City Council - Regular Meeting

It just it goes together. Thank you. Father, it's good to come into this place tonight to conduct the business here of this city. And I pray, Father, uh, for each and every one of the council people that you would give them the wisdom and give them the insight to do the things that are right and pleasing unto you. Father, thank you for every good gift comes from you. And Lord, we we acknowledge today that you are a sovereign God, that you're in control, and that you are the one that establishes government. And I pray that u this county and this city would be one that will continue to look to you and trust you and follow you as long as we are here. So, we've been given a great assignment and I pray you bless these men and women right now in Jesus name. Amen.

Amen. Amen. Thank you. Uh ladies and gentlemen, Mike Peavey is the pastor at Gratis Church. Uh his uh his family walks the walk. Uh both kids work Chick-fil-A. Um just great, great folks. Thank you so much for coming in. And you don't have to stick around if you don't want to. Um, I'll call this meeting to order of the Monroe City Council, May 12th, 2026. It's uh just a tad past 6 PM. Um, let the record reflect that all members of council are present. Uh, most in person. I think uh Mr. Thompson is on the phone. Greg, are you there? Yes, I'm here. All right. Thank you for joining us. I need a motion to approve the agenda, please. So moved.

That to Mr. Bradley. Is there a second? Second. Thank you, Miss Crawford. Is there any discussion? Signify by saying I if approved. I I. All oppose like sign. Motion carries. That passes. The consent agenda this month uh includes the planning commission minutes, DDA minutes and CV CVB minutes along with historic preservation from March and the April 14th, 2026 city council meeting. I need a motion for the approval of the consent agenda, please. So move. Thank you, Miss Malcolm. Is there a second? Thank you, Miss Sams. Is there any discussion? All in favor signify by saying I. I. All.

All oppose like sign. Motion carries. That passes. I'm moving to public comment. I have Miss Wilson. Appears to not be here. We'll try to revisit her at the end. Uh Theodore White. Right. Neighborhood code issue. Mr. Rightight. Come forward, please, if you don't mind. And you're at 538 Chestnut. Yes, sir. Okay.

Well, I thank y'all for uh allowing me this opportunity to present my case to y'all today. Um the issue that I'm having or that has arrived probably around two months ago. um the crowd that is that used to gather at the the little truck stop area on the weekends. Well, sadly that crowd now is concerning right there off of Chestnut uh Church Street, East Church Street. It's called a Chestnut Cupboard store

and Chestnut Lane. My house is right behind it. Um the store I when the when the problem happened, the store owners start allowing the gathering these young youth to gather at the store and pretty much have have like a little field day. They they race their cars up and down the street. They they they turn up the the volume to their music. And this is it starts every weekend around maybe 12 to 2:30 3 o'clock every weekend in the morning in the morning

they leave the stadium and they come to Chestnut Cupboard store when the problem first occurred because anybody knows me I'm not just Theodore right I'm Minister Rightight right

so I try to deal with my community before I come here I try to deal with it firsthand so I went to the store owner or the person who runs the store and I spoke with him personally uh and I told him I said Mr. Nick, I say, I don't know what you're allowing to occur at your store, but it it's becoming a nuisance, not only to my home, but to some of the other homes in the community. We can't even get into our subdivision on times. Last Saturday, uh, we was out of town. We get a phone call. Y'all may want to get home quick because you won't even be able to get into your own driveway. They literally start parking into my yard like it was a public parking lot. And I don't know if y'all know how y'all run the water lines. Well, my main water line runs right on the side in the front of my property. They literally parks. They're smart enough to know how to park enough so it's not a cold issue where they're in the street. So, they literally parked into my yard. So on four occasions I called law enforcement told them that we was having a trespassing issue. Law enforcement came out told me Mr. Wright the only thing we can do is we can tell them that they they may need to leave your yard but you have to call a tow truck at your expense. That's what surprised me. So somebody can park in my yard and then at my expense I have to get them towed. That made no sense to me. So, the officers literally stood out front of my house for about 30 minutes while I called the tow truck. But the traffic was so congested that the tow truck driver couldn't even get through. And by time the crowd saw the tow truck coming, they start running to their cars. And the reason that I'm presenting it to you is because there's no doubt in my mind the

problem that you was having at that restaurant up there at the truck stop is going to eventually trickle more into your city like a cancer. And I told a lot of my neighbors, I said, because a lot of people rent. It's only a couple owners that live out there. But like I told them, just because you're a renter doesn't mean you don't have a voice. because while you're a tenant on whatever lease that you signed, you have the right to speak up and let people know that they don't have the right to just violate your space. So, I came here today to first bring it to your attention because I don't know if when I call in to 911 if it's being reported to you all because just like back in the days, I I like to do my homework. When you combine commercial and residential and you bring them too closely entwined, you're going to have issues. Just like I went and did my homework on Will Tavern back in April in 2024. When you get people that start mixing cocktails with with dinner dates, you're going to have issues eventually because everybody don't know how to contain themselves. Some people don't know how to cut it off. And back in then you had a what they call a noise and behavior complaint back in April in 2024. I don't know how that was dealt with. In January of 2025, you had another complaint at the same establishment because you have residential and commercial so closely intertwined. If the hours of operation exceeds a certain time frame, it's going to trickle down to other people's home that lives close to that area. And that's what I'm having in my area. When you have a business that at one time used to close at 11:30, maybe possibly 12:00 to the ladies. Now is a 24-hour operation. So now the people that doesn't mind hanging out at night, they look at that as a gathering spot. You could go on social media and if you pull

up anything dealing with Chestnut Cupboard, I guarantee you you're going to read comments that reads, "Oh, go to the neighborhood club. Chestnut has become our local club spot. That's what you're going to read. And when you start having even we used to have problems randomly when they would lease out the the the commute the uh the fairgrounds. You're going to have some people, not all. See, somebody like me, law-abiding citizens, if I know I'm coming to the fairgrounds for an event, I don't mind paying the budget or the price to park because that's what comes with the event. But you have some people who to avoid that expense, they're going to find wherever whenever they they can park, even if it comes at your expense, parking in front of your yard, in front of your driveway. And when you're dealing with

I'm sorry, you hit the five minutes. Uhhuh. But point is is very well taken. I think Lee and I talked about this uh Saturday night because they were parking down Church Street, too. That's I I didn't I didn't know It's not a surprise, but I didn't know it was back in the neighborhood. I just thought it was all down Church Street. No. Um, so, uh, do you mind, uh, writing your phone number down? No, we'll get together, you and I. All right. Give this to you right here.

Um, write your number down and, uh, I will call you tomorrow and maybe you and the chief and I can get together and and try to set a time to to talk more. Um, and if you don't mind, probably ask you to give the invitation later in the summer. All right, we'll set it up. All right, thank you. Thank you so much for coming in. Miss Wilson, you ready for me?

Good. Good evening. Thank you for Thank you for coming.

One w Thank y'all for having me. This is the final piece for the grant funding request for long-term stability at home and work for music is medicine and money. Finally, number three, money economy state versus status state from USA facts. Why is the US dollar so strong? The dollar's value comes from the United States position as a critical global economic power and country's political and economic stability. Like any other flat currency, the dollar's value depends on the economic activity and outlook of the United States status. Why is money referred to as booty? From WL Walker, written in the International Standard Bible Encyclopedia, booty is the translation usually rendered P rey pray and spoil of the American version to gain. Buddhy respects what is of personal service to the captor and whatever serve to designate his triumph prey includes whatever gratifies the appetite and is to be consumed persons for slaves etc might be part of the booty captives or cattle or objects of value taken in war. Where did the term booty come from? It is a slang that has surprisingly old

origins in the book of Numbers found in the Bible of David. Afterwards introduced a regulation that the baggage guard should share the booty casually with the soldiers engaged in battle. He also devoted the spoils of war for the temple. State versus status. Thesis statement. requests for breakthrough change as means of healthc care protection ASAP grant funding for home and work long-term stability with personal business presentation as an inspirational songwriter seeking occupational expansion for as a solid foundation in other areas of potential ability i.e. real estate and agriculture as remedy concerning 35 years of being trafficked for sex within a religious household of incest, poverty, and disease. Closing. A martyr is a witness who willingly dies for their faith, believing in a rewarding life after death. A miracle is an extraordinary ex experience or event that is attributed to a divine power. CS Lewis says miracles are a retelling in small letters of the very same story which is written across the world in letters too large for some of us to see to grip. Get one. God bless y'all. Thanks for waiting for me and have a great evening.

Thank you, Joy. I appreciate you coming in. Have a good night. Y'all, too. Lonnie Geston,

thank you for coming in. How y'all doing tonight? I come on the I'm sorry, if you don't mind, would you take your hat off, please? Thank you. How

y'all doing? I come on the behalf of Green Acres. Uh I'm here to find a What is we going to try to do for the neighbors in Green Acres so that we can get out? I have appointments at the VA hospital. My appointment be at 9:00 in the morning. I had to leave Green Acres about 6:30 in the morning just to try to get out on Highway 11 so I can make it to my appointment in in Atlanta. Sometime it takes anywhere from 30 to 45 minutes to get out that neighborhood to get out of the neighborhood. Yes. On 11.

On 11. Because for the simple reason you got a traffic light up there by boat jangles the traffic coming from W. It builds up from that traffic light all the way down there past B spring road. If you turn to get out that subdivision, you can't get out. You can't go left, you can't go right. We had to sit there or either put our life in jeopardy and just try to break in and seek and we get get in without getting hurt. A lot of those folks in Green Acres, they senior citizen, right?

They don't drive that fast. I said only hard issue is that Green Acres is Green Acres is county technically in the county, but it's also a state road. Um, yeah, let me let me do this. It is in the county. Let me reach out to the county manager, my counterpart, and see if they can uh request some sort of traffic evaluation study with G DOT on 11 because I agree it's pretty rough right there. I've seen it myself. But um I'll at least try to advocate for y'all with the county. Okay. All right. Thank you. If you don't hear anything, follow up with them as well. Okay. Thank you very much.

Hey, thank thank you Lonnie for coming in. Um John Ward is is the county manager, so we'll be in touch with him and uh stay stay in touch with us. Okay. Thank you. Uh Lisa Pascal, I'm not sure if I said the name corre. Okay. Thank you for coming in. Good afternoon, city council. Good afternoon.

My name is Lisa Pascal. I'm from the Green Acres subdivision, the one he was just speaking about. It is to my understanding that Quick Trip plans to put a basin detention pond on our properties. My neighborhood, Green Acres, was established with the first house being built in 1993. At that time, there were no strict storm weather rest regulations. So, we don't have storm drains or catch basins. If Quick Trip is allowed, easement onto Louise Drive, which is where I live, this will cause flooding of our homes. If there is a major rainstorm, as you may all be aware, flooding is not uncommon uncommon in Georgia. Recently, most recently, Decap County, Carroll County, and Fannon County. flooding would cause undue catastrophic financial hardship on our community and there would be no way for us to replace our homes. We don't carry flood insurance because we're not in a flood zone. There would be no way to replace our homes. So, should there be a major flooding, FEMA would classify Green Acres as a flood zone and it would be mandatory that we carry flood insurance, another expense to us. So, who's going to replace our homes if they get flooded? I believe that Quick Trip, I don't believe that Quick Trip would. I just don't believe that my city that I love so much, Monroe, Georgia, would allow this to happen to its citizens. Another concern is our home values would most certainly decline. No one wants to live in an area with high traffic, congestion like the big cities, increased noise, bright lights shining 24 hours a day in our backyards, and pollution. These factors reduce

desiraability and marketability of our homes. Who's going to want to buy it? We're going to be stuck. There could also be environmental effects. We have safety concerns as well with being able to get out of our neighborhood now that there is a projected 27,400 trips daily on Georgia Highway 11. This is likely to cause an escalation in car accidents. And what of our elderly who still drive and trying to get out of that neighborhood on a daily basis? There is only one traffic light, like the young man just said, that's at Bold Jangles. Then there's the element of vagrants and vagabons hanging around which possesses a much higher risk of crime. We aren't opposed to the direction that Monroe wants to go in with its growth and expansion. That's wonderful. I'd love to see our city grow in. We just feel that we shouldn't be affected by it. My neighborhood, Green Acres, specifically my street, Louise Drive. Quick Trip is a $ 24 billion privately held company, and they could choose to go anywhere in Monroe that they want to. What about the other two options that they had? Why Why a neighborhood? Why come into Why disrupt a longstanding stable neighborhood with growing families? I I don't understand that for the majority of of us, Green Acres is our first home and our last home. I myself had never purchased a home on my own until I recently became a widow and it I could not afford the home that we were living that we were living in. But after

after five years, I was able to purchase my own home. Green Acres is home for me. My neighbor, Miss Clara, had been a renter for 19 years, and she was finally able to achieve the dream of home ownership. We just want to live in peace and enjoy our homes and our families. I pray that each member of the city council would put yourselves in our shoes and consider the threat that QC brings to us losing our homes that we've worked so hard for. I pray that you make a wise decision concerning the citizens of Monroe, particularly Green Acres. What an awesome privilege you've been given, that you can change the lives of your citizens. I bless you all in Jesus name. Thank you so much for coming in, Miss Miss Pascal, and and and I'm very sorry sorry for your loss. Uh to let you know, uh the the QT project is a uh it's it's zoned for a gas station, right? But we'll make we'll take every precaution to make sure your property is protected uh in in every way we possibly can legally.

How so? Please explain. Well, I'm not going to say you can go build a pond on somebody else's property. Um, but but the way things are already zoned, as long as they behave in a manner according with our zoning guidelines, it's it's by right to put a station there. Well, there is a conditional use on the agenda, right? There are there are several stipulations that we have to dive into when we consider that matter later, but we will be considering it. I I I don't I just I just don't want to say there'll never be a gas station there. I I didn't expect that. So So

I just don't want them coming in and and destroying our neighborhood and flooding our homes. We're not rich people. We can't replace those as we possibly legally can. I appreciate your time. Yes, ma'am. Each one of you. Thank Thank you for coming in. Mike, I appreciate you're sitting here. You don't have to, but the next person up is pretty impressive. Um, we have I think we have development authority next, correct?

I know. Sorry, Desa. Um, this is a public presentation. I probably need to should have gone over this before we started. It has to be scratched from the agenda because, uh, Miss Calibris had some surgery yesterday. Um, and we'll be replacing that next month. Um, moving to workforce development update, Miss Morris. Thank you, Desa. Good evening, mayor and council members. I'm proud to share a very brief update on the impact of Walton Works, part of the development authority of Walton County. Um, in 2025, as you'll see, a year marked by strong partnerships, growing engagement, and meaningful workforce connections across our community. This past year, Walton Works reached more than 4,800 participants through workforce and career initiatives. More than 1600 eighth graders from both school districts, Walton County and Social Circle, participated in Be Probe Proud, exposing every local eighth grade student to Georgia's high demand careers. Our career expo in partnership with the Walton Chamber connected more than 560 high school juniors and seniors with local employers and career pathways. We've also expanded hands-on career experiences through public safety and construction tours, giving more than 300 participants a firsthand look at career opportunities right here in Monroe and Walton County. One of the most impactful efforts

continues through Workforce Wednesday, which welcomed more than 1,100 attendees through job fairs and monthly workforce events. I want to give a special thank you to the city of Monroe for being an incredible partner in this initiative. The city opened its doors early on, helped create a welcoming environment, and demonstrated a true commitment to helping residents connect with jobs, resources, and hope. Because of this success between the the city of Monroe, Walton County, Work Source Northeast Georgia, the Monroe Walton Library, and the Department of Community Supervision, the Workforce Wednesday model is now being replicated in other communities across Georgia. Our online jobs board also continues to grow, generating more than 8,600 views from individuals seeking local employment opportunities. In addition, Walton Works continues expanding educator and industry partnerships, engaged local teachers and externships, and shared Walton County's workforce story through presentations at the local, state, and national level. More importantly, this work continues to strengthen the pipeline between education, workforce development, and economic opportunity for our residents. Thank you again to the mayor and the council and especially the HR team for your continued partnership and support. We are grateful for the city of Monroe's leadership and commitment to building a stronger workforce for our community.

Thank you, Miss Morris. Is there there does anybody have any questions about our workforce uh workforce Wednesdays? Uh how we're doing with our high school students, our pipeline to college to employment? anyone. Well, I'll tell you this, Les and um and I was about Okay, thank you.

I was gonna say Les and his whole team because there's a a a group of folks behind him, but uh I think Sarah kind of takes the reigns mainly, but uh Les started with you really is taking on a a mind of its own and it's been great. I'm looking at a 44% increase in the tax digest over the last four years. Um, that's $968 million that goes to benefit the residents of Walton County and and our schools. So, thank you for everything that y'all do. Um, it's impressive every every time we talk about it.

Thank you. It's crazy. Thanks to good partners like you guys. Shout out to Chris Bailey for uh getting us more people at Workforce Wednesday when we try to slack off. and um just everyone here for uh for their help and support. So, thank you.

Thank you. I have uh thank you, Dustin. Okay, now um Mike's gone. Uh Shane and Destin, anybody who doesn't want to stick around, you don't have to stick around. It won't hurt my feelings if you leave while I'm reading proclamations. Um this is first is a proclamation for foster care awareness month in the city of Monroe. Whereas children and youth in foster care significant face significant challenges due to abuse, neglect or family crisis and depend on the support and compassion of their communities. And whereas foster care provides a safe temporary home for children while families work toward reunification or other permanent solutions. And every child deserves a stable, nurturing environment in which to grow. And whereas the city of Monroe recognized the resilience, strength, and potential of youth in foster care and the importance of ensuring their voices are heard and their needs are met. And whereas foster parents, relative caregivers, volunteers, advocates, and child welfare professionals work tirelessly to provide safety, stability, and hope to children in care. And whereas court-appointed special advocates, CASA volunteers make a profound difference, advocating for the best interests of children in foster care, helping to ensure they find safe permanent homes for more quickly and successfully. And whereas community involvement is essential to supporting children and families impacted by foster care, whether through volunteering, fostering, mentoring, or raising awareness. And whereas National Foster Care Awareness Month provides an opportunity to recognize the important role individuals and organizations play in improving the lives of children in foster care and and to encourage greater community engagement. Now, therefore, be it resolved that I, John S. Howard, mayor of the city of Monroe, who hereby procla hereby declare May 26 of two, let's try this again. May 2026 is foster care awareness month in Walton County and urges all residents to volunteer their time and talents on behalf of

children and foster care and to support and recognize the commitment of foster families and professional staff who work with these children and youth. John S. Howard, mayor of the city of Monroe. Lindsay I think many of you may remember Lindseay Dykus. Um, do you would you like to say anything? Good evening. How is everyone? Well, great. Thank you.

Thank you guys so much for having us for doing the proclamation and for believing in our kids that are in foster care in Walton County. Um, we are working really hard to make sure every kid has a CASA volunteer and we appreciate uh the awareness that this will bring. Thank you. Thank you for coming in. Does anybody have questions for Lindsay? I was at Savannah Banana Games over the weekend. I think Logan was as well. And they have Bananas Foster. They raised $120,000 this weekend for uh foster care in the state of Georgia. So, uh Mr. Cole and the Savannah Banana Banana Organization have to be, you know, at the top of of the list for what they're doing for our kids. So, hopefully you're seeing a benefit. Would you like this?

Yes, I would. Thank you. Turn around.

Next, moving to the proclamation of public works week uh for the city of Monroe. this uh our public works team is is fantastic and I know that you see the work that they put in uh every single day, but just to have them um they're just pros and and we're lucky that they're part of our team. Um whereas public works professionals focus on infrastructure, facilities, and services that are vital importance and of sustainable and resilient communities into public health, high quality of life and well-being of the people of Georgia. And whereas these infrastructure facilities and services could not be provided without the dedicated efforts of public works professionals who are engineers, managers and employees at all levels of government and the private sector who are responsible for rebuilding, improving and protecting our nation's streets and transportation, water, wastewater treatment and services, natural gas utilities, electrical utilities and systems, telecommunications, storm water infrastructure and safekeeping, solid waste systems, aviation operations, parks, grounds, public facilities and buildings and other structures and facilities essential for our citizens. And whereas it is in the public interest for the citizens, civic leaders and children in Georgia to gain knowledge of and maintain an ongoing interest and understanding of the importance of public works and public works programs in their respective communities. And whereas the year 2026 marks the 66th annual National Public Works Week sponsored by the American Public Works Association. And now therefore, be it resolved that I, John S. Howard, mayor of the city of Monroe, do hereby hereby declare May 17th through 23rd, 2026 as public works week, and witness whereof I have here and to set my hand and cause the seal of the city of Monroe to be affixed this 12th day of May, the year of our Lord, 2026. John S. Howard.

Okay. Thank you. Um, proclamation from Monroe Country Day School has been moved to Tuesday of next week. Uh, business items. Mr. Propes.

Thank you, Mayor. Just a couple of um updates for you on uh taxation issues and legislation. We've talked a lot about it as we move through the the gold dome session this year, but um all of this culminates, of course, with the the county tax appraiser sending out um tax bill or excuse me, property tax assessment notices that then lead to the tax bills later on in the year. So, um I have an email from about a week ago from Tommy Knight, the chief appraiser, who said he was targeting May 12 today, um of sending out all appraisals a little bit later than normal. So, uh keep an eye on your mailbox to see if those are coming out. um with all of the the changes through the gold number last two years, specifically House Bill 581, um it forced the do uh forms at the last minute. So, nevertheless, everything is is kind of backed up um about as far as it can go. So, as a reminder, we are still operating under House Bill 746 from last year, that piece of local legislation sponsored by Representative Williamson that basically locks us into 2024 values, right? Plus, um, a little bit of CPI um, for existing homes. And then, uh, any new growth on top of that will just be new growth on our tax digest. So, don't know what that's going to look like until probably late June, my guess early July. So, then we're going to have to really uh go through some some heavy assessments internally um uh just analyses to see where we should land on the military. And we're going to have a very short timeline to do it probably in August. I'm really I'm looking at two or three weeks of trying to decide where we're going to go since everything is so

far backed up. So, that's that. And then of course um Senate Bill 33. Um this was a property tax relief bill that was just signed by the governor I think yesterday.

Um and so we're going to evaluate that with the county that uh allows us to get a floss floating local option sales tax that will replace some of the the lost revenues from um that bill. And so what that will entail is a few different steps that we have to do a resolution, then a referendum countywide. If that passes, then we get into an intergovernmental agreement with county on how we're going to split those those proceeds. That's always fun. But that is the path we're probably tracking on right now. Any questions on all that fun stuff? Thank you, Logan. There any questions for Mr.

Probes? Home rule with that? Uh I think this supersedes the home rule argument that was we we tried for uh throughout the session. So uh yeah, we we tried it was a rough legislative session for us. Um Mr. Bailey, you ready?

Yes, sir. Um I'll keep it fairly quick. Our Georgia Outdoor Steward program, uh phase two, we completed u all of the environmentals that were due April 30th. Those are submitted to the Department of Natural Resources. We're working on, I guess, what you would call part B of phase two, which is due by May 30th, and I feel like we should have all of that submitted by this Friday. Um, that includes updated budgets, um, phase concepts, and uh, different financial documents that we'll have to do to go through the grant process. The next time we probably talk about this will be sometime in August, September, at which point we'll have to approve an agreement with the Department of Natural Resources for the $3 million grant and then our $1.1 million uh contribution to that as a match and then we have 24 months to to build all of that in phase one. So that will be a very uh tall order. Um but we will get it done. So exciting project uh looks great. um this week or let's see it would have been last week uh we found out that we were awarded um in addition to our LMIG funds this year and then last year you know we received additional LRA funds. So this year we've been awarded an additional $255,000 in LRA funds to go towards the paving of additional streets in the city. Um at which point we're going through figuring out what's next, what's what's top priority on that list and what fits within that funding. Um, the only other thing I've got, our farmers market has now been open uh the last two Saturdays. I believe I misspoke last month on the start date, but we opened up on uh May 2nd. Um, we've had busy Saturdays the last two weekends. Um, we had the Mother's Day event this past Saturday. So, we've been a little over 10,000 people in town during that span of uh time each Saturday. And then tomorrow,

should you be in downtown, we have a new event that we're kicking off, lunch on the lawn, which will be on the courthouse lawn, we'll have a little small van playing and then uh some of the local restaurants will have uh lunch to go. Uh so you can grab that and go sit on the lawn from 11:30 to 1:30 and enjoy what should be a pretty day because it does not rain anymore. So um love to see you there.

Does anybody have any questions for Chris? Thank you, Mr. Bailey. Uh, next under new business, Paul, please correct me if if I'm wrong. Um, have public hearings uh A, B, and A and B regarding the Quick Trip uh potential uh property. They've asked for that to be uh tabled. Do we need to do the public hearing anyway? Um, so they asked for it to be tabled. Um, it's been advertised for a public hearing. I'd let Brad weigh in on this. It would need to be readvertised if you don't conduct your public hearing tonight and then you could consider the tableabling. U, they've asked for it to be tabled to the next meeting, I believe, June.

Yeah, Mr. Everheart, their attorney asked for it to be considered. Um, and the applicant's not present here tonight. Yeah, the applicant's not present. So, if you're going to consider a tableabling, um, you're going to I didn't process. I think you're going to need to readvertise it. Sure. Yeah, you're going to need to readvertising. I just don't know about your dates of making, you know, uh, uh, making that advertisement uh, before your June meeting. You should be able to, though, right? Yeah. Yeah, we have plenty of time to make advertisement.

Yeah. So, yes, you you you don't have to have the public hearing since you're going to conduct a public hearing via advertisement um this evening. Now, what normally you would do is if there's anybody who wouldn't be able to be here at the you know, at the June meeting, you can give them an opportunity to speak briefly if you'd like, but you you're going to need to revertise it if you end up moving it to June. Okay. Um, I actually I I do because I know we did have a comment about QT and if if you can't make it next month and you'd like to say something, now's your time.

Okay, I'll need a motion to table. Please have a motion by Miss Sams and a second. Second, Miss Brown. Uh, all in favor signify by saying I. I. All oppose, like sign. Motion carries. That passes and that was for the conditional use and the hardship variance or do I need to No, that's for both items. For both items affecting 1110 North Broad Street, item number 10 111 and effectively 19 and 20 uh for the quick trip will be tabled to the June meeting. Okay, perfect. Thank you. Uh moving to the regulating plan amendment 4554 308 West Highland Avenue. Brad,

thank you. Mayor, this is a request for a regulating plan amendment that is also in conjunction with uh the next item on your agenda. Mr. Mayor, I'd like to present them both at the same time. Yes, sir, please.

All right. This is uh both a regulating plan amendment and a special exception variance for the same property. The regulating plan amendment is for this property here. This is 308 uh West Highland Avenue. They're asking for a change from the character-based code CD4 designation to CD3. Uh the CD4 designation is a little bit more intense than the uh lighter CD3. CD4 is designated as neighborhood center. It allows for both a mix of residential and commercial uses. CD3 is a little lighter. It does allow for some commercial, but predominantly it's residential uses. So they're asking for a CD3 uh change to their property as a regulating plan amendment. And what this would do is allow them to what they're proposing to do is build one single family home essentially. And this uh character-based code change would allow them to build the home and avoid a host of variances that would be required into the CD4 character base code designation. So the only thing that they are asking in addition to this looks like we lost some uh slides there. Here's the well let me jump to this real quick. This is the proposed home as part of this regulating plan amendment. the sides here and the planning commission recommendation for the regulating plan amendment was approval as submitted. Uh and the reason being is that you can see the adjoining character uh codes, excuse me, the character designations that are adjoining this property on Walton Street are also CD3 and properties just to the west of this site are single family in nature. So are the ones on the east of the site are large single family homes and they're not out of character with the request. So planning commission staff both did not have an issue with the proposed uh regulating plan amendment change. So the re recommendation to council is approval as submitted. All right. So the special exception variance somewhat straightforward. Um this the only thing that's necessary. This isn't your special exception uh variance realm. It's one of your seven that you can

request from the city. And this is to extend the maximum lot width. Uh this was added to your special exception catalog because of an was anticipation of the possibility that someone may need a character-based code change for their lot width. Uh this is one of those. So the maximum lot width in CD3 is 100 ft. If you are to grant the CD3 character-based code regulated plan amendment he will need a special exception variance to allow the existing lot as it is to be 132 ft so they can build the single family home that's there. And what CD3 would want is really to subdivide the property into two lots because the CD4 would actually require him to do four up to minimum of three. So he's asking for that maximum lot with so we're not going to force him to subdivide the property and at least one time and the planning commission recommendation on that request was approval as submitted. That's all that I have Mr. Mayor.

Thank you Brandon. I appreciate it. Before moving to the public hearing portion, Ned, would you like to Well, I'm sorry. I didn't know. I I don't know. Karen, I thought you were the re the rep. Could you You can come forward or not.

Thank you for coming in. In your name? I representing Homes. Yes, ma'am. At 200 Michael Road, Monroe, Georgia. And as stated, we are looking to build a larger single family home to better suit the characteristics and the aesthetics of the existing homes on West Highland Avenue. Um, also the topo poses an issue to do more than one unit. So, we would like to as one unit and I'd be happy to answer any questions. Are there any questions?

I think this is going to be pretty easy, but I at least wanted to give you the opportunity. What we'll do is the public hearing and then we'll come back and vote in a few more minutes. Okay. Uh, I'll declare this portion of the public meeting open for the purpose of public input. Is there anyone here who would like to speak in favor of the special exception variance 4555 or the regulating plan amendment 4554? Hearing none. Is there anyone here who'd like to speak against the hardship var I'm sorry, the regulating plan amendment or the special except exception variance at 308 West Highland Avenue? Hear none. I'll declare that portion of the meeting closed and we'll come back and visit in just a minute. You won't even have to get up. Thank you. Moving to the reszone at 4547 10 uh 1035 East Spring Street reszone from R1 to B2. Mr. Calendar.

Uh thank you, Mr. Mayor. And similar to what just occurred, I would like to present this item along with the following four agenda items if that would please the mayor. They are all in conjunction with the same uh project. That'd be great. Please.

Okay. This is uh five requests for city council a reszone uh three special exception variances and a hardship variance. And I'm going to jump into the details of those, but I'm going to explain them just briefly and not spend a lot of time uh hashing all these out. Okay. The first request to city council this evening is a reszone from R1 to B2. Uh council may be familiar with this property. This is on the uh eastern leg there of East Spring Street right before the interchange of Highway 78. It was reszoned to R1 a few years back. And the uh applicant is asking to reszone this back to B2. They recently purchased the property. They would like to match that zoning with their existing property. What they're proposing to do is expand that uh the parking of their existing church facility and they want some additional parking for that. So, they want to combine that parcel in. It would make the uh zoning compliant with each parcel if they were both the same. So, the reason is going to make that drive together. Um the planning commission did recommend that reszone approval subject to three conditions. The third condition was modified at the planning commission meeting. It was rather lengthy. So, if you're seeing your staff report, it was modified at the planning commission meeting just to say a landscape plan was submitted. Uh moving on to the special exception variance. The first one, this was dealing with an increase in maximum lock coverage. This is a special exception variance type. Uh they were trying to figure out how many special exception variances they could ask for. We told them not all of them, but they did ask for three. Um so just this is uh just one that's pretty straightforward. It's only a 1% increase in your max lot coverage. Um they're uh only going to impact the property by a little more than 4,000 square feet above our maximum, which is not much. This is not a detrimental uh impact to the public and it's also one that you can allow by special exception recommendation slide to move forward there. Plan commission recommendation was approval

as submitted. Special exception. Uh the second one this deals with an increase in parking. You see this pretty often with our parking standards. In this case there is a lot of parking being added. So, they're increasing it from the maximum 120% to 187%. Obviously, here on the plan you see before you, there's a lot of parking being added. It is a church, so they are asking for a lot for their congregation to be able to visit the site during their services. They are proposing to also add another facility to the site. This is one of the reasons why they need the parking. The total proposed number of spaces they need will be end up being 393 spaces and they're allowed 230 by our current standards. So this is just an increase that's basically slightly above our maximum from 120% to 187%. This is not a a really egregious uh request here. Um they have the space in the land and capacity now with the if they are granted the reszone to allow it forward there. The planning commission recommended approval as submitted. The third special exception variance. It deals with a very minor issue here on the front of the property to advance there. It is a small section of the front of the property that exists in front of the existing building. This is for dealing with your corridor design overlay district. It requires a minimum 20 foot landscape buffer. It's only six feet wide in the front. Well, we can't make them do 20 feet unless they tear out some parking spaces. So, they need a a variance granted by council. So, we're not forcing them to do something they can't do. And they would need a variance granted by council to allow the six foot wide buffer instead of 20. Plenty recommendation there was approval as submitted. And finally, there's a hardship variance proposed. It's the relief from the 42 feet of pavement depth in your corridor design overlay district. And obviously with the

existing uh configuration of the property, with it being a grocery store that was developed some number of years ago that predated your corridor design overlay district standards, it would be basically difficult to require the church to encumber those standards and move the building or do something obviously ridiculous um to accommodate our standards there. So this is a true hardship variance. This is not something that the church is creating. Um so they need the variance to move forward and to allow basically any sort of permitting on the site to allow the parking. Uh staff did support the request in our report noted that the condition itself was not being created by the applicant. Um and obviously the ability to move the building would be something that would be not possible. So the planning commission recommendation approval was uh was recommend recommendation was approval estimated. So that was all five of the request. A move to a plan commercial district or some other type of plan district was not really the most viable option when we reviewed this request. So the the four the three variances the three special exception variances and the hardship variance along with a reszone were really the best path forward that we had to consider for the church. But those are all the uh presentations for the five requests. Mayor, that's

Thank you, Mr. Calendar. Are there any questions for Brad? Any comments? Well, I have 1025 church here. Tommy, you want to come forward and say anything? Nick,

I do. Uh, Nick Chambers is our executive pastor. He has been working at our other campus today. He kind of came out of the attics today, electrician. And so, he said, "Hey, I'm coming like I am." And then Don Parker, many of you know, both of these, uh, folks are are just they grew up in Monroe. And uh so uh as a matter of fact, I'm going to be very brief. Um uh our chief of police and uh Don and Nick were on the pastor search team that called me here 13 years ago. And so I was smart. So I hired two of them and uh we just hadn't hired him yet. But uh it's kind of neat and how this has happened. So our need and Brad I want to thank you for working with us. I really do. Thank you so much because our need is we've grown so much and uh so in 2018 when we moved into the facility uh we were running about 300 280 290. Now we're running on any given Sunday we're averaging about 900 on that campus and plus a couple hundred on the other campus and stadium. And so for a church it just requires a lot of parking. It's different than anything else. Uh some of you guys have attended our church and when you come to our church, we have multiple services. We do a lot of events. As a matter of fact, the Monroe Area High School baseball team is at our church tonight doing a baseball banquet. Uh and so we just want to really be able to enhance the city. We think it's going to look really good coming into the city when we finish with this project. Um Brad, we are going to move up as as you know uh the pavilion there or for the bus area that'll be moved up to kind of put us closer to the what what what you require. We're going to work hard to do that and certainly we'll make sure that the landscaping is good and we just want to make sure that you know how much we appreciate you and we're bought into Monroe, Georgia. We're in the schools. We're in the housing

authorities and God is blessing our church. And the reason why is we love God and we love people and we're always alive at 10:25. Thank you. Thank you, Tommy. Um, okay. Uh, if it's okay with you, Paul, we're going to do this all as in one fell swoop. Is that okay? Yeah, you can you can have a public hearing as to all items. Just uh open it up as to all one.

Okay. And and I guess to to make it official to make it official this is for reszone number 4547 at 1035 East Spring Street reszone from R1 to B2. Special exception variance 4548 also at 1025 and 1035 East Spring Street maximum lot coverage. Special Special exception variance 4549 1025 and 1035 East Spring Street for increased parking. Special exception variance number 4550, 1025 East Spring Street to reduce the requirement of the 20 foot landscape buffer and hardship variance number 4551, 1025 and 1035 East Spring Street, seeking relief from section 643A.3B, maximum pavement depth. That being said, I'll declare this portion of the meeting open for the purpose of public input. Is there anyone here who would like to speak in favor of any of these points? Is there anyone here who would like to speak against any of these points? Hearing none, I'll declare that portion of the meeting closed and we will move to got a lot of sections here. Hardship and amendments. You'll move to new business number 21.

I I know. Okay. I got to find it. Okay. Regulate. New business 21. Okay. For the conditional use that that we tabled, right? No, that's after that regulating plan amendment. Regulating plan amendment 45554. Okay, we're moving to regulating plan amendment 4554 and special exception variance 4555. I will uh open up this up for council to ask any questions of Brad. council only or

I'd just like to say that I am excited about this request and really would love to know how that one piece of property in the heart of that community and that residential section became zoned for anything other than one house or two houses at most. I have no idea because I tried to buy it 20 years ago and Knox said absolutely absolutely I couldn't put a house there. So, um I don't think anybody has an answer because we're all

Well, I mean that was that was just an edge edge piece of the character-based code. So, I mean it it's proximity to the downtown core drew it into that denser character district. Just seems like a it's spot zoning in a sense. Yeah, it does because of what's surrounding it, but I'm thrilled to see this come before us. Do you want to make the motion? I'll be glad to make the motion to approve both. I have a motion on the floor by Miss Malcolm. Is there a second? Second. Mr. Bradley. Are there any questions? All in favor signify by saying I. I.

All oppose like sign. Motion carries. Uh the regulating uh plan amendment and special exception variance both pass. Thank you, Karen. It's very nice to meet you. I appreciate youalls coming in. U moving to the uh reszone at 10:35 East Spring Street uh 4547, 4548, 4549, 4550, and 4551. Are there any questions for Brad? Uh is anybody going to have heartburn about making one motion in a false swoop for all of them or do you want to take anything individually? Be happy to make a motion on behalf of all items. Thank you, Mr. Bradley. Is there a second? Second.

Thank you, Mr. Dickinson. Is there any discussion? All in favor signify by saying I. I. All oppose like sign. Motion carries. That passes. Uh, thank you. Move to the application for package license for beer and wine and express limited liability court. Mr. Rosenthal, is that in order? Yes, mayor. That application is in order. Thank you. Is there any discussion? Are there any questions for Paul? I'll entertain a motion, please. Thank you, Miss Sams. Is there a second? Second.

Give that one to Miss Crawford. Is there any discussion? All in favor signify by saying I. All oppose like sign. Motion carries. I move to the appointments of historic preservation commission. Mr. Calendarer. Thank you, Mr. Mayor. uh proposed for appointment to the Historic Preservation Commission uh for council's consideration. It is the reappoint of Elizabeth Jones uh the current chair and Caitlyn Stubs. We know her. Uh is there any discussion? Any questions? I'll entertain a motion. Move to approve. Have a motion to approve by Mr. Gregory. Is there a second? Second.

Thank you, Mr. Bradley. Is there any discussion? All in favor signify by saying I. All oppose like sign. Motion carries. Moving to the North Midland Avenue streetscape. Mr. Bailey.

Thank you, sir. Um, this is a request to increase our CIP budget from 30,000 to 90,000 for that section of North Midland Avenue that sits outside of where potluck and that little um section of businesses are where it looks like a uh I don't know a safety cone display right now. Um, where the sidewalk has been uneven for years. Um, and we've we've done surveys uh marked the rightway. We've got a design that's attached in here to basically clean that up. Um, we do that in house. We'll get an easement from uh the property owner and then they will actually take care of the maintenance um in the future for us which will sit on their property, but we're going to remove those trees and then they'll maintain everything. So, just requesting that increase because of the expense of the project itself.

Are there any questions for Mr. Bailey, I'll entertain a motion. Thank you, Mr. Gregor. Is there a second? Second. Thank you, Miss Malcolm. Is there any discussion? All in favor signify by saying I. All oppose like sign. Motion carries. That passes. Moving to the tap grant project fee proposal. PI000019856. Mr. Bailey.

Thank you. Um if you try to keep up up with it by the numbers, you'll get confused. Um so this is uh same thing as we brought to council last month for the McDaniel Street tap project. This is for the tap project that will take place on Davis, Madison, and Mir. Um it is the phase two portion of that that includes uh preliminary design and engineering and then the rightway plans. Um it's with Thomas and Hutton and the expended uh the request is for $336,65916 of which grant funds will cover 80% of that. We will be eligible for reimbursement up to 269,000 of that. So only 67,000 will be our responsibility and I'll be glad to answer any questions.

Are there any questions for Chris? I will entertain a motion. Please move to approve. Thank you, Mr. Dickinson. Is there a second? Thank you, Mr. Gregory. Is there any discussion? All in favor signify by saying I. I. All oppose like sign. Motion carries. That passes. Uh moving to the sale of surplus vehicles and equipment. Mr. Bailey.

Thank you. Uh last one I've got. Um this is just the request to surplus the 14 vehicles that are attached on the um the page behind the cover page obviously and we'll use gov deals as we have in the past and helps us out gets them off the insurance gets them off the yard gives us a little space saves us a little money. Are there any questions for Chris? I'll entertain a motion. Move to approve. Thank you Mr. Bradley. Is there a second? Thank you, Miss Sams. Is there any discussion? Hearing none. All in favor signify by saying I. I.

All oppose like sign. Motion carries. That passes. Thank you, Chris. I'm not going to come back to you again tonight. Um, moving to the PD. Chief Watts, vote for a fence.

Thank you, mayor. That's all I need is a fence. No, I'm bringing bringing for council tonight a uh proposal to uh actually install a security fence around the side of our police department around the back. Of course, you know, we're a 247 operation. Uh and I know this is something we've been needing to do for some time. And we actually had an incident back on March 27th where one of my officers when they were coming to the facility, there was a gentleman waiting behind the building up next to the wall and started throwing rocks towards him in his vehicle. Uh which obviously is a safety concern and this was during daylight hours. And so a lot of times during the night our officers coming in out of that facility, we would like to uh uh recommend the installation of a security fence. And we've gotten three quotes. And the cheapest quote that we have is the one for 89,000. This will be a uh a solid metal fence, galvanized fence. I think it's like six 6 to 8 foot tall. It will have uh an actual electric opening gates and everything. Uh I know it has to meet code and I'm not up to date on what it needs to to do in order for it to be that, but uh that's what we're asking for uh for $89,000. Is that money coming from

SWAT? SLOs. Got it. Any questions for the chief? I don't have a question, mayor, but I do have I guess a comment that may turn into a question.

Um, so I can attest firsthand the importance of a need of a fence. Um, as you most of you know, I worked in law enforcement row for a short time. And uh there was one night about 2:30 in the morning where I had got back to the PD, went to get something out of the back of my car and got ambushed fortunately by a very sweet lady who was just trying to return a wallet. Um but it caught me completely off guard. Um and there's many stories like like that. So there's no doubt that 100% there needs to be a fence around the PD and probably three years ago. Um my only question is have we considered with the the local economic development that's happening in the area to make sure that it is all kosher as far as operational efficiency with new road cuts and all of that stuff. Um and if not then I think it'd be wise to 100% move forward with a fence. No doubt in my mind. Um but also try to make sure that we are being considerate of the area and you know

Yeah. This this would be more on the back toward toward Hammond. That wouldn't infringe on that property at all. Correct. Look at you, Chief. Me? Yes, sir. I think it's going to look beautiful. Yeah. No, I think No, but I just I mean the location. Yes, that's correct. It's on the back side. That's right. You want to make a motion? I don't think he's making a motion. That's not like a motion to approve. Greg, can you hear me? Yes.

Are you making a motion for this or is that some background noise? I'm sorry, that's background noise. I I was gonna I was gonna just vote for it, but I'll turn this off and let somebody make a motion. Understood. Um how I mean I don't I want to make sure this gets expedited and done as quickly as possible because like I said, it should have been done probably when the facility was built, but how can we put in a stipulation to ensure that um this fence is, you know, works well with all the other things that we have moving in that area? Is there a way to do that without tableabling the boat? You have a visual of what that is? I I see the description here, Chief, of

Yeah, I was I was actually texting Paul Robertson if he he showed me pictures of past projects. I mean, this is going to be the top tier of a galvanized fence and he showed me, like I said, pictures. It looks better than because originally we were thinking maybe a chain link with the black vinyl so you can't see through. This will be a solid fence where nobody can actually look through to the back of the facility. It would not be able to be climbed or scaled. Um, I guess I should have done a better job and got you some good pictures to kind of give you an idea of what I'm looking at. But, um, he does quality work and it will I think it will look professional. I think it will absolutely match what I've heard about on the Blaine Street project to incorporated with it. Of course, we're talking about doing, you know, landscaping with it, you know, as well.

Any other questions? Do we need to review it and table it? Do you want to discuss it with with Brad? I mean, and I want to make it I don't want to hold it up. That's not my goal because it is super necessary. Is there any way I mean if we make the if we make the motion with a we need it in asterric that before purchasing it we just make sure that everything is kosher as far as layout condition it with the plans sir condition it with the plans current current proposed plans yeah is that I think we can probably do that yeah I mean we just coordinate everything through all of that I say it's internal and I know chief's a good and then we'll be able to move forward with it yeah and get it built

if that's the case and correct me Logan or Paul if I'm I'm using these words incorrectly But I will move to approve the item number 33 the the fence for the police department. Um what's the right word? Uh yeah I guess with the condition that it is uh in accordance with the current plan that we have for that general area. All right. So the con the condition the issue is on the aesthetics I guess right is well aesthetics and functionality and setbacks to make sure that it's kosher with you know the the through roads that we're trying to cut in eventually uh and things of that nature. Um

sorry to throw everybody a curveball. Yeah. No, it's fine. I just I mean it's just if the aesthetics is what you're going for and or well it sounds like placement also. I mean, I know everybody knows it's going to be in the back there, right? And not interfering with the other economic development stuff. Well, and based off the the the description provided by Chief Watts, for me, it's not so much of an aesthetic stuff as much as it is just a functional piece that it works in conjunction with neighboring development.

Um, perhaps we could do it this way. Maybe if you're willing to amend your motion, maybe this would work. That your motion to approve the expenditure of the $89,000 to install the security fencing at the rear of the uh police department. Um it's coordination with the uh Blaine Station economic development project immediately to the south of the police department. What he said. Can I Paul said I'd like to make a motion using his words on the record. I have a motion on the floor by Mr. Bradley to approve the fence based on the conditions of what the city attorney has said. Can I take a second, please? I second that.

Thank you, Mr. Dickinson. Uh, is there any discussion? All in favor signify by saying I. I. I. All oppose like sign. Motion carries. That passes. Thank you. Uh, back to you, Chief, for the incinerator.

Yes, sir. Uh so again we're bringing uh forward council night seeking approval for the purchase of an evidence incinerator. Uh what this is is you know when we moved to our current location uh one of the problems we had when we were um at our past location was our evidence room was overwhelmed with u evidence and we got over 500,000 pieces of evidence in our current evidence room right now. And so it's a process in order for us to uh purge all that out. We have to go through destruction orders. That means old cases that have been adjudicated or even found property. These officers and detectives have to go in there and take a box of evidence uh the ability to destroy that evidence. And currently we're using Walton counties and so we have to get on their schedule when we can use their incinerator to do this. And so just trying to help expedite what we're trying to do to keep from being overwhelmed with the amount of evidence we have and then increase our uh productivity in the destruction orders. Uh we're seeking the uh the the purchase of a evidence and center into the I guess the cost of $33,200.

Thank you, Chief. Um what is the size of that? Thereabouts not not exact. I have. And is it like the size of this part of the room or is it a You know, the one the county has is a pretty good size. It says on the I guess you got it in your pack and it gives you the height and uh so 10 and a half feet by 10 foot 8 in. So I mean it's it's pretty big. It also I mean I think 5 foot wide it'll fit under a a 20 by 14 structure, right? Yeah. To keep it out of the elements. Size of a small vehicle. Okay. Yeah. I'll make a motion to approve. Have a motion by Mr. Bradley to approve. Is there a second?

Without conditions. Thank you, Miss Sams. No conditions. Uh, all in favor signify by saying I. I. I. All opposed like sign. Motion carries. That passes. Uh, moving to district items. Miss Malcolm, have anything? Uh, I do uh I certainly appreciate Pastor Wright uh coming in because that was the one thing that that we had talked about the other night. Um, Miss Crawford, no, I don't have anything. Thank you, Mr. Bradley. No, sir. Not tonight. Miss Sims, Miss Brown, Mr. Gregory.

Feel thankful for the way the city's taking care of Second Street and how nice that looks. literally walked out there and thought, "Man, looks like golf course." I mean, few exceptions. Pretty nice. Thank you. Uh, and in addition, um, South Madison where the warehouse was looks outstanding. Um, I know not in your district, but Well, and also Walker Drive, the take down that was done there dealing with the nuisance property. Appreciated that. All public works guys from uh the proclamation, right? Yeah. Yeah. Exactly. Exactly. And then also, you know, just the continued efforts to deal with the smell and situation over there. Appreciate the continued effort. Good.

Thank you, Mr. Gregor. Miss Mr. Thompson. I have have nothing in our district this this time. Thank you. Yes, sir. Mr. Dickinson,

nothing further. Um I'm I only have two on mine tonight. Um we were known are notified, I think this morning or yesterday, that Main Street America and Georgia Main Street has reertified the city of Monroe, uh, as an accredited program for 2026. So, uh, a lot of hands in play in that, but, uh, Sy's leadership has just been great. Um, I know she works really hard with with Chris and our central services team as well, but, uh, our events are just second to none and our downtown events are great. So, anything that I should else I should say about that, Chris?

No, you mentioned my name, so I'm good. That was deliberate. Um, and the other thing I had a meeting uh last week with uh Eddie Hood, who's the principal at Monroe Area, uh all of the uh cluster principles. So we had Harmony Monroe Elementary School uh and Carver brought them together with many local pastors uh and in ways that we can better support the school, but he asked also how the school could better support us. We talked about doing uh a couple of community cleanup days a year uh that the kids would do. Uh and that includes uh all levels from kindergarten through 12th grade. probably the elementary kids would be doing stuff around their particular schools. Um but the others would be directing their business right in town. So, um, I appreciated his his willingness to put together a group and he said, "Look, we've had a lot given to us and we think a lot should be expected of us and, um, he just wanted to go on record and say how much he appreciates you, uh, and appreciates our general public for the support that that he gets." Uh the other thing we were awarded yesterday, Monroe Elementary School was awarded a Georgia Reeds uh program and that's the $20,000 grant that we got from Malcolm Mitchell that will be going to some libraries um and some additional resources that the kids uh have been without for the last several years. Malcolm Mitchell was here, great guy, gave uh 350 books to me. uh the other 350 are going to be going to Sharon Elementary to Beth Morgan because we want to expand uh this literacy development program uh in the county and then throughout the state and it's just it's gotten legs. We've gone

from Monroe Elementary reading at 20% on grade level in third grade in 2022 to becoming a a literacy leader in 2024. Uh to being recognized as among the best in 2026. So um thank you Miss Sams, thank you Miss Brown. Both on that committee uh and just just a great group. So, we're lucky that and lucky to be recognized by somebody who's not in the school system and that Malcolm didn't play favorites. Um, even if he did score the last touchdown in his game against the Gator, um, I forgave him yesterday. Said it got him his wife's phone number and they dated that night and have been married ever since. So, um, that being said, I need a motion to adjourn to executive session. We do have an executive session that should take just a little bit tonight. So I need a motion, please.

So moved. Thank you, Mr. Bradley. Is there a second? Thank you, Mr. Gregory. All in favor? Signify by saying I. All oppose like sign. Motion carries. Meeting adjourned to executive session. Thanks, Tommy. Good to see you. Hey, Tom.