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.

All right. Well, thank you. Let's pray. Father, thank you so much for this beautiful day and for our city council. Lord, like we pray all the time, we ask that you would give them wisdom as they lead our city. We ask for protection for our first responders, and we pray that you would be honored today. In Jesus' name, amen.

Amen. Thank you. I would like to call the regular meeting of the Milton City Council for Monday, June 15, 2026 to order. We encourage all attendees to review tonight's agenda. Citizens wishing to speak during public comment must complete a comment card and submit it to the city clerk prior to the agenda item being called. Public comment provides an opportunity for citizens to address the mayor and city council and offer input on agenda items. It is not a forum for dialogue or back and forth discussion. While Milton's rules permit submission of comment cards up until the clerk calls the agenda item, no more additional comment cards will be accepted once the item has been called. 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 15th, 2026 regular meeting. I would like to remind those in attendance to please silence all cell phones at this time. As the Mayor noted, citizens wishing to speak during public comment must have submitted a public comment card prior to the agenda item being called. Individuals representing an organization must also provide a notarized affidavit confirming they are authorized to speak on behalf of that organization. If you have not submitted your comment card yet, please bring it to me now. Demonstrations of any kind within the council chambers are prohibited. We ask that you refrain from 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 Peyton Jameson.

Here.

Council Member Brian Dolan.

Here.

Council Member Doug Haney. Here. Council Member Jan Jacobus. Present. Council Member Phil Kramer.

Here.

For the record, Council Member Juliet Johnson and Council Member Carol Kirkley are absent. Mayor, you do have a quorum. Would everyone please rise for the Pledge of Allegiance.

I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation, under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.

Okay, next is approval of the meeting agenda. Council, I would like to add an executive session to discuss personnel, land acquisition, and litigation. Do I have a motion on the meeting agenda?

Mayor, I'll make a motion to approve the meeting agenda with executive session.

Second. Okay, I have a motion from Councilor Cranmer and a second from Councilor Haney to approve the meeting agenda with the addition of the executive session. Please place your votes. Okay, that motion passes unanimously. Do we have any general public comment?

Mayor, I do not have any general public comment cards for tonight.

Okay, so I'll waive the public comment and I will ask you to call the next item.

Mayor, that next item is approval of the June 1st, 2026 regular city council meeting minutes. Agenda item number 26173. Our next item is approval of a recreation provider agreement with Family Hug LLC doing business as the coder school to offer coding classes and camps. It's agenda item number 26174. Our final consent agenda item is approval of an agreement between the city of Milton and Premier Events LLC to provide event logistics management for Crab Apple Fest. It's agenda item number 26175. Mayor Jameson?

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

Motion to approve the consent agenda as read. Second.

Okay, I have a motion from Council Member Jacobus and a second from Council Member Dolan to approve the consent agenda as read. Please place your votes. That motion passes unanimously. There are no reports and presentation items. We'll now move on to first presentation. Will the city clerk please sound the items?

Mayor, that first presentation item is consideration of an ordinance of the Mayor and Council of the City of Milton, Georgia to adopt amendments to the fiscal year 2026 budget for each fund of the City of Milton, Georgia, amending the amount shown in each budget as expenditures, amending the several items of revenue anticipations, prohibiting expenditures to exceed appropriations, and prohibiting expenditures to exceed actual funding available. It's agenda item number 26176. Mayor?

Thank you. Do I have a motion on the first presentation items?

Mayor, I make a motion to approve first presentation agenda item number 26-176. Second.

Okay, I have a motion from Council Member Haney and a second from Council Member Jacobus to approve the first presentation item. Please place your votes. Okay, that motion passes unanimously. We will now move on to the public hearing. Will the city clerk please sound the item?

I bear that public hearing item, consideration of an ordinance of the mayor and council of the city of Milton, Georgia, to adopt amendments to the fiscal year 2026 budget for each fund of the city of Milton, Georgia, amending the amount shown in each budget as expenditures, amending the several items of revenue anticipations, prohibiting expenditures to exceed appropriations, and prohibiting expenditures to exceed actual funding available. Agenda on number 26176, our Deputy City Manager, Ms. Bernadette Harville.

Good evening, Mayor and Council. We are here this evening to discuss recommended budget amendments to the fiscal year 2026 budget, which was adopted by Council last September after a series of public meetings, a budget workshop in August, and two public hearings in September. This budget represents anticipated revenue collections and expenditures for the period of October 1, 2025 through September 30, 2026. The agenda item before you takes into account updates to the fiscal year 2026 budget that require a change in total departmental appropriations. In other words, these are requests that will either increase or decrease a department's budget within any fund which requires council's approval. Tonight, we will discuss these requests in detail, and I'll be happy to answer any questions that you may have. The item requires two reads and will be brought back for a vote at the regular city council meeting scheduled for July 6th. On this page, you can see the summary for the general fund with the adopted budget on the left with revenues for fiscal year 2026 at $49.8 million. And the proposed revenue amendments at $21,002, resulting in an amended revenue anticipations remaining at that $49.8 million for FY 2026. We will go over the more significant revenue changes in just a moment. Moving down to the expenditures, you can see the current budget at $49.6 million with the proposed amendments at $4,397,046, including $4.2 million of fund balance, which exceeds required reserves being transferred out to the capital projects fund to be allocated towards eligible one-time projects. which will result in an amended expenditure budget of $54 million. The fiscal year 2026 budget fund balance is currently projected to be $13,049,762, which exceeds the required reserve of 25% of the subsequent year's fund revenues based on current projections for FY2027. The main drivers of revenue coming in higher than anticipated include investment earnings which have exceeded original budget projections due to higher than anticipated investable cash balances. Accordingly, an increase of $850,000 is being requested to align the budget with current revenue projections. Local options sales tax collections have outperformed original estimates. As a result, an increase of $400,000 is requested based on current collection trends. And insurance premium tax revenues which are received annually at fiscal year end are projected to exceed original estimates and an increase of $255,375 is being requested for FY26. Some revenue sources are coming in lower than anticipated which have offset some of these increases including a decrease of $785,000 to current year real property tax based on the most recent tax digest provided by Fulton County. Appeals along with floating homestead exemptions have had the most impact in this area. Building permit revenues have been lower than originally projected. As a result, a decrease of $300,000 is requested to reflect updated revenue expectations through fiscal year end. And finally, title ad valorem tax or TAVT collections have trended below original projections and a decrease of $200,000 has been requested to this category. Together, these considerations yield an overall increase of $21,002 for fiscal year 2026 revenue projections. Does anyone have any questions about revenues before we move on to expenditures?

Are we going to see the property tax revenue come in? I know that kind of feathers in over the time of the year. Are we seeing...

So fortunately, we moved our revenue recognition date. So our due date is in December. So by December, we have a pretty good idea of where everything is. Some revenue is still trickling through delinquent tax collections through the end of the year, but it won't be a significant change from this unless something comes in from a Fulton County Digest change. There may be an appeal that we're not aware of that may yield something, but this is the best projection we have at this time. Okay, thank you. Absolutely. Any other questions? Okay. Moving on to those expenditure amendments. On the expenditure side, you will see an adjustment to employee benefits in multiple departments. These requests are the result of health insurance renewal costs coming in higher than anticipated, coupled with the timing of any forecasted surplus returns or rebates being received. Some departments were able to absorb these increases due to vacancies and therefore will not be included in the amendment requests. In the city manager's department, the only amendment request is related to those projected health insurance changes. Finance also includes an amendment to employee benefits, as well as a request of $26,500 to professional services and $7,117 for small equipment for expenses associated with the transition to the new financial software program. Human resources just has that request for the increase to health insurance costs. Risk management includes a request for $8,200 to account for general liability insurance premiums coming in higher than anticipated. This includes renewal rates as well as recently added assets. Communications just has the employee benefits adjustment. And FHIR has a request for $5,060 to recognize insurance proceeds related to vehicle and equipment damages. In Public Works, we have the request for those employee benefits as well as $22,905 for professional services associated with the final cost for the EECBG grant. This project was covered 100% by grant funds, but certain expenses were initially forecasted to be incurred in FY25, which ended up taking place in FY26. So this amendment just accounts for that timing changes and does not include any city funding. Parks and Recreation has the Employee Benefits Amendment to address health insurance costs, as well as a request to move the budget for Providence Park to the Passive Parks and Green Space Department. As we reviewed uses for this park, it was determined to be a better fit under that department, and you will also see the corresponding increase to the Passive Parks and Green Space Department to recognize budget lines for Providence Park. COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT HAS A REQUEST FOR $40,000 RELATED TO EXPENSES ASSOCIATED WITH THE DESTINATION DEERFIELD INITIATIVE. ON THIS PAGE YOU WILL ALSO SEE A REQUEST TO REDUCE THE TRANSFER OUT TO THE CITY EVENTS FUND BASED ON CURRENT SPONSORSHIPS RECEIVED IN FY26 THE PROJECTED NEED FOR FUNDING FROM THE GENERAL FUND HAS BEEN DECREASED BY $34,064. And the final amendment request for the general fund is the $4.2 million of fund balance in excess of required reserves to be transferred out to the capital projects fund as part of the city's PAYGO program, including $119,626 for community development to address one-time implementation costs associated with the transition to a new community planning and code enforcement software, $300,000 towards site improvements at Freedom Park and the balance of $3,780,374, which will be put towards the design and construction of an indoor community center, a project that has been part of the city's seven-year capital improvement plan and will be discussed further during the FY2027 budget meetings coming forth in July. These requests total $4,397,046 and maintain the city's required reserves in the general fund. Does anyone have any questions before we move on to the special revenue funds? In the City Events Fund, we are recognizing sponsorship fees we discussed earlier, which have been received for multiple events over the year. We also have the other side of that reduction for the transfer from the general fund as a result of these sponsorships received. And on the bottom table, you can see in the Hotel Motel Tax Fund, we also have received revenues lower than anticipated from that tax, and you'll see that corresponding change in the revenue for the City Events Fund as well. Similarly, the E911 revenue is coming in lower than initially anticipated. This request suggests that forecast and the corresponding IGA payments to the city of Alpharetta as 100% of our collections received go directly to Alpharetta as part of the terms of the IGA, which includes dispatch services for emergency events. All funds in the American Rescue Plan Fund Act are projected to be spent in FY26, so a request has been made to amend the revenue budget to account for that eligible activity, as well as interest earned during the year. Interest will be transferred to the general fund as allowed by program guidance, and the remaining funds will be transferred to the capital projects funds, where the expenses will be incurred for the final phases of the stormwater improvements at Milton City Park and Preserve. Are there any questions about these special revenue funds before we move on to the capital projects funds? The main capital projects fund has a request for changes in revenue recognition related to local government funding from GDOT for the Highway 9 widening project, transfer in from the general fund and ARPA fund that were already discussed, as well as $45,015 related to the sale of assets. In the expenditure section, you will see those proceeds from the sale of vehicles being allocated back to the police department for future vehicle acquisitions, followed by the $1,282,184 from GDOT for the design work on the Highway 9 widening project. Public Works also has a request for $172,417 which will allocate revenues received in FY25, which exceeded anticipations for infrastructure maintenance fees, penalties and interest on late fees, as well as investment income, which will all go back into the pavement program. Active Parks has a request to reduce site improvements by $273,446, which includes the transfer of $450,000 out to the Passive Parks Green Space Department for future work at Providence Park as part of the PAYGO program that, again, will be discussed during that segment of our FY27 CIP conversation, and an increase of $176,554 to recognize donated funds from children's charities for the acquisition of all-inclusive playground equipment. There's also a request for $300,000 towards site improvements at Freedom Park, and that $3.8 million we spoke about earlier that will go towards the build-out of an indoor community center. Passive Parks has requested to recognize $165,223 from the ARPA fund towards the stormwater improvements at MCPP, and that $450,000 from the Active Parks Department for Providence Park moving into the Passive Parks Department. Community development has a request for $17,181 to recognize insurance proceeds for wayfinding signed damages, $3,535 for tree recompense funds received in FY25, and $119,626 for those one-time implementation costs associated with the proposed community development planning and code enforcement software. The final amendment in this fund is for $306,070 to be transferred to the capital grant fund related to the city's matching funds on the GOS grant, which will fund those hydrology improvements at MCPP along with the ARPA funds we discussed. In the T-SLOS fund, we are seeing revenues come in higher than anticipated and are requesting to increase the revenue account as well as the construction account for T-SLOS II. The amount of the funds will retain in the construction account until council approves eligible projects and then they'll be transferred from that main account into each individual project. And then here in the capital grant fund, we have the recognition of that transfer from the capital projects fund for the work at MCPP. And that also includes any interest revenues that were accumulated in that fund were also allocated towards that project. And finally, we have the impact fees fund and the amendments needed to recognize revenue and investment income, which came in higher than anticipated in FY25 towards eligible impact fee projects. We have $7,381 going towards the basement build-out project at the public safety complex, $22,959 towards the construction of fire station 45, $41,871 towards the southeast crab bubble connector work, $1,541 for future land acquisition opportunities and $4,208 to the general fund to address impact fee related costs incurred through salaries and other eligible expenses. That concludes the explanation of the amendments that have been requested. I'll be happy to answer any questions you may have.

Any questions for Bernadette? Do we have any public comment on this?

We do not, sir. Okay.

So I'll close the public hearing and we will vote on this at the next council meeting.

Thank you.

There are no zoning agenda or unfinished business items. We will now move on to new business. Will city clerk please sound the item?

Mayor, that first new business item is consideration of an intergovernmental agreement between the city of Milton and the city of Alpharetta for jail services. It's agenda item number 26177. Our city manager, Mr. Stephen Krakow.

Good evening, Mayor and Council. The item before you tonight is consideration of an intergovernmental agreement with the City of Alpharetta for jail services. Staff is recommending approval of this agreement because it gives Milton access to reliable local detention options. It supports police operations, improves officer availability, and restores a practical tool for municipal court compliance when confinement is legally appropriate. By way of background, Milton has historically relied on outside jail facilities for inmate housing and processing. For many years, the Alpharetta Jail served as a practical local option for North Fulton law enforcement agencies. That changed during COVID when detention operations were consolidated and officers from North Fulton jurisdictions were now required to transport prisoners to Rice Street in Atlanta. that created real operational challenges. Transport to Rice Street is not simply a drive to Atlanta and back, though I guess it isn't for anybody. It can involve long intake delays, waiting periods, and frequent medical clearance requirements before an inmate is accepted. During that time, the officer is not available in Milton to respond to calls, conduct traffic enforcement, patrol neighborhoods, or engage with the community. There's also a municipal court issue. Fulton County generally accepts qualifying state-charged inmates, but it does not accept inmates being held solely on municipal charges, municipal probation violations, or certain state matters that also fall within the jurisdiction of our municipal court. That leaves a practical gap. When the court has no reliable place to house someone, it limits one of the tools available to address repeated noncompliance with court orders, probation terms, or sentencing requirements. This agreement helps restore that compliance mechanism when confinement is legally appropriate. At this point, I'd like to ask Chief Griffin to come up and speak briefly about the practical side of this issue from the police department's perspective. Chief, I think it would be helpful for the council to hear what this looks like operationally. In particular, could you speak to the amount of officer times involved when we have to transport someone to Wright Street, the challenges that can occur with intake and medical clearance, and how having access to the Alpharetta facility

uh might also affect patrol availability and day-to-day operations and if i could lean on you also to touch on the municipal court side of this a little bit including those practical challenges i would appreciate that as well thank you city manager uh good evening mayor and council from an operational standpoint this agreement will give the police department a much more uh practical it's a common word and predictable detention option when an officer has transport to rice street They're obviously out of the city, unavailable for calls, unavailable to help should a major call come out, things of that nature. Over the last 12 months, our average transport time to Rice Street is 132 minutes. Now, that is just drive time. That doesn't encapsulate everything that we run into when we get to the facility. um sometimes we have to wait in line behind atlanta pd and you know 10 other jurisdictions that are waiting they do frequent head counts and they shut down the entire jail while they're doing these head counts And then once we do get inside the jail, sometimes they require a medical clinics. Obviously, we're all the way downtown. Typically, if we know that's gonna happen up here ahead of time, we take North Fulton. They're quicker, but if we get all the way down there and get surprised, which happens quite frequently, the officers have to take them to Grady and that extends the time in downtown Atlanta by at least a couple hours. So the true amount of time outside the city is about, it can be up to five hours per rest. Having access to the Alpharetta jail would not eliminate every transporter medical issue, but it significantly reduces our reliance on the Rice Street facility and keeps our officers where I want them, where you want them, here in the city limits of Milton. THE AGREEMENT ALSO ADDRESSES A MAJOR MUNICIPAL COURT ISSUE AS FAR AS THE POLICE DEPARTMENT IS CONCERNED. WHEN THERE IS NO RELIABLE LOCAL DETENTION OPTION FOR THE JUDGE, MUNICIPAL CHARGES, PROBATION VIOLATIONS AND COURT-RELATED MATTERS LIMITS THE JUDGE'S ABILITY TO ENFORCE HIS ORDERS. There have been multiple accounts over the last year of repeat offenders that keep reoffending, and the judge's hands are tied. He has nowhere he can send them to 24 hours in jail, 48 hours, 72, whatever he deems appropriate. And people are starting to learn this trend. In short, the agreement improves officer availability, reduces unnecessary time outside the city, and gives Milton a more reliable local option for situations where detention is appropriate. THOSE ARE ALL TANGIBLE THINGS THAT WE CAN LOOK AT. THE INTANGIBLE THINGS ARE THE ATTITUDE OF OUR OFFICERS I THINK IS GOING TO BE GREATLY BOOSTED BY HAVING A QUICK OPTION. THE AVERAGE TIME IN AND OUT OF THE ALFARETTA JAIL SINCE ALFARETTA HAS BEEN RUNNING IT IS LESS THAN 20 MINUTES AND IT'S FIVE MINUTES DOWN THE ROAD. IT'S A NO-BRAINER FOR US AND I JUST APPRECIATE THE CONSIDERATION. Thanks, Chief. Would you mind just hanging out for a minute in case there are any questions? No problem.

So under the proposed agreement, Alpharetta would provide access to its jail facility, as the Chief said, over on Old Milton Parkway. They handle the booking, detention, housing, safekeeping, routine on-site medical care, the cash bonding process, and related operational support for Milton inmates. Milton would remain responsible for transporting our inmates to and from that facility. We'd also be responsible for offsite medical costs for Milton inmates subject to the terms of the agreement. If an inmate has to be transported for emergency medical care, Alpharetta would provide security until Milton personnel could relieve them. This agreement establishes a rate of $165 per inmate per day, with partial days counted as full days. PROPOSED TERM IS THREE YEARS BEGINNING JULY 1, 2026 AND ENDING JUNE 30, 2029. EITHER PARTY MAY TERMINATE THE AGREEMENT WITHIN 90 DAYS WRITTEN NOTICE. From a budgetary standpoint, staff is estimating an annual inmate housing cost for approximately $103,000. That estimate has two main parts to it. First, Milton averages approximately 250 municipal arrests annually. Most of those individuals bond out quickly, but staff use the conservative 1.5-day average to account for sentenced inmates, probation-related matters, and other circumstances. At $165 a day, that results in an estimated cost of $61,875. Second, Milton averages approximately 250 state charge arrests annually. And while the sheriff would still be required to accept most of those charges, and there's a couple of caveats to that, this agreement contemplates Milton officers lodging the state inmates at the Alpharetta facility as well now, completely or mostly eliminating the Rice Street issue. Those inmates are generally expected to be transferred to Rice Street as appropriate the following day. So we're expecting a maximum one day stay for them. That cost would result in approximately $41,250. And those two together bring us to that 103 number I mentioned. As part of the review, we're also looking at our current fine structure to determine whether there are areas where fines could be adjusted to better reflect the actual costs associated with enforcement, court processing, and jail services. I want to be clear that this is not about increasing enforcement activity or using fines as a revenue tool. It's about making sure that, where legally appropriate, the cost of these services is not borne entirely by the general taxpayer when those costs are directly tied to the violations that require police, court, and detention services. This is a new reoccurring operational expense, but it needs to be considered in context. Alpharetta's preliminary FY2027 jail funding model estimates total annual costs of operating the jail at approximately $2.5 million. Through this agreement, Milton gains access to that facility and service capacity without having to build, staff, or operate its own jail. There is also the officer availability benefit that the chief mentioned so well. and all those are hours when officers would not be in the city of Milton. A closer and more predictable detention option should reduce all that burden. It will not eliminate every transport issue or every medical issue, but it should reduce our reliance on Rice Street and reduce the amount of time our officers spend outside the city. This agreement also includes reasonable safeguards. Alpharetta may refuse an inmate, but that discretion must be exercised reasonably, and Alpharetta must notify Milton of the refusal. Milton also has audit rights related to the fees and expenses. Staff is also recommending that we treat the first year as a monitoring period. During that time, we would track actual inmate days, inmate type, length of stay, medical costs, and the like, and make sure that there are no issues and forecast accordingly going forward. The alternatives to this are kind of limited. We could decline the agreement and continue relying on Rice Street when available, but that does not solve the gap I mentioned earlier regarding municipal inmates, municipal court compliance issues, or the officer out of service issue. We could seek an arrangement with another jurisdiction, but based on location availability and operational practicality, Alpharetta remains far and above the best available option. We could defer action, but staff does not recommend a deferral because the operational and court-related challenges already exist that I mentioned. At its core, this agreement is about making sure Milton has access to a reliable local detention option when detention is legally appropriate. It supports public safety, improves officer availability, strengthens municipal court compliance, and reflects a practical regional partnership with Alpharetta. Staff recommends approval of the intergovernmental agreement for jail services. And that is all I have there in council. If you have any questions for the chief or I, we are available.

Quick question, do we spend any money on sending our inmates down to Rice Street? Does that cost us anything?

So not currently, obviously, other than fuel. But when the sheriff ran and operated Alfreda's North Annex, this same facility, we were paying per head per day for every inmate we took there and every inmate that we were holding there on municipal charges.

so state charges they would pay for because it was a state facility local municipal ones be paid correct you would net out that 40 yeah so 65 or so that 41 250 number yep okay Chief, your rank, I'm sorry, go ahead. So I just, real quick, just make sure I have my stats right. So there's about 250 that are municipal issues and about 250 that are state issues.

Roughly. And unfortunately, we had to go all the way back to 2019, 2020 to get fresh full year numbers because it hasn't been the same since pre-COVID.

Sure. Okay. And so long and short, it's 105 a year to keep our officers from having to make that drive and waste all your time out of the city. Mm-hmm.

ROUGHLY AND LIKE I WE'RE GOING TO LOOK AT OUR CURRENT FEE STRUCTURE AND SEE HOW MUCH OF HOW MUCH OF THAT COST COULD BE DEFRAYED YEAH NOW I WONDER I WOULD WANT TO

Not that I'm asking anybody to go do this. I would wonder how much of that officer time is worth, how much in dollars, if they're not working for our city being here local. Like there's a dollar figure. There's an opportunity cost to that, right?

There is. We did run that. And it doesn't add up to the $103,000. If I remember correctly, it was probably about 20 or so percent of the value. Maybe it dropped more.

It still does, to me, it lessens the blow for capturing that and providing better service to our citizens because you're here.

And also just the court system issue that we're dealing with and repeat offenders. Absolutely.

So that's a huge issue. Word spreads.

When you have a small department like this, losing an officer or two for four or five hours at a time, It's impactful to the remaining officers out on the street for officer safety issues, backup issues, all things along those lines. So it kind of has a ripple effect.

Sorry, Phil, go ahead. Chief, this current arrangement being proposed, is this similar to the arrangement we used to have?

It is similar to the arrangement we had with the sheriff's office when they ran it. The cost is the only difference and the efficiency. It's run very efficient currently.

And so this is not managed by Fulton County anymore. This is managed by Alpharetta. Correct. Because it was managed by Fulton County. Correct. As an annex, yeah.

So my understanding is Alpharetta is going to run a transport bus for state charges, so we would take 100% of our arrests to this jail. Anybody that needed to be transferred down to Rice Street, they would transport from that facility to Rice Street. In theory, we wouldn't have to go to Rice Street except for the one-off trips where they may not have the medical capabilities to keep a certain inmate, where we have to take them straight down to Rice Street because they have a full medical ward. Maybe once a month we'd have to go down there with an inmate.

Many other municipalities locally here do not have jails.

Many of them, all of North Fulton currently at the moment. Roswell, I believe, contracted with Cherokee. I think Johns Creek with Forsyth.

So everyone's partnered with someone to some extent. So the difference, though, which I think is really important to suss out here is they're only going to be able to use those locations for their municipal charges. They're still going to have to go down to Rice Street.

Right.

for their state charges, this eliminates, this agreement with Alpharetta eliminates that aspect of it, which is significant.

Yeah. Inmates still go down there. They're just getting bused down there by Alpharetta.

Organized in Boston, yeah.

Makes sense. And if we were to go to another county's jail, we would only be able to take our disorderly conduct, city charge, or some of our traffic charges there for a quick turnaround and bond. But every other arrest, we still have to go all the way down to Wright Street. So then we're going to two different places outside the city. And it wasn't feasible in our discussions about what's practical, what is the smartest thing to do for our department.

And to give a little timeline, this has been transpiring over a couple years now, three years. I mean, it's been going on. It's been a while. And, Chief, you've been working a lot on this, trying to find a solution. I think every city in North Fulton has been trying to find a solution.

Absolutely. Yeah. Absolutely.

How soon can we turn this on?

July 1, man.

Yeah.

And I think you're right, Chief, the morale of the officers, right, not having to drive down to it. They want to be back here supporting and servicing our community. So that's a huge morale booster for the team.

It's a lot, especially if that arrest comes right in the middle of rush hour. It can be a five-hour trip.

Any other questions? Any public comment on this?

I have none, sir.

Okay, I'll close public comment, and I will open it for motion.

I'll make a motion to approve agenda item 26-177.

Second. Okay, I have a motion from Council Member Cranmer and a second from Council Member Haney to approve agenda item number 26-177. Please place your votes. All right, that is unanimous. Thank you. City Clerk, please see on the next item.

Mayor, that next item is approval, I'm sorry, consideration of the application for the FEMA Assistance of Firefighters Grant. Agenda item number 26178, Fire Chief Gabe Moussa.

Good evening, Mayor and Council. Before you is a request to approve an application to apply for the FEMA Assistance to Firefighters Grant. Annually, Congress allocates anywhere from 200 or $300 million to all of the fire departments, United States career volunteer combination. It's an application process that we have to put in. It's very specific. There are priorities listed. So one of our priorities is having a mobile SCBA, sort of how we fill our air. We'll be able to take it on the scene. Right now we rely mainly on Alpharetta's volunteer corps. to utilize that resource. So this trailer is the cost about $160,000, but the grant rules provides we have to pay for sort of like a match. This match will be around $14,545. There is an impact moving forward on the budget starting 2028, and that's just regular maintenance, anywhere from $1,000 to $1,500 annually. So staff is recommending approval of this application. You know, whether we are successful, but if we're successful, we're just on the hook for that match.

Any questions for Chief? What's the timeline to figure out whether or not you're going to give the grant or not?

It'll take probably the review process. So the applications are due by the end of June, and then it'll take about four to six months. There has been a delay because of just the budget and the DOGE and everything else. So they finally launched and they said they will respond to us quickly. Once we're approved, we'll receive the letter that we've been awarded the grant, then there is a one-year performance that we have to sort of like purchase the equipment, put it in service, and get our stuff ready for an audit if it was to come. So we get one year from the award when we received the award letter. We did apply last year, but unfortunately we were unsuccessful in securing that grant.

Did we learn from it?

It's a fairly lengthy application, and it's reviewed. It goes through a technical review, and then it goes after that to a panel. FEMA invites members of the International Fire Chiefs, members of the International Firefighters Association, some other professional organizations. they're the ones that sit on those panels so based on sort of like where they're the where they work for like small medium to large departments and then they get the physical applications and they're reviewed i used to sit on those panels and um it's it's an extensive review um i used to write those grants and matter of fact i'm writing this one um it's just that sometimes um we have to show financial need and we have to justify a lot of things so we have to be really creative how we write those narratives there's about five different narratives we have to write for this grant. And then we capture all our data as well. We have to submit our data, how many calls, how many fires, how many mutual aid calls we go on, how many mutual aid we receive. So it's fairly extensive. So we put a lot of data in there for this. It's one of the biggest grants that Homeland Security puts forward for firefighters.

If approved, then you get it. We'll just take it from the police budget. Thank you.

Chief, how many tanks can replenish on a given event or being on site?

I'm sorry.

How many tanks can replenish from the device?

There is several configurations. We can get up to six. So we can fill those pretty quick. We used to have a trailer that was like a modified that was purchased initially when the department was formed. That became obsolete. It's just the repairs were becoming costly. So we ended up selling it on GovDeals.

um so now we're just looking for for a replacement through the grant gotcha okay thank you any other questions for chief okay any public comment they're on answer okay we'll close public comment and i will open it for a motion mayor i'd like to make a motion to approve agenda item number 26-178 second okay i have a motion from councilman dolan a second from councilmember jacobus to approve agenda item number 26-178 please place your votes That motion passes unanimously.

Thank you.

And as a reminder, if you're here to speak on an agenda item, please come and bring in your comment cards now before the agenda item is being called. With that, I will turn it over to the city clerk to sound the last agenda item.

The last agenda item for new business is going to be consideration of a resolution of the City of Milton, Georgia, enacting for 30 days a temporary moratorium barring the acceptance of applications for rezoning, land disturbance permits, building permits, special use or conditional use permits, business licenses, certificates of occupancy, or other permits for the placement, siting, construction, establishment, expansion, or operation of data centers, such as will allow the City to consider amendments to the City of Milton's Unified Development Code and for other lawful purposes. Agenda item number 26, 179, our City Attorney, Mr. Ken Gerard.

Remember, the council, I will take on the presentation of this. I don't think I have to tell the council you can't turn on the news and not see that data centers are one of the most talked about land uses in the state, if not the nation. They present all sorts of concerns and opportunities depending upon where you stand. But it would not be unusual for a local government with zoning power to take a pause and to stop the potential for a data center to come in, whether it be for a zoning application or an LDP or any sort of a permit approval, want to take a good hard look at your land use codes a good hard look at your comp plan a good hard look at your regulatory codes and make sure that you have what you need both for good or ill with respect to data centers and so a lot of governments are doing this in fact i got a call today from another government wanting to do this very quickly so this is a very common sort of thing and i think milton is to be commended by making sure that you have your your regulatory house in order for good or bad, whatever you want to do with respect to these sorts of uses to make sure that you're prepared. So that's what this would do to the clerk's point. If you adopt this this evening for a period of 30 days, basically any species of land use application or permit, you can't file one in Milton. And then we're going to I'll have a public hearing probably on July 6th. We'll go ahead and advertise it. You all know how we do these. We put one in for a 30-day period or so. We have a public hearing. And then we extend it a lot longer. And the moratorium is a very valuable land use tool. Courts have recognized that. It allows you to actually close the barn door before the livestock escape, if you want to hear the East Tennessee in me. But the idea is to be able to make sure that we're prepared should we receive an application. And that's what we're doing, Mr. Mayor. Thank you, Ken.

Any questions?

I do not. I'm sorry.

Any public comment?

No, sir, we do not.

I will close public comment, and I'll open it for a motion.

I'm going to make a motion to approve Agenda Item 26-179. Second.

Okay, I have a motion from Council Member Cramer and a second from Council Member Jacobus to approve Agenda Item Number 26-179. Please place your votes. Okay, that motion is unanimous. Does Council have anything to report on? Do not.

Okay.

Hearing none, we will now adjourn into executive session to discuss personnel, land acquisition, and litigation. Do I have a motion?

Mayor, I make a motion to adjourn to executive session. Second.

Can we do this digitally, please?

Okay. A motion from Council Member Haney and a second from Dolan. Please place your votes. All right. That's unanimous. We're adjourned.

I need a motion. Motion to reconvene.

Second.

All in favor? Aye. Can I get a motion to adjourn? Motion to adjourn. Second. All in favor?

Aye. 5-5, Georgetown 4-2.