---
date: 2022-03-08
title: 03-08-2022 Minutes
source: 2022-03/2022-03-08_03-08-2022 _Minutes.pdf
pages: 1
---

Where Community Connects

C 0 UNCIL RETREAT
M arch 8,2 22
1:0 0p .m.
Sum mary M in at es
Mayor & (In Council Administration
Mayor Anthony S. Ford Frederick Gardiner, City Manager
Mayor Pro Tem Alphonso Thomas Vanessa Holiday, City Clerk
Councilman Elton Alexander
John Wiggins, City Treasurer
Councilwoman Yolanda Barber
Quinton Washington, City Attorney
Councilman John Blount
Jeremy Berry, City Attorney
Councilwoman LaKeisha Gantt

Staff in Attendance: Decius Aaron, Public Works Director and Alan
Peterson, Economic Development Director

Mission: To provide visionary leadership and
superiormunicrpal services that enhance the quality of life for citizens while
creating a welcoming business atmosphere focused on sustainability and expansion of tourism and cultural events.

DAY ONE AGENDA
Facilitated by Frederick Gardiner
City Manager

The meeting was called to order
by Mayor Ford

Invocation by Mayor Ford

Pledge of Allegiance by all in attendance

City Clerk, Vanessa Holiday proceeded with the roll call with all members were
present
except Councilwoman Gantt who joined the meeting at 2:15 pm. and Councilman
Alexander who joined the meeting at 2:30
pm.

Motion to amend the Agenda to add the
Georgia Radio Alliance/Pepsi Pouring Rights
Agreement made by Councilman Blount; second by Mayor Pro Tem Thomas. The
motion passed 3-0.

Motion to amend the Agenda to add
Proposed Annexation Presentation by Senator
Emanuel Jones made by Councilwoman
Barber/Blount; Mayor Pro Tem Thomas
questioned if the proposed annexation includes Piedmont Henry
Hospital, asked if the
governor supports the legislation, and asked if the legislation has the full backing of the
Henry County Delegation.
Councilman Blount noted there is no feasibility
study for the proposed annexation and
there is no idea of what the cost to the
city will be and how the additional services will
affect the budget and expects the budget to double with unknown expenditures.

Mr. Gardiner noted the saving
grace is for the unincorporated areas to come in, there
must be a ballot referendum in November 2022, and there is time to
put together some
analysis.

Mayor Ford noted there will be town halls and discussions prior to the vote.

Councilman Blount noted that when the Council votes, the
process will move quickly,
and councilmembers have not answer forthe
public and that is a concern.

The motion passed 3-0.

Motion to approve the Agenda made
by Councilwoman Barber; second by Councilman
Blount. The motion passed 3-0.

Mayor Ford welcomed everyone in attendance and introduced and staff.
City Manager, Frederick Gardiner gave a Retreat Overview noting his 30-day
observation shows there are operational issues
city; noted there would be a discussion
around Economic Development and
Project updates; and information from this retreat
will be taken back to the Team
meeting with the goal being to have a 3-month
assessment and quarterly meetings to make sure
everyone is on the same accord.

Georgia Radio Alliance] Pe psi Pourinq Riqhts Stockbridq e Amphitheater
Attorneys Quinton Washington and Jeremy Berry presented a Pouring Rights request
for Georgia Radio Alliance (GRA) and
Pepsi for the Stockbridge Amphitheater noting
pouring rights deals have been 5-year; however, this would be a 3-year deal,
which can be extended. Attorney Washington noted GRA has contracted
with Pepsi for
more than 36 years and has
multiple contracts with Pepsi throughout the state and has
negotiated a contract for the 3500 capacity Stockbridge Amphitheater
of $15,000 -

$30,000 max annually.

Attorney Washington noted the Pepsi Concert Series has the Pepsi Strong Team which
is associated with Shaquille and his daughter where Pepsi
pays for the acts and
splits the proceeds with 60% of the proceeds going to the Henry County Fallen
Fund and GRA and the City of Stockbridge each
receiving 20%.
Mayor Pro Tem Thomas questioned why the City of Stockbridge was not at the table
and included in the negotiations; and noted the
City has depended on another entity to
provide information to the city about the Amphitheater, and the information has not been
provided to the City Council timely, and there needs to be guardrails put in
place.
Councilman Blount agreed, noting the TOAST
system is the only thing the city has in
place.

Attorney Washington noted the contract with GRA allows GRA to act on the
behalf, noting if the city does not continue with GRA when their contract ends in
December 2022, the Pepsi Pouring Rights would remain in
place.

Councilwoman Barber noted the city has a 1yr
agreement with GRA and asked if there
could also be a 1yr agreement with
Pepsi and noted the city was already at the table
with Pepsi and negotiating 60% for
Pepsi and 40% for the city instead of receiving a
split with GRA of 20%; and referenced the contract with GRA is a 85/15 split with
GRA receiving 15% of food and
beverage and asked why the proposed percentage with
GRA is more at 20% and not equal to the 15%.

Attorney Berry noted Pepsi has negotiated a 3-yr. deal with GRA, and noted
per Mayor
Ford, Coke is not a good fit.

Attorney Washington noted a decision needs to be made today regarding the
pouring
rights because each day that it is not, there is a missed opportunity to sign a big artist.

Attorney Washington referenced the pre-existing relationship between Pepsi and GRA
and to cut them out would cause the deal to sour.

Councilwoman Barber asked for validation of the
percentage increase to GRA from 15%
to 20%, noting she does not favor a
3-yr contract, nor does she agree with the GRA
20% split.

Attorney Berry noted the deal does not happen without GRA.

Councilman Blount motioned to accept the
3-yr contract with Pepsi for Pouring Rights;
second by Councilwoman Gantt;

Mayor Pro Tem Thomas noted the Amphitheater is a learning curve for the
city, and
relying on the administration and legal team, and that the city is in a
legally binding
contract with GRA; noted the city, which consists of the
governing body, need to learn
from this experience, and how the
city handles what he believes to be a $30 million
Amphitheater going forward; and noted it is critical that information come to the full
Council, and not just the Mayor, City Manager or City Attorney.
Councilwoman Barber noted the GRA contract needs to
expire with no funding after
December 31, 2022; and the 15% should be consistent.

Councilman Blount noted there will be no legitimacy with GRA after December
31,
2022

Mr. Gardiner noted, for a point of clarification, when the contract
ends, all payments to
GRA would be null and void with two additional
years with the Amphitheater
management whoeverthat may be; noting, the goal is to put it out for bid and hire
and expert in the area and being certain to shore
up the weaknesses.

The motion passed 3-0-1 (Barber Abstained
citing a lack of having all the pertinent
information) (Councilman Alexander was not present for the discussion or vote).

Senate Bill 612 Annexation of unincorporated Heny County Land into the City
Senator Emanuel Jones referenced the previous defeat of
cityhood de-annexation of
parcels from Stockbridge for the proposed city of Eagles Landing and noted he went
back to his colleagues to try to find a remedy of
fixing the boundaries of Stockbridge,
and as the primary sponsor of the Bill, he was able to
gain bi-partisan support of Senate
Bill 612 from Senator Brian Strickland of the 17th District who also
represents a small
portion of Stockbridge; noted the Bill had its first reading this morning; noted the
purpose of the Bill is to clean up the City of Stockbridge boundaries, and presented the
proposed map and referenced the blue shaded areas as those parcels to be annexed
into the city; noted the 2020 estimated populations was around
28,000 and the
increased population would go to 51,000 and also create Council
Districts; thanked the
City Council for their support; and believes this Bill will have a positive outcome for the
city and the southside.

Councilman Alexander thanked Senator Jones for his
leadership with the cityhood battle
and proposing annexation legislation to close the
gaps that are within and surround the
city; noted the issues of public safety concerns will be addressed with a more defined
area; noted this is a bold idea by Senatorjones to bring the city into the 21St
century and
take the city to the next level, finally galvanizing the
area; noted the progress of
Stockbridge with its major, the Amphitheater and Police Department is
positive
progress; noted citizens will embrace the good efforts, and noted Stockbridge will be
better positioned to capitalize on new development.

Mayor Ford noted there will be equal district representation with the proposed Council
Districts and looks fonivard to the referendum
passing in November 2022.

Senator Jones asked for support of Senate Bill SB612
Mayor Pro Tem Thomas asked about the percentage of commercial parcels in the
proposed annexation.

Senator Jones noted he was unsure of the
percentage of commercial parcels and noted
that because there were parcels of 500+
residents, the annexation must be placed on
the ballot as a referendum.

Councilwoman Gantt thanked Senator Jones for
making the city whole, noting the
annexation will be great for constituents and
Henry County, and thanked Senator Jones
for his leadership.

Senator Jones noted the Bill has bi-partlsan
support, and because of that, he is
confident the governor will sign the Bill;
noting the leaders of the city will need to
explain, market, and sell the benefits of annexation.

Mayor Pro Tem Thomas asked about the timeline of the process.

Senator Jones noted the Bill has had its First Read and has been
signed off and gone
through the SLOGO Committee and will go to the full Senate for a vote in the next 2-3
days, and then over to the House with the same process; noted he
spoke with the
House Chair, Representative Demetrius
Douglas, and believes because the Bill has bi-
partisan support the governor will sign the Bill within the next 2-3 weeks, and he would
provide the copies of the map to present at town halls.

Motion to convene Executive Session for
Personnel, Litigation and Real Estate made by
Councilwoman Alexander; second by Councilman Alexander. The motion
passed 5-0.

Motion to End Executive Session made
by Councilwoman Gantt; second by
Councilwoman Barber. The motion passed 5-0.

Motion to Reconvene the meeting made
by Councilwoman Gantt; second by
Councilwoman Barber. The motion passed 5-0.

Falcon Engineering and Design LLC Adam P rice Skip Lavto n. and John Palmer

Mr. Skip Layton provided updates of the
following projects:
2021 LMlG Paving Awaiting legal opinion from the City Attorney related to cost
increase requested by the contractor, East Coast
Grading.
2022 LMlG Paving Awaiting the Procurement Department having fully
executed contracts followed by Falcon
Design scheduling a pre-construction
conference.
2023 LMlG Paving Awaiting the proposed list of roadways from the city for this
project to begin the evaluation and recommendations.
Downtown Alleyway/Burke Street Site is currently permitted but revisions
are
bein 9 made to in clude
repaving/restriping the area of ex isting asphalt, a ddi ng
light in 9 to match main street. Plan revisions are an
ticipa ted to be compl ate d on
February 28, 2022 and submitted to the city.
0 Storm wate r Construction of the
Magnolias at Eagles Landing project has been
compl
. Stormwater Engineering/Construction of 103
Turning Point has been completed
O Stormwater Engineering 2021 Improvements have been
completed.
C Noted there are no current on-call stormwater
projects at this time.
Smith-Barnes Sanitary Sewer Basin Rehabilitation Phase II
Sewer Project the
city has submitted that the contract has been executed and a
pre-
construction conference is being scheduled.
o East Atlanta Road/Lee Street
Roadway improvements construction underway,
but the projected is being
delayed due to acquisition of easements
o Lee Street Amphitheater
Parking and Pedestrian Improvements des ign has
been submitted to the
city for review.
Neighbor hood Sto rmwate r Co ncepts Engineering
has completed the concept
and the c ost estim ate has bee n
provi ded to the city. Note: current market should
require updated pricing. Waiting on direction from the
city to move forward,
O GlS Stormwater Database Updates this is an on-call service
requested by the
city and there are no current projects.
. Sanita tion and Sto rmwat er
Billing F Y20 22 this is an on-call service requested
by the city and the re are no current proj ects.
Gateway and nding Signag e Engineering compl eted this task in August
2021. Awaitin 9 new task request and direction
from city staff to a ssist with Phase
II implementation.
Sidewalk Projects Survey has been completed and submitted to the city for
revrew.

Falcon Design referenced the trees in the
along the Amphitheater Road,
noting the installation and placement of the trees was not under their and purview sees
the trees in this area to be
problematic and will cause buckling under the pavement.

After discussion, Mr. Aaron noted the
Public Works staff would be
responsible for
removing the trees.

Publi 0 Works Update Decius Aaron. P ublic Works Directo r
Mr. Aaron noted the infrastructure is a critical investment,
noting aging,
deteriorating and obsolete infrastructure within the city and gave a timeline and
expected life for pipeline and valves, mechanical equipment, wells and
springs, storage
tanks, meters, lift stations and concrete areas; noted there are
currently 42 active
projects; noted the 2023 LMIG street lists with 4.66 miles to be
resurfaced; noted the
State Department of Transportation LMIG
funding for Henry County and the four cities
to be $5,131,044 and the
city of Stockbridge receiving $331,465.47; noted the city will
collaborate with the County on two T-SPLOST projects: Rock
Quarry Rd.- Road
Widening and Rock Quarry Rd. New Road; noted the TSPLOST projects for
Road & Pedestrian Sidewalks and Improvements, Curb & Gutter and New Trails.

Motion to adjourn: Thomas/Barber Passed 5-0.

submitted by:

Vanessa Holiday, City Clerk MMC
y 8. Ford, r
