HomeMy WebLinkAboutJune 29, 2006 Augusta Richmond County Commissi
REGULAR MEETING COMMISSION CHAMBER
June 29, 2006
Augusta Richmond County Commission convened at 2:07 p.m., June 29, 2006, the Hon.
Deke Copenhaver, Mayor, presiding.
PRESENT: Hons. Holland, Smith, Brown, Grantham, Williams, Beard, Cheek, Bowles
and Brigham, members of Augusta Richmond County Commission.
ABSENT: Hon. Hatney, member of Augusta Richmond County Commission.
Also present: Steve Shepard, Attorney; Lena Bonner, Clerk of Commission.
The Invocation was given by the Reverend Max Hicks, Pastor, First Primitive Baptist
Church.
The Pledge of Allegiance to the Flag of the United States of America was recited.
Mr. Mayor: Madame Clerk?
The Clerk: Mr. Hicks? While Mr. Hicks said he didn’t want a certificate, nonetheless,
we want to say thank you for imparting that invocation and that petition to have it on our behalf.
Thank you.
Mr. Hicks: Thank you very much.
Mr. Mayor: Thanks, Max.
The Clerk:
PRESENTATION(S)
A. Receive presentation from Cassandra D. Youmans, M.D., District Health Director
East Central Health District VI. (Requested by Commissioner Jerry Brigham)
RE: Avian Flu.
Mr. Mayor: And a special request, we’ve extended the time to fifteen minutes for those
and we will not go over that so I’ll keep the time.
Dr.Youmans: Thank you very much.
Mr. Mayor: Yes, ma’am.
Dr. Youmans: [unintelligible] really an hour or more presentation we’re going to do in
about fifteen minutes. Okay? So if you have any questions, call the office. [unintelligible]
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What we want to do is really compare seasonal human influenza with avian influenza and sort of
acquaint you with what Public Health role is. The purpose of this presentation is to clarify
Public Health’s role and emergency preparedness activities and to contrast avian influenza or
bird flu with human flu and also to let you know that we’re going to have what we call a school
and community immunization roundup which is actually going to serve as a [unintelligible] and
emergency preparedness drill for district -- East Central Health District 6. Now, usually when I
have a discussion about anything, I like to define a few terms so that we’re all on the same page.
When I asked our staff what pandemic was, I looked around and asked everybody to raise their
hand. The only person that knew what a pandemic was was the epidemiologist. So in absence of
that, when I asked and nobody raised their hand but they did know one thing, that they were
afraid. Whatever it was, it didn’t sound like it was anything good. So let’s start off with
defining endemic. Endemic means that you expect to find disease in a certain area. For
example, if you’re going down to Mexico or if you’re going down to parts of India, you may go
to a travel clinic or go to your doctor because you’re going to ask them for some vaccines and
some medicines that you’re going to take with you because you’re going to a particular part of
the country and that’s because you expect to see certain diseases in that area. That’s called
endemic. When an epidemic happens, a disease comes up that catches you totally off guard.
What a pandemic is, it is an epidemic but it is a larger epidemic. It involves a lot more people
and a lot of -- a lot larger geographic area. A shift is a change. Now, when we talk about
antigens or parasites or pathogens or germs, we’re talking about basically the same kind of
things. They enter your body like a stranger entering into your house, and if a stranger enters in
your house, you’re going to mount a response, right? Your defensive response, and that’s where
antibodies come into play. Vaccines are a way to have your body mount a response before you
come in contact with that actual germ or pathogen or parasite. Now, influenza virus, there’s
three types. There’s Type A, B and C, and there’s some classified by two proteins that are on the
surface so imagine my fist being the protein and there’s two different proteins on the surface of
my fist. One’s called hemagglutinin, one’s called neuraminidase, and the way those two proteins
are configured or situated will determine a subclass. Now, there are only three subclasses that
are associated with human influenza. Is it important for you to know those three? No. Is it
important for the vaccine manufacturers to know those three? Yes. Antigenic shift has to do
with change, a major, major change. Like you said this is Dr. Youmans, but if I walked through
the door looking like Commissioner Brigham, that’s a major change, right? But if I go to the
beauty shop and I get some highlights in my hair, I may go and get me some new glasses, you
say well, I still -- that’s still Dr. Youmans, that’s a minor change and you’re going to respond to
me like you normally respond to Dr. Youmans, not like you respond to Commissioner Brigham.
So that’s what happens to germs or pathogens. If a major shift, a major change occurs in a germ,
then our body doesn’t know how to respond to, doesn’t know how to react. So it takes us a little
bit of time to mount a defense. They catch us off guard, and that’s when they wipe us out.
That’s when pandemics occur. Okay? Now, the clinical symptoms of fever and sore throat and
muscle aches, and you say oh, gosh, that sounds like a regular cold. Well, a lot of times, that’s
what it starts out as. Most people don’t die from the flu. Most people die from secondary
bacterial infections that are associated with the flu so that’s one of the reasons we push for
people to take pneumonia vaccines and pneumococcal vaccines. Young infants on the other
hand, they generally have more serious complications, and we call those sepsis-like symptoms,
and what that means is babies just have an overwhelming infection. Does that mean that they
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have high fevers? They could. They have a normal fever, could have a low fever. Most of the
time when a baby is really, really sick or septic, your baby’s just not acting like your baby
anymore, and that’s a droopy, sad looking baby. How do we know this is something that you
would always want to use in associating with children and viruses because there is a disease
called Reye’s Syndrome, and it’s also associated with very similar chicken pox so give children
Tylenol instead of aspirin or aspirin-like agents so you can avoid Reye’s Syndrome. What’s
that? Just think liver and think CNS or brain complications. Now, seasonal influenza spread in
humans. It’s person to person. You cough, you sneeze, you scratch your nose and you go hey,
how you doing? And then you rub your nose, and you put your finger in your mouth, and you’ve
transmitted it or if I’m here and you sneeze me and I take a nice whiff of that. You’re most
infectious 24 hours before you have any symptoms, and it takes one to three days for that virus to
replicate. They call that an incubation period, and the attack rate depends on how much
immunity is in the community. Schools are a garden -- a garden of infectious disease, and if we
were to ever come in contact with pandemic-like picture in this area, the school is the first thing
that needs to close down. Now, higher risk groups are people that you would expect -- diabetes,
people on oxygen with bad lungs, kidneys, congenital heart disease, and sickle cell disease.
Now, how do you test? You get something and you just go ahead and get a swab out of the nose
or a swab down the throat, and you want to go ahead and culture that as fast as you can. You can
also test for it by antibody types that are specific to that germ or that pathogen. Now, what is a
treatment? It’s not amantadine, it’s not rimantadine because there’s resistance now in the
particular avian flu virus that that there fear that could cause pandemic so they’re not even
recommending amantadine or rimantadine. They’re recommending Tamiflu. Now, Tamiflu is a
drug that you can use to treat and also to prevent symptoms from avian flu. Relenza --
Zanamivir is something that you can’t use for prophylaxis to prevent you from getting sick. It’s
only used for treatment, and it’s given as an inhaler which is kind of peculiar because when you
take the puffer, you think it would be okay for somebody with asthma or COP to use. One of the
major side effects from Relenza is bronchospasms, and it’s in a puffer form. Tamiflu does come
in a liquid. Now, in regard to pandemics, we usually get about three every hundred years. We
had a major pandemic in 1918 that killed 20 to 50 million people but back in 1957 and 1968,
they had pandemics at that time, but they didn’t kill quite as many people. Why? Because now
we’ve had antibiotics. Remember I told you a lot of people don’t die from the flu as much as
they die from secondary bacterial infections associated. Now, this was a smart guy, Mr.
Hillerman. In 1957, when they had that Hong Kong flu, Mr. Hillerman said that thing is going to
hit the United States so he went to five or six drug companies, and he said listen, guys, this thing
is coming, start making vaccine that is specific for that germ right now. And guess what? They
did. What happened? It started in April. By September 1957, 20 million people in the United
States were infected but guess how many died? Only 70,000. Now 70,000, I didn’t mean only
70,000. 70,000 lives is very important but it’s not 20 to 50 million lives. Okay? And a lot of
that 70,000 were high risk people. A lot of that 70,000 might have been people who didn’t have
access to that vaccine or who didn’t have access to antibiotics to cover that but the lesson learned
is pandemics don’t really have to happen. They can be avoided if we’ve got enough vaccine
available. Now, the best way again to prevent against a pandemic is a vaccine. We only have
four companies right now that are making the flu vaccine. Not good. So what does that mean?
A limited infrastructure to produce large quantities of vaccine. It sounds like somebody needs to
get on that job right now. Now, avian flu or bird flu, it is again another Type A virus, and
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remember the only virus that changes or shifts is that Type A virus. Okay? That’s the one that
we’re concerned about. Avian influenza is a Type A virus. It’s seasonal in birds just like human
influenza is seasonal with us. They spread it the same way from secretions and excretions and
how do you come in contact with it? By coming in contact with infected birds or contaminated
surfaces. Wild birds carry this stuff but guess what? They don’t get sick. You see that poor
duck right there? Domestic birds, chickens and ducks and turkeys. They’re the ones that get
sick and die. Public health officials have known about this since 1997 but in that period of time,
prior to that, nobody has died but since that, they say anywhere from 130 to 170 people have
been infected. Actually more than 85 have died. It is now, in the affected countries, has spread
to other mammals like pigs and cats and tigers. Transmission again, that’s a bird bath. From
here, imagine a bird coming and landing on that bird bath, affected bird dipping in that water,
another bird coming lying on top of that, drinking out of that water bin and it’s passed. How do
humans get it? The risk factors for humans in Southeast Asias have been people who were
poultry workers or people who hand-butchered affected foul. Now, I grew up in Hampton, South
Carolina, and I don’t know anybody else who grew up in a small town but my granddaddy used
to get chickens out of my grandma’s chicken coop. He’d get them and wring them around and
he’d cut them. But fortunately for us, we don’t have this particular strain of virus in the United
States right now but most of us, we buy our chicken at the store, right? Most of us do that so we
don’t really have to worry too much about it right this moment but that’s the risk that we’re
concerned about and again, they coming into contact with high antigen types. Bird flu in
humans, prior to 1997, I said there were no human deaths but the important thing that you need
to walk out of here and know that there’s been no evidence that properly cook poultry or eggs
has transmitted the disease. Nobody’s been known to get an infection from eating and even in
countries that are infected with the virus, there’s been no record that anybody who ate an
infected chicken that was cooked properly came down with it. H5N1 has not been detected the
United States, and there’s been no cases in the United States, and the other thing that you need to
know is that we don’t accept poultry from any country since 2004 that has active strains of H5N1
walking around. This is what Georgia kind of surmises as being what could happen to us. This
is the United States, this is Georgia. They’re saying that we’re about three percent of the U.S.
population so this is what they’re estimate is. If we have a mild case of pandemic flu, 2.7 million
people are going to be infected. But the difference between moderate and severe comes down to
hospitalization rates. If we have a moderate case, they’re looking at 26,000. If we have a severe
case, 300,000. It’s not going to be so much about the vaccines that are going to keep us from
approaching those 300,000 rates, it’s going to have to do a lot with what we do as far as pre-
event education and pre-event planning like closing the schools, closing the malls, not having
church, not closing the ball games, closing -- decreasing opportunities for large populations of
people to come and share secretions, respiratory secretions and otherwise. Mechanical
ventilators. If it’s moderate - 1,900. If it’s severe - 22,000. I don’t know if we have 22,000 or
23,000 ventilators in the State of Georgia. I don’t know but they’re estimating that’s what we
may need. The estimate is probably going to be higher than that. Deaths go from 6,000 to
58,000 - 57,000. Now, the public health challenge is this. If H5N1 -- it doesn’t go to humans
directly right now. It’s very, very, very rare for that particular strain -- it likes birds right now. It
doesn’t like humans. So you have to come in contact with a huge load for it to infect a human.
Okay? All right? But what they’re concerned about, if there is a shift or if there’s a change, I
come walking in looking like Mr. Brigham, that kind of thing happens to that germ and then you
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don’t know how to respond to me anymore. That’s what they’re concerned about. We haven’t
developed an immune system for that change, and if it comes on us really, really fast, that’s what
they’re concerned about. That gives it the greatest opportunity to spread. But they are making
vaccines. They’ve been in trials since April 2005. Clinical trials are under way, and they’re
studying other drugs in addition to Tamiflu for [unintelligible] in this particular strain. The U.S.
Department of Agriculture tells you to do basic things. Wash your hands, use soap and water,
and don’t go in there and just kind of do like that and then be out of there but take some time and
be thorough about washing your hands when you cough and you sneeze, when you go to the
restroom. Wash your hands before you leave out and touch the handle or the door. Now, this is
East Central Public Health District. I want you guys to be familiar with the logo. This is going
under modification. We’re going to write East Central Health District out, Public Health. So
when you see that symbol, I want you to associate it with us. Just like you do that swish with
Nike, and say what are those people doing now? We have thirteen counties in our district,
thirteen public health boards, and thirteen individual -- we have health departments in all thirteen
counties and the Laney-Walker site has been renamed to the Frank M. Rumph, M.D. Health
Department which we want to be our flagship. Public Health, what do we do? We do --
Mr. Mayor: Dr. Youmans, I --
Dr. Youmans: My time’s up?
Mr. Mayor: Yes, ma’am.
Dr. Youmans: Okay.
Mr. Mayor: And we very much appreciate that information. And I’m sure that -- Mr.
Cheek?
Mr. Cheek: Just going to ask the question. On the exercise you plan to do, is this going
to be in the form of a table top exercise and will it include creating, I guess, clinical space in
perhaps our community centers and other things?
Dr. Youmans: Who is asking that? Oh. Thank you. No. That’s what I was about -- I
was ending but that was what I was coming up on. No, the drill is a district-wide coordinated
mass immunization drill. We have two functions within emergency preparedness. One is in
giving out medications and vaccinations to mass populations so in the event that a pandemic
were to occur, we would open up what we call PODs or points of distribution where we would
tell you where to report in order to get vaccine or either propalactic medication for that. That’s
one of the things we do. So the drill is an exercise -- it’s a public service because we’re going to
take that opportunity to educate people about influenza [unintelligible] because we had the
epidemic in Columbia County but it’s also an emergency preparedness drill for us.
Mr. Cheek: Well, it would be very important for us to coordinate our Public Safety
sectors and all because my understanding of this is if we do see pandemic conditions occur in the
United States, that a lot of people are going to be told to stay home and, you know, stay out of
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the public, and we’re going to run into a situation of providing emergency services and other
essential services that we need to be prepared to cover in that event.
Dr. Youmans: Coordination is very important and in one of the slides I had to show
saying that successful disaster management required partnership and integration. All the peoples
come together and make more public. We’ve interfaced with all these different agencies and are
working with the local EMAs and EMS personnel but instead of it being each county operating
independently, we feel that it’s necessary to have a coordinated emergency response plan --
Mr. Cheek: Yeah. I agree.
Dr. Youmans: -- lead from the district.
Mr. Cheek: Oh, I agree.
Mr. Mayor: Thank you so much. Madame Clerk, I believe we have some proposed
additions to the agenda?
The Clerk: Yes, sir. Those items that’s printed on our agenda, Item 1 is to approve
funding request from the Board of Elections regarding the opening of satellite voting sites for the
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July 18 primary and the August 8 runoff. Item 2 is an update from the interim Human
Resources Director regarding the recent incident involving ING and their contract, and 3,
approve a resolution to waive performance audit.
ADDENDUM
22. Approve funding request from the Board of Elections regarding the opening of
satellite voting sites for the July 18 primary and the August 8 run off. (Requested by
Commissioner Holland)
23. Update from the Interim Human Resources Director regarding the recent incident
involving ING and their current contract. (Requested by Commissioner Holland)
24. Approve Resolution to waive Performance Audit. (Requested by the Attorney)
Mr. Grantham: Move to add.
Mr. Cheek: Second.
Mr. Mayor: Ms. Beard?
Ms. Beard: I need an explanation of Number 3.
Mr. Mayor: Mr. Parliamentarian?
Mr. Shepard: Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Ms. Beard, the purpose of this is served by the
annual audit and because we are required to have an annual audit, we can have this requirement
of new law which is just been enacted this year. We can have that fulfilled by our annual audit
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so if we run this ad next week and the week after, the -- we won’t have to have the new audit
associated with bonds. We would have only the present annual audit so it was presented by Mr.
Gray to me that it would be prudent to invoke this procedure because we’re getting the bonds
audited every year anyway in the annual audit.
Ms. Beard: Thank you.
Mr. Shepard: Thank you.
Mr. Mayor: Mr. Williams?
Mr. Williams: Thank you, Mr. Mayor. I’m still a little -- little bit confused myself. This
is -- we asked for an annual audit to be done to our agency that does that for us that we talked
about last week. Is that right, Steve, that we didn’t --
Mr. Shepard: Yes, sir, Mr. Williams. That’s correct.
Mr. Williams: And this will waive that?
Mr. Shepard: It’s Cherry -- no, no, it will not -- the Cherry Bekaert and Holland are the,
they’re the ones, the auditors that do the annual.
Mr. Williams: Okay.
Mr. Shepard: That will satisfy this condition if we pass this resolution authorizing this
notice to be done or those will get two bangs for the buck, kind of. We’ll get the bond audit
anyway, and this was a code section that was just amended or enacted in the last General
Assembly. We actually had validated our bonds before this, and Mr. Gray suggested that in
order to be, ensure that we had the appropriate, you know, documentation filed that I present to
you today a request to waive the performance audit specifically as to the bonds because we’re
going to get them, we’re going to get that audit in the annual audit.
Mr. Williams: Mr. Mayor, I guess my question is that we hadn’t got the annual audit yet,
and we going to waive this in order to get what we should have had already?
Mr. Mayor: Well, we --
Mr. Williams: I mean, I’m just trying to be clear now.
Mr. Mayor: I’m just trying to be as --
Mr. Williams: You brought it up last day so, Mr. Mayor, I’ve got problems with this and
this isn’t personal but --
Mr. Shepard: This would be for next year because we’re not going to have -- we’re now
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in the cycle for the 2005 audit that audit at the end of 2005. Our general obligation bonds which
we’ve authorized to the SPLOST won’t be issued until this year so they will be in the 2006 audit.
But if we pass this, we’ll have to have them in the 2006 audit and a special performance audit for
the bonds.
Mr. Williams: Mr. Mayor, I guess the reason I’m questioning is because I think that
anything this important, this serious should not be brought to us and be fair striked given to us at
the last hour that we need to make a move on such -- I mean, we -- if you playing with your own
money, your own audit, that’s one thing but you’re talking about taxpayers’ dollars. I talk about
that all the time. We need to be mindful of how we’re doing it. I don’t want to hold it up. The
attorney is speaking to us in his native tongue of attorney language that some of us understand
and some of us really don’t, don’t care but I’ve got a serious issue when we bring this kind of
situation to us and then add it to the agenda.
Mr. Mayor: Okay. I understand. Mr. Shepard, is there need for action on this today? I
understand that this is the first time that we’ve seen this on here. Is there need for action today?
Mr. Shepard: Bond counsel requested that I go ahead and get this done today. I think it
could revise the time table on the bonds if we don’t do it. The time table has been met so far
through the validation process. It’s just a way of expediting the process of getting the bonds now
validated, getting them sold and issued so.
Mr. Mayor: Mr. Brigham?
Mr. Brigham: Mr. Mayor, from what I’m understanding, it sounds to me like we are
having this done in our annual audit and if we don’t have it done in our annual audit, we’re going
to have to pay for a separate audit, and I think it would be advantageous to the taxpayers to have
it included in our annual audit that we’re going to have done anyway, is what it sounds like to
me, and I think that it should be added.
Mr. Mayor: Okay. Well, we can either get unanimous consent or not so what’s your
pleasure?
Mr. Williams: Mr. Mayor?
Mr. Mayor: Mr. Williams?
Mr. Williams: I’m just saying clarification. I mean, I’m for saving the taxpayers’ money
but I ain’t for ramming nothing down their throats no more, and if this was so important,
somebody should have said something prior to this meeting today and adding it to the agenda.
It’s not even on our agenda to be discussed. It’s just to be added, and I’m sure they want it
approved. I don’t want to hold up the process but I’ve got a problem when we didn’t get the
audit we supposed to have anyway and now we talking about waiving so we going to get two for
the price of one, and one we ain’t going to have to pay for. Well, I’m just unclear. I’m not clear
about what is being done here, and that’s why I’m questioning what we’re doing, and before I let
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it, add it, be added on, somebody need to explain a little bit more than what they explained
already.
Mr. Mayor: Mr. Shepard?
Mr. Shepard: Let me -- I think Mr. Brigham’s paraphrase of my legalese was correct.
We’re going to get it anyway. We’re not ramming anything down the taxpayers’ throats. We’re
not ramming anything down the Commission’s throat. It’s just that the annual audit will suffice
but we need to pass a resolution to this effect. If you don’t pass the resolution, you’ll have to do
a performance audit. It’s the opinion of Mr. Gray.
Mr. Mayor: Is that good for you?
Mr. Williams: I don’t understand, Mr. Mayor. I’m not going to hold up the process.
Mr. Mayor: Okay.
Mr. Williams: I still think if it’s not that great of a issue, then it shouldn’t have to be
added today and brought forward as if it was. Now, maybe not and if we can do it at a later time
and do the same thing, if it’s not pressing, why is it -- why was it brought? Mr. Mayor, I think if
I can get an answer from the attorney for that, if he says it’s not pressing, then why was it
brought and added to the agenda today as if it is?
Mr. Mayor: Mr. Shepard?
Mr. Williams: That’s the impression that I get.
Mr. Shepard: Well -- thank you. It’s not that it’s an emergency, Mr. Williams, but it will
keep our bond process on schedule, and they are anticipating to be back here on the second
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meeting in July which would be the 18 with a resolution, and this resolution should precede the
final bond resolution they’re bringing here so it just will just draw out the process. I mean, I
didn’t have a Finance Committee to present it to because we abolished those committees this
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week, and this meeting is moved forward. It’s moved from Tuesday, July the 4, until today. So
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I would say that Mr. Gray was just trying to have everything ready for the 18 so that the bond
sale could proceed forward. That’s --
Mr. Mayor: Does that satisfy you, Mr. Williams?
Mr. Williams: It really don’t, Mr. Mayor, but I’m going to let -- I’m going to support
though.
Mr. Mayor: Okay.
Mr. Williams: It don’t satisfy me at all.
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Mr. Mayor: We have a motion and a second. Is there any further discussion? The
Commissioners will now vote by the usual sign.
Mr. Williams: [unintelligible]
The Clerk: We’re voting on the Addendum Agenda, Mr. Williams.
Mr. Mayor: Yeah. We were voting on all the items.
Mr. Cheek: This is a vote to add.
The Clerk: We’re voting to add the Addendum Agenda.
Mr. Mayor: This is just the vote to add the Addendum Agenda.
Mr. Williams: And add all three?
Mr. Mayor: Um hmm [yes].
The Clerk: Yes, sir.
Mr. Williams: Mr. Mayor, I’m not going to be able to support that with you. I’m going
to support -- I wanted to but I can’t support Item 3. I’m not clear on it.
Mr. Mayor: Okay. Can we get a motion --
The Clerk: Well, then, Item 3 just won’t be added.
Mr. Mayor: Okay.
The Clerk: The other two will.
Mr. Mayor: Okay.
Ms. Beard: Further that motion.
Mr. Mayor: Let’s take the additions first, Madame Clerk.
The Clerk: Sir?
Mr. Mayor: I said let’s take the additions first.
The Clerk: Okay. Item 1 is to approve funding requests from the Board of Elections
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regarding the opening of the satellite voting sites for the July 18 primary and the August 8
runoff.
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22. Approve funding request from the Board of Elections regarding the opening of
satellite voting sites for the July 18 primary and the August 8 run off. (Requested by
Commissioner Holland)
Mr. Cheek: Move to approve
, Mr. Mayor.
Ms. Beard: Second.
Mr. Mayor: Mr. Bowles?
Mr. Bowles: Mr. Mayor, I would -- I am going to vote for, in favor of this. However, I
would like for the Board of Elections to monitor the number of people that vote to see if it is
actually cost effective to open up these sites in the future and to just report back to us after this
primary in July.
Mr. Mayor: Thank you. Mr. Grantham?
Mr. Grantham: Thank you, Mr. Mayor. And I truly will support the purpose of this but
my question to Ms. Bailey -- is she here? I thought I saw her a little earlier.
Mr. Williams: Yes, she’s here.
Mr. Grantham: Yes.
Mr. Mayor: Ms. Bailey, please come forward.
Mr. Grantham: Is there a state requirement that calls for us to have satellite voting
locations in the primaries or just in the general election?
Ms. Bailey: The state requirement is to establish a place during advance voting week
where citizens can come and cast their vote. That much is a state requirement. In jurisdictions
the size of Richmond County, it’s very common to have additional sites established. Columbia
County for instance has two additional sites --
Mr. Grantham: Okay.
Ms. Bailey: -- for July’s election as well, and they’re moving on into November. It’s not
a state requirement though to establish the satellite sites. I guess it’s a call you make depending
on the size of your jurisdiction.
Mr. Grantham: Okay. Well, that was my next question. You throw this around in
counties where during a similar --
Ms. Bailey: Columbia -- because ours has been so successful, they didn’t open them last
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year and were swamped at their main office, they decided to open them this year, and certainly
the bigger jurisdictions in the metro area have established as many as five sites around in the --
Mr. Grantham: Okay.
Ms. Bailey: -- much larger areas.
Mr. Grantham: Another statement is that, Mr. Mayor, I recall in the first request of this
that it was going to cost around $12,000, and I see that Ms. Bailey has sharpened her pencil and
made some efforts in trying to reduce that cost, and it’s now $9,000 so I appreciate what you’ve
done in that regard.
Ms. Bailey: Well, thank you.
Mr. Mayor: Okay. Mr. Holland, did you?
Mr. Holland: Yes, Mr. Mayor. I just think that with all of the Commissioners agreeing
with this, it would be incumbent from us to approve this simply because of the voters and for the
large city of Augusta, and we had the turn out that we have in these different precincts so I hope
that we need to really think about this and think about this from our next election too, from this
one and from our next election on and maybe put this in the budget so that we’ll have an
opportunity to come back and then rectify this and make sure that this is taken care of and we
won’t have to go through all of these different misconceptions that we’ve had that we’ve been
going through all the week so I approve this myself and I hope that we won’t have these kinds of
problems the next time around.
Mr. Mayor: Okay.
Ms. Bailey: I completely agree. May I say something?
Mr. Mayor: Yes, ma’am.
Ms. Bailey: Just to, so we’re all, know what has happened with this particular
circumstance. When the Board of Elections established these two additional sites in 2004, it was
intended that they would be open in November only. Now, so it wasn’t budgeted for July and
that’s why we’re here today, hat in hand, but I will say that it’s very evident during many
conversations we’ve had and I’m sure you all have had too over the last week that the public here
really liked those satellite sites and they want them established and they want them opened. I’m
sure as you’re also aware the Elections Board is meeting today at 4:00 and I for one am delighted
to be able to go down stairs or will be delighted to be able to go downstairs and tell them that the
funding has been provided by the Augusta Commission.
Mr. Mayor: Okay. Mr. Brown?
Mr. Brown: I’d just like to say that in some of the conversations that I have had about
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this, I’ve gotten a lot of interest in this particular item and I know that Dr. Smith at NAACP has
worked hard on it and I’m just glad to see groups in the City working together on something.
Mr. Mayor: Okay. We have a motion and a second. Is there any further discussion?
Commissioners will now vote by the usual sign.
Motion carries 9-0.
Ms. Bailey: Thank you.
Mr. Mayor: Thank you. Madame Clerk?
The Clerk: Item 2 is an update from the interim Human Resources Director regarding the
recent incident involving ING and their current contract.
23. Update from the Interim Human Resources Director regarding the recent incident
involving ING and their current contract. (Requested by Commissioner Holland)
Mr. Holland: Mr. Mayor?
Mr. Mayor: Commissioner Holland?
Mr. Holland: Mr. Mayor, I asked for this to be placed on the agenda today because I was
knocked completely off my feet with some information I received in reference to personal
information being disseminated with one of our insurance agencies. So I just really want them
here and know the justification from Mr. Burns as to why this information was disseminated and
who gave the authority, who authorized this, and if this was authorized, why was it authorized
because there’s a lot of personal information that has been disseminated out there and perhaps
someone maybe in Kalamazoo, Michigan now can be using some of our Social Security numbers
or, and having identity theft, and I’m very much concerned about this not only for myself but for
all of the city employees here who have not signed a waiver to have this happen. So I would
appreciate very much if you can give us some justification as to why and how this happened.
Mr. Mayor: I’m going to recognize Mr. Brown and then -- I’ll go to you, Mr. Brown.
Mr. Brown: I’d just like to say for the advantage for the people who may not be familiar
with exactly what happened, that we might need to establish that first. We were at GMA over
the weekend at a convention and we got information and I’d just like to make sure that the
information we got is correct. So if you would tell us first what happened and then go on to why
it happened.
Mr. Burns: Okay. I have some representatives here from ING and they would like to
explain in detail what happened, and then I’ll go into answering the questions that you have if
that’s okay.
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Mr. Mayor: Please state your name and address for the record.
Mr. Olson: Mr. Mayor and Commission, my name is Kurt Olson. I’m the president of
the ING Employee Benefits, US Division. I appreciate the time you’re giving us to come down
and number one, talk about the incident and what happened and answer any and all of your
questions. I thought I’d maybe just start out with just a kind of chronology of what occurred,
talk about the personal data being on the laptop that was stolen, give you some dates and then
open it up to questions if that’s okay?
Mr. Mayor: That’s fine. Mr. Brown?
Mr. Brown: I’m sorry to interrupt you, sir, but I think we’re going in the wrong order. I
think that someone from HR should speak first to tell us and then go to ING.
Mr. Burns: Okay. Last year, toward the end of last year, we did an RFP for a company
to provide universal life insurance service. We formed a committee. ING was the company that
won the bid and we then brought that information before the Commission. The Commission
agreed to go into contract with ING. At that point, it was around December, and as a part of us
going into a contractual agreement with ING, they need that personal information in order to
conduct their business. The open enrollment happened during January, March -- February and
March of 2006 and after enrollment, there was some problems with the laptops, and now they
can tell you what happened.
Mr. Mayor: Hold on one second. Mr. Cheek?
Mr. Cheek: I think that if the issue at hand is sure they need the information on those
that will, are willing to participate in the program, but for those of us within the county that
perhaps chose not to participate in the program, putting my personal information or any other
employee’s personal information out when it’s unsolicited I think is probably a violation of the
Privacy Act and poor discretion on the part of whoever released the information. So that’s the
question I have is who basically downloaded, it sounds like dumped the entire list of employees
of the city to ING without all of them giving authorization to have their personal information
transmitted to a private entity?
Mr. Burns: When we go into contract with an insurance company, they are licensed to
have that information and if they have a contractual agreement with us, they can have that
information, and that’s how they got it. They needed that information to do the enrollment.
They needed background information on all of our employees in order to decide the amounts of
coverage they had qualified for and different things concerning employees.
Mr. Cheek: Just as a matter of process now, when we contract with them, unless they’re
getting baseline information on staff, if I chose to enroll in a program, I can fill in those blanks
then. That can be generated. Programs are readily available to generate the type of feedback
information you’re talking about almost on the spot. Again, I go back to why was, and I’m not
even sure if mine was on there or not, why was my information given to someone without my
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knowledge one, and two, why wasn’t a questionnaire or some form of communication out to the
workforce asking them the simple question do you want your information transmitted to this
company? Or any other company for that matter?
Mr. Burns: Well, as I said, when we go through these contracts, it’s standard business,
any of the insurance companies we deal with whether it be healthcare or any other industry, they
need that information to the business with us when they come into contract with us and ---
Mr. Olson: Mr. Mayor, may I interject something here?
Mr. Mayor: Hang on one second. Mr. Williams, and then I’ll go to you.
Mr. Williams: Mr. Mayor, I guess my first question if I can remember correctly, I
thought there was a voluntary type situation where employees could volunteer if they so desire to
chose, to use this services and not a contract where we would be binding as a government to
have, we gave them the authority. I know it came up before this Commission, but if it was a
volunteer, a volunteer type situation where those employees would be able to sign up if they
chose to, not where they would mandatory that, you know, and if it was mandatory, I still don’t
think we should have gave out information but being a volunteer and now, I guess I need that
cleared up from Mr. Burns, if it was a volunteer situation where they was allowed to talk to
employees, and I think what we gave them was the authority to be able to go to the departments
and talk to employees to see if they was interested. I got some phone calls. I said I wasn’t
interested, you know, but I did get a call. But if the information was given out, why was it given
out to a volunteer situation like this where we was doing really the company a favor? Hopefully,
they would be doing the employees a favor if they chose to purchase their insurance. So my first
question was was it a volunteer situation?
Mr. Burns: The coverage is voluntary.
Mr. Williams: Coverage is voluntary. Then why was the information that Mr. Cheeks
just described given out from HR without anybody’s knowledge, without anybody’s consent
about, and not just one or two but all of the many, many people that, names and personal
information went out? I don’t understand how we can make that glitch. I understand that the
gentleman said it was stolen, and that’s what I would say too. I mean, if it happened like that, I
wouldn’t say I just left it on my desk but I’m not so much worried about them, Mr. Mayor. I’m
worried about our internal people who are doing things to really hurt the employees that they’re
supposed to be protecting so I hadn’t heard yet a good reason for giving those information, that
information to anybody on a volunteer basis, and you knew it was a volunteer basis because I
mean, I remember it came through, I asked the question and it was supposed to give them an
opportunity to go around and I thought what we approved was the concept of them being able to
go to different apartments, go to different apartment, and ask the employees would they be
interested in purchasing this information. Now, with the information we give them, Mr. Mayor,
they don’t have to go to anybody. They can sit at their computer and do the same thing 10,000
other people with computers can do who got this information. So I hadn’t heard yet.
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Mr. Mayor: No. Mr. Williams, I think I can clarify. Who authorized the information to
go out and is it legal to give the information without authorization from the employees? Is that?
Mr. Burns: Well, basically, by you approving us to go under contract, you authorized it
as the Commission because that’s the only way we could do business, and he can explain it if he
could get a second to explain the process that we go through when we’re doing the enrollments.
Mr. Mayor: Okay. Okay. Mr. Olson?
Mr. Olson: Thank you. Yeah. It is a common practice by all employers, and I don’t
know the exact, I don’t know the Georgia laws with regards to personal data privacy particularly
in a public entity, but in all of the voluntary enrollments that we do of this sort, we get complete
data from the employer on all of the employees that are eligible for the coverage, and the reason
that that is provided is to provide more value to the employee in the enrollment situation so we
have their data, and we can price the product for which we are offering to them. They sit with an
enrollment counselor that can help them understand the product and what the need for the
product is and determine whether or not the employee wants to purchase it, and what it does is it
speeds and eases the enrollment process for the employee to have their personal data there and
have a specific price for them as they’re sitting down for somewhere between ten, fifteen, maybe
twenty minutes with this enrollment counselor. So I understand everybody’s angst over this, all
of this data being out there. From our perspective as an insurance carrier, this is the way that we
do business in the voluntary market segment as the rest of the industry does, where this personal
data is provided and then used in the enrollment process to make sure that the employee
understands what the risks are, what the value is and what the cost is specifically for them and/or
their family. Now, we have this unfortunate incident happen with the theft of the computer, and
I think maybe if I can get a chance to just kind of walk through the chronology of the events and
do it quickly so I don’t waste anybody’s time?
Mr. Mayor: Please.
Mr. Olson: All right. And I’m not very good at quick but I’ll give it a try. Mr. Burns
talked about the enrollment lasting from January through March. At the end of the enrollment,
during the enrollment, the data on the enrollees and the applicants is sent into a secure website in
our home office in Minneapolis and we begin processing the applications. After the enrollment
is complete, the laptops are shipped back to our home office where they’re delivered to our
enrollment services area, and all of the data is stripped off of the laptops so everything is cleaned
completely off, and we destroy the data that was on those laptops so as we reuse them, there’s no
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chance of that data being misappropriated. The laptops were returned to us on March 29 of this
year, and we were short one laptop when they got returned, and unfortunately the people that
handle the inventory of our laptops coming in and going out didn’t realize that it had been stolen.
They thought it maybe hadn’t been sent back so they were following up with the people that did
the enrollment here in Augusta. They thought maybe it got checked into inventory. Well, we
had another incident of a couple of weeks later where another laptop didn’t show up from a
different enrollment from another employer and at that point in time, we called on, we have a,
with ING in the U.S., we have a special investigations unit that can help us with situations like
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st
this. We called them in. They came into Minneapolis, and we called them in on May 1, and
they started their investigation, and they came into Minneapolis and interviewed a lot of people,
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everybody who was involved in the process and determined by the 15 of May that in fact it had
been stolen, the laptop for the Augusta enrollment, the laptop for this other employer had been
stolen in our mailroom in Minneapolis so the laptop had gotten returned, and it was stolen by
mailroom employees. For the record, we contract out that service to another company to run our
mailroom. They were not ING employees, and to this date, none of our ING employees have
been implicated. The City HR Department and the enrollment firm here in Augusta have no
responsibility for the incident. It’s all our, it’s our issue and it’s our problem so we, as soon as
we figured out what happened, we confronted the mailroom employees with our investigation
people. One of them admitted to stealing computers. We recovered two computers. Neither of
which were the Augusta computer, and we turned the investigation over to the Minneapolis
police and they’re pursuing the perpetrators and trying to recover the laptops. Now, once we
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determined this on or about May 15, we also then took a very good look at the security levels
that were on the levels to make sure that the data hadn’t or wouldn’t be misappropriated, and for
the laptop that was used, all of the laptops that were used in the Augusta enrollment including the
one that was stolen, there was very strong password protection even to get onto the computer.
Just to sign on, you had to have a strong password. That’s defined in the IT area as the use of
uppercase letters, lowercase letters and numbers in the password so it’s not something that
anybody can just break into. Then our software package that we use for enrolling benefits has an
encryption software built into it to protect the data and then the entire database of the 2,400
employees was encrypted. Now, people, when I’ve talked about this, people say well, what is
encryption? Encryption is a software package that if you don’t access the package with a proper
password for that specific encryption, it’s essentially scrambles the data so it’s unintelligible so
people cannot read it. We feel very confident number one that the laptop for the Augusta
enrollment and the other laptops that were stolen were stolen for hardware purposes. We know
the four people in our mailroom who were responsible. They’ve been dismissed and the
investigation’s ongoing and we know from the level of expertise that they had that they were just
stealing a laptop. They had no idea what was on the laptop, whether there was employee data or
anything else on there. Number two, because of that, we don’t think anybody was looking for
the data. Number two, with the password protection and the encryption protection on the laptop,
quite certain that there would be absolutely no misappropriation of data that the thieves wouldn’t
be able to get to the data. In fact, we had one of our IT experts come to Minneapolis, try to break
through the encryption and couldn’t do it, and he spent about four hours trying to do it and he’s a
person that works in this field. And then shortly after making this discovery, we contacted the
enrollment entity here and the HR Department here to tell them about it and suggest what we
might want to do. From there, we went through various stages of describing the problem, talking
about the protection we want to provide at our cost to the employees whose data was on the
computer and then constructing a communication piece that many of you have now seen that
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went to all of the employees as of the 20 of June.
Mr. Mayor: Okay. Mr. Williams?
Mr. Williams: Mr. Mayor. I appreciate the young man’s response but I’m more worried
about our department, HR, who was supposed to be handling this now. It was in their care. The
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only thing I can think of that they, this firm might need would be a name, address, age and
maybe phone number, and from that process, they ought to be able to talk to anybody and get
whatever information they need. Since it was volunteer situation where employees may want or
may not want it. They had a option but to, for HR to let this out, now that’s on the other side of
the fence. I don’t think we can do much about this firm except take this contract and not let that
be a part of this government anymore but I think HR needs to understand how important this is,
how vital their role is as a HR Department an dhow they need to handle some things. That’s a
serious issue that this young man said that the, you know, they think the equipment was just stole
for the equipment. When I talk about a hack, I’m thinking about a cab but there are so many
people that can take a hack and go into a situation and tell you when your grandmama had her
first child so I really don’t understand that and are not concerned. Well, I am concerned about
this government who got a Human Resource Department who’s supposed to be professional,
who gave this information. The company didn’t come in and take it. It was given and I talked to
Robert about it and I told him this is sure enough serious. I got no sympathy for people who get
paid. Now, if you was volunteering and you wasn’t getting paid, you said hey, I let the kid out
the door and he’s gone but you get paid to handle this job. Only thing I think this company
should have got, Mr. Mayor, was like I said, was a name, address, and age and maybe a phone
number, and it would have been up to them. We shouldn’t have made the work any easier for
them or anybody else. We gave them an opportunity to serve the, all of these employees that the
government have but I think that’s where the buck needs to stop.
Mr. Mayor: Okay. Mr. Cheek?
Mr. Cheek: Mr. Mayor, I, and I’m more comfortable now hearing the level of protection
on the laptop but I’ll go back to a business model that I think all of us are familiar with, and I’ll
say, I’ll preface that and say that Internet crime and identify theft is something that becomes a
lifelong problem for the person who has their identity and Social Security number and other
information taken, a burden put on them through no fault of their own in a lot of cases. Internet
criminal activities is becoming profitable. It’s in Scientific American this month. Business as
usual is something that I would hope all of our departments would look beyond. All of us can go
right now and call 1-800-Geico, give our information and get our registration handled on the
phone without the transmission of one dump of list of employees for instance with all their
personal information. Usually handle it in five minutes. That’s a business model that works.
It’s current, saving money for that company, and saving money for the people that are enrolled in
it. I think that we need to seriously look at our policy of taking the entire list of employees and
dumping that down over into situations to where, through no fault of ING’s, the property is
stolen. Why create a potential risk when you don’t have to just because that’s the way it’s
always been done? Mr. Mayor, there are business models out there but it would be really simple
for instance in this case to allow if we had the three month enrollment process to have those
people sign up and transmit that data and then have them have a phone number to call.
Completely leaving out everyone else who didn’t want to participate from the risk that is out
there that HR’s fault, ING’s fault, nobody’s fault but the guy that stole it. They’re still at risk
through no fault of their own and I think we need to really visit how we do our business when it
comes to personal information exchange in the future.
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Mr. Mayor: Commissioner Holland?
Mr. Holland: Yes, sir. There’s two questions I wanted to refer to to our attorney that
concerns me and then perhaps some of you all may already know that but I heard something
about a contract. Where is the contract that we supposed to have? Is there a contract? That’s
one question, and the second question is that is it legal to give out our Social Security numbers?
You know, I want to know that, and then I have a couple of other questions that I would like to
ask Robby in reference to this so if you could answer those two questions for me, I’d appreciate
it very much.
Mr. Mayor: Mr. Shepard?
Mr. Shepard: Let me answer those questions but first let me preface the remarks. When
I read about this, I asked the Administrator for authority to have Ms. Flournoy investigate this
matter and that instruction was given I think earlier this week, and to answer your questions,
we’re not to give out Social Security numbers, and I would answer the first question relative to
the contract after allowing Ms. Flournoy to complete her investigation. I’m concerned about that
issue, Commissioner Holland. Until the investigation is complete, I don’t want to say there is or
isn’t, and that investigation I have begun already to Ms. Flournoy, and I would suggest that due
to the sensitive privacy matters we’re talking about, due to the potential litigation, that you allow
her to find all the facts and I think by the executives from ING coming down here, they’re
wanting to cooperate, and we can assess where we are but I think we may not serve our
employees’ best interests by debating this on this floor as to whether their protected information
has been inadvertently released or not, and that my suggestion would be that you refer this to the
legal meeting. Once her report develops all the facts, I don’t think that in two days that she
could possibly develop all of the facts, apply the law, bring the report back to me, and have me
review it.
Mr. Mayor:motion to receive
Okay. As of the investigation is underway, could I get a
this as information and to allow the attorney to bring us back the information once the
investigation is completed
?
Mr. Grantham: So move.
Ms. Beard: Second.
Mr. Mayor: Commissioner Holland?
Mr. Holland: Yes, sir. I can understand you saying that, that this information is, you
know, you don’t want to debate it on the floor but however, the information has already been
disseminated all over, everywhere it’s supposed to go. So I mean it’s nothing that’s going to be
so private as to whether or not we’re discussing this now as to whether or not it’s not going to get
out but I can understand and respect what you’re saying in reference to that and I don’t want
anything to happen to jeopardize, you know, our employees or put us in a bad position but I’m
very much concerned about that in reference to the contract so if there is an investigation going
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on in reference to that, and then we’ll wait and we will see what happens about the contract.
Mr. Mayor: And, and let me say that I share your concerns as I got the letter and my
information is on there as well but we have a motion and a second and I’ve got no choice. Is
there any further discussion?
Mr. Williams: Point of clarification, Mr. Mayor?
Mr. Mayor: You’ve not been recognized, Commissioner, and I had said to go by the
rules that I would recognize everybody twice and you have been --
Mr. Williams: I hear your point of order, Mr. Mayor. There’s was a motion made and --
Mr. Mayor: Mr. Williams, you’ve been recognized twice on this issue.
Mr. Williams: Yes, sir, but you had a motion to be made after I been recognized twice.
Mr. Mayor: Commissioner -- Mr. Williams, you have not been recognized.
Mr. Williams: I want to get a point of clarification. I need to get a point of clarification
so that --
Mr. Mayor: You have not been recognized, Mr. Williams.
Mr. Williams: I will not -- will not sit idly here, Mr. Mayor, until I get a point of
clarification. I asked --
Mr. Mayor: Mr. Williams. You have not been recognized.
Mr. Williams: I think my Parliamentarian may need to step in here and give us a ruling,
Mr. Mayor. Because I think after the motion was made, I may --
Mr. Mayor: Mr. Williams, you have not been recognized.
Mr. Williams: Can you get that clarification from the Parliamentarian?
Mr. Mayor: Mr. Shepard?
Mr. Shepard: Your ruling, Mr. Mayor, is that he’s been recognized twice on this issue
already. Is that?
Mr. Mayor: Yes. And that Commissioners cannot speak unless they are recognized.
Mr. Shepard: That’s correct.
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Mr. Mayor: Thank you. Okay. The motion has been made and properly seconded. Is
there any further discussion? Commissioners will now vote by the usual sign.
Mr. Speaker: What are we voting on?
The Clerk: To receive it.
Mr. Mayor: To receive it as information until we get back the investigation.
Mr. Williams: Now can I have my point of clarification and I need two of them?
Mr. Mayor: No. Mr. Williams, the agenda item has already been voted on. We will
now move forward.
Mr. Williams: Just a point of clarification, Mr. Mayor. This is not on the agenda item.
Mr. Mayor: No, this is -- Mr. Williams, if this pertains to the last agenda item, no.
Mr. Williams: No, sir. It does not pertain to the last agenda item. It’s the ruling that --
Mr. Mayor: Mr. Williams, I --
Mr. Williams: -- that the attorney gave and I would like to see a copy of that ruling that
the attorney just gave.
Mr. Mayor: Well --
Motion carries 9-0.
Mr. Mayor: Mr. Shepard, if you could simply read from our Decorum of Debate in our
rule book?
Mr. Shepard: I have my copy of the rules, Mr. Mayor.
Mr. Mayor: No.
Mr. Grantham: Mayor, you read it.
Mr. Mayor: I’ll read it. A Commissioner may not speak in a meeting --
Mr. Williams: I need -- I need the attorney, Mr. Mayor, to please let him do his job. He
is the Parliamentarian.
Mr. Mayor: You have not been recognized.
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Mr. Williams: I don’t need to be recognized.
Mr. Mayor: You’re out of order.
Mr. Williams: I need to --
Mr. Mayor: You are out of order.
Mr. Williams: I need to hear from our --
Mr. Mayor: You have not been recognized. You’ve been called out of order.
Mr. Williams: I understand and I need to hear that from the attorney.
Mr. Mayor: Mr. Shepard?
Mr. Williams: I don’t need to hear it from the Mayor.
Mr. Shepard: Where would you like for me to begin, Mr. Mayor?
Mr. Mayor: With regards to a Commissioner may not speak at a meeting until he has
been recognized by the Chairman Mayor.
Mr. Shepard: Okay.
Mr. Mayor: Read please for me 2.01.02.
Mr. Williams: Mr. Shepard, I need for you to read from your --
Mr. Mayor: You have not been recognized, Mr. --
Mr. Williams: I need for Mr. Shepard to read from --
Mr. Mayor: Mr. Williams, you have not been recognized.
Mr. Williams: But Mr. Mayor --
Mr. Mayor: Mr. Shepard.
Mr. Williams: Mr. Mayor, the attorney needs to read from --
Mr. Mayor: You have not been recognized, Mr. Williams. You have been called out of
order once.
Mr. Williams: He needs to read from where [unintelligible] where he just stated.
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Mr. Shepard: Would you like me to read 2.01.02?
Mr. Mayor: Yes.
Mr. Shepard: From the rules? It says, “All Commissioners must conduct themselves in a
professional and respectful manner. All remarks should be directed to the Chairman Mayor and
not to the individual Commissioner, staff or citizens in attendance. Personal remarks are
inappropriate. A Commissioner may not speak at a meeting until he’s been recognized by the
Chairman Mayor. All comments made by a Commissioner shall address the motion that is being
discussed.”
Mr. Mayor: Thank you, Mr. Shepard. Let’s move on to the next agenda item.
Mr. Cheek: Excuse me.
Mr. Mayor: To the consent agenda.
The Clerk: We haven’t taken Item 3 on.
Mr. Grantham: Three.
The Clerk: Oh, it’s -- yeah. It didn’t get unanimous consent?
Mr. Mayor: No.
Mr. Shepard: Was not added.
The Clerk: Consent Agenda consists of Items 1 through 3. Items 1, 2 and 3.
Mr. Mayor: Are there any additions to the Consent Agenda? Mr. Cheek?
Mr. Cheek: Mr. Mayor, from Public Safety, the Chair will recommend having discussion
on Item 13 but moving Item 14 and 15 since these are funded and capital programs to be moved
over to the Consent Agenda, please.
14. Approve the purchase of a new network switch and an upgrade to our current Cisco
6509 core switch.
15. Approve the replacement of obsolete computer equipment (laptops, computers,
servers, printers) and purchase of any required computer software upgrades.
Mr. Mayor: Thank you, Mr. Cheek. Any --
Mr. Grantham: Mr. Mayor?
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Mr. Mayor: Mr. Grantham?
Mr. Grantham: Mr. Mayor, it’s my understanding that Item No. 7, I’ve discussed it with
Mr. Sherman, and Ms. Thompson is in the hospital and Mr. George Harrison would be
representing her, and in that case, she already obtained a wine license for this establishment, and
she is now looking to include the beer license for it, and I would ask that that be moved to the
Consent Agenda.
7. New Application: A. N. 06 - 35: A request by Donna Thompson for a retail package
Beer license to be used in connection with Ninth Street Wine Market located at #12 Ninth
St. District 1. Super District 9.
Mr. Mayor: Thank you, Mr. Grantham. Any further additions? Mr. Cheek?
Mr. Cheek: Mr. Mayor, if it please the body, Item 19 looks like something we can move
as well.
19. Consider request from Boys & Girls Clubs for Augusta, GA. to serve as fiscal agent
for a Georgia Children and Youth Coordinating Council Title V grant.
The Clerk: I don’t even [unintelligible] application.
Mr. Cheek: And I -- Mr. Mayor, while I’m at it, I’m not going to steal the thunder of the
Chairman of Engineering Services but I will speak to Item 18. That has been in the planning for
several years and has been promised to the people of Fairington. It’s within budget. It’s
something we’ve been planning and working for several years, and it’s come time to vote on it
and get it installed and we’ve got a school going out there as well so I would have no problem
moving that one as well.
18. Approve award of construction in the amount of $6,840,270.22 to Blair Construction
Co. for the Fairington Sanitary Sewer Extension project. Bid item # 06-133.
Mr. Williams: There’s some problem with 18, Mr. Mayor.
Mr. Mayor: Mr. Williams.
Mr. Williams: 18. I need some clarification on from the DBE person to make sure that
those guidelines have been met.
Mr. Mayor: Are there any further additions?
Mr. Grantham: Yeah. I’ve got one. Number 9.
Mr. Mayor: Mr. Grantham?
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Mr. Grantham: I’d like to ask No. 9 to be moved to Consent.
9. Motion to approve the Recreation and Parks Department to make application for a
FY 2007 Georgia Historic Preservation Grant through the Georgia Department of Natural
Resources.
Mr. Mayor: Any further additions?
Mr. Cheek: Yes, sir. 10 and 12.
Mr. Grantham: All right. The applicants are present for Agenda Item No. 4, 5, 6 and 8,
and 11, and Item 10 and 12 will need to be discussed. Those licenses, those applicants have been
cleared through the Sheriff’s Department through the License & Inspection Department.
4. New Application: A N. 06 - 32: A request by Charles F. Palmer for an on-premise
consumption Liquor & Beer license to be used in connection with Trap Lounge located at
1505 North Leg Rd There will be Dance. District 3. Super District 10.
5. New Ownership Application: A. N. 06 - 32: A request by Anthony G. Lucas for an
on-premise consumption Liquor, Beer & Wine license to be used in connection with
Snuffy's Lounge located at 2610 Peach Orchard Rd. District 2. Super District 9.
6. New Ownership Application: A. N. 06 - 34: A request by Barbara Pitt for an on-
premise consumption Liquor, Beer & Wine license to be used in connection with Simply
Seven Lounge located at 2925 Peach Orchard Rd. There will be Dance. District 6. Super
District 10.
8. New Ownership Application: A. N. 06 - 36: A request by Crystal M. Wingate for an
on- premise consumption Liquor, Beer & Wine license to be used in connection with Club
Spectrum located at 1632 Walton Way. There will be Dance. District 1. Super District 9.
10. Discussion: A request by Joanne C. Lamkin for a Therapeutic Massage license to
be used in connection with Heavenly Hands Therapeutic Massage at Acacia Full Service
Salon located at 2940 Inwood Dr. District 5. Super District 9.
11. Discussion: A request by Marquitta Graham for a Massage Operators license to be
used in connection with Spice Of New York Salon & Spa located at 712 Bohler Ave.
District 1. Super District 9.
12. Discussion: A request by Avery S. Dotie for a Massage Operators license to be used
in connection with Acacia Full Service Salon located at 2940 Inwood Dr. District 5. Super
District 9.
Mr. Mayor: Okay. Any further additions? Any items to be pulled for discussion? If
there are no further --
The Clerk: We need to read the applications since --
Mr. Mayor: Please, Madam Clerk.
The Clerk:
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4. New Application: A N. 06 - 32: A request by Charles F. Palmer for an on-premise
consumption Liquor & Beer license to be used in connection with Trap Lounge located at
1505 North Leg Road. There will be Dance. District 3. Super District 10.
5. New Ownership Application: A. N. 06 - 32: A request by Anthony G. Lucas for an
on-premise consumption Liquor, Beer & Wine license to be used in connection with
Snuffy's Lounge located at 2610 Peach Orchard Road. District 2. Super District 9.
6. New Ownership Application: A. N. 06 - 34: A request by Barbara Pitt for an on-
premise consumption Liquor, Beer & Wine license to be used in connection with Simply
Seven Lounge located at 2925 Peach Orchard Road. There will be Dance. District 6.
Super District 10.
7. New Application: A. N. 06 - 35: A request by Donna Thompson for a retail package
Beer license to be used in connection with Ninth Street Wine Market located at #12 Ninth
Street. District 1. Super District 9.
8. New Ownership Application: A. N. 06 - 36: A request by Crystal M. Wingate for an
on-premise consumption Liquor, Beer & Wine license to be used in connection with Club
Spectrum located at 1632 Walton Way. There will be Dance. District 1. Super District 9.
The Clerk: Are there any objectors to those alcohol petitions?
Mr. Speaker: [unintelligible]
Mr. Mayor: Okay. No objections. I would look for a motion to approve the Consent
Agenda.
Mr. Grantham: So moved.
Mr. Cheek: Second.
CONSENT AGENDA:
PLANNING
1. ZA-R-174- A request for concurrence with the Augusta-Richmond County Planning
Commission to APPROVE an amendment to the Comprehensive Zoning Ordinance for
Augusta-Richmond County by deleting Section 29-4 (b) in its entirety and replacing it with
a new Section 29-4 (b): Eave or canopy: An eave, canopy, or other similar architectural
feature may extend into any required yard not more than three (3) feet. (Approved by
Commission June 20, 2006 - second reading)
PETITIONS AND COMMUNICATIONS
2. Motion to approve the minutes of the regular meeting of the Commission held June
20, 2006.
APPOINTMENT(S)
3. Motion to approve the appointment of Oregon H. Gibson to the Public Facilities
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Board representing District 1.
PUBLIC SERVICES
4. New Application: A N. 06 - 32: A request by Charles F. Palmer for an on-premise
consumption Liquor & Beer license to be used in connection with Trap Lounge located at
1505 North Leg Rd There will be Dance. District 3. Super District 10.
5. New Ownership Application: A. N. 06 - 32: A request by Anthony G. Lucas for an
on-premise consumption Liquor, Beer & Wine license to be used in connection with
Snuffy's Lounge located at 2610 Peach Orchard Rd. District 2. Super District 9.
6. New Ownership Application: A. N. 06 - 34: A request by Barbara Pitt for an on-
premise consumption Liquor, Beer & Wine license to be used in connection with Simply
Seven Lounge located at 2925 Peach Orchard Rd. There will be Dance. District 6. Super
District 10.
7. New Application: A. N. 06 - 35: A request by Donna Thompson for a retail package
Beer license to be used in connection with Ninth Street Wine Market located at #12 Ninth
St. District 1. Super District 9.
8. New Ownership Application: A. N. 06 - 36: A request by Crystal M. Wingate for an
on- premise consumption Liquor, Beer & Wine license to be used in connection with Club
Spectrum located at 1632 Walton Way. There will be Dance. District 1. Super District 9.
9. Motion to approve the Recreation and Parks Department to make application for a
FY 2007 Georgia Historic Preservation Grant through the Georgia Department of Natural
Resources.
11. Discussion: A request by Marquitta Graham for a Massage Operators license to be
used in connection with Spice Of New York Salon & Spa located at 712 Bohler Ave.
District 1. Super District 9.
14. Approve the purchase of a new network switch and an upgrade to our current Cisco
6509 core switch.
15. Approve the replacement of obsolete computer equipment (laptops, computers,
servers, printers) and purchase of any required computer software upgrades.
PETITIONS AND COMMUNICATIONS
19. Consider request from Boys & Girls Clubs for Augusta, GA. to serve as fiscal agent
for a Georgia Children and Youth Coordinating Council Title V grant.
Mr. Mayor: We have a motion and a second. Any further discussion? Commissioners
will now vote by the usual sign.
Motion carried 9-0.
The Clerk:
10. Discussion: A request by Joanne C. Lamkin for a Therapeutic Massage license to
be used in connection with Heavenly Hands Therapeutic Massage at Acacia Full Service
Salon located at 2940 Inwood Dr. District 5. Super District 9.
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Mr. Mayor: Mr. Sherman?
Mr. Sherman: Mr. Mayor, Commissioners. We’re asking that Agenda Items No. 10 and
12 be deleted from the Agenda and sent back to the Public Services Committee meeting. The
applicants are out of town and couldn’t make the meeting today.
12. Discussion: A request by Avery S. Dotie for a Massage Operators license to be used
in connection with Acacia Full Service Salon located at 2940 Inwood Dr. District 5. Super
District 9.
Mr. Cheek: So moved.
Mr. Grantham: Second.
Mr. Mayor: We have a motion and a second. Any further discussion? Commissioners
will now vote by the usual sign.
Motion carried 9-0.
The Clerk:
11. Discussion: A request by Marquitta Graham for a Massage Operators license to be
used in connection with Spice Of New York Salon & Spa located at 712 Bohler Ave.
District 1. Super District 9.
Mr. Mayor: Was 11 not added to the Consent Agenda?
Mr. Grantham: It was in Consent. Yeah.
The Clerk: That was for the Consent? Okay. Twelve.
Ms. Beard: It was deleted.
The Clerk: Deferred back to the Committee?
Mr. Grantham: Right.
The Clerk: Okay.
PUBLIC SAFETY
13. Discuss options for 9-1-1 Ambulance Service in 2007.
Mr. Mayor: Mr. Russell?
Mr. Russell: Mr. Mayor, we’re at the point now where it’s time to decide whether or not
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we should rebid the ambulance service or continue with the one year extension of our current
contract. After talking with the Fire Department and EMS Operations, it’s my recommendation
that we continue with the one year contract with the current provider at the current cost.
Mr. Cheek: So moved.
Mr. Grantham: Second.
Mr. Mayor: We have a motion and a second. Is there any further discussion?
Commissioners will now vote by the usual sign.
Motion carries 9-0.
The Clerk:
FINANCE
16. Approve sale of pension property proposal from Mr. Harry Kitchen, Jr. of the
Foxfield Company through the Downtown Development Authority for development of
condominium project known as The Watermark on The Augusta Riverwalk.
(Recommended from the June 19, 2006 Finance Committee Work Session)
Mr. Cheek: Move to approve.
Mr. Grantham: Second.
Mr. Mayor: We have a motion and a second. Mr. Williams?
Mr. Williams: Mr. Mayor, I’m going to make a substitute motion that we postpone or
deny this request to sell this property to the DDA or anybody else. This property was bought
with sales tax money. This is property that cannot be sold through DDA or anybody else with
sales tax money. We are about to involve in a situation that’s going to get this City into another
situation that we been trying to avoid, I think. I know that other Commissioners have been
approached. I’ve talked with the developer myself but I just think that this is the wrong thing to
do so I’m making a substitute motion that we deny this request to purchase this property,
expensive property on Reynolds Street.
Mr. Brown: Second.
Mr. Mayor: Okay. We have a substitute motion on the floor to deny. Is there any further
discussion? Mr. Cheek?
Mr. Cheek: Mr. Mayor, I’m just going to simply say that unless we’ve taken the, a ride,
an e-ticket ride somewhere in Disneyland, we’re losing population, we’re losing tax base.
Downtown is in desperate need of some stimulation. The condos across the river have all sold
before they’ve been constructed. We need to attract people to this City. We have ample room
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downtown and other locations for a hotel. It amazes me that in spite of the desperate needs of
this City for economic growth and stimulation that we’d even bat an eye about bringing millions
of dollars to the local economy and new population to downtown. Mr. Mayor, it is disgraceful
that we would delay the economic progress of this City over things that could be resolved in
other ways. Buildings could be built in other locations, close to our convention center. Just urge
passage on this. This City needs this. We’re $5.5 million in the hole. Those are facts and
figures. The economic growth is not expected to be above what it is now and it’s the worst in the
state for a metropolitan area. Unless we’re in Disneyland riding some ride in fantasy land, we
better do something or this City’s in trouble, and doing nothing is exactly that -- doing nothing,
and it’s putting a stranglehold around the people of this City and it’s time out for that.
Mr. Mayor: Thank you, Mr. Cheek. Mr. Williams?
Mr. Williams: Mr. Mayor, I respect my colleague’s opinion and I hope he will respect
mine as well, and I totally disagree with the developer who wants to build condos for $400,000.
I agree with my commissioner that this, the economic dollars that is dwindling in Augusta but for
one reason, we don’t have that kind of support to support $400,000 condos down on Broad
Street. Now, maybe a hotel may not be the thing but we don’t have the economic dollar. We
don’t have the business. We don’t have the tourism that come through here for people to spend
that kind of money. What, you’ve made my argument for me in what he just said and I support
that, that things are not happening. We are not doing the first thing to draw economic dollars to
Augusta. Now we want to say well, we going to get on the bandwagon, we’re going to jump in
here and build condos. We have not had a major convention come to Augusta in all these years,
and we will not have one because there is no place for them to stay. We may have five, maybe
six hundred rooms in this City, maybe seven but when you get a convention holding three and
four thousand people, they don’t have a place to stay for -- they don’t come to this location, and
they will not come as long as there’s not facilities for them to stay in. My argument still stand,
Mr. Mayor. I’m not trying to stifle the growth in Augusta. I’m trying to help the growth in
Augusta. Now, that’s my opinion and I’m entitled to that. I just think that we need to be
mindful of what we have not done, what we need to do to try to get Augusta on the map, and we
just left GMA in Savannah. There’s hotels. People are everywhere. More than one convention
have come and in that facility at the same time, Mr. Mayor, but we don’t even have one that
come not even once a year here because we cannot attract the major conventions. We only going
to get the small stuff because we think small. Until we come out of that box that Commissioner
Holland’s talking about, we going, we’ll never grow. Now, we build condos on the river and I
hope I’m wrong but I think you’re going to see a large building down there with nobody in them
like the other situation we had down there with the other place. We had all this stuff, Mr. Mayor,
about this fancy shop, gift shops and what we going to do with the gift shop. All that stuff has
gone away. You can’t even see any signs of it now. Now, this Commission can do what it well
wants to with six votes like they always do. It doesn’t matter what’s right. It’s whatever six
votes says.
Mr. Mayor: Thank you, Mr. Williams. Mr. Brown?
Mr. Brown: I provided information that was given to me by the DDA Office talking
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about the other condos that are around town, and if the, if my colleagues will look at this
information, there is, there’s several places that have been built that sold for much less money
and even that lower priced condo was sold lower than the asking price originally. For us to be in
a position where we’re trying to allow someone to come in and offer us a $400,000 average price
condo, condo prices $245,000 to $775,000, and in some cases, as much as eight times as many
units as we currently have that sell from $133,000 to $279,000 does not seem reasonable to me.
Also, looking at the amount of money that we will receive after we sell a price of property for
$1.85 million works out to be about $2,000 which will not go to us but will go to the pensioners,
and we still don’t have an answer from our attorney general so I can’t support this at this time. I
think that the development is great. I think anything that we do to increase population in this
City is good but this deal does not look like a good deal to me. If it could be restructured, I
might be able to support it.
Mr. Mayor: Mr. Brown, can I state that the $450,000 that goes to the general fund, that
is the general fund of the City so that does come to us. I would also state that the developer did a
$40,000 market study that they found that the market can support what they’re proposing but
even if they didn’t sell, they would still have to pay the property taxes.
Mr. Brown: Okay. And what about us paying an 8% commission on a piece of property
that we didn’t even offer for sale? $148,000.
Mr. Mayor: That -- the negotiations would be between the DDA and the developer. I’m
sure that that can still be worked on but it just sounds to me like there are certain people who are
trying to find reasons not to have the deal go through. Commissioner Holland?
Mr. Holland: Yes, sir. Mr. Mayor, it just seems to me like pieces of this puzzle has not
been put together. You know, I’m a people person and I’m very much concerned about all of the
people in Augusta, and it appears to me here with this particular project there’s just a special
selection group that would even have an opportunity to even go toward these condos. So the
people of Augusta need something better. The people of Augusta need to be recognized. We
need to bring in venues, vendors so the people of Augusta can enjoy themselves, have good
family reunions and use that Riverwalk and use all of those facilities down there for the people
of Augusta and not a select group of people. Those condos will be sitting down there just like
some of the other condos that we have here. I don’t see any way in the world that they’re going
to bring in 700 jobs for those particular condos, and then after the condos are built, what’s going
to happen to the people that was supposed to continue to work even after those condos have been
built? You know? So we have a lot of things that we need to look at. Plus the fact, have there
been any other developers that have offered us a suggestion as to whether or not they could do
something down there on that Riverwalk with that property? Have we had that to happen? If
not, then why are we in such a hurry to try to sell this land after this particular developer? We
need to sit down and we need to think this over because pieces of the puzzle have not been put
together and there’s no way in the world that I can support this. I’m going to support what is
good for the people of Augusta. The people of Augusta want to come down to that Riverwalk
and enjoy themselves and we need to put some things on that Riverwalk for the people of
Augusta, not just for a select group of people.
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Mr. Mayor: Mr. Grantham?
Mr. Grantham: Mr. Mayor, we’ve had enough discussion. I call the question.
Mr. Mayor: Okay. We have a substitute motion on the floor to deny. Commissioners
will now vote by the substitute sign.
Ms. Beard, Mr. Brigham, Mr. Smith, Mr. Grantham and Mr. Cheek vote No.
Mr. Bowles out.
Motion fails 3-5.
Mr. Mayor: Okay. We will now vote on the original motion which is to approve.
Commissioners will now vote by the usual sign.
The Clerk: That motion fails with Mr. Jerry Brigham voting --
Mr. Mayor: Ms. Beard didn’t vote.
The Clerk: Well, that’s what I’m going to call out.
Mr. Mayor: Oh. Okay.
Ms. Beard: Oh, Mr. Mayor?
Mr. Mayor: Yes, ma’am. Ms. Beard?
Ms. Beard: I’d like to make a statement.
Mr. Mayor: Please.
Ms. Beard: I think this is one of the best things that’s ever happened since I’ve been on
board.
Mr. Cheek: Amen.
Ms. Beard: I think I have no choice. This will be good for everybody in the City of
Augusta. We have to begin sometime and I think this moment is the right time.
Mr. Cheek: Amen.
[Applause]
Mr. Mayor: I’m --
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Mr. Brown: Mr. Mayor?
Mr. Mayor: Order. Order please.
Mr. Brown: Mr. Mayor?
Mr. Mayor: Mr. Brown, if it’s to speak to this issue that was just voted on?
Mr. Brown: Not to speak to this issue.
Mr. Mayor: Mr. Brown?
Mr. Brown: I think that it’s improper and incorrect when we say that there’s no more
discussion for you to allow more discussion, Mr. Mayor.
Mr. Mayor: Thank you, Mr. Brown. Duly noted.
Mr. Williams: Got to follow the rules though.
Mr. Williams, Mr. Holland and Mr. Brown vote No.
Motion carries 6-3.
The Clerk:
17. Consider a request from Stephen H. Steinberg regarding relief from 2001 taxes for
the property at 1367 Gordon Highway. (Map/Parcel No. 073-0-039-01-0) (Referred from
May 16, 2006 Commission meeting)
Mr. Mayor: Is Mr. Steinberg here? Mr. Steinberg, and please keep it to five minutes.
Mr. Steinberg: I’m amending my request to ask for less relief instead of more relief and
so just so everybody will be on the same page as me, I’d like to pass these out to the
Commissioners. In the earlier petition I made to the Commission, I asked for relief from the
balance of 2001 taxes in the amount of $3,775.20 and stated the grounds for that which are
briefly summarized in this follow up letter. I’m amending it now. Instead of asking to be
relieved of that totally, I’m offering to pay the sum of $576.22 which would be the balance of the
original amount of the taxes for those two years and therefore the only relief that I would be
getting would be for the penalties and interest for those two years. If you’ll look at the second
page of the handout, and look at the taxes that were due for the years 97 through 2005, you can
see that the taxes in 2000 assessed were $3,767.30 and for the year 2001, $4,331.94, and as a
result of my appeal in 2002, the assessment was dropped from $334,000 to $185,000 which is on
page 3, and in summary, even though this property was way excessively over taxed, I’m willing
to pay the entire principle amount if I can be relieved of the penalties and interest which I think
equity should allow me to do. There is a code section in the Georgia law and Mr. Shepard just
reviewed it, and I’m going to just -- it’s a long code section but I’m going to just paraphrase one
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portion of it. In any case in which it is determined that an erroneous collection of any tax or
license fee has been made by a county or municipality whether a taxpayer has voluntarily or
involuntarily overpaid any tax or license fee, the taxpayer from whom the tax or license fee was
collected, may file a claim for a refund with the governing authority. Well, I’m not asking for a
refund, although I think I would be entitled to a two or three thousand dollar refund. I’m content
to just leave the taxes the way they were as originally assessed if I can just be relieved of the
interest and penalties.
Mr. Mayor: Mr. Brigham?
Mr. Brigham: I’ll make a motion that we accept Mr. Steinberg’s offer.
Mr. Grantham: Second.
Mr. Mayor: Mr. Grantham?
Mr. Grantham: Second.
Mr. Mayor: Commissioner Williams?
Mr. Williams: No. If I could hear from a Director down there just to find out what show
--
Mr. Mayor: Mr. Williamson?
Mr. Williamson: Due to the circumstances, my inclination would be to grant his request.
The property was overvalued for those two years and unfortunately, well, the circumstances were
that he did not have control of the property. He was not the owner during those two years but as
soon as he got ownership back, he protested the valuation and it was reduced, and he has paid
since then, before then other properties right -- deadly on time so I would be inclined to go along
with his request.
Mr. Williams: Thank you, sir. That’s all I needed to hear.
Mr. Mayor: We have a motion and a second. Any further discussion? Commissioners
will now vote by the usual sign. Thank you, sir.
Mr. Williamson: Thank you.
Motion passes 9-0.
The Clerk:
ENGINEERING SERVICES
18. Approve award of construction in the amount of $6,840,270.22 to Blair Construction
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Co. for the Fairington Sanitary Sewer Extension project. Bid item # 06-133.
Mr. Mayor: Please go ahead.
Mr. Speaker: The project is to put sanitary sewer in the Fairington Subdivision.
Approximately 34,000 linear feet. Approximately 700 customers will be served by the project.
We have looked at the bid. There were two people that bid on the project, reviewed it. Southern
Partners has also expanded the bid tab and recommended that the award go to Blair Construction.
They were the low bidder by approximately $1 million.
Mr. Mayor: Mr. Williams, did you want to hear from Ms. Gentry?
Mr. Williams: Yes, sir. You’re reading minds now, Mr. Mayor. You’re doing good.
Mr. Mayor: Ms. Gentry? I’ll bet she can read minds too. She knows the questions.
Ms. Gentry: Mr. Mayor, Members of the Commission, I recommend that we approve this.
We have 5% minority woman on participation, and a 100% local participation on this particular
bid.
Mr. Cheek: Move to approve.
Mr. Grantham: Second.
Mr. Mayor: Mr. Brown? Do you want to speak?
Mr. Brown: No. That’s fine.
Mr. Mayor: We have a motion and second. Any further discussions? Commissioners
will now vote by the usual sign.
Motion carries 9-0.
The Clerk:
19. Consider request from Boys & Girls Clubs for Augusta, GA. to serve as fiscal agent
for a Georgia Children and Youth Coordinating Council Title V grant.
Mr. Mayor: I believe we moved that one to Consent as well.
The Clerk: Where was I when we were doing all this?
Mr. Mayor: Things started moving faster.
The Clerk:
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ATTORNEY
20. Approve the demolition of buildings on Judicial Center Sites.
Mr. Mayor: Mr. Shepard?
Mr. Shepard: Yes, sir. Mr. Mayor, Members of the Commission. I was asked for
approval of this item. It appears that this contract was awarded to the low bidder and it went
through the procurement process. It can be charged to SPLOST IV and it will move the project
ahead. The -- I recommend approval.
Mr. Grantham: Motion to approve.
Mr. Cheek: Second.
Mr. Mayor: We have a motion and a second. Any further discussion? Mr. Cheek?
Mr. Cheek: Mr. Mayor, I’m going to add this for the -- for the Commission and -- and
for the staff present and Canal Authorities not present but that area depends on the third level of
the canal to be an aesthetic -- an improvement. After reviewing that area on several occasions,
it’s turning back into the muddy dish due to lack of attention on the part of the people looking
over it. It needs to be flushed and cleaned in order to make this Judicial Center site as pretty as it
can be. Thank you.
Mr. Mayor: The Commissioners will now vote by the usual sign.
Ms. Gentry: Mr. Mayor, may I say something?
Mr. Mayor: Is this in regards to an agenda item we’ve already --
Ms. Gentry: This one.
Mr. Mayor: The agenda item 21?
The Clerk: 20.
Mr. Mayor: We’ve -- we’ve already moved past 20, Ms. Gentry. Thank you though.
Motion carries 9-0.
The Clerk:
21. Discuss/approve purchase of Greene Street properties. (Requested by Commissioner
Don Grantham)
Mr. Grantham: Mr. Mayor?
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Mr. Mayor: Mr. Grantham.
Mr. Grantham:
Thank you, Mr. Mayor. This was an item that I requested be put on the
agenda and we had had discussion on this. It’s a property next door to us to the east of this
building. It consists of the Hagler property as well as the corner house and corner lot area. The
amount of square footage and -- and present space that can be occupied by our various
departments would certainly enable us to take some relief from costs that we have involved in
lease space throughout the area and with the amounts that have been submitted to us last week.
In addition to that, we received a packet from the Attorney indicating the appraised value and the
so I move that we approve the purchase of those
amount that it had been assessed for and
properties.
Mr. Cheek: Second.
Mr. Mayor: We have a motion and second. Ms. Beard?
Ms. Beard: Mr. Mayor, I certainly feel a need to purchase the property. However, I
requested information pertaining to the assessed value of these properties and with the Greene
Street property, the assessed value at this time is $908,413, and for the Billy Lynn property, it is
$261,663, and as I reviewed the information, looking at Billy Lynn’s property, I suppose, I
noticed that you included the square footage in the Greene Street area would have brought it to
about the price of its assessed value and when we look at Reynolds Street, I mean, I can recall
last year around the Borum’s Alley, a lot of repairs and rehabilitation took place so I feel the
more accurate amount would be $261,663 for the Billy Lynn property which is the assessed
value, and with the Greene Street property, if I can find it, I noticed the prices of the --
comparable prices in Richmond County are much lower than those that were taken out of
Columbia County, and I’m not sure that should have happened as they compared them with other
areas. The areas in Columbia County would indicate an increase in the price but if we remained
-- if we look at those that are in Richmond County, in my opinion, that accurate price would be
more of the $908,413. So I would like to make a substitute motion.
Mr. Mayor: Okay.
Ms. Beard: That we use our assessed values in the purchase of those properties.
Mr. Williams: Second.
Mr. Mayor: We have a motion and a second. Mr. Brown?
Mr. Brown: I have two points that I’d like to make. One is that we -- this body just
unanimously decided that we would offer relief to a Mr. Steinberg for property -- for taxes based
on a reassessment, take lowering the price of his property. Now we’re asking -- we’re asking
about purchasing a property for several times more than the assessed value. Those two don’t
seem to go together very well to me. The other point that I’d like to make is that this body seems
to take the position that someone else can always set the prices when we’re buying something or
when we’re selling something, and I think that’s something that we need to reconsider.
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Mr. Mayor: Okay. We have a substitute motion on the floor. Is there any further
discussion? And Madame Clerk, could you read back the substitute motion for --
The Clerk: That the properties be purchased as the assessed value.
Mr. Mayor: Commissioners will now vote by the substitute sign.
Mr. Brigham, Mr. Smith, Mr. Bowles, Mr. Grantham and Mr. Cheek vote No. Motion fails 4-5.
Mr. Mayor: We will now vote on the original motion. Commissioners will now vote by
the usual sign.
Ms. Beard, Mr. Brown, Mr. Williams and Mr. Holland vote No.
Motion fails 5-4.
Mr. Mayor: Mr. Shepard?
Mr. Shepard: Yes, sir? Legal meeting?
Mr. Mayor: Yes.
25. Motion to approve going into a Legal Meeting.
Mr. Shepard: Yes, sir. I was supposed to legal meeting for purposes of discussion of
acquisition of real estate and pending matters and potential litigation.
LEGAL MEETING
A. Pending and Potential Litigation.
B. Real Estate.
C. Personnel.
Mr. Cheek: Mr. Mayor, I have a personnel item.
Mr. Shepard: All right. Add personnel as well.
Mr. Mayor: Can we get a motion to that effect?
Mr. Grantham: So moved.
Mr. Brown: Second.
Mr. Mayor: We have a motion and a second. Commissioners will now vote by the usual
sign. We are in legal session.
Motion carries 9-0.
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26. Motion to approve authorization for the Mayor to execute affidavit of compliance
with Georgia's Open Meeting Act.
Mr. Mayor: Mr. Attorney?
Mr. Shepard: Yes, sir, Mr. Mayor. I’d ask that the body approve a motion to have you
execute the Open -- Closed Meetings affidavit.
Mr. Mayor: Can we get a motion to that effect?
Mr. Grantham: So moved.
Mr. Shepard: Well, the Clerk says that we went in which was potential and pending
litigation, real estate and personnel.
Mr. Mayor: We have a motion. Is there a second?
Mr. Bowles: Second.
Mr. Mayor: Commissioners will now vote by the -- Don motioned and -- we have a
motion and a second. Commissioners will now vote by the usual sign.
Motion carries 9-0.
27. Motion to authorize the settlement of the two lawsuits involving Brookside West
LLC vs. Augusta Richmond County Board of Commissioners and Augusta, Georgia vs.
Brookside West LLC. The settlement would rezone the Brookside West apartment complex
property from R-3A to R-3B with the condition that no more than seven (7) units be added
to the property.
Mr. Mayor: Mr. Shepard?
Mr. Shepard: Yes, sir. Also to add and approve today, Mr. Mayor, is your approval to
both add and approve a settlement in two cases. Brookside West LLC v. Augusta and Augusta v.
Brookside West. The first one is a zoning case and the second is a condemnation case. These
matters are being handled by Mr. Revelle as a result of his former association with the Wall firm.
He is present and the proposed settlement is to resolve both cases on a non-cash basis. The
City’s not paying out any money but the developer -- not the developer but the property owner
may develop seven additional units on the site. Mr. Revelle? And the zoning will be R3A, I
believe, as it’s more --
Mr. Speaker: R3B, isn’t it?
Mr. Grantham: It changes.
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Mr. Shepard: R3B, excuse me. And this settlement is described and incorporated by
reference in the Agenda item which I’ll tender to the Clerk at this time.
Mr. Brigham: So moved.
Mr. Grantham: Second.
Mr. Mayor: We have a motion and second. Any further discussion? Commissioners will
now vote by the usual sign.
Motion carries 9-0.
Mr. Mayor: Anything further, Mr. Attorney?
Mr. Shepard: No, sir.
Mr. Mayor: With no further business to come before the body, we stand adjourned.
[MEETING ADJOURNED]
Lena Bonner
Clerk of Commission
CERTIFICATION:
I, Lena J. Bonner, Clerk of Commission, hereby certify that the above is a true and correct copy
of the minutes of the Regular Meeting of Augusta Richmond County Commission held on June
29, 2006.
______________________________
Clerk of Commission
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