City Council - Regular Meeting

all right council if you all can um prepare to be inside of civic what is the civic clerk

Thank you for joining us live for the City of South Fulton City Council Meeting. We are proud to introduce the leadership entrusted with guiding our city forward. Mayor Carmelitha Gumbs. District 1 Councilwoman, Dr. Catherine Rao. District 2 Councilman, Aaron V. Johnson. District 3 Councilwoman, Latonya Toni Wright. District Four Councilman, Jaycee Sebastian. District Five Councilwoman and Mayor Pro Tem, Kyosha B. Bell. District Six Councilwoman, Natasha Williams Brown. District 7 Councilwoman Linda Becker Pritchett. Supporting the work of this body and the operations of our city are City Clerk Corey Adams, City Manager Sharon D. Subedan, and Interim City Attorney Sarah Kelly. Thank you for being the best part of the City of South Fulton, a city on the rise.

All right, good evening and welcome to the City Council Work Session for August the 25th, 2026. It is now 4.01. Mr. Clerk, can you please sound the roll?

Yes, good afternoon to Madam Mayor, Members of Council, and the general public. Today's roll call, the Honorable Catherine F. Ryle, District 1.

Present.

The Honorable Aaron V. Johnson, District 2. Present. The Honorable Latonya Toni Wright, District 3.

Present.

The Honorable J.C. Sebastian, District 4. Present. The Honorable Keosha B. Bell, District 5.

Present.

The Honorable Natasha Williams-Brown, District 6. And the Honorable Linda Becker-Pritchett, District 7, is present via Zoom.

Here.

And the Honorable Mayor Carmelita Gumbs. Madam Mayor, you have a quorum.

Thank you. Mr. Clerk, oh, I'm sorry. Let's... have the civility pledge. We're going to read them in all three meetings today. Let's start with our newest council member, District 3, Tony Wright.

City of South Fulton Civility Pledge. The way we govern ourselves is often as important as the positions we take. Our collective decisions will be better when different views have had the opportunity to be fully vetted and considered. All people have the right to be treated with respect, courtesy, and openness. We value all input. We commit to conduct ourselves at all times with civility and courtesy to each other.

Thank you very much. Mr. Clerk, please sound the next item.

Next item on the agenda is a presentation of the FY2027 budget presented by our city manager, Sharon D. Subedan.

Good afternoon, mayor and council. Thank you, Mr. Clerk. So the theme of our budget for fiscal 27, which runs October 1st, 2026 through September 30th, 2027 is let's build. We are under construction. I repeat this every year, not because you all need to hear it, but it's important for the public to hear it. One of my fundamental beliefs is that the consideration and approval of the operating budget is one of the single most important policy decisions that the city council makes annually. I need to make sure that it's clear to people that this is a policy decision. The city manager proposes a budget. We take input from the council from the budget retreat. We meet with every department head. This year we've actually taken a budget conversation out into the community. And the budget sets the vision of the council for the community. You are elected by the people for the people and you give us direction on how you think the city's funding should be spent. It also provides a 12 month roadmap for us to follow as we seek to take your policy direction and implement the various policy decisions in our day to day operations. So under the Let's Build theme, we are building a foundation for the City of South Fulton. We're continuing with the initiatives that are work in progress. Many of them have been award, contracts have been awarded, ribbons have been, our grounds have been broken, materials are being procured, plans are in place. And so we have a lot of initiatives that are in process that will continue to be built in 2027. Building for impact is our value proposition and building for the future, investing in our parks and in our facility. And last but not least, we're building a team that cares. We're not a perfect team, but we're building a team that cares. So our budget for fiscal 27 is 390.8 million. You will see in your packet our one pager this year. We did a snapshot of the budget so that residents and yourselves can have this one pager if you like. You can have it for your various town halls and HOA meetings which kind of puts everything on one page high level so that you can see how we propose to utilize our resources in fiscal 27. A big part of our budget is going to be our capital funds, $459 million. Of course, that includes our bond, the percentage of the bond that we think we're going to use in 2027. Our general fund, which is the fund that IS THE LARGEST FUND AND THE ONE THAT IS TYPICALLY ASSOCIATED WITH FUNDING OUR OPERATIONS IS 186 MILLION. AND THEN WE HAVE SPECIAL REVENUE, DEBT SERVICE AND OTHER FUNDS TO INCLUDE ENTERPRISE FUNDS. So our general operating budget is $186 million, our capital $159 million, other funds combined $44.9 million for $390,889,455. And this is a slide that it's a little busy, but there are several slides that are pretty busy. But I want to bring your attention to this slide and make some things clear so that people don't freak out. Public safety, of course, is our highest expenditure, and you'll see a reduction in fiscal 27 of $27 million. So the question will be asked, what could we be reducing? That sounds alarming. Well, it's the reduction in the $96 million bond for fiscal 27. In fiscal 26, we received the bond, so we had to budget for all of it. In fiscal 27, we're budgeting about 67 million of it because that is what we think we will be using in fiscal 27. The remainder will be used in fiscal 28. As you know, the bills of the fire headquarters and police headquarters is about a 24-month proposition. Public works, you're seeing an increase. We added some more TSPLOS projects in our budget. General government, you're seeing a reduction. You're seeing a reduction in culture, housing, and an increase in solid waste. Earlier in the year, you passed legislation to allow us to increase our solid waste fees, and you'll see a reduction in our transfers. Ms. Althea Filler Bradley will go through each of these with you. I will be honest, in our deliberations over budget this year, I am somewhat skeptical of the amount of revenue we will be generating in fiscal 27. And as you all have been told, and you've probably seen in the news, we have not yet received a tax digest. And so we've budgeted extraordinarily conservatively in order to ensure that the most important things are covered. And we've minimized some of our new initiatives because we really are focusing this year on being under construction, working through the things that have already been approved by this council. And so, but big budget highlights, things that are going to be important for residents, important for you to share with residents, is there is no change proposed in the millage rate. So, this will be the fourth year in a row. The first year I was here, we did a rollback. The three subsequent years, we did no change in the millage rate, and so we are working with the funds that we receive through our various revenue streams. It includes expenditures for continuing operations, including personnel, and you will see an increase in our personnel cost. It includes expansion of our business licensing team. We think we have some real opportunities there to bring additional revenue in, bring more businesses under the umbrella of the City of South Fulton, and ensure that they're compliant and operating safely for our residents. GCIC, our police department is growing and has a need for our GCIC to be 24 hours and not just operate on one shift. And as I shared before, 67% of our bond proceeds for construction are included in our budget this year. So this slide shows our variances. As I shared before, reductions in some areas, and a lot of that is to do with our capital. And I'm going to go ahead and turn the microphone over to CFO Bradley so she can walk through the nuances of the tax digest. And after she's finished, we're going to stop and allow you to answer questions specific to the digest, specific to the tax bills that are going out right now, because this is a really important part of our change this year and we want to make sure that you and residents are fully aware of the information as it relates to the digest.

Good afternoon, Mayor and Council. So before we get into revenues and expenditures for citywide funds, we wanted to briefly discuss the 2026 tax digest because there have been questions regarding the delay and the tax bills residents are currently receiving. First, I just want everyone to understand that the City of South Fulton does not prepare the tax digest for those residents that do not know. Property values are assessed by Fulton County Board of Assessors in their bill by the tax office. According to the court order that was issued on August 4th, the tax digest is being delayed because all real and personal property values in Fulton County have not yet been fully assessed. As a result, the tax digest cannot yet be submitted to the state for certification. This is significant for us because property tax revenue is one of the largest source of revenues for the general fund and for the city as a whole. And the final digest determines the taxable value we use to project next year's tax revenue. So because the digest was not completed in time for normal billing, the court authorized Fulton County to temporarily bill and collect. those 2026 property taxes. So we want our residents to understand that the bills they're currently receiving are only temporary bills, but they should be paid as issued. Even though those tax bills are being calculated, are using the 2026 property values that's being estimated, we want you to realize that the 2025 millage rates have not, excuse me, the 26 millage rates have not been yet adopted, and they're using the 2025 millage rates all taxing authorities. So with that being said, if after you pay your bill, you may owe more money or you may be issued a refund. Because also, if you got a green piece of paper, as far as your tax bill is on a green piece of paper, that means you file an appeal. And most appeals are not billed at 100%. So once it's reconciled, once the tax digest has been certified and you've already paid your bill, you may owe additional funds or you may receive a refund. Any questions?

I thought we were holding questions. About the title, you want to do them now?

We can, I can go to the next slide because the next slide also includes property tax bills. And so the state of Georgia has provided homeowners with a, it's called homeowner tax. I'm sorry. I need somebody to click. OK. So there is a property tax credit as well. It's the homeowner tax relief grant that is expected to save Georgia homesteaded homeowners about $500 on their property tax bill. If you receive your property tax bill, you do see that there is a state credit this year. However, I want to emphasize that it's not a recurring credit. Similar relief was provided back in 2023. and now again in 2026. And property owners should not expect it next year or that this will be a recurring credit every year. So when planning for future property taxes, residents should know that the tax credit, your tax bill may go up next year because the tax credit won't be available to them. I want to also note that there are new senior tax exemptions for Fulton County School District portion of the property tax bill at age 65. Eligible homeowners with homesteaded properties may receive up to 25% reduction in assessed value. And also at age 70, it increases to 50%. But there are some criteria that go along with that. I believe you have to live in that school district at least five to six years. But there is no income requirement.

OK, I think we're able to take questions at this time. I want to recognize Councilwoman Natasha Williams Brown. Yes.

Thank you, Mayor. So. When it comes to the property tax bills, because I went and I looked at mine, and there is almost a $500 difference in my bill. For those residents, and not knowing what's coming later, but for those residents who may not necessarily grasp the nuances of how the property tax bills work, Do we have a point of contact for who's going to triage what's sure to be an onslaught of emails and phone calls whenever Fulton County gets it all together and the second set of property tax bills go out? Because I fully expect mine to go up, and I understand why this is going to happen, but not every resident. You know follow follows along with all of the nuances closely. So how are we going to handle?

The questions the comments well it's for on the county side They would have to contact the county sadly As far as that information we can provide that information to the residents, but they would have to contact the county. I

Can we get that so we can get out ahead of what's sure to be coming in getting together the messaging, the flyers, whatever we're going to do so we can get people to the right person to be able to get their questions and their issues addressed with what's going to be coming?

Yes, we can.

Thank you.

Councilman Sebastian.

Thank you, Mayor. I do have a couple of follow-up questions on those tax bills. I did review mine, too. Do we have any idea when all this will be settled?

I have no idea.

Okay. So that has not really been pushed out yet? No. Not even the county knows?

No, I've talked to the tax office. She didn't give me a timeline.

Okay. And thank you for mentioning that that's not depending on the city, it's the county, and specifically the Tax Assessor's Office. You also mentioned the issue of the exemptions for seniors from the school taxes at age 65 and 80? 65 and 70.

And 70, sorry.

But you mentioned that the homestead exemption piece must be in place. That's correct? It's not just age. You also have to have the homestead exemption. It has to be homesteaded property.

Yes, sir.

Because believe it or not, there's still a lot of people who do not have homestead exemption for some reason. And so... they may hear the age criteria and not understanding that piece about the homestead exemption. So I really wanted us to emphasize that you have to have that homestead exemption in place or you still will be taxed as usual regardless of your age.

That's correct.

Which actually makes sense because you have to live in the home, right? Yes. That's your homestead. And then the last thing I have is, according to this budget that was presented, what is our hiring strategy? Because I know some time ago we talked about freezing. uh, employment or cutting back on employment. So that comes out here. That is not that we're not hiring anybody else at all. Um, so what's the strategy according to the budget for staff?

So we have in this budget, our proposed budget, we have fully funded positions. I paused the hiring for two reasons. One, employees are getting merit increases this year and we have to annualize that on their anniversary date. We have to annualize that in 2027. So I wanted to get a good sense of what that looked like. And you'll see as Althea goes through, you'll see the hit to our personnel line item as well as, and that also includes our bargaining unit that received an increase. And so that's having an impact. Where we are right now with the hiring is mission critical positions are continuing, we're continuing to recruit and hire for. Come October, assuming that you approve the budget as presented, we should be able to open hiring back up in our usual manner. And we actually did not include any attrition this year. We did full funding. The other thing I wanted to wait for is the impact of health insurance. And as I shared with you at an earlier meeting last month, we've been able to do health insurance with no increase or minimal increase to the city, no increase to employees. So I feel like our hiring position is pretty strong. And we have not included a lot of additional positions in the new budget. just a few positions extra for some mission critical items.

I know this is digging a little deeper, so I don't expect a perfect answer. Can you tell us in general what are maybe some of the departments or things that you're looking at as you said mission critical?

Typically our public safety, police, fire, public works as well. There are some frontline positions for grounds people, for custodians that we've allowed those positions to be filled. Those are things we can't really do without. And I shared with you sometimes we have challenges hiring for those positions, so we have been filling some of those. The positions we've sort of put on pause are the more administrative positions, but I do believe after going through the budget some of them are necessary and we want to get back to full operations in October. CHAIRMAN BRYANT L. Okay.

Thank you. Those are all the questions I have.

CHAIRMAN BRYANT L. Thank you, Councilman Sebastian. Councilman Johnson?

Thank you, Madam Mayor. Madam CFO, I will apologize. I have not seen my tax digest bill. My wife hasn't shown it to me yet. So as soon as she lets me see it, I'll talk about it. But my bigger question, my question for you, though, is, is the county reaching out to the cities about what they're doing in a communication plan for citizens?

No.

I'm not surprised. So in, with that being said, which again, I'm not surprised. I really like on your previous slide, you have, don't be alarmed. Do stay informed. I think that's a great tagline. We came up with that, right?

Thanks, Denise. Yes.

Thank you, Denise. And I bring that up because that would be something good to start. Potentially, I don't know, maybe this is already something that's in the works, but potentially maybe on the website or some type of graphic that kind of explains what's going on as briefly, and then we can send it out however you feel best. But I really like that tagline. It's really, really good. Also, do you know if any other, another thing, amazing that we haven't raised the millage rate yet again. We catch a lot of flag for if your tax bill goes up by $1, it was because the city raised their millage rate, right? Do you know if any other governments have raised their millage rate that will be reflected on this bill?

Well, right now, no one has, well, not that I'm aware of. They're waiting on the tax digest to adopt their millage rates.

Oh, okay. So they can't even do it until.

They could, but they would be smart not to until the text digest is released and certified.

Okay. Well, my bigger point was some type of communications that we may be able to send out to people and we can do it on, you know, with our networks as well to help you out.

I believe we can. I believe we can.

Thank you.

You're welcome.

Thank you. I think my colleagues have said it, but I think the most powerful slide is page 10 of this PowerPoint because this explains a lot. You know, a number of residents have talked about seeing a decrease in the BO and they're not as familiar about the home owners tax relief grant that was issued by the general assembly in March of 2026. I think this one pager should do it and then get into these, our school district exemptions. Because I think that, as well as at this point, our proposed budget is based on prior. So hopefully we don't have to do anything with the millage rate, although we're waiting to hear. I think all the information, that's the foundation of it right there on slide 10. But I did have one question. How much do we currently have in our reserves?

you know i'm watching the money i know in this budget we have 66 million well that 66 million when i get to the next slides that's the city as a whole that includes t-splash that includes you know funding from the prior year that we're re-budgeting so that's not all general fun okay so it's not okay

So we get a breakdown later on in the presentation.

We are meeting our requirement, though, the 25%. We're well above our 25% requirement.

I don't want to steal the number. OK, that's good. I read between the lines. And can you, just one more, the transfer ends, can you speak to what that is?

Transfers end? You must be on another side.

Yeah, I might be.

You're way ahead. I'll get there. I'll wait.

OK. Councilman Wright, Councilwoman Wright,

Yeah, just really, I just want to sort of kind of echo Councilwoman Williams-Brown's sentiment. Sort of kind of when the information comes out from the county in regards to the communication, we know it's them. When you mentioned in regards to in case people owe more on their property taxes or if they're entitled to a refund, would they be able to consider making sure that they let people know when that money is due? I'm pretty sure they will, but I will communicate with the county as far as like, you know, we have people who look for those tax liens and they'd be hunting. So I think it's very important in case people need to make sure that, you know, they know when that is due. It's very important. Yes, ma'am. Thank you.

You're welcome. Okay. We don't have any speakers. Okay.

Moving on to revenues and expenses. Okay, our revenue sources slide, this slide provides a citywide picture of how we are funding the proposed fiscal year 2027 budget, which is $390 million. This includes revenues across all city funds, not just the general fund. Of the total budget, approximately $283.1 million comes from operating revenues and $40.8 million from transfers between funds. That's the interfunds between the funds within the budget. and 66.9 million represents budgeted use of reserves. Rather than going through every revenue source, I just want to highlight some of the more significant changes. Starting with property taxes, we are projecting approximately 67.9 million and an increase of approximately 2.5 million. The only reason we're projecting an increase is based on the revenues we're receiving this year. excuse me, in the current fiscal year, because right now we are well above, not well above, but we're above the budgeted amount for 2026. So we're projecting based on what we actually have received. So the next one is the local option sales tax is projected at approximately $40 million, an increase of $2.1 million. And sales tax continues to be an important recurring revenue source that helps diversify our revenue base. AND I WANT TO SAY THAT $40 MILLION IS ALL GENERAL FUND. SO THE $39 MILLION IS BASICALLY ALL GENERAL FUND LOCAL OPTION SALES TAX. THAT'S BUDGETED AT $27 MILLION. The most significant decrease is in bond proceeds, which decreased from approximately 96 million to 64.9 million. This is not lost revenue, nor does it represent a reduction in the public safety projects. It's basically simply timing of the fire and police construction projects and the amount of the bond proceeds being programmed for 2027. So it's just about time, and next year you'll see another program for 2028. You'll also notice a decrease in investment income and other revenue. That significant factor is that the interest rate environment, as rates have declined, we've taken more of a conservative approach to projected investment earnings. Finally, city-wide, we're budgeting approximately 66.9 in budgeted use of reserve. Again, I want to emphasize that these reserves are spread across multiple funds. And they're primarily associated with capital projects, previously committed resources, and other one-time expenditures. Excuse me, I said expend, yes. Citywide expenses. I think the city manager touched on this just a bit earlier. She said I would go through it more in detail. And this slide just looks at the other side of the equation and how our $390 million in resources are being spent across city funds. Again, rather than go through each category, I'll focus more on the significant changes, which is public safety and it continues to represent our largest citywide investment. at approximately 136.7 million. And although that again, that this represents a decrease of 27 million or 16.5%, I want to emphasize this, that this should not be interpreted as a reduction in our overall police and fire operation. This is basically, this is totally tied to the reduction in public safety capital projects for 2027. Our public works increases approximately by 9.5% to 86 million citywide. It's important to look at public works from a citywide perspective because a significant portion of our transportation and infrastructure investments are funded outside of the general fund. This also includes dedicated resources to TSPLOS and other capital funding. So while you'll see the general fund portion of the public works, we just want you to know that overall citywide public works is covered and not just in one fund. It's in multiple funds from the grant funds, from the T-SPAS fund and the general fund. This side basically just gives you a percentage comparison to the previous slide. It breaks down how our city allocates its budget across all major funds again. The largest share of our budget is dedicated to public safety, followed by essential government operations, infrastructure, and quality of life investments. now we're going to narrow our discussion to just the general fund which is the city's primary operating fund and supports the majority of our day-to-day operations for 2027 our recurring operating revenues are projected at 151.6 million that's just the recurring operating revenue AND THE GOOD NEWS IS THAT OUR RECURRENT OPERATING REVENUE DID INCREASE BY 6.2 MILLION OVER THE AMENDED 2026 BUDGET. THAT INCREASE IS PRIMARILY DRIVEN BY GROWTH IN SOME OF OUR MAJOR RECURRENT REVENUE SOURCES. THAT INCLUDES THE PROPERTY TAXES. AGAIN, WE'RE BASING OUR PROJECTIONS FOR 2027 NOT ON THE TAX DIGEST, BUT BASED ON THE TREND WE'RE SEEING THIS YEAR FOR 2026, WE ARE ABOVE WHAT WE BUDGETED FOR 2026, SO WE BUDGETED BASED ON OUR CURRENT REVENUES RECEIVED. LOCAL OPTION SALES TAX AND INSURANCE TAX PREMIUM ALSO SAW AN INCREASE IN REVENUES FOR 2026. AGAIN, PROPERTY TAX CONTINUES TO BE OUR LARGEST GENERAL FUND REVENUE SOURCE. then again followed by the local option sales tax and insurance premium tax. Now I wanna touch on reserves a little bit because it's important to understand how we are using those dollars. Our goal is not to use reserves to support, excuse me, to support city normal operations or recurring operations. Recurring expenses should, to an extent, POSSIBLE BE SUPPORTED BY RECURRENT REVENUES. INSTEAD, RESERVES ARE MORE APPROPRIATELY USED FOR CAPITAL INVESTMENTS AND OTHER ONE-TIME EXPENDITURES. COSTS THAT DO NOT CREATE AN ONGOING FINANCIAL OBLIGATION THAT WE HAVE TO FUND FROM YEAR TO YEAR. SO THAT'S WHAT THE RESERVES SHOULD BE USED FOR AND THAT'S WHAT WE ARE CURRENTLY USING THE RESERVES FOR. Again, this is just a graphic really reinforces what we just reviewed. Property taxes and sales tax remain our two largest recurring general fund revenue sources. Now we're going to look at the general fund expenses a little differently. The previous slide showed expenditures based on BASED ON TYPE, EXCUSE ME, THIS IS ACTUALLY BASED ON TYPE. THIS IS ALSO BASED ON TYPE, BUT IT'S BASED ON PERSONNEL SERVICES. THIS IS BY TYPE. EXCUSE ME, I'M SORRY, I GOT LOST IN MY OWN POWERPOINT. THIS IS BY TYPE. THE LARGEST GENERAL FUND EXPENDITURE CONTINUES TO BE PERSONNEL SERVICES AT 91 MILLION, WHICH IS AN INCREASE OF 7.8 MILLION. AND THE INCREASE IS A SIGNIFICANT PORTION OF OUR GENERAL FUNDS BUDGET BECAUSE WE ARE PRIMARILY A SERVICE DELIVERY ORGANIZATION. THE INCREASE FOR 2027 IS PRIMARILY ASSOCIATED WITH THE ANNUALIZATION OF PERSONNEL CALLS AS THE CITY MANAGER MENTIONED IT WAS THE MERIT INCREASES BASED ON EMPLOYEES HIRE DATE THIS YEAR WE WILL BASICALLY recognized the full year worth of their merit increase that was implemented in 2026. So on their anniversary date in 2026, they would have received the merit increase. And in 2027, the full year's increase would be recognized in the budget. So that's primarily the reason for the increase in our personnel costs, along with the collective bargaining agreement that was implemented IN 2026. SO ALL THOSE COSTS WILL BE ANNUALIZED IN 2027. PURCHASED AND CONTRACTED SERVICES DECREASED BY APPROXIMATELY 22.5 MILLION TO 19.5 MILLION. A REDUCTION OF ABOUT 13.3%. This category includes services the city obtains externally like our contractors as part of the budget process. We did review the expenditures to identify where costs could be reduced or where prior funding levers were no longer necessary with the hiring of employees and filling our vacancies. Supplies also decreased from approximately $7.2 to $6 million, a reduction of $1.2 million. This category includes the materials and operating supplies departments need to provide services. The capital outlay within the general fund decreased significantly from $5.2 million to $1.5 million. As we discussed, major capital investments are being accounted for in a separate capital improvement plan, but last year we had about $6.2 million budgeted for vehicles.

What? One moment. I'm sorry. I'm on the wrong one. I want to recognize Councilman Johnson.

What slide are you on? Because I think I'm on the right one, but I'm not seeing the numbers you're saying. Are the numbers you're saying on the slide?

No, this is for, it's not. This is citywide. Yeah. Yeah, I mean, I'm not in general fund. My apologies. I was in citywide. My apologies. OK, so we'll carry on from. Thank you. My apologies. So our supplies reduced by $1.2 million. Our capital went down by $3.6 million. And the capital has been reduced primarily because last year we had $6.2 million budgeted. And for vehicles this year, there has been a reduction in vehicle purchases. So that's why you see the reduction of $3.6 million. And what I do want to point out is our cap, not our capital, but our transfers out did reduce, um, by $7.1 million. These dollars are not leaving the city to transfers out. They're actually going to fund other funds such as your E nine one one, um, fund also the blighted property fund. And for the most significant of all, the CIP fund, the general fund transfers out $23.9 million to fund those capital investments. So, in total, the overall general fund budget, proposed budget, is $186.2 million.

Do we want to pause and answer any questions at this point? Are you, Councilman, Councilwoman Itachi Williams-Brown?

I mean, if, yes, if we're doing questions at this point, because in going through some of the backup detail, the, and I'm actually back at, the FY27 expenditures by function slide. It lists culture and recreation as a $1.5 million reduction. But then when I look at parks and rec, the detail for parks and rec and the detail for cultural affairs, it looks like there's actually an increase. So I was wondering, I wanted to ask about that discrepancy.

Citywide, this is a citywide view, and what you're probably reviewing is just the general fund side.

Okay, so no, I'm looking at budget comparison report in our notebook. So the tab that says Parks and Rec, wait, first of all, I can't see this. So on the tab that says Parks and Recreation, it looks like there's actually an increase of $530,533. And then for Cultural Affairs, it looks like there's an increase of $27,230, but expenditures by function, there's a proposed change of minus 1.5 million.

Correct.

So help me circle that square.

Okay, so what we're looking at now is citywide expenses. This also includes grants as well as general fund and other special revenue sources, and it also includes Wolf Creek. It also includes... Not public community, not public affairs, but John's department. I'm sorry, I'm having a blank.

Cultural affairs.

Cultural affairs. This slide is inclusive. It includes all, it encompasses all departments considered as cultural and recreation across the board. It's not just general funds. So if I take you to the general fund by function slide, which is further out, slide 19, you will see an increase.

So we just haven't got there yet? No, ma'am. Okay.

Because we're just going through the...

I think I did pass this slide.

Did I?

No, I haven't hit that slide yet.

Are you finished? Councilwoman Bell, Mayor Pro Tem.

Thank you, Mayor. I have a quick question regarding the citywide expenses as it relates to the housing and development. I see for the adopted budget and the amendment budget for 2026, there's a decrease as far as for FY2027. Can you talk to me a little bit about that and why we have a decrease in the housing and development category?

That also includes grants. There probably is a reduction in the grant sections, for instance, the CDBG grant. So again, this encompasses all funds, not just the general fund. So if we forward to the actual general fund slide, it's on page 19, which I'm going to get to, you will see an increase. on the general fund side, which that includes your CDRA and your economic development.

So if I'm looking correctly at the general fund, okay.

Because we're still back on. Hold on.

Because I actually see a decrease again in the expenditure side from general fund.

For general fund? It is going. The decrease where? For which category?

So one for general fund expenditures and the other is for the citywide expenses.

Yes, the general fund is going down. It is. there is a decrease and it's $7.1 million decrease is just the transfers out to the other funds. And that's primarily because this year we've only budgeted $23.9 million to transfer over to the capital improvement plan, where last year I think we transferred over about 35 to 38 million. So that's the significant decrease in that area.

Thank you.

I believe Councilman Sebastian was next.

I think it will answer my question when you finish.

Okay. Please proceed.

Where were we? I think we were here.

Were we here?

And this chart just gives us a visual breakdown. As you can see again, personal services represents the largest portion of our general fund operating expenditures. Now this is the slide I think you all were referring to. As you can see on this slide, culture and recreation THERE'S AN INCREASE OF ABOUT $557,000 OVER THE PRIOR YEAR'S BUDGET, SO THAT'S WHAT YOU WERE SEEING ON YOUR SIDE. THAT WAS JUST THE GENERAL FUND PORTION OF IT. AS WELL AS THE HOUSING AND DEVELOPMENT, COUNCILWOMAN WRIGHT, THAT YOU WERE REFERRING TO, THERE'S A $649,000 INCREASE. OH, YOU BOTH, OKAY. There's a $649,000 increase in the housing development, and that increase is primarily related to the expansion of the business license team that the city manager spoke about earlier. Are there any questions on this slide? Yes, ma'am. Councilwoman Rowe.

So I know we received a lot of applications for our housing program. How much money do we actually have earmarked for that in terms of actual home repair? Because she mentioned that was primarily staff. Have we allocated any additional resources to the home repairs themselves?

I think it's about $100,000. Oh, that's first-time homebuyers.

Are we talking? Sorry, are we talking first-time homebuyer? Are we talking housing repair? I think you said housing repair.

I was thinking housing repair.

Repair. So in fiscal 27, we added the CDBG allocation of $563 million. $1,000 million. Sorry. 560,000. Okay. We have almost that much in requests, millions of requests. But the 563 that we anticipate getting for this year for CDBG has been added and is in this current year budget.

So all of that money is going to go to the home repair, pretty much. Okay. And we haven't put any additional money. It's all just the CDBG allocation. At this time, we're just CDBG, correct. Okay.

Okay, this slide basically just another way to look at our general fund expenditures. This time focusing on just the percentages allocated to each major function with public safety leading the way at 35% general government, which includes your finance team, IT, and other essential services. TRANSFERS OUT REPRESENT ABOUT 21%. MOVING ON TO THE NEXT SLIDE IF THERE AREN'T ANY QUESTIONS. We'll take a closer look at our transfers out based on what we just discussed. Again, for 2027, the general fund is budgeting $38.6 million for transfers to other funds. The largest transfer is $23.9 million to our capital improvement plan fund. This represents more than half of the $38 million that we're transferring out to finance other funds. WE'RE ALSO TRANSFERRING OUT $7.4 MILLION TO PAY FOR OUR PUBLIC SAFETY BOND THAT WAS JUST ISSUED THIS YEAR. WE MADE OUR FIRST INTEREST PAYMENT THIS YEAR, BUT NEXT YEAR WE HAVE TO RECOGNIZE THE FULL $7.4 MILLION PAYMENT, WHICH INCLUDES PRINCIPLE AND INTEREST. WE ALSO TRANSFERRING OUT $2 MILLION TO OUR E911 FUND AND $1.9 MILLION TO OUR MULTIPLE GRANT FUNDS AS MATCHES. Now we're moving on from our general fund to our special revenue fund. Special revenue funds are accounted for separately because the revenues within these funds are generally restricted or designated for specific purposes. Unlike the general fund revenues, these dollars cannot be used or redirected to support general fund activities. For 2027, our special revenue funds are $21.2 million, which is, when compared to 2026, is a reduction of $1.5 million. The largest special revenue fund is our multiple grant fund which is budgeted at 6.9 million. This fund accounts for various grant funded programs like your CDBG and the amount will fluctuate from year to year depending on the grants awarded or to the city and the timing of those expenditures. Our school traffic camera fund increases by, excuse me, increase from 2.9 to 3.7. That's a 27% increase, and that's primarily due to us re-budgeting the fund balance available to cover ongoing costs. So we didn't spend all the fund balance in the current year, so we're re-budgeting the fund balance for next year to cover costs, but we are, the funds are running low. Last one is the ARPA grant. I want to touch on ARPA because this will be our last budget for ARPA grant in 2027. We have to use those funds. They have to be spent by December of 2026 this year. So we're only budgeting about $284,000 of those funds that's available.

What was that number again?

Sorry? $284,000. I can't even see it. It's 283,955. I just rounded it 284,000. This simply provides a visual breakdown of our special revenue funds we just discussed, showing their percentage share of the overall special revenue funds collectively, with our multiple grant funds leading the way at 32.6%. NEXT IS OUR ENTERPRISE FUNDS AND A COUPLE OF OTHER FUNDS THAT ARE ACCOUNTED FOR SEPARATELY. ENTERPRISE FUNDS ARE DIFFERENT FROM OUR GENERAL FUND BECAUSE THEY ARE ESTABLISHED FOR ACTIVITIES THAT OPERATE MORE LIKE A BUSINESS WHERE THE SERVICES PROVIDED SHOULD GENERATE REVENUES THAT SUPPORT THE ACTUAL OPERATIONS. FOR 2027, OUR TWO ENTERPRISE FUNDS ARE SOLID WASTE AND WOLF CREEK. AND WITH A COMBINED PROPOSED BUDGET OF 12.2 MILLION, OUR SOLID WASTE REPRESENTS THE LARGEST OF OUR ENTERPRISE FUNDS. THE BUDGET INCREASES FOR APPROXIMATELY $1.7 MILLION. AND THE EXPECTATION IS BASICALLY NEW HOMES COMING ON BOARD AND WILL BE ADDED TO THE COLLECTION CYCLE. Sorry, here's the slide. WOLF CREEK HAS A PROPOSED BUDGET OF 994,000. I'M ROUNDING. IT'S 994,184. WOLF CREEK IS 100% FUNDED BY THE GENERAL FUND. SO WHEN YOU SEE THE TRANSFERS OUT, IT'S COMING FROM THE GENERAL FUND. THE GENERAL FUND IS FINANCING THE OPERATIONS. THEN WE HAVE OUR TREE FUND, REFUNDABLE ESCRO AT 2.7. And the South Fulton Development Authority, which is our component unit, budgeted at $275,892 for 2027. And 100% of what they have in fund balance is being utilized to finance their operations for 2027. So the general fund is not transferring any funds over to the SFDA fund for operations. Again, this is a visual breakdown of the enterprise fund.

Madam CFO, we have a question from Councilwoman Rao.

Yes, ma'am.

Thank you. So just a couple of questions, and this is on the various enterprise funds. You said Wolf Creek Amphitheater is 100% funded by the general fund. Does that mean that we haven't generated any revenue for our contract arrangement with our promotion agreement? I haven't seen any. Okay. And for the tree fund, it's a significant decrease. It went from 6.5 to a decrease of 3.8 million. So our proposed for 2027 is 2.7 million. Why that drastic? Some of that is transfer in and out with the developer as opposed to what we get to keep for tree maintenance. But tell me a little bit about that.

The portion that's reflected is the portion we get to transfer out if need be. We should have never budgeted $6.5 million only because that's not our money. That's other people's money. So it should remain a liability, and we will pay it as a liability. It would not be an expense to the city. So that's the reason for the reduction.

And so does that mean that 2.7 is actually the only money we have earmarked in the budget for tree maintenance citywide?

Correct.

Okay. And I just want to make sure I heard you. For the Development Authority, we are not supporting any of their operations at this time. They're self-sustaining?

Yes, ma'am.

Thank you.

Please proceed.

I think we discussed that. Okay, now we're moving on to the capital slides. The city manager will pick up after these two slides. Overall capital funds decreased again by 16%. Again, that's primarily due to the construction of the police and fire stations, construction of those two stations. We're not budgeting the full use of those funds for 2027. There is an increase in TSPLOS funds. That's primarily due to the list of TSPLOS projects we are planning to tackle this fiscal year. So you do see an increase in the overall TSPLOS budget for 2027. And that also includes the revenue expected for TSPLOS 2 for 2027. The LMIG grant fund decreased approximately by 17 percent. These resources include capital grant funding designated for eligible roadway and transportation improvements. And as mentioned previously, the capital improvement plan went from 34 million to 23 million. So that represents an $11 million reduction in our 2027 proposed budget compared to 2026 amended budget. On the debt service side, you do see a, I THINK IT'S ABOUT A NICE INCREASE OVERALL, 80% WHEN YOU TAKE THE TOTAL OF DEBT SERVICE FUNDS, AND THAT'S PRIMARILY DUE BECAUSE WE'RE RECOGNIZING THE FULL PRINCIPLE AND INTEREST FOR THE NEW PUBLIC SAFETY BONDS THAT WAS ISSUED EARLIER THIS YEAR. THE NEXT CHART GIVES YOU ANOTHER VISUAL BREAKDOWN BY PERCENTAGE FOR ALL CAPITAL FUNDS LISTED. With our public safety bond, of course, at $69.4 million, making up for about 41%. T-Spots collectively making up 34%. I'll move on to the next slide, which the city manager will take over at this point to discuss the capital improvement plan for public safety.

Before you use, I have a seat. Are there any questions further for the CFO? All right, thank you.

You're welcome.

Thank you. That's what happens when you're using two different PowerPoints, one with the notes and one for the screen. Not to be redundant, but part of the reason we go through all of these slides is for the record. So when somebody goes back and they look at our budget presentation or as we apply for our GFOA award, it's very important that we're able to document for the record that we informed the mayor and the council of all of these funds. So I know some of this is redundant, but bear with us. We just want to make sure we're being fully transparent. It's a very large budget, and so some things do appear more than once. You heard it before, our capital improvement expected expenditure from our bond is going to be close to $65 million in fiscal 27. And then this is a very busy slide, but it sort of shows you what we expect to spend with our current funding sources, mostly from fund balance, a little bit from grants. Most of it is bond. What it looks like over a period of time, and you'll see how the money sort of in fiscal 25 was 33. It jumped up to 131 with the bond. In 27, it's 88. And then what we anticipate it will be into the future. And this slide, I know everybody's very anxious. They want to see their projects. The reason you see a reduction in capital expenditure between fiscal 26 and 27 is in fiscal 26, some of that money is already encumbered because some of those projects are already underway. And we've had to cut purchase orders to vendors, and that's why the number looks different year over year. It's a sign that work is happening in the background and contractors have purchase orders for this work. And so while this is not, this slide shows all of the projects and the costs that we expect to incur in 2027, it doesn't necessarily reflect the total amount of the project. Some of those projects will go over more than one year. So for example, Cedar Grove, it is a much larger project, but this is how much we expect that we will expend out of that, on that project in fiscal 27. Municipal Court, the same way. The Campbell Road Welcome Center, half of that, that's only reflecting half because half of that is being spent in this fiscal year. And we were able to add some funding back into the budget for Creel Parks, Boundary Fence. We're going to be continuing work at the baseball fields in Welcome All. The Miracle League field, we expect it to be fully encumbered this year. This is for some additional field work. And I don't want to read necessarily all of these to you, but I want to point some others out. the first floor at the city administration building. We had promised that when we bought the building, we would make the first floor look like the second floor and we've been delayed in that. Um, but it is, it is a priority that we plan to put, um, more emphasis into both this fiscal year and the next, um, old national park renovations. Um, some of those renovations we have budgeted for this year and some of them are futuristic and will be in a future CIP. The Travel Cool Walking Park walking track, rather, is a project that is about to start. It's fully designed. And then cameras, and we continue to work on Welcome All cooling system, which Welcome All is the gift that keeps on giving. Local options transportation, special purpose local option sales tax for the public's edification. It's a .75 cent sales tax that we use only for transportation projects. This year we've budgeted $55 million. For TSPLAS, and you may remember, that's a much larger number than the amount of revenue we expect to collect in TSPLAS this year. That's because TSPLAS has its own fund balance. And so the difference between what we're going to attain in revenue and what we're going to spend is coming out of fund balance. So when you see that very large budgeted use of reserves, it's not just general fund, it's TSPLAS, it's grants, it's other areas where we've attained a fund balance. And so we're expecting a lot of really robust work out of Public Works on our TSPLAS projects in fiscal 27. Shameless plug, TSPLAS will be back on the ballot in November. And here are some of your either fully or partially funded TSPLOST projects, everything from intersection improvements, sidewalks, resurfacing. Everybody is always very interested in resurfacing. It is our largest percentage of our TSPLOST in fiscal 27. It's our largest percentage every year. You will see some resurfacing happening both in this year and next year. and several intersection improvements, we are very aware that there are several intersections that are dangerous and improvements are coming. This slide we include, we do not propose to think for you, but this is the funding that we have put aside for mayor and council events funded out of the parks department. It was brought to my attention that we have not moved these numbers with inflation. And so something for you to think about as we go through the budget. We've given you your list of your priorities and how we try to incorporate them in the current budget. But we are looking for feedback from all of you as we go through the budget. And wrapping up and opening up to your questions, of course, this is your official city manager proposed budget presentation. There will be a public hearing at the 7 o'clock meeting. There will be a public hearing on the 22nd and adoption of the budget. We will bring back a presentation. just for informational purposes to the September 8th meeting and receive your feedback and I look forward to getting emails and text messages and carrier pigeons and cans on strings and all kinds of information back from you telling us how you'd like to see us modify, change, edit the budget and also get more information. One of the things in the course of the conversation I realized We probably need to delineate that big county, that big citywide budget and explain the puts and takes so you have a better sense of why did cultural affairs and recreation go down? What does that mean? And also what we incorporate in those categories. So like housing and development, you probably don't think that CDRA is in it, but it is. So we can give you more breakdown to make sure that we're being clear about what those puts and takes look like. But before I wrap up, because I always forget, I want to thank the finance department, every department that participated in the preparation of the budget. Thank you for your time at the budget retreat. Thank you to Public Affairs for the fabulous job in putting our materials together and everyone else that helped us and supported us during the budget process, budget development process. And now we are once again subject to your questions.

Thank you very much, City Manager. This was well put together, and I am looking forward to sending some questions if there are any. I do have one thing. Will this proposed budget be on the website for residents to have an opportunity to digest?

Yes, we've created a FY27 tab on our budget home screen. And as soon as this meeting is over, both the one pager that's handed out and this PowerPoint presentation will be uploaded to the website. Say it again? Fiscal 27 tab has been created, will be on the website, and after this presentation, both the PowerPoint and the one-pager, the summary, will be uploaded for the public's view. And, of course, we have public hearings and public comment. We're always open to feedback from our community.

And I also think if you all can share a link that we can put in our newsletter, I think we kind of mentioned that earlier, but the link to put in the newsletter.

And I also, uh, remember speaking about some infographics to be placed on social media, just so people can understand what the budget is. Um, little snippets, just something so they can, uh, pretty much educate themselves on the budget.

Sure. We're also doing a budget in brief, which is the little booklet that you get, which I call it the budget and people speak. And so we'll be doing that and and it'll have more infographics and be more user friendly for for residents. You'll see that booklet at the next meeting and we'll also upload that to the website and we'll take snippets of that and put it on social media.

Awesome. Thank you. I will recognize Councilman Sebastian at this time.

Thank you, Mayor. Madam City Manager, thank you to you and your team for presenting this budget. I think doing it again without proposing a millage rate increase is commendable, while still having some things in here that will continue to move the city forward. We still have 35% of our revenue coming from property taxes. For some of our seniors, their overall bill will go down according to what the state, um, the laws that the state passed. Um, however, for the budget itself, we mentioned about the business license. What are some of the other ways in which we are trying to increase our collections or taxes that the budget should reflect? And I guess how can we assist? I suppose is the question.

So I want to be careful. The 35% is all property tax. It's not just residential property tax. That's right. So we need to get that on the record. A large part of it is residential property tax, but not all.

Do you know the breakdown?

We don't have the digest. When we have the digest, we'll get a better sense of what that looks like this year. We have seen incremental improvement with more coming from commercial and industrial, and some of our big projects are not online yet that are expected to generate a significant amount of industrial and commercial property tax. It takes a few years for us to see that, but we're Anticipating seeing an increase in some of those very large projects that have been approved and are under construction. And so What was the second part of your question? How can you help us?

I was afraid to answer that question.

Yeah, you always put me on the spot with those questions. Sorry. Thank you for that. I think as we really get it, so the most important thing you can do is take a policy decision to support us hiring additional people for business licensing. and give us your suggestions, your feedback. You know your districts way better than we ever will. And so as we start going into districts and sending letters and you're having your town halls, emphasize to businesses the importance of being under the city's umbrella. We're also going to be really pushing hard on short-term rentals. We get a decent amount of hotel motel tax, but they have not been paying their fair share. We had a really good conversation with Airbnb. They have committed to help us with short-term rentals that are not compliant. And so to the extent that you all can support that work, I think it's very helpful to the city of South Fulton.

Okay. I actually would love, if this exists, just point me towards it, but after we get through this budget cycle, I would love to see sort of a multi-year trend of these different tax breakdown because that to me will sort of say, hey, this is where we're going and maybe some policies can help to support things that may be discovered from that trend. Okay.

Sure. And so when we do, so one thing we did not say, and I want to make sure we also get this on the record every year at this time, we normally do a millage rate hearing. It's advertised in the paper. We do three hearings. We give feedback. The reason we're not doing that this year is because we don't have a tax digest. We have nothing to present. But in that tax digest, it gives you a five year comparison by class and it shows you how that trend is moving forward. So when we get it, you'll be able to see that.

Oh, thank you very much.

Councilwoman Toni Wright.

Thank you, madam mayor. So, um, as you stated, um, city manager, uh, welcome all the areas, the gift that keeps on giving. Um, I just want to say thank you and general services for your efforts and trying to make sure we continue to keep the facility cool. I know we were playing bingo a couple of weekends ago. Councilman Johnson passed me his handkerchief. I was sweating. So, uh, but thank you all so much for what you're doing. But I see in the, The capital improvement plan, the $150,000 allotted, is that like for more improvements? What does that look like for 2027 since we are still continuously improving the system right now?

It's what we estimate we're going to have to put into it for more improvements. You know, we've done a lot of upgrades to the facility over time, but our experience has told us we just have to keep on improving it. A new natatorium is a $40 million at minimum. expenditure if that's something the City Council wants to do in the future. Something to talk about as we look at our capital improvement plan future focused. But for right now, it's the only pool serving 115,000 people. We just have to do what we need to to keep it going.

Thank you. All right. Is that it? I'm trying to see who's next.

I don't know if I have anything major right now. I've pretty much covered it, I think. Yeah, I don't have anything major. I've been pretty much covered before.

Councilwoman Natasha Williams-Brown.

Thank you, Mayor. So I did some quick back of the envelope math. And Going back to the slide about the signature and secondary events. So some quick back of the envelope math is if those numbers had kept up with the rate of inflation, we would be looking at about roughly a little over 24 per district. So I just wanted to put that out there as a ballpark number for what it would look like if it were, if we are going to try to catch up, because I think we've been at these numbers now for like four or five years without any increase. And as I was saying to someone earlier today, everything's expensive. Water, gas, lights, food, you step out your house, it's $100. If you've got kids, you step out your house, that's three. So I think that maybe going back in and taking a look at these, because even though I think all of our e-signature and secondary events have been the same, year over year, like we haven't added anything new. It's just getting more and more, it's just more expensive. And I'm sure that this latest announcement of tariffs on Canada is going to further exacerbate you know, just the overall economic picture for the country as a whole. And, of course, that all trickles down to the prices that we pay for the various things. And so I would like to see some consideration given to at least trying to keep up with whatever the inflation rate is today, but I know it's high. Everything high. Thank you.

All right. Wendy's taking notes.

Thank you. Thank you.

Councilwoman Rao. Thank you for recognizing me, Mayor. It occurred to me, one of the things throughout this presentation, we keep talking about T-Splice. It is very important that we have a campaign that's outward facing so people know what has been done with the T-Splice money. A lot of the things that are contingent over the next couple years from a capital improvement standpoint are contingent on them saying yes on the ballot in November. So I'm going on record and saying that. And they need to know. So I've been getting calls about, you know, subdivisions being paved and all these things. That can't happen without that T-splice. So to whatever extent we have a campaign around that, that needs to happen like start tomorrow, to be honest. I wish we would have had more signage around these facilities so they understood, but please make sure that's budgeted in there and we need to start that sooner rather than later.

Acknowledge.

There does not appear to be any further questions in the queue. Thank you so much. And we look forward to the information coming forward. Thank you. Mr. Clerk, can you please tell the next item?

It brings us to executive session if necessary.

Council, we are running 18 minutes behind schedule, 20 minutes behind schedule for our next meeting. If it's possible, can we adjourn this meeting and move into our next meeting?

If there's no objections, this motion,

to move is unanimous. We are now adjourned at 521. All right. Okay, we are opening up our next meeting. Welcome to our Alcohol License and Zoning Public Hearing for August the 25th, 2026 at 520 p.m. Mr. Clerk, please sound the next item.

I'm going to do a roll call right quick. Roll call for the alcohol zoning public hearing meeting. The Honorable Catherine F. Ryle, District 1.

Present.

The Honorable Aaron V. Johnson, District 2.

Present.

The Honorable Tony Wright, District 3.

Present.

The Honorable J.C. Sebastian, District 4. Here. The Honorable Keosha B. Bell, District 5. Present. The Honorable Natasha Williams-Brown, District 6. present the Honorable Linda Becker Pritchett district 7 here and the Honorable Mayor Carmelita gums Here madam mayor. You have a quorum.

We will now have the reading of the civility pledge by Mayor Pro Tem bail The city of South watson civility pledge the way we govern ourselves is often as important as the positions we take Our collective decisions will be better when different views have had the opportunity to be fully vetted and considered All people have the right to be treated with respect, courtesy, and openness. We value all input. We commit to conduct ourselves at all times with civility and courtesy to each other.

Thank you. Mr. Clark, please sound the next item.

Okay, that brings us to Roman numeral three alcohol license rezoning variants and modification cases for presentation and public hearing only first cases KZ 26-0 1 3 its public hearing for SD 8 central, Georgia LLC Carol battle law requesting a rezoning from AG 1 the agriculture district to CUP to develop 75 single-family detached homes on twenty five point five zero acres and at 707050 Bishop Road. It's located in City Council District 4. Staff and Planning Commission recommendation is approval conditional.

Okay, thank you. And Council, can you please make sure you switch over in your civic clerk? Mr. McClendon, good afternoon.

Thank you, Madam Mayor. Good afternoon, Mayor and Council. Reggie McClendon, Managing Director of Community Development and Regulatory Affairs. This case had its Planning Commission hearing on last week, but they are still working out some final details with the community. We would ask that this case be deferred to September the 8th.

You're asking for the case to be deferred to what date?

September the 8th.

September the 8th. Council... If there is no objection with this item being deferred to September the 8th, we will adopt that with unanimous consent. All right. That motion passes. Mr. Clerk, please sound the next item.

Brings us to letter B, KZ26-020. It's a public hearing. an ordinance by the City of South Fulton City Council to rezone a portion of plus or minus 255.35 acres, a property located at 0 Enon Road, 0 Vandiver Road Rear, 0 Merck Road Rear, from R4 to TR, from R4 and CUP to TR, and a portion from CUP to TR, from AG1 to R5 and from AG1 to R5. And then lastly, from R4 to R5 and TR. It's located in City Council District 2. And this is council initiated.

Okay. Mr. McClendon, do you or city attorney?

Someone. Please share. So I don't mind making a very brief statement. This is a city-initiated rezoning as a result of ongoing litigation that the council gave consensus to settle. So this is part of the settlement agreement regarding the Van Diver litigation. So this is the public hearing regarding that. You all have received extensive information on this as it's an ongoing litigation in executive session. So we are required to do the public hearing portion as the city-initiated rezoning.

Thank you. Mr. Clerk, do we have any public comments?

Yes, we do have one card that was received, Tanya Anderson.

Okay. Well, let me open up the public hearing. At this time, is the applicant here? No? Okay, because it's litigation. Okay, at this time, I'm opening a public hearing for item 3B on the agenda. You have a total of 10 minutes to give your presentation or comment. You do not have to use all of that time. You may want to reserve that time. Also keep in mind that the time allotted includes comments for any of the citizens who are also in favor. The same time is granted to those that are also in opposition.

All right, Ms. Anderson, can you come

Good afternoon. I'm Tanya Anderson, a resident of District 2. Based on what you just said, Attorney Kelly, this seems like it's about what's already under construction at the corner of Camp Creek and Enon. No? It's something different. Okay. What part of Enon is it?

Vandiver Lakes area.

Okay. All right. And then the Merck Road, what part of Merck Road is it?

It's right around all of that, that Vandiver links work. Okay. Okay. Camp Creek Parkway.

Okay. So my comment would be, what are we going to do about traffic? I don't have to go that way much during like the real rush hour traffic, but I've heard neighbors complaining about it. So how many townhomes is it going to be? Are we going to do some traffic improvements before building all these townhomes? Just kind of, JUST SOME INSIGHT INTO THAT IS WHAT I'D LIKE TO HAVE GIVEN WHERE IT'S GOING TO BE NOW.

So thank you so much for your inquiry. I will say usually this portion of public comment is more so for commentary as opposed to a back and forth as far as an inquisition and an answer. There is a part of the traffic improvement that is a part of this plan. This was something that was well thought out not just by our staff but also by Councilman Johnson as well considering that. So he put a lot of thought into it and we have a lot of thought and plans specific around traffic improvement.

Okay, okay. Yeah, I understand what public comment was for, but the way it's written on the agenda, it was hard to tell where it was going to be. So as a resident of District 2, further, you know, the other direction from this, I just wanted to make sure it wasn't encroaching on where I live yet. Thank you. Thank you. Mr. Clark, do we have any more?

I did receive a couple of forms earlier. I don't know if they're present, but either Jazz Thomas-Jones or Amira Johnson. Are any of those people present? I do not see them. So that completes, uh, the public comment for this item.

All right. At this time we will close public, uh, the public hearing. And if there are comments from the district representative district to councilman Johnson.

Thank you, madam mayor. Um, as the city attorney mentioned, I think I had been here, what, two weeks before this first came up. I've been sworn in for two weeks and got called into a meeting about this. This is actually a plan to, and I don't want to say anything that crosses the line of litigation, but to help reduce the footprint that they're looking to, that they feel like they're entitled to.

Yeah. Don't say that.

So don't say that out loud. So I'll just say I'll talk to you. I see three people that are here for it, but we can talk about it. But it is a plan to make it more conducive for the community.

And I will say, as the previous representative for District two, it we worked extremely hard to make sure that it would not fully impact the residents. There is a lot of history to it. Um, so again, it was bell thought out and this litigation has lasted, I think almost four years, three to four years. So we are ready to bring this to a close. Councilwoman Rao.

Um, this is just clarification. Um, and this is for, um, Mr. McClendon. Are, are any of these parcels in district one? One.

So while he's coming, there is a very small triangular parcel that is just across Camp Creek Parkway in District 1. You also gave your feedback on what should go there, and we have incorporated that in this as well.

Then the reason I asked, we talked about office, and I just didn't see it on here.

So I'll defer that answer to the very business-friendly CDRE director, Reginald McClendon.

Thank you. That is correct, and I believe that is still being contemplated. While this item is on for a second read tonight, I think the plan is to defer that final adoption until the next council meeting so that we can ensure that we have worked through all of those items.

And to piggyback on that, Councilwoman, part of the reason why we're deferring that is because of the legal descriptions, including that parcel as well. We want to make sure that that is accurate moving forward to make sure it fully encapsulates everything that the council wanted.

It doesn't look like there's any further questions. Mr. Clerk, please sound the next item.

There are no proclamation presentations this afternoon, so that brings us to executive session if necessary.

All right. Counsel, I do believe we need an executive session. It is necessary. If there are no objections, we will adjourn to go into executive session for real estate, cybersecurity, litigation, and what's the last one?

Personnel. No objections?

All right, we are now recessed for executive session. Mr. Clerk, can we reconvene? If there's no objections, council, if there's no objections, can we reconvene? Mr. Clerk, were there any actions taken in executive session?

Yes, ma'am. There was an action taken in executive session that requires a public vote, and that is an item of requesting council approval of the non-binding memorandum of understanding for the Westwood proposed convention center development.

Okay. And we will be adding that item to the regular council meeting agenda. All right. If there are no objections, that is the only item that was taken in executive session. If there are no objections, we will adjourn the alcohol license and zoning and begin to open up the regular council meeting.

Thank you for joining us live for the City of South Fulton City Council meeting. We are proud to introduce the leadership entrusted with guiding our city forward. Mayor Carmelitha Gumbs. District 1 Councilwoman, Dr. Katherine Rouse. District 2 Councilman, Erin V. Johnson. District 3 Councilwoman, Latonya Toni Wright. District 4 Councilman, Jaycee Sebastian. District 5 Councilwoman and Mayor Pro Tem, Keosha B. Bell. District 6 Councilwoman, Natasha Williams Brown. District 7 Councilwoman Linda Becker Pritchett. Supporting the work of this body and the operations of our city are City Clerk Corey Adams, City Manager Sharon D. Subedan, and Interim City Attorney Sarah Kelly. Thank you for being the best part of the City of South Fulton, a city on the rise.

Okay, welcome everyone to our City Council regular meeting for August the 25th, 2026 at 7.04 p.m. At this time, I will ask Councilman Johnson to read the Civility Pledge.

City of South Fulton Civility Pledge. The way we govern ourselves is often as important as the positions we take. Our collective decisions will be better when differing views have had the opportunity to be fully vetted and considered. All people have the right to be treated with respect, courtesy, and openness. We value all input. We commit to conduct ourselves at all times with civility and courtesy to each other.

Thank you. Mr. Clark, please sound the roll.

Roll calls for tonight. Regular meeting. City of South Fulton City Council. The Honorable Catherine F. Ryle, District 1.

Present.

The Honorable Aaron V. Johnson, District 2. Present. The Honorable Latonya Toni Wright, District 3. Present. The Honorable J.C. Sebastian, District 4.

Here.

The Honorable Keosha B. Bell, District 5.

Present.

The Honorable Natasha Williams Brown, District 6.

Present.

The Honorable Linda Becker Pritchett, District 7. Here. And the Honorable Mayor Carmelita Gumbs.

Here.

Madam Mayor, you have a quorum.

Thank you, Mr. Clerk. Can you please sound the next item?

Next item is invocation by our city chaplains.

Testing 1-2. Good evening. If everyone could stand for our invocation tonight. I greet you on behalf of our Chaplaincy Corps for the City of South Fulton. My name is Chaplain Ed Long. Spirit of the Most High God, rest, rule, and reign in this council meeting tonight. Let us function in empathy and not apathy. Let us collaborate and not separate. Let us invigorate not agitate. Let our words be sweet as honor, preserving dignity, honor, respect like salt. Keep our focus on the overall well being of everyone in this city while we're also being concerned about every individual needs of each resident. Let us judge ourselves before judging others. as we speak wisdom to Carmelita Gumbs, health to the Foster Rawwell household, joy to the Johnson residents, peace to the Wright family, favor to the Sebastian lineage, and reconciliation to the Bell bloodline. and restoration to the Becker Pritchard heritage. And to all who are gathered in these quarters, we declare that we will return home to houses that are better than we left them and to a city that is on the perpetual rise. These are the blessings we ask and declare in the name of Yeshua. Hallelujah. God bless you.

All right. Thank you for that invocation. Even though we missed one council member, council member Natasha Williams-Brown, you get it all. You get it all.

So thank you. I already got my blessing out front. I was told to keep my spirit clean, and I received that. Amen.

All right. So Mr. Clerk, can you please sound the next item?

Yes, ma'am. That brings us to Roman numeral five, which is adoption of the council agenda. I have listed the items for you, um, on your agenda. They are quest council approval of the following events, airport centennial celebration festival, September 10th, 2026, 3 PM to 9 PM at Wolf Creek amphitheater added by the mayor. You have the district seven block party, August 29th, 2026 Creole park, District 5 canvas and courts co-sponsored by councilwoman councilwoman, right? Friday September 11 2026 6 to 9 at South Fulton Tennis Center and then the district 2 acts Aaron community engagement series at Clifton Dale Park From 6 p.m. To 7 30 p.m. On September 15th, August October 1st, October 8th October 14th and October 15th And then the item from the executive session, the request approval of the non-binding memorandum of understanding for the Westwood proposed convention center development.

Are there any additional changes? Yes. Okay, just one moment. Was that Councilwoman Pritchett? Okay, Councilwoman Pritchett.

Yes, so I just wanted to make a clarification on that event that was placed. It is not a District 7 exclusive event. I believe that Councilwoman Williams-Brown is also one of the hosts. So that's up to her how she wants that listed. But I just wanted to make that clarification.

Okay. Thank you. I believe Councilwoman Natasha Williams-Brown.

Yes, thank you, Mayor. On the consent agenda, item B2, request council approval of professional service agreement between Paramount and the City of South Fulton. I would like to pull that off of the agenda and move to table it until September 22nd. Okay. Or hold it until the September 22nd meeting.

Okay. Thank you. Any additional changes?

Yes, ma'am. Council Member Sebastian wishes to add a approval of a final plat for Le Chateau Estates in District 4. That's it.

Okay. And City Attorneys?

Yes, ma'am. I would like to remove item 9A. That was on for the public hearing. It's not quite ready for a vote from the council. There's still some changes we need to make to the verbiage of the ordinance. Okay.

Council is asking for a clarification for Councilman Sebastian's item. The plat. That's a walk-on.

you want to all right so the shadow estate is a community in district 4 just off Rivertown Road and Cedar Grove Road and this has been an ongoing development 23 homes and the last major hurdle that we had to undertake was with the Board of Health there are All of the paperwork are sitting inside the office here at City Hall and will be submitted to the clerk's office tomorrow. Normally when these projects reach this stage, they're on the consent agenda. But if anyone has any specific questions about it, I'm open to it. But that's it.

All right. Councilwoman Rao. I just want the record to reflect. I did do a food distribution, and since it wasn't prior approved, it was not advertised to be consistent with the rule, but I did do a food distribution for Anthem 1, 2, and 3 on Monday. And so I just wanted the record to reflect.

Okay. Mr. Clerk, can you make sure that record reflects? Are those all the changes? If we are all okay with the changes and there's no objection, we can adopt this with gross unanimous consent. All right. Mr. Clark, please sound the next item.

Next item is Roman numeral six approval of city council meeting minutes, uh, request council approval of regular meeting minutes, August 11th, 2026 work session minutes, August 11th, 2026 alcohol zoning, public hearing minutes, August 11th, 2026 and emergency special call meeting minutes from August 18th, 2026 council.

You have heard the items as sounded. If there are no corrections to the minutes, we can adopt this with gross unanimous consent. Mr. Clerk, please sound the next item.

CHRIS RODGERS. It brings us to Roman numeral 7, consent agenda, items A through D, and removal of B2 from the agenda until September 22nd. CHRISTIE WOOD.

Council, if there's no objections with the amended changes, we can adopt this with unanimous consent. Mr. Clerk, please sound the next item.

BRINGS US TO ROMA NUMBER 8, THAT'S THE FY2027 PROPOSED BUDGET PUBLIC HEARING NUMBER 1.

ALL RIGHT. I WILL NOW OPEN PUBLIC HEARING. ARE WE READY? DO WE HAVE ANY SPEAKERS FOR PUBLIC HEARING? FOR THE BUDGET.

I DON'T SHOW WHERE ANYONE LISTED SPECIFICALLY PUBLIC BUDGET ON HERE. to generally open it up to anyone in the audience to speak would be appropriate.

Do we have any speakers that are interested in speaking on the budget? All right. Well, let me open up the public hearing really quick and then close it. All right. Speakers will be granted a total of two minutes each and public comments will not exceed 30 minutes. Speakers will not be allowed to yield or donate their time to other speakers. Speakers must identify themselves and their addresses prior to speaking, and speakers may only address the presiding officer and shall observe all rooms of decorum. No debate, disrespect, or obscenities shall be tolerated. The presiding officer shall rule in any such individual out of order who fails to comply with the foregoing. Public hearing is now open. One last call for comments for the fiscal year 2027 budget. No comments. At this point in time, we will close public hearing. Mr. Clerk, please sound the next item.

Item 9A, under alcohol license rezoning variants and modification cases for motion to vote. Letter A was removed from the agenda. Letter B is request council approval of a zoning resolution U26-006, an application by David Renfro requesting a special use permit to allow a farmer's market in AG1 zoning district on 6.1 acres at 4269 Stonewall Till Road located in City Council District 3. Staff recommendation and planning commission recommendation is approval.

Okay, Council, you all have had the opportunity to review the agenda, and if there are no objections to any of the items that are listed individually, we can adopt this with gross unanimous consent. Looks like we are all in agreeance. Mr. Clerk, please sound the next item.

Okay, that's items A through F approved. So that brings us to Roman numeral 10 on their public comments. Comments regarding zoning cases will not be allowed. Speakers will be granted a total of two minutes each and public comments will not exceed 30 minutes. Speakers will not be allowed to yield or donate their time to other speakers. Speakers must identify themselves and their address prior to speaking speakers may only Address the presiding officer shall observe all rules of decorum. No debate disrespect or obscenities shall be tolerated The presiding officer shall rule any such individual out of order that fails to comply with the foregoing with those rooms right into the record we do have a number of People who have signed up to speak this evening. You will have two minutes. Please approach the center microphone and state your name and address and Please proceed in this order Jewel Johnson Sharon Brown, Mike Johnson, Demita Chapman, Dr. Jazz Thomas Jones. Please come in that order, please.

I want to make sure I'm heard. Again, good afternoon, Mayor and Council. My name is Jewel Johnson. I reside at 4660 Orkney Lane in the city of South Fulton. I'm here tonight because I want the record to reflect that the stakeholders of the city of South Fulton has sent three emails for a meeting with mayor and council, city manager, and chief financial officer. This meeting is to talk and collaborate about certain things, issues such as impact fees and et cetera. As of this date, we have not heard anything from you. And I would like very much for you to respond, whether it's positive, whether it's up or down. We want a relationship where we can actually talk to you, to share with you, so we can collaborate and grow together. We're not asking for this meat to bat you across the head, tell you what you're doing wrong. That is not why we want to talk with you. We want to move this city forward, not backwards. So I'm definitely looking for a response from you, and it doesn't really matter what you decide. I just want to hear from you because that gives the stakeholders an opportunity to move in a direction that they can possibly move possibly to help their city. Thank you very much.

Mr. Johnson? Mike Johnson, District 4, Cameron and Fathom Road. I know we've been on our best behavior right now while we try to search for a permanent police chief to come to our city. But, you know, quite a few officers here within the city, they're wondering how can we possibly move forward with some of the deep-rooted corruption. So I'm going to start with you, Sharon D. Subedan. I want to be direct. Uh, Keith Meadows, you know, he was allowed to, he was allowed to, uh, are we supposed to be directing?

Mr. Clerk, can you stop the time? Are we supposed to be directing comments at staff?

No, I think it's supposed to be directed to the chair and the board as a, as a whole.

Could I get those five seconds back? Would you interrupt it, please?

Please keep your comments to the council. Thank you.

Got to get those five seconds back. Did she interrupt it? Uh, so, We'll keep it like that. But as I was saying, this particular council, we got a mayor here and we got a city manager here who I think has personally participated in the corruption of the former chief here at this particular police department. Each major was shuffled around and moved and reassigned once we got an interim police chief here now. each major were reassigned except for one, and that's Juba Rogers. How is it that that one particular major name that's involved with each and almost every lawsuit here is still able to serve as the major over FOD, that's the field operation division, and not be shuffled as if the other officer was shuffled? Now, I know I spoke here a while back that The fix was in to try to get rid of the deputy chief, Eddie Smith. Now, if that guy's in that spot to fill that spot, and we got a new chief trying to come in, is this new chief going to be handcuffed to where she can't manage her department without Keith Meadows still calling this particular city manager and this mayor on a daily basis controlling what goes on in our city? And... It's hard to trust this mayor right now. You lied to us about this so-called emergency trip that you called, this emergency meeting, but you booked the flight on July 1st. You knew good and well you were taking that flight on July 1st, four to seven days prior to you calling that emergency meeting. How can we trust you? If you lie about something as simple as that, you'll lie about anything. Thank you.

Let's see, Ms. Chapman. Mr. Media Chapman?

Good evening. My name is Tamita Chairman. I reside at 7303 Simon Street, Atlanta, Georgia, 30349. I want to say thank you, Council. Thank you, Mayor. And I want to say, because this is the first time I saw her since she's been on Council, I call her Little Thunder. Congratulations, Little Thunder. I'm not here on city business. I'm on here. I'm here because I was given an assignment. And when the train left Friday night, Saturday for day this morning, I wanted to get off the train, but God said, that's your assignment. I want to thank the mayor. And if you don't mind, look at me, cause I want to make sure we hear each other. I want to thank you mayor for, or trying to put William Bill Edwards' name on Southwest Arts Center. That's good. But Bill Edwards has been awesome. And I don't believe that his name should go on the Southwest Arts Center. I believe his name should go on the first city hall that we get. I know people might be in a disagreement with me, and this is what I made. for that. It's just a mock-up. Because like I say, I'm on an assignment. And when God gave me this assignment, he said I was going to be crucified. But that's okay. That's okay. And so I'm going to be doing something tonight, and I'm not going to be talking about the man. I'm going to talk about a man tonight at 830. And so I'm asking you guys to just search your hearts and think of that. Give this man his flowers now. I don't believe in waiting for anybody, not even me, to lay down before altar and you tell me you love me. Tell me you love me now. And if you hate me, tell me that too. But this is what I'm going to leave with you guys. And I'm going to tell you, this morning was rough, but I want to thank somebody for taking my call. And I'm going to leave this with you, Joshua 1-9. Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid. Do not be discouraged. For the Lord your God will be with you forever. Thank you guys so much. And I'm going to tip on up out of here. Good night. Thank you.

Next speaker, Shafar Brown, Dr. Jazz Thomas-Jones, Amiria Johnson. I see Dr. Jazz.

Oh, sorry. I'm Shavar Brown, 7624 Bird's View Drive, Fairburn, Georgia, District 4. I didn't know if I was supposed to speak. I'm here for the vote.

Is your mic on?

Yeah. OK. Can you hear me now? Shavar Brown, 7624 Bird's View Drive, Fairburn, Georgia. I was here regarding the vote of 51-20 Cascade-Palmetto Road. I didn't know if I was supposed to speak again or else I just signed up.

But, um, appreciate, um, excuse me, mayor, if this is a zoning issue, then he would not be able to speak during public comment.

I was, I didn't, I didn't know if I was supposed to, I just filled out the papers.

Okay.

Thank you. I'm sorry.

Hello. Hello. I'm Dr. Jazz Thomas Jones, and I live at this lakes of Cedar Grove. I've been in the community since 1991 today. I am here. to ask the honorable mayor and council to not agree with the tree ordinance that is on the table tonight. My main concern is that the tree ordinance is being analyzed and criticized and wanting to be done because of data centers that are on the way. And I oppose data centers and I oppose destroying our natural resources. When it comes to our trees, airs, and water, you guys are the ones that should be preserving the quality of life here in the city of South Fulton. I ask you tonight to really search your heart before you approve cutting down any more trees in our beautiful city that we all so love. It has been months that I have watched unnecessary development in District 4. This has got to stop. Now you're considering building a senior unit next to the garbage Landfill. Come on, guys. How can you approve such developments in our community? I think that we need to take another read and reconsider what we are doing to this great city. You guys are destroying our city with unnecessary developments.

We don't need all these little bitty houses.

We sure don't. And we definitely don't need data centers. Send that money to the white side of Fulton County.

Thank you. Mr. Clerk, do we have any more speakers?

Amiria Johnson, is she present? No, ma'am. That completes the speakers for public comment.

All right. Thank you, everyone, for your public comments. We will now, Mr. Clark, please sound the next item.

Next item is council comments.

All right. Council, y'all ready to give y'all glorifying comments?

We're going to start with District 1. Thank you, Mayor. A couple announcements. I want you to know that we have a couple businesses in District 1 with upcoming events. Simply Bear is hosting the Sip and Serve Education Edition on Thursday, August 27th from 6 to 8. We encourage you to come out, support this business. They've been there a couple years, but we want to attract some more activity to that business. That's in Suite 114. For those who get my newsletter, I did send that out this week. We also have Xfinity store opening on August 28th from 12 to 2 at 3752 Cascade Road. Join them as they celebrate becoming part of the neighborhood and connect with the community and showcase all the offers they have for new customers. In addition, if you haven't had an opportunity to do so, the Atlanta Quilt Festival is in full effect. It's so large this year that it's actually at three locations. It's out at the Southwest Arts Center. It's in the studio building and at the Cascade Library. It's some awesome quilts. Please take advantage. It's Monday through Saturday from 9 to 5 p.m. And that runs through September 5th. Hard to Home Gifts ATL, which is in the Sandtown Crossing Plaza. They have an Oh So Delish ATL. They're hosting a social shopping event that will be on August 29th from 1 to 5 p.m. at 5829 Camelton Road Suite. I also want to send out a congratulations to John Ferguson. He's the new proprietor for Chick-fil-A Cascade. He just celebrated his one-year anniversary. Congratulations to him. and we'll continue to see him experience success in our community. And last but not least, I want to remind District 1 and 2 residents that the week of September 7th through the 11th is Bulk Trash Day. If you don't know, this is an opportunity for you to use your existing trash service to schedule, if you use the link, to have curbside bulk pickup at your home. So take advantage of that. It's included in your residential trash collection. If you're not doing it, take advantage of it. So that basically concludes my comments.

Got a lot of stuff going on in District 1. District 2.

Thank you, Madam Mayor. Thank you, Madam Mayor. First, I want to commend Madam City Manager and Madam CFO, I think she's left. But they did a great. She's still over there? Oh, I see her in the back. She's trying to hide. Great presentation on the budget. I had a chance to go out and visit. And you all did an amazing job of letting the residents know. Residents got an opportunity to talk to you and understand the budget and some things that the city is looking forward to doing in the future and some progress that we're making as a city. I also want to say congratulations to State Representative Roger Bruce, State Representative Emeritus Roger Bruce, who had an intersection at FIB in Camp Creek. It was a state naming, just for the record. We didn't do it. It was a state naming. But Roger Bruce has done a lot for our community. He's done a tremendous amount of work in helping build up the city. So we always, it was mentioned earlier, honor me while I'm alive and give me my flowers now. And we did that for Roger Bruce then. I want to say congratulations to James Hammond and Icon Films for celebrating 20 years in business. This is a South Fulton business that not only does film and recordings, but he also used to be the very first communications person for the city of South Fulton. He was the first right city of South Fulton. And I used to bring you the broadcast, the live broadcast for the city. He continuously does that for other cities and he does all types of other, um, filming and cinematography, so we want to congratulate him for 20 years. Now, I am overly excited. We already voted on it, so I can talk about it now. I am excited to talk about our Ask Aaron series. We did a town hall a few months back, and it was a pretty good-sized town hall. We had a lot of departments. We had a good amount of staff there. But one thing people talked about, they didn't get an opportunity to ask some of the questions that they wanted to ask and they wanted to do it. in a smaller environment. So we're going to do a series of, um, ask errands. You can come in, you can come to all five, you can come to one, uh, talk about various things that are going on with the city. We'll of course talk about the budget, but each meeting we will have a very specific, uh, one quick topic and then we'll move forward. We're going to have public works out. Uh, the fire department Fulton County government is going to come and talk about the new Senior facility that they're going to put over on Stonewall tail Road Code enforcement is going to come out the one and parks and rec is coming So those dates will be September 15th, October 1st, October 8th, October 14th and October 15th, all at the Clifton Dale community club center at from 6 PM to 7 30 PM. So we look forward to, uh, having the community come out and just have a dialogue about what's going on in the city. That's it. Madam mayor.

Thank you. Did you tell him about your dog blessing event?

I did not. I was going to do that closer, but we can talk about that now. I'm glad you brought it up. On October the 10th, Jesus, let that be the date. It's October the 10th. We are hosting a dog blessing event. Now, I would readily admit I had never heard of this, but apparently it is a very big thing. It is an event where, if you recall, the monks that walked across America, they're coming back. to, they're coming to South Fulton. And they're going to host an event with, where there'll be a blessing of dogs. Families will be able to come out, bring their pets. It'll be quite a few different activities going on around pets. It'll be at the dog park, which is at Clifton Dale Park as well. It'll be some training. They'll have some other vendors out. So it'll be a great opportunity for you to bring your family out, bring your dogs out, and come enjoy a great afternoon.

Thank you. All right. Councilwoman Wright, I know you're not feeling well today, but give them your best.

Thank you, Madam Mayor. I was looking at the dog blessing event. Everyone that knows, I'm going to have to bring my baby Sydney to that dog blessing event. And Mayor Pro Tem and Councilwoman Robb hear me talk about my babysitting all the time. But I just want to say it's been a great time in District 3. On August the 17th, I had the joy of going to Salome International Day, the Crossfire Movement. They have a learning pod. that offers after school tutoring for the youth that live in Freedom Park. So I was able to visit them on last Monday for the opening of the learning pod. It was great just listening to the young people talk about the different things in the community and what they want to see happening in their community. So that was a joy to be with them. And on that Friday, I was able to attend the groundbreaking ceremony of the New League the new construction of the Camp Creek Middle School, which is a feeder school of Seaborn Lee Elementary School, the school right in District 3. I was fortunate to have Mayor Pro Tem and Councilman Aaron Johnson. We were in attendance representing for the council for that groundbreaking for the new Camp Creek Middle School that is scheduled to open up. in the near future. I also want to thank everyone who attended the inaugural event of Tea with Tony. We had that at Clifton Dale Community Center on last Thursday. It was so fun. Like, if you know me, I'm a proactive person, not a reactive person, so we had laughs. We had tea, and our very own city manager, Sheriff Subbanan, presented the different things that we have going on in the city and particularly within district three, the things that are happening and the things to come. So thank you all for coming. It wasn't just District 3 residents. I have to give a special shout-out to District 1's very own Jewel Johnson. She's looking at me smiling. She was there for Tiwatoni, and we had a great time, a lot of information. And the thing about Tiwatoni is we travel throughout the district. I have a lot of different subdivisions and HOAs that are reaching out wanting us to come to their communities to actually have those one-on-one proactive conversations. So be on the lookout for your subdivision to be up next in September for Tea with Tony. And last but certainly not least, on Sunday, the Gunner food giveaway, the Gunner event was at Welcome All Park on Sunday. It was 750-plus children and family members that came out to welcome all part and that benefited from this great event, from tennis, basketball, track, football. They had dentists, physicians on site. They had food giveaways, shoes, clothing, you name it, it was there. And it was an overall positive event, a big event for our community because Gunna is from the city of South Fulton. And you heard Mayor Portillo say District 5. But, yes, it was good. That's one of the things I love about our city. We were able to come together to support one another in these great events. So just stay on the lookout for more news to come. And that's all I have, Madam Mayor.

Thank you so much. District 4.

Thank you, Madam Mayor. Just a couple of short things before I make a comment. This coming Thursday at the village shops at Cedar Grove, we have Our community market, it's our youth market edition. And I hear there's supposed to be a takeover, but I'm hoping that Twin don't come and shut it down. But yeah, we are designing this month's market to focus on the youth. So we have a lot of partners that are going to be there. The schools, we have our police department, FIRE DEPARTMENT, WE'RE GOING TO HAVE THE SHERIFF'S OFFICE, AND I'LL ASK THEM TO BRING OUT THEIR RECRUITING TEAMS. YES, WE'RE GOING TO HAVE FARMERS. YES, WE'RE GOING TO HAVE OTHER PRODUCING ARTS AND CRAFTS AND MUSIC AND FOOD AND FOOD TRUCKS. SO IT'S SETTING UP TO BE AN AWESOME TIME. WE EVEN HAVE SOME OF THE SPORTS TEAMS FROM AROUND THE DISTRICT AND FROM AROUND THE CITY, AND YES, PARKS AND REC'S ALSO GOING TO BE THERE. And also, we're going to have some of the suppliers of services around autism. They're all going to be there. So we're going to have lots of services, activities, and products for young people this Thursday. The village shops at Cedar Grove at South Fulton Parkway and Cedar Grove Road. And we get started about 4 o'clock. Rain or shine, we'll be there on the green. And the next thing I want to put on your radar on September 19th this year is going to be our third international festival at Wilkinson Mill Park. We'll get started until about 2 o'clock until around 7, 8 p.m. in the night. It's an international festival. It's not just Caribbean. It's for everybody, including the U.S. And so I encourage folks to come out and participate in that. Again, it promises to be a grand time. And if you come by there and you want to do some exploration with some food, come to my tent and see if I can point you in the right direction. Let me just add this in closing. District four is the largest geographic district in the city of Salford. We have a lot of communities that have been zoned for some, some of them for decades. Yes, building is happening out here in District 4 because people are now coming and saying there's a shortage of homes. I need to build my community that I've planned for 20 years or more. Doesn't mean that this government has approved all those buildings. They were here before the government existed. Final thing that I'm going to add is this. Information and education is important. I keep saying this. We don't do these town halls and have these meetings because we want to stand and talk. We do it because we value pushing information out to you, the public, so that you get a better understanding. I just heard this comment from one of the District 4 residents about data centers. We are not changing our tree ordinance for data centers. There are no industrial parcels. Let me repeat that again. There are no industrial parcels in District 4 of the city of South Fulton. If there are, they're across Highway 29, where we have a little parcel uh, in an industrial zone. There's no data centers that are planned for district four. We are not changing the tree ordinance because of data centers. We had a town hall meeting. Thank you Madam Mayor. And so I, I beg people, to come out when we have these meetings, ask all your questions. Do not get involved in the miseducation of our citizens, because that is what a lot of people appear to be doing, to miseducate people. Because it sounds good and it sounds popular, but that doesn't mean it's correct. All right? So come to the meetings. Engage. People have our cell phone numbers and can call us anytime if you have a question. Do not get involved in the miseducation of our citizens. Thank you.

All right. We are moving on to District 5.

Good evening, everyone. Good evening, residents. I just want to take a moment to thank everyone that came out for our second annual lock-in with Dream Big's lock-in that we had 24 hours with 22 girls. We survived. But nevertheless, we had a great time. We had a lot of activities from going out and doing organized sports. We took them to bowling. And so they had some challenges on the bowling without the gutters. But nevertheless, we had a great time. We even had a sister circle, which was called Bunnets and Bunding. And so it gave all of us the opportunity to kind of sit down with our youth and our young women and encourage them, motivate them, talk to them about affirmations, but also talk to them about themselves and growth and what it looks like to become a woman. I do want to take a moment to thank our city of South Fulton Police Department. Ironically, both of the officers, Officer Baker and Officer Wyatt, they were two of our chaperones all night long with these ladies. who love to dance. We had our showcase. They got up, they danced. We had a really good time. We did facials, made bracelets, paint. We stayed up all night. So kudos to you ladies. I know it was, um, fun, but also we appreciate you for being there and supporting and giving us a sense of safety. So we were all safe. So thank you. I also want to take a moment to thank some of our volunteers that came out from our college students that are right here within our city. from Paige Rao and as well as Paris, our college students who have grown up and continue to come back and service and pour out into these young ladies. We also have the Zoe Project, which is a nonprofit organization, Pastor Watley, Parks and Recreation staff, you name it. And to the parents and to attendees, thank you for allowing, for trusting us to, watch over your girls for 24 hours. It was very adventurous and engaging. And so it's always a blessing to pour back out to our youth and young adults. So thank you so much for those that continue to attend. This is our second year, and we're looking forward to our next year event. Um, I want to also thank the community for coming out last Thursday as we did the grand reopening of the 30 year grown folks cafe. And so if you have been there in the last month or so, you've seen the major improvements and reinvestment and revitalization that they're doing right along the old national corridor. So thank you. We had a lot of residents. I see, I saw a lot of residents, constituent services representatives that came out last week as we celebrated a 30-year business that we call Legacy right here in the city of South Fulton. In addition to that, I know that right now people are dealing with different things all around our world and all around our city, but if you are looking for employment opportunities on Friday the 28th, from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. at the Atlanta City Hall. Urban League of Greater Atlanta, alongside with Atlanta WorkSource, will be hosting a career and resource fair on Friday, August the 28th, from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. I will be sending that information out, but if you are connected on our social media council page, then that information was posted some time ago. So if you know someone that is looking for employment, need resources, this is the time for you to come out right before the holidays as many people are getting ready to start their seasonal employment. If you are interested in any additional career or job opportunities, we're doing a big career fair with the Walmart Distribution Center. So if you're interested, you can see my constituent services. He's in the back. Um, to get more information about that, but we will be hosting and helping to host a large, I think they're looking for over 1500 people for the Walmart distribution center right here in the city of South Fulton. Um, if you're not receiving our newsletter, please feel free to send our office an email. They can contact Phillip Whatley, which is my constituent services representative, one of the hardest working men in the city. In addition to that, we can get you signed up for our newsletter so that you stay engaged. And then as you are aware, we have the Workforce Academy. We are gearing up and we're actually in the process right now with Parks and Recreation of registering. Registration is underway for our newest program, which is called the Fresh Kicks Academy. So this particular program is for our youth ages 5 to 17. We're starting early. We're training up a child in the way they should go. And so they will be able to come out and become their own entrepreneur as they take this program. They will learn digital design, AI, as well as building and creating their own sneakers. So before they leave from our program, they will be successfully their own entrepreneur at ages 5 and 17. And then last but not least, a dear friend of mine passed away on Thursday, unexpected. She was formerly a resident and a big supporter in the city of South Fulton. even before I became an elected official. So just want to take a moment to highlight and send prayers to the family of Wondrea Gilmore. She traveled and then came back. And unfortunately, she was not survived or did not survive her sickness from being out of the country. So nevertheless, she is 37 years old. And so we just want to make sure that we keep the family friends in the circles and in her prayers. And that's all I have. Thank you.

Thank you. Sorry for your loss. Uh, council woman, Natasha was brown district six.

Yes. Thank you, mayor. Um, I don't know why I took those off cause I can't see. Um, as always, starting with a thank you to all of the residents and the volunteers, who came out Saturday to man the monthly food drive at Creel Park in partnership with the Atlanta Community Food Bank. As you know, each and every month the lines get longer and the needs get greater. And we are greatly appreciative. of all the residents who show up each and every month to help their neighbors and help the community, you know, get through another 30 days. You know, we are blessed to be a blessing, and I have got some great volunteers that take the work very seriously and, you know, come and give of themselves selflessly every fourth Saturday. As well, we want to remind seniors in South Fulton, if you have not yet filled out an application for the minor, and I want to stress minor, home repair program being offered by Facts to Thrive, please do fill that paperwork out. Even if we cannot get to you this year we use that data and we use those numbers in the funding request for each and every year. And so our ability to increase the funding hinges on being able to demonstrate the need. So please do fill the form out. Even if we can't get to you this year we are advocating for funding each and every year to get the increases so that we can work with Facts to Thrive in partnership to provide this opportunity to our seniors. As well, please don't forget to register for the Wellness 5K in partnership with Shock Fitness on September 26th. This is one of the businesses. It's actually located in District 7, but Clarice serves the city of South Fulton well, and we want to ensure that we show up to support her business, to support shop fitness, but most importantly to tend to our own health and well-being and make sure that we are ourselves practicing healthy habits. That same day we will also be having the monthly food drive because that is the fourth Saturday. If you are so moved to come and lend your hand to the work and help the community and help our neighbors with food insecurity, we are at Creel Park. The Atlantic Community Food Bank truck arrives at 8 a.m. and we start distributing the food at 10 a.m. Please do join us in this effort. As well, I want to thank Phyllis Venter, Empire Realty, Reverend Hadari Williams, and all of the partners that put on the Home Buying and Foreclosure Prevention Seminar at New Life Presbyterian Church this past Saturday. There was a lot of great information. They had Chase Bank and several other financial institutions that were there with money in hand to help first-time homebuyers. I believe Chase was... assisting with $5,000 cash on the spot for home buyers, first time home buyers interested in getting into a house. And so deeply appreciative to everyone that made that happen. For all that we can do in terms of making policy as a council, it's these types of programs that help to build community and help to build the city of South Fulton. Think wait a minute. Let me check and make sure that I got it all because y'all know I have Oh September 7th I'm gonna look at our at our assistant city manager finally referred to as big coop September 12th Recycle and shred at Creole Park. Okay, September 12th recycle and shred at Creole Park. I believe that starts at 9 9 a.m. To 12 noon Please bring All of the papers that you've been collecting up that need to be shredded, please bring them to Creel Park September 12th for Shred Day. And tentatively, keep an eye on the newsletter, but right now we are planning on cutting the ribbon on the new playground equipment at Creel Park. I know there's still work to do, but we're making progress, y'all. So tentatively pencil in September 11th pending confirmation of a couple other things that we need to get in place, but do want to put that on everybody's radar that that is coming up in the month of September as well. And because I have CRS, this is the part where I look in the back, to the true hardest working man in municipal government. Y'all, he's the energizer buddy. And ask, did I get everything? I did not. This is why I have to ask.

It's your birthday.

Her birthday is Thursday, but we will celebrate every day she's a Virgo. That is right. My birthday is Thursday. I'm getting on a cruise ship Friday. Please try not to burn the city down before I get back. Virgo season, come on. You know, Virgos rock.

Councilman Sebastian wants to sing to you.

So with that being said, I've been assured that I have gotten it all. Okay, so do you want him to sing or no? No, well, look, before we do anything else, these have been your what? Church announcements for the week, and we're going to all do what? Govern ourselves accordingly. Whatever happens next is not an act.

Whatever happens next is on everybody else. We're going to skip the birthday serenade, but happy birthday, and I hope you enjoy your vacation. All right, District 7.

Thank you, Mayor. Well, not last weekend, but the weekend before that, we hosted an HOA town hall meeting where we explained the new HOA law and what people have to look forward to coming next. And this was in coordination with the Georgia HOA Alliance. Carell Driscoll came out and explained a lot of great information. And also, thank you to Senator James, who was one of the co-authors of that bill and helped us really to get that bill passed in the Senate. And also, thank you for Councilwoman Wright for stopping by when we had that conversation as well. It was very...

Okay, I'm sorry. This is the loudest we can get it.

And also, as a result of all of these efforts, I've been invited to participate with the Regulating Drafting Working Group for the Georgia Property Owners Bill of Rights, Senate Bill 406, Their committee through the Secretary of State, where we will be framing how this law is going to be implemented. And this law has also resulted in creating the Property Owner Association's division. in the Secretary of State, which is something that is amazing because it's what residents that live in HOA communities that have road boards or boards that engage in abusive practices. This is something that is allowing the state to regulate those activities As of now, the state will be taking complaints, but they will be answering those complaints or looking at them after January the 1st. So if you come on to my social media or subscribe to my newsletter, I provide links and more detailed information about that. And those are all my comments. Thank you.

All right. Thank you, Councilwoman. All right, that leaves me. Corey is passing out the preliminary report from the trip with the link. But let me give a few highlights. Again, we mentioned Gunner's great giveaway that was held at Welcome All Park. That was an amazing event, seeing a lot of our kids in the community get free shoes, the families getting fresh fruits and vegetables, all of the great things. And I do believe that this is his eighth annual one. I think he's done two in the city. I think the first one, that he did was at Creel Park. So it was really nice to see how he's spreading his mission all across the city. Also, I was able to be a panelist at the ACCA Women's County Leaders Forum that was on August the 13th. I actually had the opportunity to serve with former Mayor Shirley Franklin, also Lisa Cupid from Cobb County, as well as Madam CEO from DeKalb. I also was at an event where I was served as a panelist for the AC RRE convention power day with other female mayors from across the state. We had the mayor, the first black female from Fort Valley, uh, as well as the mayors from Palmetto and, um, Jonesboro, as well as myself. And we also attended the breakfast with mayors where a South with the South Fulton business chamber, And that was on August the 18th. We had a forum with all of the mayors from Union, the mayor from Union City and Chad Hills. So what you can see is that we are really building regional collaboration across this state. August the 13th, we hosted our talk around town on data centers. If you weren't there, you missed all of the experts coming out. I know that there were some concerns about the format. However, as you all know, with the temperature around data centers, we were keeping the environment controlled in the conversation. I saw, you know, a lot of the residents coming in with their pitchforks and signs and all that good jazz. But at the end of the day, we had a really, really, really good conversation. and they came to get the information. So I appreciate those that came out to that event. We also had the Miracle League Barbecue and Resource Fair, as well as the Books and Beats and Bowties, which was a celebration in honor of our former resident, Ocasio Feliciana. He is a former Westlake student, and he lost his life to gun violence. And that was his 21st birthday. So we were able to go out and celebrate as well. I do want to say congratulations to the 151 charter members of the South Fulton area of the National Council of Negro Women. That event was held at the SWAC Center on August the 23rd. I am a proud charter member, so I am excited about the future and the work that they will do in the city of South Fulton. Things that are coming up September the 10th, we will have our next talk around town. We will be discussing water and public transportation. and that will be at Sugar Plum Events. If you all are familiar, that is off of Old National Highway in the, I believe it's the Old National Shopping Center. So, 138. So that event will be happening as well as on September the 12th, Grady will be, and this is for your men, Grady will be hosting their Prostate Cancer Education Awareness and Screening at Welcome All Park. On August the 21st, that was National Senior Day. I do understand that Councilwoman Rao held the senior conference and a lot of resources were provided. Today we were actually on the Rose Scott Show and we spoke about the great things that the city of South Fulton is doing for their seniors. And lastly, August is Black Business Month. I am challenging you all to go and support a black business in this community. You have until August the 31st. to make sure that you go out and support a black business. So I would love for you all to do that. I will be doing that. Council, as you all have received information on the link trip, it was actually a wonderful two day experience, very intense. learning more about transportation and how it will impact our cities and in the region. I truly enjoyed it and I appreciate the opportunity to even be invited for South Fulton to be at the table. Met a lot of great people. There's 160 people from across the Atlanta Metro that are real movers and shakers and leaders within their community. What I did take away is that a lot of the city, and many of you don't know where Mexico is. It's not on a beach. It's not in Cancun, as many of the comments that I saw. It is a city that is built on a lake. and it was 26 million thousand people that live in that area. Their biggest concern is how do they move people across their city, which is one of the things that we are trying to learn is how to, as we grow, move people across the city. So, again, it was very informative learning about economic development. Council, you have a printed copy of the report. We have this also on the website, and I will also send this out. We did actually send this out in the newsletter. So, again, if you all have any questions about the link trip, again, This is the first time that it was held internationally, but this was a really good place for South Fulton to be, and a lot of people were excited about us being there. One other thing that I wanted to share, if everyone likes you, then you're not doing God's work. I'm not here, and I know you all, you know, I didn't win 100% of the vote. but I am here and I have charged everyone to work with them. I am truly concerned because even before, I've only been in office eight months, but out of those eight months and even before, I have been attacked. Listen, the city of South Fulton is growing. We're going to keep moving. And the best thing that I can tell you is that I know that the public attacks are trying to undermine my leadership and the growth of this city. I don't know if many of you all are tired, but I think most of us on this council are tired. We want our positive image to move forward. And the comments that have been made about me as a woman, the derogatory statements, It's unacceptable. And as a black woman and as a leader, that's not what we should be. And if they're demeaning me and undermining my leadership and saying nasty and derogatory things about me, then they're saying it about every black woman. We sometimes need to have a conversation with each other. I am always been a champion of supporting black women, but I'm not going to let men keep defining who we are. and misspeaking because they don't understand legislation or because they want to continue to pick on bully or staff. That's not what I'm here for. I am here to move this city forward. You don't have to like me. I already told you, you don't have to like me. But if I have offered to work with you, then that is what I will do. But at the end of the day, South Fulton is going to move forward. We're not going to crumble. I'm not going to quit. You can come up here every day and say whatever you want to say about me. I am a child of God. I am protected. So you can continue to embellish whatever it is you want to embellish. If you want to continue To flabbergate and lie about nonsense, you can have it. But at the end of the day, I'm not leaving, and I'm going to do what I need to do for the city of South Fulton, and that's my word. So at that juncture, Mr. Clerk, can you please sound the next item?

Yes, that brings us to Roman numeral 12. Under agenda items, letter A, administration. First item, second reading requests council approval of an ordinance to amend the administrative guidelines for tree preservation of the code of ordinance in the city of South Fulton, Georgia, sponsored by council members Sebastian, Williams, Brown, and Johnson.

All right, council. If there are no objections to these items, we can adopt this with gross unanimous consent. Okay. Okay. I heard Councilwoman Pritchett.

Number one, are you going through all the items under A administration?

Let's see here. Which item? A administration. One second, please. Oh, so just the first one? Is the tree preservation?

I'm trying to clarify from you, if you're trying to get gross unanimous consent on whole section A, because there are two items that I have an objection to.

OK, so we don't have gross unanimous consent, so we'll take these all individually.

OK, I'll reserve it to one of those.

OK, thank you. Okay, Mr. Clerk, you sounded the first item.

Yes.

Council, what's your pleasure? Can you all, can I see a show of hands of all that are in favor?

We have to have a motion in this discussion. I move that we approve item A1. Second.

It has been moved and properly seconded. Discussion?

Councilwoman Morrell. I want to thank the sponsors for some amendment on the industrial, removing those from the ordinance, which I think Councilman Sebastian already mentioned. I also would like to express just general concern. I think multifamily is not an area that we have issues attracting developers. Mixed use, I think we do. The whole market is saturated with apartments. I would hope that we would just do the city projects as well as the mixed-use development. And that's just my general feedback. If you, the sponsors, would get some consideration.

Are you making an amendment?

OK. I propose that you just remove the category for multifamily and no additional changes to the proposed draft. Sponsors.

Madam Mayor. Go ahead. All right. Thank you, Madam Mayor. Council Member Royal, what this legislation is designed to do and how it's designed is that we as a council can change it anytime And we can also, it has to be reviewed a minimum every five years as we do our comprehensive planning. Okay? It's really centered around encouraging us not to, when we give incentives, don't take them back for projects that we need in the city. If this council feels that that category that you mentioned, I don't know if there's an oversaturation, so maybe someone needs to really educate me on this, if there's an oversaturation. But as I said, If at any time we want to change this back, we have the power to do it as a council. That's why, as a part of this legislation, we made sure we include or we included tracking the numbers as we go along and then giving a credit on the back end. So that's my explanation of why those two categories were included. One of the things I know that came out during our whole comprehensive planning process is that in the right places, we need to have multifamily. um development because of the lack of housing and the lack of diversified housing in our city so that's the reason why this is included in there but again i will go with the majority of the council if we feel that we need to remove that or we can change in the future i'm good council there is a motion on the floor and an amendment so can yes

COMMERCIAL MIXED USE DEVELOPMENT WOULD INCLUDE MULTI-FAMILY, AND I THINK IT WOULD PREVENT US FROM DEALING WITH CONTINUING TO DEVELOP HOUSING WITHOUT ANY RETAIL OR RESTAURANT OR ANY OTHER. IF YOU REQUIRE MIXED USE, THEY'RE GOING TO HAVE TO BRING IT WITH THE MULTI-FAMILY. MULTI-FAMILY IS A CATEGORY UNDER MIXED USE. SO I THINK IT STILL PROMOTES THE DEVELOPMENT OF MIXED USE HOUSING.

OKAY. WELL, WE CAN'T WORKSHOP IT HERE, SO LET ME Do you have a response?

Who's the main sponsor?

Okay. I'm going to recognize you and then Councilwoman Natasha Williams-Brown.

Again, back to the process. We have a process to make the change, Councilman Rowe. So I would just say follow that process and let us as a body decide what we're going to do.

Councilwoman Natasha Williams-Brown.

I guess I wanted to just have some, perhaps get some clarity because we have the second one is commercial slash mixed use with incentives from the city's development authority. So are you wanting mixed use to stand alone?

Speaking to the mic.

Sorry, the motion I made was to remove just that it had multifamily, which is the third category. So I'm fine with the mixed use. Again, I think if we're incentivizing apartment development, that we are only dealing with bringing more housing in the area without amenities. So I'm fine with the first two categories. I just asked if we, so that was my suggestion. That was the only thing to strike me less.

Is this item ready to be voted on today? It's a motion on the floor.

Yeah, I was just explaining what I was trying to do.

So there's a substitute motion on the floor.

Nobody seconded it at this time, and I'm asking for that.

There's not a second at this time. If we don't get a second, the motion fails. All right, so the motion fails. All right, we're going back to the original motion. Mr. Clerk, can you repeat the original motion, please?

Yes, the original motion was a motion by Council Member Williams-Brown, seconded by Council Member Sebastian, to approve the tree preservation ordinance as read.

All right. As you all know, it's a motion on the floor. Can I see a show? Oh, excuse me. Council Member Pritchett is in the queue.

Yes. I have a question about a comment that Councilwoman Rao just made, something about incentivizing apartments that don't bring amenities to the area. Are you implying that apartments don't have amenities? I'm just trying to be clear on what you meant.

I mean, actually, apartments might have workout rooms and those kind of things. I'm talking about the commercial I think the biggest need we have across this city is commercial development. We have not had a problem generating housing in this city, but we have had an issue with bringing commercial development. So that's the clarification. So as proposed, we have three categories under this. I'm fine with the mixed use because I want them to bring the commercial components to the multifamily.

Councilor Mural, I have not yielded. So basically what you're suggesting is, you know, I guess mixed use can be classified as apartments that have the commercial component or retail component below or somewhere, you know, in their structure?

That is the definition of mixed use.

Okay. So, okay. I understand what you're saying now. All right. Thank you.

Councilwoman Natasha Williams-Brown. Okay.

I think... I know we can't workshop it here. But I think the only thing that I would say is... I recently had some meetings, some ED meetings, one with that Assistant City Manager Davis was in, and I don't think the two things are mutually exclusive. I think we can get there with what we've got, and we'll have some conversation offline.

All right. So there's a motion on the floor. Can I see a show of hands that are in favor? All right. Councilwoman Pritchett, what is your? I'm not. Okay.

I record that motion to approve six to one.

All right. Mr. Clerk, five to two. Five to two. Mr. Clerk, please sound the next item.

Brings us to number two, second reading request council approval of an ordinance to amend Title I administration, the City of South Fulton Code of Ordinances to help ensure high ethical standards within the city. Sponsored by Mayor Gumbs.

All right. Council, see a show of hands that are in favor?

Oh, I'm sorry. Madam Mayor, I have objection to this or discussion.

I move that we approve item A2.

It has been moved and properly second discussion. Councilwoman Pritchard.

Thank you for recognizing me. So what I've noticed as a citizen and then now being on this council is that we've gone through many iterations of an ethics policy. And it seems like when we get new mayors, the policy changes for one reason or another. So with this policy, it does talk about in one section that it talks about being that they're certain well that provisions can be can be well maybe that's what it says may and then the word be applied retroactively but yet the georgia constitution does not allow for retroactive applications of the law or that the law be applied retroactively. So my first question is about the intent of the retroactive part that's in this legislation. What was that intended to achieve or what was that meant for?

So Councilwoman Pritchett, just Just to give you clarification, this is the same policy and it has nothing to do with actually who the mayor is. This actually was a change that was done to our ethics policy that was gutted based off of a state I believe the state made that change based off of what our former attorney had shared. This provision that we're adding back in protects the entire council, not just any one of the mayors or previous mayors. But I can ask for a city attorney, if you don't mind, to share the reasoning behind this, please.

Thank you for recognizing me, Madam Mayor. And I would like to state this as the only person at this DS with a law degree. You can actually write into the ordinance that it can be retroactive. Georgia law states that as long as the ordinance outright states that it can be applied retroactively, that you can apply it retroactively. So I'm not sure of the source that you're referring to, but case law has been consistent and longstanding that as long as the ordinance is clear that it's being applied retroactively, that it can be. Thank you.

Thank you, City Attorney. Councilwoman Rowe.

No, no, I have not yielded. I have two parts to my inquiry.

Okay.

Okay. So to what the City Attorney license required to do her job just stated, the Georgia Constitution Article 1, Section 1, Paragraph X says no bill of attainer, ex post facto law, retroactive law, or laws impairing the obligation of contract shall be passed. That's what I've read, and you can interpret whatever you want to interpret. However, the second part of my question is, what provision in this in this is being applied retroactively. What is it that y'all are looking to apply retroactively out of this?

So the way that the statute is written, and thank you for your question, Councilman Pritchett, is any portion of this ordinance can be applied retroactively. That's why it doesn't refer to a specific section. It's the ordinance in its entirety. And as the mayor mentioned, this is not a new law. This was a portion of the law that was removed. And I believe, and other staff members agree, that it was removed inadvertently as a result of a state law, a state bill, a Senate bill. As a result, currently, with our ethics panel the way that it's written, our ethics panel would be completely discretionary. This actually gives them parameters by which they have to follow in order to determine if there's actually been an ethics violation, which again gives a fair, repeatable, and clear parameters on what we are expected to do in the city of South Fulton.

Hopefully that answers your question. Thank you. It really, it does in part. But so what you're saying is that their state law, that because of the state law, then this provision was taken out. So was there something inappropriate about the state law or was it an accident or what was the rationale?

Thank you again for your question and the opportunity to clarify again. Given the Senate bill that was passed, It was the opinion of a previous administration of the city attorney's office that this provision chapter five should be removed. I disagree with that. Um, application staff members disagree with that application. Other sitting city attorneys agree with that interpretation. So because of that, we're reinstating it in whole. Again, this is not a new law. This was on the books before and it was inadvertently removed.

Well, how could it be inadvertently removed if that was the opinion of the previous attorney? That's not inadvertent. That's deliberate. That's just my opinion. Agreed. It was an unintended consequence. Gotcha. So can you give an example of a retroactive application of this?

I'd be happy to write you a memo, Councilwoman.

Well, I want people to understand that, you know, retroactive meaning, is it an action that someone, an action that someone took that now retroactively a panel will be able to go back? And I've seen in the language where it's changing it from applying to just the council to employees, council member, appointed officials, and I think people even serving on our boards. Is that correct?

That language was there previously. That language has not been changed as a result of this legislation. However, the Miriam Lipser definition of retroactive is extending in scope or effect to a prior time or to conditions that existed or originated in the past.

So basically our ethics in our charter that talks about ethics violations, they would have to have occurred within six months of the time that someone reports them. Are you saying that this will eliminate the six month provision and just go into retroactive at any point in time?

No ma'am. As you know, statutory construction requires us to read all of our legislation together. So those provisions of those ordinances would still stand.

So then what, what applies retroactively? I'm just trying to understand, is it a conduct by any of those, an employee, a council member, appointed official, is it conduct that they have engaged in prior to this day that they would be now subject to because the change that is being proposed on this day? Is that what it is intended to do?

I'm sorry. I didn't follow your question, but again, I'd be happy to write you a memo.

Well, I want people to understand and I want to make sure I have, and I want the council to understand before we make a vote or we take a vote on something that if I can't understand it and it's too, and you have to send me a memo, you know, the people on the dais may not understand. And the people in the audience may not understand either.

Counsel, do you have a,

All right, so Councilwoman Rao. Just for background, this was, I think, legislation me and Councilwoman Gumbs initiated maybe at the first or second year of the city. I do think it needs to be very clear what an ethics violation is. I have heard of a number of them being thrown out because it's not clear. At least you can cite the section if you believe an ethics violation has occurred. Maybe, so I do think it needs to be introduced. It was gutted not by our former attorney. It was gutted by a legislation introduced by our delegation. And so I think if, you know, if we have to deal with this, why can't we just take that one, those four words off in Section 15002? But I definitely think it needs to be parameters around this. So if your concern is retroactive, these are clearly the violations if there's an ethics violation, I think. I don't think we should split hairs. I think we need to have some guidelines. I move that we... Are you doing an amendment? I was doing an amendment. I was amending section 1502 to end this first sentence after city officials and strike and maybe apply retroactively with no further changes.

Second.

It has been moved and properly seconded. Discussion?

Briefly, and thank you for your question earlier, Councilwoman. I'd like to give you a case, specifically Bickford versus Yancey Development Company, Incorporated. That's a Supreme Court of Georgia case. The citation for that is 276 Georgia 814. Again, that was decided in 2003. And it says the statute does not operate retroactively, merely because it might relate to antecedent transactions. To the contrary, before a statute will be applied retroactively, the legislature must clearly state its intention to affect transactions which occurred or rights which accrued before the statute became effective. So I understand your interpretation and your reference to the Georgia Constitution. But our Supreme Court of Georgia, who is tasked with interpreting said Constitution, interprets it contrary to you. Thank you.

So with the current changes that have been amended from the council, what does that do for the legislation?

So if it's the council's wish to not apply retroactively, then we would just reinstate what the ethics violations are. But it would be up to what the council would like to do with that language.

As a person who has, OK, never mind. All right. Let's go ahead and, uh, handle this vote please. Oh, I'm sorry. JC council, Ms. Sebastian, my apologies.

Thank you, ma'am. So the problem that I have is we have gotten into trouble by making on the fly decisions up here. And I, I really, wish that the process that we have for legislation, when we ask for people to comment and go through that portal, that we not only follow it, but we follow the advice of our legal counsel. Because I always point back to the attorney. If they advise us incorrectly, then that is one thing. But some of us are not attorneys. We don't play one on TV. So I want to make sure, before we go ahead again and change something that have been through the process, there are no unintended consequences. And I don't know how clear to say that. So before we make this decision, I want you all to ponder. What is it that you don't know? Because we could be making a change here live and direct, and it has consequences we don't expect.

CHRISTIE WOODARD- City attorney, can you give, there is a motion and a second, but he does make a valid point. For a case that is possibly retro, can you give an example versus a case that's not retro?

So a case that's not retro would be something that occurs from the date of implementation forward. A case of retro would be if something occurred before the implementation of this legislation. Say, for example, if an elected official took something they weren't supposed to take within the time frame that's within the ethics ordinance, then this could apply to that. If it's within the time frame, again, all the legislation has to be read together. So if that event occurred within the six months of the ethics code, then that would be applicable to these violations here. But again, if something, if a possible ethics violation occurred after the implementation of this chapter, then that would be an example of something that's not retro.

Okay, so counsel, you have heard. Are you all ready for the vote? Can I get a show of hands of those in favor?

Yeah, there's a substitute motion on the floor, a motion by Councilmember Ryle, seconded by Councilmember Pritchett to strike section, strike the language as follows in Section 1-5002. And that language is, it may be applied retroactively, striking that from that Section 1-5002 scope.

You all have heard the, um, amendment it's been accepted. Can I get it?

I vote yes.

All right. Can I get a show of hands please? All those in favor.

Council member Rao, council member Pritchett voted in affirmatively.

Okay. That motion fails. Can we go back to the original legislation? Can you read that for us one more time, please?

Yes. The original motion was a motion by Council Member Williams-Brown, seconded by Council Member Johnson, to approve the City of South Fulton Code of Ordinances resolution to ensure high ethical standards within the city.

All right. Can we vote on this motion, please? Can I see a show of hands of those who are in favor? Another motion. Those that are not.

I am opposed. I record that motion approved five to two.

All right. Thank you. Mr. Clerk, please sound the next item.

That brings us to number three, second read and request council approval of an ordinance to amend Title I administration of the City of South Fulton Code of Ordinances to allow for coverage of legal fees for elected officials sponsored by Mayor Gumbs.

I do believe that there was an amendment to add appointees.

Yes, it has been added, and it's in the system as well, the package.

All right. So we have a motion. Can I get a motion, please?

I move that we approve item number A3 as sounded. Second.

It has been moved and probably second. Can I get a show of hands of those that are in favor?

Mayor, I have discussion. Discussion. Yes. Proceed. I am announcing that I am abstaining from this vote because I have current litigation with the city, which I could benefit from this vote. That's it.

Okay. Thank you for your disclosure. City Attorney, are you aware?

Mayor, I'm unaware of any active litigation with the city involving Councilwoman Linda Pritchett. Can you repeat that?

I don't know which camera I need to look at.

Is it this one? I'm unaware of any active litigation involving Councilwoman Linda Pritchett in the city of South Fulton.

So you're unaware of a workers' compensation case involving me and this city? Is that what you're stating for the record?

I am aware of a worker's compensation case that you attempted to file in the city of South Fulton, of which you and your attorneys were made abundantly clear that if you did not dismiss that case immediately. That's not what anybody asked you.

Excuse me. At this point in time, we will, point of order, we will not address this at this time.

I made my declaration.

This is a legal issue, and we will cover the vote. Thank you for your absence. Absence. Okay. Absentia.

All right. Can I get a show of hands? Yes.

Oh, my gosh. Yeah. Councilwoman Rao.

This is for the attorney, just to clarify. Can you explain, and this is for the edification of the public, what this fee covers beyond any existing coverage we have now? Just briefly.

Sure. So as you know, we have GRMA as an insurance carrier. This applies to anything that GRMA would not naturally cover. Also, as I mentioned before, this piece of legislation has to be read with other pieces of legislation that are already on the books, including what's already in our ethics complaint section. That does allow for if an elected official goes through the ethics complaint and is successful, they can ask for their fees back. What this does is this creates an umbrella over all the other legislation that's already on the book and sets a cap for what that reimbursement could look like for any type of investigation. at its conclusion. So this would not be a front loading of fees for an elected official or appointees. This is solely for if there's an investigation or a lawsuit at its conclusion, finding that an elected official or an appointed official, um, did not act with malice or the other things that are listed in this ordinance and caps the recouping of those fees at 20,000 and follow on.

If the person is found guilty, of the ethics complaint is their bill, correct? Oh.

That is correct. And even if it did come before the council, it would be my advice to the council to not reimburse those fees should they be found guilty.

And just for clarity, this is nothing new. We are actually just amending. This legislation has been on the books since what, 2019, 2020? So it is just an amendment. The city has always had a legal defense fund. So just for clarification, this is not for any legal fees, as I shared before. Councilwoman, well, I'm sorry, Mayor Gumbs does not have any legal fees or any type of investigations that I am trying to spend taxpayers' money on. So just whatever you read on social media, that's not it. All right, so can we have a vote on this, please? Who would argue? without argument please can I get a show of hands please I record that motion approves 6 0 1 with councilmember Pritchett abstaining all right so I believe those are the next let's roll through these next ones all right mr. clerk can you please sound the next night

Brings us to number four, approval of an agreement in support of the construction and design of the GDOT-approved multi-lane roundabout for the Sandtown Village Development Project, also known as the Hutch Project, located at the intersection of Campbellton Road and Camp Creek Parkway. The city agrees to fund at least 60% of the roundabout costs, not to exceed $5 million.

Council, if there is no objection... to these next items, item 4, 5, and 6, we can adopt that with gross unanimous consent. Mr. Clerk, please sound the next item.

BRINGS US TO LETTER B UNDER PROCUREMENTS AND CONTRACTS. NUMBER ONE IS THE PROCUREMENT DEPARTMENT REQUESTS COUNSEL APPROVAL TO AMEND THE JULY 14, 2026 AWARD OF RFP NUMBER 26-19, LIGHT DUTY FLEET MAINTENANCE AND REPAIR SERVICES TO INCREASE THE AUTHORIZED CONTRACT CAPACITY FOR ELEMENT fleet management, MFWPS slash clutch car care center, and moon service center to an amount not to exceed $1 million per vendor. The contracts support preventive maintenance, diagnosis, repairs, inspections, and related services for the city's light duty fleet. Funding is subject to approved department budgets, available appropriations, purchase order issuance, satisfactory performance, and city council approval.

All right. Council, you all have had the opportunity to peruse this agenda. If there are no objections, we can adopt this with gross unanimous consent. All right. Mr. Clerk, please sign the next item.

It brings us to first reading ordinances. We have one this evening, first read of zoning ordinance, Z26-013. SDH, Central Georgia, LLC. I'm sorry, we need to remove this because I believe that this item was held during the 5 o'clock meeting, so we don't need to proceed with the first read at this time.

Okay.

That brings us to Roman numeral 13, walk-on items. We had several events, the Airport Centennial Celebration Festival, September 10th, the Block Party, August 29th, 2026, Creel Park, District 5, Canvas and Courts, co-sponsored with Councilwoman Wright on September 11th. District 2, Acts of Errand Community Engagement Series. We also had the approval of the Lashley Chateau Estates Platte in District 4, as well as the non-binding Memorandum of Understanding for the Westwood Proposed Convention Center Development. And Councilwoman Morales spread on the record that she had a food distribution at Anthem on this past Monday.

Okay. What's the date? I'm sorry? What was the date? All right. August 24th. Thank you. So, council, if there are no objections with the walk-on items, we can adopt this with gross unanimous consent. All right. Mr. Clerk, please sound the next item.

Brings us to executive session if necessary.

I do not believe we spent quite some time together, so I don't believe we need an executive session. If there are no objections, we can move forward with adjournment. Thank you very much. Have a good evening.

Adjourned at 8.44 p.m.