BROADCAST VIA FACEBOOK LIVE ONLY SITE: CITY OF HIAWASSEE
NOT OPEN TO PUBLIC
HIAWASSEE WORK SESSION AGENDA
January 25th, 2021
- Call to order
- Invocation – Nancy Noblet
- Pledge of Allegiance
- Mayor’s Introductions of Guests and Announcements
- Approve the Agenda as distributed
- Old Business
- New Business
- Rushton & Associates 2019-2020 Audit Presentation
- Cars for auction in February
- Crown Victoria Police Car
- Camry Drug seizure
- Ford F150 Water Department Truck
- Downtown Development Authority-City Memorandum of Understand for Paris Center
- Grant Application Submittal – ARC Grant $600,000
- Fee Schedule for Alcohol Ordinance
- Code RED Notification System
- Consent Agenda
- Minutes from the January 5th City Council Meeting
- Car Sales approval
- September Financials – Not received to date
- Police Report
- Economic Development Update
- Year in Review
- Executive Session
- Adjournment
HIAWASSEE WORK SESSION MINUTES
January 25th, 2021
The January work session of the Hiawassee City Council was called to order at 6PM on January 25th, 2021 in the upstairs training room of City Hall by Mayor Liz Ordiales. The meeting was broadcast over FaceBook Live and was not open to the public due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Present in addition to the Mayor were Council members Anne Mitchell, Patsy Owens, Nancy Noblet, and Amy Barrett. Council member Jay Chastain attended via telephone. Staff present were Economic Development Director Denise McKay, Police Chief Paul Smith, and City Clerk Bonnie Kendrick. Also present was City Attorney Thomas Mitchell.
The Invocation was given by Council member Nancy Nobletand was followed by the Pledge of Allegiance. Mayor Ordialesintroduced Chris Hollifield of Rushton and Associates, our auditing firm.
Mayor Ordiales gave the latest COVID statistics for Towns County; 42 new cases in the last two weeks (down 35% from prior week), positive test results at 24.7% (up 4% from prior week), 89 tests (down 26% from prior week), 6 new hospital admissions (down 25% from prior week). Currently, 20% of the hospital beds are COVID use. On the GMA conference call this morning Dr. Fauci said he expects that IF 85% of the population receives the vaccine by fall 2021 there may be some sort of return to normalcy. Total cases – 879, deaths -29 in Towns County.
COVID-19 Vaccination Phone Numbers
Motion to approve the agenda as distributed was made by Council member Amy Barrett, seconded by Council member Patsy Owens with all in favor.
There was no old business.
Chris Hollifield of Rushton and Associates updated the Council on the results of the FY19-20 audit and presented the formal audit report. The audit was very good, and the General fund isin very good standing with 5.1 months of reserve (3-6 months is the recommended). The Water/Sewer fund has had a significant increasein income this year due primarily to the catchup payment from the Water Treatment plant related to wheeling fees. The Water Treatment Fund operating expenses increased significantly due to the catchup payment to the Water Fund but going forward that amount will not be as great. Because this year we entered into a loan agreement with GEFA (Georgia Environmental Finance Authority) for the Wastewater Treatment Plantin excess of $750,000, a single audit was required and was done with no findings. Mr. Hollifield commended the Mayor, Council, and staff of the City for their work. He also advised that there will be changes next year in how leases are reported. This includes vehicle or copier leases as well as any long term (12 months or more) leases such as office space, etc. He suggested we make a list of any leases we have over the next year.Mr. Hollifield commended the Mayor, Council, and staff of the City for their work.
Three vehicles are available to be auctioned and with approval of the council next week. Auction will be February 20th and will include the 2006 Ford F150 pickup (water department), the 2007 Ford Crown Victoria (police) and the 2010 Toyota Corolla (drug seizure). The auction will take place at 2398 Blue Ridge Hwy in Blairsville
Downtown Development Authority-City Memorandum of Understand for Paris Center was provided to the Council. The agreement is needed for the ARC grant application. The DDA is agreeing to do the fundraising for the refurbishing of the Paris Buildings, and the recruitment and day to day operations management of the Paris Business Center (when opened). The City will maintain ownership/title to the buildings and participate with the DDA in the selection of architects, engineers, etc. and share with the DDA the cost of matching funds for grants. Council member Amy Barrett questioned the financial obligation from the City. Economic Development Director Denise McKay state that the DDA understands it is imperative that they raise the necessary funds to complete the renovation and. implementation of the Paris Business Center up to and including the full amount should the grant not be awarded to us. Because of that understanding the DDA has hired as consulting firm to assist with the fund raising. Approval will be on the agenda next week.
The updated alcohol fee schedule was presented – due to the updated alcohol ordinance, we will need to update the schedule with fees for new options, i.e., special event permits, etc. There are no changes to the existing fees. Approval will be on the agenda for the Council meeting next week.
The City has purchased the Code REDNotification system for community notification for things like water outages (can pinpoint specific areas/neighborhoods, or the whole of the city limits), road closure notification, etc. Information on how to sign up will be in the Water Bills due next month. Citizens can sign up via text, phone call, on their computer, or they can provide us the information with their water payment, and we will enroll them. Notification can be received either by email, text message, or phone call.
On the consent agenda for the February Council meeting, willbethe minutes from the January 5th City Council Meeting,and the vehicle auction approval. The September Financials are still not available as our bookkeeping firm staff has experienced its second round of COVID illnesses. The financials will be distributed as soon as received.
In the Police report, Chief Paul Smith gave the year in review. As COVID became an issue, incidents lessened greatly, but ramped up to more normal as the year progressed. Overall, 274 reports were filed, 308 warnings and 325 tickets written, and 75 arrests made. Council member Anne Mitchell asked Chief Smith why he did not put the arrests in the paper. Chief Smith responded that, although he can publish them, he felt that doing so, pre-conviction, some people might assume the people were guilty. Council member Mitchell agreed it best not to publish. At the request of Council member Nancy Noblet, Chief Smith advised the Council that Brandon Barrett, who went to part-time status, and Aaron Deyton, who has entered the Georgia State Patrol Academy, had left the force and were replaced by JR Murray and Matthew Phillips.
In the economic development update, Economic Development Director Denise McKay, presented the Council with a Biennial report. She went over the Hiawassee portion of the report. She thanked the Council for their support of the DDA formation. Rural Zone designation was awarded to the City – training workshops have been scheduled and literature has been printed, DDA hired a consultant to assist with fundraising – goal of $1.2Million. The night market was a great success, and they will build on that. The planning retreat was postponed until March. Work plan developed during that retreat will be brought back to the Council. The 2021 plans include updating the comprehensive plan, which requires input from the public, Main Street Affiliate designation also requires planning meeting with the public (can combine the public meetings for those into one). One thing they will be working on is the volunteer base. The DDA has applied for 501C3 non-profit status, it takes a few months to receive. DDA also plans on telling the story of what they have been doing.
Mayor Ordiales presented the Council with the City Year in Review beginning with an overview of the organization chart and responsibilities. Accomplishments included debt reduction of 41%, installed hospital crosswalk, new mural, development of Lloyds Landing, Broadband ready and Rural Zone designations, CARESAct funding ($47k), installed medication drop box, received Safety grant, USDA Rural Development Grants for Paris Building roof stabilization, GDOT-LMIG and mural grants. And rerouted traffic between Trailful Outdoors and Hiawassee Hardware. The City also processed 48 ServLineclaims which saved over $15k in water adjustments. Implementing CodeRed system, Transitioned property taxes from Towns County, and developed 10-year intergovernmental agreement with Towns County Water authority. The Water Department worked 819 work orders, the Water Treatment Plant pumped 406 million gallons of water and finalized the water and sewer maps. City Clerk Bonnie Kendrick became a Georgia certified clerk last year. Focus for this year will be the Paris Buildings and the Water Treatment Plant expansion. Looking at beginning the WTP project in October.
Motion to go into executive session to discuss Litigation was made by Council member Amy Barrett, seconded by Council member Patsy Owens with all in favor.
Motion to exit executive session was made by Council memberAmy Barrett, seconded by Council member Nancy Noblet, with all in favor.
Motion to adjourn was made by Council member Anne Mitchell, seconded by Council member Amy Barrett with all in favor. Meeting adjourned at 7:20pm