Commission - Regular Meeting

All right. Good afternoon. Hey, come on, come on. All right, ladies and gentlemen, good afternoon. Thank y'all for being here. I can ask all our colleagues on the commission to make your way to the dais. Who are we missing? Missing, all right, Madam Clerk, it appears that we have a quorum The time is now 2.10 p.m. on this Tuesday, July the 21st. I call this meeting to order. I will explain our guest in just a moment. Madam Clerk, the floor is yours.

Thank you so much, Madam Clerk. Ladies and gentlemen, we're fortunate to have two groups visiting us today from the School Aid Center out at Fort Gordon, being led by Mr. Gerald Arnett and Rosa Miller, And then the director of Child Care Network, her name is Deanna Hanna and Kiara Crawford. Thank you guys for coming, being part of your government day and blessing us with your presence. And we're going to ask them to lead us in the Pledge of Allegiance after the prayer. Thank you so much. Pastor, the floor is yours. Please stand.

Students, if you will, face to the right. The flag is to your right. And we're going to ask you guys to lead us to your right. Please lead us in the Pledge of Allegiance.

Pastor, thank you so much for that prayer. Now I'm going to ask my colleagues, if you will join me now, let's get a picture with these students. That would be phenomenal. Come on.

You got to go up front. All right, y'all ready?

All right, ladies and gentlemen, let's give another round of applause for our future leaders. Thank you all so much for being here.

Pastor, thank you so much for that prayer and thank you for being here today. Madam Clerk. I think that takes us to the recognition portion of our agenda. Let's proceed, please.

Ladies and gentlemen, another round of applause for more than 800 years of service. Madam Clerk, we'll give them a second to clear out of chambers. Okay. All right, Madam Clerk, next delegation item, please.

dr kendrick's hooker augusta technical college thanks so much madam clerk this item uh has been led by commissioner don clark uh he is in the queue i yield the floor to the commissioner from the fifth commissioner clark thank you mr mayor uh ladies and gentlemen it is a great day to uh recognize uh one of our

up-and-coming leaders in this community. Mr. Brinson Judon happens to also be the son of our airport director, Mr. Herbert Judon, and his lovely wife, Satanya Judon. This is a proud day that we're able to recognize someone with such a bright future, someone that has really gone above and beyond in his scholastic abilities and pursuits, and you're the runner-up in the entire state as well. So ladies and gentlemen, we wanted to take time in the midst of everything that we have going on. And can we help and celebrate this fine young man on his great accomplishments? And he did all of this at one

We've got to come back and get another picture, according to the commissioner.

All right, Madam Clerk, congratulations. Another round of applause for Mr. Judon. He's doing great work. And he got some talent from college. Madam Clerk, ladies and gentlemen, we know today is going to be a spirited day and that we have a very long list of delegation items. Actually, there's... a little over a dozen of them. We're gonna companion items, colleagues number eight and 30, and what we're gonna do is we're gonna companion those delegation items that also reflect those who wanna speak regarding delegation, and we're gonna put those towards the end so that hopefully we can get out of

No. Yeah. He just skipped the ones for data center.

The ones for data centers, we're gonna combine those when we address items number eight and number 30. Item F. Then we'll go to item F, N, O, P, Q, R, and S. All right.

Good afternoon. If you will state for the name, your name and place of residence.

Ma'am, you have one minute. Okay. Mr. Estep.

That's time, thank you so much for being here. Madam Clerk, I think that takes us to delegation item N, please.

Thank you so much. Ms. Pope Mathis, welcome to the Augusta Richmond County Municipal Building. If you will, for the record, please state your name and your place of residence, please.

Thank you, ma'am. You have the floor and you have five minutes.

Again, for your time. Ms. Pope-Matthews, thank you so much. And I want to point out, I don't see our planning director, Ms. Cameron. She's directly behind you. She will put you in touch with the appropriate personnel to get your questions answered, okay?

Thank you so much, Madam Clerk. Do we need to use the mobile mic or does... Okay. All right. All right. Mr. Freedom, for the record, please state your name and your place of residence, please, sir.

Mr. Freeman, Dr. Freeman, you have the floor in five minutes, sir.

Thank you so much. Operation City Cleanup is an effort that occurs now every other Saturday, and it's a collaborative effort between the City of Augusta, the Sheriff's Department, the Marshal's Office, State Court, where we have our probationers are given the opportunity of getting uh two hours for one hour of work on on saturday between 8 and 12. so it's not only a way to for probationers to work off hours if anybody in the community that wants to be a part of keeping augusta clean operation city cleanup every other saturday happens i'm about for the canal authority and that just this past sa

Yes, sir. All right. Dr. Freeman, thank you so much. Ms. Bolton, thank y'all so much for all that you do. Appreciate you being here today, okay? Thank you. Thank you so much.

Rebecca Shores calling two times in the event that she's outside. Ms. Shores, you're gonna give up five minutes that I know someone would love to have today. Madam Clerk, there is no Ms. Shores. Let's move on to item Q, please.

Is that item Q? That's on the agenda too? We'll proceed with her. Ms. Ivey? If you will, for the record, please state your name and place of residence.

right that's the richmond county so you have a companion with you ma'am are you going to be presenting if you will for a record it's the same please octavia collins president of the richmond county neighborhood association alliance inc and i live in richmond county thank you so much miss ivy you have the floor in five minutes

Thank you, Ms. Ivey. Ms. Collins, would you like to add anything additional?

Thank you so much for being here. Sir, I see are you... Is this gentleman part of your delegation?

You will have an opportunity when we address it on the regular scale little agenda item, okay? You have that opportunity. All right. Madam Clerk, I think that takes us to delegation item R, please. R?

All right. I've been asking, you guys getting ready to sing or something? I think they're going to rap. Those are rappers. They're commissioned from the whore. All right. Madam President West, you have the floor, if you will. State your name and who you represent today.

All right. Gentlemen, if you will, for the record, please state your name and place of residence, please.

I love it. You didn't put it on there, did you? No, no, no, no, no. We didn't do that. Thank you.

Let's take a picture. Where are we going?

thank you president west and all the great work you do at the greater augusta black chamber of commerce your work is noted and appreciated madam clerk i think that takes us to delegation item yes yes yes are we there item s item s miss patricia jeter confirm and discuss the creation of a commercial quarter enhancement and storefront improvement program All right. Good afternoon, Ms. Jeter. Thank you for being here. For record, please state your name and your place of residence, please.

Madam, you have the floor and five minutes.

Okay. Okay. So just give us a little time. Let's get through it. And I promise you get your five minutes.

So are you going to present now or are you going to wait with the data center? You're going to present on the topic of the commercial corridor? It has to be relevant to this.

Is it referring to the data center though? So can we wait and put you with the other group if that's okay?

Yeah, let's put you in with all the other data centers.

Yeah, let's put you in with the data center group, okay? Okay, all right, thanks. Thank you so much, Ms. Jeter. All right, Madam Clerk, let's move on to the consent portion. Let's kind of clean up some of these things, because I know most of the conversation is going to be driven around the data center's items 8 and 30. So we're going to open up the consent portion of this meeting, see if we can clean up a little bit. For the record, do we need to read any of the planning ordinances? Well, let's just go through the consent portion. Chair recognizes Mayor Pro Tem Wayne Guilfoyle.

Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Mr. Mayor, agenda item number 33, we already handled last week, so we need to delete it off this.

33 and 38. All right. Thank you, Mayor Pro Tem. Chair recognizes Commissioner from the 9th. Commissioner Francine Scott.

Thank you, Mayor Johnson. On the consent agenda, I got several calls about number one, and I would like to pull that.

All right. Colleagues, the request has been to pull item number one.

Madam Clerk, hearing or seeing none, let's continue.

Any objectors to 1650 Barton Chapel Road? Hearing or seeing none, let's continue.

I think that's a duplicate. Three and four duplicates? Three and four duplicates, obviously. It's the same address and actually same number.

With no objectives. All right. Let's move on to item five.

Deny. I got to see your hand so we can count them, please. It's recommending to deny. This is a recommendation to deny. So if you want this to deny, I need to see your hand so we can count them, please. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10. 15, I have 15, 16, 16, Madam Clerk. Okay. To deny. Okay.

Any objectors to 1602 Gordon Highway? I don't see any.

1310, 1310A Walker Street. Any objectives? Hearing to see none.

127 Laney Walker Boulevard. Madam Clerk, I don't see any objectors.

We've asked to pull item one by the commissioner from the ninth. Item five has the petitioner here with objectors. Sorry, now.

That is correct. All right, let's get back to it. Commissioner from the first, the floor is yours, sir.

Thank you, Mr. Mayor. I'd like to add item number 40 to the consent agenda. Yes, ma'am. 40, sir. Yes, ma'am.

Item number 40. All right, is there, can we also ask for 41 to be included? Okay. What was that? 40 and 41? 41. 40 and 41, okay. Thank you, Commissioner, from the first. Chair recognizes Commissioner from the second. Commissioner Stacy Pullian.

Thank you, Mayor Johnson. I'd like to pull item number 19. I have a couple of questions.

That's item number 19. Okay. Thank you, Commissioner, from the second. Commissioner Brandon Garrett, he's out of the queue. Commissioner Garrett, I see you were in the queue back end. You have the floor, sir.

Thank you. I'd like to consent items 31, 32, and 34. 31, 32, and 34. 34.

Thank you, sir. I'd like to pull number 15 for a few questions.

Okay. It's item 15. All right. Commissioner Garrett from the eighth.

I make a motion to approve the agenda as stated.

Thank you, Commissioner, from the 8th. 36, and there is a motion to approve before I go to Commissioner Clark. Is there a second to that motion? There's a second by Commissioner Tina Slendak. Commissioner Clark from the 5th, you have the floor.

Yeah, Mr. Mayor, can I get a point of clarity for item 35? Did we pull that one, or was that one added to the consent? It was not added.

okay i'd like to add number 35 um to the consent as well all right no objection to add an item number 35. madam clerk i don't see any colleagues in the key if you will get us up on the screen so we can see what we have and i think we'll be prepared we have a motion in a second i think we'll be prepared to vote All right. Colleagues, do we have a motion? We have a second. Commissioner from the 5th.

Yes, sir. I see you pulled number 8. Are we going to put, what was it, 30 as well?

It's not on the consent agenda. It's on the regular agenda. We're going to companion 8 and 30. Okay. All right. Madam Clerk, I don't see any colleagues in the queue for discussion. I have a proper motion by Commissioner Brandon Garrett, and it was seconded by Commissioner Tina Salindak. We're prepared to vote.

All right, is there a planning department here? Here we go. Commissioner Scott, I know that you asked, requested this item be pulled. I'm going to have Director Cameron to kind of kick us off.

Director Cameron, that's item number one.

Thank you. I'm here. Thank you director Cameron I got several calls When it went through planning and when you came before us with that and I believe mr. West is he wells is here and i'm not sure how many other objectors we have mayor johnson but uh before my colleagues come up i would like to ask mr wells to come up and whoever else is here to voice their objection to having this daycare here mr wells come on up sir do you want mr wells

If you don't mind, just in case we have questions for Director Cameron. All right, Mr. Wells, for the record, please state your name and place of residence.

Okay, all right, sir, you have the floor.

All right, Mr. Wells. All right, we've got a bunch of colleagues in the queue. Just stand there just in case there is a question. But going back to you, Commissioner, from the 9th, you want to go through the queue or is there anything additional you'd like to add?

i would like to go through the queue with the other uh colleagues that this property thank you commissioner tonight chair recognizes commissioner from the fifth commissioner don clark thanks mr mayor um director cameron um the staff what was the staff's recommendation

What standard are they not going to meet?

I guess the concern I have, I don't know why we approved it, if the staff approved it, if there were so many concerns. And I definitely don't understand why we've allowed the petitioner to go through as many steps that they've taken to try to meet the standards of fulfilling this. Because they've gone through not just local standards, they've gone through state standards, inspections, requirements and otherwise. And all of that and the entire time they're paying money to try to meet these standards. So I think it's disingenuous of us to continuously put the commission in the situation of sayin

Yeah, I'm with that. I think the problem is it went through staff recommendation of receiving approval. It went through the planning and zoning recommendation of receiving approval. And we're now stating today before the commission something separate. Was this presented to the planning and zoning commission, the concerns that you're bringing to us now?

But didn't they have to go before zoning and appeals as well?

Yeah. I'm going to tell you, I'm pretty conflicted on all of this, and I'm going to tell you a couple reasons why. Personally, my wife owned a daycare, and she started out in her home. Yes, sir. My kids went to daycares in a home as well because at that time— Daycare is pretty expensive. We are in a statewide shortage of daycares. This is a requirement and a process that's offered out here specifically because everyone can't afford to put their kid in a full blown daycare center. And I think the thing I'm kind of disappointed with in this process is we're making it harder and harder and harder

Did they know about it or did they get confirmation that, hey, your stuff has been approved and you don't have to come?

Well, I know the staff did go out, Mr. Wells, the director. I called her directly myself after I personally went out to see the property because I wanted to get. Yes, sir. I wanted to get a visual understanding of it. I think the biggest concern with it is it's coming to us as stated that it's approved from the staff and from the planning commission. But then we're being presented that there's a number of issues that's going to disapprove it.

phone calls that I've gotten in regards to this as well with the concerns and you know one of the things that just jumps out to me is red flag after red flag is the fact that they were already making changes to their building without going through the process they only came forward because code enforcement called them but yet for some reason it's sitting here in front of us as an approval when They've already showed that they're not willing to do the right thing or go through the right processes. There's no way that I could approve this and then allow kids to be kept there knowing that they ca

Thank you, Commissioner, from the 8th. There's a motion to deny. Is there a second? Second. There's a second by Commissioner Francine Scott from the 9th. There's still a couple of colleagues in this queue. Madam Clerk, we have a motion and a second to deny. Chair recognizes Commissioner from the 4th, Commissioner Lonnie Wimberly. Thank you, Mr. Mayor.

What work was being done on the building?

Okay. The gentleman talks about traffic. Do we get with? Yes, sir. Chairman, if that really was an impact, or are we just going on belief?

So traffic was not considering inbound traffic. It was just the outbound traffic. Am I correct?

Well, you should have been listening then.

I wanna make sure we got good standards on code enforcement and our codes, building codes. Because I just received a call yesterday from a family that somehow another enforcer showed up at their property. and was telling them they need a permit. And that permit was to, because they was putting, had someone to put a screen, screen Y on the back porch. You need a permit for that.

Okay it also depends on the cost and the reason I brought that up is you just said that they were making additions but you're not painting a picture for me as to what that were.

I'm aware of that. Yes, sir. But my question was really, is your inspectors, since the folks have been preparing this building for quite some time, and here we are in the ninth hour, and we're telling them, oh, by the way, it's no good. You didn't do these things. Well, nowhere along the line, because they came before your board. They presented the package to be evaluated before the peer, before the board. And now we're just getting the bad talk.

which triggered them to be under all the commercial standards thank you thank you commissioner from the fourth commissioner from the ninth um we have a motion in second before we vote is there anything additional you'd like to add yes i would just like to say i think denying a small business is is hard but we have so many unanswered questions and um We need to do better and make sure we are following the guidelines. If we had all these problems with lack of license and permits and that kind of stuff, that should have been a red flag. So, Mr. Mayor, I'm ready to vote when everyone else is.

Thank you, Commissioner. Director Crammond, what's the process for the petitioner in the event of this denial? six months so they have to reapply six months from now yes all right commissioner from the fifth before we vote you have the floor sir yeah hey so

Yeah, I'm really bothered by this one on how it went. I don't like the fact that this is all coming to us now. I don't think it's a fair process. When they go through this process, I'm assuming the staff gives them everything that they have to do, the process, communication plan, and so on, correct?

And I'm just saying if they're going to go through this entire process and we say, hey, is that you're choosing to do this? I think we need to add some more kind of parameters in that right now. I just don't like how this one this one is going because right now we're getting one side of it that I don't even know if the planning commission received.

All right. Mr. Wells, I'm going to give you just a second.

Chair recognizes Commissioner from the second. Commissioner Stacy Pooley. You're out. Madam Clerk, we have a motion. Yes, sir. With a proper second to deny this approval. Seeing no colleagues in the queue, we're prepared to vote. That motion is to deny.

Thank you so much, Madam Clerk. Mr. Wells, thank you for being here today. Let's go to item five, please.

All right. Thank you so much, Director Cameron. Sir, if you will come to the podium because you are the petitioner. There are 16 objectors. So we're going to give you a few minutes. to argue your case while this item should be approved. For the record, please state your name and your residence, please.

Thank you so much. I know there were objectors, 16. Is there anyone who wants to come speak on behalf of those? Ms. Ivey?

Mayor, before they come up, can I ask the petitioner a question? Sir, is this group home currently operating? Do you have any residents living here? Not currently, no, sir.

Thank you, Commissioner Garrett. Ms. Ivey, I think you're on the record for your name.

Thank you, Ms. Collins. All right, colleagues, I don't see anyone in the queue. Is somebody going to entertain a motion, please?

There's a motion to deny by the Mayor Pro Tem.

I have a question. Is that a motion to deny as stated? So that would be a motion to approve what's on the screen, correct?

All right. Motion to approve the denial.

I haven't heard you. I heard that the motion has been rescheduled, sir. It was seconded by Mayor Brandon Garrett. All right, Commissioner, from the fourth, you have the floor, sir. No, Mr. Mayor, we're out. You're out. All right, Madam Clerk, I don't see any colleagues in the queue. This is a motion to approve the denial of this item, item five. We're prepared to vote.

Thank you, Madam Clerk, Ms. Ivey, Ms. Collins. Thank you for being here. Thank you, Mr. Mayor and Commissioners. You got it. Thank you so much. All right. Madam Clerk, let's just keep on moving down. We're going to companion 8 and 30.

DO MADAM CLARE COME FOR REFERENCE? I FORGET WHO ASKED THIS ITEM BE PULLED. MR. JOHNSON. MR. JOHNSON. DIRECTOR CAMERON, DO YOU WANT TO GIVE US SOME BACKGROUND INFORMATION, PLEASE?

All right, thank you, Director Cameron. Commissioner Johnson from the First.

Thank you, Mr. Mayor. I just wanted, you've given me a lot of information. I thank you, Ms. Cameron. The question, just for my clarity, is that this is not a new scope of work. This is just extending the work that was already agreed to?

OK, and so you mentioned that you're going back and doing negotiations, and I know that because that's a contract negotiation, we probably shouldn't talk about that on the floor. But I would like for you to provide to us or through the administration, you know, if 68 is needed and this is, you know, you're trying to get it lowered, what's what scopes are going to change? because of that lower price and then compare it to what we're asking for currently. Does that make sense what I'm asking?

But I guess the level of engagement will probably change if the price goes down, correct? Yes, sir. Okay. Yes, sir. All right. Well, you can just provide that to administration. We'll get it from administration. Thank you.

Commissioner Johnson, thank you. Chair recognizes Commissioner from the 6th, Commissioner Tom Lewis.

Thank you, Mayor Johnson. Director Cameron.

You know, last week I had some questions in reference to the $68,000 ask. Yes. I think one of the questions I asked you is this, will this be good money spent? And I think you answered that it was needed in order to further or to complete this... this mandate here. Yes, sir. My question to you, when we looked at the original $300,000 and I see the categories that if you can go back, who categorized these items here and how were they broken down? How were they categorized? Because I see some of them are 100% completed, some are 85%. So based on these subjects here, How did the or did the consul

Okay, so we say we have some left over. So these that we see that are not at 100%, the money that's left over, once those are completed, will actually...

So when we talk about the map, when we talk about the map issue, you said that the ball was dropped when it pertained to the map. That should have been included in the original. So if we're dealing with a consultant, someone that has the expertise, why wouldn't they Why wouldn't they suggest that this be included? And so how can we overlook something so major if we have a consultant, someone that does this kind of work and yet they do not make sure that it's included?

And so it was probably negotiated out Again, you have a you have a great staff However, I think that I think I think you when you say we have a great staff I think if we left this much out Then it says it doesn't say a whole lot about staff being great if we're gonna leave something so important as this mapping out of it now we've got to come back and negotiate a new deal on including this, then something just didn't add up. We dropped the ball.

Well, not to say, the ball was dropped then.

Thank you. Thank you. Thank you, Director Cameron. Yes, sir.

Thank you, Mayor. Thank you, Commissioner Lewis. Commissioner from the second, Commissioner Stacy Boyd.

thank you mayor johnson thank you director cameron for your presentation my question is um i'm glad you all asked about the website creation on the website will we be advertising our process for public comment in our next meetings yes ma'am okay and those public comments are going to be taken into consideration it won't just be the steering committee and that's making those decisions absolutely everyone would be taken all comments would be taken into consideration that's very important um i was at the meeting at diamond lakes and I believe more people wanted to comment and give input, so I wou

Thank you, Commissioner Pulliam. Commissioner Brannan-Garrett from the 8th.

Thank you, and Director Kammerer, I appreciate the update on this. Mayor, I have one question for our Procurement Director, Pennant.

Yes, sir, Mr. Pennant, Director Pennant. Should I take the other motion? I recommend it. Good afternoon.

All right. Thanks, sir. Hopefully this will be a quick question, but Director Cameron was talking about this contract versus the new contract. Is this additional to the already procured contract, or is this a new procured contract for this additional money?

The existing contract. Okay. So from what she's presented and what you've seen, do you see any issues with this additional money?

All right. Thank you so much, Mr. Penick.

And with that being said, I'm going to make a motion that we send this to committee based on Procurement Director's recommendation for further review.

Commissioner from the 8th has made a motion to send this back to procurement. And then I hear a second from Commissioner from the 1st. All right. You said committee, right, sir? Send it back to committee. Committee. Yep. Okay. And it's proper seconded by Commissioner from the 1st. Madam Clerk, I don't see any colleagues in the queue. We're prepared to vote.

Thank you, Mayor Johnson. I'm going to make a motion to approve this item.

All right. Do you want to request it to be pulled? Madam Clerk, the Commissioner from the second has requested this motion be approved. I heard a proper second by Commissioner, I'm sorry, Mayor Pro Tem Wayne Guilfoyle. There was someone in the queue, but there's no one in the queue now. Seeing no one in the queue and no further discussion, we're prepared to vote to approve this item.

Thank you, Dr. Malik. Chair recognizes Commissioner Brandon Garrett from the 8th. There's a motion to approve. I heard a second from Commissioner Jordan Johnson from the 1st. Madam Clerk, I don't see any colleagues in the queue. We're prepared to vote.

Thank you, Dr. Malik. Chair recognizes Commissioner Lonnie Wimbley from the Fort. Mr. Mayor, I recommend approval. I heard, I recommend approval by Commissioner Lonnie Wimbley. I heard a second from Commissioner from the 9th, Commissioner Francine Scott. Madam Clerk, there are no colleagues in the queue for discussion. We are voting.

All right, Madam Clerk, I think that concludes most of our agenda items with the exception of item eight and item 30 that we have companioned for today's commission meeting. Before we address item eight and item 30, we're gonna move back to the delegation portion of our meeting. As I counted, there are 11, 11 delegations that we need to address. And colleagues, we need to take a five minute break. We're gonna suspend for five minutes because each delegation requires five minutes and that's five times a lot of time. So give us five minutes and we'll reconvene. Madam Clerk, we stand suspended fo

All right, Ms. Gayla Kesey. I saw Ms. Gayla Kesey in the hallway, so we're gonna see, I think she's first on the list. Dr. Gayla Kesey. Dr. Gayla Kesey. All right. Madam Clerk, I see our first delegation is here and we have a quorum. I'm gonna call this. this session back to order? Yes, sir. And let's start with delegation item C, please. Ladies and gentlemen, we're back in session, back to order. Madam Clerk.

Dr. Casey. Madam Clerk, I don't see any colleagues in the queue. Let's move on with delegation item D, please.

Madam Clerk, there are no colleagues in the queue, so we're prepared without delegation. Item E, please.

Ms. Wheeler, thank you for being here. Thank you for your patience. Please, for the record, please state your name and place of residence, please.

Madam, you have the floor in five minutes.

Ms. Wheeler, thank you so much. Thank you for moving north. Please keep the hurricanes in Florida. We'd love to stay here, okay? All right. Thank you so much. All right, Madam Clerk, let's move on to the next delegation. I think that's delegation G. Yes.

Mr. Green, you have the floor, sir. All right, you have some illustrations and you need some help? Yes. He has something he wants to put on the screen, Ms. McFarland. All right, I had to make it a little smaller, move it around a little bit. All right. We're going to wait till you get all set up, Mr. Green. All right. Mr. Green, you know the record. For the record, please state your name and place of residence, please.

Thank you, sir. You have the floor in five minutes.

You have, we're in two, two minutes, 16 seconds and counting.

Thank you, Mr. Green. There's no colleagues in the queue for any discussion. We appreciate you being here today and thank you for your presentation.

Ms. Harris, thank you so much for being here and I appreciate your patience. For the record, can you please state your name and place of residence, please?

Thank you, ma'am. You have the floor and five minutes.

All right, Madam Clerk, next item, please. Item?

Ms. Collins, for the record, please state your name and...

Anyway. All right, ma'am. We're going to wait for you to get the bottle of water first. Thank you so much.

Already. You have the floor in five minutes.

Thank you, Ms. Collins. Ms. Collins, you had another 30 seconds, but I appreciate you making time for someone else.

Ms. Smith, welcome. Thank you for your patience. For the record, please state your name and place of residence. Thank you, ma'am. You have the floor in five minutes.

It's at five minutes because they asked for preferential treatment for a point of personal privilege from the commissioner from the fifth for him to receive an award.

Hearing none. Madam, thank you for being here. Thank you for your presentation. Have a good day. Madam Clerk.

Minister Williams, thank you so much for being here. We appreciate your patience. For the record, please state your name, your place of residence.

Thank you so much. Minister, we really appreciate you being here today. Minister Siobhan Williams. Madam Clerk, next delegation item.

All right. Ms. Lisa Lovestone-Gilford. Is she here? She may be gone. Oh, okay. She's right there. Okay. Somebody whispered and said she was gone. All right. Before you get started, ma'am, we're going to give the clerk an opportunity to hand us this so that we'll have it as you get ready to speak. And while she's doing that, I want to acknowledge our newly hired warden for RCCI. Mr. McMillan, can you stand up for just a minute? Thank you so much for being here, sir. Round of applause. Warden, welcome back home to Augusta, Georgia, sir. Glad to have you. All right, did we get some this way? Ever

Yeah, I have one, thank you. All right. Ms. Lovestone-Gifford? Yes. Welcome. For the record, please state your name and residence.

Thank you, ma'am. You have the floor in five minutes and we have your documents. Thank you so much.

For the record, please state your name and residence, please.

Mr. Jones, please, your name and just residence.

Great city of Augusta. We're going to wait. All right.

All right. When we're ready. All right. I think we're ready, Mr. Jones. I'm starting the clock. You have five minutes.

Madam Clerk, I don't see any 36 page report. Report. So, sir, we do not have it. So you're just going to talk to it for about five minutes. All right, I'm gonna start the clock. You have five minutes, sir.

Thank you so much. And I must acknowledge our fabulous clerk said that your report is in our agenda book. So thank you so much. It is received. We do have it.

Thank you, Mr. Jones, for being here, sir. Madam Clerk, I think this takes us to our very last delegation item. Ms. Jeter was so gracious to yield her time so that she can speak to this relevant topic. Are we going to do 8 and... After we get this, yes. 8 and 30. Okay, we're going to do Ms. Jeter.

You're fine. You have the floor, ma'am, and thank you for coming back.

Thank you, Miss Jeter. Madam Clerk, I think that concludes and we've addressed every single delegation item, especially those that are related to the data center. We're going to move back to our regularly scheduled agenda items that we have companion item number 8 and number 30. If you will, let's read them into the record, please.

Thank you so much, Madam Clerk. Chair recognizes Commissioner from the first, Commissioner Jordan Johnson.

Thank you, Mr. Mayor. I have a question for our planning director.

All right, Director Cameron. Thank you for being close. Yes. Thank you, sir.

Ms. Cameron, approximately, I know we spoke about this earlier today in our meetings, but could you share with me again, how long do you think it will take for the ordinances that you're upgrading? How long would that take us to complete?

Around how long you think that's going to be until it's completed?

Okay. That's the only question I have for you. You know, we've heard a lot of conversation and I think we've been involved in a lot of conversation as well. And I'm just personally, Mr. Mayor and colleagues, not at a point to where I'm ready to vote on this at all because there are too many unknowns. you have to ask yourself, does the benefit, whatever that is, does the risk outweigh the benefit? And right now, that's just too much at stake that I don't think that we have a clear understanding of. And also in the ordinance that's been presented, it creates some unintended consequences for tele

Thank you so much, Commissioner. From the first chair recognizes Mayor Pro Tem Wayne Guilford.

Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Um, Director, if you would be kind enough, Denise Traynor had mentioned a town that had a very good ordinance in place. If you could ask her what was, I could not capture the name of the town or the municipality. Let's look at that ordinance as well as Dr. Galanese on the, what she had brought up was the Georgia Tech Hub. Okay. A lot of the people that came before us, the residents that came before us, doesn't understand. We hear you loud and clear. We went through, today's the last day of the 49-day ordinance. Moratorium. Moratorium, I'm sorry. But fortunately, our direc

Thank you, Mayor Pro Tem. Madam Clerk, I have a motion from the Mayor Pro Tem with a proper second by Commissioner Brandon Garrett to extend the moratorium for 60 days. There's a motion and a proper second. There's other colleagues in the queue, and we're going to get to them. So I recognize as Commissioner Stacey Pulliam from the second.

Thank you, Mayor Johnson. First of all, I want to thank everyone that came up today to present on the data centers. And not just for today, but your diligence in consistently coming before us, making sure that we hear you. I was honored to be able to go to the NACO conference these past few days, and there were quite a few data center discussions. And some of those individuals that stood out the most was the Honorable Jessica Fitzwater from Frederick County, Maryland, as well as Vice Chair Mike Turner from Loudoun County, Virginia, who wrote a white page that I'll actually be sharing. But one

Thank you, Commissioner Pulliam. Tim recognizes Commissioner Lonnie Wimbley from the 4th.

Thank you, Mr. Mayor. And I'm going to say to my colleague from the 2nd, if you just got a round of applause. But I think when I finish, I'm going to get a standing ovation. There's nothing in the works that says that we gotta be prepared for data centers at any given point in time. So there's plenty of time and plenty of opportunity for us to just sit back, relax, and get it right. So I'm gonna make a substitute motion. You didn't do a substitute, you just made a recommendation. I'm going to make a substitute motion that we extend the opportunity for planning to get the ordinance correct or a

All right, is there a second to that substitute motion?

There's a second from the commissioner. Madam Clerk, did you get that? The motion is for the ordinance to be corrected and make sure that the planning department gets it correct with the moratorium to be not less than 90 days, okay? That was Mr. Commissioner Wimbley's motion, seconded by Commissioner Johnson. All right, got a few other colleagues in the queue. Commissioner Don Clark.

All right, Mr. Mayor, thank you, I appreciate it. Community members, this is what engagement looks like, when folks are getting more and more informed about something such as this. I think some of you all have gotten your honorary doctorate degrees in data centers up to this point. and are flexing them on a consistent basis when you come up. I'll tell you this, it's a lot to be learned and discovered with these processes. Again, like Commissioner Pulliam said, this was a national conference of county officials that we just attended, and everyone throughout the country is dealing with this same

Yeah, I was just talking about doing a couple community sessions, town halls, so that the community can continue to get informed as we're shaping up and improving this. And who's heading it up? My suggestion was, because Commissioner Scott was the last one to bring this up, if she wants to lead it and then we support her wholeheartedly it's only been four of us i think to date including the mayor was five that have attended all of the ones to date but i think we need to get as many of us there as possible it shows a good faith it shows intentionality but more importantly we're just as engaged

All right. Thank you, Commissioner Clark. Do you yield? All right. Commissioner Clark yields. Chair recognizes Commissioner Francine Scott from the 9th.

Thank you, Mayor Johnson. Ms. Bono, we are on the substitute motion, right? So on the substitute motion, I want to make sure that we have three public meetings. Three public meetings, and I know when we change ordinance and we have to do the three meetings,

Commissioner from the 9th, can we get the Commissioner from the 4th to amend this substitute if that's the case?

Commissioner from the 4th, are you okay with amending your motion as requested by Commissioner from the 9th to have three public meetings? I am. All right, thank you. Commissioner Scott, you good? All right. Madam Clerk, there are no other colleagues in the queue. We're going to address the substitute motion first that's been made by Commissioner Wimberly and seconded by Commissioner Jordan. to make sure that we get the ordinance correct through the planning department and extend the moratorium for not less than 90 days. So, see no callers in the queue for discussion. We're voting on the subst

To include. Need a vote. Make her the motion.

Point of clarity, Mr. Mayor. Yes, sir. I want to just ask a quick question just for understanding. The maker of this motion said that he wanted to extend the moratorium to be no less than 90 days. And I believe the other motion was 60 days with the option to extend. Isn't that saying the same thing?

so couldn't so let's let the maker of the motion clarify if you don't mind okay all right uh mayor pro tem

I don't remember saying with the option to extend in my motion. That's what Commissioner Pulliam asked you to amend to and you agreed to. I didn't hear that, I apologize. My motion was clearly to extend this moratorium until September 15th. And that'll give us 56 days. And the whole thing that we gotta realize is when we put an ordinance together, it could be amended at any given time. You know, it's just not a once you vote on it, it's a done deal. It could be modified, and that's the great thing about an ordinance. And we could change policy at any given moment. That was the whole thing, Com

Colleagues, order please. Commissioner Johnson, you still have the floor, sir. Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Can I ask the maker of the motion to just amend this motion to 90 days? I mean, 60 days. It's four additional days to his original motion.

a second can i respond to the commissioner whenever you're ready the floor is yours uh commissioner johnson last week i was actually um pushing forward for the august 18th meeting which would give us uh 45 47 days i believe it was um no it was less than that and for the august 18th but um i could i couldn't gardener support for that and everybody was basically saying 60 days and so with the september 15th that's 56 days that's four days short and that falls on a commission meeting and so it'll be the same thing as long weekend but Again, ordinance can be modified, it can be changed. It actuall

i think that's pretty close to it and i would appreciate if you would support this because if this vote fails we unprotected here in the city i agree and and 60 days is is not 56 days um the reality is there's not support for a 56 day moratorium but there's reality there's support for a 60 day okay so i'm asking that we meet uh at a compromise over four days so that we can get this vote passed so everyone can go have dinner So could you amend your motion to allow for 60 days?

Mayor Pro Tem, are you willing to amend your motion? Or are you going to keep your original motion?

It's September 18th is the meeting date, commission date. That's it. If it fails, it fails. We'd be unprotected and people could come in and put it in a data center.

Commissioner, from the first, the Mayor Pro Tem is rejecting... To amend his motion. So his original motion stands. Point of clarity.

Can we get the attorney to give clarification? This meeting for the ordinance to approve it, does it have to be during a committee or does it have to be during a commission meeting?

All right, thanks. That's a point of clarity to the attorney as well, Mr. Mayor? Yes, sir, Commissioner Johnson. Mr. Matten, is it also true that we don't have to absolutely approve this ordinance at that meeting? If the ordinance was extended, if the moratorium was extended to 60 days, which would put us outside of that commission meeting date, is it also true that we could approve that ordinance at the following commission meeting with no issue?

Okay, and that would mean that somebody could apply the 61st day, which still leaves it in the commission's hand whether to approve it or deny it, correct? So there's still protection there if the moratorium were to expire, right? Yes, that is correct. So this ordinance doesn't stop people from applying. The moratorium stops them from applying while we create an ordinance. But if the ordinance, if the moratorium expires, people can apply, but the commission can still deny if that's our will.

Well, you know, that's the same situation we have right now with QTS and it seems like that's usually what we get thrown as a lawsuit lawsuit. But what I wanna just make sure that I'm clear on is that this September date is not ironclad. We can vote on an ordinance the following meeting or a special call that next Tuesday, correct?

All right. Thank you, Commissioner Jordan Johnson from the first. Chair recognizes Commissioner Stacy Pulliam from the second.

Okay. I have a question. May I, I can direct it to Attorney Madden. Yes. If I may, I would like to honestly direct it to Ms. Bonner. if I may yes ma'am continue thank you I remember um there was a time when I was applying and I just want this to be clear even for the public when I was applying for GIC Georgia Initiative for Community Housing and we were not in a commission meeting in fact I had gotten word while I was in Austin that it may not go through and so I had to gather my votes or gather support for that and you were able to send out an email because something had to be signed and I wa

But if we had a special call meeting in the midst of that, we could then approve it. Yes, ma'am. Okay. Thank you, Ms. Bonner. Thank you, Mayor Johnson.

Thank you, Commissioner Pulliam. Chair recognizes Commissioner Lonnie Whitman-Lewinford.

Thank you, Ms. Mayor. I'm still a little concerned. We seem to be trying to rush a document and rush a study I've listened to the news. I've heard of those counties that put moratorium on data centers, but I never heard an argument in that by we might get sued. They don't talk about that. They talk about what they don't want. They talk about what they don't want. They talk about what they want. They want still a pristine looking community that they have. They want the cow pastures and all that. Good. That's what they want. But they're not saying if we put this moratorium on, we're going to get

Thank you. Thank you, Commissioner Wimbley. Mayor Pro Tem Wayne Guilford.

Mr. Mayor, let me see if I can modify my motion. You ready, Madam Clerk? Let's extend this moratorium for 60 days. Let's include three public meetings, Warren Road, Diamond Lakes, and where was the other one? Brigham. At the Brigham Center. And that'll be handled by our staff.

All right. Madam Clerk, the maker of the motion has amended it.

All right. Madam Clerk, Mayor Pro Tem has amended his motion. For 60 days. And three public hearings. Three hearings.

Diamond Lakes. Commissioner Garrett, you were the original seconder of that motion. Do you?

I was going to say I'll second. I heard second from you yield to the commissioner from the second. Do you second, ma'am? And it's seconded by Commissioner Stacey Pulliam, Madam Clerk. All right, Commissioner Francine Scott, you're in the queue. She's out of the queue. All right, Madam Clerk, we have an amended motion for a 60-day extension of the moratorium to include three public hearings. Would the proper second it? We're prepared to vote. There's no colleagues in the queue.

Further business before this body? No, sir. Seeing or hearing none, this session is hereby adjourned. Ladies and gentlemen, thank you all for being here. Have a great day.