Columbus, Georgia

MINUTES

COUNCIL OF COLUMBUS, GEORGIA

REGULAR MEETING

JULY 14, 2009



The regular weekly meeting of the Council of Columbus, Georgia was called

to order at 9:00 A.M., Tuesday, July 14, 2009, in the Council Chambers on the

Plaza Level of the Government Center, Columbus, Georgia. Honorable W. J.

Wetherington, Mayor, presiding.



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PRESENT: Present other than Mayor Wetherington and Mayor Pro Tem Evelyn Turner

Pugh were Councilors Wayne Anthony, R. Gary Allen, Mike Baker, Jerry Barnes,

Glenn Davis, Berry Henderson, Julius H. Hunter, Jr., Charles E. McDaniel, Jr.

and Evelyn Woodson. Deputy City Manager David Arrington, City Attorney Clifton

Fay, Clerk of Council Tiny B. Washington and Deputy Clerk of Council Sandra

Davis were also present.

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ABSENT: City Manager Isaiah Hugley was absent, but was represented by Deputy

City Manager David Arrington.

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INVOCATION: Offered by Rabbi Brian Hawkins, of Temple Beth Ohr.

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PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE: Led by St. Peter Community Church Youth Department.

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MAYOR?S AGENDA:



WITH RETIRED GENERAL WHITE AND BEN WILLIAMS STANDING AT THE COUNCIL TABLE,

THE FOLLOWING RESOLUTION WAS SUBMITTED AND READ IN ITS ENTIRETY BY COUNCILOR

ANTHONY AND ADOPTED BY THE

COUNCIL:________________________________________________________



A Resolution (236-09) ? Commending the National Infantry Foundation upon

the grand opening of the National Infantry Museum and Soldier Center at Patriot

Park. Councilor Anthony moved the adoption of the resolution. Seconded by

Councilor Hunter and carried unanimously by those ten members of Council

present for this meeting.

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MINUTES OF COUNCIL MEETINGS: Minutes of the April 14, April 30, 2009 and May

5, 2009 Council Meetings of the Council of the Consolidated Government of

Columbus, Georgia were submitted and approved upon the adoption of a motion

made by Councilor Allen. Seconded by Councilor Baker and carried unanimously by

those ten members of Council present for this meeting.

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REVOCATION HEARING: The Finance Department- Revenue Division is recommending

that the alcoholic beverage license of Ms. Martha Delia Whatley d/b/a The Dawg

House be revoked.



Ms. Pam Hodge, Finance Director came forward and presented a detailed

time-line that was conducted in them performing the audit of The Dawg House.



She said in August 2008, Ms. Whatley came in and they discussed with her

the requirements at this location to be classified as a restaurant. She said

originally her intentions were to be a bar; however, because of this location,

the only thing she would qualify for in order to serve alcohol would be a

restaurant; which has the 50/50 food to alcohol ratio. She said on November 12,

2008 the alcohol license was issued and she was advised that there would be a

thorough 90-day audit of her compliance. Therefore, on February 24, 2009, they

did send a letter out with the information requesting information for the audit

period, which would be from the date of November 17th through the end of

February.



Ms. Hodge said on March 24th, they took an inventory of all the food and

alcohol that was done by the auditors. She said through April, May and the

first part of June they had numerous meetings exchanging information with Ms.

Whatley between her and the auditors, as they worked through the audit. She

said some of the issues that they discovered during the audit, the bookkeeping

records were not adequate and the point of sales data was not accurate; which

was information that they obtained when conducting the audit. She said the

daily sales information by food and alcohol was not available and there were no

guest checks available to tie out to any ledger. She said we were unable to tie

purchase receipts to the ledger of the information that was provided by the

owner and without this detailed information, their approach for the audit was

to do it from an indirect method.



She said what this means is that they took all the receipts that was

provided to them for the purchase of food, all the alcohol that was purchased

from the distributors, backed out any inventory that remained as of that date,

calculated the sales of the food based on the menu prices and the sale of

alcohol and actually used the lowest drink price that was provided to them for

mixed drinks; and the average beer price in order to conduct the total alcohol

sale.



Ms. Hodge said the conclusion of the audit showed that alcohol was 57.1%

and 42.9% food; therefore, on June 15th they sent a certified letter to Ms.

Whatley indicating their decision to recommend revocation of the alcohol

license. She said since that time, they have had several conversations with Ms.

Whatley and others regarding this audit. She said originally her request was to

delay this hearing, but she doesn?t have the authority to delay this matter or

allow for additional time on this matter, but is a decision that has to be made

by this Council. She said she would now like to allow Ms. Whatley time to

address the Council regarding this audit.



City Attorney Fay then advised Ms. Whatley that she could come forward to

address the Council on this issue.



Mr. Richard Cross, Legal Counsel for Ms. Delia Whatley said many of the

items that have been presented they do agree with. He said there was an

indirect method done and said they don?t contest that they don?t understand all

of the matters surrounding the indirect method; however, given Ms. Whatley?s

determination she has far more food that she did sell than alcohol. Ms.

Whatley said her percentages were 52% alcohol to 48% food.



He said there were several errors that they believe were present when they

reviewed the indirect method that was used. He then cited some examples to

include the 6% tax on alcohol was not deducted from $100,000 worth of alcohol;

which would be around $6,000.00 that would be deducted. He said there were also

several items that were not included in their food sales, which include

approximately $2,200 worth of Pepsi products. He said given the profit margin

that was allocated, 344% that would be around $7,500. He said that is a $13,500

swing, which is just only example.



Mr. Cross said what they are asking the Council for today is either to

provide a new 90-day period for determination to start over with today?s date

or whatever date the Council deems appropriate and let?s allow for a new period

because this period that was reviewed has several errors or an alternative

would be to provide a 60-day grace period to have their accountant go through

and review everything, as well as allow the City to review their records and

make any changes that needs to be made.



After the conclusion of Mr. Cross? presentation in this hearing, Director

of Finance Pam Hodge responded to questions of Mayor Pro Tem Turner Pugh with

respect to the procedures in performing the audit for other restaurants being

the same for all businesses.



Deputy City Manager Arrington also responded to questions as far as the

parking requirements for the facility.



Councilor Baker said he has met with Ms. Whatley several times, as well as

the auditors and have spent a couple weeks in reviewing this matter. He said he

see it quiet often with small businesses when they are trying to get their

business off the ground; whereby the owners spend an awful lot of time, 15 to

20 hours a day trying to get the business going up and sometimes they do forget

about the recordkeeping and they do get lax. He said he understands what she is

trying to do, as getting a new business going is tough. He said it appears that

she did get behind and haven?t had time to finish reconstructing her records;

therefore, he is not so sure how complete the audit was and that concerns him.

He said the only objective of an audit is to get accurate data so that we can

make a good decision and he is not convinced that happened. He said before we

take away somebody?s livelihood and put employees on the street, he would

prefer that we have an accurate audit one way or the other. He then asked if

the Finance Department would object if we did consider an extension or another

audit period.



Ms. Hodge said that would definitely be the decision of the Council, but

the concern that she has is that they went out and the records for that period

of time were not in order nor could she reconstruct from her point of sale

register any of those days; therefore, she doesn?t know if any information

since that time would be in any different shape than the information that they

found.



Councilor Baker said so we won?t stretch it out too far, he was thinking

June, July and August, which will be 45-days; and said it will be done one way

or another. He said that would give her time to get her recordkeeping in order,

as she knows that she needs to do, which she has admitted to.

He said his motion would be to give her additional time to get things in order.



Ms. Whatley said during this time her father passed away and the point of

sales system went down, as well as her computer crashed. She said it was not

just a case of her not doing. She said she did give the auditors five different

days that they requested from the point of sales system and said she opened up

everything that she has there.



Members of the Council expressed their views regarding this matter, after

which Ms. Whatley and Ms. Hodge responded to questions of members of the

Council.



Ms. Whatley said they were doing ribs and chicken on the weekend to boost

up the food sales and said that was counted in the audit and said she didn?t

realize it. She said there were a lot of mistakes made, i.e. the price of her

lowest drink down as low as $4.50 which is not correct; which makes a big

difference. She said she has five cooks and three bartenders and said it is

obvious that she is trying to push her food sales. She said she had to make

payments on a buffet table in order to get this started. She said she feels

like they did make the food requirements.



Councilor McDaniel asked if any of the information that Ms. Whatley found

after the audit was it included in the final audit.



Ms. Yvonne Ivy of the Revenue Division, said when they reviewed the

purchase invoices they tried to determine when she purchased her ribs and

chicken and they were not able to find that in the purchase invoices. She said

in addition to that, they tried to reconcile what she told them; therefore,

they even went back through the receipts to try to determine when she purchased

all of the ribs and chicken, but were not able to find that.



Councilor McDaniel said he is not questioning the City?s Audit Department,

but said he has known Ms. Whatley for approximately 30 years and said he can?t

believe that she wouldn?t tell the truth. He said she probably thought she was

doing right and the Audit Department doesn?t agree with it. He then asked

Councilor Baker to restate his motion.



Councilor Baker said he would just like to set another conditional time

period. He said he is not going to grant her approval or non-approval, but

would like to set another conditional probation period for them to recalculate

the audit. He said rather than extend it out too far, if we used June, July &

August then in 45-days, it would be settled one way or another.



Councilor McDaniel then seconded the motion, as stated above.



Councilor Allen said he and Ms. Whatley have had several conversations

since last fall regarding the situation of her alcohol license, the audit and

other things. He said the concern that he has have been addressed by her, in

that she has added additional staff and has an attorney now. He said he thinks

this will help her move forward and head in the right direction. He said her

business is in Council District 6 and said he is hesitant to take her license

at this point, but said he would like to point out to Ms. Whatley that he has

received telephone calls from residents in the area about spill over from the

crowd. He said he knows that she can?t control the crowd once they leave the

site, and said that he has talked with the Police Department and they have

received at least one telephone call; about a disturbance and a hit and run. He

said he would like to encourage Ms. Whatley for the benefit of the residential

area, to avoid any future situation to add some type of security.



In response to a question of Mayor Pro Tem Turner Pugh, as to whether or

not we have ever extended the audit time on previous hearings, Ms. Ivey said

that she could remember that we did extend it for a business called ?The Draft

that was located in Bibb City. She said they also did it for the ?Saloon &

Oyster Bar? when it was Jeffery Jackson. She said she believes that we gave

them an additional 90-days.



Mayor Pro Tem Turner Pugh then asked, whenever a person applies for an

alcoholic beverage license, do we give them written documentation on what is

expected of them for that first 90-days in business? Ms. Ivey stated that they

do; saying when they met with Ms. Whatley they informed her of what they would

be looking for, as well as for her to maintain adequate records. She said they

told her that they would be looking for how she calculated her receipts

pertaining to alcoholic beverages and how she calculated those receipts for

food sales. She said we informed her also that we would be looking at all of

her purchases and if needed, we would do an indirect method to make sure that

the receipts that she reported as income for the year reconcile back to her

inventory because her inventory would determine what her revenue would be for

that restaurant.



Ms. Ivey said Ms. Whatley signed an affidavit attesting to the fact that

she did understand that in 90-days we would come out and do a compliance audit.

She said they didn?t put the portion about what they would be looking at in

written form because that is the norm whenever an audit is performed.



Mayor Pro Tem Turner Pugh asked Director of Finance Hodge to look at

developing a pamphlet that can be provided to those persons applying for a

restaurant license, which outlines the requirements and expectations of those

persons applying for the license so there won?t be any misunderstanding on what

is expected of them.



Councilor Henderson asked City Attorney Fay to provide a copy of the

requirements for a restaurant that has an alcoholic beverage license, which

outlines what those licensees are allowed to do under the law; and those things

that they are not allowed to do.



Councilor Woodson asked the staff to also consider putting this pamphlet

on the CCG website.

After more than thirty-five minutes of discussion on this hearing, with

the staff responding to further questions of the Council, the question was then

called on Councilor Baker?s motion to allow for an extension for another 45-day

audit period, which was seconded by Councilor McDaniel.



In clarifying the motion, Councilor Baker said the audit period would be

90-days of June, July & August, but said the auditors would be back out in

45-days to resolve. Ms. Ivey said they would be looking at the 30 days of June,

31 days of July and 30-days of August, to which Councilor Baker said that is

correct.



Mayor Wetherington then called the final question on the motion, which

carried by a vote of 9 ? 1, with Mayor Pro Tem Turner Pugh voting no and all

other nine members of Council present for this meeting voting yes.



After the conclusion of this matter, and the approval of the motion, City

Attorney Fay pointed out that there will be a review by the Finance Department

at the end of that period and they will report back to this Council.



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EXECUTIVE SESSION:



City Attorney Fay pointed out that Mayor Wetherington would like to have

an executive session to discuss a personnel matter. Councilor Anthony then so

moved. Seconded by Councilor Allen and carried unanimously by those ten members

of Council present for this meeting.



Mayor Pro Tem Turner Pugh said that before we go into executive session,

she would like to go ahead and take action on Items Number 1 through 3 on the

City Attorney?s Agenda. There were no objections.

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CITY ATTORNEY'S AGENDA:



THE FOLLOWING THREE ORDINANCES WERE SUBMITTED AND EXPLAINED BY CITY

ATTORNEY FAY AND ADOPTED BY THE COUNCIL ON SECOND READING PURSUANT TO THE

ADOPTION OF A SINGLE MOTION MADE BY MAYOR PRO TEM TURNER PUGH AND SECONDED BY

COUNCILOR HENDERSON, WHICH CARRIED UNANIMOUSLY BY THOSE TEN MEMBERS OF COUNCIL

PRESENT FOR THIS MEETINTG: ________



An Ordinance (09-38) ? Rezoning property located at 6003 Warm Springs Road

is proposed for rezoning from SFR3 (Single Family Residential 3) zoning

district to RMF1 (Residential Multi Family 1) zoning district.

(12-CA-09-Erickson) The proposed use is for single-family homes.



An Ordinance (09-39) ? Rezoning property located at 500 Fulton Avenue is

proposed for rezoning from NC (Neighborhood Commercial) zoning district to GC

(General Commercial) zoning district. (11-A-09-Jarrell)

The proposed use is for automotive repair.



An Ordinance (09-40) ? Amending the text to the Unified Development

Ordinance to amend several typographical and minor errors in Chapter 4 of the

Unified Development Ordinance. (13-A-09-Planning Department)

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ZONING PUBILC HEARING:



THE FOLLOWING ZONING ORDINANCE WAS SUBMITTED AND EXPLAINED BY CITY

ATTORNEY FAY AND INTRODUCED ON FIRST READING AND A PUBLIC HEARING HELD AS

ADVERTISED: ___________



An Ordinance ? Rezoning property located at 3502 Kay Circle is proposed

for rezoning from SFR2 (Single Family Residential 2) zoning district to GC

(General Commercial) zoning district. (14-CA-09-Schreck) The proposed use is

for Knights of Columbus Assembly Hall.



PROPONENT & OPPONENTS:



Father Jerry Schreck, Pastor of St. Anne?s Church, 2000 Kay Circle, and

Mr. Lewis Hurst, Current Grand Knight of the Knights of Columbus Council came

forward and responded to questions of members of the Council.



Father Schreck said the property is currently owned by the church and

since 2000 it has been occupied by their Community Outreach Program, which

provides food and clothing assistance to individuals and families who are

referred to them by the Department of Family & Children Services. He said they

would like to move to another location, as they do need more space.



He said the Knights of Columbus currently own a piece of property which is

located just to the south of 3502 Kay Circle and said the church would like to

purchase that land from the Knights of Columbus and then sell the current house

at 3502 to the Knights of Columbus for an assembly hall. He said on the piece

of property that they would purchase they plan to build a larger warehouse type

facility for their outreach community. He said they would purchase the land

from the Knights of Columbus and continue to operate the Outreach Program from

out the house until such time as they could move the outreach.



Councilor Baker asked why are they requesting a general commercial

classification, as that causes him great concern because this property borders

on a residential neighborhood and church neighborhood. He said to open that to

general commercial causes some concern.



Father Schreck said because the Knights of Columbus would want to use it

as an assembly hall for their regular weekly and monthly meetings, they were

advised by the Planning Department that this is what the designation needed to

be.



Mr. Rick Jones of the Planning Department said that is correct. He said you

will be looking at a general commercial requirement, because they are going to

be looking at opening a lodge or club and said it would have to be in that

zoning classification to allow that.



He said the comprehensive plan also supports that area as being general

commercial as well; however, everything is in compliance here. He said they do

have a condition in the ordinance for an assembly hall only in the event that

the Knights of Columbus or anyone else left later on, to make sure we don?t

have a higher commercial use that could go in.



Discussion continued on this matter, after which Mr. Hurst and Mr. Jones

then responded to further questions of members of the Council.



Councilor Henderson asked Mr. Hurst if he had any objections to a

condition being placed in the ordinance to state that the property will not be

leased out to outside entities, and that it will be used specially by and for

the Knights of Columbus. Mr. Hurst said he didn?t have any objections to the

condition.



City Attorney Fay said that would encumber the property if they couldn?t

lease it out. He said we can put something like that in there; however, it?s

going to be, in effect; a deed restriction on this property and said if someone

wants it removed, they would have to come back before this body.



Councilor Henderson said that?s the intention. He said he would then make

the motion and leave it up to the City Attorney to properly word the motion to

allow that. He said the thrust of the motion is that the property be utilized

for and by the Knights of Columbus, direct use only and not subject to be

leased to other parties.



Mr. Hurst said the Ladies Auxiliary, who also meets at the church uses the

facility. Councilor Henderson said we would count them as part of the Knights

of Columbus.



Councilor Baker then seconded Councilor Henderson?s motion.



After approximately twenty-five minutes of discussion on this subject,

with Mr. Hurst and Mr. Jones responding to even further questions of members of

the Council, Councilor Davis asked Mr. Hurst if they would object to a

condition also being placed in the ordinance about no billboards.



Mr. Hurst said they have no plans of putting up a billboard or anything

along that line. He said at the old facility, there was a real nice sign out by

the road and said he don?t think that there are plans to put up any sign or

billboard. He said if there is any kind of signage, it may be on the building

and will be something small indicating that this was a Council Hall. He said he

does not object to a condition being placed in the ordinance.



Councilor Davis said he would like to make a motion that there be no

billboards placed in the area. Seconded by Councilor Baker.



City Attorney Fay said you would have to get into the sign provision of

the Unified Development Ordinance and look at how billboards are defined, but

said they would use that definition to say billboards are prohibited, as

defined in the Unified Development Ordinance.



Mr. Rick Jones said the condition that is placed in the ordinance is

limited to that use of the assembly hall. He said it doesn?t allow for anything

else to go out there, which includes billboards.



City Attorney Fay said that should cover it. Councilor Davis then withdrew

his motion.



Father Schreck said there are approximately 12 parking spaces located

behind the house, but the church has a much larger parking lot just to the east

of the property and said they have already made it known to the Knights of

Columbus that they are more than welcome to use that parking lot for any events

that they might have, which would eliminate the need for anyone to park on the

house. He said the house is very small and said there will never be 150 people

meeting in the house at one time; and said for any larger event we have made it

known to the Knights of Columbus that they are welcome to use the church hall

for any larger gatherings.



Councilor Anthony asked if we make this general commercial would there be

others on the same side of the street who might want to come and request a

general commercial classification. He said he would like to know what are the

plans for the adjacent property on either side.



Mr. Rick Jones said when this application came before them, they were

trying to be as thorough as they could in terms of looking at that in

particularly the potential impact to the neighborhood around it; and because it

was really going to be limited in terms to the actual use itself, and will

still be a part of the church use, they looked at that and tried to accommodate

them as best as they knew how with the general commercial use. He said anything

else out there will have a tough time going into that residential neighborhood

because of the existing land use issues out there and because the comprehensive

plan doesn?t support that. He said if anyone else wanted to go in on Kay Circle

or an adjacent street, they would have a tough time in doing so.



Mayor Pro Tem Turner Pugh asked if the condition that is already a part of

the ordinance, does it not cover everything that we have asked for? City

Attorney Fay said it does, with the exception of the leasing to a third party.

He said that would be a second condition.



After Mr. Hurst responded to still further questions of the Council, the

question was then called on the motion to amend the ordinance, which carried

unanimously by ten members of Council present for this meeting.



City Attorney Fay then advised that the ordinance; as amended, would be

back for a vote in two weeks.



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THE FOLLOWING ORDINANCE WAS ALSO SUBMITTED AND EXPLAINED BY CITY ATTORNEY

FAY AND INTRODUCED ON FIRST READING: _______



An Ordinance ? Amending the ?Official Street Map, City of Columbus,

Georgia,? by changing the official street name for the section of public

roadway currently designated as Mutec Drive to Corporate Ridge Parkway, to be

one street name, consistent with the length of roadway; authorizing the

replacement of existing street name signs labeled as Mutec Drive to Corporate

Ridge Parkway.



City Attorney Fay said if there were no questions of the Council, this

ordinance would be back in two weeks for a vote of the Council.



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City Attorney Fay said we would hold off on the next item, as listed below

until after we hold the executive session on a personnel matter.



Mayor Wetheington pointed out that we have already taken the vote, as

recorded earlier to allow the Council to go into an executive session to

discuss a personnel matter; however, he again called the question on the motion

again, which carried unanimously by those eight members of Council present at

the time, with Councilors Allen and Barnes being absent for this vote, with the

time being 10:08 a.m. and the regular meeting being adjourned to allow the

Council to go into executive session.



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With Mayor Pro Tem Turner Pugh noticing that we have only one individual

listed on the Public Agenda, asked that we go ahead and handle the public

agenda prior to going into executive session. She then made a motion to go back

into regular session to handle the public agenda. Seconded by Councilor

McDaniel and carried unanimously by those seven members of Council present at

the time, with Councilors Anthony, Hunter and Woodson absent for this vote.

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PUBLIC AGENDA:



MS. DARLENE H. KITTRELL, RE: PITBULL ATTACK IN THE LAKEBOTTOM PARK

AREA:__________________________________



Ms. Darlene H. Kittrell said she is not here this morning to protest pit

bulls or to infringe on anyone?s right to have a domesticated animal of their

choosing. She then went into some details outlining an encounter that she and

her pet had with a pit bull down at Lakebottom Park on July 2nd at

approximately 7:00 a.m. in the morning while she was walking in the park with

her dog on the north end of the park at the playground when a chocolate pit

bull donning a broken chain attacked them.



She said her dog sustained serious ear damage and had to have

reconstructive surgery on his ear and stitches in his thigh on each side.



She said she is here this morning in order to make the public aware to

please report these incidents. She said since this has happened she has found

out that there were four other similar incidents in Lakebottom involving pit

bull attacks where there were broken chains on the dogs.

Ms. Kittrell said reports aren?t been made; however, she thinks it is the

nature of this kind of incident that makes it different to report. She said it

is very important that these incidents be reported and she wants this to be the

first thing that she gets across to people to report these incidents.



She said she doesn?t know the official rule of how 911 are supposed to

address these calls; but said she only knows that in this particular incident

and in several other accounts when calls were made, 911 told the individual

that they needed to call Animal Control; however, they don?t open until 10:00

a.m. She said that things change and said maybe there is a prevalent of these

types of attacks than it was back then. She said maybe we would need to triage

these incidents when someone calls.



Ms. Kittrell said it might also be time for us to look at the way we

restrain our pets. She said maybe chains are not the way to do it, as it

creates anxiety and stress and maybe we just need to require fencing. She said

she doesn?t have the answers, but said she would be delighted to come back to

the Council once you have investigated this matter.



Councilor Woodson said that she would like for the City Manager to have

the staff to do some educational segments on CCG-TV to highlight what a citizen

needs to do when there is an incident or encounter with a dog, as well as the

responsibility of pet owners.



Ms. Drale Short, of the Special Enforcement Division said that 10:00 a.m.

is the time that the Animal Control Shelter opens and said they are on the

streets 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. She said 911 picks up dispatching for

them when they close the shelter at 6:00 p.m. and they dispatch until 8:00 a.m.

the next morning when they open back up. She said there are impoundment fees,

as well as citations can be issued if the animal is not properly vaccinated and

permitted in Muscogee County; including the court costs. She said the owner?s

need to also remember that they are liable, as if they were in a car accident,

for the actions of their animals. She said she thinks that a lot of people

don?t come forward because they recognize that liability. She said it is very

important that all animal attacks and/or animal bites are reported for various

reasons.



Councilor Hunter also reiterated the need for an educational segment on

CCG-TV with regards to animal control especially in parks. He said it would be

great if we had an animal park. He said some of the concerns that he has is

that some of the owners who are down at the park don?t have their dogs on a

leash.



Councilor Anthony said for a point of clarification, if a citizen comes in

contact with dog, to come 911, to which Ms. Short said that is correct.

She said that is the first reaction, as if something is going on in your home.

She said call 911 and they will dispatch an officer out regardless if they are

open or not.



Councilor Allen asked if the BID Purple People helps patrol the park area.

He said he would encourage the staff to see if they could possibly assist in

this area.



Councilor Davis apologized to Ms. Kittrrell for the ordeal that she had to

encounter and said he would also encourage the staff to make it a priority to

go ahead and do those educational segments on this subject matter.



Deputy City Manager Arrington said Ms. Short has put together an Public

Service Awareness presentation and said that we will put that on CCG-TV and on

the City?s website. He said it focuses on safety tips, dog owners?

responsibilities and danger signs to look for, as well as reporting mechanism

in an event that something happens.

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MERITORIOUS RESOLUTIONS;



Edwin Jackson: Councilor Hunter said he would like for the City Attorney

to prepare a resolution honoring Shaw High School graduate, Edwin Jackson, who

was a member of the 2001 State Championship Baseball Team at Shaw High; now

Pitcher for the Detroit Tigers, and on last week was named to the All-Star

Baseball Team.



Thunder on the Hooch: Councilor Anthony said he would also like for the

City Attorney to prepare a resolution commending WTVM for putting on the

Thunder on the Hooch Celebration.

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CITY ATTORNEY?S AGENDA CONTINUED:



THE FOLLOWING FOUR RESOLUTIONS EXPRESSING APPRECIATOIN TO THOSE VARIOUS

EMPLOYEES WHO RECENTLY RETIRED FROM THE SERVICES OF THE COLUMBUS CONSOLIDATED

GOVERNMENT WERE SUBMITTED AND APPROVED BY HE COUNCIL PURSUANT TO THE ADOPTION

OF A SINGLE MOTION MADE BY MAYOR PRO TEM TURNER PUGH AND SECONDED BY COUNCILOR

WOODSON, WHICH CARRIED UNANIMOUSLY BY THOSE TEN MEMBERS OF COUNCIL PRESENT FOR

THIS MEETING; __________________________________________________



A Resolution (237-09) ? Expressing appreciation to Mr. Ronald Wayne

Sanders upon his retirement from Inspections & Codes Enforcement after over 11

years of service.



A Resolution (238-09) ? Expressing appreciation to Mr. Bernard Spicer upon

his retirement from the Columbus Police Department after 20 years of service.



A Resolution (239-09) ? Expressing appreciation to Mr. Aaron Sterling, Jr.

upon his retirement from Information Technology after 34 years of service.



A Resolution (240-09) ? Expressing appreciation to Ms. Johnnie Mae Walker

upon her retirement from the Columbus Police Department after 29 years of

service.



*** *** ***



THE FOLLOWING TWO RESOLUTIONS CONVEYING CONDOLENCES TO THE FAMILY OF THOSE

EMPLOYEES WHO RECENTLY PASSED AWAY WERE SUBMITTED AND APPROVED BY THE COUNCIL

PURSUANT TO THE ADOPTION OF A SINGLE MOTION MADE BY MAYOR PRO TEM TURNER PUGH

AND SECONDED BY COUNCILOR WOODSON, WHICH CARRIED UNANIMOUSLY BY THOSE TEN

MEMBERS OF COUNCIL PRESENT FOR THIS MEETING;

______________________________________________________



A Resolution (241-09) ? Conveying condolences to the family of Mr. Richard

P. Colwell, employee with the Columbus Police Department, who passed away on

May 26, 2009.



A Resolution (242-09) ? Conveying condolences to the family of Mr. Henry

C. Graham, employee with the Columbus Water Works, who passed away on May 21,

2009.



*** *** ***



EXECUTIVE SESSION:



Regarding the request of Mayor Wetherington, Councilor Allen made a motion

to allow the Council to go into an executive session to discuss a personnel

matter. Seconded by Councilor Barnes and carried unanimously by those ten

members of Council present for this meeting.



At 10:25 a.m. the regular session was adjourned to allow the Council to go

into an executive session.



At 10:53 a.m. the regular session was called back to order, at which time

Mayor Wetherington pointed out that the Council met in an executive session to

discuss a personnel matter, but no votes was taken.



*** *** ***



THE FOLLOWING ORDINANCE WAS ALSO SUBMITTED AND EXPLAINED BY CITY ATTORNEY

FAY AND AFTER MORE THAN AN HOUR OF DISCUSIOSN WAS INTRODUCED ON FIRST READING

AND ITS FIRST READING CONTINUED FOR TWO WEEKS:_______________________________



An Ordinance ? Establishing a position of Director of Crime Prevention

and setting a Pay Grade of G24 for such position; and for other purposes.



City Attorney Fay said this ordinance is on first reading today and now is

the time for any questions to be asked and/or discussion to be held.



Councilor Woodson said she has looked at the job description, as well as

the information provided and said she was wondering if the board that meet to

come up with the job description, were they going to be the same ones

interviewing people for the various programs, do we have a list of those

programs that this Director will be addressing and looking at.



Mayor Wetherington said he would provide a copy of that list to Councilor

Woodson.



Councilor Woodson said in order for her to feel more comfortable before

voting on this ordinance, she would like to have the Mayor to make a

presentation of the proposed plans for this department, as well as, outline

those who currently serves on the commission. She said she would like to know

the Mayor?s vision with respect to this department. She said she would also

like to know who is going to assist this department with the educational

component. She said she is 100% in support of it, but said she just needs some

additional information.



Mayor Wetherington said as you know, we talked about having a Crime

Prevention Director when we were campaigning for the Local Option Sales Tax and

said he then appointed the Commission that worked with Frank Meyers and said we

have had 10 ? 12 meetings where we invited the community in to hear the

discussions and have compiled all that information and then came back to the

Council a month or so ago and told you the direction that we wanted to go in;

but said he can certainly provide Councilor Woodson with the information that

she has requested.



Councilor Woodson said she thinks that would really help show the public

what this consists of and what we are really trying to do; and is this really

going to meet their request from us when we did the sales tax.



Mayor Wetherington said he is concerned about the same things that you are

concerned about. He said we need to have job descriptions, a mission for this

person to go in and said we want to look at other cities to see what they are

doing. He said he don?t want to create a Crime Prevention Program just for the

sake of having a Crime Prevention Program. He said he has told the Council that

all the money that we spend in this Crime Prevention arena will come back to

you and he will get your input on it. He said he came from a background where

people violate the law, you put them in jail, but said he thinks there is more

to having a safe and secure community than that. He said we have to do

something on the front end to try to keep people from committing crimes. He

said when he left the Department of Corrections in 2003 there were about 50,000

inmates in the system and today he has been told there is about 60,000, which

is a 10,000 population increase. He said that is a lot of people and said he,

along with some of the other people that have talked with him feels that we

need some type of program on the front end whether it?s recreation, education,

jobs for inmates that are coming out of the system. He said all of those

areas, he would like to see us target and he believes that we can make a

difference. He said yes, we will be plowing new ground and there are a lot of

things that we will have to look at to make sure that they work.



He said Dr. Pennell of the Muscogee County School District, who was a

member of the Crime Prevention Task Force, says that there is a lot of areas

that we can touch within the Muscogee County School District, with drop-outs

and other different kinds of programs that are working. He said he has also

talked with Columbus Technical School about training programs for these inmates

that are getting out of prison and need a job. He said Mr. Mike Gaymon of the

Chamber of Commerce has worked very closely with that and have talked with

Columbus Technical College as well. He said there are a lot of areas that we

want to look at. He said no, we don?t have a defined program, but said that is

what he is hoping the new Director will do; he will help him look at programs

that could possibly work and reduce the criminal element of our society.



Mayor Pro Tem Turner Pugh said she has to caution us because when we had

the Budget Review Committee Meeting; this position was placed in the budget

with the understanding that before job descriptions was put out for hire that

it would come back to this Council first and said that was her only contention

with it. She said we made that commitment during the Budge session in order to

put it in the budget; with the exceptions of the position would come back to

Council first and then we would get everything setup and the jobs being rated.



Councilor Allen said his concern goes to the point of establishing this as

a Director of an Office at a Pay Grade 24. He said it seems as though before we

establish a whole new department with a Director, staff and etc. that we should

wade into the water before we jump in. He said it seems like this should be a

person in the Mayor?s office reporting to the Mayor, working with the board. He

said he would like more information on the board that they are going to be

working with how that will be organized and structured.



He said he thinks that during his first year, the position should report

to the Mayor offering oversight, direct supervision, and inter-action with

other departments within the City, in particular with the City Auditor. He said

he thinks that is a department that should be involved in structuring this and

going forward since we will be dealing with revenue from a sales tax, the

Auditor should be involved. He said the job description that has been provided

requires a lot of measurement and coordination and he thinks that the City

Auditor could be valuable in those particular aspects of the job.



Councilor Allen said he thinks we need to start out slow with this, leave

it under your office and work more closely with the Council until we get this

off the ground and then we can let it sail on its own once we get it structured

and get all the guidelines in place.



Councilor Anthony said he would like to thank the Mayor for his

willingness to listen to some of the voters in the community who have said that

in addition to having the police force, let?s intervene and have some

prevention programs to keep people out of the system. He said he also wants to

thank you for setting up the Task Force, which he has had an opportunity to sit

in on some of their lengthy meetings to determine what is going on in our

community and what is affected. He said he thinks that is reflected in the

major duties, as well as in the knowledge, skills, abilities and experience

required for the position.



He said perhaps it would be useful for us if the Mayor would have them to

come back and present the five (5) major areas of findings that the Commission

has found that are crucial needs, as well as the prevention programs successful

locally, as well as State and Nationally. He said we have some already

operating at some level in the community, which would support what Councilor

Allen has said, in that a Director could then give some directions to some of

those initiatives. He said he thinks it would be helpful to give us a picture

of those five areas where they have identified those crucial needs.



Councilor Hunter said he applauds the Mayor?s efforts in this regard in

trying to deal with this on the front end. He said you come to this with years

of service in public safety and said he has practiced law for over thirty

years, much of it criminal and juvenile law and said over the years we have

seen our prisons in Georgia and Alabama, as well as all across this country

fill up to the point where they are busting at the seams. He said in Alabama it

was so bad that some of the prisoners were sent to Louisiana to basically a

commercial, privately run prison; which meant that loved ones who wanted to

visit their relatives had to travel across Mississippi to get to Louisiana to

see them; however, he said there has to be a better way.



He said until we address the issue of while it is that people commit

crimes, it is not going to stop, but continue to snowball. He said we realize

that we cannot continue to afford to spend the money that is necessary to house

prisoners. He said mentally we couldn?t do because it brings so much suffering

to the relatives and to their respective communities. He said he applaud the

Mayor?s efforts in trying to make a dent in this on the front end. He said the

key is going to be in hiring a smart Director, a Director with vision. He said

the interviewing process is going to be key because he think when you get your

candidates in, let them offer to you what they propose to do in this City; what

programs they propose. He said that key in finding that Director who is sharp

and really have a vision for tackling this. He said we couldn?t continue to do

what we have done, because as the Mayor has pointed out, everyday the prison

population is growing. He said everyday more people are suffering and in this

economy, we just can?t to do business as usual, we have to find a better way to

do and said this is one way to try to treat the problem.



Mayor Wetherington said when he left the Corrections Department; the

budget was approaching $1 billion. He said we have money in the L.O.S.T.

funding to build another tower at the jail, which we need. He said these

additional 100 officers will be aggressive in enforcing the law, but he thinks

that we are going to have to do other things to look at why people commit crime

and try to turn the tide.



Councilor Henderson said he is really encouraged by the opportunity that

this present for us to create some meaning programs that may cut down a little

bit on the supply line for our jail and ultimately to the correction system

throughout the State. He said just from the comments he has heard everybody

agrees that this is a vital component of the vision that you have set forth and

you sold us on, and we bought into it, and then the community has whole hearty

bought into it. He said he thinks the pressure is on to follow through on the

commitment and he thinks this is a big part of it.

He said the Mayor Pro Tem had indicated that we had budgeted for this

position, but said in his mind, we budgeted for it initially, as we put

$900,000 in the budget as a means of showing our commitment and good faith in

getting some of this operational as soon as possible.



Councilor Henderson said his fear is that there are going to be a lot of

community organizations who see this as an opportunity to fund some really good

ideas that they don?t have the resources to get off the ground and some of them

will be well worth investing money from this area into and others may not. He

said for us to help ensure the success of whoever ends up operating this area,

if we set some guidelines first and maybe took those ideas from the Task Force

that you (Mayor) put together, which are some very able and qualified folks;

and let?s determine what the money will be spent on. He said we have talked

about recreation centers; however, he thinks that we need to be specific on

what type of capital improvements will be spent with this money before people

start saying that we are supplementing our CIP program with money set aside for

Crime Prevention. He said maybe we need to define the grant application

process, as we talked about a critical piece of this process being measurement

and accountability, we need someone to understand what they are looking for

when they provide the information to us.



He said Councilor Baker brought up a great idea with respect to the RDC

(The Regional Development Center); whereby they have a specialty of writing

grants and said maybe it is something that we can do to use them to set some

kind of parameters for us when we evaluate these requests for grants when they

come in. He said if we currently have someone on staff now and after we have

gotten a lot of the infrastructure already set up and completed; then that

would narrow the focus of this position to just bringing in the grants,

accessing them and following them, as well as analyzing the results. He said he

thinks it could be very important to have this person?s actions guided a great

deal by a board. He said this would become a political football going forward;

maybe not in this Administration, but certainly going forward, it has the

opportunity to become a difficult thing to manage as you get pressure from

people in different communities for different projects.



Councilor Henderson said he supports completely what the Mayor is doing

and he is not quite sure that we don?t need to hire somebody, but said

In these economic times it might be a good idea to evaluate and come back with

the results of the evaluation as to whether or not we have staff that could

handle this, if we got the template going.



Mayor Wetherington said this director would answer to a board. He said

right now we have fifteen members on the Crime Prevention Task Force and said

that is too many. He said he is going to narrow it down to about seven members,

which he will bring those seven names to the Council. He said if you have any

names that the Council would like to submit to him that you would like to be on

the Commission, he would certainly take a good look at it.



Councilor Barnes said he attended several of the meetings of the

15-member Commission that the Mayor appointed and said it was really detailed

and they had a lot of good discussions in a number of areas.



He said this is a multi-focal problem and this is a step of addressing the

problem on the front end and this is just the first stage of the labor process,

as this entire thing is going to be very laborious as far as working out all

the myriad of things that are involved in this. He said he has heard in the

community, as late as last night, comments asking if we are going to start

reaching out to many grassroots people and organizations or will we continue

having people who are normally on the boards that we have.



Councilor Barnes said whoever this person is, they would have to be

someone who has a combination of upper level education and experience because

there are a number of areas dealing with job, substance abuse, training, who

will not be educated, but have a wealth of experience in a number of different

areas. He said this is a very good start in beginning this very laborious

process.



Councilor Allen said instead of having the Mayor appoint seven members of

the Commission, it may be good to stretch it to eleven members and all of us

nominate someone to the Commission. He said it seems like that would work

better, to give a broad section of the community, by having someone from each

Council District and the two at-large members, and one appointed by the Mayor.



Mayor Wetherington said he will certainly entertain that, but said he

found out that the bigger the board is, it?s harder to get people to agree.

He said he would certainly take a look at that.



Councilor Davis said he thinks the vision is noble and the goal is worthy,

but said he thinks that we all need to get on the same page as far as

interpretation as far as where we are heading with this new department that is

being presented. He said he is really not ready to make any decision today, as

they just received this information on Tuesday. He said he does have a lot of

questions. He said he would like to have an opportunity to compile his thoughts

and write it down and he can get it to the Mayor?s Office.



He said the board that was put together that initially brought all the

vision to us, where they discussed the brainchild of the concept, did a lot of

the information on the job description, the responsibilities and duties, did a

lot of the compilation come from that group. Mayor Wetherington said that it

did.



Mayor Wetherington said the Commission is still together, as he hasn?t

made any changes to the 15-member board, but said he has told them the majority

of the Commission that he is going to reduce that to about 7 or 8 people and

said he will take into consideration of Councilor Allen?s suggestion about

Council members appointing a member.



Councilor Davis said as he stated earlier, he is not ready to make a

decision. He said the way he foresee this is when you are constructing a

building, you want it to be a solid building; then you would go through the

steps to make that happen. He said the most important factor in constructing a

building is getting the foundation laid and said nothing else will work unless

you get the foundation laid or else you will have problems with the remaining

existence of the structure and said that?s a hard lesson to learn.



He said he thinks that is where we are today. He said as stated earlier,

this is a noble vision, but he still feels like we are in the middle working on

the mechanics and the construction of the infrastructure and how all this is

going to work; and said sometimes it takes a little time. He said at the same

time, he doesn?t think that the Mayor?s intention was for the Council and

everyone else to get involved in the mechanics of it. He said we are dealing

with taxpayer?s money and we have given our assurance to the citizens of

Columbus that we are going to be responsible for that penny. He said he thinks

that it is important that we get off on the right foot and build the right

foundation and head in the right direction, not just for us today, but for the

future Administration and future Council members. He said he don?t want it to

be something that is going to be constantly adjusted. He said there is going to

be some times that the Council may probably have to make some adjustments, but

he thinks it is important to get off on a good solid foundation.



Councilor Davis said he would like to have the opportunity to gather some

of his thoughts and then get it to the Mayor that it can be compiled with all

of the other concerns of the other Council members. He said he would like to

make a motion to delay this matter for a period of time where we can get

further information and reciprocate in the same way of giving

knowledge and input back into the structure and foundation of this cause.



Mayor Wetherington said he certainly don?t have any objections to that, he

just ask that all the Council members give him input and talk to him about what

you would like to see in this Crime Prevention program. He said our citizens

voted on this concept that we were going to have a Crime Prevention Program,

along with hiring the 100 new officers and doing all the other things. He said

he thinks that they were pretty much satisfied with what you said and what he

said in trying to sell the 100 Police officers, Marshal?s, Sheriff?s Deputies

and the Crime Prevention Program. He said all he asks the Council to do is to

give him input as to what you would like to see and we will go forward with

that. He said he certainly didn?t have any intentions of not including the

Council, as we have been talking about this for a long time and he just thought

it was time to come forward with it and he totally understands what you are

saying. He said he will take it all into consideration and come back at some

point in time after the discussion and deliberations with another first

reading.



Councilor Davis said he didn?t specify a timeframe, but said Councilor

Woodson mentioned the possibility of having a formal presentation once

everything is compiled. He said he is not sure he understood exactly what she

meant by that, but if that is part of it, he is agreeable.



Mayor Wetherington said there are some things that you are not going to be

able to put on a presentation because we are all going into this, as this is

new ground that we are plowing; however, we will do the best we can in putting

a presentation together. He said a lot of this will depend on what we learn

from other cities, as well as what we learn from the director, the input that

he/or she is going to have, as well as the input that he and the Council will

have. He said he is not sure how he can put it in a presentation to say this is

what we are going to do, because he don?t know what all we are going to do.



He said all the money that we are going to spend is going to come back

before this Council. He said you will decide whether or not we spend the money

and said he is not going to spend any money without getting your input. He said

if you don?t like it, you tell him.



Mayor Wetherington said they would put together some kind of slide

presentation the best they can. Councilor Allen then asked if they could do it

within the next 30 days.

Councilor Allen then asked Councilor Davis to amend his motion to have a

presentation made to the Council within 30 days, and then seconded the motion

for a delay.



Several members of the Council then expressed their views with respect to

the motion for the delay. Councilor Woodson also clarified what she was asking

for in this presentation. She said it is not going to take 30 days to put a

presentation together.



Councilor Baker said his question goes to the wording of the ordinance

itself and said maybe the City Attorney can clarify it for him. He said when we

approved the budget, it was simply a line item and said the Mayor has mentioned

bringing expenditures before the Council and said he likes that approach, but

he would prefer that be in the form of an ordinance. He said if it is not, then

there is no control over the individual expenditures, if it is simply placed

under a Director or the Office of the Mayor. He then asked if it could be a

part of the ordinance that the expenditures come to the Council for approval.



City Attorney Fay said we could do that; however, he thinks there should

be a minimum threshold amount, if we do that.



Councilor Baker said that is something that needs to come up for

discussion at the next meeting, if we are going to delay the first reading. He

said he would like for the other Council members to give some thought about

approving the individual expenditures so that we will have some control over

it, as the money goes out. He said as he understands it, it is just a full line

item now and he really doesn?t under the controls of it; and said that is his

concern and has been all along.



Mayor Wetherington said if he wanted to send the Director somewhere to

another location to look at another program, would he be able to do that or is

this something that he would have to be approved by the Council. Councilor

Baker said that is something that we need to talk about and consider some

minimum financial thresholds as stated by City Attorney Fay. He said there may

be some minimum financial thresholds that you can meet on your own, but there

may be some others that will need the Council?s approval.



Councilor Baker said he would prefer that this be in the ordinance so

that future Mayors and Council will understand the process. City Attorney Fay

said that is something that we can discuss with Finance Director Hodge. He said

he knows that we just recently revised some of the procurement items threshold

and said we could look at that with her.



Ms. Judy Thomas, Assistant to the Mayor, then came forward and responded

to some of the concerns expressed by the Council. She said want the Commission

had envisioned was that we would have someone, like this director to help put

all of this together that you are talking about what are the responsibilities

of the board. She said the issues that would come back to the Council, the

director under the supervision of the board and then back to the Council would

put together a budget for the department, which would include travel and all

those typical things in a department budget. She said any other money that

would be expended by any other groups; organization that would be looking for a

grant would certainly come back to this Council before that is done. She said

that was the focus of the Commission all along.

She said what they were trying to do with this action is to get someone in

place who can start to put together the kinds of things that are needed for the

department.



Ms. Thomas said she could do a slide presentation on the areas of what the

Commission has said we need to be looking at; however, we can?t tell you what

the outcome of all of those areas are going to be. She said one of the things

that have been mentioned is that our recreation centers closes at 7:00 p.m. on

weeknights during the summer, and the question is, do we need to take a look at

that. She said that is something that the director and the Board can deal with

and then come back to the Council with a recommendation. She said until we can

get someone to pull all of this together, she don?t know if there is someone

who can give you the answers to many of these questions.



Ms. Thomas said she could work together with some of the Commission

members to put together some kind of presentation to tell you what they were

thinking about. She said they did have organizations that came before them,

which they felt was worthy of some additional funding through this mechanism

and others maybe not.



Mayor Wetherington said the Commission has provided the information to him

and we are relying it to you and said this Council will hold him responsible

for it. He said we would put together a budget out of this money that we

anticipate spending once the director is approved.



Councilor Davis said we have extended the opportunity to be a part of this

because this is something new. He said as far as someone compiling all of this

information, as a representative of the public, some of the conversations that

he is hearing is doesn?t the City have enough resources within already that we

could compile all of this before it gets to that stage. He said he doesn?t know

if he is totally comfortable with someone?s physiology of coming in and just

putting it all together; that is not what he has perceived. He said he is

hoping at this point that the vision is grounded enough that we all know the

direction we are heading in versus having a new entity come in and

compiling/constructing what they see is the right method in preventing crime.

He said maybe the resources are already here.



After continued discussion, Mayor Pro Tem Turner Pugh made a substitute

motion that this ordinance be continued on first reading for the next two

weeks. Seconded by Councilor Hunter and carried unanimously by those ten

members of Council present for this meeting.

At the conclusion of this lengthy discussion on this subject matter, City

Attorney Fay said this ordinance will still be on first reading in two weeks

and said it can be presented as a public hearing and individuals may make

comments for or against. He said they would look at a possible amendment on

spending thresholds expenditures, as suggested by Councilor Baker.

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

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

CITY MANAGER?S AGENDA:



THE FOLLOWING RESOLUTION WAS SUBMITTED AND EXPLAINED BY DEPUTY CITY

MANAGER ARRINGTON AND ADOPTED BY THE COUNCIL:

A Resolution (243-09) ? Authorizing the submission of an application and

if approved accept $389,077 in federal funds to perform transportation planning

activities throughout the Columbus-Phenix City Urban Area. Mayor Pro Tem

Turner Pugh moved the adoption of the resolution. Seconded by Councilor Allen.



Councilor Davis said he went through the commitment on the contract and

then asked, if the grant is accepted; he is not sure what the money is going to

be used for but he knows that there is a contributing grant, and he wants to

know will that obligate us to in the future, in the event the funding ceases,

does it obligate the City to continue with the funding of the program.



Deputy City Manager Arrington said this is an annual Transportation

Planning Grant that we get every year to fund the MPO, Metropolitan Planning

Organization or our Transportation Planning Division, which is a 90/10 matching

grant; 80% Federal funds and 10% State and we provide a 10% match. He said it

is the primary mechanism for our Transportation Funding Division. He said if we

don?t get the grant, then we will have to come back to the Council for funding

that division. He said it is funding that has been made available for a number

of years.



The question was then called on the motion to adopt the resolution, which

carried unanimously by those ten members of Council present for this meeting.



*** *** ***



THE FOLLOWING SEVEN PURCHASING RESOLUTIONS, HAVING BEEN INCLUDED WITH THE

CITY MANAGER?S AGENDA WERE SUBMITTED AND EXPLAINED BY DEPUTY CITY MANAGER

ARRINGTON AND ADOPTED BY THE COUNCIL PURSUANT TO THE ADOPTION OF A SINGLE

MOTION MADE BY COUNCILOR MCDANIEL AND SECONDED BY MAYOR PRO TEM TURNER PUGH AND

CARRIED UNANIMOUSLY BY THOSE TEN MEMBERS OF COUNCIL PRESENT FOR THIS

MEETING:___________________________



A Resolution (244-09) ? Approving the Letter of Agreement between

Prison Health Services (PHS) and the Columbus Consolidated Government for

physician and physician?s assistant medical services, as well as, on site

psychiatric treatment for inmates at the Muscogee County Jail and Muscogee

County Prison. The fixed administrative fee will be $14,903.00 per month. The

professional component will be no more than $48,491.00 per month, unless

additional services have been requested and delivered. The contract term shall

be for one year commencing on July 1, 2009 through June 30, 2010.



*** *** ***



A Resolution (245-09) ? Authorizing the approval of appropriated funds to

Premier Election Solutions (Pittsburgh, PA), for FY10 election supplies and

equipment maintenance in an amount not to exceed $60,000. Services from Premier

may include programming, audio recording, Premier ballot printing, loading

database, creating memory cards, programming encoders and logic and accuracy

testing. Premier will also provide Global Election Management Systems (GEMS)

support at all elections and primaries. Premier Election Solutions is the

provider mandated by the State of Georgia for Election support services.

Therefore, the vendor is considered an only known source.



*** *** ***



A Resolution (246-09) ? Authorizing the execution of Change Order No. 4,

for additional construction services related to the Regional Detention Pond and

Wetland Mitigation project, with McMath -Turner Construction Company in the

amount of $62,580.00.



Deputy City Manager Arrington went into some details and responded to

questions of Councilor Davis regarding this project that is in the East

Columbus Industrial Park.



*** *** ***



A Resolution (247-09) ? Approving the contract for medical evaluation

services for Fire/EMS from North Greenville Fitness and Cardiac Rehabilitation

Clinic, Inc. The services are needed to assist the Columbus Fire & EMS

Department in evaluating the physical condition of its firefighter workforce

and to make recommendations for a physical fitness program. The contractor

will provide medical evaluation services for each member of the Columbus Fire &

EMS Department which shall comply with all requirements prescribed in the most

current National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) 1201, Developing Fire

Protection Services for the Public, sections 7-2.4-2 and 7-2.2.4, NFPA 1582;

Standard on Medical Requirements for Firefighters and all other applicable

standards, guidelines, laws, regulations and acts. Approximately 358 personnel

will be examined, as needed, contingent upon budget appropriations. The

initial term of the contract shall be for two years, with the option to renew

for three additional twelve-month periods. The contract renewal will be

contingent upon the mutual agreement of the City and the Contractor.



*** *** ***



A Resolution (248-09) ? Approving the purchase of Berbee paging software

and license in the amount of $14,202.74; and one IPCC Server in the amount of

$6,726.93 from AT&T Communications (Baltimore, MD). This additional equipment

and software is needed to complete the Cisco Unity VOIP Server/Call Manager

upgrade project approved in December 2008, per Resolution #567-08. This

equipment will upgrade Cisco VOIP Call Managers, Unity Voice Mail and Berbee

call paging and overhead paging system. Per Resolution No 202-03, Council

authorized a 10-year contract with AT&T (formerly BellSouth) for the current

Cisco IP Phone system utilized by the City. This purchase is an addition to

that contract.



*** *** ***



A Resolution (249-09) ? Authorizing the purchase of two (2) 25-yard refuse

collection bodies from Consolidated Disposal Systems (Smyrna, GA), in the

amount of $115,882.00 ($57,941.00 each). The refuse collection bodies will be

mounted on cab and chassis. The refuse collection trucks are replacement units

that will be used by the Solid Waste Collection Division, of the Public

Services Department, for curbside pick up of household garbage. On December

16, 2008 Council approved the purchase of refuse collections bodies from

Consolidated Disposal Systems, per Resolution No.585-08, RFB No.09-0013. The

bid specifications required vendors to submit a bid price for future purchases

during the FY2010 budget year. Consolidated Disposal Systems submitted a bid

price of $57,941.00, per unit, for future FY2010 purchases. The vendor has

confirmed they will honor the bid price.



*** *** ***



A Resolution (250-09) ? Authorizing the purchase of two (2) cab and

chassis Beck Motor Company (Albany, GA), in the amount of $214,632.00

($107,316.00 each). Refuse collection bodies will be mounted onto the new cab

and chassis. The refuse collection trucks are replacement units that will be

used by the Solid Waste Collection Division, of the Public Services Department,

for curbside pick up of household garbage. On November 13, 2007 Council

approved the purchase of five (5) cab and chassis from Beck Motor Company, per

Resolution No.490-07, RFB No.08-0015. The bid specifications required vendors

to submit a bid price for future purchases during the FY09 budget year. Beck

Motor Company submitted a bid price of $107,316.00, per unit, for future FY09

purchases. On June 30th, the vendor provided written confirmation to Public

Services that they would honor the same price until August 15, 2009 for future

purchases.



*** *** ***



TRAINING FOR BOARD MEMBERS:



Councilor Woodson said she would like for the City Manager to have the

staff to determine if there is funding available to bring forth the proposed

training for board members on a smaller scale than what was presented to the

Council earlier this year. She said there are some individuals who are

interested in serving on boards, but don?t feel comfortable or have the

knowledge about them.



*** *** ***



FLOOD PLAIN STUDY:



Councilor Davis said several weeks ago during a Council meeting, he had

stepped away from the Council table and said that the Council voted on an item

pertaining to a Flood Plain Study. He said he knows that he can?t vote at this

put but just for the record, he would like to make some comments regarding that

matter.



He said we had discussed this in a meeting and he had given his thoughts

to the Administration that he felt like if we were going to head in that

direction, at this point in the economy, that we needed to look at some grants

and if we didn?t receive them, to wait until we had an opportunity to get some

grants from the Federal Government or the State. He said he also read in the

newspaper that Councilor McDaniel wasn?t in agreement of moving forward on the

plan. He said he thinks it was just an agreement to move forward with an RFP or

was it actually a purchase agreement to move forward.



Deputy City Manager Arrington said they had presented to the Council their

recommendations to move ahead with conducting flood studies in certain areas of

the community that had previously flooded. He said when they made the

presentation, they did not have clear guidance on whether or not the Council

wanted them to move forward with their recommendations to conduct the flood

studies and move ahead with acquiring certain properties that had frequently

flooded or at least had flooded several times over the years; therefore, the

City Manager felt like it was necessary for us to bring that recommendation

back and get Council?s clear guidance, and that is what they did a few weeks

back; is brought the recommendation back and sought Council?s guidance.



He said they have consultants under contract to conduct flood studies and

engineers under contract; however, they are expanding that contract and within

the next month those additional engineering firms should be under contract with

the City and they are planning on assigning those studies to them. He said the

purpose of the study would be to identify what, if any improvements can be made

to prevent flooding in those areas. He said he thinks it was reported that we

are going to do a study to determine why it flooded; however, he said that is

not the issue. He said we want to determine if we can do something to prevent

the flooding in the future; and, is so, what.



Deputy City Manager Arrington said we would have to make a cost benefit

decision as to whether or not we want to invest in making those improvements to

provide the protection to those citizens or whether we want to move in a

different direction; but said you would have the information at that point to

move ahead. He said we have moved ahead with the purchasing of four residences,

three on Califon Court and one on Englewood Drive. He said we have currently

engaged someone to begin appraisals on those properties and letters have gone

out to the property owners. He said one of those four properties is rental

property. He said we are moving ahead with that.



Councilor Davis said he supported moves in the budget to take care of some

of he flooding issues; however, he just wanted to bring this matter up for the

record. He said he feels like there is another way to accomplish that goal and

said at this point in time, he is not in favor of it.



Deputy City Manager Arrington said they have looked into applying for

grants; however, the events would not qualify for disaster mitigation funding

and said that is a mechanism that our staff is aware of and said in qualifying

events, we would certainly use that. He said in the events that we had, they

would not qualify for disaster mitigation funding through FEMA.

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

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

CLERK OF COUNCIL?S AGENDA:



THE FOLLOWING ITEMS WERE SUBMITTED BY CLERK OF

COUNCIL WASHINGTON AS INFORMATION FOR THE MAYOR & COUNCIL:



(1) ACCG?s 2009 Fall Policy Conference, October 7 - 9, 2009, at the Atlanta

Marriott Marquis.



(2) Memorandum from ACCG, Re: Board of Managers Names Next ACCG Executive

Director- Mr. Ross King.



(3) Copy of the Mayor?s Committee for Persons with Disabilities Weekly Report

from June 10, 2009 through June 15, 2009.



*** *** ***



THE FOLLOWING RESOLUTION WAS SUBMITTED AND EXPLAINED BY CLERK OF COUNCIL

WASHINGTON AND APPROVED BY THE COUNCIL:____



A Resolution (251-09) ? Approving and receiving the report of the Finance

Director of those alcoholic beverage licenses that were approved and/or denied

during the month of May 2009. Councilor Henderson moved the adoption of the

resolution. Seconded by Councilor Allen and carried unanimously by those ten

members of Council present for this meeting.



*** *** ***



THE FOLLOWING TWO TEMPORARY STREET CLOSING APPLICATINS WERE SUBMITTED BY

CLERK OF COUNCIL WASHINGTON AND APPROVED BY THE

COUNCIL:_____________________________________________________



Application of Jamaal Fowler to temporarily close 7th Avenue from 8th

Street to 9th Street, on Saturday, July 25, 2009 from 8:00 a.m. to midnight, in

connection with the ?3rd Annual Hip Hop Summit? educating youth on the

importance of education, the roots of hip hop.



Application of Pauline Brown to temporarily close Playa Delray between

Meadowlark Drive and Califon Drive, on Tuesday, August 4, 2009 from 4:00 p.m.

to 9:00 p.m., in connection with the ?National Night Out?.



Councilor Henderson moved the approval of these two applications. Seconded

by Councilor Allen and carried unanimously by those ten members of Council

present for this meeting.



*** *** ***



HISTORIC & ARCHITECTURAL REVIEW BOARD:



Clerk of Council Washington submitted a letter from Ms. Tracy Dean,

President of the Columbus Board of Realtors, advising that Ms. Sandi Green has

been appointed to replace Ms. Barbara Pound on the Board of Historic &

Architectural Review. She pointed out that Ms. Green could now be confirmed.

Councilor Henderson so moved. Seconded by Councilor Baker and carried

unanimously by those ten members of Council present for this meeting.



*** *** ***



CLERK OF COUNCIL WASHINGTON SUBMITTED THE FOLLOWING THREE LETTERS OF

RESIGNATIONS, WHICH WERE RECEIVED BY THE COUNCIL:

___________________________________________________________



Clerk of Council Washington submitted the following letters of

resignations, which were officially received by the Council.



Letter from Mr. Bradford Haines resigning his position on the Recreation

Advisory

Board.



Letter from Dr. John E. Stephens resigning his position on the Public Safety

Advisory

Commission.



Letter from Ms. Eva Smith resigning her position on the Board of Historic &

Architectural to accept a position on the Keep Columbus Beautiful Commission.



Councilor Allen made a motion that these letters be received with regrets

and thanks for their service. Seconded by Councilor Woodson and carried

unanimously by those ten members of Council present for this meeting.



*** *** ***



C. I. R. C. L. E.:



Clerk of Council Washington submitted a letter from Ms. Catherine Ross,

Chairperson of C.I.R.C.L.E, requesting that the seat of Ms. Deidre Williams be

declared vacant due to lack of attendance.



Councilor Allen so moved. Seconded by Councilor Woodson and carried

unanimously by those ten members of Council present for this meeting.



*** *** ***



MINUTES OF THE FOLLOWING BOARDS WERE SUBMITTED BY CLERK OF COUNCIL

WASHINGTON AND OFFICIALLY APPROVED BY THE

COUNCIL:___________________________________________________________



Airport Commission, May 27, 2009.

Board of Elections and Registration, May 7, 2009.

Board of Elections and Registration, June 4, 2009.

Board of Health, May 27, 2009.

Board of Tax Assessors, No. 19-09.

Board of Tax Assessors, No. 21-09, 22-09 & 23-09.

Community Development Advisory Council, March 17, 2009.

Convention & Visitors Bureau, May 20, 2009.

Family & Children Services, June 24, 2009.

Golf Authority, April 28, 2009.

Hospital Authority, May 27, 2009.



Councilor Allen moved the approval of the minutes. Seconded by Councilor

Woodson and carried unanimously by those ten members of Council present for

this meeting.



*** *** ***



BUILDING AUTHORITY OF COLUMBUS:



Clerk of Council Washington pointed out that Mr. Carmel Biggers, and Mr.

Donald Bowman?s terms of office expired back in March and that they are not

eligible to succeed themselves and a nomination would be needed for these

seats. She said the Mayor is working on a replacement for Mr. Biggers? seat and

that the Council will need to nominate someone to succeed Mr. Bowman. There was

no action taken.



*** *** ***



COMMISSION ON INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS & CULTURAL LIAISON ENCOUNTERS

(CIRCLE):______________________________________________



Clerk of Council Washington pointed out the terms of office of

Mr. Sudhir V. Patel and Mr. Owen Ditchfield have expired; however, they are

eligible to succeed themselves. Councilor Henderson then nominated them for

another term of office. She said she would bring this back in two weeks for the

Council?s confirmation.



*** *** ***



EMPLOYEES? PENSION PLAN, BOARD OF TRUSTEES:



Clerk of Council Washington pointed out that the terms of office of

Mr. Alan Rothschild, who serves as the Business Community representative, Mr.

Lemuel H. Miller, III, who serves as the Public Safety representative, and Mrs.

Reather Hollowell, who serves as the City employees representative expired on

June 30, 2009; however, they are all eligible to succeed themselves.



She pointed out that Mayor Wetherington is nominating Mr. Rothschild and

Mr. Miller to succeed themselves for another term of office. Councilor Allen

moved they be confirmed. Seconded by Councilor Henderson and carried

unanimously by those ten members of Council present for this meeting.



*** *** ***



KEEP COLUMBUS BEAUTIFUL COMMISSION:



Clerk of Council Washington pointed out that at the last Council meeting

Councilor Henderson nominated all those eligible at-large members who were

eligible to succeed themselves for another term of office, as well as the

recommendations for the other at-large members, who were not eligible to

succeed themselves. She said that these individuals could now be confirmed.

Mayor Pro Tem Turner Pugh so moved. Seconded by Councilor Henderson and carried

unanimously by those ten members of Council present for this meeting.



The following is a listing of those at-large members who were confirmed

and are now eligible to serve on the Keep Columbus Beautiful Commission:



Sherrylrae Wicker, Carrie Cowley, Patricia Killough, Julie Bray, Jack

Collins, Bill Consoletti, Julie Davis, Greg Paul, Karon Henderson, Barbara Moto

and Eva Smith.



Clerk of Council Washington also pointed out that on the District

appointments, Councilor Baker has nominated Ms. Linda McLemore to succeed Mr.

Larry Trammell for the District 5 representative and that she may be confirmed.

Councilor Baker so moved. Seconded by Councilor Allen and carried unanimously

by those ten members present for this meeting.



She also pointed out that we have outlined the recommendations from the

Keep Columbus Beautiful Commission on the other District appointments if any of

those Council members would like to nominate those individuals.

Councilor McDaniel then nominated Mr. Frazier Loomis to succeed Ms. Beth Burgin

for his District 8 representative. Councilor Hunter also nominated Ms. Doris

Estell to succeed herself for another term of office.



Clerk of Council Washington said because these are District appointments

these individuals may be confirmed. Seconded by Mayor Pro Tem Turner Pugh and

carried unanimously by those ten members of Council present for this meeting.



There was no action taken on the following four

positions.



Marie Lewis, District 2 Representative, who cannot succeed herself

Susie Hamlet), District 7 Representative, who cannot succeed herself

B. J. McBride), District 4 Representative, who does not desire reappointment

Josephina Takemoto, whose seat was declared vacant,



Mayor Wetherington then asked if there were anyone in the audience who was

not listed on the Agenda, but had an issue to bring before the Council could be

heard at this time. There was no one who wanted to be heard.



*** *** ***



With there being no other business to come before the Council, Councilor

McDaniel then made a motion to adjourn. Seconded by Councilor Barnes and

carried unanimously by those ten members of Council present for the meeting,

and the time being 12:10 p.m.







Tiny B. Washington, CMC

Clerk of Council

The Council of Columbus, Georgia

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