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HomeMy WebLinkAboutSeptember 15, 2009 Commission Meeting REGULAR MEETING COMMISSION CHAMBER SEPTEMBER 15, 2009 Augusta Richmond County Commission convened at 2:00 p.m., September 15, 2009, the Hon. Deke Copenhaver, Mayor, presiding. PRESENT: Hons. Holland, Smith, Mason, Grantham, Hatney, Beard, Johnson, Jackson, Bowles and Brigham, members of Augusta Richmond County Commission. The invocation was given by the Reverend Dr. Melvin Ivey, Pastor, Greater St. John Baptist Church. The Pledge of Allegiance to the Flag of the United States of America was recited. Mr. Mayor: Pastor, if you could come forward I have something for you. And thank you so much for being there in a pinch for us with that. By these present be it known that Rev. Dr. Melvin Ivey, Pastor, Greater St. John Baptist Church is Chaplain of the Day for his civic and spiritual guidance demonstrated throughout the community. Serves as an example for all of the th faith community. Given under my hand this 15 Day of September 2009. Thank you for those wonderful words. (APPLAUSE) Madam Clerk, on to the Delegations. The Clerk: DELEGATIONS A. Mr. Barry White, Executive Director, Convention and Visitors Bureau RE: CVB Activity Report. Mr. White: Thank you. Mr. Mayor: And if you could keep it to five minutes, please, sir. Mr. White: I certainly will. Thank you, Mr. Mayor, members of the Commission. I appreciate the opportunity to be here. Commissioners Calvin Holland and Joe Bowles currently serve on the Board of Directors for the Convention and Visitors Bureau and they asked that I come and share a little bit of information that we shared at our last board meeting regarding the Travel and Hospitality Industry in Augusta. So first I want to share a video with the few people whose livelihood depend on visitors in Augusta. (Video shown) Those are just a few of the more than 5,000 people who work in the travel and hospitality industry in Augusta. You can find more videos with more employees on YOUTUBE. If you go put in Visit Augusta you can see those videos. More visitors are good for Augusta. 2008 was the best year that we ever had in hotel tax revenue and even in this down economy and compared to a banner year we’re only down 3% year to date compared to 2008. And that’s great news especially when you consider what’s happening to our competition. Savannah, Athens and Macon are all experiencing declines of 10%. Metro Atlanta areas are seeing declines in the teens. Greenville, SC is experiencing a 20% decline in hotel revenue compared to last year. So it’s only 3% down. Business is good in Augusta and we’re extremely fortunate. It’s our job at the CVB to market 1 the city as a destination for visitors. It’s also our job to identify opportunities to attract more visitors to spend more money and ultimately resulting in more jobs and more tax revenue for the city. Eight years ago we at the CVB recognized the need. We were losing large conventions and events to our competitors because we lacked adequate meeting facilities. In one year alone we identified events that totaled more that $13 million dollars in an impact that were going to other cities. Today we face the same challenges that we did eight, as we did eight years ago. We’re still losing millions of dollars to our competition and in the past eight years our competition has grown and strengthened. Dalton, Macon and Columbus have all expanded their convention center complexes. Athens is planning their second expansion and Columbia SC is already proposing an expansion after being open only for a few years. In a feasibility study our customers told us that we had an opportunity. If we build exhibit space we have an opportunity to host those meetings that we currently cannot accommodate. Our customers told us in order to be successful the exhibit space must be downtown, must be connected to hotel rooms and connected to our existing city owned conference center. In effect they said expand your already successful facility. This gives us an opportunity to attract more visitors that will spend more money and ultimately result in more jobs and more tax revenue for Augusta. The promise of more money and more jobs is not a hollow promise. The exhibit space now known as the TEE Center is not even open and yet it is already delivering on these promises. As a result of the TEE Center Augusta is already planning extensive revitalization in some of our historic neighborhoods. The revitalization will create jobs resulting in more money for our economy and our community. At the same time as a result of the TEE Center Augusta has attracted new outside investments in our downtown with the addition of a proposed hotel again generating more jobs and more tax revenue for Augusta. The promises are real. The Tee Center is good for Augusta. The Tee Center has been endorsed by the city as the leading economic development agencies. The Augusta Chamber of Commerce, the Development Authority of Richmond County, Augusta Tomorrow, the Downtown Development Authority and the Greater Augusta Sports Council. The project also received endorsement from this body, initially and most notably in 2004 when the Commission included it in the SPLOST V project list, a list ultimately supported by the voters in our residence. The TEE Center is good business. On average 5,000 people spend the night in our hotels and that’s 5,000 people spending money everyday and every night in Augusta. And even though these are the people whose jobs directly depend on visitors to our city they aren’t the only ones who benefit. With more visitors to our city every resident wins and more visitors is good for Augusta. Mr. Mayor: Okay, thank you, sir. I liked that video, too. Do we have any questions or comments? Commissioner Holland. Mr. Holland: Thank you, Mr. Mayor. I’d just like to commend Barry and his staff for the job that they’re doing down at the Convention and Visitors Bureau along with Phil who is the Chairman. And of course we would hope that some of the other projects here in Augusta would come before us and share some information with us rather than sitting out letters to us. Because we feel if you come before us in person and share information with us and communicate with us better and give us an opportunity to ask questions in reference to what you’re doing. So we should commend you for what you’re doing and we thank you for what you showed today was very good. However we’re just going to continue to work with you and do the best we can for Augusta. Thank you very much. 2 Mr. Mayor: Thank you, Commissioner Holland. Ms. Beard. Ms. Beard: Barry, I’m wondering if you have been in contact at all with Dr. Sanders at the University of Texas. Mr. White: (inaudible) Ms. Beard: He did a, you have? Mr. White: I’m very familiar with his report. Ms. Beard: Okay. Well, you know, it is my opinion that maybe he needs to come in and share what he feels in reference to convention centers all over the United States because just like all of the centers in this area that is happening all over. And there are those who feel that these funds could be used better doing other things like inner city projects and what have you. I am, Fred what would we need to do in order to bring this person in so that we could get another perspective in reference to convention centers. Mr. Russell: If it’s the will of the body we’d be more than happy to make arrangements for him to visit with us. I just need the direction from the group to do that. Ms. Beard: What do you think? Mr. Holland: Mr. Mayor, I don’t have a problem with that. Mr. Mayor: Commissioner Holland. Mr. Holland: I think any direction we get in reference to anything that we’re trying to do I think we should hear in our city and we can get information that’s going to help us along from anyone that can come and share information with us. So I don’t have a problem with it so I’ll vote for it. Mr. Mayor: Okay. The Clerk: Is that a motion? Mr. Mayor: Is that a motion? Mr. Holland: That’s a motion. Mr. Mayor: We have a motion and a second. Commissioner Bowles. Mr. Bowles: Do we have a cost and a source of funding for this trip? Mr. Mayor: I was just going to say I think --- 3 Mr. Russell: I don’t know what the cost would be but the source of funding would be the money set aside for the TEE Center at the moment. Mr. Bowles: We’re already short of funds so we’re going to pay somebody to come and tell us that they don’t like TEE Centers. So we’re going to spend more money and have less funds to build the TEE Center. Mr. Mayor: But just for clarity and maybe for cost savings if we could direct Mr. Russell to get in contact with the gentleman and perhaps it wouldn’t be you know difficult to do a conference call as opposed to, is that okay with everybody? Mr. Grantham. Mr. Grantham: Thank you, Mr. Mayor. I think we, you know we’re running around the source that we currently have and sidestepping Barry with information that he’s already collected for us and brought to us based on the convention, exhibit space and what’s available as well as people that want to contract to come to Augusta. I’m not opposed to getting someone else to come in to tell me what’s happening to the exhibit space but I just think that you know we’re delaying the inevitable when we do this. Barry’s already done a lot of research in this regards. Mr. White: Mr. Mayor --- Mr. Mayor: Mr. White. Mr. White: --- Mr. Sanders did a report from the Brookings Institute in Washington DC. I think it was available in 2004 and that’s what he’s basing his comments on. I would recommend at the very least that this body receive a copy of that report. Mr. Mayor: Has everybody read, Mr. Russell? Mr. Russell: And if you’d like I’d be more than happy to get a cost for him to visit with us and see what he would charge for that. And then I would be more than happy to see if that’s cost prohibitive to arrange for him to maybe do an audio conversation with us or a video conversation if at all possible. I will look for the cheapest way to get the best information if that’s the direction I receive. Mr. Mayor: Commissioner Johnson. Mr. Johnson: Thank you, Mr. Mayor. I think what we need to do primarily is look at maybe looking at it from a different perspective. I think the proposed design that we have now in place is 40,000 feet of exhibit space, right? But we don’t have any seating capacity within that space. And what we need to do is look at other options or alternatives to encompass that and what we need to do to build this particular convention center but primarily at a cost that we can afford. We already exceeded the $20 million dollars. Now you’re talking $18 million more. So maybe it would be good to maybe get just a different opinion or a different perspective on what would work for this particular city based on those that have done of course research and designs in the past. And that’s the thing, that’s the target I would like to look at maybe trying to obtain 4 to maybe see what can work and what will work because in the long run I think it can be helpful but primarily again I realize some things in regards to inner city redevelopment and people talking about taxes there. But if you redevelop inner city the taxes will go up. You will start to collect more taxes because it will become a viable neighborhood. Well now it can’t be viable because it’s somewhat blighted. So I think it’s going to be a win, win situation if you look at it and make sure you cross all your T’s and dot all your I’s with this project. But that’s the thing that we want to make that happens. So I’m all for getting a different perspective to look at what will work and what’s more likely to work here Augusta Georgia. Mr. Mayor: Okay, we have a motion and a second. Just to get clear on this just, is, Commissioner Holland, to amend your motion, would you amend your motion to direct Mr. Russell to contact this individual at the same disseminating the Brookings Institute report to the Commission so that we can get a cost on this? Mr. Holland: I so amend it, Mr. Mayor. Mr. Mayor: Okay. We have a motion and a second. If there’s no further discussion Commissioners will now vote by the usual sign. Mr. Brigham votes No. Motion carries 9-1. Mr. Mayor: Thank you, Mr. White. And let me just reiterate. I’m so glad that you brought forward. I mentioned in an earlier meeting using good data. The way we stack up compared to other markets at this point in time is extremely strong. I’m glad that you brought that out. Thanks. Mr. White: My pleasure. Thank you. Mr. Mayor: Madam Clerk, on to the consent agenda. The Clerk: Yes, sir, Mr. Mayor. Our consent agenda consists of items 1-39, items 1-39. For the benefit of any objectors to any of our Planning petition, when those petitions are read would you please signify your objections by raising your hand. Item 2: Is a request for a Special Exception to establish a Family Personal Care Home on property located at 2237 Winston Way. Item 3: Is a request for a Special Exception to establish a Family Personal Care Home on property located at 1718 Weed Street. Item 4: With conditions is a request for a Special Exception to establish a Congregate Personal Care Home in a P-1 (Professional) Zone on property know as 1509 Brown Road. Item 5: Is for with conditions a petition for a change of zoning from a Zone r-1A (One-family Residential) to a zone R-1C (One-family Residential) affecting property at 3043 Dennis Road. The Clerk: Are there any objectors to any of those Planning petitions? 5 Mr. Russell: None noted, Madam Clerk. The Clerk: Mr. Mayor, our consent agenda consists of items 1-39. Mr. Mayor: Thank you, ma’am. Commissioner Hatney. Mr. Hatney: I believe we can add 42 if my colleagues don’t object. Mr. Mayor: Is everybody good with 42? Mr. Grantham: What about 41? Mr. Holland: He just took it from me but that’s okay. Mr. Mayor: Okay. The Clerk: Mr. Grantham 41? Mr. Grantham: Yeah, we’ve had 41. We’ve discussed that, we might as well. The Clerk: (inaudible) Mr. Grantham: We’re not going to take a vote on it. Mr. Mayor: But we wanted to give the direction to Mr. Russell to --- The Clerk: Go ahead, Mr. Russell. authorize me to work Mr. Russell: I believe the motion that we were looking for was to with our consultants as we develop the Marshal’s Substation to use that as a model as we continue moving forward with our WBE/DBE program and then build off of that as we look at the ordinances necessary to do so. Mr. Mayor: Okay, do we have --- Ms. Beard: So moved. Mr. Hatney: Second. Mr. Mayor: We have a motion and second. This is to put it onto the consent agenda. If there’s no further discussion Commissioners will now vote by the usual sign of voting. Motion carries 10-0. Mr. Mayor: Okay, thank you. I don’t believe we have anything else we can add to the consent agenda. Are there any items to be pulled for discussion? 6 Mr. Grantham: I need a comment on #37, Mr. Mayor. Mr. Mayor: Who would you like a comment from on that? Mr. Grantham: I’d like it from you. You’re the one who wrote the letter you want us to approve. And so I’d like a comment from you as to what the letter consists of. Mr. Mayor: You’re saying I wrote the letter. Actually this was a request from the DDA. Margaret, could you come forward and just explain what the, so we can leave it on the consent agenda. Ms. Woodard: Commissioner Grantham, in 2005 the DDA applied for a grant for the historic depot on behalf of the City of Augusta. It was awarded $450,000 with a match by the city. When Harry Kitchens and Foxhill came in and did a contract to purchase the property, we discovered that you could not use that money if it was a private developer. So the project was not done. If you were to continue to use the money for the depot the land would have to remain public for twenty years. So at the end of October any monies that are not used here in Augusta can be allocated to Savannah, Athens, anywhere and we would like that money that was going to be used for the depot to be (inaudible). Whether they do it or not but just request that this money be moved to the Streetscape Project that we were awarded in 2008 for James Brown Boulevard. Mr. Grantham: Okay, and I accept the reasoning behind this. I guess what I’m asking for is this to be transferred for use for Streetscape. Do we have any costs or plans or renderings in regards to the Streetscape that you’re going to do? Ms. Woodard: We just got awarded that grant. It’s in the amount of $200,000 and with your match it’s 250. What we’re trying to do is leverage two other transportation enhancement th grants on James Brown Boulevard. The library got a grant to do 9 Street between Greene and Telfair and the Canal Authority got a grant to do some pathways and sidewalks right in front of the Judicial Center. With the 215 we were only going to able to probably start at Telfair and maybe get to the railroad tracks at Fenwick. Our original goal was to do all of James Brown with $1.2 million dollars. This will help a lot. Mr. Mayor: Commissioner Smith. Mr. Smith: Thank you, Mr. Mayor. What will happen to the old railroad building? I noticed the roof has been torn off. Is it going to be left like that or what? Mr. Russell: Mr. Mayor, if I may. We’re in the process of replacing, not replacing but we, um, we’re fixing the roof and maintaining the building. Obviously because of the historic nature that would be part of any project that we would use on that particular piece of property. We have not moved forward with looking for other people at this point as we waited for the economy to improve. But we would think that because of its historic nature would be a valuable asset at that corner. And what we’re doing is trying to maintain the building as structurally secure as we can. 7 Mr. Smith: Is that part of the money that we’re talking about, is that coming out of the general fund or what? Mr. Russell: The maintenance of the building is not part of those dollars. It’s my understanding you would not be able to use those dollars just to maintain the building. This money will be coming out of our capital money. Ms. Woodard: Another thing when Mr. Kitchen had signed the Memorandum of Understanding he used a good bit of his own personal money to test for asbestos. He secured all the windows and doors and placed the temporary roof on the depot. And I spoke with Eric Montgomery yesterday at Historic Augusta and he believes in short term that this is sufficient until we put the project out for bid, for a private developer to come out and renovate. Mr. Mayor: Okay, thank you, ma’am. Can I look for a motion to approve the consent agenda? Mr. Johnson: So moved. Mr. Hatney: Second. CONSENT AGENDA PLANNING 1. FINAL PLAT – WEST WHEELER TOWNHOMES PHASE 10 – S-803 – A request for concurrence with the Augusta Richmond County Planning Commission to approve a petition by Southern Partners Inc., on behalf of ATC Development Co., requesting final plat approval for West Wheeler Townhomes, Phase 10. This residential townhome development is located on Aruba Circle, adjacent to West Wheeler Townhomes, Phase 11 and contains 18 lots. 2. Z-09-43 – A request for concurrence with the Augusta Richmond County Planning Commission to approve a petition by Synnecca Kamga, on behalf of Jean Kamga, requesting a Special Exception to establish a Family Personal Care Home per Section 26-1 (h) of the Comprehensive Zoning Ordinance for Augusta-Richmond County affecting property containing .34 acres and is known as 2237 Winston Way. (Tax Map 131-0-289-00- 0) DISTRICT 6 3. Z-09-44 – A request for concurrence with the Augusta Richmond County Planning Commission to approve a petition by Keyatta Priester, on behalf of Mark McClure, requesting a Special Exception to establish a Family Personal Care Home per Section 26-1 (h) of the Comprehensive Zoning Ordinance for Augusta-Richmond County affecting property containing .33 acres and is known as 718 Weed Street. (Tax Map 034-1-211-00-0) DISTRICT 1 4. Z-09-45 – A request for concurrence with the Augusta-Richmond County Planning Commission to approve with the following condition 1) that the congregate personal care home is limited to 16 persons; a petition by Richard Johnson requesting a Special Exception to establish a Congregate Personal Care Home in a P-1 (Professional) Zone per Section 20-2 (b) of the Comprehensive Zoning Ordinance for Augusta-Richmond County 8 affecting property containing 1.85 acres and is known as 1509 Brown Road. (Tax Map 214- 0-006-04-0) DISTRICT 8 5. Z-09-48 – A request for concurrence with the Augusta-Richmond County Planning Commission to approve with the following conditions 1) that this property be developed consistent with the most recent concept plan submitted or R-1A density; 2) there be no access to Alice Lane; and 3) the developer shall reserve a 10 foot wide strip across the portion of the property that fronts Dennis Road in the event of future road widening; a petition by Tom Ashe, on behalf of Notchuway Land, LLC, requesting a change of zoning from Zone r-1A (One-family Residential) to Zone R-1C (One-family Residential) affecting property containing 8.4 acres and known as 3043 Dennis Road. (Tax Map 007-0-001-00-0) DISTRICT 7 PUBLIC SERVICES 6. Motion to approve a revised landscape plan for new headquarters library to include the small garden in front of the building on Greene St. This plan has been approved by the Historic Commission. (Approved by Public Services Committee September 8, 2009) 7. Motion to approve a consulting engineering services agreement for HVAC replacement at Julian Smith Casino to Pruett, ford and Associates for $19,000. (Approved by Public Services Committee September 8, 2009) 8. Motion to approve waiver of construction license fees associated with the Golden Harvest Food Bank’s Master’s Table project. (Approved by Public Services Committee September 8, 2009) 9. Motion to approve lease between Augusta, Georgia and masters City Little League, LLC for lease of premises adjacent to Charles B. Webster Detention Center. (Approved by Public Services Committee September 8, 2009) ADMINISTRATIVE SERVICES 10. Motion to approve an Ordinance providing for the demolition of certain unsafe and uninhabitable structures in the Turpin Hill Neighborhood: 113 Sixth Avenue, (District 2, Super District 9); Meadowbrook Neighborhood: 3124 Ditmas Road, (District 4, Super District 9); Bethlehem Neighborhood: 2032 Fargo Street, (District 2, Super District 9). (Approved in September 1 Commission meeting – second reading) 11. Motion to approve an Ordinance providing for the demolition of certain unsafe and uninhabitable structures in the East Augusta Neighborhood: 252 Japonica Avenue, (District 1, Super District 9); Olde Town Neighborhood: 137 Watkins Street, (District 1, Super District 9); Bethlehem Neighborhood: 1637 ½ Forest Street, 1255 Steiner Avenue, 1258 Steiner Avenue, 1260 Steiner Avenue, 1421 Monroe Street, 1528 Picquet Avenue, (District 2, Super District 9); Turpin Hill Neighborhood; 1677 Emory Street, (District 2, Super District 9); Harrisburg Neighborhood; 1825 Watkins Street, 1829 Watkins Street, (District 1, Super District 9). (Approved in September 1 Commission meeting – second reading) PUBLIC SAFETY 12. Motion to approve a 2009 budget amendment for the BJA FY 09 Recovery Act Edward Byrne Memorial Justice Assistance Grant Program Local Solicitation (JAG-Recovery) to reflect increased revenue in the amount of $584,165 which will be utilized to purchase 161 9 portable radios, 4 law enforcement vehicles and computer software licensing. (Approved by Public Safety Committee September 8, 2009) 13. Motion to approve the renewal of a Grant Agreement with the Criminal Justice Coordinating Council for the Solicitor General’s VWAP for the salary of the Domestic Violence Advocate for the period October 1,2009 through September 30, 2010. (Approved by Public Safety Committee September 8, 2009) 14. Motion to approve the renewal of a Grant Agreement with the Criminal Justice Coordinating Council for the District Attorney’s Victim Assistance Program for funding to support direct services to crime victims for the period October 1, 2009 through September 30, 2010. (Approved by Public Safety Committee September 8, 2009) 15. Motion to approve a Purchase of Services Subcontract for The Counseling Group RFP- 08-185. (Approved by Public Safety Committee September 8, 2009) FINANCE 16. Motion to approve a request from the Augusta Mini Theatre, Inc. regarding a waiver of its 2009 property taxes. (Approved by Finance Committee September 8, 2009) 17. Motion to approve the recommendation of the Tax Assessor relative to a request from Mr. Gregory L. Hooper regarding a refund of real estate taxes for property located at 10 Park Place Circle. (Approved by Finance Committee September 8, 2009) 18. Motion to approve a Resolution of the Augusta-Richmond County Commission declaring the results of an election held on June 16, 2009 to determine the reimposition or non-reimposition of a Special One Percent Sales and Use Tax; and for other related purposes. (Approved by Finance Committee September 8, 2009) 19. Motion to approve a Resolution of the Augusta-Richmond County Commission authorizing the commencement of validation proceedings for its General Obligation bonds; and for other related purposes. (Approved by Finance Committee September 8, 2009) 20. Motion to approve recommendation from the Tax Assessor relative to a request from Mr. William Franklin Lamb regarding a proportional tax refund for the years 2006, 2007 and 2008 concerning property located at 60 Charlestowne Drive. (Approved by Finance Committee September 8, 2009) 21. Motion to approve the recommendation of the Tax Assessor relative to a request from Mr. William Walker regarding a refund of taxes associated with the overstatement of the living area at his residence at 1326 Winter Street. (Approved by Finance Committee September 8, 2009) ENGINEERING SERVICES 22. Motion to approve and authorize execution of an agreement between Augusta and the University of Georgia Research Foundation, Inc. Savannah River Ecology Laboratory (SREL) for the continuation of research and data collection related to bird activity around the constructed wetland treatment system. (Approved by Engineering Services Committee September 8, 2009) 23. Motion to approve to provide necessary signatures on furnished agreement to include Augusta Utilities Department water and sanitary sewer main relocation in the Georgia Department of Transportation contract for Alexander Drive. The estimated cost of the construction is $298,192.50. (Approved by Engineering Services Committee September 8, 2009) 10 24. Motion to approve the adoption of the Flood Insurance Study and the associated Flood Insurance Rate Maps for Augusta Richmond County. (Approved by Engineering Services Committee September 8, 2009) 25. Motion to amend agreement with Georgia Power Company for Power Distribution Termination Services at James B. Messerly WPCP. (Approved by Engineering Services Committee September 8, 2009) 26. Motion to approve CPB #323-041110-201823332 Change Number Two and Supplemental Agreement Number Three in the amount of $65,000.00 on the Belair Road Improvements project. Funding is available in the project contingency account to be transferred to the project engineering account as requested by AED. (Approved by Engineering Services Committee September 8, 2009) 27. Motion to approve a Deed of Dedication and Maintenance Agreement for Water and Sanitary Sewer from West Wheeler Townhomes, Phase 8. (Approved by Engineering Services Committee September 8, 2009) 28. Motion to approve an Option for the purposes of acquiring a Right-of-Way between Schwerman Trucking Co., Successor by merger of Schwerman Real Estate and Development Corp., as owner, and Augusta, Georgia as optionee, in connection with the Marvin Griffin Road Improvement Project, (3,275 sq. ft.) in fee and (N/A sq. ft.) of permanent construction and maintenance easement, and (3,228 sq. ft.) of temporary construction easement from property located at: 1601 Marvin Griffin Road, private, at the purchase price of $2,600.00. (Approved by Engineering Services Committee September 8, 2009) 29. Motion to approve a change in scope to separate Old Savannah Road/Twiggs Street Improvement Project into two phases for design and construction as requested by AED. (Approved by Engineering Services Committee September 8, 2009) 30. Motion to approve an Option for the purposes of acquiring an easement between Soo H. Yun, as owner, and Augusta, Georgia, as optionee, in connection with the Marvin Griffin Road Improvements Project, (1,779 sq. ft.) of temporary construction easement from property located at: 1801 Marvin Griffin Road, private, at the purchase price of $125.00 (Approved by Engineering Services Committee September 8, 2009) 31. Motion to approve award of the contract for construction of a new restroom facility at Pendleton King Park to the low bidder, Sommers Construction of Evans, GA, in the amount of $25,740, to be funded from reprogrammed SPLOST 1 – GL 271-01-6215/JL, 207-27-2007, approved by the Commission. (Approved by Engineering Services Committee September 8, 2009) 32. Motion to approve the readoption of the Flood Damage Prevention Ordinance as amended and waive the second reading. (Approved by Engineering Services Committee September 8, 2009) 33. Motion to approve the recapture and/or reallocation of SPLOST III funds programmed for the Public Services Department and County Forces into Phase IV programmed categories. (Approved by Engineering Services Committee September 8, 2009) 34. Motion to approve a Resolution requesting easements across Georgia State property. (Approved by Engineering Services Committee September 8, 2009) 35. Motion to authorize proceeding with securing funding for projects to improve the following key roads: Windsor Spring Road (Willis Forman Rd to Tobacco Rd), Wrightsboro Road (Jimmie Dyess Parkway to I-520), Marvin Griffin Road (Doug Bernard 11 Parkway to Mike Padgett Hwy), Alexander Drive (Washington Rd to Riverwatch thth Parkway) and Broad Street (5 Street to 13 Street). Approved by Engineering Services Committee September 8, 2009) 36. Motion to approve the City providing on its website a link to the website that has been created concerning the mitigation of the Springfield Historic District, and African- American archaeological site, as part of the St. Sebastian Street Extension project. The Springfield Historic District website has been finalized and is available to the public. This th website contains lesson plans at the 8 grade level and this is requesting that the Augusta- Richmond County Board of Education also be made aware of this education opportunity. (Approved by Engineering Services Committee September 8, 2009) 37. Motion to approve letter from the Mayor to the Department of Transportation to th transfer TE Grant from 5 Street Depot to James Brown Blvd. Streetscape Project. (Approved by Engineering Services Committee September 8, 2009) PETITIONS AND COMMUNICATIONS 39. Motion to approve the minutes of the regular meeting of the Commission held on September 1, 2009. ADMINISTRATIVE SERVICES 41. Discuss/Receive results of Disparity Study from Mr. Jon Wainwright, Vice President, MERA Economic Consulting. PUBLIC SAFETY 42. Motion to accept grant award for the District Attorney’s Office Victim Assistance Program to the Criminal Justice Coordinating Council for a 2009 Recovery Act Victim Services Grant in the amount of $36,300 for the period 8/1/09 through 9/20/10. Mr. Mayor: We have a motion and second. Commissioners will now vote by the usual sign of voting. Mr. Brigham votes No. Motion carries 9-1. [Items 10 and 11] Motion carries 10-0. [Items 1-9, 12-39, 41, 42] Mr. Mayor: Magnanimous? The Clerk: Magnanimous. Mr. Mayor and members of the Commission, Mr. Ladson would like to request that each member sign this letter that I’m about to disseminate among you. It’s in regard to Item #35. It’s regarding a grant in association with the Stimulus Plan. He’s hoping to boost our response in getting this grant. So I will circulate this letter among you that you execute. Mr. Grantham: Please do, please do. The Clerk: Let’s just sign it. 12 Mr. Mayor: Amen. The Clerk: Amen. Mr. Brigham: Mr. Mayor? Mr. Mayor: Commissioner Brigham. Mr. Brigham: I’d like to be recorded as voting no on items 9, no items 10 and 11. The Clerk: Items 10 and 11, yes, sir. Mr. Brigham: Since we didn’t ask to be pulled. Mr. Mayor: Okay, thank you, sir. Madam Clerk, on to the regular agenda. The Clerk: PLANNING 40. Z-09-046 – A request for concurrence with the Augusta Richmond County Planning Commission to approve with the following condition 1) the use of the property be limited to hotels or those uses allowed in a B-1 (Neighborhood Business) Zone; a petition by G. B. Sharma requesting a change of zoning from Zone B-1 (Neighborhood Business) and Zone R-MH (Manufactured Home Residential) to Zone B-2 (General Business) affecting property consisting of two tracts as described below: Tract 1 contains 1.31 acres and is known as 2820 Old U.S. Hwy. 1. (Tax Map 118-0-009-02-0) DISTRICT 5 Tract 2 contains 3.84 acres and is known as 2802 Old U.S. Hwy 1. (Tax map 118-0-008-00-0) DISTRICT 5 Mr. Mayor: Paul, would you like to? Mr. DeCamp: Mr. Mayor and Commissioners. At our meeting last week the Planning Commission meeting there were one objector and two commenter who made comments about this proposal. It’s a request to rezone 5.1 acres between two lots. B-1 on Old Hwy 1 from B-1 to B-2. The Planning Commission staff and the Commission concurred in recommending approval with the use of the property being limited to a hotel or those uses allowed in a B-1 zone. As far as the one objector objected to having another hotel in the area. Two other commenters were more concerned with the lack of upkeep and maintenance on these vacant lots at the present time. I don’t know if they’re here or not. Mr. Mayor: Are the objectors here? No objectors here? Okay. Would somebody like to make a motion on this? Mr. Holland: Motion to approve. Mr. Jackson: Second. 13 Mr. Mayor: We have a motion and second. If there’s no further discussion Commissioners will now vote by the usual sign. Motion carries 10-0. The Clerk: Magnanimous. Mr. Holland: Thank you. Mr. Speaker: Thank you. Mr. Mayor: Thank you. The Clerk: We’re left with item 43. The Clerk: SUBCOMMITTEE 43. Update from the TEE Center Subcommittee. Mr. Mayor: And I will take that one just for the benefit of the Commission and I’m sure most have heard at this point but I’ve spoken to all of the Committee members and due to the ongoing investigation we’re going to wait to make a recommendation until the investigation is complete. Mr. Grantham: Motion to receive this as information. Mr. Hatney: Second. Mr. Mayor: Commissioners will now vote by the usual sign. Motion carries 10-0. The Clerk: Magnanimous. Mr. Mayor: Thank you, ma’am and, Mr. Brown, I believe we do need a Legal meeting. Mr. Brown: Yes sir, pending and existing litigation. Mr. Mayor: Okay, can I get a motion to go into a Legal Meeting for those reasons? LEGAL MEETING A.Pending and Potential Litigation. B.Real Estate. C.Personnel. 14 ADDENDUM 44. Motion to approve going into a Legal Meeting. Mr. Hatney: So moved. Mr. Johnson: Second. Mr. Mayor: We have a motion and a second. Commissioners will now vote by the usual sign. Mr. Jackson and Mr. Bowles vote No. Motion carries 8-2. Mr. Mayor: Thank you, Joe and Joe. We are now in Legal Session. [LEGAL MEETING] Mr. Mayor: Okay, if everybody’s ready I’ll go ahead and call the meeting back to order. 45. Motion to authorize execution by the mayor of the affidavit of compliance with Georgia’s Open Meeting Act. Mr. Hatney: So moved. Mr. Johnson: Second. Mr. Mayor: We have a motion and a second. Commissioners will now vote by the usual sign. Mr. Bowles out. Motion carries 9-0. Mr. Mayor: Thanks to everybody for a good meeting and we stand adjourned. [MEETING ADJOURNED] Lena Bonner Clerk of Commission 15 CERTIFICATION: I, Lena J. Bonner, Clerk of Commission, hereby certify that the above is a true and correct copy of the minutes of the Regular Meeting of the Augusta Richmond County Commission held on September 15, 2009 ______________________________ Clerk of Commission 16