City Council - Regular Meeting

Council to order for Tuesday, the 21st of July. The first portion of the meeting will be our work session and staff discussion items. And so I would like to ask Ms. Michelle McIntosh-Ross, the Planning and Zoning Manager, to update us on the next chapter.

Ms. Yes, thank you. Good evening, Mayor and City Council. As you know, we're working on our city's comprehensive plan, the update, as well as the Recreation and Parks Master Plan update. and so we wanted to give you an update on our initial stages of public feedback, and we have our consulting team, RHI, here to run through the presentation. I'll turn it over to Security.

Good evening, Mayor and Council. I'm Security Ghosh. I'm principal with RHI. Thank you for the opportunity to provide you with an update for the comprehensive plan. It has been a great process so far, so what we'll do is, in the next 10 minutes or so, we'll provide you with that update. We'll go through the project schedule, where we are in that schedule. We'll share with you, with regards to the community engagement, what we have done to date, and the kind of feedback, very, very preliminary feedback that we have been hearing from the community. Those are the key findings, and then end with the next steps. So as you have seen previously, it's a roughly one year long process. We have to submit the completed comprehensive plan by the June of 2027. But the focus for some of these months where we are right now is the community engagement. For the next six months or so, we are focused heavily on the community engagement. It seems like where it is shown we are here four months into the process, but we are literally one month into the community discussion stage. We had a great public meeting. I'll share some pictures and notes from that. Last month, around this time, And then we are reporting back to you, and we'll be having our next public meeting next month. So it's a cadence of meeting with the leadership, the public meetings, and then meeting with the leadership again. So that's the kind of cadence every month here until the January of 2027. So engagement to date. We had the public meeting number one. And then it's not only the conventional meeting that we have planned, we have also planned along with our team partners, CSW and Allison is here if you have any questions regarding the engagement. We had been going out to the community, leveraging existing events and festivals and getting feedback from the community. We are also proactively getting the pop-ups in the different community areas, including the Farmer's Market, the Juneteenth, Sesame Street Live, and you can see the list, the Stars and Stripes on the right-hand side, the concert series. We had presence at the World Cup watch parties. And one thing that is coming up for the recreation, the Parks Master Plan, is Brent and Carlos Perez, who is leading the recreation, the Parks Master Plan, who is going to be sharing a brief slide deck about the preliminary feedback that he has been getting. So they are going to be at the Overlook Park at Morgan Falls on July 25th. So there's a lot of pop-ups that are happening and we'll be planning a lot more in the coming months. We have been meeting with a lot of stakeholders, like the city departments, the Council of Neighborhoods, Art Sandy Springs, Sandy Springs Conservancy. We had a full day of meetings with the community development and the economic development and all of the other departments with the city today. We'll be meeting with the nonprofit groups tomorrow. And we're planning a whole slew of stakeholder meetings come August. Of course, we have met with you all, the mayor and the city council, planning commission, board of appeals, and we had our second advisory committee meeting last night, which went really great. These are some pictures from the public meeting number one. Hopefully, some of you were able to attend public meeting number one. We had a variety of activities, starting with the presentation, and a lot of engagement opportunities. We had map pinups. We had budget allocation. We had like comments from the public. So we had a lot of diversity of activities as part of the public meeting. Here are some pictures of the pop-ups that we have been attending along with the city staff, the Stars and Stripes, the Farmer's Market, Juneteenth. So there is a lot of pop-ups that are happening and we have been hearing a lot from the community members. A website has been created for the comprehensive plan. Comprehensive plan, as you know, it is called the next chapter. The current one, the previous one, is called the next 10. We're calling the next comprehensive plan the next chapter. So this is the website, planthenextchapter.org. And I think you have already visited the website. If not, you can type in that or you can In your package, you have the presentation. You can just take a picture of that QR code, and it will lead you directly to that website. We are updating the website on a weekly basis with a lot of activities for folks, so it's not a static. It's a very dynamic website where people are visiting and providing a lot of comments. With regards to comments, these are some of the numbers. These are great numbers, already one month into the process. And we want to keep this momentum going. We have already reached 400 people at the pop-ups. We had already completed 12 plus stakeholder meetings. 94 participants, over 90 participants at public meeting number one. 1,700 unique visitors to the website and over 3,200 comments. And they are coming every day. So from all of those preliminary feedback, we have started organizing those feedback as to what we have been hearing, what are the themes that we have been hearing, and the next few slides we'll be going over, this is just a snapshot, and the next three slides would be getting into the organized feedback based on the chapters that we already have in the next 10. So if you look at this graphic, Some of the things that are jumping out are preservation of the neighborhood character that came out very strongly from the feedback that we have received. By the way, this preliminary feedback is based on the stakeholder meetings, what we have heard from you all, the mayor and council, what we have heard from the planning commission and board of appeals, and what we've heard from public meeting number one. So this is very, very preliminary. Keep that in mind. And as we go through the process, this work cloud will start to, it would be interesting to see how this work cloud changes or it is kind of sticking to those points. So going back to some of the important points, preservation of neighborhood character, walkability, preservation and protecting and increasing the tree canopy, balancing growth, affordability, parks and green spaces, providing housing options for young families, commercial revitalization. So those are some of the big topics that are coming out and this is very relative so neighborhood character that's the biggest one because we have been hearing a lot about that specific topic from the folks. When we're talking about organizing the different comments, so these are organized by land use and development, and I'll share some of the ones like transportation, economic development in the subsequent slides. With regards to land use and development, we have been hearing a strong desire for balanced growth while protecting neighborhood character. However, there are a lot of concerns about overdevelopment. especially with regards to pace of multi-family construction. There is general support for revitalizing underutilized and aging commercial properties, especially in the north end, mixed-use development and strong desire and support for improving the appearance of Roswell Road, which is our main street. There is also, we have heard, that there is also a need for neighborhood serving retail. From the transportation side of things, we have been hearing concerns about traffic congestions. It's not new, but we have been continuing to hear that especially along Roswell Road there is general desire for more walkability and desire for better regional connection. It's not only about the city, how we connect to the regional area. And there is support for expanding the trail network, which you guys have been doing a lot for the last 10 years. On the economic development, desire for supporting a diverse workforce. However, there is concerns about over commercialization. There is also desire to enhance the Sandy Springs regional awareness and identity. How can we enhance that? in the regional market. On the housing side of things, housing affordability is coming out as a top concern. and desire to provide more affordable housing for young families, empty nesters, seniors. Their opinions on multifamily are kind of mixed. Some say that they would like to see more apartments, while some others are saying that there is already too many. So we have to see how that progresses as we go down the process in the next few months. There are concerns about residential lot assemblages and teardowns, especially how it impacts affordability, tree canopy, like what is that balance, neighborhood character and stormwater management. And finally on the green space, natural systems and sustainability, we have been hearing desire to preserve, expand and upgrade parks and green spaces, which is connected directly to the recreation of the parks master plan, which Carlos is going to be talking about pretty soon. There is support for protecting and expanding tree canopy. We have been hearing that in the mayor and the council meetings. So there is general support for that. There is desire to address flooding and stormwater while encouraging more sustainable development practices. There is general support for improving access to Chattahoochee River. We understand that a lot of frontage along the Chattahoochee River is privately owned, but how can we find some of those targeted locations for outdoor recreation? And finally, there is a desire for more playgrounds and places to play. So I'm going to turn it over to Carlos Perez, who is going to share with you the Recreation and the Parks Master Plan findings.

Thank you, security. Good evening, mayor and council. As security mentioned, my name is Carlos Perez. I'm principal of Perez Planning and Design, working very closely with staff and RHI on their recreation and parks master plan. And we're excited to share the findings to date. And it's important, as security mentioned, that these are findings to date because we still have two data sets that are forthcoming from an engagement standpoint that are very important. One of them is the findings from the statistically valid survey. That was a mail survey sent out into the community. And then also the online survey that will be released here in the next few days and will be open for about a month. But based on what we've heard to date from public meetings, conversations with you and our advisory committee, these are some of the highlights, some of the themes that we've heard. Building on what Sokurti mentioned, there is a desire for that connectivity and access to parks, trails, both paved and unpaved. And also awareness and access not only from a physical standpoint, but also from signage wayfinding awareness standpoint. We also appear to see some support for both enhancing existing parks, as well as expanding the system where we can, acquiring parkland to expand access to parks throughout the city. And part of that is related to number three, right? Not only are parks great places for recreation, athletics, et cetera, but also for bringing the community together and creating those community gathering places and special events. Also, there appears to be a strong demand for that multi-generational parks and recreation experiences, experiences for children as well as older adults, and also including that inclusivity factor as well. And then lastly, something that we appear to be seeing now is a willingness to invest in parks and increasing tax dollars for a potential bond as we're seeing it thus far. So with that, I'll turn it over to Sukriti and see if there's any questions.

So this is the final slide. So talking about the next steps, we are having work sessions with you all. We'll be sharing the same presentation with the planning commission tomorrow night at their work session. With regards to the community engagement, as Carlos mentioned, the statistically valid survey for the recreation of the parks is going to be published this week. Also, the conjoint survey is going to be published publicly this week. So we'll have the public meeting number two on August 17th and 20th. The 17th is the south end at the Church of the Redeemer, and August 20th is at the police headquarters. We're planning a lot of more pop-ups and engagement activities, so keep a lookout. If you go to the engagement hub, you will see all of the notices and the media releases. And finally, right now as we are going through the community engagement process, we are also working on the Sandy Springs today, which is the existing conditions chapter of the comprehensive plan. And we'll be coming up with the draft policies once we start hearing back from the community after the public meeting number two. So with that said, thank you for the opportunity, and open up for any other questions.

Let me ask, one of the terms that you presented, that there was, what the community wanted was balanced growth. Define that for me.

So balanced growth is about what we have been hearing from them is there is protected neighborhoods that we have discussed as part of the previous plan. And during that discussion, we also talked about how when you preserve and protect the neighborhoods, add the growth along the specific corridors. And also, when you are creating a community, what are some of the amenities that you are providing to the community so that they feel like this is a stable, resilient, and a long-term community? So we have been thinking about that and we have been hearing that with regards to balancing the community.

Okay. Any others? Dr. Kelly.

Hi. Hello. It's good to see you again. Let me just say, I've really enjoyed the activities that I've been a part of in the in-person events. So I just wanna give a kudos to your teams, cause I know it's quite a few of you all. I have a couple of questions for you or for someone, housing needs assessment. Do we have a update on when we'll be? seeing that?

Yes. So we've been going back and forth with the consulting team. I got the draft back on Friday. Okay. So once I've had a chance to make sure they've made all the changes, I'll be sharing that out with council and then we'll figure out the process from there in terms of how we're going to present that to the public and that sort of thing. I don't have a specific timeline, but we'll be sharing it with y'all soon.

Okay. Yeah. My, my concern, I guess I'll just say is the, the North end, I mean, not the North end, I'm sorry. The comp plan advisory committee, we have, Two meetings in and two more to go. And I kind of want us to be able to chew on that a little bit too. So, yeah.

And we have shared the draft that we had. We did go ahead and share that with the comprehensive planning team, letting them know it was just a draft so that they could digest the kind of content that was there and then figure out how they were going to work that in with the work that they're doing.

Okay. Great. So 12 stakeholder meetings so far, so far. Okay. Have you guys engaged any groups of developer type stakeholders?

Not yet, but we have been talking about that a lot. So yes, in the coming month, in August, we are planning a lot of those additional stakeholder meetings. We have a big list that we actually sat down with the city staff and thinking about when we are going to be having those discussions. So yes, absolutely. Nice, great.

Something that came up yesterday when we spoke was there was a question. I want to say it's on the survey. It asks people how much money in taxes they feel comfortable paying for something. And I know I had the suggestion that we consider adding language to make that math conform to people who rent. So for some people in the community, Property taxes doesn't look like an annual payment. It looks more like a monthly. It trickles down in that way. And so that's something that I'd love to be included in. I know you guys are pretty far down the road, but maybe in a survey. I just think it would help a lot of the people do that math if you guys kind of worded it in a way, at least for individuals who do rent, because that's what the tax increase would look like for them if we did a park bond.

Absolutely. Yeah. Thank you.

Yeah, no problem. Acquiring parkland. So it seems to me that some of our economic development goals around redevelopment, I know you mentioned the north end on one of your slides. It seems like there is kind of alignment between or there's opportunity with the redevelopment and repurposing angle to use, you know, P3s or whatever to, instead of acquiring parkland, I guess technically it's acquiring parkland, but it's in partnership with a commercial development. So my question to you is, when we say acquiring parkland, are you guys considering the potential to leverage commercial development to put recreational spaces in, possibly?

I think that's an answer. ANSWER TO THAT QUESTION IS YES, BUT I WOULD LIKE FOR CARLOS TO COME UP AND KIND OF CLARIFY THAT COMMENT.

BECAUSE WHEN I HEAR IT, I THINK OF LIKE RAW LAND, WHICH WE DON'T HAVE A LOT OF.

SURE. GREAT QUESTION. THE ANSWER IS YES. AS WE GET INTO THE VISIONING PART OF THIS AND THE RECOMMENDATION, THERE'S AN OPPORTUNITY TO HAVE CONVERSATIONS WITH STAFF STAKEHOLDERS ABOUT WHAT IS THE APPROPRIATE RESPONSE TO A POTENTIAL NEED, RIGHT? or expanded park land is something that we hear that is an interest, there's different models and tools of how that land can be available. And as you mentioned, some of that is through private development. In fact, in many instances, that green space is a catalytic piece of a redevelopment, right? So yeah, something that we will definitely work with staff to explore.

Okay, and my last piece. So when we talk about expanding the trail network, maybe two things I'd like for us to think about as we do that, and it's the potential for the, something I'm experiencing, is this potential for the trail network expansion to begin to compete with other, let's say other priorities. For example, as they abut protected neighborhoods, there's a competition there, there's a tension there. And so I'd love for us to bear that in mind as we start putting policy together related to trails. There's a trade-off. And I'd also like to see us prioritize opportunities to reinforce priorities. So for example, mobility is a priority. So I feel like this is my thinking. Trails that support mobility, because not all trails do. Some trails are purely recreational. Some trails actually help people get to places that are important. I feel like those trails should be prioritized. And I'm not entirely confident that that's what we're currently doing. So that's something I'd love to see us build into our trail conversation since We're talking that way.

Absolutely, yes. Thank you.

Any others?

Ms. Mueller.

So can we put the word cloud back up?

Yep.

Please. So I want to say I was really excited when I saw this. The people that have come out and contributed, I think I'm going to be, like you said, watching how this evolves. But I think a lot of the things that at least I hear from my neighborhoods are reflected here. One of the things that I think is interesting is that I think people are tying, they're not looking at things in isolation. So we're not looking at the tree canopy. The tree canopy is not just a percentage, right? It's integrated with how much redevelopment we do, how much new development, the lot assemblages, the stormwater. So I think that That message to me is that this is all interconnected, and I'm going to be very curious to see how this process evolves and what policies we're going to make come out of this. So thumbs up to the word cloud. I think that was good, and I look forward to continued engagement.

Yeah, absolutely. And that's kind of connected to that balanced growth discussion.

Mr. Chensky.

So first, kudos on the first meeting. I've gotten a lot of positive feedback on that. The one request I would have is, I know the first meeting, the activity format was not super conducive to streaming, but wherever possible, if we could stream these meetings, I've had a couple requests for that, just so the public can tune in and kind of see what's going on would be a request. I also know that we're doing some engagement in some of our apartment complexes and we've had a lot of multilingual efforts, so I wanna appreciate my effort on that. I've seen the materials in Spanish and it's been good. So I gotta ask about the conjoint survey. How is the response rate going and do we feel like we're getting a representative sample that we're gonna be able to use, like a scientifically valid sample cross section of our community?

It has been phenomenal. So we, I think the conjoint one went to 2,700 plus. members of the community, we have already received 1,000 responses, which is way beyond the 5% or the 10% to get the statistically valid portion of the survey. And we are going to be, I think Recon AMR is in the team who is conducting the conjoint survey. They also mentioned that we are going to be analyzing the conjoint portion. We have been, like I mentioned, astounding response. We're also going to be telling it up against when it is going to be publicly released, how is the response to that? So we're going to be independently analyzing all of those. But to answer your question, great response.

That's great. That may be something we might want to share with GMA at some point, just as a sort of new tool that cities are using. For the public-facing portion, do we have a way to make sure, I guess, people aren't taking the survey over and over again and skewing the sample? How does that work? I'm just curious.

I think as part of the media releases, we have been talking with the city's communications as well as the city manager's office. When the media releases are going out, we are adding a little line in there. If you have already taken the survey, We are saying it in a more diplomatic way, but refrain from submitting it again. But share that with your neighbors and other residents who have not been able to provide a response to the survey. So we are very cognizant of not getting double responses, so yes. Okay, all right, great.

Well, thank you for all your efforts, and I'm excited to see the results.

Yeah, thank you.

Mayor Paul, this is Mary Ford. I'd like to ask two brief questions or comments. The first is, I heard reference to the stakeholder groups that are yet to be participated with or engaged. It wouldn't be great if we could receive a list of who those stakeholder groups are. I know during our initial input, I had suggested that we engage with the representatives from the public schools in our area and would just like to understand the extent to which that is happening. So if we could get that list of stakeholder groups, that would be great. And then my second comment slash question is that when the process kicked off, I went out to the website and entered my email to sign up for updates, but I don't actually recall yet seeing any updates. So to the extent that it's possible to let us know how many people have signed up to receive updates and the process by which information is being pushed out to them would be great. It's wonderful to hear that lots of updates are being made to the website, but making that information available to people, because I don't even think to go check it every day, right? I don't think our residents do either. So if there is proactive email communication to those who have asked for it, that would also be a great step. Thank you.

Thank you. Any others? All right. Well, thank you. We will end the discussion items and move to regular order. I'd like to call this meeting of the Sandy Springs City Council to order for Tuesday, July 21st, 2026. Will the city clerk please make the announcements and call the roll?

There we go. Good evening, mayor and council. First, I would like to remind those in attendance, please silence all cell phones or other electronic devices at this time. Individual who would like to provide a public comment at a city council meeting are required to complete and submit those public comment cards in advance of the meeting. Public comment cards are available online and at the chamber entrance. Just a reminder to those providing public comment, it may be allotted up to three minutes to speak on your single chosen topic. As I call roll, please confirm your attendance. Mayor Rusty Paul. Present. Council Member John Paulson.

Here.

Council Member Melody Kelly. Present. Council Member Melissa Mueller. Here. Council Member Frank Roberts.

Here.

Council Member Mary Ford. Here. Council Member Andrew Chensky.

Here. Please join me for the Pledge of Allegiance. Madam Clerk, have we received any public comment cards?

Yes, we've received six public comment cards this evening. The first is Allison Crary, who will be followed by Bob Johnson. Okay. Bob Johnson.

Good evening, Mayor Paul and Council. It's great to be here. My public comment tonight centers on the application filed for a conditional use permit, U263, by the Chabad of Georgia to purchase the seven and a half acre St. Martin's Episcopal School at 4945 High Point Road, District 5, and develop this land into a 300 student K through 12 high school.

I unequivocally oppose this.

I have lived in my house since 1990, 36 years. I am a 2012 graduate of the Sandy Springs Police Department Citizens Police Academy, class three, 2010 graduate of the Sandy Springs Fire Department Community Emergency Response Team, and also a proud winner of the Sandy Springs Police Department Bluestone 5K9 run with my one-eyed dachshund. this past fall. I humbly come to you to oppose this application in the name of safety for our neighborhood, and here are my two reasons why. Number one, this is a protected neighborhood. I will not go into detail about the disruption of football lights, noise, outdoor athletic fields, a new gym, indoor sports courts, after school and weekend programs, or condemnation of property. Just five years ago, this city council unanimously rejected a request by St. Martin's for 120 students. There have been people killed at this intersection because of lack of infrastructure. I think traffic will only cause more casualties. Number two, just 14 months ago in May, our excellent Sandy Springs Police SWAT conducted a multi-agency coordinated takedown of a convicted felon and his two cronies directly across the street from me. He is now in the Fulton County Jail and he's waiting his trial date. He is accused of possession of a firearm by a convicted felon, narcotics possession of meth and DMT, which are both schedule one controlled substances, and two counts of elderly abuse against his 85-year-old mother. Twelve dogs were also rescued by animal control. I ask you, is this neighborhood safe for children? Is it safe for citizens? Is it safe for another school? Thank you very much, Mayor and Council.

Next, we'll have Kristen Dada Rodriguez, who's followed by Noelle Ross.

Good evening. I just wanted to make a quick comment about ICE presence in our city last Thursday. As a citizen and someone who's incredibly engaged both in our public schools and our community, it was incredibly disappointing to me to see that ICE was within our community and picking up people. I know they were doing planned arrests, but that wasn't the only thing they were doing here. We've seen the videos online. We know what was happening. I'd like to know why Sandy Springs as a city isn't doing more to avoid agents engaging with residents that aren't necessarily have a warrant We know that it's happening. We have those videos that are happening And I don't think that we as a city should be allowing that within our city limits We've seen bad outcomes with ice agents across our country, that's just what it is it's in the news and And I would hate to see something happen to one of our residents because of bad training. And it comes down to bad training, it's what it is. And I would hate to have potential public safety problems and create liability for the city because of that. I can also guarantee that ICE presence within the city is wildly unpopular with the residents. I know that one thing that we talk about when we're running for city council and doing the whole political thing is talking about continued safety within the community. I don't think that ICE fosters safety within the community at all. And I can guarantee that the majority of the citizens that voted for you guys and some that voted for me would agree with ICE being here, and I think that we should be doing everything we can as a city to keep them away from the public here. I guarantee it's what the majority of our citizens, whether they tell you or not, think and believe for our own public safety. And the last thing we want to see is to see Sandy Springs connected with anything bad with Homeland security or safety. And that's what we saw on Thursday. Plenty of articles talking about our city and connected with ice. So, um, I'm not sure exactly what needs to happen to make sure that this isn't a continuing problem. It has been up to this point. Um, but I'm gonna advocate to make sure it stops.

Noelle Ross, who will be followed by Daunte Carter.

Good evening. Sandy Springs does not need ice in our community. It is a threat to all of our safety. ICE operates outside of our laws, and anyone engaging with ICE is clearly at risk based on everything that we have seen here and in the news around the country. Personally, I've had a close friend, Danubia Smith, detained by ICE. She was here legally in the country and was in the final steps of getting citizenship. Her family all lives here in the Atlanta area, including her husband, of six years, David Smith, a natural born citizen, after several weeks in an ICE facility after being detained, she was deported and not even taken to her country of origin. I strongly do not believe anyone should be treated the way she was. And Sandy Springs needs to take action to move ICE out. ICE adds completely unnecessary fear and danger to our community and businesses. I have lived in Sandy Springs for two and a half years and lived in the Northern Atlanta area since 2005 and grew up here in Dunwoody right next door. We can do better and we should be standing up and doing better. Thank you very much for your time.

Dante Carter followed by Lori Connor.

Good evening, Mayor. Good evening, Council. I just want to begin real quick with thanking you all for listening and keeping up with the City Council meetings and seeing the things that are implemented. I've heard a lot from within the community about it, so I just want to take a second to thank you all again for listening. You know, over the last few days, my phone's been blowing up. My emails have been lit up, people sending me videos about not just what happened on Thursday, but what happened on Friday, and even what happened this morning. And, you know, of all the reports that I've been able to kind of put together, and you all know I reached out to you as well. I've only found one where there was an allegation of a criminal offense. The other ones I haven't heard anything on and I'm particularly concerned because many of the residents that have been contacting me are too afraid to stand before you tonight. They won't come here and that's a problem because that means they don't feel included in this city. And that's something that we've got to do better on because fear should never separate anyone. of the freedoms guaranteed by the United States Constitution. This is about accountability, transparency, and ensuring that our state and federal constitutions are upheld within the city limits of Sandy Springs. I've had elected officials in North Fulton ask me to inform concerned residents to go and observe and record these encounters. I won't do that, I can't do that. After seeing people across this country harmed or killed during encounters surrounding efforts to document or challenge government action, I cannot in good faith ask residents to put themselves in harm's way. One of the videos I received captures an ICE agent saying they were conducting a quote, immigration check. If that statement accurately describes the basis for the stop, it raises serious constitutional concerns, especially with this city being over 100 miles away from the border. The United States Supreme Court addressed this. and the United States versus Brinoise Ponce. The court held that immigration officers cannot randomly stop vehicles to question people about immigration status. They must have reasonable suspicion based on specific facts, not someone's race, language, appearance, or neighborhood. I'm not asking Sandy Springs to obstruct federal law or violate Georgia law. I'm asking for one simple thing. Please place a resolution on your agenda. directing the city attorney and the police chief to develop a Sandy Springs ICE interaction transparency protocol. Their protocol should clearly explain when Sandy Springs police may assist ICE, what approvals are required, what records must be preserved, and how the public will be informed whenever city personnel or taxpayer resources are used. This isn't about a sanctuary city proposal. It's a transparency proposal. It's an accountability proposal. And it's a constitutional compliance proposal.

Mr. Carter, your three minutes are up.

Thank you.

Laurie Connor.

Good evening. My name is Laurie Connor. I am a veteran teacher with 34 years experience in grades 5 to 11 in New York City as well as Atlanta and in Fulton County. Excuse me. I was a candidate for City Council for District 1 last fall and I have only some, I have five quotes to share with you. I really have nothing to say on my own behalf. These are just five text messages I've received in the last few days from former students that I had up until two years ago. Miss Connor, my mom told me not to leave the house unless I absolutely have to. I'm scared every time my parents go out to work. What should I do? Here's another student. I was born here, but I'm terrified that something will happen with my family while I'm at school. When I come home, will they even be here? My little brother keeps asking if our parents will still be home when we get back from school, and I don't know what to tell him. None of us can concentrate anymore. Every time someone says ICE is nearby, everyone starts texting their families. And lastly, I never thought I'd be afraid just to drive to work or to go to the grocery store. It feels like we're waiting for something bad to happen, and I made fun of you when you taught 1984. Thank you.

Thank you.

Any others? All right. We will close the public comment period. Is there a motion to approve the meeting agenda?

Mayor Paul. Mr. Paulson. I move approval of the meeting agenda for Tuesday, July 21, 2026.

Motion by Mr. Paulson. Is there a second? Second. Seconded by Mr. Roberts. Any discussion? Hearing none, we'll call the question. The question is on approval of the meeting agenda. All in favor of the motion, say aye. Aye. Opposed, no. The meeting agenda is approved. Is there a motion to approve the consent agenda?

Mayor Paul.

Ms. Mueller.

I move that we approve the consent agenda for Tuesday, July 21st, 2026.

We have a motion by Ms. Mueller. Is there a second? Second. Seconded by Mr. Chinsky. Any discussion?

Mayor Paul. Mr. Chinsky. Just a quick note, if I may. My understanding is that for agenda item 2026-181, dealing with a right-of-way on Lake Forest, this is our the last right-of-way needed on Lake Forest to proceed with phase two of the sidewalk project. So I'm excited to see that move forward. Still construction underway, but I'm glad that our team was able to finally meet that milestone.

All right. Any other discussion? Hearing no, we'll call the question. The question's on the consent agenda. All in favor of the motion, say aye. Aye. Opposed, no. The consent agenda is approved. Moving to the next item, the clerk will please read the first item.

This is under public hearings, agenda item number 2026-182. That's ABL 124262. Consideration of an alcoholic beverage license application for 8290 Roswell, Inc., doing business at Sandy Springs Food Mart at 8290 Roswell Road, Suite 100, Sandy Springs, Georgia, 30350. The applicant is Tara Poudyol. for retail package of beer and wine. This is presented by revenue manager, Corey Holiness. Ms. Holiness.

Good evening, Mayor Paul and City Council. This is a new alcohol license for District 2 package of wine and malt beverage. 8290 Roswell, Inc. DBA is Sandy Springs Food Mart. 8290 Roswell Road, Suite 100, Sandy Springs, Georgia, 30350. The applicant, Tara Padale, has met all requirements and staff recommends approval.

Are there any public comment cards? No. All right, we'll close the public hearing. You've heard the report of the revenue manager. What's the desire of council? Mayor Paul. Dr. Kelly. I'm here.

I move approval of agenda item 2026-182. consideration of an alcoholic beverage license application for 8290 Roswell Road, doing business as Sandy Springs Food Mart at 8290 Roswell Road, Suite 100, Sandy Springs, Georgia, 30350.

We have a motion by Dr. Kelly. Is there a second? Second. Motion by Dr. Kelly, seconded by Mr. Paulson. They will approve Agenda Item 2026-182, an alcoholic beverage license application for 8290 Roswell Road, Inc., doing business at Sandy Springs Food Mart. Any discussion? I have a quick question. Dr. Kelly.

All right, so this is beer and wine only, not liquor. It would be separate, right, if that would say that?

Yeah, this is just the beer and wine. Got it.

Could you just briefly remind me of what the hoops are a business has to jump through to get one of these?

Sure. So first they have to upload the actual application to the state. And then once we get that approval, they'll have to come into their revenue department to fill out an application. Then they'll pay for their actual fees. And then once that's done, they'll go to the police department to get a background check and fingerprints. Once that's approved, we'll send it over to code enforcement, fire, and then planning and zoning to get approval. And then once we have all that approval, we'll submit the meeting into clerk, civic clerk, and then we'll present it in front of council.

All right. So this business did all that?

Yes.

Okay. Thank you.

You're welcome. I'm complete, Mayor. Any other discussion? Hearing none, we'll call the question. The question is on agenda item 2026-182, an alcoholic beverage license application for 8290 Roswell Road, Inc., doing business at Sandy Springs Food Mart. All in favor of the motion, say aye. Aye. Opposed, no. The item is approved. Clerk, please read the next item.

This is agenda number 2026183, that's ABL number 124099, consideration of an alcoholic beverage license application for Crown Fuel LLC, doing business as Shell Food and Gas Company, and that's at 6385 Roswell Road, Sandy Springs, Georgia, 30328. The applicant is Bakash Lahar for retail package of beer and wine, presented by revenue manager Corey Holiness. Ms. Holiness.

This is a change of ownership, alcohol license for District 4, package of wine and malt beverage. Crown Fruit Fuel, LLC, DBA is Shell Food and Gas Company, 6385 Roswell Road, Sandy Springs, Georgia, 30328. The applicant, Bikesh Lahara, has met all requirements and staff recommends approval.

Any public comment cards? No. All right, we'll close the public hearing. You've heard the report of the revenue manager.

What's the desire of counsel? Mayor Paul. Mr. Roberts. Agenda item 2026-183, a motion for approval for consideration of the alcohol beverage license application for Crown Fuel LLC, DBA Shell Food and Gas Company at 6385 Roswell Road, Sandy Springs, Georgia, 30328. The applicant is Bashir Lahar of Retail Package Beer Wine.

We have a motion by Mr. Roberts. Is there a second? Second. Motion by Mr. Roberts, seconded by Ms. Mueller, that we approve agenda item 2026-183, an alcoholic beverage license application for Crown Fuel, LLC, doing business with Shell Food and Gas. Any discussion? Hearing none, we'll call the question. The question is on agenda item 2026-183, an alcoholic beverage license application for Crown Fuel doing business with Shell Food and Gas. All in favor of the motion, say aye. Aye. Opposed, no. The item is approved. The clerk moving to new business. Clerk, please read the first item.

This is agenda item number 2026 and 184, consideration of a resolution to approve a task order for call center services to authorize the city manager and to authorize the city manager to execute the same. Presented by Communications and Public Relations Director Carter Long. Ms. Long.

Good evening, Mayor and Council. Tonight we have before you a request to approve a task order for Fanwell Incorporated, a Continuum Global Solutions company, for our call center services for this fiscal year in the amount of $702,314. This is the third task order of our five-year contract, which includes the 5% escalator. And the entirety of the amount is included in our approved fiscal year budget. So with that, turn it over for questions.

All right. You've heard the report of the communications public relations director. What's the desire of council? Mayor Paul. Dr. Kelly.

I move approval of agenda item two zero two six dash one eight four approval of a task order for call center services and to authorize the city manager to execute the same.

You have a motion by Dr. Kelly. Is there a second? Second motion by Dr. Kelly. Seconded by Mr. Roberts that we approve agenda item 20, 26, one 84. a task order for call center services and authorizing senior manager to execute. Any discussion? Hearing no, we'll call the question. The question's on agenda item 2026-184, resolution approving a task order for call center services. All in favor of the motion, say aye. Aye. Opposed, no. The item is approved. The clerk will please read the next item.

This is agenda item number 2026-185, consideration of a resolution to authorize the purchase of 12 2026 Ford Explorers for the Sandy Springs Police Department. presented by SSPD Captain James McNabb. Captain McNabb.

Good evening, Maine Council. My request is for the purchase of 12 Ford Explorers from Wade Ford in a total that will not exceed $597,900. That works out to an individual vehicle price of $49,825. The funding for this purchase was previously approved by the city council and mayor as part of the fiscal year 2027's adopted budget. A note from fleet manager Evans, these are available on the lot. The price is set until the end of the month, so expedited approval would be appreciated so we could maintain that quote that we currently have. And upon approval, we will move forward with the application procurement policies and procedures set forth by the city.

All right. You've heard the report of the captain. What is the desire of council?

Mayor Paul. Mr. Roberts. On agenda item 2026-185, a motion to approve to authorize the purchase of 12 2026 Ford Explorers for the Sandy Springs Police Department.

A motion by Mr. Roberts. Is there a second? Second. Motion by Mr. Roberts, seconded by Mr. Paulson, that we approve agenda item 2026-185, authorizing the purchase of 12 2026 Ford Explorers. Any discussion? Hearing no, we'll call the question. The question is on agenda item 2026-185, resolution authorizing purchase of 12 2026 Ford Explorers. All in favor of the motion, say aye. Aye. Opposed, no. The item is approved. Clerk, please read the next item.

This is agenda number 2026-186, consideration of a resolution to appoint Mark Rosenthal and Michael Siegel to the Community Council of North Fulton Comprehensive Transportation Plan. This is presented by Public Works Director Marty Martin. Mr. Martin.

Mayor and Council, good evening. Tonight I bring before you a recommendation to appoint Mark Rosenthal and Michael Siegel to the Community Council of the North Fulton Comprehensive Transportation Plan. A quick bit of background. Since 2005, the Atlanta Regional Commission has made federal funding available to assist counties and cities in developing joint long-range transportation plans. Due to the size of Fulton County, the ARC has divided the county into three sub-county planning areas, in this case South Fulton, City of Atlanta, and North Fulton. The North Fulton Comprehensive Transportation Plan this iteration kicked off in April of 2026 and a part of that project or an effort is an engagement process within the plan to develop a community council to serve as a key advisory group to the plan. To achieve that goal, the community council will provide input on public engagement to the consultant and the ARC as they move forward with the plan. to that in the mayor's nominated Mark Rosenthal and Michael Siegel, uh, because of their civic leadership and connections to the neighborhoods and those who live, work and travel in the city is to represent the city on this council.

All right. I'm going to add as a point of personal privilege that, uh, I recommended these two individuals because they live right next to the, their subdivisions are right next to the 400 project that's underway, which is the most profound. Impactful project going on in our area, and I thought having people living in those neighborhoods most greatly impacted would be the appropriate Individual so that's why these two individuals have been nominated so with that you've heard the report of the public works director What's the desire of counsel Mary Paul mr.. Roberts agenda item?

2026 186 like a motion to appoint Mark Rosenthal and Michael Siegel to the Community Council of North Fulton Comprehensive Transportation Plan.

A motion by Mr. Roberts. Is there a second? Second. A motion by Mr. Roberts, seconded by Dr. Kelly, that we approve a resolution appointing Mark Rosenthal and Michael Siegel to the Community Council of the North Fulton Comprehensive Transportation Plan. Any discussion?

I have a question.

Ms. Mueller.

So, Marty, great that these two gentlemen are part of this. I know that I've seen them at other meetings with the GDOT, How does this work with their integration and come back and speaking to the Council of Neighborhoods? Do we ask that they kind of do that bridge?

Yes, ma'am. That's the intent. They're the city's bridge, the advisor to the North Fulton comprehensive transportation plan as they develop it.

But my question was specific. Do we ask that they also try to coordinate as best that they can with the Council of Neighborhoods, the Sandy Springs Council of Neighborhoods?

We can make that ask.

Well, let me clarify. They're not supposed to coordinate with any one specific organization. They're supposed to coordinate across the whole community. The Council of Neighborhoods would be one, but one of many, which they would be. So I don't want anybody to think that this is just a one organization. you know, one organization that's going to have input. It'll be a broad-based process to make sure that the entire community has the opportunity to provide input. And they both represent their neighborhoods and will be connecting, I'm sure, through all the organizations in the community to make sure that public input is achieved.

And actually what my comment was was there's an avenue for communication. So I wasn't pointing out just one. organization was more about dissemination of communication. That was really, I didn't, I didn't make that clear.

Okay. Yep. That's our job. Mr. Paulson.

Thank you, Mary. So quick question. Uh, can we have these two fellows report to the city at some time in the future about how the, how the, what the progress is or the, the, we can absolutely ask as we, as the same we've done with T-splash representatives, et cetera.

Yes, sir.

Dr. Kelly.

That pretty much answers my question. But other than them reporting back, and I'm thankful for their service, how can the public engage in this process, this North North Fulton Comprehensive Transportation Plan.

Well, as a part of the plan, many outreach events are going to happen as a part of this. So their input here is vital to encourage and suggest those outreach events that will reach out to the public. So advertised information through our webpage as well, those kinds of things as a part of it.

Okay, because there's a segment of my district that's pretty passionate about the potential for the bridge replacement over the Chattahoochee River, the pedestrian bridge replacement. This sounds like an opportunity for them to advocate.

Especially with the joint planning aspect of it, absolutely.

All right, thanks. Any other discussion? Hearing none, we'll call the question. The question's on agenda item 2026, 186, the resolution appointing Mark Rosenthal and Michael Siegel to the Community Council of the North Fulton Comprehensive Transportation Plan. All in favor of the motion, say aye. Aye. Opposed, no. Aye. The item is approved. The clerk will please read the next item.

This is agenda item number 2026, 187. Consideration of a resolution to approve a contract award to Kimley Horn and Associates, Inc. for professional engineering design consultant services for the intelligent transportation system ring B fiber extension project and to authorize the city manager to execute the contract. Presented by Public Works Director Marty Martin.

Mr. Martin. Mayor, in this case, I bring before you a recommendation to award professional engineering design services for the city's Ring B fiber extension project. Ring B fiber encompasses that portion of the city, effectively beginning at the intersection of Roswell Road and Northridge, extending along Northridge to Roberts Drive, south along Roberts, continuing along Spalding Drive, and then northwest of Pitts Road and back to Roswell Road. So a loop off of Roswell Road on the streets just described. As well, the network would also extend to Fire Station 1. On March 27th of this year, the city issued a request for a proposal to identify a qualified consultant to perform the project. A non-mandatory pre-bid meeting was held on April 8th of 2026, and the city issued one addendum for the project on April 22nd. with proposals due on May the 1st. At that time, the city received one proposal from Kimley Horne and Associates Further, then, the city evaluated that one proposal, a team of five staff members, using the criteria advertised in the RFP, project manager and key team leaders, prime consultant experience, resources, technical approach, and cost proposal. Total points for that scoring was 100 points. The average proposal score among the team was 95 points for Kimley, Horn, and Associates. Total cost proposal, tendered by Kimley Horne and Associates in this request for proposal was $399,880. Based on the city's review and evaluation of the proposal, including the cost proposal by Kimley Horne, staff recommends awarding the design of this fiber optic communication line designed for ITS, we'll call it Ring B Fiber, in the amount of $399,880. I would highlight, since we did have one and one only proposer on the RFP, Our purchasing staff as well did follow up with those that might have been proposers on the project. To that end, they contacted or attempted to contact some 50 firms by email and telephone to better understand why they didn't submit proposals. Six of those firms did provide feedback to our purchasing department as a part of that, indicating anything from firm-specific reasons, after review of the scope and the workload required that it did not match the firm, to the firm in some cases did not necessarily have all of the services contemplated within this work to pursue the work. One other, there was a previous RFP issued for this work where the city had requested the same work, opened the bids, reviewed the proposals on that one, discovered that at the time the city did not have in this particular budget, 9510, sufficient funds to pursue the contract award. So we reshaped that scope and then managed the budget a little more closely, as in we looked at other active projects that we had that we were awarding within 9510 and then re-solicited later on this year with this solicitation I bring before you tonight, that solicitation. The prices we saw in that earlier solicitation are absolutely consistent with the prices we see from Kimley Horn here for the services anticipated. Mayor and Council, with that, any questions?

All right. You've heard the report of the Public Works Director. What's the desire of Council? Mayor Paul. Mr. Paulson. I move approval of agenda item 2026-187, resolution to approve a contract award to Kimley Horn and Associates for Professional Engineering Design Consulting Services for the Intelligent Transportation System, ITS, Ring B Fiber Extension Project, and authorize city manager to execute same.

Motion by Mr. Paulson. Is there a second? Second. Motion by Mr. Paulson, seconded by Mr. Roberts, that we approve agenda item 2026-187. Contract award to Kimley Horne Associates for Professional Engineering Design Services for the Intelligent Transportation System. Any discussion?

Mayor Paul. Mr. Paulson. Thank you, Marty. So a quick question. I thought we had fiber optic around Northridge Road because of the bridge that we rebuilt 10, 12 years ago, plus all those lights. So tell me how this fits in to what we currently have as a communication system in that area.

So this provides, and you'll see discussion in, A future council meeting about a ward of a construction of a loop project that we're about to bring to you all as well. This provides that redundancy in connections that we need with a fiber optic system, so if you get a strike in one location, you have the ability to connect in. I don't believe we've had the fire station connected in years past, so this provides us as well with that connectivity as we move forward.

So it's a redundant system? Yes. Augmenting what we currently have.

And that was envisioned in our ITS master plan we created some, I think it was six years ago now, that an emphasis on it was not necessarily just the line to connect the signals, but as well a redundant network so that we could, in the interest of preserving integrity of the system, should we get a strike, break somewhere, we have the ability to still communicate.

Fair enough. Thanks.

Any other discussions? I need to correct when I called the motion. The motion was by Mr. Paulson, seconded by Mr. Chinsky, so I apologize. With no further comment or question, we'll call the question. The question is on agenda item 2026-187, a contract award to Kimley Horn and Associates for Professional Engineering Design Consultant Services for Intelligence Transportation System, ring B. All in favor of the motion, say aye. Aye. Opposed, no. The item is approved. Clerk, please read the next item.

This is agenda item number 2026-188, consideration of a resolution to approve a contract award to Gresham Smith and Partners for professional engineering design services for the Roswell Road safety project scoping study and to authorize the city manager to execute the contract. Presented by Public Works Director Marty Martin.

Mr. Martin. Mayor and Council, now i bring before you a contract award recommendation for initial studies project scoping study for the roswell road safety project broadly encompassing that area along roswell road from hammond to carpenter drive and in this case we recommend a contract award aggression smith and partners for professional engineering design services for this project in 2025 as you many of you recollect, the city completed the Sandy Springs Safety Action Plan, which established the long-term goal of eliminating traffic-related fatalities and serious injuries within the city. The plan identified Roswell Road between Cliffwood Drive and Hammond Drive as the second highest corridor on the city's high-injury network at the time, based on average annual crash cost. Those findings have been prioritized for completion within the next 5 to 15 years, thus this project. Building on those recommendations, the Roswell Road Safety Project will identify specific access management treatments at key locations to evaluate their safety and operational benefits and prepare a comprehensive corridor-wide implementation plan. To that end, on March 4th of this year, the City issued an RFP request for proposal seeking proposals to provide professional engineering design services for the Roswell Road Safety Project. The RFP was advertised on the city's bonfire procurement system and the Georgia Procurement Registry, as is our practice. The city received one responsive proposal submitted by Gresham Smith. Proposals were evaluated by a committee of five staff members, the Evaluation Committee. Those members included Kristen Westcott, Transportation Unit Manager, Wesley Waters, CIP Unit Manager, Ezekiel Guza, Senior Transportation Planner, Kaitlyn Stallings, TSPLOS project manager and co-CEO, CIP project manager. The evaluation criteria for this study, project manager and key team leaders, prime consultant experience, resources, technical approach and schedule, and cost proposal. The consensus score among the committee was an 89.8, with a cost proposal provided by Gresham-Smith in this case of 223,750. After review of the scoring proposal, The city requested additional information from the consultant to clarify their process and approach for completing the scoping study. The consultant provided adequate and far more than adequate responses to those questions addressed and confirmed the proposed methodology. In addition, the city reviewed the consultant's breakdown of hours and rates, including applicable overhead rates as determined by the proposed rates, consistent, and those were consistent with their accepted federal acquisition rates published. Staff also compared the proposed cost to the city's independent cost estimate and conferred that the proposed cost is below and within the city's estimate. Based on the staff's evaluation of proposals, supplemental information, and cost proposals submitted by Gresham Smith, staff recommends award of this design contract to Gresham Smith and partners in the amount of $223,000. I would add again, given we had one and one only proposer on this project, our purchasing policy department also reached out to potential proposers. And the summary of findings primarily reflects, given the workload, the skill sets involved, and other work contemplated by firms that we believe to be in the business, as the purchasing department noted, that those other firms declined to propose based on other work and their work available staff to deliver this task. So with that city staff recommend, and you may recollect Gresham Smith as well. They not only produced our safety action plan, uh, as well as the Roswell road access management plan. So they have significant experience with the city of Sandy Springs and, uh, planning concepts like this. So with that, we recommend award, uh, to Gresham Smith and partners for the report of the public works director.

What's the desire of council?

Mayor Paul, Ms. Mueller. I move that we approve agenda item 2026, one 88, a resolution to approve a contract award to Gresham Smith and Partners LP for professional engineering design services for the Roswell Road safety project scoping study and authorize the city manager to execute the contract.

A motion by Ms. Mueller. Is there a second? Second. Motion by Ms. Mueller, seconded by Mr. Chinsky, that we approve agenda item 2026-188, a contract award to Gresham Smith and Partners for professional engineering design services for Roswell Road safety project. Any discussion? No question. Ms. Mueller.

So, hey Marty, thank you for this question on the budget. So I think that we have $698,400 in the budget this year. And so is this then just going to be an encumbrance off of that? The two 23, seven 50 was just a, we'll take out of that. This is not incremental, right? So this is just use of the funds we budgeted.

Correct.

Okay. Uh, second one is, is there a high level timeline? I know this is a, always a hard one to answer.

I think we're looking at approximately a year for this initial study. Much of this will depend on one of the key tasks with the consultant here, and I'll draw a comparison to say our North End Boulevard study that we did some initial consultant work there in the interest of performing traffic analysis, traffic studies. that might better support our request of the ARC and GDOT to support with federal funds and try to get their support as well. So some of the work that the consultant will do here will be those studies that we pursue in the interest of presenting a business case to GDOT and the ARC for this project.

And how will the consultant take into account things like we heard in March about the diverging diamond, right? So that's a potential change to that whole area. Down the road, but it's on the table. We also have at some point, hopefully Jamestown will redevelop their plaza. And then we still have the parcel that's owned by Racetrack at that corner there. So how does a study take into account future development without having to go and read do something once those developments.

You've highlighted their challenges, council member, as well. Let me add one more. We've got proposed to you in TSPLOS III, phase two of Hammond Corridor improvements. So there's the top end of this. So they've got a lot of moving parts to balance as they develop a plan with what to do with this stretch of Roswell Road right here. So they'll have to manage all plans as we try to put together a workable scheme for what we can do here on this portion of Roswell Road.

They'll take it into account. It sounds like high level to take it into account because we don't know when these things are going to happen, but they likely can and hopefully some will.

Mr. Paulson. Thank you. Following up on Melissa Mueller's comments, GDAT came in here. with their consultants a couple months ago and presented their ideas about essentially 285 and Roswell Road, but this study looks at the same area. Doesn't GDOT have the authority over this road and not us? So I guess my question is, are we doing this study, is it contravening what GDOT's already done? supplant theirs or are they going to say nice study but we're going to do the way we do it? How does this work when it's a GDOT road that GDOT's going to have ultimate responsibility?

Well ultimately we extend the work that has been contemplated in GDOT study with the interchange at Roswell Road and 285 up to the work that we also have contemplated at Hammond Corridor improvements. So we hope to get a consensus among all plans about the best approach for this portion of Roswell Road here. GDOT does propose that they bring back a plan to us, dates uncertain just yet, sometime this fall, September time frame, to come back to the council after the comments you tendered to them earlier this year and show what they've come up with, the concept alternatives they've developed since, and get that word back to you.

So aren't we doing a parallel study that they're doing?

Their limits really focus Carpenter, Cliffwood, and Southwood. Right at 285? Yes, sir. And this is Carpenter, Cliffwood, and Northwood, Northwood up to Hammond. So they need to engage each other, but not overlay.

Well, you know my opinion about the guys that were here in February or March. Yes, sir, we heard you. Okay.

Any other discussion? Hearing none, we'll call the question. Questions on agenda item 2026-188, approving a contract award to Gresham Smith Partners for professional engineering design services for the Roswell Road Safety Project Scoping Study. All in favor of the motion, say aye. Aye. Opposed, no. The item is approved. The clerk will please read the next item.

This is agenda item number 2026-189, consideration of a resolution to approve an agreement by and between the City of Sandy Springs and Fulton Perimeter Community Improvement District for the Glenridge Drive side path project and to authorize the mayor to execute the agreement. Presented by Public Works Director Marty Martin. Mr. Martin.

All right, so good news story on partnership tonight. Within the Transform 285 project, as you'll note, there's a significant amount of side path development on Glenridge Drive south of I-285 to include underneath the bridge and moving northward to the north end of 285. And then there's this gap that somehow did not get included in Transform 285. Mutually between our staff and Fulton PCID, we've identified that gap as something we want to remedy. And so to that end, this agreement is proposed to address that area, provide the design and construction to fill that gap and that side path there, so that you have a continuous side path at least from 285 all the way down to Glen Ridge at Johnson Ferry. The project consists of design, utility coordination, and construction of a side path gap fill on the east side of Glen Ridge Drive from the south side of Interstate 285 to a little over 100 feet south where it connects to the existing side path there. The CIP portion is funded in FY27. And the CID has indicated interest in advancing the project as outlined in the agreement. Pursuant to this agreement, CID will be responsible for 50% of the funds required for the project and the city responsible for the remaining 50%. The CID will execute design of the project in accordance with applicable federal and state laws and regulations and all city ordinances. The city will execute construction of the project. The proposed agreement was drafted by both the city and CID and was approved by the CID board on February 25th of 2026. So with that, there's an estimated total cost for this agreement of some $300,000. PCID has initiated the design on this project. That would go toward their $150,000 of the 50-50 split on this project, and then we would execute the construction of the project What other dollars are remaining that are required for construction? We would look to CID participate in that time as we move to first design PC ID lead on that and then construct the project. Mayor counsel, any questions?

All right. You've heard the report of the public works director. What's the desire of council?

Mayor Paul, Mr. Chinsky. I move approval of agenda item 2026 dash one 89, a resolution to approve an agreement by and between the city of Sandy Springs and the Fulton Perimeter Community Improvement District for the Glen Ridge Drive Side Path Project and to authorize the mayor to execute the agreement.

I have a motion by Mr. Chinsky. Is there a second? Second. Motion by Mr. Chinsky, seconded by Mr. Paulson, that we approve Agenda Item 2026-189, an agreement by and between the City of Sandy Springs and Fulton Perimeter Community Improvement District for the Glen Ridge Drive Side Path Project. Any discussion? Mr. Chinsky? None? Okay.

Defer to Mary if she has one.

Anybody else? Okay. Hearing none, we'll call the question. The question's on agenda item 2026-189, approving an agreement by and between the City of Sandy Springs and Fulton Perimeter Community Improvement District for the Glen Ridge Drive side path. All in favor of the motion, say aye. Aye. Opposed, no. The item is approved. Clerk, please read the next item.

This is agenda item number 2026-190. Consideration of a resolution to approve and accept an agreement to purchase B-simple right-of-way and temporary construction easements from RXHST Sandy Springs, LLC, on property located at 5885 Glenridge Drive. That's tax ID number 170037, LL0457, and that's in landline 37 of the 17th District, City of Sandy Springs, Fulton County, Georgia. In relation to the Glenridge Drive side path project, that's from Hammond Drive to Wellington Trace, presented by Public Works Director Marty Martin.

Mr. Martin. Mayor and Council, I'll talk about a side path to be constructed on another portion of Glenridge Drive, in this case from Hammond down to Wellington Trace. So we've talked about one partnership already. This is the other, and this is Project S2122 that we already have in our TSPLOS program. In this case, this is a real estate right-of-way acquisition, and to construct the side path here at this parcel in this address, five eight eight five Glenridge Drive the project requires some three thousand four hundred and thirty five point two eight square feet of fee simple right-of-way in another four thousand three hundred and thirty nine square feet of temporary construction easement on the subject property necessary to construct and Continue the side path that you already see on Glenridge at this location The city and the property owners have come to an amicable agreement for the real estate right-of-way just discussed in the amount of $322,000. The city's appraised fair market value for this offer was $305,600, a $16,400 difference between the amount proposed. The property owner agreed to accept the city's offer with the understanding that the cost of the new sign, and we would impact their business sign, would cost greater than that, and they would obtain their own quotes to demonstrate that price increase. And the city agreed to that increased amount. Staff recommends that we accept the agreement amount of $322,000 based on our fair market appraisal and the demonstrated cost from the property owner for the work and the property required here.

You've heard the report of the public works director. What's the desire of council?

Mayor Paul.

Mr. Chinsky.

I move approval of agenda item 2026-190. to approve and accept an agreement to purchase fee-simple right-of-way and temporary construction easement from RX HST Sandy Springs LLC on property located at 5885 Glenridge Drive, tax ID number 17-0037-LL-045-7, and land lot 37 of the 17th District, City of Sandy Springs, Fulton County, Georgia, in relation to the Glenridge Drive side path project from Hammond Drive to Wellington Trace.

Motion by Mr. Chinsky. Is there a second? Second. Motion by Mr. Chinsky, seconded by Dr. Kelly, that we approve Agenda Item 2026-190, an agreement to purchase fee-simple right-of-way and temporary construction easement on property located at 5885 Glen Ridge Drive. Any discussion? Hearing none, we'll call the question. The question is on Agenda Item 2026-190, an agreement to purchase fee-simple right-of-way and temporary construction easement at property located at 5885 Glen Ridge Drive in the city of Sandy Springs, Georgia, in relation to the Glen Ridge Drive side path project. All in favor of the motion, say aye. Aye. Opposed, no. The item is approved. Clerk, please read the next item.

This is agenda item number 2026-191. Consideration of a resolution to approve an intergovernmental agreement by and between Fulton County and the cities of Alpharetta, Chattahoochee Hills, College Park, East Point, Fairbourn, Haightville, Johns Creek, Milton, Mountain Park, Palmetto, Roswell, Sandy Springs, South Fulton, and Union City for use and distribution of proceeds generated by the 2026 Transportation Special Purpose Local Option Sales Tax Referendum and authorizing the Mayor to execute the IGA on behalf of the City of Sandy Springs. This is presented by Public Works Director Marty Martin.

Mr. Martin. Mayor and Council, tonight I bring to you one Next, an important step in moving toward a TSPLOS III referendum this November. City manager and staff recommend that council approval of a resolution to approve the IGA presented here tonight, authorizing the mayor to execute the IGA on behalf of the city of Sandy Springs. In this most current round of TSPLOS that we're in, I'll call it TSPLOS II for lack of a better term tonight, collections began in April 1st of 2022 for TSPLOS II as we know it, and will conclude on March 31st of 2027. The referendum that will be presented to the voters in November. Would create T's plus three and would pick up collections post this March 31st 2027 into collections With that said Fulton County with all of the cities have met have developed a comprehensive list of project requirements with dollar amounts assigned for all cities within the IGA area, all Fulton County cities with the exception of Atlanta. Council, we look tonight for the council to adopt agenda as you have approved the Teas Floss 3 project list prior to this with further action and then, of course, the referendum by November 3rd. Overall expectations or the finances available to the city with this project new iteration of TSPLOS would be a maximum of $129,191,942. And that would be across three tiers as defined in the IGA and as we structured with the proposed TSPLOS III program. And with that, any questions about TSPLOS III in this IGA tonight?

All right. You've heard the report of the public works director. What's the desire of council?

Mayor Paul. Mr. Paulson. I move approval of agenda item 2026-191, resolution to approve an intergovernment agreement by and between Fulton County and the cities of Alpharetta, Chattahoochee Hills, College Park, East Point, Fairburn, Hapeville, Johns Creek, Milton, Mountain Park, Palmetto, Roswell, Sandy Springs, South Fulton, and Union City for the use and distribution of proceeds generated by the 2026 Teesplast referendum and authorize the mayor to execute the intergovernment agreement on behalf of the city.

I have a motion by Mr. Paulson. Is there a second? Motion by Mr. Paulson socket seconded by Dr. Kelly, excuse me, that we approve agenda item 2026, one 91, an intergovernmental agreement by and between Fulton county and the cities listed below in the agenda for the 2026 special transportation, special purpose, local option sales tax referendum. Uh, any discussion?

Mayor Paul, Mr. Paulson. So Marty, thank you. This is piece plus three. Uh, I'm glad we got to this stage. One of the questions I have is what are our and Fulton County's plans to communicate this whole T-SPLOST 3 project list to the community? Because they get the vote on it in November. Do you know any details about who's going to do this promotion and information?

So within the city, we intend to better clarify what T-SPLOST 3 is. We did outreach earlier this year with T-SPLOST and held a series of open houses then late in August. I hope to bring back to you in a work session a more detailed explanation and summary of the projects again as we post new information about TSPLOS III and the projects within it in the interest of getting the information out to the voters just in front of the referendum and the election day.

And Councilman, our communications team are working on a full strategy and we'll be updating Council on that very soon.

Fantastic. Thank you.

Ms. Buehler. So, Marty, I know this might be getting a little head because we have another referendum, and I don't know that you can answer this, but Kristen, how are we going to communicate to the residents because now we have two different things on the referendums?

Yes, we're going to bring both of those to you in a combined communications plan so we can talk about how we will address that there will be two different things that we need to educate the public on. Okay. Thank you.

Yeah, there's discussion. Dr. Kelly.

I know that a few, I want to say a few weeks ago, we ran into a, we were able to catch a little bit of an issue around the maximum amount that was, and correct me if I'm wrong, but the maximum amount that was included in the resolution that Fulton County passed. So they'll have a complimentary version of this And have they passed that yet? Or do we need to do this first?

We need to do this first. The version that we have in front of you or available to you tonight is Fulton County's version. Okay. So with any corrections, updates, whatever, we got the freshest, so to speak, version from Fulton County last week as we present this to you tonight.

Okay. And they'll probably... give us a heads up before they, or when they conduct their business, maybe just so we can keep an eye. I just want to check their resolution.

Rest assured. We will read their resolution very carefully.

If we haven't read it a time or two already. Okay. Yes, ma'am.

All right. Well, thank you.

Any other discussions?

Hearing none, we'll call the question. The question is on agenda item 2026-191, approving the intergovernmental agreement by and between Fulton County and the cities of Fulton County, excluding the city of Atlanta, and the distribution of proceeds generated by the 2026 Transportation Special Purpose Local Option Sales Tax Referendum. All in favor of the motion, say aye. Aye. Opposed, no. The item is approved. The clerk will read the next item.

This is agenda item number 2026-192. Consideration of an ordinance appointing the Fulton County Department of Registration and Elections to serve as the election superintendent to conduct the City of Sandy Springs general municipal election on November 3rd, excuse me, 2026 for the purposes of the City of Sandy Springs Redevelopment Powers Referendum, authorizing an intergovernmental agreement between the city and the county relating thereto and authorizing the mayor to execute the intergovernmental agreement. This is presented by city clerk, Raquel Gonzalez. Where is she? I haven't seen her. It's been a long week. Mayor and council, today city staff recommends that we approve this ordinance to authorize the Fulton County Department of Registration and Elections to serve as our election superintendent for our referendum question regarding development powers. redevelopment powers on the November 3rd, 2026 general election ballot. At the city council's March 17th meeting of this year, the council approved a resolution requesting that the General Assembly introduce local legislation to place this referendum on a November ballot. That following House Bill 1535 was introduced by members of the city's legislative delegation, subsequently approved by the General Assembly And later it was signed into law by Governor Brian Kemp in May of this year. So as a result, we're now able to move forward with that referendum. The law authorizes us to partner with the county to host this on the ballot. It's a good use of resources. So make good use of voters going to the same location, using the same ballot to access their election questions. There's no significant fiscal impact to us because the county is hosting a general election throughout the county. It's a $1 fee essentially to get this question on the ballot and for them to do the administration of our election. So if you have any questions, I'm happy to answer them.

All right, you've heard the report of the city clerk. What's the desire of council? Mayor Paul. Mr. Paulson. I move approval of agenda item 2026-192. It ordinance appointing Fulton County Department of Registration and Elections to serve as the election superintendent to conduct the City of Sandy Springs general municipal election on November 3rd, 2026 for the purposes of the City of Sandy Springs redevelopment powers referendum, authorizing an IGA between the city and the county relating thereto and authorizing the mayor to execute the intergovernmental agreement.

We have a motion by Mr. Paulson. Is there a second? Second. Second. Motion by Mr. Paulson, seconded by Mr. Roberts that we approve agenda item 2026-192 an ordinance appointing the Fulton County Department of Registration as an election to serve as the election superintendent to conduct the City of Sandy Springs general municipal election on November 3, 2026, for the purposes of the City of Sandy Springs Redevelopment Powers Referendum, authorizing an intergovernmental agreement between the city and the county relating thereto and authorizing the mayor to execute the intergovernmental agreement. All in favor of the motion, say aye.

Mayor Paul, I have a question, if I may. Go ahead. Certainly. Just a quick question. I'm sorry. I was supposed to ask for that. Well, that's okay. It's okay to debate. I mean, yeah. Good. So we just talked about TSPLOS being on the ballot, but because TSPLOS is a Fulton County initiative, we don't have to prove something for Sandy Springs. We just don't have to prove the TSPLOS part of that for this, right? It automatically goes on the November 3rd ballot. That's a countywide referendum.

That's a countywide referendum. But that will still be part of our election. Might as well make sure we got it clear. Fair enough. Thank you. Any other discussion? Hearing none, now I'll call the question. I'll info the motion to appoint the Fulton County Department of Registration's election to serve as the election superintendent to conduct the City of Sandy Springs General Municipal Election on November 3rd, 2026. Say aye, and those opposed, nay. Aye. Opposed, no. The item is approved. Moving to mayoral and council reports. I'm gonna take a moment of personal privilege I think many of you know that our family has lost a dear family member, my son, Russ, who'd been ill for a long time. And he passed away this past, in fact, the early morning hours of Tuesday of last week. I wouldn't bring it up because it is a personal item other than just to tell you what an amazing community Sandy Springs is. how supportive they have been, the amount of sympathy and communications to our family, and the overwhelming condolences and support from this community is amazing. It's overwhelming. It's been one of the most challenging things I've ever gone through in my life, as well as the rest of the family. But the support of this community has been such that I always knew that Sandy Springs was a great community. It had a big heart. It's even bigger than I ever imagined. They have stepped up and been so supportive, so helpful, so caring. And I cannot say enough about what this community has done And it just goes to show what I've always known. What a magnificent, caring, engaged, involved, loving community we have in Sandy Springs. Because I and my family have felt it so deeply, so strongly over the past week. And I just cannot say enough about how much I appreciate all of the communications, all of the heartfelt condolences. The amount of food. I've been on a diet. I think you know I've lost a lot of weight. If I eat everything that's at my house right now, I'll put it all back on. But it just shows what an outpouring of love and caring this community really has. And I will never, ever, ever forget it. So thank you. With that, anybody else? Mr. Paulson.

Thank you, Mayor. And I and the Council are condolences to you and your family. Thank you. Changing subjects, two weeks from tonight, we're going to have National Night Out right out here, which, those of you that are aware, National Night Out is a huge event where our police and other community law enforcement and other fire department people are here. The county's here. It's quite a night, and it really gives a chance to see all of the resources that our community has to offer. And National Night Out is here. It's also called Back to School Night. But that's two weeks from tonight, so it's a good event. Anyway, thank you.

Dr. Kelly, Ms. Mueller, Mr. Chinsky.

Okay, well, a couple things since we've last met, cuz it's been a little over a month. I'll highlight the fact that a few of us attended the GMA annual convention. Speaking for myself, I learned such a great deal. So GMA, Georgia Municipal Association, is a professional meeting for elected officials and staff, actually, locally here in Georgia. I took a training on human trafficking. So I have a new passion. And if I'm not mistaken, Councilwoman Mueller, you've coordinated for us to have an additional little training next week. So I'm excited about that on human trafficking. But it's interesting, especially when I think about the conversations around like ICE and things and how actually their activity kind of intersects also with the human trafficking, some of the human trafficking work as well. So it's just interesting to kind of juggle all those things. ALL THOSE DIFFERENT TOPICS. I ALSO TOOK A COURSE ON PUBLIC WORKS AND IT DID NOT PUT ME TO SLEEP. IT WAS ACTUALLY PRETTY GOOD. ALL RIGHT. LAST, YESTERDAY WE HAD OUR SECOND NEXT TEN ADVISORY, WELL, NOT NEXT TEN, BUT OUR ADVISORY COMMITTEE MEETING. SO I JUST WANTED TO GIVE A KUDOS TO OUR COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT STAFF. THEY DO A GREAT JOB WITH THAT MEETING. NOT THAT I'M SURPRISED, I JUST, I enjoy it. I had a long Monday because that's just the way Mondays are for me and I was dreading going to that meeting. And then I was in the parking deck and I saw Frank and I said, okay, this might be nice. So we, anyway, it was a good, it was a great meeting. Also, let me, Do a quick plug for an event that I am planning on Saturday, weather permitting, because it's an outdoor event with the Sandy Springs Conservancy. We're going to take a couple of hours in the morning and offer our community an opportunity to meet up. We're going to have a little nature walk. I have some goodies. Actually, we have a lot of giveaways. I'm not going to say everything, but we have a lot of stuff to give out, family-friendly stuff. So if you're listening, that is this Saturday from 9 to 11. We'll meet in the Morgan Falls Dam area, and we'll go from there and hang out on the boardwalk for a few hours. Oh, also, same day, comprehensive plan pop-up. So Saturday, we're going to have a lot of activity on Morgan Falls. So if you could just come to Morgan Falls, it would be great to see you. Thank you, Mayor.

Ms. Mueller.

So on July 10th, we had the grand opening of Summit Coffee and our historic Williams Payne House. And they're doing a phenomenal business. It's really great to see the life that has been breathed into that building. Go check it out. It was refreshing to see a lot of young people in there working, families, dogs on the patio. It's an amazing little place. So I'd like for folks to go see that. And then I think Dr. Kelly didn't say that she's a board chair for the GMA District 3. She's got one more year.

One more year? One more year.

So one more year, but got that. So anyway, yeah, so that's it for me.

Mr. Chansky? Mayor Paul, also my condolences to your family. Judaism, when someone passes away, there's many traditions, but one of them is after burial, you sit shiva at someone's house. And it sounds to me like you are experiencing almost a community-wide shiva, of a literal embrace, invasion of your house, often with lots of baked goods. So it's well-deserved, well-loved for your family, but our are with you. One fun event that I'll mention, I got to check out one of our grant recipients, Horizons at Holy Innocence Episcopal School. I got to be a guest reader with some first and second graders a couple weeks ago. And it was a pleasure. It was really, these are some very bright minds. A lot of our Lake Forest community goes to Horizons, Holy Innocence for summer camp. IT'S ACTUALLY IN THAT COMMUNITY HAS BEEN SORT OF SEEING THE ICE PRESENCE I'D SAY THE MOST FROM WHAT I HEAR IN SANDY SPRINGS. SO IT'S FAIR TO ACKNOWLEDGE THAT AS WELL. BUT I THINK THAT OUR SUPPORT OF THAT PROGRAM IS WELL EARNED AND SEEING THOSE KIDS CONTINUE TO READ AND NOT REGRESS OVER THE SUMMER WHICH IS ONE OF THE BIG ISSUES WITH SCHOOL BEING OUT OVER THE SUMMER IS KIDS LOSING SOME READING SKILLS OR LOSING SOME MATH SKILLS. able to keep that up with the camp has been great. So I'm in support of that program moving forward.

Thank you. One thing I did forget, people have asked what they can do to honor Russ's memory. We would appreciate donations to the Piedmont Hospice organization, which is headquartered in Alpharetta. We're working with them to set up something on their website. They don't have a place to do donations yet, but we're trying to do that. So if anybody wants to honor him in that way, it would be greatly appreciated. With that, any staff reports? All right. Yeah, I was going to get Ms. Carlisle. Go ahead.

Thank you so much, Mayor. And on behalf of myself and the finance team, please accept our deepest condolences as well. This is the review of the May 2026 on audited financials. I know everybody's excited because we have one more month in this fiscal year to report, and then we are heavy into audit season. We are at 91.67% of the way through the fiscal year. Year-to-date revenues are at 106.96% of the approved budget, and operating expenditures are at 85.18% of the budget. And I'm still excited to report that all departments continue to operate within the approved budget. And that concludes the report for May 2026.

Any questions about the city's financials? All right. With that, we do have the need to go into executive session for the purposes of real estate and litigation. Is there a motion to suspend regular order and go into executive session?

Mayor Paul. Mr. Paulson. I move that we suspend regular order and move into executive session for the purposes of real estate and litigation.

Motion by Mr. Paulson. Is there a second? Motion by Mr. Paulson, seconded by Mr. Roberts, that we suspend regular order and move into executive session for the purposes of real estate and litigation. Any discussion? Hearing none, we'll call the question. The question's on suspending regular order and going to executive session. All in favor of the motion, say aye.

Aye.

Opposed, no. We are in executive session. We will conduct no further business tonight. We will simply return to this room at the conclusion of the executive session, and we will resume. We will end the executive session, return to regular order, and immediately adjourn. Thank you very much.