Commission - Regular Meeting

Good to have you here tonight. It is Tuesday, June 2nd, 2026. And we have two sessions this evening. And I will describe public input on both of those. We have a special called session for our state required taxpayer Bill of Rights hearing number two. And then we have our regular voting meeting as well. Public input. on the Taxpayer Bill of Rights hearing, on the Consent Agenda, on old and new business, on our zoning items, and then at the conclusion of the evening, all effectively follow the same format. There will be an opportunity each time public input is called for, for a three-minute opportunity for public input. You see the fancy light in front of Clerk Howard will turn green when your three minutes begins. with you giving us your name and place of residence. It will turn yellow when you have 30 seconds remaining and it will turn red when your three minutes is concluded and I'll thank you for your time with us tonight so we can move on to some other folks. So we need to go ahead and begin with a roll call from Clerk Howard.

Brian. Present. Fisher. Johnson. Culpepper. Here. Myers. Here. Thornton. Here. Hamby. Here. We have a quorum.

All right. Thank you, Madam Clerk. All right. I'll read our civility pledge provided to us by the Georgia Municipal Association, which indicates that the way we govern ourselves is often as important as the positions we take, that our collective decisions will be better when differing views have had the opportunity to be fully vetted and considered. that all people have the right to be treated with respect, courtesy, and openness, that we value all input, and we commit to conduct ourselves at all times with civility and courtesy to each other. So with that said, the proposed budget for FY27 has been in front of the public for a number of weeks. And so we provide three opportunities for public input on the budget leading up to final approval of the budget, which will be a week from tonight, Tuesday the 9th. So if anybody would like to speak to the proposed FY27 budget from the public, now is that time. You can line right up at the podium. And again, just provide your name and place of residence. And if you slide the card in that slot, it'll get taken care of. Good evening.

Hi, my name's Mary Joyce. I live at 1205 Town Square Court here in Athens. I am speaking on the budget, agenda item 29. I'm the executive director for AthFest Educates. We put on the AthFest Music and Arts Festival and the Ath Half Half Marathon, raising funds for youth arts education in town. And I am advocating for an increase in the funding from the CEP Special Events Fund. I am advocating for an increase to 500,000 That amount would still be less than $5 per resident for all of the incredible downtown events that happen. I'm advocating for that whether through this budget process or an additional one cent added to hotel motel tax like many other Georgia counties have done. I want to thank all of the commissioners and mayor that were involved in the most recent increase in 2024 and the increase proposed in the current proposal for budget. but I'm pushing for more. Downtown events are critical to our culture and our economy. We sent out a special events kind of survey to the community, getting over 300 responses, all dominated by comments that our downtown events are what makes Athens, Athens. They're why people choose to move here, stay here, and build lives here. They're why I did all three of those things. AthFest just itself, the Music and Arts Festival, has an overall economic impact of close to a million dollars. An estimated 42,000 of that goes straight to local government revenue. It's vital that our city invests in these events to keep them sustainable. There are economic and political factors at play right now that are putting pressure on events. So economically, increased costs for production. Just as an example for AthFest, electrical services increased 37% from 2024 to 2025. We just got our ACC police department estimate for 2026. It's up 18% from 2025 and 54% from 2024. Our local businesses are so generous and sponsor all of our events, but they are feeling the economic pressure as well. So corporate sponsorship is down due to inflation, rising gas prices, everything that everyone is dealing with right now. Politically, federal and state arts funding is harder to get. Last year we had an NEA, National Endowment for the Arts grant for $35,000, which was fantastic, except for it was pulled at the last minute in April. We had already signed contracts, we had to eat that loss. It's not likely we'll get that funding again under the current administration. To keep our iconic Athens events vibrant and sustainable, it's critical that the city invest. Thank you.

Thank you, Ms. Joyce.

Hola, buenas tardes, mi nombre es Leticia Moreno.

Hi, I'm gonna translate for her. This is Leticia Moreno. She is a resident who has been helped by the Neighborhood Leader Program. She lives on Tallahassee Road.

Como residente de esta comunidad, el programa de Líderes del Barrio ha sido más que un simple recurso para la familia.

As a resident of the community, the Neighborhood Leader Program has been more than a resource for my family. It has been a source of guidance, trust, and stability during times when we felt overwhelmed and alone.

Para muchas familias inmigrantes y de habla hispana como la mía, navegar por sistemas como Medicaid, asistencia alimentaria, recursos de vivienda y los recursos escolares pueden parecer una tarea imposible.

For many immigrant and Spanish-speaking families like mine, navigating systems such as Medicaid, food assistance, housing resources, or school services can feel impossible. Language barriers, fears, and lack of information often prevent families from asking for the help they need.

Las barreras idiomáticas, el miedo y la falta de información a menudo impiden que las familias pidan ayuda que necesitan. Contar con alguien en la comunidad que comprenda nuestro idioma, nuestra cultura y nuestras experiencias lo cambia todo.

Having someone in the community like the neighborhood leader in my zone who understands our language, culture and experiences changes everything.

Los líderes del barrio Hacen mucho más que simplemente conectar con los residentes con los servicios disponibles. Hacen que las personas se sientan vistas, escuchadas y respetadas. Ayudan a familias a comprender sistemas que a menudo resultan confusos e intimidantes.

The neighborhood leaders do more than connect residents to resources. They make people feel seen, heard, and respected. They help families understand systems that are often confusing and intimidating. And most importantly, they create trust within communities that have historically felt overlooked and underrepresented.

For many residents, especially within the Latino community in Clark County, this program is one of the few places where they can ask questions without fear of judgment. Thank you. I am Aline Loza, I live on 4th Street and I am the neighborhood leader, also talking about the budget.

I moved to the United States when I was five years old, watching my parents leave behind everything they knew for the chance to build a better future for me. As the eldest daughter of an immigrant family, I took on responsibilities long before I was old enough to understand them. I translated official documents before I fully understood English myself. I helped my mother communicate with doctors during her pregnancy and with my sibling while I was still learning to navigate school. I grew up relying on Medicaid and WIC. though at the time I did not fully realize the extent of our hardship. I remember believing that the whole grain cereal was simply the only cereal that existed and not knowing that that was the only cereal that WIC approves. Programs like these were not conveniences for my family, they were necessities. When I first applied to become a neighborhood leader, I believed I was hired simply because I knew Spanish. I quickly learned that the language alone is not enough to do this work. This position requires trust, empathy, and the deep understanding of lived experiences of the community being served. I understand this community because I come from the community. Every week, I receive calls from families who have fled circumstances many of us in the United States have the privilege of never having to experience. No matter their story, their first thing that they always say to me is, this is not for me, this is for my child. There are residents in our community who visibly relax the moment they realize that we share just a common language. That sense of relief, dignity, and safety matters, and it is why representation matters. The Latina community in Clark County remains one of the most underrepresented populations in Athens, despite contributing economically to and strengthening this community every single day by paying taxes that go to funding social services programs that they can't even access. Many families live in fear while trying to access basic resources for their U.S.-born children. DCFS does not even have a full-time Spanish-speaking representative to assist residents in their cases, and too often families must overcome fear, confusion, and systemic barriers to secure health care or food assistance for their children and put aside pride to ask for help for just a simple pack of diapers. This is the community that would suffer from the loss of the Neighborhood Leader Program. At this moment, I'm the only Spanish-speaking neighborhood leader for the 16 neighborhood leader zones. I feel the weight and the urgency of that responsibility every day. Although the neighborhoods may be divided into zones, the Latina community exists throughout the entire county, and the need is widespread, and so is the impact of our work. Recently, I received a call from a woman in Texas asking for help applying for Medicaid because she had heard about her program and the support we provide. While I couldn't directly assist her, I connected her to somebody who could. But our reach goes as far as Texas. Thank you, Ms. Loza. Thank you. Good evening.

Good evening.

Hi, my name is Shannon Bushway. I live at 250 Clover Street. I've been a resident of Athens for over 20 years. I've also been a homeowner here for over 20 years. I'm also been an educator here, not in this county, but for 19 years. So I also understand the importance of public education. I'm also a mom and have a single income. to support my family. I love Athens. I think it's a very special place. It's one of the reasons I came back here after I went to school here because it was an affordable place to live as a single person. I purchased my first home here on my own without any other support and I purchased it as a single person. But the taxes in the county have become astronomical and absolutely unaffordable. Every year for the last 12 years, I've seen my taxes increase astronomically every year. Three years ago, I sold my home. One of the reasons that I sold my home was my taxes have become $500 a month just in homeowners taxes. I'm not sure how many people can actually afford to have that high of a cost of homeowners taxes and continue to survive in this economy. Right now, 50% of my income goes to pay my mortgage, my taxes, and my homeowners insurance. which doesn't really leave very much for me and my daughter at the end of the month. There's no money for savings. I want to continue to live in this town. I want to continue to support things. I love things like AthFest. I absolutely want to support those things and I think we still can do that. But I have I'm confused why our taxes are so much higher than the surrounding counties I think we have enough money here to do what we need to do without always putting it on the backs of homeowners in this county And I specifically am concerned about the courthouse falling on the backs of homeowners I understand that we do need a new courthouse but I am confused why you know, all the families have to take brunts. We are making decisions every day about our budget, how we're gonna pay for things, how we're gonna, we're also facing increased costs in utilities and groceries and gas, and it's, I mean, I'm worried that we're not gonna, at the end of the day, you're not going to have any more residents here. You're not going to have any more families here. You're only going to have students who are products of wealthy families or very wealthy families that live here. You're not going to have anybody like me who's a single income person. Thank you for your time.

Thank you, Mr. Bushway. Good evening. Good evening.

Hi, my name is Johanna Gardner. I live at 972 Waddell Street, and I am also here to comment on the property tax increase. I'd like to start off by saying I am fine with paying taxes, and I love public education, but the year over year increases in our property taxes are pricing residents out of their homes. I have a friend who is a single mother raising two kids in a Habitat for Humanity house, and her property taxes are over $4,000 a year. I'm gonna say that again. She qualified for a Habitat house in the Rock Springs neighborhood, but pays over $4,000 in property taxes, and that is gonna continue to go up. I understand we have major issues to fix in our local school system and our city, but we also have a housing affordability crisis, and I don't feel like the answer is to tax residents out of their homes. Simply throwing money at a problem does not fix it. The wages in the city are not keeping up with our yearly property tax hikes, and residents are not going to be able to continue to live here. I strongly oppose this latest increase. Other counties have found ways to provide public education and resources without pricing out their residents, and I think that we need to be creative and do the same. Thank you so much.

Thank you, Ms. Gardner. Good evening.

Hello.

Hi, my name is Fatima Stevens. I am the Betty Henderson Holston neighborhood leader, and this is my resident. She is of the Brookside neighborhood.

Good evening, everyone. How are you doing? My name is Gail Daniel, and I'm speaking on behalf of the Brookside residents. And I would like to save the neighborhood leaders program because of the empty stocking fund, food delivery, diaper delivery, and events for the community. And I would like to partner with the neighborhood leaders for future events for the community, partner with the Boys and Girls Club. My neighborhood leaders, as she said, Fatima, Faja, I'm sorry, And I see a lot of needs in Brookside for the kids, and I want to do some changes over there with partnering with other ones that can help, tutorial programs, senior events, and after-school program. Thank you.

Thank you, Ms. Danielle, Ms. Stephens. Good evening.

Yes. Good evening, Mayor, district leaders. My name is Derek Desaussure. I am a resident of Athens. I'm speaking on behalf of Family Connect Communities in School. In regards, let me get right to the point. The question is, why should the mayor and the district leaders agree to not cut the budget for Family Connect communities in school? I have a pamphlet right here that I got back in 1998. as a volunteer with communities in school. It stayed with me, for somehow it followed me around the corner, up the hill, down the road, or whatever. But families, Connect Communities in School is a vital organization that should stay budget-friendly because of this. You're saving lives and the future of our next generation. Although it may sound redundant, but guess what? One of our kids may find a cure for leukemia, dementia, or whatever. This panel can make that decision because the education that that kid received will also spring him or her into a better world, okay? Now we're looking at assistance for mental health, commitment to families, staff and employees who have a history of working their off because it is so vital. Now we're looking at keeping down crime. We're looking at the graduation rate has went up. And you connect them with other organizations and institutions. Community volunteers, ongoing community activities during the summer and have representatives such as you are to attend those activities during the summer. Because when the kids get out of school, Mayor, what are they going to do? We need people like you to show your faces in the community and say, look, we support you individually and as a family. Your face is vital importance. And we're looking at a year-round fundraising event sponsored by the mayor and the public relations director creating a budget incentive. All this happened because everyone collectively make the decision to do the right thing. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. DeSaucier.

I got, oh, I thought I had two more.

Good evening.

Good evening, mayor, commissioners, and community members. First, I would like to thank each of you for the opportunity to speak today. I appreciate your time, your service, and your commitment to supporting the residents of Athens-Clarke County. My name is Markeia Walker, and I proudly serve as the Eastern Zone neighborhood leader. In this role, I have had the privilege of meeting countless families, seniors, youth, individuals, all facing challenges that many of us could never imagine. I can spend hours sharing stories of lives changed through our community events, access to resources, and the power of people simply showing up for one another. There are so many stories that deserve to be told. However, today, I want to highlight one story that beautifully represents the impact our work has on diverse families every single day. A few months ago, I met a mother who looked exhausted before she could even say hello. She was trying to protect her children while surviving domestic violence, living paycheck to paycheck and carrying the weight of feeling like she had nowhere to go. When she first came to me, she didn't need a lecture. She needed someone to listen. She needed safety. She needed care. And most importantly, she needed someone willing to stand beside her while she rebuilt her life. Through the support of our organization and community resources, we were able to connect her with emergency services, housing options, food assistance, affordable counseling services, employment support, and other critical services. We helped her navigate systems that can feel overwhelming when you're already in survival mode. Together we created a path towards stability and self-sufficiency. What makes her story powerful is that it wasn't just about one service or one phone call. It was about hope. It was about connection. It was about showing up and reminding a family that they mattered. Today, that same mother is employed, her children are thriving in a safe and stable environment, and she shared something with me that I will never forget. She told me for the first time in a long time, she finally feels safe enough to dream again. This is just one story, one family, one example. Behind her story are many others, families finding stable housing, seniors receiving support, youth discovering opportunities, and individuals overcoming barriers because someone like me and my coworkers decided to take the time to connect with them. The impact of our work cannot always be measured in data and numbers alone. It is measured in safer homes, stronger families, renewed hope, and people moving from surviving to thriving. That is why organizations like ours need continued support. The work neighborhood leaders do every day is changing lives, but we cannot do it alone. We need continued funding, partnership, and community support to reach more families, connect my residents to resources, and make a greater impact. When you believe in organizations like ours, you are believing in real people and real families. Thank you for your time.

Thank you, Ms. Rocker. Good evening.

Good evening. Good evening. Thank you, first of all, Mayor Gertz and members of the Commission for the opportunity to speak. I want to talk about the, sorry, I'm Ray Smith. I am an Oconee resident, but I've lived in and around the Athens area for about 15 years. I'm also the Democratic nominee for State Senate District 46, which includes a significant part of Clark County. I'm here to talk about the Real-Time Crime Center and specifically ALPRs, Automatic License Plate Readers, and the contract with Flock Safety. I'm a software engineer with over a decade of experience, much of which is specifically with implementing cybersecurity and data management techniques, and so I feel like I'm qualified to speak on this particular issue. Flock Safety has been Flood safety has on a number of occasions been shown to have insufficient data privacy in place, data management techniques in place. In particular, we know that they have previously not required two-factor authentication on law enforcement personnel accounts. And for those of you that may not know, if you don't have two-factor authentication on your account, It's basically like leaving the door closed without a lock on it. You gotta have two-factor authentication. We also know that flock safety employees as well as law enforcement officers have improperly accessed the data in these systems. We know of at least one law enforcement officer that stalked a previous relationship partner and that speaks to a broader issue with the system where with a system this powerful, and with this few safeguards in place it is not a question of if it will be misused is a question of when will it be misused and we already know that it has uh... flock safety employees allegedly have used the cameras during demos to view children's gymnasiums and playgrounds and Again, I'm not saying that those particular employees are doing anything particularly bad, but the fact that there aren't safeguards in place to protect our children from being surveilled and watched by people without their knowledge is completely unacceptable. So on the front of crime reduction, I'll leave it to the experts to determine whether these cameras meaningfully reduce crime or not, but Even if they do have a marginal impact on crime reduction, the trade-off in our privacy is completely unacceptable. There have been other cities and municipalities that have limited access and canceled their contracts for flock safety, and I'm urging you to do the same. If we don't protect ourselves and protect our children from this kind of technology, We're heading down the wrong road. Thank you very much for your time. Thank you, Mr. Smith.

Good evening. Good evening. My name is Gene Luciani. I live on Milledge Terrace in Athens. Thank you, Mayor and Commission, for the opportunity to speak today. I am a member of the Board of Family Connections Communities and Schools of Athens, and I'm here to ask for continued funding for our neighborhood leaders As you've heard from several of our neighborhood leaders and several of our residents, the program that we have provides an essential community service. And I know, having sat in similar shoes to you during budget decisions, these are difficult decisions. And I completely appreciate the tough choices that you all have to make. to weigh one thing over another, what gets cut, what doesn't get cut, how much gets cut. I know it's not an easy decision, so I'm not asking you to make easy decisions today. I know it's hard, but I think what we have to look at is where the impact is made the most with the dollars that we have at hand. When you're thinking about impact and when you're thinking about what our organization does, keep these numbers in mind. 138 calls, 125 emails, 112 texts a day. That's what our neighborhood leaders get every day. Every day on the other side of that is somebody in need. Somebody who's looking for housing, somebody who's looking for SNAP benefits, somebody who's hungry. Those are people in need that our group is helping every day. 138 calls, 125 emails, 112 texts. All these people who are asking and reaching out to us are very worried. And they're very worried for a good reason. If you look throughout the news, we are all very evident that costs are going up. We just heard people who aren't even associated with neighborhood leaders talk about the increased taxes in Clark County. We know prices are going up for everything. The need is growing. It is not shrinking. Meanwhile, the safety nets that took years to weave together and money over decades to build are being eroded very, very quickly. These budget cuts to family connections, communities, and schools will further erode that safety net as the need continues to grow. So I ask that you consider the impact that we're making, consider the growing need of our community. It's not shrinking, as you all know, and I don't need to tell you that anymore that I already have. We will do our best to patch those safety nets and to make things as good as possible, but without a doubt, there will be people who fall through this net that are not falling through now. You can hear from the great work that our neighborhood leaders do every day from the residents and the services that we provide. These are essential to the community. These people are going to have to look elsewhere for this if our budget is cut, and that's something that we as a community are going to have to find a way to do if cuts are made here. I appreciate your time. I appreciate your consideration. I know it's a hard decision and I ask that you please consider the impact that we are making as you make these tough budget decisions. Thank you, Mr. Luciani. Thank you.

Good evening.

Good evening. I'm Dr. Tawana Smith-Maddox from Pittet Road and I'm here to ask you to consider continued funding for Destin Incorporated. We are asking specifically for $45,000 for the summer and $45,000 for fall and we'll take care of spring. Because we do believe in all skins being in the game, you know, including our parents. And I know this morning I was, it was like God knows when to send you things. And the entire morning I had like four visitors back to back, you know, of people from the community. There was the Eastern Stars. I think there's Zenith number 92. I probably screwed that up, but. Lady came and gave me a word and then encouraged me when she saw those children in there. We normally serve about 50 children. We've been doing this since 1999. For 20 years, we did this without any funding at all. So we know how to work grassroots. We know how to work and pull things together. But it's just that with the needs of children now, my sisters and I are all educators, but they have doctorates in literacy and special ed with ESOL. credentials as well. So we have what it takes to make sure that these students do not slide. And 95% of our students did not slide last summer. Today I was looking at our R-Ready scores from last year. up 55%, up 35%, up 14%. Some of the children with autism and other things as well. And we need this program in Athens, not only for children on the west side, We need to do more with supporting children on the north side. The children in the rural areas, we need to continue to support them. And I'm not one to beg, but when it comes to 70 children and families looking at me, I'm a pretty big. We need support. We're doing the best that we can with what we have, and I just ask that you consider, even with the recapture funds, do not use that for... for infrastructure you already took four million dollars for youth um to give to us um infrastructure so i'm asking you to consider if even if there's capture funds we need those funds because we do we own the reimbursement so even right now we're having to use money from fundraisers to make sure we fill gaps and we have 10 youth mentors from high schools who are learning how to teach children how to read. That's a job, that's an occupation and a trade as they also develop their leadership and communication skills. So along with other non-profits that help on the ground with grassroots people, we're just not seeing enough of that intentionality in the budget. So thank you.

Thank you, Dr. Maddox.

Good evening. Hi, my name is Keegan Brooks at 291 South Finley Street. I appreciate all the commissioners for being here, and also Mayor Gertz, and also all of the staff. I'm here to speak on the budget, all the staff who worked on the budget, because I know it was a very long read for me. I'm here specifically to speak on the $150,000 dedicated to ALPRs and the flock cameras in the budget. and also our city's current use and current contracts with FLOC. I think the speaker before me spoke very eloquently about kind of some of the concerns and how real they are. I just want to emphasize that a lot of these threats to our collective safety are not simply hypothetical. Police have used nationwide LOPRs to hunt down women seeking abortion. In red states, they violated First Amendment rights by searching for people engaged in collective protest, peaceful protest. There's countless examples of ICE and U.S. Border Patrol illegally accessing ALPR data in different cities and municipalities. And a lot of local governments don't realize the extent to which the data sharing happens between their data that's going into these flock cameras and what is being accessed by federal agencies. Repeated cases have shown police partners using Flock to stalk former partners and result in domestic violence situations. Like mentioned before, Flock employees have accessed video feeds pointing at children's gymnastics centers and playgrounds. Showing these cameras are not just about license plates, but instead they're part of this broader surveillance network. I also want to emphasize that the demand or the ask of cities to cancel these flock contracts or deactivate ALPRs is not a particularly kind of radical ask or unheard of. We've seen since the beginning of 2025 more than 30 cities across the country in various states have deactivated these flock cameras or canceled these contracts because of these concerns about civil liberties and privacy concerns and how that data sharing happens. I think there's a lot of useful things that the money from the citizens of Athens-Clarke County can be going to, and I do not think that this is a very effective one of those. So thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Brooks. Good evening.

Good evening.

My name is Jennifer Young, and I live at 121 Parkview Homes. I'm here to speak on the flock cameras as well. I stand here today to advocate for the immediate removal of flock safety cameras from our streets. While we all value public safety, we must ask at what cost. And more importantly, who are we actually trusting with the most intimate details of our daily lives? We are told these cameras are silent guardians that only watch for criminals. This is a myth. Flock cameras are mass surveillance machines. They catalog it. the movements of every law-abiding citizen in this room. Every time you drive to a house of worship, a political rally, or a medical clinic, Flock's nationwide database records it. This is a danger approach that treats every resident as a suspect in waiting. When we sign a contract with Flock Safety, we aren't just partnering with a tech startup. We are handing our data to a company funded by Garrett Langley and Matt Fury, backed by billions in Silicon Valley venture capital. We must look at the people behind this money. Flock is heavily funded by Peter Thiel's foundation fund and Andresen Herowitz's Recent reports have shed a disturbing light on these investors. Peter Thiel, a primary benefactor of Flock, has been identified in DOJ documents as a great friend of the late Jeffrey Epstein with records showing frequent meetings and shared networks. Furthermore, top executives at Andress & Herwitz, such as Steven Sanofsky, have faced recent scrutiny for their own murky dealings and negotiations involving Epstein. This network extends further. Peter Thiel. is also the co-founder of Palantir Technologies, a company notorious for its extensive data mining and predictive policing platforms used by government agencies worldwide. Flock safety cameras are designed to be integrated into these very same predictive policing platforms effectively feeding our local data into a larger, more opaque surveillance ecosystem. Why does this matter? Because it speaks to a culture of surveillance and influence that operates far above this council's heads. We are handing the keys to our city's privacy to a billionaire-backed entity whose primary investors have deep, documented ties to one of the most prolific facilitators of exploitation in modern history and whose other adventures are building the very infrastructure of a surveillance state. This isn't just about bad associations, it's about how that power is used. Documents show Phlox data is shared with federal agencies like ICE for immigration sweeps and has been weaponized to track women seeking reproductive healthcare. When we install these cameras, we are plugging our city into unregulated nationwide surveillance web managed by people who have historically shown a disregard for the boundaries of privacy and ethics. Finally, we must consider the human toll. Thank you, Ms. Young.

Appreciate it. All right, everybody. Thank you for speaking to the budget this evening. We have our third budget hearing that'll just be two days from tonight, June 4th, right here at 6 p.m. in City Hall, when the plan is for the commission to finalize any modifications to the budget. And then a week from tonight, the 9th at 6 p.m., will be the date for approval of that budget. So I'd entertain a motion to adjourn at this point.

So moved.

All right, got a motion from Commissioner Thornton, second from Commissioner Wright. All in favor, please say aye.

Aye.

All right, thank you all. All right, so we're gonna move on to our regularly scheduled voting session and we'll have the roll call from the clerk.

Davenport. Here. Link. Here. Taylor. Here. Wright. Present. Fisher.

Here.

Johnson.

Here.

Myers. Here. Thornton. Here. Hamming. Here. We have a quorum.

All right. Thank you, Madam Clerk. First order of business is to approve the minutes of meetings of Tuesday, May 5th, Wednesday, May 20th, and non-voting meetings of Tuesday, May 12th, Thursday, May 14th, Wednesday, May 20th, and Thursday, May 21st. Do I hear such a motion?

So moved.

All right, I've got a motion for approval of those minutes from Commissioner Wright and a second from Commissioner Link. All in favor, please say aye.

Aye.

Any opposed? Hearing none, motion carries. Madam Clerk, are there any written communications this evening?

No, sir, there are not.

Thank you much. All right. First opportunity for public input is on the consent agenda. The consent agenda was previously agreed upon for a single vote, and those are Items 1 through 16. If anybody would like to speak now to Items 1 through 16, now is that time. Give you a moment to look at your agenda in front of you. 1 through 16. Seeing none, I'm going to ask Attorney Drake to read the ordinances.

There are two ordinances tonight, agenda item one and agenda item number two. Agenda item number one, in order to amend the FY2026 operating capital budget for Athens-Clarke County, Georgia, so as to provide grant funding if awarded from the Georgia Department of Transportation, local maintenance improvement grant, local road assistance, LMIG, LRA for resurfacing roadways, and for other purposes. Agenda item number two, an ordinance to amend the FY2026 operating capital budget for Athens-Farke County, Georgia, so as to provide grant funding of the order from the Georgia Criminal Justice Coordinating Council's CJCC Stop Violence Against Women Act VAWA competitive grant program for continuation of one domestic violence prosecute position, appropriate training to respond to and prevent crimes of violence against women and for other purposes.

Thank you, Attorney Drake. Do I hear a motion for approval of the consent agenda?

So, move.

Second, ma'am. All right. I've got a motion from Commissioner Rudd. I have a second from Commissioner Fischer. All in favor, please say aye. Aye. Any opposed? Hearing none, motion carries. All right. We're going to move forward to public hearing and recommendations regarding the planning and zoning items heard previously by the Planning Commission. We have two of those items regarding 145 Hayward Island Parkway and 735 South Milledge Avenue. Go ahead and hear any public input on item 17 first regarding Hayward Island Parkway. Is there anyone here to speak to that item?

Logan Waters, Cleveland Road. I'm the engineer representing this development. 145, just a quick recap. We are asking for a special use approval for ground floor residential in a commercial zone. We have a handful of variances that we're requesting as well. Our target demographic is older, full-time residents of Athens. As you can see with our unit mix, we are offering a diversity of housing. We feel it'd be a great project for the area. It's a well-suited location, and we, I hope it works out. If you have any questions, I'm happy to answer them.

Thanks. Thank you, Mr. Waters. Is there anyone else here to speak to 145 Hayward Island Parkway? Seeing none, I'm going to go ahead and begin just by asking Attorney Drake to read the ordinance associated with this.

An ordinance to amend the Code of Athens-Clarke County, Georgia with respect to special use approval in the CG Commercial General District for one process of land located at 145 Hayward Island Parkway and for other purposes.

Thank you, Attorney Drake. Commissioner Fisher, this is in your district. Would you like to place a motion on the floor?

Yes, sir. First of all, I just want to thank you. the builder and the contractor for reaching out to me and asking a few of the questions that I had, and they answered those. And I'm glad it's gonna be for senior housing, which much needed in this community. So I'd like to put a motion on the floor to approve this item.

Do I hear a second? Second. All right, got a second from Commissioner Link. All right. Anything further on this? Anything further, Commissioner Link?

Oh, with the variants.

Oh, I'm sorry. With the four variances as recommended. All right. Anything else from the body? All in favor, please say aye.

Aye.

Any opposed? Hearing none, motion carries. All right. Is there anyone here from the public to speak to 735 South Milledge?

good evening tyler davis 644 millage circle um i'm the uh i guess the uh not the owner but i guess the applicant on this one um and i'm just here to answer any questions you might have i know we spoke about it uh at the last meeting if you have any questions i'm here to answer thank you mr david appreciate it very much is there anyone else here to speak to south millage

Seeing none, we'll come for Commission action. I'll begin by having Attorney Drake read the ordinance.

In the Code of Athens, Clark County, Georgia, with respect to special use approval in the CO Commercial Office District for one process of land code located at 735 South Milledge Avenue and for other purposes. Thank you, Attorney Drake. This is in District 10.

Commissioner Hamby, would you like to make a motion? Sure, I'll make a motion to approve. Is there a second? Second. All right. Got a motion from Commissioner Hamby and a second from Commissioner Culpepper. Commissioner Hamby, any remarks? Commissioner Culpepper? No. Anything else from members of the body? Hearing none, all in favor please say aye. Aye. Any opposed? All right, hearing none, motion carries. All right, we are moving on to a public hearing on the resolution to amend the Urban Redevelopment Plan and establish the Urban Redevelopment Agency. This, as previously discussed, is for the purpose of moving forward with development of the new judicial center, and so I'll entertain any input on this at this time.

Good evening.

Good evening, Mr. Mayor and honorable commission.

I understand that the commission may not make a decision on this today, but my name is Charles Auslander. I'm chief state court judge here and just wanted to answer two questions I heard at the last meeting that you had. First was about the size of the potential judicial center. I just wanted to note that when I, first became a judge back in 2002. We were already in the space allocation process and sat through the first of many space allocation meetings. And so I think I've been through four of them and sat hours as most of our fellow judges and other officials have sat hours with architects over the past 20 years. And the amount of space that is proposed in this judicial center is very similar to the amount of space that they found that was needed 20 years ago. And then a second question that was also brought up is about the cost. And I cannot answer the question about the cost, but I think Commissioner Culpepper responded that this is a very specialized building that requires a lot of security on each floor. It has to be designed very intentionally for certain public flows and protections. And a lot of the very unique design I know contributes to that. We are willing to be a part, all the judges, of any public information, any tours, any videos that you want to put out there so the public can be informed or invite all the public into our current space to show them what our needs are and be able to show them what our needs will be. So we appreciate your continued consideration, whether it is tonight or in the future, and we're all here to support it. Thank you.

Thank you, Judge Haslander. Is there anyone else here to speak to the urban redevelopment plan? Good evening.

Good evening.

I'm Lisa Lott.

I'm the Chief Judge of the Western Circuit.

And I just wanted to say just a few things about this project of the new Judicial Center. I first want to, again, thank you all for your constant and unwavering support of the judicial branch of government and the courthouse. We are so grateful for your support. I know that you all have been listening to us about the courthouse and our needs, the old courthouse and our needs, and our hopes for the new courthouse and our needs. And we're very grateful for all of you and your concerns and your listening. In Georgia, it is very common that the center of towns is the courthouse. And Athens is no different. The courthouse that we sit in now is a glorious building. It's absolutely beautiful. But it has absolutely outlived our needs. We are so desperately in need of more space, different security than was required in 1900 when the building was built. And those are very significant reasons for a judicial center to be built and call it a new judicial center. It really should be the pride of our community, and I certainly believe that our current courthouse has always been the pride of our community, and I really look forward to your consideration of a new judicial center as continuing that legacy. All of the judges are willing and able, always at your service, to answer any questions about the necessity, the size, the kinds of rooms in the courthouse that we need. We certainly can't speak to how much a new judicial center will cost and those kinds of needs, but we're certainly there to answer any questions about what we need, what we can do away with, and anything we can do to make the new judicial center, the most perfect location in the center of Athens, and the pride of our city. We have many judges here today, and we're happy to answer any questions, always, that you may have. And thank you again for your consideration.

Thank you, Judge Lott. All right, we'll come for commission deliberation. All right, we have an agenda item in front of you, and so I'll entertain a motion regarding the updated project concept site selection and funding mechanism. Do I hear such a motion?

Second.

All right. I've got a motion from Commissioner Davenport. And second from Commissioner Link. Thank you both very much. This has been long in the works, and I appreciate your work on this. Commissioner Davenport also worked on site selection previously, so I appreciate your long tenure there. Commissioner Davenport, any remarks?

We started this discussion about two decades ago for a new courthouse, and they have outlived their, one of the courthouses outlived its purpose. It's time for a new one. Commissioner Link.

Yeah, I mean, there's no doubt that we need a new judicial center. And our judges have suffered immensely from the condition of the current building. And we're a growing community. It's long outgrown, that facility. i'm grateful that we've chosen a downtown location like judge lot said i also believe that you know our civic infrastructure should be located in the center of our town and so i'm grateful for that location i want to reiterate a concern that i brought up during our work session a couple weeks ago and i'm grateful for the work session i feel like it was very thorough and i hope that anybody out there who has questions or concerns about this project, we'll go and look at the video on YouTube and get a better understanding of this project. My concerns are I want to make sure that we have a very public process going forward in the design of the building, the skin of the building, the outside structure of the building to assure that it's a structure that suits our town and really represents our community and that the people that live closest to that structure have some direct input into that process. You know, we have a very, very historic church right next door. We have our north downtown Athens community right next door. I want to ensure that those folks have some very direct input moving forward in the design of the building.

Thank you, Commissioner Lincoln. Of course, those who've looked at the agenda report know construction wouldn't start until roughly 2028, so we know we've got quite a plan ahead of us. We've got Commissioner Fischer, Commissioner Culpepper, and Commissioner Myers.

Thank you, Mayor. Again, we appreciate it. Let me preface this. I think we do need a new courthouse, and it probably should well overdue for the years that that courthouse has been there in this community and something new and when we approved it back in 2018. So, of course, and I talked about this at our agenda sitting, the price tag. We talked about $200 million and how we gonna fund that and I think that's gotta be a big consideration moving forward when we talk about that. And one of the things, was on my mind when we first started to design and we had a team come in and did a great job. I always wish they would always give us some type of other alternatives that we can look at besides going six stories. Could we do four stories and still use the old courthouse and some other things? Again, there's just one commissioner speaking on that behalf, but I am concerned about how we're gonna pay for that and the price tag on that particular deal. But I guess as we move forward, we'll take a look at that. And to your point, Mayor, you're looking at 2028, that cost is gonna escalate even more. So I think we really need to be mindful of that. and our residents in this community need to be mindful that how's that gonna get paid and we don't want that to be on the burden of the taxpayers here in this community. So that's food for thought. Commissioner Culpepper.

Yes, I'd like to thank the county manager and his staff. That was one of his priorities when we hired him, is to get this ball moving forward. He's done a great job getting this moving forward. It's a long time coming. There's other buildings in downtown Athens that have been built that we've had bonds on. We should have done this before we did these others. And so thank you, Bob and staff, for doing that. I think there's opportunities for us to do public-private partnerships for parking and other scenarios where we can generate revenue to help pay for this if need be. But thank y'all for getting this in front of us.

Commissioner Myers.

Yeah, I'd like to express my support for this but also reiterate that right now we're not talking about the payment and that's important for me because I have more questions like some of us do on this. I was reviewing the history and I guess it was a good, when it was, it was back last September actually, it wasn't that long ago, that we generally expressed a clear desire that the new judicial center not wait any longer and be built downtown and move forward, and so like Commissioner Culpepper, I'm really glad what our new manager has done in moving that forward. I am concerned, and we'll keep asking questions about the financing so that we know what we're getting into as we're going along. But right now, I'd love to see this move forward. It's been way too long in coming and getting financed.

Commissioner McCoy.

Yes, it's been long overdue, and if we're going to move forward, I think I asked at the very beginning of this process when we knew it was going to be the planning department redevelop, and when we say urban renewal, it has a, for some of us, it has a or has a negative thought sometimes. I asked at the very beginning, and I don't think it was done, that First AME be included in these conversations. They are gonna be impacted no matter what, and that is, I wanna say it's the oldest African American church downtown, and I don't want 20 years from now we equate it to a linen town. Now I don't know why they were not included, but that is the only building in that vicinity that is going to be impacted no matter what you do. And I would appreciate that as we move forward, I'm not trying to put the brakes on it, that if there's a user group or to reach out to Pastor Holman, give some thoughts on how you're going to incapacitate them and what they bring to the table. That's my only thought.

Manager Cowell, I know just because we work together every day that you've had some engagement with the church. Yeah, I have talked to Pastor Holman.

So I just want to give you an opportunity to describe that. Yeah, I've spoken with Pastor Holman. He actually was at the work session that you all had as well. There is also, as a part of the process, there will be a meeting June 18th, right, June 18th, that includes the impacted property owners. That won't be the only meeting. That's just kind of the next meeting as we go forward. Absolutely. It's been very clear from the beginning, you all have made it very clear, that there is an expectation that obviously the whole community be involved in some capacity relative to how we move forward. But more importantly, those that are directly adjacent to the facility will continue to be involved throughout this process. So certainly anticipate that that will be a requirement going forward.

Thank you.

Thank you, Manager Cowell. I appreciate that. All right, I have a motion and a second on the floor. All in favor, please say aye. Aye. Any opposed? Hearing none, motion carries. All right, friends, we're moving on to our next opportunity for public input, and that is on old and new business, which are items 20 through 30 tonight. So if anybody would like to speak to any of those items 20 through 30, now is that time. You can line up at the podium. Again, same rules of public input, three-minute opportunity. Provide your name and place of residence.

Good evening. Thank you. Thank you, Mayor and Commissioners. My name is Aaron Redman. I live at 125 Crestview Circle, and I'm also a member of the Athens In Motion Commission. On behalf of AIM, I may be getting a little ahead of things here with today's proceedings with the RAISE grant, but I am speaking to express our strong support for the staff-recommended four-lane option for North Avenue corridor. We urge you to move forward with this choice because the most realistic, timely, and safety-focused proposal to improve North Avenue. Ideally, we'd recommend the proposed three-lane alternative for the greatest safety, but we're open to the four-lane option as a balanced and workable solution. North Avenue is one of the most dangerous roads in Clark County, and it serves a high number of vulnerable users every day, people walking and biking, transit riders and residents who live along this corridor. The current wide multi-lane configuration encourages excessive speeds, especially given the hills, curves and limited sight distances of the road. The design has contributed to multiple severe and fatal crashes over the years, and not just for folks walking and biking, but for motorists as well. Just in the past few months, two drivers have lost their lives on this road. In December, a driver near Strickland failed to negotiate a curb and struck a power pole, In March, another driver died at the MLK intersection after leaving the roadway and hitting a trestle pillar. Police reports indicate that neither drugs nor alcohol were factors in these accidents. It's really speed and roadway design that are major culprits here. North Avenue is even worse if you're on foot. I know, speaking from my experience, crossing MLK at that intersection knows how dangerous it is if anyone's done it, with cars accelerating down hills from both sides and frequently running red lights there. In this area, too, we have a homeless shelter, a convenience... convenience store, a park, greenway, constant foot traffic, and this is just one intersection. The current design of the road is incompatible with so many people using the corridor, especially on foot. I also want to address the perception that there's been a lack of public input on the project. ACC staff have provided numerous opportunities for residents to provide input and voice their concerns about the priorities of North Avenue. They've hosted multiple in-person information sessions, table to community events, online surveys, advertised all these with bilingual flyers and advertisements to ensure broad accessibility. Respondents have responded with clear and consistent priorities, including need for safer paths for people walking and biking, more crosswalks, and improved lighting. The four-lane option directly addresses these safety issues. It'll calm traffic, reduce speeding, and create safer, dedicated infrastructure for people walking and biking and accessing transit. The five-lane alternative would take years of right-of-way acquisition, time we simply do not have even with the grand extension. Thank you so much for hearing me out and prioritizing safety for North Avenue.

Thank you, Mr. Redman.

Good evening.

Good evening, Mayor Gertz and commissioners. I'm Theresa Friedlander. I live at 115 Middleton Place in Athens. I'm here speaking on behalf of Athens in Motion. I'm the vice chair. And I just want to, first of all, thank Aaron for very clearly explaining our position and the rationale behind it. I'm not going to repeat what he said, but I just wanted to make a couple of brief remarks. We've been trying to get this RAISE grant for six years, and there's been a tremendous amount of work put into this on the part of staff, and that's both our Athens-Clarke County staff and the consultants that we have on contract. And I read through the executive summary here that was attached to the agenda, and I just have to say that I'm very impressed with the the level of work, the professionalism, the competence that everyone who has been working on this has shown. So I just ‑‑ I'm here to say thank you to the staff, thank you to GDOT, thank you to the U.S. Department of Transportation, and thank you to you all for taking this opportunity to give us a second chance at that $25 million. So thank you so much. and we hope you will vote for option two in your agenda.

Thank you, Ms. Friedlander. Good evening. Good evening.

Good evening, my name's John Craven Morris. I'm a renter in District 2. Opinions shared here are my own and do not reflect my employer or any organizations that I'm affiliated with. I'd like to tell you about my friend Steven. Steven was a retired world traveler, health enthusiast, daily walker of many miles across town, and lover of garden salsa, Sun Chips. He also happened to be unhoused for many years in this town. He was struck by a distracted driver walking down North Avenue in December of 2021 and pronounced dead on the scene. I'll now invite you to take a moment of silence with me in Stephen's memory. Four months after Stephen's passing, Athens-Clarke County submitted the application for the RAISE grant, which was awarded by the federal government. for North Avenue pedestrian safety improvements. Last year, the COC Mortality Review Committee identified three members of our unhoused community who were killed as pedestrians by vehicles in our roadways across Athens. I understand and acknowledge concerns related to traffic exiting UGA home football games and other high traffic events in downtown Athens. That being said, I live in Athens and drive, bike, walk, or ride the bus along the North Avenue corridor almost every day. I have never experienced burdensome delays due to traffic. I have witnessed cars drive off the road, whiz around curves and travel at fast speeds, putting pedestrians and my clients in danger. In 2022, a car drove off the road into a handrail outside of our building on 240 North Avenue. Fortunately, no one was hurt, but had that occurred 30 feet further up the road, we could have lost half a dozen more neighbors. Recognizing there's a high volume of utilizers of public transit in North Avenue and high concentration of service providers, I believe that we are faced with a unique opportunity to use federal funds rather than local funds that can only be used for this corridor to make it safer for our vulnerable neighbors. We have the option to prioritize these everyday Athenian safety needs or to prioritize out of town visitors cheering on the dogs on a handful of Saturdays in the fall. Reducing North Avenue to four lanes with a protected multi-use path prioritizes Athens residents. I make this request on behalf of my friend, Steven, who no longer has a life or voice to make this request on his own. Separate from this, I also support awarding Envision Athens with the housing fund, their key stakeholder with institutional connections in this community that intimately understand the housing needs of the Athens community as well as our unhoused neighbors. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Morris.

Good evening.

Dr. Tawana Smith-Maddox, Pitta Road. And my comments are quite the opposite of what the person in front of me said, to be honest. First, number 22, the ACC Affordable Housing Fund administrative structure recommendations. I have real concerns about agencies, organizations, certain people. There's a group click. They get boosted up through chairing this, over here, doing workshops with this, and as though we don't see this, and then all of a sudden they are qualified to lead a housing fund. I don't really know, you know, I don't have anything against Envision Athens, but I never knew Envision Athens to be in the housing business. But yet, once again, as you all did with the Chamber, you gave them money to start a nonprofit. So now you're going to give Envision Athens money to give them this assignment to just totally change their vision and now they are a housing firm, that is not right. Because I don't believe if I, Dr. Tawana Smith matters, if I would try to do something like that, that I would be approved to do that. And I want us to have fairness and equity in all processes. They may very well be the best organization and the leader might be the best person. I do have personal issues with her, to be transparent for the way she did at the cottage with my baby. Just go look up the little girl. And so I'm concerned about these groups, organizations, people that you all approve to be over things that relate to vulnerable people. And so I ask that you table this so that there is more community conversation around this. I am not in the majority of this. I'm not the only one who feels this way, but it's not right. We need to have RFPs. You all have been very good at not giving RFPs, and that's not right because they are very committed and dedicated, invested people. I have worked a second job to run Destin at times. I worked in Oglethorpe for Action and used that money to run my nonprofit. So we need to do better. So I do not agree with that, the person nor the organization. And I do want you all to take a pause on the RISE grant, because we do need to have a community meeting in North Athens about that. Thank you.

Thank you, Dr. Maddox. Good evening.

Hi. My name is Scott Long. I'm the executive director for Bike Athens. I have written a lot of letters of support for the RISE grant over the years. and I'm here to talk about it. I know y'all have heard a lot about it, and I know decision makers like data, so I got you the latest data. I did a survey last week of people who actually use North Avenue about their experience. What we learned isn't anything surprising, but it's people who use North Avenue, it's not simply a road people drive through. It is a lifeline. People are using this corridor to get to healthcare appointments, grocery stores, housing services, social services, work, and bus stops. More people reported walking North Avenue than driving it. More than half reported using transit, yet 71% of respondents said they have felt unsafe traveling on or crossing North Avenue. The concerns were consistent, vehicles traveling too fast, drivers not paying attention, difficulty crossing the street, inadequate sidewalks, poor lighting, and a lack of space for people on bikes. The solutions respondents asked for are remarkably consistent, safer crosswalks, better sidewalks, safer bike facilities, better lighting, safer access to transit. One respondent wrote, I avoid North Avenue as a pedestrian even though I work there because I feel that I need to use a car to cross the street. Another said, people drive really fast and distracted. It's terrifying to cross the road. Another reminded us, just because it may be a lower income area doesn't mean people don't matter. These aren't abstract transportation statistics. These are the voices of people who depend on North Avenue every day. The RAISE grant is an opportunity to make North Avenue safer, more accessible, and more connected for the people who are already relying on it for basic needs. I encourage you to continue to support this effort, the staff and consultant recommendation, and ensure the voices of the corridor remain at the center of the process. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Long.

Good evening. Good evening. I'm Jeff Carter with Carter Engineering Consultants, and I'm here to speak on item number 20. We came before you for 4190 Lexington Road Rezone back in May. We asked for the project to be tabled, and the reason that we asked for it to be tabled was we wanted some more time to work through a better product. We wanted to listen to the concerns that was raised, and I believe we have done that. You should have received some proffered conditions. There's three conditions that were self-imposed on the property. These are self-imposed. They're proffered because of issues that we've heard from the development. So I'd like to read them right quick and just give you an explanation. So condition one. No road crossing or buildings will be built south of the existing stream. The regulations found in Chapter 8-6, protected environmental areas, will be followed. No relief from those regulations is being requested. So what that boils down to is if you decide to approve this rezone with this condition, there will never be buildings built south of the existing stream. And so we are giving up that land in terms of, we're saying we're not gonna be able to put buildings there and we're not gonna cross the stream with the road. So those were really significant item there. Condition number two, in order to get condition one and three to work, condition number two, we're asking for the on-street parking requirement be waived. Condition number three, access to Pinecone Place and Merch Lane will be limited to emergency access only. This will be accomplished by a gate that remains closed and locked until access is required for emergency vehicle use. This condition is intended to address the need for a second point of access for daily vehicle trips that exceed 250, but is not intended to provide a second full access that is necessary for more than 200 residential units. So what this boils down to is that no traffic from the subdivision will use to cut the pinecone lane. And that was a big issue that we heard from the surrounding property owners that they didn't want traffic coming through pinecone lane. So what we're saying is we're not going to use that access. There'll be a gate there that will only be used by emergency personnel. Now I will say I have discussed this with the planning director. He's talked to the fire department emergency services. He can speak to that more if you need to, but they're in agreement with this. And so we look at this as solving some major issues that we've heard. It brings housing to Athens. Right now the property, the back is zoned RM1, the middle is zoned RSA, and the front is zoned GC. We can go develop it right now, okay? And we'll do that if this rezone is denied. But just keep in mind, with these conditions, it is a much better product, and that's what we're trying to do. Thank you, Mr. Carr. Thank you.

Good evening. Good evening, I'm Ken Poitier. I live at 160 Spruce Valley Road, Athens. I'm a resident of Cedar Creek subdivision, and I'm speaking on behalf of number 20, rezoning request and subsequent development of 4190 Lexington Road. The modifications proposed in the development concept for 4190 Lexington Road represents, in my opinion, and that of many Cedar Creek residents, a win-win for the developer and the residents of Clark County. The decision to not develop the property across from Cedar Creek addresses many of the environmental concerns expressed by Cedar Creek residents bordering the property, and as an additional benefit, retains the mature tree stand that protects the creek and provides wildlife habitat. Remaining is the concern related to sewage management that we mentioned in the last couple of meetings. The consensus of a residence is to be patient and encourage public utility staff to work with the developer to implement a solution that includes some kind of active monitoring of these tanks or whatever they're gonna put in to handle the sewage issue. The long term solution is obviously to fix and replace the sewer lines along Cedar Creek. We're not gonna hold our breath on that one. That's a major expense. We thank both the developer and county staff for hearing our concerns and working to find this acceptable solution. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Fortier. All right, thank you for everybody who provided public input. So we'll begin our old and new business segment with number 20, 4190 Lexington Road. Of course, this is in Commissioner Davenport's district, so I'll ask you, sir, to make a motion tonight.

Motion to approve. Second. With the conditions.

All right, got a motion to approve with the conditions as proper, and I have a second from Commissioner Culpepper. Any remarks, Commissioner Davenport?

Yeah, this was an interesting one that, and I do wanna thank the resident as well as Mr. Carter for working with the community and understanding their community needs. and working with staff, I encourage other developers to do the same. We want to develop for the existing community that are here, and not just to be intrusive, but I do want to thank Mr. Carter for that. And the conditions, the residents of City Creek seem to be amenable to the conditions. And all parties seem to be happy. And that's why I believe in most. And also, if we denied it, the applicant will have to wait another year. And if we put it on hold, not hold, tabled it, not tabled it, I'm sorry, it's the medication kicking in. If we'll have withdrawal. If we did a withdrawal, it'll be November until they'll be able to come back. But I think they did a really good job in addressing the community concerns.

Thank you, Commissioner Davenport. Commissioner Culpepper, any follow-up? I just, yeah, I want to say thank you to Carter Engineering and their staff and meeting with the residents and coming up with something that, as one of the residents says, is a win-win for both. I think that's great.

If there's an ordinance associated with this, this was a planning and zoning item.

There's a future land use map.

vote first and then rezoning. And I just want to confirm, we're approving this with the conditions that were proffered by the developer, correct? Yes, sir. OK. Future land use map, we'll put on that first. An ordinance to amend the code of Athens-Clarke County, Georgia with respect to amending the future land use map of Athens-Clarke County by changing the designation of four parcels of land comprising approximately 11.33 acres. located at 4190 Lexington Road, 150 Pinecone Place, 120 Merck's Lane, and 140 Merck's Lane from general business and single family residential to mixed density residential and for other purposes.

All right. Any further remarks before we vote on the future land use? All right, we've got a motion from Commissioner Davenport, second from Commissioner Culpepper. All in favor, please say aye. Aye. Any opposed? All right, hearing none, motion carries. We'll move on to the ordinance associated with the rezoning.

Yes, an ordinance to amend the Code of Athens-Clarke County, Georgia, with respect to rezoning three processes of land comprising approximately 4.4 acres located at 4190 Lexington Road, 150 Pinecone Place, and 120 Merch Lane from CG Commercial General and RS-8 Single Family Residential to RM-1 Mixed Nancy Residential and for other purposes.

All right. Is there a motion regarding the resending? Mr. Davenport? Motion to approve with condition. Second. All right. I've got a motion and a second. Any further remarks? All in favor, please say aye. Aye. Any opposed? Aye. Please note opposition from Commissioner Taylor. All right, we're moving on to item 22. This is the ACC Affordable Housing Fund Administrative Structural Recommendations. I entertain a motion at this point.

21? 21? Leisure Services.

Oh, Leisure Services Master Plan. Golly, just leaving them out and they're in the room. All right, 21 is the Leisure Services Comprehensive Master Plan accepted. So I hear a motion. So moved. Second. All right, motion to accept from Commissioner Wright. Is there a second?

Second.

All right, I've got a second from Commissioner Link. Commissioner Wright, any remarks?

No, I appreciate the hard work that was done.

Commissioner Link?

I'm glad to accept this.

All right. You know, we do have our newly minted Leisure Services Director in the room. Would you like Assistant Director to introduce your new partner? Come on down.

I told her earlier, I said, we're going to formally introduce everyone in the July meeting. See, I just didn't want to make this a lonely evening in your life.

So I'm Alex Bond, Assistant Director for Leisure Services. It's my honor to introduce our new director, Kimberly. We've been working together for the past two weeks and getting into it. And this is a great first step because this plan lays a great groundwork. So thank you all very much.

Kimberly, thanks for being with us. Two weeks in and you're still here. So this bodes well.

Thanks so much. And since Alex was there, I certainly do want, particularly with this plan, to acknowledge the work that Alex did. Kim is fortunate. She's coming in and gets to be here for the adoption of it. But Alex was here through the entire development of this plan. And it has been a long time in coming. So I certainly want to acknowledge his work along with the consulting team on it.

And thanks for everybody who worked on this. I mean, just particularly given the sort of geographic analysis that's part of this plan, I'm very much looking forward to some of the facilities coming out of the ground that are suggested in it. So thanks to all of you. Item 22, again, is our Affordable Housing Fund administrative structure recommendations. And I will entertain a motion. Did we vote on? No. All right, so we had a motion. We have a second. All in favor, please say aye. Aye. All opposed? Hearing none, motion carried. There we go. All right, thank you all. Jeez Louise. All right, 22, Affordable Housing Fund Administrative Structure. Do I hear a motion?

Motion to hold for RFP process.

Second.

option two option two all right got a motion from commissioner taylor second from uh commissioner thornton to hold for option two an rfp all right uh commissioner taylor remarks yeah i just think for i think that we all can agree that we get a pretty bad route when it comes to transparency um and this is a way for us to

I guess open the door for other organizations who feel that they are also ready, and if not, we can come back to awarding it to Envision Athens, but I think for a more open process, yeah.

Commissioner Tate, Thornton.

My comments are very similar to Commissioner Taylor. I do know that during the work session, there was a suggestion or remarks that Envision Athens was going to revise their mission statement. I would like to see that as we move forward, what that actually looks like. The other thing that Envision Athens provided so much technical assistance to community nonprofits, I would like to know where and how are these non-profits to function if we do move to Envision Athens, becoming a housing, focusing only on housing?

Commissioner Davenport. Yes, so just a parliamentarian question. If we hold I'm assuming it will come back to us in August. Are we holding to delay? Are we dead? Yes.

So the motion is to pursue an RFP process, as I understand it. I'm going to ask Manager Cowell to talk a little bit about the timeline associated with that. Yes.

So as I understand it, the motion was to proceed with option two, which is not holding it over. It's proceeding with the formation of the RFP. Time wise what we would end up doing is actually having to craft the RFP So it'll take a little bit of time to do that with purchasing and others You know, typically you're gonna be looking at a 30 ish 30 45 day kind of publication notice provision or procedure answering questions those types of things assuming we get respondents to the RFP and then you go into an evaluation process associated with that, which could also take 30 to 45 days to go through, and then assuming that turns out a viable candidate, we would then start negotiations for, not negotiations, but start contract development associated with that, and then bring all of that ultimately back to you all for action. You know, depending on how long it takes to craft the RFP, because we haven't done that, obviously, because this was the fastest path to moving on implementing the plan, you know, I would say you could add probably 45 to 60, at least 60 days, I would say, to get beyond that, if not more than that as we move into the contract discussion, so.

So under option two, the timeline would shift to this returning to the commission for kind of full implementation approximately fall of 2027. And that's covered in facts and issues 19.

Thank you both. Commissioner Myers?

Yeah, I'm in support of this option as well. Mostly because I think the transparency on this issue that has to do with affordable housing and those who are most eligible and in need of it, it's very important that we have a trust factor going into this and going through the RFP process will make that more clear for everyone across the community.

Mr. Fisher.

Yeah. Also, wasn't there, if I remember, wasn't there a CDO attached So with the money that's going to be going to the housing trust fund, though, was that part of the $7.9 million, Mayor?

Yeah, that was part of the core project approval. So there was a, if you remember, it was Commissioner Hamby, I think, had indicated that it was two census tracts where A significant portion of that funding was to be dedicated. We said this in the work session that while we go through the RFP process and ultimately assuming it ends in a productive manner in which we have someone we're going to work with and administering, should an affordable housing opportunity come up in between, your options are very limited. It really is the housing authority for the most part. And yes, there is, I think it's half of that funding is required to be inside those two census trials.

I just wanted to keep that in mind because, you know, I think people might have forgot about that. Well, the CDO, Commissioner Hammond, has attached to that to make sure that those dollars do get spent in that census tract. So I just want to make sure that we did not lose fact of those funds for that particular project and the money that's going to be coming forward. So I think if and when we do the RFP, that needs to be And that piece needs to be in there somewhere.

Well, any administrator of those funds would certainly going to have to pursue the dictates of that earlier commission action. But again, as Manager Cowell noted, those funds, unless utilized by the housing authority, wouldn't be available until subsequent to fall of 2027.

Well, I would rather, you know, the money be used for the intended place instead of rushing and the money be used for what is not intended for, which in the last four years I've seen that to happen.

Commissioner Link.

Yeah, so the RFP, will we be seeing that for approval?

Typically. Typically, no. I mean, we would just craft the RFP based on all of our other requirements or proposals. You know, I can certainly include the version that goes out to publication in my weekly update so that you all have a copy of it with that. So, yeah.

So, my concern is, you know, during the work session, we did have some discussion about assuring that I mean, it was obvious that if Envision Athens were to lead this process, they would have to undergo some restructuring and form a board that was conducive to affordable housing and representative of the community. And that was a concern that I brought up. So I'd like to ask that in the construction of that RFP that that concern be kind of emphasized that, you know, to the community that, you know, that be a main consideration in the organization.

Yeah, things like that would be in there. I think, for example, there was a, in the work session, there was a lot of discussion regarding conflicts of interest. So one of the reasons why, and I know there were a lot of questions the community was asking about why wouldn't you choose folks that specialize in housing? probably because they're going to be pursuing the funds themselves and so it is a bit odd that you're you know ultimately looking for someone who can an organization that can manage a program that may not actually likely would not be a housing provider because of the potential conflict so all of those kinds of things would need to be in there so that the folks who are potentially interested in responding would know what those requirements are and those limitations in order to do that. So yes, I think the representation on a board of the community, making certain that those conflicts are understood and how those could play into it, all of those will have to be a part of that.

Well, and also just members of the community that have lived in affordable housing or know of the need for it.

Commissioner Hamby, and then I'll return to Commissioner Thorpe. Sure. Thank you, Mayor. Commissioner Wright had her hand up. I'm sorry. Commissioner Wright, Commissioner Hamby, Commissioner Thorpe.

I jumped ahead there. I'm not supportive of this option, but I can tell the majority is as this conversation is moving forward. And my main goal was to... move as swiftly as possible. And I felt that the guardrails for the choice that were presented in the work session were good and are good for what's in the packet, which would be allowing us to access the multiple times and ways that funding has made it into the affordable housing fund, which we have yet to be able to move out of there. We've been putting in with different parameters and details. So, I'm more for the expeditious use of those funds in the community and waiting, as I say, to at least fall more than a year away is not as suitable to me as the options that have it moving forward to Swifter, which would be option one, A, B, and C, but I can read the room.

Not everyone has spoken. Commissioner Hamming. Sure. Thank you. Thank you, Mayor. I appreciate that. And I agree with Commissioner Wright on this one. I mean, it seems as though we have this. It's a one-time, one-year allocation to this group who will help us get set up and get the ball rolling for how we're going to do the expenditures on the affordable housing fund. I don't think we have... i've been hearing the campaigns i've been hearing the talk we don't you know let's just get moving we don't have time to waste so and if it doesn't work here's here's the beauty of this that's a one-time expense in this budget if it doesn't work we'll get somebody else next year so let's let's see what happens commissioner hammy i'll make a substitute motion that we approve uh whatever those options were that commissioner wright said one one a b c and i'll second one a okay

All right, got a motion from Commissioner Hamby, and I've got a second from Commissioner Wright. I'll turn to Commissioner Thornton.

Kind of got lost up here now. I'm still going to stick with my motion, I mean my support for RFP. I think that One of the, Commissioner Hamby said about, he's hearing stuff on the campaign, and transparency is one of the key things that is on the campaign. I do not think this move was transparent. I do not think that the people who have called me to support this it was unusual calls, I'll put it that way, unusual calls. I don't, when I look at who are on these boards, everybody intersects. And I'm just, and I had to make it clear with one person, it is not personal, God knows it's not personal. This has been on the burner since 2023. And honestly, I have not seen no movement in housing, none in housing, until GIC stepped up and started rolling out plans. June 3rd of 2025, Mayor, you assigned that Athens study to the Get Committee. The study would have included the housing trust fund. So it's almost like It's a shell game. We're moving the shells. But to be honest with you, this whole process, and I'm not talking about Ovita Thornton managing the process, but the assignment was that the study would be directed or led by Gick, and Gick has had no communication. So I'm just going by what you said, Mayor, when this came up. So if you change your mind, Maybe that's what you should tell us. But no, I'm gonna stick with what I said. I mean, some folk may feel like I'm stepping out of my lane a little bit and putting some stuff at risk. But I'm gonna stand on the truth and I'm gonna stand on what's right. And we need to open the doors for other folk and not have the same players making decisions.

I just want to note kind of very clearly that this has been for many years sort of a path underway. The Attorney's Office made a great deal of effort by reaching out to peer communities like Macon and Augusta to find out what the most both expeditious and legally sound structure is for this process. I think like at least some of the folks in the room tonight, I get a little hot under the collar when I see us kicking the can down the road when we have the opportunity to act and act quickly and act swiftly and act in the public interest. We certainly are talking here about really a functionary position. You know, how do we actually get dollars from point A to point B? You know, we're not talking about individuals who are going to be making value judgments about the quality of our nonprofit partners, and that's why we've got somebody other than one of our affordable housing nonprofit partners who's ideally situated to do this work. Appreciate very much the work that the consultants did, kind of surveying existing tenured, kind of well-foundationed organizations in the community because, of course, that's what you want to do, good quality work that's going to last for the long haul. Commissioner Myers?

Yeah, we are being transparent now. We're having a discussion about something difficult, and I appreciate that. We're not all in agreement. We're airing our differences here. So that is part of the process here. I do want to say that we're really not having a year delay. It's more like a six-month delay. So if we envision Athens wouldn't be getting it. And again, I'd say it wasn't personal at all here. This is really going through this process. And I think it's not, hopefully, it's not a one-year thing. This is a loan program that is continuous and is supposed to continue going and going. So I want to make sure we get it right and feel confident and have it all clear from the start that we are all confident in what we're doing and how we're doing it. And those are just my follow-up comments on this.

Commissioner Thornton, final opportunity.

Final opportunity. If we're going to do this, if we're going to be transparent, the bank that has been named also should be open to be part of a RFP process. In all fairness, the bank is my bank that I've banked in since the 80s when I moved here. But I do think if we don't have nothing to hide or if we're not cooking up something in the background, let's open it up for the RFP to be for the bank that has been identified and the whole program if we're going to put it out there like that.

I know that there are some contours around designations of banks as community development finance institutes, and I do understand that that was the reason that Athens First Bank was chosen.

But if you put it open, there might be some you didn't know. It doesn't have to be right here in the neighborhood. Mayor, if you want to call for the vote, let's call for the vote, but I'm not going to sit here and debate this with you.

Any further public input from the body before we move to a vote? All right, I've got a vote beginning with Commissioner Hamby.

Yes.

DAVID BURRAGE?

Yes.

LINK? Yes. TAYLOR? No. WRIGHT? Yes. FISHER?

No.

COPEPER?

Yes.

MYERS? No. THORNTON? No. 5 YES, 4 NO.

Thank you, Madam Clerk. I appreciate that. That is settled. All right, moving on to item 23. 23 is the 2025 update to the public utilities department service delivery infrastructure element and capital improvement element. I'll entertain a motion from the body.

So moved.

All right, I've got a motion from Commissioner Wright. Is there a second?

Second. Second.

All right, I've got a second from Commissioner Myers. All right, Commissioner Wright?

Ready to vote. Oh, thank you for all the hard work. How about that, too? It was a long process, and I've been through several cycles of this, and I really appreciate and understand how much work is involved. Thank you.

Commissioner Myers.

similar thanks as well and also to you know repeat that our discussion of the Sandy Creek Basin is not included in this public utility delivery plan and that is something for the future since there's a discussion of that out in the community I just wanted to clarify that but that was not incorporated into this plan

Yeah, and my only clarification is that is correct. And I just want to put a little bit of boundaries on the future that we are working on it. So based on the direction that was provided at the work session, that's proceeding. So I don't want folks to think five years in the future, 10 years in the future. We'll come back with a discussion. There'll be further discussion. Again, there could be an amendment of this plan based on what comes of that. Commissioner Thornton.

Yeah, I want to reiterate that also, that the Sandy Creek Bay, because I was looking through the plan, looking for it, saying you'd be, I was just going through all those pages. But I do think now that we have, become educated. I want to thank Public Utilities again for the awesome presentation they did with me working with JJ Harris. It was very educational. And I do think it gives us some education. I hope that as we move forward, I do not have to keep reminding staff in this body that we are sitting on a time bomb with these septic tanks. And just because the state doesn't regulate, we need to be doing something proactive. Yes, I will be voting for this with the understanding that the Sandy Creek Basin and environment is which is a huge environmental issue I'm not worried about the cost because y'all we we pay for whatever we want to but Environmentally, we need to be very careful. So That was that's my comment Thank You Commissioner anything further

I've got a motion from Commissioner Wright and a second from Commissioner Myers. All in favor, please say aye. Aye. Thank you all. All right. Item 24 gladly is returned to us, given that we thought it might have been at least partly lost, and that is our North Avenue Corridor Raise Grant Project. I'll entertain a motion at this time.

I'll move to approve option two, ABCDE.

And I'll second. All right, I've got a motion from Commissioner Link and a second from Commissioner Myers. Commissioner Link?

Yeah, I want to first of all thank staff for their persistence in seeing to it that we had a second chance with this grant. This is 25 million federal dollars coming into this community. That's huge. And I want to thank Mr. Redman for the statistics and pointing out the real tragic fatalities that happen along this corridor regularly. I mean, you know, we get a death a year at least on North Avenue, and every time I cross through that MLK intersection or travel up or down North Avenue, I see close calls and I see those pedestrians trying to cross and, you know, the guys on the scooters in the gutter It's terrifying. And I have constituents who live off of North Avenue in that neighborhood who would love to be able to walk and visit their friends on the other side of North Avenue, and they don't do it. They get in their car to travel a quarter mile So it's imperative that we fix this corridor, and this is, you know, pretty much a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to do that. And it's made clear. We had, you know, a consultant that gave us all the facts and stats about why the four-lane concept is where we need to go. And, you know, we all know that the more lanes you have, the faster cars are going to go. So it's outlined pretty well in the agenda item. and there is some flexibility for staff for turn lanes and concrete medians and bus pickup lanes and things like that. So I really look forward to seeing what we come up with to truly make this corridor safer and save lives, really just save some lives.

Commissioner Byers, you follow up?

Yeah, when we voted as a body for the CDO, I guess it was two, one and a half years ago, in December or something, 2024. The last point in that CDO was staff will report back no later than May 225, which was last year, and its determination related to the implementation of the modifications that were in the CDO. And having read through the agenda report, the analysis shows like one, that the timeline, you know, which is extended because of the increased right-of-way, that the costs are higher with the five-lane because of the right-of-way, which would be the responsibility. Manager, please correct me if I'm wrong on these things. I'm trying to summarize that document because of the increased right-of-way expenses and also some of the public input that would be needed because of environmental regulations. But most importantly, for the safety reasons that I read through really carefully that don't match the national highway recommendations on how to make sure that roads are safe not only for cars but also for pedestrians and other uses, scooters, bikes, et cetera. And so at this point, I am ready to support the four-lane option that's in that one of the other options that was given to us, because the agenda report does present both the options for evaluation.

Thank you, Commissioner. Commissioner Thorne.

I'm actually going to make a substitute motion for number one. I really think that it probably should have been two motions, one to accept the grant money and separate on the concept. But since they're both there together, I will make that substitute motion. I've been on the phone with Commissioner Myers half this day talking about this. Oh, yeah, we talked about other hikers. We had our own commission meeting. But I do think that I think there were speakers talking about all the people that were interviewed. And I guess that's relative, who you ask. That depends on where you get your information from. But I am going to go ahead on. I'm not going to make no debate. This is not one I'm going to fall on the sword on. I have some personal issues, and this ain't the place. But my substitute is one.

All right, motion done for lack of a second. All right, we're going to return to the original motion. Is there any further input?

I just have a question for option one. And it's just done. I mean, sorry. Right-of-way acquisition for four to five parcels. That would be accounting and negotiating with property owners for land acquisition.

As we've experienced with some other projects in recent years. All right. Okay. Okay.

Thank you.

All right. I've got a motion and a second. We'll do a roll call. Yes. Question. Oh, question from Commissioner Culpepper.

So when this came up, Did we approve option one?

We approved analysis of kind of that version, and so this gives us that analysis that we asked for.

No, we approved the CDO. That was it. It wasn't analysis. It was the concept.

So we've approved option one before, now we're going back on that, is that right?

There's some nuance to this. I'll ask Deputy Manager Henry Saunders to.

Sure, in the history, you'll see that there were two relevant actions to this. One was to approve the CDO, which is more or less what's described in option one. Then later, when we, as the memo articulates, that that option wasn't really gonna, it was gonna put us at high risk of not meeting the original grant timeline. There was a subsequent action to pursue a planning grant only, to just kind of basically whiteboard it and start over. And so certainly when we got the grant extension, that prompted the conversation of what now, which is why this agenda is before you.

Commissioner Thornton.

I'm going to step out on a limb here because I feel as though, well, I know how this vote is going to go. There is a meeting with Ronnie, who's here, and the meeting was before the vote, and the question was asked, if we get an extension, can we reconsider another option? Ronnie said no. So you can't tell me this stuff isn't already in line and played out. Now, I don't want anybody to think I'm having conspiracy issues. I'm just telling you what goes on that my community does not benefit from. So again, like I said before, Mayor, I'm ready to vote.

Commissioner Culver. I'll second Commissioner Thornton's substitute motion. Is it too late to do that? It might be too late. Judd. I wanted to clarify. We've already approved this once.

I don't think or see anything that says you can't. I mean, she can re-offer the motion, you know. All right.

So we've got a substitute and a second for that substitute. All right. Other input? I will note, appreciate very much the work of Transportation Public Works and AECOM, the consultant. The very good thing about doing this work in this era of time is that we've got science that allows us to understand very clearly what is safe for all users. I think it's earlier noted probably by Commissioner Link, when you have a very wide roadway, that inherently is a more dangerous phenomenon than you have a somewhat narrower roadway. And so for all of the tens of thousands of folks on this corridor, we know that the four-lane proffer here is the safer version. And so I certainly hope folks support that one. So we'll begin with a substitute motion with Commissioner Thornton.

Thornton? Yes. Hamnick?

No.

Davenport?

No.

Link? No. Taylor? Yes. Wright? No. Fisher?

No.

Culpepper? No. 6, no. 3, yes.

All right. We'll return to the original motion from Commissioner Link.

Link? Yes. Taylor? No. Wright? Yes. Fisher?

Yes.

Culpepper? Yes. Myers? Yes. Thornton?

Yes.

Hamby?

Yes.

Davenport?

Yes.

8, yes. 1, no.

Thank you, Madam Clerk. All right. We are moving to Item 25, and I think there was an interest in holding this until the August voting meeting. Is that the case? Do I hear a motion to that effect? Yes.

Yes, yes. Yes, there's a motion to that effect.

All right. Hold until August from Commissioner Myers. All right. Is there a second?

Second.

All right. I've got a second from Commissioner Wright. Any remarks, Commissioner Myers?

No, we, University of Georgia has worked with us here and is going to be and has worked with Transportation and Public Works to get the name of all the property owners on Bailey Street and its neighboring street. And they're going to be sending something out to all of those people to let them know what's going on in this case. And so it seemed appropriate to do the vote after that. And so I'm appreciative of UGA and the Manager's Office of Transportation and Public Works sort of working to use this new schedule here. All right.

Hold until the August voting meeting.

I want to say the visuals that have come out from this is really, you know, I love a good visual. Well done on the map. I had missed the part that it was going to have a 12-foot multi-use trail with the road. Another bonus there. And so I look forward to this when we see it again.

And we have to credit UGA for the map.

Oh, I can see that that...

All right, hold until the end. All in favor, please say aye.

Aye. Any opposed? All right. Hearing none, motion carries. All right. Item 26, another collaborative with our friends across the street. This is the FY2728 UGA ACC Transportation Agreement. Do I hear a motion for approval? So moved.

Second.

All right. I've got a motion from Commissioner Fischer. I've got a second from Commissioner Wright. Commissioner Fischer? I read the vote. Commissioner Wright?

Option 1A and B, just to be clear.

Any other input? All in favor, please say aye. Aye. Any opposed? Hearing none, motion carries. Option 27 is a lovely opportunity that we have. I want to thank very much the Koonin family who are going to help us celebrate the great work of local artist Harold Rittenberry with a sculpture for placement in College Square. And also the Costa Park College Square is proceeding expeditiously. If you've been down there this week, you can actually see the lovely herringbone brick pattern on the ground in front of some of our local businesses. So I'll entertain a motion here.

Move to approve. Wait a minute, District 4? I'm just kidding.

Second. All right, I've got a motion from Commissioner Link. We've got Commissioner Wright, the other art lover in the room, as a seconder. Commissioner Link?

Yeah, this is really exciting. Harold Rittenberry is awesome. He was one of the first artists, the local artist whose work I got to know when I moved here 30 plus years ago. And I'm really excited to see his work take a center spot in our community. when College Square is up and ready. And that's an exciting project, too. And I want to give some acknowledgment to staff for their attention to the project as contractors were seeing it through. We had our very... Very educated staff saved some trees, thanks to our community forester, Mateo Fennell, and Andrew Saunders, our assistant manager, who also has quite a bit of experience with that. So I'm really grateful that we have such skilled staff in that realm.

Commissioner Wright.

I want to just make sure it's option ABC, and District 4 is happy to accept this artwork in our two new parks and public gathering, what do we call them, third spaces, fourth spaces? Anyway, good space and a great draw. I'm sure there's going to be lots of people taking lots of pictures with them, as they should.

Anyone else? All in favor, please say aye. Aye. Any opposed? Hearing none, motion carries. Looking forward to this quite a bit. All right, 28 is designation of downtown government property to park property. I know, Commissioner Hampton, you'd like to make a motion?

Sure, I sure would, Mayor, thank you. I would, however, like to make a motion that we add something to the motion. That's here. If y'all just consider this real quick. Since we already have accepted a donation from Mr. Rittenberry and the Coonans for College Square, in order to go ahead and get this off our plate, I'd like for the motion to also include College Square as a park that extends from Broad Street to Clayton Street so that we don't have to worry about that come whenever it's finished in September or something.

So we'll go ahead and name it a park.

The names of these parks can be determined later on, but for right now, just going ahead and identifying those parks.

All right, so this would establish the block that we are in now as a public park as well as College Square. Motion on the floor from Commissioner Hamby. Is there a second?

And District 4, where this is happening, gets the lowly second on this as well. Option one.

Second from Commissioner Wright.

But the addition of College Square.

All right. Commissioner Fisher.

Aren't we having a meeting on Friday?

Yeah, and that would be a broad application. Yeah, there's a public right-of-way meeting Friday to consider some updated ordinance language, which would have county-wide applicability.

All right, okay. Yes. I didn't know. I didn't want it to coincide with what Commissioner Hammer had put on the floor. Okay.

Interplay well with each other. All right. Anything else? All in favor, please say aye. Aye. Any opposed? Hearing none, motion carries. All right, item 29 is adoption of the budget. Of course, folks have been working very hard on getting some final amendments in place. Any input from the body on this? Otherwise, I'll entertain a motion to consider the budget for a vote one week from tonight. Let's just add a question. So move. Yeah, so move. Second. Second. I got a motion to consider the budget on June 9th. Second from Commissioner Davenport. Question, Commissioner Davenport?

Yes, so the work that we're doing now that's going out of the pipeline, we don't need a CDO. We just approve as is, or do we need to start working on that now?

I think Manager Cowell is working on an option for us.

Yeah, I mean, I think if it appears based off of the discussions you all have had so far and what's popping up in kind of the Q&A that Sarah's been monitoring, that there's a consensus kind of coming around the three or four or five points. We can most likely accomplish that through a motion with amendments on it rather than trying to go through a separate CDO. If there is not consensus or if there's a desire to go broader than those four or five points, it may necessitate a CDO, just depending on how extensive the, right now the items are fairly straightforward, pretty easy to just simply add as an amendment.

Commissioner's right, Thornton and Fisher.

And so will we be seeing those details in Thursday's meeting, just to clarify it in public?

Yes, and actually in the, it'll actually be in the agenda reports that will precede Thursday's meeting. We won't spring it on you or the public at the meeting.

Okay, yeah, so everybody knows that that's... Not to, this agenda was big enough as it is. It's in the facts and issues currently. Yeah, it's in there. So that'll be launched tomorrow. So it's in there.

If you look at the facts and issues right now in the agenda report, it has what so far we know to be the items that you all have identified. So take a look at those because if there is something that is that there's a consensus around that we've not captured, we need to know that so that we can incorporate that.

Would y'all like me to put in a CDO for you? No. I want a budget for good notes. That's my goal. I'm just joking. I'm just joking. Okay. That helps.

Commissioner Short? Actually, I think Commissioner Wright answered my question because this is the first time we've ever done this like this, and I wanted to make sure that I don't want to think an issue is really important and nobody else does, and then you don't even consider it. So I think keeping up with what you're sending will be helpful.

And again, nothing precludes at the meeting on Thursday. We'll present what we believe to be the consensus. You all will still have discussion on Thursday about what you end up putting in the final adopted budget.

Yes, thank you, Mayor. Of course, you all, that was one of the things we talked about as we was leading this budget process, that we would go through the budget, get all our questions up front, make sure it was transparent to the public, everything, all the questions that we might have had as a commission, any feedback that we got back from the public. And then on Thursday, we'll go ahead and lead that process, talk about it, and to Manager Cowell's point, do an amendment instead of doing a CDO. So that was the thought process on the beginning when we first started looking at the budget.

Commissioner? Commissioner Myers?

Yeah, those as our manager's office, Sarah, the two job titles pointing out, the items that are under discussion are or have been generally expressed as interested in being added are in on page five of the agenda the salary adjustment to the unified plan market increase the additional funding for the fuel the magistrate court part-time judge the funding for the tax commissioner request increased to code enforcement very small the investigative position for public defender's office so there were six with putting 574 000 back into the general fund unrestricted fund and so that's what would be made into an amendment are you saying between beyond what we have here in this agenda report you're going to like shape that into an amendment that we will understand what we're voting on by by thursday yeah right now these are the items that would be in that for that action to be taken if they're between now and thursday if there's a consensus of something else we would have to adapt to that

as well, but right now those are the items that would get incorporated into the action. So you would end up with, right now where you've got the, where we typically have the possible actions, it would be an action to approve the budget and adopt the schedule fee with the following amendments that would be included.

So back into those options, you'd just be taking this list and putting it in there as another option?

Correct.

Okay. But we'll see that on Thursday.

So everyone sees it. MR. We wanted to make sure that that list, and I'm glad you read that, that's the list that's out there publicly to say, based on the conversations you all have had so far, these are the proposed amendments you would make to the budget the mayor presented.

Mr. Hamby. Sure. Thank you. I'm just going to give some shout outs to staff for putting together and working on this. It's a long process for a budget and, of course, the mayor. And I'm also going to give a shout out to Commissioner Fischer. Commissioner Fischer called me during this process. Just y'all know how it can be sometimes. So I think Commissioner Fisher helped walk me through some things, and that was very, very, very helpful. And so anyway, thank you. Thank you, Bob. Thank you, Kelly. Thank you. Thank you, Dexter.

Thank you.

All right. So the motion is to consider this next Tuesday. All in favor, please say aye. Aye. Any opposed?

Hearing none. Mayor, just quick, and just reminding, Thursday night, Thursday at 6. So yeah. Here in the city hall.

And we need a quorum.

Yes, we do need a quorum.

And I will not be here until high school graduation that I need to participate in.

So we do need a quorum, because I wouldn't count it as a quorum, because the mayor's not going to be present.

Okay. Okay.

All right. Need a motion for suspension of rules for one item of new business? So moved. Got a motion from Commissioner Fischer. Second for suspension of rules? Second. Second from Commissioner Davenport. All in favor, please say aye. Aye. All right. Item 30 will again ask for a motion to have a vote on June 9th for a resolution calling for the imposition of a floating local option sales tax that would be agreement between ACCGov, the city of Winterville, and the town of Bogart. Of course, as we've discussed for quite some time, the state now has given us this opportunity to have a new penny of sales tax, and with that total value reducing every property owner in Clark County's property taxes, This, if it was approved in a vote a week from tonight, would then go on the ballot the first Tuesday of November for consideration by the public. So, any questions about that at this time? Commissioner Culpepper. COMMISSIONER CULPEPPER.

Yeah, I would like to make sure in the resolution, and it says this, but I want to make sure everybody understands, these proceeds are, have to be used exclusively to reduce property taxes. They cannot be used for anything else. COMMISSIONER TAYLOR. That's right. COMMISSIONER CULPEPPER. I want to make sure we're clear on that.

Yep. That's exactly right. Commissioner Fischer.

Yeah, and, you know, and I'm sort of on the fence on this one. And the only reason being, you know, we're raising the sale tax to 9%. I have a couple things, and I appreciate Commissioner Hammond sort of educating me a little bit on it. But how it might affect, I'm sorry, Commissioner Myers.

Oh, I'm sorry. I was like...

Sort of educate me on... The impact, especially on our small businesses, and I know probably the majority of our taxes will be coming from outside, possibly with all the events that we have, but then also about the people that are less vulnerable in this community that because our sales tax is gonna go up, how it might impact them. A little bit of pause, but everybody wants their property tax lower, and I get that, but we need to take all those things into consideration when we start. The last thing, I don't know whether or not we have really educated our public enough about this. I think we started talking about this at our retreat some months ago. I just don't think we have educated or really talked this out with our public enough to understand some other impact and what it really could mean to each homeowner and things of that nature. So I wish we would try to do more of that and get that out so the public would actually understand what we're doing. And again, it's going to be in their hands to vote on it. I do understand that piece, but I think we just need to have those conversations with the public about the do's and the don'ts and how much money we will actually be raising as we put the ceiling up on that sales tax.

I think you make a great point, Commissioner Fischer. So there'd be certainly a lot of work between a June vote a week from now and the November balloting. One of the things that I would certainly want to do myself is reach out to those 30 or so counties in the state that have already imposed this and find from them where some of the sweet spots were in the public communication. So Commissioner Davenport and then Commissioner Wright and Commissioner Meyers.

I didn't have a question. I'm sorry.

Commissioner Wright.

I like the ballot language because it does say exclusively to reduce property taxes. I'm a little curious as to why it's calling Athens-Clarke County a special district. Does that have to be included? That's the language. Okay. We'll just understand what the language is because we're busy educating the public right now on the budget that we're going to vote on. So then we can switch gears and focus on this. But since our T-SPLA's only passed by 53%, it is very important.

56. What?

56. That was a final? Okay, good. Yeah, those numbers just... Anyway, but I think that's just a signal that we do need to communicate this, and it is unique in also a good way, as we heard people talking about the property taxes going up, and it'll... We just have to communicate it so that it, because there'll be a lot of voting on November 3rd and we want to make sure that our voters are educated on this topic.

Indeed. Commissioner Myers.

Yeah, just to be clear, this is probably for Judd in there, that I read that, I mean, one of the reasons we're rushing to do this now is that it has to be published by August 4th, 2026. Is that to be in the, right, so I imagine you have to get it in before, like, to the publisher before that. So that's part of the rush of getting that there. I'd like perhaps staff to follow up next week and be able to tell us a little bit about how we plan on as a community, what the Clark County can do actually to educate the public on this. And because, you know, with TSPLOST, We didn't really do that much education, and so we don't have any committee to do education on this, so how can we do that? And also, just as much as there's education on how it affects property owners, I'd like to be clear to the public on the education, on the effect on people who are not property owners, because this penny is added to grocery bills. And so I have no idea what the average person in, of those 60% of people, some of them are students, but a lot of them aren't, who are renting and not property owners, how much money they spend on groceries. How much are we, What's another penny add up to? I have no idea.

About $3 million a month.

Well, yeah. Well, not for my budget, right? So more for the household. That's what I'm more interested in, so that we're just there and we know what we're doing in terms of its effect on people. And just have all of those, not just ignore that fact, So, anyway, if we could just have some data about how we will address the education and then also consider the effect not just on homeowners but on people who are living here, not just students, and we know that's great if we could just give it to all those people who are coming to visit, but the people who are living here and struggling and in need of our affordable housing, for example, how much will it cost them?

All right. Consider a motion to hold a vote on this one week from tonight.

So move.

Second. All in favor, please say aye. Aye. Any opposed? Hearing none, motion carries. All right. Now is that time when we do have public input on any item that was not on tonight's agenda. So if anybody would like to speak to any item not on tonight's agenda, now is that time. Good evening.

My name is Richard Rose.

I live at 230 Milledge Terrace. And I came here a couple of months ago to talk to you about some incompetence that I see in the Athens-Clarke County Police Department. I told you that I didn't trust the internal affairs group. I met with them. They lied on what they saw. And also, they turned around and actually told me the officer involved was a training officer that they highly respected. So I told you I didn't expect anything out of them. I've been involved with the police for 35 years in Athens-Clarke County. So I know that department. is a mess. But the other side of it is the Public Service Civilian Oversight Board. That board itself, as you know, and people have complained about it even on the board, it's a joke. It's fraud, deception, and fake transparency. They ruled against me, said it was unfounded, all my charges. And I turned around and talked to three of them as I left. And all three said if they could have heard me speak, they would have never voted that way. So you see what I'm saying? You figure this thing out so the citizens that actually make the complaint can't speak in the meeting. It's illegal for them to speak in the meeting. And then you turn around and call it transparency. And you talk about the taxpayer's Bill of Rights. I'm a taxpayer. I pay a lot of taxes in this town. And I'm insulted that I can't get good police work and I can't get the Public Service Oversight Committee to do their job. Actually, people call it the police protected get that Police Protective Oversight Committee. That's what they call it. And that's a shame that y'all are letting us get to this point. The same night that, or same day that I met with the internal affairs officer, and he's not here right now, but Dexter can confirm, I said, there's going to be a police shooting in this town soon. Same day, actually occurred at night, and within a couple of blocks, a fellow from Houston, Georgia, he actually got shot and killed. and we don't know what's going on, but I can tell you this, if you don't start getting your act together and have some conscience about what you do, there's a higher power that's gonna see to it that you do. You understand that? I've been told this kind of stuff before. It's always come true, and it's gonna happen now. There needs to be some integrity and taxpayer rights in this county, and it's not happening. It's not happening at all. I guess I got a little more time to talk, but basically I hope you come to conclusion that you're doing the wrong thing. You need to look at the fundamentals of this county and get it right so that we can have a better government. Everybody in this town that has any real character, like I was born in Athens, Georgia. I love Athens, Georgia, and I hate to see what's happening to it after all these years. I'm almost 78 years old, and it's just a shame where this county's going. And we need better representation and better services for our people. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Durez.

Anyone else here to speak on any item not on tonight's agenda?

All right, everyone. I've got a couple things, then we'll receive a report from the manager, the auditor, the attorney, and commissioners, and then adjourn. All right. Stemming both from our interest in seeing additional funds in our housing fund and also some of our experience with projects like North Downtown and the Arena District, I have three assignments tonight to the Athens-Clarke County Planning Commission that work in conjunction. One is to update the inclusionary zoning code to include payment in lieu options for all multifamily and commercial zones with the full array of bedroom unit combinations. The second is to increase commercial zone height limits to include four additional stories in the commercial downtown zone, two additional stories in other commercial zones, all with a buffer retaining current height limits for property segments within 100 feet of single family zones. And the third, to create the ability to purchase and move residential development density within the commercial downtown district. And so those are for the Planning Commission.

Mary, if you don't mind, I'd just like to make a point of order, and it's nothing, I just need to ask the attorney this question. It's not that I disagree with what you just wanted to assign to the Planning Commission, but shouldn't those things that he wants to assign the Planning Commission first go through this voting body and have us direct the Planning Commission?

Let me look at the code real quick.

I just remember some instances before, Mayor, if you recall. I'm just trying to follow procedures because, you know, once you step out of the line.

I have occasionally, as an opportunity, presented items to this body, but I believe the Charter asked that the Mayor assign committees tasks.

Well, not necessarily the Planning Commission task, because we've had that issue before where something was assigned and it had to come back to us. I can't remember exactly what that issue was. It was when Brad was, Griffin was in the seat.

Next week's agenda.

Yeah, we can. Yeah, do it. We'll follow up. Put it on the June 9th. I'll vote for it. I just want to make sure we're following the right procedures.

Can we also get an email describing what you just wrote? I couldn't write it faster than that.

All right. Anything from the manager?

Two items real quick. So one of those is that, for whatever reason, last month, May, is one of those months you all get those lists all the time of, you know, Public Works Week or whatever kind of week, and several of those fell last week. You know, we do different things to acknowledge those or recognize those, but there was recognition last month of law enforcement, all of those things that fall under the umbrella of public works, clerks and others. And so I just want to use the opportunity to kind of celebrate the folks that we have and all of the work that they do in all of those different areas across it. Again, there were a number of different celebrations ranging from the employee recognition which many of you attended, all the way through separate events and stuff, and so I just wanted to be able to acknowledge the work that those folks did, and we couldn't pause every single time one of those came up, so I just wanted to kind of aggregate those together. The other is, often, I think, you'll hear folks on the outside say, well, what is it that actually gets accomplished at any of these meetings? What ultimately gets done? Sometimes I might even ask that question sometimes at the end of it. And I just want to acknowledge the significance of what was acted on tonight. So if you'll just bear with me. So you proceeded to move forward with the judicial center that honestly has been talked about for well over a decade. You approved the leisure services or accepted the leisure services master plan that will guide investments in parks and recreation for the next five to 10 years. You accepted a water wastewater service delivery plan that will spend literally tens of millions of dollars in infrastructure on water and wastewater in the community. You advanced on the affordable housing fund implementation. You took the next significant step on the Linden Town walk-up recognition, approved some additional senior housing. took steps to address safer streets, celebrated public art in our community, welcomed two new parks into our community, and initiated the steps to lower the property tax burden if approved by the voters. And that was in one night, two and a half hours. So I just wanted to acknowledge that because sometimes we sort of forget that the actions we're taking and those kind of get lost after meetings. But that is substantive in what policy was moved tonight. And I just wanted to sort of acknowledge that as well. So thank you all.

Anything from the auditor's office? Anything else from the attorney's office?

We'll begin with Commissioner Davenport and with Commissioner Hamby. All righty. Yeah, I was going to ask with this lovely lady sitting here, but welcome on. Anyway, okay, where's our Eastside Library?

I know a number of you have asked, so the staff is coordinating with the library for kind of a groundbreaking. There will actually be a little bit of site work that's needed before there can actually be a groundbreaking, but there is, or at least our understanding is the library is interested in doing that, so there will be one as we get closer.

send us emails um there are a lot of people and i don't care as my district who are beating down the door trying to figure out when we're going to do groundbreaking okay happy pride happy flag day happy father's day um juneteenth happy hot corner congrats to andrew saunders i cannot say her last sigma and the new warden, Mason. And thank you, staff, for making tonight, announcing tonight to be phenomenal. Thank you.

Yeah, I just want to thank staff for all their hard work on all those big things that the manager mentioned. It feels like we're finally making some progress on some stuff that we've been kicking around for as long as I've been behind this rail, so I'm looking forward to seeing those come to fruition and looking forward to getting this budget off smoothly. I'm hoping we'll have a fruitful discussion on Thursday and take care of some final loose ends. And make sure you vote. There's a runoff election on the 16th.

And to piggyback on that, this Friday the 5th is the last time you can do the paperwork to receive an absentee ballot. So for people who are going to be out of town and need the absentee ballot to cover their voting. And then early voting starts on Monday the 8th. And then, so go to the Board of Elections or your Secretary of State log in to get the details because we need people to not, this is the beginning of a long election year and we need people to have the stamina to continue to be educated and involved and to vote. And I also wanted to share, The reason I was absent, I was at the very important conference to me and my district in our community. It's called the International Town and Gown Association, which exclusively focuses on college towns and our pros and cons are issues and solutions and there were a dozen of us from Athens and UGA there so it allowed us to learn from other communities and also present we had a lot of presenters from our community as well and so thanks for y'all let me make so many motions and I wasn't even here for the agenda so and actually Allison McCulloch is the is the new president of that organ that's right she was voted in as president-elect with that, and so she'll start doing that. And next year's is in North Carolina, so I can drive to that and won't miss a meeting, so I appreciate y'all's patience with my absence. But the meeting is still out early, Christine. Well, if I quit talking, it'll be earlier.

Allison hogs that town and gown thing. She won't let any of us go to it.

Yeah, I've got it covered. Y'all don't have to do that.

Thank you, Mayor. I also want to thank staff, especially with the budget. Again, I really want our budget this year to really be pretty bland and not do all these CDOs that we've done in the past. I want to thank my colleagues. for sort of falling in line and trying to work together to make sure we make that happen. I do want to thank y'all for that. We want to thank staff, especially Sarah, for keeping us on track and what we were doing and what she had put out for all of us to share. And again, trying to make sure that we keep our public and the people in this community informed about our budget. how we're spending tax dollars. So I do want to thank our staff for that. And just to piggyback one more time on the vote, Wednesday is late voting, which starts to go from 8 to 7 on next week. So Wednesday will be one night where you can go up until 7.

First, I'd like to congratulate Ed Tolley, who won the seat replacing me. I decided not to run again. I have a great admiration for anybody that sits behind the rail, the amount of time that it takes to do this. People on the other side, they don't understand it, and I commend everybody. We might not all agree on everything, but we come to consensus. I commend all of y'all. I'm excited about Ed. I think he will represent the district very well. You know, I was looking at what the millage rate was when I took office, and it was 13.1, and we have reduced the millage rate twice, and then we've kept it flat. So we have, you know, to... to piggyback or comment what people were talking about earlier about raising property taxes. We have lowered them over the past four years. And also, the state has passed a thing called House Bill 581, which caps the property tax increases on primary residences by freezing the homestead value. And your property, you can't go up more than the rate of inflation. Now, what people don't realize, and I honestly didn't realize this before I got involved, 39% of our property taxes is what we get, of what the millage rate is. We get 39%. 61% is what the school district gets. And the school district opted out of House Bill 581. So we're doing the right, and I'm not trying to cast blame, but we've done a great job trying to reduce on our end. And I commend this group for doing that.

And in subsequent legislation this spring, all cities, counties, and school districts will have to be forced under that same umbrella.

I want to congratulate our new deputy manager, Andrew Saunders. You know, I was thinking about this, and it was prior to becoming commissioner, I remember watching him at the presentations for the SPLOST 2020 packages and thinking that that guy was really smart and a great communicator. So I'm really glad that he's now a permanent part of the manager's office leadership team. I want to congratulate, I promised the people at Dudley Park back in May that I would congratulate them and praise them highly for the production of Midsummer Night's Dream last month in the Green Amphitheater that was part of Leisure Services in the Athens Creative Theater. It was really a magical kind of event to see and to be able to ride over there on the Firefly on my bike and drop by. It was just really wonderful. I think they plan on doing more of those things. I want to thank TPW, Transportation and Public Works, and Capital Projects for coming over to our Eastside Neighbors Meeting. Happy Pride Weekend, Hot Corner Weekend, Juneteenth Celebrations, Downtown the Mall, Athens Fest Weekend, and Father's Day. And because Commissioner Davenport forgot to highlight it, an invite to all Athenians to come over to the east side and District 1. for the fireworks celebration at Southeast Clark Park, the Star Spangled Classic, on June 27th. And that, just for, everyone always asks, why is it early, why is it not July 4th? Because we get, I mean, unless you guys all told me wrong last year, we get a great deal on the fireworks. And it is an endless fireworks display, an incredible community picnic. The splits band is playing. People, young and old, everyone is there. So please come on over. And finally, good luck to all the candidates in the June 16th runoff.

That was my cue. Thank you, Mayor. Attorney Drake, if you find out I was wrong about what I was saying earlier with the Planning Commission stuff, let me know and I'll bring a hefty plate of crow to the next meeting and go from there.

If we find out, I'll just put it on the agenda for you.

There you go. I'll also respond to congratulations to Andrew and Between you and Sarah and Christine and a lot of other folks, good things are happening within the government. And Bob, too. But I remember when Andrew was just going around looking at trees. I remember he was a community forester when I first came on board. So at any rate, thank you all. And I make a motion to adjourn.

Second.

All in favor, please say aye. Aye. Any opposed? All right. 8.30. Thank you all.