City Council - Regular Meeting

Good evening everyone. I would like to call the June 9th, 2026 council meeting to order and I'll ask the clerk to please call the roll.

Dr. Lee. Here. Ms. Sammis. Here. Ms. Mapp. Here. Ms. Pendergast. Here. Dr. Wills. Here. Ms. Shanhoser.

Here.

All right, we do have a quorum present. If you will please stand and join us in the prayer and the pledge of allegiance. Gracious God Almighty, we thank you for this day. We thank you for this meeting on tonight. We pray, Lord, that we have like minds and that your peace and understanding come within this room. We ask right now, Lord God, that we conduct ourselves as true servants. We conduct ourselves as true brothers and sisters in Christ in this meeting. As we move forward with this meeting tonight, dear Lord, I ask that you continue to bless everyone on this dais. bless those that are going through it this time in their hour of bereavement or in their time of illness. We thank you in Jesus' name we do pray. And everyone say, Amen. All right. At this time, we will move to our public comments. And as always, I always read a caption for you all to covering yourselves accordingly. Citizens wishing to speak during the City Council work session must complete all areas of this form. If you do not sign up to speak prior to the start of this meeting, you will not have an opportunity to speak. Citizens are not allowed to speak openly during the meeting unless first recognized by the presiding officer, typically the mayor. When the presiding officer calls their name, citizens may speak for no more than three minutes. Citizens who attend the meeting as a part of a group may not give their time to another member of the group. The presiding officer may stop the person for speaking if the remarks or gestures are profane, abusive, inflammatory, or otherwise offensive. Persons who refuse to stop speaking at the direction of the presiding officer may be escorted from the meeting by a law enforcement officer at the request of the presiding officer. A maximum of five citizens will be allowed to speak during any single meeting. Speaking opportunities are first come, first served. The first person we have up to speak tonight is David Ushery. Mr. Ushery, if you will please come to the podium. Speak your name and address for the record.

My name's David Ushery. I'm battalion chief of the city of Milledgeville. I live at 576 Nelson Road, Milledgeville, Georgia. I stand before you tonight to speak about one issue that's fair pay for firefighters, Millersville Fire Rescue.

Let me be clear, we respect the work and the contributions of every city department. However, council, mayor, city manager, public safety is different. Firefighters accept unique responsibilities. We work long hours. We respond to emergencies at all hours of the day and night and place ourselves in dangerous situations to protect this community. This is our community. Direct comparison between public safety and other city positions simply do not reflect the realities of this profession, Dr. Lee. The facts are clear. We are underpaid. When we compare ourselves with neighboring fire departments, we provided extensive salary data through open record requests of other city municipalities. Chief Collier, his command staff, many of us have spent months gathering accurate information that shows Millersville firefighters are not keeping pace with surrounding communities. In addition to being underpaid, we also face serious pay compression. I sent emails out. The problem with our own organization is within our organization is pay compression. The difference in compensation between firefighters, company officers, and supervisors has become too narrow. It's too close. A firefighter makes close pay to a sergeant. A sergeant makes too close a pay to a lieutenant. A lieutenant makes too close a pay to a battalion chief. A healthy pay structure should reward experience, leadership, and responsibility. Yet during last week's work session, I left feeling, Mayor, disappointed, frankly insulted. Not because you wouldn't let me speak, I understand, but after years of discussing this firefighter conversation, hearing that firefighter salaries are being evaluated by simply averaging the surrounding departments, Dr. Wells, it felt like Overly simplistic response to a serious long-standing problem. This issue has been discussed for nearly eight years. We deserve a more thorough solution. It concerned me even more when it suggested that paying firefighters fairly could create financial pressures that might require, Dr. Wells, they said lay off firefighters if we pay you fairly in the city of Millersville. We're going to lay off firefighters because we might not be able to afford it. If the city's finances are so strong, and we are told they are, why can't we afford to pay us fair? And if the answer is that we cannot afford it, then firefighters, citizens, this community deserves a clear explanation why we can't pay our firefighters. We should not hide behind excuses. We should focus on the solutions. Thank you. And when Minnesota Fire Rescue Services wins, we all win. We all win when we win.

Thank you Mister usher next we have. Mister Gregory Barnes please come state your name and address for the records.

I'm behind that Gregory Barnes, 3736 Sussex drive, Millersville Georgia, I'm just here to give my opinion for the ordinance related to the curfew I just want to remind you a couple of things on number one. Why are you considering this I want you to understand that this is curfew on this week. affect black and brown teens uh number one that is uh uh i i think that's reasonable for all of us to understand that and to understand also that majority of the teens that will be affected are not a part of any criminal activity that's second thing number three I don't know if you realize, but ordinance like this will also affect youth 17 to 20, which will also be disproportionately black and brown, because you have given the police the authority to come and ask age. And the only thing they have to say is, well, you look 16. Now they're in the system. So you are giving them a lot of power to do that. Third, fourth, and I do not see it, I don't see any guardrails to assist the community, i.e., what about some type of community police review panel for all complaints? We have to be able to balance something. If you're going to consider this, you're going to need to have some balance to it. One of my greatest concerns, I'm from Millersville, but I used to live in New York. This is too closely related to stop and frisk. And I don't think we want to go in that direction. Are there things that we should do or ways to prevent it? You know, people know me. They know I am more proactive rather than reactive. And I've always said some things that we need to begin to work on proactively to address certain circumstances. But I think it's dangerous to be reactive in a situation like that. That's sort of like trying to kill a cockroach by stepping on one or two. You haven't done anything. So I please, as you consider this ordinance, please consider those are disadvantages to the community. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Barnes. So next we have Mister Rodney hands. We will come up and state your name and address for the record.

Good evening Council, my name is Rodney Hines I am a battalion chief in the City of Milledgeville and I live at 339 Oconee Street, Edenton, Georgia. Dear Council, thank you for allowing me to stand before you and speak. I pray you'll consider my reasoning for approval of the Millersville Fire Rescue budget that was presented to you. It reflect the hard work of men and women dedicated to the development of their peers. There are 15 steps we must go through to help all recruits become capable of serving our citizens and stakeholders properly. Number one, chain of command, which is formal authority, which takes about six months for a new recruit to understand because a lot of them could be coming from environments where they didn't have that type of formal authority unless they had someone that was in the military or a family member. Number two, communications, which is information transfer, which takes about three months for a new recruit to understand and pick up on the language that we call clear text. Building construction, which is classified of all types of construction material and their resistance to fire, which is going to take the recruit probably the first three years to really even grasp all of that, especially to get a keen eye to understand what you're looking at. For fire dynamics, which is the meeting point between fire science, material science, fluid dynamics of gases and heat transfer. All that means is they've got to understand what they're dealing with when they come into an IDLH environment, which is an immediate danger for life and health. PPE, which is our personal protective equipment that we wear. They have to learn how to, what it is piece by piece, how to use it in order to keep themselves safe. Fire extinguishers, which has been a key component for us when we going into different environments, especially restaurants. Learning how to tie and utilize ropes and knots, which is key when it comes to rescue, especially high angle rescue to help people who may be down in a ditch or something like that. Ladders, which is a big help to our rescue operation because they're gonna take a lot of muscle memory and muscle gain, so we have to get recruits off the park with that. Forcible entry, which is a key component to life safety because we have to learn how to do it quickly, be efficient, with less damage and great property conservation. Search and rescue, which is designed to locate and extricate individuals in the stress of danger, which means you have to understand and know what an individual is without even knowing where they're at. Tactical ventilation, which is a systematic and coordinated removal of heat and gases from a structure, which is key in order for us to have keen visibility to get where we need to go during search and rescue operations. Fire hose and hose operations, which is key for us because we need to know exactly when and where and what type of hose that we need in order to help assist us in any operation when it comes to fire suppression or ventilation. fire suppression, eliminate fire suppression, which is the elimination or mitigation of fire using water or specialized chemicals that can help us mitigate a ideal age environment.

The time is up. Thank you. Thank you. Next person up will be Mr. Richard Smith.

My name is Lieutenant Rashad Smith, 107 Village Commons Drive, and I represent the Village Fire Department and the City of Milledgeville.

The fire service's greatest asset is the talent that populates it.

Our training, our certifications, our equipment, it allows us to deliver a quality of service to our city. Market competitiveness to acquire and retain talent. There's so many markets and opportunities available that it is vital that we stay competitive to produce the best product that we can so we can continue to serve the city of Milledgeville at a level and standard of excellence. Our product is safety. Our product is to reduce your insurance costs by having the best ISO rating. By allowing us a bigger budget, we'll be able to obtain new firefighters, retain firefighters, and provide new hires with the best quality training to implement these new techniques for the city of Milledgeville. We have lost great firefighters to outside opportunities. We need to keep great quality service workers in our city. The best way to do that is to, at the least, pay our public service workers market value for their worth. We work 24 hours, sometimes 48 hours, to provide safety at all hours of the day and all hours of the night to serve our city. We're away from our families, we don't know if we're coming home. We can at least provide a more substantial financial support to our loved ones, just in case we have to give the greatest sacrifice for our community, which is our lives. Esteemed ladies and gentlemen of this council, we are here for you, and we ask for you to allow us to have a better quality of living raised by passing this legislation. We need to be rewarded for the work that we do, and for the work that still needs to be done for our city. This opportunity allows us to open the door for advanced training and to be able to bring that training back to our department and implement it into our standard of operating procedures. We have a quality of standard that is very high. But with a bigger budget, we can increase that quality of safety that we bring to our city. Thank you for your time.

Thank you, Mr. Smith. Mr. Corinthians. Corinthians.

Corinthians.

Corinthians Dennis.

everybody here from the fire service stand up let's show that we're in solidarity today okay so we just need you to speak on three minute topics because your three minutes are rolling okay yes we need them to sit down to see what's going on as well first of all i come as a country boy from edenton georgia got my little bundle alumni shirt up under here But I kind of speak from the heart, not from any papers. We just got through praying to God. I consider myself a God-fearing man myself. I remember a man of God was telling me, a lot of Christians got their nose in the air, and a lot of older Christians because they may have did this or did that. And you start pulling that string on the lawnmower. He gave me a parable of pulling a lawnmower string. And we're pulling a long, long string. Everybody know the case study in Millersville. We've been doing it for 30 years. University of Georgia been doing that case study. We all know this. Guys I looked at coming up, Lee Braswell, the guys that serve in our community, that gave their lives, sweat, blood, and tears at the fire department three and four jobs just to put food on their family table. Let that resonate in your heart today. A lot of these guys are gone now. Don't even know what they came in contact with. That's the kind of stuff your firefighter dealing with every day. A lot of people think we over here eating Cheetos, watching TV, but you're dealing with something every day. You're on alert every day. Your life on the line when you put that pair of pants on. You never know. A lot of us, the guys like me, Captain Brad, we've seen a lot of things. We've seen that wreck over here off of the railroad track. We see a lot of stuff. We go through a lot of stuff. It's like a slap in the face every time we come here and pull that lawnmower string. Every year. I thought I would never get to the point where I'm at now. I see myself having a bad attitude at work. Different things like that. Negatives. I thought I would never get to that point. But I remember that parable. You pull that string long enough, you might get fed up too. So just think about that. But the main thing, we might have different opinions. We may have different things that we're looking at in different ways. You might be seeing it another way. But the whole purpose is to make the city of Millersville better. We may have different opinions, but our whole directorate is to make the city of Millersville ballroom better. And we have been too long, too long, too long, too long been underpaid. And that's just the bottom line. Let that resonate. And I hope everybody take that in.

All right. This time we're going to move on with our meeting. You all have received a copy of the June 2nd, 2026 Council work session minutes. Are there any corrections or amendments that need to be made? Hearing on is there a motion to adopt the June 2nd 2026 26 work session minutes so move. We have a motion and a second now is could please call the roll that early.

The sentence I miss map. I miss tender case. I got the wills I should also I.

The motion carries in the minutes are approved. You have all received a copy of the May 26 2026 Council meeting minutes are there any corrections or amendments that need to be made. Hearing none is there a motion to adopt the May 26 2026 work session minutes so move. We have a motion in a second. I ask the clerk, please call the roll.

Dr. Lee. Aye. Ms. Simmons. Aye. Ms. Mapp. Aye. Ms. Pendergast. Aye. Dr. Wells. Aye. Ms. Shanholster.

Aye. The motion carries and amendments are approved. As far as the mayor's comments tonight, I don't have any that I will be making. So at this time, we'll move to the city manager's report and I will recognize Ms. Hilson-Butts.

Good afternoon, I'm just like we shot the fall is an early father's day of them that I don't have any comments.

We will now move to all business tonight, which is a part of the agenda. We have to public hearings to conduct tonight, all of which relates to land use the procedure for conducting all of the public hearing will be as follows. Once it has been determined that the public hearing has been properly posted and advertised, the clerk will read the proposed amendment to the Land Development Code. We will then hear a report from planning and zoning administrator, including the advisory decision of the planning and zoning commission. Council will first hear from the applicant and anyone who wishes to speak in favor of the amendment. We will then hear from anyone who wishes to speak in opposition to the amendment. If anyone speaks in opposition to the amendment, we will then give the applicant an opportunity for rebuttal. But the rebuttal must be limited to the points or issues raised by the opposition. We will then give the opposition the opportunity to speak to the rebuttal. They too must limit to the points or issues raised. Please make sure that before you speak that you come to the podium and give your name and address for the record. Anyone wishing to speak on a matter is encouraged to do so, but comments must remain relevant, concise, and polite. The first public hearing is for 394 Broad Street. Madam Clerk, has this public hearing been properly posted and advertised?

Yes. I will ask the clerk to read Ordinance O-2603-12 by caption.

Ordinance old as 20 6, 0, 3, that's 12 conduct a public hearing of an ordinance amending land development code to rezone approximately 0.9 4 acres from all I office institutional to S F R one single-family residential one property is located at 3, 9, 4, 3, since the ball in County tax map 0, 7, 2, 0, 0, 1, 6, 3, the property is owned by Mister by Terry Willie the property will be used for residents.

I recognize Mister Barnes where the zoning administration straight in for a report at this time.

Good evening everyone. Well, this was first brought before a plane. It was only on April 6th, but they didn't have a quorum that day, so it was tabled. It was brought back again successfully before a plane. It was only on May 4th. Motion passed. All in favor, 4-0. I yield my time to Ms. Willie.

Thank you all for having me. I'm Dr. Terry Willie, and I'm at 105 Coventry Court Northeast Milledgeville. And that house sat on the market for I believe a year and a half. And I think the reason why it didn't sell is because it was occupational institutional. And there's not much happening down there on Broad Street for that any longer. But I'm trying to restore the house back to its glory. I'm in love with the house. I put tons of money into it. I'm still putting gobs of money into it. So I'd like to change it to single family residential.

Thank you thank you there anyone who's wants to speak in favor of this. That was applicant was mysterious was anybody here that wants to speak in favor of the applicants request. Is there anyone here that wants to speak in opposition to the amendment. are there any questions or comments for council having that seeing that we don't have anybody speaking in opposition all right this concludes the presentation of evidence in this public hearing is there a motion

so move second second I ask the clerk to please call the roll Dr Lee aye Ms. Simmons aye Ms. Mapp aye Ms. Pendergast aye Dr. Wills aye Ms. Schoenholzer aye

Second public hearing is for 2747 North Columbia Street. Madam clerk has this public hearing being properly posted and advertised.

Yes.

I want to ask the clerk to read Ordinance O-2604-13 by caption.

Ordinance O-2604-13, conduct a public hearing of an ordinance amending the charter to accept approximately 1.56 acres of land into the corporate limits of the City of Milledgeville with a zoning of HC, heavy commercial. The property is located at 2747 North Columbia Street, Baldwin County, tax map 085, parcel 045, and is owned by Wilson Keenan. Mr. Keeney plans to use the property as a manufactured home dealership.

I will recognize the zoning administrator for a report at this time.

This was brought before playing is ongoing May 4th. They had several residents speak in opposition to the zoning. Most commented on the traffic snake that the moving of the mobile homes would create. The residents had 162 signatures in opposition. One board member pointed out that it was a mobile home dealership in the past there. So what was the difference now?

Another question that was raised about the access of North Columbia Street.

as it was noted that what it what it had to be on long leave my son or more Columbia. And the recommendation is because G dot a recommendation you have to have a deceleration lane and that's a lot of paperwork. It was a highly contested but the motion passed 3 to 1. Any questions.

Thank you, Mister Barnes will. I remind anyone who wishes to speak to come to the podium, state your name. It's this time we'll hear from those. That's what I was going to say. Thank you. I was asking for the applicant's certificate. Are you the applicant? I need the applicant to come forward to the podium and state your name and address.

I'm Brian Gillis, the general manager for Georgia Home Center. I reside at 744 South Steelbridge Road, Eatonton. We purchased the property from the previous owner who did use it as a mobile home dealership. We applied to annex it into the city so we could use city utilities. And we applied for a driveway to be put onto Longleaf there for easier access to make the traffic flow smoother. That's kind of all I got for you about this matter.

OK. That's fine. Is there anyone here wishing to speak in favor of the amendment? Is there anyone present who would like to speak in opposition to the amendment? Please come to the podium and state your name and address.

My name is Chris Medilli. I live at 131 Quail Place Northeast in Pine Ridge. And I would like to make a motion to reschedule this meeting and this hearing. Number one, we formally request that the Planning and Zoning Commission halt the application until an independent traffic engineer conducts a comprehensive TIS specifically analyzing the Longleaf Trail bottleneck. TIS is a traffic impact study for those of you who did not know that. Number two, we'd like to review the local comprehensive plan in the city of Milledgeville to see if utilizing residential secondary roads for heavy commercial access violates city planning policies regarding neighborhood stabilization and buffered zoning transactions. So number three, under Georgia law, I would like the city to file an unofficial, unreasonable burden objection to trigger a state mandated arbitration panel. What that means, that forces a legal pause on the city's ability to vote. Number four. We need a binding site plan, want a scaled engineering drawing providing that they could fit the mandatory 40 foot rear vegetative screening buffer, storm water retention, and required vehicle parking setbacks on a 1.56 acre layout. If they cannot fit, the rezoning is invalid. The bottom line, this means under Georgia law, this meeting is not permitted to go forward. It is paused until proper documents, TIS, which is the Traffic Impact Study, and the Comprehensive Plan have been addressed. Thank you for letting me hear me.

Thank you, Mr. Dillon. Is there anyone else that wants to speak in favor of the amendment? Compensation. all right so is there anyone else who want to speak in opposition Is that for us to view, sir? Yes, it is. Okay, turn it so we can see it. step back a little bit with the dog please go back just a little bit so yeah so they can see it absolutely thank you are you set it up here yeah and see the point can i stand here i need you to go to the podium stage and then can you all set it right here i don't have to say i'm good

Good to be here tonight. Scott Salter, 116 Quail Place. I also live in Pine Ridge. And our concern is genuine to the heart. And there's a lot involved in it. A lot of legalities, a lot of safety. Safety. Remember that. Because I'm going to point it out in the poster right here. As you see in the poster right there, you see 441 north-south, correct? Mm-hmm. Or you see Longleaf. You see Longleaf right there? Okay, you see the red over there with an X on it, that turns into the existing mobile home dealership location today. On the other side of the road, crossed out, you'll see the proposed, or the issue at hand, I think, that's exactly how I worded that. Okay, so that's where they want to stock new inventory. But they want to use that road right there, and I want to point it out to make sure that we understand this. This road right here is there now. They want to widen that road at 60 feet, okay? All right, that right there that's coming off of 441, that would be great, okay? All right, that would be great right there now. And the reason I say that Y'all can see it? Everybody can see it? It's because Longleaf, used to be Longleaf Trail, okay, is not an industrial boulevard. It is not commercial. That road was built for everybody that lives back in here on Quail Place, Turkey Run, every road back there. All right? Now, we're not Northwoods. We don't have the big fancy houses, swimming pools. We're just people that get by, okay? And we want to be treated like everybody else.

And I'm not making accusations.

I'm just saying that for the record, okay? So what's happening here on this road, when they turn in with their mobile homes, I got 24 years experience with mobile homes. I worked at Horton Homes. I got two tour knees with that. When they turn in here, they come into here. They come in with their trucks, their concrete blocks, their axles, all that stuff that goes along with it along setting up a mobile home because you got to somewhat set it up when they park it over here. They got a single wire and a double wire over here right now, okay? I've been there the other day. They pulled into here, and they went through this. Guess what they done? They tore down the communications cable, the fiber optic cable on May the 20th and May the 21st. They took out communication to everybody back there. It took roughly three days from the time of restoration and complete to get everything back up where all the utility trucks were going. That's just the Georgia Power and these other, the cable places, Spectrum, and I think Pike was out there working on it. So all these trucks were lined up right here. Cable comes down. Hey, what's up with that? You gonna come in here and do that all over again? They need to stay off of art. Bottom line, they need to stay off our road. This is a residential road. And all this from here and the edges of it, as Chris showed, is being torn up by heavy equipment. Okay? And when I say heavy equipment, sometimes it takes a dozer to pull a mobile home into place. It takes a toter, these little short trucks you see, that pull these houses. And on the back of that house, it's got a big old huge hydraulic jack that goes up and down, and it goes east and west when they set the house up. That thing weighs a lot. And they're tearing up all this road. Oh, they put some gravel in there, you know, and everything. But it still goes away. It still goes away. And they're not counting the screws and the nails and everything else. Now, we're putting up with this on this side of the road, but we don't want to double our trouble over here. You come over here and you start doing the same thing you've done over here, you're talking about 60% more, an increase on that side of the street. 60% more. We got elderly people to live back in our neighborhood. Some of them may have to get to the doctor. A woman might be pregnant. She's fitting to have a child. But we can't get out because that double white and single white is backing up in here. And then guess what? They got a blockage up here. And y'all know how traffic is in Louisville? I don't have to tell nobody. They coming down there, somebody's going to get killed. We're already having trouble with publics down there. You know, so the safe, that's the safety part of it. And to get back to something else over here, okay, over here on this existing place, down at the bottom of it, there's a mobile home. It looks like it needs condemned, you know, but it's just parked over there. It's just, you know, it needs to be burned up. It really does. Chris will show you a picture here.

Took this morning.

This is not good. We don't want this coming in here. We don't need that coming in there. And I'll tell you something else, too, to add to that. John Milledge has an escape route. Escape route. Did I say it right? There's a gate back there. If something happens to John Milledge and they can't get out on the log cabin, guess what? There's a gate back here. Mayor, I think you know that. There's a gate back here that opens up. And guess where they go? They hop on 12 plays and they jump on a long trail right here. That's the funnel out of there. They can get out of there quick. If something happened, if some fool got back there and shoot everybody up, get in your cars and get out of there. We can't get out while Kevin. Well, you can get out right here. You can open the gate and get out. It's right behind the baseball field. Okay? That's the thing about it. If it's blocked, what are we going to do? What are we going to do? That's my concern. It's not my gripe. I'm not trying to be a So it is. Yeah, I think that's my concern. And I'm passionate about safety. All right. I've seen things happen. I worked at Horton Homes 24 years. I worked at Georgia Power 21 years. I know what safety is all about. And I know the potential of things that can happen. I say, Oh, we'll make the traffic flow real good right here now. I think, you know, it's like, you know, this is not going to work. This is a residential road. This They can do that. Coming up with 441. But does everybody ask y'all questions? Everybody see? Can you envision your mind? You know, by looking at that? I hope you can. Can y'all see over there? This? I tried to try to make it you know, a picture worth 1000 words, right? I don't know about my drawing, but it might be worth 100 words. Yeah. But And I hope everybody, if y'all want to see that. And I speak for all my neighbors. All my sweet brothers and sisters back in there. I know, I've been back there a long time. I know a lot of them. The kids get in the road. I go up there. I don't care who the mom and dad is. Hey, come here. Come here. And y'all didn't get down this road, you know. I think we got speed bumps coming. Speed bumps coming. And we need them. But I care about my neighborhood back there. And I care about the future of my neighborhood. And I hope you listen and hope you listen with a, with a, with not to blind the zone, but with a broad aspect and, uh,

and take it in and thank you thank you mr scott all right is there any uh is there a rebuttal for anyone who's mostly speaking is there anyone who wants to speak against the um amendment When means are you you already spoke for in favor.

I made a motion to adjourn this meeting and until further notice, you can't do this.

You don't have the authority to make that motion. You can propose it. I propose it to Georgia, Georgia law statute written here.

Got it right here myself. Okay. Because if I know this was going to continue, I have a speech here too, about why I object to it. And I would like two or three minutes of your time if you don't mind.

So, sir, you already spoke on one time, Mr. Jordan.

That's up to you, Mayor.

Okay, because we have such.

With all due respect, Mayor, you know, we vote for you and all this stuff. We support you. I would like two or three minutes of your time.

I'm going to give you two minutes, sir.

All right, you got it.

Two minutes. And the clock is ticking. Okay.

Our primary most urgent concern is the proposed traffic access off Longleaf Trail. Longleaf Trail is a secondary local road. It was designed to handle residential traffic, local families and daily commuters, not heavy commercial transit vehicles. You saw the pictures. That whole road is destroyed, that whole entranceway. Forcing commercial access on the local trails will instantly turn a quiet local roadway into a dangerous high traffic cut through. This introduces severe safety hazards for everybody. Longleaf's trail lanes and the turning radius and the pavement thickness were simply not engineered to withstand the weight of volume of heavy commercial operations. The rezoning creates a dangerous precedent of industrial creep into our neighborhood boundaries. It places an unfair infrastructure strain on city water, sewer, and stormwater systems that we already have problems with, while forcing local taxpayers to foot the bill for the resulting road wear and tear. If the council approves this annexation, you're effectively voting to allow city zone commercial profits to degrade county and neighborhood level infrastructure. In conclusion, we ask the commission to listen to the residents who actually live here. We had a hundred and some petition signed at the last meeting not knowing that it was to come to this, and I'm here representing them. We urge you to deny this rezoning and annexation request. At the very least, if any development moves forward, we demand a strict binding condition of zoning and legally prohibits any commercial or delivery access via Longleaf Trail. There is no reason that you can't access it from North Columbia, which is the address of that property. It wasn't read in the minutes, but the petitioner was caught in a lie saying he didn't have access off of North Columbia. That was a lie. It just costs more money because you have to get the state involved and pay the extra money. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Dillon. All right. Any questions or comments from Council did I miss him.

Yeah.

Is there a rebuttal from anyone who spoke who spoke in opposition to the amendment. Are there any questions or comments from Council.

Well yes mayor, you know my due to all this new information and to be able to speak with the turn city attorney I would like to suggest table in it.

You can make them win. The mayor calls for the question you can make a motion to take with that.

I have a question, Madam Mayor. My first question is for the owner, for you. My question to you is just based on his diagram and not knowing, is there a driveway that comes directly off of 441 that you could possibly turn into so you would have to request a cut from DOT in order to do that? Yes, ma'am. Okay. That's what I needed to know. Go ahead.

I would like to ask, and mission holds hot shingles is already as there's there's not a driveway which you consider putting the driveway there.

I mean, if that's what you told me to do, but the whole reason, the whole reason I'm here today was because we was understand that the properties in the county, it's already been used as that. So I could continue to use it as what it's been being for the last 30 years. The only reason I was going to put an office building there and try to use your utilities. So that's the only reason why we're even here trying to annex it. I can still use that property for what is being used for now. I was just trying to do something a little bit different and upscale the problem. Yeah. So, I mean, either way I understand their concerns and I'm not trying to be that guy because I do understand what they're saying to a point but it's still we still own the property and we still can use it I know when I when we did a first read on this when I wrote by I thought that's already it's been there for 25 years being that the dealership used it for the same thing I can use it for now so I commend you for wanting to annex into the city

um and you would have to get permission from d.o.t to do another cut on 441 that may take a while yeah that's um it's not something that they easily do once once places are already established they are not going to grant a permit sometimes they will sometimes they won't we never know when But with them having granted those down below us for public, I'm not sure if you would really be able to get a permission from DOT to cut a driveway right there in front of you.

And we did have an engineered site plan done for a new driveway and everything and turned it over to the to the city before all this process started. So we did go have everything laid out and by an engineer and designed us a driveway to come in to make the traffic flow smoother coming off of Lonely there. So. All that has been turned in previously.

OK. Mr. Barnwell, while he's standing, can you answer any questions about that as to where that site plan, where it stands, the one that they submitted?

Well as far as the site plan goes has a couple for do T and they have to do a calculation as far as this the celebration lane, we have enough footage for it. The enough enough footage for that so that's why it's not a solution like okay to about the site. Yes. It's not is what you're saying is there's not enough footage on that on that front of North Columbia for the acceleration lane. Yes, ma'am.

Okay.

So it wouldn't support it was report the footage for it.

So they wouldn't do it then.

Dr. Dr. Wills. Address knowledge here.

Thank you, Mayor. So it's my understanding from the citizens who oppose this amendment and bringing the property to one point five six acres into the corporate limits of the city is that there may be or there will be in the estimation of the citizens of destruction on long leave lane however if there was another entrance as we've been discussing here that opposition would fail

with with opposition to this.

So my my mayor, the what I'm hearing is that the main opposition to this is the usage of long leaf line, right? Am I understanding that correctly? Are we further to understand from what Mr. Barnwell just said? That's incorrect.

So wait a minute. Sir, please help see you out of order right now. We're trying to discuss it from the council and you've had your say. Okay, thank you.

Thank you, Mayor. So from the discussion that just took place between Councilman Elster, and Brian and Mr. Barnwell, the hope of getting that access and I appreciate the gentleman bringing the diagram and the hope from for getting that access from 441 or North Columbia, that's probably going to be futile, isn't it?

That's, that's why next door is another mobile

Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait. One second, Mr. Dillings. You can't you can't speak out like that. But I understand your passion, sir. Sir, I understand your passion. But, you know, we have to let everybody speak up. I'm giving you all your opportunity to speak in favor of and those who come in and rebuttal. Now it's council time. They're asking questions so that we can move on with this. I think this may be where you say something. So let me clarify that point. All right. Mister Jordan my question for you what he brought up about. A motion you'd see it to miss him instead when I got further down for a vote or something that this one she can motion. Well it's a lot.

If the discussion phase of this is concluded then you would ask to entertain a motion and if miss Simmons chose to have a motion to table that would be a motion that you would consider before the motion to either approve or disapprove of this zoning application the the information this 36 36 11 that got referenced is actually a mechanism that the legislature put in place to govern between counties and cities where there is an annexation, obviously, into the city. the surrounding properties have to be conducive to that if and in the event the county were to object you know the county did not object to this annexation but if the county objects to the annexation for whatever reason going to be rezoned to something that the other parts of the county adjacent to that property and adjoining that property are not consistent with then of course there's a process in 36 36 11 that cities and counties have to follow to try to resolve that dispute where there is where there is that she I guess that's why to put.

Thank you for the clarification from council. This concludes the presentation of evidence in this public hearing.

You have a question mission also I do I do have a question before we move on further so I are there. any particular requirements that we could make of the owner as far as as as the street or or I notice that the streets looks like is gravel and is not is not paved for for heavy equipment or heavy machinery on it could that be a requirement that we make of the the to have the applicant make sure that the painting for what for which they If they can't, if there's no way that they'll be able to get a new cut right there from DOT from the highway.

Correct.

And there is already a deceleration lane that leaves part of it for the other dealership that's already there. Correct. And so that's why I'm thinking that that's why they're using longleaf trail is because they don't have access any other way. Can this council require that? Perhaps they, because they're bringing in heavier equipment on our city street, pay for the living to be appropriate for what's needed.

The zoning ordinance allows you to approve the zoning or the rezoning with stipulations.

With stipulations, okay.

Any type of stipulate, just like the larger driveway, which they've already agreed that they're going to do. I think there was some mention about some setbacks and so forth. All of that's going to be required anyway.

Okay.

Regardless of, you don't have to take any action on that. But if you're doing something like you're talking about, if you're going to require some paving work and all on that street as part of this rezoning, then sure.

And not at the taxpayer's expense.

No, at the applicant's expense.

Right. So if we agree to... table it and then give us enough time to make a decision as to what we would require in addition to that and to make sure that we know that they won't be able to get access from 441. Then that would give us enough time. Am I right?

Sure. And you could consult with the planning department about the requirements of how much How much footage of paving you want down Longleaf? Obviously, I would think you would want to come at least past the driveway. Absolutely. And I assume that would be the case. But you could get some of that input if you chose to table it for that. reason it would come back to at our next regular meeting and all of the it wouldn't be a it wouldn't be a new public hearing that's taking place tonight but it would be a deliberation by this body then a vote whether to approve or deny okay with those stipulations go ahead question so you were saying that

maintenance should already have been done on the road there. You're saying that there shouldn't be an additional something done?

No. I was responding to Ms. Schenholster that if council of course the talk first is whether to table it in order to determine what else needs to be done by the applicant for for the road and all.

So, Mr. Jordan, I also heard him say about the uses that they're already under under the county. Even though we table it, he still has the right to use the county's guidelines. Is that what you're saying as well?

Yeah, it's in the county right now, and it is a mobile home dealership as such. And now I'm not familiar with all the county's regulations, but it... I'm assuming that it could continue, the applicant is correct, it can continue to be used as a mobile home retail dealership.

But what about the city street? And with the wear and tear on the city street, if it were not annexed, that's a different thing.

I think that is, there's nothing that I'm aware of you could do to force the applicant to pave the street if he's not, if the applicant's not bringing that into the city. You're doing it as a condition of the annexation and zoning and the ordinance allows that to be done you know you probably need some specifications again the planning department needs to provide you with so we can describe in your motion if that's what you choose to do we can describe in your motion You know, how much paving we're requiring and, you know, from the length of it and obviously the width. He's, again, already committed on the driveway being enlarged. I assume that's big enough. Planning can provide some input on that too. okay so that would be in our motion when we bring it back when it comes back to you for your consideration deliberation again it will not be another public hearing

I just want to make sure you're going to do it where we were going with that so everybody on council understanding what has been stated as far as motioning votes and moving forward we're not going to do a question for you so as Miss Simmons if she makes a motion to table that's all that would that's all that has to be is a motion to table and then we have the space to figure out how as Miss Schoenholzer said we

propose our motion at the next meeting. Is that correct?

That is correct. We have to give a second on that motion.

There will have to be a motion to table a second and a vote by this body. On the motion to table.

Thank you.

All right, this concludes the presentation of the evidence in this public hearing. Is there a motion?

I do provide a motion to table item number 02604-13 for further review.

I'll second.

All right, it's been motioned and properly seconded. I'll ask the clerk to please call the roll.

Dr. Lee? Aye. Ms. Simmons? Aye. Ms. Mapp? Aye. Ms. Kendergast? Aye. Dr. Wills? Aye. Ms. Schoenholzer?

Aye. All right, thank you. I'll ask...

Sir we're already done with that I just closed out on this that you want a clarification.

Yes, sir, he's still in the county right now he's still in the county as of now.

Okay.

That's the clerk to re ordinance oh there's 26 or 5 to 17 by caps.

Ordinance old and 26 oh 5 that 17. An ordinance to a man chapter 62 of the code of ordinances city of Millersville Georgia to add a new section 62 20 to establish a curfew for minors under the age of 16 and for other purposes.

Is there any discussion. I hear a motion to adopt the ordinance 0 days 20 605 day 17. May I do have a question if you don't mind okay, so right now. We need to go ahead go ahead, I'm going to ask her to get a question before we do this question first right. Well, I would like to get the motion a second then we're going to discussion and you'll be as you could I got OK. So do I hear a motion on this ordinance? Don't be shy. I need somebody to motion it. Either we're going to or we're not. Something seconded.

Well, I'll make a motion for discussion purposes only.

For discussion purposes, yes. Second.

Okay, the second means you said that miss, uh, Simmons. Okay. Okay. Is there any discussion now? You can ask your question. Miss Simmons.

Well, there are a valid, there's valid concerns. Um, Mr Gregory Barnes brought up a few that I did want to question as well related to the underserved community and how that will affect, um, people of color and how would affect children ages 17 to 20 and will this be a mirror to the stop and frisk. Ordinance as we know that has had a lot of issues in the past and I'm a tiny city attorney I would like for you to give us a

clearer picture on how this could reflect a stop and frisk if it could reflect one I can tell you that under this ordinance is violating this ordinance under under the age of 16 so they're 15 19 or under then that is going to authorize the officer to authorize the officer to return the child to his or her home which will necessarily require a search of that child to make sure that there is nothing that can endanger the officer or quite frankly the child that first time is a warning and then subsequent then of course the child is referred to juvenile in the district basically in the discretion of the officer and then whether or not the parent or the guardian legal guardian of the child is going to be cited so there's going to be a warning under this ordinance and then a second time probably would involve juvenile court and the parent or the guardian of the child to have to come to municipal court

Okay, is there anything in here that will, let's say if they're walking and are they going to ask for ID? Children in this age usually don't have the IDs, and I think that is the issue that if you look young, how would we determine, I don't see anything in here, how to determine those ages fairly quickly without having to.

Yeah, that's clearly going to be in the discretion of the officer to determine whether or not the child is under under age obviously if the child is not under age and I mean under age under 16 then there's not going to be there's not a violation if the child is 16 or older Now, we do have children 16 and over that are driving have a class driver's license that does not allow them to be out, I think, after midnight. For purposes of this ordinance, this curfew, the officer, you know, obviously is going to have to question the child if the officer in his or her best judgment believes the child to be under 16.

Okay, let me ask a question because my problem with this is the Section 20-3 that has the daytime curfew. And between 8.30 and 2.30, I saw some kids walking to the library the other day. And you mean to tell me they're not going to be allowed to do that? Are we saying that we're not going to allow kids to get out when they need to be playing or doing other things or going to the park? I see kids all the time going across Jefferson Street over to Hewley Park in the daytime between these hours. This is the part that I disagree with. I understand because all of us that watch the news, we know how Things can get out of hand, for instance, like Atlantic Station in Atlanta and the situation that happened not too long ago at Buffalo Wild Wings when minor children were just taking over the business and hanging all outside and everywhere and taking over at the mall. Parents need to know where children under 16 are when it's dark and when it's at night And I don't have an issue with holding parents responsible for that. But they should know where their kids are at all times. But to say that children can't be out walking or at such places between the hours of 8.30 if... On school days. Yeah, I know it says on school days, but then what happens in the summertime when they're out of school? that's not a school day so that this section would not apply unless there is unless a child is what about those at a home school that are out and then during school I see lots and lots of students downtown walking on a school day during the day. So how is that going to?

It's going to be in the discretion of the officer to determine what the child is under this ordinance. This is an ordinance that has been proposed by our police chief. And we took it and looked at several other local governments that have similar curfew ordinances. and tried to model it as closely to them. The only difference is most of these other jurisdictions have under 18 as the cutoff. We had to do under 16 because, and this was unbeknownst to me, as familiar as I am with our charter, There is a provision in our charter that says that you, as a body, have the authority to impose a curfew on children under the age of 16. So we changed this to under the age of 16. Like I said, most jurisdictions have under the age of 18. But in talking with Chief Swigert, felt like that the police department had enough control through this licensing provision of Georgia law to handle 16 to 17 aging groups. I think his preference would have been to have under 18 as most other jurisdictions do, but I don't think under our charter that you have the authority at this time to do it. Now, the charter can be amended at some point if that's what you choose to do, if you pass this ordinance.

Mr. Jordan, let me interject. And as Chief spoke to the news media, this is not going to be just riding up on a child and stopping and saying, oh, wait a minute, you're out of place. It's going to be case by case. If someone calls in and reports that a child is out underage, then they would go and they would, you know, take care of the issue it does not mean that they're going to stop search frisk any child it doesn't mean that it's just going to be directed at black brown it's everybody every child if they're parked at the mall as they so often do in the big trucks that means they're going to go up there and tell them the same thing the hours are monday through thursday 11 p.m. to 5 a.m. we got a kind of conflict and schedule in there but he also shared that if it's church school related any any of those type organizations in my input there was I would think that we would have supervision or some type supervision would be with those students out at that particular time so i don't want us to get into you know trying to just totally throw it out the water because we want to direct it towards a certain group of children or not but we need to look at the overall picture of what you all as a council has decided you want to do with us coming back and doing some amendments now i don't have an issue with um midnight curfews the daytime is a little scary because that's why it's 5 00 a.m

The daytime is a little scary because it's 2.30. I myself have a young son that looks way younger than his age, and he's homeschooled, and he does walk to the library throughout the day, and I would not want him to be stopped and frisked at any given time just because he's homeschooled going to a library. However, I do understand what is happening. at night middle of the night and the reason why the chief wants an ordinance i'm just not um i'm just not feeling the daytime and not knowing if this will be a way to just stop and frisk any old child just because he looks young and how will we ensure that that that won't be happening and of course this ordinance that section addresses homeschooling I understand, but I understand that I read all of those items, A through G. It's still a little weary to know that during the day my son is homeschooled and he could be going to the library just to do his reporting.

Can I ask a question? My understanding is that the protection for homeschooled children would only be after they've already been stopped. and and ask questions right like they would identify themselves as a homeschool child and at that point they would be allowed to go but they're still potentially being stopped and that's what i understand to be the concern with the the stop and frisk measure and like that that is how this works doesn't mean that's how it i don't i guess there's maybe another

another option I'd have to again I'd have to defer to the police chief as to his department as to what they what they expect I would think that if police officer had a concern about a homeschool child that needed some confirmation that the police officer would make contact with that child's parent and confirm that that child is homeschooled.

That's what he said.

I think in practice, it's going to be from what I hear, it's going to be more like what the mayor has described. And that is, it's a tool to be utilized when there are complaints we don't have I think the chief would agree with this we don't have the staffing at the police department to patrol children with everything else that is having to be patrolled but again you know you may want to hear from the police department as to how they plan to approach this and so forth we were just asked to draw the ordinance so I was within the criteria that we were

okay so i would suggest mr jordan for council you know for all their concerns if they don't want to approve this tonight table it okay and you might want to bring the bring it back yeah next thursday may i ask a question of our city attorney sure mr jordan and i'm asking this purely for informational purposes not to actually weigh in on the pro or con here At this current time on June 9th, 2026, does a city of Milledgeville police officer have the authority to stop and ask questions of what looks to be a visibly 10 or 11-year-old child walking down the street in downtown Milledgeville at 2 o'clock in the morning? Does he have or she have that right?

Absolutely.

In fact, it would probably be considered...

a dereliction of his duty if he or she did not.

Second part of that question, if I may, Mayor. Sure. The same officer sees... May the first it's a Tuesday school is in session all three in the county are in session a student walking down the street at ten a.m. in the morning does he or she have the right to stop and ask questions of that student currently yes because we have in addition put the curfew aside we have truancy laws right that the board of ed

not speaking for them, but just from what I read, has become very aggressive. The ball and county board has become very aggressive.

And again, that was just a purely informational task, if that was true or false, not to sway the argument either way. Yeah, I understand that.

Okay.

So basically we have things, we already have things in place. This is just something. I'd like to hear from the police chief, me personally, about how they would go about doing this and then how the... the jurisdiction of the courts the you know how that how that would be forwarded on to court before we make a decision before i make a decision let me just put it like that if you table it you need to the person that made the motion uh for discussion purposes machine holster would need to withdraw that motion

but right now there's a motion on the floor to approve Mayor can I ask the attorney a question so can we go along with this if we should and take out section 20-3 yeah you guys can you know again what I would suggest is that you talk to the police chief

at our next council meeting.

however you feel so so right now can make a motion to withdraw the first motion was that I I reached out to

Ms. Hilson-Butts earlier this afternoon I'm not sure if you had an opportunity to look over what I asked you about um but I reached out to see what measures we already have in place to help support the families because my understanding is that we're concerned about They're being children late at night and not having parental oversight. But I think that that could be an issue that we could address. rather than in a punitive manner, just by outreach and working with families to figure out what's going on. And I'm not sure, personally, what structures we have in place to do that. And furthermore, what structures we could develop together.

to make that so here again as you have a motion on the table let's get the motion if y'all decide to put it in table all that information will come up you'll be able to get what you need to have a clear process for yourself the way you want to vote because I tell everybody your vote is your vote you represent your district so you need to show your district how you voted all right so the motions on the table

but we've drawn a motion that's what I'm saying.

I make a motion to withdraw my motion. Second. All right. So I'll ask the clerk to call the vote.

Dr. Lee?

Aye.

Ms. Simmons?

Aye. Ms. Mapp? Before I make a decision, let me address Attorney Jordan. As we talk about this curfew, as we talk about the hours of 8.30 a.m. to 2.30 p.m., for me, it puts me in a situation where we talk about this could be truancy because I will be the truancy coordinator for the Baldwin County School District. So, therefore, I feel that I may have to recuse myself

with your guidance on this as we talk about the children the homebound we will probably need to discuss that I don't think you have to recuse yourself if what's coming up is this we have this motion for Ms. Schenholz to withdraw. And then I'm anticipating we're going to have a motion to table. And you can vote on that motion to table. And then I can get with you and we can determine.

Because I just want to be fair. And I want to make sure that like your question with parent involvement. See, those are questions that we will need answers for. Like we were saying, we may need the chief here to give us clarification. So I just want to be clear in what I'm voting for.

Sure.

Ms. Mapp so I would vote you can vote on this is about to withdraw this motion okay I vote to withdraw Ms. Pendergast aye Dr. Wells aye Ms. Shanholster aye

Alright, so this time I'm gonna call for a motion to table motion to the table ordinance 2605 that 17 until further understanding.

Madam Clerk, please call the roll. Dr. Lee. Miss Simmons. Miss Mapp. Miss Pendergast. Dr. Wills. Miss Shanholzer.

Motion is approved. We will now move to the new business part of the agenda tonight, and I will ask the clerk to read Ordinance 2606-18 by caption as a first read.

Conduct the ordinance 0-2606-18. Conduct the first reading of an ordinance amending the land development code to rezone property located at 841 Dunlap Road, 2.23 acres out of 20.02 acres from SFR Single Family Residential to N O C neighborhood office commercial to construct for offices office units to be used by various contractors for office and fleet space flex base and sorry property is owned by nice.

This is the first reading of this ordinance and I'm referring it to planning and zoning commission. Unless the clerk to read resolution are 20 606 that's 14 my caption.

Resolution are that's 20 606 dash 14 a resolution to authorize a change order with Pete state construction company LLC for stormwater drainage replacement and improvements.

You have heard the resolution is their motion to adopt. I need a motion. Second. Is there any discussion? Hearing none, I will ask the clerk to call the roll.

Dr. Lee? Aye. Ms. Simmons? Aye. Ms. Mapp? Aye. Ms. Pendergast? Aye. Dr. Wills? Aye. Ms. Schoenhoster? Aye.

Unless the clerk to read resolutions 20 606 this 15 by caption.

The solution are that 20 606 dash 15 to authorize a contract with integrated computer surveillance for the installation of security cameras in the East annex building economic development center and City Hall.

You have heard the resolution is a motion to adopt some. Thank you. Is there any discussion?

Hearing none, I will ask the clerk to call the roll. Dr. Lee? Aye. Ms. Simmons? Aye. Ms. Mapp? Aye. Ms. Pendergast? Aye. Dr. Wills? Aye. Ms. Shanhoster?

Aye. Motion is adopted. final item on the agenda is to make an appointment and to reappointments tonight I nominate Sharon Rice to the planning and zoning board is there a motion to confirm this nomination so moved is there any discussion madam mayor just a quick question who is she replacing do you know Mr. Milton choice Mr. choice in district one yes he resigned from the board I got you thank you appreciate that The second the next one is I'm nominating doctor Audrey crumbly to be reappointed to the allied arts board is there a motion to confirm this nomination motion to confirm. Second. Thank you. Is there any discussion?

Madam Clerk please call the roll. Dr. Lee? Aye. Ms. Simmons? Aye. Ms. Mapp? Aye. Ms. Pendergast? Aye. Dr. Wells? Aye. Ms. Schoenholzer? Aye.

Lastly I am nominating Alderman Alderwoman Denise Schoenholzer to be reappointed to the Allied Arts Board.

so move is there any discussion hearing none I'll ask the clerk to please call the roll Dr. Lee aye Ms. Simmons aye Ms. Mapp aye Ms. Pendergast aye Dr. Wells aye Ms. Schanholzer in the words of a wise old man it's a poor frog that won't praise his own pond

All right. At this time, it completes our agenda items. And it is my understanding that we do need to go into closed session this evening.

Yes, ma'am.

For a personnel matter. Do I hear a motion to go into closed session?

So moved.

Second.

Thank you.

I'll ask the clerk to please call the roll. Dr. Lee? Aye. Ms. Simmons? Aye. Ms. Mapp? Aye. Ms. Pendergast? Aye. Dr. Wills? Aye. Ms. Shanholzer?

Aye. Well, at this time, we'll be going into closed session, and then we'll return back to the dives after we have completed. all right I need a motion to call the regular session by the order so moved second please call the roll so this concludes the items on the agenda and we did a lot of commenting tonight and responses so I'm going to ask for a motion to adjourn so move second. Meeting adjourned.