HIAWASSEE WORK SESSION AGENDA
February 25th, 2019
The February Work Session Meeting will be held at 6:00 p.m. at City Hall Upstairs Training Room
- Call to order
- Invocation – Amy Barrett
- Pledge of Allegiance
- Mayor’s Introductions of Guests and Announcements
- Motion to Adopt Final Agenda as Distributed.
- Old Business
- Mayor’s Report
- New Business
- 2018 Audit Review – Chris Holifield
- 2018-2023 Hazard Mitigation Plan – Katy Westbrook
- Budget Policy
- New Truck purchase
- Belle View Gardens Lift Station Easement
- Screw Press for Sewer Plant
- Tax Specialist of Georgia Contract
- Million Gallon Water Tank Maintenance
- Police Report
- Economic Development Report
- Adjournment
MINUTES
HIAWASSEE WORK SESSION MINUTES
February 25th, 2019
The February Work Session Meeting was called to order by Mayor Liz Ordiales at 6:00 p.m. at City Hall in the Upstairs Training Room.
Present in addition to the Mayor was Council members Amy Barrett, Kris Berrong, Anne Mitchell, Nancy Noblet and Patsy Owens. Also present was City Attorney Thomas Mitchell. Staff present was Police Chief Paul Smith, Patrol Officer Pam Henderson, and City Clerk Bonnie Kendrick.
The invocation was given by Council Member Amy Barrett and was followed by the Pledge of Allegiance.
Mayor Ordiales welcomed the many guests in attendance and thanked them for attending and announced that the Historical Society will hold its March 11thmeeting at the Civic Center at 5:30.
Motion to adopt final agenda as distributed was made by Council member Nancy Noblet, seconded by Council member Anne Mitchell with all in favor.
In the Mayor’s Report, we have paid off another loan, many remain, but we have paid off the higher interest rate loans (5% or greater). We saved $107,000 in interest on this loan. We have paid off to date $622,763. Total debt is now $400M. We have done smoke testing and found 5 accounts that were not being billed. We have contacted them and are now billing accordingly. We were also able to identify manholes that are feeding into our sewer system and required repair.
There will be an insert in the next utility bill which describes how quickly a small leak or dripping faucet can become a large bill, tips for detection, and also information about our water system/billing including the various methods available for paying your utility bill as well as the fee structure for service interruption due to nonpayment.
Also in the Mayor’s report, Arbor Day planting (October Glory maple tree) at Mayors Park, GDOT has cleaned the street gutters and the City has started working on cleaning the sidewalks and have netted approximately 30% more sidewalk in the process. A very moving Iwo Jima tribute presentation was attended by the Mayor and Police Chief.
The Mayor introduced Police Officer Pam Henderson to the attendees (Hiawassee’s first female full time Police Officer). Officer Henderson works the night patrol.
The Mayor also advised the Council that this year she is working to be more visible in the community by volunteering at businesses one day a month, her first assignment was Hiawassee Brew lunch duty. She has begun meeting with city businesses in an effort to increase communication between the business community and city hall.
In new business, Mr. Chris Hollifield of Rushton & Co, LLC presented the 2018 Financial Audit Review to the Mayor and Council. He explained the process of auditing a city the first time is very detailed. Audit went smoothly; they reviewed a great deal of data, finished on time and submitted to the state in a timely manner. He explained that it is the city’s responsibility to prepare and fairly present the financial statements of the City and the auditor’s responsibility is to give an opinion that the financials of the City are reflected accurately. It is the opinion of Rushton & Co, LLC that the City of Hiawassee has a good clean audit. General Operating Fund – fund balance is very important – there is almost 2 ½ months of operating costs in unrestricted funds. A healthy place to be would be 3 – 4 months of funds in reserve. He suggested keeping this in mind as the Council works on the budget for the coming year. When looking at the Budget vs Actual report for General fund, more funds were received than budget and less was spent, however individual departments show more was spent than budgeted. Any time this happens, it triggers a compliance comment. Revenues over expenditures resulted in the increase in reserved, unrestricted funds to almost 2 ½ months in fund balance. The prior year the City had approximately 1 month in reserve.
In the Water/Sewer and Water Treatment plant, Net positions of these funds are doing fine, however when you look at revenue vs expenses in the water/sewer account, an operating balance of $14,200 when you are looking at $1.8M in revenue is not a lot. Change in net position decreased from last year by $124,343. Mr. Hollifield cautioned the Council to pay close attention to these numbers as the new GEFA loan will affect these numbers and he advised careful review of water and sewer rates in the coming year. He reiterated the need to get the fund positive moving forward, especially with the new debt.
In long term debt, under business type activities, these are all in the water and sewer funds and at year end, the balance was $4.4M. $340,000 of debt has been retired during this year including one loan paid off in full.
In the SPLOST account, you can see that $107,000 has been spent this year. Previous year’s spending equals $764,854.
Mr. Hollifield also addressed suggested several improvements in procedures and processes as the Mayor requested when the audit process began.
2018-2023 Hazard Mitigation Plan was presented by Katy Westbrook. This is required by FEMA in order to be eligible for grants. The cost was paid by FEMA and in-kind donations of time from participants. Grants available are for things like a generator to keep a water plant running during an electrical outage, or tornado shelter. If this is not adopted, FEMA would not provide coverage in the event of a disaster. The Council will be asked to adopt this plan by resolution at the meeting next week.
The Budget Policy has been distributed to the Council for review. This is the first step in the budget timeline. The resolution to adopt the policy will be on the agenda next week.
The Mayor gave the Council the spreadsheet breakdown of the options for the truck purchase and made her recommendation. The Council will be asked to approve the purchase of one of these trucks next week.
The Belle View Gardens Lift Station has been maintained by the City, but the paperwork deeding it to the City was never completed. The Mayor will be asking for approval to accept the Lift Station next week.
The 40 year old belt press is not functioning properly and needs to be replaced as parts are difficult to procure. The Mayor is asking the Council to approve the acquisition of a screw press, which will do the same job, in half the time and is much smaller. Cost is $384,000 and she is reviewing ways to finance the equipment because the cost is in addition to the sewer plant upgrade.
The Mayor will also request the Council’s approval to contract with Tax Specialists of Georgia to assist with making sure the City does not pay sales tax on materials purchased by vendors for the treatment plants upgrades. The projection is approximately $50k back to the City between the two projects. It is no cost to the City. Tax Specialists get 17% of any monies recovered. The contract was distributed to the Council. Approval will be requested at the March Council meeting.
We had a leak in the control room at City Hall. Issue appears to be the combination of a flat roof and a LOT of rain which is collecting on the roof.
Million Gallon Water Tank Maintenance – This is a budgeted expense of $47,000. The tank needs to be drained, sand blasted, fix cracks, fix a gauge, sand blast and clean the outside. Mayor has two quotes – there aren’t many companies that provide this service. She will be asking for approval for that expense on Tuesday.In the Police report, there appears to be an increase in scam calls – specifically there was a call purportedly by Hiawassee Police soliciting donation for fallen officers. It was not the Hiawassee Police. Chief Smith suggests hanging up on recorded calls, don’t trust caller ID, and don’t verify any information if you have not initiated the call.
Chief Smith also introduced the Yellow Dot program for citizens 55 and older. This is a document that lists emergency contacts, your year of birth (not date), medical history, the medications you may take and includes a sticker to designate that you are in the program. The sticker would be located on your car window, front door, etc. which would alert first responders that there is information for them in the glove box or refrigerator respectively. The state will provide 1500 to the county, so Chief Smith asked for input into how to fund the program going forward. The cost is $3 per kit. Bannister Funeral Home also participates in the program.
Denise McKay gave the Economic Development Report – Must define objectives for each entity – Towns County, Young Harris and Hiawassee. She has worked with potential new business owners, one of which is a car wash which will be on Frank Street behind Eller’s Tire. We have a grad student who has chosen Hiawassee for her capstone project, a business recruitment package. She is working on a 50-50 façade grant program for businesses in Hiawassee. Ms. McKay is also working on getting our available properties listed on state databases so that they will be available when companies are searching for relocation areas. Businesses that do not require mass transit may find our area attractive. For the Georgia Cities Week there is an essay contest. We will be asking 8thgraders what they would do if they were Mayor. This gives us information about what they would like to see in the community. GIS (Marty Roberts) has been instrumental in getting maps we need, locating businesses, and inventory.
At this time, the Mayor opened the floor to any citizen who wished to speak.
Becky Landress of Young Harris read a passionate letter to the Council and Mayor detailing her feeling regarding the strategic plan, the ethics committee membership, lack of available recreation for children, progressive business owners, Bible belt stigma, and music choices.
Council member Patsy Owens expressed her opinion that much erroneous information has been disseminated through some press outlets.
Trudy Penland of Hiawassee spoke about the need of a dog park. Mayor Ordiales said that a dog park was on the plans for Mayors Park, but TVA would not allow it.
Council member Nancy Noblet suggested that she would like Council meeting recorded and/or televised so that the miscommunications and misrepresentation would be minimized.
John Holmes of Hiawassee recollected a time when no other persons attended City Council meetings and expressed delight that there were so many in attendance. He asked for all citizens to assist the City going forward.
Mayor Ordiales expressed the opinion that everyone is trying very hard to do the right thing to make the City a better place and that we are not all going to agree 100% with each other. The strategic plan is a guideline for the Council and City; it is not cast in stone.
Bill Pierson suggested that people remember that no matter what you do, someone will be unhappy.
Council member Patsy Owens suggested if you have a question or concern to come to any Council member or the Mayor.
Council member Nancy Noblet also expressed the desire to hear from the constituents. Council Member Amy Barrett also expressed the desire to hear from the citizens and have them attend the meetings and become involved.
LaJean Turner expressed her appreciation of the Mayor and the progress that has been made.
Council Member Anne Mitchell asked Ms. Landress if there were programs for children within the rec department of Towns County. Ms. Landress replied that there are, but families are moving out. Her concern seems to be that perhaps the Council is catering to the retiree/tourist population and not the community.
Leslie and Lynn McPeak are retired school superintendents and specifically worked with special needs children and would love to work with others to assist in bringing children and families to the community.
Mayor Ordiales reiterated that the Council and Mayor are going to do everything possible to do the right thing for the City. She asked for patience as they work through this.
Susan Phillips says she sleeps better since Liz has been in office, and Bill “Scottie” Scott mentioned that the rec center closes early (4pm) on Saturdays.
Mayor Ordiales thanked everyone for coming and asked everyone to please come to the meetings and hear the truth about what is happening and what is being worked on.
Motion to adjourn the meeting was made by Anne Mitchell, seconded by Nancy Noblet with all in favor. Meeting adjourned at 7:38pm.