HomeMy WebLinkAboutMinutes - CC - 08/15/2022Regular Meeting of the Milton City Council
Monday, August 16, 2022
Page 1 of 116
' CALL TO ORDER
Mayor Jamison: Thank you. I would like to call the regular meeting of the Milton
City Council for Monday, August 158, 2022, to order. The city
strongly recommends that you review tonight's agenda carefully,
and if you wisht to speak on any item on the agendai then please
bring your comment cards to the clerk as soon as possible. While
the Milton 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. Will the City
Clerk please call the role, and make general announcements?
ROLL CALL
City Clerk: Good evening, Mayor, and council. I'll be happy to call role for the
August 15a', 2022, regular city council meeting. I would like to
remind those in attendance to please silence all cellphones at this
time. Those attending the meeting who would like to make a
Public Comment, you are required to complete a yellow Public
Comment card located on the table just as you walk inside
chambers. Your comment card must be presented to the City Clerk
' prior to the Agenda Item being called. Any comment cards
received after the item has been called will not be accepted.
All speakers, please identify yourself by name, address, and
organization before beginning your comment. If you are
representing an organization, an affidavit is required stating you
have the authority to speak on behalf of that organization. Please
review tonight's agenda, and if you would like to make a
comment, please bring your comment cards to me now.
Demonstration of any sort within the chamber is prohibited. Please
refrain from any applause, cheering, booing, outbursts, or dialog
with any person speaking. Anyone in violation will be asked to
leave. As I call role this evening, please confirm your attendance:
Mayor Peyton Jamison.
Mayor Jamison: Here.
City Clerk: Councilmember Andrea Verhoff.
CM Verhof£ Here.
City Clerk: Councilmember Paul Moore.
I
CM Moore: Here.
Regular Meeting of the Milton City Council
Monday, August 16, 2022
Page 2 of 116
City Clerk: Councilmember Juliette Johnson. '
CM Johnson: Here.
City Clerk: Councilmember Carol Cookerly.
CM Cookerly: Here.
City Clerk: Councilmember Jan Jacobus.
CM Jacobus: Here.
City Clerk: And Councilmember Rick Mohrig.
CM Mohrig: Here.
Mayor: Mayor Peyton Jamison present.
Councilmembers Present: Councilmember Andrea Verhoff, Councilmember
Paul Moore, Councilmember Juliette Johnson, Councilmember Carol Cookerly,
Councilmember Jan C. Jacobus, and Councilmember Rick Mohrig.
Councilmember(s) Absent: I
PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE
City Clerk: Would everyone please rise for the Pledge of Allegiance.
Attendees: 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.
APPROVAL OF MEETING AGENDA
Mayor Jamison: Okay. Council, if you'll bear with me, we need to approve the
meeting agenda with multiple changes. We need to add, under
New Business, a resolution for a joint defense agreement. That was
just received today. This item needs to be voted on before the next
scheduled regular meeting, and therefore will need to be added to
tonight's agenda. We need to add an Executive Session to discuss
land acquisition personnel, and potential litigation. We need to
move New Business Items 12c, and 12d to immediately follow the '
consent agenda.
Regular Meeting of the Milton City Council
Monday, August 15, 2022
Page 3 of 116
' We need to reschedule Reports, and Presentation Item Parks, and
Recreation Update to a future regular meeting. And, we need to
postpone Staff Reports to the next regular city council meeting,
scheduled for September 7a'. Is there a motion?
CM Moore: Mr. Mayor, I make a motion that we approve the agenda with the
requested changes.
CM Cookerly: Second.
Mayor Jamison: Okay. I have a motion from Councilmember Moore, and a second
from Councilmember Cookerly to approve the meeting agenda
with the recommended changes. Any discussion? All in favor,
please say aye.
Councilmembers: Aye.
Motion and Vote: Councilmember Moore moved to approve the Meeting
Agenda with the following amendments:
• Add under New Business a Resolution for a Joint Defense Agreement;
' • Add an Executive Session to discuss Land Acquisition, Personnel, and
Potential Litigation;
• Move New Business Items 12C and 12D to immediately follow Consent
Agenda;
• Reschedule Reports and Presentations item Parks and Recreation Update
to a future Regular Meeting; and
• Postpone Staff Reports to the next Regular City Council meeting
scheduled for September 71h.
Councilmember Cookerly seconded the motion. The motion passed (7-0).
PUBLIC COMMENT
Mayor Jamison: Any opposed? That's unanimous. Next is General Comment. Do
we have any General Public Comment?
City Clerk: We do, Mayor.
I
Mayor Jamison: Okay. So, the next item is General Public Comment. Public
Comment is a time for citizens to share information with the
Regular Meeting of the Milton City Council
Monday, August 16, 2022
Page 4 of 116
mayor, and the City Council, and to provide input, and opinions on '
any matter that is not scheduled for its own public hearing during
today's meeting. Each citizen who chooses to participate in Public
Comment must complete a comment card and submit it to the city
clerk prior to the Agenda Item being called. Please remember, this
is not a time to engage the mayor, or members of the City Council
in conversation.
When your name is called, please come forward, and speak into
the microphone, and stating your name, and address for the record.
You will have five minutes for remarks. The city encourages you
to review the agenda, and if you wish to speak, to bring your
comment cards to the city clerk right now. If you'll please call the
first Public Comment.
City Clerk: Mayor, the first public speaker is Lucia Frazier. I'd invite you to
the podium, please.
Ms. Frazier: Good evening. Can you guys hear me? Okay. So, I'm just here to
talk about elections. I really want to emphasize the localized
decision -making, and control, and how important it really is, ,
bringing it back into the peoples' hands. The closer you put these
operations to our hands, the better because we are the stakeholders,
and the outcome will be better because we'll work harder because
we're directly impacted by it. So, when Fulton County comes to
you guys, and says, you know, whatever they come to you with —
especially with elections — it would be great if you guys share that
with the public sooner, so we can see all that.
I started recently paying more attention to what they're doing —
about a year ago, and I realized I had screwed up by not paying
attention before. And, as a citizen, we should all pay attention.
Everybody. So, what I learned is that their county operations —
especially elections — the money they are spending here is
exponentially more than all previous years. And then, for this
season, they somehow decided that they needed 36 early voting
locations, versus 28 in previous years. Totally unnecessary. Early
voting is dead almost all the time. We've worked them. We've
seen them.
So, you have now, an additional location here in Milton, which is
nice. You have the community center. We did ask, too - that we
didn't need it — you know? Somebody mentioned, "Can we cost -
reduce, and not use it?" But they were just gonna put it somewhere '
else. So, that's silly. But, what I'm really here to let you know is I
I
Regular Meeting of the Milton City Council
Monday, August 15, 2022
Page 5 of 116
really want you to pay attention to what they're doing, and how
much money they're spending. And, I've been encouraging them
with many ideas on how to cost -reduce, but it would be great if it
came from you all, as well. So, let's push back on them a little bit,
and ask for cost -reductions. That's all I have. Thank you.
Mayor Jamison: Can you repeat your name, and address for the record?
Ms. Frazier: Oh, I'm sorry. Lucia Frazier, Roswell.
Mayor Jamison: What's your address?
Ms. Frazier: 485 Hardscrabble Road.
Mayor Jamison: Thank you.
City Clerk: I'd like to next invite Jason Frazier to the podium, please.
Mr. Frazier: Hello. My name is Jason Frazier. I reside at the same address, 485
Hardscrabble Road, in Roswell. So, I won't touch on your Milton
specific taxes, but I will say that you definitely need to push back
on Fulton County's overreach, and raising your taxes, my taxes,
and Roswell, and everybody's taxes.
After the 2020 election, I got very active in the elections. I worked
the Milton Library in early voting last year, and started to learn the
process, and kind of do my civic duty to try to help out. Kinda got
a feel of how Milton operates, and then I started diving into the
data in the elections process. I looked at the risk -limiting audit,
which I'm sure a lot of you heard about after 2020, and the Milton
Library down the street here, the counted all the votes there in four
buckets. And you can find this right on the Secretary of State's
website.
There were three buckets. They were 66 percent Trump, 34 percent
Biden. The fourth bucket was 3 percent Trump, and 87 percent
Biden. And, again, this is directly off Secretary of State's website.
And that was enough to flip the Milton Library to being 52 percent
for Biden, which I thought was kind of a headscratcher, being that
I had worked there, and I'm very familiar with this community. So,
then I started diving into the voter rolls, being that SV202 allows
people to make — citizens — to make voter challenges.
' So, I started going in there, and I have now submitted 17,000 voter
challenges in Fulton County. 13,000 of those are people that were
Regular Meeting of the Milton City Council
Monday, August 16, 2022
Page 6 of 116
registered 2, 3, 4, and 5 times. Some of them, yes, have voted more ,
than once in multiple elections. The bulk of them only voted once,
but still, why are we paying? We pay for everyone on the rolls
whether they're on there once, or twice, or five times. So, again,
Fulton County is just throwing their money down the toilet, okay?
So, then I started diving a little deeper, and I found-9 people who
are missing either the first name, or their last name, or two of them
were missing both. There's literally a guy in the rolls — which, now
I've gotten them out, I hope. I challenged them. Their name was
"Missing Missing". And they voted the last time in January 51h of
2021. You can look on the voter rolls. His name is "Missing
Missing", and they let him vote.
I also turned in 2,012 people at Missing Address Street. We're
paying for people at Missing Address Street. How about that? I
also turned in 482 people who did not have a date of birth. I don't
know if they're 50 years old, or 12 years old. The funny thing is,
neither do they. 87 of those people voted, too. How are they letting
them vote without a date of birth? That doesn't seem right to me.
I turned in 1,046 people at business addresses. Now, that one might '
seem okay unless you really think deeply into it. We had some
very tight elections. If I have a buddy who's running, I could have
all my friends go to the local UPS store and be in that precinct.
And that's why it's important not to be at business addresses. So, I
challenged every one of those, and got every one of those to update
their address. Again, that process is written in the code that you're
not supposed to be registered at a business address. But Fulton
County does not care. And they're in charge of your voter rolls.
You guys really need to start looking at running your own
elections, and managing your own voter rolls, putting somebody
who looks at that. If you have any questions, feel free to reach out
to me. Unfortunately, I'm probably the expert on voter rolls in this
area just because I've seen enough to be very passionate to try to
clean this mess up.
So, I also accidentally stumbled across a street in downtown
Atlanta call Lee Street Southwest, that had 54 issues. The funny
thing about that was the bulk of these issues were for imaginary
addresses. I went on Google Maps, I looked at tax records. There
were no houses. It wasn't even empty lots. Literally, there was no
residence, no sign of a residence for the bulk of these. You put it ,
on Google Maps, and Google Maps picked a spot that was under
Regular Meeting of the Milton City Council
Monday, August 15, 2022
Page 7 of 116
' the Highway 20 bridge. There is no address there. Sorry, guys.
I found lots of abandoned buildings, torn -down buildings, and then
I started getting creative, and looked at, "Okay. They built a nice
park in Atlanta. I wonder how many people are registered at the
park?" Lo, and behold, lots of people registered at the park. You're
paying for every one of these people that don't exist, okay? Or
you're paying for people that might be in the wrong precinct,
which makes a bad vote for a small election, and can really throw
things off.
So, essentially, what I'm saying, is Fulton does not care about your
elections. They have complained every time I've turned in a voter
challenge. And the big chief down there who's in charge of the
elections even went on the radio last week, and complained, and
said how costly it is for these voter challenges. What I've said to
her each, and every time is, "If you do your job right, I don't have
to come down here, and challenge these people, thus you don't
have to do the work to remove them, and we can all go on with our
life."
' Every month, I go in there, and they add 50, 100, 500 more
duplicates, people at business addresses, etc., etc. So, please run
your own elections, and push back on Fulton County. Thank you.
Mayor Jamison: Thank you. Do you have another Public Comment?
City Clerk: The last one is Matt Rowanczak.
Mr. Rowanczak: Hi. Good evening, Council. My name is Matt Rowanczak, and I
live at 3001 Victory Terrace. And I wanted to talk to you today
about this additional early voting expansion by Fulton County, as
well. This item should be brought before this board before the
Board of Commissioners, or the Board of Elections in Fulton
County votes on it. Like it's been stated already, the spending
problem is massive in Fulton County. I'd, ask you to think of: How
much do you think Fulton County is projected to spend in 2022?
Almost $50 million dollars. It makes me angry just standing here.
You know, we watch their meetings every week. We watch our tax
dollars go down the drain. In Fulton County, they represent
approximately 10 percent of the registered voters. So, if you were
to scale the Fulton County model across this state, we're talking
' about almost half a billion dollars in one year — of your money, of
my money, of everybody in this room's money. And, so, next time
Regular Meeting of the Milton City Council
Monday, August 15, 2022
Page 8 of 116
Fulton County comes to you, and says, "We want to add additional
early voting locations," maybe consult with some of your residents
who have worked in some of these polls because, as it was
referenced before, too, there is hardly any traffic except for the last
few days of early voting.
So, if there is gonna be an additional location, what I would
suggest you do to Fulton County is say: "We want Milton residents
to work in our polls." That seems very reasonable. Because, in this
primary, you had people from Alabama who were working in this
city in the polls. So, how do they get priority over Milton
residents? Thank you very much.
Mayor Jamison: Thank you. That all the Public Comment?
City Clerk: That's all for the General Public Comment, Mayor.
CONSENT AGENDA
Mayor Jamison: Okay. So, we'll move onto the Consent Agenda. Will the City
Clerk please sound the items?
City Clerk: Mayor, that first item is approval of the August ISM, 2022, Regular
City Council Meeting Minutes, Agenda Item No. 22-243.
Item B is approval of the August 861, 2022, Work Session Meeting
Minutes. Agenda Item No. 22-244.
Item C, is approval of the August 8s', 2022, Special Called City
Council Meeting Minutes. It's Agenda Item No. 22-245.
Item D is approval of the Financial Statements, and Investment
Reports from Period 9, June 2022. It's Agenda Item No. 22-246.
Item E is approval of a Right-of-way Easement Agreement, and
Service Agreement between the City of Milton, and Sawnee EMC
for the parking lot lights at Fire Station 42. It's Agenda Item No.
22-247.
F is approval for a contract with ZOLL Medical Corporation for
the purpose of purchase of new cardiac monitors. It's Agenda Item
No. 22-248.
G is approval of a Change Order No. I between the City of Milton,
and Cooper & Company General Contractors, Inc. for the inclusion
Regular Meeting of the Milton City Council
Monday, August 16, 2022
Page 9 of 116
' of a metal roof to the Construction Services Agreement of Milton
Fire Station 42. It's Agenda Item No. 22-249.
Item H is approval of an agreement between the City of Milton,
and Orkin & Associates, LLC for a Temporary License Agreement
of Lacombe Trace for Crabapple Festival. It's Agenda Item No.
22-250.
I is approval of subdivision plats, and revisions. The first
development is Reagan Ferguson Property at 14420 Birmingham
Highway. It's land lot 704, District 2, Section 2. It is a minor plot
to subdivide the parcel into three tracts. Tracts range in size from
3.0 acres to 3.74 acres, with a total of 9.74 acres in a dense view of
0.31 lots per acre. The second development is AIJ Development,
LLC property at 13645_ Arnold Mill Road, land lot 872, and 929,
District 2, Section 2, a minor plat to subdivide the parcels into two
tracts. Tract 2A will contain 4.11 acres, and Tract 2B will contain
1.98 acres, a total of 6.09 acres, and a density of 0.32 lots per acre.
It's Agenda Item No. 22-251. Mayor.
Mayor Jamison: Thank you. Do I have any changes on the Consent Agenda?
CM Jacobus: Yeah, Mr. Mayor. I'd like to remove Item G — Agenda Item 22-
249, and move it to New Business, please?
Mayor Jamison: Okay.
CM Mohrig: Second.
Mayor Jamison: We'll move it at the end of New Business. Is that okay?
CM Jacobus: Mm-hmm.
Mayor Jamison: Okay. So, I have a motion from Councilmember Jacobus, and a
second from Councilmember Mohrig to approve the Consent
Agenda with the changing of moving 22-249 to the end of New
Business. Any discussion on the motion? Okay.
City Clerk: Mayor, Mohrig — The second was from Councilmember Mohrig?
Mayor Jamison: Yes.
City Clerk: Thank you.
' Mayor Jamison: All in favor, please say aye.
Regular Meeting of the Milton City Council
Monday, August 15, 2022
Page 10 of 116
Councilmembers: Aye. '
Motion and Vote: Councilmember Jacobus moved to move Agenda Item No.
22-249 to the end of New Business. Councilmember Mohrig seconded the
motion. The motion passed (7-0).
NEW BUSINESS
Mayor Jamison: Any opposed? Okay. That's unanimous. Okay. We will move onto
the New Business Items moved up during Approval of the Meeting
Agenda. Will the City Clerk please sound the items.
City Clerk: That first moved up item, Mayor, is consideration of a resolution
appointing the City of Milton representative to the North Fulton
Community Improvement District Board. It's agenda item No. 22-
254. And, Mayor, we do have one Public Comment.
Mayor Jamison: Thank you. We'll go ahead, and just call that Public Comment.
City Clerk: I'd like to call Mr. Brandon Beech to the podium, please.
Mr. Beach: Thank you, Mayor, and Council. Brandon Beach, 3100 Briarfield '
[inaudible] [00:19:001 Road. I'm here tonight as Executive
Director of the North Fulton CID. As you know, the CID is in
three municipalities. It's a commercial tax district that does not tax
citizens. Just commercial taxbase. And we build infrastructure, and
roads, and bridges, and do landscaping for the interchanges on 400.
So, we're all about infrastructure investment. And each city — each
municipality — gets a board member on our board — on our 10-
member board.
So, we had John Bell representing you guys. He's retiring and has
asked to be off the board. So, we have to have a commercial
property owner within the district and representing that
commercial property owner will be Bernie Tokarz. So, I would ask
for your consideration, and recommendation to have Bernie Tokatz
as our new board member, replacing John Bell. Bernie grew up
here, went to Milton High School, understands the needs of
Milton, and I would say he's a Milton guy. So, he would be a great
representative to represent the City of Milton.
So, with that, I'll open it up for questions, and ask Bernie to come
up, and just introduce himself. '
Regular Meeting of the Milton City Council
Monday, August 15, 2022
Page 11 of 116
Mr. Tokarz: Bernie Tokarz. This is a beautiful city hall. I haven't been to a
council meeting since you guys were over on Deerfield Parkway.
But I was actually at the first council meeting that Milton ever had
in the auditorium in Milton High School. But I'm really happy to
be here and look forward — if I have your consent — to serving the
citizens of Milton, and the government of Milton on the CID
board.
Mayor Jamison: Thank you. Any questions for Brandon, or Bernie? I know we
appreciate Mr. Bell's service over the last numerous years.
Mr. Beach: Yeah. He's doing a great job for us.
Mayor Jamison: Yeah.
Mr. Beach: Thank you very much.
Mayor Jamison: Absolutely. I open it up for a motion.
CM Mohrig: Mr. Mayor, I make a motion that we approve Bernie Tokarz for the
board member representing Milton North Fulton Community CID.
CM Cookerly: Second.
Mayor Jamison: Okay. I have a motion from Councilmember Moore, and a second
from Councilmember Cookerly to approve agenda item 22-254.
All in favor? Or any discussion? Alright. All in favor, please say
aye.
Councilmembers: Aye.
Motion and Vote: Councilmember Mohrig moved to approve a Resolution
appointing Bernie Tokarz as the City of Milton Representative to the North Fulton
Community Improvement District Board, Agenda Item No. 22-254.
Councilmember Cookerly seconded the motion. The motion passed (7-0)..
Mayor Jamison: Any opposed? That's unanimous. Thank you.
Mr. Beach: Thank you all, very much.
Mayor Jamison: Yeah. Good luck.
CM Cookerly: Thank you.
Regular Meeting of the Milton City Council
Monday, August 16, 2022
Page 12 of 116
CONSENT AGENDA
'
Attorney Jarrard: Mr. Mayor, just a point of order, very quickly.
Mayor Jamison: Yes, sir.
Attorney Jarrard: I know on the Consent Agenda, the council moved out of G. I
don't know that we actually went ahead and ratified the entirety of
the Consent Agenda as amended.
CM Cookerly: We didn't.
Attorney Jarrard: Can we take that up now?
Mayor Jamison: Okay. Sure. Do I have a motion to approve the Consent Agenda as
amended?
CM Mohrig: So, moved.
CM Moore: Second.
Mayor Jamison: Okay. I have a motion from Councilmember Mohrig, and a second '
from Moore to approve the Consent Agenda as amended. All in
favor, please say aye.
Councilmembers: Aye.
Motion and Vote: Councilmember Mohrig moved to approve the Consent
Agenda as amended. Councilmember Moore seconded the motion. The motion
passed (7-0).
NEW BUSINESS
Mayor Jamison: Alright. That's unanimous. Thank you. Okay, will the City Clerk
please sound the next item?
City Clerk: Mayor, that next item — let me just make sure. A lot of changes
tonight. Consideration of a resolution appointing or reappointing
members to the City of Milton Design Review Board by
appointing a board member for the District, 3 Post 2. It's agenda
item No. 22-255. Mayor?
Mayor Jamison: All right. I will turn it over to Councilmember Mohrig, as this is
his district and post. '
Regular Meeting of the Milton City Council
Monday, August 15, 2022
Page 13 of 116
CM Mohrig: Thank you, mayor. It's my
Greathouse to the District 3,
established Rachel Greathoi
creativity, love for design,
Rachel Greathouse Design v
is fun, friendly, and she we
consistent top performer on 1
over 20 publications, and sit
Atlanta's top 15 designers.
Originally from Pittsburg,
She's lived here with her 1
years. She has a love for ani
true believer that home is v
her home. I think Rachel w
Review Board. She brings
known in the community. I
would like to request your a
Mayor Jamison: Do we have any Public
City Clerk: We do not, mayor.
Mayor Jamison: Okay. We'll close the
CM Moore: Would anybody like to
Greathouse as the new n
Design Review Board?
CM Jacobus: Second.
Mayor Jamison: Okay. I have a motion frorr
from Councilmember Jacoi
new member of the Design
No. 22-255. Any discussion
aye.
Councilmembers: Aye.
asure to night to nominate Rachel
st 2 Design Review Board. Rachel
Design in 2008, combining her
ing with her business experience.
bom. Rachel's approach to design
closely with her clients. She's a
ise.com, and she's been featured in
on HGTV, and was chosen one of
chel now lives in Milton, Georgia.
;band, and her two children for 12
ils, road trips, adventure, and she's a
re the heart is, and she calls Milton
be a great contributor to the Design
rofessional experience. She's well -
ink she'll be a great addition. So, I
-oval for her nomination.
Comment and open it for a motion.
a motion to approve Rachel
from District 3, Post 2 for the
Councilmember Moore, and a second
is to approve Rachel Greathouse as a
Review Board, which is agenda item
m the motion? All in favor, please say
Motion and Vote: Councilmember Moore moved to approve Rachel
Greathouse to the Design Review Board—District3/Post2, Agenda Item No. 22-
255. Councilmember Jacobus seconded the motion. The motion passed (7-0).
Mayor Jamison: Okay. Any opposed? Obviously, no. Thank you. And she sounds
like she's gonna be a great addition. So, I'll come swear you in,
Regular Meeting of the Milton City Council
Monday, August 16, 2022
Page 14 of 116
Rachel.
'
I do solemnly swear and affirm
Ms. Greathouse:
I do solemnly swear and affirm
Mayor Jamison:
that I will faithfully perform the duties of
Ms. Greathouse:
that I will faithfully perform the duties of
Mayor Jamison:
the Design Review Board Member
Ms. Greathouse:
the Design Review Board Member
Mayor Jamison:
of this city
Ms. Greathouse:
of this city
Mayor Jamison:
and that I will support and defend the charter thereof,
Ms. Greathouse:
Mayor Jamison:
and that I will support and defend the charter thereof,
as well as the Constitution
'
Ms. Greathouse:
as well as the Constitution
Mayor Jamison:
and laws of the State of Georgia
Ms. Greathouse:
and laws of the State of Georgia
Mayor Jamison:
and of the United States of America.
Ms. Greathouse:
and of the United States of America.
Mayor Jamison:
Thank you.
Ms. Greathouse:
Thank you.
Mayor Jamison:
You all want to come on down, and take a picture? Everyone here
is for Rachel. I'm glad everyone is here.
[Cross Talk/Photos Taken/Applause]
Regular Meeting of the Milton City Council
Monday, August 15, 2022
Page 15 of 116
' REPORTS AND PRESENTATIONS
Mayor Jamison: Thanks, again. Okay. We'll move onto Reports, and Presentations.
Will the City Clerk please sound the items.
City Clerk: Mayor, that item is a proclamation recognizing the Milton Tennis
Center boys 12U, and 18U USTA 2022 Summer Junior Team
Division Champions, and City Champions. Mayor?
Mayor Jamison: Thank you. So, it's my pleasure to give this proclamation to the
tennis team. I can tell you from when we started the Milton
Country Club, and that tennis program has pretty much grown
from zero, thanks to Terry, and everything that he's done. So, it's
just another championship that we can kind of be proud of. And we
appreciate all the hard work. So, it's my honor to read this
proclamation:
"Whereas the United States Tennis Association is the national
governing body for the sport of tennis, and the recognized leader in
promoting, and developing the sports growth on every level in the
United States, with over 700,000 members, and whereas the Boys
' U Team, and the Boys 18U Team play in the Atlanta USTA Junior
Tennis Association, and the Georgia Southern Section, and
whereas both Boys 12U, and 18U teams are led by Coach Terry
O'Brien, who has been a tennis coach at this facility for 27 years,
when it was still the Milton Country Club, and recently named
Milton City Park, and Preserve — has a strong love, and passion for
tennis.
And, whereas Coach Terry O'Brien has led his team to be
successful by teaching the fundamentals, and advance strategies,
and tactics to be successful on the courts, while creating a fun,
supportive, encouraging environment amongst the players to
enable them to develop on, and off the court as individuals, and
players.
And, whereas the 18U boys finished the season with a 7 and 1
record, and captured the Summer USTA Division Title, and
whereas the 12U boys finished the season with a perfect 8 and 0
team record, including division, and playoff team matches, and
captured the Summer USTA Division Title. And, now, therefore,
we, the. Mayor, and City Council of the City of Milton hereby
dictate, and proclaim Monday, August 150', 2022, as "2022 Boys
' 18U Summer USTA Junior Team Tennis, 2022 Boys 12U Summer
USTA Junior Team Tennis City Champions Day" in the City of
Regular Meeting of the Milton City Council
Monday, August 15, 2022
Page 16 of 116
Milton, Georgia. That's giving our hand, and seal as the City of '
Milton on this 15a' Day of August 2022."
That was a tongue -twister. If you all want to come up, and we'll
take a picture, and give you our proclamations.
[Cross Talk/Photos Taken/Applause]
Mayor Jamison: Okay. Will the City Clerk please sound the next item.
City Clerk: Mayor, that. next item is a discussion of the naming of the city
athletic facility at Cox Road. Our Communications Director, Mr.
Greg Botelho.
Mr. Botelho: Bear with me. So, for my friends, and Council, some of this — this
is our third go -round. And, once again — Well, maybe I'll just let
them filter out a little bit first, if you don't mind. They're very
polite, and quiet, relatively, so. Okay. I'll just hop on in. So, as you
recall, we're kind of embarking on an exciting initiative to name
some of our unnamed city parks, and greenspaces. And the next '
one up is one that, in the next few weeks, is gonna look totally
new, and be buzzing with activity. And that's the athletic facility
on Cox Road.
The first slide is — Can you see the —
CM Jacobus: Not yet.
Mr. Botelho: He said one minute. One second. There it goes. Something is
happening. I'll just walk through this. It's gonna happen
eventually. So —
[Crosstalk]
Mr. Botelho: I can memorize this one. So, the idea is that — and this slide is
purposely similar to what we've seen in the past for the Mayfield
Park, and the Milton City Park, and Reserve. We have a common
kind of approach to these things. And, the mission is to give, in this
case, the recently transformed athletic facility off Cox Road — a
name that really resonates with visitors, while reflecting the city's
values, and identity. Over the last few weeks, we've created an
efficient, effective process allowing for citizen stakeholders' input.
We'll go more into that. Build energy, and excitement, and value '
for this unique, and valued city property, and that's definitely true.
Regular Meeting of the Milton City Council
Monday, August 15, 2022
Page 17 of 116
' Hopefully, we're gonna provide you with some — what we think
are viable, legitimate name contenders for this space, and then the
last step, which we may resolve tonight is — with your direction —
is to pick a good, sensible name that resonates for this property.
So, just, a kind of background, especially if people are new here,
about this facility. I think it was the early 1980s, a local company —
they used to have company soccer teams. They created this soccer
complex from scratch. And it ended up being used by multiple
soccer clubs, which actually I will mention later because that's a
relevant point.
In March 2019, the city approved the Comprehensive Parks, and
Recreation Master Plan, which, among other things, identified
need for more athletic_ field space. And, conveniently, January
2020, we completed our purchase of this facility, which has two
full-size fields, and one half -turf field. So, basically, in the two
years since, we kind of decided to — we being, I'm speaking for
Tom McKlveen, our Park, and Rees Director, who couldn't be here
tonight. So, he made that — He was more involved in that. But they
decided to turf over the field because they thought it would
' maximize the facility's use. And there's already a very high
expectation that will happen very much sooner, rather than later.
So, I'm not sure if you've seen any of our videos, or Facebook
posts that this field has be totally transformed. It's a true
multipurpose field. The fields are pretty much done in the next
week, or two. The whole facility should open up — knock on wood.
In the meantime, while this work was being done, we had a naming
campaign that was very successful, once again. Over 165 names,
which I'll touch on later. And now we're here before you, Council.
The idea is that when the kids, and I suppose adults, start using this
field in the next few weeks, it will actually have a name. That
doesn't have to be the case, but that's what we're moving toward.
So, I'm gonna talk a little bit, next, about the public feedback
process. So, about I think, a few days after we kind of launched
the naming campaign, a gentleman by the name of — whom I didn't
have the pleasure to meet, but from what I understood was a
tremendous human being, Philip Broome, who was a popular
Milton High School coach. He worked at the Cox Road facility as
a club soccer coach before the city bought it. He passed away
suddenly.
' And, that kind of led to a campaign, for a lack of a better word, by
lots of him former — I know for a fact — former players, parents
Regular Meeting of the Milton City Council
Monday, August 16, 2022
Page 18 of 116
who got to know him well. And, his name came up, and they kind '
of suggested kind of the most common name was "Philip
Broome's Legacy Park." Legacy — I want you to keep that in mind
because that was all — I'm gonna touch on that later because that's
something that was a theme of his. There were a few other people
— names, who we'll mention, that you can see. We don't have as
much of a variety of names as we did previouslyi but we do have
.'some creative names. And we'll just go through those.
This is, again, a furi thing for people. These are one, or two off
names. But kind of shows our creativity, that we are listening to
our citizens, and we're kind of — whether you want to go play at
the Arnie, or the Castle Athletic Complex, or Sporty Ball Park.
Those were some names, or thoughts. Just, -you know, implied the
creativity of our folks kind of never surprises me. And it's always
enjoyable to share them'. So.
That being said, so, just to put this in context, in the past five years,
and certainly in the past two years, Milton has also lost other men,
in this case, who have left a storied legacy on our parks program
directly. I just wanted to mention them just because I thought, you
know, if we're talking — just to keep them in mind. All of these '
three men directly impacted Milton Parks, and Rec programs. One
is Tim Lester, who is a — He used to play for the Pittsburg Steelers.
He was a bus driver for Jerome, the Bus, Bettis. He settles in
Milton, and he was, in fact, a coach, mentor, and inspirational
figure.
Ron Hill was a long-time member of our -Parks, and Rec board, as
well as a coach, and teacher around the area. And, Van Kottis, was
another [inaudible] 100:37:141 member, who was instrumental in
Bell Park's transformation, as well as Milton Steelers football
when it was a Milton Parks program. So, just wanted to keep those
in mind because the idea is the timing is right. If this had happened
— we might have had different suggestions if this had happened
two days after Tim Lester passed, for example. It's just timing, but
it doesn't mean — all these are great men, in my opinion, even
though I didn't have the pleasure to know them personally.
So, that gets to the slide, and I'm looking for direction. So, what
should the Cox Road facility be named? I mentioned Legacy, so
from what I've heard, the theme of Philip Broome, what he told a
lot of his players, and apparently was a theme at his memorial
service was: What legacy do you leave? And I think that the point '
was that Philip Broome certainly left a legacy. And that's why
Regular Meeting of the Milton City Council
Monday, August 15, 2022
Page 19 of 116
' many of the suggestions were Legacy Park.
So, I think there are two options here. And, I got some feedback
from mayor, and council that Legacy Park would be a way that we
could have — maybe like we did with the Smith Family — we can
somehow — whether it's a plaque, or something like that — we can
specifically call it Philip Broome, but you can call the whole
complex Legacy Park, and also acknowledge the other individuals.
And, frankly, there are probably even other individuals besides
those four I mentioned.
We also had one suggestion, and it included Broome's name in
there, as in Broome Legacy Park. So, I'm just presenting these
options. We want to get your direction on what council felt this
way. And, you know, there are endless names we could come up
with for these things. I think Legacy Park, or Broome's Legacy
Park — there's something about that that's coming from the
citizens, and people who felt something, and the men — especially
Philip Broome, but I think I talked to some other people who —
people who really made an impact. So.
' And, I think this facility, especially as it's transformed, is going to
leave a legacy for the City of Milton, as well, so. So, that's why I
wanted to get your feedback, thoughts on Legacy Park, versus
Broome Legacy Park. Anyone?
Mayor Jamison:
Mr. Botelho
Questions, or?
Questions?
CM Cookerly: Well, Legacy allows us, maybe, to honor more people over time.
But I did know that, and hear that Mr. Broome was quite a
wonderful man, but we could honor him in addition to others if it's
just a panoramic Legacy Park. I'm not passionate one way, or the
other, but I like the idea of being able to have Legacy Park in there,
and let us honor previous, and then future.
Mr. Botelho: Sure, exactly. And that doesn't preclude us from within the
facility, with a field or something. I wish Tom was here to speak
for this. But whether you name a field, or you have a plaque, or
something like that to actually have specific names. But there's a —
Milton is only what 16 years old, but still, there are a lot of people
who have left legacies, whether they've worked for the City of
Milton, or whether they have not.
Regular Meeting of the Milton City Council
Monday, August 16, 2022
Page 20 of 116
CM Cookerly: It's a nice opportunity, I think. Some of these people served '
simultaneously, so it's a little difficult to put one name up, in a
%way.
Mr. Botelho: Yeah, and it's just a matter of —
CM Cookerly: But I'd like to honor Mr. Broome in this way.
Mr. Botelho:
Yeah.
CM Cookerly:
What do you think?
Mayor Jamison:
Jan?
CM Jacobus:
I like the idea of doing the Broome Legacy Park by including his
name just because, I think, one is that was one of the most popular
ones that was brought up by the citizens. So, most people like that.
And, I think, by having his name there, people will remember that.
They'll remember him, and they'll remember the story. And, I
think, at the same time, you can still have a plaque, or a way of
remembering all those in the future. And so it can be part of a
legacy park part of it. But I think having his name is the way I '
would vote for it.
Mr. Botelho:
And my opinion is whatever your opinion is. So, I'm open to
whatever.
Mayor Jamison:
Just to throw another wrench, you could do Broome Field at
Legacy Park.
Mr. Botelho:
Yes. Or you could name — especially where they're two full-size
fields — one is more equipped for soccer. He was a soccer coach.
Mayor Jamison: I'm only leaning on what Councilmember Cookerly said just
because all those other men that you've said, they all were
instrumental in our parks. And, I think we're probably going to
have multiple men that are instrumental in our parks.
[Crosstalk]
CM Cookerly: Or maybe women.
Mayor Jamison: Or women. You're 100 percent correct.
CM Cookerly: But you know what? We have a tendency to over -name, so maybe '
Regular Meeting of the Milton City Council
Monday, August 16, 2022
Page 21 of 116
' if we follow this suggestion, we could still honor everybody else
just in a wall of fame, and it could still be under Broome Legacy. I
mean, it's just one option for your consideration.
Mayor Jamison: I'm definitely open. And Councilmember Moore?
CM Moore: Yeah, you basically stole the thunder of where I was gonna go. I
think Legacy Park is a great way to acknowledge not just past
significant contributors to our city, but with the unfortunate
passing of others who have made an impact, as well. I think
Legacy Park is a great way to set the stage for that. I would be
absolutely in favor of a Broome Field, and some of the others, as
well, to follow. There may be a facility structure that would be a
way to acknowledge those contributors, as well.
And then, ultimately, when we get to the point where we have
performers coming out of there, like we did at Bell Memorial, we
have a Legacy Wall, as well, to acknowledge contributors, and
players who have gone onto the next level.
Mr. Botelho: Yeah. So, I mean, I'm just hearing a few different options, and
' again, I mean, certainly, you could have just Legacy Park. You
could have Legacy Park, with Broome Field, and then the other
field could be whatever else. There are two fields, really, that
would make sense. Or, you could have Broome Legacy Park.
Could I maybe just get a show of hands. It's not a vote because we
can't vote. But Broome Legacy Park —
Mayor Jamison: Any other questions for Greg?
CM Mohrig: Question: Are we actually choosing the name tonight, or are you
basically, "Are you good with either of these two, and we'll vote
on them later."
Mr. Botelho: You are giving direction. The way the naming process works,
there's not a formal vote, but like we did with Mayfield Park, like
we did in Milton City Park Reserve, you give direction of what
city staff will do if that makes sense.
CM Mohrig: Yeah. I could go, I guess, either way. I like the name Broome
Legacy Park. At the same time, if we did do Legacy Park, we
could do a field. And I know Tim Lester was very involved in
setting up our football program, when we tried to bring that back.
' And the same way with Van Kottis, and Ron Hill. They had been
very involved in the Parks, and Recreation when we started on the
Regular Meeting of the Milton City Council
Monday, August 16, 2022
Pace 22 of 116
board. So, maybe we can look at — maybe we could dedicate those '
two fields, name the two fields on there, Legacy Park.
Mr. Botelho: I understand it not being unanimous, but is, there a consensus that
Legacy Park with a Broome Field? Is that what you're thinking of?
Mayor Jamison: We good? Is that direction enough?
Mr. Botelho: Yeah, that's enough. I just wanted to make sure. Thank you.
1
Mayor Jamison: Okay. Will the City Clerk please sound the next item.
City Clerk: Mayor, that next item is the Crime Analysis. Sorry about that. Our
Police Chief, Mr. Rich Austin, and Jammie Peters.
Chief Austin: Greetings, Mayor, and members of Council. Tonight, I brought
will me our subject matter expert on crime analysis, our inhouse,
which is Miss Jammie Peters, who I'll introduce. Jammie started at
the Milton Police Department in 2014 as the Police Records Clerk,
and in 2016 became the department's first full-time Crime Analyst.
Jammie earned dual degrees in Criminal Justice, and Sociology '
from the University of Michigan, Flint, where she hails from. And,
also, notably, Jammie has recently received her certification as a
Crime, and Intelligence Analyst earlier this year, after undergoing
32 weeks of intense training.
In her day-to-day role, Jammie communicates with local agencies,
sharing intel, and crime trend data of mutual concern, presents
constat meetings twice a month where the department views, and
reviews, and develops strategies to address crime, and crash trends,
as well as communicating issues for situational awareness. In her
role, Jammie also reports to the FBI MPD's statistical data,
Voluntary Uniform Crime Reporting Program. Jammie will be
presenting this evening on a recent major change in how crime
statistics are collected, and reported to the FBI, and what changes
we'll see locally as a result of the updated method of data
collection. So, with that, Miss Jammie Peters.
Ms. Peters: Thank you, Chief. Good evening, Mayor, and Council. As
previously mentioned, my name is Jammie Peters. Although I
track, and report crime data professionally, I also personally
understand the importance of crime data reporting because I am
also a homeowner within the City of Milton, as well. So, I am a
resident. Without further ado, it is a pleasure being here speaking '
on the importance of crime data reporting. We will be highlighting
Regular Meeting of the Milton City Council
Monday, August 15, 2022
Page 23 of 116
' specific elements within our presentation that will shed light on
what exact crime is being collected, and how it is calculated into
the Uniform Crime Reporting Program.
Throughout this presentation, I will be utilizing three acronyms:
UCR, meaning Uniform Crime Reporting, SRS, which is Summary
Reporting System, and NIBRS, which is the National Incident
Base Reporting System. But, first, there was a need for tracking
raw data, and organizing it into a centralized location. So,
recognizing a need for a program started with the foundation of the
Uniform Crime Reporting Program that started in the 1920s.
First, and now a newly retired system was phased out in 2021,
formally known as the SRS, and that is also known as the Part 1
Crime. This system consisted of two categories: violence, and
property crime, and each category hosting four offenses. The
hierarchy rule that took most severe offense within the incident,
and submitted that offense only, having the rest of the offenses
within the incident unaccounted for, which ultimately opened the
window for a new system under the UCR program.
' The second system, which we are currently utilizing is NIBRS.
This is an incident -based reporting system, also known as Group A
Offenses. And, this unique program provides robust details in
reference to the incident, it provides information about the
victim/offender relationships, if there is any bias motivation behind
it, the date, and time of when the incident occurred, if there is any
property stolen, and if there is any damage occurred along the way.
The Milton Police Department was one of the first agencies that
actually transitioned in the State of Georgia in August of 2019.
This, however, did not allow year, over year, since the department
collected both SRS, and NIBRS in 2019.
So, here is a timeline illustrating the "out with the old, in with the
new" reporting system. So, as you can see, like I mentioned
previously, in the 1920s, this Summary Reporting System was
created. In 1989, NIBRS was implemented, but the State of
Georgia, we reported under the former reporting system, and we
recently picked it up in 2019. And, then as of last year, the former
reporting system is no longer in existence. That has retired, and
that has phased out.
So, now I'm going to go ahead, and talk about the types of
' reporting, and the differences between the two, and the reason why
we are here before you. So, here, we're going to showcase a visual
Regular Meeting of the Milton City Council
Monday, August 15, 2022
Page 24 of 116 _
diagram. As you can see, the UCR program has two summary '
reporting systems: the former, and then what we [inaudible]
100:49:501 under. The first reporting system is the Summary
Reporting System, and this is also known as the Part 1 Crime.
Like I mentioned previously, it's categorized into two categories:
the violent crime, and property crime — whereas the violent crime
consisted of murder, rape, robbery, aggravated assault. And, the
property crime consisted of burglary, larceny, motor vehicle theft,
and arson. So, this, basically was the reason why we, the FBI, had
transitioned to the new reporting system because the Summary
Reporting System was just the summary. It only calculated the
total number of offenses. It did not provide any details whatsoever
about the incidents that are occurring, not only locally, state, and
national levels.
So, with that being said, here is another diagram just visualizing
exactly what the two categories consist of, and the offenses in each
category. So, in addition to the Part 1 'Offenses, there's Part 2
Offenses, where we collect data under Arrest Offenses only, which
is outlined before you. So, moving onto the reporting system that '
we currently utilize since 2019. This is the Second Reporting
System, and we've actually, knowing that we started reporting in
2019, the system has been in existence since the late 1980s. So, it
has been around. It's just new to the State of Georgia.
So, with that being said, here's the difference between the two, in
reference to NIBRS. This system collects more details in reference
to the time within itself instead of counting the total number of
offenses. This includes 52 offenses, versus the former 8, also
known as Group A. So, this is outlined in three categories. The
former program was just violent crime, property crime. This is
crimes against persons, where the victims are always individuals as
murder, rape, aggravated assault.
Then, we have crimes against property, where the victims are —
well, is where the object is to obtain property, money, or some
other benefit such as robbery, bribery, burglary, what have you.
And, the third category, which is new to us, is crimes against
society, where the object — where this represents society's
prevention against these types of activities, such as drug violations,
weapon law violations, prostitution, gambling, what have you.
Chief Austin: Jammie, just a second. I know it's a lot of information very '
quickly. One of the key elements of this that I really want to point
Regular Meeting of the Milton City Council
Monday, August 15, 2022
Page 25 of 116
' out that Jammie mentioned was the hierarchy rule. So, for instance,
if we have an incident under the previous reporting system that
we've just switched over to as of— since July 1, or prior to July I —
If we had an incident — let's say we had, for instance, a while back,
I know we have senior wars. So, we had a juvenile who was out,
just as a prank, went into a local restaurant, and had a toy pistol.
So, the folks in the restaurant obviously were alarmed at this. But,
once we got there, we figured out that it was just a prank.
However, since the "suspect" in this case was a juvenile, we were
sort of wedged into looking at this from the point of NIBRS. So,
everyone in that restaurant became a victim. So, rather than having
one juvenile prank under what we would call just a reckless
conduct, perhaps, we had to count that as about half a dozen
aggravated assaults. So, what we're seeing under that — that's one
part of NIBRS that sort of could make our crime rate look as if it is
rising as opposed to previous years just because of this new in-
depth reporting system. So, that's one of the takeaways from this
that I want to be sure that our public, and the council understands.
Also, secondly, the hierarchy rule. So, let's say we have an
' incident where there's a robbery, two aggravated assaults, and a
larceny. Of those, under the old reporting system, only the most
serious offense would be counted in that one incident. Here, we are
able to count victims, and count incidents. So, again, it may give
the impression that our crime rate is rising, and we're having more
numbers. We're actually just looking at the data in a more in-depth
manner.
Ms. Peters: That is correct.
Chief Austin: And one other quick thing: The crimes against society, before,
under the UCR reports, crimes against society were not counted
toward our crime numbers. Crimes against society, if our officers
were out being proactive, let's say they find a felon with a gun, or
they find some drugs, or that kind of thing, now that goes against
our crime rates. Whereas before, it did not. It was just proactivity.
Ms. Peters: Chief. Okay. So, here is another table that provides a flowchart of
the new reporting system. So, you see NIBRS. You see how it's
organized by three categories, and then, within each category, you
see multiple offenses. So, instead of reporting just the eight
offenses, we're reporting up to 52 offenses. So, the former system,
' we had a Part 1, and Part 2. This is Group B Offenses, and this is
in reference to the arrest data that we are collecting for the
Regular Meeting of the Milton City Council
Monday, August 16, 2022
Page 26 of 116
following offenses before you. '
So, with the information already presented; here we are going to be
highlighting the differences between the two. So, here we have the
Summary Reporting System is limited. It is collecting aggregated
data, omitting some offenses in accordance with this hierarchy
rule, to the Chiefs point. The Summary Reporting System
hierarchy rule states: Only the most serious offense within the
criminal incident is counted for. For example, to his point, robbery,
homicide, and aggravated assault occurred in the same incident.
The Summary Reporting System would only calculate the
homicide. The other two remaining offenses are unaccounted for.
Whereas, the NIBRS reporting system, all three would be
accounted for. However, the most significant changes within the
NMRS reporting system are the fact that NIBRS collects up to 10
offenses per one incident. And one offense is counted for each
victim in crimes against persons. So, to his point, where he gave
you an example about the reckless conduct, and juveniles, there
were six victims highlighted within that one report. Therefore, six
aggravated assaults were accounted for.
So, while allowing for more robust data collection to inform
'
citizens, and to direct resources, this new reporting system may
give the incorrect impression that crime numbers have increased
significantly when reporting to NIBRS. So, here is a side -by -side
graph, Summary Reporting Systems to the left, Part 1, and then
NIBRS to the right. So, like I said previously, Part I collecting 8
offenses total, whereas NIBRS collects 52 offenses. The SRS
employs the hierarchy rule, whereas NIBRS does not. And the
Summary Reporting System counts one offense per incident,
whereas the NIBRS counts up to 10 offenses, and/or victims per
incident.
So, for clarification purposes, the N113RS system utilizes
standardized uniform crime reporting definitions on a national
level. The purpose is to provide a common language among local,
state, and federal levels, and the program did not intend agencies to
use NIBRS definitions when charging said individuals.
So, some may wonder: What are the benefits, and advantages of
reporting crime data to the incident -based system? So, as you can
see, the main difference is the fact that it's incident -based, versus
summary -based. So, like I mentioned previously, this system '
collects information on victims, offenders, location, times, and the
Regular Meeting of the Milton City Council
Monday, August 15, 2022
Page 27 of 116
' most effective tool for policymakers, it assists analysts like myself
in terms of detecting patterns, and trends, as well as our geographic
area, and it provides transparency to the general public.
Furthermore, how is the data being collected? The data serves
many purposes in terms of budget formation, planning resource
allocation, assessment of place operations, tourism, researchers,
and analysts can study the nature, cause, and movement of crime
over time. And legislatures draft anticrime measures based on the
research that they have found. So, furthermore, data
considerations, method of submission, publication of data, and the
introduction of the quarterly reports are the last topics of
discussion.
So, the FBI has a. long-standing policy against ranking
participating law enforcement agencies based on data alone.
Despite repeated warnings against these practices, some data users
continue to challenge, and misunderstand this position. Since this
is a voluntary program, some agencies do not submit data monthly,
or even at all. So, when comparing, and ranking, data users fail to
recognize other contributing factors relating to crime, such as
' population density, economic conditions, climate, poverty level,
median income, modes of transportation, and so on.
Chief Austin: [Inaudible] 101:00:501 jump in there, just one second. And, that's
one thing: We all love to get the kudos of — to hear from some
website, or another that Milton is the safest city in Georgia. And, I
think we could all agree Milton is a very safe city. But, to
Jammie's point, the FBI itself warns against those types of
rankings because of the methodologies behind them. We have not
control over the methodology, so that's why we use strictly the
NIBRS data. But, even with the NIBRS data, there is really no
ranking based on all of the —just the individual factors about why
crimes occur. And it's specific to each community.
Ms. Peters: So, the method of data submission: This was statistics based in
2020. So, as you can see, there are 18,619 US agencies who are
actively enrolled in the program, but not necessarily submitting
their data.. Of that amount, 15,901 — which is 85 percent — are
actually participating in submitting the data. And, in 2020, those
who submitted via NIBRS system was 62 percent. And then, 38
percent submitted their data at the former system. So, since
Georgia phased out the Summary Reporting System in 2019, only
53 percent of the agencies in 2020 actually submitted their data.
And the 2021 data will become available via the FBI Crime
Regular Meeting of the Milton City Council
Monday, August 15, 2022
Page 26 of 116 _
Explore tool this fall/winter. '
So, they collect 15,000 agencies' data, and usually it takes them 9
to 12 months to compile and get that published.
Chief Austin: One thing about this too, data — Jammie did a lot of data work
behind the scenes on this. This wasn't just an overnight change. It
took us over a year, really, to get to a point where we're collecting
year over year data. Part of the task was to submit to the GBI
several reports with less than a 4 percent error rate. Jammie
presented hers to the GBI with 0 percent error rate. So, we were
able to quickly get through that portion of this. But there also were
technological things on the backend. We had to completely revamp
how CAD reported certain crimes and set CAD up to where
Jammie could actually go in, and mine the data on this for the
Milton Police Department, as well as the [Inaudible] [01:03:271
Police Department.
Ms. Peters: There was a three-month testing period. Okay. So, within Milton,
we wanted to be very transparent regarding crime within our city.
So, where does the crime data get reported, and how can we access '
that information? So, the FBI had developed this interactive data
tool, which is the FBI's Crime Data Explorer, and the public, as
well as law enforcement, can search specific statistics on local,
state, and national level. And the link is posted in front of you. It's
the FBI.gov/cde. And then, even though the Summary Reporting
System has phased out in 2021, the FBI will still continue to keep
the historical data on record.
Chief Austin: [Inaudible] [01:04:171. The FBI data typically runs about a year
in arrears, as well. So, it's not like live data. Even though we're
reporting monthly, they take the aggregate data at the end of the
year. They make sure that the data is correct before they publish it.
So, it's nine months to a year in arrears. What Jammie just pulled
up here is something that we will be placing on our transparency
portal. This is just a draft of it. We've already found a couple
minor ways that we can improve this, but this will be something
that we post out to our citizens quarterly. It talks about the
department's activity. It talks about our crash data, as well.
This, too — I moved away from utilizing percentages on these
purposely because percentages, when you have a city like Milton,
where our crime is relatively low, one or two incidents could jump
us up 100 percent, or more. So, we're using actual numbers year, '
over year to tell our citizens whether they were up or down in a
Regular Meeting of the Milton City Council
Monday, August 15, 2022
Page 29 of 116
' certain category. And then, one of the suggestions on this, which I
really like, was to provide some links to this where folks could go
to the FBI website.
People could go to the NIBRS website to get more information
about how the — what data is collected. Also, what some of these
terms mean, such as "foot patrol". If they're from another area,
they may hear that as a "beat patrol" or a "neighborhood foot
patrol" or something of that nature. So, just to sort of explain what
this report contains. So, we'll be looking for those opportunities,
perhaps building up an entire FAQ page just for crime statistics.
Ms. Peters: Okay. So, I just wanted to go ahead, and reference where I
gathered the information embedded within this presentation. And,
without further ado, this ends the presentation, if anyone has any
questions?
Mayor Jamison: Very good presentation. Questions from Council? I have one quick
question: Do the neighboring cities — do they use this same
reporting system?
' Ms. Peters: Yes, they do, sir. So, Alpharetta, Roswell, Johns Creek, Alpharetta,
Sandy Springs, Dunwoody — they do, as well.
Mayor Jamison: Okay. That's good to know.
Chief Austin: One thing I will say that in our research of trying to look at how to
package this data, we were looking at just continue to report
incidents, and just to keep context. When we looked at other cities,
they're not — they're sort of putting together offenses that they feel
are just germane to their city. We feel like it's more transparent if
we just put out all 52 offenses in NIBRS, and just let our citizens
know. And, if they have any questions, they can reach out to us,
and ask about that particular data.
Mayor Jamison: Good. Any questions? All right. I appreciate it from both of you.
Thank you.
Chief Austin: Thank you.
Mayor Jamison: Will the City Clerk please sound the next item.
City Clerk: Mayor, that next item is the Community Development Update,
presented by our Community Development Department, our
Community Development Director, Mr. Robert Buscemi.
Regular Meeting of the Milton City Council
Monday, August 15, 2022
Page 30 of 116
Mr. Buscemi: Good evening, Mayor, and Council. I'll do a quick update. I '
promise I'll keep it short because I know we have a long agenda
tonight.
Ms. MacDonald: We're all blind up here.
Mr. Buscemi: All right. Let me set this. Perfect. Okay. Just some quick updates
'with the department. Our Chief Building Official position, when I
wrote this, this said "Offer extended." He's accepted the offer. And
I'll be happy to finally fill that position. I think it's a big one for
my department. We'll give him a little time to settle in. And then,
at my next update, as always, with all my new staff, I'll bring him
in, and introduce you, and have him introduce himself to you all.
Robyn is going to be giving you an update on our UVC progress.
We're making some -good progress there. I have a separate slide for
that. She'll be doing that. And, I wanted to just briefly tell the
Council, we had a visit last week from Franklin, Tennessee — the
folks from their Community Development Department, and their
Planning Department, and Public Works Staff, their Facilities staff
— all came in, and said, "Gee, Bob, we'd like to take'a tour through ,
City Hall." They're looking to do a new City Hall.
So, they used us. They said of all the cities that they studied,
everybody told them, "Come to Milton City Hall. That's gonna
give you the best example of what to do." And they're sort of a
sister city. They're just south of Nashville, Tennessee. Sort of an
affluent community, an equestrian style community. They're
developing. They've been around since 17...
Ms. MacDonald: 1799.
Ms. Buscemi: 1799. Make sure I get it right. So, they've been around for a long
time, but they're actually growing, and developing. But it's nice
because when they talked to me, they really said Milton was the
pinnacle of what they're looking for. With everything we've done,
from a planning, buildout, all of our regulations, our form -based
codes, everything we've done in Milton, our large lot incentives —
everything is the kinds of development patterns that they're really
wishing they can do. And, they're really looking, and asked us, and
said they were really impressed. So, I thought that was really good
news. I mean, it makes up for some of the — you know, those
things.
So, it was kinda nice. I felt really good about it. They loved our '
Regular Meeting of the Milton City Council
Monday, August 15, 2022
Page 31 of 116
' City Hall. Okay. What's happening around Milton? We do have a
couple big properties that I keep talking about, but they are coming
in, and we're working with them. The Day property, that's 170
acres that they came in, and they're looking to develop the Day
property. And some of the engineers are actually here tonight on
other issues, but we are looking at doing 3-acre parcels — 3 to 5
acres, potentially, maybe, you know, to try to get them some to
TDRs on the 5s, and the 3 acres, which will give them much more
flexibility on our incentive program. I think that's really the way
we want to go. So, I just wanted you to know that came in, and we
are working with them to do that.
The Fry's property, those folks came back in. We had some
Councilmembers sit in on that and listen to what they have to say.
So, we're hoping that they'll come back. Initially, we had work
with Crescent for a year, and four months, or so. And, then we
found out that the Frye's family is actually gonna — said, "Well,
Crescent is nice. They wanted to buy us, but no. We're gonna buy
them." So, the whole thing turned around. So, now we're working
with them, and we'll see what we can come up with. They like the
plan that we originally did with Crescent, and they want to see if
' they can resurrect that plan and keep it.
And, then there's a large parcel on Morris, and Webb, with two 5-
story office towers. They also came in, and they had
Councilmember Jacobus, I believe, was there. The Mayor was
there. And, we sat with them, and we talked to them, as well, to see
what we could do with their development. So, I think that's
moving along very nicely. And we'll see what happens there.
Next item is the National Survey. Greg, our Communications
Director came in, and gave us this national survey that was done. I
just bring it up because it was very nice, and we scored very high
ratings, like 97 percent to 98 percent percentile, out of — what he
said — 400 cities were studied. And we got great customer service.
So, of course I attribute some of that to my staff. And it was really
nice. I think the staff is using it as a nice bar to set their future
goals against.
And it's kind of nice when the staff sees that they're doing a great
job, and that they're — around the country, people are recognizing
that we're doing very well here in Milton, that it's a nice incentive
for staff to say, "Let's maintain that level of service, and let's keep
' the bar high." I looked at Steve, and said, "It's great when you can
get it up to a high level, but then you have to maintain it" So,
Regular Meeting of the Milton City Council
Monday, August 15, 2022
Page 32 of 116
we're going from striving to get there, to now saying, "No, let's '
get into a different mindset of not striving to get there, but what
happens when you get there to maintain it?"
And that's kind of a different philosophy for me from a
management perspective on how to do that. So, I'll be working
with Steve, and Bernadette, and Stacey to figure that all out, and
say, "What do we need to do to maintain it?" And we've gotten
great support on that front.
Fire Station 42, I'm gonna give you an update on an economic
development, and I'm also gonna give you an update on, have
Anita come up and talk to you about that.
We always feature one building. And, this is the Mayfield Medical
Center on Charlotte, and Mayfield. They should be getting and
receiving their Certificate of Occupancy for these buildings this
week. They're very close. And, Robyn, actually has informed me
that they're a what?
Ms. MacDonald: So, it's gonna owned by Northside Hospital, and so there will be a '
general practitioners office in one building, and then two, or three
specialists in the other building. So, we're really excited to have
them as part of the city.
Mr. Buscemi: So, that's a nice use. I think it's a strong base with Northside being
in there. And it will give us the medical resource that we need right
here in downtown Crabapple. So, that's kinda nice. And the
buildings look great. They're really coming out good. If you
remember, we reused the stone from the old building, and
incorporated it. So, there's a little history in every building that we
do in Milton. So, it's kinda neat.
Okay, also, Fire Station 42, quick update: We've completed all the
subsurface work, water storage, plumbing, electrical, things like
that. We've done all the concrete slab work. And, as you can see in
the picture, the steel is going up, and we're working diligently with
the contractor to make sure that we get all the materials on time,
and we maintain our budget. So, right now, we're on budget, we
are on schedule. We're doing pretty good. We've been challenged
with some rain. Every time we go to do something, we get another
3/4 of an inch of rain. But, for the most part, we're really in there.
We're trying to do a lot of workarounds, and really maintain that
project. And it's going very nicely. I
Regular Meeting of the Milton City Council
Monday, August 15, 2022
Page 33 of 116
Okay, with this, I'm gonna have Anita come up, and talk about
economic development, and branding. Thanks, Anita.
Ms. Jupin: Good evening, Mayor, and Council. Tonight, I just want to provide
a quick overview of the many strong partnerships that we work
hard to cultivate in economic development. Here, I've highlighted
the organizations that I work closely with in some capacity. The
partners that you see here all greatly contribute to Milton's
economic goals in a major way. The city is very fortunate to have a
strong partnership with Crabapple Market.
Quite frequently, I collaborate with Aaron Freeman, and Bruce
Leighton on Adam Morgan's team. Whether it's partnering on
Meet Me in Milton events, sharing resources, or supporting the
new businesses, there's a strong benefit for the community that
comes from working together so closely. Our economic
development efforts continue to be widely supported by the
Greater North Fulton Chamber of Commerce. As a member of the
board, we meet monthly to review upcoming events, and
opportunities, and the chamber is also really great about joining in
our city ribbon cuttings as a sign of support to our local business
owners.
On a monthly basis, I interact with my counterparts in the region
along with Georgia Power, as well as the Economic Development
Director from Fulton County, Samir Abdullahi. I have invited
Samir to make a brief presentation here to you all on September 7°i
to discuss ways that he supports 15 cities throughout the county,
and specific initiatives that are relevant to us here in Milton.
On a monthly basis, I work with the Milton Arts Council to offer
creative new ways to engage the arts, to have a positive economic,
and social impact in the community. This summer, we were able to
provide space for the arts council summer camps, and
programming at Milton City Park, and Preserve, and it was a really
big success.
Later, in August, we will be hosting the Bisnow Panel again with
our regional partners to provide the opportunity for local
developers, and other industry experts to come together, and share
information about different projects. We're also working on the
next 3000 Forum, with Jenny Doyle's team. It will take place in
September. Jenny Doyle is also a gold sponsor for this year's
' Crabapple Fest, and I truly appreciate her generosity, and support
for this signature event in Milton.
Regular Meeting of the Milton City Council
Monday, August 15, 2022
Page 34 of 116
1
Planning has been well underway all year for Crabapple Fest, and
I'm excited to offer this platform to so many local, and regional
businesses to participate. We are also strong — fortunate to have
strong partnerships with local media publications who work hard
to share the efforts of community, and economic development with
residents. In fact, last month, we published an article in our Milton
neighbor, and our Crabapple neighbor, Best Version Media, that
highlighted recent projects, and efforts being made along Highway
9.
In September, we will be meeting with the North Fulton CID, and
later in the month, we will be touring the facility at Philip's
Healthcare. As a top employer in Milton, it's important to maintain
an open dialogue to support them and consider ways to enhance
their presence in Milton. This is coming'at a perfect time as we
focus on the redevelopment of business along the Highway 9,
Deerfield commercial district, and the beautification efforts in this
corridor. I'm working to schedule a similar visit with Verizon, and
others soon, as well.
Reid Casey, and his team have recently sponsored the first '
Cooking with Fire initiative; and they're also a silver sponsor for
this year's Crabapple Fest. Prior to joining the city many years
ago, I used to volunteer with the Crabapple Community
Association. The CCA previously led by the Mayor, and
subsequently by Reid Casey, has evolved, but its members still
make every effort to participate in the different projects we have
going on throughout the city to support local businesses, and
promote volunteerism.
The Kidz Biz Expo is a partner I'm excited to have. They'll be
joining us this year at Crabapple Fest to really lean into the
importance of entrepreneurship at a young age. This expo will be
taking place independently on the green, but I'm very excited to
have them be a part of the festival. From a professional
development standpoint, I'm currently underway in the Georgia
Certified Economic Developer Program from the Carl Vinson
Institute of Government, GA. I'm also part of the 2022/2023
Leadership North Fulton Program with the chamber. And just
recently completed the first cohort of Leader Gov at City Hall.
And, lastly, as Bob mentioned, we continue to meet with different
perspective developers that are interested in projects around
Milton, and we're thoughtfully guiding the process. We're looking '
to update the LCI, which will be a key driver in our efforts that
Regular Meeting of the Milton City Council
Monday, August 15, 2022
Page 35 of 116
' will help Milton truly emerge as an economic leader in North
Fulton.
And, next, I'd just like to give you a quick update regarding the
Placemaking Project. I initially presented our roadmap to you on
May 10". And I'm pleased to let you know we've made great
progress since that time. We published the RFP on July 281. And,
by the end of August, we should have all proposals in, and we will
be looking to award that contract early in October. Once selected,
we look forward to working very closely with the agency on all
aspects of Placemaking, and we will continue to seek guidance,
and feedback from you all, and from the community on a regular
basis. So, we will be bringing many more exciting projects related
to this to you in the near future.
And then, lastly, I want to provide a quick update about a project
that Emily, and I are partnering together on, which will utilize a
helpful tool in GIS that will help capture pertinent information
relevant to each district in our area. So, we'll use this information
to portray Milton's business landscape overall, provide businesses
with a snapshot of the area — which will be a really great
' recruitment tool to bring in new business, as well as helping those
that are here to thrive. So, if there are no questions for me, I'll turn
it over to Emily.
Ms. Schnarre: Yeah. So, like Anita said, we are gonna be partnering together,
GIS, and Economic Development, to kinda create this toolbox for
us to look at the community, the businesses we have here, and how
we can relate those two together, and really leverage some of the
data available to us to kinda create this market snapshot. So, that
way, when people come to Anita asking questions about the
market, and, you know, potential places for them to relocate their
business to, then we have a toolbox to hand to them. So, I'm really
excited. We're still kinda in the beginning of that stage, but I think
it's gonna be a great partnership.
Ms. MacDonald: So, it's the exciting subject of the Unified Development Code. So,
I am really excited. We presented the draft — complete draft — to
the Planning Commission on July 27a'. We are dividing, and
conquering. It's a pretty substantial heavy lift. All of the seven
different members volunteered for different sections of it to just
review it from a 5,000-foot standpoint as the intent is not to make
any drastic policy changes. Just make sure it makes sense and
' getting some other eyes on it after Caleb is, I'm sure, going in, and
out of his head, as well as mine, and other staff members.
Regular Meeting of the Milton City Council
Monday, August 16, 2022
Page 36 of 116
So, we will come back in about a week, and a half, on August 24t', 1
and gonna be getting feedback from the planning commissioners,
and Caleb Racicot with TSW will be there, as well to assist me,
and the staff in answering any questions, and clarifying issues.
And, then we are going to have our public kickoff of the document
on September 1401. That's a Wednesday. It also is — Wednesdays
are our wonderful Farmers' Market. So, I think that will be a great
way'to kind of introduce people as they shop, and hopefully they'll
have'some interest in looking at what we're doing. And, then there
will be a public review of it between September 14a', and October
I Oh.
And we're gonna be utilizing a software called Conveo, which is a
really great tool to' be able to look at the document, as well as
enabling the public to be able to make comments, and that we can
collect the comments, and it's just a really great tool for both the
public, as well as staff. So, just wanted to give you that update on
there. For the future — I believe it's around March — is the target
date for you all to adopt it. So, so far, we're on track, and really
excited to see this project come to fruition. So, thank you.
Mayor Jamison: Thanks, Robyn. '
Ms. MacDonald: Yup.
Mayor Jamison: Is that it, Bob?
Mr. Buscemi: We have one more.
Mayor Jamison: You all got a lot going on. We appreciate it.
Ms. Schnarre: So, just to kinda wrap up what we talked about earlier this summer
with the private development GIS map, we did officially launch
that on the website on July 2P. We did a social media post about
it, a press release about it, and I have already updated it for the
month of August, so that will be happening monthly. We'll be
looking through the permits that we've issued or have gotten in
over the past month. And, in that first week of the month, is kind
of our target to update it. So, not only did we create it, but we are
going to be maintaining it as best as possible. So, just wanted to
wrap that one up for you all.
Mayor Jamison: Good. Thank you.
Mr. Buscemi: Any questions? '
Regular Meeting of the Milton City Council
Monday, August 16, 2022
Page 37 of 116
' Mayor Jamison: Any questions for stag? We appreciate it. You got a lot going on.
Thanks.
CM Cookerly: Thank you.
PUBLIC HEARING
Mayor Jamison: Okay. So, we moved E to a different agenda, so different meeting.
So, there are no First Presentations, so we'll move onto the public
hearing. Will City Clerk please sound the first item.
City Clerk: Mayor, that item is consideration of the issuance of an alcohol
beverage license to Milton Brewing, LLC, doing business as Six
Bridges Brewing, and Crafts Beer. It's located at 1850 Heritage
Walk in Milton, Georgia. It's agenda item No. 22-252. Our
Assistant City Manager, Miss Bernadette Harvill.
Ms. Harvill: I'm gonna turn this item over to our City Attorney, Ken Jarrard.
Mayor Jamison: Okay, and really quick, so for our public hearing, it's gonna be
limited to five minutes per speaker. Is that correct?
Attorney Jarrard: Well, that's right, assuming we have the public hearing, which is
the reason it's been deflected to me. Mr. Mayor, and Council, this
item this evening is set, and was advertised once for a public
hearing, but the Milton code requires a mandatory two legal
notices, in two consecutive weeks leading up to the public hearing.
City staff did, in fact, make the requisite request to the city's legal
organ, which is the Milton Herald, and one legal ad ran, but the
second legal ad did not run. Our code is very clear, this is a
mandatory requirement.
And, therefore, while I am comfortable if we want to — if the
Council wants to have the item announced and have the staff report
any — or even want to hear Public Comment this evening, that's
okay, too. But we're doing this whole thing over again on
September 19`h. We're gonna have to run the legal ads again, and
we're gonna have to have the public hearing again because that's
what our code anticipates. So, up to the Council. The Council
could defer. You absolutely cannot do New Business B. That's the
actual approval. You cannot do th4t.
' If you want to have a public hearing just because good folks have
come tonight to sit here, that's perfectly fine, but we will be doing
Regular Meeting of the Milton City Council
Monday, August 15, 2022
Page 38 of 116
this all over again, full public hearing, on September 10. '
Mayor Jamison: I have one big question here. They're a small business. They
obviously need to operate, right?
Attorney Jarrard: Right.
Mayor Jamison: . They're granted a temporary license right now, correct?
Attorney Jarrard: Yes.
Mayor Jamison: Will they be able to continue to operate with that temporary license
until September 19°i9
Mr. Krokoff: How long is the temporary license, Bernadette?
Ms. Harvill: Yes, they will be able to.
Attorney Jarrard: Yes.
Mr. Krokoff: Yes. '
Mayor Jamison: Okay. As long as they're gonna be able to do that, I think I feel
perfectly fne with that. But, I do feel like there are members here
who came to speak, and so we'll let them speak if Council is okay
with that.
CM Cookerly: Well, would they have to speak again? Or would that just stand in
the record?
Attorney Jarrard: No, they're comments will be noted in the record this evening.
Should they wish to come back, that is, of course, their right, but I
don't think it's gonna be mandatory. The Council can't unhear
what it's heard. You will have heard that.
CM Cookerly: I've heard that before.
Attorney Jarrard: Fair.
[Crosstalk]
CM Mohrig: I'd like to hear it.
Mayor Jamison: All right. Council good? Bernadette, we'll go with the — Yeah. '
Regular Meeting of the Milton City Council
Monday, August 15, 2022
Page 39 of 116
' Ms. Harvill: [Inaudible] [01:28:271. Okay. Certainly.
Mayor Jamison: You can give us maybe a rough draft of it. Then we'll hear the
speakers.
Ms. Harvill: Absolutely. So, before you, you have an application for an alcohol
beverage license for Milton Brewing, LLC dba Six Bridges
Brewing, and Craft Spirits. They are applying for a manufacturers
license for both a microbrewery, and a micro distillery at 1850
Heritage Walk. According to Milton law, these types of
establishments are authorized to operate Monday through
Saturday, from 9:00 a.m. to 10:00 p.m., and are not authorized to
be open for business on Sundays at this time. You can see the local
signage compliance right there on the building, taken by our code
enforcement.
And here you can see the map showing the location of Six Bridges
at the roundabout at 372, and Heritage Walk across from the Nest,
for reference. So, in micro establishments are authorized to
produce up to 15,000 barrels of beer or distilled spirits under each
license, under Milton code. State code has further restrictions on
' the amount that may be sold for consumption on premises, and off
premises, as well. Breweries, and distilleries are authorized to sell
to the public through a wholesaler, or directly to the consumer in
their establishment for on premise, and off premise sales.
Here, we have included the definitions for a tap room, and flight
tastings from the most recently approved version of Chapter 4 of
Milton's Alcoholic Beverage Code, for reference. And please note
there are restrictions to the quantities of alcohol that may be
provided in these tastings within a microbrewery, and micro
distillery. I'd also just like to point out that this evening, we've had
some conversations with the owners, and they did have some
consideration. They'd like to talk to you about hours, as well as
excise taxes, and we are working with the owner to address those
items in a potential upcoming amendment based on Council
feedback.
Again, the brewery, and the distillery are within compliance, other
than that one advertising piece. That is our presentation this
evening.
Mayor Jamison: Miss City Clerk, will you please call the first Public Comment.
' City Clerk: Mayor, that first Public Comment is Mr. Ed Parsons. I invite you
Regular Meeting of the Milton City Council
Monday, August 16, 2022
Paae 40 of 116
to the podium, please. '
Mr. Parsons: Good evening. My name is Ed Parsons. I live at 1760 Redd Road
in Milton. Some of you probably know me as the Bee Guy. I have
honeybees in Milton, and we have a couple honey stands. And the
reason why this one came to my attention was, just today, I was
delivering a gallon of Milton Honey. to their brewery because
"they're gonna use the honey — local honey — in some of the beer
they're going to make.
So, one of the things that Clay had brought up to me was the hours.
And I think there's a real disparity here. I know the code says one
thing, but I think you need to look at kinda the whole environment
of what's going on here. Old Blind Dog, if you look at their hours,
they're from 11:00 a.m. to 11:00 p.m., Saturday through Thursday.
Friday, and Saturday, they're from 11:00 alm. to 2:00 a.m. And
they're 100 yards from this brewery. It seems a little unfair that
you can have one business open until 2:00 a.m. in the morning on
the weekends, but the other one, you're gonna shut them down at
10:00 p.m. That just doesn't seem very fair. I know the argument
can be made, "Well, they're manufacturing."
Well, yeah, they're manufacturing, but I don't think manufacturing '
is their core business after 10:00 p.m. at night. I think you have to
give these businesses — I love seeing the presentation on economic
development, and I think if you really want economic
development, you gotta be fair. So, you know, Old Blind Dog has a
lot of hours. If you want to look at all the other breweries in the
area, Jekyll, and Alpharetta, they're 11:00 a.m. to 11:00 p.m. On
Fridays, and Saturdays, they're 11:00 a.m. to 2:00 a.m.
Gate City, in Roswell, is 12:00 p.m. to 10:00 p.m., and 12:00 p.m.
to 12:00 a.m, on Friday to Saturday. On Sunday, they're 12:00
p.m. to 9:00 p.m. Reformation Brewery in Woodstock, they're
Sunday through Thursday 8:00 a.m. to 11:00 p.m. Fridays, and
Saturdays 8:00 a.m, to 1:00 a.m. And Reformation in Canton is the
same hours. So, if you're gonna fall back, and say, "Well, it's
manufacturing," manufacturing breweries still have extended
hours. So, I would hope that you guys would consider trying to be
fair to these businesses because you can't give wide open rights to
one business, and 100 yards down the road, grant them something
completely different, and much more restrictive.
I just don't think that's fair. So, that was my point of my '
presentation was just to say, you know, give these guys a fair
Regular Meeting of the Milton City Council
Monday, August 15, 2022
Page 41 of 116
' shake, you know, just like everybody else. And it'll be another
business because then it's more than just one bar in Crabapple.
Maybe there are two now. And I think that's okay. So, thank you.
Mayor Jamison: Thank you. Looking forward to the honey beer, too.
Mr. Parsons: Yeah. Oh, and one little sidenote. It's been great. I haven't been
here to a City Council Meeting in like five years, so when I
listened to the crime data, I want to give you a little crime report.
In the honey business, you know, we have two self -serve honey
stands, and people put the money in, and we just trust them. And;
just to let you know, we rarely ever get ripped off. Occasionally,
we might be one bottle short. And the way we look at is if
somebody needs a bottle of honey so bad that they're willing to —
that they want to rip it off, I will probably give that to them.
So, anyway. Milton is a great city to live in, and it is very safe.
And it's kind of demonstrated in our business that we trust that
people are gonna pay for the honey, and they're honorable, and it's
really good. Thank you.
' Mayor Jamison: Thank you, Mr. Parsons.
City Clerk: Mayor, I'd like to next invite Mr. Clay Gridley to the podium,
please.
Mr. Gridley: Clay Gridley. 200 Cedar Valley, Canton, Georgia. I thought I'd
have to lower the microphone after Ed, but I didn't have to. So,
thank you for this time. I did want to talk about three points. I'd
like to request some, I guess, language change in the ordinance.
And I also did want to point out there's a typo that was in the
presentation that Bernadette said it was listed as 28 ounces. It
should be 288 ounces, which is a case of beer.
Ms. Harvill: [Inaudible] 101:35:06].
Mr. Gridley: Okay. Gotcha. The three things I want to discuss — and my lovely
bride is gonna tag team with me here in a minute. On Sunday sales,
currently there isn't a single brewery in the entire great State of
Georgia that says — that is limited to where they cannot operate on
Sunday. Every single brewery is allowed to do that. I have a list of
— I don't know how many breweries here — that —
I
Female Speaker: 74.
Regular Meeting of the Milton City Council
Monday, August 15, 2022
Page 42 of 116
Mr. Gridley: I'm sorry? '
Female Speaker: 74.
Mr. Gridley: Okay. A bunch of breweries here. There are only three breweries
in the entire state that like to be closed on Sunday. And I get that. I
respect that. They're closed Sunday through Wednesday, as well.
So, I would like to request to be able to operate on Sunday. Let's
see, I got that there. Our Sunday sales would be limited to retail
operations. You may know that breweries are kinda quasi entities
where Uncle Sam, and the state government label us as a
manufacturer, but at a local level, we operate more as kinda like a
brew pub, but we manufacture, and we do retail, and so on. But
Sunday operations will be limited to retail only. There wouldn't be
any manufacturing going on there.
I'll let my wife touch on the other notes there. As far as hours,
staying open later, you know, with our Johns Creek location, we do
close at 10:00 p.m. on the weekends, which most of the time is
sufficient. I would like some flexibility to be able to stay open a
little later. Say it's the Superbowl, or New Year's Eve, or '
celebrating a win with Milton High School football coming up. So,
we look forward to doing that. So, I would like to request that.
And, lastly, the excise tax with manufacturing alcohol. Currently —
and this is another unprecedented item: The City of Milton, in their
Chapter 4 Code Ordinance, specifically Section 4 185, and Section
4 186b, there's a dual excise tax that is levied on breweries at that
point. The first part is on the manufacturing component. The
second is on the sales of alcohol. I spoke with the Director of the
Georgia Craft Brewers Guild, and he said no other municipality
does that. They choose one, or the other. And most of them choose
the sales side.
I can't tell you about Budweiser, and Cartersville. They probably —
they might get billed for what they make, but nevertheless, most
craft breweries, they are only levied one of those taxes. And, just
to give you an example — I'm running out of time. But the federal
government — and this is on a keg of beer — a 15.5-gallon keg of
beer — federal tax is'$1.75. Georgia State tax is $5.00., and then
Milton has $6.00 for the manufacturing component, and then $6.00
on sales. So, a fair amount more when you lump the federal, and
Georgia together, you get $6.75., where Milton is $12.00. So, tack
that on. And I do think that creates an unfair advantage to '
breweries, and distilleries outside the City of Milton.
Regular Meeting of the Milton City Council
Monday, August 15, 2022
Page 43 of 116
You know, I just request to level the playing field. There is that
same double taxation on distilleries, as well, but it doesn't make as
much of an impact because, you know, an ounce of spirits is —
there's much more impact than an ounce of beer — 5 percent
alcohol to 40 percent. So, I'm okay with that, but I did notice that,
as well. Let's see, I think that covers my portion. But, looking
forward to getting open in Milton, and appreciate everybody's
time. The only thing we're waiting on right now is our state
license, by the way. So, we've been almost stalked by the people in
this city, so we're looking forward to serving some beer. Thank
you.
Mayor Jamison: Thank you. I appreciate it.
City Clerk: Mayor, I'd like to next invite Amy Haygood to the podium.
Ms. Haygood: Good evening. My name is Amy Haygood. I live at 200 Cedar
Valley Court in Canton, Georgia, but I am speaking on behalf of
1850 A, and B Heritage Walk, here in Milton. That was my
husband. I am also the General Manager of this location, so I am
' the person being stalked by most of the city. And I'm
extraordinarily grateful, both for the city's support, and the
community's support. They've just really blessed us. So, I really
do want to start off saying thank you.
I've had several neighboring retail businesses disclose to me on a
number of occasions that they actually chose their relatively new
retail space based on their proximity to our brewery. And, that they
are eagerly awaiting us opening because they recognize that should
have a positive impact on their businesses. We've also discussed
with those businesses doing joint ventures together, neighborhood
events that really try to bring the community together. I think that
most people who have walked around Crabapple Market, in
particular, will notice the community feel. And that's something
that Six Bridges is tremendously invested in.
So, we want to be open for our own sake, but we also recognize the
impact that it has on our retail neighbors. And, speaking of
neighbors, we have also gone out of our way to introduce ourselves
to our most local residential neighbors to make ourselves known to
them on a personal level, so that they know how invested we are in
their community, and their neighborhood, and being respectful
' neighbors to them. Speaking of our neighbors, they've also
expressed their interest in being able to watch NFL football. I
Regular Meeting of the Milton City Council
Monday, August 16, 2022
Page 44 of 116
understand, from my husband, that that frequently occurs on '
Sunday. I'm usually napping.
But they have expressed their interest in being able to come
together as a community to watch sporting events every day of the
week, but definitely NFL on Sunday. The Sunday operations, as
Clay mentioned, is limited totally to retail sales. We will not be
manufacturing when the public is in our space. That is a safety
hazard, both for our staff, and our patrons, and our brewing staff.
And we want to make our space as safe as possible.
So, the Milton High`School football team, or coach, has mentioned
being interested in post -game celebrations at the brewery, with
many games starting at 8:30 p.m, on Friday evening, that would be
quite difficult. We want to support the high school football team,
the high school basketball'team — all of the sports teams, their
theater programs, and we want to be open late for families to come
and celebrate their achievements. Not just to drink beer, but to
have barbeque, to enjoy live music, and provide that community
space.
Lastly, I would like to read some quotes that I received today on '
our social media pages when I posted about our hearing. One
family commented: "Sunday is our only day as a family where we
don't have sports, or work, or obligations." And they want to be
able to come and visit us. I had another comment: "I mean, football
season is coming up." Full stop. A lot of people just asked me very
simply, "How can we support?" Another family: "I live on the
other side of Crabapple Road and have eagerly been awaiting the
opening of Six Bridges. I will be there tomorrow to lend my
support." I don't know if they're here. I hope they are. "I moved
here because I want businesses like this."
And, lastly, I noticed as I was sitting earlier, the values that the
City of Milton has posted over there on the table, and one them
that really struck me was "Together, we Thrive. That we are
greater than the sum of its parts." And, we are just a part, but we
want to be part of the greater whole. Like I said, we've been
working with our local businesses. I've been trying to get to know
the community here both on a personal, and a professional level.
And we want to be a part of that whole.
And then, finally, service is our obsession. We want to serve the
community that we're in. It's very important to us, and I hope that '
we will have the opportunity to do that seven days a week. We're
Regular Meeting of the Milton City Council
Monday, August 15, 2022
Page 45 of 116
' gonna sleep on Mondays, but seven days a week to the best of our
ability. Thank you for your time.
Mayor Jamison: Thank you.
City Clerk: Debra Russell, would you like to speak, or do you just want me to
say — is in support of agenda item No. 22-252. I'd like to invite Mr.
Jeff Dufresne to the podium, please.
Mr. Dufresne: Jeff Dufresne, 1380 Summit Road, Milton. Earlier this evening,
Anita talked about placemaking. Milton is a relatively new city.
Crabapple Market is a relatively new development. We are
creating a place that attracts people that enjoy just being part of
this community. I particularly wanted to talk about the open
Sunday issue. Yesterday, Sunday evening, I was over at downtown
Roswell, and it was just bustling with activity. Kids, the smells, the
music. You know, it's just a wonderful experience you want to be
part of.
And I think this business is — it's good for business for sales tax,
for foot traffic, for other tenants that are coming to Crabapple
' Market. And, lastly, Charles, and Clay Gridley are wonderful
people. I've gotten to know them over the last six months. We
need operators like that in this town. That are honest, they look
after the town. And they're gonna deliver a wonderful product.
And, to deny them one day a week is just — I don't understand the
reason for that. So, I urge that they will be able to operate in parity
with the other like businesses in this town. Thank you.
Mayor Jamison: Thank you.
City Clerk: And, Mayor, I'd like to invite Mr. WC Lusk to the podium, please.
Mr. Lusk: [Inaudible] 101:46:22].
City Clerk: Oh, I'm sorry. Had the other item. Okay. Thank you. Then, that
concludes the Public Comment for this item, Mayor.
Mayor Jamison: Okay. So, I'll close the Public Comment, and I guess, as our City
Attorney said, we won't hear it later on the agenda because we're
gonna vote on it September —
Attorney Jarrard: September 19`h, Mr. Mayor. I might recommend a motion just to
' postpone, and reschedule public hearing 9A, or public hearing A,
and New Business B, both to September 19`h because they will
Regular Meeting of the Milton City Council
Monday, August 16, 2022
Paae 46 of 116
both be taken up again at that time.
Mayor Jamison: Do you want that motion now, or under New Business?
Attorney Jarrard: Now would be; appropriate, Mr. Mayor.
t
Mayor Jamison: Okay. So, the public hearing is closed. Any comments before we
open up for a motion? Okay. Open it for a motion.
CM Moore: So, the motion is to move it?
Attorney Jarrard: Both public hearing A, and New Business B. Yes.
CM Moore: Okay. Mr. Mayor, I'd like to make a motion for agenda item No.
22-252 to move the public hearing, and unfished business
presentations for the alcohol license for Six Bridges Brewing, and
Crafting Spirits at 1850 Heritage Walk to the September 190'
meeting.
CM Verhoff: Second.
Mayor Jamison: Okay. So, I have a motion from Councilmember Moore, and- a
second from Councilmember Verhoff on exactly what
Councilmember Moore said. Does that sound good?
Attorney Jarrard: Excellent.
Mayor Jamison: All right.
City Clerk: Mayor, Mayor, Ken, I'd like to say, he did mention unfinished
business, and that B item is under New Business.
Mayor Jamison: Thank you.
CM Moore: Did I misspeak?
City Clerk: I just wanted to speak. You did. It's my job to catch it, and I won.
So.
CM Moore: Very good.
City Clerk: I don't get it often, so let me take it.
Mayor Jamison: Are you good with that motion?
Regular Meeting of the Milton City Council
Monday, August 15, 2022
Page 47 of 116
IAttorney Jarrard: No, I'm keeping score, and yes, that is one for the clerk.
City Clerk: Thank you.
Attorney Jarrard: It's in order.
Mayor Jamison: We're good. All in favor, say aye.
Councilmembers: Aye.
Motion and Vote: Councilmember Moore moved to move Agenda Item No. 22-
252 Public Hearing and New Business Items to the September 19, 2022 Regular
City Council Meeting. Councilmember Verhoff seconded the motion. The motion
passed (6-0). Councilmember Mohrig was absent from the vote.
Mayor Jamison: All opposed? And, then, Councilmember Mohrig was absent on
that vote.
City Clerk: Yes. Thank you.
' Mayor Jamison: All right. Will the City Clerk please sound the next item.
City Clerk: Mayor, that next item is consideration of an ordinance of the
[inaudible] [01:48:321 Council of the City of Milton, Georgia to
establish the ad velorem tax rate of the City of Milton for fiscal
year 2023, and for other purposes. The first presentation was at the
August 15t Regular Council Meeting, the Public Hearing No. 1 at
the August I" Regular Council Meeting, and the Public Hearing
No. 2 was at the August 8th Work Session Council Meeting. It's
agenda item No. 22-235. Our Assistant City Manager, Miss
Bernadette Harvill.
Ms. Harvill: Good evening, Mayor, and Council. We are here this evening to
discuss setting the Calendar Year 2022 [inaudible], which will
fund Fiscal Year 2023 activity. This is the third of the three
required public hearings. I will go into the details of those
requirements a little later this evening.
Before I go onto the presentation, I would like to point out that this
body has not preliminarily approved any millage rate to date, nor
have you provided feedback yet other than the Mayor's request for
staff to research ways to reduce the millage rate while maintaining
' service levels, and current project timelines. So, this evening will
be the first time that Council gives feedback on this millage rate
Regular Meeting of the Milton City Council
Monday, August 15, 2022
Page 48 of 116
and chooses which option they'd like to go with. '
So, again, we'll go over those important definitions. We've been
through this twice before, so we won't spend as much time on each
of these items, but we'll go through the same presentation as in'
years past, and I have some information to show some of the
calculations. I believe there has been some confusion on how
property taxes, under the floating exemption, are calculated using
the different millage rate options. We will go over the open
meeting requirements and discuss the millage rate options that staff
has prepared.
Again, Council has the ability to approve any millage rate up to
4.731 mills, and down to zero, if they should choose. The way we
advertise allows Council to have the flexibility to choose any
millage rate without'having to readvertise and go through three
hearings again. That also helps to not' delay the county from
submitting the digest and making the availability for billing in a
timely manner.
We'll break down the maintenance, and operating digest. We'll
explore the anticipated revenues for the FY 2023 general fund
budget. We'll look at ways that property owners can reduce their
tax liability. We'll go into the calculation of a tax bill, and the
value of the tax dollars for each individual from Milton.
So, again, we have a mill, which is $1.00 per $1,000.00 of assessed
property value. We'll talk about that often this evening. We have
the fair market value. Again, that's a fair market value assessed by
the Fulton County Board of Assessors, not by Zillow, or any
realtor, or other agency. Just by Fulton County. By law, they are to
maintain those values in accordance with those other calculations,
but they do have the right, at the end of the day. But, they are fair
market values that the City of Milton has to use.
Your assessed, or taxable value is 40 percent of the fair market
value. So, when we take that 40 percent of the fair market value by
the county, and you multiply that times your millage rate after you
reduce by your exemptions, and that is the taxes owed to the city in
a given year.
We'll talk about the rollback rate, and the millage equivalent that's
used to calculate that. So, the rollback rate is the previous year's
millage rate, less the millage equivalent to the net total assessed '
value added by reassessment. So, it's taking up that inflation piece
Regular Meeting of the Milton City Council
Monday, August 16, 2022
Page 49 of 116
' from the reassessment values. And, the millage equivalent is the
equation where the reassessment of the existing real property is
divided by the current year's net digest, and then multiplied by the
prior year's millage rate. Again, I know it's a mouthful. We have
all the calculations to show you exactly what that means, in the
presentation.
So, again, whenever the proposed millage rate — and, again, like I
said, we use the capped millage rate just to be able to not have to
readvertise — exceeds the rollback rate, the city must hold these
three public hearings. We had our first public hearing, along with
first presentation on August 1'. Last Monday, we had the second
public hearing. Tonight, we have our third, and final public
hearing, and the council will vote later this evening under
unfinished business.
So, under our advertising requirements, we have to have two
different advertisements. This is the first one that takes that
reassessed value piece and assigns a millage equivalent to it. At
4.731 mils, there would be a 12.48 percent increase. At the 4.469 —
that is a 6.25 percent, and at 4.206, that would be 0 percent. So,
' that's showing how that would work under the three different
millage rate options.
When looking at the other advertising here, this number has been
circulating as the — digest increase year over year has been
circulating as the exact increase by which property taxes are
increasing. I'd like to just point out that the 17 percent is the digest
increase from 2021 to 2022 if 4.731 mils were to be passed, and
100 percent of all property taxes were to be collected.
So, if you were to change that to 4.469 mils, that drops you 10.5
percent, and at 4.206 mils, that drops you 4 percent. So, I just want
to show that that is how that reads, and how the math works on this
ad.
So, again, this is the snippet of the PT 32.1 that we have to use. I
know this is a technical spreadsheet. I have a little more of an easy
calculation to show you later this evening. This is just for
transparency to show the net digest, year over year, and the
numbers we used in those calculations.
I don't want to go over each one of these individually. I know
' we've been over it twice before, but we have to answer any
questions about the math, if anyone has any questions. Again, this
Regular Meeting of the Milton City Council
Monday, August 16, 2022
Page 60 of 116
is the math behind the first ad we looked up. And, it was property '
tax increase, and how that works. And this is the math behind the
five-year digest. And you can change out the millage rates in each
of these ads, and you'll see those numbers corresponding to the
numbers we just spoke about.
So, here we have the different millage rate options that staff has
presented. Again, you have the right to choose any millage rate
you'd like. We have the capped millage rate, which happens to be
the 2021 millage rate that was used last year's tax billing for this
fiscal year's activity at 4.731. We have the midpoint millage rate at
4.469, and the rollback rate at 4.206.
At the very bottom of the screen, 'you will see the separately
calculated Greenspace Bond millage rate, which is variable, in
order to collect the revenues necessary to payoff the required debt,
including principal and interest in a given year at 0.452 mils.
Next, I'd like to go over some of the general fund revenue
anticipations, again using that total net digest, and then breaking
that down across the three different millage rates we've been '
speaking about. At the two different collection rates, again, real
property typically comes in at 97 percent for Year 1, and personal
property at 65 percent for Year 1. And you can see those different
revenues. We show that again here as a total calculation.
Should 4.731 mils be the chosen millage rate, total budgeted
revenues for the year would be $15.6 million dollars. At 4.469, it
would be $17.8 million, which is $865,210.00 less than the 4.731,
or 6 percent. And, at 4.206, it would be $13.9 million dollars,
which is $1,733,723.00 less than 4.731 at 12 percent. So, there, I
broke down, and showed everything you can see for the
differences between the millage rates from a revenue standpoint.
Again, that would include reassessments, new construction, and
any improvements to property.
Mr. Krokoff: Hey, Bernadette, I apologize for interrupting. Can you just clarify
what the total budget revenues would be under 4.469?
Ms. Harvill: 14.8 —
Mayor Jamison: You said $17 million so.
Ms. Harvill: Oh, I apologize. '
Regular Meeting of the Milton City Council
Monday, August 15, 2022
Page 51 of 116
Mayor Jamison: All good.
Ms. Harvill: $14.8 million. Sorry. Okay. Off -script, see. Sorry about that. Thank
you. Okay. And then, one more piece of information I have at the
very bottom for you for reference to show what we are comparing
to what we are currently collecting in the given year: The FY22
current year real property amended budget is $13,129,743.00. That
is only slightly changed from the original projection. So, we
projected fairly accurately last year. And then, collections to date
are running right along with that projection.
At 7/26 when we first presented, we were at $13,030,473.00 in
collections. We have gone through the most recent appeals
process, and there were some refunds issued, so we have actually
dropped at this time, but there's also other bills that have been
issued, so there may be some collections between the end of the
year. And we're at $12,997,884.00. So, if you see any fluctuations,
that's when we do the appeals every 60 days, and some refunds go
out. I'll stop here if anyone has any questions.
We've gone through the general fund budget. Again, the budget
' presented to Council is based on a 4.469 mils collection. That
would be able to fund all of the requests that the departments heads
went over in order to make the projects that they have within their
different project plans in other conversations we've had with
Council.
We had a spotlight on the revenues. Again, you can see that this
corresponds directly back to the three different revenue rates that
we showed in the last slide at a 4.469 millage collection.
Going over the opportunities for tax savings, we have certain
homestead exemptions that are available to all residents, and then
we have other homestead exemptions that are available only to our
senior population, as well as our fully disabled population. The
basic homestead exemption is $15,000.00. You can apply with the
county, and that comes off after your floating homestead
exemption, as any of the others do. So, your floating homestead
exemption counts first, and then all your other exemptions come
off after. I'm gonna go over, in great detail, in a moment, the
floating homestead exemption, so for right now, I'm gonna skip
over it.
' We have our senior exemptions, which you apply right here at the
city for. So, if someone you know is a neighbor, and is 65 or older,
Regular Meeting of the Milton City Council
Monday, August 16, 2022
Page 62 of 116
please let them know. We do our best to put out information '
through our newsletters, and other electronic means, but I know
sometimes seniors don't have access to that, so if anyone knows a
senior, please let them know.
Additionally, we have $15,000.00 for those 65, and older with no
income requirements at this time. And those who are-65, and older,
and do meet an income qualification get an additional $25,000.00 —
or, an additional $10,000.00 at this time — to total $25,000.00.
On the ballot this November will be three referendums, two of
which, when combined, will remove the income requirement for
65-year-olds, and just give them a flat $25,000.00 for being 65,
and that will apply now both to the maintenance side, and the bond
side, where before, the first one only applied to the maintenance
side. And then, the other one, for age 70, and older who meet
income qualifications, will get a full value' exemption. Currently,
our threshold for that is around $76,000.00. The initiative on the
ballot would increase that to $100,000.00.
So, if you make $100,000.00 or less, you would now qualify if that '
is approved by the voters, for that full value exemption. Currently,
around that $76,000.00 to $80,000.00 number. Again, with the
disability exemption, you have to have it certified by a physician
for disability, and meet those income qualifications as well, in
order to have that full value exemption.
I want to take a moment and step out of this presentation. I have
prepared a slide to show, but before we do, I just want to remind
everybody that the floating homestead exemption was passed by
the state legislature. It applies to the primary residence, and five
contiguous acres of land. It is a very important exemption for our
residents. And I'm gonna show you how that works in just a
moment here. Can everyone see that? I know it's little print.
Mayor Jamison: You might want to zoom in just a little bit.
Ms. Harvill: I'll zoom in, and then we can kinda go across it. Is that better?
Mayor Jamison: Yeah. That's probably better.
Ms. Harvill: Okay. So, again, in this example, we are making an assumption
that this particular property has its entirety either of 5 acres, or less,
and its property all contained within the floating homestead '
exemption. If you have more land, or other buildings on the parcel,
Regular Meeting of the Milton City Council
Monday, August 16, 2022
Page 63 of 116
those would be outside of this.
So, in this particular, we took one property, an example property,
at the current fair market value, which we've been speaking about.
So, in 2019 was the first tax year in which the floating exemption
applied to parcels. Every homeowner who had a basic floating
homestead exemption at that time, given a credit for the lower of
2016, 2017, or 2018 home value.
For this particular property, 2017 happened to be their lower of
those three years, at $625,000.00. In the law, on House Bill 710, it
stated in Year 1 that base value would be multiplied by 4.23
percent, which represents the CPI — Consumer Price Index — from
December 2015 to December of 2017. Is everyone with me?
CM Cookerly: Mm-hmm.
Ms. Harvill: So, that would give you your adjusted base value. The city, at this
time, could not charge a tax higher than was 40 percent of that,
which is your taxable value. That is the taxable value. Nothing can
go above that. Your other exemptions can come off of that, but the
city can't tax a value higher than that no matter what the county
appraised the property at on their assessment notice that they get
back in somewhere between April, and June, depending on the
year. So, regardless, the county — and I can show you in a minute. I
have all the calculations here.
The county could say your property is $1 million dollars, and we
still couldn't tax you on any more than that blue field, which you
see carries down all the way, and I show you multiplied by the
millage rate. So, I will show you quickly. Say this is $1 million
dollars. Notice this 1,232.78 wouldn't change. Only your exempt
amount would change. This field changes because the additional
value gets exempted.
So, then we travel into the next calendar year. Your adjusted base
value from the prior year carries over as your newly adjusted base
value, right? So; now the new CPI, or 3 percent, whichever is
lower, as the law states, every subsequent year after that is
following that math. It was 1.8 percent as calculated by Fulton
County. Fulton County calculates that number and gives it to the
city. So, your adjusted base value gets multiplied by that value.
And, then you have your new taxable value that you cannot tax any
I
higher on
Regular Meeting of the Milton City Council
Monday, August 15, 2022
Page 54 of 116
I know that we've talked about Fulton County increasing home ,
values by different amounts. So, for this example, we have 5
percent. You can make it 150 percent, and it would not change
anything in what we can tax you. It only changes the exempt
amount. I know that's been not as clear, or transparent based on the
information that has to be sent out in the assessments, but we've
gone through some of the parcels, and this is what the county is
'sending us. If anyone has any concerns about their individual
parcel, we'd be happy to call the county, and find out what's going
on with them. But, this is what should, bylaw, be happening.
So, again, in that given year, we can only tax you on this amount,
less any other exemptions you have, and you would have seen an
increase, year over year taxes owed, by the same amount that the
property increased by. If you do not have an exemption, you would
see an increase on yodr'taxes based on the appraised value change.
That is true if the millage rate doesn't change. So, no millage rate
change, and a value change, you pay based on the additional value
change. So, this is a very, very important exemption for all of our
community, and I encourage everybody who is eligible,to get that
to please apply. '
CM Cookerly: Bernadette, I think this is where there has been a whole lot of
misinformation. Everybody thinks that because the property values
are going up, that proportionately, this goes up as well. I've gotten
a number of emails about this, and this is, I think, goes to the heart
of it. Is that correct?
Ms. Harvill: That's correct. And I know this was one of the biggest concerns
back when this law was passed, which is why I believe the state
came into play to do this. So, this is — having that homestead
exemption is key. So, I go through it again the same way in 2021.
And let's look at 2022. So, again, you see that in 2021, 1.2 percent
was the CPI. In 2022, we know the CPI is greater than 3 percent,
so it will be 3 percent this year. So, even though the actual
appraised value of the property from Fulton County in this
example increased by 21 percent —And I'll show you from 2019 to
2022, the taxable value couldn't increase by that 20 percent. It can
only go by the different inflation rates each year.
So, that's Part I of the presentation. I'll stop to answer any
questions about how just the floating homestead exemption should
be working, according to state law that was passed.
So, now we'll look into how that actually impacts with the three '
different millage rates we've been talking about. For this example,
<.
Regular Meeting of the Milton City Council
Monday, August 16, 2022
Page 55 of 116
' I've used 4.469, not making any assumptions about what Council
would like to do but based on the presentation of the budget we
sent through.
So, at 4.469 mils, you can see that the tax bill for this particular
property, no matter even if you change this to a 150 percent
increase in value, would remain the same at $1,235.69, which is
our millage rate times the net assessment. That would be a 2.7
percent decrease in taxes owed from 2021.
Mayor Jamison: Bernadette, really quick. So, on this one, the tax is at $1,235.00.
That pretty much brings them back to what Year 2019?
Ms. Harvill: It is .24 percent more than 2019 in this case.
Male Speaker: Oh.
[Crosstalk]
Ms. Harvill: I have that right there for you. Now, you could change this. I have
all the formulas in here. You could change this to 4.731, and you'll
' see that that is 3 percent, which is equivalent to the allowable
increase in growth. So, if the millage rate remained the same, you
would enter a floating homestead exemption for your whole
property. You would see a 3 percent increase. And, you can change
that to the 4.206, and you'd have the decrease of the difference
between the change in the exemption, and the different millage rate
calculations we have.
So, I'm gonna put that back to 4.469, and I'll change this back to
10 percent for purposes of our example. And, so, we have here,
putting it back to 4.469, here are the different three. In 2022, the
three different millage rates again, what we showed you. So, 4.731
corresponds to $1,308.13, so those match. 4.206 would be
$1,162.97, which is right here. So, you can see the difference
between, again, like we just showed you in the last slide, a 4.731
millage rate, and the full rollback is 12 percent, and the difference
between the midpoint, and the full rollback is 6 percent, what you
would owe in this given year.
Here, we have the dollar amounts represented. So, the difference
between these two millage rates. The same two, for this particular
example, $72.44, and $72.72. And, then I just showed — everyone's
been asking if they would pay different from last year. We don't
have parcel level data to actually do this for everybody. This is a
made-up example. But, if you were to look at what they are
Regular Meeting of the Milton City Council
Monday, August 16, 2022
Page 66 of 116
scheduled to pay under 4.731 compared to what they did pay at
4.731 last year, again is that 3 percent increase. If you roll it back
to 4.469, they would see a 2.7 percent decrease, and if you roll it
back to 4.216,the 8.43 percent decrease.
So, I know there has been a lot of confusion about how that works.
I hope this is dispelled, and I hope it makes everyone want to run
out — that is eligible to get it — to get it.
Mayor Jamison: Absolutely. I mean, so it sounds like if you don't have your
homestead exemption, you know, that can add up over time, for
sure.
Ms. Harvill: And I'll scroll back a little bit. If you do not have your homestead
exemption, you would be paying based on — let me go right here —
on this assessed value. So, you'd be paying the millage rate times
this 40 percent. This one, you see how this is increasing every
year. So, you would be paying that.
CM Moore: Bernadette, can you remind us what the homestead exemption
application deadline is? It's already passed for this year.
Ms. Harvill: April In for both the city, and the county. You apply for the basic
homestead, and the floating homestead exemption at the county,
and it trickles down on our digest to us automatically. You don't
have to go do it twice.
CM Moore: So, this year, that's passed. Anybody who doesn't currently have
it, unfortunately will have to pay the —
Ms. Harvill: Unfortunately, that's true.
CM Moore: But they could apply for it for next year.
Ms. Harvill: Yeah. They can apply as soon as tomorrow for next year.
CM Moore: Any time between now.
Ms. Harvill: And we accept applications right now for the next qualifying year.
Mayor Jamison: So, really quick. So, like, a year like today, or a year like now, with
inflation at 9 percent, it's capped, state law. You're at 3 percent.
So, if we keep having inflation every year at 9 percent, 3 percent is
the max.
Regular Meeting of the Milton City Council
Monday, August 15, 2022
Page 57 of 116
Ms. Harvill: Correct. So, as cost for services, and different vendors, and things
like that, and items we purchase go up, we cannot keep that pace
according to this law passed by the state to ensure that the
homeowners aren't seeing that race.
Mayor Jamison: Got it. Okay.
CM Mohrig: Question on the homestead exemption. If I apply, and I apply for
my homestead exemption, I don't have to do that every year?
Ms. Harvill: That's correct.
CM Mohrig: Once I've recorded it, so if I have applied for it, and it's in my
current tax, this was the law that basically is trying to protect us
from having what happened in 2018, when all of sudden people got
20 percent, 50 percent, 100 percent increase in property value by
Fulton County. This law tries to level it .out so that you can't
realize the value in your home in real dollars. So, rather than taxing
you at the full value, this gives either the CPI, or a max of 3
percent. But, once you've done your homestead exemption, you
don't have to go back, and worry about it every year. I just want to
' make sure that was clear.
Ms. Harvill: I'd like to put a small asterisk next to that. I know having trusts are
very important to a lot of our communities. We see them come
through on the digest rolls. If you sometimes put your home into a
trust, or change anything on the deed name, that may alter, or
impact your exemption. So, you want to make sure that you check
with the county that it's still in place. That's the one asterisk I want
to put out there that even if it's still your home, and you put it into
a trust, you want to doublecheck, and make sure the county pulled
over your exemption.
CM Mohrig: So, if I refinance my home in the last two, or three years, the title is
still under my name —
Ms. Harvill: No deed change.
CM Mohrig: — homestead exemption exists. I've lived in my home 26 years. I
applied the first time. That homestead exemption continues to
carry through unless I change the legal entity to a trust, or
something.
I
Ms. Harvill: Yes, or anyone else in your family. As long as you keep that same
name on it the whole time through, you're good. If you are adding,
Regular Meeting of the Milton City Council
Monday, August 15, 2022
Page 56 of 116
or removing anybody, I would just doublecheck to be safe. '
CM Mohrig: Okay. And, then one question while we were talking about that. If
someone buys a home, let's say the home was valued — they paid,
you know, $800,000.00 for their home. The prior homeowner was
paying whatever their caps were. But, once it sold, do they start at
the value — does that restart the clock, essentially, for them. They
apply their homestead exemption, but it basically says: here's what
the value is. This is what you paid for it. This is where you're
starting from an assessment standpoint.
Ms. Harvill: Yes. It's my understanding it actually gives them the one prior year
to compare to. So, if the prior year was lower, they can base it off
the prior year. I have to doublecheck that for you. But they would
be going off of a new homeowner. We'd be going off of these
assessed values as kept up to date by Fulton County. Not the prior
owner's base value.
CM Mohrig: Right. So, essentially, as homes are sold, they get reset at the actual
value when it was sold. And that's what'we would be collecting
tax on. '
Mr. Krokoff: Fair market value.
Attorney Jarrard: Right. It's not necessarily the sales values.
CM Mohrig: If they paid over —
Attorney Jarrard: Well, there's litigation. The reason I'm — There's litigation on that
issue right now in Fulton County that I can brief you on later. But
that is an issue. But the City Manager is correct. It's fair market
value, and yes, they do not realize the benefit of past exemption.
You start anew.
CM Mohrig: Okay. So, that would be — and, again, that's the assessed value.
And county generally is gonna pick up what you paid, or
something close to it for your assessed value.
Attorney Jarrard: This might just.
Ms. Harvill: And, then they'd start their pattern of the 3 percent, or the CPI so
they would have that locked in.
CM Mohrig: Then I'm protected when I buy my new home in Milton. I can't get '
— if it goes up $300,000.00, or it goes up 10 percent, I'm gonna be
Regular Meeting of the Milton City Council
Monday, August 15, 2022
Page 59 of 116
' capped at either the CPI, or 3 percent as long as I filed my
homestead exemption. Then, that's the cap that we put in place
with that new legislation.
Ms. Harvill: And that's the taxable value piece. And, then dependent upon the
millage rate, is the difference in lowering that.
CM Mohrig: That's the variable. Right. That's what we're talking about.
CM Moore: I want to make sure we can complete that sentence. We've been
saying it, but we haven't been completing the sentence which is 3
percent, or CPI — here's the rest of the sentence — whichever is
lower.
Bernadette Harvill: Right. Yes, sir. So, in years where maybe we've been —
CM Moore: Yes, we need to make sure we clarify that when we say it.
CM Mohrig: Right. Right.
CM Moore: It's not an option. It's not a guess. It's 3 percent, or CPI, whichever
' is lower.
Ms. Harvill: And when it was 1.8, or 1.2, I don't know. We were seeing that it
would be 3 percent this soon.
CM Mohrig: That is what Fulton County calculates, and they give us the figure,
and say — let's say this year, it's 9 percent, well, then the 3 percent
goes in because we've had relatively level — or, not really inflation
for a number of years. Now, all of a sudden, we're seeing the
impacts of inflation on everything. But we're capped at 3 percent if
inflation is above that.
Ms. Harvill: Correct. And there's a very specific form that they have to look to
from the Department of Labor for that exact. So, they're not just
doing calculations. They have to look to a specific form from the
Department of Labor within the law. So, it tells them exactly
where they need to go, from which statistical summary, and all
that.
CM Mohrig: Okay. Thank you.
Mayor Jamison: Really quick question. I know back in 2018, when we reduced the
' millage rate, did people's property taxes actually go down that
year? Do you know? Because this seems to be like the first year
Regular Meeting of the Milton City Council
Monday, August 15, 2022
Page 60 of 116
that taxes are actually going to be going down for people. Do we '
know?
Ms. Harvill: Say that again.
Mayor Jamison: When we lowered that millage rate that one year when Fulton
County messed up all the assessments —
Ms. Harvill: 2018.
Mayor Jamison: Did people's actual property tax go down, do you know, off the top
of your head?
Ms. Harvill: So, again, I would have to look at that specifically.
Mayor Jamison: Okay. Just curious.
Ms. Harvill: But it would be dependent upon the individual properties. Assessed
value changed, right?
Mayor Jamison: Because I know the value went up so much, so.' '
Ms. Harvill: So, some of that would have been — Like, in this example, you're
offsetting some of that increase even further by lowering the
millage rate. So, yes, unless that change in value outpaced the
reduction that you did with the millage rate.
Mayor Jamison: That makes sense.
CM Moore: I'm speculating, but the likely answer to your question is: They
didn't go down. Because there was such an egregious change by
Fulton County, that's what created the fight. So, once it was
established, now we have this new methodology that has saved us
from Fulton County ever doing that to us ever again.
Mayor Jamison: Yeah.
Ms. Harvill: And, with our capped millage rate, it pares with that.
Mayor Jamison: That's good. Thanks.
Ms. Harvill: So, then, if we can go back, just quickly, to just finish up the
presentation. Again, we have other opportunities for savings. You
have a CUVA which changes you from having it based on your ,
house value to be based on actual use. So, you would be taxed on
Regular Meeting of the Milton City Council
Monday, August 15, 2022
Page 61 of 116
Iyour use, not your land value
Again, your assessments. We just went over that. It's very
important for everyone to understand. The county has to put your
technical assessment value on there, and they do not show you
your exemption. So, you will not be able to utilize this in order to
determine what that exempt value is.
And, by all means, call the city to make sure your exemptions are
still in place because the county does not have those by parcel level
data, but on our bill you will see them.
We go through the math again to show you. Now, take out the
floating exemption. Let's just talk about from a basic homestead
exemption standpoint,, again, you would pay these values if you
had no floating exemption. Sometimes, property values, in rare
cases, are lower now than they were in 2016, 2017, or 2018. We
have a few examples that we found with that. And those people
would not get their floating homestead exemption even though
they're eligible for it if it were to increase. And here you can see
the difference between the millage rates again. It's 6 percent
' between the first two, and 12 percent between the capped, and the
rollback.
We just break down for you, according to the budget that has been
prepared by staff, where those tax dollars are going to, so you can
understand that. So, approximately 42 percent of that money would
be going to public safety. About 14 percent to your governing
body, including finance, HR, communications, and different
departments like that. And, approximately 18 percent to the Capital
Pay as You Go program. And then, again, just showing you: What
does this mean per day?
So, at the highest possible millage rate, at taxpayer with a
$625,000.00 average, fair market value, with only the basic
homestead exemption would pay approximately $3.05 per day for
all the services that staff has prepared in the FY23 draft budget. It
would go down on the other millage rates. I'll be happy to answer
any questions and any other math exercises you'd like to do.
CM Cookerly: I think that clarified a lot based on a number of the misperceptions
that I've gotten in emails. So, thank you.
I
Mayor Jamison: Any questions for Bernadette before we have Public Comment?
Okay. We'll go to Public Comment.
Regular Meeting of the Milton City Council
Monday, August 15, 2022
Page 62 of 116
City Clerk: Mayor, I'd like to first invite Miss Nia Corsten to the podium, '
please.
Mayor Jamison: And, these are five minutes, correct?
City Clerk: Yes, five minutes.
Mayor Jamison: Okay.
Ms. Corsten: Good evening, Council, and Mayor. My name is Nia Corsten, and I
reside at 550 Owens Farm Road, and have a been a Milton resident
for 15 years. I'm here tonight respectfully requesting a full
rollback of the millage rate, not a reduction in the millage rate, that
has been proposed, and being voted on tonight. Anything short of a
full rollback is a tax increase. In fact, the 4.469 millage rate
translates into a 12.48 percent increase in our property taxes. All
Americans, not just Georgians, or those who live in Milton are
experiencing difficult times.
We are facing the highest inflation rate in more than 40 years,
despite the current White House administration's definition of
recession, and its denial, make no mistake, we are in a recession. '
This is not the time to be raising our taxes, nor is it the time to be
expanding our city government payroll. In fact, one of the key
drivers in the decision to break away from Alpharetta and form the
City of Milton was to keep our government small, and fiscally
responsible.
Today, you are voting for a budget that includes at least 11 new
full-time positions, at a price tag of almost $1.3 million dollars.
This reflects just about a 3.3 percent of the overall budget. I am
asking: Why are you doing this? And, why now? Are we not
functioning well as a city without these additional positions? Why
not look to see if we can cover some of these new positions, and
responsibilities with our existing employees? Or survey Milton
taxpayers if they even want, or need these newly created positions,
especially during a 40-year record high inflation that is impacting
every Milton resident household, including our seniors who are on
fixed incomes.
Additionally, the City of Milton is granted by the federal
government, through ARPA funds an additional $14 million
dollars. We do not need to ask our taxpayers to dig deeper into our
pockets for additional government bloat. I trust, as our elected ,
officials put in place to serve, and protect your citizens, that you
Regular Meeting of the Milton City Council
Monday, August 15, 2022
Page 63 of 116
already carefully vetted the need for each new position being
proposed in this budget. Having said that, just this morning, I had
to revise my Public Comments because of a change in the
maintenance, and operating initiatives.
Originally, the newly added position of Chief Resilience Officer,
or CRO, was itemized under the City Manager Department, and is
curiously now listed under the Fire Department under the disguise
of a Fire Department reorganization and represented as one
additional full-time Deputy Chief. The title, and job description
change, but not the $184,049.00 salary, and benefit package. Why?
Was this a bait, and switch? Could it be that adding an almost
$200,000.00 a year salary job is easier to sell as a full-time Fire
Deputy Chief, versus a CRO? Could it be a lesson from the CDC,
or the federal government for changing the definition of words?
I was compelled to dig deeper into the role of the CRO and did a
little research. Here is a job description for a CRO: As
jurisdictions, and corporations face the effects of climate change,
and the related economic instability, social inequality, migration,
and resource scarcity they are starting to develop comprehensive
strategies that closely to interlink ecology, and resilience, focusing
on the capacity to withstand climate shots. A CRO leads the
development of a resilience strategy, a process which the CRO
brings in a wide variety of stakeholders to help identify the entity's
[inaudible] 102:22:001 challenges, its capabilities, and plans to
address them, and to identify the gaps between these two.
Does our city really need this position? I think not. And I think
many of our citizens would agree. I'm sorry, I really am, for
sounding suspicious, or somewhat cynical. But, after seeing what
has occurred over the past two years, this doesn't seem to be a
stretch. My son graduated from UGA this past May. Sadly, several
of his fellow graduates had their job offers rescinded due to the
recession impacting too many companies in Georgia, and across
this country.
My heart breaks for these young professionals. These companies
had to make the difficult decision to slow spending during the
current financial downturn. Rather than passing the burden onto
the backs of your citizens, I am asking that you all act, and in this
case vote, with the same fiscal discipline demonstrated by these
private corporations and vote against this tax increase. Thank you.
I
City Clerk: Mayor, I'd like to invite Miss Lisa Cauley to .the podium, please.
Regular Meeting of the Milton City Council
Monday, August 15, 2022
Page 64 of 116
Ms. Cauley: My name is Lisa Cauley. I live at 14680 Freemanville Road. The 1
American people are suffering with inflation, and the economic
turndown which began in 2021. I have some economic data that I
want to share with you. Michael Hartnett, Chief Investment
Strategist for Bank of America has warned clients of a looming
recession shock in the US economy. The federal reserve's plan to
raise interest rates to bring -down the highest inflation in 40 years
will lead to shockwaves across the economy.
Deutsche had predicted unemployment rate would increase by 1,5
percent bringing the total out of job to 5.1 percent in 2023. While
the fed plans to bring interest rates up to 2 percent by the end of
the year, the bank predicts the rate to go up to 3.5 percent in 2023.
This comes as the US Treasury's two-year yield surpassed the ten-
year yield last week, a precursor to every US recession.
According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, and Economic
Analysis, inflation from February 2021 to February 2022, meat,
and poultry are up 13 percent, cereal 7.5 percent, gasoline 38
perceni, airfare 13 percent, used cars 41 percent; and fruit, and
vegetables 7.6 percent. According to the US Consumer Prices ,
Inflation Index in June, inflation was at a 40 year high at 9.1
percent, up from 7.9 percent in February. We are at historically
high levels.
The Central Bank projects overall inflation'will be up 4.3 percent
just this year. Meanwhile, economic growth is projected at 2.8
percent this year, a steep drop from the 4 percent growth projected
this past December.
The National Association of Realtors found the US Housing
Affordability Index fell to 98.5 in June, the lowest recorded in 33
years. Average mortgage payments rose $647.00 in January due to
higher rates, and record home prices. America is in a recession
after second straight quarter GDP decline. The Commerce
Department, on Thursday said the US Gross Domestic Product
shrank .9 percent last quarter following a 1.6 percent decline in the
previous quarter.
Fulton County Board of Commissioners meets this week. They
will be voting on raising the millage. What are the chances the
Fulton County Board of Commissioners will vote to raise the mils?
If Milton doesn't do a full rollback, then Milton residents will be
impacted by both Milton, and Fulton County increases. Did you '
know in 2021 the US set a record for the highest tax revenue in the
Regular Meeting of the Milton City Council
Monday, August 16, 2022
Page 66 of 116
' history of our country? We ran a $2.8 trillion dollar deficit. This
issue is not that we are not taxing enough. We literally set a tax
record. The issue is that we spend too much. Stop unnecessary
spending during this historically high inflation level. This applies
at the local city level of government, as well.
If now isn't the time to give Milton taxpayers a full rollback, when
might we ever be in a situation where we would? The full rollback
would help taxpayers get through this recession. Out of 16 years,
only one year did Milton do a full rollback from the cap. Now is
not the time to spend and fulfill a wish list of new government
employee positions. We need to table and reexamine the absolute
need for the positions.
The difference between a full rollback, and partial rollback is north
of $850,000.00. Our budget, and spending in Milton has increased
tremendously from $3.3 million to $39 million in five years. And
we're not gonna go any lower every year adding new positions.
We became a city to provide our citizens with our own services,
getting away from Fulton County big government, and
unnecessary spending. The responsible decision for the families in
Milton is to vote for a full rollback this year. Thank you for your
time.
Mayor Jamison: Thank you. Will the City Clerk please sound the next —
City Clerk: I'd like to invite Robert Fricton to the podium, please.
Mayor Jamison: Thank you.
Mr. Fricton: Good evening, Mr. Mayor, City Council. My name is Robert
Fricton. I live at 2970 Francis Road. I've been up here for about 40
years. The taxes — what's going on with the taxes, I mean, even
with all the things the city has done to try to save us, my taxes have
gone up over the years $30.00 per year, or $50.00. Whatever. I
mean, it keeps going up. It's very slow, luckily. But I would like to
see the rate at the lowest level that we could get. As everybody has
said, we have inflation, okay? It's a national thing.
One thing that I always liked about our city was it really wasn't
that political until the last two years. And all the rigmarole is all
about federal. At the lower levels, if you're a senior, or even
young, it's hard to get the increases from your employer to meet
what's been going on with inflation. These people complain about
the inflation. When I moved up here, my mortgage rate was like 15
Regular Meeting of the Milton City Council
Monday, August 15, 2022
Page 66 of 116
percent. Now, I don't remember people screaming bloody murder '
back then about how bad it was.
Yeah, it was hard, and my God, you couldn't get anybody to pay
you. But we made it. And I expect the city, and the City Council to
buckle down, and try to keep it down. I know you guys want to
hire. We're a young city. You're trying to meet the needs, and the
''services of the people. And everybody demands it right now. But,
to do it right now costs money. And maybe my neighbors have the
money. I don't know. I don't. I mean, I'm retired, and I appreciate
what the City Council did, and Rick, getting the senior exemptions
on the ballot. Hopefully that will pass. It will help.
Other counties get away, and cities get — you know, when you
reach 70, it doesn't matter about your income. What matters is
you're 70, and they know you're on a fixed income. It is rough
when you're on fixed income, and you're old. Hate getting old
because you get sick, and sicker. But, you know, we've enjoyed
our time up here. Working with the City Council over the years
and talking to you all has been great. Like I said, it really wasn't
political. I don't know — The assumption- is you're all republicans.
I don't know. I don't really care. I vote for the person. I don't vote '
if you're republican. Of course, now the way things are going, I
may have to consider that.
I mean, but I've never worried about it. It wasn't a big deal. Yeah,
we were all neighbors. And it's always been good to work with the
people up here. So, I'm hoping that you'll see we need to keep the
money down. Keep our expenses down. Help the people out,
whether you're a senior citizen, or a young person living in Milton,
you know, try to keep it down. Save some, money. Build up the
bank account for when things get bad and go from there. But I
appreciate what you guys have been doing over the years. It has
been a lot of fun with all the things going on, and seeing this city
grow, and seeing all the different things that we're trying to do.
But, if we can keep the taxes down, it would be appreciated. Thank
you very much.
Mayor Jamison: Thank you, Mr. Fricton.
City Clerk: Mayor, I'd like to next invite Miss Mary Cronk to the podium,
please.
Ms. Cronk: Hi. My name is Mary Cronk, and I live at 600 Hickory Mill Lane '
,. .
Regular Meeting of the Milton City Council
Monday, August 16, 2022
Page 67 of 116
' in Milton. And I appreciate some of the clarification that we had. I
think that's very helpful. I'm still a little confused on that
additional floating exemption, and how that plays a role. And I
don't know if I read everything correctly, but it looked to me like
you had to have a certain amount of acreage in order to get that.
So, I sent you all some information that I had developed, and that
may not be accurate. And, I apologize if there's any confusion with
that.
But what I did want to point out — and I'm just looking at the
change from our 2020 taxes to our 2022. And I'm looking at the
2020 budget presentation, and the numbers, and maybe I can — I
kinda did a little hand stuff here because I changed my tactics. And
I'm hoping that we can pull that up. Maybe not.
City Clerk: It's just a delay. It will come.
Ms. Cronk: Okay. So, this was from 2020 at a fair market value of
$400,000.00. And this is directly from the budget book. We had an
assessed value. They took that off. We took off the homestead
exemption. So, you got the subtotal of $145,000.00. And your total
' taxes due were then $686.00. I can move this up so you can see the
rest. And then, we have for 2022, we had the fair market value of
the average home was $625,000.00. This was from the presentation
from 2022 property tax. I took it directly from that.
The adjusted then, you take off the 40 percent, and you take off the
$15,000.00 homestead exemption, and you go down to $1,111.79
at a 4.731. And so on. So, you get down to 4.206, which would still
be $988.41 that a person would owe in taxes. If you compare those
numbers that we would be paying in 2022 to the $686.00 that were
paid in taxes by that average $400,000.00 home, which, if we're
looking at a fair market value, should have been fair market value
in 2020, the same as a fair market walue in 2022.
You're gonna see that we would pay, at a 4.731, it's a 61.9 percent
increase. You're going from $1,111.79 — from this is 2020 to this
in 2022. Okay? You're going from this in 2020 $686.00 at 4.69 to
$1,050.00. That's where I'm getting some numbers. I'm hoping
that what I'm doing is reading this correctly. Then again, maybe
I'm not. But all I was doing is looking at what was in the budget
book for 2020, and what was in the presentation for 2022.
' And I'm hoping that what I would also recommend is that we do
the rollback. We do the full rollback based on everything that
Regular Meeting of the Milton City Council
Monday, August 15, 2022
Page 66 of 116
everyone else has said, and in my opinion, looking at the '
percentage, and tax increase that our taxpayers have paid over
time. Thank you very much for your time.
Mayor Jamison: Thank you.
City Clerk: Mayor, I'd like to next invite Greg Cronk to the podium, please.
Mr. Cronk: Good evening. I'm Greg Cronk. I also live at 600 Hickory Mill
Lane. And I would just like to ask the Council to, as you look at
bringing more money in, that you also think about the other side of
the equation and watch your cost. Now, I think somebody else was
much more eloquent than I am about that. But cost is so important.
You all have done a marvelous job with the city since 2006.
You've been a brand-new operation. You've brought so much stuff
online. But, like all new organizations, all new businesses, maybe
it's time to stop, and look at what you're spending. Because a lot of
things that we're spending money on right now are not a one, and
done thing.
Now you have to maintain them. Now that you're giving '
somebody a big pay raise, you have to give them another pay raise
next year on top of that big pay raise this year. There will come a
reckoning at some point when all of a sudden, when property
values do decrease at some point, which happens every now, and
then in this country. And we all will live through that. But you still
have this huge amount of money that you owe every year. Where's
the money coming from?
American history is littered full of cities that did great, were
boomtowns, and then they're bankrupt. Let's not let the City of
Milton go the way of the county of Milton. Thank you very much.
I'd also like to say I couldn't really hear everything, and see
everything Miss Bernadette was saying, so I can't wait to get
home, and look at the film of it because I really want to see how
you got those numbers. Because, somehow, what I got from the
county is showing I'm paying more cash. That's all I know. Thank
you very much.
Mayor Jamison: Thank you.
City Clerk: Mayor, I'd like to next invite Miss Candy Muldowney to the
podium, please.
Ms. Muldowney: Good evening. My name is Candy Muldowney. I live at 3325 '
Regular Meeting of the Milton City Council
Monday, August 15, 2022
Page 69 of 116
Kenworth Lane. I am here today to comment on the proposed tax
increase. I am asking that you consider a full rollback of the
millage rate. This would result in a zero increase in our taxes. This
economy is at its worst point, with a 40-year high inflation, along
with gas, and grocery prices rising also. No one needs, or wants, to
pay more in city taxes. Fulton County is also considering a tax
increase, which means we could possibly be impacted by a county
tax increase, and a city tax increase. The suggested partial rollback
would cause a 12.48 percent increase in our taxes owed. This is not
the time to do this.
We all need to be fiscally responsible. I understand the city
received $14 million in COVID-19 dollars from the federal
government. We need to slow down our local government
spending. Thank you.
Mayor Jamison: Thank you.
City Clerk: Mayor, I'd like to invite Mr. Ed Parsons to the podium, please.
Mr. Parsons: Ed Parsons. 1760 Redd Road, Milton. Boy, how can I compete
' with these guys. They have great presentations. You know, I just
want to remind you guys, you guys were elected by us to represent
us. And, one of the most important roles that you have is to be
fiscally responsible. And, it's clear what the message is. How
many people here are for tax increases? Like, nobody. Just listen to
the people who elected you. Nobody wants a tax increase.
Everybody in this room wants it rolled back. You just have to
listen to what they're saying. Thank you.
Mayor Jamison: Thank you.
City Clerk: Mayor, the next one is Miss Mary Mayer. I'll read hers. She is here
in the audience, but I will read hers: My husband, and I wish to —
She is at 16070 Henderson Road. — My husband, and I wish to be
on record supporting a 100 percent rollback of the millage rate.
Not a partial rollback, thus neutralizing Fulton County's tax hike
for the citizens of Milton, essentially keeping our taxes unchanged.
We cannot find just cause at this time for permanently adding head
count for non -essential services when our citizens are facing
economic hardship due to a blended 25 percent increase in
housing, fuel, and food.
' The federal reserve has signaled two additional rate hikes in
September, and October, suggesting a further increase in mortgage
Regular Meeting of the Milton City Council
Monday, August 15, 2022
Page 70 of 116
rates currently in the 5 percent range. These rate increases are '
designed to slow down, if not stop, economic growth. We want to
encourage new home ownership, and at the same time provide
relief to our neighbors, allowing them to ride out the economic
turbulence in the coming year. Maintaining lowering our property
taxes is currently the best course of action.
Our understanding is our property taxes revenue is growing
organically, given all the new housing construction, and businesses
now operating in our city. We support wage increases, and
equipment for our police, and fire fighters. We do not support, nor
see a need for a virtual visitor center, -and other non -essential
services at this time. We would like to see non -essential budget
increases tabled for the near term. Thank you.
City Clerk: Next, I would like to invite Kevin Muldowney to the podium,
please.
Mr. Muldowney: Good evening. Kevin Muldowney, 3325 Kenworth Lane — It's
called Alpharetta, but it's certainly Milton. This is a year for the
Milton City Council to show its residence that the Council can be ,
fiscally responsible, and true to the reasons for our city's
formation. We say Fulton as a bloated behemoth, sucking tax
dollars away, and providing little in the way of essential services.
The formation of Milton was intended as a city that would provide
these services efficiently, be in tune with residents' needs, and
above all, avoid government inclination to grow larger, and larger.
There is great economic uncertainty. The national economy is
slowing. We've had two quarters of negative growth. The price of
gasoline, and groceries are out of hand. Inflation, as everybody
said, is at a 40-year high. Remember the 1970s? Residents,
especially those retired on a fixed income, are forced to tighten
their belts. Milton is considering initiatives that would, among
other items, add $1.2 million dollars in new staff positions.
Another would purchase trendy electric bicycles for some of those
new city employees to patrol our parks. An understandable
function, but wouldn't a regular mountain bike be cheaper? Just a
little aside.
We have had quite a few prosperous years. The city tax receipts,
and budgets have steadily increased over the past five years. The
proposed millage increase would be the largest single year increase
in those five years. We've received $14 million dollars in COVID-
19 relief, $10 million of which going toward capital projects.
Commercial property tax will increase this year from new
Regular Meeting of the Milton City Council
Monday, August 15, 2022
Page 71 of 116
' businesses coming online. This is the environment in which the
city needs to do, some belt -tightening of its own.
We need a full rollback of the millage rate for a zero increase in
residential property tax. This will show the residents that we have
actually created a government that is responsive, and
understanding to its residents' needs, not a municipality on the
road to government bloat like the very county we annexed away
from. Thank you.
Mayor Jamison: Thank you.
City Clerk: Mayor, I'd like to next invite Brett Chromy to the podium.
Mr. Chromy: My name is Brett Chromy. I live at 14147 Seabiscuit. For the good
of the city, I'd like to recommend that you reduce the millage rate
to 4.2 percent, or even lower. It's clear that City Council, and
Mayor positions are not non -partisan. But many, if not all of you,
are members of the republican party. You've publicly support
republicans, or you've declared as such while running for office.
And it makes sense as the majority of Milton residents are
' conservatives, and/or republican. It would be sad, and
disingenuous to now vote to raise taxes against the majority of the
residents and will belie your campaign speeches.
Make no mistake, keeping the millage rate where it is, or even
partially rolling it back is a tax increase, especially during this time
of high inflation. There is no more time for threading the needle, or
some other such nonsense. It should have been rolled back last
year, and that was a lost opportunity. It is not your money. It is not
the city staff s money, no matter what superfluous way they want
to spend it. It's the money that belongs to the Milton residents, and
enough is enough. It's time to fully rollback the millage rate.
Mayor Jamison: Thank you.
City Clerk: Mayor, I invite Karen Dubin to the podium.
Ms. Dubin: Karen Durbin, 200 Davis Glen Court. After sitting, listening to
everybody here, I'm just gonna present. This past week in my
community, which is Richmond Glen, in my cul-de-sac, there are
about five people who live in there of different members of the
community that are about 60 to 65. And one of their big concerns
' is the increase in the millage rate. They're also concerned about
inflation. They're nervous about how they're gonna provide for
Regular Meeting of the Milton City Council
Monday, August 16, 2022
Page 72 of 116
themselves, and I think at this point, they would be — They're '
really, I guess, pretty — I think it's just they're concerned overall.
So, I would appreciate if you would consider the full rollback, and
I just have to say this: When we went to look at the budget online,
your bud `get is 159 pages. It was kinda — It took us about five hours
to go through.that budget. I know you advertised it, that it was out
there, but maybe next time, it could be more clear that when you
put this out, you say to people, like make it just plain layman
terms, "We're reviewing the budget. We're increasing this." I
mean, that's a lot of pages to go through for somebody that, you
know?
At least, I mean, I work. Maybe they don't work. But that's a lot of
time. So, I just think you should think about some.of these elderly
people who live here. They want to live here. They shouldn't have
to leave. And I think we should take into consideration what they
want, also. Thanks.
City Clerk: Mayor, I invite Susanne Hubbard to the podium.
Ms. Hubbard: Hello. My name is Susanne Hubbard. I live at 14250 Freemanville '
Road. I'm a longtime resident. I was here when Milton was
established. Back then, the reasoning to form Milton was because
we could do things better, and more efficiently. So, I do not
understand why we're considering raising the millage rate even a
little, especially now. The last few years have been tough.
Businesses lost, people have lost jobs, gas is up, food is up,
everything is up. People are hurting or feel it in one way or
another.
This area is growing. There are more houses, especially around my
house, that are going in. Commercial is being built up everywhere.
There should be a lot of extra tax revenue right there. Sadly, more,
and more large landowners, and farms, and retired people are
selling, and leaving Milton. It makes me sad. That's why I moved
up here was for the farmland, and the vastness of the area. It was
totally unique. There needs to be a full rollback, especially now.
Please remind people why Milton became Milton, that you listen to
the residents, and you do what's best for the community. Please
vote for a full rollback. Thank you for watching out for this great
community.
Mayor Jamison: Thank you. I
Regular Meeting of the Milton City Council
Monday, August 15, 2022
Page 73 of 116
' City Clerk: Matt Rowanczak, I invite you to the podium.
Mr. Rowanczak: Good evening again. I'm Matt Rowanzek, 3001 Victory Terrace,
and a lot of the comments that have been said, you know, I don't to
reiterate, or hit home. I think the message is pretty clear tonight in
opposition of the proposed millage rate, and a full rollback to the
4.2. And I would agree if it could be lower than that, that would be
fantastic. This is the definition of government creep. You know, I
think the mindset needs to be looked at because, you know, maybe
there should be — we have proclamations, right? Maybe, there
needs to be a day in the life, or city staff go live in a senior's home
for a day. Have conversations with seniors in this city.
I talked to a grocery store manager a couple weeks ago, and he
said, "The reason why, our hotdogs, and our hotdog bun sales are
down, and our white bread sales are up, is because families are
having to make decisions on what to buy." They can't even decide
to have a cookout because of our current economic environment.
So, you know, to even propose this, like we shouldn't even have to
be here to make these comments, right? It should already be
proposed to have tax decreases, and to make a better environment
' for these residents. So, again, to be blunt, this is a lot of reasons
why people hate government. So, definitely fully support the full
rollback. Thank you.
Mayor Jamison: Thank you.
City Clerk: Mr. Dirk Niemiera, I invite you to the podium. Mr. Bill Lusk, I
invite you to the podium.
Mr. Lusk: Good evening, Mayor, and Council. My name is WC Lusk. I live
at13—
Mate Speaker: God is speaking to you.
Mr. Lusk: I speak the truth. 1355 Summit Road in Fields Crossroads. And
I'm here tonight to speak, obviously, on the millage rate. Maybe a
little history: Back in 2006, a referendum was proposed to us to
create the City of Milton out of the formerly unincorporated
northwest Fulton County. And it was through the efforts of many
of us here tonight, Councilman Mohrig, Councilman Moore, Lisa
Cauley, and several other out here who have made it happen. And
I'm proud to be here. I'm proud to live here and be a part of it.
' And, that referendum, at that time, was approved by 86 percent of
the voters. So, it is very popular.
Regular Meeting of the Milton City Council
Monday, August 16, 2022
Page 74 of 116
1
The concept that was promoted for that referendum was that we
could create, or run our own government up here more efficiently,
and effectively, and at more of a cost productive rate than what we
were getting from Fulton County previously. And we also believed
that we should operate our government under sound business
practices and live within our means while providing the basic
services that are mandated by the State of Georgia. And we've
done that. And we've even exceeded those expectations.
We've created a world class city here, with a world class police
department, fire department, community development department.
And we've established here one of the greatest qualities of life
within the State of Georgia. While the population has doubled in
the 16 years since we were created, our revenues have exceeded
our expenses. And I appreciated the presented by Miss Harvill
earlier, but I believe we were just talking about property tax
revenues. Well, that doesn't tell the whole picture.
We have other revenues. And, in 2019, we had revenues of around
$16 million. And, this fiscal year, from what I understand, our '
revenues are around $19 million, which, in simple mathematics —
I'm not trying to make it difficult — that's $3 million dollars, or
about a 29 percent increase in taxes. So, it appears that what we're
doing here is maintaining the same property taxes while we're
realizing taxes from other sources out there.
As a senior citizen on a fixed income of sorts — and I think I
represent a few other seniors here tonight — tax increases,
particularly in this era of inflation, and world unrest — is
unpalatable. I think it's time that we need to get back to our basic
fundamental principles, and ideals that we established the city
upon. I ask you to seriously consider tonight rolling back the
millage rate to 4.2. This is discussion that comes up annually. You
have the opportunity to discuss it again next year if this doesn't
work.
So, this is not any bank -breaking exercise here to reduce this
millage rate and roll it back completely. Thank you very much for
your consideration. Thank you very much for your service to our
community.
Mayor Jamison: Thank you.
City Clerk: Mayor, that concludes Public Comment. '
Regular Meeting of the Milton City Council
Monday, August 16, 2022
Page 75 of 116
' Mayor Jamison: Okay. I will close the Public Comment, and we'll probably just
save Council discussion, and questions until the next item, which
will be Miss Bernadette Harvill. So, will City Clerk please sound
the next item.
City Clerk: Mayor, that next item is consideration of a resolution authorizing
the transmittal of a Draft Capital Improvements element know CIE
2022 annual update relating to the city's impact fee program to the
Atlanta Regional Commission — ARC — for regional, and state
review. It's agenda item No. 22-253. Our Community
Development Director, Mr. Robert Buscemi.
Mr. Buscemi: Mayor, Council, again. At the last work session, we had Page
Hadley come up, and just give you the rundown on the CIE. Later,
you'll be voting on this. But I'll just give you quick: This
resolution allows the city to transmit the draft CIE 2022 annual
update to the Atlanta Regional Commission, ARC, for regional,
and state review, upon approval by DCA. That's the Department of
Community Affairs. This City of:Milton may adopt the 2022 CIE
annual update. Adoption is anticipated to occur October 31, 2022.
That is a yearly update. So.
' Mayor Jamison: Do we have any Public Comment on this?
City Clerk: We do not.
Mayor Jamison: Okay. I will close the Public Comment. And thank you. Appreciate
it. Okay. So, we have move on to Unfinished Business. Will the
City Clerk please sound the first item.
City Clerk: Mayor, that first item is consideration of an ordinance of the
Mayor, and Council of the City of Milton, Georgia to establish the
ad valorem tax rate of the City of Milton for Fiscal Year 2023, and
for other purposes. Agenda item No. 22-235. Bernadette Harvill.
Ms. Harvill: My screen is blank right now. I was going to pull up the current
millage rate options, but again, you have the opportunity to
approve any millage rate you so choose. We are asking for the
0.452 mils in order to cover the debt service needed for the
Greenspace Bond.
1 Mayor Jamison: Okay. Real quick, is there any Public Comment on this?
Regular Meeting of the Milton City Council
Monday, August 16, 2022
Page 76 of 116
City Clerk: No, sir. That— '
[Crosstalk]
Mayor Jamison: Okay. So, I'll close the Public Comment. Open it up for questions
for Miss Harvill, and discussion from Council.
CM Cookerly: I would have a question.
Mayor Jamison: Sure.
CM Cookerly: Bernadette, could you please review — like, I appreciate all of our
speakers. Was there any misinformation that was brought forward
that you thought that you had corrected earlier?
Ms. Harvill: My biggest concerns were just twofold. One, that Council had in
any way given any approval on a millage rate, which wasn't the
case at the time. And I just wanted to be clear that you all had not
made that decision yet. And I also just wanted to be really clear
that each specific property value did not go up by 17 percent. That
that is the summary of the overall digest if a 4.731 millage rate
were to be approved, and 100 percent of all revenues were to be ,
collected. So, I just really wanted to reiterate that for everybody.
And, of course, showing how the floating exemption should work.
So, if anyone has not seen that, they can contact us, and we can
work with them to help talk to Fulton County about what might be
going on.
Mayor Jamison: So, really, what we're discussing — and you can see we live in a
great city when we're debating on how much to lower the millage
rate. It's really what we're talking about. And, so, I think that
Excel Spreadsheet really made a 'lot of sense as we kinda went
through it. So, basically — and please just tell me if I'm wrong — if
you have a homestead property in the City of Milton, and I guess
it's 5 acres, or under, your property taxes are actually gonna go
down, and they'll go down to the 2019 levels. Is that about right?
Ms. Harvill: Everything that we've looked at, following your entire property.
So, there's been no improvements to your property, there are no
other buildings on your property, and you're in those 5 acres, or
less, you should see if 4.469 were to be approved, a .24 percent
from 2019, and a 2.7 percent decrease from last year's 4.731.
Mayor Jamison: And our level of service remains the same for all our citizens. I
Regular Meeting of the Milton City Council
Monday, August 15, 2022
Page 77 of 116
' Ms. Harvill: Yes, sir. The current budget prepared by staff maintains current
service levels while also addressing items in the comprehensive
plan, and the strategic plan, other master plans that have been
approved with community input, as well as the current capital
improvement plan for projected timelines.
Mr. Krokoff: Just to clarify on that. So, there is — the M&O initiatives represent
increases generally in level of service.
Mayor Jamison: Right.
Mr. Krokoff: Other than that, yes, it would be maintaining operations. But,
M&O initiatives, by, and large, are increases in level of service.
Mayor Jamison: And those maintenance, and operations initiatives — those come
from the comp plan, and the strategic plan. Is that correct?
Mr. Krokoff: That's where they come from.
Mayor Jamison: So, I have a couple questions. One, based on what's going on with
LOST, there will be no new hires until LOST is settled. Is that
' correct?
Mr. Krokoff: My recommendation to Council will be that we hold off on any
new hires, any new positions until LOST is solidified.
Mayor Jamison: Because LOST — and, please correct me if my numbers are wrong.
Right now, the county gets 5 percent — 4.9-something — share of
LOST. Of course, we're in this negotiation now, and their first
foray into it was 35 percent, which is obviously outrageous. And, if
they got 35 percent, which I obviously don't think they will, but if
they do, what would be our millage rate? Do you have any idea?
Mr. Krokoff: I can tell you we have to make up approximately $3.2 million
dollars.
Mayor Jamison: Okay. And, so, right now, they're at 25 percent, and hopefully
they'll come down. But that's also, on the table, that is a very
serious concern.
Ms. Harvill: And you can kind of see in the five-year history of levy ad, where
we have to show if you were to collect the same revenues without
LOST, where that millage rate would be. So, say we did not have
' LOST in these prior years, the millage rate would need to be up
near these millage rates in order to collect that same amount of
Regular Meeting of the Milton City Council
Monday, August 16, 2022
Pane 78 of 116
revenue at what we collected. That's how that ad works. '
Mayor Jamison: Got it.
Mr. Krokoff: We can't.
Mayor Jamison: Yeah, we can't do that.
CM Cookerly: So, where, in any of this — because, I'm not able to track out when
it's mentioned that there will be a 12 percent increase? I can't find
it in any of the numbers.
Ms. Harvill: The way that works is: In the reassessment of real property, you
have all of the parcels that are under that exemption, as well as
those that are not, as well as commercial properties that are not
eligible for that exemption. So, any increases to those properties
are also contained within that figure, as well as those who are
protected by the exemption. Approximately 50 percent to 55
percent of our current real property is under that exemption.
CM Moore: I'd like to go back to the comment you just made to make sure I '
understood it correctly. If we are not — If LOST is not available to
us, I think you said we would have to make up approximately $3
million dollars.
Mr. Krokoff: Can I just clarify one point?
Mayor Jamison: Yeah.
Mr. Krokoff: If Fulton County got 35 percent of the LOST revenue like they
proposed initially, we'd have to make up approximately $3.2
million dollars based on this year's collections. If there is no LOST
collection, we're talking about $11 point something million
dollars.
CM Moore: And that's comparing — So, that $3 million dollar — call it deficit
for the sake of this example — would have to make it up based on
which millage rate that's currently being assessed by staff? And
[inaudible] [03:04:04] obviously.
Mr. Krokoff: So, the millage rates that we presented, and of course none of those
three are recommended by staff. We're just putting out there what
the cap millage rate is, what the rollback was, and what's exactly
in the middle, right, for the Council to consider. And, of course, '
you can go anywhere from 4.731 down to zero. So, none of those
1
Regular Meeting of the Milton City Council
Monday, August 15, 2022
Page 79 of 116
are contemplating the drop in LOST because we don't know where
that's gonna go. So, our numbers are based on the current set up,
which is just under 5 percent.
CM Moore: Okay. So, we're I was going with that line of questioning is: If we
consider a rollback to one of the considerations offered to us this
evening to look at, and LOST negotiation still goes badly with
Fulton County, that $3 million dollar could become significantly
more if the negotiation goes badly, and we rollback too far. That
$3 million dollars could become $4 million, $5 million, or $6
million. So, then, we're- not just looking at headcount
considerations that would be on pause, we'd be looking at a
significant impact on the overall budget, capital improvements,
road maintenance, fire, and police equipment. It's a significantly
greater impact on us than —
CM Cookerly: It's been the great unknown for a while throughout this process.
CM Moore: Yeah.
Mr. Krokof£ I think if that we to occur, we have 15 cities across the county that
would have to do some major reckoning.
CM Moore: I realize that, but it's a realistic argument to be considered in the
fact that it's not resolved.
Mayor Jamison: And it won't be resolved until the end of the year.
CM Moore: Exactly. So, we have to make a decision with that consideration
being given. And, my proposed consideration, too, for us to think
about is: How much bigger could that be, if the negotiation was to
go badly?
Mayor Jamison:
CM Mohrig:
Mayor Jamison:
That's a good point.
Can I?
Sure.
CM Mohrig: Bernadette, we have to carry, by law, for these types of things, we
have to carry a reserve in case we have an issue. How much do we
have in our reserve right now, or what would we have, assuming
things don't change dramatically, what do we have in reserve in
case we had to guard against if we had an issue? Let's say, we did
do the full rollback, and something did go amiss with LOST
Regular Meeting of the Milton City Council
Monday, August 15, 2022
Page 80 of 116
revenue, we don't get that. It goes away. How much do we have '
right now, set aside for reserve for the city?
Ms. Harvill: By law, the city has to maintain 25 percent of the subsequent
year's revenues in reserve. So, looking at this bottom line of these
$3.7 million - $3.8 million dollars in revenues, we'd have to have
25 percent of that at the end of this fiscal year to be in compliance.
The budget we are proposing would stay in line with that.
CM Mohrig: What's the dollar amount?
Ms. Harvill: It's currently at $10.6 million dollars, and you have to keep that,
by law, in reserve. That's not something that we, at this time, can
choose to — and that would be if there was an emergency, or rainy
day, or if we were to lose some revenue source, there was a bigger
downturn in the economy — that we can continue to operate, have
public safety available, and those types of things.
CM Mohrig: Okay.
Ms. Harvill: Now, anything exceeding that that is collected, or not spent has to '
again, by law, be spent on one-time items. We can't build in
recurring expenses to utilize this for. That's the same way the
ARPA funding worked. One-time expenses. We couldn't use that
to offset costs. By law, we couldn't use ARPA funds to offset any
operating costs and lowering [inaudible] [03:07:531.
CM Mohrig: I guess, I'm just trying to look at raw numbers. I know we need to
be fiscally responsible. I know we need to look at potentially what
could happen, but we don't know what's gonna happen. We do
know we're heading toward a recession. Now, what I learned today
from talking to you, and the presentations, doing a partial rollback,
doing the math that was out there, potentially, or theoretically
depending on what your valuation change was, and what the 3
percent cap is, you could get a lower tax bill this year, even doing a
partial rollback, correct?
Ms. Harvill: Yes, sir, if they're within that floating homestead exemption
calculation, that is correct.
CM Mohrig: Okay. So, I think that's the part that confused everybody, at least
when people were going forward. They were just looking, and
thinking a rollback brings you back to zero tax increase. But, with
the new law, potentially, you could do a partial rollback, and you '
could get less taxes than last year. I guess going off from what Mr.
Regular Meeting of the Milton City Council
Monday, August 15, 2022
Page 81 of 116
' Lusk said, I go back to when we formed the city. We had half the
population we have today. We started building from basically
nothing. And we've done — staff has done a great job.
Previous Councils have done a great job in financially managing
our risk and getting us up to service levels where we actually — we
can — we have great parks. In fact, out of the $14 million, we're
gonna dedicate $10 million of that, basically was a windfall, to
where normally we have our pay as you go, that was taking a
number of years to get that $10 million to be able to spend for
parks. We got that kind of free, but even in the budget that you're
looking at today, whether you do a full rollback, or you do a 4.469,
we still are saving in our pay as you go, correct? That's still part of
that. It doesn't matter. We're gonna fund that, and put money
aside, regardless.
Ms. Harvill: That's correct.
CM Mohrig: Because I've heard for a number of years, "Oh, if we don't do the
max thing, it's gonna hurt our pay as you go." Well, we just got a
windfall where we're gonna be able to move forward on our parks,
which is a good thing. But we're still being responsible, even the
most conservative of the examples that we gave, by rolling it back,
doing a full rollback. What I look at, I guess, working in budget in
the past, and in finance, I take a look at: What's the gross revenues
that we're collecting, or property tax? Because that's where it
impacts us, and it impacts businesses.
If I look at your numbers — and, I mean, I have it exactly right —
2019, we collected $15.3 million in property taxes that's in the
budget that we use for comparison, correct?
Ms. Harvill: I'm sorry. Can you repeat that for me one time?
CM Mohrig: $15.3 million. If I'm looking at the summary sheet — the general
budget ledger.
Ms. Harvill: Yes. I have to dive into specifically by line item here in front of
you, which shows that property tax category has, in there,
franchise fees, and some other items, so I have this to show you a
little more clearly exactly where that real property line item has
changed over the years. If that's a little more helpful at all?
I
CM Mohrig: Okay. I guess I would go more — I would just use the top level that
you guys had prepared. And I see — I'm using $15.3 million — is
Regular Meeting of the Milton City Council
Monday, August 15, 2022
Page 82 of 116
what shows in the general budget summary, that sheet for 2019.
And, then you have 2020 $16.571 million, and then 2021, on this
sheet, is $18.189 million. And, then projected if we do the
midpoint rollback, is $19.826 million.
Ms. Harvill: We're in the neighborhood. I'll have to figure out why the original
sheet you have is a little off, but for purposes of, you're right in
.that ballpark. And here's the overall summary. And, then I broke it
down again by specific lines, where we can see how that's changed
year, over year.
CM Mohrig: Okay. Well, if I look at the subtotal, we're close to that.
Ms. Harvill: Yes, sir.
CM Mohrig: The $16.5 million is higher than the $15.3, so clearly, what we're
seeing is it's not like we're raising taxes on everybody, butias we
grow as a city, with the 3 percent, with the reevaluations, with new
properties, commercial property, and new homes being built,
homes being sold, and reassessed, we're collecting more revenue
even as we scale back the millage rate. If we scaled it back this
year to the full rollback, we're still collecting more revenue to the
point that we could fund all of our existing services today at the
same service level. Is that correct?
Ms. Harvill: That is an accurate statement —
CM Mohrig: Okay.
Ms. Harvill: — should you choose to. You have the option where you take that
money from, and you can choose to take it from increased services,
or the capital plan, or current services. You can —
CM Mohrig: Okay.
Mayor Jamison: What's that number, really quick?
Ms. Harvill: $886,513.00 dollars.
Mayor Jamison: So, that's what would have to be cut from the current budget.
Ms. Harvill: Correct.
CM Mohrig: From the proposed.
1
Regular Meeting of the Milton City Council
Monday, August 16, 2022
Page 83 of 116
CM Jacobus: From the proposed.
CM Mohrig: Right. So, $868,000.00.
Ms. Harvill: The draft. We'll call it the draft.
Mayor Jamison: Okay. Yeah.
CM Mohrig: And what do we have — Can you put up the sheet that shows us the
maintenance, and operations initiative summary, how much we're
asking to fund in the rollback?
Ms. Harvill: Let me pull up that presentation.
CM Jacobus: 1.3.
Ms. Harvill: 1.324, I think is the number. But, let me just pull it up so everyone
can see it, to be certain.
CM Mohrig: Okay. So, even if we did the full rollback, with the collection of
taxes that we're getting, we still could fund some of the
maintenance and operations initiatives.
Mayor Jamison: I think that would also be a Council discussion at a future budget
meeting.
CM Mohrig: Right.
Mayor Jamison: — Depending on what we want.
CM Mohrig: I guess, I'm using theoretical because the built-in budget, with the
midpoint assumes the $1.3 million in new initiatives, correct?
Ms. Harvill: Everything you saw in the workshop, including new initiatives, as
well as the salary study, as well as capital initiatives are all
included in that number, yes, sir.
CM Mohrig: Okay. So, I guess the net of my concern is: If I look at the budget,
and I do the full budget, what we spent starting — I'm not gonna go
back to 2006 because that's irrelevant at this point. But we've been
providing good services. We have a topnotch fire, police, city staff
— all that — today. So, what we spent in 2019, our budget, our
amended budget, what we spent, was $30.9 million. Is that correct?
Ms. Harvill: Say that again? We're going back to the expenditures in the other
Regular Meeting of the Milton City Council
Monday, August 16, 2022
Page 84 of 116
presentation. '
CM Mohrig: Yeah. If I look down expenditures. If I look at the total
expenditures on the summary page, 'it's $30.9 million, rounded up.
Ms. Harvill: Yes. I'd have to — I'm not sure what the — I will look at those
formulas together. But, right here, I have total expenditures, and
"again, you can look at recurring expenditures in this top subtotal,
and then you can look at the capital pay as you go debt service
expenditures in this other one. So, yes, sir.
CM Mohrig: Okay. And this is separate from the Greenspace bond because
that's a separate item altogether.
Ms. Harvill: And I just want to point out really quickly, we're looking here at
activity for two years, versus a budget for two years. So, we
always encourage all of staff members to get the best pricing on
everything, and they're not authorized, or encouraged to spend
every dollar that they have budgeted. But you'll see there are times
in which our budget comes in lower, or our actuals come in lower
than our budget. So, please keep in mind when you're comparing '
across these columns, these are actuals compared to budget.
Also, we can budget very conservatively on the revenue side. So,
typically our revenues come in a little higher than our anticipated
budget. So, there's kind of a little action that happens at the end.
Revenues come in higher, expenditures come in lower.
CM Mohrig: Right. Well, and I give you kudos because our staff has, every year
when we amend our budget — the closing budget — we generally are
giving back. We're trying to underspend, whether we don't
backfill positions, or whatever. So, we're not just spending the
money. But, if I look at what we did spend, I'm just looking at a
trend. It looks like we went from $30.9 million in 2019, with the
budget that we have recommended, with the 4.2 — the budget
before us — it looks like we're gonna have expenditures of about
$39.1 million. That's like a 26 percent increase in five years.
That's where my concern is on adding new initiatives, especially in
light of what we don't know is gonna happen. That would be my
concern to not do the rollback. The full rollback would still be able
to fund some of the things that Council, and everybody thinks are
important, like the police weapons, and things that are in there.
That's just my concern. Revenues continue to go up, which is a
good thing. And, as we develop more commercial properties, that's '
a good thing. We'll continue to collect.
Regular Meeting of the Milton City Council
Monday, August 15, 2022
Page 85 of 116
' But part of what we did when we formed the city is we heavily
relied on our residential property owners' way more than any other
city to fund our city operations with property taxes. And, we said
we can do it. We'll do it better than Fulton County. And, this staff,
and these past Councils have done that. I guess my challenge right
now is I can't address LOST. We don't know what that's gonna be.
Fortunately, we have reserves if we need to dip into them. Let's
hope we don't. City staff and the Mayor are gonna argue. So, will
the other north Fulton cities.
And I'd encourage any resident to call their Board of
Commissioner Representative, and give your input to them, too
because they're the ones making the decision on both LOST, as
well as our tax rate. I just think this is a year to be prudent. We
could go below the 4.2 without funding any of these initiatives,
and still give pay increases, and all the other things we've
discussed. So, I'm not saying, "Let's see how low we can go right
now." But now that we understand even with a partial rollback,
we're gonna reduce the property taxes.
I guess what I'm looking at is: How much of this is essential, and
' necessary? Even if it's in the strategic plan, how much of it is
essential, and necessary this year to do new initiatives?
Mr. Krokoff: I would say that that's probably a policy decision for this Council.
CM Mohrig: Yeah.
Mr. Krokoff: — To determine what you want to see, and when you want to see it.
Staff's recommendations are based on what you see in the
comprehensive, and strategic plan, and when those groups
identified when they wanted to see those things, because they're all
built out to try to spread those across the five-year terms. Thought
it's a 2040 plan, you still do it over five-year terms. So, that's
what's before you. It's based on what's in those plans. But,
Council, of course, can determine we're not ready for that.
I heard some items that came up tonight during Public Comment
that were removed already, though there are — because we're able
to push them out .potentially, based on the comp, and strategic
plans, to future years. But generally, that's what this is based on.
It's based on — and, the comp plan, and strategic plan bring in all
the other plans. They bring in our comprehensive transportation
plan, our various parks master plans, things along those lines. And
' it's up to this Council if you want to fund those, you want to
increase those levels of service based on what's in those plans. Do
Regular Meeting of the Milton City Council
Monday, August 15, 2022
Page 86 of 116
you want to defer those? That's how this — that's the next step in '
this.
CM Mohrig: That's just kind of my concern, is if I look at the trend in spending
trend, it's great we're getting more revenue. In uncertain times,
that's where I'm saying, "What is essential?" What is really
essential? So, as we add, or -we have operations — maintenance, and
operations, and we know we could be facing — I know we'll be
conservative. Even if we funded all of this, we would not hire until
We know what the LOST revenue is. That's just me personally.
The rest of the Council may not feel that way.
I want to try to — If we can lower not just the 4.4. If we could go to
4.2, and further lower property taxes, we hope we see a shift going
forward where we see our commercial sector rise more because the
residents have been paying for the budget — the bulk of it — for
years. So, if we can'see that shift — not even this year, but going
forward — that would be a great thing. So, that's where, I guess,
I'm landing on the side when I look at the numbers, and I just want
to clarify, if we went for the full rollback, the example we had.
Don't mess with going below that, we would have to take out of
the proposed budget, $868,000.00. '
Ms. Harvill: Yes, sir. We put that there for you, so you'd understand exactly
what that dollar amount was.
CM Mohrig: Okay. So, that's where I'm coming up, and saying we could still
fund some of these initiatives that I support, but I just, personally —
and, again, it's gonna be up to Council — I don't think now is the
time to actually go and expand government at this point in time.
Mayor Jamison: So, thank you, Rick. And, really quick, Rick, I will agree with you
on what Council did in 2006, and every other year. They've done a
tremendous job. We have a — every city that I talk to, every mayor
that I talk to, around the area is envious of this city. They're
worried about raising their millage rates. They're worried about
their fiscal issues. They're extremely worried about LOST, and
every council prior to us has done a tremendous job, especially
with that pay as you go system. We have done a wonderful,
wonderful job.
And, like I said, we live in a great city where we're trying to
debate: How much are we gonna lower our property taxes? And
it's a really, really good thing. And, I know based on history, '
we've kept it at the 4.731 every single year except for that one
Regular Meeting of the Milton City Council
Monday, August 15, 2022
Page 87 of 116
' quirky year. So, this is, in my opinion, it's actually a pretty good
time in Milton. So, I appreciate all your remarks, Rick. I appreciate
Bernadette, and everything that you've kind of done. I'm definitely
in that partial to 4.469, you know. And, just my opinion, it keeps
our level of service the same for our citizens.
It allows us to do some of the stuff in the comp plan that every
council prior has been voted on. Obviously, we're gonna pause all
that until LOST is negotiated. And, as Councilmember Lusk said,
this is a year -by -year basis, and we can take a look next year, and
see where we are at. But we're doing a tremendous job here, and I
appreciate everyone's remarks, everyone's hard work here. Jan?
CM Jacobus: For me, it's a philosophical thing. I think we're picking up the
pace, and adding new headcount, and adding programs. And I
think we need to slow that down. I think the whole idea behind
Milton was to have slow, steady growth, but to be able to keep it
small. When I look at the maintenance, and operations initiatives, I
see a lot of additional headcount. And my concern with that is once
you add a headcount, we never take that headcount away. And so
we're building into that base. So, the base continues to grow. And,
' God, you look at Fulton County, and you see that, and you see
what it's ballooned into. And I really don't want to see that happen
in Milton.
There are a lot of like -to -haves, but I don't see them all being
need -to -haves. And I don't think taking it back would hurt our
services. I think we'd still be allowed to grow, but to me, we need
to take it back.
Mayor Jamison: Thank you. Anybody else.
CM Cookerly: ' I have a few comments.
Mayor Jamison: All right. Councilmember Cookerly.
CM Cookerly: I think I'm a mid -pointer, and I'd appreciate if you'd hear me out.
We've been studying this week after week. And there was a great
comment made by this gentleman over here, Mr. Parsons, I think,
might have gotten that right, about listening to the people. And I
appreciate your civic involvement that you showed up, and you've
made some excellent points, and have taken copious notes. But
there's also, you know, we're growing quickly, and there's, what,
' 40,000 other people in the city. And the list of "I want" has
become exponential. And, even here tonight, many of you have
Regular Meeting of the Milton City Council
Monday, August 16, 2022
Page 88 of 116
brought great initiatives to this city. '.
Like, our involvement in elections, and our ability to take control
of that. There are so many things that have been brought forward
that are gonna be capital intensive, one way, or the other. And, as
we look down the road, we can't bet that commercial is gonna
provide us what we hope that commercial will provide us. You
`.know, there are special interests just in here. Many of you would
know that Fin not one who wants to grow the alcohol side of our
business. You know, that's not for me.
So, is it an expansion of government really, or are we just
providing basic, services that people want? Well, I see this
gentleman is not happy, but I could go through line item, after line
item that we had debated whether it's really good for us to do this
now, whether it's good. And, there are places in the comp plan that
we're interested in scaling back. But, with the unknowns, I am
concerned about a full rollback. You know, we can cherry pick,
and not like certain things without a full definition, and a full
understanding of what they are. I don't like the title of Chief
Resiliency Officer, and I hate paying for it, okay? But, I would
hate more not having it. ,
[Crosstalk]
Mayor Jamison: Excuse me. We have decorum.
Male Speaker: — lost your mind.
CM Cookerly: You know, I have one hell of a mind. You want to match wits
sometime? So, that responsibility is to prevent trauma in this city,
and recovery to trauma. Ask any city, any municipality, that has
had a shooter, has had a natural disaster — it takes a tremendous
amount of planning to make sure that you're prepared. And, that
person has to be a leader, and coordinate a tremendous amount of
people in order to deploy resources appropriately. And it could
very well happen in this city. No municipality is exempt. So, you
can laugh, and you can be very unhappy about it, but it's a smart
plan.
And I would hate to be in this chair if we didn't do something like
that. So, for those reasons, I'm at the mid -point, and I think that's
prudent based on the unknowns. I also think that in the comp plan,
that are some things that, when we do a prioritization of services, '
that we can move some things around. That would be my input.
Regular Meeting of the Milton City Council
Monday, August 15, 2022
Page 89 of 116
Mayor Jamison: Thank you. Any other Council discussion? Okay.
CM Mohrig: Can I just ask a question?
Mayor Jamison: Go for it.
CM Mohrig: I agree with what Carol is saying about being prepared for
emergencies. Hello? Can you hear me now? God is speaking to us.
I suggested, personally, doing a rollback — a full rollback — that
would not compromise any of our existing services, and: funding
even including the proposed increases that we think we need to do
with our first responders to bring us up so that we retain first
responders competitive with other people. So, I guess, in an
emergency response, I just want to clarify: Steve, do we have a
plan today? Do we have a room? Do we have people in place? If
we had an emergency, have we already used that team?
I know there's a new position we're looking at, but are we
prepared if we have a tornado, or something like that? Do we have
a plan for that?
' Mr. Krokoff. So, yes, we have general plans for continuity of operations, and
how we would recover, but to give you an example, we also had a
plan when I got here on how to remove snow from the roads, and it
involved one plow, and a guy on the back of the truck with a
shovel. That's not the way to manage a city. We need to be
prepared. When you're looking at a threat assessment, you need to
be prepared for what's the likelihood of an event, and what's the
impact of that event.
So, the likelihood of some events, I'm not gonna get into specific
events because they're horrific events that have happened around
the country, but some of those, the likelihood of those events
happening here, are thankfully pretty small. But the impact is
tremendous. There are others, like storms, and things like that,
where the likelihood of them occurring here are moderate, and the
impacts could be moderate to high. And this is how you approach
these things.
It's everything from weather -related events to mass casualty
events, to pandemics, which, oddly enough, we were prepared for
because we just happened to be doing our COOP planning at the
time, and we were planning for the possibility of losing a full
' building, should it go. And we were able to quickly move to be
able to work remotely because our plan was based on leaving City
Regular Meeting of the Milton City Council
Monday, August 16, 2022
Page 90 of 116
Hall and moving down to the public safety center. So, we just '
happened to be well -positioned at the time. But we need to grow
that position. We need to grow capacity, and make sure, as we
continue to work toward drilling that.
One of our weaknesses we have here is the fact that we don't run
our schools. Our police'officers are not in those schools. So, to be
able to coordinate those — how we'd approach an event at those
schools becomes exponentially harder when you're dealing with
other entities, which was not my history. My police officers were
in those schools. So, it's those types of things I want to make sure
that we continue to bridge the gap on. We're going to do it
regardless. This is the type of thing that I think we need somebody
focused on more than I can do right now with the resources that I
have. And that's what that's about.
Mayor Jamison: Thank you. I think, Paul, and then Carol.
CM Moore: Steve, if I heard you correctly this evening, one of the things that
you have said out loud is that for the time being, any headcount
consideration is parked for the time being until we figure out
what's going on with LOST. So, in the considerations that I'm '
making tonight about what is the right number, for the moment,
I'm taking that off the table because I do think that you, and "our
city leadership, and staff have demonstrated a tremendous fiscal
responsibility for all the years that we've been a city. As
demonstrated by the fact that we have survived some significant
events, both weather -related, and pandemic -related where we are
in better shape than most other cities in our area.
It's with careful consideration that staff prepared these two
proposed numbers for us. And, although we have the flexibility to
go from zero to 4.7, staff made careful consideration in their
proposal to us to look at these two numbers, 4.4, and 4.2. And, so
I've made careful measure of those, as well, and gave serious
consideration to all the presentations that we've heard. As
somebody said earlier this evening, there's not gonna be any less
demand tomorrow whatever number we decide on this evening for
the kinds of things that have made us this great city.
As a matter of fact, there would probably be even greater demand
tomorrow because somebody new will come here from another
city that is 50 years old, or 100 years old, and has enjoyed a very
mature experience of services, parks, paved roads, city paid '
gymnasiums, etc. And I believe that either one of these numbers,
Regular Meeting of the Milton City Council
Monday, August 15, 2022
Page 91 of 115
the 4.4, or the 4.2 — if I understand them correctly, and we had
them explained to us multiple ways this evening —we can still
deliver a lot of those solutions.
It's just a matter of now we're debating how angry are we gonna
make the community tonight by potentially voting on a rollback
that's gonna save taxpayer money, but we're not gonna make them
— they could be less angry if we go for the — But, we're gonna
propose 4.4 as savings, and 4.2 is an even bigger savings. So, what
an unusual dilemma to be in. Do I make you sort of mad at 4.2, or
really mad at 4.4, when both are a savings? So, I will —
Ms. Harvill: For those under the homestead exemption.
CM Moore: Yes, exactly. I'm sorry. With the appropriate caveats layered into
that. But we have to use those to make those measures. That's what
we have to work with. So, I think that either choice is a good
choice for the city. I would tend to say that in order to ensure that
we stay on this path that has created this great city, that I would
fall somewhere in the middle.
Mayor Jamison: Thank you, Paul. Carol?
CM Cookerly: Well, I'm gonna call the question. I'm gonna [inaudible]
103:34:401 it. Mr. Mayor, I make a motion that we approve agenda
item No. 2.35 with a 4.469 midpoint rollback. Is that right?
Mayor Jamison: And we need to —And, we have the greenspace millage —
[Crosstalk]
Ms. Harvill: — please say the greenspace bond millage rate at, if you approve it,
0.452 mils.
CM Cookerly: All right. And the greenspace — Where's that written here,
Bernadette?
CM Jacobus: Here it is. 4.52.
CM Cookerly: Oh, and the greenspace millage rate of .452. Thank you.
Mayor Jamison: I will second the motion. I want to make sure I have all this written
down first before we go to discussion.
CM Cookerly: All right. It's 235 4.469.
Regular Meeting of the Milton City Council
Monday, August 15, 2022
Page 92 of 116
Mayor Jamison: 4.469. And, what's the greenspace?
CM Cookerly: It is —
[Crosstalk]
Male Speaker: .452.
Mayor Jamison: Okay. And discussion on the motion?
CM Jacobus: You know, everybody keeps talking about everything is based on
the comp plan, and the strategic plan. I participated in some of
those, and never once during those discussions, that I recall, did we
say, "If you had this much money, would you like to do this? If
you had this much money, what would you do?" I think if you did
those plans, and said, "But, we're going to have to spread them
out, or limit the amount of dollars available," that people would
understand that, and spread it out, and not think that everything has
to be done right away.
I think we've gotten into this mode, all of sudden, that we have to
be the biggest, and the best in everything. We're a great city just as
we are. I don't think we need to have the best everything else. To
me, what's best about Milton is getting in your car, and driving on
the rural roads. I mean, that's what you want to keep. And there's
no tax — I shouldn't say that. There's less tax dollars involved with
that. So, I wouldn't use the comp plan, or the strategic plan as a
reason that we would move the millage rate one way, or the other.
I think if people knew when they did them that budget were gonna
be considered, they would be more understanding.
And, I think we have to make sure that the public does understand
that. You know, you're not gonna have X for a while because we
don't have those types of budgets. And we're trying to keep our
growth at a level that keeps us the way we wanted to be when we
were founded.
Mayor Jamison: Thank you, Jan. Any other discussion on the motion? All in favor,
please say aye — Actually. Let me repeat the motion. Sorry. I have
a motion to approve agenda item No. 235 under Unfinished
Business, which will set the ad valorem tax rate to 4.469, and the
greenspace bond rate to .452. Is that good, Ken? Okay. I have a
motion from Councilmember Cookerly, and a second from me.
Any other last discussion on the motion? All in favor, please say
aye. Any opposed.
Regular Meeting of the Milton City Council
Monday, August 15, 2022
Page 93 of IIS
ICM Mohrig: Nay.
Motion and Vote: Councilmember Cookerly moved to approve Agenda Item
No. 22-235 with a mid -point Millage rate of 4.469 and Greenspace Bond Millage
rate of 0.452. Mayor Jamison seconded the motion. The motion passed (5-2).
Councilmember Jacobus and Councilmember Mohrig opposed the motion.
NEW BUSINESS
Mayor Jamison: Okay. That's 5 to 2. Tammy. Thank you. Thank you all for coming
out. All right. We will move onto New Business. Will the City
Clerk please sound the first item?
City Clerk: Mayor, that first item is consideration of a resolution authorizing
the transmittal of a draft capital improvement element. CIE 2022
annual update relating to the city's impact fee program to the
Atlanta Regional Commission, ARC, for regional, and State
review. It's agenda item No. 22-253. Mr. Robert Buscemi.
Mr. Buscemi: Haven't we discussed this already. I think it's just ready for a vote.
' If you have any questions Page Hadley has been sitting here
patiently all night. She's our consultant from Ross & Associates.
So, if you have any particular questions, she'll be more than happy
to answer them.
Mayor Jamison: Okay. Do we'have any Public Comment on this?
City Clerk: We do not, sir.
Mayor Jamison: Okay. Any Council questions for Mr. Buscemi? Okay. I will open
it for a motion.
CM Jacobus: Mr. Mayor, I would like to make a motion that we approve agenda
item 22-253.
CM Mohrig: Second.
Mayor Jamison: Okay. I have a motion from Councilmember Jacobus, and a second
from Councilmember Mohrig to approve agenda item 22-253. All
in favor, please say aye.
Councilmembers: Aye.
Regular Meeting of the Milton City Council
Monday, August 15, 2022
Page 94 of 116
Motion and Vote: Councilmember Jacobus moved to approve Agenda Item '
No. 22-253. Councilmember Mohrig seconded the motion. The motion passed (7-
0).
Mayor Jamison: Any opposed? That's unanimous.
Mr. Buscemi: "'Thank you.
Mayor Jamison: Yeah. Thank you.
CM Cookerly: Thank you, Bob.
Mayor Jamison: Okay. Will the City Clerk please sound the next item. Well, this
one — Do we even need to sound this item, Ken? We're done with
B, right?
Attorney Jarrard: We are done. Yeah, you don't need to sound. That's been
postponed.
Mayor Jamison: Okay. So, next item, Miss Madame Clerk.
CM Moore: Item E. I
City Clerk: Consideration of a resolution to adopt a Vision Zero goal for the
City of Milton. It's agenda item No. 22-256. Our Public Works
Director, Miss Sara Leaders.
Ms. Leaders: All right, as the presentation is pulling up, good evening, Mayor,
and Council. This is one of the, first action items out of our local
road safety plan. So, start with what a Vision Zero goal is, it's to
eliminate traffic fatalities, and sever injuries throughout a
community. Part of that is committing to that goal publicly, which
is the purpose of the resolution tonight. Including in that is creating
a strategy to be able to achieve that goal, and demonstrating
engagement between city departments, and the public.
And, in the next few slides, I'll highlight the how of how we
approach a Vision Zero goal. So, why are we doing it? It's
aspirational, but we feel like it is attainable through
implementation of our recently adopted local road safety plan.
Another reason we're looking at doing this now is there is a federal
funding opportunity called the Safe Streets, and Roads for All
Grant, and we're looking to apply for implementation funding for '
our local road safety plan. And one of the criteria to apply is
Regular Meeting of the Milton City Council
Monday, August 15, 2022
Page 95 of 116
' becoming a vision goal community — a Vision Zero goal
community.
Just a little bit of information on that grant program. It is set up to
fund programs within regional, local, and tribal initiatives to
prevent roadway deaths, and serious injuries. Again, we're looking
to carry out projects in our action plan, and we're looking for
implementation grants. This is the criteria I was talking about
related to a Vision Zero goal that is highlighted here in this No. 1
box.
In our strategic plan, we do have a goal related to reducing
personal related injuries, or fatality crashes. But, with the Vision
Zero goal, we're looking to create a more near -term goal with a
target date. And, what we're looking to commit to is to reach to
achieve the goal of zero deaths, and serious injuries as a result of
crashes on city streets within ten years, by 2032. And again, the
resolution is presented publicly.
This is a chart that pulled the information from the local road
safety plan of accidents over the past six years. Our local road
safely plan is our strategy to achieving this goal. That is one of the
criteria of the Vision Zero goal — is to have a strategy to achieve it.
And this slide also shows some of the safety benefits that federal
highway published for other agencies that have implemented their
local road safety plan.
CM Moore: Sara, may I interrupt?
Ms. Leaders: Mm-hmm.
CM Moore: Could you go back one slide from that? Do we know what the
anomaly was in 2021 where we went from 176, to 104, and back
up to 132? Do we know what the anomaly was in 2021 that made
that.
Mr. Krokoff. It looks like the anomaly was 2020, and it was COVID-19.
Ms. Leaders: Yeah.
CM Moore: Okay. Good point.
Mr. Krokoff: That came up a little flippant. That's not how I meant that.
' CM Moore: No.
Regular Meeting of the Milton City Council
Monday, August 15, 2022
Page 96 of 116 _
Mr. Krokoff: 2020 was a big impact on a lot of — '
[Crosstalk]
CM Moore: Yeah. Thank you.
Ms. Leaders: And, then this slide just talks about the engagement component of
the Vision Zero that our local road safety plan. was heavily
involved with both city departments, as well as citizens, and the
public. And, so finally, to summarize, these are again the things
that are involved in being a Vision Zero community. So, we have a
clear set goal to eliminate traffic fatalities and sever injuries.
Commit to that publicly through this resolution. We have our
strategy to achieve the goal with implementing our local road
safety plan.
We've definitely shown engagement between the city departments,
as well as the public. And, as of just earlier this month, we did a
count of how many cities are part of these Vision Zero
communities. There are only 53 cities in the United States, and
only 2 in Georgia. So, we look forward to joining that list tonight if I
you will consider the resolution for a Vision Zero goal. I'll answer
any questions.
Mayor Jamison: You probably drew the best straw coming after a millage rate.
CM Cookerly: Good point. I'll make a motion to approve this.
CM Cookerly: No. 22-256.
CM Johnson: Second.
Mayor Jamison: Okay. I have a motion from Councilmember Cookerly, and a
second from Councilmember Johnson to approve agenda item No.
22-256. Any discussion on the motion? All in favor please say aye.
Councilmembers: Aye.
Motion and Vote: Councilmember Cookerly moved to approve Agenda Item
No. 22-256. Councilmember Johnson seconded the motion. The motion passed
(7-0).
Mayor Jamison: Any opposed? That's unanimous. I
Regular Meeting of the Milton City Council
Monday, August 15, 2022
Page 97 of 116
'
Ms. Leaders: Thank sir, for this, very much.
you,
Mayor Jamison: Okay. Will the City Clerk please sound the next item.
City Clerk: Approval of a request for a traffic signal on Arnold Mill Road,
State Route 140, at Green Road. Agenda item No. 22-257. Miss
Sara Leaders.
Ms. Leaders: All right. We wanted to bring this item forward. Here we go: The
purpose. This is a step forward in a TSPLOST project. It's not the
final approval yet, but it is a positive step forward. The signal
permit request hasn't been approved yet by DOT, but this is one of
the steps in the process — is to complete our application form and
keep the permit moving through the process.
So, this intersection was identified starting in 2016 as a Level 1
priority project. It was funded by the first round of TSPLOST. In
12018, we first did some traffic counts, and signal warrant. It was
not approved by DOT. In 2021, we did a contract for some
additional modeling, and analysis, and then submitted an updated
traffic study to DOT in July of 2021. We've been in lots of review
' cycles with them — with DOT — and, reviewing the traffic, as well
as the concepts.
Earlier this year, we did an additional analysis for another type of
intersection improvement to gauge some stakeholder input from
the nearby HOAs and presented that to DOT. It was the alternate
intersection was not supported by the community, so we used that
support as part of the evaluation. And then, in —just within the last
few weeks, DOT provided us a signal application. And these are
the components that are part of that. It's just that we agree to
participate in the cost of the signal. We do have this budgeted. It's
a TSPLOST funded project. We just have to install it to GDOT
standards. We cover the operation cost, and GDOT reserves the
right to revoke approval.
This is the concept for the traffic signal at this location with some
additional turn lane links, as well as some sidewalk extensions. So,
our next steps: We do have to have this application form signed by
the city official, the Mayor, and then we would provide this to
DOT to further advance our permit for review. And then, if
approved, GDOT will give us a permit, and we'll complete our
design, and bid for construction. Any questions?
I
Mayor Jamison: One quick. You can go before me.
Regular Meeting of the Milton City Council
Monday, August 16, 2022
Page 98 of 116
CM Mohrig: No, I was ready to make a motion. '
Mayor Jamison: I just have one quick question. I sent this to [inaudible] [03:48:151
residents, and Waterside because they're pretty much stranded
[inaudible] resident of Waterside. They're pretty much stranded
on Green Road. So, I know they can revoke this. They were
wondering, after this is submitted, what can they do to maybe help
put pressure on GDOT to get it approved?
Ms. Leaders: That's a good question.
Mayor Jamison: Is there a contact that I can give them to?
Ms. Leaders: Sure. Once we submit this to the district, once we do this
application, it moves to the downtown office, which is what we
need to happen next. So, we can get some contacts with the, again,
the chief engineer, 'the traffic management center group that's
gonna have this permit next. But —
Mayor Jamison: Might say, "Show up, and knock on the door, maybe."
Ms. Leaders: Getting the application will get it out of.the district's office, which '
is where it's been for the last year, almost. So, this is a great step,
moving it to the next level at DOT.
CM Mohrig: The only comment I have is I know this has been a dangerous
intersection for a long, long time. You take your life in your hands
trying to pull out. So, I applaud you bringing this forward through
this whole process. I know it's grueling with GDOT whenever we
try to get anything through. So, thank you for doing that. And I
fully support this.
Ms. Leaders: Thanks.
Mayor Jamison: Paul.
CM Moore: Sara, at any point during the working with GDOT, do they engage
in a conversation about ensuring that traffic light coordination is
done sort of actually adding more delays, and creating a traffic
backup, rather than increasing safety? Do they contemplate that?
And, if so, great. I would encourage that. If not, I sure would like
to see us weigh in on that so that we're not creating a — with all the
successes that we've had in moving traffic through Milton, to not
take a step backward because lights were not timed where you end '
up waiting at a new light. It.wasn't considered in the overall traffic
Regular Meeting of the Milton City Council
Monday, August 15, 2022
Page 99 of 116
' light plan.
Ms. -Leaders: Right. Definitely, a part of our traffic study was: What lights do we
need to interconnect, and actually having this one, we proposed to
definitely have it connected to New Providence, and even every
time New Providence changed, go ahead and have this one change
as well, so you're not creating a double stop, and so people can
turn right out of Green Road, as well. So, we definitely see the
benefit of connecting those, as well as looking at even further
north, or south on the corridor.
CM Moore: Thank you.
Mayor Jamison: Thanks, Sara. Any other discussion? All right. Open it for a
motion.
CM Mohrig: Mayor, I'll make a motion that we approve agenda item No. 22-
257.
CM Jacobus: Second. That was a hard one.
' Mayor Jamison: I got a motion from Councilmember Mohrig, and a second from
Councilmember Jacobus to approve agenda item No. 22-257. All
in favor, please say aye.
Councilmembers: Aye.
Motion and Vote: Councilmember Mohrig moved to approve Agenda Item No.
22-257. Councilmember Jacobus seconded the motion. The motion passed (7-0).
Mayor Jamison: Any opposed? That's unanimous. Thanks, Sara. Will the City
Clerk please sound the next item.
City Clerk: Mayor, it's the item of approval of an intergovernmental
agreement between the City of Milton, and the City of Roswell for
intersection improvements along Cox Road. It is agenda item No.
22-258. Sara Leaders.
Ms. Leaders: All right. Last one. This is another exciting project. This is actually
using TSPLOST money. So, on the — I'm jumping ahead here on
the background information. So, Milton, and Roswell actually both
identified two intersections on Cox Road on the TSPLOST
' referendum. And, those were at the intersections of Cox, and King,
and Cox, and Ebenezer. So, those two locations — Well, let me
Regular Meeting of the Milton City Council
Monday, August 16, 2022
Page 100 of 116
show the map first. Some of the approaches do have Roswell '
properties. So, these two made sense from being close to the city
limit boundaries. And, again, we both put these projects on our
TSPLOST list. So, this agreement is to set the criteria for how the
funding is shared on these projects.
So, one other thing to point out is any design work beyond these
two, the City of Milton is also looking at some other improvements
along Cox Road, whether it's access management near the athletic
complex, or looking at how improvements will impact the State
Route 140, and Cox Road intersections. So, we have those two that
we will look at, study, together, but those two would just be funded
by Milton. So, we're just talking about the two that are shared with
Roswell as part of this cost -sharing agreement.
CM Moore: I' just want to make sure I hear you correctly. So, the entrance, and
departure from the Cox Road athletic complex is a part of this or is
not a part of this?
Ms. Leaders: It's not a part of the IGA, but it's part of our — We have our
project, is just called Cox Road Improvements. So, we plan to look '
at additional implements beyond —
CM Moore: When I went the other day, probably — it was midday. It was
probably 12:00 p.m., or 1:00 p.m. I'd been here for something.
And I drove to the new Cox Road complex, and at midday I was
just trying to turn left off of Arnold Mill, and then trying to go
immediately into the new sports complex. It was impossible.
Mayor Jamison: It's terrible.
CM Moore: You couldn't turn left into the complex. You'd be holding up
traffic and creating a problem. So, I went down the road, and
turned around at the golf course — or the golf driving range. And,
then it was free sailing to get into the complex when I was coming
from that direction. Then again, departure, thank goodness I was
gonna go right again. There was no way to enter anything other
than going right because the traffic backup, even midday, was
probably seven, or eight cars deep. And there was gonna be no
other — unless somebody gave you the right of way, you know,
gave you a pause, there was no way.
So, we have to take a hard look at that, especially as I look how
we'll be significantly elevating use of those fields when they're — '
the wonderful outcome we're about to have available to us.
Regular Meeting of the Milton City Council
Monday, August 16, 2022
Page 101 of 116
' Ms. Leaders: Yeah. We intend to have the same consultant do the studies on all
the intersections so they can see how they work together, but the
cost -shares only related to the two that Roswell has a piece of.
CM Moore: Great. Thanks.
Ms. Leaders: So, the details of the IGA include 25 percent of design costs that
Roswell would cover; 100 percent of the right of way cost. So, we
would each acquire the right of way needed within our city limits.
So, the parcels that are in Roswell, they would acquire the right of
way for. And, then the construction would be a 25 percent
contribution from Roswell. And their set cap is not to exceed $1
million contribution between the two intersections.
Milton will be the lead on the project, and responsible for the
remainder of funding, as well as anything else we want to look at
along Cox Road. Concepts will look at both our strategic plans, the
Milton local road safety plan. We'll do public outreach, like we
typically do, for in person, and survey opportunities to get
feedback on proposals. And, like I said, some adjacent
intersections will be looked at, but only the two intersections are
' part of the IGA.
I jumped to this earlier, but this just shows how the Cox Road is
entirely in Milton until you get to King, and then it switches into
Roswell. And, then the darker brown parcels are Milton parcels, so
you can see the southside of the parcels on Etris would be right of
way needed on. Those would be acquired by Roswell, as well as
the one leg of Cox just past King.
Our next steps, if Roswell actually did go ahead, and approve this
IGA at their council meeting on August 8`h, so we have
consideration of the approval of the IGA tonight on our agenda.
Once this is approved, we're prepared to begin selecting a
consultant to help us with concept design, and then future design
work, as well. So, we'll be looking for that on a future Council
meeting. And, then the steps would be concept design, and then
we'd go through public involvement, which is the community
meeting survey. Then, we'd do full design, right of way, and
construction.
Mayor Jamison: Any questions?
I
CM Mohrig: Yeah, just a quick question. So, our portion of the construction
cost, and everything, we can fund this from TSPLOST. We just
Regular Meeting of the Milton City Council
Monday, August 16, 2022
Page 102 of 116
can't do the additional intersection analysis outside of that with '
TSPLOST funds. Is that correct?
Ms. Leaders: I believe we set aside $5 million for Cox Road improvements, and
Roswell set aside the $1 million. Now, it's all within a funding
category bucket of TSPLOST, so there is still some room to say,
"Well, you know, the Cox Road at 140 is an operational
improvement," so, we do have other funding sources through
TSPLOST, but the idea was that we estimated these would be
somewhere in the $2 million range a piece.
So, if, you know, we put the $4 million toward the two that are
identified in the IGA, Roswell puts the $1 million, and then we still
have $2 million more left. But, again, that number is just part of a
pot of operational money that is identified in TSPLOST. So, we
have flexibility also.
CM Mohrig: Okay. Thanks.
Mayor Jamison: Any other questions? Okay. I'll open it up for a motion.
CM Jacobus: I'll make a motion that we approve agenda item No. 22-258. ,
CM Cookerly: Second.
Mayor Jamison: Okay. I have a motion from Councilmember Jacobus, and a second
from Councilmember Cookerly to approve agenda item 22-258.
Any discussion? All in favor, please say aye.
Councilmembers: Aye.
Motion and Vote: Councilmember Jacobus moved to approve Agenda Item
No. 22-258. Councilmember Cookerly seconded the motion. The motion passed
(7-0).
Mayor Jamison: Any opposed? That's unanimous.
CM Cookerly: Is that a trifecta for you tonight?
Ms. Leaders: That was it.
Mayor Jamison: Nice. Thank you. Will the City Clerk please sound the next item.
City Clerk: Mayor, that next item is consideration of final plats. The name of '
Regular Meeting of the Milton City Council
Monday, August 15, 2022
Page 103 of 116
' the development is Milton Towns at Branyan Trail, and Heritage
Walk. It's land lot 1136 District 2, Section 2. It is a final plat. It's
14 residential parcels, and three additional parcels, with a total of
3.58 acres. Five existing mixed -use buildings containing 6
residential lots, and 12,846 square feet of non-residential area. It's
14 townhome units, with 0.39 acres of common area, and 1.08
acres of drive. It is agenda item No. 22-259. Our Community
Zoning Manager, Miss Bernadette — Miss Robyn MacDonald.
Mayor Jamison:
Miss Bernadette?
CM Moore:
Close.
City Clerk:
I'm getting tired.
CM Moore:
That's one back for Council.
City Clerk:
Got me back on my points.
CM Jacobus:
You just lost one.
' Ms. Harvill:
I'm her favorite. Sorry, Robyn.
City Clerk:
Ken, please? Well, you used to be my favorite, okay?
[Crosstalk]
Ms. MacDonald: Well, usually it's Tracie up here, anyway, so.
City Clerk: I know. What is she thinking?
Ms. MacDonald: I know.
[Crosstalk]
City Clerk: She's sick at home.
Male Speaker: [Inaudible] [04:00:25].
City Clerk: Yes. She got the bug.
Ms. MacDonald: Yeah, she's got the bug, so I'm pinch-hitting for her tonight, so.
City Clerk: Thank you.
Regular Meeting of the Milton City Council
Monday, August 16, 2022
Page 104 of 116
Ms. MacDonald: Anyway, this is a location map of the final plat, just to the west of '
City Hall right here. I'll just go` into some explanation about what
this entails. So, we have this area, the Crabapple Market. It
contains not just the 14 proposed townhomes, fee simple
townhomes, but it also includes the mixed -use buildings, L, M, N,
O, P, and there's Q, R, S, T, W, X, Y, Z somewhere else. But,
anyway —
CM Mohrig: Supercalifragilistic —
Ms. MacDonald: And, I just want to note here, because I don't think everybody, or
people realize that in buildings N, O, and P, there are six
residential units on top of two residences each, for a total of six, as
well as the 12,846 square feet of non-residential between L
through P. And then, over here, we have the 14 townhomes that are
fee simple, .39, a common area, as well as the drive of 1.08. I also
want to note that within the townhomes, they're pretty beefy, and
they have a 3-car garage, with a tandem parking per unit. So, I just
wanted to make that note. As well as, I believe there is, later in this
presentation, we'll have some more information on — there are
quite a few on on -street parking.
Again, 14 units. Oh, yeah, there it is. 43 parking spaces in the area ,
right here to serve both the townhome quests, as well as any other
consumers that want to be able to visit the various buildings, as
well as we have the parking deck across the street.
So, here are our elevations that have been approved by the Design
Review Board. So, there are — Here's a five-plex, which meets the
Crabapple form base code in architecture. Here's the front that
faces the green, or the open space. These are the left, and right -side
elevations — from the outside. This is the rear elevation, where you
have the garage, and then the two stories, as well as the top, which
meets the code for the three stories. Because it doesn't include the
basement, sublevel, as well as the top level.
Based on the submitted drawings, and supplemental information,
this final plat meets the requirements of the applicable city codes
as they pertain to development of this property. The applicant, and
his engineer are present, so if you have any more specific
questions, they would be happy to answer them. So, or if you have
questions for myself.
Mayor Jamison: Thank you. Real quick, do we have Public Comment, Tammy? I
Regular Meeting of the Milton City Council
Monday, August 16, 2022
Page 105 of 116
' City Clerk: Well, we have Mr. Barnes here, and Mr. Rowe. Would you both
like to make a comment?
Male Speaker: We're here if you need us.
Mayor Jamison: Okay. Thank you. Any questions for Robyn? Paul?
CM Moore: Robyn, on the rendering of the townhomes on the backside where
it shows the garage, you commented it was three -car garages. Is
this depicted as two -car, with one bay deeper? Is that how that's
being accomplished, or will there actually be three -car abreast?
Ms. MacDonald: I think it's a tandem. So, you have two, and then just one.
CM Moore: Two, and one. Okay. That's what you meant by the tandem.
Ms. MacDonald: Right. I believe it's —
CM Moore: Okay. I misunderstood. I thought the tandem was something
outside. It's inside.
' Ms. MacDonald: No, it's within the structure.
CM Moore: Okay. I got it. Thank you.
Mayor Jamison: All right. Any other questions? All right. We'll open it for a
motion.
CM Mohrig: Mr. Mayor, I'll make a motion that we approve agenda item No.
22-259.
CM Johnson: Second.
Mayor Jamison: Okay. I have a motion from Councilmember Mohrig. I'll give the
second to Councilmember Johnson to approve agenda item No. 22-
259. All in favor, please say aye.
Councilmembers: Aye.
Motion and Vote: Councilmember Mohrig moved to approve Agenda Item No.
22-259. Councilmember Johnson seconded the motion. The motion passed (7-0).
I
Mayor Jamison: Any opposed? That's unanimous. Thank you. Will the City Clerk
please sound the added New Business item.
Regular Meeting of the Milton City Council
Monday, August 15, 2022
Page 106 of 116
City Clerk: Mayor, that first New Business item is a resolution granting special ,
counsel authority to cuter into a joint defense agreement with the
City of Atlanta, and the City of Sandy Springs to file legal actions
on the city's behalf as necessary to accomplish the purpose of
securing a distribution of LOST, and for other purposes. It's
agenda item No. 22-261. Our City Attorney, Mr. Ken Jarrard.
Attorney Jarrard: Mr. Mayor, and members of the Council, thank you very much.
This was added on a time -sensitive basis. This resolution was not
on the published agenda because we just got it. So, we've been
doing what we can do to act quickly with respect to this. You'll
note that there blanks on there. I will submit to you that the final
version, if you approve this, will obviously have all of those blanks
completed.
The bottom line, we're in the middle of this LOST negotiation
between cities in Fulton County, and Fulton County proper. A lot
of discussion about LOST tonight. I will tell you it's a perilous
time to try to set a budget while you're otherwise negotiating your
LOST split for the next decade. That is very challenging. You also
know one of the State'laws has been modified that if there's no '
more litigation to resolve LOST issues. You either get it resolved
by way of formal negotiation, arbitration, mediation, or it ends. It
ends by December 31", of 2022, and it can only be revived by way
of a referendum with the people voting to reinstate the tax.
Obviously, there's a lot of emphasis to get this resolved.
Here's the thing. All this resolution does is it allows our special
counsel — Andy Welch is the attorney who has been retained to
represent Milton, and other cities — to provide a coordinated
unified front. It allows him to work with Sandy Springs, and the
City of Atlanta who have their own independent counsel, to share
information, and that would be mutually protected under the
attorney -client joint defense privilege. It authorizes Mr. Welch to
bring litigation. I won't get into the details of litigation. I will tell
you I'm not backtracking.
There is no more litigation to resolve LOST, but there might be
some ancillary litigation that your special counsel feels like he
needs to bring to clarify LOST issues. We would be authorizing
that. We would pay our prorated percentage of the overall total.
Just like you approved in your prior resolution on this, it also
authorizes your special counsel to select a mediator, and/or
arbitration panel to resolve these issues. It is my recommendation '
that you approve this resolution. We have a short window here,
Regular Meeting of the Milton City Council
Monday, August 16, 2022
Page 107 of 116
' and there's a lot of work to do.
CM Cookerly: May I ask a question? How many payors would there be?
Attorney Jarrard: That's a good question. It's all the municipalities in Fulton County,
except Sandy Springs.
CM Cookerly: So, we're talking about —
[Crosstalk]
Attorney Jarrard: We're in good company. It's small. Yes, Ma'am.
CM Cookerly: All right. Very good. Thank you.
Mayor Jamison: All right. Any other questions for Ken? He explained it very, very
well.
CM Cookerly: No. I'm ready to vote.
Mayor Jamison: I'll open it for a motion.
' CM Cookerly: If I can find it on here, I'll make one.
Mayor Jamison: I'll make. I'd like to make a motion to approve agenda item No.
22-261.
CM Moore: Second.
Mayor Jamison: Okay. I have a motion from myself, and a second from
Councilmember Moore to approve agenda item No. 22-261. All in
favor, please say aye.
Councilmembers: Aye.
Motion and Vote: Mayor Jamison moved to approve Agenda Item No. 22-261.
Councilmember Moore seconded the motion. The motion passed (7-0).
Mayor Jamison: Any opposed? That's unanimous. Okay. Will the City Clerk please
sound the moved consent agenda item.
City Clerk: Mayor, that moved item is approval of a Change Order No. 1
' between the City of Milton, and Cooper & Company General
Contractors, Inc. for the inclusion of a metal roof to the
Regular Meeting of the Milton City Council
Monday, August 16, 2022
Page 108 of 116
construction services agreement of Milton Fire Station No. 42. It is '
agenda item No. 22-249. It was a consent agenda item moved to
New Business. And our Community Director — I'm sorry. Our
Community Development Director, Mr. Robert Buscemi.
Mr. Buscemi: And mark that down as another one. Just kidding.
City Clerk: Three points.
Mr. Buscemi: Okay. So, Mayor, Council, tonight, before you, is a request for a
approval of a change order to Fire Station 42 for the inclusion of a
metal roof in lieu of the asphalt shingle roof. Let me give you a
little history of the whole project in 30 seconds, or less. The
original design included a metal galvanized roof. We received
several bids. The project was hard bid with utilization of an ITB.
Which is just a hard bid, put it out there. The cost proposals all
came in over budget, but approximately the lowest bid was about
$750,000.00 over the budget.
Staff went ahead, and performed several value engineering
exercises, like we always do on every project, to sort of bring it
back into budget. One of those items in the VE analysis was to '
delete the metal galvanized roof and install an asphalt shingle roof.
So, we looked at that, and we did get the project back to within
budget limits. There were other items that we include. We had a
fireplace in the middle, which we got rid of. There were several
things that we did. Structurally, we changed the building. We
changed — We did everything that we thought would not totally
compromise the programming of the fire department.
Okay. I also want to bring up that the original budget was really
developed several years ago when we did Bell Park — Bell
Memorial Park. That's when we said, "Okay. We're gonna go out
for some financing, and we're gonna include that money in that
financing." So, now we jump forward several years, and all of
sudden we have inflation, and all these other pressures placed on
our budget. But we did work very hard. I do want to give this
Council the commitment that we worked, as we always do, very
hard in trying to get every project to within the original budget
limitations of what the city has.
And one of those was the substitution of the roof from metal to
asphalt. Now, fire staff has come back to me, and said, "Gee, Bob,
you know, this is a state-of-the-art facility, and it's an iconic '
structure within the city. And, we have our branding that we look
Regular Meeting of the Milton City Council
Monday, August 15, 2022
Page 109 of 116
' at." And every city building that I've designed has a metal roof on
it. And, here we are, you know, did we make the right choice by
going back to an asphalt shingle roof just really to try to save the
money on a budget that was developed several years ago?
And I really looked at it, and said, "Yeah, you're kinda right." I
mean, we are going back on our life cycle analysis. And, when you
look at it, maybe there is a cheaper initial cost, but then does it last
as long as it would if it was a metal roof? I will say that the life
cycle of an asphalt roof is half of — maybe even less than that. But,
on paper, it would be half of what a metal roof would be. And, as
you can see with budgets, you know, we build these buildings. City
Hall is several years old, and it's been holding up well.
I mean, when you really think of it, when you look at the budgets,
we don't have a whole lot of money year over year on maintaining
our building. And, other cities have come to me, and said, "Bob,
we spent a ton of money building our structures, and then we have
to sit here, and start financing two, or three years later, the
reconstruction of those buildings, and your buildings are kinda
holding up." We did Broadwell Pavilion, and it's just been aging
' very nicely. It's sitting out there, and it's just holding. I mean, you
don't see anything in the budget to restore those buildings, and to
keep maintaining them.
So, it's kinda something where, as a staff, you know, we're proud
of because we build buildings, and we really look at them as a 50-
year structure. And, in this particular case, you know, we did really
work hard to get it back into a budget that I think was really kind
of, you know, developed early on, and didn't really reflect 2022
pricing. But we did it anyway, and we did put it in. And now fire
staff — and they're here tonight — looked at it, and said, "Gee, Bob,
you know, this is one of our iconic structures, and you've done a
great job with it. And why are we compromising putting in an
asphalt shingle roof that's just gonna require repair sooner than we
think? And it's not gonna look like any of our other brand?"
And, I said, "You know what? You're right." So, I went back to
the contractor, and we originally had $167,000.00 set aside for that
roof. And I started to negotiate with the contractor, and we just
kept negotiating back, and forth. And I keep telling him that I want
it, but we don't have the money, and whatnot. So, we ended up at
$116,000.00 without the markup. So, when you do the markup, the
' price did come up to a total of $129,000.00. That's including his
markup, his bonds, and insurances, and things like that, overhead,
Regular Meeting of the Milton City Council
Monday, August 16, 2022
Page 110 of 116
and profit. '
So, I still think we got it for a really good price. We got it for
$129,000.00 versus the original $167,000.00. So, I still got him
down. We sort of VE the original price of it. But it's still
$129,000.00. It would be Change Order No. 1, because we have no
other change overs that would be in there. So, I just think it was
worth looking at. It's worth implementing because I think it's
gonna give us what we really need as a Milton standard, and a
Milton quality of what we're doing. And, Bernadette, did you want
to touch on how the finance would go on it?
Ms. Harvill: Certainly. There are a couple of options we can look at to fund
this, should Council approve it. One option we have is that through
the ARPA funding, we were able to identify two fire vehicles that
Were budgeted that can now be covered with ARPA funding. So,
we can release those funds from the vehicle reserve line item and
move them over to fund the roof. Or we, can look at any potential
overages, savings from spending, or overages from revenues to be
able to put toward that.
Mayor Jamison: Rick, and Jan? '
CM Mohrig: I understand what you're saying about life cycle. If we had today's
dollars, if we had to reroof that with asphalt in 15 years, or 20
years, today, what's the cost to redo that roof?
Mr. Buscemi: Right now, I'd say that roof is — If I had to reroof that building, it
would probably be about $60,000.00 to $70,000.00.
CM Mohrig: Okay.
CM Jacobus: What is — So, the lifespan on most quality shingles is about 20-plus
years, correct?
Mr. Buscemi: Well, they say it's a 20-year roof, but I'd give you about 15 years,
and you're seeing that roof go, and you have to reroof it.
CM Jacobus: And what is — So, I see you've brought backup here. So, what is
the difference in the fire rating of the shingles that would go on the
roof of the firehouse, versus the metal?
Mr. Buscemi: The fire rating?
CM Jacobus: So, there's a fire rating for the shingles, I'm sure, that — So, part of '
Regular Meeting of the Milton City Council
Monday, August 15, 2022
Page 111 of 116
' what you're selling is that the steel roof — metal roof — would last
longer, wouldn't burn. I assume that's part of it.
Mr. Buscemi: Yeah. It would last longer.
Deputy Chief
Stephens: I don't believe fire rating is the debate here. We're talking about a
building that was initially designed by the architect we hired to
have that standing seam metal roof on it. Which is, the benefit is
the durability, the low maintenance of the roof. That site is heavily
shaded. We're already having trouble with dirt drying out. To get
the proper compaction, I fear with an asphalt shingle, five years
down the road, we're gonna have the mildew streaks showing up
on that roof.
And, I think Bob said it best: Every other structure we've built as
Milton proper, we put a standing seam galvalume metal roof on it.
And that's the Milton look. That's the brand. So, I don't think
we're talking about fire rating. We're talking about the —
CM Jacobus: Just the look
Deputy Chief
Stephens: — intended appearance of that building, and the durability of that
roof, and the ease of maintenance of that roof.
CM Cookerly: Could we get back to the money? I lost track. Okay, so you had
budgeted what? And how much is the roof? And, what's the
differential, and what's the ask?
Mr. Buscemi: Okay. Well, right now, the ask is for $129,190.72.
CM Cookerly: Okay. But we had money in the budget for a roof, so how much
was that?
CM Jacobus: What did you have in the budget for the asphalt roof?
Mr. Buscemi: Well, what happened is I got — It was $167,000.00 in the original
budget. And, then that — I got a full credit on that to do the asphalt
shingle. So, I went from metal, to asphalt shingle with a savings of
$167,000.00. And that's part of the value engineering analysis that
we did.
I
CM Cookerly: Okay. So, is this a net savings to go to metal?
Regular Meeting of the Milton City Council
Monday, August 15, 2022
Page 112 of 116
Mr. Buscemi: Now, I went — Now, I'm putting it back in, but I'm not putting it ,
back in. I negotiated with the contractor. I said, "Look, I'm not
putting it back in at full price of what your original bid was." So, I
negotiated him down, back down to $116,000.00 plus the
overhead.
CM Cookerly: Okay. But we were gonna buy asphalt for how much?
Mr. Buscemi: Well, the asphalt would then be included in the original price. So,
that's —
[Crosstalk]
Mr. Buscemi: The savings was $167,000.00 on the value- engineering.
CM Jacobus: So, I guess I don't know if I have the same question you do, but we
had asphalt in the budget.
Mr. Buscemi: No. We had —
[Crosstalk] '
CM Jacobus: We had no roof in the budget.
Mr. Buscemi: We had the metal roof in the original design.
CM Jacobus: I got that. Where we're at today. Today, contract price, we have a
price to build the building with asphalt shingles.
Mr. Buscemi: That's correct.
CM Jacobus: What's the cost of those asphalt shingles?
Mr. Buscemi: It's included in the price of the project.
CM Jacobus: So, they're not taking those dollars out. So, we're still paying the
cost of the asphalt, plus an additional $129,000.00. So, it's more
like the steel roof is gonna cost us $189,000.00, or more.
Mr. Buscemi: Well, no. That's why I negotiated them back down to $116,000.00.
Because, I said, "Look, you gotta give me credit on the asphalt,
and you gotta get it a little cheaper."
CM Cookerly: Okay. So, what was the credit on the asphalt? I
Regular Meeting of the Milton City Council
Monday, August 15, 2022
Page 113 of 116
' Mr. Buscemi: The credit on the asphalt was around $40,000.00.
CM Cookerly: Okay.
Mayor Jamison: So, the metal roof is gonna cost $128,000.00, over budget, or
whatever. Okay. Got it.
CM Cookerly: Now, I understand it. Okay. And, you know, look, it's a bit of a
sticky wicket based on the conversation we had tonight. But, I will
say this: On my property on the barn, 20 years of seamless metal
roof, no problems. New house, five years later, a bad storm, some
shingles flew off. Spent $6,000.00 having it — So, I mean, I hear
you. I hear you.
Mayor Jamison: And I know what's gonna happen if — And, also, I understand the
aesthetics, and I know if we — As soon as that shingle roof goes on,
when residents drive by, I already know what's gonna happen. So,
thank you. Any other questions for — questions? All right.
CM Cookerly: Mr. City Manager, how would you weigh in? Would this just be a
pay as you go, change order, kind of thing?
' Mayor Jamison: COVID-19 funds?
Mr. Krokoff: We would finance it exactly how Bernadette would — I would
recommend. We would be able to offset those funds on future
capital that we had allocated, and we would just replace those with
ARPA funds.
CM Cookerly: So, if I were to support this, I'll just tell you, I know tonight is just
not an aesthetic thing with me. It's about kicking the can down the
road because your earlier point about not having a lot of money for
maintenance. I mean, that was an excellent point you made
because in all of our budget discussions that we have year after
year, that is so minimal about what we talk about. And, it is, too,
great building materials. I'm not trying to be a spendthrift, but I
think this probably has merit, from my own point of view.
Mayor Jamison: All right. Any more Council discussion? Then, I'll open it for a
motion.:
CM Moore: Does it keep the same agenda item number?
' Mayor Jamison: Yes.
Regular Meeting of the Milton City Council
Monday, August 15, 2022
Page 114 of 116
City Clerk: Yes, it does. 249.
CM Moore: Mr. Mayor, I'd like to make a motion that we approve agenda item
No. 22-249 for the approval of the change order to accommodate a
metal roof.
CM Johnson: Second.
Mayor Jamison: Okay. I have a motion from Councilmember Moore, and a second
from Councilmember Johnson to approve agenda item No. 22-249.
Any discussion on the motion? All in favor, please say aye.
Councihnembers: Aye.
Motion and Vote: Councilmember Moore moved to approve Agenda Item No.
22-249. Councilmember Johnson seconded the motion. The motion passed (7-0).
Mayor Jamison:
Carol Cookerly:
Mayor Jamison:
Mr. Buscemi:
CM Moore:
Mayor Jamison:
CM Moore:
[Crosstalk]
EXECUTIVE SESSION
Any opposed? That's unanimous.
Thank you, very much.
Thank you. Thanks, Chief. I appreciate it. Thanks, Bob.
Thank you.
It's now known as the Mark Stevens Memorial Roof.
Memorial? All right.
Because, it was his last official —
Mayor Jamison: So, we will — No Mayor, and Council reports on the LOST
meeting, by the way, Steve, is Friday, and 10:00 a.m. We're gonna
have to move that meeting. So, I'll update Council as best I can
right after that. And, with that, does Council want to report on
anything? We'll move onto Executive Session. Do I have a motion
to adjourn to Executive Session?
CM Moore: So, moved.
Regular Meeting of the Milton City Council
Monday, August 15, 2022
Page 115 of 116
CM Cookerly: Second.
Mayor Jamison: To discuss land acquisition personnel, and potential litigation. All
in favor, please say aye.
Councilmembers: Aye.
Motion and Vote: Councilmember Moore moved to adjourn to Executive Session
to discuss land acquisition, personnel, and potential litigation at 10:30pm.
Councilmember Cookerly seconded the motion. The motion passed (7-0).
CM Mohrig: Motion to reconvene.
Mayor Jamison: All right. I have a motion from Councilmember Mohrig to
reconvene.
CM Jacobus: Second.
Mayor Jamison: Second from Councilmember Jacobus. All in favor, say aye.
Councilmembers: Aye.
Motion and Vote: Councilmember Mohrig moved to reconvene the Regular
Meeting at 11:49pm. Councilmember Jacobus seconded the motion. The
motion passed (7-0).
ADJOURNMENT
Mayor Jamison: All right. I have a motion to adjourn?
CM Jacobus: Motion to adjourn.
CM Johnson: Second.
Mayor Jamison: All right. I have a motion from Councilmember Jacobus. Second
from Councilmember Johnson. All in favor, say aye.
Councilmembers: Aye.
Regular Meeting of the Milton City Council
Monday, August 15, 2022
Page 116 of 116
Motion and Vote: Councilmember Jacobus moved to adjourn the Regular '
Meeting at 1 1:49pm. Councilmember Johnson seconded the motion. The motion
passed (7-0).
Date Approved: September 7, 2022
L. wit cl Peyt n Jam' ayor
`' v.�.
�V