City Council - Regular Meeting

Thank you. Announcements, awards, special recognition. We have none on the agenda. Public comment. We have four residents signed up to speak. The first person signed up is James Clifton.

James Clifton, Fielding Ridge Precinct. Since the last meeting, I've been conducting a forensic investigation of the missing audio from the Faget County Development Authority presentation at the Kennesal Retreat, including retrieval and analysis of metadata and other file attributes. Tonight, I'm going to present some of those findings. The Kennesol retreat was recorded on an Avita V618 voice recorder. There are four recordings covering 14 hours. The four recordings correspond to a morning session on the 29th, an afternoon session on the 29th, a morning session on the 30th, and an afternoon session on the 30th. The file name for each of the four recordings provided by the clerk's office contains an associated date stamp. The date on the voice recorder had not been set to the correct date and registered as October 10th, 2025. This is not uncommon with electronic devices that are not connected to Wi-Fi and require manual adjustment of the date. The first recording of the retreat on the morning of January 29th, 2026 shows that it was the 11th recording on the device with a date of October 10th, 2025. Here's where the forensic analysis becomes concerning. The next audio file sequentially is the January 30th, 2026 morning session from the Kennesaw Retreat and not the afternoon session from January 29th. The afternoon session from the January 29th portion of the meeting with the missing audio from the Faget County Development Authority presentation has a file name date stamp 10 days after the recording actually took place. I consulted the device manufacturer about the anomaly. They stated that this would only occur if the audio file was re-recorded, altered, or edited 10 days later. If you look at the calendar of events, the date this file was altered was five days after I began to dig into the subjects discussed at the Kennesaw

retreat and two days after the Faget County Development Authority reached out to me to attempt to sway my opinion about data centers. At this point in the investigation, the term scapegoat begins to be thrown around. Having served as an assistant special master investigating corruption in the city of South Fulton City Council, I have seen this scenario play out. Fingers start getting pointed and unfortunately they often are all directed at a lower ranking employee, which is why my attention now turns to the recording clerk, Martha Barkstdale. Mrs. Barkstdale, you can get ahead of the accusations by attaining protected status as a whistleblower.

Please direct your comments to the mayor. Thank you so much. You can avoid retaliatory termination and maintain your reputation, but it will require you to answer some difficult questions honestly. Did you record the presentation by the Faget County Development Authority at the Kennesaw Retreat on January 29th, 2026?

Please direct your comments to the mayor. Thank you so much. If you don't come forward with this information, the clerk's office will say that the audio recording was missing when you return the Avita V618 voice recorder to their office and the blame will be placed on you solely. Last, I want to address the coordinated effort on social media and in the newspaper to undermine my credibility and malign my reputation. My wife cries herself to sleep at night because of these malicious attacks, but she wakes up in the morning and she tells me to keep fighting. Do you want to know why? Because this city and this county are worth it. and I will not stop.

Next, please. Phil Crane.

Good evening, Madame Mayor, City Council. Thank you for your time. My name is Phil Crane. I live off of Flat Creek Road and I'm running for Fy County Commission. I want to speak briefly about the concerns in our community around potential development. Thank you. I want to speak briefly about concerns in our community and wow concerns in our community around potential development and the recent annexation study. The study has raised a lot of questions for residents right now and many people are unsure of what is actually being considered and what is not. As you all five of you ran on clear communication and community engagement, I think that this is an opportunity. Communication is a two-way street and so far there's only been one direction of communication from you to citizens. This is the perfect time to hold a town hall focused on annexation and the potential development as a result. Bring people in, walk them through what is known, what is unknown because it is a study and what the process is going to look like. Let let residents ask questions and be part of the conversation. Even if the answers are not final, the conversation matters. Engaging early builds trust and prevents confusion from turning into frustration and misinformation. Our residents care deeply about this community and they just want to be informed and feel heard. Thank you for your time.

Thank you. Next, please. Carrie Cook.

Good evening, Mayor and Council. My name is Carrie Cook. I live at 152 Lakeside Drive in the Lakeside subdivision. I've got several items here. I call it food for thought. I just want to share some concerns with you. Uh, the first one that I have is a golf cart safety. And as you know, we have the decals now on the front and back of golf carts where you see them on the golf cart path. But I must confess and I I'm out on the cart path a lot. I'm walking or biking and I was out yesterday and I don't know how many carts came up behind me and not one signaled. Not one. And to me, I mean, something really needs to be done. And I've said this before, before somebody gets killed, there are a lot of people that are driving too fast. Not only golf carts, but these uh scooters and ebikes and stuff like that, but I focus on the uh golf carts because of their size and their speeds, too. But I think something should be done. In fact, I was thinking about doing this. I don't know where it would go, but I was thinking about just keeping a log of the 10 that I see out on the golf cart path that come up and blow by me and show me their decal, you know, to report that to the police and say they didn't they didn't give me the warning. And I'm not sure if that's that's in the law now. I know we had some proposal that I thought went to the general assembly for them to give some approval for these electric motorized devices, but that to me is a big concern because like I said, I walked the path, I ride the paths and yesterday, not one person and there was a lot of golf carts that came up behind me and not one signal. that needs to stop and I urge you to do something whether you know whether it's putting a camera in a hightraic area and just zooming in and getting their tag number and reporting them. I I actually got a ticket in a school district one time. I was going through there maybe five miles over the speed limit and the camera got me and I

got a notice in the mail to pay 50 bucks or something because I exceeded that speed limit. So that's a concern of mine. safety and all these people too probably go to get on the cart path too and want to walk safely. Um the next one I went to uh recently to the transportation advisory meeting and they were talking about putting up the signs and these uh villages and I would just urge you to bring back the sign that was up originally at the Walgreens at South Parkway and 54. Now the sign I think might have been up a little too high. There might have been concerns about safety there, but I think we can put a lowlevel sign there and let's let's highlight that we're a village town. A lot of these areas like Kedron, I don't know where a sign is up there that says Kedran village, but it is one uh silt in the pond, the the feeder lake that feeds Lake Peach Tree on on the left there. If you go down to the to the boat dock, it is building up in the upper area close to the drain pipe more and more silt and it's driving the water over there close to the cart path. The cart path it's it's just within a few feet of being eroded. Trees now are falling into the lake because it's eroding. So, something needs to be done about that. uh the storm water fee that I know that's on the agenda, but I do express some concern uh too about increasing that uh with the price of gasoline, groceries, and everything else. If there's some unrestricted funds out of the I think it's $34 million that we have in unrestricted funds, I I would just urge you to maybe consider that and take some of the burden off the citizenry. And thank you very much.

Thank you. Next, please. Crystal Mayor. Hi, I'm Crystal Maynor. I don't know if this really needed a public comment, but um I'm just making I'm here in support of the public art plan that we're hoping to enact. Um I happen to see it come across my computer screen. I'm with Crystal Michelle Mural Studio. And so I just wanted to say that I'm very excited to see the art coming to Peach Tree City. This is especially close to my heart because I live about a mile from here. So I have already been scoping out all of the great places to paint. I know what a a benefit it is to a city. So, I'm just so happy to see it. I think everything was really well written. It seems really well planned out. So, I'm super excited.

Thank you. Was that our last speaker? Yes, ma'am. Thank you. Agenda changes, council. Any uh quarterly reports 2025 annual report? Uh council, do you have questions or comments? Highlights the year in review. Let me get to that page. Okay. Okay. Comments. Anybody? Yes. If I can get to that page. Okay.

In the meantime, I'll just tell everybody that included in our council packet for tonight is a summary, a wrap-up of 2025 in review, department by department. It is comprehensive and very, very impressive. You can catch up on everything from emergency response times, um employee awards, uh number of trees removed, how many subscribers we have to the slice e newswsletter. It is comprehensive. It's in tonight's packet and that's available through our website. So, I encourage everybody to take a look. It's it's 2025 as a wrap. Miss Brown.

Uh sure. Um, while I appreciate getting the annual reports, uh, and I talked to Chris and Justin in the hallway a few minutes ago, um, getting them right immediately before the meeting, um, did not afford me enough time to really go through them the way I wanted to. So, I kind of want to delay having a full conversation on it until next meeting perhaps. So, sure, bring it. I just haven't had a chance to pull out all my copies of the quarterly ones and kind of like meld them together and see what's what's important. Of course, there's a lot there, too. A lot. Anybody else comments? I just always appreciate that they're in here. I think they're very well done, and it's great information. So, thank you, Mr. H.

I I really like them. I I appreciate the graphicness of those, and I don't mean it in a bad way. Graphic being very nice pictures and stuff. The one that I didn't uh and maybe uh Chief Moon, you can answer this. Who are those wonderful policemen who got noted? uh who got noted in ward. The names are not in there. Maybe you could just shout out their names.

Good evening, mayor, council, citizens. Uh starting from the left on educating the public, that is Detective Taylor.

Uh the two for their higher education that is now Lieutenant Johnson and Sergeant Brown. They graduated from the Northwestern Police Staff and Command School, which is a 10-week leadership course. We were very thrilled about that. We remembered K9 Midas that passed away during the past year. Uh now, Captain Brad Williams graduated from the FBI National Academy last year, which is a little partial to me because I'm an NA graduate. It's another 10-week leadership uh program. And then that is everyone knows the favorite SRO officer, Smiley, and that's where he is. And then we had the snow apocalypse in early of 2025.

And thank you uh uh chief. I do have a couple of other comments that are all good comments. Um I did a little my own little analysis on on the crime here in the city and again for the second year at least maybe even more years only two years I've been tracking you got a 28.7% reduction in crime in this city. And kudos to you and your staff to continue to go down and keep the crime level in this city as low as it possibly can. And that includes that includes not only your class one, but also within the class one, you've got the thefts, which is obviously one that we've seen a lot in the newspapers that is down 35.2%. So kudos to the police department for great work.

All the credit goes to the officers in the field. They do a tremendous job. Yep. Yep. Thank you very much. Can I add to that real real quick? Just while you're here and while this page is open, um we also saw an increase of resource officers from 3 to eight, which was a tremendous jump and a tremendous ask of your department. Um I know I pull up to Carpool every day and there's one out there and I just appreciate your work in fulfilling that. I know is no small task. Well, I was just glad we could able to pull it off. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.

I just have one comment that this is our first time doing an annual report. We've done the quarterlys really since I've been here. We've done the quarterlys for at least four to five years now. Uh and I think they were doing them before that, but this is our first year taking all those quarterly reports and condensing them into a total annual report. And I just want to give kudos to my executive assistant, Kayla Dennis, for wrangling all the departments together and and doing she did all the leg work on these. So, I think she did a great job. Well done. Well done. All right. Are you done? Yeah. Yeah, I'm all done.

All right. Um minutes. March 5th, 2026 city council work session minutes and March 5th, 2026 executive session minutes. Can I get a motion? Madame Mayor, I make a motion that we uh approve minutes from the March 5th city council work session and March 5th executive session minutes. Second. I have a motion and a second. All in favor say I. I. All opposed. Motion carries. Uh consent agenda. We have no items. Old agenda item 32503, text amendment to revise land use regulations to permit cosmetic tattooing and micro blading. Shayla Reed.

Yes, ma'am. Good evening, mayor and council. Um the item before you is an item that we've heard previously that is coming back based on some changes that you wanted to see. Um the item um just to give you a little history was initiated back in March of last year. Um we've taken to the planning commission for a few um times and they provided a recommendation to you back on February 12th and then we deferred until today to allow for there to be more opportunity to um make some amendments. So the amendments that was asked to be seen um so we are asking first um as staff for tattooing to have a definition um placed in there because we do mention tattoo parlors as a restriction in two different zoning classifications. So we're asking for the definition to be there just to be um clear as to what we're looking to define it as. And then we're looking to add micro blading as a permitted use. So that definition that you're seeing there is reflective of what the state identifies as microlading. Um you'll find that in chapter 42 of our code as well where the um environmental department references it. So we're asking to to reflect that same exact zoning um definition. So there are five different areas of the zoning code that will have changes if permitted to move forward. Um so general commercial property zone general commercial light industrial as well as limited use commercial district are the four that would have permitted uses for micro blading within those four different um classifications. The fifth one which is LUI which is limited use industrial. It would allow for anything zoned light industrial or general industrial to be a permit use. The only challenge there was that there was a typo inside of this one. Um they identified it as limited industrial instead of light industrial. So you'll see in your um text um that I've asked

for that language to be changed to say light and that will then reflect to have those that particular use of micro blading in those five sections. I'll go back to the previous Oh gosh, sorry. Going the wrong way. If I just put it above me, I can see it. There we go. Thank you. Okay, I'll go back so you can see those um classification areas as to where it would be permitted for micro blading services only. And mayor, that concludes my report.

Thank you very much. Uh it doesn't seem council like microblading would take hours and hours of staff time, but it has. And I really appreciate that you've been so thorough in this approach. And with this ordinance, we have careful definitions and exact locations that control where microlading can be without opening our city up to tattoo parlors. Um, we had a public hearing already on this last time. Nobody spoke against the new ordinance. One person spoke in favor because she's a business owner. So, any other comments, council? Can I just ask a question? Um, I feel like I remember when the individual who spoke on it last time when she was here, I think her business was at Parkway and Robinson.

Um, with the zones where those are were allowing this. Does it include her? Um, no. So, I would say yes and no because she's doing two separate services. She said she says micro blading and cosmetic tattooing. We weren't we're not permitting cosmetic tattooing. Um, cosmetic tattooing is your standard tattooing. Um, micro blading is directly at the eyebrow. So, it's a yes and it's a no. Okay. Okay. Yeah. I was just asking about micro blading, but she's blading. She would be allowed to do that. Correct. Great. Thank you, council. Other questions? All right. Can I get a motion? You're ready? Yes.

Madame Mayor, I'll make a motion that we approve Excuse me. Yes. Approve text amendment. Um, excuse me. Item 032503, text amendment to revise land use regulations to permit cosmetic tattooing and microlading. I'll second. I have a motion and a second. All in favor say I. I. Mayor. All opposed. I apologize. If we can actually get that rewarded to not state the cosmetic tattooing at the beginning of that uh motion, please. Yeah. And I'm just reading I'm reading what it says on the agenda here. Yep. That's correct. We will uh why don't we do this? Let's make a motion to reconsider that item. Motion to reconsider.

Second. I have a motion to reconsider and a second. All in favor say I. I. Give me the right terms um to put into this. Don't say cosmetic tattooing. That's correct. So, okay. So, I'll just cross that out and do it again. Correct. Okay. Madame Mayor, um I make a motion that we approve the um text amendment 032503 to revise land use regulation permit microlading. Thank you. Can I get a second? Did I get it right? I'll second. I have a motion and a second. All in favor say I. I.

All oppose say no. Motion carries. Thanks very much. agenda. New agenda item A 32603 public art master plan. Chris Hobby. Good evening, y'all. Uh, you don't know it, but you just make Kelly very happy. I think a lot of the ladies in our city will be very happy about that.

She's been really upset about this. Um, but we discussed at our last meeting this public art master plan. Since the meeting, uh, we have, um, gotten some positive feedback. We got some positive feedback tonight. We appreciate that. We have made some minor edits just to clean up some language and, uh, to change from calling them golf cart paths to calling them uh, what do we call them? Multi multiuse. No, shared paths.

I could I could think of that. I could think of sub, but I couldn't think of what it stood for. Um, so but other than that, it says it's exactly the same as what you have before you uh couple weeks ago. Um, Councilman Holland did ask if we could go back and maybe revise some of the pictures within the document so they're more Peach Tree City and less generic. We we'll certainly can do that. So, um, but that's that's it. It's the same as what you have before you a couple weeks ago except for some very minor edits. Thank you, council. Just question.

Yeah. One one comment. I wanted to acknowledge the comment earlier about creating more identity amongst our villages and I think this public art master plan presents that opportunity. I mean you see this in other cities and different neighborhoods have their own signs. I think this creates a unique opportunity. I'm looking at the the guide here and it says community identity and stories and public art placement strategy. So just to the public comment earlier, I think it's a great opportunity. Thrilled about this. Thanks. I I have a if you're done. Yes.

Okay. Sorry. I I have a question. Um I brought up last last meeting about adding it to the navigation app and um does that need to be in the master plan or not? I I don't think it has to be in the master plan. That's something we can just do. Okay. And so I I think from the discussions we've had it's something we can do and so um but I think when we get our citizen committee appointed they'll kind of begin to drive some of that and placement and and other things. Yeah. I had several people after the last meeting come up and like echo that they really want it to be like all of the art to be geocached. So it's like yeah

we have a lot of geocachers apparently more than I knew.

We live in an amazing world. I I had the well I want to clarify something. I had brought up at the last meeting that I didn't think we should be selling the bike racks to other businesses and commercial and you know doctor's offices and whatever. And so I asked a couple of questions and I do want to bring out some information. So, the city had ordered 30 bike racks um for a cost of two 4,932.30, which makes them about $16441 a piece which is much cheaper than I think a lot of people are going to as I did some more research on the side um it's going to cost individual business owners a lot more money than that to try to have a commercially produced bike rack. So, I've kind of swung my entire attitude on the whole thing to no, in order to get the bike racks out, because really the ultimate goal is we need more bike racks out at more places, whether it's commercial places, parks, city buildings, all of our recreation facilities, we need to do this. So, um, where I had originally said I thought they should be on their own and we should use and keep our own ones to ourselves, I've changed my mind on that and said, you know, hey, the important thing is let's get the racks out there. Let's get them mounted. So, then I asked for the list and I did get the list and I'd really like us to move forward on making sure that we put them in not just at the first 30 uh city locations that we identified, but there's 34 others that tag group specifically notated should have it. I think, you know, we we need to just constantly keep moving in the direction to get that to make that happen. So, I mean, that's what the TAG is doing for us and they're helping us out with that. Um, and I'm sure they put a lot of thought into what the chart

that they did. I think we we need to move to that. Uh certainly buying another 30, it's going to cost us a little bit more for the next 30 or even if we order more than that so we have some to sell to some of the commercial businesses. I think we need to go in that direction. So, all right. Anything else?

Oh, yeah. Uh May, just so you know, I would not have known this except for Keith Larson. I had a conversation with him the other day, but May is National Bike Month. And so there's the bike rack's obviously a hot topic. We want to see more of them going out, but there's also the donated repair rack, which I did ask about, and we need to get that installed because it was donated. So, I'd like to see that happen before May the 1st, please. That's it. All right. Thank you, Council Member Johnson. I'm I'm in support. Mr. Politic, in support. Mr. Holland, any comments?

I'm certainly in support. I've got a few comments, though. Um, thank you for Thank you for getting uh updated pictures going in there of Peace Tree City in there and not other areas. I appreciate that. I have uh let's I'm trying to get that SUP out there and we all got to start insteading saying the cut paths, the golf cart paths. It's the shared use path because everybody is gets to use it. The bikers, the walkers, the the carts, all everyone. It's shared by everybody. The next one I have is comments of don't forget don't forget we have nature trails here in the city. So let's add them to the list. Um I can tell you I absolutely love this thing. This is happens to be even though I'm an engineer, I love this kind of artistic stuff. I don't know if I appreciate it as much as everybody else, but I just love it. And I want everybody to remember about five or six months ago, I offered to buy a statue of Flat Creek Floyd and donate it to the city. And maybe this will be one of the first ones that you might take me up on. So those are my comments, Madame Mayor.

All right. Thank you very much. Uh can I get a motion? Madame Mayor, I move that we approve the public art master plan, the associated budget amendment, and the associated ordinance to create the public art advisory group. A second. I have a motion and a second. All in favor say I. I. All oppose. Motion carries. Thank you very much. New agenda item 32604, chapters 70 and 78, ordinance amendments. Jonathan Miller.

Good evening, Mayor and Council. So, uh, in the previous workshop, we did kind of a presentation. There was a lot that the tag group did as far as revising chapter 1778. So, we kind of hit some of the highlights in the workshop and went over. Um, there were obviously some comments with some defining things that we needed to change, some some corrections, grammatical corrections, and a few things that uh we took back from uh council comments. So we added the the pedal assisted EVs uh defined actually we actually defined across along and on so that it's very clear as to what those mean. Um we did get uh an email where on McDuff we actually missed a section where you would technically have to get on the road. So we kind of we corrected that language to basically add that as an exception in there. Um and then also we added it was already prohibited but just for clarifications class 3s were actually identified under the class three electric bikes were identified under the uh prohibited list. So I think we've hit everything. So really we're just bringing this forward again to ask for council to adopt those changes if they would like to. Thank you very much, council.

I just Oh, go ahead. Oh, go ahead. I was just going to say I went back and and read this and it was much more clear. So, even though it seems like a silly um edit to make, it um was a lot easier to comprehend. So, thank you for doing that. I appreciate it. Mr. Pich, any comments, Miss Brown? Okay. So um the un excuse me the unanswered question um that we didn't really discuss at the last meeting is whether or not and it had been discussed by the tag and that is whether or not we should add a requirement for insurance on carts. Yes. Um huh.

Yes. That was an unanswered question. Okay. It was an unanswered question and I understand why the tag group would be a little reluctant to maybe say, "Oh, well, we should do this." I think that that is the responsibility of us up here. So, I think um I'd like to know and I I did not have a chance as I was making my notes today to make any kind of phone calls and stuff since I missed a meeting this afternoon and had to reschedule it. But, um you know, I really think that and we certainly can add Ted whether or not there's a liability, not a liability, I want to say that word. Um whether there's an issue of um to protect our citizens from having an a very damaging lawsuit against them because if somebody has no insurance and they're involved in an accident and there's bodily injury, you know, it's like I I think we're at that point. I know when I carry golf I carry insurance on my golf cart. It's not that expensive and I just don't I guess I don't understand why anybody would operate a cart and not have it.

So did you have a question for Mr. So my question for Mr. Mer is where do we stand on on requiring that in our ordinance? That's as you so well put it a few minutes ago that's a council decision. Okay. So then we can certainly make it a requirement. Okay. So obviously I sprang that on my council members here without talking to them beforehand. So this is not something we're necessarily going to decide today. The question then would be do we wait and decide on that issue separate or do we delay making the decision on this?

I would suggest that we decide separately. We have a perfectly good hard-fought hard one ordinance that the tag group especially has spent countless hours on. It's good work and I'd like to see us. Yeah. I was not really recommending that we wait. I was just saying it's two options. Sure. You know. Okay. Okay. Okay. Good. But I think I think we should enter into that discussion over time um and not an extended period of time. But I think we need to really look at it especially with all of the other micromobility vehicles that are out there and let's just say the speed factors that are going on. So all right. Any other comments, Miss Brown? No.

Anybody else? Mr. Holland? I do. Couple clarification questions. Okay. I think there they should be easy softball questions for you. Uh the difference between to make sure it's clear in everyone's mind. The difference between a low-speed a low-speed vehicle LSV and a golf cart. What's the difference between them? And then I'll have a follow-up question on that. Okay. So the lowspeed vehicle has the ability to be has a restricted mode that it can be put in to keep it under 20 miles per hour, but that's at least what it's supposed to have the way the ordinance is written. Correct.

Um and then the motorized carts because we don't call them golf carts, uh they just they they have to be governed or they only go up to 20 miles an hour. Now, the low speed vehicles because they're registered on the road have the ability to go 25 and then they're restricted on by speed on which which roads they can actually utilize.

And that's a good explanation between the two because they are different and they're called two different things. They may look a little bit alike. You know, one may be a little fatter than the other and it's got a little different of this and that. But here's the big difference which is part two of this. According to the ordinance for LSVs, you are required to have insurance, right? Because you're registering.

Correct. You're going actually on the road with that. So, you have to have insurance on that. That's one of them that we is required under the ordinance as opposed to golf carts, as you want to call them, the other the other type. You're not required. But I do like the idea of thinking about that and maybe doing that at a later time. Madame Mayor, I really don't have any other issues. I think it's a good one. I think we ought to pass it. All right. Can I get a motion? Can Can I bring up something that I forgot in my very long list of comments? Certainly.

It's a it's mostly a question and I wrote this down and um has the PA AEV been listed as an unauthorized vehicle since March the 5th? And then I wrote at the last meeting, Justin said the PAEV was not listed as authorized, but also wasn't listed as unauthorized. So, We put it in there talking with with Keith who is an expert on these things. We are classifying the PA AEV as the same as a motorized cart. So we are going to allow them on the path but because they are very similar to carts. They just have pedals to kind of get under uh the electric assist kind of category. We're treating them like carts because they're the same width. They have electric motors. So they would actually have to come register them like a cart and they would be authorized if they're registered. Unregistered PEVs would be prohibited.

Okay. So then I think it was list they were listed as they were not listed as authorized. Do we need to make that change? They are listed as authorized I think in the current version. Let me check. I believe so. Sorry to throw the monkey wrench in. That's fine. I'll check. Can I go while you

Okay, I'm going to go. Just a one quick comment that I had. I forgot. Um and that is um you cannot modify under under the this particular ordinance. Now, there's no modification allowed on the golf carts or the LSDs that take them over 20 miles per hour. You got to do that. And the other part of that comment is if you happen to be walking on the street, you all know what the rules of the road are. You always walk facing the traffic, etc. The same rules that are applying to the road are applying according to the tag, what they put together. the same rules are on the gu on the uh shared youth paths. So whatever you do on the roads, you do the same on the shared youth path, whether it's bicycles or walking or skateboard or whatever. Same rules.

That's all just the comments that Thank you. Make sure it's important, Mr. It's listed on there. Section 781. Section 78-9411. Yeah. Registered pedal assist electric vehicles, P AEV. And then that's under authorized and section 7895 under prohibited number 15 unregistered pedal assist electric vehicles. See it's the last one. Okay. So the so the defining thing is whether they're they have to be registered. Right. Correct. So if it's unregistered it's not authorized. Correct.

They must be author. Okay. That's where the See, I'm reading two different things pertaining to the same vehicle. In other sections, we we say PAEVS will be treated the same as motorized cars. Okay. For good. All right. Can I get a motion? That's Madame Mayor. I make a motion that item 032604, chapter 70 and 78 or ordinance amendments be approved. I'll second. I have a motion and a second. All in favor say I. I. All opposed. Motion carries. Thank you. Thank you.

New agenda item 32605 storm water utility rate update. Dave Borowski.

Good evening, Mayor and Council. Dave Borowski, city engineer. Uh just a quick summary for u some folks that uh may be new to this this uh this issue. We we had talked about uh updating our storm water utility rate at the uh council retreat and we had also discussed this uh at length in the last council meeting. We had a very detailed presentation on this issue. So tonight we are uh bringing forth an ordinance for adoption that would uh increase the the rate of uh our standard ERU from $6 and 89 cents I believe it is to $14 per eru. Uh and that ordinance is in your uh packet. If approved by council, we would uh come back later at future meeting to redo the credit manual and and put all those things that we had discussed uh in the credit manual for adoption as well. Uh and tonight uh we we have our uh expert uh hope from ISC to answer any detailed questions. if you have any more questions uh that we can't answer. But uh uh that's uh that's brief that's quick summary.

Thank you very much. I mean to sum it up and my re recollection from your very very detailed proposal last time was we are behind. We're backlogged on necessary projects. Was it 13.5 million in projects that are backlogged or was it 20? that I think that was just the storm water pipes. It was like 20 uh 20 million 20 million in projects waiting to be done. Um

yeah, so we're having to modify our rate structure possibly in the future the way we bill and uh these are necessary projects to keep our waterways clean, prevent erosion, prevent flooding, keep our infrastructure safe and uh pay respect to our environment. Council, do you have any questions or concerns? I have some comments more so than questions. Sure. Go ahead, Miss Bro.

Okay. Um I several people, some of who are here today, um actually approached me to talk to me about this. There's the obvious push back against raising the fees. We all know that nobody likes any fees to go up. Um it's been a very long time, I think since 2008 since there was a fee increase. I remember 13. Sorry, wrong year. Uh, still that's still 13 years ago since we've had any kind of a fee increase. So, um, as I've talked to some of my friends and said, you know, from the minute you put a pipe in the ground, you start the the alarm set the alarm for when it's going to fail. And we all know this. We know it's for water pipes, sewer pipes, and it's also for storm water pipes. It's that's just the way it is. We if if we proceed with this, the is that there are many many many more pipes that we can reline and replace in a very appropriate manner to to identify the ones that need to be done the most and re you know replace them or reline them at a much lower cost than if they collapse. So I really want everybody to understand what we're doing and why. And then the other thing that I really want to talk about and I'd really love to just wrap it all up at in one big package with a nice bow on the top and that is that a lot of people came to me and said really really really please in including several who are here tonight put it put it in the property tax bills that this is not something that they you know are gleeful about when they get the storm water bill. It's like it's easier for the average person to just absorb it. If they have a mortgage, it's going to be escroed. It's it's going to feel painless. And so I'd really like to think that the council is going to, you know, come to an agreement that we should go ahead and proceed to do that. Kelly gave us a full prediction

on it's going to be cheaper in the long run for us to let the tax commissioning commission office to put a line item, keep it separate. It will not be part of the millage rate. It'll be a separate line item like you see the 911 kind of stuff or the 911 uh you know billing. It'll be a separate line item on there and I think that that's definitely the way to go. But clearly we we need to do this. So thank you. Anybody else? Is that something we can do tonight? Can we add that or does that need to be separate? We're going to do an IGA with the tax commissioner and that'll be before you all next month. But she's amanable. So

So we would just pass this but all this other paperwork will get done as a as a secondary IG. Yes sir. Okay. But I want to go in that direction. So that's I mean I think that's the way to go. Y I agree. Yeah. The first step is annual billing. Yeah. It will it'll the first step is annual billing and how you go about collecting it is something that they're going to address. come back with an idea to address it. Yeah, that works. Is that all in within what we're passing? Well, that's why I have a question because you worked on this. We don't I don't think we specifically say in the ordinance that it's semi or annual, do we? No, it's it says in there as directed by council.

Yeah, we choose what the most efficient. So, it makes it easy. Yeah. So, we'll take that up with an IG in April. Any other last comments, council? Can I get I just love it. That's all. I'm glad we're doing something for storm water necessary. Can I get a motion? I'd be happy to make that. Madame Mayor, item I'd like to make a motion to approve item 0326 05 stormwater utility rate update. Second. I have a motion and a second. All in favor say I. I. All opposed. Motion carries. Thank you. Thanks very much.

Thank you. New agenda item 32606, multiple police station buildings renovation design. Dave Borowski. Yes. Uh we uh also talked about this a little bit at the last uh council meeting. Uh we're we're bringing this back tonight to request approval for uh awarding the design contract for the the multiple police station buildings to GM GMC in the amount of $46,090. Um, so we can get started on the design of the new EOC and all those things. Thank you. Council questions, comments? We covered it last time. Yep. Can I get a motion?

Before you go there, can I ask staff one quick question? I was looking through the agreement. Um, we may want to consider a change order depending on what happens with the next agenda item. Is that something that we can alert and go ahead to a change order? We can always add it back, but as to 107 Guthrie. Oh. Um, this design does include that building, right? That's what I'm saying. Can we do a change order and get an allocation for what they had contemplated for 107 Guthrie? Oh, in the event that we don't secure a purchase agreement. Do it. Okay. Yeah, they can break that out. Okay. We're going to need that broken out in a potential change order for council. Okay. I go ahead and take it out now. We can always add it back in later if we need to.

Okay. Do we need to um do you want to make the motion for us? Um I would just make a motion to approve the agreement subject to a potential change order. So moved. Thank you. I need a second. Second. I have a motion and a second. All in favor say I. I. All opposed. Motion carries. Thank you.

Item E 32607. Uh, what say you, Mr. Mer? We need a motion to continue this matter indefinitely. So moved. I need a second. Second. I have a motion and a second. All in favor say I. I. All opposed. Motion carries. Thank you. Public hearing 3268 text amendment to the lighting ordinance section 731.2 of the land development ordinance. Shayla Reid. Yes, ma'am. Um, so this is an item that was initiated by city council um some time back. Once the slide is loaded, I'll be able to show you the

Madame Mayor, while they're pulling that up, I'll go ahead and read the protocol. When the public hearing is opened, members of council will become hearers. No action on their part is in order until the mayor declares the hearing complete. First, city staff will present the request and provide an assessment of compliance with city code. The mayor will then allow up to 10 minutes for speakers on each side of the issue to present evidence. No individual member of the public will be given more than five minutes to speak. Time limits may only be extended by a majority vote of council and will be divided equally between those supporting and those opposing the issue. The mayor will recognize the applicant and those supporting the issue to present evidence. Remarks will be limited to a total of 10 minutes. The mayor will then recognize those opposing the issue to present evidence for up to 10 minutes. Prior to closing the public hearing, city staff and the public will be given the opportunity to ask questions of either or both sides of the issue. When the mayor and council are assured that the presentation of evidence is complete, the public hearing shall be ended and the council may may then debate the issue and render a decision. All speakers from the public are asked to follow these rules. One, please wait to be recognized by the mayor. Two, come to the microphone and state your name and neighborhood prior to making remarks. Three, keep individual remarks under five minutes and do not repeat comments. And four, address all comments to the mayor. Thank you.

Thank you, Miss Reed. Thank you. Okay, so this is a public hearing as mentioned for um a amendment to our lights um excuse me to our land development ordinance for light fixtures. Um we brought this to you back in um January um to ask for permission to move forward with a potential text amendment. Um we've had a few discussions with the planning commission. and um they've spent some time assisting us in drafting the language for this and so we're here tonight to hear more about um how to move forward with this item. So currently our um light ordinance or LED referencing it it only lists out the type of um lighting that is allowed as you're seeing here in only is identifying what five or so different lighting types. um we found those to be um a little past tense of uses for lighting and so we found that we would like to be more modernized with how we're handling the lighting component. So we've brought a suggestion over to the planning commission um they've taken the opportunity to add a little little bit more language. So what you're seeing here is the LED um referencing to be the preferred option. However, um we're still allowing for the other options that were previously listed inside of the passcode to still be an allowable type, but still pushing for the LED. As mentioned in the initiation of this, um most of our city projects have LED lighting. As mentioned, it's more modern to have that style lighting. And you'll see that it also mentions to the level of consistency and color temperature that way that the lighting doesn't look different throughout the site. And with that, mayor, that concludes my report.

Thank you very much. This is a public hearing, so at this time, I'll open the public hearing. Is there anyone who wishes to speak in favor? Seeing none, is there anyone who wishes to speak in opposition? Seeing none, I hereby close the public hearing. Council comments. I can't believe it took us this long to put LED lights in this policy because they've been out for a very long time. They use so much less electricity than so many of the other lighting options. This is just baffling. But anyway, I'm happy to see it. So, you're in favor?

Oh, yeah. Any other comments, questions? Comments? Yeah. The only one I have is I thought that many states banned mercury vapor. Do has anybody know that that's a truism that they've banned that as one of the lighting options in the states? And I don't know if the state of Georgia has done that. I have not heard of that. Okay. That's just something that I I know in other states where I've worked that was not allowed. Okay. All right. That's the only comment I have. Madam Mayor, thank you. Can I get a motion? I'll make the motion if you'd like. Sure.

Um, u, Madame Mayor, I make an appro motion to approve items 032608, text amendment to the lighting ordinance section 731.2 of the land development ordinance. Second. I have a motion and a second. All in favor say I.

I. All opposed. Motion carries. Uh, council staff topics, cars and cams review. Jasmine Julio. Yes, madame mayor and councel. Um, this has been something that our staff has been working on for some time. Essentially, these are some administrative rules and regulations that we have. However, some of them do involve the public, but they are not located anywhere publicly. They're not in an ordinance. Uh, they're they're on an archiving file that is only internal. At one point in time, that system was public. However, due to cyber security reasons, it was taken off. And now what we are trying to do is consolidate these items that are public facing and have them actually listed as ordinances instead of a policy that no one can reference to. So we uh anticipate bringing these uh forward to you all in the future. We've been rewriting them for some time and we uh hope that we can you know have you all review and approve them at a future meeting. Just wanted to give you all a heads up and they are very there's a lot of them. So I just want to advise that some of them have been not all of them are public facing. Some of them have been moved into SOPs for the police, fire, our own personnel policy. So you guys have seen some of those, but there are others that are public facing that we would like to uh incorporate into the ordinances.

All right, that's coming. Stay tuned. Council, I don't have anything.

I have two two items, two comments and one item actually. Madam Mayor, um, one, I wanted to address Pinegate and just acknowledge the frustration we're seeing there. And those of you in the room who weren't aware, a month ago, AT&T hit a bunch of water lines installing fiber and a bunch of houses were out of water. And it's very frustrating to see this happening. I mean, it's good to modernize the city. I think we're all in support of that, but it happened three or four times in one week. And you know, I I think I was reached out to by a bunch of neighbors there. And it's frustrating to see. And so last earlier this week, it happened again. I mean, I I woke up to an email about a resident who I think water went out from 8:00 p.m. until 5:00 a.m. It's inexcusable. Now, I had to take a deep breath. It took a few hours to realize it was Georgia Power this time, who have historically been very good actors and responsible. And I just want to make the comment that we acknowledge the frustration from the neighbors there and we're going to do everything we can to ensure you know what the issue is and I know there may be conversation about an outdated waterline map between the county maybe the subcontractors they're not getting the most updated one. We will do what we can. I I acknowledge our staff for being so responsive to the residents there and working with the county to ensure that the water was reinstated immediately. Um, but I just want to acknowledge that we're this will continue to we'll have laser eyes on it. And the other one, there was a comment earlier about a town hall regarding the annexation study. I think that's something I'm fully supportive of and I believe that came up when the consulting firm presented and it's part of their contract to do public hearings on this uh for their findings. Uh so that's something that I don't know how many is

in that or in that contract but hopefully more than one maybe two. Thank you. Uh so we'll have two public hearings on or town halls on an annexation study and ensure that the findings are presented and then there's also opportunity to have a Q&A from residents. So it's not just you're being presented information and you got to hear it. There'll be an opportunity to engage with the consultants. Uh I think that's a very uh important step in this process. And then one item at Mayor uh we received an email this week about uh open container at the Avenue and looking into making that more of an entertainment district. A bunch of businesses signed a letter supporting that. Um, you know, when I think about attracting the next generation of families and businesses to Peach Tree City, modernizing, uh, and also looking at ensuring that we remain attractive for new businesses that come here. Is an ordinance like that something we should consider? I believe this came up before I was on council, but y'all had a discussion on this late last year and decided to table it. So, uh, would request that we we bring that up for for discussion at the next meeting.

And that's all I have. All right. Thank you. Uh any any uh do we have consensus that we could move forward on the entertainment district? I'll start on this end. Yeah, I have no problem with it. I think as long as I had gotten the approval from the police department, which they did, I am all for it. You don't need under the current one. Uh Councilman Pich can just say he wants to consider it at a future. Oh, yeah. Oh, okay. That's right. All right. Well, I'm in favor of that. I'm in favor. Have it on a future agenda. Good. Then I don't have to tell you. I oppose it. Well, there you go. Okay. Look forward to discussion. Thank you. I'll tell you anyway. I know you will, Miss Johnson.

I don't have anything for tonight, Miss Brown. Um, I want to echo Carrie Cook's comment, the lack of horns on the on the path system. I can't tell you how many times I've been out there walking my dog and somebody goes booming on past me. No horn, no no acknowledgement, nothing. And I don't know whether I mean it's it's unfortunate we you know it's hard to regulate Carrie I'll tell you that because you can say oh you should use your horn everybody has to have a horn. I I got a horn you know the littleing ones you know you can get them at the or you used to be able to get them at the visitor center. I think you can get it from Jasmine.

Yeah. So little bicycle horn. I mean anything anything to tell somebody you're coming. So, I I I'm right there with you, Carrie. What can I say? Okay. Anything else, Mr. Holland? I just want to echo uh uh Councilman Polichek's uh town hall. I'm definitely think that that is needed particularly when we get to the annexation area. So, I'll echo that and in support that uh and I do have something for our illustrious uh councilman uh not councilman attorney. I don't have anything going for this. That's four meetings in a row, but I have no council staff topics.

All right. Um I have one. Um I went and toured the the future site of the Altitude Trampoline Park that's going in at the former Kmart location. Of course, Ace Pickle Ball is in half the space and Altitude is coming in the other half. He is putting in a toddler area out of respect to the Gddard School, which is right next door. They're putting in some miniature golf. They're doing major renovations. They want to make this their flagship location and and he would like to come in and give us a very brief presentation on what's coming up at Altitude Park. Anybody have any problems with that? I think it's very exciting. Is there a timeline opening? My four-year-old is asking.

That'll be a good question for him. Yeah. All right. That's all we have. Do we have executive session? Mayor, I had one staff comment. Um, and then I'll tell you, yes, we do have an executive session. One of the issues that was brought up tonight was the insurance requirement for golf carts. It's obviously that that's not the only motorized type vehicle that's now allowed on our path. So, I think something This is going to save me an email tomorrow if there are other vehicles that we allow on the path that we may want to put some insurance requirements on. I don't need that answer now, but that's something I want you all to start thinking about. Should we just put it on a future agenda to bring it up? Is that what you're suggesting?

I can, but when we bring it up, I just wanted you to start thinking about what all you may want to include in that. And yes, we have an executive session about potential litigation and real estate. Can I get a motion? So moved. Madame Mayor, I move that we go into executive session for real estate and pending litigation. Second. I have a motion and a second. All in favor say I. I