City Council - Regular Meeting

Okay. at 6:00 p.m. So, I'll call the January meeting of the mayor and council to order. I'm going to ask you to check your cell phones and make sure they're turned off. And I'm the world's worst, so I've already made sure mine was turned off. Okay. At this time, we'll stand and have our pledge of allegiance. I pledge algiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.

We're remain standing for our invocation and we are privileged to have um pastor Bonner with us tonight who is our newest council member's pastor and he's going to come and do the invocation for us. Let us pray. Our father and our God, we are grateful to come to you tonight in this place of business to handle the business of the city of Carolton. We approach you, oh God, with grateful hearts. We approach you with humility because we understand and realize that you are the God who rules over heaven and earth. We're grateful and thankful for all of these Carolton citizens who are our brothers and our sisters and the care that we share and show one toward another. We're grateful and we're blessed for all of the for the mayor and all of the city council members who are already sworn in who yield to your wisdom to lead this city and to care for this city and to take care of the people and the business of this great city of Carolton. We are thankful tonight that there are two new members who were added to this fold. Brother Brett and Brother Don who will also follow the same path of greatness to carry out the business of this city, yielding to the wisdom of you, Lord God, that they will follow your leadership and guidance, that they will do what's best and what's right for all of the people of the city of Carolton. Thank you for each of these Carolton city me uh citizens who have shown up tonight uh to be concerned and to partake in this oath. But not only just the oath but also in the business of Carolton. Let us continue. We ask for you to give us the uncction and give us the desire to continue in this trend that we have started in this first year of the first day of business of January. Let it carry throughout the year that we all will continue to show up that we will show concern and we will all work together to do what's best and what's right for all of the members of Carolton in this great

city. We thank you tonight and we pray that your blessing and your grace will cover us in this place and that your guidance will keep us our hearts and our minds that we carry out the business of this city. And we thank you and we give you praise and we ask this prayer in Jesus name. Amen. Amen.

Thank you, Pastor Bonner. At this time, we will have our oath of office. We have um a new council member, Mr. Don North, and we have Mr. Brett Led Better who's been reelected. Yay. [applause] So, we're privileged to have Judge Edie Haney from the Carol County Probate Court to come and administer the oaths for these two gentlemen. So, if y'all want to step down and I want to just move the podium and let them come right here. Maybe that so everybody can see.

Yeah. better if it's all right. We'll start with our newest. [laughter]

Turn this way so they can see you. Mr. North, I'm Judge Haney. I'm the Carol County Probate Court. So, I'm all of your probate judges. Um I'm sorry, I'm not the court. I'm the judge of the probate court. So, um, as I go over these oaths of office, I'll read them over to make sure I don't stumble on my words. Hopefully, I will not. Um, but also just to remind myself as I go through, um, of what it means to take the oath of office. And I'm reminded every time that the oath represents service, someone who's chosen to serve. But today in particular, it reminded me that it also represents sacrifice. All of you are here um, on a Monday night, but Mr. North will be here every Monday night. That's right. With the rest of the commissioners and the mayor and or council members and the mayor and I just want to thank all of our council members and our mayor um especially our newest one for your service but also for your sacrifice the sacrifice that you give us as the citizens of Carolton. So all right, if you'll repeat after me. I Don North I'm sorry. Yes, raise your right hand. I

I Donald do solemnly swear do solemnly swear that I will well and truly that I will well and truly perform the duties perform the duties of council member of council member of the city of Carolton city of Carolton to the best of my skill to the best of my skill without favor or affection without favor or affection and I do solemnly swear I do solemnly swear that I am not the holder I'm not the holder of any unaccounted for public money public money do this state this state or any political subdivision any political or authority or authority thereof thereof and

I do solemnly swear I do solemnly swear that I am not the holder I am not the holder of any office of trust of any office of trust under the government under the government of the United States under the government of the United States any other state, any other state, or any foreign state, or any state, which I am which I am by the laws of the state of Georgia, prohibited from holding prohibited from and and I do solemnly swear I do solemnly swear that I am otherwise qualified otherwise qualified to hold set office according to the constitution according to the and laws of Georgia

and [laughter] I do solemnly swear I do solemnly swear that as a citizen that as a citizen of the city of Carolton, Georgia city of Carolton, Georgia and being an employee and being an employee of Carolton City government city government and the recipient and the recipient for public of public funds public funds for services rendered services rendered as such employee such employee. I do hereby solemnly swearly swear that I will support that I will support the Constitution the Constitution of the United States of the United States and of the state of Georgia and of the state of Georgia. So help me God. So help me God. [laughter] Thank you, Mr.

Yes. Thank you so [applause] much. Congratulations. [cheering]

[applause] They want me to they want me to hold back on comments, so I don't want to slow the program down, but uh but thank you everyone for coming out right now. And uh I know Dr. Lander wants to say a few things when we get up to that part of the program. Absolutely. Thank you, Mr. North. I'm going to leave that right here for you and that if you will, Mr. Lead Better, I'm going to give you the option. Would you like me to read the oath to you and let you affirm since you've taken it before or would you like to reaffirm? All right. That'll save us some time. We usually like to do that the first time. I John Leb better do solemnly swear that I will well do you want to read?

Okay. that I will well and truly perform the duties of council member of the city of Carolton to the best of my skill without favor or affection and do solemnly swear that I'm not the holder of any unaccounted for public money do this state or any political subdivision or authority thereof and do solemnly swear that I'm not the holder of any office of trust under the government of the United States any other state or any foreign state which I am by the laws of the state of Georgia prohibited from holding and do solemnly swear that I'm otherwise qualified to hold set office according to the constitution and laws of constitution and laws of Georgia and do solemnly swear that as a citizen of the city of Carolton, Georgia and being an employee of Carolton city government and the recipient of public funds for services rendered as such employee do hereby solemnly swear that I will support the Constitution of the United States and of the state of the of Georgia. So help me God. If these are true, say I do.

I do. Thank you, Mr. Lead Better. Congratulations. [applause]

[applause] Thank you, Judge Haney. Okay, at this time we will have our citizens comments. Do we have anyone listed for our citizens comments? Okay. And who?

Mr. Hendrickson. Okay. [laughter] When you come forward to speak, please state your name and address.

Patrick Henrikson, 105 Sycamore Drive, Carolton, Georgia. First, let me start by saying thank you to the council and the mayor for all your hard work. We appreciate it. And what a crowd we have tonight, man. Uh, congratulations to Mr. North and, uh, Mr. Glad Better. Um, let me just say this. Uh, all these people out here, myself included, uh, I'm sure these people are hardworking. And I think I think the figure is three months out of every year is taken out of our paycheck for taxes. I believe that's the average. So what I'm trying to say is that the money that you spend belongs to us. And we've seen a lot of things here in government lately with uh fraud and spending and this and that. So I would encourage you that the most powerful word in the human language is no. So, as you make your decisions this coming year for parks, recreation, new vehicles, whatever it might be, uh, spending our money, please be mindful of that. And I'm not saying that you you guys have done anything wrong. I'm just saying thank you for your hard work and just be mindful of that as as the coming year comes. But also, as a former council member myself, I would like to encourage you on item number five on the official compensation to vote yes. Thank you.

Thank you,

Madame Mayor. I believe that's the only person that we had uh sign up. Okay. All right. Thank you, Mr. Hendendrickson, for your comments. Okay. At this time, we have the minutes from our last meetings. Do I have a motion to approve? So move. I have a motion. Do I have a second? Second. Have a motion and second. All those in favor say I. I. Any opposed? Same sign. Hearing none. Motion carries. The next item on our agenda is the mayor and council announcements and comments. And Mr. North, we're going to start with you. If you'll just pull that mic down and make sure the green light's on, you'll be good.

Okay. Um, I just want to thank everyone u especially uh in in Ward One that supported me and uh the good people that supported me that's not in the ward uh with my campaign and uh the campaign uh manager, the campaign uh advisor,

they were drill sergeants on me. They they worked me hard and at times I said I don't know if I want to do this. But the more I met the individuals out there, the voters, the more I met them, um it changed my mind. And I've taken this this the second time I've taken the oath the first time for the United States of America signed by Jimmy Carter. I keep it in my grandmother's house. It's it's shown. And I look at it almost every other day because it te tells me that I'm going to be faithful and I'm going to do my best as a leader and to understand others out there. And so um I want to thank once again my mother and father. Uh my mother was a campaigner as well. She she was tough on me as well. Uh I can go through all the names out there. um uh Mitchell and um brother Mitchell was the adviser and uh the campaign manager was was brother Brown and uh I can't go through every name out there but I I love all of you for coming out and uh it's not the pressure from coming out that that I'm worried about. It's it's the big shoes that I'm going to feel and walk in. And just one more quick comment. I don't want to hold us up. um you're you're looking at someone that mother that my mother could not vote at one time and I always thought that was something. We we sometime take voting is just a joke or we don't vote. I am going to work with the uh as much as I can to to elect and to uh to get as many voters roles as we can to continue to uh to to citizenship. Uh at the same time uh there comment for me. Okay. U at the same time I want to uh thank thank the brothers of Kappa Alasai for showing up.

one of them I known for almost 50 years. And I want to thank the Masons that came out tonight. I I appreciate them. And uh I see everyone out there, guys. I want to hug everyone. I wish I could I hold this this uh this meeting up. And I don't want to start off on a bad foot, but but uh my my heart is right here for you. And when I raise that hand to do when I raise that hand to do what I did, I take it very seriously. I was telling the judge about it, and I take that very seriously. So, uh, I'm tough, but I'm a good guy that listens. Good guy that that that works with everyone. I've worked with major headquarters and corporate offices. I've done it all. So, I am happy to be here. And without one more statement, it was my grandmother and grandfather, Mr. North, that I never met. I think he was he passed before I met him. But my grandmother and grandfather and my other grandmother, Mrs. Irene North, they tutored me, they treated me, and I think they said I would do something one day. And and so the last little comment, the last little comment is that, you know, I love people. I love horses. I've had so many of them. I don't have them right now. I just love them. And I would think one day that uh if if people were like sometimes horses every once in a while you get a wow if people were like horses when that that horse cannot cannot anyway communicate with me but that horse tells me everything. He'll come up to me pet me I look at people the same way and that's that's how I'm going to treat everyone that I meet with love and affection but I have to be tough and I do get tough sometimes. So thank you. Thank you once again brother Landram Dr. Lander, do you have just a couple words? I might have taken up your time.

Congratulations. All right. [applause] [applause] All right. Thank you. All right, Councilman Oakland. Well, Mr. North, we are excited to work with you and welcome aboard.

Um, thank you everyone for coming out tonight. This is a couple more people than usually come and it's great to have you here. Uh public participation is is uh as Don mentioned sometimes people take voting for granted. They don't vote. They don't go to these kind of meetings and they complain or they have uh they vent uh their feelings and they don't participate. So please come back. Please share your thoughts. A uh group that gets to hear voters thoughts and uh is a difficult job that the mayor and council uh elect these people to do is the planning and zoning committee. And there's 10 people on that committee. I'd like to thank three people whose terms expired. Brett Hicks, Casey Vance, and Jean Waldruff. Um, Casey Vance served probably 20 years, something like that. And uh, the other two a little shorter terms, but uh, that's a a thing where they are appointed by the mayor and council to make tough decisions. And I wanted to say thank you to them. And I'd like to welcome Jason Preston, Mory Liowitz, and Justin Jones to that committee. And and it is a very important committee. So Jason's here. I'll give him a hand. Thank you. [applause] That's it.

Okay, Mr. Linder. I'd just like to uh thank everyone for coming tonight. Congratulations, Don, on being elected, and we're looking forward to serving with you. I hope everyone had a great Christmas and New Year season. And um my wife and I spent several days keeping grandchildren, so we're kind of glad Christmas is done. And um but I hope everyone's ready for a great year in Carolton. Thank you.

I just want to say good evening. I'm glad to see everyone and welcome aboard, Don. I look forward to working with you and continuing to work with you, Brett. Well, I just want to say I am overjoyed to see this many people in our city council chambers. I mean, it's great. I I know a lot of you here to support um Councilman North and we appreciate that because there's nothing better than to have somebody to feel like they've been really supported and I know Don has been. And I just want to say thank you to our city staff for all the Christmas decorations. And I hope y'all got to enjoy some of the new things we did downtown with the lighting of the trees, the lights around the trees, lights around the trees on Bradley Street. And every year, I hope we can keep expanding this. And uh we had lots of activities. Our parade, I mean, I know it was 1 of December and probably a lot of people have forgotten about it, but that was a beautiful parade. those nights, those lights and all the choir singing and everything that's done is just outstanding and all the I think the kids enjoy it as much as as we as adults do. So anyway, I want to thank them because I know it's busy, a lot of lot of things going on and hopefully this helped our downtown merchants and they were able to enjoy some of the support of us uh shopping locally. Um, I want to say thank you to um, we had a meeting today with our employees. So, I want to thank Mr. Brooks for putting that together and the staff because we've gotten a lot of positive comments already from that. So, I just want to again say thank you to all of you for coming tonight, showing your support for all of us and especially for our new council member and Don. I do look forward to working with you and I we're a family and when

one of us hurts they all hurt. So, you know, we we make a great team. We don't always agree, but that's part of it. So, but we do work together and I'm I'm very appreciative of that because a lot of mayors have lots of horror stories, but I always get to smile and say we have one of the best councils there is. So, anyway, with all that said, again, thank you for coming tonight. And at this time, I will ask Mr. Brook for his comments.

Thank you, Madam Mayor. I also would like to echo the congratulations to Council Member North. Had the pleasure of meeting with him back about a month ago. I think we spent about an hour and a half up in my office and I know he's going to be a tremendous asset to this elected body. We've got a great group of elected officials in the city of Carolton and it's an honor for me to be able to work for you guys and just appreciate all the support that you give everybody in our community. And in uh talking about the the meeting that we had today, we just we have some exceptional staff members from uh folks that take care of our streets and our garbage and our trash to the folks that take care of our kids with the recck department and then the ones that that take care of our water and sewer and make sure every time we we get up uh to wash our hands or go to the bathroom or whatever, everything works and works like it's supposed to. So, we're very very fortunate. We have a great staff of people that work work for you. And we we emphasize that today that they that we're in our positions to serve you. That's what we do. We don't sell things. We don't manufacture things. We're not an assembly line. We serve the people. And that's what we're that's what we're called to do and that's what we try to do uh the very best we can at it. One of the things that we did this morning is uh handed out uh service pens for longevity, 5, 10, 15, 20 years. We have three members up here tonight that are celebrating 5 years of service with the city of Carolton. So, and and last of my comments, I'd like to give uh Council Member Brett Led Better, Council Member Bob Uglam, and Mayor Betty Kase um your service pin for five years of service city of Carolton. Thank you guys. [applause]

They're the same. Are they [laughter] okay? Give us five years. Thank you, David. [snorts] Okay, at this time, um, you have your agenda items for consideration. Do I have a motion to approve the agenda items for consideration? So, move. I have a motion. Do I have a second? Okay, I have a second. All those in favor say I. I.

Any opposed? Same sign. Hearing none. Motion carries. The first item on our agenda is Mayor Pro Tim appointment. And this is so that in the event that I am not able to act, we have somebody that can take my place. And we rotate this around. So everybody gets to have a shot at it. And u this year it's Brett Le Better is our um is my recommendation and it would be his term uh time on the council to um to serve in that position. Poor old Brett. The last time he did that, I had to have knee surgery and [laughter] he got to act for several occasions. So,

I've taken out an insurance policy on you this time. [laughter] Okay. All right. Uh, so do I have a motion to appoint Brett Led Better as the mayor pro Tim for the 2026 year. So moved. I have a motion. Do I have a second? Second. Have a motion and a second. All those in favor say I. I. Any oppose? Same sign. And Brett, you don't get to vote. All right. Motion carries. Thank you. All right. The next item on our agenda, Miss Connelly, is the annexation and reszoning request of 1421 Highway 27 North.

Uh yes. Uh the first zoning item on your agenda is an annexation request and the request is to annex the property from Carol County jurisdiction to the city of Carolton jurisdiction uh with a C2 which is a general commercial zoning designation. Uh the purpose of this request is to develop the tract uh alongside the three tracks to the south of this along the east side of Highway 27. Um the property itself will serve as a retail out parcel. Uh the mayor and council previously approved those other three parcels. Um in last year actually I guess it is last year now. Uh the planning commission did review this at their December meeting and they did recommend approval uh 6 to zero but they did have two conditions uh as part of that recommendation. One flock cameras shall be installed at the site at the developer's expense and the developer andor owner shall provide camera access to the city of Carolton Police Department. And then number two is a reflection of uh the condition that was placed on the property south of this. The applicant shall install a 10-ft planted buffer with a fence along the rear property line.

And I do believe the applicant is here.

All right. Okay. Before we start this, I'm going to read something to you. This is what I read each month. We have a resoning request. We will hear the resoning request. Since many of you may not have previously attended a public hearing on a zoning request, I want to quickly review our procedures with you. No person in attendance shall speak unless formally recognized. Upon rising to speak, each person recognized shall state their name and home address. Speakers must not employ tactics of intimidation, profanity, or threats of violence in their comments. All comment shall be directed to the mayor and council, not to the petitioner or those in opposition. In accordance with Georgia law, each side, not each individual, is allowed 10 total minutes of public input. This means that all speaking in favor of the request shall have a total of 10 minutes and all those speaking in opposition of the request will have a total of 10 minutes. Time devoted to questions and answers that the elected officials ma should ask will not be accounted will not be counted against the time limitation. Since we do have limited time, please try to avoid restating what a another may have already stated. The applicant shall be allowed to speak first in order to present the application. Others may then speak indicating first their support for or opposition to the application. the application. The applicant will then be allowed time for rebuttal. Rebuttal must be limited to points or issue raised by the opponents to the application at the hearing. Okay. So, we have the applicant here. Do you wish to address the council or Okay.

Good evening. Uh Rhett Harmon reside at 198 Bohannan Road here in Carolton. Um Erica uh pretty much mentioned everything um about this project. I'll I'll recap. So it's uh short and sweet. Um it's a [clears throat] total of 2.82 acres. Four tracks of land. The last three were in the previous meeting. This track um in it came available. We've been trying to purchase it for years. This is a project going back uh to 2013. Uh the old archery shop on Highway 27. We're glad to see that um have a new era and and turn into a nice brand new convenience store. Um just south of that there will be a uh one retail center and then the one acre that uh that we're talking about tonight will be another uh retail center there. Total of 17,000 square ft, three structures. Uh it'll be very nice. Um we're looking forward to having um some new energy right there. Extend the city limits down and uh really really excited about having the good biscuits back at this at the gas station too. So um if you have questions, I'll I'll step aside and hopefully keep the moving meeting moving along.

Okay. Thank you, Mr. Herman, is anyone else here to speak in favor? Okay. So, at this time, is there anyone here to speak in opposition of this project? Okay. Hearing none, we will go to a vote. Do I have a motion to approve the annexation and reszoning request by the applicant with the stipulations that been added by the planning commission? So move. I have a [snorts] motion to have a second. Second. I have a motion and a second. Is there any questions or further discussion? Hearing none. All those in favor say I. I.

Any opposed? Same sign. Hearing none. I mean, I'm sorry. Motion carries. Okay. The next um item on the agenda is a site plan amendment request at the Highway 166 bypass and 196 Foss Road. Uh yes, uh this particular item is a site plan amendment for a previously approved mixeduse plan development. Uh the application and the plan development was originally approved back in 2023. Uh as the uh developers began uh doing more investigation on the site, uh they did uh realize that they wanted to come back in and request an amendment to how that site is laid out. Uh the nuts and bolts of it. Uh they want to take the uh property that was originally approved for basically uh 19.43 acres of commercial and they want to reduce that down to 10.12 acres of commercial. Uh it's also got an apartment complex that was approved for 330 units. Uh that will remain uh 330 units as part of the new site plan. However, they are going to shift it a little bit away from some environmentally sensitive areas. The planning commission did review this uh request during their December meeting and they did recommend approval 6 to zero with six conditions. I'm going to go through those briefly. Uh the first several conditions are part of the originally approved site site plan and uh they just mirror what was approved in 2023. Uh the site plan the sidewalk requirement along the highway 166 bypass shall be waved. However, internal sidewalk shall be installed within the development to provote promote connectivity. Number two, the proposed commercial buildings shall provide front facades facing the bypass. Number three, the number of three-bedroom units shall be limited to 10% or less of the total number of residential units. These last three are new. Number four, quick service restaurants known as QSRs

defined as food establishments that offer fast, convenient, and affordable meals with a limited menus and standardized operation shall be prohibited. Fast casual restaurants shall be permitted. Number five, gas stations shall be prohibited. Number six, a traffic study shall be provided and any needed intersection improvements at Cedar Street and the bypass shall be constructed at the developer's expense prior to the issuance of any building permits. It is the responsibility of the developer to coordinate all required permits by the Georgia Department of Transportation. And I believe the applicant's here. Okay. Is the applicant present? Brian Hatcher with Kodra Engineering, 2447 Alton Road, Birmingham, Alabama. Um, she did a pretty good job summing everything up, but we were here a couple years ago. Um, the big changes in what we're looking at doing is we decreased the retail. Originally, we had planned for a large box store in this development, and those just aren't kind of moving at the moment. So, what we've tried to do is shift the apartment section of this to avoid some wetlands and stream mitigation buffer requirements that we have that we found during our due diligence period. It also lets us keep a larger wooded area on site than clearing all of it to get the original plan in. Um the big adjustment is going to be some of the common space shifts over to the apartment property which ends up being the wooded area is kind of where the percentages fall out. We agree with all the restrictions discussed a second ago. The 10% of three

bedrooms as well as the quick service restaurant as well. If you have any questions, we're more than happy to answer them. Anybody have any questions? Um Erica got a question that um this apartment complex would be subject to the new design standards that were um incorporated in the past year or so. Uh actually, so the design standards were for town homes and single family. Okay. I mean, but but we do currently have design standards for multif family as well, though. Okay. Yeah. Any other questions? I've got a question. Okay.

Uh these the mixed use these restaurants and stuff that you're talking about? Um any chance you could build a Texas roadhouse before you get started on the apartment? [laughter] I'll let him answer that question. Brad Co Pepper 162 Meadow Creek Circle. Um, yes, we actually have a fully executed lease now with Texas Roadhouse. Yay. So, they are chomping at the bit. They've been very patient with us and we are ready to bring them to Carol.

I think it's very exciting project and I know you've worked really hard on this. You and your family worked very hard on it for a long time. So, I hope we can uh make this happen and I'm excited to see a development out on a bypass instead of uh some of the other a little bit more congested areas. So, all right. Thank you guys. Is there anybody here to speak in opposition of this project?

Yes, ma'am. If you'll come to the microphone. Hi, my name is Patty Pitman. I live at 116 Highland Avenue. Um, and I'm not necessarily opposed to the project, but with the reduction of infrastructure for v vulnerable road users, um, taking out the sidewalks to 166, have we considered an assessment for green belt access to that location? And my other question is, have we considered an assessment for school impact? because if we're looking at about 80 students, that's one and a half buses. So that impacts transportation and that's three classrooms.

So those are just my questions.

All right, Miss Pitman. Well, the thing we do when we have a um a project like this, we send it to our school system, to our superintendent, he reviews it. We send it to our police department, they review it, make recommendations. We send it to our fire department, they review it. if there's any recommendations. Um, so the impact of it goes through and we go through our engineering department. The impact of this has been submitted to all these other agencies to actually, you know, respond to what it would do to them. And I I have uh all of their signed off uh page

and I understand, but do we assess the developers for the impact on No, we don't have We don't have an impact fee. Yeah. Okay. Okay. All right. Yeah. All right. But yeah, we should consider an ordinance.

Thank you, Miss Pitman. We appreciate your coming tonight. Okay. Um, yeah, I think it's good for everybody to know that, you know, we don't just make these decisions off the cuff. We try to incorporate all of our partners that would have any it would have any impact on and that is our number one partner is our school system and you know we want to be mindful of their need and what availability they have in in schools and so I think they've done a great job of planning for growth and they've just made some additions to the school and they continue um a lot of you know that they've continued to make additions to the school even across the street closer to Tabernacle Church and they're still going to be expanding and they take all that into consideration when we submit to them a plan of something that's going to impact and of course our police department, our fire department, our engineering, our water sewer. We look at all of those components. It's not just okay we'll we'll yeah we'll approve this. So, there's a lot of work that goes into something before it gets to this stage of the game. Is there anybody else that would like to speak? Yes, sir.

Michael Crawford, 105 Burke Boulevard, Carolton. I'm actually in favor speaking in favor. Didn't give a chance for that, but I think it's a good location. My family's land is just to the north that joins that. My mother lives there. I grew up right there. Uh, it's a great space for a project like that. Couldn't think of a better spot to ride on the bypass if we're going to have the growth. So, I would encourage you to approve it. It's just a reconfiguration. Thank you. Anyone else? Okay, hearing none. Do I have a motion to approve the site plan amendment request for the highway 166 bypass and the 196 Foss Road intersection?

Excuse me. Is that with the six conditions that come? Yes, that would include the six conditions that have been added on by the planning commission. Miss Gibbs, do you amend your motion to include those six conditions? Yes. Thank you. Okay. So, we have a motion to approve this including the six amendments that was submitted by the planning commission. So, do I have a second? Second. Have a motion and a second. Is there any further discussion or questions? Hearing none. All those in favor say I. I. I.

Any oppose? Same sign. Hearing none. Motion carries. Thank you. The next item on the agenda is the reasonzoning and special use request. This is at the intersection of Alabama Street and Bumble Road. Um we have I think we have the applicant here. Good evening, Mrs. Mayor, council members. Uh, Zach Bell, Bell and Associates Architects here on behalf of the owner. Um, I'm here tonight to seek a continuence on this matter. Um, if you so please, we request to push it to the following meeting or whenever is convenient for the council.

Okay. All right. You've heard the request to um postpone this to the next meeting. Do I have a motion to accept? So move. Okay. Do I have a second? Second. Have a motion and a second to approve the request to have this moved to the next meeting in February. All right. Thank you, Mr. Bale. Thank you for your time. You didn't take a vote, madam. Oh, I'm sorry. All those in favor say I. I. I.

Any oppose? Same sign. Hearing none. Motion carries. I think somebody's hit the light switch back there. [laughter] There we go. All right. Thank you. Uh the next item on the agenda uh is elected official compensation. Mr. Brooks.

Thank you, Madame Mayor. As I uh brought up a couple of months ago in a work session, um I would like to recommend that uh you guys would vote to start the process of increasing elected officials compensation. A lot of this is to do with the um the networking that I've been able to do over the past several years and knowing what all you guys do in a community our size that has as much going on as we do in our community um is uh well below what a lot of others in similar nature are. So, I would like to propose that you guys consider voting to for us to move forward with the process of increasing the elected officials compensation to $2,500 a month for the mayor and $1,500 a month for each council member. And that would out uh as outlined by the memo from uh uh our attorney, Miss Melissa Griffith. Today, we would vote to take the steps to initiate that change in compensation. Um, next we if if voted if you guys vote to do that, we would publish the elected officials proposed compensation increase in the Times Georgian for three consecutive weeks. That would be the week uh January the 8th, 15th, and 22nd. Uh we could re we could discuss this some more at our uh January 22nd meeting if we choose to do so. Um, and then, uh, after it's advertised, February the 2nd, 2026, you guys would vote to increase the compensation, and that would be effective for all members January the 1st, 2028. So, it's not an immediate um, you know, and that's by state code and regulation. It's not an immediate increase for everybody sitting up here. So, in a sense, you're voting a raise or voting compensation increase for future council members um which I I think would help attract um other council members in the future when you guys decide that uh that you're going to um step aside. So, anyway, that would be my recommendation and if you have any questions, I'm happy to answer them.

All right, you've heard Mr. Brook sisters information. Do I have a motion to proceed with the compensation for elected officials increase? So move. I have a motion. Do I have a second? Second. Have a motion and second to proceed with uh elected officials compensation. All those in favor say I. I. Any opposed? Same sign. Hearing none. Motion carries. Okay. The next item on our agenda is the board appointment for the de board of development appeals and appointment.

Yes. Uh as uh council member Uglam stated, Mory Liowitz uh has been appointed to the planning commission. So he was uh previously on our board of development appeals and so we are looking to replace him tonight. Uh we are recommending at this time Mr. Philip Block. He is a retired educator and he lives in downtown Carolton and we feel like he will do an excellent job. Um, and at this time we are asking that you appoint him to the board of development appeals. Uh, this will be a partial term um that will expire uh [clears throat] in April of 2026. So we'll be coming back in a few months and asking again. Um, but uh tonight we're asking you to go ahead and make that appointment. Okay. All right. You've heard the request. Do I have a motion to appoint Mr. Philip Block to the board of development fields?

So moved. Have a motion. Do I have a second? Second. Have a motion and a second. Is there any other nominations? Hearing none. All those in favor say I. I. Any oppose? Same sign. Hearing none. Motion carries. Madame Mayor, before you get to your favorite part, [laughter] as soon as as soon as we adjourn, would you five just write a step down there to get a a group photo for our website? We need to get that done. And then April will set up a more professional photo down here at some point in time. But we want to get that swapped out if the five elected officials down with Mr. North in there would mind. and and Megan will take it for us. Thank you.

Okay. And after we take this photo, I know a lot of you are here to have a photo with Mr. North. So once we get this photo done, feel free to make all the photos you want. So um I'm going to go ahead and entertain a motion to adjurnn. So move. Have a motion. Do I have a second? Second. Have a motion. Second. All those in favor say I. I. Any opposed? Same sign. Hearing none. Meeting adjourned. All right.