City Council - Regular Meeting

Okay.

Hold on.

I just.

Thank you.

I'd like to call to order the March 12, 2026 meeting of Mayor and Council. I'd like to call on Mayor Pro Tem Andy Gibbs to lead us in prayer, and if you would, please remain standing for the pledge.

By your hands, please. Mayor Foggis, thank you for today. Thank you for this beautiful day. Thank you for the The weather that you did bring in, Lord, yes, it produced tornadoes, Lord, and I just ask you to be with the folks that were affected by that, the ones that might have been hurt, their property might have been damaged, Lord, just be with them to help them to be able to build back. But, Lord, just thank you for all the things you do for us, all the things we are blessed to be around these folks, Lord, that's in our community. We're blessed to have such a great community, Lord, of growing and moving forward. And, Lord, I just thank you for our council members and the mayor and our staff members, Lord, as we make great decisions, Lord, to move our community forward. for you and lord i just ask you to continue to be with us continue to bless us and continue to put your arms around us and protect us name i pray amen amen i pledge allegiance to the flag of the united states of america and to the republic for which it stands

All right, Council, you've had time to review the minutes from the September 11th and September 25th regular meetings. Are there any additions or deletions at this time? Hearing none, seeing none, they're both approved by acclamation. Move on to awards and presentations. Consideration of the February 2026 Employee of the Month Award. If Branham Johns, Public Works Right-of-Way Supervisor, and Larry Ogden would please join me at the front to present the Employee of the Month Award.

Good evening.

Good evening.

Work family will be joining us. I'm going to call them back. We'll call them over in public works by norm by EJ. BJ has been recognized for his unwavering dedication, passion, commitment to supporting his colleagues. BJ consistently goes above and beyond, far beyond his job role or duty. Whether ensuring someone has access to food, shelter, or other essential resources, BJ never hesitates to step up and help others. BJ's compassion and leadership directly inspired the creation of the on-site food pantry to assist employees facing challenges related to food insecurity. This initiative began after BJ supported a fellow employee who was living in a local shelter. Recognizing a broader need, BJ took action and ensured that no one on his team or within the organization would go without access. Though this employee was one that was living in a shelter, BJ recognized it stepped up even when there was opportunities to work half hours or weekends this employee wanted to work bj would come to me to write a letter to the shelter get permission so he could stay out later check in so that's a good example of him going above and beyond One powerful example of BJ's character is how he continued to serve others during a time of personal hardship. BJ and his family were displaced due to a house fire and lost most of their possessions. Despite facing significant challenges of his own, BJ continued to work, perform his duties, look after others, their well-being, others in the department. He did not want attention or assistance for himself, but preferred to maintain focus on supporting others. BJ will frequently provide meals for staff as needed. He leads by example, serving others with genuine humility and generosity. Beyond his normal work hours, BJ worked tirelessly and without complaints. He regularly comes in early, stays late to ensure tasks are completed, even when they fall outside of his direct responsibility. He's a true team player and a positive leader who sets a strong example for others to follow. BJ's actions exemplifies the quality of an exceptional leader and teammate. His humanity, dedication, and steadfast support have made a lasting impact on the team and the organization as a whole. One side note, I had the honor and privilege of working with BJ's dad. He's our city employee. If he was to see you today, he'd be very proud of you. Because you're doing great things for the community and the city.

for you to hang proudly wherever you so choose. This one's gonna get your name and hang in the hallway at City Hall for all to see. Buddy, I bet I know what you're doing. all right we're going to move on to item four ordinances and resolutions consideration of an ordinance to amend the text of the land development regulation our ldr as it pertains to the construction board of adjustments and appeals matt martin our planning director will explain yes sir thank you mayor we went over this in a lot of detail at the work session i won't go through all that detail again

but just a quick summary of it. This is a series of amendments to change what is our current construction board of appeals, which is shared with Lowndes County, to make it into a board just for the city of Valdosta, and to greatly simplify the language that goes with it, the membership requirements, the membership appointments, and to make us more in line with the model ordinance anyway that is prescribed by the International Construction Codes. So the end result will be a Valdosta Construction Board of Appeals with five regular members, two alternate members, ex-officio member would be the building official, and they would be available to meet. And like we talked about on Tuesday, this is a board that rarely ever meets, but when we need one, we have one, and it is a requirement of the construction codes. It's amendments to Appendix J and the LDR as well as the definitions chapter to implement this change. The recommendation is to adopt these amendments to get the language in the ordinances ready and then at the next available cycle seek applicants to apply for this board just like people apply for other city boards. Then you get to appoint the new board of five regular members plus two alternates on a staggered basis just like it's outlined here in the text. Any questions on this?

Council, any questions that you didn't get answered on Tuesday? None. Matt, thank you. Council, it's yours for action.

Mayor, I make a motion to approve this request as presented.

Second. Got a motion and a second. All in favor, show of hands. Council, thank you. Matt, thank you. Item B, consideration of a resolution to call for and authorize a special election for the vacant seat in City Council District 4. Tim Tanner, our attorney, will present.

Yes, Mayor. As we all know, Councilman Howard qualifies to run for House seat 177 last week. As a result, pursuant to the Georgia Constitution, a vacancy occurred in District 4. Our charter, Section 3.22, requires us to call for a special election within 10 days of his election. declaring for that seat, and that's what this resolution is doing. The qualifying period, as stated, will open up in August, specifically Monday, August 17th, and run through Friday, August 21st, and the election will take place in November in the general election day for that seat. Any questions? Yes.

And for clarification, the reason why it wasn't held in May is because of?

In May, it could have been held on May 19th, the date of the primary, legally, but logistically, in conversations with our election superintendent, she could not get the ballot worked up and add this to the ballot in time. So that was the reason. So she needed additional time. We tried. Yeah, we did ask for it to be held in May.

Any other questions? All right, council, yours for action.

Mayor, make a motion to approve the request as presented.

Second. Motion and a second, all in favor? Show of hands. Council, thank you. Tim? Sorry. Thank you, it's all right. Item five, bids, contracts, agreements, and expenditures. Consideration of bids for an addition to the Valdosta Maintenance Center located at the Public Works Department. John Burton, our motor pool superintendent, will present.

But last maintenance center needs a closed workspace for the service technicians and tire repair. Sealed bids were received on March 3rd this year, and I recommend that Council approve the low bid submitted by J.H. Strickland Construction in the amount of $327,354.65. Council, any questions for John? John, thank you.

Council, once again, it's yours for action.

Mayor, I make a motion that we accept the low bid, submitted by J.H. Strickland.

Second. Motion and a second. All in favor, show of hands. Council, thank you. John, thank you. Item B, consideration of bids for roof repairs to several City of Valdosta facilities. Darquita Williams, our Finance Director, to present.

Good afternoon. This item is for roof repairs for the City Hall Annex, the City Hall roof, and also the Department of Labor roof. These damages were caused by Hurricane Helen, excuse me. I recommend that we go with the lower bed of Trimco Roofing in the amount of $687,000. Council, any questions?

Dr. Cueta, thank you, hold on. Council, yours for action.

Mayor, I'd like to approve the request as presented. Make a motion.

Motion and a second. All in favor, show of hands. Council, thank you. Darquita, item C, consideration of bids for repairs to the first floor of City Hall.

Thank you, this item is also Hurricane Helene damages to the city hall first floor. So this will be for structural damage to the finance department and human resource department. We again recommend going with the lowest bidder for structural damage to Gordian in the amount of $157,410 and for paint and prep P&G painting and repair in the amount of $10,633. Any questions on this item?

Council, or Darkwida, thank you. Council, it's yours for action.

Thank you. Mayor, I'd like to make a motion to approve the request as presented.

Second. Motion and a second. All in favor? Show of hands. Council, thank you once again. Item 6, 6A, consideration of request to approve the adoption and implementation of the water service termination protocol for broken and failed backflow prevention assemblies. Jason Barnes, our utilities director, will present.

Good evening, Mayor and Council. Good evening.

Good evening.

So the City of Valdosta Utilities Department operates a cross-connection control program in compliance with the Georgia Safe Drinking Water Act and also Georgia EPD requirements. Recent incidents involving broking, bypass, frozen, or thaw or fail assemblies have required emergency water service determination to protect the city's distribution system. So we have got a protocol, kind of a SOP, for if we see broken or failed backflow assemblies that can contaminate to our public drinking water system, rate regulatory violations, cause excessive water loss, which is what we experienced when we had the cold front that came in that we were in teens. We experiencing that. So the water service termination protocols for broken failed backflow prevention assemblies clarifies that the field staff can we can execute authorized action while compliance and enforcement decisions remain in the supervisory staff and backflow program. The staff recommends to approve the adoption of the water service termination protocol for broken or failed backflow prevention assemblies and authorized implementation by the Utilities Department. I'll be glad to answer any questions.

Council, any questions for Jason? I have just one statement to those in attendance. This was a lesson learned from almost 10 days of sub-freezing temperatures. These unprotected backflow preventers cost the city dearly and cost these guys a lot of man hours trying to keep water flowing, so job well done. Thank you. Any other questions for Jason? Jason, thank you. Council, cheers for action. Mr. Mayor, I'd like to make a motion to approve this request as presented. Second. Got a motion and a second. All in favor, show of hands. Council, thank you. Jason, stay put. Item B, consideration of request to approve the adoption and implementation of the addendum for backflow prevention assembly requirements. Yes, sir, I got a little. Show and tell.

So this is a double check. This is a one inch and so we were had this on the meter blows going that way. This was connect to the public water system here. So what would happen if we lost pressure, let's say we're 58, 60 PSI, we lost pressure, these two, there's spring loads in here, one would close. If that one fell, the second one would close. And protecting if there's a contamination water coming back into our system. So this is a small, this is just a warning, just to give you an idea of what a backflow preventer. Now these, like I say, go to two, three, four, five, six. We have some 10 and 12. So the other thing, as we discussed in talking about changing our meters out, this here is a dual check. So what we're looking at, talking to Al, he kind of idea, the water's flowing this way, so we will hook up this to a, this is a residential, that's more of a commercial, this is a residential, and we will hook this up. On the other hand, it does the same thing. There's a spring load in there that I'm pushing my finger down allows the water. Something would happen, that would, pop you can hear it pop like that would stop and then that would not cause water to get back into our system so this is something that we're looking at this is a three-quarter um same as our meter so this is what we're looking at far as residential we're not there yet just something that we're looking into but just to kind of give you an idea and theresa could you go to those pictures of the larger backflow preventers So as we talked about the cross connection control program to protect our potable water system, this is another thing as the recent freeze damage, like we said, vehicle strikes, inadequate labeling or improper protection for backflow assemblies have exposed in current installation standards. So a mandatory hard insulated enclosure for all new installations. So there's no soft wraps or foam only covers. So this is kind of giving an idea

This covers about a one inch, okay, backflow.

You can see how it's kind of insulated. This is very old, but it's kind of similar to what, so we don't care if somebody has one of these and they can take foam and they can spray in there to protect and put this over their backflow. This is trying to give you an idea of what we're talking about. Now, we've also talked about if somebody don't have one of these and they say they have heated tape and it's insulated and it's very well secure, we're not going to go and say, hey, you need to put this on here. This is to be something starting new, but we'll progress into the ones that are existing as well. So right now we have 2,167 active backflow prevention assemblies in the city. We have 569 three quarter. We have 770 one inch to 1.5 inches of back flows. We have 436 two inch, 61 inch, 61 three inch, 108 four inch, 135 six inch, 76 eight inch, 11 10 inch, and one 12 inch, with a total of 2,167 assemblies. We are, right now, we're averaging one to five new devices of back flows a week right now. So as we're growing and the city's growing, we all know that, we're just trying to kind of keep up with everything to protect our water system. As I said Tuesday night, this is, compliance deadline is December 31st of this year. We're gonna be leaning, we're not gonna sit there and try to be, you know, harp, try to tell them, hey, this is what you got to do, but we need them to do their part as well. And if it comes to the point, I mean, like I said, we can get EPD involved, but that is not our intention. Our intention is to work with everyone, to give them time to get this stuff done, And you know, the guys, not me, but my staff, Backflow, Ronnie Lancaster, Joseph Gangler, he's an environmental manager, his team and his staff, they understand what the cost of this is because that is $150, $200 maybe at the most. You go up to six, eight, 10-inch, you're going to be spending thousands of dollars, and we understand that. But we're also got it to protect so we don't have the case that we had when we had the 18-19 degree and we had to turn on the emergency well at the Garntow and almost lost water to the entire city. And that's what we're trying to prevent here. It's something we're trying to tighten the bolts in our cross connection program. So basically our staff recommends to approve the adoption of the denim for backflow prevention assembly requirements and authorize implementation effective immediately. I'll be glad to answer any more questions. Council, questions on this one?

I've got one.

Please.

Would it be an option for certain businesses and residents to allow the city to make the purchase and then add it to their water bill? I mean, not for everybody. But it gets the job done.

It gets the job.

I mean, that might be a question.

We'd be reluctant to get in the financing business. We try to help them. We'll work with their hardship, whatever it is, depending on the case by case. But to open the door, we'll finance it. We don't really want to get in the financing of the private water system side.

Understood.

So we'll be cautious about it.

Any other questions? Jason, thank you. Thank you. Council, yours for action.

Mayor, make a motion to approve the request as presented.

Second. Motion and a second. All in favor? Show of hands. We had a good night. All right, we'll now move on to the portion known as citizens to be heard. We ask that you come forward and state your name and address so we may have it for the record. Our policy requires you stay under three minutes so that others have time to be heard. Please direct all comments to council as a whole. Do not attempt to engage individual members of council in debate. It's our policy to follow through with you on your concern. Additionally, we ask any groups that want to address council to designate one spokesperson again in the interest of time. Having said that, Are there any citizens wishing to be heard tonight? Please come forward.

Bobby McKenzie, 2947 Finley Chase Drive. Just recently, there's been some dramatic changes in the way that the city has been taking care of the litter and trash in the city. I only got three minutes, so I can't praise you just yet. There's a lot of work to get done. So much more. It took five years to get that litter getter from Osprey. I worked with Angela Bray five years ago, and I wrote that grant with Walz. And it took five years to come full circle to get that litigator. So I'm very happy and grateful for that litigator finally getting in in Gorto. But you're shooting yourselves in the foot. You got 90,000. You're bragging about 90,000 plus dollars to get the litigator and work on Lakeland Avenue. If you go Lakeland Avenue, you got a series of dumpsters. I've been fighting for years, four or five years. There are dumpsters. Here's a dumpster. Here's a creek. And that dumpster's overflow, that's Roger Budd's property. They're not screened in. Your dumpster's overflow and go straight into the creek. Go straight to the creek, go straight to the fire department. That's public works. It's a blue dumpster. You guys own that dumpster. You guys own the code enforcement that goes in there and says, you need to screen that dumpster. But for five years, you've been ineffective and inefficient and outright refused to act. That's all within your wheelhouse. That cost you zero dollars. You can actually probably make money by getting that collect from that fund from Roger Budd. It's been reported multiple, multiple, multiple, multiple times. Think about the trash can. 6th March, a year ago, you're like, Bobby, we're just not working as fast as you want. It's been a year. A year. 6th March, I stood up here and I said, if that trash can order is not effective, I'll drop it. And I was told it is still effective. I've reported it on Secret Fix. I've talked to multiple of you guys about it. You guys are ignoring it. It's in your wheelhouse. The mall has 60 acres of property. There are zero trash cans, zero trash cans out there. It's been reported, it's been elevated, it's been through multiple sources. You're fixing to have a festival over here on what, an acre, acre and a half? And you're gonna bring in about 30 trash cans from the city. for one or two nights. Freedom Park has another example, I know it's VLPRA, but if you go out there, there's a hundred, no kidding, there's a hundred plus trash cans in the parking lot, around the baseball fields, around the dugouts, strategic, I know that's a big word for some of you, but strategically placed, that's the key. But if you ignored it for five years, So if you know that, you know, because I click fix it and each of Riley closes it out. He's closed about hundreds of them. She knows the ordinance. She's closed them. You guys allow her. You guys allow her to close them out with no action. It's a fact. Follow your ordinance. Do your job. You shoot yourself in the foot. You want to brag about the improvements. Do some real things in your wheelhouse.

Are there any other citizens wishing to be heard at this time?

Good evening everyone. Good evening.

I don't want to speak in front of a crowd, but I'm here speaking for myself and other residents of the Woodland Terrace apartment. We have had quite my name, my name is Bolivia Corbin. We've had quite a bit of things that's been going wrong in this apartment building. I've only been there two years, but for the last three weeks, the elevators are not working, and it was told that we should bring this to the city of Valdosta's attention. Also, the sewer system is not working properly. And that's a headache, trust me, it really is. Some of the residents are afraid to even flush their toilets because of the sewer system, okay? And also, this past Monday night, 17 of the residents' cars were broken, the windows were broken out of. And this is the second time in the last six months that this has happened. And I feel like, and other residents feel like, that if you can put extra police escorts out there for opening of a residence, we should have some extra surveillance security out here at our property. And I think that's about all I have to say, because I'm a little nervous, because I'm not the one to talk in front of a lot of people, but I feel like there's some issues that should be brought to the city and taken care of.

We appreciate it, thank you.

Thank you.

Are there any other citizens wishing to be heard at this time?

Good evening. Good evening. All right, good evening, mayor, city manager, and city council. My name is Dwayne Johnson, 3867 Island Creek, Valdosta. I'm the president and CEO for the Southern Georgia Black Chambers, and I'm here to give you an update on the city's investment in our cohort of entrepreneurs thus far. We are three sessions into our chamber's 2026 Small Business Academy, and I want to tell you that your return on investment is visible already. We are currently hosting entrepreneurs at Valdosta State University North Campus, and thanks to the CDBG funding provided by the City of Valdosta Neighborhood Development, we are setting a new standard for business education. We're proud to say that in this region, going beyond just networking. So I wanted to give you an understanding of exactly what your funding is doing at this moment. In just three sessions, business owners have audited their Secretary of State compliance and have begun individual strategies, strategies, excuse me, sessions with the Small Business Development Center at VSU. They are building professional debt schedules with access to capital for entrepreneurs, ACE, South Georgia. And just this past Tuesday night, we were in the lab with Milestone Accounting Solutions, where several entrepreneurs created their very first QuickBooks accounts. Individuals are building their quarter one profit and loss statements. And in other words, they are becoming bank ready and audit ready in real time. This is all anchored by our landmark partnership with VSU Langdale College of Business at North Campus, as I mentioned before. This is where we're calling academia meeting the street. We are providing a workforce development engine where VSU students can gain consulting experience with our business owners and our local business owners are gaining technical infrastructure they need to compete for contracts that are being put out for bid in the future. We are bridging the university and the business community together as a resource unified for economic opportunity in the city of Valdosta. And then finally, for entrepreneurs that are listening tonight, the door is still open. It will always be open. We meet or we have been meeting every Tuesday. On March 26, we will be off onto the Thursday date and get back on our Tuesday schedule, taking a break for BSU's spring break. And we'll also take a break during the week of the Lowndes High School and Valdosta City Schools spring break as well. But for those entrepreneurs that do want to join in to this cohort, the door is still open. And our program is modular, meaning that you can pick up and go where you want to within the program but if you are interested you can just basically register at sgablackchambers.org academy and uh just wanted to mention that the infrastructure our business owners are building is phenomenal through this program and so uh we are building something that is designed to last and again we thank the city of valdosta for this opportunity to bring this to this community thank you thank you thank you are there any other citizens wishing to be heard at this time

please come forward.

I'll make it quick so we can go ahead and get out of here. How y'all doing tonight? Lewis Gordon, I live over on 743 Lawson Drive. I'm actually here to give y'all an invitation. Since I've come back to Valdosta, I've partnered with the wonderful, I've partnered with a council member of y'all's Ms. Sandra Tooley, and y'all know she does wonderful work in this community. She feeds hundreds of citizens with a smile on her face every week, y'all. So we partnered for this thing. We do a monthly community dinner. I cook for the community, and I promise I can cook. and I'm extending an invite to the council because what the community dinner does is it brings together a lot of the nonprofits in the area and a lot of our community members who have complaints or have things that are on their mind that need to be addressed. It allows us to focus together and have really honest and impactful conversations and planning on how we approach these problems and move together as a community towards solving them so it's what is it on the 28th the last saturday of the month i'm extending that invite to y'all we're trying to get some good food out there again i promise i can cook and it they've been really good meetings so far so i'm looking forward to seeing y'all all right thank you are there any other citizens wishing to be heard

I'm Franklin Lavelle Calhoun. I live at 606 Jones Street, South Georgia, and I represent the city of Austin Public Works. I love my town, I love my town, but I wish I had the policy we have in the handbook, the mission, to be known to our customers and us for how quality of service has been added to the current policy handbook. I'd like to be reinstated, please.

thank you are there any other citizens wishing to be heard seeing none we'll close out this portion of the evening and move on to the city manager's report yes sir just want to

Remind you that the labor department buildings lease will expire June 30th of this year and we plan to We're filing our request that we want to return that to the city We'll start our floor planning on it and the two departments that are the priority for the move would be the Municipal Court and the customer service unit and so that'll start those whole programs and we'll provide some budget funding for that to get those that work started Um, so tell a bridge is on schedule be done this spring and we're moving from a seven ton 50 year old bridge to a 42 ton of light with steel and concrete and an indefinite life and the short term rentals. We'll be having, um, public hearings. workshops on April Tuesday April the 14th and on Tuesday April 28th and that'll be where we want to invite both owners and the concerned residents to have a conversation jointly. And we will be proposing a series of opportunities for what kind of regulations we'd like to create. And once we get that feedback from those two, we'll take it to the attorney and then bring that forward to the city council. Any questions?

Question.

Question.

Question. Where will the SDR forms be held at?

Sure, Tom Reynolds. the meetings are gonna be held at the annex yeah what time we'll be starting about five o'clock give people time to get about 30 okay Matt's got all the details and I think he sent you an email any other questions comments

Just a quick reminder for everybody here and anybody watching, this weekend is our beloved Azalea Festival, 10 to 6 on Saturday, 10 to 6 on Sunday as well. You can spend as little, meaning free, everything from entrance to parking to sitting and listening to six different stages of entertainment, for entertainment for the kids as well is all free, or you can spend as much as you want there because there's 260 vendors this year throughout Drexel Park. So this weekend is the 26th annual Azalea Festival. We hope to see you all there. That's all I got. Any other comments, council? Okay, I'll take a look. Oh, Nick, I'm sorry.

Yeah, definitely. Short-term rentals, that's important. A lot of people have been getting a lot of emails about that. Please show up to these sessions on the 14th and 28th so we can get some feedback from the community. Also, right now, with that seat being somewhat, I'm not sure if it's completely vacant, District 4, we're still completely vacant. trying to figure that out anyway. So I am the city councilman at large. So you are still represented. If you have some questions that anybody out there in District four, please email call if you got any concerns. So you are definitely still represented.

Does the mayor make a motion to adjourn?

We stand adjourned. Thank you, everybody. You direct somebody. Good girl.

So this is my cue.