[1:35] Oh, are you ready?

[2:16] Okay, I have seven o'clock. I'd like to call in to order.

[2:18] Thank you.

[2:21] I would like to see the indication.

[2:25] You work with staff.

[2:27] I was thinking that I would think that if you're always

[2:33] continue to not be so grateful for the fact

[2:36] that we live in a free nation, that we can sit down

[2:40] and be there people in the community,

[2:43] look at our meetings, and watch our wishes,

[2:45] and hopefully discuss all of this.

[2:48] In my good order, we ask you to give us wisdom,

[2:51] give us judgment, and give us fairness

[2:54] that we go through this.

[2:56] And we thank you again for all the pleas

[2:58] that you've done our work.

[2:59] Please, please, comment on the next one.

[3:02] I'm glad that it is a goodbye from the United States of America

[3:07] and a good reminder for all of your fans,

[3:10] one nation under all and invisible,

[3:20] Yes, I have a couple of changes to the agenda, please.

[3:25] I move that we move Old Business Item A. I propose method on 20 Joe Chandler. Mr. Chandler signed up to be moved to

[3:36] I moved to number three, Citizens Comments and start off our discussion in Citizens Comments.

[3:43] I also moved as part of the motion as to remove Council Comments to the public just prior to the public hearings at the end of Citizens Comments.

[3:54] Okay, I have a motion to move all business item A to Citizens Comments and Council Comments to public just after Citizens Comments.

[4:03] Can I get a second?

[4:05] motion and second all in favor unanimous for kind

[4:13] of get a motion to approve the

[4:14] consent agenda. So moved. Second motion and second all in favor unanimous for and

[4:26] we will

[4:26] move the citizens comments. Mr. Chandler did fill out a form to be on that so we would

[4:32] like to start with you and then a few specific people did ask to speak and we'll go through

[4:37] that list also, but Mr. Chandler, welcome to come up.

[4:49] I'm going to introduce just so that everyone knows, everyone has five minutes on each topic

[4:53] and the people on the council, that's what's written into our charter, just so everyone

[4:58] knows. I'm sorry, Mr. Chairman, go ahead. Yes, name and address as you come to the podium, please.

[5:03] My name is Joel Schammer. I'm 10 years old. I'm 25, 7 years old.

[5:09] I think breakfast is morning at Richardson.

[5:11] I was looking out in the parking lot.

[5:14] I was looking for a hotel house.

[5:16] I noticed the ladies walking their morning walk

[5:23] doing their morning job.

[5:25] And, uh,

[5:28] I'll tell you how to remind me of why I moved to Mexico 40 years ago.

[5:35] My wife and I have been married for over one year.

[5:39] We were living in New York.

[5:41] And, uh, come down here,

[5:45] once I met you straight off, I had a shot around you.

[5:49] I was real lucky.

[5:52] So much so I went home,

[5:54] I said, I'm going to talk to some more leaders in the ring, you know, as a lawyer.

[6:03] That's the kind of big talk I'm going to do.

[6:06] The moral comes to those who conduct tonight there's an old farmhouse,

[6:10] there's an afternoon party that doesn't let you go,

[6:13] and within here it seems the corporation fan.

[6:17] There's a lot of disciplines.

[6:20] They're talking in the morning, it's going to go loud,

[6:23] I don't know if we can have them out, I don't know if we can stop them.

[6:27] I'm going to go for this thing.

[6:34] I've already went to Chicago here by a year ago.

[6:39] She had never been out of rainbow.

[6:41] She saved my weekend.

[6:44] She got my home.

[6:47] She's about 30.

[6:50] She said that, she said,

[6:52] But I got to find out how almost nothing I'm interested in right now.

[6:59] That's how I feel about this thing.

[7:03] And anything that would disrupt

[7:10] or waste my life is a matter for the sun.

[7:18] There's a proposed clinic to go into.

[7:23] I've done a little research on it.

[7:25] The biggest thing is that, you

[7:35] know, I want my daughter to be able to continue to come to Ringo and move her jogging and her walking.

[7:43] Listen to her thinking, all right.

[7:46] I want the middle school kids and the high school kids to be able to continue to walk to Ringo and her children.

[7:53] They don't have the child's house anymore, but they do have some places that they can go and come again.

[8:00] The part of their lives that will be with them, we all know

[8:10] that things come up and there's not every battle that can be fought.

[8:17] If you thought we'd continue to go through play where you'll be aware of me,

[8:26] but sometimes

[8:27] there's something that comes up that is worth fighting.

[8:33] We like or what it's like here.

[8:35] We don't want something to cause a major disruption to that life.

[8:44] The council has done so many good things since the party.

[8:49] I mean, it's just...

[8:56] And I've got a petition here on some folks that signed it down, my store, saying basically

[9:05] that they're not in favor for this thing to be worth saying.

[9:12] I understand these people need some help, but there's already three clinics where they

[9:17] mile to this part of the whole side. They're open every day, seven days a week. They're

[9:25] not turning the people away.

[9:30] This will be located within 3,500 yards through the three

[9:36] mile.

[9:38] Church, right down the road, okay? There you go. A lot of stuff right across

[9:48] It's not needed and it's on.

[9:55] Thank you.

[10:01] The list that I have,

[10:06] the list that I have, if it's okay with everyone I'm just going to go straight down from the top to the bottom.

[10:13] If someone would like to wait I don't mind allowing that but we have Sheila.

[10:28] I just like to say first and foremost, I know there's people that are legit and don't really need help.

[10:35] I also know that there's doctors that over-prescribe the reason these people are on pain medication and what not.

[10:42] So I want everyone here to know I'm not hoping to put people by the treatment.

[10:47] What I am opposed to is that I live in Contusa County.

[10:53] Bringo, if I've done my calculation drive, is about five to nine police officers short.

[11:01] I understand Sheriff Siss has said that he would come in and help if needed.

[11:07] If I call 9-1-1 from my home, I want to know that police are on their way, that the county is on their way.

[11:15] I pay county taxes, so therefore I want to be protected.

[11:20] I don't think that it's necessary that we shouldn't even have to depend on the county

[11:25] to kind of help if the situation arises.

[11:29] If the methadone planning is right, there won't be a problem.

[11:34] I had a problem with 28 parking spaces.

[11:38] Once the work gets out that there's a new clinic in town,

[11:42] You know, they may want to come and try this clinic out.

[11:46] Where are they going to park?

[11:48] You know, it's private property,

[11:50] that'll sweep water plant.

[11:52] Across the street, it's residential homes,

[11:56] they're private driveways.

[11:58] You have a bus that stops within 36 feet

[12:00] of their front door at 629 AM.

[12:04] They start dispensing at 6 o'clock.

[12:07] I'm just worried for the safety on the highway.

[12:10] I'm worried about the safety of the whole county, but yet again, I'm going to throw out there.

[12:17] I'm not opposed to treatment. I'm not opposed.

[12:20] We do have four in 25 mile radius. Why do we need more?

[12:26] I mean, do we have that many people in Walker and Patucia County that needs that treatment?

[12:32] These people are coming from Kentucky, Tennessee, Alabama.

[12:37] So they're going to get off down at truck city to come in this way, so they bypass the city.

[12:44] Nine out of ten probably will.

[12:46] We already know the construction down first time in the creek, how bad it is.

[12:51] So I'm just looking out for one, public safety.

[12:54] And for two, I'm looking out for the tax dollars that I pay.

[12:58] I won't be able to utilize the 5-cow-9-1-1,

[13:01] that I don't have to wait for an officer to come from this end of the county to my home.

[13:05] So that is something to consider that this affects not only your 4,000 residents in Bringo, Georgia that are citizens of the city,

[13:15] but also the ones of us that live outside the city.

[13:19] So that will be five minutes, that's what I wanted to say.

[13:23] Thank you.

[13:29] Shirley Boe.

[13:36] I live at age seven, Cherokee Lake Drive in Wrinkle.

[13:41] I drive past this clinic several times a day.

[13:45] But instead of me spending my five minutes telling you why I personally don't want this

[13:49] dispensary located here, I'm going to share some facts with you, facts that I have spent

[13:54] the last two and a half weeks compiling, facts that I feel are much more compelling

[13:59] than my emotionally charged feelings.

[14:03] I have right here in front of me the CAS phenomenon calls for the last four years

[14:12] for an address, one single address, 4083 Cloud Spring Road.

[14:18] That is the location of our closest OB achievement facility off the Cloud Spring Road crossroads.

[14:26] Now this site does not include any number one calls that came from any businesses located around that.

[14:33] It is strictly the location of the claim. And there are a hundred and twenty eight of them.

[14:40] 10% of them took place in the hours of 12.30 to 5.00 a.m. prior to the clinic opening.

[14:47] 58% of those calls were during dispensing hours, 5.00 a.m. to 10.00 a.m.

[14:52] 32% of those calls were after the dispensing hours, 10.00 a.m. to 9.30 p.m.

[14:58] 40 percent

[15:00] 19% of those calls were for burglary alarm going off in that building, hours right before

[15:05] dispensing occurs. According to the police, it was individuals who lined up as early as

[15:10] 1 a.m. to start their treatment, and they start pulling in by number of doors. 19% of

[15:17] those calls were for EMS-related emergencies where patients overdosed or couldn't stay

[15:23] away half their treatment, still located in the facility or happened to pass out in

[15:28] parking lot.

[15:29] The remainder of those calls cover everything from auto accidents, in the parking lot,

[15:36] fist fights between patients, passing counterfeit money to get their treatment,

[15:43] assault, theft by taking, as well as several bolos involving vehicles that were wanted

[15:50] for a hit and run of a child that happened the day before,

[15:54] and the selling of the pills they had just obtained inside for the military.

[16:01] Is it any wonder why those of us who live in and around this new proposal patient are worried?

[16:07] First impressions are everything, and for many of us, our first impressions of this type of facility

[16:12] are what we've seen and we've heard with regards to the other facilities in our area,

[16:18] not in other cities, but right here in our area.

[16:21] There are four dispensaries all ready within a 20-mile radius of this proposed location.

[16:29] I had the opportunity to meet with a local professional who's in this industry.

[16:35] He stated that the facility on Cloud's front-throwing has more patients than the city of our involved has registered voters.

[16:42] And 95% of the patients come from outside.

[16:45] set. So why is there a need for a fit? Is it so that we can take care of patients that

[16:51] dumpers out in our area and live in other states?

[16:56] There are almost 2400 students that

[16:58] will be attending school less than one mile from this proposed facility's location. Not

[17:03] to mention the students catching bus 39 that pick up directly across the street within

[17:08] the feet of the parking lot at 629, which is during distancing hours, and may have

[17:13] pleasure to be able to see some of these incidents that I've just tried happening right at the road.

[17:20] My last client is the petition I wish to submit on behalf of 878 individuals who do not agree

[17:29] with the location of this clinic. I have a copy of their signatures and their comments that I'm

[17:34] presenting to you.

[17:37] I do not feel this clinic is needed in this area. It's going to place

[17:41] undue stress on an already limited fire and police department not to mention a

[17:46] traffic issue it will create given a limited number of parking spaces

[17:50] belonging to the facility. Cars will be everywhere as I recently witnessed when I

[17:56] went and observed another facility located on Rossville Park. With planned good parking,

[18:02] the majority of the cars were still illegally parked as well as parked in

[18:06] and all the so-called, or kind of finding interesting,

[18:10] vacant buildings around this place.

[18:15] In the past few weeks, I've learned more about this topic

[18:18] than I ever imagined I would,

[18:20] but I believe that when you feel strongly about something,

[18:22] you step up and you fight for it.

[18:25] I appreciate your time this evening,

[18:26] and I hope that each of you

[18:27] are doing all that you can do to investigate this matter

[18:29] and keep this clinic from opening in the location.

[18:33] And thank you.

[18:34] Thank you.

[18:35] Thank you.

[18:44] Okay, come on here.

[19:19] And when I sort of control it, we'll talk a little bit more

[19:22] about the personal impact on patients.

[19:24] That's what I mean.

[19:25] I mean, there's kind of a presentation that centers around how

[19:29] we're going to provide for the care of these specific individual patients

[19:31] as well as how we're going to better control the impact

[19:35] on the people of practice.

[19:38] I guess we have the genealogy of opioid abuse

[19:43] in the treatment.

[19:50] I'm just hearing from the bag that they're heading out of here.

[19:53] You're so tall.

[19:54] You're so tall.

[19:55] All right, yeah.

[19:57] Hey, so I'm going to talk a little bit about this.

[20:00] And just say, I'm working on it.

[20:04] Because I'm not very fortunate.

[20:06] I'm more certified in a couple of specialties,

[20:08] not so much a standard medicine practice

[20:10] than I've grown in 20 years.

[20:11] And I also went and did that a couple of years ago.

[20:13] And I was trained and became more certified

[20:15] in addiction medicine, specifically

[20:17] the rest of the time, because we're discussing

[20:19] about one of the main topics, obviously,

[20:22] of medication medicine, so I'm going to be able to hear what it is.

[20:25] And preparation for making that exam a couple of years ago,

[20:29] I read a chapter in our main text, which is,

[20:33] it's about train physician medicine physicians,

[20:36] and they've talked a couple of times about that,

[20:38] some of the genealogists, so we go back and forth

[20:40] about individual efficacy versus operation-based

[20:46] medication medicine doctors.

[20:48] And this one particular chapter where we start to make

[20:50] There's a ton of reason for it, and it still lets you meet the importance of meditation and assisted treatment.

[20:58] Others really didn't represent what they'd like to say in their community perspective.

[21:03] If I go get a population that doesn't have availability of a well-run and professionally motivated meditation-assisted treatment program,

[21:17] where that population is at risk of several things,

[21:21] that the operation has access to that,

[21:24] not the other one.

[21:25] And the whole thing, they're kind of like returns,

[21:28] but there's things that you all would want to fight.

[21:30] I have an official substitute program nearby

[21:34] that's called on crime decreases in that community.

[21:38] So, I mean, that's not even another self-assessment

[21:41] that you make.

[21:42] I have another clinic.

[21:44] I have West Brown children that are going

[21:46] in the school close by, when there was many things to deal with in that, in that, in that specific geographic area.

[21:52] In addition to that, there's a couple of other, a couple of weird things that go with it, and a topic that goes on with it.

[21:58] And I'll note that I've tried to use it as part of the computer epidemic and associated with that,

[22:03] that has been chosen in the financing, huge burdens,

[22:07] individual statements from the U.S. public health

[22:09] and the nation, and in another doubt,

[22:12] our mediation has been treated appropriately as available,

[22:15] but in terms of age, I would like to see it also be

[22:17] resisting if you could understand the needs of

[22:19] the U.S. health care population with less crime

[22:22] and as a result of that, I think it's a great

[22:25] success we need to draw into the law of the country.

[22:27] I mean, I wasn't able to write that yet,

[22:29] So, I just want to be able to appreciate the benefits that have been looked so obviously

[22:39] in a part of my school, but that have a huge impact on individual wellbeing and the community

[22:46] who are willing to step back and say, hey, this has a bigger effect than they did in

[22:51] to have an opportunity that's going to be so well-ground and incredible, in the management

[23:02] of that.

[23:03] I'm going to talk a little bit about the ownership of this.

[23:06] If you have any credible opportunities to make,

[23:12] if I were to go for a short piece

[23:13] of what I said, I'm not going to sit here and say, well, you have an opportunity

[23:17] And if you provide a service that will make this as important as you can do it, and by understanding the difference of the negative associations or something, it's not a difficult one to bring to the floor.

[23:30] I'm sorry, I didn't mean to do that.

[23:32] That was about four years ago, and the state needs to be

[23:35] prepared for it.

[23:35] I would like for people to be able to say, yes, there are

[23:38] things that are not available in the country,

[23:40] but I would like to say that this is a very good task.

[23:44] And I would call on providing excellent care for the

[23:46] community and the staff that are being able to do that

[23:49] and make people want to do the other part of the

[23:53] life in the community efforts to have a healthier

[23:55] life in the country.

[23:56] Thank you.

[23:57] I appreciate it.

[23:57] Thank you.

[24:06] Vanessa Ruhlman.

[24:22] Vanessa Ruhlman.

[24:23] Vanessa Ruhlman.

[24:23] There's been twenty-one shifts in a circle.

[24:28] That's right.

[24:30] At least we already have a problem.

[24:31] Three shifts?

[24:32] Yes.

[24:34] We're all close.

[24:37] We have found out the hard way up here.

[24:39] Yes.

[24:39] You have to be funny.

[24:42] Yes.

[24:42] You have someone on the back who continues having a can of beer.

[24:45] Okay.

[24:47] I'm Vanessa Rolden.

[24:49] I'm a nurse on a registered addiction specialist,

[24:51] and I'm the owner of Wrinkle Treatment Center.

[24:53] I want to start out by clarifying we are not a drughouse,

[24:56] nor are we just a methadone clinic.

[24:58] We are a complete medication-assisted treatment program.

[25:01] We provide medical services, individual group, and family counseling,

[25:06] as well as assistance with social service needs that our patients might require.

[25:10] We do not sell and dispense medication on our program.

[25:13] We provide a complete range of services in order to help those who are in use disorder achieve long-term recovery.

[25:21] I would like to let the community know the type of program that we intend to run.

[25:26] At first, I want to say that this is a privately owned facility.

[25:30] This means that we have the ability to set the tone for patients who want to participate in our program.

[25:35] We live in this community. We drive on the same roads that you drive on.

[25:39] Our kids go to the same schools that your children go to.

[25:42] The last thing that we want is to have a negative impact.

[25:45] To that end, we are going to work with the community to address any concerns

[25:48] that you may have up front as well as on an ongoing basis.

[25:53] As an example of this, we have heard some of the safety concerns

[25:56] for garden school bus stop and for our facility.

[26:00] To address this, we have incorporated a school bus safety training into our new patient orientation

[26:05] to bring patient's attention to this and to also go over bus stops, bus stop laws.

[26:12] This program that is highly regulated at the state and federal level and we follow

[26:16] strict internal policies and procedures to ensure that we are helping us effective by

[26:20] open addiction while at the same time having a positive impact on our community.

[26:25] Before anyone is even admitted into our program, they are put in a very intense screening process

[26:31] to determine if they are an eligible candidate. The purpose of this is not only to determine

[26:36] if the medication-assisted treatment is the best treatment in modality, but also determine

[26:41] if the individual is entering treatment for the right reasons. We will not accept individuals

[26:45] who we see as a risk to our community, and we will not allow individuals to remain

[26:50] in treatment if we determine that they are abusing treatment or otherwise putting the

[26:54] community at risk by not following our program rules. We have met with other owners of several

[27:01] programs that operate with a similar mindset to ours and we have found that the community

[27:06] most often does not even know that these programs exist in their own community. We understand

[27:11] that there are some concerns and we are going to do our best to address those concerns.

[27:15] We plan on holding an open house, and we encourage anybody, citizens, council members,

[27:21] anybody to attend and learn more about medication-assisted treatment,

[27:25] as well as to understand the type of program that we intend to run.

[27:28] Thank you.

[27:29] Thank

[27:36] you.

[27:36] Jonathan Cobb?

[27:48] My name is Jonathan Cobb.

[27:50] I'll fix this before it gets too far in here.

[27:53] And it's a name and address.

[27:54] My name is Jonathan Cobb.

[27:55] My address is 200 Georgetown Drive in Regal.

[27:58] I am the new chairman of the Libertarian Party of Northwest Georgia, so hopefully you can see a little bit more of it in the future.

[28:06] We are concerned about this not only as citizens of Ringle, but also having done our research and educated ourselves

[28:14] on what methadone clinics, as they're called, medication-assisted treatment facilities bring to the communities that they bring.

[28:22] There's a study done by the University of California in San Francisco that shows the crime actually drops in most areas where there will run.

[28:31] We also have a study done by the University of Maryland that says the exact same thing.

[28:36] The University of California in San Francisco also did a separate study that shows that in the long run medical assisted treatment actually helps better than 188 detox programs do.

[28:53] Personally, I am a four-year-old and a two-year-old, both boys and beautiful young men.

[28:58] And whenever I left the Navy a year ago, I chose to come back to Ringgold.

[29:02] I could have stayed in San Diego, I could have been anywhere, but I came here because I love this area.

[29:07] I would never do anything that I didn't believe would put them in harm.

[29:11] My son goes to Ringgold Primary School and hopefully one day he'll be here at Ringgold High School.

[29:16] and I hope that this clinic is still up and running

[29:19] and he doesn't even know it's there

[29:20] whenever he's less than, as it said, three miles away from.

[29:24] But on the other side of this, we all see crime going up.

[29:28] We all see this in Florida, Georgia, Tennessee.

[29:32] We see crime going up because of opioid abuse.

[29:35] I feel like we're kind of holding both sides of the coin here

[29:40] and neither side is helping.

[29:42] Nobody wants to help.

[29:43] We want to put these guys in jail, we want to spend our tax dollars on putting them in prison,

[29:49] we want to spend our tax dollars on enforcing more and more crime related to opioid abuse,

[29:54] but then we want to have meetings like this to try to stop them getting the more treatment in some of these areas.

[30:00] Yes, we have other treatment facilities in this area, and like they said, they're closed.

[30:05] Whether it's out of state or there's not out of state, we have a lot of people here in

[30:09] Catoose County that still need help. Some of them can't make it to those clinics,

[30:13] because some of them are so bad off on opioids, especially prescription painkillers,

[30:19] that they don't have cars, they don't have transportation.

[30:24] They don't have a lot of these things to get here.

[30:26] Just a few days ago we had people called out because there was some people who were some

[30:33] not so great characters at the corner of Graysville Road and 41.

[30:39] It's the same situation every day.

[30:41] We see it every day around us and I understand that we want to take care of our people, we

[30:46] want to take care of everything.

[30:47] But we also need to worry about theses, we need to take care of theses and educate

[30:52] ourselves.

[30:53] I've heard a lot of people bring up petitions.

[30:55] The reason why this came to our light was because we were asked to sign one of those petitions.

[31:01] And in none of the material that we were presented to sign these petitions, was there any kind of education?

[31:06] Was there any kind of real substance to why we should not want this?

[31:10] It was all fear.

[31:11] Well, if you don't sign this, more crimes are going to come to the area.

[31:14] If you don't, that was the tactic that was brought about.

[31:17] So we kind of looked at it kind of skeptically.

[31:19] So I just wanted to take a minute and say that I believe that this is a great thing for the community.

[31:24] If it's running correctly, then run them out of town afterwards, whatever you want to do.

[31:30] But at this point, I think you are accusing people of a crime that hasn't been committed.

[31:34] You're assuming that somebody's going to do something wrong, instead of giving them the chance to do something right.

[31:40] And I think that's a travesty against the citizens of this county, and especially in Singapore.

[31:48] Appreciate your time.

[31:50] Thank you.

[32:06] Hello everyone. I have not attended to speak tonight, but it's just on my heart, and I've

[32:16] got to.

[32:18] I have no problem with treatment, people that have cancer and treatment, people

[32:25] with those good addictions and treatment.

[32:28] But what I'm saying on my profession

[32:31] is that it's not what's happening in my case.

[32:37] And before I talk about other people's families,

[32:40] I need to address the audience.

[32:42] If anybody in here has family members,

[32:44] they just passed away from my mother down there.

[32:50] Okay, so my nephew, when he passed away,

[32:55] he bought it on the streets.

[32:57] Well, it wasn't on the streets,

[32:58] It was in a mall in North Carolina.

[33:01] He'd never taken it before.

[33:03] There's no what it would do.

[33:04] My nephew was a hardened drug addict.

[33:07] He had no reason to fear.

[33:10] And he took it, and I buried him.

[33:14] He was my baby.

[33:15] I had custody of him when he was a teenager

[33:17] and when he got old enough, he went back to Florida

[33:20] so I couldn't control him.

[33:22] But what I'm saying is that opening up more clinics

[33:26] in the state of Georgia

[33:27] is like putting a band-aid on the laceration.

[33:30] Now why am I saying that?

[33:32] I'm saying that because the river, the evil,

[33:35] is over prescribing of opiates.

[33:40] People that truly desire and need treatment

[33:43] can get anywhere.

[33:46] We don't have to open up more clinics.

[33:49] I have concerns because there is a step.

[33:52] There is an order of things

[33:55] before you can open up a treatment clinic.

[33:58] To begin with, you have to have your federal regulations.

[34:01] You have to have your federal approvals before you go to the state

[34:07] and before you start treatment of food.

[34:10] So that has me some great concerns.

[34:14] Great concerns.

[34:15] But at the same time, all my cases that come back,

[34:21] y'all know that 98% of the corner cases are coming back as overdoses. Now let me

[34:28] tell you, methadone for the past two years has been in the mix for the direct

[34:34] cause. Now once is happening because there are clinics, I'm not accusing these

[34:41] folks of wrongdoing, that there are clinics that are selling it for a dollar a

[34:45] It is a pretty good fact now, Dr. Carter, that methadone is not the choice to treat opioid addiction.

[34:55] So what I'm saying is that if they're going to offer other treatment plans other than methadone,

[35:03] if they're not going to sell it for a dollar apiece, if they're going to do everything they say they're going to do,

[35:08] then I don't have a battle with them.

[35:10] I am a family member of a child that overdosed because there are clinics that didn't sell

[35:16] it and it does get on the street and I'm having to tell families almost on a daily basis that

[35:23] their family member passed away because they got ahold of methadone on the street.

[35:28] When this first started, the American with Disabilities Act was to protect people that

[35:34] did have open addictions. It's not to protect people to come in and threaten if they don't

[35:40] open their clinics. The laws have not been changed very much since 1999. On top of that,

[35:48] there are other treatment modalities like I have stated other than the methadone. Methadone

[35:53] is very unstable. It repeats within a 48-hour period. People that take methadone and they're

[36:02] used to it, if they take it, they think, well, I don't feel this, so they'll turn around and take another.

[36:08] Putting more methadone on the street is not the answer.

[36:11] We need to look at trying to control the doctors that are over prescribing the opiates.

[36:17] There are plenty of treatment facilities.

[36:19] I would like to see for them to have to step up to the plate for themselves.

[36:25] And if they can't put themselves, then it's best to have some other people come in and try to do the job.

[36:30] And I know this is a harsh road to follow, but you know, people just have no speakers

[36:36] and I don't know if there's anybody in this room that doesn't know somebody or have a family member

[36:42] that doesn't have an opportunity to meet someone.

[36:44] I also change and y'all know that.

[36:48] And my students tell me a lot of stuff that goes on inside.

[36:53] Not these folks because they haven't opened up yet.

[36:57] that I do now have students that go to the other clinics in a tremendous way to tell me.

[37:03] Thank you.

[37:18] Leslie?

[37:21] No, okay, so...

[37:23] That's why I halfway filled it out.

[37:25] Okay, okay.

[37:27] Zach Talbot?

[37:30] Thanks.

[37:39] My name's Zach Talbot.

[37:40] My address is 55, and I go to Langford Sharks.

[37:43] And the reason I've come up here today, for one, is because

[37:47] I'm standing in front of you today as a successful person, a healthy person because of methanome treatment.

[37:54] I wouldn't be alive if it wasn't for that treatment.

[37:57] I tried many non-medication assisted treatments first and continually relapsed.

[38:02] Yeah, there are...

[38:05] It's hard for me to even think of where to start because if you look at any credible authorities on this issue,

[38:12] Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has not changed their positions.

[38:17] The Methadone Maintenance Treatment is the, quote, most effective treatment for opiate addiction.

[38:22] They have not recent that statement that's still their position.

[38:26] The National Institutes of Health, our own National Institutes of Health in their consensus panel on opiate addiction,

[38:33] has deemed Methadone Maintenance Treatment the, quote, gold standard treatment.

[38:37] When treatment centers come into community, crime goes down, drug overdose death rates

[38:43] go down.

[38:44] These are facts.

[38:45] The National Institute on Drug Abuse, NIDA, they've got a compilation of all the research

[38:50] of the past half century around this medication.

[38:55] When methadone overdose death rates have gone up, we have seen that.

[38:59] And so when the federal authorities looked into the reason these methadone death

[39:03] rates have gone up, the vast majority of methadone in those cases can't be

[39:07] back that they were coming from private prescriptions, from pain clinics, from not from opiate treatment

[39:13] programs. That is an established fact. Patients, I had to go to the center every day and take

[39:20] my medication in front of a nurse. I wasn't taking it out. I didn't have a chance to

[39:25] sell it on the street. The federal regulations prohibit that until you have reached stability

[39:31] and recovery and have passed multiple drug screens and have participated in individual

[39:35] counseling and group therapy, you're not taking any medication out of that center.

[39:41] And so I would just encourage the community to not look at the stigma and the hysteria,

[39:48] but to look at the established facts. This is the face of methadone treatment.

[39:53] I'm now an alcohol abuse counselor and a very successful person.

[39:58] I'm a graduate student because of this treatment.

[40:01] There are undoubtedly some bad treatments, or some bad treatment centers.

[40:06] That's true for any medical treatment that is not unique to this mentality.

[40:11] But this is a solution. We're in an opioid addiction and overdose epidemic.

[40:17] And the facts are, if you looked at the National Institute of Drug Abuse,

[40:21] the White House Office on National Drug Control Policy,

[40:24] when methadone dispensing appropriately comes into a community

[40:28] overdose death rates and drug-related crime go down. That is a fact. And so I

[40:35] just encourage the town and the community, you've got people in front of you

[40:38] that are wanting to run a reputable center. Federal approval does not come

[40:44] first. You go to the state first. That's a fact. You can check with the state of

[40:48] Georgia. You apply with the state first. The state's already approved this

[40:53] facility they're licensed and so again I'm not sure at this point what can really

[40:59] be done to stop it from opening but I would count my blessings that you don't

[41:03] have one of these dollar a day centers trying to open in your community you

[41:07] have locals that are going to run a private facility and they want to involve

[41:11] the community and they want to do this the right way so just consider and

[41:16] remember the face of people like me these aren't junkies in my alley

[41:19] This is, according to CDC, the most effective treatment for this epidemic that we're currently

[41:26] facing.

[41:27] This is most opioid-addicted people's best hope for recovery.

[41:32] It certainly was mine because all the other treatments that we keep hearing about failed

[41:36] me and they failed many others time and time again.

[41:40] Methanone saves lives.

[41:43] Thank you.

[41:44] Thank you.

[41:50] Shannon Campbell.

[41:59] I'm Shannon Campbell.

[42:00] I live 32 Springwood Drive, Maryland.

[42:04] I've actually lived here for about a year.

[42:07] I'm from Chicago, Tennessee.

[42:09] I moved to Carrollton for a while to get my Ph.D. in psychology.

[42:13] And a lot of my focus has been on holistic health

[42:16] and the use of natural psychoactives for psychotherapy,

[42:18] as opposed to my dissertation in particular,

[42:21] is focused on opioids and visit asopines.

[42:24] One of the things that haven't been addressed, as a matter of fact,

[42:27] is the concern with tele-drug use,

[42:29] especially with my children's clinics.

[42:32] I actually have two daughters,

[42:34] so I'm speaking as a mother as well,

[42:36] 14-year-old and nine-year-old.

[42:38] I think my biggest issue with this clinic,

[42:41] like a lot of people said,

[42:42] I think especially clinics that are well-run

[42:44] is not a bad thing,

[42:45] but the location of my daughter's home

[42:47] is so close to the school.

[42:49] My daughter's already told me

[42:50] about a number of cases with family.

[42:52] She's like, man, there's so many kids

[42:53] that have told me they've done this and that,

[42:55] and this and that, and she gets nervous.

[42:58] And she knows a little bit about my research,

[43:00] and she's like, mom, why don't they

[43:01] have an alternative, so I'm like,

[43:04] it's just not well known, you know,

[43:05] it's an unfortunate part of it,

[43:07] but I'm slowly but surely, before,

[43:10] I guess you could say, from perspective

[43:13] on how to use medicinal plants is growing,

[43:16] but it's still coming, and I think

[43:18] we should just really appreciate, you know,

[43:20] the, how should I say, like,

[43:23] Pizzadazopines are probably the most common, but alcohol,

[43:26] so we have tons of pharmacies,

[43:28] it's not as many bars around here,

[43:31] but there's still opportunities to go to liquor stores,

[43:34] and a lot of these issues,

[43:37] especially with overdose, come up with applied drug use.

[43:40] As a matter of fact, they just came out

[43:41] with a black box warning about even patients

[43:44] who are prescribed opioids

[43:45] and in the pizzadazopines together,

[43:48] especially in things like Xanax,

[43:49] end up having overdose issues and death.

[43:54] So I think that, you know, hopefully there'll be some consideration, you know, about the

[44:01] location as well as how it may influence down the road alcohol consumption as well as,

[44:09] you know, the shopping behavior of these people, some of them anyway, can be pretty

[44:14] rampant.

[44:15] They go from pharmacy to pharmacy, doctor to doctor, and there's people driving from

[44:19] in Kentucky and other places, you know,

[44:21] there's no telling to what degree they would be shopping around.

[44:24] And like some people mentioned,

[44:26] it's not in some of these methadone doses.

[44:29] Hopefully the clinic is running well, it won't be an issue,

[44:32] but you know, like I said, as a mother,

[44:34] it concerns we're just a little bit.

[44:36] I think one of the biggest percentages I've found

[44:41] in my research is 51% of methadone patients

[44:44] use benzodiazepines to get that high back.

[44:47] And that's a huge number, a huge number of people.

[44:51] I don't know how many who would go to these clinics would be.

[44:54] It would be good to have statistics on that, for sure.

[44:57] But please be consistent.

[45:00] I consider it about how it can affect a number of people and what can be brought into the city,

[45:05] especially when it comes to the kids and any kind of drug abuse violations.

[45:10] Thank you.

[45:18] Joy and Jessie Thornton.

[45:19] Hi,

[45:28] I'm Joy Thornton.

[45:29] I live at 533rd Spark Street right now in the high school.

[45:32] I have a business right down the street here on Tennessee Street.

[45:36] Actually, my husband and I have two businesses there.

[45:40] My, my, I was brought, this was brought to my attention, I guess I lived in my little

[45:45] junket world and didn't realize it was getting ready to open right across the street from

[45:50] me.

[45:51] And I, it was brought to my attention by some phone calls.

[45:55] And so then the Kansas County newspaper called me and asked me, you know, why they

[46:03] had understood I had spoken out loud on Facebook and were in my opinion.

[46:07] And in my opinion, in the newspaper, it quotes me as saying that people are concerned, meaning

[46:14] local ring old people, are concerned about drugs, drug users, drug abusers, and drugies,

[46:22] I said, being in the neighborhood and just being there, standing in line, waiting to

[46:28] get in and choosing to roam around town and do as they choose to do.

[46:32] And because I was quoted as saying that, I was cursed.

[46:42] The lady went on the Facebook page and cursed me for saying that that I was concerned.

[46:51] So that's the kind of people who I saw, I see as being pro-this clinic.

[46:56] people who will call me an uneducated ignorant bad word just because I said

[47:03] local people are concerned about drug users being in the neighborhoods. So that

[47:10] even made me more concerned. Then I got a phone call from a gentleman who lives

[47:16] in Jamestown, Tennessee, which just happens to be where I grew up and he

[47:21] got my phone number and called me to ask me how in the world do you have

[47:25] the audacity to say that Methanone Clinic is bad. And I said, excuse me, who is this?

[47:33] He told me his name and I vaguely remember someone by that name being in high school around

[47:39] the same time I was. I don't live in James Town, Tennessee. I live in Ringgold, Georgia,

[47:45] where people ask me where you're from. I say I'm from Ringgold, Georgia now and that's

[47:50] where I'm from. I live here. All my well-being is here. My grandchildren go to the schools

[47:57] here. My husband grew up here. So I'm concerned about Ringgold, Georgia. So I said, why do

[48:05] you care, Jackie, if Ringgold, Georgia gets a clinic? Don't you still live in Jamestown,

[48:10] Tennessee? He said, yes, I do. And I bought, I bought Harrowland and I bought Morphing

[48:20] Morphing on the streets of Fentress County, but I drive to Georgia

[48:25] Once a month to get my methadone

[48:28] I drive to Georgia now a hundred and forty miles

[48:32] Once a month to get my methadone

[48:34] So it's not the people of gatoosa County that the clinic think it's a county or helping per se

[48:42] It's people a hundred and forty miles away in

[48:45] in Fentress County, Tennessee, and in Florida, and in Alabama, and in South Carolina,

[48:51] coming here to get their drugs.

[48:53] That's my concern about it.

[48:55] When we have karate kids running up and down the streets doing their training,

[49:00] we have kids getting on buses and walking to school.

[49:04] I have a business here.

[49:06] There's businesses over here that are going to be affected by this.

[49:09] I don't even know if the little family, the Spanish-speaking family

[49:13] that lives across the street from the methadone clinic and realizes that there are going to

[49:17] be people lined up in the parking lot when they're out there and they're swimming pooling

[49:20] in front of y'all. That's why I'm concerned about it. Thank you for your time. Thank

[49:26] you.

[49:33] Just you're on here. Did you want to?

[49:45] Good evening ladies and gentlemen. As you

[49:49] all know, I grew up here in Ringgold and I devoted my life to Ringgold. I've had

[49:55] opportunities to move to different countries to teach martial arts but I

[49:59] chose to stay here because someone reached out and helped me and gave me a

[50:04] chance and to see that you know I understand this clinic is here to to

[50:11] give somebody a chance to change their life like this young man over here. How

[50:17] many have you seen change their life like that? We have kids every single

[50:24] day, run up and down these streets, training to make their black blood.

[50:30] We have kids running around the nature's trail over here.

[50:35] We have them running by Kentucky Fried Chicken, over in Blovey, up by the high school.

[50:41] All over this city, and to bring this into our city, I really feel like it's a really

[50:48] bad situation to be a part of.

[50:52] And look at the people that have migrated to KJUCCA and Ringo because of the things that are going on in Chattanooga and in Dawson.

[51:01] You know, people in Chattanooga have moved to Ringo because they feel like this is one of the safest cities that they can move to.

[51:10] Yes, we have our, you know, we have our share of property just like any city does.

[51:18] But we've got an awesome council here that really may bring those stand-on-the-mout.

[51:24] People see, people want to come to Reno because they know that they can be safe.

[51:30] Look at all these older people that are right walking every single night.

[51:34] You didn't ever, you know, you wouldn't see that in Chattanooga.

[51:38] You wouldn't see that in Dalton because everybody's afraid that they're going to

[51:42] get jumped.

[51:44] But if we bring that clinic here, we're going to run into the same problems.

[51:51] I don't want that clinic to affect my business.

[51:54] I'm 56 years old.

[51:56] I've been teaching martial arts here for 42 years.

[52:00] I'm not going to let that run me out of time.

[52:03] I love, you know, I respect you all for what you're trying to do and how you're

[52:07] trying to do it.

[52:09] but my grandson and my granddaughter, their mother was on this and she went to

[52:16] the clinic there on Rossville Boulevard just so she could get a high and you know

[52:23] I said I'm not gonna take you there just for that she said well if I don't get it

[52:27] there I gotta go get it somewhere else and

[52:32] so to me when a person just

[52:35] specifically speaks out and say that's why I'm going you

[52:43] look in and you

[52:43] tell me what you think.

[52:47] And, you know, it's a shame that their own mother can't

[52:52] raise them because of this stuff, you know. But I thank God that they're my

[52:59] grandchildren, that our grandchildren, so that they have a chance in life because

[53:05] they're not going to be exposed to that. We're going to raise these kids the right way.

[53:11] That's why I speak so much about the Lord here at our school and how we

[53:16] We should carry each other and protect each other.

[53:20] And that's the way I feel about our whole community, you know?

[53:25] You put your life on the line every day in the law enforcement.

[53:29] You know, you guys are going to be offered your life on the line for this season.

[53:36] And I ask you, you said, can you go home at night and lay down and sleep without worrying

[53:42] about all the stuff coming in in the season?

[53:45] and these people that are driving 150 miles are frozen.

[53:50] I mean, why can't they go to these other clinics?

[53:53] There's four already here.

[53:56] Probably the way up to have one right here.

[53:59] I wouldn't mind if they moved it somewhere else,

[54:02] but not here in the city of Ringo.

[54:04] Thank you.

[54:22] I went four, 15, 10 while it was out of here,

[54:25] Mary Wilton said,

[54:28] I've got 25 years in education background,

[54:32] assistant principal, athletic director, school teacher,

[54:36] also 15 years in law enforcement,

[54:39] who's our deputy with sheriff's department.

[54:43] Several comments that I'm hearing,

[54:46] we don't want that here, we don't want that coming here.

[54:49] It's already here.

[54:51] The director already in your camp,

[54:54] Working as a consultant for some sort of director of security for some clinics, and what I'm

[55:03] going to call effectively run programs, chiefs of police, sheriffs of the county, encourage

[55:12] their drug units to go by and actually get cards to hand out as effective treatment

[55:18] for votes because, unlike a lot of other substance abuses, abstinence does not work for a large

[55:27] percentage of opioid addiction. And that's, again, it goes back to the chemistry of what

[55:34] happens with the actual narcotic itself. And most of the deaths that we have seen,

[55:42] And you know, we're in one of 14 counties that's the, and you're going to see this,

[55:47] the second highest opioid death rates in the nation per capita.

[55:52] And, you know, we've, so it's been something, you know, why is that all of a sudden happening

[55:59] about five to seven years ago?

[56:03] There was a big push to close all the pain pill clinics.

[56:07] pain clinics, a lot of pain doctors, pain clinics that made it more difficult to get from a pain

[56:13] doctor in opioids, which is then why you had a influx for the first time in 20 years, a

[56:22] heroin epidemic, because it was cheaper to get and easier to get, because you never

[56:27] offered an effective treatment to take the place of what they were addicted to. And

[56:34] And so what we saw in our county, we were, while we were celebrating the law enforcement,

[56:38] that we shut down all the pain-filled mills, we call them, in our town, and in our county,

[56:45] we didn't offer anything of an effective treatment to take into place.

[56:51] And so now what we started seeing was Ivy Heron used backup on the rise for the first

[56:56] time, like I said, in over 20 years.

[56:59] And so, a lot of our overdose deaths have come, and again, statistically talking in the law enforcement circle, a lot of the death rates in the overdoses is not just methadone that's in their system.

[57:13] And again, doing research of a lot of the science that your body affects, it's mixing those other drugs that they're buying off the street with the methadone that they're buying off the street,

[57:25] or that they're buying off, you know, that they're getting from, you know, a pain doctor.

[57:34] And unfortunately, they're getting from their primary care physician.

[57:38] So it's not the junkies that we see in the movies like we see in the New York movies

[57:43] where they're in the back alleys and making their drug deals.

[57:46] These are professionals that are going to their primary care physician.

[57:52] getting a script, and because they've had a long history with that doctor, they're continuing

[58:00] to increase their script.

[58:02] You know, that's just not working for me right now.

[58:08] On personal knowledge of a person, the chief of staff of a hospital that's also a primary

[58:18] care physician was prescribing so many pain pills to a patient that a local

[58:25] mom-and-pop pharmacy wasn't able to fill the prescription for the must-supply.

[58:33] This was a cheapest stack of a hospital. So again, it's not, oh my gosh, the drugs

[58:40] are coming in off the street. They're gonna be coming to Ringo and bringing

[58:43] drugs. The drugs are already in your community and talking to several law

[58:50] enforcement officers where a new treatment center has opened up. Like I

[58:55] said, they are the ones that are encouraging people. They start noticing,

[59:00] and I think I'm going to quote in a local county around here, the Chuka

[59:05] police that makes sense now why when we are arresting folks their first words

[59:16] out of their mouth it's been so hard to find I'm having to do things for

[59:23] dangerous thank you thank you

[59:31] that's all that I had on my list we have made it

[59:35] And change to the agenda.

[59:39] I believe I got it. I believe I got it. I had it delivered to me. I think we're good.

[59:46] Was there another song? Please, please, please call.

[59:51] You're number 13. Are you sure?

[59:57] Name and address please.

[1:00:00] This is Erica Incock from the 6161-way drive.

[1:00:04] Excuse me, I didn't attend the speaker, I'm a little nervous, but one of the main concerns

[1:00:09] that everyone is speaking about is the safety of their children.

[1:00:13] But what about the children that have to go home every day to drive their users?

[1:00:17] Do they not get a fair chance to have parents that are drug-free?

[1:00:23] I speak with my father.

[1:00:25] I was under us when I was growing up and luckily my mother wasn't and my parents divorced and

[1:00:33] I was able to live with my mother and I grew up in a very safe home but I have a lot of

[1:00:40] memories from things that I've seen from my father and some kids don't have the,

[1:00:52] They're not blessed with the fact that they get to grow up in a drug-free home.

[1:00:56] So I understand that it is a concern that your kids are running around here with a methadone

[1:01:03] clinic right down the road, but there are some kids that they don't get to go home to a drug-free home.

[1:01:11] They need to have parents who have an option or resources to get treatment for their safety.

[1:01:19] If you're going to think about one set of kids, then you need to think about all the kids.

[1:01:24] You need to think about everybody that this can impact, and not just one small set of people.

[1:01:31] This is huge. This is a big thing, and this can impact more than just a small group.

[1:01:38] And I just think that people need to start considering that.

[1:01:41] When you think about safety of kids, you need to be thinking about safety of children

[1:01:45] But don't get to go home to say, um, like your children do.

[1:01:50] And that's all I need to say. Thank you.

[1:01:52] Thank you.

[1:01:58] Mayor, can I use my other 10 minutes, but it needs...

[1:02:01] Please, I guess I wouldn't have to take a motion from the council today.

[1:02:05] You're going to let me...

[1:02:07] Oh, that's...

[1:02:10] If the mic was taken from the washroom, I would not be there.

[1:02:14] I'd be able to show you something, but if the mic is taken from the washroom,

[1:02:17] we won't be able to touch that.

[1:02:27] If someone would like to make a motion, that would entertain a motion, that's it, no one would like to, I'll move on.

[1:02:37] We did move to make the council comments to the public to just under citizens' comments.

[1:02:48] So I'd like to start. I have a couple of things I'd like to say.

[1:02:54] First off, I want to thank

[1:02:55] everyone who came. I don't see anything except passion for our community and for the people

[1:03:02] in our community on both sides. And I just really appreciate you coming and speaking

[1:03:07] your heart and it fills my heart to see a full courtroom and I just really from the bottom

[1:03:13] of my heart want to thank you for coming and sharing with us what you have.

[1:03:20] There is a couple of points that I think that it's important to make about what the city's

[1:03:26] role is in this process. I know that there's a lot of people arguing for the clinic

[1:03:33] and against the clinic and I do want to say that and this is to me is a bigger

[1:03:42] issue that is preceded this is the state has such control over this process and

[1:03:49] this is an issue that we've been dealing with the state with not just with

[1:03:54] this issue in my opinion but there's a lot of things that the city needs to

[1:03:58] more control over this being one of them and so and so we are happy that our state delegation

[1:04:06] fought so hard to put in a moratorium so that we could at least examine the issue

[1:04:10] and if they didn't necessary give local communities the tools they need to better

[1:04:17] decide how we want to grow our communities. So they have been receptive to that,

[1:04:23] there is a current moratorium and we are diligently working throughout this process to try to make

[1:04:30] sure that they do give the cities the tools that they need to be more self-determined whichever

[1:04:38] way that might be. And so I did want to share that. As far as the the Lawson's seeing and

[1:04:46] permitting goes. That's, unfortunately, because this is handled at the state level, something

[1:04:53] that we were not privy to whenever they made their application. It's not something that

[1:04:58] they informed the city about. There's a late in the process. They do apply for a business

[1:05:04] tax permit. That's just for us to collect the tax from them. But again, I'm looking

[1:05:10] forward to what the state of Tennessee, or I'm sorry, the state of Georgia does,

[1:05:14] to give us some of the tools that we need.

[1:05:18] This application did come in for the moratorium took place and so we have a full

[1:05:23] quarter in tonight.

[1:05:26] We are diligently, as a city, and this is an important job that we're doing,

[1:05:32] we are diligently making sure that they meet all the requirements because

[1:05:37] that's one of the things that we're supposed to do.

[1:05:39] That's our job as a city, as a city is to make sure that they are meeting

[1:05:42] each and every single one of those requirements and we understand the concerns that are brought

[1:05:48] up on both sides and I do want you to know that the city and a lot of people are bringing

[1:05:56] things to the city for us to look at and we always welcome people within the community

[1:06:01] who live and where we can play here, bring things to us so that we can make the most

[1:06:08] important decisions that we can. And so that's where we're at right now in this

[1:06:14] process, verifying that sort of thing. And then on the back end, really the only

[1:06:21] authority that we have is zoning, ensuring that the zoning is enforced.

[1:06:28] And they have zoning that they have to meet ahead of time. And also once they

[1:06:32] begin operating, they have to comply with the zoning for a medical

[1:06:36] facility. That's how it's done. And so that would be the city's role at that point. And

[1:06:42] so I wanted to put that information out there to make sure everybody knew where the city

[1:06:48] was at, what we're doing, and what our role actually is. I would welcome any comments

[1:06:54] from the council that would like to speak.

[1:07:01] Thank you. Thank you all for coming and sharing your points of view and I'm sure all of us

[1:07:09] on the council will be agreeable to this but I'm going to suggest that the minutes from

[1:07:15] that have been shared, the minutes taken from the comments are provided not only to our

[1:07:20] Commissioner of Public Health who is actually over the department which license clinics

[1:07:28] of this nature.

[1:07:30] Commissioner Rees has provided that material, as well as our Senator, Senator Jeff Mullis,

[1:07:37] has been working as well as several of our legislative delegations have worked to create

[1:07:44] the moratorium and actually the Senator will be chairing the committee that's going to

[1:07:49] be working over the next year that we'll be developing the various decisions that

[1:07:55] the state will eventually make a politics of this nature and put it to law in the coming

[1:08:02] legislative period next spring. But he has shared with me that he's planning on bringing

[1:08:07] that committee to Ringgold. I encourage you, but no matter which side of the issue you're

[1:08:14] on, when you see that, watch for that, please come and share your views with that committee

[1:08:19] because that will have an impact not only in Ringgold but all across the state relating

[1:08:25] to these. He has expressed to me that it would come up sometime in the very near future. So

[1:08:31] it could be this month, it could be next, but watch your local newspaper, I'm sure they'll

[1:08:36] be announcing that when that comes to pass. So I encourage we also share our minutes with

[1:08:42] that body, with the state. I want to thank you once again for being here. As far as

[1:08:49] the mayor has covered most of our responsibilities, unfortunately our power has given to

[1:08:55] us by the state. We're limited to what we can do related to any facility of many different

[1:09:03] kinds, but especially in this area, the state has retained the power to make decisions relating

[1:09:08] to this. So we have to defer you and encourage you to talk with our friends at the Department

[1:09:15] of Public Health and share your concerns with them as well as the governor. We

[1:09:22] through overseas that ultimately you can share with either of those offices and I'm sure they

[1:09:28] would love to hear from you, no matter which side of the issue you're on. So thank you, Mr. Mayer.

[1:09:34] Thank you. Anyone else? Please, Jane.

[1:09:38] I'd like to say thank you all. This is an issue that once you start looking at it,

[1:09:46] I'm just taking a little bit of drugs on one of the worst things that's here in our company and it's just massive.

[1:09:53] Not even massive, the hold that it's got.

[1:09:57] I don't have a quick solution. I don't think you think that I have a quick solution.

[1:10:04] Well, this is our hometown. Joel mentioned how long you've been here. I think we've been here in Hawaii in our time.

[1:10:10] 45, 46 years. Wouldn't want to move anywhere else.

[1:10:16] We've got things that we have to work with, the laws of the federal government, the state.

[1:10:21] These kind of things, that's unfair to see.

[1:10:25] On the other side, everybody here has their opinion, whether it's good, bad, or indifferent.

[1:10:32] And we're all involved in that opinion.

[1:10:34] We're in America.

[1:10:35] That's why we have to be able to see it and talk as openly as we have tonight.

[1:10:41] I do encourage all of them.

[1:10:43] Don't stop at our board level. Go to the state. Get your governor, get your senator. Get all of these people.

[1:10:52] And let them know how you feel. Because everyone's a city doctor, they're on the right path in this one.

[1:10:58] And hopefully when it comes out, it will be one that we can all get to them.

[1:11:02] That it will be one that just got them to us. I can't tell you who will or won't.

[1:11:07] But if they send the mandate up here and the vote comes up, you don't have to vote that

[1:11:13] way.

[1:11:14] So this is your time to get in here and try to change their opinions and give them your

[1:11:20] opinions about this.

[1:11:22] Drop that cornering slot and make the phone call and say, hey, this is what I want, or

[1:11:26] this is what I want.

[1:11:27] It looks like you all have your time.

[1:11:31] What do you want us to do, Tony?

[1:11:34] Please say.

[1:11:35] Again, I'd like to thank all of you for coming and I don't want to take up very much time

[1:11:42] because it's been said that the city really had no responsibility, no authority in this

[1:11:53] area, whether we like it or whether we don't, it was a state issue, it is a state permit.

[1:12:01] So, what I'm going to do is just encourage all of you again to come and follow the State

[1:12:10] Committee.

[1:12:11] Jeff Mullis, who is our Senator, will be actually chairing those meetings during this year when

[1:12:19] there will be no clinics opened in Georgia.

[1:12:23] And I am hopeful that what comes out of this is standards.

[1:12:30] standards that if you're if you're afraid of what comes in standards that we can

[1:12:37] then have power as a local community to enforce so again I encourage everybody

[1:12:45] to talk to their state representatives to go to those meetings held by Senator

[1:12:54] Demolus, hopefully one soon we'll be up here, voice your opinion, but act on that as well.

[1:13:03] Say what can we do if the answer is not going to be yes and no, if the answer is going to

[1:13:12] be higher standards to meet in order to allow a treatment facility to exist, then I hope

[1:13:21] you participate in that process, too, and what would be those standards to keep our children

[1:13:29] safe and at the same time allow treatment for drug addiction, right?

[1:13:38] Yes, what I would like to do is say thank you for the speaker. I think we heard a wealth

[1:13:45] of information from both sides, for and against. Like another side, born and raised here in

[1:13:52] when I'm concerned about quality of life.

[1:13:55] I think we had some real good issues that came forward

[1:13:57] and this file presented to CAD documents

[1:14:01] that shows the number of calls.

[1:14:04] I know from being the chief at Quilford,

[1:14:06] the concern that we had there,

[1:14:10] and it's been expressed is the number of cars

[1:14:13] that would come in in the wee hours of the morning

[1:14:15] and would stay there on the parking lot.

[1:14:17] We'd probably have to send those calls for service

[1:14:19] for the police department.

[1:14:21] So going forward, I share a lot of those concerns because of our community and what I would like to address specifically as I think going forward,

[1:14:31] if we see this treatment center open, because each one of us knows that it's the opiate addiction of what we're seeing from the mixing of methadone

[1:14:43] And I think one of our speakers briefly touched on the problems of mixing medication and methadone

[1:14:53] mixing with the adenzones, which is something that is commonly done, which causes a lot of the deaths.

[1:15:02] There are a lot of concerns in this area. There's a lot of good ordinance for and against.

[1:15:07] I hope, going forward, if this treatment center opens, that you will have a lot of safe courts

[1:15:13] in place, that you will be very responsible. I would encourage you also to look into possibly

[1:15:18] having that all night security and that security in those wee hours of the morning is something

[1:15:23] I would recommend just to police that parking lot. I think that's a great idea. I would

[1:15:28] do that with law enforcement and not just private security. So addiction is a terrible

[1:15:34] problem in our country. We see it, but we talked about the medication from the

[1:15:38] doctors prescribed the medication over prescribed the medication that we've

[1:15:42] seen from hydrocodone, oxygen codone, and we can go on and on and on. So it's a

[1:15:46] problem that we have to figure out how going forward as Americans to

[1:15:50] effectively deal with that percentage of people that have a problem with

[1:15:54] addiction, whatever that addiction is. So thank you. Each one of you, it takes a lot of courage

[1:15:59] to come up to that microphone and speak. And I agree with Mr. Chandler that it scares me

[1:16:06] also. Thank you.

[1:16:12] At this time, I would like to take a five-minute intermission. I know some of you may or may

[1:16:16] not want to. Intermission?

[1:16:18] Recess.

[1:16:19] Recess. Recess. It's not a property word. They're recessed.

[1:16:22] Thank you, Mr. Mayor.

[1:16:23] motion to recess can get second motion second on favor and you're welcome to

[1:16:29] state for the rest of our meeting if you'd like to go go we're just gonna

[1:16:31] take a moment to visit the restrooms

[1:16:54] That's what this is.

[1:16:55] Well, I'm not so sure.

[1:16:57] I'm just waiting for you here.

[1:17:00] Thank you.

[1:17:02] How do you...

[1:17:03] How do you...

[1:17:04] How do you...

[1:17:05] How do you...

[1:17:06] How do you...

[1:17:16] How do you...

[1:19:18] Yeah, that's what I'm talking about.

[1:23:49] I'm going to call on you all, we just want to thank you for joining us today.

[1:23:57] Thank you so much.

[1:23:59] Thank you.

[1:24:01] Thank you.

[1:24:02] Thank you.

[1:24:03] Thank you.

[1:24:05] Thank you.

[1:24:06] Thank you.

[1:24:09] Thank you.

[1:30:03] I'll see you in a second.

[1:30:11] I'll take a look at that.

[1:30:18] Thank you.

[1:30:19] Thank you, everybody.

[1:30:20] Thank you.

[1:30:20] Thank you, everybody.

[1:30:21] Thank you.

[1:30:28] Thank you.

[1:31:00] Can I get a motion to call the meeting back to order, please?

[1:31:02] Sorry, wait.

[1:31:03] Do I need to wait?

[1:31:05] No, wait.

[1:31:06] Just a moment.

[1:31:10] Shall we move?

[1:31:12] Second.

[1:31:13] I have a motion to second to come back in session.

[1:31:15] All in favor?

[1:31:18] I take that as unanimous four.

[1:31:24] We are in public hearings.

[1:31:26] Were we going to add the notice of the property tax into our public hearings?

[1:31:31] It's already advertised, it just didn't get on the discussion.

[1:31:35] Okay, so I'm just going to include those.

[1:31:38] I'll just take it as I'm being under public hearing.

[1:31:40] So item A, William H. Colbury is requesting a variance,

[1:31:45] and there were 1,500 square feet for a top one single family detached dwelling

[1:31:50] in C1 zone to 850 plus minus square feet,

[1:31:54] located at tax map R bug partial 4.

[1:31:57] Is there anyone here that would like to speak on this public hearing?

[1:32:07] Hearing no one, I'll close the public hearing for that item.

[1:32:13] And then I'll open up for our notice of our property tax increase.

[1:32:18] This is a tax increase that's about $6 on a $100,000 piece of property for the year.

[1:32:29] We have our notes here on 125,000. It would be $7.60.

[1:32:36] So if anyone would like to speak on that, I'll leave the floor open for that.

[1:32:48] And so I'll close the public hearing on that.

[1:32:53] Okay, so we moved a couple of things.

[1:32:56] I'm on the new business.

[1:32:58] Oh, okay. So we need to, that's right.

[1:33:00] I'm developing a public hearing.

[1:33:02] So out of my own public hearing, how will the council like to proceed?

[1:33:05] Mr.

[1:33:09] Mayor, I'll move that we allow this variance that Mr. Copper is required and as stated in

[1:33:19] the planning and zoning that this variance, and I think that's our norm, the variance does

[1:33:25] not continue should the property owner change, if my memory serves me correctly, so that

[1:33:31] should be the case here.

[1:33:34] a motion in a second to approve all in favor. You now have a score.

[1:33:40] But you did add that with the perception that it's planning the zoning path.

[1:33:45] I think that's normal in our case. It's in our planning the zoning phase.

[1:33:52] If the property owner changes.

[1:33:55] The variance doesn't continue. It dies with the change of property owner.

[1:34:00] I was believing that, but I noticed they put it down the plate of his own.

[1:34:04] So either way, it's a new

[1:34:10] business.

[1:34:11] I don't know.

[1:34:13] Integral agreement.

[1:34:15] I don't think we have to find a separate rate.

[1:34:19] Yes, this is the third.

[1:34:21] That's okay.

[1:34:22] So notice the property tax increase motion to approve.

[1:34:27] You see we're at 3.15 mils.

[1:34:30] Can I, can I get a motion to that effect?

[1:34:33] So, Moody.

[1:34:35] A motion, do I have a second?

[1:34:38] So, okay.

[1:34:39] We've got a motion and a second.

[1:34:40] All in favor?

[1:34:42] You know what it's for?

[1:34:50] We really want to go to your business side of mind now.

[1:34:54] But, Intergovernment will agree that

[1:34:55] between Cattice Utility District and the city

[1:34:58] for relocation of Waterline on Chapman Road

[1:35:01] and for the Highway 41 project, yeah?

[1:35:03] Yes, there is, of course, Phil.

[1:35:05] here if you have any real big questions we'd like to answer. Mainly what we're

[1:35:10] doing here is we're adding relocation of a water line that's in conflict with our

[1:35:16] new structure that we plan to put on Chapman Road to help with the flooding

[1:35:21] issues or the white flooding issues into our contract and it'll be get out

[1:35:26] as a separate item so that we'll be able to track what that cost and then

[1:35:34] to only have one contractor on the job

[1:35:37] rather than multiple contractors.

[1:35:41] How do we move the improvement on improvement?

[1:35:43] Emotion to approve.

[1:35:44] Can I get a second?

[1:35:46] Sorry.

[1:35:46] Emotion to second.

[1:35:47] Alan Baker, T9 School.

[1:35:56] Highway 41, Chattanooga Improvement Project

[1:35:58] Amendment for Professional Services,

[1:36:00] provided by CTI, Dan.

[1:36:02] Yes, originally we only approved a contract

[1:36:06] for the design and now we're to the point

[1:36:09] where Phillip is ready to put that to bed, and this would be not only to cover doing our defense facts

[1:36:16] and do the bed and the board's assistance, but also for the construction management

[1:36:23] or administration of the project. And that's where if that a contractor has problems,

[1:36:29] then you will be able to call Phillip, Phillip or his staff will be able to do inspections to

[1:36:34] make sure that we get what we have been after.

[1:36:38] This is especially important since this is the DOP project.

[1:36:43] And so you're just, in order to move forward,

[1:36:45] you're needing a motion that would

[1:36:47] say that we're going to amend our budget.

[1:36:50] Operate as a lawyer to face the Q and A number one.

[1:36:56] We're making a motion.

[1:36:57] Thank you, Randall.

[1:36:58] Second.

[1:36:59] Second.

[1:37:00] Motion to second.

[1:37:01] All in favor?

[1:37:02] None on this one.

[1:37:03] outside

[1:37:08] City Limit, waterway adjustment proposal?

[1:37:12] Yes sir, we had an old timing rate structure then back in the, I think it was in the 70s when the cities had to provide water service outside the City Limit.

[1:37:24] primarily up on therapy drives going north, there was a differential of just maybe a few

[1:37:31] dollars and then over the last 30 or 40 years when the city would take a 5%, 10%, or 15%

[1:37:38] rate increase, that differential grew from $14.03, the inside minimum rate to $31.48.

[1:37:49] What we'd like to say or what we would recommend to the council is use the same differential

[1:37:55] that the Board of County Commissioners has authorized on sewer, which is 130%, and that

[1:38:02] would reduce that $31.48 down to $18.24, and then the additional usage would still be built

[1:38:11] if we need one.

[1:38:14] Can I get a motion to?

[1:38:16] No back motion to the security duration for the raid?

[1:38:19] Sir, motion is second.

[1:38:20] All in favor?

[1:38:22] To none, it's four.

[1:38:26] A change order, recommendation for Paulster Hills

[1:38:29] and Woodstraw's sanitary sewer, Dan?

[1:38:31] Yes, Mayor.

[1:38:32] This is only a recommendation.

[1:38:34] This is actually a Catoosa County project

[1:38:37] that will be ours once it is completely finished

[1:38:41] and inspected and accepted.

[1:38:44] However, it has been customary that the Board of County Commissioners, since it is quote,

[1:38:50] see the funds with the squash they like for us to make a recommendation to accept the change order.

[1:38:57] This is pretty much, we hope to be a final change order as well.

[1:39:01] and it's a $231,227.61 change order bringing the total to $1,637.01, $1,637,271.51, and it will also increase the counter day by 123 days.

[1:39:22] This was recommended by our sewer director, Mark Vaughn, and he's also been working with

[1:39:28] the contractor along with Crystal Thomas, the party to know the story.

[1:39:34] Have you approved this plan?

[1:39:36] I have a motion to approve the change plan.

[1:39:38] Can I?

[1:39:39] Well, let me get a second, and if there's a second, we'll discuss it.

[1:39:43] Or did you want to change it?

[1:39:44] We have an issue with your original motion.

[1:39:46] Yeah.

[1:39:46] Please.

[1:39:47] Would you please add to your motion.

[1:39:49] And you move to approve, how do I say this, based on producer counties signing off of this.

[1:40:03] In other words, we're approving this before the county commission has approved for this.

[1:40:10] Yes, I'm moving to approve, okay, move to approve our recommendation that they follow through with this.

[1:40:18] As long as we only do this, as long as family agree, if they agree.

[1:40:28] Okay, go ahead.

[1:40:28] You seem like we're going in front of them.

[1:40:30] But, okay.

[1:40:31] Do you have a motion there?

[1:40:33] I have.

[1:40:34] I'm sorry for the recommendation.

[1:40:36] Okay, let me, I'm sorry.

[1:40:37] Let me just be sure.

[1:40:37] This is a motion to send a recommendation.

[1:40:44] Correct.

[1:40:44] It's just a recommendation, because if you look at the owner name, it's Catoose County and the contractor is Mace Construction, so we can only recommend it to the board.

[1:40:54] Okay, a motion is taken to send this recommendation to the county, on a paper. On a paper.

[1:41:00] On a board

[1:41:05] board treatment plan, chemical feeding and storage improvements contract.

[1:41:10] Yes sir, we have a representative here from Taines, Allegra. Mr. Gray Johnson in the back, I think he was the author of Reduction.

[1:41:18] Is that how I want you to say it?

[1:41:23] And you know, we graduated from high school together, so I think we should make him come to the podium.

[1:41:33] All seriousness, or being serious about this, we did go out to rebad and was able to lower

[1:41:41] the total price of almost $40,000 and get some additional services because teams came to play

[1:41:49] with any local contractor we're proud that they did.

[1:41:52] They've done members jobs over the years.

[1:41:55] Not particularly this kind of work, but for those of you that are not aware, they do a lot of work for B.K.B. and that's real testing.

[1:42:03] So they have all the skills in the world.

[1:42:07] We make them build our engineer and carry high power, and all of it seems like they've lost some excellent funds to the table.

[1:42:17] And I think we'll wind up with a good project.

[1:42:20] We really need to move forward, so we've got that $86,000 worth of debt forgiveness that's on the hook.

[1:42:27] Now we've got a firm promise we will go back and see if we might be able to get another couple of dollars since the budget price moves up a little bit.

[1:42:37] I move we award the Water Treatment Plan Chemical Healing and Storage Improvement to contracts

[1:42:43] to team members, teams of, can I get a second?

[1:42:50] Thank you.

[1:42:51] I have a motion and a second.

[1:42:53] All in favor.

[1:42:55] You know what I'm just for?

[1:42:56] Do we have anything for executive session?

[1:43:02] Mr. Mayer, all in favor.

[1:43:04] We adjourn.

[1:43:04] Motion to adjourn.

[1:43:05] Second.

[1:43:06] All in favor.

City Council Regular Scheduled Meeting

Transcript