HomeMy WebLinkAboutEXECUTED-MIN - 06.01.20 Regular Meeting MinutesRegular Meeting of the Milton City Council
Monday, June 1, 2020 at 6:00 pm
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Mayor Lockwood: Looks like I’ve got 6:00, so we’ll welcome everybody here tonight
to our first actual in-person meeting in the last couple of months.
CALL TO ORDER
Mayor Lockwood: Amen. Thank you, Sarah. Okay, I’d like to call the regular meeting
of the Milton City Council for Monday, June 1st, 2020 to order.
The city strongly recommends that you review tonight’s agenda
carefully, and that if you wish to speak on any item on the agenda,
please bring your comment cards to the clerk as soon as possible.
While the Milton city rules allow a speaker to turn in their
comment card up until the clerk calls the agenda item, once the
agenda item is called, no more comment cards can be accepted.
And, I will ask Stacey – is there any direction on – I know we’re
also connected with Zoom, correct?
Ms. Inglis: Yes.
Mayor Lockwood: Okay. So, as far as any other directions for people on Zoom or…
We assume they know what they’re doing if they’re on Zoom. You
know me, I’m all about the technology and know everything about
it. Okay. Then, if our city clerk will please call roll and make
general announcements.
Ms. Lowit: Good evening, mayor and council. I will be happy to call roll for
the June 1st, 2020 regular meeting. As I call roll this evening,
please confirm your attendance. Mayor Joe Lockwood?
Mayor Lockwood: Here.
Ms. Lowit: Councilmember Peyton Jamison?
Mr. Jamison: Here.
Ms. Lowit: Councilmember Paul Moore?
Mr. Moore: Here.
Ms. Lowit: Councilmember Laura Bentley?
Ms. Bentley: Here.
Ms. Lowit: Councilmember Carol Cookerly?
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Monday, June 1, 2020 at 6:00 pm
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Ms. Cookerly: Here.
Ms. Lowit: Councilmember Joe Longoria?
Mr. Longoria: Here.
Ms. Lowit: And, for the record, Councilmember Rick Mohrig is absent.
Councilmembers Present: Councilmember Peyton Jamison, Councilmember Laura Bentley, Mayor Joe Lockwood, Councilmember Carol Cookerly, Councilmember Paul Moore and Councilmember Joe Longoria. Councilmember Absent: Councilmember Rick Mohrig.
PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE (Led by Mayor Joe Lockwood)
Would everyone please stand for the Pledge of Allegiance?
All: 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.
Mayor Lockwood: Again, I wanna thank those that are both in attendance and virtual
attendance. Also, thank you to staff and everybody involved.
Obviously, this is a little bit different setup here, and we’re trying
to be as safe as possible, so thank you for the extra work for that. I
will ask the city clerk to please sound the next item.
APPROVAL OF MEETING AGENDA
Ms. Lowit: Approval of the meeting agenda, Item No. 20-151.
Mayor Lockwood: Okay. I also wanna add an executive session to discuss land
acquisition and potential litigation, along with personnel. And, I
also have a couple other staff-requested changes. On Agenda Item
No. 20-050, “Consideration of RZ20-07, Section 64-1112, allowed
use chart” should read “Section 64-1121,” and Agenda Item No.
20-054, “Consideration of an ordinance to amend Appendix A,
Section 4-54, related to Chapter 4: Alcoholic beverage of the code
of the City of Milton, Georgia,” I’d like to remove Section 4-52
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Monday, June 1, 2020 at 6:00 pm
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part. Do I have any other changes on the agenda? If not, I’ll open it
up for a motion as read.
Mr. Longoria: Mayor – okay, that makes it simple. I move that we accept the
agenda as you just mentioned and changed.
Ms. Cookerly: Second.
Mayor Lockwood: Okay. I believe Carol – was that a second? Okay. I had a motion
from Councilmember Longoria with a second from
Councilmember Cookerly. All in favor, please say aye.
All: Aye.
Mayor Lockwood: Any opposed? That’s unanimous. Okay, the next item is public
comment. Do we have any public comment items tonight, Tammy?
Motion and Vote: Councilmember Longoria moved to approve the
Meeting Agenda with the following revisions: 1) add an executive
session to discuss land acquisition and potential litigation, along
with personnel. 2) On Agenda Item No. 20-050, “Consideration of
RZ20-07, Section 64-1112, allowed use chart” should read “Section
64-1121,”. 3) Agenda Item No. 20-054, “Consideration of an
ordinance to amend Appendix A, Section 4-54, related to Chapter
4: Alcoholic beverage of the code of the City of Milton, Georgia,”
Remove Section 4-52 part. Councilmember Cookerly seconded
the motion. The motion passed (6-0). Councilmember Mohrig was
absent from the meeting.
PUBLIC COMMENT
Ms. Lowit: We do, but not for just general comment. We have them later into
the…
Mayor Lockwood: Okay. Then, we will move onto the consent agenda. If you could
please read the items.
CONSENT AGENDA
Regular Meeting of the Milton City Council
Monday, June 1, 2020 at 6:00 pm
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1. Approval of the April 27, 2020 Regular City Council Meeting
Minutes.
(Agenda Item No. 20-152)
(Sudie Gordon, City Clerk)
2. Approval of the Financial Statements and Investment Report for the
Period Ending April 2020.
(Agenda Item No. 20-153)
(Bernadette Harvill, Finance Director)
3. Approval of a Change Order Between the City of Milton and AT&T
for Network Integration Services.
(Agenda Item No. 20-154)
(Dave Frizzell, IT Manager)
4. Approval of an Agreement between the City of Milton, Georgia
and Invoice Cloud for Electronic Payment Processing Services.
(Agenda Item No. 20-155)
(Stacey Inglis, Assistant City Manager)
5. Approval of Subdivision Plat and Revision.
Name of Development / Location Action Comments /
# lots
Total
Acres Density
1. Excel Capital Construction
LL 1171 and 1172
12450 Charlotte Drive
Minor
Plat
Create 2
Lots 4.25 0.47 / acre
(Agenda Item No. 20-156)
(Parag Agrawal, Community Development Director)
Ms. Lowit: Mayor, I just wanna double-check and make sure we have one
more – I just wanna confirm it wasn’t a general. And, it wasn’t.
Our first consent agenda item is approval of the April 27th, 2020
regular city council meeting meetings, Agenda Item No. 20-152.
Second, approval of the financial statement and investment report
for the period ending April 2020, Agenda Item No. 20-153. Next is
an approval of a change order between the City of Milton and
AT&T for network integration services, Agenda Item No. 20-154.
Approval of an agreement between the City of Milton, Georgia and
Invoice Cloud for electronic payment processing services, Agenda
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Monday, June 1, 2020 at 6:00 pm
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Item No. 20-155. Our fifth and final consent item is approval of a
subdivision plat and revision. The name of the development is
Excel Capital Construction, Land Lot 1171 and 1172, at 12450
Charlotte Drive. It’s a minor plat for creation of two lots. The total
acres is 4.25 with a density of 0.47 per acre, Agenda Item No. 20-
156.
Mayor Lockwood: Thank you, Tammy. Do I have a motion to second on the consent
agenda?
Mr. Longoria: So moved.
Mayor Lockwood: Do I have a second?
Mr. Moore: Second.
Mayor Lockwood: Okay. I have a motion from Councilmember Longoria with a
second from Councilmember Moore. All in favor, please say aye.
All: Aye.
Mayor Lockwood: Any opposed? That’s unanimous. Okay, we don’t have any items
tonight in reports or presentations, so I’ll move to our first
presentation. Tammy, if you’ll please sound the first presentation
items.
Motion and Vote: Councilmember Longoria moved to approve the
Consent Agenda. Councilmember Moore seconded the motion.
The motion passed (6-0). Councilmember Mohrig was absent from
the meeting.
REPORTS AND PRESENTATIONS (None)
FIRST PRESENTATION
1. Consideration to Adopt the Revised Milton Tree Canopy
Conservation
Ordinance and Tree Conservation Manual.
(Agenda Item No. 20-157)
(Parag Agrawal, Community Development Director)
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Monday, June 1, 2020 at 6:00 pm
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2. Consideration of An Ordinance of the Mayor and Council of the City
of Milton, Georgia, To Adopt Amendments to the Fiscal 2020
Budget for the General Fund of the City of Milton, Georgia
Amending the Amounts Shown as Expenditures, Prohibiting
Expenditures to Exceed Appropriations, and Prohibiting Expenditures
to Exceed Actual Funding Available.
(Agenda Item No. 20-158)
(Bernadette Harvill, Finance Director)
Ms. Lowit: Consideration to adopt the revised Milton tree canopy conservation
ordinance and tree conservation manual, Agenda Item No. 20-157.
Consideration of an ordinance of the mayor and council of the City
of Milton, Georgia to adopt amendments to the fiscal 2020 budget
for the general fund of the City of Milton, Georgia, amending the
amounts shown as expenditures prohibiting expenditures to exceed
appropriations and prohibiting expenditures to exceed actual
funding available, Agenda Item No. 20-158.
Mayor Lockwood: Okay, thank you. Do I have a motion on the first presentation
items?
Ms. Bentley: Mayor, I’d like to make a motion to approve the first presentation
items as read
Ms. Cookerly: Second.
Mayor Lockwood: Okay, I have a motion from Councilmember Bentley with a second
from Councilmember Cookerly. All in favor, please say aye.
All: Aye.
Motion and Vote: Councilmember Bentley moved to approve the
First Presentation Items. Councilmember Cookerly seconded the
motion. The motion passed (6-0). Councilmember Mohrig was
absent from the meeting.
Mayor Lockwood: That’s unanimous. Okay, we’ll move on to our public hearing.
Tammy, if you would please sound that first public hearing item.
Regular Meeting of the Milton City Council
Monday, June 1, 2020 at 6:00 pm
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PUBLIC HEARING
1. Consideration of An Ordinance of the Mayor and Council of the City
of Milton, Georgia, To Adopt Amendments to the Fiscal 2020 Budget
for the General Fund of the City of Milton, Georgia Amending the
Amounts Shown as Expenditures, Prohibiting Expenditures to Exceed
Appropriations, and Prohibiting Expenditures to Exceed Actual
Funding Available.
(Agenda Item No. 20-158)
(First Presentation at June 1, 2020 City Council Meeting)
(Bernadette Harvill, Finance Director)
Ms. Lowit: Sure. A consideration of an ordinance of the mayor and council of
the City of Milton, Georgia to adopt amendments to the fiscal 2020
budget for the general fund of the City of Milton, Georgia,
amending the amounts shown as expenditures prohibiting
expenditures to exceed appropriations and prohibiting expenditures
to exceed actual funding available, Agenda Item No. 20-158. Ms.
Bernadette Harvill.
Ms. Harvill: Good evening, mayor and council. We are here this evening to
discuss requested amendments to the fiscal year 2020 budget. I
would like to explain that the figures you see in the current budget
column include new initiatives that were approved in the budget
process last fall, as well as any internal amendments that have been
approved to date. Just as a reminder, internal amendments include
any transfers of appropriations from one line item to another within
the same department and the same fund. All other requests to
transfer funds between departments or funds are contained within
this document tonight.
As you all know, the economic impact of COVID -19 is being seen
in revenue collections statewide. Milton is no exception, as the
city’s second largest revenue grouping is sales and use taxes. We
will discuss the anticipated impact shortly, but first, I would like to
review the city’s fund balance policy to lay the foundation for the
presentation. According to Milton’s code of ordinances, the
general fund is required to maintain a minimum unassigned fund
balance of 25% of the subsequent year’s budget and revenues.
At the end of fiscal year 2019, the unassigned balance was
approximately 26.2% of FY 2020’s budgeted revenues. Even with
the amendments that are about to be presented, the fund balance is
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Monday, June 1, 2020 at 6:00 pm
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projected to continue to meet that minimum requirement. Milton is
legally allowed to utilize fund balance in excess of required
minimum as a budget funding source, and such use shall be
deemed a onetime revenue for budgeting purposes.
The first slide you see is the general fund budget summary. You’ll
notice the amendment request will result in an overall decrease to
revenues in the amount of $1,363,459.00 and an overall decrease
in expenditures of $507,264.00. The decrease in expenditures is
being primarily driven by salary savings resulting from position
vacancies in various departments, as well as projects that staff have
identified, which can be deferred until we have a more complete
understanding of the overall impact that COVID-19 and the current
economic conditions will have on our city.
The net reduction to fund balance is $856,195.00. The following is
a list of revenue amendment requests by line item. I will highlight
some of the more significant amendments and will be happy to
address any other line items you may want to discuss.
You can see in the “Taxes” category that title ad valorem tax is
coming in higher than anticipated. Even considering a potential
decrease in vehicle sales, the city still anticipates an overall
increase of $175,000.00 over the current budget projections.
Directly below, you can see the anticipated decreases to local
option sales tax. This decrease of $1,353,347.00 was calculated by
looking at revenues received from May through September of 2019
and applying anticipated reduction of 40% to May and 30% for the
remainder of the year. LOST is collected one month in arrears, so
May’s revenues represent activity for the month of April and so on.
This same methodology was applied to the TSPLOST revenue
budget you’ll see later this evening. The anticipated decreases to
alcohol beverage excise taxes of $124,000.00 and business and
occupation taxes of $100,000.00 were based on activity to date and
the anticipated impact of the current economic circumstances, as
well as the extension of the due dates for both revenues as
approved through the city’s emergency ordinance.
Moving down the page, you will see the city’s activity fees. The
Parks and Recreation Department has calculated that the temporary
suspension of activities will result in an overall decrease of
approximately $30,000.00 to the related budget items. Another
effect which has resulted from current events is the anticipated loss
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in revenue related to port fines and forfeitures and related
administrative fees. You can see here that administrative fees are
expected to decrease by approximately $27,600.00, and on the next
page, you will see fines and forfeitures with an anticipated
decrease of $130,000.00.
The last area I would like to mention related to revenues is
investment income. With rates dropping, we are experiencing a
decline in interest earned on the city’s investments. In the general
fund, there is an anticipated drop of $90,000.00, and you will see
similar decreases across other investment income in the Green
Space Bond Fund and the TSPLOST Fund as well. I’ll stop here to
see if there are any questions related to the general fund revenue
amendments before you.
Ms. Inglis: Can you tell me which slide I’m supposed to go to?
Mayor Lockwood: That would help.
Ms. Harvill: Dave, you can go to the first page of the expenditures. Sorry, I
wasn’t prepared for that. Okay. So, does anyone have any revenue-
related questions?
Mayor Lockwood: Any questions for Bernadette? Okay.
Ms. Harvill: So, on Page 5 of the presentation should be the beginning of the
expenditures by department. There are several pages of
amendments which have been listed by department. I will go
through and summarize them for you, and please feel free to stop
me if you have any questions about a particular request.
In the Mayor and Council Department, there have been a decrease
of $42,010.00, $25,000.00 of which are related to a change in the
planned council/staff retreats for FY 2020. The remaining
$17,010.00 accounts for the cancellation of the annual GMA
conference as a result of COVID-19.
Next, moving on to the City Clerk Department, you will see
reductions related to the salary savings we spoke about earlier, as
well as some savings related to the November 2019 election. In the
General Administration Department, we are seeing a decrease of
$1,000.00 related to the cancellation of the city’s Base Camp
subscription, as staff has moved to utilizing other project
management tools.
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Finance has an overall decrease related to position vacancies in the
amount of $10,000.00, and legal fees have been coming in higher
than originally anticipated, and you will see a request of
$40,000.00 for that department.
Moving on to the next page, you will see Information Services has
salary savings due to vacancy and a request to transfer $28,980.00
to the Police Department to account for public safety-related
communications and bandwidth expenses that are now being
accounted for in that department.
The Risk Management Department accounts for the city’s general
liability insurance costs, and the related expenses have come in
slightly lower than originally anticipated, resulting in a decrease of
$5,696.00 to that budget. In the General Government Buildings
Department, you will see a request for a slight increase to the
budgets related to cleaning services at city hall and the birdhouse.
The janitorial services bid came in higher than anticipated, but you
will see that these expenses have been offset by savings to the
facility’s technician expenses when we get to the Public Works
Department.
Communications has a reduction of $8,000.00 related to position
vacancies. Community Outreach and Engagement is seeing an
increase of $3,500.00 to the account for sponsorships related to the
annual State of the City event that was held in January. There was
a corresponding increase to the revenue line item for private entity
contributions that offsets this request. And, the Municipal Court is
requesting $12,246.00 from contingency to account for the city’s
share of common area maintenance expenses related to the
Deerfield lease.
Moving on to the next page, the Police Department has an overall
decrease to its budget of $164,856.00. Of this, $100,000.00 is
related to salary savings. $82,536.00 was approved in the M&O
initiative to obtain vehicles for two sworn officers. This
amendment is simply transferring that money to the Capital
Projects Fund, where those expenses are accounted for.
You will see the transfer of $28,980.00 from the Information
Services Department for those communications expenses we just
spoke about. There is a reduction of $1,120.00 transferring to the
Fire Department for their portion of the net motion expenses.
Lastly, you will see a decrease to Machinery and Equipment in the
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Monday, June 1, 2020 at 6:00 pm
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amount of $10,180.00.
This reduction is the result of an increase of $22,672.00 from
contingency to replace officer laptops, $6,680.00 in donations from
Target and the Milton First Responders Foundation that is offset by
a corresponding revenue increase, and then, lastly, a decrease of
$39,540.00 related to the deferral of the purchase and installation
of stationary license plate readers in the city. This was one of those
projects we discussed that staff has identified that could be
deferred until there is a better understanding of COVID-19’s
impact to the city’s finances.
Going on to the next page, the Fire Department has recognized
salary savings as well as a transferring of money for net motion
from the Police Department. Additionally, there is a request to
transfer $8,307.00 to Public Works and passive Parks to account
for their portion of the purchase of the property off of Old Bullpen
Road from Fulton County. As you know, that property is split
between the Public Works Yard, Birmingham Park, as well as
Station 43.
Public Work has an overall decrease of $230,837.00. This is made
up of a transfer of $11,802.00 to passive Parks Department to
account for its share of the survey work completed related to the
purchase of the property, as well as $1,242.00 related to the actual
property acquisition offset by those savings related to the facility’s
technician and janitorial contract services mentioned earlier of
$20,837.00.
Additionally, there is $43,277.00 that was saved from the current
NPDES permit compliance project and a transfer of $150,000.00 to
the Community Development Department for expenses related to
the construction and land inspection services that are now
accounted for in that department as opposed to Public Works.
Next page: Parks and Recreation active has a slight increase to
cleaning services of $599.00 related to that janitorial services bid
we’ve been discussing, an increase of $1,000.00 to account for the
donation for the Milton Boys’ Feeder Lacrosse for needed
improvements at Cox Road facility. The last two requests for this
department are from the contingency account to cover higher-than-
anticipated costs associated with the IGA between the City of
Milton and the City of Alpharetta and the portable bathrooms that
were needed at the former Milton Country Club property.
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Passive Parks is seeing an increase of $49,467.00, $11,802.00 of
which we discussed earlier related to expenses for the surveying at
the property, $7,065.00 for the actual acquisition, and $30,600.00
has been approved for the trail maintenance work throughout
Birmingham Park that I believe has been completed.
Here, you’ll see salary savings from Community Development on
the next page in the amount of $50,000.00, an overall increase of
$70,000.00 to professional fees, which is primarily being driven by
the $150,000.00 transfer in from Public Works to account for land
development and construction inspection services that we spoke
about. Community development was also able to identify two
projects that could be deferred: Review of the form-based codes in
the Crabapple and Deerfield districts amounting to $50,000.00 and
the review of the current solid waste plan amounting to
$30,000.00. Again, we will revisit those once we understand the
full impact of the circumstances.
In the Debt Services Department, you will see the release of funds
related to the debt service for the city’s revenue bonds. The bond
series 2019 issuance was approved in October. The debt service for
these bonds will be accounted for in the revenue bond fund. You
will see a corresponding transfer out to that fund on the next page.
Please note there was an overall savings of $18,692.00 realized
between the original estimates made for that issuance and the
actual approved final closing rates for that bond issuance.
Lastly, you will see the reduction from contingency related to the
items we’ve been discussing, and on the next page, you will see
those transfers out for capital projects for the vehicles for the two
new departments and again, the overall net decrease to the fund
balance of $856,195.00, leaving the city in a position to meet its
required reserve threshold. I’ll pause here and see if anyone has
any questions as we close out the general fund and move on to
special revenue funds.
Mayor Lockwood: Any questions for Bernadette? Okay.
Ms. Harvill: Okay. Moving on to Page 12, you will see the budget summaries
for the Special Events Fund, the Hotel/Motel Tax Fund, and the E-
911 Fund. On Page 13 is the details for the Special Events Fund.
There has been a request to update revenue anticipations across
four categories. First, the city received more vendor fees and fewer
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sponsor fees than anticipated for the Crabapple Fest, which
occurred last October. There is also a request to recognize
anticipated revenues for the Gas South partnership, and lastly, as a
result of the current circumstances, hotel rentals have declined, and
the city is anticipating a drop in revenues of $35,000.00 from the
transfer in from the Hotel/Motel Tax Fund.
On Page 14, you will see those corresponding changes to the
Hotel/Motel Tax Fund of their revenues and transfers out to
Special Events. On Page 15, we have the E-911 Fund. Revenue
collections for this category have increased, and we are requesting
an increase to that line item budget as well as the outgoing
expenditures budget to cover our share with the City of Alpharetta
for our E-911 IGA.
That wraps up the special revenue funds, and on Page 16, you can
see the Capital Project Funds budget summaries. You will see a net
decrease to fund balance within these funds as follows: $49,340.00
in the Capital Projects Fund, $23,895.00 in the Green Space Bond
Fund, $807,453.00 in the TSPLOST Fund.
Moving on to the next page, you will see a $93.00 decrease in the
Capital Grant Fund, $97,653.00 to the Impact Fees Fund, and
lastly, an increase of $172,908 to the fund balance in the Revenue
Bond Fund.
On Page 18, we will begin to go over the requests that contribute to
those amounts. In the Capital Projects Fund, there are a few
changes in revenue recognition, including three operating transfers
in from other funds, including the $82,536.00 we discussed from
the General Fund to cover the vehicles for the two new officers, a
transfer of $169,938.00 from the Capital Grant Fund to release
remaining funds from a completed infrastructure improvement
project and Crabapple and Birmingham, and $234,135.00 from the
Impact Fees Fund to cover impact-fee-eligible expenses for the
Freemanville-at-Providence intersection improvement project.
Next, you will see the corresponding increase to the expenditure
line for the police vehicles, and on the next page, you will see
increases to the pavement management budget in the amount of
$563,032.00. This amount will allow the Public Works Department
to complete paving throughout FY 2020 to maintain a pavement
condition index score of 70 according to the current paving plan.
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There is a request to cover upgrades to the fuel management
system in the amount of $4,340.00. You will also see a $17,000.00
increase to the Bell Memorial Park account to recognize donations
made by the local lacrosse teams towards the practice wall at the
park. You will see recognition for tree recompense revenues as
well as a reduction to contingency as it relates to the above request.
Again, the overall decrease to that fund balance is $49,340.00.
Now, moving on to the Green Space Bond Fund on Page 20, we
will have revenue updates for property taxes as well as a reduction
to the expectation for revenue related to the interest earnings, as we
discussed, and lastly, a recognition of broker rebate received of the
land acquisition at Freemanville Road.
On the next page, you will see the adjustment to the expense lines
for land conservation as it relates to those changes in revenue
recognitions. On Page 22, you will see the TSPLOST Fund.
Expectations related to sales tax and investment income have been
adjusted. And, on Page 23, we have the Capital Grant Fund. We
have revenue recognition updates related to the Ellman Grant as
well as the Smart Communities Challenge Grant. You will also see
corresponding expenditure updates for those line items, as well as
a transfer out of those remaining funds from the Crabapple-at-
Birmingham project that we just discussed in the Capital Projects
Fund.
On Page 24, you’ll see those last two items, and you’ll see the
overall net decrease of $93.00 to the fund balance in the Capital
Grant Fund. On Page 25, we have the Impact Fees Fund – I
promise we’re almost there. This is a request to reduce revenues
related to projects based on our best projections for impact fees
from the current economic conditions. We will keep an eye on this
activity and bring forward any additional changes in subsequent
amendments if needed.
Finally, on Page 26, we have the Revenue Bond Fund. Here, you
will see revenue anticipation requests related to investment
income, bond proceeds received, and a transfer in from the general
fund to recognize related debt for the bonds that we received. As
opposed to keeping them in the General Fund, we are gonna
maintain them in the Revenue Bond Fund.
The expenditure updates before you recognize activity as it
resulted from the final authorized bond issuance updating our
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original anticipated estimates. That is our Budget Amendment No.
1 for FY 2020. I’m happy to answer any questions related to those
amendment requests.
Mayor Lockwood: Okay. Laura?
Ms. Bentley: Bernadette, can you go back one slide? That was pretty quick, so…
Ms. Harvill: Impact fees? Page 26, Dave.
Ms. Bentley: Yes, please. Okay, so, just general budgeting question. So, these
are the changes, and so, everything else is still as budgeted.
Ms. Harvill: Correct.
Ms. Bentley: Okay. So, the – and, that’s what I was trying to find. The Milton
Country Club, for example, phase – and, this might not be your
question, it might be more for Steve – the Milton Country Club
Phase 1A and 1B is still in the 2020 budget.
Mr. Krokoff: It’s still in there. I don’t recall exactly what the amount was, but
it’s still in there exactly as you approved.
Ms. Bentley: And then, also, the citywide speed survey is, as well, earmarked
and still somewhat safe?
Mr. Krokoff: It is. We haven’t begun that yet. I wanna – we have revenues that
actually probably just came in. We’re gonna – we have a meeting
this – I think this week – to go over the revenues that just came in,
just to make sure that there’s no surprises. As long as there are no
surprises, we’re probably gonna start moving on that.
Ms. Bentley: Okay. So, we’re just waiting – and, I understand that, and I think
that’s a good plan, but we’ll know pretty soon what the most
updated information is in case we have to start prioritizing projects
that might be at risk.
Ms. Harvill: Correct.
Mr. Krokoff: And, we have already. We’ve separated the discretionaries from
the non-discretionaries, and that would still fall into a
discretionary, so I just wanna see whether it – some of the projects
that we put off, like the plate readers, and some of the reviews of
the Crabapple form-based code, and Deerfield – they just weren’t
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critical, so those were low-hanging fruit to defer until we can see
what other revenues – we know how important that speed study is
to the city, but it still falls under that discretionary category, and
before we pull the plug on that, I’d bring that back before you.
Ms. Bentley: Okay, thank you. And then, my last question is the association
between Crabapple Fest and the Hotel/Motel – my understanding
is that the Hotel/Motel funds our special events.
Ms. Harvill: Currently, 100% of the money we receive from the Hotel/Motel
Tax Fund goes into the Special Events Fund. That fund does carry
a fund balance, so at this time, we are assessing what we will be
able to do should revenues remain declined, but also looking at
what we can do if they continue to go back to where they were.
Ms. Bentley: So, that’s my concern as well, is just monitoring that with regard to
being able to – don’t we try to break even on some of these special
events so that we…?
Ms. Harvill: They are primarily funded by the Hotel/Motel Tax money. We
currently do not have a transfer in from the General Fund. Prior
years, we’ve done different things. We always try to get as many
sponsorships as possible, and we also utilize 100% of that
Hotel/Motel Tax money.
Ms. Bentley: So, we’ll know more shortly?
Ms. Harvill: Yes.
Ms. Bentley: Okay, thank you very much. That was very helpful.
Mayor Lockwood: Okay, are there any other questions? Okay.
Ms. Harvill: Thank you very much.
Mayor Lockwood: Do we have public comment – Stacey, virtual public comment?
Ms. Inglis: Yes, sir. We have Ms. Judy Burds. Ms. Judy, you can go ahead and
unmute yourself.
Judy Burds: I’m Judy Burds, 1165 Bream Drive, Milton, Georgia. I just had
one question for clarification. There were several shifts on debt
service funds, although there still appears to be a significant
increase in the overall amount of debt versus the previous budget.
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Two questions there: How much is the net increase in the debt in
total after all the shifting of funds from A to B? And also,
previously, our debt amount was benchmarked to be in a very good
place compared to other municipalities of our size, so I’m also
interested in understanding what the new debt level will put us on a
benchmark with other municipalities.
Mayor Lockwood: Okay, thank you. I might ask if the appropriate staff person could
reach out to Ms. Burds at the appropriate – as soon as realistically
possible. Okay. Do we have any more public comment?
Ms. Inglis: No, sir.
Mayor Lockwood: Okay. We don’t have any items under “Zoning Agenda,” so we’ll
move on to unfinished business. Tammy, if you’ll please sound the
first item.
ZONING AGENDA (None)
UNFINISHED BUSINESS
1. Consideration of Amendments to Chapter 32 of the Milton City
Code, to Prohibit the Use of Vaping Products on City-Owned
Property.
(Agenda Item No. 20-145)
(First Presentation at May 18, 2020 City Council Meeting)
Ms. Lowit: Consideration of amendments to Chapter 32 of the Milton City
Code to prohibit the use of vaping products on city-owned
property, Agenda Item No. 20-145. Mr. Tom McIlveen.
Mr. McIlveen: Good evening, mayor and council. What you have before you are
two ordinance changes. They work off each other, so I’ll address
them at the same time, if that’s all right. Chapter 34 refers to Parks
and Recreation and Cultural Affairs. We’re changing the language
that already exists and expanding it to not allow smoke tobacco,
smokeless tobacco, and vaping. Currently, it only refers to
smoking. Chapter 32 refers to offenses in miscellaneous
provisions.
We’re adding the same language as written in Chapter 34 so that it
makes it illegal to use smoke tobacco, smokeless tobacco, and
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vaping on city-owned property, not just parks. Lastly, we are
eliminating Article 3 in Chapter 34, which is Special Events.
We’re taking it out because it’s already mentioned in Chapter 64
under Zoning.
Mayor Lockwood: Okay. Are there any questions for Tom on this? Laura?
Ms. Bentley: Just a quick question about funding and any – I notice that there is
no impact to the city. Just a suggestion – not to go out and flash cut
– make new signs. I don’t think that’s necessary, but maybe use
our social media presence to make the community aware of this
change, and then, as signs are run over and stolen, we can add that
verbiage to the public parks. Just a suggestion.
Mayor Lockwood: Okay. Paul?
Mr. Moore: Just a question for Tom. The language that we’re adopting that has
to do with the vaping – is it the language that was adopted most
recently that includes all vaping, not just the nicotine-related
products? So, “all vaping” is excluded, correct?
Mr. McIlveen: That is correct, yes.
Mr. Moore: Thank you.
Mayor Lockwood: Anybody else? All right, I’ll open up for a motion.
Mr. Jamison: Mayor, I’d like to make a motion to approve Agenda Item No. 20-
145.
Mr. Longoria: Second.
Mayor Lockwood: Okay, I have a motion for approval from Councilmember Jamison
with a second from Councilmember Longoria. All in favor, please
say aye.
All: Aye.
Mayor Lockwood: Any opposed? That’s unanimous. Thank you, Tom. Now, Tammy,
if you’ll please read the next item.
Motion and Vote: Councilmember Jamison moved to approve the
Agenda Item No. 20-145. Councilmember Longoria seconded the
motion. The motion passed (6-0). Councilmember Mohrig was
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absent from the meeting.
Ms. Lowit: The consideration of amendments to Chapter 34 of Milton City
Code to prohibit the use – I’m sorry, I just wanna make –
Mr. Moore: I’m sorry, I’m having sign language with Tom. You’re doing
exactly what you need to be doing.
Ms. Lowit: Okay.
Mayor Lockwood: Tom will be up again.
2. Consideration of Amendments to Chapter 34 of the Milton City
Code, to Prohibit the Use of Vaping Products in City Parks and to
Eliminate Article 3: Special Events.
(Agenda Item No. 20-146)
(First Presentation at May 18, 2020 City Council Meeting)
Ms. Lowit: Consideration of amendments to Chapter 34 of the Milton City
Code to prohibit the use of vaping products in city parks and to
eliminate Article 3, Special Events. Mr. Tom McIlveen.
Mr. Moore: That’s lumped into what was just read. One section was related to
parks, one was related to facilities. It’s now – it covers – we did it
separately for legal reasons, but it’s the same thing.
Mayor Lockwood: Right, but as far as is there any other questions on that. Obviously,
everybody knows it’s just for public buildings, this one, but same
general scope of it. All right, then I’ll open it up for a motion.
Ms. Bentley: Mayor, I’d like to make a motion to approve Agenda Item No. 20-
146.
Ms. Cookerly: Second.
Mayor Lockwood: Okay. I have a motion from Councilmember Bentley and a second
from Councilmember Cookerly for approval. All in favor, please
say aye.
All: Aye.
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Mayor Lockwood: Against? Okay, that passes unanimous.
Motion and Vote: Councilmember Bentley moved to approve the
Agenda Item No. 20-146. Councilmember Cookerly seconded the
motion. The motion passed (6-0). Councilmember Mohrig was
absent from the meeting.
3. Consideration of an Ordinance Authorizing the Conditional
Operation of Personal Transportation Vehicles on Designated City
Streets.
(Agenda Item No. 20-147)
(First Presentation at May 18, 2020 City Council Meeting)
(Rich Austin, Police Chief)
Ms. Lowit: The third item is consideration of an ordinance authorizing the
conditional operation of personal transportation vehicles on
designated city streets. Chief Rich Austin, Agenda Item No. 20-
147.
Chief Austin: Greetings, mayor, members of council. This item is a bit of
housekeeping, so to speak. If you recall, we discussed the use of
PTVs or golf carts within the city at the March 9th work session, as
well as the parameters of PTV usage already provided in state law.
This ordinance would simply state that PTV usage is allowed in
the city on public streets with a posted speed limit of 25 miles per
hour or less when done so within the parameters of existing state
law.
Mayor Lockwood: Okay. Are there any questions on that for the chief? Laura?
Ms. Bentley: Just verification, because I just wanna make sure this is
housekeeping, nothing’s changing, we’re just – we’re bringing the
state law that is allowed here to a city ordinance.
Chief Austin: Right, just enveloping that into a city ordinance.
Ms. Bentley: Okay. And so, golf carts are – have specific equipment that makes
them roadworthy, correct? So, an ATV is not roadworthy and not
included in this ordinance.
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Chief Austin: That’s correct. This would not encompass ATVs.
Ms. Bentley: Okay. And, drivers of these PTVs have to have a driver’s license,
16 years of age.
Chief Austin: That is correct.
Ms. Bentley: And, we’re still not crossing state routes.
Chief Austin: Right, that’s prohibited by state law unless there’s a designated
crossing.
Ms. Bentley: And, by bringing this ordinance to the city level, we are not
incurring any liability.
Chief Austin: That is correct. That’s also very clearly spelled out in the state law.
Ms. Bentley: Okay. And, we don’t overrule gated neighborhoods.
Chief Austin: That’s correct. This would only affect public streets.
Mayor Lockwood: HOAs can still –
Chief Austin: Yeah, HOAs can still make their own decisions.
Mr. Jamison: That’s important to note, so it’s not just gated HOAs. All HOAs
can make their own regulations, and while the city may permit the
use, an HOA can prohibit the use.
Mayor Lockwood: Paul?
Mr. Moore: Chief, just a couple clarifications on the actual golf carts. So, if a
golf cart is capable of more than 25 miles per hour, it would not –
or, 20 miles per hour – it would not be a permitted golf cart in the
City of Milton?
Chief Austin: Correct. There are very specific limitations that are outlined in
state law.
Mr. Moore: Okay. Is there a verification that we go through to determine
whether that vehicle, that cart in particular, is capable of more or
less?
Chief Austin: Typically, golf carts that are purchased fall within these guidelines.
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If an officer had occasion to believe that one of these golf carts
were “souped up” or could go further, there is some check-in that
they could do with some of our state partners to help make that
determination.
Mr. Moore: Okay, which goes to my last one – there’s no seat belts required in
these golf carts?
Chief Austin: Yes, seat belts are required.
Mr. Moore: Oh, it is required. Okay, I didn’t see that.
Chief Austin: Yeah, they call them hip restraints.
Mr. Moore: I did see handles and – oh, “hip restraints” is what that was
referring to. I misunderstood that.
Chief Austin: Yes, it’s a little different terminology there.
Mr. Moore: Thank you. So, again, is it an application to the city, or is it an
application to the state?
Chief Austin: There is no application required through the state law, so we’re
mirroring exactly the state law, so we did not add that as a
stipulation.
Mr. Moore: Very good. Thank you.
Mayor Lockwood: Okay. Any other questions? I’ll open it up for a motion.
Ms. Bentley: Mayor, I’ll make a motion to approve Agenda Item No. 20-147.
Mayor Lockwood: Can I have a second?
Ms. Cookerly: Second.
Mayor Lockwood: Okay, I have a motion from Councilmember Bentley with a second
from Councilmember Cookerly. All in favor, please say aye.
All: Aye.
Mayor Lockwood: Any opposed? That’s unanimous. Thank you, Chief.
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Motion and Vote: Councilmember Bentley moved to approve the
Agenda Item No. 20-147. Councilmember Cookerly seconded the
motion. The motion passed (6-0). Councilmember Mohrig was
absent from the meeting.
Chief Austin: Thank you.
Mayor Lockwood: Okay, Tammy, if you’ll please sound the next unfinished business
item.
4. Consideration of RZ20-01 – Definitions Regarding Chapter 64 Zoning
of the Code of the City of Milton, Georgia.
(Agenda Item No. 20-044)
(First Presentation at the February 19, 2020 City Council Meeting) (Sarah LaDart, Economic Development Manager)
Ms. Lowit: Consideration of RZ20-01, definitions regarding Chapter 64,
“Zoning,” of the Code of the City of Milton, Georgia, Agenda Item
N0. 20-044. Ms. Sarah LaDart.
Ms. LaDart: Good evening, mayor and council. The next 11 items on the
agenda are all related to the rewrite of Chapter 4, which is our
alcohol ordinance. I would like to start by thanking both Michele
Stumpe with Taylor English and Deborah Dance with Jarrard &
Davis, who are both here, for helping with this project. We began
this project last September, and have the final drafts of Chapter 4,
the Chapter 64 edits, and the adjustments to Appendix A to present
to you tonight for approval this evening.
In an effort to streamline the first nine zoning items, Ken has
approved that I go over all of them together, and then Tammy will
call for your vote on each individual item after that. So, I’m going
to start with the overall objectives of the rewrite of Chapter 4, and
then the amendments to Chapter 64 and Appendix A. There are
really three main objectives throughout everything. It’s to make the
ordinance easier for both the city and for businesses to read
through it and understand it, to create new opportunities for
businesses to come to Milton, and then, of course, to create new
revenue sources.
An overview of the brainstorming and the articles in the Milton
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Herald and the engagement that we’ve done since – oh, sorry,
since August, just to show that this is something we’ve talked
about, we’ve brought in front of council several times for your
input, so we’re very happy with the final document that the ladies
behind me put together.
So, the first zoning edit is to the definitions. I think that’s two or
three slides, David – one, two, three – one more. We replaced a
couple definitions, then we added a handful more, just to create
cohesiveness and clarity when people are looking at 64 to know
what it is that they’re doing, so that’s RZ20-1.
The next one, RZ20-2, is just saying – we clarified this many times
throughout this and the alcohol ordinance – that bars and
nightclubs are strictly prohibited in the City of Milton. Nothing
that we are proposing tonight is to encourage bar or bar-like
activity, so that’s 2. RZ20-3 – all the ones going forward are
allowing the new permits and licenses into the different business
zones and tracts throughout the City of Milton.
So, the first one is for the mixed-use district, and then, for the C1
community business district, then C2 community business district,
the community unit plan district, the rural Milton overlay – so,
allowing it in places except for single-family use – and then,
through the Crabapple form-based code, allowing it for right in the
T4, T4 open, and T5 transit zones, and then, in the Deerfield form-
based code, allowing it by right everywhere except T2. So, those
are all of the edits to Chapter 64 that were presented to and
approved by the planning commission on January 29th. Are there
any questions regarding any of those?
Mayor Lockwood: Paul?
Mr. Moore: Sarah, can you go back to your list? There were the two that are
still prohibited – it was bars and nightclubs. So, we will have in
our ordinance the ability to have each one of these things, so as I
get questions from the community that all of these were
contemplated in our ordinance – you can have a farm winery, a
food hall café, et cetera.
Ms. LaDart: Yes.
Mr. Moore: Okay, thank you.
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Ms. LaDart: So, mind you, just because it says here that it’s allowed in a certain
district, you still have a handful of other criteria that you have to
meet, so it doesn’t just say you can pop up a brewery anywhere.
You still have to meet other criteria.
Mr. Moore: Thank you.
Mayor Lockwood: Laura?
Ms. Bentley: I have a question, too. Do we – okay, public comment – can I ask
questions about the details?
Mayor Lockwood: You can ask questions now.
Ms. Bentley: Okay. I just wanna make sure because I have a lot of questions. So,
can – would you like me to wait? Because the chart that is RZ20-
07 – so, those are the uses that are allowed – I just wanna make
sure I understand this. They’re allowed in the rural Milton overlay
district?
Ms. LaDart: Yes.
Ms. Bentley: Okay. The single asterisk is by right, and the double asterisk is
what we anticipate alcohol licenses or permits be used for
currently? Okay. So, my question is in a by-right situation, this –
you have a kennel. Are they – they don’t have a use permit.
They’re by-right. So, what is their – are they allowed some sort of
alcohol permit or – that’s my concern.
Ms. LaDart: The kennel? So, if they meet other criteria – they can’t have
consumption on premises like a restaurant does because they don’t
have a full kitchen, so, that sort of thing. There are other catchalls
too. Now, the kennel could, in theory, get an incidental license
where they can give two beers or two glasses of wine to any patron
for free on any given day.
Ms. Bentley: Okay, that’s my question. The by-rights that are already embedded
in the community have to meet another threshold –
Ms. LaDart: Yes.
Ms. Bentley: – to be able to have this ability.
Ms. LaDart: Yes.
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Ms. Bentley: As well as these other uses have to go through the public
notification process of seeking a special use permit as well.
Ms. LaDart: So, if they wanted to get an incidental license?
Ms. Bentley: No, just something that’s not currently there. If they wanted to
have alcohol on, for example, an AG1 parcel, you can petition for
a special use permit because it would be more frequent than just a
special event permit.
Ms. LaDart: Right, yes.
Ms. Bentley: Which is just twice a year. So, that’s how you – within the AG1
district – have public notification of those uses and alcohol being
available in that area.
Ms. LaDart: Yes.
Ms. Bentley: Okay. I just wanted to make sure I understood this chart because I
know that the planning commission spent about an hour on it, and I
still was confused, so I thank them for their full vetting of this.
Ms. LaDart: Yes, they did.
Mayor Lockwood: Okay. Paul?
Mr. Moore: While we’re on that chart, I know this is not necessarily an
alcohol-related suggestion, but at some point, we probably need to
review this chart in our uses and applications within the city in the
fact that I don’t – do we have any aircraft landing areas currently
or contemplated? Do we have any racetracks currently or
contemplated? “Racetrack” may need a new definition at some
point. Is it go-kart track, or is it true race cars? I’m suggesting that
at some point, we take a look at the chart to make sure that the uses
that we’re addressing –
Mr. Krokoff: Outside of Chapter 4 and what we’re discussing right now, so
you’re saying revisit what is currently in our zoning ordinances
regarding special use permits and see whether or not we still
wanna consider those to be applicable.
Mr. Moore: Right, because for example, “racetrack” is on here. It’s got a
double asterisk, which means it would have to go through a
qualifying process to be considered for that, but if we’re never
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gonna have a racetrack considered, why would we even need to
have it in the chart?
Mr. Longoria: Well, I would argue that a lot of our citizens probably would agree
we’ve already got a racetrack on some of our roads.
Mr. Moore: Some of our roads – that’s true, Joe. Maybe we should divide oval
versus straight-line.
Mr. Krokoff: So, we can – if that’s what the council would like to see, I can
direct our Community Development Department to look at our
current use permits – there’s a finite list of them; it wouldn’t be
that difficult to do – and go over them and see if that’s something
that still makes sense in the City of Milton. Is it that easy?
Mr. Jarrard: Well, it is, but I would offer this cautionary instruction, and that is
that sometimes, it is better to have topics, even if they are not
something that’s viable right now, lest an activity begin to occur
that is not covered in your code, and then we decide to go ahead
and regulate it, and voila, and they say, “Well, we’re grandfathered
because we did that before you had a topic in your code that
prohibited it.”
There have been some recent case law examples of that where that
has in fact occurred, where a code had a catchall in the zoning
district that says if something is not specifically set forth, it’s
prohibited, and the Supreme Court said, “Nice try, but that’s not
enough,” and therefore, they allowed a use to come in that was
something the public policymakers of the time no longer wanted,
and they couldn’t stop those old uses because they were considered
to be grandfathered.
So, again, I don’t know that I envision a racetrack forming in
Milton anytime soon, but I would give you just some cautionary
instruction that before we start picking off things that we don’t
think are truly viable, it might be nice to have them covered so no
one can say, “You never regulated me, and I started this practice,
and therefore I’m grandfathered, and now you can’t.” Just
something to think about.
Mr. Moore: When you say “covered,” Ken, just so I can make sure I
understand, what do you mean by “covered”?
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Mr. Jarrard: I mean “addressed.” There is a specific provision in your code that
specifically addresses that enterprise or use, and we have it in
there, and that means if you want to start – just since we’re talking
about a racetrack, if you wanted to start a racetrack in Milton, you
couldn’t legally without a special use permit, and if you do, you’re
illegal. You can’t be grandfathered if you started and you were
illegal. You just can’t. So, that’s what I’m talking about.
Mr. Krokoff: So, would you say “explicitly prohibit racetracks”? Is that what
you mean by “covering it”?
Mr. Jarrard: They are prohibited without a special use permit.
0Mr. Moore: You and I can discuss this offline.
Mr. Jarrard: Right.
Mr. Moore: Yeah, I think that’s good, sage advice, Ken. Thank you. So, given
the opportunity to review the chart and its particular applications, it
brought to mind some of those other questions, so, thank you,
Sarah.
Mayor Lockwood: Other questions on this? Laura?
Ms. Bentley: Page 44 – I’m sorry, the – just going back to the nonprofit civic
organizations, that… Is there a limit to the number of times an
event can be held or applied for by a nonprofit at a certain – say
that there’s a farm in Milton. Do we have a limit to how many
times the nonprofit can use that specific – is that limited by our
special event?
Ms. LaDart: Yes, that’s limited by our special event.
Ms. Bentley: Okay, I just wanted to make sure.
Ms. LaDart: Right now, I believe it is limited to two permits per year, and it can
span 10 days, maybe, so you can do two weekends.
Mr. Krokoff: I’m amazed you know that much about it, and that is true, but it’s
14. We’re reviewing that right now – our special event permits – to
see… It needed some work, as we discussed in chambers here. We
have our first drafts that we’re working on right now, so we’re
gonna continue to move forward with that. Ultimately, the council
is gonna decide whether two is the right number, and I don’t think
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that the nonprofit issue you have in here is what governs two. I
think it’s the special event permit. Am I correct in saying that?
Ms. LaDart: Are you looking at me? I think so, yes.
Ms. Bentley: Okay. And so, another question would be with regard to farm
wineries, Page 62… So, the state governs farm wineries. Is that
right? So, they can sell Georgia wine and the homegrown grapes.
Does the winery have – can they provide food service, or does that
require a special use permit?
Ms. LaDart: I’m not sure about the food with the use permit. So, under the state
of Georgia, a farm winery has more freedoms than what we’re
proposing in ours, so we’re being more restrictive as far as the
alcohol that can be sold at a farm winery in Milton. I’m not sure
about food. I would assume that that would have to go through the
Department of Agriculture.
Ms. Bentley: Well, let me ask this. So, if a farm winery wanted to have
weddings or special events, would that require a special use
permit?
Ms. LaDart: Yes. So, Ken, you actually provided a very nice response to Ms.
Bentley’s question about this. So, if I’m retelling the story
correctly, a farm winery – their main purpose has to be the
production and sale of wine, so to be that and to also have a special
event permit, where you’re saying my main thing here is special
events – those two things are in conflict, correct?
Mr. Jarrard: Yes.
Ms. Bentley: Thank you.
Ms. LaDart: They can’t both be your main…
Mr. Jarrard: It’s a fairly lengthy opinion, but if you want it, Councilmember
Bentley, and if any of the council want it, I’ll be happy to provide
it to you.
Mayor Lockwood: Just to clarify, when we’re more restrictive than the state on farm
wineries, can you clarify that a little bit?
Ms. LaDart: Again, let me show my chart to see if I’m saying this correctly.
The state allows for the sale of wines from out of state, and also
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beer and liquor, and so, when we brought this to council for the
work session, we proposed that to council, and we decided that it
would be more or less putting a bar in the middle of AG1 if we
allowed for the sale of beer and liquor, so council decided to keep
it to Georgia wineries.
Ms. Cookerly: May I split a hair on that part? My understanding of this could be
wrong, but farm wineries often have to import concentrate.
Ms. LaDart: Mm-hmm.
Ms. Cookerly: But, we allow that so the farm winery can be productive.
Ms. LaDart: Right. A lot of – I learned a lot of the wineries in Dahlonega get
their grapes from California, but then they produce it here, and
that’s what classifies it as theirs and produced here.
Ms. Cookerly: A percentage of their own, then – thank you.
Mayor Lockwood: Yeah, it’s – they purchase [inaudible] [00:56:48].
Ms. LaDart: Yes, sir?
Mayor Lockwood: Paul?
Mr. Moore: Sarah, I don’t remember which – there were nine sections. I don’t
remember which one I was reading, but it had to do with the way
the signage works. Have we gotten to that yet in your first part of
the…?
Ms. LaDart: Signage – is that in…?
Mr. Moore: All I really wanted to say was there were some definitions about
permitted signage and the way table cards work, those kinds of
things. Does our regular sign ordinance supersede any signage we
would suggest would take place regulating this for advertising and
awareness?
Ms. LaDart: So, there is a section in the alcohol ordinance about signage,
promotion, and how you can’t have visible signage, and you have
to post the price per container. Is that…?
Mr. Moore: Yes, that’s the section I was referring to. So, that’s all interior,
correct? That’s not exterior.
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Ms. LaDart: Right, there’s a whole other sign ordinance under 64.
Mr. Moore: I wanted to make sure. I just wanted to confirm that our existing
sign ordinance – this does not preclude or replace any part of our
existing sign ordinance for exterior advertising.
Ms. LaDart: No, sir.
Mr. Moore: It’s all interior?
Ms. LaDart: Yes.
Mr. Moore: Great, thank you.
Mayor Lockwood: Okay. Laura?
Ms. Bentley: I just have a comment. Section 4-84, “Public facilities event
alcohol license” – earlier in the document – Chapter 4 – we had a
indemnification clause that I really liked, but I don’t see it again
under that section. I guess that’s a Ken question, which –
especially if we’re allowing alcohol on our public property, I just
wanna be extra sure that we’re held harmless in all the things that
can go wrong when alcohol is served and people leave. The first
time I saw it was back on Page 45, and it’s… On Page 45, it’s
Letter E.
Ms. LaDart: There we go.
Ms. Bentley: And, it’s there, but I don’t know if it might also need to be when
we are allowing that license on public property. Just a suggestion,
and perhaps – I know there are a couple attorneys in the room –
just a suggestion.
Mr. Jarrard: Councilmember Bentley, my expectation would be that if someone
is going to utilize City of Milton space, they will likely enter into
some sort of a written agreement with us for that space anyway,
and that’s where you would see the indemnity and hold-harmless
language.
Mr. Krokoff: I think it would have to be a special event permit to have it on our
premises, which would require that, but it is a valid point.
Ms. Bentley: Just to make sure it’s covered. Thank you.
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Mayor Lockwood: Okay.
Ms. LaDart: So, if there are no further questions, Tammy, do you wanna call for
those first nine?
Mayor Lockwood: So, just to clarify, are we gonna call each individual and vote on
each individual? Let’s make sure with Ken.
Ms. Bentley: Wait, I’m sorry.
Mayor Lockwood: Okay, sure. Hold on a second, Laura. Let me clarify, and then if
you’ve got more, that’s fine.
Ms. LaDart: Do they have to do nine individual votes, or can they vote once to
approve all nine – zoning?
Mr. Jarrard: Individual. So, the agenda – since it’s identified each as – so, what
I was comfortable with was the presentation covering all the
agenda items. We don’t have to do that again for every one,
obviously, but your votes – because it’s a separate agenda header,
you do need to make a motion for each agenda item to make the
record clear.
Mr. Krokoff: So, before you vote, I just wanna make sure we’re clear on
Councilmember Bentley’s points.
Mayor Lockwood: We have questions.
Mr. Krokoff: I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to interrupt.
Mayor Lockwood: No, I was just clarifying the procedure. So, we’re good, and then,
Laura, you may have some questions.
Ms. Bentley: So, I do have more questions. It’s about Chapter 4, not so much
Chapter 64.
Ms. LaDart: Right. I’m gonna go over the main changes in Chapter 4 after the
zoning is voted on.
Ms. Bentley: After 64, okay. And then, I still – do we need to do public
comment before Chapter 64?
Mayor Lockwood: I think we do. We may have some. I’ll go ahead and – do we have
any public comment now, Stacey? Okay, so I can close the hearing
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on those.
Ms. Inglis: Yes, I have some later – I do for the alcohol ordinance. I’m sorry?
Ms. LaDart: But, not on this item?
Ms. Inglis: No, not on this item.
Mayor Lockwood: Okay. So, we’ll – just to clarify, we’ll go through on the – you’ll
read each one individually and we’ll vote on them, first through
ninth.
Mr. Longoria: So, we don’t have to make motions?
Mayor Lockwood: We’re gonna do them individually, yes – all nine.
Mr. Jarrard: Mr. Mayor, if I could.
Mayor Lockwood: Ken?
Mr. Jarrard: Just a point of order. I think we need to call each agenda item.
Mayor Lockwood: Right. We’re gonna call each – my understanding – we’re gonna
call each agenda item, we’re gonna make a motion and second, and
we’re gonna vote on all nine items.
Mr. Longoria: I was thinking we were gonna vote on autopilot, and I was a little
worried about it.
Mayor Lockwood: No, no.
Mr. Jarrard: I guess I just wasn’t sure if there’s public comment on agenda
items only.
Mayor Lockwood: We may have a public – let’s just clarify, Stacey and Tammy, with
this public comment – where it would…
Ms. Lowit: That’s – yes.
Ms. Inglis: Not the zoning ones.
Ms. Lowit: Not the zoning.
Ms. Inglis: So, you’re gonna vote on these nine.
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Ms. Cookerly: So, the zoning board is not gonna…
Ms. Inglis: No, your board.
Ms. Lowit: Yes.
Mayor Lockwood: Okay, Tammy. Start with the first one.
Ms. Lowit: Thank you. The next one is consideration of RZ20-02, Section 64-
395, “Uses prohibited in all districts,” Agenda Item No. 20-045.
Next is a consideration of RZ20-03, Section 64 –
Mayor Lockwood: Tammy, hold off. I’m gonna call each one, and then we’re gonna
vote. Just start at one, read one, and we’re gonna vote on that.
Ms. Lowit: I already read the first one.
Mayor Lockwood: So, I’m gonna open it up for a motion on the first one.
Mr. Longoria: Mayor, I’m gonna move that we approve Agenda Item No. 20-044.
Mr. Jamison: Second.
Mayor Lockwood: I have a motion for approval from Councilmember Longoria with a
second from Councilmember Jamison. Any discussion? Hearing
none, all in favor, please say aye.
All: Aye.
Mayor Lockwood: Any opposed? That carries unanimous.
Motion and Vote: Councilmember Longoria moved to approve
Agenda Item No. 20-044. Councilmember Jamison seconded the
motion. The motion passed (6-0). Councilmember Mohrig was
absent from the meeting.
Mr. Longoria: Mayor, I move that we approve Agenda Item No. 20-045.
Mr. Jamison: Second.
Mayor Lockwood: I have – I don’t know that Tammy’s read that one, correct?
Ms. Inglis: Read it again.
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Ms. Lowit: Consideration of RZ20-02, Section 64-395, “Uses prohibited in all
districts,” Agenda Item No. 20-045.
Mayor Lockwood: Okay. Do I have a motion? Joe?
Mr. Longoria: Mayor, I move that we approve Agenda Item No. 20-045.
Mr. Jamison: Second.
Mayor Lockwood: Okay. I have a motion for approval from Councilmember
Longoria, second from Councilmember Jamison. Any discussion?
Hearing none, all in favor, please say aye.
All: Aye.
Mayor Lockwood: Any opposed? That’s unanimous. Ken, are we doing this the
way…?
Motion and Vote: Councilmember Longoria moved to approve
Agenda Item No. 20-045. Councilmember Jamison seconded the
motion. The motion passed (6-0). Councilmember Mohrig was
absent from the meeting.
Mr. Jarrard: Yeah, separately.
Mayor Lockwood: Go ahead. I understand, Joe, you probably just…
Mr. Longoria: No, I thought when we announced at the beginning that we were
gonna be discussing all of these items together, and then vote on
them individually, that we could just move to vote on them
individually.
Mayor Lockwood: We possibly can, but just…
Mr. Jarrard: We’re good, Mr. Mayor.
Mayor Lockwood: Could you clarify that, please? We’re good reading each item as
we are?
Mr. Jarrard: We’re good from the standpoint that you all are doing this exactly
correctly. You’ve heard an overall presentation, you’re now going
through the agenda items. The only thing I wanted to catch and
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make sure was that when there’s an agenda item that has public
comment attached to it, that you are alerted to that and the clerk
has that well in hand. Thank you, Mr. Mayor.
Mayor Lockwood: Okay. Tammy, please read the next.
Ms. Lowit: Yes, mayor. Next will be consideration of RZ20-03, Section 64-
7521, “Mixed-use district permitted uses,” Agenda Item No. 20-
046.
Mayor Lockwood: Okay. Do I have a motion?
Mr. Longoria: Mayor, I move that we approve Agenda Item No. 20-046.
Mr. Jamison: Second.
Mayor Lockwood: Okay, I have a motion for approval from Councilmember
Longoria, second from Councilmember Jamison. All in favor,
please say aye.
All: Aye.
Mayor Lockwood: Any opposed? That’s unanimous. Okay, Tammy, if you’ll read the
next one.
Motion and Vote: Councilmember Longoria moved to approve
Agenda Item No. 20-046. Councilmember Jamison seconded the
motion. The motion passed (6-0). Councilmember Mohrig was
absent from the meeting.
Ms. Lowit: Our seventh item is consideration of RZ20-04, Section 64-7751,
Section 64-7752, “Permitted and accessory uses in C1, which is
community business district,” Agenda Item No. 20-047.
Mayor Lockwood: Okay. Do I have a motion?
Mr. Longoria: Mayor, I move that we approve Agenda Item No. 20-047.
Mr. Jamison: Second.
Mayor Lockwood: Okay, I have a motion for approval from Councilmember
Longoria, second from Councilmember Jamison. Any discussion?
Hearing none, all in favor, please say aye.
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All: Aye.
Mayor Lockwood: Any opposed? That carries unanimously. Okay, Tammy.
Motion and Vote: Councilmember Longoria moved to approve
Agenda Item No. 20-047. Councilmember Jamison seconded the
motion. The motion passed (6-0). Councilmember Mohrig was
absent from the meeting.
Ms. Lowit: Next is consideration of RZ20-05, Section 64-7981, Section 64-
7982, “Permitted and accessory uses in C2, community business
district,” Agenda Item No. 20-048.
Mayor Lockwood: Okay. Do I have a motion?
Mr. Longoria: Mayor, I move that we approve Agenda Item No. 20-048.
Mr. Jamison: Second.
Mayor Lockwood: I have a motion from Councilmember Longoria and a second from
Councilmember Jamison. Any discussion? Hearing none, all in
favor, please say aye.
All: Aye.
Mayor Lockwood: That’s unanimous.
Motion and Vote: Councilmember Longoria moved to approve
Agenda Item No. 20-048. Councilmember Jamison seconded the
motion. The motion passed (6-0). Councilmember Mohrig was
absent from the meeting.
Ms. Lowit: Next is consideration of RZ20-06, Section 64-8951 and Section
64-8952, “Permitted and accessory uses in community unit plan
district,” Agenda Item No. 20-049.
Mayor Lockwood: Okay, do I have a motion?
Mr. Longoria: Mayor, I move that we approve Agenda Item No. 20-049.
Mr. Jamison: Second.
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Mayor Lockwood: Okay, I have a motion for approval from Councilmember
Longoria, with a second from Councilmember Jamison. Any
discussion? Hearing none, all in favor, please say aye.
All: Aye.
Mayor Lockwood: Any opposed? That’s unanimous. Okay, thank you.
Motion and Vote: Councilmember Longoria moved to approve
Agenda Item No. 20-049. Councilmember Jamison seconded the
motion. The motion passed (6-0). Councilmember Mohrig was
absent from the meeting.
Ms. Lowit: Our 10th item is consideration of RZ20-07, Section 64-1121,
“Allowed use chart,” Agenda Item No. 20-050.
Mr. Longoria: I read it as 1112.
Ms. Lowit: And, at the beginning, we made the change.
Mr. Longoria: Okay, good. Thank you for correcting.
Ms. Lowit: Can we get a vote on that, mayor?
Mr. Longoria: Mayor, I move that we approve Agenda Item No. 20-050.
Mr. Jamison: Second.
Mayor Lockwood: Okay, I have a motion for approval from Councilmember
Longoria, second from Councilmember Jamison. All in favor,
please say aye.
All: Aye.
Mayor Lockwood: Any opposed? That’s unanimous.
Motion and Vote: Councilmember Longoria moved to approve
Agenda Item No. 20-050. Councilmember Jamison seconded the
motion. The motion passed (6-0). Councilmember Mohrig was
absent from the meeting.
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Ms. Lowit: Next is consideration of RZ20-08, Section 64, Article – my
apologies – Article 19. I’m gonna show my stumbling on that one.
“Crabapple Form-Based Code 6-1 definitions, Table 9,” Agenda
Item No. 20-051.
Mayor Lockwood: Okay. Do I have a motion?
Mr. Longoria: Mayor, I move that we approve Agenda Item No. 20-051.
Mr. Jamison: Second.
Mayor Lockwood: Okay, I have a motion for approval from Councilmember
Longoria, second from Councilmember Jamison. All in favor,
please say aye.
All: Aye.
Mayor Lockwood: Any opposed? That’s unanimous. Tammy?
Motion and Vote: Councilmember Longoria moved to approve
Agenda Item No. 20-051. Councilmember Jamison seconded the
motion. The motion passed (6-0). Councilmember Mohrig was
absent from the meeting.
Ms. Lowit: No. 12 is consideration of RZ20-09, Section 64, Article 20,
“Deerfield Form-Based Code 6-1 definitions, Table 10,” Agenda
Item No. 20-052.
Mayor Lockwood: Okay.
Mr. Longoria: Mayor, I move that we approve Agenda Item No. 20-052.
Mr. Jamison: Second.
Mayor Lockwood: Okay, I have a motion for approval from Councilmember
Longoria, with second from Councilmember Jamison. Any
discussion? Hearing none, all in favor, please say aye.
All: Aye.
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Mayor Lockwood: Any opposed? That’s unanimous.
Motion and Vote: Councilmember Longoria moved to approve
Agenda Item No. 20-052. Councilmember Jamison seconded the
motion. The motion passed (6-0). Councilmember Mohrig was
absent from the meeting.
Ms. Lowit: Mayor, I will read our next item. We do have two public
comments. One will be through Zoom, and we have one that’s
present here.
Mayor Lockwood: Okay, if you’ll read that.
Ms. Lowit: It’s consideration of an ordinance to amend Chapter 4, “Alcohol
beverages of the Code of the City of Milton, Georgia,” Agenda
Item No. 20-053.
Mayor Lockwood: Okay. Go ahead and open up the public comment on that. You say
you have two?
Ms. Lowit: I do.
Mayor Lockwood: You wanna do the Zoom comment first, Stacey?
Ms. Inglis: Sure. We have Ms. Judy Burds.
Judy Burds: Hi, this is Judy Burds. Again, 1165 Bream Drive in Milton,
Georgia. I’m encouraged to see an attempt by the City of Milton to
rewrite its codes. I would compliment the staff and those who
worked on it in making the code much clearer and easier to
understand, and not a lot of need to jump around in inconsistent
definitions, so, compliments on getting that cleaned up.
However, I find that changes to add provisions for craft beer
markets were helpful, but they do not put us in a position that
allows us to compete with Roswell and their code for alcoholic
beverages. So, while the changes are necessary, I really don’t feel
that they’re sufficient, specifically regarding wine. There are
provisions, for example, for craft beer markets to be able to sell a
flight of beers or for a restaurant to be able to sell a flight of beers.
However, that same provision is not put in place for wine, so if
you’d like to go to a nice restaurant and have a flight of wines – a
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small sampling of several – in a restaurant, you can get two. You
can’t get three. Also, we do not allow wine by the drink, although
we allow beer by the drink in their appropriate markets. Those
provisions are in the Roswell code, and I think if we want to
compete with Roswell, just south of us, we need to look to
continue to work on this code and amend it to allow provisions that
will allow us to be more competitive with our nearby neighbors.
Mayor Lockwood: Okay, thank you very much. And, Tammy, if we have another
public comment, please…
Ms. Lowit: Yes. Our next public comment will be from Pamela Jackson.
Pamela Jackson: Mayor, councilmembers, thank you so much for giving me the
opportunity to speak. I know that we have had some
communication going back and forth a little bit. It was our
understanding when the rewrite of Chapter 4 was going to happen
that it was trying to bring the laws on par with the state laws here –
the ordinance on par with the state laws here, so really, what I’m
asking is that you just afford me the privileges under state law,
which is beer, wine, and alcoholic spirits for consumption on
premises.
And, I think part of what’s going on is maybe there’s a
misunderstanding of what wineries and farm wineries are. All
those farm winery questions you had, I can answer for you. But,
there is a huge difference in a farm winery and a winery. A farm
winery is – it actually has vineyards. It is a working farm that has
vineyards, and it produces wine out of its own produce.
We also – there’s a 40/60 law. Forty percent of what we make has
to come from our produce, and 60% can come elsewhere, so we do
import some of our grapes from other places, but again, like Sarah
said, it is Georgia wine, even though they’re grapes from
California that we get.
So, I think there’s a little bit difference. I am a bonded farm
winery. I have a federal license, I have a state license, and I have a
city license. I am bonded at the federal level and the state level. I
have a federal officer that does inspections and I have a state
officer that watches over what we do, so – and I understand the
concern about not wanting this to become a bar-type situation, but
it's so far removed from that.
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One of the reasons that the state of Georgia – the main reason that
the state of Georgia does allow the three-tier sales is because it is
such a huge and important part of the agro-tourism in Georgia, and
so, that’s the big reason it’s really important. Let me get my
thoughts here together.
So, there are only 35 bonded farm wineries in the state of Georgia,
only 35. Milton has one of them, right here, and that’s a really big
deal. It is an enormous expense to start a farm winery, believe me.
It’s an enormous expense, and one of the problems is until we have
our wines – and, we’ve started to bottle some, so that’s exciting,
but we still have a limited amount of our own wine to sell.
Georgia wine – the average cost of a bottle of Georgia-made wine
is $46.00. That’s expensive, so you have people coming in – I need
to be able to offer something a little less expensive than that. I need
to be able to offer beer because there’s a lot of people that don’t
like wine, and you get couples coming in, and one wants beer, and
you don’t, so you lose a lot of business that way. I need to be able
to bring in the revenue.
I have no intention of putting beer on tap in my place. I would like
to be able to maybe have a light beer and another beer, and that’s
it, just so there’s the opportunity for somebody to have something
else because I need to be able to bring in the revenue. And, one of
the other important things about this farm winery in particular –
not only is it obviously the founding farm winery in Milton, I am
the very first farm winery that Fulton County has had in its history.
That’s a huge deal too, and the University of Georgia has been
working with me because the thing is, they don’t know what we
can grow here in this area because when you go – I’m at 1,100 feet
elevation. You go up into north Georgia, it’s 1,500-1,600 feet
elevation, so the varietals and everything is different. The
University of Georgia has been working with me, coming to my
property, picking out the area where the next vineyard is going to
go. We’ve got some in already, and what varietals we’re gonna put
in – they’re excited because let’s see what we can do here. Never
had that opportunity in Fulton County before, ever.
So, what I’m asking is – this is a big expense. I’ve put everything
I’ve got into this. I need to be able to keep myself afloat right now,
and I cannot do it on Georgia wine. I simply cannot do it. It’s too
costly. I need to be able to offer something else, or I’m going
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under, and this is a big deal for Milton to have this. It’s a huge deal
for Milton to have this. And, the other thing – the Agricultural
Department – they’re putting up the signs along the highway that
says “Winery – Milton, Georgia,” and directing it right here.
That’s a huge thing too.
So, I guess the other thing that I would like to add to that is I’ve
struggled a little bit – I know we’ve had some communications
going back and forth, and I appreciate those of you that have
spoken to me, but you’re making a decision here tonight that
seriously and negatively impacts my business, and I guess what
bothers me a little bit more than that is in that, not one of you has
come to see me, not one of you has come by to see what I am
doing over there, and it’s big, and you’re making a decision that’s
seriously affecting me, and I may go under if I can’t do this, and
you haven’t even come to support me. So, thank you.
Mayor Lockwood: Okay, thank you.
Pamela Jackson: Are there any questions? I don’t know if I need to…
Mayor Lockwood: No, this doesn’t – just a comment. Thank you. Do we have any
other public comment?
Ms. Lowit: Not on this item, no, sir.
Mayor Lockwood: Okay, we’ll close the public hearing and open for discussion.
Sarah?
Ms. LaDart: So, the…staff memo that came in the packet stated the – I believe
it’s 18 – the main changes that were made to the Chapter 4 on top
of just reorganizing and putting things together in a more cohesive,
understandable manner so that you’re not going back and forth to
sections – those sorts of things were done. There’s an Excel
spreadsheet – a chart. Keep going, sorry. Keep going. One more.
Keep going. There we go.
So, this chart has – the first column is the page number that we’re
looking at, and the second is the actual ordinance number if we
want to dive deeper into any of these. The first thing that Michele
suggested that we do is to state a purpose for the ordinance – again,
stating that we want people to consume alcohol responsibly, we do
not want bars, that that is the intent of the ordinance. The second
was to add a bunch of definitions so that there’s no question as to
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what things mean from – even from the Community Development
Department to the Finance Department to the person coming in,
it’s very clear what we’re talking about.
And then, we get into some of the more fun ones. Registered
agents – when you submit an application, you have to notate a
registered agent. We have been hearing that some people’s
registered agents were in Forsyth, and that having one in Fulton
wasn’t always the easiest, so we asked the police chief what he
thought about that, and he was comfortable with opening up that
registered agent to any county that touches Fulton County. If we
have to serve them, then we feel that we can manage that.
A transfer license fee – we discussed this with counsel. So, say Old
Blind Dog wanted to move locations from here over to Deerfield.
Assuming that they still meet all of the zoning and distance
requirements, they don’t have to go through the complete
application process again if they have a valid alcohol license. They
would just have to pay the $100.00 transfer license fee.
Additional Sunday sales fee – this is something that a lot of our
neighboring cities do. It’s just a revenue stream that we’re missing
out on. So, starting to do that. The creation of a grand opening
annual promotion permit – I really like this one. It came about
from a business calling to see if they could serve beer at one of
their – at an open house, and normally, we’re not out looking for
that, but because they asked, I had to tell them you cannot serve
your patrons beer and wine without a permit.
So, this allows for any establishment, whether it’s a clothing
boutique or a law office, to, once a year for four hours, come in
and get a free permit to serve beer and wine, just so we know
what’s going on, they’re doing it legally, and everybody is happy.
The temporary license fee – this is another one that other people
charge for that we haven’t in the past. This is a 90-day – so, if you
come in, and in all good faith, we feel that you will be receiving
your permanent license, because it’s good for three months – and,
that’s 25% of a year – it’ll be 25% of the fee that we anticipate you
paying for that temporary license fee – again, generating revenue.
The next one, 4-75, is to allow restaurants to sell incidental
package beer and wine. This came about because of our current
pandemic situation. People have enjoyed getting a bottle of wine or
a six-pack with their to-go. I spoke with Milton Wine & Crystal
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about this and how, as a wine retailer, he would feel about this
being a thing that’s permitted. So, we put some stipulations into
that one that the to-go wine and beer has to be the same price that
it is on your menu; you can’t discount it, and also, it’s the same
laws for to-go – one bottle of wine per patron or package of beer –
just so you don’t have a restaurant impeding on our local wine
markets and their sales.
Down to 4-78E, our limited service restaurant – this is allowing
that 70/30 food-to-alcohol ratio. Like I stated, multiple times
throughout this ordinance, we state that this is to – we prohibit bars
in Milton. We make – there’s a stipulation that a restaurant – 40%
of the total gross has to be seating, so that limits the opportunity
for dance floor spaces, things like that. Limited service restaurants
also – because of the brunch bill, by state law, they cannot sell on
Sunday.
And, the next – limited tap establishment. We only have one of
those, so in doing this, we called over to Whitetail Bike Shop to
see if there was anything that needed to be done, and he asked if he
could have a fifth tap. So, it was four, and now we’re asking for
five. And then, to – Michele pointed out that our requirement of it
being brewed within 50 aerial miles could be seen as – what’s the
word?
Ms. Inglis: It’s a constitutional issue, basically.
Ms. LaDart: We’re saying that some people can’t participate, so we’re using the
word “craft” because that’s a small brewed – that’s more easily
defined, but we’re not saying that if you brewed 55 miles away
that you can’t be there. 4-85 is what we’ve been discussing to
make farm wineries Georgia wine only. 4-91 – that’s our open
container district up at Birmingham Crossroads – if you remember
in 2017, I believe, when we were reworking the Crabapple map,
Councilmember Longoria said, “Well, why don’t we go ahead and
make Deerfield and Birmingham Crossroads open container too?”
So, we did that, but in that, we didn’t think about what happens if
the entrance to an establishment is within the special district, but
perhaps the boundaries of the establishment extend beyond it. So,
what this is now allowing is if the entrance to your establishment is
within a special district, your entire establishment – regardless of
where it stops – would be considered open container. We revised
the time of day sales to match the state. The pouring permits – this
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one affects our servers, mostly – it’s the $60.00 fee that they go in
and pay for a server’s permit. Currently, they have to renew it
annually. This will allow it to be good for two years.
So, brown bagging is allowed by right. There’s no need to apply to
that, and we addressed that in the Merlot To Go section, which is
being able to take that sealed bottle of wine home with you if you
didn’t finish it at dinner. 4-138 – we removed happy hour
restrictions, so currently, you can only offer those discounts
between 4:30 and 7:30 p.m. We just deleted that sentence.
In looking at the special event permits, our neighbors charge more,
so we didn’t think that it was right – so, we were charging $100.00
whether you were a for-profit or if it was a nonprofit. We didn’t
feel it was right to raise the fee for a nonprofit, but we did see it as
an opportunity to raise it for the other people from $100.00 to
$250.00. And then, the addition of our breweries, microbreweries,
city food markets, and craft beer and wine markets are all in there
as well. If there are any questions, we can dive further into those.
Mayor Lockwood: I would like to open up some discussion and could consider some
support of changes on 4-85 with the farm wineries if the council
wants to discuss, and also get some staff and legal. When we talk
about – I know we have one in Milton right now, but with the
possibility of – with serious checks and balances and whatnot, but
have some flexibility with other alcohol, just maybe as
complementary, but not – again, I’d wanna ask for some guidance,
and also, if there’s any interest with council, but maybe with
restrictions, but to better do that to – again, it is kind of new,
uncharted territory here. So, first, I’ll ask if the council has any
interest in discussing that.
Ms. Bentley: I do.
Mayor Lockwood: Okay. Anybody else?
Mr. Jamison: Yes, sure.
Mayor Lockwood: So, again, I’ll open that up, and I guess I would go legal or Sarah
and Steve, if we were to do that in a limited way, can you put
parameters on that to where – I know the big concern is it didn’t
just open up AG1, and you have a big bar. “I’ve got a barn or
whatever. Can I have a farm?” All of a sudden, it just becomes a
big bar. So, no, we don’t want that, but looking – there’s some
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legitimate ways that could help a business within reason, but have
some checks and balances there. So, any thoughts on that, Laura?
Ms. Bentley: Is there an incidental license specific to other drinks? It doesn’t –
when I read it, I couldn’t find that exactly, so I don’t know how
you would…
Mayor Lockwood: Maybe even if it’s a percentage type thing.
Mr. Jarrard: Is there a use permit? So, Mr. Mayor, let me start with at least the
legal foundation with respect to this, and it’s sort of a regurgitation
of what I’ve provided some of y’all with respect to this question
being asked previously. So, the generic question that was presented
was could a farm winery even qualify for an on-premise
consumption license for spirits and beer? And the answer is yes.
However, the Milton code as it exists now anticipates that it will
still have to have a restaurant providing the sorts of percentages of
mix of food versus alcohol that you have traditionally seen in the
city. It’s fine. And, is there a likelihood that a farm winery could,
in fact, have a robust farm winery agricultural – growing the
grapes, et cetera – business with also a pure ancillary restaurant
that is meeting these percentages? Absolutely.
The problem you’ve also got, though, in addition to just alcohol
and the notion of alcohol service is also your zoning code, and the
point that I emphasized in my correspondence to you is at what
point does the agricultural use – if you’re looking at things on a
continuum, say almost a needle – you’ve got your agricultural use
– the farm winery – but at some point, when you begin to blanch
into the commercial sale of alcohol as being the important
operation that is being conducted on the business, when have you
converted the alcohol sales from ancillary to the agricultural
operation on the property to primary?
And, that is another issue that you all are gonna have to address,
and that is a matter of public policy. So, Mr. Mayor, you started
the conversation by asking is it possible, or is it doable, or is it
conceivable – yes, it is conceivable, and of course, we could draft
language that would allow that sort of a use, but I do think you
need to look at the bigger public policy implications – and, I don’t
mean to suggest that you haven’t, I’m just raising this for you.
And secondly, I think we would have to add some criteria to make
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sure that we keep a handle to ensure that agricultural property
continues to be used for primarily an agricultural purpose, which
was sort of the thrust of the guidance that I gave you, is that at
some point, you just have to watch that because you begin to make
– the ancillary use begins to become the primary use, and I think
that is one of the things that was concern.
Mayor Lockwood: Sure, and again, I’ll just throw my thoughts out. I totally respect
and understand that. Basically, a farm winery – their agricultural
use, I assume, would be growing grapes and producing wine. I see
Ken’s point of that getting – as not the main business or whatever,
but maybe it’s something where we consider something where you
sell X number of – I think it was mentioned 60%, anyways, has to
come from Georgia, or the wine has to be produced there – then
maybe any ancillary drinks like alcohol, spirits, or beer is a small
percentage of that.
To your point about the restaurant or whatnot, I know I’ve visited
some wineries in Georgia where they sell a prepackaged cheese
plate or something like that to where you do have some food or
whatever that wouldn’t require a full-blown kitchen, that sort of
thing, but it does kind of serve some purpose of having some food
sales too, so I’m just throwing that out. Again, I’ll open it up to
any other comments.
Ms. Cookerly: Can I ask a question?
Mayor Lockwood: Go ahead, Carol, and then Joe.
Ms. Cookerly: So, Ken, I don’t mean to be obtuse here, but let me ask this
question. So, is the hang-up here the alcoholic component of the
product? Because on my farm, I could presumably grow corn, and
I could sell corn, and people would eat the corn, and that’s an
agricultural purpose. Grapes are – it’s agriculture, and it creates a
product just like if I grew corn.
So, other than the fact that we have that piece of the code, when we
talk about whether AG1 – we want it to relate in that way in the
way that we’re discussing, it’s agriculture. That’s what we want.
Where’s the constraint? Is it specifically just because of alcohol?
Mr. Jarrard: Well, no, I don’t think it’s specifically alcohol. I think it is the
function of a commercial enterprise on a piece of agricultural
property. So, in your example, with respect to the corn, you do sell
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the corn, but what if you had, then, a corn restaurant, and as a
byproduct of that, you got a consumption for alcohol on the
premises license, and that, in fact, began to become your primary
cash cow for your piece of the property. What is your property? Is
it still agricultural, or is it commercial? What is, in fact, driving the
economic model that is making your piece of property viable?
Those are planning questions. I’m not suggesting that we can’t
figure them out, I’m just suggesting –
Ms. Cookerly: No, I’m just trying to understand that.
Mr. Jarrard: Those are challenging questions. How do we maintain the integrity
of our agricultural zoning when, in fact, in your corn – thank you
for that, I’m having fun with it – in your corn scenario, we could
open the restaurant, begin to sell alcohol, and sure enough, before
too long, that component begins to eclipse the corn component.
When does the primary use become ancillary and the ancillary use
become primary? That is the question.
And again, it’s driven by your code as it exists right now. I’m not
trying to interpret the code that you all may adopt because I got the
question based upon your old code. I’m simply suggesting it did
present a concern to me. I understood the rationale behind the
question that was raised, and if the council wants to tackle it, if
you’re asking me do I think it can be tackled, I do.
Ms. Cookerly: And, before I yield, could you just revisit what we were talking
about earlier? And, by the way, with my corn, I would have a still,
okay? And I would –
Mr. Jarrard: It would be moonshine. I didn’t wanna say –
Ms. Cookerly: Okay, but we would have free trade among us, but anyway, that’s
neither here nor there. [Laughter] Would you revisit the state
regulations that were referenced earlier – the overarching – the
backdrop on this issue from the state?
Mr. Jarrard: And actually, it’s funny – the city manager and I were discussing
that, and I think actually, the speaker probably would be able to
articulate those standards even better than I can. Obviously, she’s
living and breathing it. But, I do agree that I think the state
carefully monitors that. In other words, I don’t think Milton would
be inundated with a bunch of pretextual farm wineries that aren’t
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really doing that. I suspect the speaker would come up and say ,
“It’s too heavily regulated for this to be a fiction, and what I really
wanna do is run a restaurant,” because I suspect to get those
certifications from the state is a fairly onerous, time-consuming,
heavily regulated, document-intensive process.
Pamela Jackson: Very.
Mayor Lockwood: Joe?
Mr. Longoria: So, Sarah.
Ms. LaDart: Yes.
Mr. Longoria: If there’s parallels or overlaps between what the state regulates
from a farm winery and what the city of Milton regulates from a
farm winery, I’m guessing that we don’t so much regulate as we
control what the property is really being used for. In other words,
we don’t have a lot of language in our ordinance that talks about
how you own, operate, inspect, or deal with the production of the
wine at a farm winery.
Ms. LaDart: No, sir.
Mr. Longoria: Okay. So, our focus has really been more – okay, if you’re gonna
be a farm winery, let’s just make sure you’re a farm winery, right?
Ms. LaDart: Mm-hmm.
Mr. Longoria: And, we’re trying – just to use another comparison, not the corn
comparison – we don’t wanna cross the streams between what
somebody has told us that they wanna do with their property and
what they actually do with their property. That’s pretty much a
blanket statement for anything.
We didn’t have any language – or, you didn’t present any language
that would lead me to believe that we changed the language or
what we said about farm wineries in all these revisions that we’ve
made. That’s a fair statement, right? Because otherwise, you would
have called out, “On Page 48, we changed this to this.”
So, in building up to this – and, I’m guessing it’s because we’re
not trying to regulate the actual operation of the winery, we’re just
trying to make sure they’re doing what they say they do. So, did
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we give any consideration to farm wineries, their impact, or how
maybe we needed to change what we were writing in our
ordinance?
Ms. LaDart: So, it was presented, I believe, at the first work session because I
spoke with Ms. Jackson, and she asked for us to look at this, and I
said that I would bring it to council for your consideration, and at
that time, I said, “What would you like for them to be able to serve
at a farm winery?” It was very clear that council’s view is that it
should be Georgia wine.
So, what we really added to this was to very clearly state that it
was Georgia wine, not any wine from anywhere, as the state
allows.
Mr. Longoria: Okay. And, I jumped ahead a question. The first question I really
wanted to ask is if we didn’t specify any changes that we’ve made
to the ordinance as part of this, how long has our ordinance been in
effect the way it is, and how long have we just been trying to deal
with farm wineries the way we are?
Ms. LaDart: Um, since 2006?
Mr. Longoria: It’s a trick question. It’s probably 2006.
Mr. Krokoff: We didn’t have farm wineries in the beginning.
Ms. LaDart: Not in the very beginning, no.
Mr. Longoria: I think the statute was – I don’t think the statue was in 2006.
Mr. Krokoff: 2014?
Ms. LaDart: I believe it was 2014, whenever I added for the first time, when we
did the rewrite initially.
Mr. Longoria: But, we wouldn’t have prohibited their existence, right? Just
because we didn’t have anything in an ordinance, we didn’t
specifically call it out and prohibit it.
Mr. Krokoff: You wouldn’t have been able to just start selling wine from your
house prior.
Mr. Longoria: No, no, but if you’re a winery, if you were growing grapes and
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producing wine, you could have done that, right?
Mr. Krokoff: I don’t know.
Ms. LaDart: I don’t think so.
Mr. Jarrard: Yeah, that’s probably on a jurisdiction basis.
Mr. Longoria: Okay, so, 2014 is what we’re saying?
Mr. Jarrard: I believe so.
Ms. LaDart: I believe so, yeah.
Mr. Longoria: Okay, so we haven’t changed the rules since 2014. Whether or not
those rules need to be changed, they haven’t changed, so any
business that’s operating under this guise understand what they’re
dealing with. You mentioned that you had conversations, and those
didn’t necessarily lead us to believe that something additional
needed to be done. The council gave you guidance basically stating
if it’s gonna be a farm winery, we want it to serve Georgia wine,
and that’s what we want the focus to be, correct?
Ms. LaDart: That was the conversation at the work session.
Mr. Longoria: Okay. I’m just stating the obvious to make sure we cover all the
bases. But, we’ve got a situation where there’s potentially some
additional work that needs to be done. The mayor already
suggested it. I think other people mentioned they would be
interested to me. I don’t think we should ever be scared about
discussing anything once, twice, or three times, so I would be in
favor of talking about that.
My biggest worry is that if serving other alcoholic beverages at a
farm winery is the difference between success or failure, then
we’re really not a farm winery. Something else is going on that I
don’t understand, and that’s what I’d really get to the bottom of, is
trying to understand what are the challenges. Are we putting up
some kind of barriers between success and failure for somebody
who operates a farm winery that we just don’t understand that
we’re doing? And, hopefully, it’s just not the menu.
Mayor Lockwood: Paul?
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Mr. Moore: To sort of tag on what Joe was just saying, a farm winery has a
legal definition, and its descriptors – that’s probably regulated by
the state and federal level. So, our ability to try to administer that
here – in my mind, we need to stay pretty strictly to the definition
of a farm winery. Just as a personal preference, I would say I don’t
like it when we try to legislate for a one-off.
I would rather that we have a standard legislation that addresses it
as it was intended, but then address it – if it’s something that we
want to encourage, have, endorse, or support in Milton, we find a
way through special use permit or a redefinition of something
within those parameters that doesn’t change the definition of it, but
recognizes it for what it is, and we create either a special use
permit or another way to manage it so we can accommodate the
business and not preclude it, but not put ourselves in harm’s way
unintentionally by trying to redefine something that already has a
definition. So, I’d be happy to engage in further conversation about
that so we can support this business in Milton.
Mayor Lockwood: Okay. Peyton?
Mr. Jamison: To go on Paul’s point, have we discussed with Ms. Jackson the
special – all the use permits and stuff?
Ms. LaDart: So, that was the email from Ken that because the farm winery has
to be the primary use of the property, it also cannot be a special
event facility because the special event permit is the primary use of
it.
Mr. Jarrard: Milton’s code right now anticipates that a farm winery can get a
consumption on the premise license for the selling of distilled
spirits and beer – malt beverages – but it also says to do that, you
need to comply with the on-premise consumption language of
Milton’s code, which, of course, is the 50% food requirement. So,
that’s the point. So, could a farm winery have a restaurant?
Absolutely. Could they sell beer and wine? Sure, beer, wine, and
distilled spirits, absolutely.
But, everything I’m hearing this evening suggests that’s not the
business model that this individual can make work, to
Councilmember Longoria’s point. So, your code already
anticipates this; it just sets a bar or a hurdle right now that I think is
challenging for the individual that is requesting the relief.
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Mr. Jamison: So, would it be possible to change the business?
Mr. Jarrard: Yes.
Mr. Jamison: And then apply for whatever use permit we want?
Mr. Jarrard: Yes, and again, that’s the sort of thing my experience has been;
that’s where you get with the individual stakeholders that are
implicated by it and tell them what would work, what makes sense,
and then bring you back options.
Mayor Lockwood: Okay. Laura?
Ms. Bentley: No, I was just gonna agree with what Councilmember Moore said
because I recall the hearing and approving the farm winery, and
through all of this, that was what I was approving on that night, so
I would also like to encourage the special use route to try to
accommodate the business and make sure that it can be successful,
which I think I’m hearing as a possibility. Is that right?
Ms. LaDart: It could get a special event facility license. So, if you look at – it’s
on Page 61, so, 4-85(c)5 – it’s the special event alcohol license or
event facility’s license. “Nothing in this section shall be deemed to
prohibit a farm winery from obtaining appropriate licenses or
permits to allow special events and to provide alcohol in
conjunction with such licenses as permitted by state law and city
ordinance.” So, they could apply to be a special event facility.
Ms. Bentley: And, that would trigger the public process, and that would go
through all of the – is that the way it works?
Ms. LaDart: Yes. It goes through the Community Development Department.
Ms. Bentley: Okay. So, that’s one possibility.
Mr. Moore: Yeah, as long as it doesn’t impose other…undue hardship in –
because we’re trying to, again, do a square peg in a round hole. We
need to do something that’s even different from that.
Mayor Lockwood: I’m just gonna ask a couple questions. I’m just trying to be
practical. Ken – and, I understand all sides of it or whatever, I
think, and obviously, if it’s a farm winery, it should be producing
the wine, and however you get the grapes, but fit the guidelines,
but it is a farm winery; we don’t want it to be a bar, a restaurant, or
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whatever. But, Ken, is there a possibility, just like a lot of different
businesses have or ordinances where it’s 60% – 70% a winery, or
their wine, and then maybe 30% other things that are an accessory
or whatever to help the business. Is that feasible to do? Could we
craft something here that under – and also meets state guidelines?
Is that feasible to do?
Mr. Jarrard: I believe that you could.
Mayor Lockwood: And, I’ll tell you, the only reason I’m bringing this up – I’m just
putting it all out there – Milton is different. I don’t see Johns
Creek, Roswell, Sandy Springs, Alpharetta having any farm
wineries, so sometimes – and, I also don’t see – the biggest thing
we hear is people complaining about land getting sold and gone,
and subdivisions going up, so I don’t think it’s gonna be –
everybody with a farm’s gonna open up a bar or go through
everything to set up a winery.
So, I do think that this is important, it sets us up different, but I’m
certainly willing to step up and make some decisions that – if it
makes something like this viable, I’m willing to step in and do it,
so I don’t know if this is something that we can craft tonight, Ken,
or whatever – how the process would be on farm wineries as far as
this item are.
Mr. Jarrard: Well, if we’re gonna talk about looking at the farm winery
provisions of the code that’s in front of you this evening and
possibly backing out or somehow crafting language that would
allow a specific business model for this unique business in Milton
to go forward, I don’t think we need to craft the language this
evening. I would recommend that we go forward this evening, the
council will give direction for staff to work with this individual,
and then bring you back something that we can do in a more
regimented, constructive manner. I’m happy to do that, of course.
Mayor Lockwood: That’s just my thoughts. Anybody else wanna – is council
interested in doing something like that?
Ms. Bentley: I am.
Mr. Moore: I would echo Ken’s thoughts. I don’t think we should try to
legislate on the fly and create something tonight, but I think it’s
appropriate to go forward with what’s before us with the direction
from council and mayor to investigate something further that
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accommodates the individual business request.
Mayor Lockwood: Okay. Is the rest of the council good with that? Okay.
Mr. Jarrard: I don’t need a motion on that. I think I got the idea.
Mayor Lockwood: Okay. To clarify, what we would do – we would vote on what’s in
front of us, but then, staff could bring back some changes to this
one specific item, and council – we’ll talk about that if you guys
are good with that.
Ms. LaDart: Questions? Yes?
Mr. Moore: So, one of the speakers talked about a flight of wines. Is that…?
Because I will say I’m sure we have that in this ordinance. We got
everything else.
Mayor Lockwood: What’s that?
Mr. Moore: A flight of wines.
Ms. LaDart: The flights of wine.
Ms. Inglis: It – the first speaker [inaudible] [01:49:58]. I was trying to – I’m
not sure exactly what the prohibition – where there’s a prohibition
against it.
Mr. Jarrard: It has to do with the number of drinks that can be served to a
patron at a time.
Ms. Inglis: Right, but typically, a flight – when you do a flight, it’s not full
glasses, so we think about what is one drink? One drink is six
ounces of wine, so I can do three two-ounce samples.
Mr. Jarrard: So, our language spells it out in terms of volume?
Ms. Inglis: I was just looking to – I was trying to remember where that is.
Ms. LaDart: Can we ask her to come up and speak into the microphone?
Mayor Lockwood: Yeah, I’m sorry.
Ms. LaDart: I don’t know what section that is.
Ms. Inglis: That’s what I was looking at too. I didn’t – when she mentioned
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that, I was trying to remember where she was referring to.
Ms. LaDart: I think it’s where the brewpubs – where you can…taste different –
Mr. Krokoff: If you’re looking specifically where a flight is listed, I can help
you with that. So, it’s listed in two places in the ordinance. Under
“Brewery.” “‘Brewery’ means a domestic manufacturing facility
for beer that is licensed by the state. Provided licenses are issued as
required by the state in this chapter, a brewery is authorized to sell
beer by the package or by the drink, and to operate flight tastings
on premise for the brewery pursuant to state law.”
The second one is under “Distillery.” “‘Distillery’ means a
domestic manufacturing facility for distilled spirits that is licensed
by the state. Provided that licenses are issued as required by this
chapter, a distiller or distillery is authorized to sell distilled spirits
by the package, by the drink, and to operate flight tastings on
premises of distillery as provided for and subject to the limitations
of state law.”
Mr. Moore: So, a distillery – that’s not wine, though, that’s…
Ms. LaDart: That’s liquor.
Ms. Inglis: Right, and so, you also –
Mr. Moore: Two out of three covered.
Ms. Inglis: But, I think here, the distinction is that we’re talking about
distilleries and breweries are manufacturers. They are not on-
premise consumption retailers, and so, what these are doing is
these are saying here is the limited exception to what you can
provide in a manufacturing – and so, these were based upon the
state law, so generally, an on-premise consumption retailer or a
retailer that’s permitted to sell alcohol for on-premise
consumption…being able to do a flight is not going to be
prohibited – that’s where the distinction is.
These are manufacturing facilities as opposed to retail facilities.
And, your craft beer and craft wine markets specifically anticipate
the ability to sell craft beers and wine for consumption on premise
as well as for consumption off premise. So, that’s where – I don’t
think that there would be a –
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Ms. LaDart: I think she’s talking about the ancillary beer/wine tasting license,
and that is on Page 48/49, Section 4-78. So, No. 3. So, it’s limiting
the samples to – so, it’s 4-78(a)3, “Beer and/or wine sampling for
patrons shall not exceed two ounces per sample, and no patron
shall consume more than eight ounces in any two-hour period.”
Ms. Inglis: But again, that would allow for a flight, if you will, of wine.
Ms. LaDart: Yup.
Ms. Inglis: So, I think there may just be some confusion. When we use the
term “flight,” it’s basically saying that any brewery or distillery –
you’re not gonna be able to go and just get unlimited amounts of –
I’m not gonna be able to get 12-ounce beers and try four or five
different 12-ounce beers, so I think there may be some confusion
there.
Mr. Moore: So, the flights are only done – a restaurant can’t do it unless they
produce it on premise.
Ms. Inglis: No, you can.
Mr. Moore: Oh, good. Okay.
Ms. Inglis: It’s a way to allow patrons to sample.
Mr. Moore: Just making sure. He’s laughing at me. I’m just making sure we’re
okay in that.
Ms. Inglis: So, a restaurant would be permitted – it’s just like I could give you
– as long as I’m not giving you four glasses of wine all at one time
–
Mr. Moore: Okay, that sounds good.
Mayor Lockwood: So, it’s more based on the volume, four one-ounces versus two
two-ounces or whatever, but…
Ms. Inglis: Yes.
Mr. Moore: You answered my question. As long as we’re –
Ms. LaDart: You can still order four full glasses of wine if you would like to
pay for four full glasses of wine.
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[Crosstalk]
Mr. Moore: One at a time.
Ms. LaDart: One at a time, yes.
Ms. Bentley: I’m clear on that. Can I – I just have a – so, where did we – I never
saw anything in here about walk-up windows. Did we – are those
in here – Chapter 4?
Ms. Inglis: We didn’t put them in here.
Ms. Bentley: That was one thing that came up, I remember, and then, also
alcohol-infused items. I didn’t see anything in there.
Ms. Inglis: So, the alcohol-infused items – the way that we address that was
by including it in the definitions, so anything that is infused with
alcohol is considered to be an alcoholic consumable, so the
reference is basically any time you refer to alcoholic beverages, it
will, by definition, include alcohol consumables, so you can’t just
sneak in these alcohol consumables, not get a license, and not get
approval for them.
Ms. Bentley: That’s what my concern was, thank you.
Mr. Moore: That’s like the seltzers and the…
Ms. Inglis: No, this is your infused truffles that have a high concentration of
bourbon or your ice cream that has – the alcohol in it that hasn’t
been cooked off. I might make a cake, and I might put alcohol in it,
but it gets cooked off, but when we have something that, in its
edible content, contains that concentration of alcohol, then it’s
considered to be a consumable, and it’s – by definition in the
ordinance – now included so you can’t sneak it in.
Mr. Moore: Okay. Do we address the others – the…I can’t remember what we
called it last time I asked this question. It’s like hard ciders, the
seltzers that are all alcohol-based – some of them are malt
beverages, and some of them are ciders. Are those…?
Ms. Inglis: They are. So, in the definition – that’s one of the reasons why we
expanded the definitions, so that we could broaden some things,
and then, also be clear that we’re covering everything that might be
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out there. There’s even some honey-based products now, so just to
make sure that they’re all included within the definitions. And,
those are modeled after the state definitions as well.
Mayor Lockwood: Laura?
Ms. Bentley: So, as we move from 50/50 – the ratio – to 70/30, I just am curious
to know what other communities are at that ratio and what they
might be – if you know of any examples.
Ms. Inglis: So, I’ll tell you where this is coming up, and I’m actually dealing
less with other communities and more with the Department of
Revenue on this issue. The recognition has been that 50/50 is
somewhat of an anomaly because as we’re getting more people
interested in high-end alcohol, craft alcohol, I might order a $25.00
steak with a $50.00 bottle of wine, and that’s not a 50/50 concept.
The whole idea of 50/50 was to prevent bars. We wanna have
people that are restaurants are really operating restaurants. But,
unfortunately, I could have a $5.00 pitcher of margaritas and a
$6.00 taco, and all of a sudden, I’m not a bar anymore, I’m a
restaurant. So, to address that, the state is looking at changing the
50/50 requirement. Where the 50/50 really comes into play is one
is in the definition of a restaurant, and two is whether or not you
can sell alcohol on Sundays. By state law, you can’t sell alcohol on
Sunday unless you’re an eating establishment. An eating
establishment is a business that has 50/50 food-to-beverage ratios.
So, in anticipation of that, we had – in some of our early
discussions, we had said let’s go ahead and adopt a limited-service
type or a limited type of license where that 50/50 isn’t going to be
precluding a business from being able to be called a restaurant,
where all of a sudden, they’re now called a bar just because I have
really expensive spirits, but I also am only selling them with a big
meal. So, that’s where we brought it in. The anticipation is that
hopefully, this will evolve, and as the state also evolves, that those
restaurants would eventually be able to sell alcohol on Sundays.
Ms. Bentley: So, where are we as a city on this movement?
Ms. Inglis: On the front end.
Ms. Bentley: I just wanted to know that.
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Ms. Inglis: You’re on a very safe ground, but you’re on the front end of it
because nobody else is really… It’s not real public that this is
something that these discussions are going on, but it is – these
discussions have been being had. There’s a recognition that the
intent of the regulation is not actually really being brought to
fruition.
Ms. Bentley: Okay. So, do you think we’ll have a flash mob here, and if we do –
I see Chief Austin back there – are we good from the police force?
Chief Austin: I would not visit that establishment. [Laughter]
Mayor Lockwood: I’d say if you go by history, usually, Milton has been on the front
edge of doing a lot of things, and all our sister cities end up
following us.
Ms. Bentley: I support that. My other question is –
Ms. Inglis: I would anticipate that.
Ms. Bentley: No, and I know that you have guided us through this whole
process, which gives me a great deal of comfort. As far as city
staff, do we anticipate any additional headcount to deal with all
these licenses that are gonna be coming in?
Ms. LaDart: So, one thing that I’ve discussed – Bernadette – we spoke earlier
that at least for the foreseeable future, when somebody comes over
one of these unique licenses, they will just schedule an
appointment with me, and that’s at least – for the first handful,
that’s how we will handle it.
Mr. Krokoff: We don’t anticipate needing additional resources to manage this.
Ms. Bentley: Thank you.
Mayor Lockwood: Anybody else? Okay, thank you. All right, so, where are we,
Sarah? Are we at a point where…?
Ms. LaDart: Yeah, I’m waiting for questions.
Mayor Lockwood: Any more questions? Do we have any public comment other than –
we did public comment, I suppose. I would just like to clarify. So,
basically, we can – we’ll put this up for a vote, what’s before us,
and then, the council has directed staff to look at making some
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changes – possible changes to the farm winery. What would the
timing – just curious – what would the timing be on that?
Mr. Krokoff: I think we could move quite quickly on it.
Ms. LaDart: We have a work session next Monday, right?
Mr. Krokoff: I don’t even think we’ll need a work session. I think you and I can
sit down tomorrow and talk a little bit about this. You can sit down
with Ms. Jackson, figure out exactly what her needs look like, and
we can get something back before you quite quickly. This isn’t
even zoning, it’s just Chapter 4, right?
Ms. LaDart: Mm-hmm.
Mr. Krokoff: We can turn around quite quickly as long as it’s – I think I have a
general understanding of where your heads are.
Mayor Lockwood: All right. Anything else? Or, I’ll open up for a motion.
Ms. Cookerly: Tell me exactly what we’re voting on at this point.
Mr. Longoria: We’re voting on the two items that we just reviewed –
Ms. LaDart: Chapter 4.
Mr. Longoria: – and we’ve carved out the fact that additional work will be done
as a follow-up activity.
Ms. Cookerly: Okay.
Mayor Lockwood: We’re voting on as is, but then, direction to look at making some
changes. Okay, I’ll open up for a motion. Might as well. Every
alcohol motion is with Joe.
Mr. Longoria: Mayor, I move that we approve Agenda Item No. 20-053.
Mr. Jamison: Second.
Mayor Lockwood: And was seconded by Peyton. I’m starting to wonder about you
guys. All right, I have a motion for approval from Councilmember
Longoria with a second from Councilmember Jamison. Any
discussion? I just wanna add thanks for the open discussion that
council had, and considering some changes if we think it’s in the
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best interests of Milton. All in favor, please say aye.
All: Aye.
Mayor Lockwood: Any opposed? That’s unanimous. Thank you very much.
Motion and Vote: Councilmember Longoria moved to approve
Agenda Item No. 20-053 but add revisions at a future meeting.
Councilmember Jamison seconded the motion. The motion passed
(6-0). Councilmember Mohrig was absent from the meeting.
Ms. LaDart: Thank you.
Ms. Bentley: Is there an appendix?
Mr. Longoria: We got one more.
Ms. Bentley: There’s one more, an appendix.
Mr. Longoria: We need to read the next item.
Ms. Lowit: Next item is consideration of an ordinance to amend Appendix A
related to Chapter 4, “Alcoholic beverages,” of the Code of the
City of Milton, Georgia, Agenda Item No. 20-054.
Ms. LaDart: So, this is what we charge people for things – the revenue
generation part of the purpose of the rewrite. If you look through it,
the red lines are things that have changed. I think I mentioned the
new fees while we were going through Chapter 4. There is a
manufacturing license, so in addition to fees for the breweries and
distilleries if they want to have consumption on premises retail,
they’ll still have to get those, but then there’s a $250.00 or $500.00
fee associated on top of that. Same thing with the craft beer and
wine market and limited service restaurant. There’s a fee for the
opportunity to conduct business in that way.
The pouring permit is every two years now. We do have excise
taxes; we didn’t have breweries, microbreweries, or distilleries in
the past, so there will be excise taxes on any beverages produced at
those establishments. We did increase the penalty for late excise
tax payments from 10% to 15%, and those are the fee changes.
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Mayor Lockwood: Okay. Questions or comments on those?
Ms. Cookerly: Is that consistent around…?
Ms. LaDart: With our neighbors and such? If you – the distributor – the
wholesale license… While it is significantly more in some of our
neighboring cities, we looked at the number of restaurants in the
neighboring cities compared to ours and adjusted the prices
accordingly because it’s not fair if they’re able to deliver to
hundreds of restaurants in Alpharetta and a handful in Milton that
they be charged the same amount. So, we looked at all of that and
did it proportionally.
Mayor Lockwood: Any other questions? Do we have any public comment on this?
Ms. Lowit: This was the only other item that Ms. Jackson had.
Pamela Jackson: I think I’m good. I don’t think I need to say anything.
Ms. Lowit: It’s up to you.
[Crosstalk]
Mayor Lockwood: All right, I’ll close the public hearing on that. Any other questions?
I’ll open up for a motion. Joe?
Mr. Longoria: Yeah.
Mayor Lockwood: Peyton?
Mr. Longoria: I move that we approve Agenda Item No. 20-054.
Ms. Cookerly: Second.
Mayor Lockwood: Okay, I have a motion from Councilmember Longoria and a
second from Councilmember Cookerly. Any discussion? Hearing
none, all in favor, please say aye.
All: Aye.
Mayor Lockwood: That passes unanimous.
Motion and Vote: Councilmember Longoria moved to approve
Agenda Item No. 20-054. Councilmember Cookerly seconded the
motion. The motion passed (6-0). Councilmember Mohrig was
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absent from the meeting.
Ms. LaDart: Thank you.
Mayor Lockwood: Thank you. I know that was a lot of work, Sarah. Okay, let’s move
on to new business. Tammy, if you’ll please read the next item.
Ms. Lowit: Our first item is consideration of a resolution appointing members
to the City of Milton Citizens Advisory Committee for the City of
Milton 2040 Comprehensive Plan, Agenda Item No. 20-159.
Mayor Lockwood: Okay. This is under my name, but I guess I’m gonna have to defer
to staff on this unless it’s –
Mr. Krokoff: Parag, it’s gonna have to be you.
Mr. McIlveen: [Inaudible] [02:07:52]
Mr. Longoria: This is just voting to approve the…?
Mr. Krokoff: It is –
Mayor Lockwood: Yeah, but if you wanna – I don’t have the appointees in front of
me, so…
Mr. Krokoff: You don’t have it? All right.
Mayor Lockwood: I can find it.
Mr. Krokoff: Let me – I will handle it, Parag. I apologize.
Mr. McIlveen: Yeah, but again, I just want to give an introduction. This resolution
is basically, we are starting the process of the city’s 2040
comprehensive plan, and as per the city’s charter, we need to have
– we need to constitute a citizens advisory committee, and on the
citizens advisory committee, each city council member has to
appoint one committee member, and we have received the
committee members from all the city council members, so this
resolution is basically looking to appoint all the appointees of the
city council on the comprehensive plan advisory committee.
All the Planning Commission members are also there, and also the
chairs of the DRB and the BZAs are also there. So, it’s as part of
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the city’s charter that we have to appoint this comprehensive plan
advisory committee. I do not have the appointees.
Mr. Krokoff: I have it.
Mayor Lockwood: I actually do have it, I just haven’t pulled it out.
Mr. Krokoff: So, with Parag’s introduction, at this point, I believe we have all of
the names on that resolution, and then, I guess at a future time, in a
more safe manner, we will swear all of them in.
Mayor Lockwood: That’s correct, and I’ll be glad to read the names off. We’ve got
the existing names, and then, the seven council appointees are
Marty Littleton as my appointee, Heather Sparks as
Councilmember Jamison’s appointee, Brian Maloney from
Councilmember Cookerly, Colt Whitaw from Councilmember
Bentley, Larry Johnstone from Councilmember Moore, Mark
Harrington from Councilmember Longoria, and George Yunis
from Councilmember Mohrig. Is there any questions or comments
on this? Then, we’ll go ahead and open that up for a motion.
Ms. Bentley: Mayor, I’d like to make a motion to approve Agenda Item No. 20-
159.
Mr. Moore: Second.
Mayor Lockwood: Okay. I have a motion for approval from Councilmember Bentley
with a second from Councilmember Moore. Any discussion?
Hearing – go ahead.
Motion and Vote: Councilmember Bentley moved to approve
Agenda Item No. 20-159. Councilmember Moore seconded the
motion. The motion passed (6-0). Councilmember Mohrig was
absent from the meeting.
1. Consideration of a Resolution Appointing Members to the City of Milton
Citizens Advisory Committee for the City of Milton 2040 Comprehensive
Plan – The Comprehensive Plan Advisory Committee (CPAC).
(Agenda Item No. 20-159)
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Ms. Bentley: I was just gonna thank these appointees because this is an 18-
month process, so, thank you very much, if you’re watching.
Mayor Lockwood: Absolutely. I echo that. All in favor, please say aye.
All: Aye.
Mayor Lockwood: That’s unanimous. Okay, Tammy, if you’ll please call the next
item.
1. Consideration of a Resolution to Enter Into a Cooperation
Agreement Between the City of Milton and Fulton County to
Continue Participation in the Fulton County Community
Development Block Grant Program (CDBG) for the Program Years
2021, 2022, and 2023.
(Agenda Item No. 20-160)
(Ken Jarrard, City Attorney)
Ms. Lowit: Our next item is consideration of a resolution to enter into a
cooperation agreement between the City of Milton and Fulton
County to continue participation in the Fulton County Community
Development Block Grant Program for the program years 2021,
’22, and 2023, Agenda Item No. 20-160.
Mr. Jarrard: Mr. Mayor, members of the council, I will address this one with
you very briefly. I don’t need to come to the podium, I don’t think.
You have in your agenda packets a proposed CDBG agreement. I
believe that Fulton County has requested that we sign off on this
agreement, not necessarily join in, but certainly sign off on it, and
they have requested that we do so basically by the end of this
week. So, the question that was posed to my office is whether it is
a good thing, a bad thing, or an in-the-middle thing, and the answer
is it is perfectly fine. A lot of jurisdictions, of course, participate in
CDBG grant programs. Fulton County’s request to the City of
Milton is not unusual, and of course, we have done it in the past.
The only question that was asked was specifically do we become
subject to requirements that – and, when I say “requirements,” let
me be clear – federal-based requirements as a signatory with
respect to CDBG resolutions that we otherwise would not be, and
to distill it as quickly as I can, the answer is yes. We become
subject to one tier of requirements if we simply sign on as a co-
applicant or co-signer, if you will.
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Now, if we actually receive specific funding from the CDBG
opportunities, we will actually have to sign yet another agreement,
which, in fact, makes us subject to even more exacting federal
requirements. If the question is are we gonna be subject to
requirements that we aren’t subject to necessarily right now, the
answer is yes and yes, depending upon the level of participation
there is and any of these dollars actually flowing to the City of
Milton.
So, just for purposes of – and, I will tell you, by the way,
councilmembers, I have had these discussions before. In fact, at
one point, I was in a jurisdiction, and they were about to give some
money for a trail, and I was gonna show them the reams and reams
of all the federal requirements they were gonna be subject to for
the money, and as soon as I began to get about five minutes into it,
their eyes glazed over and I heard them say “free money,” and that
was the end of the hunt. They immediately passed a resolution
saying, “We’re in.”
So, I understand how this works. These requirements are not
onerous. The county and the city agree to cooperate in undertaking
or assist in undertaking community renewal and lower-income
housing assistance activities. The city acknowledges that it has
adopted and is enforcing a policy prohibiting the use of excessive
force by law enforcement agencies within its jurisdiction against
any individuals engaged in nonviolent civil rights demonstrations.
The city acknowledges that it has adopted and is enforcing a policy
of enforcing applicable state and local laws against physically
barring entrance to or exit from a facility or location with is the
subject of a nonviolent civil rights demonstration.
The county and the city will take all actions necessary to ensure
compliance with the county’s certification under the Civil Rights
Act of 1964, the Fair Housing Act, affirmatively furthering fair
housing, et cetera, et cetera. I could go on, but the point simply is
yes, those are out there.
Most of those, we are complying with already, and certainly, we
have robust compliance measures because we’ve received federal
financing and federal funding before, so these are not foreign
concepts to us, so I don’t wanna bog you down in that, and I’m not
sure what the likelihood is of us receiving a lot of federal dollars
from this CDBG programming at this point anyway. I’m
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comfortable with it, but I do at least want to raise these issues to
you so you know.
There’s always the specter out there of a federal compliance audit.
I will tell you I’ve been doing this for a long time, I’ve never seen
one occur before, and I think it would take something fairly
significant or pernicious by the government to actually be subject
to one, but I do at least wanna raise it to you. I’m comfortable if
you want to approve this, and it may make good sense to just to
keep the lines of communication open with Fulton County, but I do
at least wanna go over these issues. Mr. Mayor?
Mayor Lockwood: Okay. We’ve obviously glanced at this before, but is there any
questions or – Joe, and then staff?
Mr. Longoria: We have signed these before. How have we benefited from that?
Mayor Lockwood: Steve, I’ll let you answer that one.
Mr. Krokoff: We’re in an open forum, so I’ll hold my answer back as best I can.
We tried very hard this last round to benefit from CDBG funding.
I’ve been involved with CDBG over my entire career, and we had
some great programs that we had lined up for different abled
children involving equestrian therapy, we were trying to work
through another program where we were going to help some of our
kids who couldn’t afford to get into programming. It was made
very clear that I was gonna have a better chance of spinning straw
into gold than getting any money out of that CDBG program. We
spent a lot of money and a lot of time putting those programs
together, and it was a brick wall every time.
Mr. Longoria: Is this one of those things that the window of opportunity is open
for us right now, and it closes if we don’t sign, and it won’t open
again until 2023?
Mr. Krokoff: Well, yes and no. We could apply to the DCA and compete at the
state level for CDBG funds, but we do – correct me if I’m wrong –
once we apply at the state level for DCA CDBG funds, we’re still
subject to the same regulations. It doesn’t matter whether we do it
through Fulton County or the state.
So, really, what you’re – there are two things I think that it’s
important you know. First, there – our population adds to their
benefit. So, they’ll take our 40,000 population; it’ll add dollars to
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what they’re able to get. The second is – and, I haven’t been able
to confirm this – is the CARES Act money. Fulton County recently
got $1.1 million in CARES Act dollars.
I’m being told by Fulton County that for us to participate in that,
we have to participate in CDBG. Now, I did some quick research, I
went through HUD and all that, and I did some research on
CARES Act. I can’t find the connection, but the person I’ve been
dealing with has been very knowledgeable, and I have no reason to
believe that she wouldn’t be telling me the truth.
Mr. Longoria: So, Steven, do you think that there is some type of missed
opportunity if we don’t sign?
Mr. Krokoff: Maybe from a relationship standpoint.
Mayor Lockwood: That’s what I would say. It’s the county.
Mr. Longoria: All right. So, the benefit for us approving and signing is that we
keep our relationship with Fulton County intact, but we shouldn’t
expect to get any monetary benefit from this.
Mr. Krokoff: Except maybe CARES Act dollars, but if it’s falling under CDBG,
I don’t know how we’re gonna qualify for that either. I would have
to do more research. As far as I see it right now, I see the extent of
the benefit is in maintaining relationships.
Mayor Lockwood: I guess my question is if there’s some positive – and again, I see
that there’s no benefit, but is there negative benefit versus some
potential positive benefit? That would be the question. Laura, I
think?
Ms. Bentley: Yeah. So, do we – does it require administration as it is – I know
when you, for example, were trying to apply for the equestrian – I
know that you put effort into that and were denied, but if we just
status-quo stay in the program, what kind of administrative – are
there audits that we have to answer? So, there’s nothing
administratively that we have to do unless we go to work and try to
capture the money.
Mr. Krokoff: Exactly. The only thing we’ll have to do is pass this resolution.
Ms. Bentley: Okay.
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Mr. Jarrard: Well, and of course, to Councilmember Bentley’s point, these
certifications, we believe, are accurate. We believe we are doing
the things we are certifying we’re doing. We would certainly not
suggest otherwise, but as far as active accountability, active
submission of documents showing that, no, but we do believe that
we could certainly pass an audit if one came to us.
Mayor Lockwood: Okay. Peyton?
Mr. Jamison: Okay. So, Steve, I noticed in the email that other cities received a
lot of money through this. I saw tons of cities that received a lot of
money. So, we have applied before for this program, and we have
never received any funds from this?
Mr. Krokoff: We have. Prior to my arrival here, we have.
Mr. Jamison: Do you know what that was for, and how much?
Mr. Krokoff: We built a trail/sidewalk on Cogburn. I don’t remember the extent
of it, but I do remember there was an administration change down
in Fulton County, and we ended up getting denied on our last
reimbursement request. That was when I took over as city
manager. It just happened to coincide – I think it was right at the
beginning of 2016. We haven’t seen anything since.
Mr. Jarrard: And, that was one of those – I remember that well, and that is one
where we actually became a sub-recipient, and that’s when we had
to actually sign the next document, which actually subjects us to
even some more regulations.
Mr. Krokoff: And, that’s the only relationship we can have. Where I was, we
weren’t. We were the actual recipient, and people applied to us.
We were Fulton County in that equation. In this one, we apply to
Fulton County, and there’s a lot of rules. Ken is not overstating it.
There’s a lot of rules and regulations. They’re mostly income
based. You have to provide a lot of documentation to prove that
you qualify for these things. I do believe the programs that we
created, we should have qualified for them, but for whatever
reason, they determined we did not.
I do believe that there are programs in the future that we could
possibly apply for, but that being said, the amount of money we
might get out of this as a result of just being a small part of Fulton
County might not be worth the administrative oversight that we’ll
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have to deal with in being able to access those funds. So, the
reason you see those cities and those locations that did receive a
significant amount of money is because of their census tracks and
their income.
Mr. Jarrard: Hapeville got a lot of money.
Mr. Krokoff: You could become a recipient just based on your census track, and
we’re just simply not going to qualify here.
Mr. Jamison: That answers it for me. Thank you.
Mayor Lockwood: All right. Any other questions for Ken? Then, I’ll open up for a
motion on this item or any discussion.
Ms. Bentley: So, my final discussion is for me – and, I understand if there’s not
support for this, but when I weigh the risk of doing nothing and
staying in and the other issues that we – opportunities that we want
to maybe continue, I would support this based on the fact that it’s
not going to cost us anything administratively if we do nothing,
and for that, I can make a motion to approve Agenda Item No. 20-
160.
Mayor Lockwood: Okay. Do I have a second?
Ms. Cookerly: Second.
Mayor Lockwood: I have a motion for an approval from Councilmember Bentley with
a second from Councilmember Cookerly. Any discussion? I would
say that for the same reasons, I could support this, but any
discussion? All in favor, please say aye.
Some: Aye.
Mayor Lockwood: Any opposed?
Mr. Longoria: Nay.
Mayor Lockwood: Okay. So, that ME was four in approval and two against.
Councilmember Jamison and Longoria against, for the record.
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Motion and Vote: Councilmember Bentley moved to approve Agenda
Item No. 20-159. Councilmember Cookerly seconded
the motion. Councilmember Jamison and Longoria
against, for the record. The motion passed (4-2).
Councilmember Mohrig was absent from the meeting.
1. Consideration of a Resolution of the City of Milton Calling for the
State of Georgia Fiscal Year 2021 Budget to Include Funding for
New NOW/COMP
Waiver Recipients.
(Agenda Item No. 20-161)
(Steve Krokoff, City Manager)
Ms. Lowit: Thank you, Mayor. Our final – are you ready? – our final new
business item is consideration of a resolution of the City of Milton
calling for the State of Georgia fiscal year 2021 budget to include
funding for the new NOW/COMP waiver recipients, Agenda Item
No. 20-161, Steven Krokoff.
Mayor Lockwood: I’ll go ahead and start. I can read this resolution. Basically, this
was brought forward to our city, we discussed it at Norfolk
Mayors’ Meetings with the other cities, and they are passing the
same thing. This was actually brought to our attention by one of
Johns Creek’s councilmembers, and the best I understand is the
NOW options waiver helps those with development disabilities as
they get older to get programs so they can live a more productive
and active life.
So, again, I’ll be glad to read the resolution, and if you guys – but,
obviously, you’ve read it. So, with that, unless there’s any
questions or staff has anything, I think it’s a good thing, and like I
said, I don’t know if staff has anything else to add to it or if there’s
any questions.
Mr. Krokoff: I can answer any questions if you have any.
Ms. Bentley: Specifically for autism, mental disabilities –
Mayor Lockwood: Mental retardation.
Ms. Bentley: – challenges, and helps support those adults as they – for them to
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live independently.
Mr. Krokoff: That’s part of it. It’s gonna support them living in the community
as opposed to a residential treatment facility.
Mayor Lockwood: One of the things that got me thinking about it is one of the parents
saying their biggest concern is what happens when the parents get
old and pass away, who’s gonna help with –
Mr. Jamison: Isn’t it partly too because they age out of some of the other
programs?
Mayor Lockwood: Exactly. This gives them a way to continue. Okay, I’ll open up for
a motion.
Ms. Bentley: Mayor, I’d like to make a motion to approve Agenda Item No. 20-
161.
Mr. Longoria: Second.
Mayor Lockwood: Okay, I have a motion for approval from Councilmember Bentley
with a second from Councilmember Longoria. All in favor, please
say aye.
All: Aye.
Mayor Lockwood: That passes unanimously. I wanna thank everybody for being here
tonight under different situations. I got it, Tammy, I’m just making
a comment.
Motion and Vote: Councilmember Bentley moved to approve Agenda
Item No. 20-161. Councilmember Longoria seconded
the motion. The motion passed (6-0). Councilmember
Mohrig was absent from the meeting.
Ms. Lowit: Mayor, pardon my interruption. I made an unintentional error. We
did receive an additional public comment that I did not identify as
a general public comment. I thought it was later, and it wasn’t, so
may I read that general public comment into the record?
Mr. Jarrard: Mr. Mayor, that’d be in order.
Mayor Lockwood: Okay, sure, absolutely.
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Ms. Lowit: My apologies. This is from Mr. Bob Volls, who lives at 15210
Highgrove Road, Milton. He says, “Mayor and members of our
city council, our issue is that we have to pay the city $25.00 to take
each rotten or bad or any tree down, and we are to replace it with
another tree. Before we became Milton, we did not pay a fee to
Fulton County. This is another tax. Just our opinion. Please
reconsider eliminating it.
“In our case, over the last 10 years, we have added new trees to our
backyard – four new Japanese maples, two pine oaks, one white
dogwood. It is our suggestion that Milton residents should be given
credit for any new trees planted by the owner instead of needing to
plant another new one if an old pine or similar tree needs taking
down. Please reconsider this as you revise the canopy tree
ordinance. Thank you for your attention.” Thank you.
Mayor Lockwood: Thank you. Good comment. No, I just wanna thank everybody. I
don’t wanna use the term “new normal” because I know Peyton
doesn’t wanna have to sit down there in time out, but I appreciate
that extra work.
Mr. Jamison: It worked pretty well. I feel a little more comfortable now.
Mayor Lockwood: I appreciate the extra work that staff had to do to set up, and
hopefully, we’ll all get back to our old normal very soon. Does
council have anything they wanna report on or talk about?
Ms. Bentley: I have just a quick comment because there’s – we need to celebrate
some great things that have happened, and I just wanna thank the
city manager for the pool – the rehab on the pool. The tennis courts
look phenomenal, they’re safe, people aren’t gonna trip anymore,
they’ve been resurfaced, and it looks really great, and I think we
listened to the citizens, what they wanted, and it’s a beautiful
facility now, so thank you very much.
Mr. Krokoff: Thank you. That was Jim and his staff all day long.
Ms. Bentley: Thank you.
Mayor Lockwood: Paul?
Mr. Moore: I’d just like to compliment again – I’ve sung the praises before of
our city Communications Department. Greg is –
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Mayor Lockwood: Hold on. He’s standing right there.
Mr. Moore: He continues to do a great job. Also, in light of the national events
taking place right now that are very disturbing, it’s great that we
are proactively putting communication out to the community for
their awareness, for their safety, and just encourage us to stay on
the front end of the communication. He does a great job.
Mayor Lockwood: All right. Then, we’ll move to staff reports.
Mr. Krokoff: Mayor, before we do, could we discuss the DRB issue?
Mayor Lockwood: Absolutely.
Mr. Krokoff: So, tomorrow, we had scheduled a design review board meeting,
and our – we can’t get a quorum. I believe we have one individual
that is out of town for whatever reason, and then, only one or two
that are willing to come in, so we can’t create a physical quorum.
The DRB, as you know – they make recommendations except for
when it comes to demolition permits.
There were 14 items on the agenda tomorrow. There are major
projects that were on there, and a lot of things are gonna be held
up. I don’t know that two weeks changes anything, and I think we
have to have some sort of discussion about what to do about that. I
reached out to Ken and the mayor earlier just to make them aware,
talk about maybe – especially the possibilities of how we can
tackle this, whether council can approve these things considering
the recommendations, or should we just move forward? Again, I’d
like to have that conversation and see if we can get some direction
or thoughts.
Mayor Lockwood: I’d just add that I think some options are not that they’re
recommended at all by staff, but staff could move forward instead
of taking the recommendations from DRB if it’s deemed
important, but that’s obviously not recommended. The council
could take over and do the DRB’s job temporarily, or – I can’t
remember what was the other option, Ken. Just defer things.
Mr. Jarrard: The other option was the recommending body – staff can go
forward about the recommendations. That’s No. 1. No. 2, we could
in fact – the reason for this is because of the pandemic. As I
understand it, that’s the reason that they can’t assemble. We could
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modify the emergency ordinance to have the city council serve as a
basically – do the function of the DRB if you wanted to do that.
Those would be two very easy options.
The other one is simply to wait, to not have them assemble, and
therefore delay the business of the city with respect to the DRB.
That may be unacceptable, but that’s another option.
Mayor Lockwood: Any thoughts? Peyton?
Mr. Jamison: So, they don’t wanna come in the city – is there a virtual meeting?
Can they do a virtual meeting?
Mr. Jarrard: Well, that’s a good question. So, the city council adopted – as part
of its last emergency ordinance, it adopted a reopening plan, and
that plan has driven the operations of the city, and that plan
anticipates that we’re converting back to physical meetings, like
this evening. And so, that’s what my advice has been, is that’s the
will of the council, and that’s the policy of the council.
Mr. Jamison: Well, I don’t think they should be waiting. We either need to do it
ourselves or get staff to do it because it’s not fair to the people that
are waiting.
Mr. Longoria: I would agree.
Ms. Bentley: I agree.
Ms. Cookerly: I’m available tomorrow night.
Mr. Jamison: Does doing it ourselves mean that we have to post another special
call to meeting and have a period of announcement to the
community before we conduct that, or can it be on a more
compressed timeline?
Mr. Jarrard: That option is my least favorite option – the council serving as the
DRB – and not because the council could not, of course, serve in
that function, just because I think we do need to have a little
process before we do that. I don’t know that our codes just
anticipate you all sliding into that role automatically. I think there
would need to be an emergency ordinance because it is, in fact, this
emergency that is driving their absence.
We could modify the ordinance and make it last for 30 days for
y’all to fill that role. Otherwise, we could simply say staff – you
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typically would require the recommendation. If they’re not able to
meet, then go forth and do your business and do your job without
the recommendation. That may be the most viable, and that may
be, candidly, the – I don’t wanna say the easiest, but just the
simplest.
Mr. Moore: But, just to clarify –
Mayor Lockwood: Hold on. Joe?
Mr. Longoria: Ken, if we had a situation where a committee became
nonfunctional and it was a problem in terms of moving forward
certain business that the city had to do, we would assess what is the
problem. Is there a way to address the issue that is facing the
committee? Or, if not, we would contemplate – and, we’ve actually
done this – contemplate replacing the committee.
Now, I don’t wanna suggest that people’s concerns are unfounded
about not being able to participate in meetings that we’re asking
them to participate in. I am very confused because, like I said two
weeks ago, the virus hasn’t changed. Our immunity hasn’t
changed. Why do we think that getting together for meetings
makes any sense whatsoever? If, three weeks ago, we were
meeting virtually and were able to get our work done, we should
be able to do that three weeks from now. So, I don’t get it, but we
need to make a call as to whether or not this essentially is a cause
for us having a nonfunctional committee.
Mr. Jarrard: Well, if the council wanted to leave it up to each individual
committee to decide whether or not – or, subcommittee, the BZA,
the Planning Commission, the DRB – to make the decision on their
own whether they will meet remotely or in person, you could do
that. What I’m seeing in most jurisdictions, though, is from a
staffing level and administration level, that becomes a little bit
difficult because they’re mixing and matching between having in-
person meetings with maybe some degree of cy ber participation,
and then, others are simply – and, even for the public, it can be a
little consuming or confusing.
So, what are you doing? Are we able to meet in person in Milton,
or are we not able to meet in person? But, if you wanted to do –
Councilmember Longoria, if the council wanted to give all of these
– I call them subcommittees; I don’t mean anything derogatory by
that – but, if they wanna give these sub-entities the authority to set
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their own rules, you could do that, but in Milton, what you did was
you adopted an emergency ordinance, and you also ratified,
basically, an opening plan that my understanding was that plan was
sort of setting your expectations of how the business in Milton was
to be conducted, and that has been the basis of my guidance.
Mr. Krokoff: Can I jump in, mayor?
Mayor Lockwood: Please do.
Mr. Krokoff: Just to help answer that question a bit, the reason we can open
today as opposed to a few weeks ago is because of the numbers
that we’ve been seeing coming out through the CDC. We’re just
not increasing, and we feel we’ve come to a point where it is safe
for us to do it in this manner, and that, coupled with our inability to
get material business done – that’s why this is so packed and why
your next meeting’s gonna be so packed. It was really holding back
the business of the city.
Mr. Jarrard: I understand.
Mr. Krokoff: And, the subsequent meeting for the DRB – my other concern
would just be a due process issue. If we’re going to bring it – if we
can bring it online, there are some – DRB is – people are usually
up here with the schematics, plans, pictures –
Mayor Lockwood: It doesn’t lend itself. I get you.
Mr. Krokoff: It’s gonna be very difficult to do that online. I’m sure if we’re
directed to do so, I’ll put forth the necessary resources to be able to
make it happen, but I don’t think it’s going to lend itself as easy as
our council meeting on Zoom, so I just – I caution you there.
Mayor Lockwood: I have a comment too, and I understand. I certainly wouldn’t
wanna influence anyone that didn’t feel safe or comfortable, or if
they had a weak immune system or some reason to not be in
public, but I’m almost curious to wonder if the members realize –
because you look around now and the way that we are set up now,
and with the cleanliness and the distancing and whatnot, I’m just
wondering if they even – some members that may be concerned
are even aware that we’ve made some changes here. So, that may
be… Laura?
Ms. Bentley: Yeah. So, do we know when – there’s hesitation to come
personally – is there any thought that that would change at any
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point, or are we dealing with in two weeks, we’ll be – no? We
don’t know?
Mr. Krokoff: It’s difficult to say. We did send them a picture of the setup
showing where people would be sitting. I don’t know if people are
gonna feel more comfortable in two weeks than they are now. I
don’t know if any of them have underlying conditions – or, can I
ask? It’s just whether people feel comfortable or not of whether or
not they’re gonna come out.
Mayor Lockwood: That’s right. Right now, unless there’s gonna be some additions to
the governor’s order, I know that those that are considered
immunocompromised – I believe the shelter in place – I think it
lasts to June 12th, and then, the existing statewide declaration of
emergency right now lasts until June 15th.
Mr. Moore: Mr. Mayor?
Mayor Lockwood: Go ahead.
Mr. Moore: I was just gonna say let’s – my suggestion is let’s go ahead and let
staff vet these, and they need to be approved because our residents
expect us to be working for them as of this date, and we can’t keep
delaying it.
Mayor Lockwood: I was actually gonna say something similar to that, but are there
prioritized items that are being held up that our staff can – I know I
have to have a little trust here, but could make the same decisions
that typically the DRB makes and move things forward
temporarily, and then, hopefully, maybe by next session, DRB’s
ready to meet? Is that a…?
Mr. Krokoff: I think we could. There is low-hanging fruit there. There are some
retreads on there where we got the input from DRB last time, and
the necessary changes have been made, so there may be some
significant low-hanging fruit. We could also assess them to see if
we think anything is tricky, and then make a determination. I just
don’t know legally whether or not – I can’t imagine why we
couldn’t hold off and say we would like DRB action on Project X.
Mr. Jarrard: Absolutely. I think these would all be decisions made in good
faith. I would have no problem with that, and I think if Parag and
the city manager wanna walk through that, I think that’d be fine.
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Mayor Lockwood: And, I don’t know if you guys can run them by council or DRB –
obviously, I wanna be open and transparent, but certainly, I agree
with some of the points. Paul?
Mr. Moore: Is there anything that we have – that the citizens would feel
compromised on if there was not a public hearing, if decisions are
made by staff not in the light of day, no sunshine on that, if there is
opposition to something?
Mr. Jarrard: I would feel a lot stronger on those – I think we’re gonna have to
make sure it is only those issues for which they make
recommendations on, but if it’s at – other than demolition permits
and things of that nature, but as long as it’s recommendations, I’m
not concerned from a due process perspective. Fair point.
Mayor Lockwood: Laura?
Ms. Bentley: That’s my last question. Is this the only committee that we’re
anticipating this problem with? For example, BZA – do we know
yet if we expect the same concerns with meeting in person?
Because that’s a different – that’s a quasi-legal…
Mayor Lockwood: Judicial.
Mr. Agrawal: [Inaudible] [02:40:24] we did not contact BZA and the Planning
Commission members. Since we had a meeting of DRB on June
2nd, we did contact the DRB members, but as you know, many of
the items which are heard by DRB go to BZA.
Ms. Bentley: So, that’s – that’s what we’d need to get a read on, which is –
Mr. Agrawal: So, that might – if you’re not having a DRB meeting, that might
impact the BZ also.
Ms. Bentley: Because it’s flowing downstream.
Mr. Agrawal: Yeah, so, floating, but we have not contacted the BZA members or
the Planning Commission members to identify whether they are
coming for in-person meeting or not.
Ms. Bentley: That would be good to know.
Mayor Lockwood: But, I think, too, the big thing is just communication. Again, if
they were here live tonight, they would see that it – maybe it’s less
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of a concern.
Mr. Krokoff: A lot of these are BZA issues.
Mayor Lockwood: Okay, so they will go through a public process – the next phase on.
So, is council in general agreement of the discussion we just had –
Peyton?
Mr. Jamison: Yeah, I’m in agreement, but I think it’s very important – going
forward, we have to be prepared that they can have virtual
meetings, though. If something happens, we can’t just shut down
the city for six months. They have to be prepared to have virtual
meetings, just like we did, in case something does happen in the
fall. That’s all.
Mr. Krokoff: I agree with you entirely. The issue – this could have been a virtual
meeting, but we were limited with what we were allowed to do. If
there is a way for us to be able to conduct the full business of the
city online, I guess we could, but you would anticipate that
everybody would then be handling all of their business online.
Mr. Jamison: Something to think about, just for future stuff.
Mayor Lockwood: I would just say this. I think Steve was clear earlier. You could do
it virtual, but we just – we have to make that decision. Do we
wanna change it to keep them virtual or make them virtual?
Mr. Jarrard: I think this has just been an unprecedented time in Georgia. As
long as I’ve done this, I’ve never seen governments shut down this
way for 90 days and the business of the public shut down for 90
days. At first, everyone was trying to figure out how do we
disincentivize our citizens to not feel like they need to be watching
government, and the way we did that was to try and make
noncontroversial things be the only things we were doing.
It was in good faith. We were just trying to say, “Look, citizens,
we know you’re worried about this disease and the virus, and not
the zoning coming up, so let’s focus on that.” But, as with most
things, people begin to get weary of fixating on that, and wanna get
back to the business of living, and we’ve been trying to
accommodate that, but I hear you. It makes a lot of sense.
Mayor Lockwood: But, bottom line, if we do choose to go in the direction where staff
takes care of this one particular meeting, we as a council aren’t
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necessarily – we’re not voting on something now, but that would
be allowed legally based on – that would be legal for staff based on
our code, right?
Mr. Jarrard: Yeah. At the end of the day, this is not the council deciding this.
This is simply staff, given the unusual times, making the decision
to move forward on items they already have the authority to move
forward on. They’re simply doing it [inaudible – crosstalk]
[02:43:31].
Mayor Lockwood: Right, that’s what I was gonna double-check. But also, this is a
one-time – this could be a one-time thing. You guys can let us
know how it’s going with the rest of them, and we may have to
bring this – forced to make a formal decision on how we handle it
moving forward.
Mr. Jarrard: Absolutely. The council might – Longoria’s point – at some point,
our agencies have to function.
Mayor Lockwood: Okay. All right, everybody okay with that direction in theory?
Okay. All right, move on to staff reports – Public Works?
Mr. Drewry: Thank you, Dennis. Good evening, Mr. Mayor, council. Brief
report – I wanna keep this as brief as I can, but we did have a big
month in the month of April – excuse me, May. I’ll give you an
update of what things did occur in May. As you know, we
demolished a house at Thompson and Oakwell.
The Birmingham Park trail widening is completed, and I really like
what went on out there. We’ve done our road striping. That work is
completed too. You’ve probably seen some of that work. Sidewalk
extension at Mayfield where we link Crabapple to Alpharetta is
nearing completion, and upcoming for the month of June, we’re
finalizing our bid package for the Thompson and Oakwell
roundabout, and we’re finalizing our bid package for the
Hamby/Oakwell roundabout.
We also had a bid opening for some stormwater projects – a couple
small projects in residential areas. I think Oakhurst Leaf and
Hopewell Crest – we had a couple stormwater failures that we
have to repair.
Right-of-way permits: We issued 14 right-of-way permits for the
month of May. Maintenance items: We had a total of 81 work
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orders, which is down. Typically, we’re averaging about 115-125.
Most of those were potholes and pavement issues. We had 30 of
those, 16 signs, 10 debris trash, nine dead animals, and a few other
sundry stuff. Busy month for us, and June seems to be the same
way. Any questions?
Mayor Lockwood: No. The only thing I would say is about bid process and whatnot,
and also, just – obviously, I think everybody’s aware on the Milton
Country Club, we are having a work session on the 8th on that
before that goes up to bid, correct?
Mr. Drewry: That’s correct. Next Monday, we’ll be doing it. Another
presentation at the work session.
Mayor Lockwood: Thank you. Anybody else? All right, thanks, Robert.
Mr. Drewry: Thank you.
Mayor Lockwood: Sarah, come on down.
Ms. LaDart: Good evening, mayor and council. So, obviously, I’ve been
working on the alcohol ordinance, so I was just in my office, and
the drafts I can now throw away – it’s a nice stack to go to the
recycle bin. So, thank you, that’s very exciting. I appreciate it. So,
we did another Northfield and COVID-19 business impact survey.
We had about half the number of responses and the same concerns
going forward with consumer confidence in a recession and access
to capital.
One of the interesting things was a question about how we can
help, and the No. 1 thing that they said was with marketing help –
so, the people who responded that they wanted feedback from the
city or another touch – we had a Zoom call with Kelly Boatright,
the president of the Chamber, to talk about what they’re doing in
their COVID recovery task force. The mayor joined us for part of
that. And, from that phone call, the Chamber has already been able
to help one of our businesses connect with a PPP banker, so that
was very productive.
Another thing that we’re doing – June 18th, we’re going to have
our virtual small business symposium. We didn’t want to forego
this event, but also didn’t want people coming into city hall. So,
we have five speakers lined up – a lady from the Georgia Small
Business Development Center, somebody from Kennesaw State,
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we have a lawyer to give lawyer advice, a social media person, and
then, Renasant Bank is going to come speak about whatever loan
programs are available at that time. So, that’s what we’ll be
working on going forward. So, thank you.
Mayor Lockwood: Absolutely. Thanks, Sarah. All right. Next, do I have a motion to
enter into an executive session? It was added to our agenda tonight.
Mr. Longoria: Yes, I move.
Ms. Cookerly: Second.
Mayor Lockwood: All right, I have a motion from Councilmember Longoria, with a
second from Councilmember Bentley. All in favor, please say aye.
All: Aye.
Mayor Lockwood: That’s unanimous.
EXECUTIVE SESSION
Motion and Vote: Councilmember Longoria moved to approve to go into
Executive Session to discuss land acquisition and
potential litigation, along with personnel at 8:45 pm.
Councilmember Bentley seconded the motion. The
motion passed (6-0). Councilmember Mohrig was
absent from the meeting.
All right, are we on?
Mr. Moore: We are.
RECONVENE
Mayor Lockwood: I have three, four – do I have a motion to reconvene our meeting?
Mr. Longoria: Reconvene – so moved.
Mr. Moore: Second.
Mayor Lockwood: I have a motion and second to reconvene. All in favor, please say
aye.
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All: Aye.
Motion and Vote: Councilmember Longoria moved to reconvene from
the Executive Session in the regular meeting at
8:48 pm. Councilmember Moore seconded the
motion. The motion passed (6-0). Councilmember
Mohrig was absent from the meeting.
Mayor Lockwood: How many – we’re just missing Carol, so it’s one, two, three, four,
five. Okay, do I have a motion to adjourn?
Mr. Moore: So moved.
Mr. Longoria: Second.
Mayor Lockwood: I have a motion and second to adjourn. All in favor, please say aye.
All: Aye.
RECONVENE
Motion and Vote: Councilmember Moore moved to reconvene from the
Executive Session in the regular meeting at
8:49 pm. Councilmember Longoria seconded the
motion. The motion passed (6-0). Councilmember
Mohrig was absent from the meeting.
Mayor Lockwood: That’s again the same spot.
ADJOURNMENT
Motion and Vote: Councilmember Moore moved to reconvene from the
Executive Session in the regular meeting at
8:50 pm. Councilmember Longoria seconded the
motion. The motion passed (6-0). Councilmember
Mohrig was absent from the meeting.
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Date Approved: July 20, 2020
__________________________________ _____________________________
Sudie AM Gordon, City Clerk Joe Lockwood, Mayor