COUNCIL MEETING MINUTES CITY OF WASHINGTON, GEORGIA SEPTEMBER 9, 2024 The Mayor and City Council of the City of Washington, Georgia, held a meeting on Monday, September 9, 2024, at 6:00 PM at The City Hall Council Chambers. Mayor Bruce Bailey presided. Mayor Bailey, and Council members. Anderson, Cullars, Fisher, Gunter, Hill, Mahoney, and Tom Watkins were present. The mayor called the meeting to order and clarified that he was speaking on behalf of the City Administrator since there is not one at this time. Council Member Hill led the invocation followed by Mayor Bailey leading the Pledge of Allegiance. MINUTES APPROVED Council members reviewed the. August 21, 2024, minutes and Gunter made a motion to accept and Hill seconded with a correction to the Alcohol Policy vote that should read: The motion passed with 5 for and 1 against. The motion passed unanimously. AGENDA. APPROVED On motion by Mahoney second by Hill. The agenda was approved by adding one item to allow Mark Herbert to speak. The motion passed unanimously. City Attorney Action Items: a. City Attorney Tom Watkins explained the federal conflict of interest regulation 24 CFR 570.489(h) regarding the awarded joint CDBG City of Washington/Wilkes County water improvements project. When an elected official or city employee lives in or owns property in a CDBG target area and may receive benefits of improved facilities on their property, in this case, water mains connecting to their residential service lines, then the persons must be disclosed. No elected officials for the city live in or own property in the CDBG target area. Two city employees, (1) Jesse Callaway, 805 Lexington Road, electric department, and (2) Colby Echols, 146 Dogwood Drive, public works department, both live within the 2023 target area. Attorneys have opined that no state laws are being broken and that the employees will not receive any greater benefits than other target area recipients. They are low-to-moderate income people intended to be the beneficiaries of the assisted activity. An exception to the conflict-of-interest. regulation is being sought that will permit them to receive the same benefits as being made available to others in the target area of the same group. b. MOU - City & Wilkes County Board of Elections - Agreed to sign MOU. C. Charter Amendment - Elected Officials Travel Policy - Tabled to October meeting. Mayor Discussion Topics: a. HR/Executive Assistant position Advertising for position Acting City Administrator. Action Items: a. Pay increases for employees currently paid less than $15.00 an hour. Motion made by Cullars second by Mahoney. The motion passed unanimously. b. Rye Engineering water loss study $24,250.00. Motioned by Mahoney second by Cullars. The motion passed unanimously. C. VC-3 Contract moving to a secure IT Company. Tabled for October meeting. d. Millage rate. Remain the same for 2024. The motion passed unanimously. e. Salary study proposal. Tabled. Advertise/post for 30 days. Council Member's Action Items: a. Council Member Mahoney - Mahoney brought forth a motion for the fire chief to present to the council a "Mass evacuation plan within 15 days and perform a mock evacuation plan within 30 days" beginning from 9/9/2024. The council was advised that this type of plan was already in place and that a mock evacuation might take longer than 30 days to perform with results. The motion passed unanimously. b. Motioned by Mahoney to adopt a policy to conduct exit interviews with city employees who have worked past the probationary period and voluntarily leave employment. Second by Cullars. The motion passed unanimously. Council Members Discussion: a. Council Member Mahoney - Advised the public that the city does not receive any funds from Omni Trax. EXECUTIVE SESSION A motion was made by Cullars and seconded by Gunter to hold an executive session. The motion passed unanimously. ADJOURNMENT Motion by Cullars to adjourn and second by Hill, the vote passed unanimously and the meeting adjourned. uoohi Combine Bruce Bailey, Mayor/ Yoshe. Jenkins, City Clerk E AFFIDAVIT STATE OF GEORGIA CITY OF WASHINGION EXECUTIVE SESSION MINUTES SEPTEMBER 9, 2024 The mayor and city council of Washington, Georgia went into executive session at 7:14 p.m. on September 9, 2024. The following council members were present: Mayor Bruce Bailey, Newton Gunter, David Fisher, Jr., Larry Hill, Nathaniel Cullars, Sr., Maceo Mahoney, and Andy Anderson. Attorney Tom Watkins was also present. A quorum being present, the meeting was called to order by Mayor Bruce Bailey, who presided over the meeting. The closed portion of the meeting was devoted to one (1) personnel matter with no action taken, and the executive session ended at approximately 8:45 p.m. The open session was reconvened at 8:18 p.m. - / Bruce Bailey, Mayor UoahL 4eshi Yoshe T.Jenkins, City Clerk i A