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HomeMy WebLinkAboutCalled Commission Meeting December 12, 2017 CALLED MEETING COMMISSION CHAMBER December 12, 2017 Augusta Richmond Commission convened at 11:00 a.m., Tuesday, December 12, 2017, the Honorable Hardie Davis, Jr., Mayor, presiding. PRESENT: Hons. Jefferson, Guilfoyle, Sias, Frantom, M. Williams, Davis, Fennoy, D. Williams, Hasan and Smith, members of Augusta Richmond County Commission. Mr. Mayor: Good morning, everybody. The Chair recognizes Attorney MacKenzie. 1. LEGAL MEETING A. Pending and potential litigation B. Real estate C. Personnel Mr. MacKenzie: I would entertain a motion to go into an executive session to discuss pending and potential litigation and personnel. Mr. Sias: So move. Mr. Fennoy: Second. Mr. Mayor: I’ve got a motion and second. Voting. Mr. M. Williams, Mr. Smith and Ms. Davis out. Motion carries 7-0. \[EXECUTIVE SESSION\] Mr. Mayor: All right, we’ll reconvene. The Chair recognizes Attorney MacKenzie. 2. Motion to authorize execution by the Mayor of the affidavit of compliance with Georgia’s Open Meeting Act. Mr. MacKenzie: I would entertain a motion to execute the closed meeting affidavit. Mr. Fennoy: So move. Mr. Frantom: Second. Mr. Mayor: Voting. Motion carries 10-0. Mr. Mayor: The Chair recognizes Attorney MacKenzie for a motion. 1 Mr. MacKenzie: Sure. I would entertain a motion to increase the monthly supplement of the Chief Judge of State Court from $300 to $500 per month effective August 1, 2017 so long as the Richmond County Probation Office remains a subdivision of the State Court. Mr. Sias: So move. Mr. Fennoy: Second. Mr. Mayor: A motion and a second. Voting. Motion carries 10-0. Mr. Mayor: I would recognize Attorney MacKenzie for a motion. Mr. MacKenzie: I would entertain a motion to approve a resolution authorizing the settlement of all claims by Jacob Harrison, a Workers Comp case, with a contribution by Augusta, Georgia in an amount not to exceed $300,000 and to authorize Corvel, the third party administrator, to disburse this amount. Mr. Hasan: So move. Mr. Sias: Second. Mr. Mayor: A motion and a second. Voting. Motion carries 10-0. Mr. Mayor: I would recognize Attorney MacKenzie for a motion. Mr. MacKenzie: I would entertain a motion to approve a resolution authorizing the settlement of all claims by Quincy Jordon, a Workers Comp case, with a contribution by Augusta, Georgia in an amount not to exceed $250,000 and to authorize Corvel, the third party administrator, to disburse this amount. Mr. Hasan: So move. Mr. D. Williams: Second. Mr. Mayor: A motion and a second. Voting. Motion carries 10-0. Mr. Mayor: All right, that’s all the matters that we have before us for that portion of our meeting. We now are at the special called meeting portion of the agenda. 2 3. Move to approve having Mr. Rocky Joyner of GMEBS report back to the Augusta Commission on January 16, 2018 with the presentation on retirement benefits to achieve the 2% multiplier. The previous request for a survey of employees is no longer needed and is hereby deleted from the presentation. (Requested by Commissioner Sammie Sias) th Mr. Mayor: The Chair recognizes the commissioner from the 4. Mr. Sias: Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Let me make something clear that one of the most important things that in today’s world any employer can do for their employees is provide a viable and good retirement plan and we’ve had many questions about here in Augusta Richmond County about employee exits, employee turnover and I think that it’s time that this Commission take a full look at the retirement benefit and retirement program that we have. And one of the main concerns we’ve had about the 2% multiplier and the second one we’ve had it kind of revolves around public safety and their age of retirement. But I think first we need to really look close at our 2% multiplier for all of our employees to give to them what they’ve earned is an excellent retirement system. This motion today is not to supersede or go around the Pension Committee but it’s to get this concept moving whereas we had a 60-day timeframe that we were unable to meet and bring this back so this motion today is to get our retirement consideration back on track, get a presentation from Mr. Joyner and then we could run it again through our Pension Committee to bring a recommendation back to the full Commission but we need to do that without delay. So move to approve the motion as read by our Clerk. th Mr. Mayor: The Chair recognizes the commissioner from the 7. Mr. Frantom: Thank you, Mr. Mayor. My question is for the legal department does this presentation need to go back through the Pension Committee? Mr. MacKenzie: The presentation doesn’t need to ideally. The Pension Committee would have an opportunity to make a recommendation regarding any final decisions. Mr. Frantom: Thank you, Mr. Mayor. st Mr. Mayor: I recognize the commissioner from the 1. Mr. Fennoy: Mr. Mayor, just to follow up on what Commissioner Sias just said, several of the deputies with the Sheriff’s Department had talked about what their concern and what they said was that they were really concerned about the retirement package as opposed to really getting a higher salary. And I think that we should come up with a real good retirement package for our public safety officers and give them a raise that would help a whole lot to attract deputies to the Richmond County Sheriff’s Department and to retain deputies with the Richmond County Sheriff’s Department. I have friends of mine that are retired deputies and many of them have 35, 40, 45 years with the Sheriff’s Department and the reason that they work so long with the Sheriff’s Department is because based on the present retirement system that we have, they could not afford to retire. So I think that if we could somehow move forward with this right here, that would go a 3 long ways in helping attract deputies to the Sheriff’s Department and retain deputies once they’re hired. Mr. Mayor: All right, we’ve got a motion and a second. Voting. Motion carries 10-0. Mr. Mayor: I think that’s all the business we have before us in the special called meeting. All right. \[MEETING ADJOURNED\] Lena J. Bonner Clerk of Commission CERTIFICATION: I, Lena J. Bonner, Clerk of Commission, hereby certify that the above is a true and correct copy of the minutes of the Called Meeting of the Augusta Richmond County Commission held on December 12, 2017. ________________________ Clerk of Commission 4