City Council - Regular Meeting

I was gonna refuse. She has to leave. Yeah. And Oh, you're leaving? Yeah. Okay. And so I wasn't going to come back. Okay. I mean, honestly, I there's no other item. Would you when I call for the um motion about going I mean Randy I mean I guess I could I just got to line that up. I was going to go home. No, I understand. No worries.

[snorts] Are we there? right here.

Good evening everyone. Good evening everyone and welcome to the city of Roswell mayor and council meeting of Monday, February 23rd, 2026. I am Mayor Mary Robisho. I would like to introduce my colleagues and council members present. Mayor Prom and Council Member Sarah Bon, Council Member Erin Brumley, Council Member Christine Hall, Council Member Jennifer Philippy, Council Member Alan Cells, and Council Member Chris Zach. I now turn this over to Chief Administrator Officer and City Administrator Randy Knight to explain how the meeting is run. Mr. Nighton.

Thank you, Mayor Robisho, and welcome everyone. Uh, in accordance with section chapter 3.70 of the city code, the city council shall hold regular public meetings. And the purpose of these city council meetings are for the public to participate and speak on agenda items which constitute formal decisions by the elected body. And these items are listed on the published agenda which can be accessed via the city website uh prior to the meeting. Public comments and questions are essential for mayor and council to consider as they contemplate each decision. If you wish to speak on an an agenda item, we ask that you complete a comment card and hand it to a member of our staff. Uh we have several members of our staff here. So, if you wish to comment on a particular item, we ask that you would raise your hand and ensure that you receive a comment card and we'll pass that on to the city clerk who will identify each speaker in the order that they are received. And we of course ask that everyone um display the appropriate demeanor during the course of the meeting this evening. And if you if you um have to have an independent conversation, we ask that you exit the rear doors to the vestibule area. And we do ask that everyone would silence your electronic devices and or cell phones. At this time, we encourage everyone in attendance and the viewing audience to always visit the city website for information on news, events, and meetings. And we also encourage you to participate in the various activities and offerings which can be found at roswwell365.com. We appreciate your presence tonight and we thank you for being here. Mayor Robot.

Thank you, Mr. N. At this time, I would like to invite Executive Religious Director Abdullah Jabar from the Roswell community, Majad, to come forward and give the invocation.

[clears throat]

I begin in the name of God most gracious, most merciful. Dear mayor, council members, and beloved neighbors, before we begin, I invite all of us to take a brief moment, a moment of silence, each one of us according to our own tradition, our own conscience, to reflect, to center ourselves, and to remember the responsibility that we all carry in service to this city and to one another. In this month of Ramadan, Muslims, the billions across the world, every continent, every language, every color, and the millions here at home of every color, every language, every walk of life. Muslims, we fast not only from food and drink, but from excess, from our ego, from the constant hunger and desire for more. We fast from the noise that convinces us we are self-sufficient. We fast to remember that we are very much dependent first and foremost on God and then on one another. And as people of faith, let us remember we cannot draw closer to God while drifting further from justice. We cannot claim nearness to the divine while becoming distant from people. We cannot seek the creator in neglect of the creation. So we begin here tonight with this sincere intention in the court of God. Dear God, Lord of every story

represented in this city, the visible, the invisible, the celebrated and the struggling. We ask you for the best of this world and the best of the life to come. Make what we build here blessed and what awaits us beyond here even better. Protect us from harm, harm born of pride, harm born of fear, and harm born of indifference. Dear God, show us the truth as the truth and give us the courage to follow it, especially when it cost us something. Show us falsehood as falsehood and give us the moral strength to turn away from it, especially when there is bene when it benefits us. Grant our mayor and the council members, many newly entrusted with leadership, clarity when their pressure mounts, steadiness when the room is divided, and humility when praise arrives. Let them carry authority without losing empathy. Let them remember that public service is not about power, but about responsibility. Bless the beloved elders of this city who sac whose sacrifices built the foundations we now stand upon. Bless our beloved youth who are watching us carefully. They watch what we do more than what we say. Strengthen our families navigating rising cost and silent stress. Lift up single parents who carry two roles and two burdens but with one heart. Open dignified doors for those seeking work. Bring healing to the sick, patience to those in treatment, comfort to those grieving, and gratitude to to those blessed with health. Bless and protect our first responders, the men and women who put their lives on the line for our safety. Guard them when in moments of danger. Give them wisdom in crisis and under pressure and love and peace and tranquility when they return to their beloved families. Bless our

neighbors of every faith, Christians, Jews, Muslims, and all who call Roswell home. Let this city be a proof that diversity does not weaken us as a people. It strengthens us. that we can disagree without dishonoring and differ without dividing. In this chamber where decisions ripple into our classrooms, hospital rooms, neighborhoods, and homes, let justice be more than language. Let compassion be more than ceremony. Let courage rise higher than convenience. Dear God, make us brave enough to tell the truth about ourselves, humble enough to correct our course and bold enough and bold enough to choose what is right over what is easy. And when this meeting ends, when the lights dim and the cameras turn away and the people are gone, let it be said there. Let it be said here in this place, we choose service over self, principle over pressure, hope and love over fear. Amen.

Thank you. I would at this time like to invite United States Navy Petty Officer Secondass Tyler Davis to please come forward and lead us in the pledge of allegiance. Thank you, Mayor. Everybody, please remain standing and recite with me.

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. Petty Officer, if you would remain right there. We're all coming to join you. Chevrolet. [clears throat] I'm out of 10.

So today, we're proud to recognize Taylor Davis, a United States Navy veteran and dedicated City of Roswell employee for his exceptional service to our nation and our community. Petty Officer Secondass Davis enlisted in 2014 and completed an intensive and highly selective training pipeline in unmanned aerial systems and the naval special warfare operations. He served primarily with SEAL Team 18 as a drone operator supporting special operation missions around the world. Over six deployments spanning 33 countries including Afghanistan, Kuwait, Norway, Romania, Bulgaria, and the Czech Republic. He logged more than 2,200 flight hours conducting real-time aerial surveillance in direct support of joint and allied forces. His work contributed to the capture of enemy combatants, the seizure of weapons and narcotics, the destruction of improvised explosive devices, and the disruption of hostile networks. Notably, he played a critical role in missions that led to the liberation of more than 42 women prisoners in Afghanistan. [applause] His service his service earned numerous military honors including the National Defense Service Medal and the Global War on Terrorism Service Medal. Following his military service, he continued his commitment to public service here in Roswell where he now serves as the athletics coordinator in our recreation and parks department. Now therefore, I, Mary Roishau, mayor of the city of Roswell, do hereby name Taylor Davis an esteemed veteran of Roswell and call upon all our citizens to recognize his outstanding service to

our country and our community and to remember that there is no higher calling than service in the armed forces. Thank you, sir. [applause]

[applause]

Um uh just want to say uh thank you all for uh that recognition. Um it doesn't even um you know one of the things that I've always said and I know I know uh the mayor said it as well like I don't think about the the things I've done but the people and uh this country that I've proudly served and those that I've the lives that I've saved. So, uh, just, you know, to this community, I I really do appreciate, um, every single one of you. Um, especially those of you that I know from the wreck and parks department. Um, so just, you know, thanks again for for that recognition tonight. And so I appreciate it. [applause] I don't know about that.

Other family members [applause] All right. So, next on the mayor's report is a recognition of the 2025 Roswell Fire Department Service Award recipients for fire officer of the year and fire chief officer of the year. So, Chief Tro, please come forward and present the awards and we're going to come back down and join you after you.

That's right. Thank you, Mayor, council, uh, community. One [snorts] of the best things that a fire chief's get to do is come up and highlight the amazing people that work for this city. And uh somebody earlier caught me and said, "It seems like every month you're up there celebrating." Yeah, we should. We have amazing people in this city. So tonight, what we're doing is we're celebrating Bshift uh award recipients. It's important to note that these awards are provided by the individuals that work in the organization. This is extremely important. uh they every year they choose amongst their peers who it is that they feel appropriate to receive these awards. So it's a very big deal that these are not siloed let's say from leadership coming down it's their peers that choose and put them in this position. Uh tonight again we'll be honoring Bshift for those that are unaware there are three shifts in the fire department A B and C. So I will be back but tonight is B shift. So, the first person tonight that we are going to honor is fire officer of the year, Tony Partinus. So, Lieutenant Partardinas, if you'll join me up here so I can embarrass you a little bit. [clears throat] [applause] I told him to stand not too close. These are giants. They make me look so small.

[laughter]

So, Lieutenant Pardinas is recognized for his outstanding leadership, strong work ethic, and commitment to serving both his crew and the community. Some of the things noted in here include Tony maintains a positive work environment, supports professional growth, and leads by example in every aspect of daily operations. This leader that you have in front of you here is so respected amongst his peers because the constant unwavering positive attitude every single day. I've never seen this person without a smile on his face. I've never seen this person not working hard at developing the people around him uh to make them better. Uh he is absolutely deserving of this. So congratulations to you, fire officer of the year.

[applause]

The next one is going to be chief officer of the year. Another giant Gary Stack. [laughter] [applause] So, the chief officer of the year, Gary Stack, Battalion Chief, has provided steady leadership and reliable operational oversight during a demanding period for the department. Consistent support of officers and crew strengthen both daily readiness and long-term progress. One of the things that's important to note here with Gary that has been uh along with us for this ride from the beginning as one of the first 21 company officers that we hired is during the intram uh period that he served for us over 10 months as an interim division chief of operations. The division chief of operations position does not sleep. It is 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, non-stop phone calls, non-stop guidance that you're constantly providing to the field because there's a lot of things going on.

He did all this while he was waiting for his daughter Brooklyn, which is with us today. So, he was already awake anyway, but we kept him even more awake here and he did that with such tremendous grace and and just won everybody in the organization over and we truly miss him up at headquarters. We're glad they have him in the field because they love him out there. But Gary has been just a steadfast leader. Another person that brings such tremendous value to the city, but also truly stepped in when we needed him, not because he had anything to gain from it, but for the sole purpose of ensuring that the Roswell Fire Department had what it needed. So, he really stepped up when we needed him. These two make up our fire officer of the year and chief officer of the year. So, congratulations to you two.

[applause]

and the family. If you would please come up and join us for the picture. [laughter] I have a rule. I don't stand next to I'm like I'm over this way. You get to stay next. [laughter]

Close. Oh, well, come on. Next to me. Yes, I'm short.

[laughter]

Yeah, that's Thank you. First of all,

congratul Oh my goodness. Next is the consent agenda. Um, clerk, city clerk Nancy Long, are there any speakers on the consent agenda? Mayor, there are no speakers for the consent agenda.

Does the council have any comments regarding the consent agenda? Do I have a motion to approve the consent agenda? Motion by council member Bon. Do I have a second by uh council member cells? All those in favor, please raise your hand. the motion. The items pass unanimously. Next is the regular agenda. City clerk Nancy Long, please read the item on the regular agenda.

Uh, yes. This item is approval for the mayor or city administrator to accept the chain dragging dredging assistance policy application presented by assistant city attorney Joe Cusk.

Council member Hall. Yes. Thank you, Attorney Cusk. Um, I will be recusing myself from this item because I am a resident of Chering, but I would like to um let the folks know that the city has had a um longterm program, a dredging assistance program, and has promoted storm water um maintenance and management. and as a matter of fact just um this week is doing uh some work on Canton Street for the storm water issues. So uh big issue for the city that previous administrations have put a light a focus on a light on and um just wanted to share that information. Assistant City Attorney Cusk.

Good evening everyone. Um, tonight we have the approval for the mayor or city administrator to accept the chering dredging assistance policy application. Uh, I want to uh be clear on on what this is tonight. This is only acceptance of the application. Uh, Mr. Watson is here in case anybody needs a refresher on what was heard two weeks ago. But what has happened in this case is Chering uh by our ordinance is not actually able to complete this work and then be eligible for the reimbursement without acceptance of the application first. So the council tonight can accept the application. There is no mechanism to fund it at this point. Um but it allows Chering to stay eligible for that reimbursement. So, the council can choose to uh to put a budget amendment in at the time that it chooses to do so. The council is under no obligation to fund this. Um, but this allows Chering to go ahead and do the work and remain eligible for the dredging assistance uh under the dredging assistance ordinance. So, that's what it is tonight is just an approval of the application. And if I if there's any questions, I'm happy to answer them. that's been on the whole time. Um, yes, I just have not so much questions but clarification. So, uh, like you mentioned, we still have to do a budget amendment because the full amount con combined with the approval for NES Lakes is also over budget. Correct. So, we still work had to work on that.

Correct. the budget amendment for this would come back separate to a a separate council meeting if the the council chose to utilize uh or or to do it under the dredging assistance policy for checkering. Okay. Um my second uh just to reiterate that the assistance amount is approved as up to 50% of the project or 500,000 but it's up to right it doesn't have to be always 50%. Um, and whenever a neighborhood accepts the help, they cannot reapply even for a partial amount for 10 years. That's correct. Correct to to all those questions.

Okay. And I know we talked about this before that we were going to work on changing the ordinance to add the budget consideration for features and and this is maybe you guys don't know how we started that process yet. Not yet. I I have started rewriting it and I can start getting drafts on the the rewritten portions circulated to council for for vetting and we can go over the the wording on what you would like to see. But I've I've started trying to tinker with it a bit. Fantastic. Thank you. Oh, council member Zach.

I'm sorry. Hey, uh, this this may have been a failing on my part, but I know when this was first introduced, I think it was with the idea that the funding wouldn't be part of the approval and then it it got with the funding percent part of the approval last council meeting. And then I just want to make sure at this point we're just approving the application and then we're going to be able to discuss the the budget amount, what percent um, in a future date. That's correct. Okay. Thank you, Council Member Sal. Thank you, Mayor. But, um, Mr. Cusak, we we could amend this, uh, this resolution to include the funding even tonight, could we not? So, actually, looking into that, we would need to notice a budget amendment separately.

Okay. Thank you. So, yes. Any other questions from council right now? Um, city clerk Nancy Long, are there any Roswell residents who would like to speak on this item? Uh yes, mayor. We have five speakers at this po at this time. The first speaker is Mike Warden.

Good evening. Welcome, Mr. Wart. What's that? No, I I just said welcome.

Welcome. Welcome back. Um well, I'm I'm happy that we're back here uh so soon. Um you know, that this is back on the agenda uh so quickly. Um, I would like to, you know, that I would like you guys to maybe go beyond just accepting our application tonight and have a serious discussion about, you know, where where the money might come from and um, you know, where, you know, and and how the budget amendment might look like. Um, I realize it's only been two weeks, but uh, you know, you're a little bit further down the road and I know, you know, some things have happened, so there could be some money available. Um I just want to reiterate that uh Chering [clears throat] um up you know that we're serious about being uh you know a good partner for storm water management here in Roswell and uh we've gone through and we have uh fulfilled all the requirements that engineering has wanted that transport department of transportation here in Roswell that you know that they've wanted um and it's taken a long time to do so. And uh you know this has been a big project for us. So um we've proven ourselves to be a reliable partner. Um we will continue to do so when the project is under construction. We will do everything we promise to do and uh all I ask is that uh you guys are a reliable partner as well. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Ward. City Clerk Long, next speaker. Yes. Um, the next speaker is Janet Russell.

Good evening, Miss Russell.

Hi there. My name is Janet Russell. I do not live in Chering. I don't live remotely near it, but what affects one neighborhood affects all of us. It's like the fingers on your hand. One finger's broken, the rest of the hand doesn't work. Um, I was at the meeting when you talked about this two weeks ago and I thought, hm, okay, I understand money, believe me. And then I got home, I left, and I realized I read it, you let Mr. COO go, which gave us back about $300,000 of unpaid salary, less the amount of his I guess his whatever you call it is not going to work there anymore. So you have literally found maybe $180,000 under a basket somewhere. So when you start considering the application, remember you have found money that you didn't have when the discussion started at the beginning of the week two weeks ago at that meeting because after that meeting you then had all that extra cash in your hand. That's like going in your closet and finding a pocket full of money in your old coat that you didn't know was there. So, I suggest you consider that and make this happen. We're going into an El Nino, not a We're finishing leninia and we're going into El Nino weather patterns, which means heavy rain and you need to do that and we have the money and the Irish have a saying, we all fold our money differently for what you want.

Thank you, Miss Russell. The next speaker is Carrie Dunning. Good evening. Good evening.

Thank uh thank you all for for bringing this back up to consideration uh so quickly after the last meeting. I was also at the last meeting. Um to quickly introduce myself, my name is Carrie Dunning. I'm the current treasurer for Chering. So I wanted to speak to the of this project and kind of what is actually driving the urgency around it. Uh because I believe from the meeting two weeks ago you're all familiar with the why of why we need to do this project. How long we've uh how much time and effort and expense has been put into this from an urgency standpoint. We need to do this project now uh because we have committed significant expense to this project. So we have we already have loan approval which was a costly process that we would have to reapply for. We already have a contractor lined up and ready to start in the next couple of weeks which we would lose that contractor have to totally repric this um initiative to be able to start this over in 90 days um or to this to get delayed for that time period. Um and so we are simply asking respectfully for you to approve um our ability to start this project with funding source to be identified at a later date. Um, we trust that if approved, this city council um and this administration will do the right thing and approve the funding per the precedent that has been set uh for us to be able to budget and afford this this project. But the timeliness of this is of the essence. Um and so we are simply asking for uh the approval that is set out.

Thank you sir. The next speaker is Jason Ya.

Um I have a question and and a suggestion. And my question is, [clears throat] do the uh the payments that we make for the storm water utility, do they go into the general fund or do they get set aside for this kind of thing?

I would I would ask our Oh, sorry. Yes. Uh, storm water fees that are collected do not go into the general fund. They go into the storm water enterprise fund and they're used specifically for citywide storm water projects. They do not fund this. This is funded strictly out of the general fund. Does that help? Does that answer your question, Mr. What could, sir, could you? I we didn't hear your question. I'm sorry.

How much do you have in the fund? So we set us we budgeted $250,000 for dredging projects under this ordinance in a 2026 budget. So that's what's available at this point in time. So is that money strictly from the u storm water utility payments or is is the storm water utility payments total more than that amount? I I can't tell you off the top of my head what the storm water utility amounts are right now, but they do not fund this 250. This is carved out of other general fund expenditures. So, storm water utility fees have no impact on the dredging program because it's for citywide storm water projects, not under the dredging program.

I understand. Okay. Thank you.

Okay. Um, so my my recommendation is that and far be it for me to recommend raising taxes and fees because it's not my thing, but [clears throat] it it would seem given the nature of the the storm water, especially in the Chering situation where they've got a huge drainage basin that flows through their subdivision and I I I had touched upon this at the discussion U last time and I thought, well, maybe the, you know, we you just charge people who don't live in a subdivision with storm water detention facilities a little bit more, but perhaps everybody needs to pay more and nobody needs to pay for dredging because it all goes into a specific fund that goes to to dredging all the ponds and the city takes that on as a responsibility. um just as they would any other utility. And one of the benefits of doing that is you can enter into u long-term exclusive contracts with the dredging operator and negotiate a a lower perload price if you're able to give them all the work that you deem necessary in the course of a year. Um, some years it'll be more, some years it'll be less, but it would more equitably distribute the burden rather than saying to, you know, one subdivision, well, tough luck. You got to pay half of it. um they they they really shouldn't be if we're all paying into a storm water utility, we should pay enough so that the storm water utility is maintaining all the ponds, even the ones on private property, because people who don't own the property, also benefit from those facilities.

And I don't know, I don't know how much you'd have to to raise. I don't know how much the cost would be, but it's I'm not saying stop this and do that first. I'm saying as a longer term measure. It's worth investigating because it may be a way to save money and make a lot of people who are right now getting hit with these expenses. um especially the smaller subdivisions that don't have that that cost sharing um because they don't have uh the critical mass required in the ordinance. So anyway, that's that's my suggestion and that's it. Thank you.

Thank you, sir. The next speaker is Dan Forester. Welcome

all for your consideration to this project. Uh my name is Dan Forester. Um I live in Chering. Uh we moved in, our family moved in in 2018 and um the guys that spoke before me did a good job at kind of talking about the project itself, but I I thought it would be a good idea to just share with you guys very briefly just kind of the the feel, the vibe in Chering. When we moved into in 2018, it there was this one of the first things I heard about the HOA is we got to do the dredging project. And this has been something that has been kicked down the road for 30 years now or not 30 years but probably last 101 15 years. It's been a problem that everybody knows is there. Everybody's just trying to figure out a way to pay for it. Um so the last four years I serve on the HOA in Chering or in the last two years I have been and I'm serving currently um we [clears throat] have been working on trying to figure out how to finance this thing but we have this loan set up. Mike was president did a remarkable job through numerous hula hoops to get to where we are right now. We were always under the understanding that we would get a 50% amount, have 50% of it paid for through this assistance program that's been in place. We were always under that understanding. Likewise, the the numbers that we planned for were on that mark. So, the last four years, we've set oursel up. We've put a lot of money aside. you know, our our HOA has um but it's set for us being reimbursed 50%. If that doesn't go through, it's going to put the HOA of Chering in a bad spot. We're going to have to raise dues significantly to end up paying for this thing. Um, and I just wanted to share that with you. It's it's going to be something that's going to be a very big burden if it does happen that way. Um, I

really really I don't want to say beg, but asking you please, please, please consider this and and try to move this along as quickly as possible. I thank you all for your service. I love this community. I think you all do a remarkable job. Thank you so much. Thank you for the consideration. Thank you, sir, Janet, for for speaking on our on our behalf as well. It's great to see other residents, too, outside the neighborhood. Sometimes we feel like we're we're you know to ourselves with this but you know thank you. Thank you sir. The next speaker is Lindsay Dean.

Hi Mayor and council again. Uh my name is Lindsay Dean. I'm a resident of Chering. Um back again for my monthly visit I guess. Um but uh I guess um I do want to say thank you for for having us again. I have lived in Chering since 2017. Um and uh brought a small human with me to witness uh you know civics in action because I feel like it's important to kind of um take a minute and and go back to some of the ideas that we've talked about even as recently as a month. um and and go back to this idea of we have in Roswell a contingency um lay person I can look up contingency in a dictionary and it is an incidental expense incident. This is an incident. It is a one-time funding. It makes sense that you would say, "Let's use contingency funds for a one-time thing that we need your support on." And and that the city has said, they invented this program. The city has said this is a one-time expenditure that we want to help or at least once every 10 years that we want to help communities with this incidental expense, which is what contingency funds are for. Um, and so that is why I want to remind you that before this year, it wasn't even something Roswell put in the budget. It was so incidental, so contingent upon an application that it wasn't something that you set aside. It was just something you funded when the need was there. And so I I'll also share that just in case you don't like that definition, we're very lucky that in the English dictionary there's multiple definitions for incidents or contingencies, but that's in the absence of certainty. And it it actually pains me that there wasn't an absence of

certainty when setting aside the dollar amount for this budget. They knew these proposals were on the table. They knew these proposals were coming and they knew how much. And so it it pains me that they only set aside a certain amount. However, I'll go back to the fact that we have the money in contingency, which by definition is what we should be using these dollars for. There is a need. The need is from your residents. And the the the imaginary need of what may come later, sure, is there absolutely. But in the face of a real need, in the face of a real ask, that is the purpose of your contingency funds is to use it for the way that the city has worked with our neighborhood to set aside this proposal and to say we're want we want to help you. We want to support you. Let's in good faith for years work with your neighborhood to come up with a proposal. Let's make your neighborhood jump through all the hoops that they should front all the costs that aren't reimbursible. Let's not discuss those costs that are our neighborhood will not be reimbursed if this project does nothing. We don't get any of those costs back except for the actual dredging project. And so I I just I implore you to consider that this is the point the point of your budget having a contingency. The point of the city wanting to partner with its citizens is this. It is this time. And so I I I want to say thank you for having this come back up so urgently because for our neighborhood it makes a big difference. But I also want you to know I'm paying attention to what Roswell also wants to accomplish, especially in regards to the Pinerove Enhancements. And that makes me very

nervous that the Pinerove Enhancements, by the way, enhancements, not a need, it's a want, it's a delivery of of something better, right? That you're going to put those funding resources ahead of our neighborhood. And that's going to make it even more difficult for our neighborhood to get those load truck loads of sediment out of our neighborhood. And so before we go funding fancy projects, let's just stick to what we agreed we would do together. And so for me, I I I know I know parliamentary procedure like the back of my hand. And so I can't make a motion, but I hope that you are so moved to do both an approval and the budget amendment tonight because I believe that the contingency funds are there for a reason and the reason is this. Thank you for your time.

Thank you, ma'am. City Clerk Long, are there any other speakers? The final speaker is Brandon Jet. Good evening. Thank you for uh taking time to hear this uh tonight and for our time to uh present our case to you. My name is Brandon Jet. I've been a resident of the Cherine since 2018. um love being a a citizen of Roswell and just it's been a great place to raise our family. We moved here with zero kids now. We have four and we're underwater every day, but it's been [laughter] good experience most of the time. Um I don't think I have anything to add that hasn't already been spoken about. I think my fellow residents um have well laid out all the reasons that we should move forward with this and I do also encourage you to consider passing a budget amendment as well. I think that we've already laid out why there's a pressing need, why there's already funds in place that we so creatively have found for you and um also that uh the time is right right now and that there's a a need to do it now. So that's all I have to share. Um but thank you for hearing us. We do um ask you to consider going ahead and moving forward with the budget amendment as well. Thank you.

Thank you, sir. City Clerk, are there any other speakers? There are no other speakers. Does council have any comments or questions regarding this item at this time? Council member Zach. Uh

I first want to thank everyone for speaking and be part of the process coming out. It means a lot um and giving the feedback. Um one quick thing I want to address uh for Janet um for the termination of S. So2. I I think I've calculated that that would equate to us getting about four months of that. um uh contract back which equates to about 113,000 and then from that part of why I was willing to approve the 50% last time was the assumption of that. So really there's about 59,000 left over from that. Um so I I just want to give that clarity that the 340,000 is is not fully realized and I think the number is closer to 59,000. I um we've already taken comments. Sorry. Council member cells.

Thank you, Mayor Joe. Joe, I want to I heard what you said. You said we cannot do an amendment tonight. Uh so the original uh resolution that we addressed two weeks ago did have the funding on it, did it not? Yes, it had the subsequent budget amendment attached to it as part of the motion. I believe that was going to I forget exactly what the budget amendment was pulling from, but it had a budget amendment noticed on it. And so you're saying we could not do we cannot do that tonight. We cannot we cannot have the amendment. We cannot change the amend this resolution. We cannot amend the resolution to include the funding tonight. We we would need to notice the budget amendment separately for for another meeting.

Thank you. Any other questions from council? Do I have a motion? Council member Zach. Motion to approve.

Do I have a second? Council member cells. All in favor? Vote passes unanimously. Are we Last on tonight's agenda is the city attorney's report. Assistant city attorney Joe Cusack, please read the item.

Mayor, sorry. One quick thing before we do that, if I could.

So, I'd like to clarify last week, last time we were together, there was a conversation about S. W number two uh for the SEIR contract that was reported incorrectly and uh I believe amendments have been made but but just to be clear because I've gotten some emails on it and questions. We did not terminate the SEIR contract which is a master services agreement under which there are a number of statements of work some of which are are still operative for transactions that we are involved in. Furthermore, um we also in particularly me I want to be clear. I was as was stated by some I did not say that the original contracting of SEIR was done incorrectly. That is not what I said. What I said was the termination of statement of statement of work number two was done incorrectly. I want to be very clear about that as well. So that is I want to clear the record for that. There was also comments specifically made about conflicts of interest which I would love to hear whatever the basis for that is. The contract that we have with Seir specifically sets out geographic areas for which he ha we have exclusive rights to his services in certain regards. It also has no shop and and um uh non-ircumvention clauses in that contract. So there is no basis for that such comments. Thank you,

Council Member Hall. Thank you. I would just like to clarify uh for the record as well and Appen did correct it in the uh online version, however, not in a print version. Uh my objection was also to the way um the SOW number two was terminated without transparency. So that was the statement to that effect. Thank you, Appen, for correcting the online version. No, it didn't make the print version, but um just for the record. Anyone else have any comments? Assistant City Attorney Joe Cuz, please read the item.

I have a recommendation to go into closure at 5:30 p.m. on Monday, March 9th, 2026 to discuss personnel litigation and or real estate. Do I have a motion? Council member Philippy. Do I have a second? Council member Brumley. All those in All those in favor, please raise your hand. The item passes unanimously. Being that there are no other items, the mayor and council meeting on Monday, February 23rd, 2026 is adjourned. No, it wasn't. Thank you, Randy. Thank you, Joe.