Board of Commissioners - Regular Meeting

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For a written transcript of this meeting, or if you need reasonable accommodations including this communication in an alternative format due to disability, please contact the clerk to the commission's office at 404-612-8232.

Testing, testing. Thank you. Good morning everyone and welcome to the first regular meeting of the Fulton County Board of Commissioners in June. Today is June 3rd, 2026. It is 10.04 AM. Madam Clerk, please call the roll.

Chairman Rob Pitts.

Present.

Commissioner Bridget Thorne. Present. Commissioner Bob Ellis. Commissioner Dana Barrett. Present. Commissioner Marvin Arrington, Jr. Vice Chair Khadijah Abdul-Rahman. Present. Mr. Chairman, you have a quorum.

Thank you, Madam Clerk. Continue. I'm sorry. Please rise for the invocation followed by the Pledge of Allegiance.

Let us pray. Almighty God, we give you thanks for this day, for your continued grace and mercy upon our lives. We pray now for these, your people. We ask now that you bless our commissioners, give them your wisdom and direction. It is in your name that we humbly pray. Amen.

Amen. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America. Continue, Madam Clerk.

On page 2, consent agenda 260302, adoption of the consent agenda. All matters listed on the consent agenda are considered routine by the county commission and will be enacted by one motion. No separate discussion will take place on these items. If discussion of any consent agenda item is desired, the item will be moved to the first regular meeting agenda for separate consideration.

All right, nothing from the consent agenda, Madam Clerk, Commissioners. All right, entertain a motion to approve the consent agenda. All right, motion to do so by Commissioner Thorne, seconded by Commissioner Barrett. Please vote.

And the vote is open. And motion passes, five yays, zero nays. On the bottom of page five, first regular meeting agenda, 260314, adoption of the first regular meeting agenda. Mr. Chairman and members of the board, we have two amendments to today's agenda. First, on page six, revised items 260316. This item is revised to include a proclamation recognizing St. James Live Appreciation Day, sponsored by Chairman Pitts and Vice Chair Abdulrahman. On page 10, 260333, the full board appointment, Hospital Authority of Fulton County. Item revised to correct the expired term date on the printed agenda. Dr. Stone resigned and his end date is actually 2029, not 25. And that's all I have.

All right, Commissioner Thorne.

Yes, we have a matter of urgency that has to be approved today. So I would like to move 26- What page? On page eight, 26-0327 to be taken up immediately after public comment.

Okay, Commissioner Barrett.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Apparently there is some concerns about everybody being ready to vote on the action items that I have on the agenda this afternoon.

What page?

Meeting, so on page eight, item 26-0329, I'd like to hold that, as well as holding 26-0330 right below that, and then on the top of page nine, I would also like to hold 26-0331, and I know there are some folks here to comment about a couple of these, and so at public comment, I certainly welcome that, and we'll vote on them next time.

All right, any objections or not? There's a motion to adopt the agenda as amended. Is there a motion? Motion to do so by Commissioner Thorne, seconded by Vice Chair, Dr. Rockman.

And the vote is open. And the motion passes, five yays, zero nays. 260315, ratification of minutes. First regular meeting minutes, May 6th. Second regular meeting post-agenda minutes, May 20th, 2026. It's a motion.

Motion to do so by Vice Chair Abdur Rahman. Is there a second? Seconded by Commissioner Barrett.

And the vote is open. And the motion passes, four yays, zero nays. On page six, 260316, Presentation of Proclamations and Certificates. The first proclamation is recognizing Family Justice Center Appreciation Day, sponsored by Commissioners Barrett and Errington.

All right, how many do we have? Three, two.

Good morning, everyone. Look at this lovely representation in purple. Before we start, I do wanna say, the Family Justice Center model is nationally recognized as a key part of protecting survivors of domestic violence and D.A. Willis, And all of the people standing up here right now have really made this a marquee issue. And getting a Family Justice Center in Fulton County has been sort of a lifetime dream for DA Willis. And I've been proud to support it all along. And I'm so glad that we are where we are right now. I'm honored to be standing here with you. And the proclamation reads, whereas the Fulton County Board of Commissioners recognizes the importance of protecting survivors of domestic violence, child abuse, sexual assault, elder abuse, and human trafficking through coordinated trauma-informed services and community partnerships, And whereas the Family Justice Center model, which brings together law enforcement, prosecutors, advocates, counselors, and community organizations under one roof, is nationally recognized as a critical tool for improving public safety and supporting victims and families. And whereas Georgia House Bill 1283 represents a significant step forward in strengthening support systems for survivors and families across the state of Georgia by paving the way for the establishment and operation of Family Justice Centers. And whereas District Attorney Fannie T. Willis and her team have spent years studying best practices for Family Justice Centers and developing a vision to bring a Family Justice Center to Fulton County, And whereas the establishment of a Family Justice Center in Fulton County has remained one of DA Willis's top priorities, and whereas the Fulton County Board of Commissioners recognizes that investing in a Family Justice Center will strengthen interagency collaboration, improve support for survivors and children, enhance public safety, and help break cycles of violence for generations to come. Now, therefore, be it resolved that the Fulton County Board of Commissioners celebrates the enactment of Georgia House Bill 1283 and expresses its gratitude to District Fannie T. Willis and all of the contributing stakeholders for their work to create a Family Justice Center in Fulton County and does hereby proclaim June 3rd, 2026 as Family Justice Center Appreciation Day in Fulton County, Georgia.

Wonderful.

Thank you. Thank you. Thank you so much.

Thank you.

wow today is a really really special day and i would be remiss um this is the lady along with esther panich they were really really fighting in the capitol for us we brought this idea and you all just did it so i appreciate it um but i have to give a special shout out to commissioner errington and commissioner barrett i have been harassing them now for two years asking them to come to meetings asking them to get educated on the subject and once they learned what it was um they've been ten toes down for us they have made sure and not for fannie t willis not for my staff but for the victims in fulton county um i cannot thank you more commissioner barrett um you've been a true champion and what you don't realize is i know we're losing you at the end of the year the state is probably gaining you but we are losing you in fulton county but you're going to be saving victims' lives for decades, long after you're not thinking about this issue. And so I love you personally for doing this. I thank you. This is what leadership looks like. And so I just appreciate you for being a partner with our office, making sure that you put constituents and families and children and women and men who are the victim of domestic violence also first. And so my office is forever grateful. We love you, we thank you, and we appreciate you. And in 2027, we are bringing to Fulton County the Brenda Baham Family Justice Center. As many of you all know, my division, when we came to this office in January 1st of 2021, there was no division that dealt with domestic violence. I created one on day one, and that is because my uncle, after a 30-year marriage, murdered my aunt. And we had looked the other way for a long time. And I understand what that pain feels like, and I wanna make sure that other families don't have to go through this. And so I tell people this is business, but it's personal too. And I thank you for being a champion for this issue. Thank you. I think we would be remiss if we did not hear from your representative. Thank you so much.

Thank you. Look at all these folks, man, look at this. This is an issue that reaches far and wide. Survival for domestic violence survivors, survivor for sexual assault survivors is vital. It strengthens our communities. And when I look out on all these people, I was thinking about our invocation, like these are the hands and feet that do the work. I am so grateful. that I'm able to stand where I stand and be a voice for survivors where I am in the state house, in the Gold Dome, under the Gold Dome. But y'all, I recognize, you're doing the work. You're touching people. You're caring. That means so much to me. I'm a sexual assault survivor myself, so that fuels me to make this issue more prominent and get more resources to help people. Because if you had told me when I was sexually assaulted 29 years ago that I'd be standing where I am now, I would never have believed you. But it's because of the help from people like you that I'm able to serve. So rebuilding lives, helping people attain justice is good, good, good work. And I thank every one of you for doing it. Thank you for acknowledging us. Thank you for lifting this up and putting a public eye on it and getting the work done in Fulton County.

My final words would be thank you for not taking out a temporary restraining order against Chief Deputy District Attorney Jill Hollander and Deputy Asia Besa, because I know we have been bugging you to get this done. So just thank you for your partnership. Thank you. Thank you. This is a wonderful day in my history as a DA.

I just wanted to say a few words. Thank you Madam DA and her entire staff and my colleague Commissioner Barrett. This is Pride Month. We have seen an increase in same-sex intimate partner abuse. And I just want to raise a word that I appreciate having a DA that takes that seriously. A lot of my constituents have come to me with issues. A lot of individuals appreciate that in Fulton County you are not judged when you're attacked. And so I just want to go on record saying thank you for making sure that everybody is included and me being a domestic abuse survivor myself, I know it's important to have the resources, but more importantly, to have the votes that you need to make sure that this issue is taken very, very seriously. So thank you, Madam DA.

The last proclamation is recognizing St. James Live Appreciation Day sponsored by Chairman Pitts and Vice Chair Abdul Rahman.

Good morning, everyone. As you know, if you follow our meetings, this will be one of the rare occasions when I say anything during a proclamation, I leave that to my colleagues. But in this instance, I'm always, everybody says, where's the chairman? Where's the chairman? Where's he socialized? Well, people talk about Howells and Buckhead, but what they don't realize is that I go to a place called Convo, C-O-N-V-O, in Hapeville. There's another place in Hapeville called Atlanta Hookah. I go there.

I'm going to tell everybody.

I'm going to tell everything so they'll know. It's clear up the record. But most importantly, in South Fulton County, there's a live jazz, blues, rock and roll, you name it, establishment called St. James Live. It is a first-class establishment. It's what you would see if you were to go or when you go to Las Vegas, but it's right here in Fulton County. I'm so proud to be a co-sponsor of the legislation recognizing St. James Live today. Madam Vice Chair.

Now, Chairman, I'm not going to tell everywhere I go. I'll let you do that. But it is with honor, you all. And before I get into this proclamation, because I know that Commissioner Arrington is also a supporter as well of this establishment, a very, very dedicated supporter. I would be remiss if I didn't mention we always talk about what we don't have. and we don't celebrate what we do have. And I'm so honored to be a part of recognizing a group of individuals that made a conscientious choice to have a upscale, family-friendly, I've had people that come in from all parts of the world, and I make sure I bring them to St. James. So I just want to open up saying that we thank you for making sure. We know you could go anywhere. Let's be honest. This class act here that they do, they can go anywhere and be successful. But these individuals have made a conscientious choice to be on the South Side serving patrons that look just like them. And I want to go on record saying how much I appreciate that conscientious choice. This proclamation, whereas St. James Live opened its doors on May 27, 2015, coincided with the Atlanta Jazz Festival and has grown to become known as a premier venue for live music and cultural entertainment located in the city of South Fulton. And whereas St. James Live is owned and operated by Ron and Evelyn St. James alongside Pete and Tiffany Wilkerson. And whereas their genuine love of live music inspired the fusion of artists and music connoisseurs in warm and relaxing atmosphere. Surrounded by the state of art sound equipment, culminating in an intimate concert experience. And whereas St. James Live has become an important cultural and community institution within the city of South Fulton, consistently supporting the efforts that strengthen relationships encourage public participation, and foster community pride. And whereas in addition to its 400 plus shows per year, you can clap for that if you'd like to. St. James Live has supported numerous initiatives, including holiday tour drives, community gatherings that promote civic engagement, unity, and fellowship throughout the South Fulton community and Fulton County. It is with immense pride that on behalf of the Board of Commissioners, now therefore be it resolved that the Fulton County Board of Commissioners recognizes and honors St. James Live in celebration of its 10-year anniversary and its community and civic engagement, and does hereby proclaim Wednesday, June 3rd, 2026, as St. James Live Appreciation Day in Fulton County, Georgia. Would you put your hands together for such a wonderful organization? And I am going to turn it over to you.

Well, first of all, for the commissioners, thank you all so much for recognizing us. I must say, first, it was Commissioner Arrington that actually gave us a proclamation, too. And so we have two days. I don't mean to be greedy, but I take all of it. And also for Chairman Pitts, we've been watching him come in and do his two-step. It's more like one and three-quarters. Yes. But he does a good job. But thank y'all so much. I mean, really, we're grateful to receive this. Thank y'all so much. And we open our doors to everyone, whether it be public, private, political event, or something personal. We open our doors. We will be here to serve you. We want you to come and have a great time, great music, food, spirits, to get you in the spirit. But like I said, St. James Live, we've been going on. Matter of fact, this past week, we celebrated our 11th year. So we are proud. When we first started, we didn't think we were going to be there for 11 minutes. But 11 years, and it's been great. And thank you all so much. And like I said, we truly appreciate it. And please, come and visit us. Thanks.

All right, continue, Madam Clerk.

Continuing on page six, public hearings, 260317, public comment. Citizens wishing to participate in public comment will be allowed to appear in person or may choose to participate virtually via Zoom video conferencing by registering on the county website, www.FultonCountyGA.gov. Priority for public comment will be given to Fulton County citizens and those individuals representing businesses or organizations located within Fulton County. Speakers will be granted up to two minutes each. The public will not be allowed to yield or donate time to other speakers. The public comment portion of the meeting will not exceed 60 minutes. In the event the 60 minute time limit is reached prior to public comments being completed, public comment will be suspended and the business portion of the BOC meeting will commence. Public comment will resume at the end of the meeting. Mr. Chairman and members of the board, We will start with the speakers here in Assembly Hall. We have received 15 speaker cards. Will the first five speakers please come down? Eric Strickland, Mike Russell, L.A. Pink, Gregory Thomas, and Maggie McCollum.

All right, speakers, we have 15 seconds remaining of your two minutes. I'll say 15 seconds. That will be your clue to begin to conclude your remarks. First speaker.

Good morning, commissioners. I want to speak to you today about the systematic underappraisal of large commercial properties in our county. I'm sure you all are aware of this. There have been several articles published about it. Even a study by Georgia Tech that also found systematic under appraisal. This is particularly relevant as Mayor Dickens continues to push his neighborhood reinvestment initiative. He's pushing extending six of Atlanta's eight tax allocation districts. And I think it would be great to be able to tell him we actually don't need to because we're gonna correct this issue and bring in tons more property tax revenue. I understand large commercial property owners, they have lawyers, they appeal, they fight the appraisals. And we need a board of assessors that is going to fight them, that's gonna lawyer up. We have a situation where homeowners are struggling to pay their taxes. Meanwhile, these huge corporations are essentially getting massive tax breaks. I WENT TO A BOARD OF ASSESSORS MEETING BACK IN OCTOBER AND I WAS BASICALLY GIVEN THE RUN AROUND BY MR. CURTIS BORDEN TELLING ME, YOU KNOW, THERE'S A COST APPROACH AND INCOME APPROACH AND ALL THIS. AND I GET ALL THAT. I'M NOT AN EXPERT ON APPRAISAL, BUT STATE LAW SAYS FAIR MARKET VALUE. AND JUST TO GIVE YOU ONE EXAMPLE, POND CITY MARKET IS WIDELY CONSIDERED TO BE A BILLION DOLLAR PROPERTY, MAYBE EVEN $1.5 BILLION. BUT IF YOU JUST LOOK ON THE FULTON COUNTY WEBSITE ON THEIR PROPERTY TAX CARD, THEIR APPRAISAL IS 330 MILLION. THEIR ASSESSED VALUE IS 130 MILLION. SO MASSIVELY UNDERTAXED. AND THIS IS TRUE OF MANY, MANY COMMERCIAL PROPERTIES THROUGHOUT OUR CITY AND IT'S COSTING the city, the county, and the schools, you know, up to a few hundred million dollars a year. So I would love to see this issue addressed and some progress. 15 seconds, sir. Yeah, I would love to see some progress towards this issue, correcting these under appraisal.

Good morning, everyone. My name is Gregory Thomas. I reside in District 3. I'm here to share with you a very important subject that I'm hearing over and over again in Fulton County, and it has to do with data centers. So today I want to share with you 30 years of my experience building information technology infrastructures. Data centers is not something you can plan in a one, two year term. It takes extreme caution on how to deliver it and the location. When I see data centers needing 40 acres, that's overwhelming when a five acre footprint is sufficient for most cities. Most of the data centers that are coming into the state of Georgia are what we call a tier one data center. That means there's only one location for disaster. To have a metropolitan data centers, you must have a level of at least tier twos. Tier twos gives you a redundancy. If one data center, goes off grid, you can reroute the services. An example, 9-11, when the data center went out, there was no communication in that whole area. So everyone was out. So I urge you to take extreme cautions on where these data centers are gonna go and how much land mass are really needed. Thank you for your time.

Good morning, my name is Mike Russell and I'm here again to caution everybody not to make the same mistake I made by supporting Moe Ivory. When she ran the last time, she contacted me and others to support her campaign and we did to get rid of Natalie Hall and her corruption. But Moe Ivy is a con artist. When she needed my help, I could reach her. I went out and campaigned for her. I took seniors to the polls for her all across Fulton County. I put out yard signs that she dropped off at my house for her. But the minute she won that election, she acted like she didn't know me anymore. And she flip flops on the issues more than a fish out of water. She sat here and told Chairman Pitts to his face how he was her friend and mentor and what a great job he did. And as soon as she decided to run for office, she stabbed him in the back. She went up there to the jail illegally with a cameraman and made a fake video about a broken water main when she should not have been in the jail, advocating how badly we needed a new jail. Then she stood right here at this podium and spoke against fixing the problem in the jail and the money that the county is planning to spend to fix the jail. And then, during the debate with Chairman Pitts, she lied through her teeth and said she did not vote for more taxes, when we all know that she did. And the sad thing is, if those taxes had gone up by 14.9%, not only that she voted for it, but that she proposed, That would have put a lot of our seniors on the street. And that meant that every person who pays rent in Fulton County, your rent would go up because the landlords would pass that bill right over to you. Do not make the mistake I made in supporting Moe Ivey. Keep her out of office. Tell her to pack her carpet bag and take her Moe mess back to New York where she came from. Uh-oh.

Okay. Well, as we continue to talk about the sheriff, y'all already know what I'm here for, okay? We won't get up off of him until he get up out of office. And we right now is dealing with a sheriff that really is not even certified to be in Office 15-16-1, high-risk sheriff. He has not been sworn in up under a surety bond. Dick Anderson, we're wondering why nothing has been done about this. Sue Sojo is not here, but we're just asking what in the world is going on that no one can give us some information about why this sheriff has not been sworn in, but now he's making plans for the World Cup and not only just making plans for the World Cup for misdemeanor activity to take place, but how can you uphold the law when you're breaking the law? Now, here it is, Shirley Franklin, they sent me this bill that she had passed up in her administration, Georgia Code 42-4-12, that once an officer for the city is in any kind of contact with anybody that commits a misdemeanor, not to take them to the county jail, but to take them to the, I mean, to the city jail, but to take them to the county jail. And so now today we're reversing this all of a sudden, which is now is a law that's being broken, because this is a law that is in place. So as we continue, to turn Fulton County. As the corruption continues to build and build and build, I keep telling y'all, the corruption is so deep here that y'all come with one spill to make another spill, to make another deal, to confuse the community. Because that's all you're doing. Confusing the community about what really needs to take place. I advise for y'all to get with these county attorneys, county managers, and go over these laws that have been set for us to abide by.

Good morning. My name is Maggie McCollum and I ask for your prayers. I just lost my father and I'm just here to actually keep the work going on. I want to talk about the tax allocation district in my community. I am one of the underserved communities that are there in South Atlanta and we need a recreation center for the youth that has nothing to do for the summer and and after school and also for the seniors. We need a recreation center for the seniors during the day. I also wanted to ask Chairman Pitts, when will the next games be for the seniors? I actually participated in the DeKalb County games and I have won nine medals. Five goals or a civil. I actually went to Mississippi to participate in the beach volleyball games. I won a gold medal in that that represents Mississippi State flower. And I just wanted you to know that we are very active trying to help citizens in this community because everybody don't know how to say what needs to be heard. I just want you all to listen to me. I am not gonna give up. I'm gonna keep coming till we get some stuff done. I appreciate each and every one of you. And Chairman Pitts, I need for somebody from your office to call me. We need to get you back in there again. Thank you.

Next speakers, please come down. Janet Hill, Mike Johnson, Margie McLeod, Jody William, and Minister Breedlove.

Good morning, I'm Ms. Hill, and we stand again today in solidarity with the Coalition to Stop Deed Theft by criminals. These offenders are known attorneys, zombie LLCs, public officials, and judicial officers. It is well documented by investigative reports that millions of forged deeds were originated here in Fulton County and distributed across the country. It's also well documented that District 4 from Moe Ivory and her predecessor has one of the highest numbers of unresolved de-theft incidents. SO WE ASK AGAIN FOR YOUR HELP AND YOUR SUPPORT. COMMISSIONER PITTS, WE WILL BE CONTACTING YOUR OFFICE TO DEAL WITH THIS ISSUE DIRECTLY. I ALSO HAD A BRIEF CONVERSATION WITH BONNIE WILLIS, BECAUSE IF YOU GUYS DON'T UNDERSTAND, THIS IS A SYSTEMIC PROBLEM, NOT JUST FOR SENIORS, BUT FOR WOMEN. for veterans, for the disabled. Where do you think the people come from in these domestic violence situations when they're not properly housed? They don't have ID where they can conduct business. They wind up in the hands of predators. Seniors and others wind up on the streets homeless. We have got to get this issue resolved.

15 seconds.

Thank you.

Mike Johnson, District 4, South Fulton. There's been a whole lot of conversation about this vacant Fulton County Commissioner seat, District 5. One of the persons that are currently running for that particular seat is Helen Zenobia Willis. I would like to bring to each of you commissioners attention that Helen Zenobia Willis has manipulated, misappropriated, and abused our trust in South Fulton in more ways than one. Somehow, someway, she has managed to get Pat Labatt and his team at the Fulton County Jail to misappropriate the inmate welfare fund. Helen's husband, Vince Willis, who is number two under Pat Labatt's tuition, has been paid thousands of dollars out of the inmate welfare account. And this misappropriation does not stop there. I have documented proof right here in my hand. that Helen's pastor, I know I'm gonna step on some toes when I say this, but I'm gonna say it anyway, Gregory L. Pollard, the preacher at Eden Island Baptist Church, the same preacher that she pushed to have Eden Island Road renamed after and honored after, has received over $150,000 from guess what? The inmate welfare fund. The abuse does not stop there. Ella Zenobia-Willis has been implicated in several misappropriations of our tax dollars on her city-issued P-card. One of the most recent ones that stands out to me is the one on January the 15th, 2026, where she spent $1,555.68 at a builder material supply store. But in her notes, she charged it off to text messages set up. I'm going to build it myself so I recognize that immediately.

15 seconds.

This needs to be addressed. You guys need to know who's sitting next to you. And before I finish up here, Rob Pitts, we heard your call. We got your back. Keep fighting for it.

Good afternoon. Since they got your back, Rob Pick, we need changes. Changes have to be made, Rob Pick. Why now that you're doing this for the jail? Why now? It's election time. You should have been did this. We've been coming down here talking about the jail for how long? Re-election. Why now? But that's good that you're doing it. But I'm not supporting you. Because guess what? You didn't support me. You get phone calls. You don't return them back. Why now? But you're going to call them back. You got people saying... That you, wherever left for Southern Spring, what's going to be left for Fulton County? See, all districts should be the same, Roberts. All. Everybody should be equal. Everybody should be getting the same type of money. Okay, Landmark. You live in Landmark. crying out there they're crying they're having problems and we talk about sex traffic go there I went there I saw them children's in there go check it out That's what you need to do. People saying they want changes to be made. And we need changes. We need new leadership. We need somebody going to stand up for everybody. Don't matter where you stay at. It ain't about your age. It's about leadership. Let's make a change. It's number one. I'm glad that you did what you did, but now we need new changes, and we need somebody going to stand up for everybody and equal this money out, not just set it straight. How about Fulton County?

Fifteen seconds.

That's what I'm saying. And Kay Presley, she's going to be calling you. Six months ago, she called you. You say everything. I'm going to talk to you. I'm going to call you back. You don't call back. These people need you. Thank you.

Next speaker.

Praise the Lord, here I am again, children. Back down here to talk to you all. I'm getting too many calls.

But you all know what is right and what is wrong.

You see this flag, we all are under the same Constitution. And we're supposed to be all praying together. Many of you all are members of churches in here, and your pastors are telling you what is right and wrong. And we are the people that stand together in unity, not divided. As I'm coming into this city, I don't live in this city, but I have property here. I'm coming into the city and I'm seeing all these polices over here at where the homeless children are located, sitting on the street with babies. How you all feel within yourselves to know that your fathers and grandfathers and mothers and grandmothers and all that And you all get our tax monies to do what you need to do, precious people. It's time to stand up. I have a family member who just died yesterday morning, 91 years old, supported Atlanta 100%. And I thought of you all today. What will you do in your heart? Do you think that you're going to live on this earth forever? There's a judgment day coming. Our hearts got to be like this glove. and not darkness. And we have to stop being so complete with ourselves that we cannot make a change. Stan, if you have to stand along, Junior, Rod, all of you all. And I knew Rod Pitts for many, many years.

15 seconds.

But we have to understand the Lord said to repent people. He said for all to repent the sins now. There's something getting ready to come and hit this city like never.

Thank you, ma'am. Next speaker.

Last five speakers in Assembly Hall, Eddie Lee Brewster, Maggie Goldman, Dr. Sims Alvarado, John Moy, and Charmaine Crook.

Good morning, Commissioner. Eddie Lee Brewster, East Point. Rob Pitts was a city councilman, president of the Atlanta City Council, commissioner and chairman of the board. There has not been any hint of scandal in all of the years of public service, almost 50 years. We have a choice to make now as it is wrongful election. The choice is very, very clear in my mind that we should re-elect Chairman Rob Pitts to lead our county. It's not about the north side, south side. You got to have somebody who willing to work with everybody on both sides, Republican, Democrats, gay and straight. Rob Pitts has been a steady hand in public service for 50 years in this community. I see no reason why we should change our captainship now, especially with someone who's untested as the person who's running against him now. So I'm urging everybody in Fulton County to go out and re-elect Rob Pitts as our chairman.

Maggie Goldman, District 1. I have here the SOP for hiring in the Sheriff's Office. It appears that the Chief Human Resources Officer, Kenneth Herman, is responsible for setting the salaries for the detention officer. And he is supervised by Sharon Whitmore, and the county manager, and then the board of commissioners. So you are all responsible for the fact that we don't have a competitive salary to hire detention officers. We need two or 300 more of them. The sheriff doesn't have the authority to set that salary because you guys do that. I looked last night, the detention officer salary is still listed at $54,000. Yet one can start as a police officer in the city of Atlanta for $60,000. Sandy Springs Police, $71,000. Roswell Police, $62,000. Alpharetta Police, $61,000. Milton Police, $60,000. DeKalb County Police, $61,000. I talked to a Cobb commissioner this morning who agrees that your salary is commensurate with other detention officers in other counties, but they can't hire at that salary either because all of their people get experience at the jail and they go to the police department. So if you actually want to hire people for the jail, you need to increase those salaries. Chairman Pritz, you have had the authority to increase these salaries and encourage more qualified applicants to come to Fulton County. It has been grossly understaffed under your tenure and you have done nothing to increase these salaries to make it competitive to hire the two or 300 people that we need.

15 seconds.

If you get reelected, the jail will still be at risk of harm to inmates because you clearly are not interested in doing what you need to do to staff the jail. Good morning.

Good morning. My name is Kershig Sims Alvarado, and I am the professor. I'm a professor at Morehouse College, where I serve as the Director of Public History and Historic Preservation, and I also serve as the President of Preserve Black Atlanta, a nonprofit dedicated to research and the preservation of black historic sites. In 2021, Preserve Black Atlanta partnered with Invest Atlanta to preserve two historic sites in Vine City belonging to Georgetown's and Gracetown's Hamilton, located at 582 and 594 University Place. Both of these homes are two historic treasures that sits on one of the highest points in Atlanta across from the Herndon Hall Museum. It tells the early narrative about the Civil Rights Movement and yet we have actually forgotten the names or the significance of the homes of these individuals that tells the story that began fighting this fight as early as 1895. George Townes was a professor at Atlanta University beginning in 1895 up until his death in 1960. He was one of the co-founders of the 1905 Niagara Movement, and he worked with W.E.B. Du Bois, James Weldon Johnson, Walter White, and others within his home. Right next door was his home, the home belonging to Grace Towns Hamilton, who was one of the first women, black women, in the southeast elected to state office, and she was also president of the Atlanta Urban League. She joined this fight with her father to fight against desegregation. 15 seconds. Thank you. I ask that you support me in this effort. Preserve Black Atlanta gained $1 million in order to preserve both homes. Preservation is expensive, and I ask for your support as well. Thank you.

Good morning, Commissioners. My name is John Moy, and I serve as Senior Director for Policy at the Urban League of Greater Atlanta. And on behalf of President Nancy Flake Johnson, we are here this morning to express our strong support for preserving the historic homes of Grace Towns Hamilton. Grace Towns Hamilton was not only a towering figure in Georgia's civic life, she was the first African American woman elected to the Georgia General Assembly, a trailblazer whose legislative work reshaped access to housing, education, and civil rights across our state. But before she made history under the gold dome she served, lives and shape lives as a transformational leader as president of the Greater Atlanta Urban League. Her homes are more than just structures. They are living testimony to a woman who opened doors for thousands, who fought for equity with intellect, courage, and grace, and whose legacy continues to guide the Urban League's mission today. Preserving these homes ensures that future generations understand the magnitude of our contributions, not as a distant history, but as part of the living fabric of Fulton County. On behalf of President Johnson and the Urban League of Greater Atlanta, we urge you to protect these irreplaceable landmarks and honor the legacy of a woman who helped build the Atlanta we know today. I thank you, Mr. Chairman. Thank you all.

Good morning. I'm Jody, and I'm the chairperson for the SELC. And I come to talk about positions and people stepping aside so that the younger people can take their position. When you're confused about the jail and what the sheriff stands for, saying that he's trying to get monies when he can't arrest anybody. So I hope that you'll do the right thing and even support the person who may take your seat. Help them with what they're trying to do so that they can do better for the people and help to support things that the people need like their jobs loved ones being incarcerated and being harmed in that jail, which is not fit to even do a revamp of it. It really needs to be torn down. So I'm just asking that you guys do the right thing. And I hear that, hey, if she do win, she needs four people, then do the right thing and support the people that elect you guys to these seats. Do the right thing and help them and take care of them. Thank you.

Mr. Chairman, members of the board, we have eight speakers on Zoom.

Good morning, commissioners. The first person to speak is Steven.

Hey, good morning, Chair, Vice Chair, and the rest of the board. First of all, I want to say congratulations and thank you to everybody who participated in making sure there was a health care center on the south part of Fulton County. I'm excited for that. I was there at the ribbon-cutting and excited for that. Next, the city of Atlanta potentially has a hospital coming to our south side. I am a constituent of District 6 in Southwest Atlanta, by the way, in Project Robbins. So whether you all participate in the TAD part of that or not, I look forward to having Fulton County support in that. I also want to say congratulations and thank you to whoever was, I know Chairman Pitts was involved in the jail and the sheriff deciding to not let low-level violators of misdemeanor crimes be accepted into Fulton County Jail. And I think that's a step in the right direction to solve the overcapacity dilemma, even though there's more work to be done, like funding the courts and et cetera. Now to bring it to the Tax Allocation District Convo and Fulton County's participation. We've heard from the mayor constantly of Atlanta, and we've heard from APS as of recently. We haven't heard from Fulton County Board of Commissioners as often. I think it's fair that you all share the info about other tax allocation districts around the county from Alpharetta to City of South Fulton to East Point, and let the constituents know, specifically the ones in Atlanta, what that process is like with other municipalities, to better inform Atlanta, although they operate uniquely in their own form or fashion. So I look forward to hearing you all's perspective on that, whether you support it or don't, but regardless, providing further information regarding tax allocation districts from Fulton County's perspective. But I appreciate your time, appreciate your service, and everyone have a great day. Thank you.

The next person to speak is Robbie Caban.

Recent allegations involving Fulton County manager Dick Anderson, which are reportedly being reviewed through the Fulton County ethics process, should concern every member of this board and every taxpayer. The allegations involve the potential misuse of authority, taxpayer-funded personnel, county systems, and animal control resources in connection with a private dispute involving neighbors. Let me be clear why this matters. Animal control is a public safety function funded by taxpayers like me. Animal control officers should be responding to dangerous dogs, cruelty investigations, roaming animals attacks, and legitimate public safety concerns, not becoming involved in private disputes or weaponizing a county taxpayer-funded agency against residents with false allegations. Every hour spent, which they were multiple, pursuing a private matter at the direction of a county personnel taxpayer-funded position is an hour not spent on protecting the public, animals responding to legitimate complaints, or assisting animals who actually need help. The county manager is one of the most powerful unelected officials in Fulton County government. Dick Anderson has served in the role for approximately 10 years. During that same period, county contractor Lifeline Animal Project has held the shelter contracted, funded by taxpayers, and many, many concerns regarding animal control, shelter operation enforcement, whistleblower complaints, and contractor performance have persisted without a comprehensive forensic audit. In the animal services system, animal control personnel, emergency management staff, county attorneys, the county shelter contractor operate within a structure that ultimately reports through to county management. 15 seconds. That's so serious. If county personnel, county systems, taxpayer resources are being used inappropriately, an investigation will confirm that. If they were not, taxpayers deserve to know. Again, Audit Fulton County Animal Services, the Contractor Lifeline Animal Project, and the County Manager at this point.

The next person to speak is Cassandra Littlejohn. Cassandra Littlejohn. Next person to speak is Charmaine Crook. Charmaine Crook. Next person to speak is Jen Simmons. Jen Simmons. Next person to speak. Actually, this is the end of our Zoom public comment. Thank you. Continue, Madam Clerk.

Item moved up on today's agenda on page eight. Under commissioner action items 260327, request approval resolution by the Fulton County Board of Commissioners to correct a Scrivener's error in authorizing the imposition of a 0.75% sales and use tax as authorized by part two, article 5A of chapter eight of title 48 of the official code of Georgia. sponsored by Commissioner Ellis and Thorne.

We already have a motion to approve by Vice Chair Abdulrahman, seconded by Commissioner Thorne. Commissioner Thorne, you have the floor.

Yes, the Department of Revenue recently reached out to the county saying we were nearing our cap for collection for July, August time period. The cap was in the resolution dated August 2nd, 2021. It was a Scrivener's error because they used the tier two collection amount when they could have used the higher tier three collection amount, which is $627,847,000. And so in order to collect that full amount, we need to amend it today. The DOR has requested that we do this by June 8th. And it's been written up by our county attorney's office and this affects all the cities outside the city of Atlanta with their T plus two projects. So just urgently, we have four up here now. We're currently working with the cities with their T plus three program, and those should be brought forward for approval at our August 5th meeting.

All right, the motion on the floor is to approve. Any questions or comments? All right, please vote.

And the vote is open. And motion passes, five yeas, zero nays. Back on page six, county manager's items under open and responsible government, 260318. Presentation, review, and approval of the June 3rd, 2026 budget soundings and resolution.

All right, anything pop out, Madam CFO?

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. We have two items that are before the board. Both of them are to affect the budget adjustments that are necessary to implement a board action. The first one is to move $250,000 into the Department of Community Development to support the summer youth internship program. And then the second item is to move the unobligated portion of the funds that were previously held in the Superior Court Administration's budget, but are for magistrate court judges, to move that portion, the unobligated portion, back to the magistrate court. So that would move $549,143.34 from Superior Court Administration to the Magistrate Court's budget, and that is pursuant to agenda item 260292, which was a resolution approved recently directing us to do that.

All right, the motion is to approve by Commissioner Barrett, seconded by Commissioner Arrington. Let's vote.

And the vote is open. And the motion passes, five yeas, zero nays.

Just before you leave, not leave, Madam CFO, one of the speakers talked about data centers this morning and how we are basically not doing what we should be doing regarding the Board of Assessors appraising these trophy projects to the extent that they should. But let me just tell you, the Board of Assessors at their meeting tomorrow will be asked to approve some new assessments. And we should take credit for this. It's my understanding, based upon the research that we've done, there are four or five properties that were originally valued at less than $100 million combined. the new assessments will be in excess of $5 billion, which could result in increased revenue of about $85 million for Fulton County, for the Board of Education, and the City of Atlanta, if this is approved by the Board of Assessors tomorrow. That's what the people have been asking for, and I think that we're making considerable progress on that. In addition to that, you know that we agreed that we would authorize a county attorney to hire high price outside attorneys to help us whenever there's an appeal that comes up. So I'm anticipating that there may be some appeals coming up, but she already has the authority to hire the best and the brightest to help us in the event that there are appeals. But we heard what the public was saying, and we're being very aggressive in this. And if we're successful, this could mean approximately $85 million in new revenue for the three entities. Vice Chair.

Thank you, Chairman. And thank you for your work that you've done on that as well as Commissioner Arrington, Commissioner Barrett as well have brought that to bear. I did want to say this, though. I want to educate the public. You have so many people that, you know, it's election season. Oh, I'm going to do this and I'm going to do that and I'm going to come down here and I'm going to change the world. And that's not how it works. because the public does not know that the municipalities can set the ordinances to stop or slow down the data centers. Chairman, that is not a function of county government, and we have a particular person that's out here running for leadership that's giving the oppression that we can and we cannot. The municipalities have to set an ordinance in place and even with that, they have to do it in such a way that it is legal. And so what is the flip side of this? The flip side is if you're going to force these data centers down our throat, then you need to pay. And I think, I can only speak for myself, I don't want to speak for my colleagues, but if they're coming, if they're coming with high-priced lawyers, if they're coming with an agenda, the gentleman just said today at the actual podium, The data centers don't pop up overnight. We just hear about them overnight. It is a process, and during the process is where the cities can put in ordinances to slow or stop. What we have in our control, Chairman, is the ability to make sure they are appraised at the highest amount possible in order to have more revenue. And what's interesting to me is we have someone misinforming the constituents like we just have a pot of gold. Oh, here, everybody getting money. You get money and I get money, we get money. That's not the way it works, sir. The way it works is if we can find the money in other avenues, other than putting it on the back of the taxpaying citizen, in my opinion, that should be the first duty of all elected officials. Find the money somewhere else other than on the backs of the taxpaying citizens of Fullerton County. So I just want to say, because I wasn't going to weigh in on this, but the reason I weighed in on it is because, generally speaking, Chairman, the constituents do not know how county government works. And so when you have people in a election season, rah, rah, rah, Fulton County need to do something about warm, it says, rah, rah, rah, Fulton County need to... A lot of this, sir, falls at your city government municipality. And so what I want, while we are having this conversation, is to let people know, go to your mayor and your city council people, go to your state rep and make sure that they fully educate you, CUE Public, on how the data centers are able to come in. At my town hall with Councilwoman Boone, one of the constituents said, the data center that popped up over in the city of South Fulton, one side is city of Atlanta and you cross the street and the other side is city of South Fulton. So if you got city of Atlanta fighting it, you got cities of South Fulton allowing it in, city of Atlanta can do nothing because it sits in the area of city of South Fulton. However, With this, and I hope that it goes well, it will at least get the burden off the taxpaying citizens and put more money in our coffers. And I just want to take that moment to educate our listening public.

Thank you, Chairman.

Thank you, Vice Chair. Madam Clerk.

Bottom of page 6, 260319, Public Works. Request approval to utilize cooperative purchasing in the amount of $200,000 to provide resurfacing and microsurfacing of Wendell Drive.

All right, motion to approve by Vice Chair, Dr. Rockmont, seconded by Commissioner Thorne.

And the vote is open. And the motion passes, five yays, zero nays. On page seven. 260320, Real Estate and Asset Management, requests approval to increase spending authority in the amount not to exceed $360,000 to provide required maintenance repairs to the landfill gas system, detention pond, and damage monitoring wells.

Motion to approve by Commissioner Thorne, seconded by Vice Chair Abdur Rahman.

And the vote is open. And the motion passes, five yeas, zero nays. 260321, Public Works, requests approval to utilize cooperative purchasing in the amount of $321,220 to support the maintenance and functionality of sewer lines, storm drains, and related infrastructures.

All right, motion to approve by Vice Chair, Dr. Rachman, seconded by Commissioner Thorne.

And the vote is open. And the motion passes, five yays, zero nays. 260322, request approval of the lowest responsible bidder for taxiway geometry improvement project in the amount not to exceed $1,314,153.87. All right, motion to approve by Commissioner Thorne, seconded by Commissioner Barrett. And the vote is open. And the motion passes, five yeas, zero nays. 260323, request approval to increase the spending authority in an amount not to exceed $1,600,000 to provide water meters.

All right, motion to approve by Commissioner Thorne, seconded by Vice Chair Abdur-Rahman. Commissioner Barrett, you have the floor.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I just had a quick question about this, and I did ask ahead of time for feedback from the Public Works folks, but we had a presentation, I forget when it was, was it last year? I forget when it was, talking about the new water meter system that they were looking to do. It seemed like it was a really great proposal and the idea was really good and it was moving us away from technology that was harder to get out and do the reads and all of those things. So I did get a bit of an answer, but I think because we had such a public presentation of what the project was, it would be good to hear from Public Works on why we are not moving forward with the project and spending money on the older technology at this time.

Thank you. Okay, good morning. So the project's moving forward, but in a different approach. So because of the financial constraints, the budget limitations, the county does not have the $40 million that would be required to implement the AMI system, which is the advanced meter. infrastructure project as a one project and we're going to um we have been evaluating you know different options and one of the options is to maximize the infrastructure that we have in ground and we're going to do two things right now and this is one of the one of the requests for the 1,600,000. One is convert, fully convert the Zone 7, which is a commercial area, to AMI meters. So we need to... purchase more meters, AMI meters, to convert the entire Zone 7 area. And also we're going to buy or purchase two collectors in order to capture the reads for some of the meters that are AMI capable, but we don't have the infrastructure to collect those reads. With those two collectors, we will be able to read via antenna those AMI meters.

So I guess I'm just, maybe I'm missing something, and excuse me if I already have this information, but when the original conversation was had, did we not know the price tag at that point? What happened between now and then?

Let me think. And Ray, you can help me as well. But fundamentally, what we thought was available to do is have... effectively the new technology as a service versus a lot of capital investment. The more that we got into it, and then of course we went through the procurement process, it became clear if we did that and there was any change in the future relative to technology or some other business reason, that there was gonna come an enormous termination fee. I mean, in the tens of millions of dollars. So then it became clear that at least that approach would not work. So now I think what you're describing is more of a pay as you go, for lack of a better term. In other words, invest where we can within the constraints that we have. And of course, the constraints are determined by our water rates and all the investment that we need to make in expansion and extension. but ultimately to get there. So the intention's still to get to the same place, but it can't be done by another company bearing all the capital cost and charging us as a service. And Ray, if I said anything that's not.

Absolutely, and part of it is that long-term threshold of technology change. do I buy into a type of technology 2026, make major capital investments that we pay debt service on long term? And then for years, here's a new technology that could come out much cheaper and still achieve the same results. So that's why We have a little bit of trepidation of locking up, again, tens of millions of dollars in today's tech. I've spoke with David Clark. I'd like to be maybe a little bit more nimble so we can adjust as we go as technology progresses.

Ray, do you recall the termination fee? I understand it was probably...

It was around $75 million.

$75 to $8 million.

So that's a very substantial sum, right.

Thank you for that explanation. I appreciate it. I mean, obviously, you know, we always have to walk that fine line between sort of being behind on the technology and it being antiquated and hard to upkeep and also being too far ahead and things changing. So I appreciate that. I was really excited, I mean, as one can get about water meters, about the new technology, and so just wanted to understand where we were. So thank you all for that. I appreciate it.

Thank you. Yeah, and let me explain you. With these changes that we're going to implement, we're going to be able to read, as a smart meter technology, 6,500 meters. in a few months, I would say, by the summer, in addition to all the commercial area, which is around 4,000 meters, so around 10,500 meters, which we call it like a phase one for the AMI meters.

So we're making progress.

Exactly.

Awesome, thank you so much.

Commissioner Thorne.

Hold on, hold on. Don't go anywhere yet. Yes, I understand about the AMI project and how the termination fee and all that, but I understand you are putting it in homes, you're doing some off of towers. and replacing the old technology, the ones where people have to manually come and read. Could we get a map or something of those areas? Because in my district, I continually am having to reach out about high water bills. Generally, they're estimated or they're read incorrectly. So I would love if I could have some type of map of where these systems are gonna be implemented to let residents know, hey, we are gonna replace your old antiquities, your old manual read meter soon, it's on the horizon, because we still continue to get those complaints.

Sure, we have identified where the two collectors are gonna be installed, so we can definitely send you the map.

Okay, great, thank you. Commissioner Harrington.

Is this time sensitive?

Well, it is because it's revenue-related technology plus a customer satisfaction issue. So, yes, I would say it is.

Give me two weeks or three weeks.

Yeah, I mean, I'm just wondering. Commissioner Barrett is right. We got this great presentation on what was going to be happening, and then now this comes back with just the request for an additional 1.6 the documents attached is just an amended agreement but you know i would like to see the map i would like to see the explanation what's the total amount of the contract is 1.6 million on top of what was the amount that was already approved

Well, we hadn't approved the AMI budget before because we didn't have cash or any venue on our financial books to finance the AMI project. So we were evaluating different alternatives, and that's what Dick said. One of the options was the MAS, which was metering as a service when one of the partners were going to finance the meters, but the termination fees were so exorbitant that it wasn't a financial option.

Yeah, I'm just wondering if it would make sense to bring it back at the next meeting, do a presentation so we know exactly what we're talking about.

Certainly, and I think David is already working with Adrian on a presentation, so we could just put that on the agenda with this item, and I think it would be a good discussion, because we're not walking away from the technology, it's how do you implement it. If you're not implementing it as a service, then how do you put it into your capital plan and do it on a pay-as-you-go basis, but we can certainly do that.

Yeah, if it's not time sensitive and come back in two weeks and we can get the full presentation that shows, like Commissioner Thorne asked, which neighborhoods is this gonna be implemented in and how we propose to make these changes, that would be great. Yes, sir.

Substitute motion to hold. Is there a second?

Chairman, I was in the queue. Okay.

But let me get the motion on the floor.

Okay.

All right. I'll second it. Second motion to hold. Vice Chair, I'll be rocked by you have the floor.

I just want to be crystal clear that in holding this for the next two weeks, we are incurring any expense or unrelated, that's my biggest concern is in holding it for two weeks that we're not doing that county-managed. I just want us to be crystal clear that, because sometimes you'll hold something and you'll say, oh my goodness, we should have gotten that passed at the last meeting. And so I just want to make sure what we don't know or what we make an assumption on. that it doesn't incur or interfere with something else. That is my concern.

Yeah, I just want to clarify that, yeah, if we don't have the budget that we need right now, we don't have, we will not be able to purchase meters and having stock for new developments and replacement of malfunctioning meters. So that is critical.

So I would say that we would, county manager, I would say we, We can give the information, but I think we should take a, Chairman, I think we should take a vote on it today, because that, to me, can be impacting to someone else, even though we don't see it. And so, and that's now, that is a financial impact. The information that Commissioner Arrington and Commissioner Thorne want, they need to get, don't get me wrong, it's valid. but I'm still thinking in my mind, and also Commissioner Barrett, we don't wanna make a decision as the county commissioners that will cause any other entity to have to have a financial bearing on it. And so I would personally ask that we not hold it, that we take a vote today. plus the information that my colleagues have asked for, is still given. So, Chairman, I know we took a vote, but Rob's rule of order, I don't know if I can modify or what? What's on the floor?

We haven't voted yet. The motion on the floor is to hold.

Okay. So at this point, I would want to modify that motion, substitute motion, that we do not We do vote on this today, but the request of this board is the information, county manager, full presentation still happens with the emphasis on the areas that it is going to affect or not affect, okay? So that is my substitute motion that I'm putting forward.

Well, wait a minute, wait a minute. So you're speaking against the motion on the floor to hold at this time? Okay, she's speaking against the motion to hold. Now let's hear from Commissioner Thorne, and we'll deal with it.

I second Commissioner Audrey Rockman's motion. First of all, I feel like we've been waiting for this implementation to come. Consistently, I have complaints for the past two years, almost on a weekly basis, dealing with the water meters failing. So I don't want to wait anymore. I don't I do wanna know where they're gonna be phased in and phased out and what the overall plan is. So I do want a presentation, but I can't see not approving this today and finally getting the ball rolling on getting these meters in place.

Okay, the motion on the floor is to hold. Now let me understand again. What will happen, when is our next meeting? Next meeting, whatever it is, two weeks? Okay, 17. What is gonna happen between now and that next meeting from your perspective that's gonna be harmful to the project?

Well, if this doesn't get approved, we will not be able to purchase some of the meters.

So that you would, if this is approved today, you would purchase them? Purchase meters. Immediately and they'd be ready before the next meeting?

Yes, at least be on the way for purchasing to be ordered, yes. Start the purchasing process. Without these being approved, we will not be able to start the purchasing process.

So holding it for two weeks to get the information being requested would be harmful to the process? Yes.

Yes.

I don't see that, but it's the will of the body.

Commissioner Arrington, do you have a problem with the information that's being asked and make sure that we get it in going forward? See, that's my only concern. See, it may not hit us personally as a body, but it would hit others. That's my concern, Commissioner Arrington.

So, you know, I understand your concern. And I guess it's just more difficult for me to support this without knowing why there's an increase in spending authority. And I'm trying to understand, because I thought they brought this to us before and we approved them going forward with this other process. So I'm trying to understand why there's an increase, but certainly I don't want to, to affect someone who's water meters, but the purchasing process, I mean.

I just, David is representing us at a meeting. I just asked him, could we hold it for two weeks? And he said we could. So I'll take that as the, and granted, we need to get on with this, but two weeks in the grand scheme of things. is I don't think material, and that's what he's now saying. So my advice would be you could move forward. We will clearly bring the presentation back, or you can hold it if you choose to, and we'll bring the presentation back.

Either way. I mean, you know, if people, if we're having malfunctioning water meters and we can speed that up, then, you know, I guess I could just get the information later. I just... I can withdraw my motion to hold.

So Commissioner Arrington made the motion to hold. I was a seconder on that motion. I'd have to, based on what he's saying, I will withdraw my motion to, my second, rather, of that. And he withdraws his motion to hold. Therefore, that takes us back to the main motion, which was to approve.

However, Chairman, I do want to make sure that the directives of this body is to make sure the questions that were asked are answered within two weeks and that the concerns that were raised, I don't mind. I think if we move forward today in approving this, it's not a problem, but I do want to be as equally vocal that all that information needs to get in that was asked today concerning it.

And we'll be prepared to do that.

All right, let's correct the machine. All right, the motion on the floor is to approve by Commissioner Thorne, seconded by Vice Chair Abdur Rahman. The motion is to approve. Please vote.

And the vote is open on the motion to approve. And the motion passes, five yays, zero nays. Next item. 260324, Behavioral Health and Developmental Disabilities, request approval to renew existing contracts in an amount not to exceed 12,620,456,089 to expand services to provide full service operation and management of the Fulton County Behavioral Health Crisis Center.

All right, we have a motion to approve by Vice Chair Abdulrahman, seconded by Commissioner Barrett. Can somebody address this? I mean, it's pretty clear, but yeah. We're satisfied everything's going well, but I want to hear that.

Good morning, commissioners. The request before you is to renew the existing contract with Grady, who is the full service operator for our Fulton County Behavioral Health Crisis Center. When we renewed all of our previous contracts to initiate our services in 2026, we did not include the crisis center because the approval that we already had from the board carried us through the state's calendar, which was July 1st of 2025, to june 30th of 2026 so that is why it's before you now okay all right motion is to approve and the vote is open

And the motion passes, five yays, zero nays. On page eight, 260325, senior services, request approval to increase spending authority in an amount not to exceed $1,500,000, provide transportation services, ride sharing to eligible Fulton County residents age 60 and above.

All right, motion is to approve by Vice Chair Abdulrahman, seconded by Commissioner Barrett. Commissioner Barrett, you have the floor.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I just wanted to understand where we are in terms of, I know we always kind of are checking in mid-year to see how it's going. Are we going to make it with the budget we have to the end of the year? And so if we're asking for an increase in spending authority, sounds like maybe... We're getting a lot of takers on the senior rideshare, so I just wanted to get a quick update from y'all.

Yes. Good morning, Commissioners Qualey, Rashid, Henry, Interim Director, Senior Services. And I'm joined by my colleague, Mr. Raphael Patterson, who's our subject matter expert and the program manager, senior program manager in contracts. So the spending controls that the board approved over a year ago have been working well. We are staying within our budget. However, the board approved an enhancement earlier this year for the FY26 budget, and that's what this spending authority request is related to, to be able to increase that contract accordingly. So far, riders are pretty well satisfied with the program. We survey them every quarter, and we have about, on average, 2,500 seniors that take the Uber Lift program, the Common Courtesy program, every month.

You said 2,500 per month?

Yep, 2,500 per month. And on average, they take about five trips each. So the program is working well.

We had, I know, especially when we made the transition and put some of the new guardrails controls in place in terms of how many rides people could have and all of that, that we had some folks, and I don't have the right number, but who were utilizing more rides and who were sort of struggling with the new process. Are we still getting calls like that? Are people... have adjusted and found other options, or where do we stand on sort of those outliers?

So I will defer to Mr. Patterson, but on average, the seniors, I think, have adopted well to the change. We did have that caveat of providing up to two additional medical trips each month for our riders, and about 270 seniors are utilizing that, resulting in an additional 2,500 trips a month. So overall, well from a service delivery standpoint.

Come on up to the mic, sir.

There are some seniors that are still requesting additional rides. Closer to the mic, please. Sorry. There are some seniors that are still requesting the old standard of trips per month, but they are adjusting to the new parameters that are helping us stay within budget.

Okay, and one last thing, and then I... I mean, I'm all for supporting this. I just want to make sure I have the lay of the land. Are we doing regular... And forgive me if you guys have already said this, but are we doing regular surveys of applicants and riders in terms of how they're feeling about... the whole process in terms of reserving rides, because that was the other thing I had gotten some complaints on, although I have not had any in the last few months, but I have had some in the past about people struggling to, you know, to have to call more than once to get their rides and all that. Do we know how people, like, do we survey regularly? We do.

We present quarterly surveys to our seniors.

Okay, awesome. And are those sent to us regularly?

No, but we can.

Yeah, I think it would be good if you could just include the Board of Commissioners. I mean, I'm assuming all my colleagues want to see the results, you know, via email or what have you. That'd be helpful. Thank you.

Commissioner Aaron, you can.

Yeah, I'm happy to support this. I will say, though, that I got a lot of comments from seniors that they would like more rides, and I believe it's the, was it eight rides total?

Yes. That's the current limit.

Which is really four round-trip rides, right? And so the additional two medical is really one round-trip medical. So it's really an additional one. happy again to support this but I think we still need to be looking at it and as you're doing those surveys maybe we need to ask them you know about the number of trips or how many more trips and I know we did an additional allocation um and I don't know how many more people will be able to serve or maybe if that allows additional trips or not but we need to continue looking at that because i did get a lot of comments from seniors about uh not having enough trips and i know it's a balancing act that we have to perform between just opening the gates wide open uh with no control versus making sure our seniors are getting the services that they need.

Understood.

All right, Vice Chair, I'll do rock one.

Let me all, first of all, thank you all for the great job you're doing. At the Senior Summit, we had so many of the seniors to commend us while, Chairman, they were very upset with Marta. And not to try to throw Marta up under the bus, but it was even the comment made that MARTA should maybe take our lead, because the parameters that we put in place, plus the quality control that you all do, plus the fact that you survey, makes us really above comparable counties. It is other counties, and I wanna remind the listening public, Fulton County is the leader, Chairman, when it comes to senior services. First of all, kudos to you. We have become, in a certain amount of way, and County Manager, I hope I don't get beat up about this, we've gotten spoiled. And the reason I say that is in my travels, when I say, Chairman, all the things that we do for the seniors here, And we have other counties that are the same size with identical budgets that don't do one fourth of what we do for the seniors. They are so just done that they're like, you all are doing this, you all are doing that. And so I want to commend you all for the great job you're doing. Sometimes we become complacent and we don't realize how good we have it in Fulton County. with the exceptional senior services department. Don't get me wrong. Only complaint, and I heard it at the senior summit where over 1,200 seniors came in, is that I wish there were more rights. And I think, Chairman Pitts, under your leadership and your vision with doing that with the appraisers, that's more money, less burden on the taxpayer. If we can get that, Lord knows I'm going to be pushing for more money to be put in senior services. But more importantly, I think it is great that we have a model for the seniors. We put our seniors first here. And is it perfect? No. But we have the guardrails and parameters in place, County Manager, to make sure that we are surveying. We're asking them, you know, did the person treat you with respect? Was the ride courteous? I promise you, my office, and before we even did this, my office would get calls. My office don't get calls like that. And when we do get calls, they're usually complimenting. And so I just want to be crystal clear that yes, I hope we have more money. I hope what we're doing with the Board of Appraisers will trickle down and give us more money. But the reality is Fulton County per senior per comparable counties pays more and take care of our seniors way way higher than others uh this decides so i just want to say kudos to you all thank you commissioner thorne

I just find it really interesting that you guys have seniors commenting to you. I think in my three and a half years, I've only had one senior directly comment about senior rights.

Because you're so young, that's why.

I qualify for senior rides. I do qualify for senior rides. Anyway, I've only had one comment and they were thinking that the ride program was great and that it was an appropriate number of rides. But with that being said, I wouldn't mind getting some data from maybe some of your surveys to see if there's some underutilization of the program in my district. Maybe seniors aren't aware, and now that we have this new, great, beautiful 4700 Health and Human Services building, I can maybe just make people more aware of that service being provided to them. So if you could, that would be greatly appreciated. I have some wonderful interns, I don't know where they are, working with me this summer. They're great number crunchers to look at that data, and maybe we can see how we could reach out. And with that being said, when people reach the limit in their number of rides, I know in my district, North Fulton Senior Services also provides rides. Do you direct them to other nonprofits or senior services that could assist them if they exceed their cap?

Yes, so part of our assessment when we're screening new riders, we let them know about the resources and try to direct them accordingly. The rides reset every month, right? So our riders understand that if they hit that cap, they can wait and schedule what they need to schedule for the following month. But we do tell them about the partnerships that we have so they can utilize those resources as well.

Thank you.

All right, the motion on the floor is to approve. Please vote.

And the vote is open. And the motion passes, five yeas, zero nays. 260326, emergency services, request approval of an award without competition, an amount not to exceed $15,596,448 to provide ongoing maintenance and support of the countywide digital radio system.

Now I have some serious questions about this one, but Commissioner Arrington, you can begin.

My first question is why is it $15 million without competition?

Good afternoon, Commissioners. Felicia Strong, Whitaker. This was solicited when we selected the Motorola back in 2013. This is for the annual maintenance and licensing agreements, and it is over an eight-year period. On the second page, we provided a chart of the payments. So the first year is $367,000. It goes through from October through December. And then... It goes on the annual AML list because it's for the maintenance and licensing of the system.

You said this is from a RFP from 2013? We haven't had to do a new RFP since... I wasn't even elected in 2013.

Yes, we did a procurement for the Motorola, the radio system for the county. It included a 10-year... annual maintenance and licensing agreement. We are still using the system. We have not bought a new system. This new agreement is for the continued maintenance and licensing of the system that we procured back in 2013.

All right, so 2013, 10 years, 2023. So this is the 13th year.

2013, I think it was implemented maybe in 2014, 2015. I'm not sure. Chris is here. He can answer that we procured the service. It had to be implemented. Once it was implemented, once we accepted it, that's when the annual maintenance and licensing agreements start. So it is up, it's time for us to renew. It was through September of this year, which is why this one will start in October through the end of the year. And then after that, it comes on the annual maintenance and licensing list, and the board approves it with the budget every year until this agreement is either renewed because we still have the system, or if we go out for bid for a new system. There is not a lot of radio systems out there, so that is why we are continuing, I believe, with the radio system that we have, which is Motorola.

And so what are you saying? It would be up for a bid again?

This agreement would be for an additional eight years.

Without a bid?

Correct. This is the system that we have. We have to maintain an annual maintenance and license to utilize the system. So this is what this is for. This is SAS agreement. Remember, we don't really buy systems like we used to buy systems. You are utilizing someone's system and you have to pay an annual maintenance and licensing fee.

if i could just maybe clarify uh some of the monies or most of the monies the system it's cost neutral because we on our igas with our external partners we collect radio fees to use the system so when we see 15 million dollars two million dollars a year let's call it about two million dollars a year we collect those fees uh through our iga radio contracts through the cities

Roughly the same amount, $2 million? Correct. Okay, so basically budget neutral, that's right, okay.

I think that's probably the most important thing is to make sure that our IGAs cover that cost.

And Chris, could you comment on the difficulty if you had to change the system out, so change providers? What would that entail?

Yeah, so there's really, I mean, I shouldn't say there's only two, but there's only really two major radio system companies that could handle this type of capacity. Motorola is obviously the biggest radio company, I think, in the world. And when they were given the bid back, really the first year was 2017. Once it went through the process in 2016, we went live 2017 before me. And that went for 10 years. To make a move or to go to another radio company would be very, very difficult because everybody has purchased, all our external internal partners have purchased hardware and software to support this system. So it would be incredibly expensive to move away from the system that we currently have to go to another vendor.

You're talking about hardware that's in the cars.

Hardware and the radios that the police carry, yes.

All right, well, thank you. Expensive is, 15 million is expensive to me, but I understand that it might be a lot more expensive than that to replace all the hardware and software. Thank you.

And I'm sorry, and it is over an eight-year term, and so it's listed in the agenda item.

So, the, is there another firm that provides the same service?

There are other companies out there.

There are.

There are.

How many?

I mean, there are several, but I think.

Two, three, four?

Maybe two that could handle this. Two others. That could handle, yeah, one other. So, Motorola and another.

Who is the other one?

Who is the other one? Yeah, Harris Radio would be the other one.

And the reason I say that is because if we went to a Harris Radio, there could be some manipulation with the equipment that we have, meaning the police radios that could still stay on the system, on a Harris system. But there could be some challenges there.

So does anybody else use Harris that you're aware of?

State of Georgia.

State of Georgia.

The State of Georgia is the only other entity within Georgia that uses Harris.

There are probably two to three other counties that have Harris systems, but to be able to, for us to switch to Harris, we would have to have a whole new radio system, $30 million. Harris cannot service Motorola because it's proprietary. So, again, that figure that we did for 10 years was $1,089,000. We locked that, you guys locked that figure in for 10 years. We enjoyed that for 10 years, but as the cost of goods and services gone up, we negotiated with Motorola. They came back with higher figures, but we said, wait a minute, you can't do that. But we're not the only county that's fixing to go through this with Motorola. But nobody else can service Motorola's tower.

So based upon what I hear, so... Motorola will have this contract until the end of time.

Or until we change to a whole new system for.

Are the other systems comparable in a price point, from a price point?

Harris is a little cheaper, but again, it would take 30 million, maybe more, to go to all 15 sites, replace all the equipment, and then they would have to, they would give us a maintenance cheaper than Motorola, but that upfront cost of changing out the entire system is where...

Sometimes you have to do that. There's another crowd out of Texas that has us rep Tyler.

That's the other one, Tyler, right?

And I just don't accept the fact. It's not a criticism of you guys at all, but Tyler is another one that has us, leading us to believe that they're the only company in the world that can provide what they provide, and I just don't believe that. And I don't believe that Motorola is the only one. You mentioned Harris. And I've heard complaints about Motorola since I was with the city of Atlanta. And you guys have heard these same complaints about them. Where is Mr. Davis? Is he here? You've heard complaints about Motorola.

I have to admit, the radio world is not my expertise. Have I heard complaints about Motorola? I've heard complaints about a number of manufacturers over the years, but nothing particular about the overall viability of their systems.

Okay, I just don't see awarding a contract of this size without any discussion, limited discussion, for another eight years without competition. And admittedly, there's at least one other firm who admittedly is cheaper than Motorola. All right, Vice Chair, you have the floor.

Thank you, Chairman. I would also echo what Mr. Davis said. I do have a telecommunications background. And so... One of the things that I want to drive home is this is not your average contract, first of all. And the nature of the need of it is usually assessed for a longer period than your four-year contract. And so I just would caution us that these type contracts usually lock you in with a rate for a longer period of time, which means in the long run, you are saving because they are not increasing the cost. And so even though it's sticker shot, Chairman, with saying, whoa, eight years, What you've gotten for eight years that locks in, Ms. Whitaker, is that you have the ability to say, okay, this rate is going to be this rate for eight years, while someone who may have a four-year, and it's not in this field, it's not a lot of four-year contracts, because of the type services they are providing. I do not work for Motorola. They are not on my disclosure. And I just want to be crystal clear, because of my background in telecommunications, that a lot of times you are locked into a rate, but you are locked into a rate for a longer period of time. And in the long run, it's prudent for us, because while others are having additional costs or see a cost effective that's higher, we're locked in or we're able to bargain that, hey, you got an eight-year contract with us. When they're trying to, for whatever reason, you know, said things are higher. And so I would just want to say to my colleagues, including the chairman, that yes, there's sometimes sticker shock, but when you're talking about this kind of services that are usually eight and sometimes 10-year contracts, Ms. Whitaker, they lock you in at a rate that at least forecast that you know what you're spending for that length of time. And so I just want to do a moment of education, which we don't have a lot of that down here, but a moment of education of on the face it may look like, whoa, this is a whole bunch of money, but you don't take in fact that those costs are shared with others that are on the service, for one, and two, in the long run, the rate is a flat rate for that entire period of time. And so I just wanted to make sure that I say that.

All right. Other questions? Commissioner Arrington. Well, I just think the other important thing is what he said is that these costs is really a pass-through cost because the cities are really paying for it. And so while I'm sensitive to the amount and the term of the contract, the fact that I'm comforted by the fact that it is a pass-through cost.

Other questions or comments? All right, the motion on the floor is to approve.

And the vote is open. And the motion passes, four yeas, one nay.

Next item.

Commissioner action item 260328, request approval resolution to amend the policy regarding the retention of personal staff of members of the Board of Commissioners in the event of a board vacancy and for other purposes. Sponsored by Chairman Pitts.

All right, motion to approve by Vice Chair, Dr. Rockmont, seconded by Commissioner Thorne. Any questions? All right.

The vote is open. And the motion passes, four yeas, zero nays. On page nine, Commissioner's full board appointment, 260332, Region Three Emergency Medical Services Council. Commissioner Thorne has nominated Jeffrey Johanson for a full board reappointment to a term ending June 30th, 2029.

Is there a motion? Motion to approve by Vice Chair, Dr. Rockbun, seconded by Commissioner Thorne.

And the vote is open. And the motion passes. Four yeas, zero nays. On page 10, 260333, Hospital Authority of Fulton County, Northside. The Board of Trustees of the Hospital Authority of Fulton County submitted a slate of names for the Board of Commissioners consideration to a term ending April 1st, 2029 and terms ending April 1st, 2030.

All right, motion to approve by Vice Chair Dr. Rachman, seconded by Commissioner Thornton. I just have one question. I still don't understand what this group does. Are we getting their minutes? Because they were even sued for their minutes at one point. We're getting what they talk about and things of that nature? Yes. We are. Would you share them with the board? Yes. Thank you. Commissioner Barrett, sorry.

Yeah, the way that it's written on the agenda doesn't clarify that we're nominating the recommended people for each of the positions, does it? Yes, position four, expired term of Dr. Stone. Right, it says expired, but then in the recommendations, it just lists all four, and I know when they sent the letter over, they bolded the one and put it in the first position that they recommended, right? Okay. Right, but there's four people. There's three people listed. Right, but, okay. Maybe I'm just reading it wrong. Just want to make sure we're all on the same page, but sounds like I'm reading it wrong.

No, it does not show. It just shows which one's expired and then it shows the four names.

Okay, so I'm not crazy. So to that point, just to be clear, the official appointees are Doug McDonald for position four and then the other three, the reappointments. Correct. Okay.

All right, other questions? Let's vote, please.

And the vote is open. And the motion passes, four yays, zero nays.

That's it? No further items. Okay, I'll entertain a motion to recess for lunch and executive session. We may take up items of personnel, real estate, and litigation.

And the vote is open. And the motion passes, four yays, zero nays.

Yes, they're ready.

All right.

All right, if there are no objections, we will resume the regular order of business. Madam Clerk, items from executive session.

Thank you. Is there a motion to approve the request for settlement authority in items one and two of the executive session agenda?

We have a motion to approve by Commissioner Thorne, seconded by Commissioner Barrett. Please vote.

And the vote is open. And the motion passes, four yays, zero nays. No further items, fraction.

No further items. Any other items that come before us on the agenda?

No further items, Mr. Chair.

Okay, so Mr. Manager, let's take about two minutes here before we adjourn. And a couple of people referenced this today about TADS and our participation in TADS or lack of participation in TADS and that how we're not working with the city. And I want to set the record straight on that. We have not, as a board, taken a position on TADS, period. I think that I have directed, to the extent that I can, you and the CFO to meet with the city, which you're doing. And... I ran into the mayor a couple of weeks ago. He and I had a handshake and agreed that we will be meeting sometime at his choosing in the near future and I will make myself available. And I said to him, I think you made a great step by removing the belt line from the list and the, what was the other one? Perry Bolton from the list. And again, we shook hands and moved forward. And I think he has. And I said to him, and I'll say again to the board, again, the board has not taken an official position, but from a personal point of view, I think that we can discuss each one. Each one will have to stand on its own. Some may be extended, some may not. There may be some others. There may be some creative ways to accomplish because, I mean, I happen to agree with his plan and what he's planning to do. But we have a responsibility as a board of commissioners, based upon the Constitution, look after ourselves first, just as a school board and just as a city. to have this notion around that we are not working with the mayor and not talking to the city, that's just not true. So where are we from your perspective?

Uh, yes, sir. We've had a, uh, very recently, a very good conversation, I believe with Courtney English and with LaShondra Berks as chief of staff and COO of Atlanta. Uh, we certainly talked about TADS in general, as you just mentioned, uh, and, understood what they were attempting to do and also of course with the deletion of the two that you mentioned, the impact of that. There are other issues with Atlanta that we would like to discuss, most notably the Atlanta Detention Center, so we entered into some conversation about that. That might be two separate issues, but agreed to get back together and flesh that out further. So I do feel like that the communication channels are open. They are engaging. We are engaging. And, again, as that gets developed, of course, I would bring it back to this body for review. But, yes, sir, we are in communications.

Commissioner Barrett.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman, and thank you for bringing the topic up. I just want to say that I totally agree with what you're saying. I sat on the Neighborhood Reinvestment Commission to review the NRI as our representative from Invest Atlanta, And I said the exact same thing the whole time. I think we're open to nuanced conversations about each individual TAD. I think the body of the NRI Commission was in agreement that the Beltline TAD was sort of not gonna fly for school board or us because it's really done. or will be by the end of its time. And also the bulk of the dollars there that we would be looking to have come back to us come from the Beltline Tad. But I also wanted to just chime in only to say, and I think we've all been getting emails about from people who are concerned that we somehow have a say in what money goes back to the school board. So I just want to be clear about the fact that our vote on the TADS, whenever we get to that, whenever we have something on the table, has nothing to do with what the school board decides. Those are separate decisions. And even if we were to vote yes on the TADS or some of the TADS, that has nothing to do with taking money away from the schools. I just want to make that clear because there are three separate entities that are contributing, and the school board is its own.

Vice Chair?

Thank you, Chairman. And I also want to commend Commissioner Barrett because at the end of the day, when we had this discussion before, this was a discussion that was had, Chairman, and you know this because I raised an issue about it. You've got several commissioners up here that, for whatever reason, people don't want to have a conversation with them. And so let's... wipe the slate clean and make sure all of the commissioners are talked to, whether you think they're pro or against, you don't know what that person may be thinking about. That person may have a different school of thought, they may have an issue that their constituents a raise that you need to address. And so I would say to city of Atlanta, have a conversation with all the commissioners because it will take four votes and you don't know where you will get your four votes from. And so the communication has to be better. Commissioner Barrett, you've done a great job of keeping me abreast on certain things, but at the end of the day, You see it as a colleague of mine. There is a duty on individuals that benefit from the TAD to make sure that they lobby and have a meaningful, open, respectful conversation with all of us. And so I just want to put that out there.

Commissioner Thorne.

County Manager, in these discussions on the TAD, is there discussions around if these TADs, we have to sign a new MOU and they're going to reset? Or are they fighting that they think that there's a way of not having to sign a new MOU and not resetting the TADs back to the current valuation of the tax digest?

Yes, ma'am. We haven't gotten to that point yet, but that's really a critical issue. uh... element of this what we have done in preparation for these discussions is the finance department have created a model that looks at each individual TAD and then them collectively and looks at elements such as the one that you're describing. And a reset versus no reset may sound like a technical term at one level but has values that probably exceed a billion dollars over 20 years. So it's a very significant issue. Of course the growth rates, anticipated growth rates and the like is a major issue and all of that needs to be factored into a decision but we have not gotten to that level in these discussions.

Okay, we got one minute.

Sorry, just wanted to add to that. I know for people who are not following all this really closely, they, of course, would prefer that we continue and not reset, not necessarily because of the dollars, because I think they are, and again, I know we're really early in the negotiation, but I think they are open to pilot payments back. But if we were to reset, it means they can't that all bonds would have to start at the reset date. So from basically now through the end of the TADs, they wouldn't be able to potentially start some of the projects until we got further into the new TADs if we did it that way. So that's just, it's a really detailed, nuanced conversation, TAD by TAD, and that's the other side of that reset conversation.

Okay, well, thank you very much. No further business has come before us today. We are adjourned at 12.59 p.m.