BROADCAST VIA FACEBOOK LIVE       SITE: CITY OF HIAWASSEE
OPEN TO PUBLIC – City Hall Training Room Upstairs

HIAWASSEE WORK SESSION AGENDA
January 24^th, 2022  6PM

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
   • Mayors Report
3. New Business
   • New Street Signs
   • Consent Agenda – 
     • December 3^rd  City Council Meeting Minutes 
     • December 14^thSpecial Called Mtg Minutes 
     • January 4^thCity Council 

4. Air-Med Contract
5. Glass Fronts City Hall Building
6. Landscape Contract (2 Years) 
7. Noise Ordinance enforcement changes 
8. Police Report
9. Economic Development Report 
10. Executive Session
11. Adjournment

HIAWASSEE WORK SESSION MINUTES
January 24^th, 2022  6PM

The City of Hiawassee January Work Session was called to order at 6 PM on January 24th, 2022, in the Upstairs Training Room at City Hall by Mayor Liz Ordiales. The meeting was broadcast over Facebook Live.

Present in addition to the Mayor were Council members Anne Mitchell, Amy Barrett, Patsy Owens, Nancy Noblet, and Jay Chastain.  City Attorney Thomas Mitchell and City Clerk Bonnie Kendrick were also present.

The Invocation was given by Councilmember Amy Barrett and was followed by the Pledge of Allegiance.  The Mayor welcomed all guests including Marcy Landeau, Vickie Constantinides (Chair of the Joint Development Authority), Queen of the Square Joan Crothers, Josh and Julie Alexander and Tim Barrett.  Motion was made by Councilmember Jay Chastain to approve the agenda as distributed, seconded by Councilmember Patsy Owens with all in favor. 

In Old Business, Mayor Liz presented the year in review which included the updated organization chart and Water Treatment Plant staffing issue.  Pass rate for the basic test (class 3) is 37%.  While at Cities United in Atlanta this weekend, Mayor Liz spoke with EPD about the issue and suggestion was made to create a certificate program through the state colleges.  She will meet with the president of the Technical College in Blairsville next week to try to facilitate this. In 2021 $300,000.00 principal payment was made on the last USDA loan (40-year loan).  Eighty-three percent of the old loans have been paid off and she hopes to pay off this remaining long-term loan within the next year.   All new loans are 20 years or less and interest rates are very favorable.  We have been recertified as a Broadband Ready Community for 21 -22.  The replacement of the street signage should be completed by the end of March.  The two package stores are set to open - one in mid-February and one at the end of March.  Car count through Mayors Park is 4, 821 from 10-1-21 installation through today (1/24/22).  This year we received three grants - $3000 safety grant, $600,000 grant for the Paris Building renovations and $16,000 from DOT.  This year we processed 48 ServLine water claims resulting in $15,431 paid to us.  New buoys were placed at Lloyds Landing and at the Water Treatment intake.  The City was gifted with the house on River Street.   We collected all but ½ of 1 property tax bill.  With the assistance of Councilmember Jay Chastain, we now have an intergovernmental agreement with the Towns County Water Authority.  The Water Department completed 938 work orders in 2021 and we processed 480 million gallons of water from Lake Chatuge.  The City hired Sheryl Branson and she has been sworn in as Chief Court Clerk and the DDA program manager position has been posted and interviews completed.  The City has been recertified for the PlanFirst designation (3 years) – this will be the responsibility of the DDA program manager once that person is on board – there are many advantages to this designation, but they must be managed.  We installed two new generators – one at the WTP to replace one that has exceeded its useful life and one at State Farm where there had not been a generator for a lift station which services the entire eastern portion of the wastewater system.  We have assisted the Rotary with a hydroponic garden which provide fresh greens for families receiving food assistance. We provide seven 55-gallon drums of water/month to the Rotary for the garden.  Thanks to Hamilton Garden, we now have Ellawassee at Lloyds Landing (created by Young Harris College art students) and Serenity for the Square (created by Ron Salzer).  Serenity is waiting for warmer weather to receive a fresh coat of paint and be placed on its base.  New light poles and walkway lighting have been installed on the Square as well as new walkways at the back of the Square.  We have received the approval for the board walk between Lloyds Landing and Mayors Park from TVA and have 5 years to build it.  Now that we have approval, we will apply for grants to fund the structure.  Praise God – Marta is now in remission from her battle with cancer.  She has been out for 6 months but is now back and hasn’t missed a beat!  Anne Wiggin and Ligia Gonzalez have stepped up and assisted us in Marta’s absence and Anne will stay on in a part-time capacity, Ligia, Liz’s sister was volunteering at no pay.  We became a Purple Heart City to honor our veterans… Unfortunately, all three signs have been stolen from the posts.  We have order them again, but do not have a timeline for when they will arrive.  The new Water building has been started.  There have been issues with getting some materials, but it is coming along nicely.  The Trek Hiker named Hiawassee Best Town Encounter for meeting the Mayor at Ingles.  We had a summer intern, Mikayla Jerominek, who assisted the DDA.  

Mayor Liz listed her 2022 goals. 

1. Open the Shook House on River Street – anticipated in the second quarter of 2022.
2. Open the Paris Business Center – anticipated first quarter of 2023. Although it had been bid, we were required by the grant administrators to make specific requirements in the bid documents, so it went out to bid again.  We have had one bid submission; it was the same people who did the stabilization.  This grant request was submitted in February 2021and the Mayor signed the grant approval on November 7^th, 2021.
3. Water Treatment Plant expansion – this project went out to bid with an estimate of $1.4 million. We also only had one bidder on this project – the bid came in at $2.6 million.  Consequently, we have gone back to the engineering firm to rework the bid and hope that we will have more bidders when we rebid the project.  The filter alone is $650,000.00 and the building must be built around it.
4. Pay off the remainder of the old, long-term debt.

In New Business, Mayor Liz detailed the process and timeline of the new street signs. The company is having difficulty sourcing the metal needed for the signs but has assured her that all the signs will be delivered in March including the Mathis Way sign for the alley behind City Hall.

The consent agenda will include the minutes of the December 3^rd, 2021 City Council Meeting, the December 14^th, 2021 Special Called Mtg and the January 4^th, 2022 City Council meeting.

The Air-Med Contract has been signed and paid.  While we did not really discuss it, because it was time-sensitive, it was on the agenda and voted on at the January 4^th 2022 meeting.

After repair of the roof at City Hall, it was discovered that the windows in the Mayor’s office and the conference room outside the courtroom were leaking.  The weatherstripping was missing from the tops of the windows.  Mayor Liz contacted a glass company for a quote to replace the weather stripping, but the glass company determined that the windows needed to be replaced because they are single panes.  The quote came in at $13,520 to replace those windows.  It was suggested to contact Murphy Glass for an additional quote which Mayor Liz said she would do in the morning.  She would like to ask the Council to approve $14,000 to replace the windows necessary at the Council meeting next week. Councilmember Jay Chastain remarked that we may need to approve more than that because there is no way to know what damage has already occurred and won’t be know until the old windows are removed.

The landscape contract has been posted and bids are due in early February.  Our current landscaper is not going to bid because his son, who did the detail work has taken a job out of state and he is no longer able to do the amount of work required.

Police Chief Paul Smith will work on revising the noise ordinance with assistance from City Attorney Thomas Mitchell to make it enforceable.

Economic Development Director Denise McKay asked the Mayor to remind the Council that the ribbon cutting for the Mountain Mercantile will take place on Thursday, January 27^th, 2022 at 10:00 am.  Mayor Ordiales said that there are only 15 open store fronts on Main Street now.

Marcy Landeau asked about the pay for the Water Treatment Plant operators.  Mayor Liz stated it depended on the license level they hold and the amount of experience they have.  Starting operators with a Class 3 license start around $15.00.  Class 1 operators start around $25.00.

There was no need for executive session

Motion to adjourn the meeting was made by Councilmember Nancy Noblet seconded by Councilmember Amy Barrett with all in favor.

Meeting adjourned at 6:42pm.