Board of Commissioners - Regular Meeting

Welcome to our Board of Commissioners meeting for Tuesday, June 9th. Thank you. At this time, we'll call our meeting to order, and we'll begin with our invocation and pledge from our friend, Pastor Michael Hedgeson, from the Conyers First Methodist Church.

Good morning.

Good morning.

I just want to say a word. I've been in this community for 25 years, and I'm so grateful to be a part of the Conyers and Rockdale community. I came first as a pastor, and then I served as 17 years director of a nonprofit as the Rockdale Coalition for Children and Families. And so for the past two and a half years, pastor of Conyers First Methodist Church. And I love this community and I appreciate you guys and the service that you provide. I don't, you know, think of any other place where I really want to be. And so I'm so grateful for you guys and what this community means. So let's pray together. Father, we thank you for your goodness and your grace and your mercy and the opportunities that you give us each and every day to serve you. We thank you for this community and for the leaders that you have put in place in this community. And Lord, I pray your blessings upon them. And Lord, I pray that you would honor us with your presence in this community, that you would continue to watch over us, protect us. Lord, even when we have times when we don't see eye to eye and we may disagree, Father, may we have still a spirit of agreement that all of us want what's best for this community. And so, Lord, we give you thanks, we give you honor, and we give you praise for you alone are worthy of that honor, of that praise. Lord, bless this meeting today with your presence, for I pray in the powerful and the precious, the matchless, and the mighty name of Jesus. Amen. Stand 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. Thank you.

Pastor, if you will keep us in your prayers as leaders in our community, I think one of the beautiful things is that we like to move in a spirit of peace and with collaboration. And as a board, we've always tried to do that. But for us to continue to work in that vein and bring our community together to find common sense resolution to issues. So thank you very much. God bless you. Thank you all. All right. Very good. All right, today we have a presentation and this will be from our CFO, Mr. Majid, Director Majid, and this will be for a 2026 monthly budget to actuals and this is for April.

Yes. Good morning, Madam Chair, Commissioner William, Commissioner Smith. We are presenting our fourth month into the fiscal year, which is the 33.33% last and 66.67% is our ideal percentage remaining. We are trending nicely. Most of us are above the remaining percentage, above the ideal percentage. That means there are no colors or they are in green. Green also means that we are spending less in comparing to the last two Aprils. Blue has something that we call it the ideal percentage remaining is less than, I mean the percentage remaining is less than the ideal percentage remaining. There are few of them and they are mostly our contract services. We pay upfront on those.

And that's the blue one? The blue ones. They spend more than normal, but it's because they have contract services. So they may, for example, pay those contracts in advance and it's not evened out throughout the year.

That is true. General fund as a whole is underspending. No projection at the time is too early to project. And or both the enterprise fund and also the E91 is fine.

Okay. All right.

I'm here for any questions other than that. This is pretty simple.

Okay. And so can we talk about for those in green, those are the departments that are under budget at this time. Can you call those out for us?

Yes, yes, yes. So first one is clerk of court. The other one is planning and development.

What is the first one?

The first one is clerk of court. Clerk of courts. Planning and development.

Okay.

And then we have debt service. And the last one is over enterprise funds stormwater.

okay and when we talk about debt service we have a couple just for information for the public so we have a couple of things that we're still paying off which is our debt yes yes so for costly mill we have one more payment is this our last year or next year so next year is the last year last year for payment yes and that is about nine hundred thousand a year

It's about a million dollars.

A million dollars a year. Okay. All right. Anything else that's coming off anytime soon?

No? Nothing. Probably, hopefully, Sigmund Road also.

Sigmund Road, if that's sold. Very good. Yes. All right. And then Stormwater.

Stormwater, yes. Doing really good.

Really good. OK, excellent. And then for those that are over budget, you have explanations. So for EMS, I see that they that again, as contract services are street lighting that will be evened out through the year. Yes. Our agencies, that's paid quarterly, so no concerns there. The same with libraries and our economic development. So that just has to do with the payment schedule. So E911, you put that it's an annual contractual payment, and that will also even out through the year.

It should be, yes, special revenue fund. Yes.

Okay. Very, very good. Okay. Well, this is just a way for us in the community to keep up with expenses and let people know as the year progresses instead of waiting until the end of the year. This is very helpful for me during the planning season for budgets and as we work on our millage rate for next year. Absolutely. All right.

And the budget is open now, so for the next year. Yes. And any question, I'll be right here. Thank you so much. Thank you for your work. Oh, I appreciate that. Thank you.

And thank you for the work of the different departments. Yes, definitely. Because it's really them that are doing the great work.

It is true, yes. Thank you so much.

So let's talk for a minute about the budget hearings and what the public can expect, because certainly they're welcome to be a part of that process. So we'll start meetings this August.

In August 4th through 6th, we are planning to have everybody else, everybody from the department, elected offices, come here, present the budget to you guys, and we call those budget workshops. And after that, we'll be hoping to have the public hearing for the military, which I think is scheduled for August 18th, as a public hearing for that one. And then from there on, we'll be working into a regular budget. Hopefully we'll adopt in the very early December.

Very good. Well, I know that you've been very helpful in your department looking at the budget and also any cost savings. And the directors did a great job in 2025. So we were able to recapture about $4.4 million that is beneficial as we work towards reducing the millage rate. So certainly we appreciate all that good work.

Well, I appreciate all the departments and elected offices because it's all of them coming together to do that saving. And hopefully, I don't think we can repeat that, but hopefully we can.

Oh, I hope so. All right.

Thank you so much.

Okay, and then is Director Berkley here?

Did I see him?

Yes. Do you mind coming to the podium for a minute? Director Berkley is our tax assessor, and I know that our notices for assessment went out, and so I just wanted to share with the public information about the change in the presentation of the forms. Some of you may know that the forms have come out and those were approved by the Department of Revenue, the format. And so Director Barclay's gonna share a little bit about the legislation that they did at the capitol that helped formulate how that presentation was. A lot of times, doesn't matter what level of government you're at, whether it's the federal, the state, or the local, sometimes in the rush of creating legislation the intent is good but the outcome may not be quite right and so that may look like what we're experiencing right now which is a form that doesn't give you a lot of information and so for that we're sorry but unfortunately we didn't get to make those decisions on what the form looked like so we want to talk about some options

Absolutely. Good morning, Madam Commissioner and fellow commissioners. My name is Will Barkley. I'm the chief appraiser throughout the state of Georgia. Every assessor's office has to send out an annual notice of assessment. As last year, we dealt with House Bill 581, which modified the way the assessment notice was calculated as well as the information that is on the assessment notice. This year we had Senate Bill 566 that also modified the notice of assessment. It's going to be slightly different from what it was the previous year. There are some key components that were on the previous notices that are not on this year's notice. This is not unique for Rockdale County. It's not unique for Newton County, nor is it unique for DeKalb County. Every county within the state of Georgia are obligated to use this particular form. So what we also will do is present copies of other jurisdictions' notices so that people can see, because there is a misconception that Rockdale County is trying to hide taxing information. And that's the farthest thing from what we're trying to do. And you have to remember, we're governed by the Georgia Department of Revenue. We didn't create Senate Bill 566. That was introduced by some state legislator. That went before several committees went to both sides of the house and there was a vote and they approved that and that went to the governor's office. The governor signed it and once that bill was signed, it was forwarded back to the Department of Revenue and asked that we modify all of the forms that we were going to send out this year so we were we had a very tight window in order getting the notices out so most people noticed that their notices were in the mail at the last part of april like they traditionally have been over the past several years this year they didn't go out until may 29th so we were a little bit behind but we have to modify those notices to mimic what the new legislation has mandated that we do I don't have the authority to add any additional information, nor does the Board of Commissioners or the tax commissioner. We have to utilize the information that is given to us from the state. So that's why the form looks the way that it looks. One of the key components on the form that we have on there is a statement in section one i don't know if you guys can pull up the actual um how to read your notice of assessment if you can pull that up i go through and explain how each one of the different sections what is uh what is on there and section one is pretty similar to what it was before this just gives you the date that the notice was mailed It notifies you how many days you have in order to be able to file your appeal. You have 45 days from the date of that notice. That went out on May 29th, you have until July 13th in order to file an appeal. Some additional language that they added for this year was that If you are receiving an exemption that you're no longer entitled to, you must notify the office that you no longer have that exemption. That was not on the forms from the previous year. But based on the new law, 566, it was mandated that that information was added. So that information is added on there. In Section 2, it talks about your rights to file an appeal. It gives you all of the standard rights, who to contact within our office, our phone number, and to contact individuals. Section 3, which is similar to what was on the previous form, it talks about the property identification number. It'll list your partial number, your account number, the total acreage, as well as your tax district. All of that information is similar to what was on the actual previous form. The next section talks about the current year and prior year value. So the focus on this was to make certain that this notice was not necessarily talking a lot about taxes, but more talking about assessments. So they took away the 40% number, which was the assessed value, and just focused mainly on the actual current fair market value. And you have to remember, I throw this caveat in there, is that because of House Bill 581, If you had homestead in 2024 2025, you are going to have your value frozen. So regardless of whether your value, your fair market value increase, you're going to receive an exemption for the difference. That's part of House Bill 581. That portion of it is still in place. So just remember that when it relates to your value. So now there's a property description as well as a property address. Those items are listed on the previous notice as well as on this notice. You would have the next section would list why did we change the value? What are the reasons for any changes? That would be in section six. Why are there any changes? We have to notify you of why there were changes. That was on the previous form and it's also on this form. Section 7 talks about your homestead exemptions or any other exemption that you may qualify for. So if you have an over 65 exemption, it would spell that out. Last year on the form, it only listed a number, which would be L6. That would indicate you are over 65. This year it spelled out, it says that 65 years of age or older on the exemption to notify you that you're receiving a 65 or over exemption. And section eight is mainly just talking about the estimated tax saving. And that's based on the fact that if you're receiving a homestead exemption, they're gonna calculate what your savings will be from receiving that exemption. That's the change from what it was on the previous year. Last year it was a, estimated tax based on each individual entity but that's no longer on the assessment notice it will be on the tax bill the tax commissioner is required to continue to place that on the tax bill but it's no longer required to be on the notice of assessment we would love to have that on the notice of assessment so that everyone would know but i don't have the legal authority to be able to modify the notice in order to put that information on so it's not that we're hiding we have that information but we legally can't put it on there so what we've tried to do is uh the tax commission i have worked together she has a place on her website where if you place your information within her calculator, it will calculate and give you an estimate based on the previous year's millage rate and the current year value to give you an estimate amount of taxes. But that is on the tax commissioner's website. One of the things that we also are doing, we're trying to look to see if there is a way that we can add it to our QPublic website to make it even more easier for the property owners just to go to their address or their partial number and be able to see that same information. So that's in the works as now. I think that covers pretty much the assessment notice and you have until July 13th to challenge the value and they wanted to make certain that the notice was focusing more around valuations and exemption and not taxes because this is not a tax bill this is just your annual notice of assessment just to notify you of your assessment for this year and any changes that may have occurred. Any questions from you?

So would this include for people that live in the city? Did that notice include the city also?

Yes, we sent out roughly 37,924 assessment notices for all the property owners within the county. And I think we have roughly eight 1,800 in some personal property notice that we sent out to the businesses. Yeah. So this is a county and a city as well. Any additional questions or anything? No. All right. Thank you.

I appreciate it. All right. At this time, we have public comment. And if you'd like to speak today and you haven't filled out a yellow card, we have them available in the lobby or you can raise your hands and we'll get you one.

All right.

Chief Sanders, will you read the statement, please?

Yes. To ensure a respectful and productive environment, comments should be addressed to the chair and limited to three minutes per speaker. We strive to give everyone a chance to be heard while keeping the meeting on schedule. First, we have Roderick Bond.

Good morning.

Forgive me if my voice is a little rough. I work third shift, so I'm foregoing sleep to be here. Thank you for being here. First thing, I got a question about something to talk about this morning, about the budget. Were each of those columns the monthly expenses?

That was year to date.

That was year to date? OK. Yeah. But each column is a separate month on expense, though, right?

No, no, no. So had the approved budget on the first column, the extended year to date for 2026, and then it gave you a comparison for extended 2025 and extended 2024 and then showed the remaining budget balance.

OK. Yeah, the top column was cut off on the screen, so it's kind of hard to follow up.

I'll give you mine when you leave. OK.

So my questions I have for you, I'm trying to keep this brief, is about the projected or the draft UDO that's out there right now. With the full health and environmental impact of the Biolab fire still unknown, I believe now is the right time to improve protections for the residents of Rockdale for any new businesses that are wanting to come in. Even because the UDO that's currently in place was created after the Biolab fire. So I don't understand why...

That UDO is from 2006, was the last time that it's had a total rewrite.

OK, it must have been an update that I saw from last year. It's had some updates. So yes, like I said, now I feel like it's the right time to improve protections for the residents of Rockdale. One concern I got about in the draft is about the eight-foot wall that has to go around the data centers. Now, these buildings are 85 feet tall or up to 85 feet tall with the cooling towers on top of that. That's what's making the noise. On most businesses, that's where they are.

I'd have to check on that because we don't have any to date.

Yeah, but normal buildings, any business out here, their cooling is on top of the building. So it's more than 85 feet tall. So an eight-foot wall on the ground isn't going to do anything to stop the noise. So that's an issue. Another concern I got is about the heat island that these hyperscale data centers can create, which can increase the temperature up to four degrees, up to eight miles away. So right now, the draft says they shouldn't be more than seven, or they gotta be at least 700 feet away from a residence. Well, if you've got a heat map that's going eight miles, anything less than half a mile shouldn't even be considered for that. Because for those that are living close to that, they've got lawns, they've got gardens, they've got animals. All of that is going to be impacted by that, which means they're going to be required to spend more money on cooling. more water to take care of their gardens, their animals, their grass, their gardens for themselves. So that really should be considered about these heat islands.

Did you email that to the planning department? No. There's a UDO website that you can go to and provide comments.

I just kind of burned through the UDL last night while I had like 30 minutes between calls.

That's impressive because it is lengthy. But yeah, we would welcome your comments. And Director White is here today, and he'd be glad to speak to you afterwards if you'd like.

I also want to know why there aren't any surety bonds being put in place.

So the UDO is still a work in progress. That's why there's moratorium.

Yeah, that's what I'm saying. It's a draft, but there's already, I would think, again, with the biolab fire that just occurred, and we want to do better for our residents in Rockdale.

That's why we're improving the UDO and doing a total rewrite. Most of the time you just see bits and pieces, but this has been a very extensive process for...

understand I understand like it's a draft so where my problem is it is a draft so I think the first thing you'd want to do is make sure you're ensuring the safety of the residents of Rockdale sure there is no mention in that draft of any protections for the residents of Rockdale none whatsoever so I find that a little weird that y'all are here to help take care of us, make sure we're good, we're being safe, we're being improved. And the one thing missing from that entire draft is any protections for the residents.

Yeah, I think maybe in 30 minutes you didn't get to read them all, but Director White will be glad to go through some of that with you. OK, thank you. That's all I got.

Thank you.

All right. Next we have Sarah Kennedy.

Good morning. I had to bring my child today, so. Karen, can you say hi?

Hi.

Good morning, commissioners. How are you doing today? So I had two things to say. Number one is an odd question. Can you guys explain to me what the rule about chickens? Because we talked about that earlier. I don't really understand why we need three acres to have chickens. So I'd like someone to explain that to me.

Go ahead. Oh, we don't normally do that during the format for all the answers to questions. We get a lot of questions. But Director White, I'd be glad to talk to you about that.

So that was one just random question. I was like, while I'm here, because I've never done one.

And like other things, there may be considerations that they're looking at for the UDO, just with the change in time. Because I read through that 500 pages, and

focusing on something else. And I was like, I should ask that while I'm there also, because it doesn't make any sense to me.

Well, we hear that also from people in this city, because their rules are different and limit what they can do.

And like 90% of the people that I know that have them have less than an acre. So it's like, I don't really get it. Okay.

but that's kind of the whole part about the update and the rewrite is that there's lots of little things along the way that through time through practices are very different now and so we're trying to capture all of that and it's a massive undertaking yeah so that 500 pages is thick i'm elbow deep in it it's no fun yes um also my question about we have the meeting on thursday so i'm not going to waste the time for this meeting to consume with that

But I did want to ask, after reviewing the DRI report on my own, two things. One, it was the suggestion of the DRI report that this MM&M site does not match our community, does not match the land, is inappropriate for where it's being proposed. To me, excuse me, son, turn the volume down on that. Sorry. Why if the DRI report is saying that this is not a good fit for our community and these are not county, this is, you know, this is a serious deal. Why has that not been taken into consideration or has it been and to what level?

I have a question, what is DRI for people who don't know?

Correct Regional Impact. So when a data center applies to take over a piece of land and to move in, once it's triggered into the state piece of that where we're involving protective measures for residents watershed that kind of thing the dri report is something that they're required to do not only for the protection of us but for the protection of the surrounding counties because the watershed as we discussed at the other meeting affects everybody because of where we are so i've read through it and it said implicitly that this does not fit well for our community in any capacity and who authored that one The DRI report? Oh, my son has my phone. Okay. Sorry. That's okay. I'm very sorry. But I was just curious, like how... Deeply is that being taken into consideration when we're thinking about this and when we're considering protections based on not emotion or a personal perspective. These are experts that are trying to lend hands here and give you the reason to say this is not appropriate. And if we're talking about, I'm reading through the UDO, just to say, you know, where we're talking about the Honey Creek bridge or the Lakeview area or whatever where you guys are talking about replacing and infilling those areas with nodes that involve multiplexes, single family homes. A DRI report that says a 300 acre data center does not fit, does not fall under any of those nodes within the UDO. So it just doesn't make any sense to me why any of that even from just a legal standpoint from that paperwork makes any sense whatsoever so to what degree will that be taken into consideration and how has it been well we read an immense amount of information I have not seen that report so that's why I asked where you got it from because have you had it You're Mr. White? You've seen the DRI report? So you would, yeah.

So, but that is all taken into consideration when we make decisions. Great.

So that, will you guys be reviewing that before the meeting on Thursday? Okay, and so for us, this group who have, like I've gotten, you know me, I've got a 20-page response to the UDO full with... all that is that something that we're gonna even have the time to present in person at this meeting or is that something I don't know cut make copies give to you so we can go over the process as soon as we finish great look comments perfect so that you'll be and you'll let me know about the chickens yeah director white well yes yes yes yes all right next we have and SAP

Good morning. Good morning. I'm a 26-year resident of Rockdale County, and I would like to discuss the noise that will be produced by the data centers. According to the Energy Study Institute, data centers emit sounds at a range of frequencies both high and low. When operating, data centers emit sounds from the humming of the cooling systems and the air chillers, the rumbling of diesel generators, and the whirring of fans, creating a direct environmental stressor. The World Health Organization has noted that chronic noise exposure above 53 decibels is associated with significantly higher risks of hypertension, stroke, and heart attack. The EPA and the World Health Organization both recommend an outdoor noise level of 55 decibels during the day, and the World Health Organization recommends 40 decibels at night. So why were the acceptable decibel levels in our county UDO set for 65 during the day and 55 at night? Also, the UDO does not state how compliance will be verified and no fine or consequences indicated for violations. The World Health Organization has also noted the need for more research on how environmental noise, including infrasound, impacts long-term health. Data centers produce infrasound, which is a low-frequency sound under 20 hertz beneath the threshold of what most people can consciously hear. Infrasound moves through the air, solid materials, traveling long distances, and passing through buildings, walls, and even human tissue. And even though it can't be audibly heard, it's felt by the human body and causing people living near data centers to fall sick with symptoms such as headaches, insomnia, vertigo, nausea, tinnitus, anxiety, and depression. For general continuous environmental exposure, which this will be because the data centers run 24-7, Health agencies and researchers recommend maximum limits for infrasound remain under 80 dBZ to 90 dBZ to prevent any long-term sensory or psychological disturbances. So why were the infrasound limits not set in the UDO in addition to decibel levels? The term secondhand noise is increasingly used to describe noise that's experienced by people who did not produce it. Les Blumberg, executive director of the Noise Pollution Clearinghouse, an anti-noise advocacy group, said, secondhand noise is really a civil rights issue. Like secondhand smoke is put into the environment without people's consent and then has effects on them they have no control over. Living with constant noise from data centers in Rockdale will subject us to this secondhand noise, which we didn't ask for, and all the physical and mental health effects that go along with that. If the residents have an issue with the noise or begin experiencing health issues, what will be done? Thank you.

Ruby Henderson. Oh, that was quick.

Hi, my name is Ruby Henderson. Good morning. Good morning. I'm a resident of Rockdale County for the past 36 years. I left New York City looking for peace and quiet, OK? I have a very simple question, and I'm sorry if I missed the memo. But how did Rockdale County, the third smallest county in Georgia, get picked for a data center? That's my question. And if I missed the memo, sorry, but I don't understand it. Well, two comments.

One, we're the second smallest. Oh, OK. Yes. And then as far as how we were chosen, I'm not sure. That's an economic development question that you would have to ask that company. They're the ones that decide. But I would guess that because of the power grid and accessibility, that that would be a key factor. And they were working back in 2023 on that deal. So. Rhonda Lawson.

Hello. First, I wanted to know if you could answer her question that she asked you.

No, I just, I don't remember what question she asked.

What was your question again?

But I'm not going to do that. She can talk to me afterwards, but you can go ahead.

Okay, well I wanted to know the answer. With the noise, she said if people start to have these conditions, what would Rockdale County do?

so I'm not really sure we have businesses throughout this community that have been here for a long time our data centers are a newer part of the community but we have put a moratorium in place so that our UDO could be rewritten and updated and that is the point so that we can look to make sure that we're doing our very best job to protect our community to balance our tax digest and a myriad of other things including Could be chickens, could be a lot of other things in the UDO, but we've had probably more than 10 community meetings that people were open and welcome to come and attend, learn more about the UDO process, and talk about issues of concern. So we have made that open and transparent over the last year.

Okay, so you're saying you don't know what Rockdale would do if people start developing all of these symptoms and illnesses and problems because of the noise levels?

Just like the BioLab matter, I would think that you would reach out to BioLab and that's what the avenue has been for citizens. We have been trying through the UDO process to make sure that we do our best to put safeguards in place.

Okay, you're saying safeguards in place. The question is, why not just prevent it from happening in the first place?

Well, I wish we had that amount of ability to do that, but we do not know all of the challenges for each of the hundreds of businesses in our community who manufacture all kinds of products.

They also have... No, we're talking about the noise level. I well I don't know but the UDO process is open so you can write an email or you can attend any other meetings that are still out there okay I just was asking the question she asked and I thought you would be able to answer so if there is the UDO right now And we bring up this point to show that these machines will cause harm to every Rockdale citizen and maybe other counties nearby. So we can do that to prevent the center from coming in. Is that what you're saying?

You can write emails to the, go to the UDO website and you can write emails to the director who's running the updates for the program.

Okay, so you say I could write emails. I want to know would the emails make a difference?

sure absolutely so that's the whole point of having all the community meetings for over a year is to get engagement from the community so we've tried not outside of the udo meetings and stakeholders group we also as a board have had community meetings and town halls at night so we um and also virtually so we have definitely tried to hear from the community But like anything we do in a community, you're going to have new opportunities, new things that come in, and you have to make adjustments sometimes to make sure that it's a good fit for the community.

Okay. Because I recall a town meeting over Zoom. It could have been about seven months ago. I'm not quite sure.

That's probably about right.

And the conversation was about the data centers, the battery centers, and all of that. And I actually asked the question, can we vote on it? And your response was, no, you can't vote on it. We vote on it, and we've already decided, and there's nothing you can do.

We didn't have a data center before us, so I'm not sure why.

No, voting on it. This was seven months ago. I asked the question, is there something we can do to stop this? Can we vote on it? And you said, no, we cannot vote on it. There's nothing that you can do. We make the decision. You voted on us.

No, I would never say there's nothing that you as a citizen can do because I don't believe that. I can only state the process. And the process is that there will be hearings along the way.

You didn't say that. Because I would have gotten engaged seven months ago. I thought at that point, because what you said, there's nothing we can do, that we voted on it. You don't get to vote on this. We make that decision.

The only one that I knew of at the time was D.C. Blocks, and that was already done. There was nothing anybody could do because that had been voted on and started back in 2023 before we were even in office. Right.

okay so but seven months ago when we had this town hall and we were talking about battery centers coming in you're saying we were talking about the D what what is it again DC DC block DC block so you're saying that's what that meeting was about DC blocks it wasn't about what's going on it was about a lot of topics I don't remember no I'm talking about the data in a battery center

We didn't talk about the battery center because that wasn't on the table at the time.

It was quite a few questions about a battery center because I remember people kept talking about the power. Actually, a lot of the questions, they never responded because a lot of people, I mean, I was reading the questions, but they weren't answered. But it was a lot of questions about the Battery Center during that meeting. I don't remember that.

I'm sorry.

Well, you didn't answer those questions.

Well, we answered a lot, as much as time allowed during that meeting. But thank you for your comments, and I'll be here afterwards if you have more questions. All right, moving into our agenda, I'll need approval of the agenda for today, please.

I move to approve the agenda as published.

Madam Chair, second the motion. Okay, I have a motion and a second. All in favor say aye. Aye. Aye, the motion carries. Now we'll move to item 6, approval of the minutes for May 12, 2026. I move to approve the minutes as presented.

I second the motion.

I have a motion and a second. All in favor say aye. Aye. The motion carries. Item number 7, we do not have any unfinished business, so we'll move to item 8, which is new business, and we'll start with item 2026-275.

Good morning. Good morning.

This number 275 is ACCG Retirement Services through the Human Resources Department.

This is for defined contribution administrative services agreement. This is the fee structure. It is effective July 1, 2026 until amended. And this is a budgeted item. And I'll keep going until you stop. Number 276 is Burgess Events and Amusements through the Human Resources Department. This is for the Rockdale County Employee Appreciation and Benefits Fair in the amount of $38,790.25. For the single event on September 12th, 2026, this is wellness funded and is a budgeted item. Item 277 is with Dell Microsoft through the Technology Services Department for Microsoft Office 365 True Up and Enterprise Agreement Renewal for three payments. Year one, $785,156.75. Year two, $787,031.75. Year three, $788,906.75 for a total of $2,361,095.25. And if we could have Director Moore-Jackson come to the podium, please.

Hello. Good morning. Good morning.

Good morning, Chair Van Ness. Good morning, Commissioner Williams. Commissioner Smith.

I know that we spoke maybe last a week or so ago about some of the efficiencies that you're trying to gain in technology services to reduce overall costs. Can you talk about that and how it applies to this contract?

Yes, I will. And this is an actually this is actually the annual renewal for that for the Microsoft licenses and the Microsoft licenses first so that everyone understands the licenses for everyone in the county and everyone that collaborates with the county that has a county computer account, basically an email address. And you're listed in the active directory. And what this does is our TRUP, it aligns our reported number of licenses with the actual number of deployed licenses for all of the users and the devices, like all of the servers that are actually running the entire county. And one thing that we did by working with, that we learned from, collaborations with our colleagues and our consultants is by actually tearing the licensing process for the county. In the past, all of the licenses for all of the users were all the same level. So what we did in technology services is actually we looked at the different overall job descriptions throughout the county and identified subsets that are not as much of power computer users. And we assign a different level of license in order to ensure that we have better cost savings for the county. And if you look at our previous years, you would notice that the Microsoft licenses, the contracts routinely would go up like 20% every single year. And instead of this set of Microsoft licenses renewal going up, it actually either stayed the same or went down. So by working closely with Microsoft and our consultants, we were able to realize those savings for the county.

Excellent. Thank you very much. I wanted to highlight the good work that you're doing in your department with your team.

Thank you, ma'am. Thank you.

All right. And that's for a three year term from multiple funds and a budgeted item. Item number 278 is with Crown Sports through the Parks and Recreation. for Hoops After Dark service agreement providing basketball uniforms for $25 per uniform through December 31st, 2026. This is grant funded and a budgeted item. Item number 279 is with Jordan Bradley through Parks and Recreation. This is a service agreement for security during Hoops After Dark basketball program for $55 a game through December 31, 2026. This is grant funded and a budgeted item. And if you would, if we could take items 275 through 279 for approval. 280, I have a little different request on that one.

So I move to approve items 275 through 279 as presented.

Madam Chair, I second the motion. I have a motion and a second. All in favor say aye. Aye. The motion carries.

Item number 280 is with East Metro Umpires Association through Parks and Recreation. This is a service agreement for basketball referees during Hoops After Dark basketball program for $75 per game through December 31, 2026. This is also grant funded and a budgeted item. I would ask that you approve this item subject to final approval by the county attorney. He had one more form that he needed to review.

And just to clarify on that, can you tell me, it says 75 per game. Normally they have a couple of referees, so I just want to make sure that wasn't supposed to say per referee. So I'll let him evaluate the contract.

Okay. Director Carney, is that per game for all of them?

No, yes, per game. So we don't make 75, it's going to be two referees, and that's how we're going.

OK. Thank you. So if I could have a motion to approve that one item subject to final approval by the county attorney.

Madam Chair, I move that we approve this item 280 subject to approval from our county attorney. I second the motion.

Thank you. I have a motion and a second. All in favor say aye. Aye.

The motion carries. Thank you. OK, I'll keep going. Item number 281 is with Aaron Hayward through Parks and Recreation. This is a service agreement for security during Hoops After Dark basketball program for $55 per game through December 31, 2026. This is grant funded and a budgeted item. Item 282 is with eighth note productions through Parks and Recreation for the 2026 summer concert series for a band performance in the amount of $4,500 for a single event on July 26, 2026 through the general fund. And this is a budgeted item. Item number 283 is with AMSIS Innovative Solutions LLC through the General Services Department. This is addition of door card readers for security for updated architectural drawings. This is change order number one to contract 2026-44 in the amount of $299,936. This has an 18-month term and is JAC funded. This is a budgeted item. Item number 284 is with Nadia Zanita Thornton through Superior Court 1 for habilitation, empowerment, accountability, therapy, heat, therapy groups for adult accountability court. This is $250 per group, not to exceed $4,250 through June 30, 2026, with option to renew three 12-month periods, renewable each year. This is grant-funded and is a budgeted item. Item number 285 is with the city of Conyers and for a international LLC through water resources. This is a request for land acquisition for six temporary construction easements and one permanent utility easement for the almond branch trunk line. This is for 365 days after the date of commencement of construction. Item number 286 is with Motorola Solutions for Emergency Management Agency. This is for Motorola Equipment for Dispatch Center. Change order number two to contract 2022-147. Vendor is adding data migration to existing contract. No additional cost to the county. The new completion date will be November 30th, 2026. Item number 287 is with Celebrate Incorporated through the Sheriff's Office for software to unlock cell phones for investigative purposes. This is change order number one to contract 2025-86. This is a price increase from $35,020 per year to $35,391.43 per year. This is through May 14th, 2027 through the general fund and is a budgeted item. Item 288 is with North American Fire Equipment Incorporated, NAFCO, for fire rescue. This is for fire protective clothing. This is a change order number one to contract 2025-75 for a unit price increase. The term is June 24, 2026 through June 23, 2027. This is through the general fund and is a budgeted item. Item number 289 is a requisition with water resources. through Engineering Strategies Incorporated, ESI, for the construction of engineering services for Honey Creek and Scott Creek pump stations in Forswain in the amount of $164,180 through the Water Enterprise Fund, and this is a budgeted item. Item number 290 is a requisition with water resources for Georgia Hydrant Services Incorporated. This is for the emergency installation of 10-inch team valve and sleeve at 2231 Old Covington Highway Southwest in the amount of $19,000 through the Water Enterprise Fund. This is a budgeted item and is before you for ratification. Item number 291 is a requisition with water resources for vortex services for sewer rehabilitation of manholes and pipes in the amount of $1,999,999.49. This is for Water Enterprise Fund and a budgeted item. Item number 292 is a requisition through the Water Resources Department for Delta Municipal Supply for the meter replacement program in the amount of $547,040. This is through the Water Enterprise Fund and is a budgeted item. Item number 293 is a requisition through Parks and Recreation Department for Courtmakers Incorporated for resurfacing tennis courts at Pine Log Park in the amount of $16,560 through the general fund and is a budgeted item. Item 294 is a requisition through transportation for CDM Smith for the speed study at Cherry Hill subdivision in the amount of $15,611.97. This is through the general fund and is a budgeted item. Item number 295 is a requisition through transportation department for AECOM Technical Services Incorporated for on-call engineering services not to exceed 100,000. This is SPLOST funded and is a budgeted item. Item number 296 is a requisition through Technology Services for Near Map US Inc. for the 2026 subscription renewal in the amount of $16,158.16 through General Fund, Water Enterprise Fund, and Stormwater Fund. And this is a budgeted item. Item number 297 is a requisition through General Services for Laz and Associates LLC for football building upgrades at Earl O'Neill Park in the amount of $99,482. This is SPLOST funded and is a budgeted item. Item number 298 is a requisition for the Sheriff's Office for Hardy Chevrolet Buick GMC Incorporated for a 2026 GMC Yukon administration vehicle replacing high mileage vehicle for $87,665. This is SPLOST funded and is a budgeted item. Item number 299 is a surplus of equipment for the Sheriff's Office for three vehicles and the website for surplus is www.govdeals.com. Item number 300 is a volunteer appointment for the Rockdale County Planning Commission for Angela Ancrum, filling the unexpired term of Angelique McClendon through July 1st, 2028. So if we could go back and take items 281 through 300 for approval.

Madam Chair, I move to approve the contracts, requisitions, and appointments from items 281 to 300 as presented.

I second the motion. I have a motion and a second. All in favor say aye. Aye.

The motion carries. Item number 301 is a rezoning case number 2026-01, an ordinance to amend the official zoning district map of Rockdale County, Georgia, as amended by rezoning 2101 Southeast Dogwood Industrial Circle from N1 Light Industrial to OI Office and Institutional District. to impose conditions upon the property to repeal conflicting ordinances and for other purposes. This is a first reading.

I move to approve the first reading and refer this ordinance to the Planning Commission.

Madam Chair, I second that motion.

I have a motion and a second. While we have a minute, Director White, can you come and talk about what the process is for anything going through the public hearing?

schedule good morning madam chair good morning good morning and so are you from just this case or in general just the process in general okay and so in general for our rezoning applications they all start the process obviously with applications submitted with the staff It's presented to the Board of Commissioners during this hearing for first reading. So this officially puts it on the docket, on the agenda for consideration. You refer it to the Planning Commission. The Planning Commission meets monthly. They hear rezoning applications and special use permits, and they make a recommendation to the Board. uh for consideration on those applications following the planning commission meeting there is a zoning public hearing before the board of commissioners cases are presented from both staff and the applicant open to the public for feedback during those sessions the board does not vote at the zoning public hearing meeting following that public hearing meeting there's a second reading the morning board of commissioners meeting where the board would make a final decision on approval approval with conditions or denial of application and in rare instances a deferral if there's more time or consideration needed

So my guess is, assumption, whatever, is that this has nothing to do with anything going through the UDO moratorium at this time.

This particular application? This particular application. No, ma'am.

No. OK. Very good. Can you talk about the subject property?

So this property, 2101 Dogwood Industrial Circle, currently zone limited industrial. It contained an auto truck repair business. I think it's been vacant for a few years now. And so this proposal is to renovate, reconstruct this particular facility for use as a dental office. And then the property owner is also interested, I guess, in leasing some other professional office spaces within the building. So that area right now recommended, the future land use recommendation for it is Technology Park. And so it's one of those things that we probably need to take close consideration of, take a look at it. It really could go in either direction. The Technology Park, Industrial Technology Park hasn't taken off. The lots were subdivided for that purpose, I want to say in the early 90s. but it hasn't come to fruition. So there's still some retail uses in that area as well. And so now the question is whether the future land use designation is appropriate for this area, whether we need to look at changing that. But in the meantime, we have this application, which office institutional is one of the permittable uses under the technology part future land use designation. So it's the heavy industrial, light industrial,

office institutional would be the three zoning district options for this subject property with the future land use that it has currently and this will go before the Planning Commission on Thursday correct yes ma'am that is correct all right all right so I have a motion in a second all in favor for referral to the Planning Commission and for the first reading say aye aye aye the motion carries Next item we have is board comment. And Commissioner Smith, I'll start with you. Yes, great.

Excuse me, good morning. Just a reminder that the Wrecking Crew, which is through our Parks and Recreation, will be at Wheeler Park, the lawn at Wheeler Park on Saturday. That's the truck that comes out and has the activities for kids. They'll be there on the 13th from 9 to 12, and also on the 14th, which is that Sunday, from 9 to 12 at Richardson Park. So you can come out and see what the Wrecking Crew van is all about. Just a reminder, we still have constituent services that are available through former Congressman David Scott's office every Friday at the library from 10 to 12. If you have any concerns that you would like to share with his office, they're still working on behalf of the citizens of Rockdale County, so you still have an opportunity to receive any kind of help or assistance. and also just to remind you that on june 19th there will be a juneteenth parade and they will start lining up at nine o'clock by rockdale high school it's one mile and the parade actually starts at 11 o'clock so if you're off work not doing anything come out and share in that juneteenth parade Also, on June 16th, 23rd, and 30th, from 6 to 7 p.m., I will be hosting a Sister Share event. And this is a series of women supporting women. And it's three Tuesdays, two hosts and one mission. Women Supporting Women is an intimate tea-based conversation circle for women seeking connection and emotional support. And when you come and you are a guest, you will experience a safe space to reflect and connect, compassionate conversation and genuine support. A lot of times as women, we pour into, we give so much to other people. So this is an opportunity for someone to pour back into you. Not only pour back into you with encouragement, but also pour a good cup of tea for you. It gives you permission to not have it all figured out. We're just going to talk. It's just creating a sisterhood of support. Tea, truth, and support. And that will be at CE Steele Community Center. And like I said, it's on June 16th, 23rd, and 30th from 6 to 7.30 p.m. And you all are invited. And I will leave you with this quote. When we strive to become better than we are, everything around us becomes better too. And those are my comments. Thank you.

Thank you. So a couple of things. I wanted to reiterate what Director Berkley said about the tax assessment that came in the mail a week ago. if that does not include your estimated tax he what he said was if you go to the tax commissioner's website which is tisa washington commissioner tisa washington put in your info it will give you an estimate not the exact amount it will give you an estimate of what your tax bill will look like um because like you many of you i went well this doesn't tell me anything um when i got the bill so that that was good to know that we can do that I also want to remind you that there is a runoff election going on now on both Democrat and Republican primary ballots and the way it works is if you voted in the primary on May 19, and you voted a Democratic ballot, you can only request a Democratic ballot in the runoff. If you voted Republican, you can only request a Republican ballot in the runoff. If you voted nonpartisan on May 19th, you can go back to vote on the runoff and request either ballot. If you didn't vote at all, you can go in and you can request either ballot for the runoff election. In addition to that, there is a special election that will be held in July to fill our late Congressman's seat in District 13. And I don't have the exact date right in front of me, but I know it's in July. And it was interesting to me that I was at a service Sunday, and there was a candidate for that seat that I had not met before or even heard of before. So that special election will fill Congressman Scott's seat through the end of this year. And that's all. The election that we had, the primary election on May 19, is for starting in January 1. And that's what will be on the ballot in November. but they we don't want to be without representation for the next six months of the year so that will that will happen in july so pay attention and and find out who the candidates are i don't know who they are so um just keep a heads up for that thank you thank you

Alright, well it's summertime and there's a lot of great things to get outside and do in Rockdale County. So from Costley Mill Park to the South River Park where we have a beautiful playground and activities for children to DeCastro Park. There's plenty to do. In fact, on June 24th there will be a grand opening of Celebration Park which is just right down Main Street. And it will be that night from 5.30 p.m. to 7.30 p.m. And it will include an evening of family fun, music, and kid-friendly activities. So I know that that should be a lot of fun, and I will be there. In addition, I know that we will have our upcoming dates for our Homeowners Association and community meeting. We've had great attendance at those in the past, so we hope to see everyone out for that. As well, we have other ways to connect with us without such a formal setting to hear concerns, hear about things you're interested in in the community, and just to learn more about what we're doing in a proactive manner. so we hope you will catch some of those dates in addition we are working on a new system that i'd like for deputy director mike white to just briefly talk about this is in the planning phase but we certainly want to be good communicators and so we are looking at some technology software that may be able to help us reach more people in the community so if you'll just briefly talk about that

Yes, ma'am. And good morning, Madam Chair, commissioners. Good morning to you. So one thing we've heard from citizens a lot is I didn't know this information. You know, we have our app, we have social media, but we still want to make sure everyone's getting the information. So we want to have a text-based government system that's non-emergency for non-emergency use. And we've been in touch with different vendors. I've been getting quotes from different vendors. One I'm particularly in favor of. But this would make it very easy for the Board of Commissioners, for other departments, transportation, water resources to text citizens on a whim. Citizens would be able to opt out if they don't want to get the text alerts, but we would be able to automatically opt them in, and they would be able to know about commission meetings, voting meetings, planning commission meetings, water main breaks, accidents, and we'd be able to reach them instantly. And we think that would be, I think that would be a wonderful and powerful tool.

Can I ask you a question about that? Yes, ma'am. Is it possible for them to opt in, just say, I just want to know about board of commissioners only?

Yes. Because what we're going to do is any additional subsection, like let's say transportation, they would have to opt into that specifically. The mass would just be for board of commissioners. Yes, ma'am. Awesome. Thanks.

OK.

Thank you, ma'am.

Thank you for that information.

And I did last, I want to let people know, Director Berkley asked that I share the phone number if you have any questions about your notice of assessment. That phone number is 770-278-7676. And they'll be glad to help you in the tax assessor's office. All right. That concludes our board comments at this time. Chief, is there a need for executive session?

Yes, but before that, could I just announce that June 18th at 6 PM is a called meeting of the Planning Commission. That's for the UDO. So that's where a lot of these comments that you heard today, and they'll be doing a presentation specific to the UDO and changes on that. So that, again, that is June 18th at 6 p.m. here. Okay. So that's another avenue. And the email for the UDO is UDO at RockdaleCountyGA.gov. So if you want to send your prepared comments, they become part of the record. So anything that you send to that email or compiling, and they will become part of the record, and all the commissioners will actually get those comments. Okay. That is something. And as the chair said, we are under a moratorium for data centers and that goes through September 8th. So there's time to make to provide comments so that the commissioners can consider them as we're going through this process. And we do have a need today for executive session for the purpose of discussing threatened and pending litigation.

Madam Chair, I move that we enter into executive session for the purpose of discussing threatened and pending litigation. I second the motion.

All right. Thank you. We have a motion and a second. All in favor say aye. Aye. Aye. All right. Thank you. That adjourns this meeting. I do know that one or two people had questions with Director White. So you're welcome to come up here and we'll be glad to talk to you for a few minutes.