Boc Joint Planning & Zoning - Regular Meeting

Heat. Heat. Good morning and welcome citizens of Douglas County. The March 2nd, 2026 work session of the Douglas County Board of Commissioners will come to order. Um Madame Clerk, could you please take role?

Yes ma'am. Commissioner Henry Mitchell III, District One, present. Commissioner Whitney Kenner Jones, District Two, present. Commissioner Martin Rexton, present. Commissioner, Vice Chair Mark Alvarez, District 4, present. Chairman Ramona Jackson Jones, present. Thank you so much, Madam Clerk. Madame Clerk, did we have anyone sign up for public comment this morning?

Yes, ma'am. Uh before I call up the first speaker, I'm just going to remind you you need to uh state your name again and your address for the records. You'll have three minutes to speak. At 2 minutes and 50 seconds, I will ding the alarm and then at 3 minutes, the alarm will go off showing that your time is up. The first speaker that we have this morning is Kenya Mitchell. Miss Mitchell.

Yes. Okay.

It's your time. No. Okay. Okay. Uh, my name is Kenya Mitchell and I'm here again for Malachi Mitchell. Reckless driving, deceased body in the car, killer confessed, no arrest, no accountability, killer still walks free. This is what injustice looks like in Douglas County. This is Malachi Mitchell, a graduate from Chapel Hill High School of 2022. also uh went to college and career uh technician, cable technician, music artist. He was shot execution style in Douglas County four times in the back of the head. Two autopsy reports state the same thing. execution style killing. Four entry wounds to the right side back of the head.

Two separate autopsies, the GBI, which went below national standards, and a $9,000 private medical autopsy report. Two different caliber bullets pulled out of my son's head. Medical autopsy reports show the same thing after all the forensic facts, confessions, and hidden third party who was also at the scene that no one will disclose the third party. The district attorney Dalia Rene took it upon herself because it definitely was not based on facts and ruled it zero charges self-defense. For over six months, my family received silence after me begging publicly and silently for answers on this so-called open investigation that was never an investigation. They gave the firearm back to the killer before the investigation was closed, and they sold the crime scene before the investigation was closed. They issued a title on the vehicle my son was killed in July 20th, 2025. I flew to Harlem, New York to Al Sharpton's organization. On August 22nd, Douglas County received a call from Al Sharpton's office demanding answers for this mother that's in Harlem, New York, with no answers about her son's murder in Douglas County. 5 days later, Douglas County got scared and closed the case. zero charges self-defense. Over one year later, not one official has sat down with my family and provided a clear fact-based explanation reconciling the physical evidence with that conclusion. I have personally

reviewed the investigative file, the full investigative file. I have watched interrogation footage. I have viewed the body cam recordings. I have examined all the evidence myself. And what I saw raises serious concerns and questions that deserve independent review and federal oversight, not silence. The shooter drove away with my from my home with my deceased son in the vehicle. The sheriff said my son was not shot multiple times in the head despite all of the physical findings that they did not know I obtained. The coroner, Renee Godwin, denied an inquest under the 45-16-27 despite her acknowledging discrepancies and despite stating on record that her own opinion and the own medical review did not align with the clean self-defense. Mitchell,

these are not emotional statements. These are facts. On December 2nd, I filed a petition with the Rip Mandamus. Miss Mitchell, your time is up. 9-6-20 seeking to compel public officials to perform their duties. Ma'am, you're done. Your time is up. No, my time is not up. You guys are elected officials. Your time is on November 6th. Your time is up. You will not be I don't do what? Your time is up. Please. Okay. Okay. I can finish. Please let go. Your time.

I can finish. Thank you. Like I said, you will be voted upon November 2026. So don't vote cuz it's no answers. Look how they coming up for me just cuz I'm speaking up for justice for my son. But y'all didn't want to arrest the killer.

What? WHAT ARE YOU DOING? STEVE, STEVE, STEVE, STEVE,

STEVE. Make sure you get a Okay, our next speaker is Frank Win.

Thank you. My name is Frank Win 8925 Orchard Drive, Douglasville. And uh I'm here. I'd come here earlier just as a citizen since joined the board of the museum. And I want to let you know that the reason I'm here is to introduce a a new plan, hopefully a new relationship with the board of commissioners. Uh I think that there needs to be listening both ways and both sides need to have the opportunity to sit down uh with open thoughts and discuss reasons and critique each other and try to figure out a way forward. We should be a partnership that shows off our history and successes, our desire to work together for our community. And I would like to introduce that we've also uh me included they we we have a new board. We have new leadership that we hope to show the benefits to our comm community financially and will make us all proud of the museum. Every one of y'all said how you agree with the concept of museum. A historical museum has benefits to the community. It's a way to show what has gone on in the past. Something to identify with. We invite you as a group and as individuals. You don't have to come together to come sit down with people on the board with the leadership. Take a tour. I hadn't been to the museum in a long time and I'm amazed now that I've gotten involved in this and gone down there and looked at how uh nice it has become. the new leadership uh is going to be introduced by someone else and she'll tell you about the date that they uh started taking over things. But

I think that uh before any decision uh has been made, we're offering not a continuation of the past, but something new. We want to start over, start the relationship over and be partners with the with the board of commission for the sake of the community. We would propose that uh we sign a two or a three-year lease. We want you to have the opportunity to have annual reviews to see whether or not we're making the progress you expect. rent. We need a year uh of it free, but I think we're going to be able to show that there's a financial benefit even without uh uh any rent being charged. We'll pay for we want to raise funds to pay for improvements to the to the building. We will provide quarterly financial reports that are subject to your review. And any questions that you have, you can come look. you can come check out the reports, the source of them and go over them. We would like at a minimum to start with the top floor and show what we can do for the community with that floor and show the the the benefit. Uh everything is open to discussion. A new lease with our group will give you time to assess uh options and other ideas for for the building so that you can see the lease is with us is beneficial to you. Uh

okay. Thank you. I have uh attorney Win, your time is up. Can I give a hand out to y'all? Just you can. I got a copy. Give all of them to you. Give it to give them to me and I will give to the sheriff, but it's got a little bit more specific information. Thank you. All right. Thank you. Um, thank you. Again, the buzzer is going off at two minutes and how many? 45 seconds. 45 seconds and then they have a 15 seconds to wrap it up. Okay. Correct.

Thank you. Anybody else? Uh, the next one on our list is Chris Arnold.

Hi everybody. How are you all doing today? Good morning. I've got these handouts to give it to the Give it to the deputy.

Thank you. got a continuing theme here. My name is Chris Cesrey Arnold. I live at 14061 Veterans Memorial Highway, Villera. Um, I'm going to go over briefly, um, in the packet that I just handed out to you, there is a section called what's in the museum because I think, um, there are a lot of folks that haven't been to the museum in a while, so you may not understand what we have there and the importance of it. Um, it's a historic building with a really dramatic history. Um, it generates memories for a lot of citizens. People come in to have their anniversary pictures taken where they got married and some people they found out where they became a widow in the courthouse and then they also watched a trial for justice. The building holds so much history that that has been a public building and it's got public access that a lot of people come just just to see it. Um, through staged exhibits, information about events, people, and culture come alive through spoken narrative, questions, and a great deal of learning happens. It's not stagnant signage and reading. It's interactive, informative, and often a happy surprise. The museum is also a repository of knowledge with decades of newspapers, family history files, materials that may not be on display, but are useful to students, writers, and researchers because so much of the county history has been destroyed in fire. The museum is a place to find information not available in books. through those genealogy research. Those

doing genealogy research turned to the museum to search for previous generations. I've attached a um the beginning of somebody's thesis uh master's thesis. And when you look through this, you'll see the amount of discovery that he found in the museum. 35 of the of the 35 figures, 10 of them came from the museum. Um, and this person is also a new member to the board. Uh, his name is Aaron Raul and um he is a uh Native American Chalkaw Indian um Native American. Um, the museum could be somewhere else and still be benefit to the community. However, the building was saved to be a museum because of the building's significance to the site. There's a public well buried in the front lawn. There's a statue supposedly buried in the front yard. The fact that the site is the tallest point in Douglasville and was selected as a site of previous courouses for a reason to elevate all that is strong and important about Douglas County. Also, the board has um has done a lot of changes since um October when the lease was eliminated. Um our media has gone through the roof. We've expanded it to YouTube, Tik Tok, Instagram, where in October we had 15,800 hits to our Facebook pages. We're up to 44,175.

Um, and Elena Myers Taylor was a big hit with a lot of our um our visitors to the museum. Okay. So, well, thank you for your time. All right, your time is up. Thank you. Sherry, how many seconds did we have left? How many does she have left? She had three seconds left. Okay, three seconds left. Okay, thank you. All right, who's next, Madam Clerk?

Chairman, before I uh call up the next one, I'm just going to let you know that I will hold up when the first um bell goes off. I will hold up and that way you'll know that you have 15 seconds left at that point. Okay, the next one up is Colt Hamick. Good morning, commissioners. Cold hammer, 3643 Johnston Road. I just want to say uh before I start, Miss Mitchell, I hope you get the justice that you and your son deserve. I'd like to take the opportunity to speak on something that's bigger than a building, a lease, or a line item in a budget. Perception and legacy. When a town has a history museum, it sends a message. It tells residents and visitors alike that this community has a distinct identity. That we are not just another exit off the interstate, not just a pass through town. Not just rooftops and retail. We are a place with a story. A museum gives a town a sense of place. And it anchors us. It becomes a cultural and educational hub, a gathering point for school groups, civic clubs, families tracing their gen genealogy, veterans sharing their stories, and young people learning where they came from. It's where the accomplishments and the failures of our founders are preserved honestly, not to glorify the past, but to understand it. It tells the world we honor where we've been. But there's a practical side as well. A museum enhances tourism appeal. It strengthens downtown traffic, gives visitors one more reason to stop, to walk our streets, to eat in our restaurants, to shop in our stores, and it adds depth to our economic ecosystem. It makes Douglas County not just a convenient place, but a meaningful one. A town without a history museum, however, which would be the alternative, can begin to feel generic, interchangeable. A bedroom community

with no central narrative, without a visible institution dedicated to preserving local heritage. The perception becomes that our stories are scattered, undocumented, or worse, disposable. And when a community loses its focal point for shared history, something else erodess, too. Cohesion. Museums do more than display artifacts. They create civic dialogue. They give residents something to rally around. They help us see ourselves as part of a longer story, one that didn't start with us and won't end with us. That truly matters. History museums shape identity. They shape self-perception. They help citizens feel connected not just to a location on a map, but to a lineage of people who built, struggled, sacrificed, and preserved. The question before us is not simply whether a museum occupies space in a building. The real question is what kind of county do we want to be perceived as? A county that projects heritage, pride, and community, or one known only for its present amenities? Because perception shapes reality, identity shapes investment, and pride shapes participation. The Douglas County Museum of History and Art is not just preserving objects. It is preserving belonging. I urge you to re recognize the role it plays in identity building, civic engagement, and economic vitality. I urge you to see it not as a cost, but as an investment in who we are and how we are remembered. Thank you. Thank you so much.

Our next one uh to speak will be Jerry Williams.

Good morning. Good morning, commissioners. Good morning.

And thank you for your time. I I know you guys have difficult job and I just reminded that won't take long. I'll just say I served on a on a cemetery committee and at Basset Creek. Somebody gave land. And at that cemetery, there's Confederate soldiers, there's Union soldiers, there's Native Americans, there's slaves, there's free people uh who were not committed to slavery, but because of the economy, they had. So, I don't want to bore you. I don't want to continue to be the dead horse, but I think you received some new information. Not about where the county came from, but where we're going. And I just ask if I could that you reconsider and give the new committee a chance to show the future as well as the past. You don't have to be proud of where you where you come where you came from, but there is a sense of pride of where you guys can lead us to. I thank you for your time. Thank you. I give every time

Mr. Jerry, you said committee. What committee? There's there's a committee that I'm sure you there's there's a committee probably ad hoc committee and I know it doesn't have the authority because it it wasn't appointed by this board. I didn't know you weren't specific what committee. There's a committee a museum committee. Okay. Thank you. There's a museum committee and I think I think they brought forth to you ma'am new information. Yes, sir. Thank you. Thank you. All right. I just didn't I wanted to make sure I had clarity. Okay. Uh, the next one is Homer Danley.

Good morning, commissioners. As I was sitting back there looking and having been the first African-American to serve on the city council, Mr. Aarez, I could know what it must feel like because when I looked at this picture, I was you, but I didn't even have the two clerks on the other side that I could relate to and I had to kind of represent a whole people. And I think it's important I speak on behalf of the museum. It's important that that that information is kept somewhere in a sacred position so as people go, they don't take for granted that this is just the way it is. But some people had to sacrifice to make these things happen. Uh we had a people in Douglasville by one Miss Lula Parker and Miss uh Katherryn Wyn and uh these are people who vowed to keep the history and one of the greatest complaints we had having been a retired educator thought for 30 years and when I was teaching social studies and got to teach history a couple times and I couldn't find my history in the books that I was using to teach the kids and I'm hoping that as kids learn about Douglas this county that there will be some place that they can go central to check on the history. And when I was asked to serve on the committee, my first response was, I don't know, cuz I heard there was some stuff going on about the courthouse and these type things. But um when I got into it and started looking, I found that the people on the everybody on the committee weren't the same thing. And I think as you look in this county, I don't think anybody would say that history is not important, that we should not have a place to preserve and this type thing. And some way I and this is just me on the outside looking in that this whole idea got sidelined and it became politics and it became about race and became about all the things that we

don't need. You know, uh the um this country right now is more divided than it's ever been in my lifetime. And even when you look backwards, it's probably more divided now because it's not just divided, you know, by race. It's divided by everything. And uh even with war, you know, we right in in in the middle of war and this type thing. So, I'm just hoping that you will give this committee a chance to uh see what we can do with this museum because I think is what what we're going to what I think we're going to accomplish is much bigger than the museum. I think we're going to accomplish something that I heard from one of the commissioners that we need more than anything and that's peace. One of the commissioner was asked, you know, you've doing a lot of good things this type thing. What do you really out of all of that, what would be your greatest accomplishment? And they said peace. Out of everything, peace. And that's where I am right now. These committee members working with Mr. Win and Mr. Papa and and Chris and those I've just seen a way where we can really be a contribution to the committee and we hope that you will reconsider the new committee request for a lease. Thank you.

Thank you so much. Our next speaker is Kelly.

Okay. Good morning and thank good morning for letting me speak. My address is PO Box 536, Sabina Kelly. And I want to thank you all for letting me speak this morning. Um, my husband and I moved to Douglas County to get out of Atlanta and to be in a wonderful community that Douglas County has been. Um, I've got some concerns about the county and mainly the number one concern is the Atlanta Regional Commission since we signed on with them. Seems like all of our rules are what the Atlanta Regional Commission wants us to do with our zoning and with our people that we let move in and um businesses coming in data centers craziness. Um, and I'm just concerned about that and I'd like for Douglas County to come back to being Douglas County and being more concerned about the citizens. We had um property taxes last year that everybody came in. We had three meetings. The courtroom was full and everybody in the courtroom stood up and said, "Please stop spending money on things that they did felt that was useless of spending money on." And again, it goes back to the Atlanta Regional Commission and some of the rules and regulations, but we're spending too much money and the finance department still hasn't been addressed. I see that we finally have our Douglas County auditory advisory committee that y'all are going to talk about today. Afraid I have to leave early and I won't be able to hear about that and I'm interested and we'll watch on TV later on and we'll see what's going on. But I'm hoping that y'all took

some of the people that were here in the courtroom and asked to be on the committees and help out Douglas County to go through the finance department stuff because for the last two years, Dr. Corbin could not get up here and talk about the finance situation in Douglas County. There will be no personal attacks, please. I'm sorry. No names. Just you no personal attacks on the staff. Thank you. I apologize. Okay.

I scraped that from the top. Thank you. Okay. Um but yes, um if we can't have it written up on what our finance department is actually doing, it's hard for us to understand why so much money is being spent. Um and another question I have for you real quick before my three minutes are up. Um, I spoke months ago about Chapel Hill News and Views having the incorrect information about our Douglas County meetings. It only spent talks about our second meetings later on this month and they start at 700 p.m. which I believe they start at 6:00 p.m. Um, so that still hasn't been corrected. And Sentinel, sorry, Sentinel gets mailed to us, so we don't hear anything until after meetings. Thank you. And I apologize for going over the three minutes.

You didn't go over your three minutes. I appreciate y'all. You didn't go over You She had 15 seconds left. Yes. Okay. No, but No, but I'm just saying how many seconds did she have left? Wait. I don't want to cut you off, but how many seconds? She had about three. She said you had about 3 seconds left. So, we just trying. Okay. Thank you. All right. Well, okay. Our next speaker is Jim Poppam. Good morning. Good morning. My name is Jim Pppam, 8599 Estelle Street, and I was here to talk about the museum for just a second. Yes, sir.

Um, everyone that spoke this morning about the museum is on the board of directors now. It's a new board, and um, we have new ideas. uh we're to do and using the CAC economic study. I wanted to bring up that uh the downtown impact on the museum is almost a million dollars annually. last year according to the study that they from the program that they use uh and for so far this uh January it was uh 64,000 and in February it was estimated going to be 72,000 and what I wanted to do uh is uh talk about March we're going to open up a celebrating the Braves being here for 60 years now and we're going to have an exhibit The grand opening is March 21st at the museum. We're going to have few players there. We're going to have over 150 game used um artifacts based on things from 1966 when the Braves first got here all the way up to the present day team. And I was wanting to invite all of y'all to come and see for yourself what the new museum looks like and that the type of uh exhibits that we'll be trying to get more of. So, thank y'all.

Thank you so much, Mr. Poppin. That's the last of our speakers. Okay. Appreciate everyone coming in this morning with their comments. We're going to move on to the next item. Board of Commissioners. Uh, commissioners, do we need a motion to approve the agenda? Do we do we have a motion to approve the agenda? So, move. Second. We have a motion in a second. Any discussion, board? We have a motion in a second. Please cast your electronic votes.

Motion carries. 50. We have a 50 unanimous vote and the motion carries. Board, we're going to move on. Board of Commissioners, please, as a reminder, we have three minutes. Clerk, you will make sure we're on Yes, ma'am. point. Yes, ma'am. To make our remarks and two minutes for reput rebuttal. Thank you so much. Uh, again, let me introduce our new clerk. Sherry Matthysse is our new county clerk. Thank you, chairman. New county clerk, new ideas, and we're just going to stick to the rules. Okay. Yes, ma'am. Thank you.

Three minutes. All right, approval of the minutes. Next on our agenda is the minute meetings. Commissioners, please review those minutes for tomorrow and be prepared to approve or deny accordingly. Public hearing clerk, please begin with our public hearing uh and agenda items. Okay, first on our agenda is a public hearing which will the public hearing will actually be tomorrow, but it's a public hearing on the draft capital improvements element CIE impact fee study. Allison Duncan.

All right. Thank you. Uh good morning, Madam Chair, board of commissioners. Uh we appreciate this opportunity to bring to you um what is essentially a administrative pass through request. Um we've been doing a lot of work on impact fees. And so the first step we need from y'all as we enter kind of the home stretch here is to transmit our capital improvements element to uh the state and the regional commission for review. Um, so I thought that as soon as I got up here and said impact fees, there was going to be a lot of questions. So I have asked our consultant, Paige Hatley with Rosson Associates to come and give you a very brief overview of where we are in the process and exactly what we're asking for you to do. Um, but again, the the required public hearing tomorrow um is only going to be to transmit the capital improvements element, but since this is the first time you're seeing that, I wanted to give her a minute to just share a few slides with you and answer any questions you may have. So this is Paige Hatley with Rosson Associates.

Thank you and good morning. Good morning Paige.

I'm going to start very briefly as to um the very next step which as Allison mentioned is a public hearing tomorrow and what that relates to and then I'm going to talk about the CIE which is the subject of the hearing and where that fits in the overall process um of the study eval of the county evaluating uh the potential to adopt an impact fee program. So, the purpose of tomorrow's hearing is to receive public comment as required by the Georgia Department of Community Affairs on a draft capital improvements element or CIE. The CIE is required of all communities that collect impact fees. Um, it is something that if adopted, if the county ultimately adopts an impact fee program, it would have to adopt the CIE as part of that. Uh, the CIE focuses on uh capital project needs um for the county. We have been looking at specifically the categories of parks and recreation, libraries, road and public safety. Uh if the CIE is adopted as part of an impact fee program, then that would automatically amend your comprehensive plan. Uh the CIE would act as an appendix to the comp plan in accordance with state guidelines. Um the CIE is your projectbased document of any um impact view program. It identifies projected needs for expanded community facilities um over the coming decades. And of that long range list looking at additional um uh public services needed to accommodate a growing community. Uh there's a required five-year community work program where the Georgia Department of Community Affairs wants to know what's going to be happening in the near term. I want to stress that this is the projectbased document, but it does not address the fees themselves. uh fee calculations as to what would be needed to help pay for these projects is handled separately. That's not something that's reviewed by the state. When we talk about eligible uh public facility categories and expansion of

public services for uh parks, library, public safety and roads, more specifically, examples include various recreation components such as playgrounds, trails, uh library collections, um buildings associated with um your public services, uh communication towers for 911, heavy vehicles. Um, so any vehicle that has a service life of at least 10 years, that's requirement under state law, such as traffic or I'm sorry, a fire apparatus. And then major road projects. Um, as a reminder, um, this does not you'll notice that there isn't staffing and maintenance um, operations, that's not something that can be covered under state law with impact fees. Um lastly then as far as the CIE and the remaining process to complete the impact fee study to consider adoption of an impact fee program once the CIE is transmitted that would happen after the public hearing tomorrow. Um the board would then be in a position to authorize transmitt by resolution. There's about a two-month process that DCA has to complete the review. And it's during that time that we get into details as to the fees that could be adopted to help pay for those projects. and we'll be engaging with the board on that final matter because the fees themselves would then become part of a development impact fee ordinance. The ordinance uh requires two public hearings at the end of the process and once the uh public hearings have been held and if the ordinance and fee schedule is adopted that and adoption of the CIE would then constitute um an impact fee program and would allow the county to um at a point thereafter to begin collections. And that is an overview of the CIE where it is in the process and what this means for tomorrow. And of course, happy to take any questions.

Thank you so much. Port commissioners, we have any questions regarding the CIE impact fee study process? Yes. Okay. Commissioner Rexton, you have the floor. All right. Good morning. Good morning. All right. Just want to dig a little deeper into the road projects. Is that also considered for like paving road repairs or is that only for new roads or roads expansion? I just want to get a little

Great question and you have answered it because the first part is no. Unfortunately, it doesn't cover paving, potholes, repairs. Uh the state law uh talks about increasing capacity. So, the idea being that impact fees is a onetime collection from development to help pay for expanding services to to meet the demands of that. That means road widenings, major intersection improvements, roundabouts. Um so, getting more cars on the road, you're accommodating more traffic uh because you have more people coming into the community potentially. And so that's where we have to focus then on the specific type of road projects that are eligible for impact fee funding. It's that very distinct subset of capacity adding projects we call them.

Okay. And then this last question related to the fees. Do they need to be set aside in a separate line item or separate budget or would they go into the general funds?

So great question as well. It would um the impact fees would have to be in their own interest bearing account. Um and so that's each uh subcategory such as sheriff and parks, library, etc. would have its own uh sort of be I guess a sub fund have its own account number to be tracked. Um and then at the uh each year there would be a consolidated financial report that's just a summary that DCA requires to say how many how much in fees was collected by each of these categories and total um how much was spent and um what do you expect to be spending the impact fees on in the near future. So that I'm jumping ahead to an annual reporting requirement if the county adopts an impact fee program. Uh, it's fairly straightforward as far as the recordkeeping, but maintaining the funds in an interest bearing account is a state law requirement.

I see. All right. Thank you. All right, Madam Chair. You the floor back. All right. Thank you so much, Commissioner Braxton. Any other questions for Okay, Commissioner Mitchell.

Yes. Well, first of all, thank you and Allison, thank you uh for you guys putting, you know, getting us in line and on the the right um impact fee uh direction, I guess I'll call it. Uh so, thank you guys for doing this and uh to the residential committee, housing committee, you know, for kind of leading the charge in all of this. Um so, to that committee, thank you again as well. Couple of questions in reference to the fees you just mentioned though. So when these fees are being collected, uh will those fees be shifted? Not the fees because I understand they they'll go in a separate category. It doesn't go into the general fund budget, but those interest that interest that's uh you know earned off of this these funds that may be sitting at any given time. Will will that interest also go back into the um the account that deals and impact fees or does those funds that may have been earned off that money that may have been sitting until we use it? Uh what are those those additional the interest funds or earned funds go?

Everything's associated with that dedicated impact fee account. So it it is distinct in its entirety and and then as an additional funding source when it comes budgeting time look at the impact fee fund account. Yes. as a standalone. Yes, sir. I

I I kind of thought that. I just want to make sure that you know no money kind of gets shifted over because there was some interest earned and you know it goes into the general fund which is great to know though. And uh the other question though, so um so the um the the categories um are are the categories already carved out as to I saw the categories, but are the amount go into these categories? Are they already laid out or that's something that this board will determine that as we kind of collect these impact fees? So um there are as mentioned the CIE just delineates the eligible projects correct and then impact fees that that would be collected can only be spent on those projects. Got it.

Um as far as the fees themselves. was based off the project itself. When that factors into the calculations you will have in front of you um to consider what will be the maximum fees that could be charged for about a twopage uh listing of land uses residential and any everything non-residential. Okay. And what per unit the fee could be. So per dwelling unit it could be x number of dollars for single family house and for businesses it's typically per square foot. Uh and so those calculations that that we have been working on will be presented to you to say this is the ceiling.

You cannot go above this ceiling. Um this is the the the maximum that has been established as far as ascertaining new developments fair share. So they they can't char be charged more than their fair share of costs for additional public facilities. Um in addition you will be provided um information from the appointed advisory committee. So they are still um going to be uh convening I believe one more time just to talk about um the fees and any recommendation that they want to pass along for your consideration um as mandated by state law. That's their uh responsibility to just to provide advice to you all. And then we'll be having fee setting discussion or discussions where you will have the information that tells you this is what you could charge. Um we will be looking at surrounding communities who has impact fees what are they charging as additional information. Um and that all boils down to you all. uh you just don't have that information as of yet because we are working on getting the project document out and once that's out the door then we are finessing the number crunching and finalizing the fee schedule that can be considered and presented to you for detailed discussion.

Got it. So this committee will be ongoing. It it'll be ever evolving. It won't No, they're they are responsible for being uh formed and convening just for the duration of the impact fee study. Okay. Um, if you were, if the county ends up adopting a program and wants to do a major update or amendment like you do with your comp plan every 5 years, you would need to reconstitute a committee to weigh in because their their charge is to discuss the fees. Are they potentially going up with the future fee schedule and they need to be able to weigh in on that in accordance with the requirements of state law. But in other words, for the purpose of this study, they will not meet once or if an impact fee program is adopted after that.

So, if I'm hearing you correctly, this com this committee that's formed will eventually go away once this is established. Yes, sir. That's how it happens in in communities. But again, if you were to undertake a major amendment and were to revisit fees down the road, you would have to appoint another committee to act as um an advisory committee again. um should that happen years down the road.

Interesting. Okay. because I always thought in my head that that it would be ongoing because of the potential changes that may be forecast and and and again how things in my head that's kind of how I thought it would actually continue you know advising or moving because this this target is going to move as the economy and or land use and or developers come and go. So that's why I thought it might be something that would be ongoing. So Alison, if you want to speak to that,

just quick clarification. I want to jump in and and first and foremost thank all my colleagues in Douglas County who have been impacted by helping us pull this information together. Um because here what we're focusing on is the capital improvements element, which is just the project list. So to your point about the kind of whole review piece of this, there's been a lot of input from staff in various departments about what the projects are. I'm going to encourage y'all to take a look at that. You should have that document in your packet as well as the resolution. But in addition to that, we've had three advisory committee meetings. Um the most recent one as of last week, we had some really good feedback from the advisory committee about three potential ways we could move forward with impact fees. And so we're convening another

uh meeting of that group um to just see if we can kind of pin down u a recommendation to the board. But beyond that, there is the residential committee as you pointed out and we will bring kind of the CIE and the impact fee number to the next residential committee to give that committee an opportunity to have a deep dive into that. Yes. And then the residential committee, I would assume it would obviously be up to the chair of that committee um could maintain kind of the regular reporting about impact fees like we've been doing to this point. So we at every meeting we've given youall a little update about where we are in the process. Um, and we would certainly be able to continue to do that if you wanted to have some sort of ongoing committee structure that was keeping an eye on that. Um, you know, but we we've certainly done our best to to put as much out there in terms of getting, you know, uh, feedback on this and being as transparent as we possibly can, um, about impact fees. And I would just kind of offer that that residential committee would be sort of the standing committee by which we could report this up to on an ongoing basis. It is the will of the board.

Understood. And and I think that's I'm I'm glad that you stated that because that's kind of where I was going, trying to see kind of what the future looks like, not just what we'll end up today with, you know, not today, but you know, right now. That's a great point. And and the committee um as as we just are are tying to the exact language of the state law, they're to provide input on crafting the ordinance, i.e. the fee schedule. And since that typically is a one-time matter until the point that a community elects to completely revisit their impact fees just as they would do a major update to a comp plan, that's where their responsibilities sort of begin and end. Um, so but that thank you Allison that was very well put.

That that was perfect. Thank you Allison. And again, thank you for and and you guys for all the the work that you guys have done and how how we are kind of moving forward with, you know, how this shapes out. And for those who actually have been a part of this, um that's the even better part because those that are on the committee are those that will be charged with this potential impact fee that may come out of this though. So, but again, thank you. I appreciate it. Uh job well done and we'll kind of see what happens here in the future. So, thank you again. I yield back, Madam Chair. All right. Thank you so much, Commissioner Mitchell. Any other questions, board? Okay. Thank you. Thank you, Madam Clerk.

Okay. Our next um agenda on here is a grants number seven, authorization to accept the physical year 24 AG82643 5310 voucher program grant in the amount of $155,824. 26 from the Atlanta Regional Commission with a local match of $38,956.7 to be funded by new freedom grant and authorize the chairman to sign all related documents pending final legal review. Joey McKelie.

Thank you. Morning, Madam Chair, commissioners, administrative staff. The 5310 uh new freedom voucher program started 15 years ago and it's been instrumental in giving us uh the ability to add an extra layer of mobility options for our our aging community. What you have before you is the sub agreement for FY26. Um she gave you the amounts uh 194,780 total award. That's representative of 155,824 in federal funds and 38956 in local match. This has been reviewed and approved by legal. If you have any questions, I'll be free to answer.

Thank you so much. Um, Mr. McKelby. Okay. Um, any questions, board? Okay. Commissioner Braxton, you have the floor. Yes. Um, good morning. Good morning. So just quick question in regards to um the date. Do we think that we feel pretty confident that we'll have all services completed in attachment A through the scope of services by the end of September? Yes, we do. Okay. All right. Great. All right. Thank you, Madam Chair. I yield the floor back to you. All right. Any other questions? Yeah, just just one. Commissioner Mitchell,

and this may be for for staff. This this local match is that are we accounting for that already? This 38 956. Yes, we we've budgeted for for that amount. You staff. Oh. Oh, I'm sorry. Okay. My No worries. New face. So So you've already budgeted for that amount. I guess it is. Okay. And my apologies. No worries. I was just kind of leaning on my dear friend David over here to make sure that that uh that we are accounted for. But that but that is kind so in your budget that's that's accounted for that we're good on that end. Okay. All righty. I'll yield. Thank you again. Thank you.

All right. While you at the podium um Mr. McKelvic just tell us your title and I know you're new to the organization and welcome aboard and that's why uh Commissioner Mitchell said bring up staff. So if you could just introduce yourself and tell us your title. Uh Joey McKelby. I'm a 12-year uh Douglas County resident. Yes. I've been in the I'm sorry, deputy director of uh transportation for Connect Douglas. Been in the transportation industry for over 20 years. Uh started I cut my teeth at a small rural uh agency in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, which is where I'm from.

From there went to Austin, Texas to manage at Cap Metro, uh Northern Virginia, PRTC. Um when I first came to Atlanta, I was the general manager for Express, so I had an opportunity to work with uh the Greta Agency. Um, from there I went to uh Cobb Link where I managed for about four years and then Columbia, South Carolina some time at at that agency and and now I'm here in Douglasville. All right. Well, thank you so much and welcome aboard. Thank you. Um, deputy directorelcome. Thank you. Thank you. Any other questions board for our deputy director?

I have one question for you. Um, will this allow uh we had a waiting list for a while for our citizens on this voucher program. with this amount of money capture or this or unfortunately not. We took um there were some competing priorities on the state level. Yeah. Uh I'm sorry, some competing interests that took priority on the state level. Um so funding for the program was cut 63%. So um unfortunately not. But but staff are we are exploring some ways to to see what we can do to to open those those that weight list up. Okay. See it? All right. I look forward to speaking with you offline. Thank you and welcome aboard.

Thank you, madame clerk. Okay. We'll start our business items now. Number eight, approval to renew an annual agreement with Biddle Consulting Group in the amount of $6,757 for critical test genius suite and public safety dispatcher pre-employment assessment tool to be funded by the E911 budget and authorize the chairman to sign all related documents pending final legal review. Katrina Harley.

Good morning, Madame Chair, vice chair, board of commissioners, county administration. This uh annual agreement is for a pre-employment assessment tool designed specifically for uh E911 with B consulting group uh for a product known as critical call. I am uh happy to report that with the assistance of county legal and procurement uh we are able to achieve a non-binding multi-year agreement uh that would bring this amount down actually uh to $5,488 uh for and then it would be an annual step up um agreement with Biddle Consulting and I'm I am happy to answer any questions.

Okay, any questions for director Hartley? Do we have any questions? All right. Thank you. Sorry, Commissioner Mitchell. I just didn't get a chance to write down that. Give me that number again. Five 5,488. Yes. Yes. Okay. And and you said something about this is an annual step up like Yes. We get some some bonus points here for what? I mean, what what that looks like? What is that? So, the amount will actually increase incrementally instead of starting out with the 6,757. Uh, we won't um that amount won't be um necessary for us until the 2829 year.

Okay, you lost me there for a second. I apologize. So, it is a multi-year step up agreement starting at 5,488 and it will incrementally increase instead of beginning at 6,757. It'll eventually get to 6757 eventually. Yes. 28 2029. Yes. Got it. Gotcha. Gotcha. Gotcha. Gotcha. And so there's no additional bells and whistles that comes along with this piece outside of this is the norm. It's just that we'll start at this 5488

number. Got it. And the annual and and how what's that incremental increase like 2% 5% for the next x amount years or kind of how that how that how that work? It's it's 2 to 5% u the 6757 is the list price and so that will be achieved in 2829 and it will remain that uh for 2829 2930 and 3031. Got it. Gotcha. Okay. And are you our staff, right? No, I'm just kidding. No, I'm just kidding. I'm sorry. I yield back. I yield back. I didn't I didn't hear you. Thank you. All right. I yield back, Madam Chair. All right. Any other questions, board? All right. Thank you. Thank you, Madam Chair.

Thank you, Madam Thank you, Director Hardley.

Okay. Our next item is number nine. Request for annexation by the city of Osale for approximately 1.03 03 acres at 208 Maximum Road, parcel ID 02581820001. Allison Duncan. All right. Good morning again, Madam Chair and board of commissioners. Uh we do have a request for annexation. You should have received a full copy of the request in your packet. Uh this is from the city of OEL to annex approximately 1 acre. Um it is identified as 208 Maxim Road. It is actually multiple leasable suites at the Petroart gas station. Um so it's 202 uh 204 206 and 208 Maxim Road. Um the application indicates the request for annexation is to fulfill the comprehensive plan uh implementation. Though in a conversation with city staff, we did note that their comprehensive plan actually does not address this area. Uh they said they plan to address that and when they do their comprehensive plan update in a year or two. We also had asked the city if they would possibly uh have a more current survey. The current survey that was submitted with the application is a for a oneacre tract that was done um in 1984 I believe based on a meets and bounds description from the 1940s. Um the city of Boston has declined to update um their survey um and instead relying on the partial ID and the description and the legal description. Um none of those in and of themselves would rise to the level of uh sustaining an objection for this request. They'd indicated that the city plans to just continue to use the property as is, which is a multi-tenant leasable space. Um there is a potential loss of revenue from the alcohol permit, the beer and wine excise tax, and the occupational tax fees. Um that would come out to just a little under $2,000 annually. Um, again, not in and of itself a reason to raise an objection in terms of the the statute for this. So, staff is

recommending um that there would not be grounds to file an objection for the request, but I'm happy to answer any questions that you may have about this. Okay. Thank you so much, manager. Any questions, Board? All right. Thank you. Oh, I'm sorry. No, you sure? I'm sorry. I didn't see you. Go ahead. Okay. All right. I sit down. Yes, ma'am. Okay. Our next Okay. You said you'll wait.

Our next item is number 10, approval of Central Square's annual and integration fees in the amount of $4,840 to be funded by the fire department budget and authorize the chairman to sign all related documents pending final legal review. Chief Allen. Good morning, Madam Chair. Good morning, Vice Chair, Commissioners, County Administrator. I'm Miles Allen, your Douglas County Fire Chief, and um we're asking for we're asking for approval for this um this contract with uh Central Square as an amendment uh for annual annual integration fee. Uh it's a add-on to our first due programming.

Okay. Thank you so much, Fire Chief. Any questions for Fire Chief? Okay. Thank you. Thank you. Our next item is number 11, approval to close out the FEMA GEMA hazard mitigation program grant HMGP4501-000076 and authorize the chairman to sign all related documents pending final legal review. James Queen. Good morning, Madam Chair, vice chair, commissioners.

Good morning. This is simply a uh authorization for Madame Chair to sign a letter to request closeout of this grant from GEMA and FEMA. Uh they require this letter of request for close out in order to pay the final reimbursements. Okay. Any questions for our director?

All right. No questions. Next item number 12, approval to amend the contract with SurfPro of Douglasville for the repairs to the fire department headquarters building in the amount of $12,763.95 to be funded by the fire department's budget and reimburseed by insurance. Amend the budget and authorize the chairman to sign all related documents pending final legal review. Justin McDermott.

Good morning, Madam Chair, vice chair, board of commissioners, county administration. This item um came before you originally in September of 25 and was approved for a lower amount. It was uh pursuant to a request for quote to repair after the flood to the fire EMS headquarters. Um unfortunately upon completion, there were a few items that were a little bit more expensive than we expected. They did come down on the records portion, but the fire portion did exceed what the number you see before you. I have already spoken with insurance and have a check in hand to reimburse that extra cost, but I am asking you to amend the contract to pay for that amount. Okay. Any questions for um Director McDermott? Yes. Okay. Commissioner Raxton, you have the floor. All right. Thank you. Good morning.

Good morning. So, just trying to tie in the um 12,76395 from the backup documentation because everything else points to the 45950. Yes, sir. Um 38. So is there anything is there a line item that shows specifically and is this in addition to the 45K? So the total amount would be uh the contracted estimate was a 459. So it is in addition but I already will have that reimbured. So the total amount for what you're seeing will be 5871433. I've already spoken with fire department to make sure they have it in their budget to cover as well as finance and procurement. Okay. Yes. So then the actual cost again just gets us back to the 45K.

Uh it'll get us if you approve the increase to the contract it will get us to 5871433. Right. But we're getting reimbursed for the this 12,763. So we're back at a net debt of the um the 45. Yes sir. Okay. Great. All right. Thank you very much for that clarification. Okay. All right. Madam Chair, I yield the floor back to you. All right. Thank you so much. Uh Commissioner Braxton. Any other questions for Director McD uh McDermott? All right. Thank you, director. All right.

Number 13, authorization to install a multi-way stop sign at Ortney Way and Blney Stone Trail intersection due to limited site distance with no impact to the budget and authorize the chairman to sign all related documents pending final legal review. Solomon Rana.

Thank you. Good morning, Madam Chair, board of commissioners and county administration. Uh there's a subdivision proposed off of Post Road called the called the West Village at St. Andrews unit 2. Uh this subdivision will have its primary entrance through Post Road, but a secondary entrance through Ortney Road. Uh this new intersection has very limited side distance. In your packets, you would see the elevated uh exit from this new proposed roadway that limits the safe side distance required for an intersection. Therefore, the contractor will be installing a always stop sign for this new intersection. and we're recommending your approval. Thank you. Okay. Thank you so much. Uh, managing director Rana, any questions? Yes. Commissioner Raxton, you have the floor.

All right. Good morning. And just for educational purposes, I'm just curious as why this type of request comes to the BLC. Uh so anytime there's a change to a excuse me uh intersection control method for example excuse me if it goes from a stop control to a traffic signal or a roundabout it requires uh the process as we come before you to request board's approval and in case there's any public concerns this is an opportunity for public to review upcoming changes and voice any concerns. Okay. Yeah. I was just curious because there's no budgetary impact. So I was curious. I said why would this come to you know come forth to the BC? Yep. just regular procedure about intersection upgrades and if there's board consensus that this could be handled administratively, I would be happy to work with you on that.

Okay. And maybe that's something we can talk about further. All right, Madam Chair, I yield the floor back to you. Okay. Thank you so much. Uh, Commissioner Rexton, Vice Chair, you have the floor. No questions. Just want to say thank you for listening to my constituents and taking the time to go out there and make sure that they have a a safe neighborhood. I greatly appreciate it. Thank you. I yield back, Madam Chair. Okay. Thank you so much. Any other questions? All right. Next

number 14. Approval to accept a supplemental agreement with Georgia Department of Transportation in connection with the PI 00019889 Lee Road extension project in the amount of $40,000 to be funded by the SPLAS 2016 fund and authorize the chairman to sign all related documents pending final legal review.

Solana. Madam chair, uh, Lee Road extension project proposes extension of Lee Road from Fairburn all the way to Bular and then it ultimately terminates at Pope Road intersection with a roundabout. This project is currently under design and per our IG with Georgia Department of Transportation. This is one of those rare cases where we are paying GOT for oversight. Um, they are reviewing our plans and they're approving our milestones as we progress through the design phase and eventually heading towards right of acquisition. the first contract that authorized initial $40,000. Those funds have been expensed and Georgia G dot is asking for an additional $40,000 for the remainder of the project. Uh this is this is to be funded from the existing project budget. So no change to project allocation or the budget and splashed and we're recommending your approval. Thank you.

All right. Thank you. Any questions for managing director? Okay. Number 15, approval of an intergovernmental agreement with the city of Douglasville in connection with the holiday signal timing adjustments in the amount of $5,750 annually to be funded by the department's budget and authorize the chairman to sign all related documents pending final legal review. Solomon Rana.

Uh Madam Chair, each year uh county and the city partner uh to manage A18 signals in city limits that require special adjustments during the holiday time. Usually this is done in the fall of every year, but given the time it's taken in the prior years, we're taking a head start in this effort. Um the total amount of those adjustments are 5750. uh they are divided equally between the county and our share would be funded through DOT's budget and the other half comes from the city. Uh it's about 18 signals that are listed in your agenda packets but I'd be happy to answer any questions. We have any questions board commissioners? Okay, Commissioner Raxton, you have the floor.

Thank you. So, one of the things I would love to see is just some of the stats from prior years just to show what the benefits has been with the adjustments doing the traffic signals. So if there's anything that you have that would be great to share with our residents and our citizens because of course they're already complaining traffic is bad but we have those metrics you know to show hey when we time it or we work with a vendor that would be great to have. So if there's anything that you have would love to get a copy of that. Well, historically with adaptive uh signal timing adjustments and on-time adjustments, we've achieved 5 to 8% efficiency in traffic operations. And that is a representation of levels of service on on ground. Uh that may not be visibly u obvious, but when we run our traffic counts and delay per vehicle, those numbers is something that we've observed over the prior year. So 5 to 8% is a great win for a busy time of the year. Uh, and then for specifically, we may not have it for each signal outlined, but overall, especially for Chapel Hill, that's what we've observed. And if there's any additional data you'd like to see, would be happy to pull that together.

Okay. Yeah, that would be great. Great again to share with our residents. Of course. All right. Thank you. Okay. All right, Madam Chair, I yield the floor back to you. All right. Thank you so much, uh, Commissioner Rexton. Any other questions? Right. Number 16, approval. Thank you so much, managing director. Thank you. Approval of a change order with UEES in the amount of $17,000 to be funded by SPLS 2022 fund for special inspections at the E911 backup facility and authorize the chairman to sign all related documents pending final legal review. Julia Jeno.

Good morning, Madam Chair, vice chair, commissioners, county administration. This is simply an extension to the existing contract that we extended for the E91 backup. We did PSI, the primary general contractor back in October. We're just doing we're reviewing all our contracts, making sure we're current and then going ahead and extending this one as well. And this is just the special inspections we do with every build. Okay, any questions board for director Jenka? Okay.

Number 17, approval of a change order with place services in the amount of 8,384 to be funded by SPLAS's 2022 fund for architectural services for the DOT administration building and extend the contract date to 4:30 2026 and authorize the chairman to sign all related documents pending final legal reveal review. Julia Jacob,

again, this um is another extension. This is for the DOT admin building and that one has um we had we had a couple delays. One were related to materials, weather as well as some change orders that we did on the facility. The site was originally scheduled to open in February. We're now opening it in April and this item and the next item are related to the DOT admin building. Okay. All right. Any questions board for director Jenko?

Okay. Number 18, approval of a contract extension with Albon Construction for the SPLOS 2022 DOT admin building project with no additional cost to the county and authorize the chairman to sign all related documents pending final legal review. Julia Jeno, again, this is the one I just mentioned earlier. Um, the DOT admin building, we're very excited that's will be opening in April. We're of course scheduling moving right now and we're having a good time getting this project wrapped up. Okay. Any questions for director Jen? Okay. Thank you, director.

Number 19, approval to amend the contract with the Civic Plus for Doc Access Web Accessibility Software in the PR-rated amount of $13,132.80 80 ending 217 20227 with an annual renewal cost of 26,26560 beginning 21827 to be funded from the general appropriations in the general fund for countywide system augmentation and upgrades and authorize the chairman to sign all related documents pending final legal review. Avette Jones. Good morning, Madam Chair, vice chairman, board of commissioners, and county administration. It's a pleasure to stand before you. Uh, this is a request for new technology to support our efforts to meet federal accessibility guidelines, and we view this tool as a critical and necessary tool and that ongoing effort. And uh, we've outlined exactly what DACA access is and some of the things it can do in your packets. And I stand here ready to answer any questions.

Okay. Any questions for our chief communications officer? Commissioner Raxston, you have the floor. All right. Thank you and good morning. Good morning. So, greatly I'm looking forward to this. I know this is definitely going to help us to make sure that we're in compliance from an ADA perspective. Yes. And anything else you want to share with that just to give us additional context of how this is this process is going to help us to get there.

So, this is really an ongoing process. Um, website accessibility falls in two main categories. navigation and documents. And uh so we've got the navigation piece pretty much uh taken care of through our website vendor with technology that is already up and running on our website um which kind of um works in conjunction with those who have impairments with the technology they already have. This we view as a critical next step because doc access does real time conversion of documents on the website. So if someone's coming to our website and looking at documents that have not been remediated as it were and by remediation we mean actually altered to fit the new accessibility standards. This uh technology is is sort of a one-step technology where you you is with the press of a button it switches over and it reads um that information and converts it to HTML. So meaning real time I can pull up a document, maps, graphics, um all sorts of complex documents that are not text, doc access does it in real time immediately and um so it gives us the opportunity to be compliant immediately once it is on on the website and then it also allows us some time to do um conversion of those documents. It allows us uh the time and opportunity to do that because that takes human intervention. this um technology is the flip of a button and it happens immediately.

All right. Well, that's great. Well, certainly as a new chair of the technology committee, you know, I'm looking forward to working with you and from IT perspective and anything that we can do from a technology, let us know and we're here to assist. Absolutely. Thank you. All right. Thank you. Okay, Madam Chair, I yield the floor back to you. All right. Thank you so much, Commissioner Rexton. Any other question? Commissioner Mitchell, you have the floor. Just want first of all, thank you for having that meeting. Sure. I don't know when it was. Couple weeks ago. Yes. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. That that was really helpful in understanding this federal mandate and the what we can or what we must do irregardless of what the costs are. And I guess the only question I have in that cost is the question about the cost of 13 uh 132 I think it is.

Yes. Is is that that number is changing beginning 218 2027 if I'm seeing this right. Correct. Yes. They're giving us a 50% discount so that they can go ahead and onboard us. They recognize that this is something that, you know, communities are grappling with as they uh work to meet that April deadline. Correct. And so we already have a relationship with Civic Plus. They've been a great vendor to us in terms of all of our website needs. And so to make this happen, they are working with us to do give us that 50% discount for that first year. And then we'll be back up to that um we'll be up to the 26 uh 2 26560 which is actually a 20% discount of the the normal price. So and that's going to be annual.

Correct. Okay. Okay. Cuz I and and you're going to definitely make sure that you account for this in your budget moving forward. Moving forward. Absolutely. Um we we I'll be working with um our CFO and county administrator to correct um integrate this into my budget going forward. Absolutely. and the software will do and and the short story if you could just for the general public to understand kind of what it will do, how it will assist ADA perspective and kind of so so the general public will understand what that looks like and why this number that um we need to still account for like I said it's mandated that there's no way around this. This is what it is. So

So I will say um I don't do this alone. I do have reinforcements in the room in case I don't get this correct. I've got our IS um director here and then uh Stephen Oasksky who is our production manager here and we've all been having ongoing meetings about this whole accessibility piece, what it means and how we're going to comply and it's you know it's it's a little bit of a moving target because we're all learning as we go along. Um but doc access I I view it as a gamecher because the the heaviest lift in terms of accessibility is the document access piece. So what the accessibility guidelines say is that your documents must be accessible for someone with impairments. And to make a document accessible there are certain um remediation and manipulation that must happen to that document. It needs to be you know formatted in a certain way and read a certain way and typically someone a person that it would require human intervention to do that. What doc access does is it does it it converts it immediately. So you press a button and something you know one of the most amazing things I saw was a map. Um it it goes in and it reads the map as text. It reads graphics as text. It describes those things. So, you know, if I'm looking at a picture, those without an impairment might see a picture on the screen of a family walking down the street with, you know, a treeline street pushing a stroller. Correct. A human would have to go in and write write that um information out on a on a document. This uh technology allows you with the flip of a button, it reads that picture for you. It's, you know, man and woman walking down a treeine street pushing a baby stroller. It is an automatic instant conversion for someone who is on our website and navigating our website. It's it speaks to their technology.

Absolutely. And we could either add a person to do that at 80 90 $100,000 or whatever that is. Or look at a cost of 266 265. That's correct. Annually to do just that.

That's correct. Now, you know, in fairness, this is an immediate fix. This is you know as real-time fix as you're navigating our website. Now that document if it is deemed something that needs to remain in the long term it will have to be remediated by human intervention. And so this just allows us a little more time to take a closer look at some of these documents, what should be there, what needs to come off and those that need to be remediated. Then, you know, that's kind of what we're working on is a long-term strategy to make sure that we are compliant as an organization with website accessibility. And it it is not a one-time fix. It is something uh we are working to um build a strategy for long long term.

And thank you to you and your team for actually trying to get ahead of this. So, I'm just glad that Douglas County and those that are abroad understand that this is something that is mandated. Yes. from the federal side of things all the way down to us that we will have to uh understand uh it's an ever moving target and we'll always be having to remediate or adjust as we go because I mean the entire state here is trying to learn and adjust with this. We're just happen to be happen to have a a company that's out there that's kind of sort of ahead of the game and here's our opportunity to kind of jump on board and stay ahead. It's communities. It's organizations like ours nationwide that is grappling with this.

Absolutely. So, great job to you and your team. So, thank you again. I yield back, Madam Chair. All right. Thank you so much, Commissioner Mitchell. Any other questions, Board? All right, Madam Clerk. Okay. Number 20. Thank you so much. Thank you, Chief Communications Officer. Thank you. Number 20, appointments to the Douglas County Audit Advisory Committee. Okay. Uh, Commissioner Raxton, you are the chair of the audit committee. if you just want to update and then tell the purpose of this item.

Sure. Sure. So, um, as indicated by one of our residents, the audit advisory committee uh was approved um last year. So, we're in the process of um staffing that, if you will, with residents um that will be part of the audit advisory committee. Our goal is in Q2 to actually start meeting formally and putting the um committee with the um objectives and things that we'll be looking at. and studying as it relates to Douglas County. So, very excited with the two current uh members or residents that's being on the um for your review and approval tomorrow. And uh with that, I'll yield back the floor to you.

Okay. You said Q2, uh I have a question for you. Q2, is it the end of Q2? Is that what you So, we hadn't said if it was going to be in May or June or but in Q2. Okay. Yeah. We want to get the committee up and going. So, we'll be looking again as we're staffing and as we're filling it with recommendations from our fellow commissioners and we'll be u once we get to the point where we have that staff and we'll get moving. Okay. Thank you. Any questions, board? Okay, Commissioner Mitchell.

I guess I would just uh ask that we kind of not put this on the consent agenda. And the other part I'll ask is are these the only two members I'm looking here? that's a part of this. Am I correct? That's looking to be a part of this. I guess I'm asking. Yeah, these are the first two. They'll be Okay. Yes. But again, each one of the commissioners will make a recommendation to who serves from their um specific district. And and who would be these two be from what uh district? I guess just I'm just curious to know. So, at this point, the two that's on there, one of them is mine. Okay. One's the chair and one's from district three.

Got it. Got it. Okay. Got you. Okay. So, I guess we got a lot of work to do here to try to get caught up, but with is that a and and you and Madam Chair, if I'm correct in saying this, is you guys are part of the committee as chair and vice chair if I'm correct. Okay. Got it. Okay. Uh outside of that, okay, I guess let's again we'll have more conversation, but I just got a couple more questions, but I'll ask my questions offline just to kind of get up to speed though. So, okay. Okay. All right. Thank you. Any other questions for it? If not, I'm going to yield the floor back to you, madam clerk.

Okay. Thank you, chairman. Number 21, approval to ratify the signature on support letters for a grant application being submitted by Cobb and Douglas Public Health for congressionally directed spending funds and authorized the chairman to sign all related documents pending final legal review. Jill Hopson, good morning.

Good morning. Um, on Thursday, late Thursday, we uh had two uh letters of support for some CDS funding from public health. Um, they apologized profusely for their delay in getting them to us, but their deadline was Friday. So, we're asking to ratify those signatures and the letter should be in your packet. Any questions for it? Okay. Thank you.

Thank you. Number 22, approval of a letter of support for the development of the Georgia Aquarium Conservation Campus and to respectfully request federal partnership and investment to advance the design phase of this transformation transformative initiative and authorize the chairman to sign all related documents pending final legal review. Does anyone would speak on this letter? Yeah, I believe it's congressionally uh directed spending as well, isn't it? CDS. Yes. Yes. Okay. That was just what was in the top of the letter. What was written there? But the letter should be attached.

Okay. You all see it. It is. Any questions, board, regarding this uh congressionally uh um directed spending? Okay. Okay. There are no questions. Certainly. Um any comments? That that's it. Yes, ma'am. That concludes the agenda. Thank you so much, Madame Clerk. Uh board of commissioners, do you have any comments before I tap on the shoulders of our um wonderful um county attorney? We will meet in executive session. We are? Yes.

Okay. Just hold. I have one. Okay. Commissioner Kenner Jones, you have the floor. Um, I do just want to make a a very very brief um comment to our citizens um the people who are watching on Facebook, the people that are in the room. I know that it can be stressful to see something like what we witnessed this morning with um Malachi Mitchell's mom. I'm a mom, too. I understand where her pain and her passion comes from. Um, and the humanity that is in it. Um, I do want to take the time to thank the deputies for trying to assist us in managing decorum. And I think that that's why making sure that we have appropriate um, and consistent procedures for timekeeping and and keeping people on track so that we don't run into situations like that. Um I to the two deputies um that assisted. I know that that was not an easy thing um to have to do this morning, especially when somebody is trying to express concerns that they have for their kid. And it's not to say this is no um indictment on the sheriff's department, the district attorney. I don't want to pretend to know the facts of the investigation. Um but she's hurt. I respect and honor that. But we do have to maintain a sense of consistency and decorum. Um and so thank you, Madam Chair, for trying to make sure that you were managing that um this morning. And to our staff to be able to still come up and handle your job functions and duties, having observed something like that, I appreciate your professionalism. Madam Chair, I yield back.

Okay. Thank you so much, Commissioner Kenner Jones. Vice Chair, you have the floor. Thank you, Commissioner Kenner Jones. Thank you for saying that because I think we could all feel it. But I just want to say thank you for taking the time to bring that up. I yel back, madam chair.

All right. Any other questions or remarks board and you know I'm a mother as well and it breaks my heart. I just you know I was praying saying God bring him back and I I understand as a mother. So, I am a mother and I'm telling you, it's tough and it's rough, but you know, I just ask God to just give some strength to Miss uh Mitchell as she go through this moment. And I can understand. I'm telling you, I only have one like her and you don't get one shot with a child. So, I understand. Okay. With that being said, I'm going to certainly tap on the shoulders of our county attorney. County Attorney, do we need to go into executive session?

We will. Yes, ma'am. Okay. We have Board of Commissioners. Do we have a motion to go into executive session for the following um to discuss litigation, personnel, real estate, and cyber security? Do we have a motion? So moved. Second.

We have a motion and a second. Any discussion board? We have a motion and a second. Please prepare to cast your votes. We have a 5. We have a 50 U unanimous vote and the motion carries to go into executive session. Citizens of Douglas County, um we ask for your patience as the board of commissioners engage in our executive session. We will take a slight pause for the calls and uh we will return momentarily. Again, thank you for your patience and we will return momentarily. Thank you.