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HIAWASSEE CITY COUNCIL AGENDA/MINTES October 5th, 2021

BROADCAST VIA FACEBOOK LIVE       SITE: CITY OF HIAWASSEE

The City of Hiawassee October City Council meeting will begin at 6PM in the Council Chambers 

HIAWASSEE CITY COUNCIL AGENDA
October 5th, 2021

  1. Call to order
    • Invocation – Amy Barrett
    • Pledge of Allegiance 
    • Mayor’s Introductions of Guests and Announcements 
    • Approve the Agenda as distributed 
  2. Old Business
  3. New Business 
  4. Consent Agenda –
    4.1 September 7th City Council Meeting Minutes 
    4.2 September 27th Work Session Minutes 
  5. Millage Rate– Roll Back Approval/Second Reading 
  6. Service Delivery Approval 
  7. Approval of Storage shed at City Hall 
  8. Approval of new Job position for City Economic Development 
  9. Approval of new rate for Force Main Sewer Tie-Ons 
  10. First reading of Sewer Force Main requirements
  11. Executive Session
  12.  Adjournment

HIAWASSEE CITY COUNCIL MINUTES
October 5th, 2021

The City of Hiawassee October City Council meeting was called to order at 6 PM on October 5th, 2021, in the Council Chambers by Mayor Liz Ordiales. The meeting was open to the public and broadcast over Facebook Live.

Present in addition to the Mayor were Council members Amy Barrett, Anne Mitchell, Patsy Owens, Nancy Noblet.  Councilmember Jay Chastain joined the meeting while in executive session.  Councilmember Anne Mitchell left the meeting during executive session.  Staff present were Economic Development Director Denise McKay and City Clerk Bonnie Kendrick. 

The Invocation was given by Councilmember Amy Barrett and was followed by the Pledge of Allegiance.  Mayor Liz welcomed the only guest, Shawn Jarrard, editor for the Towns County Herald.  

Motion to approve the agenda as distributed was made by Councilmember Nancy Noblet, seconded by Councilmember Anne Mitchell with all present in favor.

There was no old business however Mayor Liz informed the Council that there had been an issue with the last water bills.  The computer used to upload the readings crashed and we thought we got all the reading off.  Unfortunately, there were approximately 150 water bills with erroneous 0 consumption readings which led to basic charge bills.  We have prepared an explanatory letter that will go out to those customers.

Motion to approve the consent agenda, which consists of the minutes from the September 7th City Council Meeting and the September 27th Work Session was made by Councilmember Nancy Noblet, seconded by Councilmember Anne Mitchell with all present in favor.

Motion to approve the second reading of the Millage Rate (roll back to 1.977) was made by Councilmember Nancy Noblet, seconded by Councilmember Amy Barrett. Also in favor was Council member Patsy Owens.  Opposed was Council member Anne Mitchell.  Jay Chastain was absent at this time.

Motion to approve the Service Delivery Strategy document was made by Councilmember Anne Mitchell seconded by Councilmember Nancy Noblet with all present in favor.

Motion to approve the Storage shed ($8,400.00) at City Hall was made by Councilmember Patsy Owens seconded by Councilmember Nancy Noblet with all present in favor.

Motion to approve of the creation of a job position for City Economic Development was made by Councilmember Anne Mitchell and seconded by Councilmember Patsy Owens.  Mayor Liz opened the discussion by explaining her rationale and vision for creating the position of support to the Economic Development Director, Denise McKay.  She feels that a part-time position 3-days/week would be adequate. She has reviewed the same position in Blairsville, Clayton, and Helen (job description and pay scale) and determined that the likely pay rate would be approximately $20/hour but would ask Carl Vinson Institute of Government to provide us with a job description and pay scale for us if the Council chose to create the position.  She does not want to do that unless the Council approved the position. Over the past 3 years, the City of Hiawassee has created the Downtown Development Authority and been awarded the designations of PlanFirst Community, Rural Zone, and Main Street.  In addition, Ms. McKay has formed the Joint Development Authority and been accepted to the Georgia Initiative for Community Housing with Towns County and Young Harris.  While the JDA and GICH benefit both cities and the county, the DDA, PlanFirst, Rural Zone and Main Street designations are only Hiawassee.  The DDA under Ms. McKay’s direction will manage the Paris Business Center and the incubator.  Each of these have requirements for management and reporting, some by working with and supporting new and existing businesses, some by overseeing workers or projects, etc.  Councilmember Anne Mitchell felt that it would take time to find the right person with the right skill set for the position and until we do, we will have to let more things slide, slowing our forward momentum.  Mayor Liz would like to fund the position from Hotel/Motel funds. With the new legislations we are expecting to see an increase in those funds from the short-term rental market.  Hotel/Motel income last year (including payments for Ms. McKay from the County and Young Harris) was $126,000.  40% goes to the Towns County Chamber of Commerce. When asked, Ms. McKay indicated that the assistance was needed to take advantage of all that is offered through these programs.  There was great deal of discussion around how to make sure we have enough money to fund the position such as using some of the seed money that is ear-marked for the DDA, using Young Harris College students, or a UGA intern.  Ms. McKay was asked what the DDA members do.  The DDA board is creating a work plan for the city, and does beautification projects, fundraising, projects to develop the downtown area, economic development, bringing in new businesses, supporting existing business, the façade program, etc.  If the position is not created, there will be projects that will not be able to be done and we will need to pick and choose our projects going forward.  The Council decided to table the vote pending further information.  Mayor Liz asked the Council to let her know what information they wanted, and she will provide it.

Motion to approve the new rate for force main sewer tie-on ($3,500.00) was made by Councilmember Patsy Owens seconded by Councilmember Anne Mitchell with all present in favor.

Motion to approve the first reading of Sewer Force Main Requirements Ordinance was made by Councilmember Anne Mitchell seconded by Councilmember Nancy Noblet with all present in favor.

Motion to enter executive session to discuss property purchase was made by Councilmember Amy Barrett seconded by Councilmember Anne Mitchell with all present in favor.

Councilmember Anne Mitchell left the meeting at 6:28pm due to conflict of interest and did not return.

Councilmember Jay Chastain arrived at 6:34pm during the executive session.

Motion to exit executive session was made by Council member Nancy Noblet seconded by Councilmember Patsy Owens with all present in favor.

Motion to approve submitting a bid for the Kubota from the Hamilton Gardens was made by Councilmember Jay Chastain, seconded by Councilmember Amy Barrett with all present in favor.

Motion to adjourn was made by Councilmember Amy Barrett, seconded by Councilmember Jay Chastain with all present in favor.  Meeting adjourned 

Special accommodations Information

Note: Individuals with disabilities who require certain accommodations in order to participate in meetings or questions regarding accessibility are required to contact City Hall at 706-896-2202.  The City will strive to make reasonable accommodations for those individuals.