MINUTES WAYCROSS CITY COMMISSION PLANNIING & INFORMATION SESSION MONDAY, MAY 19, 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, May 19, 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, Katrena Felder (in at 5:02), and Mayor Pro Temp, Sheinita Bennett A. Invocation: Mayor Pro Temp, Sheinita Bennett Invocation was led by Doctor Renae Sellers B. Pledge of Allegiance II. GUESTS: There were none at this time. III. TRAVEL/TRAINING SCHEDULE AND REQUESTS There are none at this time. IV. PLANNING & INFORMATION SESSION ***SEE DISCUSSION NOTES*** A. Discussion Items: 1. Bids: n/a 2. Honors Policy/ Resolution 3. Charter 4. Contracts 5. ESG/Inframark Contract Modification There will be a resolution for tomorrow's agenda. 6. Zoning Concern 7. TSPLOST 2023-Line Items 8. Infrastructure Update C. Privilege Licenses Renewals: n/a D. Privilege Licenses: n/a Page 1 of2 E. Proposed Ordinances: n/a F. Proposed Resolutions: n/a G. City Attorney Report: H. City Managers Report: I. Last Call J. Adjourn to Executive Session K. Adjournment Motion made to adjourn by Commissioner Felder, seconded by Commissioner Nelson. All voted in favor and the meeting adjourned at 6:49pm. CITY OF WAYCROSS BY: + Muhublnnk MICHAEL-ANGELO JAMES, Mayor ATTEST: A dirualae Pau - JACQUALINE POWELL, City Clerk CooNo a Page 2 of2 ***DISCUSSION NOTES*** 05/19/2025 WS MAYOR: We want to start off by thanking our mayor Pro Tem Commissioner Bennett, and then we want to thank Doctor Sellers for coming and invoking presence of God for our service today. At this time, we look to our city clerk and ask if we have any guests. Would you call those? CITY CLERK: Mr. Mayor, we do not. MAYOR: Without having any guests. We now turn the program over to our city manager. CITY MANAGER: Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Mr. mayor, at this time we do not have any travel training, scheduled requests. And we're moving to the planning and information session. Uh, starting with the discussion items. Uh, we don't have any bids at this time, Mr. Mayor. Mr. mayor, the reason remains the same for the city. This was a mission, and I won't let that sit there. For those who might not have seen this before, it might be viewing them for the first time today. Mr. mayor, the cars remain the same. One ofthe big buckets being infrastructure, services, quality oflife and the city workforce. The buckets for the plan as far as businesses located each bin. And for those who may be watching for the first time, these are our. 24 authorities. 25 ofthem split one up with these 24 authorities to drive a serious operation day to day. Mr. mayor. The city plans to continue to plan. For those who may be watching for the first time. This is our team strategy backed by the comp plan. We're currently in years 2 to 4, starting with year two. At the end of year two, everything is moving forward to schedule, Mr. Mayor. And I'll talk about some of these briefly in the yellow arrow. So, we updated all our programs, still updating some policies and some ordinances that require legislation at the state level. Um, of course, we have made new procedures to track our performance measures. We'll continue to improve our standard based workforce working on quality Service and training for the workforce. And as of right now, as far as automation update, I think we are still scheduled for a September completion date. And again, for those who have not been tracking the full automation turnover, this will give us the capability to do multiple things. First, we pay and play by all means. Payment methods. Um, many things will be online at that stage. Uh, to, to obtain business licenses, uh, other transactions that in the past have been paper. Uh, this will all be online. Uh, once this overall is completed. And of course, research, design and fund infrastructure priorities. And I'll talk about that a little bit at the end. Doing infrastructure updates and ofcourse, the long-term financial strategy, um, which beginning with the Splost 2023, and Pll talk about that later on as well. And of course, to maintain quality services to our citizens. I'1l be doing a presentation with one addition. Wel have one of our mission partners here. PSC will kind of brief their portion and take questions on their agenda item. Again, we had no bids. We'll start with the policies. There was a request made by the Commission to establish a policy. I could not find a chair for one. Oncertain at every, job. Because other cities. Um, did not because I reached out late. They had not got back to me yet as far as GMA, sO I'll wait for them as well. Um, what I'1l do tonight though, um, we'll just kind of make note of what the commission might want the policy to obtain. Um, and then we'll go back and check thel legality behind. There are certain things we can't do at the city level. Uh, do know that. And then any other things that the commission might want, we'll just make sure moving forward, if we can establish those things. Uh, in some cases, um, this won't require an any actual honest policy. It'll be a one-time event. Um. Uh. One time action. We used the deaths of our two transitions for our two previous commissioners. Uh, as a as an example. Um, this onetime event that some other events scheduled for them. Um, sO but with that, I'll pause, and the commission have any consideration or recognition. They want to be incorporated in the program. We'll make note of it right now, and then we'll follow back at a later date. MAYOR: T'll start with Commissioner Houston one. You have any recommendations or anything concerning our policy? COMMISSIONER ROBERTS: No, sir. I just I do have some questions. So, we're going to honor all commissioners that have served in the past. Page 1 of 22 ***DISCUSSION NOTES*** 05/19/2025 WS MAYOR: So, we can present that as well. So, the question is whether or not we will honor other commissioners who have served their terms and when they pass, will we do particular things for them as well? So that's) just a notation that we can do, and we'll come back around. I1I come back around and give everyone a chance to bring their questions and thoughts up, and then we'll address them individually and as a collective body. Is there a further question? Thank you, sir. Thank you, Commissioner. Yes, sir. And Commissioner. Thanks. I have a question here. Thank you. COMMISSIONER FELDER: Um, Mr. City Manager, you said that you reached out to GMA and waiting to hear back from them regarding this, this honest policy. It should be a resolution. And I appreciate you for taking the time to research this information as well as, I would assume, the city attorney. Um, I think that it's important for our citizens to understand that, um, because of the most recent passing of two commissioners, um, there was a lot of discord in the community about how one commissioner was honored over the other day, and I truly believe that if we had a policy in place that would eliminate any bias or presumption of bias or favoritism among any commissioner that is being honored and respected because of the service that they provided to the city during their tenure here. Um, regarding this particular policy, I do look to the commission for their input. I do have some ideas, but Irespectfully, Ido appreciate ifthey would provide some input regarding this policy. Not a program, but a policy. And ifyou, um, need a city to, to mimic that has an honest policy in place, I will be glad to provide the name ofthat city for you. Thank you. MAYOR: And, Commissioner Nelson, no sir. CITY MANAGER: So, let's me ifI can. So, I'm taking that on to understand Commissioner Roberts question. He's asking about previous commissioners who transition. MAYOR: And that sounds interesting because we had a mayor to pass. And as I as I came into the office and he was the first African American mayor of the city, and we named an auditorium while he lived in his honor and did a celebration regarding that. But each time the commissioner has passed since he passed, I don't think we've done anything for any of them with regard to those who have been a part of the Commission and then were offered the commission, but that does not mean we cannot do anything. That's a good idea to bring that to the table. So just in case, say, for instance, another commissioner passes and several commissioners who were online at work. I know that we had Mr. Etheridge of District two who passed away. And we did you get out of him? But it was done in a way that the community would come together because he worked in several capacities, not only here but also in Pierce County. So, it all depends upon the Council and the commission itself. CITY MANAGER: But I will say for the two commissioners that transition, we did do plaques on both ofthem. That's the only thing we did. Both commissioners. So, mean that's a start. So, we can go from there. Mr. mayor, Commissioner asked to put, uh, they have a charter conversation. Um, I'm not sure exactly, um, what that entail. Um, based off of some feedback, I went ahead and just, um, some discussion we had I went ahead and outline what, uh, official city business means, um, for the commission and also for the general public. also went ahead and outlined who was responsible for our social media content. I also went ahead and outline what our social media policy is. So, there were questions about those. Um, and that's kind of feedback. I kind of derived from what was asked for, for us to do. So, I paused there for we have any specific questions on the charter. Um, it's it was a big thing to kind of figure out, but these are the things just by, I guess, some of the conversations we've been having internally. So, we selected these three items as far as, um, communications for the charter, and Pll pause there for any recommendations or suggestions or comments by the Commission. Page 2 of 22 ***DISCUSSION NOTES*** 05/19/2025 WS MAYOR: Thank you. Just looking at the charter itself, we know that our charter is somewhat expansive. Yes. And it has a number of things inside of it that are probably a bit obsolete and need to be removed from the charter itself, and we've had it reviewed and looked at by counsel. And being that they have seen it, much of what they've seen has been questionable. We brought a few things up at the beginning of. January, one ofwhich happened to be the very thing we're talking about regarding honors policy. We may mention that we would do something along the lines of connecting the dots when it comes down to our permission, and even adding to that, the mayor, because the mayor is not included as far as the commission is concerned, which is quite interesting. I believe that the interim attorney, Mr. Spearman, put something together for us to vote on as a body to send to the General Assembly, to add to our charter, to make sure that we did. What I'm hearing us say we should be doing. However, he was shot down. We only had three votes and two nays to the vote, or one abstention and one vote. No. So, of course we can't do anything even with the resolution. If you go back to making a resolution, it only appliesto those of us who are here now. So, the next commission, when they come into play can change all of that. So that was another concern and consideration that we were thinking about. But ifi it's in the chart it has a little more. It has more teeth; it has a little more weight than what we would possibly do as individual council. But ifi it's okay, I want to look to our city's attorney and then give us kind ofa a conversation regarding what we did earlier and some, some things that you've noticed with our charter since you've been sitting in the seat and you've been city attorney and county attorney. CITY ATTORNEY: That's correct. Mr. Mayor, with respect to what we're looking at on the screen, um, city business defined in social media policy, um, and, and other matters such as those are really administrative matters, uh, which don't necessarily have to bei in the charter. Uh, right behind the charter in our city code is the administrative procedures of the City Commission, where you define what your procedures are going to be in terms of how you conduct your business. And, uh, that would be a place where you might want to define what official business is. Uh, and you can change that from time to time depending upon the needs of the city. So, on the one hand, you don't want to put everything that's administrative into the charter, because then you can only change it by having the legislature amend the charter. And that, that that holds you up, uh, for a period of time until the legislature is in session. But anything that's dealing with the constitution of the commission, that is how commissioners are elected. How many commissioners to have, uh. District lines and SO forth. Uh, those kinds of things have to be changed by the legislature. Anything dealing with the composition of the commission? Uh, you did make a valid point just now about some things you may want to put in the charter sO that, uh, future commissions can't change them by resolution. And you just need to give that careful thought in terms of what you really want to, to be there, you know, for a long time, because it could come back, uh, to work to your disadvantage ifit's something that is ordinarily an administrative matter and then you don't want to be hampered by having to amend the charter to change it. MAYOR: Thank you for your comments. Now I'll go to the commission and give them opportunity to respond to what they have seen. Probably some questions they may have regarding charter and what ordinances they have created. So, at this time, Pll start with the district one. District two and district two. COMMISSIONER FELDER: Yes, Mayor. I have questions regarding the information you have on the slide about the charter. I think that, um, there have been a lot of questions raised among citizens, not only about the charter, but how we conduct city business as it relates to the charter and also adhering to the charter for citizens. Um, it's questioning when, um, an issue may be brought to the forefront. And they ask a question and the city attorney and city manager and mayor, you all respond, and then those citizens go back and do their research, and they find the exact opposite of what you've stated in the meeting, as opposed to what is written in doctrine. And so, for me as a commissioner, when I hear it and I don't see these things, it does make the way that we are operating government here in the city questionable about what we allow and what we don't allow with our employees here at the city. Um, also, when it comes to conducting city business, are our employees responding to these, uh, posts and things of that nature on city time? And is such a response required or necessary from that employee? Um, and also when it comes to the exchanging of information, um, more recently there was a citizen Page 3 of 22 ***DISCUSSION NOTES*** 05/19/2025 WS that sent an email communication, um, from my understanding, to select individuals and somehow that email information was disclosed to the public. And sO therefore, again. Um, it brings about a question of public trust, um, from the citizens with the commission, the mayor, the city manager, whomever, um, that received such communication. And as to whether or not it will be disclosed. And last but not least, you know, going back to social media, um, in states that the city policy is that employees cannot post things on social media about the city administration in their official capacity. Additionally, we do not restrict when the workforce can utilize social media. So, I would like to make any assumptions. So, I will look for the to the city attorney to delve into that for me please. Just for clarification, not only for my clarification, but for the city. CITY ATTORNEY: Let me speak on that first, Mr. Attorney. So, we've talked about it before multiple times. First ofall, no citizen has found anything that I did or did. Incorrect. Not one time since I've been here. They may interpret it what they want to interpret it, but not once it happened. Ifit happened. Commissioner, please, by that situation sO we can address it. But since I've been for two years and three months. That never happened. So, they might find a policy that they interpret what they interpret. And that's their opinion. And that's fine. It's always their opinion. Um, but I go back, I said, I checked with GMA and we're good to go on that. So that's the first point with the city policy. Um, like I said, I'm on to Facebook throughout the day because that's how we communicate to a lot of our citizens. And! I asked her about 50 to 75 questions a day to our citizens through Facebook. Um, I provide references when needed. Ifthey want apartments, I scarce apartments if they want phone calls, regular phone calls. This has been a great way for us to communicate to our citizens and answer their questions and concerns, because in some cases we do miss certain things. Um, as far as our operations on a day-to-day stuff. So, like today, a citizen mentioned, um, an area, um, they want to have work and I've kind of talked about it before. Um, we're about close to 600 abandoned properties right now, um, throughout the city. And I was able to explain to that citizenj just, this, you know, that would quadruple our workload as far as fuel and manpower. We just don't have, you know, but at the same time, we have been discussing the commission, been discussing what ways we can do to get rid of blight and abandoned properties. So once that was explained to the citizen, they thoroughly understood. So, um, I feel like there has been a great tool, uh, my two years here because, as you know, when I first came on the job, one oft the things that you told me, this commission told me verbatim. Hey, work on communication with the citizens. Um, be transparent with the citizens. Um, we asked every question on Facebook. Regardless ofi if we disagree or agree, we: ask the question point blank as far as the email. Um, there is no protected privilege from citizen who sends me an email. Um, this is not election season. Um, SO there's no such thing. So, any citizen, I would say ifyou sent me an email, I do not share the email. I don't post it on social media. I do discuss it with the department. Um, that applies to. So, ifyou see me email and say, hey, Mister Rayford, we need the grass cut on sixth Street. Who am I going to talk to? The public works director. Go cut the Located on sixth Street. And that's how it happens. So up emails that are considered public trust will be direct emails to yourself and the commission, which I do not share. Um, sO, um, I think we're clear and it's on our policy on what the charter says and how we operate in the city. Um, but like Isaid, ifthere's any incidents, I do not know ofi it right now when we violate any policy on social media, any policy, according to our charter or any policy, according to our handbook and our policy, and I'll turn it back over to the city attorney. CITY ATTORNEY: As far as social media policies are concerned, you're not going to find that in the charter. You may find that in the Personnel Policies and Procedures Manual that applies to all city employees, but that is not the kind of thing that that you would normally find in a city charter. I mean, that's more of an administrative matter that doesn't deal with the formation of the city government, which is what the charter does. The city charter deals with the formation of the government, all of its various departments. How? Each department is supposed to function in terms of delivering services to the city, how city officials are supposed to function. Those are the kinds of matters that are in your charter. But day to day matters such as emails and communications and free speech and all ofthat, those kinds of things are regulated in your policies and procedures manual. And that's where you look to see whether or not there is a rule that applies or ifi it's not, whether you want to amend the policy and add a rule that applies to all city employees. And I'lI say one other thing about the charter. I find that there's Page 4 of 22 ***DISCUSSION NOTES*** 05/19/2025 WS al lot of misunderstanding due to the fact that a lot of citizens will approach this commission as well as me sometimes and argue what the charter should say as opposed to what the charter actually does say. And they have based their whole critique and argument on how the charter should read. But we have to deal with the charter as it is now. We know that there are a lot of provisions in the charter that need to be updated and, you know, brought up to, upt to the two to what the current standards should be in terms of what a charter should look like. But until, uh, old provisions are changed, we have no choice but to go with what we have. And SO, um, I think a lot of confusion occurs because people have very strong feelings about what the charter should say, but it doesn't actually say what it what they think it should say. It says what it you know what it says. And that's what we have to go with. MAYOR: We are a start on that because I heard the framing of maybe we're saying things that are not in the charter, or at least are conflicting with what the charter has said. But generally, when I'm talking and when I hear both city manager and city attorney speaking, it's only a reference to what is actually in the book. I mean, there are certain things I think people use biblically as well to say they want to make it their truth, and their truth is not necessarily the truth ofhow things ought to be, as opposed to how things are. So, in this case, I do believe that as it has been done, and I've noticed our city manager responds to much more than I would respond to in the sense that he wants to make sure that every person has been talked to correctly, or at least shown the way. In my particular case, I find that it's difficult ifthe person has already made up their mind to go a specific way for you, to deter them and to deter them and go in another way altogether. So looking at this whole piece, I'm glad that you brought the charter out because we have been one of our conversations in times past has been that we want to strip that charter and relook at the charter, look at it step by step, piece by piece, and each of the individual commission members have the right to sit there and look at and bring to the table. When we use a broad brush to paint a conversation, we oftentimes bring a good number of things in in itself. Although ambiguous, it could make it sound as if we are purposefully doing something that we should not be doing. And so, I understand the city manager's response. Ialso understand the response given by our city attorney. We need to make sure if we're going to say something, Commissioner, that we specifically highlight and make that point known. What is it specifically that we're talking about? We don't have to use names because according to our decorum, we're not to identify individuals. Neither are we: supposed to say someone broke in some kind ofrule or ethical breakdown ofsome sort, because that's part of what the decorum is. So, and in some cases, we have to be very mindful even in our framing. And that's another piece that, you know, I could hear Commissioner saying point of order or that kind of thing, sO we could bring our conversation back to what it should be. So, if we have specific things that we need to pull out, then I would suggest that we say those specifically and I'll go back to our city manager. I'm not sure. Ifyou had mentioned. CITY MANAGER: I would just say, man, we all voted on the handbook. The current handbook now and all the policy handbooks. We passed handbook. Ithink it was in April of this year. Um, sO, um, I'm not sure what the issue is, is now. Like I say, um, I strongly encourage, um, different department leads to monitor social media. You know, they, you know, public works just gives them more capacity than what they have. Um, I will admit, we had we don't have one person answering phones down there. So, um, that's probably one of the situations where that person, they get up and go to the bathroom and miss five phone calls, you know, for various reasons. Um, SO the way we do it now, like I said, they do a great job of talking to citizens. They set up appointments as well with citizens, just not just me. So again, I think it isn'tjust the social media platform either. We on our live stream, it's the same thing. Um, we are really able to get out and do more with less by operating this way versus waiting on phone calls. Every day was going on in the past when I got here. So, um, I am pleased with it, you know, and even what I would deem negative interactions with citizens. It's all teaching moments in education. And, um, those that want to, you know, don't want to agree. Like I said, everybody is entitled to their opinion. And as you said many times, sometimes it's only lines, but they already believe. So, I recognize we can't change that. Um, but I do provide the resource and the data, and the reference and they can use however they want to use it. Um, but for the mass of citizens, the majority ofcitizens, uh, this has been a great interaction. Uh, Ialso get great recommendations from our citizens. So, we made changes based off of that feedback from citizens. We wouldn't have gotten any other way. You know, um, some Page 5 of 22 ***DISCUSSION NOTES*** 05/19/2025 WS citizens can't even leave their homes. So, Ijust think it's a great tool. Um, like I said, with the charter, um, the social media policy is not in the charter, just the, um, department that oversees it. Uh, sO but the handbook clearly states what our policy is. We voted on it. There were no objections then. Um, and Isay it's only a positive, uh, over this, this last year. MAYOR: Of course, to open it, there's more conversation about the children. COMMISSIONER FELDER: He just said they're in there. I'd just like to point out and thank you for your thoughts. Um, but I would just like to state that there definitely is a difference between. A Malice post on social media from a pharmaceutical employee, as opposed to, um, giving a response to a citizen who may have a difference of opinion or a question regarding the city matters. And I think that to distinguish the two, um, that should be a topic of discussion. But I Will Provide you several examples of what I'm referencing sO that there can be clarification on the difference between analysis things on social media, and professional points made on social media. CITY MANAGER: So, I'm referring to the city pages that match any other personal page. I don't look at people's personal pages for the city of Waycross. Um, and again, we've discussed this already. That's a First Amendment right. If they want to get down and dirty with anybody as long as to the current policy, they don't deem city in that way. They can say whatever they want to say. Um, like I said, I'm not looking for that. You know, I try to stay away from that stuff. But on the city page, I did, did I overview and manage it. It's all professionalism, and we try our best to answer the questions of all citizens. Even when those same citizens are disrespectful to us, we still try to come back and answer their questions. So, I'll pause there. Ihope that clarified that. So can you go on to the to that part about the But first I'm going to go over that again. CITY ATTORNEY: Well, uh. Yes, sir. Um, everybody has a First Amendment right to express themselves and to speak their opinions about certain matters. And ifthey're doing it on their own time, on their own, uh, social media device, uh, you know, they're free to express themselves. Uh, now the manager is making a distinction between, uh, a person using their private resources versus responding on a city page. And I think that's a that's a good distinction. Uh, because ify you're going to use the city page to express yourself, you should. Use professionalism. Uh, when you are responding to: a comment, even ifit'sa a comment that's critical ofan employee. Uh,Ithink professionalism requires city employees, you know, not to Respond in a way that's unbecoming of, uh, ofa city employee or of professionalism. But, you know, outside of, uh, city, uh, outside oft the city itself, when you're at home on the weekends and you're on your own social media page, uh, you can pretty much say what you want to say, uh, because you have a First Amendment right to do SO. And now I think city employees should be encouraged to, uh, not stir the pot, sO to speak, uh, because people, uh, even though you have a First Amendment right to say what you want to say, people will still identify you with the city ifthey know that you are a city employee. So that's just common sense and just, uh, you know, uh, a way that you ought to think about how you're going to respond, uh, ifyou are a city employee. But at the same time, you know, you still have a First Amendment right to say what you want to say on your own time and on your own device. CITY ATTORNEY: And last thing, Mr. Mayor. We're beating a dead horse. Like, just even on our personal pages, we get personal attacks. And I tell you, when they're going to beat me up and all this stuff. I mean, it's like,) you know, I don't respond to those. I mean, nobody should at that point, like city attorey and say even my personal pages. So, um, I'm not afraid of any citizen here on that level. All I want to do is answer their questions. Um, and then take their comments and concerns. And if its value added, like it's going to make something positive for the city. All means we're going to look into that. Like I said, we have a lot of, um, positive feedback from citizens. We want to make Waycross better. And then we've got a few that don't. And that's fine, you know? Um, sO I might tend to lean more towards the ones with positive answers because I want to use those answers. We want them to be aj part of the solution. So, um, but that being said, we still try to answer as many questions as we can. Like I say, sometimes I can have 100 days. I don't get to everybody. Um, but a lot of times the staff comes in Page 6 of 22 ***DISCUSSION NOTES*** 05/19/2025 WS the directors, especially depending on what the question is, and follows up with a with an answer for those citizens. MAYOR: Very good. All right. So, Iknow we've been here for a minute, and I think we've talked more. This was more of a like an executive session to talk about a particular topic. And this one has kind of involved administrative things as opposed to the charter stuff. So, we can go to our contacts. Okay. CITY MANAGER: Uh, next contract was requested to be on the agenda, Mr. Mayor. And what I did here was, um, part of this is in our in our charter, and part ofi it is in the handbook. Um, I can read it if need be. I hope the citizens are watching on board right now because I know it's small writing. Um, but I summarized it, you know, basically anything that's over $10,000 if the purchase is a good a service, a contract, you know, a request made by the city manager. Um, ifI approve that request from the, uh, the directors, uh, I then go to the commission, um, and ask for it to be made out. And that's through the purchasing manager. She generates a bid proposal based on specifications and needs ofthat department and sends it out to the department director fort their review. They would send the bid that was generated, um, and it goes out to a few resources. So, the official city's, uh, legal organ is going to be the Waycross Journal Herald sitting over there. So that's the first place we're going to publish any notification for contracts. And then we advertise it to bids. Uh, they go through the vendor registry and that's a national procurement site. Uh, and the Georgia Procurement Registry, that's an official state site. So, we had those three locations that the bids go out right now. And of course, local means to, um, word of mouth. So, once it goes out and that's done by Miss Jackson, who's not here today, but once she puts those bids out, then we get those three bids, and then we come here to get the best, best beer available and you go from there. So that's the current contract process. Um, the one thing I will say, and this goes over, goes back into the overall financial strategy. We would like to be moving forward, uh, $10,000, um, you know, really can't buy anything right now. And, uh, the commission has heard my struggles about trying to buy pipes when we can, um, for our infrastructure on time. Anytime I have to bid it out. Um, you know, it'll take another 2 or 3 months. And by that time, we're in a worse situation, um, with our water and sewer. It also includes vehicles. You know, we missed a lot of great deals on vehicles because of the bid process in the Georgia state law. Um, I think it's $100,000 if we have to be something. I'll stand corrected if I'm wrong. Um, I think it's $100,000 that you got to be something out. And I've looked at other cities, and I brought this up before about having more flexibility with what I could do. Um, as far as the, the, the, the financial amount. Um, but that seemed to be an issue a while back, SO I got with the team. Um, I definitely want to come back to certain purchases, like vehicles. Uh, we have got to be more agile and flexible on these things because we miss out on al lot of deals. Simply because ifI found a vehicle today or today would be different. But ifI found it Wednesday, then you're talking about another whole month almost. And that car is going to be gone in about 72 hours, and then we're going to miss out on probably 50 to $60,000 savings, depending on what that is. So, um, and this is probably going to come back with this, but since it's brought up, I would ask the commission to kind of look at for, for purchases on anything related to water and sewer and vehicles that the flexibility of the city manager's position, um, goes up more. Um, SO. MAYOR: What would you consider a good number for you? CITY MANAGER: Uh, I think in regard to, um, to the pipes, you know, we can start getting to the large size pipes, um, when it's emergency, you got to try and find them everywhere. You might get an eight inch and above. You're talking. Uh, it's not today, but you're talking maybe around 25 to $75,000. Um, with the police vehicles. It's a great example we had we ended up purchasing the police vehicles that cost us about, um, I think in the end, around $250,000 for the 60 we did purchase. But had we had the ones that we had saw available on that week, we'd probably saved $100,000. So, uh, what I would like to do and I'm going to hit this at the end about the vehicle, because part of the financial strategy is to start getting these vehicles through the 2023 Splost as soon as possible. So, anything under $100,000, you know, that being said, I would still like to come. I would brief the commission, but I say hundred thousand dollars. We're talking about multiple vehicles. That might be two trucks, um, two pickups, maybe a Pac man. You know, that's going to be about $35,000. So, I'm talking about multiple vehicles, Page 7 of 22 ***DISCUSSION NOTES*** 05/19/2025 WS and I'm not asking the commission to do it right now, but please ask around to other cities to obtain this policy because they move much faster than we do on any procurements. And then again, we're going to have one deep here with that. Um, SO when she's trying to do those things and other things, um, that are in her job requirement, we get behind as well, like property purchases and stuff like that. So, um, right now I think the state is 200,000 has to go out. Anything below that, I feel like the city can move much faster. And especially right now with the economy and inflation going on and everything right now, and, um, it's going to be limited access. Um, we can't really, we can't really chance on waiting a whole month sometimes for some critical vehicles that we need. And I'm speaking on just like the extra, um, vacuum truck. This has been an ongoing issue between, you know, we only have one vacuum truck. Uh, and we're getting ready for hurricane season, and that was a known a known shortage during hurricane season. That back truck runs a brand new one, probably $500,000. So, I get that. Have to be bid out. Um, a slightly used one. We talked maybe three 5450. But the thing is, when we find one, we got tojump on it this year. We cannot wait until we get close to hurricane season. Then we'll try to look for one like we did last year, trying to figure out how we couldn't find one. So just something for the commission to think about moving forward. And, um, I didn't really think about this until I pulled up the information for the contracts, and I kind of paused. If anybody has any recommendations or comments. MAYOR: About this one. Did you have any comments for us? COMMISSIONER ROBERTS:I Ijust have a question about the vehicle. Instead ofbuying new vehicles. Do we have any vehicles that we could probably replace the engines in? CITY MANAGER: Yeah. So, in some cases, like we do um, like the public works, not public work. The community improvement vehicles. We had those four trucks out there, sO we buy that new truck for them to then turn those trucks over to public works. And they might. Cannibalize a bad word, but they might reuse the parts. And, you know, and I think in one case, they can probably save their whole truck. And they need a pickup truck, too. Um, sO yes, we can do that. That's part of the plan. Strategy. Um, but unfortunately, because of the age of our fleet, we don't have many options like that. Um, that we can move place to place. So, and in other situations, we're going to look at maybe a shared vehicle, um, like the fire department. The police department. Sometimes they can share vehicle, certain vehicles. So, we're looking at that as well. And Ml kind of go over all that when we actually do the budget presentation. COMMISSINER ROBERTS: Thank you, sir. COMMISSIONER FELDER: Yes, I have a question. You mentioned that, um, Our contracts are published through several legal organs, such as the Waycross, Georgia Bureau, the Georgia Procurement Registry, and also word of mouth. Um, are these contracts also posted on our city's website? CITY MANAGER: Uh, it depends on what the contract is. COMMISSIONER FELDER: What do you mean? CITY MANAGER: Um, SO anything like paving, like we're doing paving stuff like that. It's going to be on there. But anything outside of that, we're trying to do a contract to get somebody to come here and fix the roof. It might not be on the city page. No. COMMISSIONER FELDER: Okay. Could you explain to me why a roofing contract potential contract would not be on the city's page? CITY MANAGER: Just no real reason. Ijust the main focus is going to be those big contracts you want to put out. So, the paving, the streets, the water, sewer, all those things. Page 8 of 22 ***DISCUSSION NOTES*** 05/19/2025 WS COMMISSIONER FELDER: So, um, just for clarification. You determine which contracts are advertised. CITY MANAGER: I don't think we have to advertise. According to the procurement register, these correct, these three sites, everything else. I don't I'm not sure what you're asking because I don't get that far into this procurement officer. COMMISSIONER FELDER: I asked about the city's website because that is one of our social media platforms that our citizens do depend upon and look for information. Um, SO my question is, would it be an issue to have contracts advertised there as well? CITY MANAGER: It would be, but sO any contracts or bids we're going to have out. It's not going to be city attorney like here. All our bids will probably come from outside the city or through the engineering firm and stuff like that. I mean, it's not like a big thing to put it on there, right? Yeah. COMMISSIONER. FELDER: Yeah. I was I was just asking. just to make sure, you know, that everyone has a fair opportunity. CITY MANAGER: But they have a fair opportunity because right now, these three websites are the primary websites that all companies, industries know to go to. And this is national as far as the vendor registry. National procurement site and the state of Georgia given registry official state procurement site. So, anything that deals with cars, vehicles, water, sewer, everybody, all kinds ofI can go to go to those sites. When I say it, word of mouth I mean our local contractors here. Like ifl wanted to do something over $10,000 and that could be anything, that might be word of mouth here. COMMISSIONER FELDER: So, Ijust think it is something that should be considered since we want to, you know, keep the public informed. Okay. Thank you. CITY MANAGER: On to the ESG contract. I'm not sure we're going to talk on this, but I'll let them speak on it. Um, basically, um, we're going to go over some, some of our sludge costs and we've discussed this. Um, we're okay with it. It's going to add, I think, another 100 or 105,000 to the overall contract. We kind ofdiscussed this. And, um, ify'all want to talk to you. Okay. And you have you have an information paper on that contract. ESG: Good afternoon. Mayor. Commissioner. Good afternoon. Uh, yes. Like, uh, city manager stated you have a memo in front of you. Uh, it kind of details out what we're asking for this year. And, uh, you know, we. skip over to the second page that outlines it and it goes into,you know, the base fee and the sludge increases. So, for the base fee, that's the cover wage increases. Uh, one of the things that we've had, uh, when we, you know, I've been here before, but when I came back, we tried to us had some openings. We went to go fill them, and we found we found out quickly that what we were going to have to pay the people to come in were making more than the folks that were here. So, we had to adjust. The people who were working for us rates, we couldn't bring in new people higher than them. In other words, SO that's part ofi it. The other thing is lab supplies. We've got lab labs at our cost. So, we've had some additional testing that's come up with the PFAS and things like that. That requires more sampling and cost more money. Additionally, chemicals, chemicals, since Covid have gone up tremendously. Chlorine alone has gone up 120% since Covid. And that's ours. And then inflation as city manager was talking about just the cost to do business has gone up tremendously. And then the sludge rebate you'll see on the next page. So, it's a rebate account. And that means you guys pay us every year to manage the sludge rebate account. And what you: see in redi is the overages. So, every year it's gone over, and we've had to come back to the city and say, hey, this account has gone over. You owe us this amount. So, by adjusting the rebate, hopefully we won't have to come back and say, hey, the: sludge costs have gone up this much. We need this much more. So, we're predicting it to go up, up Page 9 of 22 ***DISCUSSION NOTES*** 05/19/2025 WS to 300,000 total and it should stay in line, provided Grothaus doesn't go up on hauling or tipping fees in the next year. And I'll pause and take any questions that you may have. COMMISSIONER NELSON: So, you're basically saying that the rebates that we're getting does not offset the original cost going in. ESG: Correct, sir? Yeah. So right now, the sludge budget is $164,000. And, uh, like last year, we had to ask for, uh, 100 over $125,000 in overages to cover that. And that's what we're asking for is to, you know, get that budget in line. MAYOR: Did you have a follow up question, Commissioner? ESG: Thank you. Thank you. CITY MANAGER: I'm going to defer to the city attorney for one question, Mr. Mayor, because I do want to go ahead and add this to the it's not in your current budget book. So, you need a concession to modify that contract because ofthe cost would be the concession from them. CITY ATTORNEY: Yeah. Yeah, we do. We have to do it by resolution. CITY MANAGER: Next, Mr. Mayor. Um, there was a citizen zoning concern, um, request to be on the agenda, and I'm going to defer to Mr. Hawkins. Um, just to he did provide a small update for previous times. He'll do it again. They would kind of go from there as far as discussion. MARC HA WKINS: Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Commissioners. So, about a week or two ago, um, we had a citizen. Come in to get a vacancy inspection. The water had been off, uh, at this residence since November of 2023. Um, in the time that that had been resumed. So, this property had been rezoned back in May of 2008. Um, it was the area basically from Garlington Heights, um, um, all the way down to. Alpha Street, where it comes to a triangle at Glenmore Avenue. So, it covers Bertha. Alpha. Johanna. Makes a lot of those streets went from in 2008. A previous commission was on that area from R50m mobile, home tojust R 50, which did not allow mobile homes. The mobile homes that were on site were considered legal nonconforming uses. Our zoning ordinance says that non-conforming uses can stay um, but once they're abandoned for six months, waterpower has been turned off for six months. Um, you cannot reestablish that. So basically, the mobile homes were grandfathered in. Um, and the old saying once it went vacant for six months, grandpa died. Um, but the legal terms are nonconforming use and reestablishment. Um, I spoke with the tenant and the owner and notified them of the situation. Uh, told them the options would be to either apply to resume the property, to go back to mobile home, or walk them through that process of how they do that, the fee or to remove the mobile home. Um, sO that's where we stand with that. And again, it was rezoned back in 2008. The water has been off since November of2023, and Ithink the owner ofthe property, um, sent a letter to the commissioner inquiring about it. And that's why we're here today. MAYOR: So, we're going to open the floor for questioning. COMMISSIONER FELDER: The commissioner wanted to have questions concerning this. Correct. Thank you. Mayor. So, when the owner of the property, um, I guess when the utilities hadn't been paid, how is that owner notified the owner of the property, not the individual that is, um, purchasing the property, but is the owner of the property notified by the city. MARC HA WKINS: That I'm not sure you would have to ask Greg or the utility building. Um, but typically when the water is applied for, ifthe owner is not paying for it, it's in the tenant's name or the purchaser's name. Um, and then that's who's notified. Page 10 of 22 ***DISCUSSION NOTES*** 05/19/2025 WS CITY ATTORNEY: So, in this case commission. So, the tenant was paying their own water. It's one of those situations where, um, like Miss Hawkins said, sometimes, um, the water comes out of your rent bill, and sometimes they require the tenant to pay for water. So, in that situation, the owner of the building is not going to know. Um, probably still know because they should be communicating with the tenant if the tenant leaves. So that's the situation here would be if they leave, they automatically they should assume they're not you're not paying water or if you break communications with them. So um, that's been a problem in a few cases, but that's not a matter. You know, I say it doesn't concern us. Idon't mean us concerned. I mean, like, that's got to be between the property owner and the actual renter or tenant. MAYOR: It sounds like to me that there should have been some form of communication between those two entities, not us. I1 think we somehow would have stepped over our boundaries to have gone into that part ofit. But we can look to the city attorney for thoughts on that. I don't know. CITY ATTORNEY: Mr. mayor, I think you're correct. Um, the relationship between the owner and the tenant is not something that the city would be privy to. And in this case, it's my understanding that the water account was in the tenant's name. And sO, the city is not going to send a bill to someone else whose name is not on the account. Um, and when the bill went out for, I guess, a number of months, um, it wasn't paid. And I know the owner, I think in this case,you know, makes the point that the owner didn't know that the water bill was not being paid. Um, again, that's not a matter that the city needs to be involved in. That's between the owner and the and the tenant. And what happens is when the water gets turned off, then it invokes our policy that Mr. Hawkins just spoke to. And, you know, the city has to follow its own policies. And, you know, if you do it, for one, you got to do it for everybody. If you make an exception. CITY MANAGER: And this will be the exception that the city attorney was speaking on would be, um, I guess the reason go back to zoning is for mobile homes. That's what they would be doing. MARC HAWKINS: So, the options are they can petition to rezone. So that would go through the Planning Commission. The planning Commission would make the recommendation. Then it would come here for a public hearing. And the city commission, just like any rezoning, would make the final decision. Or they can relocate the mobile home to an area that allows for mobile homes would be the two options, and that was notified to the tenant and to the property owner. MAYOR: be Mr. City Manager Director Hopkins when the there's going to be a change, right. For instance, you may mention in your preface or your introductory or you said that the past commission, were you referring to this commission? No, sir. Or the planning and zoning? MARC HA WKINS: It would have been the. So, it would have been both. So, the Planning Commission, uh, this was carried to the Planning Commission. Planning Commission made the recommendation, then it came to the city Commission. But this was back in 2008, SO I don't think any ofy'all were on then. So. MAYOR: That would have been the beginning of. You know, it's not like in the beginning or the end ofa term of either of those. Commissioner Felder COMMISSIONER FELDER: Thank you. Um, more recently, back at our last commission meeting on May the 6th. Uh, this commission, along with city manager, uh, discussed about the possibility of deciding to vote on a resolution for the owner ofthe property to sign an affidavit swearing to the water and electricity is up to code. Then they would get a licensed contractor to sign an affidavit attesting that the owner has met the requirements to turn back on the water and or electricity SO that the responsibility falls back on the property owner. Is that not still up for a vote at this meeting? Page 11 of 22 **DISCUSSION NOTES*** 05/19/2025 WS CITY MANAGER: So, when I brought that to the commission, that's the vacancy, getting rid of the vacancyinspection. I'm not sure this will not apply because ofthe zoning situation. Um, and I was going to bring that back after the budget passed to the commission on that to kind of, um, get to give them time to really understand what will happen once we got rid of the vacancy inspection, because it will cause some more heartaches to our citizens than I will right now by us being involved right now. But I guess general population is the general perception is we probably go a different way. And this situation Iknow some, some, some special circumstances may be involved, uh, with this particular person. Um, but like I say, um, it was two years, you know, um, it's a long time went by that there was no communication. Um, you know, and don't know, the whole ins and out, uh, outside of what happened. So, I think the best thing to do Yeah. You know, really, the only option is to bring it back before the board. Um, the zoning, the zoning board, and bring it that way. I mean, that's the that's the best option, I think, right now. Um, but as Miss Hawkins mentioned, once we if we go back on this zoning, then, you know, we've, uh, deny others who've tried to put mobile homes in certain locations within the city. And further questions of the day. Thank you for that. Thank you. CITY MANAGER: Uh, Mr. Mayor. Next, we move into, um, Splost 2023 kind of update. And what I want to do here. So, um, right now in the books, we collect about $850,000. I'll make sure that, um, I Clarify with the commission what we were actually trying to do, because in a couple of months, once the budget is passed around July time frame, we'll be coming back trying to enact a strategy. By that time, we'll be collecting a few more dollars. We'll probably be over a million and some change mark. So just to just to go back again. So as far as that, that that shortfall as far as the streets and dirt roads, we don't have a shortfall. We end up having is with the ability to save some money. Some things came under budget as far as the paving the roads. And right now, we're looking to go ahead. You know, we bypassed scribblings because of the amount that it cost it. Uh, now' we do have that funding to go ahead and do scripts. And I think the next road might have been, um, doesn't come off right now, but I think the next road, uh, I'm not sure. We probably could do three more roads. I think we're going to save about $2 million. So right now, I have Charlie going over that we have to do a contract modification with the current team doing this or bid it out again. Um, as far as that. But that's a win because, uh, initially, um, we thought that amount of money, that 5.2 million time would only cover those minor streets we had. So, it was like, now we'd be able to do those, um, additional, additional streets. And with the dirt roads, um, we'll have a small amount we got to cover. So, we did have money in that account still, um, and we should be able to, um, pay for that as well. So, this kind of changes my overall strategy approach moving forward. Um, for the rest of the year, when I said we had that probably like 2.41 million by January. So, what I would like to do, um, in the commission to consider and we'll go into this in detail once we sit down after we pass the budget. Um, but get those vehicles for community investment, um, get that vacuum truck for public works. Go ahead and collect the money for the parks. $300,000 for the parks. Um, go ahead and start the planning phases for the remainder of the dirt roads. So right now, on books and on, we're still trying to move some things around. We probably have, uh, about 17 when we say dirt roads and some oft these roads have milling on them. Um, but the plan is to go ahead and pull that milling up and then go ahead and store that milling, and then go ahead and finish offt the rest of those dirt roads. With that criterion being, um, you don't have another, um, paved road in front of your house. It's not a driveway. It's multiple homes, churches, stuff like that on that property. And it's not one house. It's, you know, a long, long driveway. So, um, on that list, it's about 24 roads. So, I think it's about seven roads that fit the criteria. They would not probably deem getting paid for what I would do. Um, I would take, um, the milling because it looks like the milling, um, just put it down. It probably lasts only about two years. And now that I have a better understanding and the team is better trained, we would, uh, it's going to pull back up. We can probably put it back down on those situations where it's one person, you know, and then every year we become degraded. That's the thing we have to start doing is kind of manage it better that way. It lasts much, much longer. But the great thing would be we would get the rest of dirt road done. Um, my plan would be, um, ofcourse, the winter months to come up on the winter months now. So, it's probably a bad idea to start doing that. Um, but we'll go ahead and bid it out. And that way everything's kind ofbid out. And maybe March, April next year they can start on those roads. So that will kind of push the plan up for 2026, because we will meet Page 12 of 22 ***DISCUSSION NOTES*** 05/19/2025 WS all those requirements that we talked about before, um, completing the remainder of the paved roads, resurfacing, completing the rest of the dirt roads and then getting some bagels for community improvement, public works, and then the park funding, Funded with part funding that would amount to about $60,000 for each commissioner. And then that would give us time to go ahead and start researching how they want to apply that money to them to their individual parks. And then, um, probably the same time, probably March. When the weather gets better next year, we can start applying that money to those parks. Um, probably could be sooner if something is not weather dependent. Uh,I know some of you want to put in, um, dog trails and dog parks and stuff of that nature might not that might be easy to put in, um, even though in the winter months. But you have that money available. Um, I'm hoping to have the beginning ofJanuary. So that's kind ofthe change. And like I said, we'll go into detail on this after the budget is passed. But I did want to just get an update because we did have some savings. Um, a lot ofsavings, more than we anticipated. So, we can get a few more things done. Uh, in regard to, uh, Screven's, I am going to contact, uh, the railroad department. Uh, we've you got to figure out that right of way down that spider intersection down there. Um, they asked some questions about how far the right of way goes. I'm trying to figure that out right now. Um, I know that's a big area, too. And hopefully, as we're paving Stevens coming down in front, um, dairy Queen and all that, maybe the railroad could pick up that other area because it is confusing right now of how far back then, um, the right of way is going. Who actually owned it? So, we're talking about between the railroad department and us from plant that way, our actual street and then the railroad department. So, once we once we figure it out, we'll go ahead and get it done. And then I think that'll be a good plus to citizens. You know that intersection is probably the second most complained about intersection in the city. So, if you go ahead and knock that out too, over the next 2 or 3 months, that's going to be a win for the city. So, Ijust wanted to update the commissioners on what I think is a good story right now for us. And I pause. Do we have any questions on that? MAYOR: I do have a couple questions. One question came about the number of roads. How many dirt roads are we discussing? I heard 11, - heard 17 or I heard 20. CITY MANAGER: So right now, Mr. Mayor and I just pulled it up. So only dirt roads are working right now. Georgia street. Georgia street. Morehouse. Boulevard. Street. Browns. Allen. East. Hamilton. Greenwood. And it's two more on here. Um, they made the cut, but those were the ones we originally put on there a while back. I think it was like seven of those. I'm talking about now. So, the number is fluctuating. I'm still we're still trying to get the right inputs. So overall dirt roads we're probably talking around about 28. Like a dirt road and somebody's house is there. But in some situations that might be just a driveway because they might have a pavement. Um, a paved road in front of theiryards. But they want to use dirt road because they have their garage back there. So, in some cases, we're not going to probably pay that road because you have a paved road in the front, ift that makes sense. And using the back road as a driveway. So, I'm going back now and trying to make sure that's right. So, when I say 17, that's a rough estimate of the dirt roads that we have that have multiple homes, churches or businesses on them. And those are the ones we're looking to go ahead and get done, um, sometime early next year. MAYOR: So, I clearly understand now. At first it sounded like it was growing as we talked. Oh, and the other thing was the removal and then the replacement taking up milling and then putting it back up. So, there is cost accumulating with those? CITY MANAGER: No, um, public works can take the million up and then we'll recover it. We grind it on our own. Ijust in these cases, those other roads that might remain where it might be a driveway, or it might be just that one house down to the 400-yard-long driveway. We don't want to leave them out there. So, in some cases we will do the milling. But like I said, we look back at the milling and when properly maintained, it can last a long time. So properly maintain it, meaning we need to get out there and kind of ore grade it every year, you know, enough to put down again. And I think that's feasible if you're only talking about maybe 4 or 5 streets at that point in time. It's kind of hard right now because we do have a lot ofs streets where we did have a lot of streets with milling on them, and we weren't really Page 13 of 22 ***DISCUSSION NOTES*** 05/19/2025 WS we weren't following up with that. Um, now that we recognize and we have the tools and the ability and the training, I think, um, by doing that, it's going to save us money. And then those citizens, you know, not a perfect situation. But until we can get some more, some more money. Um, and again, we're talking about driveways and, and back roads versus paving front roads that, you know, with multiple homes on them. So, um, but it's, it's a cost saving there because one point being, we won't have to buy any more. Once was partly built by the other 17 streets, not 17, but these other streets. We're going to have a lot of milling that we can kind of maintain. MAYOR: So those are my questions. Thank you. Okay. CITY MANAGER: And again, Mr. Mayor, if there's anything that's going on right now, I just want to be aware of that. Once we kind of pass the budget, we have more details. I will come back to the commission with a more solid plan. Like I said, estimated right now we're talking about 2.4 million. Once everything is collected in January, there's just certain things. I want to go ahead and start on the planning phase because it takes about, you know, 3 to 4 months to build out the streets and all that stuff. So, we do go ahead and do it later this year. Then when the weather gets better, we can jump right in and get all that stuff done. MAYOR: Just for a moment, Commissioner. Okay. COMMISSIONER BENNETT: Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Um. city manager. So, you said we're going to pull them up. And I guess the people that supposedly have driveways, but it's not actually a road. And maybe I could say like Carter Lane, what, are we going to pull the milling up from another street and actually put the milling down on car lane because some people say it's a driveway. Some people say that's supposed to be a street. So, I really don't know. So, is that what you're saying? CITY MANAGER: I'll come back to you. We'll get what I would like to do. Like, in some cases, ifit's just one house there and they have a payroll because some people, they have a paved road in front of their house. So, in that case it is a driveway. And they have to they might have a street tag on it, but that's a driveway because they can come around the backside on the paved road. But the goal is not to just throw it off. Um, the goal would be to pave all dirt roads with multiple homes, churches, businesses on there. We have quite a few of those in that 17 get that done. Some of those right now have milling because we put milling on them. You know, we put all that million up. Yes. And then we'll pave all that. COMMISSIONER BENNETT: But see, Carter Lane is by the park. And it literally doesn't have. CITY MANAGER: Is it a dirt road right now? COMMISSIONER BENNETT: It's a dirt road. And once they drive on that littie stretch, it's a hole that sits in the middle of it. It's supposed to be a street, but then some people say it's not okay. Well, it is. They drive. It's they part of their yard. And I don't understand. CITY MANAGER: We'll verify that. We'll verify that. And ifi it's ifit's a street, there's a street. We'll take care of it. Yes, sir. Yeah, we'll take care ofit. Just like I said right now, we got some cost savings, sO we got some flexibility. And Ithink, uh, regardless ofthe outcome, we have enough, I think enough money because the dirt roads don't cost as much to build out compared to putting up old utilities and are currently paved road. So, um, with some good engineering, they should be able to go in there and figure it out. I think it's a road three kind of same situation. Wilson is kneeling in dirt and, you know, sO fully understand all that. So, we like to say we're trying to get a proper inventory. Um, I think we'll be in a good space. The roles I'm talking about, like there's only a few of them where it's like just, you know, itjust isn't feasible because it's a long driveway, you know? But even then, um, like I said, this is not going to the overall financial strategy. Uh, the goal would be if we operate this way with the mix of passing the splash and the splash when it's up and then the tier. You know, my goal right now and I Page 14 of 22 ***DISCUSSION NOTES*** 05/19/2025 WS really feel like we can achieve this goal. It's probably going to be 200 streets over the next ten years. And I feel good about that because each time we progress over these bad streets, the worst streets it'll get the money will go farther because the streets are not sO bad. So, we sit down with the engineer team today, and that's the goal we have right now. Um, and like I said, we keep the spots, keeps coming in and these spots in certain situations. and then the TR when that when that comes back around, we can make a lot of leeway on these streets. Now I'm saying 210 years. Um, the other streets that are pretty well right now, um, like, you know, the new public works director, he's doing a great job, um, trying to find other ways to maintain those streets right now, as we know, as asphalt and concrete last a certain amount oftime. So, you know, we, got a better hold on how old streets are at this time. So, we're looking at some spraying and a few other things we can do to make those streets at the end ofi it. Our best streets right now last a little bit longer. We face our streets moving forward. So that's kind of leading to the financial strategy that I want to mention. Like I say, um, you know, we have some savings this year as far as the budget, which we'll talk about tomorrow. But ifthe commission and the mayor, you said this often, the commission sometimes changes. Um, ifthe commission can stay on priority, um, you know, stay on target. Um, they can get a lot done. The problem in the past, we just simply stopped sometimes because arguing about who it is and then, you know, for ten years we didn't do a road, you know, previously we didn't do anything. So, Ijust think hopefully that whoever comes in, um, Commissioner, I'm talking about down the road, you know, 4 or 5, ten years from now, um, they stay on target. Stay on mission. Then, like, you know, it'll be a good day in Waycross in ten years. It's not a long time. Um, when you talk about time, um, and while all that's going on, uh, all our big highways will be getting redone, too, you know, sO it's going to be exciting. So that's kind of the update. Um, the last update will be you got a copy ofthe parks, uh, listing in front ofyou. Dates, uh, and the timeline for the parks. Um, that is a, I'm going to say a. That's a conservative estimate. Um, right now they're looking at maybe July, um, between July 17th and July 30th, Ithink for the for the parks will be done. And it's like a time you got to put it all side by side to see the timeline. that, and I know I didn't want to post it online right now because it's very, very small. We'll make a new chart where our citizens can kind of look at. But right now, estimated time is going to be around July 17th to July 21st. So, we did face some things. So of course, this commission had asked to us um we put the splash pads up front. So, they poured concrete for the splash pads last week for the two splash pads and the, um, the bathroom. So that's, that's and the pipes are being run as well. So those things, um, they should get use this summer. So, because it gets it stays hot right until about September. October. So um, that's a good thing. Sojust want to let everybody know that, uh, I'll make a more, I guess, understandable version of that timeline. But I know some of the commissioners asked for a timeline on the parks right now. Like I said, we're looking at July of everything, um, being completed in those parks, and I apologize for any questions on that. Mr. Mayor. MAYOR: Commissioner, you have any questions on this? COMMISSIONER ROBERTS: could we just go back-to-back road to get on? Sure. Um, and sO I hate to keep going back to this, but, uh, is there any way that we can talk about, uh, you know, like district one? I wouldn't say that we have a perfect road, but some of our roads are one of the five that might, you know, uh, and sO what I'm saying is, like the potholes, you know, uh, is it. when are We online to get some of those things. So. CITY MANAGER: We had some questions about, um, initially, I think everybody thought the fiber going into the ground and, um, a lot ofextra holes in the ground with the fiber being installed. Um, and then, of course, we have our sinkhole water leaks and then we have our potholes. So, I did speak to Mark last week. We all sat down and public works director and we're going to change some things up. Um, in the past, because the, the sinkholes and leaks have been SO, um, substantial, you know, and those are going to be the priority because they can cause more damage if left unattended. Um, the Public Works has, you know, kind of moved towards helping them out more than they supposed to do. So, um, Imade a decision to just stop that relationship right now, and they're going to focus on, um, the potholes and all those things. Um, ESG manager here, we're going to do a drive through next week to look at all those custom fields, um, like we discussed in the meeting. Um, there's some things that could be done better, um, custom fields. So, we're going to look at that as well. Um, and that goes back to the Page 15 of 22 ***DISCUSSION NOTES*** 05/19/2025 WS manpower. As he mentioned, they've been short some people. Um, and you kind of heard why it is hard to hire somebody right now. Um, because they're going to come in and they're going to get a higher salary because the market deems it versus somebody who's been here for 20 years. So, it's causing some bad morale. So, um, short answer. We're working on it. I would just tell everybody this, and I'm not trying to be the pushback or anything like that. Um, but speed is the biggest problem comes with potholes. Potholes. The railroad tracks, all these things. Um, you're going to go hit these areas. Going anything over 25mph, you're going to, you know, not I'm not making excuses, but I am saying everybody slow down, you know. Um, and that should bej just not slow down to avoid potholes, butj just say SO. Um, but we talk about speeding around here all the time, but we will address it. Um, like I said, I did identify all of the fiber optics, um, holes, and we monitor them as well right now. So, we go with them every day. Uh, as they on their schedule to, when they fill their holes or complete their projects. And then I'm separating our water leaks, water and sewer from the hose. Those things do a lot of times get pulled together because those situations are similar. They're going to stay separate and then we're going to have to go from there. COMMISSIONER ROBERTS: And these are the questions that I'm that I'm getting. So again, this might not be dealing with completely the wrong way. But can you address those three parts. Uh, some of these streetlights. Yeah. CITY MANAGER: So, we turned in when, um, streetlights get turned in. It's a work order. Georgia Power maintains all our streets. Um, when you look at the budget, you're going to see that prices went up significantly. Um, sO every time we ask them to add a street, that's a that's a cost. Um, they have a system for streetlights, and if they got streetlights for a certain distance and then they don't meet the requirement, they've been they've been helping us out by putting streetlights in. I'm talking about doing the budget process. We've got to be careful with everybody wanting streetlight right in front of the house, because we are going down that road. So, um, I know I understand citizens' concerns about that, but at the same time, they don't want to pay extra for anything, you know? No. So there is an extra cost, and that's got to be understood. Um, if we have to push back on certain cases. COMMISSIONER ROBERTS: I'm talking about. Also, sir, the ones that we already have in place. CITY MANAGER: Yeah. It takes around about 45 days for them to put a light back in place. CITY MANAGER: At this time, Mr. mayor, we will move into. The rest of the agenda. Um, we have no privilege license renewal at this time. Um, we have no privilege licenses. We have no proposed ordinances. Or we have resolutions. Wants to want to go back and I will say before I turn it over to the city attorney for his remarks on his report. Um, I want to go ahead and highlight, in case I forget, tomorrow, um, you the city clerk's office? Um, city clerk's office, because they have, um, really enhanced our revenue here. Um, just getting us back on track to what it would be. We did lower the overall budget this year, but we did increase revenue, which is a great thing because we passed that those cost savings on to our residents and our citizens, which is the which is the, uh, that's the reason why we do the budget. So, Iwant to highlight that with that department and also the finance department. So, um, I see some commissioners looking into the finance book for them. We tried to do some things differently this year. Um, we're going to really tell the story and line things up with how, um, how decisions are made. Um, it's a portion in there when you see what the budget is to go into detail right from the website on how budget, what it is, the dates, how it works, it counts everything. So, I think this year our citizens can have a better understanding of what the budget is, the timelines. And then because we tell our story, they can see how we got to where we got. Each director has a page and it kind ofhighlights everything they've done. So, Ijust wanted to highlight the city clerk's team and the finance department. Uh, all ofthe young ladies that work back there. They've done a great job with this and also just making things better as far as modernizing our systems and our quality of presentation I think I'm going to I will for my report. I'm going to let the city attorney go first and then we'll go to that report. Page 16 of 22 ***DISCUSSION NOTES*** 05/19/2025 WS CITY ATTORNEY: Mr. Mayor and commissioners, we just have one resolution and that is the proposed ESG contract amendment. And sO, we'll have that on we have that resolution ready for tomorrow for that. Yes. MAYOR: And if you would have briefed us on this one more time, I know that each one will have an opportunity to ask questions. CITY ATTORNEY: Ofthe proposal that was presented tonight by ESG for the increase, uh, regarding, uh, uh, wage increases, lab supplies, uh, chemicals, uh, inflation, sludge. Um, if the Commission is inclined to approve the request by ESG for the contract amendment, uh, we would have it ready. But it's up to the commission to decide whether you want that or not. MAYOR: And this is just for resolution for our benefit tomorrow. And I'll just ask the commission to give you a few things. COMMISSIONER FELDER: I made a request as we had discussion tonight about an honest policy resolution. I submitted the information that they asked for research to be conducted SO that a resolution can be drawn up. Also, the question was asked tonight if any commissioner have any input and there wasn't any. Other than what I suggested. So, will we not draw up a resolution to vote on that? MAYOR: So, I've asked for feedback. I was going to bring it back to the commission and give commission time, um, to provide any feedback they want to. I mean, I understand you. Did you open the floor. For a conversation regarding the honors policy and commissioners? Roberts made a comment His comment was it would be retroactive, and would it have inclusivity of persons who have been on and have either turned out? And how would this resolution work? Would this resolution be something just for the time that we're here because there's a great possibility that there's going to be a change in just a few months. So how long lasting will this be and how forth. Right? Yes, that was my question. So those are my questions that probably need to be answered before we move forward, because this is what you're going to need three people to vote on the same day. Thank you. Thank you. CITY MANAGER: Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Um, next we move to my report. I'm going to defer my report tonight, Mr. Mayor. Um, and when Irefer to the Susan, I'm going to say a few things before she comes up. So, we did get some inquiries about, um, what we deem citizens in need. And how do we help these citizens? And, um, let's go back to the Facebook post sometimes. And then, as you know, Mr. Mayor, you chair meetings with these groups, um, for our citizens and needs. And I don't want to get into who does what and who doesn't do anything. Um, because that's not really important. I think we have done through discovery learning is I will say this. Most of our citizens in need know what's available to them. Um, and we know every homeless person by name here. Um, city hall, speak to them often. Um, a lot ofthose, um, we do we do a significant amount, but we don't carry the heavy load like other organizations do. And I think, um, as Susan's going to explain it better, I think when we need to for everybody who might be watching right now that we need more, we need volunteers. Um, we have about ten organizations that, um, you know, from us from our, um, couch surfing children, do we call it, um, to our homeless, um, to our battered, um, to our mentally and physically disabled? Um, that's a that's a big population. Like I say, we have organizations, but they only have a few people deep doing this. So, will say, Mr. Mayor, um, those individuals who questioned, um, what's going on?Um, Susan's going to give you the opportunity tonight to step up and kind ofvolunteer in those ways, because, again, um, ifyou want to make things better, then be part ofthe solution. Um, it's very distasteful to go around and take pictures ofhomeless and then you don't do anything for them that day. So, um, um, that's why I decided, you know, to contact Susan SO she could really make everybody understand what is being done, what has been done for a long time now. In some situations, it's going to be difficult because it's a big, big problem. And, um, but the best that we can win, I think, um, her organization, um, where Tourism Initiative and other organizations are doing a great job, um, and we don't have enough. Um, when we start doing, I'm going to pause there and turn the mic, and I'm going to put some slides up. She's going to go through some ofthese other organizations that couldn't be here tonight. And then, Mr. Page 17 of 22 ***DISCUSSION NOTES*** 05/19/2025 WS Mayor, um, I think, and this is discussion with her, and this is when she walked out on the media head with the young lady last week, uh, about doing a barbecue ofs some sort to kind ofbring these under one umbrella again, like we've done before. We can start doing that again. Um, we'll try to do that as soon as possible. Whichever part that we have, and then hopefully the word will get around a little bit better. But I think right now, um, the best thing we can do is pass it over to, to Susan to talk about everything from perspective. SUSAN HADDOCK: Thank you for having me today. Um, officially, I am Susan Haddock. I am the director of the way our children's initiative; we are the Family Connections Collaborative for Ware County. Um, with that, we get together with all the other organizations, faith communities, anybody who is working to make our community better and to serve the people in our community. We have a monthly meeting that is open to the public. We welcome anybody coming in because it's an amazing way to connect. Um, it's not my meeting, it's everyone's meeting. What the cool thing is in these meetings is that you'll have somebody come in and say, we've just instituted this program here at our organization. And with that, um, this is the information we're providing, and you'll have somebody across the room who says our clients need that. Can we get together afterwards? And then they do. And sO, we don't have all of our organizations in town working in a silo. Everybody is working together to see how we can turn around and be able to serve better and make sure there are not gaps. Um, the Okefenokee Alliance for the homeless. And they serve our precariously housed and those in who are homeless right now. Um, they go in and serve them. They have all sorts of resources available beyond meals, which are provided daily. They also help people get the documentation they need. Ifyou've lost your license, ifyou don't have a birth certificate, ifyou need to go in and get Social Security funds, or ifyou need to. Ifyou're a veteran and you need help with the VA, all of that is are things that they can go in and actually help and provide to and give assistance. Because a lot of times ifI walked in there and needed to know how to get some type of documentation, I may not know how to do it. And they are: actually able to help and walk through the process and along with that, have funds to be able to help. Um, they also help with like laundry services, things like that, to meet immediate needs, but also to provide long term guided care sO that people can receive the services they need and be able to move forward in whatever way they're moving. They want to move forward. Talking about that collaboration, that combination, here are other organizations that come into oath throughout the week and have meetings there. There are recovery meetings like there. So, there's recovery meetings in there. Unison has people coming in to be able toj provide mental health benefits. Um, all these other people are coming in to serve our citizens in the place that they need, sO that we're not having to send people out. Go here, go here, go here. Um, everybody gets to come in and be able to serve together. Unison is our next. It's behavioral health. Um, if you're at our meeting last Thursday, we got to hear them speak on Mental Health Month. Give us a rundown of some of their clients and see some of the success stories that they're working with. Unison comes in and provides help as far as recovery there at oath. But they're also in our schools. They're partnering with other organizations. They have an open house coming up at the end of the month next week, sO that you can actually go in and see what services. So, ifyou're not sure what unison does or ifyou've heard about them and you're not sure the whole scope of their services, you can actually go in and be able to see what they have going on. So tele advocacy services, um, works with sexual assault survivors. Um, they goi in and do that immediate crisis care, but they also are there long term. Um, when you're looking at somebody who has been through that kind of trauma, um, they're providing counseling services, they're providing other resources. They're also providing a huge amount of education to our students. They are in the schools constantly being able to make sure that our children are sex trafficked, to make sure they know about internet safety, to know what they need to do when there's a crisis and they need to, who to reach out to and how to reach out. Action packed is a wonderful umbrella organization, um, that you're looking at. Head start is located there. You also have plans ifyou during the summer when heat when cooling bills get very high. They have some options tol be able to help citizens. Um, our casa is there, and this court appointed special advocates to be able to help children in foster care, have an adult to help them navigate and support. Um, SO there are huge amounts of things that are happening there at Action Packed. And they get to partner again with sO many of our different organizations. One of the things that they do, there is actually a peer support person there with Head Start. It is somebody who had a child in Head Start, went through the Page 18 of 22 ***DISCUSSION NOTES*** 05/19/2025 WS Head Start program, has gone in, gotten additional layers of education, and she now comes back and serves. So, families who are looking for resources, they are looking for help want to know how to navigate that. She's done the work. She has that lived experience and she help walk them through, um, they work with they have parent support groups, and they have support groups specifically for dads to be able to help dads not only get that community support that they need, but to be able to connect with other dads who have kids the same age, which we all know. When you're going through the middle of it, it's nice to have somebody walk with you. Magnolia House works with intimate partner violence. They serve there as a shelter to be able to serve anyone who has gone through that families, women, and children's shelter. They also do lots of education for our kids and our community. And to be able there's ongoing support there. So not only are they helping someone who has gone through the immediate, the immediate shelter, but then they get to go from there and they help them find homes, they help them find employment, they get them to a stable point and then have support groups for people SO that it's not a, hey, you've reached this point. You're out living on your own. You still have people to be able to come back to for that support. Um, with the people not only there at Magnolia House, but people who have been through similar situations as you. They provide services to thel kids who are there at the shelter. Education, activities, being able to get out and to have community support to people who have been through similar works with children in foster care, in any in any method ofit. So, ifyou have a family that is working with for family preservation, this may be a family who is at risk ofhaving the children put into foster care, but they're really trying to help that family overcome the obstacles that they have, because we know that it's traumatic anytime a child leaves that home to go into foster care. And SO, they work in those situations to be able to help families to have that security. They also work with children in foster care. They provide support for foster parents. Um, when you're looking at foster care and foster parents, most foster parents leave within the first year of providing care because they don't get support. They feel like they don't have support within their community, within their family, within their church. Um, and sO with that, to be able to have these opportunities that call to care steps in and provides that support, it makes a huge difference. Um, SO that people foster longer, those kids have stability. When you have somebody in there, when they're not looking at having to find a new foster home within that year. Um, and that's were children's initiative. Um, again, we have that partnership meeting. We want everybody sitting at the table together. Um, we want everybody to be able to learn about what's happening. Like I said, to be able, like I said last week, to be able to bring unison in and hear what's going on, what trends are they seeing? Because that's important. Because if they're seeing trends with their clients, then all of our clients, everybody else we're working with, it's most likely that that's going to happen within our groups too. And sO, to know that ahead of time, for us to all be able to go in and tackle it together means that we serve our citizens better, provide better care, and make sure there are not gaps in services. Um, one of the things that we were able to do, um, Sweetwater Baptist Church. So, Patrick King's Men's Center, this is an overnight facility that provides, I think it's six beds for men here in the area. Um, not um, doesn't fall exactly under homeless shelter, but to be able to provide services and its ongoing services. Again, it's not just aj place to stay, it is what services do you need, What help do you need? How do we turn around and get you back on your feet? Um, learning life skills, that kind of thing. DC downtown is a food ministry based here in Waycross. They have two nights a week that they serve, and families are able to come in and are people of all ages are able to come in to provide food, um, sO that it meets those critical needs. We've seen prices on food going up. We know it's a struggle for a lot of people, a lot of families especially. You're looking going into the summer where a lot of our kids have eaten meals at school. Um, that kind of thing increases a grocery bill. And SO, families are able to go in and to get food from DC downtown. Um, South Georgia Regional Commission, um, is able to one it provides transportation. That is a huge thing in our area. We know that we do not have a lot of public transportation, but you can go in, and you can actually request rides from them. Um, it's $6 round trip ifit's within ten miles, ifyou are a senior citizen or have a disability, it's down to, I think 4 or 5. So it's ways to be able to get to appointments. It's ways to get to. We. just saw the DC downtown Food Bank. If you don't have transportation, you don't have the ability to get out and go. You can request a ride to be able to get to them. Um, it's not just for Ware County either. There's a large 18 county area. And sO, you don't have to if there's not a specialist here that you need in Waycross, you can turn around and you can get a ride to other counties that provide the doctors or the care that you need. Um, one of the things that came out of the community meetings, Page 19 of 22 ***DISCUSSION NOTES*** 05/19/2025 WS um, held here in this room, sO community and faith based, um, I think, um, was that people needed resources but did not necessarily know how to get them, especially if it was a situation of, I need a resource right now. And we know that when we need a resource right now, then our brain isn't working, um, in the way that we want it to. Um, that that little bit of fear, that anxiousness really impacts our ability to be able to think and search. So, with that, um, Mr. Simmons and I worked on an urgent request list. So, ifyou do not need 911, you don't need the police to show up. You don't need an ambulance, but you need care in some way. That's what this list is. Um. With that. It's it may show that, like I said, um, homeless, the homeless and precariously housed. You can go on here and we've got ours, and you've got a number to be able to call. We've got food banks and food pantries in the area. Um, the other thing that we have is that, um, Children's Initiative and Family Connection maintains a resource list of any resources in the community, and it's anything that somebody wants to put on there. So, you can go in, and you can scan the code at the bottom. And with that, it brings you to a searchable resource list online. Um, with that, we always welcome anybody to send us say, hey, this resource is available. Give us hours and phone numbers, addresses, that kind ofthing SO that it's available for anybody looking it up. The other thing with this, um, I've got my cards. I'm going to set my cards out there on the table by the agenda. Um, my email address is on here, sO you can email me ifyou have a resource that's not listed on our list. Um, or if you want an actual official copy of this, we make it an 11 by 17. With that, you get to put it on the door in your office. You get to put it in your church office. You get to anywhere that you get those calls saying, hey, somebody needs help. How do we help them? Then you've got the immediate resources right here in the list. And that's what we wanted. We wanted because we all want to help in SO many different ways. But we always don't know how to help. And SO, with that, you can access this list to be able to refer people very quickly to organizations that can assist them. And at the same time, like I said, additional resources in our community that are available all the time. So, I appreciate the opportunity to share. We haveso many people doing sO much. Um, and like I said, we just love the opportunity for anybody else to join in with us, to turn around and to come to one of our meetings sO that you can meet everybody and see what everybody's doing. CITY MANAGER: So, the summer with the kids getting out of school and the service of the library and just that, that meal plan for the summer. How many kids won't eat unless they get food from the library and other sources? SUSAN HADDOCK: So, the library only started doing lunch services about two, two years ago. So, the school system provides lunches through a federal grant, and they've got it set up this year and last year where you actually receive a box at seven breakfasts and seven lunches. Um, there are sites throughout the city. Some oft them are in housing complexes. Some of them are in parks. You can come and volunteer with me anytime. P'lI be at Moore Park all summer long. Um, with that, that food is provided. It gives an opportunity for people to have for our kids to have those breakfast and lunches. Um, but like I said that no one was doing anything in the area that the library was in. We had a lot of kids in that area that were not covered. And with that, two years ago they realized that. And they said, here, let us please do this. And SO, the librarians actually take the time to set all that up to serve those families SO that they have those meals. But with the renovations of the library this year, that's a major source. They are they're serving over 100 kids each year. So that's 100 kids in that area. Um, to be able to they won't have a place to walk up. I know the school is working on trying to find some alternatives, but it's still a hard area because, um, you're looking at with the highway right there, one of the things that we see over and over again is that kids can't travel to get there. There's a limited amount that they can turn around and be able to walk there to get food. So, we always want to make sure there's as many opportunities as possible, as close as possible, because if you have families who are working, parents who are working, then oftentimes those kids are home during the day alone, which is fine. They're old enough to be there, but they can't go heading out in the neighborhood to be able to get food. So having those food options as close as possible mean that more, more kids get to eat this summer. Like I said, - will always take volunteers. I'm out there every Tuesday at lunch. Thank you. CITY MANAGER: And, Mr. Mayor, at this time, that completes the agenda items and special topic items. I don't think we have a session scheduled for tonight. We'll turn back over to you, Mr. Mayor. Page 20 of 22 ***DISCUSSION NOTES*** 05/19/2025 WS CITY ATTORNEY: Excuse me, Mr. Mayor. May I ask a question? Yes. just want to be clear. So tomorrow we'll have the ESG resolution regarding the contract amendment. And as far as the honors, um, policy is concerned, that's something we're going to work on and bring back to a future work session. In light of the comments that were made tonight. MAYOR: Right. I'm thinking that unless I can, I can pull the commission to find out what they what their deal is, because right now it sounds like we're in question mode, right? Wel had a general statement made. That statement was that we need to have something in place, but then afterwards, it was what we didn't do. And but I didn't hear any specifics as of what we will be doing. And I also heard that there was a statement made that there is a template that we can make reference to that we have not seen.. And Ithink that the Commission probably would like to see that template and or have had it in our workbook sO that we could have seen: and made a decision here, because everything else has been here in our faces, with the exception of a few other things that came to us and that were presented to us in paper form tonight. Uh, they were on the dais, sO we were able to kind of look through it. But I understand the commissioner has some more information she wants to share with us, and I think may be wiser for us to see that information before we make a decision. But I can still hold the commission to find out what they want to do. CITY ATTORNEY: Well, Imean, it'sr my recommendation that we take our time and do it right, because Lyou know, between now and tomorrow night, I don'tthink I'd have enough time to get it done anyhow. But we need to have all ofthe information that should be included in such a policy, sO that we can look at it again and make sure that we are doing what we want to do. Yes, sir. MAYOR: My only concern is most times when we. have things like this, we've had this since Thursday, right? And we had the opportunity to have read through it and asked questions and even polled and or emailed either you or the city manager regarding any questions we may have had. And of course, there were questions that were given to us as a body. Um, and we were able to look through and make reference to it. But I'm just for our own personal sake and for clarity's sake, when it comes down to making a vote on a thing, I know how difficult sometimes it can be to make a decision on something just as easily as a reference. The city manager brings it to our attention that there may come a time he's going to ask for a higher ceiling regarding his ability to procurement to get something before you know the next meeting, without having to poll all of us again. So those are the kinds of conversations that I think we would have. And I know he made mention that a couple of plaques were made, and everybody was treated pretty much fairly. But when the statement was made, it was almost as if we did different things for different people. I do understand I made reference to the city auditorium and made reference to Mr. Etheridge and several other things. But my only conversation here is Ido know that we as a body need to know specifics, and I understand when we're getting ready to do something of that sort, it's going to be required later on because later I couldn't do something. I mean, even down to the flag at half mast, that's a conversation that can only be. I think the governor makes that decision all the time. We don't make that decision. And even when people come to change the flag, when it's full, when it's told to be full, full, we can be sanctioned for not following or being compliant. So, our goal is to do things correctly. Uh, on the other end of that, I know that could be a problem for some people who believe that we don't know what we're doing from John, when in reality, we're following directed some other places that tell us when we can and cannot. We are a local government with the municipality, sO the county and the state usually tell us pretty much where we're supposed to be going is important, but that's just me sharing my thoughts. But I guess we can do last call. COMMISSIONER ROBERTS: Uh, thank you, everybody, for coming out tonight. I hope everybody have a good night. Thank you for your patience. COMMISSIONER BENNETT: Thank you, mayor. I just want to make everybody aware of. June 14th at 12 p.m. We will have Juneteenth parade, and it starts at 12:00 on June 14th. On June 19th at Bailey Street. Bailey Street. I'm sorry. Park from 12 to 6. Uh, will be the celebration. So, everybody could Page 21 of 22 ***DISCUSSION NOTES*** 05/19/2025 WS come out and there's games, music, um, food, everything is free. So please come out on June 19th from 12 p.m. to 6 p.m., and, um, school is about to close for our children. So, let's keep that in mind. Um, and let's think safety because they're going to be everywhere. So hopefully we can find something for them to do. I think the pool will be open. And teachers, I want to thank you all for a wonderful job that you have done with the students and the principals as well. Thank you, Mr. Mayor. COMMISSIONER FELDER: Thank you. Thank you. Thank you, mayor. I appreciate everyone for coming out tonight. And also, for those of you who, um, decided to stick around with us for about an hour and a half. Um, also, I'd like to thank the young lady that I can't recall her name for providing SO many resources fori information and assistance to our citizens here in the community. I'm quite familiar with all those organizations. I have partnerships with them, SO I'm a testament to how the services that each of those organizations do provide can Candidacies any and everyone in the community if they sO desire. Also, I would just like to add that, um, you know, for us as, as a city, um, I've sat here for almost four years, and I've seen SO much take place in the time that I've been here. But one ofthe many things that I've always said from the beginning that I would like to see us do more. I'm not saying that we're not doing it, but I think we can do a better job of at. Iti is being more proactive as opposed to reactive to situations and also getting the facts as opposed to operating off of feelings and emotions. Thank you, mayor. MAYOR: And Thank you! Thank you, everyone, for being present tonight. I entertain a motion for adjournment. FELDER: So, moved. MAYOR: I have a motion. Second. NELSON: Second. MAYOR: All right. Motion carries. Page 22 of 22