MINUTES  WAYCROSS CITY COMMISSION: PLANNING & INFORMATION SESSION  MONDAY,ULYIS,B.AS 5:00P P.M. WAYCROSS CITY COMMISSION CHAMBERS AI7PENDLETONSTREET: WAYCROSS, GA)  CALLTOORDER:  The Planning and Information Session of the City of Waycross was called to order July 15, 2024, at 5:04 p.m. by Mayor Michael-Angelo James. The meeting was held in the Commission Chambers of City Hall. Present was Mayor James, Commissioners Katrena Felder, Sheinita Bennett and Diane  Hopkins (in at 5:07) A. Invocation:  Commissioner Katrena Felder  Invocation was led by. James Smart, Public Works Director  B. Pledge of Allegiance  II. GUESTS:  Mr. David White 1419 Marion Street, Waycross Georgia, spoke on his concerns regarding not having  traffic lights int the areas of Garlington Avenue and Blackwell Street. III. TRAVEL/TRAINING SCHEDULE AND REQUESTS IV. PLANNING & INFORMATION SESSION  A. Bids:  1. Bid# WAYXL 24-02 Surplus Land Folks Street Parcel #WA0802 017  There was a consensus to place this on Tuesday agenda. There was no vote in opposition.  B. Discussion Items: ****SEE. ATTACHED DISCUSSION NOTES***  1. Approval of Watershed Protection Plan  There was a consensus to place on tomorrow'sagenda.  2. Finance Update 3. Infrastructure Update  Page 1of2    C. Privilege Licenses Renewals:  1. Torero Too Mexican LLC, K. Miravate, 2470 Memorial Drive. Waycross, Ga. 31501.  Addition of Liquor, Consumption on premises.  D. Privilege Licenses: n/a E. Proposed Ordinances: n/a F. Proposed Resolutions:  . Folks A Resolution oft the City of Waycross, Georgia To. Approve the Sale and Transfer of Certain Surplused Real Property Located on Street Consisting of0.26 Acres, Map & Parcel  Number WA0802017; andi for Other Purposes. There was a consensus to place this on Tuesday agenda  G. City Attorney Report: H. City Managers Report: Last Call  J. Adjourn to Executive Session  There was a motion made by Commissioner Hopkins to go into executive session fort the Purpose ofF Personnel. Second by Commissioner Bennett. All voted ini favor the motion passed at 5:52 pm  to adjourn to go into executive session.  K. Adjournment  CITY OF WAYCROSS Malkew MCAIAGHOAIKISY  BY:  ATTEST:  rch Pu  JACQWALANE POWELL, City Clerk  Page 2of2    **DISCUSSION NOTES*** JULY 15TH-2024 W/S  Mayor: City Manager:  Okay. Well, at this time, we turned the remainder of our agenda over to our city manager, Mr. Rayford. Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Att this time, we have no traveling or training schedule. We will move into the Mr. Mayor, Commissioners, Purchasing has one item before you. Itis for aj parcel ofsurplus land. This land was approved to be surplused by the Commission at the May 7th meeting. There was al bid put out aswell as aj public notice put in the paper. We received two bids for this property. Iti is located on Folks Street, right at Folk and Oak. Approximately behind the old theater. We received two bids. One for $5,000.00, one for $3,800.00 and we are asking that the Commission approve the highest bid of  planning information session. We will start with the bids by Miss Jackson.  Purchasing Manager:  $5,000.00 to sell this surplus property. Do you have any questions of Miss Jackson?  Mayor: Comm. Felder: Purchasing Manager: of land in that area. Comm. Hopkins: What is zoned? Purchasing Manager:  Yes, sir. For a bid of $5,000, what is thei intended use of the property?  Ido not know the person's intended use oft the property, but this particular person owns several parcels  Ibelieve in R5. IsitC4? C4. This was a parcel of property back in, Ibelieve 1979, the city received as part oft the Tebeau Redevelopment Plan, and I believe we've had that property ever since. It was one of several properties that the city received in this redevelopment plan. I'm not sure ofhow many other parcels of property in this original plan we still have, but this was one of the ones that was included in  that original plan. Comm. Hopkins: Purchasing Manager: Ma'am? I'm sorry. Comm. Hopkins: Have we: surplused the garage? Purchasing Manager: Comm Hopkins:  Mr. Mayor, Ihave one question. Have we surplused the garage?  Yes, ma'am. The garage has been surplused. It has not been listed yet.  Okay. Information on Grove Avenue.  Page 1of14    **DISCUSSION NOTES*** JULY 15TH-2024 W/S  Purchasing Manager: Comm. Hopkins: Thank you. Mayor:  Wel have not had anything. We haven't had any offers.  Okay, so having heard thel bid thati is before us. Commission, what is your pleasure? Will you consent for this bill to be okay'd for our agenda for tonight? rIj just call each District. District two.  Comm. Bennett: Yes, sir. Mayor: District three. Comm Felder: Yes. Mayor: And district four. Comm. Hopkins: Yes. Mayor: Thank you. Mr. City Manager. City Manager:  Thank you, Miss Jackson. We're moving to discussion items. We have three. T'lI start first with the watershed protection plan. Mr. Mayor, I am bringing this back up for a few reasons. IlI start with I don't think everybody is clear on what that plan does. We did not take a vote the last time as to what our next step was. So my first request would be to vote ifv we're going to bidi it out, then we get a vote on that. Two, because we're int this last phase oft this plan. We already paid fort the services of this plan. I'm asking again, we're engaging again to simply request that we go ahead and submit the last sample to avoid any penalties or late fees at this time, since we're still within the contract boundaries of the original contract. Also, Mr. Mayor, I will remind the Commission this contract is ten plus years, and any rebidding would mean that even the current contract holder would more than likely increase his prices because we're dealing withi inflation. And T'll stand by for questions on this area. Mr. Mayor. Commission, we have heard the concern of our City Manager regarding this. We have no vote on it to be one thing or the other, and it seems to be bid out. We are at the last phase of it and the service that was provided. We saidt that we needed to send the samples, since we've already paid the bills and we're under a ten-year contract with Tindall, and the note here would be that he, or anyone else who takes on this will possibly increase it due toi inflationary documentation. So, wej just need to have a statement to you to put it on the agenda tomorrow for the purpose of saying that we will bid it out, or that we will go ahead and send the samples or that we would be willing to. I think we talked about an RFP the last time. So what we need to do isj just make a decision oni its SO we can move forward.  Mayor:  Page 2of14    ***DISCUSSION NOTES*** JULY 15H-2024 W/S  Comm. Hopkins: City Manager:  Mr. Mayor, Ihave one question. We talked about whether you paid 46 or $47,000, but that was for 2012 Ididn't pay $46,000. That was the total contract of the third phase, Commissioner. And each phase, each different monthi is different categories that they took out samples for. So, ranging from about $1000  to now, is that correct? Istill haven't gotten that straight.  to $1800 each month that we pay. Comm. Hopkins: $1,800? City Manager: Yes. Comm. Hopkins: For every month? City Manager:  Itr ranges from $1,000 to 1800, depending on the sample requirement for that cycle. It's two collections At one meeting where I asked. Did you write a check to him? And you said, yes. So that was a Inever wrote: a check to them Commissioner. We pay abill to them eachi month, it's foraservice! $1,800 for the samples they took. We're in the third phase ofat three-phase approach that we're paying for. And the phase continues as he takes water samples. So that third phase cost that amount of money total that we agreed upon in the original contract. We're still under the original contract right now, so I'm simply requesting today, ify you want to rebid it, then we need to vote on that sO we can rebid it. If we want to request the information, I need some concession on that sO we can do that. I was simply giving the Commission information and guidance. As we stated before, our engineers have already stated they couldn't get lower than what it is now. The closest person, based on my research, that will provide those services are in Augusta, Georgia, sO that's a gas cost. I was trying to avoid the fine for being late and anything else EPD finds when it comes back to us because we've already collected the sample. We've already paid for the sample. So I was saying we should just put it in the sample to avoid any extra funding loss, because we don't have a lot of money to lose. Just trying to get some guidance on what I Ifv we go ahead and approve it to do it just one year, it will be up next year and it will go out to bid. Correct, that's what y'all tend to do Commissioner. One-year contracts. It goes year to year. We're bidding on phase three of the contract. It'sa phased approach that rotates over every year because he's providing a service a yearly service requirement. He provides for a collection of water samples and presenting our water samples. So if we did bid it out, yes, the whole process would start over. And whoever coming in would have to go back a couple phases to catch up because he's doing the phase  that are done at that time. It was all in the report. Sot that's all we paid monthly.  Comm. Hopkins: combination of all that together? City Manager:  need to do. Comm. Hopkins: Correct? City Manager:  Page 3of14    ***DISCUSSION NOTES*** JULY 15TH-2024 W/S  sampling right now. So that would be another incurred cost. We would have to incuri if we started over, So there's an extra point that the director wants to speak for clarity. Yes,you cans say something. Come The $46,525 that you're asking about, that was paid in the original contract that we signed in 2012. The negotiated price for this was $46,525, and it was based on how they phased the project. It was paid $6,500 inl FY 12, $26,000 in FY 13, and $14,025 in FY 14. That covered the first three phases, which was phase one when they came in to actually see and analyze and see what was going on and see what was needed. And then phase two was based on what their assessment was, is when they developed the water protection plan to be submitted tol EPD. I'm sorry. Phase two was the watershed assessment based on the analysis that they got. Phase three was to develop the water protection plan to submit to EPD. We got the letter from EPD1 that the submittal was approvedi in 2019. So, the $46,000 was for those first three phases. Phase four, which the City Manager is telling you about, ist for the annual analysis that has to be done and it has to be turned ine every June 30th per recommendation ofEPD, sO that we can stay in compliance. So the fees that we're paying now is for phase four, which is the annual analysis report Okay. So, if we approve this today for one year and put in the contract a 30-day clause in there to be Ift this is for another year, we would have this year and they would have next year, which would give us this full year. But at this point, the RFP wouldn't be for this entire plan, because we've had the watershed analysis and the assessment, and the plan has been approved by EPD. So at this point, we need somebody that will do that annual analysis for us. So that's what we would be charged for that. And your analysis is done. Is is due every June 30th per EPD. That is their recommendation. Okay. So we can still approve this one for 2025. And put a clause int there for 30 days will either renew Yes, ma'am. AndIwill call surrounding counties to see how they handle that, because this was the plan  ifthat's what you're asking me, Commissioner, you can't just stopi it.  Mayor:  to the microphone, please. Purchasing Manager:  that they have to turn in. So that we are compliant with EPD.  Comm. Hopkins: renewed. Purchasing Manager:  Comm. Hopkins: it or submit bids. Purchasing Manager: that they came up with. Comm Hopkins: Who came up with the plan? Purchasing Manager: Comm. Hopkins:  Tindall. The assessment plan that was submitted to EPD and then part EPD. They recommended that  we do the annual analysis sO that we stay in compliance. But that should be included in thel bid. AmIcorrect?  Page 40f14    ***DISCUSSION NOTES*** JULY 15TH-2024 W/S  Purchasing Manager: City Manager:  Ifv we decide to do another bid ina ay year. But it would only be for that annual analysis. It wouldn't be for Just hold on. I'm confused. If we rebid this, you know, you can'tjust starttaking new: samples. Soyou got somebody to come in and start over the whole phase four. Soi it will be starting over for the sample. We can't just got from one company' to the next company. Soyoul knowt them.  this entire assessment and water protection plan because we have one now.  Purchasing Manager: Comm. Bennett: the middle? Purchasing Manager: with the contract as it's written. Comm Bennett: Purchasing Manager: Comm. Felder: Question. Mayor: Comm. Felder. Comm. Felder: Purchasing Manager: Comm. Felder: Thank you. Okay. Mayor:  They have to do their own individual assessment.  Have there ever been a problem with Tindall from 2012 to now? So why are we trying to rebid this in We don't have to. And that's the question that we have before you. We don't have to. We can continue My personal experience, we have not had a problem with them. Let's continue to move forward. And it'sj just speaking with other agencies and the past purchasing director, they have not had any issues,  but that final decision remains with the Commission.  How often is a new watershed plan required? That Idon't know, but Ican find it out for you.  Thank you. So for tomorrow, it's my understanding, and also for the Clerk and those who are writing agendas, are we going to bring this up tomorrow fora a vote and then at a given time, come back to this? All we need to do nowi is okay for a signature to give this process over to the EPD: and then make sure that if we want to rebid this out as you want, you can hear how we want to do it after that other work is done. But it sounds as if we will set ourselves up for having to get another company to do the same work that has already been done, and then giving us another price for that same exact thing.  Page 5of14    ***DISCUSSION NOTES*** JULY 15TH-2024 W/S  City Manager:  IfI may. This is because it's going to start over. It's. They can't come in on Tindall's watershed plan and take it out. They have to start all the way over sO we will pay a bigger cost coming in. And like I say, this is a new contract. It will be built in with inflation. The closest company that provides this service is Augusta, Georgia. That's 3.5 hours away. So we're building in a few here, a few back, and just want to make sure the Commission is aware of the associated costs that will be with that program. Also, if we bid it out again, Mr. Tindall could raise his prices too at that point in time. I'mj just talking from an economic aspect. Nothing's wrong with the contract right now. We all know right now; how poor the water is. Definitely the sampling and collection for my sister cities. Just something I don't know. We can be playing with each other at this point in time, sO Ijust want some clear guidance on  that. Comm Hopkins: Huey Spearman: Comm Hopkins:  Mr. Mayor, Ihave one question. Mr. Spearman have you looked over this contract?  Yes, ma'am. Ihave looked over the contract.  I've never had anything with that Satilla Water while we. had them. Wea always had a clause in there for a 60-day notice that we either would renew it or we would send it out to bid. And you don't always know what you're going to get for the money. It may go up. It may go down. You can't sit here and say it's going to stay the same, andi it's going to be the best price because you don't bid it out since 2012. So that's the reason I'm saying give it tol him one more year since he since we've since we've already beat this horse to death about the deadline to rebidding it. And now we've waited till the 12th hour and sO we hadn't rebid it like we talked about back in May. So we can still at the end oput a clause in there 30 days prior to the renewal, we can tell him we're going to send it out to bid or ifIl knew. The anniversary date is May the 7th of every year, and the contract currently provides for a 60 day notice oft termination prior to the termination date, so that would have to be March 7th.  Huey Spearman: Comm Hopkins: I've already got that. Huey Spearman:  Right. But you still can terminate the contract even after the anniversary date, provided you still give us 60 days notice. But they would be entitled to any compensation. They would be entitled to  compensation for any services rendered up to the date of termination.  Comm. Hopkins: Okay. Mayor: Comm: Bennet: Yes. Mayor: District three?  So we'll bring this to our agenda tomorrow. Is that agreed? District two?  Page 6of14    ***DISCUSSION NOTES*** JULY 15TH-2024 W/S  Comm. Felder: Yes. Mayor: And district four? Comm Hopkins: Yes. Okay. Mayor: Thank you. City Manager:  Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Next, we'll move into the finance update. We only have one item for updating. As you know, we attended the GMA conference ai few weeks ago and part of the main conference. One ofthe main points for the city manager was to talk about insurance andi inflation associated withit. This isac quick presentation I'm going to provide to the Commission. Iam trying to get GMA to come down here and brief this thoroughly, because Ithink it's very important to understand some of the challenges we're going to face moving forward with our insurance across the board. And this is one of those areas when It talk about building in some type of buffer for inflation that we don't currently have. We really Like Isaid, Mr. Mayor, Iactually have GMA coming down here because I think it's very important that they come down here and read it in detail. But there'sa few points I did want to highlight here. Icould see the 2024 insurance market conditions and some of the things that affected it. And I'll go into more detail, especially those inflections as far as socioeconomic will drive the cost up. That's the green there in March. And then some of the other things that contribute to the market drastically change as far as insurance. A few seconds to read that ify you didn't get a chance to read the packets over the weekend. Like Isaid, this is mainly ini reference to Georgia. You will see parts here for other parts ofthe country, but mainly Georgia, because last year probably was the highest, as far as natural disasters we ever had int the state, and we're still paying for those costs. This next slide just kind of shows you some of the rest of the country and some challenges they're facing. As you see it says billion-dollar weather and climate disaster events 2023. The most we've ever had in a one-year time period increased. So this is really impacting how companies insure cities. On this next slide,just kind of showing you the weather disasters again. and you can look at things going up from last year from the 80s. There's another graph And this is where it kind of gets into the state of Georgia. But the other thing we have going on as far ass severe storms and things of that nature, the flooding, high temperatures, heat, temps, all those things that insurance companies are trying to figure out how to mitigate. And in doing sO, they also strengthen their market and what they actually cover. They let us know kind of now as far as GMA, what's headed down or down the pipeline. So, they're telling all the cities to kind of start preparing for those changes. The one thing I want to talk about, and I think everybody speaks about this challenge already. If automobile insurance hasn't went up over the last year, you've been very lucky. In regard to cities, it's been shown we do the most damage to our public works vehicles and our police vehicles. So some of those coverage: areas are going to change during the next couple ofyears. Much liket the the bigger cities ofNew York and California, it's already changed there. So that's something we've got to kind oftakea look at. Chief Cox actually has a good plan in place as far as our drivers training for us, because we've  need to sit down and figure this out sooner than later. So I'll start here.  once again showing disasters.  That should be coming pretty soon.  got to show something that we're mitigating ifanything happens to our cars.  Page 7of14    ***DISCUSSION NOTES*** JULY 15TH-2024 W/S  This is the next slide coming up. I've thought about this many times before about the consumer price index. Asy you see, as far asi inflation is at 22% since 2020 and continues to go up. Same thing as far as inflation, cost of materials, supply chains, wage inflation. I did not discuss this during the budget hearings, but this is a big factor coming right now that we all need to be prepared for. As many of our employees search for that next dollar and wages around the country. They're going to leave when they see an extra dollar. And that's something that most cities or organizations or companies got to start building ini intot their budget! because ity willl become ani issue where we're constantly changing out people and we change out people, we change our experience and performance at the same time. Then you see ther risei ini insurance costs, administrative costs, and thent the risks andi impacts capacity.s Social inflation, this was al big topic at the GMA conference. There was a time when those of us over a certain age took pridei in certaint things. But nowo cities are getting sued at thel highest rate ever. Things that normal people kind of walk off on, we no longer do that, and it's starting to affect the bottom line of the insurance companies. Hence, they're going to raise their prices for the many lawsuits they have to mitigate are constant right now. So yous see: some ofthese things contributing to that increase in attorneya advertising, expectation of higher compensation. There's a lot of factors in there that's dealing with the social inflation, but they want toj put this outt to our commission to be aware oft these changes that are coming. Because ify you don't build those buffersi in,i it's going to be hard toj pay for these extra costs. And once again, this [slide] is showing some oft the things that's happening across the board. Just likel I said, this is all mainly Georgia increasing propensity to sue, court juries favoring plaintiffs, growing distrust ofl large corporations and cities, litigation financing, aggressive, well-organized plaintiff bars, changes ini regulatory guidance and legal environment, all factors to raising insurance. It's talking about lines of coverage. We have automobile liability here. Physical damage to property because these are some ofthe big areast that are affecting cities. They want us tol be aware about and do And these are some of the premium considerations. Like Isaid, the claims frequency has doubled over this last year. The severity oft the claims is doubled and then the insurance expenses is kind of reaching capacity.Iknow we' vel kind oftalked about theset things offand on, in other, other meetings and settings, but Ijust thinki it deserves a quickl look. Because like Isaid, we haven't built anything ini right now into our system toj prevent all this, and we: should do sO as soon as we can. Let me go on this onej just to talk more: about municipalities and allt thel lines. You cans seel his upper trend. Liabilities by law enforcement, omissions, errors. Again, upper trend. Total account more frequent trends again up again. And then this other slide here. This last close out the last few slides isj just talking about the average cost per claim. You can see that's! kind oft the areas wherei it's going upa at ori it's been going upa at and they've! been rising. The one goodt thingt that, youl know, Covid kind ofs slowed certain things down, but, uh, now we're back into upward trends ont those cost per claims. It'st the one. I'm going to skip overt this one because it doesn't really apply to us. But I'm going to close this slide. These were some of the people that spoke, some of the lawyers from GMA that spoke. And of course, they'll do a better briefing than I will, but Ijust wanted to bringt this out because like Is said, we haven't really talked about these things in detail. And I've mentioned it a few times before, but at some point, Mr. Mayor, I do think we should have a discussion, retreat or whatever about how we start looking at our insurance and our premiums. And I  al better job ofmanaging. You see the other areas there as well.  pause there for any question they might have.  Mayor: Comm. Hopkins:  Commissioners, doy you have any questions from our city manager?  We: still, Mr. City Manager, do we stilll have insurance with Sports and McNeil?  Page 80 of14    ***DISCUSSION NOTES*** JULY 15TH-2024 W/S  City Manager: Comm Hopkins: City Manager:  Wel haven't changed any insurance at this time, Commissioner.  So they currently still have. They have y'all looked at the plan with them, what they're going to submit, Yeah, Iti is time. We are talking about it. Because like Isaid, our premiums are going up. The warning has been put out there that the premiums will be adjusted. So we're all looking at certain things. The good thing is our workman's comp kind of went down this year coming up. But Imean, the things that are going to cover, like Isaid, they're trying to holistic look at it. Certain things were covered before, I think maybe ten years ago. How they don't wantt tob beat the police cars up, but those, youl know, typically want to get damaged the most. They might look at not covering those anymore depending on what the actual incident is. So, you know, we've had a fewi incidents with our police cars here ini the past. Soj just some things they want us to be aware of because they're probably not going to cover certain items anymore. Sol Ihaven't had ai thorough discussion with thei insurance company at this time, but I plan to  or have you gotten that from them?  in the near future. Mayor: Any further questions? Comm. Hopkins: No, sir. Mayor: District three? Comm. Felder: No Mayor: Okay. Thank you, City Manager:  Next, we will move into the infrastructure update. We're still revising the report, sol wanted to give the Commission's an update on some of the projects going on in the City right now as far as infrastructure. As you know, with the water leaks the team has created a tagging system, a flagging system for the water leaks. Iknow many times citizens come up on al leak, and they assume that we're not addressing the leak, but they are. They are identified, but there are other things that need to happen once they get identified. Finding locators, getting permits, and things of that nature. So what we're going to do now is once that leak has been identified, we're going to tag it. That way, citizens and the Commission know that we are aware of that leak. Right now, we're dealing with leaks at 1048 Grove. Avenue, Lee Avenue and Glass Street, 1505 Georgia Avenue, 305 Center Street, 1401 Cherokee Drive. 502 Pentagon Street, and these are some more ofour major leaks. There might be some small leaks happening, but these are the major ones ESG is dealing with right now. Next, I want to talk about some of the major rehab projects going on. As you know, the Commission passed the emergency request for funding for the Sweat Street sewer rehab. The primary sludge line rehab. The Ossie Davis sewer rehab. And the USI sewer main replacement. We did have a few issues with GDOT that we're currently working through right now. They should be resolved tomorrow, and then we'll start the total rehab of those four main  Page 90f14    *+DISCUSSION NOTES*** JULY 15TH-2024 W/S  projects. Moving on to speed studies. We had some requested speed studies for certain districts. Chief Cox, Ithink hej just finished his speed study for Ava and Magnolia Streets. Hej just completed that study. And fort the Commission, we're going to start doing what this initiative is. Each time we get complaints, we're going to do a speed study to kind ofjustify whatever decision is made in that appropriate area.I know ini the past we. just stuck out a stop sign or there's certain things that didn't really slow down the speeding, sO we have increased tickets. Iknow for a while we were giving out a lot of warnings that that didn't help either, sO we're going to pick up the ticketing to slow down those persons they want to go, excessively beyond the speed limit. These speed studies are important to give us that data that we need tol kind of determine what can best rectify thes situation. Our safety studies are ongoing on Corridor Z and Memorial Drive. GDOT did request a support letter for some of their recommendations that I mentioned a few months ago. Some of the recommendations will be some of the curve slowing techniques raised medians, some of the speed bump in some locations on the highways, stop light placement, some ofthe things oft that nature. But I do want to geta a support letter as they feeli in the past, they tried to work with the City and they did not get thes support they felt they needed. Solam requesting today that I do write that support letter to GDOT expressing our willingness to partner with them after their speed study is completed, and do what it takes to help our City remain safe. As one ofthe citizens briefed today about the stoplights, if they come back and say they recommend stoplights, what would they recommend? As far as the calming effects? I do want them to see that we want to partner with them in these efforts to make the City safe and not be in a situation where a side feels like we're not Mr. City manager, what is it that they're saying as far as their timetable to address these issues? So the safety study should be done by the end of the month, and then they'lI come back with recommendations on what they. We talked about these recommendations a few times already. Definitely the raised medians, the raised curbs. I think they're talking about moving one of the crosswalks. They mentioned the lights, but if the study justifies it, then that would be something possible. I'm not sure of the results of the study yet, and when I say the raised medians and they was talking about all the way down Corridor Z through Memorial, through uptown. So that was that was one of the questions they had, and a few other issues they want to do as far as common techniques. So when) Is say speed bumps, Idon't mean the actual speed bumps. The tables And looking at putting tables out there. Iknow there has been discussions on not doing iti in the past, so that's what he asked me. We dos support anything they want in writing, versus anything else. So once that study is done, they'll come back with recommendations, and Tll come to the Commission with the recommendations and then from there, I'm going to go ahead and draft the support letter, because the support letter will state that we're equal partners and P'lI get this prepared, and hopefully, ift the Commission accepts their plan and we The one question I had was, again, when we think about the fire department, when there are incidences in certain areas, would this be an impediment for them or will they be able to work through this. So it's going to be pros and cons regardless. Idid talk to other city managers while I was down at the conference about that. I know each commissioner and yourself travel, sO y'all see that most cities do use the speed bumps versus the speed tables. Idid inquire about the liability that may be associated with that. Also about some of the concerns ofthe fire chief on those situations with those speed bumps. Youl know, they can be placed in a manner that we're aware of the fire truck is not affected. Same thing with the speed tables. It can be the same way where it only affects the cars. So I don't think that would  serious or committed to slowing down traffic.  Mayor: City Manager:  can move forward on some of those techniques that they want to implement.  Mayor:  City Manager:  Page 10of14    *+DISCUSSION NOTES*** JULY 15TH-2024 W/S  be an issue. It think initially when we. had that conversation about speed bumps, it was the old school speed bumps that went all the way across the road that would impact, you know, the truck regardless. LikeIsaid, Ih haven't: seent the actual study yet, those that go on Corridor Z and Memorial Highway,you see the cameras up there so you can see they're doing a study, but once they come back with all that stuff, Ip present it. Id do think it'si important that we do whatever they come with, we meet them halfway as much as possible. Because I feel likei in the past, wej just haven't been equal partners on this. Iknow safety is important to the Commissioners. Each Commissioner expressed their desire to do something about Corridor Zand other places in the community. So whatever they elected to do,Iwouldl like to do, and once they put their speed tables in place, that will be something that we go back and look at from the City and then look at the speed tables within the park areas and some of the other streets that we can't seem to get people slow down on. But that might be one of the tactics we use as well.  Mayor: Commissioners, any questions? Comm. Hopkins:  Italked to an engineer out in. Jesup three years ago, and we were making changes by Ellianos has the worsti intersection in' Waycross, and he: assured met that his software was havingt to match the one across the city is. And he told me within six months, come out and looked at it with me, took a picture with us. Trey came out and looked ati ita and they all looked andi they were: supposed to put up change ofl light out there where wel hada a left turn straight andi right turn: sO thati it wouldn't hold that traffic when they're tryingt tos sneak in when they goa across to get to where they're going over that way. Andl Ihad notl heard So now in that particular situation, Commissioner, I think the raised median down through Memorial, that whole area down there, I think that's part of the plan to keep vehicles from crisscrossing and jumping through. That would deter that al little bit, but IIll check on that. I'm not sure, Ispoke to him acouple oft times. I asked him to go out there this week because we do need to hurry this up. As far as  one word back from them. So, have youl heard from them? Come back.  City Manager:  what we're going to do. But P'll check on that location. Well, want to talk to our board member because she's their boss.  Comm Hopkins: City Manager: Yes, ma'am. Comm Hopkins:  Anything done yet? I know she I know she'll get something done, but I'm going to call her and talk to hert tomorrow abouti it. It's been way tool long. The: same way with stadium, they were going to get new hardware rani for that light. Because now with all the train traffic stopping, it's stopping the traffic on Memorial Drive headed towards Kroger, and they come up and they turn right, the right turn. There it is, backing up sO far down because the trains have got tracks across its nose and stadium and all the debris going all the way down. So it's making a big traffic jam there. And they do that because they're holding that right hand lane turn to go across the railroad tracks to the stadium and holding it with Yeah, It think too, when they those raised medians that's going to stop al lot of that, because as long as people are allowed to cross over wherever they want to, it's always going to be problems. But I'll check with that Commissioner, because like yous said, it's been some years, but Is speak tot them regularly on  tremendous amount off force atl lunchtime.  City Manager:  Page 11 of14    **DISCUSSION NOTES*** JULY 15TH-2024 W/S  this. Idid reach out to the senior engineer. Ireached out to Atlanta. We try to have two touch points a month. This safety study is supposed to go beyond the normal scaling scope. Because, youl know, when we did thei first one, we didn't get thel latter that we needed, so they dids some more stuff! like near misses and traffic accidents. Sot those cameras have been capturing like bumper-to-bumper: stuff. They've been catching near misses, and they've been calculating all those numbers. So like Isaid, I feel good about it this time because they got the raw data. They can see a bigger picture; they have more clarity of the picture. Soi it's not just about the cars speeding. It's maneuverability. It's the timing. It's everything, sO Ifeel good about it. They said it should be done by the end of this month, and once iti is, IlI bring it back. Ijust want the Commission to know that we're working. That support letter is going to be critical because they can just as easily come back to us and say they recommend stuffi in the past. And we've turned it down. So Ijust want to make sure that the Commission is aware of that, that requirement for Okay, next I'm moving to state of infrastructure, parks, street and core samples have been submitted and collected, and the bids should go out later this month, with work hopefully starting in August. For all those areas. So that means the 2014 TSPLOST road projects, 2018 SPLOSTI Paving Road projects and then the LMIG 2023, 2024 projects. As youl know, some oft those streets have overlays. So once the bids come back and we get an actual cost, III come back to the Commission because we might have to make some changes. I use an example of Isabella, Palmetto and Oak. There are different funding sources, sO it might be able to cover something in one area and move the money somewhere else. So once the bids come back, I have a clear picture of what we actually might need to move if we need to move anything, because we want to know where those were at, and finally, with the infrastructure update will not finally, but the last point you should have providedar memorandum dated May31, ,2024. Ito came from ESG/Inframark team and it's just them going a summary of the media situation. As you know, we've been trying to figure that out since I've been here. We've been unsuccessful sO far, and everything we've done with the meters up to this point now. Idid circle back with Trey, and I think Charlie is still here, SO we. had discussed we're going to take another shot at maybe making a few more adjustments to the meters. Because Iknow how important this is to the Commission, and the citizens. And just hoping that figures it out. One thing we are doing, though, within the city, we are putting all the meter boxes out. That was a concern of the citizens. We are checking the meter boxes as we check the legs, so we're about 50% complete with that. That's giving us some more data about the meters and stuff, sO I don't have an answer right now. What we're going to do next, we're going to meet with the team next week. They reached out to some other cities that were having not as many problems as us with our meters. But this meteri isap problem across the southeast. It's notj just here and nobody has really cracked the egg onl how toi fixi it. Outside of going back to the analog meters and doing the manual drive- bys, and that would require more personnel. Iknow we don't want to go backwards like that, but we're all trying to figure out what's the next step or course ofaction that you can see. Give you that summary, we've done a lot to try to figure this out, but unfortunately, we. just haven't been successful at getting it  that support letter, regardless of what decision is made.  resolved. Ijust want the Commission to know where we stood with the meters.  Mayor: Thank you for that. City Manager:  Mr. Mayor, that will complete the discussion items as far as the watershed protection plan and the  finance update and the infrastructure update.  Page 12of14    **DISCUSSION NOTES*** JULY 15TH-2024 W/S  City Manager:  Ifyour movei into the privilege license renewals, we have one. And as far as we have no privilege license, wel have no proposed ordinances. We have one proposed resolution. And we'll go ahead and move into Mr. Mayor, the only report I have is that you probably noticed in the newspaper the ad regarding the special election is coming up in November. We are running that ad every week up until the date of qualification, which starts on the 23rd. So it's been running for two weeks now. It has another week to  the city attorney'sr report ifyou have one.  Huey Spearman:  run. Mayor: Huey Spearman: Just ar report. Mayor: two districts. Huey Spearman: That's correct. Mayor: regarding locality. City Manager:  Any questions or comments? Iguess in this case it's) just reports.  And uniquely, when we're talking about this, this will be next week. So it's going to be interesting for  Any comments about concerns maybe for district one or district five that may need to be talked about So there's one concern, Mr. Mayor. And I think, you know, the elections board put this out. But there will be different locations. I know typically district one because it's technically not only primary, I mean, soi it wouldn't be in the auditorium, it would be in another location. Because the primary will be int the auditorium, and you do want citizens to kind of be aware of that as they move around or take the day off to vote. They might have to go to two locations to vote, where it might be one location. Ithink they're going to put that out here next week, sO everybody's aware of that. But we'll reinforce that we don't want anybody to go somewhere and not see somebody's name on the ticket, and then not vote and then have an issue later on. So we'll try our best to support the team over there with the elections  committee. Hopefully, all will get the information out the right way.  Mayor: Thank you, Mr. City Attorney. City Manager: executive session for personnel. Mayor: session.  Mr. Mayor, I have been pretty much covered everything during discussion items. We do have an With that being said, if there's nothing else, we can entertain a motion for adjournment to executive  Comm. Hopkins: I make a motion.  Page 13of14    **DISCUSSION: NOTES*** JULY 15TH-2024 W/S  Comm. Bennett: Second.  Mayor: Wel have a motion from Commissioner Hopkins to movei into executive session for personnel, along with second from Commissioner Bennett. We'll take a vote. Alli in favor?. Aye.  Comm. Bennett: Aye. Comm. Felder: Aye Comm. Hopkins: Aye. coming.  Mayor: All opposed?. Motion carries. We will move to the executive session. Thank you, everyone, for  Page 14of14