City of White Georgia City Council Meeting July 1, 2024  Present at the council meeting were Mayor Curtis Powell, Councimembers Jean Swank, Gary Crisp, Stephanie Nichelson, and Karissa Noland, City Mayor Powell called the meeting to order at 7:0op.m. and led with the pledge ofallegiance. Councilmember Nichelson followed with the  Clerk Robin Cochran, and City. Attorney Elliot Noll.  invocation.  Mayor Powell asked for the approval oft the. Julyin meeting agenda and opened the floor for council discussion. No discussion. Powell asked for a motion. Councilmember Nichelson made the motion to approve. Councilmember Swank seconded the motion. Motion carried with a5-0 Mayor Powell moved to the approval ofthe June 10, 2024, council meeting minutes. Powell opened the floor for council discussion. No discussion. Powell asked for a motion. Councilmember Swank made a motion to approve. Councilmember Crisp seconded the motion. Motion carried with a Mayor Powell opened the floor for public comments. Citizen Eddie Billue spoke on the council's decision to take other bids to repair his property and asked the council not to table this matter again. Billue continued by stating that the current bid from Kirkpatrick was fair as the pricing for ditch grading has skyrocketed. He spoke with two other contractors to get comparable pricing and they came in at $35,000 and $38,000.  vote.  5-Ovote.  Mayor Powell moved to first reading for Heritage Pallets, Stephanie Beck, rezoning Parcel W003-0003-007, 458 Old' Tennessee Hwy from R4 to IND-H. Powell continued by saying that the plans were sent to Ethan Calhoun who will be presenting a staff analysis at next month's meeting. Powell gave the drawings prepared for Heritage Pallets to Sweitzer, the city's engineer, andi he stated thatiti is appropriate and shouldn't preclude the city from moving forward. Stephanie Beck addressed the council and stated Heritage Pallets purchased the 24 acres in 2021 and have been sitting on it, and now they want to expand. Powell opened the floor for    public comments. No comments. Councilmember Crisp asked what they were planning for the property. Beck stated that it would be a continuation Mayor Powell introduced Fortiline to give a presentation on a new water meter system. The spokesperson, Azure, gave details to the council oft the many benefits of this new system and meters including, but not limited to, tamper free water shut off valves, automatic water billing, a leak management system, and a 20-year solar panel with an 8 1/2 year warranty. Mayor Powell moved to announcements. City Clerk Robin Cochran addressed the council on the audits. Alex Walcott from Estes and Walcott had requested documents from Harris, trial balances and general ledgers, which Cochran had already submitted, and Walcott stated they would get started the second week ofJuly. Cochran continued by reminding everyone ofthe city's new alert system, Code Red, and encouraged them to sign up. Cochran wrapped up her announcements by inviting everyone to Ms. Martha White's party on July 2nd for her 103rd birthday celebration at City Police Chief Jason Smith addressed the council and asked for a budget increase of $4659.15 to repair the Dodge Charger that has been out of service for 2 months. There was some chatter amongst the council. Councilmember Crisp made the motion to approve the budget increase for Smith's department to repair the Dodge Charger. Councilmember Swank seconded the motion. Motion carried with a 5-Ovote. Smith ended by stating everything else in his department was business as usual and he had nothing to report. Councilmember Crisp took the opportunity to praise Smith and his department for the excellent work around the city, stating it has been much quieter. Mayor Powell asked Smith about the basketball court regarding ther noise complaints from Citizen Clifford Kellogg. Smith stated that he and his department have not received any complaints, nor have they noticed any activity on the basketball court late at night. Mayor Powell moved to unfinished business. Powell started with the sign ordinance that was never approved. Powell stated his recommendation was tor reject this ordinance and rewrite the sign ordinance portion ofthe zoning ordinance. Powell opened the floor for discussion amongst the council. There were no comments. Powell asked for a motion. Councilmember Crisp made the motion to reject the ordinance and rewrite the current sign  ofthe current business, just more updated equipment.  Hall.    ordinance portion in the zoning ordinance. Councilmember Swank seconded the motion. Motion carried with a 5-0 vote.  Mayor Powell moved to the bid proposal for the yard repair at 66 Richards Rd. Powell opened the floor for discussion saying that they doa already have one bid from Kirkpatrick for $20,890.00. Councilmember Swank spoke on the matter stating that she did have some concerns which made her ask a lot of questions. Swank continued by saying the property and ditch was owned by the railroad, the property was in a flood zone, and she came across a letter from the owner of 66 Richards Rd, Eddie Billue dated September 2, 2003, stating that every time it rained the water backed up to the property and was getting into his garage. For these reasons, Councilmember Swank said thatimprovements made by the City ofWhite were not detrimental. Billue rebutted by stating that the easement for the equipment was in the corner of the map and they violated that by going across the property and leaving their heavy machinery sit on his property for days while it rained. Due to these facts, Councilmember Swank made the motion to deny the request to repair 66 Richards Rd. Councimember Nichelson seconded the motion. Motion carried with a 5-0 vote. Mayor Powell moved to the new business ofs setting the 2024 millage rate. Powell opened the floor for discussion. There was chatter amongst the council. Councilmember Crisp made a motion to set the millage rate at; 3% and roll it back to 0%. Councilmember Nichelson seconded the motion.  Motion carried with a 5-0 vote.  Mayor Powell continued the meeting with the sealed bids Cochran read at the work session stating he would suggest accepting the highest bids on the Public Works Department surplus items and opened the floor for discussion. Councilmember Swank made a motion to approve and accept the highest bids on the surplus equipment. Councilmember Crisp seconded Mayor Powell moved on to discuss a technology fee to be added to each citation written by the police department. This fee is to be used by them for new computers and software. Powell continued by saying that each ticket price would need to be increased by $15.00 and opened the floor for discussion. There was some chatter amongst the council and Councilmember Nichelson made a motion to add the technology fee to each  the motion. Motion was carried with a 5-0 vote.    citation price. Councilmember Crisp seconded the motion. Motion carried Mayor Powell opened discussion on updated our zoning ordinance. There was some chatter amongst the council. Councilmember Swank suggested holding a work session to discuss. Powell stated that once City. Attorney, Brandon Bowen reviewed the information, they could have a work session to discuss. There was more chatter amongst the council. Councilmember Crisp made a motion to have a work session to go over the ordinance and make any changes necessary. Councilmember Nichelson seconded the Mayor Powell and City. Attorney Elliott Noll discussed the motorcycle accident on Richards Rdi in Bartow County and the letters the city received from the defendant suing the city and council members. Noll stated it was not an accident within the city limits. Counclmember Nichelson made a motion to deny the claim. Councilmember Crisp seconded the motion.  with a 5-0 vote.  motion. Motion carried with a 5-0 vote.  Motion carried with a 5-0 vote.  Mayor Powell recommended the council go into executive session to discuss cyber security and personnel matters. Councilmember Nichelson madea motion to goi into executive session. Councilmember Crisp seconded the  motion. Motion carried with a 5-0 vote.  Mayor Powell asked for a motion to come out ofexecutive session. Council member Nichelson made a motion. Councilmember Crisp seconded the Mayor Powell stated that no votes were taken in executive session. Councilmember Nichelson made a motion to give the mayor authority to handle a personnel issue. Councilmember Crisp seconded the motion.  motion. Motion carried with a 5-0 vote.  Motion carried with a 5-0 vote.  Mayor Powell moved to mayor and council comments. Powell started by updating everyone on PFAS/PFOA saying he had a call the following day with BRITA filters that are PFAS and PFOA certified as they've already helped 150 municipalities across country getting in home filtrations fori its citizens and he had hopes this would be a temporary solution to the water issue until the city was able come up with a final solution on PFAS/PFOA. There was some talk amongst the council. Councimember Crisp stated    after he spoke with the city's engineer John Sweitzer about this, Crisp feels this would be an extremely expensive option for the city. Powell stated that ift the results came back and the city got two positive tests then, more than likely, the city would have a problem and he would want to startlooking at fast-term solutions for the citizens. There was more chatter amongst the council. Powell stated that the EPD recommended they do 6 months of testing to get a good base line, but after 2 or 3 months of getting positive results, you know there's an issue. Swank stated we need to make sure the testers would be wearing the proper PPE when testing. Powell stated there's definitely protocol they have to follow when testing to ensure  uncontaminated results.  Powell asked for a motion to adjourn. Councilmember Crisp madea motion to adjourn the meeting. Councilmember Noland seconded the motion. Motion carried with a 5-0 vote and the meeting adjourned at  8:36p.m.  Respectfully submitted, Bl Robin Cochran City Clerk Attest:  Cochrar  Cabkal Curtis Powell, Mayor