HomeMy WebLinkAboutRegular Commission Meeting January 19, 2021
REGULAR MEETING VIRTUAL/TELECONFERENCE
JANUARY 19, 2021
Augusta Richmond County Commission convened at 2:00 p.m., January 19, 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, okay, Madam Clerk, all right, we are we’re ready here to proceed
and all right I think we’ve got everybody here. Madam Clerk, if you’re ready I’m ready to call
this meeting to order, the January 19, 2021 the second Commission meeting of the year. We do
call this meeting to order.
The Clerk: Are you ready?
Mr. Mayor: Yes, Madam Clerk, I’m ready. I’m just printing out ---
The Clerk: Okay.
Mr. Mayor: --- (unintelligible).
The Clerk: Okay.
Mr. Mayor: All right, Madam Clerk, let’s do this so we can try to move expeditiously.
Let’s, I don’t know if everybody’s had a chance to read the Addendum Agenda proposal so,
Madam Clerk, if you could just again let’s read that first so that we can adopt that hopefully without
objection. I don’t know if everybody’s had a chance to read it but if we can adopt that without
objection we can proceed.
The Clerk: Hear no objections, sir.
Mr. Mayor: All right, no objection, all right, all right. Okay, all right, Madam Clerk, the
Chair recognizes Madam Clerk.
The Clerk: At this time we will have our invocation and Pledge of Allegiance would you
please stand.
The invocation was given by Lena J. Bonner, Clerk of Commission.
The Pledge of Allegiance to the Flag of the United States of America was recited.
Mr. Mayor: All right, Madam Clerk, we’ve got a couple of things in front of us this
morning. Out of a desire to try to move along expeditiously I do know that we have Mr. Miller
Edwards from Mauldin and Jenkins who’s here to present the audit results from 2019 this afternoon
that’s Item Number 23 on the agenda. So I just want to make everyone aware that Miller Edwards
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is here and at the appropriate time we’re going to call them up that they might be heard. At this
point, Madam Clerk, I’ll turn it over to you. We’ve got recognitions and let’s do that and then we’ll
move into the Consent Agenda.
The Clerk: Thank you, I call your attention to our Recognition portion of our agenda.
RECOGNITIONS
2020 Training for Life Award for Augusta Parks and Recreation
A. Kevin Enright (Special Olympics Georgia) will present the 2020 Training for Life Award
to the Augusta Parks and Recreation Department.
Mr. Mayor: Kevin is joining us virtually, he is here. Mr. Enright, welcome and thank you
for joining us today for the Training for Life Award for Augusta Parks and Recreation. Again we
didn’t get an opportunity to do this in 2020 but we’re excited that you’re here with us presenting
today. You have five minutes again.
Mr. Enright: Thank you. Thank you, Commissioners. The Training for Life Award was
established to recognize Recreation Departments that helped with Special Olympics Georgia. I
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have just started my 26 year with Special Olympics Augusta Stars and when I wrote this
nomination I realized that nobody had nominated Augusta Recreation and Parks Department in the
26 years I’ve been doing it. I use the Brigham Pool every year, I use Garrett Gym, I use Warren
Road Gym. I also know that Richmond County Schools does their area basketball games at Warren
Road skills and that the Augusta Recreation staff volunteer at the Richmond County area games
so this award was long overdue. The staff at Recreation and Parks treat my athletes with total
respect. They help out when they’re needed. They just I think they go out of their way but so as
I said this was long overdue. And another thing is the staff often tell other people about our
program and so we get staff we get volunteers and athletes out of that so it’s a two-way street for
us. And I just appreciate that I get to have the time to recognize everybody with the Recreation
and Parks Department. They’ve helped us be a success for the last 25-years plus and I hope that
we get to get back into those facilities and start training again so thank you.
Mr. Mayor: Thank you, Kevin, absolutely. We look forward for everyone being able to
get back into the facilities. We want to applaud the work that you’re doing for Special Olympics
and the Augusta Recreation and Parks Department kudos to you for receiving this. I’m going to
take an opportunity to hear from our Recreation and Parks Director who may want to say just a
few words regarding this. Mr. McDowell, again this is an opportunity to speak with regards to the
award.
Mr. McDowell: Right again thank you, Mr. Mayor and to the Commission, we are deeply
honored and humbled by this recognition. Kudos to staff and all the hard work that they do to
partner with different entities and agencies to highlight the success of Augusta and what we have
and what we have to offer to all entities that are willing to partner with us. This has been a long-
standing relationship. We continue to look forward to many more of years to come in working
with Special Olympics and making this event a truly prize and treasure for the City of Augusta.
So again, all kudos go to staff and thank you, Mr. Mayor, thank you to the Commissioners and to
the Administrator for allowing me to be a director of a great department. We have our challenges
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but we’re meeting those and this is just indicative of the men and women that work at that
department and the greatness that comes from that department. So again, thank you and again
thank you to the Georgia Special Olympics for this recognition.
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Mr. Mayor: Thank you, Commissioner from the 3.
Ms. McKnight: I didn’t have anything to say.
Mr. Mayor: Okay, all right, Administrator Donald.
Mr. Donald: No other comments other than kudos to the Director and his team and his
group and I think it’s an extraordinary accomplishment for that team but also to the Augusta
Commission.
Mr. Mayor: All right, fantastic and again congratulations to our entire Recreation and
Parks staff. Kevin, thank you for considering our city and our team to make this possible for us
and again thank you.
Mr. Enright: Thank you for the time, Mr. Mayor.
Mr. Mayor: All right, Madam Clerk.
The Clerk: Mr. Mayor if I could please on our Consent Agenda if I could just acknowledge
the Planning Petitions and if we could ask Director Sherman to affirm if there are objectors or no
objectors.
Mr. Mayor: Absolutely.
The Clerk: Okay, I will start with:
Item 3: Is a request for a Special Exception for property known as 4767 Mike Padgett
Highway.
Item 4: Is a request for a change of zoning from a Zone A (Agriculture) to a Zone HI
(Heavy Industry) affecting property known as 1351 Majestic Skies Way.
Item 5: Is a request for a change of zoning from a Zone A (Agriculture) and a Zone B-1
(Neighborhood Business) to a B-2 (General Business) affecting property at 827, 831 and 835 Scott
Nixon Memorial Drive.
Item 6: Is a request for a change of zoning from a Zone B-2 (General Business) to a Zone
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PUD (Planned Unit Development) affecting property on Greene Street, Twelfth Street and 11
Street.
Item 7: Is a request for a change of zoning from a Zone A (Agriculture to a Zone R-1 (One-
family Residential) affecting property known as 2111 Powell Road, 1901 Powell Road and 1945
Powell Road.
Item 8: Is a request for a Special Exception affecting property known as 2111 Powell Road.
Item 9: Is a request for a Special Exception affecting property known as 4323 Windsor
Spring Road.
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The Clerk: And we ask Mr. Sherman if there are any objectors in the common space to
these Planning Petitions.
Mr. Mayor: All right, Madam Clerk, hopefully Director Sherman is, okay there he is, he’s
downstairs. All right, Director Sherman.
Mr. Sherman: Ms. Bonner, Mayor and Commissioners, there are no objectors present. If
I could mention one thing before you proceed I need to make a couple of comments about Z-21-
04 there’s some conditions in there, there are three conditions that I need to correct.
Mr. Mayor: Director Sherman ---
Mr. Sherman: Yes, sir.
Mr. Mayor: --- okay please proceed, tell us what those conditions are.
Mr. Sherman: Okay, on Z-21-04 there are 17 conditions but on #3 it says the overall
density shall not exceed 40 units per acre not 38 so the 38 should be changed to 40. Number 6 a
minimum of 10% of the site shall be dedicated to open space not 18% and #7 the maximum lot
coverage, the maximum lot coverage shall be 90% which does not include parking and similar
surface improvements not 80%.
The Clerk: So that’s 40 units on 3 and #6 10% and #7 90% Mr. Sherman?
Mr. Sherman: Yes, ma’am.
Mr. Hasan: Mr. Mayor, can I ask a question around this?
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Mr. Mayor: Hold on just one second, Commissioner from the 6 just hold for a moment,
Director Sherman, are there any other changes to the remaining conditions?
Mr. Sherman: No, sir, that’s all.
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Mr. Mayor: All right, Commissioner from the 6.
Mr. Hasan: Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Director Sherman, in terms of these changes you just
suggested what was the overall reasons for making these changes?
Mr. Sherman: This was discussed at the Planning Commission Meeting and it was during
the discussion it was to correct the numbers that were included in the staff report so these numbers
are the accurate and correct numbers.
Mr. Hasan: Okay, also I just noticed here and I’m going from memory at this point in
terms of parking space have you made a revision I think we’ve also suggested it in terms of the
amount of parking spaces for residents or apartments or what have you normally you know
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sometimes we go 2 ½ sometimes we go 2-car households, I think you want a little less than this
on this particular reason. Have we changed our overall strategy about how many parking spaces
we need?
Mr. Sherman: No, we have not, now this property in the area downtown that is actually
exempt from the parking requirements however whenever we have a development like this that
we’re reviewing we tell the developer even though you may be exempt we want to know where
people are going to park. And in this case they have 140 units and they’re providing 190 spaces
on site and the units are ranging from one and two bedroom and studio apartments.
Mr. Hasan: Okay, did ya’ll discuss any at all about the price point of these? I know we’re
not having necessarily investing but what are the price for them?
Mr. Sherman: No, sir, I do not have that and I believe the applicant may be online and can
answer those questions for you. Jeff, do you see anyone from ATC Development, Woody
Balangia?
Mr. Lewis: I’m looking for the list right now.
Mr. Hasan: If you don’t have him online that’s okay I just wondered ---
Mr. Lewis: Don’t see anybody.
Mr. Hasan: --- okay, thank you, Mr. Mayor, thank you.
Mr. Mayor: Continue, Madam Clerk.
The Clerk: Our Consent Agenda consists of Items 1 through 11 with no objectors to any
of our Planning Petitions also with the noted corrections by Director Sherman to Item Number 6.
Mr. Mayor: Thank you, Madam Clerk, all right I appreciate that. At this point I want to
take an opportunity to entertain additional items for the Consent Agenda. Madam Clerk, let me
put out on the table just a few while I’m here. Item Number 12, Item Number 16, 17, 21, 22, 24
and 27 for consent.
Mr. Hasan: Mr. Mayor, 22 needs to be discussed, I mean did you say 20?
Mr. Mayor: No, sir. I said 12, 16, 17, 21, 22, 24 and 27.
Mr. Hasan: Thank you, Mr. Mayor (unintelligible) thank you.
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Mr. Mayor: Yes, sir, Commissioner from the 10.
Mr. Clarke: I’d like to add Number 18 please.
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Mr. Mayor: Commissioner from the 1.
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Mr. Johnson: I’d like to add Number 24.
Mr. Mayor: 24 ---
Mr. Johnson: Yes, sir ---
Mr. Mayor: --- I think I included that one.
Mr. Johnson: --- you did include 24, okay.
Mr. Mayor: Yes, sir.
Mr. Johnson: Thank you.
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Mr. Mayor: Commissioner from the 4.
Mr. Sias: Yes, sir, I would like to pull #2 and #9.
The Clerk: Number 2 and Number 9.
Mr. Sias: Yes, ma’am.
Mr. Mayor: The Chair will entertain a motion.
The Clerk: Mr. Mayor, is there any consideration for Number 3 on the Addendum Agenda?
Mr. Mayor: Thank you, Madam Clerk. Yes, Number 3 Addendum Agenda, okay.
The Clerk: That’s a grant award to purchase a K-9 pre-trained dog for the Richmond
County Sheriff’s Office.
Mr. Mayor: Yes, ma’am, thank you.
Mr. Clarke: Motion to approve.
Mr. Garrett: Second.
CONSENT AGENDA
PLANNING
1. An Ordinance to amend Title Eight, Chapter 1, Article 1 of the Augusta GA Code entitled
“Flood Damage Prevention” to provide for revisions as required by the State Model Flood
Damage Prevention Ordinance, additions to clarify language in the text, and additional
revisions to reduce flood risk, in keeping with the City of Augusta’s participation in the
National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) and the Community Rating System (CRS). The
update covers criteria for accessory structures and agricultural structures.
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3. Z-21-01 – A request for concurrence with the Augusta Planning Commission to approve
with the conditions below a petition by Cellco Partnership (d/b/a Verizon Wireless), on
behalf of William Joseph Wilson, Sr., requesting a Special Exception to establish a 195 ft.
monopole telecommunications tower per Section 28-A-5 (A) and 28-A-6 of the
Comprehensive Zoning Ordinance for Augusta Georgia affecting property containing
approximately .50 acre and known as part of 4767 Mike Padgett Highway. Part of Tax Map
302-0-009-00-0 DISTRICT 8. 1. Issuance of development permits shall be contingent upon
submission of plans meeting engineering, environmental, and all other pertinent
development regulations. 2. The total height of the tower cannot exceed 199 feet, including
the lighting rod. 3. This project shall comply with all development standards and regulations
set forth by the City of Augusta, GA at the time of development.
4. Z-21-02 – A request for concurrence with the Augusta Planning Commission to approve
with the conditions below a petition by Diane Johnston, on behalf of Herbert Judon Jr.,
requesting a change of zoning from A (Agriculture) to Zone HI (Heavy Industry) affecting
property containing 16.79 acres and known as 1351 Majestic Skies Way. Tax Map 146-4-
001-00-0 DISTRICT 1 1. This development shall substantially confirm to the concept plan
filed with this application. 2. All new streets must meet the minimum specifications of
Augusta Engineering and Fire Departments. 3. This project shall comply with all
development standards and regulations set forth by the City of Augusta, GA at the time of
development.
5. Z-21-03 – A request for concurrence with the Augusta Planning Commission to approve
with the conditions below a petition by Henry Henderson requesting a change of zoning from
Zone A (Agriculture) and Zone B-1 (Neighborhood Business) to Zone B-2 (General Business)
affecting property containing 2.09 acres and known as 827,831 & 835 Scott Nixon Memorial
Drive. Tax Map 022-0-003-03-0, 022-0-003-01-0 & 022-0-003-00-0 DISTRICT 3 1. This
development shall substantially confirm to the concept plan filed with this application. 2. No
outdoor storage of supplies or equipment. 3. A 6’ solid board fence shall be applied along
abutting shared property lines with residential uses. 4. This project shall comply with all
development standards and regulations set forth by the City of Augusta, GA at the time of
development.
6. Z-21-04 – A request for concurrence with the Augusta Planning Commission to approve
with the conditions below a petition by ATC Development, on behalf of Berger & Smith LLC
requesting a change of zoning from Zone B-2 (General Business) to Zone PUD (Planned Unit
Development) affecting property containing 17 tax parcels totally approximately 3.56 acres
and known as 1128, 1126, 1120, 1118, 1116, 1112 & 1108 Greene Street, 418 Twelfth Street,
1125, 1123, 1121, 1119, 1117, 1111, & 1109 Telfair Street, 421 & 419 Eleventh Street and that
portion of Spellman Lane located between Twelfth and Eleventh Streets. A complete list of
tax parcels is available in the office of the Planning and Development Dept. DISTRICT 1 1.
Permitted used of the site be limited to multifamily apartments, professional offices,
restaurants and retail development. 2. The total height of any structure shall not exceed 4
stories or 55 feet, to include any attached or detached structures. 3. The overall density shall
not exceed 38 unites per acre. 4. The total commercial space of the building shall not exceed
11,000 gross square feet in area. 5. There shall no required front setback on Greene or
Twelfth Street, 15’ setback to the Union Baptist Church Street, 5’ setback on Telfair and 15’
Elevenths Street. 6. A minimum of 18% of the site shall be dedicated to open space. 7. The
maximum lot coverage for each lot shall be 80%, which does include parking and similar
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surface improvements. 8. A fence or screen wall in the required front yard shall not exceed
six (6) feet in height. 9. Any outdoor storage shall be limited to enclosed buildings or
screening with a 6 foot wood privacy fence or masonry wall. 10. No freestanding signs
permitted on the affected property without approval by the Planning Commission. Building
or wall mounted signs are limited to a maximum surface area of 2 square feet per linear foot.
Projecting signs may not project more than 5 feet from the building wall it is attached except
for canopy or awning mounted signs. Window signs may not occupy more than 20 percent
of the area of any window. 11. Improve sidewalks on all adjacent street to meet the latest
adopted ADA standards. 12. New curb cuts must be permitted meet the standards of Augusta
Traffic Engineering Department. 13. Lighting in the parking lot be directed away from
nearby residences. 14. Final building elevations and materials of the proposed structures are
subject to design review. 15. Minor changes to an approved PUD site plan may be handled
administratively by the Planning Director. 16. Any changes deemed major will trigger the
need to amend the original PUD site plan and require Augusta Commission approval. 17.
Building elevations must reflect those presented with this application.
7. Z-21-05 – A request for concurrence with the Augusta Planning Commission to approve
with the conditions below a petition by COEL Beazley Joint Venture, on behalf of Georgia
Vitrified Brick and Clay Co., Van Keuren Enterprise LLLP and Howard Linda Ruth Logue
Revocable Trust, requesting a change of zoning from Zone A (Agriculture) to Zone R-1 (One-
family Residential) affecting property containing approximately 155 acres and known as
part of 2111 Powel Road, 1901 Powell Road and 1945 Powell Road. Part of Tax Map 064-0-
004-01-0 and Tax Map 065-0-066-00-0 and 065-2-004-00-0 DISTRICT 3 1. This development
shall substantially confirm to the concept plan filed with this application. 2. Sidewalks must
be provided on at least one side of the street within the development and comply with ADA
standards. 3. Conduct a traffic study to assess whether acceleration/deceleration lanes are
needed. 4. All new streets must meet the minimum specifications of Augusta Engineering and
Fire Departments. 5. Additional off-street parking shall be installed in close proximity of the
proposed townhome units and meet all applicable development standards. 6. This
development must meet all open space requirements. These areas do not include stormwater
detention. 7. Provide walking trails or pathways to connect areas of the development. 8. This
project shall comply with all development standards and regulations set forth by the City of
Augusta, GA at the time of development. 9. Powell Road shall be improved to met Georgia
Department of Transportation or GDOT and Augusta Engineering standards from the two
points of entry at the subdivision to Gordon Highway. 10. Street Lights will need to be
installed and operating (or bonded) prior to Final Plat approval. 11. Water Quality will be
required and should include on-inch runoff reduction. Existing pond shall not be used for
Water Quality Stormwater Maintenance Agreement. 12. A 6 ft. solid board fence shall be
installed and maintain along the property line adjacent with 1903 Powell Road. (Tax Map
065-0-063-00-0)
8. Z-21-06 – A request for concurrence with the Augusta Planning Commission to approve
with the conditions below a petition by COEL Beazley Joint Venture, on behalf of Georgia
Vitrified Brick and Clay Co., Van Keuren Enterprise LLLP and Howard Linda Ruth Logue
Revocable Trust, requesting a Special Exception to establish a single family residential
development not to exceed 3 lots per acre in accordance with Section 13 per Section 8-2-(a)
of the Comprehensive Zoning Ordinance for Augusta Georgia affection property containing
approximately 155 acres and known as part of 2111 Powell Road, 1901 Powell Road and
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1945 Powell Road. Part of Tax Map 064-0-004-01-0 and Tax Map 065-0—66-00-0 and 065-
2-004-00-0 DISTRICT 3 1. This development shall substantially confirm to the concept plan
filed with this application. 2. Sidewalks must be provided on at least one side of the street
within the development and comply with ADA standards. 3. Conduct a traffic study to assess
whether acceleration/deceleration lanes are needed. 4. All new streets must meet the
minimum specifications of Augusta Engineering and Fire Departments. 5. Additional off-
street parking shall be installed in close proximity of the proposed townhome units and meet
all applicable development standards. 6. This development must meet all open space
requirements. These areas do not include stormwater detention. 7. Provide walking trails or
pathways to connect areas of the development. 8. This project shall comply with all
development standards and regulations set forth by the City of Augusta, GA at the time of
development. 9. Powell Road shall be improved to meet Georgia Department of
Transportation or GDOT and Augusta Engineering standards from the two points of entry
at the subdivision to Gordon Highway. 10. Street Lights will need to be installed and
operating (or bonded) prior to Final Plat approval. 11. Water Quality will be required and
should include one-inch runoff reduction. Existing pond shall not be used for Water Quality
Stormwater Maintenance Agreement. 12. A 6 ft. solid board fence shall be installed and
maintain along the property line adjacent with 1903 Powell Road. (Tax Map 065-0-063-00-
0)
PETITIONS AND COMMUNICATIONS
10. Motion to approve the minutes of the Special Called and Regular Meetings of the
Commission held on January 6, 2021 and Special Called Meeting held January 12, 2021.
APPOINTMENTS
11. Motion to approve the reappointment of Peter Hughes on the Augusta Canal Authority
representing District 2.
PUBLIC SERVICES
12. Motion to approve the Sec. 5307 CARE Act Transit grant application between the
Federal Transit Administration (FTA) and Augusta, Georgia.
16. Motion to approve renovations design for Julian Smith Barbeque Pit to include updating
and enlarging restrooms to ADA compliance. Enlarging the event room while maintaining
the integrity of the original design while adding a state of the art kitchen.
17. Discussion: Approve by resolution the designation of One Sunday during the calendar
year 2021 that bars can be open as provided in the Augusta Alcohol Ordinance, Section 6-2-
77(3a)
18. Motion to approve the lease agreement for the Riverwalk Marina and Marina Warehouse
with Olde Town Pickers. RFQ 20-243
19. Motion to approve the Quintech Maintenance Building Demolition Agreement with
Augusta Regional Airport. Bid Item 20-244 for $20,250.00.
PUBLIC SAFETY
21. Motion to approve assigning the honorary road name of Frances Abrams Ross to Dupont
Street.
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22. Motion to approve permission for Augusta Information Technology to work with the
Law Department to revise Title 8, Article 2 of the City Code (Roads and Addressing
Ordinance) for clarity and conformance with best practices.
FINANCE
24. Motion to approve acceptance of Center for Tech and Civic Life grant to award to
Augusta-Richmond County in the amount of $284,650.00 and authorize the Mayor to execute
all documents pertaining to the grant award.
ADMINISTRATOR
27. 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. (Deferred from the Commission January 6, 2021.
ADDENDUM
31. Motion to approve acceptance of a grant award to the Richmond County Sheriff’s Office
from GEMA to purchase a replacement K-9. Southern Coast K9 has a K9 (pre-trained
explosive detection dog available for the Richmond County Sheriff’s Office.
Mr. Mayor: All right, Madam Clerk, motion and a second, voting.
The Clerk: Mr. Clarke.
Mr. Clarke: Yes, ma’am.
The Clerk: Mr. Frantom, 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.
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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. Frantom out.
Motion Passes 9-0. \[Items 3-8, 10, 11, 12, 16-18, 21, 22, 24, 27, 31\]
Mr. Mayor: Madam Clerk ---
The Clerk: Yes, sir ---
Mr. Mayor: --- let’s go with our Alcohol Licenses.
The Clerk: --- okay, Ms. Walton, please.
PUBLIC SERVICES
13. Motion to approve New Location: A.N. 21-01: request by Qi Ren for an on premise
consumption Beer & Wine License to be used in connection with Mirin Asian Fusion located
at 630 Crane Creek Dr. Suite 402. There will be Sunday Sales. District 7. Super District 10.
Ms. Walton: This application has been approved by the Richmond County Sheriff’s Office
and Planning and Development.
The Clerk: Any objectors, Ms. Walton?
Ms. Walton: There are no objections to this application.
Mr. Speaker: Good afternoon. My name is Qi Ren, my address is 2075 Reserve Lane
Augusta, GA 30907.
Mr. Mayor: Thank you.
The Clerk: Ms. Walton.
Mr. Mayor: Ms. Walton.
14. Motion to approve New Application: A.N. 21-02: request by Celvon Mitchell for a Sunday
Sales License to be used in connection with Primetime Bar and Grill located at 1721 Gordon
Highway. District 2. Super District 9.
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Ms. Walton: This application has been approved by the Richmond County Sheriff’s Office
and Planning and Development. There were no objectors to this application.
Mr. Mayor: Please, step forward, sir.
Mr. Mitchell: Celvon Mitchell, address 235 Broadmore Drive, GA, 30507.
Mr. Mayor: Thank you, Mr. Mitchell.
Mr. D. Williams: Mr. Mayor ---
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Mr. Mayor: All right, the Chair recognizes the Commissioner from the 2.
Mr. D. Williams: Move for approval.
Mr. Mayor: All right, we’re going to take them together, sir. We were just getting them
read in for the record. All right, Madam Clerk, we’ve got a motion to approve 13 and 14 ---
The Clerk: Yes, sir, we need a second.
Mr. Garrett: Second.
The Clerk: Brandon Garrett, okay that’s Mr. Garrett, sir?
Mr. Mayor: --- yes, ma’am.
The Clerk: Okay.
Mr. Mayor: Voting.
The Clerk: Mr. Clarke.
Mr. Clarke: Yes, ma’am.
The Clerk: Mr. Frantom, Mr. Garrett.
Mr. Garrett: Yes, ma’am.
The Clerk: Mr. Hasan, he’s muted, sir, Mr. Hasan?
Mr. Hasan: Yes, 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: 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. Frantom out.
Motion Passes 9-0.
PUBLIC SERVICES
15. Motion to approve the masterplan and memorial concept at Fleming Park to honor
Melquan Robinson, Jr.
Mr. Mayor: Madam Clerk, thank you for that. I want to go back to the Administrator sent
out a memo earlier requesting that Item 15 be deleted from the agenda and so there’s some more
work that needs to be done with that. I just want to make sure that we acknowledge that and without
objection Item 15 is being deleted from today’s agenda and will be brought back at a later date.
Okay ---
The Clerk: Yes, sir.
Mr. Mayor: --- all right without objection. All right, Madam Clerk, back to 2.
The Clerk: Item Number 2.
Mr. Mayor: Yes, ma’am.
The Clerk:
PLANNING
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2. FINAL PLAT – LAUREL PARK Ph. 1 – S-919 – A request for concurrence with the
Augusta Planning Commission to approve a petition by H&C Surveying, Inc. on behalf of
Keith Blaschke, requesting final plat approval for Laurel Park Ph 1. This residential
townhome development is located off Tobacco Road and contains 83 lots. DISTRICT 4
The Clerk: Mr. Sias pulled that.
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Mr. Mayor: Yes, ma’am, Commissioner from the 4.
Mr. Sias: Thank you, sir. Can we get Mr. Sherman back in?
Mr. Mayor: Sure, he’s there.
Mr. Sias: Okay I have a couple of questions for him reference this item. Mr. Sherman,
when this item was first up before the Commission we dealt with a lot of discussion on it about
the final plat what it would look like, the fact that we wouldn’t have any, there were proposed
additional parking areas that we said how it would be a bad idea to have folks come out sitting in
these areas. I want to ask you if you remember that and did we get those items addressed because
as I look at the plat I don’t see the parking issue addressed. Can you assist me with that please,
sir?
Mr. Sherman: Well, I can tell you I don’t remember exactly but I can tell you that 16 guest
parking spaces were provided on this phase and additional guest parking spaces will be provided
on the next phase. There’ll be roughly 80 to 90 more units once they get past the 100 then the
second access road is required. They’re showing an access road now that’s for the fire department
to use. It’s unimproved but to answer your question yes, sir, they do have some guest parking
spaces included in this phase.
Mr. Sias: Well, let me, the question is those quest spaces we was concerned that those
guest spaces will be places because they’re not near the building. They will be a place for anybody
can come and gather. That was the concern about guest parking the way it was laid out.
Mr. Sherman: Well, the guest parking of course it’s not in front of the units so if it is in a
central area where say if you have guests they would park there and then walk to the unit.
Mr. Sias: That ain’t going to happen, Mr. Sherman, but I foresee a problem with that and
we had talked about this so if they get this built before I’m off the Commission I’m going to come
back to you when it becomes a problem because I see that as one because it’s really unrestricted
or unregulated parking area. And I see in that we all talked about that it would probably be a
problem but I won’t hold it up on that but I’m going to bring it back to you later.
Mr. Sherman: Okay.
Mr. Sias: Motion to approve with concerns.
Mr. Hasan: Second.
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Mr. Mayor: Voting.
The Clerk: Mr. Clarke.
Mr. Clarke: Yes, ma’am.
The Clerk: Mr. Frantom out, Mr. Garrett.
Mr. Hasan: Muted.
The Clerk: Mr. Garrett, you’re muted, sir.
Mr. Garrett: Yes, ma’am.
The Clerk: Okay, I see Mr. Frantom, you’re in, do you want to vote on this item, sir?
Mr. Frantom: I’ll just wait I’m not even sure what we’re voting on, thank you.
The Clerk: All right, 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.
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Mr. Frantom not voting.
Motion Passes 9-0.
Mr. Mayor: Item Number 9, Madam Clerk.
The Clerk:
PLANNING
9. Z-21-07 – A request for concurrence with the Augusta Planning Commission to approve
with the conditions below a petition by COEL Development Co. Inc. requesting a Special
Exception to establish a single family residential development not to exceed 4 lots per acre in
accordance with Section 13 per Section 9-2-(a) of the Comprehensive Zoning Ordinance for
Augusta Georgia affecting property containing 14.22 acres and known as 4323 Windsor
Spring Road. Tax Map 166-3-001-00-0 DISTRICT 4 1. This development shall substantially
confirm to the concept plan filed with this application. 2. This project shall comply with all
development standards and regulations set forth by the City of Augusta, GA at the time of
development.
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Mr. Mayor: Commissioner from the 4.
Mr. Sias: Thank you, sir. Again I’ll need to speak with Mr. Sherman.
Mr. Sherman: He’s here.
Mr. Sias: All right, thank you. Mr. Sherman, I spoke briefly to you before about this
particular development but I didn’t get a chance to see all the details or meet with ya’ll during the
last Planning meeting because ya’ll did that at the same time we had a meeting I believe. But the
question I have here is one of your other developments it was three, it was a maximum of three
houses per lot. This one here is a maximum of four house per lot. This is right next to Manchester
Subdivision which is a one of our better top end neighborhoods in South Augusta and also next to
Diamond Lakes. And there’s also restricted development area over there due to the wetland part
of it so why do we see to justify them to squeeze four houses per lot so four units per lot and we
know that that they must going, I ain’t trying to be smart but what kind of square footage are we
talking about with these many houses at four houses per lot per acre, I’m sorry.
Mr. Sherman: Okay, Commissioner, the, so these are townhomes. They’re going to have
nine buildings and each building will have four units in it except there will be one building that
has three units. The applicant is here if I could ask him to come up and then he can explain to you
about the wetland area in the middle of the property. The units though will be towards the back
and say to the west and on the north side of the property if east is alongside Windsor Spring Road
and south is on the Park Drive. But the applicant is here if I can bring him forward.
Mr. Sias: Certainly, thank you.
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Mr. Gulino: My name is Joseph Gulino, Vice President of Land Development for Bill
Beazley Homes 7709 Evans Town Center Boulevard. How you doing there, Commissioner Sias?
We meet again.
Mr. Sias: Mr. Gulino, I’m not fighting you on this one. I want to know ---
Mr. Gulino: I know you’re not.
Mr. Sias: --- I want to know some clarification here. We’re talking about putting that
many homes on one lot or many units. Is your main goal to have four units per acre or is that the
exception to the rule?
Mr. Gulino: Well as Mr. Sherman said, they’re actually townhouse units so we’re putting
them a little closer together. It’s not like you think your residential single family detached housing.
It’s four units per building and there’s I believe nine buildings and it’ll average out to about 2.67
units per acre when you do the whole thing.
Mr. Sias: That sounds better. Secondly, will the streets within this area be public roads?
Mr. Gulino: It is our intention for them to be public; they’ll be built to Augusta standards.
Mr. Sias: Streetlights and sidewalks included?
Mr. Gulino: Excuse me, sir?
Mr. Sias: Streetlights and sidewalks included?
Mr. Gulino: Yes, sir.
Mr. Sias: All right, well thank you very much and I don’t want to have to get a petition to
get that that should be already there. Again thank you, I move to approve.
Mr. Hasan: Mr. Mayor ---
Mr. Mayor: Got you, hold on, everybody hold on. All right, we’ve got a motion to approve.
th,th
All right, Commissioner from the 6 I’m waiting on a second, Commissioner from the 6.
Mr. Frantom: Second.
Mr. Hasan: --- Commissioner Sias, I’d like to ask you for clarification your agenda item
here. Just like we just changed the language in this one that Mr. Sherman (inaudible) we changed
some things and he’s got four lots per acre here which will qualify him if my math is correct you
know you know a little bit more than what he’s talking about using my 36, 37 or whatever nine I
guess the four units and he said it’d be about two and a half houses on an acre if I’m not mistaken,
can you put that in there (unintelligible) four lots per acre? I mean to kind of kind of put those
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restrictions in there to know what they expect or are you comfortable with what you just voted on,
what you just made a motion on.
Mr. Sias: Can I respond, Mayor?
Mr. Mayor: Proceed, sir, direct it to the Chair.
Mr. Sias: I did address the Chair.
th
Mr. Mayor: You did. I should’ve told the Commissioner from the 6 the same thing.
Mr. Hasan: I apologize, Mr. Mayor, you’re exactly right.
th
Mr. Mayor: Come on, Commissioner from the 4.
Mr. Sias: All right, I had a lot of dealings with Mr. Gulino and so I’m going to accept what
he and Mr. Sherman is saying but I will be out there with a tape measure and would like to see that
wetland made beautiful because right now it’s kind of ugly and I don’t want to have to fuss with
the folks out there in the area that they built houses on a swamp. So it’s going to require some
work and, Mr. Sherman, I expect ya’ll to make sure that that’s addressed as to how we get that
area looking presentable and, is that a retention pond or just a swampy area, Mr. Sherman?
Mr. Gulino: Yeah, it is a retention pond.
Mr. Sias: Well, ya’ll are going to have to work on that, Mr. Gulino, and I look forward to
a good product. And thanks to my comment from my colleague I’m going to entrust some trust in
these two here.
Mr. Hasan: Did you get a second on your motion?
The Clerk: Yes, sir, Mr. Frantom, Mr. Sias and Mr. Frantom.
Mr. Mayor: That’s correct, Madam Clerk, voting.
The Clerk: Mr. Clarke.
Mr. Clarke: Yes, ma’am.
The Clerk: Mr. Frantom.
Mr. Frantom: Yes, ma’am.
The Clerk: Mr. Garrett.
Mr. Garrett: Yes.
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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: 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.
Mr. Mayor: Thank you, Madam Clerk. All right, all right I’m going to go to the Addendum
item and I want to call up Item Number 1 from the Addendum item and that’s to receive an update
from the homelessness initiative “Finding a way HOME”. Madam Clerk, I’ll turn it over to you if
you’ll read that for the record.
The Clerk:
ADDENDUM
29. Receive an update from the homelessness initiative “Finding a Way HOME”. (Requested
by Mayor Hardie Davis, Jr.)
Mr. Mayor: Thank you, Madam Clerk. I believe we’ve got representatives from HCD.
Jeff, I’m not sure but I’d like to know if we’ve got a representative from the Sheriff’s Office here
as well. They’ve been involved as we understand it homelessness related activities so hopefully
they’re here in attendance as well.
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Mr. Lewis: At the moment I don’t see anyone there.
Mr. Mayor: All right and our HCD representative?
Mr. Lewis: Mr. Dunlap.
Mr. Mayor: No, I think Mr. Evans, Mr. Dunlap is ---
Mr. Lewis: Oh, I’m sorry, you’re right, wrong Daniel. I don’t see Mr. Evans.
Mr. Mayor: I believe this is Mr. Evans on the phone.
Mr. Lewis: Mayor, I believe that might be Evan Joseph.
Mr. Donald: Mr. Lewis, I think they’re all in the waiting room now under Mr. Welcher.
Mr. Mayor: Okay ---
Mr. Lewis: Yes, sir, I don’t see Mr. Welcher either in the waiting room.
Mr. Mayor: --- I don’t see them either. Again we can get them on that would be helpful.
We just want to, we want to get an update as it relates to this matter. I like many of you saw for
the first time the report about the individual who passed away during the Christmas holidays, the
homeless individual, and wanted to get an update from HCD and others as it relates to this. All
nd
right, Madam Clerk, we’ll put this on the agenda item for February 2.
The Clerk: Okay.
Mr. Mayor: Okay?
The Clerk: All right.
Mr. Mayor: Thank you, all right, at this point I’m going to call up Miller Edwards from
Mauldin and Jenkins to provide us with an audit report update from 2019’s audit.
FINANCE
23. Presentation by Mauldin & Jenkins of the results of the 2019 Financial Audit.
Mr. Mayor: All right again we’ve got Miller Edwards with us from Mauldin & Jenkins
with our 2019 Finance and Compliance Audit, Miller?
Mr. Edwards: Yes, sir, can everyone hear me?
Mr. Mayor: We can.
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Mr. Edwards: Okay great, well what I want to do today is just cover a few things with you.
I think someone else is going to manage the presentation for me and I’ll just do the talking. So
you can see the purpose of today’s presentation is just to cover a few things with you relative to
the Annual Audit of the Augusta Richmond County Government. There are a lot of numbers to
go through and I’ll try to summarize them in a fashion that might be something good to present to
you all today. I do think the (inaudible) I think there’s a lot of good to take note of and I’ll kind
of walk you through that as well. If the person on the other end could go ahead and advance the
slide that’d be great, okay. And you can keep on going some of these slides right through here are
just to talk about the firm and considering the medium we’re using today let’s just keep on going.
If the person on the other side could maybe go to let me see slide #6, six in the corner there we go.
All right well again today things that I want to make sure everybody follows on this is you know
if you’re auditing someone the whole idea is to express an opinion and that is what I am here today
to share with you is what our opinions are relative to the audit. Number one, the Financial
Statement. Your conference of annual finance report which we refer to as CAFRA. I’m happy to
tell you that we do believe that the financial statements do present fairly in all material respects
the situation as it exists in the City of Augusta as of 12-31-19. We also have to do an audit of your
Federal Awards Program whereby you all have taken a lot of funds actually about $27 and a half
million dollars-worth of funds from the federal government during that year and we audited about
half of that actually a little over half about $15.3 million. We followed the rules of the game, we
picked the DOT projects that you all had and we went through there and tested those products for
compliance and I’m happy to give you all a thumbs up that you were able to demonstrate to us that
you had good controls and good management of those programs and that we are able to give you
a clean report on your federal programs. So those are the two places where you expect to have an
opinion provided by the auditor and in your case again the audit report is clean. If we could go to
the next slide this document that has been prepared for you all is again called a CAPA and you all
have been doing this now for 5 years and previous to that you all had never done one and the
Capper is something that takes a lot of work. There’s a lot of information in there. For those who
are so interested and so inclined to read this CAPA has about ten years’ worth of data included in
it you can go back and see how we compare to the years before within the decade and see how
things look today compared to the past. That’s in the statistical section of this which again is a
very lengthy part of the overall document. You have been recognized for your efforts. The GFOA
which is the largest trade association of governments in this country has reviewed your document
and has each year given you all this Certificate of Achievement in Excellence in Financial
Reporting so again that’s great thing and a great place to be. If we could let’s go to the Entity
Wide slide that I’ve got that follows. In case you didn’t know it Augusta, Georgia is actually a
pretty big local government when you look at everything and you add up all the numbers you all
have over $2 billion and that’s with a ‘B’ $2 billion dollars-worth of assets. Now I want to make
sure everybody understands that’s not in cash but about one and a half billion meaning about three
quarters of your assets are in capital assets, you know, all the roads, the bridges, the culverts, the
facilities, the equipments, the vehicles, everything that you’ve got has an accumulated depreciated
value of about one and half billion dollars so a big operation that I’ll touch on the capital assets
elements of it again shortly. You’ve got about $950 million dollars’ worth of liability in those
liabilities. You’ve got long term debts, you’ve got bonds, you’ve got notes payable, you’ve also
got a large amount of pension and other post-employment benefits liabilities included in there
about $224 million dollars’ worth just having to do with healthcare benefits that you’re providing
to your retired people and your Pension Plan. You add those two together it's about $225 million
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dollars. In the end you’ve got a balance sheet that shows you are in the equity position. That of
course is always important and you’ve got $1.15 billion equity there at the community. That again
is a great thing to see. When you look at the operations of the government this past year and when
I say the government I’m talking about the government including your utilities, your airport, all
those things that are wrapped up as part of your umbrella of authority you all had just short of $500
million dollars’ worth of revenues. You had about $433 million dollars’ worth of expenses which
ended up with a net result of $62 million dollars so again just looking at that alone that one slide I
see a good situation. We’ve got a strong balance sheet, we’re in good equity position, we had a
good year’s worth of revenues versus expenses to end up with a bottom line of $62 million dollars.
Now if we could go to the next slide I want to reconcile that $62 million. Some people might look
at that and say well that’s too high, that’s too low, whatever it might be. The fact of the matter is
a government like Augusta that has so many initiatives and so many contingencies and so many
things happening all the time I think it's important to have a strong bottom line when you look at
the big picture at the entity wide level. If you take that same $62 million dollars and you add the
$53 million of depreciation expense that you had back to the number, if you look at the long-term
debts that you all had you, you all went out there this year and took on a net increase in your long
term debts about $49 million. And then you subtract from that what you spent on capital assets
about $11 million dollars a month you all spending on capital assets it’s about $133 million dollars.
It takes money to spend money and you all spent a lot of money on capital assets which is not
expensed in that number that I arrived at $62 million so it’s not in that $433 million of expense.
It’s something you had to spend separate from the income state. That gives you a reconciled
bottom line of about $31 million and I think again that is a healthy place to be. When you consider
the fact that you’ve got SPLOST funds, fire protection funds and those kinds of funds that collect
revenues to be spent in the future $31 million is a reasonable bottom line to have when you look
at this perspective and your SPLOST fund alone, your primary SPLOST fund had about $42
million of fund balance in it and I’m sure that is planned and budgeted to be spent in future years
but it took money to make money. And again you’re in a good place when you look at the entity
wide perspective. If you just stand back and say how are we doing overall Augusta’s in a pretty
good place to be as of the end of the year. If we could go to the next slide. When you dive into the
General Fund which is the heart and soul of any government you’ve got about $53 million dollars’
worth of assets, about $13 and half million of liabilities, a fund balance of about $39 million which
is about three months’ worth. When you’re look at $39 million you compare that to the $159
adding expenses then you’re probably about 90 days’ worth of fund balance. Again in a good
place to be, nothing to brag about but nothing to complain about. It’s kind of just a good happy
median of a place to be. Looking down below that line you can see the revenues. We’re about
$161 and a half million and your expenses were about $158.2. You’ve got a bottom line of about
$3.4 million increased the fund balance which again I think’s a good place to be. If someone was
to sit here and ask me, Miller, what do you think our fund balance ought to be? Considering your
1231 Year End and the majority of your property taxes are typically collected by that point I would
say in 90 days it’d be nice to see that be 120, it’d be nice to see that be 150. Because of the
seasonality of the revenue stream in any local government in Georgia it’s important to always
measure yourself at the right time and consider what the balance of fund balance and assets and
those kinds of things need to be. Being you’re a 12/31 I think you ought to have a very strong
fund balance especially when I consider all the initiatives that you all have going. If we could go
to the next slide. The next slide shows a pie chart and it gives you a little bit of an idea about
where our revenues came from. The big blue slice is property tax, the purple slice is other taxes
22
and we’re talking taxes like local option sales tax, things like that. You can see the two primary
revenue streams are related to taxes. We do have licenses and permits and other things that follow
but of our revenues of that $160 million and some odd dollars a good $120 million of that was in
form of some kind of tax, property or other tax. Going to the next page the next slide you can see
our expenditures and as I would always suspect you’ve got a very large slice in public safety.
Public safety is the largest of your expenditures and that’s the way it is in every government. It’s
right where it usually is when I look at larger governments whether it’s looking in Atlanta, Macon,
Columbus, Athens whatever it might be the public safety is always the big slice and it is here as
well. But this gives you a little taste of what our expenditures were in the General Fund this past
year. So if we could let’s keep on going to the next slide. Your General Fund Revenues and
Expenditures. This gives a little analysis of the last six years about what’s been transpiring. The
green columns are considered to be your revenues; the red is your expenses. You can see for the
last five years we’ve had an increase in Fund Balance each year. I think this is healthy; this is a
good thing. Again if you were in a community that had no initiatives, nothing going on, a stagnant
economy, a community that doesn’t want a lot of things, and I might say that’s too much but you’ve
got a lot of things going on here and I think the Fund Balance needs to grow commiserate with the
growth and expenses. Notice how just the last three years alone the expenses, the red bars in ’17,
’18 and ’19 how much they’ve grown. To be proactive and being able to accommodate that growth
in services it takes a growth in Fund Balance so again I can’t emphasize that enough when looking
at Augusta. The next slide gives you another picture of the same kind of information. You can
see in 2014 you actually had a use of Fund Balance of about $7 million and then it’s been going
up at a healthy rate over the last few years. Again you can see the $3.4 million I talked about
earlier, that’s to the far right hand side. So again five straight years of a healthy addition to Fund
Balance and I would recommend to continue to trying to do that as you all continue into the future.
The next slide looks at it another way and looks at your Fund Balance as compared to overall
expenditures and what I’d like to do is see the red line and blue line as close together as possible.
You can see the closest we got was probably around ’17 where the blue line comes down with
expenditures and what that’s trying to show you is how Fund Balance relates to expenditures of
the government of the General Fund. Remember earlier I mentioned about having about one
quarter of the year or 90 days-worth of Fund Balance. That’s where that $39 million is below as
compared to the $152 million above on the far right hand side. That relationship is very important
to always consider how our Fund Balance is relative to our overall expenditures. So that pretty
much covers the General Fund. One thing I do want to mention when it comes to the General
Fund is your budget actual. You all did very well on the budget side of life on the General Fund
this past year. Your General Fund had about $3 million dollars of additional revenues than
budgeted and you also pulled in the belt strap and spent just short of $10 million less than what
was budgeted which helps you have a that increase to Fund Balance. You ended up having about
$13 million dollar swing on the budget that was a positive swing and you don’t get to see that
every year, you don’t get to see that too often but this past year we did see that so again that was a
nice thing to see. If we could let’s go to the next slide and what you have here is I’m leaving the
General Fund and we’ll talk about a few of your other major and more significant operations and
before I do that let me just mention something for those who may or may not know. When I talk
about the fact that you’re a large government I don’t want that to get lost in what I’m trying to say.
You all have about 66 funds. That’s 66 sets of books that you all are trying to manage that includes
your constitutional offices like the Sheriff, Tax Commissioner and those types and it includes again
water, sewer, the airport, all of those other special revenue funds. Again 66 different sets of books
23
that have to roll up to become Augusta Richmond County so again I thought that would be
interesting just to note here. When looking at the Special Sales Tax Phase 7 Financial Statement
you’ve got about $42 million dollars’ worth of Fund Balance meaning to me that you’ve got a
pretty good amount reserved for spending in future years on these various capital projects that you
all have. This past year you spent about $4.1 million more than you took in. You took in about
$42.1 and you spent $46.2. That’s normal, that is nothing to be worried about. Often times
spending the SPLOST monies can be very different from receiving the SPLOST money so again
this looks very good to me. The next slide dives into fire protection, another one of your more
significant operations, you’ve got a Fund Balance there of about $21 million, took in about $31
million of revenues and you spent just over $28 million for a two and a half million dollar increase
in Fund Balance so that looks good as well. The water/sewer Utilities Fund is one of your largest
funds. It is probably the largest fund even larger than the General Fund in some respect. You’ve
got a very large operation there. You can see you’ve got about $700 million dollars-worth of
assets. About $570 of that is in capital assets meaning all your infrastructure and facilities. You
do have a sizable amount of debt, about $516 million. You all have been going to bond market a
lot over the last decade to either refund bonds or taking some new money to provide for all the
infrastructure improvements that you all are doing. At the end of the day though you’ve got about
$183 million dollar equity position and again that’s a good place to be. This past year you took in
about $99 million dollars-worth of revenue and you spent about $91 million of expenses for an
increase of $8 million and again just like I went through before we were reconciling that $62
million for the entity wide. This $8 million is very important because the $8 million is what you’re
going to use to pay back debt and to be able to continue to invest in your infrastructure. You know
I like to equate things like our own personal lives. If I’m making $50,000 a year and I need to put
in a new roof Uncle Sam doesn’t let me expense the roof. It’s got to come out of my own reserves.
The same thing is true here. You’ve got to have reserves to spend it on capital expenditures
whether it’s a new roof or a new pipeline whatever it might be you’ve got to have the funds to do
it and the water/sewer fund had a good year doing just that. The next slide is your airport and as
I’ve said to you all in the past I’m very impressed by the airport. It is a beautiful facility and it
runs very well also. When you look at the operation a lot of it’s been federally subsidized. That
was the case this past year as well. This past year if you look at a couple of rows at the bottom
you took in about $35 million of revenue but $17 million of that was contributions that came from
the Federal Government as part of all kinds of other enhancements improvements you’re doing
there. At the end of the day you had a $17 million dollar increase in that position. That was
primarily what was given you in the form of those contributions. Otherwise the operation was
pretty breakeven but had a good year nonetheless and a lot improvements being made so things
look good there at the airport from a financial statement standpoint. The next slide looks at your
garbage collection financial statement and let me just say something here that I said to management
we had a month ago or a few weeks ago with your new city manager. Very seldom do I get to see
where garbage collection has made money and the last row that you see on here is that garbage
collection made $1.3 million and that’s a good thing. Again I seldom ever see that and what that
means to me is you are collecting an appropriate amount of funds from the users of your garbage
collection, your expenses were $19.8, you took in $21.1, you had about $1.3 million dollar
increase. That’s a good thing. I’d love to see you keep that up if you can. I understand that that
can be difficult to do but again very few times do I get to see a bottom line that’s positive when it
comes to garbage collection. The next slide looks at stormwater which is a relatively new
operation in local governments. You all this past year took in about $13.7 million and you spent
24
about $12.9 so stormwater’s funding itself. That’s a good thing. You want to see all these funds
fund themselves as much as possible. You’d rather not see the General Fund having to subsidize
them. Stormwater’s doing a fine job right best as we can tell. The next slide is one of my final
ones from a financial standpoint that I just want to bring to your attention. Included in you
financial statement and not included in that $2.1 billion and all the other liabilities completely
separate from all the numbers we talked thus far is your Pension and your other post-employment
benefits and you’re funded around 80% on your Pension Funds. You’ve got three primary ones:
the 1945, the 1949 and the GMEBS Plan. This does not include two insignificant plans that don’t
have a lot of activity in the city Employees Plan and the 1998 Plan. But when you take those three
plans together you’re about 80% funded. That’s not a bad place to be. That’s where I’m seeing a
lot of governments be somewhere between 80, 82, 83. You all are around 80 I think that’s a good
place to be. You’re better than, and when you look at your Pension Plan you’re better than a lot
of your fellow governments here in Georgia. When I look at places like Macon, Macon has $115
million dollar liability, you all have $68 million when you add up those first three columns that
are in the red row that says net liability. That adds up to about $68 million, Macon’s at $115,
Columbus is at $181 and Athens-Clarke is at $55. Of course those are your four primary
consolidated governments here in Georgia. The OPED Plan is your Healthcare Plan. Again when
people retire from Augusta they’re going to be covered under a Healthcare Plan that helps them
make ends meet until the Federal Government Plans come into play. You all right now have about
$155.5 million dollar liability. You have no funds currently set aside for that so that’s going to be
something that’s going to have to be dealt with going forward (inaudible). Okay, I thought I heard
something. You’ve got about $156 million dollar liability. Now again how that compares you
look at Macon, Columbus and Athens-Clarke all of them have a very large amount of money that
they are going to have to expend over the future. You all have nothing set aside. Macon’s only
got about $3 million set aside. Macon’s got $139 million net liability, Columbus has about a $58
million dollar net liability but Athens-Clarke has a net liability of $334 million dollars so you all
are doing much better than Athens-Clarke in your, you’re very reasonably recorded here as
compared to somewhere like Macon. Augusta’s a little bit bigger than Macon, it’s a bigger
government. It has a lot more going on and for it to be sitting here with $156 million roughly of
an OPED liability compared to Macon’s $139 I think you’re in a good place right there. But just
don’t forget about it is the real thing I wanted to say here. That last little percentage that has dash,
dash, dash, we have no funding set aside for that and this means that we’re really feed on our cash
flows as we go out over the next 20 and 30 years so just keep that in mind. On the next slide I’m
going to just basically say we had nothing come up this past year that required us to have to go get
kind of consultations with an outside party. There were no significant judgements and estimates
that required us to go get expertise. We did maintain our independence, that’s always important
that we understand that we are the auditor and that the client is the auditee and that you’re
management did a good job of closing out and helping us maintain that independence that is so
very important in this relationship so again I wanted to just let you know that. The next slide gets
into six different management points that we have to share with you all today. This is on Slide
#24 and one of the points we’ve seen in the past is over at the Sheriff’s Office and that is they’ve
got some unclaimed property that probably needs to be remitted to the State of Georgia. It’s called
the Escheat Laws. And when you’ve got property in the form of checks things of that kind that
have not been claimed, we don’t get to just throw those back into our revenues and throw those
back into our Fund Balances. Under state law we actually have to treat that as unclaimed property
and work through the Escheat Laws of Georgia and all we would do is recommend that the
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Sheriff’s Office get with someone to go through lost laws and determine what needs to be done at
this time. We are not aware of anything having been done there to address that situation. Item #2
has to do with another constitutional office the Magistrate and Civil Court and the Probate Court.
When you look at it all together there were excess funds of about $133,000 dollars and what do I
mean by that is they collect a lot of deposits, they collect a lot of funds but every dollar that they
collect they owe to somebody. I mean think about it this way like the Tax Commissioner or the
Tax Commissioner collects all these property taxes and then they owe it to the city, county, they
owe it to Board of Education etc. None of that belongs to the Tax Commissioner. Well, the same
thing’s true in the court system and when you look at these courts there was an excess of amounts
recorded for assets that they were not aware of who they owed the money to and while that’s not
a material amount so when you look at the overall operation of a $500 million dollar operation of
this size it is significant enough for me to mention to you all today. And for someone who maybe
to reach to Magistrate, Civil and to Probate and try to work with them to see what needs to be done
to address that and get that number a lot closer if not make it zero so I wanted to bring that to your
attention. The next slide goes through another management point. This one you all do have a
great deal of control over. You’ve got three funds that have deficits that include the Special
Assessment or Street Lights Fund, you’ve got a Convention Center Fund and then your Housing
and Neighborhood Development Fund. When you look at all that together you probably add it up
it’s probably about three, four and a half million dollars that is deficits in those funds and we would
like the community, the government to work really hard to either determine if we need to raise our
fees, if we need to reduce our costs if at all possible or if it’s time for the General Fund to go ahead
and supply the supplement needed. Whenever I see a deficit at a Special Revenue Fund often
times it says to me the General Fund needs to come to the rescue and I think that’s where we are
right now in Augusta. We really need to look at those three funds in particular and decide what
we need to do to correct the situation there and again I’ve talked to management about this but I
wanted to bring it to your attention today as well. The fourth item we have is on the next slide,
it’s Segregation of Duties back to the Probate, Civil and Magistrate. You do have situations there
that you’ve got single individuals that perform most of the accounting duties. This is not unusual,
we see this in a lot of governments. We audit about sixty county governments and of those sixty
just about every one of them have some kind of point made to them every year about segregation
of duties. It is something that we do take seriously and we certainly would like to see if maybe
there could be some efforts made in those two courts that could address the concerns about single
individuals doing something that is a significance to that office and we would like to recommend
that to you all as well. On the next slide we’ve got two more points to mention to you all today.
Maintaining Capital Assets. You saw earlier that I mentioned that you all had about $133 million
dollars’ worth of capital outlay activity this past year. We also noted that you’ve got over one and
a half billion dollars’ worth of depreciated capital assets. This is a big part of Augusta and we
would recommend that more attention be given to that part of your overall accounting on an interim
basis and maybe make interim adjustments and just make sure everything’s in better shape which
would provide for more timely and proper closeout. Right now it’s pretty much a Herculean effort
at the end of the year. Management has to kind of go through an entire year to figure out what
needs to be capitalized, what does not need to be capitalized, what do we trade in, what should
come off the list. It's a big effort and I’m recommending to management that they consider trying
to do more interim work on this matter than let it be such a Herculean yearend closeout effort. The
last thing we’ve got has to do with petty cash and I don’t want to give you the line of portion but
when we started looking at all the various petty cash accounts that was maintained across all
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government offices and departments we just think you all ought to take a look at it and see what is
the proper amount that any one office or department or fund should have for petty cash. Again it’s
not material, it’s not in some respects you could even say it’s not significant across the board but
it’s large enough for me that I would like someone to take a look at it to determine if it’s where it
needs to be or if it should be at another level. And after asking questions of various people that
presented us with this recommendation that we consider this at the government level. Other than
that the only thing I would let you know is that there’s a lot of new standards. I think I’ve had to
tell you that probably every year. If the other slide you click it one more time I think you might
have every, there we go. You’ve got a lot of new requirements that are coming out in the next
couple of years. This year it’s going to be closed out soon, it’s going to have several news
announcements. There’s new ones for ’21 and ’22 and ’23 and there’s six other pronouncements
or standards that are going to be effective in the years that follow. The GASB is not sitting still
right now, they are writing a lot of standards and I think it’s important for Augusta to always make
sure it’s on top of all these new standards. And I don’t want to imply that Augusta is not. I think
overall Augusta’s is always in good shape as far as staying on top of this but this is my way of
letting you know at the Commission level that there’s a lot of things coming down the pipe that
are going to change the way you report things in the future. With that being said the last slide is
my final slide and I just want to say thank you for the opportunity to be of service to you and also
to see if there are any kind of questions or thoughts that any one on this Commission would like
to share today.
Mr. Mayor: Thank you, Miller, for your presentation. I believe we may have a series of
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questions that want to be asked, all right the Chair recognizes the Commissioner from the 6,
you’re muted, sir.
Mr. Hasan: Thank you Mr. Mayor and thank you I think, Miller, for the awesome
presentation. I appreciate you bringing us up to date and giving us some things that may concern
in the long haul and I don’t want to misquote the language that you’ve been saying that. But I
would like this body to consider those last few slides that he presented to us. There were some
things that we need to make an adjustment that we let our Administrator take a look at those in a
very reasonable amount of time and come back to us with some suggestions about how we want
to approach those things and try to get it so we can get them under control or get them in a better
place so we can try to remove some of the concerns about them whether that was something about
the Coliseum Authority or whatever and different funds so I’d like to see us try to look at that. I
know I can remember vividly pretty much last time you was here you were also talking about some
of the checks and things that were over there in the Sheriff’s Department and so we haven’t done
anything about that as of right now as well. So I’d like the Administrator to take a look at that in
a reasonable amount of time and come back and make some recommendations to all of those
things, those last few slides that seem to give you some concern as an auditor. Thank you very
much for the information.
Mr. Edwards: Thank you, I appreciate it.
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Mr. Mayor: All right, Commissioner from the 6 I would agree with 100% with one noted
addition to that. This is the work that the Finance Committee really needs to be involved in. We’ve
talked about it for a number of years that the Finance Committee needs to take on this broader role
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of helping to get the city to a better place as it relates to these types of matters. So I would
encourage the Committee Chair of Finance to be involved in those conversations. I’m going to
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recognize the Commissioner from the 8 and then I’m going to the 4.
Mr. Garrett: Thank you, Mayor. I have a question for Mr. Edwards ---
Mr. Mayor: All right.
Mr. Garrett: --- I appreciate the report that you gave and you know it looks pretty similar
to the previous years although I think in previous years we’ve gotten this report a little earlier in
the year, correct?
Mr. Edwards: Yes.
Mr. Garrett: Is there a reason on the delay this year?
Mr. Edwards: You know COVID created a very significant distraction by all governments.
You know it hit right about the time we’re usually in the course of getting the audit going. We did
get a lot of it done back in the spring roll into the summer but then the Cares Act and everything
that came along at the same time as us I would say probably took priority and you know in some
respects I think it should take priority. I mean it was a large only, you know think about how
significant it is we’ve never seen anything like this in any of our lifetime where the entire country
was preoccupied with having to deal with this and Augusta was definitely preoccupied with it. So
we were asked by management if we could just hold tight until they could through a few things
and then let’s go ahead and get the audit back on track and that’s what we did.
Mr. Garrett: Okay well I appreciate that, how many years has Mauldin and Jenkins been
doing this audit for Augusta?
Mr. Edwards: I want to say around eight, something like that.
Mr. Garrett: Okay, all right, thank you, Mayor.
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Mr. Mayor: Thank you, Commissioner. Commissioner from the 4.
Mr. Sias: Thank you, sir, and hello again, Mr. Edwards. Again thank you for a great
presentation I have about three questions for you. Number one, what kind of planning would you
recommend that we prepare for in our audit for the pandemic year? What kind of recommendations
do you have? We did receive a lot of federal funding for various issues under the Cares Act. What
would be your recommendation to us? That’s my first question that we prepare for the audit.
Mr. Edwards: Well the first thing I’d say when it comes to the Cares Act and all these
issues that came with it, all I can tell you is the rules of the game seem to always be changing. I
think it’s important that Augusta makes sure that it’s got a management team that’s on top of all
these different hurdles and loopholes and things that you’ve got to make sure you do right and I
think you’ve done that. In talking with the various people there at the government it feels like
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Fiscal Year 2020 that has just finished should be in pretty good shape and I think every time I’ve
talked I know Tim and Donna in particular have attended a lot of sessions that our firm has taught
relative to the Cares Act and what needs to be done and not done. I know they’ve also reached out
to us asking of our experts that are involved in that situation and they’ve had a lot of dialogue.
And I know they’ve done more than even they’ve done a lot more outside of Mauldin Jenkins too.
So all I can say is that’s it’s important for this government to stay really on top of how those funds
need to be spent. The last thing we want to do is find out that we took money, we spent money
and we got to turn it back in because we didn’t spend it right. That’s the biggest risk I see under
the Cares Act.
Mr. Sias: Okay my second question is about the outside agencies and these funds that
should be refunded whatever the process is to get rid of them. The Finance Committee will
definitely be involved with that and working with the Administrator and the agencies my question
on it is in your experience are many of these offices these are judges and constitutional offices ---
Mr. Edwards: Right.
Mr. Sias: --- what kind of results have you seen from other governments who went out to
correct their problems? As you say many of us have it so can you share us any insight as to how
other governments what was their results in trying to solve this?
Mr. Edwards: Unfortunately the answer I’m going to give you is not a good one. There’s
a lot of pushback often times by constitutional offices when the greater government, the Board of
Commissioners wants to reach out and help. I have seen environments where it has been
acceptable and that the Board of Commissioners Office, the Finance people can get involved and
help figure out better ways even play a mitigating control from time to time and do the ones
reviewing and looking at reconciliations on behalf of. It takes as in life itself it takes both sides to
work together. And understand that the effort is for the common good and to help everybody be
in a better place. That’s not always well communicated it seems like amongst the 60 some odd
governments that we audit that are counties. But you know you look at funding, you look at all
those kinds of things. You say what’s it going to take x, y, z office for you have the right kind of
people, the right kind of people in place, the right kind of structure. And it may mean from time
to time that someone comes back to you and says the x, y, z corridor or the x, y, z office actually
needs another person to balance the segregation of duties issues to take care of all these kinds of
problems we’re talking about. Again, it takes both sides to really want to work together and try to
be on the same side but again it’s not always done that way.
Mr. Sias: Thank you. It was my expectation that that was going to be a heavy lift. That’s
why I don’t want to send the Administrator out on his own dealing with that because it’s going to
be an issue so we know definitely we need to work together from my perspective.
Mr. Mauldin: I agree.
Mr. Sias: All right, thank you very much, Mayor and Mr. Jenkins, Mr. Edwards again
thank you for your great presentation.
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Mr. Edwards: Thank you.
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Mr. Mayor: All right thank you, all right anyone else, all right Commissioner from the 7,
yes sir.
Mr. Frantom: Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Again great presentation. My question is for Mr.
Edwards. Mr. Edwards, all the municipalities you talked about during your presentation does
Mauldin and Jenkins work with them?
Mr. Edwards: Yes.
Mr. Frantom: Okay, and of those municipalities how many of them are calendar year
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versus July 1 to June 30 budget cycle?
Mr. Edwards: Let me see, on the ones I mentioned to you Macon is 6/30, Columbus is
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6/30 and Athens is 6/30. There’s no doubt that across this entire state that June 30 is the yearend
a lot of governments use however it’s not my favorite yearend because I think it really kind of tries
to close out and report something in the middle of a cycle versus at the end of the beginning of a
cycle. Cobb County has a 9/30 yearend, Gwinnett County has 12/31 yearend. Those two are Triple
A rated counties so is Forsythe County they’re Triple A rated too and we audit them but those
governments are to me reporting at the right time. A 9/30 yearend you’re skinny as a rail, you
haven’t taken any property taxes yet. It’s a good time to take a look at where we are as we go into
the next season. A 12/31 such as yourself and Gwinnett County, Forsythe County that’s also a
good time to take a look at things because you collected a bounty of property taxes, you know
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where you stand on January 1 now let’s go through the next calendar year expended. This idea
of using a June 30 yearend which again most governments do and maybe I’m by myself when I
say this but a lot of governments do that because that’s the State of Georgia’s fiscal year end. But
if you think about the State of Georgia the greater government of the state they’ve got a different
seasonality of revenues. They have something they call income tax and so for them to collect
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income taxes on April 15 they’ve got the bounty of their revenues. June 30 is a good time for the
state and that’s why we hear a lot of people though at the local government level say they want to
have a June 30 because the state does but there’s a disconnect there. Again to me the best yearend
is a 9/30 the second best yearend is a 12/31 and I think it just makes for a cleaner cutoff for trying
to then gauge the activities of a cycle that follows.
Mr. Frantom: Thank you, I appreciate that candid feedback as well, thank you.
Mr. Mayor: All right, anyone else? All right, Miller, thank you so much for your
presentation.
Mr. Edwards: Thank you, I do appreciate it.
Mr. Mayor: Okay, Madam Clerk, I believe that that leaves us with the following remaining
items: Item #2 from the Addendum Agenda, Item #19 from the Regular Agenda, Item 20 and then
Item 25 and 26 and 28.
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The Clerk: That’s correct.
Mr. Mayor: Okay, okay, all right, Item #19.
The Clerk:
PUBLIC SERVICES
19. Motion to approve the Quintech Building Demolition Agreement with Augusta Regional
Airport. Bid Item 20-244 for $20,250.00.
Mr. Hasan: Motion to approve.
Mr. Frantom: Second.
Mr. Mayor: Voting.
The Clerk: Mr. Clarke.
Mr. Clarke: Yes.
The Clerk: Mr. Frantom.
Mr. Frantom: Yes, ma’am.
The Clerk: Mr. Garrett.
Mr. Garrett: Yes.
The Clerk: Mr. Hasan.
Mr. Hasan: Yes, ma’am.
The Clerk: Mr. Johnson.
Mr. Johnson: Yes, ma’am.
The Clerk: Ms. McKnight, you’re muted. Ms. McKnight.
Ms. McKnight: Yes, ma’am.
The Clerk: Ms. Scott.
Ms. Scott: Yes, ma’am.
The Clerk: Mr. Sias.
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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.
Mr. Mayor: Item Number 25.
The Clerk:
FINANCE
25. Consider request from the Board of Assessors to recover/maintain funding for the Dept.
of Revenue Certification Adjustment Staff Development Initiative.
Mr. Mayor: I believe that is ---
Mr. B. Williams: Mr. Mayor ---
Mr. Mayor: --- Chief Tax Assessor Ross, all right, the Chair recognizes the Mayor Pro
Tem, state your inquiry.
Mr. B. Williams: --- well, I was just going to say I was kind of trying to work with that
and we took it to the Administrator so I think the Administrator should have something to say
about it.
Mr. Mayor: Well, I intend to recognize all the parties ---
Mr. B. Williams: Thank you, sir.
Mr. Mayor: --- yeah. All right we’re going to recognize the Tax Assessor, Chief Tax
Assessor and then we’ll come back to the Administrator and then the Mayor Pro Tem to speak on
the matter, okay? All right, our Tax Appraiser, Mr. Ross.
Mr. Ross: Mr. Mayor, Council if I might get a screen share please, sir?
Mr. Mayor: I believe that may be you trying to share the screen. I’m not sure what it is
you want to share with us but.
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Mr. Ross: At this point, Mr. Mayor, may I indicate that we’re back before the Commission
that worked with the Board of Assessors last year maintaining the DOR Certification adjustment
---
Mr. Mayor: Mr. Ross ---
Mr. Ross: --- yes.
Mr. Mayor: --- can you suspend for just a minute? Let’s just clarify what it is you want to
put on the screen and we’ll give you an opportunity to do that if you want to put that up I believe
you’ve been given the opportunity to do that.
Mr. Ross: Okay, do you see that screen, Mr. Mayor?
Mr. Mayor: I’m not sure what just happened but, all right, why don’t you expand that all
the way, open it up.
Mr. Ross: Okay, this is the communication with myself and the Administrator relative to
this matter. It goes back once we became aware of the adopted budget. Without going into all the
gory details of it this is the conversation that goes with Finance going back to this matter once we
became aware of it. I’d like to point out here that we’ve been advised by Finance that this amount
$1,971,760 was approved by the Commission in the summary line items however we went through
a reorg as well as ---
Mr. Mayor: Mr. Ross, continue.
Mr. Ross: --- this was the actual calculated amount even though we did the reorg we had
the departure of the Deputy Chief Appraiser as well as a longstanding serving employee. And so
this amount $53,324 was a positive sub-plus to the salary line. The amount for DOR Certification
was defunded in its full amount of $75,000. And what we attempted to do is say what is the $53
plus thousand that’s already in salary however it was not designated for DOR Certification and
therefore it is a option that only the Commission could make adjustments to. The actual salary
line item of the $1,171,760 is referenced in the GEO 2021 budget.
Mr. Mayor: Mr. Ross ---
Mr. Ross: Yes ---
Mr. Mayor: --- okay go ahead, continue.
Mr. Ross: --- we’d like to point out also, we may have lost this one that in the 2020 budget
that the unspent revenues for 2020 is coming in at north of $148,700. That is the Tax Assessor’s
part of the budget and the sub-plus in the Board of Assessors is above $21,000. This gives you a
quick summary the $75,000 dollars necessary could be one calculation that’s already in the salary
line, we’re short of $23,766. I’ve also calculated with a 15% benefit factor that that total amount
is actually $27,331. If you subtract that amount from the amount that’s being not spent in 2020
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still leaves a carryover balance of north of $121,000. On behalf of the Board we’re back saying
again in 2013 the Board gave up all part-time for this necessary staff development. In 2020 when
we came to you we gave up a fulltime position and benefits to maintain the funding and we’re
back in 2021 again being defunded through the budgetary process. We were not be funded during
our presentation nor was it indicated to us that would be the case. I would point out also that even
though we were asked to drop 25% in training and education the Board of Assessors used $10,000
dollars to cover COVID in this operation. We had no other place to pull it early on in this process
however the budget process started $10,000 short so in that amount even before they deducted it
already reduced to $10,000. We’d also like to point out that there’s the $51,234 difference in what
was going on. We certainly have no control over pension costs and health insurance; those are the
major shifts that we saw. What the Board of Assessors is simply asking for it is necessary to have
talented people in the midst of a conversion going to a more sophisticated (inaudible) system.
We’re down here reappraising trying to get through all property types, we’ve added over $1.1
billion dollars to the digest last year. Certainly there are other issues that the Board considered,
the Commission considered rolling back. One you have no flexibility in the 7% limitation.
However handicapping the Board of Assessors is going to create issues for you and I would hate
to put you in a position that three/four years out when we’re not meeting the challenge of a digest
and penalties and fines started to surface before you that you start to now want to reallocated
funding to keep the Board proper. As I jokingly mentioned we didn’t ask for $2 billion dollars.
We just asked to maintain the funding necessary to keep a staff capable of making the Board of
Assessors meet this annual challenge. Certainly I’m open to any questions, Mr. Mayor and
Commissioners.
Mr. Mayor: All right, I’m going to ask the first question and then I want to hear from the
Administrator, what is it that you’re specifically asking for, Mr. Ross?
Mr. Ross: We’re asking that the $51,234 that’s currently in the salary line be used for DOR
Certification.
Mr. Mayor: We’re not talking about any new monies, existing money that’s the correct --
Mr. Ross: That’s the existing money that’s already there. That’s is correct.
Mr. Mayor: --- okay.
Mr. Ross: What we’re asking for is a supplement of the shortfall or the full seventy-five
salary and benefits come to $27,331 and we’re suggesting that the 2020 not spent revenue is
sufficient and you rollover to your reserves to cover that difference. So the $51,234 and twenty-
seven is the, this is already in asking for the additional revenues to fund DOR Certification
Adjustment.
Mr. Mayor: So what you’re specifically asking for is about $73,000 dollars.
Mr. Donald: Twenty-eight.
Mr. Ross: I’m actually asking for $27,331 and the use of the already allocated funds ---
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Mr. Mayor: Okay ---
Mr. Ross: --- to cover the rest.
Mr. Mayor: --- all right, very well, I just want to make sure that everyone’s understanding.
All right, Administrator Donald, and then I’m going to come back to the Mayor Pro Tem.
Mr. Donald: Yeah, so I believe that Mr. Ross has spoken with both Finance and myself
and a clear understanding that he has a need for a little under $28,000. I think it might have been
a little confusion maybe it was on my part I actually thought that we were asking the Commission
to take cost savings projected for 2021 and then rolling those over into the salary line item. From
my understanding and still fairly new to Augusta but your 2020 books are not officially closed yet.
You haven’t reallocated funds or anything from that area so I’d have to call Ms. Donna Williams
in who I know is in the waiting room to kind of talk about that a little bit more in depth and maybe
that is where the confusion is. I know we talked about during our correspondence that there was
some funding in the operational line item and that would need to come before the Commission
because you can move in between line items with personnel but you cannot move in between line
items from operating in the personnel without a Commission action. And so if that is the case I
don’t remember the line item that we discussed, Mr. Ross, but there was a small amount of cost
savings that covered it from the operational side that was going to move, that could be utilized it
was one of ---
Mr. Ross: Mr. Donald ---
Mr. Donald: --- the options that you gave.
Mr. Ross: --- right, Mr. Donald, what we spoke of is because we made a decision that we
could use a portion of postage ---
Mr. Donald: That’s what it is.
Mr. Ross: --- we could reduce that by $20,000. We decided and got through that it’s not
necessary to send out notice to residential properties of reval work going on in neighborhoods. We
tested that against the 2020 and it worked well for us. We didn’t have any more appeals than we
normally would get so one of the things that we did speak of that we could consider moving
$20,000 dollars from postage as a part of that impact to add to the fifty-one and we’ll still be just
short of about $3,500 dollars.
Mr. Donald: Yes, I didn’t have the, I apologize, Mr. Mayor, I didn’t have the information
directly in front of me but I think that would for the most part resolve the problem and then
authorize Finance to just provide the balance in personnel. So it would be a minor budget
adjustment that would need to be made which would I believe that Mr. Ross after talking to him
Finance and any other party missing an appropriate expenditure and right sizes them so I think
that’s a quality resolution and one that I recommend.
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Mr. Ross: Right, thank you, sir.
Mr. Mayor: All right, let me get a motion to that effect. Do we have a motion to approve
what the Administrator just indicated?
Mr. B. Williams: So moved.
Mr. Mayor: All right, I’ve got a motion from the Mayor Pro Tem, Mayor Pro Tem with a
motion, can I get a second?
Mr. Frantom: Second.
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Mr. Mayor: Okay, all right, Commissioner from the 6.
Mr. Hasan: Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Two questions. One of them is I think the
Administrator might have mentioned it in saying about the closeout from a previous budget but
maybe I missed it previously that we previously referred to money that was not spent in a previous
budget he’ll make that money available after we bring a new budget online (inaudible) saying there
was a difference from the previous budget that was not utilized so I think he’s counting that in a
sense of use and I’m asking is that standard? Normally we don’t do that.
Mr. Donald: I could speak to that if you don’t mind, Mr. Mayor ---
Mr. Mayor: Please do.
Mr. Donald: --- yeah, usually you know and you know Augusta may be just different but
if you don’t use those funds in a fiscal year you roll those over into the General Fund and that’s
how you improve that fund balance which the auditor just highlighted Augusta-Richmond County
has done a quality job of over the past few years but needs to continue to do so. And so I would
encourage you to look at those books as closed and then any adjustments that are made in ’21 be
made leveraging ’21 dollars.
Mr. Hasan: All right, okay, thank you.
Mr. Donald: I’ll give you further insight that in every municipality that I’ve worked in that
last month or so we start sweeping budgets. Anything that you have not funded in that last month
is basically swept and removed and used for your end of the year budget adjustment to make sure
that you roll over for a positive increase to the fund balance.
Mr. Hasan: Thank you. Mr. Mayor, I have one more question and it’s more directed
towards Mr. Ross a direct question ---
Mr. Mayor: Sure.
Mr. Hasan: --- and I’ll ask through you, Mr. Chair. I just want to know at this particular
time what is Mr. Ross’ status. I thought, I was under the impression that at the end of the year that
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he was retiring and it’s a great place to be to able to retire, and so what is his current status with
the Board of Tax Assessors?
Mr. Mayor: Mr. Ross?
Mr. Ross: Commissioner, I’m still the Chief Appraiser. My last scheduled workday is
th.
January 29 We were in a called board meeting again with the Board of Assessors this morning
as I assisted them at their request on the search for a new Chief Appraiser. Without detail they
have selected to interview six candidates that have applied. They have selected to close the posting
and hopefully we are getting scheduled to start interviews as early as next week for a potential
selection of a new Chief Appraiser.
Mr. Hasan: Thank you ---
Mr. Ross: And I hope I answered that question that you were seeking.
Mr. Hasan: --- yes, just one more. Was that the date we were given and I’m just asking a
question was that the date we were given when you notified all of us officially, I’m just asking the
question.
Mr. Ross: I’m not sure when you were notified. The information was shared with the
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Board and forwarded back coming out of the October 12 board meeting ---
Mr. Hasan: Right.
Mr. Ross: --- when we officially gave the notice to the Board even though, we’ve been
discussing this for some time, Mr. Hasan, down here. The challenge the Board had was we
anticipated or I had anticipated nominating the Deputy Chief person of 45 years of service as the
Interim Chief Appraiser. I had made the decision that to enter another contract for three more
years would take me out to 72 and I wasn’t interested in pushing shall we say a walker with tennis
balls behind it down here. So we had discussed it and then the Deputy Chief Appraiser decided
that she was going to go ahead and retire and we were notified in August. We immediately brought
that to the attention of the Board and I thought they were prudent in the fact that they did not wish
for operations to be left without a Deputy Chief or a Chief Appraiser and so their desire requested
meant to provide them all the options for consideration. I believe I gave them five number six
would’ve been my position, you don’t have to do anything, but that would’ve left them in a terrible
pit in my opinion. They chose to move to have two Deputy Chiefs put in place to ensure that
authority and operations of the place to meet the challenges that are going on whether I’m here or
not. You’ve got a conversion that’s going on. We were back in meetings this morning with
(unintelligible). That was a four plus million dollar commitment to tie the Tax Assessor Chief, the
Tax Commissioner and Superior Court files all together so --
Mr. Mayor: Thank you. I think you answered his question well, Mr. Ross. I’ve got a motion
and a second, voting.
The Clerk: Mr. Clarke.
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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.
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.
Mr. Ross: Mr. Mayor, may I ask for a Point of Personal Privilege for 30 seconds?
Mr. Mayor: You may.
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Mr. Ross: I want to thank your office, Mr. Mayor, the Board of Commissioners current as
well as those prior to this date that have served as well. Thank you for the opportunity to serve
and to work with you. I’d like to report to you in my opinion that your Board of Assessors is well
set now to address the challenges current and for the future. I think that the office is in good hands
and prepared to take on the challenges necessary to submit a proper digest your way. Thank you
so very much.
Mr. Mayor: Mr. Ross, thank you for your service to the City of Augusta and to her citizens.
Your work certainly has been well spoken off across the State of Georgia as I’ve heard from many
folks in the Tax Assessors world and I believe that the liaisons to the Board of Tax Assessors will
echo the same as well. My most immediate past Mayor Pro Tem would probably echo those same
in fact I reckon as of now he’s talked much about work that’s going on in the Board of Assessors.
Mr. Frantom: Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Yeah I just want to say thank you, Alveno and your
team, what ya’ll have done to grow the digest in the last five years that I’ve been here has been
remarkable. I know we’ve had some challenges along the way but just thank you for your service
and we wish you well in your retirement.
Mr. Ross: Thank you, Commissioner Frantom.
Mr. Mayor: All right, thank you. All right, Madam Clerk, that takes us, we’ve got Item
#19 and 25 out of the way, let’s see here ---
The Clerk: Items 20, 26 and Number 2 on the Addendum.
Mr. Mayor: --- okay, I want to move quickly again we’ve got Item 2 on the Addendum
Agenda and, let’s do this, let’s go ahead and all right we’re going to go in this order 2, 20, 26 and
28 in this order and then we’ll call it a day, Item 20, 26 and 28.
The Clerk:
ADDENDUM
30. Discuss Liquor and Alcohol License Waivers. (Requested by Commissioner Brandon
Garrett)
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Mr. Mayor: Commissioner from the 8.
Mr. Garrett: Thank you, Mayor. I placed this item on the addendum just because there’s
been some questions that have come up recently about the actions that we took as a Commission
two weeks ago in regards to the Alcohol/Liquor Licenses. You know during that entire
conversation we were discussing waiving these fees and refunding the fees for 2021 for restaurants
and for bars that were closed due to the COVID shutdown. Somehow this got translated into
everybody’s liquor and alcohol licenses were waived for 2021 including you know package stores,
convenience stores you know big box stores that did not have to close, they were not part of the
shutdown. And so I was hoping just to revise what our recommendation was and I think that you
know most of the Commission understood what we all were discussing but somewhere the
39
communication failed us. So I want to make a motion that we waive liquor and alcohol fees
as discussed previously for restaurants and bars, that’s my motion.
Mr. Clarke: Second.
Ms. McKnight: Second.
Mr. Hasan: Can he add ---
Mr. Clarke: (Inaudible)
Mr. Mayor: Okay, hold on, everybody suspend, everybody suspend. If you will just raise
your hand we’re going to recognize everyone in order and I’ll give you a chance, we don’t have to
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talk over one another. All right, I’m going to recognize the Commissioner from the 10.
Mr. Clarke: Yes, sir we had discussed this a little bit earlier and I certainly agree with
Commissioner Garrett that we need to make this apply to the restaurants and bars that had to shutter
their businesses for so long. They were the ones that were hurt. The big box stores, convenience
stores, package shops, everybody else with a liquor license was not hurt. They did not have to
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shut their doors. So I would just like to second the motion that the Commissioner from the 8 has
placed before us, thank you.
Mr. Mayor Pro Tem: All right, Commissioner Hasan, Commissioner Hasan,
Commissioner Hasan ---
Mr. Hasan: Okay, all right ---
Mr. B. Williams: --- go ahead.
Mr. Hasan: --- Mr. Mayor, Mr. Mayor Pro Tem, I’d like to my colleague put in front of
that to rescind the previous action and the rest of that is fine.
Mr. Garrett: I agree with that, Commissioner, thank you.
Mr. Mayor Pro Tem: Okay, so any other discussion? Ms. Bonner, we’re voting.
The Clerk: Mr. Clarke.
Mr. Clarke: Yes, ma’am.
The Clerk: Mr. Frantom.
Mr. Frantom: No, ma’am.
The Clerk: Mr. Garrett.
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Mr. Garrett: Yes, ma’am.
The Clerk: Mr. Hasan.
Mr. Hasan: Yes, ma’am.
The Clerk: Mr. Johnson.
Mr. Johnson: No, 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.
Mr. Frantom and Mr. Johnson vote No.
Motion Passes 8-2.
Mr. Mayor Pro Tem: Thank you. Ms. Bonner, let’s go to Number 20.
The Clerk:
ADMINISTRATIVE SERVICES
20. Discuss 2020 vacation pay for public safety workers that are unable to use by the extended
deadline due to work demands or staff shortage. (Requested by Commissioner Sean
Frantom)
Mr. Mayor Pro Tem: Commissioner Frantom.
Mr. Frantom: Thank you, Mayor Pro Tem. So I put this on there because I’ve had some
Richmond County deputies reach out to me and due to staff shortages as well as workload they’re
41
not going to be able to take any vacation between now and the extended deadline that we put in
place back in November, I think. And this individual’s going to have close to 100 hours that
they’re not going to be able to use and I think that basically I want to start the conversation today
and let the Administrator kind of dive into this on like he thinks we should do. But I do think that
there should be some form of buy-back, don’t know what that looks like, I’m going to lean on his
expertise, but for these public safety workers that are not able to take any vacation even with the
extension and they’re going to lose money and I think we owe it to them based on what we went
through in 2020. So I’m going to leave it there and let the discussion start but that’s kind of where
I want to start the conversation, thank you.
Mr. Mayor Pro Tem: Okay, Mr. Administrator, can you pick it up there? Do you have
anything to say about that?
Mr. Donald: No, I mean I think it’s a great effort to make sure we support our public safety
officers and those essential workers that really haven’t been able to take full advantage of this. We
started working on it since we saw the agenda come out and Commissioner Frantom was kind
enough to talk to me about it briefly. So we have researched at our ADP and one solution
technology does allow us to do certain things like create a different lead category so that they don’t
lose it. You could also do kind of a hybrid where maybe you pay out a portion of it and then ensure
that they don’t lose the rest and they could use it as FICO, I’m sorry that’s an acronym First In
First Out when they’re using their leave. We’re working on a few things so with the time that he
has granted we should be able to bring a recommendation back to the Commission.
Mr. Mayor Pro Tem: Okay, is there any other discussion? All right, so do we just want to
take it as information?
The Clerk: You had some hands up, sir.
Mr. Mayor Pro Tem: Okay, okay, I can’t see everybody so that’s good. All right,
th,
Commissioner from the 4 go ahead.
The Clerk: Mr. Garrett’s hand’s there too.
Mr. Sias: Commissioner Garrett can go first. I’ll go after him, Mayor Pro Tem.
Mr. Mayor Pro Tem: All right go ahead, Mr. Garrett.
Mr. Garrett: Thank you, Commissioner Sias. I too have heard these comments from you
know not only the public safety folks out there but a lot of the employees that were essential during
the shutdown and you know just keeping our government going. They accrued quite a bit of
vacation and you know a lot of them are approaching retirement this year or next year. A lot of
them are looking at losing lots and lots of hours of accrued time that is owed to them. So,
Administrator Donald, as we’re looking at this I want to make sure that we’re including all of those
as well.
Mr. Mayor Pro Tem: Okay, all right, Commissioner Sias.
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Mr. Sias: Thank you, sir and Commissioner Garrett said nearly about what I was going to
say so but I will say this first off we should have a very liberal consideration for all these folks
that’s in this position. And as you know, Administrator, I discussed one particular individual with
you and this is one of them cases where I guess we can find a reason to support some and maybe
some not so in that case I think we need to look at all of these folks who are in this position. So
that’s going to be my concern that we treat everybody fairly in this position not just on the public
safety but there were many of these essential workers and folks who’ve been working throughout
this pandemic. So I think we need to consider everybody who’s in that position and that would be
something that can get my help on that but let’s consider everybody. Thank you.
Mr. Mayor Pro Tem: All right, any other discussion? Anybody see any hands up? All
right, so we’re going to take this as information and you’re going to, Administrator, you’re going
to bring it back a recommendation at the next meeting correct?
Mr. Donald: That’s correct, sir.
nd,
Mr. Mayor Pro Tem: All right February 2 Ms. Bonner?
The Clerk: Yes, sir, so we’re going to receive this as information with referring it to the
Administrator without objection?
Mr. Mayor Pro Tem: Yes, ma’am.
The Clerk: Okay.
Mr. Mayor Pro Tem: All right, so where do we go next, Ms. Bonner?
The Clerk: We’ve got Item Number 26.
Mr. Mayor Pro Tem: All right.
The Clerk:
ADMINISTRATOR
26. Presentation by Administrator Donald on the Augusta, GA COVID-19 path forward
plan. Authorize the Administrator to move forward with implementing the COVID-19 plan.
Mr. Mayor Pro Tem: All right, Administrator Donald.
Mr. Donald: Yes, sir, Mayor Pro Tem and Commission. Very quickly this presentation is
really just information provided to the Commission about our activities related to COVID-19. I
wanted to give you a heads that up as you know the cases are rising pretty quickly here in
Richmond County and they have also impacted some of our staff members as well with some
rising cases. Augusta has not had a formal internal way to be able to respond to COVID and insure
that not only our staff are safe but there’s no interruption in services. And I also noticed that the
43
Commission has not received a comprehensive update on the impact on the pandemic on service
operations and so we have put together and internal working group existing of all of our various
service areas as well as prepared information so the Commission can make certain decisions that
are required by the Department of Public Health. Right now they are inundated in issuing the
vaccine for the category of 1A which is mainly our public safety and health partners and staff
members and once they move to 1B which goes beyond that which there isn’t enough vaccine for
at this time there needs to be a priority list provided by the Commission which we will relay to
Public Health to be able to identify who’s next in line at least related to Augusta-Richmond County
staff. And so the document I provided you provides those insights and those details of the staff
recommendation. It is not anything final, you don’t have to approve it today. It’s something for
you to look at. Secondly, while the EEO has determined that you can make it mandatory the
vaccine we actually issued a survey to all Augusta employees and we saw that close to 75% of
those employees are willing to take it voluntarily and the remainder of that group for the most part
with more information would also be willing to take it so it is not our recommendation at this time
that the Augusta make it a mandatory vaccine. And I think that the final piece is that one of the
biggest bottlenecks that we have in delivering services across our service area is that we don’t have
authorization for telework because there’s not actually a policy in place so there’s a draft policy
for the Commission to review with the hopes that if the idea is accepted, if I understand how you
do policy here, if the idea is accepted we would then forward that draft policy to Legal to bring
back to the Commission at a future meeting. And so that is the overall overview of that document
and it is about 30 pages long. It tells you about our cases, it shows you the trend of them going
up, it also shows the administrative things that while they don’t necessarily require Commission
approval I wanted to make sure that you knew all of the steps that we were taking to keep both our
residents and our staff members safe.
Mr. Mayor Pro Tem: Gotcha, any comments? Any comments? Thank you we’ll just take
that as information. All right, Ms. Bonner, where are we going next, 28?
The Clerk: 28, yes, sir.
The Clerk:
ATTORNEY
28. Discuss the current Richmond County Judicial Circuit.
Mr. Mayor Pro Tem: All right, Mr. Hasan.
The Clerk: No, that’s the Attorney.
Mr. Mayor Pro Tem: That’s the Attorney?
The Clerk: Yes, sir.
Mr. Hasan: Ya’ll took my license?
Mr. Mayor Pro Tem: All right, Attorney Brown, let’s go.
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Mr. Sias: You ain’t never had any.
The Clerk: They’ve been revoked.
Mr. Sias: No, ma’am, he ain’t had none.
Mr. Hasan: (inaudible) publicly you could’ve done it on the side.
Mr. Sias: Driver’s license don’t make you an Attorney.
Mr. Mayor Pro Tem: Attorney Brown.
Mr. Brown: Yes, Mayor Pro Tem, Commissioners, this item was part of the Commission’s
request was placed on the agenda for consideration of the resolution that you instructed me to
prepare regarding a possible Judicial Circuit split. And that resolution was forwarded to you earlier
and it’s also in your agenda book for your consideration.
Mr. Mayor Pro Tem: Okay ---
Mr. Hasan: Motion to approve the resolution.
Mr. Mayor Pro Tem: --- Commissioner Hasan, you have something to say?
Mr. Hasan: --- no, I don’t have anything, motion to approve the resolution, motion to
approve it.
Mr. Mayor Pro Tem: Do I have a second?
Mr. Johnson: Second.
Mr. Mayor Pro Tem: All right, we’ve got a motion and a second, Ms. Bonner, let’s vote.
The Clerk: Okay, Mr. Hasan and Mr. Johnson okay, Mr. Clarke.
Mr. Clarke: Yes.
The Clerk: Mr. Frantom, he’s out, okay. Mr. Garrett, Mr. Garrett? He’s out. Mr. Hasan.
Mr. Hasan: Yes, ma’am.
The Clerk: Mr. Johnson.
Mr. Johnson: Yes, ma’am.
The Clerk: Ms. McKnight.
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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.
Mr. Frantom and Mr. Garrett out.
Motion Passes 7-1.
Mr. Mayor Pro Tem: Is there any other business in front of us?
The Clerk: No, sir, that’s it.
Mr. Hasan: (Unintelligible) Mr. Mayor Pro Tem.
Mr. Mayor Pro Tem: Ya’ll have a great day, be good.
Mr. Hasan: Ms. Catherine has something she wants to say to you.
Ms. McKnight: Yeah, I just wanted to ask ya’ll something real quick, now that we and
ya’ll might can answer this for me. I was informed that basically we already got five (inaudible).
Mr. Sias: Hey hold on for a second, Mayor Pro Tem ---
Mr. Mayor Pro Tem: Yes, sir.
Mr. Sias: --- we might be in a bad position to have this discussion.
Ms. McKnight: Okay, okay.
Mr. Mayor Pro Tem: Okay, okay, all right so ya’ll call each other.
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\[MEETING ADJOURNED\]
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 19, 2021.
______________________________
Clerk of Commission
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