City Council - Regular Meeting

Good evening. It's good to see everybody. I'd like to call the uh study session for City North Augusta City Council for Monday, April the 13th, 2026 to order. It's been about eight months since we've been here, so it's make sure I remember how to say that. Uh, at this time, I'm going to turn over to our city administrator, uh, Mr. Jim Clifford.

Thank you, Mr. Mayor and Council. Just as a reminder, uh, as our normal practice is, we'll go through an agenda review. Uh, we have a lot for the agenda review this evening. I suspect that'll eat up most of our time. Uh, then we'll have department details. And then under mayor's matters, uh we have no focus item for this evening because we wanted to keep that off the table based on the amount of uh actions we're going to be talking about for the next city council meeting. So with that, if we can, we'll move into the uh draft agenda review. And so I'll skip over we got a number of uh proclamations the mayor will be making uh along with recognizing our employee of the quarter and then also recognizing our youth. So we're going to have a youth appreciation uh day. So, we'll have a number of our high school students here. Those students get married up with staff members and council members uh and they'll be recognized uh at the start of the council meeting for next week. And then we'll move into uh old business and there are two items under old business. The first is under planning and development ordinance number 2026-06 to approve the revised general development plan of the uh plus or minus 195.39 uh acre Hammond's Ferry plan development located on the west side of Georgia Avenue between the North Augusta Greenway and the Savannah River. Revisions relating solely to phase B of such uh revised general development plan. Second reading. So, it's kind of a long title. Uh, and again, we're not talking about 195 acres that that constitutes the the development of Riverside Village. We're really focused on the parcel D. Uh, as far as a a change of usage. Uh, and I know we've talked about this uh in the past and uh I'll go ahead and skip in your council packets under attachment uh 8, you've got page seven of 26. Really what it shows there is the parcel identifier uh and you can see parcel D and the use becomes commercial office parking or 083

acres uh density being 80,000 foot parking to be determined. Uh and again as a reminder for council and for the folks watching uh in the room and at home uh the 80,000 foot is based on an engineering assessment of what could actually fit on that site. Uh again, the financials do not bear out building an 80,000 foot building based on what we potentially have at bear. Uh but ultimately that's what would be authorized to put on the site. Uh and so ultimately you've got a lot of documentation here for this. That's that's the crux of what is occurring in this action is changing it from what it currently is uh designed for and allowed for which is residential uh over a small amount of retail uh to change it into commercial office space. And if you all recall the parcel C which is now residential and um retail space was designed to be a five-story office building. Uh and so those would basically swap uh the intent of those two uh parcels. Although the the first part of the swap had already occurred, parcel C was a previous council action to change that into retail and uh residential. Uh but this would allow for commercial on parcel D, which would feed into some of the following actions there. So certainly something that uh we've talked about. This has gone through planning commission. Uh it was brought here to council. Uh, and so you've already had a first reading of this particular item. Uh, but we're now at second reading. Uh, and I will pause for any questions. And again, if there's any very specific planning questions, uh, I've got Tommy Paradise, uh, and also Tom Zer from an engineering perspective here in the the gallery to be able to address those concerns if you need them.

Yes, sir. I have a question. the the original the original development uh agreement. What was parcel D designed for in the original agreement? My understanding is parcel D was for retail and for residential town homes, correct? It was in the original agreement. I actually I think the original agreement was apartments and and uh retail, but the current one that's approved is for town homes and retail. As I looked at the information based on the original agreement, town homes is what was designed in there. So essentially, it hasn't changed up to this point until we take action.

That's correct. Now, I have the original Hammond's Ferry PD right here on my phone from 2002, and I've done an overlay of that map with the Riverside Village PD. On the original Hammond's Ferry PD, it looks like that parcel is undeveloped. I don't believe that's the information that's that at least that I have. You're talking about once we decide to develop the D that part. Not when it was just raw land. It was dated 2017. The first development code that you're asking, not 2002. No, not 2002.

So, Councilman, just Councilman Briatico, just to be clear, what I'm referencing is the kind of the start date of Riverside Village, which is the 2017 development. So, if you have documentation that predates that to 2002, that's not a baseline that staff has been using for um items inside Riverside Village because those don't govern Riverside Village at this point in time. Okay. Well, when we say original PD, I think the Hammond's Ferry PD, which is the original PD that governed that area. And I can show you right here, parcel D is not developed on that on that map.

Well, I'm not sure if that's a concept sketch or is that an actual plan development? This is the actual plan development that the the the company that did this was so proud of it that they put left it on their website. Scapa South Carolina uh it was a award got given an award from Scapa to the company that developed it Leland Development. I think those are renderings. So I think that uh particular item did not include the stadium uh or some of the other aspects of the the current Riverside Village. No, this is just straight up Hammonds Ferry PD circuit 2002.

So basically what Mr. Briatico is looking at is something that didn't even include anything from beyond the houses at Hammond's Ferry.

I think uh again I'd be swimming in the deep end of the pool there Councilman which is you know there's a Hammond's Ferry PD which I believe is a residential document and then at some point in time the city council well before many of you were seated here uh went to uh approve Riverside Village PD which bifurcated. So when you talk about phase A and phase B, phase B being the Riverside Village aspect, that is not represented in the original Hammond's Ferry PD. U so the the documents that govern the current Riverside Village, the master developments, all those kinds of things rest on the foundational documents of the plan development which was approved uh by the city council to show what it looks like today. So when we talk about parcel A, A1, B, D, those parcels are all listed in the Riverside Village PD.

So we're talking about two two separate apples and oranges right now. I understand council member's point about So what I'm making reference to to be clear is I have heard 20 billion times that parcel D was always supposed to be developed. Partial D is and that is not accurate.

Well, I would disagree, Councilman. parcel D. It was named parcel D in the Riverside Village PD. It might not have been it might have been called something different in the 2002 documentation you have at your disposal there, but the the current nomenclature of the various parcels, parcel D in its naming was named Riverside Village. So the maybe the kind of like Prince the formerly known as like I'm not sure what the formerly known as. uh with parcel D was uh but since parcel D has been named uh that's been the use.

So we're we're in agreement about what piece of property but the naming were were separate on but that piece of property in the original 2002 Hammonds Ferry PD there was much more green space left around the brick ponds and that parcel was undeveloped. And that's all I'm saying is is I've heard a 100 thousand times that parcel D has always been supposed to be developed. And according to the when we first went down there and started looking around that area and said, "Hey, we're going to do this and we're going to do this. We're going to put houses here." The original intent was to leave that little corner of the brick pond undeveloped. So again, I think you're look when you look at those two different PDs, Councilman, you're talking about the Hammonds Fairy PD, which does not reflect the hotel, the stadium, and any of those other kinds of aspects before that,

right? And then the city council opted to go into phase B, which is Riverside Village. And when Riverside Village was approved, that was meant to be developed at that point in time. I've read all of them page for page.

There you go. But the reality is there was no brick pond park in 2002. It was a dead no oxygen. It wasn't until and the rendering that you posted really there's an additional rendering from that rendering that uh planning department has. I've seen it. I guess I should have done it. But bottom line is that's when the city met with the developers and developers at that time said, "Hey, you know what? We're not going to build a lot of the stuff that we wanted to build around the brick ponds on the north side up at top side where the greenway is. Um we want to turn that into a system for storm improvement. Um so then that's when Bob Brooks and Tom Zer and Tanya Strickland in 2007 that's when the city decided to go out with the developer got the grants and the brick ponds were developed. So yeah, I mean it's just been a whole different So again, it's real simple. If there hadn't been development there by the development in the city, there would be no Brick Pond Park today. Period. It sat there 60 years dead. And the developers went out and got the grant. The city took ownership of it and built this amazing system that quite frankly we ought to be bragging around the country. I think we should have won an award. Tom, I don't know if we ever did, but we should have won an award for an ecosystem and a and what we have created there is something really no one else has done. It's pretty amazing. So,

I know I've been here 75 years and I was telling somebody today that brick pond was nothing. No one went to it. Nobody did anything. It just laid sat there. Old greenish looking water. Nothing. Nothing was there. This has only been about the last few years that there's all of a sudden all this excitement about it because it's never no one been excited about it. I I completely understand. But I do want to say that myself and probably many other people in this city have been treging around there before the city fixed it. 15 years old I was walking around down there. Um I mean

it's always and I'm gonna tell y'all a story. My only point is Rick Bond is that when people first started looking at that P parcel of land, the original the original little sketch that somebody drew out, the original plan shows that parcel is undeveloped, that little piece of property. That's my only point, Councilman. I would say that the original design of that brick ponds was to fill them in. They they were going to eliminate them, and it it wasn't until the city and the developer got together that they wanted to save them. So if you want to go back to that one, you should also go back to the spot where they wanted to eliminate them completely. We are all glad they didn't.

Any other questions? I'm sorry.

All right. Go. So moving. So these items are linked and actually you're going to see the three items 8, nine, and 10 are all contingent upon each other. So essentially uh if the council does not pass uh item 8, this ordinance that we just discussed, uh then there's really not much point in moving forward on 9 and 10, but I'll go ahead and correction not 9 and 10. The u yeah 9 and 10. So the next one is resolution number 20265. This was something that was originally brought to the council and tabled. It's authorizing the city to purchase real estate located in Riverside Village, specifically parcels B and D uh removed from the table. And then if you want to go into your council packet. So again, just to reorient the council and our uh citizenry parcel D, which we've talked about in the last uh item ordinance is the last uh really undeveloped piece of land that's there at the bottom of this hill here on Center Street uh caddy corner to the entrance of SRP Park. Parcel B is the stadium parking deck. So there are three decks that are in support of Riverside Village. Uh and so the first is what was formerly known as the medak deck directly across from city hall. Uh the second is the deck that supports the crown plaza. That's also a city-owned deck. And then you have stadium uh parcel B which is the stadium deck which is privately owned uh currently by Greenstone. And so ultimately uh this would allow the city to move forward for a purchase price of $5 million and also abatement of taxes for this uh calendar year for parcels B and D to move forward for the purchase of those two items. Uh and that would be paid for through the Department of Energy uh settlement funds, not through general fund or capital projects fund. Uh and so again this is a linked uh project. I believe uh our city attorney had made a uh comment earlier about uh

the the need for parking for parcel D. Uh there are some other aspects out there, but parcel D is the last remaining parcel that does not have dedicated parking associated with uh that parcel. So, it needs to have off-site parking or off parcel parking. And stadium deck B is the last uh option for parking other than potentially the medak deck. and it's not really realistic because people for the most part are doing it uh traveling up to the medak anyway. So ultimately uh parcel D and B are linked. It allows for dedicated parking in the stadium parking deck which would then become publicly owned by the city. It would also allow us to pure fleet uh our parking options. So, our assistant city administrator, Jamie McCauley, has been meeting with a number of vendors uh just to get some different capabilities, but we're going to go out to market for uh a parking solution. Uh and so ultimately, we want to have a consistent theme in Riverside Village. So, we want to make sure that if you're going to park in the stadium deck or the hotel deck that the parking mechanisms are the same. It's the same type of entry and exit system. It's the same type of electronics. if we have an app that use that we don't want to have multiple variants of parking systems in Riverside Village which we currently have today and it's not super effective uh or efficient. So this this solves multiple problems. It helps us solve some of the parking problems and it also helps us um start to utilize the Department of Energy funds that we have uh for cyber infrastructure which is what was named. uh and there would still be uh future city council debate and uh involvement as far as design and engineering and placement for this building. So if you recall a lot of the council action that occurred with the public safety headquarters, there were a number of times the staff would come to city council to get uh approval either financially or for design. So ultimately uh item N allows the city

administrator to enter into uh negotiations which is uh makes it sound like we haven't already started negotiations and Kelly Zir and our outside council have already drafted the the agreement which is in your council packet. Uh if you uh look in there I believe it's attachment number nine uh lays out the aspects of the sale. Uh and you can see on page three or page seven of 40 uh the purchase price shall mean a total purchase price of five million and no dollars represent the amount of the city and county property taxes. Uh that still has to be filled in for the calendar year 2025. Uh and that will include closing shortly after. The rest of this is kind of legal framework language which I'm not going to bother to try to explain because Kelly could certainly do a much better job of that than I can. Uh but ultimately the resolution that's before you allows uh your city administrator to enter into final negotiations with that as the framework document uh to sign on your behalf as the council.

Quick question. Um I'm put on my real estate app. Would we be on the hook for any roll back taxes? If there was such probably not going to be just in case certainly with the city was buying but at the same time deck is already commercial. Yeah. Just want to clarify.

The other thing I wanted to say that I probably should have covered earlier in item number eight, which I guess flows at a nine as well, is you have a uh general development plan revision, which involves parcel D, but there's no revision required for parcel B, Bravo. Uh because the usage is not changing. It's still parking. So, you're not changing the parking deck to be something that's not a parking deck. It's still parking. So regardless of who the owner is, whether it's privately held or publicly held, the usage in that parcel is identical. Mr. Clifford, the um the parking deck, it's mostly concrete. Would you say it is in good shape, excellent shape maintenance-wise, elevator works or any issues at all

without a uh PE designator behind my name? Uh and uh Mr. easier.

I would say that it's a it's in good shape. Uh we've you know we are certainly well familiar with that deck. Uh we also do fire inspections in that deck for the uh the elevator aspect. So our public safety is in there on a recurring basis as they are with all of our uh decks that involve the elevators. Uh and so we have a level of familiarity with that deck and also we have a level of familiarity and comfort because the Augusta Green Jackets have been managing that deck. Uh and we have a relationship with the Augusta Green Jackets. So, I think we have a a good reservoir of knowledge on the deck. There are no engineering concerns that have been brought to the table by uh our director of public works and engineering, Tom Zeser. Uh and so again, the the the decks are in good shape. And I would actually say parcel B, the stadium deck is likely in better shape than the hotel deck because it was built later. Uh so the hotel deck was finished first and parcel B was actually finished while after I had started employment here at the city after 2020. So, that deck is newer.

And And isn't parcel B the the parking deck the largest of the three decks? I'll defer to JD since he's the parking member guy, but I think the answer is yes. It's a close second. The Medak building, the Medak deck across the street, I believe, has a few more spaces.

Okay. So I guess I kind of want to go back to understanding once we vote this res is this going to be a single vote resolution. First of all, it is just like any other u contract authorization. Uh you're not doing an ordinance change. So that's why you voted twice or will vote twice for the planning and development action because that's u an ordinance change. But the resolution has to do with purchasing is a one-time vote. So it's a single vote action. So we will untable and vote all in the same day. That is correct. That's my understanding, Councilman.

Okay. Now, I kind of want to go back to the very beginning. So there's just one thing that I'm not quite understanding. We win this money in the DOE settlement. The state does they say, "Okay, we're splitting it between these. Aken County, you get this much, which means Aken, you get this much. Aken County, you get this much. City of North Augusta, you get this much." How did we get to the point where which I obviously know about the lock and dam and why we need that and stuff. Um did the state come to us and say we'll give you so much for a cyber center or is that something that somebody within the city asked for?

We were approached by the delegation and this actually I recall this because it happened in the first 90 days that I was employed in the city. Uh and they did an all call. So for all of the eligible municipalities and counties, uh they asked for a project listing and said, "Hey, tell us what kind of uh aspects that you could ask for." And just like we deal with a number of things with the delegation, not everything is going to be feasible. So they may say, "Hey, I'm I'm going off memory, not email traffic." You may have talked about trying to get additional fire trucks. And so I think the discussion at that point in time was hey that's not going to make it through the legislature process because again has to get voted on by the legislature. Um what are the projects that you have? So we gave a number of projects uh that were potentially and I remember uh James Sutton had proposed the transfer station something that was needed. So that made the list. Um we were talking about the lock and dam uh because that's still a concern item because that affects uh obviously everybody here in the CSR but uh certainly was another item and then we also talked about cyber infrastructure which is not unlike the city of Aken because they got department of energy money for the building they just put in their downtown and so I think we were coordinating between the multiple entities about what our project lists are going to be. Uh and so that's how I think cyber you know got into the mix of what can actually pass through the legislature uh and what are the needs of the city at the time.

So it was the city that suggested to the state that we want cyber. That's correct. Okay. Um were any of the other things that people mentioned have been coming to the city council and asking for over the years asked for? You have to give me some specific examples. senior center, animal shelter, more sidewalks, resurfaced road, you know.

No, and I know roads were not considered. And if you look at the the legislative list or the Department of Energy, you know, recipients, they were also looking at projects that weren't going to already be covered by uh things that are normally covered by penny sales tax or C fund or any number of other funding venues. And I would tell you that uh animal control and senior centers were not something that was discussed as a city council priority in 2020. Okay. Thank you. So

I want to mention Dennis about those sidewalks. Tom, you remember years ago when we had the fund for sidewalks in North Augusta? Well, this neighbor on this side wanted the sidewalk. This neighbor on this side didn't want sidewalk. It was a headache because you never could get everybody together who wanted the sidewalks. Totally understand. Just out of all the things we could have asked for is this kind of where I'm going with this.

I will say I had a conversation with Representative Hixon about 30 minutes before coming in the room about this topic. And he said if we do not use the money for cyber related projects, it will more than likely be taken away. He said it went through the House. The Ways and Means Committee voted on it for that and for us to come back and say something different is not going to go. Understood. I'm just more or less trying to get to the point that that's something that the city asked for.

And if we if we vote this resolution, this locks the DOE funding in, which means the only way we can go back, if we can go back at all, is to repay the state or this is a cyber center. Period. I would say most likely. Yes, Councilman. Thank you.

All good questions. Anybody else before we move on?

All right. All right. We'll move into new business. Uh so the first one is under planning and development ordinance number 2026-08 authorizing and approving approving the execution and delivery of a fifth amendment to master development agreement and a development inducement agreement and other matters relating there to first reading. So you have I believe a copy in the of a binder on your portion of the dis. Uh this is a a lot of lot of documents in here, but really what I would direct you to is the fifth amendment. So every time we make a major change or you make a major change, I don't make any changes. You all make changes to Riverside Village, then there's a master development agreement which uh dictates how the village is constructed as far as the the items. And so I think if you go I would have you go right way to the back of the items because these other ones are historical because these are all adopted. So you have a first amendment, a second amendment, a third amendment and a fourth amendment. And those all amendments are ones that were previously passed by city councils through vote. And now you have the proposed fifth master development agreement which is also tied to the earlier actions of 8 and nine which have to do with the purchase of uh B and D. And so if you go to the second page uh there you can see paragraph five as kind of the guts of it which talks about um exhibit A which is the fifth amendment to the MDA and that u desires to the city desire correction according to master development developer desires to revise the master plan with respect to parcel D as in delta including changing the planned use of parcel D and updating the status of the parcel D project described in the master development agreement and two has requested the city and certain owners enter an amendment to the master development agreement for the purpose of making certain amendments and modifications to the master development agreement and the master plan. So when

we do significant changes to the village and that changes of usage that requires a change in the master development agreement. Uh and so that's the language that you have here in your binder is that change to the MDA and that's a two vote uh item. Councilman Ryo to your point about things that involve zoning and regulations. Uh those are a two vote action not a one vote action. So example the fourth amendment was when we changed the south city partners and we made the adjustment on those parcels.

Correct. But again those are all these are linked items. So if for example one of those items didn't pass uh then there's no point in changing the MDA the master development agreement because that is that's why it's in the batting order that it is. You'll have plenty of time to look at that over the week, but that's the language is very similar and I don't know if Kelly had any uh additional feedback, but that's I'm trying to keep it at the cliffnotes version of that's what that MDA change really does. Any questions for All right, let's move on.

All right, I'm going to probably have Tommy come up here and be prepared to talk on this one a little more. Uh, and this is item number 11 under planning and development ordinance number 2026-09 to approve the general development plan for the 201.8 acres the hive plan development on the east side of West Martintown Road between Knobone Avenue and Interstate 20 first reading. This is an item that went to the planning commission. My understanding is it actually decreases the number of uh lots and size of the lots for the hive. And so just to reorient you to the hive, if you're going west to east, the the hive is at exit one. You have a commercial component which sits on the Martintown road side. You have a middle portion which you can already see the apartment buildings that are going up because you can see those both from Martintown Road and also from Interstate 20. And then on the east side of the development, which uh kind of is behind the North Augusta High School uh is the single family home component by Stanley Martin. And that's what this portion uh relates to is this the homes, the single family residences. Uh and based on the site conditions uh that they ran into, they decided it was uh more advantageous to decrease the size of lots and decrease the total number of homes uh there for the the general development plan. Tom, did I get that right? And it also allows some buffering that'll be common area. You could they could make the 3/4 to a quarter acre lots, but by doing it this way. Um there's common areas there's buffering between the houses and the interstate yards don't back up so the drainage swells will be able to work through people's yards. quick question. Uh, is this going to create any additional green space?

It'll increase buffers. Now, kind of kind of. Yeah. When you say green space, are you talking it's not increasing parks, but it'll be increasing undeveloped space, which you'll be not be part of a lot. Yep. That's what I'm getting at. So, if I'm hearing you correctly, the houses the lots will be smaller, but there'll be more common space in between the the homes. Yes. So, there'll actually be 23 less lots the way they re redesigned it. And why was that decided? I mean, is there a reason they said to do that?

Terrain. Huh? terrain. Oh. Oh, okay. I'm sorry. Sorry. Topography of the land terrain. Yeah. Well, the rain would cause problems. Yeah. Good questions.

So, I know some uh citizens came out that live on the connect near the the back of the hive uh at the planning commission talked about their desire to not have a connection to that road. Uh the city staff is still of the opinion that that connection needs to exist for public safety uh in order to reach all of the homes, the single family homes uh in the hive in a timely manner. Right now the fastest response would be out of fire station 2 uh which is there off five notch road. So the transit time coming down five notch uh through the the county road into the back of the hive is the fastest response that we can have uh for any kind of fire event within that development. If there was a fire station 4 in existence, which there is not, uh, in the exit one corridor, which is planned for in CPSD5, then that connection, you know, would really be a philosophical discussion amongst the council to say, hey, do we want connectivity in our our neighborhoods or not? But from a staff perspective, uh, by not having that connection, you're going to increase the response time to city residents for, uh, fire response, which is not our recommendation. Miss Paradise, just from a a timeline um point of view, you know, we've got the apartments are up. We're they're working on single family homes. At at what point are they going to begin the commercial development? You know, we've got people that are going to be moving to the area here and and and there's not going to be any amenities for them.

So, Councilman, I'll take that as a a doout action and have that discussion with the developer. I know that the intention uh was to start development in 2026 for the commercial aspect but I don't have a current timeline uh you know from Mcnite at this time. I would agree though that uh of the things that are going into that location uh commercial is definitely what's been requested by you know the citizens certainly uh the folks that live north of I20 uh and in that normal in the areas right around that neighborhood are interested in grocery stores and those kinds of amenities to be able to you know have a quicker turn to to shopping o opportunities but the plan the the PD the plan development there specifically lays out commercial there on Martintown Road. So again, that would not change unless you as a city council were approached by the developer to change it and then approved that change. But right now, it's still listed as commercial uh there on the Martintown Road frontage.

Mr. U Clifford or Mr. Paradise, are they I know they've worked a lot on the apartments. Are they starting to lease those at this point or they not at that level yet? We're we're getting close to the cos. Um we we have done the inspections on the clubhouse and I believe they're in there on a temporary type basis. Uh but the apartments to the best of my knowledge, they're not leasing yet, but they're getting close. The apartments across the street from Martintown Road, the development that's up on the hill, Parkers, is it? Yeah. Do you have any They're completely developed up there. They are.

Yeah. Do you know how popular they've been? It's been several months, I think. Uh probably going on five or six months now before me going back and talking to the general manager there. Uh but they were I think 60 to 70% filled at that point in time. Um, so there's definitely demand there and they're nice. They're nice apartments. I know some people that live there and they love it. Yeah, they're nice. All good questions continue. Any anything else on this one? All right. Thank you, Tommy. All right, Jim. So, for the next three items, uh, items 12, 13, and 14, I'm going to defer to, uh, our assistant city administrator, JD McCauley. So, JD, I'll turn it over to you starting with item number 12.

Great. Great. Uh, good evening, mayor and council. Uh, this item, uh, resolution 2026-21 is to, uh, add additional, uh, golf cart parking in Riverside Village and do additional safety improvements. So, we had a great response from the improvements you authorized for the new ballards that you saw down in Riverside Village with the baseballs. Um, and we had, uh, we've implemented the, uh, high enforcement zone and also, uh, valet um, successfully. Um and in implementing the valet, we realized that a lot of folks um want more golf cart parking. And so in response to that, um we have uh currently a proof of concept that it'll be ready for opening day for uh the green jackets, um which is additional golf cart parking, which is in the area of uh where they had the uh the construction trailer and the lay down yard, which is referred to as parcel D. Um they had that uh improved. They had some rock put down there for um for that construction trailer. Um so we have that ready to go. We worked with the existing property owner to allow golf cart parking. And if the other resolution uh to buy the parcel goes forward, then this resolution asks for additional funding to further improve that lot um for golf cart parking. It wouldn't be a permanent improvement because it would be um temporarily improved until construction on a larger building uh would come forward. Um you know, it's years down the road. Uh but this is the interim solution. It provides about 55 additional golf cart parking spots right there really close to uh restaurants and uh the hotel uh green jackets especially will help with our surge parking. Um and you can see the layout that engineering put together as uh depicted in exhibit A. And then uh in exhibit B is improvements to the median. So, the pedestrian area between the Crown Plaza and SRP Park is an area that is uh unofficially was used for some

car parking, golf cart parking, all the above. Um, and we're looking to make improvements there to further enhance it to be a pedestrianon area. Uh, it includes adding benches and some tables, uh, which will also serve as ballards. These would be concrete benches. So, additional seating area for folks. Um the original concept we had for golf cart parking did include this median. However, when I met with our city staff um also we have uh we get parking consultation in our our valet group right now. They're also a parking consultant. So in working with them uh we tried to make it work where we fit golf carts or some additional parking in that center area. Um but the issue we kept running into was we started to violate our initial um our whole concept down there of keeping pedestrians safe. And so when you have the mixture of cars and golf carts all kind of mixing together on the sidewalks, which that is technically a sidewalk, we just couldn't make it work. Um, also with the it would create just uh additional congestion, hurts the flow of that whole area. Um, and what we did was we we took a step back and we decided to um push the golf parking across the street and keep this pedestrian um only. And part of this resolution also asks uh for funding to do some repairs for the vehicles that have been parking there. There's been a lot of damage to that pavilion. Uh the pavers were not meant for that type of weight um to to be on that area for as long as it has. You see a lot of what looks like settling. Um so this is this is an ask that uh we fund this endeavor through Riverfront Central Corps. Um we're asking for not an it amount not to exceed um on the resolution is a typo. It's it's supposed to be $270,000. Um, and that's um all inclusive of both exhibit A and B. And I'll pause for questions.

I I like the idea of those benches because real world example had family and guests in town for Masters. So we took the trolley from my office on West down to Riverside Village. Did you use the app? We did. Excellent. got out of the at walked the greenway, walked through Hammond's Ferry, came back, but we had about a three minute wait on the trolley as we were tracking it and my my my cousin said, "Man, I wish we had a bench." Well, we heard you. The benches are good. That's going to be exciting. Yeah. Mr. McCauley, the golf cart parking, how do you prevent vehicles from parking?

That's a good question. Uh, we have the openings. So, the curb cuts that will be planned in the uh semi-permanent improvements before the building is put there. Um we have we're going to put a ramp on the curb and the the entrance will be narrow um only for golf carts. So, it'll be narrow enough just for golf carts. There's a one way in and one way out. So, the entrance will be closest to uh where the uh uh closest to the stadium and the exit will be closest to the hotel uh deck. So, it's a one way in, one way out narrow entrance. And will parking spaces be identified or is it free for all

in in the interim? Initially, it's going to be a little bit of a free-for-all, but when we make the improvements, we'll be able to identify them. So, we'll have spaces marked.

Are the uh golf cart parking where we moved it to the Ballards in front of southbound that will remain? Our goal is to move all golf cart parking to this new lot um just to help ease with congestion because we found that even though we kept it in the same area, having all the mixing in that in that roundabout really has created um quite a lot of um confusion, stress, congestion. So, we're trying to ease that as much as we can. And then just one more question out of curiosity. Um, were we like not towing vehicles last week during Mast's week because I know when we were down there uh for the reception for the women's amateur, there were illegally parked cars everywhere.

Well, we can tow as much as you like. So, we we are towing enforcement is is well underway, but the problem is we don't catch everyone. Um, so we are towing is in full effect. We are towing multiple cars on the daily. And if you notice down there, um, it does have a little bit less of congestion, but there are times we don't we don't talk to them or I'm sorry, we don't catch them. Um, and people people get away with it just like speeding down Martintown Road. Uh, if we don't catch you, you know, literally.

Correct. We have that a few a few times. Yes, sir. But, um, yeah, we are still enforcing even during masters. We talked with uh the hotel owner of some people that were staging for picking up folks. We have them, we had to have them move because they were parked illegally in the in the yellow. So again, we try to give people as enough warning as possible, but towing is the last effort, last ditch effort we have to make enforcement possible. JD, if this gets approved on Monday, uh, realistically, what's our time frame to going in and getting this thing marked? Because we're going to put nice black fencing. I mean, we're going to this going to make it look nice, correct? Gravel. What is that time frame? Do you think will y'all be coming back to us for anything?

We won't be coming back to you. We'll be off to the races uh to get this done and turned um I don't want to give you a date, but it'll it'll be on the on the front burner um to put this stuff in, get it ordered and get it in and get it installed. Um we that's why we have the interim solution now. I mean, it's going to be launched tomorrow. We've worked in partnership with people who own the the parcel now. Um so we're going to have a it's going to be in effect essentially tomorrow. We're going to advertise if you guys view this favorably.

Yeah, I think it's a great idea. I love We've gone from what five maybe that were designated to a hodgepodge of 10 to 11 parking where you shouldn't have to nice now 55. Um we're not messing with the woods. Um that's a great plan, Jetty. Okay, one one more question. the um the people that drive their vehicles there pay for parking $5, $6, $7, whatever it is. Correct. Do golf carts pay

at this time. Uh golf carts are are to follow the same rules as everyone. Um so they they would be paying for their spaces as everyone else does at the current moment. Now, that's subject to change because as Mr. Clifford mentioned we have a a bid out for folks to do an overhaul of our system um which would account for golf carts to a better way of of managing them. But uh for let's say for a game day, the Green Jackets are managing that. So if you come down for a game and you have a golf cart, you'll be dealing with the the Green Jacket special event parking. Is is this not tied to the actions of 8 N and 10? attachments 89 and 10.

Uh yes, sir. If uh if there it's not purchased, uh we won't move forward with um with improving that that lot because we won't own it. Um but in the interim, we have approval with the property owner until they develop it to stage golf carts. So we just wouldn't make any more improvements. So So we're looking to reszone this, authorize the purchase, and then authorize golf park parting for this lot all in one day. Yes, sir.

I'm just I just kind of want to lump all this up together for a minute. Like I understand that we have to spend the $14 million with and the you know the little bit of interest or we'll lose it. But what I just don't understand is understand who the golf parking benefits obviously and I understand it's needed. I've been down there. I see the situation. The cyber center is zero tax revenue to the city, right? The city gets no taxes off of that.

It depends on what the client is going to be inside the cyber center. So the answer the answer is the intent of your city administrator is to make sure that that building would at least be revenue neutral. But it's also fair to say that do I envision this being a large tax generating event at parcel D? No. So other than the few lucky people from the city of North Augusta who end up scoring a job there, there's almost no benefit to the citizens of North Augusta. Whereas just leaving it green space and park space that everybody could visit, thousands of people already visit that park space a year and thousands of people benefit. I just don't understand why we're doing this. I just don't see how this is what's best for North Augusta in the long term. Why a cyber center right there? What does the other than those people going out to lunch and that type of thing? There's no tax benefit to the city there. Most of the people that go to work there are not going to be from the city. I just don't understand what overall benefit does this give to our people. Councilman, nobody goes to visit parcel D. Nobody goes there to visit parcel D.

If it was people, it's not No, it it wouldn't stop them. Nobody goes there to see it. They're going to see the park. They're not going to see They're not going to see I'm looking at three or four people in this DAS that go to parcel D and take pictures. people I've I've had people write me from out of state that have driven to North Augusta to take pictures of the wood ducks while they're back in the cove on the wood ducks are not in parcel D. They're in the pond. They're in the wood duck boxes.

They're they're in the pond. The back of that building is going to be extremely close to the pond. I'm not saying it's going to destroy the pond. I don't think anybody is. The more we develop, the more we displace wildlife. It's that simple. There's no unequivivalating it. The more you develop along the edge of the brick pond, the more you displace wildlife. There's no other way. The vibration, the noise, the traffic. Animals don't want to be there. There's no other way to put it. To me, the biggest benefit to all of this is to leave it green space so people can go there and take pictures. It gives everybody a chance in North Augusta to to benefit without having any investment. Not everybody can go to afford to go down Riverside Village and do everything. Not everybody can go afford the big Miller Brinkley steakhouse. Everybody can go walk around our park space

and they can almost do that. That's not even an option here. We've discussed this over and over. It's either leave it alone and let town houses be built. No, because something differently and have the cyber center. We get the little bit of money that they want for it and we buy it and dedicate it to the park space. It's not very much. Well, let me say one thing. Well, Hurricane Helen displaced animals. I mean, we are we Hurricane Helen, we're comparing ourselves to a natural disaster now. No, I'm just saying we are trying to put our personal human mind in animals. They migrate. They change. They move from place to place. We can't control that

from from the from the wildlife being there. It's good for you. You ran your campaign complaining that there were not enough good jobs in the city of North Augusta and we have an opportunity to get some good jobs here and you're you're you're solely against it. I don't see this handful of jobs being worth taking the property away from the citizens and not doing what the citizens want. Well, can I

if it was a thousand jobs maybe, but it's not even going to be like 10 25 jobs probably for people that actually live in the city. Well, I don't the cyber center for me. Why I'mma vote for it is because it is not for this group right now. This is for generations to come. This city has always built out. This building is built out for 50 years. I'll be dead and gone. Listen, and I think we're very fortunate that we've got Jim Clifford, and I'm not throwing a monkey on his back, but we have somebody that's been in with cyber and all of that for years, and he's here that could present this that's going to cause. And I want to ask, how many out there know what a cyber center is? Stand up and tell me.

Okay. Oh, wait. I'm sorry. You can't speak. Sit in. I'm sorry. Study session. Yeah, I'll ask my own self. All right. I'm sorry.

Nobody in a study session can do anything. Yeah. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. But I I think cuz somebody's called me two or three times. We don't want a data center. I said, that's not even what we're talking about. I'm telling you, people do not Sharon. Um, people do not half the time know, and I'm not saying you don't know, young lady up here. But like I said, we are looking at the future of our young people. These kids are in Hammond Hill Elementary, North August to Belvadier. Here we go. Throw bell. This is what we're looking at. Now, do we love animals? We do, Dennis. But I think we're just putting too much. We're leaving humans out. I want to know what I'm going to finish my statement. I think hang around me Christmas when there's 29 something children that have no Christmas. Do I want to put it down here somewhere? No. I mean, we have got to look at human beings for a while. And I'm sorry and I know I'm gonna make everybody mad, but I'm telling you and I thank God every day Jim Clifford, all of our directors and JD and Jamie are here. This city is so much better, I think, than it ever was because of their knowledge and what they're looking at. And I know I'm not the smartest duck up here on this panel, but I do trust Jim, the directors, and JD. God didn't put me here to know everything. He put me here to put my faith and trust in what they're telling us. And I just don't understand and that. But thank God we all have an opinion.

Miss Pat, thank God it's America. Absolutely no no guarantee that that cyber center will benefit your grandchildren in the future. There will even be anybody in a building that we're trying to these people. Am I right? But I can promise you that park space will benefit your children, your grandchildren, your great grand. I doubt it cuz none of them ever go down there. I wouldn't go down there cuz of alligators myself. But uh and I'm just so afraid somebody's going to get hurt down there. Are they going to visit a cyber center? Huh? Do what? We got kids at the high school right now competing. There's a cyber team at the high school. That's right.

Competing all the time. So yes, it's for the There's There will be youth that will need that. Then they can go to downtown Augusta where they're having trouble filling up their cyber space. Well, why do we want to send them to Augusta? Cuz they're having trouble filling up their cyber space. You're building a building not knowing whether or not you're going to have an occupant. I know. We heard already that there were people wanting to be here and because we didn't have anything available, they had to go somewhere else. And now there is no guarantee that anybody wants to come here. And that's my exact point. Well, there's no guarantee we going to be at this meeting next week. That's right.

Okay. Um so, moving on from uh golf cart parking and uh pedestrian safety improvements. Uh we're the next item on the agenda is parks and wreck. Um this is a uh CPST4 activity center improvements. Uh this is something we discussed at the leadership offsite and so this is a a request that's come from parks and wreck. Um we rep prioritized uh CPST4 a or I'm sorry you rep prioritized CPSD4 a few weeks ago and this item was on the agenda on that uh on that list. And what our parks and recck director uh Rick Meyer has done is put together a list and gone out um and received pricing for all the improvements. and he was actually able to improve one thing that wasn't on the list, which you asked for, which was automated basketball goals in gyms 3, four, five, and six. So, I know two of you are going to be very happy for that.

We are moving on up. Yep. Um, so this includes track replacement, uh, refinishing the gym floors. These are the basketball gym floors. Those, uh, basketball goals upgrades that I just talked about. Uh, now it's a lot locker room renovations are also in, uh, on this list. um repairing your interior walls, new fitness center and cardio equipment, and then refurbishing the air handlers in gyms five and six. Um these are again items that we discussed. Um so this comes to an item u I'm sorry, an amount not to exceed 1.2 uh million which was uh contemplated in the CPST4 rep prioritization. So I'll pause here for any questions. Improvements to the activity center long overdue. It's a It's an excellent facility that gets tens of thousands of visitors a month. I I can't think of a better way to spend the money.

Excellent. Any other questions for Mr. McCauley?

All right. Okay. Hearing none, moving on to um item number 14, planning and development. Uh this is a fun uh part of the project u the fun fun phase of a of a project we talked about before, which was um Kraton Park phase 2. Uh again, if you remember, uh the bathroom facility was uh built and is being donated by Northwest Ford to the city. Um and as part of that process, they would like to put a mural installation uh on the facility and that application has gone to our planning and development department and Tommy has reviewed that um and it it follows our code and only thing it needs to do is come before council for um approval and that is what we're bringing forward to you uh for consideration. And so that item is in your packet including the artwork as exhibit A.

Any pause for any questions? Yeah, I I think I and I'm sorry. I'm just scared to death of alligators. Is that not an alligator right there? I think that needs to come off somewhere. That's an ugly dog. What? I think it's an ugly dog. A what now? Ugly dog. Uh oh, it's Well, I thought it was a sloth or something. It looks But now I see it's an alligator. I mean, why are we putting an alligator over there where children play? I do not have a comment for the art choice. Um, I'm not qualified to answer that question. Instead of being North Augusta yellow jackets, we're going to change North Augusta Gators.

Somebody asked me why we went with Gators. Everything out there. I just don't like that gator on there. I mean, that's Everything out there living in this world is relevant. What? Everything out there in this world alive is relevant. It's all part of the circle of life. Yeah. Well, that's true. And we can't teach our kids to be scared of everything or they'll never do anything. I'm not going to let mine going down by alligator. I'm going tell you that. Okay. But we start seeing alligators down there, we're in trouble. So, I think we're going to be okay. They might think alligator's welcome cuz there's a water stream. I mean, that's all I like the design. I think it's very pretty. I think we're good. Okay. Um, now I'll turn it back over to Mr. Clifford for the remainder of the agenda that I will

so item number 15 under engineering and public works and again if you have very specific questions and Tom Zer is available to talk about that resolution number 2026-24 which is a separate uh item that should be there on the dis for you as a late ad authorizing the city of North Desta amending the previously authorized budget for the watershed tree cutting removal and disposal project. So, as you recall, uh Tom Zeser went and got us a significant grant from the the NRCS, the National uh Natural Resource Conservation Service, uh which includes u two projects. One of which has to do with formerly known as Willow compartments and the stabilization of that creek bank uh and dealing with the erosion that's there. That project is ongoing. and then also the project of cleaning out the waterways uh of fallen tree and debris uh into the the storm water basins. Uh and so that project has been moving along very well. I think we've gone through a total of five or six sites at this point in time. I think the last area they were working on was up in the Walnut uh lane area there near exit 5. And in the course of the work uh basically have determined that there is you know still significant amount of uh debris and deadfall uh that affect the waterways. And so if you go through the the language here uh we have a grant budget which is 100% reimburseable for $843,000. You as the council had previously authorized expenditures of just under $600,000 uh in resolution number 202523 uh 2026-11 and 2026-12 leaving a balance of 247,000. And whereas the contractor TNT Land Works uh has submitted a change order to get some of the remainder of this uh deadfall that's down there um that will allow us to uh increase the project budget uh by $60,000 uh for the total project not to exceed $280,000 for that portion. So again,

this all falls within the grant uh limit. So we'll still be 100% reimburseable on the grant. We're just saying that we'd like to take the current contract amount that was approved previously by council and increase that contract to amendment to the contract to get the additional deadfall items uh there that we've identified in the the storm water uh basins.

Okay, good. And then I have a a verbal ad uh Tom uh had presented to me uh late last week. And so if we I know we've got a full agenda. Uh but since we're meeting anyway, might as well get everything on the table that we can. Uh and so uh Tom has gone out and uh achieved a engineering uh contract for um Bowling Road. So this would be for the the engineering work because again the uh subsurface needs some additional uh repair. So, uh, that requires a little bit of additional engineering. And so, he's got an engineering contract through Kimley Horn, uh, which I believe would not exceed $25,000 to do the engineering aspect of it. And then there'll be a subsequent resolution for the the remainder of the paving. Uh, so we're breaking that project into two parts. Uh, but Bolan Road is one of the projects that, uh, Tom Zeser had presented at the council offsite as needing u improvement uh, based on the the cracked subsurface. And so ultimately that's the the first step in moving that project forward and the funding mechanism would be CPSD4. Mr. Mayor, subject to any questions on the agenda review. I'm going to turn it over to uh Jamie Paul to go through uh department details.

Good evening, mayor and council. First up is finance director Linda Williamson.

Good evening, Mayor and Council. Um finance updates for tonight. Uh cycle 2 customers, they have a disconnection date set for um Tuesday, April 14th. Um that will last about 2 to three days. Um and that's for their February balances and that are passed due. Uh they have a due date for their March 25th bills and that is going to be April 20th. Uh cycle 1 customers, they have a disconnection date scheduled for their March balances beginning Tuesday, April 21st. Um due date for their April 10th bills is May 4th. Business license renewals, the due date for that is going to be April 30th. Penalties will begin on May 1st and those are 5% per month that they're late. Taxes are due May 1st and penalties will be added on May 2nd for those unpaid tax bills. Um just a note that if your tax bill is postmarked uh by 51, those will u be labeled as on time. And then for our good news, um our 2024 financial audit, the GFOA announced on March 26th that the city's 2024 annual comprehensive financial report was awarded. the GFOA certificate of achievement for excellence in financial reporting.

Great job, Linda. And that's all I have for today. Got a quick question. Are are so the billings that people starting to get, have are we past the winter billing piece? We are. They should start seeing their new averages starting this month. Okay. Thank you. You're welcome. Congratulations on

Thank you, Linda. Next up is human resources manager Kayla Ferguson. Evening, mayor and council. Um, if you look on the back of your department details, you'll see we have an employee appreciation event on April the 25th at SRP Park. 28th, I'm sorry. Thank you. April 28th at SRP Park. Um, and then on the last page of your department detail sheet, you will see our open employment opportunities.

Thank you. Next up is engineering and public works director Tom Zaer. Good evening. Uh today construction work began on the Woodlong Crestview drainage improvement project. Um glad to finally kick that off. Um work is primarily be initially going to be just clearing preparing for the for the major construction. Um, and although we have no road closures specifically scheduled, uh, there will be, uh, on on the 500 block of Woodlon Avenue, there will be a lot of construction activity, vehicles entering and exiting that site. So, there will be likely intermittent lane closures throughout the duration of the project. Uh, contractor also has set up a a pump to divert the uh, current flow that is continual in that ditch. So there will be uh some noise associated with that pump up on Crestview Avenue throughout the duration of that project. He uh has the debris contract for the NRCS grant does continue u very um been a very active process over the past couple weeks and uh the the site that was associated with the change order that we just discussed is primarily the Walnut Lane track around the Walnut Lane park and boardwalk and the original estim estimate on that site which was very hard to actually couldn't actually enter the site to even count trees but was approximately 100 trees and so far the contract has has removed 450 fallen

trees just from that parcel alone but that work is hopefully wrap up this week and then the contractor will be moving on to uh the area on Jackson Avenue near what's called Briggs Pond and also the city parcel um refer to it as the Moatine Avenue parcel nearby. And then lastly, uh city crews are performing routine detention pond maintenance and um actually forgot my list of sites, but I believe they're working Wando Woodlands and Village of Bergen Place over currently and over the next few weeks. Thank you, Tom. Next up is planning development director Tommy Paradise.

Good evening, Mayor and Council. Uh, tomorrow evening we'll be having the board of zoning appeals and then Wednesday night we'll have the planning commission have a trifecta this week. Thanks, Tommy. Next up is public service director James Sutton.

Good evening, Mayor and Council. Uh last week utilities uh started replacing the Carolina Springs wastewater lift station that was originally constructed in 1953. The wastewater stations located on the southeast section of uh Carolina Springs Road behind Crestland subdivision. The wastewater flows from Crestland subdivision down the hill by gravity to this station. In return, the station pumps the water back up the hill to Brigham Road. Uh It's a very needed much needed project. Uh it's going to improve the reliability of the station so we can more modernize the teleimmetry system. Uh we're adding a diesel pump for emergency uh pump systems so that we can move the wastewater in the event of a power failure, hurricane, tornado, whatever event may occur so we can uh protect the environment. But uh that take that project's going to take three or four weeks to complete. It's a part of the ARP uh funding. Uh also, city council approved in the 26 budget to pay a portion of that as well. That project for ARPA has got to be uh well the RAIA has got to be closed out by June 1st. So, we got to take a receipt of the station. So, we anticipate it'll be here next Monday. Uh moving on to the good stuff to color up the city. Uh Roy Kibler, our maintenance uh superintendent of our property maintenance uh and his staff will start next week installing spring flowers to beautify the city. They'll be installed at various locations uh at our u landscape sites on our easements and rideways. So we're looking forward to that. Uh and a little beauty to our city.

Thank you, James. Also, if I could just to add on our public services crew, they've done a lot of oversight and they have uh largely wrapped up most of the wastewater uh projects that were approved by the council through ARPA and also based on our RA grant. So, the the wastewater interceptor pipes, the three that were listed previously in CPST4 that were funded through ARP and RA are completed. Uh that also included some additional work which was originally not part of the scope of the project which included the industrial park. Uh this Carolina lift springs lift station uh which is upcoming. And then also importantly a lot of old infrastructure in Crestlin and Lynhurst subdivisions of 8 in pipe uh that's been sliplined through a number of contractors we have that have been in support. So James has been juggling a lot of balls uh with a lot of different projects, but the wastewater project in particular has been very successful uh and really touches a large portion of the city.

Great job, James. And also shout out to the beautifification committee up there. The flowers downtown North August. Absolutely beautiful.

Thank you. Next up is public safety, Captain Hayes. Uh good evening, mayor and council. Uh a couple updates. I'm happy to report Chief Johnson and our fire division leadership made it safely to uh Braden, Florida today uh to take delivery of our new tanker truck. Um if all goes well with inspection, they'll be headed back to the city on Wednesday. Um and we plan to have a ceremonial pushin of that new tanker truck Friday at 2 pm at our station 3. um if anything changes or there's delays, we'll we'll put that out there. Um also, over the past two weeks, public safety officers were able to provide over 450 hours of special duty coverage for uh various security requests uh related to our guests that have been in town for all the golf tournaments. So, we were able to cover them all.

Thank you. Captain, how do they bring the tanker truck? They drive it. Yes, sir. That would be awesome. Yes, sir. you you can get it delivered, but that's kind of like your test drive home, right? So, they'll be they'll be driving it back. Yes, sir. Captain, I I have a question for you. Um, when it concerns the new Edgefield County part of North Augusta, are we instructing the animal control officer to pick up stray animals or are they being diverted to Edgefield County shelter? Parts of the city that are in Edgeville County? Yes, sir. If it's in the city, we'll take them. Okay. Thank you, sir. Yes, sir.

Thank you, Captain Hayes. Next up is park and recreation director Rick Meyer. Good evening, mayor and council, after a two plus week uh spring break for the students. We resume spring sports tonight. So, Riverview Park is nice and crowded with over 1,400 participants uh playing spring sports. Second on my list tonight, I have a senior program update and I have brought with me program coordinator Tori Roberts to give you that update.

Evening. I'd like to share a quick update regarding our senior programming. Uh my name is Tori Roberts. I'm a program coordinator for parks and recreation. In January, I took on the added responsibilities of coordinating senior activities in the city of North Augusta. My responsibilities now involve managing and updating the city's website with senior focused programming, gathering and coordinating information for organizations throughout the city to ensure our seniors are aware of available resources and events, and serving as a host for programs and activities that directly benefit our senior community. Prior to January, we offered a variety of senior programs, including senior fitness classes, yoga, jazz size, pickle ball, and table tennis. We are continuing to offer those things, but this year I've been focused on expanding and communicating, specifically promoting and providing information to ensure our seniors are aware of all available programs within the city limits of North Augusta. Um, I've continued to add to the range of events on the city calendar. These include activities hosted by local organizations such as First Baptist, Sweetwater Baptist, Victory Baptist, and the Nancy Carson Library where they are having a sewing and quilting class. I think it's monthly. Um, we're growing our in-house programming. We've started a new card making class at the activity center that's had a pretty good turnout as well. We have started building new partnerships with organizations. Most recently, we partnered with Centerwell Senior Primary Care to host educational events, including presentations on how to spot scams andformational sessions on veteran Medicare benefits. Approximately half of our senior fitness class attended the spot the scan presentation. So these efforts not only are serving the broader community, but are providing valuable resources to the members we currently serve at Riverview Park. Looking ahead, we're excited to launch several new opportunities, including a maong group on Thursdays and a walking club Mondays and Fridays, also in partnership with Centerwell. I will continue adding more events to the city

calendar as new information becomes available. You can find all these updates on our city website. Do we is there a link or how do if I go to the city website what am I looking for? Yes. So on the city website you would go to the residents tab go to the event calendar and from here you can click on each event and it should give you a detail like location where it's at time. Is there is there a way you might have already done it, but is there a way either on your on the parks and recck Facebook page, we can somehow send something out to let people know where to find it?

Yes. Um, how do we do that? I've put it on our like business profile portion of the Facebook page, which is like in the left panel, and I've posted it a couple times. I do it like once a month.

Two thing, first of all, great job. Two things I'm so excited about just for our citizens understand this happened because our council, these seven folks on here put in the budget that hey, we needed to begin to figure out a way how do we get information out to our seniors? How do we look at building partnerships? Two things you said I think is very important. One is you're already adding new programs. We're thinking outside the box. I know you've done some sitting chair volleyball or something. So, we're trying to figure that piece out. But the other thing is, yes, at some point down the road, we hear always about a a senior s center. And in a perfect world, maybe at some point down the road, there'll be a council in the city. We'll go in that direction. But here's the thing. We have so many partnership opportunities. We have churches that do not use their space often during the week. So, we've got to get our mind around instead of going to one particular building, what we really want are services for seniors. And that may look at this service is going to be provided at Victory. I'm making this up, of course. This service may be at park may be at First Baptist. Maybe it's with Centerpoint at the gym, you know. So, we don't need to get so geared up as if, oh, we're failing our seniors because we don't have a building they can go and play cards in. We are putting that in place now. And it may look different than that until we make that happen. I'm excited about the partnerships, Tori, because I'm telling you, I've reached out to churches and talked to them. There are people looking for how do we help the city and our seniors because most every church has seniors and they're looking for opportunities. So, I commend this council for the commitment you made last year to to get this expansion from Tori and Rick. I think what y'all are doing so far, I'm excited about. I'll just

tell you, I think it's great. So, thumbs up for me. I don't know if council's got any thoughts. Are are the senior programs being well attended so far? Yes. So especially the the two talks we had that center well came and presented on our senior fitness class has about 60 members in it and half of them came. So I think that's the main thing we look for in expansion is participation. So thank you. Thanks. Great. Thank you to and conclude. Oh sorry.

Oops. I have one last thing. Yep. That's okay. One last thing I wanted to add is uh we did a survey u after fall sports and we had a pretty good contingent of folks who asked us about a spring volleyball program. So we held off had our spring registration for soccer, baseball, and softball. And we didn't did another survey to make sure that we weren't serving the same kids just robbing Peter to pay Paul. And long story short, we have over a hundred young ladies already signed up for spring volleyball and it's still growing. Valuations will be this Thursday. So exciting new spring program. I'm going to ask ignorant question. We haven't had that, have we? No.

Okay. Okay. And what's the age? Yeah. She's like first second graders cannot play. Uh no. Starts starts at eight years of age and runs to 18 but divided up by numbers. Yes. Great job. Okay. Thank you. Thank you, Rick. And to conclude is tourism manager Carl Wallhower.

Evening, Mayor and Council, Chamber of Commerce hosting a power lunch. Uh tomorrow at Community Center, uh this month's topics on market trends in residential real estate. As always, Masters Week seems to be a catalyst for events in North Augusta, and this this year is no different. Um, but the Green Jackets opening tomorrow, SRP Park, they're opening their home schedule at 7:05 tomorrow evening and they'll be in town for a oneweek home stand. Um, it's also third Thursday week this week and downtown activities uh will be going on from 5:00 p. p.m. to 8:00 p.m. Uh, Brick Pond Park Committee is hosting Springing of Brick Pond Park this Saturday, April 18th from 10 to 1. And uh the group's been working really hard at um it's kind of a for folks who have been area a while kind of a an Earth Day re re-energize type of event and uh so we're excited to have that back. But they're have it's going to be familyfriendly and it's going to feature educational pieces, food trucks, music, and activities for the kids. Um we're less than two weeks away from Springfest. It's going to be in downtown North Augusta um on Saturday, April 25th from 10:00 a.m. to 6 pm. And we have a couple of his four North Augusta concerts. Sharon Jones Amphitheater. Uh May 15th, we're going to have Broken Hearts tribute to Tom Petty. And May 30th, FJ was tribute to Foreigner and Jouri.

Thank you. With that, I'll turn it back over to you, Mr. Clifford. Mr. Mayor, Council, I think that's all the staff has to prevent this evening. Uh, so we'll stand by for any questions from the Dice. Let people know uh on the 20th a lot's going to happen. At 5:30, the public power hour. We've already got the slots covered, right? And we're only doing a 15minute power hour. And the reason why is that 545 is going to be the public hearing for the fifth amendment of the master development of item whatever that number was today. And then from there at public hearing we then we'll move into our regular city council meeting. So just want to make am I right about those times? Okay. Um you've already said thing about the brick ponds. You know I do want to take a few minutes. I I did a poor job about two and a half years ago the last election didn't really do a good job as mayor or city of helping citizens educate them about things we're doing. Uh we we let a lot of narratives go out in social media and we just did a I did a poor job of trying to help uh educate citizens so they could kind of get a balance of maybe reality versus falsehoods. So, I know we got six people running for city council right now. And some of these two thoughts are kind of to help them, but also for our citizens. I'm beginning to hear a lot of stuff and on social media and seeing things trying to do a lot of comparisons about our downtown and neighborhoods. And what I would ask you to do is I I have no problem comparing apples and apples. So apples and apples would be do we put a neighborhood to a neighborhood. But people got to understand a downtown's not a

neighborhood. A downtown is a heartbeat. It's a center of a community. We want every 26,000 citizens to want to hang out and go to our downtown. So it's for everybody. Neighborhoods are for the neighbors who live there. Nobody in Walnut Lane want 20 people from Hammonds Ferry to go into their neighborhood and camp out. Neighbors hoods are for neighbors. So, if we want to have the conversation about downtowns and neighborhood, that's fine. But let's compare neighborhoods and neighborhoods. Let's get away from this downtown because it's not apples and apples. It just is not. Okay? And to kind of give you some statistics because it kind of floored me and I wanted to help give people some data, especially these folks running for council, y'all need to understand some things. Let's look at the amount of money we've put in the neighborhoods. Okay? sewer and wastewater. $9 million into the interceptor line. You heard Jim talk about it. Understand that is the superighway of our sewer and wastewater. It benefits every neighborhood. Every citizen benefits that we put 23,000 ft of slip line pipes in Crestlin and Lynhurst neighborhoods. Okay, that is infrastructure. That's not some broad term we all love to talk about infrastructure. Those are exact things. Drainage, we have 2 million in the Clay Street pump station. That is again the heart of the water system. Uh we put 600,000 drainage in the milling track. That helps everybody on Buuna Vista. Okay. Transportation. We put a light, you know, six years ago. Guess what we didn't have? We didn't have a light in Bergen or we didn't have a light at Knob. The council the last five years put those in with SE DOT. We have got three million in the budget in the capital projects for exit one because we know that's important. Public safety,

you just heard about one of the fire trucks uh with $6 million to buy uh uh trucks. Carolina lift station underwater system. We got we spent three million for the automated meter readers. So we're going to neighborhoods where we're replacing all those meter readers. So this is the down and derby dirty. But if you add up all those things, that is $26 million. That is not impacting one neighborhood. It is all the neighborhoods in North Augusta. Now, let's talk about what we've done in downtown. We bought a trolley, $275,000. My first year as mayor, our council, we put about 50,000 in some park benches and uh in our downtown. And when we do do the Georgia Avenue calming, which will be starting, that's another 3 million. So that's about $3.3 million and we do have $7 million in capital projects five. So if we do add that up, that's $10 million in our downtown. And you didn't hear downtown mentioned one time tonight, but every one of these directors. So think about that. I want you just understand we are focusing on infrastructure throughout. You don't see it because it's the ugly stuff that we don't want to see, but $26 million to $10 million. So, let's just don't try to compare apples and apples, okay? It's just two different things. We're going we need to continue to invest in infrastructure and roads. We need to as a council. There's not a single one of us. We drive in the traffic. There are days I I think myself, oh my god, why can't we have a two-lane road on Marktown like it used to be? We don't. We have traffic. We have congestion. We have growth. That's the world we we live in. So, as a council, we've got to make decisions not for a thousand people, but for 26,000 people. And but I want citizens to know when you are hearing things, our city, are these people running for city council, don't throw up terms about infrastructure. Be specific.

Give me three things specifically you're going to do as a citizen to make our city better with infrastructure. Don't use infrastructure as a broad term. I just gave you $26 million this council has spent in the last six years on infrastructure. So, do not let people use buzzwords and cute phrases. Understand your city council is committed to all 26,000 citizens. We are trying to improve neighborhoods. Okay. The second thing I'm hearing a lot about transparency and I think this is important. I was just telling our attorneys ear. We're going to give and this is important. A lot of people, this is for people running for for council. Y'all, if you don't know this, we allow in the state of South Carolina about 70 to 90% of all of the si all the communities have something called basically a public it's not a even they don't they don't give it a public hearing. They they allow they do public hearings. It's a public period either the first or last and it ranges from 20 to 30 minutes. That's all every municipality has. We're one of the few municipalities that actually lets every citizen stand up and give a public comment period at everything we vote on, every resolution, every ordinance. So, next week for all the people talking about the uh amendment four, you're going to have three opportunities to talk to city council. You're going to have the public hearing at 5:45. You're going to have the first public comment period when we read the first ordinance for that. And then the second ordinance. So, I just want folks to understand we do a lot in giving citizens that other communities don't give. And you throw in the public power hour. So, this thing about transparency and and for the folks uh Tapa's here, I know other folks are watching for the folks who are running for city council and these guys can tell you understand when you get elected for city council, you're going to sit down

with your our city administrator at least once a quarter. Uh I think we've had some situations, some challenges. They these new guys haven't done that. It's the second quarter. But not only do you meet with the city administrator every quarter, just you with the administrator asking, "Hey, what do I need to be aware of?" When we have our budget session, he calls every council member before the budget session, what do I need? What is your priority? What do you need to do? And then during the budget session, that's our job at that time to bring to the table what are the projects and then we have a retreat we do. So I don't want to hear anybody in this council make comments like we're making decisions behind closed doors. We're not. Everybody in this council's aware of what we are doing and we're giving you a citizen a chance to tell us yes or no. And believe me, you you talking does make a difference. Okay. So, I just want you to understand we are striving to be transparent and for these new council members, you're going to have an opportunity to do it. So, I I just I just want to begin to do a better job as a mayor. We need to educate our citizens. So, when you're hearing things out there, I want you hear another side. You make your you'll make your decision of what you want to do. I have no problem with that. I just want you to hear from us what we are striving to do so when you do elect people that they're aware and you're aware of the things they're trying to do. So anyway, I don't know if that's helpful or not, but I just felt like I needed to say it. And with that, we stand a journ.