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HomeMy WebLinkAboutRegular Commission Meeting October 18, 2016 REGULAR MEETING COMMISSION CHAMBER OCTOBER 18, 2016 Augusta Richmond County Commission convened at 2:00 p.m., October 18, 2016, the Hon. Hardie Davis, Jr., Mayor, presiding. PRESENT: Hons. Guilfoyle, Sias, Frantom, M. Williams, Smith, D. Williams, Hasan and Davis, members of Augusta Richmond County Commission. Absent: Hons. Lockett and Fennoy, members of Augusta Richmond County Commission. The invocation was given by Pastor Paul Coppett, Senior Pastor of Cathedral of Praise Church of God in Christ. The Pledge of Allegiance to the Flag of the United States of America was recited. Mr. Mayor: Good afternoon, everybody. All right, we’re here to do the people’s business. Ms. Bonner. The Clerk: Yes, sir. At this time, we’ll have presentations by, I’m sorry, invocation, Pastor Paul Coppett, Senior Pastor of the Cathedral of Praise Church of God in Christ after which we’ll have our Pledge of Allegiance to the Flag. Would you please stand. Mr. Mayor: All right, Pastor, thank you. If you’ll come, if you’ll approach, we want to take an opportunity to recognize Pastor Paul Coppett, Senior Pastor of the Cathedral of Praise Church of God in Christ as our Chaplain on today. And we applaud not only his spiritual guidance and civic leadership that serves as an example to all of us as Augustans but we wish many favors be upon he and his ministry and his family. Thank you. (APPLAUSE) The Clerk: PRESENTATION(S) A. Ms. Brenda Durant, Greater Augusta Arts Council regarding presentation of the 2016 City Arts Grants. The Clerk: Mr. Mayor, (inaudible) to join her. Ms. Durant: And I’d like to introduce Mr. Jamal Carpenter who chaired our City Grants Program and he’ll be doing the presentation this afternoon. Mr. Carpenter: Yes, and I’d like to introduce Ms. Mary Jones who is our 2016 Greater Augusta Arts Council Board President. Good afternoon, Mr. Mayor and Commissioners, Ms. Jackson, distinguished guests and my fellow citizens. My name’s Jamal Carpenter, Vice President of Programs for the Greater Augusta Arts Council. This year I’ve had the privilege of orchestrating the City Grant Program for arts based organizations in Augusta Richmond County. I’m pleased to inform you this year we will be awarding 15 grants totaling $71,000 dollars to arts based 1 organizations in this community. We are extremely fortunate to have city leaders and citizens who recognize the importance of the arts and who are willing to support their efforts to make our city great. Thank you for including these important funds in our budget this year. The 2016 recipients employ close to 600 full and part time employees. They engage over 2,500 volunteers and have entertained more than 211,000 citizens. They introduce our young citizens to the performing arts, teach them theater etiquette as well as how to do productions from the beginning to the end and provide special programs for children and seniors for performers and artists. Their efforts are estimated to generate more than $1 million dollars back into our local economy. That occurs through a variety of venues including dining, costuming, programming, production rentals and staging and of course by providing the wages of their employees. There are two categories of awards: the first is an Arts Challenge which is for special projects and the second is Art Works which assists with general operating expenses. Our processes involve a review by a nine-panel member made up of Arts Council Board members and private citizens, all members of the Augusta Richmond County community. You’ll find additional information on the panel as well as the award recipients and their awarded dollars in the handout we’ve provided. If we have any panel members present I’d ask you to stand so that you can be recognized. (APPLAUSE) So without further ado Ms. Jones if you’ll join Mr. Mayor and Mrs. Durant the awards will be presented in alphabetical order. First we have the Augusta Choral Society. The mission of the Augusta Chorale Society is to be the symphonic chorus of the CSRA. Talented singers in the area sing in great chorale works and residents get to enjoy performances of great chorale literature. Accepting for the Augusta Choral Society is Bill Alford, past President and Carolyn Dolland, Executive Director. (APPLAUSE) Our next award recipient is the Augusta Concert Band. The band is a community organization made up entirely of volunteers who give their personal time and talents to provide musical entertainment through Augusta Richmond County at no charge to those attending. Accepting for the Augusta Concert Bank is their President Mr. Grady Taylor. (APPLAUSE) Next we have the Augusta Mini Theater. The mission of the Augusta Mini Theater Inc. is to provide affordable arts instruction and performances to develop artistic skill and life skills for area youth. Accepting for the Augusta Mini Theater is Mrs. Judith Simon Butler. (APPLAUSE) The Augusta Players whose mission is to produce musical theater productions of the highest quality, providing extraordinary opportunities for aspiring artists to perform and gain proficient training. Accepting for the Augusta Players is Jennie Wright. (APPLAUSE) Next on our list is Barefoot Productions. We will go ahead and acknowledge them. They are a first-time grant applicant, they serve as an outlet for, they serve as an outlet for the musical expression and chorale performances. Barefoot Productions also enhances development in fine arts as well as positive life skills of the participating youth particularly in the performance group Creative Impressions. Accepting the award for Barefoot Productions is Ms. Chanita Talbert. (APPLAUSE) Next we have the Colton Ballet Company of Augusta formerly Dance Augusta. Colton Ballet provides professional quality dance performances for the community, encouraging and enhancing a greater public awareness and appreciation for dance as an art form. Accepting for the Colton Ballet Company is Chad Powers a member of the Board of Directors. (APPLAUSE) Gertrude Herbert Institute of Art. Since 1937 the Gertrude Herbert has provided opportunities for visual arts education. The art institute also develops awareness and appreciation for the visual arts through the Greater Augusta Area. Accepting the award for the Gertrude Herbert Art Institute is Heather Williams. (APPLAUSE) Next we have the Harry Jacobs Chamber Music Society. The mission of the Harry Jacobs Chamber Music Society is to bring world class international chamber music to Augusta, to invite talented local musicians to perform concerts at private homes and to conduct outreach clinics and 2 programs by visiting musicians to inspire young music students. And accepting for the Harry Jacobs Chamber Music Society is Kathy Wade Wall. (APPLAUSE) Imperial Community Theater Inc. The mission of the Imperial Theater is to preserve the historic Imperial Theater in downtown Augusta and to provide a classic venue for performing arts groups performers and audiences. Accepting for the Imperial Community Theater is Ms. Brenda Durant on behalf of Mr. Charles Scavullo. (APPLAUSE) The Jesse Norman School of the Arts. Jesse Norman School of the Arts’ mission is to develop students to become creative, caring, visionary responsible citizens through the transformative power of the arts. Accepting for the Jesse Norman School of the Arts is their Executive Director Mr. Gary Dennis and Ms. Irene Shastri. (APPLAUSE) The Morris Museum. The Morris Museum of Art introduces the world to the visual culture of the south through art and ideas that inspire, educate and engage. Accepting for the Morris is Mr. Kevin Grogan, Executive Director. (APPLAUSE) And finally we have Sacred Heart Cultural Center, I’m sorry not finally Sacred Heart Cultural Center is next. Sacred Heart preserves and maintains the Sacred Heart building at the National Registry of Historic Sites. The site functions as the center for cultural activities presenting quality programs and events to the CSRA community and visitors. Accepting for Sacred Heart Cultural Center is Kim Overstreet. (APPLAUSE) Story Land Theater. Storyland presents live quality theater productions performed by adults for children and families. Storyland Theater focuses on those who otherwise might not have the opportunity to experience the magic of theater with locally written originals, plans and musicals, plays and musicals based on fairytale themes incorporating imaginative sets, costumes, lighting and special effects exposing children to the finest theater in the area. Accepting for Storyland is Ms. Barbara Feldman. Suzuki Strings of Augusta, another first-time recipient. Suzuki Strings of Augusta has provided lessons both group and private on violin, viola, cello and base since 1978. Their core philosophy is any child properly trained can develop musical ability. Accepting for the Suzuki Strings of Augusta is Gwen Jenkins, Director of Suzuki Strings. (APPLAUSE) Symphony Orchestra of Augusta. The mission of Symphony Orchestra of Augusts is to share the joy of a great musical performance with others. Founded in 1952 Symphony Orchestra of Augusta is the only professional orchestra serving more than 655,000 members of the CSRA. Accepting for the Symphony Orchestra is Anne Catherine Murray the Executive Director. (APPLAUSE) Westobou Festival. Westobou builds community and inspires cultural change through engaging, creative and thought provoking artistic experiences. Accepting the grant for the Westobou Festival is Ms. Bethany Marshal. (APPLAUSE) Once again on behalf of the board and members of the Greater Augusta Arts Council and all our 2016 grant recipients we say thank you. (APPLAUSE) Mr. Mayor: Ms. Bonner, I think that now would be a good time I know that I heard from a couple of folks who wanted to have a point of personal privilege early and uh, okay all right we’ll entertain any point of personal privilege at this time. The Chair recognizes the Commissioner th from the 4. Mr. Sias: Thank you, sir, with this moment of personal privilege I just want to reiterate to this body and to our general public how important it is in the progress that we’re making with our Stormwater Program. And that is going to be one of the things that’s going to help move our city stnd forward into the 21 Century or the 22 whatever you want to call it but we’re going to have to be a little bit more vigilant about how we do that. And one of the things is that what put us in this position and we’ve had folks who are just blatantly violating our ordinance about putting debris and trash into our storm drain system. And when we have contractors and folks that you see out 3 on the street doing this we ask that you report it. And if we can get it up on the screen I just want to show you an example of a contractor who is working for a public entity that’s putting trash down in the storm drain. This is not going to help our city and whether you can identify visually or not that is a city storm drain that this gentleman is putting the trash in. We’ve identified them who they are and we’ll be dealing with them from a perspective of please do not do that again. Also on yesterday our Mayor had the unfortunate opportunity to run into someone doing the same thing on Walton Way in two different locations first thing in the morning. So, we cannot as a city afford to have folks to come out and this is what our money has to pay for. I know sometimes stories say well we’ll just the storm water’s just a slush fund. Wrong answer. Our Storm Water Program is here and serves a very valid purpose so if you see one or see someone violating our storm water policy, violating our debris code please report it. And these folks have been corrected and maybe we’ll ask the Marshal to give them another visit. Thank you so much, Mr. Mayor, for that point of personal privilege but this is important that we all participate in this process. Thank you. Mr. Mayor: All right, thank you anyone else a point of personal privilege? All right, Madam Clerk, I want to make mention of one very important item. Many of you in the audience may remember that the City of Augusta took a very bold and quite frankly progressive steps to champion solar, solar power in our city. And the City of Augusta has the what we believe to be the largest municipal solar project that’s been started here in the City of Augusta, Georgia. We entered into a 20-year lease with Inman Solar which included the assignment of the Power Purchase Agreement with Georgia Power Company. To date construction has begun at the Water Plant and the Waste Water Plant sites. Construction is scheduled to begin at the jail site the week th of October the 24. All three sites are on schedule and will be producing electricity by no later than the first week of December. In addition, the city has already received $585,000 in payments to reimburse the city for its expenses. Within the next 30 days an additional, the city will receive $36,000 for the partial year lease payments. I think that’s a winning day for the City of Augusta. (APPLAUSE) Madam Clerk. The Clerk: Yes, sir. I call your attention to our consent agenda which consists of items 1- 21. For the benefit of any objectors to our Planning petitions once those petitions are read if there are any objectors would you please signify your objection by raising your hand. I call your attention to: Item 1: Is a request for a Special Exception to establish a townhome development at property known as 3632, 3628-B and 3628-C Belair Road. Item 2: Is a request for a change of zoning from a Zone A (Agriculture) to a LI (Light Industry) with conditions affecting property known as 840 Scott Nixon Memorial Drive. Item 3: Is a request for a change of zoning from a Zone A (Agriculture) and a Zone R-1 (One-family Residential) to Zone R-3B (Multiple-family Residential) affecting property at 2590 Tobacco Road with conditions. The Clerk: Are there any objectors to any of those Planning petitions? I call your attention to our Public Services portion of the agenda if there are any objectors to any of our alcohol petitions would you signify your objection by raising your hand once the petition is read. I call your attention to: 4 Item 4: Is for an on premise consumption Beer License to be used in connection with 828 Broad Street. Item 5: Is for a retail package Beer & Wine License to be used in connection with the location at 4002 Deans Bridge Road. The Clerk: Are there any objectors to either of those alcohol petitions? Mr. Mayor, members of the Commission our consent agenda consists of items 1-21, no objectors to our Planning or alcohol petitions. Mr. Mayor: All right, the Chair will entertain any motions to either add of remove from th the consent agenda. All right, the Chair recognizes the Commissioner from the 8, Finance Chairman. Mr. Guilfoyle: Thank you, Mr. Mayor. I’d like to put on the consent agenda under Engineering Services agenda item number 25, Madam Clerk, agenda item number 26 and agenda item number 27, agenda item number 28 that’s the On Call Services and agenda item number 29. Mr. Mayor: Without objection, okay all right, did you get those, Madam Clerk? The Clerk: Yes, sir. Mr. Mayor: All right without objection. The Chair recognizes the Commissioner from the th 4. Mr. Sias: I’d like to request adding number 31 to the consent agenda. Mr. Mayor: All right without objection. Mr. M. Williams: You have an objection, Mr. Mayor. Mr. Mayor: Okay, all right with an objection so scratch 31, that’s right scratch that. All th right the Chair recognizes the distinguished gentleman from the 9 Chair of Administrative Services Commissioner M. Williams. Mr. M. Williams: I’m going to hold that title as long as I can because that changes daily so I’ve got no problem, Mr. Mayor. I want to pull item number 7 just to get some clarity on it please sir. Mr. Mayor: Okay. All right so item number 7, Madam Clerk, is being pulled from the consent agenda. The Clerk: Yes, sir. 5 Mr. Mayor: Okay all right the Chair recognizes okay I’ve been to him before hadn’t I I’ve been to number four. All right I’m going to go to number six. All right the Chair recognizes the th Commissioner from the 6. Mr. Hasan: I’d like to pull item number 11. Mr. Mayor: Okay all right, the Chair recognizes Administrator Jackson. Ms. Jackson: Yes. I request that we delete item number 20. I would like to review the contract in detail --- The Clerk: And refer it back to the next --- Ms. Jackson: --- and refer it to the next Public Safety Committee Meeting. Mr. Mayor: Okay without objections. The Chair recognizes the Commissioner from the th 4. Mr. Sias: Permission to pull item one. Mr. Mayor: All right, I thought ya’ll wanted to go home early. Mr. Guilfoyle: Motion to approve, Mr. Mayor. Mr. Frantom: Second. CONSENT AGENDA PLANNING 2. Z-16-35 – A petition for concurrence with the Augusta Planning Commission to approve, with the conditions stated below, a petition by Glenn Brown requesting a change of zoning from Zone A (Agriculture) to Zone LI (Light Industry) affecting property containing 1.11 acres and is known as 840 Scott Nixon Memorial Drive. Tax Map 022-0-012-00-0 DISTRICT 3 1. A site plan will be required for the parking area to be constructed on the subject property. The proposed Site Plan must meet the following conditions: a. A driveway large enough to accommodate truck traffic; b. Parking shall be limited to only the two vehicles described in the application and on the concept plan: c. No parking of commercial vehicles is permitted within 50 feet of the eastern property line pursuant to requirement in Section 23-6 of the Comprehensive Zoning Ordinance. e. Dusk to dawn security lighting must be provided in the parking area. 2. A street yard, and a minimum 10-foot wide buffer yard, must be installed along the eastern property line. Materials for the required 6-ft. fence will be determined by the Planning and Development staff after consulting with the adjoining neighbors. 6 3. Future development of the property to include buildings would require that the property owner extend water and sewer to the subject property at his own expense. 3. Z-16-36 – A petition for concurrence with the Augusta Planning Commission to approve with the conditions stated below, a by Herman and Kittle Properties Inc., on behalf of Margaret Mayo Cordle Caughman Living Trust, requesting a change of zoning from Zone A (Agriculture) and Zone R-1 (One-Family Residential) to Zone R-3B (Multiple-family Residential) affecting property containing approximately 31.34 acres and is part of 2590 Tobacco Road part of Tax Map 141-0-004-04-0 DISTRICT 4 1. The final concept plan must meet the following conditions: a. As offered by the developer, exterior materials shall consist of 50% cement-board siding and 50% brick. The use of vinyl is not allowed. b. The proposed density of the overall development (senior and family apartments) must not exceed 6.91 units per acre for the senior section and 11.62 units per acre for the family section. c. The overall development shall contain a minimum of 526 total parking spaces and must provide the following visitor parking spaces – 33 visitor parking spaces for the senior section and 38 visitor parking spaces for the family section. d. Additional quest parking may be utilized by placing required parking lot trees behind the sidewalk in various locations, at the discretion of the Augusta Planning & Development Executive Director. e. The 50-foot undisturbed buffer and the 100-foot undisturbed buffer must be maintained any may not have any additional encroachments other than those delineated on the concept plan submitted with the rezoning application. Both buffers need to be labeled as “undisturbed”. f. Sidewalks must be maintained on both sides of the driveways in each section (senior and family sections) of the development. g. All amenities as shown on the concept plan submitted with the rezoning application must be maintained. h. All amenities as shown on the final concept plan must be constructed at the time the applicable section (senior and family apartments) is constructed. 2. A traffic signal must be constructed at the entrance to this development, if required by the Traffic Engineer. 3. Maxx Road, or a suitable second entrance approved by the Augusta Engineering Department and Planning & Development Department Executive Director, must be constructed at the time the family section of the development is constructed. 4. Any upgrades to existing utilities to provide water and sewer to the site will be at the expense of the developer. PUBLIC SERVICES 4. Motion to approve New Location: A.N. 16-33: request by Kathenia Mantey for an on premise consumption Beer License to be used in connection with K’s Buffalo Wings located at 828 Broad Street. District 1. Super District 9. (Approved by Public Services Committee October 11, 2016) 5. Motion to approve New Ownership: A.N. 16-34: A request by Ravi P. Vuppula for a retail package Beer & Wine License to be used in connection with Polaris Food & Gas 2016, Inc. located at 4002 Deans Bridge Rd. District 8. Super District 10. (Approved by Public Services Committee October 11, 2016) 6. Motion to authorize a contract with SKANSKA USA Building Inc., to perform Construction Project Management Services for Augusta’s Transit Operation and Maintenance Facility Project. (Approved by Public Services Committee October 11, 2016) 8. Motion to approve accepting grant award from the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) in the amount of $14,782,155.00 for the Reconstruction and Extension of Taxiway A. 7 as approved by the Augusta Aviation Commission September 29, 2016 meeting. (Approved by Public Services Committee October 11, 2016) 9. Motion to approve/accept grant award from the Georgia Department of Transportation (GDOT) in the amount of $896,042.40 for the Reconstruction and Extension of Taxiway A as approved by the Augusta Aviation Commission at their September 29, 2016 meeting. (Approved by Public Services Committee October 11, 2016) 10. Motion to approve/accept the recommendation of the Planning Director to work with Mr. Jackson Brown and the Law Department to modify the ordinance to accommodate his operation relative to his request for a variance to allow him to perform comedy four days a week. (Approved by Public Services Committee October 11, 2016) ADMINISTRATIVE SERVICES 12. Motion to approve award of the contract to install emergency generator connectors at Warren Road Community Center and Henry Brigham Community Center to Data Power Source (DPS) of Covington, GA in the amount of $119,650. (Bid Item 16-187) (Approved by Administrative Services Committee October 11, 2016) PUBLIC SAFETY 13. Motion to approve the allocation of funding for the Richmond County Sheriff’s Office (RCSO) in the amount of $56,947.00 for the Justice Assistance Grant (JAG) Program. (Approved by Public Safety Committee October 11, 2016) 14. Motion to approve Richmond County Sheriff’s Office (RCSO) request for approval of funding to support the Georgia Emergency Management Agency (GEMA) Region #5 Chemical, Biological, Radiological, Nuclear, Explosive (CBRNE) team. ($36,460.00) (Approved by Public Safety Committee October 11, 2016) 15. Motion to approve Richmond County Sheriff’s Office (RCSO) request for approval of funding ($6,000.00) from the Georgia Emergency Management Agency (GEMA) in support of the Region #3 Explosive K-9 team. (Approved by Public Safety Committee October 11, 2016) 16. Motion to authorize the Richmond County Sheriff’s Office request to purchase three (3) video storage devices for the Charles B. Webster Detention Center in the amount of $79,998.00 from Icotech of Alabama. (Approved by Public Safety Committee October 11, 2016) 17. The Richmond County Sheriff’s Office (RCSO is requesting approval of funding in the amount of $186,000.00 from the Georgia Emergency Management Agency (GEMA) to sustain the RCSO Explosive Ordinance Disposal (EOD) team. (Approved by Public Safety Committee October 11, 2016) 18. Motion to approve entering into an MOU with State of Georgia Emergency Management & Homeland Security Agency (GEMHSA) and to authorize the Mayor to execute the appropriate documents. (Approved by Public Safety Committee October 11, 2016) 19. Motion to approve the selection of Engineering Associates, LLC as the vendor of choice to provide consulting services, as outlined in RFP #16-200 Land Mobile Radio Consulting Services. (Approved by Public Safety Committee October 11, 2016) 20. Motion to approve the award of RFQ Item #16-198 Architectural Design Services to Johnson and Laschober & Associates and authorize the Mayor to execute the appropriate documents. (Approved by Public Safety Committee October 11, 2016) 8 PETITIONS AND COMMUNICATIONS 21. Motion to approve the minutes of the regular meeting of the Commission held October 4, 2016 and Special Called Meeting October 11, 2016) ENGINEERING SERVICES 25. Motion to authorize condemnation to acquire title of a portion of property for right of way and one temporary driveway easement (Parcel 033-2-111-00-0) 502 Highland Avenue. 26. Motion to authorize condemnation to acquire parcel, (Parcel 087-2-124-00-0) 2041 Walnut Street. 27. Motion to authorize condemnation to acquire title of the entire parcel, (Parcel 087-2-227- 00-0) 2020 Golden Rod Street. 28. Consider approval of RFQ #16-205: Sanitary Sewer Connection Services Task Order Program Phase II for the City of Augusta-Utilities Department in the amount of $1,000,000 for execution by Universal Plumbing, Southern Services, Stark Plumbing and Earl L. Babbitt as qualified and selected contractors. 29. Consider proposal from WR Toole Engineers, Inc. to provide engineering services for Augusta Utilities on Fort Gordon. Mr. Mayor: All right, I’ve got a motion and a second, all right, motion and a second. Voting. Mr. Fennoy and Mr. Lockett out. Motion carries 8-0. \[Items 2-6, 8-10, 12-21, 25-29\] Mr. Mayor: Okay all right, Madam Clerk, I’m going to take another point of personal privilege. We couldn’t be more proud of our colleague Commissioner Bill Fennoy who is honeymooning. What an amazing, what a beautiful wedding he and his wife Ms. Alisha June formerly Weir now Fennoy. And so they send their regards to those of us who are stuck doing the business of the people, but it was a beautiful wedding, beautiful wedding. All right, Madam Clerk. The Clerk: PLANNING 1. Z-16-32 – A petition for concurrence with the Augusta Planning Commission to approve, with the conditions stated below, a Southern Meadows Development LLC, on behalf of Randy Watkins, requesting a Special Exception to establish an attached townhome development not to exceed a density of seven (7) units per acre per Section 11-2 (a) of the Comprehensive Zoning Ordinance for Augusta-Richmond County affecting property containing approximately 9.59 acres and known as 3632, 3628-B and 328-C Belair Road. Tax Map 053-0-044-01-0, 053-0-172-00-0 and 053-0-0174-0 CONTINUED from September 7, 2016. DISTRICT 3 1. The final development plan must meet the following conditions: The proposed density of the development must not exceed 60 units, or 6.26 units per gross acre: Those lots shall be developed within a period not to exceed 2 years. Note that the concept plan, submitted September 7, 2016, is for illustrative purposes only and the lot layout may differ slightly from the concept plan presented with this application due to phasing of the 9 lots. 2. As offered by the developer, exterior materials shall consist of cement-board siding with stone or brick accents. The use of vinyl is not allowed. 3. Guest parking shall be provided and installed in all areas of the development. The 9 quest parking spaces as shown on the 8/3/2016 Concept Plan must be installed east of lot 27. Additional guest parking must be provided west of lot 18 (6 spaces adjacent to the mail kiosk area), eat of lot 19 (4 spaces) and west of lot 1 (5 spaces) for a total of 25 guest parking spaces. 4. A minimum 10-foot wide buffer yard on all side and rear boundaries of the development, which meets the requirements of the Augusta Tree Ordinance must be provided. 5. Open space must meet or exceed the acreage for open space provided on the Concept Plan dated 8/3/2016 and provided with the rezoning application. 6. Sidewalks shall be constructed on at least one side of each new street to promote walkability and to keep pedestrians out of the roadway. 7. Lighting shall be installed at all intersections to facilitate pedestrian movement crossing the street from sidewalk to sidewalk. 8. Streets shall be private and must be built to standards of the Augusta Engineering Department for subgrade, base and paving, riding surface width, and use of curb and gutter. 9. Water and sewer must be extended from their present locations to the site at the expense of the developer. th Mr. Mayor: The Chair recognizes the Commissioner from the 4. Mr. Sias: Thank you very much, sir. I see, Mr. Mayor, that Ms. Wilson has come to the podium but I would like to ask her is the developer also present? Ms. Wilson: Yes, sir, he is, he’s right here. Mr. Watkins. Mr. Sias: Why would, Mr. Mayor, I have a couple of questions that I want to ask the developers some issues that I’ve been discussing with Ms. Wilson and to get some ideas on some things here. Mr. Mayor: All right, let’s do this. All right if we’ll bring the developer forward and if you would state for the record your name your address and I guess your business name that would be appropriate as well. Mr. Watkins: Randy Watkins. I’m President of the Southern Meadows LLC Development Corporation. I live at 871 Halali Farm Road, Evans, Georgia. Mr. Sias: Thank you, sir. Mr. Mayor: All right, Commissioner. Mr. Sias: Thank you. Mr. Watkins, I have no objection to the development that you’re proposing. I have some clarification I’d like to, some things I want to get clarified because so many instances when we have developments here in Richmond County. Everything is well intended but five years down the road things go kind of bad without a remedy in place. And number one you requested that the roads going into this development be private, am I correct? 10 Mr. Watkins: Well the roads are, if you read Section 8 all are built to the standards of Augusta Engineering Department requirements but they will have to be private only for one reason. It’s not from construction aspects of it, it’s strictly from easement aspects. The easement we have in this area is at the houses is less than what Richmond County would require but the construction is full in compliance with Richmond County. Mr. Sias: Okay, granted I understand that and I did read it. If these roads are deemed as private then who will be responsible for street repair, cleaning the retention ponds, all the anywhere the storm water compliance and all these things that are going along with our streets now will the owners, homeowners be responsible for this? Mr. Watkins: The Homeowners Association will be the first they will be over the private roads, yes. Mr. Sias: And so if there’s any major sewage issues, any upgrades anything that’s required then this homeowners’ association then is not for lack of a better word on the hook to pay for all these items. Mr. Watkins: Now the sewage and the water is not private; it will be handed over to the county and it will be public so that will be under review and inspected at the time of installation so that will be, it will be under the county’s purview. The storm sewer itself from my understanding because the road being private the storm sewer proper is private. Now as far as the retainage area we have no problem the county wants it or not. We’ll take it if the county wants it public that’s fine too it’s designed to go, it can go either way. Mr. Sias: Now with your Homeowners Association two questions there. Will these folks fully understand that they’ll be responsible for all these things see because we have a lot in here, we have I’m familiar with several condo associations who are not doing that well nowadays as their property’s aged a little bit. So number one will all the property owners in this association be made totally aware of their responsibility that they are inheriting with buying this house? Mr. Watkins: Well, these are single stories. These are not, these are two bedrooms, they’re small houses, they’re not two-story condominiums. The property values for these, we have a development we finished earlier this year Cushendal Hills it’s hardly 800 feet away, it’s been in existence five years, the homeowners have done a very good job with it. We normally don’t turn it over to the homeowners until we’re around 60%. We’ll take three to four months to get the people used to it, understand all the covenants and we gradually turn it over to them until the last house is sold and we’ve had great results at Cushendal, they’ve done very well with it. Mr. Sias: Okay, Mr. Watkins, you answered my, the last question I had on that and I will just close it with this statement. I’m very concerned that five to ten years from now down the road these problems will become the problems of the city. I’m not going to object to your development but I’m very, very concerned about it based on the experiences I’ve seen with developments who have these private sections or private parts on there like that. So, I’m very concerned about it I’m not here to stand in the way. I’ve talked with Commissioner Davis about you’re in her district but 11 I’m just very much concerned about it because of the experiences that I’ve had in these kinds of situations. Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Mr. Guilfoyle: Motion to approve. Mr. Frantom: Second. Mr. Mayor: All right, okay thank you, I appreciate that. All right, I’m going to recognize rd the distinguished lady from the 3 Commissioner Davis. Ms. Davis: Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Could I address just a couple of quick questions to Ms. Wilson? Mr. Mayor: All right if you’ll approach again Ms. Wilson and if the developer would come back as well you just might be called on, thank you. All right Commissioner Davis. Ms. Davis: Ms. Wilson, I know ya’ll have been working on this development and coming to great conclusions in this and I appreciate ya’ll working together so well, Mr. Watkins as well. Just with Mr. Commissioner Sias’ concerns can you just kind of enlighten me just a little bit to make sure because I know you’ve seen different developments like this. And I know that Mr. Watkins mentioned Cushendal Hills. What are your thoughts on this as far as the concern that five to ten years from now the road will deteriorate and the homeowners’ association wouldn’t be able to not necessarily maintain it or do what’s necessary to make it a road that’s in good condition? Ms. Wilson: I think that one of the challenges that many people that live on private roads have faced is that generally there’s not enough right-of-way so even if they want to turn it over to the city there’s not enough room for that to occur and that’s probably the biggest challenge that I’ve seen in regards to this type of development. In a lot of cases developers do a pretty decent job meeting the engineering standards that are currently in place for road construction. I think that what we are seeing now are situations where the standards were not as they are today and people are having to deal with some poor quality construction that occurred before they purchased the properties. But we do try to make sure that it noted on the plats we sign off on that this is a townhome property and that the homeowners’ association is responsible. And I know that Engineering also has a process that they go through to insure that the homeowners’ association knows that they are responsible for the roads. Ms. Davis: Okay thank you and I appreciate again all the hard work that you all both put in together along with Engineering. Thank you. Mr. Mayor: All right thank you, Commissioner Davis. The Chair recognizes the th Commissioner from the 9 Commissioner Williams. Mr. Williams: Ms. Wilson, the construction of the roads is going to be built by the city standards. Is that my understanding? Ms. Wilson: That’s correct. 12 Mr. Williams: And those are the standards we set, right? Ms. Wilson: Those are the standards they have been set by the Engineering Department, yes, sir. Mr. Williams: Okay as long as that happens I’m good with it as long as they follow the rules we put in place. Ms. Wilson: That’s correct. Mr. Williams: Now we can’t fault the builders and I don’t know this young man but there’s some stuff that happened in the past that we allowed because our standards wasn’t, and I had a problem with firetrucks can’t turn around on those streets because they wasn’t built to the standards. But if we’ve got our standards in place and the gentleman agrees to build to those I’ve got no problem with it. Mr. Watkins: I appreciate the young man too. Mr. Williams: Yes, sir, I try to do that, I try to get that in every once in a while myself so I give it out sometimes. Mr. Mayor: The Chair recognizes the Mayor Pro Tem, we welcome him back as well. Mr. Smith: Well thank you I just want to say too I you know appreciate the thoughts, prayers and flowers that I got while I was in there and ya’ll thoughts and by the people of Richmond County along with helping folks from the flood and everything else everybody around the county tries to at least look out for each other and that’s what counts. So I really appreciate that. But I did want to say this about Mr. Watkins his family has been in the building business for years back what the 40’s, 50’s? Mr. Watkins: (Inaudible) Mr. Smith: Yeah, your grandfather yeah and I know I worked out there with his Daddy well him too they do they build quality products and you know that’s what his family’s been about for years in this area. Mr. Mayor: Thank you, Mayor Pro Tem. The Chair recognizes the Commissioner from th the 6. Mr. Hasan: Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Mr. Mayor, my question is for Ms. Wilson. Ms. Wilson, per my colleague Commissioner Davis’ question centered around about the concern of the private road and you can help me interpret that response that you gave her. And you said you know what the problem with that is many times there’s not enough room or have enough space to do anything other than turn it over to the city. But to take that in mind that you also Commissioner Sias did get from the developer himself that you know the city would maintain the sewer or what 13 have you that’s on that road. So the question becomes so is it best practices the way we’re allowing this to happen and is it just the cost of doing business? Ms. Wilson: Basically the development community’s developing based on the current standards that we’ve got in place and other communities although roads are built and are private, other communities have the requirement that people at least have enough right of way in case something happened and the roads need to be turned over to the city. We don’t have that policy in place but that’s what happened in some of the other communities but based on what we’ve got that is currently in place he has met those standards. Mr. Hasan: Okay, so do you foresee yourself asking for those standards to be upgraded? Ms. Wilson: I foresee myself having a discussion which after talking with the Engineering Director about this issue. Mr. Hasan: And my final question, Mr. Mayor, Ms. Wilson, you know I’ve had the pleasure of sitting down and working with you on a couple of projects that’s going to be in my district. I know you’re very thorough but I hear a lot of reservation or hesitations in your voice. Does revamping incurring another code or something or ordinance or something does that solve what reservations you currently have about this? Ms. Wilson: I think that Mr. Watkins has been very gracious to address some of the concerns that I had about this project when it initially came into our office. He is going to have a better quality design, there’s going to be Hardy Board versus vinyl siding, there’s going to be stone on the front something that will have it fit better with the existing housing and the design that’s out in the community. And that was a concern that I had and he has worked with us to address those so I don’t have those concerns now. And I think that when he gets ready to start working on his project you know he may end up with 60 units he might end up with 55, a lot of the times you don’t know until you get out and start working with the land. But I do think that he’s made every effort to meet the requirements that we currently have in place and to do what we’ve asked him to do. Mr. Hasan: Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Thank you, ma’am. Mr. Mayor: All right, we’ve got a motion and a second. Voting. Mr. Lockett and Mr. Fennoy out. Motion Passes 8-0. The Clerk: PUBLIC SERVICES 7. Motion to approve an award of Bid Item 16-174 with Sommers Construction in the amount of $159,340 for the construction of a new bath house facility as part of the Diamond Lakes Campground Project. (Approved by Public Services Committee October 11, 2016. 14 Mr. Mayor: All right thank you, Madam Clerk. I’m going to ask Recs and Parks Director Glen Parker if he’ll approach. All right lots of business to do lots of business. All right the Chair th recognizes the Commissioner from the 9. Mr. M. Williams: Thank you, Mr. Mayor. I’m not opposed to this, Mr. Mayor, but for a $159,000 for a bath house I would like to see at least a layout of how of what we’re spending or what we’re doing there. This came before us in committee and we understand that but I just thought there would be something that we could have to lay eyes on to get a perspective on that. There a lot of people’s homes built for less than $150,000 dollars and you’re building a bath house. I’d just like to see what this construction how it’s going to be I mean I need to and hopefully we’ve got something that we can look at. Mr. Parker: We do, sir, we’ve got a full set of drawings. This is second time we’ve bid this. Our original, the original estimate was given to us at $105,000 that bid came in at 230. We worked with our engineers to size it down to where we are now so I can get you that. The building itself is roughly 480 square feet with the roof line it’s around 575 square feet but I can get those drawings to you. Mr. M. Williams: I would love to see those. I’m going to support it but now let me say this too you’re building a, not you someone is constructing a bath house for that kind of price. I don’t want nobody coming in here and talking about a change order as to putting a shower head on this side or whatever. I think that it ought to be covered, everything, Donna, I mean from I mean I’m really, really understanding what Diamond Lakes is about and how it is but I don’t think we can just brush off $159,000 dollars for a bath house. I mean you could’ve added some other language to it and made it seem like it’s a royal castle or something and I wouldn’t have been so bad but when you say a bath house and $159,000 just concerns me. Now the other Commissioners probably don’t have a problem but I would love to see those drawings as soon as possible. Mr. Parker: We did I would say that since we had to scale it down we designed it so if money becomes available in the future we can grow it if we have the need based on the number of campers. Mr. M. Williams: Oh I hope we don’t have to grow a bath house now I’m hoping we’re killing this bird the same time we ain’t got to come back and do it again. Something don’t sound right but that’s why I want to see those drawings to see what we’re talking about. I’m not opposed to growth I mean I’m really in favor of growth but I can’t sit here and justify voting for $159,000 dollars for what most people say a bath house and in mind they’re thinking something else so please, sir, let me see those --- Mr. Parker: Yes, sir. Mr. M. Williams: --- as quick as possible. Mr. Mayor: You’ve got more questions. You’ve got more questions but I think the Commissioner certainly asked a very valid question. You’ve indicated generally, Mr. Parker, the 15 square footage of this building or this structure and that’s roughly about 560 to 600 square feet, is that correct? Mr. Parker: Correct, yes. Mr. Mayor: And in this bath house from a utility standpoint this is a this is a unisex bath house? Mr. Parker: There are separate sides. Mr. Mayor: That’s right --- Mr. Parker: Yes. Mr. Mayor: --- okay but again the total square footage is about 600 square feet. Mr. Parker: Including the roofline it’s 575. Mr. Mayor: The Chair recognizes the Mayor Pro Tem. Mr. Smith: I just wanted to say being this is a bath house I imagine ya’ll, is it by state or federal specifications? Mr. Parker: Yes, sir --- Mr. Smith: Uh-huh --- Mr. Parker: --- that you’re mandated by. Mr. Smith: --- scald guard faucets and all that stuff in there. What block is that what ya’ll (unintelligible). Mr. Parker: Split faced block I believe on the exterior yes, sir. Mr. Smith: Okay, is it going to be heated? Mr. Guilfoyle: Motion to approve. Mr. Smith: Second. Mr. Mayor: All right, we’ve got a motion and a second. Any further questions? Voting. Mr. Lockett and Mr. Fennoy out. Motion Passes 8-0. The Clerk: 16 PUBLIC SERVICES 11. Motion to approve focusing/working on the list developed in June 2016 that are located thth between 8 and 10 Streets that can be done within the current budget regarding improvements to the River Walk. (Approved by Public Services Committee October 11, 2016. th Mr. Mayor: The Chair recognizes the Commissioner from the 6. Mr. Hasan: Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Mr. Mayor and to my colleagues as well as Ms. Jackson and Mr. Parker, many of us had concerns last week in particular around item number one on this list of 19 things that would be done. Initially we were talking about $200,000 dollars here but then we see that total come to about $339,000 dollars say $340,000 dollars. One of the things that concerns or caught my attention was that $75,000 dollars for the cleaning and retaining the walls and sidewalks. So one of the discussions came about was that we felt that we could possibly purchase the equipment, the industrial equipment to do this work. And as soon as we got that confirmed to a certain degree by the citizen sitting here in the front row Mr. John Clarke went out and took the initiative to do some investigation in looking at an automobile, looking at a 500- gallon tank and looking at a generator looking at what it would take to mount it to the back of that vehicle after purchasing a vehicle and it came to about $45-50,000 dollars on the high end with potential different vehicles to look at. The concern that we expressed last week was that the $75,000 dollars is just for something that we still don’t own anything and we can purchase equipment for all of $50,000 dollars and have it for uses all across the city with the vehicle included. And so I would like to see us as well as along with that there’s several things on here I think it’s almost like this day to day things that we do in an arena whether we do it by way of Utilities or whether we do it by staff that is designated per the Recreation Department to make improvements to the River Walk. And so I’d like to see us send this back and get this kind of revised. With that being said because I think the $75,000 dollars for renting of this when we can, I mean I’m sorry contracting it out to be cleaned I think it’s a bit much. We ought to be talking about purchasing a vehicle here purchasing the equipment and what have you and automatically based on what we’re talking about $25 to $30,000 dollars we save right off the bat. And I know manpower and those things are, comes into play at the end of the day but this is equipment that the government needs for a city this size it should have this already in house. And I think that’s where we ought to go and we should look at encourage Mr. Parker, encourage you to consider revamping this list just a little bit from contracting out to purchasing equipment that you need to make these things happen so we have it in house for future purposes. Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Mr. Mayor: Okay, I’m going to direct the question to you then I’m going to come to the th Commissioner from the 9. So, what you’re articulating, Commissioner, is that you’d like to send this back for further review and then a complete assessment be brought back is that not true. Mr. Hasan: Yes sir, Mr. Mayor, I appreciate that, yes. Mr. Mayor: All right, I’m going to ask you another question. You’ve talked about two things one is the actual physical work that needs to be done in order to enhance the River Walk 17 but probably more than anything just practical day to day maintenance and operations. But what I heard you articulate is a concern around capital equipment, is that not true? Mr. Hasan: Absolutely. Mr. Mayor: Okay then so to that end have you or someone in this government conducted an inventory, a cross-departmental inventory to see what equipment we have that may support these efforts to help? Has that been done? Mr. Hasan: I haven’t done that but this piece of equipment here was something that we asked about specifically last week. And I think Mr. Parker’s response to that was as an industrial use if it is in house. Based on that, Mr. Mayor, based on your question I would think the first order of business that Mr. Parker should’ve done it you know but I did not do it. Mr. Parker should’ve checked to see do we have that equipment on hand and obviously, I feel safe to say we don’t. That’s why he decided to do it this way. But maybe we do have it so maybe I’m getting ahead of myself but, no, I did not. Mr. Mayor: I think that’d probably be appropriate you know --- Mr. Hasan: Ask Mr. Parker to do that because he’s talking about allowing us to do it. Mr. Mayor: --- well you know my caution is that there are as we know it a number of “heavy equipment or machinery needs that this government may have”. And as I understand it there’s a, there’s a Capital Improvement Plan Project Manager that we have on site who’s here in the room and if we have capital needs, items that are in excess of $25,000 dollars then I think this would be a good exercise to be working on so that we are doing those things in motion and not having to come back and kind of piecemealing the process. So, I just want to offer that to you. Mr. Hasan: Let me respond to that, Mr. Mayor. Like you said once again how we got here thth just because of the fact of the $75,000 dollars that we’re looking at from 8 Street to 10 Street. So we’re talking about within a two block radius that we’re going to pay $75,000 dollars for someone to come and steam clean sidewalks and what have you. At the end of the day our federal is more appropriate and I think some of my colleagues agree as well that we probably can purchase the equipment. In a very real way a citizen in the front row Mr. John Clark went out and posted some information on Facebook picture of business being conducted in a neighboring county with persons there. He went out so he was my eyes and ears or the government’s eyes and ears at this point and he proved us to be right in that regard. Now that still does not answer the question which you said do we have this equipment in house. I would hate to say that we would have it in house for going out and paying somebody $75,000 dollars. Obviously I hope to God we don’t have in house and was about to pay $75,000 dollars for something that we have in house. th Mr. Mayor: Thank you. The Chair recognizes the Commissioner from the 9 Commissioner M. Williams. Mr. M. Williams: Ms. Bonner, you and Nancy get my chainsaw ready. We’re going down there I’m going to show ya’ll to take a $60.00-dollar chainsaw and how you can clean stuff up. 18 But let me go back I understand what my colleague’s saying but seriously we’ve been putting this off and putting this off but it’s time to go to work on the Riverwalk, cut some of this stuff back cleanup what we can. There are many tools around this area in government, and I had to learn this in government we don’t do things like we do at home. Mr. Clarke was right. He went online and found some stuff. I go on EBay I’m up all night long looking at whatever I can buy at a good price. But with the government stuff has to be bidded out and then you got to wait for it to come in and go through a lot of that. Now the $75,000 dollars I’m thinking is for everything that we was going thth to do. We started from 8 Street up to 10 Street I think to start just to get started, just to get started. You don’t know how many people come down and help you who’s got pressure washers and all this other equipment if we get started. But if we keep putting it back and putting it back and putting it back we won’t ever get started. So I agree there’s a lot of equipment in this government already we can use from side to the other one. We’ve got pumps at the fire department we’ve got a fire station with a hose. You can take an inch and a half hose and boost a line to a fire truck and wash this whole city down. I don’t know where the Fire Chief is but he ought to be raising his hand because we don’t have to do that, Wayne. I mean it don’t take no rocket scientist to do this stuff here now. So we already got equipment. We’ve got excess pumps sitting around the fire station that we don’t use right now. And I didn’t think about that until I seen the Chief back there that we’ve excess pumps with an inch and half or booster line. And if you don’t know what a booster line is it’s a very small line, a little bit bigger than a water hose that we could crank the machine with 250 pounds of pressure. Now I don’t think it can hold that but if we put enough pressure on it to clean up what we need. So let’s get started. That’s all I’m saying that we start doing something then we go to another thing. But we keep talking about the political side of it and I ain’t learning to be a politician yet I mean here all this time I’m still trying to do the right thing. I (unintelligible) do wrong I’ve been trying to do the right thing. I didn’t say I was doing right but we have got to move forward, we have got to move forward. It don’t, I mean what we do, we strain on camels and swallowing gnats I mean but it’s time it’s time to do something. So thth think from 8 Street to 10 Street to get started whether Rec do it Engineering or anybody to get started we need to get started doing something down there. Those people got injured at times and we got passed that even with the shootings and the fireworks we got passed that and we’re still talking. I’ve been down there twice myself walking the Riverwalk looking at stuff we can just cut back and we ain’t cut one thing yet, not nothing. I think Rec said they moved a couple of trees or something down there but there’s still a lot of work to be done and if we’re going to do anything let’s at least clean it up. Let’s pick up the paper, cut the shrubbery back. If the city ain’t got the money to do that, Mary, they can take it out of the money for Planning and Zoning they can take it out of there. They ain’t paying me for that so they can take that money and use it. It don’t make sense we’ve got to move forward. So, Mr. Mayor, I’m going to make a substitute motion we go ahead and approve this and at least get started and then try to see what resources we’ve got that we can use in house, across the river, in South Carolina, wherever we can get wherever it’s from to get started. Mr. Guilfoyle: Second. Mr. Mayor: All right, I’ve got a motion and a second to the substitute. All right the Chair th recognizes the Commissioner from the 7 Commissioner Frantom. Mr. Frantom: Mr. Mayor, if we can call up Mr. Parker. 19 Mr. Mayor: Yeah, we sure can. All right, Mr. Parker, if you’ll come back. Mr. Frantom: Mr. Parker, do you have a total cost of what we would asking to get done thth between 8 and 10 because I know these numbers encompass the whole Riverwalk. Mr. Parker: Staff’s been down there putting that together. I don’t have that final number right now but they have been down there two or three times since then looking at what that’ll cost. thth And it’s what you’ve asked between 8 and 10 the majority of it is labor getting those things done. Mr. Frantom: I have a question for the Administrator. Mr. Mayor: All right. Mr. Frantom: Madam Administrator, do you see, we have about $487,000 dollars that’s left in Contingency. Do you think that this could be an avenue for us to get these things done thth between 8 and 10 using that money? Ms. Jackson: It’s a possibility. I would like see exactly what he comes back with, with the estimate that they’re firming up now as well. Looking at their budget that specifically the Recreation Department’s budget to see if there are any available funds in their current budget that can be used for that. Mr. Frantom: Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Mr. Hasan: Mr. Mayor, I have another question. Mr. Mayor: All right hold on, hold on. The Chair recognizes the Commissioner from the th 8. Mr. Guilfoyle: Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Mr. Mayor, I was here last week during the committee meetings discussing and I put and input in as far renting equipment versus buying. And I understand what my colleague is talking about in that way we could put a man in a truck. And I clearly understand Commissioner Williams’ let’s move forward. This motion clearly states thth whatever they’re going to do is going to be between 8 and 10 Street within their current budget. They’re not asking for more money, let them do what they can. I guarantee you our Rec Director is going to be just a frugal as we are. He’s going to make sure that it’s done because everybody’s focused on the Riverwatch. And my thing is let them see how far it can go utilizing his own staff, utilizing prisoners and let him come back to us that way he’ll know exactly at that point what he’s actually got accomplished what he did not and he could bring us a plan. And he would actually have time to see what equipment would cost and how he could delegate on his staff members to run the truck, operate the truck, et cetera. So, I would like for us to go ahead and move forward within the current budget. 20 Mr. Mayor: I think that’s an excellent idea and I’m going to make a suggestion. I’m going th to recognize the Commissioner from the 6 in just a moment but you know, Ms. Bonner, I’m th following your advice, I am. And the Commissioner from the 9 he has been pretty staunch about this there’s things that can be done and they can be done with the existing workforce. What we should be doing is trying to solve the problem, we’ve got the appropriate staff they know how to get these jobs done. They can work interdepartmentally and work as a team and can get it done. But what we should do here today is try to solve it, decide how many trucks, how many buckets, how many water buffaloes. We don’t need to do all that. We’ve got the appropriate staff. But if the Riverwalk is our primary destination for people to come and visit I too share those same th sentiments, let’s get stuff done. The Chair recognizes the Commissioner from the 6. Mr. Hasan: Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Believe it or not I think it sounds like we’re all saying the same thing that because we start out saying that the staff that we have can do much of this work so it seems like we’re agreeing about that. I think the only thing, and I’m not hearing really being just for clarity at this point I think I’m hearing so okay we can hold off on this vehicle and look at potentially purchasing a vehicle for the end of the day but the other stuff we can go ahead and get started. That’s all I was ever saying and that’s all of that and that’s where I am. If that’s where we are, Mr. Parker for the record needs to have some clarity around that we’re not authorizing to go out and look at that vehicle as much as a purchasing perspective. But the other things like I said early on is that I think in house staff can do these things. That was one of my concerns as well not just mine but my colleagues as well. So the truck was the real issue here and so if we’re saying that we’re not going to do that right now we going to do some other general maintenance down there I’m fine with it, that’s what we’re heading with this conversation. Mr. Mayor: Okay I’m going to try it one more time. So the underlined motion that is on number eleven, it’s fairly straight forward or at least it appears to be it doesn’t require at least on the surface a substitute. It is specific in location. It may not to the Mayor Pro Tem’s point not have a timeline associated upon execution but the underlined motion says approve thth focusing/working on the list developed that is between 8 and 10 Street that can be done within the current budget and that sounds pretty straight forward. Mr. Hasan: And is that to me? Mr. Mayor: No, I’m just making (unintelligible). Mr. Hasan: Oh, okay. Mr. Mayor: We’ve got multiple substitutes. We’ve got Commissioner Williams with the latest substitute and my suggestion is the underlined motion is pretty clear. We don’t need a substitute just withdraw your substitute just vote on the underlined motion. Mr. Hasan: And all I want to say, Mr. Mayor, once again, and a point of personal privilege if you don’t mind, Mr. Mayor. Mr. Mayor: Well –-- 21 Mr. Hasan: It’s a number one of that the number one of that was cleaning and retaining sidewalks and everything we’re not doing that we’re fine $75,000 dollars, that’s all. Mr. Mayor: Okay all right okay so Andrew, hold on. All right, we are debating item th number eleven that is what’s before us. We have a substitute that the Commissioner from the 9 has, okay. It’s just a suggestion that if you just vote on the underlined motion as written that’s in your agenda it will accomplish what you came here to do and we can move on, that’s just a suggestion. Now, Commissioner, you’ve got a motion a substitute and a second. The th Commissioner from the 8 seconded that. Mr. Hasan: That’s the original motion (inaudible). th Mr. Mayor: The Commissioner from the 8 seconded it. The Clerk: No, no, we only have one motion. Mr. Hasan: You only have one motion on the floor, Mr. Mayor. The Clerk: That’s what I was, he made a suggestion but he didn’t get a (inaudible). Mr. Hasan: I didn’t make a motion, Mr. Mayor. Mr. Mayor: You didn’t make a motion. Mr. Hasan: I didn’t make a motion. Mr. Mayor: Okay all right very good. Okay so then we’ve just got the underlined motion Commissioner. All right, thank you so much, Madam Clerk. She’s the best in the State of Georgia. Mr. M. Williams: In the world. Mr. Mayor: I agree with that too. All right so --- Mr. Hasan: North Carolina. Mr. Mayor: --- all right okay all right, we’re ready to vote on this matter. All right the th Chair recognizes the Commissioner from the 4. Mr. Sias: Call for the question on the original motion. Mr. Mayor: Okay, voting. Mr. M. Williams: We need a rule class. You’re going to vote twice if you call for the question that’s all that means. You vote to see if you want to keep talking or not then you turn around and vote on the motion. When you call for the question there ain’t no vote --- 22 Mr. Sias: You have to talk to the Mayor about that. Mr. Mayor: We already have a motion and a second we’re waiting on the Commissioner th from the 6. Mr. Hasan: You’re waiting on me? Mr. Mayor: Yes. Mr. Lockett and Mr. Fennoy out. Motion Passes 8-0. The Clerk: ADMINISTRATIVE SERVICES 22. Create Abandon Property Task Force. (Requested by Commissioner Marion Williams) th Mr. Mayor: The Chair recognizes the Commissioner from the 9. Mr. M. Williams: Thank you, Mr. Mayor. I met with Melanie Wilson and two of her deputies I guess we’ll call them and we went out to look at some properties I got some calls about along Mill Street down to Chestnut and from MLK over to Wrightsboro Road. And we were just floored to see the amount of vegetation and dumping and abandoned properties and rundown structures and people trying to patch up stuff. It just really, it really hit home. So I had a conversation with the churches around who we suggested getting together with volunteers to come in and physically do some work themselves. I met with Pastor, I talked with Pastor Clyde Hill, I talked with the Minister at the House of Prayer and hopefully I can speak with the Pastor at Liberty Church, those are three of the churches that’s around there. But it’s like a third world country to see how people have dumped wood and stones and all kinds of stuff on these side streets. Burned down properties, there’s not even a frame that’s stills standing there so we plan to get with the Housing and Neighborhood Development, License and Inspection and these three churches to try to physically do something ourselves. Now we ain’t waiting on the city just to do nothing but hopefully the city will come in and at least do their part, the Marshal’s office and everything else. Talking about people blowing trash in the city system but there was someone that on Turkett Spring Road was dumping limbs and debris in the retention pond and it was filled up. And to keep them from having an accident I stopped following them and was in pursuit to try to at least get a tag number but we have got people that’s as fast as we’re trying to clean up we’re trying to tear down. And we’ve got to get aggressive we’ve got to let people know that we’re going to be treated fair but we’re going to inspect what we expect. I’m going to ask you to do what we’re doing. We can’t allow people to continue to do what they’re doing. We’ve got too much of that, Mr. Mayor, so this Task Force is not for the city to itself to create something that I talked to Pastor Hill about. I talked with Elder Jones at the House of Prayer and hopefully I can talk to the Pastor at Liberty Baptist Church for them to get volunteers from their church themselves to come out and to pull this stuff out. Now what we do need from the city is when we pull this stuff out and put it on the right of way that the city will have the haulers to pick this stuff up. That’s another issue that it’s not being picked up and we don’t want to put it on the street and they don’t get it. If it’s cut in the 23 proper length and cut in the proper stacks it should be picked up. These people and the churches are suffering really, really bad and if you had not rode through there, Mr. Mayor, I suggest you ride through and take a look at some of that stuff but that’s what that Task Force is all about. Mr. Mayor: Okay all right, very good, very good. Mr. M. Williams: We don’t need to do anything I guess we’ll receive this as information and ask the city to do anything but get the License and Inspection and the Marshal’s Department to do their job. Mr. Mayor: Okay. Mr. M. Williams: One other point when the young man, young men there was more than one dumping debris I called the Sheriff’s Department, I called the Clerk’s Office and she called the Marshal’s Department there wasn’t nobody to get in contact with. So what do you do when you find somebody that’s violating and doing stuff like that and the Sheriff’s Department is busy doing other stuff, the Marshal probably they was closed after 5:00, there wasn’t nobody there to receive the call. How do you handle a situation like that? Mr. Mayor: All right, Commissioner, you’ve got a path forward. That sounds like a very workable plan and I look forward to seeing the results as you move forward. All right we’re going to receive as information. Mr. Sias: So moved. Mr. Hasan: Second. Mr. Lockett and Mr. Fennoy out. Motion Passes 8-0. The Clerk: PUBLIC SAFETY 23. Update from Administration on the Unisys Substation. (Requested by Commissioner Ben Hasan. th Mr. Mayor: All right the Chair recognizes the Commissioner from the 6 and then the Administrator. Mr. Hasan: Thank you, Mr. Mayor. With all the work we’ve just discussed that’s about th to take place on the Riverwalk we realize as a result of the July the 4 incident we had this year the shooting we decided to per Commissioner Frantom’s request they took the lead on trying to create a substation or go back and create a substation. Since that time we have not gotten any additional information. We were within the ballpark looking at a cost of $150,000 dollars give or take. I think the Administrator might have identified a funding source so we’re trying to figure 24 out exactly where is that with all the things we’re considering doing and how does this substation fit into that and exactly where are we at this particular time. Mr. Mayor: All right, the Chair recognizes Ms. Douse. Ms. Douse: Good afternoon --- Mr. Hasan: Good afternoon. Ms. Douse: --- we met with a realtor last week Jordan Trotter to go over some of the Richmond County Sheriff’s office build out changes they would like to see in that space. The lease will call for the Richmond County Sheriff’s office to have 1,761 square feet of space. The changes that they have proposed are being reviewed by the landlord and they will forward us those changes once they have been completed for review. Once we receive that information back we will of course present it to you all in a legal session. Mr. Hasan: Mr. Mayor, may I follow up? Mr. Mayor: Continue. Mr. Hasan: Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Ms. Douse, the change order they had is it in a larger space? Ms. Douse: It did not enlarge the space. It involved moving a wall. But since the plans have not been finalized it may still be within the scope of dollars that were originally approved. Mr. Hasan: Is, Mr. Mayor, may I continue? Is, there was some work being done in the Unisys building. Is work still being done there currently because I --- Ms. Douse: Phase two excuse me, sir, phase two is still undergoing and we do have plans to get involved on that construction process. Mr. Hasan: So you’ve got a timeline in terms of getting back and giving us some definitive information of what we look like and when we can get started? Mr. Douse: The realtor just sent me an email a few moments ago and stated that they should have those buildout plans within the next day or so and he’s working on a draft lease as well. Mr. Hasan: Thank you, ma’am. Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Mr. Mayor: All right, any additional questions? Thank you very much. Ms. Davis: Mr. Mayor, I make a motion we receive as information. Mr. Grady Smith: Second. 25 Mr. Mayor: We have a motion and a second to receive as information. Voting. Mr. Lockett and Mr. Fennoy out. Motion Passes 8-0. The Clerk: FINANCE 24. Present the 2017 proposed budget. Mr. Mayor: Madam Administrator. Ms. Jackson: Good afternoon, everyone. Maurice McDowell is handing around, handing out the Power Point presentation that provides an overview for our 2017 recommended budget. Once we give our budget presentation the Finance Department is prepared with your budget booklet which gives the detail associated with the budget. We’ll have the books to distribute as I said once the presentation is completed. Also two other things to keep in mind. This is our first cut so to speak. We will continue to review over the next several days and I anticipate that there will be some tweaks and changes before we go into our first work session. Also keep in mind at the end of this presentation I have several dates that we’ve identified for possible work session dates, we’ll ask for your concurrence on those dates. If those dates are not, do not work for you we can certainly reschedule. According to our Code of Ordinances we are to have a balanced th budget approved by November 15 so we have approximately a one-month period in order to get that done. All right first this is an overview of the current year, right now total authorized positions for the current year 2,819. Total adopted budget for all funds this year is $908 million dollars. For 2017 we’re looking at an uptick in positions mostly attributed to they are supporting the functions of our Enterprise Funds and we’ll discuss those in detail as we move forward. Also the adopted budget for all funds $789 million at this point. General Fund which is the fund that we always focus most heavily on, it covers our basic operations $153,732,000 dollars. As you can see those expenditures that function in the pie chart. The largest of those is Public Safety, next General Government and after that Judicial. The rest of the functions of the government with Cultural and Recreation would come next and Operating Transfers Out comes next as well as Cultural next so that just gives you an idea of how we divide those up by functions. By reporting area which is to say who do these various positions and functions of organization report to 83 million of those dollars go into departments that are headed by elected officials, slightly under $45 million to departments that are direct reports to the Administrator and then Boards and External Agencies fill out the rest of that. General Fund also looking at our expenditures by category 65% of our total budget of the General Fund budget goes to Personnel Services and Employee Benefits. Next largest would be for supplies and next for purchase and contracted services so this gives you an idea of how we spend our resources. Budget Assumptions how do we go into this process, take a couple of slides and give you those concepts that would underline assumptions for this budget and then we’ll talk about what we had to do in order to bring it into balance. First for property tax growth a major source of revenue for any local government in Georgia we are expecting about an $850,000-dollar increase in property taxes so that’s some good news. Bad news is that we’re expecting a $1.4-million-dollar decrease in Local Option Sales Tax Revenues. That is very 26 significant; it also concerns us a great deal but we felt like we had no choice but to decrease that line item in this year’s budget based upon what we see happening this year. This year for the most part every month we’ve had about a $100,000 decrease in sales tax revenue compared to the previous year that is to look at January of 2016 compared to January of 2015. Every year except the month of April I think there was a decrease and we know what happens in April. We also are looking at a pretty significant decrease in the Electric Fund Transfer $630,000-dollar decrease in that and we also have to account for a 2% Cost of Living Adjustment for the full year. This year we budgeted at nine-months we started that COLA in April. This year obviously since the folks are already on board and the adjustment has been approved, we’d be looking at budgeting that for a full 12 months. As usual we budget at full employment and anticipate lapsed salaries at historical levels. Generally, our, due to Attrition and Normal Transitions in the workforce we anticipate about a 10% vacancy rate at any given time and we assume that to be the same going into the next fiscal year. Further Budget Assumptions and Highlights we would absorbing a substantial increase in healthcare costs for our employees and retirees. That increase would be approximately $3 million dollars. We have in the past not adjusted premiums for our employees. I think it’s been several years since that’s happened mostly because our employees have not gotten pay raises. Even prior to my being here it seemed the assumption was that if employees were not getting any more they didn’t want to take money out of their pockets to pay for additional health insurance so the organization has absorbed the costs of those premiums. In this year we’re doing something a little different. We were with you about a month ago to discuss changes with our health insurance plan to try to rein in some of those costs. One of those changes is a 10% increase in premiums for our employees who did not comply with our Wellness Program. I believe as of today our employees were notified that it’s time to come in to get their health risk assessments taken as in getting bloodwork, filling out questionnaires, etc., etc., that’s the beginning of compliance with the Wellness Program. Our health insurance consultant has made some other recommendations to us that we’ll be bringing forward at a later date. This is step one. There’ll be several other steps to get us to a true Wellness Program that we believe will offset the costs of health insurance for us as well as for our employees and their families. We were in a situation this year in terms of budget requests where the total requests exceeded our available revenue by about $10 million dollars in round terms. So that meant that we had to do what we always do this year to a larger extent increase, either increase your revenue, decrease expenditures, reallocating existing resources, use your fund balance or any combination of the above. I will also say that this year because with that $10 million dollars in additional requests there were a lot of things that I would’ve wanted to recommend to you however given the revenue picture and our expenditure picture there was not a way to afford those things so the vast, vast, vast majority of things have not been included in the budget. Further with Assumptions and Highlights there’s no increase to our property tax rate. I did not feel it was the appropriate time to do that. This does attempt to fund all current programs and services which is to say we’re going to try to keep providing those same services that we have. It’s very difficult once our citizenry gets accustomed to getting certain services and then they don’t get them anymore that becomes a little tough so at this point we have not cut those but that is something that we could look to do. Next we have proposed new fees for Occupational Taxes, Alcohol Licenses, Re-inspection Fees, Demolitions Fees and Past Due Collection Fees or Fines for the Occupational Tax. Some of those were raised within the last five, six, seven years. I understand at the time the Planning and Development Department presented those fees to the Commission. At that point they were asking for a 25% increase. It was not approved but they did indicate at a later date they would need to come back with a recommendation to improve, to 27 increase those fees and they have come back at this time to do that. As I indicated earlier it does not fund any new programs. I did hear several things from our departments that I thought would be good to do but resources did not permit so they’re not included. In terms of what we had to cut in order to bring this budget together I mentioned our departments requested about $10 million dollars in new things. It didn’t include those things. Also we found ourselves having to cut some current service levels with our current with our departments so we pulled about $950,000 from what they’re currently doing which is to say that they can still do those things. They may not do them to the extent that they had but the additional money was not there to do that so that was one of the first areas we cut. Next thing looking at our Fleet, I think everybody knows we’ve got a Fleet Maintenance Contract that’s been in place for several years. It's been something that’s been under pretty intense scrutiny. We did put a good deal of effort into analyzing that to determine how we could cut our fleet costs. Right now we’ve got about 2,100 plus, there’s pieces of rolling stock on our inventory. As the current contract is structured we pay per piece of equipment for preventive maintenance services so if that piece of equipment rolls two miles or if it rolls 30,000 we pay the same cost for preventive maintenance. Obviously there’s some things that come up over and above preventive maintenance that we have to pay for under that contract but we looked at what we could cut from the fleet to decrease the cost of regular maintenance on the contract. As of last Friday I sent out notification to all department directors with a list of underutilized vehicles and asked them to justify for us why they would need to continue using those vehicles. If they cannot find a justification provide adequate justification for keeping those vehicles, we will recommend that those vehicles be place into surplus. If we place those vehicles into surplus there’s some chance obviously that we would get, recover some revenues from it. I have not built a number in here for recovery on that because I don’t know what it is yet but I’ll treat that as gravy if that comes in. The biggest benefit I wanted for us was to get those vehicles off of our inventory and also the contract so we could save the cost of associated with maintaining. Next in terms of additional personnel to increase effectiveness primarily for our Enterprise Fund our Augusta Airport did something that is maybe counterintuitive but it seems to be working for them. They actually had had their janitorial provided on a contract basis. They bid that contract and found out it was $200,000 less expensive for them to do it in house than it was to bid it out so they’re adding approximately nine people to bring that in house. There’ll be custodians on the payroll and that will provide that service and they will completely eliminate the contract services that they have for janitorial. Utilities Department is in a fortunate position of being entrepreneurial. They are providing services to Fort Gordon via contract. They’ve been asked to expand that contract so we’ll be adding new personnel in order to fulfill the responsibilities of that contract, I believe the number is approximately eleven. Central Services Department is charged now with maintaining two new buildings or two larger buildings one of them being the AT&T Building that Utilities and Engineering are moving into. Utilities is going to contract part of that work and use Central Services for another part of it so between the Utilities Enterprise, the Storm Water Enterprise and a little bit of the General Fund that will cover the cost of that those services at that building. The services that Central Services has to provide at the Public Defenders Building will be shared between Richmond County, Burke County and Columbia County under our contract so any position that is added will be reimbursed either through an Enterprise Fund or through our agreements with other counties. Next bullet the Blue Cross Blue Shield Inmate Insurance Program for the Sheriff’s Office. They had been using Blue Cross Blue Shield. They’re phasing that contract out. We had been holding about $800,000 dollars in the budget for payment of claims that arose past the time period that that contract was in effect. You know a lot of times there are 28 things that happen you get billed for later or you know something related to work they had done they Blue Cross had done we were holding about $800,000 dollars in the budget for that. We’ve spoken to the Sheriff and agreed to cut that in half so now we’re only, we cut that expense by $400,000 dollars. We’re still leaving $400,000 dollars there in the event that those expenses are incurred. Pharmacy costs I mentioned earlier about our healthcare situation for our employees. One of the things that our healthcare advisor brought to our attention was that we were getting drugs or procuring those drugs for our workforce in the most expensive way. We had to look for ways to cut that which essentially resulted in cutting the middleman out so we bid that directly so there’s a relationship between, direct relationship between us and the provider instead of using Blue Cross and Blue Shield as our middle person. We expect citywide that should cost, save us about $750,000 dollars. Obviously that is citywide all that impact does not hit the General Fund but it is a significant savings and that’s the type of thing we’re going to have to look for. That should not be any decrease in the service level provided to our employees so we can just get it done in the least, less costly way by cutting out the middle person. Also we looked at our ambulance contract. We have at this point penciled in a cut of $700,000 dollars on that in order to balance the budget. Last year I brought forth several things that were designed maybe not short term cost savings but long term cost savings. I want to discuss those with you, one being the worker’s comp, Workers Compensation Fund being moved back under the Finance Department. I’m pleased that they are taking a very aggressive approach to cutting costs in Worker’s Compensation however it’s one of the things that we’re going to have to spend money up front to save money later on. There are a number of cases that they’re working on now that we probably can get settled which is to say that we would be paying a lump sum to get those cases settled but we would not incur a cost month after month, year after year that we would incur if we don’t settle those cases. Next thing in terms of creation of our Central Services Department the goal there, one of the goals there were several but one of them related to our financial position is some strategic oversite of our real estate matters in particular moving away from lease arrangements to space that we own. Short term it may be more expensive to buy, long term it should be less expensive because we don’t have those leasing costs and we aren’t subject to increases in rents like you are when you rent. Lingering issues to keep in mind with our budget. We just had a wonderful presentation related to Transit and a study that is we’re undertaking in order to gain data that will guide our program, however I would be remiss if I did not point out the significant cost associated with Transit. We have $1.3 million-dollar unplugged hole so to speak in Transit on top of our subsidy. We typically subsidize I think about $2.8, $2.9 million dollars a year and even on top of that there’s still a deficit. Transit right now is bringing about $800,000 dollars in revenue for a cost of operation that’s about close between 4 1/2 and $5 million dollars. So one of the things that we hope for from this study it will tell us how to maximize our revenue, where we need to put our routes, how do we improve our ridership, etc., etc., so all those things will hopefully come out of the study. I look forward to those results. As we know any decent size city offers some degree of public transportation we’ve got to, if we want to continue to do though we’ve got to figure out a way to manage our costs. What we have been doing in the past and prior to my coming here this has been in place is that we would book it as we receivable any excess money that we put in Transit will be booked as a receivable. Unfortunately, it doesn’t it appear that our Transit System will ever be capable of reimbursing us for those expenditures so that’s something we’ve got to keep that in mind. Mr. Guilfoyle: Mr. Mayor Pro Tem, may I speak please, point of privilege? 29 Mr. Smith: (inaudible). Mr. Guilfoyle: Madam Administrator, I don’t mean to interrupt you I’m supposed to be in a CVB Finance meeting here in 15 minutes. I will send you a list of questions. Hopefully I can get them answered accordingly before the next meeting. I appreciate you and your staff as far as Finance and Alvino Ross with the Tax Assessors putting this together. Thank you. Ms. Jackson: You’re welcome. Next issue that has to be dealt with sooner rather than later are street lights. Street light funding that rate structure has not been improved it has not been addressed for a review at all. In many, many years we have started a rate study process. We have someone who specializes in doing that for us to try to determine the best way for us to fund street lights. Right now it’s running in a deficit position and the General Fund cannot afford to continue to subsidize that; it’s going to have to pay for itself. Next managing healthcare costs. I’ll address that a little bit but I can’t say it enough promoting wellness is imperative and getting more favorable terms with providers as is what we described with our pharmacy costs. Next thing Urban Services District does not generate sufficient revenue. Right now Urban Services District funds the matching portion of the Federal funding that we receive for Housing, Community Development Block Grants and various other federal community development programs. It’s also supposed to fund street lighting within the old city limits but every time staff talks to me about the Urban Services Fund it’s about not generating enough money to do what it was intended to do. I understand from consolidation from that time 20 plus years ago that’s when that district was set up to cover cost of services within the old city limits however we have to think intuitively. One of the reasons that the old city of Augusta no longer exists as it did at that time is because there wasn’t enough money in the old city limits to take care of its business so we are coming, we’re going to have to reckon with that at some point. I’m not sure legally what can be done because it was set up as a part of the Consolidation Act but I just bring that to your attention that while that was set up to address the issues often times the funding is not there to do so. Last of the categories that I have deep concerns about is the 911 fees. Right now we’re subsidizing the 911 operation as well because the revenues generated is not sufficient to cover the cost of that operation. Future initiatives to cut costs and generate revenue. The first thing as you can tell I’ve been pretty busy cutting. I think we’ll continue to be pretty busy cutting. I’ve met with our department directors not just direct reports but as well as those agencies that report to the elected officials as well earlier today to give them a preview. I talked to them about what would be required of them to insure that we can continue to have balanced budgets and continue to provide the types of services that you as elected officials as well as our general public expect to receive so I asked them for proposals. I gave them the opportunity with the themes expect, justify, share, manage as in if there’s a piece of equipment that one department owns that they only use a few times a month maybe another department can use that same piece of equipment another few times a month. Ideas about sharing office space and anything else that they can come up with I’ve challenged them to do that particularly as it relates, you know manage, basic management. When I say that what I mean is manage overtime for your workers. Don’t allow it to just uncontrolled. Make sure that something you really need supposed to do before they go out and work extra hours that we’re going to have to pay for and the list kind of goes on and on but that’s the theme of what we asked for. Also in terms of filling vacant positions right now we’re running a vacancy rate of roughly 10% as I indicated that’s pretty standard. I have I actually thought about asking the departments or 30 mandating that we cut all of those vacant positions. After I thought about it for a while I realized it didn’t make a whole lot of sense. You have to do these things with some type of reasonable discretion so what I’ve asked our departments to do or what I will require them to do is to submit a justification to my office any time they want to fill a vacant position. That way they can justify for us if that position is indeed needed and we would have to achieve some agreement on whether that position is indeed needed at that time in order to maintain costs. Also in terms of generating revenue I want to consider what’s working and what isn’t. I have some information to provide to you that hopefully will enlighten you about where we are overall. I’m looking at economic development traditional versus nontraditional approaches. First looking at tourism. We look at tourism as an economic development tool that I will say is successful. I look at our hotel/motel tax revenues in 2004 and they have more than doubled in that 12-year period. That’s good news; the bad news is none of it benefits the General Fund in a direct way. All of that money goes to the Coliseum Authority and the Convention and Visitors Bureau. What that teaches us is that the activity has been successful. We also look at related activities like mixed drinks tax and things like that all those things continually go up. So, that’s good news for us but like I said it just doesn’t benefit us directly. Also, I took a quick look at our traditional economic development in industrial recruitment effort. While we’ve been really, really successful in bringing in businesses the direct benefit to the General Fund we have not been there in a way that we might anticipate. I call us the 3M Economy in Augusta. We have military, we’re medical and we’re manufacturing. This is where manufacturing comes about and I want to give you an idea of how that impacts us, a couple of ones. We’ll look at both of these are recruitments one is manufacturing the other is not looking at Starbucks first. Starbucks has billed $211,000 in personal property and real estate taxes for this year. Without incentives they would’ve paid $1.3 million dollars so we lost $1.1 million dollars on that, okay? Let’s look at ADP, Starbucks is a little bit unusual because that’s such a big company they have such high inventory let’s look at somebody who’s a little bit smaller like ADP. They were billed, I’ll show you under $70,000 dollars in personal, property and real estate taxes this year; without an incentive they would’ve paid $346,000. So, that gives you an idea and we’ve certainly been business friendly and there’s nothing wrong with being business friendly but I just wanted you to know how that impacts our operations and the revenue we have available to operate. If you look this sheet it’s just looking at exemptions I think the number I want you to see if you look at Total Real and Personal that second category 100% value would be $1.3 billion dollars that is exempted, that second category represents exemptions, the last category represents the total. And then at the bottom we showed three of the major freeport accounts and how much has been exempted as a result of those. Next area where we see decreases in revenue I want to call your attention to the title ad valorem tax, the ADT is what we call it, there’s a few different changes in state law. Look at the highlighted portion under Motor Vehicles if I call your attention to 2013 you see that that was $364 million dollars of taxable property. In 2016 it’s $165 million so we’ve lost $200 million dollars in taxable property due to that change in state law and that’s the one that moves us away from the Birthday Tax where we all pay our car tax every year on the birthday that’s the net impact for us so far. Current Incentives as I mentioned earlier we’ve been very business friendly. This is Amendment A74 which is a part of our charter so this has been around I think since the 70’s. Each addition to the capital improvements of an existing manufacturing establishment located in Richmond County shall be exempt from all county ad valorem taxes except for school purposes for five years from the time such addition is made if the cost of such addition is one million dollars or more. So, that was one million dollars back in the 70’s. You know one million dollars in terms of investment is a much different number than what it is right 31 now if you were to adjust that for inflation. Next one also this is Amendment A65, Amendment 65 each addition to the capital improvements of an existing commercial or business establishment located in the City of Augusta shall be exempt from all ad valorem taxes except taxes to retire bonded debt levied by the City of Augusta for a period of five years after completion of additional improvements if the additional improvements have a fair market value of $100,000 dollars or more. So, this is what the old city did I think this was put in place in the early 80’s and again if you adjusted that for inflation that threshold would be much different today. Other Incentives, freeport exemptions on raw materials that is a state statute approved by the voters. I think our voters approved that sometime in the 80’s early to mid-80’s. That was put in place but that allows for either you know 20, 40, 60, 80 or 100% exemption from taxes for raw materials used in manufacture of whatever services or goods they produce and our current exemption level is 100%. Tax abatement for Real Property, equipment in a Non-Freeport Eligible Inventory those abatements are available as negotiated by the Economic Development Authority when they bring business to town. In terms of Current Incentives what we can do about this I would like to highlight the need for us to work collaboratively with the Economic Development Authority to perform cost benefit analyses when these new projects are brought about so that we really know if it’s worth it, you know what is it going to net for us you know what is the benefit going to be. I think we should go in with our eyes open and that’s just to say that we go in with our eyes open when we have these types of deals that are brought to the table. Next I think we should explore some non- traditional economic development opportunities. We are one of those cities, and we’re not the first and won’t be the last but we’re one of those communities that’s in a region that’s much bigger than us which is to say that Richmond County’s population is about 200,000 the metropolitan, the physical area population is about 600,000. That means that only a 1/3 of the folks in the region live here but a whole bunch of them come here when they work, they come here to play, they come here to shop, medical appointments, school you know if they’re students at you know one of our institutions of higher learning. There are lots of reasons that people come into Augusta and when they’re here they use our services. You know we have to maintain roads to support 600,000 folks for the most part so most of them are coming through here at one point or another. We have to maintain those roads; we’ve got to provide public safety services. If there’s an accident our Sheriff’s office and our Fire Department’s respond. You know the list goes on of how even though we’re county of 200,000 many times we’re providing services for many more people than that and that places a burden on us and probably means that we’ve got to really think out of the box in terms of coming up with some non-traditional economic development opportunities if those folks are not going to be paying property taxes in Richmond County. That sums up the budget. What I’d like what I have here as I indicated at the outset we have tentatively laid out a few Commission workshop dates and hopefully this is adequate time for you to get those on your calendar. First thrdth would be October 28 morning, November 3 and November 10 with budget approval date being th as I said early in November 15. I do want to thank staff, the Deputy Administrator, the Finance Department, our Tax Assessors Office in pulling together all of this data for us as well as all the departments and agencies for the cooperation in working with us. Mr. Mayor: Ms. Jackson, can you go back to the previous slide? All right if we could just pause there for a moment. I think it would be appropriate if we sent this out to everyone so that we can, I think we ought to for failure to just be acting prematurely we could probably take action on adopting this calendar on next Tuesday and give everybody an opportunity to check their calendars and schedules to make sure that this fits for (inaudible). Given a timeline there are a 32 th series pursuant to the calendar that was adopted previously there’s a on October the 25 a request st to publish a public hearing notice in the newspaper followed by a public hearing on November 1 and then of course publishing the notice of budget adoption in the newspaper. And so to that end I think there are a series of things that probably need to be brought into alignment. I’m only looking at what was adopted earlier this year, Ms. Bonner, that’s why I’m referencing those dates from so maybe if we again take this, let’s send this out to everybody and then we’ll come back and on next Tuesday as opposed to trying to decide right now a motion to give yourselves sufficient th. enough time. All right the Chair recognizes the Commissioner from the 9 State your inquiry. Mr. M. Williams: Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Ms. Jackson, thank you for the presentation and I understand I’m just looking at the work schedule workshop for the Commission. And I guess my question would be what time will we have in this time to change any of this or to make suggestions to any of this to offset what we’ve got. I mean there’s several things I looked at here that I’m not satisfied with as a Commissioner. Just wanted to know about the input that we may have. You mentioned several things and one thing we talked about was economic development that the Mayor preaches to me every Monday morning I meet with him and I turn around and I preach it back to him but we talk about it all the time. But it takes money to make money. If we don’t do anything to start generating money, we just do our budget but we don’t put anything in to help make money for us or to get money like other cities are doing then we’re going to end up every year and that’s what we’ve been doing kind of the same thing and looking for different results. So I think there’s some input we’d like to talk about and have some cuts that were made seriously on one side and not so serious on the other side, I don’t understand that and how did we get to that point. You’re driving the bus; I’m just sitting in the back and I understand you made some suggestions so but I just think that dialog that we need to have with the Commissioners to see in what directions we really want to go into that now. We know the deadline I think was what November the 15 that’s when we got to try to finalize stuff which we had some previous pre- conversation prior to now. Sylvia Cooper taught me that there’s always a meeting before the meeting. I had to learn that but I wish we would’ve had a meeting before this meeting that I could’ve enlightened some things that I thought or saw that I see in the handout. But will we have th enough time on if we do it up until the 10 like you scheduled here because we’re going to make some tough decisions now I mean when it’s budget time this ain’t my first rodeo, Donna, I’ve been on this thing before and it’s thrown me a lot of times but I get back up. Ain’t nothing wrong with falling I say it all the time just standing down is the problem so I don’t mind getting thrown off just as long as I can get back up so. But I think there’s some things that we really need to look at th and talk about so we can finally get to where we need to be. So, the 10 I guess does that give us that time? th Ms. Jackson: Yeah, we’ve got three meetings there. The first one would be October 28 which is ten days from today and then we’ve got three in there; we can add in additional meetings if you all deem necessary. In the meantime, if you have questions I think as Commissioner Guilfoyle indicated if you have questions or you want to have a discussion I’m available for discussion with any Commissioner prior to that time so we can hash out what some of the issues are and go from there. Mr. M. Williams: Well if you think we’ve got time because you know we’re going to have this Come to Jesus conversation I call it and everybody ought to come but everybody ain’t coming 33 you know that don’t you. I’m like I just know there’s going to be a time when we’re going to have to make some tough decisions, make some choices. That’s something we’ve got to have that’s something that we you know we’re going to have to have certain things because of the general public here. I don’t want to raise taxes but let me put this out and make it plain out of 159 counties in Georgia we still are one of the lowest and I’m not proposing an increase. I’m just saying out of 159 though we are among the lowest. Now I think if you’re going to pay taxes you ought to get something for what you pay you ought not to be paying taxes just because you’re one of the lowest. I mean we ought to be doing some things that’s really progressive versus the stuff that we’ve th always done but thank you, Mr. Mayor, that helps me out she says after the 10 we’ll give her time to do it. th Mr. Mayor: Okay all right the Chair recognizes the Commissioner from the 4. Mr. Sias: Thank you, sir. It’s just my concern that we need to, what was your proposal on the date of approving the schedule, Mayor? Mr. Mayor: Um, well our assumption is that an assumption is a lower form of living is that this is your first time seeing it. Those are good dates; I think they generally work but it will give you an opportunity if we adopt this on Tuesday of next week to at least check your schedules. This is hard and fast that we do that if not then we just adopt this and we move forward and if we have to make adjustments I guess, Ms. Bonner, we just make adjustments in motions, is that what you recommend? Okay. Mr. Sias: So then another assumption would be then in making adjustments on the fly we will consider this schedule good enough for us to start working with? Mr. Mayor: I think that’s what I heard. Mr. Sias: I just don’t want us to be hanging around working on the schedule when we need to be working on the budget. Mr. Mayor: I couldn’t agree with you more. Mr. Sias: So we can start with this and if we need to make an adjustment that’s fine but I would love to see us at least approve the schedule today. Mr. Mayor: Exactly and I would also ask that let’s make sure we include the, Commissioner Sias, let’s make sure we include the public town meetings in this. There not indicated here but if you go back to what was previously adopted earlier this year --- The Clerk: (inaudible) budget calendar right? Mr. Mayor: That’s correct. Ms. Jackson: It’s part of the budget calendar that’s already been approved. 34 Mr. Mayor: And again I’m only one and to put it there as a point of information knowing that we’ve already adopted it but those dates do matter in the context of the workshop dates. Mr. Sias: As I’m still hoping to have the mike, Ms. Jackson, those dates that the Mayor is referring to that we’ve already been approved and Ms. Bonner, those dates you’ve taken those into consideration with this schedule would I be correct in saying that? st The Clerk: Yes, sir, the public hearing will be held prior to our November 1 Commission meeting at one o’clock so that’s built in. Mr. Sias: Okay so then --- The Clerk: It’s just the public hearing for the public to come in to give comments, public comment on the budget. No action is really required from the Commission. Mr. Sias: --- so to if I can, may say this and I’ll make a motion if I get a second that’s fine if not then, move that we approve the workshop schedule to include the dates that as far as the dates that have already been predesignated that they fit in as well. Would that be appropriate Mr. as a language, Ms. Jackson? Ms. Jackson: Correct, yes, sir. Mr. G. Smith: Second. th Mr. Mayor: The Chair recognizes the Commissioner from the 9. Mr. M. Williams: Thank you, Mr. Mayor, if we do that then we’re saying to the general public to come in that this is what we have agreed on. I mean if the public comes in and comments on what we’ve got here and I’m not satisfied with this myself personally. So, if the public comes in and thinking this is our comment period and they either agree or disagree, but this is not what we have said. (inaudible conversation) So, okay thank you, Ms. Bonner, thank you that’s why you’re the best Clerk in America because you’re keeping me straight. So by adopting the dates don’t necessarily mean we’re adopting this --- Ms. Jackson: Right. Mr. M. Williams: --- okay well I just want to get clear, Donnie, because you done tricked me before. You can’t trick me no more. I’ve been tricked so many times I’m scared of myself sometimes. I understand. I’m just making it clear. So, that doesn’t mean we’re adopting it we’re only adopting the schedules so people can come. I’ve got no problem with that, no problem with that. Mr. Mayor: All right so we’ve got a motion and a second. The Chair recognizes the th Commissioner from the 7. 35 Mr. Frantom: If we adopt the schedule I mean we can still make changes to it if needed -- - The Clerk: Oh yes. Mr. Frantom: --- because I think we need to have one in the afternoon or at night for the public to be frank with you. I mean 1:00 o’clock people can’t come because they work so, thank you, Mayor. th Mr. Mayor: All right the Chair recognizes the Commissioner from the 6. Mr. Hasan: Yes, sir, Mr. Mayor, my question’s to the Administrator. Madam Administrator, if we adopt this schedule you have outlined here how soon will we get some information that we can look at prior to the meeting? Ms. Jackson: Your budget books are here today. Mr. Hasan: Okay. Ms. Jackson: As I indicated earlier they will be handed out to you at the conclusion of the presentation so the Finance Department has them ready. Mr. Hasan: All right thank you, ma’am. Mr. Mayor: All right, we’ve got a motion and a second. Voting. Mr. Fennoy, Mr. Lockett and Mr. Guilfoyle out. Motion Passes 7-0. The Clerk: ENGINEERING SERVICES 30. Discuss garbage collection. (Requested by Commissioner Marion Williams) Mr. Mayor: All right thank you, Madam Clerk, the Chair recognizes the Commissioner th from the 9. Mr. M. Williams: Thank you, Mr. Mayor. This was on the Public Services Committee but nothing, we didn’t have a quorum I think. But this was supposed to be something I brought to the attention of the committee or this body about the garbage pickup. I said on an earlier news broadcast that if we were picking up 100lbs of garbage twice a week and now we’re picking up 100lbs of garbage once a week the garbage is being on top of the cans being overflowed, it’s being, it’s on the side of the cans and it’s not really working for us like we thought it would. Now I was a proponent of once a week service. I thought that would be great but because I don’t collect a lot of garbage and don’t have a lot of trash but those with two to four people or more in a family creates a lot more trash to be picked up. And I see it all over the city where trash is on top of the 36 cans, trash is on the side of the cans, debris has been put out and the wind gets to it, the animals get to it and it’s just not working. So, I wanted to bring it to this body so we can start to look at what we need to do. We increase, we decrease the service but we kept the same price and we ought to be getting better service and we’re not getting that. So, if we’re paying and we’re charging the people we’re picking up 100lbs twice a week now we’re going to once a week something else has to be done. You should not have to call the landfill or shouldn’t have to call 311 when you set stuff out on the street. It’s out on the street for the garbage men to see that’s why you set you cans out you don’t call them and tell you set your cans out you set your cans out and they come along and pick it up. But we’ve got stuff on the side of the street, mattresses, furniture different stuff that’s supposed to be picked up and it really don’t look good. So, I’m hoping this body is able to understand and address that issue in whatever shape or form we need to do it, Mr. Mayor. th Mr. Mayor: Okay all right, the Chair recognizes the Commissioner from the 6. Mr. Hasan: Yes, sir, Mr. Mayor, I’d like to ask Mr. Johnson a question if you don’t mind. Mr. Mayor: Mr. Johnson, if you’ll approach. Mr. Hasan: Mr. Johnson, how’re you doing, sir? Mr. Johnson: I’m doing well, sir. Mr. Hasan: What does our contract look like in terms of a timeline with the business or the haulers right now? Mr. Johnson: The current terms --- Mr. Hasan: Yes, sir. st Mr. Johnson: --- of the agreement? This contract will end December 31 2021. Mr. Hasan: 2021? Mr. Johnson: Yes, sir. Mr. Hasan: And so does this contract include all the haulers that involved with are we, I mean are mean how many are we actually doing business with? I’m not saying how many subs involved how many are we actually doing business with? Mr. Johnson: We have contracts with two haulers Advanced Disposal and Inland Services of which they each have a local small business sub-contractor. Mr. Hasan: So the start and expiration dates are identical --- Mr. Johnson: Yes. 37 Mr. Hasan: --- until 2021. Mr. Johnson: Yes, sir. Mr. Hasan: Any kind of provisions to address the concerns that Commissioner Williams explaining, expounding about? Mr. Johnson: Our contract has the ability through mutual agreements or negotiations to make modification if this body so desires. So, if there’s a will of the body to change we have that option in our contract. Mr. Hasan: So could that possibly increase the cost to the taxpayers in doing that if just saying taking on another date could that be an increase of cost or do you, let me before you respond to that is that something we need to discuss in another setting? Mr. Johnson: If you add services to a contract it most likely will increase the cost, yes, sir. Mr. Hasan: Okay, all right, thank you. Mr. M. Williams: Point of Privilege, Mr. Mayor? th Mr. Mayor: The Chair recognizes the Commissioner from the 9. Mr. M. Williams: Thank you. Ms. Bonner, I need some institutional knowledge on your records from your remembrance. Can we bind to a contract an on-coming Commissioner or an on-coming set of Commissioners I mean I’m hearing the first time I heard 20, what’s that date Mark the contract ends? Mr. Johnson: 2021. Mr. M. Williams: 2021. Can we vote on a contract that binds other Commissioners who may be are newly elected or coming in to be elected this year next year? I mean I’m trying remember all that stuff I can get it all right so. The Clerk: Early on that was the case however from the ruling that you may have gotten a few years ago from your General Counsel indicated that you could do that so I would defer to him. Mr. M. Williams: Yeah, yeah I think somebody needs to because I’m just going what I remember now. I’ve been here all this time and I’ve been paying attention I just --- The Clerk: Your earlier life --- Mr. M. Williams: Yeah, my earlier life right so I want to know when that changed and I want to see that change that we can do a contract not just with garbage but with anybody. When you bind another Commissioner that comes on that had no vote and no authority in that and then 38 we put out, you’re talking about 2021. I mean not one or two years do you know how long that it that’s illegal now he can’t tell me that’s legal. So I’d like the help from the General Counsel as to when that was done and I’d like to see that in writing if I can. Mr. MacKenzie: Sure, I’d be happy to pull up a copy of that but there were some adjustments to that to allow local and state governments to enter into contracts that are longer than one year. And I think I can probably pull up a copy for you quickly and email it if you’d like to print it out. Mr. M. Williams: And it specified binding because it was specified in the rules that we had that you could not bind. So, I guess that piece you’ve got says otherwise that it does bind another Commissioner because when you go that long there’s no sense in anybody else coming to the table because they’ve got it locked in. And I’ve got some issues with that but you don’t have to do it now but if you’d get me a copy of that I’d like to see that. Mr. MacKenzie: I’d be happy to do that. Mr. M. Williams: Thank you, sir. Mr. Mayor: All right, Commissioner, what’s your pleasure? Mr. M. Williams: I mean the only thing I can do, Mr. Mayor, is receive it as information --- Mr. Frantom: Second. Mr. M. Williams: --- until I get the other information from the Attorney to see where, how we bind because if that one contract can do that how many others can we do, we can do them all I guess. So, if the rules changed because I was out for a while now it’s been a long time, Grady, they ran me out of town because my time had ran out on me but the opened the door and let me back in. Mr. Smith: (inaudible). Mr. Mayor: I think we’ve got a motion to receive as information and a second from the th Commissioner from the 6. Voting. Mr. Fennoy, Mr. Lockett and Mr. Guilfoyle out. Motion Passes 7-0. The Clerk: APPOINTMENTS 31. Motion to approve the appointment of Commissioner Dennis Williams, District 2, to the South Augusta Development Authority Study Committee. (Requested by Commissioner Sammie Sias) 39 Mr. Smith: So moved. Ms. Davis: Second. Mr. Mayor: Okay, all right, I appreciate that. The Chair has heard a motion and a second. th I’ll recognize the Commissioner from the 9. State your inquiry. Mr. M. Williams: Thank you, Mr. Mayor. I pulled this when they tried to add it to the regular agenda to find out was this discussed in the subcommittee meeting. Is there a reason for an additional member or do we need more than one, who made this selection, how did, I mean you just can’t pick who you want I don’t think? I mean I think it ought to became before this subcommittee to say hey, there’s an additional member needed. I hadn’t heard any of that and then if you decide on A, B or C I mean I might want someone else. I mean but I’d like to know how we got to this point. I know I see the name associated with it but how do we get to appoint - -- Mr. Mayor: Okay. Mr. M. Williams: --- Joe. Q. elected official to that board without going through the proper channels that should be done either through Administrative Services or the subcommittee. I mean somebody should have. Mr. Mayor: Okay, very good. All right the Chair recognizes the Mayor Pro Tem. Mr. G. Smith: Mr. Mayor, what I’d like to know is you know how many people are they planning to have on this authority and study committee. And, you know, what are going to be some of the requirements, do we know that? Mr. Mayor: Okay all right so, what I’m going to do is I’m going to take all of those th questions and I’m going to send them to the Commissioner from the 4 who is going to speak to th those matters. The Chair recognizes the Commissioner from the 4. Mr. Sias: Thank you, Mayor. All right you know how we’ve got all these rocket scientists around here and they keep coming up with stuff. So, the bottom line on this is when we the same name that you see that requested he also did the request for the members of the study committee when this Commission approved it. And the idea in the initial was you had the Commissioners that were really touching the South Augusta part. And one of the members we inadvertently nd overlooked in that initial appointment request was the Commissioner from the 2. And to rectify that situation the request was made, not a demand, it’s not an authority, it’s a request to add this Commissioner to the study group. And the study committee is not an authority. It was a committee that this Commission empaneled to see if there was a need or to look to what could be the nd consideration for an authority. And this motion is simple it requests to add our 2 District Commissioner to that group, nothing more, nothing less. Thank you. th Mr. Mayor: The Chair recognizes the Commissioner from the 9. 40 Mr. M. Williams: Thank you, Mr. Mayor. The motion reads to according to appointments if the Commissioner had requested that in the subcommittee then the subcommittee would have addressed that. But now I don’t, I missed one meeting ya’ll but I ain’t missed many. I’d just like to know how this is going to evolve with the selection process. We made the selection process in the subcommittee before the subcommittee was formed as to who would be on the board. And anybody is able to come and participate; you don’t have to really be a member. I mean if you if there’s a reason that you’re trying to get someone in it’s one thing but any elected official especially can participate in any of these meetings so I’m trying to figure out how the selection was made. Mr. Mayor: Well --- Mr. M. Williams: Because I mean I work with all these men, Ms. Bonner, and Mary Davis would be great to be on there. I’m getting tired of looking at some of these fellas; I might want to appoint Mary on that board or something. The Clerk: Watch it, watch it. Mr. M. Williams: I’m tired of looking at all these hard head fellows so I mean I might want to appoint somebody else. Grady, you just can’t pick who you want, there’s a process. nd Mr. Mayor: All right the Chair recognizes the Commissioner from the 2. Mr. D. Williams: Mr. Mayor --- Mr. Mayor: Yes, sir. Mr. D. Williams: --- if I recall correctly when there was discussion about forming the subcommittee I did make indication that I was interested in serving on the subcommittee. And somehow my name was omitted when the sub-commission was formed, that’s all. I’m not trying to get anything out of it but I’m more concerned about my district more than anything else. And I do come to, I have been to several of the meetings. Mr. Mayor: Okay all righty. The Chair will entertain a motion. The Clerk: We have one --- Mr. Mayor: We have one? The Clerk: --- we have one, yes, sir. Mr. Mayor: Do we have a proper second? The Clerk: Yes, sir --- 41 Mr. Sias: Point of (inaudible). Mr. Mayor: Hold on, just hold on --- Mr. Sias: (inaudible). Mr. Mayor: --- I know who’s here and who ain’t. I’ve got my eyes on. Mr. M. Williams: Now if they walk out you can’t hold a meeting --- Ms. Sias: (inaudible). Mr. M. Williams: --- no, you can’t, you can’t do that now, you can’t. Mr. Sias: I didn’t. Mr. M. Williams: But it’s obvious you don’t even understand the rules. If somebody walks out ain’t nobody taking them out, they walked out. That’s crazy I mean you’ve got to, just act like hold it, Mr. Mayor, don’t go and vote right now because my man ain’t here. But your man ain’t got no business being here, he didn’t stay in the meeting, that’s crazy. Mr. Hasan: Commissioner, Commissioner, you got that wrong. Mr. Sias: (unintelligible). Mr. M. Williams: Wait, hold it, hold it now I remember what I said I’m tired of playing this game now (unintelligible). Mr. Mayor: I would hope that all of ya’ll would display some sense of decorum. We don’t have to blurt out just take a few minutes, it’s okay. I’ve got a motion and a second, Ms. Bonner. Voting. Mr. M. Williams votes No. Mr. Fennoy, Mr. Lockett and Mr. Guilfoyle out. Motion Passes 6-1. Mr. Mayor: There’d be no further business this meeting is adjourned. \[MEETING ADJOURNED\] Lena Bonner Clerk of Commission 42 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 October 18, 2016. ______________________________ Clerk of Commission 43