Board of Mayor & Commissioners - Regular Meeting

Can you hear me? Okay. All right. This is city of Aenddale Estates Board of Mayor Commissioners. This is our regular meeting. It's May 13, 2026. It's 5:30. Like to call the meeting to order. Uh we have an agenda before us to have a motion to adopt. So move. That was do I have a second? Second. That was Graham. All in favor say I. I. All right. Uh commissioner comments. We will start down there with Commissioner Stoen.

Uh okay. Thank you. Welcome everybody. It's good to see all these faces here at the meeting. Um, I just wanted to um mention that there that the CAD County Coldfpace Task Force uh supported by Aendel Estates will be hosting a missing person's and DNA event. I think this was in the newsletter, but I thought it felt weird repeating. um uh in partnership with local, state, and federal agency. The event is intended to help families with missing loved ones, connect with investigators, update missing persons report, and learn about available resources and voluntarily provide DNA samples that may assist in investigation of unidentified remains. So, the broader community will have the opportunity to learn more about the integrated work they've been doing at Dicab County. they are kind of way ahead of the the rest of the state in this area and um there'll be DNA kits available so people can give their DNA if they have missing people in their family. So um it kind of runs during the um uh what was that thing

during the farmers market time about. So, it's I'd encourage anybody that's interested to go. I've got something. It's about all that there

and I'm going to be a little bit of a planning geek for just 15 seconds and I'm going to read something from a book. So, you'll beg my your you'll offer me your forgiveness. Um, we're doing comprehensive planning and downtown master planning. This is the citizens guide to planning. And I'm just going to read a quick paragraph about this and why this is important. Um, it's natural that different people have different visions for their community. Some people advocate community growth and change for the sake of economic benefit and progress. Others want things to remain the same for the sake of preservation and community stability. Some want to actively invest in public facilities to encourage and promote change. Others want to minimize investment to preserve the environment or keep taxes low. Many just want a balanced approach to growth and change, capitalizing on positive opportunities while minimizing negative impact of growth. Whatever your outlook, almost everyone agrees that it is in our best interest to achieve some consensus about what a community aspires to be. Planners believe that the best way to achieve that consensus is through a local community planning process beginning with a comprehensive plan. So, someone here, I'm sure, is going to be telling you about this and telling you the dates of upcoming events, but it's it's actually a little fun to do this. It's a interesting and it's a good opportunity to think about things that maybe you don't normally think of. You might think you have an idea of how things should be, but once you sort of go through this, you might get different ideas. So, thanks.

Thank you, Louie. Yeah. Uh, I wanted to thank everybody who came out to the um downtown commercial business district for the uh art and wine walk uh last uh Saturday. Um, thank you to city staff and everybody involved to help put on an amazing event. It was incredibly well attended. I just could not believe all the people that were out and about. I saw Ellen uh shleing the wine in the in the little uh the cart behind her. So, I know there was a lot of manual labor involved, you know, because there was so many people out that they had to refill and reload stations multiple times. So, I can't thank the community enough for supporting our downtown businesses. And I hope everybody had a great time. Thank you.

Thank you.

Uh I'll be uh brief tonight just to uh piggyback on what Louie said. Um, I hope everyone had an opportunity to come by the booth on Saturday and and give their input for the downtown master plan. The uh the committee and the team, they do it really well that uh makes you really think about uh what you want to see in the next plan. Um, and it's really good. And so definitely check out uh the latest city e-news. Uh there's a big long list of all the opportunities to give your input. So I'd encourage everybody to give their input. And secondly, I just want to call everybody's attention to the magazine that just came in the mail this week. Um, the whole thing is is beautiful, but I especially enjoyed uh Chief Hess's article about the police department with pictures of all of our uh uh police department staff and what they like doing in their spare time when they're not working. It's uh it was I had a great time reading it and it really made me want to um see see uh those folks out on the street and tell them that I uh you know that we have stuff in common. So uh it's really really good. Lots of other good articles in here too. So um take a look at it if it's in your mail at home for sure. That's it.

Thank you Graham. Well uh I would like to give a few shoutouts. one to all the seniors, high school seniors who are graduating here soon. One of whom is my son to be perfectly honest with you, our youngest. Um, I also like to give a shout out to the Druid Hills Ultimate Team and the the women's soccer team who made it further this year in the state tournaments than they ever have. Uh, and I'd like to give a a little special shout out to BL Fischer. She was MVP of the Deca of the Druid Hills soccer team. She was the goalie, but she was voted MVP, which is a big deal. And that's, if you don't know, that's Brian Fischer's daughter. He was our former mayor pro Tim, but uh I've watched BL since she was a little kid, Sawyer's age, and K through 12 and great athlete. So, big accomplishment for her. So, big shout out. Anyway, uh that's all I have this evening. Uh Patrick, Mr. manager.

I I have uh several items to to talk to you all about. Uh in addition to the event that Commissioner Steedman spoke about earlier, uh we have other things going on in the city this weekend. It's a pretty busy weekend for us. Uh on the 16th at from 10:00 a.m. to noon, uh we have our pollinator awareness event uh at the town green. Uh, of course, we have partnered with Rootstown to spread awareness about our tiny but mighty pollinators. So, please grab a pollinator passport to explore hands-on stations where you can create bee baths and native wildflower seed bombs. You can also connect with local partners to learn why Avidel Estates is a proud B city USA. You can take the pollinator pledge and get a free native plant to take home. Uh, I've been told that there are 30 different plants.

There's 30 plants. At least 30. At least 30 plants. There's probably four.

And then at noon, Kremallosa will be offering pollinator inspired gelatoes for sale and the footbird will have a pollinator story time and honey inspired beverage for sale. So, really appreciative of our local business community assisting. Uh we also will see the return of the weekend windown concert series Sunday, May 17th with the fabulous Run Katy Run. Uh the event starts at 5 uh with music from 6:00 to 8. Uh Gwen Bro, Slim Thick Vegan and Banjo will have food and drinks available for purchase. Run Katy Run is a roots rock band for fans of acts like the chicks, Dolly Parton, Grace Potter, and Brandy Carile. Fronted by Katie Coleman, Run Katy Run builds its sound around catchy melodies, driving rhythms, and emotionally honest lyrics that explore love, loss, resilience, and everyday moments. So, please bring a blanket or chairs, grab your friends, and wind down the weekend with some incredible live music. And as uh Mayor Pro Tim Rainey discussed earlier uh before you or behind you uh you have our traveling road show of comprehensive development plan and downtown master plan uh uh displays. Uh these are the same displays that we we utilized this past weekend in order to solicit input from the public during uh the the wine and art walk. Um persons can feel free while the displays are here in city hall to participate on their own. Uh maybe during the break between the regular meeting and the work session or perhaps after the the meetings conclude tonight, somebody will

want to participate. It's there. Uh we will we will also take the road show with us to the pollinator event. Uh we'll take it the following weekend to the finals production of a Shakespeare happening in the town green and then again at the June weekend windown show uh on June 7th at the town green from 5 to 7:00 p.m. Other locations, dates, and times for our our traveling road show uh will be announced in uh you know forthcoming weeks. So, please stay tuned if you're unable to make it to any of those events to participate.

Well, thank you, Mr. Manager. Okay. Any closing comments up here? Okay. All right. So, I'd like to open it up to public comment at this time on any of the items we are discussing this evening. Jan, it's not on the items we're discussing this evening. I'm Janu. Okay.

89 Berkeley. just say um I've been looking at all the candidates for all the positions and um I I hope everybody's looking at the AJC for the broader issues candidates and looking at the Decatur for the more local ones because they tell you a lot about each of the candidates and this is a determinant time for who we're going to vote for when um the the actual election happens. So, please, it may take you some time, but it's really worth it because you find out a lot of information about each of the candidates. Thanks. Thank you. Uh Joanie,

hey, Jon 360. I don't know if this is um part of the agenda, but we have two houses on Nottingham that are currently undergoing renovations. And one one is between 900 and 880. And I did speak with the gentleman there about speeding through the stop signs at Wind and Wilchshire. They requested them doing 20 miles an hour. Now I think they've they've stopped but um since I spoke with them and then the other house 867 Nottingham is a complete wreck. So, I I don't know who to the public works. Should I fill out a form? Been great about following up with all the ones that I'm doing, but not sure. It's just it's it's the windows are out. There's trash all around. So, it's terrible. Don't forget us on that side of that.

Oh, yeah. Right. Don't Okay. Uh, so we got Okay, Kathy, so I just read your blurb. Um, does it have to be It doesn't say in the blurb, but it has to be an agenda topic. You're right.

Okay. So, I can talk about something that's not an agenda topic. Okay, that's what I thought. Um, Kathy Kingsburg, 817 Stratford Road. Um, my favorite topic, y'all. Golf carts. So, um, I walked past various carts and locations throughout Aendale. I've noticed that many are not registered or listed. This past weekend, three out of the four carts on Saturday afternoon that were parked in a dedicated parking lot for golf carts did not have registration stickers. Lily, I think your partner was the one that had it. Um, this was discussed over and over last year, how to get these people registered. And this rolls into a vigor problem. Um, we are seeing a lot more golf carts out there. We're seeing a lot of those carts do around Aendale. Um, some are parking in the designated golf parking, some on the city streets, but many are still using Aver. I've got pictures. I walk every day just about. I can guarantee you that there's one park in front of you, Billy Hedge, one day out of every four at least. It may be more. Um I took several pictures of this weekend of them parking verbs. Granted event downtown, but it's even when we're not having events, they're parking there. So, um is parking on the verge illegal in other areas of the city, which where the code it is. Um why is it not being enforced at this location? Do we need to amend our code to include that location? Do we want them to park there? I don't know. Um, Chief Hess told us last year that he cannot tick to these vehicles because they're not registered and he can't follow up on the citations. So, you give a citation on a car on a vehicle that's parked on the merge, you don't have any way to track it. You don't know who the

vehicle is to to that vehicle, you know, because you can't look up the registration. When you get a ticket because you're parked illegally, they look up your license plate number and they tell you Jojo Smith owns this car she lives at blah blah blah. So, I'm just trying to get our handle on this before it gets too bad, especially with the pool opening and all the issues with golf carts that we had at the pool last year. And then my last and probably the most important thing about golf carts is the underage driving. It's already started, folks. It's It's very scary. They're not stopping at stop signs. They're zigzagging. kids hanging off of them. Some of them are great, but a 13-year-old does not be need to be riding. And I noticed there's sort of a movement indicator, not so much about golf carts. They don't have golf carts, but it's about the electric bicycles. And I think my fine was almost double, but how they're getting stronger and stronger and some are almost classified as motorcycles because their engines are getting so good. But those are things I want to bring to your attention and our community's attention.

Okay. Thank you. All right. Any online? Any other public comment? Okay. Seeing none, I'd like to bring it back up here. Anything else here? Okay. All right. So um the next two items are presentation of proclamations to about public works and our police. Um I would just like to uh this is National Police Week on May 15th beginning May 5th. Well it's May 11th to May 16th. Uh, I would just like to say, and I've said this before, to our police, to all police, you know, while you're having a barbecue, while you're sleeping, while you're on vacation, while you're at work, while you're doing whatever you're doing, they're watching over you all the time, 24/7. And so, I would just like to say thank you for everything you do. That's just from me. If anybody up here would like to say anything to our police officers, uh,

I appreciate what you do, too. I I really do. So, thank you very much. And when I can't sleep at night, sometimes I see the police car driving through the neighborhood with this bright bright lights and it just it's great. Makes me feel safe. So, thank you.

Well, I think it's it's it's great to mention that like our police force is so present and around. I mean, I have young kids and and I feel comfortable with them being out and about, you know, because just the menable job Chief has and his staff does here. They're they're always around. Um, I don't think police officers get enough credit. And I think we really got to look within ourselves and and realize what what all goes into being a police officer. And um it's truly what really, you know, keeps keeps our lives going because if we don't have safety, we don't really have anything. So, I mean, we owe that to our police officers. So, thank you.

I've got one quick comment which is going to come out wrong. With every interaction I've had with our police officers, they've always been professional, polite, and um and uh very respectful. Not that I've had that many, but I've

Yes. Yes. So, thank you. Uh, we also have a proclamation here for our public works folks. And likewise, I would just like to say I think one of the things that separates Avidel Estates is our public works, uh, keeping our city beautiful. Uh, you know, all the things they do. I'd just like to say thank you, Marcel, and your crew. you do a great job and I think we all take a lot of pride in our city and it's because of a lot of what you do and so thank you so much and uh likewise this is uh public works week May 17th through 23rd um and this is uh the 66th time. So I do have these two proclamations if there's anything you'd like to add about public works. I do want to ask everybody to come down front for a photo. Thank you, Marcel, and to all your folks.

Is this working? Yes. You might want to turn up whatever.

You got to take the volume off. We can't have that backstage. Nope. Nope. Nope. Nope. Fine. School. Not fiction. No. Georgia. Police. Yeah. We'll do it all again. Yeah. Yeah. No, he can't. He needs to stay in the good crisis.

All right. Guy in the middle.

Hope it works. do this thing like the wedding smiles didn't look too painful. to my friend.

Thank you for your patience on Okay. All right. Next item number seven. Uh, we have before us the meeting minutes of the April 15, 2026 regular meeting, the April 15, 2026 work session, April 22nd, 2026 regular meeting, and April 22nd, 2026 work session. Do I have a motion to engross the minutes? So moved. Graham, do I have a second? That's L. All in favor say I. I. Okay. All right. Next up, Mr. Manager, would you tee this up for us?

Yes, sir. I be uh honored. Uh joining us today are two representatives of Deubberry, the firm who acts as our storm water engineer consultant. uh Dubberry and and our relationship began several years ago when they were awarded um the contract through a competitive process to build the city's hydraulic model uh which helps us determine how water moves throughout the city and what we need to do to make it move the the way we want it to move. um and since then have been providing us not only with on call storm water engineering services but also uh were the firm who designed the uh Dunwit Drive storm water solution for us that we recently completed. Uh as as y'all are aware, uh Jubberry uh has um also been with us through what we are calling the Southwoods uh storm water and and uh you know lake dam rehabilitation project. Um they were the the firm who performed that the initial dam inspection and then of course the firm who u uh shephered uh the more recent geotechnical work that was performed on the dam uh which produced uh the report and recommendations that we discussed at our last work session. Uh and I believe at that last work session I I let y'all know that Dubberry would be on hand tonight uh to report on those findings uh and uh and as we move that discussion forward be here to answer questions you might have related to uh the proposal for the design solutions to the Southwoods stormwater infrastructure

and dam rehabilitation project. So, without further ado, I'd like to introduce y'all to Megan and Sam. Uh, and they will uh go ahead and move forward with the presentation. Megan. Um, yeah. Sorry about that. We meant to move that back. Thank you for doing that. Sorry. Will you cue that up for us? Y. Okay. Good evening. My name is Megan Hen. I'm a senior project manager with Dubberry Engineers. I have Sam Fleming here with me. Megan, can you speak to the mic? Sorry. Thank you.

That better? Yeah. Okay. Should I start over? It's really just for the folks on Zoom. I think must be

great. Okay. Um, so I was saying I also have Sam Fleming here with us today from Dubberry. He is our Georgia Safe Dams uh engineer record um in our Atlanta office. Um, so we're here today to talk about the Lake Aendale Dam Rehabilitation Project. See if I can get this work. No, no. Go. Okay. So, Dubberry conducted a dam inspection um as well as supported the geotechnical investigation that identified several issues with the Lake Aendale Dam. Um those include large trees and vegetation on the embankment slope, significant scour erosion near the pipe outfall, um some steep slopes um in some locations that are susceptible to erosion and embankment instability. Um erosion below the stairs on the upstream slope and then deterioration of the storm pipes under Wiltshire Drive. Um I also have a note here that when it comes to dam safety and the safety of the embankment itself, um lake judging is not a critical factor to support um the the dam safety um for for Lake Abdale.

Okay, so these are some of the photos to just highlight some of the issues we've identified. photo on the left. It's hard to tell, but where those rocks end, kind of in the middle of the photo, is where the pipe um outlets and outfalls. Um below that, where the pipe out falls, there's about a 13 foot 10 to 13 ft of scour and erosion ongoing. Um and so the concern there is that it's going to continue to scour and erode and um compromise the safety of Wiltshire Drive. Um the top middle photo is an example of some of the um slope failure on the downstream slope as well as the vegetation and large trees on the slope as well. Um top right you can see underneath the slab of the stairs there's a void and some erosion going on there on the upstream side. And then the two bottom photos are from CCTV footage that was collected for the storm drain pipes under Wilt Shurf. Um the left photo you can see some deterioration in the corrugated metal pipe. The right photo you can see some joint separation in the concrete pipe. Um so those are some of the issues that we um are proposing to repair as part of this project. So we've come up with a two-phase rehabilitation plan. Phase one addresses the most urgent storm water deficiencies, the most critical ones to protect Wiltshire Drive. That includes repair of the scour hole erosion at the pipe outfall. Um regrading and removing the vegetation within the vicinity of that scour hole, armoring the downstream channel with rip wrap, and then repairing the storm drain pipes. Phase two would address the remaining deficiencies to stabilize the embankment long term. So that includes regrading and removing the vegetation on the rest

of the dam that wasn't included in the phase one repairs. designing a seabage collection system and repairing the erosion underneath the stairs on the upstream slope. Um so looking at schedule and construction costs um we estimate six months for the phase one permit ready design submitt um estimated six months for construction duration. Phase two would be five months for permit ready design and five months for construction. that is assuming that they are done consecutively and not concurrently. Um if they are done at the same time, there would be savings um on the design schedule as well as the construction schedule. Um and then as part of our preliminary deliverables to the city, we would include construction cost estimates as well. Um and that's it.

All right. Will the construction necessitate closing Wiltshire across the dam? It should not. We're not doing any pipe replacement. It would be trenchless rehabilitation of the pipes under Wilshire. Um there might need to be uh lane closures for the equipment. Okay. Um but I don't but it wouldn't be like closing patch. I don't anticipate that. Um we could definitely as we get into the design potentially um see that we might need it but um that would be included. My only other question, and I might be the only person that doesn't know this, but could you tell me what scour means? Exactly.

Sure. Yeah, that's a good question. So, so the water that's coming out of the pipe is dropping basically vertical. So, it has a high velocity as it's going down. As it hits the soil, it's just basically unprotected. Okay. There's nothing to stop the erosive velocities of the water from it comes down hard. It's branching out and causing more erosion than more Yep. Yep. Exactly. The the eddies and the velocities. um you know turn up that soil. Okay. And and the soil then moves downstream with the water and then you're left with a hole that's left behind. Gotcha. Thank you.

Um I was just kind of reading through this. Um so this uh so y'all are not going to be doing the oversight management of the construction or you can do the oversight management but it's not included currently. That's correct. Yes. It's not included in the proposal right now, but it's definitely something that we could provide if the city would like to. Yeah. Okay. And um there uh let's see um the permit permit efforts and fees routed for the county. Is this going to be something that we're going to get an estimate on from somebody?

Um that might be a city question. It's not included in the Yeah, guys. when we're talking about the design proposal. I think we need to wait until the work session. That's not This was just a presentation of the findings. Okay. Okay. Okay. All right. Um I have no questions. I've got some questions. Okay. If so, first your colleague I wasn't able to write down your colleague's name. Sam Fleming. Stan. Sam. Sam. Sam. May I ask you a question? So you're Yeah, I was coming up.

Megan introduced you as a the safe dams or something engineer of record. Could you just say a little bit about Yeah. So with the Georgia Safe Dams program, I'm a I'm recognized as an engineer of record. So able to work on dams in the state of Georgia. We have two in our office and I'm one of them.

Okay. Gotcha. And um in the this WSP the geotechnical report, can you just explain some of the simple basics about our dam? Um you know the like the spillway is this appropriate type questioning right now. Okay. Um you know the spillway, you know, I I I gleaned some of it. I Googled a little bit of it like uh the seepage and the seepage. um the reason for why you need a seepage what what do you what was it called that the other collection system can you just give us just the basics of what do we have

so you you basically have a if you're standing in Wiltshire looking at the lake over to the left that's where your control structure is and that's where the water that's primarily where the water passes through so it goes through a pipe a pipe system under Wiltshire and then when you're looking downstream, that's where it comes out on if you're looking then turn around, start looking away from the lake, it comes out on that right side and that's where we have the major scour hole. So that's a that's a big concern that we have there. The other thing that we anticipate that we'll have is you've got a lot of trees on the dam and so trees like water and dams like you get flow of water through a dam. So you have a lake on sitting there with water against it on the lakeside that water is going to seep through. Well, right now you have trees that are sitting there taking that water up. So as soon as you and trees on dams are they're off limits. Yeah, that's not that's that is uh that's a really a no-go. So once you start to remove those trees, then all of a sudden you're we're in we anticipate that we're going to start seeing that seepage coming up. So, what you want to do is you want to put in essentially a French drain system on the downstream side of the dam so that it collects it and and it collects it safely and so it it collects it as clean water and you don't get soil moving through it and then you start getting real big instabilities which could cause safety issues. So, that's the need for the collection system is because of those trees once they're gone that water is not getting drunk by anything. It's it's it's going to want to come out. So,

where's the French drain going to be? Uh we we would have to design that. We would int like preliminarily we kind of think that if you're like about halfway down the slope, maybe a third to halfway down the slope, we may have a need for one. But then definitely as you get down on the other side, so if you're standing, sorry, I apologize. If you're standing on Wiltshire looking away from the lake, looking down uh downstream So it'll probably be about one about halfway down the down the hillside the dam and then probably another one toward the bottom something like that. We'll have to design it. But in general that's where we anticipate.

So even just going that one step the dam fills up. It rains the structure. What did you call it? Uh it's a control structure. It's where it controls the flow going going through the dam. Yes. And it comes out on the corner of Whippy. Uh right. If your if your if your back is to the lake, it comes out on the right. And that's where we have that scout on the left. The same spot on the left. What is that? Is that storm? That's local storm those local storm drains.

Okay. Um in the report it talks about you know and in your photos the with different pipes corrugated and concrete and it and you mentioned trenchless. So does that mean like lining the inside of those pipes to give them another certain amount of life? Yeah, it would be similar to that. It might not be lining. You might do a different type of rehabilitation um because of where the line of them. Okay, that's what that

Yeah, so probably the beropically cast um concrete and so it would be um repair that way and then the joints in the in the concrete pipe would be um sort of like crafted. So then the the scour or the erosion in the corner and what I read in a report in like simple terms um because that part of it has eroded it's steep. It's too steep. it needs to be less steep. There's different ways to deal with that. And then um and the other parts are sort of, you know, within range. Let's say they're within

reasonable steepness. Is that

the on the uh opposite the lakeside on the downstream side? On the downstream side, there are there are areas of that slope that are too steep and they're not stable. So that that entire embankment really needs to be reworked to make it not only to remove the trees but be reworked to regrade it to to make it more mild so that it's more stable. I think sort of my sort of trans like constantly trying to translate this into you know layman's terms or simpler term the or um what the way I read it is and you can correct me it's it's been there a long time it's doing its thing it's in good shape for what it is it was built a hundred years ago um with the methods available at that time um we need to do things to prevent vent pipes, roots, vegetation, seepage from um causing issues. Um in the meanwhile, it's appropriate to do inspections every now and then, 6 months, a year, whatever, or after a huge event, as these plans are being made or if we were to not do anything, we'd need to keep on top of it, assuming we're going to do something. um that'll kind of give us another hundred years I'd say or

so yeah so I would say as far as like the condition of the dam that right side where the scour and the erosion is that is going to that has a high probability of continuing to worsen and it's not I I think that that does that is that is that's why we put that as phase one so that definitely does need to be that definitely does need to be addressed yes if you go through and address the phase one We remedi go through and remedy that the scour get that stabilized then looking more for the long-term stability of the dam just just increasing the longevity. Yes. getting rid of the trees, regrading it, getting it to more of a what you would be bringing it to a better safer standard for the slopes so it's milder, have the seepage collection, and that way it'll make it much more sustainable as a long-term structure.

And the very last question, um, when you talk about the safe dams program, um, can you just say a little bit about that? In other words, I think ours does not comply because it was built so your your dam. So I'm sorry to interrupt. The the dam is currently is not in the inventory. So this is not regulated not in the inventory. So it's not

on the inventory to be regulated by safe dams. Uh we we just when we're working on dams of like of this nature, we still go back and we look at for these items, you know, we follow the guidelines uh for the Georgia Safe Dams program. That's what we're looking at for just trying to provide that stability. So if if it says it is currently not regulated under Georgia state dams program in the geotechnical report, can you just what does that mean?

Uh in order for it to be a dam in the state of Georgia, it has to meet certain criteria for height and volume of water behind it. And so the and then but the the state has in their program they have to be able they have to have identified it. And so they have not identified it. So the fact that it is not currently regulated under does not mean it is an unsafe dam. It means it is not in the program because it doesn't meet the criteria to be in the program. They they Yeah, they have not identified it as Okay. Thank you. Have they looked I mean has it been in their scope? I mean have they

I mean is it kind of outside what they've looked at? Is that I do not know answer that. What's it look like once once you guys remove the vegetation? Is it just going to be so no trees? Just just kind of grass or Yeah.

I have no questions. Everybody good up here? Thank you. Thank you. So, thank you. What's next? Journment. Oh, besides that. So, we'll have uh in the work session. Well, you'll tee that up as well. Okay. All right. So, that is it for our regular meeting. Uh have any closing comments up here? Okay. Do I have a motion to adjurnn? Do I have a second? Second. Mike. All in favor say I. I. Okay. Our new thing is we have a 10-minute break. Uh, we're going to move down there. Are we ready to Yeah. Do we have it miked up down there?

We have. Oh, okay. All right. So, what time is it? 611. We'll be back at 6:21.

Thanks for that. All present. Okay. Good. M ceiling. So, uh I'm assuming

everything. All right. It's the city of Ael states board mayor commissioners. This is our work session. It's May 13, 2026. It's now 6:23 like a order. We have an agenda with a motion to abol. All right, off we go. Uh, Mr. V.

Yes. So, in your packet, you have a proposal uh from Dubberry, whom you just heard from u to uh perform uh the design work for both phase one and phase two of this project. Uh if y'all recall the the two phases were explained in the presentation. Uh the reason for the phasing is is kind of multiffold here. So bear with me. Um I think as Sam was was speaking earlier, uh the the phase one work is the more critical work. So, we're approaching this to hopefully be able to perform this work currently. Um, however, if the cost of these projects do not allow us to move forward with performing that work concurrently, then we can decide to move forward with the phase one and schedule the phase two for a later date. Uh we hope and as Megan spoke to that by doing these at designing these at the same time and determining what the cost construction is expected to be uh we'll have a pretty good idea soon whether or not we can tackle them both together or we'll need to go one at a time. Um so uh you've got the kind of the phase design cost broken broken out for you. But I want I and and that's really for the purposes of the design in case we have to split it up. Right? If we don't, as they already mentioned, uh it is possible that the total cost of this proposal will come

down. Um so right now, uh the total cost is about $190,000. Um you will notice uh on page six that there is a breakdown of the fees associated with the proposal and the fact that we have already performed that geotechnical work provides a credit of $35,18725 to this proposal. Um hopefully we continue to bring that down. Uh, and this money uh is already uh budgeted and available for in our capital program. U you know, if y'all have any questions, feel free to ask, but the timeline um they already outlined during their presentation. Um all of the deliverables are uh discussed within the bounds of this proposal. Um and uh any questions related to cost of construction are unknown at this time. Um and so we'll get those numbers once we get to the 30% base.

So that will be part of this when I'm getting cost estimates. Yes. Correct. Well, yes. From them. Yes. Correct. To the best of their knowledge,

right? And then of course we bid it and they could come down higher or lower depending on economic climate at the time. But yes, that is that is the general procedure is this. We've got the concepts. Now we need to design for those concepts. Once we get far enough into the design pro process, we'll be able to generate some cost estimates and plan for how we tackle uh the construction of these these uh solutions in the near future.

Um well, I would like to say that um I think we should go ahead and go. I know that we borrowed 3.7 million a couple years ago for storm water. I can't think of a more deserving one than this project. So I believe there's plenty of money than the loss to cover the 190. In fact, it's already budgeted. Okay. Yeah, this project is already budgeted in its entirety using Splatoons. Okay.

Have questions. Um there was somewhere in the report about you know the grasses you know they're planting with grass keeping it a certain height. Can there be a landscape plan associated with this or a separate project later to just make it whatever meet the criteria to keep it safe but make it look nice.

Yeah. I'll I'll let Dubberry answer how they would like to handle that. So typically on dams it is just regular grass um not sort of designed landscape um just because the vegetation should be kept to a minimum and all of that sort of thing. So on within the embankment itself, we would recommend that it is just but beyond the limits of the embankment like sure there's potential things that should be

they can pick the variety of bricks not being serious like you know just like some of the other is it is there a a landscape architect who can work with the criteria and still make it seem less likely or can there I mean, surely this has come up before. What do you mean about Well, I know the words like we know that have lots of different I don't think it's meant to be like golf cart for golf or spreads.

Yeah, I mean we could certainly choose a type of grass that would be preferred um that meets the you know standard standards of practice for dams. Um, one example I'm thinking of regarding landscape on dams, there's a different dam that we know that planted daffodils on the embankment that uh they had to take out because rats. Yeah. And I think it'll be important to identify what criteria there is so that we later don't do something that get scolded for. There's a disment, but then there's a whole another I mean there's a whole area

right now where we're taking out not just the embankment but there's no flexibility on the rest of I mean are you defining the embankment all the way to the the the stream?

Yeah. So if you if you if you do look at the map if you do look at the map of all the con the contours and everything the dam does extend all the way down to the bottom. So typically your embankment is going to be grass. We can look at the big thing is no is basically no woody vegetation. That is the big thing. So we could look at some different kind of we can look at some different kind of grasses. Some some something we can look at something a little bit different on a final planting vegetation plan. But typically you just you'll saw it or you'll grass seed a BSP embangment. you because we started looking at it that does extend all the way down. It it gets skinny of course, you know, kind of down there, but it it extends all the way down.

All right. So, we will prepare ourselves for a grass tasting, make our selections. Yes. Do y'all have any other questions? I do know. Yeah. We just need to get drawings and give information permission. Thank you all. so much for being here for being here, taking the time and sit waiting through all the other stuff we have to do. Thank you for being We're all good. And we believe I'll put her on the spot, but uh word on the street was this was Megan's first appearance before a municipal council. I don't know. But you did a great job.

Yeah. Rest easy. Yes. You can stay for the rest of it if you want, but not either. That's You don't have to. All right. Thank you. Bye, guys. Thank y'all so much. Thank you. Okay. Um, so we'll vote on this proposal next meeting. Correct. Okay. All right. Good with that. Yes. All right. So, item number four, this is all you. Okay. And Steven. Okay.

Um, so every three years, and we've done this twice since I've been here, so this would be the third. Um, the county has requested from its member cities to decline their eligibility in the, uh, Department of Housing and Urban Developments CDBG block entitlement block grant program. um which is made easy for us because we do not have a population that qualifies for participation in the CD program. Um so essentially uh denying our claim or right or privilege to attempt to um acquire grant monies through a program that we're not even qualified for. We allow for uh Dicap County to um essentially act as the uh the entity that will um receive and distribute uh CDBG related funding throughout the county. Um, however, I do want to also say that uh we do not have any uh projects planned nor do we intend to plan uh any projects that would otherwise be eligible for that funding. Um, and so as we have done in the past, I I I do not I I just want to let y'all know that I do not anticipate that we even engage a cab into in any um funding for project within the city's limits.

Okay. Are these projects for u low income housing? Okay. And um does DAB by virtue of us giving up ours get more because of it or well we wouldn't qualify anyway it's really so it's really just for like a like a we fall under their umbrella so I mean I understand that but it's helpful to decide by us doing that because we don't need it correct that's what I'm trying to get out okay yeah you were right there yeah and they've explicitly made no promise that any of the projects will be in out ofale estate. It might be, but we don't expect

we don't really have a really I mean according to the offer they made us, right? It was we're just handing the baton to them. They run with it. They come back with something for us or not at their discretion. But we don't they don't there's no property for them to have any projects funded through that in the state. So I guess we could think of it as potentially benefiting our neighbors. So we know correct. I got a problem. You've done it twice.

Yeah. Okay. All right. Uh, where was I? Okay. Uh, any questions about this one? So, this would be something we would vote on next time or I would just sign it or what we need to vote on it.

Well, so um, we've so through various research with the city clerk today, we've done it both way. So, we've had a resolution giving you the right to sign and and u withdraw our eligibility and and you also just signed it. Okay.

And you I'm not just saying you. I mean mayor's plural. We don't need to do a resolution. I think we should. Okay. Yeah. So I'm just going to bring it back to the board for a resolution next time and then you know pending the the result. Sure. All right. So just always like So this was somewhat This is something that will appear in a resolution next time for a vote. Everybody good? All right. All good. That's it. Nothing else. That's it. Public comment on things we discussed tonight. I I said that last time but I was wrong.

Okay. Yes. Bill Hover. uh Bill Hoverver 89 Road and my comment is about what we've what you've discussed here at the work session meeting and not in general. Uh just to be clear that I following the rules. Um so uh first off uh uh it's good to hear that planning is going on for uh I guess uh stabilizing and and and doing necessary necessary uh uh rehabilitation work for the dam. Um, I did notice in reading the um the the proposal that it appeared as though um the Wiltshire Lakeshore storm water project is now on some sort of hiatus or is not being considered at this point. Um because I thought um I thought there was uh uh the the I thought the the language used in the proposal said that's where the $35,000 was coming from. At least that was my view. Um that brought the that brought that number down to about 100. At any rate, regardless, um, because it's in the same area, uh, I would hope that you would have some consideration of maybe making a phase three and trying to get that done at about the same time. So, so that it would uh not uh uh so that the interruption to whatever would be happening in that area would all happen at the at basically the the same time. Um and then the uh the other comment I had uh uh regarding the the plantings uh in my reading of the proposal they had said that the that the um trees on the

upstream side of the dam um basically the lake side of the dam were not causing issues. And so as part of that discussion is to see if perhaps there is a a way that you know near the curb before the slope begins that there will be a possibility of having some small sales small um size trees there. uh just because right now Southwoods basically comes that way and I think it's going to be a a pretty uh uh drastic change uh to the appearance and it might be uh better appreciated by the the the residents if something like that could be done. But if if it comes out that technically it's something that really should not be done which I understand uh that uh uh you know that be very clearly explained and and all the on and all the reasons why and maybe even look to uh removing those woody plants that's on the uh the the lakeside as well.

Thank you. Yes. Thank you, Kathy.

Kathy King 817 Stratford to follow up what on Bill said and something y'all talked about your strategic planning. I think that if we're going to do as drastic reshaping of that space, taking down all the greenery, all the trees, we need to start letting y'all's constituents know so that it's not a surprise the day the bulldozer comes and takes off. tell them that this has got to happen because of X Y and Z. Um, educate them and do it over and over and over because the last thing you want is I would think is to have the bulldozer come in one day and that's all gone and people suddenly realize that it ain't coming back. that it's always going to be green and how open it's going to be to those property owners, you know, going down towards Berkeley. I mean, you're going to be able to see all the way through, aren't you, Shannon? There's not going to be any protection. It's going down that path and back towards that.

It's just on the back slope of the dam and all and that green and that path. And that's what standing just you have to remove the vegetation on the back slope. If the back slope reads meets the natural grade, you can leave that stuff. Well, Shannon just that and he said, "No, that needed to go too. That needed to be grass is what I understood them to say." Well, we could follow up on that. I think let's see what the design looks like. See? Yeah. I just think educate our community because that's a drastic change like Bill meant. Well, I mean, we didn't know, but it just it never should happen. I mean, we Well, I know. It's been there for 35 years, if not longer. Well, longer, I think. But

I've been here 35 years. It's always been overgrown. Yeah. All right. You know what? More out there. Okay. Bring it back up here. Yeah. Um actually I had forgotten to ask what Bill u mentioned about the Wilshore Lake the Wilshshire and Lakes Shore Wiltshire and Lakes Shore combination thing. Why did we pull that? We haven't pul pled it. No. What do you mean? Well, because it's taken off um in that thing. Where does it say? 35,000.

Yeah. No, that that project is still in the pipeline. It is. Is that the that's all right? I think that concludes everything. Motion to do a second. Second. No one wants to leave. Say I All right. Thanks everybody for being here tonight. song here too.