City Council - Regular Meeting

Recording in progress

Good evening. I would like to welcome lead pastor Billy Lowe with City Church who will lead us in tonight's invocation.

Well, thank you. Let's pray. Heavenly Father, thank you again for another great day. Thank you for this council. Lord, we pray every single time that they gather that you would give them wisdom and that they would lead us with humility. God, thank you for the first responders in this room. Would you continue to keep them safe? And I pray that they would know how grateful we are for them. So we pray all this in Jesus' name. Amen. Amen. Thank you.

I would like to call the regular meeting of the Milton City Council for Monday, June 1st, 2026 to order. The city encourages you to review tonight's agenda carefully. Each citizen who chooses to participate in public comment must complete a comment card and submit it to the city clerk prior to the agenda item being called. While the Milton rules allow a speaker to turn in their comment card up until the clerk calls the agenda item, once the agenda item is called, no more comment cards can be accepted. Will the city clerk please call the roll and make general announcements?

Good evening, mayor and council. I'll be happy to call roll for the June 1st, 2026 regular meeting. I would like to remind those in attendance to please silence all cell phones at this time. As the mayor mentioned, if you would like to make a public comment, you are required to complete a public comment card prior to that agenda item being called. All speakers will identify themselves with name, address, and or organization before beginning your comment. And if you are representing an organization, a notarized affidavit is required stating you have the authority to speak on behalf of that organization. If you have not done so yet, please bring your comment cards to me now. Demonstration of any sort within the chamber is prohibited. Please refrain from any applause, cheering, booing, outburst, or dialogue with any person speaking. Anyone in violation may be asked to leave. Mayor and council, as I call roll this evening, please confirm your attendance. Mayor Payton Jameson.

Here.

Council Member Brian Dolan.

Here.

Council Member Doug Haney.

Here.

Council Member Juliet Johnson. Here. Council Member Carol Cokerley. Here. Council Member Jan Jacobus.

Present.

And Council Member Phil Cranmer.

Here.

Mayor, you do have a quorum. Would everyone please rise for the Pledge of Allegiance.

Hey, next is approval of the meeting agenda. Steve, we do not have executive session, correct? We do not. Okay. So I would like to approve the, I'd like to have a motion to approve the meeting agenda. I'll make a motion to approve the meeting agenda as proposed. Second. Okay, I have a motion from Council Member Cranmer and a second from Council Member Haney to approve the meeting agenda. All in favor, please place your votes. All right, that motion passes unanimously. Okay, we will now move on the general public comment. Do we have any general public comment?

We do, Mayor. We have two this evening.

Okay, general public comment is a time for citizens to share information with the mayor and the city council and to provide input and opinions on any matter that is not scheduled for its own public hearing during today's meeting. Please remember, this is not a time to engage the mayor or members of the city council in conversation. When your name is called, please come forward and speak into the microphone, stating your name, address, and organization for the record. You'll please call the first public comment.

Mayor, I'd like to invite Cameron Howard to the podium, please.

So city council, thank you for having me. My name is Dr. Cameron Howard. I live at 1695 Birmingham Road. I'm a resident. I also have a practice pinnacle, a crab pinnacle endodontics. We've driven by a thousand times over there by Publix and the silos. Lastly, I'm a Kings Ridge dad. I have five kids. All five will be there next year. So pray for that. Only for that reason. But I'm very much indebted to Milton. I love this city. The reason for my comments is I wanted to raise a concern that had with the recent increase of data centers nationwide. And I wanted to know specifically what Milton's position was on that. I did reach out to Greg Botello to try to ask questions. Did Milton have a formal policy about our stance on data centers and how we stood on that? And the comment I had gotten back from Greg was that there was not a formal commentary pro or con on that. So I want to just take a couple minutes for those that haven't really dug into it because I've actually done a lot of research into it because it's something I'm passionate about. I'm strongly against data centers being in our lovely city of Milton, and the purpose of my time today is to ask for there to be a Milton moratorium on a data center in our city. For those that don't know, there are 3,900 data centers in the U.S. as of January 2026. Georgia alone has 195 data centers already. We're the number five state in the nation for data centers already. Hyperscale development is already the current trend. They're getting bigger and bigger and bigger. Currently in the state of Utah, they have a data center that's being built by Kevin Leary, the shark tank guy. It's larger than the whole footprint of Manhattan. Now, obviously, that's probably bigger than our whole city would be. That's not the point. The point is that the amount of requirements these data centers are going into have swallowed up a lot of cities. Specifically, a couple areas that I'm concerned about is the power requirements. Most of these AI centers can power up to 100,000 homes and soon they're saying 20 times that the amount of power draw that would pull that water shortages. The water that data centers use, they don't have to actually require to release that. I'm worried about the water supply in our city and how that would affect us. Estimates are data centers are using between 13 to 27 million gallons per year. And that's a concern. They can't use recycled water. It has to be fresh water. And I'm worried about our water and what might happen in our city. Specifically air and climate pollution, a lot of the greenhouse gases emissions and just damaged air quality is a big concern. Noise and light pollution, they find that the sound is somewhere between 85 to 100 decibels. That's the sound of a motorcycle or a jackhammer, and that's 24-7, all day, all night. Interrupts sleep, cause headaches, lower quality of life. Just competition for scarce land. Y'all know that Milton already is tough to find land, but what bits of land we do have, I'm horrified to think that potentially that could be bought and a data center could come in. Again, the highest bidder often wins, and that's something that I don't want to see. The average data center right now averages 224 acres, which is the size of 450 football fields. And those are some of the smaller ones. They're getting bigger from there. Other things are public health threats. One of the things that really affected mostly was something called Project SAIL. Y'all may have not heard about it. It's based in Coweta County, but Georgia Power actually came in and they decided that they were gonna demolish 22 to 30 homes and they claimed eminent domain. And they said that they were going to wipe out 529 acres and put power lines right through there. And eminent domain was gonna take those homes. And I own 10 acres in Milton. I'm afraid of eminent domain going through my property or many of your homes, same thing. And lastly, just utility cost spikes. A lot of times with new infrastructure comes spreading the cost amongst many users, and that would affect many of us. And the bottom line is I love Milton. My family loves Milton. I am passionate about this and I don't want this in my city. And I feel very strongly that I would love to see Milton pass a moratorium and say it will not happen, period. That would make my day. And I'm just asking for security for my kids and the future of my family. Thank you. Thank you. Appreciate it. Next comment.

I invite Sarah Moen to the podium.

Sarah Moen, 130 Providence Plantation Drive. Good evening, Mayor and Council. I'm here tonight to bring to the city's attention what appears to be a significant clerical error in the recorded legal paperwork regarding the city's summer 2024 land purchase of 12875 Arnold Mill Road and 12912 New Providence Road. As approved unanimously by this council on April 8th, 2024, the agreed upon land acquisition price for the two parcels was exactly $1,750,000. While the recorded quit claim deed accurately reflects this $1.75 million amount, the finalized warranty deed and its accompanying PT61 real estate transfer tax declaration were filed and recorded with an extra zero, officially listing the sales price as $17,500,000. The final executed and signed closing statement, the official wire transfer confirmation receipt the city's internal accounting entry, and the quit claim deed recorded with GSCCCA all confirm the purchase price of $1.75 million. However, as of last Friday, the GSCCCA website still had the official August 5th, 2024 sales price of the 12875 Arnold Mill LLC property listed at $17,500,000. Left uncorrected, This clerical error artificially inflates local historical sales data by nearly $16 million, which skews county fair market valuations and poses an issue for future title accuracy. Because the city is an exempt government entity, it's likely no red flags were raised regarding transfer taxes. which allowed this error to slip through unnoticed. I respectfully request the city attorney review the filed documents and submit a corrective warranty deed alongside an amended PT61 form to the Fulton County Clerk of Superior Court to ensure our municipal property records are completely accurate. Thank you for your time.

Thank you. Any other speakers?

That concludes general public comments.

Okay, we'll close public comment and we'll now move on to reports and presentation. Well, city clerk, please sound the first item.

Mayor, let me first do consent agenda, and then we'll go into reports and presentations.

Silly mayor. Sorry. Going too fast tonight. It's a short agenda.

This item is approval of the May 18th, 2026 regular city council meeting minutes. It's agenda item number 26163. Our next item is approval of the financial statements and investment report for the period ending February the 28th, 2026. Agenda item number 26164. Next, we have approval of subdivision plats and revisions. It's a minor plat for the development at 14771 Hopewell Road. It's land lot 618, District 2, Section 2. It's a minor plat to reconfigure property lines for two existing parcels approximately 3.034 acres and 3.616 acres. There are no new lots being proposed. It's a total of 6.65 acres and it's agenda item number 26165. Our next item is approval of a contract amendment to transfer assignment of a contract from BM&K Inc., to LJA Engineering Inc. It's agenda item number 26166. Our next item is approval of a service agreement between the City of Milton and Spectrum Fence LLC for perimeter fencing at Lacapani Preserve along Lackey Road and Sweet Apple Road. Agenda item number 26167. Our final consent agenda item is approval of a construction services agreement with Summit Construction and Development LLC for Legacy Park parking lot improvements. Agenda item number 26168. Mayor Jamieson.

Thank you. Do I have a motion on the consent agenda?

May I make a motion to approve the consent agenda as read?

Second. Okay, I have a motion from Council Member Haney, a second from Council Member Johnson to approve the consent agenda as read. Please place your votes. Brian. Didn't take it. There we go. Passes unanimously. Thank you. All right, we will now move on to reports and presentation. Will the city clerk please say on the first item?

Thank you, Mayor. That first item is going to be a proclamation recognizing Georgia Municipal Court Clerks Week and lauding our outstanding team at Milton Municipal Court. Agenda item number 26169. Mayor?

Thank you. We are very, very fortunate to have Wendy Lee and Brooke Lappin. They keep our municipal court running smoothly, and they have been longtime employees of this city. And I tell you, I get calls all the time. All the time. But I never get a call about the court and how it's run. It always runs great. And that's something I think we sometimes take for granted, that they are over there doing wonderful work. And we are very, very glad that you're there. And it is my honor to read this proclamation recognizing municipal authority. clerk's court week, whereas municipal court clerks are vital to the fair, efficient, effective administration of one of local government's most important and oftentimes most challenging functions, and whereas their diligence, professionalism, and impact are recognized every year during Georgia Municipal Court Clerks Week. and whereas these clerks work with key players in their local criminal justice system including judges lawyers law enforcement and citizens who come before the court and whereas our city has an exceptional team at our own municipal court committed to serving the public while doing their part to ensure justice and compliance with milton laws and whereas these stellar public servants Court Clerk Brooke Lappin and Deputy Court Clerk Wendy Lee proved time and again their impressive capabilities, impactful empathy, and sincere commitment to our community. And whereas we proudly praise and celebrate them during the upcoming Municipal Court Clerk's Week and every week thereafter, now therefore we, the Mayor and the City Council of the City of Milton officially recognize June 8th through the 12th as Georgia Municipal Court Clerk Week in Milton and express our utmost appreciation to Court Clerk Brooke Lappin and Deputy Court Clerk Wendy Lee given under my hand and seal the City of Milton, Georgia on this first day of June of 2026. And Wendy, next year I'm coming to you and we're going to read this proclamation to you. So thank you for coming here tonight. Appreciate it.

Time for the spotlight, Wendy. You got two of them there. We'll give one to Scott. There we go.

That works. Three, two, OKAY, IF YOU'LL PLEASE READ THE NEXT ITEM.

Thank you, Mayor. Our final reports and presentation item is a proclamation celebrating Milton earning a prestigious Heart Safe Community Award and recognizing CPR and AED Awareness Week. Agenda item number 26, 170. Mayor?

Thank you. Our next proclamation recognizes an achievement we're proud to celebrate and one that reflects Milton's commitment to public safety and preparedness. Before I read the proclamation, I would like to invite Chief Bemusa to join us to share a few remarks about what this recognition means and the work that helped make it possible. Thank you, Chief.

Good evening, Mayor, Council. I'd like to take this opportunity first to thank you and thank our city leadership for the support and investment that you have made in making a safe heart community. We are officially in the top 10% in the country. And those efforts, those survivor rates that we achieve are thanks to the effort of a lot of those are influenced by bystander cpr we see a correlation so the cpr that we teach to our community is actually we're seeing the results it also thanks to the work of first responders including police officers our police officers all have aeds that all train cpr and in many of these saves there's actually a police officer that was there first. So we can't forget police officers, but also to the great firefighters that we have. They're well-trained, they practice medicine, they know what they're doing, and I'm really extremely proud. So on behalf of the department, I would like to present this award, dedicate this award to you and to the citizens of Milton. Thank you.

Thank you, Chief. Okay, are you gonna present the award or do you mean read the proclamation first?

Yeah, so if we can read the proclamation, then we'll do the presentation of the award.

Okay, sounds good. Whereas over 350,000 cardiac arrests occur annually in the United States with 90% of them being fatal, according to the American Heart Association. And whereas thankfully immediate CPR and AED can double or even triple a person's chances of surviving such cardiac arrest. And whereas for this reason, the Milton Fire Rescue Department has been innovative and proactive in a myriad of ways aimed at improving outcomes and connection with heart-related emergencies. And whereas all Milton firefighters are EMTs who undergo extensive training and are equipped with tools like advanced life support. And whereas the department boasts impactful programs, services, and initiatives like CPR and AED training classes, free AED loans through its AED library, and pulse point alerting qualified people about locations of cardiac arrest. Whereas these and advanced medical protocols, coordination with hospitals, and investments in valuable equipment contributed to a cardiac survivability rate significantly better than the national norm. And whereas they also led by Milton being one of just two communities to earn a heart, SAFE Community Award from the International Association of Fire Chiefs. And whereas this honor and these efforts are especially relevant from June 1st through the 7th, which is National CPR and AED Awareness Week. Now, therefore, we, the mayor and the city council of the city of Milton officially recognize June 1st through the 7th as CPR and AED Awareness Week, in milton and salute our fire department on its heart safe community award given under my hand and seal the city of milton georgia on this first day of june of 2026. thank you chief Is that real crystal? Thank you.

THANK YOU.

THREE, TWO, ONE. PERFECT, THANK YOU. THANK YOU, GUYS. THANK YOU VERY MUCH.

ALL RIGHT, MOTION TO ADJOURN. 22 minutes.

Okay, we have no first presentation, public hearing, zoning agenda, unfinished business or new business. Does council have anything to report on? Hearing none, I will open it for a motion to adjourn.

Motion to adjourn.

Second. Okay, I have a motion from Councillor Jacobus and a second from Dolan to adjourn. Please place your votes. Okay. Motion adjourned. We are adjourned.