Board of Commissioners - Regular Meeting

Good morning, everybody, and welcome to the August 25th, 2026 Board of Commissioners meeting. I'm your District 4 Commissioner and Presiding Officer, Shakira Johnson. Thank you for being here with us today. We do have a long agenda, so please bear with us. If we are running out of printed agendas, there is a QR code outside that front door that you can scan and get the agenda on your phone. Before we move into the inspirational, I did want to take a moment to actually have a moment of silence. We've had some passings in our community and some anniversaries of some passings in our community. I wanted to recognize the passing of our teacher here in DeKalb County, Mr. Derek Moore, who passed the other week, saving a life in Florida. We also have the anniversary of Mr. Gary Menard with the city of Decatur. And I know we have some Decatur firemen with us here today, I believe. And then we have also recently had some members of the BOC family who have had passings in their family as well. So we want to take a moment to pause for them. And then we just had the anniversary of the passing of Officer Rose. And Master Firefighter Phan's anniversary is coming up soon. So at this time, if we could just take a moment to pause and reflect. on the losses that we have experienced in DeKalb County. Let's take that moment now. Thank you. Thank you, everybody. I appreciate that. So now we will move into our normal agenda. and we will start with our inspirational speaker, Ms. Lauren Faison, who is a District 3 intern. If you will come to this front podium, there she is, ma'am, and I will read an introduction for you. Ms. Faison serves as Commissioner Nicole Messiah's District 3 intern. She is a driven professional passionate about project management, leadership service, and personal growth. She holds a bachelor's degree in sociology and is pursuing a master's degree in project management with experience in administration, project coordination, and government operations. She is committed to excellence and continuous development. Lauren began singing at the age of five with the encouragement of her parents. Her gift has allowed her to sing galas and alongside artists including the Anointed Pace Sisters and Kiera Shard. Through both her career and music, Lauren strives to inspire others, serve with purpose, and become the person God has called her to be. Good morning.

Good morning, everyone. First, I would like to take the time to thank Commissioner Messiah and the Board of Commissioners for allowing me the opportunity to stand before you all. Typically, you all will have an inspirational speaker, but this morning, I will be rendering you all a short inspirational song. I hope you guys enjoy.

Lord, I will lift mine eyes to thee. My help is coming from you. Your peace shall give me of the storm you are the source of my strength you are the strength of my life I my hands in total praise to you Amen Amen Amen Amen Thank you.

Thank you. I don't know about y'all, but I needed that this morning. Amen. So now we will have our Pledge of Allegiance led by Commissioner Ted Terry, and then we will go to the floor for our presentations and proclamations.

I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.

Commissioners, if you'll join me on the floor. Good morning, everybody. Good morning. So I will be presenting the Hispanic Heritage Month Proclamation on behalf of Madam CEO. And I believe we have our Deputy Director from the Mexican Council here. So if everyone who is here for this Hispanic Heritage Month would like to start making your way forward. I will start our remarks. Good morning, everybody. On behalf of DeKalb County CEO Lorraine Cochran-Johnson, welcome and thank you for joining us as we recognize the extraordinary contributions of DeKalb County's Hispanic and Latino communities. Although National Hispanic Heritage Month officially begins September 15th, Madam CEO wanted to take this opportunity to celebrate a little early and recognize the community leaders and partners who helped make DeKalb County such a vibrant and welcoming place. Today we also honor Mexican Council Rafael La Vega for his outstanding leadership and partnership with DeKalb County. We are pleased to welcome Deputy Council General Oswaldo A. Canto, who will accept this proclamation on the Council's behalf. We also extend a warm welcome to our distinguished guests, Veronica Maldonado-Torres, Carlos Pagoga, I know I messed that one up, I'm sorry, Hilda Abbott, Alberto Sorto, Erica Loaiza, representing Gabrielle Matute, Eli Velez representing Santiago Marquez, and Stephanie Correz of Los Vecinos, the Beaufort Highway. CEO Cochran Johnson extends her sincere appreciation for your work to support families, create opportunity, strengthen local businesses, and build meaningful connections across our communities. Our Hispanic and Latino residents are an essential part of DeKalb County's identity and future. Their contributions continue to enrich our neighborhoods, strengthen our economy, and shape the county we are building together. As CEO Cochran-Johnson often reminds us, we cannot reimagine DeKalb without recognizing and celebrating the people who make DeKalb extraordinary. On her behalf, it is my privilege to present this proclamation recognizing National Hispanic Heritage Month and the invaluable contributions of Hispanic and Latino communities. We are also excited to announce the Hispanic Heritage Month kickoff reception is September 11th from 6 to 8 p.m. at Porter Sanford, honoring Mexican artist Miguel Milo, who will be celebrating art, culture, and community. Madam Clerk, if you will read the proclamation.

Whereas Hispanic Heritage Month is an annual celebration, of the history and culture of the U.S. Hispanic and Latino communities. Hispanic Heritage Month 2026 is observed from Tuesday, September 15th through Thursday, October 15th. This event commemorates the ways these communities have influenced and contributed to society at large. Whereas DeKalb County is home to a vibrant and diverse Hispanic and Latino community whose rich cultures, traditions, languages, and histories have strengthened the social, cultural, and economic fabric of our county. And whereas residents of Mexican origin constitute one of the most significant and longstanding Hispanic and Latino communities in DeKalb County. contributing to the county's cultural vibrancy, entrepreneurial landscape, and economic growth through a thriving community of Hispanic and Latino-owned businesses throughout the county. And whereas DeKalb County proudly recognizes the leadership and diplomatic service of Mexican Council Rafael La Vega, whose work strengthens cultural exchange, community trust, economic development, and access to counselor services, along with collaboration between DeKalb County and the Council of Mexico in Atlanta. And whereas the Mexican Consulate has consistently partnered with DeKalb County to enhance cultural programming, advance Hispanic and Latino entrepreneurship, and broaden community engagement, thereby demonstrating a shared commitment to the well-being and prosperity of DeKalb's diverse population. And whereas all residences, businesses, schools, community organizations, and visitors are encouraged to join in celebrating the heritage, history, achievements, and lasting contributions of Hispanic and Latino Americans, and to reaffirm our shared commitment to opportunity, respect, and the strength of our diverse community. Now, therefore, I, Lorraine Cochran-Johnson, the Chief Executive Officer on behalf of DeKalb County, Georgia, together with the DeKalb County Board of Commissioners, hereby proclaim September 15th through October 15th, 2026 as Hispanic Heritage Month in DeKalb County, Georgia. and recognize Mexican Council Rafael La Vega for outstanding diplomatic services, cultural leadership, and an enduring partnership with DeKalb County. Further, on behalf of our nearly 780,000 residents, we express our deepest appreciation to the Hispanic and Latino communities whose heritage, history, and contributions continue to enrich and strengthen the fabric of DeKalb County, proclaimed this 25th day of August, 2026.

Thank you very much. Not much else to be said. Everything is here. Everything has been read. Thank you very much. Thank you very much. And on behalf of a lot of people, as you can see, I'm honored to receive this proclamation. I believe the contributions of the Latino and Hispanic community to the state of Georgia and to the DeKalb County are enormous. And we feel very proud to be noticed. And once again, if you allow me, on behalf of all my friends standing behind me, Thank you very much for this award. Thank you for this recognition. Thank you very much once again.

Great morning, everyone. It is indeed a great morning. During National Black Business Month, we had an opportunity not only to celebrate businesses, but the people behind them. The people who took a chance, stepped out on faith, created opportunities, and then reached back to help others. Again, great morning. I have the pleasure to serve as your DeKalb County Commissioner, District 3. And I am here to celebrate Dr. Valencia Val, Prince Littleton, because she is one of those people that created opportunities here in DeKalb County. Listen to this. For decades, Dr. Littleton has been an entrepreneur, an advocate, and a servant to this community. She has built businesses, helped own owners facing foreclosure, fed families, provided toys to the children, and used her own experiences to advocate for others. She has consistently used what she has built to strengthen families and to give back again to the communities around her. This is the kind of entrepreneurship we want to recognize in DeKalb County. businesses that create opportunity, leaders who invest in the neighborhoods, and people who show the next generation what is possible. And sometimes we all need to see what is possible. She already on her way down here. She's always a diva. I absolutely love my girl here. I love it. Yes. Go on, come around. Today, It is my privilege to recognize Dr. Valencia Val Price Littleton as a beacon of excellence during National Black Business Month and to thank her for the many years of leadership and service to DeKalb County and District 3 and Memorial Drive and all throughout. And I'm going to tell y'all, those turnip greens are something. You got to go have them if you haven't. Ms. Val, congratulations, and thank you for continuing to serve our community. Madam Clerk, could you please read the proclamation?

Whereas Dr. Val Price Littleton is a fourth-generation Atlanta native whose life and career reflect a deep commitment to faith, entrepreneurship, service, and the empowerment of others, and whereas a graduate of Southwest High School and Fort Valley State College Now Fort Valley State University, Dr. Littleton built a successful career in corporate America before stepping out on faith in 1997 to pursue entrepreneurship and create opportunities for herself, her family, and her community. And whereas Dr. Littleton has demonstrated the spirit of Black entrepreneurship through several successful ventures, including Price Littleton and Associates, Madea's Soul Food, and Talk of the Town Soul Food, establishing herself as a businesswoman, community leader, and role model for aspiring entrepreneurs. And whereas Dr. Littleton founded ACCS Advocates in 2010 and used her knowledge and experience to help thousands of homeowners facing financial hardship and possible foreclosure, working to help families preserve their homes, financial stability, and a critical part of the American dream. And whereas her commitment to DeKalb County extends far beyond business, as she has devoted decades to serving families and children through faith-based outreach, holiday assistance, an annual turkey giveaway that has distributed an estimated 2,000 turkeys, and a toy drive spanning more than two decades. And Dr. Littleton continues to use her life experiences to serve others, including becoming an advocate for Alzheimer's awareness after caring for her mother for nearly five years. And Dr. Valencia Val price, Littleton embodies that tradition of excellence through her entrepreneurship spirit, her commitment to DeKalb county and her unwavering belief that success carries with it a responsibility to lift others. Now, therefore be it resolved that I commissioned Nicole Messiah and the DeKalb county board of commissioners, and it's more than 780,000 citizens. Do hereby recognize Dr. Val Price Littleton for her outstanding contributions to DeKalb County, her decades of service to families and communities, and her example as a Black entrepreneur, community role model, and beacon of excellence during National Black Business Month, proclaimed as 2050 of August, 2026.

And I wanna welcome the family and friends of Ms. Val as I call her to come up front and come celebrate this moment along with her, please.

Well, good morning, good morning, good morning. I give honor to God who's the head of my life. To this great county, to this great board of commissioners and our wonderful CEO of this county, the honorable, I said the honorable Lorraine Cochran Johnson. To my family here, my friends, it's an honor to stand before you. I give honor to our previous commissioners, the oldest one living. Commissioner John Evans. Bishop was behind me. Greg Adams and his beautiful wife. And you all know, everybody know me, know I'm a die hard Larry Johnson. My leader, my son, my daughter, my husband, my pastor, to each of you here. I'm just a servant in the community trying to do better. I promise to continue to serve this great county. I just can't thank you enough, Commissioner Messiah. Where are you?

I love you.

And my sister. I love you, darling. I love you, too. God bless each of you. Thank you very kindly. And my pastor is standing back there with a video.

Hold that.

We're going to take a picture. Hold my phone.

Deputy Counsel, if you'd like to come back up, I'd love to give you a pin as well. Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Lauren, if you'd like to come up and get your pen as well.

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

All right, thank you, everybody. Madam Clerk, if you'll read in the rules for comments from the public.

The purpose of public comment is to allow the public to voice county related requests, concerns, or opinions during the commission meeting. Speakers will only have the opportunity for one public comment per meeting. Each speaker must please complete a speaker card and present it to the clerk before the beginning of the public comment portion of the meeting. Cards turn into the clerk from the time the general meeting is convened, generally 9 a.m. and by the beginning of public comment portion. generally following presentations on the agenda. The clerk will accept cards on a first-come, first-served basis. Prior to the clerk's call for public comment, speakers who are residents of DeKalb County shall be allowed to speak before residents of other counties are allowed to speak. Speakers will be allowed to speak for three minutes each, and public comment shall not exceed 30 minutes in length. When the buzzer sounds to indicate that time has run out, the speaker will be expected to immediately cease speaking and to yield the podium. Those who submitted speaker cards but did not speak because of the time allotment will be allowed to speak first at the next regularly scheduled commission meeting without regard to residents. Speakers should always talk directly into the microphone and begin by stating their name, full address, and the name of any organization they represent. Abusive, profane, or derogatory language, holding up signs, clapping, yelling, standing, or laying in the aisles to show support for or opposition to a speaker will not be permitted. But a show of hands or quietly standing in place will be permitted to show support for or opposition to a speaker's position.

Thank you, ma'am. Did we have speakers left over from the last meeting?

Yes, ma'am, we do. Thank you. Ronnie Mayer.

Mr. Mayer, good morning, sir.

Good morning, Ronnie Mayer, 2653 Redding Road in the city of Brookhaven. I woke up this morning at 5 o'clock watching news, and there's my hero, Ted Terry. I like your bougie shoes today, buddy, but if you're going to be a commissioner, you got to wear some bougie shoes instead of red and little tennis shoes. I think we have more issues in our county to worry about blowers or electric, so let's talk about that before you start voting on stuff. I got issues. I was so frustrated last week, but let's talk about it now. We have the unhoused in our county. There's a building at 85 and 285, the old hotel. This county needs to do whatever it can to acquire that building. We could have the medical offices in the basement, psychiatrists, psychologists. It's on the bus line. It's near the grocery store. It would work so beautifully. Michelle Spears, our lovely commissioner for the Brookhaven-Chamblee area. I have questions with unhoused every day and I call her on a cell and I bug heck out of her. But she has helped me for many times. I want this county commissioners y'all talking, not listening to me. We have been paying on a library bond for 25 years. This is the last year we're paying on it. We still don't have a new library in Brookhaven. somebody has stolen stolen my six million dollars uh we want it at what we call where the old the va hospital used to be they did a straw like a vote on it but the reason the people voted Against it having it at what we call the dog park is they didn't want the city manager from the city of Brookhaven to have his hands on the old building the EPA the county can't afford to do the development of that old library and we'd have to close it for a year and a half as we build it if we build a new one at a park and it will work have a library at a park walk outside read you your book i was planning on reading books 25 years ago to my kids now my kids are having kids 25 years we've been paying on this bond guys y'all got to wake up get your head out of the sand and let's get this thing done let's get this new uh y'all plan on doing a fire station at johnson's ferry and ashford dunwoody let's get this done and this thing with these cameras flocks cameras i want to be on one of those boards we have a lot of people that don't really want them but if somebody that their family gets raped or shot or murdered they're going to call police immediately and say look on your cameras and tell me who killed somebody So we need to keep those cameras in DeKalb.

Thank you, sir. Thank you. Rosalind McIntyre. Ms. McIntyre, good morning.

Good morning.

Rosalind McIntyre, DeKalb County.

Board of Commissioner members, the citizens of DeKalb County demand that you honor, and I quote, That is, governing authority of DeKalb County is tasked with protecting the health, safety, and general welfare of the citizens of DeKalb County, Georgia. Be very clear about this. DeKalb citizens want a data center text amendment, specifically one that protects the health, safety, and general welfare of DeKalb citizens. We want a text amendment that is written using data gleaned from a professional health and environmental impact study. A major reason the previous text amendments failed citizen approval was because they appeared to be written to support specific vendors, not for the health, safety, and general welfare of the CAB citizens. We implore you to approve and fund an independent third-party data center health and environmental impact study only in the areas in which the proposed data centers will be constructed, not a general study that includes all of DeKalb County, which would dilute and skew the results of the communities that will be affected. The moratorium was extended to March 30th, 2027 to provide sufficient time to allow for further study to gain factual information to write an appropriate text amendment. Communities who sought legal action after the fact to protect public health from AI data centers include Lowell, Massachusetts. The court issued a state to halt the installation of massive industrial diesel backup generators. Canton, Mississippi. An Amazon AI data center opened and residents quickly reported acute lung irritation, respiratory distress, and pervasive construction dust. The public outrage triggered a class action lawsuit alleging Clean Water Act violations. Memphis, Tennessee, the EPA stepped in against the XAI facility because of toxic air caused by methane gas turbines. An increase in health problems and deaths, Memphis City officials commissioned an independent laboratory study. We are asking that the Cab Board of Commissioners be proactive in ordering an independent third party health and environmental impact study during this moratorium to get the data and information that should be employed to guide their decisions and to write an appropriate text amendment that will protect the health, safety, and general welfare of the citizens of the Cab County. A task that the Cab County Board of Commissioners has been sworn to provide the people whom they represent and serve.

Thank you, ma'am. Lane Flynn. Lane Flynn. Lane Flynn. Good morning.

Good morning. My name is Lane Flynn, and I live at 3127 Bolero Drive, Commission District 1, Super Commission District 7. I'm here today with one simple request. End the FLOC contract. This contract was put in place with zero public input or comment. Since we weren't asked in advance, I'll share our opinion now. We hate the surveillance networks. It's easy to prove. Just look at any article anywhere talking about FLOC. You'll see it gets hundreds, thousands of comments. They're virtually all negative. Why? Because contrary to Flock marketing claims, the system absolutely does track everybody. That is its basic design. Anyone in this room who drives by a Flock vehicle camera will have their vehicle recorded and logged, and anyone who walks by a Flock Condor camera will be recorded and logged themselves. It's not just one scan, but the fact that this info is then uploaded to a Flock AI database, which maintains a comprehensive record of everywhere you've gone and when and even who you're with. This isn't just a snapshot in time. It's hundreds of scans per month, creating a comprehensive, constantly updated map of your entire life, accessible at any time by anyone with access to the system. We know for a fact the system tracks innocent people because dozens, if not hundreds, of police officers nationwide have been caught using the system to track innocent people. As I'm sure you all know, just a few weeks ago, eight DeKalb officers were caught illicitly using the system. The week before that, it was a sheriff's deputy. Macon, Savannah, Habersham, Brazelton, all over Georgia and the U.S., the abuses are nonstop, and they're only increasing. And it's not just illegal searches. Numerous innocent people have been dragged out of their cars at gunpoint or even jailed because Flock made mistakes. It's been used to target people for their political beliefs, which is terrifying because DeKalb has deployed mobile Flock units to political protests. A whistleblower who used to work for Flock has documented that surveillance data has been shared with ICE for immigration enforcement, even from departments that didn't agree to that sharing. The misuse of this dangerous and unregulated system is perhaps going to be the biggest police scandal in U.S. history if it's not already. DeKalb, frankly, can't afford to lose any officers, and I'm not here because I want them fired. I'm pro-police. Instead, I want to see this system shut down not just to protect our citizens, but to avoid the obvious temptation for otherwise good cops to commit serious crimes just because we've made it incredibly easy for them to do so. Oh, and on top of all that, FBI stats show that over the past four years, when Atlanta installed more Flock cameras than anywhere else in the world, crime didn't even fall. In fact, it rose in some categories. Flock wants you to focus on anecdotes, but serious policy has to be based on data, and the data show that Flock isn't even helping solve crimes. Over 100 municipalities have ended their flock contract after seeing for themselves the level of abuse, the lack of impact on crime statistics, and the massive public opposition. I'm just asking the commission to do what all those cities and towns have already done, listen to their citizens, protect both the public and the officers of the cab, and terminate the flock contract.

Thank you. Lee Taylor. Lee Taylor. Lee Taylor, are you here? All right. Good morning.

Good morning. I'm Lee Taylor. I'm at 1865 Mercedes Court, and I'm here as a member of the Greater Towers Community Association. First things first, there are grants, I understand. They might be for beautification. One says it's urban area security initiative, another for high intensity drug trafficking. If you could just take the microcosm of Greater Towers Community Association in 30032, if you want to apply some grant money and see it at work with good stewardship initiative and some empowerment behind it, it's a good place to start. And this kind of got the idea in my head was when I first heard in January this year something called the Glenwood Sweep. And I heard about it. It sounded like it could be done as a multi-departmental amazing effort to put rules and standards in place that might could be enforced over a period of time. Sounded good. But as I understand here in August, there is no such thing right now as an active initiative for a Glenwood sweep. So why a Glenwood suite? Well, if it can be done empathetically for the people involved and done with some rules and standards for the commercial owners, it would seem like a really good place to start in DeKalb County, Glenwood. I'll bring it back to a street in Meadowdale, part of the Greater Towers Community Association. It's called Larkspur Terrace. It's two streets north of Glenwood. And over a period of the past few months, there's been so many cases of vandalism, so many cases of vagrancy so many cases of squatting so many cases of gosh we've had just terrible reckless driving on that one little street including the loss of a mail carrier to a reckless driver on that street now all that grant money and all that sounds like a good thing to put in place and it might have stopped some crime it might have stopped something but at least start right at least start and back up what you say you're going to do So I want to end this with a little bit about the worst residential neighbor in the country. As a matter of fact, they're the worst residential neighbor in DeKalb County and their name is invitation homes. In the past two years, they've sold over 400 houses, in this county. They've sold off their inventory. They've gotten rid of it. And they did it in such a sloppy, disconnected way. They've just watched price go down. Their version of price discovery on a spreadsheet is the worst example of what neighbors are like. If something could be done at your level to bring them into check, they've only got about 80 houses on the market left, and I think they want to get rid of it all here in this county. Let's do something about invitation homes and get them out of here as quick as possible.

Thank you, sir. Kiana Moore. Good morning, Ms. Moore.

Good morning. My name is Kiana Jones Moore, resident of District 3. And I concur with the previous speaker regarding invitation homes. I happen to live in one of their homes. And I've lived in one of their homes since they were Excalibur homes. And they were the cause of a lot of houseless neighbors. Today, I have on two shirts, and the first one that I'm wearing on top is all about supporting our unhoused neighbors. Our unhoused neighbors need services, not shackles. They need community, not cages. And so I'm here to speak against the urban camping ordinance that has been introduced because it is reckless. It is compassionless. It's stupid. Because people who don't have a place to live, and make sure you get my good side, because all of me is good, Commissioner Messiah. Housed off a morgue and immature of you. However, as I stated, we need community and not cages. The services that we offer here in DeKalb County are not comprehensive enough to make sure that we completely remedy our issue of unhoused individuals. We are making some strides. We need to do more. We need to really look holistically at how it is that we work with compassion, with sympathy, with empathy, with people who don't have a place to live. Deciding to piggyback off of useless legislation introduced by the city of Atlanta because they want to capitulate to Trump is not governance. It's not legislation. It's not helpful for the community. Perhaps if you had taken the time to really talk to people about issues of houselessness, what drives it, look at the root causes and think about getting resources into communities that don't leave people without a home. You could have been doing that before you decided to do your notes with Nicole. I got a note for you, Nicole. It would have been so much more helpful if you had come along during the count that happens early in the year when we go to hot spots where unhoused people are because you weren't there. I was, though. You didn't know what people were dealing with. Maybe you're too busy glad-handing and giving out money right now at the end to look good before the end of your term, but this just wasn't it. And I hate it to be a personal attack on you because it's not an attack on you as a person. It's about you as a commissioner who is supposed to represent people because a lot of the people who are unhoused are right in District 3. It's disappointing, and it's sad, and we want to see more. We want to see better. Without trying to deflect, put something on somebody else, talk about the deferral, you introduced it, and it just wasn't okay.

Thank you, Ms. Warren. Jim Dunaway. Ms. Dunaway, I believe she's not here today. She actually sent an email telling us she wouldn't be here. So next speaker.

Hannah Davis. Hannah Davis.

We're still on from last meeting, right? All right. I don't see Ms. Davis.

Regina Roberts.

Regina Roberts. Do not see them. Steven Benny. Mr. Benny, good morning.

Good morning, commissioners. Not so many years ago, an evil black-hearted hawk flew over DeKalb County and left a dark, dark shadow over all of us. King Thurman welcomed the hawk, listened to the hawk, and made a land swap deal with the black-hearted hawk. After the land swap, the shadow was going to add more studio boxes to the land. But then the movie industry faded away, and in 2023, Shadowbox Studios decided they wanted to build a data center instead without filing an official zoning request. They talked with planning about classifying data centers under communication use. They sent lobbyists from Texas to talk to two DeKalb County commissioners about how they could get this done. Without permission, they started building their data center and now have filed a $30 million lawsuit to bully DeKalb County into letting them do so. How did this happen? As always, let's follow the money. On March 31st, 2025, Shadow Box Studio gave a $1,000 contribution to Commissioner Robert Patrick. The address given for the donation was 335 Eppington Drive. Remember this address, it will not be the last time you hear it. On February 26, 2025, a Mr. John Bean from 335 Eppington Drive made a $3,300 contribution to Mr. Patrick's campaign fund. Mr. Bean also made a contribution of $3,300 on January 26, 2023. And a person named Julia Criswell from 335 Eppington Drive made an additional contribution of 3,300 also on June 26, 2023. That is $11,000 in less than two years. How much access does $11,000 allow someone? Shadow Box Studios is not even in your district. Eppington Drive Northwest is not even in DeKalb County. Commissioner Marita Davis Johnson received a $3,300 campaign contribution from a Mr. John Bean on May 20th, 2024. The address was 333 Eppington Drive. On May 22nd, 2024, an additional contribution of $258.32 was made by Mr. John Bean. How much access does $3,600 buy, or do you just work cheaper than Mr. Patrick? Is Shadowbox Studios in your district? How about Eppington Drive? Even Commissioner Nicole Messiah received a $3,300 campaign contribution for Mr. John Bean on October 8th, 2024, followed by a contribution of $1,800 on November 18th, 2024 by the same person for a total of $5,100. Seems as though Ms. Messiah was playing both sides of the data center game with our favorite racist con man, Ryan Millsap, and Shadowbox Studios. In total, that is nearly $20,000 that Shadowbox Studios has contributed to three DeKalb County commissioners. Did they do this out of the goodness of their heart?

Thank you, Mr. Benny. Mrs. Mangum.

Say it again. Mangum. Gina Mangum. Gina Mangum. Thank you. Good morning, Ms. Mangum.

Good morning. Most members of the Board of Commissioners quickly commented on the unanimous decision to deny the data center text amendment as proposed in June. The question is, what happens next? Thankfully, that's not a hard decision to make. Our presiding officer, Commissioner Shakira Johnson stated, I remain committed to working collaboratively toward policies that appropriately balance economic development, technological advancement, neighborhood preservation, infrastructure demands, and quality of life. Commissioner Longsfear said, this vote reflects a shared commitment to ensure that all decisions are guided by sound analysis, meaningful public input, and a clear understanding of the impacts of our communities. Commissioner Bolton wrote, denying the text amendment brings several important benefits, a stronger case for extending the moratorium, a clean slate to restart the process with transparency and meaningful community input. an opportunity to explore other options, allowing us to evaluate alternative approaches, gather additional data, and work collaboratively toward a framework that better aligns with community priorities. These are wonderful words, but actions speak louder than words. The data center moratorium has been extended until the end of next March based on the need for more studies, and that's a good thing. Now the path is clear. The PECS committee deferred a vote again on the health and environmental impact study because Commissioner Long-Spears was not present. Yet she made a strong case for approval at the last regular BOC meeting. Now I respect the fact that you wanted to wait for her, but I believe she made her position clear at the last meeting. This item has been on the BOC agenda since last March. We have sent a list of providers to BOC chief of staff as requested. There is no reason for further delay. It's time for the BOC to commission the study. We must also defend the shadow box lawsuit to keep the moratorium in place. But when interviewed, Commissioner Messiah was already suggesting settlement.

We say no.

Defend the people, not the developers. Stand by your decisions and stand up for us.

Thank you, ma'am.

Jeremy Story. Jeremy Story, are you here? This begins our cards for today. This is today's cards? Yes, ma'am.

Mr. Story, please come forward. Good morning.

Good morning, everybody.

Good morning. Good morning, everybody. My name is Toni Washington, and I serve as the Fire Chief for the City of Decatur Fire Rescue Department. On behalf of the City of Decatur Mayor, Toni Powers, we would like to thank you for honoring Captain Gary Menard this morning. Captain Menard represented compassion in its truest form. He led with kindness and treated everyone with respect and carried a deep concern for people and he served those he served alongside. His legacy will live on with the continued support of Chief Melvin Carter, Director Fulham, the City of Decatur Fire Rescue and the programs that we have served. We deeply miss Captain Menard and I know he worked alongside of Commissioner Spears with the unhoused in several community programs. He truly reminded us that Command presence wasn't only leadership, but it was being present and being there for everyone. And we truly appreciate you honoring him. He just celebrated, well, it would have been his birthday on last Tuesday. And we really, really miss him. And we deeply appreciate all the partnerships with DeKalb County and City of Decatur. and honoring his memory and his legacy and his continued support as we continue to serve everyone in the communities of the city of Decatur and DeKalb County. Thank you so much.

Brenda Pace.

Thank you.

Good morning, Ms. Pace.

My name is Brenda Pace. I've been a citizen, taxpayer, whatever you want to call it, here in DeKalb County for 50 years. Proud of sometimes. Not often, though. Some of the things I want to address, I'm asking the commissioners and the CEO and anyone else to take a stop and look and listen. Nothing is happening in South DeKalb outside of your publics. Everybody knows about that. Okay. We need to look at how cold has to work with these businesses all up and down Canada road, Glenwood Memorial everywhere. They're pieces of nothing. Okay? And the code just has to keep coming back, coming back. The courts are getting full, full with their dockets, their dockets with the same thing over and over. We need to look at taking business license from these businesses and don't allow them to do businesses in DeKalb County, especially in South DeKalb, and then we can have some room and space to put something that would be a lot better economically in our community. We need to do this immediately. And I am pleading this case to DeKalb County, and the CEO. Secondly, contractors. Contractors should not be getting contracts. And it's in the charter. If you haven't read the charter, and I'm sure some of you haven't, OK, read it. Because it says that anybody that gets a contract in DeKalb County is supposed to put 20% of the people that live in DeKalb County. You talk about the young men in our communities and the crime and everything. Well, you tell me I have to work at McDonald's, I'd probably do the same thing, OK? for that little money. And then when Georgia is only $7 per hour or less, OK?

Five?

Well, it's still whatever. Seven isn't enough, OK? So we need to look at hiring, making these contractors, hire and train some of our men to do this. It happened once when Burl Ellis was here, and I was the one who headed it, and it happened, and it worked. And I don't want to hear anybody else, because I've heard it from up above. CEO said it when I took it to her, saying, oh, no. uh that won't work i said why won't it work and she said because of the training that's a crap okay that's an excuse storage landlords and and renters uh uh and and and and realtors need to be made to pay and put their people's their tenants whatever they're doing in storage bins And not on our streets where it gets strolled everywhere. Then you're calling code and raising hell. Okay? That's not a good thing at all. Okay? So you need to look at that. Houston, they do that. And it's very clean there. You're not allowed to dump people's stuff on the street. That needs to be there. Secondly... Somebody needs to look at the garbage collection again, sanitation.

Thank you, Ms. Pace. Thank you.

I'll catch you next time. Thank you.

Akilah McDaniel.

Akilah McDaniel.

Akilah McDaniel. Good morning.

Good morning, Board of Commissioners.

Thank you. Thank you. My name is Akilah McDaniel, and I reside at 3823 Austin Park Lane in Decatur for more than 10 years. I'm speaking in my personal capacity as a resident, a housing stability professional. a public policy and real estate student, and someone with lived experience in housing instability. I respectfully ask the board to defer Ordinance 20260550 for substantial revision and collaborative stakeholder review. I recognize that the county has a legitimate responsibility to keep sidewalks, parks, businesses, and public infrastructure safe and accessible. However, we must distinguish between conduct that creates an actual public safety obstruction and the condition of having nowhere else to go. Through my work supporting families experiencing homelessness, my policy research, and my own lived experience, I have learned that homelessness is not simply a matter of refusing services. People often face shelter shortages, coordinated entry wait lists, documentation requirements, income verification barriers, limited affordable units, prior evictions, and landlords unwilling to accept available assistance. A warning and verbal offer of services are not meaningful protections if transportation, appropriate shelter, storages, or an actual housing pathway is unavailable. Refusing an option does not accommodate a family that does not accommodate a family, their disability, an employment schedule, belongings, or other legitimate needs should not automatically place someone on a pathway towards arrest. The proposed ordinance raises serious implementation questions. What written protocol will govern enforcement? What qualifies as meaningful offer of services? How would a county verify that appropriate shelter is actually even available? How would personal property, identification, medication, and documents be protected and reclaimed? What agency will track these outcomes and ensure that people are being connected to services rather than merely displaced to another location? These questions matter because losing identification, court documents, medication, or contact with the case manager can make an already difficult housing placement even more challenging. The county's previously adopted policy called for diversion, coordinated assistance, wraparound services, and alternatives to arrests. This new ordinance should strengthen that commitment, not create vague and potentially contradictory enforcement practices. Before adoption, I asked the board to require written enforcement, property storage protocols, documented service capacity, measurable diversion outcomes, and direct participation from service provider and residents with lived experience. I will welcome the opportunity to participate in that stakeholder review process and contribute both my lived and professional experience. Please defer Ordinance 2026-0550 until those protections and accountability measures have clearly been established. Thank you.

Thank you, ma'am. Our last card is Natalie Kieser.

Natalie Kieser. There she is. Good morning. Good morning, Natalie Kieser. I live in District 3. I'm a 12-year resident of DeKalb County. I'm here today representing House ATL and the DeKalb Housing Roundtable to similarly speak against the prior ordinance. Homelessness is a housing problem and not a failure of enforcement. Your prior resolution, we want to commend to approach homelessness through the housing first approach and to work to develop a coordinated plan for the unhoused. Those are proven best practices. The current ordinance before you is not. It is inconsistent with that approach. Rents in DeKalb County have increased about 30% over the past five years, much faster than incomes have grown, which has resulted in more than 50% of DeKalb County renters being housing cost burdened. Research from the US Government Accountability Office shows that for every $100 increase in rent results in a 9% increase in homelessness. To prevent homelessness, we need to stay focused on increasing housing opportunities and options. Arresting and jailing people who are homeless for trying to survive can worsen rather than solve unsheltered homelessness. Arrest records create barriers to housing. The arrest, as previously noted by the prior speaker, arrests also result in the loss of important identification documents, social security cards, medical prescriptions. And this also makes finding future housing very difficult. Jailing people for being homeless wastes taxpayer dollars. Public costs are incurred when law enforcement make the arrest, and costs grow as the individual is incarcerated. DeKalb County Sheriff Maddox has already stated to the DeKalb County Commission that the jail is overcrowded, with few resources to address potential mental health and substance abuse issues. Tax funds are wasted without resulting in a long-term solution. The daily cost to house at the DeKalb County Jail is approximately $115 to $150, or a monthly cost of $3,450 to $4,500. This is less than the cost of a studio apartment in DeKalb County, which is approximately $1,400 to $1,500 a month. Once the person's time is served in jail, the individual is returned to the street, still in unhoused, at a waste of taxpayer dollars. Nationally, the development of ordinances like this are being bankrolled by a tech billionaire named Joe Lonesdale, who created a think tank called the Cicero Institute. I think you should be aware that there are template ordinances being circulated around the country from the Cicero Institute. These ordinances encourage incarceration rather than housing and services. We should not be part of this handcuffs trend. I respectfully urge you to move forward, not backwards. Thank you.

Thank you, ma'am. That exposes the time. Thank you so much.

Madam Presiding Officer, I'd like to make a motion to extend public comment by 15 minutes. Is there a second?

Second.

Would you like us to hit our buttons or show of hands? All in favor? Sure. How many more speakers, Madam Clerk?

Nine. We have nine speakers.

Nine. Do we have a 42-page agenda? There's a motion and a second. The motion was 15 minutes. Is that correct? Yes, ma'am. Call the question. All in favor of 15 minutes.

Aye.

All opposed to 15 minutes. Is there an alternative motion?

Motion to extend public comment by 10 minutes.

We now have a motion for 10 minutes and seconded by Commissioner Long-Spears. Call the question. All in favor of extending public comment? Yes. That's three. All opposed? That is four.

Motion to extend public comment by two speakers.

Second. Two speakers.

Madam Presiding Officer, I'd like to make a substitute motion.

Substitute motion.

Motion to begin working on our 42-page agenda.

Second.

I have a comment.

Commissioner Terry, you've requested to speak. We have a substitute motion by Commissioner Patrick, seconded by Commissioner Messiah. Yes, thank you. You have the floor, sir.

I just want to recognize that we had, so the issue with the limit of the public comment time is that not everyone gets to speak, and so then they get put to the next meeting. And then people who come to this meeting get delayed for the next meeting because the previous speakers. We heard that we had four or five speakers earlier that came at the last meeting. So at the very least, I think we should just catch up. So if we could just extend public comment for a few this time, maybe a few more next time. maybe we'll get caught up, maybe we need to amend our rules to allow a little more public comment. I'm aware of other jurisdictions that have unlimited comment, but others just recognize that sometimes people, especially in DeKalb where our public comments are at 9 a.m., so some people probably got off work or maybe told their boss, I got something important to do this morning because I can't come to work or they have other responsibilities. So out of respect for our taxpaying citizens, our voters, the people who we represent, they came down here to talk to us for three minutes. We should give them a little extra time to do that. We only come down here once a week, right? All of us are paid by the people who are out there in the audience. And the least we could do is create some time for them to let us know what they're thinking. I think that's reasonable. So hopefully we can send it just maybe a few more speakers. I think two is reasonable for now. We don't have enough votes for 15 minutes or 10 minutes, but if we can just get maybe two more speakers, I think that'd be great. Thank you.

Commissioner Long-Speakers. Thank you, Madam Presiding Officer. It was brought to my attention during public comment that we had a speaker who attended the last business meeting, submitted a card, and was not called today to speak. The error was discovered and the clerk quickly responded. and added this speaker to the list. So she did have an opportunity to speak. So I just wanted to point out to the commissioners that I don't know if anybody else in the audience submitted a speaker card last meeting, and you didn't have the opportunity last meeting or this meeting to speak. But I do believe that's an issue that we need to address because I think that this is our opportunity for the public to communicate their concerns, their priorities with this board. And to Commissioner Terry's point, we do only meet twice a month. for a business meeting and offer that opportunity for public comment. Now, obviously, during zoning meetings, we also have public comment opportunities as well. But I do believe that this board does need to know that there was an error made and a speaker from the last meeting was not called until we quickly discovered it during public comment today. Thank you, Madam Clerk, for resolving the issue and making sure this individual was able to speak. Yield back.

Thank you. I'm seeing no further requests to speak. The alternative motion by Commissioner Patrick was to not have, I'm going to kind of paraphrase, was to not have.

The motion, Madam Presiding Officer, was to begin our agenda.

Was to begin.

That was the motion.

Seconded by, I think there was a dueling second. So it was Marita Davis-Johnson and Nicole Masaya. So let's call the question. Who is ready to start our business meeting? Who is against starting for this this meeting? That's the motion, sir. I'm sorry. All right. Thank you so much.

Madam Providing Officer, I'm requesting a point of privilege, please. And I can tell you why. And I will request that the law department please come forward.

Sure, ma'am.

Thank you. We had a DeKalb County employee today request to speak during public comment as her capacity as a resident, not as a staff member or an employee of the Board of Commissioners. I don't agree with the denial of her right to speak as a citizen of this community. So if our interim, for just a little longer, county attorney would please come forward and please opine on this. If you are not comfortable providing a full analysis and an opinion today, it is something I would request a memo on as well. But again, I fully believe that every single member of this community, whether you're an employee, current or past or future, of DeKalb County is a resident and gets an opportunity to speak publicly to their decision makers.

Commissioner, we received the question, and we will provide an opinion.

Thank you very much. And can you do that before the next business meeting?

We will try to get it to you all before the next business meeting.

Fantastic.

Thank you. Interim Attorney Phillips, I would also like to know who denied that request, because it did not come from the presiding officer. So I would like to know that. Thank you. Received.

And would you want that publicly?

I am fine with it public because it didn't come from me.

It was your chief of staff, actually.

It did not come from me. If I may, I'd like to help us.

Please. I've received the request to look at public comment and participation by residents who happen to be employees and how it was denied today, the factual background, and Commissioner Spears expressly asked for an opinion about what our rules are on that.

so we will we will address that for you privately in we can do it private or public and then if we could also look at the card and if she was speaking for herself or trying to circumvent a decision that was made earlier in the day that would be great too thank you interim attorney phillips received commissioner messiah you have requested to speak are you considered your time commissioner long spears

Actually, I could just expand on that briefly. So just to give a little context around it, Captain Gary Menard is a personal, he passed away, but still is a personal friend of many of us in this room. And so many folks from Decatur came today to honor his memory. His birthday was last week. And we miss him dearly. He did so much for the unhoused, so much for the residents of the city of Decatur. We did have myself, who wanted a point of privilege. You did decline that, and that was fine. Prior to my requesting that, we did have an employee of DeKalb County who also wanted to honor his memory. And that was denied by a member of a leadership member of the Board of Commissioners. Again, I fully state that Every single resident of this county, whether you are currently working for the Board of Commissioners or not, should have the opportunity to address your leadership. And I just fundamentally disagree with this individual being denied the opportunity to express her thoughts, to express her sorrow over the loss of a valued member of our community. And I yield back.

Commissioner Masaya.

Thank you so much, Madam PO. I just want to say that we've had employees past and present that have even gotten a chance to speak today. Ms. Moore is, or Jones Moore, she is a past employee of DeKalb County and had an opportunity to speak today. So the idea that we don't allow or leadership does not allow employees to speak is grossly false. Also, I will say that it makes it a little bit easier for us to get to our agenda and get to our work when there isn't political play where individuals send out emails commissioners send out emails with false narratives without links to the agenda items where people don't even sit and watch. Point of order, this is not germane to this discussion.

It is very germane. This is not germane.

Actually, I'm going to do a point of order. We are not even on an agenda item to have discussion at this moment. We just said we were not going to allow the public to speak, so why should I allow both of you commissioners to opine? So if we can please start our public hearing and get to the business of the county, which is what we are here to do today. Madam Clerk, if you'll please read in the instructions for the public hearing.

Citizens may speak for or against an item that is considered by law to be a zoning ordinance. and each side will have 10 minutes to present its case. Citizens may also speak for or against an item that is placed on the public hearing agenda, but it's not a zoning ordinance. In that case, each side will have five minutes to present its case. In the event there is more than one speaker per side, speakers must divide their time in order to complete their full presentation within the 10 minute time allotment or the five minute time allotment. When the buzzer sounds to indicate that time has run out, the speaker will be expected to immediately cease speaking and to leave the podium area. Prior to speaking, a speaker should complete a speaker card and present it when approaching the podium. If a speaker has any documents for the commissioners, the speaker should provide ten copies when approaching the podium. Seven copies are for the commissioners and the remaining copies are for the planning director, the county attorney, and the clerk. In all zoning ordinance and traffic calming cases, staff shall make their recommendation for action to the commission first, followed by applicants or citizens speaking in favor of the item. Applicants in zoning ordinance cases shall have the right to reserve time for rebuttal. Opponents of the zoning ordinance item shall have no right of rebuttal. For all other items placed on the public hearing agenda, applicants or citizens speaking in favor of the item should speak first. followed by opponents of the item. Once the citizens have finished speaking, staff should make a recommendation for action to the commission. At this point, citizens are no longer allowed to speak unless called to the podium by an individual commissioner to answer questions or provide information. Speakers should always talk directly to the microphone and begin by stating their name, address, and the name of any organization they represent. Abusive, profane, or derogatory language will not be permitted. Holding up signs, clapping, yelling, standing, or laying in the aisles to show support for or opposition to a speaker will not be permitted. But a show of hands or quietly standing in place will be permitted to show support for or opposition to a speaker's position.

Thank you, Madam Clerk. We have one item for public hearing. I will read that one. And the next item is decision only. And at that time, I will pass the gavel. For the first item, it is 2026-0941. Excuse me. All commission districts, home rule ordinance to amend the pension code of DeKalb County, Georgia, 1962. Georgia laws 3088 as amended to add a death benefit for beneficiaries of certain planned participants who die in the line of duty. As officers, employees, or deputies of DeKalb County on or after October 1st, 2026, to confirm that no participant can add, replace, or remove a designated joint annuitant after payment of pension benefits begins, and to provide for compliance with certain updates to federal tax law. Good morning, sir.

Good morning, Madam Presiding Officer. This would be the second reading and final adoption. And as you stated, Commissioner, this would cover all employees. They would become immediately eligible, their family members, in the event of a death of an employee who dies on the job in the course and scope of their employment. It also provides the maximum pension benefit for the beneficiary at the time of their death. It does not require seven-year vesting. That's important to know. As you mentioned, it also adds a provision where you cannot change a joint annuitant after you retire, and that is specifically related to funding requirements for the plan.

And staff recommendation?

Staff recommendation is to approve.

Thank you so much. And this is public hearing. So is there anyone in the audience who is here to speak in favor of this item? Is there anyone in the audience to speak in favor of this item? Seeing no one, is there anyone here to speak in opposition of this item? Anyone in opposition of this item? All right. Sir, if you will come back and give staff recommendation.

Thank you, Madam Presiding Officer. Recommendation to approve.

Thank you. Attorney Johnson?

Commissioners, I would just clarify. It's a motion to approve the June 15, 2026 version on second reading.

Thank you. Is there a motion?

Good to see you. Thank you, Madam Presiding Officer. On behalf of the ARPS Committee, I do move to approve the June 15th version on the second reading.

Is there a second? Second. Thank you, feature button. Commissioner Bolton, you have requested to speak. You have a floor, ma'am.

yes ma'am i do just want to make sure we acknowledge considering some of the comments that were made earlier today with respect to the decatur chief officer rose firefighter fan those who were killed or did die in the line of duty this ordinance, this new ordinance was birthed out of some of those situations that had occurred this year. And we would be honored if to approve is to honor, but if the board would support moving this item forward as we honor those that were honored this morning during public comment. And I yield back.

Thank you, Commissioner Bolton. I see no further requests to speak. Please open the machine for the vote. We have one abstention because Commissioner Davis-Johnson cannot vote on pension items. Motion carries. Thank you so much. At this time, I will pass the gavel for the next item.

The next agenda item is a decision only 2026-0712. Commission districts four and seven application are rooted in Christ Academy LLC, care of Chiquita Stokes for a special land use permit for a child daycare facility for up to six children in the R100 residential medium lot 100 zoning district at 6706 Princeton Park Trail. Great morning, Deputy Planner.

Good morning, Commissioners Rachel Bragg, Deputy Director of Planning. So the applicant requests a SLUP to operate a daycare facility for up to six children within an existing single family residence at 6706 Princeton Park Trail, which is zoned R100. The proposed use is limited in scale and is proposed within an existing single family residence, and no expansion is proposed. However, the supplemental regulations regarding child day care facilities within the zoning ordinance states that no child day care facility shall be located within 1,000 feet of another child day care facility. And staff has identified an existing child care facility within 300 feet of the subject property. Therefore, based on the submitted materials, interdepartmental comments, community meeting record, and staff's finding that the proposed facility does not comply with the separation requirements of section 27-4.2.19D, the Department of Planning recommends denial of this application. Thank you.

Thank you so much. Seeing as it's decision only, there's not a public hearing element to it. And we have a motion and a second. The motion is for a full cycle deferral.

Second we have a proper first and second and a request to speak by Commissioner Bolton Apologies, we'll just need to clarify that deferral because we're already out of the cycle So in order for it to go so a full cycle generally means you're going to Community Council Planning Commission and the Board of Commissioners But the community councils for this cycle have already occurred so it could go to Well, and the planning commission is set for September 1st, so those staff reports and everything are already finalized.

So does it technically need to be- My question is related to that.

Okay.

And my question is, was community council and planning commission made aware of the 300 feet distance prior to their recommendation for approval?

So I think we found, We found that additional facility after community council, but prior to planning commission. So planning commission was aware, community council was unaware.

And I'm sorry, really quickly, can we get speaking time on the board just really briefly?

Well, I haven't been acknowledged yet to speak. I was just addressing what she was bringing up.

Just following Madam P.O.

but I may not need to once you respond. You ready? I think she's looking for that answer.

So yes. So both community council and planning commission recommended approval with conditions. Community council was unaware of the distance issue. Planning commission was aware of the distance issue.

Okay. One of the reasons I am supporting, and I understand what you said, but prior to what you said, one of the reasons I was supporting a full cycle is to get that feedback from community council knowing that they were not made aware.

So you could, if you want some options, you could still send it back to Community Council. It would just be heard in October. So it would go to Community Council in October and then come back to you for a vote in November.

So then would that technically be a two-cycle deferral?

I would rather just refer to it as Community Council in October and Board of Commissioners in November.

I will take that friendly amendment to my motion.

Does your second still stand? My second stands, and I still had a question. Another question? Yeah. Okay. So my other question was, and this has occurred before, I think on the same agenda where there is a state approved facility within that 1,000 foot difference or 1,000 foot radius. Because that happened with this application as well, I would like to take this time since we have that deferral to do some research to determine how they are state certified, but they are not approved through the county and how that impacts our capacity to make a confirmatory decision based on that distance regulation in our code. Because that's a major determining factor for both this one and the other one, but I'd like us to get a little bit more information about how that has occurred.

Sure, we can absolutely do some additional research. I don't believe that the state requires local approval before they approve, essentially.

OK. So with that being said, for me, the way our code reads, there might be a bit of ambiguity. Because if they're not registered with the county, do we still consider them with respect to that 1,000 foot distance requirement? sure so um because up to three you know we wouldn't normally know they existed and with these we didn't initially know they existed because they're not registered with the county it was happenstance so up to three um yeah absolutely

We'll take your deferral recommendation and do some additional research and follow back up with you.

OK. Thank you so much. And I yield back.

Thank you so much, Commissioner Bolton. Any other questions? Can we open the machines up for a vote, please?

October, community council.

That motion passes. Pass the gavel back.

Thank you so much. Appreciate your assistance on that. That concludes our public hearing and zoning items. We're now top of page four. There are no items under appeals, so we have a couple items. Under appointments not requiring Board action and for information only from Board of Commissioners item 2026-1240 from District 5, an item to record the appointment of Renee Kael to the DeKalb County Environmental Justice and Sustainability Resident Advisory Group as a District 5 appointee appointed by Commissioner Marita Davis-Johnson. And then from the Chief Executive Office, item 2026-1248, all Commission districts record Chief Executive Officer Cochran-Johnson's appointment of BJ Kerr to the Environmental Justice and Sustainability Resident Review Group for a four-year term. Under item F, appointments requiring Board action, Chief Executive Office Item 2026-1127. Excuse me. All commission districts appoint Shelly Bishop to post two of the DeKalb County Board of Family and Children's Services. Move for action. Thank you. Top of page five. Item 2026-1128. All commission districts appoint April Moore to post five of the DeKalb County Board of Family and Children's Services.

Move to action. Madam PO, I have a motion to approve agenda item ending in 1127 and that ending in 1128 as approved out of the PEX committee.

Thank you so much. Is there a second?

Second.

Thank you, sir. Seeing no request to speak, please open the machine for the vote. Motion carries. And then finally, item 2026-1196, all commission districts appoint Boniface G. Eccles Esquire to pose for the Metropolitan Atlanta Rapid Transit Authority, or MARTA, board of directors.

Motion to approve.

Thank you. Is there a second? PWI item? Thank you, Commissioner Terry. Seeing no requests to speak, please open the machine for the vote. Motion carries. Thank you. We are now on the consent agenda, and we do have one item we will be pulling, but are you ready, Madam Deputy Presiding Officer? Yes, ma'am. Ready. All right. Under Airport, item 2026-1095, Commission District 1, Super District 6, standardized T-hanger space lease agreement with Marvin Zolomany. There is no cost to the county. Move for action. Item 2026-1092, approval of minutes for the August 18, 2026 Committee of the Whole meeting. Move for action. Top of page 6, item 2026-1239, all commission districts propose confirmation of Cherry G. Phillips as the county attorney for DeKalb County. Yay. Move for action. After we vote. Then we're celebrating. Item 2026-0704, approval of minutes of the Board of Commissioners meeting from August 11, 2026. Move for action. And item 2026-1229, all commission districts easement abandonment required as a component of the settlement agreement related to Carolyn Roundtree, for instance, DeKalb County, Georgia, Civil Action Number 23CV3901, Superior Court of DeKalb County, as entered on March 12, 2026.

Move for action. And with that, Madam Presiding Officer, I move to approve items 20261095, 20261092, 20261239, 0704, and 1229. And is there a second? Second. Thank you so much. Seeing no requests to speak, please open the machine for the vote. Motion to approve carries.

Thank you for the vote of confidence. There are some people that need to be acknowledged.

Law department.

We do acknowledge that we see Attorney Phillips in our meetings all the time and Attorney Welch and maybe Attorney Johnson, but we are well aware there's a full team supporting them behind the scenes, so it's great to see you all today. Thank you. And also our added counsel that come in and help us. Yes. It takes a lot to support us. We appreciate that. So we did have one item we had to pull from the consent agenda, so I'll read that now. Item 2026-0731, approval of minutes of the Board of Commissioners zoning meeting of August 13th, 2026.

Madam Presiding Officer, I move to defer item 20260731 to the September 15th meeting.

Second. If you'll hit your buttons for me. Seeing no request to speak, please, thank you. Voting is open. Commissioner Terry. Commissioner Davis-Johnson. Thank you so much. That deferral carries. Thank you. We are now bottom of page six under preliminary items. Under Fire and Rescue Services, Item 2026-1246, Commission Districts 2 and 6, enter governmental agreement with the City of Brookhaven to enter into a 50-year lease agreement.

Move for action.

Item 2026-1247, Commission Districts 1, Super District 7, intergovernmental agreement with the City of Tucker to acquire a portion of land lot 214 of approximately 1,200 square feet at 4345 Cowan Road for the sum of $58,000 paid to DeKalb County.

Move for action, and with that, Madam Presiding Officer, on behalf of the IRPS Committee, I do move to approve items 2026, 1246, and 1247.

We have a motion and a second. Commissioner Long-Spear's request to speak. You have the floor.

Thank you very much, Madam Presiding Officer. I want to acknowledge, and this pertains to item 2026-1246, again, our Public Safety Director, Fulham, as well as our awesome, relatively new Fire Chief, but not new to DeKalb County, Zach Williams, the City of Brookhaven, and also Mayor Park for entertaining this opportunity to put a fire station right there in front of Blackburn Park. That is a hotspot area for calls, and I truly am so hopeful that we'll be able to. Point of order. Please allow me to finish. Madam Presiding Officer.

Commissioners, we all need to form today, please. Thank you. Mr. Long-Spears, continue.

I have the floor.

Continue, please. You do have the floor.

Thank you. My clock was robbed of some time, so if I require extra time, please roll it back. All right, so again, I just want to thank all of the point of order.

Thank you. Please continue.

I want to again thank everybody who came together and recognized the need for a fire station in that area. I proudly represent the entire city of Brookhaven, a tiny, itty-bitty portion of the city of Chambly, and I really do hope that this is a solution to truly, at the end of the day, reduce response time and save lives. So thank you very much to our public safety folks, Mr. Williams, Brookhaven, Madam CEO, and everybody else that supported this. I yield back.

Thank you, Commissioner Longspear. Commissioner Bolton.

Thank you, and I just wanted to acknowledge for both items 1246 and 1247, both of these will be fire stations. Your SPLOST dollars at work in both Brookhaven and Tucker, so Super 6 and Super 7. And just want to say thank you to the team for the work that you're doing, and the community is very excited. We've been receiving the emails, and they do acknowledge the work that all of you guys put in, so thank you so much. I yield back.

Thank you, Commissioner Bolton. I see no further requests to speak. Please open the machine for the vote. Motion carries. We are now middle of page 7. This is purchasing and contracting items for the FAB committee. Item 2026-1195, change order number 1 to contract number 2000413, augmented procurement staffing services for use by purchasing and contracting to obtain augmented procurement staff seeking increase in contract funds and ratification of consent to assignment of contract to National Institute of Governmental Purchasing Incorporated, effective July 1st, 2026, awarded to National Institute of Governmental Purchasing Incorporated, amount not to exceed $800,384. Move for action. Yes, sir. Item 2026-1197, renewal of contract numbers 1386107, 1386108, uniforms for DeKalb County Marshal's Office for use by the Marshal's Office to obtain uniforms for personnel, exercising second renewal option with price increases through August 31, 2027, And ratifying term increase awarded to Galls LLC and Dana Safety Supply Incorporated, total amount not to exceed $340,000.

And move for action. Motion to defer items 1195 and 1197 to the September 15 BOC, and they will be heard in the BAP committee this afternoon.

Second. If you'll hit your buttons, please. There we go. All right. Thank you. I see no request to speak. Thank you. Motion carries. We are now purchasing and contracting for the Ops Committee, top of page 8, item 2026-1167, cooperative agreement, technology solutions, products, and services for use by the Department of Innovation and Technology to obtain three years of managed security, monitoring services, for the county's network infrastructure awarded to MGT Impact Solutions LLC amount not to exceed $1,755,900. Move for action. Yes, ma'am. Item 2026-1172, Cooperative Agreement, Technology Solutions Products and Services. used by the Department of Innovation and Technology to obtain three years of advanced monitoring services for the county's network infrastructure awarded to MGT Impact Solutions LLC amount not to exceed $542,487.60. Move for action.

I make a motion that 1167 and 1172 be approved as approved in the Ops Committee.

Second. We have a motion and a second. No requests to speak. Please open machine. A motion to approve carries. Thank you. We're now bottom of page 8 under Purchasing and Contracting for the PECS Committee. Item 2026-0915, Cooperative Agreement, Open Air Structures with Related Equipment and Services, Fees by Recreation, Parks, and Cultural Affairs, Subtain a Viewing Platform Pavilion, Awarded to RomTech, Inc., Amount Not Deceived, $178,450.

Motion to defer to the September 15th VOC meeting with a stop and pass.

Thank you. Is there a second? Second. Thank you, Commissioner Long-Spears. Seeing no request to speak, please open the machine for the vote. Motion to defer carries. Top of page 9, item 2026-1058. Invitation number 2026-042 ITB nuisance abatement and remediation services for use by the Department of Co compliance and enforcement to obtain services to reduce blight in the county, including abatement of vacant and abandoned properties. Recommended award to the overall lowest responsive and responsible bidders, Cascade Services, Inc. and Executive Realty Solutions, Inc. amount not to exceed $450,000.

Motion to defer to 915, BOC meeting of the stock index.

Thank you. Second. Thank you, Commissioner Long-Spears. Please open the machine for the vote. Motion to defer carries. Middle top of page nine, purchasing and contracting for the PWI committee. Item 2026-0767, change order number three to contract number 1281318. And change order number six to contract number 1281319, sidewalks and roadways. for use by public works, transportation, roads, and drainage, and recreation, parks, and cultural affairs to obtain construction services to improve sidewalks, drainage, roads, bike lanes, multi-use trails, and curb and shoulders, seeking increase in contract funds and term through December 31st, 2027, awarded to Autoco Development LLC and DAF Concrete Inc., total amount not to exceed $2,165,000.

Madam Presiding Officer, move for action.

Thank you, sir. Item 2026-0939, Renewal of Contract Number 2000420, Curb Bumping and Street Sweeping for Use by Public Works Solid Waste Management and Beautification To obtain curb bumping and street sweeping services throughout the county, exercising first renewal option through August 31, 2027, awards of paid co-services, LLC, amount not to exceed $120,000.

Move for action. Madam Presiding Officer, I make a motion to approve 2026-0767 and 2026-0939 as approved at PWI. Thank you. Seconded by Commissioner Terry. Thank you. Please open the sheen.

Motion to approve carries. There is now just a substitute for the next item. We're on top of page 10. Item 2026-1010. Change order number three to contract number 2000167, CNG Fueling Station Maintenance and Repairs, for use by Public Works Solid Waste Management to obtain routine and on-call repair and maintenance services to the compressed natural gas fueling stations throughout the county seeking increase in contract funds and term through November 30th, 2027, awarded to Atlanta Gas Light Company, amount not to exceed $200,000.

Madam Presiding Officer, I make a motion to approve the substitute for agenda item 2026-1010, and I'd also like to invite staff to speak that once we have a second.

Good morning, commissioners.

The substitute you have in- Can I get a second first, please? Okay, go ahead, Ms. Butler.

All right, the substitute you have in front of you is updating the commission districts that were affected, as was discussed in PWI.

All right, thank you very much.

Thank you. All right, seeing no other requests to speak, please open the machine for the vote. Motion to approve carries. Item 2026-1030, invitation number 2025-167ITB, Seminole Road MSW Landfill 2026 Gas Collection and Control System Expansion, fused by Public Works Solid Waste Management to obtain construction services for the expansion of the GCCS. At the Seminole Road landfill, recommend award to the lowest responsive and responsible bidder, Blue Flame Crew, LLC, amount not to exceed $2,397,297. Thank you, Madam Presiding Officer. Motion to approve 2026-1030. Thank you.

Second.

Seconded by Commissioner Terry. You have requested to speak, sir. You have four.

Yes. Very quickly, just wanted to acknowledge at the PWI committee meeting we discussed with CO Williams about getting an update on the other contract for managing the existing renewable energy. So I think, did you say it was going to come back in October with that, or was the timeline on that update?

I believe that was... I believe October was our commitment, but we would work with the chair of PWI, and we're looking to do a really comprehensive discussion on how we're managing the methane at the landfill.

Okay. Just remind me again, because we approved that contract, was it three years ago at this point? OK. So hopefully, when we come back in October, we could have kind of a, I don't know if it's like a go or no go decision.

We'll certainly have a status for you.

Because I know the contract kind of, I guess, um i don't think it's extended or how we manage that but you know at some point if we're not collecting the gas we're sort of missing out on you know millions of dollars of revenue you're speaking about the renewable uh yes energy facility but we have a couple of contracts uh and we'll be able to discuss all of them yeah yeah that's right okay thank you thank you commissioner terry please open machine for the vote

Motion to approve carries. Item 2026-1066, Commission District 3 Super District 7 Request for Qualifications 2025-113, RFQ Design Services for Flat Shoals Parkway. SR 155, sidewalk from Columbia Drive to Wesley Chapel Road, PI number 0019622, for use by public works transportation to obtain design services for the addition of 2.1 miles of new sidewalks on both sides of Flat Shoals Parkway to create continuous sidewalks. meet current ADA standards and installation of a protected pedestrian crossing. Recommend award to the highest scoring proposer at Ken's Realist USA Inc. Amount not to exceed $3,210,410.84.

Thank you, Madam Presiding Officer. Motion to defer this item until the September 15 BOC with a prior stop at PWI. And I'm just adding for record, this is being deferred because it's over $3 million. And we're waiting for Mr. Lavoie-Campbell's team to come back with the audit review.

All right. Commissioner Terry has seconded. Thank you. Seeing no request to speak, please open the machine for a vote. Motion to defer carries. Top of page 11, item 2026-1114, Commission District 5, invitation number 2026-058, application of herbicides at Pole Bridge Wastewater Treatment Plant for use by Department of Watershed Management to obtain herbicide and application services at the Pole Bridge Water Treatment Plant. Recommend award to the lowest responsive and responsible bidders, Optera Solutions, Inc. and Pearlway Turf, Inc. Total amount not to exceed $300,000.

Move for action.

Yes, sir. Item 2026-1117. Cooperative agreement grounds maintenance equipment and related attachments for use by public works fleet management to be used by beautification to obtain six Kabuta mowers with attachments awarded to Kabuta Tractor Corp. Care of Lashley Tractor Sales amount not to exceed $169,375.50. Move for action. yes sir item 2026-1153 change order number two to contract number one three eight one one zero nine design build services for snap finger advanced wastewater treatment facility expansion phase 3b project for use by the department watershed management to obtain design services furnishing permitting and constructing a uv system Seeking to increase contract scope of work, funding, and performance time awarded to Morgan Contracting, Inc. amount not to exceed $394,309.31.

Move for action. Madam Presiding Officer, I'd like to make a motion to approve the following items. Agenda item 2026-1114, 1117, and 1153. And then I also want to make note that we did have some conversation at PWI about item 1114. There was some discussion on the hay as well as the herbicides. And a reminder to central staff as well as to the chief executive that we'd like to have this discussion back at PWI so that we can address some of the questions that were raised during the meeting.

Thank you, sir. Commissioner Terry has seconded and requested to speak. You have the floor.

Thank you, Madam Chair. Yes, Commissioner Patrick is correct. We did discuss the herbicide treatment, but I think it also opened up the conversation about having a tour of Polbridge for either PWI or maybe just for anyone that wants to attend. I know it's in Districts 5 and 7, so hopefully you all will Welcome us to your district. It is a countywide facility, but a really special place and quite beautiful, actually, with 300 acres of grassland, I think another 200 acres of about a forest buffer. So appreciate that, Mr. Chair. And then I did want to, just in case anyone from the public was following along, the agenda hadn't been updated from the special call meeting. So it says they were recommended for holding, but we did recommend approval, as you said.

Special call meeting held yesterday.

Yesterday, yes. Thank you.

Thank you, Commissioner Terry. Commissioner Bolton.

I just want to re-emphasize, Commissioner Terry did remind us all that that's 5 and 7 for 11-14. 5 and 7. I yield back.

Thank you, ma'am. All right. No other requests to speak. Please open the machine for the vote. Motion to approve those items carries. We're now on top of page 12. Item 2026-1165, invitation number 2026-004, Asphalt to Concrete Pavement Repair for Use by Departments of Watershed Management, Recreation, Parks, Cultural Affairs, and Facilities Management, and Public Works Road and Drainage. Recommend award to the lowest responsive and responsible bidders. ANS Paving Inc. and Auto Code Development Inc. Total amount not to exceed $15,850,000.

Thank you, Madam Presiding Officer. Motion to defer to the September 15 VOC with a prior stop at PWI. This is an item, as you called out, well over $3 million, and this is something we're waiting for Mr. Campbell's office to give us his recommendation on.

Thank you, Commissioner Patrick. Commissioner Terry has seconded. Please open the sheet for the vote. Motion to defer carries. Item 2026-1168, change order number one to contract number 2000222, roadway bulk deicing for use by Puppet Works Roads and Drainage, which consists of the purchase of deicing materials to make the sand-salt mixture used to maintain the county's roadways, parking lots, and sidewalks. Seeking an increase in contract funds awarded to FM Shelton Inc amount not to exceed $100,000. Move for action. Yes, sir. Item 2026-1174, Kahua Project Management Information System Governance and Optimization for use by the Department of Watershed Management to obtain advisory consulting services for the implementation, governance, and effective delivery of Kahua PMIS awarded to SG Contracting, Inc., amount not to exceed $400,800. Move for action. Item 2026-1187, invitation number 2026-057ITB, fill verification and reporting of public and private service lines for use by the Department of Watershed Management to obtain services to verify and report ingress. and egress water line materials recommend award to the lowest responsive and responsible bidder integrated construction management inc amount not to exceed 1 million 263 625 dollars move for action madam presiding officer i'd like to make a motion to approve the following items 2026-1168 1174 and 1187 as approved in committee thank you so much is there a second Thank you, Commissioner Terry. No requests to speak. Please open the machine for the vote. Motion to approve carries. We are now top of page, middle of page 13, under Recreation, Parks, and Cultural Affairs, item 2026-1228, all commission districts to approve the 2026-2027 agreement with DeKalb County School Nutrition Services for $76,140 to furnish after-school snacks to the Department of Recreation, Parks, and Cultural Affairs. And this is a PEX item.

Motion to defer to the September 15 BOC to be heard in PECS.

Second. You drew a button, Commissioner Wong-Spears. Thank you so much. Please open the machine for the vote. Motion to defer carries. Under Watershed Management, item 2026-1173, Commission District 1, Super District 6, water utility installation for upcoming city of Dunwoody project cost to the county not to exceed $2,894,225. Motion to approve. Thank you. Seconded by Commissioner Terry. Seeing no request to speak, please open the machine for the vote. Motion to approve carries. Item 2026-1183, All Commission Districts United States Geological Survey Five-Year Agreement.

Yes. Motion to defer to the September 15 BOC with a prior stop at PWI.

Thank you. Is there a second, please? Thank you. And before we vote, if I remember, Mr. Chair, on this item, there is a dollar amount over the $3 million for the county.

Yes.

If we could get the dollar amount in the title, that would be helpful. Thank you. Thank you. All right. If we'll open the scheme for the vote. Motion to defer carries. And we are now on top of page 14. Items for decision by the board under Board of Commissioners, item 2026-1234, all commission districts to amend previously adopted agenda item 2025-0240 with an updated resolution to establish independent CIP monitor roles and responsibilities.

Yes. For purposes of discussion, motion to approve.

Seconded by Commissioner Terry. And that was motion to approve?

That's correct.

Okay. You hit your button to request to speak.

Thank you. Thank you, Madam Presiding Officer. So we had a discussion yesterday about the CIP monitor. Of course, this is a position or a person that would come in and provide independent advice, I think is the right way to frame it, of what's happening with the CIP projects, and this relates to water and sewer in particular at this time. I think there was a good discussion. Unfortunately, Commissioner Terry left it a little bit early, so I had suggested at the meeting that because it was only two commissioners, myself and the presiding officer, that had recommended this to move forward, that we acknowledge that we do need to have some other stakeholders weigh in and perhaps have a conversation if necessary. Although I did make the motion to approve, you know, I would be receptive to the idea of perhaps having either a COW that speaks specifically to this or have a special called PWI that would be convenient to all the Commissioners where we could have everybody at the table and have sort of the different questions be asked and make sure that expectations for the individual Commissioners meets the intent that we had when we first put this idea together. And with that, I will yield back my time.

All right. And go ahead, Commissioner Terry.

Thank you. Yes, thank you, Mr. Chair. Sorry I had to leave a little early. I had another meeting. But I did review the packet that CentralSAT put together. So I'm comfortable with the updates and changes. So if I was there, I would have joined you in recommending it.

Understood. No shame cast. I know we get busy in special calls, things that pop up unanticipatedly. So thank you, Commissioner. Thank you.

Thank you. Commissioner Bolton.

I didn't get to attend that special call. I was hoping that the meeting I did attend, you guys would have been able to speak about it. I did send an email reply on August 19th with some of the questions and concerns that I had. Did you guys get an opportunity to discuss some of the commissioner's concerns?

So we did not, and I'm glad you mentioned that. We were sort of bumping up against time constraints yesterday, so Again, the committee, the two of us liked what we saw. I guess we've also heard Commissioner Terry said he was relatively comfortable with what was there. But this is a big discussion item, and it might be appropriate to say let's bring it back to the COW or bring it back to a special called and have those questions answered as well.

Okay. It was a couple things. I would like to discuss them, but I wouldn't say they are anything that could be a major holdup, but depending on how the conversation goes, commissioners may feel the same. So I don't have a problem with supporting the majority's decision, but I did have some concerns that I did want to discuss.

And to that point, We need to get this right. And so I think if there are concerns, even if they're small, minor questions, I think it's worth taking the time for that conversation.

Do you, Commissioner Bolton, you still have questions?

I'm sorry, ma'am, yes, I yield back.

Commissioner Messiah.

Yes, and I think Cal would be great, just to give a little two cents in terms of the opportunity to hear some of those concerns and address the same, if we could have those. And if you're amenable to Cal, that'd be great. I yield back.

Thank you so much. I believe, okay, so Mr. Chair, your original motion is to approve. There's been two commissioners who would kind of- You still want to move forward but still have a presentation?

Yes, in-count if you don't mind, but I'm going to move forward.

Okay. I will just call the- You ready to vote then?

Well, I'll tell you what, one of the things I realized we didn't, we usually go through a checklist of questions and I just wanted, if I could call on the newly minted county attorney. This is just a true, your phrase, true to form. Your office has had a chance to review this, and is that correct?

We received a yes today.

Got a yes today. We have not had a chance to review it.

We have not had a chance to review it. Okay. We work closely with central staff to go over it and address anything that needs to be addressed.

Okay, okay. Again, because of the need to get this right, I'd like to change my motion to a motion to defer. I would suggest to the next COW if that's appropriate, Madam Presiding Officer. That way all commissioners can be present for the conversation. But that is my modified motion.

Your second stance, Commissioner Terry.

Second stance.

All right. Commissioner Davis-Johnson has requested to speak.

Yeah, just briefly. And, of course, I'm glad that this has come to the point where we are now. There was extensive conversation when I first introduced this. We spoke with ethics. We spoke to legal. We spoke with all the commissioners on it. And so we're at this point. And I'm glad. And so I think that any questions that any of us have, hopefully, It can be addressed in the cow meeting because we're like eight months out or seven months out. And so we need to start monitoring what's happening. So thank you all.

Thank you, Commissioner Davis-Johnson. Please open the machine for the vote. Yeah, we need a certain date.

I'm sorry. When is the next count? And is that?

September 10th is the count.

So defer to September 15th would be the voting meeting with the stopper count.

If we could defer that.

Oh, you're going to miss one of those.

I'll be missing a couple meetings. September. Could we defer it to the September 29 BOC and then have it at the, I think, at the 22nd, Cal?

All right.

Let me just make sure about that. That'll work.

That works? OK, thank you. So September 29th with a prior stop in the account. The chair of the committee will be present. All right, thank you so much. Machines are open for the vote. Motion to defer carries. Under District 2, item 2024-0842, All Commissioned Districts, a resolution to amend the Board of Commissioners Standing Procedural Rules, but this is an ops item.

Yes, based on the recommendation of the Ops Committee, this is our second reading, and I move to approve.

Is there a second?

second thank you commissioner terry you've requested to speak here before yes thank you madam presiding officer um i would like to request that in the spirit of consensus building and compromise and also i think the intent of these rule changes to to remove the, I guess the three boat rule is what we're calling it from this rule change. And the main reasons why I'm requesting this is number one, well, a couple of things I'll start with. One, just the general consensus and understanding that each commissioner is elected. For district commissioners, it's over 150,000 residents. If you're a super commissioner, it's 350,000 residents. And presumably when folks elected us, they thought that we would be able to introduce legislation to represent them. It has been the policy of the Board of Commissioners that any single commissioner can introduce legislation. to begin that public discussion about policies, issues, funding items, anything really germane to what their constituents want. My concern with this three vote rule is that it basically turns what would be an open democratic process into an unrecorded pocket veto. Because what the rules are saying is that a commissioner needs two other sponsors. You need three commissioners, which is 43% of this body before an item can even be brought to the public. But even in the rules that are being considered now, it says that before the law department or central staff can do their work, you need three commissioners. And so I would say just on the grounds that if a commissioner wants the law department or central staff to help us work on ideas, it shouldn't take three commissioners just to even get to the point of deciding whether we want to discuss an item. The committee system, I think, is designed for those discussions to happen. I'm actually aware that the committees themselves can discuss items at the leisure of the chair. So there is a way actually for there to be three votes to bring items to the agenda, that would be the committee could simply ask the committee members to bring that legislation forward and discussed in that committee beforehand. There were discussions about the legality of the rule change. And I think, you know, we've heard that legally the commission can enact its own rules, but just because you can doesn't mean that you should. We have acknowledged that there are some Board of Commissioners bodies in DeKalb County, in Georgia, excuse me, that have a higher threshold. I believe it was referenced Bartow County requiring four commissioners before an item can be introduced, although their chair can introduce items to the agenda whenever they want. The rule change also is still preserving the ability of the CEO to introduce an agenda item whenever she wants. And then I guess the presiding officer also can still unilaterally place items on the agenda. So while the CEO and whoever the presiding officer is can add an item to the agenda unilaterally, it takes three of us under this rule change to introduce any items to the agenda. This is sort of like a multi-member pre-clearance situation and it could be a good thing if tailored in the right way, maybe through a quarterly retreat process where the boards and committees work on ideas and hopefully through that retreat process and a work plan we can get to two commissioners, three commissioners. But it could be abused. There could be a point in the future where two commissioners, a district commissioner and a super commissioner decide there's something really important to their districts but the other five commissioners say we don't want to deal with it. And so it basically prevents any one or two commissioners from bringing items to the board for consideration. I think also forcing the three commissioners to negotiate behind the scenes before anything can be brought to the public light basically creates this danger of horse trading, where by the time y'all see anything that comes to our agenda, it's already basically been worked out. And even more concerning is if three of the commissioners are on the same committee, then now we have sort of just bypassed the whole committee process. The committee process was designed for deliberation. And finally, I think the other concern with this rule change is that the Roberts Rules of Order still preserves the right for a motion and a second to add an item to the agenda. And so what might end up happening is if two commissioners can't get a third vote, then the only way commissioners can bring it to the table is by bringing it to the agenda and forcing a discussion during a normal meeting to add an item to the agenda.

Thank you, Commissioner Terry. Commissioner Longspeed. Thank you, Madam Presiding Officer. I have three points I'd like to make. One of them I will ask the law department. Can we get her time on the clock? There we go. To come forward to the podium, and I may present a substitute motion. So my first point is the law department was sent a request by Commissioner Terry, and we had previously, I co-sponsored, co-drafted, I guess, This memo to the Board of Commissioners just expressing our concerns over this three sponsor rule. I appreciate you guys very quickly reviewing that memo and then providing your legal opinion on what we submitted to the commissioners within the body of that memo. I have not had a chance to speak to you guys yet about it because I believe you sent it yesterday, maybe afternoon or so, and most of us spend a good part of our Mondays getting prepared for today's meetings, plural, this one plus the committee meetings. My question to you, sir, is something that commissioner Terry brought up about the presiding officer being able to add an item without the three sponsor rule. I just kind of glanced at our presiding officer and I think she's potentially not in agreement on that. Could you just expand? Is that something within that memo that maybe we didn't fully read into, or is that something you need to go back and think about?

Commissioner, what I'm comfortable doing is telling you what your standing procedural rules say right now.

Okay.

I'm not going to speak about, in this public forum, an opinion from the law department. I'd ask that we speak about that offline. Sure. But to respond from what your current rules say, as your commonly referred to blue book provides.

Yes, sir.

Under part one, number one, presiding officer, sections E and F, I think, are what Commissioner Terry is referring to and how that will work. A page, sir? There are no page numbers. It's the first rule. It's the first page of actual rules right behind me. Table of contents, if you will. Thank you, sir. I'm here. Go ahead. So I'm just going to read it to you. Sure. E, determine the meeting agenda in the absence of a committee of the whole. That is a power that you've given to the presiding officer. F, have the discretion to add an item to the agenda after the Committee of the Whole, but prior to the publication of the next Board of Commissioners regular business meeting agenda. Those two have been in place, I believe, since this book was adopted.

OK. All right. So you haven't made any other suggestions or changes related to the presiding officer's role. As the PO last year, I remember I did have that privilege to do it. So thank you for that clarification. All right. The next comment I have is related to the purpose of the committee. Thank you, sir. Related to the committee structure. This was actually a suggestion made in email last year. And there, I believe, was some commentary through email about this new rule. So I don't recall when it was, but I believe it's taken a full year to kind of advance it forward. And my feeling on this is that the purpose of this committee structure, we have five committees. Each committee has three standing members on those committees. And then other commissioners are able to participate and attend those committee meetings. And after the committee members speak, that then they are able to also speak or deliberate, debate, opine on each agenda item that's being discussed within that particular committee meeting. So to me, the structure was already designed to have a Maybe not necessarily a vote, but a recommendation from three commissioners. So this new rule, in effect, has the pre-three sponsor rule. Then it goes, once you get those three sponsors, as Commissioner Terry pointed out, 43%. Then it comes to a COW meeting and determine which committee. Then it goes to a business meeting. And at that point, I know the presiding officer ask us not to debate or deliberate too much during the business meeting, but for it to actually go to the committee meeting for that deliberation at which three commissioners make a recommendation. And that recommendation could be for approval, for denial, for withdrawal. It can also be tabled within committee if you don't get to that item or if the committee chair really just feels like there needs to be more due diligence on the back end. So I am of the opinion that the structure we currently have in place is sufficient to deal with them. So my substitute motion, and Mr. County Attorney now, if you can make sure I make this correctly, is if we could please remove the three sponsor. So my motion is to remove the three sponsor rule from the overall vote of our blue book, our procedural rules, defer that for 30 days to the next, for the business meeting in 30 days, which would be September 29. That is my motion. Substitute motion.

Second.

It was substituted. So, County Attorney, that sounded like an official, efficient substitute motion. You didn't seem to object to any of that.

It didn't, but I want to be clear that what the practical effect would be is that you would have a first reading because you have to start over. You would have a first reading of what you're proposing. Right. At the meeting in 30 days.

Understood. Thank you. All right. There's a subsequent motion seconded by Commissioner Terry, I believe. All right. Commissioner Bolton, you've requested to speak.

Yes, ma'am. Thank you, Madam Presiding Officer. First, I want to say I am a supporter of the three co-sponsor rule that we're proposing for the Blue Book. However, considering what our colleagues have just communicated, I was thinking that a compromise could potentially be that committee chairs can add items to their committee. So not an individual adding to that item and that's similar to the presiding officer having the ability to add and set for the cow. But so if a commissioner and the committee chair are both in agreement only for that committee, an item be aided at the discretion of the chair. And so this would preserve the committee structure and allow for a two person rule outside of what we have already proposed. And just sharing that as an idea, it has not been added. It has not been discussed. This is just something I was thinking for committee chairs to still have the authority over their committees. And I yield back.

Thank you, Commissioner Bolton. Commissioner Terry, your second opportunity.

Thank you. I think that is an interesting proposal, Commissioner Bolton.

Hold on one second. Let's get your time right.

Oh, yes.

Three minutes. Three minutes. Just a second.

All right. OK, thank you. I think that is an interesting proposal. Were you saying that added to the committee agenda or the board agenda?

Well, everything has to start with the Cal and then be assigned to a committee. But essentially, yes to both.

OK, so a committee chair and a member of the committee would be able also to add an item to the agenda as it relates to that committee?

Just to that committee. So if you wanted to add something to ERT, you could either go the route and the three of you, go you and your two co-sponsors, or if the committee chair wants to have that item on their agenda, then it could be proposed.

Okay, but only committee agenda only?

You can't do just a committee agenda the way we're currently set up.

Okay.

It would be on the CAL, but assigned to that committee. You're just getting buy-in from the committee chair.

The committee chair. Okay, gotcha. Okay. So, well, I'd love to – I like what you're saying. I'd like to – can we defer this? Because if we pass that, then we'll have to do another – amendment, right? I guess that would be the next rule change.

I will say this is separate from the three rule. This was just an addition to. So not to hold up the vote today. Okay.

So can I ask a clarifying question that might help some of this?

Yes.

So Attorney Phillips said Just make sure I'm understanding this right. If we were to continue with the second read and approval today, but then we know there is additional items that are under consideration. And so with what Commissioner Bolton was just opining to, that could be a consideration in that next round. And it would just add to the rules that we would pass today. Is that a correct understanding?

As I understood Dr. Bolton, yes, that would be a new rule that would be added in the next round to supplement your process and extend it to committee chairs. If I followed her, we would work to make sure we articulate exactly what you envisioned.

Right, so that would allow for the original motion. We could move forward with what's before us currently, but knowing that we've already discussed that there are additional changes that need to come out of the Ops Committee and get consensus. So it sounds like this could be one of those items. Just wanted to make sure we're clear.

Okay. Well, I like where this is going. I probably still won't support the rule change, but hopefully if we can work out in a future ops meeting that addition, I think that would go a long way to helping address my concerns.

Thank you. Thank you, Commissioner Terry. Commissioner Long-Spears, your second opportunity.

Thank you, Madam Presiding Officer. That was good. Interesting idea, actually. So I just want to make sure I really clearly understand it. Because I think there was just a little confusion with the back and forth. So what you're suggesting is this be not something we're voting on today, but an additional rule that can be deliberated in the Ops Committee in the future. So let me make something easy up. So say we're suggesting that we change our blue book to purple or green, right? This is just an example. Let me think here. So let's just say that would be in the Ops Committee. So somebody wants to change the procedural rule from blue, let's say, to green. So does that mean the person that wants to do that needs to go in advance to the chair of the committee and ask if they would support that rule? OK. So let's say I'm suggesting to Commissioner Marita Davis-Johnson that I think it'd be a cool idea to change it from blue to green. And I go to her and she says, I like that idea. And I'm not saying that you do or don't, but I like that idea. Mr. County Attorney, there's no problem with any kind of email correspondence discussing that through email.

You are allowed to communicate in writing.

Okay. Cool beans. All right. And then she likes that idea. And so would you have to have, just based on what your suggestion is, the committee chair and another member of the committee? So that would, in effect, be two people making that recommendation? Or could it be the committee chair and then the person that's sponsoring it so I don't sit on the ops committee? Okay. So is that acceptable for a non-ops committee member, a non-committee member to partner with the chair so that would constitute two sponsors of that?

Yes, if you get buy-in from the committee chair, you just need that one additional person or any three commissioners.

Okay, all right. Well, it's certainly an interesting idea, and I would definitely love the opportunity to explore that further. Thank you so much. You're back.

Thank you, Commissioner Messiah, your first opportunity.

Thank you so much, Madam PO. And as initially hesitant as I was, I support us moving forward with this. Particularly as Chair of PECS, I've seen how legislation that hasn't been properly vetted, comes before us and it does not go to the legal department first. It is not something that's discussed with other departments. To be quite frank, it is utilized as political play and rhetoric. And what it does is it not only ties up and makes difficult our work here as commissioners, it also sometimes inadvertently, and sometimes to be quite frank, people do it intentionally, misrepresents and creates a confusion in the public. So to the extent since we have a responsibility as commissioners, as long as we're not doing it like some of my colleagues here in adverse of open meetings, if there is a socialization and a brief discussion and you get support and garnish support, that just allows an opportunity for collaborative leadership. and discussion around how we can make it better tweaks that may need to take place beforehand and therefore allows us to put more effective more efficient legislation before us before we deliberate with the rest of our colleagues and then vote So I don't see it as a stifling of anyone. I see it more as an opportunity for us to work collaboratively, put our heads together, and put forth legislation that is supported and more thought out. With that, I yield back.

Thank you, Commissioner Messiah. Excuse me. So currently the motion on the floor is a substitute motion. And I'm seeing no further requests to speak. So the substitute motion essentially was to remove the three-sponsor rule and then defer for 30 days. Is that correct, Commissioner Long-Spears?

Yes, ma'am.

That is the substitute. Okay. Thank you. And that was seconded by Commissioner Terry. So that is what we'll vote on first. Please open the machine for the vote. The substitute motion fails. So now we're back to the original motion, which was to approve. And I forget who seconded that original motion. Commissioner Bolton. So if you can hit your buttons for me again, please. Let the ops chair do it.

All right.

So let's open that machine for that vote. The motion does carry. I will say that I did like the additional conversation, so I hope we can move forward with some of that additional conversation.

If I could just say something in response.

Commissioner Davis Johnson.

Briefly.

Yeah, I would just like to say and respond to that to please those that have questions, comments, input on the commission, please come to the ops meeting so that we can discuss it fully. Commissioner Johnson. Terry is at just about every ops committee meeting in person. I think he had one teleconference ops committee. But I would just encourage everyone that has input into the items that we're discussing, not only in the blue book, but for the charter review. Please come to the Ops Committee so that we can fully discuss them, and they won't have to be discussed in the business meeting. Thank you.

Thank you, Commissioner Davis-Johnson. Top of page 17, item 2026-0596, all commission districts, an ordinance to regulate the restraint and transportation of animals and for other purposes, and this is an IRPS item. Move for action. Move for action. Yes, ma'am. Page 18, item 2026-0728, all commission districts and ordinance amend the code of DeKalb County, Georgia, Chapter 5, to regulate the sale of dogs, cats, and rabbits in pet shops.

Move for action. And with that, madam. Presiding officer on behalf of the arts committee, I move to defer both item 0596 and 0728 to the September 15th BOC with a prior stop in arts. Second. Second. Go ahead.

You can take it.

Thank you. We have a motion and a second. Commissioner Longspeaker, as you requested to speak, you have four.

Yes, ma'am. Both of these items are a District 2 sponsored item, and I did want to acknowledge the IRPS chair for being gracious and allowing us to bring in speakers both virtually and in person to speak to these topics. One topic related to transient sales we have discussed several times now in a committee meeting. We do have the retail sales ban, which is one I believe coming up on a future IRPS agenda. So have you determined what date, Madam IRPS Chair, you guys will be hearing that item? Inquiring minds want to know.

Well, we haven't worked it out yet, but we'll work out with you, because I know you have another speaker.

That's correct, that's why we're trying to start coordinating that. Awesome, okay, very good. Thank you so much, and I yield back.

Thank you, Commissioner Long-Spears. I see no further requests to speak. Please open the chamber for the vote. Motion to defer carries. Thank you. Bottom of page 18, a district three item handing, being handed a substitute for this item 2026 dash 0 5 5 0 to adopt an ordinance and amend the code of DeKalb County to address public safety, drifting, unauthorized camping, and certain public nuisance behaviors. And this is a PECS item.

Motion to approve committee with the additional substituted language. Is there a second?

Second for the purposes of discussion.

Thank you so much. Are you requesting a speaker? Is that a hangover from last time?

No, ma'am. I am requesting to speak, please. Thank you so much. I appreciate that. All right. There has been considerable dialogue about this item. And I wanted to address a couple of issues that have been brought to my attention. The first thing is that I get all my papers organized. This huge stack all relates to this. OK, this item has been active now since the spring. So it's been ongoing now for many, many months. The date of the previous version was dated June 9th, and I just had my office confirm that. On June 8th, we did receive considerable feedback from Dr. Alan Ferguson, our housing officer, and that was an email that was sent to me and then distributed to all of the commissioners, making several recommendations for the urban camping ordinance. I have limited time, so I'm going to read very quickly, and I will request a second time to speak. So the very first thing he requested is a title change to what you currently read on the agenda, to read an ordinance to amend the Code of DeKalb County, Georgia, pertaining to urban camping, encampment management, public access, and public safety, and for other purposes. He then also added two extra whereas statements that I wholeheartedly believe believe and agree with both of them. Whereas the commission recognizes that homelessness is fundamentally a housing and service delivery challenge that is best addressed through access to housing, shelter, behavioral health services, supportive services, employment opportunities, and coordinated community resources, And whereas the purpose of this ordinance is not to criminalize homelessness or poverty, but to preserve public health and safety while connecting individuals to available services and housing resources whenever possible. The reason I elevate the addition of these two whereas statements, I believe that it has been all of our desire to ensure that our unhoused plan really syncs with our overall housing comp plan and that it is a compassionate solution to the homelessness crisis that we're dealing with right now here in DeKalb County. He further goes on to revise the definition of camp. Camp means using public property for living accommodation purposes, including sleeping, storing personal belongings, erecting temporary shelters or structures, cooking, maintaining bedding materials, or otherwise residing in a location not intended for human habitation. And currently, none of the above is in the substitute ordinance that is in front of us right now. The next thing that he brought up was revising the prohibitive conduct section. And again, this came from the administration. It did come from our chief housing officer, Dr. Ferguson. He suggested we revise the language to read, it shall be unlawful for any person to establish or maintain a cap site on public property in a manner that materially obstructs public access, public infrastructure, or the intended use of public property. Shall be unlawful for any person to erect or maintain temporary structures that obstruct sidewalks, roadways, public right-of-ways, trails, parks, or public facilities. Thirdly, camp within designated... Shall be unlawful to camp within designated environmentally sensitive areas, utility easements, flood-prone areas, transportation corridors, bridges, tunnels... active construction sites or other locations designated by the county as presenting a significant health or safety risk. He has several other sections. I don't have time. Within the eight minutes we'll have total. But the topics of exploration, which I don't believe we have fully explored yet, are strengthening our outreach requirements, adding vulnerable population protections, Extending personal property notice requirements, and I will elevate that. He states here, written notice shall be posted at least 72 hours prior to the removal of personal property, except where immediate action is required to address a threat to public health, public safety, or environmental hazards. So 72 hours. The next section is personal property storage procedures, just ensuring that we do give at least a period of 30 days for those to be recovered from the owner. And then also around a progressive enforcement framework, which is really focused on outreach and engagement, opportunity for voluntary compliance, citation or civil enforcement action, and arrest only when authorized by law and after repeated refusal to comply. I bring this up because I do want to make us a substitute motion to defer this item for 90 days to be heard in the second. Call of order.

Commissioner Messiah, I'm the presiding officer. I will allow her to make the substitute motion outside of her time as I would allow any commissioner to do. She can continue to make her substitute motion.

Thank you, Madam Presiding Officer. So I will repeat. I am making a substitute motion for item 2026-0550 to defer this item for 90 days to the second business meeting in November, that date is November 17th, to give an opportunity for the PECS chair to host a special called PECS meeting or an opportunity for our law enforcement and public safety partners to come together to the same table to really discuss this and make sure we put an ordinance forward that's in the best interest of our unhoused citizens. Thank you.

that is it is there a second for the substitute motion second okay so commissioner long spears has made a substitute motion seconded by commissioner terry commissioner you have the floor with your first opportunity to speak thank you so much so um one i want to address the fact that this is not a housing ordinance as politically motivated as my colleague is here

sending several emails or having folks post on social media and calling this a ordinance to arrest the unhoused. I reiterate, this is not a housing ordinance. So it would be great and it would be appropriate for Dr. Ferguson and others that are focused on housing. to weigh in specifically in and around housing if that's what it was about. But what it is specifically about is vagrancy and particular behaviors that are concerning to specific areas, I would say, inundated in District 3 in and around South DeKalb County. It is about that and public safety. I have seniors that are concerned trying to go in and out of grocery stores and gas stations that have a challenge with being able to do so. Additionally, we have laws that have come down when it comes to 295 where We have to address some of these concerns where it is difficult for folks to get into the right of way, cross streets. I don't know what it looks like in North DeKalb and certain areas where you are, but I will say, because that's where a lot of the emails actually came from. opposed to South, but it is an ongoing issue. Additionally, we have individuals that have, with 295, that unfortunately we have the situation that has happened in Atlanta. And so to ignore that and not be proactive and preemptive in our work, I think is to not necessarily do our job. This isn't about a political game. You've missed, we actually had public safety, which someone from the sheriff's office and from our police department spoke. You are absent. You actually deferred this already for 60 days. You were absent in the last discussion at the PECS meeting. So you're repeatedly absent for these conversations. yet you want it deferred for 90 days. I can appreciate comments to improve and to the extent that was your motive opposed to just trying to kill it and make it into something that you want it to be, to create a platform for yourself, then that would have been fine. to send in comments and suggestive language, which by the way, we did add during our last PEC meeting when we talked about trespassing, that language was particularly asked. Not all people that are unhoused want to be housed. And some folks are setting up encampments in unsafe areas. What we want to do is regulate and protect those individuals in addition to people that are trying to and affected by it. I yield back my second.

Thank you, Commissioner Messiah. Commissioner Patrick, your first opportunity.

Thank you, Madam Presiding Officer. Commissioner Spears, or Madam Chair, to my colleague, if you could forward that email one more time, I apologize. I did not read that. It sounded... It did sound very on mark on a lot of things, but I would appreciate being able to read that. Absolutely. We are in a situation where we have two people that are right, or we have two opinions that seem to be right. There is a concern with the homelessness, even up in District 1. Of course, we can remember some of the events that happened in Atlanta over the summer. At the Kroger, at Chamblee Tucker Road, there is homeless folks that are coming up and engaging with people when they're coming back with their groceries. Again, Pleasantdale Road has a phenomenal amount of people that are panhandling, seemingly homeless in the area. We have tried cleaning up UPS. The property across the street is where everyone moved. We tried to clean that up. And then they've moved down towards Evans Road is another area that we're having a lot of activity, hearing reports of activities around Mercer's campus, hearing reports again about activity around Shaliford Road. So there is a concern. I too, or I should say back, I guess back in 23, 24, put forward a resolution saying that we should find other ways besides arresting people. And I think that everyone up here agrees with the notion that jail does not fix mental health problems. And so that is a concern I think we all share universally. If you were comfortable with your motion to the October 27 BOC, with a prior stop or stops at the PECS committee. I think that might be something, because I do like what was suggested by the director. But I recognize also we have what's happened at the state legislature, which is this notion that residents are empowered to sue the local authority, and that'll be DeKalb County, who's responsible for human services, as my understanding goes. And I just want to make sure that the county does have some level of protection to be able to present to a court that says we have done something that suggests homelessness is a challenge that we're trying to address. We also have, of course, the HIV that was recently approved that I think is a phenomenal step going towards addressing that. But I would be comfortable with a shorter time frame, but a little more in-depth conversation on that topic. And one more thing to add since I got my two minutes and 17 seconds. You know, it would be ideal also if we could bring back the joint statement that was prepared, I guess, from the CEO as well as the commission in this ongoing conversation. I yield back my time.

So I'm clear and I think we're all clear. You're asking, Commissioner Patrick, you're asking for a friendly amendment from the substitute motion that Commissioner Longspear has made?

If she would consider that, I think that would be a...

May I respond, Madam Pio? Yes. So, yes, I will accept that friendly amendment to October 27th, whether you said a stop in committee or committees. So one question I do have for the sponsor of the item. I'm going to let you respond to that one piece. Okay, that's fine. We'll do that. I'll include the other part in my follow-up. No problem. Yes, I accept your friendly amendment. Thank you. Thank you.

Commissioner Davis-Johnson, you have the floor next.

Um, yeah, I think, I think that we're talking about a very complex issue, you know, it's not black and white, you know? Um, and I understand, uh, what, uh, commissioner Messiah is attempting to do. I understand, uh, some of the things that you're saying. Uh, but I'm going to tell you, I was at a service station. A couple of weeks ago, and a lady got out of a car with a child, came up to me and said that they needed to get home. They didn't have any gas, would I have them get gas? I went in the store, charged $10 worth of gas for her. And as I was walking out, I saw a man get out of the car, go into the store, and I went back into the store and bought a six pack of beer. And that is not the norm, but it happens. Where individuals are harassed, taken advantage of, manipulated, And so I think that something needs to be in place. Now, is it a compromise on coal and what Dr. Ferguson stated? I don't know, because it's compromised, they haven't really looked at it. But I think that, I don't see why 30 day at the most, 30 day deferral could not achieve what we're trying to do. And that is to make sure that we are not, from housing, to make sure that we are not compromising the homeless. At the same time, risking the safety of the public. Can I give a substitute? We got a first. So I would give a friendly amendment, a second friendly amendment for a 30-day deferral rather than.

Let me make sure we can do two friendly amendments. Yes, it's Rennie Phillips.

As I followed, you had a motion. From the sponsor, you had a substitute motion from Commissioner Spears. Commissioner Spears accepted a friendly amendment from Commissioner Patrick, and now Commissioner Davis-Johnson is offering another friendly amendment. If Commissioner Spears accepts it, it can be accepted. Okay. Okay.

Thank you for the clarification.

If the first propose of a friendly amendment is comfortable with the 30 days, I will accept the second propose of a friendly amendment. But I think he needs to maybe provide feedback.

I'm comfortable with that. And the idea of us being collaborative and working towards a solution I think is a good thing right there.

Okay, so if you're good with 30 days. All right, so yes, ma'am, I will accept that friendly amendment. Thank you.

Okay, and do you concede your time, Commissioner Davis-Johnson? All right, thank you. So we're still going on first round, so next for first round is Commissioner Terry.

Thank you, Madam Chair. I was at the last PECS meeting where this was discussed, and I believe Zach, Chief Padrick, was going to provide information an SOP on how DeKalb Police would handle the enforcement of this ordinance. So is that- been completed or do they need more time? MR.

Right. So that has not been completed. I believe that that was work that would be done post adoption. We could certainly do it in advance. But I think the thinking was if the Board adopts it, then we would have to put in place an SOP. MR.

Okay. Well, I think it would be good for us to have a little you know, foresight, um, I, I, I'd hate to pass a law and then not know exactly how it's going to be enforced, um, or implemented. You know, I think, um, all of us are concerned about all of the issues related to homelessness, certainly, uh, commiserate with anyone that's been accosted or harassed. Um, you know, that does happen and it probably happens a lot. But at the same time, we know that a lot of individuals are really struggling out there. And so visits by the outreach team, visit by the crisis team, and then also business by the police are our ways to interact with individuals where the public is not equipped to deal with that situation other than maybe buy them some gas or get them some water. Really what they're needing is a level of service and wraparound treatment that hopefully addresses the root issue that's involved. The FAB committee has been discussing this issue in particular, and I'll just throw out three numbers for everyone's consideration. I had brought this up before to the Board of Commissioners, but 700 people, 400 days, and $28 million. 700 people at any one time throughout the calendar year are in the DeKalb County Jail for a criminal trespass arrest, which means they were arrested on private property, not public private property, private property, that also have a diagnosis of a mental health condition or a substance abuse issue. Because the State Department DBHDD has been behind on their evaluations, those individuals are in DeKalb County Jail for an average of 400 days. So earlier when we heard public comment about the cost, the Sheriff's Department, through Director Kareem Martin, the Chief Health Officer, has provided a number of $28 million that we provide to the sheriff's budget to basically fund that census and that demographic. I think the reason why the SOP is so important is that one, we already know that homeless individuals are being arrested for being homeless on private property. And it is resulting in, during a calendar year, 700 people that are in our care. We heard from Judge Jacobs, who actually shared with us that he's received these cases in state court and has given bail. Under state law, cash bail is required for a whole host of new offenses, including this one, which would be like a trespass. And even when he has set the bail at $1, individuals are not able to fulfill that one dollar and of course even if they could once they're released where do they go as also was mentioned i have been advocating for a a new and expanded crisis center for going on six years now, Zach. We made the decision a couple months back to take the 15 million for mental health facilities and disperse it into other programs, not into the crisis center. So we're kind of at square one. But I think we have an opportunity to create a hybrid approach where we could have a crisis and diversion center that would allow 1013s and 1014s to be received. And so, in other words, an officer that might respond to an urban camp on a public right-of-way or in a park would have the discretion to say I will detain this person under a 10, 13, 10, 14, but instead of taking them to be booked into the cap County jail, which then begins the whole thing that I just talked about, they're going to the diversion center and hopefully through that diversion center, they're getting treatment, they're getting temporary housing. And then as all of us up here have supported, we're trying to create a pipeline for more transitional housing, permanent supportive housing, and just more housing of affordable varieties moving forward. So I think those few things are going to be important before we move forward on this ordinance.

Thank you, Commissioner Terry. So Commissioner Longspear is your next for your second opportunity.

Thank you very much. I appreciate that Madam Presiding Officer. I do want to express to two of my colleagues Commissioner Patrick and Commissioner Davis-Johnson for recognizing the complexity of this issue and that we just need more time. All right. I was provided an analysis of the current urban camping ordinance, or at least the one prior to the substitute, which was sent to us via email yesterday. And there are several points that I wanted to elevate to the community. I am limited on time, so I will be brief and move quickly. The very first item does relate to the resolution for effective response to homelessness, 2024-1233, that was adopted in January of 2026. I believe that the substitute that was distributed may be addressing that piece, or that's the substitute piece, the addition to the substitute that was distributed to us today and then previously last night. uh... the concerns there were recommending actually let me just get there and i'll come back if i have more time the second uh... suggestion we'd like for the sponsor in this board to consider over the next thirty days is to caps public safety capacity to enforce his lead legislation is severely limited including space at the jail has been previously noted by our sheriff Point three, DeKalb County and its unhoused service partners are currently dedicating numerous resources via the unhoused plan to follow through on the joint policy statement resolution by designing, coordinating, and launching a collaborative systemic service-based approach to reduce the number of unhoused families in individuals in DeKalb County. This ordinance will undermine the work being done before it can even be implemented, wasting the substantial county and service partner resources being allocated to it by replacing it with explicit criminalization and little accountability for the diversionary priority area already established by the Board of Commissioners. Point four, the version of the legislation that has been in front of us since June. Again, the substitute received last night, distributed today. This is the legislation before the Commission has no substantial modification since being introduced despite clear desire from county departments and stakeholders to do so. I did read comments from Dr. Ferguson. I also have comments from Director Mitchell as well. The result of adopting this ordinance will be a fully contradictory set of vague and unaccountable directives, forcing law enforcement to interpret and navigate competing goals. Number four, proposed legislation does not consider the real-life impact of its enforcement on unhoused persons or how it could exacerbate conditions causing people to be unhoused. I'd like to leave you guys with this. Director Mitchell did state in an email that, in his opinion, the current urban camping ordinance, which was received on June 8th. Oh, okay.

Thank you very much. I yield back. All right. Commissioner Messiah for your second opportunity.

Thank you so much. Again, I just reiterate, this isn't a focus on attacking the unhoused in a housing ordinance. This is more to address certain behaviors that pose a risk of public safety. I'm not certain why many times it's being reiterated. And the opportunity over the last 60 days, most of the PECS meetings that my colleague opposition has missed, there's been plenty of opportunity to make suggestions for changes and to discuss and accept the fact that this is not focusing on jailing the young house. As with any any issue related to trespassing and the like, our officers are afforded opportunity to use discretion. It doesn't mean that people have to go from zero to 60 and go to jail or that they have to go to jail at all. So this idea that it's jailing the unhoused is grossly misleading and incorrect. There is a difference between panhandling and vagrancy. So some people do panhandle, as what Commissioner Davis Johnson had suggested. Sometimes people are down on their luck and at the gas station and just need a couple of dollars. However, and they will ask. However, there are some people that will stay at a particular location and harass individuals and make it difficult for them to just go into their local gas station to get gas in the morning. And to that, what we want to do is make sure we're addressing the opportunity for our officers who realize that and the folks that have an issue with it to say, it is creating a safety challenge for me. And I need it to stop, please. Again, this is not an attack on house. I wish that my colleague here that's in opposition was at our last PEC meeting because that joint statement was included it's in paragraph four and that comes specifically based on the conversations that had been had with our um the folks from our sheriff's department from our police department and also being present in our pecs meeting and so not participating and just standing on the idea that is attacking the unhoused and trying to jail the unhoused is misrepresenting the situation and I think that it should stop. We have to address this concern. We don't want what happened in Atlanta to unfortunately happen to another person and we want to be in compliance with what's being requested and mandated to be quite frank. from HB 295. This is affording our officers to use discretion as they do always. Thank you.

Thank you, Commissioner Messiah. Commissioner Terry, your second opportunity.

Thank you, Madam Chair. Zach, can you update us on how many members of the outreach team or how many outreach team, I guess, staff do we have currently that... Four. Covers unincorporated DeKalb County.

Yeah, I want to say four off the top of my head, Commissioner, but I'll double check. Okay. And then there's some with Frontline. I don't know that number, though.

Okay. So I think that one of the other concerns with the implementation of the ordinance is If an officer responds to a situation, then do they have a place to send someone or can they call in the crisis team, Claritel, the outreach team? In other words, it's not treated as a crime. It's treated as we're responding to a situation that someone is concerned about. um acting erratically on the sidewalk or maybe they put up a tent on the sidewalk and we don't know what's going on officers might respond but then you know is the backup there to say actually we don't need to send someone to jail arrest them we have the day center we have front line we have other things that we're working on that can intercede so it's in essence it's a co-responder model um so that's kind of what i'm looking for from the administration in response to this ordinance is if this passed would there have to be an expanded co-responder system but we have to have more outreach team members because i assume right now if someone wants to report an encampment debate Is it your advice that they call 9-1-1? Do they call 3-1-1? Do they email commissioners? How would the average person respond?

I think 3-1-1 or we have an outreach number. I couldn't recite off the top of my head, but between our team in community development and frontline, I think those would be more appropriate for the encampments or the person who looks as if they need help. And our system is designed fairly well for that. And we do have our staff who will go out, our frontline staff, and offer assistance. That works well when one accepts the assistance. It's when they don't accept the assistance, it's more complicated.

Understood. And I think that's maybe that's where I think a lot of folks, including myself, have concern with the ordinance is that other jurisdictions that have implemented similar laws, my research shows that they do, in fact, incarcerate more individuals. And so we're just trying to follow the data and the evidence. When urban camping law bans are passed, more people are arrested. And that's exactly, I think, what we've all agreed that we don't want to see happen.

Thank you, Commissioner Terry. Commissioner Davis-Johnson, your second opportunity to speak.

Yeah, so I'd like to just state once more that housing problem is not just a housing problem in DeKalb County. It's a housing problem nationwide. The mental health problem is just not a problem in DeKalb County. It's nationwide. I mean, this is something that the the federal government started and the local governments are having to deal with it. So it's not fair to put that problem on one person or even this commission. But this commission must deal with it as it affect DeKalb County. And that's what we are trying to do. Take the politics out of it, take the publicity out of it, and let's deal with it. Mental health, if you don't, and I do family law. If you don't take your medication that you are prescribed to take, you can't force it. I have it in my family. If you don't take your medication, you can injure someone. You can kill someone. You can maim someone. Now you can talk about it in the abstract until it happens to you or your family member. So like I stated, it's complex. It's something that we have to deal with. It's something that was put upon us with no funds. In fact, the federal funds that they had for both housing and mental health is taken away, has been taken away from us. So this is not a district problem. This is a national problem. And if we treat it like we should treat it with compassion, with humbleness, with understanding, then we should be able to come to a resolution that is going to keep the public safe and also is not going to jail the homeless for being homeless. You know, so that's my final thoughts.

Thank you, Commissioner. Marita Davis-Johnson.

Madam Presiding Officer, point of procedure, please. Yes, ma'am. Thank you. It has been elevated by the sponsor that this is not a housing issue, that it's a public safety issue. So she doesn't have to respond now. I just wonder if the chair of our public safety committee would consider hearing this item in IRPS. Thank you. Yield back.

We will take that into consideration and talk about it offline. Thank you very much. So I just want to confirm, I believe the second friendly amendment was accepted for a 30-day deferral, Commissioner Long-Spears. So does that mean September 29th? I just want to make sure we're clear.

Yes, ma'am. September 29th with a stop and a committee that would be willing to hear it. Thank you. Thank you so much.

So that is the motion on the floor. Attorney Phillips.

I want to make sure the substitute item is what's being deferred, right?

Yes. With the second friendly amendment, 30-day deferral, September 29th through the prior stopping committee. Please open machine for the vote. Motion to defer carries. Thank you very much. So we have two more items I'd like to get to and then break for a working lunch. We have executive session to discuss legislation. Litigation. Thank you. Thank you, Attorney Phillips. So top of page 20, item 2026-1216, District 3, budget amendment to increase the general fund for recreation parks and cultural affairs, Sugar Creek Tennis and Golf to address the lighting and retention wall for the third tennis court, amount not to exceed $800,000. Move for action. Item 2026-1219, District 3, Commission District 3 budget amendment to increase the general fund for recreation parks and cultural affairs for Porter Sanford Performing Arts and Community Center to address required equipment improvements and amount not to exceed $79,000.

Move for action. Motion to defer agenda items ending in 12-16 and 12-19 to the September 15 VOC meeting as it was approved in PECS. But I think that it was also at one point discussed in FAB as well. The FAB chair was there present in PECS. Are you fine with this just being in PECS, and is there more discussion that you want to have around it?

I think we were waiting on Zach and TJ to come back to the FAB committee on just sort of the budget sources or the funding sources, I should say. So I think where we're at now, PECS has recommended approval. It's now in FAB for the next step in the budget process. So we'll be happy to hear that this afternoon if the administration has any updates on their end.

All right. Thank you. So the motion is to defer until September 15th. Correct. With a prior stop and fan. Correct. Thank you. Is there a second? Thank you, Commissioner Patrick. Second. And that's for both items. Please open the machine for the vote. Thank you so much. If I can get a motion for executive session.

So moved.

Second. Hit your buttons. And that is for litigation. Please open the machine for the vote. We are in executive session and is a working lunch. Thank you.

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

Good afternoon, everybody. If I can get a motion to reconvene. So moved. We need header buttons, ma'am. All right. Thank you. Voting is open. Thank you so much. We are back. There was no action to be taken out of executive session, so we will continue. We are at the bottom of page 20, a District 6 item, but it's in PECS. Item 2025-0015, all commission districts, an ordinance to amend the Code of DeKalb County, Georgia, Chapter 16, pertaining to regulation of sound and for other purposes. Move for action. Thank you, ma'am. That moves us over to page 23. Item 2025-0017, all commission districts. A resolution to create an electric landscape maintenance device rebate program to encourage switching from gas powered landscape maintenance devices and for other lawful purposes.

Move for action, Madam PO. I move to defer agenda item ending in 0015 and 0017 to our September 15th BOC meeting. It is still being held in committee for the sponsor to make some final decisions before we move this along and bring it to the rest of the board.

Thank you, Madam. Second. Seconded by Commissioner Long-Spears. Please open the machine for the vote. Motion to defer carries. We are now page 25. Item 2025-1525, all commissioned districts, in ordinance to amend the code of DeKalb County, Georgia, Chapter 25, pertaining to water, sewers, and sewage disposal and for other purposes. This is a FAB item.

Motion to table.

All right, thank you. Second. Thank you so much. Thank you, Madam Deputy Presiding Officer. If you'll help me remember to take it off the table, if we can open the phones. Commissioner Davis Johnson, okay. That's okay, it still carries. All right, now page 27. It's also a FAB item. Item 2026-0158, Super District 6, a resolution to establish the DeKalb for the People Dividend Fund and Fiscal Stability Policy. I think we need to table this one as well. Motion to vote.

Actually, I grabbed the motion on that. Give me a quick second. I have the recommendations for FAB, I believe.

Okay.

Okay.

We're on 27.

Yeah, so it looks like it was recommended holding in committee.

So the committee recommendation for the August 25th meeting, which is today, is to defer to the September 15th BOC meeting and will be heard in FAB today.

Thank you. Can I get someone to second that, please?

Second. Thank you.

All right, that is a motion to defer. Please open the machine for the vote. The motion to defer carries. Item 2026-0244, all commission districts, a resolution requiring an independent third party health environmental study of data centers and their possible impact on DeKalb County. And Board of Commissioners review of the study before DeKalb County's data center moratorium can be lifted. This is in PICS.

Yes, motion to defer to September 15 BOC meeting. It is still in committee to be heard again today. Second.

Motion and a second. Please hit your button. Thank you, ma'am. Please open the machine for the vote. I mean, we're getting real efficient with just the women, I'm just saying. I had to say it.

I had to say it. Keep hurrying. Hurry, hurry. They'll be back.

I know. Okay, sorry, sorry. Top of page 29. 2026. 0769, all commissioned districts, a resolution requesting the administration establish independent civilian oversight and auditing for DeKalb County's digital shield initiatives and surveillance infrastructure. This is an IRPS item.

Yes, ma'am. I move to defer this item to the September 29 BOC with a prior stop in IRPS. Second.

Thank you. Open machine for that vote, please. And bottom of page 29, that motion carries. Item 2026-0982, all commission districts, a resolution urging the administration implement the specific recommendations outlined in the DeKalb County Racial Equity Study as adopted in 2025.

And this is Pax. Thank you so much. I believe it was supposed to, we had discussed with Ron, the administration started implementing specific recommendations and provided those to us from the study. And at this point, I think we were comfortable with the implementation since our colleague and of the urgence is here. Is there anything else that you wanted to add to that in terms of recommendations for this item?

So we're on the racial equity study item.

Yes, I think CL Williams presented all things that are being done.

We don't have a motion, so we probably need a motion before we discuss that.

Motion to withdraw.

Yeah, I was going to say motion to withdraw.

All right. Now, if you would like to discuss, you're welcome.

Yes. So Mr. Williams, at the committee meeting, you laid out all of the things that are being done as it relates to the study. So thank you for doing that. It's very comprehensive. I really appreciate that. And thank you to Commissioner Larry Johnson and Commissioner Masaya for being champions for these really important issues. And I look forward to seeing the next steps of the community inclusion manager. Yeah, that's the right name for it. And when that person comes online, are y'all already, you're actively searching for that position? Yes. Okay. Very good. Thank you.

Thank you, Commissioner Terry. Commissioner Longspheres?

Thank you very much. Since this board is recommending withdrawal of this item, Mr. Williams, would you mind coming to the podium and just telling the public why you suggested this was our best course of action? Sure. And what, and we're very grateful, the administration is doing right now to carry this work forward.

Yes. Thank you, Madam Presiding Officer, to Commissioner Longspear's question. We feel that, one, we don't need a specific resolution. The fact is those elements of the racial equity study that were proposed, was completed a couple years back. The administration is actively engaged in implementing. So we just didn't deem it necessary to have an urging resolution or something to discuss things that are happening. So we have posted things on the website that allows for employees to gain additional information. We've implemented training, and as Commissioner Terry mentioned, we're actively pursuing the hiring of an inclusion manager who will assist in these types of activities. So the work is ongoing. We're embracing the tenets of the original study. So nothing further was needed.

Thank you, sir. I yield back. Thank you so much. Seeing no further requests to speak, please open the machine for the vote. Motion to withdraw carries. Middle of page 30, item 2026-0218, all commission districts to establish regulatory oversight of blasting operations in DeKalb County through the adoption of a controlled blasting and safety ordinance to promote public safety, environmental protection, and community stability and for other purposes.

On behalf of the IRPS committee, I proudly move to approve item 0218.

That's my second. And you are also the sponsor, right?

Yes, District 5 and District 7. Can you give her the honor of allowing her to have that second?

I was actually pushing my microphone, thinking I was pushing that.

My apologies. Thank you so much. Especially since I had to listen to her so much.

Thank you so much. Attorney Welch, welcome back.

Thank you, I think. Apologies, but law needs a little additional time to look at this item. There is one cross-reference included in this item to the sound ordinance. The sound ordinance is being heard, as I understand it, in PEX and will be up for consideration shortly. We'd like to make sure that that cross-reference matches whatever changes may or may not be adopted to the sound ordinance. So we would ask that this item be deferred, let sound move first, and then we'll move this in conformance with that as quickly as we possibly can.

So that is something that came up in committee, and it only makes a reference, but it doesn't speak to any of the sound regulations. So the reference should support the item regardless of any changes that may be made.

I think our concern is in part that it makes a cross reference that may not exist depending on what the final version of the sound ordinance actually looks like. So we want to make sure that there's full consistency between the two provisions.

Okay. Let's remove it and then we can come back and amend the ordinance.

Remove the reference.

Yep. Remove the reference. We've been waiting for months on another piece of legislation. That is not under the jurisdiction of the IRPS committee. Or amend the language to say if a sound ordinance is approved. Or exists. Or exists. Blasting is currently happening.

Obviously, the board can do as it chooses. I would again recommend that our review be provided before it be adopted. I apologize for the delay. I don't know why the red line didn't make it to you all, but we do have suggested changes to this item that we would like you to consider before adopting it.

suggested changes specifically for the reference?

To be frank, this item isn't even in ordinance format. We had formatting suggestions. We have language suggestions. We have multiple suggestions. I apologize. I've been out for multiple months. I can't tell you why the red line didn't get to you. But we have suggested changes that we believe you should consider before you adopt it. If you choose not to do that, we will recommend an amendment to conform.

I'm going to turn off my microphone for a quick second.

All right. I will go to Commissioner Terry. He's requested to speak.

Thank you, Presiding Officer. So you sent the red line just to Commissioner Bolton, or you sent it to all of us? Or you have not sent a red line, is what you're saying, but there is one?

To the best I can determine in my review of my emails, the red line has not been provided to you all. Okay. Gotcha. All right. Thank you.

Understood. Commissioner Bolton, does your motion stand?

Okay. I'd like to table the item, and if you could forward that, so if I can see if those changes are significant.

All right, so you're amending your motion to table. Yes, please. Your second stand. Thank you so much. Please open the machine for the vote. Motion to table carries. Page 31, item 2026-1132, all commissioned districts consent to the sublease and modification of portions of the Kirkwood Mental Health Center, Clifton Springs Mental Health Center, and Wynn Way Mental Health Center under contract number 13800971 with the Community Service Board doing business as Claritel Behavioral Health. to Genoa Healthcare LLC for use as pharmacies. And this is PECS. Motion to approve as it was approved out of committee. Second. Thank you so much. Please open the machine for the vote. Motion to approve carries. Now, top of page 32, item 2026-1214, a supplemental resolution approving the issuance of the Housing Authority of the County of DeKalb, Georgia, taxable revenue bonds Housing Investment Bond Program Series 2026 in the aggregate principal amount of to be determined for the purpose of funding the Housing Investment Bond Program and authorizing the execution and delivery of an intergovernmental housing cooperation agreement between the county and the housing authority of the county of DeKalb, Georgia. Good afternoon.

Good afternoon. As we told you last Fab, we'd be coming back with the bids that we received on Friday. We're happy to report we received eight bids, which is very good, from 15-year to 20-year maturities. Actually, a couple 25s, but we selected a 20-year maturity with Regents Bank at 5.77, which we're very happy with. If you have any questions.

Yes, and so we are being handed the substitute.

You're being handed the substitute, which is the agenda item with the appropriate numbers filled in.

Yes, so I'm going to reread it to make sure we're all clear.

The resolution with the numbers filled in and also the IGA with its correction.

Thank you so much. So this is the substitute for item 2026-1214, a supplemental resolution approving the issuance of the housing authority of the county of DeKalb, Georgia taxable revenue bonds, housing investment bond program series 2026. in the aggregate principal amount of $25 million for the purpose of funding the housing investment bond program and authorizing the execution and delivery of an intergovernmental housing cooperation agreement between the county and the housing authority of the county of DeKalb, Georgia.

Commissioner Terry. Madam Presiding Officer, motion to approve the substitute. And then I have a question.

All right. Second. Seconded by Commissioner Long-Spears. You have the floor, Commissioner Terry.

Thank you. So, Mr. Atkins, I guess I was looking for, like, the sheet with all the other bids on it. I can provide that to you. Okay. I was just curious about what the other bids were.

I can tell you they range from about the 15-year from about 5.41 to 645. but there were items like puts and mandatory tenders and things that, um, that affected our decision. All right.

Between you and director McNabb, I want y'all to translate what those words mean.

All these other bids came with a bunch of stirrings. Okay. All right. Okay.

All right.

Um, and, uh, this was the lowest cost considering how we normally call bonds. It has a 10 year par call. So interest, the likelihood is interest rates will be lower in 10 years when those are callable than they are right now. And so we anticipate that we would refinance these bonds at 10 years. And this was the option that had the lowest interest rate and the most flexible ability. Yeah, it was clean with about a bunch of, you know, we're going to calculate the cost of capital kind of thing. Okay. The interest rates may seem a little high to you, but that's because it's a taxable bond issue instead of tax exempt.

Okay.

Okay?

Gotcha. Okay. All right, that's all the questions I had, thank you.

Thank you, Commissioner Terry.

Commissioner Masai, your first opportunity. Thank you so much. Just a couple of quick things, and I think this would be more, Dr. Ferguson was in attendance a little earlier, don't see him here. But I see we have as exhibit A7, the transitional housing and extended stay hotel program. They were supposed to be the same in terms of vehicles. It's supposed to be the road to home transitional housing as well. Don't see that as a part of this. So it seems like COO will maybe be able to speak to that. And then I have another question in terms of the eminent domain. Thank you, Mr. Williams.

Could you say the last part of your question again?

There's the road to home program. So I see we've included the road to home as a part of exhibit A7, the transitional housing for the extended stay. So the motel to home, but the road to home is not included.

Here's what I would say, Commissioner. So in this bond issuance, we did not list all of the programs. However, they will all be funded. You approved separately the program document that indicated all of the programs. So nothing has changed. We're not doing any of those. It's just that in this bond document, we did not go through and list every single one.

No, and I could appreciate that response. And to the extent that we plan on using any of the bond proceeds for a particular program, then that would need to be something that will be made a part of this since we're going to effectually get a bond as a result of it. Now I get that we can As long as we go through the process, allocate funds from a bond to something else that's in similarity and there's other different considerations in and around a bond. But specifically, if we're going to spend funds related to it, then it would be listed as well. And this is something that I've asked on and reminded on a number of occasions and was even willing to present a separate agenda item and was advised. And I see Dr. Ferguson coming down right now. was advised that opposed to doing a separate agenda item that it would be something that would be a part of this. So I really want to know how we are going to effectually ensure that it is something that's a part of what we're doing. And I was leaning on the administration as to the best route to, so yeah, I'd really like to make sure that's clear.

Certainly come up, but I believe with the adoption of the other item that lists the programs, that's the assurance. But Dr. Ferguson? Did you hear the original question? No, I did not.

I'll reiterate. As exhibit A7 transitional housing, extended stay hotel program, so the hotel to home, I'm looking for my road to home. I was advised as we were going to do a separate agenda item related to it. that it would be a part of. We have something specifically outlining as it relates to the extended stay hotel to home. Just looking for where my road to home is.

Yes, absolutely. So we are currently working on your road to home project. Actually, I'm working with Decide to Cab to issue an RFQ, I'm expecting. that RFQ for vendors to go out in September. There will be a separate budget item that we're going to bring to the board along with a number of other budget items regarding affordable housing and homelessness that we're going to bring to the board. your consideration in september one of the reasons that we're kind of bifurcating uh that activity is that for funding that comes out of the housing investment bond we try to to the greatest extent possible use those for capital expenses you know assets and and things of nature that are going to last long term and then for service related uh expenses We want to try to lean into the existing budget that we have for the affordable housing fund to fund those activities. So you'll see a budget item for the services component for Road to Home come before you in September. And we're already poised. We drafted the RFQ. We're just waiting for a couple of different administrative steps for Decide to Cab to get through before we can issue that RFQ for vendors to participate in that program.

And I can appreciate that. In RFQ, it sounds like we do need a separate agenda item. So if you wouldn't mind getting with my office, Mrs. Atwater, so that we can work together to make sure that we do what we were going to do before, which was present a separate agenda item, which is leaning into what was suggested initially. And it seems like we're going to end up going that route. Yeah, absolutely. With that, I yield back.

Thank you so much. I am seeing no further requests to speak. Please open the machine for the vote. And this is for the substitute. Motion to approve the substitute carries. Congratulations. That's very good. Okay, middle of page 32, item 2026-1224, all commissioned districts, the renewal of a contract with the Urban League of Greater Atlanta for the operation of the DeKalb County Water and Sewer Customer Assistance Programs.

The FAB committee did hear this, and the motion is to approve. Second.

Because it also went to PWI. Thank you so much.

Oh, and PWI. Yes, it was.

Seeing no requests to speak, please open the machine for the vote. Motion to approve carries. Bottom of page 32, item 2026-1190, application of the Director of Planning and Sustainability to request the Board of Commissioners approve a resolution for renewal of the service delivery strategy for DeKalb County, Georgia. And this is in PECS. Thank you.

Thank you so much. I appreciate it.

It says IRPS and PECS, actually.

Right. It was PEX.

Yeah.

And so we need to make sure that we have an opportunity to discuss this more in PEX. So I know that Shannon is out presently. John was here from someone. Yeah, make sure that it gets on so that we can be able to hear it. So then my motion is to defer to the September 15th BOC. I actually would need the September, what is that? What's after the 15th?

29th.

The 29th with a stop in PEX on the 15th.

Madam PEX Chair, this is a pretty big type of conversation. Would you be amenable to a presentation at a Cal?

I am. Okay.

Are we going to work to get that scheduled before then? Thank you. All right, if you make, hit your buttons for me. And then was there a second? Thank you, Commissioner Long-Spears. Commissioner Terry.

Yes.

I thought this was time sensitive.

Yeah. I seem to remember Rachel saying they wanted to get this, I guess, done in September. So I guess it probably is fine to defer it.

But what was the time? I believe by the end of September, we need it adopted. So if we're going to bring it to the next committee of the whole meeting, I think we're OK. Okay. All right.

And I'm amenable to, I'm sorry. Go ahead. I'm amenable to modifying. I know there was additional information that we were looking to receive. I don't know that all of the committee, if that's been distributed to us at this point. But, I mean, if the administration, if you guys are fine, and if it's going to come before Cal, that I don't have an issue. But, you know, I'm amenable if... We need to consider something different here.

And I would add, if I may, that I think it's a broad topic that newer commissioners haven't quite delved into and that we'll be delving more into later on. So even if a vote on this specific thing is done, if we can get a presentation to just understand the process, I think would be helpful. Absolutely.

As a matter of fact, it could be of value if the board were even to vote today on this. Yes. And we can talk about future negotiations of service delivery strategy, because ultimately there's going to be some long-term policy decisions to be made in terms of what services we will and will not provide in the future that we're already committed to here, but we may not want to be committed to in years two, three, four, and five.

Right, and I think it's a conversation that it's better to start that early. Yes, absolutely. So I would also be amenable to approving or whatever you guys decide, but at some point having a presentation.

Yeah, I definitely want a presentation so we can get that on the Cal, then that would be fantastic. And then I'm amenable to amending my initial motion to a motion for approval. And it's still upon receipt of that additional information, and it seems like additional information will come in the form of hearing an account.

second stands second stands okay and so we're actually on commissioner terry's time okay no no worries i just um i think that only questions i had about what we were approving was more just sort of the um the different uh like codes code notions for each of the military i think we were i think tj was going to try to break out the military that's it for each of the services for the Cities that's just for more for our information purposes But I certainly support the idea matter for signing officer just talking about the SDS strategy holistically at a future day because I think your rights actors Longer term discussions that have to be considered So yes if the board approves this we can still get the millage rate information We should be able to get that

TJ, in the next 24 hours? Okay. We believe it's been sent. Right. Yeah. Yeah, we believe it's been sent, but we could resend.

Please resend. Thank you. EEO Commissioner Terry. Okay. Commissioner Patrick.

Just for clarity, we are voting to approve this now?

Yes.

Okay. And then have we talked about what caliber we're wanting to have this presentation come back to?

No.

No. Okay. Okay.

I'll make sure you are available.

I appreciate that. Thank you. I'm grateful.

Now that there's not quite as much time sensitivity. Right. Yes. Thank you, sir.

All right. Seeing no further requests to speak, please open the machine for the vote. And that is to approve. Motion to approve carries. Thank you. Top of page 33, this is Public Works Roads and Drainage, item 2026-1046. Accept the funding from the Georgia Department of Transportation for the FY2026 Local Maintenance and Improvement Grant Program, and this is the supplemental grant.

Based on the recommendation of PWI, motion to approve.

Motion and a second. Thank you so much.