Loading...
HomeMy WebLinkAboutRegular Commission Meeting June 28, 2018 REGULAR MEETING COMMISSION CHAMBER JUNE 28, 2018 Augusta Richmond County Commission convened at 2:00 p.m., June 28, 2018, the Hon. Hardie Davis, Jr., Mayor, presiding. PRESENT: Hons. Sias, Frantom, M. Williams, Davis, D. Williams and Smith, members of Augusta Richmond County Commission. ABSENT: Hons. Jefferson, Guilfoyle, Fennoy and Hasan, members of Augusta Richmond County Commission. Mr. Mayor: All right, good afternoon everybody. Welcome to your local government, to the people’s Chamber. We are going to receive our Chaplain, we’re going to give the Pledge of Allegiance and we will hear from our Delegations. If everyone would please stand we’re going to receive our invocation by Reverend Jim Hyder, Pastor of Liberty United Methodist Church followed by our Pledge of Allegiance and then the, we’ll have the invocation and then the Pledge of Allegiance. The invocation was given by Reverend Jim Hyder, Pastor, Liberty United Methodist Church. The Pledge of Allegiance to the Flag of the United States of America was recited. The Clerk: Office of the Mayor. Office of Mayor Hardie Davis, Jr. by these present be it known that Reverend Jim Hyder, Pastor of the Liberty United Methodist Church is Chaplain of the Day. His spiritual guidance and civic leadership serves as an example for all citizens of th Augusta. Given under my hand this 28 Day of June 2018, Hardie Davis, Jr., Mayor. Thank you so much. Mr. Mayor: Let’s join in giving our Chaplain of the Day a hand. (APPLAUSE) I do want to take just a few minutes and we’ll move to hearing from our delegations in just a moment but I wanted to take a moment that we do acknowledge the untimely and unfortunate passing of a gentlemen commonly referred to as Wheelchair Mike. But Mike as many of us have seen and known was gunned down. In fact it happened I was with another Commissioner we had just had a bite to eat and as soon as we walked out of the restaurant, a young lady came over to both of us and told us what had happened and it was two blocks over from where we were having a meal. The issue of crime in our community is real; it is something that we are actively engaged in. Our Sheriff has not been asleep and we are supporting not only our Sheriff but the largest full-service Sheriff’s Agency in the State of Georgia. So I want to take a moment of silence in acknowledgement of this gentleman. I think that’s appropriate and then I’ll come back and say a few comments with regards to the issue of crime in our community. At this time let us recognize the life of one Mike, thank you. We again live in the second largest city in the State of Georgia. Crime happens everywhere; crime is not isolated Harrisburg is not isolated to Arcadia Airfield, Sommerville. Crime happens everywhere. And because we believe that we’ve got capable and 1 competent members of our Law Enforcement Agency, it is our expectation that they will locate these perpetrators or perpetrator of this crime and they’ll be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law. There’s been a lot of conversation about “the lack of attention given areas in our community” and that’s just not true. When you think about what’s going on in places like Harrisburg where this unfortunate and untimely incident happened, I want to let you know that your local law enforcement our Sheriff is front and center. Since January there have been almost 14 arrests of individuals whether it be drugs, whether it be individuals who are possession of firearms in committing crimes, we have been tracking this information. Our Sheriff’s Agency has been aggressive in nature in attempting to address this but yet that’s not what you hear and I want to make sure I clearly communicate that today, that our Sheriff and his agency are actively working on these issues. As I said before crime happens everywhere. We have bad actors and perpetrators and when caught we will prosecute them to the fullest extent of the law. Whether it be the issue of Harrisburg and again since January of this year through June 18 of this very month, there’s been an aggressive effort to identify, to locate, and to arrest individuals who are perpetrators of crime whether it be drugs, whether it be with firearms and that will continue that we provide our Sheriff’s agency with the resources that they need. I also while at the same time want to make mention of this issue around the concern of gang activity. Augusta like any growing city, major metropolitan city of now some 202,000 people you have individuals who are coming into the community aligning themselves with gangs. That just tells us we have more work to do. To these young people who are sitting out in the audience today, as your Mayor I will tell you don’t get involved in gangs. It doesn’t matter who you are, it doesn’t matter what school you attend, find opportunities to get involved in the Boys and Girls Club, find opportunities to get involved in the Family Y, your local church but you don’t have to resort to gang activity. And again this is not an issue that’s isolated to a particular ethnic group or demographic. All across our community you’ve got young people who are involved in gangs and they’re starting as early as elementary school. And so to that end while some would suggest there’s been an uptick in violence in our community that’s not necessarily true. In the month of June you had two perpetrators who were committing a series of crimes on the southside of town and these were violent crimes, aggravated assault with guns. But across the City of Augusta from the time that our Sheriff has come onboard until this very moment we have seen a decrease in aggravated assaults with guns, we’ve seen a decrease in weapons violations and this is in every zone. We have seen not only that trend to continue to take a downward spiral but this is because of the aggressive efforts of our local law enforcement office and agency. In the south precinct you’ve gone from in Zone 5 which is historically one of our hotspots 31 weapons violations to 13. You’ve gone in Zone 6 from 42 to 10. That tells me that there’s work being done. In the north precinct aggravated assaults with guns you’ve gone from 32 last year to 15 this year in Zone 2. In Zone 1 you’ve gone from 21 to 9. These are things that you don’t hear about. The media’s not going to tell you this and you as citizens generally don’t know what questions to ask in order to be able to get this information. What does that mean? That means that we have to a better job of telling the story. We as the City of Augusta, we as local law enforcement, we as the agencies that represent you, we’ve got to do a much better job of telling our own story as opposed to letting parts of the story be told. A guy gets shot in the foot in Augusta, the homicides committed in Aiken but the lead story is the guy who got shot in the foot. We’ve got to do better. I also have some good news to share in River Glen there’s been an acquisition of River Glen by New Dominica Development. Many of us are very familiar with River Glen; historically it’s been a hotspot in our city. There’s going to be an $16 million-dollar investment on the property; they can increase the capacity of residents. Much of the redevelopment that you 2 th see taking place right there on 15 Street you’ll see something similar taking place at River Glen. That’s good news for our city, that’s good news for the residents who live in that area, and it will th have some of the same amenities that we are foreseeing built whether it’s Walton on Green on 15 Street, the former Sunset Homes, or here off of Sandbar Ferry. That’s the Augusta you’re going to see moving forward but we’re taking care of our citizens, we’re providing them with quality, affordable housing but we’ve got to tell that story. That’s the Augusta you’ll see in the days ahead. And then I’ll share one more. There’s been a lot of conversation about a trip that I took recently, a delegation trip that I took to Texas and I’m going to make mention of that. I am the Mayor of Augusta, Georgia, the second largest city in the State of Georgia. Not Mayberry. I was doing the Mayor’s business. As I said I joined 17 other Mayors from across the country focused on this issue, as the U.S. Conference of Mayors has been for decades, around the issues of passing immigration reform. Yes, when President Obama was the president we had the same conversation then, all eight years that he was in office. We said you need to pass immigration reform; we were vigilant in that. Since I’ve been your Mayor since 2015 this is a conversation that we’ve had every single year whether it’s the Obama administration and now the Trump administration. Why did I get involved in this conversation? One, it was a bipartisan effort that focused on the issue of we have a failed immigration system and number two, you had over 2,500 individuals who were separated from their families. Now that may not mean anything to some of us in the room or even those of you out on Facebook but it means something to me and I thought it was important to weigh in on that conversation as a member of the Advisory Board. People look for their local leaders to engage and bring resources and address problems that build our communities. The thing, Commissioner Sias, that made this so relevant for me was that I rode up Broad Street and I looked at who was building the Hyatt House Hotel and then I went over to Reynolds Street and I looked at who was building the Georgia Cyber Innovation and Training Center and I looked at the folks who were walking along Riverwalk doing that redevelopment work as well and they were immigrants. They were and they are. And for them to be in the City of Augusta I wanted them to know that there’s a Mayor and there’s a city that will work for them, that will include them and it will not exclude them. That’s why I went and that’s important. That’s the community of inclusion that from day one we’ve said Augusta has to be, it must be, and it will be. And in the days ahead there will be other opportunities to engage on other issues of importance to this local government, to our citizens, and to the City of Augusta and as such in doing the Mayor’s business I will engage in those things. And I appreciate the Commissioners who supported that and who spoke out openly and supported that. I appreciate that, I really do. All right, Madam Clerk, I think it’s appropriate at this time to hear from our Delegations. Madam Clerk. The Clerk: ADDENDUM 9. Reverend Robert Patton regarding new hours of operations at the Henry Brigham Senior Center. (Requested by Commissioner Marion Williams) The Clerk: Okay all right our first delegation Reverend Robert Patton regarding new hours of the operations at the Henry Brigham Senior Center along with their delegation. Reverend Patton: Thank you, Madam Secretary, thank you, Mayor. Would the senior citizens from Brigham please stand so that they can see who we are? Mr. Mayor --- 3 Mr. Mayor: Reverend Patton, you have five minutes --- Reverend Patton: --- five minutes. Mr. Mayor: --- yes, sir. Reverend Patton: Mr. Mayor, on Friday of last week we entered the Brigham Senior Citizens Center and we encountered a sign which said that the senior citizen hours of operation are Monday through Friday 8:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. We understand that the Brigham Center is a cooling center for senior citizens in the summertime and I understand it’s a heating center in the wintertime and those hours are from 11:00 to 8:00 and this upset many of us. We use the senior citizen building over there on a daily basis and we are here because of that concern and we would like clarification on that, and yes, we would like clarification on that. Our understanding is from 11:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. that the Senior Citizen Centers would be open for as cooling centers for senior citizens and we have not gotten an appropriate answer yet and that’s our concern. Mr. Mayor: Well, thank you, Reverend Patton I appreciate that. All right, I’m going to ask Administrator Jackson to speak to this matter. Again we’re just hearing at this point, we’re in a listening mode. Ms. Jackson: Yes, in fact I’d like to turn to our Recreation and Parks Director, Mr. Parker. He can respond in detail to that question. Mr. Parker: Thank you, Ms. Jackson, Mayor. A couple of clarifications and explanations if I can. Recently we’ve had a good bit of staff change at Brigham. One of the things that happened in the staff changes, one of the new staff did put up a sign that clarifies the hours for the Senior Center, the hours of the center itself have not changed, they’ve always ended at 3:00 o’clock. It has been the practice to allow the senior to stay a little bit longer. There’s a card group who plays cards quite regularly at Brigham Senior Center and they have been allowed to stay in the center. As far as the cooling shelter the Brigham Recreation Center is the recognized cooling shelter not the Senior Center. It is open and available every day for anyone who would like to go in and utilize that center. And I do think too we talked to some of the new staff over there. They understand that this, I think it is pinochle, forgive me if it’s not, but the group that plays over there you know we have allowed them to stay on to finish their games and continue their card playing as long as I’ve been here and before so I think we’re continuing to do that now. But the actual hours of the center have never, have never altered. Mr. Mayor: So, hold on, hold on one second. All right, the Chair recognizes the th Commissioner from the 9. Mr. M. Williams: Thank you, Mr. Mayor. To Reverend Patton and to all of the rest of the seniors I received a call from Reverend Patton and I asked him to call the Clerk to come down to find out what the issue was about it. I’m a little bit confused because I’m hearing now that the senior building is not the cooling center that Reverend Patton is thinking it was. Is that a different building you’re saying --- 4 Mr. Parker: Yes, sir. Mr. M. Williams: --- so that building’s never been used for the cooling center? Mr. Parker: I can’t say never. I know when we publicized the buildings that we, the buildings we publicized as cooling centers is the Recreation Center at Brigham not the Senior Center. Mr. M. Williams: Is that where the kids are and everyone else? I that where the kids are? Mr. Parker: Yes, sir. Mr. M. Williams: Okay so the senior had not been using that prior to this occasion, right? They’ve been using the old building, the building you’re saying they’re playing cards in. Mr. Parker: Yes, sir. Mr. M. Williams: Okay, so why would they put a sign up, new staff or not, because I hope the new staff’s got a supervisor. I hope the new staff ain’t just turned loose over there. So why would they put a sign up displaying that and not explaining what it is? And I know things happen, Glenn, we’ve done been around this ballgame a lot of times. Things do happen but when people are using a facility and we’re not talking to them, we’re not communicating what we’re doing. Now the building really belongs to the public and we know that so it’s their building and we operate it so it looked like there would’ve been some communication as to when that was going to start. Now what I heard was there’s going to be some cleaning. The word I got back were there was going to be some cleaning. They need to get you know the people out of that building in order to do the cleaning but when you say it’ll be closed down there’s a difference in being closed for a certain time and then reopen. But the hours from 8:00 to 3:00 says those are the hours so after 3:00 I wouldn’t look for them to come so was there an issue with the cleaning? Mr. Parker: Let me address both of your points about communication. We have addressed that with our new staff member. She better understand now the communication with the seniors. When the card group is allowed to stay late in the afternoon, one of the agreements that’s always been in place with them if that building is rented which it sometimes is for events then they do have to leave at a certain time so the building can be cleaned and prepared for the rental that evening. Yes, sir, that’s where the cleaning part came into the discussion. Mr. M. Williams: That don’t add up to me but I’m going to get along, let Mr. Mayor handle that he’s in charge today. Reverend Patton: So are we to understand that we just remain in that building as long as there’s supervision on the premises as we have been in the past? Mr. Mayor: Okay, all right, Mr. Parker. 5 Mr. Parker: The staff of the senior building because they come in very early because of meals and the senior activities they typically leave around 3:00 o’clock. That’s what the hours say 3:00/3:00. What is now happening is the staff from the Recreation Center which is directly next door as these folks are allowed to stay they’ll go over and check on them so yes, sir, they can continue in the building. We don’t have, our seniors, our senior staff in that building they do leave though around 3:00/3:30. That’s their scheduled time to leave each day. Reverend Patton: So am I to understand that we may just remain there since there’s supervision on the premises? We’ve never had a problem, the seniors have never had a problem and this is just very upsetting to us. As long as we can continue as we have been in the past, you’ll have no problem from us but this was very upsetting. And it’s not just the pinochle players, there are other seniors there there’s a lot of activity on seniors in that building during those times and this seems like you’re taking something from us. Mr. Mayor: All right, Reverend Patton, hold on just for a second. All right, Director Parker, so if I go to this document right here that was posted on the door it effectively codified and said here’s what the hours are. The practice has been that they’re there from 8:00 until 5:00 --- Mr. Parker: Correct. Mr. Mayor: --- effectively that’s been the practice. And the practice has been that they’re there from 8:00 until 5:00 and there’s this practice that those who are in the gymnasium would come and secure the facility post 5:00 o’clock, okay, that’s the practice. Mr. Parker: Yes, sir. Mr. Mayor: And at the point of time we went and posted this what was practice was now being effectively codified as from 8:00 to 3:00 you can be here when the practice, I won’t even say assumption was that we’re here until 5:00. How do we reconcile this in light of one policy yes, but two, knowing that you want to secure the facility and if we’ve posted this would it not be more meaningful for us to post something that clarifies where we are as opposed to continuing a practice that tomorrow may come back and see something like this again? Mr. Parker: I think to best work out this situation what I’d like to offer is that I meet with the Pastor and the group along with the staff over there and talk through this issue. I personally don’t like leaving a building unattended --- Mr. Mayor: I don’t either. Mr. Parker: --- okay. So we’ve got to determine if the staff at the Rec Center if we’re comfortable allowing them as you say to secure that building and make sure --- Mr. Mayor: I’m not suggesting that the seniors be securing the building. I’m talking about our staff. And what we have here is a situation of where our staff has at 5:00 gone over and secured the building. 6 Mr. Parker: --- correct. Mr. Mayor: And so since that’s been the practice is it time for us now to go beyond practice and if you’ve codified this and yet it caused this issue in the community maybe what we should do is say Senior Center hours of operation are from 8:00 to 5:00, that’s right, that’s right. Mr. Parker: We would have to adjust some staff or change some hours to make that happen --- Mr. Mayor: Absolutely. Mr. Parker: --- and maybe that’s a part-time person that comes in and does some of that to help us. Mr. Mayor: I mean if we’re going to again meet the needs of a growing community and a community that’s been there for a long time that’s probably what we should be doing as opposed to artificially trying to solve this, okay. Mr. M. Williams: (Inaudible). Mr. Mayor: Well, that’s what we’ve said. The way it’s operated historically is that there’s again this practice that at 3:00 o’clock the regular staff leaves, they go away and the staff in the gymnasium where the younger people are they go across the street and they secure the building post 5:00 o’clock. That’s the practice but instead of it being a practice let’s go ahead and say that this is how we’re going to operate as a city. We’ve got other facilities that we do this at so I mean we’ve got to stop the squirrely stuff. Mr. M. Williams: Can I clarify this across the street? th Mr. Mayor: Hold on, hold on, I’m going to recognizes the Commissioner from the 4. Mr. Sias: (Unintelligible). Mr. Mayor: You’ll yield, okay all right he yields, Commissioner. Mr. M. Williams: I just want to clarify that across the street because it’s not across the street, it’s next door. Mr. Mayor: Well I --- Mr. Mayor: Well, I understand what you’re saying but I want to be clear it’s not across it’s next door. In fact you can almost reach out with two people and touch the other building, maybe three --- Mr. Mayor: --- sure. 7 Mr. M. Williams: --- and touch that other building so it’s not like you’ve got to go across the street or across the highway and I don’t want us to get that misconception. But however it was working before, you know it ought to be still be able to work that way now. But I’m hearing additional staff if we didn’t have to have additional staff in the beginning when it was working. I don’t think we should have additional staff they ought to be able to operate the same way. That person in Rec ought to told to go over there at 5:00 o’clock and secure the building. Now if you had trouble over there and we had no reports of any trouble. Mr. Mayor: I believe the gentleman knows of what he speaks. All right, the Chair th recognizes the Commissioner from the 4. Mr. Sias: Thank you, Mr. Mayor. If we’re running, Mr. Parker, if we’re running into an issue where you have to have this issue you know your standard senior citizen time, the Senior Program and then you move into the second phase that we want to have an extended Senior Program, you correct me if I’m wrong, but if I’m totally wrong well we can still work it. At Sand Hills do we have some of the seniors who are volunteer members who helped managed the program at Sand Hills? Mr. Parker: I think we do, yes, sir. Mr. Sias: Okay so then why not at that Henry Brigham we get some seniors who might be willing to do it and we do the training for them and then you can have a group who will become and you’re talking about from what I think what is it 2:00 to 5:00 or 3:00 to 5:00? Mr. Parker: 3:00 to 5:00. Mr. Sias: Now you have a some for lack of a better word a full-time staff next door so if there are issues that they can report to them or anything like that but you can train some seniors. And if I’m not mistaken I’m pretty sure they do that at Sand Hills so I think you should be able to do that at the Senior Center and therefore you don’t have the cost of additional staff but if you have some folks who are sort of managing their own program that have been trained and authorized by the department. If I may continue, Mr. Mayor, do you have a thought immediately on that, Mr. Parker, because that’s something you know naturally you’ve got to go back and do a little additional research but just your immediate answer. Mr. Parker: The first thought is to confirm Sand Hills --- Mr. Sias: Okay. Mr. Parker: --- my hope would be we’re not leaving that building in the hands of a volunteer without staff present, that would --- Mr. Sias: I don’t think it’s that way either. 8 Mr. Parker: --- right that would cause me some concern if we’re doing that and that’s somewhat the concern here. I don’t want to leave a building unattended. Now as Commissioner Williams pointed out it’s --- Mr. M. Williams: It’s next door. Mr. Parker: --- 50 feet there at Brigham so it’s very close and that has been the practice for a long time now that the staff from the Recreation Center would just go check on those folks periodically and then at the end of the evening they would close the building. But back to the comment to be consistent throughout our program if we want to look at 5:00 o’clock starting to end or close our Senior Centers at 5:00 o’clock we could, I think we need to look at that across the board instead of just one center. Mr. Sias: Let me make just one, Mr. Parker, now you and I are pretty much in agreement but one thing I do want to say. Everything don’t have to fit across the board or across the city everywhere. I think we need to move away from that. So if there’s some the Pastor, the Reverend here they may be more than happy to help supplement I think. And now you have to be careful now you know we’ve got 19 years of supplementing okay so just I think we can work that out and still keep it legal and I think that’s one of his concerns is about that and so but if we train those folks and you get an agreement down, I think you can make it happen, sir. Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Mr. Mayor: All right, thank you. All right, the Chair recognizes the Commissioner from th the 9. Mr. M. Williams: I’m good. Mr. Mayor: You’re good, okay. All right, so here’s what will happen, Reverend Patton and to our senior citizens who attend Brigham. We’ll continue the practice that we’ve had from 8:00 to 5:00 and the Director Mr. Parker will be meeting with the staff and yourselves at the Brigham Center to talk about how we continue to move forward working together as a community. Reverend Patton: Thank you, Mr. Mayor, we appreciate that. Mr. Mayor: All right. Reverend Patton: Thank you, Mr. Parker --- Mr. Mayor: Thank you. Reverend Patton: --- any other? Mr. Mayor: Thank you, sir. Reverend Patton: Thank you. The Clerk: 9 ADDENDUM 10. Ms. Shameka Gilead regarding the recent closure of Fleming Pool (Bernie Ward) and the reported pool chemical imbalance. (Requested by Commissioner Marion Williams) Ms. Gilead: Good afternoon, Mr. Mayor, Commission --- Mr. Mayor: Ms. Gilead, if you would again you told us your name, if you’ll tell us your address, you have five minutes. Ms. Gilead: --- Shameka Gilead, 2478 Miles Avenue, Augusta, Georgia. Mr. Mayor: Yes, sir, I mean yes, ma’am. Ms. Gilead: In the past week the Fleming pool has been closed to the public and this time the imbalance of it you’ve been letting the summer camp kids come into the pool. The chemicals is not in the pool. Why would the summer camp kids from McDuffie or any other property come and get in the pool and then an hour later you’re going to say oh it’s closed to the public because there’s no chemicals in the pool. When I called an spoke to someone at the Aquatic Center about this, they said well you can travel to Henry Brigham or to another pool facility and my thing is if I live less than a block away from this pool why should I have to travel across town with my children just to go swimming when I have a pool that’s less than a 100 feet from my front door? And at this time the pool is still closed but it was open Saturday and it’s closed Monday, it’s closed Tuesday and if you go by the pool right now it’s green. Mr. Mayor: Okay, Mr. Parker, if you’ll come forward. Mr. Parker: I’m aware of the pool being closed. I did hear something I wasn’t aware of and that the pool was open Saturday, I was not aware of that. We had a T-valve break at the Fleming Pool and what that caused is a difficult time in getting the part in that we needed. Staff made the decision that they could allow the day campers who are very small to come in and use the pool in the morning and then but they did not feel comfortable opening to the general public in the afternoon because it’s just larger kids, a larger volume of people in the pool. They felt very safe though with the kids in the day camp. Basically as I understand it and I’m not a CPO, a Certified Pool Operator but I understand that the T-valve helps control the volume of water that is recirculated so when that T-valve was down, we could not circulate the water quick enough to keep it the way it needed to be but we could do that close enough with the day campers and that’s why we allowed them to open. The repair to the T-valve is being made today as I understand it. Jones is open, Dyess is open and all our others are open right now. We have really these in addition to the valve and these storms we have had an interesting few days with our pools. Mr. Mayor: Okay all right, so Ms. Gilead your concern is one the chemical imbalance in the pool that’s your primary concern. Ms. Gilead: Yes. 10 Mr. Mayor: Okay all right, very well. All right again you’ve heard Director Parker’s --- Ms. Gilead: And I understand that but at the same token if you’re allowing the summer camp kids into the pool and the chemicals is not in there, you’re putting somebody else’s child in danger --- Mr. Mayor: Yeah --- Ms. Gilead: --- I’m not saying my child, my child may not be going to summer camp here but at the same time I’m looking out for my nephews, my nephew is at the summer camp. I have other church members that go to summer camp. If their child gets sick because the chemicals is not properly in the pool or anything else then who are they going to fall back on? It’s going to fall back onto the Recreation come back to the city and then what’s going to happen at the long run? Mr. Mayor: --- okay, all right. Mr. Parker: What I’m being told, Mr. Mayor, it’s not the chemicals. It is the clarity of the pool; it’s the ability to circulate the water enough to keep the pool clear. We could do that with the day campers. We didn’t, staff didn’t feel they could do that in the afternoon with the volume of just people that we have in the pool at Bernie Ward in the afternoons. And it was open, I have a note here that is was open Saturday. They did a temporary thing for the to control the T-valve. Mr. Mayor: So, Madam Administrator, there’s a there’s been a lot of conversation about Recreation and Parks pools, etc. and I think Director Parker is working as aggressively as he can to try to address some of these issues but I think it would be more appropriate for us and again it is certainly well within the right of any and every Commissioner to bring these issues and put them on the agenda that we might hear them but there has to be a better way for us to address them before we get to this place. Particularly in light of the fact that you know these are routine operation issues. One, it sounds like the management of the number of people you’re allowing into the pool at different hours. I’ve been there at Bernie Ward many times and you find yourself at this place where you’re staggering the number of participants who get in and out of the pool at certain times. If those are our issues and challenges, they really shouldn’t be at this level but for whatever reason they continue to be at this level. I need your help on that we need your help on that. Ms. Jackson: I would tend to agree with that, sir. I mean there’s an open invitation for any of our elected officials or even the public if they have specific issues that they want to address with us we certainly can, I’ll make Mr. Parker and his appropriate staff available to discuss those directly with those individuals. Mr. Mayor: Yeah well, I mean I think that’s fine but it’s not real time. That’s saying I need another meeting and the reality of it is we don’t want another meeting. What she’s saying is you know I see it, I ride by, I’ve got a thousand church campers coming over there or however many you know and we’ve got to be able to address these issues in real time and whoever is on staff has to be able to say that we’re not allowing 300 kids in the pool at this hour. And it may not be pleasant but you’ve got to be able to say we’re not allowing 300 kids in the pool at this time 11 and here are the hours they can come back otherwise we’re going to be in meetings like this right here and the general public’s going to be saying well gee you know that is a solvable problem that is to say we’re going to have another meeting. That’s what I’m suggesting, Ms. Jackson. I mean, Director Parker, you’ve got, people have got to be able to solve their problems on the ground. Mr. Parker: And I think they were. I will say I think in all of these cases staff has erred on the side of being safe for swimmers and I think they, you know as soon as they realized it was a T-valve they went into the fixit if you will mode of trying to get the pool fixed as quick as we could. Mr. Mayor: I understand but you can’t put people off. You’ve got to tell Ms. Gilead the reason we’re closing the pool to anyone else at this time is because there’s a T-valve problem. And she doesn’t have to be an engineer but this is why we’re doing that and I think her response will be a little different she wouldn’t think she’s got to come down here, am I right about that? Ms. Gilead: That and like I said concern for other people’s kids as well because if the T- valve is not operational, it’s not regulating the water so that means if campers got in the pool on Monday that same water that the campers got in on Monday on Tuesday some more campers are getting in that same dirty water. Mr. Mayor: Yeah, yeah, okay. All right okay, so here’s what I want to do, Commissioner. I’m going to recognize you and then I’m going, we’re going to stop. The Chair recognizes the th Commissioner from the 9. Mr. M. Williams: Mr. Mayor, it’s two issues. Mrs. Utley wasn’t able to be here today about these issues about the pool and about the lifeguards and that’s not an issue but let’s go back to the chemicals. When I first heard about this, I called the Clerk’s office and asked Ms. Bonner to reach out the staff to find out about the chemical imbalance I’ll call it where chemicals were supposed to have been put into the pool and the kids was in the pool. Mr. Brown, Stan Brown works out there at Bernie Ward and when I tried to reach him, I wasn’t able to reach him but I did reach out to the Clerk’s Office. You know you talk about addressing these issues but there’s so much now this is a large city you stated that earlier when I first walked in the city is growing so we’ve got a multiple of problems but at the same time we’ve got to start handling them. Now two issues I said one is lifeguards. I’ve got an issue with the pool at Dyess, the pool at Jones where the teenagers are being hired as lifeguards and don’t have the equipment, don’t have to have to take up the money and there’s a lot of issues now that’s got to be addressed. So how do we address them now you want to put them all on here today I’ve got no problem but there is several things that’s going on within the Rec Department that need to be clarified. Now Ms. Utley called me and said she couldn’t be here today. She wasn’t on the agenda I don’t think, Ms. Bonner, was she? Ms. Bonner: No, sir. Mr. M. Williams: Okay but she wanted to come down because there was another issue about that that was related to the pool about the lifeguards about how people are entering into the pool, how they’re not be structured, they don’t have any structure there. So you tell me, Mr. Mayor, how do you want to handle that, those situations? 12 Mr. Mayor: Well, Madam Administrator, do you want to say anything? Ms. Jackson: Sir, you’ve identified a number of issues and I believe Mr. Parker and his staff take seriously the responsibility of making sure that the department operates the way that it should. If we could get from you a clear understanding about all the issues that we have, Mr. Parker and his staff will be more than happy to address those, get with the appropriate parties and we can get a written report back to the Commission on resolutions of each one of those issues. Mr. M. Williams: So you’re suggesting another meeting is that what you --- Ms. Jackson: Not necessarily another meeting, sir. I said if we could talk briefly after this meeting and get a listing of everything, we’ll get all of it together and we can get it to you in writing. That saves the need for a meeting. But I’ll also give the staff a fair opportunity to look into each one of those issues to determine what is actually happening in those circumstances, if it’s consistent with the policy of the organization, and what can be done if it’s not consistent of the organization to insure that it operates the way it should. Mr. M. Williams: So what do I do, do I have the Clerk to get those documents --- Ms. Jackson: Yes --- Mr. M. Williams: --- or get those requests and --- Ms. Jackson: --- that would be helpful, if that’s your preferable way that would be very helpful. Mr. M. Williams: --- yes I think that would be the best way for me to address those so. Mr. Mayor: All right, Ms. Gilead, thank you for coming in expressing your concerns to us --- Ms. Gilead: Thank you. Mr. Mayor: --- thank you. All right, Madam Clerk, I’m going to go on and call this meeting to order. Okay all right, if you will okay, all right, I want to address everybody’s attention on the dais to the following. Madam Clerk has placed at each of your seats revisions to the Commission agenda. There was an item that was deleted, there are some additions to the agenda and I’d like to get unanimous consent to add these to the agenda. Mr. Sias: Just one second, please. Mr. Mayor: Okay. Again you’ve got applications you’ve got an MOA with DCA that’s a grant that the last item, Item 6 which is probably one of the more significant ones. That’s a grant from the State of Georgia. As many of you are aware this most recent legislative session, there was a conversation about jet fuel and the sales tax associated with that. There is a onetime grant 13 that Augusta-Richmond County is eligible to receive and we need to execute this today in order to be able to receive these funds in the amount of $298,522.00 dollars. That’s perhaps the most significant one on here. And then of course Item 7 is the Whitewater Savannah River Design and Contract these things were just --- Mr. Sias: (Inaudible) don’t have any objection. Mr. Mayor: Okay fantastic without objections, these are added to the agenda. Okay all right, okay --- The Clerk: Are we going to do a consent agenda? Mr. Mayor: --- yeah. All right, the Chair recognizes the Mayor Pro Tem. Ms. Mayor Pro Tem: Thank you, Mr. Mayor. If the Commission would agree I’d like to try to add 5 and 6 from the additions to the consent and then 3, Item 3 from the agenda that we have already. Mr. Sias: All right, just want a second to take a look at them. Mr. M. Williams: I don’t have a problem, Mr. Mayor, but I do have, I do want to find out just a little bit about Item 6 --- Mr. Mayor: Item 6? Mr. M. Williams: --- and right. Mr. Mayor: No, no, no so you’re talking about on the, that’s on your regular agenda. Mr. M. Williams: Oh, it’s on the regular agenda. Mr. Mayor: On the Addendum she’s the Mayor Pro Tem’s requesting Item 5 and 6 from the additions to the agenda. Mr. M. Williams: Oh, okay (unintelligible). Ms. Mayor Pro Tem: The storage tanks --- Mr. Mayor: Right. Ms. Mayor Pro Tem: --- and the grant, the one time grant that the Mayor mentioned from the state. Mr. Sias: I’d like to add Item 8 to the consent. Mr. Mayor: Okay, Item 8 from the regular agenda. 14 The Clerk: On the consent? Mr. M. Williams: I need some conversation on eight now is that, what are we doing? Mr. Mayor: Okay. Mr. Sias: That’s authorizing them to start working on the draft. Mr. Frantom: (Inaudible). Mr. M. Williams: I mean --- Mr. Mayor: Okay all right, we’ll discuss it --- Mr. M. Williams: --- yeah, we’ll discuss it. Mr. Mayor: --- all right, we’ll discuss it. All right, the Chair recognizes the Commissioner nd from the 2. Mr. D. Williams: Mr. Mayor, I’d like to add Item Number 14 to the consent. Mr. Mayor: All right, I agree with that. Mr. Sias: Is there a problem on five either? Mr. Mayor: That’s been stricken. Item 5 from the regular agenda has been stricken from the agenda. Mr. Frantom: Motion to approve. Mr. Mayor: Hold on, hold on, not yet. All right, Mr. Ussery, would you approach. Mr. Ussery, Madam Clerk? Okay all right, Madam Clerk, we are adding from the regular agenda Item 3, Item 4 and Item 5 and 6 from the Addendum. The Clerk: Okay we’re deleting, we’re adding item under deletion Number 5 to the consent agenda. Mr. Mayor: Yes, that is correct. The Clerk: Okay 3,4,5 and on our Addendum agenda we’re adding Items 5 and 6. Mr. Mayor: That’s correct. Mr. Sias: (Unintelligible). 15 Mr. Mayor: I’m coming to you. All right, I’m coming to you. All right, the Chair th recognizes the Commissioner from the 4. Mr. Sias: Just for clarity since we have similar numbers should we give those other items a different number? Mr. Mayor: Well, you can call it five A and six A --- The Clerk: I’m identifying them as coming from our Addendum agenda so --- Mr. Sias: So we really don’t need to give them another name? The Clerk: --- well, if you want to do them 5A or you know say addendum 4A, 5A --- Mr. Sias: Right --- The Clerk: --- we can do that. Mr. Sias: --- right because you hear something (unintelligible). The Clerk: Okay, we’ll use 5A, 6A. Mr. Sias: Okay. Mr. Mayor: Madam Clerk, I think what he’s saying he’s stepping into the Clerk’s business. The Clerk: I’ll let him do it from time to time. Mr. Mayor: All right, I’ll entertain a motion. Mr. Frantom: Motion to approve. Ms. Davis: Second. CONSENT AGENDA PETITIONS AND COMMUNICATIONS 1. Motion to approve the minutes of the regular meeting of the Augusta Commission held June 19, 2018. 3. Motion to approve authorization for Augusta to accept a grant valued at $30,000 from the National Recreation and Parks Association and The Walt Disney Company. PUBLIC SAFETY 4. Assigning the honorary road name of Clara Lee Robinson to Nellieville Road. 5. Renaming of Tattnall Street to Grace Hopper Lane. 16 Mr. Mayor: Voting. Mr. Fennoy, Mr. Jefferson, Mr. Hasan and Mr. Guilfoyle out. Motion Passes 6-0. \[Items 3-6\] Mr. Mayor: All right and everybody thought we were going to get out of here late fast, quick and in a hurry. All right, top to bottom. The Clerk: PUBLIC SERVICES 2. Motion to approve extending the hours of the Candlelight Jazz Concert Series to 10:30 p.m. (Requested by Commissioner Marion Williams) th Mr. Mayor: The Chair recognizes the Commissioner from the 9. Mr. M. Williams: Mr. Mayor, this is something we have been addressing for several months. The hours was changed, at one point they were changed back to 9:30. I spoke to Ms. Jackson about it and she informed me that six votes didn’t change it so I guess we need to get six votes to change it so it will be permanently changed versus one week it’s one hour and another week it’s another hour. It was mentioned about hiring additional performers when we suggested there could be music just played whether it be CD’s, whether it be any other form of music being just played where there’s a break in between times so I don’t think we need to add another performance to it, another cost to it. I think we’re trying to make money on this and not --- Mr. Mayor: All right, the Chair will entertain a motion. Mr. M. Williams: So moved. Mr. G. Smith: Second. Mr. Mayor: All right, I’ve got a motion and a proper second. Let’s vote. Mr. Sias and Mr. Frantom vote No. Mr. Fennoy, Mr. Jefferson, Mr. Hasan and Mr. Guilfoyle out. Motion Fails 4-2. Mr. M. Williams: Mr. Mayor, a follow up? Mr. Mayor: Sure. Mr. M. Williams: So then what will be the hours or are we just taking them as the come just walk down there and see. I mean I just left Savannah like yourself, Mr. Mayor, and people was up well after 11:00 on River Street still performing still music. You just made a statement 17 earlier this ain’t Mayberry but I believe you’re wrong. I believe this is Mayberry. I may be calling it Augusta but we act like Mayberry. I’m really disappointed and to have a Candlelight Jazz that starts at 7:30 and ends at 9:30 daylight is just starting to change from day to night at about 8;30 and then you’ve got another hour. Now maybe you don’t like jazz, maybe you don’t want to come fine but I wouldn’t stop nobody else from coming. If there’s a legitimate reason that we shouldn’t have it then I’d like to hear that but to have people come into your city and drive to enjoy an event, we don’t have very much going on anyway but the little we do have ya’ll want to shut that down. So somebody needs to tell me something, Mr. Mayor, why that was voted down. I don’t understand that one. Mr. Mayor: Yeah all right I’ll leave that up to each and every one to determine for themselves. Again I do share your concern about events and what we’re able to do and when. All th right, the Chair recognizes the Commissioner from the 7. Mr. Frantom: Thank you, Mr. Mayor. I mean I’ll tell you I couldn’t support it because he does a survey of the people that are coming and 74% of them say that they would like it over by 9:00 o’clock. I mean why don’t we go back to the drawing board and let’s get some data and maybe do a survey or poll across the whole county and let’s hear from the people. They’re already, I don’t know what number of them end at 10:30 but until we’re just going to make that change when if we are changing that’s going to be an additional cost all around, there’s going to have to be another act but I think we’ve got to respect the department heads and the people that are putting these on right now until we hear differently from the people. So that’s the reason I had to vote no because there is no dialogue. We just voted and so thank you, Mr. Mayor. Mr. Mayor: All right, thank you. All right next item, Madam Clerk. All right, so we’ve got to do the applications, new applications for liquor licenses, we need to take those. The Clerk: Ms. Walton. ADDENDUM 11. New Applicant Application: A.N. 18-23: A request by John Dickey Boardman Claussen for a consumption on premise Liquor, Beer & Wine License to be used in connection with th Global Spectrum L.P. d/b/a Augusta Entertainment Complex located at 601 7 Street. There will be Sunday Sales. District 1. Super District 9. Ms. Walton: Okay, we have a new application. It’s a request by John Dickey Boardman Claussen for a consumption on premise Liquor, Beer & Wine License to be used in connection th with Global Spectrum L.P. doing business as Augusta Entertainment Complex located at 601 7 Street. There will be Sunday Sales on this application. This has been approved by the Planning and Development Department and the Sheriff’s Office. Do we have any objectors to this application? Mr. Mayor: All right, applies to Items 3 and 4, okay, all right. The Clerk: Well, she needs to read 4 into the record --- 18 Mr. Mayor: She does. The Clerk: --- okay. ADDENDUM 12. New Applicant Application: A.N. 18-24: A request by John Dickey Boardman Claussen for a consumption on premise Liquor, Beer & Wine License to be used in connection with Global Spectrum L.P. d/b/a Augusta Entertainment Complex located at 712 Telfair Street. There will be Sunday Sales. District 1. Super District 9. Ms. Walton: It’s a new application, it’s a request by John Dickey Boardman Claussen for a consumption on premise Liquor, Beer & Wine License to be used in connection with Global Spectrum L.P. d/b/a Augusta Entertainment Complex located at 712 Telfair Street, there will be Sunday Sales. This application has been approved by Planning and Development and the Sheriff’s Office. Do we have any objectors to this application? Mr. Mayor: All right. Mr. Claussen: John Dickey Boardman Claussen, 3226 Huxley Drive Augusta, GA 30904. Mr. D. Williams: Move for approval. Ms. Davis: Second. Mr. Mayor: We have a motion and a second, voting. Mr. M. Williams: Point of Personal Privilege, Mr. Mayor? Mr. Mayor: Okay hold on let’s --- Mr. Jefferson, Mr. Guilfoyle, Mr. Fennoy and Mr. Hasan out. Motion Passes 6-0. th. Mr. Mayor: --- all right the Chair recognizes the Commissioner from the 9State your inquiry. Mr. M. Williams: No inquiry, Mr. Mayor, I’d just like to inform my Clerk to put that back on the Commission agenda for the next commission meeting about the Commons, the Candlelight. The Clerk: Yes, sir. Mr. Mayor: Okay all right, Item 6. The Clerk: ENGINEERING SERVICES 19 6. Consider Professional Services Proposal from WK Dickson & Company for the Utility thth Relocation efforts necessary the GDOT 15 Street project along 15 Street from MLK Blvd to Government Rd. in the amount of $180,000.00. Mr. M. Williams: I think there’s a question, Mr. Mayor. th Mr. Mayor: Yes, you do. All right, the Chair recognizes the Commissioner from the 9. Mr. M. Williams: Thank you. Allen, I just need I mean Professional Services I mean we didn’t bid this out we just decided on who the best professional services was. Mr. Saxon: Well yes, it’s an engineering contract and we did a list a few years back and we’re just in the process of redoing that. But where we’ve got engineers qualified for different types of work and that’s where this came from that’s what the list they were on. Mr. M. Williams: Well and I guess my concern I’ve got no problem with WK Dickson’s company is able to do this work but because this is Professional Services and we can decide which ever way we want to go but there are other companies out there. I just think when we spend that kind of money we ought to be at least bidding this out to try to get the best price we can. This is not against this company. I don’t care who it was. When you talk about professional services, that amount of money in my opinion we should be bidding so. Mr. Saxon: Well, on this particular project they had done previous work in this project and DOT changed the scope of work on their work which requires us to change ours and that’s what this is going back in to the project we had already provided information to DOT and we have to update and revise all that information now because their scope changed. Mr. M. Williams: Okay, I mean that’s my concern. I mean I just whether you or Tom whoever’s going to handle it I just need to know and I understand about Professional Services and how we can do it. But we get, we’ve got a history of that, Allen, not just with this type work but other work as well, people get inside they don’t ever go out. th Mr. Mayor: All right, the Chair recognizes the Commissioner from the 4. Mr. Sias: Motion to approve. Ms. Davis: Second. Mr. Mayor: We’ve got a motion and a second, voting. Mr. Jefferson, Mr. Guilfoyle, Mr. Fennoy and Mr. Hasan out. Motion Passes 6-0. The Clerk: ENGINEERING SERVICES 20 7. Receive recommendation from the Engineering Department staff regarding the traffic issues presented by Ms. Shante Brown concerning Willhaven Estates, Haynes Station and Sims Landing. (Deferred from the June 12, 2018 Engineering Services Meeting. Mr. Mayor: The Chair recognizes the Traffic Engineering Director Mr. John Ussery. Mr. Ussery: Good afternoon, Ms. Brown cannot be here today. She is actually out of the country due to her employment but just want to let you know before I go over this real quick we have been contact several times so we are emailing each other back and forth and she is aware of what I’m going to bring before you today. At her last, the last time she talked to the Commission she had several issues that she wanted us to look at. I’ll go over those fairly quickly. One of her big issues was the mini storage and the impact it was going to have on Willhaven Drive and her community. We’ve already reached out to the new owner of that property and the new developer. We’ve told them that they’re required to resubmit all those plans and a lot of the issues she had will be addressed during that re-review of that mini-storage site so her issues about, you know, about not being able to turn in and not being wide enough and all of that will be addressed at the time that we get those plans back in. The owners and developers are aware that we’re going to look at it again and I’ve already talked to them and expressed what our concern is so they’re not going to be surprised when we look at that. Secondly, there was several issues regarding acceleration lanes, deceleration lanes. Again many of those issues will be addressed when we look at that mini-storage. We’ve also talked to Georgia DOT. That was one of the reasons for the delay from a couple of weeks ago. They’ll be willing to work with us and look at the existing acceleration lanes, deceleration lanes to make sure that they’re adequate for not only the new mini-storage but for the community at large. And the last point that I have is she asked for a traffic signal. We did do the study. The study did show that one of the warrants was met for a traffic signal so that’s a good sign. This being a state route and Gordon Highway we will submit our study to them for their review along with all the information that we collected as part of that study including the accidents, the accident reports and some of that stuff and so they’re willing to work with us on that. So that’s the quick version of what we’ve done so far. th Mr. Mayor: All right, the Chair recognizes the Commissioner from the 4. Mr. Sias: Thank you, sir. I’ve got a question for Mr. Ussery. Mr. Ussery, when you talked about the storage place I agree with what you’re saying, I just have this one question of concern. Their plans for development and all have they been 100% approved by the city? Mr. Ussery: Well, the the zoning has been done for a while and their previous plans were approved by all the various departments but because it’s under new ownership and a new developer they are required to resubmit all that stuff which allows us to look at it and make some changes if we want to. Mr. Sias: So and my concern we will not actually rejecting plans that have previously that we have approved and just turn around and jerk them back and say no we’ve got some concerns even though they’re legitimate concerns but we’re going to take your project back out to approve it so we’re not doing that we’re not putting ourselves in legal jeopardy. 21 Mr. Ussery: No, we’re not doing that. Mr. Sias: Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Mr. Mayor: All right. Mr. Sias: Move that we --- Ms. Davis: We need a (inaudible). Mr. Sias: --- receive as information? Mr. Mayor: Receive as information. Mr. Sias: Move to receive as information. Ms. Davis: Second. Mr. Mayor: All right, thank you, Mr. Ussery. Item 8. Mr. Jefferson, Mr. Guilfoyle, Mr. Fennoy and Mr. Hasan out. Motion Passes 6-0. The Clerk: ENGINEERING SERVICES 8. Motion to request authorization to proceed with drafting edits to the Augusta, Georgia Code, Chapter 3 Street Lighting, Section 7-3 to modify fee structure for the street light system. (Requested by Commissioner Sammie Sias. Mr. Mayor: Can we hold this until 5:00 o’clock, I’m just cutting up --- Mr. M. Williams: (Unintelligible). Mr. Mayor: --- I’m just cutting up, Commissioner, that was for my friend down at the end th down there. All right, go ahead the Chair recognizes the Commissioner from the 9. Mr. M. Williams: Yeah, Mr. Mayor, I just need, I just thought we should have, I know the Streetlight Committee has been meeting but I thought they was going to bring something back to the committee after the subcommittee got together and we have more dialogue. But now we’re talking about sending something out this draft or code together, is that what the next step is? Mr. Mayor: Attorney MacKenzie. Mr. MacKenzie: Sure, I think what the subcommittee did was review the existing program that we have and evaluated that to make the changes that are recommended by the committee 22 would need to do a code amendment or a policy. The first step would be to first get authorization for the staff to do the code amendment. Mr. M. Williams: So the subcommittee wouldn’t have to come back to the committee that appointed them. Mr. MacKenzie: Yeah, I think this would just give the staff the ability to actually put together some drafts for the subcommittee to review which would ultimately come back to the committee and then to the Commission. Mr. M. Williams: Mr. MacKenzie, can you translate that because I still don’t understand what you said. Mr. MacKenzie: Sure, we have a policy that staff can’t work on any code amendments unless it’s approved by the Commission and that’s the request on here today is for staff to just get permission to draft some code amendments. You’re not approving any code amendments just giving authorization for the staff to be able to draft them. But there is a subcommittee and subcommittee would review the drafts and make other suggestions and ultimately if any code amendments were to be brought back it would come to the committee and Commission. Mr. M. Williams: And that makes it a little bit clearer, Andrew, thank you but at the same time why are we getting staff to draft something shouldn’t staff bring us something that we could talk about that we needed drafting. So if you bring something back that’s not feasible then we’ve got to go back and draft something else or should we have something to look at, I don’t mean drafted. I mean I think that we’re skewing the process myself now. Mr. Mayor: You know --- Mr. Sias: Mr. Mayor. th, Mr. Mayor: --- you know, Commissioner from the 9 had this body not implemented the Hardie Davis rule that every now and then I want to call it the Sammie Sias rule we wouldn’t be having this conversation. You would’ve fluently work on these things, put them together and then you bring it, talk about it, subcommittee, full committee, that’s the way working on legislation is supposed to work but now you’ve got to spend three weeks before you could ever get anybody to work on something now. Mr. Sias: --- now if you had recognized the name on here we wouldn’t be having any conversation neither. I’ve been here to answer them questions, can the subcommittee chairman weigh in here for 30 seconds? Mr. Mayor: I’m going to give you more than that when you let me recognize you. All th right, the Chair recognizes the Commissioner from the 4. Mr. Sias: I appreciate it but the request in this agenda item is the subcommittee’s working on options and things as far as what work could be done to improve the streetlight structure, the 23 fees and the whole nine yards. What this request is to allow the Legal staff to join in with them and coming up with things to bring back to the committee, the Engineering Committee then on to the full Commission. But to be able to bring back a draft of various proposals we can’t the Legal staff can’t do that without permission and the Hardie rule is not really an impediment to that, it’s just part of the process. It can be expressed as an impediment but it’s not. So, this is simply allowing the subcommittee, staff and everybody to put together some drafts to review, talk about and bring back to Engineering Services committee. th Mr. Mayor: The Chair recognizes the Commissioner from the 9. Mr. M. Williams: Thank you, sir. Mr. Mayor, I think you still got your horse, don’t you? Mr. Mayor: No, I was very fortunate. I sold it. Donna wouldn’t buy it, nobody would buy it, then I sold it to somebody here else. Mr. M. Williams: Once the horse gets out of the gate ain’t no catching a ride. If you didn’t catch him before he got out ain’t no catching him. So what I don’t understand is that I hear the conversation, I understand what Andrew just said, but those same things could be brought to this body or to the subcommittee and talked about. When you form something to put something together, the things that can’t be done those are the things that are going to be done. So if ya’ll are going to make that decision now then you wouldn’t do that but if it’s legal and you’re going to do it then you can talk about it before that in my opinion, Mr. Mayor. Mr. Mayor: I couldn’t agree with you more. That’s the way you put legislation together. I mean he’s telling the truth. I mean ya’ll have added a bottleneck in there but I mean if that’s the way you want to do it that’s fine. All right, so you want to, the Chair will entertain a motion. Mr. Sias: So moved. Mr. G. Smith: And I’ll second it. Mr. Mayor: All right, we’ve got a motion and a second, voting. Mr. Jefferson, Mr. Guilfoyle, Mr. Fennoy and Mr. Hasan out. Mr. G. Smith and Mr. M. Williams vote No. Motion Fails 4-2. Mr. Sias: Ms. Bonner, don’t worry about putting that back on. Mr. Mayor: Okay. Ms. Jackson: No, we did not do seven on the addendum agenda. Mr. Mayor: We haven’t done it yet --- The Clerk: No, sir. 24 Mr. Mayor: --- we’re coming back to it. All right, the Commissioner do you want to --- ENGINEERING SERVICES 8. Motion to request authorization to proceed with drafting edits to the Augusta, Georgia Code, Chapter 3 Street Lighting, Section 7-3 to modify fee structure for the street light system. (Requested by Commissioner Sammie Sias) Mr. Sias: We’ve been conducting a subcommittee and we brought this back here so we could continue the draft so I don’t have an issue with it. Mr. Mayor: The Chair recognizes Administrator Jackson. Ms. Jackson: Yes, the Finance Director just brought to my attention that due to the tight schedule we’re faced with getting any changes to the streetlight fee on the tax bill we’re at a very, very tight time constraints. Is there a drop dead date that the Tax Commissioner’s Office provided you with? Ms. Williams: No, ma’am, they haven’t given me a drop dead date but they requested this information about two weeks ago. All this does, the action that is before you today, is allows us to work to bring the new rate structure back to you. Because the streetlight fees are passed in the form of an ordinance we have to amend, you would have to amend that ordinance. What the subcommittee needs is in the process of doing is bringing some possibilities to this government to amend that streetlight fee structure. If the structure is not amended in time for this information to be on the tax bills, you will be looking at an additional $780 to $800,000 dollar deficit in that fund. That fund is in a deficit already of a million two so you would be looking at putting yourselves in a $2 million-dollar deficit for that particular fund. Mr. Mayor: All right, so I have a question for you, Director Williams. How has this city shored that up in the previous two years? Ms. Williams: Currently that is sitting in that Special Revenue Fund as in a deficit position. What we have had conversations with our auditors about since this is a Special Revenue Fee we have explained to them that this government is reviewing the fee structure and plans on changing that and they would be comfortable with us systematically replacing that fund similar to what we did with the Ice Storm Reserves, you know the money that we used out of reserves for the ice storm. What the subcommittee has talked about is being able to repay that deficit over a three- year period. If it stays out there, it goes to the General Fund and you take a $2 million-dollar hit. Mr. Mayor: All right, I’m going to ask my specific question one more time a different way. All right, you indicated to this body that we have run at a deficit effectively $1.x million- dollars to date --- Ms. Williams: Yes, sir. Mr. Mayor: --- with failure to act potentially having an additional $700,000 deficit. 25 Ms. Williams: Yes, sir. Mr. Mayor: Okay and every year we balance the budget on time okay and that balancing of the budget does not reflect the deficit. My question to you is how have we trued that up so that we’re not reflecting that in our overall budget? What source of funding are we using to make sure we true that up? Ms. Williams: Each year when those, when that budget is passed, that discussion is made and the fee structure is anticipated that it will be increased to accommodate that and to balance the budget so we have programmed in revenue from an increased fee structure which as yet to materialize. Mr. Sias: A paper balance, you know what she’s saying. Ms. Williams: Each year that issue has been brought to this body. Each year we have talked about amending the fee structure --- Mr. Mayor: We have --- Ms. Williams: --- we have not done it yet. Mr. Mayor: --- we haven’t done it yet. All right, so we’ve got two things in front of us. One, an ordinance change and two, a proposed new fee structure. Those are two different things. Ms. Williams: Correct. Mr. Mayor: They go together --- Ms. Williams: Yes, sir. Mr. Mayor: --- but they’re two different things. Ms. Williams: All this does all this request does is allow us to proceed to get the process done on time. You’re not approving a fee structure --- Mr. Mayor: I fully understand --- Ms. Williams: --- yeah I got it, I’m sorry --- Mr. Mayor: --- I’m not struggling with you. Ms. Williams: --- I just, I can’t over stress the importance of the permission that we need to go forward with this item. Mr. Mayor: Do we have a proposed fee structure? 26 Ms. Williams: We have four. Mr. Mayor: Okay all right and this is the work that the subcommittee has (inaudible). Ms. Williams: Correct, we met again on Tuesday. We had several members that are on this dais in attendance. Mr. Mayor: Okay all right, so to the degree that that fee structure information is available then it certainly can be communicated to the rest of the members of the body. I think that would be a prudent step to take at this point given what I’ve seen and heard today. So if we could transmit that, that would be very helpful. Ms. Williams: I will have that, Ms. Bonner already has a copy if you would just please put that in their boxes. Thank you. The Clerk: Are we going to give it to them now? Ms. Williams: Yeah, I can have copies, I can have copies in here in five/ten minutes. Mr. Mayor: It probably wouldn’t be a bad idea. Ms. Williams: I can do that, I have a copy with me and do you want that before you readdress this item? Mr. Sias: Mr. Mayor. Mr. Mayor: All right, the Chair recognizes the Commissioner for a motion. Mr. Sias: Move that we reconsider this agenda item. Ms. Bonner, what item was that number who? The Clerk: That was number 8R. Mr. Sias: Move that we reconsider agenda item 8R. Mr. G. Smith: Second. Mr. Mayor: We’ve got a motion to reconsider. All right, voting. Mr. M. Williams votes No. Mr. Jefferson, Mr. Guilfoyle, Mr. Fennoy and Mr. Hasan out. Motion Fails 5-1. Mr. Mayor: All right. 27 The Clerk: ADDENDUM 15. Motion to approve Whitewater/Savannah River Design Contract. Mr. Mayor: All right, the Chair recognizes Administrator Jackson. Ms. Jackson: Yes, this follows up on the bid that was presented recently I believe at the last meeting. This is just finalizes that contract. You all approved the bid document; this finalizes the contract. Mr. Mayor: The Chair will entertain a motion. Mr. Frantom: Motion to approve. Mr. Mayor: All right, Madam Administrator, can you speak to any changes in this document? Ms. Jackson: I cannot, who has this item is it Procurement, Ms. Sams, is this your item? Mr. Sias: I want to hear from Ms. Sams. Mr. Mayor: Yeah, I want to hear from the city official. Ms. Sams: Mr. Mayor, may I call --- Mr. Mayor: The Chair recognizes our Procurement Director. Ms. Sams: --- thank you very much, sir. May I also call Tonya the Riverkeeper? Mr. Mayor: All right, Ms. Bonitatibus, if you’ll come to the same dais, podium as Ms. Sams. Ms. Sams: Thank you, sir. Mr. Mayor: Yes, proceed. Ms. Sams: Thank you, Mr. Mayor, Mayor Pro Tem and other members of the Commission. On this particular item the Procurement Department did in fact go out to receive RFP’s. The information was sent to more than 256 persons claiming to have that type of experience. We did however receive two proposals. They were reviewed and the McLaughlin Company who had earlier submitted received the highest score. We have negotiated with them a contract and the contractual amount and we’re here today to present some of the ideas that they presented to us. We’re going to ask you to consider the phases that we have included in this process. We’ve listened to you very carefully to some of your suggestions that you made to us. In our proposal we made sure we included those. We’re going to ask this company to come back and have an 28 open discussion with you so that we can move forward with including your ideas in it. And the bottom line on that contract was $30,000 --- Ms. Bonitatibus: $39,900. Ms. Sams: $39,000 dollars when the process was completed. Do you have any questions for us? Mr. Mayor: All right, so we have the package again before you. I believe we were provided with that and that’s the full scope of the package that’s in front of you that they’re referencing now from a division of Merick who is the firm that’s been hired for this purpose. All right, the Chair recognizes the Mayor Pro Tem for a question. Ms. Davis: I’m good. th Mr. Mayor: You’re good. All right, the Chair recognizes the Commissioner from the 7. Mr. Frantom: (Inaudible). Mr. Mayor: All right, the Chair will entertain a motion. The Clerk: I need a second. Mr. Frantom made a motion. th Mr. Mayor: The Chair recognizes the Commissioner from the 4. Mr. Sias: Thank you, sir. This question is for Ms. Bonitatibus when we had the meeting with the Army Corp of Engineers I think it was yesterday I believe --- Ms. Jackson: Tuesday. Mr. Sias: --- Tuesday. I asked them about this. They were saying if we want to have them consider this when they get to the section approximately February/March of next year, they will have for these affected cities and folks to be able to bring in their own ideas and see and they take a look at them. So the question I have reference this what’s the timeline we expect them to have some kind of a final product from this contract? Ms. Bonitatibus: So the request currently in the contract requires that they be back at the end of October with the Whitewater Design. However, McLaughlin also, the Corp of Engineers now has a process for local input beginning before that public comment period begins. So we actually need to just start that process with the Corp of Engineers anyway letting them know we’ve hired McLaughlin, they’re moving forward. We’d like you the Corp of Engineers to work with them to try and figure out the best design so that it fits into that. It is five different alternatives that they have. This should be one of the weights that they put on the choice of those five. Mr. Sias: Okay, thank you, so when do you expect to be able to contact The Corp, you’re saying by the end of October? 29 Ms. Bonitatibus: As soon as you vote yes. Mr. Sias: Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Mr. Mayor: All right, the Chair will entertain a motion. Oh, we’ve got a motion and a second. The Clerk: No, I need a second. Mr. Sias: Second. The Clerk: Thank you. Mr. Mayor: Voting. Mr. G. Smith votes No. Mr. Jefferson, Mr. Guilfoyle, Mr. Fennoy and Mr. Hasan out. Motion Fails 5-1. Mr. Sias: Ms. Bonner, would you put that back on the next Commission agenda? Mr. M. Williams: Ms. Bonner, how many times can he put something on the agenda? (unintelligible) put stuff back on the agenda. Mr. Sias: Yeah you know you’re my Clerk. My Clerk put that back on the agenda. Mr. Mayor: Well, I suspect, Tom Corwin, everybody needs to go on a vacation. Probably what needs to happen come back in a couple of weeks with a clear head and we can come back and hopefully do the people’s business but I think that would be in order and nobody can get a th vacation. If we don’t see you again before the 4 of July, again everyone have a very safe and fun filled time with your families. And you know I think that it’s a good thing for everybody. I know I’m going to be excited contrary to popular belief we don’t all end up in growing up in single- parent homes. I’m very fortunate, Ms. Bonner, to have grown up in a two-parent home who will be celebrating 50 years of marriage they renew their vows on tomorrow night --- The Clerk: Congratulations. Mr. Mayor: --- I’m excited about that. I am. Mr. M. Williams: I ain’t heard what she said yet. Mr. Mayor: Well, my Mom was very happy about it. She married a Davis man, that’s right. That there be no further business before this body we are adjourned. \[MEETING ADJOURNED\] 30 Lena Bonner Clerk of Commission CERTIFICATION: I, Lena J. Bonner, Clerk of Commission, hereby certify that the above is a true and correct copy of the minutes of the Regular Meeting of The Augusta Richmond County Commission held on June 28, 2018. ______________________________ Clerk of Commission 31