MINUTES
COUNCIL OF COLUMBUS, GEORGIA
WORK SESSION
MARCH 25, 2008
The regular monthly Work Session of the Council of Columbus, Georgia was
called to order at 9:02 A.M., Tuesday, March 25, 2008, 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 R. Gary Allen, Wayne Anthony, Mike Baker, Jerry ?Pops?
Barnes, Glenn Davis, Berry Henderson, Julius H. Hunter, Jr., Charles E.
McDaniel, Jr., and Evelyn Woodson. City Manager Isaiah Hugley, City Attorney
Clifton Fay, Clerk of Council Tiny B. Washington, and Deputy Clerk of Council
Sandra Davis were also present.
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ABSENT: No one was absent.
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INVOCATION: Offered by Reverend Dr. E. Jones Doughton, Associate Pastor, First
Presbyterian Church.
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PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE: Led by student from Veterans Memorial Middle School.
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MINUTES OF COUNCIL MEETING: Minutes of the December 4, 11 and 18, 2007 Meeting
of the Council of the Consolidated Government of Columbus, Georgia. Councilor
Allen made a motion that the minutes be approved. Seconded by Councilor
Henderson and carried unanimously by those ten members of Council present for
this meeting.
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CONSENT AGENDA
THE FOLLOWING TWO ORDINANCES WERE LISTED ON THE CONSENT AGENDA AS SUBMITTED
BY CITY ATTORNEY FAY AND ADOPTED BY THE COUNCIL PURSUANT TO THE ADOPTION OF A
SINGLE MOTION MADE BY COUNCILOR ALLEN AND SECONDED BY MAYOR PRO TEM TURNER
PUGH, WHICH CARRIED UNANIMOUSLY BY THOSE NINE MEMBERS OF COUNCIL PRESENT FOR
THIS MEETING WITH COUNCILOR DAVIS BEING ABSENT FOR THIS
VOTE:_______
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An Ordinance (08-9) ? Amending the text to the Unified Development
Ordinance to amend Chapter 8, Article 5, Flood Damage Prevention so as to
specify the effective date (September 5, 2007) of the Flood Insurance Study and
Flood Insurance Rate Maps pursuant to requirements of Georgia EPD; providing
penalties of up to $1,000 for violation of said chapter; and for other purposes.
An Ordinance (08-10) ? Amending the text to the Unified Development
Ordinance to amend three subsections related to the following: Auto/Truck
Sales, New and Used, regarding minimum lot size; Planting Specifications
regarding a referral to another subsection; and Placement, Installation, and
Irrigation regarding a referral to another subsection; and for other purposes.
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THE FOLLOWING TWO RESOLUTIONS WERE LISTED ON THE CONSENT AGENDA AS
SUBMITTED BY CITY MANAGER HUGLEY AND ADOPTED BY THE COUNCIL PURSUANT TO THE
ADOPTION OF A SINGLE MOTION MADE BY COUNCILOR HENDERSON AND SECONDED BY
COUNCILOR ALLEN, WHICH CARRIED UNANIMOUSLY BY THOSE NINE MEMBERS OF COUNCIL
PRESENT WITH COUNCILOR DAVIS BEING ABSENT FOR THIS VOTE:_____
A Resolution (113-08) ? Authorizing the acceptance of a deed to Talokas
Lane located in Land Lots 36 and 61 of the 9th District. The Department of
Engineering has inspected this street and recommends the acceptance.
A Resolution (114-08) ? Excusing Mayor Pro Tem Evelyn Turner Pugh from the
March 18, 2008 Council Meeting.
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EMS
Councilor McDaniel said he was at the EMS Award presentation and Columbus,
Georgia EMS was voted as the number one team in the region. He also called for
a resolution to honor the department/individuals.
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WORK SESSION:
NEIGHBORWORKS PUBLIC SAFETY IDA PROGRAM (Individual Development Account):
Ms. Cathy Vaughn Williams, Columbus Neighbor Works President/CEO said she
is honored to introduce the heroes? reward IDA program for public safety. She
said last week was their first information meeting and they had 27 public
safety personnel seek out additional information on how to become homeowners.
She said (inaudible word) Soldier fund is giving back to those who wear the
uniforms of our Armed Services ? this new tool will allow us to help those
brave men and women who protect our freedom here at home. This individual
development account generously funded by CB &T will allow our public safety
employees a new tool to help them achieve the American dream. She also thanked
Councilor Baker for attending the event and also Mayor Wetherington for his
statement on what public safety employees mean to this community.
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CONNECT CTY:
Presented by Ms. Stephanie Nellens and Mr. Nuley Ford. Ms. Nellens said
this presentation is about a time sensitive mass communication service. This
service will allow you to reach thousands of your constituents within minutes
using, cell phones, email, text message and LAN lines. She said the service
requires no additional hardware or software or any additional telephone lines.
OVERVIEW OF CONNECT CTY
They are part of the family of the NTI Group and started off in the
education space where over 17 Georgia schools districts (including Muscogee
County), also have the Connect CTY Family which is made up of counties and
cities; have several clients in the Southeast region; also operate in the
government space and focus all resources on public entities and there are over
20,000 locations around this country. Ms. Nellens said they are the recognized
leader in their industry where over 240 million calls, 17 million emails and
text messages were delivered in 2007.
PROFESSSIONAL COMMUNICATION SERVICES (4 Differentiations)
Network Design
2 million Calls Per Hour (network wide)
Service Level Agreements (SLA) (multiple Telco)
Mirrored Sites in All Major U.S. Power Grids
No Single Point of Failure
99.99 % Uptime
Call Routing & Throttling the Last Mile
Battle Tested Daily
25+ Million Calls per Month
Unlimited Use Pricing
Urgent Communication
Important Community Information
Staff Communication
Citizen Survey
Client Care & Consultant Services
Dedicated Client Care Team: Director, Manager, Help Line
Share Best Practices: Learn from peer experience
Help Develop Usage Protocol: Do?s & Don?ts
Work with Each Department: Adoption Opportunities
Premium Citizen Contact Data
- Standard Data: Provided by most notification companies
White & Yellow page data: (Updated Yearly/Bi Yearly ?
degrades monthly)
50%* of Citizens Telephones
On-line link: update & add additional contact data (cell,
email, etc)
- Connect-CTY: Premium Data
411 data +++ 210 other data sources:
75% - 80%* of Citizens telephones
Data Updated Monthly
On-line link: update & add additional contact data (cell,
email, TTY, etc)
Ms. Nellens said all you need is the Internet and the telephone but can
also be used when not physically at the computer. She said it is a three-step
process that allows you to make three types of calls: General Community
Outreach, Emergency Calls, and Citizen Survey. She then demonstrated to Council
how to make an emergency call.
In response to questions from Council members, Ms. Nellens said the usage
case study presented, on average, their county sends one time-sensitive message
per month to each household; they have received only positive feedback from
residents, businesses, local government leaders who are part of the Connect CTY
Program. She said in a smaller county of about 9,000 addresses and they have
made over 140,000 calls and people are really utilizing this service. She said
residents are happier, they reduce their current communication; they do not
have to go around putting up fliers on doors; can reduce staff excess work
load; and is an effective community relations builder and much more. She said
communication is the foundation of great relationships.
Councilor Anthony asked about no calls direction on telephone and updating
data to which Ms. Nellens responded by saying that such calls will go through
because it will be originating from CCG. In response to data updating she said
the heart line information would be provided, but any new information (email,
work and new cell phone numbers) the citizens will go in and update that
portion. She said there is also a portal on the website where citizens can
update their data and this is a live feed.
City Manager Hugley said the school district has this service through this
organization and it was used during the situation in the Hilton Heights area
informing parents of what was going on with the schools being shut down. He
said there are six methods of contact and this allows us to issue our own Amber
Alert and do not have to go through the GBI or FBI.
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NOTE: Councilor Davis arrived during this portion of the proceedings with the
time being 9:30 A.M.
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City Manager Hugley further stated that this system could also be used for
rezoning where residents within 300 feet of the property to be rezoned can be
notified.
Councilor Woodson asked about contract and cost of this service to which
City Manager Hugley said that if the city were to be interested in this
service, they would have to put it out for a bid or RFP. He then referred to
Ms. Nellens to provide further information.
Ms. Nellens said the cost for service is based on the number of households
within the community; it is unlimited and cost $2 per household per year. She
said this is an annualized contract ? one-year contract with three additional
years and each year there is an annual renewal.
Mayor Pro Tem Turner Pugh asked how many households we currently have to
which City Manager Hugley responded approximately 65,000. She also asked City
Manager Hugley to look into the impact this would have on National Security.
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BRADLEY VEHICLE EXCURSION:
Mr. Ron Hamlett, Traffic Engineer and Major Shane Sims from Fort Benning
came forward to make a presentation on the Bradley Vehicle Excursion.
Mr. Hamlet said several months ago Fort Benning (Soldier Battle Lab) called
us and asked about the possibility of conducting an exercise for test purposes
in the downtown area. He said the vehicles they are trying to test are the
Bradley vehicles and the intent is to conduct testing for use in an urban
environment where they are not outside the vehicle but enclosed. They will be
testing new camera equipment and other technologies. The Fort Benning
installation does not offer the provision to conduct such a test and we thought
Front Avenue would be an ideal location with 13th Street being closed off due
to construction. He said they are looking at using it in the area on Front
Avenue from 9th Street to 13th Street.
Major Sims said in the Soldier Battle Lab they put key pieces of
emerging/existing technologies in the hands of Soldiers and let them say
whether or not the right thing is being done to facilitate the mission. He said
in this particular example, the camera system is tested on how well they help
the Soldiers inside the vehicles. He also said they will be using 9 to 12
Soldiers for this exercise and two vehicles (Bradley Tactical Demonstrator and
the Bradley A3). Major Sims said citizens could come out and look at the
Bradley, talk to the Soldiers, and ask questions ? their way of giving back to
the community.
Several Council members asked several questions regarding safety and the
ability of the roads to withstand the weight of the tankers.
Councilor Hunter asked about running an advertisement in CCGTV informing
citizens of what will be taking place and the of the presence of the tankers.
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FINANCE UPDATE:
Director of Finance Pam Hodge said presented here is the Revenue Reports
for the month of February 2008. She said the general fund is up 3.84% as of the
end of February 2008 compared to February 2007 and we are currently at 65% of
budget so the general fund is right where it should be. She said the Sewer fund
is up 5.89% of where we were at this time last year and we are 94% of the
budget ? of this fund she said the majority of the revenue comes from taxes.
Director Hodge also provided the following information on those funds
outlined below:
Paving Fund ? up 6.1% - 92.47% of budget
Medical Center Fund ? up 6.69% - 93% of budget
Intergraded Waste ? up 4.68 % - 52% of budget
E911 ? down 15.06%
Economic Development ? up 6.69% - 98% of budget
Death Service Fund ? up 8.12% - 58% of budget
METRA ? up 7.52% - 68% of budget
Parking Management Fund ? down 34.62%
Trade Center ? down 7.41% - expenditures are down also ? continuing to
break-even
Bull Creek ? up 6.11%
Oxbow Meadow ? down 2.40%
Civic Center Fund ? down 20.59% - expenditures are also down ? they are
also at break-even point.
Councilor Henderson asked what is the current value of 1 mill, to which
Director Hodge responded that the value of 1 mill is 3.6 million.
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EMAIL (Fort Benning):
City Manager Hugley said in an email he sent out to Council ? he said ?Fort
Benning has an upcoming exercise and that the U.S. Army Rangers from 3rd
Battalion, 75th Ranger Regiment, will conduct a military exercise from March 24
through April 4, 2008. Soldiers will use training ammunitions and other
training devices to make training as realistic as possible. Training will be
concentrated on training areas at Lawson Army Airfield ? to conduct this
training a number of different aircrafts belonging to the 160th Special
Operations Aviation Regiment and the Air Force Special Operation Command are
used. There will be periods of increased air traffic to include low flying
aircrafts (both airplanes and helicopters) during the hours of darkness. The
increase air traffic and noise may be associated with the large airborne
operations involving the rangers as well as training activities that does not
include the rangers but involve the 160th SOAR and FAFSOC conducting map of the
earth flights flying low to the ground in aerial refueling?.
Councilor Woodson asked City Manager Hugley to send this information to The
Concern Citizens of South Columbus and to CCGTV.
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ONE-CENT SALES TAX:
Councilor McDaniel said there needs to be more clarity on the one-cent sale
tax because he has been receiving a lot of negative responses of what the
future Councilors are going to do with the money. He said this Council does not
have any control over the future Councilors, but he does think they will spend
the money the way it was intended to spend. He said this Council would not be
able to do anything in the future without the sales tax, and the belief by the
citizens that it will go to 8% - this needs to be cleared up because citizens
are receiving wrong information.
Mayor Wetherington said that at every forum that he and the City Manager
has been involved in (which are all of them), he said there are some people who
still voice that concern and they would address and clear that up as best as
they can.
Councilor McDaniel said the forums are good but not too many people are
attending these forums because the word is not being spread, as it should.
Mayor Wetherington said they would try to raise some money to print
brochures to try to get the message out before July.
City Manager Hugley said the problem is that they just provide information
and that is what they have been doing. He said they stayed away from the
Government Access to share that information because they cannot legally do that
? they cannot spend government money (Access TV, Ads, etc) to promote the sale
tax. He said they have explained at each of the sessions that Muscogee County
currently has a 7% sales tax; 4% state tax, permanent LOST, and SPLOST for the
city that is going to expire in September 2008. He said on October 1, 2008, the
sales tax will go from 7% to 6% and in December 2008, the school district
Education SPLOST will expire, so effective January 1, 2009, the sales tax will
go to 5%, but if the voters approve this LOST on July 15, 2008, on January 1,
2009 the sales tax will remain at 6%. He said in either case, the sale tax will
be less than it is today which is 7%.
Councilor McDaniel said he wants to emphasize that this tax has nothing to
do with the school tax.
Councilor Barnes asked City Attorney Fay if it is possible for us to do
something on Public Access TV ? just for clarification of this sales tax. He
said he too is getting a lot of confusion and this is an important point to
stress ? not advocating for, but for information purposes only and
clarification for the citizens of Columbus.
City Attorney Fay said yes the time line for the different taxes only could
be put on the screen as information.
Councilor Anthony asked about putting a series of questions and the answers
to those questions to which City Manager Hugley said they could do that from an
informational standpoint only.
Councilor Anthony also asked if it is possible to have what is called
legislative and memorandum intent in regards to the use of the money.
City Manager Hugley said the Mayor and Council can do a resolution stating
the intent/intended use and purpose of the money if approve by the voters on
July 15, 2008 ? so future Mayors and Council members will know the intent.
Mayor Wetherington said his problem with this is that they cannot bind
future Mayor and Councilors to which Councilor Anthony responded that it is not
to bind anyone but rather to express or show intent.
Councilor Woodson said she feels very strongly about the one-cent sales tax
and would like to make a request that they look into what can be done for city
employees ? a bonus or a percentage.
Mayor Wetherington said all of that is going to be included in the budget
he is going to present. He said the City Manager and himself are going to
prepare a budget and this will be addressed in the budget. He said this is an
issue that they have to and will be concerned about as well, but it may be
premature to make any promises at this point because the budget is not
prepared.
City Manager Hugley said if the voters approve the tax on July 15, 2008,
they will not start collecting money until January 2009 and they will be in the
middle of the Fiscal Year and will be working on the budget for fiscal year
2010.
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EXECUTIVE SESSION:
City Attorney Fay requested a short executive session at the end of the
regular session to discuss litigation matters.
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LOCAL OPTION SALES TAX:
Referring back to the subject with respect to the Local Option Sales Tax
commitment, Mayor Pro Tem Turner Pugh said Councilor Woodson is correct because
herself and the City Manager has been in discussion with some individuals who
are concerned with general government employees and they want the same
commitment (as public safety) that we are going to do something for general
government employees and does not think this is too much to ask.
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LOCIAL OPTION SALES TAX FORUMS:
City Manager Hugley said the last of these forums would be tonight at
Double Churches Middle School, 6-8 pm.
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COMPREHENSIVE PLAN UPDATE:
City Manager Hugley said on March 27, 2008 and April 3, 2008 there will be
two Strategic Framework Workshops; at the Elizabeth Bradley Turner Center
(CSU), 6 ? 8:30 pm ? Citizens are encouraged to come out and participate in
these sessions.
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NATIONAL MEDAL OF HONOR CEREMONY:
City Manager Hugley reminded everyone of the National of Medal of Honor
Ceremony that will be held down at the Plaza Level Statute of the Government
Center on 9th Street at 2:00 pm. Guest speaker GEN (Ret) W.B. Caldwell III.
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Councilor Barnes shared with Council that Mr. Cecil Calhoun approached him
after the meeting last week after seeing Ms. King on the television pleading
for help to fix her house so she can get around (in the house) with the her
wheelchair. Councilor Barnes said he took Mr. Calhoun to Ms. King house and he
took some measurements and help take care of a problem she also had with
squirrels living in her ceiling.
Councilor Barnes said Mr. Upshaw (a retired contractor) also contacted him
and he and a few other contractors are going to get together and they will do
emergency repairs on her house. Mr. Upshaw said he realizes there are a number
of people in the same situation as Ms. King and he wants to help. In addition,
Councilor Barnes also said that there are a number of people who also expressed
that they would also like to help Ms. Jones (the person whose house was burned
and then condemned by the city).
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WELLINGTON STREET:
Councilor Barnes asked City Manager Hugley about the situation of speeding
on Wellington Street. He also asked about a four-way stop sign at Wellington
and Emerson Streets.
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DIABETES KICK-OFF:
Councilor Barnes said there are a number of people who have diabetes and
don?t know it. He said there will be a kick-off (11:00 A.M) for free diabetic
testing at the Fire Station Number 4 at North Oakley and St. Mary Road, and the
Mayor and Fire Chief have volunteered to be the first to get tested.
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SIGNS:
Councilor Anthony said he has received a citizens? request asking about the
limit to the size and height of signs along I-185. He also asked about
dumpsters being emptied during the night in the Cross Country area.
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EXECUTIVE SESSION:
Regarding an earlier request of City Attorney Fay, Mayor Pro Tem Turner
Pugh made a motion to allow the Council to go into an executive session to
discuss litigation matters. Seconded by Councilor Woodson and carried
unanimously by those nine members of Council present at the time with Councilor
Davis being absent for this vote.
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At 10:35 a.m. the regular session was adjourned to allow the Council to go
into an executive session.
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At 11:06 a.m. the meeting was called back to order at which time Mayor
Wetherington pointed out that the Council met in an executive session to
discuss litigation matters, but no action was taken.
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Mr. Bert Coker requested to be heard by Council. Councilor Henderson made a
motion that Mr. Coker be allowed to speak. Seconded by Councilor Woodson and
carried unanimously by those nine members of Council present at the time with
Councilor Allen being absent for this vote.
MR. BERT COKER:
Mr. Coker asked about the process of the budget and is there an ordinance
in the City Charter describing how a budget session should be carried out. Mr.
Coker asked if he could get a copy of the ordinance.
City Attorney Fay said this is the fourth time this month that this
question has been posed to Council. He said anyone wishing to get a copy of
FY07 mid-year budget ordinance; he could get a copy from the Clerk of Council.
He said near the end of the ordinance, explains the budget procedures.
Councilor Henderson said there have been a lot of questions regarding the
budget. He pointed out that the city?s budget process has never been more open.
He said the budget meeting is televised live and repeated several times.
City Manager Hugley said the schedule is available of the budget session
they plan to have with Mayor and Council and they have started televising the
live budget meeting starting in 2005 and the dates are also announced to the
public.
City Attorney Fay pointed out that the Ordinance Number is 07-8.
Councilor Davis said there is an effort by the citizens to better
understand the budget process but there are a lot of concerns about a pre vs. a
post budget process and he thinks what is being requested is whether or not
there is an Ordinance that outlines the system of method of the budget process
before it takes place.
City Attorney Fay said Ordinance 07-8 has adopted the State Law procedures
for budget adoption. He said those procedures have been specifically adopted
and they are very similar to those in the Columbus Charter. He said this
particular ordinance states that there must be an operating budget, a capital
budget, and an advertisement before a public hearing on each budget.
Mayor Pro Tem Turner Pugh asked City Attorney Fay if the ordinance is in
the charter and the state describes the process before Council gets the budget?
City Attorney Fay responded by say that the charter states that Council will
adopt an ordinance setting out budget procedures ? period.
City Manager Hugley said the charter explains how the budget is compiled
and that the City Manager and Mayor will present it to Council, advertising and
public hearing.
This discussion of the existence, literature, and intent of the ordinances
(both State and Charter) went on for another 35 minutes with several members of
Council asking question of the City Manager and City Attorney.
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With there being no other business to come before this Council, Councilor
Henderson then made a motion to adjourn. Seconded by Councilor Woodson and
carried unanimously by those nine members of Council present for this meeting
with Councilor Allen being absent for this vote and the time being 11:25 am.
Tiny B. Washington, CMC
Clerk of Council
The Council of Columbus, Georgia
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