City Council - Regular Meeting

Good evening, Stone Crest. Welcome to the work session. Today is Monday, April 13th. The time is now 6:10. This meeting would now be called to order. Madame City Clerk, can you be so kind and do the role? Yes, ma'am. Good evening everyone. Mayor Jasmine Kbble, Mayor Prom, Tara Graves here. Council member Terry Fi present. Council member Alicia Washington here. Council member George Turner here. Council member Carisha Smith present. We have a quorum.

Thank you, council. After um after reviewing today's agenda, are there any proposed adjustments? Mayor Prom.

Yes, Councilwoman Washington. I'd like to make a motion to add an item to tonight's agenda to allow a presentation from a qualified organization that can provide a comprehensive threat assessment for the city. Uh this assessment will help inform council as we consider our options and our next step regarding our IGA. I would like for that to be the first thing on our agenda possibly under section three. So you're asking to put it um before the the before item A? Yes.

Okay. And this is for discussion only. Yes, it is. Is there any other changes to this uh agenda? Hearing none, I will entertain a motion. Tim. Yes. Councilman Turner. Move to approve the agenda with the stated uh addition. Second. The motion has been properly moved and second by Councilman Fi. Are you ready for the question? All those in favor of the motion, please respond with yay. All those opposed, nay. Starting with district two, yay. District three. Yay. District four.

Yay. District five. Yay. District one is yay. The agenda has been approved. 5 to zero. The first item on the agenda is for discussion only. I did not get the gentleman name, but it is for the assessment for the city in regards to a threat assessment. And if you can repeat your name for me, I would greatly appreciate it. Hello. Or there we go. Uh my name is Chris Rich. This is Stacy Porter. Uh we're part of Hawk Protection Group.

I think the the mic the hand button if you press Okay, it's on. Try the hand mic. Stacy Porter. Stacy Porter. Yes. All right. Well, welcome to Stone, Chris. Thank you. Appreciate it. Do you have a presentation or No, no. Uh, just going to go over some things about the threat assessment. Uh, before I do that, I'll keep it brief, of course. Uh, just want to give it a little bit about my background. Okay. Uh, did you want to go first? Yes. Okay.

So, we are a Hawk Protection Group. Uh, we're based in Buckhead, Atlanta. Uh, our firm works with high-profile politicians, high netw worth. Um, we do a lot of work throughout the US. We've done some internationally. Uh, we do a lot of threat assessments for corporations, but uh, mostly for high high-profile politicians. Um, fastest growing company last three years. Uh, privately owned, minority owned. And this is Stacy. He's, uh, former Secret Service, and he does he leads all of our threat assessments from cities to, uh, airports, uh, throughout the US. Okay. And just to add to that, uh again my background is 23 years with the federal government. Uh born and raised in Washington DC but based here in Atlanta now. So uh after I retired uh started doing security consulting work. So I've done international threat assessments. Uh you name the airport most likely I did the assessment on that. Um done office buildings as well schools and also houses of worship. Um so just to add to that uh again the reason why you want to do a threat assessment um again speaking for my profession go over my notes right here is that um you know it's critical for state and government facilities because they uh save as the foundation uh they serve as the foundation for uh all effective security decisions. Um also um they enhance preparedness and response. Uh second they help prioritize resources uh budget and personnels are limited. So the threat assessment ensures attention is focused on the most likely and highest impact risk. Uh lastly uh threat assessment turns security uh from reactive to strategic. So again uh it's important to uh have an assessment because we don't want to come uh with solutions until the threat assessment has been conducted. And again, I've been doing this for 23 plus years working with Chris as well. So, thank you guys

for having us this evening. And I'll turn it back over to Chris. Yeah, that's all we have. And I think it's important to have actionable data, I think, before you make any decisions. Uh because sometimes some of the reports that we provide can provide cost savings to where maybe you can uh supplement some of the resources with more cost effective uh resources throughout the city. uh as well as you know identifying does a person really need per protection. So we kind of look at it from a 360 degree uh perspective where we look in the outside of the city, the people, the buildings and we kind of hone in uh as it relates to the individual threat assessment and also where they live. You guys have any questions for us?

That um concludes your presentation? Yes. Uh again, I know we have others on the agenda and we appreciate you guys putting us on first. Uh again, we'll follow up with more information uh once we talk to Miss McCoy and uh just uh go from there. But again, we'll be more than happy to entertain if you have any follow-up questions. Council, do you have any questions for um Chris Rich or Stacy Porter? Mayor Pro Tim. Yes, Councilwoman Smith, I do have a question. Um what areas um do your assessments typically cover? Facilities, uh digital, uh infrastructure, what areas?

As far as physical and infrastructure, uh it covers that. When you talk about cyber security, uh that's not my wheelhouse. I can probably give you two or three lines when it comes to cyber security, but we can put a team together if you want a all-incclusive uh assessment done, but for the most part, it's more physical uh looking at the facilities. uh breaking it down at all the access points. Uh most times when you look at assessment uh coming in, I may be seeing things uh a little bit more than what you guys are seeing or I may be telling you things that you already know, but it's just uh solidifying what you guys been talking about, you know, from day one. Why it's like that. I guess they want to hear more from the profession. And I don't know why it's like that, but for the most part, um, to answer your question, it's physical uh, and facilities, if you will, versus cyber security.

Any cities around us that you've committed, um, that you have, uh, done a threat assessment for?

Yeah, we've done uh, not specifically cities, but more corporations within Atlanta. Uh the city of South Folton is is actually talking about this exact same thing right now. Uh we found out so it's a new newer trend I would say. Uh we have done threat assessment uh for the uh Atlanta business Atlanta chamber um in Atlanta around World Cup you know in collaboration with some of the law enforcement agencies to kind of figure out what that looks like outside of the stadium. Um but as far as other cities city contracts we have not done that outside of airports as Stacy stated. And as far as my background with the federal government working with the Secret Service, I mean, you have to go out and do an assessment. So if the president is coming into a location, we will go out beforehand and do an assessment of this location since he or she will be coming here, if you will.

Mayor Pro Tim, I yield. Thank you. Thank you, Councilwoman Smith. Any other questions for our guests? May Pro Tim. Yes, Councilman Turner. Uh you mentioned highprofile um political figures. Is there a formula to determine who fits into that category as to high-profile, medium profile, low profile? Um how do you determine what's high-profile?

Again, it all depends on the threat or the information that's coming in. uh every individual, you know, if I look at it, they're considered high-profile, but the highest for me are foreign dignitaries and the president, uh, which is high profile, of course, but it can be a CEO of a company, as uh Chris mentioned, that's considered high profile, but if you're going to hire us as security consultants, we're going to treat you as such and make sure we do the best that we can when it comes to doing an assessment.

Yeah. And to add on that, for high-profile, we usually mean who has a higher threat level. So it could be uh we work with both parties. So it could be someone that's more visible on TV uh that is controversial and they have active threats throughout the week. Uh that could make them high profile, which what kind of uh dictate what kind of resource we assign to that person. So it could be based on the atmosphere or based on the what's going on within the area to determine the level of risk.

That's correct. It depends on once we get the data and we create a risk profile I think on each person then we can kind of figure out where do they fall low medium high and what kind of resource do you allocate towards that threat or that situation. Okay. I think I'll probably refer to Mr. McCoy at another date to determine exactly um what we're looking for and how deep we want to go into uh this assessment as to what it will take to get it done. But um I'll get with him on that. So, thank you very much for your presentation. Mayor Pen. Yes, Councilwoman Washington.

Okay. Uh yes, I wanted to ask a question. um for the assessment that you would do for us as a city, how long will it take for you to uh do some I mean is it different with an individual if we say we wanted an assessment for a you know for a threat for an individual versus the city? Are there two separate and then how long would the period of time it take for you to give us something like that?

That's a great question. um it would be separate uh because when you're talking about a facility which I'm sure you have several that may take a few days or week if you will uh for example when I did the Hartsville Jackson airport not me but myself as a as a team it took an entire week now once uh that was done it took maybe I would say three weeks to four weeks to generate a report because you have other actionable items that you're working on so you know I don't want to say I'm pushing it off to the side most of The work starts after the assessment is done. But as far as the individual and the facilities, uh, two different types of assessments, if you will.

Thank you. I yield. Any other questions? Mayor Pro Tim. Yes, Councilwoman Smith. One additional question. Um, so you guys conduct the assessment. Do you have uh take part in implementation of the findings? We do uh we can do the report the assessment but we can also provide the uh security protection uh transportation on armed guards uh in some cases front desk concier. Okay. Thank you council. Any other questions?

Thank you so much for your presentation. I appreciate you. Thanks. Next on the agenda is the monthly finance update by our finance director, Mrs. Kesha Franklin. Good evening. Hello. Good evening, council. So, I do not have the monthly financial update today. This is an update to the monthly financial update.

So, Mayor Pro Tim and I am so sorry, Director Franklin, can we confirm is your mic um on and working? It's green. I'm And I'm so sorry. Could you just bring it to you so we can get you on the record just for this just for the people at home? got a couple of calls about making sure that our speakers are a little um vocal and I apologize for that. Turn it back on again if possible. Check one, can you hear me a little better?

Oh, we can hear you. It's a matter of it's being transmitted. Um there was a suggestion that we use a hand mic for this at one point in time. Might that work better? All right. Azure.

Okay. So, the update for the financial monthly report for March is that based on the due dates for the support and documentation, I will not be able to do give that report until next month. So the supporting documentation for the work session is due on March 13, which is before the end of the month of March 31st. So it's not possible for us to create a March 31st support and documentation by March 13th. So we will have to defer it to the following month. Do you have any questions? So today is uh April 13th. The supporting documentations that are due for this meeting are due on March 13th. So today I would be pres presenting a report as of March 31st, but there's no way for me to have a March 31st report by March 13th. because the month has not even closed yet. So therefore, that puts that pushes the reporting date back. In order for me to be able to close the month and then report on the month, the month has to be closed. May then the February's report is what should be presented tonight.

I did that last month. I know. But I turned it in late. It was like the day before I turned in the information. I know. And um which meant you did a lot of work to make that happen, right? Uh last time. That was much appreciated. Uh we've had this discussion quite a bit as to what's due and when it's due. Um you are correct that there is no way you could have uh the previous month report ready and into this package right in a timely fashion. The report that's due on the 15th is a report that's due from the city manager uh of the previous month. Okay.

So um that is something can discuss later on. Okay. But that is the one that's due and uh based on our timeline uh what you have given us I believe is correct and that is that tonight's report should be the February's report in detail but somehow you were able to pull it off last month and I was amazed but you did. They let me turn it in late. Sonia let me turn it in late.

Okay. But still you gave a report. Yeah. Um just to say that based on the way the work sessions fall and the way the uh agendas have to be compiled uh unless well there is no unless there's no way to make it happen in a timely fashion and to get any type of accuracy. But there is a way for the city manager to get a report by the 15th and that's the one that's due from the previous month. Does that make sense? It does.

But that's that's charter uh provision that the city manager must provide the previous month's summation. It's not a detailed report. A summation of the financial activity for the previous month. Okay. Okay. Just trying to make bring some clarity. Thank you. I appreciate that. Council, do you have any questions for um Miss Franklin since she's here tonight with us? Pro Tim. Yes, Councilman Turner.

Since she's at the podium and I know you're working on the report, is there anything we need to be ready for or everything appears to be trending normal? Not so far. We are closing out the month today. We have maybe a few more journal entries to make and then once we do that, then I'll actually close the month out in Tyler and then we'll start running the reports. And every chance I get you in front of the mic, I'm going to ask you how we're looking with those audits.

Well, we start to meet with the auditors next week. So, we'll meet with them every Thursday. So, we'll have a I'll have a better update once we start meeting. So every Thursday it's just a weekly you can that's your greatest pace and Okay. All right. Just want to follow it because we're going to hold you to it. No. Okay. Council, any other questions for our finance director. Well, thank you so much, Miss Franklin, for being here with us today.

Thank you. Next on the agenda is Stone Crest zoning ordinance and overlay update by Mrs. Q. Director Q, I'm sorry. First, thank you. Mayor Pro Tim, the zoning ordinance and overlay. Can you hear me? Very clear.

The zoning ordinance and overlay update. Um, a contract was executed in August of 2025 for professional services to inspire placemaking collective incorporated. The official notice to proceed took place in September of 2025 with several kickoff and steering committee member um meetings um taking place in October. Um again, we want to thank the steering committee members um for their participation and dedication to this project. um Kirby Frasier, Derrell Taylor, Wanita Shepard, and um Mr. Rob Smith. So, we appreciate your um participation. Um we've had community engagement meetings um in district um those district meetings were um they started in March um at Lou Walker and then we had a meeting at the Stone Crest Library and of course we have theformational boards out tonight if participants or the community wanted to join us tonight. um for um feedback for a more detailed overview of what has been accomplished and where we are with the zoning update. Uh Miss Nikesha Smith, our project manager, is joining us um from Inspire Placemaking and Collective Incorporated and she should be attending um virtually. So the continuation of this presentation will begin with her.

Hi, good evening. I'm here. Can you hear me? Okay. Awesome. Thank you, Director Q. And good evening to all the council members. Thank you for this opportunity to uh do a brief a brief presentation this evening in terms of where we are exactly in terms of the Stone Crest zoning ordinance update. Um I do have a presentation. Um, would you like me to share the screen or will you be able to pull that up on your end? If you can share, that would be great.

Yes, you can share. Okay. And you are you able to see the screen? Yes, we can see it.

Okay. Excellent. So, good evening. My name is Nikishha Smith and I'm actually the project manager for the consultant team. Um, as director Q mentioned, we are Inspire Placemaking Collective and we are a planning firm with offices throughout the East Coast. Um, my office is here in Miami. Um, we also have offices in Atlanta, which is where most of the support staff for this project is located. And the purpose of this project is in summary is to modernize our zoning and land development regulations for the city of Stone Crest. What does that mean? Um, in terms of the zoning ordinance, just for the benefit of the public or those that might not be familiar, the zoning ordinance is a very important tool that the city uses to guide how land can be used within the city, how buildings are built, what types of uses that the city allows for businesses and where they're allowed to be placed. It also sets standards such as where you can put your fence line, how far back your home can be from the street. Um, so it really is a tool that's used to guide the growth of this community uh in an organized way and in a very predictable way. Stonerest on top of the general standardized zoning ordinance also has several zoning overlay districts. So, as part of this update, we're not just looking at the base zoning. We're also looking at your overlay districts. You have Arabia Mountain, the Stone Crest area overlay district, and then we have the I20 corridor overlay districts. So, that's also included as part of our review for this update. These, as you can see here, are some of the goals of each of the overlay

districts. They have different focus areas and different goals that the city wants to achieve through each of these overlay districts. And so part of this review and this update is to make sure that the overlays are working as they should uh and the goals that the city has are being achieved through these districts in addition to the standard zoning. So again in updating this code some of the steps that we're taking is that we are first of all looking to review the structure of the code the flow of the code. We want to make sure that the code is very easy to use and to understand. We don't want a code where you have to have architectural degree or be a civil engineer to be able to understand and read exactly uh what is going on when you take a look at the code. We want it to be very clear, no confusing language, not contradictory. We also want to make sure that what we get built within the city of Stone Crest is a quality design. Um, so we also want to make sure that the review procedures it's very easy for staff to do reviews and also to administrate the code that that's it's very streamline and it's also easier for residents, developers and those that use the code to have an idea very clearly of the review process. what is expected through the review process and the development outcomes that they're going to achieve. We also want to make sure that it's a very inclusive process. And so, as director Hugh mentioned, we have we've had several community meetings, and we'll kind of go into that in a little bit more detail in some other slides. One of the first things that we look at when we look at updating the code is

that we want to make sure that it aligns with their comprehensive plan. So the city city of Stonerrest has several different goals, objectives, and policies that it wants to achieve through its comprehensive plan. And so we take a look at the comp plan and we pull out some of those objectives and goals that we might be able to incorporate into the actual land development code. So for example, you you'll see one of the goals are to prioritize public safety. When we had our meetings with the public, safety is something that came up very often. So how would that translate into land development code? One of the things that we talked about in some of our community meetings is using crime prevention through environmental design, which pretty much is the idea that the way that you build a building can actually enhance safety. So before the building is even um operational, the way that you design the building, it can either enhance safety or it might encourage uh behavior that's not wanted. And so that is one way that the land development code will connect back to the city's comprehensive plan. And that's just one example of how we try to use the code as a tool to implement the comprehensive plan and those overarching goals that the city wants to achieve. So some of the task of the project you can kind of see here um that there's a lot involved in terms of doing an update to the code. Um, we talked a little bit about the review. So, reviewing uh the the base districts, reviewing the overlay districts. We also look at the zoning map. And then, of course, we have our community engagement and outreach. Uh, and we're kind of coming to the end of that outreach process to where we now start to begin taking a lot of the

feedback that we've gotten and starting to begin to draft the actual document. Um, to start to update some of the sections. Uh that's kind of the next phase that we're going to be getting into here and then of course that will be brought back to you for um review and adoption and discussion. This is the community meeting schedule and so we anticipate that uh the writing period would be over the next two to three months and that we would have a public draft workshop where the public will come and give us feedback on some of the language the text that we might have added uh that they would be able to come and give us feedback on that before we actually bring it back to the council for those adoption hearings. And as director Q mentioned, there are some activity boards that you'll see out in the lobby today. And these kind of mimic some of the engagement activities that we've had to date. Uh we wanted to, for example, get an idea of what are some of the uh designs that people like. So for example, one of the things that we heard was that hey, we need we need a downtown. Okay. And entertainment districts. That was that was really a big thing. So very uh some more familyfriendly. And so what we did is that we created these design boards where the public's able to give us feedback on different elements of entertainment districts. For example, in terms of whether they like those or not, it would be a dot exercise and they would put dots green if they liked it, red if they didn't. And you'll see an example here throughout uh different elements, plazas, courtyards, some entertainment um facilities might have games, interactive play, pedestrianized streets, for example. And we did that for several

different types of uses. U for example, in the code right now, we don't have anything that specifically speaks to outdoor dining. And for uh restaurants, outdoor dining can really be a great way for them to increase the square footage um and the reach of their restaurant space. Um and so we're thinking of incorporating some language that would start to allow this, but we want to make sure that it's done right, it's done um properly. And so you'll see here some examples in other places and a lot of these are uh local to Georgia um of how it's done already. And so we would get those uh feedback and preferences from the public in terms of what features and elements that they like in terms of the outdoor dining. We also of course with Arabia Mountain had to make sure that we included um trails and nature. Uh one of the topics that came up in uh a lot of the community meetings that we have was in terms of the pre uh tree tree preservation and protecting the natural habitat. Um that was really um a big um topic of discussion uh in terms of our public and community meetings. So, we wanted to make sure that we also um had some design preferences that spoke to um that that natural element of the city. Uh so, in terms of incorporating new uses, we also took a look at some of the uses that already exist in the code and in terms of what folks thought about those. So, uh, some uses that we wanted to find out, hey, do you think that there needs to be additional standards? Are you happy with the way that it's operating now? So, um, we gave people the opportunity to give feedback on

those uses that, um, already exist in the city. Um, some of the uses that, uh, the community thought might be in excess, we had, um, gas stations, for example. So you'll see here in the first corner uh uh in the first column um should there be a minimum distance between similar types of business. So this is something that we might want to look into as we progress in the code. Just kind of taking that feedback for example in gas stations. Maybe we might want to have uh distances between gas stations, distances between um smoke or tobacco business. Um we've also heard that people want more quality dining. No more chicken joints is what they uh told us at the community meetings. Um so that's something else that we might want to take a look at. We want to make sure also that we're um attracting uh more grocery stores, more grocery options, quality grocery options. Uh that was something else that we heard in terms of uh the feedback from those community meetings. And in addition to the existing uses, there's also some emerging uses that are coming out. So we're also taking a look at those. We know data centers is a big uh emerging use that a lot of um cities and and counties are are dealing with right now. Um drone delivery. So we're also um researching those um topics that are hot topics and emerging trends within within the planning world as well. We also uh gave um citizens, residents, developers, um business owners the opportunity to do a mapping exercise um so that they can take uh each district. We did a map for each district and they were able to go ahead and pin what type of uses that they would like to see um more of. So you'll see the different categories of uses here on the

maps. Um it includes uh housing, economic development like jobs and services if persons wanted to see more parks, more open space. Um we also have mixed use, industrial, entertainment and agurism um which is which is something new that we heard feedback on and so we went ahead and incorporated that into our maps. um in terms of where people might want to see uh that type of use incorporated throughout the city. And again, we did it we did one for for uh each district there. And lastly, um we have our project website. This is another way that persons can stay uh involved uh with the project through our project website. You'll see the web address there. Um and there's also a survey on there and mapping exercise that you can take place. uh that you can go ahead and take. And so with that, um I'll open it up for discussion.

Thank you, council. Do you have any questions?

Mayor Pro Tim. Yes, Councilwoman Smith. question regarding um this assessment and how many other cities has the company that we're utilizing. Are there other cities around that they've done an an assessment for an assessment or an um this type of activity? A zoning zoning. Yes. Ordinance updates. Miss Smith to answer that question if she's still here.

Yes. Um we've done I would say probably currently we're working on about uh 60 updates to the code. Um right now in terms of Georgia we're working in College Park um Georgia doing their land development Rex um and comprehensive plan. We're over in East Point um as well in terms of some cities that are uh kind of close to to the Stone Crest area. Um but we yeah but we've we have I would say about 60 projects uh going on nationwide in terms of land development.

Any discoveries that you um have found working with those other cities that Stone Crest might be um interested in knowing or highlighting for us or you haven't made it to that point yet? I think we haven't made it to that point yet, but I will say um one of the unique things again about Stone Crest is really that Arabia Mountain um and just the natural features that you have here. Um I think that could be an exciting um opportunity. Uh we've looked at um potentially maybe uh glamping or again like I said other types of nature and play areas and and trail uses. So kind of enhancing um the trail so you're not just walking there but maybe even opportunities for um economic development. Uh so that's that that's something that's that's really um really different and neat I would say about about Stone Crest. Um but we're also we also do best practices um reports and reviews. So we do look and see you know what's going on in other communities that we might want to incorporate here. So part part of our review is also that we do a best practices report um and we kind of provide some examples of what um either local communities or communities um you know regionally or nationally are doing that might be of interest in terms of uh the city of Stone Crest.

Thank you.

Yes, Councilman Turner. Uh, Director Cowi, when it comes to an update, I'm looking at it as saying that something needs to be fixed. Have we identify what's broken in terms of what's not working? What's an impediment to the um growth of the city uh development potentials? What are the things that are working against us that we need to address through this process? Because I look at the overlay um for the mall, well, the Storm Crest overlay. And as one point, it looks like it allows the developer to do whatever the developer wants to do without any restrictions. when we know the intent was to make sure that we don't allow developers to run unchecked, but at the same time we want to attract high-end development. So, uh, can we pinpoint those things that are simply not working and need to be fixed versus just going into we're just going to fix everything and not know what's broken or appears to be broken. Well, thank you for that feedback, Councilman Turner. We um not only is staff reviewing with the consultant team because we're on the inside and we see the requests and we understand the requests, but we also want the public from the outside to look in on what we can do best. You've already answered your own question of everything does not need to be repaired. And again, um, as we told our, um, our participants on last, um, Wednesday, everything, um, in the zoning code is based on

interpretation. And it is not a wrong interpretation because a development cannot happen the way that a developer or a potential business owner would like for it to happen. Um, we would like to uh pat ourselves on the back as being professionals with long years of experience in planning and zoning and we're able to understand how the code works and what is allowed and what's not allowed and that's what we're reviewing. Um, we also have a legal review of the ordinance as well to make sure that we are up to date and modern on the um, not only the wording, the language that's in the code so it can be not only interpreted from the inside which is staff but from those who are coming to the city of Stone Crest.

I hope that answers your question. I see economic developments in the house. Yes. And that is something that we're really concerned about and that is the impact that this has on the economic development of the city because that will impact everything else. So we're working very closely with economic economic development to determine that we're getting what needs to attract economic development. Uh are we already attractive enough? uh will this detract from some of those things that we're trying to get?

We're very much um attracting um economic development um proposals to the city of Stone Crest and we are working with the economic development team to help us enhance what those questions may be when they propose development or uh a business that want to wants to be housed in the city of Stone Crest. So, we are working like hand in hand. When he moves, I move. That's correct.

Okay. Um, I'm going to touch on another area and that is Arabia Mountain and I love the greenery, the green space and are you looking at its impact on well the Arabia mountain overlay its impact on economic development? Is there anything to be addressed there or is it perfect as is? So those are some of the questions you're going to deal with because it is restrictive. Is it too restrictive is a question that's being asked by some. So I'm just asking that you take a look at it. And it's beautiful. I love it. Gigs love it. But uh is it too restrictive for the economic development or the development that we're looking to grow in Stone Crest?

We will surely look at that. Okay. And is this an effort to simply point out the issues or to go ahead and enact legislation to change things? Both. Okay. Okay. But they will they will come in order. They will come. Okay. We'll talk about the order. Thank you very much. Thank you, Mayor Pro Tim. I apologize. Um, Councilman Turn, I apologize. I yield. Yield. All right. Um, thank you so much, Mayor Pro Tim. Um, Director Callie. Um, and also Miss, um, Smith.

Miss Smith. Thank you. So, we got two Smiths in the house. Um, so I just wanted to check in first off on the um timeline of where we're at. I know we're in the preliminary stage, but as we've gone through um as we've gone through where in the phases are we at towards that final legislative piece before council?

I think during the presentation um Councilman Fi, the um Miss Bid did present the timeline on where we are. Um this is the feedback. We're looking for this open engagement um community feedback um the surveys the um the comments we're looking for that at this stage again June July I think she did state that we will start reviewing the sections where we've heard well all all sections but we will be reviewing all sections to incorporate the uh edits um the feedback that we've heard and also the discussions that we will have with the steering committees and the um open houses that we will continue to have so we can be as transparent as possible before the final um product is presented to mayor and city council. So we will um continue to have these open meetings to have these discussions with the public and yourselves. Please at any time if you have feedback we are here to receive that as well. That's that's excellent to hear. Um, second piece was are we marrying um the I know that we have the matrix fee study that we had here. Is that also being considered in this project? I know that we've had a couple of studies and pieces there and just wanted to make sure that I know that they're parts of the car but different pieces. One's a wheel once a wheel on driver's side, one's on the passenger side. Are are we also considering those pieces as to how those will affect our fees?

The fee study we actually took out as a part of the um tasks or the deliverables for the zoning um update because we were doing the matrix fee study. So the part of where we were adopting or reviewing fees, we actually did an addition incorporated it to have additional open houses or community meetings for the people to give us feedback. The matrix fee study is there and we're looking to hopefully have that reviewed and adopted soon. So that part of the study we won't have to address.

Excellent. Um and then finally, just a request. Um, I know that we, you and I talked a little bit about doing this as separate legislation, but um, just may as well marry it into this project. That thing we talked about with um, certain burgeoning industries coming into the city of Stone Crest and ensuring that they have the fair and proper regulations, especially around certain distances. So, if we can make sure that that's implemented into this for that final piece, I'll be looking for that. Thank you so much. Thank you. Council, any other questions? Mayor Pro Tim.

Yes, Councilwoman Smith. One last question for those in the community who um would like an understanding of how this links or impacts um comp the comprehensive plan. Do you mind giving just a little bit of the impacts, how they um relate to one another, what you're doing, and the comprehensive plan?

Question. Our comprehensive plan is the future outlook out outlook or the land use of what um is proposed for the city of Stonerrest. When um just to give you a little bit of um feedback, when staff um does a report for a proposed project that wants a resoning, not only does it have to comply with the zoning ordinance and the regulations that we've established, it must also be in compliance with our land use. And we are and that's the underlying what we see the future of the city of Stone Crest being developed as. So that compliance goes with the zoning ordinance and the permitted uses. So what we see the vision or the goals or the outcome in the comprehensive plan will mirror what we see in the zoning ordinance so that we can make sure that all are in compliance. No one is off. But if you see cases and you see me coming before you for a zoning case is because somebody is a little bit off with their request. So they have to come and ask for permission.

You're welcome. Tim.

Yes. Councilman Turner. Uh, let me just say that when the presentation opened, it talked about modernizing um our codes and whatnot as if we're living in the log cabin and horse and buggy days. Uh, well, I understand that um, 8 years old, I would hope we are somewhat modern and uh, to modernize it even more to fit some of the standards. but uh kind of give us a feel not now as to some of those things that are really outdated in terms of uh the way we do our zoning. In addition to that, I think this is a great opportunity to educate the public because a lot of time we act purely off of emotion and not out of understanding as to how the zoning and codes work. So the citizen academy again is a great opportunity for that. and those other opportunities to educate the public on how this process works. So, just to point that out and to keep it up. And that does it for me for now.

Thank you, Councilman Turner. Any other questions for Mrs. Q? Miss Q, I know you mentioned the matrix fee update and I know we talked about it for a while, but where are we with the process of bringing it before council? It is um my understanding that we are still reviewing the um matrix fee study. We're reviewing it with finance so we all can um be on the same pages and make sure that the um fees that we're proposing is comparable for the city of Stone Chris. Do you think that would be ready before council um next council meeting or we looking more towards May for this process looks um look towards May. Okay.

The May. So that will still have give us enough time to review for internally and the changes that we need to make here. Okay. Well, thank you so much for your presentation. I appreciate you.

Thank you. Next on the agenda is human resource update by our director of human resources, Mrs. Leona Deran. Good evening, Mayor Pam and council. See here. Welcome. council. At this time, um there are no policy changes or any actions that I am bringing forth this evening um for decision. Thank you, sir. However, HR continues to uh focus on our role of um maintaining compliance and workforce support across all departments within the city. Okay, here we go. This first slide provides a quick workforce snapshot. Uh we currently have 82 employees including mayor and council. We do have several vacancies um across key departments. Um however, we are only recruiting for um actively recruiting for athletic aquatic coordinator, seasonal summer camp workers, public safety director, and of course the city

manager position. Um, as of March 31st, we had four hires and four separations this year with a 5% turnover rate. And from a safety standpoint, we've had one workers comp incident and one vehicle accident which led to a vehicle vehicle loss. HR highlights workforce development and recognition. Um HR continues to invest in of of course in professional development to strengthen internal expertise and support the city. Um our HR generalist Robin Jackson, she successfully earned her master facility certification in February. Um I completed the safety coordination certification from GMA last month. And of course, these certifications will enhance our ability to provide trainings and improve uh workplace safety. HR also focused on both compliance and community engagement. We successfully developed and distributed the city's very first benefits booklet, ensuring employees have a clear and accessible have clear and accessible benefits information. Um you should all have a copy in front of you. Um HR also participated in citizens academy and provided transparency into HR operations. Employee recognition program recognizing our employees always remains a priority for HR. At the last employee appreciation day, we recognized those individuals who won the people's choice award, which were Reggie Powell and Stephen Shepard from our facilities department and Tanya Diaz from our parks department. We also recognize those who won the sunflower service award, Frank

Austin, code enforcement, and Tiara Lawrence from your clerk's office. Longevity awards. We also recognize employees who have demonstrated long-term commitment um and service to the city and that's a total of three years. From our finance department, Eric Hawkins from the facilities department, Tony Banks, Joe Herd, T Tiana Elder, Steven Shepard, and Kiron Lindsay from the code enforcement department. Keenan Maher, and Kendrick Nixon. workforce engagement, safety and wellness. Um this quarter HR has continued to focus on employee engagement, wellness, and proactive safety initiatives. Um in the first quarter, we hosted several impactful sessions um aimed at both personal and professional development. In January, we kicked off the year with a vision workshop um helping employees align their goals and expectations for the year. In February, we introduced a wellness therapist to support employee mental health and well-being. There we go. And then in March, we welcome GMA for a retirement workshop. some upcoming trainings. We have active threat training um which is going to be mandatory for all employees on April 22nd. We also have AED training on April 23rd and bleeding control on April 23rd as well. And we will also have sensitivity training which will cover um professionalism. Um it will also hostile work work environment and also uh sexual

harassment. We are excited about about our upcoming event. We have a health fair scheduled for May 13th where the Kaiser mobile health unit will be here. Um they will do biometric screenings to include blood pressure, glucose, cholesterol, and vaccinations. Um Dicab County Board of Health will also partner with us. So, they'll be here on that day. Um, also, Eat Right Atlanta, anyone who participates will receive a bag of fruits and vegetables, a free bag of fruits and vegetables, and we also have other vendors who will be um participating in the health fair event. In closing, Mayor Pro Tim, overall these efforts um reflect HR's continued support and focusing on fostering a safe and healthy work environment for our employees. Any questions?

Mim. Yes, Councilman Turner. Mr. You mentioned we have 82 employees. Was that 82 budgeted position or that's currently hired? I mean in occupied currently hired occupied 82.

Okay. Um one thing that I was glad to see and that was the service awards and it was good to see people here for five years and so forth. In other words, the staff is becoming somewhat stable and now that they are somewhat stable. I was looking to put faces with names. Is that something that's on the website or can be put on the website? There are pictures. There are pictures on the website. Um, but I can send out a mask email. Okay.

Just help me get to the website so I can see that because I have a little trouble with names and faces. Faces, not so much as names. So, uh, that that will help me quite a bit. Yes, it's on SharePoint. All right. I just need to know how to navigate our own website. All right. And that's it for me. So, thank you very much. You, council, any other questions? Mayor Bin.

Yes. Counciloman Washington. Yes. Um, under the charter, since we don't have a city manager, uh, since January the 8th, how were we able to hire? Um, let's see. We had before the city manager resigned, um, there were a couple of PAS, which is a personal action form that was signed and also one was signed by the mayor. Uh, so those were the two hieries that came in after January the 8th. Is that what you're saying? Correct. Okay.

So, it was there were four hires if I'm not mistaken. There weren't two. There were four hires. Four new hires. A couple were signed before the city manager resigned and then the mayor signed one. So, the mayor can sign one. You're asking me, can the mayor sign one? I'm not sure she did sign off on it, though.

Okay, I'm done. Thank you, Councilwoman Washington. Any other questions? Mayor Pro Tim. Yes, Councilwoman Smith. The information that you shared, um, I don't see it in the packet. So, is there somewhere we where we can find your presentation? I can send it to you. We usually don't send the actual I don't usually send the presentations to council, but I can send it to you. Okay. I just like to see the information before so I can draft my questions before I get to this desk. Okay. Thank you. Any other questions?

Okay. You mentioned um you did a training last week. You did a training at GMA uh workshop, a retirement workshop. Mhm. And you said you received a certificate. Oh, you're talking about my training. I'm sorry. I thought you mentioned that in the presentation. Safety coordination and you completed. Well, congratulations. Thank you. Um also you mentioned we're having a um a health fair on May 13th. Yes. What time is that health fair? It's from 10 to 2 if I'm not mistaken. 10 to two.

And I know Councilwoman Washington did ask about the employees and I just wanted to um refer to legal in regards to the question she proposed. I know um HR did say that a couple of the orders was signed before the previous city manager left and then one was signed by the mayor. Was that if you can give some feedback on that for Councilwoman Washington that would be great. Thank you may madame mayor proam. Um, so in accordance with the charter, I think what's being referenced is that the city manager um is the individual that takes um charge over the removal and also um adding or hiring of people or employees should I say to the city. So, um, in the event that we don't have a city manager in place to provide, um, that action, I think there there might be a discrepancy there. Okay. Thank you. Um, I guess that can be a discussion for council or we can discuss that offline. So, I really appreciate your presentation. Um, and when you share it with Councilwoman Smith, if you can share it with all council members, that would be great.

Most definitely. And I would also like to um also acknowledge that Deputy City Manager um has also signed off on one as well. Okay. Um and I would also like to clarify that um it wasn't something that HR requested of the mayor. It was a question that was what was outstanding and I gave that information and so that's how that came about. Madame Mayor Pam. Yes. Um I want to correct the record. I have not signed off on any uh personnel action forms to hire anyone.

You will be with the summer camp is what I'm saying. Excuse me. Okay. Well, thank you so much for your update. Again, I appreciate it. Um, council, do you have any other questions before? Uh, no question, but just more of a statement. Just wanted to thank Director Duran for the assistance so far with some of the other um some of the more um pressing searches that we've been do that we've been doing um on behalf of council. Expertise has been has been welcomed. Thank you. Absolutely. Next on the agenda is for discussion. discussion.

Discussion our purchasing card policy amendment by our finance director and councilman Fi. Thank you, Mayor Pro Tim. I will wait for director Franklin to come up before we start discussing. Good evening again. Good evening. I want to say I apologize if I I I did look at the agenda, but I should have put all of your items together.

Oh, it's fine. So, what is in the packet is the updates made to the current uh purchasing card policy. There are about, let's see, about five areas that we did um some revisions to. So, one of the areas that you will notice a revision to is updates to the what we can do in emergencies and natural disasters. It adds a little bit more detailed information stating that um there's a limit per incident, the requirement to report to council when the incident has happened, and also um how long a incident can occur. Also within the reconciliation section, we added a little bit more detail to that as well where it states that reconciliations are due within 10 business days. Before we did not have a timeline on that and then also consequences for late reconciliations. We added an entire fraud and misuse and investigation section to the policy that was not previously within the policy providing guidance to those who have a pecard if they misuse the pecard. Also, we added additional language to say that training and is required and also a credit and background check would be required. So, the credit and background check actually replaces the bond requirement that was previously in the pre-card and we would be um once implemented we would be reaching out to a third party to run those credit and background checks. To date, we have about two proposals from two different companies for that service. And so, we do have a roll out plan for that with those two companies. It should take

maybe two to three weeks to get on board. Any questions? Council and um mayor, excuse me, mayor prom. Yes, councilman.

And just to because we did discuss this during finance committee, these are processes and pieces that we wanted to make to be able to ensure that we um that originally we passed the purchasing card policy. there were it was more of a preemptive step to make sure that we were ensuring the safe stewardship of of taxpayer dollars. Um we've discovered that there is a better system to use one that is more equitable and more um feasible to allow for our city to be able to operate in an effective manner. And so Director Franklin took ad took um feedback from both um Councilwoman Smith and myself regarding the purchasing card policy and discoveries that we made. And so again, these is the this is the second time this is before you and so there are still opportunities to be able to provide those changes.

May council I mean Councilman Turner, I was just looking at the the policy and the changes. All the changes highlighted in yellow. Yes, in yellow. Those are the all those are changes. Yes. Everything else is exactly the same. Uh the part about background checks when an employee comes on board there's a basic background check. Uh and I know there are different levels of background check. So uh are these delineated such that I'm at a level one and order to get a P card I got to be a level five or something like that or whatever?

No. Um, so upon hire, there isn't a background check related to credit card use. So, this will be more so focused on um financial stewardship, not really a criminal background check per per se. So, if you have like any recent um leans or bankruptcies or just to see how how good of a steward you are with your current finances before you issue the PC card, it's not based on credit check. I mean, not credit check, but your credit score, but just your overall financial responsibility. And you said there's a periodic update. How often would you update the background check on someone who has a pecot?

Once a year. Once a year. Okay. Council, any other questions for Mrs. Franklin? Mayor Pro Tim. Yes, Councilwoman Smith.

Thank you, Miss Franklin. First and foremost, thank you. Um, I do have one area. It's not an area that was updated, but it's something when I was reviewing this again, I saw vendor in here. And um, when I start doing a little research, then there should not be a time when a vendor has a PE card. kind of contradictory to the the state requirements when it comes to PECARD. So, um it is in section I that's one thing. Mayor Prom,

Councilwoman Smith, are have you yielded? No, I have not. Are you referring to um under the within 48 hours of transaction, the car holder must submit area under section I? What a employee means. What an employee is

Yes. Miss I it it's under Are you referring to where it says employees? Yes. So section one, right? I see where you are. I mean section I, number I, letter I. It's on page five.

Okay, I see that. We can make that edit. So I'm thinking um that was set up the employees based on reimbursement that the employees would be set up as a vendor in the system. I'm not that that section is not talking about vendors that we work with but Miss Franklin can verify and then um we could just get a little bit more descriptive in that. Okay. To make sure that it's clear. Okay. That was the only section, Miss Smith, um, Councilwoman Smith, you were referring to.

Um, there is another that restricts, um, there has to be, let me find it. Um, so the travel restrictions. Our draft states that um uh Stone Crest prohibits PE card use for lodging and meals except for in emergencies. And for us when we're traveling then um whoever holds the PE card, they will utilize the PC card in order to book travel. So that I don't know if that's the correct terms to have in the the policy.

And which page is that? That is now you're asking me hard questions. I wrote the note. Give me a give me a second. So that would be on page 52. help. Okay, I can take a look at that as well.

Thank you. And then there's one more where a an approval is required prior to utilizing a PECARD. It it um required pre-approval before every purchase. So the purpose of a PC card to my understanding would be to streamline purchases without prior approvals. So if we have a certain designated amount that you can't purchase over, then yes, of course, you get the approval. But is this saying that every PECAR purchase has to have prior approval? Um I think what that is speaking to say for example if you were to travel you do have to get permission to travel first. So all your travel documentation needs to be submitted and then once it's approved then you can proceed with the travel as an example. Okay, that's in travel instances. But outside of that, if a PC card is assigned, not to me because I'm not getting a PC card, but if a PC card is assigned, then there is not pre-approval needed to utilize the the PC card for every purchase.

Well, pre preapproval in the sense that you need to have um an approved budget line for the item that you purchasing. Yes. Yeah, that makes sense. Yep. Yes. Okay, Mayor Pro Tim, I yield. Thank you, Councilwoman Smith. Madame Mayor Pro Tim. Yes, Miss Thompson. Wanted to point out um that section uh or that definition under I the vendor.

Yeah, I it's seems to be referring to um and I don't know if this was made clear, but it seems to be referring to um individuals who might lead city departments. And I'll give an example like our city engineer right now is still a contracted employee. He's not um a direct employee. But if the city wanted engineering to maybe work more efficiently, they would maybe give someone like him a a credit card or a PE card. So this might refer to someone like um our engineer who is the head of a department, but he's still um a vendor or he still works in a contracted role. So that's just something to consider. Um but is of course it's still your pleasure to still limit it to individuals who are directly um employed under the city of Stonerest.

Councilwoman Smith, would that conclude your questions? Yes. Thank you.

Any other questions hearing? None. Thank you so much. Thank you so much, Miss Franklin. Next on the agenda. Oh, you again. Um the sponsorship policy by Councilman Fi and Director Franklin. So before you have the draft of the sponsorship policy um that was created, the highle summary of the sponsorship policy is to ensure that uh funds from the city are used for public use and also to outline that there is a uh approval threshold for those funds that are being used. Anything over $500 will need to be approved by council. Anything under $500 can be approved by finance if included in the adopted budget and that's the highle purpose and overview of the sponsorship policy.

Mayor Pro Tim. Yes, Councilman F.

As an um as a general aside um and reminder, this was discussed during the finance during the um earlier finance committee meeting. Um this is just to provide that those um standard definitions because I know that council does have a we do have a sponsorship budget line and we there's always been hesitation from council as to how we implement it and how we actually do it. So this is the guiding policy to ensure that those pieces are um effectively that those pieces are effectively cons um clarified. Okay. Also, do we have any questions for Director Franklin in regards to the sponsorship policy?

May Pro Tim. Yes, Councilman Turner. I was looking for more guidance as to who might qualify for sponsorship. I know we sometimes have requests from athletic teams for sponsorship or some school activities. And then there are some neighborhood activities requesting sponsorship. Some have been approved, some have been turned down. So I was looking for more of a definition as to what does it take to qualify. Okay. There is I'm so sorry. No, go ahead.

Um the there is a So are you asking for clarification under the per public purpose requirement?

I'm sorry. Say that again. There's a there's a par under the um policy for the public purpose requirement and that kind of gives a gives a guideline of what you need to look for. So um re regional government conferences. It supports the general um supporting cooperative intergovernmental initiatives promote economic development support communitywide events align with council strategic goals. And I know that um what is your name? Alicia also mentioned, I'm so sorry, um sent also to council and guidance on making sure we included the grat a reference to the gratuitity clause in this um um in this policy as well. So those are mainly the guiding principles as to the description of things that we're allowed to um sponsor per this policy and per state law.

Okay. But when we get a presentation or a request, someone has to say this qualifies, this does not qualify. Is that determined through the office of the financial director or the city manager or does it come to council? Um, and you spoke of the $500 or the four $4.99 uh limit uh as to what has to be approved and what does not have to be approved. But if you have a bunch of requests for $4.99 uh for something that may not fit some description as to what Council F just read off, um who makes the final call on that?

Um finance can do a preliminary review before it's before it's presented um to council. We can make that part of the workflow which will be outside of the policy but the actual workflow of how things get reviewed and approved. We can draft something up for that.

Okay. And there are some bigger requests than the 499 uh that have been floated and we're not totally sure as to what qualifies and what doesn't qualify. I understand what was written here but still for me it's not clear enough. So, I'm trying to get greater clarity as to what qualifies for sponsorship and uh what does not.

So, it will be on a case-by case basis because you'll have different organizations requesting sponsorships and they may be um with a different background. They be they may be educational based, you know, they may be organizational political hopefully not political based organizations. So based on the organization requesting the funds and what they're requesting the funds for also uh who's benefiting from those funds will play a part into whether or not it would be considered allowable. And that's where the ambiguity comes in. Right.

Yeah. If I may, I was I was going to make that same comment because it sounds like there's going to be a point in time where somebody has to step in and kind of make that policy decision on what you can and cannot give to individuals in our community. And I know in the past, I think council kind of has use your own discretion, right? When um or when you wanted to maybe donate funds, it was left to the discretion of the council member. So would it in this case be left anything under $4.99 and I think those numbers might might need to be switched on that line. Anything under $4.99 would it be left to the discretion of finance or can council still decide where they want to make that um donation as long as the budget is available?

Well, if it's in the adopted budget, then it was already approved by council indirectly because council approves the budget. So um naturally by default those things would be allowable because they were already being adopted budget and because another thing you also would want to take into consideration is you know you don't know um on January 1 when um sponsorship opportunities might arise throughout the year. So you can't anticipate that all the time. So that's just something you might want to um to think about.

Okay. that's almost like a first come first serve until you're out of funds uh for those sponsorships. So, um I'm just looking for cut and dried and I understand not everything is cut and dried, but um we have those requests and I just say well ask and we'll see what happens but I cannot give them a direct here's what you have to do in order to qualify or not qualify. So, um, it's going to require some more discussion and we could come up with a flowchart or that says is it this, yes or no, and if it's no to kind of guide you as to what's may be allowable or not allowable.

Well, I would say that the policy kind of is clear on what is allowed and what's not allowed. The gratuitity clause is also very clear about what's allowed and what's not allowed. I don't I think that you know when an applicant quote unquote comes to council asking for sponsorship we have the laws we have the policies in front of us to make that determination I don't think you can account for that in a policy every single scenario I think that these guiding principles are clear enough and um what's the word um stringent enough for a council to be able to make those determinations and of finance. Mayor, are you

Mayor Pro Tim? Yes, Mayor Kbble.

Um, I got a couple questions about the approval requirements and this resolution by the city council based on this. Well, any number to be honest, but certainly $4.99. Um, as you recall in this city's budget, there's a sponsorship line for the city council and then there's a mayor's initiative line of which does not require the city council by resolution to approve how the mayor's initiatives line is spent. So, if the DICE decap 100 black men or the Arabia Mountain Alliance or uh I don't know uh the 10 to 20 organizations, the Dicap County School District um for teacher appreciation week or I mean I can go on and on and on and on and on about the contributions to our community that come from the mayor's office. it it would be um somewhat out of order for me to require or request of the city council to approve how I spent the mayor's initiative line um especially over $499.99. Um, so I'm I don't understand why why would the city council have to approve spending of $499.99 for anything, let alone sponsorships.

Mayor Broen, the mayor still have the floor. I mean, anybody who got the answer can answer. Councilman Fi, you want to make a comment? Yes. So I understand your point and I think that these pieces also those still fall under the um various four parts under the city fund usage and that's an initiative line. I don't think it's meant to be used as a sponsorship line. So those are two different definitions under the

I can define what the mayor's initiatives are. And if an initiative out of the mayor's office is to provide sponsorships to community based organizations, then that's that's my definition of a mayor's initiative, which I do more often than not. I read to the students. I'm I mean there I I can go on and on and on and on about the things that I do to support our community. Absolutely. out of my initiatives because that is a mayor's initiative. Absolutely.

And I see where the purpose of the funds is, but you have this approval requirement section. Um, and as I read it, and maybe Miss Franklin, I'm reading this incorrectly. As I read it, the approval requirements apply, right? Regardless of the definition of your use. And that's so even though it falls under your use definition, you're still applying this approval process, are you not? Right. It's by it's numerical. It's by department.

It Well, my understanding is this. A sponsorship is more so giving funds towards sponsoring a program. It's not you actively doing something in the community with yourself. If you're having an event or contributing to an event, that's not necessarily a sponsorship. It's you doing something. Sponsorship, however, is purchasing clothes for an event. It is um actively the act of giving of a city fund towards something. And I think that's how that's

Yeah. I and I'm I'm comprehension is real good. So one of my mayor's initiatives is to read to our students and in doing so I provide them the book that I'm reading which would be a sponsorship right I'm sponsoring said I'm give you an example of how I'm using my initiative and I'm not here to debate with you the definition between how I use the initiative line right because then that'll be on the next council meeting so that's not my question my question is if you're applying the approval requirements to every everything that is listed under city funds usage then this approval of $499.99 will come before the city council for a resolution and I also want to give you another example when um we are uh I'll give you the county CEO's state of the county uh is next month is next month and just like I do for the council on quality growth or the state of the region for the ARC or the state of martyr I typically will sponsor a table and fill it with our staff. Right. I I'm not coming to city council for a resolution for $400.99 to sponsor a table at events that happen throughout this state and certainly this county by resolution of the city council.

I don't think that's a appropriate use of city funds. I don't. And I think I would feel more comfortable if you were to come to the come to the legislative body, report what you're doing, explain that, and say, "This is how it's going to help help move the city forward." Absolutely not, sir. Every city in this county participates in regional, statewide, and certainly countywide events that help promote our city, what we're doing, and put us in the spaces that we need to. That's not inappropriate use. Stone Crest will be the only city that would not be at these events. I don't think that precludes

because every city is purchasing tables and sponsorship. This is this is literally what happens every single year. Some of which many of you on this dis have attended those events at tables that my office has purchased. Yes. And I think that you making the you making the excuse me, the office making the pitch and then saying to the legislative body, this is what we're going to spend these dollars on. This is how it's going to benefit the city. This is how we're going to do it. I don't think that's too much.

So, so now you're saying it's a mayor's initiative line, but come to the legislative body in a completely different branch to ask to spend money in a budget line that's not legislative. for an event that supports our city. And remember, you know, everybody, lots of folks will want to be mayor one day. So, keep in mind that you're you're asking you're saying to the executive branch, ask the legislative branch for permission to to do something that supports and sponsors our community and get permission from the legislative body if it's over $499. Yeah.

Okay. All right, Mayor Proton, I yield. Well, it was it was my turn, so yield on my behalf. Thank you. If you're applying in this requirement process across this in this entire subject matter of sponsorships, um I caution you on that. Let me I'll just say it that way. Um, and that's a fair that's a fair assessment. I will say that May. Mayor Carb, are you? Yeah, I'm good.

Thank you, Councilman Turner. Uh this speaks to external sponsorship policy and um might there be an internal sponsorship policy that might be different? Um no it it's synonymous. Uh sponsorship policy is just to further clarify that is money going outside of the city. city funds being paid outside of the city but for the benefit of citizens of Stone Crest. Correct.

Okay. Um I wanted to shift if we'll finish with that part of it to talk about the predium. um when it speaks to paying for family members to attend conferences and whatnot, uh we have a perdem allowance and within that perdm allowance. Um is that something that is paid automatically? Uh must you provide receipts to collect the pium? um a standard it'll be the standard travel process. So yes, you will have to provide support and documentation. I'm trying to find that page, but it should align with um the verbiage in the travel policy as it relates to PDM.

Well, I'm trying to understand if it's a PDM, why is there a receipt requirement? Maybe that term should be changed to support and documentation. Are you on page 70? On page two. I don't recall the page. I just made a couple of notes when I did go through it. Yeah, maybe we can change the the word used there.

I'm not saying you have to. I'm just saying is it clear? Because my concern is that on some of the travel that we make to conferences and whatnot, a part of your registration covers certain meals during that period. Are those meals considered a part of the pdeium and would be subtracted from your daily predium? Are we talking about the receipts or whether or not you need receipts? Because PRDM is that's based on like morning, breakfast, lunch, dinner, right?

So, I'm saying that if part of my registration covers lunch, uh do I also qualify for a prod check for lunch? No, you should. I would say no. Yeah, you should not. I'm just saying that is this accounted for in here to make that perfectly clear. I don't think it's spelled out in here, but we can spell that out in here. And also, um, reference to the travel policy in here, but it's not spelled out in here now. Okay. Just wanted to point that out. And maybe it doesn't need to be, maybe it does. Just something that I'm familiar with in the past is that I get part of the registration, two meals are provided, then I get a full prod for the whole day. Something's not

correct kosher about that. Correct. Okay. Councilman Turner. Yes, ma'am. The the way ours is set up, you have to provide a receipt. So, if your if your breakfast and lunch is included in your registration, you you wouldn't have a receipt to provide.

Well, I could choose to skip the paid for lunch and pay for my lunch, which means now the city is paying twice. They paid for it in the registration and they paid for it again when I didn't eat lunch that was already paid for and I ate lunch someplace else. So that's just to point that out. Well, that's I I understand that's why I pointed it out such that it would be and it stated somewhere that oh I didn't know that. Yeah, you should have and it's in the policy to add that additional detail in there. We can do that. Mayor Roim, Councilman Turner,

I Councilman Smith, I just wanted to add um for Councilman Turner that I did recently have travel for training and um our constituent services person. She did not include she looked at the itinerary and did not include PDM for those meals that were included in the training. Okay. So, it's there, but it needs to be spelled out somewhere because when I challenge it, I don't see it in writing. So, and that's all I'm saying. Okay, we can add that. Mayor Pton, I have another question if no one else does.

Yes, Mayor Kbble. Um the I would like a little bit more clarification on this family member attendance section. Um I guess before I ask this, who drafted this document, by the way? Who drafted this policy? I did. Okay. Was there any other governments that you used to reference that I can pull their policies to compare to? Um I can send that to you. I don't have it off on hand. We don't know the the municipalities that you use off top of your head. No, this was a little while ago.

Okay. Yeah. If you'll send me a reference to each um municipality that you used and the sections in which you referenced those policies to this one um the family member attendance. I guess I'd like to get a little more clarification on and since you're the author, would you walk through for me kind of what was the what were we trying to achieve or accomplish in this section? What do we think was uh causing complication currently? And then what what is this intended to resolve? Well, I don't think this section was created because there were there was a complication from my perspective. Um, it's just something we wanted to include in the policy because sometimes family members, spouses do want to accompany individuals on trips. So just providing a general guardrail for that um to make sure that it's customary um and not just something that you know you want to go on a trip so you go on a trip and we actually pay for that trip. So So this is this section is more referencing a a going on a trip not necessarily a sponsorship because this is the right am I looking right? This is the sponsorship policy,

right? I'm calling it a trip, but it's travel to travel. If you have a sponsorship where travel is involved, when you have a spouse travel with you, it's providing guideline to that. So, this is only applicable to a sponsorship that requires travel. This attendance of family members section. So for instance, if council member were to bring their spouse to the state of the region

event, this section does not apply. Seeing that the state of the region event is here in the Atlanta area, is this only for sponsorships that have travel, meals, lodging, and registration fees attached to it? This travel verbiage is related to the sponsorship policy. So any general travel will be in the travel policy. Say that one more time. This this member attendance section is related to travel associated with sponsorships only.

Yes. So, like the example you just gave, if you were to buy a table and you wanted to have your spouse accompany you to that event, that would cover if your spouse were to accompany you to a sponsorship event. Mayor Prom, Councilman Fi, Mayor Cobb will still have the floor. Do you want to make a response? Like to give some more clarification here? Absolutely. Um, yes. So, just wanted to make sure that we had in this policy clarification around that that sponsorship. Do you have language that you would like to suggest so we can clarify?

Well, maybe, but I I don't understand its relationship to the policy.

When I read this section, it it seems to me that it says the city shall not use city funds not be used to pay for travel, meals, lodging, registration fees, or entertainment for a family member. So when I read that, that reads to me um that all of this and even when I keep reading it applies to this while on travel, right? But if this is not a travel policy and this is about external sponsorships, it's I don't I don't see how it ties to the policy of this is this is about travel. So, if you would, so if I could take a suggestion from you, would you say that we need to duplicate that language in our travel policy in order for it to make sense?

Would say you should move it to the travel policy if it's about travel. Um, if it's about a family attending an event funded by a sponsorship, then that's a different that's a whole different set of uh, I guess rules and expectations than a family member accompanying an elected official while on travel. So when I read this, this reads to me like this is talking about while on travel,

not a family member accompanying one of us to an event sponsored by the city or that the city paid for a sponsorship in as my example. Um, so we can if you were to have a plus one, I mean, as you all recall, there are many things you've gone to where you had a plus one. So if if we're trying to write rules for the plus one that's for just an event um that we provided a sponsorship for this to me does not apply. This to me applies just to the travel policy that this that section

and I appreciate you for giving that for showing that oversight on my part. Um again I appreciate that. We can absolutely add it to the travel policy as well. I imagine if you if you leave it here, right, and then someone says, "I'd like to um you know, bring myself and a and a spouse." So, if you purchase a table of 10 and there are we've done this a h 100 times and there's five council members, right? And everyone has a plus one, that's one table. And then considering that there are six of us, that's usually a table and some um then someone can come to this policy and say, "Well, your spouse can't come because this prohibits them this section." That's what I'm saying. I'm I'm not saying to duplicate it. I'm saying it's not applicable here. And if you like to write rules about spouses attending or family members rather, because it don't have to be a spouse. Sometimes my son accompanies me to Jack and Jill events um that are for the youth. Um and certainly um I think that would be appropriate. Okay. So, just so I'm clear, the recommendation is to um change to move the travel verbiage to the travel policy and possibly um change the verbiage in this area to address uh spouse or family members that attend sponsorships events. Yeah. I mean, I guess if the city council would like to regulate the family members that accompany them to sponsored events, sure. I'm not saying that you have to. Um, I'm certainly saying that what you have written here applies to travel. And if it is the city council wants to regulate the family members attending the events that have a sponsorship connected to them, I mean, they can. I don't I don't I don't personally see why that's necessary, but it can.

And I would I would also just say that I I think if you use spouse and family member, right, you're using very restricted language. You may want to bring someone who's neither of those. It's just a plus one, right? It could be your neighbor. It could be a senior that you're taking to a senior ball. It could be I mean, it could be many of people. don't have to be family members who may accompany you. I would caution you there as well. But I I would also like to see the municipalities that you use to and the sections applicable to those to create them. Any other questions? Mayor Ko, I

I'm sorry. I do have one more. I apologize. It's not really a question. It's more of a inquiry. I guess that is a question. Um the Well, I guess this may be routed from the finance committee. Um the city staff is also in need of a policy about receiving sponsorships.

Okay. um probably more um with more priority than this one. Um although you have a draft now, but the especially the event staff as they are creating events for us and trying to get them larger and larger um they would like to ask for sponsorships for our events. So we keep in mind the restrictiveness that we are writing ourselves out of giving sponsorships. We're also on the other hand, our staff is looking to ask the same community for to sponsor our events. Um so we we need a policy um that will guide how the staff can uh request sponsorships for our events. Um and we probably should do those closely aligned to each other. So at least that we know if we are restricting ourselves from giving sponsorships out that we should not expect a whole lot in.

I have that noted.

I may thank you council. Any other questions in regards to the sponsorship? Now, Mayor Cabo, we didn't say we didn't want to participate in sponsorships. We just said we was trying to get some guidelines in place and moving forward with some sponsorships. No, we never said that. We just trying to pretty much put some guidelines in place. But any other questions, council? If not, thank you, Miss Frank. Well, I see like I think Councilman Fi has a question.

Yes. Um council, just for the perspective, um we'll make sure to get this not really question, more of a comment. We'll try to make sure that we get um these comments and very important um recommendations implemented to these to these policies so we can have them ready for God. What's what's two um not finance? What's what's two weeks from now? The meaning council meeting. Council meeting. That's the word. The 27th. 27th. Well, then we will we will attempt work on it maybe. Who knows? Thank you so much, Mayor Proton.

Thank you, Councilman Fi. And thank you so much, um, Director Franklin, for your presentation. Thank you. Next on the agenda is for decision, the contract with Stanguard um by Deputy City Manager McCoy.

Uh, yes. Uh, madame mayor, mayor prom councel, this agenda item is for the approval of a second amendment with Stangard to operate the aquatic center through um the FY26 um swim season, which starts uh Memorial Day, ends Labor Day. Uh this will allow us to maintain and um uninterrupted operations uh while we uh reassess our long-term approach. and we're recommending approval.

Council, do you have any questions for Deputy City Manager McCoy? Madam City Attorney, the amendment has been drafted um after review of the original agreement and the first amendment. So um once um you all if you all give your approval, it'll be forwarded to um Stanguard for execution. No, it's not in the agenda packet.

Say that one more time. It is not in the agenda packet. Oh, we didn't attach it to the agenda. Do you have it? I can send it to you all if you want to it. Yeah. Okay. So, the only change that's going to be implemented is the time. We're just extending the the um term of the agreement through I think September 1. So that's the only um ask of the staff here today.

Yes.

What? Right. Right now it's it's on a month-to-month basis. Um that's the language the last language that was amended um with the first amendment, but right now as Mr. McCoy said it, it's just going it's an ask to extend it to September 1 through the swim season to extend it monthto monthth to September 1. No, just to extend the contract itself. So we're changing it essentially but extending it to September 1. So you're changing the terms of the contract that today read monthto monthth. Yes.

And now it's going to what's the time period? May to September. What's the that the contract will end on September 1? So it just it the effective date was when it was signed originally and the end date is September 1, 2026. And what's the current end date? Is it is this month to month until the city um makes a decision to end the contract with 30 days notice to stand guard? So it is a monthto-month still. Yes. Yes.

But monthtomonth ending in September versus right now it's a monthtomonth with no end. It is an agreement that will end in September on the first. have it so I could read it. Okay. I will forward it to you immediately after I finish talking, but it ends on September 1, 2026. And that will be the conclusion of the city's relationship with Stanart.

Yeah, I I I get the September 1st. I just I was asking what is the change and I think you're maybe describing a hybrid. Um, and let me give you some context while I'm running that through my head and and I'll get out your way because surely um I won't hold you up. Uh, but the um when I think about an amendment, we I think most of our policy somewhere during the last few years says that any substantial change to the scope um would deem a new contract and not an amendment to a contract. And so if we're changing the term, especially the terms of payment where certainly the term of the contract to go from a monthto monthth to not a monthtomonth or a month to month with a specific end that seems to be a significant change to a contract which would be more than amendment, but by all means a cure away.

And thank you, Madam Mayor. um changing the time of a contract is um is very customary as a an amendment to a contract. So

certainly I yeah I I agree with you. I think changing the length of time you go from May to June or June to August certainly. Um I just and I don't have to I I just I don't I didn't understand your explanation of monthtomonth and it's some like you're saying yes it was month to month and maybe no it's not month to month or it's month to month with an end date. I I just I didn't I can't wrap my head around what you're saying, but maybe reading it will give me a little bit more. Um or maybe this is just the Is this what the solution you all came up with to kind of move us along? Is that why it seems a little bit different for a lack of better words?

Yes. Um so this is again just putting a final end date on the city's relationship with Stanguard. um the month-to-month with um kind of left it a little bit open, but as of this conversation and conversations that uh the staff has has have had with Stanguard and um looking at the provision of services that they want them to provide. Um ending their relationship in September at the end of swim season is sufficient. Mr. McCoy, um September the 1st, our swim season I thought our swim season end um Labor Day.

That's true. Labor Day is believe in August, but there are some close out activities that need to occur. Wait a minute. Say that one more time for me. So there are closeout activities that need to occur. Now, I I have uh I think uh the representative is from Stanguard that can go into detail about what they do in order to close the pool. Okay. So, Labor Day is on um September the 7th. September the 7th. I was hoping um well, maybe the first isn't the date. Uh Matt, you'll come forward, please.

How long are you the weeks? That days? Um, Matt will be able to answer those questions. Thank you for having me. Uh, yes. So, the the swim season would be Memorial Day through Labor Day, which is September 7th. I propose that we just extend it, if possible, through September 15th. So, that just gives us close everything down after the facility. We said it wouldn't be September. Sepmber. We'd like to amend our recommendation to September 15th, please.

The recommendation we don't have in our email. So, madame city attorney, when can we expect the information in regards to the amendment to this contract? So, the information, so we have the amendment ready to be executed today if necessary. Um, so there's no additional information needed. The only ask of staff here today is to end Stanguard's relationship on September 15th. There's there's no other supplementary information needed. But I will send the actual contract for the mayor to sign tonight if that's the council's pleasure.

Council and Mayor Prom. Yes, Councilman F. Um, Lord Jesus, I am I'm so sorry. Um and so in the amendment and per staff's recommendation um amending the con I would make in the motion a I move to approve this a move to approve this contract with the stated amendment of September 15th being the end date that has to be included in the um motion. I think if you um approve the agenda item as it stated um that's sufficient. If you want to include the date of September 15th to solidify the city's wishes on that, that would be sufficient as well.

Excellent. All right, then. Mayor Pro Tim. Yes, Councilman F. I move to approve the contract with Stanguard um Stanguard Aquatics with the stated amendments um in with the stated amended um end date of September 15th, 2026. Second. The motion has been properly moved and second by Councilman Turner. Are you ready for the question? All those in favor of the motion, please respond with yay. All those opposed, nay. Starting with district two, yay. District three. Yay. District four, yay. District five, yay.

District 1 is yay. Motion carries 5 to zero. Standing gone. Contract has been approved to September 15th of 2026. Thank you so much for being here tonight. Thank you. Council, we have this is the end of the agenda. Is there any need for executive session? Yes, Mayor Pro Tim. Yes, Councilman F. Um, I move to move set and move council into executive session to discuss personnel, litigation, real estate, and or cyber security. Second.

Motion has been properly moved and second by Councilman Turner. Are you ready for the question? All those in favor of the motion, please respond with yay. All those opposed, nay. Starting with district two, yay. District three, yay. District four, yay. District five, yay. District one is yay. We are now adjourned to executive session.

local. Thank you. Stone Crest Council Mayor Pro Tim. Yes, Councilman F. I move to bring this council out of executive session. The motion has been properly moved and second by Councilman Turner. Are you ready for the question? All those in favor of the motion, please respond. Yay. All those opposed, nay. Starting with Starting with District two, yay. District three, yay. District four. Yay. District five. Yay.

District 1 is yay. We are now back in our work session. Mayor Pro Tim. Yes. Councilman F. I move to approve the minutes from executive session. Second. The motion has been properly moved and second by Councilman Turner. Are you ready for the question? All those in favor of the motion, please respond with yay. All those opposed, nay. Starting with district two, yay. District three, yay. District four, yay. District five, yay. District one is yay. The minutes from executive session has been approved. May pro Tim. Yes. Councilman Turner.

I move to approve the settlement with settlement agreement with PE Structures Professional Engineering for the amount of $190,000. Second. The motion has been properly moved in moved by moved and second by Councilman Fi. Are you ready for the question? All those in favor of the motion, please respond with yay. All those opposed, nay. Starting with district two. Yay. District three. Yay. District four. Yay. District five. Yay.

District one is yay. The motion carries by f by the zero for the settlement with what's the name of the company? PE structures. Mayor pro Tim. Yes. Councilman F. I move to adjourn this meeting.

Second. The motion has been properly moved and seconded by Councilman Turner. Are you ready for the question? All those opposed of the All those in favor, please reply with yay. You can tell it's late. All those All those uh in favor, yay. Not in favor. Let me start over. I'm sorry. All those in favor of the motion, please respond with yay. All those opposed, nay. Starting with district two, yay. District three. Yay. District four. Yay. District five, yay. District 1 is yay. This meeting is now adjourned.