Columbus, Georgia

MINUTES

COUNCIL OF COLUMBUS, GEORGIA

WORK SESSION

APRIL 26, 2005





The regular monthly Work Session of the Council of Columbus, Georgia was called

to order at 9:02 A.M., Tuesday, April 26, 2005, on the Plaza Level of the

Government Center, Columbus, Georgia. Honorable Robert S. Poydasheff, Mayor,

and Honorable John J. Rodgers, Mayor Pro Tem Rodgers, presiding.



*** *** ***



PRESENT: Present other than Mayor Poydasheff and Mayor Pro Tem Rodgers were

Councilors R. Gary Allen, Wayne Anthony, Glenn Davis, Berry Henderson, Charles

E. McDaniel, Jr., Evelyn Turner Pugh, Nathan Suber and Evelyn Woodson. City

Manager Isaiah Hugley, City Attorney Clifton Fay, Clerk of Council Tiny B.

Washington and Deputy Clerk of Council Sandra Davis were also present.



*** *** ***



ABSENT: Councilor Julius H. Hunter, Jr., was absent, but was official excused

upon the adoption of Resolution Number 238-05.



*** *** ***











INVOCATION: Offered by Councilor Wayne Anthony.

---------------------------------*** ***

***-----------------------------------------



PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE: Led by CSM Greenway from Fort Benning.

---------------------------------*** ***

***-----------------------------------------



?GOAL PROGRAM?:



With Ms. Edwin Thompson, Mr. James Raven, Mr. Brian Beverly,

Ms. Dawn Killer, Ms. Bonnie Ellerbee, Ms. Carolyn Marlow and several

instructors from Columbus Technical College standing at the Council table,

Mayor Pro Tem Rodgers read the proclamation of Mayor Poydasheff, proclaiming

April 25 - 30, 2005 as ?GOAL Week?, in Columbus, Georgia



*** *** ***



?GEORIGA CITIES WEEK?:



With Mrs. Reather Hollowell standing at the Council table, Councilor

Turner Pugh read the proclamation of Mayor Poydasheff, proclaiming April 24-30,

2005 as ?Georgia Cities Week? in Columbus, Georgia.



Mrs. Hollowell highlighted some of the activities that will be going on

throughout the week.



Councilor Turner Pugh recognized the presence of Mr. Paul Radford, Deputy

Director from GMA and said that GMA was the engine that started Georgia Cities

Week and said it is being celebrated throughout the entire State of Georgia.

--------------------------------*** ***

***---------------------------------------------

?OCCUPATIONAL HEALTH NURSING WEEK?:



With Ms. Betty Shepherd, Ms. Paulette Rhodes and Ms. Laura Averrett

standing at the Council table, Councilor Anthony read the proclamation of Mayor

Poydasheff, proclaiming April 18-22, 2005 as ?Occupational Health Nursing Week?

in Columbus, Georgia.



*** *** ***



WITH CAPTAIN CORBETT F. MCCALLUM AND SFC GERALD NELSON STANDING AT THE

COUNCIL TABLE, THE FOLLOWING RESOLUTION WAS READ IN ITS ENTIRETY BY COUNCILOR

DAVIS AND ADOPTED BY THE COUNCIL:



A Resolution (235-05) - Commending and congratulating Captain Corbett F.

McCallum and Sergeant 1st Class Gerald Nelson of the 4th Ranger Training

Battalion upon their 1st place finish in the David E. Grange, Jr., Best Ranger

Competition. Councilor Davis moved the adoption of the resolution. Seconded by

Councilor Henderson and carried unanimously by those nine members of Council

present standing to cast their affirmative vote.



*** *** ***



WITH MR. BARRY MCMULLEN AND SEVERAL OF HIS STAFF MEMBERS STANDING AT THE

COUNCIL TABLE, THE FOLLOWING RESOLUTION WAS READ IN ITS ENTIRETY BY COUNCILOR

HENDERSON:



A Resolution (236-05) - Commending and congratulating the Columbus

Riverdragons for winning the 2004-2005 National Basketball Development League

regular season championship. Councilor Henderson moved the adoption of the

resolution. Seconded by Mayor Pro Tem Rodgers and carried unanimously by those

nine members of Council present standing to cast their affirmative vote.



*** *** ***



MAYOR?S BUDGET MESSAGE AND PRESENTATION OF THE

FY-2006 RECOMMENDED

BUDGET:



Mayor Poydasheff presented a copy of his FY-2006 recommended budget to the

Council and read the following budget message, as highlighted below.



He said on last November, Columbus voters told us they wanted us to do a

better job managing our assets. He said that was their message, and we heard

them. He said this budget is a response to that message.



He said the budget before you today total $184, 548,971 and it calls for a

modest 2.25% increase over last year?s budget - and that increase is well below

the inflation rate for the same period. Our department heads have worked

diligently not only to hold the line on expenses, but also to reduce them in

the coming year.



Mayor Poydasheff said unfortunately, this might mean layoffs in some

departments. And besides that, 100 authorized positions are not funded in this

budget. We have conservatively estimated revenue increases from property and

sales taxes. This budget anticipates no major new revenues from current sources.



He said while our primary focus has been cost effectiveness, we also

recognize the absolute necessity of rewarding our employees for their efforts.

He said Government is a service business, and quality service is directly

attributable to the employees. He said we have quality service.



He said so even in these difficult times we propose to recognize our

dedicated city employees by forming a pool of funds to pay a one-time bonus to

all employees. He said we would also add a $200 supplement to the bonus for

public safety employees in recognition of the hazardous nature of their duties.

Secondly, we are absorbing the increased costs of healthcare, so that those

cost increases will not be coming out of employees? paychecks. Those increased

costs of healthcare, by the way, average $250 per employee, for a total of

approximately $600,000.



He said what this means is that total spending in this budget will

increase by approximately $4,000,000 - but our investment in our employees will

increase by more than $5,400,000. In other words, even in these difficult

times, we are demonstrating that we consider taking care of our employees our

top priority, particularly our public safety personnel who daily risk their

lives for our safety.



Mayor Poydasheff said he is pleased to present a budget for FY06 that

addresses city goals and needs, is fiscally responsible and invests in our

greatest asset- our city employees.



He said the greatness of our society from the Federal government to the

State government to the City government is that the executive

presents the budget and the Council will massage it and come up with a plan

that you believe is best represented for the City of Columbus. He said he knows

that the Council is going to work hard.



Mayor Poydasheff said he wants to thank City Manager Hugley and the

Finance Director, Angela Cole and her staff. He said he would also like to

thank the directors of each department for coming up with the cuts that we have

asked them to do.

----------------------------------*** ***

***-----------------------------------------

CONSENT AGENDA



THE FOLLOWING ITEMS WERE SUBMITTED AND EXPLAINED BY CITY MANAGER HUGLEY

AND ADOPTED BY THE COUNCIL PURSUANT TO THE ADOPTION OF A MOTION MADE BY MAYOR

PRO TEM RODGERS AND SECONDED BY COUNCILOR WOODSON, WHICH CARRIED UNANIMOUSLY BY

THOSE NINE MEMBERS OF COUNCIL PRESENT FOR THIS MEETING:



A Resolution (237-05) - Authorizing the acceptance of a deed to Bunker

Ridge Drive located in Section Six of Bunker Ridge, on behalf of Columbus,

Georgia.



A Resolution (238-05) - Excusing Councilor Julius Hunter from the

April 26, 2005 Council Meeting.



A Resolution (239-05) - Authorizing payment to Youth Basketball

of America (YBOA) Georgia in the amount of $10,200.00, for referees required

for 216 tournament games.



*** *** ***



THE FOLLOWING TWO TEMPORARY STREET CLOSURE APPLICATIONS WERE ALSO APPROVED

BY THE MOTION AS OUTLINED ABOVE:



Application of First Presbyterian Church to temporarily close 1st Avenue

between 10th and 11th Street, on Sunday, May 1, 2005, from 11:30 a.m. to 2:30

p.m., for their "175th Church Anniversary Celebration".



Application of Ed Poole & Clifton Faye to temporarily close Millington

Court, on Sunday, May 1, 2005, from 5:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m., for their

"Neighborhood Barbecue".



*** *** ***



THE FOLLOWING THREE NEW ZONING PETITIONS WERE SUBMITTED BY CLERK OF

COUNCIL WASHINGTON AND AN ORDINANCE WAS CALLED FOR BY MAYOR PRO TEM

RODGERS:





Petition submitted by Ray M. Wright, Inc. to rezone approximately 67 acres

of property located at 7100 Britton Road from an R-1 District to an R-2

District. (Recommended for conditional approval by both the Planning Advisory

Commission and the Planning Division.) (21-CA-05-Ray M. Wright, Inc.)



Petition submitted by Charles Ford to rezone approximately 0.36 acre of

property located as part of 7209 Williams Hill Road from RE1 District (old A-1)

to SFR1District (old R-1). (Recommended for approval by both the Planning

Advisory Commission and the Planning Division.) (22-A-05-Ford)



Petition submitted by Stanley Merritt, Jr. to rezone approximately 0.28

acre of property located at 1111 Lockwood Avenue from RMF1 District (old R-3A)

to RO District (old A-O). (Recommended for conditional approval by both the

Planning Advisory Commission and the Planning Division.) (23-CA-05-Merritt)

-----------------------------------*** ***

***-----------------------------------------

WORK SESSION AGENDA:



2005 LEGISLATIVE SESSION HIGHLIGHTS:



City Manager Hugley said he would like to thank GMA for all of the work

they do for Georgia cities across the State. He said they are truly working

hard for cities across the State of Georgia.



He said he had the opportunity to be in Atlanta a few weeks ago with Mr.

Paul Radford and other GMA officials, as they have asked him to serve on the

GMA City Manager?s Advisory Board. He said during that time, they provided a

highlight at that session and he thought it was quite enlightening; therefore,

he asked them to come down and share it with us today.



Mr. Paul Radford, Georgia Municipal Association (GMA)



Mr. Radford said he is pleased to see the Georgia Cities Week?s

celebration that Columbus will be participating in. He said your work this week

is very much appreciated, as we try to get the good word out about what cities

do on a daily basis and how they affect daily lives in a positive way.



He said they also appreciate Councilor Turner Pugh serving as the

Chairperson of their Congressional Action Team; even though she was a past

president of GMA, they have asked her back in service into a number of

capacities. He said they are trying to take a look at some of the Federal

issues that may be affecting cities down the road, in particular the future of

the Community Development Block Grant Program.



Mr. Radford said one of the things that they did as an association, which

they represent 500 cities throughout the State; ranging with people from 50 up

to the City of Atlanta, with about 420,000 people. He said the interest and

concerns of cities and the individuals that they represent are diverse, as well

as the opportunities. He said sometimes it is somewhat of a challenge to

represent all cities from all sizes, but they try their level best. He said one

way to do that is through a consensus building process as they develop their

policies for the year and communicate our message to the General Assembly we

want to make sure that we are communicating the message that our membership

wants us to highlight.



He then highlighted the five legislative priorities that their association

went to the General Assembly and gave some details on each, which includes the

following as outlined below.



STATEWIDE PROPERTY TAX FREEZE:



Mr. Radford said they were very concerned as an association with a

statewide property tax freeze. He said he knows that this is an issue that

Columbus is aware of and has struggled with over the years. He said there had

been some movements to do a statewide property tax freeze. He said their

membership had a number one priority opposition to that; thinking that we

needed to have a broad revenue source that balances sales taxes, fees and

property taxes in a reasonable way and to let local citizens decide how best to

apply those Revenue sources.



GREENSPACE FUNDING:



Mr. Radford said they were also interested in trying to find funding for

greenspace for land conservation. He said they had a proposal that called for a

local option real estate transfer tax to help fund that.



TRANSPORTATION FUNDING:



Mr. Radford said there was also a proposal that dealt with local

transportation needs. He said road maintenance is a costly endeavor in most

city budgets, as well as statewide. He said the lack of funding for

transportation is putting us further and further behind in road maintenance.



He said there are some estimates that we can only resurface 10% of our roads

every 20 years; which is a significant problem as we try to provide for the

commerce of the state; cities and counties maintain 84% of the roads in the

state.



MUNICIPAL COURTS:



Mr. Radford said the issue of Municipal Court and the complexity of all

the fine add-ons that had been imposed by the State and the difficulty in

actually getting those and then reporting those fines to the State. He said

they were also interested in some of the effects that the special sessions had

last year on indigent defense.





GEORGIA CITIES FOUNDATION:



Mr. Radford said their final issue was increased funding for a private

foundation that GMA created; which was Georgia Cities Foundation that promotes

downtown development and provides low interest loans to entrepreneurial, to try

to expand or save old buildings downtown.



Mr. Radford then went into further details and pointed out that two weeks

into the session they basically had to push those priorities they had outlined

to the side and try to deal with other issues that consumed them throughout the

session. He said they had to deal with two particular issues, Senate Bill 30,

which dealt with inverse condemnation, and a movement to take away the power of

local governments- cities and counties, and in some cases, maybe even the

state, dealing with the power of eminent domain condemnation; whenever it

involved in the area of economic development or your activity would have

increased your local tax base.



He said they thought their agenda was set aside, because of these

particular issues, and their membership was consumed throughout the year in

this; however, he is pleased to report that all of their priority items were

addressed in some shape, form or fashion.



Mr. Radford spent some thirty-five minutes going into more details and

outlined exactly what action was taken as it relates to each of those five

priority items.



He said there are a number of bills that are awaiting the Governor?s

signature; however, he has already signed several bills, i.e. dealing with the

help of small business, the land conservation bill, photo id bill, and methane

labs.



Mr. Radford said the Governor has not signed the statewide smoking ban and

the state budget, which is a $17.5 million capital improvement plan. He said

the Governor has until May 10th to veto the statewide smoking ban and if he

doesn?t veto it, then on May 11th it will go into law automatically.



After more than forty-five minutes, Mr. Radford concluded his

presentation, saying this is a session that they thought that local governments

were put on the defense, trying to protect the very powers that we have; to try

to govern at the level, closest to the people; which is what they try to

celebrate in Georgia Cities Weeks. He said they feel that they will have to

continue to do that in the next session, which could be a very spirited

election campaign over the next year.



Councilor Turner Pugh asked Mr. Radford to give a short symposium of what

is required in the Voter Identification Bill and what impact it would have on

people in nursing homes.



Mr. Radford said he didn?t follow that bill in great details, but he

listened to a lot of the debate. He said as he understands it, many of the

current methods of identifications were eliminated in the law and there is 5-6

items that could be use, i.e.- driver?s license, state issued identification

card, military identification that are permitted identification.



He said that entire debate process centered on that particular issue,

which is people that are not close to a Department of Motor Vehicle location or

those in nursing homes that may not have driver?s license or have the ways and

means to get a state issued identification card would be disenfranchised. He

said the Governor said that he couldn?t find any reason why people would be

opposed to this particular piece of legislation and doesn?t understand the

problem, which is what lead him to sign the bill.



Councilor Turner Pugh said she would like to ask the City Manager to get

together with our Elections Department and then come to the Council and give a

report on the Voter ID Bill and what impact it may have on us; and what are

their plans to combat the impact.



*** *** ***



FRANCHISE AGREEMENTS:



City Manager Hugley said Mr. Radford has been doing some work for Columbus

and other Georgia cities regarding Franchise agreements. He said he knows the

GMA Committee is scheduled to meet on April 30th and are looking forward to the

results of that meeting.



Mr. Radford said they have been working with the representatives of

Georgia Power for the last two years, trying to come up with an agreement, on

what would be the amendment to the existing agreement. He said their President,

Cecil Pruett, participated in a task force that also included the Mayor of

Hinesville, Tom Radcliff, the Mayor of Tifton, Paul Johnson, the Mayor of Rome,

Ronnie Wallace, as well as City Manager Larry Hanson from Valdosta, and Bill

Hatcher, of Swainsboro also served on this committee.



He said the franchise agreement language that this committee has worked

on will be presented to the GMA Board at its meeting on Friday and Saturday in

Canton. He said if the board endorses the concept, it would be stated to the

membership that this is an agreement that they have worked out with Georgia

Power Company and then leave it up to the cities to determine if this is the

method that they would like to use as they extend their agreements. He said not

all cities are in a position to have to extend their agreement, because many of

them have franchise agreements that have less than 10 years of duration on

that.



Mr. Radford said there are over 50 cities that have executed franchise

agreements or amendments over the last six months and part of this agreement

would say that those 50 cities would have the right to sign this new agreement,

if they wanted to do so.



Mayor Poydasheff said his objection to the agreement is when we are forced

into a 20 - 30 year agreement without a look-see that is not good for the

cities. He said that may be great for Georgia Power, but it is not great for

the city and said he thinks this would be detrimental to a city not to be able

to renegotiate on certain points.



Mr. Radford said they would present the agreement that they have agreed

upon as a body, but said it is still up to Georgia Power to negotiate

one-on-one with each city on the agreement that they think is in the best

interest of Georgia Power and the City.



*** *** ***



HOMELAND SECURITY PRESENTATION:



City Manager Hugley said the Mayor?s Task Force has been working very hard

to make sure that our City and region are safe. He said Chief Jerry Fountain

has been leading that effort and is here this morning to talk with us about

Homeland Security.

Chief Fountain said that Deputy Director Riley Land would do the same

presentation that was done approximately three weeks ago to Director Mike

Sureberger and his group. He said the purpose of doing that presentation was to

solicit his support to submit an application for an Urban Area Security

Initiative City.

Mayor Poydasheff said they did endorse us and said that we are the lead

City and the example of what they expect other cities reaching out regionally

as we do; with the Sheriff and the Marshal being a part of this. He said

Alabama and Fort Benning are also partners with this endeavor.



He said he feels very confident that we will get that designation and if

we do, this will enable us to really go out and get some sufficient grants.



Mr. Riley Land, Deputy Director, EMA then came forward and gave a

twenty-minute presentation on Homeland Security, highlighting several different

areas as outlined below.



Mr. Land said they looked at four components of Homeland Security that

they felt they needed to address in detail, which are Partnering, Preparing,

Responding and Recovering. He said they are here today to let the Council know

where we stand with their commitment and capabilities for Homeland Security for

West Central Georgia and East Central Alabama.



He said the Mayor?s Homeland Security Task Force is one of the first

initiatives undertaken by this City government to address Homeland Security

issues; which was formed over a year ago.



Mr. Land said there is a consortium of city, state and federal agencies

and military law enforcement/intelligence, executive business leaders, and

representatives that meet monthly for policy and decision making concerning

homeland security issues.



OBJECTIVES:



q To assess threats and share sensitive information

q To review area intelligence and incident responses

q To establish short and long term goals relating to homeland security issues



Mr. Land said that the Columbus Fire & EMS, Muscogee County Sheriff?s

Office, Columbus Police Department, Muscogee County Marshal?s Department, and

Phenix City Police Department all have devoted full-time officers to the team

to establish a core group of highly specialized, trained individuals to address

and respond to homeland security incidents.



OBJECTIVES:



q Prevent- by assisting partners with threat and

vulnerability assessments.

q Prepare-by training as a team for the multiple

types of WMD events that could occur

q Respond-fielding a specialized team of various

disciplines capable of responding to WMD events.



Mr. Land then went over the organizational chart of the Columbus Office of

Homeland Security, which shows that Mayor Poydasheff is over all of the various

departments within the office. He also pointed out that members of Homeland

Security are sworn in as deputies in Georgia and Alabama.



Regional Response Area



There is a total population of 471,680, with a total area of 2,376 square

miles.



Mr. Land said that City public safety departments and support agencies

partner with Fort Benning to insure the safety of participants at the annual

School of the Americas protest.



He said they would like to create a committee of partners with the goal of

bringing regional stakeholders together for planning, information sharing and

enhanced preparedness. He then outlined several objectives, which includes.



q Identify regionally available resources capable of enhancing readiness and

preparedness activities.



q Share information and methodologies for security and business continuity.



q To solidify corporate and personal relationships for more efficient

interaction.



Mr. Land said infrastructure protection is a shared activity between

Federal, State and local agencies in partnership with the private sector

which own approximately 85% of our nation?s infrastructure.





HOMELAND SECURITY PARTNERSHIP INITIATIVES:



q Assistance with Threat and Vulnerability Assessments

q Strategic Planning Efforts

q Specialized Training

q Exercises



MUTUAL AID AGREEMENTS:



Care Ambulance Service

Chattahoochee County Sheriff?s Office

Columbus Georgia, Mayor?s Office

Columbus Public Health

Columbus Metropolitan Airport

Ft. Benning Commanding General

Harris County Commission

Harris County Sheriff?s Office

Lee County Sheriff?s Office

Lifestar Ambulance Service

Marion County Sheriff?s Office

Mid-Georgia Ambulance Service

Muscogee County Sheriff?s Office

Phenix City Mayor?s Office

Russell County Commission

Russell County Sheriff?s Office

Talbot County Commission

Talbot County Sheriff?s Office

Taylor County Sheriff?s Office



The City of Columbus has Memoranda of Understanding with the following:



q FBI

q ATF

q U. S. Marshal?s Office

q TSA

q U. S. Secret Service



Mr. Land also provided information on the following areas of Homeland

Security.



o Metropolitan Medical Response System

o Hospital/Healthcare/Public Health Operational Capabilities

o Public Health Organizational Chart

o National Incident Management System (NIMS)



Mayor Poydasheff said if there are any Council members who wanted to be

trained in NIMS or participate in the class, we are going to be having another

class in approximately two weeks. He said it is a three-day class; which

starts in the morning at 8:30 a.m. and concludes at 2:00 p.m.



Mr. Land said during the class, they would be given an excellent overview

on how agencies inter-play and inter-act and how that governing structure of

response join incident command oversees this. He said they have presently

trained 275 at the executive level.



He said when they talked about wanting to be designated as Urban Area

Security Initiative City, one of the things that the Federal government looks

at, is whether or not we are able to receive this money and spend it wisely and

are the partnerships being made, as well as will the money be spent to benefit

the local county and will we be able to respond to the region that we say we

can respond to. He said they have presented this document, which is still a

work in process; but it gives us our regional strategic plan, not only for

Muscogee County, but the eight county surrounding area, to make sure that those

partnerships are strong and shows where we want to be now and then where we

want to be in a year; then five years.



Mr. Land said they feel confident that this document will grow, expand and

support the needs of Homeland Security.



After the conclusion of his presentation, Mayor Poydasheff

asked Mr. Land to provide a copy of the Homeland Security presentation to each

member of the Council.



Mr. Land and Mayor Poydasheff then responded to questions of members of

the Council, as it relates to funding for Homeland Security.



Councilor Woodson said she thinks that maybe we need to show this to the

world and said she thinks that we need to get an interview with the National

League of Cities for their weekly newsletter to show other cities what is being

accomplished and how Homeland Security dollars should be used. She said with

this effort, all the information can get out throughout the United States.



Mayor Poydasheff said he has suggested that maybe our public safety

personnel can come up to one of the GMA sessions during the annual GMA

Convention in Savannah in June.



Mayor Poydasheff asked Chief Fountain to make certain that before the next

NIMS class starts, that they invite the Council members to attend that class.



*** *** ***



OVERSIZE GARBAGE CANS TEST PROJECT:



City Manager Hugley said they came before the Council back in January

where they were going to enforce the ordinance of a 32-gallon trash can;

however, there were some issues during that time. He said they then went out

for a test period of 90-days and were to come back to the Council with the

results of that test; and said we are back with those results tonight.



Mr. Rufus Riggs, Director of the Department of Public Services then came

forward and pointed out that they did go out and get some data and said he is

here today to present the data to the Council, which includes the information,

as outlined below.



? Average 21 oversized cans (2 %) per route

? 1 Route averages 1050 stops

? 26 Routes total



? Average time of 11 seconds longer to empty oversized garbage

cans

? If 10% of stops (105) are oversized, 20 minutes will be added

to each route





? If no control on oversized cans, potential for all to be

oversized, which will add 3:45 minutes to each route





? Longer route times will require more personnel and equipment





? Annual amortized cost for one additional truck and driver is

$68,000 per year in today?s dollars





? To keep the cost of service at the lowest level and customer

satisfaction at optimum level, 32-gallon garbage can sizes is

recommended



Mr. Riggs said he understands that for customer convenience, oversized

will be a plus, but said we must measure whether or not we want more customer

convenience, increased cost or to continue to do what we do and keep the cost

low.



He then showed a short video to show the Council what he is talking about

when he says that it takes much longer to service a

90-gallon garbage can.



After the short presentation, several members of the Council then

expressed their views regarding the results presented by Mr. Riggs. Mr. Riggs

then responded to several questions of members of the Council.



In responding to further questions of the Council, Mr. Riggs said the

garbage cans vary from 32-gallons to 90-gallons. He said those shown in the

short video was 64-gallons and said there are some 74-gallons, up to

90-gallons. He said they would do whatever the will of the Council is; however,

he believes that he has a responsibility to the Council and the citizens to try

to do what is going to be the most efficient. He said he is not opposed to

making life easier for the customers, if that is what the Council wants to do;

then, that is what they will do.



Mr. Riggs said if they are going to allow the 90-gallon garbage cans,

then we need to change the ordinance because it is not possible for them to say

to one person they can have a larger can and the other person, that they

cannot. He said he would ask the Council to give him something definitive to

work with, because being too ambiguous in what we are doing does not give him

and his people what they need to work with. He said give him something that you

want him to do and whatever you give him to do, he wants to follow that

ordinance.



City Manager Hugley said he hears the will of the Council and said we

know that the ordinance indicates 32-gallon can and said what he would like to

do is to proceed forward with the ordinance as it is with an administrative

policy that we will pick up garbage with larger cans if the citizens will place

individual bags in those large garbage cans and if they don?t do that; then we

will leave a tag letting them know why we didn?t collect their garbage. He said

if it appears that the administrative policy is not going to work, and then we

will come back to you with an ordinance.



After continued discussion on this subject, Councilor Allen said he would

like to go ahead and draft the ordinance change for the oversized garbage

cans. He said he would like for the City Attorney to get together with City

Manager Hugley and Mr. Riggs and go ahead and draft something for us to look at

and maybe we can talk about it in the next few weeks. He said Mr. Riggs is

correct, in that he does need some clear guidance. He said with the website and

the ability to look at ordinances on the website, the citizens needs to know

what the guidelines are.



Mayor Poydasheff said we do need to make sure that it includes the basic

administrative changes that have already been mentioned.



After Mr. Riggs responded to further questions, this matter was concluded

with Mayor Poydasheff stating that there will be an ordinance drafted and once

that happens, then we will follow the normal course of action, first reading

and then second reading.



*** *** ***



GEORGIA CITIES WEEK:



City Manager Hugley said he would like to remind and encourage the public

to participate in the Georgia Cities Week activities on next week with us. He

said Friday, April 29th from 10:00 a.m. ? 2:00 p.m., we will be displaying our

equipment and have open house, as well as invite the citizens to come down and

see what we have.



He said also on May 2-8, 2005 we will be celebrating Employees

Appreciation Week and invite the public to participate in that with us as well.



*** *** ***



BUDGET:



City Manager Hugley said on next Tuesday, we are going to be having our

first Budget Review Meeting at 3:00 p.m., in the ground floor conference room,

which is open to the public.



*** *** ***



EMPLOYEES? PAY:



Councilor Woodson said she read the newspaper on Sunday when they were

talking about pay ranges and entry-level pay. She said there was much

discussion about the public safety personnel starting salary of $23,000, as

well as secretarial positions starting pay of $15,000 - $18,000 annual salary.



She said she would like for the City Manager to do a presentation

at a Council Work Session on employees? pay and benefits for the public to

see. She said the amount that we keep hearing about is the amount of money

that an individual takes home, but it doesn?t include other benefits, i.e.,

insurance and etc.



Councilor Woodson said at the end of the year, every company, including

the City of Columbus does an income summary and that?s what it shows. She said

when people file their taxes, they don?t only go on what they take home, but

they look at overall income. She said the impression that everyone has, is that

the $23,000 is it, but said it is not. She said she thinks that people need to

know exactly how much our employees get paid, from the lowest to the highest

paid employee.



Mayor Poydasheff said let?s have Mr. Tom Barron, of Human Resources to do

a presentation at the Council?s next Work Session.



City Manager Hugley said we can certainly do that at the next Work Session

and if we need to have Mr. Barron on one of the CCG-TV newscast to do a

15-minute briefing, we can do that as well.

----------------------------------*** ***

***-----------------------------------------





NOTE: Councilor McDaniel left at this point in the proceedings, with the

time being 11:10 a.m.



----------------------------------*** ***

***-----------------------------------------



BUDGET REVIEW MEETINGS:



Councilor Suber said he would like to recommend to the Council that we do

our Budget Review meetings in public and televised this year. He said we

haven?t done this in a while. He said we haven?t done it since Councilor Allen

was the Budget Chairman.



He said he believes that the perception in the community is that we

constantly have things to hide, even though our meetings are public and the

media is present. He said he has recommended that to the Budget Review

Chairperson and he is now recommending that to the Council at this time.



Councilor Suber said the individual who continues to write about Is Our

City Safe, made a comment on last week and he was basically saying that he

didn?t agree with the across the board pay raise for public safety personnel.

He said he believes that some of us on the Council, along with the City Manager

pushed real hard to ensure that public safety would have the same pay for

performance that we were suggesting for the other city employees; but there was

a big outcry from public safety saying that there was no way that we could

implement that fairly. He said he thinks that we have already done that

before, and it failed miserably.



Mayor Poydasheff said there is no problem in bringing the television crew

to the meetings. However, City Manager Hugley said he would just request that

we hold our meetings here in the Council Chambers.



Councilor Allen said there has been a lot mentioned about the budget in

the media, particularly radio and newspaper offering suggestions on what we

should or shouldn?t do. He said what he would like to offer is to have a copy

of the budget book available at the local library, as well as put it on the

City?s website. He said he thinks that we need to make as much information

available as possible. He said he thinks that the idea of televising the

meetings is great.



He said he would also like to offer a copy of the budget book to the FOP,

Firefighter?s Association and any other group who would like a copy.



Councilor Allen said if there is anyone who has an idea on what we can do,

he would ask them to please come forward, or come to the meetings and/or just

call any one of the Council members so that we can get it on the table. He said

he thinks that we are open to any avenues or conversations where we can do

better with what we have. He said he thinks the more information that we can

provide to the public, the better.



Councilor Woodson said instead of making paper copies, she would request

that we provide those copies of the budget on DVD.



Councilor Turner Pugh said if there is any City employee who knows of any

areas where we could possibly cut expenses, to please forward those suggestions

and ideas to the Clerk of Council ?s office so that we can take a look at them.



*** *** ***



With there being no other business to come before this Council, Mayor Pro

Tem Rodgers then made a motion for adjournment. Seconded by Councilor Henderson

and carried unanimously by those eight members of Council present at the time,

with Councilor McDaniel having already left the meeting and Councilor Hunter

being absent from the meeting, with the time being 11:18 A. M.







Tiny B. Washington, CMC

Clerk of Council

The Council of Columbus, Georgia