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HomeMy WebLinkAboutCOMMISSION MEETING - September 7, 2010 REGULAR MEETING COMMISSION CHAMBER SEPTEMBER 7, 2010 Augusta Richmond County Commission convened at 5:00 p.m., September 7, 2010, the Hon. Deke Copenhaver, Mayor, presiding. PRESENT: Hons. Lockett, Smith, Mason, Grantham, Hatney, Aitken, Johnson, Jackson, Bowles and Brigham, members of Augusta Richmond County Commission. The invocation was given by the Reverend Jim McCollough, Pastor, Woodlawn United Methodist Church. The Pledge of Allegiance to the Flag of the United States of America was recited. Mr. Mayor: And, Reverend, before we let you get out of here we have a little something for you. And thank you for that wonderful invocation. By these present be it known that Reverend Jim McCollough, Pastor Woodlawn United Baptist Church is Chaplain of the Day for his civic and spiritual guidance demonstrated throughout the community and serves as an th example for all of the faith community. Given under my hand this 7 Day of September 2010. Thank you, sir. Mr. Mayor: All righty, Madam Clerk, on to the delegations. The Clerk: DELEGATIONS A. Ms. Margaret Armstrong. RE: Inter-City Community. Ms. Armstrong: Good evening. Mr. Mayor: And if you could keep it to five minutes, please, ma’am. I know you’re no stranger to these chambers. Ms. Armstrong: Mr. Mayor, Mr. Mayor Pro Tem, fellow Commissioners. I didn’t come today to lay blame on anyone because we have enough blame to go around for everybody including the community as well as our elected. I come to say thank you for some of the things that you have done. And I do hope you will continue more aggressively to do better. I would say I saw some progress on Florence Street today, Mr. Wheeler and I’m happy to see that. I know I voted you the best. But this is what I believe as one big city. If we could stop laboring ourselves as South Augusta, East Augusta, West Augusta, inner city Augusta I believe if we truly believe that we are one Augusta the second largest city supposed to be in Georgia that we can come together and eradicate the evils that we have in this community. And that’s with blightness and mostly dilapidated properties all over the city, not just in the inner city. There are other areas outside of here as well as I travel on our travels when we’re going to look at zoning issues. It has bothered me tremendously. One thing I would like to ask you all if the Planning Commission and the Commissioners here as well as someone from Housing and Urban we could 1 come together and talk about it. Come up with a strategy among ourselves which we are given the task and have the power to do this. We have been studied to death. Now is the time to shake the dust off of all the studies and see what we can do about moving this city forward. I believe we have the staff to do the job. We have Lee Cain whom we use very often but yet she’s frustrated. We have Mr. Dennick and I know that he has tons of applications that he had turned in concerning the same issues. We work and I have in power a lot of the people in my community to use what we have in place rather than to call you all individually. But if these people do not have the power to do their job than ultimately we must come to you. But what I say we have would like to see that we use Ms. Cain, we use Mr. Dennick and the people who live in those various communities working together. We need to divide code enforcement and into sections possibly adding two new court employees. In doing that I think that we have the input and the chair that we do that we will overcome this. So we could do, we could have someone to file a grant that will give you the money to rid the community of the evils of dilapidated properties and then it would not be a burden on the taxpayers or you because I believe we would use what we have. You all go into court and having these properties declare a clear title I believe that the benefits would come into all these areas after we’ve cleaned it up. Nobody’s coming the way it looks because it’s not inviting. I believe we can do that through the Land Bank Authority given a developer a clear title to the land with certain criteria with certain conditions and a timetable in which to complete the project. After that I believe you will recoup your money with the sales tax, property tax and utility tax. Gentlemen we have the mechanism. Let us get together because we need to into all communities not just in one. And I would ask that you would take these recommendations particularly because you have the ordinance in place, you have the court to enforce the ordinance --- Mr. Mayor: Okay. Ms. Armstrong: --- find the grant to enforce, to tear it down which will not come out of your budget. Thank you very much and you all have a good day. Mr. Mayor: Thank you so much, Ms. Armstrong, and we appreciate your input and your wisdom on that. And we I think you see a group that is dedicated to working together which is helping to move things forward for sure, but thank you, ma’am. Madam Clerk, next delegation. The Clerk: DELEGATIONS B. Dr. Ricardo Azziz, M.D., MPH, MBA, President of MCG. RE: Vision for the Medical College of Georgia. Mr. Mayor: Welcome, Dr. Azziz, and just to be fair to everybody I’d ask that you keep it to five minutes too, please, sir. Dr. Azziz: I will, thank you. Mr. Mayor, Mayor Pro Tem, Commissioners thank you very much for granting us these five minutes. I want to share with you some of the Medical College of Georgia and some of the steps that we are taking in the near future for which you should be aware and hopefully will have your support. I do want to share with you the vision 2 that we have and that is to become a top tier academic health center and a top fifty-research university while leading the transformation of the institution and the region into a healthcare and biomedical research destination. That is truly our vision. We will do that of course by engaging, energizing and synergizing our diversion communities and resources and by serving as a national and international resource for excellence in education and training for our current and future biomedical workforce, innovative and high impact and relevant healthcare research and quality cutting edge and efficient healthcare. But we do want to not only be the greatest of health science universities but also to serve as a catalyst for the community in its development as a biomedical and healthcare destination. Now what will be this administration’s legacy, my team and I really feel that we would like to leave behind as all administrations at some point cease to complete the transformation of MCG into a widely recognized health sciences university. We are a wonderful university but we are not widely recognized. We do suffer from branding and other recognition issues that do not allow us to be recognized as a full-fledged health sciences university and that is the detriment of our community as well as our institution. We need to integrate a line and grow the clinic on an academic enterprise to become a full-fledged academic st health center. July 1 was the first time in many years where the clinical operations of hospital and clinics and the university have been brought together under one mandate, under one leadership, under one vision and we intend to integrate that over the next year and the years that come. We want to become Georgia’s recognized leader in health care professions. It is very clear that while lots of other institutions in the state produce healthcare professionals we are the state’s health sciences university and we intend to remain that way and we intend to remain that way in this community. And finally we will place MCG into the top fifty-research university’s not just some research universities all research universities and we will do that in the years to come. And that is the vision of this administration, that is legacy of this administration. And you are already helping us achieve that. You’ve helped us with the acquisition of the Gilbert Manor property. We are very grateful for that. That allows us to continue to expand our assets. Many individuals have asked me how do we insure that MCG does not move from this community and I can tell you that first that is a remote possibility. But the reality is that it isn’t people that will hold it in place because people are movable as I am an example of that. It is buildings and infrastructure that is immovable and that is actually what will maintain this institution in this site on this campus. I also want to thank you for allowing Harry Nixon to be involved in our ESP. Our enterprise wide strategic planning, it’s a short three month initiative which is engaging all of our communities, both our hospital clinics and universities, and the city represented by Karen has been very aggressively with moving forward on a very tight timeline that I placed on them and they are meeting that timeline. And at the end of three months we will have a vision for the short term to where we’re going to go as we build the five-year vision. I did want to bring up the issue of name change. Some of you may be aware that we moving in that direction. That started in prior administrations but it is time for this administration to finish that. I will tell you that I’ve had many, many conversations with individuals around the country as far as close as Athens and as far as Los Angeles who have not a clue that your city hosts the health sciences university for the state of Georgia. They do not know it they do not recognize it because the Medical College of Georgia is a name is used both for the medical school and is used for the university. Not even alumni can distinguish the difference. So we are going to finally put that to rest. We will name the medical school officially the Medical College of Georgia which is what it’s bee for more than a hundred years of history and that is what is deserving, is a name that has value, tradition and vision and we want it to be used for that. The university itself will 3 have something that will have going along the lines of Georgia Health Sciences University. Finally I will ask the Commission in times ahead to help us truly develop the campus for the health sciences university. The campus itself is not what we’d like to call a campus as in other universities you deserve to have a great university in your midst and we want to be that great university. But it will require some of your help in ensuring that the campus is actually protected. So our students are protected and are students are not in danger of pedestrian, of drivers and other issues. That may require some cutting of roads at least for traffic. This is very significant. You can not create a campus environment and become a health sciences university to drive the city of Augusta without those changes. And I’ll come back to you with that in the future. I do appreciate your time. I appreciate everybody’s attention and I don’t think we have time for questions. I’m always available for questions --- Mr. Mayor: If anybody does have any questions, I mean, feel free to. Dr. Azziz: --- and I’m happy to answer any questions at any time. We have one from the audience but it’s up to the Mayor. Mr. Speaker: Inaudible. Mr. Mayor: Who is, I, okay? Okay, thank you, sir. Dr. Azziz: Thank you very much. I’m available to the Commission for questions. Mr. Aitken: Mr. Mayor, I just want to make a comment. I think it’s very interesting that Laney Walker is here today the Laney Walker Neighborhood Association and you’re here because you’re going to be neighbors. And as you are a community person we’ve already heard that and we’re seeing that now. So I think as we start to build the team to see that. So I’m just encouraged what hearing today by working together and how we can work together on it. So thank you, Mr. Mayor. Mr. Mayor: Absolutely. Mr. Mayor Pro Tem. Mr. Mason: Thank you, Mr. Mayor and Dr. Azziz. One of the questions I would have is I heard you say that you’d be looking to the city to do some additional things. Are any of those things on your peripheral that you’re looking at right now having to do with the acquiring of more land? Dr. Azziz: Not in the immediate. We’re now building a masters facilities plan that will look at that. We certainly want to continue to expand as a university because as I said before that is what will insure that we continue to grow and be a value to you. But I can’t tell you today that that is in the master plan. Having only arrived 65 days earlier I am reviewing our entirety of our master plan. What I do know is traffic patterns and other issues to do allow the creation of a campus appearance and that is going to be very important if we’re going to attract the best professor, the best students and certainly the best of the best in the state. So we are moving in that direction. But right now the help that I’m going to need is probably more regulatory than any other. I did want to bring up the issue of Laney Walker. We’re beginning to work with our 4 partners, University Hospital, Walton Rehab, the VA and Paine College to begin to understand how we can create that environment both a medical district and a university district. Again we’re going to be keeping you appraised of that but we will need obviously your support. Mr. Mayor: Well, I just want to say Ricardo, Dr. Azziz in 65 days on the job you’ve gotten a lot done. And I think just the spirit of mutual cooperation that we see rising up throughout the city is really going to help further the plans of the university and the city as a whole. So you’ve picked a good time to come in. Thank you so much. Dr. Azziz: Thank you very much for your support. Mr. Mayor: Madam Clerk, next delegation. The Clerk: DELEGATIONS C. Mr. Darin J. Coats. RE: Ideas to promote tourism dollars. Mr. Mayor: And if you could keep it to five minutes too, please, sir. Mr. Coats: No problem. Mr. Darin J. Coats, I’m a citizen here I’ve been here for thirty- one years. And people of my age they always ask what can we do to make the city better. We’re the second largest city and there’s some ideas that I want to present that are adaptive and forward thinking and I want to make sure that they don’t just leave with me when I leave at the state here and are adaptive. For once is let’s start with the Savannah River. We used to have, I’m sure a lot of you are familiar with the Princess Augusta boat that they used to have. It was a ferryboat. I don’t know what happened to it but a ferry in that manner or something like that it could run tours to Savannah like on Saturday or on Sundays like alternate or just one of those days. Anywhere from like 50-75 or 50-100 dollars per person which ever would be. During like once a day that way you have time to get down there and you know get back in town you know something like that. And it bring some tourism dollars or would not. On this map over here the City of Augusta which we’re all part of this area right here I noticed that most of this is land that’s really not developed. You have an industrial area right here and also you have (unintelligible). The area I want to focus on is this one right here because in this area my idea would be a theme park or an amusement park of some sort. My original idea was the Regency Mall area but due to the neighborhoods in the back of Regency Mall this probably wouldn’t work even though the traffic is great. But in this area right here you have room for a theme park or an amusement park and you could theme it based on like the Augusta Green Jackets or the Links and that way it would bring people in. People wouldn’t have to drive to Atlanta Georgia just to have fund or it would create jobs, bring jobs to the area, bring tourism dollars into the area. People would come it would you know bring people from the surrounding areas extending past the metro of Augusta into other areas and actually people would have places to spend time with their families and everything. It wouldn’t take away from the fairgrounds the fair that comes every year if you put that out there. It would be you know seasonal and I’ve been doing some research with places like a consulting firm like LBA to actually do a feasibility study to see how possible that would be and the return on it to make sure that it brings return creates jobs and 5 creates revenue. Then the other ones are just small ideas and I’m almost finished. Small ideas like a Dave & Busters would be great. You have Show Biz Pizza but it’s mostly for you know families with smaller kids but Dave & Busters I’m not sure if ya’ll are familiar with it. It’s more of an adult oriented place for like adults to go. So just think of the kind of fun you would have at Show Biz Pizza but you know it’s definitely something that I’ve been trying to get on the horn with them about to see if they can bring that here. A Steak and Shake would be another one. These are things that are like I’ve been to like Columbus, Georgia that actually has what’s called a Hollywood Connection and that brings in you know people visiting the city just something that to you know kick in the tourism dollars and bring people here. And the last thing that I want to talk about is something that I think that we we’re really on a good note about and I don’t know what happened to it was the Village at Riverwatch. I’m not sure if that was an outlet mall but I’ve been down there to Orlando Florida and coming back up from Orlando I think it was through Brunswick and they had outlet malls like Coach, Reebok, Nike all that and that could come in. The Riverwatch area would be great for that. And also to Regency Mall area would be more suited for something like an outlet mall or whatever and that would bring in tourism dollars. These are not like far reaching ideas. These are feasible ideas and I think that as a city that’s the second largest we shouldn’t have to have people driving to Atlanta or Savannah for an option. We should something that will bring them in. A lot of the things I’ve been seeing have been you know along those lines but these are just a few of the ideas that I wanted to present. So to wrap it all up basically you have the theme park, Dave & Busters, outlet malls and the tourism along the Savannah River. And um, I think that’s the last one. Thank you very much. Mr. Mayor: Okay, thank you, sir. We appreciate your input. Okay, Madam Clerk, next delegation. The Clerk: DELEGATIONS D. Mr. Sammie Sias. RE: Special Neighborhood Task Force. Mr. Sias: Good afternoon, Mr. Mayor, Mayor Pro Tem and Commissioners. My name is Sammie Sias, 3839 Crest Drive. First off I want to talk to you about the Special Neighborhood Task Force which it item twelve on your consent agenda today. But before I do that within the allocated five minutes, Mr. Mayor, I want to make an announcement about the Richmond County Neighborhood Alliance. Mr. Ivey. I have been with the Neighborhood Alliance as their president for the last 3 ½ years and with them as a lifetime member basically. But we have a new president with the Neighborhood Alliance and that is Mr. Melvin Ivey. His other title is Reverend Ivey. He has taken over the reins of the Neighborhood Alliance and I’ll be working with him and other members of the alliance to keep it moving forward and being a true force in this community. Thank you and I want to introduce Reverend Ivey. Quickly, Mr. Mayor and Commissioners, moving along the Special Neighborhood Task Force. This is not a pounding today or anything of that fact. But there is something that the Commission needs to know about the Special Neighborhood Task Force. The committee that worked approximately eight months on this nuisance ordinance issue came back with this task force recommendation. Why I was particularly pleased with the task force concept Commissioners and Mayor is because that is something that we see as doable. We understand the financial implications of it. But let’s 6 separate some facts from fiction. One of the things what can a small task force do? Well, let me th give you an audience and example of what a small task for can do. In May 24 2008 we had approximately I guess about seven guys come into our neighborhood and they brought their 9mm’s with them. They commenced to shoot up one of the homes. From that point in talking with the Sheriff’s Department, Captain Peebles in particular we came up with this task force concept. He hand selected some folks and we actually hired them one at a time. And within thirty days we had that on the table. That individual having sat down with the neighborhood association received a list of problem areas, problem addresses. That individual went to these addresses and within 4 ½ hours we had some folks, they had some folks out there that they were questioning, got some information along with that and then within forty days the Sheriff’s Department had arrested the individuals who did the shooting. But more importantly from the task force concept a dedicated individual with no obligations other than what they had to do in the community at the time were able to make a significant difference. And we did this over a period of time. It was also done on the hill and a rash of robberies back about that same time in 2008. So what I’m saying to you today is that a task force can work. It doesn’t represent a whole department but it does, it is backed by three departments that the Sheriff’s deputies are backed by the Sheriff’s Department, the Marshall’s deputies back by the Marshall’s Department and a code enforcement is backed by their department. So what can those three individuals do? They can do a tremendous amount in our communities. So we want you to know today Mr. Mayor, Mayor Pro Tem and Commissioners that you have a large segment of your community that supports this. We have seen it work we know it can work. Once again fact from fiction. There’s an idea about it being a super cost. Nothing comes cheap and we understand taxes, we understand services. We’re not saying just throw money at a problem but we have a concern that if this project, this community report this recommendation is put in that black hole it will never come out again. And ladies and gentlemen you really must protect the bedrock of our community, our tax base which is out communities. And, Mr. Mayor, with your consent at this time I would like to ask the people that came with me today to show our concern and support for this task force would they please stand. We are interested Mr. Mayor and Commissioners. We are not asking you to just waste money we’re not asking this to be a joke but when you can come out into the neighborhood and see what a task force type project has already accomplished I think we will find what it takes to make this neighborhood task force successful. Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Mr. Mayor: Okay, thank you, sir. Madam Clerk, on to the consent agenda. The Clerk: Yes, sir, our consent agenda consists of items 1-33, items 1-33. Mr. Mayor: Didn’t we have one zoning? Okay, do we have any additions to the consent agenda? Commissioner Brigham. Mr. Brigham: Mr. Mayor, I’d like to add item #34 if it pleases the rest of the Commission. Mr. Mayor: Commissioner Jackson. Mr. Jackson: Mr. Mayor, item #36, if there’s any problems with that. 7 Mr. Mayor: Commissioner Hatney. Mr. Hatney: Mr. Mayor, item #35. Mr. Mayor: Okay, I don’t think we have anything else really to add. The Clerk: Mr. Mayor, Commissioner Hatney for clarification purposes, I don’t know if Mr. Wheeler is in the chamber. Item #35 should that be to approve amending the 2010 Action Plan. We’re not receiving it as information, right. Mr. Hatney: No, it’s --- The Clerk: It’s to approve. Mr. Hatney: It’s to approve as we’ve done it before. The Clerk: Okay. Mr. Mayor: Do we have any items to be pulled for discussion? Mr. Grantham: Mr. Mayor. Mr. Mayor: Commissioner Bowles, I saw his hand first and then I’ll come back to you. Commissioner Bowles. Mr. Bowles: Mr. Mayor, I’d like item #12 pulled, please. Mr. Mayor: Commissioner Grantham. Mr. Grantham: Mr. Mayor, I know we just put item #35 on the agenda but I think we need to probably have some explanation based on these grants and the amount of dollars involved. I don’t have a backup in this and if that’s the case I think we need to discuss where they’re going. Mr. Mayor: Okay. Okay, do we have any further, yes, sir. Mr. Lockett: Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Agenda item #3. I just have a question. Maybe it can be answered without pulling it if it’s okay with this body. I’d like to ask the Administrator whether or not this particular agenda item was received clearance from the EEO Officer. If so, good, if not, why not? Mr. Russell: The ‘reorg’ didn’t, was not sent to EEO. It’s not been our practice to send the reorganizations to her. At some point that would be something we might want to think about. In the past we have not done that so it was not sent there. 8 Mr. Mayor: Commissioner Hatney. Mr. Hatney: Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Mr. Administrator, when you say sometime in the future you hope to think about it. I do believe that should be one of the driven entities in your re- organizational structure. Mr. Mayor: Okay. Do we have any further additions or items to be pulled for discussion? Okay, hearing none I would look for a motion to approve the consent agenda. Mr. Lockett: So moved. Mr. Jackson: Second. CONSENT AGENDA PLANNING 1. ZA-R-197 – A request for concurrence with the Augusta Richmond Planning Commission to approve a petition to amend the Comprehensive Zoning Ordinance of Augusta Richmond-County by amending Section 26-1 (Special Exceptions) Permitted Uses (Excavation of mineral deposits). (Approved by the Commission August 17, 2010 – second reading. PUBLIC SERVICES 2. Motion to approve the FY2011 Cooperative Agreement with CSRA RC for senior nutrition program. (Approved by Public Services Committee August 30, 2010) 3. Motion to approve Augusta Regional Airport’s reorganization of personnel under FY 2010 Budget. (Approved by Public Services Committee August 30, 2010) 4. Motion to approve Augusta, Georgia’s purchase of Bus Shelters from Lamar Advertising. (Approved by Public Services Committee August 30, 2010) st 5. Motion to approve allowing additional time until September 21 for the collection of the fees associated with the consideration of probation, suspension or revocation of the Business Tax Certificate for Mr. Willie Brewer, d/b/a: Sand Hill Grill, 2457 Wheeler Road, for failure to pay the Richmond County Health Department fee for services. (Approved by Public Services Committee August 30, 2010) st 6. Motion to approve allowing additional time until September 21 for the collection of fees associated with the consideration of probation, suspension or revocation of the Business Tax Certificate for Mr. Joseph Christie, d/b/a: Munchies, 1149 Broad Street, for failure to pay the Richmond County Health Department fee for services. (Approved by Public Services Committee August 30, 2010) st 7. Motion to approve allowing addition time until September 21 for the collection of fees associated with the consideration of probation, suspension or revocation of the Business Tax Certificate for Mr. Satish Kalra, d/b/a: Bombay Central Indian Cuisine, 3112 Washington Road, for failure to pay the Richmond County Health Department fee for services. (Approved by Public Services Committee August 30, 2010) 8. Motion to approve acceptance of a grant contract from GDOT in the amount of approximately $414,593 and to conditionally award construction contract #10-110B to HASCO INC. in the amount of $269,482.70 for airport improvements at Daniel Field, 9 contingent upon receiving a GDOT grant contract in the amount of approximately $414,593. (Approved by Public Services Committee August 30, 2010) ADMINISTRATIVE SERVICES 9. Motion to approve an Ordinance to amend 7-4-52 to provide for more realistic responsibilities for the Historic Preservation Commission related to maintenance and repair of historic properties. (Approved by the Commission August 17, 2010 – second reading) 10. Motion to approve an Ordinance to amend the Augusta Richmond County Charter and Laws of Local Application, Section 1-30; to modify the term of Mayor Pro Tempore; to have the term of Mayor Pro Tempore coincide with the terms of Commission Committee Chairs and Commission Committee members; to repeal all Charter, Code Sections and Ordinances and parts of Charter, Code Sections and Ordinances in conflict herewith; to provide an effective date and for other purposes. (Approved by Administrative Services committee August 30, 2010) PUBLIC SAFETY 11. Motion to approve a Grant Application for the renewal 2010 VOCA Continuation Grant in the amount of $35,261 with a match of $8,815 used to fund victim advocate salaries and allow the provision of direct services to crime victims. (Approved by Public Safety Committee August 30, 2010) 13. Motion to approve an application for a Purchase of Services Grant for Juvenile Offenders. (Approved by Public Safety Committee August 30, 2010) FINANCE 14. Motion to approve the request from Patrick Clayton, Chief of School Safety and Security, Richmond County School System, for a donation of surplus public safety vehicles and portable radios. (Approved by Finance Committee August 30, 2010) 15. Motion to approve the funding and to allow the review/compilation report from Project Access to stand for this year and that an audit for the current year and next year be completed as required by current procedures. (Approved by Finance Committee August 30, 2010) 16. Motion to approve allowing five golf statues to remain at the Augusta Museum of History and one placed at the Augusta Regional Airport for a one-year renewable loan. (Approved by Finance Committee August 30, 2010) ENGINERING SERVICES 17. Motion to approve and authorize the Engineering Department to prepare and submit a project proposal to GAEPD to receive financial assistance through the Section 319 Water Quality grant program (ARC providing in-kind services equivalent to 40% of the grant amount). (Approved by Engineering Services Committee August 30, 2010) 18. Motion to authorize Construction Manager, R.W. Allen and Associates, LLC, to proceed with the foundation package on the TEE Center by September 8, 2010 and approve a component change to existing Purchase Order (P179109) in the amount of $710,842.00. This scope of work is to include auger cast piles, pile caps and grade beams. (Approved by Engineering Services Committee August 30, 2010) 10 19. Motion to approve award of the design build contract for HVAC Upgrades to the Municipal Building Complex and Various Locations for the City of Augusta to The Menk Company to be funded by federal stimulus grant. (Approved by Engineering Services committee August 30, 2010) 20. Motion to approve the selection committee’s recommendation to select the Potts Company as the Construction Manager at Risk for the Augusta, Georgia Sheriff’s Office Building. The cost for General Conditions, Pre-construction Services and Construction Management Gees is $784,442.00. (Approved by Engineering Services Committee August 30, 2010) 21. Motion to authorize the execution of an agreement between the Georgia EPD and Augusta for regulator testing at a cost of $29,500 per year for the period covering July 1, 2010-June 20, 2013. (Approved by Engineering Services Committee August 30, 2010) 22. Motion to approve granting Georgia Power an easement for their utilities to provide electrical service to the new exercise building for the Augusta Green Jackets at their location. Also approve having the agreement executed by the appropriate City of Augusta official(s). (Approved by Engineering Services Committee August 30, 2010) 23. Motion to approve the deeds of dedication, maintenance agreement, and road resolution submitted by the Engineering and Augusta Utilities Departments for Hill Haven Subdivision. (Approved by Engineering Services Committee August 30, 2010) 24. Motion to approve the deeds of dedication, maintenance agreements, and road resolution submitted the Engineering and Augusta Utilities Departments for Magnolia Ridge (formerly Dennis Farms). (Approved by Engineering Services Committee August 30, 2010) 25. Motion to approve an Option for the purposes of acquiring a Right-of-Way between Solutia, Inc., as owner, and Augusta, Georgia, as optionee, in connection with the Marvin Griffin Road Improvement Project, (923 sq. ft.) in fee and (N/A sq. ft.) of permanent construction and maintenance easement from the property located at 1612 Marvin Griffin Road, private, at the purchase price of $450.00. (Approved by Engineering Services Committee August 30, 2010) 26. Motion to approve an Option for the purposes of acquiring an Easement between Thelma L. Crowder, as owner, and Augusta, Georgia, as optionee, in connection with the East Augusta Roadway and Drainage Improvement Project, (1,250 sq. ft.) of permanent drainage and utility easement from the property located at 630 Aiken Street, private, at the purchase price of $1,982,00. (Approved by Engineering Services Committee August 30, 2010) 27. Motion to approve the award of Owner Change Order in the amount of $148,468.00 for changes requested in ASI #6, 7, 8, 9 and 10 for the new ARC Judicial Center. (Approved by Engineering Services Committee August 30, 2010) 28. Motion to authorize condemnation to acquire title of a portion of property for permanent easement and temporary construction easement for 60106-Butler Creek Interceptor Upgrade West. PIN: 094-0-374-00-0. Address: 3236 Amanda Circle. (Approved by Engineering Services Committee August 30, 2010) 29. Motion to approve entering into a contract with NOVA ENGINEERING for Special Inspections and Construction Materials Testing associated with construction of the Reynolds Street Parking Deck Project. (Approved by Engineering Services Committee August 30, 2010) 11 30. Motion to approve entering into a contract with CSRA Testing for Special Inspections and Construction Materials Testing associated with construction of the Augusta Trade and Exhibit and Event (TEE) Center. (Approved by Engineering Services committee August 30, 2010) 31. Motion to authorize AED to extend the current Engineering Services Agreement with W.R. Toole for six weeks, not to exceed $29,820.00; funded from the project construction account. Also, approve Capital Project Budget Change Number Six and Supplemental Agreement Number Six on the Windsor Spring Road Improvements project. (Approved by Engineering Services Committee August 30, 2010) 32. Motion to authorize Augusta-Richmond County to donate the parcel of right of way that has to be acquired to construct the improvements on the Wrightsboro Road Project from Jimmie Dyess Parkway to I-520, ARC project number 323-04-296823309. Parcel 103A consists of 0.264 acres in fee simple and 0.122 acres of permanent easement. The Georgia Department of Transportation (GDOT) is funding and acquiring the right of way for this project. (Approved by Engineering Services Committee August 30, 2010) PETITIONS AND COMMUNICATIONS 33. Motion to approve the minutes of the regular meeting of the Commission held August th 17 and Legal meeting held August 30, 2010. PUBLIC SERVICES 34. Motion to conditionally award construction contract #10-146 to Pinnacle USA, Inc. in the amount of $1,494,368.00 for the Terminal Building Renovations and Addition to Daniel Field Airport, contingent upon successful review of bidder’s qualifications and capabilities. (No recommendation from Public Services Committee August 30, 2010) PUBLIC SAFETY 36. Motion to approve the acceptance of a grant award in the amount of $39,086 for grant period 7/1/10-6/30/11 for the Augusta Judicial Circuit Drug Court with no matching funds required. Mr. Mayor: We have a motion and a second. Commissioners will now vote by the usual sign. Motion carries 10-0. [Items 1-11, 13-33, 34, 36] Mr. Mayor: Madam Clerk, let’s go to the --- Mr. Mason: Mr. Mayor, before we move on --- Mr. Mayor: Mr. Mayor Pro Tem. Mr. Mason: --- I need a point of personal privilege on item #14. I don’t know if Chief Patrick Clayton is here from the Richmond County Public Safety. Well, point to that is on this particular item here I just want to thank our finance chair here Mr. Don Grantham and the finance committee as well as well as the Commissioners for approving this item. And this item 12 in particular is to approve the request for radios as well as excess vehicles to the Richmond County School Board to assist them in doing their mission because they’re short and they’re also short on funds. And I think what it showed was a good relationship when it was brought to me between the school board member Venus Cain who also brought that to me. Patrick Clayton the chief over there when I talked with Sheriff Strength he was more than happy to donate those vehicles to assist the school board and of course our finance chair agreed with that as well. So we had a number of inter-agency folks as well as intra-agency folks working together to help our school board in these trying times. So I would just like to say a grateful thank you to each and every member to include the members of this commission who saw fit to go ahead and approve these items for the Richmond County School Board. Thank you. Mr. Mayor: Absolutely and once again that spirit of mutual cooperation when we work together we get it done. Bottom line. Thank you, Mr. Mayor Pro Tem, for those comments. Madam Clerk, let’s go to the pulled agenda item. The Clerk: Item twelve? Mr. Mayor: Yes, ma’am. The Clerk: PUBLIC SAFETY 12. Motion to approve authorizing the Administrator to work with the Sheriff’s, Marshal’s Offices and Code Enforcement to put the operation of Augusta-Richmond County Neighborhood Special Task Force in place for a 90-day trial period utilizing existing personnel from each agency and to identify a funding sources for the operations if it is determined that it will remain as an on-going program. (Approved by Public Safety Committee August 30, 2010) Mr. Mayor: Mr. Sherman. Mr. Sherman: I’m here just to answer any questions that you may have. I didn’t know if Commissioner Bowles wanted to --- Mr. Mayor: Commissioner Bowles, this was your pull? Mr. Bowles: Yes, sir, thank you, Mr. Mayor. And while I agree with everything Mr. Sias has said and firmly believe that regardless about the budget constraints and additional policeman on the streets would not be a bad thing personally. But one vote doesn’t really count for much up here. So anyhow I would like to task the Administrator to work with the Sheriff and Steve Smith the Marshall and come back to us with a recommendation on any thoughts he has. Because it seems that there seems to be a possible solution with a IT type person to work and gather all the information and direct the departments into the critical areas. So I’d like to at least see if we could do that. Mr. Mayor: Okay, are you incorporating any of that into the form of a motion? 13 Mr. Bowles: I’ll make a motion. Mr. Jackson: Second. Mr. Mayor: We have a motion. Commissioner Jackson, you seconded that? Is there any further? Commissioner Johnson. Mr. Johnson: Thank you. I just want to comment on this. Of course this past week and week before I’ve been having some meetings throughout the district regarding the issues. Of course crime and also dilapidation and the things of that nature. And I too agree that it some things that we need to put in place. But my main concern with three officers assigned to this it will not be efficient enough to take care of the tasks at hand simply because the task would be to great. You’re going to be dealing with issues from cars in the yard, I mean too many cars in the yard, broken down cars in the yard, dilapidated homes, overgrown lots, crime. There’s going to be several aspects of this task force that these people will have to be in charge of. If it was specifically over the crime and things of that nature it may work. Unfortunately it’s not going to be pertaining to that one particular item and it’s going to have a multiple task. So I think that the goal of the Commission looking at it is saying three people cannot do what three hundred people cannot do. So we got to figure out how we make this work and get it work where it can deal with the multiple aspects of it because there’s too many different aspects. And again if you get those three people bogged down on one particular project and they got to go to court and they got to deal with that. That’s time that’s going to take away from doing and addressing other issues. So you can kind of see how this thing can go up in limbo because it causes issues on the backside of it. So I think what we need to do and I agree we need to look at how we can implement this but do it effectively to deal with every aspect of it. If we can have a source for every aspect or avenue of that particular issue such as dilapidated or overgrown lots or chronic nuisance, whatever it may be that would be easy to target. But we cannot do that with just those three people. And that’s the problem because they’re going to have to go to court, they going to have to attest to things that they have witnessed and that’s where we’re going to run into problems there. So I do think and I know that it’s something we’ve got to deal with. But we got to figure how to do it and do it effectively because the two hundred and some thousand dollars and three people and yet and I have done had phone calls. People say there’s no way they can do it. And I agree. Three people cannot do everything. That’s just like us ten up here. We can’t do everything but we do the best we can because you all are the eyes and ears and I think it starts with the community. So we got to figure out how can we get our arms around the community and embrace what you all are doing and give you the resources to help us help you get rid of this issue in our community. And Ms. Armstrong you’re absolutely right it is not East Augusta or West Augusta. It shouldn’t be that, it should be a one Augusta. That’s what we need to represent because we have issues in all aspects of our community. And we need to figure out how we can deal with that and address it. So I do agree with it, Mr. Bowles, and I think it’s something the Administrator maybe need to get with those department heads and figure out how can we embrace this. But we have to know how to do it and do it effectively so it can work and get results for the community. Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Mr. Mayor: Thank you. Commissioner Grantham. 14 Mr. Grantham: Thank you, Mr. Mayor. I thought that’s what we did at our last meeting when we talked about the utilizing the existing personnel from each agency and identify a funding source through our Administrator. And I don’t hear any of that being mentioned today. But what concerns me more is that we have not established you know the criteria, the regulations that these people would have based on what we’re having problems in the neighborhood with. And as I reflect back on it and I think Mr. Bowles mentioned it as well as Mr. Sias that in 2008 I recall that we had a series of break ins and robberies in the Summerville and the Walton Way section of our city. And the neighborhood there got together and because it was over 250 or 300 people in the St. Mary’s auditorium one evening with Sheriff Strength, myself and Mr. Bowles and quite a few others were there for that meeting. And at that time the neighborhood stepped forward and said we will hire the off duty policeman to police our area and bring our community back into control. And they did that. And I think that’s a step in the right direction. Not every neighborhood can do it but three people can’t guard and protect every neighborhood. If we were going to do something with $225,000 dollars I would think that Sheriff Strength would be in a position to put three or four additional deputies on duty and to place those in strategic areas to report to these three agencies based on their findings and then action be taken thereof. So I don’t think we can come to a decision today as far as voting on how we’re going to spend these dollars or what we’re going to spend them on. To me I think we need to look into this a little further and I know they say the spent eight months on it and it’s been time well spent and the recommendation’s been made but before we just go out and spend $225,000 dollars for three people to start policing the entire Richmond County I’ve got a problem with it. Mr. Mayor: Thank you. Mr. Grantham: Thank you. Mr. Mayor: Commissioner Smith then Commissioner Hatney, Commissioner Lockett and then I’ll get you. Mr. Smith: Thank you, Mr. Mayor. I wanted to ask Mr. Sherman if he had extra people that he could put towards that new team of people. Mr. Sherman: If we assign someone to work in the Task Force full time we’d be taking them from other responsibilities. We can make it work as best we can if that’s what we’re directed to do. I can’t speak for the Sheriff’s Department --- Mr. Smith: Well, I have talked to the Sheriff and he told me and I quote that he didn’t have any extra men. He could not, could not do this and I agree with Commissioner Grantham that if we’ve got money to put in that position we ought to put it with the Sheriff and let him take it on. But as of right now you don’t have an extra person on your payroll that you can take off for something else and put on this? Mr. Sherman: Well, that’s exactly what we’d be doing is taking them away from their current responsibilities which in this case would be code enforcement activities and then assigning them to this. This position this Task Force they’re not, it’s maybe I didn’t describe it 15 very well at the last meeting. But they’re not charged with going out and solving all these cases. That’s just the focal point. They go out they’re the ones who are meeting with the neighborhood associations, the alliances, etc. and then they bring it, on chronic cases not cases that can be you know processed through the normal codes and processes. But they would be bringing the information back to their respective departments on the chronic cases and attempting to resolve those cases. And again a lot of the problems are going to be behavioral type problems that may or may not be a code violation. Bad neighbor type situations. Again that’s what the committee came up with. Mr. Smith: I understand that I just was interested whether or not you had an extra person you could assign to that. I haven’t talked to the Marshal but I have talked to the Sheriff and it doesn’t seem that we’ve got the people to staff that. Mr. Sherman: That’s correct. Mr. Mayor: Okay, Commissioner Hatney then Commissioner Lockett. Mr. Hatney: Mr. Mayor, my concern is that I would just hope than when we task the Administrator to do something at least we’d let him do what we ask him to do. And if it can’t be then it’s his responsibility to come back and say it to us. I don’t think we ought to task him to do something as the Administrator and then just take it away from him and he ain’t even got started. Mr. Mayor: Okay. Commissioner Lockett. Mr. Lockett: Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I’ve indicated before I fully understand that there is a chronic nuisance problem. I also understand that this body doesn’t have a quarter of a million dollars to spend on something that hasn’t been tested before. We don’t know if it’s going to work. But I did a little research and let me tell you briefly. One of the primary responsibilities of the Sheriff’s Department is to maintain peace and order and enforce federal, state and local laws. Likewise the Marshal’s Department mission includes active cooperation with the community. We keep talking about somebody dealing with the community. That’s the Marshal. They’ve already assigned their tasks and they are the responsibility of the enforcement of ordinances. That’s the Marshal, that’s their job already. License and Inspection is responsible for administering and enforcing property maintenance while providing all citizens cost effective high quality government resources in an environment that enhances the economic well-being and quality of life in Augusta. License and Inspection is the primary responsibility of code enforcement. And then you have Augusta Cares responsible for recording complaints the issues pertaining to services provided by this county. We met with the Augusta Housing Authority. The Augusta Housing Authority they have responsibilities. What we need to do is make sure that these departments perform their tasks. Now we don’t want to be in a position where we are setting up our own little black water here in Richmond County. We cannot afford to do that. But this is why I oppose the recommendation of the Task Force at the same time recognizing that we do have a chronic nuisance problem. Thank you. Mr. Mayor: Thank you, Commissioner Lockett. Well, we have a motion and a second. 16 The Clerk: The Administrator --- Mr. Mayor: Oh, Mr. Russell. Mr. Russell: Just to speak to the motion just for a second. I think each of you recognize the fact we have a problem. And I think Commissioner Lockett has given a fairly good summation of the resources that we have that’s available to address that problem. With the issue I see based on my feeling as a lack of focus that we’ve had and I think what this motion does as written gives us the opportunity to get several people around the table to focus on this particular issue and come back with a plan of action. What you’re talking about is neighborhood policing and that’s simply what it is. It’s the broken window theory of trying to make sure things work right. And I believe that given a little bit of ingenuity with the resources we have available you could see a measured impact there and I look forward to accepting this challenge to get that done for you. Mr. Mayor: Well and just in considering in our retreat we established this as a priority this year. I think this in tasking the Administrator this shows that it is a priority. Now I agree with Commissioner Hatney and his wise and eloquent words. Let’s send him out there and get him to do it. We have a motion and a second. Mr. Mayor Pro Tem. Mr. Mason: Yes, thank you, Mr. Mayor. What we have on the table here is not the motion that we’re about to vote on. So if we’re making all these grandiose statements about this being what we’ve asked for and for that to be able to take place and for the Administrator to be able to do what he needs to do then I need to make a substitute motion to get that motion on the table. Mr. Mayor: Let’s clarify, though, Ms. Bonner, the motion that’s --- The Clerk: No, sir, that the captioned motion on the agenda is not the motion that Commissioner Bowles made. Mr. Mayor: Okay. Mr. Mason: Right. The Clerk: Commissioner Bowles’ motion was to task the Administrator to work with the Sheriff and Marshal’s Department along with the IT Department and come back with the recommendation regarding the implementation of the NSTF and to target the problem areas. Mr. Mason: And that’s the motion I want to put on the table because of this reason. I believe that we all understand that we have issues out here in this community. And one of the reasons why Mr. Lockett brought this up in the first place and I seconded it a few weeks ago was because of the fact that if we want to see this Task Force in place so that we’re not abusing or misusing the taxpayer’s money that we do task each individual entity for a person. We’re not asking you we’re telling you that’s what needs to happen so that we can do what we need to do to see if this Task Force will work. So thereby we would have the information that we need to 17 see moving forward whether this is something that we’re going to be able to do and bring those funds there instead of putting the funds out there. We don’t really even have the job descriptions laid out as far as who’s going to be doing what. We can’t put the cart before the horse. It makes for a very bumpy ride. What we need to do is what we stated here. We’re tasking all three of these entities to provide a individual for 90 days so that we can what we’re already tasked to do That’s the motion that I’m making and in the first place. So that’s what needs to happen. that’s what needs to be on the table so that we can move forward. And we’ll have just what they’re asking for. It’s just not coming out of any additional funds that we don’t have in the first place. Mr. Mayor: Okay. Mr. Lockett: I second that motion. Mr. Mayor: That’s a substitute motion. The substitute motion has been seconded. Madam Clerk, just for clarity if you would read that back. The Clerk: The substitute motion? Mr. Mayor: The substitute motion. The substitute motion is to approve authorizing the Administrator to The Clerk: work with the Sheriff and Marshal’s Office and Code Enforcement to designate a person to put the operations of the Augusta Richmond County Neighborhood Special Task Force in place for a 90-day trial period utilizing existing personnel from each agency. Mr. Mayor: Correct? Mr. Mason: Correct. Mr. Mayor: Before we vote on this I just want to say I want to applaud this commission in looking at the big picture here. Because it’s often when we make short sided knee-jerk reactions when we get it wrong it cost the taxpayers more in the long run. That being said, Commissioner Bowles, are you? Mr. Bowles: Inaudible. Mr. Mayor: Okay, if there’s no further discussion Commissioners will now vote by the substitute sign of voting. Mr. Aitken, Mr. Smith and Mr. Grantham vote No. Motion carries 7-3. ADDENDUM 39. Motion to determine that a portion of Fairhope Street, as shown on the attached plat (shown as Parcel “B”) and consisting of 1.63 acres (71,042 square feet), has ceased to be 18 used by the public to the extent that no substantial public purpose is served by it or that its removal from the county road system is otherwise in the best public interest, and a public hearing shall be held regarding the issue of abandonment pursuant to O.C.G.A. Section 32- 7-2 and 8-3-153. Mr. Mayor: And, Madam Clerk, we had an addition to the agenda that I did not get to at the opening of the meeting. Everybody should have that in front of them, potential addition if we could get unanimous consent. From the Housing Authority. The Clerk: Will we have unanimous consent to add this item? I hear no objections Mr. Mayor. Mr. Mayor: Do we have unanimous consent? Everybody good with this? Okay. Madam Clerk. The Clerk: Well, we don’t have unanimous consent. I guess Mr. Brown to address Mr. - -- Mr. Mayor: Okay, do we have somebody from the Housing Authority to speak to that please? The Clerk: Wayne Brown, can you address this issue? Mr. Grantham: We don’t need to talk about it then. Mr. Mayor: We don’t have unanimous consent. Well, we were trying to get to there but, Madam Clerk, on to the regular agenda please. The Clerk: Item number thirty five. No, I’m sorry, that was in the consent agenda. Item thirty-four I believe it is. That’s the one Mr. --- Mr. Mayor: Exactly. Mr. Wheeler. The Clerk: You’re okay, Mr. Wheeler. Yes, sir, yours was included in the consent agenda. Mr. Mayor: It’s okay. Mr. Brigham: Item thirty-four is in the consent. The Clerk: Oh thirty-four, okay. Thirty-five, okay. Sorry. Mr. Mayor: Thirty-five. So we’re clarified Mr. Wheeler to address agenda item thirty- five. ADMINISTRATIVE SERVICES. 19 35. Discuss and receive as information amending the 2010 Action Plan due to a change in the 2010 allocations for the Community Development Block Grant (CDBG), Emergency Shelter Grant (ESG), HOME Investment Partnerships (HOME) and Housing Opportunities for Persons with AIDS (HOPWA) Program. Mr. Wheeler: I don’t know whether it’s after six or not. Yes, it is. Good evening, Mayor and Commissioners. Agenda item number thirty-five is the City of Augusta’s 2010 Action Plan was originally brought to you in August or September of 2009. When Congress made the allocations and submitted that their grant agreement we realized had an additional $211,000.00 th that we needed to allocate to the project. I brought this back to you on July 20 of this year and you authorized me to go out for a 30-day comment period which we did. So we have just concluded the 30-day comment period and there were no public comments concerning how this additional money was appropriated. It was run in the paper and the original documents were included in your book the last time it was presented which was July of 2010. On the documents you have before you, you have an estimated column which is the left column if you look on the right column those that are in bold are the adjusted amount. And they total $211,837.00. Mr. Mayor: Okay, Commissioner Grantham, I believe. Mr. Grantham: Yes, I was just asking based on these agencies or these projects that they would be funded through the grant and this a 100% grant or do we have matching dollars in this? Mr. Wheeler: No, this is an 100% grant. The only ones that are not would be those contracts relative to the CHDO’s, Community Housing Development. In fact commissioner these contracts are already issued. They’re in motion. Mr. Grantham: Well, why are we voting for it then? Mr. Wheeler: Because you had an additional $211,000.00 that we needed you to accept. Mr. Grantham: Okay. So based on the ones that are separate for the CHDO which ones would those be? Mr. Wheeler: Well, the changes where we added increased location from $211,000 to $200,000 we added $77,000 dollars in down payment assistance. We increased our administrative costs by approximately $30,000 dollars. We decreased the emergency shelter grant down $200 dollars. We decreased the CHDO set aside from $206,829 down to, I’ll tell you what (inaudible). Those are the changes. The amounts up on the top give you original estimates. The second column gives you the actual, which was the grant agreement amount. The third column is the difference. And then the full categories CDBG here, ESG, HOME and HOPWA those are the changes that were made. There were no agencies that we changed. th Mr. Grantham: Okay, you’re saying it was presented on July the 20 but no action was taken because we didn’t have a meeting. 20 Mr. Wheeler: No, we had to go out for 30-days for public comment. It had to be run in the paper. Mr. Grantham: What does that say right there? I see your 30 days. Mr. Wheeler: Right. But we still even though the Commission, the committee did not meet we brought it before the full commission and you authorized us to go out for public comment which was a 30-day period which I have now fulfilled. I have filled the 30-day comment. Mr. Grantham: All right. You didn’t have any comments from anybody about this, right? Mr. Wheeler: No, we did not. If I had Commissioner I would have brought them in. Mr. Grantham: Oh, I know you would have. I’m just saying I’m surprised because of all of the, the dollars, the five million dollars and there’s no comments? That’s kind of concerning to me that no one has any questions or anything to say about how we’re going to spend five million dollars. Mr. Wheeler: The original budget, Commissioner, was taken back in September of 2009. Mr. Grantham: Okay. Well that’s not in here though. Mr. Wheeler: We’ve already, you’ve already approved that. Mr. Grantham: I understand. Mr. Wheeler: I am only approving the adjustment of two hundred --- Mr. Grantham: And eleven thousand dollars. Mr. Mayor, I have one more question. Since he brought up the CHDO, how many CHDO’s do we have? Mr. Wheeler: Six, I believe. Mr. Grantham: Okay, so it’s been reduced from the thirteen or fourteen when you came on board. Mr. Wheeler: I haven’t reduced any, sir. Mr. Grantham: Oh, you hadn’t. They reduced themselves then. Mr. Wheeler: No, not thirteen. There was six when I came. Mr. Grantham: Well, I think we’d better go back and count again. Anyway, thank you, Mr. Mayor. 21 Mr. Mason: Move for approval. Mr. Jackson: Second. Mr. Mayor: Okay, we have a motion and a second. If there’s no further discussion Commissioners will now vote by the usual sign of voting. Mr. Grantham votes No. Motion carries 9-1. Mr. Mayor: Madam Clerk, next agenda item. The Clerk: PUBLIC SAFETY 37. Report from the Information Technology Department on the Living Green Initiative. Mr. Mixon: Thank you, Ms. Bonner. Mayor Copenhaver, Mayor Pro Tem, members of the Commission thank you for your time this evening. My name is Matthew Mixon. I’m from the Information Technology Department and I’m here to give you and update on the progress being made by the Living Green Initiative. As you may recall the Living Green Initiative was developed to help the City of Augusta become more community and environmentally conscious now and in the future. Many departments such as solid waste, facilities management, License and Inspections and the courts have joined together to help us achieve our objective. These objectives are first to our part to minimize the impact of the City of Augusta has on the environment by reducing the amount of resources utilized. Second we hope that by reducing this resource consumption we can improve operational efficiencies and ultimately reduce costs during these challenging budget times. The third and final goal is to improve process efficiencies throughout these governments providing our customers, the citizens and employees of Augusta Richmond County the highest quality and most efficient experience possible. What Jeff just gave out and what you see before you on the monitor is our second edition of our Green Works Bulletin. I kind of just want to go over some highlights and give you an update of where we’re at. The biggest highlight in this bulletin is the unveiling of our Municipal Building Recycling Program. This program is a direct result of suggestions made by both employees and citizens who responded to our requests for ideas in the first bulletin. This program will entail replacing most trashcans in the Municipal Building with recycle containers. Traditional trash cans will remain in break areas for food and others items that cannot be recycled but trash cans in offices and work places will be replaced with recycle bins. Each of these recycle bins will have a small receptacle for non-food items and other non-recyclable items such as glass. This has the added benefit of cutting down on some pest problems. We will be replacing one traditional trash dumpster in the back parking lot with a recycle dumpster. We’ll also launch an email campaign to educate Municipal Building employees on what they can and cannot recycle as well as bulletin board postings in break areas and other points of congregation. And we’re scheduled to begin this rollout later this month. Next thing I’d like to highlight is our printer usage statistics what we are kindly referring to as tree huggers and lumber jacks. These show you the top ten 22 departments as far as total pages printed year to date as well as the bottom ten. So it can kind of give you and idea where the resource consumption is. A lot of this is to be expected in Procurement, Finance, these are high support departments to support other departments so obviously they do a lot of printing. We have seen an overall arresting and flattening and now a decrease in the total pages printed so we feel like an awareness of the program has gone a long way to reduce printing. Finally we’ve had a lot of suggestions from employees and citizens and there with the light bulbs you can see several of those. The most, the one we got the most suggestions for was cycling in the Municipal Building so we’re real excited about that program. And we hope if it goes well we can push it out to additional areas of this county. I’ll be happy to answer any questions you may have. Mr. Mayor: I’ll tell you I’m just extremely excited about this initiative and just for an update for everybody we met our Augusta Regional Transit study meeting last week. We should have bike racks on our buses prior to years end. One more way the city’s focusing on being going green and turning a little bit more environmentally friendly. But one thing I would say. I don’t know if want to put the tree huggers and the lumberjacks in a room together. That could get ugly. Thank you, sir. Madam Clerk, let’s go to the last one. The Clerk: OTHER BUSINESS 38. Discuss the results of the dam inspections. (Requested by Commissioner Joe Bowles) Mr. Mayor: Drew? Mr. Goins: Good Afternoon. There’s been a lot of information presented to the Commission recently about the condition of the Augusta Dam and the canal embankment. And I just wanted to reassure the Commission that the Augusta Diversion Dam and the canal embankment are in very good condition. These facilities are inspected annually but a team of people including dam experts and our employees. This was inspected this past spring but through an abundance of caution we had the dam recently inspected again due to some concerns that were raised by former Commissioner Cheek. And we have a member of the engineering company that helped inspect that and I’ll have you ask questions of him if you so desire. Mr. Mayor: I guess the question here really is can we trust those dam experts! Mr. Goins: Let’s hope so. Mr. Mayor: Yes, sir. Mr. Jiminez: Mr. Mayor, Mayor Pro Tem, Commissioners. My name today is Jorge Jiminez. I’m the president of ZEL, Zimmerman, Evans & Leopold who has been in Augusta since 1946 after our founder designed the Thurmond Dam. We did a report for you back in ’04 because there were concerns about certain area of the dam. My partner who is Mr. Drown who is a structural engineer raised in California and Georgia and Carolina and a diver checked the dam. We found an sent a little report back then that showed that there was really only one point 23 that of little concern but it needed to be fixed and a bunch of other little things that you may as well go ahead and get them done. You let a contract out in 2005. It’s a Savannah firm that was working on the canal Alpha Construction succeeded in getting the project. They began in about June ’05. They started from the Georgia side repairing the leaks, etc. as far out as the 1186 Fish Ladder. After that they moved on, you have three 20-foot wide areas with stop locks. That’s how you get the water out from behind the dam. You remove all the stop locks and the water flows through. And those areas had missing stop locks. Two of them had two missing and the third one had five missing. And that water was coming through there at incredible speeds. Now your contractor succeeded in taking out the bad lugs and excuse my accent, logs and put in the new logs and that eliminated the considerable amount of the water that was coming through there. Immediately after that they attempted to repair the area on the first buttress from the Georgia side which had a hole, a buttress is a big pile of rocks and that much bigger than the dam itself. At the downstream end there was a hole probably six-feet in or five-feet in about five-feet wide and about five-feet high. So they attempted to repair that and to do obviously they were planning on putting concrete in the void. Well, as it turns out there was water coming through the rocks. Now the dam was built in 1875. Mr. Sherrouse and he sent us a copy has a copy of the original drawings of the dam. The dam is solid rock that was quarried on the Georgia and the Carolina side of the dam. These rocks were held with mortar. Some how or another there’s somewhat different mortar on the Carolina then on the Georgia side. And some of this mortar has dissolved over the years and letting some water through. Now at the time we looked at it we found that they could not pour concrete in that hole with the water on the other side. So in other words you would have to coffer dam that’s a dam you build ahead, in front of the dam in order to de-water that surface and be able to repair it. Now we are your consultants for the FERC, Federal Energy Regulatory Commission License. We’ve been working with you for years. And as far as that license you will be required to build some new fish ladders to let the shad move upstream. And that’s going to be done on the Carolina side. So at the time having now been right there where all the water was going we though about it and determined the only way to do that is to de-water to repair that hole, to de-water behind the dam and at that time we really thought that at that point we would probably encase each of the abutments in concrete, reinforced concrete. And we ran some estimates of the cost of that. But we didn’t see where there was going to be any real peril. You were about to build your backup pumping, which you now have at the raw water pumping station. I hope all of you have seen it. We’re right proud of the thing. It’s got the big diesel engines, pumps a lot of water. 44-million gallons from the river. So we felt like there wasn’t any danger to the water supply as soon as you have that. And we didn’t think there would be a failure because that condition has really existed for over thirty years. And now that we were able to see the way that the dam was constructed and it’s, you probably have never seen it but I’ll be happy to provide it to you or to your department for you to see some of the wonderful notes from the engineer who built it. So we recommended at that time because it’s expensive, very expensive to coffer dam in a running river so that you can repair these things. But if you wait until you’re doing your fish ladder at which time it’s got to be coffer damning and at that point you go ahead and repair everything you need to repair. Even back in ’04 the only real problem that needed to be, we felt needed to be repaired is that hole and you can’t repair it without de-watering. And after we got to see it up close and see how deep it is and how much more you have until to get to the oversight we felt comfortable in recommending that you wait to repair it when it is more cost effective because you’re going to get two birds with one stone. And so we went and looked at it again last week we were up there. I arranged for the 24 water to be held by the upper dam so that no water would be running over your dam. And it looked exactly the same as it did in 2005. The boards that the contractor put up are there, the pipe that he used to send his concrete into the hole is the pipe you see in the picture. It’s exactly the same. There appears to be no deterioration at all from what it was. So we felt comfortable in telling your utilities director that we stand by the recommendation that you wait until you build the fish ladder and at that point then you can really take care of the whole dam because by then you can you know you could actually take the water out from behind the dam now and you still have water. The only problem is that you don’t have any water in the canal and that would cause a lot of eyes to go up. Any questions? Mr. Mayor: Do we have any questions? Commissioner Bowles. Mr. Bowles: No questions just thanks for clarify it because we obviously 180 degree different story last time when we were presented with some information. So I applaud you, would make a motion to receive this dam information. Drew, for what ya’ll have done and Mr. Aitken: Second. Mr. Mayor: We have a dam motion and a second to the dam motion. Commissioner Aitken. Mr. Grantham: Have the dam vote. Mr. Aitken: What’s the, when is the time frame for the fish ladder? Mr. Jiminez: Well, as soon as and there’s only two little hang-ups on getting your license. There is a and I am with the endangered species short nosed sturgeon that the people that protected are conflicted as to whether it’s wise to pass that fish above your dam because that might put it in peril. And whether there’s any wisdom in doing that because there’s nothing up there that they can use. That’s one item that we’re waiting on. It should be resolved probably in the next four or five months because all of those people are down in Louisiana with the oil spill now so they don’t have time for you. Mr. Aitken: Now there’s going to be a fish ladder there and there’s going to be also a fish ladder at the other end as well? Mr. Jiminez: Yes, sir, now the fish ladder that’s there was built in 1886. It was designed by the Chief of Fisheries of the United States of America who was a Virginia Tech graduate and it never passed any fish. Mr. Russell: That doesn’t reflect at all the school though. I mean that’s not the school’s fault. Mr. Jiminez: They didn’t even know about fish. It has not gotten into the fish’s brain to figure out what they liked. 25 Mr. Aitken: We’re still waiting on information on that fish ladder as well as the fish we have over there? Mr. Jiminez: That’s, you have that --- Mr. Russell: That’s another dam to worry about. Mr. Jiminez: --- and that’s about all. So you know you probably could possibly have a license this next year. Mr. Aitken: Thanks. Mr. Mayor: Well, fish ladders, sturgeons in peril, dam experts. This is getting really exciting. Commissioner Brigham. Mr. Brigham: Jorge, just reassure me that the mortar that is messed up is on the Carolina side where the fish ladder’s going to be. Mr. Jiminez: It’s not going anywhere, Jerry. It’s been like that for thirty years. Mr. Brigham: No, I just want to make sure that’s the side that the mortar was coming apart on. When we build a fish ladder, we’re going to replace that mortar. Mr. Jiminez: We’re not, we’re not touching the dam for the fish ladder. We’re building it right below. Do you, you’ve seen, have you ever been over there? Mr. Brigham: Jorge, come on. Mr. Jiminez: I can drive you over there or any of you. He can do it. And it’s really interesting. You still have to bring your firearm because --- Mr. Mayor: Okay. Mr. Russell? Mr. Russell: Are you trying to determine if the Georgia dam is a good dam and the South Carolina part of the dam is a bad dam? Mr. Brigham: I was trying to determine where the mortar was separating is what I was trying to determine. Whether it was the Georgia side or the South Carolina side. Mr. Russell: The South Carolina side is the bad part of the dam. Mr. Brigham: That’s what I thought. Mr. Jiminez: It’s not really a bad part. 26 Mr. Mayor: Okay, we’ve got a motion and a second to receive this as information. If there’s no further witty discussion Commissioners will now vote by the usual sign. Mr. Hatney out. Motion carries 9-0. Mr. Mayor: Mr. Attorney, is there a need for a Legal? Mr. MacKenzie: We do not have a need for a Legal Session today. Mr. Mayor: Thank you, sir. If there’s no further business to come before the body we stand adjourned. [MEETING ADJOURNED] Lena Bonner Clerk of Commission CERTIFICATION: I, Lena J. Bonner, Clerk of Commission, hereby certify that the above is a true and correct copy of the minutes of the Regular Meeting of the Augusta Richmond County Commission held on September 7, 2010. ______________________________ Clerk of Commission 27