Board of Mayor & Commissioners - Regular Meeting

All right, can I get everybody's attention? You can hear me?

All right, this is City of Avondale State's Board of Mayor Commissioners. This is our regular meeting. It's July 8th, 2026. It's 530. I'd like to call the meeting to order. We have an agenda before us. Do I have a motion to adopt? All in favor say aye.

Aye.

All right, before we get started with comments tonight, I would like to read a statement from the Board of Mayor Commissioners.

Can everybody hear me?

Okay. City residents may have heard about an interaction that occurred outside City Hall following a recent BOMC meeting. After that meeting, the Board of Mayor, Commissioners, and the City Manager agreed it was important to come together, discuss the matter, and determine how best to move forward. The Board of Mayor, Commissioners, along with the City Manager and City Attorney discussed the matter last week in Executive Session. That discussion provided an opportunity for all involved to reflect on the importance of maintaining professionalism, courtesy, and mutual respect in all interactions involving elected officials, city staff, and the public. Wait, involving elected officials, city staff, and the public. The matter was addressed directly and respectfully, and the BOMC considers the matter to be closed. The discussion also highlighted the importance of a clearly defined of clearly defining shared expectations for professional conduct. Accordingly, the board has begun work on developing a formal code of conduct that will establish standards for interactions amongst elected officials, city staff, and others conducting city business. Our goal is to promote a culture of respect, accountability, and professionalism that will guide city government moving forward. The BMC is made up of five independently thinking individuals and we all work closely with our city manager. At times we are in full agreement and at other times we have differing perspectives. However, we all share the same responsibility to serve the residents of Avondale Estates. We remain committed to working together respectfully even when we disagree and to conducting the city's business in a manner that reflects the trust our community has placed in us. So, thank you. I have no other comments. I think some of the things we might be wondering about with the fireworks will be addressed by the chief. But thank you all for being here. I hope you all otherwise had a great Fourth of July. Mayor Pro Tem?

I don't have too much tonight. Just a big thank you to the Avondale Police Department. Looking forward to hearing more in a few minutes. But we're very grateful for you guys and the city staff for that matter. Um, and then just, uh, we all having a commissioner chat a week from today, uh, right here in this room, uh, 11 to one. So come for some of it, come for all of it, uh, and come with your concerns, complaints, questions. Um, and I'll take it all in. Uh, it's going to be myself and commissioner Swasov. So we're looking forward to that. So please come. And that's all.

Yeah. Um, yeah, I just want to just, I guess, commend, uh, The city just all the planning prior to July 4th, the event itself was, I think. An amazing job by city staff and just the. The planning that went into it, all the hard work that it took to put on this event. And I got to tell you, when the fireworks started, I was just so impressed with how everything was going. And even more impressed with the police in the events that transpired afterwards. So just... Thank you, everybody, for all the jobs that you guys did. I know things obviously didn't turn out how we had liked, but it does showcase there was just so much hard work that went into it, and then just the valor of the police officers. I cannot... tell you how impressed I was. I was right at the front with my kids and just to see the police officers immediately go to the area of concern without any consideration of their own safety. It was all about the safety of everybody that was there. So I just was, yeah. Thank you, everybody. But that's all I have to say.

Well, I'll express some gratitude and appreciation to the staff and everyone. It's my first participation in the parade. We all rode in a golf cart and even made an appearance, even though he wasn't there.

By photograph.

By photograph. And so well organized, so pleasant to participate. It was really enjoyable to kind of see the crowd lining the street and the kids. There were a lot of calories and dental visits will be coming up because Graham and Lida threw out a lot of candy that day. But that parade that, I'm sorry, that fireworks venue really worked out well. There was room to throw Frisbees. There was handicap parking. There was car parking, golf cart parking, bicycle parking. There was a princess that was 10 feet tall that had glowing wings. And, you know, it was so well done, the juggler. The food, the free ice cream, all of it. It was a very good spot. It was the weather worked out great. And there was just room for everyone and everything to be organized and straightforward. And obviously there was room for plenty of police cars and other equipment. So that was a really well done and well organized event. Yes. Wonderful.

Good evening, everyone. Thank you for coming tonight. Um, I would also like to thank the city staff for all the work they put into the 4th of July. Um, I didn't go to the fireworks. I'd gone the night before with my son's family and Tucker said I was kind of far worked out, but, um, It sounds like it was wonderful, and I'm sorry that there was some idiot that ruined things for everybody else. I would also like to say that I tried the last dance with my daughter, and you all need to try it out. It was delicious.

Thank you.

And thank you, Louie, for learning your golf or driving a golf club. I appreciate it. Mr. Manager?

Yeah, I would like to actually defer my time tonight to Chief Hess so he can provide you an update on the ongoing investigation.

Thank you.

So, to begin with, I'd like to echo the sentiments from the BOC, as well as the members of the community that have reached out over the last couple of days following the unfortunate events at the fireworks. I want to show, you know, express my deepest gratitude to the men and women of the Avondale State Police Department, as well as the Cape Town County School Police Department. was observed didn't hesitate for one moment rushed towards the danger as everyone was running away and we were able to coordinate where the threat was and actually apprehend them in less than five minutes and that is a testament to planning as well as the officers training and everything else my thoughts remain with everyone young and old We had to experience this incident. No one should ever have to endure something like this, especially during what was meant to be a joyful celebration of bringing the community together. I want to assure the board and the community that the state's police department is working hand in hand with the county district attorney's office to ensure that and other partner agencies to ensure that every charge that is appropriate under the color law will be charged in the near future. We are still working the investigation actively. Our criminal investigations division, DA's office, and other law enforcement agencies are working with us. Finally, I'm requesting anybody that was there that may have been injured, who has any information, From that night, please reach out to us directly at the police at avondaleestates.org email address. A detective will promptly follow up with you within roughly 24 hours, and no detail is too small. Everyone's account of what happened absolutely matters who has weight in this case. At this point, that's where we're at in the case, and I will continue to

I just want to say thank you for your response and everybody. Yes.

I know this is sad, but that was police at Avondale Estates.

Yeah, police at Avondale Estates.org is the Thank you.

Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. All right.

Public comment. Mr. Hover.

Over 89 Berkley Road. Two comments. The first is that I hope that the partnership between Avondale Estates and the school system will allow, will continue to allow holding fireworks in the future at the same venue. They're not scared off of this different incident. And my other comment is in regard to the work that's been going on at the top of the dam. I'm presuming it's the power company preparing to lay underground line across the dam. So if there's any information on that, I'd appreciate hearing about it. Thank you.

Can you clarify that? So there are two things going on simultaneously. One, yes, the Georgia Power is doing their undergrounding of the main service line down Wiltshire. That will not impact the dam in any structural way. Two, Dewberry is continuing to You may see, you know, multiple groups of folks in and around the area, and that's what's going on.

Okay. All right. Thank you. Yeah. Just don't want anybody getting antsy about the dam.

Okay.

All right.

Any comment online? I'm seeing none online. Yes, Jeff.

Jeff Coswell, 3222 Wind Drive. First off, Chief and all your officers and the other officers, I sat outside the entrance with Brian Fisher and watched for about 10 minutes as everything was transpiring. And, you know, the fact that everyone of your people were going in that direction and unfortunately understand they go in other directions, but I appreciate and commend the diligence and I recognize it and your people recognize it quite quickly because that's when they started moving. But the reason I asked him up here today was, you know, I've been watching, I've been sitting here in this, this audience now for almost a year, thanks to my son. And I think I've been about 80% of the meetings that I never really spoken about proceedings. I have, you know, thanks to the friends at Decaturish, you know, brazen coyotes and I may forever be owning that terminology, but One of the things I found really interesting was watching this whole millage process.

Watching what?

The millage rate process. So there was three meetings, and I did not attend the first meeting. And I wasn't sure what was shared at the meeting. But the second meeting when I came here and I enjoyed the one-on-one presentation because, you know, for me, everything is about numbers. I work for corporate America. I have a home. When I plan, I forecast, I budget, I'm using numbers. to see how the numbers were laid out. What I found really interesting was even though there was one set of numbers given that Tuesday, Tuesday, Wednesday, and then the week from Tuesday, someone presented a set of numbers. I found it interesting that many of the several individuals here were jotting down this new set of numbers. Not only was there a new set of numbers, there seemed to be a new source, I think the word was TAD or something, that really wasn't taken into account the first time. One of the individuals here was trying to speak and there was a different set of numbers. And at the same time, there was a comment being made about our commitments to capital expenditure. I would have liked to have seen that. Because as a homeowner, and some of you know that I had a problem with water, yes, my family voted to put up a wall to stop the water from running into my crawl space. But just because we committed to that or said we were going to do that, if I didn't have the finances to do it, I couldn't do it. So it's not easy at all to get $32,000. But while I appreciate what Graham was saying that we committed to these expenditures, well, number one, I didn't get to see them. And number two, I don't know how you commit to spending when you don't know how much to spend. And that may be a procedure thing, but it just seems to be an odd process to do that, not concurrently, but at a different period in time. I just think that, you know, we know enough based on prior appraisals, and there's probably some actuary that knows the percentage of people that are going to protest or go against their appraisal. There's probably a percentage that we know how much they're going to pay. And let's line these numbers up. Before we make financial decisions, and granted, over the past five years, my taxes went up 68.7%. But my whole point is, when we do this process going forward, I think we need to be more transparent with the numbers. have the numbers ready before the first of the three meetings, and keep the numbers consistent for all three meetings. So we can really make an informed decision because my expectation of the five of you sitting there is to be making decisions based on the numbers that seem to be moving around way too much for this process. Thank you. Thank you.

All right, one more chance online.

One more out there. Anyone around the corner?

Yes, ma'am.

Robin Hughes, 107 Clarendon. I want to speak to the altercation that was out in the parking lot. And while I appreciate, Jonathan, what you read, that from now on, Our city officials and our employees will be respectful and professional in their dealings with each other. I would imagine that they already know that. So do you think that by reading what you wrote is going to make a difference? I would think in these positions that everyone would already know how they should treat other people and being respectful and professional and having a sense of decorum. They shouldn't need to be reminded. There shouldn't be an official reading that that's how we should behave publicly to others in a parking lot.

Okay. Thank you. Okay. Anybody else? Okay. I'm gonna bring it back up here.

Thank you for your comments. All right, item number four. We have before us the meeting minutes of the June 23rd, 2026 special call meeting, June 24th, 2026 special call meeting, June 24th, 2026 regular meeting, June 24th, 2026, work session, and June 30th, 2026, special call meeting. Do I have a motion to engross the minutes?

So moved.

That was Graham. Do I have a second? That's Lida. Any comments, questions? Okay. All in favor say aye. Aye. All right. All right, the first, really only item of business this evening, item number six, consideration of a purchase for five in-car radios for loud communications. We have talked about this previously, but Mr. Manager, is there anything to add?

Just to remind the BOMC, this request is a result of the department repurposing radios from Boulder cars when new cars were replace those is now.

Okay. Just be certain if the contract is with Loudoun Communications. Correct. For a 24 change.

Correct. And that vendor is a part of the state the state accepted contract for this product.

Okay. Alright. So do I have a motion to approve a contract with Loudoun Communications Inc.? to purchase five in-car radios for $24,002.95. So moved. That was Louie. Do I have a second? Second. That was Mike.

Any questions, comments? Good. Okay. All in favor say aye. Aye. That's five.

Okay. That is it for our meeting this evening. If you haven't been here recently, we're going to take a 10-minute break, and we will come back and adjourn down there for our work session. So if you have any questions, comments, this is going to be a 10-minute break. So do I have a motion to adjourn? If that was light, I do have a second. Second. Michael?

Say aye. Aye.

That's five. Okay. Thank you all for being here. 10-minute break. It is 5.51. We'll meet back at 6. All right.

Mayor and Commissioners, this is our work session.

It is now 6 o'clock. It's July 8, 2026. I'd like to call the meeting to order. We have an agenda before us. Do I have a motion to adopt? Second. Second. Second. Second. Second. Second. Second. Second. Second. Second. Second. Second. Second. Second. Second. Second. Second. Second. Second. Second. Second.

Second. Second.

Second. Second. Second. Second. Second. Second. Second. Second. Second. Second. Second. Second. Second. Second. Second. Second. Second. Second. Second. Second. Second. Second. Second. Second. Second. Second. Second. Second. Second. Second. Second. Second. Second. Second. Second. Second. Second. Second. Second. Second. Second. Second. Second. Second. Second. Second. Second. Second. Second. Second. Second. Second.

Second. Second. Second. Second. Second. Second. Second. Second. Second. Second. Second. So, unfortunately, because of the events of Saturday, a lot of our focus this week has been on that. And because of that, we are only prepared tonight to discuss the final 25th Amendment, and we'll bring the 26th Amendment back to you at the next meeting. So, yes, ma'am.

I have a question. Sure. Haven't we already submitted our audit for 25?

Well, actually, no. So because of the transition from Brittany to Tony Jo, we asked for and were granted an extension. We believe that we will have We don't anticipate any complications there. And so what we're discussing tonight, which we will need to adopt, is the result of those audited numbers. So what you see tonight are your final audited numbers. We just don't have the ACFER published.

So all of this has to do with 2025.

Correct. All of this is 2025. And so you should have in your packet... a memorandum outlining all of those amendments, and then some narrative explaining them. But Tony Jo is going to review that with you, especially the piece regarding the GASB change, because it is a very nuanced kind of complex issue that Tony Jo is here to answer questions about if you have any. So I'll turn it over to Tony Jo and go right ahead.

Sure. So I'll sort of follow the way that this memorandum is laid out. Kind of the first group of the amendments that are presented is the recognition of additional revenue in your general fund of the $135,000, and that is to cover the additional expenditures that occurred during the year. Those were in the parks department. They were from some things such as a native plants consulting agreement, some repair and maintenance work at the town green, some tree work, and then also some equipment repairs in Maine. So we are just recognizing enough revenue to serve off that set that expenditures so that your general fund budget remains balanced. The next section.

Excuse me. No, no, no. So we got $135,000 in grants.

Well, yeah, some of it was permanent revenue, and then we did have some additional LMIC money and also the grants.

And that was money that we got in addition to what we were expecting.

Yes, in addition to your original budget. So this is the amount that is. That's how it was done. Correct. Okay. And then the next section of those budget amendments is has to deal with the implementation of GASB statement number 96. That relates to subscription-based information technology agreements and the requirements of how we have to recognize those. That was specific to the Axon agreement. So in the statement, it requires that you recognize the issuance of that technology arrangement. So that's why you see the 305.356. There is also the offsetting capital outlay for that because that's basically what you're doing in that is that you are purchasing that equipment. And then there's also a component that deals with the recognition of the principal piece of that for the current year. that have been budgeted uh within the maintenance contracts for the police department because they knew that they were going to have to pay that amount in the current year but that statement requires that we uh actually show that as a principal payment so it's just sort of a movement of that uh within those two of us can you collect like gasp uh governmental accounting standard report um

Okay, so last year, was this money we didn't expect to spend but did?

No, it just has to do with the implementation of that contract and what that statement requires. Previously, before 96, you didn't have to recognize the cost of that full contract. You were just sort of recognizing the yearly piece that you paid for that maintenance related to it. And this isn't the yearly maintenance? No, that's the entire contract.

Is this something that the state covers or?

No, it's just being part of that. It is. So it is. Yeah, it is just related to how GASB requires that you recognize it. Like I said, previously, every year, all you would recognize is really the cash outlay, right? Because that's what we think about in our budget is what do we have to pay for that maintenance contract every year? This GASB statement sort of reframed that and said, no, you can't just recognize that piece. You actually have to recognize that you have that commitment for that contract, and that is what this is doing in that. So it is really just the implementation of that statement specifically. Okay.

Thank you.

Yep. The next section is related to transfers from the general funds of your capital projects for the $2,382,596. That is really two components within that number. 351,596 was the amount of current year revenues over expenditures in the general fund, in addition to the 53,441 that you had originally budgeted, which reflects the 405,000 that your general fund had revenues over expenditures in totality for the year, because y'all had made the decision about sort of whatever that access was to get transferred to capital. So that is accomplishing that. The next component is in a previous year before 25, y'all had designated that a little bit over $2 million would get transferred to capital projects. So that is the completion of that process. We did have some capital projects that occurred during the year. And so that transfer needed to go ahead and get booked. And that has been booked as of here. Yes, this will be as of 2025, that transfer has occurred. And that money has been moved to capital projects.

And so that is the balance sheet shows or may would include that transfer having been done as of May in the current year.

Yes. Yes. Because we had to go back and book it as of 21st of December. I mean, 31st. Yes. Okay. As of the end of 2021.

So this is already happening.

Yes. And then lastly, as part of this budget amendments, those are your other special revenue funds. So this is accounting for the activity that occurred within those funds. So you will see the recognition of tag revenue, the taxes that were collected, as well as interest revenue. some revenue in your police seizure, as well as the expenditure for some equipment, tree fund revenue. And then in the ARPA fund, previously that money had been recognized as deferred revenue because the ARPA money came in sort of all at once. And so that's deferred until we actually had expenditures to recognize against that. And so that is what this is accomplishing. It's showing that, yes, we spent it. We had the expenditures in the projects that were ARPA-related, and then we were recognizing that revenue loss of that expenditure. So your ARPA funds will be considered complete as it's finished. All right.

Yes. Just for a little further explanation, we And then that tree fund is a new fund that we created for recompense dollars to be used for the planting of trees. Specifically, if y'all recall, that came about as a result of the county sewer line project. All right, folks. So we will have an ordinance that we bring to you at the next meeting, officially about these amendments. An ordinance? Or a resolution? No, it's an ordinance. Oh, and life sheet.

Correct.

I'd be the first, I think. Tony, these numbers on the left, are those line numbers, account numbers?

Those are our specific general ledger account numbers, yes. That's the way my brain works, is making sure that we've got that all. And this is also what we have to submit to the auditors when we show that we've done this final amendment so that they make sure that it rolls in correctly to our app. So it's included here. That way, y'all are 100% clear with what we're amending in the budget.

That's it. Thank you. Thank you. All right. Any questions about the budget amendment? And so just to follow up, so next time we will be something about 15-6.

Yeah, so the ordinance for 25 will come to the regular meeting. stormwater project, the addition of the donation made to the city by Waffle House, the increase to the line item for the city hall renovations. Those are the items that will be a part of the mid-year event that records this.

To be discussed at the next one.

And the centennial vote, that is correct.

All right. I'm good? Okay. Makes sense to me.

We're good? Yeah. Does the timing of all this, the ordinance, work out to allow for the extension?

Oh, yeah. It's a six-month extension period. So we are fine and expect to include far in advance of that extension.

Good. All right. Other comments?

i just have one request those of us who got the form attached to the thing is there any way you can put headers on there so like we know that this is your account number and this it makes it a lot easier for us in the public because we don't have your big information thank you you know live

Okay. One more call out there. Okay. Seeing none, do I have a motion to adjourn? That was a lot. Do I have a second? Second. Let me say aye. Aye. Thank you all for being here. Appreciate it.