HomeMy WebLinkAboutRegular Commission Meeting January 6, 2021
REGULAR MEETING VIRTUAL/TELECONFERENCE
JANUARY 6, 2021
Augusta Richmond County Commission convened at 2:00 p.m., January 6, 2021, the Hon.
Hardie Davis, Jr., Mayor, presiding.
PRESENT: Hons. B. Williams, Garrett, Sias, Johnson, Frantom, Scott, McKnight, D.
Williams, Hasan and Clarke, members of Augusta Richmond County Commission.
Mr. Mayor: All right, we’re ready to call this meeting to order it is the first meeting of the
year 2021 and we want to welcome our newest members of the Augusta Commission the
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Commissioner from the 3 Ms. Catherine Smith-McKnight welcome ---
Ms. Smith-McKnight: Thank you.
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Mr. Mayor: --- the Commissioner from the 1 the gentleman from the 1 Commissioner
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Jordan Johnson and the Commissioner from the 9 Ms. Francine R. Scott, welcome aboard and of
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course our returning Commissioners the Commissioner from the 5 (unintelligible) Williams, and
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the Commissioner from the 7 Commissioner Sean Frantom. With that we’ll call this meeting to
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order. I’m going to ask the Commissioner from the 7 our current Mayor Pro Tem, Commissioner
Sean Frantom, if he will lead us, Madam Clerk, in our invocation and our Pledge of Allegiance
and then we’ll proceed with our meeting.
The invocation was presented by Mayor Pro Tem Sean Frantom.
The Pledge of Allegiance to the Flag of the United States of America was recited.
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Mr. Mayor: Madam Clerk, Attorney Brown, the Commissioner from the 7 thank you for
that invocation and also leading us in our Pledge. Madam Clerk, we’re going to go to our
Recognitions. Let’s do that now and then we’ll proceed to the Election of our Officers.
Mr. Hasan: Mr. Mayor, Point of Personal Privilege please?
Mr. Mayor: State your inquiry.
Mr. Hasan: Yes, sir, I just got a text, I don’t know whether it’s legitimate or not, but they
just rushed the Capital. They just locked down the Capital and rushed the Vice President out I
don’t know whether this is just D. C. or something’s going to happen throughout the country. Use
caution ---
Mr. Mayor: Yes, it is, it is true. We’re tracking it, we’re tracking it now and yes, it
absolutely just happened. There’s a lot going on right now in our nation’s capital that is of great
concern. What we hope is that those activities don’t spread to the states.
Mr. Hasan: --- thank you.
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Mr. Mayor: Yeah, thank you, Madam Clerk.
The Clerk: Okay, is Ms. Rookard in the waiting room, sir?
Mr. Mayor: She is and she’s been brought in now.
The Clerk: Okay. The Augusta Commission would like to offer its congratulations to the
2020 December Years of Service Recipients. Director Anita Rookard will acknowledge the
recipients.
RECOGNITION(S)
December Years of Service Recipients
A. Congratulations! 2020 December Years of Service Recipients.
Harmon Brown – 30 Years of Services – Augusta Fire Dept.
Jeffery Daniel – 30 Years of Service – Augusta Fire Dept.
Charles Masters – 30 Years of Services – Augusta Fire Dept.
Nathaniel Deloach – 35 Years of Services – Augusta Utilities.
Mr. Mayor: Thank you, Madam Clerk. Ms. Rookard.
Ms. Rookard: Good afternoon, Mayor and Happy New Year, everyone. Mayor Davis,
Commissioners, Administrator, Madam Clerk and the citizens of Augusta, my name is Anita
Rookard the Director of the Human Resources Department of Augusta. Today it is my esteemed
pleasure to recognize December Years of Service. For the Month of December 2020 we have 15
employees celebrating 5 to 20 Years of Service for Augusta. This afternoon we would like to
recognize our 25 to 50 Years of Service recipients. For the Month of December the total Years of
Service and institutional knowledge celebrated today is 125 years. Harmon Brown – Fire
Department – 30 Years, Jeffery Daniel – Fire Department – 30 Years, Charles Masters – Fire
Department – 30 Years, Nathaniel Deloach – Utilities – 35 Years. Congratulations to all of our
Years of Service recipients. Please join me in a round of applause as we thank these employees
for their loyal Years of Service to Augusta Georgia. Thank you.
Mr. Mayor: Thank you, Ms. Rookard and to all of our Years of Service recipients on today.
Mr. Brown, Mr. Daniel, Mr. Masters and Mr. Deloach, thank you for your incredible service to
the City of Augusta and all of her residents. The years of service that you’ve provided to our city
and her citizens again is what makes this a great place to live to learn to work and to raise our
families and we commend you and appreciate you, thank you very much. Madam Clerk, that takes
us now to this next matter and that is the Election of Officers. We have in front of us the election
for Mayor Pro Tem and the appointment for standing committees.
The Clerk: Okay, are you opening the floor for nominations now, sir?
Mr. Mayor: All right, we’re going to open the floor for nominations. The Chair recognizes
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the Commissioner from the 4 then the 6.
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ELECTION OF OFFICERS
A. Mayor Pro Tempore for two-year term 2021-2022.
Mr. Sias: Thank you, sir. I’d like to take this opportunity to nominate Commissioner
Dennis Williams for Mayor Pro Tem.
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Mr. Mayor: Commissioner from the 6.
Mr. Hasan: I’d like to take this opportunity to nominate Bobby Williams for Mayor Pro
Tem.
Mr. Mayor: All right, are there any other nominations? All right, the Chair will entertain
a motion to close nominations.
Mr. Sias: So moved.
Mr. Garrett: Second.
Mr. Mayor: Okay, all right nominations are closed. Madam Clerk, we have two candidates
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for the position of Mayor Pro Tem the Commissioner from the 2 Commissioner Dennis Williams
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and the Commissioner from the 5 Commissioner Bobby Williams. All right, we’ll take a roll call
vote in that order.
The Clerk: Okay, this is for nomination of Commissioner Dennis Williams ---
Mr. Mayor: Yes.
The Clerk: --- for Mayor Pro Tem, Mr. Clarke.
Mr. Clarke: Abstain.
The Clerk: Mr. Frantom.
Mr. Frantom: Yes, ma’am.
The Clerk: Mr. Garrett.
Mr. Garrett: No, ma’am.
The Clerk: Mr. Hasan.
Mr. Hasan: No, ma’am.
The Clerk: Mr. Johnson.
Mr. Johnson: Yes, ma’am.
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The Clerk: Ms. McKnight.
Ms. McKnight: Yes, ma’am.
The Clerk: Ms. Scott.
Ms. Scott: No, ma’am.
The Clerk: Mr. Sias.
Mr. Sias: Yes, ma’am.
The Clerk: Mr. Bobby Williams, Mr. Bobby Williams?
Mr. Mayor: Commissioner, you’re muted.
Mr. B. Williams: No, ma’am.
The Clerk: Mr. Dennis Williams.
Mr. D. Williams: Yes, ma’am.
Mr. Garrett, Mr. Hasan, Ms. Scott and Mr. B. Williams vote No.
Motion Fails 5-4-1.
The Clerk: Next nominee, Commissioner Bobby Williams.
Mr. Mayor: Yes, ma’am.
The Clerk: Mr. Clarke.
Mr. Clarke: Yes.
The Clerk: Mr. Frantom.
Mr. Frantom: Yes, ma’am.
The Clerk: Mr. Garrett.
Mr. Garrett: Yes, ma’am.
The Clerk: Mr. Hasan.
Mr. Hasan: Yes, ma’am.
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The Clerk: Mr. Johnson.
Mr. Johnson: Yes, ma’am.
The Clerk: Ms. McKnight.
Ms. McKnight: Yes, ma’am.
The Clerk: Ms. Scott.
Ms. Scott: Yes, ma’am.
The Clerk: Mr. Sias.
Mr. Sias: No, ma’am.
The Clerk: Mr. Bobby Williams.
Mr. B. Williams: Yes, ma’am.
The Clerk: Mr. Dennis Williams.
Mr. D. Williams: No, ma’am.
Mr. Sias and Mr. D. Williams vote No.
Motion Passes 8-2.
Mr. Mayor: Okay, all right what I’d like to do at this point if we could is simply have a
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Vote of Affirmation of the Commissioner from the 5 as the Mayor Pro Tem for a two-year term
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beginning January 6 2021 through 31 December 2022, Madam Clerk.
The Clerk: Okay, we’re voting ---
Mr. Mayor: Yes.
The Clerk: --- Mr. Clarke, Mr. Clarke, he’s muted, sir.
Mr. Mayor: Mr. Clarke, you’re muted. Commissioner from the, let’s come back to him.
The Clerk: Okay, Mr. Frantom.
Mr. Frantom: Yes, ma’am.
The Clerk: Mr. Garrett.
Mr. Garrett: Yes, ma’am.
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The Clerk: Mr. Hasan.
Mr. Hasan: Yes, ma’am.
The Clerk: Mr. Johnson.
Mr. Johnson: Yes, ma’am.
The Clerk: Ms. McKnight.
Ms. McKnight: Yes, ma’am.
The Clerk: Ms. Scott.
Ms. Scott: Yes, ma’am.
The Clerk: Mr. Sias.
Mr. Sias: No, ma’am.
The Clerk: Mr. Bobby Williams.
Mr. B. Williams: Yes, ma’am.
The Clerk: Mr. Dennis Williams.
Mr. D. Williams: No, ma’am.
The Clerk: Mr. Clarke.
Mr. Clarke: Yes.
Mr. Mayor: All right, our posture at this point, Madam Clerk, is that the newly elected
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Mayor Pro Tem the Commissioner from the 5 will go to a breakout room and we will discuss
committee appointments and we will have the full Commission stand at ease until we return. All
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right, it looks like the Commissioner from the 5 is in the building ---
Mr. B. Williams: I am.
Mr. Mayor: --- Commissioner, you’re in the building?
Mr. B. Williams: I’m going to walk down to your office if that’s okay.
Mr. Mayor: Okay, that’s fine come on down. All right, the Commission will stand at ease
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for 15 minutes. Okay, all right, Commissioner from the 3 you had a question. State your inquiry.
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Mr. Hasan: Mr. Mayor, I want to get into that one again, that conversation that we just
had. I want to get a legal opinion on that one. Can you hear me?
Mr. Mayor: Can hear you loud and clear.
Mr. B. Williams: Mr. Mayor –
Mr. Mayor: All right, so everybody just hold on, hold on a minute. All right, hold on, hold
on, hold on just a minute, hold on just a minute. Everybody just hold on a minute. I’ll get
everybody to just suspend. All right, Madam Clerk, thank you for sending it out to everyone. We
are pleased to announce the committee assignments as presented with that noted change, Ms.
Francine Scott serving as Vice Chair of Administrative Services. To each of the committee chairs,
vice chairs and members of the committee, we look forward to working collaboratively together
for the current term, 2021, 2022 and also looking forward to the good work that each of you will
do on the associated external boards and authorities. All right, Madam Clerk.
The Clerk: Item B. Appointment of Standing Committees. The Mayor and Mayor Pro
Tem offer the following committee assignments: Administrative Services Committee,
Commissioner Ben Hasan, Chair; Commissioner Francine Scott, Vice Chair; members
Commissioner Bobby Williams and Sean Frantom. Engineering Services Committee,
Commissioner Brandon Garrett, Chair; Commissioner Ben Hasan, Vice Chair; members Jordan
Johnson, Ms. Catherine McKnight. Public Safety Committee, Commissioner John Clarke, Chair;
Commissioner Dennis Williams, Vice Chair; Commissioners Bobby Williams, Brandon Garrett,
members. Finance Committee, Commissioner Sammie Sias, Chair; Commissioner Dennis
Williams, Vice Chair; Commissioner Catherine McKnight and Commissioner Francine Scott,
members. Public Services Committee, Commissioner Sean Frantom, Chair; Commissioner Jordan
Johnson, Vice Chair, Commissioner John Clarke, Commissioner Sammie Sias, members. Ex-
officio Members: Commissioner Sammie Sias, Richmond County Board of Health;
Commissioner Bobby Williams, Ben Hasan, Augusta Aviation Commission; Commissioner John
Clarke, General Aviation Commission; Commissioner Sean Frantom, Greater Augusta Arts
Council; Commissioner Dennis Williams, Planning Commission; Commissioner Catherin
McKnight, Augusta Richmond County Library Board; Commissioner Jordan Johnson, Richmond
County Board of Education; Commissioner Sean Frantom and Mayor Pro Tem Williams,
Emergency 911 Council; Commissioner Francine Scott, Board of Assessors; Commissioner
Brandon Garrett, Richmond County Hospital Authority; Commissioner Catherine McKnight,
CSRA Regional Development Authority. Commissioner Jordan Johnson, Augusta Richmond
County Land Bank Authority; Commissioner John Clarke, Downtown Development Authority;
Commissioner Ben Hasan, Augusta Convention & Visitors Bureau; Commissioner Francine Scott,
Family Connection; Commissioner Sammie Sias, South Augusta Development Project;
Commissioner Brandon Garrett, Serenity Behavioral Health.
Mr. Mayor: Thank you, Madam Clerk. All right, the Chair recognizes the commissioner
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from the 6.
Mr. Hasan: Did I hear Ms. Bonner say something about Downtown Development
Authority something?
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The Clerk: Yes, Mr. John Clarke for –
Mr. Mayor: Downtown Development Authority.
Mr. Hasan: And did you say anything for me about Downtown or did I misunderstand
you?
The Clerk: Yes, sir, I think you misunderstood. I think your appointments were to the
Augusta Aviation Commission and to the Augusta Convention & Visitors Bureau.
Mr. Hasan: Well, who got the Land Bank?
Mr. Mayor: Jordan Johnson.
The Clerk: That would be Mr. Johnson.
Mr. Mayor: All right, the Chair will entertain a motion to move to ratify.
Mr. Hasan: Mr. Mayor, one more question. Does the Commission if they have the
authority if they want to negotiate with their colleagues about these boards here to make changes?
I know we’re fixing to vote on it. I just wanted to try to get this on the record. If we could see fit,
not the standing committees, but these boards appointments here that we are talking about, outside
boards.
Mr. Mayor: I think we’ve taken this practice three times and this will be the fourth time in
our short term that we’ve done it this way and when we came out of the room, we presented them
and we adopted it.
Mr. Hasan: No, we’ve done it twice so we are in our fourth term. The first time we didn’t
do it. We’ve done it in ’17 and ’19 and I’m just asking. So my question is I’m not questioning
what you’ve put together. If I saw fit and one of my colleagues, we wanted to switch out these
boards could we (inaudible) officially so I’m saying do we have the leeway if we wanted to swap
boards among ourselves. That’s my question. Because for number one, I have been asked about
the Convention & Visitors Bureau, I’ve been asked specifically and I told them I had no interest
in being on it and I still won’t have no interest in being on it. And so you won’t have a
representative. I don’t plan to attend.
Ms. McKnight: I’ll take your Aviation board then, Commissioner.
Mr. Hasan: Jordan, that’s your district. You don’t want it?
Mr. Mayor: Well, so we just went through a process where you elected a Mayor Pro Tem
and the practice, the rules of procedure is that the Mayor Pro Tem and the Mayor then convene
and identify the standing committees and we come back and do this. For us to come back out on
the floor then we “blow it all up” because of a lack of interest in serving in one or the other I think
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we certainly can and the reality of it is ya’ll had a whole host of conversations about it so let me
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go to somebody else. Commissioner from the 7, state your inquiry.
Mr. Frantom: Just for the record just want to let you know that Tax Assessor Board and
the CVB Board has had two representatives. Now there is only one so just want to let everybody
know that.
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Mr. Mayor: Okay. All right, commissioner from the 3. You had a question. State your
inquiry.
Ms. Scott: I was just saying if Commissioner Hasan didn’t want that Aviation Board he
can swap something with me if he wants but I’m good.
Mr. Mayor: All right, motion to ratify.
Mr. Clarke: Motion to ratify.
Mr. Mayor: Need a second.
Mr. Garrett: Second.
Mr. Mayor: All right, voting.
The Clerk: Mr. Clarke.
Mr. Clarke: Yes.
The Clerk: Mr. Frantom.
Mr. Frantom: Yes, ma’am.
The Clerk: Mr. Garrett.
Mr. Garrett: Yes, ma’am.
The Clerk: Mr. Hasan.
Mr. Hasan: Yes, ma’am.
The Clerk: Mr. Johnson.
Mr. Johnson: Yes, ma’am.
The Clerk: Ms. McKnight.
Ms. McKnight: Yes, ma’am.
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The Clerk: Ms. Scott.
Ms. Scott: Yes, ma’am.
The Clerk: Mr. Sias, Mr. Sias. He’s out. Mr. Bobby Williams.
Mr. B. Williams: Yes, ma’am.
The Clerk: Mr. Dennis Williams.
Mr. D. Williams: No, ma’am.
The Clerk: Is Mr. Sias back on? Okay.
Mr. D. Williams votes No.
Mr. Sias Out.
Motion Passes 8-1.
Mr. Mayor: Thank you, Madam Clerk. All right, Madam Clerk, we’ve got one more item
and that’s the delegation that let’s try to proceed with that, our delegation before we get into the
meat of the agenda.
The Clerk:
DELEGATIONS
C. Ms. Susan L. Everitt, regarding FY20 Red Cross Service Delivery for Augusta.
Mr. Mayor: Thank you, Madam Clerk. Was she joining us virtually or was she in the
public room?
The Clerk: She’s in the public room.
Mr. Mayor: Okay.
Ms. McFarley: She’s not present.
Mr. Mayor: She’s not present?
Ms. McFarley: No, sir.
(Ms. Everitt did not appear before the Commission)
Mr. Mayor: Okay, all right, we’ll give her an opportunity to come back at a future meeting,
Madam Clerk.
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The Clerk: Okay, all right the next delegation.
DELEGATION(S)
D. Ms. Juanita Burney regarding the Richmond County Board of Tax Assessor’s member
clarification of some issues.
Mr. Mayor: She’s also in the public room.
The Clerk: Yes, sir, she’s at the podium now.
Mr. Mayor: Okay, Ms. McFarley ---
The Clerk: No, that’s Ms. McBurney right there.
Mr. Mayor: --- I don’t see her, okay. Ms. Burney ---
Ms. Burney: Yes, sir ---
Mr. Mayor: --- good afternoon.
Ms. Burney: --- good afternoon.
Mr. Mayor: And if you’ll state for the record your name, your address and you have five
minutes.
Ms. Burney: My name is Juanita Burney, address 2208 Cadden Road, Augusta, Georgia
30906. Good afternoon and thank you for the opportunity to speak to you today. I want to
acknowledge and thank our outgoing Commissioners Bill Fennoy, Mary Davis and Marion
Williams for their dedicated public service and most specifically for their support that I have
received from them as I render public service. I want to make it very clear that I am not the
Chairman of the BOA and I am not representing other board members although some do share my
thoughts. I am here in the capacity of an individual BOA member. I want to reaffirm that my
commitment to public service did not start with my appointment to the BOA. It is long standing
and includes but is not limited to serving on two SPLOST Citizens Advisory Committees being
past president of the Library Board where I worked with other former Commissioners to get a new
library built and I served for three years on the Board of Equalization. Also be assured that we
have a wonderful appraiser staff that they’re highly skilled, they’re hard working, they’re team
players. They navigated COVID fearlessly and professionally to get the job done; our appraisal
staff is topnotch. I am here to say that two actions by some board members are not in keeping with
acceptable personnel practices. These actions were number one, completion of a performance
appraisal in glowing terms when the performance evaluation period had not been observed by the
members. Number two, a reorganization of the department at the wish of the outgoing department
head for 44 days an old guard did things the way they wanted to do them, discuss this
reorganization and it did not involve the other four members of the board. This was not personnel
issues as usual. A reorg was presented in a manner that rushed a vote. The record needs to be
clear that I do not support the action. It is my stand but it needs that it needs to be condemned. I
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can think of no other entity in which this action would have been allowed. Most major entities
shut down authority once a resignation is tendered. The issue that I’m concerned with is precedent.
What are we setting for the future as precedent if we don’t stand up for accepted professional
practices? I’m not here to judge anyone because only God can do that. I’m not here to sink the
ship for I am on the ship. I’m a member of the crew but if we say we are a progressive government
we cannot stay stuck in outdated actions. We must neutralize attitude of superiority, entitlement,
abuse of authority that I can do anything I please when I want to mentality. Our citizens expect
the best from us. How can we start a culture shift change? We must adhere to accepted documents
and this includes Robert’s Rules of Order. We should form an internal operational policy
document that assures equity of member participation, we must modernize our government.
Failure to tweak 20 to 30 years of old operational style is not growth and it is not improvement.
We must embark on a cultural change not rubberstamp aberrant actions. Term limits need to be
considered for the BOA. No one person should serve for 20 to 30 years. Too many qualified
citizens stand ready to serve if given the opportunity to do so. 12 years should be maximum and
there is rationale for this maximum. Care should be undertaken when appointing relatives of
Commissioners to boards but when it does happen no Commissioner should serve as a liaison to
that board for which they have a relative serving because to do so if issues arise it complicates
objectivity. Richmond County is an outlier to the standard regs of the Georgia Department of
Revenue. We have eight BOA members, the most of any board in the State of Georgia. We are
an outlier as to how these BOA members are appointed. We have two entities that do the
appointing in Augusta, the Augusta Legislative Delegation and the Commission. Both appoint
members than just the Commission as in outlined in the Georgia Department of Revenue
Governing Authority Standards. These two entities need to work together and remove political
motives in the BOA appointments for the good of the BOA. The late Representative John Lewis
said when we see something that isn’t right we have a moral obligation to speak up. Sometimes it
causes a little trouble but it can be good trouble if it leads us toward more honesty and integrity in
our dealings. We must begin the dialog that ushers in positive change. I hope that this dialog will
be part of your agenda in the coming year to have this discussion. We can do better, we should do
better. We owe it to our citizens to improve our government. We want to build a model that other
cities can emulate. If any of your desire a future discussion with me to obtain more information
as to how I came to stand here today I am available for those discussions as it cannot all take place
in five minutes. Thank you so much for your audience with you today.
Mr. Mayor: Thank you, your time has expired. Madam Clerk.
The Clerk: Yes, sir. Our Consent Agenda, our Consent Agenda on our printed agenda
consists of Items 1 through 4, Items 1 through 4. There has been an offer, Mr. Mayor, from
members of the Commission to add Items #7, Item #10, 12 I’m sorry 11 that was Mr. Clarke had
questions on that.
Mr. Clarke: Yes.
The Clerk: Number 15 as information, Number 18, Number 19, Number 21, 22, 23, 24,
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25, 27, 28 Item Number 29 is be deferred to the January 19 meeting under consent, Item Number
30 as a Consent Agenda.
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Mr. Garrett: Motion to approve.
Mr. Mayor: All right suspend, suspend, suspend ---
Mr. Clarke: Did you pull Item 14?
Mr. Mayor: --- everybody suspend, wait to be recognized. Madam Clerk, included in that
list of proposed consent items I heard you withdraw Number 11, you included Number 10, is that
correct?
The Clerk: Yes, sir.
Mr. Mayor: All right, I’d like to add Number 12, 16, 17 ---
The Clerk: Number 12 you’re saying 13 ---
Mr. Mayor: --- 16, 12, 16, 17 and 31.
Mr. Hasan: (Inaudible) 17, Mr. Mayor.
Mr. Mayor: I’m sorry, Commissioner?
Mr. Hasan: I need to discuss 17.
Mr. Mayor: Okay.
The Clerk: What was your last number after 17, Mr. Mayor?
Mr. Mayor: 31.
Mr. Clarke: Mr. Mayor?
Mr. Mayor: All right, regarding Number 31, 31 and Number 8 quite frankly are companion
items, they really should be tied together in light of the broader discussion. I know the
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Commissioner from the 7 has raised a number of concerns about businesses and I think that Item
Number 31 as proposed provides us a unique opportunity to truly begin addressing some of the
challenges around our small business community. That’s the reason why I’m proposing 31 and 8
to be added to the Consent Agenda. All right, I’ve got the hands, I’m going to recognize everybody
but that’s what I’m putting on the table now with the understanding that the Commissioner from
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the 6 I’ve got your concern, 17, we’ll discuss that. All right, I’m going to the Commissioner from
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the 1, Commissioner from the 1 you’re muted, sir.
Mr. Johnson: Thank you, Mr. Mayor. I’d also like to consent Item Number 20 if it’s the
will of the Commission.
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Mr. Hasan: I have some questions about that one too, Mr. Chair. Commissioner Jordan, I
have a question about that one.
Mr. Johnson: Okay.
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Mr. Mayor: Okay, all right Commissioner from the 10.
Mr. Clarke: 7, 11 and 14 are the ones that I wanted pulled.
Mr. Mayor: 7, so you want to discuss Item 7 and 14’s not on the Consent Agenda.
Mr. Clarke: Okay and also 11.
Mr. Mayor: Okay, it’s not on the Consent Agenda items.
Mr. Clarke: Okay, good, that’s it, thank you.
The Clerk: Okay, he’s taking off Item 7, okay.
Mr. Mayor: All right, so 7 comes off.
The Clerk: Okay.
Mr. Clarke: Mr. Mayor, not 7, Number 9. Not 7, Number 9.
The Clerk: 9 was not on the Consent, sir.
Mr. Mayor: Yeah, 9 is not on the Consent.
Mr. Clarke: Okay, yeah, you can leave 7.
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Mr. Mayor: All right, the Commissioner from the 7.
Mr. Frantom: Mr. Mayor, I heard you about 8 and 31. My concern is that we’ve got to
vote it separately. We can have a discussion but one’s waiving fees and then one’s like a process.
Mr. Mayor: Okay, we can debate, we can certainly debate it, okay. I’m okay with that. All
right so we’ll take 8 and 31 we’ll debate them and I’d like to, we’ll take them at the same time and
we can vote on them individually. All right, so Madam Clerk as a recap.
Mr. Sias: Hey hold on ---
Mr. Mayor: All right, hold on. All right, the Chair recognizes the Commissioner from the
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4.
Mr. Sias: I want to pull Number 1.
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The Clerk: From the Consent Agenda, sir?
Mr. Sias: That’s correct.
Mr. Mayor: Okay, all right Madam Clerk if you’ll recap those for us please.
The Clerk: Okay, the Consent Agenda Item Number 2, 3, 4, Item Number 7, 10, 12, 13,
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15 as information, 16, 18, 19, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 27, 28, 29 is being deferred to our January 19
meeting, Item Number 30, 31.
Mr. Mayor: Madam Clerk, Item 31 is being taken off of the Consent conversation. We’re
going to debate that matter.
The Clerk: Okay, that’s our Consent Agenda.
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Mr. Mayor: Okay the Chair, all right Commissioner from the 8.
Mr. Garrett: Motion to approve.
Mr. Mayor: Thank you.
Mr. Frantom: Second.
Mr. Mayor: I need a second.
The Clerk: Mr. Frantom, I think.
Mr. Clarke: Second.
Mr. Garrett: Third.
Ms. McKnight: Fourth.
The Clerk: Well, we got enough, sir, we voting?
Mr. Mayor: Voting.
CONSENT AGENDA
PLANNING
2. Z-20-59 – A request for concurrence with the Augusta, Georgia Planning Commission to
approve with the conditions listed below a petition by Chesterfield LLC, on behalf of C&N
Properties Ltd., & Budget Commercial Properties requesting a change of zoning from Zone
A (Agriculture) and Zone B-2 (General Business) with conditions to Zone B-2 affecting
properties containing approximately 8.06 acres in Richmond County (remainder of
proposed development located in Columbia County) and are known as 3149, 3175 and 3179
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Gordon Highway. Tax Map 092-0-002-03-0, 092-0-002-02-0 & 092-0-002-00-0 DISTRICT 3
1. This project shall substantially comply with all development standards and regulations set
forth by the City of Augusta, Georgia at the time of development. 2. Parking will
substantially conform to the parking on the Concept Plan and parking requirements will be
a combination of Richmond County and Columbia County requirements. 3. A minimum 40-
foot front setback will be required along Gordon Highway and Parham Road. 4. The
developer will have a definitive plan for providing water and sewer prior to submitting for a
Land Disturbance Permit.
3. Z-20-60 – A request for concurrence with the Augusta, Georgia Planning Commission to
approve with the conditions listed below petition by Hickory Tree Holdings LLC requesting
a change of zoning from Zone R-1C (One-family Residential) to Zone B-2 (General Business)
affecting property containing .61 acres and known as 925 Baker Avenue. Tax Map 045-1-
053-01-0 DISTRICT 1 1. This project shall comply with all development standards and
regulations set forth by the City of Augusta, GA at the time of development.
PETITIONS AND COMMUNICATIONS
4. Motion to approve the minutes of the Special Called and Regular Meeting of the
Commission held on December 1, 2020.
PUBLIC SERVICES
7. Motion to approve ratifying the execution of ARC Senior Nutrition Program with
Bateman Community Living, LLC d,b,a, Trio Community Meals.
ADMINISTRATIVE SERVICES
10. Motion to approve the purchase of seven Dodge Chargers at a total cost of $225,266 from
Thomson Motor Center. Bid Item 20-242.
12. Motion to approve the purchase of one Augusta Regional Airport Fire Command Vehicle
for $46,881 from Allan Vigil Ford.
15. Discuss the current Richmond County Judicial Circuit. (Requested by Commissioner
Ben Hasan)
16. Motion to approve Housing and Community Development Department’s (HCD’s)
request to provide funding to assist two (2) low-to-moderate income homebuyers with down-
payment assistance to purchase a home.
PUBLIC SAFETY
18. Information Only Approval – Purchase Duty Holster.
19. Motion to approve a request from the Richmond County Sheriff’s Office to purchase
duty protective headgear for its personnel from Uniforms by John for $46,218.75. (Bid #20-
277)
FINANCE
20. Motion to approve Cell Tower Audit & Valuation Contract with Cell Tower Solutions
for the auditing and valuation of all cell towers and related equipment in Richmond County.
RFP 20-279.
21. Motion to adopt resolutions approving an Intergovernmental Service Agreement with
the Augusta-Richmond County Coliseum Authority (the “Authority”), and Agreement of
16
Sale with the Authority, in connection with the issuance of the Authority’s Revenue Bonds
(Coliseum and TEE Center Project), Series 2021, and the authorize the Mayor or Mayor Pro
Tempore and the Clerk of Commission to execute same as well as such other ancillary
documents that may be necessary to consummate the transaction.
22. Motion to establish the position of and to approve funding for the position of Judge
Emeritus of the Civil and Magistrate Count of Richmond County.
ENGINEERING SERVICES
23. Motion to determine that the Alley East of Heard Avenue and South of Central Avenue
as shown on the attached map has ceased to be used by the public to the extent that no
substantial public purpose is served by it or that its removal from the county road system is
otherwise in the best public interest, pursuant to O.C.G.A. §32-7-2, with the abandoned
property to be quit-claimed to the appropriate party(ies), as provided by law and an
easement to be retained over the entire abandoned portion for existing or future utilities as
directed by Augusta Engineering Department and Augusta Utilities Department.
24. Motion to approve a Contract Item Agreement with Georgia Department of
Transportation to include Augusta Utilities Department’s water valves and sanitary sewer
manhole adjustments in the Georgia Department of Transportation contract, for GDOT
Project PI M005972 Patching, Milling, and Topping 3.82 miles of State Route 28
(Washington Road) beginning from Calhoun Bridge and ending at CSX Railroad.
25. Motion to approve a Contract Item Agreement with Georgia Department of
Transportation to include Augusta Utilities Department’s water valves and sanitary manhole
adjustments in the Georgia Department of Transportation contract, for GDOT Project PI
M005974 Patching, Milling, and Topping 0.66 miles of State Route 104 (Washington Road)
beginning from Fury Ferry Intersection and ending at Pleasant Home Road.
27. Update of the Joint Solid Waster Management Plan (Augusta, Georgia, City of Blythe,
Georgia, and City of Hephzibah, Georgia) 2008-2017 to cover the years 2019-2028.
28. Motion to approve Purchase of New Meter Reading Devices.
ADMINISTRATOR
29. Motion to approve resolution requesting the Augusta-Richmond County Board of
Elections to place the approved SPLOST 8 Package on the ballot for the March 16, 2021
election.
30. Motion to ratify the Intergovernmental sales tax agreement between Augusta and the
cities of Blyth and Hephzibah for the distribution of Special Purpose Local Option Sales
Taxes (SPLOST) generated from the SPLOST phase 8 referendum. Authorize the Mayor to
execute the approved agreement.
The Clerk: Mr. Clarke.
Mr. Clarke: Yes.
The Clerk: Mr. Frantom.
Mr. Frantom: Yes, ma’am.
17
The Clerk: Mr. Garrett.
Mr. Garrett: Yes, ma’am.
The Clerk: Mr. Hasan.
Mr. Hasan: Yes, ma’am.
The Clerk: Mr. Johnson.
Mr. Johnson: Yes, ma’am.
The Clerk: Ms. McKnight.
Ms. McKnight: Yes, ma’am.
The Clerk: Ms. Scott.
Ms. Scott: Yes, ma’am.
The Clerk: Mr. Sias.
Mr. Sias: Yes, ma’am.
The Clerk: Mr. Bobby Williams.
Mr. B. Williams: Yes, ma’am.
The Clerk: Mr. Dennis Williams.
Mr. D. Williams: Yes, ma’am.
Motion Passes 10-0. \[Items 2-4, 7, 10, 12, 13, 15, 16, 18, 19, 21-25, 27-29, 30\]
Mr. Mayor: All right, Madam Clerk, I’m going to go, I’m going to go off script a bit and
I’d like to take on Item Number, Item Number 32. I want to go ahead and get that out of the way.
Item Number 32.
The Clerk:
OTHER BUSINESS
32. Receive a report and presentation from the Task Force on Confederate Monuments,
Street Names and Landmarks. (Requested by Mayor Hardie Davis, Jr.)
Mr. Mayor: All right, we’re going to bring them in and give them an opportunity to do our
presentation. Joining us for this presentation are two of our task force members Eric Montgomery
18
and Corey Rogers. I don’t know what order you guys are going in terms of the presentation but
we’ll give you ample enough time to present and also to take a few questions.
Mr. Rogers: Good afternoon, everyone. Can everyone hear me?
Mr. Mayor: Yes.
Mr. Rogers: My name is Corey Rogers. I was the Co-Chair of the Mayor’s Task Force on
Confederate Monuments, Street Names and Landmarks along with Mr. Eric Montgomery from
Historic Augusta. As you all recall back in the summer of 2020 Mayor Hardie Davis issued an
Executive Order 2020-010 which was a order designated to look at Augusta’s Confederate Legacy
if you will. This was sort of in the wake of some of the social issues that sort of percolated to the
surface of our society back during the summer of 2020. That said, a task force was formed with
the two of us as the co-chairs and what we decided to do based upon the Executive Order we
looked at various areas in the Augusta area that held either street names or monuments. There
were no landmarks that we looked within the two-month period that was given us. And not only
that but we focused our attention on five areas as designated in the final report. There were two
monuments one, two highway names, Jefferson Davis Highway was also included in that along
with Fort Gordon and we issued our recommendations we voted and the final report you see we
issued in October of last year.
Mr. Mayor: Eric, you’re muted, sir.
Mr. Montgomery: Okay, I’m sorry. I’m Eric Montgomery and I co-chaired with Corey
and I’ll be happy to take any questions you might have.
Mr. Mayor: All right, would you speak to the report which has been transmitted to the
members of the Commission prior to the Christmas Holidays, recommendations and what came
out of that please?
Mr. Rogers: So as far as the report is concerned there are, we took well let me just sort of
back up quickly and tell you exactly how we designed the vote. Each week we looked at one
specific aspect of let’s say either a street name or a monument in Augusta. We had discussion, we
did research, we brought back the research to the group, we took a soft vote and then we took a
hard vote at the end to indicate for or against. In addition to that as far as the street names were
concerned we also looked at viable options for those names in the event that this body under their
jurisdiction voted to remove a particular name, we also added in names that could possibly replace.
So if you look under your appendices you’ll see some of the additional information that we added
along with the vote and Eric may want to add something else to what I just said.
Mr. Montgomery: No, I think you covered it very well.
Mr. Mayor: Are there any questions from the members of the Commission? Okay, all
right, to both of you and to members of the task force thank you for the work that you’ve done to
bring us to this place with your report and your recommendations. We will look forward to
convening a broader discussion with the community as it relates to the report as part of our next
19
steps. And we’ll receive today as information what you’ve shared with us but do know that we
will convene a series of conversations with the broader community hopefully with members of the
task force and our two co-chairs helping to lead those broader conversations in the community.
Mr. Rogers: Thank you, Mr. Mayor.
Mr. Montgomery: Thank you, Mr. Mayor.
Mr. Mayor: All right, thank you both, Madam Clerk?
The Clerk: Okay, was that with no objections, sir, receive as information?
Mr. Mayor: Without objection.
The Clerk: Thank you, so are we headed from top to bottom? Mr. Sias asked for Number
1.
Mr. Mayor: Let’s go to, let me deal with the following items first. I’d like to take up Item
Number 8 and 31 ---
The Clerk: Okay.
Mr. Mayor: --- Item Number 8 and 31.
The Clerk:
PUBLIC SERVICES
8. Motion to waive 2021 Alcohol License fees and associated fees, to refund Alcohol Licenses
that have paid all or any portion of the 2021 Alcohol License fees and associated fees, and to
extend the expiration date for 2020 Alcohol Licenses and associated licenses to December 31,
2021.
ADMINISTRATOR
31. Motion to approve proposed HUD CARES Act I revisions and HUD CARES Act III new
funding allocation (summary attached). Post approval outcomes include a robust pandemic
relief program highlighted by:
1) Allocation of $1.1 million in Rent and Utility Assistance for eligible Augustans.
2) Additional $1.25 million made available for small business relief (1.6 million total) Up to
$15,000/award (based on company size).
3) Fifteen percent reduction in administrative license fees.
4) Waiving of penalties and fees through July 1, 2021.
5) Allowing Alcohol license fees to be paid quarterly.
6) Implementation of 30-30 tax/fee deferral program.
th
Mr. Mayor: All right, I’m going to recognize the Commissioner from the 7 and then
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Administrator Donald to speak to these items, Commissioner from the 7.
20
Mr. Frantom: Thank you, Mr. Mayor. As we all know 2020 with the pandemic these
businesses were hurting, many of them shut down for many months and didn’t bring in the fees or
any form of alcohol due to the pandemic all throughout Richmond County. I think it’s the will of
this Commission is to really give back and help and we need to do what other municipalities across
the State of Georgia did and basically grandfathered the rates for 2021 they paid in 2020. That
doesn’t affect new businesses, only businesses that paid the 2020 Alcohol License Fees and those
that paid should be reimbursed. Now it’s $1.2 million dollars I think is the total money and I
understand that maybe we have to go to Fund Balance or maybe there’s a future funding CARES
ACT or something coming, I don’t know, but this is the right thing to do and we need to help these
businesses because if we don’t then it’s a double whammy from the standpoint of some of them
are going to come back with beer and wine and not alcohol. So not only did we not get the revenue
we’re not going to even bring in any revenue of liquor, I’m sorry liquor versus beer and wine and
I think it’s important that we help these businesses. I’ve met with many of these businesses all
throughout and they’re hurting and I think this is right move. And I believe that 8 and 31 should
be together because I support 31 as well but I think we need to just make a statement to local small
businesses across this county that we’re going to help them so I make a motion to approve
Number 8 as it stands.
Mr. Clarke: Second.
Mr. Mayor Pro Tem: We’ve got a motion and a second, Ms. Bonner, let’s vote.
Mr. Hasan: No ---
Mr. Mayor Pro Tem: Hang on a second, you have a discussion ---
Mr. Hasan: --- I’m sorry.
Mr. Mayor Pro Tem: --- go ahead.
Mr. Hasan: I think also, Commissioner, you let, he told the Administrator was going to be
after him and then come to me so I come after the Administrator ---
Mr. Mayor Pro Tem: Okay, all right ---
Mr. Hasan: --- if you don’t mind.
Mr. Mayor Pro Tem: --- all right, Mr. Administrator, go ahead.
Mr. Donald: I think I would I guess I would reserve most of my comments for Number
31. I think Item Number 8 excellent proposal by the Commission and Commissioner Frantom. I
think my only concern is just the funding source and how we move it forward. I think a part of my
recommendation was using the HUD Funds which you know do have some restrictions on them
but by raising the level we’re able to offset any issues related to what folks have spent on alcohol
licenses and things of that nature. And also using the federal money to do so the other way actually
21
brings the money out of our coffers and we’re not necessarily sure how we’re going to replace
those General Fund activities. So I think that was my only caution but you know moving with the
will of the Commission is something that we always find a way to do and we’ll do so in this
instance as well.
Mr. Mayor Pro Tem: Okay, Mr. Mayor’s back but Mr. Hasan was next, Mr. Mayor.
Mr. Mayor: Thank you, sir.
Mr. Hasan: Yes, sir, Mr. Mayor, speaking to Item Number 8 you know early on prior to
us approving the budget I was in full support of us taking action because I think we had $1.6
million dollars sitting there in CARES Funds. Actually I was at the point that it comes back to us
and at this point I’m sure we have absorbed that in our budget or even transit in some form or
fashion. And so it would concern me to try do it at this particular time to go into the Fund Balance
because many of these businesses and I’ll share this with my colleagues in conversation that from
my understanding in talking with Mr. Sherman and the business license people many of those
businesses already paid for their license and it doesn’t refund them so we’re in essence going back
to giving money back as opposed to just a percentage and then we’re targeting certain percentages
of businesses as opposed to trying to give all businesses because even in this other program we’re
giving out a nominal amount of funding to 31 but nothing to the degree that we’re doing over here
on number 8. So we had it ready it’s one thing but to go into our Fund Balance after we give back
almost a million and a half dollars and most of those businesses at this point have already paid it.
You’ve got about a handful of them is using the prorated process but most of them have already
purchased their license and everything and they’re good to go you know and so that would be my
concern to go into the Fund Balance for me especially now. I guess we can’t, I could be a little bit
more certain if we had the meeting yesterday but as of today we’re probably anticipating another
stimulus package with everything would happen with this, I don’t know what we’re going to do
about it right now you know. Especially I mean that creates another I think when you bring that
into play you never know what’s going to happen as a result of what people say in the capital so I
think we’re putting ourselves at a great risk to do that to go into our Fund Balance. We don’t know
what’s going to happen especially what we witnessed today.
Mr. Mayor: Mayor Pro Tem.
Mr. Mayor Pro Tem: Yes, sir, Mr. Frantom had a motion on the floor with a second to
approve 8.
Mr. Mayor: Okay, all right voting.
The Clerk: Mr. Clarke.
Mr. Clarke: Yes.
The Clerk: Mr. Frantom.
Mr. Frantom: Yes, ma’am.
22
The Clerk: Mr. Garrett.
Mr. Garrett: Yes, ma’am.
The Clerk: Mr. Hasan.
Mr. Hasan: No, ma’am.
The Clerk: Mr. Johnson.
Mr. Johnson: Yes, ma’am.
The Clerk: Ms. McKnight.
Ms. Knight: Yes, ma’am
The Clerk: Ms. Scott.
Ms. Scott: Yes, ma’am.
The Clerk: Mr. Sias.
Mr. Sias: Yes, ma’am.
The Clerk: Mr. Bobby Williams.
Mr. B. Williams: Yes, ma’am.
The Clerk: Mr. Dennis Williams.
Mr. D. Williams: Yes.
Mr. Hasan votes No.
Motion Passes 9-1.
Mr. Mayor: All right, Item Number 31. The Chair will entertain a motion to approve.
Mr. D. Williams: So moved.
Mr. Johnson: Second.
nd
Mr. Mayor: All right, Commissioner from the 2 with a second from the Commissioner
st
from the 1.
Mr. Donald: Mr. Mayor ---
23
Mr. Mayor: Administrator Donald.
Mr. Donald: --- Mayor, before you vote just based on approving Item 8 so you’re not doing
duplication I would ask to alter it just where in the highlighted areas where we’re talking about
approving alcohol fees be paid quarterly and implementation of a 30-30 tax/fee deferral program
you would actually be able to remove those items because you are now waiving their fees so those
things are not required so I would simply just ask if there is a motion to approve that it be approved
with the removal of 5 and 6.
The Clerk: Five and six?
Mr. D. Williams: I would amend my motion to indicate 5 and 6, to remove 5 and 6.
th
Mr. Mayor: Okay, all right, the Chair recognizes the Commissioner from the 10.
Mr. Clarke: Thank you, Mayor. Wouldn’t that also include Item 4, the waiving of
penalties?
Mr. Donald: Well, the only reason that I didn’t include Item 4 is because if people had
penalties between the time that we met last and now you had waived those so you wouldn’t want
to undo that, that’s why I did not say removing that item.
Mr. D. Williams: Okay 5 and 6.
The Clerk: Are we voting, sir?
Mr. Mayor: Madam Clerk, just hold on a minute. We still have some more inquiries but I
think what the Administrator is proposing is that it allows for equitable distribution of these
th,
resources. All right, the Commissioner from the 8 state your inquiry.
Mr. Garrett: Thank you, Mayor, and this question kind of goes along with the conversation
we’ve been having with 8 and 31. You know in conversations with a lot of the restaurant owners
and small business owners during COVID last year and you know even the ongoing crisis that we
were in the one thing that I heard over and over again are the businesses that it could help weren’t
eligible because they had too many employees. So I guess my question is before we approve this
is can we understand a little more you know how will this work, what will be the stipulations, what
will be the conditions that businesses are eligible for this and what would that look like. And you
know I see here on Number 2 where is based on company size. How many employees are we
talking about?
Mr. Donald: Yes, sir and if you look at that memorandum I’ve broken it down for each
tier so it would be a total of $1.25 million dollars. The first tier we expanded it from that 10
employees up to 20 and increased the eligible amount to $7,500 and those businesses who’ve
already been recipients of the funding would still be able to go back and get the balance so if they
received $5,000 they could go back and get up to $2,500 more because the pandemic has not gone
24
away and so we don’t want ‘x’ them out. In addition to that Tier 2 actually takes us up to a business
size of about 100 employees and that dollar amount is up to $15,000. I think one piece to give
insight to both the Commission and the public once I relay this information to the Commission I
also provided the same information to the business community and have actually had about four
conference calls with different groups to be able to talk to the merits of it and so they were all very
pleased with both the company size and the award amount. And I think the biggest thing that they
harped on which is why we included it in here is eliminating parts of the process that make it a
long time for them to receive their award. Apparently it’s taken about 4 weeks for people on the
front end to be able to access these funds through the process. This should make it about 10 days.
And so we’ve also eliminated the multiple signatures. There’s only a sole signature and that is the
Mayor’s to insure that it goes quickly. The other components stay intact and they still have to
check off the process but we’ve resolved it for that single signature process. So the issues that
have been brought forward to both the Commission and my office have been satisfied through this
proposal.
Mr. Garrett: That’s fantastic news thank you, Administrator.
Mr. Donald: Yes, sir.
thth,
Mr. Mayor: Commissioner from the 6, Commissioner from the 6 state your inquiry.
Mr. Hasan: Thank you, sir. Mr. Mayor, I’d like to ask the Administrator, Mr.
Administrator, who’s actually looking at the applications and approving them?
Mr. Donald: So there’s actually two sets of eyes. It’s first our Housing and Community
Development Agency staff and then there is a I guess Mayoral Commission appointed group that
actually does the final review which is made up of business entities. And one of those we spoke
with as well which is the Chamber I think Ms. Sue Parr is their representative on that committee.
So both staff for the technical piece and then the business community for you know validity and
need.
Mr. Hasan: But what you said about when you say 4 weeks and such is the timeline
(unintelligible).
Mr. Donald: Yes and the part that was because of the, when we reviewed it over the last
couple of weeks it’s the number of signatures. So you had the same people looking at it. Then
you had those folks come back and sign off on it then it comes to the Administrator’s Office for
signature and then it goes to I believe Legal, the Clerk and the Mayor’s Office. Now of course
Legal and the Clerk still have to you know do their portion but that’s all involved in the Mayoral
signature so those other signatures there’s a checklist that they already once they complete that it
can go directly to signature.
Mr. Hasan: But let me can I, Commissioner Dennis Williams, are you to the body the
deletion that the Administrator suggested can we also delete that second committee if the Housing
and Community Development and the resources coming from there, if they’re going to approve it
the Director signs off on it and forwards it to the Mayor and the Mayor get it on out we don’t need
25
both of those, I don’t think both of those committees (unintelligible) if the Housing Authority who
best knows their regulations to remove one of those committees as well, the committee downtown.
Mr. Donald: I think that committee is a part of the requirement from HUD.
Mr. D. Williams: That’s true.
Mr. Donald: Yes, so these are these remember these are still HUD funds so everything
that’s not required by HUD as a part of delivering this program be removed.
Mr. Hasan: Both of them are required by HUD. Which one both (inaudible).
Mr. Donald: So our signature the CEO has to sign. In this case it’s the Mayor but the, it
has to be a review process that includes this committee that ya’ll put in place. We’ve actually had
a technical assistance call with DC Housing Authority who’s implementing a similar program;
they’re doing it the same way. We spoke with Fulton County and one additional entity so I believe
that that’s their best practice and is a part of the HUD approved plan. I’m looking now to just
make sure that we can we can alleviate that group, give me 30 seconds to look at my notes. I don’t
want you to remove something though that may be a HUD requirement okay, if you don’t mind.
Mr. Mayor: Administrator Donald, while you’re looking at that I’d like to go ahead and
vote on this matter. I think the questions that have been posed are certainly appropriate questions.
What matters most is you’ve got an equitable process, you have looked for an opportunity to
shorten how long it takes. That certainly has been one of my personal frustrations. We talked
about this in March of last year just trying to spend a million dollars and we haven’t been successful
in doing that to this date so let’s vote on this matter ---
Mr. Hasan: Hold on, Mr. Mayor, hold on ---
Mr. Mayor: (inaudible) amendments and then if there’s an opportunity to shorten the
process even further I think administratively you can help navigate us to that place so that we’re
able to do that. But from a functional standpoint we’ve got all of the requirements in place. We’re
meeting statutory regulations that are necessary for us to do what we’re doing. Let’s move on with
this.
Mr. Hasan: --- hold on, Mr. Mayor.
Mr. Johnson: I have a question.
st,
Mr. Mayor: All right, Commissioner from the 1 state your inquiry.
Mr. Johnson: Thank you, Mr. Mayor. I could be missing something but I want to say first
off this is a very bold move for the city to make and I want to applaud everyone who had hands in
making this come to this body. A question about the distribution of funds from Rental and Utilities
Assistance Program, is the process that we’re talking about the same for both the Rental Program
and the Small Business Relief Program? Is it the same process?
26
Mr. Donald: No, sir. So the rental process is a little bit quicker and simpler. Just before
ya’ll take any action I’m checking, we actually can remove it and so we would just have to update
our internal document but we can remove that committee. And so if you, if you do approve this,
I would recommend approving it with the Administrator’s recommended adjustment of removing
Item 5 and 6 as well as the committee. I would just state it in that manner if you do so and then it
gives us the authority to take care of it internally. And I apologize, Commissioner Johnson, it’s a
more streamlined process. The way I just described it is how it looks for the rental assistance fees.
We do all of those approvals and reviews internally and then those funds are disbursed in a similar
manner so yes, sir.
Mr. Johnson: Thank you for that clarification, Mr. Administrator.
Mr. Hasan: Mr. Mayor, back to, can I get can we get those added (unintelligible).
Mr. Mayor: All right, so just suspend for a minute, just suspend for minute. I hear the roar
of Commissioner Marion Williams ringing in my head right now about rules and what I want to
do as we start this new term with the Commission I’m going to recognize each Commissioner I’m
going to recognize you for two minutes to speak on a matter. And then I’m going to move to
following the Rules of Procedure, I’m going to recognize you for two minutes and then we’re
going to vote on matters up or down. So, Commissioner Hasan, I’m going to give you this one
last opportunity to speak and then we’re going to follow the Rules of Procedure on any matter
we’ll get a chance to speak for two minutes and we’re going to keep moving forward.
Mr. Hasan: Mr. Mayor, but that’s not the rule what you just stated. I wish you’d say that
for the record so let’s not try to implement it today because if I understand it correctly you give a
total of five minutes two, two one so it’s not what you just stated. All I’m asking, Mr. Mayor, is
what he just said we can streamline the process a little bit more, he’s got the information, you take
that committee out and you do all the things he said so you take another process out, you get the
money to them much faster. That’s all I was attempting to do, to verify that could be done and get
the money in their hands as quick as possible and I think we ought to adopt it. That’s what will get
the money in their hands much faster and I make a motion that we accept ---
Mr. D. Williams: I already have a motion on the floor.
Mr. Hasan: --- I make a substitute motion to add those things to it that the Administrator
said we remove that committee, that was 4 and 5 I think I’m not looking at it now ---
nd
Mr. Mayor: The Commissioner from the 2 amended his motion and included those things
with the one exception being what the Administrator just articulated. The Commissioner from the
nd
2 already included those things in the motion.
Mr. Hasan: --- I can make a substitute motion then.
Mr. Mayor: But you don’t need to make a substitute motion. All he did was add that to
his current motion.
27
Mr. Hasan: If he didn’t accept it. He said he already had a motion. If he accepts it I’m
fine.
Mr. D. Williams: I’m not going to add removing the committee.
Mr. Hasan: That’s what I’m saying. I’m trying to streamline the process so I make a motion
remove the secondary committee and the other things that the Administrator suggested. I’m just
trying to streamline the process for you.
Mr. Garrett: Second.
Mr. Mayor: Voting.
The Clerk: Okay, I didn’t get, who seconded that for Mr. Hasan?
th
Mr. Mayor: The Commissioner from the 8.
The Clerk: Okay. Mr. Clarke.
Mr. Clarke: Yes.
Mr. Mayor: Madam Clerk, suspend for just a moment. I’ve got to say this. You just had
the Administrator talk about the meetings he’s convened with the business community to talk about
their engagement with how they’re going to administer these Cares Act dollars and then you go
through great lengths to extricate them from the process. I’m concerned about that. That certainly
doesn’t set a good precedent for the very things that the Administrator has been advocating for as
he just articulated a process. So I’m just going to put that out there, continue, Madam Clerk.
The Clerk: Mr. Frantom.
Mr. Frantom: Yes, ma’am.
The Clerk: Mr. Garrett.
Mr. Garrett: Yes, ma’am.
The Clerk: Mr. Hasan.
Mr. Hasan: Yes, ma’am.
The Clerk: Mr. Johnson.
Mr. Johnson: Yes, ma’am.
The Clerk: Ms. McKnight.
28
Ms. McKnight: Yes, ma’am.
The Clerk: Ms. Scott.
Ms. Scott: Yes, ma’am.
The Clerk: Mr. Sias.
Mr. Sias: Yes, ma’am.
The Clerk: Mr. Bobby Williams.
Mr. B. Williams: Yes, ma’am.
The Clerk: Mr. Dennis Williams.
Mr. D. Williams: No, ma’am.
Mr. D. Williams votes No.
Motion Passes 9-1.
Mr. Mayor: All right, Madam Clerk, we’re going to Item Number 17.
The Clerk:
PUBLIC SERVICES
17. Motion to approve the resumption of Committee Meetings in January 2021. (Requested
by Mayor Hardie Davis, Jr.)
Mr. Mayor: Madam Clerk, members of the Commission, I’m putting this back out here.
We went through great lengths just a few moments ago to identify members of the standing
committees for this Commission for the terms 2021-2022 and even in the midst of COVID we’ve
demonstrated an ability to virtually meet and do the business of the people. I think it’s prudent
and quite frankly incumbent upon us to engage each of you as elected officials in a tangible way
through the committee process and allow us to have some of the debate that really is necessary
before we get to this full Commission meeting and what we’re proposing is presumption of
committee meetings. The motion currently says January 2021. What I’d like to offer pursuant to
my conversations with Administrator Donald is for us to resume these committee meetings in the
month of February which gives staff and the Administrator’s Office time to prepare for that process
and also give our incoming Commissioners an opportunity to be prepared as we step into that in
the month of February as opposed to January 2021. So the Chair will entertain a motion to resume
committee meetings effective February 2021.
Mr. Hasan: Mr. Mayor, I pulled the item. I’m not going to get a chance to address it?
29
Mr. Mayor: I hadn’t even gotten to you yet.
Mr. Hasan: You asked for a motion, you’re asking for a motion.
Mr. Mayor: I am ---
Mr. Hasan: --- and I pulled this item ---
Mr. Mayor: --- and you well know that doesn’t stop us from having continued debate about
it ---
Mr. Hasan: --- but normally ---
Mr. Mayor: --- raise your hand and I’m going to recognize you, okay ---
Mr. Hasan: --- (unintelligible).
Mr. Mayor: --- thank you very much. All right the Chair recognizes the Commissioner
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from the 6.
Mr. Hasan: Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Mr. Mayor, for clarity based on what you said when
you’re saying to start back are you saying in person or are you saying by ZOOM?
Mr. Mayor: By virtual.
Mr. Hasan: Okay.
Mr. Mayor: We are currently meeting virtually ---
Mr. Hasan: Okay, okay (inaudible).
Mr. Mayor: --- also the challenges of COVID 19 as you are fully well aware you’ve been
one of the staunchest proponents of us not meeting in person because of the high incidents of
COVID cases that we see in the community and more importantly even with our own staff and so
I think we’re still at that place.
Mr. Hasan: Okay, well my, my motion would be, Mr. Mayor, if you don’t mind based on
the
an email that the Administrator sent us out that on the 19he’s going to, he has a standing
committee that is reviewing all the processes that he thinks should impact us on how we conduct
ourselves as a government in the era of COVID if I’m not mistaken. And with that let him bring
back a recommendation at that particular time and if that date falls as we move into February and
let it be February. I don’t want us to make a hard decision today because where we are right now,
Mr. Mayor, you understand this thing better than most of us I would say around this COVID.
We’re expecting now from Christmas from the New Year we may very well be in the middle of it
around the middle of this month or the first early part of February so if we make a hard decision
today we may have to reverse ourselves so let’s make it based on the conditions that we get on the
30
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19 to do that and that’s my motion to let the Administrator come back with that recommendation
what they see moving forward and from there make that decision.
th.
Mr. Mayor: I appreciate that, Commissioner from the 6 I think in the Administrator’s
memo that he sent out he also acknowledged that we should continue meeting virtually, Congress
is meeting virtually, Planning Commission here locally is meeting virtually. We have almost every
board and authority that is meeting virtually so that’s not the concern. The concern is being able
to resume the committee meetings and the committee process, that’s the challenge. And so
whether we’re doing that in January but now more importantly in February gives everyone time to
acclimate and be prepared to do that from a virtual standpoint.
Mr. Hasan: Well, Mr. Mayor, let me respond and I’ll leave it alone and give me one minute
please if you don’t mind. My concern around it, Mr. Mayor, many of us don’t realize what goes
on behind the curtain to be these putting this information together for us for the committee. We
don’t know the impact of the employees, their health, their wellbeing. We have no idea how many
COVID cases that we have in this government. And so if any of those major players are down in
that time that could put us in a very bad situation so we just want to be concerned about that moving
forward, the staff, because even for us to show up because we get here our meal is prepared for all
intents and purposes but we have to take consideration is who’s preparing the meal, that’s all I’m
saying.
Mr. Mayor: Yeah, I’m not sure how it applies but okay.
Mr. Hasan: (Unintelligible) so that’s my motion to let the Administrator bring back to us
and from there we make a decision based on his finding and where we are as a government.
Mr. Donald: Mr. Mayor?
th,
Mr. Mayor: Commissioner from the 10 is that you?
Mr. Clarke: No, sir.
The Clerk: The Administrator.
Mr. Mayor: Okay, all right, Administrator Donald.
Mr. Donald: Yeah, Mayor, I think it sounds like ya’ll are actually kind of saying the same
thing. You’re right, we put together a working group to coordinate you know guidelines and
operational activities but I think you’re both saying you have concerns about moving from virtual
to in person and so I 100% agree (inaudible) both of you in that. But I do think that you starting
the committees up virtually if that’s what the will of the Commission is then we would find a way
to support it. But I would say I would ask for you to wait until making a decision on any in person
meetings and guidelines until we bring something back to the Commission which is to happen on
th
the 19 of January at your next meeting. But I think you guys seem to be saying the same thing
regarding in person meetings and I 100% agree (inaudible).
31
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Mr. Mayor: All right again, all right, Commissioner from the 10.
Mr. Clarke: Mr. Mayor, I agree with you. I think at least we need to get back to
committee’s virtual if not in person. I’m ready to meet in person but I’m sure that’s not the will of
everybody so I do make a motion we start to the committee meetings again virtually in
February.
Mr. Sias: Second.
th,
Mr. Mayor: We’ve got a motion and a second. Commissioner from the 8 state your
inquiry.
Mr. Garrett: Yes, sir, thank you. This is along the lines of this conversation. You know I
just want to urge caution. I attended a funeral this week for a council member from the City of
st
Hephzibah that died December 31 from COVID. You know we’re expecting an increase from
the holidays of COVID cases, Mayor, you know as well know that in our area right now we’re
running at about 101% ICU beds. So really I just want to urge caution about you know at least
coming back meeting in person until February I think you know giving us one more month to kind
of see how the holiday season plays out and see you know let the vaccine get out in the public, let
the you know let this cycle through so we at least know where we stand. You know I just urge
caution about making a decision of starting committees virtually in February. You know I agree
with my colleague we should wait until we hear the Administrator’s recommendation and move
forward after that, thank you.
Mr. Mayor: All right, we’ve got a motion and a second Madam Clerk, voting.
The Clerk: Mr. Clarke.
Mr. Clarke: Yes.
The Clerk: Mr. Frantom.
Mr. Frantom: Yes, ma’am.
The Clerk: Mr. Garrett.
Mr. Garrett: Can you restate the motion please?
The Clerk: The motion is to approve the resumption of committee meeting in February --
Mr. Sias: Virtually.
The Clerk: --- virtually.
Mr. Garrett: No, ma’am.
32
The Clerk: No from Mr. Garrett. Okay, Mr. Hasan.
Mr. Hasan: No, ma’am.
The Clerk: Mr. Johnson.
Mr. Johnson: Yes, ma’am.
The Clerk: Ms. McKnight.
Ms. McKnight: Yes, ma’am.
The Clerk: I’m sorry, you said no, ma’am?
Ms. McKnight: Yes, ma’am.
The Clerk: Okay, Ms. Scott.
Ms. Scott: Yes, ma’am.
The Clerk: Mr. Sias.
Mr. Sias: Yes, ma’am.
The Clerk: Mr. Bobby Williams.
Mr. B. Williams: Yes, ma’am.
The Clerk: Mr. Dennis Williams.
Mr. D. Williams: Yes, ma’am.
Mr. Garrett and Mr. Hasan vote No.
Motion Passes 8-2.
Mr. Mayor: Madam Clerk, we’re going from top to bottom, we’re going from top to bottom
--- Mayor Pro Tem.
Mr. Hasan: Mr. Mayor, you’ve got the ---
Mr. Mayor: --- Mayor Pro Tem ---
Mr. Hasan: --- Mr. Mayor, you got the Attorney’s hand up.
Mr. Mayor Pro Tem: Yes, sir.
33
Mr. Mayor: --- Attorney Brown, I think the Attorney’s hand was frozen. All right, Mayor
Pro Tem, if you’ll take over. Madam Clerk, from top to bottom.
Mr. Mayor Pro Tem: Okay, what do we have, Ms. Bonner?
The Clerk: We’re at the Planning portion of the agenda. Item No. 1, this item was pulled
by Commissioner Sias.
PLANNING
1. Z-20-58 – A request for concurrence with the Augusta, Georgia Planning Commission to
approve with the conditions listed below; a petition by Tonya Self, on behalf of Nicolas
Leshock, requesting to establish a Family Personal Care Home per Section 26-1-(h) of the
Comprehensive Zoning Ordinance for Augusta Georgia affecting property containing 0.48
acres and located at 3533 Stafford Street. Tax Map 141-0-508-00-0 – Zoned R-1A (One-
family Residential) DISTRICT 4 1. The home shall be staffed on a 7-day, 24-hour basis. 2.
The home shall be limited to 4 residents with staff coming in shifts. Any live-in staff will be
counted towards the maximum occupancy of 4 residents. #. Additional paved parking shall
be provided if needed by widening the existing driveway. Grass parking shall not be
permitted. 4. If the rear of the property is not enclosed by a fence one must be installed to
ensure a safe and secure outside space for residents. 5. Any changes in the definition of the
use, nature of the clientele or increase in numbers of occupants shall require another Special
Exception. 6. The applicant must receive and maintain a City of Augusta business license
and a license with the State of Georgia. Proof of compliance with the minimum requirements
of Chapter 111.8-62.01 of the O.C.G.A must be provided, and the applicant must provide
annual fire department inspection reports. 7. All requirements must be met within six (6)
months of approval of the Special Exception, or the Special Exception is void. 8. If wheelchair
bound persons reside in the residence all 2010 ADA Standards for Accessible Design
requirements must be met, including but not limited to: • All doorways must be at least 3 feet
wide. • At least one bathroom that permits a wheelchair dependent person to use all
bathroom facilities unimpeded.
Mr. Mayor Pro Tem: Okay, Mr. Sias?
Mr. Sias: Say again, please?
th,
Mr. Mayor Pro Tem: Commissioner from the 4 go ahead.
The Clerk: Item Number 1, Commissioner Sias.
Mr. Sias: Item Number 1?
The Clerk: Yes, sir.
Mr. Mayor Pro Tem: Yes, sir.
34
Mr. Sias: I spoke with Mr. Sherman concerning this issue and I’d like to see if he’s
prepared to give us an update on the issue.
Mr. Mayor Pro Tem: An update ---
The Clerk: Is he in the waiting room?
Mr. Mayor Pro Tem: --- today?
Mr. Donald: I believe he’s here, Commissioner, but we actually met on this item. We go
over all of the agenda items regularly and I think, is this the I believe this one I’m prepared to give
you some insights on if you have some specific questions if he’s not in the waiting room.
Mr. Sherman: I’m here, I’m in the public room.
Mr. Donald: He’s got it.
Mr. Sherman: Mayor and Commissioners, on this agenda item there was a question about
being able to get the parking area in compliance quicker than six months. The applicant is here;
she said that that will be improved probably within a week to two weeks. The issue with the, there
was a concern about having an ADA acceptable bathroom. The applicant is here to they can give
you some information on the state requirements. I can briefly say the state when they license the
facility they match the residents with the facility itself, the physical conditions of the facility, so
this is a location that will not have anyone who is disabled or needing physical care. This facility
it will just be for offering protective care and oversight of the person. In the event that a person in
this facility falls, breaks a leg, whatever and becomes wheelchair bound, the applicant is stating
that they will move that person to another facility that has been approved by the state for persons
needing that type of care.
Mr. Sias: Okay, is it back to me?
Mr. Mayor Pro Tem: Yes, sir, back to you, sir.
Mr. Sias: I would say I have a problem with that and when you’re caring for residents of
this nature you should have a bathroom that’s acceptable for a wheelchair just in case if somebody
gets hurt or they come home, they go to the hospital, they get a doctor’s appointment or they’re
feeling bad and they are sick then are you going to continue to move them back and forth or are
you saying that nobody in this facility will ever need a wheelchair, and I totally disagree with that.
There should be at least one bathroom in that facility that can because they’re talking about getting
up to six people. They should, there should some at least one bathroom that’s handicapped
accessible or at least to get a wheelchair in there and unless we can concur on that it may pass but
I definitely won’t support it. I think that’s a disservice to the residents and for not to have at least
one wheelchair accessible bathroom and that’s my issue with that. And this particular building
has been operating with some clients for a while and I know these folks they say they want to come
in and take over these things and just and to have an accessible bathroom in that nature I don’t
think it’s that much of an ask on these folks ---
35
Mr. Mayor Pro Tem: Gotcha.
Mr. Sias: --- that’s my two cents.
Mr. Mayor Pro Tem: Is there any other discussion on that one ---
Mr. Clarke: I’d like ---
th
Mr. Mayor Pro Tem: --- all right, Commissioner from the 10.
Mr. Clarke: --- yes, sir, thank you. I agree with the Commissioner 100%. I think that any
place like this should have an accessible ADA approved bathroom facility in it. So I would like
to make a motion to disapprove this until the ADA approved bathroom is installed.
Mr. Mayor Pro Tem: Do we have a second?
Mr. Sias: Hey Mayor Pro Tem ---
Mr. Mayor Pro Tem: Yes, sir ---
Mr. Sias: --- let me just address what Commissioner Clarke said ---
Mr. Mayor Pro Tem: --- okay, go ahead.
Mr. Sias: --- Commissioner Clarke, I totally agree with you and thank you for your support
on that however I will add this. Several of the conditions that are here they had six months to get
them done. I talked to Mr. Sherman about reducing that to 90 days and the same, the same process
with the bathroom that could be added into that as 90 days so if you could just say all the
conditions that they have in here including a wheelchair accessible bathroom be done and
completed within 90 days, and I’ll second that if you agree.
Mr. Mayor Pro Tem: Okay, Ms. Bonner, did you get that motion? Ms. Bonner, did you
get that motion, Ms. Bonner?
The Clerk: Yes, sir, I got it.
Mr. Mayor Pro Tem: You got it ---
Mr. Clarke: I make that motion.
Mr. Mayor Pro Tem: --- all right, any other discussion?
Mr. Hasan: (Inaudible).
Mr. Mayor Pro Tem: Go ahead, Mr. Hasan.
36
Mr. Hasan: Rob Sherman’s hand is up, he wants to say something.
Mr. Mayor Pro Tem: Okay, Mr. Sherman, go ahead.
Mr. Sherman: Mayor and Commissioners, if I could would you allow the applicant to
speak? She can address some of the comments you’re making and maybe provide you some
insight. But one question that I will have for you is are you talking about accessible being that the
door width is 36” 32” clear space or are we talking about an ADA bathroom that require a 5-foot
turnaround which will require quite a bit of modification. And this a four-person house not a six
but she’s here and she can explain it.
Mr. Mayor Pro Tem: Okay.
Mr. Sias: Mayor Pro Tem, may I say something quickly?
Mr. Mayor Pro Tem: Go ahead, sir.
Mr. Sias: I’m simply talking about the 36” door.
Mr. Mayor Pro Tem: Okay, all right, ma’am, you have something you can say to us?
Ms. Speaker: Yes, sir, I do and I thank you for strongly advocating for individuals with
disabilities and I really that’s why I got into this career is because I do believe in all individuals
having access to the skills that they need and the environmental changes that they need in order to
be you know live comfortably in their home. This particular home is not a six person Personal
Care Home. This is what we all a community living arrangement and it’s a little bit different from
a Personal Care Home and it is already functioning as a community living arrangement. And what
I would try to communicate to you to understand is when the hospital goes to discharge individuals
into a community living arrangement they go through a whole entire panel process of matching
the individual’s needs. All of the individuals are ambulatory in this house and we have a
designated house which is our Brown Road house that’s medically fragile and with the, with all of
the other recommendations that you’ve made we have been able to get those things done within
weeks not months of what you suggested to us and by all means we want to make sure that
everyone has everything that they need. We did in this particular house do some modifications to
the hall bathroom so that it was no longer a step up where like at one time had a tub where you
would have to step over into the tub. That was modified so that now it’s just a like a walk in
shower type with a shower chair so there were modifications made to that bathroom. But like I
said none of the individuals here in this particular location which is a four person home and
grandfathered clause in and they cannot, if there’s a change in their medical condition this
particular home has to have, won’t be able to be a four person home. It’ll have to go to a three
person home because it’s only being grandfather claused in it was at Gracewood and I hope that
makes sense.
Mr. Mayor Pro Tem: I got it, okay thank you unless there’s modifications to the motion,
Ms. Bonner, we’re voting.
37
The Clerk: Okay, Mr. Clarke.
Mr. Clarke: Yes.
The Clerk: Mr. Frantom.
Mr. Frantom: Yes, ma’am.
The Clerk: Mr. Garrett.
Mr. Garrett: Yes, ma’am.
The Clerk: Mr. Hasan.
Mr. Hasan: Yes, ma’am.
The Clerk: Mr. Johnson, Mr. Johnson?
Mr. Johnson: Yes, ma’am.
The Clerk: Ms. McKnight.
Ms. McKnight: Yes, ma’am.
The Clerk: Ms. Scott.
Ms. Scott: Yes, ma’am.
The Clerk: Mr. Sias.
Mr. Sias: Yes, ma’am.
The Clerk: Mr. Bobby Williams.
Mr. B. Williams: Yes, ma’am.
The Clerk: Mr. Dennis Williams.
Mr. D. Williams: Yes.
Motion Passes 10-0.
Mr. Mayor Pro Tem: Going to the next one, Ms. Bonner.
PLANNING
38
5. Z-20-54 – The Augusta, Georgia Planning Commission made no recommendation
regarding a petition by Tracey Geter requesting a Special Exception to bring an existing
family home day care in to zoning conformance per Section 8-3-(d) and Section 26-1-(f) of
the Comprehensive Zoning Ordinance for Augusta Georgia affection property containing
0.41 acres and located at 4004 Foreman Court. Tax Map 194-0-149-00-0 – Zoned R-1B (One-
family Residential). DISTRICT 8
Mr. Mayor Pro Tem: All right, Mr. Brandon Garrett District 8 Number 5, or who pulled
that one?
The Clerk: No, that’s on the Regular Agenda. Mr. Sherman is going to address that.
Mr. Mayor Pro Tem: Okay, go ahead, Mr. Sherman.
Mr. Sherman: This was heard by the Planning Commission the staff recommended denial
to the Planning Commission for this day care facility. The reason is it did not meet all of the
guidelines that are stated in the zoning ordinance. Had it met all of the guidelines it could’ve been
approved administratively. We presented it to the Planning Commission but because of a couple
of the criteria one in particular in the zoning ordinance we could not recommend that it be
approved. The Planning Commission was leaning I will stay towards approving it but they could
not get there because of this issue. Since that meeting after gathering additional information I and
the Planning Commission staff can recommend that it be approved and I can give you more detail
if you are asking for it.
Mr. Mayor Pro Tem: Yeah, Mr. Garrett, would you want to make a recommendation on
that one?
Mr. Garrett: Yes, sir, thank you, Mayor Pro Tem. I’d like to address Director Sherman
please. Is this a home that is currently up and running now is my first question.
Mr. Sherman: Yes, actually so to get a little bit further into it the applicant had a Special
Exception to have a daycare at another location in 2002. She moved to this address in 2003. The
home in 2002 was state approved; she moved to this address in 2003. It became state approved at
that time and it has been state approved since that time. She did not come in and get a Special
Exception for the daycare nor did she get a business license but the use has been there all along.
There’s a requirement that you have to meet that you cannot have a sex offender within 1,000 feet
of the location. That became part of the zoning ordinance in 2008. Now she had been operating
since 2003 with a state permit. 2008 it became a state became part of our ordinance requirement.
A sex offender moved into the neighborhood in 2013. The state also has a requirement that a sex
offender cannot live within 1,000 feet of a daycare but the ---
Mr. Garrett: Did she ever get a business permit?
Mr. Sherman: --- she did not. What happened is she oversaw it. The state began checking
two years ago when they renewed their state license to determine if you have a business license
and that’s when it came about that she realized she didn’t have a business license that she couldn’t
39
just transfer, she just couldn’t there without compliance. She came in, Code Enforcement has
inspected it, we’ve been in touch with the Sheriff’s Office. They have no issues. It’s 903 feet
traveling across the map, it’s 3,300 feet driving or walking distance through the property. So after
considering all of the facts and it’s our opinion that it should be grandfathered in. The use is there,
it has been state approved all along but it’s, we’re just trying to get some resolution to it.
Mr. Garrett: Does she have to pay a state fee every year?
Mr. Sherman: Yes.
Mr. Garrett: Is there a reason why she never came to get the business license as required?
Mr. Sherman: She didn’t know it. She, in 2002 when she got her license I’m assuming
she thought that when she got her state license that was it.
Mr. D. Williams: Move for denial.
Mr. Mayor Pro Tem: All right, any other discussion on that?
Mr. Clarke: I have a question.
Mr. Mayor Pro Tem: All right.
Mr. Clarke: Is there a city business license issued to this location at this current time?
Mr. Sherman: No and that’s because of this, we have to get the zoning in compliance
before we can issue the business license.
Mr. Johnson: Mayor Pro Tem ---
Mr. Mayor Pro Tem: Yes, sir, go ahead, sir.
Mr. Johnson: --- thank you, Mayor Pro Tem. Mr. Sherman, one of the issues that you
mentioned was that the home was not in regulation where it’s proximity close to a sex offender, is
that the biggest issue that we’re looking at at this moment?
Mr. Sherman: That’s the only issue. No issues with the state, Code Enforcement has
inspected the property, there are no issues with Code Enforcement. The Sheriff’s Department has
not had any issues to answer your question.
Mr. Johnson: And the business license is pretty much being held up because this issue
hasn’t been solved, is that what you said (unintelligible).
Mr. Sherman: That’s correct.
Mr. Johnson: Thank you, Mayor Pro Tem.
40
Mr. Mayor Pro Tem: All right, anyone else ---
Mr. Sias: Yeah, I have a quick comment, Mayor Pro Tem.
Mr. Mayor Pro Tem: --- hang on, hang on a second. All right, I’ll come back to you.
Come on, Mr. Sias.
Mr. Sias: All right, thank you. I want to say this to Mr. Sherman and to the applicant
(inaudible) I’m very familiar with Foreman Court, that’s a very small neighborhood. For Mr.
Sherman I have a question. Have we not made any arrangements yet as a city so that the state will
notify us when they’re issuing licenses for these folks to operate these homes? And secondly, have
we did any advertising reminding people particularly for Personal Care Homes if you receive a
state permit you still must get a business license to operate in Richmond County and does the state
tell them they need to get a business license? That’s three things. Can you answer them quite
rationally?
Mr. Sherman: Yes, the state does tell them they have to have a business license and we are
checking for a business license and that’s partly why she’s here. There’s no notification on the
property, no indication that they property is approved for a daycare so when the state, the state
does not check. The state depends on local governments to enforce their 1,000 foot distance
requirement. It’s part of our zoning ordinance and we can check when someone applies. But now
as it is the state will not issue the license without the business license. It goes hand in hand now
for a new state license.
Mr. Sias: I’m glad to hear that because that wasn’t true a few years ago so hopefully now
that the city and the state can work together because we’ve had too many people come up here
operate things without even having any input or anything or control or oversight from the city what
exists there. So I hope this has been, I’m not sure how I’m going to vote on this one but I just
wanted to, did this lady know she needed a business license in 2000 back yonder?
Mr. Mayor Pro Tem: All right, ten, Mr. Clarke, hang on a second, Mr. Clarke.
Mr. Clarke: Okay, I want to hear an answer to Commissioner Sias’ question. Did she
know that, did the state notify her of a business license way back, that she had to have a city
business license?
Mr. Mayor Pro Tem: Ma’am, go ahead.
Ms. Geter: No, sir.
Mr. Sherman: They began that process about two years ago roughly 2018 the state to check
for a business license and that was after we started meeting with them. We realized we had some
issues where similar to this where we had some problems and that’s when the state started the
requirement.
41
Mr. Clarke: Okay, I would like to make this statement. Ma’am, it is certainly not your
fault that a sex offender moved in in your proximity. I don’t think that you should be penalized
about that. I think they should make the offender be penalized and moved elsewhere. But with
you not being in compliance with all of the rules and regulations and laws I think until you become
compliant with all of the rules, regulations and laws I would make a motion to deny this at this
time.
Mr. Garrett: Second.
Mr. Hasan: I’d like to make a substitute motion.
The Clerk: Who was that who seconded? I’m sorry, was that Ms. Scott?
Mr. Mayor Pro Tem: I think that was Mr. Garrett that made the second, all right, Mr.
Hasan.
Mr. Hasan: Yes, sir, Mr. Sherman ---
Mr. Sherman: Yes ---
Mr. Hasan: --- based on my colleague’s connotation, Commissioner Johnson, when you
first came out of the gate I mean when you first spoke to us you were saying that your body that
Planning was recommending to deny this so this is strictly why you all are trying to make a decision
about a sex offender who had moved in near to her business, is that correct?
Mr. Sherman: --- that’s correct.
Mr. Hasan: Okay, so from there you all discerned that well, she had been there the longest
so she’s grandfathered in so she shouldn’t be held by those standards and so as a result of that
you’re recommending that we approve it. Are we correct on that?
Mr. Sherman: That’s correct so when we started looking at the guidelines if she had met
them all and been administratively approved she didn’t meet it so we did recommend denial
because that’s part of the ordinance.
Mr. Hasan: Okay.
Mr. Sherman: We looked at it, we continued to look at it. We found that he actually moved
the person moved into the neighborhood in 2013, years after she had been there ---
Mr. Hasan: Right.
Mr. Sherman: --- not that she was correct in operating but and it’s been in existence since
’03 and just trying to rationalize it, it just seems that it is the right to do. She will be in compliance
with everything if the zoning, if this is approved, the offender where the distance on the map a
straight line it’s 903 feet and that’s going through back yards, across a railroad track, another back
42
yard, two more back yards to get to the location. If you travel it on the street it’s 3,300 feet; it’s
over a half a mile.
Mr. Mayor Pro Tem: Okay, we need to move forward. Did we get, do we have a second
to Mr. Hasan’s ---
Mr. Hasan: Let me finish ---
Mr. Mayor Pro Tem: --- go ahead, sir.
Mr. Hasan: --- the man must’ve left you his gavel ---
Mr. Mayor Pro Tem: Yeah, he did. We’ve been on this 20 minutes so let’s move forward.
Go ahead, sir.
Mr. Hasan: --- so my question, my motion is to approve it because like Commissioner
Sias’ point was she probably did not realize they have to have a business license. The business’
been there for years. I don’t think we should deny her her license. She knows moving forward so
I think at this point I make a substitute motion to approve.
Mr. Johnson: I second that motion.
Mr. Mayor Pro Tem: All right, Ms. Bonner, we’re going to vote on the substitute motion.
Ms. Scott: Ms. Bonner, can I hear the substitute motion again please?
The Clerk: The substitute motion is to approve the recommendation regarding the petition
requesting a Special Exception to bring an existing Family Home Daycare into zoning
conformance, to approve.
Mr. Mayor Pro Tem: All right, so let’s vote, Ms. Bonner.
The Clerk: Mr. Clarke.
Mr. Clarke: No.
The Clerk: Mr. Frantom.
Mr. Frantom: Yes, ma’am.
The Clerk: Mr. Garrett.
Mr. Garrett: No.
The Clerk: Mr. Hasan.
43
Mr. Hasan: Yes, ma’am.
The Clerk: Mr. Johnson.
Mr. Johnson: Yes, ma’am.
The Clerk: Ms. McKnight.
Ms. McKnight: No.
The Clerk: Ms. Scott.
Ms. Scott: No.
The Clerk: Mr. Sias.
Mr. Sias: No, ma’am.
The Clerk: Mr. Bobby Williams.
Mr. B. Williams: Yes, ma’am.
The Clerk: Mr. Dennis Williams.
Mr. D. Williams: No.
Mr. Clarke, Mr. Garrett, Ms. McKnight, Ms. Scott, Mr. Sias and Mr. D. Williams vote No.
Motion Fails 4-6.
Mr. Mayor Pro Tem: Okay, let’s vote on the original motion, Ms. Bonner.
Mr. Donald: Mayor Pro Tem ---
Mr. Mayor Pro Tem: Hang on a second, go ahead, Administrator.
Mr. Donald: --- I’m sorry to interrupt. I know there’s been some robust conversation on
this but I wanted to give a little bit more crystal clear clarity before you vote. After meeting with
Director Sherman and kind of fleshing this out in great detail, I think the reason why staff is
recommending approval is because of the gap in notification for this specific issue. The state early
on was not doing any reviews and not providing information. Augusta Richmond County while
we were providing some information this young lady had not been in contact in between that time
period when her business was fully in compliance until it changed locations in 2003. Since that
time every single portion of her compliance has remained in place with the exception of this
business license and once she was informed of needing the business license etc. it was brought
forward in this manner. A big portion of that is the gap in notification from the state which we
had no control over. Once we influenced the state to actually start enforcing our rules and
44
regulations activities like this has come to our attention. I think staff is recommending approval
because we would not want to provide that penalty when staff and the state are partially updating
our records and the way we notify to bring these folks into compliance so they believe that this
particular instance really is something where others have dropped the ball and not the applicant
and so that’s why the recommendation is being brought forward for approval.
Mr. Mayor Pro Tem: I got you, but the motion on the floor is for denial ---
Mr. Donald: Correct.
Mr. Mayor Pro Tem: --- so, Ms. Bonner, let’s proceed with this vote.
The Clerk: Mr. Clarke.
Mr. Clarke: Yes.
The Clerk: Mr. Frantom.
Mr. Frantom: No, ma’am.
The Clerk: Mr. Garrett.
Mr. Garrett: No, ma’am.
The Clerk: Mr. Hasan.
Mr. Hasan: No, ma’am.
The Clerk: Mr. Johnson.
Mr. Johnson: No, ma’am.
The Clerk: Ms. McKnight.
Ms. McKnight: No, ma’am.
The Clerk: Ms. Scott.
Ms. Scott: No, ma’am.
The Clerk: Mr. Sias.
Mr. Sias: We’re going to give her a chance and the rest of them in the future better comply
so my answer will be no, ma’am.
The Clerk: Mr. Sias, you said no?
45
Mr. Sias: You didn’t hear me, you didn’t hear me?
The Clerk: No, sir, I didn’t. I had another conversation going, I’m sorry.
Mr. Sias: I said we’re going to give her a chance but Mr. Sherman, this does need to end
these folks not having a business license and running a business so the answer, so my vote is no,
ma’am to give her a chance.
The Clerk: Okay, no with a chance okay, Mr. Bobby Williams.
Mr. B. Williams: No, ma’am.
The Clerk: Mr. Dennis Williams.
Mr. D. Williams: No, ma’am.
Mr. Clarke votes Yes.
Motion Fails 9-1.
Mr. Hasan: Mr. Chairman, can I make a motion to reconsider ---
Mr. Mayor Pro Tem: You may, sir.
Mr. Hasan: --- to approve.
Mr. Mayor Pro Tem: You may, sir.
Mr. Sias: You just got it.
Mr. Garrett: Can I ask one question before you do that?
Mr. Mayor Pro Tem: Go ahead ---
The Clerk: I’ll ask the Parliamentarian.
Mr. Mayor Pro Tem: --- hang on a second, Mr. Garrett, go ahead.
Mr. Garrett: Thank you, Mayor Pro Tem. This question’s for the applicant. You said that
you didn’t know you needed a business license but you’re running a business there and you thought
that the state license covered you, correct?
Ms. Geter: Yes, that’s correct ---
Mr. Garrett: Okay so ---
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Ms. Geter: --- that’s what I had been getting every year is the state license.
Mr. Garrett: --- well, it’s a state permit, correct? Or is it a license?
Ms. Geter: It’s a state license allowing me to keep six kids ---
Mr. Garrett: Okay ---
Ms. Geter: --- I have to renew it every year.
Mr. Garrett: --- so when you file your taxes is there nowhere there on your tax filing that
asks about your business name and all that or your business license?
Ms. Geter: No, I just use my name and I just giving it you know where I got my business
license from, I mean my state license.
Mr. Garrett: Okay, thank you, Mayor Pro Tem.
Mr. Mayor Pro Tem: Mr. Hasan, you wanted to reconsider?
Mr. Hasan: Well, I’d like to ask the Attorney what do we do if we wanted to approve it if
you don’t mind, Mr. Chairman.
Mr. Mayor Pro Tem: Sure, go ahead.
Mr. Hasan: Mr. Attorney, what do we need to do?
Mr. Brown: Mr. Chair, two things, one you could a motion for reconsideration and
approval so that you don’t have to do the double vote but also I did want to point out to the
Commission that there’s some, any practical basis this house is way outside of the 1,000 feet from
the sex offender in actuality this house is almost (inaudible) as far as it needs to be that brings it
slightly within that 1,000 feet it’s only a measurement that exists on a map. It doesn’t exist on the
ground. So the purpose of a distance rule really is being protected with your approval.
Mr. Hasan: Okay, Mr. Chairman ---
Mr. Mayor Pro Tem: All right so, Mr., hang on a second, Mr. Attorney, so we do we can
do a reconsideration and approval vote all in one.
Mr. Brown: Yes, if you ask, if it’s a motion to reconsider and approve.
Mr. Mayor Pro Tem: Gotcha, Mr. Hasan?
Mr. Hasan: I’d like to make a motion to reconsider and approve as the Planning
Director recommended.
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Mr. Sias: Second.
Mr. Mayor Pro Tem: Voting, Ms. Bonner.
The Clerk: Mr. Clarke.
Mr. Clarke: No.
The Clerk: Mr. Frantom.
Mr. Frantom: Yes, ma’am.
The Clerk: Mr. Garrett thinking, Mr. Garrett?
Mr. Garrett: Reluctantly, yes.
The Clerk: Okay, Mr. Hasan.
Mr. Hasan: Yes, ma’am.
The Clerk: Mr. Johnson.
Mr. Johnson: Yes, ma’am.
The Clerk: Ms. McKnight.
Ms. McKnight: Yes, ma’am.
The Clerk: Ms. Scott.
Ms. Scott: Yes, ma’am.
The Clerk: Mr. Sias.
Mr. Sias: With a chance, yes, ma’am.
The Clerk: Okay, Mr. Bobby Williams.
Mr. B. Williams: Yes, ma’am.
The Clerk: Mr. Dennis Williams.
Mr. D. Williams: Yes.
Mr. Clarke votes No.
Motion Passes 9-1.
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Mr. Mayor Pro Tem: I gotcha, next one, Ms. Bonner.
Mr. Sherman: Thank you.
The Clerk:
PUBLIC SERVICES
6. Discuss the Augusta Regional Airport’s November 2020 Report. (Requested by
Commissioner Sammie Sias)
Mr. Mayor Pro Tem: Mr. Sias.
Mr. Sias: Yes, sir, thank you very much. Can I ask if Mr. Judon is standing by somewhere
---
Mr. Mayor Pro Tem: Yes, sir ---
Mr. Sias: --- on the airport?
Mr. Mayor Pro Tem: --- yes, sir.
Mr. Sias: Okay, first off I want to start with this. Our airport is a very important economic
engine for this city and they sent out a quarterly report. So when we talk about SPLOST and we
talk about other things in support our airport, I think we really need to get a different mindset about
how we deal with out airport. And simply because of the importance of the airport. It’s no longer
Bush Field, it’s Augusta Regional Airport that does that. We had a record number of deplanings
before in 2019 before the COVID hit. Secondly, we’ve had, got new flights to different areas that
are coming up such as we had to Dallas/Fort Worth and also we’re talking about DC so I think we
need to get up a different mindset about how we treat our airport. All entities that we are
responsible for doesn’t necessarily have to put money directly into what our coffers are but the
economic impact of the airport is unmistakable. So at this point I’d like, Mr. Mayor Pro Tem, I’d
like to ask Mr. Judon, our Airport Director, to give us a little feedback update on the viability of
what our airport provides for us, thank you.
Mr. Mayor Pro Tem: Okay, is Mr. Judon out there?
Mr. Judon: Yeah, can you hear me?
Mr. Mayor Pro Tem: Yes, sir, go ahead.
Mr. Judon: Good afternoon, Commissioners, it’s good to see you again. As Commissioner
Sias mentioned, yeah, the airport is a huge economic driver and in our most recent economic
impact report it showed the airport at about a $300 million dollar local economic impact. And of
course you know airports are always a huge factor in the recruitment of businesses and obviously
the quality of life. This airport report that you’ve been, I’ve been sending it to you for about the
49
last four or five months it’s actually a requirement per ordinance so it’s just a, this report that I
send you is kind of a snapshot of some of the highlights each month at the airport and it also
provides you some talking points as well in terms of what’s going on with the airport. What I
would like to do I know we don’t have a lot of time to get in the weeds today but what I would
love to do in the near future is to maybe have a separate meeting, a kind of an Airport 101, and we
can kind of talk about you know some of the airport’s goals and some of the airport’s operations
and some of the airport funds. But I will kind of briefly, you know, kind of just a real quick maybe
a one-minute kind of talk about airport finance. We do have, the airport is a peer enterprise and
so the FAA which is our governing our Federal Governing Authority requires airports to be as
self-sustaining as possible so airports should run like a business whenever feasible and we do that.
But some of the main revenue streams that we have here at Augusta Regional Airport one is called
AIP, Airport Improvement Program so this is the FAA grant that most commercial service airports
receive and this money is based on the number of in claimants that an airport has and there’s also
some discretionary funding. And one of the second major, these are a couple of examples but one
of the second major sources is PFC’s which are Passenger Facility Charges so whenever you
purchase an airline ticket there’s a $4.50 fee. It’s essentially a user fee that comes to the local
airport and its money we can utilize as well. And then the third example I’ll use is what’s called
a CFC and this also a user’s fee so whenever you rent a rental car it’s a $3.50 fee that the airport
receives. And there are other revenue streams too but I’ll use these as an example that they’re
good for us in terms of revenue production but they have restrictions. So for example the AIP and
the PFC they are primarily only able to be used for projects that deal with capacity enhancements,
safety, security, environmental, waste. The CFC is typically associated with improvements in the
rental car or the parking lots or something associated with that so they have certain restrictions.
So where we need help often times like so when the airport comes you know when we ask for
support through some of the various referendums it’s typically those gaps that we have where those
restricted funds won’t support a particular type of pursuit. And typically these are in areas where
we’re trying to create airport businesses or revenue producing type activities at the airport. These
are usually those things that are restricted in some of those other revenue streams that I talked
about. So and those things are very important especially and when you look at our airport you
know one of the things that are important for us is really to diversify our operations so for example
one of the revenue producing or business enhancements that we’re trying to do are build more
hangars. You know our current airplane hangars are to capacity but we’ve got businesses that
want to park their planes and utilize our airport but we don’t have hangar space right now so those
are the types of things, that’s an example of the types of projects that kind of fall in between the
gap. And if you think about, you know, I’ll give you some examples. If you think about aircraft
hangars it generates revenue for the airport but it also you know I see it also as a public good in
the sense that you know there are property taxes for that the structure that would go up, there would
be property taxes for the aircraft, there would be taxation on the field that’s purchased by aircraft
users although some of that is state and federal. And oftentimes users of these types of facilities
are kind of your movers and shakers that are using, you know, that are using these types of entities
so these are people that are probably bringing business in and out of your community. So those
are the types of things that again often times and airport the size of Augusta’s from a financial
standpoint it kind of those are kind of some of the gaps that we have from a financial standpoint.
So again I know I could talk all day about airports and again I’d love to do kind of an Airport 101
for the Commission in the next quarter but I can take any questions as well, sir.
50
Mr. Mayor Pro Tem: Do we have any questions?
Mr. Sias: And that concludes it from my perspective, Mayor Pro Tem. I just wanted to
bring that to attention and to our attention and continue to address it in the future.
Mr. Mayor: Got you. Anyone else, thank you, sir. Ms. Bonner, next one.
The Clerk: For procedural we’ll just receive this as information with no objection.
Mr. Mayor Pro Tem: Yes, ma’am, thank you. Let me ask a question. I think did
Commissioner Clarke you pulled Number 9, right?
The Clerk: He had 9, 11 and 13. Can they be companion items?
Mr. Mayor Pro Tem: That’s what I’m asking if they can, can we take all those at one, Mr.
Clarke?
Mr. Clarke: Yeah, we can do that all in one to expedite what I got to say.
Mr. Mayor Pro Tem: Okay, go ahead.
ADMINISTRATIVE SERVICES
9. Motion to approve the purchase of seven pickup trucks, at a total cost of $184,219 for
various general fund departments. Bid Item 20-265.
11. Motion to approve the lease of two sewer vacuum trucks for the Augusta Utilities
Department – Construction and Maintenance Division from Environmental Products of
Georgia in the amount of $829,894.00 and authorize the Mayor and Law Department to
execute any necessary documents.
13. Motion to approve the purchase of 27 replacement vehicles for the Sheriff’s Office at a
total of $885,438.00 from Thomson Motor Centre. Bid Item 20-242.
14. Motion to approve the lease of two sewer vacuum trucks for the Engineering Department
– Storm Water Division from Environmental Products of Georgia for Bid Item 20-261 in the
amount of $829,894.00 and authorize the Mayor and Law Department to execute any
necessary documents.
Mr. Clarke: Okay, on Number 9 we’re asking for, they’re asking for seven pickup trucks.
Two of the trucks they want to replace are relatively low mileage. But my thing is it seems like
we’re not using all of the vehicles that we’ve got in our fleet as it stands because and I’ll give you
a for instance. There’s a Ford Ranger pickup truck that’s assigned to Planning and Development
th
Inspection that’s been sitting at the curb at the corner of 6 and Greene since March. It’s been
sitting there so long the weeds have grown up through the concrete under it, sap has leaked down
over the hood of the truck until it’s terrible but yet we’re going to go out and buy more trucks. I
think what we need to do is look at our inventory closely before we approve any more vehicles on
this. Now Number 11 and 14 each department is asking to lease two vacuum trucks for
$829,894.00 each. My first questions is why do we want to go out and lease these vehicles when
we’ve got four vacuum trucks on inventory and two of them are 2017 models, the other two are
51
2019 models. So I want an answer as to why we’re going out and wanting to pay this kind of
money. And I don’t buy what the explanations that are given in this program. I just don’t go for
that at all.
Mr. Mayor Pro Tem: Okay, let me ---
Mr. Clarke: I’m telling you, you know we’ve got to be better stewards of the taxpayers’
money than this.
Mr. Mayor Pro Tem: --- hang on a second. Ms. Bonner, do we have anybody that can
address this?
The Clerk: Mr. Donald is here.
Mr. Donald: Yeah, I’m prepared to address those ---
Mr. Mayor Pro Tem: Okay.
Mr. Donald: --- Item Number 9 you know those pickup trucks when looking at the mileage
I think that first the Commissioner brings up a great point of being greater stewards of our finances
and ensuring that we’re reviewing these large purchases. I actually had a conversation and have
reviewed the supplemental documents that, you know, we’re actually a bit out of compliance with
our own mileage and retirement of vehicles. I don’t want to look up the statutes but policies and
so this helps us get a little bit more in line in that I initially did not until I reviewed the information
but I think the staff is correct here that, you know, the mileage that is placed on these vehicles and
the type of mileage that is placed on them is you know they’re run a little rougher than normal.
And we’re not talking about 100,000 miles, we’re talking about 200,000 miles in most of these
vehicles that we’re kind of stretching them to. In relation to the actual leases these are actually
(unintelligible) so these were leases that you already had in place and the request is to continue
those leases. So for us to actually step away and purchase those leased vehicles and equipment
requests would cost us a lot more than moving on with the lease so that’s why staff is
recommending (inaudible).
Mr. Clarke: Excuse me, you can go and buy a vacuum truck for around $275,000 $300,000
dollars and then you can send somebody to school to work on the things since you claim in here
we don’t have anybody qualified to work on them ---
Mr. Donald: But I had ---
Mr. Clarke: --- too expensive to work on it. So you know we got to come up with a better
answer than that. I just, you know, I just don’t buy that at all.
Mr. Donald: --- (inaudible).
Mr. Mayor Pro Tem: Hang on, okay, hang on a second. Anyone else want to get in on this
discussion? If not I’ll entertain a motion.
52
The Clerk: Okay, let me make sure we okay, Number 13 did we did you have questions
on that, Commissioner Clarke?
Mr. Clarke: No, because that’s already that was already and I know that’s a lost cause
because this is already in the SPLOST Program ---
The Clerk: Okay.
Mr. Clarke: -- but I would like to say that there are 25 or 26 beautiful Ford SUV’s sitting
up there with the Sheriff’s placket on them getting ready to hit the streets so congratulations to
that. I’m sure they’ll enjoy those.
The Clerk: Okay, all right, we need a motion, Mr. Mayor Pro Tem.
Mr. Mayor Pro Tem: Can I get a motion?
Mr. Clarke: I make a motion to deny.
Mr. Garrett: Second.
Ms. McKnight: Second.
The Clerk: Who was that, Mr. Garrett ---
Ms. McKnight: McKnight.
The Clerk: --- okay, well, we had two seconds then okay.
Mr. Mayor Pro Tem: So we have a motion to deny. We’re voting, Ms. Bonner.
The Clerk: Mr. Clarke.
Mr. Clarke: Yes.
The Clerk: Mr. Frantom.
Mr. Frantom: No, ma’am.
The Clerk: Mr. Garrett.
Mr. Garrett: Yes, ma’am.
The Clerk: Mr. Hasan.
Mr. Hasan: No, ma’am.
53
The Clerk: Mr. Johnson, Mr. Johnson, he’s muted.
Mr. Johnson: I’m going to get the hang of this thing one day, no, ma’am.
The Clerk: Okay, thank you, Ms. McKnight.
Ms. McKnight: Yes.
The Clerk: Ms. Scott.
Ms. Scott: Yes.
The Clerk: Mr. Sias, Mr. Sias, he’s out. Mr. Bobby Williams.
Mr. Williams: No, ma’am.
The Clerk: Mr. Dennis Williams, Mr. Dennis Williams, he’s out.
Mr. Sias and Mr. D. Williams out.
Mr. Frantom, Mr. Hasan, Mr. Johnson and Mr. B. Williams vote No.
Motion Fails 4-4.
Mr. Hasan: (Inaudible) to make a motion, Mayor Pro Tem?
Mr. Mayor Pro Tem: Okay, we can do that, Ms. Bonner?
The Clerk: Yes, sir, you can.
Mr. Mayor Pro Tem: Okay, let’s go Mr. Hasan.
Mr. Hasan: Yes, I’m going to put a caveat, make a motion to approve to the
Administrator but also in this motion you know look at our mileages on our vehicles because
we take the mileage that we go by. I’m going to separate the motion then the mileage that we
go by is outdated. It’s probably in place over 20 years so just look at that and revise that,
look at that and bring that back at a later date so I’m just going to make a motion to approve
this and also suggest that you look at our mileage and bring it up to today’s standards.
Mr. Donald: Could you give me a date on that (unintelligible).
Mr. Hasan: No, sir, (unintelligible).
Mr. Donald: Got it.
The Clerk: Okay, we need a second on that, Mr. Mayor Pro Tem.
54
Mr. Mayor Pro Tem: Need a second.
Mr. Frantom: Second.
Mr. Mayor Pro Tem: You got it.
The Clerk: Was that Mr. Frantom?
Mr. Mayor Pro Tem: Yeah.
The Clerk: Okay, all right, Mr. Clarke.
Mr. Clarke: No.
The Clerk: Mr. Frantom.
Mr. Frantom: Yes, ma’am.
The Clerk: Mr. Garrett.
Mr. Garrett: No.
The Clerk: Mr. Hasan.
Mr. Hasan: Yes, ma’am.
The Clerk: Mr. Johnson.
Mr. Johnson: Yes, ma’am.
The Clerk: Ms. McKnight.
Ms. McKnight: No, ma’am.
The Clerk: Ms. Scott.
Ms. Scott: Yes, ma’am.
The Clerk: Mr. Sias.
Mr. Sias: Yes, ma’am, I just got back in.
The Clerk: Okay, Mr. Bobby Williams.
Mr. B. Williams: Yes, ma’am.
55
The Clerk: Mr. Dennis Williams, he’s out. We’re voting for Items 9, 10, 13, 14 was a
review of our mileage policy.
Motion Passes 6-3.
Mr. Mayor Pro Tem: So where are we now, Ms. Bonner, is that it?
The Clerk: No, sir, we have one, let me see we have Number 20 ---
Mr. Mayor Pro Tem: Number 20
The Clerk: Commissioner Johnson had a question on this I believe.
Mr. Johnson: No, ma’am, I tried to consent this. Commissioner Hasan had a question.
The Clerk: Okay.
Mr. Mayor Pro Tem: --- hang on a second, hang on a second. I thought it was
Commissioner Garrett that pulled that one. It was Commissioner Johnson?
Mr. Johnson: Commissioner Hasan pulled that.
The Clerk: Mr. Hasan.
Mr. Mayor Pro Tem: All right, Commissioner Hasan, go ahead.
FINANCE
20. Motion to approve Cell Tower Audit & Valuation Contract with Cell Tower Solutions
for the auditing and valuation of all cell towers and related equipment in Richmond County.
RFP 20-279.
Mr. Hasan: Man, he left you a good stick didn’t he?
Mr. Mayor Pro Tem: He did.
The Clerk: And he’s using it.
Mr. Hasan: Mr. Administrator, per our conversation the other day we were talking about
putting these towers on the SPLOST I think in ’15 and we was talking about other development
entities like the School Board and hospitals and stuff being a part of potentially using our towers
you know and we generate some resources there. So I was asking has anybody been charged is
that happening and has anybody been designated to do thus far. Where are we on that?
Mr. Donald: So in looking at this one of the things that we talked about was adding such
an evaluation to this process and if not we would just go ahead and do it on our own but the short
56
answer is yes that has been made a priority for us to see if we can improve or increase our revenue
by having them added on as partners but it’s not fully addressing this RFP.
Mr. Hasan: Okay, okay, all right.
Mr. Donald: But yeah that or not currently. We think it’s something that can be potentially
added and if not that’s something that can be taken on in short order is what we do with our normal
processes in place so yes (inaudible).
Mr. Hasan: Who would take on that task would that be (unintelligible)?
Mr. Donald: It would be led through the Administrator’s Office so that I can make sure
we’ve got the checks and balances but it would actually be a couple of departments who we also
want to make sure Finance is involved, Finance, IT and other subject matter experts are involved
in that as well.
Mr. Hasan: All right, thank you, thank you, Mr. Chairman. Make a motion to
approve.
Mr. Sias: Second.
Mr. Mayor Pro Tem: All right, we’ve got a motion and a second. Voting, Ms. Bonner.
The Clerk: Mr. Clarke ---
Mr. Garrett: He’s gone.
The Clerk: --- he’s out, he’s checked out, Mr. Frantom.
Mr. Frantom: Yes, ma’am.
The Clerk: Mr. Garrett.
Mr. Garrett: Yes, ma’am.
The Clerk: Mr. Hasan.
Mr. Hasan: Yes, ma’am.
The Clerk: Mr. Johnson.
Mr. Johnson: Yes, ma’am.
The Clerk: Ms. McKnight.
Ms. McKnight: Yes, ma’am.
57
The Clerk: Ms. Scott.
Ms. Scott: Yes, ma’am.
The Clerk: Mr. Sias.
Mr. Sias: Yes, ma’am.
The Clerk: Mr. Bobby Williams.
Mr. B. Williams: Yes, ma’am.
The Clerk: Mr. Dennis Williams, out.
Mr. Clarke and Mr. D. Williams out.
Motion Passes 8-0.
Mr. Mayor Pro Tem: Is that it?
The Clerk: Let me do one quick check, well, we have Item 26.
Mr. Mayor Pro Tem: 26 okay.
Mr. Sias: Yep.
Mr. Mayor Pro Tem: All right, Sammie Sias, let’s go.
ENGINEERING SERVICES
26. Update from the Utilities Department on the Sanitary Sewer Connection Program – areas
serviced, scheduled areas, and future scheduled areas. (Requested by Commissioner Sammie
Sias.
Mr. Sias: Make that Commissioner, please, sir.
Mr. Mayor Pro Tem: Commissioner Sammie Sias, no problem.
Mr. Sias: Thank you, Mayor Pro Tem. This is one of our extremely important programs
that we’ve initiated in the city beginning back in mid-2015 and there were some questions that
came from our constituents about a couple of our neighborhoods and the fact that what we were
doing or why they had not received their complete area of this Sanitary Sewer Connection
Program. So what I did ask the Utilities Director to give us some information and an update on
that to answer this constituent’s concern. And as you know I’ve been very much involved in that
program and I look forward to bringing something to the Commission in a few months about how
we can really accelerate this program and move it forward. But at this time, Mayor Pro Tem, either
from the Administrator I’d like to ask Mr. Saxon to give us an update on the Utilities Department.
58
Mr. Mayor Pro Tem: All right, Mr. Administrator.
Mr. Donald: Yeah, I believe Mr. Saxon is here and we’ve got to bring him into the room
but I think Commissioner Sias kind of hit the nail on the head. I’ve kind of enjoyed learning about
this program and what we’re looking at is ways to further incentivize people to kind of join. One
of the questions that I’ve heard from different Commissioners and public folks is you know there’s
a large offset the city takes on in implementing this program with a nominal fee to our citizens but
over time not only do we recoup those funds while it does take us a while to do so the water quality
of it is probably something that we need to have per the conversation on because it’s the biggest
benefit to (unintelligible) in management. So I will defer to Director Saxon who I believe is in the
room now. I’m not sure I believe they brought him in.
Mr. Saxon: Yes, I’m here, can you hear me?
Mr. Donald: Yes, sir, you’re good to go.
Mr. Saxon: And I have Marie Corbin here as well. She’s our Assistant Director for our
Engineering group. Her group actually runs our Sanitary Sewer Connection Program so she’s
going to give you the update kind of where we are, where we’ve been and where we think we’re
going, so I’ll turn it over to her.
Ms. Corbin: Okay, so I’ve prepared the map and I’m going to try to share this with you
guys right now, give me one second. Okay, so this first map the original item was written to ask
us to kind of show you, you know, where we’ve been where we’re going and what we’ve done
already. So this first map here shows we started out with about 3,000 potential connections on our
list for the Sewer Connection Program and ask that people who have we believe have sewer in the
area and aren’t currently connected to sewer. Starting with that 3,000 we have determined that
about 1,490 of those either were already connected or we’ve connected them through the program.
So we’ve out of 3,000 we’ve taken the list we taken about 1,500 off the list and that’s what this
map illustrates for you. And I know it’s kind of a large scale but I just kind of wanted you with
the blue dots to get an idea of where we’ve been. We spent a lot of time you know throughout the
county, it’s not just in one area. Okay let’s see, the second map shows our current and upcoming
in process properties so currently in process we have about 393 properties that we’re looking at
and so some of them are in various stages of process. That means we’re going out we’ve gotten
paperwork back from the homeowners, we’re going out, we’re assessing the site, we’re making
sure we have a sewer tap in place. If we don’t we have to do that, we’re putting them into groups
that will go to Procurement to go out for bid to our plumbers who will actually do the work. So
you know we put them out to bid in various groups, we try grouping them together in something
that’s manageable for us to go through Procurement and then our plumbers can handle it so right
now this is what we have in progress. As you can see they’re necessarily grouped in one single
area and that’s just because you know we try to work in areas to kind of get benefit from being
near each other but at the same time you know we don’t necessarily get a lot in one area all the
time because people aren’t ready to connect or they don’t have taps so we do what we can and so
we have them all over the county. And my third map here to show you are the remaining possible
connections and so we have quite a few on this map. This is about and the numbers aren’t going
59
to add up to you but I’ll explain why. This is about 2,100 that are on the map here. We started
out with about 3,000 that we believed were possible but through just further assessment of our GIS
data and our metering data we’ve come up with more that may be possible. Now just because
there’s 2,100 on this map that doesn’t mean there are actually 2,100 that can be connected.
Through our processes of going out and looking at the site we may determine that you know gravity
wise we can’t connect them or there isn’t actually a sewer line there or in fact they’re already
connected to sewer in some way so these are just 2,100 that we have to take the manpower and
time to go to look at and assess. So you know we’ve made progress with the program but that’s
where we stand to date. You know we do have people who don’t want to connect or we have
people who are non-responsive to the program so we deal with that as well. But you know in the
areas that Commissioner Sias has definitely been advocating for we’ve gotten great participation
you know in some of the areas where we’re installing sewer or we’re looking to install sewer we
get a lot of interest in the program as well. Allen, did you want to add anything to that? I think
that kind of gives an overview about where we’ve been and what we’re doing right now and where
we’re going.
Mr. Saxon: No, I think that kind of brings you up to date as to where we are. The program
is a good program. It you know it kind of goes in spurts as to who we can get a cluster of people
who are interested and we can put together a project to make several connections at once; we have
to try to use our contractors wisely. But it is definitely an ongoing effort on our part, it’s something
we continue to promote and you know one of the things that this program gives us is a vehicle for
when we go into an area to install new sewers it gives a vehicle to maybe incentivize people to go
ahead and get connected if we’re going to cover the cost of banding the septic tank, rerouting their
house plumbing and tying into the sewer for $10.00 so that’s, that helps to hopefully get more
people connected than would have if they had to do all that themselves.
Mr. Sias: Mayor Pro Tem, may I close it up, Mr. Mayor Pro Tem, may I jump in?
Mr. Mayor Pro Tem: Go ahead, Mr. Sias then I’m coming to Mr. Garrett, go ahead.
Mr. Sias: All right, thank you. I just want to say yes, a lot of sewer work’s been done out
in District 3 I was presently out there watching them do that several years ago but one of the things
we’ll be talking about in the future is how do we put down more main lines. Those are a very
expensive projects but we can recoup our monies for doing this if we become a little bit more
innovative about how we do this process. It’s a needed process, businesses should not be opening
with septic tanks. There’s a dentist’s office that recently opened in South Augusta and they have
to have a septic tank with the uphill pump. That requires a lot of maintenance and a lot of stuff.
And we’ve been talking about trying to find a way to get those folks some public sewer. So again
we have so many areas in Richmond County and some within the old city limits where they do not
have sewers, public sewer and that is just a problem. So that’s something that I think we need to
continue to focus on and look at how we can improve that as we try to be a progressive city. So
I’ll be brining that back to the Administrator, Utilities and my colleagues as to how we can find a
good viable solution to continue to push this program forward. Thank you, sir.
Mr. Mayor Pro Tem: All right, thank you, Mr. Sias. Mr. Garrett, Commissioner from the
th
8.
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Mr. Garrett: Thank you, Mayor Pro Tem. Ya’ll can mark this date down on the calendar
that this is the date that I agree with Commissioner Sias on something.
Mr. Sias: You finally got smart.
Mr. Garrett: But you know looking at that map all you can see that in District 8 there’s
very little sewer access whatsoever and you know I was really hoping to see maybe a map for you
know just kind of showing where you’re wanting to go that way you know we can kind of go out
and start talking to the public to make sure that we have support. So you know we’ve got some
road projects coming up in our area. You know that’s always a great time to lay some lines so you
know just keep that stuff in mind; we definitely need to make a plan to extend our sewer. You
know even with all the developers in the area they come to me they’re like hey we want to build
you know you have great opportunities with land but we’re not going to come build a neighborhood
where everybody has to have a septic tank. They want sewer. So I’m really hoping that moving
forward this is going to be something we can actually have an active plan and move forward with
it.
Mr. Mayor Pro Tem: Okay thank you, any other discussion? Where are we, Ms. Bonner?
The Clerk: We just need to receive this as information, well, Ms. McKnight has her hand
up, sir.
Mr. Mayor Pro Tem: Okay, go ahead.
Ms. McKnight: Mr. Saxon, thank you. You and I had spoken I think a while back about
District 3 area (unintelligible) area that is on a lot of them are still on septic so like I said they just
wanted to kind of know people just wanted to know where this was. And I just wanted to thank
you so much for at least updating us on the septic and also with Commissioner Sias, thank you for
bringing this up today because there’s a lot of people in the area have been asking and just want to
be updated.
Mr. Saxon: Sure and I would say that just to let you know that is a fairly large area over
there that we’ve been looking at. It’s kind of a hole where there’s no sewer for some reason, we
don’t know why but there’s no sewer there. And so we’ve been looking at that and that project
has been, we’re actually actively having some design work done for that project but these projects
take a long time to develop and I’m talking several years and then you have to pay for them. And
this project I think is in the $20 million dollar plus range is our current estimate based on our
current state of design so it would have to be done in multiple phases over a number of years. So
when you get in these big areas it’s not a small undertaking to get sewer in place so but this program
actually gives us a tool to help get those people connected once we get the sewer in place as well.
Mr. Mayor Pro Tem: Gotcha, any other discussion, anybody? Where are we, Ms. Bonner?
The Clerk: To receive this as information with no objections.
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Mr. Mayor Pro Tem: Okay, no objections, we’ll receive this as information.
Mr. Garrett: Thank you guys.
The Clerk: Okay, we’re done.
Mr. Mayor Pro Tem: All right, one other announcement. Don’t forget about the 11:00
o’clock meeting tomorrow with the State Delegation.
The Clerk: Right.
Mr. Mayor Pro Tem: All right, and Ms. Bonner you say we can go we can go?
Mr. Sias: Hey, Mayor Pro Tem are we sending out a virtual notice for that or what?
The Clerk: Yes, sir. The IT will send out the lead Representative Howard and the Mayor’s
working on an agenda. We have not gotten that yet so we’ll send it out as soon as we receive it.
Mr. Sias: Ten four.
Mr. Mayor Pro Tem: All right, anything else? Have a good one.
The Clerk: You too, good night.
Mr. Mayor Pro Tem: Ms. Bonner ---
The Clerk: Yes, sir ---
Mr. Mayor Pro Tem: --- where do you want me to put my booklets?
The Clerk: --- just leave it (inaudible).
\[MEETING ADJOURNED\]
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
January 6, 2021.
______________________________
Clerk of Commission
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