City Council - Regular Meeting

Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.

I am Council President Marcie Collier-Overstreet. You are at the Atlanta City Council meeting. And with that, we will start our roll call. Please, Madam Clerk.

Good afternoon, Madam President and members of Council. We have Council President Marcie Collier-Overstreet. Present. Council Member Michael Julian, Post 1 at Large. Council Member Matt Westmoreland, Post 2 at Large. Here. Councilmember Ishea Collins, Post 3 at Large. Here. Councilmember Jason H. Whitson, District 1.

Here.

Councilmember Kelsey Bond, District 2. Councilmember Byron D. Amos, District 3.

Here.

Councilmember Jason Dozer, District 4.

Present.

Councilmember Lilliana Bakhtiari, District 5. Councilmember Alex Swan, District 6. Present. Councilmember Thomas Worthy, District 7. Present. Council Member Mary Norwood, District 8. Present. Council Member Dustin Hillis, District 9.

Present.

Council Member Andrea L. Boone, District 10. Present. Council Member Wayne Martin, District 11.

Present.

Council Member Antonio Lewis, District 12.

Let's go, let's get it.

Madam President, we have 13 members present. Okay, we have a quorum of 13 members. I will entertain a motion to adopt the agenda. So moved by Dustin Hillis, second by Council Member Bakhtiari. Madam Clerk, please sound the count. This can be done by unanimous consent. 13 yays, zero nays. 13 yays, zero nays. The agenda is adopted. And now this brings us to invocation. Today, we are privileged to be joined by Reverend Winford Rice of Bueller Baptist Church. This is Baron Amos' home church for many, many years. Reverend Rice, could you please come to the podium and give us our invocation for today? Thank you for being here.

Thank you, Madam President, for the invitation and the opportunity to share. All of those who are of the faith, I would ask that you all assume a posture of prayer at this time. To all the members of city council, to the mayor and the cabinet, I invite you now to center yourselves. Great divine spirit and eternal reality, we call you by many names. Some of us call you God, some of us may call you Allah, but your substance is still the same. God of our weary years, God of our silent tears, thou who has brought us thus far along the way. thou who has been our help in ages past and our hope for years to come. We come to you now on these sacred grounds in this sacred space evoking your presence because we acknowledge that there is no place in the world where you are not. There is no place in the world where your love is not except for where we are blocking it. We pray that you would make us your instruments of peace. Let us be the headlights and not the taillights of society. We pray for the city of Atlanta today as officials come together to work in a spirit of unity to help bequeath conditions to the next generation so that the world that they live in will be a little bit brighter and a little less cumbersome, a little less worrisome, a little less gruesome. At times like these, we need your spirit to unify us because what we need is unity in the community. In a world where unethical and unconstitutional wars persist, Lord, we need unity. Where homelessness and helplessness are rampant in our streets, God, we need unity. When intimate partner violence harms women of color disproportionately, Lord, we need unity. When schools are still used as pipelines for prisons, God, we need unity. We pray that today that you would guide our hearts, rule our thoughts. so that our realities will be that much better rooted in you. And God, be with us on this journey. For when our feet get tired, we ask that you would be our podiatrist. When our hearts are distressed, we ask that you would be our cardiologist. When our minds become discombobulated, we pray that you would be our neurologist. And when life knocks the wind out of us, Lord, we pray that you would be our pulmonologist. In your many names we pray, but in the name of Jesus we count it done. Every glad heart said amen.

Amen. Thank you so very much for that powerful invocation. Okay, and with that, we will recite our Pledge of Allegiance. Everyone, please stand. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, Thank you. Council Member Amos, if we could come take a picture with you and your pastor. So that takes us to proclamations, commendations, and other special awards. Everyone that's here today for Ms. Sonya and Jayla Caesar, please come forward for our first proclamation of the day. I will be presenting this one. These two, actually. Come on forward. Thank you. As a matter of housekeeping, just want to remind everyone that each proclamation shouldn't take any longer than 15 minutes per code. You come on around up to the dais. Thanks for joining us. Welcome. Welcome to our Little Misses. You guys come right on over, because I want to make sure that everyone can see you. Did you know you were doing this today? Yes. You did?

Okay.

Well, you deserve it, and I'm happy that you're here. This is what we call a recommendation or a proclamation from the city of Atlanta. And it's recognizing the work that you've already done at such a young age and so that we can inspire you to keep going and going and going. And this is just going to be a nice little keepsake for you to have at home and add to all of your other trophies and crowns and all of those things. So we're going to start with those first. Jayla? Okay, we'll start with Jayla. It says in recognition of Jayla Caesar. Jayla Caesar is an eight year old student at Whitlow Elementary School in Cumming, Georgia. She has distinguished herself as a young leader whose compassion, generosity, and dedication to service have made a meaningful impact in her community, whereas Jayla currently holds the Little Miss Georgia 2026, representing the values of confidence, character, and community engagement while serving as a positive role model to young people throughout the state. And alongside her sister, Sonya Caesar, Jayla co-founded Caesar Sisters, Hoping and Healing Foundation, a youth-led initiative dedicated to supporting individuals experiencing homelessness and encouraging acts of kindness and service among young people. Whereas through their foundation, Jayla has helped organize the collection of hundreds of essential items, including canned goods, clothing, hygiene products, and other supplies, which have been personally delivered to homeless camps and shelters to assist individuals and families in need. Now, therefore, be it proclaimed that we, the members of the Atlanta City Council, on behalf of the residents of Atlanta, do hereby recognize and honor Jayla Caesar for her outstanding commitment to service, her dedication to uplifting others, and her inspiring example of compassion and leadership. Congratulations, Jayla. Can you hold this?

Is that too heavy?

Okay. And now Sonya, your sister. Sonya Caesar, a 10-year-old student at Whitlow Elementary School in Cumming, Georgia, has demonstrated extraordinary leadership, compassion, and dedication to community service at a remarkably early young age. Whereas Sonya currently holds the distinguished national title of Little Miss of America 2025 in recognition that reflects her confidence, character, and commitment of service and the ability to inspire others through her example. Whereas Sonya's journey in pageantry began as an opportunity to build confidence and develop leadership skills. And she has since used her platform to promote kindness, civic responsibility, and community engagement. And we already talked about the great foundation, So now, therefore, be it resolved that we, the members of the Atlanta City Council, on behalf of the residents of Atlanta, do hereby recognize and honor Sonja Caesar for her remarkable achievements, her commitment to serving others, and her inspiring example of youth leadership and philanthropy, and commend her for demonstrating that compassion, determination, and service and creating a meaningful change in the communities across Georgia and beyond. I'm very proud of you. You all have started at such a young age. Congratulations. Does anyone want to speak? Just a few words? Thank you note? Okay.

I want to say thank you because I'm really proud that we can be here together and hope that we all have a good time and a good day and have fun.

Absolutely. Do you want to say something?

Thank you so much for all of you to come here with us. We are so glad that we can celebrate this moment together. And I just want to say thank you and I hope you all have a good day.

Well, we're very proud. And the fact that you all are already saying yes to speaking on the mic is absolutely amazing. That means you are leading the way and making sure that all those that, no matter the age, can make a real impact in our community. So thank you for sharing that today. And I'm very proud of you all.

Just so you know, that's my name right here.

And these are all the council members, every last one of them. Can you all come so we can take a picture now and let them know how proud we are? Thank you. Thank you for the bracelet. Look at these beautiful colors. Aren't those the right colors?

I love it. It's so cute.

Let's see who's next. Okay, so we're gonna move on to the next one. Everyone here for Water Safety Month, please come forward. That's our next proclamation. And it will be presented by Councilmember Matt Westmoreland, our Community Development Human Services Chair.

Amen.

All right, good afternoon, everyone. My name is Matt Westmoreland. I am here in my capacity as chair of the Community Development and Human Services Committee to recognize May as National Water Safety Month. We observe this each year here in the city of Atlanta. The Atlanta Water Safety Coalition, which is comprised of folks from the city of Atlanta's Department of Parks and Recreation, YMCA of Metro Atlanta Swim Safe, the Georgia Tech Campus Recreation, Children's Healthcare of Atlanta, and the American Red Cross Two quick observations as I was thinking about this. One, Councilmember Alex Wan and I at different points in our professional careers each worked at an organization called Horizons Atlanta, which is a summer and after school nonprofit and brought safety and swimming is at the core of what they do for 1,500 kids around the metro area, making sure that our youngest kids learn how to swim. And it was in that same spirit back in 2019 that then Councilmember Marcy Collier-Overstreet and I worked with the Department of Parks and Recreation to make all of our outdoor swimming pools free, which they have now been each summer for the last five years, removing every barrier we can to ensuring that Atlanta's youngest residents have access to pools and, through it, swimming lessons, which I think gets to the heart of this proclamation. So thank you all for the work that you do for our youngest residents, and happy Water Safety Month.

Hey, everyone. My name is Rachel Marr, and I'm the Deputy Commissioner of Partnerships and Enterprise in Atlanta's Department of Parks and Rec. Thank you, Council Member Westmoreland and Council President Overstreet and all members of Council. We really appreciate y'all's support and for advancing this proclamation, recognizing May as National Water Safety Month here in the city of Atlanta. As the mayor often reminds us, Atlanta is a group project, and water safety is exactly that. Preventing drownings is made possible through awareness and strong partnerships. So I want to thank the Atlanta Water Safety Coalition members. for all of their leadership and commitment to this cause. So at its core, Water Safety Month is about saving lives. Every child who learns to swim is potentially a life saved. As we head into the summer season with Atlanta's outdoor pools opening Memorial Day weekend, the urgency of this work increases. I also want to emphasize the importance of lifeguards. These are critical public safety roles, and we need more young people, more adults, more seniors stepping in to fill these roles. Lifeguarding is not just a job. It's a meaningful way to serve your community and build lifelong skills. So thank you again to all members of Council, to your continued partnership, and the members of the Atlanta Water Safety Coalition, and to everyone here in the audience today who helps raise awareness of the importance of water safety and your support in making Atlanta safer for all of us this summer and beyond.

I would be remiss if I didn't speak on this, because I just did research on this topic for two years. And I just want to let anyone with children in their lives know that drowning is the leading cause of death for children ages one through five. For kids zero to one, bathtubs. It's really important to supervise children when they're in bathtubs to make sure there are no buckets or open fish tanks in the house. You'd be surprised how many things like that happen with toddlers. And for kids ages one through five, especially, backyard pools run a big risk. So if there are pools in your neighborhood, retention ponds, which a lot of planned communities have, those are big risks. And lastly, for children with autism, they're especially drawn to water. They find it comforting. It's really important if you know that there are autistic children in your neighborhood to keep an eye and just be that community for one another. And make sure that any kids that you know that are in your family take swim lessons. We've got the YMCA here. There's YMCA's all throughout the city, the city of Atlanta, Parks and Recs. Just get your kids in swim lessons. I know it's hard. I have a daughter. You want to keep their hair, you know, done. But this is really a matter of life and death. So thank you all.

I also want to say congratulations on Water Safety Month. And just not to be remiss, I actually learned how to swim at Camp Best Friends. I'll never forget me and all of my friends actually hanging on the wall at Southeast and that Roselle fan and kicking our feet and learning and then going over to CT Martin and South Bend and competing in the swimming programs. I remember learning to hold my breath, trying to see who can hold it for the longest. And it was right at the same pool that we are now running the aquatics program where we're training the students in the city of Atlanta, right at Southeast. We're training the young folks to be lifeguards in the city of Atlanta. So super proud of this, of today, and super proud of the things we're doing as a city, and happy, happy to be on this proclamation. Thank you. One last thing. When we talk about pools being free, I used to have to reach my hand in a couch to come up with 50 cent to go and swim. I used to have to go out to the car in the morning to check the change in the armrest to get to 50 cent. I hated giving the 50 pennies. And so I'm super happy that the city does not charge our folks to go swimming. I was thinking, 300 people going swimming. So the city of Atlanta made $150 that day. And so young folks are doing whatever it took just to get 50 cents or a dollar to make sure all of us could go swimming together. So super happy we removed that permission. Super happy that we doubled down on it when we got elected to make it free forever. But let's continue to make this city work for all of us. That's why we built these recreation centers to teach our young folks how to swim. Council Member Boone taught me that Council Member C.T. Martin built C.T. Martin to teach the kids how to swim. They built it for the pools, not for the recreation centers. Then my former, my mentor, Roselle Phan, told me they built the gym she built, she begged for the basketball court. It was only built for the pool. So super happy that we're continuing this as a city. Thank you.

Moving on. All right, we have Council Member Juan here. Everyone here for the recognition of ATL-DLT 2026 National Transportation Week. Please come up to the desk.

Well, as they are coming up, I'll go ahead and get started. I'm Alex Juan, and I have the privilege today Oh, maybe I'll wait.

What's up, man? Good to see you, man.

Great, man.

They need to get help. They need to get help. Thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you. Thanks, y'all. Good to see you, good to see you.

Good to see you.

Wow. Anybody working? No. I saw the commissioner.

Keep sliding down. Keep sliding down.

All right, Commissioner, get up here. He's not even paying attention to me. All right, as they continue filling in, I have the honor and the privilege today, I guess since I am Transportation Committee Chair, to recognize National Transportation Week, which is coming up May 10th through 16th. But before I read any of the proclamation, I do wanna take a step back and acknowledge the hard work and the amazing work that the team on the Atlanta Department of Transportation does day in and day out. I feel like I've gotten kind of behind the curtain peak since taking the committee chair role in January of really understanding all the different moving parts that you all have going on at any given time. And I know I've said in committee about how I feel like transportation is the one department in the city that I feel like our residents, the people who come here and work, people who come here and play, all interact with as soon as they cross the city line. They're on a street, they're on a sidewalk, they're on a trail, they go over a bridge, they may be using transit. All the different things that the department works so hard to make sure are running smoothly, are in good shape, or on their way to being in good shape. And then more importantly, I just want to commend y'all for how innovative and how forward-thinking you try and be in terms of, is there a better way? How can we make it safer? Oftentimes, pushing back on us, which you should do, because we may have unrealistic expectations, but you always keep us grounded, literally and figuratively. And I wanted to open first off by thanking you all for that. Now, National Transportation Week was established by the FHA, the Federal Highway Administration, and it serves that purpose, is to celebrate the tens of thousands of men and women across North America who build, maintain, and support the nation's vital transportation infrastructure. And as I mentioned, I want to just lift again how Atlanta DOT continues remains committed to providing a safer, more equitable, and more sustainable transportation network that serves all residents, businesses, and visitors throughout the city of Atlanta. Whereas the continued success and efficiency of our transportation systems, including streets, sidewalks, and multimodal public thoroughfares, depends on the support of an informed, engaged, and public And whereas the Atlanta Department of Transportation is staffed by 300 committed and capable, I'd say superstar personnel, whose work is to significantly enhance alongside the public's understanding and appreciation of their contribution. So as we like to do, we are going to proclaim that we, the members of the Atlanta City Council, on behalf of the residents of Atlanta, do hereby declare the week of May 10th through 16th, 2026 to be National Transportation Week in the city of Atlanta. We call upon all citizens and civic organizations to acquaint themselves with the issues involved in expanding and maintaining our transportation network and to recognize the contributions which transportation officials make every day to our health, safety, comfort, and quality of life. This is signed by Council President and all members of Council. So thank you all very much. Before I invite my colleagues, any that are interested in making any comments or delivering your flowers, Commissioner, would you like to say a few words?

So our transportation chair stole my thunder.

I'm sorry.

But it has been a complete honor to work with Transportation Chair Juan. He has brought a rigor and a thoughtfulness to the Transportation Committee that we really appreciate. We haven't seen over the past few years. So this proclamation means so much to us because we are approaching our seven year birthday at the city. So if you think of all the departments who've been at the city, transportation is the baby. And none of these folks look like babies, but let me tell you, they work tirelessly 24-7 to bring the services that you expect every day. It's a very thankless job. Snow, ice, whatever's going on in the city, they are on call and ready. And this is only a few of the faces that represent the Department of Transportation. The rest of them are out working. Making sure those potholes are filled and folks stay safe. The national number for fatalities in this country is about 40,000 per year. This talented group of folks have brought fatalities down almost 50% over the last five years. So I just want to recognize... recognize all these beautiful faces and say thank you. It's an honor to work beside you. You know that. And thank you for giving me that honor. But this proclamation represents so much for the Department of Transportation. Thank you, Chair.

My colleagues, anybody want to make any comments? Save your asks of the department for budget hearings next. But anybody want to make any comments? OK, very good. Let's go ahead and pull up front and take a photo.

Oh.

Thank you. That's good. Thank you all.

I was just saying it's hard to watch all of you all just walk back. I feel like I want to have one big meeting. Talk about everything, every street, every project. Thank you all so much for coming. And as they leave our last proclamation of the day, the Atlanta Historic Preservation Month is going to be presented by Councilmember Ishe Collins. Can everyone come forward with the Atlanta Preservation Historical Month? Atlanta's Historic Preservation Month. What's that?

Oh, I'm a teacher writing.

Thank you.

Good afternoon, everyone. So we're excited to present today's last proclamation, which is even a bigger one, just understanding Atlanta's history and landscape. I am accompanied by my colleague, Councilmember Thomas Worthy, in presenting to the Atlanta Preservation Center in May as the Historic Preservation Month. And so I will read the proclamation and give Kendra and Megan, if you guys would like to say a few words, particularly the importance of Historic Preservation Month and what it means to our great city, we would truly appreciate that. And so the proclamation reads, recognizing May as Historic Preservation Month, whereas the month of May is nationally recognized as Historic Preservation Month, a time to honor and better appreciate the value of America's historic places as vital definers of our national character and shared heritage. And the thoughtful preservation of the city of Atlanta's historic buildings, neighborhoods, and cultural landmarks is now more important than ever, serving as a reflection of the city's resilience, identity, and progressive spirit. And historic preservation is widely acknowledged as a key component of a thriving and livable community that supports varied and rich human experiences, rooting in a sense of place and And the understanding and practice of retaining historic character and cultural diversity must be embraced as a universal goal, ensuring that every citizen enjoys the benefits of a city that values its past while planning its future. And we are indebted to those who had the foresight, diligence, and self-determination to safeguard Atlanta's architectural, historical, and cultural heritage. treasures, preserving them for future generations. And it is important to understand that historic preservation is a stabilization and the revitalization of Atlanta's historic assets as a proven and powerful economic engine that anchors reinvestment, stimulates job creation, promotes heritage tourism, and catalyzes the development of healthy, sustainable, and equitable communities. And by uplifting cultural significance, as historic places, we acknowledge the successes and sacrifices of past generations whose legacies continue to aspire a more just and inclusive future for all Atlantans. And it's important to recognize the Atlanta Preservation Center as continuing to lead the way their vital mission by promoting preservation of Atlanta's architecturally, historically, and culturally significant buildings, neighborhoods, and landscapes through education and advocacy on behalf of the city, state, region, and nation. And therefore, it be proclaimed that we, the members of Atlanta City Council, on behalf of the residents of Atlanta, do hereby declare May as Historic Preservation Month in our great city to recognize, celebrate, and support the preservation of our shared heritage as a foundation for a vibrant and enduring future on this 4th May of 2026. And so I wanted to give the Atlanta Preservation Center a round of applause and congratulate you on this proclamation. Councilman Worthy, would you like to add any few words? Okay, great. And I'm really excited that we'll also be showcasing, I had the opportunity to support funding for one of the works of scanning the historic Alonzo Herndon home and really excited to release the details of what that scan, a modernized digital scan of what the homes entailed, the infrastructure, but also some of the hidden pieces that was found in the home. And so I'm going to turn it over to Kendra and Megan with the Atlanta Preservation Center to say a few words, and then we'll take an official photo.

Hi, I'm Kendra Waters, the newest board member for the Atlanta Preservation Center. We are just really honored and thankful to be here. We obviously are very passionate about historic preservation all year, but especially in the month of May, it's a really great opportunity to connect with our historic resources. I would be remiss not to thank this council. They have done a lot of really great work in advancing preservation efforts in the city of Atlanta. We very much appreciate their work and help on those efforts. And then my last plug is just to go to the Atlanta Preservation Center and take some tours, learn more about the history of the city, especially during the month of March. We do Phoenix Flies, which is kind of a tour bonanza of the city of Atlanta. There's a lot of great hidden gems and a lot of great people who are really passionate about the history of the city. So please engage. We are always looking to see new faces learning about the great history of the city. So thank you for this.

Great. We will now take an official photo. My colleagues, would you like to join me?

One, two, three, four. Thank you. Thank you.

Okay, so this brings us to the portion of our agenda where we can have statements from our elected officials. Do we have any statements from any elected officials? Not general remarks, but statements if you need a moment of silence or, you know, that portion. Okay. Council Member Winston.

Thank you. I just want to ask all my colleagues to lift up, and those in attendance, individuals Angela Fullwood, Kwama Kinnard. They're both in stable condition, but were part of a very tragic shooting that happened in Lakewood Heights community this past week. where, tragically, we lost the life of Ms. Shannon Douglas. They were all innocent bystanders in a shooting that happened in that community. The community is very shaken about this, this shooting. I want to thank the Atlanta Police Department, our detectives, and everyone that has been working to hopefully make an arrest very soon. Two of these individuals were part of our unhoused community. and so i just want to make sure that we continue to lift those individuals up where the house are unhoused and let them know that they are also a part of our community and we're going to continue to work and make sure this city is a place where all atlantans can enjoy and call home so please lift those individuals up in your prayers and your thoughts today thank you okay thank you so much council member council member antonio lewis

And on the same note, this weekend, an organization, Mothers Against Gang Violence, held an event for the angel moms. And so for gun violence, fentanyl poisoning the city of Atlanta. And the angel moms are mothers who've lost their kids to things that have happened in the city of Atlanta. So I want to say happy Mother's Day to the angel, happy Heavenly Mother's Day to the angel moms in the city of Atlanta.

Thank you.

And...

Councilmember Ishe Collins.

I just wanted to, first off, take a moment to not only celebrate the amazing life, but also just saddened by the loss of Mr. Errol Davis Jr., who was the former superintendent of Atlanta Public Schools. He passed away on, what was that, Matt, the 20th, last Sunday, and we celebrated his life on Saturday. For many of us that have had the opportunity to work closely with Mr. Davis at the time that there was a huge transition, transformational change that was happening in the district, both me and my colleague, Matt Westmoreland, had the opportunity to work really closely Oh, excuse me. Yes. And our third colleague, Byron Amos, had the opportunity to work really closely with Mr. Davis. So just lifting his amazing wife, Elaine Davis, and their family in our prayers as we celebrate, celebrate a life we'll live, but also saddened by a life that we lost.

Hearing those comments, I would like for us to take a moment of silence for all of those individuals and anyone else that is on your heart. Let's just take a moment of silence, please. Thank you. And this brings us to the remarks from the public. We have so far 37 signed up. So now we'll hear remarks. Each person, each speaker will have two minutes. with a maximum of 10 minutes with donated time. So pursuant to our code, speakers who have received donated time will be placed at the end of our public comment section. And our first three speakers, Henri Jordan, Leonard Dungy, and Malcolm Jones, you each have two minutes, please come forward.

Give now to the Spirit of God everyone that is here. Not everyone that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, should enter into the kingdom of heaven. But he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven. Thank Matthew 7, chapter 21st verse. Not everyone professing Christ is genuinely saved. In the end, at the straight gate, for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leadeth to destruction, and many there be which go in thereat. Matthew chapter 13 verse. In the end, at the straight gate, narrow means that one must come through the narrow gate in order to reach the path that leads to eternal life. But unto you that fear my name shall the son of righteousness arise with healing in his wings, and ye shall go forth and grow up as calves of the stall. Malachi 4, chapter 2, verse. Son of righteousness is a figurative representation of the Messiah. Moses represents the law, and Elijah represents the prophets. We need Jesus. He do not need us. Surely he shall deliver thee from the snare of the fowler and from the noise and pestilence. Psalms 91, chapter 3, verse. The first voice assures the faithful of God's protection. I need Jesus' deliverance plan and not mine. What about you? I had a vision that the people was in a big bubble. They couldn't enjoy the trees, the Atlanta atmosphere. The Lord said, the answers in the homeless is called on Jesus Christ. So I seek to do his plan because he can back up his plan. When you go against God's plan, you're going against your own protection that Christ wanted you to have.

Thank you, Ms. Jordan. Leonard Dungy, you have two minutes.

Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen of the council. I am here representing the Metropolitan Atlanta Police Collaborative and TVI organizations across this region. I have brought you a 10-point plan, which was actually put together in 2009 and recognized by Congress. We currently are still operating under the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act. And my real reason here today is just to give you a little bit more education, I guess, or information on as to how CBI incorporates or integrates into the community. Our agencies right now are doing ride-alongs with PAD. While we're similar to PAD, we're not focusing on the same demographic. For instance, PAD is more focused on mental health. in situations that arise that may not involve police involvement, while we focus on the 1% that is causing 90% of the violence. So there's 85,000 youth in Atlanta. We're focused on that 850. We identify them through schools, the courts, and the relationships that we have in the community already. The key to this is there's a return on investment to the city. And that investment goes as such. There are other reports that we'll be sharing with you, and I'll share this with you before I sit down. But there's other reports showing that it costs on average $652,000 for a non-fatal shooting in the city of Atlanta. Well, Hope Hustlers alone, this is not including TK, this is not including We Care and Dip. We've done over 374 mediations in the city of Atlanta in 2025. So if you multiply that times 650,000, That's roughly $234 million. And we're not going to ask for that. We just want 1% of the budget to deal with 1% of the population. But realistically, that's the return on the investment to the city. And that's why you see other cities such as Baltimore and New York, which we are closely modeling New York's crisis management system, and Chicago and other cities adopt these CV strategies. Thank you for your time.

Thank you. Malcolm Jones. Yeah, we'll have someone come grab those. Thanks for sharing. Malcolm Jones, you have two minutes. Malcolm Jones. Does anyone know Malcolm Jones? Is he close by? Okay. We're gonna move on to our next three. Atampuka L. Antapuka L. Abaddon Henderson, Ajanta Johnson. Those are our next three, each have two minutes.

Atampoca L. Okay, greetings again. I'm Atampoca L. I'm Moorish American, and that means that I am a national, meaning an American. And I am a descendant of the people in the Bible, which makes, that's the bloodline. And also, they are Moors, and that makes me a Moorish. And America is my land of inheritance, because we were the first people on this land. And we are indigenous to the land, the Americas, which includes North America, South America, Central America, and the surrounding islands. Okay, and it's now necessary that we be recognized as Americans because we are not citizens of the United States or states of Georgia or other 50 supposed states. And the United States is occupying the land of America. The United States has no land. And most of us know that the United States is a corporation. And so now, like I said, it's central, important that we be known and recognized as who we are, the indigenous people of the Americas and also aboriginals because we are descendants of the people in the Bible. And I lost mine. but again, we need to be recognized as who we are, and we have unalienable rights, which are secured by the Constitution, what we now call the organic Constitution that was written in Philadelphia, which only has 12 amendments and seven articles. And again, this constitution, the organic constitution, secures the rights of the nationals, meaning we have a land, a nation. And that, for people of the land, are persons and are the Americans. OK, thanks.

Thank you. Bowden Henderson, you have two minutes.

All right, greetings, I'm Abiyah Dune, Charlotte Henderson, rep in gangsters to growers, workforce development training program, formerly incarcerated young adults under 30, 16 to 30. Also the circle of safety that is filled with community violence intervention groups. Also in solidarity with mothers against gang violence, dream builders. We care, hope us, Liz, and loving what Mama Gwen has, how she has brought people together around this 10-point peace plan. What we're looking for is exactly what Brother Dungy said, is funding and how we can model what's been going on in Baltimore, Chicago, and New York, where they've been advancing policy around these issues. Would love for us to have an established, dedicated CVI, established... We want y'all to establish dedicated CVI funding as a city budget priority and also support the creation of a Georgia Office of Violence Prevention and a regional strategy. We know that we most definitely need community-led accountability like we've had since the beginning of time, where we can prevent things like Jason, Councilmember Winston mentioned. Things need to be in place way before that happens where police are responding to the violence. We can cure the violence within our communities if we have the budgets to and the space to and the support. In our organization, we are paying young people $18 an hour, 40 hours a week for a 10-month long program. They're joining worker-owned businesses. They are becoming advocates for the community. Anything's possible with your support.

Ms. Henderson, are you speaking on this paper right here that was passed to us? Yes, indeed. Okay, thank you. Ajanta Johnson, you have two minutes.

Hey, how y'all doing? My name Ajanta Johnson with the Gangster to Growers Work Development Program, teaching recently incarcerated youth agriculture, how to make money through value-added product. Atlanta, Metro Atlanta Peace Collaborative bring this 10-point plan. It's a public health-driven plan to prevent violence by centering youth leadership, investing in improving community violence intervention, and aligning partners across the sector, including Circular Safety. Something that we are a part of while pushing for real funding, policy, action, And looking to scale what works, build a safer, stronger Atlanta for a long time.

Thank you. Thank you. Our next three speakers, Zaire Clinton, Michael Collins, Tracy Thorne here. You each have two minutes. Please come forward. Zaire Clinton, two minutes.

What's going on, y'all? I'm Zaire. I'm speaking on a 10-point plan. I'm also with Gangster Growers. I basically just want to say if we get this, our 10-point plan, if y'all could just look into it, we can prevent a lot of BS that's going around in the city because really people just looking for opportunities. And that's really it. If we're in poverty, we can't do too much but do what we talk and what we know. So if we get down 10 points, the 10 point plan going, we'll be good. On 10 plus more years, plus more year.

Thank you. Michael Collins, you have two minutes.

Hey, hey, we meet again. As Atlanta prepares to host the World Cup, we have a once-in-a-generation opportunity, but also a responsibility to make sure this moment actually benefits the people who live here. First, we need transparency and accountability. That starts with a full World Cup audit of spending, contracts and outcomes. Right now, there's a gap between what's being promised and what the public can actually see. An audit is not about criticism, it's about trust. It's something that I've reached out to Council Member Collins about, the better Collins in the room, I should add. Second, we need community representation on the host committee. Many thanks to Council Member Westmoreland for the hearing two weeks ago on the World Cup. We know that decisions are being made that will shape housing, labour and public safety, but without meaningful input from communities most impacted. That has to change. I've reached out to Council Member Amos, Council Member Miss Moreland and I are discussing legislation on that. Third, I want to express our strong support for Council Member Kelsey Bond's Housing Help Centre audit legislation. As we head into a global event that will put pressure on the housing market, we need to know what's working, what's not, and how we protect residents from displacement. Fourth, I just want to echo some of our colleagues' concerns about community violence intervention. We need community representation and full funding for groups like Circle of Safety. If we are serious about safety during the World Cup, we should be investing in what works, community-based solutions that prevent the harm before it happens. And finally, we applaud Chair Boone's 404 legislation to ensure that public safety responses are smart, but we need community organisations to be at the table. Playfair ATL, with our experience around mega events, would be honoured to take part in any commission. I'll close with this. We keep hearing about a billion dollars in economic impact. but the city is projected to see only a fraction of that in direct revenue. So the question is, who benefits? With the right policies, we can make sure it's the people of Atlanta. Thank you.

Thank you. Tracy Thornhill, you have two minutes.

Good afternoon. Good afternoon. I won't be two minutes, hopefully, but you know we are at a critical time. again, which is budget time. And when we talk to our employees, the first thing they ask about is what are we gonna get? I really can't answer it, but I know you guys can find a way to look out for our public works workers, sanitation workers, watershed workers, and airport workers. So I hope I'm thanking you in advance for looking out for those, thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Thornhill. Our next three speakers, Alton Momon, Leith Hader, Chasity Dallas. You each have two minutes. Can you come forward? Alton Momon, you have two minutes.

All right, good afternoon. My name is Alton Momon and I'm with the Atlanta Alliance Against Racism and Political Repression. Linton Blackwell, he was a cherished Atlantan and his life was cut short on October 11th, 2025. He leaves behind two daughters who just celebrated their first birthday without him yesterday. Plainly speaking, Linton Blackwell wasn't just murdered, but he was executed by the city of Atlanta and their $300 million state sponsored gang. Gerald Walker, his unaliver, was a failed cop. He had several previous work violations. I want to ask you all, how many work violations do you get before you are removed? I'm coming to you today to not only demand that he is immediately removed, but prosecuted and charged for his immoral conduct for his constituent of this city. Linton Blackwell was not some thug or deplorable individual. He was a father. He was an aspiring entrepreneur and a rapper. This city isn't built off of the success of entertainers, city, excuse me, World Cups or Democratic National Convention selections. This city is built off of the working class individuals here. Today, do what is necessary. Do what you were sworn to do. Serve the people and arrest Gerald Walker. Thank you.

Thank you. Lath Hader, you have two minutes.

Hello, good afternoon.

My name is Leith Abdelhader. I'm a member of the Atlanta Alliance Against Racism, Political Oppression, and a resident of District 11. I'm also here to speak about Linton Blackwell. He was murdered at the hands of APD officer Gerald Walker. Linton Blackwell was a 42 year old father of two teenage girls. He was an artist, a resident of Buckhead, and a beloved community member. On October 11th, he was shot 17 times in the back by an off-duty cop. Gerald Walker is still on the force and has faced no accountability. Linton Blackwell's family is still demanding answers and accountability from the department. Gerald Walker had many conduct violations on the job, including body cam footage violations, and those are supposed to be treated with a suspension. He should have been fired way before he killed Linton Blackwell. Gerald Walker should be in prison for this cold-blooded murder. I asked city council to do everything in their power to make sure Linton Blackwell's family gets the answers and the justice that they deserve. And I'll end with some words of Don Evans, Linton Blackwell's brother, who said, Linton was not only my brother, he was my friend. I'm going to stand for him. I'm going to keep on fighting and making noise, whatever it takes to get my peace. When this man, Gerald Walker, is off the streets, I'll be at peace. Thank you.

Thank you. Chasity Dallas, you have two minutes. Hello, everyone.

Yeah, I'm Chasity. I'm with Gangsters to Growers, and we are asking for more funding for our community organizations that are helping the youth in our communities. I wanted to start by saying that I did learn today that May was a preservation month. So I just wanted to say that we need to preserve lives, we need to preserve opportunities, we need to preserve hope. That means investing in our community, violence interventions, not later, not halfway, but fully and consistently, because one day people will look back on this moment and ask what we chose to protect. So we're asking to fund our communities, support those doing the work, help us turn pain into progress, because when you invest in us, we save lives, you save lives, and that is something the city cannot afford to ignore. So yeah, it was a party against the growers and I feel like it's an inspiration to see that we are still in our communities doing the groundwork for our young people and we're not just giving up on them. And so we need funding to continue our work. And I just hope you guys can see the importance in that and continue to see us through that and do what's right. Thank you.

Thank you. Our next three speakers, Ash DeSilva, Michael Haleke, Devin Franklin. You each have two minutes. Ash DeSilva.

Hello, everyone. My name is Ashta Silva. I'm the Director of Community Response Services over at PADD. Just here to let you know, as a reminder, our dashboard is up on our website. That's going to be dashboard.atlantapadd.org. It showcases our key metrics for PADD's community response services, diversion services, and 911 calls. It's an opportunity for you all to review data for your districts. C311 calls to PAD and similar 911 calls that went to police instead. So please check it out. If you have any questions, please reach out to Moki Macias or you can reach out to myself at ash at atlantapad.org. Thank you.

Thank you. Michael Hallecky, two minutes.

Good afternoon. I'm Michael Haleke, President and CEO of Park Pride. I'm here today because I care deeply about Atlanta's parks and neighborhoods, and I want to be a helpful partner as we begin the FY2027 budget process. I plan to be actively involved, attending upcoming sessions and engaging fully in the process. Over my nearly 13 years of Park Pride, I followed the budget closely. One ongoing challenge is that it's difficult to clearly identify how much funding is dedicated specifically to park maintenance. We know that funding is increased, but yet we still don't have clear benchmarks from where we started, where we are today, and where we're trying to get to over time. I do want to acknowledge the progress that's been made. The Parks and Recreation budget has grown each year under this administration, and the Council's decision in 2023 to double the Park Improvement Fund with 80% of that increase dedicated to park maintenance was an important step forward. At the same time, the recently released budget shows an approximate 5% decrease in DPR's total budget. That raises important questions. If DPR's total budget is decreasing by about 5%, what does that mean for park maintenance funding in 2027? Given these constraints, is it still possible in FY 2027 to increase funding for park maintenance, an area that has been chronically underfunded? With more parks and capital investments being added each year, to maintain current funding for park maintenance would mean that we are losing ground. To grow and to be world class, we have to sustain what we have. That's what Atlantans and visitors see first. That's how maintenance works. I believe we all share the same goal, ensuring every Atlantan has access to clean, safe, and welcoming parks. I look forward to working together to bring greater clarity, transparency, and continued progress towards a goal that benefits all of Atlanta's diverse neighborhoods, increased funding for park maintenance. Thank you.

Thank you. Devin Franklin, you have two minutes.

Good morning, or good afternoon, council members. My name is Devin Franklin. I am senior movement policy council at the Southern Center for Human Rights here in Atlanta. And specifically today, I am offering comment about my review of some open records that I am in receipt of, copies of which I've emailed to you all this morning. And they distill the nature of the city of Atlanta's interference with the contract for policing alternatives and diversions and why such interference is problematic for the Center for Diversion Services. The timeline on this situation matters. On January 30th of this year, PADD submitted a straightforward renewal request of the subcontract that it received from Grady as part of Grady's operation of the Center for Diversion Services. On February 3rd, Grady responded to that email with major scope changes that would remove the core responsibilities that PADD has been performing and requiring PADD to adopt a staffing model dictated by Grady. Of note, PADD was the only of the CDS subcontractors that saw a proposed change to its scope of work. On February 11th, Grady implicated pressure from the city when it informed PAD that it had to accept those changes to the scope of work by February 13th, or quote, or we will have to move forward with another plan because, quote, the city must finalize the contract. On February 18th, the Chief Operating Office, the COO's office acknowledged the contract was being held because of a, quote, difference in option regarding the scope of work, and that the process would move only after a Justice Policy Board Operations Committee session. By March 5th, the COO's office pushed to put a vote on that board. The practical result is a disruption. When a core partner is pressured out of its role through contract brinkmanship, the center loses its continuity, coordination, and specialized expertise, exactly the elements needed for a consent-based alternative to arrest. We simply want to note that we are clocking the use of leverage by the city of Atlanta as it relates to its cooperation with community partners going forward. I would love to speak with you all more about this going forward, but for today I wanted to note the interference with past contract and the Center for Diversion Services. Thank you.

Thank you. Our next three speakers, Conette King, Kendall Long, Santa Juan, Copeland. You each have two minutes. Connect King, two minutes.

Good afternoon. My name is Connect King, and I'm the Movement Policy Associate at the Southern Center for Human Rights. And while I'm here on behalf of the Southern Center today, I want to name that we are also a part of the Circle of Safety Coalition, which is a diverse group of community-based violence intervention and response organizations working across the city. And while we appreciate the intent behind both the 404-day study resolution and the creation of the Special Event Technical Advisory Group, or CTAG, today we must respectfully offer recommendations to ensure these efforts address violence without expanding the criminal legal system or increasing the city's carceral footprint. First, we urge the city to adopt language recognizing that community-generated cultural events that are particularly those rooted in youth, black, and grassroots traditions often rely on decentralized models that require facilitation, not enforcement. Neither process should result in heightened scrutiny based on the demographics an event serves. Safety planning should be equitable and rooted in risk factors, not assumptions about culture, age, race, or neighborhood. Second, any enforcement-based recommendation must be paired with community-led alternatives, including technical assistance, microgrants, shared infrastructure, and flexible permitting. The city should act as a co-facilitator, not solely a regulator. Third, before finalizing either effort, we urge an evening town hall so impacted stakeholders who cannot attend daytime meetings can participate. As the city forms a four or four-day study, this research should protect cultural authenticity and include participants and organizers, not only impacted parties. Regarding the CTAG, we note that the advisory board composition matters. We recommend guaranteed seats for grassroots cultural organizers and independent artists and inclusion of non-law enforcement criminal legal experts. As written, the current framework is incomplete. Thank you.

Thank you. Kendall Long, you have two minutes.

Good afternoon. I'm Kendall Long, First Amendment Policy Counsel at the Southern Center for Human Rights. I'm here on behalf of SDHR to yet again share concerns about the administration of public comment during the city council term. In a time when mostly black and brown voters are seeing their voices restricted by the nation's highest court, this council must do everything it can to welcome your constituents to the table. On April 21st, our office sent Council President Collier-Overstreet while copying the entire council on a letter documenting our concerns with the public comment rules that's implemented this term, based on the text of City Ordinance 2-104, the free speech protections found in the city charter, the Georgia Constitution, and United States Constitution. She applied to us on April 23rd, essentially dismissing our concerns by pointing to the administration of public comment under the term of former Council President Felicia Moore. Our review of videos from Council President Moore reveals that she did not require people seating time to remain in chambers for the entirety of her term, or requiring those receiving donated time to speak at the end of public comment. These rigid restrictions unnecessarily chill public comment and speech by giving the appearance that there is a strong preference against public comment exceeding two minutes. Council President Collier-Overstreet cites ordinance section 2-104 generally for authority to require individuals to be present in council chambers when they are donating time. This simply does not appear in the text, the actual text of 2-104. We're not raising these concerns for the sake of arguing. Southern Center wants to work with you to make Atlanta stand out as protecting democracy and free speech when it's needed most. We're asking the full council to make public comment more accessible for the good of Atlantans. The People's Voice Act would do just that. Within the next week, we'll publish model legislation that expands and protects free speech during public comment on our website, www.schr.org slash peoplesvoice. We're still collecting reports of how your ability to give public comment has been frustrated by these new public comment rules. You can fill out this form and find our model legislation and the letter that we sent to Council Overstreet at People's Voice, schr.org slash People's Voice.

Thank you. Malik Wyke. Kimberly Brooks, L.A. Pink, you're our next three speakers. You each have two minutes. Malik Wyke.

My name is Santorin Copeland. I'm here on Weir Care.

Oh, sorry. Thank you. I didn't mean to skip you. Go ahead, two minutes.

I'm here to talk about today that we need more programs such as Well Care, Mother Gang Violence, and Dream Builders. These programs that help young leaders, as in me, see where our community needs help and need working.

Yeah.

Thank you.

Oh, thank you. Thank you. Malik White, you have two minutes.

How you everybody doing? My name Malik White, I'm 21, and I say we need more programs like We Care and Women, Wait Mothers, against gang violence because help us find more young leaders inside our communities and help keep the violence down, find stuff for the youth, and that's really it.

Thank you, Mr. Malik. Kimberly Brooks. Kimberly Brooks, you have two minutes.

All right, you guys may need to get this repaired. This chair is a liability. I'm going to spell out of it. Oh, thank you. Sure will. Thank you. Good afternoon, counsel. My name is Kimberly Brooks. I'm coming here before you today because I sent a document of claims to your legal department. And I just want to be clear, there have been several people that come here today in regards to concerns that they have in regards to police enforcement, alternatives, housing, and different ordinances. My concern with this government particularly its government itself. I've observed by my own research from land trusts to your ordinances at the police department, your fiduciary duties that are responsible to you or granted to you by the government of the governor and the constitution are in violation. So I submitted this claim. This is, I call it, not merciful technically to be arrogant, but to be mindful. I've been going through this with you guys for two years. The reason it took two years is because I wanted a softer approach. I emailed everyone. I spoke to everyone. I had conversations with you. And before Shannon Manigault's power was taken, I went to her. These are methods that I took because I understand government. I understand its structure. And I also understand that we have a different chief in command and office than the federal government. If the federal government were to intervene, it would probably cost me my city. However, I filed that claim, and we have until Monday. And I really advise all of you to respond to the claim so that I could present to you an injunction that I have. And if I'm not able to present that injunction to you, I will present it to the federal government next week, of which you will be co-defendants with the Fulton County and Edgar Perry in the villages at Carver as it relates to housing, court systems. As people spoke about this police officer here, I personally complained against him in the proper way, and there are duties and responsibilities that you have and you hold that are part of your oath that gives you the power, and I'm not convinced that this government, all of you, I get along with many, and I do understand that, but as a person of the people, we have to do what's responsible and hold you accountable. So please respond to that claim by Monday, or I will file the federal injunction. Thank you. Thank you.

L.A.

Pink, you have two minutes.

Well, I see nothing has changed. I ain't been here in a minute. I wanted to come down here way before now. I wanted to... Andrea Boones, you know I'm not no fan of yours, but what I seen you and Louis do to a lady that stood up here with an episode, I salute you, because a mother... Her son was shot four times in the back of the head in Douglasville. Didn't get that same love. She was beaten up by the police and taken out, drug out for just going over her time. So I salute y'all. You know, not letting you off the hot water because I still got some stuff on you. However the case may be, and... There's times coming for everything that I have said and done. I know you guys been watching the news with the FBI being in Fulton County. Were they watching Atlanta too? So just know that. However the case may be, I know you guys have a lot of people coming up here. Every time a new headline comes out, you know, they come out up here for whatever's new. But let's not forget about Mechanicville. Them same officers of Atlanta that disappeared were standing there when those 10 people got shot, two got killed, allegedly. And now here it is, we have a mass shooting inside of Piedmont Park. And still, once again, we just have suspects. We still have nothing. So when people come up here and we're cheering for the children and we want to fight and we want to do all that, still do some research about those families that don't make it to the highlight news. We still got families out into Atlanta. Children have been shot. Andrew Wilson is one of his names, that he was shot and killed, and somebody else by the same gun. And here we are, still got suspects on the loose, just like the officers.

Thank you. Our next two speakers, Heather Hallett, Margie McCloud. Margie McLeod.

Heather Hallett, you have two minutes. Thank you so much. I'm Heather Hallett. I am the founder and director of Georgia Majority for Gun Safety, and I am also here promoting the Ten Point Peace Plan, which I believe Leonard shared with you all. I spoke last week at the Public Safety Committee meeting and just want to reiterate a couple of things. One is there was a New York Times article in the front section yesterday about the national funding cuts for the community violence intervention groups. And we have so many of them here. And thank you so much to TK and the Mothers Against Gang Violence for speaking out. I love it when our young people speak. But it just underscores the fact that these cuts put the onus on our state and local governments to fund our heroes who are in the streets doing this community violence intervention work. So I really urge us to look at our city budget to fund these groups. And the second thing, which I spoke about last week and have spoken with the mayor about, I hope that the city can invest in a budget. public safety messaging campaign about secure storage. Atlanta is second in the country in terms of the number of guns stolen out of vehicles. We need public safety messaging, and we need locks and safes made available. As I mentioned last week, there are locks available through the police department, but the grant, the specifications of the grant essentially mean that the city is not giving them out. So we need to correct that. Finally, I just want to mention that I'm here with the Circle of Safety and the Metro Atlanta Violence Prevention Partnership. We have scheduled a Zoom meeting open to all of the city council members. I really would urge you to attend on Friday at 2 p.m. I will follow up with the details, but would love to discuss this in greater detail and particularly as the World Cup is coming up. Thanks so much.

Margie McLeod, you have two minutes.

Good afternoon, everyone. Winston, I'm talking to you. The posters that you put in for Overstreet to have a car and a driver, I won't want to. But that's not all about that. We could find money for everything else. And you got a nonprofit for the diapers. I mean, for people who need diapers. How about Farmland? baby farmer. That money could went to people who need, know how much baby farming cost? $32 a little ounce. That money could have went there. It's a shame that you want a car and a driver to often tax people back. That's the case if you get one, He want one, he gonna want one. And what, MARTA is the best. Take MARTA and do Uber. Save the tax dollars, unless it gonna come out of your pay. Because I have to drive too. I don't wanna like drive, I go to different places, I take MARTA. But we could find money for everything else, but we can't find money to do the right thing. Just like what the people say, put money in the youth program. That's what we need to do. And I know you read on the internet, it's probably crash. They don't think you deserve a car and a driver. You okay? I'm not trying to be nasty with you, because the golden girls say, if you get one, we want one too. Put the money where it's supposed to be at. You in finance, so do your math. Add it up, if she get a driver and a new car, not being a new car, how much that gonna cost a year? When this money could be where? Where this money could be put? Can you answer me? Okay. That why they put you in finance, because you should know math. That's all I have to say.

Thank you, Ms. McCloud. Okay, so now we're at the portion for the yielded time. Our first speaker is Alan Lee. You have 10 minutes. Your yielded time is by Marjorie Lofton. Wanna make sure everyone's here. Hi, how are you? Nia Garcia, Jennifer Sanders, and I saw another name. Davida Huntley. All right, you have 10 minutes.

Davida Huntley hooked me up, Alan Lee. Good evening or good afternoon members of the council. I want to thank Kimberly Brooks. She told me she will walk in with me hand in hand and to pray for me and I always welcome prayer. But I'm also reminded that sometimes the answer to our prayer is to get off our knees and take action. You know, I had the occasion yesterday to join the mayor in welcoming the ambassador of Jamaica to Atlanta, and in the presentation of the city of Atlanta, they talked about all the things that was right, all the pros, all the benefits, all the glory, and there's nothing wrong with that because too often all we hear is the negative. So I'm reminded that there's nothing wrong with the city of Atlanta that can't be fixed by what's right with the city of Atlanta. I wanted to come by this afternoon, look each council member in the eye during the non-election season, because that's when we tend to hear most from at least a good fraction of you guys, and invite you to join us in your very own council atrium on Saturday, May 9th, from 1 to 3 p.m. as we salute, honor, and recognize the Atlanta Public Schools Principal, Teacher, and Counselor of the Year. It's not enough to engage in political propaganda and talk about coordination with governments, not enough to talk about how we support public education, and then not show up when we honor those that shine the most. Our superintendent will be here. A number of elected officials will be here. Your very own Council Member Bond, who has helped and played a leadership role, will be here. And I challenge and invite and ask that each of you come as well. I think I did an analysis. The principal, the teacher, or the counselor of the year comes from at least nine of your districts. And I would be happy to see you. This is Teacher Appreciation Week, so let's walk like we talk. And that is a positive invitation. Let me just follow up my prepared remarks for a minute and say if we're going to give away cars, I like one too. I'll take mine without the driver, but I will take whatever you can give me. I wanted to talk a little bit about this as well, because I understand it's been somewhat of a controversy. And I've heard from some of our members about these data centers. No matter how we slice it, slant it, or spin it, no matter how we try and package it, they're bad for the community. That's not Allen Lee talking. That's municipality after municipality around this country talking, and mostly in black and brown communities. They often, as part of their talking points, talk about jobs that really don't exist. They talk about CBAs, sounds real cute, good acronym, Community Benefit Agreement. In a final analysis, the community has actually had them, as well as the courts, have determined in many cases they're not worth the paper they're written on. But I'll tell you the most compelling reason to pause. The most compelling reason to slow down is not because of some study or some analysis, not because of any remarks by Allen Lee, but because the people in that community reject it and they understand it. They said it's bad for their community and I would just ask that we respect them and many of those people are part of the Federation of Public Service Employees and their families. You know, ironically, Federation of Public Service Employees is larger than my good friend Tracy Thornhill from AFSCME, larger than PACE, larger than the firefighters, and soon will be larger than a police officers union here. We are larger because we meet people where they are. We are larger because Whether you are blue collar, white collar, no collar, you understand that we're all in this together, so we are inclusive. Despite obstacles from some of the commissioners, 311 commissioner is an obstacle. Public Works Commissioner, he can have all the grandiose celebrations about supporting employees. He is an obstacle if he puts himself between employees and their right to join an organization. Commissioner Watershed is an obstacle if he thinks himself that his calendar, his philosophy is more powerful than an ordinance unanimously passed by the city council. He's an obstacle if he thinks his belief is more superior than a memorandum of understanding between FPSC and the mayor. So we are calling foul and giving notice that they will not continue to pussyfoot around when it comes to access to their employees. That's what's wrong with Atlanta. Let me tell you what's right. Airport general manager is right. Park and recreation commissioner is right. Corrections commissioner is right. And though they've been beating up on him a little bit, I hear about, I see my friend Blake the Great here, they've been beating up on him a little bit. In this regard, Department of Transportation Commissioner is right. So I'm hoping that this council will use your bully pulpit and influence to say to these commissioners, when you pass an ordinance, they don't get to substitute their judgment for that of the legislative body. And I've been reading a lot and seeing a lot. And I think it was your last council meeting where I was somewhat moved when I saw a whole bunch of people coming down here. talking about union solidarity, talking about they stand with the firefighters, talking about a CBA or collective bargaining agreement with the firefighters. I don't know much about that. But I do know I'm probably the only one of those folks that's actually been elected as a union president. I'm the only one of those folks that's probably served at the highest level of organized labor. And I saw some of them promote their union and their particular title. So I can say this without fear of contradiction. We cannot talk about solidarity with the white firefighters and not talk about solidarity with everybody else. We cannot talk about supporting firefighters and not talk about supporting the progressive firefighters who've been locked out, left behind. We can't talk about supporting public safety and firefighters and not support the black fire chief. Let me remind you guys this, that I believe the president of the firefighters said at this very podium, and I rock with the firefighters to be clear. I'm probably the only person that has negotiated contracts for firefighters around this country. I'm reminded when the World Trade Centers was coming down, those were firefighters going up. But I'm also reminded when it was time to promote those firefighters in New York, they filed lawsuits against black firefighters getting jobs. I'm reminded that progressive firefighters exist in this city. because white firefighters locked them out. I'm reminded by the president of the firefighters as he stood at this podium, and he said, C.T. Martin told him some years ago that he needed to diversify his union. I'm reminded in 2026, despite the advice of the dean of the council, despite the advice of one of the greatest Advocates for Organized Labor, 2026, it is still exclusively a white organization. And how dare you say Allen's playing black and white politics. No, black and white politics is playing themselves. And I know it's politically correct to have firefighter support. Hell, I like it too. I'm reminded my wife worked 35 years for the fire department. So I'm an advocate of the firefighter, but I'm not an advocate of nonsense. Thank you for the opportunity to be heard.

Thank you, Mr. Lee. Our next speaker, is Mike Russell. You have six minutes. Your yielded time comes from Julie Allen. Is Julie Allen here? I see you, thanks. And Anne Bon. Anne Bon, thank you. Mr. Russell, six minutes.

Good afternoon. My name is Mike Ross. I live in Mr. Hillis' district in Grove Park. And I wanna make that point because what I'm gonna speak about today is two issues that are very near and dear to me and the people that I care about on the west side. There are two issues. One is the TAD and one is what we call affordable housing. Now, the mayor has his team going around the city talking about a tale of two cities. I call it the fairy tale of two cities because she's trying to pit North Atlanta against South Atlanta, Black Atlantis against White Atlantis, rich against the not so wealthy, all in an effort to get their hands on 10 billion with the B dollars of TAD money. If you listen to their speech with Courtney English and the North Star, we've heard that before. We're not buying the snake oil. This is about $10 billion of TAD money that they can turn around and hand to developers like they've done before. I'm so proud of the people of Atlanta that called them out at the 404 Fest. The mayor, Mo Ivey, who we call Mo Taxes. Ike Arrington, Natalie Hall, the same Natalie Hall that cost the taxpayers of this county a million dollars because she had an illicit sexual affair with her chief of staff, planted not one, not two, but three tracking devices in his vehicle, and then fired him when he broke the relationship. And what does the mayor turn around and do? Hire her, my understanding, gave her a raise and put her in charge of a department. And now they're back in that same Natalie Hall to go to the Board of Commissioners with Moe Ivey so that they can control those votes to get that $10 billion. And then we tie that to affordable housing. I've been asking this question for a number of years. When you say affordable housing in Atlanta, what do you mean? Affordable for who and for how long? And what I see with affordable houses is they take this money and they give it to Atlanta Land Trust or Invest Atlanta or others like them and developers and then they build these apartments with subsidized tax money and then turn around and use subsidized rent to put people in after they've taken their property. And I'm not telling you a fairy tale like Courtney English. I'm talking about people that live in my neighborhood who have lost their homes for as little as $3,000 so that somebody can come take them for pennies on the dollar and then put up their building. When you tell me this is not modern day sharecropping, When Atlanta Land Trust and Invest Atlanta come and say, you can buy a house from us, but you never own the land. You can't pass it on to your heirs, to your children, to your grandchildren. And when you do sell it, we get 75%. How is that not turning the people of Atlanta into modern day sharecroppers? I'm telling you, when they show up in your neighborhood, when the mayor's crew shows up, it's not about what they're going to do for you, it's about what they're going to do to you, because they have no community engagement. They don't come talk and ask us what we want or need. They tell us what we're going to get and be happy about it. And the latest scheme is with Microsoft. And I urge, I urge the decision makers at Microsoft to put the brakes on this deal for 20 acres of land, because they're going to do the same thing again. Microsoft, you do not want to be involved in demonstrations like what happened out at the training center, because people are fed up. I'm tired of seeing my seniors harassed. You let paint peel on their house, here comes code enforcement. The developers, they never bother them. Mr. Amos, we need y'all to get involved, Mr. Hillis, and stand up to this administration. They're trying their darndest to hand this city over to developers. And I urge you, do not vote for Mo Ivey, Ms. Motaxis, and to stand up to mayor and this roadshow, which is a fantasy about if we just get $10 billion, we'll fix everything. If they just get $10 billion, everybody in Atlanta will be a renter and nobody will be an owner. We've got to put a stop to this now. Again, when Microsoft came into Grove Park, they did real community engagement. Hats off to Microsoft. They came to our meetings. They talked to us. They came to the community meetings. In fact, they had a whole Saturday at John Lewis where everybody was invited. They listened to us. They recorded our concerns. They even provided food and drink for the people who showed up. We have not seen the mayor's folks do any of that, because there's no transparency. Because again, it's not what they're going to do for us, it's what they plan to do to us. I'm urging all of you to stand up to this mayor and to this scheme and to stop it before it's too late. because we want people to be able to buy homes like you can with Habitat for Humanity. If you really wanted people to have homes, you would follow the model of Habitat for Humanity and not Atlanta Land Trust and Invest Atlanta and what the mayor is scheming.

Thank you, Mr. Russell. Our next speaker, Dr. Dewan Robinson, you have 10 minutes. Your yielded time comes from Quincy Compton. Ricky Cummings, Carolyn Dabney. Carolyn Dabney? Hey. Gwendolyn Webb. You have 10 minutes.

Greetings, counsel.

Greetings.

I would like to start off saying my apologies last week for my profane language. But I want to start out today speaking about oftentimes when counsels say that you guys don't get involved in personnel decisions. Well, Mr. Alex Warren, I beg to differ because you guys vote on general manager salaries, head of HR, commissioner salaries. You guys vote on salary, Mr. Wayne Martin, but when it comes down to getting involved with personnel to help the least of these, you guys want to say you don't get involved in personnel matters. That's so contradictory. Now, there's a... You guys voted down Council Member Lewis' proposal to fund free summer camp for the children for this year, which I think was roughly about $146,000. But I also seen this week, Ms. Boone, y'all gave the training center 19 million. Well, maybe 15 million. No, I'm saying 18 million. I think $146,000, Mr. Winston, is a drop in the bucket. And it's disrespectful because Since you guys do numbers, you may have six white kids that involve in Park and Rec, maybe 12 Latino kids, but the rest are black kids. We're talking about black kids getting free access to summer fun. For some, Mr. Winston and everybody else who's not from Atlanta, that's a quality of life for some of these black kids. That's all they get during the summer. We have to be very sensitive about those things when you're voting on issues that we really don't know much about if we're not going to get the numbers. You may have five white kids in there. So we can't say, Mr. Warren, that the kids on your side of town who may can afford it may take advantage of it. They're not, the numbers show that they're not. They're not sending their kids to park and rec with these black kids, they're not. I mean it's the truth of the matter, they're not. They find something else for their kids to do during the summer, that's the truth. So we can't say that. There's a $20 million budget from the airport that I think you guys missed or overlooked or may not wanna look at. From Jan, Lynn and them have this mirror business services they created out there. 56 jobs that they've given out there. But you guys don't want to track down as to how we get over in the budget. $20 million for 56 phantom jobs. Now, you know who most of the people got those jobs to, Mr. Juan? Since you're over transportation. Brian Benefield's son, who's the CFO at the airport, his son out there making $136,000. You know what I'm saying? From this phantom program that Jan Lenny created, right? Charmaine Freeman. Her daughter works in procurement at City Hall. I'm sure she's making six figures, we haven't found that out yet. And her son works in C4, and her daughter's in DOA contracts. Nikita Carter, Cynthia Carr. So many people's sons and nieces and nephews work, and it's $20 million that you guys, that they shifted to the 27 budget. But it looks like on paper that Mr. Ricky Smith brought these people in. And from what I hear, The young lady who they walked out of the airport, Crystal, is the one who started asking these questions, and Jay and them couldn't have that. We also have a young man by the name of Jordan Beigler, he left the airport to take a job at Dallas Love Field, Mr. Lewis, and now Jan never posted the job. And I want you guys to look into this, Mr. Warren. He's coming back this week. The job was never posted. It was vacant for a year and a half while he was gone to Dallas Love Field. And we did an open record request. The job was never posted, and he's coming back to fulfill this role at $178,000. Now this is the same counselor you guys think is okay for Jan Lenny to still make $390,000 and she's not the airport general manager. She's making $390,000 and not the airport general manager. So when we talk about qualification, you got a lady who was a warden and then who was over security and then we put her in the interim role of GM and she's still making $390,000 not being the GM. Ms. Mary know what? What you guys have right now is that airport contract that was told to the airport to take off the agenda moments before you guys were getting ready to vote on it. Now we've seen people go to jail for a Louis Vuitton purse. And we talking about a $23 million bathroom contract that everybody wanna play hush-hush about. You know what I'm saying?

They wanna act oblivious like they don't know.

We can't have that. And Mr. Warren, you one of the smartest people that I know, man. And I'm ashamed that some questions you don't ask, man. Like, you're too smart to not ask certain questions, man. Like, this doesn't make sense. Some of the administration want to say we love Atlanta, we love Atlanta, but Jay and Lynn ain't from Atlanta. We keep letting people treat people badly. And we want to say we protect. Now, I understand. Well, guess what Charlotte Franklin told me, Mr. Wayne Moore? Man, when I left City Hall as the COO, I couldn't get nothing done in Atlanta. They treated me like I was an outsider. So that's why ever since then, they vowed to stack the deck and make sure they got their people in place. So when they need them, they have blind loyalty to them. But that blind loyalty led some folks to the feds. And this $23 million bathroom contract is criminal. You know what I'm saying, because they stood here and said it's a blackout period. But they had you guys to take it off the agenda, you know what I'm saying, along with, who did they contact? Because Open Records said that they contacted, they tell Legislation Office and asked them to take it off the agenda right before you guys were in the building. Now I know who friends that is that didn't get the contract. They called over there and told them that hey, we got some issues with that. And they took it off. I also know that a lot of people's glad that this OIG was gone, Ms. Shannon Manigault. I know a lot of people glad she was gone. And a lot of y'all sat here and said this lady was guilty. But when the lawsuit come before you guys, you guys wanna act like that you wanna side with the administration and the outside firm that they hired to fight against it. Man, we can't go for that. A lot of people aren't going to try to slide out of the administration and say, oh, that was so-and-so fault. I had no control of that, man. You know, if it was up to me, I would have done it. I see the game. I see the game. And that's why I say you guys got to understand. I'm talking to each one of you guys and the whole second floor. You still got to live in this town. And I'm not one of them guys that's going to, you know what I'm saying, forgive the betrayal. No, you got to live in this town and you still got to see folks eye to eye and have some real hard conversation because you got to live in this town still. And that's why I said, Ms. Burke's time is short. The mirror time is short. Everybody over there time is short. You guys are due to Atlanta. And you guys done heard about all this mess that's going on in ATL, DOT. And Mr. Allen Lee, I beg to differ when you say, you know what I'm saying, this man is doing a good job with all this stuff around. I mean, the man got his wife out there making $250,000. You know what I'm saying? And he's the... You know what I'm saying, the head of DOT? You know what I'm saying, forget about the affair rumors. I'm in the mess. Who want mess going on in the administration? It's mess. Like, who wants that? Nobody wants that. I'm getting tired of the emails every week, every day. I'm getting tired of that. You know what I'm saying, Ms. Norwood, I have a challenge for you. The third floor and planning zone development, they are very understaffed. You got one person handling all the SAPs in the entire city of Atlanta. You got another person that's handling... all the requests up there, which should be five people, you only got one person up there. Now, I don't know who don't like Kenyetta Holmes, but please get her some help up there. You know what I'm saying? Because on the other side, they are fully staffed. But Ms. Kenyetta Holmes is terribly understaffed. You can't have one person doing the SAPs for the whole entire city, Ms. Overstreet. That's not... It just doesn't make sense. And Ms. Norwood, I know you'll get on this. And lastly, before I leave, I want to say, I want to apologize to Ms. Collins because Ms. Collins had the bravery to call me and say, hey, we need to talk because you spoke on my name about something that is not true. We may have our differences, but this right here is not true. And we got to the corporate of the lawyer. She contacted a lawyer, and we sat down with the lawyer. And we found out there's many people that benefit from me and Ms. Ishe Collins not being friends. And it's a shame. And here today, I want to apologize to you, Ms. Ishe Collins, for saying that you told the mayor that he must have paid me to endorse Nikki. You did not say that exactly. And you contacted the person who said that, and they admitted that they lied. So if you don't mind coming down and giving me a hug and from the world. You know what I'm saying? Because I do apologize. I do apologize. You're a lawyer and you're a council member and I don't want that.

We're good, brother. We're good. That was good. That was a good conversation.

Yes, yes, great. Yeah, I appreciate that. We spent two hours. And you know, it's a shame that people want to see people divided. And Dustin Hillis, I've extended that invitation to you many times, sir. I don't want to fight with you. But at the same time, you understand, I love my community. So when you guys come over there and got houses over there, $600,000, $700,000, where I grew up at Cross Street and born home, I want to hear some answers about that. And I don't want to fight with you, man. I'd rather have peace and harmony with you. I don't want to fight with Liliana Baltar. I had one issue about that. I don't want to continue to fight with you about that. You know what I'm saying? We have a conversation. Move past that. Before that issue, you know what I'm saying, your offer was an open invitation for me, and I've always said that. I don't have no problems with you except for that issue. And if I'm wrong on that, hey, we can have a conversation. I don't mind that. But please don't overlook this $23 million could-be federal indictment solicitation that you guys let walk up out of here moments before you voted on it.

Thank you. Our last speaker of the day is Dijon Zealous. Time yielded to you by Takesha Shields. Takesha Shields, I see. You have four minutes.

Good afternoon everybody. How y'all doing today?

How are you?

I'm doing fine myself. I'm here to speak upon the organizations in the community, Mother Against Gang Violence, We Care, Dream Builders, Women Incorporated, United Scholars of Elan. A lot of these organizations are similar, bringing the community together, bringing people from different areas that may not been good with each other, brought them together as one. And the reason that I'm here today is because I'm a part of the one to speak upon the situation. And I want to give all y'all, y'all respect for time. I thank y'all for being here and y'all respect for places, for the things y'all do, the pros and the cons, the situations that y'all had to face. You know, there's miscommunications on a lot of situations, but that can be dealt with. Just a few minutes ago, there was a miscommunication situation when Ms. TK came to resolve the situation. But in moments like that, people that show up for you be the moments and people that you need around in the community. I know everyone here got their own separate job that they have to do and everybody can't attend to the community. As stated, even everyone is a district manager. But for the people and the thing that y'all do, I do salute to you all because it's not for y'all to do. Y'all don't have to if y'all don't want to, the things and the time that y'all put in. So I do applaud y'all on that situation. I'm not going to speak as much. I just wanted to come up here and recognize some of these community activists around the community that do their job well. And I thank y'all for being here today. Blessings to you all.

Thank you. So this does conclude our public comment, but I do have a couple acknowledgments that I need to make personally. Just first of all, I want Atlanta to know that I did hear you. I heard you. I heard the internet crashing, as Ms. McCloud said. And I sure do wish she was still here and anyone else that's concerned about how we spend our funds here in the city. I've listened closely to your concerns raised about the portal to portal legislation. And I want all of the residents to know that I really did hear you. And so it is going to always be my commitment to lead with transparency. That's what that legislation was about. We have had incidences with me in the short few months of me being on council as the president and really thought that that was going to be a way for us to go forward. But But I am always going to be here and be open to conversations about everything. I'm not right about everything. No council member on this dais is right about everything. So we are all committed to keeping our ears and eyes open and always open to your comments. That's why we are here. No one should be above that, and certainly not me. And so in light of everything, I'm going to ask Council Member Winston to please file that paper. We will figure it out as a council. And I've had plenty of conversations surrounding how the paper became to be in the first place. But at the end of the day, this is always going to be about what's best for our city. And it has never been just about me. It's about me wanting to make sure that I'm everywhere for everyone and I'm listening and I hear you loud and clear. So I will like everyone to know that we want to keep the main things, the important things at top of mind for the city. So if we can get back to concentrating on those, that will be absolutely great. And this is certainly not something that I think that anyone should be worried about. I will not. be pursuing a chauffeur, never ask for a chauffeur, but we do have a few things that we need to work out. There are a few safety concerns, and I will absolutely address those in the most appropriate manner, and it will not be an on-call anything. So I heard you, and I'm still here to serve you, Atlanta, as I started off at the beginning of this term, and I'm going to continue in that manner, so I hear you. And thank you for that. And with that, we're going to move on. Oh, I actually also have another comment that I'd like to make today. During my first term on council, that is when we did the work around how we would adjust our code to assist with public comment. We absolutely did put public comment at the yielded time at the end. And we did, as a body, decide how we would actually proceed with public comment. I always leave at the podium the comparison between all the jurisdictions as well, because everyone should know that the city of Atlanta has the most lenient public comment in the whole jurisdiction. And we're going to keep it that way. We do believe that your comments are important, as you see today. And so it's absolutely important that you understand that the reason for yielded time is not to see who can come in and sign the most names to talk the longest. It's to have a concerted, like-minded conversation with one person, for the group. It is not to see who can sign up the most people and talk the longest. So that's what the whole purpose of yielding time was about. And we did that in my first term here at City Council. So I'm real clear about that. And so that's where we are. And with that, I need to announce to everyone that we've decided that this is not a general conversation. These are just comments from me. So not recognized. I've been informed by law that we're going to have an executive. This is the best time to have that. So if our city attorney could tell us exactly why we're going into executive session. I'm sorry, I didn't hear you. And you just state your name.

Marquetta Bryan, this is to discuss litigation under the Open Meetings Act.

Okay, council members, we're going into executive session for litigation. Is there, I'm going to need a motion. Motion by Juan, second by Bakhtiari. We are now in executive session. We'll be right back. Okay, well, 14 yeas, zero nays. We are now in executive session. Let's go to this one.

Uh-oh.

Oh, damn it.

Santana.

All right, looks like we have a quorum. So I make a motion to end executive session. This can be done by unanimous consent. Madam Clerk. Oh, I sure can't.

Sorry.

I know. OK, so I am the president. We have a motion to end executive session, Madam Clerk. Is there a second? We don't need a second, actually. This can be done by executive. Yes, we do need a second. 12 yeas, zero nays. 12 yeas, zero nays. We have ended executive session, which I call this meeting back to order. Let's see where we are. I think we are. We're now at the report of the journal.

Madam Clerk. Good afternoon, Council President and members of Council. I, Corinne Alindo, Municipal Clerk of the City of Atlanta, do hereby certify that the minutes of the regular meeting held on Monday, April 20th, 2026 are true and correct.

I'll entertain a motion to adopt the report of the journal. Is there a second? Second by, who moved?

Antonio.

Antonio Lewis moved. Second by?

Wayne. Second. Wayne Martin.

This can be done by unanimous consent. Madam Clerk, please sound the count. 13 yeas, 0 nays. 13 yeas, 0 nays. The report of the journal is approved. Communications.

Thank you, Madam President. If I may take item number one to four of the communications. Yes, you can. Item number one is 26C-5036. This is a communication from Council Members Thomas Worthy, District 7, and Mary Norwood, District 8, appointing Mr. Thomas Guardia to serve as a member of the Solid Waste Appeals Board. This appointment is for a term of four years. Item number two is 26C-5037. This is a communication from Mayor Andre Dickens appointing Ms. Kirsten Harris to serve as a member of the Community Access Media Board. This appointment is for a term of two years. Item number three is 26C-5038. This is a communication from Mayor Andre Dickens appointing Dr. Jabari Samama to serve as a member of the Community Access Media Board. This appointment is for a term of two years. Item number four is 26C-5039, to communication from Mayor Andra Dickens, appointing Ms. Sadie Denner to serve as a member of the Community Access Media Board. This appointment is for a term of two years. Staff recommendation for all those items to refer to City Utilities Committee and Committee on Council. Let those items follow that course. Item number five. If I may take item number five and six of the block. Yes, please. Item number five is 26C-5039, 50-40. This is a communication from Council Members Jason Winston, District 1, Kelsey Bond, District 2, and Michael Julian Bond, Post 1 at Large, appointing Mr. Forrest Coley, Jr. to serve as a member of the Atlanta Urban Design Commission in the Neighborhood Representative category. This appointment is for a term of three years. Item number... uh six is 26c 5041 this is a communication for mayor andre dickens appointing mr colin delargy to serve as a member of the fulton county city of atlanta land bank authority this appointment is for a term of four years for those for both those items staff recommendation to refer to community development human services committee and committee on council

Let those items follow the course.

Item number seven is 26C-5042. This is a communication from Donald T. Pinovi, CPA, chair of the audit committee, submitting the performance audit 25.10, drinking water and sewer capacity planning, staff recommendation to refer to city utilities committee. Let it follow that course. Item number eight is 26C-5043. This is a communication from Donald T. Pinovi, CPA Chair of the Audit Committee, submitting the performance audit, fire inspections, staff recommendation to refer to Public Safety and Legal Administration Committee.

Let it follow that course.

Item number nine is 56C-5044. This is an Office of the Inspector General, Inspector General 2025 annual report, staff recommendation to accept and file.

I'll entertain a motion to accept and file this item. So moved. So moved by Lewis, second by Juan.

Madam Clerk, please prepare to vote.

Okay, amen.

The vote is open. Will everyone please vote? The vote's closed. 13 yays, 0 nays. 13 yays, 0 nays. That item is accepted and filed. That concludes the communications item, Madam President.

OK. So now that takes us to consent agenda, section 1. These are items that received unanimous votes out of committees. Are there any items to be removed from consent agenda section one? Council Member Hillis.

Thank you, Madam President. We'll remove, or excuse me, I misspoke. That's not a removal.

Council Member Wan.

Thank you, Madam President. On page seven, item seven, it's 260-1272. Again, page seven, item seven, 260-1272.

Got it. Council Member Kelsey Bond?

Yes, I'd like to remove 26R3435 and 26R3430. Can you repeat that? 26R3435. 3435. And 3430. 3430. You know it, Paige, no? Not off the top of my head. Okay.

Thank you. Oh. Council Member Amos.

Yes, Madam President. Page 24, number 43, 26-R-3433. 26-R-3433. Page 32. Is that what you said, Council Member Amos? It's page 24, number 43. Okay.

Okay, number 43, thanks. Council Member Martin.

Yes, Madam President. Item number 19 on page 11, 2601265. I would like to remove this item from consent as well.

Can you repeat the page?

It is on page 19. I'm sorry. It's item number 19 on page 11.

Number 19. Okay. That's good. Thank you. 26-0-1265. Yes. All right. Council Member Winston.

Thank you, Council President. I would like to remove item number 13 on page 8, which is 26-0-1258.

26 oh 1258 that's great all right it's item 13 and finance and can you repeat the page numbers for councilman bonds she didn't have it what they didn't have it do you know the item number customer of a bond okay All right. So I'll entertain a motion to adopt the consent agenda with those items removed.

So moved. Second.

So moved by Worthy, second by Bakhtiari. Madam Clerk, please prepare the vote.

The vote is open. Will everyone please vote?

Oh, yeah.

You should have got a hug, too.

You don't have one.

What's that?

You changed your mind.

It was a post-haze item. I'm tripping.

I was tripping. I'm tripping too.

Mine too.

Did everyone vote? Let's do it again because I don't see it yet.

I have item 41 and item 12. Kelsey Bond.

Will everyone please vote? With 14 yays, zero nays.

14 yays, zero nays. Consent agenda section one has been adopted as with those items pulled. Recognizing Council Member Hillis.

I'd like to motion to move item number 26 on page 12, 260-1273, post haste to the mayor, please.

Removing item 260-1273. Okay. Is that it?

Yeah, that is it for me.

Okay. Council Member Amos.

Yes, Madam President, I'd like to add to that motion 26-R-3430, page 17, 26-R-3430. Okay. It got pulled?

26R.

Okay. It got pulled.

Okay. So I was going to say that's not on my... All right. So that is... So do you want that pulled, Council Member Amos? Do you want it pulled for reconsideration or do you want... So it can't be sent post-haste because it's already pulled. So which did you want?

No, I withdraw my post-haste motion and deal with it when it comes up in the committee report.

Got it. All right. We're moving on to Council Member Winston.

Thank you. I have two items I would like to send post-haste. 26-01273 as well as 260-1187.

260-1273, and 260-1187 to be sent post-haste. Thank you. Anyone else?

I second Mr. Hillis' motion to send those items post-haste.

Okay, motion by Hillis to send these items post-haste. 260-1273, 26020, I mean 1272, and 2601187 to be sent post-haste. Second by Worthy. He changed it, okay. So those items are to be sent post-haste to the mayor uh... madame clark please by unanimous consent fourteen years there are many forty-eight zero nays those items are set post haste to the mayor Moving on to consent agenda section two. These are the items that were introduced for first reads in committees and are referred back to their respective committees. Are there any items to be removed from consent agenda section two? Seeing none, I'll entertain a motion to refer all items on consent agenda section two. Moved by Worthy, second by Wan. Madam Clerk, please prepare. Well, this can be done by unanimous consent as well. Please sound the count. We have to vote. The vote is open? The vote is open.

Will everyone please vote?

Voting to refer all items on consent agenda section two back to their respective committees. 14 yays, zero nays. 14 yays, zero nays. These items are referred back to the committees. And this moves us to transportation. Chair Wan.

Thank you, Madam President. Colleagues, we have two items. One that is on the regular committee report. I'll take that one first on page 47. Item number one, which is 260-1260. There is a substitute that changed the caption. I'll read that in and make the motion to bring it forward. It is an ordinance by Council Member Alex Wan as substituted by the Atlanta City Council authorizing the mayor or his designee on behalf of the city of Atlanta.

Just one second. Chair Wan. Because this was sent with no recommendation, we actually have to adopt it first before you bring forth the substitute.

All right, I'll make them, I'll read the, so I have to read the original caption? Yes, y'all are no fun.

I know, that's my proper way.

All right, here's the original caption. And it's a long caption too, okay. 260-1260, an ordinance by Councilmember Alex Wan authorizing the mayor or his designee on behalf of the city of Atlanta to execute all appropriate documents granting the Atlanta Botanical Garden Inc., a Georgia nonprofit corporation, an access easement consisting of approximately 7,765 square feet over, through, and upon a portion of city-owned real property for the purpose of constructing, utilizing, and maintaining an access road To execute all appropriate documents granting ABG a utility easement consisting of approximately 31,623 square feet over, through, upon, and under a portion of city-owned real property. To execute all appropriate documents granting ABG a drainage sanitary sewer and water easement consisting of approximately 80,349 square feet over, through, upon, and under a portion of city-owned real property. To execute all appropriate documents granting ABG a temporary construction easement over through and upon a portion of city-owned real property. All easements located along an abandoned portion of Westminster Drive, Northeast Atlanta, Georgia 30309. To waive any conflicting provisions of Article 10, Division 14, Subsection 3 of the Atlanta City Code of Ordinances and for other purposes. This came forward with no recommendation on condition. I'll make a motion to adopt.

A motion to adopt by Juan. Is there a second? Second. Second by Amos.

Okay, now I need to make the motion to bring forward a substitute. So the caption is different, so I'll read that in. An ordinance by council member Alex Wan is substituted by Atlanta City Council authorizing the mayor's designee on behalf of the city of Atlanta to execute all appropriate documents granting the Atlanta Botanical Garden Inc., a Georgia nonprofit corporation, an access easement consisting of approximately 7,765 square feet over through and upon a portion of city-owned real property located along an abandoned portion of Westminster Drive Northeast, the property, for the purpose of constructing, utilizing, and maintaining an access road to execute all appropriate documents granting ABG a utility easement consisting of approximately 31,623 square feet over through and upon it and under a portion of the property to execute all appropriate documents granting ABG a drainage, sanitary, sewer, and water easement consisting of approximately 80,349 square feet over, through, upon, and under a portion of the property to execute all appropriate documents granting ABG a temporary construction easement over, through, and upon a portion of the property. All the easements located along an abandoned portion of Westminster Drive Northeast, Atlanta, Georgia, 30309, waive any conflicting provisions of Article 10, Division 14, Subsection 3 of the Atlanta City Code of Ordinances, and for other purposes, move to bring forward the substitute.

One moves to bring forth the substitute. Is there a second? Second by Worthy. Please repair the vote.

The vote is open. Will everyone please vote? The vote's closed. Councilman Martin, what is your vote? Yes. 14 yays, zero nays. 14 yays, zero nays.

The substitute is before us.

Colleagues, this substitute meets the condition that was put on the legislation as it came out of committee. Therefore, I move to adopt on substitute.

Move to adopt on substitute by one second by Bakhtiari. Please prepare the vote.

The vote is open.

The vote's closed, 14 yays, zero nays. 14 yays, zero nays. This item is adopted and substituted.

All right, that takes us to the item that was pulled off of consent. It's item number 2601272. There is a substitute for this. It does not change the caption, but I'll go ahead and read it in. It is an ordinance by council members Boone, Martin, Amos, and Westmoreland is substituted and amended by Transportation Committee and amended, oh no, we're gonna amend this. Okay, sorry. um all right it is to authorize the mayor or his designee on behalf of the city of atlanta to execute a host sponsorship agreement with the atlanta minority advisory council or amac to enable hartsfield-jackson atlanta international airport to host and sponsor the 42nd annual amac airport business conference in summer 2027 to authorize the payment of five hundred thousand dollars and zero cents to be provided as a sponsorship contribution All contract work shall be charged to and paid from account numbers listed herein and for other purposes. This came favorably out of committee. However, there is a motion to amend.

Motion to amend by one. Is there a second? Second by Boone. Please prepare to vote.

The vote is open.

I got it.

Will everyone please vote?

The vote's closed, 14 yeas, zero nays. 14 yeas, zero nays. This is adopted as amended.

No, it's just amended.

This item is amended.

Colleagues, the amendment just designates a certain portion of the donation to the local chapter. I'll move to adopt as amended.

Moved by Juan, seconded by Batiari. Please prepare the vote.

The vote is open. Will everyone please vote? Will everyone please vote? The vote's closed. 11 yays, 1 nay. Council Member Bond, what is your vote? Council Member Kelsey Bond, what is your vote?

12 yays, 1 nay. 12 yays, 1 nay. This item is adopted as amended.

Thank you, Madam President. I'm D-U-N, done.

Absolutely. Council member chair, Winston finance exec.

Thank you. Council president. Um, first item I have is 26 C 50 23. Um, a communication from Donald T Pinovi CPA chair audit committee, submitting the performance audit FY 25 budget review. The motion is to accept and file.

This motion is to accept a file by Winston. It's coming out of committee, so it does not require a second. Madam Clerk, please prepare the vote. The vote is open.

Will everyone please vote? The vote is closed, 14 yeas, zero nays.

14 yeas, zero nays. Item 26C-5023 is accepted and filed.

Thank you. Colleagues, 26-01258 was pulled from consent agenda one. I need to substitute the paper to add a project list and correct a typo, so I'll make a motion to bring forth the substitute.

Motion to bring for a substitute by Winston, second by Wan. Please prepare the vote. The vote is open.

Will everyone please vote? The vote's closed, 14 yays, zero nays.

14 yays, zero nays, the substitute is before us.

Thank you, colleagues. Bear with me as I read this very long new caption. Okay. 26-0-1258, an ordinance by Councilmember Alex One as substituted, supplementing the restated and amended Master Bond Ordinance of the City of Atlanta adopted on March... Twenty two thousand as previously amended and supplemented, providing for the issuance of the seat of Atlanta of its airport general revenue bonds in the combined aggregate principal amount not to exceed one billion three hundred million dollars and zero cents in multiple series designated herein as series twenty twenty six ABCD bonds and any additional sub series designation. As hearing permitted, providing funds for the purpose of, among other things, financing and refinancing the whole are in part the cost of planning, engineering, design, acquisition, equipping, and construction of certain improvements to Hartsfield Jackson Atlanta International Airport, providing for a reasonably required debt service reserve. Providing for the payment of cost of issuance, including bond issuance, if any, providing for the forms of and authorization, the execution of said series 2026 ABCD bonds, providing for the rights of the holders of the said series 2026 ABCD bonds. authorizing and approving the preparation, use, and distribution of a preliminary official statement and a final official statement in connection with the offer and sale and said series 2026 ABCD bonds, granting the chief financial officer, the chief financial officer, or airport managing authority to deem final the preliminary official statement for purposes of security and exchange commission rule 15C2-12 and the authority to approve and execute a final official statement authorizing the execution of a continuing disclosure agreement, bond purchase agreement, and certain other agreements in connection with said series 2026A, B, C, D bonds and providing for incidental related actions providing an effective date and for other related purposes. I'll make a motion to approve and substitute it.

Motion to approve is substituted by Winston. Is there a second?

Second.

Second by Juan. Please declare the vote.

The vote is open. Will everyone please vote?

The vote's closed, 14 yays, zero nays. 14 yays, zero nays, this item is approved as substituted.

Thank you, I'd like to make a subsequent motion to send this item post haste.

Motion to send item 26-0-1258 to the mayor post haste. Is there a second? Also, motion to send item number?

26-0-1272. Oh, you have to make the motion.

I would also like to make a motion to send. 260-1272.

260-1272 to the mayor post haste as well.

And that was on page seven, item number seven.

Is there a second for both of those items to be sent? Second. Second by Worthy. Please prepare the vote. Well, this can be done by unanimous consent, Madam Clerk. 14 yeas, zero nays. 14 yeas, zero nays. Both of those items are sent to the mayor post haste.

Thank you. That takes us to item 26-0-1259. This item was forwarded with no recommendation. An ordinance by Councilmember Alex One supplementing the That Certain Series 26 bond ordinance 26-0-1184 adopted by the Atlanta City Council on March 16, 2026. and approved by the mayor on March 17, 2026 to, among other things, set forth the terms of the City of Atlanta Water and Wastewater Subordinate Lean Revenue and Revenue Refunding Bonds Series 26, sustainability bonds, including the original aggregate principal amount, interest rates, maturity amounts, and... and maturity dates ratifying certain prior actions of the officers and agents of the city with respect to the issuance and sale of the series 2026 bonds ratifying and approving the execution and delivery of a bond purchase agreement ratifying and approving the preparation use and distribution of a preliminary official statement and the execution and delivery of a final official statement in connection with the offer and sale of the series 2026 bonds providing for application of proceeds and bond premium and for other related purposes. I'd like to make a motion to hold in the breast of council for a special call meeting.

Okay. Motion to hold item 26-0-1259 in the breast of council. Is there a second? Second by Bakhtiari. Madam Clerk, please prepare the vote.

The vote is open.

Thank you.

Will everyone please vote?

The vote is closed, 13 yays, one nay. 13 yays, one nay, this item is... 13 yays, one nays, this item is held in the breast of council. Everyone, just so you know, we will have a special call meeting on Wednesday, May 13th to consider this item at 9.30 a.m.

Thank you. We did have one item that was pulled from Consent Agenda 1. This is item number 12 on page 17, 26-R3435, a resolution by Councilmembers Jason A. Swenson and Matt Westmoreland to accept the final report and recommendations of the Neighborhood Reinvestment Initiative Commission that contains advice and recommendations concerning the design and implementation of the Neighborhood Reinvestment Initiative which includes reviewing the expansion of eight active tax allocation districts and recommendations on improving redevelopment efforts in economically distressed, underutilized, or strategically significant areas that are essential to promoting the general welfare, enhancing the city's tax base, and ensuring equitable economic opportunity for all residents and for other purposes. So I will make a motion to approve.

Motion to approve item 26-R-3435 by Winston, second by Norwood. Is there any discussion? Council Member Bond.

Yeah, thank you. Yeah, apologies for pulling this off consent. I was sick during the last CDHS meeting, so I wasn't able to vote on this. But I did want to register. I'm planning to vote no on this. And I recognize that accepting recommendations from a commission doesn't necessarily translate into endorsement of policy but you know there are several recommendations that came out of this commission that are fine and I agree with they're pretty vague but there are others that I do disagree with and I wanted to register that specifically the creation of an independent nonprofit anchored by the Atlanta Committee for Progress to administer the NRI that is something I disagree with the Atlanta Committee for Progress is chaired by multimillionaires and billionaires, CEOs of major corporations like UPS, Invesco, Delta Airlines. So I don't really understand why we are entrusting billionaires with a project that is meant to close Atlanta's wealth gap. Secondarily, there are some statements made as a part of these recommendations that imply that an extension of the TADs is necessary to achieve the NRI's goals, which is something else that I disagree with, so I'll be voting no on this.

Okay. Anyone else in this deliberation time? Seeing none, Madam Clark, please prepare to vote. Oh, Council Member Lewis.

And same thing, listening to Council Member Bond, I know when I first started hearing about this, Tad, and getting into the NRI, I was the loudest in the world to see some of the changes that have gone upon because of the meetings. To see the growth has been big for me. So I appreciate the work that was done by the committee. Thank you to Council Member Westmoreland, Council Member Jason Winston for the work they've done. Because this is actually eye-opening to me. It actually raised from $5 billion to $10 billion, too. So thank you for this.

Okay, anyone else? Seeing none, count. Madam Clerk, please prepare to vote. The vote is open.

Will everyone please vote?

The vote's closed, 13 yays, one nay. 13 yays, one nays, this item is favorable.

Thank you. And if I want to request and ask the Council President, if she'll let me make one quick announcement.

Of course.

Finance guru you. Of course. Thank you. All colleagues, I hope to see you starting tomorrow for the FY 2027 City Council Departmental Budget Briefings that will begin at 10 a.m. right here in the City Council Chambers. Budget hearings will continue throughout the month of May. the hope that we will have a budget adoption on June 1st with the Budget Commission meeting. Hopefully everyone will be able to make it. So thank you all.

Thank you.

Madam President, may I make a comment real quick?

This is not general remarks time, y'all.

Just one quick thing in terms of budget week. If we could just ask that the departments actually bring the numbers necessary, because I think the response of we can get that to you takes out an element of transparency. So excited for budget, but please, asking the departments to please bring all of your information.

Thank you. Okay. Thank you. Committee on Council, Chair Amos.

Thank you, Your Honor.

Thank you, Madam President. We have six items to report starting with communications. If there are no objections, I take items one through five together.

Please do.

Communication 26-C-5027, a communication from Mayor Andre Dickens supporting Mr. David Pattinson IV to serve, Patton IV to serve as a member of the Municipal Market Company Board of Directors. This appointment is for a term of two years. 26-C-5029, a communication from Michael Wilburn Jr., Executive Director, Atlanta Board of Education, submitting the appointee of Mr. Tony Mitchell Jr. to serve as a member of the Beltline Affordable Housing Advisory Board. This appointment is for a term of two years. 26-C-5030, a communication from Michael Wilborn Jr., Executive Director, Atlanta Board of Education, submitting the appointment of Dr. Casey Brock to serve as a member of the Beltline Affordable Housing Advisory Board. This appointment is for a term of two years. 26-C-5031, a communication from Michael Will Warren Jr., Executive Director, Atlanta Board of Education, submitting the appointment of Mr. Tony Mitchell Jr. to serve as a member of the Beltline Tax Allocation District Advisory Committee. This appointment is for a term of two years. And finally, 26-C-5034, a communication from Sagara Jones, President, Atlanta Planning Advisory Board, submitting the appointment of Mr. David Martis to serve as a member of the Beltline Tax Allocation District Advisory Committee. This appointment is for a term of two years. Madam President, all five of these come out of committee with a favorable recommendation.

The motion is to adopt all of these items. Since it's coming out of committee, it does not require a second. Madam Clerk, please. The vote is open.

Council Member One, what is your vote? The vote is closed.

14 yays, 0 nays. 14 yays, 0 nays. These items are adopted.

It takes us to our resolution 26-R3532, a resolution by Committee on Council. We question that the Fulton County Board of Elections and the DeKalb County Board of Elections provide for Georgia Post certified law enforcement officers to be stationed at each city of Atlanta Recreation Center. Design is a polling place for advanced voting periods, election days, runoff, advanced voting periods, and runoff days. Election days for any election which are not solely City of Atlanta special or general elections and for other purposes. This come out of committee favorable with four yeas and two abstentions.

Four yeas, two abstentions. So this is still favorable and motion by Amos doesn't require second, but this is deliberation time. Is there something?

I actually wanted to make a motion to refer back to committee.

Really, make a motion to refer back to committee, second by who's that?

Dozier.

Dozier, second by Dozier. Madam Clerk, please prepare the vote. The vote is open.

You want that?

Will everyone please vote?

Eleven yeas, one nay. Eleven yeas, one nay. This item is referred back to committee.

Thank you, Madam President, and it's my report.

Ends your report. All right. Zoning, the Honorable, there's no report according to the Chair, Mary Norwood, so we're moving to utilities. Well, Public Safety Legal Administration, the Honorable Andrea Boone. That's what we are.

Thank you, Madam President. This is item number 19 on page 11, 26-0-1265, an ordinance by Councilmembers Wayne Martin, Thomas Worthy, Andrea Boone, Byron Amos, Ishe Collins, Jason Dozier, Matt Westmoreland, Kelsey Bond, Dustin Hillis, Antonio Lewis, to establish and implement an updated sworn compensation plan for the Atlanta Fire and Rescue Department to provide for equitable and competitive pay to authorized appropriations and for other purposes.

Is there a motion?

Is there a motion?

I'd like to make a motion to refer back to the Public Safety Legal Administration Committee, please.

Motion to refer back by... Martin, second by Westmoreland. Any discussion? Madam Clerk, please prepare. One moment. There is a discussion. The vote is open. Council Member Amos, you're recognized for discussion.

Thank you. If I remember right, this came out of committee unanimously. Why are we making a motion to send it back to committee?

Who are you asking?

I guess the chair.

Yes, it was the author of the paper asked that it be sent back to committee.

Okay, so I want to honor and respect that by asking the author why we're sending it back.

The entities that we are drafting the paper in the interest of have asked me to do that so we can do some more due diligence on it.

Okay, so the entity that has come before us for five to six months now asking us to do this very same thing get the ball halfway down the field and back out. They absolutely have something to do that. That is the issue for me. I'm speaking directly to my men and women of the fire department. Rethink your leadership on your union, period. They don't have the guts to run the play, cross the goal line. Don't come down here with this nonsense. Thank you.

Anyone else? Okay, seeing none. Madam Clark, please prepare the vote. The vote is open.

Will everyone please vote?

Yay.

The vote's closed. 10 yays, 3 nays.

10 yays, 3 nays. Item 26-0-1265 has been sent, referred back to committee. Thank you, Madam President. Thank you, Chair Boone. Our next committee, City Utilities, the Honorable Dustin Hillis.

Let's see if we can get a few more nays this meeting. Got two items. 260-1247, item number one on page 63, An ordinance by City Utilities Committee to waive the procurement source selection provisions contained in Division 4 of Chapter 2, Article 10 of the City Atlanta Code of Ordinances as well as any other conflicting code provisions to authorize the mayor or his designee to ratify services rendered in connection with agreement number listed, annual contract for painting and pressure washing services with A&D Painting Inc. to authorize the mayor or his designee to execute the Fifth Amendment to the agreement on behalf of the Departments of Watershed Management, or excuse me, the Departments of Watershed Management, Enterprise Asset Management and Parks and Recreation to extend the term of the agreement for a period of one year. Retroactively effective beginning November 13, 2025 through November 11, 2026 to add the Department of Public Works as an authorized user agency and to add funding in the amount not to exceed $1,145,000.00 for FY26 and FY21. $2,150,000.00 for FY27 subject to and contingent upon approval of the FY27 budget. All contracted work to be charged to and paid from the accounts number listed herein and for other purposes. The recommendation out of the committee was to adopt. However, there was some issues. I did request some information on the items that this money has been used for and what the future items that would be used for. I really only consider it kind of half met, although this was not a motion to, or a condition. So the commission, or excuse me, the recommendation out of the committee is to adopt.

Is that a full adopt? Okay, so the motion is to adopt 26-0-1247. And since it's coming out of committee, it really does not require a second. Madam Clerk, please prepare the vote.

The vote is open. Will everyone please vote? The vote's closed.

10 yays, three nays. 10 yays, zero nays. This item is adopted. What did I say? 10 yays, three nays. This item is adopted.

All right, next item is 260-1254, an ordinance by council members Dustin Hillis, Byron Amos, and Matt Westmoreland authorizing the transfer and conveyance of approximately 12 acres of real property located at 1270 West Marietta Boulevard, Atlanta, Georgia, currently under the jurisdiction of the Department of Watershed Management to invest Atlanta for the purpose of marketing, selling, or facilitating a land exchange of such property on behalf of the city, establishing procurement, valuation, and redevelopment requirements providing for the return of net proceeds or value to the city of Atlanta, reserving a portion of the property for continued watershed management use, authorizing the execution of all necessary documents, And for other purposes, I will make a motion. It was favorable on condition out of committee. However, I need to make a motion to bring forth a substitute. That does not change the caption.

Substitute or amend?

Substitute.

Okay. Motion to substitute by Hillis, second by Wan. Please prepare the vote.

The vote is open. Will everyone please vote? Council Member Boone, what is your vote? 13 yays, 0 nays.

13 yays, 0 nays. The substitute is before us.

Thank you, Madam President. The substitute just passed. make some minor changes requested by DWM and attaches the missing AB and C exhibits. And so I'll make a motion to adopt on substitute.

Motion to adopt is substituted by Hiller, second by Wan. Please prepare the vote.

The vote is open. Will everyone please vote? The vote's closed. 13 yays, 0 nays.

13 yays, 0 nays. Is someone missing on the count? Antonio. OK. 13 yays, 0 nays. This item is adopted as substituted.

That completes the items of the City Utilities Committee. Thank you.

Thank you, Chair Hillis. Moving on to CDHS, the Honorable Matt Westmoreland.

Thank you, Madam President. We have three items now. The first is 260-1127, CDP 25033, an ordinance by CDHS to amend the land use element of the 2025 Atlantic Comprehensive Development Plan so as to redesignate property at 11 Mildrew Place Northwest from MLSF to LDR. Development pattern designation for other purposes. Recommendation is to file.

The motion is to file by Westmoreland. Since it's coming out of committee, this also does not require a second. Madam Clerk, please prepare the vote.

The vote is open. Will everyone please vote? The vote's closed, 13 yeas, zero nays. 13 yeas, zero nays, this item is filed.

Next up, 260-1128, it's an ordinance by CDHS to amend the land use element of the 2025 CDP so as to redesign any property at 511 South Evelyn Place from MLSF to LDR. Motion is to file.

Motion to file by Westmoreland. It's coming out of committee, so it does not require a second. Madam Clerk, please prepare the vote.

The vote is open. Will everyone please vote? The vote's closed, 13 yays, zero nays.

13 yays, zero nays, this item is filed.

Next up, 26R3430, a resolution by Amos and Hillis requesting a temporary pause on the proposed sale and redevelopment of 1060 Donnelly-Vehola Parkway Northwest until a full community impact review is completed and for other purposes was pulled off consent. The motion coming out of committee is to adopt.

The motion coming out of consent is to adopt, so it does not require a second. Is there any discussion? It was pulled off of consent. No discussion. Madam Clerk, please repair the vote.

One moment. The vote is open. Will everyone please vote? The vote's closed.

12 yays, one nay. 12 yays, one nays. One nay, this item is adopted.

Thank you, that concludes our report.

Thank you. However, I do see a speaker. Council Member Kelsey Bond, would you like to speak? Yeah, that was old.

Yeah, I just wanted to say I don't love the precedent that this sets. Like, there have been so many development projects, just Cop City, the Gulch, that have been greenlit by this council, you know, without, I mean, I don't want to say there is no opposition, but it rubs me the wrong way to specifically go after people HOUSELESS FACILITIES ALONG THE BELT LINE. THE BELT LINE SHOULD BE FOR EVERYBODY AND I THINK THERE'S THIS IDEA THAT THE BELT LINE SHOULD BE RESERVED FOR CERTAIN TYPES OF ACTIVITIES, CERTAIN TYPES OF PEOPLE, BUT IT IS MEANT TO BE A PUBLIC RESOURCE AND I DO COMPLETELY RECOGNIZE AND APPRECIATE COUNCILMEMBER AMOS' COMMENTS THAT I would also like to see a more equal distribution of facilities like this around the city. I think that is absolutely true. But I don't like the precedent this sets and some of the arguments that I've seen against this project. So that is why I voted no.

Okay. Thank you. Council Member Collins.

Sorry, just to add to that. I know we discussed this some in the committee, but also just also want to emphasize that this is a resolution requesting for a temporary pause. And so that gives the community more time and also all of those that are impacted in the area enough time to not only have the conversation about what this could be, but also have a realistic conversation about what development along the Beltline could possibly be and be equitable across the city. I think we all have gotten calls and seen emails on both sides for this project. While I firmly believe in the project in terms of the intention of what is to achieve. I do think that we owe it to the community in this area to have more dialogue on what that looks like. The reality is that this conversation would have looked different, and let's be very clear, it would have looked different if it was on certain sides of the boat line. And so while this is a resolution that's recommending and nothing that is mandated, it is my hope that everybody in this community could really come to the table and talk about what this could potentially look like so that we, to your point, Council Member Budd, are not making the decisions for communities that we don't live in every day. So I do want to say that.

Thank you, Councilman Collins. Thank you, Madam President. Councilmember Martin.

Yes, I also want to echo that I experienced a spate of homelessness as a child, and there's nothing better than receiving temporary housing to bring relief to a family and stability But we do have to make sure that we are equally bearing the load of caring for our unhoused population across the city. And so I do support Council Member Amos' resolution to give the opportunity for there to be a little bit more due diligence around what is possible for us as a city to unhouse our, I'm sorry, to provide shelter to our unhoused neighbors and brothers and sisters while doing so fairly and equitably. Thank you, Madam President.

Thank you. Council Member Amos.

Yes, Madam President. I just want to thank everyone for their comments. I believe it was adopted to make a motion to move 26-R-3430 to the Mayor's Office postage.

Did Council Member Boone want to speak first? Okay. Motion to move 26-R-3430 to the mayor's office post-haste. This can be done. I'll second by Martin. This can be done by unanimous consent. Madam Clerk, please sound the number. Twelve yeas, zero nays. Twelve yeas, zero nays. This item is sent to the mayor's office post-haste. We have been revisited by Councilmember, well, Chair Westmoreland with CDHS.

The ghost of Christmas present is still here. We have one more item, 36R3433. It's a resolution by Juan Luis Martin Bactiari Dozier Worthy, Hillis, Norwood, Collins, Westmoreland, and Boone to establish the City of Atlanta Special Event Technical Advisory Group for the purpose of reviewing and recommending improvements to the special event planning process, including the language and enforcement of applicable laws to evaluate event-related impacts on public safety, park operations, and surrounding neighborhoods specific to Piedmont Park, to identify strategies for impact mitigation through enhanced planning, coordination, and resource allocation, to provide actual recommendations to the mayor and city council within six months of its first meeting with SETAG to reconvene on a bimonthly basis for 12 months following delivery of its recommendations to monitor implementation progress and for other purposes. The recommendation or the motion coming out of committee is to adopt.

The motion is to adopt coming out of committee by Council Member Westmoreland. Does not require a second. Madam Clerk, please prepare the vote. The vote is open.

Will everyone please vote?

The vote's closed, 12 yays, one nay. 12 yays, one nay. This item is adopted.

That concludes the CDHS report.

Okay.

Okay. Looks like we've made our way to our personal papers. That concludes our standing committees. We do have a paper for immediate consideration. Council Member Mary Norwood.

Thank you, Madam President. This is a resolution by Councilmember Mary Norwood requesting the Chief Financial Officer and the Commissioner of the Department of Human Resources to conduct a comprehensive review of all administrative offices and departments not specifically mandated in the city charter and to provide a financial impact analysis of potential staffing reductions and for other purposes whereas the city of atlanta's proposed fiscal year 2027 budget includes personnel expenditures totaling 632 million 128 264 dollars representing approximately 63.6% of the overall operating budget, and whereas national municipal budgeting standards generally recommend that personnel costs comprise no more than approximately 40 to 50% of total operating expenditures to maintain long-term financial sustainability. and whereas personnel spending above 60 percent reduces financial flexibility increases exposure to economic downturns limits the city's ability to fund capital needs and heightens long-term risks related to pension liabilities health care costs and structural budget imbalances and whereas the city of atlanta maintains numerous administrative offices departments while valuable are not expressly mandated by the city charter and therefore may be subject to organizational review and restructuring and whereas departments with charter mandated functions such as police fire zoning streets sidewalk sanitation water sewers parks and public housing are not included in this review as they are required by law and serve core city responsibilities. And whereas this review is intended solely to evaluate financial impacts and does not authorize the elimination of any office or department, now therefore be it resolved by the City Council of the City of Atlanta, Georgia, that the Chief Financial Officer, in coordination with the Commissioner of the Department of Human Resources, is requested to conduct a comprehensive review of all administrative offices and departments not explicitly mandated in the city charter and provide a financial impact analysis of hypothetical staffing reductions of 15%, 10%, and 5% of filled positions. Be it further resolved that this analysis shall include at a minimum current staffing levels, filled and vacant positions, current personnel cost, salary, and benefits, estimated savings under each reduction scenario, operational consideration or risk identified by department leadership, and any legal, contractual, or service level constraints. Be it further resolved that the chief financial officer present the findings to city council within 30 days of adoption of this resolution, along with recommendations for petition efficiencies, restructuring opportunities, or alternative cost-saving measures. May it further resolve that this resolution is intended to support informed budgeting and does not authorize or direct any immediate staffing reductions. And finally, be it resolved that all resolutions or parts of resolutions in conflict herewith are hereby waived to the extent of the conflict. And I make a motion to adopt.

Motion to adopt by Mary Norwood, second by Councilmember Lewis. Madam Clerk, please prepare the vote.

The vote is open. Will everyone please vote? Councilmember Hillis.

The vote is closed. 12 yays, 1 nay. 12 yays, 1 nay. This item is adopted.

Thank you, colleagues. This next one is not for immediate consideration. Okay. ELMS 40324, a resolution by Councilmember Mary Norwood requesting the installation of dedicated bicycle and motorized vehicle lanes along the Atlanta Beltline to improve pedestrian safety and for other purposes, and it's also been signed by Eshay Collins.

All right. CDHS. Please have that item referred to CDHS. Thank you. Council Member Amos.

Yes, Madam President. Ams ID 40327. Ordinance by Council Member Byron D. Amos to authorize the mayor or his designee to execute a purchase and sale agreement deed and all documents necessary to convey a portion of city-owned real property located at 3711 Martin Luther King Jr. Drive, Southwest Atlanta, Georgia. having Fulton County Tax Parcel ID listed to the Georgia Department of Transportation for right-of-way association with the I-285, I-20 West Interchange Reconstruction Project, project number listed to accept payment and the amount not to exceed $114,000 to authorize the deposit of said funds into the account listed herein, waiving conflicting provisions of Article 10, Division 14, Subsection 3 of the Atlanta City Code and for other purposes.

M's ID 40327 to be referred to City Utilities.

AMS ID 40308 ordinance by Councilmember Byron D. Amos waiving any conflicting provisions contained in Chapter 2, Article 10 of the City of Atlanta Code of Ordinance in order to authorize persons employed designated by the Atlanta Region Commission to participate in the procurement process for matters related to the Ashby Marta LLC, LCI study conducted in accordance with the city's procurement and real estate code and for other purposes.

Elms ID 40308 to be referred to CDHS.

M's ID 40326, a resolution by Byron D. Amos authorizing the mayor or his designee to accept a donation of public art mural from the city of Malaga, Spain to be installed in the Vine City Martyr Station to authorize the mayor or his designee to execute any agreement necessary to effectuate the acceptance of this donation and for other purposes.

40326 to be referred to CDHS.

Thank you, Madam President.

Thank you. Next up, Council Member Lewis.

Thank you, Madam President. So ELMS 40332, a resolution by Council Member Antonio Lewis, Council Member Dustin Hillis, Council Member Mary Norwood, Council Member Michael Julian Bond, Council Member Wayne Martin, Council Member Andrea Boone, Council Member Matt Westmoreland. Councilmember Ishe Collins, Councilmember Jason Winston, Councilmember Kelsey Bond, Councilmember Byron Amos, Councilmember Jason Dozier, and Councilmember Liliana Bakhtiari requesting a comprehensive audit of income-based fee scales for all City of Atlanta programs and for other purposes.

Councilmember's ID 40332 to be referred to CDHS.

And Elms ID 40333, a resolution by Councilmember Antonio Lewis, resolution by Councilmember Dustin Hillis, resolution by Councilmember Michael Julian Bond, Andrea Bone, Wayne Martin, Matt Westmoreland, Councilmember Ishe Collins, Councilmember Kelsey Bond, Councilmember Jason Winston, Councilmember Jason Dozier, Councilmember Byron Amos, Councilmember Liliana Bakhti-Irie, Councilmember Alex Wong, Councilmember... Thomas Worthy and Council Member Mary Norwood requesting that the mayor update the summer camp fee schedule based on the sliding scale presented during the Community Development Human Services Committee meeting and to further update the scale to ensure that any child qualifying for free or reduced lunch receives enrollment at no cost and for other purposes.

File 40333 to refer to CDHS.

And Elms, you've got to make us healthy on the southwest side too, Councilmember. Elms 40199, a resolution by Councilmember Antonio Lewis, resolution by Councilmember Jason Winston, Councilmember Jason Dozier, Councilmember Ishe Collins, Councilmember... Andrea Boone, Councilmember Wayne Martin, Councilmember Michael Julian Bond, and Councilmember Dustin Hillers, a resolution requesting or urging Fulton County to prioritize hospital investment and funding on the southwest sides of Atlanta and their county, including the metropolitan area, through collaboration with the City of Atlanta and Morehouse School of Medicine and for other purposes.

All right. 40199 to refer to CDHS and FEC.

Thank you, Madam President.

Council Member Kelsey Bond.

Elms ID 40339, a resolution by Kelsey Bond, Liliana Bakhtiari, Jason Dozier, Antonio Lewis, Matt Westmoreland, Ishe Collins, and Jason Winston requesting the City of Atlanta Auditor's Office in coordination with the City of Atlanta Housing Commission conduct a comprehensive performance and outcomes audit of the City of Atlanta Housing Help Center and for other purposes.

Let me have that ELMS number because it's not on my list.

40339.

Thank you.

Thank you. ELMS ID 40339 to be referred to CDHS. Do you have it on yours? Did I miss it? Okay. Okay, we're gonna, I was gonna send it to CDHS. Thanks. Oh, Council Member Winston, we're ready.

Thank you. Elms ID 40300, a resolution by Councilmember Jason H. Winston authorizing the mayor or his designee to execute an agreement on behalf of the Mayor's Office of International and Immigrant Affairs with Community Foundation for Greater Atlanta to establish a Welcoming Atlanta Fund for the acceptance of donor gifts to facilitate grant making and philanthropic services and to implement the Welcoming Atlanta Food Insecurity Initiative for a term of three years at no cost to the city. and Community Foundation for Great Atlanta shall receive a 3% administrative fee annually for donations received and for other purposes.

40300 to be referred to CDHS.

Elms ID 40337, a resolution by Councilmember Jason H. Swenson authorizing the Chief Financial Officer to refund customers for overpayments to water and sewer accounts in the amount of numbers to be listed later, all funds to be charged to and paid from the department, organization, and account number listed herein and for other purposes.

40337 to refer to FEC.

Elms ID 40338, a resolution by Council Member Jason A. Swenson authorizing the Commissioner of the Department of Watershed Management to adjust water and sewer service charges on certain customer accounts in accordance with Atlanta City Code section number listed in the amount of the dollars to be given later and for other purposes.

40338 to be referred to FEC.

Thank you.

Thank you. We have Council Member Dozier.

Thank you, Madam President. I have four items today. My first one is ELMS number 40330. This may not be on your list. It is not. 40330. This is an ordinance by Councilmember Jason Dozier, Jason Winston, Kelsey Bond, Byron Amos, Liliana Bakhtiari, Alex Wan, Thomas Worthy, Mary Norwood, Dustin Hillis, Andrea L. Boone, Wayne Martin, Antonio Lewis, Matt Westmoreland and Ishe Collins to amend chapter 142 outdoor events to create a new section entitled special provisions for races and athletic events that provides for additional requirements for such events on public streets and for other purposes.

Elms ID 4330. 40330. 40330 to be referred to CDHS.

Next item is ELMS number 40329, in ordinance by Councilmember Jason Dozier and Ishe Collins, authorizing a donation in an amount not to exceed, the caption currently says $5,000, but this needs to be changed to $7,500, to the Atlanta Way 2.0 Peachtrees on Peachtree Initiative, as a charitable donation pursuant to the City of Atlanta Code of Ordinances Section 6-306, and for other purposes.

40329 to be referred to FEC.

Next item is ELMS ID number 40298, an ordinance by Councilmember Jason Dozier and Ishe Collins to amend the Atlanta City Code Part 2 General Ordinances Chapter 146 Taxation to insert a new Article 6 Enterprise Zone Infrastructure Fees and for other purposes.

40298 to be referred to FEC.

My last item is ELMS number 40325, a resolution by Councilmember Jason Dozier authorizing the mayor or his designee on behalf of the city of Atlanta to execute the first amendment to the agreement between the city of Atlanta and the George L. Smith II Georgia World Congress Center Authority. in connection with the expenditure of revenues derived from the hotel-motel tax, all in accordance with OCGA Section 48-13-15 and other letters and numbers, originally authorized by Resolution 17-R-4571 to extend the term of the agreement for a period of 10 years such that it shall run up to and including December 31, 2037, and for other purposes.

40325 to be referred to FEC.

That's all I have. All right.

Thank you. And Matt Westmoreland.

Thank you, Madam President. Elms ID 40335, resolution by Winston, Bond, Amos, Dozier, Bakhtiari, Wan, Worthy, Norwood, Hillis, Boone, Martin, Lewis, Collins, authorizing the creation of a study group to review national best practices and provide recommendations for a comprehensive update to the City of Atlanta's paid family leave policy and for other purposes.

40335 at Overstreet.

Indeed. Thank you.

I think we are to you, Council Member Boone. You don't have any papers? This is it. You're last.

Yes. Come on, girl. Oh, yeah. Okay.

Okay. Thank you madam president else ID number 4, 0, 3, 2, 3, at a resolution by council members, Andrea boom, Byron, the Amos Thomas worthy, Alex one, Jason Dozier, Matt was small and he Shay Collins. requesting that a representative of the Airport Minority Advisory Council chapter to be included as a co-chair of the Conference Planning Committee for preparation and coordination of the 42nd Annual AMEC Airport Business Conference to be held in summer of 2027 at Hartsville-Jackson Atlanta International Airport and for other purposes. Elms IED number four.

I'm sorry, which one was it? 40323?

Yes. Please refer that to transportation. Elms IED number 40328, a resolution by Council Member Andre L. Boone, authorizing the mayor or his designee to enter into sole source agreement SPGS AFRS. 2604-1260-187 with 908 devices for the purchase of one Viper medical ID device and Explore handheld gas and vapor detection device on behalf of the Atlanta Fire Rescue Department for one year with zero renewal options. An amount not to exceed $231,100 and zero cents. All contracted work will be charged to and paid from the fund department organization and account numbers listed herein and for other purposes.

40328 to be referred to Public Safety Legal Administration. Thank you, Madam President. You want us to wait a little bit for your last paper? Okay. Well, with that... That concludes our personal papers, and we are to general remarks. Does anyone have any remarks that they would like to speak about? Council Member Lewis.

I just want to congratulate the South Atlanta men's track, the 4x400 track team at South Atlanta High School for getting a W this weekend. It's one of our first Ws in track, so we're getting to show off our speed. Happy for the young folks for testing it out. I hear you know that most of the track runners at South Atlanta High School, all four of them either ran at Southeast, Roselle Fan, or Pittman Park. So super happy to know that that's the Parks and Rec Department investment. Thank you.

That's one of my favorite meets. I'm happy to hear that. We should do a meet together. Okay. Anyone else? Council Member Collins.

I know we didn't get a chance to recognize your proclamations, but also just want to uplift that this month is small business month. And so there's a lot happening in the city as we get ready for the jazz festival and all the good things that we love about the city and wanted to push opportunity for everyone to take advantage of a small business this month. Also, Council Dozier and I excuse me, Jason Winston and I on May 16th is hosting Jazz in the Park at Grant Park. But we will also have some small business featured there. So feel free to join us.

Thanks. That's wonderful. Anyone else with any remarks? I actually have one. I want to thank the community for coming out to the Rice Center on last Wednesday evening. We had a couple hundred community members come and interact directly with decision makers and get a whole lot of problem solving done. And it was just really good to have our Atlanta departments there. and our community. And thank you very much for my very first town hall being a big success. I want to thank my colleagues that came out, Councilmember Collins, Councilmember Dozier, and Senator Sonja Halpern. We had so many involved, and I just want to thank everyone for participating in the first town hall. I can't wait for the next one now. A lot of people are having a lot of FOMO, so we should get a larger venue next time. And thank you. Anyone else? No?

All right. Seeing none, Madam Clerk, I think we're at adjourning roll call. Thank you, Madam President. We have Council President Marcy Culler-Overstreet. Present. Council Member Matt Westmoreland, Post 2 at Large.

Here.

Council Member Ishe Collins, Post 3 at Large. Present. Council Member Jason H. Winston, District 1. Here.

Here.

Councilmember Kelsey Bond, District 2. Councilmember Byron D. Amos, District 3. Councilmember Jason Dozer, District 4. Councilmember Liliana Bakhtiara, District 5. Councilmember Alex Wan, District 6. Councilmember Thomas Worthy, District 7. Councilmember Mary Norwood, District 8. Councilmember Dustin Hills, District 9. Councilmember Andrea Obun, District 10.

Present.

Council Member Wayne Martin, District 11. Present. Council Member Antonio Lewis, District 12. Let's go, let's get it.

Yep. Thank you. With that, we are adjourned.