If you get to my good side, um, but the moon, the public, the fact that I can't get this out of the can.
And, uh, in Carolina.
Look, there's an infant.
No.
It's an infant.
If you say that man again, you call, I'll personally come over there.
He'll be back there.
Oh, I, that, that just makes me sick to my stomach.
Yes.
Don't tell me anything.
Don't tell me.
No, they don't want anything.
I think let him grab him in the arms.
That was a gentleman.
That was John.
He's a, I don't know.
That was John.
He's bad.
This is, uh, is, is, he's a really, really nice guy.
I think there's so many first and last, you know, second order.
I'm just going to say lose.
I swear to god.
Oh, I need to check Ray's life, I think.
He died four years ago.
Yeah.
I don't know what's right just clearly.
It's a long walk.
It's a long walk?
Yeah, just 2011.
2011, I don't know if it's Saturday.
I don't know if it's a long walk.
Well, Bridget left a message that she hasn't called me that.
I left her a message yesterday.
Tipper's here?
Yeah, and call your friend.
I'll try her again tomorrow or Wednesday,
because I need to get a picture of it
so that we can get it.
Yeah.
I'm going to ask y'all to move this,
after this, this.
Okay, please.
Yeah.
I'm going to ask y'all to move this,
after this, this.
Okay, please.
Yeah.
I'm going to ask y'all to move this,
after this, this.
Okay, please.
Yeah, before this.
Yeah, okay.
Move what?
First one, after the minutes.
Yeah.
Because I'm just not trying to get involved in that.
Right.
Under this right here.
Before this.
Okay.
So one goes up here.
Yeah.
So instead of the approval and a meeting agenda,
you're after that, after the,
because y'all have to approve it and move it.
So before public comment.
It would be, yes.
Okay.
No, I'm not getting out of work.
Meeting comes to order. Welcome to everyone.
I'm glad everyone came out on this cold, cold night.
Hopefully we won't keep you here too long.
If you could call the roll please.
Council Member Alexander?
Here.
Council Dean?
Here.
Council Member Flaming?
Here.
Council Member Patrick?
Here.
Council Member Conner?
Here.
Council Member Spangler?
Here.
Thank you.
Please rise for the pledge.
I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America
the Republic for which it stands, one nation under God,
indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.
I need approval of minutes for January 5th, 2015.
So moved.
Second?
Second.
Discussion?
Call the roll please.
Council Member Alexander?
Yes.
Council Member Dean?
Yes.
Council Member Flaming?
Yes.
Council Member Patrick?
Yes.
Thank you.
All right.
Approval of meeting agenda.
I just want to make a correction and then I'm going to ask you to move
something.
This is the second read, not the first read for the mid-year budget
amendment.
Please make note for the record.
And we have a guest here tonight, two guests.
And if I could respectfully ask Council to move the recognition
of Halpern bequest up to the next item actually.
So they will not have to sit through the rest of the meeting
if they do not wish to.
Motion to approve meeting agenda with the two changes requested
by the mayor.
Okay.
Second?
Second.
Discussion?
Call the roll please.
Council Member Alexander?
Yes.
Council Member Dean?
Yes.
Council Member Flaming?
Yes.
Council Member Patrick?
Yes.
Council Member Conner?
Yes.
Council Member Tangler?
Yes.
Thank you.
Recently received a great message from one of our own business
leaders in Dorville.
Somebody that really requires no introduction in our community,
Mr. Halpern, and he brought his sister with him today.
But I wanted to make a short acknowledgement of the kindness
of the Halpern family.
Recently they sent me a letter and they had a donation for
$10,000 for the police department.
And we wrestled really hard on what we had so many needs
in the police department.
So we thought about what we could potentially get.
Something that honors the wishes of their mother
and also the memory of their father,
whose name is pretty significant in our community.
So what we decided, our officers got together and we bought
two pieces of equipment that we greatly needed.
One of them is a trauma first aid kit that every patrol
officer will have in the patrol car.
And especially with all the incidents occurring all over
our nation, we want our officers to be able to have
a kit that provides them immediate first aid.
While the ambulance is on its way, we can provide them
something that they can take care of themselves.
So one of them is a kit, each one of these would be like this
and it's got an Israeli bandage, which is one of the
latest innovations in first aid where it clots the blood
out of this.
If an officer is wounded, you put this bandage and
it automatically stops the bleeding.
It's a great piece of equipment.
And also we're buying these highly reflected top of the
line reflective vests that our officers can wear while
they're on the freeway, especially for the new DOT
requirements, but also that you can imagine a few dangerous
for our officers, especially at night.
But I wanted to recognize the Halper family for the
kindness of this gift and if it could come forward
for the Mayor to...
We too want to recognize you.
You have been a...
You and your family have been a pillar in our community
for a very, very long time and your mom and dad were
just wonderful, wonderful people.
And it was such a gracious thing for her to do,
to think of our police department.
I know she loved the police department and this
equipment will be much used.
And I just want to personally thank you so much.
Thank you.
Thank you, sir.
Thank you very much.
Thank you.
Thank you, Chief.
All right.
Next will be public comment.
Anyone wishing to make public comment, please come forward.
State your name for the clerk and you have three minutes.
That's it.
Tom Abbott from Northwoods.
A couple items I just wanted to bring to the attention.
First of all, I'm sorry, Mayor of the council, good evening.
But I wanted to bring the attention of the council
members, mayor and city people.
A couple things we need to start focusing on in our city.
One is cleanliness.
I walk, go, go a lot and it's dirty.
It's just really a mess.
We need to start trying to target our businesses
or target but work with our businesses
to clean things up.
Our streets, if you go out to the intersection
of Beaufort Highway and 285,
it's really the entrance to our city
and it's not the prettiest thing.
And I know there was a period way back
when I was not involved in some things here in Dorville.
We had a chance to do something with the state
that didn't happen.
It might have been the best thing,
but we need to look at what we have.
If we don't have the money in any budget anywhere
to spend the landscape that interchange,
at least mow and take care of what's there
and trim the shrubbages there
and get in agreement with the state
to be able to do that.
There's concrete islands around the intersection.
There's garbage, there's weeds going there.
It just looks very, very unbecoming.
I'm going to be working on a proposal.
I don't have all the information yet.
Something that would be,
actually, we would be the first community
in the entire Metro Atlanta to have it that interchange.
After a little more investigating,
I have to find out who I have to talk to
at the Georgia Department of Transportation
to get some information about it.
If we can do it, we'll be the first.
It would be awesome. It would be a great gateway
as we redevelop the GM site.
It would be fantastic for people to see this.
So I'll be working on that.
And then lastly, code enforcement.
As you're all getting some emails from our now chairperson,
if you will, of the Citizens of Progress,
we seem to still have some serious issues
with code enforcement in this city,
repeat offenders, et cetera.
We've got to clean up this city.
I'm already seeing an interest as a real estate broker.
People looking at our city already wanting to buy here
because of what's happening.
This is going to be the hottest location in Atlanta
so let's get it cleaned up now while we have time.
Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Abbott.
John Maloney, 35-22 Stuart Road.
I'd like to speak about the black ordinance.
I'd like to encourage you to pass it.
If that helps you a little way with some of our buildings
that we've been putting up with.
I know the residents on Stuart Road
has put up with the building for eight years
that the city has done nothing about.
And if this will help deal with that building,
then I'm for you.
Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Maloney.
Anyone else?
Linda Rollins, Oakland State.
This is not really something
that the city would have to do,
but I'm wondering if the city could have some influence.
Lately from watching the news,
I've gotten real concerned about
if my house caught on fire,
do the fire have an impact?
If it's caught on fire,
do the fire hydrants work?
There have been so many
fires, especially apartment complexes,
and they're chasing around
trying to find fire hydrants
that work.
And I know we had a fire
at the corner of Oak Cliff and Pinot,
the house on English Oak.
Hopefully the fire hydrants
worked.
But could the city have any influence
or ask the cap county?
I remember when I've seen
a fire hydrant
tested,
and that's just been a deep concern
of mine recently.
Do our fire hydrants work?
It would be very important if your house
caught on fire.
Thank you, Ms. Rollins.
Those are valid concerns, and Dr. Gillan,
I'm sure we can reach out
and get that taken care of.
Anyone else?
Okay, we're going to close that portion
here.
Thank you, Mayor and Council members,
and I will get on
to get back in to see what they're
ISP rating.
That's the insurance service provider
to be protesting
and rate fire departments
on the scale.
The PATH Foundation
is requesting a resolution
supporting GDOT's incorporation
as it invokes the 285
and 400 entertainment redesign
in the Georgia 400 Collective Distribute
Projects that are hanging north
from the Dadaway.
PATH is seeking
resolutions from the north to cab cities,
the PCIDs,
and the other local chambers.
So basically they've given us
a draft award notice, requesting city council
to say
that they're just going to support it.
That just gives them support
and efforts to do that.
So this would be part of a very lengthy
regional trail system
and fits very well into our
Parks and Trails Master Plan
and planning that's going on.
We're just giving you a free resolution. We're going to sign it and get it back to you in the process.
Thank you. Is that all you said? Any questions?
Ms. O'Connor? Yeah.
Do we have any more information than this? And how are we, how will we be involved in it? Is there going to be money?
No, ma'am, this is just a resolution of support. They're not asking for any financial contribution.
They just want the regional jurisdictions to, say, they support the concept.
Okay, no. They're not going to be looking for money?
No.
We'll be looking to them when we start to do our trail systems to make sure that our trail systems are interconnected to TV systems themselves.
Okay. Mr. Patrick?
What does the path stand for?
I've only heard it referred to as the path foundation. And I've never seen what the act stands for, ma'am.
I don't know the next paragraph.
This is swimming?
Well, two things. There's a couple of paragraphs that look like they're not finished.
The first paragraph on the second page. And then the third paragraph on the second page. It looks, yeah, whatever.
So I was just curious as to whether, what the completion of those sentences were.
I don't know the answer to that question. We provided you with the document. They gave us the...
Okay. The only...
So I would like to support any efforts for other cities.
And we did for the clover leaf for Ashford Dunwoody.
This is going north of there. It's not... I don't think Dorival will be seeing any type of connector trails or pedestrian walkways or anything from 400 to Dorival.
And if there's $1.05 billion available from the Georgia Department of Transportation, I'm wondering why Dorival didn't apply for some of these funds for our connectivity in Dorival.
The $1.05 billion is the price tag on the new interchange, $485 billion. It's something that the PCIDs have been working on for many, many, many years.
So that was a process that took a decade to get done. They knew it was a problem.
Does there all the questions final?
Again, I have... I mean, this is kind of given to us with incomplete paragraphs, and I'm not sure exactly what this plan is.
I would have liked to have seen at least a copy of the plan so I could have some reference to what this is about.
And it says something, Dorival supports complete streets projects. What is that exactly? What is the complete streets project?
Complete streets is a concept of street design that includes bicycles and pedestrians.
The design that the developer showed you of New Peachtree Road, and the original design of New Peachtree Road in the SCI plan is a complete street.
It has a bike portrayal, pedestrian access, and it's more walk-up.
So is that the only example? I mean, this... I'm not going to support this only because I don't know what this is and I don't have enough information on it,
but there are a lot of things in here that pique my interest, including... because we don't have a lot of sidewalks in Dorival, period.
And it's saying that we have this and we support this, and I see it on paper, but I don't see it in reality.
And so, again, this is... I mean, this is just... this seems very...
If you want to bring this back and perhaps give us an idea of what this plan is,
because I would like to... I can't support this if I don't know what we're talking about.
Well, I think the plan itself is simply what they're asking is for GDON to incorporate biking and pedestrian trails in this project.
But it makes references here to plans that we don't really have.
And again, we have paragraphs here that are... well, this paragraph, the first paragraph on page 3,
it is the second layer addresses connectivity between the connected districts
and transit villages with pedestrian walkways, comma, shuttle.
And then it just ends with nothing.
I mean, so I mean, that's what... this is pretty incomplete to ask for.
We're just asking us to put this in front of you for the direction.
Okay, okay.
Okay, does anyone wish to entertain a motion?
I would like to make a friendly request to have this, if we could,
perhaps added to the meeting of the night, unless that agenda has already been published.
Okay.
And if we could get a completed resolution, just email the path
and ask them what the rest of the verbiage is supposed to be on that paragraph.
And if they have any... I don't know if they have any overlays in mind
or anything regarding this.
I mean, I understand they're just asking for consideration on GDAS design
is to also just make it pedestrian and bicycle friendly too.
And I think connectivity is definitely something that we need to look forward to the future
for connecting our very large project with neighboring cities.
So if I could make a request to put this on the agenda for the night.
Sandra, this is going to be number two under reports and presentations.
If you could please move that to the night.
Then Dr. Gillins, if you could come up with additional information, please.
I'm exactly going to have to send us a completed resolution.
Thank you so much.
All righty.
There is no public hearings.
Unfinished business.
The mid-year budget amendment.
Second read.
Ms. Ferguson, Dr. Gillins.
Okay, Elise is on her way up.
She walked us through the highlights last time.
Thank you.
The budget amendment does make some changes to the budget.
One of the significant ones was the building of the permit.
The permitting.
Added funding to accommodate the increase in building permit inspections.
Again, the revenues have increased.
We've now seen as much revenue in six months as we did the entire year last year.
So we have to adjust the expenditure budget to match that.
The budget has to balance.
It doesn't necessarily mean you'll expend those dollars.
It just means the budget has to balance.
In aggregate, the overall budget amendment decreases the annual budget by $37,000.
Ms. Sandler.
Any questions, Mayor?
Ms. O'Connor.
Yeah.
On the general fund.
Tell me again about the insurance premium tax.
The $127,000, what does that figure represent?
Insurance premium tax is what the insurers pay in lieu of occupational tax.
Okay.
So they get a $50 permit from us and then they report their gross sales or gross receipts
and we're having to the insurance commissioner and they pay insurance premium tax.
And then the insurance commissioner divvies all that money up to the local governments once a year.
Okay.
And I saw in a couple of places that this one grant, federal grant has ended.
Is that what this figure is here under federal government grants?
Yes.
We had a pop's grant for two officers.
Okay.
We got an extension and one of them ran out and so we're reducing the amount of grant money
that we're going to get this year because we didn't have a firm date on when it was going to run out
when we did the budget originally.
Okay.
All right.
Thank you.
No question.
Item number 12, capital projects.
I believe all my other questions were answered at the previous meeting.
But I'd like to question the defunding of project 061 because it was included in the current year budget
even though it was completed and paid for within the prior year.
Yes.
What was 061?
It was the roof of the courthouse.
Okay.
I'd like to know in this budget, and though I was not able to locate it as I was not intently,
but just rummaging through the proposed, where is it located for pothole repair?
Where do we have monies allocated for pothole repair?
Or any monies allocated for pothole repair that would affect the entire city,
both residents, businesses, passerbys, commuting people?
We don't have money specifically for pothole repair.
We have some paving money that can be used for pothole repair if you want to do that.
It would still be under the paving bracket.
We did not use all of the paving money this year.
Is that the capital fund?
It's in the capital projects fund, local resources.
I thought the LMA was only for paving and not pothole repair.
What we did was we took the LMA money and we put our match with it,
and then we added additional dollars to that.
So it wouldn't technically be the LMA money.
All the LMA money has been spent.
So there's about $50,000 left in that project that can be used for potholes this year,
or it can be carried over to increase what we pay next year.
Okay.
It's entirely up to your choice.
Dr. Gillan, if we're not going to address pothole repair in our budget,
then we need to capitalize on DeKalb County.
And the roads have become extremely bad to the point of unsafe for all of us.
We've been doing the R&P for pothole repair.
Can you tell me what the final effect on that?
How many times has it been done?
And then we'll be bringing it to the council for approval using those dollars.
Do you realize how many times that's been said that we're going out for bid for pothole repair?
Right.
And now we're going out for pothole repair again.
Okay, so please do.
All right.
Christine.
That is, in fact, we received, some of us received an email today because there is,
it's not even a pothole.
It's just a huge cavern on Chestnut.
And it's huge.
It's massive.
And that's something that definitely needs to be repaired.
And when I look at that, and I look at some of these costs,
like $100,000 for a parks walkability master plan.
I mean, while that's nice, there are things in the city that need
and require immediate attention and repair because it is so big now,
it's potentially car damaging.
The Chestnut is a stormwater issue with a sinkhole.
And we were having the same cereal was taken going out to take a look at that.
At Aztec?
Chestnut and Aztec?
I have to double check.
I know they were going to look at one sinkhole today.
Well, that's even worse.
I mean, that's a bigger issue because that means a lot more.
Well, that's the stormwater.
Fun.
Right.
I mean, but right now, I mean, because I know the one on Jess Norman,
there's that the metal plate on top of it.
Right.
And so these are a lot more costly than just potholes.
In any event, whatever it is, again,
we're looking at $100,000 for walks walkability master plan
when our roads are caving in, which is a big issue.
I mean, that's a huge issue for me.
It's incredible.
And the library renovation.
I mean, I think that that's great.
And we can talk about that with a couple plans.
But I also, I have a lot of concerns with the budget just based on the lack
of department heads in the city.
And have we funded for that?
And are we going out for these positions?
I mean, just to see how things operate overall.
Well, we don't have.
Okay.
Well, we don't have anyone in charge of stormwater now.
We're contracting services with Keck and Wood.
Right.
Compliance issues we have with the state and the contractor
and the clerk personally at the end of the stormwater issues
in the house, the permitting process in the house.
So all the tasks that Steve and we're doing.
Right.
So we're contracting everything out.
And that's something that.
Stormwater, yes.
Okay.
Well, stormwater and code enforcement.
And we have, we have one guy heading parks and recreation
and maintenance.
We have one person heading the finance department and HR.
We have the chief of police and we have the head of the library.
And those are the four department heads we have working
for the city directly.
Right.
We'll be hiring a community development director over the next several months.
Okay.
All right.
Okay.
Yeah.
I'm good.
Right.
Does anyone wish to entertain a motion?
I make a motion that we approve the mid-year budget amendment.
Do I get a second?
Second.
Okay.
Discussion.
Call the roll please.
Because I remember Alexander.
Yes.
Because I'm Dean.
No.
Because I'm Fleming.
Yes.
Because I'm Patrick.
Yes.
Because I'm Connor.
No.
Because I'm Spangler.
No.
Yes.
Okay.
We're going to move into the blight ordinance.
Okay.
Right.
I'm sorry, Kathy, one food.
Okay.
Yes.
Okay.
Thank you.
Second order, please.
Okay and turn left this boat away direct to right.
Thank you.
Do we have a corridor that I think is part of the强たit network
We're requesting this direction as the running council would like to go with the Kathy Bruma
plan, and in that vein we would like to discuss with the council the scheduling of a retreat
without any discussed schedule or anything. We just haven't settled the retreat. We would
need to discuss how long the time frame that would be, what time of day it would be, what
day of the week, or days of the week it would be. So that's what we're here to input, and
also any additional information to require, prior to that.
Do you have any suggested dates, Dr. Gillum?
Well, I mean, whatever, if you want to do a Monday, you know, we have the three Mondays
that are coming up after the 16th, the 23rd, and then here in March after that.
Sally's energy.
So you're, because we did our sale.
So what exactly are you looking for?
We didn't get responses from everybody on that.
So we'd like everybody in the room to be able to talk about the capital plan itself,
and basically we break it into two separate pieces, capital items and capital projects.
Capital projects, basically heating and storm water that are coming up in the year,
the big projects, and then other things like smaller items.
They hit the capital item threshold, but they're not made of capital.
So we can keep them separate so we can have a discussion and lay out your priorities
for how those expenditures are made throughout the year, and then those will be brought back to you
individually to be approved throughout the year as they get left.
Ms. O'Connor?
Well, we're going to try to come up with a date.
I'm very flexible, so it's according to, you know, the schedule for those who work.
Okay.
February would be easier for me than March.
I'll be available all the Mondays and February, including the 16th, maybe.
I would have to check and see if we were going to consider doing a Saturday.
But I'll be as flexible as I can.
Tuesdays and Thursdays, probably Tuesdays and Wednesdays are going to be difficult for me.
I've got other family commitments that are in place.
Any day but Wednesday.
Well, I see that this, to me, would be more than a two or three hour meeting.
It could be, yes, ma'am.
So, I'm flexible.
I'll just make that comment because even though we've set dates and years that we plan on doing it,
we need to reevaluate that as well that's already in print because there may be some that need to be put forth sooner than,
then later.
So, it's not just the ones that we're adding for 17, 18.
We need to be looking at the whole thing to determine.
Five-year capital plan.
Right.
Any of those items, year five to year one, if you desire to, then let's go to the launch.
So, I think there's a lot of in-depth decision making that we need to do.
So, I'm flexible.
I'll just make that comment.
And if it happens to be on a Saturday the 14th or 21st, those are fine.
But I would have to do it in the afternoon.
I, again, and I absolutely thrilled that we are going to have a retreat to discuss these things
because this council has not yet had the opportunity to talk about these items.
And so, there might be some question as to what they even are and how they would or would not benefit the city.
So, I think this is a great thing that we're doing.
Having said that, I will, I'm available February 16th.
I am not going to be available for the two weeks following that date.
So, if it's not the 16th, if it's after the 16th of February, then I would prefer it to be in March.
Okay, Dr. Gillan, maybe you could pick some dates and let's see where we go with it.
I would rather nail it down.
Do y'all want to do an all-day Saturday retreat?
And how does that, and clearly, I know Christine wants to be involved in that.
So, possibly do it after she is back.
Is the 16th a holiday?
Yes.
So, Christine will be out through February, and I know March is hard for you.
So, maybe look at March, possibly April, so everyone can be involved.
Well, I can do it. I can do it the 16th of February.
I mean, after the 19th, I'm going to be unavailable for a couple of weeks.
That's a positive statement.
Yeah.
Well, I don't want to take people away from their loved ones on Valentine's Day.
No.
I got a cat. It don't matter to me.
Just try to be considerate about the weekend.
So, how do y'all feel about that Monday, the President's Day?
I'm good.
Oh, you're not going to be here?
Okay.
So, let's move into March, then.
I am not available any of March.
March is off.
Okay. Not even on Saturdays?
Not even on Saturdays.
Okay.
My wife is working with Ebola response, so I will not be available.
How about the first, around the first of April, first week in April or something?
Let's move into that.
Well, in that case, that buys us some time.
I'll get you some dates.
Okay.
Okay, so from April.
I'll also not suggest a date today.
Okay, so April first on, please.
Okay.
Could you please tell me where we are on the Halpern Park renovation?
It's been eight years.
Not for the both of you, but it's been eight years for me.
March 16th?
March, I call.
March?
March 16th?
That's Rick Robertson.
It gets out to me.
They're not back in yet.
Right.
So, I think my memory serves.
March 16th, council, the bid will come to you for approval.
So, that construction can be done.
Just a quick question.
I thought it said in here that we have to have the comprehensive plan bids back in
and begun by July of this year.
So, are we jamming ourselves up by pushing it back to April?
I mean, is there...
We're going to begin working on RFP for you,
prior to approving the COD.
Okay.
We're going to have to bring an RFP for that,
and have to be part of the COD.
We're going to have to make that decision ahead of us.
Okay.
Alrighty.
Okay, thank you.
Anything to say one more thing before we close this out?
Sure.
If there are projects that y'all want more information about,
you'll let me know now so that I can get with the department heads
to find more information for you,
because I don't really know what else to give you.
I don't have a lot of information,
but if you will tell me what you need,
I will be happy to get with the people that submitted the request
and see how they can get the information they want.
Thank you.
So, Council could respectfully send any questions,
comments or suggestions to Dr. Gillan and Ms. Ferguson.
That would be much appreciated.
Do you want to email the comments or do you want the comments now?
If you can email the comments,
we can get a call together one side.
Okay.
For me, it's hard for me to make a decision on whether it's,
like I said before, the CIP to me is a wish list.
Yes.
And so without the communication between the directors and us,
face to face so that I can get some idea of whether it's a need,
whether they can wait or just a want,
then it's hard for me to say, okay,
well, I'm going to scratch off the tiling of the bathrooms.
You know what I mean?
I mean, I don't know what condition.
Anyway, so I'm just making that as a comment.
Well, could the directors be present?
I'm requiring them to be present.
Okay.
All right.
Thank you.
Thank you, Ms. Ferguson.
And we will next move into the Blight Ordinance.
Cecil and Dr. Gillan.
Second reading on the Blight Ordinance.
As you know, this is an ordinance that reads a property
that's provided under the conditions laid out in the ordinance.
The tax rate on that, the city's portion of the tax rate
on that property will increase seven times.
This is for vacated properties.
This can't be it for anyone's primary residence.
So someone can't be living here.
This is for abandoned properties or commercial properties
that are blighted.
So that's just another tool we're looking forward to deal with
some of the issues that we're having in the city.
And then through the budget process,
we can discuss our regular process of condemnation
and demolition of structures.
But that takes funding.
We're going to get the money back right away
and get that back to the state of the property.
And that takes a long time.
So this is just another tool to encourage the property owners
to clean it up themselves.
All right.
Do you have anything you want to add, Mr. McClelland?
I'm going to make this a guest ordinance.
I think we talked about it, but if there are any questions,
I'd be happy to address them.
Thank you.
Ms. Allison?
I just want to make sure the typo that we mentioned last time
is corrected.
Should we resolve?
Because it wasn't under the where-ask.
The city budget instead of budget?
Well, I'm certainly not sure.
It wasn't fixed on our copy in our agenda packet,
that's why I was asking.
Is this a card?
Yeah, I was thinking of that, too.
And there was something else strange, too.
I forgot about what that was,
but it was like six people who had to do something.
And the five residents?
Yeah, five, something.
Where was that?
I lost it.
What do you have to mention?
I didn't have that provision.
That's basically the provision
I was talking about from this moment
of starting a petition
for a provided property.
And what it basically does is it reveals on it
it is on page seven of sixteen
in the right at the top.
And what it's talking about
is sort of how you move forward
if you're going to inspect the property
and read the inspection report.
And the inspection report is the document
where you go in and look at a property
to say, yes, this is blighted or it is not blighted.
And in that provision, it basically says
that the public officer, which is the city manager,
can instigate that on his own.
There's no need for additional people.
But it does require that if it's going to be
based upon the residents
or a case of a complaint by citizens,
you need at least five.
So I think what they're doing with that
and this ordinance is very closely modern
in the state law.
What they're to say with that is
we're not going to have this be, you know,
if somebody shows up and sends them out
to inspect their neighbor's property.
It has to be reported by five people
to sort of reach the threshold of saying
it's a community issue.
But if there is a property,
there's no need to wait for five people
because the city manager owns this ordinance
or to start that process to any property,
not a community city.
Theoretically, so we can find about a property.
The city manager can stamp with that.
But yeah, that's a huge issue.
There's no need to wait for five people.
But if five people complain
and the homeowner says,
or the property owner says,
oh, no, that's not true,
is there some kind of objective way
of determining whether or not
that was a valid complaint or not?
This is only the process
that we'll go out and look at.
So if five people complain theoretically,
we would go out and look.
The ordinance says if five people complain,
we're going to go look.
But once that process starts,
that's only the beginning.
At that point there's a survey that's done by staff
and the building inspector goes out
and looks at the property assesses it
towards the factors that would show
it is a blind property.
If you saw the buzzer in the ordinance
but it's criminal activity,
the advance in code violations,
but the ventilation systems aren't working.
At that point,
the city has to make that inspection report.
And only upon reviewing it,
the WM said, yes,
we believe that meets the criteria
of being a blind property.
Then that recommendation is made
for the city manager.
The city manager reviews it,
says yes, I agree with that report
that it's a blind property.
It's reported to the council
and served on the property area.
So there's a huge step
between the initiation of the complaint
and the actual finding of a blind property.
Okay.
All right.
Mr. Potter, do you have anything else?
No.
Is there anything else?
No.
Mr. Patrick?
No.
I would like to know what the legal process
is for condemnation
and demolition by the city.
What you have is that could be a different process.
The city can condemn property.
Just the building inspector has the authority
to go out.
And it's set out
in the International Property Maintenance Code,
but it's also an inherent power of the city.
I think I often say,
this place is too dangerous
for anyone to inhabit.
That's actually a very sobering process.
We make that determination.
We post it.
It's a police power,
and we can do that.
Nobody goes in here except to repair it
to make it safe again.
The hearing it down,
it goes through the nuisance process.
And basically what you would do is
if a property were in an abandoned,
derelict condition,
you could go in under the nuisance ordinance
and say,
this property is for a lot of the same reasons
that you have the blight.
This property is a public nuisance, and it creates a burden on our city, et cetera.
And under that ordinance, you move through almost really a similar property of determining, declaring it as a nuisance.
You go through a court process where you find it's a nuisance.
The owners have an ability to kind of challenge that. It's not a nuisance.
You go through the court process, and once you finalize the court process,
you can move into a process where you would demolish it, and if you follow the entire nuisance process,
upon demolition, you can take those demolition costs and put it as a lien against the property.
So in the future, whenever it was sold, the first thing they had to do would be pay you back the cost to tear that down.
Different set of ordinances, but we do have nuisance ordinances that we can do that.
So how long sort of in your best estimate would it take to condemn a piece of property,
go through all of that system, and then the nuisance order ordinance,
and go through all of that before we get to approval to demolish the location?
It depends if somebody comes in with an armies and they start fighting you every step of the way in appealing.
We found it was a nuisance. No, it wasn't a nuisance.
Let's go to the spirit court and litigate over whether it was a nuisance.
It could be a process, frankly. It can be an expensive process because the legal fees involved in it.
So any court action that you would get involved in that, it depends.
It depends on your judge, it depends on how significant the opposition is with the bringing in parties.
It could easily be a template.
Okay, I'm going to ask a question, and if it's a privileged question, please get back to me later on.
Have we filed any type of legal remedy, whether it be condemnation or nuisance, for the Star Towers property?
I'd like to discuss any particular property.
All through record. That's fine. Thank you.
Yes, I was going to say that Mr. Maloney and I know of a property that could use little condemnation.
Have we spoken to DeKalb County, or is there any interest? This came to the Council before, and it was on the agenda.
I put it on the agenda a while ago.
I met with DeKalb County about the foreclosure and vacant property registry that has been phenomenally successful.
It is not only paying for itself, but they are making so much from that program that they are able to grow and develop it.
And I'm just wondering, I've suggested that we talk with DeKalb.
I've spoken with them, and I can meet with them again, but I think that just based on the success that DeKalb County has had,
it might be something for us to pursue, particularly given the number of vacant properties we have in Doorville.
We've been currently developing a vacant property database, but we do have no registration requirement for vacant property.
But we're building a database of all the vacant properties in the city limits.
Well, the difference is that if you have a registry and you make them register, then it holds them accountable,
because apparently the biggest thing is finding the property owners.
Even when they go into foreclosure, the banks don't want it well known because they don't want to be responsible for the property
or any damage that may result as a result of it being vacant.
So that's something that, I mean, this is something different from just a database of what the properties are.
They're actually holding those property owners accountable for the upkeep of that property.
And it's something entirely, if you would like me to give you information, I can send you information.
And I've invited a couple of council people to meet with DeKalb County because they were, and they have the system in place.
So for Dorville, it would simply be attaching Dorville to the system that they have in place and then an initial cost and then whatever it is.
But again, they have made so much money on it.
And at the same time, they've cleaned up their city or their county really, really well.
But that might be something that we should at least investigate.
That would be fine. Please do.
Okay, okay.
Alrighty, is this the second rate?
Just to confirm, for the record.
Okay, anyone wishing to entertain a motion?
I make a motion to approve the bite ordinance with the one change correcting the word budge to budget.
Second?
Second.
Discussion?
Call the roll please.
November Alexander?
Yes.
Gunther E?
Yes.
Gunther Clemming?
Yes.
Gunther Tangler?
Yes.
Thank you, motion carries.
Thank you, Mr. McClendon.
All right, next, new business, 2015 pool services.
Clive, good to come up here.
Here's the pool contract.
No big deal.
Good evening.
Happy Groundhog Day.
I bring to you the agreement for the 2015 swim season with Sears Pool Management.
They're out of Sandy Springs.
Their proposal is very similar to all the rest of them.
But they're middle of the pack when it comes to pricing.
Their references are very, very good, not just in their customers,
but also I talked to several suppliers and trainers,
and they all speak very highly of Sears Pool Management.
Ms. Alexander?
Any questions?
No, I guess this is exciting that we're giving somebody else a chance,
I think, because we've heard some concerns we had about the lifeguard staffing,
and I think it's something extremely important,
because safety needs to be concern number one.
Thank you.
Ms. O'Connor?
Yes, I have some questions.
I'm glad to see we've got another pool company that we're looking at.
I read their proposal,
and it says that they'll supply three to four lifeguards plus a manager.
So will they have someone who will collect the fees for us?
We will still have that.
Now, another thing that we discussed last year,
I think you and I talked about it,
and that is the concession stand.
Are we going to have a concession stand?
Yes, ma'am.
And we're going to have it stocked with snacks and things?
We're going to have machines.
That's what we're going to do.
We're going to use utilized machines.
Okay.
There's a soft drink machine there currently,
but it doesn't have any soft drinks in it.
That's correct.
So are we going to then stock those machines?
No, ma'am.
I've got a vendor that's going to come in and place a soda machine and a snack machine.
Okay.
I also read through, of course, we've discussed this before, too.
There's a period of time when school closes,
but they're still a month before the pool officially closes, I think.
It's like August 7th.
Will they keep the pool clean?
It still gets dirty.
In their proposal, I believe they said twice a week they'll be out.
Okay.
During that period.
Okay.
So are we thinking, what about the water aerobics?
Are we thinking that we will have the water aerobics?
That's not part of their proposal, ma'am.
Okay.
Once school is back in, all the weekly activity will cease.
So that'll be it, but they'll clean the pool?
Yes, ma'am.
So then we'll just let our residents know that the water aerobics will officially end on August 7th?
Yes, ma'am.
I believe that's where the date is in here.
It's on the H10.
And I'll just write it today.
I will, too.
Let's see.
Yes.
Yes, August 7th, yes, ma'am.
And the lifeguards are under the supervision of the pool company?
Yes, ma'am.
And they will be, I mean, I did read that they were, you know, with their credentials that they'll all be trained and everything,
but I know that this year we'll make sure that we have people who wear their swimsuits
and are sitting there and not working hot.
Okay.
Thank you.
Mr. Patrick?
No questions.
Fleming?
I didn't see where that, and maybe I misunderstood you, Mr. Robertson,
but I don't believe it's the contractor's responsibility to take care of our furniture for us.
It is such a part of the opening procedures.
Well, yes, it says cleaning the furniture and arranging it properly.
Right.
They are required to come in and clean it and place it prior to opening.
Is that each opening or the date of opening?
That's prior to opening day, yes, ma'am.
But they're going to come every single day and clean the furniture and et cetera, et cetera, et cetera.
No, ma'am.
They will clean it after when we pull it out of storage.
They will clean it and prepare it and get it ready for the season.
And then it is their requirement to keep the area clean on a daily basis.
Yes, ma'am.
It is.
Yes, ma'am.
So we won't have any damaged umbrellas this year?
I hope not.
I mean, unfortunately there are storms that come through and tear those things up.
You know, because truly, I mean, we purchased the furniture.
And one would think that our employee, that's a dedicated employee that's there,
should make sure that all of our equipment is stored properly by the end of the day.
Yes, ma'am.
We will ensure that.
Not the contractor being the lifeguards on duty.
I, you know, do you understand, hopefully understand where I'm coming from?
Yes, ma'am.
I mean, is it going to be the contractor?
I mean, when, if I happen to see any damaged furniture, are we going to go to Sears Pool Service
or and say, you need to replace these umbrellas because you didn't take them down at night?
Or, you know, tell me.
If we conclude that they were negligent in handling that, yes, ma'am, I will.
Okay.
Yes.
Now, this issue came up kind of accidentally or I was made aware of it kind of accidentally
because we were paying for a saltwater system in the past,
or they told us we were paying for a saltwater system.
And I believe he told us that we weren't.
It was a chlorine system because we didn't have the capacity to have a saltwater system,
yet it was more costly and the city was paying for it according to our contract.
So has that been cleared up?
And are we now good with chlorine or if it is saltwater, do we have that system in place?
Yes, ma'am.
Apparently the saltwater system was removed prior to me arriving.
I never knew that there was a saltwater system there.
Okay.
Because it was a big deal.
It was a very big deal.
But it is, it is a chlorinated pool.
Okay.
Anyone wish to entertain a motion to approve the contract for Sears?
Make information that we accept the annual municipal pool services proposal from Sears
pools contingent upon legal approving the contract.
So we'll call it a hangover discussion.
Okay.
Do I get a second?
Second.
Discussion?
Mm-hmm.
It's okay.
Oh, I was just going to say who will be the city employee,
who will be there on a daily basis.
I haven't hired them yet.
I will put it back out.
But if Rosaria is available, I will certainly have him back.
Okay.
And he'll be there every day.
He will be one of them, yes ma'am.
Okay.
All the role, please?
Yes.
Council Member Alexander?
Yes.
Councilor Raheem?
Yes.
Councilor Clemming?
Yes.
Councilor Patrach?
Yes.
Councilor Conner?
Yes.
Councilor Spangler?
Yes.
No comments.
However, John not to put you on the spot.
And Dr. Gillan, if you don't mind,
there's been some Council Members that missed his introduction.
Do you mind John coming up and saying a few words to us?
I don't mind.
I know he didn't prepare to speak.
But just for that.
That's why I'm always here.
Hold on.
Sorry, John.
You can get me later.
John is here tonight.
As you know, Connie is leaving us.
And next week, Sandra is going for a 17th meeting.
Sandra is going to be gone.
So John is going to be filling in.
He is gracious enough to take that task on for us.
I appreciate that.
You're doing an outstanding job.
And I apologize for putting you on the spot.
However, there was a couple of Council Members that missed your
introduction.
So if you'll just introduce yourself for us, please.
All right.
Well, my name is John Hutchins.
Started here September the 2nd.
Previously from CNN.
I've been with CNN for about 15 years.
Before that, Air Force.
About another almost 10 years there.
So you definitely caught me off guard.
I was just making a speech.
That's okay.
I do apologize, guys.
But while you're here, we might not see you.
We went to a lot of impressive.
We were really impressed with the training we had
in those students.
Accounting training was done through the military accounting training programs, but it fit everything
we were trying to do and his availability was great and he's been doing a great job taking
a lot of the burden off of Santa and addressing those key issues you all saw in the audit.
So next year we'd like to see those issues go on.
And he's a great multitasker. He works the window perfectly.
He's been really stepped up to the plate during the official tax trip. He's a process
and we appreciate that. He's a team player and he's done a lot for us.
We thank you for that very, very much. Thank you.
Thank you so much.
You all will be so hard on me a little bit.
Thank you.
Ms. Alexander, do you have any comment?
Uh, Namir? Ms. O'Connor?
No.
We have a council member that has a birthday on Thursday, but I'm not going to say who
it is, so happy birthday.
It's just someone in purple, but it's okay.
It's not me, but it's somebody like near me.
In purple.
That's right.
So happy birthday, Ms. Alexander.
Thank you.
Miss Dane?
No.
Okay, motion to adjourn.
Second?
Second.
Discussion?
Ms. O'Connor?
Ms. Fleming.
Call the roll, please.
Can I have a brown standard?
Yes.
Ms. O'Connor?
Yes.
Ms. Fleming?
Yes.
Is it happening?
Yes.
Ms. O'Connor?
Yes.
Thank you so much.
Thank you.
I'm going to cut with you.
I called up your name, so I'm going to come back.
I almost dropped the phone.
What am I doing?
Linda, I love your hair.
It's really nice.
I love that cut on you.
Not that it wouldn't matter, because I still have my leg here.
I saw it and I said I could see it separately and I wouldn't know what it was.
I'm sorry.
It works perfect for your face.