City Council - Regular Meeting

to come and to observe as your city council and our staff conducts policy and procedures and carry out the business of the city of Fedville. Here in the city of Fedville, we always open up our uh meetings with a prayer or an invocation. At this time, we've asked Councilman Daryl Langford to give us our opening prayer. Then we ask you would stand, please face our flag and give us our pledge of allegiance together. Okay, Councilman Langford.

All right. Uh let us uh bow our heads. Heavenly Father, we come before the throne of grace at this time. Thank you for allowing us to assemble as a city in the spirit of unity to properly handle the city's business. In your word, it is said that behold how good and pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity. Father, please give us the ability to govern with wisdom and make decisions for the city that are pleasing to you and righteous for our citizens. For your word says that where the righteous are in rule, the people rejoice. Bless each and everyone on this council and on the city staff. And Lord, please bless this great city and its citizens. These blessings we ask in Jesus name. Amen.

Amen. Please stand and cite our pledge of allegiance. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.

Thank you, Councilman Langford, and thank you all, ladies and gentlemen. Again, uh we have the agenda that is uh projected on the screen behind us, but if you uh like to get a hard copy of the agenda, especially take notes, uh please see our city clerk, uh Miss Chelsea Seaman, on the end of the DS. She'd be glad to make sure you get a copy of the hard copy of the agenda. The agenda has been prepared for us tonight. And at this time, I'd like to ask the council members, what is your pleasure with the agenda? Move to approve. Second. Okay. Got it. Properly moved and seconded. I just need to note that we're not having an executive session. Yes, sir. We are not. Okay. Move to approve without the executive session.

It's properly moved and seconded that we approve the agenda removing the at least without the executive session. Are you ready for the question? All those in favor signify by saying I. I. Any opposes name? We had a couple of meetings prior to this meeting. And at this time, we have to approve the minutes for the September 18, 2025 city council regular meeting. Council members, what is your pleasure? Move to approve. Second. Properly moved and second. Any unreiness. Call for the vote. All those in favor signify by saying I. I. And Councilman Stacy abstain. Abstain. Okay. Approval of the minutes of the September 25th city council work session. What is your pleasure? Move to approve.

Second. Properly moved and second. Call for the vote. All those in favor signify by saying I. I. Any opposes name. Ladies and gentlemen, we are always delighted and excited when we have presentations and recognitions here in the city of Fedville. And at this time, I'd like to call on Miss Kita Carer and Miss Brenda Williams who are going to recognize our Fedville 101 Citizens Government Academy inaugural class of 2025. At this time, those two ladies would come. And I'm going to ask the council members to come down from the DIA so we congratulate uh the graduates. Not yet. Not yet, mayor. Not yet. Okay.

Not yet. Not yet. Okay. I know who the boss is and it ain't me. Good evening, Mayor and Council.

Good evening, Brendon. It is with great pride and gratitude that we announce the graduation of the inaugural class of the city of Fedville 101 Citizen Government Academy, class of 2025. This 8-week program was designed to provide residents with an inside look how their city government operates, offering interactive sessions with department leaders and hands-on learning experiences. We began the journey with 24 participants and we are proud to celebrate the successful completion of the program with 19 dedicated graduates. Throughout the course, the participants gain a deeper understanding of city services, budget and finance, public safety, planning and development, community engagement, and more. Their enthusiasm and commitment reflect the strong civic spirit that makes Fedville a great place to live, work, and serve. We extend our heartfelt appreciation to the mayor, council, city manager, department directors, and staff for their continuing support in making this a success. We are proud of Fedville. We have a video we would like to show.

The Fairville 101 Citizen Academy was created as the first program of its kind in the city of Fedville. Brittney Williams, our utility billing manager, she came to me with the concept and I took it to our city manager, Ray Gibson, and he gave us the green light to move forward. The academy was designed to give participants a behindthescene look at city operations and the people who keep Fedville running. What better way to educate and engage our citizens than by including them in learning how their city government works. I decided to sign up for Fable 101 because I wanted to learn the nuts and bolts of how the city operates.

I'm an entrepreneur. I'm starting um a mobile catering business. So, what better way to learn more about the city, the who's who, the behind the scenes, who I need to talk to to get started. So, it was a great experience for me. I just moved here, so I wanted to get interested in the city of Fville and learn about the ongoing and how they work the city. I'm looking to truly make this my home. It encourages civic engagement. People are more likely to vote, volunteer, serve on boards, or participate in public hearings when they know how to get involved. We wanted to empower residents to become more informed, connected, and engaged in shaping their community.

I frequently come to city council meetings and I'm involved with the HOA and the Bay County branch, the NAACP. So that way I can take uh information back to these organizations as what's happening in the city. My overall experience was great. When you have all the different departments coming in and telling you, you know, this is the goal for Fetville and this is how we're going to get there, then you can see, you know, why these decisions are being made and how uh these visions can be the best for the city of Fatville.

Government 101 programs often develop future community leaders, people who may later run for office, serve on commissions, or lead nonprofits. After attending this class, I have been inspired to get more involved with volunteering and boards and committees with the city of Bayel. I am very grateful to be a part of a city that really cherishes the voices of its citizens. There is no limit to imagination in the city of Fedville. So now I'm able to go to my neighbors and say, "Hey, this is why our government did what they did. this is why they made the decision that they made. So, I'm grateful for this opportunity. So, I'm thankful for that.

My advice for future Fable 101 class members are to make sure you come to every class cuz even if you don't think you'd be interested in something, there will be something that will grab your attention. For the next class of 2026, they're going to really enjoy this class.

To the future Fateville 101 participants, get ready to become leaders in our community. [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] Thank you, boss. Mr. Curtis Busy, [Applause] Penelopey Punlin, Susan Krimary, [Applause] Jared Dagrid, Daniel Dodd, Craig epsided Faru Cheryl Foster Corey Lester Elizabeth Lily Dolly Pard [Applause] Victoria Range Robert Steed, Marian Taylor, Bernita Thomas, Evelyn Thompson, [Applause] Katrina Tisdale, Wallace, and Yajia Wayne.

Thank you. Yes. On the wall. You want them on the wall so we take a picture?

Yeah. If we can have the graduates come in front of the council members behind you. Are you

So before we do that, I want to also recognize Brenda Williams. Thank you.

Count right here. One, two, three. One, two, three. [Applause] To the graduates who'd like to formally on behalf of the council say thank you for taking a lot of your personal time to learn about the operations of the city and hopefully it will broaden your uh your knowledge as to how we go about operating the city and you can share that with some of your other citizens. But encourage some of the other citizens to enroll in our uh next year's class and I assure you that we will continue to learn from it and uh make it even better. So, thank you all so much for participating. Let's give them another round of applause. I also want to thank our communications public relations staff who did a wonderful job on that video. Okay. As long along with Miss Brenda Williams and Khalifa. They did a phenomenal job. So again, let's give them another round of applause. At this time, uh if you'd like to leave, you can leave, but we have another video telling our story. And uh this is going to be presented by our director of economic development, Miss Laura Fund.

Good evening, mayor and council. Good evening.

So, it's great to be here with you this evening. Tonight, I'd like to share the next in our 10-p part video series, which is designed to tell our Fateville story. And the reason we put this video series together is to share what's happening in Favville. It's to explain our vision for the future and also to highlight our opportunities to invest in Fyville to attract the target industries and businesses that we'd like to bring here. So, I'd like to thank Melody Green on my economic development team for managing this video project and also our communications team for helping us get this video series out via all of our communications channels. Tonight's video focuses on smart growth, which doesn't happen by chance. It's built on vision, planning, and collaboration. This video highlights how thoughtful planning, strategic investments, and community partnerships are shaping a more connected, vibrant, and sustainable future for our city. I'd like to thank uh each of you, mayor and council, for your support and participation in this project. And without further ado, let's roll the tape. We want to build an area to be a walkable, vibrant community. Development in the city of Fyville should support livable, sustainable, and economically vibrant spaces. That's what smart growth really is, creating that sense of place.

Developing pathways and trails throughout the city of Fatville. We really want to make sure that all of our activity centers in the city are connected. The 38 acres is a new development for downtown area. You know, our plan since we started to be a new walk with environment downtown. Well, we're accomplishing that. Ally project, City Center Park, the 38 acre mixeduse development that's going to be going in behind City Center Park, and then the new arts district, which will be along Lee Street. We've got some very exciting things planned for downtown.

Don't just be a thinker, be a doer. And I believe that's what our city's doing very well is being a doer. Lori, there's more. Anything more, Lori? That's a wonderful video. We're going to shift now, ladies and gentlemen, to public hearing. So, we're going to pause for a couple of minutes. So, if you do not uh want to sit through our public hearings, you're free to leave and we will wait a minute or two for those who wish to leave. Again, congratulations to those who graduated. Okay, it seems like those who wanted to leave have departed. At this time, we'd like to move on to public hearings. Item number five, second hearing for resolution number 25 R63, which is the 2025 military presented by our director of finance administrative services, Mr. Michael Bush.

Good morning again, Mr. Mayor and Council. How are y'all since I saw you last?

Um, we're here today to hold the second public hearing for the 2020 um five uh millage rate. Um and to start um every year we get the uh digest from our our tax commissioner usually in August and then we uh we advertise have all our public hearings in um during August and early September they take it to the state and the department of revenue and then taxes are build in November and collected in December. That's usually how it goes. The last two years though, we've had little delay. This year, the delay was due to House Bill 581 that passed and, you know, having to put a freeze on all the homesteaded properties. Um, and that took a little bit of work to get that through. So, we took a little longer to get it to us, but we did get it in uh late September. So, we're having our three public hearings, two today, one next Thursday, and then after that third public hearing, we will um ask the council to adopt um the millillage. Um so, every year we get one of these little um guides from the department of revenue. Um and inside that guide is a tip to ensure proper compliance with uh the roll back computation and the press release. So I've got a little mark there by number four where it says make sure that the notice of property tax increase includes the statutory language and no more or less than the required information. So the in that pamphlet there is a a template that we have to use and all we do is where at the top it says percentage increase over roll back rate that we plug in numbers otherwise we do not change or add anything to this notice. And this is the notice that we read the paper um to Wednesday, a week ago and then yesterday as well for the

two public for the three public hearings. And also inside that pamphlet is a when we do these uh these advertisements in the paper, we also have to provide a press release to the uh to the newspaper and also put it on our current website. And so, uh, this is an example of that press release that's in that pamphlet or the guide. And this is the guide. This is the actual, uh, press release that we released to the newspaper and put on our website. Um, again, all this stuff is directed by the uh, Department of Revenue from the state of Georgia, and that's what we do. And if you do not, if you go back, this second little orange highlighted part says if you don't do exactly what we tell you to do, you get to start all back over. And so we do not ever want to have to do that. So um that's the proper procedures to do this. Also, it says to be sure to uh that the frequency and form of the advertisements um announcing the three public hearings comply with the statutory requirements. So, there's this little chart in that paper which basically says you advertise the first and second hearing. You advertise the five-year history in the press release. Seven days after that advertisement, you can hold your first first and second public hearing and also advertise for the third public hearing and seven days after that you can hold your third public hearing and adopt the military. So we put this in the paper on October the 8th so that in our case eight days later we had the first two public hearings. We also advertised in the paper yesterday for the on October the 15th for a hearing on October the 23rd. Um and that's where we will hold our third period third uh public hearing and then after that's over with ask the council to um adopt a millage rate at

whatever rate you guys choose to do. um in putting this together. Um we went back went back and looked and in 20 2018 at the end of the year we met with council and all the directors for the city and we're working on our budget and as you can see in 2019 at the very end the net of the uh the net of that digest was $861,000 worth of revenues over expenditures. And we knew we were going to run into a problem if we didn't do something with this millillage. So we all sat down and we decided to increase this millillage by 1.75 mills from 3874 to 5.646 mills. That was in 2018. It is now the 2025 digest. Every single year we have adopted 5.646. When we adopted the first one, we said we are planning to do this for a 10-year picture. We didn't want to come in and raise it one year, lower it the next year, raise it the next year. We tried to be, you know, pretty good at at trying to keep it right where it is. So, by saying that, then we'll go and talk about the 2025 digest. We have three public hearings this morning, tonight, and next uh Thursday night, same place. And then right after that, we'll adopt um the digest. Um staff is recommending to Mary Council that we stay with that 5.64 bills. um that same.64 mills is one is 0.121 mills more than the roll back rate. And what the roll back rate means is if you collected a million dollars in taxes last year and you're going to collect 1.2 this year, the roll back would make you collect the same million dollars this year. Um so we're asking for you to keep the same mill rate instead of rolling it back. If you rolled it back, it would be 5.525 mills. Um, but we're asking to keep it

right where it's at, which would then basically create an increase of 2.19%. That's reassessed values over last year's mill rate. Has nothing to do with only with reassessed values. House Bill 581 homestead on all properties at 2024 digest assessed value for homesteaded properties. total exemption for that uh was the the total uh assessed assessment for um reassessment for those properties was $90 million. Of that 51 million of it was exempted which would have generated $290,000 of additional revenues for the 2025. But since it was frozen, none of those none of those dollars came to the city. Um, in 2025, theire digest increased by $63 million. Of that, 38 million of it was reassessments and 24 million of it was new growth. Um, that compared to 2024. In 2024, the digest increased by 182 million, three times more than this year. Um and 118,000 118 million was uh reassessments and 63 million was growth. So a little bit less growth and reassessment this year. Um this is what's called a PT32.1. It is a roll back calculation. So that pink column is the actual digest for 2024 where our net digest was1 bill749,950,398. [Music] And I was, as I mentioned a minute ago, the blue column is reassessments. There was $90 million worth of reassessments and $51 million worth of exemptions from those. And every single dollar of that was frozen values of homesteaded

properties from 2024 to 2025. The orange column is for new growth. Um, and the green column is our new 2025 digest. And at the bottom of the page, there is a percentage tax increase. The blue $ 38 million that got added to the $1.749 billion dollar was 2.1 was a 2.19% increase. Um so that 2.19% increase uh let me go back uh me go forward. Oh lord. Okay. that 2.19% increase for a piece of property that was valued at $425,000. Um, that tax increase of 2.19% is $2057 a year or a$1.72 per month for city taxes only. A nonhomesteaded property with a fair market value of 650,000, that proposed increase is $3146 or 62 a month. Um, with that being said, uh, this is our 5-year history. Um, in far right hand column, uh, you see in 2025, that bottom number is a 3.6% increase. The, uh, blue column, which was the 2.19% increase for reassessments, and that orange column was a 1.41% increase because of new growth, total 3.6%. So in 2025 we will receive in taxes 10,235,977.31 which is an increase in taxes over 2024 of 355,000. Now if you look at that bottom in 2024 the tax increase was 11 63% the year

before that 17.65% the year before that 14.52%. So the six years you see on this page, the least amount of property tax increase is the 2025 year. Um in 20 the 2022, 23 and 24, we came to council with three public hearings just like we're doing now with that same 5.64% millage rate and had very few if any uh people that even came to the meetings to discuss the budget. But I wanted to say I wanted to show that particular slide. Um, of that 5.646 mills, 5.129 mills will be used by the general fund. Um, while the remaining 5.17 mills will be used for capital project funds, which is where we buy lawnmowers and uh cars and uh fire equipment, things like that. All the majority of all those things would would be considered public safety needs. Um, when you talk about uh your tax your your tax bill that you get uh from the tax commissioner, um that $425,000 house, that tax bill is like $5,000, $5,500 or something like that. Of that, 66% of it goes to the board of education. 16% of it goes to the board of commissioners. And the city only receives 18% of those of that entire tax bill. Um, so that's why that's that what that how that dollar works. Um, at the top you see a 2025 basically snapshot of a of a tax I mean of a millage rate a millage tax bill. So if you look at it you'll see f uh the the last number or the there's a 500 oh I'm going to do it again. There's a $95982 tax that comes from the city of Fagatville for the M digest of the total

5005 $5,137 in taxes. The same bill in 2024, you see that same city of Fateville M is still $959.82. If you own this home in 2024 and that's what you paid in the city, we kept the miller rate the same. You paid the same tax dollars. The only difference in the tax dollars on these two tax bills is the uh county EM tax. In 2024, it was 0.5 mills. In 2025, it's one mil. So, in 2024, that half a mill on this $85. This year, it's one mil. It's $170. So, the difference between those two bills is $85 and it's for the U EMS for county services. Um, that's it in a nutshell. I'll be happy to answer any questions if you all got any.

Thank you very much, uh, Mr. Bush. Really appreciate, uh, the detailed explanation. Uh, at this time, I will open the floor for the council members to ask if you have any questions, Mr. Bush, or any comments. Seeing and hearing none. At this time, Lum, this is a public hearing, so we will open the floor up for any citizens who have any questions or comments this time on this item. Please come up, give us your name, your address, and state uh your question or whatever comment you would like to make. Seeing and hearing, no citizens wish to come forward on this item. Like to officially post this for the second hearing um at this time and the third hearing will be next Thursday and then uh we will vote on it Thursday evening. We're moving on to item number six. Consider ordinance number 2529, the amendment to the purchasing ordinance, including that for binding requirements at the state level presented by the director of finance administrative, Mr. Mike Bush. Again,

thank you again.

So, we we brought this uh guys about a year ago. Um, and we uh made some changes uh to the ordinance and in the uh memo we had we had one set of numbers and in the ordinance we forgot to change the number. So, we're coming back to clean that up. Um, and that was prior to uh when we came to you before anything over $50,000 required uh sealed bids and we changed that on the in the paperwork from above 50 but less than a hundred we can do uh we require three competitive uh written quotes but anything over a 100red would require seal bids. So we made that change. It's kind of like a house cleaning issue we had. So we fixed that piece and the other uh issue was the state of Georgia changed some of its bonding requirements. So we had to come in here and change our bonding requirements as well. So before uh the change it was any you know that public works projects of 100,000 or more required sealed competitive bid that has changed from 100 to 250,000. Um, and then uh uh we also we are holding the ability to if we have a project that's 220 uh,000, we can still ask for some of these bonds to be held because it it it from 100 to 250 is a pretty good chunk. We just hold the right to if we need to put some money in there, we can put some requirements for bonding, we have that discretion to do so. So that's what we put in there for that piece. Um, and that's just telling that same thing. So those are the two changes that we made. Um, and we just hope that you will adopt them and we can then be in compliance with those. Uh, OCGA 369150 and 369190.

Thank you, Mr. Bush. Questions for Mr. Bush from the council on this item? Are there any questions from any of the citizens on this item? Seeing and hearing none, council members, would your pleasure with ordinance number 2529? Move to approve ordinance number 25-29 amendment to the purchasing ordinance. Second. Probably moved and second. Any unreiness? Call for the vote. All those in favor signify by saying I. I. Any opposes? Nay.

Ladies and gentlemen, we're moving on to new business. Consider resolution 25R53, the CMR bid award for our police court and public work buildings presented by CPS tonight. Thank you.

Evening, mayor, council. Thank you for your time this evening. My name is Joe Hunko from CPS and I'm here to give a presentation on the Seymar process and recommendation. So, the RFQ for the new uh police station, municipal court, and public work renovation uh was published on June 11th. Um and um six firms submitted, three of which were shortlisted. We discussed project team overview, firm information, background, workload requirements, and um capabilities of each firm. Several of Fateville staff members were very involved in the process, many of which are here in attendance tonight. Um, from those six firms that sent in initial bids, three were shortlisted, Ree Young, Barnesley, and Carol Daniels. Um, those three firms were interviewed by the panel you see on your screen. And, um, after those interviews, several site tours were conducted as well. Um we identified previous projects from all three firms to go take a look at. So staff came out and five different facilities um and got to see the the quality of work that each firm did and also understand how they each firm worked with the city. That was an important um piece of information everyone wanted to find out. Not just the quality of the work, but how was the process of building with each firm, what was the relationship like with the city, how were issues resolved in a timely fashion and whatnot. Following the interviews and the site visits, the panel unanimously um agreed that Barnsley would be the best fit for this project. And uh CPS along with the city staff would like to recommend the award to Barnesley Construction Group and authorized pre-construction services of $97,100.

Thank you very much, sir. Appreciate it. Council members, do you have any questions for CPS on this item? Hearing none. Are there any questions from any of the citizens? Seeing and hearing none, council members, would your pleasure resolution 25R53. Move to approve. Second. Properly moved and second. Any unreadiness? Call for the vote. All those in favor signify by saying I. I. Any opposes name. Thank you very much. Appreciate CPS's uh wonderful work on helping us, you know, identify a contractor to get this work done.

Absolutely. Our pleasure, Mayor. Thank you. Item number eight, ladies and gentlemen, step one, annexation request for uh from Remedy Medical Properties, Inc. for plus or minus 18 acres located at 1336 Highway 54. Presented by our planner, Miss Katherine Prrikett. Good evening, Mayor and Council. Good evening, Katherine.

Remedy uh Remedy Medical Properties, also known as Resurgence, uh is an existing medical office park in Faget County. Their request to annex approximately 18 acres into the city is to connect to our sewer. The property is currently zoned office institutional in the county and their request would be to be reszoned to professional office, which is the city's equivalent zoning. They would also request a business park designation on the future land use map. The annexation requests within the city are reviewed using a two-step process. Step one just really allows the applicant an opportunity to provide a general overview of their proposed development or reasoning to be an annex into the city. And approval of a step one application does not indicate that city council supports the proposed annexation. It just again allows the applicant an opportunity to move to step two. Step one does not require staff to make a formal recommendation. So I will leave it open to you now.

Council make that decision. Yes, ma'am. Thank you. Anything else, Catherine? No. Just seeing the applicant was here but Okay. Is the applicant here? Do you wish to add anything to Miss Prickett's presentation? Hi, Laurel David with the Galloway Law Group. Um, just to say, um, the, uh, short presentation really, uh, summarized everything that we wanted to bring to you this evening. Um, and Remedy is looking forward to proceeding to step two and continue working with the city. Thank you.

Thank you very much. Appreciate it. Council members, any questions, comments? Citizens have any questions or comments on this item? Hearing none, council members, would your pleasure? We don't have to do anything, do Oh, yes, we do. We have to approve the step one request. Move to uh approve step one annexation request from remedy medical properties for the plus or minus 18 acres located at 1336 highway 54. Do I have a second? Second. Properly moved and seconded. All those in favor signify by saying I. I.

Any opposers? Name. All right. Moving on to item number nine. Step one, annexation request from Highway 54 and Veterans Parkway LLC. Blake Goodman for 2.4 acres located at 1352 Highway 54. A arc Enterprise LLP for plus or minus 30 acres located at 1374 Highway 54 and R O L A D Enterprises located I LLC for plus or minus 5 acres located on Lester Road presented by Miss Katherine Prick again.

Thank you. That was a mouthful. Y'all need to make these short, but I know for the record it needs to be read.

Yes, sir. Uh, a staff has received an application to annex 37.41 acres of undeveloped land at the corner of Highway 54 West Lester Road. The applicants are seeking annexation for city sewer and to build a mixeduse development that would require our planned community district zoning. Our PCD zoning would allow the proposed development the grocery store anchored shopping center with retail shops uh a a multifamily development component and eight out parcels along Highway 54. One of the out parcels would include a date center made aware of in addition to the PCD request. The applicants would request a future land use map designation of activity center. Again, the annexation requests for step one. We use a two-step process in the city. If the app is here, they're welcome to expand on their development. I do have a site plan we can review and discuss. see if the applicant is here.

Thank you, Katherine. Please come forward and if you'd like to add anything to what Miss Prickard has so eloquently explained.

Yes. Thank you. Um Robbie Swan with Watkins Real Estate. Um just to add, we're very excited about the opportunity to annex into the city to work with the city to bring this mixeduse project into the city. We there is a demand for grocery on the west side of the city. Uh we think there's a large demand for high quality retail um on this side of the city and with the expansion of the hospital QTS trilith soccer um we think there's demand for uh first class housing option here to you know with all these employees come in to keep them into the city. So um we thank you and we're very excited for the opportunity.

Thank you very much. Council members, do you have any questions on this item? Any of the citizens have any questions? Catherine, you had something you wanted to add? I was going to jump in front of the citizens. You going to jump? Seeing no comments or questions from the citizens. Council members, what is your pleasure with this one step one annexation request? Move to approve. Second. Proper move and second. Any unreiness? Call for the vote. All those in favor signify by saying I. I. Any opposes? Nay.

Consent agenda items. Ladies and gentlemen. Thank you, Catherine. All right. 25 R62 design bill contract amendment for our fire station 93. This is a consent agenda item. Uh it only requires a motion to accept the consent agenda. Move to approve consent agenda 25R62. Second. Properly moved and second. All those in favor signify by saying I. Any opposers? Name. Ladies and gentlemen, we're coming to the end now with reports and comments. City manager, do you have anything to report?

Yeah, thank you, mayor. We have a lot of events coming up um in October. Um, Friday, October 17th to Sunday, October 19th, we have the City Cemetery Walk, the Fateville City Cemetery Walk. And then on October 25th, we have the Great Pumpkin Festival from 4:00 to 8:00 p.m. at the Courthouse Square along with the Fire Department fall festival, which also starts at 4 p.m. And then on Tuesday, October 28th, we're actually hosting a uh mental health our mental health advisory board's hosting a panel. what that'll be um mediated by um moderated not mediated moderated by um Dr. Glover our council member and that'll be from 6:00 to 8:00 p.m. And then on Sunday, November the 9th, we're going to um host a a Veterans Day event from 1 to 3:30 p.m. at City Center Park. So, a lot of stuff going on here in the community,

quite a bit. and we always glad to hopefully and have the citizens be involved and participate. So, I do I just want to give a shout out too to um Cartha and Brenda for a government 101 program as well. Shout out. A shout out. Okay. You've been hanging around council. No, Stacy. Nothing else. City city manager. Yes, sir.

Okay. Council members, anything to uh bring forth tonight? Seeing hearing none. Uh at this time, ladies and gentlemen, we're going to open the floor for public comments. This is an opportunity for the citizens to come and address the council with any questions, concerns, and even compliments. Um and we ask that you would come up, give us your name and your address, and state what's on your mind. You have three minutes to finish or to complete uh your statement or question. Is there one who wish to come forward with anything on your mind this evening?

Good evening. I have quite a list to get through, so I'll be speaking quickly. Please tell tell us your name and your address. Yes. Uh, so my name is Jared D. I am a citizen of the city of Fyville, um, right off of South Jeff Davis Drive. Uh I am speaking today to address a particular concern with regards to the um DUI enforcements within the county. So I'll give Would you please speak at the microphone so we all can hear you clearly?

All right. So this incident happened on October 10th while I was driving home. Um it was rather late at night. Uh I was driving down Highway 85 going south. Um, an officer began to uh pull in front of me, followed in front, pulled to the side, allowed me to pass, and then pulled behind me, continue to follow me, and then follow me all the way down from the IHOP um in Fagville all the way down to the intersection of I wrote it down, the intersection where you get to the roundabout going towards Hood Avenue. It was there that I was stopped by the officer. Um, the officer claimed that he had saw me swerve on the road and when he began to follow me, he said that I slowed down. He claimed that the combination of these actions indicated that I was driving under the influence. He then began questioning me if I had drinks. I had none. He questioned where I was coming from, the restaurant that I went to, and the officer asked where I was going. Answer all these questions quickly and respectfully. He then requested my license and returned to his police cruiser. I waited patiently and when he returned to my vehicle, he again asserted his claim that swerving and then slowing down while he's following me is an indication of DUI. He let me off. He said that he didn't suspect that I was driving under the influence and allowed me to go home. Uh the next day I became concerned about that interaction because from my perspective it did not seem that a real investigation had been gone through when doing a DUI stop. I went and looked at the Georgia Department of Public Safety manual and read the entire manual. And in the manual, I was concerned because in the manual it does say that in the investigation should include the use of

an SFST. The SFST is I believe the state the standardized field sobriety test. In that interaction, I was not given the SFFT. That's some concern to me because if someone is driving under the influence, then you would want to detect that and we cannot simply rely on human intuition, smell, or perceived um actions as to whether or not someone is driving under the influence. So, long story short, I do have uh three questions and one request. Uh the do the Favville police officers within the patrol division receive training and regular retrainings on the GDPS policy to ensure that state policy is followed and understood? Um if so, how often does this occur? Uh specific trainings for police to identify drivers who are driving under the influence and are there retrainings? If so, how often? Does the city of Fville possess their own policies for traffic stop enforcement? Because I looked on the website and I did not see any um public safety policy manual. And my request is that the officer would provide or the city for open records would provide the member incident report. The officer is required to give the reason why the SFST was not delivered. Well, first of all, thank you so much for coming before us tonight. My first question to you is, have you filed a complaint or request through our police department?

I did not want to file a claim a complaint. I did not want it to be contr, what's the word? I did not want it to be antagonistic and I didn't want it to be uh a controversy to rise with the officer. Again, my issue is not necessarily with the behavior of the officer as it is with the concern that the city is conducting business and making sure that they're officer trained prop.

Well, again, you would get the appropriate response from our police department. If you file a Lisa complaint or at least uh make an acknowledgement to our police chief, I assure you that he will give you the answers to your question and hopefully to the satisfaction. Our officers are highly trained and uh so I think you'll get satisfaction out of the response from our police chief and then if you do not get a satisfactory answer you can come and speak to our city manager who is uh the person that you would immediately contact after talking to our police department. Of course. Thank you.

Thank you. Anyone else? again, please come up and give us your name and your address and state what's on your mind.

Uh, good evening. My name is Charelle. I I reside at 215 Susan Lane. And I'm here to be I'm concerned about the school area where Spring Hill Elementary is right at Grady Avenue and I believe Bradford. Am I not there? Thank you. Sorry. And I uh my husband spoke with uh I guess a city official in regards to the flashing yellow lights for that area and we wanted to know status on that if if that's going to be installed very soon or whatnot. There's a lot of congestion in that area especially down there going towards the back way. A lot of the trucks come through and when the line is backed up, a lot of those trucks are maneuvering opposite direction of traffic and I'm afraid that one day there's going to be an incident that's going to happen that affects the livelihoods of the people that live here. So, I don't know if that's been addressed, but I would like to know if there's anything that's going to be done to rectify that situation.

And you said you at least filed an inquiry with the city already. Uh, not necessarily. I'm speaking on behalf of my husband. He's not here. I believe I talked to your husband, Anthony Barrow. Uh, yeah, I believe I tal and we're Dr. Patterson and I were going to talk about this and then come up with a game plan because he Dr. Patterson brought up the same concern. So, we need to come up and I'll be working with Cinjun and Chris to figure that out. Okay. Staff is working on it. Okay.

They'll give you some feedback as soon as they can. Um, you know, we understand that that is a problematic uh traffic problem back there, especially with the landfill. Um, but longterm be aware that there's a plan for us to divert the uh heavy trucks from going that direction and to have them eress and ingress onto the landfill from Highway 54. So, we'll stop them from going through there. Understood. Thank you. Okay. But please stay. I'll show you my our city manager will keep in touch with you and your husband. Sounds great. Thank you.

Anyone else? Kinjun, you have anything? Ladies and gentlemen, thank you very much for being here. We are always open to hearing any uh comments, uh complaints, criticism, or like I said, compliments. You know, the city is working real hard to uh make sure that the citizens are safe. Uh number one priority. Second of all, making sure that uh you have a quality of life here in the city of Fedville. And that's why you see so much progress taking place, a lot of construction, but we assure you that if you have a complaint, this gentleman right to our left, uh Mr. Ray Gibson is the person that you you throwing Patrick under the bus.

You don't you don't want to bring a complaint to me, but I assure you that our city staff will respond. It may takes a little take a little time, but I guarantee you that we'll respond and then if you don't get a response, you can contact any one of us uh council members and we'll follow up. Okay. If there's nothing else come before council tonight, the mayor has no comment. So, no, we good. All right, council members. Motion to adjurnn. There you go. Second. It's been properly moved that we adjourn and second. All those in favor signify by saying I. I. Any opposers can stand. Thank you.