Columbus, Georgia

Minutes

COUNCIL BRIEFING

June 7, 2005



Members Present: Councilors R. Gary Allen, Wayne Anthony, Glenn Davis, Julius

Hunter, Jr., Charles E. McDaniel, Jr., Evelyn Turner Pugh (arrived 5:12 p.m.),

Nathan Suber and Evelyn Woodson. Also present were Mayor Robert S. Poydasheff,

City Manager Isaiah Hugley, Assistant City Attorney Jamie DeLoach, Deputy City

Managers Richard Bishop and Lisa Goodwin, Clerk of Council Tiny B. Washington

and Deputy Clerk of Council Sandra Davis.



Members Absent: Mayor Pro Tem John J. Rodgers and Councilor Berry Henderson

were absent.



Guest: Captain J. D. Hawk.

================ ======== ===============

This meeting was called to order at 4:47 p.m., in the Council Chambers

Conference Room, Plaza Level of the Government Center.



*** *** ***

Booklet:

Mayor Poydasheff reported that the events booklet that is going to be given out

to citizens was done by Assistant Fire Chief Jerry Fountain. He maintained

that all of the members of Council have received a copy. (A copy of the

booklet was not filed for the record.)





*** *** ***



Budget Session:

Mayor Poydasheff thanked the members of Council on the hard work involved in

budget process. He reported that there are approximately 10,000 people that

are coming into the area.



*** *** ***



Public Hearing

City Manager Hugley reminded everyone of the public hearing on the property tax

increase. He recalled that there was a public hearing this morning at 9:00

a.m., one scheduled for tonight at 6:00 p.m. and the final hearing on next

Tuesday at the Council Meeting; then, the following Tuesday would be the second

reading and adoption of the ordinance.



City Manager Hugley briefly explained the Urban Service District millage rates

and the property tax increase as a whole due to the growth. He provided

different scenarios that would cause the increase in individual property

taxes. He pointed out that the public hearing must be held at 6:00 p.m. He

then explained that the reassessment of property and new development would be

affected by the tax increase.



Finance Director Angela Cole commented on the strict time line regarding the

public hearings that must be held.



*** *** ***

Arena Football League:

City Manager Hugley announced that Civic Center Director Dale Hester has been

approached by an arena football league that is interested in coming to Columbus

to play at the Civic Center. He pointed out that there would be no cost to the

City with there being a similar agreement to the AFT football organization. He

maintained that there would be a total of 14 games with 7 games being a home

and the season does not conflict with hockey. He advised that if the

negotiations get to the point that an agreement can be drafted; then, we would

proceed and bring that matter to Council for consideration.



In response to a question of Councilor Suber, City Manager Hugley assured that

we still have all of the equipment; therefore, we would not have to buy

anything other than the goal post. He maintained that the cost would be

minimal.

*** *** ***

Area Code:

City Manager Hugley called attention to an email from Ms. Kimberly Gillum

regarding the 706 area code. He then asked that everyone review the email and

provide a response regarding the position that the City should take on this

matter. He explained the options that are available. (A copy of the document

was filed for the record.)



*** *** ***

Demolition Property:

City Manager Hugley spoke of the emails regarding the property owned by Mr.

Matt England that was listed for demolition. He recalled that Mr. England was

given 30 days to get his financing together with a total of 120 days to

determine what would be done with the property. He said that Mr. England has

indicated that he has an interested party, who wants to purchase the 36 units

apartment complex. Mayor Poydasheff added that Mr. England is in foreclosure

on some of his properties.



Deputy City Manager Bishop came forward to provide some additional information

on this matter. He advised that Mr. England does have a potential buyer and he

is confident that the purchase would go through. He explained that Mr. England

is scheduled on June 22, 2005 to go to a meeting on taking this property

through the demolition process again; his 30 days has expired. He reported

that Mr. England has not provided a formal financial plan but has submitted by

email an acknowledgement that he is in negotiation with someone to purchase the

property. He advised that if Mr. England does sell the property; then, we would

have to start the process again.



Regarding the financing, City Manager Hugley recalled that Mr. England was

given 30 days to acquire financing, but he has not been able to get the

financing.



Councilor Anthony asked if there were complaints from the neighbors regarding

the overflowing of dumpsters, at which time, City Manager Hugley said that he

was not aware of it but would check into the matter.



*** *** ***

Northside Super Center:

City Manager Hugley called attention to a petition he received from Ms. Jean

McKee regarding the operational hours of Northside Super Center. He explained

that there is line dancing at 10:00 a.m. on Tuesdays and Thursdays, but with

our new hours approved in the budget, the Super Center does not open until

11:00 a.m. He suggested that we could look at renting the space for one hour

on Tuesdays and Thursdays, but when he receives this type of request, he does

not see how he could approve amending the hours.



City Manager Hugley spent some time responding to Councilor Davis questions on

when this matter was presented to Council about changing the recreation

facility hours of operation.



*** *** ***

Alcoholic Beverage License Card:

City Manager Hugley recalled that there was some discussion last week regarding

the alcoholic beverage license card. He then called upon J. D. Hawk, from the

Columbus Police Department to address this matter.



Captain J.D. Hawk, Columbus Police Department came forward to say that in

January 2004, the ordinance was changed that sets the parameter on who would be

disqualified for ABC cards based on felony, misdemeanors and city ordinance

violations. He explained that the ordinance increased felony violations from 5

years to 10 years; misdemeanors from 3 years to 5 years and the other stayed

the same. He added that there is a Section ?E? that includes habitual

violators and they would be excluded for 10 years.



He stated that he had discussions with Sgt. Walton, who was the overseer of

nightclub violations at the time, and Sgt. Walton then approached City Attorney

Fay to request that a grandfather clause be put in there. He said that we knew

that there were a lot of people out there that had been working for years and

had not had any violation, but this would put them out of work. He said the

grandfather clause was not put in there. He recalled that prior to the opinion

from the City Attorney, some were approved based on his decision to renew the

card.



Reading from a prepared document, Captain Hawk then provided some data

regarding the number of applicants that are received in comparison with those

that are denied. He also provided some statistical information according to

the number of people that would be grandfathered in. (A copy of this document

was not provided for the record.) He maintained that if a person had a new

violation then the card would not be renewed.



Councilor Davis expressed his concerns with those that had felony convictions,

such as: dealing drugs, selling alcohol to minors, etc. He suggested creating

a category of this nature and for the future prohibiting those violators from

obtaining an ABC card. Captain Hawk suggested that the violation be specific

if this is considered.



*** *** ***

Budget Ordinance:

City Manager Hugley reminded everyone that the budget is on first reading

tonight and the new budget is a total of $184,877,392.00. He pointed out that

$5.1 million is coming from the General Fund- Fund Balance, $1.8 million from

Debt Service- Fund Balance and $29,000.00 from Parking Management. He advised

that as a result of all of the changes that were made, there is a 2.25%

increase over the adopted budget for FY-05. He said that based on the changes

it went from a 2.25% increase to a 2.43% increase.



*** *** ***

Procurement Ordinance:

City Manager Hugley stated that on the City Attorney?s Agenda, there is an

ordinance amending the Procurement Ordinance.



Finance Director Angela Cole, added that this ordinance extends the time that a

bid would be out from 10 days to 15 days; we would not be sending out bid

specifications; therefore, the vendor would have to go to the website. Finance

Director Cole advised that we would be sending every vendor that has registered

with us an announcement on what the procedure is going to be. Councilor Suber

expressed concerns in that there are people that are not computer literate, at

which time, Finance Director Cole replied that this is the reason we are

extending the days.



*** *** ***

There being no further business to discuss and with the dialogue being

concluded, this meeting adjourned at 5:20 p.m.







________________________

Sandra T. Davis,

Deputy Clerk of Council