Board of Mayor & Commissioners - Regular Meeting

Okay, everybody ready to get started? All good?

Yes? Am I good up here?

You guys good? Ready? Okay.

This is the City of Alameda Estates Board of Mayor and Commissioners June 10th, 2026 regular meeting.

I would like to call this meeting to order. And if you might notice, I am not Jonathan Elmore. I am Graham Rainey, your mayor pro tem. Filling in tonight, the time is now 530. We have an agenda before us. Do I have a motion to approve?

Second. Second. Second. That was Commissioner Steadman and Commissioner Smith.

All in favor say aye. Aye. Okay. Commissioner comments. Let's start with Commissioner Steadman.

Well, I just want to say that we had a beautiful day for our garden tour. I got to be at one of the homes and it was absolutely stunning. And I hope everybody got to enjoy it. Unfortunately, I didn't get to see the whole thing because a friend called me that I hadn't seen in a while. But thank you all for coming tonight. And that's all I have.

I'm good.

Just thank you, Mr. Rainey, for standing in today. That was a great start to the meeting. That's a wonderful job. And good evening, everybody.

I've just got a couple of things tonight. One thing I want to point out with our new meeting format, we do have comment cards and question cards near where the agendas are when you walk in the door. So we haven't really pointed them out before. So if you would like to submit a question to us, please, or a comment, please take one, write it down and hand it to us. Make sure it gets circulated. Second thing regarding our meeting format, we talked about having more commissioner chats. So I do have one scheduled for Wednesday, July 15th, which is about a month from now. It's going to be like a lunchtime event, 1130 to 1 here at City Hall. And Commissioner Suazo is going to join me. So if you'd like to come, put it on your calendar. It's usually a really relaxed environment where we can kind of have a conversation, ask questions. bring your concerns, bring your complaints, you know, and we can, you know, hopefully try to talk it out. And they're usually fun. Nice, nice chance to get to know folks. And then the last thing I want to say is I had a conversation with one of our residents this past week about my daughter's been coming to the meetings and I told her how she's had some really insightful thoughts afterwards that she shared with me that she doesn't share with the board. And so I thought I would just take a minute to, if you have an elementary school age kid in your life, a teenager, you know, I think it's totally a great thing to hear from our youngest residents just as much as we hear from all of our other residents. So, you know, I had the opportunity about a month ago to be interviewed by a Boy Scout about what we do on the board and what our role is and what the city does.

And it was nice to probably talk too long for his taste, but it was nice.

It was nice to be able to share that with somebody. And so, you know, teenagers, elementary school kids posted online where you can find the interview. No, no, nothing. But it I would like to encourage our young people to come and give us their feedback and give us their comments and give us their thoughts on what's happening in the city from their perspective, too.

Oh, sorry, you finished.

And yeah, I'm done.

I just wanted to say one thing. You reminded me of something I meant to say. I also have a meeting set up at the Lost Druid Tuesday, the 16th, starting at 7 o'clock. So it's very informal, as this one is, to come up and ask questions, discuss things, and generally tell me what your concerns are. And I'll give you any information I can.

And our city manager couldn't be here this evening, so Assistant City Manager Powell, do you have any info for us?

Yes, Patrick had an urgent issue coming up this afternoon, so I'm sort of filling in for him. But we're going to start with the usual updates. Sadly, you guys saw that it rained on us again in June.

Mm-hmm.

So no weekend wind down concert. We haven't, we will reschedule. We don't have an exact date on when that is. We're trying to figure out where to put that and when. And we're really hoping it doesn't. We will, every Sunday there is a farmer's market, as most of you know, or probably all of you know. We will be back there this week with the downtown master plan and the comp plan, getting input and encouraging people to do the survey. If you haven't done these, we keep these up, all these boards up. You're welcome to come in at any point. We will be doing other pop-up events that we're in the planning session now over the next week or two as we kind of wrap up that early input phase. If you haven't done the survey, please do. Please do. What you have to say, we do look at it. We look at it closely. So please take time to do that. And then on... june 29th at 5 30 to 7 back in this office i'm back in this space we'll take the next step on getting input and that's the comp plan which is going to be an exercise that the atlanta regional commission is going to run for us which which will help set priorities we have so many great ideas we can't do them all at once so what are the things that are most important to you and we'll be going through that exercise it's open to the public It's open to the community. Obviously, those of you in this room probably know as much or more than anybody, so please call. 530 to 7. And then 4th of July is coming up. It's a big year. 250th. It's not too late to get to eat in the parade. Ellen's been sending out registration forms through our email communication. A reminder, don't get our newsletters Please do. But please, we need you to sign up by June 19th. And then thanks to DeKalb County Schools, the fireworks are back. We'll enjoy games, food, activities, music all over at the field. Napoleon B. Cobb Stadium Center Stadium, formerly Avondale Stadium at the DeKalb School of the Arts. The fireworks will be launched. from the southwest end of the stadium and will light up the sky once it's dark. Stay tuned for more details. They'll be on our website.

Thank you. Thank you. Okay, moving on. Public comment.

Come on, come on.

Come on.

Bob Rosen for Exeter.

This is really a heavy topic. I was listening to some radio show and a town north of here, Smyrna, one of those places. is having their 4th of July celebration and they brought in, they're bringing in drones and lights and drones that can project pictures, what do you call those? Pictures, things up on the sky. And it made me think that we could look into that and consider that as a way of going back to the town green with our 4th of July celebration, as an alternative to fireworks. I have no idea about the cost, but if somebody were interested in looking that way, if someone were interested in looking into it, it might be an interesting alternative and would bring us back to our town green.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Anybody else?

Anyone else?

Okay. I will close public comment. Let's see. And now we've got item number five, presentation of the National Garden Week proclamation. So I am going to read the proclamation.

Okay.

By the mayor of the city of Avondale Estates, National Garden Week proclamation. Whereas... Avondale State's Garden Club was established in 1931 with a mission to provide educational opportunities for its members to promote the love of gardening, floral design, civic responsibility, and the protection of the natural environment. And whereas Avon Garden Club was established in 1953 with a mission to stimulate home gardening, beautification, and ecological stewardship of Avondale State's Georgia. And whereas gardeners have a passion for nurturing the beauty and resources of the earth through the planting of seeds, the care of all plants, and the riches of their efforts. And whereas gardeners seek to add beauty, splendor, fragrance, and nutrition to our lives through the growing of herbs, vegetables, foliage, and flowers. And whereas gardeners work to preserve our country's traditional spirit of independence and initiative through innovation and hard work. And whereas, gardeners advocate the importance of all creatures, large and small, that share our world and their roles in a balanced and productive ecology. And whereas, gardening furnishes a challenging and productive activity for our citizens, for those just learning as well as those having years of experience. And whereas, gardening promotes a healthy lifestyle that lasts a lifetime, helps reduce stress from other areas of our life, teaches that rewards can come from diligent efforts, and whereas gardening enables members of garden clubs across the nation and the world, but in particular, Avondale Estates Garden Club and Avon Garden Club to make a world of difference in the communities where they reside and work. Therefore, I, it says Jonathan, but I'm going to say Gretna. I, Graham, Mayor Pro Tem of the City of Avondale Estates, do hereby proclaim June 7th through 13th, 2026, as National Garden Week and acknowledge the importance of gardening and the numerous contributions of gardeners, national garden clubs, and in particular, Avondale Estates Garden Club and Avon Garden Club. In witness thereof, I have hereunto set my hand and call Cecile of the Executive Department to be affixed this 10th day of June in the year of our Lord, 2026. Okay. Picture time? Yes. Okay.

Before you leave tonight, take a look at the beautiful arrangement over there. We're going to leave it at City Hall. Erin, the vice president of our organization, drove around this morning and stopped at nine houses and picked up blooms from those folks' houses and the Amelia Hedge.

Well, Amelia, but not from the hedge, yes.

Amelia.

That's right.

And... Yeah, I was... Come on, Kathy. Yeah, represent.

He wants to talk on the other, but you guys get a little bit older. Okay.

Yay. All right. Thank you. Thank you so much. Thank you. And thank you for being here.

Yeah. Thank you. Thank you. It's longer than it does.

But I have a few more words. You need to tell the voice. All right. Thank you. Probably not. Okay, we're moving on to item number six, the approval of meeting minutes.

We have before us the May 27th, 2026 regular meeting minutes and the May 20, excuse me, May 27th, 2026 work session minutes. Do I have a motion to approve?

Second.

That was Commissioner Stebb and then Commissioner Steadman. All in favor? Aye.

Aye. So item number seven.

Consideration of a resolution by the City of Avondale Estates to approve a preliminary plat for the properties known as 136 Laredo Drive, 2968 Perry Street, 147 Oak Street, 2950 Franklin Street, and 2556 Franklin Street. Do I have a motion to approve? So moved.

And second? Second.

Okay, that was Commissioner Suazo and Commissioner Smith. Okay. Any discussion comments up here?

Yeah. So, this one, the Oak Street one had the most discussion at the PAZB. I listened to their meeting and their recommendations are on here. And they appropriately noted that there was some unclarity. I'll make up that word. in that particular plat, just regarding the pedestrian connectivity. So this resolution includes the requirement that they, the condition that they make those clarifications, that they reinforce that connection between Washington Street and the storm, we'll call it the pond, Uh, so yeah, this is, this is totally appropriate with their recommendations.

Well, I just, I just want to say I've always supported the redevelopment of our downtown where I've had issues with, with what I considered excessive variances granted. And my concern is the cumulative effect of the variances that were granted on this particular project. These variances involve standards that we adopted to implement our long-term vision. And while individual variances may be justified, I think the magnitude of the ones that we granted represents a significant departure from our zoning standards. Um, I am also, um, I was also concerned at how quickly these variances were granted, um, decisions involving multiple variances, design exceptions and modifications to adopt standards deserve careful review. But I felt like we kind of rushed this at a kind of busy time in year. Um, the other thing is, um, that the design of the actual buildings, they were allowed to bypass that. And as of the meeting with the DDA regarding an update on a villa, we still don't have these designs. Now, that may have changed since then. I think that was in April. But for those reasons, I can't vote to support this at this time.

I'm going to make another comment for him. So the purpose of this in its simplest terms, this is a subdivision. It is a piece of property that has been subdivided into smaller pieces. And this is the technical documentation of each of those subdivided parcels. But the reason why the PAZB's recommendations are important is because if a pedestrian pathway, for example, needs to be adjusted or should be more strongly reinforced, let's say, then that might require drawing a line slightly differently, moving a boundary to allow that pedestrian pathway to exist. So this is not about the design of the buildings. It's not about the design or construction of the apartment. It's not about... It's not about any aspect other than getting the property lines where they need to be and allowing them to then move forward. This is one of many steps. This is so early in the process of getting a permit to start digging in the ground and building buildings. So it is completely appropriate.

It's the preliminary plat. It's not the final plat.

I don't have a problem with it. I'm fine with it. Ready to vote? Ready to vote.

Okay. All in favor?

Say aye. Aye.

All opposed?

Aye.

Motion passes. Okay. So moving on to item number eight. Consideration of a resolution by the City of Avondale Estates to approve a preliminary plat for the properties known as 2804 Franklin Street, 2816 Franklin Street, 2820 Franklin Street, and 154 Olive Street. Do I have a motion to approve? So moved. And second? Second. Commissioner Suazo and Commissioner Smith. Okay. More discussion, comments on this one?

So I'll, for the benefit of the public, this is, but my comments are the same on this one, except this one's even simpler because it has one, I'll call it a pedestrian pathway or an easement or a right-of-way that has been described here. It was discussed in the Working session last week, it's in the package, there's a colored diagram to show where that sort of pedestrian area. So this one has fewer words than the other one does. Fewer recommendations from the PAZB, but it's the same idea. It's just that there is a pedestrian pathway and I think they're just asking for it to be even more clearly identified, which it pretty much is in that packet. Okay.

Yep, I'm good with this one, the same as before. Okay, all in favor?

Aye.

All opposed?

Okay, motion passes.

Okay.

Item number nine. Consideration of a resolution by the City of Avondale Estates to approve the exchange of certain real property owned by the city, being a section of abandoned right-of-way formerly known as Franklin Street, also known as Potter Avenue, and certain remnant property along Washington Street and Lake Street for certain real property owned by 278 Old Oak Holdings, LLC. being a portion of the parcel known as 136 Laredo Drive, parcel ID 249-14013. Stephen, could you put that into real language for us?

Sure, I would be happy to, Mr. Mayor Patel. So this is the transaction that we discussed in detail at the last work session, but sort of piece by piece for the better part of this year. In part, this goes back to the relocation of our new East-West Street to now is going to be an extension of Washington Street. And that left the former Franklin Street, a portion of that, land in that. So we talked at the last work session about the process that the city undertook to offer that abandoned right-of-way to the abutting property owners to the north and south. And as recounted in these recitals here, basically we got All but one of those owners responded, we're not interested. And the other owner, it's the 278 Oak Holdings, they said, we are interested. And they proposed this transaction instead of purchasing that property from us, they proposed to exchange. And what they offered is a 0.7 acre approximately area It is downhill to the north of the city, and that will become the stormwater detention or retention facility that will take care of stormwater from everything downtown and up to 278. In addition to these properties that are being built out, Need of the cities. So. In addition to that abandoned Franklin street properties. There is a small little area. It was not needed for the. Portion of the new Washington street that was previously built out during the town green project. So, all in all the city is. Trading the abandoned Franklin street plus that little remnant area for the storm water track. According to Georgia law, we received appraisals from CB Richard Ellis. showing that the stormwater tract is significantly more valuable and therefore qualifies for this type of no dollars changing hands transaction. And the city has caused this transaction to be advertised in the champion four times as required. We have negotiated a property exchange agreement with the private property owner that's attached to the resolution. This is kind of probably more interesting to lawyers than anyone else, but basically it just lays out that we're going to swap these properties. That's the short version. If the board votes in favor of this, you can see on the attached document that The private property owner has already signed it. We anticipate the closing would take place by the end of this month. And then there is one small change to the resolution from when we looked at it in the work sessions I'd like to call your attention. that is the last item on the numbered list of five things that the domc is approving so this says that the city manager is authorized to essentially to give permission for 278 oak holdings to install the stormwater pump um you know as pursuant to the agreement between the dda and that developer that we've talked about in several meetings the dda and the city are putting in money towards public infrastructure which includes roads and stormwater pond but because when this transaction is complete the city will be the owner of that pond then the developer needs a document signed saying you have our permission to work on our property. And so we went ahead and put this into the resolution to keep the project moving. And that document is, as it says in here, that will be approved by both the city attorney and the city manager to make sure that the city is legally protected against any exposure associated with the work being done on that property. And so that's my overview. Happy to answer any questions if you all have it.

Thank you. Okay. Comments?

Oh, yeah, I have comments. Yep. If y'all bear with me, I need to read this because I have a lot of thoughts on this. Okay. During the April 15th work session, discussion of the proposed transfer of $2.2 million to the DDA, I asked whether these funds would simply be transferred to the developer or whether there would be a process for reviewing expenditures and reporting progress as funds were distributed. In response, staff and city attorney described a reimbursement process in which infrastructure improvements would be reviewed by qualified third parties and city officials before reimbursement was made. The discussion emphasized that work would first be completed, then reviewed, approved, and only afterward reimbursement occur. We were told these provisions would be contained in the development contract. After reviewing the development contract in part, that reimbursement structure appears to only apply to the 3.7 of the $5 million in TAD funds that are being transferred. The $2.2 million city contribution, which was the subject of my question, is handled differently. Under the contract, those funds are placed in escrow and may be released once the property needed for Washington Street extension is conveyed to the DDA. So that means this vote, by this vote, those funds will be transferred. The contract does not require construction of the road begin, reach specific construction milestones, or be completed before funds are released. Another provision of the contract acknowledges that DeKalb County has denied sewer connections to the project due to capacity constraints within the basin serving the development. The contractor further provides that if construction of the public infrastructure does not commence within six months of the commencement date, the DDA may terminate the agreement. This raises several questions. If the $2.2 million is released upon the conveyance of Washington Extension and construction has not yet commenced, what protections exist to ensure those funds are recovered if the project does not move forward and the contract is later terminated? Additionally, if the sewer capacity approvals remain unresolved, will the construction of Washington Street extension begin before those approvals are secured? These are the types of risks and protections I was referring to when I expressed concern about transferring 2.2 million of city funds. And I just don't think the safeguards are there for the city. And so that's why I can't vote to transfer the property at this time.

Mr. Mayor, Tim, I have some input on the issue.

Please, yes, thank you.

So, Commissioner Stedman, with regards to the $2.2 million... that you referenced for the Washington Street extension, that's different property than what's for us tonight. So that's going to be the new location of Washington Street, which is not necessary. This doesn't make that money be paid. What triggers that money being delivering that property. So the DDA will receive a deed to the future Washington Street property. That property has been appraised at $2.2 million. Can I ask a question real quick before we get further along?

Sure. Okay. So we're talking about the Franklin Street that's turning into Washington over here being swapped for this stormwater area back here. Is that correct?

The former Franklin Street, which is located to the south of where the future Washington Street will be. What we're talking about tonight is swapping the former Franklin for the future stormwater pump.

Right. I understand that.

Right. So this tonight has nothing to do with the future Washington.

Okay, then I misspoke. Okay, so I am talking about that swap. And I was told the $2.2 million was for that section, which is going to be called Washington.

But it's not the same property.

But once we swap this property, they'll get the $2.2 million.

I definitely disagree with that.

Okay. Well, maybe I misread it.

Okay. Well, I'd be happy to explain it if I can continue.

Sure.

Okay. So the Washington Street property is not the same as the former Franklin Street property. The future Washington Street property is property that's privately owned by 278 Oak Holdings. They are eventually going to build that out into a new, beautiful road with sidewalks, streetlights, et cetera. But first, they are going to transfer the ownership of that property to the city or the DDA. I don't have that in front of me.

I think I need a picture of that because I'm really not following. Because I only remember talking about one land swap and... Yeah.

All right.

If you...

I don't have the thing in front of me, but if you look at Elm Street, so if you... That's the one behind Wild Heaven. Yes.

And that's what's turning into the Washington Extension, right?

Right. So right now, Elm Street, if you're coming from west to east... Elm Street essentially dead ends, and then you can go south on Franklin slash Potter, which is a substandard street, right? Right. Okay.

That's going to be a path, and then Franklin's going to be taken over by the development.

Yes. And if you were to carry on traveling east where Elm Street currently ends... That is where the new Washington Street is going to be. And it's going to hook up to the existing Washington Street. So that is a separate property that's a distance to the north of the Franklin Street property here tonight. So tonight what's on the agenda is to exchange the Franklin for the stormwater tract, which is well to the north.

Okay. I don't remember talking about that other piece of property.

The Washington Street property?

Yeah.

Well, I don't think the city has made any, I don't think the BOMC has taken any action on that, other than to enter into the IGA with the DDA.

So we will put the $2.2 million, we've already put the $2.2 million at NESPRO, is that correct?

Yes. Yes.

Okay, so what is the trigger for that money to go to the developer? And are there any protections in place if we, you know, should something not... Like the development not go forward.

Okay, I'll answer both those questions. The trigger is for the developer... to convey the property by deed to the DDA. So it's a $2.2 million worth of property, which is how that number has been arrived at. In other words, if there wasn't a developer and there was no deal with the DDA, but the city just wanted to create that connection, for our street grid, it would cost us $2.2 million, according to an appraisal, to acquire that property. When the DDA receives that deed, they will then have a $2.2 million asset in exchange for the $2.2 million they paid to the developer.

And this isn't the stormwater property?

It's not the stormwater property. It's a different property. So your second part of your question was?

The orange in the street that Stephen's talking about.

That's the future Washington Street.

Where?

Orange. It's highlighted in orange.

This?

Yes.

Yes.

The stormwater track is to the north. Is this what you're talking about now?

No. No. It's down below it. Oh, you're talking about this right now.

Right. So what's on the agenda is to exchange the property you're pointing at now. Uh-oh. Or the stormwater track, which is all the way to the north.

Yeah, I know where that is.

Okay.

Okay, so this part, this is not something we've really discussed. But I guess, okay, so this, when they start working on that, that is when the $2.2 million?

When, all right, so the fatter part of that future Washington Street is currently private property that the city and the DDA have no ownership of. When the developer delivers a deed that makes it our property forever, then they receive the money. If they then fail to develop, we will nonetheless have $2.2 million of property that we need for our street grid in exchange for $2.2 million.

Okay, so I was not aware that we were paying $2.2 million for property. Maybe I missed something that's really involved. But what if we're not in a position to finish our street threat? Is that a good investment?

I mean, I don't think that's a city attorney question, right? That's the decision that was made by the board and the DDA previously. And the only thing I can say about it for sure is The city slash DDA will receive $2.2 million worth of property according to an appraisal that we had in exchange for $2.2 million. And then beyond that $2.2 million is when it goes to the other format or criteria you discussed, where it's a reimbursement basis for actual infrastructure.

That's $3.4 million. Right. Okay. I wasn't clear on that. That was early purchasing property.

Again, that's a separate transaction from what we...

I understand that now.

Great.

Okay, so are we all clear on what we're voting on here?

Yes. I'm going to make a quick comment. If anyone's confused, the resolution before us is not about... what we just talked about. There is the sliver of property of roadway that is near Little Cottage Brewery, Taylor Means Home, and the car areas. There's a tiny sliver, a remnant, I believe it's called, near Town Green. And those two pieces of properties are a .129, I forget, acres and they have a certain value. The other property is the lowest point of the old belt factory. It is the place which will become a decorative stormwater feature. It is five times more property and I believe it's twice the appraised value. So in other words, the city is gaining a greater amount of land with a higher value, which allows them to permanently own that stormwater thing, meaning that they have access to it to do whatever they need to do anytime they want. Just like if your tub clogged with hair, it allows you to go in there, it allows the city to go in there and clean the hair out of the drain. The developer will manage it and maintain it and make it look pretty, if I remember correctly. They will landscape it, but the city has full rights to do anything they want in there as part of their ownership of the land. So it is very straightforward. It is very appropriate and it is a good deal for the city if that's a way you think about life.

Wait, I have one question. I forgot about it. So basically now that is totally in the hands of the DBA. We won't see anything about that Washington exchanging again.

Well, I wouldn't call that an exchange, but as far as the property, the project build out, the funds are being handled by the DDA, but the assessment, the first part we talked about, which could be called a land purchase, that would be done when we get the deed. The other parts where the developer will be reimbursed for public infrastructure, the payments will be made by the DDA from the tab. But the city's building official will be the one who inspects the work that they've done to either say, yes, you did it right. You get reimbursed or no, you didn't need to fix this.

But that's not on our agenda tonight. This is a totally separate thing.

I apologize for misunderstanding. But yeah, I was concerned about that $2.2 million. And I don't, you know, I just didn't recall that we discussed that that was really going to be used for the property purchase. But as far as this concern, now that I understand, I'm okay with moving forward. Okay.

Graham, I have one more quick comment. Okay. That... that IGA the intergovernmental agreement that has so many safeguards in it between the DDA, the city, the developer, if the developer doesn't do this, it's their property and they are entitled to develop it. If they don't, if they go bankrupt, the city is protected in so many ways. I read every word of that thing. I can't tell you how, again, I'm not a lawyer, but even in my, I could understand it and clearly read that the city is protected and will be, is protected. not made whole, but stays whole if the developer were to default in some way. That's my guess.

Thank you, Commissioner Suazo and Commissioner Stetman. I think I got ahead of myself just a hair, so I do need to get a motion to approve this item. I don't need to read it again.

Okay. So do I have a motion to approve? Thank you, Commissioner Suazo. Second. And second, Commissioner Smith. And we're ready to vote. All in favor, say aye. Aye. Okay. Passes number nine. Okay. Any closing comments before we put that on? Okay. Seeing no other items, do I have a motion to adjourn?

So moved.

And a second? Second. Second. Commissioner Smith. All in favor say aye. Aye. Okay. Thank you. So we're going to take a 10-minute break, and then we're going to move down to the table for the work session.

Soon you'll be officiating.

for the next five, six, seven days. Okay. This is the City of Mappanoag State, Board of Mayor and Commissioners, June 10th, 8.26 work session. I'll see the order. The time is now 6.5 p.m. We haven't done it before. I don't know how much you're doing now. All better? Okay. So, first... I don't know. Continue discussion number 2026, delivery and tax ideas. Patrick's not here. We were going to have a presentation from Patrick. He'll be here this evening. So we're going to keep the item on the agenda. We're just going to go around and have comments and discussion. So I think

I think I remember what Patrick was going to do.

It's 101, like text. I just realized 101 tonight. So I think I heard someone say they do it. Yeah, next time. And then the putting dates for the preliminary are the 23rd and 24th and the 30th. Those are the public hearings.

And then the 30th is the final vote.

23rd, 24th, 33rd. And the public hearing is the final vote. And the public hearing is the final vote.

Well, I'm prepared to discuss this because this is, you know, something that is my background and I look at it every year. And I went over these numbers with Patrick, but I just wanted to, you know, give y'all some spreadsheets that I put together. So basically what this is, is, you know, I just took these numbers directly from the digest. You can see the greener real estate, the blue is motor vehicle, I mean, public utility and pink is motor vehicle. But what I did was I broke it out between the TAD part of the digest and the general fund part of the digest. And so basically, you know, and it also shows our totals by real estate and personal property And so that's just a, you know, these things are hard to look at. These things are hard to look at. So anyway, I mean, we have a, and then if you look at the second page, that is a comparison to 2025. So we have a 19.81% increase in our digest. Now, part of that is due to growth. and part of that is due to reassessments. So there was a new reval sheet that we received, I think, as part of this packet. And that shows that, what was it, 53% was reassessment and 47% was below. Let's see, I have that in there somewhere. Is it in our packet? Maybe not. this is what it looks like and that's for all the cities don't want to pass it around but um so one of the nice things about this year's digest is real uh residential only went up 3.61 on average that is a big decrease from the last five or so years where it has been averaging nine to ten percent so that's a good thing marshall has gone way up um if if you look at um this It's a 98% overall, but 72.75% of that is in the TAD. So the biggest growth in the commercial value of the TAD district. And that money, you know, is managed by the DDA. So, you know, when you do look at all this, you have to look not only at the values, but then you see there is exceptions.

That would mean that if you pulled out all the funds that go into the TAD, you've also pulled out the account portions.

No.

You don't think we did?

This is not, has anything to do with the county portion. So what happens is, and when you look at the digest sheet, I don't think they're, you know, they're just correct there because the way it works is, you know, Avondale's, you know, is not .0955, you know, for the TAT. But then we have, I think it's police services and operations and hospitals and stuff like that, any of the bond. from the county that it's been to the TAP for this district. But it's only the increase from 2007. Right. Okay. So it's kind of hard to do on the digest sheet because part of that includes the base. Right. Right. Exactly.

So I wasn't sure how you made it.

Well, I did do one, but I didn't bring it tonight. But I did do a calculation.

That's not what, that's not what.

No, this is basically just showing the values. And the text, the tag calculation is more complicated. And I did one and it's looking like, you know, over $800,000. And that's even with some, you know, adjustments, you know, adjustments to the digest. And I backed into DeKalb County based on the percentages it was last year. We have some factors.

Okay.

but you know I I know that I did ask Patrick at the last meeting you know so we've got a 10.5% 10.12% increase on reassessments because you don't have to factor in growth just for reassessments and so I think 10.1.2 is high for reassessments and so I did ask Patrick if we have some possible budget savings. And he said, yes. So I was hoping that we could look at our financials here today and see if maybe there are some savings so that we may consider a reduced millage rate.

I mean, there are obviously conversations that I can't address. What I can tell you is there are lots of new funds. I was in the university. I don't know yet. on all kinds of state. How things are going to materialize back on that front. Capital projects can consider and think about where that funds are. And we should look at where those, where I would have, I haven't done it because this isn't my area. Then Patrick has. That's why we're keeping this supposedly pretty preliminary in answering this question. Well, my concern is like, but I, my suspicion, but I would look more closely at where that growth is coming from and consider, consider that likely you've got some reassessing properties that actually were right. The apartments that are not, you know, that are burning off the, that are burning off the payments. And so I would, I mean, I mean, this conversation is much more illustrative, really accurate in the mayor. But those are the things that I was like, let's dig deeper and figure out where to come from. But of course, you don't want to reduce the melody when you're not what you're trying to be. Part of the reason for doing the tax thing was to enable you to get greater taxes in the long run from the consumer, from that larger business. So So I would take a chance to look at that.

Well, you know, I do want to look at all this. The problem is, is that, you know, we're going to vote on this in, what, 20 days in our next meeting. It's not for two weeks. So I thought it was important, even with them not here, to have a discussion for the benefit of our residents so that they kind of understand, you know, where we stand on the digest and what we're thinking. And I really do think that the discussion of where we are financially as of this point of the year are an important part of this discussion. You know, a lot of cities run July to June. So they are kind of doing their budget while they're also doing their middle print. But we've already done our budget. But, you know, budgets are a plan. And, you know, things may go better than planned. And if they have, you know, is there, you know, I just want to have those discussions and we can't seem to have them tonight, you know, to the level that I would like. But I think it's, you know, I just hate putting everything and squeezing it into, you know, the last three, you know.

Here's what I can say. I can certainly take back so that we get some conversation about where's that 10%, you know, more detailed around that 10% so you understand more clearly where those revenues are coming from. And then you ask a lot of questions That's a year to date where we are in the current budget cycle. Yeah. Where we are in the current budget cycle. If I remember correctly, I was under the impression that we were like, the white had a really severe demand in terms of exactly what we were right on budget. But that was a budget, but we're still mid-year. Yeah. And so I'm not sure where... We can come back and part of his presentation can be a little more detail about around the budget. You have already asked him about the possible, you know, where possible savings are. And then, no, I just asked if there are.

And, you know, obviously we can't determine that because, you know, even though I do financial stuff and have done that kind of stuff before, I don't know the details.

know of what y'all are doing so y'all would be the only ones that could determine that right and that you know i think about our own our own budgets and we use that as a really really good and so i'm not seeing it's great big savings but i'm not but but you know we we build a pretty we have the lean staff we have the things like it we're in the part of trying to keep those if we can pull and address those as needed. But I hear you. Nobody wants to drive costs down. We're all looking for ways to keep those costs down. And so I hear you. I think, again, I think that either thing we can take back and you've asked some critical questions and those are reasonable. I'm guessing that you may have asked some of these before you've alluded and that might be part of what Patrick addressed in the context of looking for it.

Well, it probably would be a really warm conversation. And I did look at April's number. I asked for it. And, you know, I got it downloaded to Excel because what we get doesn't show percent remaining. We get remaining value, but we don't get percent remaining. And, you know, I saw some areas where we had 80% remaining or, you know, stuff like that. And that may mean something, it may mean nothing, because I understand that unless you know what kind of bills are coming in when, you can't be sure of that. So that's why, you know. Yeah, I mean, it's just,

There it adds and blows based on the annual budget. You're looking at something, you know, just this is like in the end, but expenses for holidays. Oh, see those expenses. They don't change. Right. But I'm interested in the budget. So, yes, that's true. It's a snapshot in time as to where you are and you go in and do productions and what you expect going forward. And I do a bunch of them, but But I said, I think you asked a reasonable question. To address this part of his presentation, both in terms of how these numbers come together, where we are, what we're seeing. I do think there's a lot of good things here. There is. In terms of the trends and what people in the city want to invest, they're seeing that investment that may really play out. And so I think that's always been the hope, but there are also some things that need to be done.

I think we are seeing some good things and that we've been able to keep it all to where it's at since 2023. But I agree.

I think we should wait for Patrick's presentation, at least from what I've seen in his presentation.

I mean, it is important to kind of remember, I think Patrick, I mentioned something to Bob, where there could be legislation that affects public tax collection in the entirety of the position, you know, by eliminating public taxes. So if we were able to really, I believe that could really improve the collection of taxes by the city. So if we are potentially HAB-Jacques Juilland, You know, lowering the amount of money in the city. HAB-Jacques Juilland, Go out and then say this happens in the next couple years, and then there's a huge budget shortfall because city can't collect our taxes as before. HAB-Jacques Juilland, Then, then we run the risk of having a mass increase in the village, which you would you would share their possibilities. Sure. I mean, so I feel like you know if HAB-Masyn Moyer- We really need to be constant of like for thinking about their and sure there was a severe impact to our city taxes. HAB-Masyn Moyer- would be prudent for us to. HAB-Masyn Moyer- You know, produce it at this time and then risk a massive increase later on, and then you know the potential effect that. HAB-Masyn Moyer- That.

from my understanding, I think Clark State has already composed a large increase, tiny way, pretty good number of increase. So we're in a fortunate position in the city. And you don't have to borrow money to look through the year. No, we don't. It's a very happy day for the city.

It is. It always has been.

Okay, we're good in there. So next thing we do have public hearing on the 23rd. You can hear from public on our close vote rate. And then we'll do steps on those. Yes, good to move on. Okay, next item, continued discussion of 2020-2026 Centennial-related Activities Fletcher Community. Oh, that's people asking.

So you guys gave us some direction for the part, which is we had talked about the banks as a fundraiser, where they had a really nice tag on it, and some of the direction that you guys gave us, maybe that's not a kickoff event, but because it's limited in the number of people who's actually out there, it's time to present those families and said, there's just maybe a better way to do that. So we pivoted a little bit. So this budget actually looked like giving these continual kickoffs free as well in lieu. And this, you might remember, just to back up for just a minute, There are four events planned between August of 26th and January 28th. Those four events will commemorate milestones from the time the city started considering for Huntington City and the time it was incorporated as a city. And so far, so the kickoff, the Centennial kickoff event is currently in vision for August as a street festival. And so I'll talk about that in a second. And then there are probably a Lantern Parade will be one. There's going to be other kind of events. The third is a little more vague. Then the fourth one is likely to be some sort of standing celebration. And it's remember that it doesn't come down to some sort of legacy project. It's still been open. We have a million savings guidance and direction on where we're going, how that will unfold. In the pre-festival, we're looking at their, the one of our residents that led one of the centers, that they put together history about a new, it was put up at the History Center, led or sponsored, I don't know what the word is, but, and it was up in the history center. One of our residents has collected that exhibit and our business owners that all of them offers display that display that history on on their walls. So there's a collaboration going on here and that will be a big cornerstone of this street festival. Then we'll add some additional contemporary history. I think the building's going to work. It's going to be a mechanical building. Little tree is simply open. to be part of studios sort of thing. We'll do some of this, you know, the dungeon that they believe at. Good. I'm all of your last time. And then they said, no, they didn't. They said, yeah. So, but there'll be, you know, but, you know, we thought we'll have things, things that are just family oriented. We'll have music. We'll have, we'll have music. We'll have an improv group that makes it. So we'll do a street festival on the side. That'll be our kickoff event. And that's done in this budget. But the gale will still happen. The gale is being sponsored by the community club. And so this kind of takes so we can have our businesses. We want you to make sure that it's a fundraiser. We want you to use this. And we were there because it was a city event. It had elections. What did the So y'all gone from supporting them at $24,000 to nothing at all? We have. They have the ability to sell support. So the ticket price will cover. The ticket price has always. And you've already let them know this? Yes, we've already talked to them. And the ticket price sits. And the ticket price, where they'd like to spend that at, we'll cover that, cover their expenses. So, and that was always the goal. This kind of takes away some of the, some of the strides. So we have these events that are, that were called, that were called community sponsored events and any, and we'll have an application and this, and then we will give, currently our thought is that we will give $2,000 food siphon to six of those, two of those are going to be from this budget and we come back with another budget for a benefit for next year.

That's our current thinking. We may, you guys may say, oh, take some more.

I'm not sure what you guys are going to do, but that's what we'll put our time into. You can also be a community event and not ask for money. And if you use, you can still use the You'll get your own design, your own logo, but you'll get a stamp. This is an official part of the Centennial, and we list you on our website. We list you in the promotions. We do all the things that would help to bring that to life. So there are lots and lots of ideas, popular people that are interested in everything from the architectural tour of a woman that's been with us. but the meeting architect, and there's a history with somebody who's talking about, or watching different ideas. So we're looking at as much of a meeting with this. So this would be a way for us to kind of empower the community to bring ideas back. We can have a little bit of sleep, like a couple of motions, and they'll, This will be part of our broader celebration. So one of those events and the one that I do expect would go by for the 2020, would be the game of affection. They now have an option to try to raise money towards the legacy project, but that's going to be not, choose to do that for the box. It really puts, it makes all the action. And so I think it would be a lovely event. And this gives us the ability to provide you with work to do something for the family. So the street festival will be before the game on Tuesday, when we create a street festival and plan on Saturday.

I think it's 100% the right move to change at least the city's budget focus to street festival that is Well, it's a wide event that everybody is welcome to come and join. Now, I got seven last week with $24,000 and two again, but you know what didn't quite sit well with me. So thank you for the changes here. I think this, I think that's an excellent change. I think it'll set the tone for a nice celebration and commemoration that will last starting in august throughout full 2028 now um especially with the historical aspect of it love that part um So yeah, so I really like this, and it's great. I really like the competitive awards, the community projects, and I assume people will be applying to be part of the committee that own the sound.

So if you're not applying for money, there's a staff that wants to facilitate this. Sure. And then the ones that don't apply for money, there's a committee that will make this successful. That's right.

And just so we are clear, this is this intangible celebration budget for 2026. We'll also have a budget for 2027. Yeah.

We have a number of things on this project because there are things that we need throughout and that are less expensive for us to buy in bulk than try to buy the first year. So I think this is a little heavier. On that, on the marketing education side, then you'll see that that's kind of where even the light bulb is because of this budget as opposed to next year's budget.

I think it's a kind of lame budget, really, for a centennial. I'm concerned about... Are we on... Are we going to spend $1,000 on photography?

I've had people complain that it's too high and you lose too much. Oh, really?

Yeah.

I mean, we do have in-house skills, too. Okay.

So this is, and again, this is for this year, and we're kind of kick-started work this out. So as we get into it, Okay. You know, for next year, I'm singular. We'll have some, we'll have figured out some things, but we may come back. We'll have a more developed budget for next year. We need more, but for tire piece, it was a little bit tricky in the sense that we do have a lot of the stolen house. So we did some of that in house, but it's not, and then did anybody got a problem with the 5,000 for giveaways? Well, you know, I get, I got all over the place, but those are Some of these things, you know, we use, we typically kind of, we'll look at this as a marketing budget, so we've got 1,500, 500 feet and 4,000 or whatever. Yeah, because in reality, you can't give one of those to every single person, can you? I know. It's kind of the same thing with the gala. Not everybody can attend. So, I mean, these are

That's one of those things where we order it once.

We're figuring this out. We're trying to, we do have a sponsorship, not a sponsorship package, but we are working on a sponsorship package. Some of the things that you can do would include a sponsorship package around that, around those funds. And so, for example, they're working on a In the beginning, sponsored with their, I think it's going to be a hundred dollars sponsorship, $500 sponsorship, and then a 20,000 sponsorship. And the 500 black or, you know, central candidates that will go permanent students, the a hundred dollars. Like we probably are. yard cycle. So again, it kind of builds up. Is this for money? That money is going to be used for what? The legs. Okay.

And I had somebody reach out to me about the photography budget, too, and his concern was... Was it too high or too low? Well, it was too low, and he was concerned that we weren't taking pictures of the old-timers in the neighborhood. And I suggested to him that that sounds like a community project that you might want to develop. Someone who wants to do that like there's a you know I really love these ideas of these I wouldn't mind bonding a few more of these Community project stipends that we can. Next year, because you know some good ideas out there, you know, one of which was not necessarily his idea of photography for my gather from z metal is that we should be taking pictures of you know. We're going to all time residents and I said, yeah, that's a good idea. That's probably not exactly what this photography budget was for. It would be more of a special project. A special project that could possibly be funded with stipend if it needs funding at all.

Now, I think it'll be really interesting to see what we get. We're going to get these out pretty soon. They're working on it. So, you know, it's just a HAB-Masyn Moyer- It's a form that you can let me tell us about your idea. How is it going back to the centennial and what we want you to do. What support do you need from city staff. HAB-Masyn Moyer- And what kind of resources might be need to be in and then definitely follow me. A lot of times they do, you know, and I did. HAB-Masyn Moyer- Some sort of city staff support and we have to consider that this is true. We have massive issues. So, but you're right. So that kind of idea, I think you mentioned, is it the same person that was talking about oral history? Yes. Okay. So that, that also might be.

So actually the centennial committee, they have a couple of ladies working on oral history.

And that would be, that would be, so that could be, that could be, that would be what I call a special one of these community projects. And they could get some money towards that. Potentially. I mean, we have, Well, right now, we have 1,000 funding for two, for this, for 2026. Two community, two funded, two funded projects.

Okay, well, I thought the Centennial Committee was given a task of coming up with four events, just different things. So are they getting money for those?

Those were paying, well, those were paying out of luck. Stacey Ringseth Levine- To see something or Stacey Ringseth Levine- That are aligned with the milestones that march up to the point where Stacey Ringseth Levine- One of those. The first one is Stacey Ringseth Levine- The second one that Margaret's page says if I imagine one pathway is only for Stacey Ringseth Levine- The third one is a little murky but something like a community picnic and what's kind of in the in either. And then the fourth one will be in January. It's probably going to be in some sort of Monday. So those are going to be parties that we think you fund. And the first one is in 2026, which is shown in this slide. The others are not. That's still too hot. Because that would be next year and then That's one piece. That's one piece. Then the other piece are these special, I'm going to call them good events, programs, special projects that members of the community are already working towards or working on. And they could be, so one of those is the scale. That's one. Lori and I have been working with with a couple of residents there doing this walking tour of this architectural industry. So that's another one. And we're just kind of, so this is really something that kind of the amended flow as things may develop. It will have to. And we're trying to figure, we're still figuring things out. So today, what we know is there's going to be a street festival. We're going to put a street festival. We're doing city staff, city staff. We're doing some health fun. So we're going to do the unveiling of the, we've got help. We've got people around. So we're really working to get the street center. Don Cobb is really the point person on that. Make sure that that's part of the event. Marty's opening the little tree. And then we're wrapping it and all the final work in their business. And then we're planning this tree. And then Margaret's giving her input.

She's giving her input. But the very next day is the gala.

And the gala will continue. And she's still very much a part of it. I'm sure it'll be super fun. And I have many feelings. I'm going to fly my So, but that's, and you know, she's got, they've got all the plans already for that halo and this kind of takes a lot of pressure. So that's moving board and will also, that is not, they couldn't apply for one of these stipends if they want, they may. And that would be $2,000 and they can use it however they want. We have another one in this budget form, which is, which But we'll open it up to see what it comes to. What you guys won't hear, and if you get 18 or 29 years and they all want to do something, then we can look for what, do we want to do this more? Or when we, what I hope this does is allows us an opportunity to apply. Because right now, we've got a lot of people, you know, different people have similar but different ideas or they could be combined and making effort and we want to make sure we don't handle cannibalize each other so if there's an event we're not you know we're focused on you know one person busy doing something so we have support one another and part of that is making sure we have a coordinated effort this is a running for data so you can do an event without money and get a city See, see, see, see, see, see, see, see, see, see, see, see, see, see.

Success resolution to rescind the board's prior authorization to use eminent domain to acquire the property known as 143 Maple Street, as this property is no longer needed for transportation purposes. Yes, thank you.

Okay, so the background on this is a little bit related to the discussion we had during the regular meeting. long-term goal as expressed in the street grid to provide a new east-west connection through downtown so when that street grid was developed and then the city staff looked at options for it it appeared on the map that the best route for this road included the property that is 143 meters However, when we sent engineers or somebody with some know-how out there, it was determined that the topography was going to make it prohibitively expensive to put a boat there. That eventually led to the idea. to happen earlier. So Washington Street is going to be the East-West Connection Street and we will not as a city need 143 Maple Street.

That was the thing, Michael.

Michael's Gargulo. Gargulo, exactly. So we have taken this action to authorize eminent domain last year when we started the process learned that the property wasn't going to work out. The city was then focused on where it needs to be instead and rather than coming back and officially be sending this. So Mr. Gargiulo came to our meeting last time, told us a request to rescind our eminent domain, which as a staff and I have spoken to the mayor about this, and Patrick. We all believe it's the right thing to do, but we don't mean property, and they've requested to undo it. So we have a simple resolution here that says basically what I... We're going to do that. And, you know, if y'all vote for this, then we will provide a copy of it to Mr. Garchulo, and he can show that to anybody that might be interested in 143 Maples Creek.

And that makes perfect sense to me. I think I had there. We'll go down this one next week. Next meeting. Last item, public comment. No? Yes. All right.

bill over 89 Berkeley Road with regard to the tax digest. I would like to say that any increases in tax revenues that accrue to the city that are beyond what's necessary to deal with expenses regarding inflationary aspects of doing city business. I would hope would be dedicated to the capital projects fund. We still have a lot of stuff that needs to be done. Walking the streets every day. The potholes are getting bigger. The The roads are getting rougher. I know we had a study done that categorized those streets by worst to best physically. I would venture to say that that study that was done, I think, a couple of years ago is rapidly becoming out of date because we haven't had the money to to achieve all those improvements. I want money to go to capital projects. And I also believe that when people are concerned about their taxes, it's mostly the schools that are the greatest tax burden and not the city. And I would like to be reminded of that when they focus on that. Thank you. Thank you.

Hey, Stacey Beard from 47 Clarendon. Don't disagree at all. We totally need to carve out more money for capital projects. Now there's a lot that needs to be done, but I would also ask the board to think about a couple of things. First off, and this is just taking the five-year summary. Since we changed the millage rate to 955, and that was back in 2023, Taxes levied have gone up $1.51 over that period of time, what we've collected for those same years. That's 46% growth. When you look at each year that we've opted to not go to the rollback rate, in essence, what we have done, follow what you want, but we really have opted for a tax increase because that's what the math ends up being. There's so many positive things going on downtown, and I know they're not free. I mean, if I look at every project that we've got, whether it be 278 or what we've done with Dale or everything that we've got planned for downtown, they're all exciting, but If you think back, for those of us who've been here for more than the 10 years since we first put in the Willis, that was put in and the thought was, hey, if we build it, they will come. Taxes are going to go down because we're going to find a better balance between what we had in residential and commercial. And the inequity that we've seen in terms of the weight being carried by one side of the hedge and not as much by the other really will start to better balance out as will services for both sides. But that hasn't really happened. if you look at how we've managed taxes over the last five years. So what I would ask is that as we look at discussions going into this year, we really need to start talking about since we have 19.81% more revenue coming in, forecasted to come in, and we're saying right off the bat, we're going to increase taxes by 10%. At what point is the curve going to start bending? Because for a decade now, it's been going to come down. And it's been going to come and it hasn't come. And even though it doesn't seem like a lot, and yes, the bulk of the weight may be in school taxes, I still think we have to be responsible in how we spend money here. And if we're going to tax more, then let's intentionally carve out more and put it towards capital projects on the front end, as opposed to saying, let's budget however we budget. and then end up with whatever's left over and let that go to capital. And I think you've got to be more deliberate about that. Then my last, I guess, comment, if I have any time left, is just it's two weeks before your next meeting. We're going to end up with, if I'm hearing it correctly, the 23rd is the first public hearing, right?

Yes.

So that's the day before the next meeting. So what are we going to be able to share with folks that they can ask questions about or talk about or anything for them? Because y'all haven't really had a chance to talk about it. And then you'll have the second hearing one day after that. And that'll be the first time, really, that you're going to have all the right folks here to talk about it. So surely there's a better way for y'all to get your arms around what needs to be discussed and whether or not we need to make some changes. So thanks for your time.

Kathy Kingsbury, 817. Ditto what Stacy said. I just think that without having the discussion that we needed to have tonight, the public is not being informed correctly. And I know things happen, but think about that. Thank you.

No more public comment. Motion to adjourn. Thank you all for coming.