City Council - Regular Meeting

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What's the cue? Good evening everyone and welcome to the city of Roswell mayor and council meeting of March um I'm sorry Monday March 23rd 2026. I'm Mayor Mary Robisho and I would like to introduce my colleagues and council members present. Mayor Prom and Council Member Sarah Bon, Council Member Alan Sal, Council Member Christine Hall, Council Member Jennifer Phillippy, Council Member Erin Brumley, and Council Member Chris Zach. I will now turn it over to city administrator Randy Knight to explain how the meeting is run. Mr. Nighton.

Thank you, Mayor Robisho, and welcome uh this evening to everyone. Uh we appreciate your attendance this evening. And in accordance with section chapter 3.70, the city code, the city council does hold regular public meetings. And the city council meetings are uh for the public to participate and speak on agenda items which do constitute formal decisions by the elected body. We do have several items tonight that um will have public hearings. And so we encourage everyone if you would like to speak on an agenda item that you complete a comment card. They're at the back of the room. We have several staff members here that can assist you as needed. Um and so we want to make sure that we have an accurate record of the meeting on any agenda item that you would like to speak. And we also of course um ask that everyone uh in attendance in the viewing audience visit roswwell365.com for a calendar of events. We ask that at this time that you silence any uh electronic devices. And we again appreciate your attendance here this evening. If you would would like to speak on an agenda item, we have several staff members who can assist you. If you wanted to raise your hand at a given point during the course of the meeting, we'll get those comment cards to you. Thank you again for your attendance this evening.

Thank you, Mr. Nighton. So, we would like to welcome Mr. Brad Tenant from Bridge of Grace Church for joining and thank him for joining us this evening to deliver the invocation in a m moment of silence. Before Mr. tenant leads us. I want to take a moment to recognize Bridge of Grace Church for its partnership with North Fulton Community Charities in hosting a satellite location for the East Roswell Food Pantry and Garden located at the church's campus on Hok Bridge Road. The pantry opened on March 11th and will provide relief to around 100 families each week. We appreciate their leadership and partnership and thank all who have helped make this initiative possible. Mr. Tenant, thank you for being here.

All right, we we will begin with a moment of silence and we're honoring all the veterans that have fought in all the wars in this country, both alive and are no longer with us. So, if you would please bow your head in a moment of silence and then I'll offer the invocation. I thank you. Would you please bow your head as I pray? Dear wise and loving father, first let me say thank you on behalf of all who are gathered here today. Thank you for your many and abundant blessings. Thank you for life itself, for the measure of health we need to fulfill our callings for sustenance and for friendship. Thank you for the ability to be involved in useful work and for the honor of bearing appropriate responsibilities. Thank you as well for the freedom to embrace you or the freedom to reject you. Thank you for loving us even so from your boundless and gracious nature. In the scriptures, you have said that citizens ought to obey the governing authorities since you have established those very authorities to promote peace and order and justice. Therefore, I pray for our mayor, for the various levels of city officials, and in particular for this assembled council. I am asking that you would graciously grant them wisdom to govern amid the conflicting interests and issues of our times. A sense of the welfare and true needs of our people. A keen thirst for justice and rightness. Confidence in what is good and fitting. The ability to work together in harmony even when there is honest disagreement. Personal peace in their lives and joy in their tasks. a strong desire to create the beloved

community here in Roswell, Georgia. I pray for the agenda set before them today. Please give an assurance of what would please you and what would benefit those who live and work in and around your our beloved city of Roswell. In your both most blessed name we pray. Amen. Thank you, sir. I would like to now invite retired United States Army Master Sergeant Dave Ruf Farbor and a current Roswell City Police Officer to please come forward and lead us in 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. And sir, if you would stay standing, we're going to join you right down there and read your proclamation. So today today we are proud to recognize retired US Master Sergeant David Farabo Ball sorry as an esteemed veteran of Roswell honoring more than two decades of military service and in his continued dedication to our community. Master Sergeant served our nation for 22 years, beginning his career in the military police corps and rising through the ranks into key leadership roles. His commitment and professionalism led to his elect selection as a drill sergeant and later as a criminal investigator with the United States Army Criminal Investigation Division. Over the course of his distinguished career, he served in leadership positions around the world and supported critical national security operations. His service was recognized with numerous honors, including meritorious service medal, the joint service commenation medal, and multiple Army Commenation and Achievement Medals among many others. Following his retirement from the army, Master

Sergeant continued his service here in Roswell, joining the Roswell Police Department in 2006. For nearly two decades, he has served our community with integrity and professionalism, including work in criminal investigations and protecting vulnerable residents from financial exploitation. Today, he serves in the office of professional standards, helping ensure the excellence and integrity of future members of the department. Through both his military and civilian service, David Farabal has demonstrated an unwavering commitment to duty, leadership, and the safety of others. Now therefore, I, Mary Roishau, mayor of the city of Roswell, do hereby name David Farabal, an esteemed veteran of Roswell, and call upon all of 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 force and as he has continued to serve our community. Thank you, sir.

Thank you very much. Uh it it's been an honor working for the city itself. Uh my time in the service. Sorry if I break up. Uh but I like to thank my my wife, my daughter. I couldn't have done it without them. Thank you. Now, let's take all these pictures. Yes, there we go. Um Dave is a great member of our team, been with us 20 years, really excels. Um he's he's shy when it comes to this, but uh fraud investigations, one of our experts. But even though right now he's doing our background investigations on applicants, if we have a very difficult fraud case, we still call on Dave to come and investigate those because they are so complex. Very happy to have him as part of our team. Now you got to do it.

Next on the mayor's report is acknowledgement of government finance professionals week. So I'm just going to read the recognition. Um if there is anyone from finance I I don't have my glasses. Yay. you want us to come down there and read it or

so um this is in recognition of government finance professionals week. Government financial professionals week is the rec is a recognition of the dedicated individuals who work every day to ensure the responsible, transparent and effective management of public funds. These professionals play a critical role in our community, overseeing budgeting, accounting, procurement, auditing, and long range financial planning in helping to ensure that our city operates efficiently and in the best interest of all of our citizens. Their commitment to accuracy, integrity, and accountability strengthens public trust and supports the long-term fiscal health of our local governments. Through organizations like the Georgia Government Finance Officers Association, these professionals continue to advance excellence in public financing through education, leadership, and service. Tonight, we are proud to recognize and thank the government finance professionals who serve the city of Roswell and communities across Georgia for their dedication and impact.

Thank you. You want to speak? Speech. Thank you, Madam Mayor. uh certainly appreciative of the acknowledgement and recognition and a big thanks to all the folks who show up in finance every single day to keep the city running. So, thank you again. Thank you.

Next is probably the thing that's going to be the most exciting hope for the night. We would like to welcome a group of students from Crab Apple Middle School who will give a presentation in support of a skate park in the city of Roswell. So welcome and please come forward.

Face us and speak into the mic. you. They will hear you and you are being recorded and livereamed. No pressure. No pressure. Well, I just warned you just, you know.

All right. Hello, city council members. My name is Kyle Baptist, and I want to tell you a short story. One time, I was skating with a few friends at Roswell Area Park after school. I rolled down a massive hill towards the playground and stopped just before the entrance. Right before you walk in, there's what looks like a mellow concrete bank. Little did I know, that hill was like a viper hiding beneath a lily pad, waiting to strike at an unsuspecting rabbit, stopping for a sip of water. I cruised I cruised down the bank without a second thought until I saw it. A small crack crack. It isn't looking, but a skater's ticket straight to the ER. I tried to hop off at the last second, but it still set me flying. For a moment, I soared like a butterfly, fully aware that a hungry cat would be waiting when it reached the ground. When I landed, a sickening, deafening crack ripped through the air like a musket firing. I couldn't feel anything at first, but I would soon learn that I had fractured my elbow. Within minutes, it swelled up like a hot air balloon in the middle of July. This injury is why the people of Roswell Area Park need a safe place to skate. There are three reasons why we should build a skate park in Roswell. Community, safety, and proximity. Hello. Hello. I'm Phineas Leang, and I'd like to share a short story with you. One weekend, my mother could not take me to the skate park, so I decided to skate along Woodstock Road to get from one side to the other. As I was crossing, I saw the light turn green, and I noticed a white car beginning to make its turn. I assumed the driver would stop, but instead, he came within two feet of hitting me. Whether he didn't see me or he wasn't paying attention, it was a frightening moment. This experience made me realize how unsafe it is to skate in Roswell without a designated place to

go. Reason one, safety. A controlled a a new skatepark provides a controlled environment. It eliminates accidents between cars and pedestrians and it encourages supervision and a well-lit area. Hello, I'm MJ Gold and one afternoon I was nearly run over by a car simply because I don't have a safe place to skate. I was trying to enter the plaza near Target when a car suddenly turned right and slammed on the brakes just a few feet from me. The driver rolled down his window and started yelling, "Watch where you're going, knucklehead. Go skate somewhere else." But the truth is, there is nowhere else for me to skate safely. Moments like this aren't just frustrating, they're dangerous. Skaters in our community are left choosing between risking injury on busy streets or being yelled at and pushed away from public places. The situation got so out of hand that the man even called the police and complained I was trespassing when I was simply trying to get through the plaza. No one should have to face that just to enjoy their sport. We need a safe, designated place to skate, somewhere that keeps both skaters and drivers out of harm's way. Reason number two, stronger communities. A skate park would provide a place where people of all backgrounds can socialize and congregate. It would also help kids become more excited about living in Roswell. And also, since you adults always say that we should be offline since we're always on our phones, this would give us a great reason to go out and socialize instead of scrolling.

Okay, I'm going to not not to disrupt the flow, but the young man who just spoke, could you tell us your name? I heard I apologize if I didn't catch it. Uh, my name is Kyle Baptist.

Okay, thank you. These are the places we skate, but they're 30 minutes away, and we need our parents to drive us. A closer location means kids in Roswell can walk to the skate park without inconveniencing our parents. Potential locations, the old Crab Apple Middle School venue. Uh, I know there's already plans to demolish it, so it'd be a great way to use the space by putting a skatepark there. And also Roswell Area Park also already has many open spaces. So a skate park would complement it even more and make it an even bigger hub for Roswell citizens.

We asked a large number of middle school parents on their thoughts and opinions about a skate park in Roswell and all of them said yes to it. Some responses from them was, "This is a great idea to spend more time outdoors. There aren't enough local places to skate or skateboard." And one person believes a skate park allows children to socialize and get physical activity. Thank you to all our city council members for listening to us and we hope that you sincerely consider our proposition for Escape Park in Roswell. Thank you for your time. So, young men, would you be o okay with the mayor and council comes down and get some pictures with you and others who who would like to support a skate park?

What? I got

Oh, come on. There's a lot of skateboard. size anymore. That was only ago. Next on the mayor's um agenda, I would like to invite Fulton County Chief Operating Officer Dr. P. Pamela Roshelle to come forward and make an announcement on the opening of the Fulton County Health and Human Services North facility. Welcome. Good evening, Mayor Roashau and members of the council. Again, I am Pamela Rochelle, chief operating officer for

Fulton County. Thank you for this opportunity to share the details of a new health and human services campus that will be located at 4700 North Point Parkway. And our goal is to provide health and human services to the citizens of North Fulton. Next slide, please. In 2019, the county invested 15 will invest $15 million to rehab our facility, which is over 100,000 square feet. We purchased the facility in 2019 and we then moved into using the facility for for COVID outreach and vaccinations. Since that time, we have repositioned oursself back to the original mission, which is health and human services in North Fulton. And I will quickly review all of the services that will be provided there. Under one roof, we will have behavioral health services for children and adults, a developmental disabilities training center. We will have senior services, a Fulton County Board of Health, customer service, and recovery treatment court. Next slide. Just to be clear about what this facility is and isn't. It is really a facility that will provide outpatient behavioral health and substance abuse services. Again, ID training and support, senior wellness and caregiver resources, preventative health and screenings, customer service and county navigation of programs, court supervised treatment and vital records. We often get questions about other components that many in the community think that

this facility is. And so today I want to share what the facility is not. It is not a homeless shelter or any sort of h housing facility. It is not a an acute care hospital or emergency medical facility. It is it is not a crisis walk-in or emergency room or a public safety operation or any sort of inpatient treatment. It is a suite of health and human services and just a bit more detail about what those services are. So first behavioral health and developmental disabilities. Again, we will provide outpatient or group and group therapy for adults and children. And we will have an int intellectual and developmental disabilities training center on site providing a host of training services and other support services. We will also have opioid treatment support groups as well for any individual in the community that is interested in this or any of these types of services. You can call us at 4046126520 for behavioral health. And if you're interested in enrolling in our developmental disabilities training center 4046128400. Next slide please. New to Fulton North Fulton especially this far north at 4700 North Point Parkway. We will have a neighborhood senior center providing a host of classes. Everything from art to dance to nutrition classes. We will also serve lunch daily and we will have an an adult day health center. We know that

many individuals in the community have adults that they're caring for at home and can either use respbit or need some assistance while they're working or handling other business. And so we will have a brand new neighborhood senior center as well as adult day services. Transportation will also be provided to enroll in these services. The number is 4046136000. The next service is Board of Health. This service will relocate from Royal Drive and will contain all of the services that are currently offered there. I'm really excited to share that we will have a brand new vital records offering. So, you no longer will have to go downtown to 141 Prior Street for vital records. you will have a fullervice vital records offering further south located at 4700 North Point Parkway. This service will also include a travel clinic as well as all of the other services that have previously been offered. And for any individuals or groups o opening restaurants, we will also have an environmental health and inspections unit. right at this facility. Next slide, please. For any individuals that have had the unfort unfortunate experience of a DUI and have opted to receive treatment and service versus some other type of sentencing, we will have this alternative sentencing program offered at 4700 North Point Parkway. This includes group therapy, substance use testing, and other services. At this facility, we will also include

early voting. So, early voting will be an offering at 4700 North Point Parkway. Early voting will begin April 26 for the May 19th primary and October tw October 12th for the November 3rd general election. Finally, we will have customer service navigation. So for any of your constituents that may have questions about any of the services offered at 4700 or anywhere in Fulton County, they will have an on-site customer service person there to assist at the facility or with any other questions. But you certainly can call today at 4046124000. So Mayor, that concludes my update and I'm happy to answer any questions you may have. Does council have any questions? I just want to say thank you for bringing those services closer to us up here in North Folton. Very much needed and appreciated. Thank you.

Thank you, Mayor.

So, next is an addition to the um agenda. It's an acknowledgement of National Vietnam War Veterans Day. So, we are going to take a moment to recognize National Vietnam War Veterans Day, which will will be observed on Sunday, March 29th. This day honors the courage, sacrifice, and service of the men and women who served during the Vietnam War, a time when many returned home without the recognition they deserved. We are grateful for their dedication to our country, and we would like to ask Roswell resident Janet Russell to step forward and make that acknowledgement. I hope you can hear me. My head is clogged with pollen. The good news is we don't have to shovel pollen. Um, thank you very much. I'm glad to be here. I uh wanted to make sure that everybody knew that this Sunday was Vietnam War Veterans Day. I did troop flights in Vietnam in 1968-69 up to 70 from Travis Air Force Base to Saigon Da Nang and Cameron Bay as a civilian. And uh I want to tell you just a couple of things. I've been told to keep it short. The war lasted 10 years. It was on TV every single night for 10 years. We did not have internet or cell phones. We had the television. But I wanted to tell you that home is a very powerful word. Think about it. Home. Home sweet home. Be it ever so humble, there's no place like home. Sweet home Alabama, America the beautiful, land of the free, home of the brave. But nobody welcomed the Vietnam veteran home. Nobody. They had garbage thrown at them. They were called baby killers. They were ordered by their executive officers to discard their uniforms and wear civilian clothes when they were on civilian planes after they arrived at the Air Force base.

uh they were also ordered to never discuss the war when they came home ever and they followed orders. So here is a few statistics I think people need to understand about this war. It lasted from 1965 to 73 and 2.7 million men of my generation served in that war. The average age was 19. Think about that because we had the draft. Ask the old guy today wearing his Vietnam vet cap if he remembers what he had for breakfast and he'll say no. But he can tell you his lottery number. In April of 69, the peak amount of troops was the highest at 543,482. 61% killed in action were 21 or younger. 58,220 men of my generation died. 303,678 were wounded. 1600 are still MIA. 500,000 died from Agent Orange are in the process of dying from Agent Orange, the gift that keeps on giving because they were lied to by Monsanto and told that it wouldn't hurt them. There were 7,484 women and 83.5% were nurses. None of them were welcomed home. But statistics are numbers, but they're also faces. And that's why we built the Faces of War memorial that's on the back side of this building. It was not built by the city. It was built with private donations. The city gave us the little piece of land it sits on because it was the flattest space on the property. And you know, we have to be billy goats to live in Roswell because everything is a hill. If you notice when you walk there, there are names on the bricks. Those are people who donated. The six men, I think I think there were six who were the guys on the committee, their names are in the

front. One was a double amputee, one was a city attorney, another one was a Delta pilot. None of them had offices. My office was down the street. So, we didn't have GoFundMe back then. We had stuffed envelopes that we asked for money. Uh, the war, the memorial is not about the war. We decided it was about the people who were in it and the people who waited at home. There are 50 faces on it. You can't see all of them because some of them are underneath the cornice. We ran out of money. The water represents the tears that were shed in that war. We all cried all the time. At about 1:00 on the face, you will see a blank face. That is for your face to shine through the tears because we all know someone who was in that war. your grandfather, your uncle, your brother's cousin, whatever. I can assure you they all came home screwed up. The Vietnam War is the unhealed the unhealed wound in the collective psyche of my generation. Interestingly enough, we had a national competition for the design of that war memorial. anonymous submissions and fairly and squarely anonymously two sculptors from Roswell won it. Tina Stern and Don Hagen and their studio was down in the mill when it was a set of studios. I remind you that the city did not build it, but they did try to move it a few years ago. And I made a promise if they ever tried to move it, I would make the city a national embarrassment. And I keep my promises unlike the city. Uh, if you ever see an old guy at Trader Joe's or a soccer game and he's got his Vietnam vet cap on, don't be embarrassed. Walk up to him and say, "Welcome home." They'll either go, "Ah." Or they'll cry. Uh,

the water is the tears. And I want to just tell you one more quick story. We used to have a 911 ceremony here and then they moved it over to the lake by the park. and uh little kids from East Roswell came over to sing some patriotic songs. And when it was over, I told the teacher, would you like me to explain to the children about the memorial? And she was one of those fantastically, you know, yes, let's do it. So, she stopped the school bus and the kids all came back and I didn't go into the politics of the war, which because we were all lied to about the war. Um it was unwinable. Uh, but I told them about the faces and the sculptures and the war memorial actually was a reflection of the children in my opinion because here were all these faces, black faces, white faces, Vietnamese mother with a baby face, nurses, doctors, and so were the children. It's our beautiful community of all these faces. So, I told them about it and I said, you know, the guys were never welcomed home. will you promise me that if you ever see an old grandpa at a soccer game or anything, will you just walk up and say, "Welcome home." And they went, "Uh-huh. Uh-huh." You know how kids are. They're so cute. And I said, "Okay, it's a promise." They said, "Yes, ma'am." So the teacher said, "We have to go now." And there was a tall man standing behind them, old fatigues on. And I said, "Sir, would you like me to explain to you about the memorial?" And he goes, "No, that's me. I was the model for the sculpture." And I completely flipped and I went, "Oh my god, kids, kids, come back." And the teacher said, "Yes, yes, come back." So he told them about his time in Vietnam. He had two purple hearts. He showed them where his bullets had gone through his legs. They weren't scared or anything. And they listened. And the teacher said, "Finally, we have to go now. The school bus is ready for us." So they all turned around and got in line and walked up to them and said, "Welcome home." because they had promised me they would say welcome home anytime they met a Vietnam veteran. So if you don't think that's impactful, I don't know what is. So I

just remind you that this Sunday is Vietnam veterans Vietnam War Veterans Day and I suggest that you find some old guy and tell him welcome home and thanks a lot because nobody else did. Thank you. Thank you, Miss Russell, for reminding us the sacrifices people have made for this country. Next is the consent agenda. City clerk Nancy Long, are there any speakers for the consent agenda? Yes. Real quick, hold on.

Uh, I would like to pull item number three off consent agenda, approval to award Big Creek Trail Design to Kimley Horn. uh as they are a client of mine and I need to recuse myself for the item. It's the recuse item first. We'll do the consent item.

So, we'll do the items number one and two um of the consent agenda first. Then, um Council Member Bon will recuse herself. We'll do an um then the consent of item number three as there is um conflicts there. So on items number one and two are there speakers I have one speaker Jason yell

for three. Okay. Is there any speakers for items number one and two? Does council have any comments regarding items number one and two of the consent agenda? Do I have a motion to approve the consent agenda? Motion to approve. Motion by Councilwoman Hall. Do I have a second? Second.

Council member Zach. All in favor, please raise your hand. Passes unanimously. Council member Bon. So, I believe we have a speaker who would like to speak on item number three of the consent agenda. It's uh million dollars. Is it a concept plan or are these construction plans? Because that's a lot of money for basically a trail. It's either going to be concrete or it's going to be a boardwalk. And that's a just it's a little confusing in the way this thing is written up because some places it sounds like it's a full design contract. In some places it sounds like it's a concept contract, but there's a concept plan that's attached. What What more concept do you need? Um, it would seem that all you really got to do is walk through there with a bunch of stakes and a hammer and you've pretty much planned it out. It's following the creep. Uh, if you know, if it's not federal jurisdiction, you have a lot more leeway in terms of environmental review. Um, it's not like you're in the river

corridor here and you have to deal with the Army Corps of Engineers. I I just over a million dollars to design a trail through the woods that follows a creek. Wow. Do we have a lot of bridges that need to be engineered over the creek because it goes back and forth over the creek? I I I just don't understand it. It uh and it's so so broadly written that it it isn't even clear that survey work is involved. There's some places where it sounds like, oh no, we're everything but survey work. That's all there is to this is survey work. Basically the surveyor go behind the guy who goes and sets the stakes and go this is a path because it's not a path you can design in an office. It's a path you design in the field and then you have the surveyors come back and make it a plan. I I just million dollars to dis for concept design for a trail that follows a creek. I I mean for a million dollars it ought to be design construct the whole thing for a million dollars. I just don't I don't get it. Mystifying to me. Thank you.

Thank you. Are there any other speakers? Does council have any questions or comments? Do I have a motion to approve item number three on the consent agenda? Council member cells. Do I have a second? Council member Hall. All in favor, raise your hand. It passes unanimously with uh Council Member Bon um going for recusal. It's coming back.

Next is the regular agenda. City clerk Long, please read the first item on the regular agenda. Uh, yes. This item is recommendation to convert the six pickle ball courts at Crab Apple Center into two tennis courts presented by Steven Malone, director of recreation parks. Mr. Malone, would you like to come forward and present?

Good evening, Mayor and Council. Uh, this next item is regarding the racket courts at the Crab Apple Center. In October of 2025, mayor and council approved converting two of the tennis courts on site at Crab Apple into six pickleball courts. Construction began in December of 2025. And during construction, nearby residents raised concerns primarily about the noise along with quality of life and potential impacts to property values. The city held a public listening session on March 11th to hear directly from the community. While there is a strong and growing demand for pickle ball across Roswell, the location of these courts, specifically their proximity to homes has become a significant concern. Based on this feedback, staff is recommending converting the six pickleball courts back to tennis courts. We recognize the continued growth in pickleball and we'll continue exploring upcoming opportunities to expand pickle ball access across Roswell in more appropriate locations. happy to answer any questions you might have.

Are there any questions from council? Council member B. Uh, not a question, but just wanted to acknowledge that we had a listening session with the neighborhood two weeks ago and received a lot of feedback from the community, which we appreciate folks taking the time um and their evening to come share their thoughts with us um and that that was taken into consideration. Thank you, Council Member Hall. Thank you. I'm sorry. I didn't hear what the cost is to convert these. That they're they're ready for pickle ball. Correct. That is correct. So, the restriping back from pickle ball to tennis courts would be $17,900.

Thank you. Any other council member or council member Philippine? And can you remind us of what the costs were to um put up the recommended sound mitigation for um if the pickle ball courts were to remain there?

Yes, ma'am. So, the original construction price was $27,000 which included sound mitigation material on the northern fence line closest to the property lines. Uh the enhanced sound mitigations that were proposed, which would have included expanding that sound material and landscaping, would have been $70,000. 52,000 for the additional sound mitigation material and $18,000 for the landscape. And that's the 70,000 has not been spent yet. That is correct. Council member cells. So, has the 200 been spent already?

Yes, sir. $27,000 is the project scope as we sit today and that that included the sound mitigation. That included the north side fence line for sound mitigation. Yes, sir. Okay. And just just uh there is a lot of demand for pickle ball. We've talked about that a number of times. I've certainly gotten numerous numerous emails about this as I'm sure others have as well. What is the plan B for expanding pickle ball? You have any thoughts on that at this time? and how long that will be.

We do have some ideas. I think it'll be more visible after tomorrow's committee meeting. We do have an agenda item that's coming tomorrow related to the Henry Park design. I think there's some great opportunities as we look ahead at the design of Henry Park and what that could entail as far as expanding pickle ball options. And uh you're most optimistic. When would that be that we would see those pickle ball courts? Uh construction for Henry Park would likely not start for at least another year and a half, two years.

Unfortunately, I had a commitment the night of the open mic or excuse me, the uh listening session. Did you discuss the efficacy of the sound mitigation that was proposed and what was the what was your takeaway from the response from the the neighbors and as well as other interested parties that were there that night? Uh we did not really go into a lot of detail regarding the specifics of the sound mitigation options that night specifically. I would say that the concerns are still there that with the sound mitigations actually rectify the noise itself uh being that it is somewhat of a new product that we have not experienced or tested specifically in Roswell before. So you're comfortable with this decision then I suppose right?

Yes sir. Right.

Any other comments or questions? City Clerk Long, are there any speakers for this item? Uh, yes, there are two speakers. The first is Teresa Lynn. Hello everyone. I'm Teresa Lynn and I live at 330 Shelley Lane in the Roswell Place neighborhood. I am the owner of one of the receiving properties for this project. My home sits 114 feet from the courts. Thank you for reconsidering the courts and writing this proposal. Mayor and council, thank you for considering it. We are here because of pickle ball noise. I first want to thank Councilwoman Philippy and Brumley who visited the courts. That is what good governance is and we appreciate it. Councilman Zach and Councilwoman Bon, thank you for the time that you spent with me speaking about this issue. To the mayor, who met with us in your first week in office, while everyone in Roswell must have seemed at your doorstep, you gave us some time. Thank you. To Councilman Cells, in a conversation we had, you mentioned that you thoroughly understand the issue. I appreciate your consideration. and Councilwoman Hall. Thank you for attending the listening session and hearing our side. We are here because, as many of you know, there is an ongoing problem with pickle ball noise. It is a problem at the Grimesbridge Park, as we heard in the listening session from some of our neighbors there. But it is not just a problem in Roswell. It is a problem all across America. Municipalities and HOAs are dealing with this issue. Neighbors in Alpharetta in the Abbey Glenn neighborhood recently testified to their city council that they hear the

sound of pickle ball noise in their homes and they have taken to wearing headphones inside their homes to drown out the noise. Sadly, one family in that neighborhood living at 170 ft from the courts said that their baby cannot cannot sleep in the nursery that they provided for the baby because of the intrusive and piercing noise of pickle ball. They also said when the courts were tennis courts, they never had a problem. They lived there for over a decade. When pickle ball came, that's when the problem started. This is because of the specific sound profile created by a paddle striking a plastic ball. It produces a high-pitched intermittent impulsive sound and it is particularly annoying to hear. People living near pickle ball courts report developing stress related illnesses and depression. They also report developing neurological issues. a Dr. Kathleen Ramito as she is a retired family physician in Boise, Idaho. She has documented many such cases of people who live too close to pickle ball courts. We could expect these pickle ball courts at Crab Apple Center to have been used from 8:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. And I have been warned by staff members, excuse me, that play might begin at sunrise. I estimate on six fully utilized courts that might be 80,000 popping sounds per day. The sound mitigation that we talked about, as was just mentioned, is no guarantee. I visited the Marcus Jewish Community Center in Dunwy, and I stood 100 ft from courts similar in size to the courts that have been proposed here. They have a full covering over the top, and all walls are covered with a similar material. You can still hear pickle ball noise

inside the home that sits 100 feet from those courts. That is with the fullest of mitigation available today. Roswell Place is a neighborhood that has community. In the listening session that you hosted last week, you saw over 60 of my neighbors come out against these courts. You heard some of my neighbors talk about how we greet each other in the street and we support each other when we're in need. I don't expect that all of my neighbors will stay if these courts are allowed to hold pickle ball on them in the amount of play that we've discussed. So, I ask you for three things going forward. Please approve this proposal. Please also rewrite the noise ordinance specific to pickle ball. That is being done in many cities. In fact, it was just approved in the town of Brazleton and it is being considered in Alpharetta. They will vote on that next week. Last, I ask that you create setbacks for pickle ball courts from homes. Mayor and council, please do this to protect everyone and allow recreation in Roswell to continue to build community and not break it. Thank you.

Thank you, Miss Lynn. Next speaker. Yes. The next speaker is Susan Rumble. Are there any other speakers for this item? Does council have any other comments? Council member Hall.

Thank you. Um just a couple questions for Stephen. We had uh we had had the discussions about the tennis courts and um so will they be lighted and will we be able to program them as part of our programming? Uh currently there are no plans to add lights to those courts at this moment in time and due to no lights and no restrooms we would be unable to program them for altered use per the parameters of all. So so basically it's a dead asset. No programming um for the city. It would be open tennis play for anyone that wanted to use the courts for the session.

Thank thank you.

That's my questions. I just have comments. So, the city purchased Crab Apple Middle School um as an as an asset for the city. We're about $12 million into this property. We purchased it for 6.5 million and we didn't take that policy decision lightly. We made that policy decision based on the needs and wants of 90,000 plus residents of programming that we need its adjacency to the Roswell area park. And when we did the due diligence, we looked at every square inch of that property. And as good stewards of the residents and the taxpayers investment and money, we looked at how we could maximize and every square inch of whether it's the building, the property, the lot. How can we make this the best benefit for the residents, all the residents of Roswell? That property was built I did a little little research in 1983 and Roswell Place lovely community um was built next to that property in the '9s. Many of the homes in the early to to late 90s and and actually the the two homes that are uh have been very vocal about the courts um transacted in the last two or three years. So uh those properties actually even the ones prior to that purchased next to a school and next to a park. So being um good stewards of the taxpayers as a whole and looking at this $12 million commitment,

I cannot justify investing another 20 grand 179 into something that would be a dead asset. We don't prohibit pickle ball in any of our zoning. Residents in single family homes have pickle ball courts in their backyards. So, this is not something that is banned in our city. We haven't had calls since I've been on council for six years for more tennis courts. We've had more calls from our residents to the tunes of hundreds and emails for more pickle ball courts. And this is this is what staff informed us. And this was the policy decision that was made. The staff has bent over backwards to accommodate and mitigate any noise that potentially will come to these homes. We have invested in sound mitigation that is new, that is untested. We haven't tried it yet. I think that we demonstrated that we will continue to work with homeowners on this. There's additional sound mitigation that we could do. Um, you can say the andor argument. Well, if we do this now, we're just investing 20,000 versus a net $50,000 more later down the line. But we don't even know if this is going to be an issue. But what we do know is that we can program these courts. We've spent the money on behalf of the Roswell taxpayers and put a program in. We can talk about limiting times of play. There are no lights on the court. So, this was a school there. There were um suggestions

to um operate the courts during what would be traditional school hours because that's what a resident could that purchase next to a school could expect. So, there's ways to be able to accommodate the people that have concerns. This community has pickle ball courts in their neighborhood. We're keeping pickle ball courts away from folks that don't have them in their neighborhoods. And I don't think that's equitable. And I don't think it's a good use of taxpayer dollars to not program them. I I think there's opportunities to look at expanding pickle ball in our city as was suggested. Um if we if there there are funds available and and opportunities to make a pitle ball complex to make it indoor in in some way or fashion that um we can look at all those things but I uh I in good conscience in good governance cannot support this because I support and I'm talking about 90,000 people and that is why I can't support not program, not programming them as we had intended.

Any other comments? Yeah, Council Member Felippy.

Um, so I would just like to respond in um response to some of those things. I've spent a lot of time with these homeowners and have discussed many of these issues with them. They were well aware of buying their home near a school and near a park and they have thoroughly enjoyed being next to a home, next to a park and hearing the sound of children playing and laughing. What they did not sign up for is the intermittent highel noise that comes along with pickle ball. Pickle ball in single family neighborhoods are not utilized at the level, the rate and the the amount of people that you're talking about for a public space with six different courts. That is constant noise all day. Not the few people that come out and play in their neighborhood periodically. We already know that the current sound mitigation will not work. All of the studies, all of the research prove this without a doubt. While the decision to purchase this school might have been done with due diligence, the decision to put the pickle ball courts in this location were not. There are not,000 people in this city that are playing pickle ball and their use would be at a moment in time and for their enjoyment. the ones who do play these people would have to deal with that noise constantly every single day. It is not something that we need to be dealing with constantly and for the rest of our terms. Thank you.

Any other council member cells?

I just I'd like to redirect a little bit. So to you, Stephen. Um, you know, look, I understand sunk cost. We have $200,000 that is a dead asset. I completely understand that. Explain to me why we can't simply take up the nets, pull down the fence, and leave it because there is nobody clamoring for us to spend 17 or $18,000 to put in tennis court. So to me the better course would just simply leave it and we'll see what happens you know with the property over the coming years as we continue to program it. That would be my wish. It seems like a complete and total waste of time and frankly a fig leaf of a stupidity that we should just spend that money to do that. How do you feel about that?

I would say sir that's definitely an option that's on the table as well. Thank you. Well, perhaps I should throw that to you, Mary. And perhaps we can amend this resolution to say that we'll just leave it. And what do you can you be specific about what would need to be done to make sure that people couldn't play pickle ball there? Machine gun desk or what? Not sure. I I could definitely ensure that we would not be using it for pickle ball. Yes, sir. I think we can do that at a very minimal cost uh related to taking the fences down. There's no netting there now. uh we'd have to be very cautious of the um individuals that may decide to come and just take advantage. So, we'd have to figure out something with the striking on the court.

Yeah. Well, I think that that would just for the moment. I mean, I know we have other plans for that property that may uh disturb that ground in some way, there's a possibility. I think that if if uh council is good with that, it'd be better just to leave it. Does anybody have a problem with that? Council member Bramley. Um, I would not like to leave his father. I mean, maybe, you know, some people will play tennis while they're waiting for their kids, you know, little kids. Council member Philippy. Um, sorry, let let Council member Bremley finish, please.

Uh, yeah. I mean, you know, it just this cost doesn't seem like a lot and then people can start at least using them and then we can see, you know, at least it wouldn't be completely dead. It would be somebody, you know, kids can use it while where while their parents or sorry, the parents can use it while their kids are inside the the center. Uh just, you know, just leaving it just abandon it. It doesn't even look good to the city. So, you know, would look like you were literally abandoning and burning money instead of using it at least for something. Any other comments? Council member S.

Perhaps we can square a circle with some uh some ramps on the uh on the piece because we're talking about a piece of talking about a piece of concrete that uh that you know if we're going to spend 17 grand on it, I'd rather do that than do something that nobody's going to use. Can I get an amen back in the from the from the Baptist in the back? I I just Sorry, Council Member Bramley. Sorry, I'm not ready to make a motion to convert it into something else at the moment. Um I'm sure you know it would be too fast to do this and you know pickable um skate parks also have pros and cons. So So what were you saying?

Uh council member cells comment as forget any other comments. Yeah. Did you? So all all I'm saying is is that we can leave it as a piece of concrete, okay, for the moment and then we can do something else with it. But to spend more money on something was what was it before? What was it before? Tennis courts. And were they used before? Uh no, but they were in disrepair as well. So

yeah, they were in disrepair because nobody used them for years. I mean that that's sort of the whole point. So, I would say, you know, a a a flat surface of concrete is not an eyesore and it certainly would save us 17 18 grand and we can do something different later. Council member Bon,

I'm immunable to council member cells proposal to to use your words, leave it. In other words, to um deprogram it as pickle ball courts, but not necessarily reinstall or use the $17,900 investment to restripe them as tennis courts with the understanding that they wouldn't be fully programmable. um or fully utilized to the best of their potential. Um I'll go ahead and own the vote and I will call it a mistake in terms of the original vote of us trying to take advantage of an opportunity at the time because we'd had to have high demand. We still have high demand for pickle ball. Um, but I think from our perspective, we saw it as um, solving an issue for the neighborhood and the city of making sure that we are alleviating concerns related to pickle ball um, without maybe um, going as far as we needed to to make sure that we socialized with the community first and got everyone's feedback um, just to make sure at this point in time that I think this is the best and highest use of our funds. I agree with council member cells of leaving it be until we have a more collaborative approach to how to address how that will be programmed. So, council council member cells, would you like to propose a amendment to the

do a little governance right here? Uh I'm sorry, Council Member Brumley. Uh so, we're saying we're um oops, sorry. uh gonna remove the fences and just leave the concrete out but because it could get damaged. I mean kids will start using it for skateboard just a park. So what what would be the plan? I no plan now. give us time to

My recommendation based on limiting resources and impact would be to probably leave the fence there and keep it chained and keep it locked and unutilized until we figure out a permanent solution for that space. There's a $2 answer. There's a $2 answer. It's called a padlock. Correct. So, would you like a motion? Is that what you're asking for? Anyone else want to make a comment? Okay. Council member cells, would you like to make a This isn't David. This isn't really written as a resolution. So, what would you like me to do? If you make a motion and it passes, that works as a resolution.

Okay. So, I make a motion that the uh pickle ball courts be decommissioned and uh left my word uh as is uh until further decision is reached by the council. Do do I have a second? Put your hand down. Council member Phelp. All in favor, please raise your hand. Four. All oppose, raise your hand. One opposed. Oh, I'm sorry. You're voting for

four. I didn't see your hand. I'm sorry. So, five four. Five approved, one opposed. So, the motion passes as stated. S city clerk Long, please read the second item on the regular agenda. Yes, mayor. This is approval to enter into a new agreement with BRC and Motorola Solutions for a trial drone as first responder initiative takeoff program.

And this item is being deferred to a future mayor and council meeting at this time. City Clerk Long, please read the third. David, we don't need a vote on that. I thought Sorry, we're deferring the Motorola vote. Is that what you're saying? Yes. Okay. Thank you. I thought that's what I'm sorry. City Clerk Long, please read the third item on the regular agenda.

Yes. This is approval to award the 2026 citywide resurfacing contract to Baldwin Paving Company, Inc. for 5,241,85323 with an amount not to exceed 6,44,48. This will be presented by Andy Flaggar, director of transportation. Good. Good evening, Andy. Thank you. Floor is yours.

Um, not going to reread what she just read. So, um, on February 10th, we put out for bid the 2026 citywide resurfacing contract. Uh, Baldwin Paving Company, uh, Incorporated was the low lowcost responsive, responsible bidder. Uh, this will cover 46 roads, about 14.2 miles of roadway, and resurface some needed improvements in three parks. Thank you. Does anyone on council member have a question? City clerk Long, are there any speakers to this item?

There are no speakers for this item. Oh, I'm sorry, Council Member Zach. Hopefully you can hear me. Um, just want to make comment that as we go through this program as best we can and we've kind of talked about this is that we're communicating timelines of what's getting paved and when way ahead of the time with some of the tools we talked about. Only comment. So, thank you. We will be doing that um putting signs out ahead of this construction schedule so people know what's coming. Any other comments? Yes, Council Member Hall.

Thank you. Thank you, Andy. Um just a question. So this is when will this paving be done in calendar year 26? Yes. Based on what we learned last year, um this contract has liquidated damages if they do not start work within 30 days of us noticing uh notice to proceed and they will be fined significantly if they do not finish all roads on the list within 120 days of start. Thank you. And and I actually had another reason for asking that because Riverside Road um if you look at the south side uh Riverside going west to Highway 9 that's scheduled to be done in 27. Is that correct? Yes ma'am.

So that's going to be beautiful along the river. I mean two brand new roads back back to back. I mean one year you're not going to be able to tell tell them apart. Correct. Exciting. Thank you. especially for the cyclists. I'm sorry. It's just the cyclists will be very excited. Council member South, what we you have a a moment here. I'd love to pump the uh the website. I assume this will be on the city projects and private developments website. When does that happen before the yellow signs go up or simultaneous with the yellow signs that these go on there? I'm not sure. We can make sure it's in both places.

Yeah. So, as soon as we get a schedule from the from the contractor, what's the order they're going to hit it in? Canton Roads first or Canton Streets first. Um, once we have the order, we can put it out for people. They expect it kind of to happen like this. Uh, with signs in this in the field, you two, three weeks out that we're coming, we'll be in your neighborhood soon, we'll be on your street soon. Well, I just would pump pump this to anybody who's looking to see what's going on in the city in terms of projects. This this is this has been a great addition. Thank you to those who did it. very very good stuff. So like you can always point to that. Any other comments?

Do I have a motion? Council member cells. Do I have a second? Council member Philippy. All in favor, please raise your hand. Passes unanimously. Thank you. City Clerk Long, please read the fourth item on the regular agenda.

Yes. This is approval of a contract amendment for winter construction for the completion of the Green Street Mobility Project in the amount of $3,110,4529 with a budget authorization of $3,450,000. This is um Winter Construction is the company that is completing the parking deck as we speak. Uh we have added on to them to add a multi-use trail 8 to 10 ft from Green Street to Cherry Way. We will be converting Plum Street to a pedestrianon path. Um and the existing aerial utilities will be relocated underground. uh to expedite the construction, we made a amendment with winter construction because they're already on site and you get started with this work immediately.

Thank you,

city clerk. Is there anyone from the public that would like to speak? We have one speaker, Jason Yao. Wow. Let's spin the money wheel. Uh, I've driven by there pretty recently and substantial amount of work has already been done. the curbing is there. So really what we're talking about is multi-purpose path, little bit of repaving and bearing the the power lines for $3 million plus. I I think you know contractors come to the city and they just look at this city as being a sucker. This is this is an insane amount of money for a few hundred feet of road and sidewalk. Basically, that's what this is re and over $3 million and they're already there and they've already done a substantial amount of the work already which I guess was in the original contract. I I just I just don't see the $3 million that that's justified in this. It It's inconceivable. All I have to say. Thank you. Any council member comments?

Council member Bon. Uh this is question for Mr. Flegar. Um, have the Plum Tree business owners been notified of this change for the conversion to pedestrian only street? Yes, they are aware of the project. Okay. So, they've already been notified. And then, uh, roughly speaking, you probably wouldn't be able to give me the dollar amount off the top of your head. My understanding is the financial burden of this project or most of the cost really comes from the bearing of the utility lines. Is that correct? Um, might need help from Mr. Watson. Yes, there would be a large cost for burying the utilities that is not inexpensive and then the rightway acquisition among the properties that we need to do work in.

Got it. Thank you. Anyone else have comment? Do I have a motion? Council member cells.

Do I have a second? Council member Philippi. All in favor, please raise your hand. Passes unanimously. City clerk Long, please read the fifth item on the regular agenda. Um, approval of a text amendment to the unified development code, article 14, definitions, section 14.2, defined terms. This will be the second reading, presented by Jeannie Payton, Planning and Zoning Director. City Attorney David Davidson, please read the ordinance.

Thank you, Mayor. This is an ordinance to amend chapter 14 of the Unified Development Code of the City of Roswell regarding defining terms. Now, therefore, the mayor and council of the city of Roswell, pursuant to their authority, do hereby adopt the following amendment. Chapter 14, Definitions of the Unified Development Code of the City of Roswell, Georgia, is hereby amended by modifying section 14.2 to define terms which shall read as follows. Text of which is incorporated here and by reference and if approved this is the second reading. Good evening mayor and

Good evening mayor and council members. Um this is the second reading of the text amendment where we're defining commun um computer or data processing. Um we took this item to the planning commission in a public hearing on February 17th. They voted to strike the language we took to them and add the language here. Um I could read it if you would like. Um but this is the second um item to second time is coming before you and staff recommends approval as the plan.

I am going to go ask you to go back just for those who are online if you could read it just in case. So the proposed text amendment, it would be to add a definition for computer or data processing that states facilities where electronic data is processed by employees including without limitation, data entry, storage, conversion or analysis, subscription or credit card transaction processing, telephone sales, order collection, mail order and catalog sales, and mailing list preparation, but shall not include any building structure. or facility or any portion or complex of the foregoing in which any substantial floor area is devoted to operating data processing or computing equipment for commercial computer applications or services such as developing, running, delivering or transmitting computer applications or services or for storing and managing the data associated with such such services. By the way of example and not of limitation, such computer applications or services described herein may be related to cryptocurrency mining, data mining, cloud computing and storage, and artificial intelligence. No problem. Any questions? Any questions from council? City clerk long, are there any speakers?

There are no public speakers. Do I hear a motion? Council member Zach, do I have a second? Council member Brumley. All in favor, please raise your hand. Five. Oh, okay. You did. It passes unanimously. Just wondering. City Clerk Long, please read the last item on the regular agenda. Um, approval of an ordinance to amend the code of ordinances of the city of Roswell, Georgia by amending chapter 2 administration article 2.5 code of ethics to provide for penalties to provide for codification to provide for severability to repeal conflicting ordinances to provide an effective date and for other purposes. This is the second reading presented by Joseph Gusac, assistant city attorney.

City Attorney Davidson, please read the ordinance. Thank you. This is an ordinance to amend the code of ordinances of the city of Roswell, Georgia by amending chapter 2 administration article 2.5 code of ethics to provide for penalties to provide for codification to provide for severability to repeal conflicting ordinances to provide an effective date and for other purposes. Now therefore, the council of the city of Roswell, Georgia, hereby ordains that the code of ordinances of the city of Roswell, chapter 2, administration, article 2.5, code of ethics, is hereby repealed in its entirety and replaced to read as follows. Text of which is incorporated herein by reference and if approved, this is the second reading.

Good evening everyone. I have the second reading of the new ethics ordinance which will replace our current ethics ordinance. I just want to before I I go into a summary or a brief summary because I know we've been over this in committee and at the first reading. Um but I just want to draw your attention to packet page 128. It's page nine out of 11 uh for the only change that was made from the first reading to the second reading and that is in section E2 uh which added the sentence uh in the second sentence is that if the complaint is deemed to be frivolous by the hearing officer uh the hearing officer shall recommend the complainant be subject to reimburse the respondent for any reasonable attorney's fees incurred with the defense of the complaint. Uh, and what this clause is trying to do is really disincentivize any frivolous complaints coming in or any just nonsensical complaints. And I I'll go into a little background on this. Uh basically what what this would mean is if any complaint comes in that is just patently unfounded or just has no place in law or fact then the the person who is uh the uh complainant or the person who who is the complainant and these things are found by the hearing officer under that legal standard that this is just patently unfounded or no place in law or fact. uh can then order based on their determination that the the complaining party be responsible for the fees for the party who has to defend against it. This is a common place in law uh for frivolous lawsuits. Attorney's fees are awarded uh fairly fairly regularly. This was something we dealt with when I was at the ethics commission. uh we established a rule based on uh frivolous complaints and if a party had to defend them based on the I know mayor Robisho has has seen this process unfold um because these complaints inevitably would get politicized and that's what you're trying to take out of the process here is politicize complaints and that's what this ethics ordinance is attempting to

do. Um and to to to go off of that that is basically what we have instituted in these changes. We've really instituted a lot of process changes on how complaints are taken in. Um I'd like to highlight the current ethics ordinance as written starts with a complaint that goes that's ultimately filed with the mayor. So immediately the politics are injected into this process. That complaint goes to the mayor and then the three members of council are then chosen along with the city attorney to then determine whether a hearing is warranted or not. And I know council member Bon has brought this process up that in the last 20 years none of these have made it through that process. Um the board of ethics is appointed by you all. Uh there are two appointees per uh per council member and the mayor and then ultimately five would be picked uh to sit if a complaint is filed to sit in judgment of that complaint. They are then set off on a path with no one guiding the path. They are allowed to pick their own rules. They are allowed to pick how they conduct their hearings. They are allowed to pick whichever way they want to go forward. And I highlighted a couple issues with that. Uh mainly in that you can have different burdens of proof applied, different standards of evidence, different standards just applied across the board from a different group to another different group, another different group. So there's no consistency in the process whatsoever. Um, when we talk about citizen involvement or citizens sitting in judgment like as in a jury, I I I think that differs in this process because in jury trials, you ultimately have a judge who is giving the legal instructions. They're making sure that the defendant, the state or both parties, their due process rights are upheld, that the trial is staying on the tracks, that there are rules of evidence that are applied and evenly applied to both parties. there's a fundamental fairness factor. Uh and with the way the

current ordinance uh that we have on the books right now is crafted, we don't have those safeguards in place. And so the the new ethics ordinance has those safeguards in place. It applies a burden of proof beyond a reasonable doubt that is consistent across the board. Uh the new uh ethics ordinance starts with a an apolitical process in that the complaint is filed via the affidavit uh with the city clerk. Miss Long takes in filing. She takes in these things as part of her duties. This is a standard thing where a lawsuit I'll compare it to a lawsuit being initiated. It is filed with the clerk in Fulton County if it were to be in Fulton County or wherever the venue may be, but it's filed with the the clerk and then a copy would be furnished to the city administrator and then the cler uh the clerk serves upon the uh the party who the complaint is made against. They serve that complaint and the the due process kicks in from that point. Um the hearing officer would then be chosen and the hearing officer is uh an attorney who has no ties to the city, no familiar ties to the city and this is something from the committee process to the first or sec to the first reading. Uh there is more safeguards in place made so that we are getting a totally neutral party that has no ties to the city that can take take the uh complaint and look at the facts and circumstances and apply the law and ultimately make a determination of whether any of the ethics uh ethics ordinances were violated or those ethical duties were violated. So what this new uh ethics ordinance process has done is has tried to really make this process apolitical. tried to take the politics out of this uh take any biases or perceived biases out of the process. Uh so that's the intent of what is being brought forward. And given this is the second reading, this would be the last time we'd be hearing this and it would be uh codified as part of replacing the the old ethics ordinance with this after tonight if the

council were to uh vote positively for it. I'm happy to take any questions. I know there have been some that come up, but if there's any, I'd be happy to take them. I just also want to say thank you and thank you for using your expertise on the state ethics committee to um walk us through these processes. Do any council members have questions or cons comments? Council member Philippy. So, I've noticed some concerns about the removing the residents from this process um causing a lack of transparency, and as you have so eloquently stated, that is not at all our intention here. Um I'm wondering if there's some other things that we can do to alleviate concerns over transparency and and perhaps some of these things are already in place. Um, can we cause there to be a mandatory disclosure of all findings without discrepancy?

Yes. And actually part of the process here, um, no matter what the the findings are, whether there's a a finding of of no violation or a finding of of violations, it comes back to council for the report to either accept uh, deny or modify the condition. So, you're going to get a report back that is in a public setting. and all of these. So any complaint too would be subject to the open records act as well. Um what about causing public hearings um um to uh allowing the complaintant to request and require public hearings? I I think that's certainly something that can be requested as as part of this process.

Okay. And and talk to me a little bit about how the attorneys are chosen and is that process independent? Um would the same attorney be used over and over from from situation to situation? No, there is going to be a list of five attorneys uh that are submitted. What should this pass and from that point there will be one chosen for for say a complaint comes in. Out of those five attorneys, one will be randomly chosen. So it's not going to be the same attorney over and over again. Uh it's going to be a a rolling cycle of of who's eligible or who ultimately gets chosen. And a little more clarity on how these attorneys will be chosen, sir.

Uh well, they have to meet the geographical uh the geographical I guess constraints in here that they they can't have a office within or they can't be residents of Roswell. They can't have an office within 10 miles of the nearest border to the city. They have to have I believe five years, let me get the actual qualifications. Five years of practice perhaps. That's what I mean more is how are they identified? So what they meet all the criteria but how are we identifying them?

Preferably they are going to have an ethics background. I know um someone who I will submit going forward um was a former head of the JQC who investigated judges. So that they have this sort of background already in ethics laws and applying those to law and facts already. Would it be appropriate to accept recommendation from residents if they meet the criteria? Absolutely. Any other comments? Council member Styles, could you could you restate your second one? I want to make sure I understood what your second point was. Public hearings. Yeah. Can you talk can you explain that a little?

Yeah. So, any hearings associated with this would be done in a public setting should the um complaintant want that. So typically the person under investigation is probably going to want to keep things more private, but the um complaintant would have a opportunity to be heard publicly. Okay. So my followup to that would be I mean I think we've seen tonight that some people will make things public no matter what. Let's just say and uh for public sake I I just want to make sure that it's not some this would have to be if we're going to debt if we're going to allow that it have to be after it's been determined to not be frivolous.

Correct. Because we have you know we set up a a kangaroo court every week I'm sure if if that were not the case. Correct. And and I maybe skipped over this with how the process would play out. one, the the complaint's going to go to the hearing officer or the attorney who's handling the case. Ultimately, they're going to make a judgment call right there of I'm going to look at the facts as submitted the law as applied. And if it's just a totally frivolous complaint, I I'll use the example of a you recused from a vote and then the complaint came in that you had not recused from that vote and that you personally

it's a it's an open and shut right there because there's a record of it. Um, and I I talked about in previous uh at committee and in the first reading that most of these are going to be paper cases that there's going to be a trail uh a voting trail or on paper that you have a business interest. So, they're going to be able to marry that up fairly quickly uh and fairly obviously. So, I if something is frivolous, I do not expect it to go farther than getting the complaint and finding the uh the evidence that's already available.

Right. and and the complainant it's not a trial. So they're making their accusation in writing and it's not what would in a public in a public setting like like we're talking about here. Would they be testifying or would they what it seems interesting to me that the complainant would be the one who moves for this public trial. There's really no role for them beyond submitting the complaint. Am I correct in that? Or are they do they testify at this this hearing or what? So the hearing officer can call for to take testimony, but really you have the right to remain silent if you are the the party.

Say somebody else's. Yeah. Yeah. Um but the the hearing officer can take testimony and then the responding party can then cross-examine the person who would be you'd have that right to cross-examination of the person who is uh I guess being questioned. So you would have that constitutional that that right built in to to assert a defense uh and question any any party that is called as a witness. But what we're talking about at this moment is not just simply that. It's that the complaintant has called for a public hearing and I assume that that means that the complaintant intends to speak. Am I misconstring that?

I don't think the complaintant would be this would be something the hearing officer determines if there was a a necessitate or it's necessary to gather uh testimony. Okay. So, but it's after the gate of Yes. nonfrivolous. It's based on whatever the evidence submitted leads the attorney uh who's acting as actual merits to the on the merits and in which case then it's public. Okay, I understand. Thank you. I I have a question. The prior process did it have transparency and open here in public hearings that was used here in the city of Roswell?

No, I'm just asking. No. Was there a public listing? was no I everybody's I'm just asking because again if it was coming you know was was it prior transparency that every you know andor public hearings prior? No, there was not.

Okay. Thank you, Council Member Bon. Um I understand some feedback from the community too regarding um comparing residents being part of this process as a jury of your peers similar to a court system. However, in a normal court system there's the function of wordier where the attorneys for both sides would have the ability to question and eliminate bias from the jury. So, for example, if it's a trial for a professional clown accused of arson, they're probably going to rule out the person who's a potential juror who has a deep-seated fear of clowns because they're going to be inherently biased. In this situation, every single person on mayor and counsel appointed the quote unquote jury of their peers. So, I have no idea how you would eliminate inherent bias when it is the coach of your kids soccer team or your high school best friend or your neighbor or however else people on mayor and council found their appointments. Also, these are appointments unlike the rest of our boards and commissions. Um, any other board and commission that you typically see here come through council chambers, um, we've already vetted the entire process. We've interviewed that person. We have a chance to say no. Not for your board of ethics. In this situation, each of us get two appointees regardless of who those appointees are. Um, I could pick an appointee that has a blood feud with Council Member Brumley's family. It doesn't matter. She doesn't get to veto my appointment to the ethics commission. So, in this case, I appreciate the effort to eliminate bias. I realize that it takes the component of resident involvement out of it that many people appreciated. Um but I also realized that that involvement could become a slippery slope um without a proper vetting process. And again to reiterate, this is also um a format used in surrounding

cities like Milton and John's Creek. This was modeled after John's Creek and it followed um uh the ethics state ethics level um process that you previously worked with. Correct. Correct. Yes. That's it on my end. Thank you.

I have one other and the other thing I just want to make sure we are all clear that the process even once the complaint is submitted it follows a consistent process. It's not five people who were appointed then choosing to follow whatever rules procedures they choose. It would be a consistent method um basically driven by law as to how this would proceed and what would be considered appropriate evidence, not EV those types of things within the legal system per se. Even though it's technically an ethics complaint, it you know it's quasi legal system per se. So it's a consistent methodology also.

That's correct. It is a consistent process no matter who is I guess who is the the responding party. It's no matter what it's the same process for everyone as opposed to the how it is now where it it could be a matter of different processes. You just don't know.

Councilwoman Bramley. Um and and on that vein also if you have you know people who are just you know residents that are not familiar with how things are or what are the standards of everything and the investigation goes sideways um there's no consequences for them as well. Whereas if we use um you know attorneys um they are being held to a higher ethical standard and so in the small chains that they're chosen and have some bias and they don't recuse themselves they could lose their license and their livelihood. So there there are consequences for this whereas right now the current process doesn't have it. Is that correct?

Yes. The you know we have the uh the state bar is our authority that keeps everybody ethically in line. And so we're bound by those uh duty rules that the state bar promagates. Any other comments, Council Member Sal?

Thank you, Joe. Um we talked a little bit about this in the past. Uh one of the things that I brought up was that first I would like to say I'm sure whenever what we have now was written, they thought it was a good idea. It was maybe a big step forward, but this is a this is a grown-up city approach and I really appreciate the hard work. This is well thought out, thorough, uh, uh, clear and so congratulations on that for everybody who did it. I appreciate it a lot. The question I have is that, you know, I'd like to do take one more turn and that is in what is it 2D Romanette? One, two, three. We talk about conflicts of interest and the feedback I'm hearing is that pack money is one of the things that people are paying attention to and that they would like us to not be conflicted by. And so I would like to propose that we include in the conflicts of interest and I've written this up for you David. I'll hand it to you in a second. But uh a new romant 2 down to three and so forth. But a member may not participate in a vote or decision on a matter affecting an organization or group that made pack contributions to the member. That would be sort of move number one. And move number two would be and uh one uh following G uh H would be this would be the new H. Pack contributions means in the definition in the definition section pack contributions means cash or inind contributions from a private organization which pools campaign contributions to donate to a member. And so what I'm doing there is saying okay you know we're not talking about what how the disclosures work with respect to packs. We're not trying to regulate packs. However, we are in our code of ethics. What I'm calling for is saying that pack money, like money from a

developer or money from my nextdoor neighbor, precludes me from voting on an issue that's specific to the pack that gave me the money or the neighbor who gave me the money. just that we can't be uh conflicted immediate family members or we have a entity that we have property or we have some kind of interest. So, I'm suggesting that we include and insert the language that I just read. David, here you go. Uh in this ordinance, council member,

so to clarify, this isn't related to the bench of attorneys who would be on the ethics commission. You're saying that it would be part of the personal involvement process, voting while personally interested. Correct. Correct. So, so how would you determine in that case how someone has a vested interest from a pack? And I realize in this case it's a developer thing. I have a feeling someone rhyming with the name probably talk to you. Um, but in this case, I would I write my own resolutions.

Um, I'm just curious though as to how someone would determine what's affiliated with a pack. So, I'll use myself for example. I was endorsed by Georgia conservation voters because of I'm first of all I I do uh environmental consulting for a living but also because of my platform supported um positive finan or positive environmental approaches for the city of Roswell. So, does that mean I would need to recuse myself even though I have a masters in environmental management from any item related to the environment because I was endorsed by Georgia conservation voters? So endorsement isn't in play but remiteration or or consideration is in play. So if someone makes a contribution to you and a matter look obviously these these questions are often based on our personal judgment. We have to decide you know I may or may not recall that this particular person voted or uh paid paid me money in my first election. Let's just say but if but if I do I should recuse myself and if somebody points it out I should recuse myself. Right? So that's what I'm saying. And likewise, if a pack has interest before this body and they gave me money, then I should recuse myself in regard to that issue that that pack is advocating for that they gave me money in support of because that I'm conflicted in that. That's what I'm saying. And and that's what I think 2D Roman at one through three talks about.

I think uh Mr. and let me council

and I'm going to I'm going to lean on the campaign finance background I I have. So at last count I can't even remember how many packs there were in the state. There were over a thousand. I I'm just I'm trying to game out where you have I I'll use it was Taylor English uh Taylor English Strategies Pack. It's a subsection of the law firm. It's broken off. It's their government affairs division. They have clients that span every single industry in the state. Now, if you take and and and this is the hypothetical and I'm trying to wrap my mind around how to narrow this to actually make it effectual. If you took $500 from Taylor English Strategies, you would then be barred from probably voting on every industry, anything construction from, you know, to the Atlanta Braves to all their clients. They have the list of clients. I remember it was like 200. Um, but it spanned all industries because they were a big lobbying group. Well, it's always good to reach for the absurd in in in your uh rebuttal. I understand that. But

let's but here's the thing. You know, how many how many flyers have each of us gotten saying getting the dark money out of Roswell politics and eliminating pack money and those kinds of things. And I say this is a good burden for us as elected officials to say you know what if this is something that is I receive money from this organization that's advocating for this and they are standing before us and we'll have to you know is that a judgment call perhaps but I think that this is exactly what we're talking about in terms of ethics is that we are standing we are we are sitting in judgment of someone standing in front of us who gave us money. That is a clear play in my view. Um, Council Member Zach and then Council Member Hall.

Um, so I think I'm generally in support of the concept Allen's trying to target here. I I don't know exactly how to approach it. Um, so I'm not necessarily going to make a motion, but maybe a recommendation. I I think I'd like to move forward with the ethics as written, but I do want to strongly like recommend or have staff look into trying to target the concept of what Allen is trying to do and come up with recommendations because I might be a little privileged honestly, but like I would like to remove as much kind of money influence when it comes into politics, but kind of to what's being brought up. How exactly to do that, what we can do as a city, I don't know. So, I generally am very supportive of trying to figure out how we could kind of remove that inherent bias from getting money from packs, but I don't know the best way. I don't know if the ethics thing today is the best way. Um, so that's kind of my thoughts or recommendations.

I thought I'd said after Thank you. Thank you, mayor. Um, so I'm just I'm just trying to uh understand a little bit how this plays into our world. Like for for example, um, the Atlanta Apartment Association sent me a check when I ran back in 2020. Um, and I I sent it back. I I did not accept the check. Had I accepted money from the Atlanta Apartment Association, would what would my what what would I need to do or what would my behavior need to be? I think under this

the any any vote involving apartments, you would then be required to accuse. wording here under this this wording. And that's why I was trying to somewhat figure out a narrow way for that pack's interest. But yeah, that's what I'm trying to I'm trying to trying to workshop it right now to to figure. Yeah. To to not get to that absurd where it could be. But the remedy is clear. The remedy is clear. Yeah. The remedy would be reject the donation. Yeah. You would that or you would have to recuse from anything involving apartments. Yes,

council member B.

So there's also an issue here too when you're talking about packs. You're talking about a direct expenditure, but there's also independent expenditures. There's coordinated um so I'll use for example an IE. We as electeds or candidates can receive an IIE endorsement, an independent expenditure endorsement, which means that that organization on their own behalf is using their own money without us being notified that they're sending out mailers on your behalf. They are doing coordinated door knocks on your or they're doing door knocks on your behalf, not coordinated with your campaign. In those situations, you are financially your campaign is financially benefiting from them. But we don't disclose because they're fully independent. There's a firewall saying that I'm a candidate. I cannot work with ABC pack in order to make this canvas day happen or I don't like the colors on this mailer. I do not talk to them. There have been times where I've received a mailer with my own face on it. I was like, "Huh, look at me. They used a good picture." There's times where you're not going to be able to have say in it, but that's a pack expenditure that you benefited from. So, how would you know to recuse in that? Also, this comes down to um without getting overly political, this is Citizens United. Supreme Court has allowed this and unfortunately when we create local laws that circumvent that there's about 9,000 other loopholes that are recognized by the first amendment that allow packs to operate in this case. I think it's rosecolored glasses to try to look at it through a very narrow lens of oh I'm only concerned about developers or I'm only concerned about apartment builders but you're actually opening up to Mr. Kuzzac's point, a very very wide variety of packs that exist out there for god knows how many different issues that impact a city that you really could be painting all of us into a corner to where we could have to recuse on just about any item and to go to the comment on dark money. Lordy, do I know what

it's like to be targeted by some dark money in Roswell elections. Um I I could write a whole book on it. Um it's not fun. This isn't going to solve it, unfortunately, because Mr. Kyuzak and I got to know each other quite well before he came to the city of Roswell when I was asking why is it that someone's able to send mailers without a disclosure of who they are as an organization. And there's something called magic words apparently that I learned about. Not abracadabra, but as long as they don't say vote for, elect, don't vote for, anything that would have to do with an election. They can say Sarah's a murderer and she's been tried in other countries and she can't stand puppies or whatever it is that they want to put on these mailers. They will never be held accountable because the way that those mailers are written, they are written by groups that specialize in elections who know exactly how to phrase it to skirt that law where they don't have to be disclosed. And they even go as far as handstamping them and using undisclosed PO boxes so that they can circumvent people knowing who they are and how they're trying to influence elections. packs, however, disclose exactly who they are, what they're lobbying for, and what their platform is when they do disclose this cash to you, as opposed to dark money, which who who knows what they're lobbying for. They could just be the neighbor who you who doesn't like you.

May I respond to that? Council member cells.

Thank you. So, the first one was the uh independent expenditures. I think there are pretty substantial rules around independent expenditures and uh we don't disclose those because, as you say, there is a firewall. I I'm not I'm not arguably taking those directing those as you say may not know about those may know about them because they come to you as you say whatever the case may be but there are rules around that what I'm talking about is if you're taking money or I'm taking money from someone who is on my disclosure list and it is a pack okay then that's a I make a conscious decision to opt into this game okay it's so so the clear self-help is to not take pack money. That's the clear self-help and that's what I'm saying.

Council member Brumley,

I don't know why we're derailing the conversation. We are a municipality. Election law is incredibly complex and that's why we don't do it. It's done at the state and federal level. Uh you know, we follow those ethics rules and like um Mr. Serusak said there are a myriad of packs out there money. I got I got this tiny tiny money from a Hispanic organization. So does mean that if a Hispanic festival is going to happen in Ros, I have to recuse myself. I don't know what other what other things are there that they support. Like they said it's Citizens United. I don't like it, but it's the law of the land. And starting to get into these nuances about who can give you money, who cannot give you money. That is very different from like my business does business with this person so therefore I need to recuse. That is different for like I live in this neighborhood then I have to recuse. Pack is uh again election law. It's citizens United first amendment speech. I cannot tell you how many people will start like trying to sue us if we start putting those codes in here. And where I want to go right now is to go ahead and work with what we have on the ethics ordinances and we can revise that later knowing what the consequences are. Again, we are dealing into first amendment speech issues and we're dealing with rules that have already been accepted by the Supreme Court.

Council member cells. So, you began talking about election law. That is true. There is there is a lot of election law, but we're talking about an ethics ordinance for ourselves and we're sitting here crafting it. Not the Supreme Court, not Citizens United. This body right here is writing this ethics law and we have the opportunity to include packs. That's not a first. Look, I'm a I'm all on board for Citizens United, just to be perfectly clear. And someone spending money on elections. I completely agree that that's a first amendment right. What I'm talking about here is a matter of policy or law coming before me where I am clearly conflicted and I should recuse myself. And that's what this simple change does is it says you have a conflict of interest primmaaccia. Somebody gave you money and they're standing before you. The end. I'm not sure what's controversial about that but that's where I see it. Any other comments? So, okay. So, we had a motion.

Sure. No, I got it. I'm sorry. Wait, before Alan, before is there anyone from the public, city clerk Long, that would like to speak on this topic? There are no speakers for this item. Okay.

Thank you. Uh, council member Hall. Thank you and thank you for the amount of work that you put into it. And no doubt our ethics ordinance needed to be revamped, updated, clarified, um procedure procedurally identified and um I'm on board with all that. What I'm not on board with is farming it out to um non Roswell residents. Um both from a cost perspective, but from a jury of your peers perspective. And I do know that some of our uh folks that did reach out to me that are currently on our ethics commission um they were a little bit I guess upset or um really that somebody would think that they would not have the highest integrity in if pulled in for a case of ethics. Um, I I think that we need to keep as many things in Roswell and not form them out. And perhaps there's still an opportunity to look at Alfreda's model, which does use an attorney and some residents as part of that. and the residents basically having the attorney uh could u speak to um as Sarah as council member Bon uh suggested voyer they they would be in charge of basically um disqualifying any of the panel of residents that perhaps might have an interest if uh the residents could not self remove themselves. So, I really would like to see more resident input, residents involved in in as in the process as far as with the attorney.

So, let's Any other comments? Council member Bon. Uh, as council member Brumley had mentioned previously, I would also much prefer to, as opposed to amending on the second reading with an item that is materially different from what we've discussed for the introduction and the last two readings, I would much rather take the motion this evening strictly on as presented item number six with the understanding that your recommended changes can come forward at any time as an amendment to the ordinance itself. Council member Cells.

Thank you. Um, well, I mentioned this in committee. I mentioned it first reading and I'm mentioning it now. I have been consistent on this issue of including the packs in this ethics. And so, I believe it is appropriate. I think the amendment that I'm proposing is clear and concise and fits into the language and style of the document as written. I'm not doing anything crazy here. Uh so I think it deserves an up and up or down on whether or not we amend this uh this this uh uh ordinance to include packs and the requirement to recuse in the event of pack acceptance or not

any council member be

I understand that you had proposed that previously but it was not actually amended to any of the documentation. So had you actually added it during committee during first reading, it would show up just as the item that was added during the first reading um which you added the line that you covered um regarding the um frivolous cases and compensation related to those. However, no language has been added to address anything related to packs from any of those readings. So the item before us this evening is the approval of the ordinance which is presided for us in the agenda as the items which was presented this e evening none of which addresses packs council member Brumley.

Um I would like to make a motion to pass item six. Um, I think I will first have to I will be taking Council Member Cell's U motion to amend and then we would vote on that and then we would take that andor if Councilwoman Hall wants to make an amendment after that in regards to point of order. You said that you're going to take the amendment first as a vote and then come back. I said we would take a motion if he wants to make the amendment. We would vote on whether or not that moves forward after Council Member Brumley speaks.

I'm sorry, Council Member Philippy. Um, I just wanted to publicly express my support for Council Member Zach's proposal of um, generally being in support of this motion by or assumed to be a motion by Council Member Cells, but tableabling it until we have time to discuss and vet it out further. Council member Cells, would you like to make a a motion to amend? I I will. I'm going to make a point of fact first and that is uh Joe uh I think I specifically asked you to come back to me with language on this. So the fact that it's not there. I decided to write it myself and include it as a as a motion. And I think it's clear, it's well written, it is not o uh there's whole lot not a whole lot of ambiguity in what I've written. Would you agree?

No, there's not. It's just, you know, it it's it's just one of those I gave you that example, but and I'm I'm trying to think off the top of my head about how to narrow this to make it to to make it make sense of the way packs are constructed in Georgia and the way where you have those huge packs that have multiple clients of how to actually narrow that down to what the interest is for that particular vote. Um, but you know, doing it off the top of my head right now is is the business before the business before us is how packs operate in Roswell, not how they operate in Georgia. It's how they operate in Roswell. And what I'm saying is is that I would like to make a motion if that's all right. May I make that motion now? Yes.

So, I make a motion to amend. You want me to read these, David, or you want me just to refer to them? Uh, read them.

Okay. So uh I would like to make a motion to amend uh the ordinance as written in uh after 1 G which begins member shall include insert a new H which is the definition of pack contributions which reads pack contributions means cash or incon contributions from a private organization which pulls campaign contributions to donate to a member and further to amend the ordinance. A uh after 2D uh Romanet I which begins a member may not participate in and insert uh Romanet 2. A member may not participate in a vote or decision on a matter affecting an organization or group that made pack contributions to the member.

Do I have a second? I have a question. Do I have a second? We'll take questions after. There is a There is a motion to amend. Do I have a second? I'll second.

Council member Hall seconds. All in favor raise your hand to amend. And I'm not going to reread it. I apologize. Do I have everyone in favor to amend item number six to the um red language? Raise your hand. Two. All opposed, raise your hand. Four. The item fails. Council member Hall, did you want to make another motion in regards to an amendment?

Thank Thank you, Mayor. Yes. I I would like to um motion that we table this item for one more session that we can get clarity on how we can model Alfreda's um policy that includes residents and also clarify the further discussion on the packs. Do I have a second? I'll second that.

Council member cells. All in favor, please raise your hand for that a meant to table this motion for clarification. Three. All opposed. Three. So, I get to pass. I passed. I No, I'm sorry. I I oppose this. So, now we go back to the original um item. Do I have a motion? I'd like to make a motion to pass. Yes.

Are we changing something else? Uh motion to approve an ordinance to amend the code of ordinances of the city of Roswell, Georgia by amending chapter 2 administration article 2.5 code of ethics to provide for penalties to provide for codification to provide for severability to repeal conflicting ordinances to provide an effective date and for other purposes. This is the second and final reading.

Do I have a second? Council member Brumley. All in favor raise your hand. Four. All opposed. Two. The item passes. Moving on to the city attorney's report is next on the agenda. City attorney Davidson, please present the first item.

Thank you, mayor. Um, recently the mayor and I were um contacted by the municipal judge um who has been elect dually elected. He's in his third year as or going in his third year now as our municipal judge. Um he is actually moving outside the city limits of the city of Roswell and uh informed us of this. Um under the state law uh the city council is authorized to appoint a judge. Uh although our charter says our judge is elected, the state law trumps our charter and says that the council can appoint a judge. I would recommend that this council appoint the dulyeleed judge um even though he is moving outside the city limits for a term of two years or until the next election or until the council decides what they want to do with the the charter provisions as they are currently written. City Clerk Wong, is there anyone wishing to speak on this item?

There are no speakers for this item. Are there any questions from council or comments? Council member, did you did you want to make a comment? Thank you, Mayor. I was just getting clarification about the state law.

Thank you. Do I hear a motion? Council member Bon, do I have a second? Council member cells. All in favor? Passes unanimously. City Attorney Davidson, please present the second item on the city attorney's report.

Thank you, Mayor. The next item I have is approval of a resolution to extend the temporary emergency moratorum an additional 95 days on the establishment of new data centers in the city of Roswell. As you know, earlier this council passed a moratorum for 90 days um on the data centers. Uh currently the project is in the works. We are going to talk with some interested parties. Um I think we're almost done writing the ordinance. We wanted to give the data center people actually time to look at it, see if what their issues are with it and then um bring it through the process. Um as you know our process is about three month three months long. Um so we would ask for 95 days extension on the current moratorum. Thank you,

city clerk Long. Is are there any speakers on this topic? There are no speakers for this item. Does council have any questions or comments? Do I hear a motion? Council member Brumley. Do I have a second? Council member Zach. All in favor, please raise your hand. passes unanimously. City Attorney Davidson, please read the last item on the city attorney's report.

Thank you, Mayor. The final item I have is a recommendation to go into closure at 5:30 on Monday, April 13th to discuss personnel litigation andor real estate. Do I hear a motion? Council member Brumley. Do I have a second? Council member Zack. All in favor, raise your hand. passes unanimously. Being that there are no other items, this mayor and council meeting on Monday, March 23rd, 2026 is adjourned.

I think it deserved a pause. We can still revisit that. I think we can still revisit.