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HomeMy WebLinkAboutCommission Meeting July 10, 2008 REGULAR MEETING COMMISSION CHAMBER JULY 10, 2008 Augusta Richmond County Commission convened at 1:00 p.m., July 10, 2008, the Hon. Deke Copenhaver, Mayor, presiding. PRESENT: Hons. Holland, Smith, Mason, Grantham, Beard, Johnson, Jackson, Bowles and Brigham, members of Augusta Richmond County Commission. Absent: Hon. Hatney, member of Augusta Richmond County Commission. The invocation was given by the Reverend Ronald Wright, Pastor, Ebenezer Seventh Adventist Church. The Pledge of Allegiance to the Flag of the United States of America was recited. Mr. Mayor: Pastor, we have something for you. Thank you for that wonderful prayer. By these present be it known that Reverend Ronald Wright, Pastor Ebenezer Seventh Adventist Church is Chaplain of the Day for his civic and spiritual guidance demonstrated throughout the community and serves as an example for all of the faith community. Given under my hand this th 10 Day of July 2008. Thank you so much. (APPLAUSE) Madam Clerk, on to the presentations. PRESENTATIONS A. Presentation to Augusta Utilities Department by the Georgia Association of Water Professionals. The Clerk: Yes, sir, Mr. Mayor and members of the Commission. Presentation A. The th Utilities Department has requested that this item be rescheduled to our next our August 5 meeting. The Clerk: PRESENTATIONS B. Presentation of checks from the Mayor’s Masters Reception Committee to Augusta State University Women Golf Team, Fisher House, Augusta Parks & Recreation, Walton Rehabilitation and Academy of Richmond County. Mr. Hawkins: I’m Wayne Hawkins, Chairman of the Mayor’s Masters Reception Committee. Last year was our tenth year of having this event. And last year it was at the Golf and Gardens and we had over 12,000 people there. Part of the event is for concession sales and raffle tickets. The Academy of Richmond County they sent some young ladies to help us with the raffle. Vicky Green with Walton Rehab handled the concession and we raised $5,000.00 that night for the different charities that we’re going to give the money away to today. First on our list is Augusta State University Women’s Golf Team. We’re going to present them with a check for $1,000.00. And Commissioner Don Grantham is going to get that to them. (APPLAUSE) 1 We have supported the ASU Women’s Golf Team since it’s conception about five or six years ago so we’re happy to continue to do that. The second person to receive is Walton Rehab, Vicky Green. We’re going to present them with a check for $1,000.00 for a golf tournament that they have on Monday’s at a clinic for adaptive golfers and Lesley Glass with Walton Rehab. (APPLAUSE) Like I mentioned earlier the Academy of Richmond County provided us with several young ladies to help us sell raffle tickets and I’d to present a check to ARC. Miss Hughes is going to accept it, one of the ladies that helped us. (APPLAUSE) One of the other checks we’re going to present is an organization that’s part of Richmond County that we could not do this event without and it’s Parks and Rec. I’d to present a check for $1,000.00 to the Augusta Parks and Rec Department and I would like this money to go for upkeep of the Gardens. (APPLAUSE) The last check we have is to the Wounded Warriors Project for the Fisher House and Congressman Bernard was (inaudible). I’ll have to get this check to Congressman Bernard. But it’s for $1,000.00 for the building of the Fisher House to help the Wounded Warriors as they come back from Iraq and Afghanistan. (APPLAUSE) Mr. Mayor: Thank you, Wayne, and I just want to personally thank you and the entire committee. These folks do a great job every year. And so I, could we give them a round of applause? (APPLAUSE) We seemed to have lost our Clerk. I don’t want to start having to do standup here. The Clerk: RECOGNITIONS City of Augusta Camp Data Class C. The first City of Augusta Camp Data Class facilitated by the Augusta Information Technology Department. Ms. Tameka Allen: Mr. Mayor, members of the Commission. I have a great group of kids today that I want to recognize. But before I recognize them I just wanted to kind of let you guys know how Camp Data actually started and how it originated. This project started about two months ago with me challenging the Information Technology staff to come up with something innovative and thinking out of the box, something that Commissioner Holland is always stressing to us. And of course as always the staff exceeded my expectations. They came back with some great ideas that we’ll be implementing and one of those ideas that we’ve already implemented is Augusta Camp Data. A committee was quickly formed when Marty Lick brought this idea to the table and everybody supported him and rallied behind him. Now you probably see all these great pictures that we took from the Camp. We know technology and information technology but we don’t know kids. So who better to call and contact and who knows kids than the Recreation Department? So we contacted Tom Beck knowing that their camp actually started on June the nd 2. We just had a few weeks to put it all together and I must give Mr. Beck full credit. When I called him he did not at one time say we can’t make it happen, Tameka, because you’re calling us at the last minute and you want to throw a monkey wrench into what we already have established. He said don’t worry about it we’ll have somebody work with your committee and we’ll make it happen and I appreciate that. And that person was Ms. Joyce Downs. She came in 2 that meeting and we were kind of skeptical about whether or not we was going to make it work. She came in there so energetic and passionate about children it was just, it was crazy. It was awesome and we all got together and we tried to make it happen. And she did everything she could to make it happen. Um, you know we’re passionate about technology, they’re passionate about children and that’s great. We make a good team. This of course was a pilot project. It was kind of part of our community outreach to kind of bring technology in Augusta’s youth. It started with two classes, ages 6-8, 9-11 and I’m glad to say the demand was so strong that we had to actually add two additional classes and we have a waiting list right now to get into those other classes. Without further ado I’m going to go ahead and introduce to you and recognize our first Augusta Camp Data class. When I call your names guys come up and you’ll finally see the Mayor and the Commissioners that you sat in their seats and wondered who they were. Stand up guys. You ready? Jaylyn Allen (APPLAUSE) Natalie Briness. (APPLAUSE) Meredith Blanchard (APPLAUSE) Takeria Bridges (APPLAUSE) Christopher Carson (APPLAUSE) Armani Homeria (APPLAUSE) Benjamin Frails (APPLAUSE) Jeremy Gray (APPLAUSE) Malachi McGibbon (APPLAUSE) Madison Mixon (APPLAUSE) J’Wan Neil (APPLAUSE) Kristen Nile (APPLAUSE) TaLisa Robinson (APPLAUSE) Jeremiah Scott (APPLAUSE) John Michael Simmons (APPLAUSE) Brandon Stuckey (APPLAUSE) Cambran Taylor (APPLAUSE) and Jaylin Wilcox (APPLAUSE) I would also like to take a few minutes of your time to thank some of the other people who made this happen, who were instrumental in making this happen. That would be the parents of course. If the parents of the children would stand up. (APPLAUSE) You had an opportunity to enroll your kids in other things and you chose and trust them with us that we could teach them about technology and we appreciate that. Thank you. Mr. Tom Beck, of course, and his staff. Thank you. Ms. Joyce Downs, thank you, Ms. Downs. The people that served on the IT Committee Ms. Annette Coker and Ms. Deidre McRae who helped to establish our curriculum and worked very hard with the kids. Mr. Shawn Dent. Mr. Dent actually designed our tee shirts and did the slide show and all the photography for us. Our other volunteers Mr. Marty Fluellen better known as Uncle Marty. Ms. Kathy Murray, Mr. Matthew Mixon and Beatrice Maxwell. (APPLAUSE) And last but not certainly least whose vision is what we follow, Mr. Lick, who did our training. (APPLAUSE) I would also like to announce one more thing that’s happening great in Information Technology Department and that’s the unleashing today of our Kids Place Website. That’s easily accessible from the Agustaga.gov website. It’s a one-stop shop for our children. They’re link to things that make it great to be a kid in the City of Augusta. And if you will notice that’s actually the City of Augusta’s Riverwalk and I have to give all the credit to Michele Pearman of the Information Technology Department. (APPLAUSE) She actually drew this by hand of Augusta Richmond County Riverwalk. And you notice the buildings and the planes and the boats and the Riverwalk. She did this so that’s a great talent that she has the creativity I tell you it’s just hadn’t been unnoticed. Also Ms. Annette Coker and Troy Taylor in assisting her in this. So feel free to go the Kids Place website. All kind of great things on education and safety and government and other interactive websites that we’d like for our kids to be a participant in. Thank you. (APPLAUSE) Mr. Russell: Mr. Mayor if I may. Tameka forgot to mention one person that probably had the real vision, the real help and the real oomph to make this happen and that’s herself. Tameka’s a fine example (APPLAUSE) Tameka’s a fine example of the kind of employee we have and that we need to continue to have here in Augusta as they’re all willing to go that extra 3 mile to take that additional help to move Augusta forward at a reasonable price, at a reasonable cost. And she shared with me that the Kids’ Place thing is simple enough that I can actually make it work. That was the test. Thank you, Tameka, for all that you do. (APPLAUSE) Ms. Beard: Mr. Mayor, Mr. Mayor. Mr. Mayor: Yes, ma’am. Ms. Beard: May I also commend Tameka, the staff involved in this, Recreation Department, everyone. This is what we need in our city. And this is a type thing that’s going to make us number one. We’re moving forward but we want to be number one all around. Thanks again. (APPLAUSE) The Clerk: RECOGNITIONS(S) D. Certificate of Recognition presented to Mr. Michael Curry, Head Coach Detroit Pistons. (Requested by Commissioner Calvin Holland) Mr. Holland: At this time I would like to take the opportunity to introduce to you the mother of Michael Curry, Mrs. Juanita Curry standing here. And to her right is one of my former students along with Michael was one of my former students also at Glenn Hills High School is Daryl Beltzer who went to school with Michael at Georgia Southern. And Daryl was on three national championship teams at Georgia Southern and graduated and he and Michael are very good friends now. And to my left is Harold Jones also a very good friend and our solicitor here in Augusta and a classmate and a very good friend of Mike Curry. It’s just ironic today that we are recognizing young people and giving them certificates. And then of course we’re recognizing a young man who grew up in this city and went from one level of high school to the collegiate level to the professional basketball level and he left the country and cam back to this country and became an assistant coach with the Detroit Pistons and was recently named the head coach of the Detroit Pistons. A graduate of Glenn Hills High School a graduate of Georgia Southern College playing professional basketball. This is indicative of the kind of young people that we have in Augusta Georgia. We also have another Georgia native by the name of Ken Wisenhunt who is a head football coach with the Arizona Cardinals. So we’re very proud of these young people. We’re very proud of the fact that they set an example for the young people of Augusta and we need to continue to recognize them as much as we possibly can. And on this day we’re going to ask Ms. Bonner to share with us this Letter of Recognition to Michael Curry, which will be received by Michael’s mother Mrs. Juanita Curry presented by our Mayor, Deke Copenhaver. The Clerk: The Office of the Mayor. Certificate of Recognition given to Michael Curry Head Coach Detroit Pistons. Whereas Michael Curry is a native of Augusta and a graduate of the Glenn Hills High School and in 1986 helped lead Glenn Hills to the state semifinals. His playing career consists of playing in eleven national basketball association seasons with Toronto, Philadelphia, Washington, Detroit, Milwaukee and Indiana. He also played professionally in 4 Germany, Belgium and France as well as the CBA and the USBL after he was a standout at Georgia Southern University. Notable mentions include President of the MBA Players Association 2000/2004. MBA Leagues Vice-President of Player Development 2006-2007. Glenn Hills retired his number 20 jersey at a ceremony in May of 2005 and Georgia Southern rd retired his jersey the next year. On September 3, 2002 former Mayor Bob Young declared Michael Curry Day in Augusta. The City of Augusta congratulates you for your outstanding achievement on the occasion of your recent appoint as head coach of the Detroit Pistons. Given th this 10 Day of July 2008 Deke Copenhaver, Mayor. (APPLAUSE) Mr. Mayor: Well, I just want to echo Commissioner Holland’s sentiments. Please share with Michael, we are so proud of him and Commissioner Holland and I had discussed it. How many cities of our size really how many cities have a current NFL Head Coach and current MBA Head Coach that both came out of those very cities. So Augusta is producing great people. We’ve got great young people but just please share with him. We are so proud and he just, come back and see us often. And if he wants to tell any of his players that they need to buy a big mansion or build one we’ve got available land here in Augusta. But thank you Michael. Mr. Holland: I’d like to mention right quick too Ms. Bonner mentioned the fact that Michael was a Player Representative. Michael was very, very instrumental in negotiating a contract with the Commissioner and getting the professional basketball players to dress like businessmen, like they’re going to their job. When the Commissioner found this out and when they worked out this contract the Commissioner, David Stern said I want that young man on my team. Michael was also instrumental in negotiating a pension contract for all of the professional basketball players. So now they will be receiving pensions and they will be dressing like businessmen going to work to play basketball. Thank you very much. (APPLAUSE) Mr. Mayor: It’s plainly apparent this city’s got a lot to be proud of. Madam Clerk, the delegations. The Clerk: DELEGATIONS E. Mr. Walter Sprouse. RE: Update from the Development Authority of Richmond County. Mr. Mayor: Tell us some more good news. Mr. Sprouse: The good news is and I just came here just to tell you about my grandson here. I couldn’t resist. I’m a first time grandfather so like a lot of people in the room. Good news of course at the last meeting I brought a variety of gifts for you. I thought I was on the agenda then but I wasn’t so I’m on the agenda for today. So at least you had a chance to look at some of the marketing material that we have that we give out to various people. Those luggage tags for instance that you received that we just can’t keep enough of those. They’re green, they’re indestructible and they have Augusta on them. We give out 3,000 of those at the Biotechnology Show in San Diego and ran out of them. So that’s part of the marketing that we have. Of course this morning the good news, we opened officially TelePerformance. They’re a 5 customer service. They like to say they’re a customer contact center. And I think Terry Elam today said volumes when he said it is a contact center whenever someone has a problem with their Medicaid problems or whatever it happens to be and they need some assistance. They pick up the phone they’re going to talk to somebody here in Augusta. The training is going on over there and if you could’ve seen the enthusiasm of the people there being hired, that they’ve already hired 150 people. And I talked with Chris earlier today and had to give him the telephone number at Channel 12 because they had been swamped with telephone calls at the TV station since they ran it at noon today of people wanting to go to work for TelePerformance. And so this is, this is very good news for us. If you take a look at what we’ve done in the past with the Development Authority without boring you with a lot of numbers you know just in the past year we’ve created probably close to 3,000 3,200 new jobs. This is in the face of whatever is going on with the economy nation wide. National news you see all the time while jobs are being cut back here we lost this many jobs in this state and all that stuff. Here in Augusta what are we doing? We’re adding jobs. That’s a testament to the teamwork that we have here not only with all of you but also with the Development Authority. We mentioned Michelle Pierman a while ago and the people at GIS. I don’t know that we could do our job without the county’s GIS Mapping Department over there. We really, we depend on them probably more than anybody else in this city and they go about doing that very quietly. And other people such as Augusta Technical College and the Department of Labor and Quick Start and the Department of Economic Development and on and on and on. The Augusta Utilities, the Recreation Department. We’re all part of this big team and it’s all working together and it’s working very smoothly. And I can’t emphasize enough what you are doing to help us do our job. And all the things that many times I call on each one of you periodically and eventually on things that you need to do and you’re a great help. And we certainly do appreciate that. We focus on four things in marketing just so you’ll know. We focus on the types of companies we want here. Of course customer service not only with the great Data Camp that we have that’s creating information technology people but also Fort Gordon and all the people that’s being trained and all the people at Augusta Technical College. We are an information technology city. And we take advantage of our strengths. Our other strengths are the companies that we work on of course and you can name them. Anybody in the city here can name them what our strengths. Life sciences and medical related companies, aviation related companies and military related companies. Southern Business and Development Magazine the other day, this did not get a whole of press and I don’t know why. But they came out with their top ten list the other day and Augusta was at the top of the list for the comeback cities of the South. I don’t know why that didn’t get a whole lot of publicity but we made sure it was in our newsletter and I know that all of you know about that. But being named at the top of the list of the comeback cities of the South I think speaks volumes on what has happened in the past few years. One other thing that I do want to let you know about and I’m just going to very briefly tell you. We changed our marketing strategy about five years ago. We were doing a lot of advertising in magazines and stuff and quite frankly it was getting us nowhere. So we decided to change it. Fortunately we have a board that will say to staff, tell us what we need to do they will help us implement it. We changed our marketing strategy completely five years ago and according to Southern Business and Development said that’s one of the reasons we are one of the comeback city’s of the South because we took what we called our antiquated marketing program and we tossed it out the window and started over. We focus primarily on two items. We see people face to face and we tell them about Augusta and that includes prospects and that includes consultants which means 6 we travel a lot. So we put a lot of money in travel to see the consultants in Dallas and New York, Chicago and Cleveland and wherever they happen to be and in Phoenix. And also we focus on the Internet. Maybe about a month or so ago I asked Laurie in my office to please take a look at our Internet, our website and compare that with other communities around. And she gave a report back to me and she looked at Austin Texas and she looked at Memphis. She looked at Chattanooga; she looked at Henderson, Nevada which by the way has a pretty good city website if you want to take a look at that one, one day. She took a look at Tampa and Charlotte and Richmond and her report was quite frankly, I can’t find anybody that has a better website than we do. It’s a little dated on the graphics so we’re going to update that but generally we have a very good website and it’s working very well for us. Finally I want to let you know that in the face of a lot of cutbacks and what’s going with the economy nationwide and a lot of my friends in economic development are singing the blues saying we haven’t seen a prospect in two, three four months. We’re doing whatever we can to try to get them in here but they’re just not coming in here. We’re continuing to see projects and the important thing for you to know today is that we’re seeing a lot of international prospects now. In the past three weeks we have picked up projects from Asia, from South American and from Europe. And this is very unusual for us. But if you stop and think about it when you think about the relationship with the Euro, the Dollar and all that stuff it’s worth now for a lot of foreign companies to invest in the United States. So we recognize that we’re taking a look at our marketing and what we’re doing and now we’re going to do a little bit of a shift, more of an international thing. Hopefully that will not require international travel because I’m not the greatest traveler in the world. But we are going to do what we can to try to encourage more of the international investment here. Today’s announcement, TelePerformance a lot of people don’t realize that they’re headquartered in France. They are an international company. They have locations in 45 countries worldwide and employ more than 83,000 people and they speak 66 languages. This is the kind of company we just located in Augusta this morning. This is the kind of professionalism that we have. And thanks to the team we have here and all of the other people I mentioned earlier I think the future is bright for us and we’re going to work just as hard as we possibly can. Be glad to answer any kind of question or any other comments that you may have. Mr. Mayor: I’d just like to say thanks, Walt, for the great job you’re doing. It truly is a team effort but I know how hard you work and so thank you. You’re doing a great job. Mr. Sprouse: Well, thank you very much. And what I want to make sure that I do is to come back here and make a report to you periodically like I promised last year. And quite frankly we’ve been so busy with projects we hadn’t had a chance to schedule anything in the spring. So better late than never and hopefully by the end of the year we’ll go ahead and do another report to bring you up to date. I think everybody here has my email address and telephone number memorized so if at any time you need to give my a buzz and any kind of things that we can help you do, any thing that you guys can help us do please feel free and we’ll continue to work and be part of this excellent team that we’ve created here. Thank you very much. Mr. Mayor: Thanks, Walter. (APPLAUSE) Okay, I guess this is a private conversation so, Madam Clerk, if we could move on to the consent agenda. 7 The Clerk: Yes, sir. Our consent agenda consists of items 1-50, items 1-50. For the benefit of any objectors to our Planning petitions I will read those petitions. If there are any objectors would you please signify your objections by raising your hand. Item 4: Is for a change of zoning from a Zone R-1A (One-family Residential) to a Zone R-3B (Multiple-family Residential). Item 5: Is to approve with conditions a change of zoning from a Zone A (Agriculture) to a Zone B-2 (General Business). Item 6: A change of zoning from a Zone A (Agriculture) and a Zone R-1C (One-family Residential) to a Zone (Manufactured Home Residential) affecting property known as 2066 A and 2066 B Willow Street. The Clerk: Are there any objectors to those Planning petitions? Mr. Russell: None noted, Madam Clerk. The Clerk: I call your attention our Public Services portion of the agenda for the alcohol petitions. If there are any objectors would you please signify those objections by raising your hand. Item 11: Is for a Liquor, Beer & Wine license to be used in connection with the Augusta th Civic Center Ovations Foods located at 601 7 Street. Item 12: Is for a Liquor, Beer & Wine license to be used in connection with Ovations Foods for the Bell Auditorium at 712 Telfair Street. The Clerk: Are there any objections to those alcohol petitions? Mr. Russell: None noted, Madam Clerk. That’s it, Mr. Mayor. Our consent agenda consists of items 1-50. Mr. Mayor: Okay, do we have any additions to the consent agenda. Mr. Russell: Can we add the budget? Mr. Mayor: Mr. Russell? Mr. Russell: Item 4, Mr. Patty has a comment on that. I don’t know if it’s necessary to pull it or if you can just take the comment. Mr. Mayor: I think we can just take the comment. Mr. Patty: Mr. Mayor, this type, this particular type of zoning, the plan is part of the zoning and the plan changed after Monday the Planning Commission meeting and I just need to get it in the record the fact that this is a different plan with a slightly different road configuration and less than 31 units. 8 Mr. Mayor: Okay, okay, do we have any additions to the consent agenda. Mr. Brigham. Mr. Brigham: Mr. Mayor, I don’t see why we couldn’t add item #52 to it and as far as I’m concerned we can add item #53 also. Mr. Mayor: Mr. Russell. Mr. Russell: For the record it would make me feel good if we could hear from our auditor on item 53, please. Mr. Mayor: Am I to read that the Administrator would like to blow our own horn a little bit? Mr. Russell: One would think that that would be appropriate given the nature of our audit at the moment. Mr. Mayor: Duly noted, Mr. Administrator. Okay, do we have any further additions to? Are there any items to be pulled for discussion? Commissioner Holland. Mr. Holland: Thank you, Mr. Mayor. I’d like to pull item #48 to get some clarification on that one, please, sir. Mr. Mayor: Okay, are there any further items to be pulled for discussion? Commissioner Mason. Mr. Mason: Yes, sir, thank you, Mr. Mayor. I don’t know that we necessarily have to pull it, Mr. Mayor, but um, I think I’d like to see added on to that would be that um, all Commissioners get an opportunity to see this contract. Not just for committee review but that all Commissioners have an opportunity to see this contract prior to. Is that something that we need to pull? Mr. Mayor: Okay get to see the --- The Clerk: Item #38? Mr. Mason: Yes, on item #38. It’s going to bring back to contract for committee review but I would like for all Commissioners not just the committee --- The Clerk: You will --- Mr. Mayor: And it’ll go through the committee but then it would have to go before the entire Commission. Mr. Mason: I understand that, I understand that. Before it gets to that point even just committee I would like all Commissioners to have an opportunity to see it. 9 Mr. Russell: No problem. Mr. Mayor: Okay. Mr. Mason: So I don’t think we need to --- Mr. Mayor: No, I think we’re fine with that. Okay um, Madam Clerk, if we could read back the additions and items pulled for discussion. The Clerk: Yes, sir. Mr. Mayor: Commissioner Johnson. Mr. Johnson: I would like to pull item six. The Clerk: Consent agenda items 1-50 with the addition of 52. Items 1-50 with the addition of item 52. Items pulled for discussion will be item 6 and item 48. Mr. Mayor: Okay, can I get a motion to approve the consent agenda? Mr. Jackson: So moved. Ms. Beard: Second. CONSENT AGENDA PLANNING 1. ZA-R-190 – A request for concurrence with the Augusta-Richmond County Planning Commission to approve an amendment to the Comprehensive Zoning Ordinance for Augusta-Richmond County by amending Section 8-1 (Permitted Uses) regarding the average gross floor area of one family detached dwellings. 2. ZA-R-191 – A request for concurrence with the Augusta-Richmond County Planning Commission to approve an amendment to the Comprehensive Zoning Ordinance for Augusta-Richmond County by amending Section 8-2 (Special Exception) regarding the average gross floor area of one family detached dwellings. 3. FINAL PLAT – COUNCIL DRIVE – S-784 – A petition by Cranston Engineering Group P.C., on behalf of James Garren, requesting final plat approval for Council Drive subdivision. This residential development is located on Council Drive. (Reviewing Agency approval 7-8-08) 4. Z-08-49 – A request for concurrence with the Augusta-Richmond County Planning Commission to approve a petition by Bernard Johnson requesting a change of zoning from Zone R-1A (One-family Residential) to Zone R-3B (Multiple-family Residential) affecting property located on the east right-of-way line of Hopetown Drive (private), 335 feet, more or less, east of Bertram Road and containing approximately 3 acres. (Tax Map 012-0-136- 02-0) DISTRICT 7 5. Z-08-52 – A request for concurrence with the Augusta-Richmond County Planning Commission to approve with the condition that a 6-foot solid fence and a 10-foot natural 10 buffer be installed and maintained along the rear property line; a petition by Patricia Scott requesting a change of zoning from Zone A (Agriculture) to Zone B-2 (General Business) affecting property containing 1.57 acres and known as 4280 Windsor Spring Road. (Tax Map 166-0-019-01-00) DISTRICT 6 7. ZA-R-192 – A request for concurrence with the Augusta-Richmond County Planning Commission to approve an amendment to the Comprehensive Zoning Ordinance for Augusta-Richmond County by amending Section 3-12 (Special Building Setbacks). 8. SPA-08 – A request for concurrence with the Augusta-Richmond County Planning Commission to approve an amendment to the Site Plan Regulations for Augusta-Richmond County by amending Section 202-E regarding the required number of plans to be submitted. 9. SA-45 – A request for concurrence with the Augusta-Richmond County Planning Commission to approve an amendment to the Subdivision Regulation for Augusta- Richmond County by amending Section 201-D and 202-B regarding the required number of plans to be submitted. 10. FINAL LPLAT – WEST WHEELER TOWNHOMES, PHASE 6 (A PORTION OF DEVELOPMENT PLAN S-699-III) – S-788 – A petition by Southern Partners Inc., on behalf of ATC Development, requesting final plat approval for West Wheeler Townhomes, Phase 6. This residential townhome development is located off West Wheeler Parkway at the terminus. 11. PUBLIC SERVICES 11. Motion to approve a New Ownership Application: A.N. 08-30: request by Erin Jordan for an on premise consumption Liquor, Beer & Wine license to be used in connection with Ovations Food Services L.P. DBA The Augusta-Richmond County Civic Center located at th 601 7 Street. There will be Sunday Sales. District 1. Super District 9. (Approved by Public Services Committee July 7, 2008) 12. Motion to approve a New Ownership Application: A.N. 08-31: a request by Erin Jordan for an on premise consumption Liquor, Beer & Wine license to be used in connection with Ovations Food Services L.P. DBA The William Bell Auditorium located at 712 Telfair St. There will be Sunday Sales. District 1. Super District 9. (Approved by Public Safety Committee July 7, 2008) 13. Motion to approve a professional services agreement for engineering and design services at Newman Tennis Center to ZEL Engineers for $9,800.00. (Approved by Public Services Committee July 7, 2008) 14. Motion to approve Bid Item 08-131, improvements to Lake Olmstead Park Gazebo Area, to Ammar Construction at a cost of $174,000. (Approved by Public Services Committee July 7, 2008) 15. Motion to approve Bid Item 08-135, McBean and Meadowbrook Park Improvements, to MRC Construction Company for $327,500.00. (Approved by Public Services Committee July 7, 2008) 16. Motion to approve an Ordinance to amend the County of Augusta, Georgia Code to add a new Article 5 entitled Pedicab Service; to provide for the operation and regulation of pedicabs in the Augusta-Richmond County Downtown Business District, to repeal all Ordinances in conflict herewith, to provide an effective date, and for other purposes. (Approved by Public Services Committee July 7, 2008) 11 17. Motion to approve upgrading one part time position to full time at Augusta Municipal Golf Course and downgrading one existing full time vacancy from Recreation Specialist II to Corrections Officer in the Recreation and Parks Department. (Approve by Public Services Committee July 7, 2008) ADMINISTRATIVE SERVICES 18. Motion to approve an Ordinance providing for the demolition of certain unsafe and uninhabitable structures in the Turpin Hill Neighborhood: 1624/1626 Carpenter Street, 1121 Kent Street, 1105 Kent Street, (District 2, Super District 9); Laney-Walker Neighborhood: 946/948 Cedar Street, 1109 ½ Cedar Street, (District 1, Super District 9); East Augusta Neighborhood: 2441 Danville Street, 705 Macon Avenue, 111 Courtland Drive, (District 1, Super District 9); South Augusta Neighborhood: 2015 Barnes Road, (District 2, Super District 9); Meadowbrook Neighborhood: 3629 North Madrid Drive, (District 4, Super District 9); South Richmond Neighborhood: 3910 Elk Street, (District 6, Super District 10); West Augusta Neighborhood: 3137 Bransford Drive, (District 3, Super ND District 10); AND WAIVE 2 READING. (Approved by Administrative Services Committee July 7, 2008) 19. Motion to approve the Administrator’s recommendation to proceed with a contract for the building on Broad Street for the Juvenile Court. (Approved by Administrative Services Committee July 7, 2008) 20. Motion to approve mandatory Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs (OFCCP) Training (including contract record keeping requirements, the contract compliance review process and federally required Affirmative Action) for all appropriate people attending including a Deputy City Administrator, Interim Director of Utilities, AU Asst. Director of Finance, Asst. Director over Ft. Gordon and all Utilities Department management connected with the administration of the Ft. Gordon Federal Contract, the Procurement Director a representative from the Law Department and the EEO Office. This training is intended to support the proper administration of the Federal Department of Defense Ft. Gordon contract which was received by the Augusta Utilities Department. Identified staff must complete training and submit verification to the Clerk of Commission’s Office within a 60-day period from the approval date of this motion. (Approved by Administrative Services Committee July 7, 2008) 21. Motion to approve the reprogramming of $852,591.59 in Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) and HOME Investment Partnerships Funds. (Approved by Administrative Services Committee May 27, 2008 deferred from the Commission June 3, 2008 meeting) PUBLIC SAFETY 22. Motion to approve contract with Pictometry International to provide Oblique Imagery of Augusta. (Approved by Public Safety Committee July 7, 2008) FINANCE 23. Motion to approve the purchase of one aerial bucket truck for the Public Services Department – Tree Crew Division. (Approved by Finance Committee July 7, 2008) 24. Motion to approve the purchase of one 7 passenger mini van for the Augusta Recreation Department. (Approved by Finance Committee July 7, 2008) 12 25. Motion to approve the purchase of two 4-inch vacuum assist trash pumps for the Utilities Department – Construction Division. (Approved by Finance Committee July 7, 2008) 26. Motion to approve the purchase of two portable air compressors for the Utilities Department – Construction Division. (Approved by Finance Committee July 7, 2008) 27. Motion to approve award of bid for Security Fencing for Augusta Fire Department Training Facility. (Approved by Finance Committee July 7, 2008) 28. Motion to approve the use of CDBG funds by the License and Inspection Department that are available for the purposes of clearance and demolition of old and dilapidated structures. Funds available are $342,888 with no required match. (Approved by Finance Committee July 7, 2008) 29. Motion to approve a funding agreement between Augusta Richmond county and Greater Augusta Arts Council for fiscal year 2008. (Approved by Finance Committee July 7, 2008) 30. Motion to approve a request from Richmond County Mosquito Control for additional funding in the amount of $50,000. from General Fund, a Utility Vehicle w/enclosed cab in the amount of $8,950 and a F150 Crew Cab Pickup Truck in the amount of $23,998 from Capital Outlay Fund. (Approved by Finance Committee July 7, 2008) 31. Motion to approve the recommendation of the Tax Assessor relative to a request from Mr. Lynn Davis Curry, Jr. for a refund of property taxes for the years 2006 and 2007 for the property located at 3996 Clanton Road in the amount of $719.39. (Approved by Finance Committee July 7, 2008) 32. Motion to approve refund recommendation from the Board of Assessors for one account Boral Bricks, Inc. in the amount of $704.60. (Approved by Finance Committee July 7, 2008) 33. Motion to approve a request for abatement of taxes on Map & Parcel 072-2-486-00-0 and Map & Parcel 072-1-157-00-0 due to this property being in the name of Augusta from being seized in a drug bust in the amount of $2,911.60 and $3,563.85 respectively. (Approved by Finance Committee July 7, 2008) 34. Motion to approve the Administrator’s recommendation that Mr. White be responsible for paying the taxes due to a refund of an overpayment he had previously made on a water bill regarding the taxes due on property at 839 East Boundary Street. (Approved by Finance Committee July 7, 2008) ENGINEERING SERVICES 35. Motion to approve an Option for Right-of-Way between Nilamkumar Patel and Manisha Patel as owners, and Augusta, Georgia, as optionee, in connection with the Alexander Drive Project, for 0.013 acres (579.17 sq. ft.) in fee and 0.006 acre (259.94 sq. Ft.) of permanent construction & maintenance easement (2811 Brickrun Way) for a purchase price of $28,200.00. (Approved by Engineering Services Committee July 7, 2008) 36. Motion to authorize the Engineering Department to award a Consultant Services Agreement to Repro Products, Inc. in the amount of $49,895.00 for the implementation of Autodesk Civil 3D and staff training. (Approved by Engineering Services Committee July 7, 2008) 13 37. Motion to approve funds to complete a 12” water line through Fairington subdivision to serve additional growth along Tobacco and Windsor Spring Rds. (Approved by Engineering Services Committee July 7, 2008) 38. Motion to approve the Administrator’s recommendation relative to a contract with the architect for the TEE Center project and to bring back the contract for committee review. (Approved by Engineering Services Committee July 7, 2008) 39. Motion to approve a Resolution to provide for the installation of arterial street lights for the New Savannah Road; and the assessment of the annual cost of maintaining and operating said street lights; to provide for the method and manner for funding of said arterial street lights, and for other purposes. (Approved by Engineering Services Committee July 7, 2008) 40. Motion to approve award of a contract with Total Systems Commissioning, Inc. for Building Commissioning Consulting in conjunction with the new Judicial Center in the amount of $96,496.00. (Approved by Engineering Services Committee July 7, 2008) 41. Motion to approve award for additional design services in the amount of $93,140.00 to W.R. Toole Engineers, Inc. (WRTE) in order to design a 16-inch Water Main extension to Old Savannah Rd from the current 24-inch water main design on Dough Barnard Parkway at the 90% stage of design. (Approved by Engineering Services Committee July 7, 2008) 42. Motion to approve extension of the lease agreement between Augusta and MAU for space within the Hatcher Building located at 501 Greene Street for a period of 30 months. The new rate is proposed to be $13.25 per SF for the duration of the extension. (Approved by Engineering Services Committee July 7, 2008) 43. Motion to approve Georgia Power Company Governmental Encroachment Agreements Nos. 30948, 31027 and 31028. (Approved by Engineering Services Committee July 7, 2008) 44. Motion to approve hiring Supervisor I and Assistant Manager positions for Ft. Gordon near salary mid-point. (Approved by Engineering Services Committees July 7, 2008) 45. Motion to approve execution of a contract with ATC Associates, Inc. for construction inspections and material testing services associated with construction of the Webster Detention Center Expansion, the new Main Library and the new Judicial Center. (Approved by Engineering Services Committee July 7, 2008) 46. Motion to approve (CPB #323-04-203823372) Change Number Three in the amount of $220,000.00 with funding from SPLOST Phase III Contingency for project engineering and construction. Also approve award of construction contract to Blair Construction, Inc. in the amount of $748,479.03 for the Pointe West Subdivision Drainage Improvements Project, subject to receipt of signed contract and proper bonds. Also approve Supplemental Agreement Number Two to Cranston Engineering Group, P.C. in the amount of $42,000.00 for additional services that includes construction observation and field engineering. (Approved by Engineering Services Committee July 7, 2008) 47. Motion to approve Amendment #2 through the Utilities Department to Zimmerman, Evans, and Leopold Professional Design Services contract for additional design of the Rae’s Creek Sanitary Trunk Sewer Replacement Project in the amount of $33,200.00. Also approve the transfer of $271,000.00 into the Construction budget for completion of the Engineering Department’s portion of this project. (Approved by Engineering Services Committee July 7, 2008) 49. Motion to approve (CPB #323-04-296823516) Change Number Four in the amount of $3,315.100.00 with fundings of $2,167,667.00 from SPLOST Phase II Recapture, and 14 $1,000,000.00 from SPLOST Phase III Recapture for Project Engineering and Construction. Also approve award of Construction Contract to Mabus Brothers Construction Co. in the amount of $4,549,000.00 for the Windsor Spring Road Improvements Project, subject to receipt of a detailed project schedule, a contractor’s project team approved by the Engineering Department, a traffic control plan, a staging plan, signed contract(s), and proper bonds. Also approve Supplemental Agreement Number Four to W.R. Toole Engineers, Inc. in the amount of $196,100.00 for additional services that include construction observation and field engineering. (Approved by Engineering Services Committee July 7, 2008) PETITIONS AND COMMUNICATIONS 50. Motion to approve the minutes of the regular meeting of the Commission held on June 26, 2008) 52. Motion to ratify grant agreement for ARC to be the direct recipient (fiscal agent) for the Governor’s Office for Children and Families grant award on behalf of Augusta Partnership for Children, Inc. Mr. Mayor: We have a motion and a second. Commissioners will now vote by the usual sign. Motion carries 9-0. [Items 1-5, 7-47, 49-50, 52] Mr. Mayor: Okay, Madam Clerk, let’s go to the pulled items first. The Clerk: PLANNING 6. Z-08-53 – A request for concurrence with the Augusta-Richmond County Planning Commission to approve a petition by Orlando O’Neal requesting a change of zoning from Zone A (Agriculture) and Zone R-1C (One-family Residential) to Zone R-MH (Manufactured Home Residential) affecting property containing .34 acres and known as 2066 A and 2066 B Willow Street. (Tax Map 087-4-082-00-0 & 087-4-083-00-0) DISTRICT 2 Mr. Mayor: Commissioner Johnson. Mr. Johnson: Thank you, Mr. Mayor. If I can, can I get Mr. Patty to come up to the podium? Thank you. I have a question about this. This is some property that they’re trying actually to move a mobile home onto? Mr. Patty: This is two lots and there’s a very dilapidated mobile home on one of them. It’s there on a nonconforming basis and in order to replace it they’ve got to have the property rezoned. So this would just be a replacement of that dilapidated home. Mr. Johnson: So there’s actually a mobile home on the property now but it’s just kind of collaborating both? 15 Mr. Patty: Right and our policy in Hyde Park, you know there are all sorts of controversies. There has been not to allow any additional units but to allow a replacement in units like this. Mr. Johnson: Okay. Mr. Patty: That’s what this is. Mr. Johnson: That’s what I wanted to make sure of. Okay, thank you, Mr. Mayor. Mr. Mayor: Okay, can I get a motion to approve? Mr. Holland: So moved. Mr. Mason: Second. Mr. Mayor: We have a motion and a second. Commissioners will now vote by the usual sign. Motion carries 9-0. Mr. Mayor: All righty, Madam Clerk, on to the next pulled agenda items. The Clerk: ENGINEERING SERVICES 48. Motion to approve delegating Signature Authority to the Mayor and City Administrator for Provisions within existing Ft. Gordon Contract and with any budgetary adjustments and ratification of all actions by the Commission. (Approved by Engineering Services Committee July 7, 2008) Mr. Mayor: Commissioner Holland I believe this was yours. Mr. Holland: Yes, sir, Mr. Mayor, thank you. Mr. Mayor, I just had some concerns in reference to this and in reference to the fact that they want to delegate our City Administrator to be responsible for signing the contracts along with the Mayor. And I believe if I’m not mistaken it’s within the Charter that the Mayor Clerk should be responsible for signing contracts within this government. So I think it’s something that we definitely need to look at and I would like to get a ruling from our Attorney to give us a ruling on this to make sure that we are correct in reference to this. Because we want to make sure that when our contracts are signed that the contracts will come through the Mayor Clerk. Our Clerk who’s here all the time who has been here more than any of us sitting and would be here during the time that the contracts need to be signed. So I’m just convinced in knowing that the Mayor Clerk should be the one to be signing this contract. So if we could get a ruling from the Attorney on this I would appreciate it very much. 16 Mr. Mayor: Okay. Mr. Russell. Mr. Russell: Mr. Mayor, if I can. I think that we would be appropriate to go in and amend that to reflect that. I have no problem with that whatsoever and after review and discussion with the Attorney would think that would be appropriate. I would make the suggestion that the motion be heard to go in and amend that to allow the Clerk and the Mayor to do that. Mr. Mayor: Would you like to make a motion to that effect, Mr. Holland? Mr. Holland:I make a motion to that I don’t have a problem with that, Mr. Mayor? effect. Mr. Mayor: Do we have a second? Mr. Johnson: Second. Mr. Mayor: Okay. Commissioner Brigham. Mr. Brigham: Mr. Mayor, if I read the Charter correctly the Clerk is only to attest to the Mayor’s signature. It’s not giving her a signature authority over anything. I believe that’s correct and I’d like the ruling from the Attorney on that whether that’s the case or not. Ms. Johnson: You are correct. She does attest to the Mayor’s signature but she also records these contracts on the record to make them official within this government. My opinion is not to delegate the authority to the City Administrator. It would be my preference based on our Ordinances and Charter that the signatories remain the Mayor and the Clerk as comitias. Mr. Brigham: I would prefer that we amend the Charter to, the motion to give it to the Mayor or Mayor Pro Tem in case the Mayor’s out of town. I still think the Clerk needs to sign as attesting to that signature. And I do agree with you that the Clerk needs to record any contracts in the records. I don’t have a problem with that. But I am concerned that we’re eliminating the day to day manager, the one that we all look to and that’s not necessarily the Mayor that we all understand that he’s our Chief Executive Office but we still look to our Chief Operational Officer which is our Administrator to know what’s going on in this government. Mr. Mayor: Mr. Russell. Mr. Brigham: I would like for him to at least initial off on this, that he knows what about is happening. Mr. Russell: And that was the plan, sir, that I would initial off on that and have the Mayor actually sign that. And I think that’s appropriate. Mr. Mayor: Okay. Ms. Johnson, did you? 17 Ms. Johnson: No, I also don’t have a problem with the Mayor Pro Tem because she would stand in your stead so long as y’all are the principal signatories on the contract. Mr. Mayor: Okay. Commissioner Grantham. Mr. Grantham: Thank you, Mr. Mayor. It was my understanding the committee meeting the other day that exercising the right of our Administrator to do this was to be able to support our Public Utilities Department as well as Engineering Services when you needed to expedite a contract as far as moving forward with the project and getting it started or getting the work done as expediently as you can. And it was not to move away from the Mayor the Mayor Pro Tem or even the Clerk to sign off but was to give that right to move these contracts forward. And I think, Drew, you were the one that made that point the other day. Mr. Goins: Yes, sir, and I don’t think anything that we’re talking about here is inconsistent with that. The point here and the motion on the floor I believe is to have the Mayor sign that but then it comes back for ratification. By allowing this motion then he can do that with the full blessings of the Commission and then it comes back for ratification. Mr. Mayor: Exactly. Ms. Beard. Ms. Beard: Mr. Mayor, it was my understanding I thought that what we were really looking at was trying to expedite things by bypassing the Administrative Services Committee so that it would be less time. But that any of these methods would be fine so what we’re doing would be just fine. But isn’t that what it is to cut down on the time? Mr. Mayor: Exactly. I think just to put it in layman’s terms we’re trying to give the opportunity for people that are down here, I mean whether it may be me or whether the Mayor or the Administrator the opportunity to sign something because they’re here on a regular basis and expedite the process. And after that signature was given it would have to go back for ratification in front of the Commission. But this just, either way it expedites. I believe the motion on the floor achieves the same result. Mr. Grantham: Call the question. Mr. Holland: Can we hear the motion again? Mr. Mayor: Madam Clerk, if you could read back the motion and the question has been called for so after you do the Commission will vote by the usual sign of voting. The Clerk: The motion is to approve the Mayor to sign for the provisions within the existing Ft. Gordon Contract with any budgetary adjustment or ratification of all action by the Commission. Mr. Mayor: Okay, Commissioners will now vote by the usual sign. 18 Mr. Holland: Mr. Mayor, excuse me --- The Clerk: It said the Mayor, for the Mayor to do it and then that be ratified by the Commission. Mr. Holland: And it comes back? The Clerk: Yes sir, yeah. Once he signs. If he signs prior to getting approval from the Commission. You’re authorizing him to sign the contract but then it be brought back to the Commission for ratification. Mr. Mayor: Okay. Vote now or forever hold your peace. Mr. Brigham votes No. Motion carries 8-1. Mr. Mayor: Okay, Madam Clerk, next agenda item. The Clerk: PLANNING 51. Z-08-50 – A request for concurrence with the Augusta-Richmond County Planning Commission to deny a petition by Warren A. Taylor, on behalf of Gwendolyn Bass Taylor and Warren A. Taylor, requesting a change of zoning from Zone R-3C (Multiple-family Residential) to Zone B-1 (Neighborhood Business) affecting property containing .78 acres and is known under the present numbering system as 1866 Kissingbower Road. (Tax Map 071-1-214-00-0) DISTRICT 5. Mr. Mayor: Mr. Patty. Mr. Patty: This request the gentleman wanted to do a vegetable stand in that area. It’s next to the park. There’s no other commercial in that area. It’s an established residential area. The traffic is not excessive, it’s stable and we think it’ll set a terrible precedent and we recommend you deny it. Mr. Mayor: Can I get a motion on this? Mr. Smith: So moved. Mr. Johnson: Second. Mr. Mayor: We have a motion and a second. Mr. Brigham: Mr. Mayor is the petitioner here? Mr. Mayor: Is the petitioner here? 19 Mr. Brigham: Any objectors here? Mr. Mayor: Do we have any objectors? The Clerk: Yes, sir, we have an objector. Mr. Mayor: If there’s no further discussion --- The Clerk: Would you like to be heard? Mr. Mayor: Would you like to heard on this, sir? Okay. Mr. Speaker: Good afternoon Ladies and Gentlemen, Mr. Mayor. I’m Marvis Lyons residing at 2704 Lakewood Drive in the area of this rezoning request. I gathered a petition last Saturday of 37 people who object to this rezoning request. It’s a blight on the neighborhood, it would decrease property values and would cause a transportation --- Mr. Mayor: Okay. Just so that you’re clear, sir, the motion is to deny the rezoning request. Mr. Lyons: I support that. Mr. Mayor: Okay. If there’s no further discussion we have a motion and a second. Commissioners will now vote by the usual sign. Mr. Holland abstains. Motion carries 8-1. Mr. Grantham: Mr. Mayor, Congressman Barnard is down here for his money. Mr. Mayor: And Wayne Hawkins took his money. Mr. Grantham: Took it with him. Mr. Mayor: Congressman Barnard, Wayne Hawkins took your money with him. Congressman Barnard: Where is he? Mr. Mayor: I’ve been running a meeting. I have no clue. Thank you, sir. I’m glad you’re here seeing good government in action. Okay, Madam Clerk, next agenda item. The Clerk: ADMINISTRATOR 53. Receive 2007 Audited Financial Statements from Cherry, Bekaert and Holland. 20 Ms. Cox: Good day. I’m Bonnie Cox and I’m the audit partner with Cherry, Bakaert and Holland and I’m here to present to you the audit results for the 2007 Financial Statement. For the record this is the third year that I’ve served as the audit partner on the city’s engagement. My firm has served you for a number of years before that but we have rotated partners and this is the third year that I’ve been a partner on that engagement. Mr. Mayor: Welcome back. Ms. Cox: I like this set up, this is wonderful an so if you will indulge me for a minute my team worked hard on these graphs so I appreciate you giving me the opportunity to share them with you. Except something doesn’t seem quite, can’t see the, can’t see the top part of this. So what this tells you is this right here the summary of the general fund costs and short-term investments. And I’m going to run through some highlights and the financial results and then I’ll touch briefly on the audit results if you guys would like. What this tells you here, this is your general fund. And this is the general fund that is defined by the State of Georgia. In the details of what you’re used to looking at this includes both your Fund 101, which is the residual fund and also the law enforcement funds, which is the 273 Law Enforcement fund. So these are these two combined together. When you look at the general fund, when you look at the general fund cash it is important to look at the timing of the times when funds borrowed from the general fund and when they pay them back. You can see, and that’s what the purplish bar represents the amount that is owed to the general fund, the blue part is actual cash sitting in the general fund as st of December 31 or what or the appropriate year. You can see in total it’s up from the prior year and the difference between the due from other funds is the timing difference on when those funds pay that money back to the general fund. And this is your straight cash, just actual cash in the fund. The 26% increase in the general operating fund and short-term investment does include the amounts due to due from other funds. This is if you look at the government as a whole and you look at the cash that is in various bank accounts as the government as a whole over the past five years. You can see the different colors represent the different areas. Clearly most of the cash is sitting in the SPLOST money that’s been collected. That money is obligated if you will. It’s restricted to be spent on the projects that have been voted in the referendum over the various phases. But in the meantime it is occupying government wide, the cash position. Another significant pieces in the water and sewer fund where that money is sitting that also much of that money is obligated, restricted for either debt service or for projects that are going forward there. The general fund is just that small green piece. That’s the piece we were looking at on the first two slides there. Questions about that? What you’ll see this trend here is a good positive trend in the results. And when I say positive I want you also to hear recovery. Because as you can start to see in this particular slide that the number of days operating reserves that were sitting in your general fund which at the end of the day your general fund is supposed to foot the bill. If anybody else kind of goes sour the general fund is, the General Funds is what matters. And you can see from ’03 to’05 there was a dip in that and now in ‘07 you’re starting to see that come back and recover. In actual cash not quite up to the level you were in ’03 but it is turning back in a positive direction there. When you start looking at that we look at it like an average daily expenditure and look at how many days could the government operate if everything were to shut down at 12/31 which since it’s July we know it didn’t but this is assuming that you did. It’s just a good rule of thumb measure to look at. At 12-31-07 there was 105 days in that operating cash 21 reserves compared to the 88 days. That also does include those (unintelligible) the funds paying that money back. General internal policies, 75-90 days. That’s, it’s just a good health position is what I want you to hear from that. Not overly superfluous but it is a good healthy position. This graph also represents, this is the actual fund balance. This is, if the general fund where to take the cash that it had on hand and the current resources that it had and paid all the obligations that st the general fund had active at December 31 those current obligations would have to have been paid there with those resources then this is how much money you would have leftover. And you can see there is an increase there from ’06 to ’07. There’s an increase from ’05 to ’07 but again you see that decline from ’03, ’04 and’05 and then now ’07 it’s finally just now made it back to the level of where it was in 2003. And that’s what the low point at this point in this 5-year trend was in ’05 so we’re just now coming back to the level of where it was in 2003. This is a representation of you see the blue bar being revenue and the purplish bar being expenses just in the general fund. You can see in ’05 again your expenses significantly exceeded your revenues that year which is what caused that negative eating up as you will of the fund balance in those two years. ‘03, ‘04 and ‘05 all had deficit years in the general fund. ’06 barely a surplus and then ’07 a little bit more. But again and this actually this is actually the net result of that. You can see the deficit ’03, ’04, ’05 and then um, and you can see not even really recovering all of those deficits but definitely in a more positive financial trend there. And for those of you who were here in ’05 and did hear from me that year which was the first year that I was the partner on the engagement. It was a fun year and what you heard from me was a very doom and gloom impression of what the financial trend was because that is not a good financial trend. So now it is a more positive trend and financial health for the government. Again the operating surplus, 3.6 million for ‘07 and ’06 it was 1.2 million but as you remember the significant deficits in ’05, ’04 and ’03. This is an average expenditure today in the general fund, which again includes that law enforcement fund. You’re growing. You’re growing as a government. This is evidence of growing as a government and what I believe and this is a continually increasing number. So even though you’re spending more you’re ending up in a better financial position because of being fiscally responsible about making sure that what’s coming in is matching what’s going out. Just a couple more slides here. This is a break down of the government wide revenue comparison. You can see and this is the government as a whole all the way across including you water and sewer your enterprise fund. The taxes, property taxes make up about 22%, those in 2003 and in 2007 if that percentage had stayed about the same. You look at your sales tax, which is another piece of it. That’s actually that reddish part of it those colors. The purple, the 18%, the purple part is your charges for services. That’s 18% in 2003 and 16% in 2007. That’s your charges for services that’s your utility bills, your landfill charges, your public transportation charges, recreation fees anything that you charge and you give someone in exchange a service for that. The 36% in ’03 and 33% in ’07 is your sales tax percentage collections of your revenues in whole. And as we saw in the first slide about the cash your cash is most consumed with the sales tax money and your tax revenues also, the biggest chunk of it when you look at it as a whole. This is the same basic comparison for the expenditures. When you look at what you’re spending the money on and you can see in ’03 20% of the money that was coming in was spent on general government functions, which is just kind of the administrative overhead it takes to run the place. In ’07 that amount is 18%. Public safety continues to be the largest piece as most of us would like it to be staying pretty steady at the 44-45%. That is a summary of the financial results of the year and I have print out copies of those graphs that I will be glad to share with you guys. The actual audited statements look like this and they’re much more difficult to 22 understand in the numbers but this is a summary of what that information is. I will tell you from an audit standpoint we were able to meet the state deadline in filing the audited financial statements this year that is largely and mostly dependent on because of the job that your finance and accounting staff are doing here and working with us to get the audit done. So they did a great job so therefore we were able to meet the deadline. Many of the things that came in at the last minute were things that were outside of their control. And the only one thing that I need to bring to your attention because I did go over this report in detail with members of the finance committee as I met with them individually before we finalized this report. One thing that is different that I need to make sure that happened in between, in between lunch meetings that I had with them and it going to print later that afternoon. We had been pending an answer on an actuary question on the post employment benefits the health insurance that is offered to retirees and what I had told the finance committee members was that the current liability that for the current cost was about a 1.4 million and the projected liability for 47 million. The um, when the actuary answered our question they answered that um, they were assuming that the plan was going to be funded like a pension plan. And when I made it clear to her and Donna had made clear to me that action had not been taken to fund that plan then they had to reduce the rate. So instead of it being a million and a half it was almost closer to $3 million dollars at the current year liability and instead of 47 million that number was 62.5 million. And I bring that up because that is one accounting principle, the accounting standard that is different this year and that’s one of the reasons I brought it up to the finance committee members to tell you the implication in your financial statements. The other thing that I will tell you is that was that December 31, 2007 at which time they were about 900 people eligible for that coverage. Because of the changes to the benefit plans that have been in ’08 that number has more than doubled and I would anticipate that these projected liabilities and next years 2008 liability will follow suit. And I’m not an actuary that will probably more than likely double that number. Questions? Mr. Mayor: Commissioner Bowles. Mr. Bowles: Bonnie and probably a question for Fred. How does the city expect to fund these obligations as they’re coming due? Mr. Russell: Obviously not being an accountant we face the same problems that cities across the country do. Those obligations are going to be funded throughout the years as we continue to move forward. It’s my understanding the general accounting principals have those as a liability but you fund them year by year as you continue to go forward. And I don’t thing there’s anybody including the State of Georgia or the City of New York or anybody like that that’s prepared to put that much money in the bank to do that. So we’ll continue to face that on a year-to-year basis as we continually make those funds available. Mr. Mayor: Commissioner Brigham. Mr. Brigham: In response to Mr. Russell I believe what the auditor is telling us is that it may not be an obligation that we’ve got to fund at this date. But it is an obligation that will have to be funded at some future date and that we best make plans like we made other plans to do it. 23 Mr. Russell: And that’s my, if I may that’s my comment on the year-to-year continuation of the funding. Mr. Brigham: I think we need to start funding it for if it all comes due and we can’t meet it on a year-to-year obligation basis. Mr. Mayor: Commissioner Beard. Ms. Beard: Mr. Mayor, overall I would like to say I think we have a very healthy government and I’m so happy to see that. I want to commend you, Fred Russell and every member of the Commission because what we can say today is this government is being run well. Mr. Mayor: And just to echo something Ms. Beard said. I think in speaking to people at the GMA conference we need to consider ourselves blessed as a city to be in the financial situation that we’re in right now. When you look at Atlanta that is, has a $120 million dollar deficit. They’ve laid off 500 employees. They’re, you know we are very fortunate. As far as I’m concerned we’re in the best financial shape of any city in the state. So thanks to Donna, thanks to Fred and thanks to this Commission, I agree. Thanks Bonnie too. Okay, can I get a motion to receive it as information? Mr. Grantham: So moved. Mr. Johnson: Second. Mr. Mayor: We have a motion and second. Commissioners will now vote by the usual sign. Motion carries 9-0. Mr. Mayor: All righty Mr. Russell, you’re on I believe, Madam Clerk. Can you call the agenda item? The Clerk: ADMINISTRATOR 54. Set 2008 Millage Rate. Mr. Russell: Mr. Mayor, if I had been able to attend Camp Data I probably would’ve had this on a flash drive. Unfortunately my schedule prohibited that. Mr. Mayor: I’m sure Tameka will let you in next time. Mr. Russell: I’m sure they will. We’ll probably have to move a little bit faster in my orientation towards technology but Tameka has basically showed me how to work a cell phone, which is a big advantage over where I was before. Let me tell you a little story real quick if you don’t mind if I could indulge you for that for a second. Our budget process is fairly complicated 24 and convoluted in my particular mind. In fact six or seven months ago we began talking about what we were going to do for this particular year and how we were going to pay for it. We argued from September to November on what we we’re going to do and the programs we were going to fund and the mechanisms that we were going to use on those. That first page that we’re th looking at basically is the budget proposal that was approved by Commission on December 6, 2007 and we had to make some assumptions there. And we had to deal with some issues that we really didn’t know the actual impact of what that would be. Gas prices then were two bucks a gallon, $2.85 a gallon now we’re paying a lot more than that. Electric prices were a whole lot less than they are now. Our employees. We were able to do some stuff with them that we budgeted for and you’ve approved, giving them raises and giving the Sheriff’s Office some money, things like that. We had additional programs that were proposed and those were funded and we’ve benefited from those in the first six months of this year and we’ll continue to benefit from those programs in the last six months of this year. In the general fund we looked at $3 million dollars, $3 million odd dollars basically. In Law Enforcement about $1.9 and in the Fire Fund about $1.2 million dollars that we needed to provide through our tax increases or other revenues that we had in that particular point in time. The assumptions that we made are included on the next page. The General Law Enforcement dollars budgeted from projected millage increases during the budget process. And what we ended up doing was creating a number and that number was the amount of dollars that we needed to balance the budget. As each of you know we have, we are required by law to have a balanced budget passed and we did so. You approved the recommendation that I made at that particular point in time after a great deal of discussion and a great deal of angst on a lot of people’s parts that you would allow us to build a budget based on a 1.193 mill increase in the general fund and Law Enforcement and a .2 mill increase in the Fire Department. We did that back last year based on the information that we had last year and based on our best interpretation of what that was going to provide to us. Things have changed. We know more now that we did then, we’re six months into the process. And in the middle of that we’ve got additional information that we have now as opposed to what we had back on 12-6-07. Growth in the digest was slightly higher than the projected rate of 3%, which is a good thing. Sales tax collections were projected to increase 2% and despite the economy we’re holding our own there and we’re slightly above that 2%, which is a good thing. We budgeted gas at $3.00 a gallon, which we thought reasonable and probably a little bit high. We actually allowed ourselves a little bit of a fluff there to be honest with you and diesel at $2.85 a gallon. Right now we’re paying $3.95 and $4.68, which is a bad thing. We’ve got some additional projected expenditures that have been identified and we talk a little bit about those below there and then the audit shows a surplus, which is a good thing. In this particular case negatives are bad and positives are good and they pretty much balance themselves out in this particular case. Inmate medical expenses are up almost a million dollars. The DA contract with the State had some unexpected expenditures there. As we move forward we were able to budget for those about $400,000. And just recently we have been charging our 911 Center out cost allocations like we do with our other agencies enterprise funds, i.e. they pay for a portion of the general government there. Legislation passed when they did the 911, made that an unlawful expense for the 911 system so we had to reimburse the 911 system approximately $240,000 in the general fund. I suggest and I would firmly want to work together with our legislative delegation to change that because that cost allocation for the 911 fund in my mind is a legitimate expense and we need to change the statute to reflect that. I would suggest we make that part of our legislative package. In the fire fund overtime is still and issue that we’re continuing to work 25 on. Diesel expenses are up tremendously $160,000. Some other general expenses there. In the fire fund we had some pluses too. Excess insurance premium tax. As the value of our property goes up that insurance premium tax goes up. And we received approximately $236,000 more there than what we anticipated. In addition to that increased earnings in other revenue added $155,000 to our Fire Fund. We need to generate approximately 3.9, $3,913,000 in the general fund and $1.1000 in the fire fund. With the pluses and minuses and my suggestion that we take $3 million dollars out of the surplus general fund issue we would only have to generate then approximately $2.4 million dollars. At our collection rate of about 98% we’re suggesting that be $2.5 million in the fire fund, $310,000. To go back to the top of that page we built a budget based on a 1.193 mill increase in the general fund and a .2 mill increase in the fire fund. What I’m telling you today what I’m suggesting you adopt is a budget that reduces that. We all know that our citizens too are facing the same challenges we are. We know that they too have to pay gas bills that are higher than anybody could have anticipated. Light bills that are continually going up. The same thing as I said last year and the same thing each family faces the government faces and we do know that it works both ways. Because you have been good stewards of our money, because you have helped me restrict costs, because you have designated programs that have been cost effective and cost efficient and moved away from those that have been less than that. Instead of 1.193 mills I suggest that we raise the income the tax to .607 mills in the general fund and .098 in the fire fund, which would be at almost a 50% reduction in what we first proposed back in November of last year, a 50% reduction. I had to practice saying reduction 500 times last night because I don’t ever say that very often do I Commissioner Grantham. Mr. Grantham: No, you don’t. Mr. Russell: The millage rate sheets are on the next page. As you notice that just reflects what we adopted in 2007, the proposed 2008 projected 2008 and the proposed 2008 millage rate. And what does that really mean to our people. I mean you look at all these numbers and that knew that they’re there and they’re complex and they’re complicated. But what it really means if you take the citizen with a $100,000 house, valued at $100,000 we assess 40% of that so you get down to $40,000, the homestead exemption is $5,000 off the top of that. If you have a house valued at $100,000 the taxable value is $35,000. In the adopted budget, which we adopted last year the impact per $100,000, was $48.76. In all honesty as I said then not a whole lot of money in the grand scheme of things as we face the continued cost of doing business. That $48.76 we thought was necessary to run this government at the level that you want us to run it. Because of all the things we mentioned because of the increase in the digest because of the good physical management that we’ve been able to show because of the surplus that we’ve got my proposal now and what I would ask you to approve is that .607 in the general fund and Law Enforcement Fund, the .098 in the fire fund. And the impact now on our citizens per $100,000 instead of $48 would be $28.64. That’s a $24.00 reduction almost half once again what we thought we we’re going to need in November. The tax cap is something always asked about. We’re still below that by 1.07 mills and we still have room there if necessary. And that’s pretty much where we’re at with the dollars that I think that are necessary. Let me explain to you the time line that you have is the last thing that we have. Because of our budget system we need to begin the process today as a state requirement. Not ours but the state requires us to do it this way. So we need to begin that process today. We will need to begin our advertisement, advertise the 5-year history 26 and issue a press release so that our good friends in the fourth estate can cover that and inform the citizens of what we’re doing. And what we’re doing is decreasing what we thought what we we’re going to have to ask for. What we’re doing is decreasing by 50% almost what we thought we we’re going to have to ask for. Seven days after that we advertise the third public hearing, hold the first public hearing and the second public hearing. The public hearings are scheduled ststth for July 21 at 10: am in Gracewood and July 21 at 6:30 at Warren Road. Only July 28 we end that process by holding the third public hearing, which is scheduled to be here prior to the Commission meeting and then we hold a meeting and we adopt the final millage rate at that particular point in time. What you need to do today and what I would suggest is you adopt my recommendation so that we can begin that advertising process. And that is as noted on the third page that you have would be adopting the millage rate at .6 whatever I said, I lost it. I was doing so good until right at the end there and I lost the page. The .067 mills for the general fund, the .098 mills for the fire fund and the other funds as noted on the third page in there because I need to say it for the record basically. That adoption of that starts that process. At this point you could go down if possible. You cannot go up at that particular point in time without starting the whole process over. That gives you two weeks to listen to the public it gives you two weeks to help me work the numbers and gives you the opportunity to continue to move forward. Let me tell you that you have in front of you what I think to be my best proposal that I can give. To go deeper in that as far as the financing that we have would begin to make me uncomfortable. Unknown to us today is still the cost of gas. Those things that we really can’t put our arms around but this is a good number to start with I think and a decent recommendation that you have in front of you and at 50% less than what we anticipated last November what we wanted. I’d be happy to try to respond to any questions or any information that you have. Mr. Mayor: Commissioner Bowles. Mr. Bowles: Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Mr. Russell, my concern is in what Bonnie presented to us while we are on a correct path and headed towards some better financial times I noticed that charges for services as a percentage of revenue decreased 2%. At the same time the charges that was our income 2% however our expenses went from 12% of our budget to 14% of our budget. And I’m sick and tired of charging every citizen in Augusta to make up for what only certain citizens are using. And whether that be parks or recreation, transit, other services the golf course, business licenses I mean it’s time that we look at you know upping our fees for some of these revenues and some of these events. And I think you can pay $30.00 a year for a membership at Diamond Lakes and at other gyms it’s $30.00 a month. I think we need to look at other sources of revenue other than every year coming back on the top of the taxpayers. Mr. Russell: Obviously that’s one point of view that’s shared by many of the people that sit with you. I think it would be appropriate to continue look at that as we build our budget for next year. Those are the issues that we’ve got in front of us today. I’m not and if you’ve listened to some of my presentations in the past and I know you have we agree on that that people need to pay for the services that we provide for them and those people that get services above and beyond need to pay for those. So I’m on board with you as far as that goes but I think as we look at building our budget next you’re going to have to look very closely at each of those charges some of which we haven’t raised in a regular while. 27 Mr. Mayor: Commissioner Grantham. Mr. Grantham: Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Couple of questions if you will, Fred. Based on the information that you received in regards to our increased revenue for this year, if I recall that was like $5.1 million dollars over and above what had been projected. Mr. Russell: The $5.1 was a surplus from last year. Mr. Grantham: Right. Okay. With that being said how much of that are you using in this adjustment to reduce the mill rate from the 1.193 to the .607? Mr. Russell: Approximately, well not approximately S3 million dollars and where you put in the balance back into the fund balance. Mr. Grantham: And I guess my question is at the end of 2007 when we approved the increase in that mill of 1.193 we were not aware of what the gasoline cost would be. We were not aware what everything else would be however we continued to have an increase in our revenue in our surplus dollars. And my question is that since we have recovered that amount of dollars why would we not use more to reduce our mill rate for our taxpayers to show them that we are being a little more prudent in our observation of what we spend and how we receive it. Mr. Russell: I think what we have done does exactly that. That 3 million dollars that we’re using based on the savings we’ve been able to generate to go back and reduce that tax burden I think is appropriate. The 2 million that goes into the fund balance I think we need to continue to put that little bit of money in savings there. Don’t get me wrong 2 million dollars isn’t a little bit of money but when you look at our grand scheme of things we need to continue to build that because unfortunately we don’t really know what the future does hold. And I think most people recognize that things are more expensive today than they’ve ever been and we need to continue to do that. Where you’ve got those savings is because we have been and you have required us to be very prudent in our expenditures. The complaint levels are maintaining a level amount. I checked with the Mayor regularly and we’re not getting a whole lot more complaints. And we’re doing a pretty good job with what we’ve got. My concern is I don’t know how much longer we can continue to do that and that’s why I want to continue to build the fund balance a little. I would rather do that than have to come back next November and say we really need to raise it a whole lot. This is a very prudent and very conservative approach that I think we’re taking and as we begin the new discussion on the budget, which we start in two weeks or so you know that’s another issue that we’ve got. Mr. Grantham: Mr. Mayor, if you don’t mind I’d like to continue in this. With that being said and I applaud you for what y’all have done as far as taking the revenue and applying it where you have. But I guess one of the questions I have is that you have managed this money well but let’s just say suppose we had not been able to generate the $5.1 million dollars and you would be looking at the increase that we had approved of the 1.19 mills. How much more would we have to increase to gain that amount of dollars that you increased your revenue by. Another words you would have had to go up --- 28 Mr. Russell: I’m lost, sorry. Mr. Grantham: --- okay. Had you not been able to generate $5.1 million you would not be at zero with a 1.19 mills increase. Mr. Russell: Yes, we would. Mr. Grantham: You would have to increase based on your gasoline usage. Mr. Russell: We would have been able to stay the 1.19 mills unless something --- Mr. Grantham: Okay. So then we have extra funds you want to put into a reserve why would we not reduce our mill rate and come back if you had to, to ask for it like you did last year. Mr. Russell: Two different budgets at the moment here basically. This is what we know we’ve got to have for this particular year. Mr. Grantham: Right. st Mr. Russell: Okay. This gets us through December 31 of this year. We’re not talking next year yet we’re talking this year. What we’ve attempted to do is take that benefit which we’ve got that $5.1 million use a portion of that to reduce the tax on our citizens but you know I’m not ready in my mind to say we can use it all because we need to continue to plan ahead for that rainy day. And that’s a philosophical disagreement we’re probably going to have if I’m here ten years and you’re here ten more years every year we have it. Mr. Grantham: I won’t be here ten. Mr. Russell: I probably won’t either but that’s, that’s where I’m at. And I think it’s a conservative approach. I think we’ve done the best we could. I think people recognize that costs are going to have to go up. We’ve basically been able to reduce that up by 50%. Mr. Grantham: My final comment if you will, please. Mr. Mayor: Okay. Mr. Grantham: That being said then is this .607 and the .098 for the Fire the maximum that we can expect to pass along to our taxpayers. Mr. Russell: If you adopt it, it is. Mr. Grantham: All right now if within the next two weeks will you be able to come back to us with a possibility of a reduction in these millage rates. 29 Mr. Russell: We can look and look and look and do that and there are things we might, that you might be willing to give up to get you there. But there’s you know there always is a possibility. Mr. Grantham: Right. Personally I think we ought to look at our fuel usage more than what we’re doing at present time. And that’s one area that I think we should be studying and that’s going to be crucial throughout everyone’s business no matter what they do. Mr. Russell: If I can let me suggest that if we can start with these numbers today myself and staff will be more than happy to continue to comb and comb and comb to determine whether or not we can do any better than this. Based on what I’ve got in front of me today I’d be remiss in saying that I could but you know you’re the ones that drive that and if you need it done we can do it. Mr. Grantham: Okay. Mr. Mayor: Okay and before I move on to other Commissioner comments I’d really like to say I think that staff has done a very good job with this budget. And I think based on the job that they’ve done that’s the reason why we have the $5.1 million dollar surplus. I do recall and I said it last year. I believe it was in 2005 that the Commission went against the recommendation of the Finance Director and the Administrator and rolled back taxes which is what led to the downturn on that graph that Bonnie was showing earlier today. So I think this is a situation where we’ve created prosperity, we’re taking some of that prosperity in difficult budget times and giving it back to the people to the tune of $3 million dollars. Commissioner Brigham. Mr. Brigham: Mr. Mayor, Mr. Russell. Mr. Russell: Hi, Commissioner, how are you? Mr. Brigham: How you doin’? Mr. Russell: I’m doing pretty good right now. I’ll know a little bit better in a couple minutes. Mr. Brigham: I was paying attention to Ms. Cox’s charts too and I didn’t get every one of them down that I wanted to. The one that fascinated me was the one that showed every year we had a growth in government costs. And I believe according to my CPA friend on my left it’s been 26% what for three years? So that’s a fourth of an increase in costs. While we’re all bombarded with more and more services for less and less money and I think every Commissioner up here understands that we’re bombarded with more and more services for less and less money. And we don’t make a profit at anything. I think this is the year given the overall economy and the economy of Augusta that we need to look very seriously at doing something I don’t believe in doing at all. And that’s raiding the savings account. I think that is something we need to look at very hard this year. I think we need to be very serious about it. I believe that we had a according to what you just said a $5 million dollar growth. 30 Mr. Russell: A $5.1 million dollars surplus. Mr. Brigham: $5.1 million dollars growth in the General Fund. I don’t know if that $5 million dollars growth if we go to a zero tax, a zero increase in tax not a zero tax a zero increase in tax. I don’t think that will offset next years demand for services and the cost that’s involved to deliver those services. But I think this is the year that we need to look very seriously at having no tax increase. Mr. Mayor: Actually Commissioner Mason had his hand up first and then I’ll go to Commissioner Bowles. Mr. Russell: Can I respond to that? Mr. Mayor: Certainly. Mr. Russell: I need to know which this year you’re talking about. Mr. Brigham: I’m talking about year 2008. Where we talking about spending 60% of the money that we earn in excess revenues in 2007 to offset the tax increase. I’m talking about spending more of it. Much more of it. In fact I’m talking about spending some that we earned not only in 2007 but some of it we earned in 2006 --- Mr. Russell: I think it would be --- Mr. Brigham: --- for the tax the year, for the taxes of 2008. I am not talking about the budget for 2009, which I understand we’re going to have a cat and dog fight over that too when we get here in November. Mr. Russell: And I was hoping you were talking about the budget for 2009 because I believe that cat fight is one that’s going to be even more interesting then what we’re going to face today. Mr. Brigham: I understand that. Mr. Russell: But I firmly believe that we’ve made a commitment, we’re moving forward and that commitment includes what I would think to be a level of services at a funding level that was approved already, we’re reducing. To go beyond that at this particular point in time and my feelings and my very strong feelings is you’re just basically digging yourself a hole in November that is going to make that a whole lot worse than what you’ve got now. You know we’ve got 26% growth in, if that those numbers. I haven’t figured it but I have great faith in that number and that’s reflected in everything that we’ve done. In the costs that we’ve had to absorb the things, the decisions we’ve had to make and whatever. To cut into that general, to cut into that surplus now to get to a zero tax base in what you’re talking about is a $24.00 increase on a $100,000 I think is not prudent. Mr. Mayor: Commissioner Mason. 31 Mr. Mason: Yes, sir, thank you, Mr. Mayor, I’ve got a couple of a just comments and observations here. First I’d like to just say to Mr. Russell and his staff there and the staff that I think they’ve done an excellent job in crunching the numbers and putting out a budget that we can work with or work from. Now I also agree with several of my esteemed colleagues here and the comments that they’ve made. But we can put all types of scenarios out here and we know that there are number of different variables that come into play when we’re talking about these numbers here. But at the same time I certainly agree with Commissioner Bowles that we need to start looking at other generating revenues, revenue-generating ideas other than putting the tax burden on our citizens. However at the same time I think that reducing this almost half is more than admirable in this particular case. But I would like to thank the citizens of Augusta- Richmond County because that 5.1 surplus is basically as my colleague mentioned here that people pay their taxes. And so we want to thank them for doing what they were required to do because with out that we wouldn’t have that type of surplus. Now I think our goal this year should be to identify other areas in which we can create revenue as Mr. Bowles mentioned. I think we really need to seriously look at doing that so that we can legitimately show the citizens of Richmond County that we are being good fiduciary stewards over their money. One of the reasons I brought up before perhaps cutting the gasoline budget across the board was because that was an area where we were spending a great deal of our money. And so I think at some point it still needs to be looked at. And I also think as I looked at the slides myself in terms of the slides that Donna showed us, excuse me Bonnie that we’re spending a lot of money on services. The government continually gets bigger and so those dollars are being spent. At the same time though we’ve got to be sure we’re giving the people the type of services that they need to have and to be comfortable with. So two things that I’ll leave you with on this that I think this budget that we have in front of us is something that we can work from and I would hope that we could adopt this budget today. But at the same time I think we have to be very, very cognizant and this is a point I want to try and drive home. That we have to start looking at generating revenue from other sources other than on our citizens. We owe them that from this government and I think that with the folks we have sitting here now I think we’re committed to doing that. So I would hope that we would continue that in the future. Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Mr. Mayor: Thank you. Commissioner Bowles. Mr. Bowles: Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Mr. Russell: If I could respond to that just for a second. Mr. Mayor: Mr. Russell. Mr. Russell: I don’t know if you’ve got that in front of you yet or not but Bonnie’s comparison of government 2003, 2007 speaks to several things that you just mentioned. If you look at the general government in 2003 it was 20% of our budget. In 2007 it’s 18% of our budget. Whoops I’m sorry. I didn’t pass them out. We’re trying to save money by not giving you the paper. But if you look at that, if you look at that --- Mr. Grantham: Go ahead, I’m sorry. 32 Mr. Russell: You get me all flustered again here. I should’ve stopped while I was ahead. If you look at those costs and look at what we control and what we don’t really control general government is me basically, that’s where my fingers at. That’s what I control. That’s down 2%, down 2%. Law Enforcement is up. Public Safety, that’s up 1%. A lot of that’s not inside our control. Part of that is the cost we had to pay for inmates and those issues there. We’ve got one inmate that’s cost us almost half a million dollars in medical bills this year. We didn’t budget for that. One guy, one person. So the things we can control we controlling semi well. We can do better and we expect to do better but you know the growth there is growth but it’s, it’s not an outrageous growth in my mind. Mr. Mayor: Actually I’ve recognized Commissioner Bowles but before I go to that what exactly is public safety. Commissioner Bowles. Mr. Bowles: This is a question for Donna. What was our ’97 audited revenue for the General Fund? Can you give me that number? Ms. Williams: (Inaudible) Mr. Bowles: I mean ’07, I’m sorry. And I want to compare that to the ’08 budgeted revenue for the general fund. Because it seems we’ve received a lot more revenue than what was projected last year and I want to make sure the assumptions from last year are reflective of the increase from last year. Or the assumptions from this year are reflective of the increases from last year. Ms. Williams: One of the major categories that we showed an increase in revenue was on our interest earnings due to having more cash in the bank and the rate at which we spent it of course plus interest rates. For most of 2007 we were earning a higher interest rate than we are earning on the cash that we have in the bank for 2008. That’s one of the main areas. We received an unexpected increase in the franchise fee from Georgia Power in 2007 of $850 or 900,000 dollars. That was not budgeted. We budgeted for growth in ’08. Mr. Bowles: I just want a comparison before I can approve to increase. I want a comparison of the audited revenue versus what we have budgeted so I can at least look at something before I raise taxes on the citizens. Ms. Williams: Okay. Mr. Mayor: Okay. Commissioner Beard had her hand up and then Commissioner Smith. Ms. Beard: I’m also concerned about raising the citizens’ taxes and I’m wondering what happens if the increases reduced 75% rather than 50%. Mr. Russell: Two options available to you, ma’am. You can reduce it, take it from the fund balance, which is your rainy day fund and I’m not sure I would recommend that. Or you 33 can begin to, or you can begin to reduce services. That’s the same reaction I get every time I talk about reducing services. I mean that’s where you’re at. Mr. Mayor: Commissioner Smith. Mr. Smith: Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Fred, do you have a figure of the first six months of fuel costs? Mr. Russell: Not with us but we can get you that. Mr. Smith: The reason I asked I have a lot of people asking me about employees that are driving government vehicles home especially out of the county in Columbia, Burke and several other counties. And I would like to hear the numbers on that if you would. Mr. Russell: In the general fund we’ve got three people who take their vehicles outside of the county and that’s all by special approval by me. The Sheriff’s Office has I would think I can’t remember the number. We’ve got those numbers. It’s quite a few but I don’t have that number at the top of my head. But I know the general fund has three people. But I can get you the Sheriff’s numbers, we’ve got those but I just don’t remember what they are. Mr. Mayor: But once again just as I’m sure everybody knows if we adopt Mr. Russell’s proposal today we still have the potential to reduce it after getting input from the citizens. I would just once again like to stress that there are, I’m not aware of another municipal government in the state that has the opportunity to have this debate with regards to pushing it back all the way. Reducing proposed millage rate increases we are in a good financial position so this is actually a good debate for us to be able to have. Commissioner Johnson. Mr. Johnson: Thank you. Mr. Russell, I do have a question. I was a little lost on some of this stuff that we’re talking about here to the extent of exactly I was under the impression this was already implemented. But from my understanding it’s not implemented yet and what you’re saying based on what y’all approved earlier --- th Mr. Russell: Prior to your arrival on December the 6 of 2007 the Commission approved the budget based on the millage rates that I first mentioned. Mr. Johnson: Right. Mr. Russell: That’s the 1.193 and the .2 basically. Mr. Johnson: Okay. Mr. Russell: We built that budget that budget and have operated for six months based on that, based on that increase in the taxes. What I’m telling you today is that we have to approve th the actual increase or the actual number on July 28. So we’ve operated six months on a budget that was preliminarily approved in November. You get another shot at that today or at the end of 34 this month after you give me some marching orders today. And what I’m suggesting is we reduce what I asked for in November by almost 50%. Mr. Johnson: Okay, so basically you’ve already been operating under that particular proposal and now you just want to reduce it. So actually what we’re doing is reducing it --- Mr. Russell: Yes, sir. th Mr. Johnson: --- from what you recommended in July the 28 versus --- th Mr. Russell: Yes, sir. December 7 is when they approved it. th Mr. Johnson: Okay, and what we’ll be doing you’re saying on the 28 is going to reduce it by 50%. Mr. Russell: Or you could keep it at that same level. Mr. Mayor: Actually, no today if we take the recommendation of the Administrator we reduce what was proposed in November of last year by 50%. Whatever we approve today we get th one more bite of the apple, as Fred likes to say. We couldn’t go up prior to July 28 but we still could reduce it further or approve it at the same amount. Mr. Johnson: Okay, I’m with you now. First of all I would like to commend what you’re proposing is that would be a good option. I agree with what Alvin has said and also Joe and Jerry on this. We do need to look at options on increasing our revenue as well. But I think we really haven’t done a great job on doing that. I don’t what to perse cut back on services and everybody have to suffer as a result of what we’re doing with this but at the same time we have options and we need to exercise those options. And I think we’ll be fairly in good shape if we do that. If we look at that now for next year. Mr. Mayor: Commissioner Grantham. Mr. Grantham: Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Fred and Donna, I know that probably 2003, 2004 we used reserves to balance our budget. This past year we did not use reserves. This year we’re not recommending to use reserves because it’s not necessary. This past year in December instead of using the reserve we recommended the millage increase and that’s the reason we have that today. Our reserve is still intact but what I’m hearing is based on the increase in our revenue this year, our budget revenue that we’re now going to increase our reserve. Mr. Russell: Which is what you directed me to do for the past two years. Mr. Grantham: Right, so what we have done we have rebuilt our reserve back to a level of comfort which Bonnie eluded to that we have now between a 75-90 day is what she feels comfortable in. But we have a 105-day reserve. So my point is why can’t we let the citizens know that we want to do the best we can for them. We always go ask them for more, why can’t we start giving back a little bit more. And I think we need to adjust this a little bit downward to 35 a point that they would feel more comfortable in it and that we in turn could maybe add some dollars to our reserve. But then we wouldn’t be having to go back again and ask for more money, more millage increase. We do have a reserve to work with if absolutely necessary. And that’s what it’s there for. Mr. Russell: And let me share with you that you’ve got that reserve because we’ve been very prudent in our spending. Y’all have authorized appropriate increases when necessary to get us there and it is just in fact that, a reserve that should be there for emergencies. Mr. Grantham: I agree. Mr. Russell: I’m not to sure in my mind the increase that I proposed would constitute anything other than normal costs of doing business as opposed to an emergency. My scare and what I’m afraid of is giving the unknown borders that we’re beginning to walk into, we’re okay. You know our reserve is as good as anybody’s and we’ve the good job, y’all done a good job of putting money back into it. And we’re holding our own. But I’m not too sure if we’re going to hold our own. I think we will. I’m very comfortable. But I would hate at some point to dig to deep into that reserve. And let me say we’ve never been at an uncomfortable level but you know it depends on how well you sleep at night. How you define comfort I guess. And you’re a little bit bolder than I am dipping in deeper than what I’ve suggested. Mr. Grantham: I’m not recommending digging into the reserve right now. I’m just recommending putting less in the reserve than what you’re proposing and so then we can reduce the millage somewhat more than what you’re proposing. Mr. Russell: We’ve got an answer for Commissioner Bowles’s question now if you’d like to have that. Mr. Bowles: Yeah, I think it would be helpful for everybody to have it. Mr. Mayor: Ms. Williams. Ms. Williams: The audited revenue and transfers in from ’07 was approximately $120 million dollars as shown in the audit. The budgeted amounts for general fund and Law Enforcement which is the two items that are rolled together for the audit purposes to be called the general fund is $127 million budgeted for ’08. Of that $127 million budgeted for 2008, $5 million is attributed to the anticipated increase in tax revenue based on at that time the 1.193 mills. Mr. Bowles: That just doesn’t make sense to me, I’m sorry. If we’ve got a $127 million and we aren’t decreasing anything why wouldn’t we get $127 million this year? Ms. Williams: Included in that 127 because you are required by the state to adopt a balanced budget is an anticipated increase in property tax revenue of $5 million dollars. That’s a budgeted item in the ’08 budget. That’s what was used to balance the budget based on the programs that you adopted in the anticipated revenue that it would take --- 36 Mr. Bowles: I understand that but the $5 million wasn’t required last year to get us to $127 million. Ms. Williams: No, sir, we had $120 million --- Mr. Bowles: One hundred and twenty. Ms. Williams: --- in 2007. Mr. Bowles: So we’re increasing our revenues basically $7 million dollars. Ms. Williams: $7 million dollars. $2 million from other sources that we will generate and $5 million from anticipated property taxes based on the adopted ’08 budget. Mr. Mayor: Does that answer you question, Mr. Bowles? Mr. Bowles: It gives me more questions, Mr. Mayor, but thank you. Mr. Mayor: Okay, well let me just say it seems as though we’ve all had ample time to speak on this issue. Obviously fiscally sound policy has put us in a good financial position, the fiscally sound policy adopted by this government over the past several years. I would recommend and this is just me. I know Commissioner Bowles you would have more time to answer your questions in the coming weeks throughout the rest of the month. But I would recommend that we go ahead and take the recommendation from the Administrator and give ourselves time to reduce it at a future point if necessary. Can I get a motion to that effect? Mr. Mason: So moved. Mr. Mayor: Is there a second? Mr. Russell: And if I may the motion the motion needs to be that you adopt the proposed 2008 budget found on page, millage rates I’m sorry, millage rates found on the millage rate sheet in you package. Tentative millage rates. Mr. Mayor: Okay, we have a motion. Is there a second? Mr. Holland: Second. Mr. Mayor: We have a motion and a second. Is there any further discussion? Mr. Grantham: Mr. Mayor? Mr. Mayor: Commissioner Grantham. 37 Mr. Grantham: Mr. Mayor, I’d like to make a substitute motion or either amend this motion, either way you’d like to receive it. And that is based on the proposal recommended by Mr. Russell that we use that as our maximum millage rate increase of .607 and .098 for the Fire Department. But that over the next two weeks than an attempt made to reduce that millage rate down to at least .50 on our general and .075 on the Fire Department. By doing that I know that the fire rate, I mean the reason for the increase on the fire is to capital expenditures from what I understand Mr. Russell? Mr. Russell: Yes, sir. Mr. Grantham: And so if necessary we could delay that at least 6 months to the end of the year to know where we’re going and what we have. That being an amended motion I’d like to make. Mr. Mayor: Okay, would the maker of the motion like to amend his motion to reflect Commissioner Grantham’s comments? Mr. Mason: I would. Mr. Mayor: Okay. We have a motion and a second. What’s that? Mr. Russell: Whoever seconded the motion needs to accept the amendment. Mr. Mayor: And, Commissioner Holland, will you accept that amendment to the motion with your second? Mr. Holland: I’m still trying to figure out what Mr. Grantham was saying just now in reference to the decrease in the mill rate and everything. Since it’s not cut in stone. Mr. Grantham: Right. Mr. Mayor: Exactly. Are you okay with that, Commissioner Holland? Mr. Holland: I’m fine. Mr. Mayor: Okay. If there’s no further discussion commissioners will now vote by the usual sign. Mr. Bowles and Mr. Brigham vote No. Motion carries 7-2. Mr. Russell: Thank you, ladies and gentlemen. We appreciate your indulgence. Mr. Mayor: Okay. Mr. Grantham: Thank you, Fred, good job. 38 Mr. Mayor: Thank you, Fred. And just once again I’d like to say it one more time. Other cities aren’t having the opportunity to have the debate we’re having so I appreciate everybody’s input and everybody’s hard work. Mr. Russell: If I can I’d like to recognize the Finance staff. But in addition to that I’d like to recognize every employee that we have. Because each and every one of them have made a difference in the way we do this. Thank you. (APPLAUSE) Mr. Mayor: Okay, Madam Clerk, other business. The Clerk: OTHER BUSINESS 55. Update from the Canal Authority regarding the expenditure of funds for the cleaning of the third level of the Canal. (Requested by Commissioner Joe Bowles) Mr. Bowles: Yeah and Mr. Mayor --- Mr. Mayor: Commissioner Bowles. Mr. Bowles: Mr. Mayor, I put this on and Dayton called me and told me he couldn’t be here. I did speak with him briefly. It seems we’ve been blaming the Canal Authority for not spending the funds on the Canal cleanup when the fault is our own government in my opinion. And the Canal Authority does not have the funds and the funds are in the Public Works Department and they’ve been sitting there for, Betty what two years now? Ms. Beard: Exactly correct. Mr. Bowles: So I’d like the Administrator to explain to us why these funds haven’t been designated and spent. Mr. Mayor: Okay, Mr. Administrator. Mr. Russell: Obviously without Mr. Sherrouse who’s going to be dealing with this I don’t have that information in front of me. If you could refer this back to committee I’d be more than happy to provide that for you. Mr. Bowles: And I think more specifically you need to get with Public Works to figure out what the problem is. Mr. Russell: And I would be happy to do that if you could refer this to the Committee meeting. Mr. Bowles: I’ll make a motion to do so. 39 Ms. Beard: As a matter of fact may I bend that a little to include the DDA and Dayton Sherrouse --- Mr. Bowles: Yes, ma’am. Ms. Beard: --- and the Canal Authority. Mr. Mayor: Okay. Mr. Bowles: So moved. Mr. Mayor: We have a motion. Do we have a second? Mr. Johnson: Second. Mr. Mayor: We have a motion and a second. If there’s no further discussion Commissioners will now vote by the usual sign. Mr. Grantham out. Motion carries 8-0. Mr. Mayor: Madam Attorney, do we need a Legal? Ms. Johnson: No, sir, we do not. Mr. Mayor: Okay with no further business to come before the body we stand adjourned. [MEETING ADJOURNED] Lena Bonner Clerk of Commission CERTIFICATION: I, Lena 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 July 10, 2008. ______________________________ Clerk of Commission 40 41