City Council - Regular Meeting

I hereby call this meeting to order. Please join me for the pledge of allegiance. I pledge algiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.

We'll observe a moment of silence. Thank you. Public comment. Here's a crossing guard for our school system. First off, I would like to I'm sure all of you are aware that there was an accident recently. Uh David Spatz, Mr. Dave is the kids calling. I had a serious accident at Kedron Elementary School. He's home now trying to get better. It's going to take a long time. So, if you would just include him in your prayers and thoughts, I know he's going to get better. It's just going to take a time for it. So, let's thank it for Dave. Um, I went to visit him yesterday and in his bedroom beside his bed, both walls front and back are covered with greeting cards from the kids at K School and it's uh it's quite touching. Uh the accident happened in right in front of Kendron school on Kedron Road. I wasn't going to This just happened to me this afternoon as I'm returning from

work. I pulled on the Kendron road just below the school and around me comes this nice little red Porsche full boore probably doing 40 50 60 miles an hour I don't know across the double yellow line just to get to 74. These are some of the things that we put up with on a daily basis. People driving like crazy people in this town. Um this morning at Oak Grove, I asked a couple people, three or four people, what do you think would make this a safer intersection or a crosswalk for the kids to get to school at? And the number one answer got un unsolicited other than that was flashing lights. The second answer was more presence and stricter enforcement. We see people going up and down that road excessive speed all the time. There are the oldfashioned lights for school districts. It's hard to read. If you read the whole thing, there's four different panels there you got to read to know what is what it's saying. You're probably off the road or into somebody else. Places that have these lights. It seems like it slows everybody down. They're aware you can't miss them. And we just would like to have that kind of equipment facing us in the school districts throughout our city here. Uh, one of the things that I've been a crossing guard for 15 years. One of the things I've never had was a consultation or a review or a commitment

from anybody as far as to what our procedures are, what we can do to improve upon it, what's going to make it a better place, what do we want to try and eliminate. We're just trying to make it safe for the kids. ultimately will make it safer for the drivers because you don't want to be in the position that somebody is in right now. Having had an accident with one of our people, um I know it's hard to get things done in the city, a lot of procedures, etc., etc., etc. One of the answers we get additionally that I've heard several times lately is it's not in the budget.

Well, that's an easy way out. It's not in the budget. We don't have the money to do it with us, so we can't do it. For your comment, I want to thank you for your time. Thank you for your comment. Thank you. Appreciate your time.

The next speaker is James Clifton. James Clifton, Fielding Ridge Precinct. On January 29th, 2026, PeaceC Council met with the County Development Authority in Kennesaw, Georgia. The recording of the meeting was mysteriously missing. Just last week, the PeaceC clerk's office finally produced a clear and audible recording of the meeting. From the recording, it has been confirmed that the council extensively discussed annexation, a possible data center, and the extension of Cross Town and TDK into Kawita County. I am here tonight to speak about one of those issues, the extension of the Ebenezer cross town TDK corridor. In 2024, Peach Tree City Council signed a resolution opposing the extension of Cross Town and TDK. Based on the January discussion between Peach Tree City Council and the Fay County Development Authority, it appears the extension is now a very real possibility. On February 17, 2026, I emailed each member of council asking whether they supported the extension. Two appeared to tacitly endorse it. Two didn't respond to that portion of the question and one was adamantly opposed. Our quiet neighborhoods along Cross Town and Ebenezer have always been the heart of what makes Peach Tree City feel like home. Treeline streets where kids ride bikes, families taking evening walks, and neighbors waving hello. This extension would flood those peaceful roads with thousands of more cars every day, turning safe residential corridors into a noisy, high volume thoroughare and destroying the very quality of life we all moved here to enjoy. Even more alarming, the extension runs directly in front of Oak Grove

Elementary School, straight past an active school crosswalk. Each additional car means one more distracted driver, one more split-second mistake that could change a family forever. One more chance of heartbreak. We already know the terrible cost. Just over a week ago, our crossing guard at Kedron Elementary, Mr. Dave Spatz, was critically injured while protecting children at a nearby crossing. If the extension is approved, we are endangering the children of Peach Street City. We cannot keep gambling with the lives of our crossing guards and our kids. Saying no to the extension will protect our neighborhoods, protect our schools, and protect the families who call Peach Tree City home. And now to speak from the sincerest place of all. From the heart of a woman who has sat beside her husband injured husband's hospital bed, I want to introduce Suzanne Spatz, the wife of our beloved crossing guard, Mr. Dave. Good evening.

I'm sorry, ma'am. Give me one moment so we can reset the timer. Thank you, Madame Mayor. The Miss Fats was the next speaker. Thank you.

Um, good evening. My name is Suzanne Spots and as he said, I'm the wife of David, the crossing guard known to every child at Kedron Elementary simply as Mr. Dave. And for years, my husband has been the steady smiling face at that crosswalk. Rain or shine, he greeted our little ones with a wave and a word of encouragement. He just isn't a crossing guard to them. He is their protector, their friend. They drew pictures of him. They hugged him on the last day of school. They trusted him every day with their lives every single morning and afternoon. But on the morning of March 23rd, while faithfully performing his duties, my husband was struck by a vehicle. For days, he has fought for his life in critical condition at Grady Trauma Center. The man who keeps your children safe was clinging on to his own life. I sat by his bedside holding his hand, praying that he would fully recover and come home to me. the same man who left that fateful morning. He is now home from the hospital. He's very lucky to be alive, but we still have a very long road ahead of us. As a family, we don't want to dwell on the negative aspects of this horrible event. We want to bring positive change to Peach Tree City so that no other family has to endure the pain that we have endured the past week. Peach Tree City prides itself on being a safe, family-friendly place, but our school crossings are still too vulnerable. We need flashing beacons that actually slow those drivers down. We need stricter traffic enforcement in every school zone. We need better lighting and clearer signage. We need to take action now before another family has to stand up here with a broken heart. Please make the changes that will keep our children, your children, and

the kind souls who guard them safe. Please do it for my husband, for the children. Do it so no other wife or mother has to go through what I have been through. Thank you for listening tonight. God bless you and God bless Peach Tree City. Thank you.

Thank you. Next speaker, please. Carrie Cook. Good evening, mayor and council. My name is Carrie Cook. I live at 152 Lakeside Drive here in Peach Tree City. I just wanted to share my thoughts on a topic that that I believe was addressed just the the wording of open beverage carry at the avenue, an item I believe that the city council and the mayor are considering. I just wanted to say or like to say that I don't believe that that is a very good idea at all. I think there's a lot of unintended consequences. Although it may seem really nice on the surface that, you know, you could go to the avenue and go shopping and have your open carry alcoholic beverage and walk around to other shops and restaurants. But if you look at at that area geographically, if you look at the topography there and you look at what goes on with that one sidewalk going around, how people traverse from one sidewalk down to Teds across the parking lots and the large volume of people that are up there that go out to dine and to shop. It is very dangerous. And one thing I noticed here recently was with Trader Joe's coming in, there was some lane shifting that was done there. So, if you're turning off 54 and going into the avenue there right at Trader Joe's, the lane is very, very narrow. If someone starts to back out and you're too close, somebody you have to be very careful. You could be hit, but the lanes are very compacted there. And uh I just don't believe I believe that there's a lot of unintended consequences if we were to allow the open beverage carry there at the avenue. I just don't think that area lends itself to a a walk friendly, take your beverage and go out. Uh there's no traffic uh traffic lights. There's no stop signs. There's nothing there to

kind of divide it up. People just go back and forth. So I would just say that uh I am not in favor of that and I would say ask for your consideration to not go forward to allow that at the avenue. Thank you. Thank you. Next speaker, please. and Maldo.

Yes, good evening to everyone. U my name is Ann Manaldo and I'm from Peach Tree City and actually I came to speak on the same topic. I also heard about the open carry of alcohol um over by the avenue and um as a former teacher, present teacher also and um and working a lot with um with teenagers, especially in the juvenile system, I think there's a lot of unforeseen consequences that could come from that. um our teenagers are wanting to become adults and they like to watch the adults and emulate the adults and even though teens are not allowed to drink, we've seen the recent trend, unfortunate trend including metro Atlanta areas of teen take takeovers where the teenagers are coming together and um you know u as a great big party they're being challenged and um I don't think that if we create an open party environment that um that would dissuade the teenagers from wanting to emulate a lot of that kind of behavior even though we know it's against the law and illegal. Um we know that um alcohol consumption can also lead to elicit drug use and u I really worry about the teenagers of today and I think our example is really important. It's beautiful walking along the avenue and going into the different stores. I've never been there myself and said, "Boy, I wish I had a drink." It just never occurred to me. So, I guess if you go with the attitude that you want to be celebrating, then that might be a reason. But if you're going for shopping and you want to have just a family atmosphere, um I think that um outside drinking is just uh it shouldn't be encouraged. And so, I think we would lose a little bit of our peach peach tree city environment if we weren't encouraged that kind of a thing. So, I would strongly encourage you to consider that. I I ask you to. Um there's a lot of us that um are really concerned about that kind of decision. So, thank you very much.

Thank you. Next speaker, please. Nicole Braun.

Good evening. Can you hear me? I had to lower that a little bit. Yes, thank you.

Uh I'm Nicole. I live at uh North Hill neighborhood and I'm here this evening wearing my hat as the HOA president. We have seven homes on our uh small street and it's a private road. So, we have the um dubious distinction of having to maintain that road and all the sunundry expenses. Um my topic this evening is the expansion of the cart path which is going to go in front of our neighborhood. Um I believe it's slated for u it's out for bidding right now is my understanding. My concern this evening and and representing the interests of the homeowners that I've that I've spoken with about this major concern is the loss of the green belt. Um, specifically, we'll have a lot more visibility to the parkway and result in noise pollution. Um, David Borcowski and John Schnik have been wonderful in working with us thus far, but we haven't seen we haven't had transparency to the budget for the tree replacement or what that's going to look like. So, uh, myself and our neighbors just want some kind of assurance as far as what's going to happen with replacement of that green belt for our visual and and sound protection.

Thank you. Next speaker, Paul Schultz.

Good evening. Paul Schultz, uh, Peach TC to Macintosh corner subdivision. Uh, I, uh, want to address the idea that the Peach Tree City could somehow annex the 467 acre Benister project in Kua County and somehow have it as a data center. When you walk through the actual steps required, the claim collapses under its own weight. It is not just unlikely, it is structurally impossible and suggesting otherwise is irresponsible. Um I'm going to lay out a scenario. All of these hurdles regardless of the scenario would have to be overcome. First her first hurdle the development of regional impact. The DRRi filed by LDO Kuita is explicit. The plan is for residential commercial a school site and a public safety site which is the official plan. To change this, the developer would have to file a new DRRi. That triggers a full ARC review, GOT review, media coverage, and public comment. That alone is a multimonth, high visibility process with no guarantee of approval. Second hurdle, reszoning in Kuita County. A data center requires industrial zoning. Kita County would have to reszone the property to industrial. That means a hearing before the board of zoning appeals, public notice, a second hearing before the board of commissioners, and another public comment period. All these steps invite organized public opposition. Third hurdle, Kawita County's incentive structure. Even if against all odds the data center were approved, Kawita County would have no reason to then hand the property over to Peach Tree City. They would have just spent months navigating a contentious reasonzoning process and they would not give away that tax base and control. There's no rational basis to do that. Fourth hurdle, annexation

law. Annexation across county lines is one of the most difficult actions a city in Georgia can take. It requires consent from the property owned or the city, the county losing the land, and the county gaining the land. These are hurdles on top of hurdles. Fifth hurdle, transport transportation politics. Some people tie the idea of connecting TDK Bolo uh TDK Boulevard. But connecting TDK into Kawita has been a political non-starter for 20 years. Nothing about that dynamic has changed. So when you line up the hurdles, a DRRi rewrite, a zoning to industrial, two rounds of public hearings, Kawita County voluntarily giving up the land, crosscount annexation, and a TD uh K connection that has been dead on arrival for two decades, the conclusion is obvious. The scenario is not happening. It cannot happen. And presenting it as a real threat is irresponsible. Thank you.

Thank you. Next speaker. There are no further speakers, Madame Mayor. Thank you. Agenda changes. Council. No. Uh, minutes. March 19th, 2026, city council meeting minutes. March 19th, 2026, executive session minutes. Can I get a motion? Madame Mayor, I'll make a motion that we approve the minutes of March 19th city council meeting minutes and March 19th executive session minutes. Second. I have a motion and a second. All in favor say I. All oppose. Motion carries. New agenda item a 2025 GMA safety grant and liability management grant. Rashidita Cloud.

Good evening. I'm Jan Hord with Georgia Municipal Association. Let's hold on one second while we get that microphone up.

I'm Jan Horde with Georgia Municipal Association. You can call me if you want to. Um, we uh with GMA we have a safety grant program and I work with DIA and TIA and the maximum amount that you can earn for each program under workers comp and under Germa which is your property, your liability, your audio is $10,000 and the last few years more than that uh Dia and Tia have been um instrumental in earning money back for the city. This money can be used we reimburse for any safety projects, training, anything like that. So, $20,000 is a very big deal. Um, the checks were delivered in January, but we do like to come out and let the uh council know, the city manager know, and the employees know that your city does take advantage of grants that are available out there and brings money back to the cities and makes uh work life better and more safer for your employees.

Thank you so much. Great.

You want to get We'll get a We'll get a picture down below. All of us. Thank you so much. and another $20,000 grant is testament to our very strong HR department. Thank you so much, Dr. Tab. Uh, new agenda item B, mid-year cost of living adjustment and corresponding upward adjustment to the city's pay scale. Justin Strickland.

Thank you, Madame Mayor. Um, what staff is requesting here is a 2% midyear cola for all employees. Um, we had we did a 2% cola in October at the beginning of the fiscal year. Uh, the reason we're asking, if you guys could get that graph up, um, the reason we're asking for a cola midyear is really just all contained in this chart. Um, if you see right here, this is fiscal year. Oh, man. I have to look. I didn't know the numbers. 20 2020. Yep, that's 2020. Um, so COVID hits here and you see orange is CPI, which is basically inflation.

Um, blue is our colas that we've done over the years. So, we have, if you notice the history, we've been pretty spot-on with CPI, but ever since in high inflation over the past few years, we have kind of lost steam with that. Uh, last year we did or this this year we did do a 2% cola. CPI was 2.9 so we didn't quite match it. So one part of this is we're asking for that kind of extra 1% um that we were not able to do in October and then uh the other 1% is really just number one to kind of catch up because we've fallen behind but also because we know in the next year or two we will need to do a compensation study again. um it's already getting around that time and if we can give you know 1% here 1% there it'll mean it will hurt less when we do a compensation study um to keep us competitive in the market. So really for me a lot of cola and talk about this is keeping us competitive in the market because the market is still very heavily competitive uh especially with public safety. Um so that's and the reason we are also asking for this is because we do have funds to to fund this cola without without having to dip into reserves. Um salary savings this year so far have come in close to 1 million and um this will cost us what Kelly 360

was like5 because we've gone so far. Yeah, we talked about it earlier and I think I had that number in my mind but yes, let me pull up the memo here and I can go ahead and read the motion if someone wants to make it and then you can discuss

first. Let's Oh, okay. We'll take the motion. Um, let's see. Cost is $255,974. We have uh general fund savings and salary of $92,991 this year of just vacancies. Um, so the motion would be approve the proposed 2% mid-year cola effective retroactive to the beginning of the current pay period March 23rd, 2026, and a 2% upward adjustment to the city's pay scale. Hey, madame mayor, could a question? I need a so moved. We'll get a motion in a second. Then we'll have our discussion and questions. So moved. Can I get a second? I'll take your question.

Um I was just going to ask if we could have a discussion first. That's all I was asking. But I do have some comments here. I I'm listening to what Justin says. I really don't have a problem with the the adjustment. But at the same time, um, why is it 2% when you just talked about 1% that we're off from the 2.9 that we should have been and now we're at we've given two and now, you know, another 0.9 would get us up there, but you're making an even one. Can you go through a little bit of the math on the reasons why it went to two instead of, you know, one? I thought I thought I did, but um,

two reasons for an extra 1% that that I think makes sense. Okay. Number one, we're already seven or six. We're already 6% behind CPI from 2020. We haven't been able to catch up uh with CPI since 2020. So, there's that. And then the other one is is I know we know we're going to do a compensation study soon. And because we have not been able to keep up with CPI, I would like to bridge that gap a little more so we're not paying more later when they recommend adjustments. Okay. That's just what I was looking for. Some kind of explanation why it needs to be two versus one. There's a 6%.

Yeah, I see that. I got the numbers in the lower right to it. Show shows that you had a 6% gap there.

Any other questions? Questions? Yes. Well, not questions, comment. Um, I don't support approving a full 2% cost of living adjustment at this time, especially midyear, regardless of whether there is money in the salary portion of our budget or not. If we approve 2% right now, then staff would be 1.3% greater than they would have been um right now if we had approved the 2.7 for fiscal year 26. A pay adjustment now would move forward in perpetuity for all future years. We are so close to starting the budget discussion for fiscal year 27. Doing a 2% now puts us out of sync with what should be an annual pay adjustment associated with inflationary factors. So, right now I don't support 2% but I would go for 1%. Any other comments?

No comments? No comments? I have a motion in a second. Any comments? Discussion. I have a motion in a second. All in favor say I. I. All opposed? No. Motion carries 41. Thank you. Work discuss work session discussion item A. Fire Station 85 construction manager at risk procurement Chief Murphy. Good evening. Can you hear me? Yes.

Okay. All right. So, um I have great news. Um so, beginning of March, we uh put out an RFP um and had 15 contractors come out and view the site for the new station 85. 15 came to the pre-bid meeting. Of those 15, 14 of them put in a proposal. Um I'm not used to 14. I'm used to five or six. So um it's taken us a little bit of time to get those together. We've turned in uh all of the our um scoring for this uh and it'll be placed together with what they bid for the actual price. Uh this is just forformational uh purposes tonight. We are should be on track to have this before you either the next meeting or the one right after uh for a complete u presentation on who the contractor will be and detailed pricing for you to make a decision on

any major surprises or I I don't know how everybody else scored so no I don't I don't think there's any major surprises. um talking with finance, everything seems to be um in the range that we had anticipated it to be. I didn't get that part. They just told me we were good. Okay. Questions? Yeah, I have a question. Did you expect the bids to come back where you thought they would come back or were there some most of them high or most any of them low or were they all pretty close to the same thing? I don't know that part.

Oh, okay. So um that's what I was saying is what I got from finance was that they were in the range um and they were I will say this uh the description was that they were tight together. So it will be mostly based on our scoring of and Chris can yeah let me help you. Okay please. At this point, we're only asking for construction management. And so, the only thing they gave us at this point is what percentage of the project they would charge us. Yes.

And so, we are currently analyzing where those percentages fall. Um, probably on the high end, I think we're going to, you know, we've got some biders that are going to be around 6% of total project cost. On the low end, I think we're going to be pretty pleasantly surprised. Um, but we're still compiling all that and I think we will have it ready in two weeks. In two weeks you'll have that one ready for us. Good.

Great. And go ahead. Just to explain the way this project is working as opposed to other projects we've done is similar to the Lake Peach Street Bridge and the Gateway Bridge where Kwit bid on all like they had contractors bid on all three bridges at once and do the percentages for their fees and then they awarded based on that and then the winner comes back and actually presents you with a not to exceed amount for the actual construction. Okay. Very good. All right. Thank you. Wow. Council, any questions? Very good. Much appreciated. Thank you. Looking forward for that in two weeks. Yeah. Work session discussion item B. Peach Tree Parkway at Robinson Road intersection improvements. Dave Borcowski.

Yes. Good evening, Mayor and Council. Uh this is uh a 2023 Splast project um that we've uh started working on. this uh what we're going to do is we're going to update the previous traffic study that was that was done for this intersection and verify the uh the counts and the numbers and we want to develop u 30% design and cost estimates for the alter alternatives that were in the uh original traffic study. Those alternatives were uh uh traffic regular traffic signal and turn lanes and a roundabout. uh those are the usual ones that that turn up in traffic studies. So we were going to uh have a consultant uh do concepts for those and uh well 30% design plans for those and cost estimates so that we can uh recommend u a course of action for those. We solicited proposals from three uh transportation firms and we're going through those those costs and scopes right now. We expect the cost to be less than less than 150,000. So, we'll be working with the city manager on that recommendation, but we wanted to update everybody on the the progress. So, were there any questions on on this

council? I have a big question. Uh that particular intersection um has a very significant cart path crossing because of Brillin Elementary. And I mean, I see the carts interacting currently with the traffic all the time because I live probably a thousand feet from there. And is is there going to be a special I mean, have you addressed the issue of where you're going to put the cart crossing that crosses the parkway? Is that at all has it been looked at or thought about or talked about? Oh, well, that will be part of this process. Okay.

It has it has been talked about. We've thrown around ideas, but yeah, it' be part of this design process. Okay.

Because, you know, I see a lot of I guess the best thing you can call near misses at that intersection between carts either crossing Robinson Road or crossing the Parkway as and heavy traffic as it's coming out. And although the crossing guard, we love our crossing guards, right Bob? But uh our crossing the crossing guard there has their hands full just trying to get the carts across the one road but then they go through another hazard on Robinson. So it's I mean it's a very unusual the way the school feeds out there. It almost it almost would be simpler if the cart crossing could be about 200 feet down further where the path comes out of the woods. So, I don't know whether that's been looked at, but I mean, I've thought about it and I'm not an engineer, but

that's I mean, that's exactly what we've talked about. Yeah. Is moving the crossing further down. Yeah. That way, some of the traffic could continue, but would get a little bit backed up after they turn onto the Parkway, but take it away from the I mean, some people, obviously, we know this, just don't care. So, all right. Questions, comments? Do you know how long the traffic study will take? Uh, it won't take long to get updated counts. Probably a couple weeks for that and then probably three or four weeks for the analysis.

Okay. So this report that you're going to be getting, the study is going to then recommend not give you all the data that you need for, you know, numbers of cars and all those kinds of things, but will it give you what would be of best fit for that intersection? Because you talked about lights, you talked about other other reasons, other other types of control devices for the traffic. Is that what's going to come out of this is some type of understanding on that? Yes. what what'll be the the end of that is a recommendation to either do a signal or a roundabout and they'll we'll factor in, you know, cost and all that stuff. So,

and it just to add on to and it is really updating a study we've already done. We did a study in 2022 for why this is why this intersection got selected for a SPS project is we did multiple studies at multiple intersections uh with traffic counts and recommendations and that study already had from four years ago. Now that study already had that that intersection is failing and it recommended a roundabout and that was four years ago. So this will update to current numbers.

All right. Any other questions or comments? I I have one more for Okay. Um, you know, Dave, this is uh certainly near and dear to my heart. It's because of, you know, the safety issues that I constantly go for, whether it's bridges or whatever. You know, you got a lot of students down there. So, you're going to go through construction, some type of construction, whether it's going to be a traffic light or a roundabout. What kind of timeline? And I'm gonna have you look in your crystal ball. What kind of timeline once you get the Yeah. Once you get the study done, you bring it here, we get it how much it's going to cost, whatever it is, and then we give it back to you, and then you proceed with giving out the bid. What are we looking at as a time between now and that time when it's going to be done? Are we talking a year from now, six months from now, two years from now? What are we talking about? As best you can look in that crystal ball,

rubbing the crystal ball. Yeah. If we need, you know, Yeah. if you need easements and stuff like or property that's going to add time to it. Uh moving utilities. So yeah, easily two, three years. Okay, that's what I was looking for. It's not going to be a six-month project. No. Okay. No, that's that's all I have. All right. Anything else? Just to follow up on Councilman Holland's comment, and I imagine we try to schedule the construction during the summertime when school is not in. I would hope that would be part of the consideration. You try to do it like right at Fourth of July. Yeah. Yeah. Just kidding. Oh, yeah. The parade. I get it now. I get it. That's where the parade starts. Oh, just two cents. Christmas. Thank you. Anything else, council?

Thank you. All right. Work session discussion item C. North Hill Path. Dave Borowski.

Okay. Moving on to this project. This one is actually a 2017 splass project to uh and it's part of an overall plan for that corridor. We're going to connect the uh the path, remove the cart path from cutting through North Hill, and we're going to put it out uh on the roadside uh to get that off of there and and make it a more useful path connection. We put this out to bid in February and got a lot of interest. So, that's good. We're having a lot of luck lately with with bids. uh they ranged from 741,000 to 1.8 million for for this. And we're currently reviewing those those bids right now. And we actually have an interview for um who we think is the lowest responsive bidder tomorrow to make sure they understand the the project. So we're we're looking to uh recommend award for this this project shortly. Um and we we we did have meetings with the uh the HOA to discuss this project and there is a significant green belt between uh the road and their road their road between the parkway and their road. It's about 100 feet and due to the slopes and stuff, we we were cognizant, you know, we're going to be removing some some trees just to get the slopes and everything to work out. But we said, you know, we're we're definitely going to do a tree replanting plan there. And myself, we we thought it was best to see what it looks like in reality and, you know, see what the the the slopes are going to be two to one, so they're not going to be very steep. So, it should be good for for replanting and whatnot, but I think it's best to look at it once it gets cleared and then, you know, develop a a plan to to do that. So,

Dave, is the uh going in on city rightway in its entirety. On city rightway and city green belt. Okay. No easements needed for this one. Thank you. Dave, are you going to have um um a guard rail on this one since it might be very close to the road? Are you thinking that way? This one we're actually moving it a good piece away from the road just for those those reasons following the ASHTTO standards and stuff for buffers and setbacks from the road. with with the homeowners association. I don't know if she's still here. Yes.

Oh, she is. There she is. Uh asking about the extra trees. I'm glad you addressed that right away. We do want to make sure that you've got good uh uh you know, a good um blockage from the road. And I know this was, believe it or not, I worked on this in 2022 when I first started to run. It was on my one of my campaign promises to get this thing finally done. And uh so I think that we're going to be heading down that road here shortly. So thank you very shortly. Yeah. I would and I would just add what when when we clear stuff when stuff gets moving we just get with the HOA and you know work with them on that replanting plan.

Yes. We're we're working very closely with them actually because they're we're we're going to be working with them on the sign it the the gates and all that stuff too replacing those. Good council. Any other comments or questions from what Clint just asked in the is the path going to stay consistently like through right through the middle of the because I mean I've got the overhead on my is it going to go like from where the one path comes out on the south end below North Hill. Is it going to it's going to connect directly to the path where it crosses the northern part? But is it going to run through the right through the middle of that green belt? Do you know?

No, it's not going to go through the through the middle. It it will be uh I think maybe 10 to 15 feet off of the edge of the the parkway. So closer to the parkway. Closer to the parkway. Yes. Than than uh there. Now, is that because of slope or is that just because of Yes. Very very tough topography in through there. So, it's going to connect the two entrances and then uh the the Yes, just connect the two entrances. Okay.

You're you're still going to use you're still going to use the existing green space there that's in front. You'll have, you know, 60 to 90 feet of green space before you get up to the road, depending on where you are on the road. And I use that all the time because I live right behind all of the people that uh are on North Hill. So, I'm down that way all the time and it is definitely uh definitely needed. You know, we got to get give them back their road. All right, any other questions or comments? Um, is this cart path connecting to the be to the front of Kedron Hills? It seems like we've discussed this. That's what I was going to point out is

okay. part part of the reason not just the slope is is also coming closer to the parkway is eventually we do want to remove that path that goes up to Ketron Hills because of the slope and have it going kind of parallel to Parkway like the rest of the path does on Parkway and connect it into the entrance to Kedron Hills. Yeah, that's a steep that's good. That's not part of this phase. That's not it won't be part of this. So right now it's connecting to that golf cart path but it may change later. Yeah, correct. Okay, thanks. Any others, questions, comments? All right. Thanks very much. Thanks, D. Thank you. Work session discussion item D, alcohol ordinance amendment and fee schedule update. Michael Piche.

Let's do it. Madame Mayor, thanks. Um, bring forward for discussion the open container policy for entertainment districts in Petri City, which as outlined our current ordinances would only apply to the avenue. After hearing directly from businesses located at the avenue as well as Avenue management, I think this is the right time we revisit the conversation this council tabled last November. I do want to highlight two priorities I know we all share, which is public safety and also supporting our local businesses. On the safety side, uh I can confirm our police and public safety folks have given this the green light and don't share any concerns. It is worth noting that we already allow open container at the Avenue during special events that run throughout the year. This proposal simply builds on a model we've already used, successfully implemented, and now extending it in a controlled and consistent way. Necessary safety and branding protocols such as designated plastic cups and clear boundaries will be strictly enforced. I appreciate the businesses at the Avenue who have all agreed to enforce to help enforce and educate their customers of these new rules. I want to make clear and I certainly want to acknowledge the comments we heard earlier in the concerns. And it's it's why part of this proposal is to establish a 12-month pilot program. It's not like we're going 0 to 100 and launching this. We've tested this out with special events. Now, let's see what this could look like on a daily basis with a pilot program which gives us and the intent is to not make this policy permanent on day one. Rather, we can test this out over 12 months, allowing us to take a measured approach and grants us the ability to monitor it closely, make adjustments as needed, or repeal it fully if we so choose. From an economic standpoint, I view this as a practical tool to support our small businesses. Open container policies create a more connected

environment where people can spend more time, move between establishments, and engage more with the businesses at the avenue. When visitors are permitted to walk the property with a drink, they naturally extend their stay. The longer you stay, the more you spend. It's a simple formula. That kind of activity has a real impact for the businesses that already invested here and helps us stay competitive and attracting new ones. During my youth, the Avenue was viewed really as a shopping center. There weren't nearly as many restaurants and wasn't really a place for residents and families to break bread and gather with friends. That has evolved over the decades and certainly even within the past few years. The avenue has become more of a destination for all generations to gather and the city has an opportunity to evolve its policies in support of these economic developments. So, at its core, this is about balance, successfully keeping strong safeguards in place while taking a thoughtful step in supporting our local businesses. Uh, and certainly look forward to this discussion with my peers on council here.

All right. Uh, questions, comments, council, comment, you go first. You go ahead.

Okay. For multiple reasons, I oppose the establishment of entertainment districts in Peach Tree City. First saying that we should do it because Sono Nunin or any other municipality makes me hear my mother's voice saying just because your friend jumped off the bridge doesn't mean you should. Our decisions have consequences that we failed to see in advance. I'd rather not succumb to a sort of peer pressure to approve this. just because other municipalities are doing it. Each municipality does get to determine exactly what is best and in the best interest of all their citizens, not just the merchants who might benefit from this. Outlining that there is currently one location with a second possibility where this could be established feels not quite right to me. If we put this in place, it would encourage and allow other village centers or portions of shopping areas to make whatever physical changes are needed so that they too could apply for entertainment district status. Approving this sets a clear path for a future Huddleston entertainment district. It won't just be the avenue, so don't think that's all it's going to be. Over time, we do want Peach Tree City to have a reputation, excuse me, we do do want Peach Tree City to have a reputation as a party walking and drinking city of epic proportions. No, we don't. I don't like that. Third, the proposal memo says staff evaluated the issues and identified opportunities to modernize the ordinance in a way that supports local commerce while ensuring public safety and clear operational standards. Well, maybe I'm being too sensitive, but modernizing that ordinance kind of rubs me the wrong way. I'm sensitive to the implication that our ordinance is ancient or old or out ofd. An ordinance that has approved that, excuse me, that was approved by a prior council that restricted and limited alcohol consumption to being within the footprint of a restaurant in

one of our village centers is what I think of as protecting our citizens, especially our impressionable minor children. It seems that our ordinance was designed to provide the control and boundaries our citizens wanted. I believe they still want the same level of control. Giving permission for public drinking while shopping opens another side door that involves a huge potential for underage drinking outside and beyond the footprint of the restaurant that sold the alcohol. Who will be responsible when underage teens are found to be consuming alcohol in public inside an entertainment district? We don't know who's going to be responsible. Fourth, let's talk budget impact. A fee of $500 for the entertainment district for an entire year was proposed to cover additional cost to the city. That only sounds right if you consider staff time to investigate if an applicant meets the qualifications. A $500 annual fee is just $1.37 a day for all the merchants to sell to go cups of alcohol every day that they are open within the approved hours of alcohol service. What will it cost our citizens? Well, at times our police department may think they are overworked and underpaid, but aren't we going to need additional police surveillance through each entertainment district on each shift that they are open from noon until after alcohol service ends at night? And how much will that cost our citizens, our taxpayers? Our citizens won't be the ones making a profit from the sale of to-go alcohol cups, but they will pay the price for the ed police hours. You may think I'm exaggerating, but each entertainment district will lure more and more people to come here to drink. That's more DWIs, whether they are driving a car or a cart, more crashes, more fights, etc. In fact, I believe that the financial burden to the city will be well beyond whatever profit the restaurants will gain and certainly well beyond the $500

fee for the license. And fifth, Peach Tree City prides itself as being totally committed to our safety, education, family values, and morals and ethics that set us apart from all the other Atlanta suburbs. Establishing an ordinance that allows for public consumption of alcohol with a sip and shop policy is completely in opposition to upholding all of what we have embraced in our choice to move here and remain here. If merchants cannot stay in business without public drinking in entertainment districts, then they need a new business model. To use a phrase I've used before, let's not throw out the baby with the bathwater. This issue goes way beyond a few shoppers walking around as they sip a panina cola. It totally abandons our commitment to family values, being good role models for our youths and teens, and sets us up for far too many issues that are not immediately apparent and are not being fully considered. As a Christian conservative grandmother of three teens who live in Peach Tree City, I don't support this. I want a Peach Tree City to I want Peach Tree City to remain the city that stands alone apart from all the others. We will still be standing long after so many of the other cities fall. If you want a party city, then please simply move to one. Don't try to make Peach Tree City into one.

Thank you. Uh Miss Johnson, comments, are we voting on this tonight? No, we are not.

Okay. So, this is just discussion this evening. Um, so, um, a few points that, um, some of these might be slightly repetitive, but yeah, this doesn't apply to we we're talking about the avenue right now because they're the ones that that fit the criteria for this, but it does have the potential to spread to other areas. Um, I I am not personally in favor of this. Um, I think when you go to areas where there is open container, you have a lot of times parking that is offsite. So, recently I went up to Crog Street Market and the Atlanta Belt Line and you park in an area that's away from the pedestrian area. And I don't think that that's really what we have here at the Avenue. We have parking that is in between different places of business and really close to those pedestrian areas that I just don't feel like it's a safe place to have um to have open container all the time. I think when we have a special event, it's it's more patrolled and um and made safer at those moments, which I think is fine. Um Oh, and then um And and I think also there's there's plenty of places to drink. I don't think people need to have it where they're where they're walking around. I think there's opportunities to to drink and um you don't necessarily have to have that intermingled with everybody who's also walking around, which is, you know, kids, families, teens. Um I had a recent conversation with with a friend of mine and we were discussing this and if you know me, not everybody does, but if you do, you know that I don't drink. And I told her, I'm not really in favor of this. And her her guess as to why I would vote against this is because I don't drink. And I just want to make it very clear that I

don't serve on this council to push my personal beliefs. I'm here to make decisions that I feel are best for this city. So, this is not me projecting myself and my beliefs onto the city in any way. I just want to make sure that's very clear. Thank you, Mr. Holler.

Yes. Thank you, Madame Mayor. Um, last year we had a discussion on this and we got to hear from our safety uh people, which would be our police department and fire departments because they're going to be the ones that will monitor what goes on there. And at the time, Chief Moon said she did not believe that there was any issues that were not out of the out of the realm of possibility, but it didn't look like it was going to be a serious situation. And so I at that time said, you know, that's pretty good. I I like that that maybe we can have an entertainment district without getting us, you know, down the slippery slope, as they say. And I wonder, can I ask uh Chief Moon, has anything changed from the last time that you gave us a talk on this that would change uh my opinion that uh this is an okay thing for our city? Well, to clarify the record, that was assistant chief Myers in November because I was out November.

Okay. I'm sorry. I I knew that the police department was involved at that time. But we have looked at the data. I'm familiar with these. I had it in a prior city where I worked at. It really didn't constitute us large issues. So, if it is the will of the council, the police department has no objection.

Okay. Well, and in my opinion, I I'm also a lot like uh Councilwoman Johnson. I really don't drink anymore. I've had my days doing that, but not anymore. So, as far as I'm concerned, it's not of any interest to me. But I do know that a lot of people in this city do like to have a walk and talk, or I think it was called the sip and shop, uh, attitude here. And because there's so many people that I've spoken to that said, "Yes, that's what we'd love to do." I would certainly be in favor of it. particularly that because there's going to be a limit of that of only one year. So, we'll test it out. It's kind of like test driving it. If it works out, it'll be back here to be permanent. If it doesn't work out, it'll still be back here and then we'll have to make some different decisions. But at this point, I'm in favor of it to try it out for a year.

Madame Mayor, thank you. Kelly, I don't want to put you on the spot. If you'd rather not speak, that's okay. But we're fortunate to have Kelly Lawrence here this evening. She is the marketing manager for JLL at the Avenue. Would you would you take a moment and just help us understand what's behind this request and I know that the Avenue's been waiting a long time for us to tackle this issue.

Oh, thank you so much. Yeah, and thanks for everyone in your comments. Um, we do take our um our position with the city and being good stewards to our community very seriously. So, whatever decision does come about, we respect. Um and so thank you guys so much for even just letting us um have the opportunity. Right now we do have under our current licensing the ability to have open container during our special events such as our new music series um our first Friday music series which will actually be tomorrow. So if you're around feel free to come out. Um we also recognize too that we kind of serve as a central hub for Peach Tree City. Um, Peach Tree City does not have a downtown, but when I first started at the Avenue, that's what everybody kept telling me. The Avenue is like the PE is like Peach Tree City's downtown. It's where people like to come shop, walk around, hang out. We've try to have some different areas around the center where people can just come and gather. We like to put on community events as well. And so, we're really trying to lean into that part um of who we are, which is to serve as kind of the unofficial downtown of Peaceree City. Um, and we're continuing to expand our community events. Um, actually tomorrow the Peach Tree City Library is going to be out supporting their thousand books before kindergarten, I think. So, they'll be out tomorrow. Um, we're doing some more pet friendly activations. And we just want to continue to build on that momentum. And one of those things is um, you know, giving people the opportunity to relax at the center, to hang out, relax, enjoy our community events, enjoy each other, and fellowship. So, um, we are really grateful as well to our, um, police, um, officers. We work really closely with them. They're always very fast to respond to us. Um, we really, um, value their opinion on this, um, new ordinance. So, we will continue to work with our tenants. We'll work with city council and our local law enforcement to

make sure that this pilot program, if it is approved, goes smoothly. So, we're here for the community. We're happy to be here. Thank you so much. Thanks. Yeah, I I'm for moving this forward. I I would be a little more hesitant except that we have a a wonderful relationship among the business owners, the avenue, and our police department. It's tight. It's ongoing, and I have confidence that this is going to be a safe and enjoyable way to enjoy the avenue going forward. So, I'll I'll look forward to seeing this on our agenda coming up soon. Mayor, can I clarify one thing,

please? We've been talking about the pilot program in a year. We issue licenses for the calendar year. So the only if they were to get a license tomorrow, that license would be valid through December 31st. And then the question would be whether it was still on the books when we got to that time period. But we've been throwing around 12 months in a year. And I just want to be clear that the only thing if it's approved and there's a license issued, it's good through the end of the calendar year. Okay. That includes like for this type of permit. Yes. Okay. All right.

I do want to clarify too, this requires a lot of information to be submitted by the applicant. So, just because the ordinance is approved, that does not guarantee that the applicant will be approved. The app the shopping center would still be required to submit all of the documentation that's that's required. So, no chance that it will be approved tomorrow. Okay, that's a good point. All right. Thank you. Uh work session discussion item E, city council fiscal year 27 budget goals. Justin Strickland.

Thank you, mayor. They should be pulling up a slide here as well. Wow, these came these did not come out how I typed them. I got like the typewriter font. Um so, as we did last year, um I'm asking council to discuss their broad goals for the fiscal year 27. It's that time already again. Um we're about well we are we're exactly halfway through our fiscal year this year. Um our uh our annual comprehensive financial financial report which is our audit has uh been submitted to the state as of March 31st.

Um they will be our auditor from Malden Jacens will be coming in May or June June 4th in uh June to give you all a rundown of uh our audit. I think the reason we're doing that is because of city hall construction. Yeah. Getting them here. He came in June last year.

Oh, did he? Okay. All right. So, just to give a little summary of just high highest level you can possibly do of fiscal year 26 so far. Uh we're about 51% of expenditures through two quarters. So that's tracking about half. 66% of revenues through two quarters. A lot of folks ask why. you know, you're collecting way more in your quarters. We're topheavy as a local government. Most of our uh revenue collections are property taxes which come which all hit in the first or second quarter of the year and then they stop. So expenditures will catch up with revenues. Um but we just get most of our revenues at the start of the fiscal year. um looking ahead to so what I'm going to ask from you all tonight is just for you all to kind of talk uh talk with each other ask me questions if you need to ask ask Kelly questions uh about any highle goals you all have for fiscal year 27 I'm not really looking to get into the weeds tonight I'm not looking to talk about operations per se uh more just highle stuff like if there's projects that y'all want to talk about some things maybe at the retreat that we discussed that you want to push forward to fiscal 27 um is kind of what I'm looking for, but I did want to go through some things just at a staff level that we're looking at for fiscal year 27. At the top, I have three new firefighters for station 85. Um as we know, we're building up for the new fire station. This will be the last year. So, the past for three years in a row, we have budgeted three firefighters. So, we did it in fiscal year 24 or fiscal year 25. We're doing it in fiscal year 26 this year and then we're doing it in fiscal year 27 to staff that new fire station. So that pretty much has to be in the budget. Somebody's drawing.

It's Clint. It's Clint. Oh, sorry. I got a piece of paper and I didn't realize it was hitting that. Apologize.

I know uh police are looking for a new admin assistant. um they've had a massive influx in and you stop me if I'm wrong, Chief, but you've had a massive influx in open records requests, a lot of paperwork, and it's starting to overwhelm the staff you currently have. So, they're asking for a potential new admin assistant. I know that's coming. And then this is a potential, haven't talked this all the way through yet, but just looking at a planning and development assistant director. Um, this is more of a me thing of a lot of these very important departments or bigger departments, especially ones that are public facing. I'm trying to get assistant directors into them because we have periods where our directors are out um or we have vacancies when a director resigns or retires. Um, and I really need people to be able to step into those roles during those periods and also just be able to be that kind of highlevel knowledgeable person besides just the director as well. Um, and if you notice, Shayla's out right now uh on some leave and there's no assistant director for planning and development. So, that's just something we're going to look at as we go through the uh budget. Um, CPI, just wanted to give an update, is currently at 2.4% 4% as of January 26. Those are the latest numbers I have. Um, our policy in our uh financial policy or budget policy is to try and match CPI with cola if feasible every year. So, just to kind of give y'all an update where that is right now. As everyone knows, fuel prices are rising right now. So, we're going to keep tabs on that as we go through the budget process. And then just as far as revenue goes, I did check like all of our main sources of revenue. property taxes lost, franchise fees, all those main revenue sources are coming in as we expected this year, very close to what we had in the budget. And then from the retreat pri priorities for discussion, we've

talked about this at the retreat. We've talked about it in council meetings. Um I believe sometime this calendar year, not fiscal year, sometime this calendar year, I think we need to really seriously decide and kind of put down what we're thinking. I think this this discussion I think will come back when we talk about Kedran and when uh we get numbers on it. I think that's when this discussion will really get uh serious. Um but a facilities bond potential for 7 to9 million and then match it with reserves of 7 to9 million which we've also discussed. So 50/50 match with bond and reserves potentially. And then we've also discussed progression funding for staff and what that possibly looks like uh for the future at the retreat. So that's what I have just a high level ones slide thing. Um so I will turn it over to y'all uh for discussion of any any things y'all want to discuss for fiscal year 27 for us to kind of keep our eye on to to be able to possibly do uh in the budget.

Justin, do you have a list that we can start with that we discussed at retreat? I mean, we had some priorities identified that got it in my mind. Um, Kedron, uh, police renovations, which would include the gun range and, uh, the current PD building. Uh, we talked about, we talked about, right?

Multi-purpose field at Riley, not Riley, Brilen. Um, I would like to potentially put the rest of the LED athletic field lighting in there, uh, uh, besides just baseball so we can get all the athletic fields done. And we've also, I know as staff, we've talked about also the courts at the tennis center and LED lighting there as well. Those are the four I have in my mind. Okay. I thought we had more on the list than that, but I'm trying to remember what it was.

Yeah. No, I meant capital improvements. So, I guess my list would be the things that we've already discussed. I don't have anything new other than hockey phase one. Um, we had several items on the splast that we wanted to prioritize. One is Drake restrooms. Um, we talked about play uh 1.2 million in the last 2023 splash for playground improvements. And I think we talked about the fact that that should be at Brillin and at um and at Battery Way and we will need parking and other improvements and bathrooms at Battery Way. We were going to try and find funding for those. So, I would say for that list that you mentioned, we'd probably add Battery Way as something we've already discussed and kind of parsed parcelled out where we could find the money. Um, other than that, I would suggest that we've all had a chance to tour hockey and that for approximately $300,000. I know you think it might be a little higher than that, Justin. we could um abide by our stated priorities to maintain existing facilities as a priority and I think the hockey rink needs that level of attention. So um you know my summation is I don't have a long list because we already have a long list and we talked about that long list um at the end of January. Who wants to go next?

I can go. Yeah, I support all that because a lot of this was discussed at the retreat and knowing also a lot of this comes from the splast. I was going to mention the battery way because that would be new funding we'd have to identify for that. Um but I think the Brillin redevelopment which would be a brand new playground plus multi-purpose some of that would be spl of that would be cash reserves. My question more so I echo all that including hockey. I support all that. Um, my question is in terms of these state legislative bills that are going through right now, literally right now as we speak on the last day of session,

we're waiting to see what the impact of that's going to be. At what point in y'all's budget planning are you going to start to incorporate that? Is that more of next fiscal year or some of that is I mean of course we got to see what the details look like what they finally agree on in terms of the property tax relief but what's y'all's posture in terms of planning

most likely the next fiscal year. Um I think the way it's structured right now and Chris you can correct me if I'm wrong is there's nothing that would force us to do anything in this bill besides just capping property, which Homestead is already capped via 581. This would cap every property, including industrial and commercial. So, that's the only thing that's really forced on us as far as a new penny like a Lhost, the local homestead sales tax. Um, from what's in the current language, it would be optional and it would be a county run. So, it wouldn't just be us deciding, it would be the other cities in the county at the table as well. So unfortunately, it wouldn't be something that we could just decide to do.

Um, but it it would be something I think that the county and the cities would have to discuss. Absolutely. And I think from my perspective in terms of the budget planning side and in terms of property tax relief specifically, this bill, we got to see what the mechanisms are for us and how we translate property tax relief because historically y'all have done mill rate cuts. Um, do further homestead exemptions now make more sense from a planning standpoint? And that's something we're going to need to assess in terms of the next few years and what makes most sense for us as a council. Yeah. So we can continue to deliver on that.

And that's for me that's why I would come back to the LHOS.

And unfortunately it's not in our direct control. We can't run it directly ourselves. But that I mean local homestead option sales tax. It says it right there is the way it's going to work is a new penny's created. So you run a new penny. Right now we get about $1 13 million in a out of out of a penny sales tax. So if we had a new penny that's 13 million more dollars in revenue, but it's not new. What you would have to do is is you take that 13 million or whatever you collect. I can't guarantee 13 million. Um and you take that amount and you deduct it from your homestead property taxes, which would be significant for peace setting. Thank you,

Miss Johnson. Sorry, I'm typing away up here. Um, so a few things I had, hockey was also on my list, so I'm glad that was mentioned. Um, another thing I have is the youth council. We had a great group here tonight um of youth made me very excited for our upcoming youth council that um we're planning on and that's coming to fruition. Um, and we're working on that. And then Justin, I have a question for you. It seems like when we've talked about flashing lights in the past for school zones that there that that was in a plan. Is that right? Correct. Safe streets from

Yeah, I was Yeah, I was maybe going to say kind of topics, but yes, we're already replacing all the school zone signs with flashing signs, flashing LEDs like so like we did with the stop signs, right? I believe Jonathan's not here tonight, but I believe we've done Peach Tree City Elementary. I we've done Huddleston. Um but we're going to do all of them including the middle school and high school. Who's doing the work on that? Argos. Okay. So, we can maybe prioritize it a little bit more. Yeah.

Okay. That would be great. And then um then one thing I haven't really mentioned this to the rest of council. Um but I've been doing a little bit of um communicating through Justin. Um, I had a resident who came up to me and asked about a possible gymnastics program here. He has a child that goes all the way up to Marietta and like four days a week and spends hours up there and just said, you know, there's there's not a lot of opportunity close to here for gymnastics. And it just happens to be that our recently hired assistant um recreation director went to Alabama for gymnastics, maybe ran recreation in College Park and also ran a whole gymnastics program there that even though it may cost um something to the city and be an investment in the beginning, they came back with a great um just a rundown of what would be the best fit for us and and mainly and I can forward that to the rest of council. But essentially, it would be starting small with a younger group. Um, but in the end, it would be something that could be a um a point of revenue for the city. So, I can pass that on to you guys, but that's something I'm also looking at. I would love to see if we can make that happen.

All right. Anything else? That's all that's all I have so far. Miss Brown, I think I kind of missed the point on this except that, you know, I I did want to point out that when we when we shut down the pickle ball at Brilen Wreck, we didn't put a budget item on that batting cage we were going to put right behind John Riley's house. Right. Right behind his house. Right behind his house. Just kidding. John,

we miss you. We miss you. Um, no. I I I when I say I think I missed this, I you know, it's like I wrote down like a generic kind of like a theme like that I hope that the departments will submit their 20 fiscal year 27 numbers that are basically essentially the same as 26 because there are so many unknown factors. And if they start out at the same numbers that we have right now, then it'll feel so much better as we figure things out moving forward that we can ease that up a little bit instead of having to chop things to make things work at the end. So I was just, you know, my general outline was, you know, identify the things that you need to add above the fiscal year 26 numbers, but show us that you can function on the same amount of money for for next year that you had this year.

They did a really good job of that last year. And uh so yeah, it's a good point because I mean once again I mean we got thrown the curveball last year with 581 and we're getting thrown another curveball and we just don't know what the impact is going to be. Nobody does. I mean we're starting to get more information about it now that it actually passed and everybody's in a panic. But anyway, has me fearful, that's for sure. We did not have to chop nearly as much last year in meetings as we did the years previously. So, they did a good job.

Also, also, let me point out I I know I know I put tears in Chief Murphy's eyes when I, you know, took the fire tower out, but we've managed to find a way in the middle of the year to put it back in. So, sometimes identify the things you really want. Don't be upset you're not going to get them right away because sometimes things work out to your advantage as we go through the years. He's been disappointed on that for 20 years. Well, now he finally no more. Now it's Yeah, now it's coming. All right, M. Is that it? That's it. All right, Mr. Holland.

Thank you, Madam Mayor. Um, I've got quite a few things, so please stay tight with me here. My number one issue is that uh uh we are going to move forward uh according to our uh city manager on the veterans park which will be an update of the uh the old city garden or community gardens that is over on Kelly and that will become a the new veterans park where we'll be taking a lot of the stuff I hope out of this area of the city on right around uh city hall and bring it down to the other end of Lake Peach Tree and build up that area. So, that's a that's one that doesn't it's only got a little bit of funding and I think that we may need a little bit more on that. That's why I bring it up as pos potentially a budget item. Uh I want to make sure that I am also voiced in with uh Councilwoman Johnson. The whole youth council and stuff and taking care of our teenagers here in this city is critical. They're next generation. They're going to be up on this das here in years to come and we want to make sure that they've got a good understanding of what does it take to be a councilman or council woman here in this city. So, I'm certainly in favor of that with uh councilwoman Johnson. Um, let's not forget about bathrooms. I know that city manager is working on uh Drake Field bathrooms. Hopefully, we'll get those things done, but let's not, as everyone says, forget about Battery Way. That needs it also. All right, that's it on those things. Now, going on to some of the recreation areas. I mean, I'm I'm a big proponent for hockey. Right now, we're doing roller hockey here in this city, and I think it's wonderful. We've got a nice program that was presented to us by the

um Peace Tree City Hockey Association which talks about phase one and phase two. Phase one is basically fix up the old building. That building is 40 years old. It needs structural work. It needs just really it needs an upgrade. That's phase one. But phase two be as cocky becomes more and more important in this to our young people in this city, we need to set up something that moves to the next level. Which means that we need to put in a hockey stadium or a hockey building where it has two hockey rinks. Again, roller hockey, not ice, roller hockey. And the cost of that has been laid out. We need to adjust look at that potentially for the future. And that would also fall under maybe those facility bonds that we looked at. But it may be a more than, you know, it's not going to be tomorrow. That may be two years, three years from now before we get to that. So, I'm in favor of going ahead and fixing up what we've got right now. But let's not lose sight that we do need proper hockey. I mean, we've spent a lot of money on pickle ball. We're going to spend a lot of money on on the pool. We spent a lot of money on other sports fields and we've spent almost nothing on hockey and the kids notice that and the adults like myself notice that too. So we need to make sure it just gets a little bit of priority. Um I'm glad you talked about lighting on the adult softball field for men down at me field. I think that's been coming probably for years. I think so.

I thought you said putting on all the fields. I did, but I'm not sure what's going to happen with it with those fields. Ah, we're not there yet. Okay. Well, we're not there yet, but I I would love to have that happen. Um

uh let's not all let's also as as uh Councilman uh Polichek said, let's not forget about Brillin. Brillin is going to have hopefully a large multi-use field in addition to having a new playground there and stuff like that. That needs to be put in the budget. I don't believe we have anything in the budget for that right now. Um, hawk lights. We talked about safety issues here in the city. We don't need any more accidents happening right now on the right near the dam, the Peach Tree City Dam at Kelly. There's a crossroad crossing going over there. It's on would be on the west side. It's going to be east side. On the east side when you come down there and try to cross over at that at Kelly, it's very difficult to look up the street to make sure you got clear view of any cars coming down before you go across with a cart. I'm sure everybody here has experienced that. I certainly have. I think it needs a hawk light so that when someone just like we do in other places in the city, the carts come over, they press a button, they get a red light for the cars, you can go ahead and go across and then it goes green again for the cars. I think that needs to be put into the budget. I don't think it's in the budget right now.

That something that it's also something that could potentially be a grant or potentially be SPLOS could be used for that as well.

Okay. Well, it's a safety issue for all the citizens, not just for the teenagers driving. It's for everybody. Um, I've got uh a couple of others that are maybe down at the bottom of the list that I have here, which is um we've talked about upgrading and putting village signs prominently throughout the city as you go from village to village in Peach Tree City, whether it's Kedran or Brilin or wherever. Let's get those upgraded. It's really a matter of pride that you're I'm a I'm a member of Kedron or I'm a member of Brillin and let's make sure that they're all properly, you know, put signs up that you're going into that area. And last but not least on my list, and I probably could go on with four or five others, but I I think my time is coming to an end, Madam Mayor. And so I only have one more and that is I'm of the opinion that the streets that are run that are part of our city that we control. Most of the neighborhoods are 30 miles hour. Many of them are 25 miles per hour. I would love to see us look and have maybe have the transportation group take a look at this. Is it appropriate to make everything that's not staterun in our city 25 miles per hour on the city streets? And that's just a just a thought that I've had. I've had it on my list for the last four years. I'd love to see it 25 miles per hour. And I think that I think that would be a nice one, madam may for the transportation to take a look at.

All right. Well, this is a budget conversation, but it's going to take a it's going to take some time to do that. It's going to talk cost some it's going to cost some money to get all the signs changed and do that for the city. That's why it's a budget related item. All right. Uh Mr. Strickland, any comments?

I just I'll address a couple of of these because a lot of these are swasts and so they're not going to be considered in fiscal year 27 unless potentially we need additional funds. Uh Drakefield is has it gone out to bid or is about to the bathrooms? Okay. Soon. Drakefield restrooms are going out to bid soon, right? Soon. Okay. Uh I believe Battery Way is getting close as well to going out. It's in design. Um and these are SPOS projects. These are SPAS funded projects. Is battery way a spast?

The the playground and the parking lot are the bathrooms. We will have to either budget or facilities bond. Correct. Okay. So, that is good you brought that up. Um what does it say? Uh Kelly Drive. Kelly Drive. Kelly Drive is also a SPS project. That's the Veterans Park there. Yep. Um Village Signage is also a SPS project. So, it has to know that. Um and TAG is working on it right now. Pause. Right. Yeah. I I passed it off to y'all about a month ago. Um, were there any others? What was on What else was on your list? Oh my god. Well, there's other people things on their list.

He had He also had Veterans Park list. I'm sorry. Veterans Park, I think, was a slost. Yeah. Yeah. I think those are the main ones that are splashed. Maybe I didn't hockey. I think I'm getting a I think I'm getting a a consensus here that we want to look at that hockey um upgrades. Yeah, I think so.

For the for fiscal year 27. I would like to just add one more comment on the hockey thing. Yes, I understand that there's upgrades and it's a going to be a relatively small amount of money to get it upgraded, but I'd really like to have and hopefully some other members of the of the uh council would like to have let's have a deep dive or look at what is it really going to cost to put in twin rinks up here just to get an idea what is it really going to cost. I'm not saying we need to go forward with it, but at least we'll have the information to decide is that something that can go in the budget this year or is it something that's going to go in the budget next year? But without that information, we we we're we're shooting in the dark. We don't have it.

I'll tell you, I I don't mind a a back of the napkin estimate, Justin, if you want to break it down. But I don't think we should be spending staff time to do a deep dive on dual rinks, enclosed, all the site work. I I don't think we need to get architectural designs. Uh if you want to do a back of the napkin estimate on what that would take, I I don't mind that, but that's as far as I would support.

I think there's different phases to this and certainly the one would be back of the napkin. Also, engineering what's possible and whether it's dual rink or single rink. So, I can certainly support us continue going in direction seeing what the long-term vision is for Hawk is one of the amenities that we provide here in the city. So certainly in support of that, um I feel like I would like to assess the needs after we do some improvements.

I think there's probably adequate need since we have two dueling hockey associations trying to use it and lots of kids involved, but um and I know what Clint is envisioning. I'd like to know if that's even possible on that site. And then you know and then the napkin estimate for you know where where does that fit in our I guess not just priorities but the dollar amounts because you know how how much of a heart heart attack are we going to have on you know does that help you understand what we're looking for? Yep. Okay.

Even though I even though I support hockey but you know Yeah. Yeah. Of course. Um trying to think if there were any others I had question. Is everybody pretty supportive of us looking at that pilot program for uh gymnastics? I think Harold, correct me if I'm wrong, but the idea was is just to focus on little kids for the like preschool programs. Yeah, I just sent it to everyone.

I love it. I I want I want to bring up when we were in Kennesaw, we toured their one building and they had um a gymnastics program there. I don't remember what ages they dealt with and how much it cost them to set that room up or how many square feet it took. I think they did all and we don't have So, we've talked about we don't have that square footage right now. I think that's that's going to be our limiting factor obviously. Correct. But we've looked at if we did a pilot with little kids, we could maybe fit it in one of the rooms in Glenlock and just see how successful it is with minimal investment. So, okay. Any other Do you have any other questions? Do you need clarification on anything? I think I'm good.

I think so, too. Um, council staff topics. Anybody? I have a couple things. Go ahead. Somebody else because I'm not organized. Miss Johnson. Oh, can we just get a copy of what you showed us up here tonight? Yeah, absolutely. Can you send that to us? Yeah, that the cola the cola cip uh that one from earlier is that's just from the budget from last year. Like I include that chart in the budget every year. Um I will send you this slide. Yeah, it just wasn't in the agenda and it's just good good information to have. I'll send it. All right. Anything else? Council staff topics? I do. I have a couple of things, Miss Brown.

Um uh I had delayed talking about annual reports. I'm not going to talk about them now. I I decided in looking at all the annual reports that I was kind of going through. I think I'll bring my binder in and sit with Justin and just kind of like express with him and show him what I'm looking at that I'd like tweaked kind of. So, I'll do that with you oneon-one, not here. Um there's a a push going on right now within Faget County whether it's I think it's with Fay it forward but that they're trying to come up with a name like for the path system and I don't think we should allow Fay it forward to name all of the paths in PE in in the county. They don't want to

I don't think that they should name our our paths. Um, and so I think we need to n come up with a name for our own paths. And I think naming it the Peach Tree Pathway is the way to go. And I'm putting together some stuff and I'll be bringing it um probably putting it on the next agenda. Then um the the planning commission did some well Shayla's not here to ask, but the planning commission did some recommended changes to the parking ordinance. Um do do we know if all of those are going to be incorporated? That will be up to y'all. It's going to come it'll

it'll come before y'all in May. We do not have any planning items this month because of Shayla being out. Okay. But there will be some items in May and I think that is one of them.

Perfect. And I'll uh I'll table that until then obviously. Um just for the record, I liked all of the planning department's changes. And now I want to actually read a statement. I was elected in November of 2023 and sworn in on January 4th of 2024. The ink was barely dry on my oath of office when the mayor scheduled our first retreat on January 25th and 6th of 2024. It was held in the FA city hall, excuse me, Fateville city hall. Retreats are public hearings. Anyone may attend and listen. It was not videotaped. It was not audio. No citizens attended. We made a wish list of things we'd like to see in Peach Tree City. The mayor planned our second retreat on July 30th and 31st of 2024. It was held in Suani. I strongly objected to holding it there instead of in Peach Tree City based on cost, the lack of transparency, and Frank's health. It was not videotaped. It was supposed to be audio taped, but after the retreat, I was told there were no audio tapes, no citizens attended that meeting. The mayor planned our third retreat on February 10th and 11th of 2025 at Trillith. I asked if it would be livereamed and it was. In fact, the videos of that retreat are still on the city website so anyone can watch it. It was open to the public. Two citizens attended and that meeting had full transparency. The mayor planned our fourth retreat to be held on January 29th and 30th in of 2026 in Kennesaw. It was held just days after Michael Pich was sworn in. I asked if it would be live streamed. It wasn't. It was not videotaped. It was supposed to be audio taped, but after the retreat, the presentation given by Nikki Vanderlice was not on the audio recordings given to James Clifton in response to his open records request.

All of Nikki Vanderlice's presentation was missing. It was during her presentation that data centers annexation, reasonzoning, and TDK were discussed. Although it was a public meeting, no citizens drove to Kennesaw to attend. When I learned from the city clerk that the retreat would not be livereamed or videotaped, I bought a digital audio recorder to use. Remember, it's a public meeting. Anyone who is attending is permitted to make a recording, including councilmen. I didn't want to rely on anyone else to record it after the prior mishap. So, I purchased an audio recorder. I should have purchased a better one. On the morning of January 29th, I made no attempt to hide that I was recording. My audio recorder sat on the table in front of me. I joked with Martha, who was sitting beside me as she read the instructions for the audio recorder that Jasmine had just handed her. Martha knew I had a recorder and was use was using it. Again, it's perfectly legal. That was the day the city directors joined us midm morning. That segment of our retreat ran quite late, well past the time allotted. Very late in the afternoon after our directors left, Nikki Vanderlice started her presentation. and she spoke about a lot of things. She outlined some details about the Faget County Development Authority. She spoke about the flight school that operates at Falconfield that recently received a sizable grant to expand their operation. Nikki emphasized that there is very little land available in close proximity to the airport for them to build a real flight school. Among a lot of other things, she spoke about the 1100 acres in Kua County just across L Creek from the airport. She said, "We could annex the land and we could have the ability and power to reszone it to whatever we wanted since we have run out of large tracks of industrial land." Nikki explained the Fagetville, Fyet County, and Fyet County School Board will all be able to reduce the residential homesteaded property

taxes to almost zero when the QTS data center is completed. She emphasized that we Peach Tree City would not be able to lower homesteaded property taxes because we won't get a share of the revenue from QTS. The implication being that Peach Tree City needs a data center to generate a similar windfall of tax revenue. But if we annex the 1100 acres, we would need to open a road to that property for our police, fire, and EMS to get there within allowable response times. And opening TDK is simply not acceptable to me. At one point I thought we were venturing into topics that should be discussed in executive session of the council. Jasmine said it was not a covered subject for executive session. So the discussion continued. I think we should reopen the meeting minutes and Martha should do a new set of minutes that clearly outlines all of the things discussed during Nikki Vanderlice's presentation. That would be full transparency. The city issued a letter to local news outlets claiming the topics discussed by Nikki Vanderlice were not discussed and there was a lot of misinformation being circulated on social media. That also needs to be corrected. The second day of the retreat was pretty tame compared to Nikki's portion. When the city received the open records request for the audio files, city staff reached out to Martha, not to me or anyone else who attended. James Clifton reported the missing part of the recordings during public comment on March 5th. By that time, I already knew that my audio recording of Nikki Vanderlice's portion was not really audible. No matter how loud I turned the volume, I could hardly hear any of it. My recording was useless. But why was Martha's recording cut cut off before Nikki's presentation? And why did one of the four files provided to James have a date approximately 10 days after the retreat? Since it's my understanding that files copied from one device or another or location to another get saved with the same name and date as the original unless they are modified or the

name is changed and then saved. So on March 17th, in an attempt to learn what had happened with Martha's missing recording, I reached out to Ted Mer. He said he would look into it on March 19th at 6:20 p.m. I handed James Clifton my recorder just before the city council meeting began right here in this chamber. By Monday, March 23rd, an email went to all council members asking if they had recorded the retreat. I asked for a copy of the open records request regarding who filed it. The response said it was for James Clifton's open record request, and as city staff had been told that I had a recorder at the retreat. I got the recorder back from James and took my device containing all my original recordings to Jasmine at 10:00 a.m. on Wednesday, March 25th. Additionally, when Ted looked into the situation as I had asked, he learned that there was yet another staff member in attendance who had recorded the retreat. Ironically, it was that third recording that was provided to James Clifton that contained a decent copy of Nikki Vanderlice's presentation at the retreat. As I look at this entire manner, I have a few overarching editorial comments to make. Every retreat in the future should be held in our own council chamber where we can properly live stream the entire event retreat and place a video on our YouTube channel. That might avoid the need that I felt to audio record it after the issues during prior retreats. Live streaming the retreat and posting the video would actually be transparency. Plus, holding all retreats locally would save a lot of money. Our next retreat is tenatively scheduled for August 27th and 28th. I hope we have transparency, live stream videos, and no controversial presentations. And no, I'm not going to resign.

Any other council staff topics? I just have one. No, I'm done. Mr. Holland,

I just have one. Um I've um talked with some of the council members here in regards to a subject that's near and dear to me from my days in the business world and that is to have a strategic long-term plan for our city. Just like the founders of Peach Tree City had a long-term plan. They just weren't planning for one to two years. They were looking at 20 and 25 and maybe beyond that. I think it's time to update that. We haven't had an update on a strategic plan for probably 60 years. So, I think it's time that we should look at that and it's going to be quite a to-do. Fortunately, a lot of the stuff as I've talked to the mayor on that we've got already that could go into that plan like our uh like our master plan for uh the recreation and things like that that can go in there comprehensive plan which is more of a five to 10year plan. But to look at what our city's going to be in 25 and 50 years from now would be a nice document to have so that we have it on record of what we think this city could become in the future to pass on to future councils that are going to have take a look at that. Just like we've used the ones that were done by the original founders, we go back and read those. What did they think about this city and its growth? So I think that we need to look at a strategic plan uh in the next year or so and because I think it's something we'd like to leave behind and have it for our own self to be used uh for guidance in the future of our city.

Okay. That's my that's my my point. Thank you. Justin, anything? Nothing. Ted, do we have executive session? We do. We need to discuss pending or threaten litigation in real estate. Can I get a motion? So moved. I move to go into executive session for pending or threatening litigation and real estate. Oh, I didn't hear that one. Sorry. And real estate. I'll second. I have a motion and a second. All in favor say I. I. All oppose. We are now in executive session. Thank you, Mr. Irvin for