2/19/2024 Council Meeting Recap
For your information, state law requires our city clerk to post the action items from the meeting within two business days of the adjournment of a meeting. O.C.G.A. 50-14-1(e)(2)(a). Action items are the issues upon which the Council has decided to take some sort of action via a vote.
A full list of the action items from the meeting can be found here. You can see the recordings of the meeting here. The meeting is in three separate videos - workshop, regular session and the return from executive session.
While you can see the documentation all of the action items via the above link, I wanted to highlight and discuss in detail some of the motions that were and were not considered.
If you have feedback for Mayor and Council directly, you can e-mail us.
Regular Session
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3. Councilman Carn moved to approve the Special Called Meeting Minutes dated January 5, 2024, motion died due to the lack of a second.
We have several sets of meeting minutes that need to be approved.
4. Councilman Carn motioned to extend citizen remarks for Myra Burnett, seconded by Councilwoman McKenzie and motioned carried. (All voted yes)
5. Councilwoman McKenzie motioned to extend citizen remarks for Grace Lunsford, seconded by Councilman Carn and motioned carried. (All voted yes)
At our last meeting, a motion was made by Councilmember Carn to extend time for public comments for all those who chose to speak. It was seconded by Councilmember Arnold and the motion passed unanimously. At this meeting, Council chose not to extend comments and people in the audience who wished to speak were not able to do so, and none of the comments sent in via e-mail were read. Additionally, several members of the community were afforded the ability to comment longer than the three minutes allotted by the rules set forth in public comment.
I am troubled about setting a precedent in which the Council allows those whose comments are perceived as favorable speak as long as they wish while others whose comments may not be received as positive are not afforded the same opportunity. We need to be consistent, no matter the content of the speech. As long as speakers refrain from “tactics of intimidation, profanity, or threats of violence in their comments” in accordance with our rules for public comment, they should not be constrained from speaking if there is time available in the public comment portion of the meeting. If the council wishes to hear from everyone at every meeting, then the overall time limit should be removed. Everyone should get the same amount of time to speak, though. If Council extends time for one person and not another, it can give the appearance of playing favorites.
6. Councilman Carn motioned to name Six West Development streets after Historical Black Colleges and Universities (HBCU’s) and legacy trailblazing residents, seconded by Councilwoman McKenzie and motion carried. (All voted yes)
We received a lot of feedback in public comment about this item. I believe that feedback reflected the manner in which this agenda item was presented. I think we went about this in the wrong order. There were people who expressed a number of views: those who wanted to street names to remain the same, those who were in favor of a hybrid approach that incorporated HBCU’s, community trailblazers and the original names, and those who were in favor of the HBCU change entirely. If the community had been consulted prior to this getting on the agenda, I think a lot of the concerns we heard would have been addressed. Our dedicated staff, as always, will work to execute the plans of the governing body. I anticipate we will see a number of charrettes to gauge interest for proposed street name changes moving forward, as should be the case.
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11. Councilwoman McKenzie moved to approve the adoption of Resolution No. 2024-03 amending the budget for Fiscal Year 2024 for the General Fund, Special Revenue Funds and Enterprise Funds, motion died due to the lack of a second.
Please see the explanation from our auditor, Doug Moses, about why is it so important to have timely budget amendments here. He discussed this in the workshop session immediately before the regular session. As you can see from the list of items on the proposed budget amendment, we have nearly $3 million of budget amendments, including $700,000 for additional land acquisition in Six West, $40,000 in budget increases for the discretionary and travel budgets of councilmembers and more. If there were questions about the information, the meeting would have been a good time to address any concerns. Nevertheless, this item will return to the next agenda because we need to get it done.
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14. Councilman Carn moved to approve a request to purchase a 2024 Ford F-150 truck and a Transit Van from Wade Ford in the amount of $ 109,815, motion died due to the lack of a second.
The Recreation and Cultural Arts Department’s request was to purchase a 2024 Ford F-150 from Wade Ford in the amount of $44,725.00 and a Transit Van in the amount of $64,090. The 2024 F-150 would have replaced a 1997 F-150 that was sold last year because it could not pass emissions and parts for the vehicle were increasingly difficult to obtain. The 15 passenger transit van would have been used for programming. The additional van would have assisted with the three recreation centers’ needs for outings for seniors, transportation for participants and event support.
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Councilman Carn exited the Council Chambers
16. Councilwoman McKenzie motioned to terminate the Hemsworth contract, seconded by Councilman Gay and motion carried by those present.
Hemsworth is still doing work with the GICC and the ATL Airport District. As we work to tell the good news about what’s going on in our city, a PR firm makes a lot of sense. I believe Hemsworth brought real value to the table in promoting our city and placing us in a favorable light. Here’s a snapshot of their work in 2023.
Councilman Carn re-entered the Council Chambers
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23. Councilwoman McKenzie motion to conduct the Mayor & City Council 2024 Retreat on March 1-3, 2024, seconded by Councilwoman Arnold and motion carried. (All voted yes)
I had no knowledge of the proposed dates of this retreat before Councilmember McKenzie made the motion and Councilmember Arnold seconded. Since they will be attending the Newly Elected Officials Institute in Athens on February 28th through March 1st, I can understand the convenience of this date for them. Unfortunately, I will not be able to attend the entirety of the retreat. I have family commitments on March 3rd. I was not able to share this information because of the restrictions placed upon my ability to speak in the meetings via Ordinance 2024-01.
As of the date of this post, we have a location for the retreat at Lake Lanier Islands. Our facilitator was confirmed yesterday (2/26). I have not seen an agenda for the retreat. Council scheduled this session 12 days in advance of the event. My experience with past retreats is that the facilitator speaks to participants individually — usually a few weeks in advance of the event — to get an understanding of the dynamics within the group and how best to shape the time together. I am concerned we do not have adequate time to prepare for this retreat.
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City Manager’s Report.
During our last meeting on February 5, I had questions about the Interim City Manager’s instruction to staff that in the upcoming budget, they needed to cut 6% from their departments. You can see that discussion here. My colleagues took issue with the fact that Dr. Adediran was being questioned. When I tried to ask him at our most recent meeting about the logistics of the retreat, my colleagues objected to me speaking because Dr. Adediran had not given a report. The city attorney supported this line of thinking and said I could not inquire, based upon Ordinance 2024-01.
Since the passing of several motions and ordinances earlier this year, my colleagues have pointed to the need for me to remain neutral as I preside over the meetings of the governing body, in accordance with Robert’s Rules of Order. I have already addressed those concerns in a previous post you can read here. At this point, I do not believe this is about maintaining order or neutrality, however. I believe is about stifling dissent. As a member of the governing body of this city who, per the Charter, is tasked with “pass[ing]…ordinances, resolutions and by-laws,” I am not serving as your mayor to be neutral. That’s not the job for which you hired me, it’s not the job I did for the past four years, and since 1895, it’s not the job the twenty-six men who served in this role prior to me taking office did, either.
25. Councilman Gay motioned to construct a 450 linear square feet sidewalk from the Family Dollar and Gas station on Riverdale Road with no rebar, seconded by Councilman Carn and motion carried. (All voted yes)
This motion was made during Councilmember Gay’s comments at the end of the meeting. We don’t know how much this will cost, whether the lack of rebar will be an issue, who will do the work, if the measurements are accurate, or a host of other issues. I think asking the Interim City Manager to explore the options and bringing this back at a later date would have been a more prudent approach.
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29. Councilman Carn motioned to direct city staff to deed over property of approximately 6.5 acres at the Bill Evans Baseball Field to Business and Industrial Development Authority (BIDA), seconded by Councilwoman McKenzie and motion carried by those present.
