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Home My WebLink AboutMinutes - CC - 10/16/2023Regular Meeting of the Milton City Council October 16, 2023 Page 1 of 49 CALL TO ORDER Mayor Jamison : ROLL CALL City Clerk: Mayor Jamison: City Clerk: CM Verhoff: City Clerk: CM Moore: City Clerk: CM Johnson : Okay, good evening. I would like to call the regular meeting of the Milton City Council for Monday , October 16 th , 2023 to order. The city strongly recommends that you review tonight's agenda carefully , and if you wish to speak on any item on the agenda, 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 cle rk please call the roll and make general announcements? Good evening , mayor and council. I'll be happ y to call roll for th e October 16 th , 2023 regular meeting. I would like to remind those in attendance to please silence all cell phones at this time . Thos e attending the meeting who would like to make a public comment, you are required to complete a public comment card prior to speaking on the item. All speakers will identify themsel ves by name , address , and organization before beginning their 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. If y ou would like to make public comment, please bring your comment cards to me no w. Demonstration of any sort within the chamber is prohibited. Please refrain from any applause , cheering , booing , outburst, or dialogue with any person speaking . Anyone in violation will be asked to leav e as I call roll this evening please confirm your attendance. Mayor Peyton Jamison. Here. Councilmember Andrea Verhoff. Here . Councilmember Paul Moore. Here. Councilmember Juliette Johnson . Here . Regular Meeting of the Milton City Council October 16, 2023 Page 2 of 49 City Clerk: CM Cookerly: City Clerk: CM Jacobus: Councilmember Carol Cookerly. Here. And Councilmember Jan Jacobus. Present. 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 arrived at 6:03pm. Councilmember( s) Absent: *NOTE: Councilmember Cookerly left the meeting at approximately 7:20 pm. PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE City Clerk: All: Would everyone please rise for the Pledge of Allegiance? 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: CM Moore: CM Johnson : Mayor Jamison: Mr. Krokoff: Mayor Jamison : Okay , next is the approval of the meeting agenda. Do I have a motion to approve the meeting agenda? Mr. Mayor, I make a motion that we approve the meeting agenda. Second. Okay. Real quick , do we have the executive session? I don't think so. Nope? Okay. Good. Okay. Was that a motion from council member Moore second from council member Johnson to approve the meeting agenda? All in favor , please say aye. Regular Meeting of the Milton City Council October 16, 2023 Page 3 of 49 Councilmembers: Aye. Motion and Vote: Councilmember Moore moved to approve the Meeting Agenda as presented. Councilmember Johnson seconded the motion . The motion passed (7-0). PUBLIC COMMENT Mayor Jamison : City Clerk: Mayor Jamison: City Clerk: Mayor Jamison: City Clerk: Mayor Jamison : Ms. Bentley : Mayor Jamison: Ms. Bentley : Any opposed? Okay, that is unanimous. Next is general public comment. Do we have any public comment? We do , Mayor. Okay. The next item is general public comment. Public comment is a time for citizens to share information with the 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 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. I invite Ms. Laura Bentley to the podium. Thank you. How many do we have Ms. City Clerk? Bear with me. Ten. Okay . Thank you. Five minutes? Yes. Thank you. Laura Bentley , 2500 Bethany Church Road , Milton , Georgia Mayor, council , last Wednesday , October 11 th , I sent an email to Mr. Jarrard , Mr. Krokoff, and Mayor Jamison with copies Regular Meeting of the Milton City Council October 16, 2023 Page 4 of 49 to all of you. The subject matter of that email was a recent violation of Milton's Open Meetings Act. To date , I have not received a response to this serious matter. For the benefit of the community gathered tonight and those listening online , I will read portions of this email to council now for y our immediate action. My email reads, Mr. Jarrard , Mr. Krokoff, Mayor Jamson , I am writing to request immediate review and public disclosure of the meeting that occurred on September 18 th , 2023 at approximatel y 1 :00 in which a quorum of Milton city council members were convened at 10 ,000 Avalon Blvd , suite 100 , Alpharetta, Georgia, 3009 . This was an unadvertised closed-door session in which a quorum of council members were seated to discuss topics that were not related to the public notification notice posted to the city Milton Agenda calendar. Included in my email is the proper notice for the Highway 9 Windward council discussion. I go on to write: Milton is guided by municipal and state laws that are in place to mandate transparency . Citing the code of city of Milton, Georgia, section 2-41 open meetings. All meetings of the mayor and city council shall be held in accordance with the provisions of OCGA 50-14-1 , otherwise known as the Open Meetings Act. The public shall at all times be afforded access to all meetings other than executive sessions . The public was not afforded access to the meeting held on 09 /18/23 after the advertised Winward Parkway Highway 9 master plan meeting . Notice and intent of this meeting were not advertised 24 hours in advance as required for special call meetings according to the laws of Milton. Additionally , I write as the mayor and city manager and legal representative of the city of Milton . I request a thorough review of this meeting made available to the public consisting of the following : confirmation of who was convened , who convened the meeting and for what purpose , disclosure of meeting minutes , including attendees , topics discussed , and votes taken , process measures , training , and legal oversight. Ensuring that section 2-41 Milton Open Meeting statute is strictly adhered to for all future meetings. Public service is grounded in public trust. The breach of Milton's Open Meetings Law is serious and worthy of expeditious review and response made available through the city clerk posted to the city website as is required of all city council meetings where a quorum of council members has convened. Signed Laura Bentley . I am here tonight to now demand that a full accounting of this meeting be delivered to the citizens of Milton immediately. City council members , let me remind you that Regular Meeting of the Milton City Council October 16, 2023 Page 5 of 49 Mayor Jamison: City Clerk: Ms. Beauchamp: meetings in which quorum is present must receive public notice so that the community is afforded access. The Open Meetings Law is the foundation of government transparency. You are our representatives. Seven of you were present and participated. What was discussed? Why were these items discussed? Was it political? Not having meeting minutes, Mr. Jarrard , I call for your personal recollection of any discussion relating to section 2-855 political recrimination and activity. Council, the citizens of Milton are entrusting your ethical clarity now to resolve this violation of the Open Meetings Act. Who called the meeting? Why was it called? Was it political? This cannot happen. The Open Meetings Act is state law with oversight by the attorney general of the State of Georgia. I suggest that you respond to my email. This matter will be pursued. Thank you. Mayor, I invite Ms. Debbie Beauchamp to the podium. Good evening. My name is Debbie Beauchamp. I live at 500 Hickory Mill Lane in Milton. On September the 27 th Mayor Jamison told the AJC that elected officials are expected to hold to high ethical standards. That statement also applies to city officials and department directors. Ethics Code, Article VIII, division three, section 2-831 item eight, never engage in other conduct which is unbecoming to a member or which constitutes a breach of public trust. In the last meeting, several citizens spoke about city manager Krokoffs surveillance of private citizens. Appen Media reported October 9th that Kelvin Downey confronted Krokoff call from the podium saying his actions wreaked of impropriety. Council is elected to represent the citizens and to make policy. City staff are there to carry out that very same established policy. Why in God's name is a city manager's fine on a city councilman? On September 22 nd , Appen Media reported Krokoff also provided an eyewitness account of the meeting because he went to Crooked Creek himself at the date and time stated in the invitation to observe the subdivision's entrance. He was not an eyewitness to any meeting. He simply saw a vehicle enter a gated community. City charter section 3 .25 covers the powers and duties of the city manager. Surveillance of private citizens is not included. In Krok offs surveillance of a city council member, he spied on an entire subdivision . He watched every resident and guest who entered Regular Meeting of the Milton City Council October 16, 2023 Page 6 of 49 Mayor Jamison: City Clerk: Mr. Jablonski: and left that gated community. On September the 22 nd , Appen Media reports Krokoff as saying, "As mentioned previously, my professional training as a police officer is to act on initial concerns as quietly and as unobtrusively as possible as one might not get the chance later." Why did city manager Krokoff decide to play detective that night? Was this his idea or was he told to do this? If actions warranted a surveillance, Krokoff could have easily engaged the Milton Police Department. We have a more than capable police force who serves as well, but he didn't. There was no cause for the surveillance. City manager Krokoff s actions continue to place Milton on the front page news. His ineffective leadership as elected superintendent has created a mockery of our city. His ill advice to a council member resulted in an ethics complaint and litigation. He is responsible for two poll workers with years of election experience resigning . Rather than get to the root cause of the email security breach, he has assumed an innocent person guilty without any evidence. He fails to investigate for internal intrusions. His actions continue to create a controversy for Milton. His actions continue to place our November 7th election under the microscope. His actions are inconsistent with the performance of his job duties and violates the code of ethics to which he is held. Milton deserves better than this. The taxpayers of Milton and pay Krokoff $232,061.00 a year to manage the affairs of our city , not to play police officer. What event may occur next that would trigger such rogue behavior? City Manager Krokoff has failed our city. He's an embarrassment to our city. He is a liability to our city, but most of all , he has breached public trust by his actions. Tonight, I request city council begin the process to remove Krokoff from his position as city manager. The process can be found in city charter section 3 .23. When public trust has been betrayed, there simply is no other option. It is time to remove corruption from City Hall and restore faith in our city's leaders. Your actions or inactions will be telling. This is a beginning. Thank you. Thank you. Will we please call the next speaker? Mayor, I invite Jerry. I'm sorry, Gary Jablonski to the podium , please. Gary Jablonski , 2680 Grassview Drive, Milton. I've heard a lot of discussion about the Milton Development Authority, an idea that's Regular Meeting of the Milton City Council October 16, 2023 Page 7 of 49 Mayor Jamison: City Clerk: Mr. Beauchamp : been banded around. Although this idea is not completely certified once it comes to true proposal , it's too important to allow it to become approved simply by the city council. If any development authority proposal is brought up , I recommend that this item be included on a referendum and be voted on by voters in a general election cycle. A second item. October 4th , there was a debate with the candidates. Some candidates talk about collaboration and partnering with neighboring cities. Why not investigate an agreement with Roswell for recycling ? Last time I went to the Roswell Recycling , I was rejected. I had to show my driver's license and they threw me out. So , I have to drive all the way down to Sandy Springs to keep North Fulton beautiful. If you have been there , you know they take far fewer recycling items than in Roswell. No tires , no batteries , no No . 3s, No. 4s , et cetera. So , why can't you investigate this? I used to be able to do it. Now they won't let me. So , please try to do some collaboration with Roswell. Thank you. Thank you. Mayor, I invite Greg Beauchamp to the podium , please. Greg Beauchamp , 500 Hickory Mill Lane , Milton. Just a follow up to my last comments from the last city council meeting , but I didn 't have time to cover there is where the development authority came from. It comes from the 2040 comprehensive plan, which has five references to a Milton Development Authority . Not sure why this seems like a surprise to anyone on council. Just to note , you can't have a development authority just for the Highway 9 corridor or Deerfield. The development authority doesn't work that way . There are two primary areas of concern. One is the Citywide Milton Development Authority is in the top three projects , priority projects, and then on the schedule it's to pursue Citywide Milton Development Authority and that's coming up in years 2025 and 2026 . The impact of this election will be farther reaching than just the development authority as it will determine the future of Milton's landscape well into the future. The development authority is just one piece of a larger plan to reshape the landscape of Milton , and I wanted to raise awareness about the creation of a development authority and what its impact would be on Milton . All I will say is get engaged , get involved , and get out and vote. Be more to come on this and thank you for your time. Regular Meeting of the Milton City Council October 16, 2023 Page 8 of 49 Mayor Jamison: City Clerk : Ms . Swain: Mayor Jamison: Ms . Swain : Mayor Jamison: Ms. Swain: Mayor Jamison : Ms. Swain: Mayor Jamison: Thank you. Mayor , I invite Suzanne Swain to the podium. Hi , my name is Suzanne Swain. I represent Congressman Rich McCormick , who is a US Congressman of the sixth district, which Milton is a part of. So , I'm here on his behalf just to let you know. Thank you so much for the time you give in governing Milton. And with that , I want y ou to know that we are here to serve you. Our district office is in downtown Cumming and we provide constituent services when some of your constituents may come to you with issues that really aren't local , but might have to do with federal agencies. We wanna be availab le to you to help with IRS , VA , Immigration Services , an y of that. And I brought business cards if I may leave that with you , and I'll leave on this note . Of course , most certainl y right now we've got great concern about possible US citizens over in Israel. Our office is available to help with those that might need help leaving that country. And our newsletter just came out today and there's information , so I just wanna make sure you're aware of that. And lastly , we have a lot of people in North Fulton that travel and if you know people that are in need of their passports being processed in a timely manner for the trip , I just add that in the last because that tends to be one of our highest volume calls . So , that is something we offer. We can't do magic , but we do help to make sure that that person hopefully can make the trip the y 're looking for. So , just wanna tell you , I'm here to serve and say hello. So , I'm gonna leave some cards. Thank you. Ms. Swain , can you state your address for the record , please ? Yes , I actually live in South Forsyth. I do not li ve in Milton. Okay . Yes. If you can just state your address , that'd be great. Oh , exactly . 3825 Old Path Crossing . Thank you. Regular Meeting of the Milton City Council October 16, 2023 Page 9 of 49 Ms. Swain : City Clerk: Ms. Cronk: Thank you. Mayor , I invite Mary Cronk to the podium. Good evening , mayor and council members. My name is Mary Cronk and I live at 600 Hickory Mill Lane in Milton. Before I begin speaking , I wanna state that my comments are made in my capacity as a private citizen and not in my capacity as a member of the Design Review Board. I was not able to attend the work session last week in person, but did get to view it online and I wanted to share some comments with you. First, I wanted to thank Ms. Leaders for her presentations on current and future projects that DPW is working on from our city projects like sidewalks in the Mayfield area and the roundabout at Birmingham and Freemanville to the projects that DPW is working on with GDOT. There's a lot going on in this department. There are a lot of moving pieces and details to manage and I appreciate all the attention to detail and work that's been going on our behalf. I also want to thank you for your willingness to take input and feedback from citizens and council into consideration when planning city projects and also giving that feedback to GDOT to ensure that our roadways continue to reflect our rural character. Thank you also, council members Jacobus , Mohrig , and Moore for your professionalism , engagement, preparation, feedback , and insights regarding our bridges, green space , lighting, roundabouts , signage, and the wall opposite Seven- Acre Bar and Grill. You guys get it. You understand why so many of us move to and continue to live in Milton. So much of that is our rural view shed. We'll always need to improve our roads and you understand that if we lower our standards and accept designs that don't support that view shed, we will lose what makes Milton so special. I'd also like to thank Julie Zahner-Bailey, who's been a steadfast champion for Milton over the past 35 years. Last week, Ms. Zahner-Bailey gave a very comprehensive list of areas that need to be considered and I agree with all of her comments regarding our roads and green space , as do many other residents. And I really hope someone's captured that list because it is quite comprehensive and very important. In addition, the phrase that she's used rural by design very eloquently expresses what should always be kept in mind when designing and executing phases of all of our projects. So , I wanna thank you all for your time and attention and focus on doing what is best for Milton. Regular Meeting of the Milton City Council Octobe r 16, 2023 Page 10 of 49 Mayor Jamison: City Clerk: Mayor Jamison: City Clerk: Mayor Jamison: City Clerk: Mr. Jones: Thank you. Mayor, I invite Laura Bentley to the podium, please. She already went or - There's another one. Oh. Okay. Thank you. I'll move that over. I'm sorry I moved in with this . Okay. Dwight Jones, I invite you to the podium. Good evening. My name is Dwight Jones . I'm a 27-year resident of 705 Hampton Trace Lane in Milton . I'm here to speak about the stream of incompetent, dishonest , and unethical behavior coming out of the office of the city manager. There's a repeated history of what can be classified as either serious errors , malfeasance, or intentional abuse of office by the city manager. And when exposed, then either blaming others or simply shirking accountability . Here are six examples. First, during Mr. Krokoffs watch, the city encountered -entered discussions with White Columns HOA to install speed signs. Mr. Krokoff pursued the project without following the city's own processes as was disclosed in this very chamber by our public works director. This is a flagrant disregard for the city controls and a betrayal of the trust of every resident of Milton. Second , we .discover Mr . Krokoff a White Columns resident collaborating with a person who is now a White Columns HOA board member, exploring how to modify a Milton city ordinance in order to circumvent an HOA covenant. That amounts to nothing less than city interfering in a private community matter. This definitely is a conflict of interest and represents an ethical issue . Why weren't ethical charges filed here ? Third is the election polling location debacle . The city council recommended forming a large diverse committee to explore and recommend where polling locations should be. Mr. Krokoff who opposes Milton holding its own elections, killed that proposal. Instead, he approved a small informal committee composed of only two council members. When cries of racism and ethnic exclusion arose , Mr. Krokoff falsely blamed council members for the composition of the committee. It gets worse. Regular Meeting of the Milton City Council October 16, 2023 Page 11 of 49 Mayor Jamison : The committee proposed using the Highway 9 safety complex for the third polling location. Mr. Krokoff killed that proposal also. When this decision blew up in the media, a city council member among others was given the blame and Mr. Kroko ff someho w skated off free . Is this guy Teflon? Fourth , there's the debacle in hiring an election consultant. The ci ty manager is solely responsible for making such hire s. Mr. Kroko ff delayed in hiring an election consultant. Ev entually , he made what turned out to be a terrible decision. Instead of accepting responsibility , he manipulated the situation to place the blame on a city council member. The fact that the matter is that council members simply suggested a person for consideration. Are we seeing a trend here ? Bad decision , bad outcome , transfer the blame. Fifth, there's the city manager's refusal to enforce Milton's zonin g laws , one of his most basic responsibilities. Instead , he selecti vel y chooses at his sole discretion which laws to enforce and which to ignore. He has openly stated he will not enforce Milton's election signage statutes . Sixth , and most egregious. There is the matter of his abusing the power of his office , exceeding his authority , personall y surveilling without an y legal justification, the residence of a private citizen who is holding a small perfectly legal gathering . Mr. Krok off s self-stated purpose was to monitor the campaign activity of an election candidate . He didn't just park on a public street. According to the homeowner , he used his Milton city credentials to enter a private gated community. There was no probable cause for any illegal activity . This is scary stuff. Mr. Krokoff, you have engaged in a pattern of bad decisions , malfeasance. You do not own y our mistakes. You blame others for your actions to fail. You have abused the power of your office . You have v iolated ethical responsibilities in your office. It is time for you to resign. And to the city council members , you're not merel y spectators here . The city manager reports to y ou. Mr . Krokoff should resign within two weeks . Otherwise , city council , you should fire him . It is your job, your responsibility to protect Milton citizens from this kind of abuse . If you don't , if you tolerate this kind of behavior , an argument can be made that you are complicit with him . Thank you for your time. Thank you . Reg ular Meeting of the Milton City Council Octo ber 16, 2023 Page 12 of 49 City Clerk : Ms . Cauley: Mayor , I invite Lisa Cauley to the podium. Lisa Cau ley , 14680 Freemanville Road . I'm here once again today . Is the only way for citizens to uncover the truth is to stand here publicly and demand it? The truth cannot be found in the pages of the Milton Herald. Nor can we acquire knowledge from a one-sided blogger. The residents of Milton have lost all confidence in city manager Steve Krokoff, as his actions have betrayed the trust of our citizens. Specifically , he conducted surveillance on an incumbent councilman who is currently running for election this November. Furthermore, through his questioning , he unjustifiably scrutinized both citizens and attendees of a campaign meeting. Mr. Krokoff holds the positions of both city manager and election superintendent making this inappropriate behavior of surveilling a cand idate and citizens who also happened to be poll workers at a campaign meeting a clear abuse of his authority. This misconduct has crossed the line and undermined the various aspects of both of his positions . The justification provided for these actions is insufficient and lacks credibility. Mr. Krokoffs questioning of Councilman Mohrig implied inappropriate interactions with poll workers despite the fact that the meeting was solely focused on Mr . Mohrig's campaign. The questioning of Councilman Mohrig did he have a meeting with poll workers? In the words of Marisa Tomei was a BS question and seems deliberately crafted to create a gotcha moment. This appears a clear demonstration of intentional political manipulation. The concern should be focused on how someone may have gained access to counci lman's campaign text message and breached his government email account. Instead , the city manager and Councilman Cookerley decided to take an offensive approach belittling and ridiculing Councilman Mohrig publicly , desp ite his assertion that he had not participated in any inappropriate meeting. Ironically , the city manager has repeatedly stated, there is nothing wrong or inappropriate with his campaign meeting . Who does this ? Both of them have known him for a significant period of time. He has served this community for 11 years , demonstrated a deep commitment and served with humility. Despite this , there was no hesitation to accuse him of dishonesty. Instead of conducting additionally an internal investigation to determine if there was any unauthorized , authorized or improper access , only an external investigation was initiated and concluded. Regular Meeting of the Milton City Counci l October 16, 2023 Page 13 of 49 The citizens deserve and strongly urge for an internal investigation by a third party to be conducted to determine the truth behind the email breach. The behavior exhibited by our city manager demands serious answers and accountability. It is not only this incident , but also numerous other flawed decisions and actions that warrant Mr. Krokoff s resignation. Thank you. Mayor Jamison : Thank you. City Clerk: Mayor , I invite Ms . Julie Zahner-Bailey to the podium. Ms. Zahner-Bailey: Good evening. My name is Julie Zahner Bailey and I reside at 255 Hickory Flat Road , Milton, Georgia, 30004. It's nice to be with you this evening as always . I addressed a number of issues on your work session agenda from last week . I appreciated the engaged dialogue those present had on some of the items , including opening all green space , placing conservation easements for perpetuity in all green space , including the Birmingham parkland and preserve, roundabouts , speed reductions , ensuring that bridges are rural by design, the need for less signage and lighting , not more throughout our community. I also ask that meeting agendas with specific details of the items be provided in advance of work sessions. There was consensus amongst you on a number of items discussed during last week's work session, yet no specific direction or action items seem to have been provided before the close of your meeting . It seems that specific direction needs to be provided to staff during and at the end of work sessions and other counci l meetings at the time of the item , especially when there is consensus with specific action items and follow up required to ensure items with consensus are given the attention and timelines that they require. Without clear direction and action, it is unknown how important projects and initiatives are driven, managed , and brought to completion in a timely manner. Citizens need to witness more action and implementation on some of these important initiatives. With this in mind , I ask the mayor , council , and staff to please provide clear and concise action on some of the following , actuall y, all of the following, please. One , please ensure that agendas are detailed and provided to citizens well in advance of meetings , including work sessions so that citizens such as myself know what is to be addressed and we need to decide what is well in advance. Regula r Meeting of the Milton City Council October 16, 2023 Page 14 of 49 Tonight's agenda as an example , I only received an email about it on Sunday at 10:00 in the morning. It would be really , really helpful to get the agenda and the details of these agendas in advance. It's difficult to plan to be present and to provide meaningful input to you . And so to get that information in advance of what the current cycle is, would be exceptionally helpful to citizens. Secondly , conservation easements for perpetuity to be pursued immediately for all green space , including the Birmingham parkland and preserve. The time is now. Third, all green space needs to be opened 100% in the immediate with no need for amenities or bathrooms as a prerequisite to make green spaces available to all citizens . Four , please address the loopholes in the tree ordinance. As recently as this weekend , a 10-acre parcel on 15125 Birmingham Highway was completely clear cut. In fact, this evening as I drove here , it was still burning. Completely clear cut from edge to edge . You see it a mile away. It makes me wanna cry. We have a tree ordinance. What are we doing? How is this allowed ? I don't understand where the loophole is and I don't understand why it hasn't been closed . Ten acres. I could use a phrase that my grandmother wouldn't be pleased with. It doesn't need to be occurring. We need to stop clear cutting. We're a tree city. It doesn't make any sense . We have a comprehensive tree ordinance and supposedly it doesn't allow clear cutting . And yet I hope you'll leave this evening's meeting and drive north on Birmingham Highway and look to the right just after Birmingham schools and to the right , 15125 , and you tell me if that's not clear cutting in the City of Milton. It's outrageous , it shouldn't be allowed , and it needs to stop . And I think there's been discussions about closing this loophole well over a year ago , and I believe that Mr. Moore and Mr. Mohrig , I think that you were part of talking about closing that loophole . I please ask you all to give this deep consideration and let's get some action underway. These loopholes in the ordinance need to be addressed immediately. We really can't afford to give lip service to tree preservation and the importance of protecting our tree canopy when this continues to be allowed over and over again. Mayor , council , and staff, thank you for your time , for your consideration , for your commitment, and for making definiti ve action , whether it be a work session or this evening to pursue those projects that there is consensus for. Regu lar Meeting of the Milton City Council October 16, 2023 Page 15 of 49 Mayor Jamison: City Clerk: Mayor Jamison: Ms. Cronk: Mayor Jamison: Attorney Jarrard: Mayor Jamison: Attorney Jarrard: Ms. Cronk : There was consensus last week at the work session , yet there were no specific action items. I ask that you help to bring those action items forward so that each time we have a meeting that we can recognize what the direction is and how we can expect to see that direction come to fruition. Thank you so much for your time and I appreciate the time this evening. Thank you. Mayor , the final general public comment, Ms. Mary Cronk, I invite you to the podium. She already spoke. It's the second one. Oh , okay. Is that okay , Ken? You good ? It is . Okay , great. We have no prohibition. Good evening , mayor and council members. My name is Mary Cronk and I live at 600 Hickory Mill Lane in Milton . Before I begin speaking, I wanna state that my comments are made in my capacity as a private citizen and not in my capacity as a member of the Design Review Board. It's been almost a month since the unadvertised closed September 18 th meeting of a quorum of council members and the city manager. It's important to note that there was no notice of this meeting on the city's calendar , and no minutes of the meeting have been made available to the public. As we've heard , not only are unadvertised closed meetings a violation of Milton Ordinance Article II , division two , section 2-41 , they're also a violation of Georgia Code known as the Open Meetings Act. And even if a meeting is called because of special circumstances , the following ru le applies from section 50-14D3 of Georgia Code . I'm gonna read it. When special circumstances occur and are so declared by an agency, that agency may hold a meeting with less than 24 hours notice. Regula r Meeting of the Milton City Council October 16, 2023 Page 16 of 49 Mayor Jamison: City Clerk: Mayor Jamison: Upon giving such notice of the meeting and subjects expected to be considered at the meeting as is reasonable under the circumstances, including notice to the county legal organ or a newspaper having a general circulation in the county, at least equal to that of the le gal organ. In which event, the reason for holding the meeting within 24 hours and the nature of the notice shall be recorded in the minutes. At this point, to my knowledge the Milton Herald was not notified about this meeting. It wasn't on our city calendar, so consequently , this rule was violated and the public had no opportunity for access to this meeting. Georgia code goes on to say in section 50-14El , prior to any meeting, the agency or committee holding such meeting shall make available an agenda of all matters expected to come before the agency or committee at such meeting. This also did not occur, and is noted in section 50-142A, a summary of the subjects acted on and those members present at a meeting of any agency shall be written and made available to the public for inspection within two business days of the adjournment of the meeting. It's been almost a month and this also has not occurred. Unadvertised closed meetings , particularly in the politically charged atmosphere we are currently in cannot happen. You should know that there are rumors circulating around about what has been discussed or what was discussed in this closed meeting . Please also know that citizens lose trust in government when there is a lack of transparency. Please set the record straight by providing documentation of who convened the meeting , who attended the meeting , the purpose of the meeting topics discussed , and any votes that were taken as required by both Milton and Georgia codes. Thank you for taking this matter seriously and providing Milton citizens with the transparency we expect from our city government. Thank yo u . Is there any other public comment? That concludes general public comment, sir. Thank you. And if the council will allow me , I'd like to make a brief statement. As Mayor, the buck stops with me . I'm mindful that following the September 18 th public workshop at Avalon , a quorum of all seven council members of the council convened on a topic that was not ad vertised to the public. When the quorum of council assembled , the city manager provided an election update to include an admonishment that repeated calls for investigations by council Regular Meeting of the Milton City Council October 16, 2023 Page 17 of 49 CONSENT AGENDA City Clerk: members may work an overall negative in the public's eye. It may result in inquiries by other agencies. The city manager asked that the council be patient and allow him and his staff to complete the election process as he was tasked to do. It was improper for us to have that discussion in that environment and this oversight falls on me. And although a lack of candor was not the intent , I regret I didn't have the protocol top of mind . No votes were taken. I have discussed what took place with the city attorney and we are going to have additional training on open meetings to ensure that no future lapses of any kind occur in the future. I want to emphasize that the maintaining of transparency and fostering public confidence in our government are paramount to both myself as well as the rest of council. We view this incident as a valuable learning opportunity and we are continuing to ensure that such lapses do not occur again. And that is my statement. With that, I'll ask the city clerk to read the consent agenda, please. Mayor , that first item is approval of the October 2nd regular City Council meeting minutes. Agenda item No . 23-271. B is approval of the October 9th , 2023 work session meeting minutes. Agenda item No. 23-272. C is approval of a construction services agreement with Spectrum Fence Company LLC to provide replacement chain link for Port Wine baseball field at Birmingham United Methodist Church. Agenda item No. 23-273. D is approval of a professional services agreement between the City of Milton and Mr. Juan Quero doing business as JQ AV Techs for the configuration and operation of the city's AV equipment during city meetings. Agenda item No. 23-274. E is approval of task order No. 1 between the City of Milton and KCI Technologies, Inc. for engineering and traffic investigation reports as a continuation of the local road safety plan . Agenda item No. 23-275. Regular Meeting of the Milton City Council October 16, 2023 Page 18 of 49 Mayor Jamison : CM Jacobus : CM Verhoff: Mayor Jamison: All : F is approval of professional services agreement between the City of Milton and Lowe Engineers LLC for water quality sampling of impaired waters , Cooper Sandy Creek , and MS4 permit support services. Agenda item No . 23-276. G is approval of a renewal contract agreement between the City of Milton and DocuSign Inc . for electronic signature and document services. Agenda item No. 23-277. His approval of a professional services agreement with Pro Wash 88 LLC doing business as magical light to provide holiday lights and decor at Milton facilities. Agenda item No . 23-278 . I is appro val of professional services agreement with Pond and Company for conceptual design for bridge and or culvert replacement of Westbrook Road over a tributary of Chicken Creek. Agenda item No . 23-279. J is approval of subdivision plats and re visions. The development is Tiger Medical PC at 14255 Providence Road , land lot 844 and 845 district two , section two. A minor plat to subdivide the parcel into two one acre lots , a total of 2.00 acres and a density of one lot per acre . Agenda item No. 23-280. Mayor Jamison. Thank you. Do we have a motion on the consent agenda? Mayor , I make a motion to approve the consent agenda as read . Second . Okay . I have a motion from Councilmember Jacobus and a second from Councilmember Verhoff to approve the consent agenda as read . All in favor , please say aye. Aye. Motion and Vote: Councilmember Jacobus moved to approve the Consent Agenda as read. Councilmember Verhoff seconded the motion . The motion passed (7 -0). REPORTS AND PRESENTATIONS Mayor Jamison : Any opposed ? That is unanimous . So , we'll move on to reports and presentations. Will the city clerk please see on the first item ? Regular Meeting of the Milton City Council October 16, 2023 Page 19 of 49 City Clerk: Mr. McKl veen: That first item is the discussion of Birmingham Park improvements. Our parks and recreation director , Mr. Tom McKlveen. All right. Greetings mayor and council. What I have for you for this evening is a presentation outlining two passive park projects that were identified as high priority by both council and the Milton Trail s Advisory Committee. Both of these projects will take place within Birmingham Park . Birmingham Park is a unique park with sev eral great amenities , some of them added as recently as 2022 such as the equestrian parking lot. Since the addition of Jen Young , our outdoor recreation supervisor who's joining us tonight, Birmingham Park has become a focus for the parks and rec staff by creating a ne w recreation trail map , increasing way finding signage , and trail safety . The park features over a six miles of marked trails that are suitable for hikers , dog walkers , and equestrian users. These trails are all native or natural surface providing a rustic feel that our residents definitely enjoy . Tonight, staff is looking for your guidance as we look to further improve the park. On this slide , I list off the two projects or additions to the park. Both of these additions were part of the trail prioritization plan adopted in June of 2020. Additionally, as part of our capital improvement planning in May of 2023 , council identified both of these projects as high priority for the park. The inclusion of a restroom at the trailhead will bring new users to the parks such as families with y oung children or your casual hiker that might be more inclined to visit the park with restroom facilities on the site . We have seen a noticeable uptick in visitation at Providence Park since the addition of the restroom out there . The second project is a connection trail that will start at Birmingham crossroads just to the north of the existing Shell Station. On the graphic on the right side of your screen , the trail is circled in blue. This newly constructed roughly half mile trail would wind through the park property and eventually connect to the existing trail head within Birmingham Park. I'll go further into the detail on both the restroom and the trail in future slides. In late April , early May , the Milton Trails Advisory Committee and Council were presented with both of these projects among others as part of budget preparation for the capital improvement plan. Again , both the trail and the restroom did come out as priority projects for Birmingham Park. Regular Meeting of the Milton City Council October 16, 2023 Page 20 of 49 Let's dive a bit deeper into the restroom . Here you can see some examples of some precast or prefabricated buildings. The work associated with this project would be split into two buckets , the procurement of the building , and the work required to prepare the site. Included in this site work is grading utilities , concrete , and some other components tied to hooking up the building to utilities and septic as well . The picture on the top right is the building that was actually put in and opened earlier this year at Providence Park. So far this unit is working out wonderfully. The two other pictures here are options that are also available within the industry. While I'm showing you these different options, I do need to clarify that we're not choosing a product today , but simply looking for guidance on moving forward with a restroom at Birmingham Park in general. If council is in favor of proceeding forward staff will return at a future council meeting with exact costs and more details on restrooms. But for a budgetary placeholder, staff estimates this entire project to fall within 300 and $400 ,000.00. Up ne xt, I'll discuss two options for funding this restroom project. The first is through a grant that is administered through the Department of Natural Resources or DNR. Three recent projects have been completed and supported through DNR grants , and we are currently working toward final approval for a fourth at the Milton City Park and Preserve. Staff has identified the Recreation Trails Program or R TP for short as a grant that could potentially fund a portion of this restroom. For reference , the ADA compliant asphalt trail located at Providence Park was a project that was supported by this exact same grant. The recreational trails program is designed to support trail construction or trailhead .amenities and award successful applicants up to $200 ,000.00 for each project. Agencies can only submit one application per grant cycle. The pre-application is the competitive component of the grant. This is the stage that evaluators score the proposals , and this is due on November 1st. The program acquires a minimum agency match of 20%, but there's a sliding score system that gives more points to a higher match up to 50%. Staff is going to recommend that we do that 50% match to gain the full points especially because we have a -we have received another grant from DNR in the RTP . So , we actually get reduced -we get - we don't get extra points because we have received one . So , getting this 50% and the extra points is gonna pay dividends . Regular Meeting of the Milton City Council October 16, 2023 Page 21 of 49 Mayor Jamison: Mr. McK.lveen: Mayor Jamison : Mr. McKlveen: If the grant is awarded , the funding would not be released for roughly a year. Additionally , if we do decide to go after this available funding , a resolution would be -need to be approved by council. Later on tonight's agenda, this resolution would be voted on if council elects to move forward with completing the pre- application for the grant. The second option for funding this project would be to utilize our capital funding that we already have. As of right now, there's over $1 ,000 ,000 .00 allocated at the Birmingham Park. This is certainly an option if you'd like to move more quickly . The grant does have a couple of downsides and weaknesses that staff has identified. This particular program does require Davis-Bacon prevailing wages , which generally increases the cost for labor as involved with the project. The good news with this project is roughly half of the cost is in the restroom itself and not -and there's really no labor involved. The grant , as mentioned before , would have the project ultimately starting in a year. That may or may not be a concern for council. Lastly , the staff time taken to write the application. We have recently met with DNR and feel that this project would come in strong , but there's no guarantee that it would be awarded. Ultimately , staff will recommend that we move forward with the grant pre-application to receive this additional funding to support the project. At this time , I'll stop for any questions on the restroom and how to potentially fund for it. And then I'll move into the trail component. I have a one quick question , and you might have to jog probably all of council's memory on the Providence Park restroom . I remember when we first saw that big sticker shock and we went back to the drawing board and we got it down to a reasonable level. Yes. How does this restroom compare to Providence Park and what are the differences ? The main difference is the access to water at this facility and what restroom is chosen. So , we could do the exact same restroom and we'd be coming in probably that Providence Park had , we'd be coming in probably closer to that 300 ,000 number. But if we go to Regular Meeting of the Milton City Council October 16, 2023 Page 22 of 49 Mayor Jamison : Mr. McKlveen: Mayor Jamison: CM Moore: Mr. McKlveen: CM Moore: Mr. McKlveen: CM Moore: Mr. McKlveen : CM Moore: Mr. McKlveen: CM Moore: Mr. McKlveen : CM Moore : Mr. McKlveen: something that's got a pavilion attached to it or some storage within it that would increase the cost. Okay . So , that $300 ,000 .00 number you believe is the minimum. It's not going any lower. I don't foresee it going any lo wer unless the site work comes in lower than we expect. Okay. Council? Councilmember Moore. Tom, on the Providence Park grant that we recei ved, it was -if it was about a $300 ,000.00 cost to us , how much of that money was grant money? Or was that our cost? It was a 100 ,000 . A hundred thousand dollars - Yes. -worth of grant money? Yes. So, $200,000.00 to our taxpayers for the restroom. It was , the Providence Park restroom came in at a lower cost than 300 ,000. We're expecting it to be a little more for Birmingham Park. It was about a little over 230 ,000 at Providence. So , what drive s, I mean, you can buy a house in Milton for $300 ,000. Not necessarily the nicest house in Milton, but certainly you can find one in Milton for $300 ,000. What in the world dri ves that cost to be so high for a two-stall restroom? I don't know ifl can -that's just what the market bears to put in right now. And is it the physical structure that makes it so expensive or is it our infrastructure? It's the infrastructure. It's the site work. The restroom at Providence Park was $95 ,000.00. Regular Meeting of the Milton City Council October 16, 2023 Page 23 of 49 CM Moore: Mr. McKl veen : CM Moore: Mr. McKlveen : CM Moore: Mr. McKlveen: CM Moore : Mr. McKlveen : CM Moore : Mr. McKlveen: CM Moore : Mr. McKlveen : CM Moore: Mr. McKlveen : CM Moore: Mr. McKlveen: Was how much ? Ninety-five thousand . And the remainder of it was all the work that went into hooking up the water, the utilities , the septic. And we 're at Birmingham Park's a little more remote , further away fr om water and whatnot. So , we might have to drill for a well so it's gonna have some more costing with it. And so , remind me , you answered this question earlier. I'm sorry , I'm not remembering . The number was $100 ,000 .00 we got for - from the grant fund last time. That was a different grant. I realize that. Okay . It was a completely different grant, not even a different year. It was a land water conservation fund and this is the recreation trails program. Okay . So , they're two different grants still offered through DNR though. So , once the numbers decided , and let's use just for the sake of the example, the 300 ,000 , so maybe 400 ,000 ifthere are other potential. If I remember correctly from your earlier part of the presentation, we could receive potentially up to 50 % of that cost. Yes . So , if it's a $400 ,000.00 cost , it might be 200 ,000. Yes , sir. But there's no guarantee of the 200. It's a sliding scale based on points , right ? Yes . Our application would say we'd match 50% upfront. Okay . And so, if our project comes in at 350 , then it would be 175 for the city and 175 for the grant. Regular Meeting of the Milton City Council Octobe r 16, 2023 Page 24 of 49 CM Moore: Mayor Jamison: CM Mohrig: Mr. McKlveen : CM Mohrig : Mr. McKlveen : CM Mohrig: CM Jacobus: CM Mohrig : CM Jacobus: Mayor Jamison: CM Mohrig : Mayor Jamison: Mr. McKlveen: Mayor Jamison: Okay . Thank you . Council member Moore and then Jacobus. Ho w much of that cost, Tom, is the septic field ? We're not tying into an existing one . We would've to build our own for this because the distance away , the firehouse , correct? Yes . Any ballpark on what that would cost to do the septic field? Somewhere between $10 and $15 ,000. Okay . So, that's not the major cost. I guess my question is more about spending that much money on restrooms when we could use those dollars to open up the other parks. And I personally would rather see us put the restrooms on hold. Doesn't mean we don't do them at some point, but there 's such a need to get us into the other parks where I'd rather see us say , we're gonna go fast track on opening all the parks , use this money to help us do that. That's where I would lean. You mean the green space? Yeah , the ones that we've got that we talked about at the work session , there's a real need to open those up. We all agreed that we wanted to open those up as soon as po ssible. I'd rather see us take that kind of money and get it going. Yeah , I mean , that's a great point. Good idea. I guess my question is , we have a lot of money in the capital project funds , so we could probabl y open a lot of these parks pretty soon anyway . Simultaneously with this project. I would ... I mean , I would think that's probably a great work session item for sure because I guess my question is on the DNR grant , is there a time limit to where we have to where are we gonna lose this grant if we don't apply for it , or? Regular Meeting of the Milton City Council October 16, 2023 Page 25 of 49 Mr. McKlveen: Mayor Jamison: Mr. McKlveen: Mayor Jamison: Mr. McKlveen: Mayor Jamison: CM Verhoff: Mayor Jamison: CM Jacobus: Mayor Jamison : CM Jacobus: Mayor Jamison: Mr. McKlveen: Mayor Jamison : Mr. McKlveen: Mayor Jamison: Yes. Okay , so we don't apply for it. November 1st_ November 1st we lose it. Is there another grant after that , or? But this IS - There 's another cycle. But this is basically free money that we need to kind of take advantage of because if we don't, at some point in time , we're gonna have to put restrooms at Birmingham Park , whether it's now or 10 years from now. And I'm worried the cost will just only get more. Inflation. So , but to Councilmember Jaco bus's point, he brought up a fantastic point is why don't we, I mean, if council's fine with this , we'll -let's apply for the grant. But let's adamantly start looki~g at how to use those capital project dollars to open up some of these green spaces in a priority manner. I think we can all kind of agree on that, right? I think that grant or a grant is probably gonna be available a year from now. And for us, I mean, you wanna apply for it , apply for it , but in my perspective , I think those bathrooms need to go on hold until we get our act together to the point where we can concentrate on getting all these parks open. Can we apply - It's been a long time. But can we apply for a grant again, like for example, can we go for the Birmingham Park grant? And then when the next one comes on , can we apply for a grant to put a bathroom at the Bethany one? Sure. Okay . Yes , sir. So , we could double dip on these grants on all of our green spaces. Regular Meeting of the Milton City Council October 16, 2023 Page 26 of 49 Mr. McKlveen: Mayor Jamison : CM Moore : Mr. McKlveen: CM Moore : Mayor Jamison : CM Jacobus: CM Moore : CM Jacobus : Mayor Jamison : CM Jacobus : Mayor Jamison: CM Jacobus : Mayor Jamison : Mr. McKlveen : Mayor Jamison : Mr. McKlveen : Year over year. Okay. Okay. Tom, if we're successful to secure any money from the grant , what's the -is there a requirement that has to be used within a year or two years? What's the typical required use of it? Typically , two years and we could turn this project around in si x or eight months. Right. Okay . To your point, it sounds like we can keep on applying for grants. I don't wanna lose this opportunity , but could we, I mean, if this has been a discussion item , and I think it'd be very helpful if council got on the same page , is maybe putting a work session in November to really start talking about opening these green spaces up. I think - Well , I think the recommendation from a couple people tonight even was where's the timeline? Let's get together next month and set the dates. Yeah. What are the dates? Can we make them ? What would it be ? And then go forward with it. But I think if we need funding for that , this is a good spot to take it from. Now how much - And then we come back for the - How much funding do we have total though? Don't we have over $1,000 ,000.00? It says 1,000 ,000 , over $1 ,000 ,000 .00. Yeah. Yeah . We got plenty money . And that's the Birmingham Park? Regular Meeting of the Milton City Council October 16, 2023 Page 27 of 49 Mayor Jamison: CM Jacobus: CM Moore: CM Jacobus: CM Moore: Mr. McKlveen: CM Moore: Mr. McKlveen: CM Moore: Mr. McKlveen: Mayor Jamison: Mr. McK.lveen: Mayor Jamison: Mr. McKlveen: Mayor Jamison: Mr. McKlveen : That's just for Birmingham Park. Okay. So, what I'm saying is there's funding to open these parks. I don't wanna lose this opportunity since it's November 1st . I don't want the taxpayers to - if we're gonna do a bathroom eventually , I hate to lose on the opportunity to get half of it paid for now. That's all. I get that. Well , if we apply for the grant and you get the grant - Good point. And our plan doesn't necessarily accommodate what's -expenses. Yeah. Do you apply for it and get it awarded for Birmingham or do you apply for the grant for a park use and it could be Birmingham or some other? It's site specific. It is site specific. Yeah. You submit a site plan. Okay . So, if you apply for the grant and it's granted and we decide at that point with the additional work that's done, that the current cost for whatever the reason is, it's too exorbitant. We're not going to expose the taxpayers to that. We can give the grant money back . We don't have to use it or not necessarily. May not even be given to us to take -to give back. We wouldn't necessarily have to receive the money. That is a scenario that could unfold. So , if it comes in at some crazy number , we can be like , no, no, no. Yeah. Okay . I would come before you again with - Okay . -more details. Regular Meeting of the Milton City Council October 16, 2023 Page 28 of 49 CM Moore: Mr. McKlveen: CM Moore : Mr. McKlveen : Mayor Jamison : CM Verhoff: Mr. Krokoff: CM Verhoff: Mr. Krokoff: Mr. McKl veen: Is there a, what we get, I think you said it , it was up to 50%. We'd be asking for that amount. Is there a not , is there a point of crossing a threshold of ridiculous if the bathroom is half a million dollars ? Is the grant gonna say sorry ? Yeah, it's up 200 ,000. So , 200 ,000 is their maximum match. Their max . Okay. And then the rest would be on the city . Yeah . I just hate to lose that grant money if you know at some point in time we are gonna have bathrooms at Birmingham Park and the cost just keep going up and up and up and it is definitely a problem. But to council member Jacobus's point , which is a very good point, we do need to start allocating some of these dollars to open these green spaces up because it shouldn't cost that much to open some of these parks. Well , Tom , just to piggyback on council member Jacobus , what is the hesitation to get some of the parks open? Is it liability reasons? Is it safety issues on the green spaces? Where are we pausing on some of that? That's the subject of the GreenPrint work we're doing right now to determine exactly what we're going to do with those green -with the various green spaces. So , I think the issue right now is that work is ongoing. So , we find ourselves kind of in a bit of a quagmire here with the due date on this grant. There may be other opportunities for us to spend elsewhere , but not very likely associated with an unapproved , council unapproved plan for one of the green spaces. So , that's our only issue with that. Okay . If the bathroom at Birmingham is not something that you 're interested in, in fact there's a second half to this presentation that might also be something y ou're interested in. Perhaps we fund that. Is that a possibility with the grant as opposed to the bathroom? The trail ? Yes . Regular Meeting of the Milton City Council October 16, 2023 Page 29 of 49 Mr. Krokoff: Mr. McKlveen: Mr. Krokoff: Mr. McKlveen : Mr. Krokoff: Mayor Jamison: Mr. Krokoff: Mayor Jamison : Mr. McKlveen: So , and the only -the reason we're proposing the bathroom over the trail is because the trail we can do , we can use TSPLOST funding for , correct? I don't believe so. No? That would be straight - That would be straight capital. So , if that's the case, then maybe you consider the trail because the trail that they're about to bring before you , which I asked them to kind of partner this together to show the benefit of it , will allow people to better access Birmingham Park. Especially with everything that's coming up over there. And the question on the trail, if we put money on the -which I know there's a Birmingham Park master plan and we want citizens to use it. So , if we do the trails , we're gonna have more people on the trails , which means we would -should have some restrooms there. I mean, if we were gonna put this much money into a park and want people to use it , there should be some sort of restroom there . Well , that was why I actually asked them to partner the presentations so you could see the benefit of having a trail - Well , why don't we see the trail and let's see what the budget of the trail is. Is that okay? Y'all good with that? Okay. All right. This next project identified is a connectivity trail within Birmingham Park . This connection to Birmingham Crossroads will increase the mileage of trails within Birmingham Park and create another avenue for our residents to access our beautiful space. The trail is expected to be around a half mile in length with an 80- to-100-foot boardwalk to get over some wetlands. Staff plans to reach out to the local scouts and other volunteer groups to bring some other amenities to the trail, such as benches , rest stops , educational signage. And the trail prioritization plan and the capital improvement planning meeting this plan and council had proposed this trail be a decomposed or a gravel trail , decomposed granite -or a gravel. For reference , the estimated costs are listed on this slide for other various materials as well. Regular Meeting of the Milton City Council October 16 , 2023 Page 30 of 49 CM Jacobus : Mr. McKlveen : CM Jacobus : Mr. McKlveen : CM Jacobus: Mr. Krokoff: Ms. Harvill : CM Jacobus : M s. Harvill: Mayor Jamison: M s. Harv ill: And we can go back to that slide once I get through this. With your guidance , we can begin ex ecuting either or both of these proj ects at Birmingham Park. As mentioned before , the resolution authorizing staff to apply for the Recreation Trails Program Grant will be considered on new business later this evening if we choose to move forwa rd . At this point, I can gather any additional fe edback. I have a question . Sure . Earlier you said there was 1,000 ,000 , about $1 ,000 ,000.00 in the - is that -can those dollars only be used in Birmingham or the y - [Inaudible] The y can be used from account to account. Can t hey be used on any of the parks ? Right now it's budgeted under that capital item , but the council can mo ve it to another item and use it elsewhere . Can I add one other additional thing ? We also have set as ide around $1 ,000 ,000.00 in passive dollars to address the parks once the GreenPrint was finished , specific to those that is in addition to the 1,000 ,000 that we have for Birmingham. There is funds prepared to be spent on the passive park impro vements , whether they be whatever comes out of the green point. But we could also just use those dollars somewhere else if we didn't get too carried away here. Council can certainly reallocate those funds. I just wanna make sure we understand there's two different pots of money. One specific to Birmingham Park that could be reallocated and one specific to all green bases that also could be reallocated. And Milton Country Park, I mean, Milton Preserve Park , I mean, that's a -they have a whole other bucket of money too , correct? Correct. Every individual park has their own funding for the project. So , the plans that we saw throughout April , May, and June . And then we have that set aside money for the green spaces that we didn't really have guidance yet. Regular Meeting of the Milton City Council October 16, 2023 Page 31 of 49 Mayor Jamison: Ms. Harvill: May or Jamison: Mr. McKlveen: Mayor Jamison: Mr. Krokoff: Mayor Jamison: CM Moore: Mayor Jamison: Ms . Leaders: Mayor Jamison: CM Mohrig: CM Moore: CMMohrig : Got it. That we wanna make sure we had funding when we hav e guidance to start it. Because what y'all are presenting to us is what we've agreed upon in the past. Yes. And y'all are kind of just setting the stage for what this council and prior councils have kind of approved. And what you're saying , Bernadette , is we got $1 ,000 ,000.00 in the bank for this council to start figuring out what's our next priority item. And I think that needs to be a discussion topic ASAP. It's within the GreenPrint. Right. To a great extent we just did that in the work session. What's the timeline on that? I mean, what's the timeline we have in the GreenPrint? I know we talked about it last meeting , but. The direction of the work session was to pursue some sort of outside expertise related to conservation areas. Depending on how long that took we had about another month of further public involvement, refining those concepts and then bringing it forward for adoption. So , kind of put a pause on it to look at options for partnerships on to talk of what conservation areas look like. I remember that. Okay. Councilmember Mohrig. Yeah . I think one of the things last week when we were at the work session, we were talking about -we saw a whole new concept that we'd never seen before. Conservation within conservation. Yeah. I guess I'm a little confused on that because it's all green space that we bought to preserve. I think we had the discussion and at the end we said we'd like to see, or at least those of us who are here , we'd like to see the ability of all that space to be used where we don't put restrictions and say , well , this portion you can't walk in. But these Regular Meeting of the Milton City Council October 16, 2023 Page 32 of 49 Ms. Leaders: Mayor Jamison: CM Moore: other areas, I guess, can you maybe elaborate why we're looking at why that was even brought forward to look at conservation within areas that we've already conserved? So, one of the priorities or items we got input on through our survey and our public meetings was habitat areas for wildlife. We looked at areas around creeks where there's a lot of existing trees or undergrowth where there's wildlife habitats and so to not put purposeful trails through those areas. And we base those conservation areas on, again, what we heard through the survey through the public, through the adjacent neighbors was where are there areas that are sensitive environmentally? And we based it on our field knowledge of the properties. But what we asked for at the work session was , is what staff can put together on areas for where there's gonna be wildlife enough. Do we need to bring in an outside expertise to help us to look at other features to consider what areas we may not want to put trails through? Not necessarily fence off or close, but just to have no really purposed use of those other than wildlife. So, I think at a more higher level, what maybe this is what I'm thinking and maybe council can weigh in, is we are looking at a more higher level, right? Like, let's go, let's keep moving forward. Let's not pause for a little bit. Let's look at a more higher level. What properties do we want to open first? What are the priority items first? And ifwe got $1,000,000.00 in the bank, because I kind of see where this is going, is let's go ahead and get it on the books now instead of waiting. I heard very clear direction coming out of our work session, and I'll quote you to a certain extent because I participated in the same objective or the same message, which was let's get the parks open, they 're to be 100% open. Even if there's a conservation area defined for some specific purpose that 100% of the opening or the park was to be open. And I think I'm quoting you correctly, Mr. Mayor, when you said let's get every square inch open. Couldn't be more clear. I get the possibility of getting some additional weigh in from the somebody with a conservation expertise if there's a habitat that we need to be concerned about. And you don't necessarily put a trail right next to that. That it does not compromise the fact that the park is 100% open. That a person who is choosing to traverse our park to walk in there can go to 100% of the park. Regular Meeting of the Milton City Counci l October 16, 2023 Page 33 of 49 CM Jacobus: CM Moore: CM Jacobus: CMMohrig: CM Jacobus: Mayor Jamison: Attorney Jarrard : Mayor Jamison: Attorney Jarrard: Mayor Jamison: Attorney Jarrard: Mayor Jamison: CM Jacobus: Mayor Jamison: Mr. Krokoff: Because I think the idea was not even to worry about trails at this point. Right? Right. All we want is a place for people to pull in their cars and go and walk in the woods. Yeah. And you create your own trail. The idea here was not to open up four green spaces with trails, bathrooms , the whole works. Hey, Ken, before we go, I'm -are we good talking about this topic that's not- We have to stay within the agenda header or the staff report of this particular part. Yes . Okay. So, will you guide us if we're going in - So far you're in the ballpark. Okay. But we're gonna keep you redirected back. Okay . So my perspective is, let's just do that. Let's just what we talked about at the work session, and maybe on our first or second meeting in November, we can come back with a timeline. Here's all the green spaces. Here's how soon it would take us to put a spot for people to park their car and we can have them open . What do we have to do to protect ourselves from any liability et cetera. I mean , I don't know if those type of things you have to worry about, but bare minimum just open. City manager , can you talk on that really quick? I think just bringing us back to when we opened up the Milton Country Club might give -shed some light on just I would love to get these things just opened. We were able to open up the one at Freemanville and Birmingham pretty easily because it was clearly fenced off. We were able to protect the neighbors , weren't worried Regular Meeting of the Milton City Council October 16, 2023 Page 34 of 49 CM Moore: Mr. Krokoff: CM Moore: CM Jacobus: Mayor Jamison: about trails coming up against the neighbor's homes or people wandering onto neighboring properties over there. Our other green spaces that we still have are not necessarily so easily demarcated from neighboring properties preventing people from just wandering into people's yards and potentially getting hurt. I think we do need to do something before we just open them , and I think we need to find a way to make sure that we are protecting those neighbors from the adjacent neighbors from those parks. Some manner. It could be as easy as some small fence or something along those lines. We wanna get them open too. I assure you. I just am a little worried about - Let's spend a little bit of money , we'll put some signs up. No , we'll put some -create some signs that say park, this is the edge of the park. Just don't go beyond this. And I'll take a [inaudible - crosstalk] [01:10:48] and walk the park. Back to the Milton Country Club from , you know, there was a lot of concerns about the neighbor -from the neighbors over there about where people were walking and in the proximity to their property. We had all kinds of open meetings here where we could discuss what the -what we had. We had concept plans and then actual plans . And then we moved trails 20 feet from one spot to another. And I just wanna make sure it does -it sounds like a great idea to get these open until people start wandering into people's properties. And that would be my only - Park and preser:ve was a little bit different in the fact that it was a golf course before and then those residents were backed up to that. I'm not sure that we had that same environment in the other parks . I'm just not prepared to delay this. And the message was loud and clear the other day. We're hearing that from the community repeatedly. It was shared with us in the GreenPrint exercise the other day. Get them open. Well, and you've got a -we've got a fair amount of dollars. Let's fence them off if that's what it takes . I see we're just hammering the same nail over and over again, which is important. Steve, can you come with us with some options as soon as possible with what we have just discussed? But I know the most important thing is community feedback. I think we've learned that lesson loud and clear. And I don't wanna just open a park without having the community have the input to come and talk with us. And Regular Meeting of the Milton City Council October 16, 2023 Page 35 of 49 CM Mohrig: CM Moore : so I know we only have a few more council meetings together. And so if there's a way to get that done beforehand, that'd be great. But it's important we get community feedback on it. Councilmember Mohrig. Yeah. And I think of Steve , if we could actually get -I'm assuming we've got some layout of these green spaces. I know we've got the one that's on the -starts on the comer of Providence and Bethany . I think that a lot of that is already fenced . I think there's fence along , I definitely know along Providence Road , I think there's a demarcates around some other existing private property. Maybe one of the things to do is just bring that forward and let us know, okay , what is the layout of this park? This green space we're calling the park because this green space , let us know what's there. I mean, we took a long time in getting Lackey Road open and Lackey Road it didn't take that much once we finally opened it. We did some grading and put some gravel down and we were able to open it and there was already an existing trail. I think there's maybe the layout, there are other trails that exist in some of these other green spaces that we could access immediately. And that maybe comes where you look at where are you gonna place the parking, what makes sense. But I guess what we need from you would be tell us what is out there today. I haven't had a chance to drive or walk at all these properties. I'd love to do that sometime. But if you could come back and bring that to us and then prioritize, we can say , yes , let's do this one right away because it seems like when we finally decided on Lackey Road or Lakhapani , we got that open pretty quickly. So, I'd like to see us , like Paul said, do that. Let's look at what we have and see where it makes sense to move quickly. If you go back and watch the work session that we just had, there were some very clear direction that came out of that. I know we were pretty sparsely attended the other night and we didn 't necessarily have the benefit of all the notetakers we might normally have had to that. But if you go back and watch the meeting , there was some very clear direction given in terms of priorities , the direction to get it open . We gave direction on we supported getting the parking hidden if possible .. We absolutely supported the putting these in a conservation trust or conservation easement, whatever's required to get that done to preserve them for perpetuity . And there was a longer list than that. Regular Meeting of the Milton C ity Council October 16, 2023 Page 36 of 49 Attorney Jarrard: CM Moore : CMMohrig: Attorney Jarrard: Mayor Jamison: Mr. Krokoff: Mayor Jamison: Mr. Krokoff: Mayor Jamison : Mr. Krokoff: Mayor Jamison: But those are the ones that come to mind immediately . So , go back and watch the meeting because it's all there . Councilman Moore , I wasn't at t hat work session . You'll have to forgive me for that , but was that a discussion of more than one park? It was parks. Yes . Yes , it was all - I guess my respectful admonition would be when this comes back to the council , let's identify discreetly all the parks we're talking about , if we're gonna start giving direction on those multiple parks. Correct. Steve , y ou got any options for us? Or are you thinking about it? Unfortunately , I was not at the meeting either. Right. And I have not had the opportunity to watch us as we start up elections today . But I will watch that meeting and I w ill sit down with Sara and Emily and Tom and figure out exactly what we need to do to get this crossed the finish line quickly. I'll aim for the work session November to bring you something that y'all can discuss. It'll include all of our green spaces with the -as best I can. I'll be able to give you certainly the property boundary lines , but maybe we could see if we -what's fenced , what's not , potentially where we could just get some parking things along those lines and it'll give you the opportunity to make some decisions. Conversely , if you wanna vote on them, I could put it on an actual council meeting. Yeah. But let me see . I think ifwe could probably get something you have the work session, maybe we'll aim for the following meeting for votes . I think it'd be good to do , yeah , do the work session following a meeting for votes. And it doesn't have to be as detailed , it's just votes on priority items , little buckets of money maybe of how we wanna Regular Meeting of the Milton City Council October 16, 2023 Page 37 of 49 CMMohrig: Mayor Jamison : CM Jacobus: Mr. McKl veen: CM Jacobus: Mr. McKlveen: Mr. Moore: Mr. McKlveen : CM Mohrig : move those funds. And so it kind of gi ves guidance on future councils that this is the plan. Is everybody okay with that? Yes. I think one of the things that we did talk, those of us who were here was we didn't, it may be a good idea to look at amenities or restrooms , but to start out , it's like , this is natural space . Let's just mo ve on it so that because our taxpayers have paid for it. We're paying every tax bill for the green space bond . Let's open it up . I've had people come to me say , why is it -why are there no trespassing signs? I can't go on property that we in fact have actually bought with taxpayer money , funded money. So , that's kind of where I'm coming from , but I think a work session would be great. Steve, if you can gi ve us the lay out of everything we have because we did cover most of the parks. Picking your presentation, the green spaces . You just need to come back and then understand the way of the land and say , okay , where can we start rolling? So , going back , I mean , you're good -ev erybody good with that ? Okay . So, going back to the decision points at hand , like I said , I hate to lose free money . I don't think it hurts to just apply and then let's see where things come in. They come in way , way too much then we can mo ve on. Is council okay with that? And ho w about the trails ? Are we good with the trails? Yeah. Three listed and I gather the dark one is your recommendation is gravel? Yes . And that was council's recommendation as well. Okay. And refresh my memory why we would do that over the natural and natto. I mean , is it just - That's what it was in the trail prioritization plan. It's a smoother surface. It's better for if you bring a stroller or you have a younger famil y. But natural surface - Does gravel versus the natural , Tom , change the timeline very significantly? I wouldn't think so. Not tremendously . Does that cost where it states gravel that also includes going through the wetlands with the raised - Regular Meeting of the Milton City Council October 16, 2023 Page 38 of 49 Mr. McKlveen: CM Mohrig: Mr. McKlveen: CM Moore: Mr. McK.lveen: CM Moore: Mr. McKlveen: CM Moore: Mr. McKlveen: CM Moore: Mr. McKlveen: CM Moore: Mr. McKlveen: CM Moore : Mayor Jamison: Mr. McKlveen: Mayor Jamison: CM Moore: FIRST PRESENTATION Mayor Jamison: Yes, it does . It's complete. Okay . It's complete. I assume that's also why the natural is still 250 probably tree removal and boardwalk. You're correct. Okay. Well , the, yeah, and the material. And what? I'm sorry . And the cost for the material. Yeah. Well , cost of materials for the boardwalk, if it's natural. The difference between the gravel and the natural is mainly the amount of clearing that would need to be done and then the boardwalk. Yeah. Okay, because if it's natural, I would think you're taking down trees , grind the trees, make a mulch trail. Yep . You just find the path. Yeah. Okay. Okay . Anything else for staff? All right , you good? Okay. Okay . Thank you. Thanks, Tom. Okay , we'll move onto the first presentation items . Will the city clerk please sound the items? Regular Meeting of the Milton City Council October 16, 2023 Page 39 of 49 City Clerk: Mayor Jamison : Ci ty Clerk : Mayor Jamison: CM Moore: CM Jacobus : Mayor Jamison: Councilmembers: May or, that is of consideration of RZ2306 . A te xt amendment to Article XIX Crabapple form-based code chapter 64 of the city code to amend the district at May field map to add the parcel at 840 Mid Broadwell Road to the district. Agenda Item No . 23-2 81. May or Jamison. Okay, thank you. Can we - Trying to get my script going here. So , do I have a motion on the first presentation items? May or, I make motion that we accept the first presentation as read. Second. Okay . I have a motion from Councilmember Mohrig and a second from Councilmember Jacobus to approve the first presentation items as read. All in fa vor, please say aye. Aye. Motion and Vote: Councilmember Mohrig moved to approve the First Presentation item as read . Councilmember Jacobus seconded the motion. The motion passed (6-0). Councilmember Cookerly was absent from the vote . NEW BUSINESS Mayor Jamison: City Clerk: May or Jamison : Mr. McKl veen: Mayor Jamison : Any opposed? Okay , that is unanimous. We'll mo ve on to new business. Will the city clerk please sound the items? Consideration of a resolution of the city of Milton authorizing a pre- application for a rec reational trails program grant with the Department of Natural Resources to construct a restroom facility at Birmingham Park? I'll do it on this. Okay . Tom, do you have anything before I ask for public comment? No. Okay . Do we have any public comment? Madam Clerk ? Do we hav e any public comment on the item ? Regular Meeting of the Milton C ity Council October 16, 2023 Page 40 of 49 City Clerk: Mayor Jamison: City Clerk: Mayor Jamison: Ms. Harvill: Mayor Jamison : City Clerk: Ms. Bentley: Mayor Jamison: City Clerk: Ms. Cronk: I'm figuring that out, Mayor. Bear with me. Oh, okay. No. I have three . I have three on the-this Birmingham part , mayor. Okay. We kind of cross between the report and the actual agenda items of Correct. Yeah, we have public comment on the new business item , so. I'd like to invite Ms. Laura Bentley to the podium. For the opportunity to comment. Just a few suggestions. Going back to the green space and conservation areas within green space, we didn't do that with Lakhapani or the initially open green spaces , so that's perplexing. I would suggest that Birmingham Park is also a green space and wildlife crosses all over it. We don't cordon off areas of that green space either. With regard to Birmingham Park, I would just like to remind you it's becoming very busy and that's great. It's become an equestrian treasure and it's very well attended. So, as you invest more in that aspect of the park, I strongly urge you to put it in a perpetual conservation easement because of the investment also as parks are developed that one has been strategically protected for the use of equestrians. Just to note that there is a water source by the hitching post, so perhaps that's a good locat ion for a future bathroom. I would suggest also as far as patrolling the park maybe not with humans , but drones and also security cameras. It is an area that's very beautiful and kids love to go there and that's great. We just need to not have them there at night doing things other than looking at nature. Thank you. Thank you. Can you please call the next speaker? I invite Mary Cronk to the podium, please. My name is Mary Cronk and I live at 600 Hickory Mill Lane in Milton. I just wanted to also reinforce the need for us to put, whether it's a conservation easement, I don 't know what the technical term is. But definitely to put Birmingham Park into some sort of Regular Meeting of the Milton City Council October 16, 2023 Page 41 of 49 conservation in perpetuity. We certainly would not want to lose this park. We wouldn't want it to become an active park. I don't think we should put any more money into it until we definitely set it aside as a place that will not be disturbed and will only be used as a passive park. Thank you . Mayor Jamison : Thank you. City Clerk: I invite Ms. Julie Zahner-Bailey to the podium, please. Ms. Zahner-Bailey: Good evening, again. Still Julie Zahner-Bailey and I live at 255 Hickory Flat Road , Milton, Georgia. I care deeply about protecting and preserving green space throughout Milton. I've been a longtime proponent of protecting green space forever , including placing all green space into conservation easements for perpetuity . This is more true and more necessary today than ever. The time is now to proceed with this long promise protection of various green spaces in Milton. Placing precious green space into a conservation easement should begin with the Birmingham parkland and preserve. It is the largest contiguous green space owned by the city of Milton and its citizens. And it includes precious, environmentally sensitive lands. This is low hanging fruit and the opportunity to protect this green space should be seized by all of you. And actually tonight , please proceed with the legal documentation necessary to place this 205 acres of precious green space into a conservation easement for perpetuity. Many , if not all of you have said that you support this initiative . If true , then why are we waiting? This should take place immediately. Please give specific direction to staff and to legal counsel tonight to actively and quickly pursue a conservation easement for perpetuity for the Birmingham Park, followed by conservation easements for perpetuity for all green space lands in the city of Milton. To do anything else would be disingenuous and counter the promises that so many of you have made both at the work session and previously . We need to get this one done. Pursuing grants for bathrooms or additional trails should not delay the immediate need for conservation easement for perpetuity at the Birmingham Park land, followed by conservation easements for perpetuity at all other green spaces. I'm candidly not sure that we need a bathroom in the immediate. I concur with some of the statements that council members were making. Let's get our green space opened. We bought it. The citizens Regular Meeting of the Milton City Council October 16, 2023 Page 42 of 49 Mayor Jamison: City Clerk: Mayor Jamison: own it. Last work session there were four people. That's a consensus. I can't believe that we haven't taken action that we don't have action minutes from that work session. It was clear, candidly the fact that we need another work session to hear what we heard last work session , which was four people on this council, including the mayor saying, open it up , open it 100% up , and let's do it ASAP . We need a conservation agent for perpetuity at the Birmingham Park. We need to protect that green space. Council member Jacobus's statements were accurate. We don't necessarily need to spend 400 ,000 , 300,000 on bathrooms immediately. Folks go to trails, national parks without a bathroom accessible. Most folks in Milton are gonna be fairly close to their home. They don't expect a bathroom in the immediate. What they do expect is for green space, 100% of it to be opened. This concept of conservation lands within green space being protected to protect other parcels. That's a new one. Certainly have never seen that before. And again , last week at the work session, which is an advertised meeting, there were four of you that said, we're going to pursue 100% opening . So , it seems that that decision and direction was given so I'm a little perplexed why we now need to go back and get that direction again. The direction at the meeting last week was very clear. It said 100% of the green space should be opened. The green space by Emily was presented. We saw people said that they didn't want the amenities. I just ask you to take action. Let's get some things done. Let's do it quickly . Let's not wait till next year. I really appreciate the work that you guys do. I know you wanna get some things done so do citizens . And we wanna see the green space available and accessible . There is no risk . People aren't gonna walk into other people's homes or into their yards. People know, put up a sign that says , don't trespass at the edge of the property. Let people know where the edge of the property is and they'll abide by that. We've got great citizens . People that are walking on trails, if they wanted to go into somebody's yard , they'll go into their yard. They just wanna walk on the trails or the natural spaces. Let's get it open. Let's not play games . Let's just open our green space. Thank you so much. Thank you. Do we have another public comment? No, sir. Okay. So , I'll close public comment and Ken, if I'm off the mark on this, please make sure you know you guide me in the right area. So , the prior agenda item, we talked about adding some stuff to the work session. I think council will be okay to add the Birmingham Park Regular Meeting of the Milton City Council October 16, 2023 Page 43 of 49 Attorney Jarrard: Mayor Jamison: Attorney Jarrard : Mayor Jamison: CM Jacobus: Attorney Jarrard: CM Jacobus: Attorney Jarrard: [Crosstalk) Attorney Jarrard: Mayor Jamison: Attorney Jarrard : Mr. Krokoff: Attorney Jarrard: CM Jacobus: Attorney Jarrard : CM Jacobus: Mayor Jamison: conservation as part of that discussion and get a timeline before the end of the year , or? To the extent that you're asking the clerk to - Yes . -add that to a future agenda that's in order. Okay . Okay . Okay . Discussion on this agenda item? I just have a question about conservation. I don't reall y understand that totally . Is it something that we can do that we get a little educating on the whole thing , the repercussions , what it takes to have it done the whole bit? I mean , I - I can do all that. I just don't wanna do it right now, but I can tell you what that means. No , no. I guess I - Yeah. I mean, I -and I -a lot of the governments I work in have put property in conservation subdivisions. Some resist that. You know, that's the problem ofme not getting a lot of sleep. You've been here a long time , Ken. That's right. Conservation easements - Tough night already. Yeah. Right ? But we can discuss all those , the pros and the cons , the good and the bad of that. Okay . Can we do that in the early November? I'm prepared to do it as soon as it's on the agenda. Okay, cool. Thank you. Okay . Any council discussion? Is there a motion on the ne w business item? Going once ... Regular Meeting of the Milton City Council October 16, 2023 Page 44 of 49 CM Jacobus : Mr. McKlveen: CM Moore: Mayor Jamison: CM Moore: Mr. McKlveen : CM Moore : Mr. McKlveen: Mayor Jamison: Mr. McKlveen: Mayor Jamison: CM Moore : CM Jacobus : Mayor Jamison : If we submit for this grant , we could use the match on the trail. Doesn't have to be necessarily on the bathroom. Correct? It would have to be on the bathroom because that's what's in the resolution. Yeah. Yeah. I'm a big -just I'm -if we switch it to the trai l - Yeah . I think it's still okay to pursue the bathroom grant. Let's see what 20 we get. Okay . And then in the meantime, let's also see what the real cost is gonna be to build it. Ifwe know there's gonna be significant grading or cost of finding water source , it may negate the whole thing that just makes it unrealistic. And then we say , thank you very much for federal government. We're not gonna take your money. Right. Yeah, or we could ultimately decide no matter what the cost is that we decide not to utilize the grant. Correct. And - If you choose so . It's important to hear from our citizens . I mean , we serve 41 , 42 ,000 citizens. And if you have a young famil y and you take your kids to Birmingham Park, which we want them to enjoy , ifl have a young daughter that has to use the bathroom, I think that's important. I mean , of course we have to be very cognizant of the tax dollars , but we just have to understand we represent a large community and it's important that we provide some resources to it. Yeah , I think it's important to pursue this until -to get the benefit of more information to see if we can get the benefit of the grant and then we'll make a better educated decision at that point because we 'll have more information to work with . Okay. Okay . Do you have a motion on it? Regular Meeting of the Milton City Council October 16, 2023 Page 45 of 49 CM Moore : CM Verhoff: Mayor Jamison: Councilmembers : So , I'll make a motion that we approve agenda item No . 23-282. Second . Okay . I have a motion from Councilmember Moore and a second from Councilmember Verhoff to approve agenda item No. 23-282. All in favor , please say aye. Aye. Motion and Vote: Councilmember Moore moved to approve Agenda Item No . 23-282. Councilmember Verhoff seconded the motion. The motion passed (6-0). Councilmember Cookerly was absent from the vote. Mayor Jamison: City Clerk: Ms. Leaders: Any opposed? Okay, that's unanimous . Will the city clerk please sound the next item? Mayor, that next item is consideration of an option of right of way swap for 0.28 acres ofright of way on old Bethany Bend to Georgia Department of Transportation in exchange for 0.88 acres ofright of way on new Bethany Bend South from Georgia Department of Transportation to the city of Milton. For the project identification No. 0007838 , State Route 9, widening and reconstruction agenda item No. 23-283. Our public works director, Ms. Sara Leaders. Good evening. This is a fairly quick item here. This is the Highway 9 widening that Georgia DOT is nearly complete with design and preparing to move into construction on. North is looking kind of towards the bottom right of the page heading up to the Forsyth County line. This is the current Bethany Bend intersection. Let's see if I can switch to a different pointer so you can see. Okay. The current intersection is very skewed . It's right around where I'm hovering the cursor. So , this agreement is part of the project is to abandon the old Bethany Bend alignment and to create both a north and a south intersection with State Route 9. So , on the southern intersection Georgia DOT acquired a parcel that I'm showing here next to the green area. And they acquired that to handle some of the storm water to slow down the flows leaving the project due to the increased amount of pavement with the project. So , they purchased this triangle piece here for part of the project. And to be able to construct a pond there , they're going to need to utilize a portion of the old right of way . There won't be the roadway in that area any longer. So, in exchange for a portion ofright of way Regular Meeting of the Milton City Council October 16, 2023 Page 46 of 49 Mayor Jamison: City Clerk: Mayor Jamison : CM Jacobus: CM Moore : Mayor Jamison: Councilmembers: that's currently the city of Milton's they'd like to swap and to provide us with the acquired new southern alignment of Bethany Bend. I hope that makes sense. I know it's kind of confusing , but it would be us providing them the 0.28 acres that would allow them to construct as well as maintain this pond . And then the yellow would be what they would deed to us for new city right of way. And I'd be glad to answer any questions related to this item . Any questions ? We have any public comment? There are none. Okay. I'll open up for a motion. Mr. Mayor, I make a motion we approve agenda item No. 23-283 . Second. Okay, I have a motion from Councilmember Jacobus and a second from Councilmember Moore to approve agenda item No . 23-283 . All in favor , please say aye. Aye. Motion and Vote: Councilmember Jacobus moved to approve Agenda Item No. 23-283. Councilmember Mohrig seconded the motion . The motion passed ( 6-0). Councilmember Cookerly was absent from the vote. Mayor Jamison : City Clerk: Ms . Wildes: Any opposed? That's unanimous. Okay . Will the city clerk please see on the next item? Mayor, that ne xt item is consideration of a final plat. The name of the development is Millstone Park Northwest comer of Webb Road in Deerfield Parkway . It's land lot 1046 district two , section two , a final plat to revise addresses for units one through five and reside by storm structure locations and storm line inverts. A total of 1.01 acres -1.401 acres , and a density of 12.85 units per acre . Our Land De ve lopment Manager Tracie Wildes will present and its agenda item No . 23-284. Mayor and members of council , this is the original final plat for Millstone Park was presented over a year ago. It was in July of 2022. Tonight's presentation is for a revision to that plat. Regular Meeting of the Milton City Council October 16, 2023 Page 47 of 49 Mayor Jamison: CM Moore: Ms . Wildes: CM Moore: Ms. Wildes: CM Moore: Mayor Jamison: City Clerk: Mayor Jamison: CM Moore: CM Jacobus: Mayor Jamison: Councilmembers: Quickly, a reminder that Millstone Park is located on the east side of the city . It's at the intersection of Webb Road and Deerfield Parkway behind the target located on Highway 9 and adjacent to the Georgia Transmission Corp substation. The revisions are minor. It's to revise the addresses for units one through five along Deerfield Parkway. We had 911 emergency services contact us, and there was a conflict with some of the assigned addresses existing to the north of this project. So , we need to revise those addresses as well as revise the storm line structure locations. They changed from what was proposed to the actual as- built conditions. That's for your consideration tonight, and I'm happy to take any questions . Any questions for Ms . Tracie? This is basically to accommodate the 911? This is not necessarily something that was instigated or requested by the property owner. It's to accommodate this issue that's - That's correct. Great. That's correct. Thank you. Anybody else? Any public comment? No , sir. Okay. I'll close public comment and open it for a motion. Mayor, I'll make a motion that we approve agenda item No. 23-284 . Second. Okay. I have a motion from Councilmember Moore . Second from Councilmember Jacobus to approve agenda item No. 23-284. All in favor , please say aye. Aye. Regular Meeting of the Milton City Council October 16, 2023 Page 48 of 49 Motion and Vote: Counc ilmember Moore moved to approve Agenda Item No. 23-284. Councilmember Jacobus seconded the motion . The motion passed (6-0). Councilmember Cookerly was absent from the vote. MAYOR AND COUNCIL REPORTS Mayor Jamison : Mr. Krokoff: Any opposed? That's unanimous . Okay. We'll move on to council reports. Does anyone have anything to report on? Hearing None. Steve , are you pulling your microphone down? That's usually a sign. Thank you , mayor. So , as you all know, today was the first day of polling here in the city of Milton. We had a obviously a tremendous effort in the lead up to this. Just a couple of names I wanna throw out there is Stacey , Tammy , Lavania White , and Judy Burds in getting us to where we were today. The team came in ready to rock and roll this morning. They did a great job . We had several poll watchers come through . I received countless compliments from the poll watchers I spoke with today about the process and the manner not only in which they managed the process of elections , but how approachable our election people were . And how great they answered the questions. The processing time for checking in average 40 seconds across 66 peop le that came in today. You then get your ballot, you vote , and you head out the door. I think most people did that in under five minutes today . And I think it just went incredibly smooth and very appreciative from the opening and to the closing of the poll . So , I just wanted to report that, and just while I have you Mayor , thank you for your comments earlier. It hasn't been a great experience sitting in the seat lately . I do appreciate that in this instance the record was set straight. I understand that there is no requirement that the truth be spoken at that microphone, but that being said , it's been -I've been doing this for an awfully long time. I've developed fairly thick skin . But I wanna remind you all that your staff sees what's being directed at me as well. And they also know what's the truth and what's not the truth. And whether I'm sitting in this seat or not , you've got 175 other people that I think they -we need to look out for as well here. So , thank you for having the leadership and the honor and the in tegrity to at least set the record straight this evening . Regular Meeting of the Milton City Council October 16, 2023 Page 49 of 49 ADJOURNMENT Mayor Jamison : CM Mohrig: CM Moore: Mayor Jamison: Councilmembers: Mayor Jamison : Thank you. Anybody else? Thank you all for doing a job well done first day early voting and thank you every day for your hard work. All right , with that , I'll have a motion to adjourn. So moved. Second. Okay. I got a motion from Councilmember Mohrig. I'll give the tie to Council member Moore to adjourn. All in favor please say aye. Aye. Any opposed? Motion and Vote: Councilmember Mohrig moved to adjourn the Regular Meeting at 7:40pm. Councilmember Moore seconded the motion. The motion passed (6-0). Councilmember Cookerly was absent from the vote. Date Approved: November 6 2023