Demorest The Heart ofHabersham City of Demorest City Council Meeting Regular Session Minutes Demorest. Municipal Building Tuesday, February 2, 2021, 6:00P.M.  ATTENDEES  Shawn Allen, Councilman John Hendrix, Councilman Rick Austin, PhD, Mayor  Jim Welborn, Councilman Nathan Davis, Councilman Kim Simonds, City Manager Thomas Mitchell, City Attorney  The February 2, 2021 Demorest City Council Meeting was held in the Demorest Municipal Building  located at 125 Ivy Street.  AGENDA ITEMI !: INVOCATION AND PLEDGE TO THE FLAG  Mayor Austin opened the meeting by leading in prayer and the pledge to the flag.  AGENDA ITEM II: CALLTOORDER  Mayor Austin called the meeting to order at 6:01 p.m. seven bullet-proof vests at a cost of over $600.00 each. AGENDA ITEM I: APPROVAL OF AGENDA  Michael Palmer with the Fraternal Order of Police presented the Demorest Police Department with  Mayor Austin asked if there were changes or additions to be made to the agenda. Ms. Simonds asked that "Qualifying Fee" be added to the agenda. A motion to approve the agenda as amended was made ACTION: The motion to approve the agenda as amended was unanimously approved (4-0).  by Councilman Allen and seconded by Councilman Davis.  AGENDA ITEMIV: APPEARANCE AND PUBLIC COMMENTS  Deborah Showalter spoke on behalf oft the Concerned Citizens of Demorest addressing several issues. Florence Wikle, former Councilwoman and Demorest citizen, spoke about al letter she received from  Councilman Hendrix's attorney.  AGENDA ITEM V: APPROVAL OF MEETING MINUTES  November: 3, 2020: Councilman Welborn and Councilman Allen abstained from this vote since they had not yet been sworn in on November 3, 2020. A motion to approve was made by Councilman Hendrixand  was seconded by Councilman Davis  1Page    ACTION: The motion to approve the meeting minutes of November 3, 2020 was unanimously November 24, 2020: Mayor Austin asked that on page 2, line 2 an addition be made to say that the Demorest Police Department has been named number 1 "ini the state, 4 yearsi in a row." A motion was made by Councilmen Allen to approve the minutes as amended. The motion was seconded by ACTION: The motion to approve the minutes of November. 24, 2020 as amended above was  approved (3-0 with Mayor Austin voting)  Councilman Hendrix. unanimously approved (4-0)  December. 1, 2020: A motion was made by Councilman Allen to approve the minutes as presented. The ACTION: The motion to approve the meeting minutes of December. 1, 2020 as presented was December 8, 2020: A motion to approve the minutes as presented was made by Councilman Welborn ACTION: The motion to approve the minutes oft the December. 8, 2020 meeting as presented was January 5, 2021: Councilman Hendrix voiced a concern regarding the. January 5, 2021 minutes. Aftera short discussion, a motion to table the approval oft these minutes wasi made by Councilman Allenand ACTION: The motion to table the approval of the. January! 5, 2021 minutes was approved (3-2; Allen, Welborn & Austin voting. for the motion; Hendrix & Davis voting against the motion). January: 19, 2021: Ar motion to approve the minutes as presented was made by Councilman Allenand ACTION: The motion to approve the. January 19, 2021 minutes was unanimously approved (4-0). City Auditor, Alan Burton, came forward to present the results of the 2019 audit (see attachment). Ms. Simonds presented a contract from CCR for testing fori the City's watershed program (see attachment). A motion was made by Councilman Davis and seconded by Councilman Allen to approve ACTION: The motion to approve the contract with CCR was unanimously approved (4-0).  motion wass seconded by Councilman Hendrix.  unanimously approved (4-0). and seconded by Councilman Allen. unanimously approved (4-0).  seconded by Councilman Welborn.  seconded by Councilman Hendrix.  AGENDA ITEM VI(1): PRESENTATION OF 2019 AUDIT  AGENDA ITEM VI(2): CCR CONTRACT  the contract.  2/Page    AGENDA ITEM VI(3): QUALIFYING FEE  Attorney Mitchell presented a resolution to set the qualifying fee at $100.00 (the same as last year) for the upcoming elections in November, 2021 for the seats of Councilmen Welborn and Allen and the mayoral election. A motion was made by Councilman Hendrix and was seconded by Councilman Davis to ACTION: The motion to approve the qualifying. fee of $100.00 was unanimously approved (4-0). At this point, Attorney Mitchell stated that his research on the previously discussed DDA appointment  approve the qualifying fee of $100.00  finds that appointments are made by the governing authority. AGENDA ITEM VII(1): FIRE TRUCK DISCUSSION  Chief Ranalli came forward to make ap presentation concerning the purchase ofa a new fire truck. Mayor Austin asked that Council move forward with investigating the lease/purchase to lock in the price of the truck. Amotion was made by Councilman Hendrix to delay the purchase of thet fire truck for at least six ACTION: The motion to delay the purchase of thej fire truck was defeated (2-1; Allen voted against; At this point Mayor Austin called fora a motion to move forward with the purchase of the fire truck as  months. The motion was seconded by Councilman Davis. Davis and Hendrix voted for; Welborn abstained) presented by Chief Ranalli. No motions were made.  AGENDA ITEM VII(2): NEWLY ELECTED OFFICIAL TRAINING PROPOSAL  Ms. Simonds presented a proposal from Stan Brown with GMAI for conducting a workshop with Mayor and Council. This would bei in combination with the mandated Newly Elected Officials Training virtual courses that will be held at the end of March. The date being considered is Saturday, March13, 2021. The cost to the City is $500.00. When a consensus could not be reached on the workshop, Mayor Austin  asked that everyone consider and register their preference with Ms. Simonds. AGENDAI ITEM VII(3): HEALTHCARE WORKERS & FIRST RESPONDERS PROCLAMATION Councilman Allen said that. January 21 was the one-year anniversary of the first case of the novel coronavirus. Noting there is al hospital within Demorest city limits and that many Demorest citizens are employed in some capacity in healthcare, he asked Council to consderaproclamation for healthcare workers and first responders to honor and support them. A draft proclamation was presented and it was decided that March 1, 2021 would be the appointed date. AI motion to approve this resolution was ACTION: The motion to approve the resolution honoring heaithcare workers andj first responders with  made by Councilman Allen and was Seconded by Councilman Hendrix. aproclamation on Monday, March 1, 2021 was unanimously approved (4-0)  AGENDA ITEM VII(4): CONSIDERATION OF COVID POLICY  Ms. Simonds presented a two-page COVID-19 policy for approval (see attachment). AI motion to approve the policy was made by Councilman Allen and seconded by Councilman Welborn. ACTION: The motion to approve the two-page COVID-19 policy was unanimously approved (4-0).  3IPage    AGENDA ITEM VII(5): BUILDING PERMITTING  Councilman Welborn spoke regarding the transferring of Demorest building inspection and permitting to the County in 2019. He asked if there might be more control over the process ifi it were brought back to the City. A motion to this effect was made by Councilman Welborn. The motion was seconded by ACTION: The motion to approve the termination of the IGA with the County, for building permitting and inspection and bring the process back to Demorest was unanimously approved (4-0). AGENDA ITEM VII!: CONSIDERATION OF MOTION TO ENTER INTO EXECUTIVE SESSION AI motion to adjourn the meeting into Executive Session was made by Councilman Allen. The motion ACTION: The motion to adjourn into Executive Session was unanimously approved (4-0).  Councilman Davis.  was seconded by Councilman Davis.  Regular Session adjourned at 8:11 p.m.  The meeting re-entered Regular Session at 8:46 p.m. No motions were made in Executive Session. An motion to adjourn was made by Councilman Davis and the motion was seconded by Councilman Allen.  AGENDA ITEM IX: MOTION TO ADJOURN The motion was unanimously approved. The meeting adjourned at 8:47 p.m. L  MayorofDemorest  SEAI)  Snds Kim Simonds, City Clerk  4IPage