week ago there’s a standing contract asking for a hundred some odd thousand dollars so that they can enhance the salaries of the employees. At that particular time I was concerned was we have a contract and so we have a contract now and now we’re asking for additional processes to go into this contract that already exists and that concerns me about that when all we were supposed to be doing is giving a letter of support. And so I think we need to probably write a letter ourselves and put it on our stationery and with that we move forward. Mr. Mayor: All right, I’m going to ask you a series of questions, Commissioner from the th 6. Mr. Hasan: Yes, sir. Mr. Mayor: Now again looking at the caption and this ongoing conversation about support or the lack thereof by way of a letter for the Warrior Alliance. You have mentioned a couple of things here. Cypress which the city has a contract with, what’s the nexus there in terms of the letter. I mean I think I see these as standalone items, the letter (unintelligible) Cypress. Mr. Hasan: Well, one of the things about the Cypress management one of the things one of the bullet points in their contract which is the first page of that. It is expressly understood and agreed that this agreement share cost management and the manager here is Cypress to be an independent contractor. So I don’t think we can impose these types of requirements on an independent contractor and shall not create any employer/employee joint venture or partnership relationship either expressed or implied between the manager who is Cypress and the owner. They 20 are independent contractors. We don’t have I don’t think we have the ability to impose these kinds of requirements upon Cypress to do this. Mr. Mayor: Okay, Madam Clerk, now I’m sure what he’s referencing but the background information that’s behind Tab 27 in the notebook I don’t have any of what he’s talking to. The Clerk: Number 27? Mr. Mayor: Right 27, I’ve got two sheets of paper back here. The Clerk: Well, that’s it. That’s the letter that they’re asking the Commission to approve, a Letter of Support. Mr. Mayor: Right --- The Clerk: He’s reading the Cypress contract. Mr. Mayor: --- but I don’t see any references in the letter to the Cypress contract. Mr. Hasan: The contract is telling you that they’re an independent contractor. We don’t have the authority to impose this upon them --- The Clerk: Have you got that with you? Mr. Hasan: --- yeah, I do, that’s my point. We don’t have the authority to impose that upon Cypress. Mr. Sias: When you talk about the fees. Mr. Hasan: Well, I’m talking about the fees in the collection of member fees and we’re talking about a cooling tower that they develop and we give them (unintelligible) we can’t impose that upon, they’re independent contract that’s the very first paragraph at the bottom of the page. The Clerk: Right here? Mr. Hasan: Yes. The Clerk: Is that the one? Mr. Hasan: Yes. Yeah, we got, this is no different that what we’re saying about the bus situation the contract already stands. th. Mr. Mayor: Okay all right, this is a question to the Commissioner from the 6 State your motion. 21 Mr. Hasan: I’ll make a motion to deny this before us and we come back and the City draft a letter to give them as a Letter of Support. Mr. Mayor: Can I get a second? Mr. Clarke: I’ll second it. Mr. Mayor: All right, I’ve got a second. Ms. Davis: Mr. Mayor --- rd Mr. Mayor: Okay all right, the Chair recognizes the Commissioner from the 3. Ms. Davis: --- and I support that motion but also whatever we do develop let’s just run it by Cypress just to make sure everything’s you know agreeable with all parties. Mr. Hasan: Thank you. Mr. Mayor: Okay --- Ms. Davis: Thank you. Mr. Mayor: --- we’ve got a motion and a second to draft an independent Letter of Support from the City of Augusta, voting. Mr. Fennoy not voting. Motion Passes 9-0. Mr. Mayor: Next item. Mr. Fennoy: (Unintelligible) draft the letter. Mr. Mayor: I think the Administrator or the Parks and Recreation Director’s going to draft the letter. Mr. Fennoy: Is it too late to vote, Ms. Bonner? The Clerk: Yes, sir, it’s been published. Mr. Mayor: Next item. The Clerk: Mr. Clarke, could these be considered companion or are you --- Mr. Clarke: Yes, I was going to ask that. The Clerk: --- okay. 22 The Clerk: ADMINISTRATIVE SERVICES 23. Motion to approve the purchase of two new pickup trucks (4X4) at a cost of $59,755 from Allan Vigil Ford for the Engineering Department-Stormwater Division Bid Item 19-280. (Approved by Administrative Services Committee March 10, 2020) 24. Motion to approve the purchase of 13 pursuit utility vehicles for $533,364 from Wade Ford for the Richmond County Sheriff’s Office. Bid Item 19-171 (Approved by Administrative Services Committee March 10, 2020) 25. Motion to approve the replacement of one pickup truck from Gerald Jones Ford for $30,553.56 for the Utilities Department-Customer Service Division. Bid Item 20-149 (Approved by Administrative Services Committee March 10, 2020) 26. Motion to approve annual bid for Environmental Services Department and Sheriff’s Office. The items require Commission approval due to the fact that purchases on the individual purchase orders will exceed $25,000 per order. The following annual bid item require Commission approval: Environmental Services 2-056 Wireless Instrument Monitors 20-113 Vacant Lot Cleaning Services Sheriff’s Office 20-136 External Ballistic Vest and External Carrier (Approved by Administrative Services Committee March 10, 2020) th Mr. Mayor: The Chair recognizes the Commissioner from the 10. Mr. Clarke: The reason why I pulled 23, 24, 25 the vehicles, it’s over $600,000 dollars in expenditures for vehicles and we had a robust conversation during committee about the vehicles and the mileages and the upkeep and what have you. And while I know we have to purchase vehicles here and there I would just like to make a motion to deny the purchases at this time due to the circumstances. Mr. Garrett: Second. Mr. Mayor: Okay, I got a second. All right, this question is from the chair to the th Commissioner from the 10 would you further explain what you believe to be the circumstances that upon which you are making this motion? Mr. Clarke: Yes, sir, I will. During the situation of the pandemic and the isolations and the expenditures of money and taxes in the city I just think it would be prudent at this point that we curtail our spending somewhat until this is over with. Mr. Mayor: All right, that’s an excellent explanation. All right, the Chair recognizes the th Commissioner from the 4. 23 th Mr. Sias: Thank you, sir. Number one, as my colleague from the 10 mentioned we had a very robust conversation about this during committee. And we’ve had a requirement of Mr., what’s that gentleman’s name? Mr. Mayor: Mr. Crowden. Mr. Sias: Mr. Crowden, to come back to us through the committee process and have a good understanding of the mileage of these vehicles can it be adjusted or to better improve that. And at this time I disagree with stopping the purchase of these vehicles that we’ve already that we already have a need for and need to get this done. So I make a substitute motion that we approve this item. Mr. Fennoy: Second. Mr. Mayor: We’ve got a substitute motion with a proper second to approve Items 23, 24, 25 and 26. We’re voting on the substitute, voting. Mr. Garrett, Mr. M. Williams and Mr. Clarke vote No. Motion Passes 7-3. The Clerk: ADMINISTRATIVE SERVICES 31. Motion to approve establishing the five committee chairs as the subcommittee for the process to recruit the Administrator. (Approved by Administrative Services Committee March 10, 2020) th Mr. Mayor: The Chair recognizes the Commissioner from the 9. Mr. M. Williams: Thank you, Mr. Mayor. I had a couple of questions and I guess my main question is with this subcommittee put together will that include doing something with Parks and Rec Director. We haven’t talked about where we are with that. So will this same group since we’re not using a Headhunter and it’s just a question I need to know where we are with that and what would the process be? Mr. Mayor: All right, so let’s clarify a couple of things. One, I’m going to have Administrator Sims speak to the issue of Parks and Recreation but as it relates to Item 31 specifically the process to recruit the Administrator. This body several weeks back, almost two months ago now, voted on a series of steps up to and including reviewing the job description, having the attorneys look at it then going out and hiring a recruiter. I think that’s the purpose of Item 31. But Administrator Sims let’s speak to the issue of Parks and Recreations where we are with that so this does include going on and hiring a national recruiter. Mr. Sims: Yes, sir, Mayor and Commissioners, the position Recreation and Parks Director has been posted on our website as well as a national search. We are still reviewing the applicants for that position. 24 Mr. M. Williams: Now are we’re using a Headhunter? We’re going to national service we’re using Headhunter for, I mean we was struggling with the Administrator but have both been included? We’re out for both now? Mr. Mayor: No, that’s why I believe this item is on the agenda to bring that small group together and move very quickly in identifying a recruiting firm whether it’s the Mercer or the Chaison Group and making any edits to the job description of record for the position of Administrator. I think that’s where we are right now. So this was I think one of those next steps to try to do that as quickly as possible. Mr. M. Williams: If I’m not mistaken and the H.R. Director’s here today but I think we have a process or a job description for an Administrator; I think that’s been established before. So this body or this committee will vet that I thought once the applicants came in, is that right? Mr. Mayor: Well, that list of things, it may be in the notebook, it’s probably the notebook, Ms. Bonner --- The Clerk: It is. Mr. Mayor: --- okay, there’s a list of things under Tab 31 that this well so --- The Clerk: I’ll give you the number. Mr. Mayor: --- okay, what’s that number? The Clerk: It’s in your book --- Mr. Mayor: Probably 35, no? The Clerk: --- Item 36 in your books. Mr. Mayor: Item 36 in our notebooks. The Clerk: That outlines the process in your books, the supporting documentation. Mr. M. Williams: So if the process is outlined --- Mr. Mayor: Say that again? Mr. M. Williams: --- if the process is outlined and the committee’s being established have we’ve gone out and at least got some --- Mr. Mayor: We haven’t so this right here is saying take the five committee chairs to function as a subcommittee and execute this last page that you see Items 1 through 5 and that was what was voted on last week to identify the five committee chairs to “lead that process”. 25 Mr. M. Williams: Well and we hadn’t established a chairperson or any of that right now I get that part, Mr. Mayor, but I thought this committee was the five chairs were going to take whatever was brought back from the Headhunter. The Clerk: They were, we just need to do one and two first then you get to that process. That’s Item #4 what you’re referencing. Mr. Mayor: The reality of it is there needs to be a convening of the subcommittee right now and move forward with doing these things. That’s what needs to happen. And so at the adoption of Item 31 the expectation is that we will move expeditiously in doing that. My only statement last week was you can’t do this and exclude the Mayor from the process, that’s all I said. All right, so let’s (inaudible) very quickly. Mr. M. Williams: I made a motion to approve, Mr. Mayor. We’ve been sitting on this for some time --- Mr. Hasan: Second. Mr. Mayor: We have a motion and a second. Mr. M. Williams: --- so let’s get this ball rolling. Mr. Mayor: Okay all right, okay all right, voting. Motion passes 10-0. The Clerk: ENGINEERING SERVICES 52. Discuss the action taken by the commission on March 3, 2020 to utilize a trial run of using a premeasured tarp system to help with servicing yard waste piles and report back the results to the Engineering Services Committee. (Requested by Commissioner Ben Hasan) th Mr. Mayor: All right, the Chair recognizes the Commissioner from the 6. Mr. Hasan: Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Mr. Mayor, several months ago as the caption reads that we approved this much earlier. Since that time some of the haulers as well as one of the landfill leadership capacity she was here the other day and said that they would like for us to rescind that particular action. They’ve taken a look at the tarp and they feel that it’ll be too much time wasted or time consuming I would say time consume in terms of some of the haulers went through the community picking up the debris and so she asked that we just try to walk this back so they won’t be obligated to do it. So I’d like to make, I don’t know whether I should be making a motion to rescind this action. Would that be appropriate, Mr. Mayor? 26 Mr. Mayor: I want to, so let’s suspend on a motion but I’ll come back to you, you still have the floor. Let me hear from Director MeHall for a moment please. Mr. Mehall: Good afternoon. Yes, we conducted a test over the last month of a tarp system for out of compliance yard waste and bulky waste and this was to gauge the size of the various both yard waste and bulky waste setouts. We obtained tarp material for this purpose. We used a tarp 19.5 feet by 15 feet and we used various guidelines if the tarp touches the ground the pile is compliant. If the tarp does not touch the ground the pile is noncompliant. We also conducted some research on this. We called the City of West Palm Beach Solid Waste Department who I believe one of our haulers recommended as a reference. They said that they weren’t using a tarp system and had no plans to use it because we were kind of surprised on that. We thought we would at least get some evaluated advice from them. The test results and we conducted it both on site at the landfill with some trial runs and this past week out with both of our subcontractors for this purpose. It works well when the large pile is compacted into a square, rectangular or oblong shape however it does not work well in several circumstances when there are several small piles, when there are long piles stretched out in a line, when there’s long heavy branches and limbs, when there’s loose and scattered material and when there’s also bags set out. The hauler feedback was pretty negative. The tarp is difficult to handle, it takes too long to fold and unfold, it does not fit all of the out of compliance materials. They recommended, they use a measuring tape. And so our recommendation is that since the haulers prefer using the measuring tape that we keep that particular method of measuring yard waste and bulky waste setouts and just continue to educate residents on putting, complying with our requirements of ten-foot long five-foot high and five-foot wide. Also if you know we can recommend if residents have tarps that they have a tarp to that dimension and they just set the materials on there and you know that would comply you know that would be in compliance waste. Mr. Hasan: Mr. Mayor, I’d like to make a motion to rescind the previous action. Mr. Clarke: Second. Mr. Mayor: All right, I’ve got a motion and a second to rescind, all right, restate your motion. Mr. Hasan: I’d like a motion to rescind this action we took around the tarp on March rd, 3 2020. Mr. Clarke: Second. th Mr. Mayor: All right, the Chair recognizes the Commissioner from the 9. Mr. M. Williams: Thank you, Mr. Mayor. I think the caption said it’s a trial run and if it’s a trial and hadn’t worked out do we have to rescind it or do we just --- Mr. Mayor: Abandon it. 27 Mr. M. Williams: --- abandon it. I mean why do you got to, if it’s a trial run and we’re saying it didn’t work. My other question is if the haulers didn’t recommend this to pick up the garbage with then who did? How did we get to this trial period? They’re not doing it in Florida you said how did we even get to that? Mr. Mehall: Well, it was my understanding when this first happened indeed one of the haulers did want us to look at it so that’s why we entered into it in the first place. Mr. M. Williams: Since it’s not working, I mean I don’t see we need to rescind just abandon what’s being said now I guess, Mr. Mayor. Mr. Mayor: All right, so why don’t we just vote on the motion in front of us and move on, how about that, can we do that? All right, voting. Mr. Garrett votes No. Motion Passes 9-1. Mr. Mayor: Next item. The Clerk: That’s it, sir. Mr. Mayor: That’s it? The Clerk: That is. Mr. Fennoy: That’s it? Mr. Mayor: No, no, no --- The Clerk: That’s what Ms. Bonner said. Mr. Mayor: --- no, no, no that’s the consent items that were pulled we’ve got the regular agenda. The Clerk: I’m on the back page, sir. Mr. Mayor: We can move just as fast, we can still move just as fast. I do I want to hear from, let’s do 56 first. The Clerk: OTHER BUSINESS 56. Update from the Administrator’s Office Plan of Action addressing COVID-19. (Requested by Commission Bobby Williams) Mr. Mayor: Okay, Administrator Sims. 28 Mr. Sims: Yes, sir. Mayor and Commissioners, as we all know the President on March th 13 declared a National State of Emergency as well as Governor Kemp soon followed issuing a th State of Georgia statewide Declaration of Emergency. On Monday March 16 Augusta Georgia also issued its own local Declaration of Emergency. Since that time we as an organization have developed a Continuity of Operational Plan. The Continuity of Operational Plan is very fluid. It involves scaling back operations due to the increased potential spread of COVID-19 within our community. Operating departments the plan was provided to you all yesterday in an email and I’ll just high level go over the operating departments how they will be scaled back. Recreation and Parks. The Recreation and Parks Department has closed all community centers, all rentals have st been canceled through April the 1, Senior Center operations are down to one day a week for meal pickup and delivery to homebound seniors. Recreation and Parks leadership is also working with the area Agency of Aging to coordinate efforts. Animal Services public adoption hours have been eliminated, kennel staff is working normal shifts. Utilities, the Utilities drive through they’re working that way as well as online mechanism to receive payments. Engineering Department the staff is continuing to work as contractors are working. The staff is also evaluating response levels from the contractors to determine what staff will continue working at the AED. All in-person meetings are being moved to phone meetings or teleconferencing. Environmental Services. Environmental Services is still continuing the landfill operation at normal operations. ESD is also rotating being tele-working and working in the office. The department is also exploring the possibility of creating a smaller window opening for the customers at the scale in order to minimize exposure. Planning and Development, they closed the Marvin Griffin Road Office and working with a small staff at the Municipal Building. The building inspectors are being limited are being handled on a case by case basis. RCCI is ceasing all work crew operations unless there is an emergency. In regards to the administrative departments Finance is working at a reduced staffing level and it has set up an A and B Team working staggered schedules. Human Resources, they’re also working staggered schedules where two employees will always be available Monday through Friday. 911 is continuing normal operations, IT, they’re working remotely. The Transit is maintaining its full service. As an added precaution for Transit, staff is cleaning the buses at the end of each run and also at the end of each day. Staff is also cleaning the handrails, the seats and other hard surfaces that patrons might touch. The Fire Department is continuing normal operations. The Procurement, they’re working with a limited staff as well as the Print Shop will continue operation. Only one currier will service departments each day and both curriers will be available on Fridays. Central Services, 311 is working remotely. Facility Maintenance will only respond to emergencies or safety related issues. All record retentions pickup or delivery requests will be suspended unless it’s an emergency. We also listed or provided the other agencies as well. I would like to make a note that this is a very fluid plan with constant things going on a national, state as well as the local level we need to be very fluid to make sure our plans address as things occur. We’re also looking at if things rapidly change having a remote workforce and maintaining only essential operations. Mr. Mayor: Thank you, Administrator Sims. I want to get an update from our EMA Director who’s leading efforts with regards to providing for the health and welfare and safety of the citizens to come and follow that up with our I think you may have sent out a report by way of Ms. Bonner. Just give us that update and then I’m going to take some questions, okay? 29 Chief James: Okay, real briefly as of 12:00 o’clock today the Georgia Department of Health, they’ve reported that there are 287 confirmed cases in the state and we have ten deaths in our state. Currently reporting to the public health we do have two confirmed cases in Richmond County. Augusta University has reported that they are testing around 80 individuals yesterday through their drive through testing at Christenberry Field House and they have opened up a site at the emergency department on Harper Street. Augusta University has reported that there are nine presumptive positive COVID-19 cases. These nine cases are not residing in Richmond County. Public Health will list the positive cases according to residency so when you hear that we have two confirmed cases in Richmond County those are Richmond County citizens whereas you may hear a report from Augusta University that says they have nine presumptive cases all of those have not been sent to the CDC for a final saying yes they are positive based on the CDC as well as they may have citizens from neighboring counties who are being treated at our facility but they are not residents of Richmond County. So we have two specific that are residents of Richmond County that have been confirmed. That’s kind of the update at this point. As of 8:00 a.m. the Call Center for Public Health went live so Augusta 311 operators are transferring the calls that come into 311 over to Public Health for their phone bank. That way they will get, citizens can get information directly from Public Health and those healthcare workers that are experts in this information. The volunteers are a combination of nurses, medical technicians and doctors that are taking those calls. We are still Emergency Management is still available for your questions at any time. So far with our government workers that have had questions and/or issues or department directors that have had issues have contacted us at the EMA and we have reached out and talked with Doctor Gaugins to answer any questions that we may have on how to address our specific employees or issues that they may have as far as being exposed to the Coronavirus. And that’s a summary of the update we just sent out prior to this meeting to all of the Commissioners and governing body. Mr. Mayor: All right, thank you, Director James. All right, the Chair recognizes the st Commissioner from the 1. Mr. Fennoy: Chief James --- Chief James: Yes, sir. Mr. Fennoy: The restaurants that are only operating by way of drive through, is that optional or they volunteer? Chief James: That is something that those restaurant owners themselves have taken advice from the CDC, the Department of Health and we have also chimed in on that as well. It’s just a recommendation, there’s been no one forced to do that. And some of the restaurant owners themselves have chosen to do that to help protect their workers as well. Mr. Fennoy: And may I, thank you. Mr. Mayor, the Administrator? Mr. Mayor: You may, yes. Mr. Fennoy: Mr. Sims --- 30 Mr. Sims: Yes, sir. Mr. Fennoy: --- I know this virus is causing a lot of disruptive all throughout this government and state and one of my concerns is our part-time employees. Are there any recommendation on how we should treat our part-time employees in case they’re not allowed to work while this crisis is going on? Mr. Sims: Yes, sir. I was also going to mention that as well. During this period all employees will still be paid normal pay during this emergency declaration period. We also have suspended all training and training related travel. All department directors have been instructed to keep in close contact with the employees during this period as well as the department directors constantly assessing the capabilities to insure some operational needs are still being met while being very conscientious of what we are faced with as a world, worldwide what we’re dealing with. Mr. Fennoy: All right, thank you, Mr. Sims. th Mr. Mayor: The Chair recognizes the Commissioner from the 6. Mr. Hasan: Thank you, Mr. Mayor, Mr. Administrator, in looking at the handout bullet points and I don’t know whether this will be an absolute fact, Mr. Mayor, Mr. Administrator, it seems as though all of the things that we are closing the governmental buildings and everything st that we are up around until April the 1 and then and I know at that time we reassess if not have to make some changes before then. But when I look at the back sheet when it says employees will th be paid their normal pay during the time that Augusta emergency is in effect through April the 16 th and so I’m wondering why we went to the 16 for that but everything that we got other is becomes st outdated as of April the 1. th Mr. Sims: We aligned the declaration identified from the Mayor April 16 with a pay for the employees just in case things which they are constantly changing. th Mr. Hasan: So April the 16 is the day, Mr. Mayor, that you declared all of this? I thought st.stth it was April the 1 I’ve been seeing April the 1 on here so I didn’t see the 16 it’s not on here. Mr. Mayor: So I’ll speak to that issue. Mr. Hasan: Okay. Mr. Mayor: In concert with the Governor’s state of Emergency Declaration of a healthcare emergency on Monday when we declared a local emergency it was in concert with the same date th of April 16. Everything that we’ve communicated to the public was predicated around initially st this 14-day quarantine period which will bring us to April 1. What I believe that document that you and I others have the last statement on it should be and I’m not looking at it right now but that th 16 date is subject to review and reassessment. That’s what it should say. Based on what we know from the state and what we think we know from the federal government right now we’re th going to likely find ourselves in this place up to and through April 16. In fact the legislature 31 during the Special Session they provided the Governor with those additional resources and powers through 16 April. So we are following in concert with that and I think it is out of an abundance of caution that we take that measure and after this what is now again a 2-week or 14-day period that brings us to 1 April we will be able to reassess where we are. I’m anticipating that all of us will st not be here after April 1. Mr. Hasan: Okay well, thank you, Mr. Mayor, for the clarity. I like I said I was reading th the document I didn’t every see you know April the 16 coming as part of the declaration. I just stst saw April the 1 around all of the closures and downsizing and everything April the 1 became th the drop date for that then April the 16 became so that was the thought process I was trying to rationalize that thought process around that. Mr. Mayor: Absolutely. Mr. Hasan: I clearly understand it but I didn’t identify it in this particular document. Mr. Mayor: Absolutely. I believe Madam Clerk sent out a copy of the Executive Order that lays those things out and you should have that, each of you should have that. The Chair th recognizes the Commissioner from the 4. Mr. Sias: Thank you. I’ve got two questions or two points I want to get in, can I get the Chief back up please? Mr. Mayor: All right, Director James. Mr. Sias: As the director of EMA I was riding down Deans Bridge Road last evening there’s this club running full strength. My question is under the guidelines and what we have going here I know as you mentioned earlier our declaration didn’t go around to shutting everybody down completely. But do we have do you have or do we have the authority at a minimum to go by and suggest them folks that they not do that and suggesting the folks in there if ya’ll get sick maybe you need to get your own test. I’m just I’m a little (unintelligible) in that part. But that’s a problem. These folks are just ignoring it so what is your suggestion for that? Mr. Mayor: I’m going to, yeah I’m going to chime in on that. Mr. Sias: That wasn’t my last question. Mr. Mayor: I know I know you’ve got a series of questions that take us to Item #55 and that is the best time for us to talk about that because there are many in our community who still are not taking this serious. What I would share again from an employee standpoint to those 2,700 who make up this organization called Augusta these are very serious times. This is a grave matter and while we are taking unprecedented measures to try to continue government operations it is vitally important for every one of our employees to include our family members as well to know that we’re taking the precautionary measures to be safe which is why you are seeing an approach th, of continuity of operations. To your question, Commissioner from the 4 Chairman of Administrative Services, one of things that has been discussed up to and including the Governor 32 being asked about it as late as yesterday about whether there was going to be a ban and/or curfew statewide what he referred to is I’m going to leave that to the locals. That is a decision that this body as we attempted to say on Tuesday we need to be coming together collectively to make those decisions. As I understand it there was a club on Gordon Highway, there were 300 strong in there last night and those types of things shouldn’t be happening right now. Mr. Sias: But I was talking about Deans Bridge --- Mr. Mayor: I know. Mr. Sias: --- so they partied from one end to the other one then. Mr. Mayor: You still have the floor, sir. Mr. Sias: Thank you and the other part of that was Chief James is do we have any kind of process right now to be able to go out and get a feel in the community or monitoring even with a couple of snapshots to say where we have cooperation and where we have dangerous noncooperation where you’re looking at a place and you stick your head in and know that 200 people are up in there. So do we have any process or come up with one yet to kind of identify problem areas or problem establishments? Chief James: We don’t have, we do have measures where we can go out just like we do on a normal basis to check clubs and other assemblies to check to see if they’re overcrowded or if there are too many people in there. We will be following up with conversations with the Sheriff’s Office and other places that are out there to address that as it comes about. Right now there has not been a directive or ordinance. Based on the emergency declaration there is authority within the government to call for a to do a, you know, where you can clear the streets at 11:00 like they’re doing in Columbia to 6:00 o’clock in the morning so you can have a curfew but those things would have to be decided by this governing body and then at that point our employees would have the authority to go out there and then enforce those ordinances. Mr. Sias: Well, here’s my point, Chief, to get to that to make that decision there needs to be some data --- Chief James: Right. Mr. Sias: --- so they don’t need to go in there shutting them down. I think it’s very prudent if we know where the problems are, what kind of establishment. Is it clubs, are we still got restaurants doing this stuff? We need some information to help us make that decision when the time comes and we need that information soon. So I’m not saying stick their head in the door and try to tell anybody what to do but just make sure ya’ll can identify to the governing body in this decision making process where these problems are and that’s and that’s the kind of and that’s what I’m thinking. And that concludes my questions at this point. Mr. Mayor: Thank you, sir. All right, the Chair recognizes the Commissioner from the th 5. 33 Mr. Sias: Thank you, Chief. Mr. B. Williams: Thank you, Mr. Mayor. I just have a quick comment to the Administrator, to our Transit Director, it’s great that you wipe the buses down and you are doing it every day I assume but when they get on the bus do we give them a wipe or anything? You can answer from where you are if you want to. Mr. Mayor: Would you come to the podium please, please come to the podium, both of you can come. Ms. Dottery: No, sir. Currently we don’t have enough wipes to pass out to the operators. We’ve been trying to locate hand sanitizer. Just this morning I was checking because I understood there was hand sanitizer at Home Depot but by the time I found out about it, it was gone --- Mr. B. Williams: It was gone? Ms. Dottery: --- yes, sir. Mr. B. Williams: All right, so are we going to try to get some in the future? Ms. Dottery: Yes, sir --- Mr. B. Williams: Good. Ms. Dottery: --- continued efforts. Mr. Mayor: Yes, absolutely. Mr. Speaker: There is, they’ll be an attempt to actually install sanitizers on the bus so that let passengers as they enter the bus they can actually use sanitizers themselves. Mr. B. Williams: Okay, thank you. Mr. Mayor: Okay, thank you. All right, the Chair recognizes the Mayor Pro Tem. Mr. Mayor Pro Tem: Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Administrator, the, you talked about the employees continuing to get paid. Does that include contract workers there with the city, all the temp service? Mr. Sims: My understanding I don’t think about the temporary employees normal FTE’s and the part-timers --- Mr. Mayor Pro Tem: Okay --- Mr. Sims: --- I need to verify. 34 Mr. Mayor Pro Tem: --- well I mean they are contract employees so I mean that would be a little shocking if that’s what we were doing but maybe we’re doing that. I’m just trying to verify. Mr. Sims: We can verify, we can follow up with you on that but we’ll follow up with you on that when this is temporary but I definitely know we have are in line with others as far as all of the full time employees as well as part time employees continue to get paid during this time. Mr. Mayor Pro Tem: Okay, thank you, Mr. Mayor. th Mr. Mayor: The Chair recognizes the Commissioner from the 9. Mr. M. Williams: Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Several questions, some for my Attorney. I remember as a kid when they said Chicken Little said the sky was falling and everyone ran when they needed that they didn’t believe what was really happening. I guess my first question is to the Administrator. We’re not planning to deduce or stop the buses, are we? Mr. Sims: Transit, no, sir. Mr. M. Williams: Okay, I don’t think we can afford to do that. That’s going to create another pandemic if we did that, I mean you’ve got to take safe precautions. The other thing is our meetings if we’re going to have meetings here and Mr. Attorney I need you to help me out with this one. If we have any other meetings can we exclude the public because we think it's in their best interests or even the media can we exclude them if we have, I’m asking a question because I mean -- Mr. Brown: I think that would not be advisable, sir, but if you want to protect the members of the Commission body and the employees who must come these meetings, I believe that the proper direction should go to the Administrator and IT to bring to you proposals for lawful meetings that does not require the public to be sitting in this room. Virtual meetings can be had. You can continue to have meetings but the public must also have access to these virtual meetings and there must be notice of the nature of the meeting that is going to be virtual. It can be done; we do not have to have this close proximity in order to have a meeting. Mr. M. Williams: I’m referring to state law as you talked about and I understand about making provisions; the rules are what they are. And one other question, Mr. Mayor, I’m trying to remember what it was now but the meeting was certainly one of them and the bus I’ve been asking about the bus, we won’t do that. Do we have the authority or the legal right to shut a club or business down because we think it’s unwise for him to be there? Now if we do that where do we draw the line at? Do we go into a private business and tell them you know you shouldn’t gather or we say you can’t gather and if that’s the case who’s going to enforce that if that’s what we’re going to do? I don’t think we have that right. The Chief can go and check for overcrowded if he wants to but I don’t think this governing body has the right to tell a private business to not to gather there. Now if they were wise they wouldn’t gather there but there wasn’t but three wise men, Mary. The rest of us are just running loose. But can somebody help me out and understand that 35 Mr. Attorney, Mr. Administrator, Mr. Mayor, anybody? Can we actually direct a private business not to operate because it’s not good for their health? Mr. Mayor: So I’ll lean into that just briefly and then I’m going to recognize in fact I’ll rd recognize the Commissioner from the 3 first. Ms. Davis: Well, Mr. Mayor, mine was more along the virtual meetings. Are we going to talk about that on the next agenda item? Mr. Mayor: Yes --- Ms. Davis: Okay because I wanted to make sure we figure that out. Mr. Mayor: --- absolutely. So with regards to that in current code there is a mechanism for us to implement curfews in the city and our posture is not to close businesses down. I think the last thing we anyone to believe, suggest or even intimate is that we’re not a pro-business community. And so we want to do everything we can to support businesses in these very difficult times. Mr. M. Williams: But that’s not my question, Mr. Mayor. Mr. Mayor: And I’m going to answer your question. I’m taking the slow road to Iwo Jima. Mr. M. Williams: Okay well, you ain’t going to get there like that but I’m --- Mr. Mayor: The simple answer is no, we can’t shut businesses down. Mr. M. Williams: --- okay and that’s a simple answer I --- Mr. Mayor: Not just because of COVID-19 but we can shut a business down. You voted to do it many times. Mr. M. Williams: --- if they have broken the rules. Mr. Mayor: That’s right. Mr. M. Williams: Yeah, if they violate the rules. I mean I don’t want us to get this is a serious event for sure. This is something that we all ought to be looking at very seriously but at the same time we’ve got to be smart in what we’re doing, we got to know what the rules say and how far we can go. You may not like it if they’re on Gordon Highway and they’re packed to the max then don’t go in there but you can’t shut them down unless they’re over the limit like the Fire Chief said if they got as many as they’re supposed to or anywhere else. And if you close that business you got to close every business so I just want to make it plain that we don’t have that kind of jurisdiction. Your Mayor and Commission they got a little power but they ain’t got all the power. 36 Mr. Mayor: I know who does though, we call on him every day. So again I don’t think I heard anyone say we’re going to close businesses down whether it’s the business on Gordon Highway or the ones on Deans Bridge. Mr. M. Williams: Right, it could be one of the four we’re talking about the Chief’s checking and bringing us some data back I agree. But when you bring the data back what good is it if you can’t go in there and do something with it. I mean you can’t do that so let’s not fool ourselves and say you know we’ve got this data now and we’re going to, I’m not going to sit here and act like that’s (inaudible). Mr. Mayor: All right, so all right again are there any other questions for Administrator Sims? He’s given an update in terms of what our operations look like today and it is fluid in nature because of the fluidity of the pandemic that’s sweeping across this nation and it will continue to evolve and change as we have seen just since Sunday. Previously the conversation was around recommending that there not be larger assemblies of 250 or more and it immediately went to 50 and the recommendation now is assemblages of not more than 10 people which is affecting not only businesses but the faith community and/or governments just like ours all across the great state. There are those who are taking proactive steps to minimize their actions and interactions th with one another. All right, the Chair recognizes the Commissioner from the 4 and then we’re going to go to Item #55. Mr. Sias: (Inaudible). Mr. Mayor: Thank you, sir, all right, thank you. All right, Madam Clerk Item #55. The Clerk: OTHER BUSINESS 55. Discuss COVID-19 government operations and Commission meeting procedures. (Requested by Mayor Hardie Davis, Jr.) Mr. Mayor: Okay, thank you, Madam Clerk. In light of all of what we’ve seen, what we hear and what we know you’ve heard updates from both our EMA Director with regards to the conditions across the state but more importantly here in Augusta. You’ve heard from Administrator Sims in terms of how we’re responding to that as an organization and now the matter before us as a governing body is what we will do in terms of meeting. Today we implemented what I would call a very limited approach to social safe distancing. We have three of our Commission members who are sitting in the audience with their voting tools and also microphones. On this morning we asked Information Technology to begin looking at a series of solutions for us if we wanted to move to a telework type of approach that both looking at guidelines from GMA and ACCG are well within our rights and boundaries while meeting the intent of the Open Meetings Act and so to that end I think it’s extremely prudent for us to consider what those alternatives are. Currently we are only slated to meet on our next meeting is in April, Madam Clerk, is that correct? The Clerk: Yes, sir. 37 Mr. Mayor: So we would not be here until April. There are five Tuesdays in May in March nd rather and so our next meeting is not until 2 April, I believe that’s April the 2so that will be our next first meeting and that will be a full Commission meeting. All of the items will be moved. And so to that end I think we want to talk about what our options are right now with regards to meeting; there are again a number of options that are there. I will tell you that we have a number of things that are taking place. In Grovetown they just voted to suspend all meetings until further notice in Grovetown. There are several other local governments in our region that are doing the same thing out of an abundance of caution. We don’t have a date that this will be over. What we do know is that there’s increased testing being done both locally and across the entire State of Georgia and as those tests go up you’re going to see the number of incidents go up are confirmed cases. That doesn’t need that there’s an outbreak. It simply means that those folks that are on the ground that likely may be carriers of the virus have been tested and has been confirmed and that number will go up exponentially. What we certainly want to be doing here internally is to make sure that not only are we safe but the citizens of Augusta are safe. So I’m going to pause here and I think it’s prudent for us to have some discussion about what our options are in terms of how we can conduct business going forward. All right, the Chair recognizes the Commissioner from the st 1. Mr. Fennoy: Mr. Mayor, based on the tournament being cancelled are we going to keep our meetings scheduled the same or will we go back to our regular scheduled meeting dates? Mr. Mayor: Well, I think we’ve adopted a meeting calendar that was predicated on things that we historically do. I don’t think we necessarily change that at this point because again based on the fluidity of what’s coming from the federal government it may blow all of that up anyway. And what I think needs to happen right now is the most important things if we’re going to flatten the curve and stem the tide of the spread of the virus in our community we need to do everything we can as a unified body that we’re telling the public practice safe social distances, stay at home companies are closing and saying we’re telecommuting all across, we’re seeing the same thing. On yesterday TEXTRON Specialized Vehicles sent a letter saying that they are employing these same practices. individuals have been given direction about employment today and going forward. So I don’t think we necessarily need to change the schedule that’s been adopted already but rather say until further notice this is how we’re going to do business. Mr. Fennoy: Okay and my last question is will we need to cancel or postpone our meetings until further notice based on what’s going on with the virus? Mr. Mayor: I think that is an option that we have in front of us and that’s why we’re going to have this conversation today. All right, so I’ll come back to you that sounds like a recommendation. Mr. Fennoy: That sounds like a recommendation. rd Mr. Mayor: Okay, all right, the Chair recognizes the Commissioner from the 3. 38 Ms. Davis: Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Personally I would think that we would be able to work out something to do interactive meetings with Google Meet, Zoom, I don’t know if IT is prepared to talk on that but that’s happening all over the country and schools are doing that as well it’s working very effectively and it allows the public to chime in and ask questions. Of course I don’t know much about IT but I would hope we could keep our business going for the city and just really have on the agendas essential items that have to approved or denied. That’s my recommendation. Mr. Mayor: So I want to qualify and I’m going to ask Attorney Brown to weigh in on this I think it’s prudent. I want to take an opportunity to clear up the mystery around the Georgia Open Meetings Act and Sunshine Laws so that we clearly have a real conversation about that. Pursuant to our meetings there really is only one time that the public interacts with us and that’s during the delegations portion and so everyone needs to be mindful of that. We don’t have interactive meetings where on every agenda item the general public comes up and engages us. It’s at one time. And so pursuant to the Open Meetings Act, Attorney Brown, I want you speak to that particularly in terms on what the specific requirements are to meet the intent of the law. Mr. Brown: Mr. Mayor and Commission, I think there may be two questions or two answers to a question that’s not quite asked. One, you may want to look at how many times you meet and the possibility of reducing meetings. If you wanted to reduce committee meetings and have just full commission meetings the question has come to me. Some people have posed well can we meet, can we cancel a meeting regarding an emergency and the answer is yes. Our meetings are scheduled by ordinance so therefore our meeting times can be amended. There are some constitutional statutes as well as some state statutes say in the presence of emergencies meetings can be canceled or the number of meetings can be reduced so we can easily amend our ordinances if that is the will of the body to do so. The Open Meetings Act itself does not limit or cancel a Commission’s ability or Council’s ability to limit or reduce their meetings. It simply says if you have a meeting it gives you the guidelines you must follow if you have a meeting. You have to give the public access to that meeting in some form. It need not be physical but the type of meeting you’re going to have has to be noticed to the public pursuant to the Open Meetings Act so that due process is met. But the emergency does not authorize a body to prevent the public from coming to a meeting or participating in a meeting but it does not necessarily mean a physical meeting. Mr. Mayor: Okay all right, very well, I think provides some more clarity. All right, the th Chair recognizes the Commissioner from the 4. Mr. Sias: Thank you, sir. As discussed a little bit before this meeting I would strongly encourage that we consider the following things. We mentioned briefly during the meeting that rd we cancel and that was about what my colleague from the 3 had mentioned about the inactivity, interactiveness if we do that. Secondly, I would also propose that we do not conduct any more committee meetings during this timeframe and just have two meetings per month full Commission and we have all those items on that agenda for consideration and approval or disapproval. I just think we can do that in this particular timeframe we could do it that way. So that’s my suggestion is enhance the inter-activeness that we can do through the IT Department and forgo any committee meetings until we are past this crisis and just simply do full committee meetings twice per month considering all items that are needed because we have folks out there that we have things in the 39 pipeline that have to be addressed, contracts that have to be ratified. So you haven’t stopped all the business so we’re trying to stop the exposure, the personal exposure. So I strongly recommend or make, I don’t know if I need to put that in a motion at this time. Mr. Mayor: Yes, please. Yeah, that’d be great and then we’ll have further discussion. Mr. Sias: Okay, I move then that we forego our committee meetings and hold two Commission meetings, two full Commission meetings per month and put all abilities and resources to have this interactive for the public and for Commissioners as well to participate in. Ms. Davis: I’ll second it. Mr. Mayor: And that includes utilizing technology. Again in that brief conversation this morning with Information Technology staff they are looking at those alternatives up to and including what you mentioned, Commissioner Davis, Zoom, Google Hangouts and all of those things with the appropriate technology. Early on I know there was a conversation about providing each of you with portable devices that have video capabilities as well and that’s still a consideration to help support those efforts as well whether you’re here or whether you choose to be remote you still have those capabilities. And so they’re not prepared to go real time and have that discussion but they’re working on that based on the emails that both you and Commissioner Frantom, our Mayor Pro Tem, had sent out as late as yesterday. Okay all right, I’m going to go to the th Commissioner from the 6. Mr. Hasan: Thank you, Mr. Mayor --- Mr. Mayor: Okay, hold on if you don’t mind, sir. And that was your motion was until further notice, right? Mr. Sias: That’s correct. th Mr. Mayor: Okay. All right, Commissioner from the 6. Mr. Hasan: --- yes, sir, Mr. Mayor, I’d like to know so what’ll we be doing Executive Sessions at those Commission meetings? Mr. Mayor: The answer would be yes. Mr. Hasan: So does that need to be included in the motion? Mr. Mayor: Yes, if you’ll amend the motion to include that that’d be fine because there are some pressing matters now. The caution is that we still need to practice safe social distancing with regards to that and you know so that we may look a little differently in terms of what that looks like going in there okay, I just want everybody to be mindful of that because you’re really sitting right next to and you’re on top of each other. Okay all right, we’ll just we’ll fix, we’ll change the room, there’s a way. 40 Mr. Sias: Do you want me to amend them now or wait? Mr. Mayor: Now would be perfect --- Mr. Sias: All right --- Mr. Mayor: --- I’m coming to you. Mr. Sias: --- please consider my motion amended to include Executive Sessions. Mr. Mayor: Okay. Mr. Hasan: And I’ve got another question another part. Mr. Mayor, also I think the other day and I think as we you made mention about trying to make sure through this process that we’re able to secure federal and state reimbursements or enhancements whatever the federal government and state government is going to do. Do you have any idea right now what that process is going to look like and here’s where my question comes from. My question comes from, because we remember the ice storm and the ice storm happened right about around March of ’14. But even when I came in and by the time of August of ‘14 prematurely there still was a lot of debate among inside, in-house, finger pointing and things of that nature. So what does that structure going to look like and how’s is it going to be managed and if it’s too early to tell right now but I would hope that we would know as a body who we can expect is gathering the data, what’s being gathered and so we have a solid situation moving forward knowing what we anticipate doing. And also along with that, Mr. Mayor, exactly are we looking at monitoring things internally within the government or are we looking at things from the society as large as well? Just a question. Mr. Mayor: Can you restate that last question? Mr. Hasan: The last part is are we monitoring because a lot of small business are going to be impacted by this. Are we trying to look at hoping that the federal government by way of Augusta will they be doing something simply something that we would not be involved in you anticipate I know that situation is fluid right now but at the same time we are we sure what we’re going to look like internally and who’s going to be responsible for gathering that data. Mr. Mayor: Yeah absolutely and we’re going to try to speak to all of those matters. So a series of things have been done with the initial Emergency Declaration that again told GEMA that Augusta is moving forward we are part of that entire process. So as federal funds and/or resources are released through our EMA agency which you all codified January 21 of this year with the Emergency Management Amendment to the ordinance. The second piece is that on Tuesday we signed a second executive order that included an opportunity for SBA Lending to small businesses consistent with what the Governor has done, okay? So we through a series of actions working with EMA Director James, Administrator Sims, Finance and Procurement there is a COVID-19, okay, project where all of these efforts and/or actions are rolled up into that up to and including the pay that you all have just heard about when it comes to our employees through this process. So right out of the gate immediate actions were taken to make sure that everything that we do 41 pursuant to trying to respond to COVID-19 is rolled up under that project code from a Procurement standpoint as well and that’s being tracked and so we shouldn’t have the challenges that we had before. Mr. Hasan: And so and so what does that team look like, you know, because like I say it was just all over the place. I think you all might’ve walked into it too you know coming in at ’15. But I just want to make sure that we’re solid, we know who’s responsible for what, what that’s going to look like, who’s gathering all those timesheets and what have you whatever data we’re going to need we know where to find it in order to put our fingers on it. Mr. Mayor: All right, Administrator Sims and then EMA Director James. Mr. Sims: Commissioner, we have established a project number to track all activities related to COVID-19. We have Procurement, we have all the departments. We also emailed to all of the departments any activities, any financial activities will be aligned or tracked to the project number so we’re tracking it now. Mr. Hasan: So will Finance be a part of this team? Mr. Sims: Finance, Procurement, we issued an email to all the department directors a couple days ago to let them know in any of their activities or anything related to Project COVID- 19 we need to tract it. Mr. Hasan: So that’s Finance, Procurement, H.R. --- Mr. Sims: All the departments. Mr. Hasan: --- all of the departments, okay. Mr. Sims: Yes, sir. Mr. Hasan: Okay so, Mr. Mayor, final question so at the end of the day I know this thing puts us in a very precarious situation. Who can we expect an update from? I’m going to just let me before I do that put a face to it. This morning I was reading an article that was in the Chronicle and I’m going to say I don’t it says Chronicle but it’s not the Book of Chronicles you know. My point is and it made mention of the different meetings that we’re going to be participating in as a government and you are heading that task but also made mention that you possibly have two separate meetings a week or sometime like that. Will we be abreast of those meetings and can we participate in those meetings that are more internally? Mr. Mayor: So yeah, I mean I think you’re asking the right questions and I’m going to lean into what you’re really asking. Mr. Hasan: We don’t ask, Mr. Mayor, we don’t really ask because many times all of us have constituents and they call us for information and you know I’d hate to say you know well I’m not aware of that, I don’t know. And if you don’t know you don’t know --- 42 Mr. Mayor: Sure. Mr. Hasan: --- but I don’t want that to become a theme song for me either. th Mr. Mayor: Yeah I appreciate that Commissioner from the 6 one of the things that we talked about on yesterday and again I’m going to lean all the way into what you’re really asking. One, we have a responsible team as it relates to tracking any and all activities associated with COVID-19 particularly from the standpoint of providing for the health, welfare and safety of all of our citizens. That is a collaborative team. The Administrator is the Administrator and the EMA Director is the EMA Director in terms of how that handles, how that is being handled from a state perspective. That is extremely important. But from an operational standpoint even in a reduced staffing levels the government should function the way it’s designed to and that has happened, that’s number one. Number two, we all agreed on yesterday that no matter what information we get we’re just going to send it to you and then you can kind of decipher it. So when we’re getting information from GMA, when we’re getting information from ACCG, we’re just going to send it to you and you can process that. As it relates to a series of meetings that I have participated in we’re going to once again continue to observe the open meetings requirements as we have done. I have asked in some of the meetings that I have conducted because of the ability to convene quickly the Mayor Pro Tem and the Public Safety Chair in their respective roles to participate in those meetings and I think that’s appropriate. When it comes to having bigger meetings kind of like what we’re doing here and some of the meetings we had last week where there was a bigger meeting, I asked the Public Safety Chair and the Mayor Pro Tem to participate in those meetings but then there are those smaller group meetings around COVID-19 where I’m simply just getting updates from community partners and stakeholders which is really what kind of precipitated a sense of urgency from my perspective where I then started asking our team internally what are we doing and how are we trying to make sure that we’re responding appropriately. So the short and skinny of it is one, we’ll send any and all information that we have that at least gives a general update. What you’ve seen happening over the last two days is Chief James has been sending a report, the Administrator’s been getting that report, he has collated that information and provide you with his report today and that will continue as we go forward. Right now there’s a level of collaboration that’s going on that I think is extremely important and it’s harnessing how we should do business every single day any way. But that’s how we’re going to do it so you shouldn’t th necessarily have a gap but as I told the Commissioner from the 4 the other day my apology is that it’s happening so fast that I and I’m not even sure if any of us are able to keep up right now so we’re just kind of drinking out of a firehose because every day it changes, every day it changes. Again we thought we were at a place on Sunday with 50 people and then it went to 10 people as we were walking ourselves down here. That’s how quick things are changing. Mr. Hasan: Thank you, Mr. Mayor. th Mr. Mayor: Yes, sir. Okay Commissioner from the 9 and we have a motion we have an amended motion and a proper second, I’m coming back to the Commissioner, the Mayor Pro Tem. 43 Mr. M. Williams: Thank you, Mr. Mayor. I hadn’t heard much about the Planning and Zoning Board who falls under this Commission as far as their meeting and their gathering as well so will we address that or is that handled in a different environment? Mr. Mayor: You know we said this with the Emergency Declaration that all government facilities, all Recreation and Parks facilities and community centers, all senior centers, all public libraries are closed until 1 April to the general public and for general business purposes and we need to adhere to that. There’s a reason why the federal government, local government and state governments across this nation are doing that. It’s to stop the spread of the virus. And the reality of it is on those different boards and authorities I would encourage them to stop meeting. I would encourage them to stop meeting. And that just again that’s a wise decision in the short term independent of whether that mandate comes from the state and it is likely to come from the federal government in my mind particularly in light of the Stafford Act and these things that are being done that there will probably be federal mandatory quarantine. Mr. M. Williams: Mr. Mayor, I’m in agreement with you. I hadn’t heard any comments hadn’t heard anybody say and when you assume that everybody’s on board or everybody understands without putting it out there. So I mean it was just something I hadn’t heard, I wanted to ask that question why we you know in this city to find out to at least reiterate to that board or anybody else. Mr. Mayor: Absent being able to practice safe, social distancing in meetings, in settings that we are in even when we are meeting in small groups here we’re being told practice safe, social distancing. The Chair recognizes the Mayor Pro Tem. Mr. Mayor Pro Tem: Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Just some clarification. When ya’ll were talking about Commission meetings, were you saying the option of telecommuting in or everybody’s going to telecommute? Mr. Mayor: That is the option. I believe that’s what I heard, that that is one of the options that is available to us. Mr. Mayor Pro Tem: And are you still going have these meetings open to the public? Mr. Mayor: We have been directed pursuant to the Open Meetings Act and again that’s why I asked the Attorney for clarification. The meeting has always been open to the public even when we livestream because of this false construct that the public doesn’t interact with our meetings sans one time and that is when we have the delegations. Mr. Mayor Pro Tem: Okay. The next question is Executive Session. Will we have the ability to telecommute in the Executive Session? Mr. Mayor: I’m sorry, repeat your question? Mr. Mayor Pro Tem: Will we have the ability to telecommute into Executive Session? 44 Mr. Mayor: Attorney Brown. Mr. Brown: I do not see any reason Executive Session needs to be treated any differently than the full meeting so I don’t see any reason why it cannot be a virtual Executive Session. You just want to have the IT wherewithal and guidelines to be able to do that to protect the closure of that meeting. So the answer is if we’ve got the technology the answer is yes. Mr. Mayor: And IT says if they’ve got the technology we’ll work towards that so we’re going to give them time to bring a solution back to us over the next 10 days because we’re not meeting again until 2 April so we should have a solution that we can communicate to everybody. Mr. Mayor Pro Tem: If this country gets shut down for two weeks which we keep hearing, we would obviously cancel the meeting? Mr. Mayor: Absolutely yes, suspend all actions. Mr. Mayor Pro Tem: And as far as things within the city curfews that are happening across the country what not like would we have a Special Called Meeting where telecommunicating would be involved or be able to be there if that happens where we have to do some drastic things within the city? Mr. Mayor: I think we’re fluid enough with our technology team to be able to mobilize and assemble even if it was a simple Special Called Meeting to able to take action on those measures. Mr. Mayor Pro Tem: Okay, my last question is it’s concerning to hear that an establishment was open with 300 people last night. You’re saying as a body there’s nothing we can do even though the CDC mandated what they did, is that what you’re saying? Mr. Mayor: I’m not saying that --- Mr. Mayor Pro Tem: I mean --- Mr. Mayor: --- I’m not saying that at all. Mr. Mayor Pro Tem: --- that’s pretty disappointing to hear that --- Mr. Mayor: And I only know about that because I was told that and then I saw a video. Mr. Mayor Pro Tem: --- okay, thank you. Mr. Mayor: I wasn’t there. Let me state for the record I was not out carousing. All right, we have a motion that has been amended all right everybody suspend, oh I’m sorry, the Chair st recognizes the Commissioner from the 1. Mr. Fennoy: (Inaudible). 45 th Mr. Mayor: Okay all right, the Chair recognizes the Commissioner from the 4. Mr. Sias: I recently added the motion --- The Clerk: Just restate it. Mr. Sias: --- you want to restate the last motion --- Mr. Mayor: Yes, sir. Mr. Sias: --- (unintelligible) keep the amendment. I hereby move that we conduct only two Commission meetings per month with the interactive abilities for both the public and the Commission to attend and we suspend all Committee meetings. Additionally, all Planning and other what do you want to call it (unintelligible) governmental entities that their meetings are cancelled until further notice, is that correct? Mr. Mayor: Meetings of all boards, authorities and commissions are hereby cancelled --- The Clerk: Until further notice. Mr. Mayor: --- until further notice, okay excluding authorities, excluding authorities, all boards. And again the term public means virtual meetings. Mr. Sias: I got a cookie waiting, are we good? Mr. Mayor: You’re good. Do I have a second? Mr. Speaker: Second. Mr. Mayor: Okay, I’ve got a second the Chair recognizes --- Mr. Sias: Before we vote though can we make sure that the Clerk has that (unintelligible). The Clerk: I do we have (unintelligible). st Mr. Mayor: --- the Chair recognizes the Commissioner from the 1. Mr. Fennoy: Mr. Mayor --- Mr. Mayor: Yes, sir. Mr. Fennoy: --- with the motion being made, is it possible that we have our executive meeting in this room right here without the public and then, because that would give us the 6-feet that we need. And after the executive meeting is over with then the public that are here can come into the Chamber, we can’t do that? 46 Mr. Mayor: So the answer would be --- Mr. Brown: (Inaudible). Mr. Mayor: --- all right so let’s do this right here let’s suspend that conversation and take st, action on the motion that’s before us. And if you’ll give us, Commissioner from the 1 time to have a real solution that we can communicate to this body but it will be an appropriate solution. Mr. Sias: I need to --- Mr. Mayor: All right, the Chair recognizes the Commissioner from the (inaudible). rd Mr. Sias: --- (inaudible) motion my colleague from the 3 seconded. On the initial motion I mentioned about the Executive Session --- Mr. Mayor: You did. Mr. Sias: --- the last motion I did not so we need to include Executive Session in that rd meeting as well. Can I still get my second from my third, colleague from the 3? Mr. Mayor Pro Tem: Second. Question. The Planning Department and Zoning you know we’re shutting down development if they can’t meet. Why couldn’t we say they can meet virtually? Mr. Mayor: So we’re not shutting development down at this point pursuant as you all may again remember we’ve suspended permitting, we’ve done all of that. Inspections are continuing to take place so any development work that’s already out there and in the queue because we have prohibited general business and the public from entering into the building which is consistent with the action that we’re about to take as well. Mr. Mayor Pro Tem: But the Board can’t vote on anything to get approved like there’s nothing that’s going to come before us on our Commission agendas because they can’t even meet. Why couldn’t they meet virtually? I know this could be a lot longer --- Mr. Mayor: Well, we said until further notice and again I think out of an abundance of caution this is the right measure for us to take. I think again in inquiring with Director Sherman he believes this is the approach that we should take right now that there’s nothing pressing for us nd and we’ll revisit this as we get to the 2 of April, okay? We’ll revisit it. All right, we have a motion with a second, voting. Motion Passes 10-0. \[MEETING ADJOURNED\] 47 Lena Bonner Clerk of Commission 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 March 19, 2020. ______________________________ Clerk of Commission 48