MAYOR AND COUNCIL MEETING MAY 6, 2025 6:00 P.M. The Mayor and Council met for a Committee Work Session & Called Council Meeting. Those Present: John Howard Mayor Lee Malcom Vice-Mayor Myoshia Crawford Council Member Charles Boyce Council Member Julie Sams Council Member Adriane Brown Council Member Tyler Gregory Council Member Davidl Dickinson Council Member Greg Thompson Council Member Logan Propes City Administrator Absent: Staff Brent Davis, Danny Smith, Andrew Dykes, Brad Callender, Chris Bailey, Les Present: Russell, Brian Wilson, Mike McGuire, Chris Croy, Kaitlyn Stubbs Peter Johns, John Bagley, Richard Hawk, Johnny Brint, Andy Malcom, LA Burrell Visitors: I. CALL TO ORDER - JOHN HOWARD- 6:01 PM 1. Roll Call Mayor Howard noted that all Council Members were present. There was a quorum. II. ITEMS OF DISCUSSION 1. Wastewater Treatment Plant Expansion Update (with Weideman & Singleton Engineers) Peter Johns with Weideman & Singleton gave an update on the Wastewater Treatment Plan Expansion- He reviewed the Georgia EPD NPDES permitting process and where exactly we: are in those steps. Mr. Johns reviewed extension plans and discussed both Phase 1 and Phase 2. He then reviewed the differences in construction costs for both phase 1 and phase 2. Mr. Johns will work with City Administrator on a scoping and fee proposal for Council. 2. Planning & Development Map Updates Mr. Callender gave an update on the character base code that was adopted by City Council last year. Wel have new. lots being subdivided under this plan, with this plan there is a lot more: flexibility. New homes are being constructed under the new code. Public has responded well. Building permits are coming in and Brad is reviewing each permit to make sure it complies with the new code. The goal is to keep the review process in house. Staff will spend the year monitoring what is working and what is not working, and if needed they will bring any proposed changed to Council. Mr. Callender then provided examples of the lots split under the new code, and examples of the: new builds. Mr. Callender continued with a review of the progress with some of the: infill lots within the City. Mr. Callender reviewed with Council the Residential Development updates. 1. River Pointe- about to begin its second review, they have already gone through the first review for their final plat. All utilities completed. They will be seen in front of Council for first phase approval probably this summer. 2. The Jax- They are leasing, not at capacity 3. Brookland Commons- You final platted in October- nothing is built- D.R Horton bought ita and we are working with them. They have met every pattern book requirements. We will be issuing permits soon. 4. Vines of Monroe- We have met with developers who do not care for City Standards. 5. Hambrick Station- Moving Quickly 6. Rivers Edge- Approved the final plat last summer but we have received no permits. We. have 1,323 total dwelling units in progress right now. Mr. Callender reviewed the inactive and zoned residential properties. We have a lot of property that is undeveloped in our city that is zoned. 7. Breedlove Farms- Robust, mixed use plan that was very well thought out 8. Deer Acres- PRD but does need to be rethought out. 9. Madison Ridge- Preliminary plat just expired 10. Blaine Station- not inactive because we are currently trying to work with a negotiating contract to sell 11. Avondale Mills- The City just acquired but it will go: in a dormant stage 12. Veterans Walk- just inactive now. About 17, 574 people are zoned to be on our city that are not built yet. We are zoned and developing for 33,503 people. Deer Acres was discussed- the need to take the approach of Breedlove Farms and have a well thought out, robust plan. 3. Major Projects in Progress Recap Mr. Bailey shared an update on the top 25 of the major project list 1. SR 11/US 78 Intersection Signalization- Permit is submitted- could be the end of May before we. hear anything. Mr. Propes has been working with GDOT. We are working a plan and we will pay for it on the front end. Cost estimate should be coming soon as well as the final engineering plan. 2. Raw and Finished Water Line Construction- Easement clearing is complete, Bores Complete- US78/Cook Street, GA11/Deer Acres, US! 78/GAI/Wlam-Tanso 3. Cherry Hill Water Tank- 16" Finished Water Main- East Marable/Union Street- 100 feet/day. There are tons of utilities under Marable Street SO it is slow going. 4. MEAG Electric Substation- They have identified a site and MEAG has negotiated acquisition of the site. About a 3-4 year build time but it is imperative: for all the growth that is to come. 5. Walton County Jail- Gas & Electric- The cost associated with extending providing electricity and gas (electric $430, 610 and gas $ $1,500,000). 6. SR 83 Connector- waiting on Windstream to move their infrastructure in order to get started with construction. Finished sometime in Augus/September-)pust: waiting on the northeast segment. 7. Northern Bypass Arc Project- Meeting with Oglethorpe power to go over easement/rightofway, acquisitions. 8. Blaine Station- Finally had a RFQ Submission this past summer that we are working through. 9. Downtown Hotel RFQ/P- Jan 6- RFQ/P Open Date, April 3-RFQ/P Original submission date, May 15- RFQ/PSubmission Date. We know of one submitter and we are. hoping for another one. Hotel ties to a big goal of hosting the GDA Conference one day. 10. Wayne Street Block Parking- We are. hopeful for a June Project Start- Bid, Construction Schedule (6-9 months), project estimated at $847k. 11.1 North Madison Streetscape & Stormwater- would be one of the first capital projects- have spoken to an organization thati isl hoping to raise enoughf funds to replace all of the fencing along North Madison and E Spring and then redo the vegetation in the cemetery. Part of the reason we have not moved forward with this is because we are waiting for Brown Oil to completely move. We know we will have to do some remediation and we do not want to have to come back and redo anything 12. TAP-Lamphai/lHigphlamd, Broad- cost estimate $3,871,203- bid recommendation will come before council from Keck and Wood. Our portion is 20% of the project. This will be difficult because there are several areas that involve our downtown businesses. Time frame is easily a year. 13. TAP- Daris/Madison/Mears Cost Estimate $3,865,000- Application was submitted in 2024 SO it could easily be 2029-2030 before construction begins. The scope of tis may come down due to the development of this area. 14. TAP6Dma/cMs/cH, limits- cost estimate $2,500,000- streetscape project that will run on the north side of McDaniel St. It will create more walkability we did have Keck and Wood design a potential round a bout at the breed love/McDaniel intersection. 15. URA Amendment- 2008 redevelopment plan, amended by 2025 Redevelopment plan. 16. Tantalus Automated Meter Reading (AMR) & Switches- Project expense- $194,300 17. Fiberi to. Home Project- Very close to being done with the core: footprint side of Monroe. 18. Coax Legacy Decommission- We should be wrapped up with it by this year. 19. Stormwater Master Plan- We will likely be declared an MS4 Community in 2027, which means were in good process right now for developing our Master Plan that includes our policy, our ordinance, development, fee schedule, capital planning. There will have to be a public education component to be prepared to do what MS4 Communities are required to do. 20. Retail Package Store Licensing- The application has been finished up and sent to attorneys for review, after review we will do advertisements and then have the Iottery system. 21. Showcase Monroe- Monument Park, Welcome Center, Monroe Museum, 1821 Seward Johnson Sculptures, branding on trucks and murals, invited to host Shoppe, GDA Conference. 22. CDBG- Glen Iris Drive, Stowers St. and Edwards St. - repaved 23. Alcovy Street & Breedlove Drive/ Shamrock Drive Intersection- potential round a bout that has been looked at. 24. Charlotte Rowell Boulevard & Drake Drive Intersection- a round a bout that has to be put in place. 25. Review of LMIG numbers; after this year's s LMIG we will have paved 100% of some of our. main feeder streets. 26. Local Road Administration Grant- GDOT Funding- $250,000 that goes towards additional streets. paving 27. Church Street Streetscape- May Design Completion- estimated $135,000. This will come back before council later. 28. Mathews Park- Julian Brown Donation- the family has put together a donation to contribute towards bringing this component of the park (nature walks, educational pavilion, species study, panel boards, dam etc.) back into play. 29. Obstruction Removal Plans-Lidar Study- through a Lidar study we found that we had a number of obstructions that are in our approach airspace. We. have 311 obstructions- We are: required to move the obstructions. Wel have been working with engineers to get a plan together to get those things taken care of. 30. Special Event Permit Ordinance and Policy- We have come up with a breakdown of the number of people and itl helps determine the level of permit hat you need. 31. Georgia Outdoor Stewardship Program- We applied last year, and are applying again this year. We have engaged Hall and Associates to participate and help us with this application. 32. Georgia Army National Guard Armory- we submitted a proposal for relocating in October of 23- we received notification and have been in conversations with them since March. Things re tracking to relocate the National Guard. 33. Hazmat Training Program- GUTA- 80 hour course, great use of the facilities at GUTA 34. Review of event expenses. 4. Capital Improvement Projects (CIP) Recap Mr. Bailey shared an update on the following Capital Improvement Projects- natural gas, electric, sewer, storm water, streets, airport, central services, other (executime, and Helene Storm), police. 5. General Obligation Bond Discussion Mr. Propes discussed how we pay for the work we have to do. The City did a general obligation bond in the year 2000, that has since been paid off. We have discussed items like the fire station that will be needed in future. We do have SPLOST, but that will probably only buy the equipment. Parks have been mentioned in the past, specifically the River Park and Hammond Park and a few other items. We have also discussed a small cultural performing arts theater. There may be no desire to do a GO bond at all; itwould have to go through a referendum process. Mr. Dickinson. shared thatGO bonds are a very useful tool and he is a big believer in using them however, he was against us moving towards a GO bond in this economic situation. It is not the time to go to the people and say we: need to do a GO bond. Mayor Howard shared thatl he did have some concerns that we need to make hay while the sun shines- do we tee it up and wait to pull the trigger, or do we find an alternative to redevelop Hammond. He shared that one he does not think we need is the Fire Station. He feels Parks should take priority. Chief Dykes shared that he started working on the grant back in 2008- We have a responsibility to our citizens to offer the best public safety that we can and relying on the county as a primary means is not an option. We have identified that the western side of the city is in dire need and as we continue with the growth that we are seeing it will be more difficult for our units in the center of town to reach those outskirts. With it being on the SPLOST is it even an option to not proceed with that since the SPLOST was an approved project. Mr. Propes shared that we can look at the GMA Brick and Mortar program tol help supplement this would be like doing a lease purchase for the fire station. The bond just gets us there quicker. Mr. Thompson shared that he was for getting the fire station built or started. This growth will not happen overnight but it will come and it will not get cheaper to build. Looking at the federal level, wei really do not know where it is going. We: need to line up the best for our city and do it as cheap as we can, he does not want to see us wait t long and the station end up costing us 2x more than what we thought it was going to cost. Mr. Dickinson again stated he does not want us increasing taxes on the people because the county and school are already doing sO. Mayor Howard followed up with- if we put it on the ballot the voters decide, we also need to look at how were going to do things like redevelop Hammond, a developer could pay us to do the redevelopment portion. Ms. Sams shared that the tariffs are going to be a wait and see kind of thing because we do not know what is going to happen. However, there are a lot of citizens struggling especially with all of the increases we. have put in place over the last year, and to ask them for more: money willl be a tough sell. If we put in front of them a cultural arts enter they are not going to go for it, the will be more inclined to vote for the Fire Station. Ms. Malcom shared that with more growth comes more difficulty to reach those fires around the city in a timely manner. Mr. Propes shared that from a staff perspective they would rather take a wait and see approach, let us wait another year and see what happens. We do need to start planning and it would be rushing it to get it done: ini time for the November ballot. Mr. Thompson shared that we are always going to be facing tax situations- we can put it off a few years to get all of our ducks in a row but let us not put it off to many years. Mr. Propes shared that we need to need to go into this with the intent on doing all of these but know that we. have to set the table now for the next few years. We can'tj just keep kicking the can because things are getting expensive. Ms. Malcom asked if we could have, a savings account set aside, that we could designate X number of dollars that we generate over these years. Mr. Propes stated that we have the SPLOST that we can use towards the conceptual design and engineering of the Fire Station. We do need to consider the staffing and equipment, because iti is not cheap. We will have to start looking at what the industrial side of the City will need. 6. TSPLOST Discussion Mr. Propes shared that TSPLOST was put on the agenda because the county has brought it up as potential project for this year, although they have not re-engaged us for a meeting on it. TSPLOST, is imperative to getting some of these big things done because dollars do not go as far as they used to. We need major funding leverage as GDOT has told us that it will be needed for big projects, like the northern arc of the bypass. We need leverage or we will be left in the dust, GDOT shared that TSPLOST communities, counties, cities get first preference for projects. If you do not have a TSPLOST they will likely overlook you. Our entire delegation was there pushing. Ms. Malcom shared that if we were going to float any type of tax, we need to put some money forth to thoroughly educate the public. We have to put the money behind a campaign fund to explain the need. Mr. Propes said that we can always explain but it is a very fine line and gray area where we cannot promote, we can only educate. We need to. find a good community partner who is a 501cs something to make ithappen. Mr. Dickinson shared that we do not need to push this because we are in a national mess. Ms. Malcom brought up the point that we are receiving ton of tourism, and they are spending money- sO. let them pay the tax. Mr. Dickinson thinks the more times we bring itu up andi iti is knocked down the less likely we are to get it. Mr. Propes shared; he would be remiss not tol bring it up. Mr. Howard shared we may not have a choice anyway, but if they were to put one forth would we support it on the ballot or would we be against it? Mr. Dickinson is opposed. Ms. Crawford echoes what David has said. Ms. Brown agreed as well. Mr. Propes just needed some informal answers to give back to the county. If they proceed, it does pass, and we have not entered an IGA, we have lost our chance. As a governing body we do not come out in favor or opposed to it - no marketing- just education. Ms. Malcom shared that if the county decides to put it out there, she is in favor of us doing the IGA. 7. General Taxes and Tax Legislation Discussion Mr. Propes discussed HB 746. It was sent to the governor, it is the local legislation that Representative Williamson dropped on us. It was sent April7th, and it will automatically pass on May 17 if the governor has not yet signed, and currently he has not signed. Once enacted, there will be a referendum on the November ballot for the citizens to vote. If it passes, in 2026 we will have to go back to using the 2024 tax digest as the new baseline. It will pretend that the growth of 2025 and into 2026 did not occur and we get set back. The issue is that it is specifically aimed at the cities, sO the school board is not even addressed and if we do this, we do not have the ability to vote for the FLOST, which goes 100% to offset property taxes. There should be some additional legislation that comes down the line that will allow us to eventually opt-in or opt-out again. HB 92 provisions may try to force our hands into full on opting in. we are not sure why they told us we could even opt out. One other provision for HB 92 this year, some other counties and cities, when you get your notice of assessment some of them are going ahead and voting on what the estimated millage rate will be. How do we know what the estimated millage rate will be when we not have the tax digest? We are not doing that- we can use last year's millage rate. The outlook on the tax digest is a flat digest- not a lot of growth. We will not get it until sometime in June. Mayor Howard asked if we could revoke our opt out. Mr. Propes shared that we could; there is a provision that would allow us to do that. It does tell us that we may need to share with our citizens that we: may have to increase the millage rate in the future because of some of these provisions. 8. Personnel Policy Amendments Mr. Russell shared that they have made some changes to our nepotism policy- there is not a huge problem with this in the organization but occasionally something will come up. The pressure to hire family members may have existed in the past but is not necessarily as strong today. All wel have done is cleaned it up and added one extra piece that we will not even allow it at all inside the organization. Mr. Propes shared there is a grandfather clause for current employees- as long as they stay in that relationship with the city then they are grandfathered in. Mr. Dickinson asked if they are grandfathered in what difference does it make if they switch departments. Mr. Propes shared thatith becomes ani issue when they a switching departments and they are related to somebody in said department Mr. Russell reiterated that it is just cleaning up the policy. 9. Communications Strategies Discussion Mr. Propes asked what we could do better to communicate what we are doing. We try to email, do work sessions, executive summaries that are sent out. We try to maintain a presence in a variety of formats. We do a lot of social media updates, articles to the paper, and policies and procedures that we go by. Several years agoi it was decided that everyone need to be told the same thing- there does noti need to be a different story told to anybody else. There will be verbal conversations, and phone calls but the baseline of important information can be distributed in a written format. Mayor Howard asked for a response when emails are sent SO that we know they have been received. Ms. Sams shared she knew it could be frustrating to put together all that information and there not always be a response, or eveni itl being read.I Ms. Malcom shared thatweshould consider a quarterly work session, if not monthly. Mayor Howard asked thoughts on a January retreat, Summer Retreat, budget retreat and then a quarterly work session. He shared that when we were doing the monthly work sessions we were not getting the participation that was desired. Mr. Gregory shared he does not think email is a great place to start with any discussion or conversation. He cannot tell tone. He stated that the issue with work sessions in the past was that people were not communication in the past. Each person is a committee chair of a department and he wants each chair to meet with their corresponding department head and getinformation, and then bring it back and report Mr. Thompson wanted clarification from Mayor Howard on what he: meant by there was not] participation at the previous work sessions. Mayor Howard shared that each department head would come up and give a reportand then we would sit here and stare at them. There was never any questions- even when asking each council member about their districts therei is very little response. Mr. Propes shared that was part of the reason they cut work sessions but also he would get more questions after a work session than during a work session. We do not: need to be afraid to discuss the items in this room if we need to discuss them. It takes the pressure off Mr. Propes and the staff. It also gives them a point of direction as to which we they need to the boat. We were also updating on projects that takes years and years to complete, rowing SO we were updating on the same thing every month. Ms. Malcom shared that she felt as though the work sessions gave department heads the opportunity to delve a little bit deeper into some pertinent information within projects they are managing. The consensus was to consider doing quarterly work sessions. Mr. Propes shared a video on a resource that can be used to tell a better tale to our citizens. The discussion about hiring a part time social media person came up again. 10. Other Discussion & Business Mr. Propes brought up impact fees and stressed that we needed to get the ball rolling on it with of the development that will be coming in. Mr. Callender gave a quick review of the process we took in in setting up an: impact fee study. The state of Georgia signed off on the City of Monroe being able to adopti impact fees. City Council is in thej position to adopt impact fees-inside of the CIE is a table that identifies the total impact fee for the types of developments that we would see come before the City. These are the maximums on the chart but you get to decide what we would charge developments. III. ITEMS REQUIRING ACTION 1. Approval of Weideman & Singleton for continuing Wastewater Treatment Plant design and engineering- No official action was taken. Council made the decision to Iet City Administrator, Logan Propes, work with Peter Johns on a scoping and fee proposal for Council to formalize in an upcoming meeting for Wastewater Treatment Plant Expansion to 6.8 MGD. IV. AD/OURN-10,20pm Motion by Brown, Seconded by Malcom Passed unanimously JohiHoward, Mayor Logan/Propes, City Clerk