City Council - Regular Meeting

I hereby call this work session to order. Please join me for the Pledge of Allegiance.

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

We'll observe a moment of silence. Thank you. Presentation, we have a presentation of Peachtree City's 2026 Summer Interns, Dr. Tabb.

Good evening, Madam Mayor and Council. It is our third installment, our third cohort of our Peachtree City summer internship program. We are so excited to present these young professionals to you this evening. This group has named themselves the Peachtree City Connectors. Their theme is building connections and strengthening the community, our community. So at this time, I will have them come to the podium and introduce themselves to you, and then if you have any questions for them, they will be happy to take those.

Good evening, Mayor and Council. My name is Rory Boyles. I am one of the interns with the Recreation and Special Events Department. I just graduated from Stars Mill High School, and this fall, I will be going to Kennesaw State University, and I'm gonna be studying political science.

Good evening, Mayor and Council. My name is Abigail Brown. I just graduated from Georgia College and State University, and I'm one of the other summer interns for the Recreation and Special Events Department.

Good evening, Mayor and Council. My name is Amanda Gonzalez, and I'll be serving as the tourism intern for the Convention and Visitors Bureau this summer. I just completed my first year of college at Kennesaw State University, and I'll be transferring to the University of Georgia this fall.

Good evening, Mayor and Council. My name is Addison Juggins. I am a rising junior at North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University, and I am interning with the planning and development.

Good evening, Mayor and Council. My name is Victor Montoya. I'm currently a fourth year UGA student studying management information systems with an area of emphasis in business analytics and data analytics. and I'm here interning with the HR department at Peachtree City.

Good evening, mayor and council. My name is Caden Moore, and I attend Middle Georgia State University, and this summer I am the library service intern, as well as the cohort president of the Peachtree City Connectors.

All right, let's give them a warm welcome. We're delighted to have you, uh, madam mayor and council.

We will have an additional intern that will be starting with us on tomorrow. Um, that intern will be starting in the, uh, fire and rescue, uh, department. So they will have an intern, um, as well. Um, and his name is sigh. So it will be a total of seven, uh, interns this year. Do you all have any questions for our group?

Will you be doing a video at the end of the summer like last time?

Absolutely.

Because I really like that video. Yes, ma'am.

So they're ready to get started on bonding over that final project. It will come before you, I believe, at the August 6th meeting, the last week of their internship. So they'll be with us for 10 weeks. So, again, we're excited to have them. And as always, we appreciate your support of this initiative. So thank you so much. Absolutely. Welcome and thank you. Thank you, Madam Mayor. Sorry, we want to get a picture with the interns.

So you all have to come.

You all will come down.

Thank you.

Come on in. Just come on in. We'll merge in. You're tall.

You can fit in there.

Nice to meet you. Glad to have you here.

Hey, nice to meet you all. Great to have you all. Nice to meet you. You guys are the centerpiece. There we go.

I hope they told you about our Fourth of July and that you're gonna be in town for it.

All right, public comment. Madam Mayor, we have two citizens who have signed up to speak. The first one is Mr. John Riley.

We good here? All right. Mr. Mayor, council, staff. Um, my name is John Riley. I live in the retreat subdivision adjacent to the Braylon rec center. And, uh, I'm here tonight for our quarterly pickleball update. I'd like to say something that I don't think that you all get to hear often enough. And that's thank you. Truly. Thank you. Peace and quiet has returned to the homes in three neighborhoods adjacent to the park. It is truly a joy to be able to use our decks, patios and backyards again. Also, on behalf of the pickleball playing community, I'd like to say thank you for the 18 wonderful new courts at Mead Field. We played there Tuesday night shortly after the rain. When we arrived around 6.30 and squeegeed our court dry, there were about three courts in use. When we left around 8.15, there were about 14 in use and cars were streaming in. On a Tuesday night after it rained, there were people of all ages there and it was great to see. Over the past four years, and 60 or 70 council meetings, I've had the opportunity to observe all of you in action. And while it may have taken longer than I would have liked, you guys did as you do for all issues. You listened, you did your research and you acted, you took action as the resident formerly known or possibly forever known as POC POC. I just wanted to let you know that I appreciated that. And thank you very much.

Thank you. Next speaker. Next to speak is Mr. Jeremy Richardson.

Can y'all hear me? Good.

Better? Sure. All right.

Good evening, madam mayor and members of the city council. Thank you all for giving me a few minutes tonight. My name is Jeremy Richardson. I live in Sonoya and I serve as the vice president of the Peachtree city hockey association. I wanted to stand before you all tonight to share a quick update on our travel program and all the divisions that we have this year and celebrate what has truly been a historic season for youth hockey and our community specifically. This past season marked a major milestone for us. It was the inaugural season of our newly restructured Unified Peachtree City Jets program. We brought our programs together under one banner to streamline player development and proudly put our local footprint on the regional and national map. And I'm thrilled to report that the investment this community continues to make in our youth and recreational infrastructure is paying off in a massive way. Just this past weekend, our 10U Jets travel team competed in Nashville at the Wish Cup against a massive field of 18 other teams. Despite being incredibly shorthanded on the bench, these kids showed the kind of grit that represents the very best in our area. Tying the number two ranked team in the entire division with just 13 seconds left on the clock. Furthermore, we had five athletes who elected to compete in the individual skills competition, where one of our young athletes beat out more than a dozen boys to win the entire accuracy passing competition, earning her a featured spotlight on the tournament's international social media pages. But the momentum didn't start or stop with our 10U division. Back in March and April, our 10U, 14U travel teams represented us with immense pride on the regional stage competing fiercely at both the US Roller Cup and Echo tournaments. They were joined at Echo by our 16 new travel team, who showcased the depth, skill, and elite competition level we are fostering as these players grow up through our system, competing in a truly international field against teams traveling from as far away as the Cayman Islands. We're also seeing incredible achievements across our older divisions. Our middle school team fought their way through an incredibly tough season to take second place overall in the Morrill League this year, While they just missed the top spot, the future for this group is blindingly bright because of the raw talent that we are growing right here in our own backyard. Adding to that success, our high school team went all the way through the league and won the league championship, bringing this title and the trophy right back here to Peachtree City where it belongs. It is a testament to what happens when you combine dedicated coaches, passionate family, and a city that supports its recreational spaces. To commemorate this inaugural Peachtree City Jets season to say thank you to the city for your continued support of our athletes, our rink, our program. The team wanted to present the city council with a plaque from the Wish Cup. As the travel season concludes, our work doesn't stop. Later this month, roughly, I'm sorry, I'm gonna go faster. Roughly half a dozen of our older Petrie City hockey players have been selected to join forces with the team out of New York to compete in the Tours National Championship located in St. Louis, Missouri. From there, they will head to Fort Wayne, Indiana to represent our state and our association in State Wars, which is the largest national tournament that is in the U.S. Closer to home, we're focused on breaking down boundaries for the next generation of players. This July, with the incredible help from our city's recreation department and a fantastic partnership with Pure Hockey, we are launching a first-of-its-kind inline hockey learn to play program. This program is specifically designed to drastically lower the financial and logistical barriers to entering the sport of hockey, giving local families a seamless and direct path into our house league. Whether it's our newest players stepping onto the ring for the very first time this summer or our middle school or high school teams dominating in league play, our oldest athletes skating for national titles, the Peachtree City Hockey Association is thriving. Thank you, mayor and council, for your time tonight and for your dedication. to modernizing our facilities and for giving these kids a safe, top tier place to chase their dreams. We look forward to an even bigger and better season ahead next year. Thank you all.

Thank you. Do you need a picture with it?

Yes, please. We would love a picture.

You guys up for that?

I'm sorry to make you get down again.

Who wants to hold?

I don't know if it shows, but if you could take down that four minutes. Who wants to hold?

Come on in here. Yes, ma'am.

How are you? Good to see you. Good to see you, Jeremy.

All right, agenda changes.

okay minutes minutes may that was a no no no may 21st 2026 city council meeting minutes may 21st executive session minutes can i get a motion madam mayor and make a motion that we accept the minutes approve approve the minutes of may 21st city council meeting minutes and may 21st executive session minutes I'll second. I have a motion and a second. All in favor say aye. Aye. All opposed? Motion carries. New agenda item 62501, budget amendment IGA with county for jail inmate fees. Kelly Bush.

Good evening, Mayor, Council. The service delivery agreement that we have with the county and the other cities included a daily inmate rate for each inmate housed at the county jail. The SDA allows for an adjustment to that rate every three years, and this is the second adjustment that they've made. This adjustment increases the rate from $57.60 per day to $72.12 per day, a $14.52 a day increase. It also adds the first day, which was excluded in the original agreement. So attached is a budget amendment for $3,500, which will cover us for the rest of this year, and it'll be about $14,000 additional budgeted into next year, and it also asks for authorization for the mayor to execute the agreement. Thank you. Council, any questions?

That seems like a big increase. Any idea why? Other than inflation?

Well, what they do is they take the prior year's operational costs for the jail, and then they divide it by 365, and then they divide it by the average number of inmates, and they come up with a daily cost. And then prior in the service period, delivery agreement we paid 66 of that daily inmate cost and the first day and the last day were excluded this increases our percentage to 75 and it includes the first day so okay not like we can change it no any uh other questions can i get a motion

As Madam Mayor, make a motion to approve item 062501, budget amendment, IGA, with the county for jail inmate fees. Do you want the amount, too? Was it 35? Okay. As presented. Okay. As presented.

Can I get a second? I'll second. I have a motion and a second. All in favor say aye. Aye. All opposed? Motion carries. Thank you. New agenda item 62502, initiate text amendment for the allowance of push carts. I think what's in our packet is the existing ordinance and council. I don't want to make this complicated. The whole issue as I emailed a while back was that we've had a request from Willow District to allow a very adorable bread pushcart on their private commercial property and we don't have an ordinance that allows for that. So if it's okay with you, we'll send it to staff and the Planning Commission.

No problem with me.

Do we want to establish any parameters for like how many or that they need to get any like a pre-approval from the commercial area where they're going to park that?

Oh, definitely pre-approval, but I would say let's let the staff and the planning commission take a crack at it and we'll make sure that's in there when it comes our way. Okay. All right. Um, do we need a vote on that? Can I get a motion?

Madam mayor and make a motion that we approve items 0 6 2 5 0 2 initiate tax, a text amendment for the allowance of push carts.

Second. I have a motion and a second. All in favor say aye. Aye. All opposed? Motion carries. Thank you. New agenda item 62503, budget amendment, hockey rink improvements. Harold Layton. And Harold, you can start by telling us how you scored two interns out of only seven in the entire city.

Good evening, Madam Mayor and Council. I'd rather be lucky than good any day. We're excited to have both of them working for us. They've already started off doing a wonderful job. We had Food Truck Thursday today and they were very instrumental in that as well, so we're excited about them. So the first item of business for this evening for the Recreation Department would be for a budget amendment for the Kedron Multipurpose Rink. We're asking for $500,000 to me for several improvements with those being and insulating the ceiling and sidewalls down to the pearlings and the girders for spray foam to try to help with the moisture that we're having on the rink right now we would also be looking at new scoreboards for the facility as well as structural improvements that our engineering report found that we needed to do as well as purchasing new walls and boards and glass for the facility that would help us meet ADA requirements around the facility by removing those bracings that are around there. So with that, I'm ready for any questions that you might have on this.

All right, council.

One of the items in the budget is the insulation and I think it's a good idea don't get me wrong I'm a big hockey fan and all that kind of stuff I'm not picking on you but the roof that we have only has a load requirement of one pound per square foot So we need to know the density of that that's going to be attached to that roof because we don't need that thing coming down if it's got too much weight. So eventually we'll need to get that checked out by a structural engineer. Just to be sure, Harold, we don't need having the insulation all of a sudden collapse the roof. Correct. Because that roof doesn't have structural members in there, so it's only one pound. per square foot on the weight. And that includes the roof itself, which is a certain weight. Correct. So now you're going to be adding more to that. Just be careful. That's all I'm saying. Definitely.

And I ran some brief numbers in anticipation for this. With the conversation that I had, we're getting a quote on this tomorrow. But with that, with the closed cell insulation that's sprayed in, for one inch thick adds 0.5 one seven pounds per square foot. Um, if we were to go to two inches thick, that would be 0.33 pounds per square foot and three inches thick adds a half pound per square foot. So I'll address all that tomorrow when we're getting this quote to make sure that we're meeting those requirements as well. Right.

You gotta make sure you add the amount of the roofing materials too. And that's good. I'm glad you're on it. That's that's good.

Thanks, sir. We leave it to the experts. Yeah. Okay. All right. Any other questions?

All right, good. Can I get a motion? I'm going to be happy to make this motion. Madam Mayor, I would like to get an approval, make a motion to approve item 062503, budget amendment for the hockey rink improvement of $500,000. I'll second.

I have a motion and a second. All in favor say aye. Aye. All opposed? Motion carries. Thank you. Agenda item 62504, Cadron Multipurpose Rink Hockey Wall Replacement.

Yes, ma'am. So we also have been looking at three different companies to provide us with a quote for walls and glass for the hockey rink itself. We received quotes from Becker Arena Products, Athletica Sports System, and rink systems as well. And with those, two of those are gonna be through purchase cooperatives, which we are looking to use to purchase this. And the amount that we are asking for is $288,783 for Becker Arena products for this project.

And this is part of the $500,000? Correct. Correct. Questions? And not in addition?

Yes. Sorry, I didn't mean to interrupt you. Any other questions or comments?

I've got some comments to make, if you don't mind. First of all, I am a big hockey fan. I love it. I love hockey. I'm glad we've got one here in the city. But when it comes to structural things and doing the 35-year-old facility that we have, my engineer comes out. So I've got to be careful. I want to put some things out there. So I've written a little bit of this down. I just want to make it clear that I'm in favor of recreational activities, particularly hockey, of course, in Peachtree City, as that is one of the main reasons why people come to Peachtree City and live here, is because of the recreation. All of you know that I've spoken about the city needing to have a 50-meter pool in the future, but tonight I'm going to be talking strictly about the hockey rink that we have here at the municipal rink in Kedron. Last year, the council looked into the structure of the hockey rink and found that it was approximately 35 years old and needed repairs. We were looking into the potential of enclosing the rink and adding HVAC. The HVAC would take care of the continuous condensation issue that has happened at that rink in the building, which makes the floor wet. So the condensation would go away with an HVAC system. Not knowing the condition of the rank building, we asked the staff to locate the original engineer who designed the structure and ask him to come and review the structure for potentially enclosing the entire building. We found his name in the old records and contacted him and asked him to come up and see it and do a little engineering. He did. He came to Peachtree City. He reviewed the structure and said that it needs repairs. It's 35 years old. And if we want to enclose the building, he suggested that we may need to add one or two, and I remember only that as a discussion, I couldn't find it in writing, structural members for the roof, across the top of the roof, to make sure that we can have the load of three to five pounds per square feet, particularly if there is a wind load, and you do have high winds coming in here, and you have to have the ability to handle, I think it's a 60 or an 80 mile an hour wind. Anyway, this extra support would be needed to handle the load, and it would make the structure good under windy conditions. Obviously, this extra support will need to be confirmed by a structural engineer. I'm not a structural engineer, so that's definitely beyond my pay grade to get it confirmed up. Once the roof is supported, with new beams on the inside, we've got a new building basically. And I believe that this takes care of all of the issues that I have and also I think that I'm sure that the Hockey Association would love to have it HVAC'd and ready to go year round. No more sweating in the month of August when you're out there. You'll be having a nice HVAC system. But we've done this, you know, one of our jobs on council is to take care of all of our facilities. We've taken care of the pavilion on Drake Field. We've taken care of the police department, the fire department, public works, and we're currently doing a big job at the Kedron Pool. So we are taking care of business. But let's not forget that little building that's sitting right there in the same area as the Kedron Pool. Let's not forget that. It's 35 years old. That's as old as, I think our building was about 35 years old and we had it refreshed just recently. Now, once we get a price quote for fixing that building, we as a council can decide whether we have the funds or can get the funds to do the repairs. But in the meantime, we should seriously slow down. I'm not saying completely eliminate or take down. Just slow down the interior work before we get the exterior completely set. So it's important that we do a slow walk on this. Not that I'm against it, I think we should have it, but I think that we need to make sure that the outside structure is in good shape too. So I'd like to make a motion that we ask staff, just like we did for the other thing, ask staff to go out and get some quotes for what it's going to take to add more roof supports, enclose the building with sheet metal, and eventually adding an HVAC system, and, of course, getting some structural engineering help along the way. And that's my motion.

I'll second the motion so that we can have a discussion. Yeah.

Any council comments, questions? I have.

I was just going to ask with that insulation, will that help with the condensation or will there still be an issue with condensation?

Yes, the insulation will help with the condensation. This technique is used a lot, especially heavy humidity areas, especially with livestock. They use this insulation to prevent moisture from dripping down on hay and farms where The grass has to, or the hay has to stay dry constantly before you feed it to the animals. So, you know, this is a system that has been tested and tried and true, and it does work. Great, thank you.

How long is this quote good for?

On the boards themselves?

Mm-hmm.

Through this summer? I mean, we've got until essentially end of this month or July before tariffs and prices go up, so.

Is it possible to approve this and still find out what else we need to do for the outside of the building. Once you buy these boards, can they be taken down and replaced and put back together if we do other work on the structure of the building?

Yeah, I mean, we just made the budget amendment for the half million. I mean, if that's something that we want to do, I mean, yeah, we could take a look at it and see what the numbers are and if that's what we're asked to do.

My question is, can we move forward with this and do that as well?

Yes, I don't see why we couldn't.

We could do both. Okay, great. Thank you. That's my all I have. Mr. Polachek.

Thanks. Councilman Allen, agreement about supporting this facility. And I think I've shared before it's when I visit that facility, it looks exactly the same as it did when I was a kid. All my friends played hockey growing up here. And so it looks the same. It's old. And obviously, we want to support our athletic associations i do view it similar to the pool conversation right where i think we stayed at the last meeting all of us are in agreement we would love a 50 meter pool but we chased down the price tag of that and it's just not feasible for the city in our budget um so we're doing what we can with what we have and i still think it's a tremendous investment we're making the kedron pool house i i do operate by the sense of i like to collect the facts and data and see and whether we do it now or later, at least we have a list of projects we can prioritize over the years from a planning standpoint. I know we'll have a council retreat in August here, and we can have further discussion on this. If the ask is, I certainly support the project now, and I appreciate the association for working with us and our staff so well and coming forward with some solutions, what's needed right now. If the ask is pursue a quote on what it would cost to enclose the rink, yeah, I could support that as well. just from a planning standpoint. So we see what the facts are and then we can prioritize projects across the city, across our different programs that we have. So those are my two cents.

Ms. Brown? I got a nickel. more than two cents um first i want to say i think from what i'm hearing everybody supports what's on you know on this list of things to do with the dasher boards and you know nobody's arguing that point the point is actually a different one and it's like okay correct me if i'm wrong but when we first started looking at all of this it was because the heat in that It's not enclosed. And that open area in the summertime means that the kids with all of their equipment on can't really easily play when the temperature goes really high. And then there's the issue of the condensation on the rink surface, which makes it unplayable. So my question is, do we really have with certainty that the foam is enough to fix the problem? Because as I look at it, you know, we've got the issue of the heat. We've got the issue of the water and the humidity on the surface, you know, where it condenses. It rains inside the building. So do we need to enclose the walls and restore an HVAC system to totally fix the heat and water problem? That's the big question. That's the elephant in the room. Is the closed-cell foam insulation going to be enough? I mean, I hear what you're saying, but I also know that with the open walls, there's a lot of heat, especially in the summertime when it's 90 degrees out and 95% humidity here in wonderful Georgia, that there's going to be humid air going into the building, and then when it cools off at night, that's going to still be the rain situation. I don't know that there's going to be enough insulation. interference with the heat transfer into the inside of the building to really stop what's going on in there. I'd love to be reassured that it's all going to work out perfectly. I just need a few more questions answered. So is the closed cell home insulation going to be enough? We don't know. Perhaps in an enclosed building it might be enough. But when hot, humid air comes in through the open walls, can we truly fix the heat and condensation with just the insulation? If we replace the rink boards or dasher system first and then learn we need to enclose the open walls, is that like putting the cart before the horse? To fix the original problem, do we need to totally enclose the building? I'm not hearing a definitive answer in one way or the other with that question. And if so, how much will that cost, which is what Councilman Holland asked, that we need to maybe get some other quotes or an idea of how much it would be. So do we need to shore up the roof main beam or whatever structural members need to be added to enclose those walls? Or are there any other significant structural components needed in order to build those walls? If we install the new rink dasher system and then conclude we haven't fixed the condensation problem, haven't we failed our citizens? Is there any guarantee that the new insulation will fix the condensation issue? If we conclude that we need to enclose the building, aren't we going to jeopardize damaging the brand new dasher system in order to fix the roof? I don't know. I mean, what needs to be done to the roof? I don't think anybody on the council can even answer that question just yet. And what if the sprayed on foam insulation is covering parts of the inside roof that we need to access to strengthen the roof? Now we're gonna have to tear down insulation to strengthen the roof. That's another concern. I can't help but think that we need to ask more questions, get a better estimate for how much enclosing the walls and installing an HVAC system will cost. We're dealing with major repairs to the Drakefield Pavilion right now because of a cost-cutting decision made years ago that has now cost us as much as the original structure did. I don't want this project to go in the same direction. So let's not make the same mistake twice, even though we didn't make the first one on the Drake field. So I'd like a few more questions answered. We shouldn't use the philosophy of let's put a new roof, excuse me, a few new superficial things in the rink and that we can afford instead of finding out what we really need to do to fix the problem. If we don't have the money to fix this problem, then we shouldn't spend $500,000 of taxpayer money just to say we did something. Although I think everything that we're trying to do is good. So I think to be cautious, we need a structural engineer to evaluate the impact of what we're adding to the roof weight and whether it will impact the structural integrity of the building. And then of course, there's the issue of will that also fix the condensation inside the building? So. But I support the Dasher and the scoreboard. I mean, I took the tour. Jerry, thank you very much for taking us all on a tour. I know I went separately from everybody else, and you were really kind to meet me there and explain everything. And there isn't any part of it, and let me just add for anybody who doesn't know this, but we have squirrels living in our current installation. So there are things that need to be done there that will fix other problems that are going on. It's just... I'd really like to fix the heat and the humidity problem.

It's 35 years old.

So first of all, did you have anything else? I'm good now. What is a purchase cooperative?

Purchase cooperative is a company that we go through and we purchase items on that have already been bid out. We're getting the state or federal lowest price that we can from these vendors. We're looking at e-verifies through them as well so that we can purchase items faster, through a cooperative than we can by putting it out for a bid.

Oh, thank you. And that leads me to my next question. What do you think lead time is on this?

Um, a couple of months is what we're hearing back on the, the Becker boards. Um, you know, to kind of answer one of these questions, the reason we're looking at doing the boards first is the safety concerns that we have at the rink. There are some pieces that are broken currently. that skaters could go by and hit their hips, hit their sides on as they're skating through there. So we're trying to alleviate that and make it as safe as possible for them right now. So that's the reason why we're asking for the backer boards system.

Is there any reason why we couldn't approve the $288,000 tonight for new boards and glass and move forward on taking another look at the roof, the structure?

Definitely. And we could do that before we do anything with insulation.

know if that's the route we want to get in faces i think that's a good suggestion i'll clarify to clarify with you a couple i've clarified with a couple of you today the 500 000 reallocation does not does not commit the money that we're spending it it just puts it into a project number and reserves it for hockey uh for the hockey rink so you you didn't approve the installation tonight you just approved the money to be used for it eventually um And like Harold said, the walls are ready to go. We've got a price on it. It may increase safety. And also, if we do, if the enclosure is decided to be done, if we get pricing and you all decide to do it and we have to do construction in there, these kind of systems. So we had a hockey rink in Savannah when I was at the arena, and we would put it up and take it down. I mean, these systems, we don't want to have to take ours down, really. But if we need to for construction, it can be disassembled and then reassembled once construction is over. Okay.

And we will have doors and gates on it so that they can move equipment in and out, put plywood down on the floor so that we can do anything that we need to do while the boards are up as well. Okay. Good.

Okay. I do have one issue, Mr. Holland. My memory is good, but it's short. Did you make a motion just for the investigation? Because I don't think you made a motion for $288,000. No, I did not.

I only made it for having our staff take a look at what it would get. putting the cost together for the things that i asked well that's that's not the agenda no i know it's not but i put a motion that i was trying to get some consensus that we got enough people to have staff go do a little bit of work that's all it is well we have that but but we have an awkward motion now because it's not related to the advertised agenda item but you can have more than one motion madam mayor mr meeker and mr strickland can i get a ruling you have the agenda item

which would include some ancillary matters that pertain to that agenda.

We have a motion on the ancillary.

Right. I think you still have to come back and vote on the actual agenda item.

All right, so we can have two motions on this item.

I would ask before you vote to clarify your motion so I'm clear on instructions. The gist of it, the general is, what would it take to enclose the hockey rink structurally, HVAC,

would it take to have an enclosed hot right you know get the engineer to make sure it's right and get the materials right uh and then of course the cost of the hvac is going to be the 800 pound gorilla in this thing but the big picture is what would the big picture is let's get the structure we put a lot of money in doing our our city hall and other things let's do that structure also so it lasts another 35 years and our grandkids will be able be able to play there. So as far as I'm concerned, that's a critical thing, is get the structure right. And then put all the other good things in that we need.

But it's not, if we do the structure, we've gained nothing unless we're doing HVAC. We're doing an analysis of the structure so that we can put HVAC in.

That's the long-term gain. Well, that's what I've spoke about. Well, you say long term. But if we enclose it, we need HVAC. Yeah, of course.

All right, so that's all together. We're going to ask staff to spend some time getting quotes, information, possibly even an engineering analysis. That is your motion.

Correct.

All right. I have a motion and a second. Any other conversation about that?

Just one more thing, Mayor. I pulled up the report from last year. It doesn't – the one – The one pound per square foot is correct, but when he gets into, he basically gets into the wind load here, and the current wind load is built for 80 miles per hour. What we would need to enclose it is 115 miles an hour rating, but he does not say how many beams or, he doesn't say what that would take.

And that was just my suggestion, one or more beams, so that's why you need a structural engineer to come in here.

that we will have two motions the first motion and second are on the table all in favor say aye aye all opposed motion carries I need another motion on the actual hockey walls as shown in our packet on page 33 madam mayor I approve the Becker arena products as the vendor and purchase the replacement walls for the multi-purpose drink at Kedron and the amount of 200

and $88,783 through Sourcewell Purchase Cooperative.

Second.

I have a motion and a second. All in favor say aye. Aye. All opposed? Motion carries. Work session agenda item. Braylon Recreational Center Playground Designs. Harold Layton.

Right.

This is the Harold Layton show.

We're going to keep you up there for a while.

So, excuse me. Madam Mayor, this evening, I have several different designs at different price points for a potential playground at the Braylon Rec Center. And those price points are a half million dollar playground, a $630,000 playground, a $750,000 playground, and a million dollar option. Kind of what I'm asking for this evening is kind of guidance if what we would be looking at for our next meeting to hone this in. All four of these designs have been already selected by our recreation advisory group. There were actually 12 designs that they chose from, three or four at each price point. And so this is where they've landed and where they wanna be. So first up is a half million dollar playground. This has a mulch bed in it, typically what you would see at a playground?

Mulch bed or a soft surface?

This is a mulch. This is just a, just throw mulch out there and refill it every year. This is a towered option from Play World.

Harold, this is all under the half million dollar one? Yes. OK.

The half million price point and the 630 price point are the same playground. The 630 has the port in place surfacing in it instead of the mulch. OK. Thank you. So again, several options of play area. that you're seeing through here, several slides. We want to look at the functionality, how many ADA components are in this. All that's been taken care of through the vetting of the advisory group. Got a few shades involved with this one.

What are we looking at right now? And if there is a price point shown on these slides, I can't see it, just so you know.

There's not. I'll let you know when we get to the next one. Thank you. These are all the half million dollar price point.

Oh, we're still at half million?

Yeah, there's several slides for each one.

And the difference is the foundation, what's underneath.

The surface? Between this and the $630,000 price point, yes. The other two, there are significant differences.

Okay.

This one is not a themed playground. It's just several different structures.

Just to confirm, Harold, you're showing us the same playground, different angles and sections of the same playground. Yes.

When we get to the next one, I'll make sure I'll let you know.

Thanks, Harold.

Harold, on this $500,000 one, I don't think you've addressed it quite yet. Maybe you will for those that are disabled.

Yes. There are between 12 and 13 ADA components for disabilities on this playground.

Thank you.

And I believe all of them have at least nine or more in them. Thank you. All right, so this takes us to the $750,000 price point. This, again, is a port in place structure. This is a dinosaur-themed playground that was selected. There is one area. This area right here would still be mulch because it would have some fossil components to it that kids could dig in and move mulch around to find the fossils in there. You would have a couple different swing options through this that could also be therapeutic as well for kids with disabilities. Wow.

What's that building?

That is actually the current restroom facility at the Braylon Rec Center.

Oh, that's how close it is?

It would be off of that. This is just to try to put some comparison. You saw the baseball field in the background. That would be the proximity of this as well.

Hey, Harold, what age groups are these mainly suited for?

So these playgrounds are for children, and there's two different areas in each playground. We try to do it as much as possible. we would cater to two to five-year-olds and also five to 12-year-olds through this playground. So essentially two to 12. Again, several landings, several different treetop options on the post to give a little bit of shade with some character.

Hey, Harold Lee, I don't notice any places where parents can sit down under shaded areas. Is that coming up?

Yeah, there's one actually right there. Is that what that is? Yes, it is. That's a shade structure with a bench.

There's a couple on each one.

Okay.

Thank you for pointing that out.

As I'm going through, just fire away with the questions. All right. This takes us to the million-dollar option. All right, so this again is a themed playground as well that has two different themes. One of those is a pirate theme and a space theme as well. And again, you can kind of see the, excuse me, the relationship to, you know, this would be the baseball field, the bathroom facility, the bathrooms, and then we would have our multi-purpose field over here on this side. So again, it's been a historic year with our space program here in the United States with Artemis II and actually the advisory group like this with the space theme. Several mission control panels to go with this. What's the price point on this? This is the million dollar playground. And now we're into the pirate ship section of it.

How long do you think this lasts? What's the life of a playground?

Typical playground life expectancy is between 25 and 30 years now.

Even for the ground surface?

Surfacing is 20 to 25 years, yes. We would do a little bit of coating every three to four years on it to help extend the life expectancy of it as well.

I would have thought the sun would deteriorate it faster than that. Dry it up? Yeah.

All right, this is the 630 price point, which is the same playground that you saw first, but now you have the pour-in-place surfacing as well with the designs in it.

So 630 is the 500 plus the surface?

Yes, ma'am.

Harold, what is that netted thing?

On which one?

It was just in the last slide. So in the back.

Oh, it's a basket climber. It's a net climber. Similar to what we have at ACP, there's a net component that kids can climb up on.

OK, so it gets wider and then it goes?

It gets wider and narrower, yes. They have to be rated for no more than a six foot fall height between.

OK, thanks.

Notice the peach inlays on the pour in place. The what? Oh, peach. The peach inlays on the pour in place.

Cute. What is the benefit of the pour in place versus mulch?

Great question. So that helps with our maneuverability of wheelchairs with ADA. It also ensures that for the longevity of the playground that we have the head impact criteria for falls on our play surfacing. Mulch, as you're putting that in, Over time, it compacts. You have to constantly go in and perform maintenance on it to fluff it up and refill it so that you're constantly meeting that fall height criteria. So this would always meet that.

And what's the lifespan of that product?

20 to 25 years.

Great. Thank you.

Well, I hate to say it, but we can, for reasons of low maintenance, safety, and ADA, myself, I would probably take the mulch option off the table. I agree.

Yeah, Council, and just from my time on the rec board, that was always a big discussion, and it was always the consensus of us on the board that playgrounds in the future in Peachtree City should just get rid of the mulch, like as we update our playgrounds over the years, uh, and also from a staff standpoint to maintenance, additional maintenance costs of the mulch coming in, although that's not that much, but still, um, from a labor intensive standpoint and such, that is kind of the, in terms of modernizing our playgrounds, um, that was always, that's why I learned from Harold on the rec board.

Do you have more of these to show us?

This is the last concept of this. Like I say, it's the same one that you've seen just with the different port in place.

You got a Peachtree City logo on that? Or it's just peaches? It's just peaches. It's just peaches, okay.

Is this still customizable?

Yes.

At all?

Yeah, I mean, we could change colors on any of the features. We could look at a different... you know, possibly doing different colors on the surfacing if we want to, obviously we want to want to do something with a lighter color so that it's, you know, it's easier on the heat for us in the summertime. But, um, that's why the tan was chosen.

That makes sense. Um, as far as shades, we mentioned it, I think in the last meeting where shade structures are so expensive and you kind of give up play equipment for shade structures. And you mentioned possibly putting like one small little water feature to kind of cool off with. Is that something that we would look at doing at this park?

We haven't up to this point. Obviously, if there's something that you want to look at moving towards in the future, I'd be glad to take a look at that as well. Are you talking about water?

Yep.

Okay. Sorry, I was whispering.

Could you. So the recreation advisory group has obviously done their homework. I'm so grateful and doubt that what would have taken us five up here about three years to hash through. Probably they did with professionalism and focus. So I'm super grateful. So what was their process like? They just looked at different themes or they looked at different sizes or.

So all of these playgrounds are either the same size or larger than ACP is. that we're looking at anywhere between 9,000 and 12,000 square foot. So we were looking for a big impact playground for that area. Um, that was the number one ask. And then, you know, number two, when we were going through all these different, I, uh, you know, playgrounds to look at, we actually had some kids come in and sit in on the meeting and they actually helped with a selection of this. They answer questions like, Hey, which playground would you like this play on? They're like, we like this one. We like that one. And they took that information, you know, to heart and, You know, they've gone to all of our playgrounds throughout the city. They've looked at all of them, and they are in agreement that we need a refresher on some of ours. Most of our playgrounds are at least early to mid-90s. So we've got a lot of work to do to catch up on these. And, you know, it's been fun and rewarding in the process of, you know, kind of going back to our 10-, 11-, and 12-year-old sales and wondering what it would be like to play on all these.

Do you have more of these to run us through, or that's it?

That's all of these.

So, Council, my suggestion is let's keep going through. There's no action required tonight. We're here to have an open discussion. Let's keep going through and look at what's next on the agenda.

Mayor, I do have two questions as it relates to this, if I may. Yeah. Is there opportunity, to Councilman Johnson's point about shade, to plant trees adjacent to that? I know the other side of that parking lot has trees that have matured, and it's a nice little picnic shaded area, kind of where the ninja course is planning to go. Is that something we could do potentially here? Because there is a bunch of green space there, and plant some new trees adjacent.

Yeah, I mean, we could look at trees. We could look at adding some secondary shade structures with some picnic tables.

the future as well as part of this if that's a direction we would like to go to and to add on to that councilman like we said in the past well number one we have a tree fund so we can do trees out of that and that's the mayor and i talked about that for all children's recently where the tree fell um they will take a while to grow though and we won't see that shade benefit for a while um thank god what was the other um pavilions oh yeah yeah And it's cheaper for us to go back and do shade structures ourself off of the playground a little bit than to build it into this. It's cheaper for us to do that separately, you know, like after the fact for those kind of options. And then as Councilman Johnson was saying with water as well, that's something Harold and I have kind of just started looking at throughout the city, especially in these areas where maybe we do plant some trees and we won't see that benefit for a while. put a couple of little spouts out there. And that's something we could also do a little after the playground's built.

Yeah, and one other thing of note, ASTM standard for playgrounds does require that tree limbs or anything above play surfaces has to at least be 12 foot or higher above the actual surface itself. So as we're going through thinking about trees, the ASTM standard says that we are to maintain that. One more question, Madam Mayor.

What is your plan with the old playground, that space? Because this is going to go in a different location. What's your vision for that space?

Yeah, because obviously you have different groups of kids that are playing basketball and adults that are playing basketball, young adults. So we wanted to kind of move the playground away from that end of the parking lot, move it over to a different area to have more room. But I would be open to looking at possibly adding another picnic shelter or another. Another basketball court. Another basketball court or something.

Because those basketball courts are packed all the time. And so adding two more rims and another concrete pad with a basketball court right there. I will say, too, that playground being by those basketball courts is not ideal.

No, it's not at all.

There are kids that use some kind of language on the basketball court. Really? Oh, yeah. Those are all my questions. Thank you.

Okay.

Madam Mayor, I've got a couple questions, if you don't mind. First one is on cost. Now, we built the all children's playground. I don't know how much that was. I don't remember. How is this related as far as cost is concerned for the two different, you know, the playground? We're looking at probably, I think all of us like the one with the hard surface in it, not the one with the mulch in there. So you're looking at at least three quarters of a million dollars, I would think. How does that compare with what we did over at the previous one?

I mean, it is going to be an increase because of the cost of a dollar today as opposed to a cost.

All children's total was right at half a million. Okay.

For how many square feet?

Almost 9,000 square feet.

Mm-hmm.

And that was four years ago?

Mm-hmm.

So we're looking at an increase of maybe 20% to 40% more than what we paid before, which is reasonable.

At how long has the all children's been around? About four years.

Four years.

We cut the ribbon in August of 22. Okay. Yeah.

Good. So it's definitely inflation has hit that market also. I have a question also with the rest of the field there because I'm trying to place this and see how I see the baseball fields behind and things like that. I know that one of the areas we've been thinking about at Braylon is having a multipurpose field. How far away is this going to be from that multipurpose field?

it's at least going to be 150 feet from that fence.

Perfect. It's not right next to it. With little kids there, and if somebody's out there playing cricket and a cricket ball heads out, we don't want to get any of the kids hit.

Yeah, no, there's a cart path that goes between there. There's the existing former bleachers. There's the fence that's there. There's that wall for that cart path right there as well. Perfect. Thank you. There's a good amount of room.

And we're holding our opinions now?

Isn't this all going to play in together as a cost factor? This is about cost. We all want the best one. I want a pirate and a spaceship, but we also want some ninja stuff. You can't always get what you want. Exactly. So let's keep going, and we'll make a total decision. How's that?

Love it. Ninja's next. Yep.

Hey Harold, before you start the Ninja one, how many playgrounds do we have that cater to the age bracket that the Ninja one has?

Zero.

That's the point.

All right. So, um, this is a Greensfield Ninja course. Um, Greensfield does not currently have any of these in the state of Georgia. Um, we would be the first in the state to have this course.

Sounds like a road trip.

yeah definitely um i've been looking at these for for a couple of years they actually set these up at the nrpa conference in the exhibit hall and everybody's all over them they have challenges for all the recreation professionals down there it's they're awesome they're just great pieces i've enjoyed working with them but you can kind of see through this some of the elements of it um you know constantly like councilman brown said Our playgrounds are geared for 5 to 12. This would be something that could take anywhere from a 10-year-old, possibly up to 20, 30, 40-year-old person, or even older should they want to. This would be something new and exciting.

Get the ambulance there.

So we would look at doing the same surfacing. We would purchase the equipment from Greensfield, but we would also do this in conjunction with the playground as well because we would use the same installers for the playground and also the port in place surfacing would also go into this project as well. So as you were looking through the packet, I'm sure you saw the Ninja Course, what it was, and then you saw another quote from PlayWorld. PlayWorld would be the installer for this. So, again, several different cargo nets, several hanging elements for athletics and working through this.

This Ninja course is going to be, what, 50 by 100, roughly?

I've got the dimensions. Oh, you've got the dimensions. Yeah, they're on the slide at the very end. Yeah, they've even done these. We were talking with the manufacturer and, A lot of places will do something like this, and then they'll also do a 40-yard dash course right at the end of it so that they can go through the course and then do a 40-yard sprint as well. So it's pretty neat.

This one doesn't have the sprint?

No, it does not.

No.

It would be an additional. So we could come in with the surfacing. We could get a quote to add an additional lane.

Yeah.

to the width of it.

Can you tell me where we are right now? Are we on another, okay, now we got to do 500,000 or what?

Yes. So to purchase the greenfield, we are looking at just the equipment purchase itself is $299,789. And then with the installation and the surfacing would be an additional $231,000. So 530, 550, 560, we would add a couple additional shade structures as well for this area. Because where this would be located is the opposite side of the playground. So as you pull it into Braylon, the playground would be on the left-hand side of the parking lot. The Ninja Course would be in the area on the right-hand side of the parking lot where we just planted those trees for Arbor Day. Last year it would be in that open area would be where this would reside.

Is this going to be too much noise for the houses? For John. John's not here, but, you know, that's the first thing. I looked over there to see if he was there, and he's gone now. But that's a question I'm sure he would be asking. How noisy is it going to be?

It's a playground. It's the same as a playground. No, I'm talking about the Ninja course, not the playground so much. This is all solid stuff. It's not anything with a big noise impact or anything. Okay, good. The basketball court is going to be louder than this.

Okay. That's all I needed to hear. Thank you.

So are we about to look at some options that are scaled in price?

No, this is the only option that we have so far on this.

So it's $560, $550?

Yes, ma'am.

Unless we add a lien. I think the lien sounds cool.

And, Harold, all of this is under the splost dollars. Is that correct?

Yes. Yes, this would be splost. Okay.

Just making sure.

It would be almost all of it. What's that? It would be almost all of it.

Use up the whole amount for this project? Okay.

Wow. If you go with the million dollar option on the playground, it would be more than what's in there.

No, no, we don't need to do that. I like figuring out how much this one is and then maximizing what else we have and top it out with our dollar amount.

You got 1.2 million in there.

The number one issue that we hear from a lot of people is, what are we doing for our teens and youth? and this was something that we came up with to try to help with that.

I love it so much.

Hey, don't forget hockey is a major sport for the... I know we're on that, but it is for that same group of ages is hockey. Right, guys?

Oh, boy. Do you have more to show us?

They're all just other additions to the facility as well. So you've seen the gist of it. You've seen the layout that's...

much all of it awesome council i'm i'm going to jump in on this one well before so before y'all go can i just talk about the financials a little bit with this boss all right so this boss project is currently 1.2 million is what was put into this boss i've talked to all y'all the the budget for the original for 2023 spots that the county gave us was 67 million My estimates, very conservatively, based on us plateauing in revenue like we have this year a little bit, is that we will take in about 80 million in revenue by the end of the SPLOST. So my expectation is that by the end of the SPLOST we may have more funds and we could go back and revisit playgrounds. So I just want to make the point that if you do end up spending most of the budget of that project on this one site, opinion one way or another I think it's I think it's awesome like having a ninja course in playground but I guess my point is is that after if we end up doing this and it's close to the amount we have budgeted in swath my recommendation would be that we kind of pause and any other playground projects that we want to do that would be significant we kind of hold and finish all the other projects in the spost and see what's left see what money is left yes

Ms. Brown.

Laura will verify for me that when I went through this on my original look through the agenda packet, I picked up the phone and called her. It happens sometimes. It does. Because I wanted to find out from her with her age kids. what her feeling was on it because my grandkids are like huge American Ninja Warrior fans, huge. And they would absolutely jump for joy if we put this in. And even though they're kind of aging out at this point, one's 15, one's 18, I've still got a 13 year old granddaughter, but it's the boys who are the more active ones at this point. they'd be like thrilled to death to have this in Peachtree City. I don't know any kid who wouldn't want this. In the right age bracket.

All right, next, anybody else? So a little bit of how this came out is I went over to the recreation to see all of the posters that they had up for the parks and they were all great parks, they all looked, Beautiful, but for me it looks like more of the same, you know, I think a lot of the parks that we have currently You know are aimed at the age group that a lot of the parks, you know that we just saw are and so as nice and new as they are and would be I just kind of felt like there was something I I don't know, maybe lacking in the fact that it was just more of the same. And so there happened to be a brochure for this Ninja Corps sitting on the table, you know, and I was like, well, what about something like this? And, you know, it just appeals to an age group that we don't have things for. Um, not that we don't have anything for them, but like our parks and stuff are much more aimed and geared towards younger children where I feel like this opens it up to a much wider age group. Um, So for me, and if we are going to lump the earlier issue with this one, my personal choice was instead of the million dollar playground, let's go with the cheaper option there and then use some of that budget for the ninja course as well. So I would be inclined to do the 500,000 but with the port surface though, the 630 option with this. I would be interested in the little, the sprint thing. I love the idea of like them running through this and then getting to do like the dash part afterwards. I, it's not a make or break it, you know, like if, if this is what it is and that's what it is, I don't know how much that would add. But I think it would be cool. Anyhow, that would be, that is where I would like to go with these two things.

Mr. Polacek.

same and credit goes to councilman johnson on bringing this i think it's a brilliant idea and i'm gonna have to move down to braylon now build this um welcome to the south side so i'm in support of the i like the the 630 playground option with the soft surface and then this this ninja course um and curious to see what the cost would be for a sprint From a holistic standpoint, I guess, to share a story, I caught up with a friend who lives in Alpharetta, came down, played some cards at a friend's house, and they're both graduates of Macintosh, husband and wife, have three kids, and I'm saying, do y'all plan to move down here? And they're like, we would, we just love, they're like, all children's is nice, and Some of the playgrounds, obviously, we love the golf cart paths. But in Alpharetta, we have a nice playground in every region of the city. Our playgrounds need help in the city. We have a lot of opportunity, I think, in the years to come. And just realize that's not anything against, I've talked to you about this, Harold, anything about our staff. It's funding over the years. But I think we have tremendous opportunity to come up with a plan and update a lot of our playgrounds and modernize them because just from being able to attract younger families here, it may come down to that. It may come down to this city has a cool ninja course, and I don't have any other suburb in Atlanta that has something like this. Because, look, Peachtree City is not ever going to have, like, a multi-use downtown area, all that, or a stadium. You know, it's just – This is what we pride ourselves on and back it with investments like this, whether it's SPLOST or maybe over the years some reserves and we'll have a future SPLOST. There's tremendous opportunity updating all of our playgrounds and doing innovative stuff like this to attract the next generation of families. So I'm in full support and I'm excited to kind of see the next steps of this. Timeline, one more question, timeline. If we were to approve this in a couple weeks, do you think it's like a six-month, 12-month project on both?

So we would move forward with the Meade playground first, which we've already voted on that. We're working to get started on that. Then once that's complete, we would try to roll right into this with lead times. It would depend. Hopefully by next spring we would have this installed. Great. That's all I got, ma'am. Thank you.

Mr. Holland?

Well, I want to chime in with all of the councilmen and women on here and say that I really think, at first I said, a ninja course? Then I got to look at all the stuff here, and I'm way in favor of this. I wish I had one like that when I was growing up. But I'll tell you what, I think that really helps. keep that thing that I've always said, Peachtree City needs to be different. We need to be first class. First class and different in everything. And this will differentiate us from the north side people. So I'm definitely all in favor of doing the Ninja course. And I actually have to agree with Councilwoman Johnson that we need, I think that 40 yards or 40 meters sprint on the one side, I think that's an excellent addition if we can afford it.

What's the cost, do you know?

I will get one of those this week.

Well, you're going to be coming back with all of this again, so you may have some more numbers.

Yeah, I'll have this hopefully by the next meeting, and I'll be able to.

So in summary, I'm definitely in favor of it. But I did see something in your slides here that I want to ask. It says certificate of grant award of $40,000 to Peachtree City.

Yes.

What's that all about?

So we actually received a grant. discount from greensfield for the amount of forty thousand dollars on this program fantastic thank you thank you very much you know the other we did some good negotiating the good negotiation first he can tell you but then he's going to have to kill you yeah they want to put print and they probably want us to advertise and so i think they'll come and take pictures and put it in their their brochures i can tell you this one of our fame one of our favorite gymnast assistant directors did some leg work on that for us.

I think it's great so you've got certainly 100% backing from me on this and you know this is what I expect on all of our recreation areas is being first class and being the best.

Can we put it ahead of the Mead one? What's that?

Just kidding.

Just kidding. Can we please go back and look at two things on the slides? One would be, I think we're all in agreement. We want to see the greenfield equipment for the Ninja plus the running thing, running lane. Can we please go back and look at two things? The $630,000 park and the 750. I don't suppose we can put them side by side. both being the poured in place surface. Can we look at what one looks like, the 630,000 and then the 750, which was the dinosaur, right?

I like the tower. I like the tower. I like a tower. I like a dinosaur.

Yes, so this is a 630,000 one.

Is it sort of like 9,000 square feet like all children's maybe?

Yes, this one is slightly larger than all children's. It has a little bit more of the play components, play elements than all children's does because we spent more money on shade at all children's than we would here. Okay.

I have kind of a comment. I see the value in having the theme with either the dinosaur pirates or that kind of stuff, but I think as kids get closer to the eight to 12 age bracket, that's less of an attraction. For the little kids, if you had something more themed just on the pieces of equipment that would attract the younger kids, kept just more of an athletic straight unit you know utilitarian kind of approach yeah on the things that would attract the 8 to 12 years old or you know I think that that might be kind of a better cross I mean I don't have a vote but I like this one this one is the 750 750 630 630 yeah okay

it's got the correct flooring in there and the correct ground yes okay it's got the tall side what's the is there a is there a theme to the 631 or is it just a playground no it's just a playground okay i mean there are some little things that are here and there um you know we've been looking at this peach arch that will be at the walkway that will go through there um with our city font on it with a you know signage on it as well so looking at stuff like that to incorporate

All right, I didn't think I would, when we came back, I didn't think I would want the 630, but you have convinced me that that's more than adequate, and we can have two quality facilities if we had the Ninja plus this particular choice.

So if you're adding those two together, you're looking at about 1.1 million?

Yeah.

Does that sound about right? 1.186.

Plus or minus a dollar or two. Okay. All right.

I could do it. Anybody else want to comment on that? This is very exciting. Thank you for all the information.

Thank you very much, guys. You're welcome. So we want to come back with the 630 soft surface playground and the ninja course with the option to add on the 40 meter dash.

Yes.

Are there other things that we should be looking at in conjunction with both of these, the playground and the ninja, as far as options? I mean, now that we're at it, let's take a look at any others that you may come forward with.

Okay, wait, what?

Okay, I'll say it again. Based on what I've seen for both the 630 playground and for the Ninja, there must be other options that you can look at. Obviously, when you put options, that means more money. But, you know, there may be options that will make them more enjoyable and higher quality and do more things either on the Ninja or on the playground. I don't know if that's something you're going to be looking at, but I certainly would be interested in seeing what the options are and what they would cost.

Isn't that, we already did that, right? The Recreation Advisory Group went through it.

Yes, ma'am. So there's nothing else. Now, these were the four price points that they looked at with the best bang for our buck on those projects.

I mean, I think, honestly, the reason, me looking at it and thinking about my kids, the reason why I like just the playground one without a theme is that you just look like you're getting more stuff for them to play on and bigger stuff. which to me is what the kids care about more than it being a pirate ship.

Yeah, I agree. And I went to the recreation advisory group meeting when they were talking about this. I didn't say anything, but I was there to observe, and they had, you know, they had, it wasn't just, they had, what, like three options at each price point, and they went through all of them. So they had several options. We're good.

We done love it wonderful. Thank you so much council staff topics anybody Mr.. Holland do you have council staff topics?

The only one I think it's the one we discussed earlier, and I'll let you go ahead Oh, yeah, okay. That was the only one I had on my list.

We'll do that. Okay, okay?

Just want to give two cents or a shout out to the world cup. That's kicking off next Thursday. USA has the home opener Friday. Obviously it's a big moment for our County too, because it's the headquarters of the new national training center. Something I think we're all proud that they selected Fayette County of all the counties in America to have their new headquarters. They just had their last training session today. They're off to Chicago for the last prep match before they head to the West Coast. And Harold and his team are putting together some watch parties at Drake Field. And if you've never been to a USA World Cup watch party, It is a blast. You don't even have to be a fan. The World Cup is so special and the fact that it's back in America since the last one was in 94 where no one even knew what soccer was. So come out to Drake Field next Friday. The kickoff is at 9pm but I know it will be open earlier for folks. It's very kid friendly. There will be games and vendors. And I've been to watch parties in the past when I lived in Atlanta. I mean, there's thousands of people that show up, and everyone's screaming at a screen and cheering on USA. And it's a very unifying moment for her, can be for her community here in Peachtree City and at large. So go USA, and that's it. Awesome. See you there next Friday.

Suzanne?

Do you have anything? You said you had 15 minutes worth of comments.

Okay. Just kidding.

Now, just a reminder to absolutely everybody, the Democrats and Republicans are having a runoff election on June 16th. Early voting is from 9 a.m. to 7 p.m., Monday through Friday next week, June 8th through the 12th. And on Election Day, the hours are 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. at your local precinct.

Otherwise, vote at the library. All right, I've got a couple. On Saturday, we're busy this weekend. On Saturday morning at 9, there's a ribbon cutting for a new trail, the Gin Branch Trail north of town. And to get to it, you go up to World Airways Drive over by the new residence inn. So that's going to be a lot of fun up there.

Before you go to the next one. I'm going to have my golf cart because I live right around the corner from that. I'll have my golf cart out there so you can, cause it's a long, long walk for some people from the parking area all the way down to gin branch. So I'll run a little shuttle back and forth with my golf cart, taking people down so they don't have to walk.

All right. Thank you. We did a wonderful chip Connor Island dedication. It's not nookie Island anymore. It's not Snake Island anymore. It's not Spyglass Island anymore. It is Chip Conner Island now and going forward, and it was a wonderful dedication. Thanks very much to Recreation, which made it really special, and to Public Works, who pulled that sign together, and we had a nice unveiling. It was really a family event. It was fun. Saturday, the Close Less Traveled is sponsoring a community day at Drake Field, right? And they're bringing in information. You can get information about nonprofits and other resources for people who need it. If you have a need in this community, there are lots of resources. And you could show up at Drake Field from 10 to 2. Also, there's a shredding event starting 9 until 1 at McIntosh Trail Complex on Saturday. June 6th, 9 to 1. June 6th, 9 to 1. Do you have any?

Can I backtrack to one other thing?

Yeah, go ahead.

I just want to really do a shout-out and a big thank you to the Recreation Department. for hosting what I think was one of our best Memorial day services that we've ever had. And I mean, it was nice having it inside without having to deal with the sun and the wind and everything else and not blocking the traffic in front of city wall to get to Drakefield. But I mean, it was, it was enjoyable. I've heard only wonderful comments from everybody I've spoken to. It was great.

And the American Legion gave a big round of applause for what was done at the center, and they're hoping that we do it there year in and year out. They said it was the best that they've ever seen, plenty of room, and it was a great affair. So thank you.

Okay, I have one last thing. I might need your help, Michael. But in the legislative session this year, our state legislators on the very last day, sine die, at about 11 o'clock at night on the last day, took a form of property tax legislation and tacked it onto a hemp bill called SB 33. So it's a bit of a, last minute kludge piece of legislation that would impact the way we levy property taxes in Peachtree City and would impact the way we may or may not choose to offset property tax loss with a sales tax instead. about two hours before okay yesterday the governor and it was announced that there will be a legislative special session that was announced earlier but yesterday they announced that with that special session there there will be discussion of property tax legislation did i get that right so far and with that there may be an option for cities and counties to have a a local extra penny sales tax or a flossed which is a different kind of extra penny sales tax to make up for any potential legislation that would reduce our property tax bills. So that announcement was made yesterday and about an hour and a half before tonight's meeting I was getting contacted by mayors in Peachtree City who have to decide whether they want to advertise publicly that they might want to have an L host or a flossed that advertisement would have to run by June 16th and Impeach Tree City, our legal organ, is the Fayette County newspaper which does not come out every day. It comes out on Wednesdays and they need advance notice and the advance notice would have to be placed by tomorrow at noon. This is no way to legislate property taxes in Georgia. And it is my humble opinion that property taxes are levied locally by local officials. Forty two percent of our revenue is property taxes. We do a good job in the public forum. We have public meetings public hearings public workshops. This is our job and and this state level legislation is not helping. If anybody feels their property taxes are too high, we invite them in. They're part of the process. We work together to make sure that we're meeting Peachtree City's priorities, taking into account our priorities, growth, inflation. It's done locally by municipal and county officials. So what we've been dealt now is that no doubt there's nothing to bind us if we place an ad in the Fayette County newspaper the legal organ by tomorrow at noon we will do that I'm only sharing and that does not bind us when we do our budget this year I'm only sharing it because I want my council members to know what I know and this all happened in the last couple couple two hours before this meeting so we're backed up on the calendar for that reason I'm pretty frustrated by the last minute nature and what seems like haphazard legislation affecting our local property taxes by state officials. Michael, I'll let you take it from there. I'm gonna try not to say anymore.

Just to add, what Governor Kemp added to the special session was the option for municipalities to have a referendum to consider Elhos or frost and that came at the request when I gathered came at the request of several cities around the state who are going to be impacted by potential property tax legislation more so than Peachtree City and they really wanted an option this year to go ahead and vote on something so what the special session what they're going to consider is is giving the option for folks for cities and towns to put something on the ballot in November so citizens in their area can vote on it. And I think my two cents here, because I am always going to advocate for additional property tax relief in a responsible fashion where we can continue to deliver our services in a quality manner, but we have to look at the Everything's more expensive now over the past few years. And I think over the past few years, it's always been the trend to look at our millage rate. But that seems to be shifting more into what cities can do and the ceiling and the potential of what we can do with additional homestead exemptions instead. So I'd be... motivated to ask our staff to kind of look at what could be a realistic pathway for future city if this is something and i know legally we have to so that what you're saying that mayor legally we have to advertise this if we're going to consider something and on the ballot doesn't mean we're going to commit to it but legally we have to put this on advertise it with Fayette News by tomorrow. It doesn't mean we're holding to it. It just gives us the option to consider it and review it as we enter budget season. But really looking at what is a realistic path for us to continue to add on to our homestead exemptions in a responsible manner and how do you balance that out with another revenue source rather than cutting And, you know, so I'm curious what that pathway could look like, because the trend is going to be, unless you have a massive revenue source, you know, really that millage rate, the pathway is going to be homestead exemptions moving forward, I think, what all cities are considering instead of cutting the millage rate. It seems like that's the trend now. So anyways, I just wanted to add to that and clarify, but. That's spot on.

Thank you. So we'll see where it goes. Anybody else want to comment on that, Justin?

A couple of points I realized today, too, just kind of thinking about why they did this, and municipalities asking for it, is that unlike other sales tax that are authorized in Georgia, this one requires local legislation where you have to ask the legislator to approve for you to run a referendum, whereas a SPLOST, a TSPLOST, a FLOST, all these different sales tax, none of those have those requirements. None of those just, you can run a local referendum without having to go to local legislators. So I see why they're asking for that of, we would have to wait until 2027 to ask the legislator while they're in normal session to be able to run it in 27, whereas some cities want to be able to run it this year and approve it. So I think that's a big reason why they're calling it. And then secondly, I don't believe they're changing how the L-host is laid out, which I think I've told you all this. I would love the option to be able to run a sales tax without the rest of the county because it gives us freedom. It gives us autonomy to run a sales tax if we want to. It exists in the state of Georgia. A municipal option sales tax does exist, but it is only for, I think it's only for Fulton County municipalities. Yeah, that's correct. It's only for Fulton County. So the L-host is not changing to where we could run it as a city on the ballot, we would have to have agreement between all the cities and the county to be able to put it on the ballot. But from what I understood from some emails going around today, I think all the municipalities and I got some emails that the county is going to run it, run the ad. So to have the option, which the county would really be the key one with this because the county has to actually do an IGA with all of us and they would put it on the ballot. And that's the way pretty much all sales tax, that we can run a structure that has to go through the county.

Then does it go formulaic like SPLOST?

We would negotiate a formula. We would have to negotiate a new one.

if i i think this is a question for ted sorry councilman i just have one comment to make i'm i'm always skeptical when we're exchanging property taxes for sales taxes to get the revenues there with sales taxes it sounds great except when there's a dip in the economy and then we've got still delivering the services but we don't have the value of the revenue source because of the economic conditions. That's the only thing I'm worried about.

My understanding of the way the L-host would work is that it just, dollar for dollar offsets property tax. So if sales tax are down, then your property taxes are gonna go up.

Okay, so you can adjust your property taxes Oh, that's going to be fun for the year. When you give it away and reduce the tax and say, oh, by the way, this year it was going up, you know, there's always quite a pushback from the residents on that. Yeah, the exemption is calculated by the exact amount of sales tax you bring in. Okay. That's fraught with danger for all of us up here.

Yeah. That's all I have to say about that. Any other council staff topics, Justin?

No. Sorry, Madam Mayor. One more. If we were to, so we advertise it potentially, and then maybe it's a question for Ted. When's the deadline for us to decide whether it's on the ballot in November?

I'm going to be honest with you. I'm going to have to look it up. Okay. Because I know there's an earlier deadline this year because – of the statewide and the county elections. So I think they're having to build their ballots, but I don't know the dates. The deadline would be on Fayette County, not us.

Oh.

That's what I'm trying to say. If we cannot run an L-host by ourselves, the county runs it, and we would be part of an agreement.

Thank you for clarifying.

I thought with the most that we could. I know that. I understand that. But it is available in the state. But right now, only Fulton County has got it. If I read the history on that, they applied to the legislators to get it passed so that they could do it in Fulton County. That would mean if we decided to do that, would we have to do it too? It get the legislators to pass it. I'm just, I guess you could always ask.

You could ask.

You can always ask.

As I recall, targeted to a very specific need that Atlanta had with respect to us water system.

Okay.

Normally you can look back at certain things and there was a big ticket item that Atlanta or Fulton County had. that necessitated what amounted to a special tax that only those jurisdictions could levy.

Good answer.

My question is, does every municipality within the county have to agree for it to be put in place?

Because I know in other taxation things, to be honest, after the mayor's discussions we were having, nobody knows. I think they would. I think that we all would.

I know SPLOST a lot better because I've dealt with it my whole career. I'd have to read the LHOST more. I've read it, but I'd have to look at it more. The way a SPLOST works is you get to run it an additional year. A SPLOST is actually built for five years, but if every jurisdiction in the county agrees, you get six, which is what we get. I don't think LHOST would work that way, but that's just kind of... But the county would have to run it. That's the key. The county has to agree.

You know, this is just the knee-jerk reaction to what they did to us in the last legislative session. You mean with 581?

Yeah. Not too many people took it, so they're coming back at us.

And I know, you know, I don't have a vote on council or anything, but I have always just personally kind of agreed with Councilman Polachek where I've I'm not necessarily opposed to homestead exemptions per se. It's just a matter of where does that hole get filled back in for revenue.

My humble opinion, I shouldn't say this out loud, if our state legislators want to relieve our tax burden, there are ways they can do that with income tax. Exactly. leave the property tax to the locals. We know our communities. We know our constituents. We know our priorities. We are accountable to our neighbors.

We're accountable to our citizens every two years. Some of us are on the ballot.

That's exactly right. I'm going to leave it at that. All right, do we have an executive session? No. Oh, can I get a motion? No. Can I get a motion to adjourn?

So moved. So moved.

Can I get a second? Second.

I'll second if you take it.

I have a motion in it.