4/1/2024 Meeting Preview
You’ll see below the agenda highlights for our first meeting in April. I’ve added information from the council agenda memos and background on items that may be of particular interest. You can watch the meeting on the city’s Facebook or YouTube pages. Our meetings are on the first and third Mondays of the month. Workshop session begins at 6:00 pm; regular session begins at 7:30 pm; executive session takes place at the conclusion of the regular session.
You can access the full agenda packets here.
We welcome your attendance at our meetings and public comment is available near the start of the meeting, before any actions are taken. You can sign up to speak if you’re at the meeting in person, or you can submit an e-mail with your name, address, and comment or remark to pcomment@collegeparkga.com no later than 7:30 pm on April 1, 2024. The City Clerk will read your name, address and comment into the official record. If you have feedback for Mayor and Council directly, you can e-mail us.
WORKSHOP SESSION
1. Juneteenth Parade and Music Event
We’ve received an additional $19,000 in funding from Fulton County Arts & Culture this year, which is proposed to cover this event.
2. Black Wall Street Black Business Expo
Jasmine Young, founder and CEO of Southern Heritage Financial Group will present proposals to the Mayor and City Council regarding a Black Wall Street Black Business Expo. The proposal is for a one or two day event in late May or early June.
3. City Wide Camera Upgrades
It is my understanding this will be removed from the workshop agenda.
4. City Ethics Board Discussion
From the proposed changes, this would allow those who file ethics complaints and have procedural defects the opportunity to have those brought to their attention and cure those defects within five days.
REGULAR SESSION
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8. Other Business
A. Consideration of and action on a request from the Paint N Sit ATL to host Springin’ Forward Community Festival on April 27, 2024 from 12:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m. at Charles E. Phillips Sr. Esquire Park. This is a request from City Clerk Shavala Ames. This event will be held in Ward 4.
The proposal is for a free community event that emphasizes connectivity through art and healing of the mind, body, and soul. The event includes free painting, yoga & breathwork sessions throughout the day, and vendors of local businesses from across Georgia. The event organizer will be required to obtain off-duty officers to help with crowd control, etc.
Staff recommends approval.
B. Consideration of and action on a request for the implementation of Fee Waiver for Recreation & Cultural Arts for youth of College Park residents with verified income of $ 50,000 or less to participant in City programming only for free. This will service all Wards.
We have a relatively small number of city residents who are participants in our recreational programming. Out of 5860 enrollees, 617, or about 10.5%, live in the City of College Park. To offset the projected losses to the Recreation and Cultural Arts Department of approximately $39,268.03, staff proposes a number of recommendations:
• Offer Fee Waiver for City operated programming only; not contractual programming
• Start May 1, 2024
• Provide a cap for each City programming to be decided per program.
• Attendance to be taken to ensure those that are going free attend the class and or program.
• Registration period for each program recommended approval a month prior to each program.
• Implement a $15 yearly registration fee for non-residents, which would generate approximately $78,645
To apply for the program, staff recommends families would have to submit:
• Fee Waiver Application Form
• Copy of Driver’s license
• Driver’s License Address within the City limits
• Copy of College Park utility bill with the address to matches driver’s license
• Copy of the Tax Return Transcripts to show proof of income of $ 50,000 or less
• Families would be required to reapply each year for the fee waiver
• Application must be approved and meet requirements before registration time period for programming.
C. Consideration of and action on a request to approve the invoice for Proof of the Pudding for $18,700 for the Black History Program. This item is requested by the Director of Recreation and Cultural Arts Michelle Johnson. This is a budgeted item that was hosted at the Gateway Arena located in Ward 2.
The Black History Committee plans with the College Park Recreation and Cultural Arts Department the annual Black History Program each year. The budget for the event is $20,000 in which $10,000 is from the city’s budget and additional $10,000 comes from the Fulton County Arts & Culture grant. On January 5, 2024, during a special called meeting additional funding was approved in the amount of $15,000 for the event. The total budget for the event with the additional funding was $35,000. This additional funding assisted with the budget for the food in the amount of $18,750.
Staff recommends approval.
D. Consideration of and action on a request to approve the annual invoice for Flock Safety in the amount of $72,000.00. This is a request from Chief of Police Connie Rogers. This is a budgeted item. This will service all Wards.
These cameras are both at fixed locations throughout the city and in our patrol vehicles. This is a yearly contractual cost.
Staff recommends approval.
E. Consideration of and action on a request to approve Central Square 2024 Annual Renewal Contract in the amount of $132,354.32. This is a request from Chief of Police Connie Rogers. This is a budgeted item. This will service all Wards.
CentralSquare’s ONESolution public safety suite is a system with integrations to handle dispatch, critical information sharing, records management and reporting. This is for FY2025.
Staff recommends approval.
F. Consideration of and action on a request to place four-way stop signs at the intersection of Herschel Road and Lakeshore Drive. This a request from Chief of Police Connie Rogers. This will service Ward 4.
A stop sign is currently posted on Lakeshore Drive before entering Herschel Road. Opposite the Lakeshore Drive roadway is the entrance to Camp Truitt. Although this is not a city street, staff recommends a stop sign be posted at Camp Truitt before exiting onto the roadway for safety. A pedestrian crosswalk is in the roadway crossing Herschel Road, but there is no traffic device to slow or caution vehicles approaching the pedestrian crosswalk. Staff recommends creating a four-way stop at this location. One stop sign currently exists. Three more reflective stop signs are needed. Work can be completed by city of College Park employees. This is not a budgeted item. The cost of materials are approximately $500.00 each sign, totaling $1,500.00.
Staff recommends approval. The funding source is not noted.
G. Consideration of and action on a request to purchase the equipment and tools for the New Ladder Truck currently being manufactured at an approximate cost of $31,626.68. This is a budgeted item. This will service all wards.
This equipment will be housed on the new ladder truck currently being manufactured and will be available for use citywide providing impact coverage to all four wards. You can see the list of proposed equipment here. Staff recommends using Municipal Emergency Services (MES) as the selected vendor per Sourcewell which provides national piggyback pricing for goods and services. Funding is available from the Car Rental Tax Fund.
Staff recommends approval.
H. Consideration of and action on a request to designate city streets for resurfacing under the Georgia Department of Transportation's (GDOT) Local Road Assistance Administration Funds (LRA) in the amended fiscal year 2024 budget. This item is being requested by Highway, Streets and Storm Water Superintendent, Raymond Cotton. This request will service all wards.
The State of Georgia approved an additional $250 million in funding in the amended 2024 budget for Local Road Assistance funds. These funds will not require a local match, which is great news. The City of College Park's formula amount is $218,941.76 of those funds. You can see the proposed street repaving list here.
Staff recommends approval.
I. Consideration to approve Kemi Construction Company proposal for the Sanitary Sewer Main installation at SR Georgia 314, West Fayetteville Road, Phoenix Boulevard at approximately $420,850.00. This is a request from Dr. Emmanuel Adediran. This is not a budgeted item.
At our meeting on January 2, 2024, Council ratified the emergency expenditure for the sanitary sewer main at West Fayetteville Road in the amount of $700,000. Those funds came from the Municipal Option Sales Tax (MOST). The full project appears to be quite a bit over that figure, however. Two of our on-demand contractors submitted bids and the lowest is $1,120,850.00. An additional $420,850.00 is necessary to complete the project. The additional funds will come from the MOST.
Staff recommends approval.
