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HomeMy WebLinkAboutMinutes - CC - 04/27/2020Regular Meeting of the Milton City Council Monday, April 27 , 2020 at 6:00 pm Page 1 of 23 1 These minutes have been transcribed verbatim. Any reproduction of these minutes must include this notice. Public comments are noted and heard by Council. This document includes presentation by Council and invited speakers. This is an official record of the Milton City Council Meeting proceedings. Official Meetings are audio and video recorded. Stacey: Conducted virtually by Zoom Webinar and is being live-streamed on the City of Milton’s Facebook page. Please note the only active videos and microphones will be that of our panelists, which includes the mayor, council members, and city staff. All attendee videos will be disabled and will remain disabled the duration of the meeting. All microphones will be muted except for the mayor’s call for public comment. At that time only when notified, the moderator will unmute your microphone to allow you to speak. Attendees joining the meeting who wish to make a public comment may do so by using the raise hand feature. For Zoom app users by computer, tablet, and smartphone, the raise hand feature is located at the bottom of your screen. Click “Raise Hand.” Callers using telephones can access the raise hand feature by using the phone keypad. To raise your hand, press *9. To unmute, press *6. Please do not use the raise your hand feature until the mayor calls for and announces the appropriate time for public comment. The Q&A function found at the bottom of your screen can be used for procedural questions regarding the Zoom app only. Chat with panelists and other questions are prohibited for tonight’s meeting. The meeting will now begin. Mayor Joe Lockwood. CALL TO ORDER Mayor Lockwood: Thank you, Stacey. I’d like to call the virtual regular meeting of the Milton City Council for Monday, April 27th, 2020, to order. The city strongly recommends that you review tonight’s agenda carefully, and if you wish to comment on any item on the agenda, then you may do so by public comment. There will be two opportunities for public comment on tonight’s Regular Meeting of the Milton City Council Monday, April 27 , 2020 at 6:00 pm Page 2 of 23 2 agenda. One will be at the beginning during general public comment, and then the second opportunity will be during new business on the agenda item. The moderator will provide public comment instructions at that time. While the Milton rules allows a speaker to request to make a comment up until the clerk calls the agenda item, once the agenda item is called, no other comment request will be accepted. Sudie, if you would please call the roll for tonight’s meeting. Sudie: Good evening, Mayor and Council. I’ll be happy to call roll for the April 27th, 2020, regular meeting. As I call roll this evening, please confirm your attendance. Mayor Joe Lockwood? Mayor Lockwood: Here. Sudie: Councilmember Peyton Jamison? CM Jamison: Here. Sudie: Councilmember Laura Bentley? CM Bentley: Here. Sudie: Councilmember Joe Longoria? CM Longoria: Here. Sudie: Councilmember Rick Mohrig? CM Mohrig: Here. Sudie: For the record, Council Members Moore and Cookerly are absent. And now, we will have the Pledge of Allegiance. Councilmembers Present: Councilmember Jamison, Councilmember Bentley, Mayor Joe Lockwood, Councilmember Joe Longoria and Councilmember Mohrig. Councilmembers Absent: Councilmember Paul Moore and Councilmember Carol Cookerly. Regular Meeting of the Milton City Council Monday, April 27 , 2020 at 6:00 pm Page 3 of 23 3 PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE (Led by Mayor Joe Lockwood) Mayor Lockwood: I pledge allegiance to the Flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. All right. Thank you, Sudie. And I wanna welcome everybody here tonight. Even though we are virtual, I’m glad you’re here if you’re on with us, and thanks to the council and our staff. Our next item will be our meeting agenda. Sudie, if you’d please the agenda. APPROVAL OF MEETING AGENDA Sudie: Our next item is approval of the meeting agenda, agenda item No. 20-114. Mayor Lockwood: Do I have a motion for approval of the agenda? CM Longoria: Mayor, I move that we approve the meeting agenda as prepared. CM Bentley: Second. Mayor Lockwood: I have a motion from Councilmember Longoria and I believe a second from Councilmember Bentley. Councilmember Mohrig, it was close there, but I think the computer lit up with Bentley – so, a motion from Councilmember Longoria, a second from Councilmember Bentley for approval of the agenda. All those in favor, please say “aye.” I’m gonna ask you individually. Councilmember Bentley? CM Bentley: Aye. Mayor Lockwood: Councilmember Longoria? CM Longoria: Aye. Mayor Lockwood: Councilmember Jamison? Regular Meeting of the Milton City Council Monday, April 27 , 2020 at 6:00 pm Page 4 of 23 4 CM Jamison: Aye. Mayor Lockwood: Councilmember Mohrig? CM Mohrig: Aye. Motion and Vote: Councilmember Longoria moved to approve the Meeting Agenda. Councilmember Bentley seconded the motion. The motion passed (5-0). Councilmembers Moore and Cookerly were absent from the meeting. PUBLIC COMMENT (General) Mayor Lockwood: And myself. That’s unanimous, Sudie. All right. Our next item is public comment. Public comment is a time for citizens to share information with the mayor and city council and to provide input and opinions on any matter that is not scheduled for its own public hearing during tonight’s meeting. As a reminder, there will be two opportunities for public comment. The first of which is general public comment. If you wish to make a general public comment, then please use the raise hand feature located at the bottom of your screen now. If you’re using the telephone, press *9 to raise your hand. As a reminder, when your name is called, please unmute your microphone and state your name and address for the record, and you will have five minutes for remarks. Stacey, is there any general public comment this evening? Stacey: I don’t have anybody raising their hand for general public comment, but I believe we had one that was emailed to us that, Sudie, you may have to ask Attorney Jarrard about whether or not we can read that because I don’t see that gentleman here. Attorney Jarrard: Stacey, [inaudible – crosstalk] [00:05:33]. Mayor Lockwood: I think that’s under the – Attorney Jarrard: That’s in reference to an agenda item. Regular Meeting of the Milton City Council Monday, April 27 , 2020 at 6:00 pm Page 5 of 23 5 Mayor Lockwood: – agenda item. So, that would be at the agenda item. Stacey: Okay, sorry about that. Sorry. We don’t have any general public comment. Mayor Lockwood: All right. So, we’ll move on to our consent agenda. Sudie, if you’ll please sound the consent agenda items? Excuse me. CONSENT AGENDA 1. Approval of the March 16, 2020 Regular City Council Meeting Minutes. (Agenda Item No. 20-115) (Sudie Gordon, City Clerk) 2. Approval of the Financial Statements and Investment Report for the Period Ending February 2020. (Agenda Item No. 20-116) (Bernadette Harvill, Finance Director) 3 . Approval of a Professional Services Agreement between the City of Milton and Tunnell-Spangler-Walsh and Associates (TSW) to Conduct Planning Services and Complete Milton’s 2040 Comprehensive Plan. (Agenda Item No. 20-117) (Parag Agrawal, Community Development Director) 4 . Approval of a Construction Services Agreement with Pavement Technology Inc. for the Application of Pavement Preservation Treatments of Various Locations Around the City. (Agenda Item No. 20-118) (Robert Drewry, Public Works Director) 5 . Approval of a Construction Services Agreement with Blount Construction Co. Inc. for the Excavation and Repair of a Sinkhole Located in the Right- of-Way at 511 Harmony Court in the Avensong Subdivision. (Agenda Item No. 20-119) (Robert Drewry, Public Works Director) Regular Meeting of the Milton City Council Monday, April 27 , 2020 at 6:00 pm Page 6 of 23 6 6 . Approval of a Facility Use Agreement between the City of Milton and Mill Springs Academy to Provide Gymnasium Access to Support the City of Milton Basketball Program. (Agenda Item No. 20-120) (Jim Cregge, Parks & Recreation Director) 7 . Approval of a Facility Use Agreement between the City of Milton and Mill Springs Academy to Provide School Access to Support the City of Milton Camp Joyful Soles Summer Camp. (Agenda Item No. 20-121) (Jim Cregge, Parks & Recreation Director) 8 . Approval of a Behavioral Services Contract between the City of Milton and Comprehensive Behavior Change, LLC to Provide Training Services for the Counselors at Camp Joyful Soles. (Agenda Item No. 20-122) (Jim Cregge, Parks & Recreation Director) Sudie: The first item is approval of the March 16, 2020, regular city council meeting minutes, agenda item No. 20-115. Approval of the financial statements and investment report for the period ending February 2020, agenda item No. 20-116. Approval of a professional services agreement between the City of Milton and Tunnell-Spangler-Walsh and Associates (TSW) to conduct planning services and complete Milton’s 2040 Comprehensive Plan, agenda item No. 20-117. Approval of a construction services agreement with Pavement Technology, Inc., for the application of pavement preservation treatments of various locations around the city, agenda item No. 20-118. Our fifth item is approval of a construction services agreement with Blount Construction Company, Inc., for the excavation and repair of a sinkhole located in the right-of-way at 511 Harmony Court in Avensong subdivision, agenda item No. 20-119. Approval of a facility use agreement between the City of Milton and Mill Springs Academy to provide gymnasium access to support the City of Milton basketball program, agenda item No. 20-120. Approval of a facility use agreement between the City of Milton and Mill Springs Academy to provide school access to support the City of Milton Camp Joyful Soles Summer Camp, agenda item No. Regular Meeting of the Milton City Council Monday, April 27 , 2020 at 6:00 pm Page 7 of 23 7 20-121. Our eighth and our final consent agenda item is approval of a behavioral services contract between the City of Milton and Comprehensive Behavior Change, LLC, to provide training services for the counselors at Camp Joyful Soles, agenda item No. 20-122. Mayor Lockwood: Thank you, Sudie. Do I have a motion on the consent agenda? CM Bentley: Mayor, I’d like to make a motion to approve the consent agenda as read by the city clerk. CM Mohrig: Second. Mayor Lockwood: I’ve got a motion for approval of the consent agenda from Councilmember Bentley, and I’ve got a second from Councilmember Mohrig. All in favor please say “aye.” And I’m gonna ask individually. So, Councilmember Bentley? CM Bentley: Aye. Mayor Lockwood: Councilmember Longoria? CM Longoria: Aye. Mayor Lockwood: Councilmember Jamison? CM Jamison: Aye. Mayor Lockwood: Councilmember Mohrig? CM Mohrig? Aye. Mayor Lockwood: And then also aye – approval from myself. All right. So, Sudie, that is unanimous with all those present. All right. So, we’ll move on to first presentation. Sudie, if you’ll please sound the first presentation item. Motion and Vote: Councilmember Bentley moved to approve the Consent Agenda as read. Councilmember Mohrig seconded the motion. The motion passed (5-0). Councilmembers Moore and Cookerly were absent from the meeting. Regular Meeting of the Milton City Council Monday, April 27 , 2020 at 6:00 pm Page 8 of 23 8 FIRST PRESENTATION 1 . Consideration of the Adoption of the Proposed Changes to Chapter 32 and Chapter 34 of the Milton City Code. (Agenda Item No. 20-123) (Jim Cregge, Parks & Recreation Director) Sudie: This is consideration of the adoption of the proposed changes to chapter 32 and chapter 34 of the Milton City Code, agenda item No 20-123. Mayor Lockwood: I’ll open up for a motion on the first presentation item. CM Longoria: Mayor, I move that we accept the first presentation item as read. CM Jamison: Second. Mayor Lockwood: We’ve got a motion for approval from Councilmember Longoria with a second from Councilmember Jamison. All in favor please say “aye.” And again, I’ll ask individually. Councilmember Bentley? CM Bentley: Aye. Mayor Lockwood: Councilmember Longoria? CM Longoria: Aye. Mayor Lockwood: Councilmember Jamison? CM Jamison: Aye. Mayor Lockwood: Councilmember Mohrig? CM Mohrig? Aye. Mayor Lockwood: And aye as myself for approval. So, Sudie, that was unanimous. All right. We have no items under public hearing, zoning agenda, or unfinished business. So, we’re gonna move on to new business. Regular Meeting of the Milton City Council Monday, April 27 , 2020 at 6:00 pm Page 9 of 23 9 Motion and Vote: Councilmember Longoria moved to approve Agenda Item No. 20-123. Councilmember Jamison seconded the motion. The motion passed (5-0). Councilmembers Moore and Cookerly were absent from the meeting. As I read earlier, this is the second opportunity for public comment. If you wish to comment on any new business item, please note there are two. Then please use the raise hand feature before the item is read. So, Sudie, if you’d please read the item. Excuse me. NEW BUSINESS 1 . Consideration for Approval of a Project Agreement between the City of Milton and the State of Georgia Department of Natural Resources for the Construction of a Fishing Pier at the Pavilion at Providence Park. (Agenda Item No. 20-124) (Jim Cregge, Parks & Recreation Director) Sudie: First item is consideration for approval of a project agreement between the City of Milton and the State of Georgia Department of Natural Resources for the construction of a fishing pier at the pavilion at Providence Park, agenda item No. 20-124. Mr. Jim Cregge. Jim: Good evening, Mayor and Council. I wanna first start by letting you know this is the second half of a process that started back in 2018. At that time, we went to council and asked you to please approve a request to submit a grant application to the State of Georgia Department of Natural Resources Land and Water Conservation Fund. That grant request was approved by the council on October 22nd, 2018. I am most pleased to announce tonight that on March 25th we received the formal notification that our grant proposal was approved by the Department of Natural Resources Land and Water Conservation Fund, which is acting as the agent from the National Regular Meeting of the Milton City Council Monday, April 27 , 2020 at 6:00 pm Page 10 of 23 10 Park Service Federal Government. So, tonight what I am asking of the council is to approve the acceptance of the grant. And, Dave, if we can go to the next slide, please – thank you, Dave. Some of you may recall this design. This is a conceptual drawing from the approved master plan of Providence Park. And in the upper left-hand corner, you can see a depiction of a fishing pier out over the city-owned portion of the lake at Lake Providence. Excuse me. For a little bit of history, there was a small – goodness, I’m sorry – a small fishing dock. And back in 2015 when we took ownership of the park, we did an analysis of that fishing dock and determined that it failed a structural integrity test, and we removed it working with the Soil and Water Conservation District. So, they are aware we have always intended to put something back over the lake. So, David, if you could go to the next slide, please – thank you, David. So, what we have here is a concept drawing of what we could do with this fishing pier. And in the upper left you see a concept drawn by our city architect, Bob Buscemi, and then a couple of other drawings. In the lower left corner, there’s an actual picture of the view from where this fishing pier would be. The next picture is obviously not the lake, but it is a picture of a fishing pier going out over water. What we have envisioned here is a wooden boardwalk that would connect to the trail. That is currently a project that is partially funded by a grant from the Department of Natural Resources Recreation Trail grant program. So, we’re talking a wooden boardwalk that would be over the lake. Keep in mind, please, that the lake itself is a stormwater retention area. So, the water can get quite high based upon stormwater. So, we’re still working on the process of exactly what height it would be relative to ADA accessibility as well as stormwater management. But the idea here is we applied for the maximum grant we could get. And in applying for the maximum grant, which was $100,000, the city back in 2018 approved applying for $100,000 saying that we would match it with $100,000, which means a total budget of $200,000 for the boardwalk and a fishing pier and a pavilion we wish to build over it. Regular Meeting of the Milton City Council Monday, April 27 , 2020 at 6:00 pm Page 11 of 23 11 Should that not come to $200,000, we have the option to, of course, spend less and spend what’s appropriate for that. We would simply not get exactly $100,000. So, for example, let’s say this project comes to $150,000 when complete. Given the 50/50 share – in this case, DNR would reimburse the city for $75,000, and the city would be responsible for $75,000. But in applying for the grant, we made the decision to go for the maximum amount possible; and thus, we have the $200,000 proposal. If there’s any questions, I’d be most happy to answer them at this time. Mayor Lockwood: Jim, I wanna clarify some of what you just said. Obviously, we’ve applied for the maximum. If we spend less, then it’s less on sides – the grant as well as the city’s exposure. Also, timing – what’s the timing. Let’s say we get started, and as you say, we’ve still got some planning and all to see what the elevations and whatnot and what we can do. Does that give us some leeway? Let’s just say, again, we’re in an unprecedented situation right now with the virus and whatnot. Does that give us some flexibility as they start doing final design and working together if we needed to let’s just say try to trim the budget a little bit. Does that give us the option to do that? Jim: Mr. Mayor, I have two answers for you to that question. First of all is that the contract that is requested by the Department of Natural Resources requests that we complete this project by December 31st, 2021. Second of all, in recognizing that we were likely to get this grant, recently the city went through a public request for proposal process to seek a design architecture firm for the restrooms, which were approved in a previous Land/Water Conservation Fund grant as well as a small boardwalk over an ephemeral stream as part of the Recreational Trails grant as well as this particular fishing pier. The concept being to get a design firm that could handle all three pieces and keep them esthetically similar and architecturally identical to maintain what we’re trying to do with Providence Park. But each one is separately budgeted and would be invoiced separately. So, what we’ve done here is we’ve already gotten a leg up on this work at this point in time. We’ve done the public bidding process for the architectural design. We have been through Regular Meeting of the Milton City Council Monday, April 27 , 2020 at 6:00 pm Page 12 of 23 12 the vetting process. We had multiple respondents. And we are in the process of working a contract and will be bringing a contract to council probably in the next month for the fishing pier as well as the boardwalk, of the ephemeral stream, as well as the bathrooms – the restrooms at the park. So, we’ve been working to get ahead of this project, but we also do have until 2021 to finish this fishing pier. Does that answer your question, sir? Mayor Lockwood: That does, but just to clarify that – and, basically, the bids you’re looking for now are design. So, again, I’m just saying if in the next three months, six months and we needed to tighten some things up – what I see is there’s opportunity to do that as far as with the design itself, correct? Jim: Mr. Mayor, last time I gave you a long answer. This time I’ll give you a short one. Yes, we have some flexibility in the time schedule here. Mayor Lockwood: Okay. Thank you. I’ll open it up to council. Any questions for Jim on this? CM Bentley: I have a question. Mayor Lockwood: Laura? Sure. CM Bentley: So, when the contract comes back in, we’ll get to see the design of these different structures. Is that right, Jim? Jim: Absolutely. Working under the assumption that you folks approve this particular agreement with DNR, the next step would be the approval of a contract with the architectural firm. That architectural firm would be working with the staff to come up with designs, and we would be taking these designs to council to make sure that they are aligned with the wants and goals of the city. CM Bentley: Great. That’s important to me just to see how this all ties together and has the same look and feel and that we make sure that what we put back in Providence Park is in the same keeping. It’s gonna be nicer, of course. But we’re restoring it to its original glory, and there are neighbors all around and across the lake and things like that. So, I’d like another chance, as you’re saying we will, to be able to look at the design and review it. Regular Meeting of the Milton City Council Monday, April 27 , 2020 at 6:00 pm Page 13 of 23 13 Jim: Councilmember Bentley, I could not agree with you more. It is important that we have an integrated design here that matches the overall beauty that we’re trying to maintain here at Providence. This is one of the reasons we had the strategy of having one architectural firm design all three key components so we can maintain the cohesiveness of the design, and absolutely, I’m looking forward to the day I can bring those designs to you. CM Bentley: Thank you. Jim: Thank you. Mayor Lockwood: Any other questions? Then I’m gonna open it up to public comment. I know, Stacey, you said you may have one to read into the record. Stacey: Yes, sir. I believe Sudie has that available to read. But I do not see the gentleman in our attendee listing. So, we may have to ask Ken Jarrard for his opinion on this. Sudie: And you give us the opinion – Facebook. Can we tell if he’s on Facebook? Attorney Jarrard: Yeah, that’s right. That’s the thing. I think in this unusual time and particularly since people could be observing remotely on Facebook and I don’t know that we would necessarily know if they are, but that’s the equivalent of a live attendance. Mr. Mayor, my recommendation would be to allow it to go ahead and get read in. Mayor Lockwood: And what? Say that again. Your recommendation to do what? Attorney Jarrard: Go ahead and let it get read in, whether or not we’re able to verify they are physically watching. I think we can assume they are. And candidly, I think given the interesting time we’re in, I think it’s fine. Mayor Lockwood: All right. Stacey, if you would – well, let me ask. Do you have any other public comment besides the one that’s requested to be read in? Stacey: No, sir. That’s the only one. Mayor Lockwood: Okay. If you would please read the public comment. Regular Meeting of the Milton City Council Monday, April 27 , 2020 at 6:00 pm Page 14 of 23 14 Sudie: I’ll read that in. It’s from Gary Jablonski at 2680 Grassview Drive, Milton, Georgia. He says, “As I read the packet, the city has a Water Conservation Fund grant of $100,000. The grant requires the city to provide a 50% match, which is budgeted for FY 2020. I’m in favor of constructing the pier at Providence Park. It would be a shame if the city could not capitalize on the grant. With the COVID-19 virus affecting the entire city, perhaps revenues are lower than expected. I recommend the council take a careful look at revenue and assets to determine if it is still prudent to approve the expenditure or otherwise use available funds for higher priority items.” And that’s the end. Mayor Lockwood: With that, is there any other questions? Comments? I’ll close the public hearing. And any other discussion with council? All right. I’ll open it up for a motion. CM Bentley: Mayor, I’d like to make a motion to approve agenda item No. 20- 124. CM Longoria: Second. Mayor Lockwood: All right. I have a motion for approval from Councilmember Bentley with a second from Councilmember Longoria. All in favor please say “aye.” And I’ll ask individually. Councilmember Bentley? CM Bentley: Aye. Mayor Lockwood: Councilmember Longoria? CM Longoria: Aye. Mayor Lockwood: Councilmember Jamison? CM Jamison: Aye. Mayor Lockwood: Councilmember Mohrig? CM Mohrig: Aye. Mayor Lockwood: And aye for myself. So, that passes unanimous, Sudie. Thank you, Jim. Jim: It was my pleasure. Thank you very much. Regular Meeting of the Milton City Council Monday, April 27 , 2020 at 6:00 pm Page 15 of 23 15 Motion and Vote: Councilmember Bentley moved to approve Agenda Item No. 20-123. Councilmember Longoria seconded the motion. The motion passed (5-0). Councilmembers Moore and Cookerly were absent from the meeting. MAYOR AND COUNCIL REPORTS Mayor Lockwood: Before we move into staff reports, is there anything that council would like to report on or any comments or observations? I’ll go ahead and start. Obviously, it’s been an interesting time. We’re all kinda wading through the current situation. We do feel like the City of Milton is in a better position than some of the other cities just based on our tax base and things like that. But again, it’s been trying. But, again, I give credit to our staff, everybody that’s working hard either remotely or public safety and the guys out there that are performing essential services as well as all their backup. So, that seems to be going fairly well. I haven’t had too many issues. So, again, with that, I’d love to open it up to council with any other observations or concerns or things that they’re seeing if they’d like to share those. I’ll take that as a no. Then, we’ll open up to staff reports. So, we’ll start with community development. STAFF REPORTS Department Updates 1. Community Development Parag: Good evening, Mayor and City Council Members. I’m Parag Agrawal, the city’s community development director. Today, I’m participating in my first virtual city council meeting. So, I will try my best. So, please let me know if my voice is breaking up or something. So, last month in spite of the – Regular Meeting of the Milton City Council Monday, April 27 , 2020 at 6:00 pm Page 16 of 23 16 Mayor Lockwood: Parag, Parag, excuse me. Your voice is breaking up. Parag: Okay. Mayor Lockwood: No, I’m kidding. Go ahead; you’re doing fine. Parag: Okay. So, last month, in spite of the shelter in place policies, the operations of the department moved on quite well. And we continued to serve the Milton residents. As you know, many of the department operations cannot be conducted from home, like inspections, permitting, code enforcement. So, many of the department employees were coming to the office every day, and they were maintaining their social distancing and were following other public health guidance. In the last one month, our community has not seen any slowdown in the construction activity. You see a lot of construction going on in the Crabapple area, and very soon, the City of Milton will be getting a new downtown. So, in the first slide, we have our department numbers. And these numbers are from March 15th to April 15th. So, if you look at the first bullet point, the department reviewed around 93 new permit applications. So, whenever there’s a new permit submittal, you have to go through a zoning architecture, arborist, soil erosion and stormwater review. So, a total of 93 plan submittals were reviewed. So, in 20 business days, around four to five plan submittals were reviewed every day. Around 122 building permits were issued, which included single family, commercial, mechanical, and other permits. A total of 559 building inspections were conducted. The city has one land inspector. And Josh Rogers basically inspected around 515 sites last month, and around 42 [inaudible] [00:28:23] work permits were issued. And these numbers are on average on a higher side. So, you can say again, as I mentioned, the construction activity in Milton has not slowed down. David, if you can change the next slide. Mayor Lockwood: Parag, can I break in? Excuse me for one second. And the only thing I would say then for council and those listening – this is just Regular Meeting of the Milton City Council Monday, April 27 , 2020 at 6:00 pm Page 17 of 23 17 an assumption, but construction hasn’t slowed down, but we just need to be prepared that from a budgeting standpoint that certainly it could in the future. I’m sure most of the stuff that’s going on right now was pre-planned and already had begun – just for a point of clarification there. Parag: Yes, Mayor. Mayor Lockwood: Thanks. Parag: Talking about the major projects – the city very soon will be launching the 2040 Comprehensive Plan update. The City Council approved the contract today with the consulting. Last week, I sent out an email to the city council members requesting their appointees to the CPAC. And we are planning to launch the comprehensive plan process in the month of M ay. So, initially, we were planning to have a project launch meeting or something. But we will be having a virtual meeting in the month of May. So, please give me your names of the appointees on the CPAC. Second update is the trail master plan. The city has received the final draft of the trail master plan, and we will be presenting this master plan to the city council on May 18th. We will be sharing this master plan with the trail advisory committee members and also with the Milton residents before the May 18th meeting. The draft master plan has been presented to the city council a few times in the past also, and the Trail Advisory Committee and the entire community of the City of Milton has been very active and very supportive of this new trail master plan update. Talking about the tree preservation ordinance, the staff has incorporated the feedback, which we received from the city council when we last presented this preservation ordinance to the city council. Right now, the tree preservation ordinance is being reviewed by the city attorneys, and we are scheduled to present this to the city council on May 18th. David, if you can change the slide – yes. The last slide, which I have, is about the update of the board meetings. As you know, there was some pause at the various board meetings. So, our department staffs four committees – the Planning Commission, Design Review Board, Board of Zoning Appeals, and Greenspace Advisory Committee. We are planning to relaunch Regular Meeting of the Milton City Council Monday, April 27 , 2020 at 6:00 pm Page 18 of 23 18 these meetings in the month of June and in May. We have been working very closely with the board members, with the chairs, and the vice-chairs of these boards. And we are also working very closely with the applicants who will be submitting their projects for the review of these boards. So, the Planning Commission Meeting has been scheduled for June 24th, the DRB meeting for June 2nd, the BZ June 16th, and the Greenspace Advisory Committee will be on the 18th. Whether these meetings will be virtual or in person, that depends upon the guidance that you will receive from city attorney’s office and also from our public health guidance from the state. But we are planning to schedule these. Most likely these will be virtual, but it depends. So, do you want to change the slide, David? Thank you. So, there you are. Any questions for the department, Mayor? Mayor Lockwood: Well, Parag, first, I just wanna thank you. I’ve gotten lots of good feedback and comments from people that they’ve been able to continue on, that you have been able to with your department and staff to continue working even though virtual or coming up with ways to adapt. So, I think a lot of other cities have not done that. So, kudos to you and your staff on that. And then again, just to confirm, I was just kidding when I said you were breaking up. You sounded fine on there. Parag: [Inaudible] [00:32:56] happens all the time with these. Mayor Lockwood: I was just making light a little bit. Anybody else have questions or comments for Parag? Thank you, Parag. Parag: Thank you. Mayor Lockwood: We’ll move onto finance. Bernadette: Good evening, Mayor and Department Updates Finance Council. I hope you can hear me. Mayor Lockwood: Yup, you sound good. Regular Meeting of the Milton City Council Monday, April 27 , 2020 at 6:00 pm Page 19 of 23 19 Bernadette: Perfect. I’m happy to report that finance was able to wrap up our annual reporting as we transitioned to the current telecommuting and in-office hybrid work schedule. So, the fiscal year 2019 comprehensive annual financial report as well as the popular annual financial report can be found on the finance page of the city’s website. I wanna send a big thank you to all of the staff for their help gathering the data and specifically to our graphic designer, Laurie Cronin, and our communication director, Greg Botelho, for their support throughout the process. Without them, we may not have met that deadline. So, I’m very thankful. We hope these documents give Milton stakeholders a better understanding of the city’s finances and accomplishments over the past fiscal year. Bringing everything to date, just to remind everyone, the occupational tax certificate renewal deadline was extended to May 19th, 2020, with council’s approval of the recent emergency ordinances. To date, approximately 60% of the current active businesses have renewed their licenses compared to approximately around 75% this time in the past two years. So, we’re not doing too bad. Finance is currently seeking a revenue coordinator, and we hope to fill this position soon. In the meantime, responsibilities for the front desk have been addressed by our current part-time revenue specialist with the help of our accounting manager. And again, the entire finance staff is rotating on a hybrid model of telecommuting and in-office hours. So, all mail and paperwork dropped off in the lobby and delivered by the postal service is being addressed in a timely manner. We also have the phones rotating amongst staff, so all calls are answered by someone throughout business hours. And voicemails are being checked multiple times throughout the day with the goal of same-day turnaround. We are currently working through the budget amendment process and plan to have that before council for a public hearing at the end of May. Official notice will be advertised in the Milton Herald once the details have been finalized. And lastly, I just want to remind all the citizens to complete their Regular Meeting of the Milton City Council Monday, April 27 , 2020 at 6:00 pm Page 20 of 23 20 census forms. Milton shares this revenue for Local Option Sales Tax and Transportation Local Option Sales Tax. Local Option Sales Tax is our second largest revenue stream, and we are reliant upon those responses for our share of the ratio for that distribution. Currently, about 31% of 2020’s original budget projection was based on Local Option Sales Tax alone. So, I just wanted to remind everyone to please complete their census. And that’s it for finance this evening. Mayor Lockwood: Are there any questions for Bernadette? Nope. And we appreciat e everything you guys are doing. I know with our current and future budgeting you guys gotta keep a close track on that with everything we’re going through, so thank you. Bernadette: Our pleasure. Mayor Lockwood: All right. We’ll move onto economic development. Sarah. Department Updates Economic Development Sarah: Good evening, Mayor and Council. I’m excited to announce that the bronze horse was installed in the Charlotte Drive roundabout today. For those unfamiliar with the project, this was a dream of our late arborist, Mark Law. And to honor his memory, his family through the Milton Arts Council raised more than $11,000 from 105 donors to fund her. The Arts Council is proud to be able to contribute a public art installation at no cost to the city, and we want to thank Christine Law and their boys for this generous offer and are pleased to be able to honor Mark Law in this way. Once we are able to gather again, we will have a formal celebration. I also wanted to tell council about the North Fulton COVID-19 Business Impact Survey. Along with my fellow North Fulton economic development professionals, we jointly conducted this survey a couple weeks ago. We had over 800 people respond, 39 of them identifying as Milton businesses. We are hoping that by issuing this survey together, we will catch a full glimpse of the environment in order to keep our elected officials informed and to Regular Meeting of the Milton City Council Monday, April 27 , 2020 at 6:00 pm Page 21 of 23 21 help us share needed resources. I have a lot of slides I could show you and will be happy to share all of the data but wanted to focus on four slides in particular tonight and the first being slide four. This is for all of the respondents, that whole 800. I’m showing that 60% of businesses are operational. In Milton, that number is 51% of the 39 that responded. The next is slide eight, which talks about employment count. For Milton responses, 14% of our businesses reported having hired new employees. And while the remaining 80% noted that they temporarily laid off or furloughed employees, zero stated that they had permanently laid off employees. The next is slide 13 – two, three, four, five – which talks about the confusion and concern businesses have about the ability to reopen. Milton pretty much mirrors this whole North Fulton with a third saying yes, a third saying no, and third being unsure. And the last slide talks about the future and their concerns moving forward. Milton has the same top three as all of North Fulton, which is there being a recession, the decreased consumer confidence, and the financial impact on the operations. We will continue to issue this survey. We put it out there as version one. So, we will continue to issue this survey as this situation evolves, and I will share those results with city council accordingly. Were there any questions regarding the survey? Mayor Lockwood: Any questions? Comments? Okay. Sarah: And we’re keeping in touch with our businesses. We send out at least once a business update. We are conducting our quarter conversations virtually. Our first one was our highest attended ever. We’re having another one this Thursday. And we’re looking at doing our small business symposium this June virtually as well. So, if there’s nothing else – thank you, Mayor and Council. ADJOURNMENT Mayor Lockwood: All right. Thank you, Sarah. So, is there anything else that council or staff would like to say or report on? I appreciate everybody Regular Meeting of the Milton City Council Monday, April 27 , 2020 at 6:00 pm Page 22 of 23 22 attending tonight, and that will conclude our regular meeting. So, do I have a motion to adjourn? CM Longoria: So moved. CM Mohrig: Second. Mayor Lockwood: I have a motion and a second to adjourn. All in favor please say “aye.” CM Bentley: Aye. Mayor Lockwood: Councilmember Bentley. Councilmember Longoria? CM Longoria: Aye. Mayor Lockwood: Councilmember Jamison? CM Jamison: Aye. Mayor Lockwood: Councilmember Mohrig? CM Mohrig: Aye. Mayor Lockwood: As well myself. So, that is unanimous. So, thank you everybody for attending tonight. Motion and Vote: Councilmember Longoria moved to adjourn the meeting at 6:41 pm. Councilmember Mohrig seconded the motion. The motion passed (5-0). Councilmembers Moore and Cookerly were absent from the meeting. CM Bentley: Thank you. CM Longoria: Thank you. Regular Meeting of the Milton City Council Monday, April 27 , 2020 at 6:00 pm Page 23 of 23 23 Date Approved: June 1, 2020 __________________________________ _____________________________ Sudie AM Gordon, City Clerk Joe Lockwood, Mayor