PAA  ETHIRK  120 North Essa Street, Lake Park, Georgia 31636  City Hall 229-559-7470 Fax 229-559-7499 City of Lake Park PUBLIC: HEARING Minutes September 19, 2024 9:00 am  Members Present were Mayor Jena Sandlin, Mayor Pro Tem Oscar Griffith, Council Members  Carl Spano and Busby Courson.  Appointed Staff Present: City Clerk Lisa Johnson Mayor. Jena Sandlin called the meeting to order. Mayor Pro-Tem Oscar Griffith led the Invocation. Mayor Jena Sandlin led the Pledge.  Mayor Sandlin thanked everyone for coming and stated that this would bet the first of three Public Hearings to discuss the millage ratei for this year. Because there havel been al lot of changes and needs that have come their attention, the Council has decided to take thei time to review the costs associated with those things and hold these Public Hearings to allow members oft the Public to ask questions and give theiri input. Mayor Sandlin asked if any Member of Council wanted to say anything before the Council opened the floor for Public Comment. Council Member Carl Spano spoke, introducing himself as the newest member of Council, since January of 2024, and stated that he was the appointed Budget Officer and had been the one to make the recommendation to review the millage ratet to go no higher than 6.5 mils. Hel has worked weeklyi if not daily with the City Clerk to monitor the budget and understand where the City's money has been coming from and where iti is spent and to make sure that the City's funds are not mismanaged. Part oft the issue encountered is inflation: like residents, higher costs impact the City, and the City needs to make an adjustment fori inflation in order to provide services and meet the needs of1 the City, especially now that the City is growing. He stated that he  would start with where the Cityi is, and what theyl have done in the past:  Since 2015 or 2016, the: millage rate. had been set at 7-392 and had been held by the City every: year. This was only a gradual increasei in revenues. Basically, this means that unless there were: increases ini the value ofhomes, property taxes have remained pretty much the same and the City's revenues. have remained thes same as well. Last year, due to the sharp increase inj property values, the City rolled the millage rate back to 6.219 mils    and gave everyone a taxl break. The: result was that the City realized approximately a $7,500 increase from property taxes overt thej previous year. From 2019 to 2023, the property taxes received have gone up approximately 19%, while thei rate ofi inflation for the same timej period has been 23.1%. The amount of money comingi ini toj pay thel bills has not kept up with thei increase int thel bills. Therefore, the Cityi is requesting an increase to 6.5 mils. The recommendation from the County is to roll back to 5-328 mils, but upon reviewing thel budget, it has been determined that this will not meet the City's needs. Council Member Spano then moved ont to what the City would be doing with the  money:  General and Administration: Over thel last two years, the City's employees have received an average of2.5% payi increase, and the cost-of-living increase. has been al little over 4%; hei is asking for a 3% increase for employees, sO the City can retain them. In addition, there is a need for increased staff, as the City is growing. The amount ofi money the City can offer newl hires is not competitive enough for those applicants to consider the City. This makes it exceedingly hard to find thei talent needed to meet the City's needs. Finally, several of our employees need training to do the jobs theyl have and some oft them are required to obtain that training to maintain the certifications they are required tol have. Fire. Department: the City recently had toj purchase 6 new radios for the Fire Department, although the Fire Chief did recommend 12. The County has announced plans to upgrade the communication and dispatch system, and the City's radios were too old to accept the upgrade, sO they needed to be replaced. This is an increase of $15,000 per year in thel budget; the total increase requested is about $150,000, sO this represents Police Department: The vehicles are aging. Usually, we buy used vehicles, for instance from the Sheriffs department, but when you buy used vehicles with several tens of thousands of miles on them already, they are prone to need repairs. Those costs come out oft the budget. We would like to purchase new vehicles when needed sO they come with factory warranties, and we don'thave to payf for repairs out oft the General Fund budget due tol high mileage. The Cityl has a goal toi increase coverage: for the City. We have a part-time position scheduled for 20 hours per week and would like toi increase Maintenance: has similar issues. The vehicles are aging, and in addition to this, wel have generators, pumps and other infrastructure that needs to be maintained or replaced. If wel have the SPLOST funds, we can replace these, but otherwise, repairs come out of the General Fund. Hei referenced an outage in November when the City had to go over to County Water at a cost toi the City of approximately $4,000. More efficient maintenance Public Works: Council knows there are public works projects that need tol be done in the City: there are drainage problems and other engineering projects that need tol be completed. To do this, the City needs toj pay the Engineer to evaluate the project SO that a cost can be calculated, at which time we can look for the: funds or grants to pay fori it. These, grants and other funding generally require a match from the City, and tol be able to provide the match, wel have to have the funds available. The hope is that we willl be able  10% oft thei increase.  that to: 32 hours per week, which would need additional resources.  will reduce these types ofe events.  to address these issues in ai timelier manner.    Council Member Spano finished by stating that the Council Members are trying to do thel best they can for the Cityand get nothing out of this, noting that hej personally donates his] paycheck from the Cityl back tot the City. Hei noted that during the 91 months he has served on the Council and as the Budget Officer, no one has ever called him about thel budget, or asked about iti in meetings, and tol his knowledge, in that time only one] person has even asked for a copy oft the budget. Hei invited members oft the public to reach out to him at any time outside oft the meetings ift they have any questions or suggestions and) he would be happy to answer any questions they have, stating that ifhe did not havet the answer, he will get the answer. Council Member Spano went on to say that Members of Council were very aware that they are stewards oft the residents' money, and they don't want to waste that money. Justl like the residents, Members pay taxes, soi ifthe millage rate goes to 6.5it affects him as well, and he doesn'twant the money mismanaged either. He stated that het takes his responsibility: and Council Member and Budget Officer very seriously to: make sure that he and the: rest of the Council are: not misappropriating the resident's money and spending it on things that they don'tneed to spend it Mayor Sandlin asked ifa any other members would like to speak. As no other member wished to speak, the Mayor announced that the floor would be opened forj public comment, asking residents to please limit their comments toi three minutes and to speak clearly when they state  on.  their name and address.  John V: Sansberry, Jr-331. Jackson Circle - Stated that hel has County Water and Sewer and that inl his neighborhood. He stated that they need police coverage at night, and the ditches need tol be maintained sO they drain adequately. He: asked about the money that would come: from new houses. He asked what services the City provided out at. Jackson Circle, stating that his neighborhood alsol had no sidewalks, and that the City's services were: focused on the older part oft the City. He: stated thatl hel has seen two and three police officers on duty at the samet time who are: running radar, but they do not have patrol ini their area. He stated that it is time that either they start receiving some services or stop) paying taxes. Mayor Sandlin stated that she would address the issue of patrol in that end oft town with the Police Chief. Hei noted that the grass at the mailboxes at Pointer's Ridgel had notl been properly maintained and the Cityl has not enforced the requirement: fori the contractor to do so. Mr. Sansberry went on to say that hel had been asked to run for Council andl had refused, because the City is an absolute mess, not by the current Council whol havel been in office a short time, but by those who served previously. Hei finished by saying that he wants to do whatever he can to support his community and will continue to do so and has never complained about the services that Arthur Keckle - 4H Club Rd - reiterated what Mr. Sansberry had said, specifically regarding the drainage, stating that hel has been requesting attention toi this since 2015. He asked how many miles were on the cars that the police department. has; hel has worked for State Law Enforcement, and they buy new cars at 148,000 miles. He stated that the City was overcharged for the radios, and hel had checked into that as well. He noted that the officers had parked in their neighborhood for 2 days and it didn'ts slow down the speeders, had put down the smaller speed bumps and that didn'tslow them down, but they were: slowed down with the new ones, which residents appreciated, but they have noted people going around them. He asked why the City didn'tl hire another officer rather than pay the County for additional assistance for law enforcement orj just let the County cover law enforcement. Council Member Spano responded that the Cityi is  have not been received from the City.    required toj provide a minimum oft three services andi ift they stop providing law enforcement, they will not bej providing three services. City Clerk Lisa Johnson noted that ift the County had toi increase coverage for Lake Park, they would need to hire more deputies, pay more inl labor costs, purchase more cars and more: fuel and would likely need to: raise their millage rate to accommodate the change, and that iti is actually more cost-efficient for residents ift the City maintains its own department. Mr. Keckle asked what other services the City provides and was told Water and Fire Department. He asked what difference the new houses made to ther millage, since this was new: revenue coming in. Council Member Spano stated that the City does not receive revenue: from those houses until people purchased them as new construction is considered unincorporated housing. City Clerk Lisa Johnson noted that the Net Digest includes the value oft that new construction, and the recommended rollback includes those values ini the millage rate. He asked what the difference in the millage rates means for residents from the current millage rate to the proposed rate. Council Member Spano calculated the difference between the current millage rate and the proposed rate on a $300,000 home at a difference of $36. Mr. Sansberry. stated that his estimated tax bill was higher than that difference; Council Member Spano asked that hel be allowed to correct his statement to clarify that the difference ini the amount to the City would be $36 per year, but the County millage rate and the School Board's millage rate would also be on the taxl bill. Mr. Sansberry stated that a 22% increase was more than $36, and Council Member Spano replied that the 22% represents the difference between what the recommended 5.238 millage and the proposed 6.5 millage, and his calculation was the difference between the 6.219 millage rate and the proposed 6.5 millage rate, and that the difference between the 6.219 millage and the 6.5 millage is actually a little over. .21 mils. Mr. Keckle asked where the County's recommendation comes: from. Council Member Spano answered that the formula assumes that the City can run on the same amount of property tax: revenue as the previous year. Mr. Keckle asked ift the Cityl has a Savings account they can dipi into the same way ai residential home does. The Mayor responded that they do, and Mr. Keckle asked what happened to those funds and why the City couldn't dip into those funds. Council Member Spano responded that the City had been dipping into those reserve funds, noting the recent hurricane. Mr. Keckle noted that there was still debris Savannah Carter = 210 West St - stated that she is very: young but wants to agree that therei is a difference in services in thei two ends oftown. She is happy to have the services, but shel has noticed this end oft town (south near City Hall) does have al better quality and quantity of services. Mayor Sandlin stated that shei is very appreciative oft the information that has been presented at this meeting. Ms. Carter stated that she is very aware that younger residents need tol bei more: involved, and she ist trying to understand more; she asked ift there is a way to disseminate information rather thanj just the Facebook page. She was given information for the website and told that these were also advertised in thei newspaper. Ms. Carter suggested a signi ini front of City Hall that would note the dates oft the Council Meetings as aj reminder and expressed her appreciation for Gloria Luke - 201 4H Club Rd - spoke in support oft the other comments that have come forward, stating that she had learned today that she could come to Mr. Spano regarding thel budget and had always come to the Clerk. She stated that she appreciated the police department and noted that previously the City only had two officers and other coverage was provided byt the County. She stated that she doesn'ty want to see anyone's jobl lost, but shei is concerned about the economics, as SO many in the community are on a: fixed  ona aj neighboring propertyin] his neighborhood.  Members of the Council.    income. She noted that shel had seen the complaints about the speed bumps, and took responsibility for coming forward, noti forherself, but for the community. She expressed appreciation: for the maintenance crew, and reminded Council that when Jeff was here, thel Right ofWays down 4H Club Rd was mowed on both sides, in addition to checking on some oft the elderly people. She noted that maintenance seemed tol bej picking up slightly, but there is al lot to be done. Mrs. Luke named several recreational opportunities in the County, and stated that she is not against recreation, but said that things needed tol be reasonable. Her request is simply that the City dig deep and make sure that the cuts needed be implemented, because this really does represent al burden ont the public. Mr. Keckle asked for 30 more seconds, in which he reiterated appreciation for Mr. Billy Susan Keckle - 315 4H Club Rd - Thanked the City Clerk for her timei in explaining and trying tol help her understand thel budget and some oft the services. She stated that she has been coming to the: meetings, trying to, get the drainage issues addressed; she understands the position the Cityi is in, but that residents really need the services ift they  Jones in the maintenance department.  are going toj pay the money.  Mayor Sandlin asked ift there were any other questions. Ms. Carter asked ifiti is permissible to bring children toi the meetings, explaining that shel has a toddler, who would sit quietly. City Clerk Lisa Johnson explained that the meetings are open toi the public and she is welcome to bring her child. Mayor Sandlin reminded the members oft the public that the second hearing later that day would be at 6:30. Hearing no other comments or questions, she asked ift there was amotion to dismiss. Council Member Carl Spano made a motion to adjourn. Council Member Oscar Griffith seconded the motion. The motion passed unanimously, 3-0, and the Hearing  stood adjourned.  dBppas Lisa Johnson, Eity Clerk  ggh  Seal