2020-07-13 · City Council · Transcript · City Council Meeting

--- title: July 13 2020 City Council Meeting date: 2020-07-13 source: 2020-07-13_July_13_2020_City_Council_Meeting.wav --- [0:00:00, 0:00:03]: And on that note, I'd like to call the meeting to order. [0:00:03, 0:00:06]: This is a council meeting July thirteenth. [0:00:06, 0:00:07]: Twenty twenty [0:00:08, 0:00:12]: And uh invocation, Mr Blount, please, Councilman Blount, please give the invocation, sir. [0:00:19, 0:00:20]: Do you all hear me? [0:00:20, 0:00:22]: Yes. [0:00:23, 0:00:23]: Okay. [0:00:26, 0:00:32]: Dear heaven gracious Father, we thank you uh for this time and we thank you for this moment. We thank you for your grace and your mercy. [0:00:32, 0:00:35]: We have to do we come together right now, I am the father and that's [0:00:36, 0:00:42]: Be about the city business and we father that we will move about and do the things that are also pleasing in your sight for us, God. [0:00:42, 0:00:47]: We thank you all for this opportunity to serve our communities. We think it for this opportunity to have an equality [0:00:47, 0:00:57]: Make a footprint, Heavenly Father, that would be lasting for the citizens to stop this. We thank you for each and every one on this call right now, Heavenly Father, that you would protect and cover the leaders right now in the name of Jesus. [0:00:57, 0:01:03]: So we thank you, Father, for what you're about to do in this city, Heavenly Father, and that we are part of it. And it's in Jesus' name we pray. Amen. [0:01:04, 0:01:05]: Yeah. [0:01:05, 0:01:07]: Your pledge allegiance, please stand. [0:01:12, 0:01:14]: Blood religions beautiful. [0:01:15, 0:01:25]: United States of America and to the Republic which stands one nation under God and the visible of liberty and justice for all. [0:01:26, 0:01:26]: [ 88.2, 90.0]: Gotta put roll call, please. [0:01:32, 0:01:34]: Mayor Ford? Is it [0:01:35, 0:01:37]: Mayor Pro Tem Thomas. [0:01:43, 0:01:44]: You mute it. [0:01:45, 0:01:46]: And do you see it? [0:01:47, 0:01:48]: Who who've muted? [0:01:49, 0:01:52]: You were, but you're not now. [0:01:55, 0:02:03]: Madam Clerk. Yes. Madam Clerk, this is Randy Knight and Councilman Alexander is trying to get in as we speak. So I'm trying to get him connected. [0:02:04, 0:02:04]: Right. [0:02:06, 0:02:08]: All right. Councilwoman Barber. [0:02:08, 0:02:08]: Okay. [0:02:10, 0:02:11]: Councilman Blount. [0:02:12, 0:02:12]: [133.5, 134.7]: Councilwoman Gantt. [0:02:15, 0:02:15]: Present. [0:02:16, 0:02:25]: And Mayor Ford, did you want me to wait for um let's go forward. We have a quorum. Let's move up. Okay, so we'll announce Councilman Alexander when he arrives. Thank you. [0:02:26, 0:02:28]: Council, I need a motion to adopt the agenda, please. [0:02:29, 0:02:30]: So move. [0:02:30, 0:02:31]: No second. [0:02:31, 0:02:32]: A second. [0:02:32, 0:02:34]: Okay. All in favor, please indicate. [0:02:36, 0:02:38]: All right, Lence, all right. [0:02:38, 0:02:41]: What we have before us is the approval of the following meetings. [0:02:42, 0:02:57]: Council meeting which was May 11th of 2020. Also the council work session, May 26th of 2020. You have those before you. If there are no corrections of those or amendments to those particular uh minutes, then I need a motion to accept them, please. [0:02:59, 0:03:01]: Is there a motion accept the approval of the minutes? [0:03:03, 0:03:04]: So move. [0:03:04, 0:03:05]: I was there a second. [0:03:06, 0:03:15]: I second. Okay, there we go. All in favor, please. Mayor Ford, who did you take for the second? I heard two, two. I've got councilman, uh Councilwoman Barber for the second. [0:03:16, 0:03:17]: All favor, please indicate. [0:03:19, 0:03:21]: Okay. All right. Thank you very much. All right. [0:03:22, 0:03:22]: Um [0:03:23, 0:03:42]: Madam Clerk, do we have any public comments at all? We do not. Okay. On that note, we'll go to number three, which is a public hearing continued. But before I open up that particular public hearing, it deals with council consideration approved service delivery strategy, SDS agreement between the city of Stockbridge and Henry County, presented by Mr. Knighton, please. [0:03:46, 0:03:52]: Yes, sir. Uh thank you, Mayor Ford. Um uh the item is related to a course service delivery strategy. [0:03:52, 0:04:05]: At the previous meeting, I went through um uh a description of what service delivery is. And again, it is an attempt to ensure that um cities and counties provide equitable. [0:04:05, 0:04:06]: Um uh [0:04:07, 0:04:11]: Taxes for uh all of their citizens, for the entire populace. [0:04:11, 0:04:18]: That all of the services that are provided by both cities and counties are accounted for and there are no duplication of services, therefore [0:04:18, 0:04:24]: There's no uh duplication or double taxation, if you will. It also involves tax equity. [0:04:24, 0:04:31]: When I reported this to you last uh meeting, uh we had made uh pretty good progress and have made some progress even since then. [0:04:31, 0:04:37]: Now of course there were some things that happened uh with Henry County that delayed a couple of things that we were trying to work through. [0:04:37, 0:04:51]: Jack Wilson is also on uh the uh Zoom meeting here. Of course, he has been providing uh some legal input regarding service delivery. Uh one of the outstanding issues previously was um the road situation. [0:04:51, 0:04:55]: I think we've gotten to um a pretty good place that we feel comfortable with. [0:04:55, 0:04:58]: With respect to how roads would be [0:04:58, 0:05:00]: um allocated [0:05:00, 0:05:11]: uh in terms of um any expenses involved and I can go into some detail about that basically that um there would be city roads and county roads and much of what there are now. [0:05:12, 0:05:18]: Um but um there would also be uh some supplement provided to cities based on road. [0:05:18, 0:05:19]: Lane. [0:05:19, 0:05:20]: Mileage. [0:05:21, 0:05:26]: in the city of Stockbridge we have about uh one hundred and one I believe one hundred and one [0:05:26, 0:05:42]: uh and a little bit more than that uh lane miles, about 101 lane miles. So there would be an allocation provided to us in the other cities based on lane mileage, which would also be connected to Henry County's overall, essentially their road budget. [0:05:43, 0:05:49]: And so we think that that is a fair, uh fairly fair and equitable way to do it beyond [0:05:49, 0:05:53]: Uh, quite honestly, what we have uh now is an arrangement. [0:05:53, 0:05:57]: Um and because there's a recognition and an acknowledgement. [0:05:57, 0:06:04]: That city taxpayers, city of tax brid Stockbridge taxpayers are paid into Henry County to maintain roads. [0:06:04, 0:06:06]: And so we need to account for that. [0:06:06, 0:06:09]: And in order to account for that, there would be um [0:06:10, 0:06:17]: a um essentially a payment if you will that would come back to the cities based on lane mileage out of the county budget. [0:06:18, 0:06:21]: And uh Mr. Wilson can it spout on that uh [0:06:22, 0:06:24]: In addition to what I've stated, uh if he would so choose. [0:06:25, 0:06:31]: Well actually I'd like to ask Mr. Wilson to add in at this time anything he needs to to address before we go to council questions. Go ahead, sir. [0:06:32, 0:06:39]: Steward, uh just very briefly, I I know there was some questions last month about the definition of county roads and city roads. [0:06:39, 0:06:45]: The agreement's been adjusted slightly to shore that up and to align those definitions with state law. [0:06:46, 0:06:47]: And that should be beneficial. [0:06:47, 0:06:50]: to to the city in terms of adding some [0:06:50, 0:06:51]: Uh [0:06:51, 0:06:55]: Some specification about how those roads are defined. [0:06:55, 0:06:56]: Um [0:06:57, 0:07:09]: But but otherwise i it uh I I I think it's a a a fair and and and beneficial agreement that reflects some of the tax equity that we've been looking for throughout this process. So [0:07:10, 0:07:14]: Uh other than that I don't really have much to add. I'd be be happy to answer any questions. [0:07:15, 0:07:18]: All right, council, questions? First question. Any anybody? [0:07:20, 0:07:20]: Any thoughts? [0:07:23, 0:07:38]: Okay. Um okay, Mr. Let me let me let me ask you this, Mr. Knight and then okay, we're we're you're presenting this to us, we'll open up eventually to a pub for a public hearing. But what about the w when we sign off on this, when I sign off on this, obviously the council needs to [0:07:38, 0:07:53]: um be in sync uh with the the agreement, but also I'm concerned about the other cities. Where do we sit with the other cities in reference to this? I mean there's any city calls, any questions we need to talk about? Right. I think the other cities have had I think the road issue was a major issue. [0:07:54, 0:07:55]: For all of the cities. [0:07:56, 0:08:05]: Um the other issue we'd wanna um finally see before there was an ultimate approval would be the millage rate differential issue, but that shouldn't shouldn't be [0:08:05, 0:08:08]: that difficult to get through, that really is more of a formula. [0:08:09, 0:08:16]: And then I know that there have been uh some concerns by our council with respect to police services. Now, again, police services would be held at [0:08:16, 0:08:18]: Uh what is um [0:08:19, 0:08:23]: what is performed for unincorporated residents would be performed for [0:08:23, 0:08:31]: city residents. Um there have been uh an opportunity to work on some of the issues with respect to um [0:08:31, 0:08:32]: Ordinance enforcement. [0:08:33, 0:08:48]: And um in fact I will be meeting tomorrow about that. I've talked to the administrative staff and they feel comfortable that we can work through that uh very simply and very easily with respect to ordinance enforcement. So that is extremely promising. [0:08:48, 0:08:53]: I'll be meeting with um their uh appropriate people tomorrow. [0:08:53, 0:08:56]: And we'll lay that out and hopefully shore everything up. [0:08:57, 0:09:00]: So um that I think is a is a very good development. [0:09:01, 0:09:04]: And once the details of that are um [0:09:04, 0:09:08]: determined, obviously I'll provide that to you for your consideration. [0:09:09, 0:09:13]: before we uh prove anything. Now that may be something that may be apart from service delivery. [0:09:14, 0:09:20]: But the issue um still is related to and and by expressed by the council is related to [0:09:21, 0:09:24]: how services are provided to the city of Stockbury. [0:09:25, 0:09:35]: My my assumption, this is more or less uh obviously it's a public hearing. Uh I don't think there will be the council will be agreeing to anything today that I that I think [0:09:35, 0:09:55]: Uh about after tonight's discussion, I would assume that there's going to be further discussion with you and the rest of the city managers of other cities to make sure we're all in sync here. Is is that right? That's correct. There are a couple of things that the other cities were most concerned about. I think there was a um parks issue and road issue as I mentioned earlier, and then I think [0:09:55, 0:10:14]: there was i think a fire issue has been worked out if i'm if i'm saying that correctly that's right um that has been worked out um and so we're in the home stretch now and it's just a matter of bringing all of this together and um assembling the county and the cities uh to uh finally bring uh bring it to a point where it can be [0:10:15, 0:10:19]: approved again before these few other items are refined. [0:10:20, 0:10:21]: I will come back to you. [0:10:21, 0:10:24]: Make sure you are comfortable specifically with those items. [0:10:25, 0:10:27]: And then uh you can consider it for approval. [0:10:28, 0:10:33]: All right. Uh council, once again, any questions that you may have for uh Mr. Knighton or uh Mr. Wilson at all? [0:10:33, 0:10:39]: Ms. Mayor Yeah, I just saw I'm sorry, Mayor Pro Tem, I see Councilman Alexander's hand up first. [0:10:39, 0:10:40]: Well. [0:10:40, 0:10:46]: Yeah, first of all I had some difficulty logging in. The computer jammed up, so um [0:10:46, 0:11:06]: That was my reasoning for not being able to get on. I was trying to log on, but I could not log on. But but I first of all I want to ask uh Mr. Wilson and Mr. Knighton to very much clarify. We've been talking about these Mr. Knighton cle categorize them as the uh other minor issues. Those are those minor issues. [0:11:06, 0:11:12]: Or the police services and all of that have been the one holding up this particular agreement. So [0:11:13, 0:11:16]: I wanna understand uh from Mr Wilson. [0:11:17, 0:11:33]: What is the difference in the city's position and what was actually passed by Henry County? Because the city's position has always been that we wanted those uh that revenue returned to our municipal court and we wanted um certain other um [0:11:34, 0:11:49]: requirements of the county. So basic I want him to break down what the county actually passed versus what we're asking for and has there been any conversation about the two because we seem like we've been at that same impasse for multiple years now. [0:11:51, 0:11:51]: Sure. [0:11:52, 0:11:57]: So what what the county passed was an agreement, a proposed agreement. [0:11:57, 0:12:02]: That would provide police services inside the city of Stockbridge. [0:12:02, 0:12:04]: by the county police department. [0:12:04, 0:12:05]: Uh [0:12:05, 0:12:07]: Basically at the same [0:12:07, 0:12:11]: level of service and at the same rate of taxation. [0:12:12, 0:12:14]: as county taxpayers pay. [0:12:15, 0:12:16]: In other words [0:12:16, 0:12:20]: There there would be an obligation on the county's part to provide the service. [0:12:20, 0:12:23]: For the term of the agreement, uh, which is ten years. [0:12:24, 0:12:26]: And that Stockbridge basically would [0:12:26, 0:12:27]: Well. [0:12:27, 0:12:28]: Pay the same. [0:12:28, 0:12:32]: Stockbridge taxpayers would pay exactly the same as county taxpayers. [0:12:32, 0:12:33]: So i in terms of [0:12:34, 0:12:37]: service level in terms of tax equity. [0:12:37, 0:12:41]: The proposal is to to maintain all of that equally. [0:12:41, 0:12:42]: Or stockbridge. [0:12:42, 0:12:44]: citizens and taxpayers. [0:12:45, 0:12:47]: We what would it have cost us? [0:12:48, 0:12:50]: In terms of a [0:12:50, 0:12:52]: Yes, sir. The the [0:12:52, 0:12:54]: cost the city nothing. [0:12:54, 0:13:01]: cost the taxpayer the same as a Henry County taxpayer would pay for the same service in terms of a tax bill. [0:13:02, 0:13:05]: The the the the the tax billing would be uniform. [0:13:06, 0:13:08]: Right. And Mr. Knighton, in terms of that [0:13:09, 0:13:19]: This is the same position that we've been in for the past three or four years where we're operating. Uh, you know, uh of course, we have all the commercial establishments in Stockbridge. [0:13:20, 0:13:25]: The density is right here in the city. We've been asking for increased police services. [0:13:25, 0:13:27]: Uh what they passed does not [0:13:27, 0:13:40]: a lot for any extra police services uh in addition to um what we asked for in terms of uh extra patrolling or extra officer presence and uh the addition of the parking. [0:13:40, 0:13:41]: Um [0:13:41, 0:13:42]: Enforcement. [0:13:42, 0:13:52]: So how is it that we're gonna cross that threshold, we're gonna continue to operate how we're operating uh in a very densely populated area.