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HomeMy WebLinkAboutCalled Commission Meeting March 8, 2022 CALLED MEETING COMMISSION CHAMBER March 8, 2022 Augusta Richmond County Commission convened at 11:00 a.m., Tuesday, March 8, 2022, the Honorable Hardie Davis, Jr., Mayor, presiding. PRESENT: Hons. Johnson, Garrett, Mason, Frantom, B. Williams, Scott, McKnight, D. Williams, Hasan and Clarke, members of Augusta Richmond County Commission. Mr. Mayor: The Chair recognizes Attorney Brown. 1. LEGAL MEETING A. Pending and potential litigation B. Real estate C. Personnel Mr. Brown: Good morning, Mayor and Commissioners. We request a motion to go into executive session for the discussion of pending or potential litigation, personnel and real estate. Mr. B. Williams: So move. Mr. D. Williams: Second. The Clerk: Who was that? Mr. Williams? Mr. Mayor: Mayor Pro Tem. The Clerk: And Dennis Williams seconded that? Okay. Mr. Mayor: Voting. Mr. Frantom and Mr. Garrett out. Motion carries 8-0. \[EXECUTIVE SESSION\] Mr. Mayor: Okay, we are back. The Chair recognizes Attorney Brown. 2. Motion to authorize execution by the Mayor of the affidavit of compliance with Georgia’s Open Meeting Act. Mr. Brown: Mayor and Commissioners, we request a motion to execute the closed meeting affidavit. Mr. Frantom: So move. 1 Mr. B. Williams: Second. th Mr. Mayor: Commissioner from the 7 with a second from the Mayor Pro Tem. Voting. Motion carries 10-0. Mr. Mayor: Thank you, Madam Clerk. Okay, we’ve got three items that I want to add to the special called meeting agenda. The first item is an item from the Mayor Pro Tem regarding the mask requirement in all government facilities. That’s Item 1 and if there’s no objection, we’ll add that to the agenda. All right, without objection. The second item we have is a request for th concurrence around the purchase of credit cards from the commissioner from the 6, a discussion if there’s no objection we’ll add that item to the agenda. Without objection. A third item is a resolution in support of a position that ACCG and the Georgia Municipal Association have taken regarding House Bill 1093 and Senate Bill 494. Without objection. Those three items have been added to the special called meeting agenda. Madam Clerk, we’ll take them in that order. The Clerk: Okay. 3. Motion to approve bid award of RFP Item # 22-171 Professional Auditing Services for Augusta, GA – Finance Department to Mauldin & Jenkins, LLC. Mr. Mayor: The Chair recognizes the Director of Finance. Ms. Williams: Good afternoon. The RFP for our required financial audit services was let by Procurement. The RFP stayed out for four weeks. There were over 900 download responses from Demandstar, another 125 packets mailed out. There was one response from Mauldin & Jenkins. The committee had evaluated that response and has unanimously recommended to proceed with the award of the contract to Mauldin & Jenkins for our required governmental financial audit. Mr. Mayor: The Chair recognizes the Mayor Pro Tem. Mr. B. Williams: So move. Ms. Scott: Second. The Clerk: Was that Ms. Scott? Who was that? Second, Ms. Scott. Mr. B. Williams: Hasan said it first. The Clerk: Okay, we have Mr. Bobby Williams and Ms. Francine Scott. Mr. Mayor: Voting. 2 Mr. Garrett and Mr. Clarke vote No. Motion carries 8-2. Mr. Mayor: All right, Madam Clerk, next item. The Clerk: Item 4. Mayor Pro Tem, for the motion, sir. Mr. B. Williams: Motion to remove the mask requirement for all government buildings effective March 8, 2022. nd Mr. Mayor: The Chair recognizes the commissioner from the 2. Mr. D. Williams: So move. Ms. Scott: Second. Mr. B. Williams: Francine Scott did second it. Mr. Mayor: That motion again is motion to remove the mask requirement for all government buildings of Augusta, Georgia, effective March 8, 2022. Voting. Motion carries 10-0. Mr. Mayor: Madam Clerk, next item. The Clerk: Item 5 is regarding the amendment to the resolution of the purchasing and credit cards. th Mr. Mayor: The Chair recognizes the commissioner from the 6. Mr. Hasan: Thank you, Mr. Mayor. I appreciate my colleagues allowing us to add it to the special called meeting agenda. What we’ve got going here is about a year ago or less we approved a credit card policy as a result of a state law that passed in 2015/16 and as a result of that we’ve got a challenge that we’ve come up with discovered as of yesterday as a result of the Clerk being able to do the things she needs to do with our, around making reservations for the conferences and things of that nature that the Commission attends. With that being said, we’ve got about ten commissioners here and each one of those commissioners has about a $7500 travel budget and so I personally believe that the Clerk of Commission who handles our business should have a limit of $75,000. So with that also I’m going to come back with a motion after I make this last point here. That is also I think the Clerk does not need to be hindered in taking care of our business. I mean hindered in a negative sense but just needs to be able to expedite the process in trying to do what needs to be done for us when these conferences become available. When these conferences come on line historically from across the country and from across the state they are bombarded with participants trying to get in and so if she reaches a limit time is of the essence and as a result of that, you can miss rooms, you can miss classes, you can miss the things that you really want to go to. I think for the last year this Commission has been very adamant in terms that 3 it wants to do more educating itself so it can better serve this community so with that being said I’d like to make a motion that the Clerk be removed from the policy so she can conduct the business of the Commission and at the same time with the limit be increased to $75,000 immediately. That’s my motion. Mr. B. Williams: Second the motion. Mr. Mayor: The Chair recognizes the attorney. Mr. Brown: Commissioner Hasan, just for clarification when you say removed from the policy do you mean removed from the resolution of Augusta, Georgia Commission regarding county issued purchasing and/or credit cards where there is a list of elected officials and the Clerk appears on that list? Mr. Hasan: Yes, sir, the Clerk is on that list and we want to remove the Clerk from that list. Mr. Brown: So you are seeking to amend this resolution by removing the Clerk from the list of the listed elected officials? Mr. Hasan: Yes, sir. th Mr. Mayor: Can we suspend for a minute? The commissioner from the 6 is going to th amend his current motion, okay? The Chair recognizes the commissioner from the 6. Mr. Hasan: Yes, sir. Thank you, sir. For the Clerk of Commission limit be increased to $75,000 immediately and the Clerk of Commission, the Attorney, Procurement and Finance get together and find a way to resolve the issue around the credit card policy and potentially removing the Clerk’s office from that. Mr. Mayor: Let me try it this way if I can add to it. It’s a motion to increase the Clerk of Commission’s credit card usage to $75,000 and General Counsel clarify the policy around the Clerk of Commission’s use. That’s broad but it gives you the latitude to bring any closure reconciliation to what was the problem. The Chair recognizes the attorney. Mr. Brown: What exactly what you mean by to clarify the policy? Are you seeking to take an action or are you just going to have conversation? Mr. Mayor: Conversation. In fact, what I would counter and I think the commissioner th from the 6 believes this to be his intent today and that is simply to increase the amount so that the business of the people can be done and conducted by members of the Commission and that’s really the full motion. That’s all that needs to happen today. I believe the Clerk concurs with that. The Clerk: Well, the part about being taken off the resolution I concur with that. If I can, Mr. Mayor? 4 Mr. Mayor: Sure. The Clerk: And the only things this will do is give us the same direction, the latitude and the authorities we had when the Commission in fact approved the credit card for the Clerk’s office back in 2000 to perform the duties that we’re currently doing. That’s all this is doing. Reverting back and the resolution only has elected officials. When this legislation came forward, it is only directed towards elected officials, not staff. th Mr. Mayor: Hold on. Commissioner from the 6, he’s in the queue. Mr. Hasan: My motion stands, Mr. Mayor. Mr. Mayor: Okay. Let’s vote on the motion that’s currently there. We’ll let them navigate through it. The Chair recognizes the attorney. Mr. Brown: Would you please have the motion stated so that it will be clear what motion is being voted on? Mr. Mayor: All right, the Chair recognizes Madam Clerk. This is the original motion. The Clerk: The motion was to amend the purchasing credit card resolution removing the Clerk of Commission and increasing the credit card limit to $75,000. Mr. Mayor: Voting. Motion carries 10-0. Mr. Mayor: Next item. The Clerk: Item #6 is a resolution supporting, opposing a resolution Augusta, Georgia opposing House Bill 1093, Senate Bill 494 and opposing limitations on a county’s authority to make housing land use and zoning decisions within local governments geographical boundaries. th Mr. Mayor: The Chair recognizes the commissioner from the 8. Mr. Garrett: Motion to approve. Mr. Mason: Second. Mr. Mayor: Voting. The Clerk: That’s Mr. Garrett and Mr. Mason? Motion carries 10-0. 5 Mr. Mayor: Madam Clerk, upon signature I’d ask for immediate transmittal of a copy of the signed resolution to the members of the Augusta Legislative Delegation and to ACCG and GMA. The Clerk: Okay. Mr. Mayor: I believe that’s all the business that we have before us in this special called meeting. \[MEETING ADJOURNED\] Lena J. Bonner Clerk of Commission CERTIFICATION: I, Lena J. Bonner, Clerk of Commission, hereby certify that the above is a true and correct copy of the minutes of the Called Meeting of the Augusta Richmond County Commission held on March 8, 2022. ________________________ Clerk of Commission 6