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HomeMy WebLinkAboutCalled Commission Meeting August 19 2021 CALLED MEETING COMMISSION CHAMBER August 19, 2021 Augusta Richmond County Commission convened at 12:00 Noon, Thursday, August 19, 2021, the Honorable Hardie Davis, Jr., Mayor, presiding. PRESENT: Hons. B. Williams, Johnson, Frantom, Scott, McKnight, D. Williams, Hasan and Clarke, members of Augusta Richmond County Commission. ABSENT: Hons. Garrett and Sias, members of Augusta Richmond County Commission. Mr. Mayor: We’re going to call this meeting to order. I believe we have an agenda that was emailed out regarding the special called meeting. Madam Clerk, you’re recognized to read our agenda items. The Clerk: Okay. Mr. Mayor: Thank you. 1. Motion to adopt proposed 2021 Millage Rate Resolution. Mr. Mayor: The Chair recognizes Finance Director Williams. Ms. Williams: Yes, sir, good afternoon. Before you is the schedule of proposed millage rates that was put before you on August 3. We have completed the required advertisement, we have held the three required public hearings and a proper motion at this time would be to adopt these mill rates for the various taxing districts and to authorize Mr. Steven Kendrick to use those to compute the tax bills. There still is an approval process for the digest. They have to go to the Department of Revenue to get this finally approved but this would be the last action that this body would need to take. Mr. Mayor: All right, before we do that I’m going to recognize the Mayor Pro Tem for that motion but I’ll recognize Madam Clerk. The Clerk: Yes, sir, Mr. Mayor, just want to make sure that Ms. Williams is allowed to read the millage rates into the record so – Ms. Williams: Okay, the net millage rates for County General Fund M & O is 9.045. For the Urban Service District net M & O 4.845. The Capital Outlay fund .722. Fire Protection 1.967 and for the Blythe Fire District M & O 3.299. The Mayor: The Chair recognizes the Mayor Pro Tem for a motion. Mr. B. Williams: Motion to approve. Ms. Scott: Second. 1 Mr. Mayor: I have a motion and a second. Voting. Mr. Frantom votes No. Motion carries 7-1. Mr. Mayor: Item 2, Madam Clerk. 2. Motion to approve the Administrator’s proposed framework for administering the Augusta Rescue Plan (funded by the federal American Rescue Plan). The request includes pre-authorization to implement revenue recovery, Public Safety (includes coroner and staff), and premium pay provisions within the law to provide one-time pay supplements for public safety and one-time salary adjust of up to $15.00 per hour minimum and 2% increases to address compression with funding from the ARP of approximately $6.6 million in FY21 and $5.6 million in FY22, pending the issuance and concurrence of allowable expenditures with the ARP final rules by the US Treasury Department. Additionally, up to $1.5 million shall be allocated for vaccination incentives (vaccinations for up to 10,000 with $100 per person for dosage), and $500,000 for administrative support services through partnerships with public health providers, potential locations for City partners to provide outreach for education and vaccinations, and other reasonable activities and expenses for vaccine incentive implementation. Mr. Mayor: The Chair recognizes the Administrator. Mr. Donald: All right, good afternoon. Mr. Hasan: Mr. Mayor, a couple of commissioners want to call in. Mr. Mayor: Okay. The Chair recognizes the Parliamentarian regarding call ins. Would you turn your microphone on, please, sir? All right, the Chair recognizes the commissioner th from the 6. You have someone who wants to call in? Mr. Hasan: Yes, sir. Commissioner Brandon Garrett as well as Commissioner Sias. Mr. Mayor: All right. The Chair recognizes the Parliamentarian to speak to the matter. Mr. Brown: The rulings regarding Open Meetings Acts, O.C.G.A. 50-14-1 provides that commissioners may participate, or elected officials may participate in a meeting telephonically two times per year. The conditions in the absence of a medical emergency or a medical disability as certified by a doctor you only can participate two times per year. If in the absence of that medical condition of the member of the body then a person can participate those two times but they must be outside of the county in this instance in order to participate. You must be outside of the jurisdiction. You cannot be in Richmond County as a commissioner and participate in a telephonic meeting when the meeting is announced and publicized as being physically held. Mr. Hasan: Thank you. 2 Mr. Mayor: Thank you. Mr. Brown: So Mr. Garrett can participate if he has not participated two times in this calendar year and if he is outside of Richmond County. If he is within Richmond County he is not qualified. It would be a violation of Open Meetings if he participates inside of Richmond County. This is not Augusta rule. This is a rule that’s governed by state law and the county does not have authority to make a rule contrary to this. Mr. Hasan: What about Commissioner Sias? You mentioned Commissioner Sias. What’s the problem with that? Mr. Brown: You would need to inquire of the, I am aware of one instance two days ago where he participated telephonically which was permitted. You would need now to inquire of your Clerk to search the records to see if he has participated any other time in this calendar year. If he has participated twice in this calendar year, he will be disqualified from participating again telephonically during this calendar year. Mr. Hasan: So, Mr. Mayor, can I do a follow up with that? When you say a meeting, our EMS meeting, I think many of us was there. He participated telephonically so that will count as one of those terms as well, correct? Mr. Brown: The Open Meetings Act do not distinguish between what meeting that a person attends as long as it’s a meeting of the agency and the agency is defined under Open Records as a city or a county or any political subdivision so if that meeting was a meeting authorizing sanctions up under this government it will be counted as a meeting that he has attended. I don’t know if he has participated in another meeting, been absent and participated telephonically other than once but if he has done so twice this year, he would not be qualified to do so again. Mr. Hasan: Well, I can vouch for the other one this year because I was the Chairman of that. Mr. Brown: Yes, sir. Mr. Mayor: Anyone else? I have no idea. I have no idea of where he is. This is new information for me. I’m receiving this at the same time that you all are. No one has called me. th I understand. All right, the Chair recognizes the commissioner from the 7. Mr. Frantom: A question for the Attorney, I guess. I don’t mean to go back but I’m just asking for clarification. Does, since there was a votes on Tuesday and we don’t know whether they’re in Richmond County or not does any of those votes not valid now or does that not matter now, I guess my question. Mr. Brown: Yes, sir. Could you name who you’re referring to? 3 Mr. Frantom: Well, we had Commissioner Sias on the phone on Tuesday and he voted in multiple things and I guess I’m just asking is it – Mr. Brown: The same rule was explained and my understanding according to information provided to the Clerk that he was outside of the county as well as Commissioner Johnson who was here and I guess the Board, the Chairman, if the Chairman wishes could inquire of Commissioner Johnson if the Chair so wishes to do so. Mr. Frantom: Okay. Mr. Brown: Or fellow commissioners. Mr. Frantom: My reason is to the item, are we still moving forward with the item? Mr. Mayor: What item are you referring to, Commissioner? Mr. Frantom: The one on the screen. Mr. Mayor: Okay. Your question for the Chair is – Mr. Frantom: Are we moving forward so I can ask my questions around this item or what are we doing? Mr. Mayor: Well, right now our posture is we were trying to get clarity on the ability of individuals to participate in said meeting telephonically or some manner other than being in person. I believe the Parliamentarian has ruled on that and if there are no other questions related to that then we’ll move forward with Administrator Donald sharing what he has provided us regarding this. All right, there being no other questions, Administrator Donald. Okay, everyone just pause. The Chair recognizes Madam Clerk. The Clerk: Yes, sir, and this is in response to a question Commissioner Frantom had or a statement he made relative to the attendance of Commissioner Sias and Jordan Johnson on Tuesday. For the record Commissioner Johnson did indicate to me that he was out of state. Commissioner Sias, however, did not identify to me if he was in jurisdiction or out of jurisdiction so I just want to clarify that for the record and neither did I ask. I didn’t ask Commissioner Johnson and he told me so just for the record we just need that clarification noted. Mr. Mayor: Thank you. Are there any other questions related to this matter? The Chair recognizes Attorney Brown. Mr. Brown: In the instance if it comes to light that Commissioner Sias was traveling but not outside of the county, then if he voted during that period of time that vote would be nullified because he would not have been in attendance. If I recall correctly, I do not believe there was a decision made during the, on the matters of which that was voted upon therefore it would not be an action to be reversed. However it is important and it is not new, it is well established Commission has previously been advised through the former General Counsel of these 4 requirements. If you are going to vote telephonically and if it is a physical meeting, you must be outside of the county unless there is a health reason that must be certified in writing by a doctor. Mr. Mayor: Are there any questions related to this matter? Mr. Brown: Mr. Mayor, let me go ahead and clear it so that maybe the Commission can move on with a sense of peace about this matter. There was another issue that arose that I made a ruling on on Tuesday regarding calling in, being off the phone and calling back in within one meeting. My ruling was that the privileges of a person who participates in a meeting telephonically are the same as those that are physically present. I have done that research and that is supported by the Open Meetings Act. The Open Meeting Act only in one place ever defines what participation telephonically means and it is clearly stated that a member who is participating in a physical meeting by teleconference have the same rights and privileges as the members who are participating physically. So I’m reconfirming the ruling that was made Tuesday. So if a commissioner calls in and you get cut off, you are traveling, you are disconnected, you hang up, you can come back into a meeting as long as that meeting has not been adjourned. If that meeting has been adjourned and the Commission decides to come back in session, your meeting is over. If you call in after it has been adjourned, if it’s reconvened, then you are entering a second meeting but as long as the meeting has not been adjourned, a commissioner can call in, go off the phone, leave the meeting and come back into the meeting just as a commissioner who sits on the dias can leave this meeting, go to another meeting and come back in and vote. th Mr. Mayor: All right, the Chair recognizes the commissioner from the 9. Ms. Scott: Yes, Mr. Mayor, may I ask the attorney a question? Mr. Mayor: Please do. Ms. Scott: Mr. Attorney, when you said medical emergency is it for the commissioner or could it be a family member as well with documentation? Mr. Brown: The Open Meetings Act only addresses the health of the member. It does not exclude other possibilities but all we can know according to the directive is the member’s health that makes the member physically unable to attend the meeting and the doctor certifies it. This is, since the Open Meetings Act does not address exactly what you said, we have to take it for what it says. Mr. Mayor: Thank you, Parliamentarian. I believe we are ready to proceed. The Chair recognizes Administrator Donald. Mr. Donald: All righty, well, good afternoon, Honorable Mayor and Commission. For this item since we had quite a bit of conversation related to the last meeting, just put together a quick document to ensure that the areas for which you were most concerned were addressed and so I think we have addressed that in the motion but I’ve also provided a brief memorandum that breaks that information down. I’ll quickly go over those things and there is one area to provide some clarity because it’s just copied and pasted out of one of our charts. While it would likely not 5 cause you any heartburn, we definitely want to make sure for the public we have any clarifications. So the first thing is all of this information is based off of the extremely detailed presentation that we did on July 21 which broke down the three pronged framework that we are proposing to implement. The Augusta Rescue Plan again high level, take care of your home first with internal priorities and initiatives government to government, etc., etc. The second pronged approach is to release funds into the community that are focused on the areas allowable under the American Rescue Plan and then the third prong of that is to have allocations for which the final say could be coordinated via the Commission for specific projects. Under that the Commission identified two areas that are extremely important and should be made priority and that is public safety and welfare ensuring that our front-line workers who are delivering services in the midst of this public health emergency are appropriately incentivized and compensated and then secondly, ensuring that the vaccination status of our community increases from the low rates that we have seen early on. As such with the framework not being in question but the information that has been focused on the Vax Up campaign and details around public safety pay included a detailed memorandum. I’ll just highlight that the keys of it are is that those who become fully vaccinated as defined currently and/or in the future will receive a $100 incentive once vaccinations are complete and an affirmative vote by the Commission has been had. That is the period of performance and the allowable time frame. As such if you were to have an affirmative vote today then the eligibility period starts today and once we roll out the program those who have become fully vaccinated today and beyond would be eligible. Second piece of that that where most of the conversation came in was around the half a million dollars allocated to implementation. It is basically based on quick math also best practices and agreements that are already in place. I think I highlighted and spoke mostly about the University of, not University, I’m sorry, the Athens Clark County model in which they like we are proposing would partner with health entities. The best example is the Department of Health and we are both in speedy negotiations with to be able to implement this program where it would be $50 for an administrative fee. There was some confusion previously where people saw the word salary, space, etc. and there were some questions around whether that is the City of Augusta hiring people or doing any of that. That is absolutely not the case. That $50 administrative fee we listed those items because using the Department of Health as an example they have to have an allowable list of costs for which they will be able to assign those fees for so you could imagine their folks are going to be working overtime, they’re going to have additional space that they’ll need, materials, etc., etc., so all of those allowable costs need to be able to be reimbursed through that one-time $50 fee from us. As such the motion has been changed to specify that it is an administrative fee but we want to make sure our documentation for when we submit this stuff to the US Treasury for which we will all be audited around the country it’s clear that those were allowable costs and so I think that should resolve any issues from the Commission there. In addition to that the second question or broad question was around public safety and premium pay and those provisions and so while we are asking for pre-authorization because again this is based on the allowability of the law. Unlike vaccinations how we administer public safety pay and premium pay is not as clear in the law as the vaccination incentive and public health are and so we are asking for that pre-authorization. In addition to that we have broken down how we would be able to deliver those payments and what the cost is for the Augusta, Georgia government. What you will see in the breakdown is that those costs increase slightly so if you were willing to approve this proposal I think we listed the 5.6 and 6.6 as you’ll see it goes up to 6,650,451 and then the 5.6 goes up to 5,683,101. Those are the costs once we include the Coroner and shore up those numbers as requested by the Commission on Tuesday. There is one other area that I just wanted to highlight. 6 On page two at the very bottom it says with Code Enforcement from July proposal and Coroner added at the 2500 which is the same as public safety. It reads clear to me but I just want to make sure that you were clear that Code Enforcement is listed already in the proposal so they would not be added at $2500 per and that is not their one-time payment but the Coroner is and just wanted to make sure we clarified that so there’s no confusion. Based on the grammatic it’s clear but we just wanted to make sure there was no confusion on that so it just includes Code Enforcement. As you might imagine we play with a ton of scenarios to figure it out so that’s just a delineation internally for staff. Finally to make sure we’re crystal clear you will see that the impacted employees there is a chart at the end that just breaks down so you will see that everyone that you desire is included in those broad categories and the asterisk is basically to highlight that those are not sworn and so they get the part-time, the same as the part-time officers under those constitutional and elected officials offices so I think we have resolved each and every one of the concerns that were identified by the Mayor and Commission on Tuesday and as such that ends my presentation to the Commission. Mr. Mayor: Thank you, Administrator Donald. The Chair recognizes the commissioner thth from the 7 and then I’ll go to the 10. Mr. Frantom: Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Administrator Donald, I appreciate your documentation here and I more appreciate the conversation we had today of 20 to 30 minutes about this issue. As you talked about the percentage of people in Richmond County that got the first shot that hadn’t gotten the second and how this would hopefully push the needle over on some of them to get the second shot. My question is we talked about the weekly DPH feedback of how things are going to you and then you talked about how every month we get kind of like an audited number kind of thing. If in 90 days we see that this hadn’t been effective and I’m talking about the $100 piece, can we pivot as a government or are we locking in, I mean we talked about the six months’ timeframe that you had mentioned, can we pivot in 90 days if we see that this is not being effective? Mr. Donald: I think you could. I think you can pivot at any time that you want and what factors you determine. I think if you ask we could make a recommendation or if it’s the will of the Commission to evaluate and pivot, yes, sir, you could. Whether it be 30 days, 60 days, 90 days or in six months at any time this is just your allocation the same way you would with your annual budget if you wanted to adjust the budget and do a budget amendment and change direction, you can do so with these funds as well. It simply means that we have to document it and update our reporting and information that we provide to the Treasury. Mr. Frantom: Okay. I understand that like once the vote has taken place if it was to pass today like things would go implemented into place like the gift card piece, from our standpoint as a city and Vax Augusta, whatever the campaign is, what is the timeframe do you think it would take for implementation of something? Mr. Donald: That’s a great question. We actually have, we spoke to the Department of Public Health today, we have another conversation with them as they would be the primary holder of information and our primary partner we would be bringing back a Memorandum of Understanding, we’re kind of lockstep with our partners in Athens and we’ll be presenting them 7 the draft this week and then they would be giving us feedback hopefully bringing it back before the Commission in another week or so so that you can implement the MOU unless you can provide some sort of emergency authorization today. After that we would then provide the funding to the Department of Health and they would be responsible as our intermediary so I would think no more than about three weeks is about the timeframe but those vaccination, those citizens interested in vaccination, once you raise your hand into the affirmative, they would be eligibly today so we want them to go ahead and get their shots and we will publicly be releasing information on how they can access their incentive. Mr. Frantom: And I guess the last comment or just for clarity is that DPH would handle the handing out of the gift cards, there’s forms, there’s process, there’s accountability there if those people do get that second shot, after they get the second shot. Mr. Donald: Yes, sir, and if you don’t mind, could I speak on that just quickly? Mr. Frantom: Sure. Mr. Donald: So that’s very important and the reason we would be using an intermediary like that remember we don’t have the capacity to deliver any of those health services but based on these federal funds, you know if it’s not documented, it didn’t happen and so what DPH would be providing is the affidavit that has to be completed by every Richmond County resident. They also have the system that tracks the vaccinations as well as tracking the actual acceptance of the gift card and so that documentation meets the letter of the law for US Treasury and so as our intermediary or other intermediaries I think we talked about, goodness I listed the others in here that we have agreements with although we are moving quickly to partner with all of those medical entities they would all have the same requirements but yes, sir. Mr. Frantom: Thank you, Mayor. Thank you, sir. th Mr. Mayor: The Chair recognizes the commissioner from the 10. Mr. Clarke: Thank you, Mr. Mayor. I want to publicly state again I want everybody in this city to be vaccinated and I want everybody in this city to be protected against COVID-19 and the variant. Just because some people share different opinions, I love the way the blame game and the shame game goes into effect. That’s sad. I think it’s also sad that when you have to tempt people to save their life to offer them a mere $100 to save their life. That’s kind of placing a low threshold of life. Once again I want everybody to be vaccinated. Commissioner McKnight and I sponsored vaccine clinics that were very successful. We’ll do that again. I don’t like the way that this item is frameworked. You vote for all of it or you vote for none of it. I want the raises to go into effect, I want our public safety people to be taken care of. I am ready to vote on that. But if we cannot take these items as an individual item and vote on it individually I have to vote and maintain no. That’s all I’ve got to say, Mr. Mayor. Thank you. Mr. Mayor: The Chair recognizes the Mayor Pro Tem. 8 Mr. B. Williams: Yes, sir, just a comment. Mr. Administrator and to Mr. Frantom, he did say something about maybe pivoting in about 90 days or what have you but I think if we do that we need to find out what we’re going to decide is a success. 20%, 30%, 10% of folks get a shot or those vaccinated or unvaccinated so I agree with him. I just think that we need to decide what’s a success. Thank you. th Mr. Mayor: The Chair recognizes the commissioner from the 6. Mr. Hasan: Thank you, Mr. Mayor. I’d just like to add I heard the Administrator mention in his presentation just now if I’m correct, Mr. Administrator, I think you said you need authorization you’re going to meet with DPH and you’ll get an MOU and we may have an emergency meeting and if that’s correct, Mr. Mayor, I’d like this body to also include in this motion here to allow once the MOU is drafted just to send us out a copy and the attorney look at it and we go ahead on and approve this without actually having to convene because I think three weeks is just too long plus they have to wait and come back and approve this to get started. You want to expedite the process and whatever that looks like give them authorization, Mr. Mayor, for yourself, the attorney and the Administrator to go ahead and get this done. I’d like to add that to this motion. Mr. Mayor: The Chair recognizes the Administrator. Mr. Donald: Yeah, I’d recommend if you do that it would be for the Mayor to execute under Legal’s advisement and again we have a draft that is being utilized by the consolidated government of Athens-Clark County and DPH that we’re working with them on but I think you would need to allow the Mayor to execute and allow Legal to ensure that it meets legal sufficiency. Mr. Hasan: Yes, sir, that’s my intent but to go ahead, Mr. Mayor, and not have to reconvene and we do that if we can keep moving. rd Mr. Mayor: The Chair recognizes the commissioner from the 3. Ms. McKnight: Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Again we’re back here today with this item which like Commissioner from district 10 said there’s three parts in this item that are lumped together and if I had to vote I definitely would support this $15 per hour minimum absolutely but the other, first part of it, second part of it, the $100 I can’t vote there and these are entirely two different items lumped together as one so it puts us, puts a few of us in a situation you know for the citizens of Augusta to say well, hey, why didn’t you support, well, I wanted to support the $15.00 per hour but yet I didn’t want to support the other part so it kind of puts us in a tough situation here and I’d like to make a motion to separate these items please. Mr. Clarke: Second. Mr. Hasan: Mr. Mayor, I’d like to make a substitute motion to approve with that addition of what we just spoke about to this about the MOU, a motion to approve. Mr. Johnson: Second. 9 Mr. Mayor: All right, I’ve got a substitute motion with the appropriate amendment to adopt the caption item two. Voting. Mr. Clarke and Ms. McKnight vote No. Motion carries 6-2. Mr. Mayor: Madam Clerk, I believe that’s all the business before us today. The Clerk: Yes, sir. Mr. Mayor: This meeting is adjourned. \[MEETING ADJOURNED\] Lena J. 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 Called Meeting of the Augusta Richmond County Commission held on August 19, 2021. ________________________ Clerk of Commission 10