MINUTES WAYCROSS CITY COMMISSION PLANNING & INFORMATION SESSION MONDAY, FEBRUARY 3, 2025, 5:00 P.M. WAYCROSS CITY COMMISSION CHAMBERS (417 PENDLETON STREET, WAYCROSS, GA) I. CALL TO ORDER: The Waycross City Commission Meeting was called to order on Monday, February 3, 2025, at 5 pm by Mayor James. The meeting was held in the Commission Chambers of City Hall. Present were Commissioners Shawn Roberts, Alvin Nelson, and Mayor Pro Temp, Sheinita Bennett. A. Invocation: City Attorney Invocation led by, Interim City Attorney, Huey Spearman B. Pledge of Allegiance II. GUESTS: Mr. David White-1419 Marion Street, Waycross Ga 31501, Mr. White spoke on the need for a light at Garlington and Corridor Z. Mr. Michael Hargrove- 2012 Alice Street, Waycross Ga 31501, Mr. Hargrove was here advocating for a special election for the District 4 vacancy to be held in June instead or November. III. TRAVEL/TRAINING SCHEDULE AND REQUESTS IV. PLANNING & INFORMATION SESSION A. Bids: n/a B. Discussion Items: ***SEE DISCUSSION NOTES*** 1. FJC Service Agreement-ChiefCox 2. New Apartment Housing Development 3. Zoning Board Revision 4. Grants & Program Implementation Presentation Danita Doleman 5. Infrastructure: a. Parks & Streets b. Sweat Street C. Privilege Licenses Renewals: n/a Page 1 of3 D. Privilege Licenses: 1. Los Compadres Mexican Taqueria LLC, J. Gonzalez, 602 Pendleton St. Waycross, Ga. 31501, Beer and Wine Consumption on Premises Only. 2. Tipsys Inc., S. Patel, 1269 #B Ossie Davis Pkwy, Waycross, GA 31501, Beer, Wine, and Liquor, Package Sales Only. E. Proposed Ordinances: 1. An Ordinance to Amend the Zoning Ordinance of the City of Waycross, Georgia, and the Zoning Map; To Rezone the Property Described Herein Located at Brunel Street at Howe Street and Haines Avenue, Parcel WA1203 035 from C-2 Highway Commercial To R-50 Residential; to Set An Effective Date; To Declare an Emergency Second Reading; To Repeal Conflicting Ordinances; and for Other Purposes. There was a consensus to place this on Tuesday agenda. F. Proposed Resolutions: 1. A Resolution ofthe City of Waycross, Georgia Approving Change To Voting Precinct for Residents of District 1 In All Municipal Elections to the C.C. McCray City Auditorium, 865 Pendleton Street, Waycross, Georgia, and for Other Purposes. There was a consensus to place this on Tuesday agenda. 2. A Resolution of the City of Waycross, Georgia Accepting and Approving the Annual financial and Audit Report for Fiscal Year Ending June 30, 2024; and for Other Purposes. There was a consensus to place this on Tuesday agenda. There was a consensus to place this on Tuesday agenda. G. City Attorney Report: H. City Managers Report: I. Last Call J. Adjourn to Executive Session K. Adjournment The mayor adjourned the meeting at 6:16pm Page 2 of3 CITY OF WAYCROSS BY: hubablesk - mR MICHAEL-ANGELO JAMES, Mayor ATTEST: Jonuala Fnoll JACQUALINE POWELL, City Clerk PPOMBENIE Page 3 of3 **DISCUSSION NOTES*** 02/03/2025 WS Mayor: At this Time, You look to our city manager For the remainder of our agenda. City Manager: Thank you, Mr. Mayor. At this time, we'll go ahead and move into the information planning session. We don't have any bids at this time. And as always, we will start with the vision. The vision has not changed. Well, that was before. That, Mr. Mayor. A little bit longer than the last time. did not realize that the citizens had. Some citizens had not read this before. So let me stay for a few seconds. We'll let citizens read it online. And the mission has not changed. It will. Be moving to the city. Priorities. They remain the same with the buckets for the parks remain the same. Mr. mayor. Mr. mayor, the equalities further explained, have not changed in terms ofinfrastructure, quality oflife, city workforce. And you see those items. They remain the same as well. As we continue to focus on these priorities moving forward in the city. And those citizens who want to read this in detail. This is already on the website, and we posted these slides on Facebook. For those that have questions or want to have input on our priorities. Thank you, Mr. Mayor. City plan. Short term. Medium term. Long term. Still in effect. And we did achieve all the milestones with the first 1 or 2 years playing outside of saving the 5% savings within the budget, we move that to the mid-term for the next 2 to 4 years to find that cost savings some way this next budget cycle. Other than that, the mid-term the mid-term city plan is ongoing. And I'lI let you know. I have a question about the commission and let the citizens online and you're in the chambers. Read those priorities. Commission. Do you have any questions of the city manager? Hearing none. You can proceed. Thank you, Mr. Mayor. And next, Mr. Mayor, we'll move into the service agreement, and it will be conducted by Chief Cox. And it's the Family Justice Center's employee contract reimbursement. Chief Cox. Chief Cox: Good evening. This is actually a service agreement. We are actually it's renewable every year. We actually, um, approved it, um, halfway through the calendar year of 2024. What it basically is, we assigned one of our detectives to work out ofthe Family Justice Center, which the Family Justice Center is a location where victims of sexual assault, domestic abuse, um, kidnaping, stalking. Um. ET cetera. It's a location where that victim can receive all their needs. Instead of having to run from pillar to post, from having to run to the police department, then having to run to thel Magnolia house to receive as service. ET cetera. ET cetera. So there are several agencies that are stationed inside thel Family Justice Center. We are one of them. Um, by being stationed at that location, um, we get reimbursed every month. Uh, we send an invoice to Magnolia House, and within 30 days, Um, they have reimbursed the city. And that started in July of 2024. And to date, the city has been reimbursed $39,071.52. And sO it's working out as planned. And I would ask that this service agreement for this year be renewed. Mayor: With that being said, I'll go to the Commission for consensus on this renewal. I'll start with district one, Commissioner Roberts. Yes, sir. District two, Commissioner Bennett. Yes, sir. Commissioner for district three. Commissioner Felder. Yes. And Commissioner for district five. Commissioner Nelson. Yes, sir. You have consensus. Thank you, sir. City Manager: Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Uh, next, we'll move into a new apartment in housing development, as requested by the commission. We weren't sure on the actual presentation, sO I did put a small presentation together. We will have a full presentation some here, um, probably in the next month after we have the starting presentation for district three. I think that's this month as well. So, uh, these following notes are. just some notes from my presentation, and I apologize for that for questions about the commission. So, um, SO for the who, um, various investors, uh, the city of Waycross is comprised of over 5000 households right now with aj population of 13, a little bit over 13,000. Our family households average 3 to 3 and a half. Members of the household average 2.5 members. That's our single-family homes or people renting the parking spaces. Um, roughly in the city, we have about. Page 1 of 15 **DISCUSSION NOTES*** 02/03/2025 WS 6775 housing units. That's apartments and homes all put together. Uh, 50% of those were built prior to 1969. Uh, much like our infrastructure and pipes, 15% of failing those abandoned lots and abandoned homes, and then 2,525% of vacant. So he put the math together to see that we have a problem that's been escalating for some time because it's growing. We have a plan for about 1600 to 2000 units to meet growth manifestation. Uh, that's for that. New the new companies coming in. Um, mainly work development, workforce housing. But at the same time, we have other needs for family members. Um, sO that's all in that same number. And the last point. Um, we've had no new development since 2020 and only about 398 units since 2010. Um, sO what is SO what are the is. And what he's saying is we have a lot of potential investors coming into the city. Um, we have some right now. Um, they've already graciously voted to do in district three. Um, we have two more potential areas in district one and a few more areas that the city maintains as far as land within the county. And then we have some more small parcels that also could be used for single family housing. So, Um, we want to present this today. Like I said, you get the full presentation. Um, after we do the town hall for district three, where we'll go in detail with the citizens. But this is just some food for thought. Um, for the commission. Uh, because we will be bringing those investors forward as well. Um, starting as early as the next meeting. Um, to kind of give you the outline ofthe plan for the land, and some ofthem are interested in buying, and I'll pause there for any questions by the commission. Great. Mayor: We will Open the floor For the commission to respond or even to ask questions. We will start with district one. Commissioner Roberts: Uh, the job that you. Say coming in. What kind ofj fjobs are coming with that? City Manager: So, Commissioner, I can only say the job. But, you know, we have, you know, the American company that's been already put out in light. Uh, I will say, and, um, there was a setback for them. They had a changeover in leadership, organization, leadership. So at that time got pushed back a little bit. Um, they should have been here this year. I think everybody's expecting that. So probably the next year, and they're bringing a secondary company with them as well. Um, but I won't be able to go into those details until we reach, you know, meet with the development authority and they'l! kind of briefy you on that. Um, there are other people coming in. Um, just looking to give us housing because, like I said, we're short, uh, 2000 units. Now, some of that is workforce housing development. But another part of that is we're shortj just housing units for our what we call our new age population, those individuals being from the age of 21 to 38. So that would be our younger population. Uh, right nowj just don't have homes. So many ofthem are staying with their parents. Uh, ideally, they would like to move out and get home, but we just don't have the capacity right now for them to do that. So they end up staying home with their parents. So, um, for the expected growth and, um, externally and internally, we definitely need to go ahead and start putting some units up as soon as possible. Um, we already kind of behind from the company, even though they're coming in late, we're still kind of behind as far as providing them workforce housing. And like we had the previous meeting, um, that we'll be putting in, I want to say it's 81 units coming in, but all ofthose are single unit homes for one person or one couple. Uh, SO that won't be all the demands, but we'll start the process. So there's some other, um, potential employment company here. And what I'm going to do, commissioner, is probably follow up with the development authority and ask them to come give you a detailed brief on that. We'll get a commission, a detailed brief on that did I answer the question. Commissioner. Commissioner Roberts: Yes, sir. Mayor: Commissioner, you have a follow up question? No, sir. Okay. District two. Commissioner Bennett: Thank you, Mayor. City manager. You did answer one question. Um, what district did you say that they would be looking at? Page 2 of 15 **DISCUSSION NOTES*** 02/03/2025 WS City Manager: Well. Looking at all districts, SO. But we only have, uh, a few over eight acres or over nine acres development. So, Until then, we. have the property scout. That's the 36 acres. And then the other districts have other parcels that can be used for single family housing. On top of me right nowi is for multifamily housing or apartments and stuff like that. Um, and we're actually going to cover that in a minute about the other potential uses of those vacant lots, because we have a lot of vacant lots. You see that, uh, 25% of the housing units are vacant. Those houses can't really be utilized either. Um, but we have restrictions on those areas which we'll cover farther down the agenda where we can't put another house in place of them because the house is too large, or the zoning stuff like that. So those are the things that we can do and, you know, get ahead of myself. But those are the things we can do to kind of fix our deficit right now for our housing, we have somewhat half capacity. Wej just haven'treally had a aj push to make something ofthat capacity. But all the district commissioners, yes, we got we got space in all the districts. Now some districts have more availability because they have more open and vacant lots and land. Yes, sir. Thank you. Thank you. Mayor: Thank you. We have something with Georgia Initiative Committee for those for housing. The question I have along these lines is just there are three parcels I knew that they made mention ofi in our conversation, and one ofwhich happened to be in the college area. The other one was in the Bailey area. But then there was another one on Vining, but they made mention of that. So these are I know those were certain ones, but I'm glad that you made mention that there were some in other areas as well. I'm looking now to district three, Commissioner Felder. Commissioner Felder: Thank you. Mayor. Um, Mr. City Manager, my question and my concern are regarding the esthetics of housing and apartments that are built in the city of Waycross. Um, I do quite a bit of traveling, um, in and outside of the city. And also, I visit other communities and I take observation of the status oft the housing that is developed in those communities. Um, not necessarily a specific area, but I look at that. I think that as a community, if we're, um, wanting and needing an increase in our population growth, um, that is something that I think is really important to consider. Um, I have seen housing in past times in the city of Waycross that has been built. Um, and this is just my perspective. It has not been esthetically pleasing and complimentary to that community. Um, becausel Idol believe that does that does impact, um, the housing market and also the value ofthe homes that are already there and the homes that are built. I think that when we are considering developers to come into our community to build homes, that this is something that really needs to be considered. And Ialso, along with the structure. Um, of the house. But it has to be esthetically pleasing because we want to be able to draw people into our community, to want to live here and to be able to be proud of where they live and proud of what they see. Thank you. City Manager: Commissioner. So, a few things with that. And actually when we go down the discussion items. So, we'll be covering, uh, some zoning board revision and Mr. Hawkins will touch on that. But to your point now, I should have separated this a little bit more. So, we talk about other grant programs for housing. That's a little different. Um, we can't force them to use certain materials. We I think we all know the challenges we're facing now with some of the homes now, other investors coming in, that's totally different. You know, we can do some work to make sure that that, that, um, esthetic piece you talked about is, is adhered to. Uh, I know we had some reservations for some of our citizens about the upkeep of these homes, um, years down the road. Um, this next development coming in, I don't want to get too far ahead on the presenter when they come next week. Um, but you know, those, those units will have specific requirements to even live there. So, it won't be a thing like, um, just being honest and transparent. It will be a thing like our low- or moderate-income housing that we have right now. Um, that you have to really qualify to get in those homes. So, I feel like, and I think we all feel like those homes will be upkept. Um, back to the other point about esthetics andj just the homes we have here now. Um, sitting on lots that's been here for some time. Uh, that has always been a challenge. Um, because oft the zoning, some zoning codes we have right now. Um, and as you go to other communities, and I think Mark is going to talk about this a little bit more, but we do need to kind of revise those, Page 3 of 15 *DISCUSSION NOTES*** 02/03/2025 WS those codes and that in our previous thinking. Um, I use the word tiny homes. Nobody wants to say it out, you know. Um, but those are thriving right now. Um, economically, they. just make more. sense than trying to build 2000 3000 square foot homes. And the loss that we have right now. Um, sO there are a lot of things that we can do, and we need to do. Um, and we're going to start presenting that to the commission moving forward, as well as the land Bank and a few other, um, committees that kind of focus on housing here in Waycross. Thank you. Thank you. Commissioner. Mayor: Commissioner for district five. Commissioner Alvin Nelson. I want to thank you. Okay. Just move forward. City Manager: Thank you, Mr. Mayor. And I hope that the citizens can, um, appreciate some of these, some ofthis data, what we're going to do once, um, the first investors kind of come in and present what they're trying to do. We'll go ahead and make sure we put a whole presentation out because there's more data I think, right now. Mayor and you has been and myself have been previous to the all the data. Um, but it is quite staggering. Like I say, you got to think about it. We haven't built many homes here and hope, um, we move past that. So,just for assignment, Ijust got a comment. Come in. So, when I say no new development since 2020, that means no new development at all. And 308, that's actually an apartment complex. So yes, we have not had any new homes built here. So just make sure that's clear to everybody. And with that, Mr. Mayor, we'll move on to the next item is going to talk about zoning board and property divisions. And I'm going to move to the brief slide. I'm going to bring Mr. Hawkins upl here to kind of go into the ins and outs ofit. Um, but the commission did ask, um, for this to be put on to an agenda to kind oftalk about this. This is only a conversation starter. Um, Mr. Hawkins is going to come back. Probably not the next meeting, but the first meeting in March and bring you some, some, some other recommendations. He had to go out and review some things and reach out to some other, um, other organizations to kind of see what we actually can do. He's going to also meet with some other cities andj just see, um, some of their restrictions and how we can modify, change, delete our own codes and some of our, some of our other requirements to kind ofjust better utilize our abandoned properties. Um, our forfeited properties and then our vacant lots. I'm going to pause there for any questions before I turn it over to Mr. Hawkins. Any questions at all? Commissioner Felder: Yes, I have a question regarding these abandoned properties, forfeited properties and vacant lots. On average, how many do we have that are in the process of going through the system? You had a number ofl hand. City Manager: Okay. Um, looking at the last the last chart. Um, Commissioner. So we're probably at least 80 homes in that process. Um, and we all, I think I'll say it again, that's actually almost a two-year process. And that's one of the things we probably need to look at. Um, how that process starts, and we can influence some of that. Um, ify'all remember when we first got here last year, we did get them to allow us to go on the property to fix the outside, you know, within that first year versus wait. So but it's still taking a lot of time because we've taken them to court. You know, we've got to find the original owners or the family members that can take a long time to. Um, then once we get it and go to court, you know, then they got to get more time. And this is one ofthe things that when we sit down with thej judge again, like we got to figure out who's giving how much time. Um, the city gives them flexibility. Then he turns around and gives them flexibility, too. And we're kind of giving them a little time. And that's kind of not been working, um, in the past. So that's one of the things, like I said, Mark's going to get into that, not this meeting right here, but the next meeting, that's one ofthe areas we got to cover is the actual court process, because it has not been effective. I recognize that, um, since we do have a lot of homes just waiting to get torn down or in the process of being torn down, that should be able to be picked up faster than what it's been in the past. Page 4 of 15 ***DISCUSSION NOTES*** 02/03/2025 WS Mayor: Commissioner, you have further questions. Okay. City Manager: With that, Mr. Mayor, I'm going to bring up Mr. Hawkins. Marc Hawkins: Thank you, Mr. Rayford, Commission. So a couple of things that we're going to be looking at, and I've reached out to the regional commission, uh, because this is part of what some ofthe services they offeri is to help look at our zoning ordinance. Um, and they do this all over on how we can use and utilize properties that are. So let'sjust say an R 50 zoning. The lot has to be 50 by 100. We have some properties that maybe are 45 by 90. So they're not quite there. Um, sO they can seek a variance and do all this stuff. Um, but it's seeking multiple variances because of the lot smaller than the setbacks have to be reduced as well. So some of the things that we want to look at is how we can utilize that. So it would either be um, coming up with a standard that we can put in there or reducing the, the lot size restrictions, um, to maybe have a sentence in there that just says ifit's a current existing lot, they can use it. Um, and then some property setbacks, you know, some ofthat we have to look at, um, again, the R: 50 is the least restrictive, um, or excuse me, the most restrictive. It's got to be 50 by 100. And then your setbacks. Um, on one side of six foot and the other side is nine feet. Um, sO if you reduce those setbacks, then it kind of triggers the house next door. Um, by building code, ifyour houses are less than ten feet apart, then you have to have a firewall on both houses. So. So there's some things that we have tol kind oflook at the building code to seet to make sure. Um, so it's a lot ofthat that we've got to research and go into it. But we want to look at lot size restrictions, setbacks, um, size requirements of homes. Um, maybe on some of these smaller lots, we allow the tiny homes. Um, I'm sure I know Savannah's got a district where it's) just a small little residential district that is for tiny homes. Um, sO they've kind of put them in one spot. Um, SO we'll look at some areas of places, other cities that have done this that have, um, tried to use this. As Mr. Rayford said, a lot of these properties that we take to court that are demolished, the lots are too small to build back. We've got a couple oflots that, you know, people want to look at and build on, but the lot is not big enough. So how do we address that? So we're going to look at our zoning ordinance and changes that we can do. And I've reached out to the regional commission today. And we're going to begin that study and looking at that and come up with ordinances. Um, and to kind of answer, Commissioner Felder's question, there's a new ordinance that's out, um, that allows you to it's a model ordinance through GMA that would allow you to have a register of vacant and foreclosed property. Um, so ifyou ifit's a bank or lending company that forecloses on a property, they have to register that with the city SO that we know that that house is on the foreclosure list, or if the vacant house is more than I can't remember howl think it leaves it. So six months, nine months that the house is vacant. They have to register that with the city sO that you know where those are sO that you can keep an eye on that. And then when it comes off, they have to come back to the city and say, you know, it's taken care of or it's not vacant anymore. Um, and a lot of cities and municipalities are using that to keep track ofthat, to: see the trends and stuffthat's going there. Andi itjust makes it easier because nowi ifthey're vacant or foreclosure, it's hard for the code department to find out who that owner is and to get them to board it up or to clean or cut grass with. This way, we've got their information, and they have to do that. So there's things that we're looking at there as well. And ify'all have any. And again, the esthetics um, some cities have esthetics. They have to use certain materials or um, you know tiny homes are, are kind of still in the, in the heat of things. But a lot of people now are wanting to build what's Watts called more meetings. Um, and there are some restrictions on that. We've had a couple that want to use, um, the trailers from tractor trailers and build homes out of that, which is by code. They can allow it, but you've got to have some esthetics to make it at least put some type of effort on it or siding or something, sO that it doesn't look like just trailers out there. So this is stuff that we need to address, um, so that we can utilize land and sO that we're kind of uniform. Um, sO ify'all have any ideas or any, any expectations or anything that you want to see, you know, we can look at that and see how it affects, we're going to look at, um, how tiny homes, you know, affect the homes around it as far as values, um, and how reducing some ofthese setbacks, stuff like that. So we'll look at the pros and cons and then bring all that back. Page 5 of 15 ***DISCUSSION NOTES*** 02/03/2025 WS Mayor: Is there a committee or a group of people coming together for this particular thing, or you have at team of people that you're working with for this purpose. Marc Hawkins: So right now, it'sjust myselfand likeIsaid, the regional commission. Buti ifyoul know, ift the commission wants to put a committee together, um, or if they want to get together and come up with what they,you know, what they want to see or things that they would like to see or ideas to explore, we can do that. Mayor: Generally, we have something like a facade grant where they do the facials, and I'm wondering ifthere's a certain type of grant or grants that could be done, as was questioned by Commissioner Felder regarding esthetics. Could there be something of that sort available for persons who are trying to get their homes done? Right. Marc Hawkins: Um, SO we can look into that. I know just basically right now, the two that we work with are the Chip grant and the CDBG grant. Um, and there's requirements there that the state puts on it. Um, but as far as facade, normally that's set up by, downtown development or something like that that brings those grants in. And it's for downtown areas, not necessarily for homes. Mayor: I was just wondering if there was a complementary type thing of a similar sort right on the other side of the coin. Okay. Ifthe commission did you have anything further for Mark? Okay. Thank you, Sir. Thank you. City Manager: Thank you, Mr. Mayor. One thing we did neglect, uh, we are looking to incentivize more investors as well. That's a big thing. So we do have to come up with that. And I do have Mr. Simmons, um, business integration director looking into that. Um, working with GMA, how can we get with the other cities and better incentivize investors to come here? Um, sO, and with that, to answer your question, Mr. Mayor, there are grant programs for those individual investors, SO there's nothing we could kind of. I'm not sure we could facilitate that. Um, but it's available to them. And that goes again to, um, once we have the communication with potential investors. We kind of talked about those things. Another thing is just back to the investors. We do have individuals that would like to buy multiple lots, that we have the areas where somebody's going to come in and talk about Bailey and all those areas where it's a big area. But we do have a lot of smaller parcels that, you know, if they can work, a incentive to get all oft them at the same time to maybe put, you know, 2 or 3 homes at the same time, because it's quite expensive for an investor to come be at one home. That's why they all came to us to do townhomes in apartments. So amongst all this and what Marcus said, we do need to look at better ways tol have investors come in here and, you know, invest in our city also. Mr. Simmons is doing he's going to meet with a few of our current business owners to have a kind of a data pool. We had looked back at least my two years here, uh, to figure out what went wrong with some of our investors who came in but didn't stay. Um, and then the ones that did stay, that took a while to really get up and going, SO I'lI have that for you at some point in the near future. Um, and we might just have those investors come on their own sO you can get right directly from, you know, from their mouths. And I think that'd be value added. So, um, with that, I will pause and move on to the next, um, item if you know any questions. Mayor: There is a question from Commissioner Bennett, district. Commissioner Bennett: Um, City manager with Mark Hawkins and the regional um commissioner. Would this have allowed some of the. Citizens to be able to give their input or input? City Manager: Citizens will always get input. They can reach out, of course, to the commission. Y'all can let me know what they are thinking about. Um, you know, some ofthet town halls we've had, they've gave some input on certain things. And you mean input? I'm assuming you mean. Page 6 of 15 ***DISCUSSION NOTES*** 02/03/2025 WS Commissioner Bennett: When Mark Hawkins says there's going to be him in the regional commissioner that's on that board right now? If I could say board, that's going to be reviewing everything. I'm asking can some of the citizens participate as well, but they won't be able to make, I guess, the actual decision. City Manager: Okay, so yes and no. Okay. Right now, Mr. Hawkins is going to do is do the preliminary work. Preliminary work. Just trying to figure out what we can do and what makes sense and get some other ideas from other cities. And once he brings that back to the commission and say, these are the ten things we can change or should change, and working elsewhere, the best practice theory from that point, maybe we do get ifthe commission wants to do get a group of six. We try that in the past and you know, we got shot down, but we can do it again and we can have a citizen all day. We can bring them in and ask them what they think. Um, now, ifit gets to the point of, I don't want something that's going to be ifyou know. Yes, sir. Um, but I think once everybody gets the information, um, once again, like we've been trying to do, Ithink they better understand. And they should appreciate what the commission wants to get done because we definitely need housing. We need to maximize all our free land we have. Um, like Michelle said, you ride around here, there's a lot of empty lots. Now, some of those lots. People do own some of those properties. And that goes back to the court. We still having, um, figure out how to get that from those, those, uh, owners who don't even live here anymore. You know, and then it's not just for housing. It's the other people that own land. It's not zoned. It can't be zoned for housing or residential or anything or commercial. And we need that to help out with our other situations, like the canal and stuff. So but we'll make sure once we, um, kind of figure out what we can do and we bring the presentation back, we'll bring it to the commission for vote. If they want to start some type of committee to kind of provide more further feedback from the citizens. Thank you. Okay. Mr. Mayor: any further questions, Mayor: Commissioner? Okay. City Manager: And with that, Mr. Mayor, we just talked about Grant. So, we've been collecting everything tonight. So, we'll move right into the grant's presentation. And, Mr. Mayor, this is something that you know yourself and the commission asked to look at. We don't currently have a grant program person here. Uh, now, we do reach out to the regional commission, and we do reach out to the regional Commission, and we do reach out to GMA. Um, sO and of course, our engineering firm does assist us as well. But, uh, I'm only speaking on my two years here as well. I've only got really about, in essence, four grants to prove over those two years. Um, we do need somebody full time. One best practice that I have learned just looked at the bigger cities. We have a grant person or a grant firm. A dedicated grant firm it seems to works better. Uh, if you can have a person, that's even better, too, because, as I mentioned before, they can pull their salary from those grants. Um, and we're going to do now, if there are any questions about that, I'm going to turn it over to, uh, Miss Dorman, and she's going to talk about her, her grant program management system or Well company, and we're going to give her about seven minutes to pitch it. And then, uh, you know, ify'all need follow up, we'll schedule a separate follow up meeting with her. It probably will be a VTC type situation because she's, um, primarily out of Atlanta. Um, but she does have a great presentation, and I'lI go ahead and transition to her presentation here. Ms. Dorman: Good evening, Mr. Mayor. We are seaside community partners. We met Mayor James at the GMA conference last year, and we were excited to come last month, but the snow prevented us, SO we're happy to be here this evening. And we just want to talk about our grant services. And we can match those grant services based on your priorities. And SO it was kind ofbefitting that that information kind of led up to what we're doing. And SO from a grant writing and administration kind of line item we've done last year helped organizations and cities over $20 million and securing grant funds. And I know I have seven minutes, SO I'm just going to go. So I hope this is not like to express, but what I wanted to kind of spend some time on, on what our strategy is in terms of prioritizing what the city's priorities. And one thing I heard consistently was infrastructure, workforce, housing. And sO there are Page 7 of 15 **DISCUSSION NOTES*** 02/03/2025 WS a lot of grant opportunities out there for those particular as well as economic development, other economic development, small business, the arts. And sO what we would do is get further clarification on the priorities and match to determine which opportunities match that. And sO one thing, as I spoke with the city manager, a lot of the grants we see can either be a match, but some have no match requirements. And SO of course, those are the ones that are going to be the priorities that we probably want to look at. No match requirements. And SO what? As we are developing the process to do the grant writing services, we have dedicated senior level grant writers to help with crafting the proposal to kind of streamline the process. And one of the key things with grants is being compliant with what the requirements are. And SO that's what we propose to do fort the city of Waycross. And there are a lot of grant opportunities that are available with deadlines February 27th and February 28th. So, um, and they are nice, sizable grant opportunities. And they are with the state ofGeorgia. They're federal and foundation grants. Glenn, did you want to have anything else to say on that part? Yeah, no, I think you've covered it. Um, sO with deadlines looming, I think getting focused on some of the additional prospect research in addition to what we've uncovered already, organizing those proposals for submission, and then supporting those for a competitive process. I think you've covered it. And SO as I talk about the kind of value of what we bring is that expertise, that experience with the grant writing, with the proposals, with identifying and talking to the potential funders to find out what are some ofthe key things that they're looking for in the grant applications. Talk to one potential funder last week, because I wanted to find out. You don't list what your grant award amount is. And sO what are you looking for? What will not make you throw our grant out. And so she was able to tell us, okay, this is kind of where you want to stay. Um, we're not saying, you know, it's not kind of public, but this is where we want you to stay. And she said, well, who are you working with? I said, I can't say, right. Can't say right now. Um, sO that's kind of the benefit of, of our partnership. And of course, the cost efficiency of, you know, kind ofhiring somebody full time. You hire our firm, and we can take care of that. Uh oh. That was my time up. And then, um, one oft the things that we will do is to have a calendar like these are the grants that are available. This is what we know we're going to be applying for 12- month period. Um, sO we can kind of plan on it. We can look at it. We can make sure that we have all of the information from the city or the back data and so forth. And then of course, compliance, compliance, compliance. Because this is government money. This is foundation money. We have to makesure that we spend the money properly. Wel have seen some horror stories and having to go behind people as we try to clean up. So we want to make sure that we're proactive and compliant. Glenn, is there anything else that I forgot? I think we probably like two minutes. One minute. Right think you covered it. So going back to upcoming deadlines and the total amounts that are available. Um, Anita, you covered the statewide and foundation grants. I think that's important. And then the three key pieces, the prospect research, the development of those award-winning proposals and the submission. I like that you covered the relationships with the funding entities, getting insider knowledge SO that the proposals are as strong as they can be and that the requested amounts are right on target. Um, nothing additional for me. Um, both here. And it's good to be on with you all So from an infrastructure and community development. We see grants over totaling over $2 million in that area, economic development, over $3 million in that area. Public safety, emergency preparedness, over 1 million. Arts culture, community well-being over 300,000. And then in the disaster recovery area, over $400,000 total that we that we found just doing a cursory review, not a deep dive, but just kind of what we see from what we know. That's what we've been able to find in terms ofavailable opportunities. Like I said, there are several that are actually passed in January, and the next couple of deadlines are February 27th and February 28th. Mayor: So did you want to entertain any questions? Yes. From the commission? Yes. T'lI open the floor to the districts and allow for them to ask questions. District one. Do you have a question? Commissioner Roberts: How much would It cost the city. Page 8 of 15 **DISCUSSION NOTES*** 02/03/2025 WS City Manager: It'll be a contract situation, but they'll be taking their most of the money from the grants. So. And we discussed this before. I mean, I know you just coming on board about trying to, um, even I was talking about hiring a person. It had been the same concept. We'd have to give them some salary, but the majority ofit came from the actual grant. And that's something we're going to discuss. So my goal now is today to let her give you all a kind of upfront brief. And then we're going to follow up. Um, Italked to her maybe next meeting, but she won't be here physically. We can do some over the air. We have a lot of meetings scheduled for this month. Um, but probably do something over BTC, not BTC over teams, and then go kind offurther in that, but) y'all will get the information. I haven't seen it already. If they haven't sent to you already, it just kind of outlines how they kind of set up. Mayor: Did you have a question? Thank you. District one. No, sir. District three. Commissioner Felder: Yes, mayor. I have a few questions. Um. First question. How many years of professional grant writing experience does your company have? Speaker: We have been in business since 2011, and me personally over 25 years. Commissioner Felder: Thank you. And what types of grant proposals have you written as far as those that have been most successful for the government or foundation or grants? Speaker: Both. But we've done probably more government grants. Commissioner Felder: And also, um, can you share an example of a successful grant that you wrote and the impact that it had on the business and the community? Speaker: Um, we we've done a lot of grants for economic development, and those impact have been to keep businesses in business. Um, and providing more services to their customers. Those will probably be some impact. Glenn, do you have any other. I would add the grants that we've done, um, covering workforce development, bringing in workforce programs into cities sO that they can train residents for career paths as well. Mayor: Thank you, Commissioner. District five. Commissioner Nelson, did you have any questions? No, sir. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you for your presentation. City Manager: And sO, um, it's always tough to get a presentation in here, Mr. Mayor. Like I said, we're going to follow up with a more detailed presentation. Yeah. So I think we need to, um, if we're a commission, T'll set something up, uh, at a later date. And I think y'all will get the complete side ofthat tonight. And then also, there's two slides. You'll get this one and the other one going to send, you get a chance to look at it. And then we'll follow up. Um hopefully this month we probably won't make this February cut off. Just being transparent. Um, but just based off of the services they might provide and, and some ofthe conversations we've had in the past about doing something with or establishing some type of grant program, this is something to seriously look at. So I apologize if any final questions on that presentation, Mr. Mayor. City Manager: Okay, Mr. Minister, moving to the infrastructure update. And I'll start with the parks and streets. Um, Charlie. Charlie is still here right now. He'll go into a little detail if need be. Um, but as of right now, I think most of you got the city update today, and then we'll go to that. So, um, of course, over there is complete. Um, that is complete. I think it's complete now. It is now. It's complete now. Um, we move to the next set of, or the next row listed here. Um, with Gorleston Heights, that that middle area there. If the citizens can hear me, they do have a lot of cars that's parked in that area. Um, Page 9 of 15 ***DISCUSSION NOTES*** 02/03/2025 WS Chief Cox is coming around tomorrow. Uh, not to fence it in, but just instruct them. We got to move those cars out of the way SO they can go ahead and do that street. Um, SO it's kind of next on the list. Um, if they can't move the car this week, you have to move it probably to lay down the list. So if you live in that. Um, Gallatin Heights area right now, you can hear my voice right now. Um, go ahead and move, your cars, um, to the parking areas and just clear the street. That'd be very beneficial to the team coming in to play their role. So with the parks. Um, Charlie has met, um, a few times with them now, and I think we got to order the materials and we should start work in the next couple of weeks. Uh, we will once we get the actual confirmation date of when they're going to start work, I'll invite each commissioner out, um, to their park just to kind of meet the team there and kind of go over any fine details that you might have. I think we've all kind of added what we wanted to add, uh, to the parks now while this is going on. Um, like some ofthe parks right now, we do have a lot of construction going on that's totally separate from the parks. So, um, in certain areas where they're doing drainage might move some things around before they start actually doing stuffin the park. And then, you know, we had some storm damage to a few areas. Um, SO some of those gazebos are coming in as well. So we've got to figure out how to do all at the same time, not get in the way ofeach other as we get our parks back up and running. Uh, to the standard they should be. Um, I'll pause there for parks and streets if you have any questions. Mayor: Ifyou want any questions concerning the parks or streets. District two. Yes, sir. District three. Commissioner Felder: Yes. I have a question here Mr. City manager, during the renovation of the parks in each of the districts. For those areas be blocked off to prevent injury while they're under construction. City Manager: Great point. I did meet with the team today. I know we had an incident, a possible incident this weekend. So we're looking at ways on the park. Might be more difficult to block the whole park off. Um, but any areas ofimmediate danger? Holes, um, Exposed pipes, stufflike that. We're going to tape it off. Um, I would ask that citizens not find any reason to go in those areas. Um. Of course. Um, but it's going to be a little more difficult to, to block a whole park off. Um, but we will get with thei team and the contractor and just try our best to make it safe for everyone. Um, but at the same time, just once again, citizens can hear this. Um, once you see any construction, please avoid the construction. We do have signs posted. Cones, yellow tape. But for whatever reason, citizens are still going into those areas. It is quite dangerous. Um, very dangerous to do that. Um, and in some cases, and I will say this, if there's a hole in the ground, we cannot cover the hole because we must see the hole. So I cannot put a piece of plastic over thel hole, because that's why you step on the hole and then still falling in. So, there's some rules that, um, not rules, but some best practices. We're trying to get out there for our citizens. But the main thing, if you see a construction this place that way, we're trying to do this construction, um, to embed your quality oflife. Quality life like Waycross, Georgia. And when you do go down there, um, even throwing trash down there, it causes delays because we got to clean all the trash out. That's another two days. We're going to delay in this current situation just to clean that trash out. So, we need everybody's help with this, um, you know, moving forward. So to answer the question, Commissioner, itis. Mayor: District five. Okay. Thank you. Okay. City Manager: Uh, Mr. Mayor. Um, I was instructed to go back and get with the engineering firm and talk about West Street. Uh, I did, and after talking to the team, I think it's best right now because of the cost. We do what we can do. Um, we're going to put that in the MiG, sO that will cover half of that. Um, Ithink it was 500,000 to do thei immediate mitigation. So half oft that can be covered. The estimate. We did put the request in, Mr. Mayor, and you did sign it. So we got it in on time. Um, that will cut down some costs on that particular area of West Street. I still will meet, um, with G to talk about the rest of that portion that goes under and all the way down to the other end to see where they can help us out Page 10 of 15 ***DISCUSSION NOTES*** 02/03/2025 WS with. So, um, just could not absorb that total amount. I said 700,000 is going to be close to a million. Uh, even with financing, we won't be able to do that. So, um, hopefully, um, it's not a quick fix. This is a repair. We just know now that we need more repairs on that line. Um, SO it will start to cave in for that particular area. Um, and then, um, like I said, once we get with the team, hopefully Charlie can make can talk on this further. We can we see all the way down the road now, all the way down the court. Can we see. Yes. Good. Okay. Yeah. So, um, what we'll do, I'1l make sure they see what we see down there on the corridor. Maybe that'll help them assist us even more. All right. And with that, Mr. Mayor, I will. Well, ifI can, Mr. Mayor. And we had a question, um, early on the agenda. I will touch on that. We did talk to him about doing those safety measures. Yes. So, um, y'all, the commissioner already had passed a resolution and a support letter a while back, sO that's suffice enough for them to start the work. I will come back to the commission to just restate the work again. As you know, we're talking about doing the raised mediums. Uh, starting on one end of Waycross and coming all the way back up. Um, pretty much memorial corridor. Um, up till and I forgot the street that we're talking about and Madison. But that's the street we're going to stop at, unfortunately. But once they stop there. Um, they're almost through with the safety study for the remainder of the street going all the way up to corridor Z to the county area. Um, sO we'll probably get the same things there being the raised mediums. Uh, the enterprise. Um, well, the upgraded lights going from yellow to red. Uh, and then once all that's completed, um, when they start the other work on, um, Ozzy Davis and the bypass and those things of that nature that's going to push traffic Stored quantity, of course. And then that would give us the numbers that we need to do other things, and then we'll start another study. Hopefully that study won't take as long as these previous studies did, but since the citizen asked about it right now, I want to take thet time to kind of update that to the commission and hopefully answer his question ifhe has. All right. If no other questions on that, Mr. Mayor, we move on. We have no privilege license renewals at this time. We're going to have two privilege licenses. We're going to have a proposed ordinance to rezone the property. We talked about it before. Brunel Street and Haynes Street. Uh, we're going to have two proposed, um, resolutions on that one resolution, Mr. Mayor. Um, the audit presentation will have to be conducted tomorrow. And it was a mishap, um, when they were going to come into town. So they'll come in during the executive session and present to the commission the audit findings. But we want to go ahead and prepare the resolution still for that. kay. And then no questions back. Mr. mayor, I will turn it over to the city attorney for his report. City Attorney: Mr. mayor, that will actually be a third resolution. And that is with regard to the Family Justice Center services agreement that Chief Cox talked about. We have a resolution approving the adoption ofthat agreement to enter into for another year. In addition to that, Ijust wanted to make some comments about the Georgia Supreme Court decision in Nelson V Strickland. As, um, as most of you know, the Georgia Supreme Court rendered its final decision on the 28th of. January last Tuesday. Uh, that decision resulted in a reversal oft the Superior Court decision which vacated Mr. Nelson's seat. Uh, the Georgia Supreme Court decision has now effectively reinstated Mr. Nelson to his seat permanently. The Georgia Supreme Court decided that the issue had to do with, which was the appropriate map to use for the election that occurred in 2023. The Board ofl Elections used the 2005 map, although the city had adopted a 2011 map following the 2010 census and that map was used. The 2011 map was used in city elections for over ten years. Then in 2023 or actually 2022, the Board of Elections went to a digital format for voting and for uploading maps, and when the Board of Elections requested the city map, uh, they got a 2005 map and used iti instead ofthe 2011 map, which had been used for nearly ten years. And sO the question became whether or not that was the appropriate map to use, or whether or not to use the 2011 map. And in further research of the case, and looking into the history of the case, the Supreme Court decided that the 2011 map was never officially filed with the Secretary of State's office at the time, or after the time that it was adopted by the Waycross City Commission. You have to file the map along with the ordinance that resulted in redistricting, along with the Justice Department certification or approval of that election change, along with the publisher's affidavit from the newspaper that the notice was published to the public regarding the amendment to the to the to the ordinance. So the as a result of the Supreme Court finding that the 2011 map was not officially foul a foul appropriately. That is how they put it with the Secretary of State's office. Only the 2005 map counted, and therefore Mr. Page 11 of 15 **DISCUSSION NOTES*** 02/03/2025 WS Strickland's argument based on the 2011 map failed because the 2011 map was not applicable. Now, going forward, the Supreme Court has said that the city can file the 2011 map, along with a copy of the ordinance that changed the election district, along with a, um, a copy of the legal ad that appeared in the paper giving notice to the public along with the publisher's affidavit. And not only filed it with the Secretary ofState's office but filed it with the Clerk of Superior Court. And once those steps have been followed, then the 2011 map will be applicable. Um, SO going forward, ifit is the Commission's desire to use the 2011 map that you adopted back in in 2011, then we would simply need to adopt a resolution calling for the filing of the 2011 map with the Secretary of State's office and the Clerk of Superior Court, and it will apply to all future elections. Mayor: May I ask questions? Yes. Okay. So with that regard, I'm looking at the 2011 map. Would have to go through us now to be one. We need to do a resolution or an ordinance. Is this what you're saying? A resolution you've already. Yes. Yes. The resolution that we would need to do would also have to be filed with our court system here, as well as the state. Right. Okay. Right. That is correct. So how quickly Would we need to do that or have that? City Attorney: We could do it at the next meeting. We need to get the resolution prepared SO there's plenty of time to do it. So we could do it at the at your next meeting. Okay. Any questions from the commission? Thank you. Commissioner Felder: City Attorneys for everyone. Um, sO,, just for clarification, are you saying that currently regarding the district lines and the city of Waycross for all five districts, we are currently operating off of the 2005 maps. And it should it be the 2011. Which was never officially certified? City Attorney: Never officially: filed with the Secretary of State's office. But the elections that occurred between 2011 and 2022 were based on the 2011 map. Now the Supreme Court did venture to do anything about that. Uh, but that's why. Right. But that was some quirk in the procedure that in 2022 saw the 20, the digital 2005 map getting uploaded rather than the digital 2011 map. Commissioner Felder: So my follow up question to that is, ifthis commission votes on the 2011 maps, that should be the current map based on population. How will that impact the districts a lot. City Attorney: I'm not really sure how it would impact the districts. I don't think that the 2011 map made any major changes. I think there were some changes to district three, but it basically kept in line. You know that that district, as I as I recall, but I don't think the changes are major ift that's if that helps. Because you've had elections over ten years using that 2011 map. Mayor: Commissioner Bennett has a question. Yes. Commissioner Bennett: At this moment. Can we. just table this until we all figure out what's actually going on with tables? Mayor: That's a concern at this point. It's just basically the conversation around his report, right. His report is basically stating that the Supreme Court has already ruled in favor of Mr. Nelson concerning the past matters. Right. That was how he was elected to his seat because he was elected duly by the map that was presented to the Supreme Court. Right So when we have that conversation, then we'll probably get into more detail. details of this small conversation around here. Thank you. That's right. Page 12 of 15 **DISCUSSION NOTES*** 02/03/2025 WS City Manager: Thank You MR. Mayor I will say we have lost 2% of the population since 2005. So, um, I think somebody said something. So it will have, uh, an effect through all the districts, because, you know, we lose every year. We lose about 10% of our population of, uh,just population period. Not saying it's just population period. And our county leads back to everything we discussed tonight about keeping people here, uh, here in Waycross. So thank you. City Attorney: And the Supreme Court made a notation that, for whatever reason, the. You know, I'm sorry. Let me rephrase that. It made a notation that in 2020, uh, following that census, the city had decided that its population had not changed significantly, and there was no new map done in 2020. Mayor: I recall that conversation because we were on, we were on this at that time. Work sessions were held on the floor, not up here. Right. Right. And during that time frame, ifl'm not mistaken, Miss Mary and Solomon Gaines brought it up in our conversation. And when she brought it up before us, the vote was there was not enough motion, not enough movement from our population for us to make that decision. And that's how we remained as we remain through the 2020. Right. Okay. City Attorney: And just for information, I did have a discussion with the Board of Elections last week about the special election, and they were recommending that the special election occur not before the June 17th date. And they made that recommendation based on the very tight time deadlines that we have for the that we would have for the March 18th deadline. They were concerned about, number one, the issue, and the call for the election. And then you do have to call for the election 29 days before the election. But there are some other things you have to do as well. For example, you have to advertise. They usually advertise two weeks. You have to have a qualification period, which has to end 25 days before the special election. So if the special election were on March the 18th, the qualifying period would have to end by February the 21st, 2025. But before that, you'd have to advertise the qualifying period that it begins February the 18th, 2025. And ifit were published in the next paper on the on the 12th, you'd have basically one week or really six days' notice to the public that that you can qualify the following week for the special election. And we usually like to advertise at least 2 or 3 times to the public that, um, you know, there's a that you can qualify ifyou sO desire to run in the next election. So that was a discussion I had with the Board of Elections last, last week. Mayor: What is your legal advice to us as a commissioner? Well, uh, I tend to agree with the Board of Elections that we don't need to rush through it. Uh, we need to make sure that we got our I's and cross our T's on all oft these deadlines, because we don't want a problem going forward. City Manager: And I spoke to him as well. I was going to have him on the next agenda. We don't want what happened last time. Um, we tried to make sure we could get somebody for district one. So. So there's some things with that too, and we'll probably talk about that at a later date as well. Um, to avoid that again, just, you know, just to make sure. Uh, Ijust want to add that, but it'll be on the next agenda. Mayor: And I thank you for allowing me to task you with that job, to talk to them, to come in for our next meeting. So that way, that way we, as the Commission can hear and ask questions about it. Thank you. Thank you. That's all I have. Thank you. City Manager: Thank you, Mr. Mayor. At this time, Mr. Mayor. Um, I have two items for my city report. Yes, Mr. Mayor, one. Commissioner Felder: This is for Attorney Spearman. Regarding, um, the district lines and the mapping, as you clarified that we're still operating on the 2005 map. Um, and just for clarification, when these maps, the map is used, these district lines are locked in. Correct? Page 13 of 15 **DISCUSSION NOTES*** 02/03/2025 WS City Attorney: Yes. Commissioner Felder: So that when, um, a candidate who's running for office, um, requests for the voter registration, that should be the accurate voter registration. And SO when the election takes place. There should be no change in those district lines, correct? City Attorney: No, there shouldn't be any change. Commissioner Felder: Shouldn't be any change. Right. And I've got another question. Maybe you can answer this, or can I? I don't know if that is the case. How is it that in a runoff election that, um, the district lines changed, and it switches the candidates that are running for one district, and they put their name on the ballot in another and vice versa. And this is during a runoff. City Attorney: That should not happen. The runoff, whatever the district lines are during the regular primary election, should remain for the runoff. You can't change the lines. Right? But it but it has happened. Mayor: So that may be a good question for our Board of Elections supervisor right at that meeting. Yes, ma'am. Felder: Yes. I would like to have that understanding of that. Thank you. Yes. City Manager: Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Uh, two. Mr. mayor, sO the first one being, uh, we're not going to move back to the monthly report. Um, you begin a daily report. Um, you're in the commission, and then we post it on social media for the citizens. We're going to stick with that format. Um, we did add a few more things to that report on the financial chart and a few more items to update operations. So, um, we'll stay with that. The one thing that I would like to add, and we're still trying to figure out how that looks, um, as one of the commission members tonight, um, the court cases, um, but unfortunately, even though those are open records, um,, just showing a little bit of grace because some of those people on those court cases, they are. just they're in bad situation. Um, but we're trying to figure out how to make that available. Um, just the court cases themselves. So we're trying to figure out how to revise that, to possibly just show the houses, um, and, or the addresses just show, uh, what state they're in. Um, and we're going to get with the city attorney on that and a few other sources, just to make sure we don't disrespect anybody who's. Come on hard times. Although the information is public record, anybody can come request it. But the final thing that we want to kind of fadd to the report sO everybody can see the transparency we're doing as far as our court system in the home court system. Uh, next, Mr. Mayor, um, last meeting, um, the commissioner asked, um, for a breakdown, and I think I can touch on this really quickly on your desk there. It's just a presentation about salaries. Um, if we change some things SO you get a chance to look at that. For me, it's about the mechanics positions. So, um, just get feedback from that. From the question that was asked, um, at the last meeting. If you got any questions about that, you could just contact me, and I'll provide additional feedback. Uh, iti is a best-case scenario because we do say salaries and we are able to increase salaries, uh, for all employees affected. So with that, Mr. Mayor, uh, we don't have an executive session, And now I call for my comments. Mr. mayor. Okay. Mayor: Thank you sO very much. At this time, we're getting ready to move into our last call. And I'll start with district one. Commissioner Roberts: My condolences to all who have lost those in their families and have a good night. Page 14 of 15 ***DISCUSSION NOTES*** 02/03/2025 WS Commissioner Bennett: Um, just want to have everybody to continue to be safe and pay attention to where they have signs that say roadblocks, detour. Make sure you pay attention to that. And as Mr. Roberts said to myself, all the other family, my condolences that you, Mr. Mayor. Mayor: Thank you. Commissioner. District three. Commissioner Felder: Thank you. Mayor. I appreciate everyone for coming out tonight. Thank you for your presentation regarding the grant. And also, I'd like to remind the citizens that in order for an economy to not only just sustain itself, but to grow and to grow our community and to move forward education, skills training, housing that is important if you want to improve economic development as well as infrastructure. And my hearts go out to every family member that has lost a loved one during these recent times. Back to you. Thank you, Commissioner District five, Commissioner Nelson. Commissioner Nelson: Thank you, Mr. Mayor. I just want to thank you both for coming up this evening. It's good to see a lot of people in the audience, because a lot of times we don't see people. We tend to vote with our conscience. So thank you for coming out. Thank you. Thank you. Mayor: Thank you. Commissioners. At this time, Ijust wanted to remind the commission, as well as the citizens of the district three has a meeting coming up. Would you like to share with us the date and time? Yes. Commissioner Felder: Um, earlier it was mentioned about housing development that will be taking place in district three on Brunel Street on the corner of Staines Avenue. And we have Ethan Johnson LLC that will be coming to do aj presentation, a detailed presentation not only to the citizens of district three, but also to the entire community. So iti is open to any and every one that would like to attend and understand and learn more about housing development and how this particular project took place and will begin to impact in a positive way our community. This meeting will take place on February the 10th, 2025 at 61 p.m. The location will be the Okefenokee Lion's Club at 711 Columbus Street, which is in Waycross, Georgia. I look forward to everyone coming out and also being involved. Please be prepared, you know, to have questions and give your input, because this developer is looking forward to this project as well as I am, and I truly believe that it is going to be a prime gateway to other developmental opportunities that are preparing to come here in the city of Waycross. Thank you, mayor. Mayor: We have the 2025 Spring Career Expo in Waycross. There will be 40 plus vendors coming. The date of this will be Thursday, April the 3rd, SO you can mark your calendars for April 3rd from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. and this will be at our C.C. McCray City Auditorium at 865 Pendleton Street here in the city of Waycross. And it will be sponsored by the Work source, Georgia, and Waycross City. Along with that, I want to share that next week is Valentine's Day. And sO I wanted to open your ears to something very good that's going to take place. We will be presenting Love Your Our city. And this is the Mayor's Ball. It will be at the CC McRae Auditorium on February 13th, and we're looking forward to seeing everyone there at 6 p.m. And again, that is February the 13th. Love your city. And this is the Mayor's Ball. The speaker for our event will be CEO Larry Hanson from the Georgia municipal Association. He will come and make a presentation, and our proceeds will be going toward what we're working on now, housing and trying to take care of people in our community. So we look forward to seeing you at the event and just dance the night away. And that's all I have for this time. At this time, I'll entertain a motion for adjournment. So, moved. We have a motion from Commissioner Field. Is there a second? Second. Wehave a second from our Commissioner Nelson. All in favor? Aye. Aye. All opposed? No. Motion carries. This meeting's adjourned. Thank you, everyone, for coming. Page 15 of 15