MINUTES
COUNCIL OF COLUMBUS, GEORGIA
WORK SESSION
MAY 31, 2011
The regular Work Session of the Council of Columbus, Georgia was called to
order at 9:04 A.M., Tuesday, May 31, 2011, in the Council Chambers on the Plaza
Level of the Government Center, Columbus, Georgia. Honorable Teresa Pike
Tomlinson, Mayor, presiding.
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PRESENT: Present other than Mayor Tomlinson and Mayor Pro Tem Evelyn Turner
Pugh, were Councilors R. Gary Allen, Mike Baker, Jerry ?Pops? Barnes, Glenn
Davis, Berry Henderson, Bruce Huff, Charles E. McDaniel, Jr., and Judy Thomas.
City Manager Isaiah Hugley, City Attorney Clifton Fay, Clerk of Council Tiny B.
Washington, and Deputy Clerk Sandra Davis were also present.
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***-----------------------------------------ABSENT: ABSENT: Councilor
Evelyn Woodson was absent.
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INVOCATION: Offered by Rev. Jamie Capers, Pastor of Hosley Chapel C.M.E.
Church.
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PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE: Led by Child Life Discovery Center of South Columbus.
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CONSENT AGENDA:
THE FOLLOWING TWO ORDINANCES WERE LISTED ON THE CONSENT AGENDA AND
SUBMITTED BY CITY ATTORNEY FAY AND APPROVED BY THE COUNCIL PURSUANT TO THE
ADOPTION OF A SINGLE MOTION MADE BY MAYOR PRO TEM TURNER PUGH AND SECONDED BY
COUNCLOR ALLEN, WHICH CARRIED UNANIMOUSLY BY THOSE NINE MEMBERS OF COUNCIL
PRESENT FOR THIS MEETING, WITH COUNCILOR WOODSON BEING ABSENT:
An Ordinance (11-22) ? Amending Columbus Code Section 20-14.6 so as to
provide a $100.00 fine for violations of parking regulations related to fire
hydrants, public driveways or streets, and loading zones; and for other
purposes.
An Ordinance (11-23) ? Amending Columbus Code Section 2-1 so as to allow
service of more than two consecutive terms for certain boards; and for other
purposes.
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THE FOLLOWING TEMPORARY STREET CLOSING APPLICATION WAS SUBMITTED AND
APPROVED BY THE COUNCIL:_____________
Application of Mary Kolars to temporarily close S. Lumpkin Road- West lane
closed from Water Works access road to Riverwalk Crossing, on June 4, 2011,
from 8:30 a.m. to 11:00 a.m., in connection with the ?5K Charity Race?.
Mayor Pro Tem Turner Pugh moved the approval. Seconded by Councilor Allen
and carried unanimously by those nine members of Council present for this
meeting, with Councilor Woodson being absent.
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WORK SESSION AGENDA:
FINANCE MONTHLY REPORT:
Finance Director Pam Hodge came forward and presented the financial
monthly update for the month of April 2011 and highlighted the following
information:
Ms. Hodge said other than the normal monthly report that she usually
distributes to the Mayor and Council, said she has also distributed two other
handouts, entitled Local Option Sales Tax (Original) and Local Option Sales
Tax, which is for your information and contains the last three years of history
with the Local Option Sales Tax for FY-09, FY-10 & FY-11. She said you can see
in the Original Local Option Sales Tax for this fiscal year that we are up
slightly at .29% and this is after ten months of collection. She said on the
new Local Option Sales Tax, we are down slightly from the same period of time
last year at .71% after ten months of collection.
Local Option Sales Tax:
Public Safety Revenues (70%) - $17 million
Roads & Infrastructure (30%) - $7 million
Unaudited Monthly Revenue Report Summary:
General Fund up 3.34% Debt Service Fund- up 4.28%
Sewer Fund- up 5.93% Transportation Fund- up 49.17%
Paving Fund- up 4.97% Parking Management- up 3.94%
Medical center Fund- up 2.39% Trade Center Fund- down 1.18%
Integrated Waste Fund- down 1.70% Bull Creek Golf- up 10.25%
Economic Development Aut- up 2.39% Oxbow Creek Golf- up 6.00%
Civic Center Fund- down 7.00%
Emergency Telephone- down -4% (Ms. Hodge stated that this is about $100,000 and
right at 63% of budget)
Transportation Fund- Ms. Hodge stated that we had Stimulus Funds this year, but
on last year we didn?t have those Stimulus funds.
Director of Finance Hodge pointed out that some of this information might
come back up relating to the Local Option Sales Tax during the Budget Review
Session later today.
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ICE RINK:
Mayor Pro Tem Turner Pugh said she understands that the Public Skating
costs $7.00 per person and $3.00 for the skates. She then asked if that is the
only rate that we are going to have down there, to which City Manager Hugley
said yes. He said this is the rate that was presented to you in the Business
Plan.
Mayor Pro Tem Turner Pugh then asked if we have any plans to have a
discounted rate when there is a family that has more than one child that they
are bringing. She said when you have more than one child that will be a big
cost to the citizens; which will knock the average John Doe from learning to
ice skate.
City Manager Hugley said if it is the Council?s desire to look at that and
bring something back to them for consideration, he will be glad to do that.
Mayor Pro Tem Turner Pugh said it is her desire to have the staff to look at
that. City Manager Hugley said in the Business Plan they presented to this
Council, it was a business plan that would allow them not to incur debt and
that is the approach that they are taking.
Mayor Pro Tem Turner Pugh said what bothers her is that for an hour and a
half, each person skating has to pay $10.00. She said the majority of the
citizens in Columbus don?t have those funds just lying around.
City Manager Hugley said we can bring something; however, perhaps, it
would be good if we could consider something since we are getting ready to go
into the budget discussion. He said we would have to take a look at what might
be reasonable in terms of a reduced rate for more than one person. He said
there is a group rate for more than ten or more persons, which is $5.00 per
person.
Mayor Pro Tem Turner Pugh asked if this is the rate that we have charged
when we allowed our citizens to come down and have public skating at the Civic
Center, to which City Manager Hugley said it is.
Mayor Pro Tem Turner Pugh asked City Manager Hugley to provide some
statics on the number of individuals that we have served in the past.
City Manager Hugley said we will give you the attendance rate in terms of
public skating in the Civic Center, and to date in the ice rink. He said we can
also bring you back something that would modify the revenue that we have
projected. He said we would have to modify the revenue that is projected.
Councilor Thomas said on the bid advertisements, it shows that we have put
out to bid the annual contract on air skating and hockey instructions and said
it is scheduled to open on June 9, 2011. She said she recalls that our new
Parks & Recreation Director will be on the job on June 20th and then asked when
will our new Ice Rink Manager be starting, to which City Manager Hugley said on
today.
She said she knows that we will be opening the facility on June 9th; and she
was wondering should there be some consideration to the new guy coming in two
weeks later to help make some kind of decision on this kind of contract. She
said that she doesn?t want to hold anything up, but wanted to ask if we might
be moving too quickly to do this without giving him the opportunity to
participate.
City Manager Hugley said he doesn?t think so; he said the Ice Rink Manager
is a Division Manager and would not be making any isolated decisions or
selections. He said while the person has an excellent background as a former
hockey player, he don?t know that he would have any background any more than
anyone who has worked at the Civic Center in making a decision on an RFP such
as this. He said typically that is done in a group. He said he thinks that we
are okay with that; and certainly that person will be involved in reviewing the
RFP, but it?s not an isolated decision that a single person will make.
Councilor Henderson said with respect to the RFP for ice skating
instructions and hockey instructions, we have some incredible resources here
within our city; that we found out about when he and Councilor Allen attended a
meeting with the Mayor & City Manager recently and he is hopeful that we would
look inward for some of these resources that we currently have. He said we have
CHA, the Columbus Cottonmouths, and certainly that brings certain name
recognition to the Learn to Skate Program. With regards to some of the earlier
comments made by City Manager Hugley, Councilor Henderson said the Division
Manager is not going to make those decisions arbitrarily, but said he would
think that he or she would certainly have a lot of input since they are going
to be kind of responsible for some of the marketing, programming and trying to
figure out the correct balance of scheduling.
Regarding the RFP, City Manager Hugley said we did have a conversation
with a member of the Cottonmouths and said with it being an RFP, it is
certainly out there; and anyone who is interested in providing the service can
certainly submit an RFP. He said if a member or members of CHA want to get
together and submit an RFP, they can get a business license and then, of
course, submit the RFP. He said if their RFP is most attractive and provides
the most to the City of Columbus and the citizens of Columbus; then, they would
be one that we would be interested in talking to. He said we are hopeful that
locals would express an interest. He said he believes that we have locals here
in our area that can do this, but said they would have to submit a proposal and
put it on the table and make it attractive and certainly we would be interested
in doing business locally.
City Manager Hugley said we are moving forward in selecting a Civic Center
Director and said the Ice Rink Manager will do all of those things as directed
by the Civic Center Director and ultimately direction and recommendations will
come from the Civic Center Director, with the Ice Rink Manager?s involvement.
He said we don?t want to lose sight of that. He said that person is not the
final decision maker in the organization, but is a Division Manager.
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With no other questions regarding this subject, or any other business to
come before the Council during its Work Session, Mayor Tomlinson said she would
entertain a motion for adjournment of this meeting. Mayor Pro Tem Turner Pugh
so moved. Seconded by Councilor Allen and carried unanimously by those nine
members of Council present for this meeting, with Councilor Woodson being
absent from the meeting and the time being 9:25 a.m.
Tiny B. Washington, CMC
Clerk of Council
The Council of Columbus, Georgia
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