City Council - Regular Meeting

I'd like to call to order the April 23rd, 2026 meeting of the Mayor Council. I'd like to call on Pastor James P. Robertson of Good Hope Christian Church, Director of Music at Morningside Baptist Church to come and say our prayer and lead us in the Pledge of Allegiance.

Morning Star.

Morning Star. Morning Star.

Let us bow our heads. Most gracious and sovereign God, we come before you today with humble hearts acknowledging that you alone are the giver of life. You alone are the sustainer of all creation. You alone are the one who holds the winds and the rains in your hand. Father, we come crying out on behalf of our brothers and sisters in our neighboring communities of Eccles and Clinch counties and other counties affected by this wildfire disaster. Lord, send the rain that the land so desperately needs, that restores the rain, that renews the rain, that revives. Let it fall in due measure, O God, not as destruction but as blessing. In your mercy, we ask that you protect and preserve life above all else. Shield families, safeguard homes, and grant wisdom in the face of uncertainty. And if it be your will, Lord, preserve the property, preserve the resources that protect communities may recover and rebuild with strength and hope now god we also lift up the leaders of this city we ask that you would be with them lord for you have entrusted them with great responsibility grant them wisdom that is pure peaceable and full of good fruit Lead and guide their decisions that they may act justly, love mercy, and walk humbly with you. Align their hearts with your divine purpose, that their work may contribute not only to civic duty, but to the furtherance of your kingdom agenda here on earth. Remind them, oh God, that true greatness is not found in power or position but according to your word that whoever would be great must be a servant so shape them into servant leaders who seek the welfare of all people, especially the most vulnerable among us. We trust you, Lord, even in these uncertain times. Let your will be done, let your peace be felt, and let your name above all else be glorified in all things. In Jesus' name we do pray. Thank you, Lord, and amen.

Amen. All right, we have a consideration of request to approve an amendment number two for the engineering services for a belt filter replacement at the Withacoochee Water Pollution Control Plant. Jason Barnes, our utilities director, will come up and present.

Any more mayor protein and Council. Tonight is. As you know, the city about us with rod wastewater treatment at its with a coochie water pollution control plant. As part of their treatment processes, the facility we own operate a dewatering and buy solids handling process. Consists of a 27,000 gallon waste activated sludge holding tank three progressive cavity pumps and one meter gravity belt thickener and a two meter belt filter press also the polymer which is used to thicken the sewage so it will and dewater that removal the biosolids from the wastewater this work to be performed is to demolish and replace the existing belt filter press and associated polymer feed system which plans and specs contract documents prepared by CDM Smith. Given the complexity of the replacement project and potential impacts on the operations, the utilities department determined that engineering services during construction will be required from a third party. Staff requests a proposal from CDM Smith, the engineer of record, to provide engineering services during this construction. On March 25th of this year, CDM Smith submitted a proposal as an amendment to the original task authorization dated August 14, 2024, for the additional engineering services in the amount of $110,500. This proposed amendment provides for the additional scope items above. Staff recommends approving the proposal submitted by CDM Smith in the amount of $110,500. I'll be glad to answer any questions.

Council, y'all have any questions for Jason?

i have a question i just want to this belt filter is part of the original uh equipment or park or whatever we had when they built the water willow culture water plant yes ma'am didn't they have a uh like a warranty or something on it at one time it was never that built filter press the generator was the belt filter press has been there for a long time long one the one that's there now the original has been there a while and it's just to the

capacity of where it is, it just needs to be replaced.

Okay, that's what I was understanding, but I was just saying, though, how long was that plant built? I mean, that plant has only been there 10 years?

Like in 16 is when we kind of upgraded when we did that, so it was there, it came from the Mug Creek wastewater plant, and they used it and put it over there at the Wifikuchi, so it was like 10 or 15 years prior to that before it ever went to the Wifikuchi Water Pollution Control Plant. So it was a reuse from the Mug Creek, and then it was just transferred over there to Wifikuchi at that time.

Oh.

So it's been there a while. And so far, we've had some issues with it. But right now, we're able to keep it up and keep it running. It's just a time that needs to be taken out of the service and replaced.

So we're replacing the whole thing?

Yes, ma'am. Get rid of the old and replace it with new. And just to give you some information back in, we attained a turnkey deal proposal way back in, it was September 25, roughly around the early part of that. And with it being so much money, the turnkey proposal was from EIC, which they were going to come in, demolish the old one, put in the new one, install it. And with the amount of money previous administration said, let's go out for bid. So we went out for bid and then we went out for bid the first time. It went over budget, so then we're coming back now, and this is the second time we went out for bid for it. So this is just something that was already in the works, but because of the money the first time of the turnkey, we had to go out for bid, and then now we're here again. So this is something we're trying to get accomplished.

Okay, now that's fine. It's just my understanding because I was there when they would build the new plan and I thought they said we got all new state of the art, everything.

This part was not new. It was already used.

Okay, thank you.

Yes, ma'am. Council, any more questions for Jason? All right, seeing none, I'd like to have a motion.

Mayor, make a motion to approve this request as presented.

Second. All in favor?

Aye.

Approve. Next on our agenda, Jason, you can stay up here, is we have a consideration of this for the belt filter replacement project at the Withacoochee Water Pollution Control Plan.

Yeah, so I won't give you a little bit of the history, so I will tell you that this is a one-year labor warranty on this piece of equipment and a five-year as far as the actual part itself, as far as the belt filter press. Given the complexity of the replacement project and potential impacts to operations, we also require from a third party the project was posted for bid on February 10th of 2026. Three bidders responded and provided closed bids in accordance with the instructions to bidders on March 24th of 2026. the pids came in as follows rentals construction came in at one million one hundred ninety thousand five hundred dollars environmental um instrumentation and calibration eic came in at one million two hundred and twenty three thousand five hundred dollars and c terry hunt industries incorporated come in at one million four hundred and fifteen thousand four hundred and seventy seven dollars Based on all the information provided with the bids, such as the price, the relevant project experience, the age of the company, the company size and company financials, license, references, other publicly available data, and elevation of the project needs, the lowest bid was submitted by rentals, construction, of Georgia LLC in the amount of $1,190,500. This bid meets all requirements of the project and provides the best value for the city. The staff recommends to approve the low bid submitted by Reynolds Construction of Georgia in the amount of $1,190,500. I'll be glad to answer any questions.

Council, are there any additional questions for Jason?

Mr. Eason, can you go to the picture just to give them an idea of what the Belt Filter Press So that is the belt filter press. Same one we came into, like I say, when we first tried to get the turnkey proposal. So it's the same one, it's a charter filter press, so this is the one that will replace the old one that we have at the.

Any questions for Jason? All right, seeing none, I entertain a motion.

Make a motion to approve the request as presented. Second.

Second.

We got a motion and a second. All in favor? All right, approve. Next up, we have local funding and requests. Consideration of payment for emergency repairs for the installation of new valves. For the effluent filters at the Withacoochee Water Pollution Control Plant, Jason? Yes.

So on November 21st, 2024, the city of Vite Austin received more than 11 inches of rain within a 24-hour period. The effluent filters at the Withacoochee Water Pollution Control Plant can only take around 11 or 12 million gallons per day, which is the maximum amount of flow for all three filters. This caused the plant to have a hydraulic overload on the filters which caused the spill. In a heavy rain event, the secondary effluent filters were restricted around the 12 million gallons a day. The existing valves in place at the time were 24 inch valves, butterfly valves. The previous city manager requested that the emergency repairs be performed as soon as possible and recommend that the existing 24 inch valves be replaced with 30 inch valves. this will basically this will allow 50 more flow in the event of a weather event so you're thinking 11 to 12 mgd doing the calculation we're looking at 18 million gallons a day going through the filters the emergency repairs were not done until rpi an underground utility contractor submitted a base bid quote in the amount of 230 146 dollars to perform the following work And that work is to provide and install the temporary permanent vertical chamber plug, which provided by the city of Valdosta. The RPI removed the three existing 24-inch butterfly valves, provided and installed the three 30-inch flange butterfly valves, and that included tapping the wall. There was a lot of work, concrete work, they had to do to make these fit. They provided and required the bypass slash dewatering pump and the Dow on the rebar poured concrete of 895,000 PSI that was pumped of that. The emergency repairs were approved by the acting city manager on October 27 of 25, and just to give you the 230,000, that RPI 146 proposal, out of that 230,146, $186,500 was just devolved. So out of that price, it was only 43,646 for labor. So most of that was all the, 24 was the 30-inch valves. So staff recommends approving the payment RPI in the amount of $230,146 for the emergency repairs and the installation of the new valves of the effluent filters at the Wifakuchi Water Pollution Control Plant. I'll be glad to answer any questions.

Council, you don't have any questions for Jason?

I have a question okay about you say that the emergency was back in 2024 and when was it when was it actually done when was the emergency repair done.

The merge repair just we just finished at about a few weeks ago it just got completed because the price it took a long time to get those 30 in vows in so that's why the that took a while for him to get in before we could ever actually do the work.

Just my concern, would we still use that as an emergency? I mean, we still had to have an emergency payment. Emergency is a little bit more than like a regular routine payment. So we were still charged the emergency payment of two years after two years when we asked for it to be done.

So the emergency repair was acted by the previous city staff. So they wanted, because of the November 21st of 24 flood, the rain event we had, we did not wanna get caught again with another rain event and have another spill. So they wanna go ahead and call it an emergency repair and go ahead and act on it then. And so when that happened, then me and Ben O'Dowd, a city engineer, met with RPI out there on site, and we went ahead and got that ball rolling so in case we ever had another event of a rain event that way, we wouldn't get called again. So that was the reason for that.

Right. That's what I'm understanding, but what I was just concerned was since they could not do it as an emergency, It was like, well, we'll do it, like you said, a scheduled time for it. The payment, to me, should not have been an emergency payment. But I'm just looking at, you know, it's an emergency, and I just notice a lot of times with that company, everything is an emergency, and that's an increased extra payment. So that's my concern. Two years later, when it's actually done, and Ben wanted to answer, I guess.

Ben, would you like to add something to it?

I don't care.

Yeah, but the meetings that were held with RPI discussed the scope of work and the urgent need for the scope of work were held in October of last year. So just for some additional context for timeline facing here, a lot of the delay was caused by the lead time of the valves, because these are very large valves. They can take a very long time to manufacture. So I just wanted to add that we met on site with RPI in October of last year. So it's not like we've been waiting for two years to have this work done. We met urgently with RPI. We placed the order under emergency authorization to purchase the valves. And then when the valves came in, the time had to be scheduled with plant operations in order to turn the whole plant off for a period of time in order to install these valves.

Well, that's what I'm understanding. I'm like, emergency, you can do it. That was scheduled. Like, we got a routine. Like, you know what I'm saying? We're going to do this at a certain time. We will get our equipment in about five, maybe say five months later, we'll do that. And that's when you, like, have a regular payment. I mean, that's a regular charge is all I was just asking. I just noticed that.

Yeah, RPI doesn't have like an escalating billing in the price that we were provided for this scope of work.

So everything is emergency. That's what I'm just saying. Usually I'm just looking every time we have something to be done is always like an emergency payment with them. That's how I would just ask. I just noticed that and I was just saying so. I'm thinking if you schedule someone a scheduled time, the payment is not the same as if it was an emergency to have to be done right now. You know, like emergency is we got to have it done right now.

Yeah, I wouldn't consider the $40,000 in labor this particular project escalated labor.

being as I do it was scheduled underneath an emergency but as far as the charge it was not an emergency charge was authorized no it was just authorized under that that we can for emergency authorization the threat of risk was that if we got a substantial rain event between then and now

that the rain event could lead to another surcharge and overflow at the plant. So the decision was made by previous management to authorize this emergency authorization.

I think where the confusion, not confusion, but I think where the line is is the fact that most folks think emergency, meaning that there's a flood happening, there's water leaking, we've got something going on, and we've got to stop it now. we've got to order the parts, wait a year and a half, schedule time, and that doesn't seem to be an emergency in the mines, but what you're saying is that this was scheduled underneath the emergency cg correct to be able to put this in place and get this in place in case in case something happened another weather as far as the fee goes we didn't pay that no higher fee because of the emergency no no i understand the plan but we wanted it was kind of because go ahead and get it started but it not not for the mercy no it was not

Okay, I understand that there's a difference between emergency and priority, too. It could be considered a priority, but when you put emergency on there, and by the previous Senate manager, when we did have some conversations about that, he said there's a difference with the price. That's why I was asking. So why not have it as a priority rather than emergency? Emergency is a higher price than a priority.

and that's what i was questioning you he you saying that the uh previous city managers he requested as an emergency right yes because of in case we had another weather event i understand what you're saying we just want her to get the ball rolling not like a mercy repair paying the emergency calls but just go ahead in case we had another event We did not want to have a spill. That was the main purpose. I understand. Go ahead and get this going.

Jason, I mean, not to just to kind of say something here. I know that you are following the direction of the previous manager, so therefore your hands are kind of tied. Going forward, our new city manager, maybe we can address that council momentarily to make sure that we know or identify versus emergency versus non-emergency. So therefore, it makes things a little bit smoother when people see it or read it. Does that sound good? Yes.

Sounds good. I'm just saying, I just noticed every time RPI asks for something they do, it's always emergency rather than a priority.

And normally it is. Normally it is an emergency.

Normally it is. So this one, they're normals.

Well, this is one that was authorized by the previous, and now we're going to move forward and make sure that we get the right wording this next time around.

That's why I'm making a point of it. Thank you very much.

My main point is I don't want to make, I don't want to bring to y'all mercies and mercy. I mean, we can go ahead and plan stuff, but the big part of the way it happened with the, we didn't want to have another spill. So that was the emergency part of it, not the emergency price, but to go ahead and get something started. And that was the point of it. Yeah, we now we're at 12 M G D now we can go to 18 M G and hopefully we don't have the secondary. You know base and that we have to you know to deal with hope we can win push that through because that was the problem. Yeah, the filters could only take so much and matter how much rain you can take what's coming in you can get it out then you're you're messing up so.

Councilman Hardin you still have a question. No, we're good you had your hand up that you could get. All right, Councilman Tullio, you good? Thomas, you got one? Councilman McIntyre?

I'm a little bit familiar with butterfly valves, and have they changed? Because I don't see.

Ms. Teresa, can you go up, is that the top of the picture? That's not a butterfly valve. It shows the actual valve. There you go.

Blue.

Blue, yes, sir.

Yeah, and they're manual. Okay.

Any additional questions? No. Everybody good? All right. Senator Renone, I'll entertain a motion.

Mayor Pro Temp, I would like to make a motion to approve the request as presented.

Second. Second. All in favor? Four to one approval. Mr. Easton? Any no's? No. I figure you keeping your hand down was a no. All right. Consideration of a request to approve pavements for emergency repairs to the Sestella Avenue Bridge, which is located over one mile branch. Ben O'Dowd, a city engineer, will present. And this was definitely an emergency. Good evening, Mayor and Council. Good evening.

So as you all are aware, In January of this year, the Sestella Avenue Bridge was identified during a GDOT regular inspection, regular bridge inspection, to be unsuitable for vehicular traffic. Our staff met on site with GDOT inspection staff and verified that the damage and determination were accurate, agreed with their determination, and immediately closed the bridge. At that moment, we sprung into action and developed a series of alternatives for possible repair or replacement for the particular bridge. We had conversations with council during a work session where we made a information presentation and the decision was made to proceed with replacement of the bridge and make the 100 year decision to replace the bridge rather than just limping it along like we had done for so many years. I'm very grateful for that prudent decision. And so the work was commissioned under emergency authorization by the city manager and all work was completed in early April of this year. The bridge was reopened to traffic on April 10th, 2026. Attached on the agenda item are two invoices related to the project. One was from Southern Concrete in the amount of $921,070, and one from JWA was in the amount of $84,195.62. The total requested amount of funding for this project is $1,005,265.62. We are recommending payment for this emergency repair out of available LMIG and SPLOST eight funds with a 90-10 funding distribution of LMIG and SPLOST funds respectively. Staff is recommending approval of options 1A as well as 1B.

I've included pictures for the emergency repair in your agenda packet.

You've also been provided pictures along and along as progress has occurred on the work. Just for a little bit of elaboration, the emergency repair invoice to JWA was for the reinstallation of the existing water main, which was in a bridge-mounted configuration, which is substandard. And so the decision was made, again, under emergency authorization to relocate the functioning water main below the creek, which is the new standard for operational water systems. Any questions?

Ben, I do have a question. I know we had a contingency, like a 10%. Did we still fall up under on this particular project budget?

So no project budget was established as this project was performed. The work was performed under emergency authorization from our current interim city manager, Al Grace.

Okay.

No questions on this? Any questions? Everybody good? Seeing none, I entertain a motion.

Mr. Mayor Pro Tem, I'd like to make a motion to approve this request as presented. Big second.

Got a second. All in favor? All against? Seeing none. Motion approved. Next up, we have consideration of the sole finalists for the position of city manager for the city of Valdosta. And if y'all bear with me, I'm gonna read a little bit of information that Ms. Teresa put together. I think it's valuable information to know, especially since a lot of y'all are not privy to all the information that we are. So if I just kinda go through there and cut things out or whatever to kinda narrow it down for time's sake, I don't think that's fair to y'all. So I'm gonna read it all as it is presented to me. I'll lean into it. How about that? Get my teacher's voice? All right. The City of Valdosta engaged the Mercer Group Associations to conduct a nationwide search for the new City Manager. There were 33 applications submitted for the position. Following an extensive recruitment and evaluation process, the applicant pool was narrowed down to five qualified candidates. The mayor and council convened a special call meeting on Thursday, April 16th, at 2026 at 8.30 a.m. at the Rainwater Conference Center, during which they entered into executive session for the purpose of discussing personnel matters. No action was taken during executive session. Consequently, the mayor and council held a special call meeting on April 17th through the 18th, 2026 for the annual strategic initiative summit. On Saturday, April 18th, 2026 at 10.45 a.m., the council again entered into executive session to discuss personnel matters. No action was taken during executive session. After much careful consideration by the mayor and council, we are pleased to announce that Jennifer Wheeler from Hays, Virginia, has been named as a new city manager for the city of Vailosta. Sole finalist, sorry. Jennifer has over 18 years in government administration and has demonstrated outstanding ability in the program and project management, creating and implementing strategic plans, providing financial forecasting and budget development. She has a wealth of experience in leadership positions in the public sector and a true passion for providing strategic planning and continuity of services. Jennifer's leadership style can be defined as boots on the ground leader who places emphasis on working alongside staff to provide them with the support they need for success while attending to the needs of the community with excitement and passion. She will focus on transparency, active listening, and open communication with citizens, staff, and elected officials to gain trust and valuable insight into operations. She is open-minded and always willing to look at each situation through multiple viewpoints to be empathetic towards all parties because she values the power of diversity. Jennifer previously served as Executive Director for the Virginia Peninsula Public Service Authority, which provides services to 10 different cities and counties in the Hampton Roads and Middle Peninsula regions of Virginia. She is well versed at interacting with government officials, boards, stakeholders, and regulating agencies. Jennifer has a strong academic background in leadership and administration techniques with a master of public administration and a master of science in environmental health and occupational safety. She was also selected to participate in the Virginia's Women Municipal Leadership Institute and graduated in 2025. Jennifer is looking forward to being an active participant in the community, and she is eager to bring creative new strategies and collaborative initiatives into the role of city manager in order to help the city advance towards meeting its defined goals. We look forward to having Jennifer and her husband, who, by the way, is a retired military, to Vallosta very soon. Please join me in welcoming the new city manager for the city of Vallosta, Jennifer Wheeler.

Candidate.

Candidate. Sole finalist. I'm reading what's here. Sole finalist. Sole finalist, okay. We have to add that in, Theresa. All right, so the mayor and myself will, in accordance with the OCG 50-18-72A11, the city is required to publicly disclose the identity of the sole finalist at least 14 days prior to the final vote. The mayor and council are scheduled to take final action on the appointment of the new city manager at the regular council meeting on May the 7th, 2026. All right. Next up, we have as citizens to be heard.

Mayor Pro Tem, pause just one minute. I just think that we all should wave at the cameras because Mrs. Wheeler is watching us as we speak from Virginia. Is she? Yeah.

How do you know?

So everybody wave at the camera.

we get to go now we're good okay for make sure uh... but yes the final vote answer question will be made a seven so we have to be fourteen days and then we come back All right, this time is citizens to be heard. This is the citizens to be heard portion of the meeting. We ask that you come forward and state your name and address so that we may have for the record. Our policy requires that you stay under three minutes so that others have time to be heard. Please direct all comments to council as a whole and do not attempt to engage individual members of council in debate. It is this council's policy to follow through with you and your concerns. Additionally, we ask any groups that want to address the Council designate one spokesperson to represent the group and their comments. Again, this will assure that others have time to be heard. Having said that, are there any citizens wishing to be heard? You just come on up. Welcome.

Good evening.

Good evening.

My name is Jay Perryman. Address is 4099 Knights Academy Road, 31605. I am a resident of Lowndes County, but I pay property tax in the city of Valdosta, which I have done since the early 1970s. On July the 16th, 2024, I sent each of y'all a letter concerning one of your city employees not paying his fair property tax. This employee runs a full business on the side. He kept this business in his previous owner's name for seven years and received a senior citizen homestead exemption, which cost the city between $700 and $1,000 in lawful revenue. When I sent you a letter, I also sent one to the tax assessor's office and the city manager. I went in to see the tax assessor, and they told me there was nothing they could do about it. It was spilt milk that was no big deal. It was only $700, not to worry about it. The tax commissioner told me that it could be as much as $1,000. I sent the second letter to the city manager, and three days after that I was targeted with a city ordinance violation for storm damage and a zoning violation. I went in to see the zoning administrator, Lauren Hurley, and talked with her about getting a variance. I was told I was not eligible for a variance, that I had to do an appeal, which I could not win. I went to Zoning Board of Appeal. At Zoning Board of Appeal, I asked Ms. Hurley who filed a complaint. I was told that zoning violations are complaint-driven. She refused to answer. I filed a open records request on two different occasions. The first, she asked specifically for the name of the persons that filed a complaint, and she sent back a generic, city managers on routine patrol. Well, there are 11 city managers in the city of Valdosta, and I did not receive a name. I filed a second open record request, which was ignored. After that, on... After that, I filed a... ethics complaint. And... So far, nothing's happened with with their issues complaint. I filed a. It's supposed to have it within 60 days. You're supposed to have a meeting to do. According to the ethics code, you're supposed to have a meeting. It's been 126 days and there's been no meeting. I've requested we've sent emails over there. We sent open records request mile.

Yes, sir, you are. But your last name is J?

Perryman, P-E-R-R-Y-M-A-N. Can I get you? There's a good bit more if you'd really like to hear it.

Well, Mr. Crace, who's our interim city manager, he is not with us tonight, but he'll be back on Monday, and that's why if you'll stay afterwards, I'd like to get your phone number and stuff as well.

Well, I sent him a letter also, which was ignored.

Okay. Well, I can't speak to that.

Everything's been ignored.

All right.

Except for one.

Except for one? Mm-hmm. Okay.

One person's calling me back. Any comments?

No, sir.

We'll get back in touch with you. If you have any, never mind. Thank you. If you have any questions, you can give me a call. Yes, sir. There's a lot more here if you'd really like. I want you to come back on the next open thing.

Yes, sir. Thank you.

Thanks for hearing me.

Thank you.

Any other citizens to be heard?

Hello, everybody, thank you for hearing me, Councilman, Council, Valdosta City Council, I'm sorry. Economic opportunity, oh, wait, let me rewind. Christina Cheek, 104 East Mary Street, Valdosta, Georgia, 31601. Economic opportunity is one of my biggest focuses. I'm also a candidate for House District 177, and I wanna bring this to the forefront. In 2024, Young Game Changers came here to Valdosta, challenged with finding solutions to community development for underserved areas. There's a lot of talks about data centers, STRs, economic development, but we have a solution right here in this document. They have a 69-page document full of details laid out for pathways of implementation phases and potential funding resources to revitalize the South Side. This is the key to bringing together both communities. Downtown Valdosta should not stop at the train tracks. I would like us to focus on re-energizing economic development for both sides of Valdosta. Let's erase the stigma of the South Side. There's so much rich history potential that is left untapped. opportunity for open spaces, walking trails, mixed-use housing, retail, parks, co-working spaces, museums, lofts, and we can put this into place. There is funding laid out in this 69-page document, and sadly, with the hurricane and everything that's happened, I think it's just been left to sit and collect dust, but I think this is the right time for us to pull it back up and let's see what we can do to move this forward. There are a lot of buildings on the south side that are sadly deteriorating and that history is being erased every day that these buildings are falling apart. There are loads of grants through GMA, ACCG, community organizations locally, Georgia Power, T Splash, Lost Splash, SGBC, lobbying and credit for congressional funding and i vow as the um if i have the opportunity to be the next state representative to help see this effort forward and i also hope that we can form a committee with community input from residents to explore this document again and figure out ways to actually get the ball rolling to revitalize the South Side. This is a great opportunity for economic development for not only the South Side, but as a potential Valdosta for economic development and tourism, which is a major driver of economic funding here. southern georgia black chambers has led two parades over the past two years on the south side which shows great promise and potential again the word potential and opportunity is at the forefront of my mind and i want to see all communities thrive and when everyone has access to safe and beautiful neighborhoods to call home that is truly when we are a city without limits let's not leave revenue and potential on the table so i ask again that we reawaken the explorations on the south side revitalization plan Thank you.

Thank you. Thank you.

Hey, good afternoon, everybody. My name is Larry Johnson. I live at 2720 Sheraton Place on the north side. I come before you all today because I received a city violation for my storefront signage. I own a progressive office on Ashley Street right next door to McDonald's. And the violation is saying that my signage covers more than 30% of my storefront. I wasn't aware of this signage ordinance at the time when I put it on. I wouldn't have spent $2,000 if I was aware of it. One of the problems is our storefront isn't allowed to have road signs. The road sign that was there is gone, and we've been told from our understanding we can't put one there now. So if you look at the pictures I have up here, up front, yeah, it appears to be 100% covered, but if you look at the inside picture, there's another window on the corner. That window is double the size of the panels that's on the front. In fact, it's probably like two quarters. And then plus my door isn't covered too. So I'm coming today to ask for a variance because this store signage is very vital to my business. It would hurt my business if I had to remove the signage, which I've spent $2,000 to get it put up. But it's essential to my business. Not one customer has come in my door and not mentioned my storefront signage. Either they've mentioned how professionally, how well it looks, Or they mentioned when people see progressive first thing they think is auto. That's it. They don't think nothing else. But then because of my store signage, they see that I do home. I do life. I do business. This is so it's very vital. I really believe if I have to remove this. one of my employees that i plan on hiring i'm not going to be able to do this will directly affect my revenue um there's other businesses on ashley street such as a cell phone store nail shop mellow seafood um in fact all the meal shops are 100 covered um so i think in the light of that i should be granted a variance also i can't have a road sign as i mentioned before so i feel like i should be considered a variance for that um on the back pages i did kind of list a few things out it would it's not negatively affecting the public in any way it's not bringing any type of harm it was professionally done it looks good um there's also a tech shop next door to me that's going through the same thing i don't think she was able to make it but there was a tech shop that's having to deal with this exact same thing hers was professionally done by the same um sign company looks really good not causing any type of harm we can 100 see straight through the sound from the inside so there's no um as far as us seeing what's going on outside there's no um no problem with that and

Mr. Johnson, will you stay afterwards? Matt, will you get with, who are you talking about, Amy?

Margaret.

Margaret, okay, I'm sorry, you were blocked. Raise your hand if you don't mind. She'll get with you after the meeting. So therefore, she can talk to you about what can be done, the variances and ordinances and all that stuff.

Yeah, the county pretty much already told me.

Huh?

They pretty much already told me what can and couldn't be done. But that's why I'm coming to see if I can get something beyond what the ordinance says.

Okay. Well, you have to go before the, is it CB? ZBOA. Yeah. It's only Board of Appeals. ZBOA.

All right.

All right, any other citizens be heard?

Good afternoon, Mayor Pro Tem, council members. My name is David Jonathan Davis. I reside at 413 Mildred Street, right here in Valdosta, Georgia. Excuse me. Just a few days ago, George Washington Bush stated in a interview with NBC News that the fact that you can speak in the public square without being jailed, the fact that we have a press that is willing to hold the powerful to account. I mean, these are all the things that should and generally do unite us. He also said, I will encourage people to follow our process and if you don't like it, if you don't like something, vote. I come before you today to acknowledge the tremendous progress we have made in our community, overcoming a difficult and painful racial history. As you know, a bit more than a century ago, Georgia experienced the 1918 lynching rampage. It was also around that time that a distant relative of mine was dragged behind a truck on Lee Street. Excuse me, y'all, I'm dealing with sinuses. It was up. Yet today, we remember the victims of racial violence like Mary Turner. We see places like Unity Park, named after the Unity March our community organized in 2020 in the aftermath of the killing of George Floyd. For a few years now, we also have outside our city walls, outside our city hall, the Doors to Freedom Monument that celebrates the strength, courage, and resilience of those who fought for their freedom. And just across the street, we have a civil rights mural at Christ the King Episcopal Church. We have come a very long way. And our journey has not been easy. For moments of deep injustice, like when George Floyd was held down by his neck, unable to breathe, and called out for his mother before he died, we have begun to move forward in our city. Today I say that our community is starting to breathe. We are not finished. There are still hearts and minds to educate and work left to do, but we have real reasons to celebrate. So let us recognize the progress we have made by celebrating the positive changes we have seen in our city. It has been almost five years since we changed 4th Street to Barack Obama Boulevard. I propose that our city holds a community-wide celebration This fall, and I invite all leaders and citizens to help plan this event, let us unite and show everyone that Valdosta is confronting its history of bigotry and racism, and that we are working on the future of unity and democracy. Tonight, I make a motion that we vote for unity by organizing such an event. Thank you.

are the citizens to be heard.

Good evening, Mayor Pro Tem, members of the City Council. I'm just distributing a... Excuse me. I said good evening. Good evening, yeah. My name is Michael Noll. I live at 2305 Glendale Drive. I know you all were busy last week. We had a town hall meeting on data centers again at VSU. with two panelists. One was Peter Hubbard, who currently serves on the Public Service Commission, and the other individual was Craig Cubitt, who is running for a seat on the Public Service Commission. We will be in contact about the exact contents of the conversation at a later time. The reason why I'm here today is, on one hand, I wanted to just simply hand out an informational item in regard to an article that pretty much summarizes the negative impacts of data centers. And the second and most important reason why I'm here tonight is I'm always for being proactive. Just like we are trying to be proactive when we try to be prepared for a hurricane, we learned at that particular town hall meeting that one of the reasons why not just at the state but also the federal level where we're struggling how to deal with data centers is because we're not prepared. And one way that the city of Valdosta could be better prepared is by developing an ordinance that focuses on data centers. We may not currently have to deal with this. This data center may be just under the responsibility of the county at this very moment, although it will impact all of us. It doesn't matter if it's the energy footprint or the water footprint or the pollution that comes with data centers. It will be important for all of us to be prepared. So I will send you a little bit later on today a link to a draft of a proposed ordinance on data centers that DeKalb County is working on. Ted Terry is working with Peter Hubbard, who serves on the Public Service Commission, is working on this actively, and I find this ordinance very insightful. And I think it would be in the best interest of us as a community, as a city, to have such an ordinance in place, so we have the guardrails we need to be safe, to not regret when we are faced with the possibility of a data center wanting to move in that we are not prepared. to have all these structures in place to make sure that we can balance economic interests with the safety of our community. That's really all I'm here about to talk about tonight, and I have 44, 43, 42 seconds left. You have a good evening, thank you.

You too, thank you. Are there any other citizens to be heard? All right. We're going to move on to City Manager's report, which I'm going to fill in for Mr. Crace tonight. First off, before I get into his report, if I can have Coach Patrick Pearson to stand. Coach Pearson. So Coach Pearson yesterday led the charge of the city basketball team that he put together, a strong team, I might add. Judge Baker, he was the point guard who basically, I think he just, he was a ball hog. He just scored everything, I think. Yeah, he was it. He was the offense. I did show up and get in for about five minutes, but I was more of a cheerleader. I think we edged it out on the Boys and Girls Club. I don't know if we want to brag about that or not, you know, beating a bunch of middle school kids. But I was distracted, though, because as I was running up and down the court, everybody was like, it's Mr. Gibbs, it's Mr. Gibbs, how did you beat us here? Because I just left him from the school. But anyhow, the point is, it was a good time yesterday. So whoever organized that, put that together. It was fun getting to know the kids, you know, talking with them and interacting with them and everything. So I think we should do it more often, honestly. I think it should be something we do once a month or once every two months or something. I think it's good for us. Get these three guys right here up there, you know, McIntyre, Harden, and... But anyhow, there you go. Thank you. Appreciate it. All right, so report from Mr. Crace. Friday, April 24th, Main Street will host a brown bag concert at Unity Park beginning at 11 a.m. featuring a couple of food trucks, live music by the band Chemistry. Attendees are welcome to bring their own lunch and enjoy the park. Closing out Georgia City's week, painting the park will take place Saturday, April 25th at 11 a.m. at Turner Center Art Park. uh... our supplies will be available in a first come first serve basis and then we have upcoming which would be in may home made a fourth at ten a m the city about also has a small business proclamation in partnership with about also now chamber commerce at the former bank uh... at a former bank of america downtown which is like it and one of six out there from street and i think i do need a warning here eight four to twenty eight Matt Martin is the, what are we calling that? The short-term rental meeting? STR. STR meeting. Or... Town Hall meeting. So that would be at City Hall or Unity. We're going to have that. City Annex, okay. I don't know if we changed positions or not. 5 or 5.30? 5.30.

All right.

City Hall Annex, 5.30, April 28th, short-term rental, Town Hall meeting. There you go.

Okay. I threw that together.

Let's see here. Any council comments?

any council comments uh... uh... i'm excited to see you know what that's our finalists uh... and even though on this crazy here uh... you know i think the city is definitely we we had in the right direction and thank you to all our department has been doing a lot of stuff in the last couple weeks out of things going on uh... think that staff may have uh... amazing uh... really appreciate you all excited man uh... in church right now, we're talking about synergy, right? And I think that's what we have to have as a city, man, synergy. Moving forward together, baby, let's do it. Let's keep going.

Anybody else?

I'd just like to say, again, in relation to the selection of our finalists, that just how proud I was of Mayor and Council, and it was clear everyone's minds were in the right places as we worked through breaking it down from five to two to one, and the reason behind their positions on who we chose, but I just want to thank each and every one of you for doing a great job on behalf of the citizens of the city of El Nino. Thank you. Thank you.

Mr Mayor for Tim, I just want to say I see this United Summit was one of the greatest. Programs that we have have had with the department heads and elected officials and some of the citizens. in a very, very long time. Everyone was at peace, everyone was able to accept, disagree, and still leave, and still be connected. This is what we have been hoping for, and I just want to say that Mr. Al Kreis has done a great job of bringing us all together to let us, again, learn how to work together, accept the no's, and still be able to go further to make another yes. We have not seen that, I know I'm gonna get told off, we have not seen that since Larry Hanson days in my being elected an official. So today I just wanna say to our department heads, our elected officials, Attorney Tanner, and all those who are present, job well done, thank you.

I have to agree with you on that, Councilwoman. Any other comments? Any other things?

Motion to adjourn. Second.

All in favor say aye. Aye. All opposed? Second. Anybody opposed?

I told that guy to stay back and he just left. He dipped.

Thank you.