City Council - Regular Meeting

pastor tonight Tyler Gregory if he would mind giving the invitation and if you would sir please take the floor. Heavenly Father thank you so much for the opportunity to be here. Thank you for all the people you've assembled. I pray Lord that you would give us wisdom uh that you would send your spirit of truth amongst all of us and uh just reveal all the things that we need to do to bless this community to bless these people and this government and I pray that you would give us uh continued wisdom as we go forward on every topic. Um and we ask these things in the name of Jesus. Amen. Amen. Thank you, Tyler. Well said. Call this meeting to order the April 8th Monroe City Council. Um I need um the record to reflect that almost half of the folks are absent, but we do have a quorum. Um we have uh Lee's out of town, Greg's out of town. Uh Logan is on the phone. Did we get Lee in? Lee, are you on the phone? I am. Okay, thank you. Um and Julie is out of the country. So, uh slim crew, but still pretty powerful. Um, I need a motion for the approval of the of the agenda, please. Thank you, Miss Crawford. Is there a second? Second. Thank you, Miss Brown. Is there any discussion? All in favor signify by saying I. I. All oppose, like sign. Motion carries. That passes. Um, moving to the approval of the consent agenda. This is the council minutes from January 30th and February 4th, February 11th, February 20th, fe March 11th, and then HPC of February 25th. Uh downtown development January 9th, February 13th. Um convention and visitors bureau January 9th and 13th as well. I need a motion for the approval of the consent agenda, please. Thank you, Miss Crawford. Is there a second? Second. Thank you, Miss Brown. Is there any discussion? Hearing none. All in favor signify by saying I. I.

All oppose like sign. Motion carries. That passes. U. Moving to our public presentation. We have an Eagle Scout. Uh Tommy Butler, would you come forward please? Um this afternoon's Eagle Scout Eagle Scout proclamation from City of Monroe, Georgia. Whereas Tommy Butler, I did not frame this by the way. Whereas Tommy Butler, a senior at Walnut Grove High School, has demonstrated extraordinary leadership, dedication, and commitment to excellence in his pursuit of becoming an Eagle Scout, the highest rank in the Boy Scouts of America. And whereas Tommy has earned the respect, and admiration of his peers, mentors, and the entire community through his unwavering perseverance, service, and contributions to both scouting and his local area. Whereas Tommy's journey to Eagle Scout has not only enriched his own life, but has also inspired others to follow in his footsteps, exemplifying the values of leadership, community service, and integrity, but are the cornerstone of the Boy Scouts of America. Whereas Tommy Butler's accomplishments reflect the highest ideals of scouting and will continue to influence his community and those around him for years to come. And therefore, I, John S. Howard, mayor of the city of Monroe, do hereby proclaim and celebrate Tommy Butler for achieving the rank of Eagle Scout, recognized in his outstanding achievements, his dedication to service, and his bright future ahead. Congratulations, Tommy, for your commitment to excellence in the principles of the Boy Scouts. May you continue to lead with honor and inspire others to make a difference in the world, and witness whereof I've whereof, I have here unto set my hand and cause the seal of the state of Georgia to be affixed this 8th day of April, 2025. We did this one last week. And thank you so much. Before coming over to get this, anybody have any questions at Tommy? Put him on the spot. What grade? Where does he go to school? Okay. What about this? Tell us about your project. So, I uh at my First Methodist church in Monroe,

I took all of the uh we cleaned up all the mulch and then we put down some new um with that landscaping uh like tarp thing. And then we put new mulch on the uh playground. We covered it all up and u and then we painted two doors that are outside the church that have been uh just decaying from Yeah. We repainted two of those doors and then that Well, our our Eagle Scouts um have definitely all all of our churches have had Eagle Scouts do a lot of projects there. So, I appreciate what you've done for the Methodist Church and thank you for coming in. I didn't frame it. [Applause] And do I have any other Eagle Scouts in the room? James, it's okay to say yes when I ask. Um and and it's and it's a big deal especially in today's uh today's time where we have no focus or attention span more than 10 seconds u for him to do that that's taken years. Congratulations. Now um I'm going to move to public comments. But before we do that I'm going to tell y'all you may leave. You don't really have to sit here through this unless you want. And if you do, have a seat. Thank y'all. We have two people signed up for public comments. Miss Susan Hawkins. Okay. Thank you. Uh Mr. Brent, you come on forward, please. And you want to talk about a name road name change? Yes. Okay.

My name is Johnny Brent. I don't live in Monroe, but my wife is from here and her whole family is from here. I stopped to congratulate the young man leaving because to me, what he's done is really something that is dear to me and I think is a significant accomplishment. I made Eagle Scout in 1968. Congratulations. And what I'm here for is my father-in-law, uh, Reverend, I don't know, some of you might remember and some of you might not, Reverend Alvin Jackson White, uh, lived at 557 Green Street. Prior to that, he lived on Perry Street. my father-in-law and my mother-in-law, they built a house on at 557 Green Street in 1964, and they raised five children uh in that um home. And during his time uh living and working here in Monroe, he worked in the mill and several other places, but he was the uh pastor of Triumph, the church and kingdom of God in Christ. But he also organized one of the first African-American uh ministers associations here and through their work they uh supported uh the old Carver High School activities and he served as counsel and mentor to a lot of young men and his wife to a lot of young men women in this community and in my associate association with them. I married his daughter, uh, Mary, in 1976 at Fort Sil, Oklahoma. Um, I met her at Fort Valley State College. We have we have a scholarship uh at Fort Valley State in the name of Reverend White and his wife to honor

them. But because that area and Monroe was so meant so much to him and he did so much to try to help the and help people grow. I like I say, I don't know if any of you are old enough to know him. Maybe some of your parents might, but that area, I think that's uh between Mayfield Drive and Carver Drive, uh where his house sits, we're trying to maintain that area. The the home will never leave the family. As a matter of fact, my son, he's be 43 years old next Friday, him and his wife and two kids, uh, live in the home. Uh, and we wanted to try to name if it's if that street in his honor, if it's not the whole street, at least that that block where his home sits. Um, we want to keep his legacy going. the like I said the home site will never leave our family and as a matter of fact I have restored his old car and everything to put back over there and that's what I'm here for to find out what can I do to try to honor my father-in-law and what is that address 557 Green How many neighbors you have across the There's none on the same side of the street in that block that he lives on. His house is the only one there across the street. There's a couple of there's two duplexes and I think two other houses going up toward

the corner. Okay. Um, we'll look at look into it. I want I'll get with Logan. David, did you have any legal I was just wondering does anybody know what Green Street was named after? I don't. So, I don't I don't know if that has any real historical significance or not. So, I'm I'm willing to research it. That would that would be good. Okay. Also, I didn't know about the scholarship Fort Valley State. Yes. That's one of the things that really needs to be, you know, advertised in this community. Uh we put it out to to uh my sister-in-law put it out to some uh to the school to uh Monroe Area High School uh this past year that we had a scholarship there at Fort Valley State. Well, if you'll take one of my cards, get in touch with me about it because I'm very interested in that. My wife is originally from Fort Valley and um when she worked with the public school system here, um she did a special programs thing. They took kids down to Fort Valley State during the summer because of the agricultural programs and the animal husbandry programs and all. Garren Garren Walker was student body president there. Yeah. The name of Reverend Alvin Jackson White and Mother Irene White there. So that's that's all I have. Mr. Bren, I I I really like the idea. Um you two stay in touch. We'll look into it on our side. All right. Thank you, sir. Thank you. Thank you for your time. Thank you for coming in. Miss Hawkins.

Good evening. Thank you for allowing me to speak today. Yes, ma'am. I'm very uncomfortable doing this. I want you to know that's quite all right. We're we're pretty easy. Um I wanted to is according to the thing this is supposed to u be the time to express your opinions and so forth. Yes, ma'am. Well, I have some pretty strong opinions and I'm not sure you'll want to hear them, but I feel like I need to get it out. Yes, ma'am. Uh frankly I am outraged at the increases in the rate of the water and electricity over 80% increase in the water. I didn't calculate the increase in electricity. Water and electricity are necessities. They're not luxuries. I cannot survive without them. The irony is this p price price gouging rates on water is that I choose to buy water for drinking and cooking because the taste of the city water is so bad. Sometime it even smells bad and it is discolored slightly. So to add insult to injury I'm almost doubling the cost just for water. On the electric side, I have stopped using central heating air, unplugged the stove. I use a small little burner when I cook. The lights are off about 99% of the time. I use a refrigerator, a pot plate, very seldom, but I use it. And the TV is on. Occasionally

the lights are on, but they're off about 99% of the time. When temperatures plummeted into the teens and 20s and low30s, I used a little miniature heater that I bought for less than a week in total. And also bought last year a little portable air conditioner that I use just to cool off the spot where I am and and and at night particularly so I can fall asleep. In other words, I believe I've done everything I can to possibly lower my cost only to receive a bill that's double what it should be. By the way, I realize that this council I just realized this when I was writing this up and reading this. This is just for the city only. I live outside the city limits. I have no representation for any voting, any cost increases. No representation. Isn't that what the Boston Tea Party was all about? Taxation without representation. So instead of just griping, I propose a solution. Turn your rate structure upside down. Let your corporate businesses, the big box stores mostly, pay the most instead of the least. And I mean double theirs. on the public side, try a scale based on income. For instance, most of you probably make over $100,000 a year. So, this rate increase is nothing to you. It's like the tip at at a on a meal at a restaurant.

However, when you're on a fixed income, that that itself is low, it's devastating. So, uh, just this sliding scale thing on the income like over $100,000 a year, you get the highest rate. You won't miss it, but I do, but you won't. 75 to 100,000, a bit lower. Just a little lower. 75 50 to 75,000 average. 25 to 50,000 about 20% less than the previous maybe 25% less. But below 25,000 50% less. After all you that get so much more income, a lot of you got that income on the backs of people like me. And I mean that literally on my backs. [Music] Oh, I came out of words. But anyway, uh thank you for your consideration and I'm I'm just at a loss. I'm sorry. I tend to get emotional and everything, but you cannot imagine the frustration of it's like everybody right all at once. It's just it's like vultures flying around trying to get your last red scent. It's like the older people particularly and lowincome people, we've become disenfranchised. We don't have the ordinary rights of citizens of people with money. And that's what this country

is about right now. You got to be rich. If you're not rich, you have no value except to be plundered. What little bit you have. And I know I'm so frustrated. But there is a solution. You don't like it. You don't want it because you're business. But think about people become instead of becoming Robin. R O B I N G Hoods H O O Ds, try to become Robin. R O B I N H O O Ds. Robin Hoods. Give to the poor. Thank you. Thank you for coming in. And before you go, uh Mr. Middlebrooks isn't here. We have a um we No, but we have a research uh where we go in and find out the electric usage. Um it's on the bill. No, no, no. That that an energy audit. We could do an energy audit. It might be able to save you some of the money. the uh last year year before last when it jumped way up for no reason. I came and complained and they came out and looked at the meter and said, "Yeah, it's running." See, I live in an apartment, right? But I but I think I don't know what what the energy audit all entails. Do you, Beth? Okay. Okay. Thank you. Yes, ma'am. Consider the restructuring of the ready, please. Thank you for coming in. Yes, ma'am.

Moving uh moving to uh business items. Uh Logan, are you here? Yes, sir. Is is uh Chris gonna do your report or do you want to say something? Yeah, I'll let Chris kind of spill over uh some things from our executive summary. All right. Thank you. Chris, you want to take uh his yours and Mr. Croy's all at the same? I'm going to I'm going to lump them all in together a little bit. Um so I think many of you have probably seen on social media our welcome center and the museum's closed for the next uh two to three weeks while we um make improvements to the interior. here. And then the goal is to move our main street offices down to the welcome center um just because we've kind of outgrown things that we have here and it makes full use of that facility, extends the hours as well, so people will be able to visit more often. Um our approach clearing at the airport has started. We have marked trees that are on site that we have to have removed within the next two years and we're going to start taking those down. And then we've started the process with the DOT. Um, as far as offsite airport obstructions, there are a good many of them. So, you'll hear me and uh Mr. Croy update that over the probably the next 12 months as we make progress in that direction. Um, if you've been by our town green, you will notice that we had a bit of an accident a week ago. Uh the front uh corner where it uh where the fountain sits at uh church in South Madison was damaged. Uh we are currently working through that. I hope we have that fixed uh prior to the first concert, but I am not 100% sure that's even possible. Um storm water master plan uh that we've talked about uh we had a presentation this past July. There will probably be another one that

will be more in depth that will have the full details of the program uh to include um a rough ordinance uh policy everything how we're structuring that department as it comes online. Um and then we'll have a public education uh for the months to follow depending on how council elects to go with that. Our tap grant on Highland Broad and Lumpkin is due uh bids are due this Thursday at 2 o'clock. Um so that'll come before you in May for approval and discussion and then we'll begin that project on North Lumpkin and then that portion of Highland and then finish the corridor from Highland to Marble on Broad Street uh with a full streetscape project. Uh the others are still in survey process environmentals. Um, I've gotten a couple of calls, not too many, uh, but those will be years in the making. Um, car show that we postponed to March 22nd. We ended up, uh, we capped out at our attendance at 22,000. Um, which is what the cell sell data reads, but I mean, we're it's safe to say it was a crowded day. I would say there were 30,000 people there easy. Uh we had 510 registered uh vehicles and we had considering the footprint that we had last year uh it was the exact same and every spot I saw was completely full. I would say we had over 800 cars in town. So it was a busy busy day. Um first Friday concert coming up May 2nd. Mentioned earlier hope we have the green fixed. And then the farmers market opened this past Saturday. I haven't been able to uh pull the attendance data. that's not doesn't come out active until tomorrow. But I would say we were probably somewhere around 1500 to 2,000 people. It was fairly busy around say about 11:00 when I came through and uh

walked the market. Um so good to see that we had a lot of new vendors. So if you haven't, you know, hadn't had a chance to go in the past couple of years, absolutely go and see. There's a lot of different things. Um our sculptures downtown, we have uh 10 of them. they're in place. We'll have a walk-in tour guide that will be uh put out to the public and on social media uh probably within the next couple of weeks. Uh reactions have been good and bad, mostly positive. But I mean, that's kind of what the purpose of art is is to uh to elicit a reaction and that's that's what it's done. It's it's brought attention. Anytime I walk by them, they're always people standing beside them taking pictures and then they go up on Facebook. So, that's great. Um the only other thing uh is community cleanup day we have coming up April 19th. Not the best date with uh Good Friday the day before and Easter that Sunday. Um but that's the way it fell this year. So um y'all are welcome to join us as volunteers uh 9:00 a.m. here at city hall that morning and um we'll go until around lunchtime. So I will be glad to take any questions. Thank you, Chris. Any questions for Mr. Bailey? Kona Ice Cream. Right now, I have a potential vendor that morning and then Kona Ice will be here at lunch. Okay. As always, coffee in the morning and shirts, ice cream, all kind of cool things given out. Could make the people that aren't here tonight have to mandatory volunteer. Uh, that's true, Lee. You hear that? I'm good with that. Um I did but but I also think I also think we need to encourage our youth groups to to get involved as well. Um so thank you Chris. Yes sir. Um let's move to code. Mr. Calendar.

Thank you Mr. Mayor. Uh just want to recap the meetings from this past month. The uh planning commission did not meet for March but the historic preservation commission did. There were two items that were considered. Uh both those items were approved. Uh permits for the code office have increased. So have the inspections. So that's just kind of indicative of the springtime that's coming up. Did want to mention though the new projects for the city. They they're definitely on the rise. Uh we did have the JS apartment complex is fully complete. Uh now open and leasing. That project as far as the city is concerned is open and operating and and complete. at this juncture and the fully um certificate of occupancy have been all granted to all the buildings out there. Uh the ones that have been recently final platted last year, River's Edge, we haven't issued any permits in those. And Brooklyn Commons, uh we've gone back to the drawing board with the developer, working on some of their building elevations and some issues on the site with them right now, even though it is final platted. um they have not yet uh been able to pull building permits based on some um site issues out there that occurred after the final plat. So uh there's some potential, you know, homes that can be constructed in the city that are coming online. Did have two preliminary plats submitted this month for review for commercial projects. One at Tokyo and then one on the corner of Charlotte Row Boulevard and Highway 11. Uh the A4 development. Uh it's a Raleigh property up there. it was previously approved for preliminary plat expired and he resubmitted it for renewal. And then um there is a final plat under consideration that you will see in the coming months since first review now it's for River Point that is the large subdivision under construction on Cedar Ridge Road and Double Springs Road. The first phase of that development will be um considered. It's 48 lots is the first phase that you'll see even though they've constructed nearly a majority of

it at once. that was because some of their other infrastructure was dependent on this first phase getting complete. And then we're are our pre-application meetings continue to be highly soughta and and are ongoing and I've got them scheduled out through the next month and a half and we continue to receive many requests for those and there are other projects that you will see in the near future. um that will probably be a benefit to the city at some point, but we continue to get a lot of requests for new development, especially with the recent ordinance amendment that was passed. So, we're seeing some requests for those. So, that's all that I have. Excellent. Thank you, Mr. Calendar. Are there any questions for Brad? Mr. Wilson. Thank you, Brad. Good evening. I'll be brief. Um quick update on Hotel RFQ. Nothing's really changed with that and we'll meet one more time before it officially closes. So, I suspect we will have uh a more substantive update in June uh but not necessarily next month. Um but still just too intent to submit. Um and I don't know if I mentioned this last month because I'm pretty sure it came in before our last meeting. If I did not, there was one uh official uh bid package submitted. So, there is one that's already been turned in for the for the project. So, um that's a good thing. And we expect to get at least one or two more. Um, social media, uh, that's gone up, you know, continues to go up every month. This is a little bit less of an increase than normal, but it's been kind of a slow month in terms of properties that have been posted. Um, so about 10% increase for this month. And then, of course, Instagram was brand new last month and continues to grow. Uh, still slower than than the Facebook part of it, uh, for sure. Uh, but we've got some properties are out there. It's just working through getting the owners to give access and give details to get them posted and that sort of thing. There's a couple things. Monroe Pizzeria, the old location is one of those. For instance, that I've been in touch with the owner, Joe, and we just haven't gotten there yet, but we will.

Um, but at any rate, that that should increase over the next month, I would I would suspect. Um, two in downtown business activities. So, business license additions, there were nine uh two of those in the DDA. Number of jobs added, were 48 total, seven of those in the DDA. Uh, and then deletions, uh, there were 16 total. DDA have four. I'll double check that. I I I think it may actually be three, but the number I had from from uh Heather was uh was four. So, I I'll double check and make sure that's correct. But number of jobs lost officially in total was 62 and then in the DVA was 33. But I'll say that with an asterisk because I think a lot of those were actually attributed to Monroe Pizzeria, which didn't go out of business. It actually merged with Will Henry's. So, it's still there. And I'm not sure how that affected Will Henry's staffing. But at any rate, that that again is the little caveat. So that's all I have. If anybody has any questions, open for that now. Anybody have any questions? Mr. Wilson. Thank you, Brian. Thank you, Miss Thompson. Finance. Thank you, Mayor. Um, you have before you the finance report as of February. Um, if you have any questions on it, I'll be glad to um answer those. Um, the city was awarded a $1 million redevelopment fund grant under the community development block grant program, which is a CDBG through Georgia Department of Community Affairs. Um, we just received that this week. Um, this will be used to eliminate blighted conditions to the historic old Ford building um in downtown Monroe. Um, Molden and Jenkins, our external auditors are currently finishing up our annual audit. Um, and we hope to have that presented to you either next month or in June um by Molden and Jenkins. Um, and finally um proud to announce that the city's finance department received three um GFOA awards. This is from the government finance officers association. Um we received the award for the 23 annual comprehensive financial report. This is the 22nd year the city's

received that. Um we received the 23 popular annual financial report. This is the 20th year the city received that one. And then just today we received the um 25 budget document award. Um and this is the 14th year. Um when we receive all three we get what is called the triple crown award. So um we are proud to say that we got that again. So um hope to continue. Congratulations. That's big. And that's all I have. Well, thank you Beth. Are there any questions? Miss Thompson? Chief Dykes. Thank you, Mayor. Your packet before you has our instant statistics for the month of February, which at this point seems like it was so far away, but I would like to take a little bit of time to talk about what we've done in the the past month. And the first thing was we had our annual awards banquet. And so I want to take a minute and just brag on our awards recipients. So during that banquet, we recognize uh our rookie of the year, officer of the year, and firefighter of the year, which are voted on by our personnel. Our rookie of the year this year was Luke Morell. The funny part about this, he has about 12 years in the fire service, but only one year with us. So he is he is an old rookie, I guess, is the best way to put that. Captain Matt Johnston was our fire officer of the year and Austin White was our firefighter of the year recipient. And like I said, those were voted on by their peer group. Now, in addition to that, we allow each of our three battalion chiefs to award someone on their shift what we call the battalion chief award. And that's often to recognize those individuals that are your silent leaders or that are your behind the scenes actors that are doing things that maybe the rest of their crews aren't aware of, but are extremely valuable to the service we provide. And those this year were uh John Hall for A shift, Jo Josh Jameson on Bshift, and Branson Oliver on C-shift. And so we met on the 24th at the Monroe Golf and

Country Club and had a good time and a great banquet. Um so definitely want to recognize those in a in public forum. Also, uh some things coming up. We are having our next hazardous materials tech class hosted at Guda. The first week of that will be uh April 28th through May 2nd. Then they'll take a week off and come back from May 12th through 16th. Uh that class has been so successful I found it interesting. I was contacted by Gwynette uh some officers from Gwynet Fire a couple weeks ago. They were inquiring about it because they are now going to send a few of their folks instead of sending them over to the Alabama Fire College because we're closer, more convenient, and have a really good success rate. So that's a huge plus. And then lastly, May 1st through September 30th will be the summer burn ban. And from my perspective, that can't come soon enough based on how dry our March was. I believe we had 10 outdoor fires in the city for the month month of March, which is more than usual. Um, but that's one of those if you see folks burning starting May 1st, please let us know because that becomes a major issue and that is through forestry and EPD. We just go out and politely inform our residents of the burn laws and then assist them if needed in extinguishing those fires. Happy to answer any questions if you have them. Are there any questions for Chief Dyes? I was looking at the numbers. um fire versus EMT. Are we good with EMT? Do we need How we doing on staffing? We're looking at at the future uh future next station. Correct. Are we going to try to do that exactly the same or we going to have more staffing for EMTs? So, as as it stands right now, every one

of our personnel has to be certified at least to emergency medical responder. Roughly half of our personnel are EMT or higher. Uh but in order for that to be rec for us to receive recognition, uh we have to have we're basically going to need three people per shift at that station. They will be medically trained. Um, ideally in the long term I would like to have everybody trained at EMT or higher. That comes with a cost of training and currently oh I will add we do have one opening at the m one full-time opening. Um, one thing that we have encountered is that we've tried to limit the number of barriers to hiring and and make our jobs as um easy to apply for. And so by not requiring everyone to be an EMT at the moment, the hope of that has been that we have cast a wider net to attract some folks. But yes, that that is that is a major component. If you look at the statistics from last night, uh excuse me, last not last month for February, which is what's in your packet, 61% of the incident runs were emergency medical related. uh that also includes wrecks where extrication if needed and those types of um instances occur. So rescues are also included in that. But yes, that is a major component of what we do. Thank you. Appreciate it. Miss Hansen, I'm going to guess. Captain. Yes, sir. Captain Hansen. Yes. Please, please. Thank you, Mayor. Um Chief Watts is attending the Georgia Chief's Conference this week, so I'll be sharing some of our numbers for the month in February. Officers answered 2,79 calls for service, conducted 863 traffic stops, performed over 11,000

area checks, had 80 arrests, recovered six firearms, and received over 15 hours of training. And overall, in comparison to February of 24, crimes against persons were down 55% and crimes against society were down 25%. So that's all I have unless you have questions. That's outstanding. Are there any questions for the captain? Thank you. Solid ways, Mr. Smith. Thank you, Mayor. Got a couple things. Um update on mattress pickup. We picked up 138 in month February. Uh the good news is we we're kind of closing that gap. Uh so we were able to bill out 122 for like $2,000. So, $2,300, but um we've it seemed like we getting away from a lot of illegal dump sites. We still got some uh but these are just pretty much regular residents just kind of swapping out mattresses. So, we are closing the gap in that respect. Uh the only other thing I have is we want to try to encourage customers use the glass collection more. Uh we we averageing a little less than 10 10 times a month. Uh but we do get uh rebates for for the material and it also is weighted and we can keep it out of out of the landfill. Uh so we want to you know encourage customers to use that service a little bit more. That's all I have. Are there any questions for Mr. Smith? Thank you Danny. Nicely done. Uh Mr. Still Streets and Transportation. Thank you Mr. Mayor. Unless you have questions on the report, I'll be really quick with some stuff that we got coming down the line and what's been going on recently. Um, we're we've done some significant paving around one of the new hangers out of the airport. Um, and it's really shaping up. It's going to be really nice around through there. Uh,

today, just as recent as today, we we've done um couple loads of hot mix, taking care of some potholes and utility cuts um throughout the city. What I really want to harp on tonight is, and I'll have it in front of you next month, is um the city's going to benefit another quarter million dollars of free money from the state. Uh the local road assistance administration fund in the LRA um was something that was new to us last year. um state has another surplus this year and our aotment based on lane mileage and the money given away throughout the state is just a little bit over a quarter million that does not require a match which is the best part. Um, so we'll add that with the Elme money and probably look at four miles being paved this time around versus roughly two miles. Um, so I'll have my recommendations in the application for approval uh for that next week, next month, excuse me, and I'll be glad to entertain any questions on the report or that free money. Are there any questions for Mr. Still, Jeremiah, the only one I have um and and this might well it would be for Rodney as well. Um Logan is here. You can jump in. Wayne Street. Um do we have a timeline on that or the Yeah, I mean, we're kind we're kind of waiting on the engineering to finalize. Um I hope to be getting an update later this month from them on where that stands. Okay. and we'll and we'll try to knock all that out at the same time, right? Yeah, for the most part, it's um it's a complicated project even though it should just be a a parking lot improvement. There's storm water

elements, uh some electric, so on and so forth that goes along with it. Okay, thank you. Thank you, Jeremiah. Um telecom and water, sewer, gas, and electric, Mike. Okay. Thank you, mayor. From the telecom side, uh our GTC project, I know last month I said was nearing completion. It is actually completed now. We have verified that the the routes and everything are good to go. Um turned that all the information over to GTC. What that means for us is it gives us the ability to start exploring alternate routes for our data to flow through and increase bandwidth capacity which we've started the process of looking into now. It's really excited about that. And part of that project I' I'd come on board kind of in the middle middle part of it. But part of that project too is um there was an agreement from the GT side that they they were paying for the infrastructure and the build. So we actually will be collecting a a check from them for the build portion of that here very soon. So we've started that process as well. Since that project is done, we've been able to get back to doing fiber conversions and fiber installations now. Now that our crews are back in full swing doing that, we had a really good month last month. um had a almost 200 installs, which is almost twice as many as we normally do, and 174 of those were either new new customers or conversions on that. So, we're currently sitting at about 67% fiber and 33% cable. So, we eaked another 2% in each each direction. So, the next month or two, we should be at that 7030 mark, and it's it's looking pretty good. Um we're just sitting just a little bit over uh getting getting close to approaching the 3,800 uh customer mark there for five installations since we started this. So the area that went live this this month was the Toller Street area. So the apartment complex down on the on the end there, Toller Street and the Camptown Garden Apartments. That's the first one on the right. when you first go in there, we are working with their uh maintenance folks to they are going to do the pre-wiring for us, but

they have started that negotiation with us as far as what can we do to help them to get that done. And so once that is completed, we'll check that box off and that whole area will be ready to go. But we've we've already started installations out there. Um we have also shut down our first or getting ready to shut down our first official cable node. This is the very first official one that we will actually pull the plug on on the 30th of this month. That'll be the Walker Drive node. So, that'll be everything along Walker and down towards the end. There are not many customers left on there already as it is. And uh we we may just get them all off before we hit that deadline, but we we've notified them that they've got a deadline to meet for us and we're going to be pulling the plug there and we've got more areas that are coming very soon. So, we've literally started the physical decommissioning of our of our RF plant. So, I'm pretty excited about that part. So, and last but least, the Jacks. Last month, I told you we had done a lot of pre-wiring out there in the Jacks. Uh, building 500 is the last building left. We'll start that tomorrow. Uh, David and his crew will be going out there to get all the pre-wiring done. We've already tacked on about 50 customers out there, and to my knowledge, we haven't had to roll the truck for one of them. They literally come in and sign in for service. They go home and they plug their stuff up and their service is good to go. So, it's been great for us. So, and I think that's part of why we did so good this month is just the ease of use for customers to get service from us out there. So, and the last thing I want to say is special thanks to Todd Leechman and Perry Darly. Uh, I think it was last Thursday. We had a little bad of weather that came through here in Monroe. We did pretty good, but one of our major fiber lines uh outside of the city got tore down. I don't know if it was a little small micro burst or tornado, something came through. I drive that road home, that road home every day. And you literally can see it just out of nowhere. The tops of the trees are gone in this one little section. And it tore down about six spans of fiber and cable and everything that's down there. And they they literally were punching out that day at 3:30 to go home and got the

call. And before I even knew what was going on, they they loaded up with the contractors, went out there and and got home almost close to midnight that night. So just my hats off to those guys and the hard work that they put. I know it's part of our job. That's what we do. But sometimes I think folks don't really get to see what they do uh after hours and when storms stuff come through. And if anybody has any questions, I'll be I'll be glad to answer them. Anyone have any questions for Mike from the telecom side? Okay. And back to you. Thank you for for that. And then Rodney, he's at a he's at a uh a conference, but he just gave me a couple of bullet points to to highlight for the council here real quick. um the gas uh project out there at the Riverpoint subdivision off Cedar Ridge which telecom also joint trench with them. So we laid our our conduit in the ground while they put the gas in. That has been completed. Now uh the steel main replacement along road has also been completed. Now uh there is a 16-inch water man transmission main from the water plant to the tank site. Rodney said that they the ghost crews will be beginning starting that tomorrow. the 24-inch raw water project that he has. Two or three of the bores have been completed. The third bore goes under Highway 78 that will start this week. And last, their tanalis project uh which they're doing for auto automatic meter reading. They currently have 300 meters now that have been installed and they've just placed an additional order I believe he said for another 1,200 this month be to be installed and put out there. And if you have any questions, I'll be sure to ask Rodney. So, are there any questions for Mr. Magcguire about anything? Thank you, Mike. All right. No problem. Moving to department request, Mr. Bailey. Thank you, sir. Uh, this is a simple request for the surplus and disposal of the assets that will be on the next page. Uh, there's what approximately a dozen or so uh old vehicles that we either are replacing or just completely

disposing of. There any questions for Chris? Hearing none, I'll entertain a motion. Motion to approve by Mr. Gregory. Is there a second? Second by Miss Brown. Thank you. Is there any discussion? All in favor signify by saying I. All oppose like sign. Motion carries. That passes. Thank you. Uh Mr. Smith, Great American Cleanup Week, April 21st through 25th. Thank you, Mayor. Uh we're asking designate the week of April 21st through 25th uh participate in Great American Cleanup Week. Uh we've been doing this since 2002. Uh we allow citizen to come in to our transfer station and dump at no charge trash, garbage, any anything u to help them clean up uh do their spring cleaning. Uh we do allow 10 tires. That's the limit. Uh unfortunately we will not be taking mattresses. No mattresses and this is for residents only and also no businesses. But uh but we will be uh we'll be open that week for anybody just come in and help to clean up and it helped keep it off the curb too. So we can just metriculate you know our regular service but uh uh so we just ask for that week to participate. Sounds perfect. Are there any questions for Mr. Smith. Thank you, Danny. I'll entertain a motion. Move to approve. Have a motion to approve by Mr. Dickinson. Is there a second? Thank you, Miss Crawford. Any discussion? All in favor signify by saying I. All oppose like sign. Motion carries. That passes. I move to the public hearing for the urban red urban redevelopment agency plan amendment. Mr. Wright. All right. Thank you, mayor. before you is a resolution to amend your urban

redevelopment plan. City implemented this plan back in 2008 and updated it in 2018. So, this will be the second amendment to it and it's brief. You'll be updating the map that is retained in the plan. Um, if you want specifics on exactly what the difference in the map is and I will defer to Mr. Calendar. Um that would be section 3.1 of your plan and you will be adding a section 6.3.2 which kind of sets aside or purposes a 1.72 acre tract over on Davis Street to build a very nice hotel for this city. Um provided we make that work. So that's it. Thank you, Mr. R. Are there any questions for Donnie or Brad? Hear none. And I and I really don't know the way on the resolution because we've waved the reading. Is it automatic now? Um are you okay with waving the reading? I think the reading is now automatically waved unless someone asked for it to be waved. Just want to cover my basis. Yes, sir. All right. Uh thank you. We um that's a that's a public hearing. So I'm sorry. I'll declare this portion of the meeting open for the purpose of public input. Is there anyone here who'd like to speak in favor of the Urban Redevelopment Agency plan amendment? Is there anyone here who'd like to speak against the Urban Redevelopment Agency amendment? Hearing none, I'll declare that portion of meeting closed and we will revisit that almost immediately. under new business. This is the urban redevelopment plan agency amendment and you just discussed it. So, did anybody have any questions about it before I ask for a motion? I'll obtain a motion. Move to adopt the amendment.

I have a motion to approve or adopt by Mr. Dickinson. Is there a second? Second by Mr. Gregory. Is there any discussion? All in favor signify by saying I. All oppose like sign. Motion carries. That passes. Um, moving to district items. Miss Malcolm, do you have anything? No, not at this time. Thank you. Thank you, Miss Crawford. Really? I I too got a lot of calls and texts. One about the statues. At first it was just want to know what it was. Then the next the text, emails, stops in the stores. Then people was upset about raising rates and now we purchasing statues just a lot of them was upset. So I did get the calls and emails about the statues as well. Okay. I was going to address the statues um and and and have online but the statues were paid for uh partially with a a donation from the Uleia group. the believe we had 28,000 remaining that was paid for through the hotel motel tax that has to be spent on tourism and marketing. It can't be spent on anything else and that's uh as dedicated by convention of visitors bureau. So it came out of nobody's property taxes. Some folks like it, some folks don't. Um but but yet that's no property tax. Well, Mr. And they are on loan. Yes, ma'am. They're on loan for 12 months and uh the CVB may want to do something further next year, but uh that is that's a standalone. Mr. Mayor, to follow up on what Miss Crawford was saying, we've talked about this before. The city just has to do a better job of communicating on the front end.

um because I got some of those contacts about why are my tax dollars being used for this and of course I explained to folks how it works then they're okay I didn't understand that I thought you know it was coming out of the tax general tax money we've just got to do a better job of educating folks on the front end so that those things never get started I think the vast majority of people love the statues. The concern was considering what's going on in our general economy right now. Um, I don't know if y'all keep up with that, but we're in a economic disaster uh due to what I think is just economic illiteracy on the national level. And um it makes people real concerned because they're losing a lot right out there. and we we've just got to communicate better about these kind of things on the on the front end. And I agree I agree with both of you. Um and we will we will do better. Um okay, thank you. Um Miss Brown, I just wanted to say about the statues, um I did get some emails. I did educate some people about. But I also had some friends to come in town over the weekend and I drove them around to see them and they really enjoyed it and you know they want to come back you know before they're gone. So we've been really enjoying it and you know is a showstopper right they are

done very very nicely. So what's your favorite? What's your favorite? My favorite is the cop on the corner. Everybody stops for him. So, what's your what's your favorite, Miss Crawford? I think the chuggers. So, real life. Yeah, they are. They are lifelike. Um, Mr. Gregory, same for me with the statues. But again, once we'll do a little explanation, people understand. Um, I think they're great. I do. It'd be great at some point if we could look at getting some local artists involved as well. Something that that is similar. I don't know what that looks like, but I'd love to see that. Um, and so would some other folks who who wrote me. Uh, but I just want to say thanks for taking the initiative uh for DDA and uh the ukulele group and u thanks for everything that the city continues to do. Appreciate you. And what was your favorite? Oh, my favorite? Yes. Is that what you were asking me in general? Sorry. Um, my favorite is the guy playing guitar out of almost Yes, he dodged. He dodged that vehicle. When I saw that that people were like a concert, you know, just let's run over him. Yeah. Um, Mr. Mr. Dickson, I've already said it. You got a favorite? Oh, the favorite. Uh, the cop. I'm I'm torn. I I like the I like the library. Um, and the umbrella. Those are my those are my two. Um, mayoral update. Um, are we all set for Savannah with classes and hotels? You've all gotten with Caitlyn. Okay. um car show, everybody

who is involved from uh from in-house staff and employees to employees who volunteered for the day. I don't really think we ever do anything that doesn't have Amy Hammond uh throwing her hands and and and helping. I mean, just uh some wonderful folks. So, I appreciate you doing that. Um there are three of us in town uh who are celebrating the University of Florida's national championship last night. So, I'm not going to let that go without congratulating those two other people and me and myself. Um, that that being said, I need a motion to adjourn to executive session, please. I have a motion by Miss Crawford. Is there a second? Second by Miss Brown. All in favor? Signify by saying I all oppose like sign. Motion carries. That passes. We'll adjourn to executive session.