BROADCAST VIA FACEBOOK LIVE       SITE: CITY OF HIAWASSEE
OPEN TO PUBLIC – PARIS BUSINESS CENTER FUNDRAISING KICK OFF Then
City Hall Training Room Upstairs

HIAWASSEE WORK SESSION AGENDA
March 28^th, 2022 6 PM

1. Call to order
   • Invocation – Nancy Noblet
   • Pledge of Allegiance 
   • Mayor’s Introductions of Guests and Announcements 
   • Approve the Agenda as distributed 
2. Chris Hollifield – Rushton Audit Presentation 
3. Old Business
   • Mayors Report
4. New Business
   • Consent Agenda – 
     • March 1^st  City Council Meeting Minutes 
     • March 21^stSpecial Called Mtg Minutes 
     • March 23^rdSpecial Called Mtg Minutes
     • March 28^thWork Session Minutes  

5. Crypto Mining Ordinance 2^ndreading on April 5th
6. Preliminary budget 
7. Noise Ordinance enforcement changes 
8. Dual Readings at 1 meeting
9. Boardwalk Design work David Freedman Engineer – $9,800
10. Water Rate Increase – Ordinance on file
11. DDA Training update – Nancy, Amy, Anne
12. Ethics Committee Appointees/Re-Certification
13. Police Report
14. Economic Development Report
15. Executive Session
16. Adjournment

HIAWASSEE WORK SESSION MINUTES

The City of Hiawassee met at the Paris Business Center at 6pm on March 28^th, 2022 ahead of the March Work Session for a brief fundraising presentation by Economic Development Director Denise McKay.  

The City of Hiawassee March Work Session was called to order at 6:10 PM on March 28^th, 2022, in the Upstairs Training Room at City Hall by Mayor Liz Ordiales. The meeting was also broadcast over Facebook Live.

Present in addition to the Mayor were Council members Anne Mitchell, Amy Barrett, Patsy Owens, and Nancy Noblet. Councilmember Jay Chastain was absent.  Staff present were Economic Development Director Denise McKay, Downtown Development Program Manager Steve Harper,Police Chief Paul Smith, and City Clerk Bonnie Kendrick. City Attorney Thomas Mitchell was also present.

The Mayor welcomed all guests including Jerry Gutenstein and his T-Shirt, Newlyweds Chad Stack (WJRB radio), and his new wife Kinsey, Herb Bruce and his new bride Mary.  The Invocation was given by Councilmember Nancy Noblet and was followed by the Pledge of Allegiance.  The motion to approve the agenda as distributed was made by Councilmember Nancy Noblet, seconded by Councilmember Amy Barrett with all present in favor. 

The Mayor introduced Chris Hollifield of Rushton and Company who presented the 2020-2021 Audit.  There were no significant findings, however, the DDA – due to the small staff - had difficulty with separation of duties.  Rushton has suggested that the DDA utilize some of the City staff in order to assist with the separation of duties.  In the General fund, income is up, and expenses were flat over the prior fiscal year. The Water/Sewer Fund and the Water Treatment Fund both showed increased income and expenses over the prior period. 

In her report, Mayor Liz gave the Covid update (7 cases in the last two weeks) so please continue the 3 Ws – wear a mask, wash your hands, walk away – as you see the need.  All businesses in the City are now licensed for 2022.  Property tax has 75 uncollected real property accounts ($9,282) and 66 uncollected personal property accounts ($1,671).  Third notices will go out next week.  Mayor Liz met with 2 contractors to review the sidewalk repairs (driveways to nowhere, handicap curb cuts, etc) and hopes to have bids soon.  She would also like to add sidewalks from Hiawassee Brew to Georgia Vision Center as well as from Main Street to the Shook House (South State Bank side of the road) if funds are available. This would make the City more walkable. The Appalachian Regional Commission had their Co-Chair Gayle Manchin (Virginia Senator Joe Manchin’s wife) from Washington DC come down for a meeting because they are happy with how we are investing their dollars.  The Men of Water are painting the poles at Mayor’s Park.  The ice machine is being built and will be installed at Mayors Park (slab is in).  Ellawassee has been fenced in (thank you Michael Courey and Gordy Jones) and has solar light for nighttime viewing.  The University of Grand Rapids students came again and planted native plants (and remove nuisance invasive plants) along the shore at Mayors Park.  This is a program in partnership with MountainTrue and Callie Moore.  The two package stores have opened – Hiawassee Package Store and The Tilted Bottle.  There will be a “Let’s Vote” event on the Square this Saturday (4/2/2022) from 10 – 2.  It is sponsored by both the Republican and Democratic parties and will help with voter registration and any issues with your voter registration (such as change of address).  The Towns County Election Board will be on hand to assist.  The Master Gardeners have taken on the Square as a project and have done a lot of clean-up.  They will have a full workday with all the gardeners at the end of April.  Music on the Square is finalized with an additional week this year.  The Fall Affair on the Square will take place the same weekend as the Vincent & Daly LandFest (September 16-17, 2022).

In New Business the Consent Agenda will consist of the March 1^st   City Council Meeting Minutes, the March 21^st Special Called Mtg Minutes, the March 23^rd Special Called Mtg Minutes, and the March 28^th Work Session Minutes.

The second reading of the Cryptocurrency Mining Ordinance will be on the April 5^th meeting agenda.

The preliminary budget is available to anyone who is interested.  The public hearing will be on April 25^th prior to the April Work Session Meeting, first reading at the May Council meeting, second reading at the June Council

Chief Paul Smith has been working on refining the noise ordinance to make it more enforceable.  He noted that he has several ordinances for other cities that he is using as a template and has given the Council members those to review and make suggestions.  He presented the Comprehensive plan character areas and suggested that we might consider basing the ordinance on the area (residential, commercial corridor) and have different criteria based on that area.  There was good discussion on different ways to approach the issue – hours, source of noise, and the ability to write citations.  Chief Smith will have a draft ordinance ready for vote next week.

The Dual Readings at one meeting Home Rule amendment will be on the agenda for April 5^th.  This will provide the Council the ability to pass an ordinance with one read, but every Council member and the Mayor must be present.  Any Council member can – with no reason – ask that the ordinance be held over to a second reading.  The Council would like to proceed with the change.  It will require notification in the legal organ (Towns County Herald) and must be posted at the Superior Court Clerk’s Office.

The preliminary Boardwalk Design work by David Freedman was presented which includes two fishing piers Mr. Freedman has done this work and has also worked for both TVA and DNR.  His contract to complete the redesign will be on the agenda April 5^th in the amount of $9,800

Mayor Liz presented the reasons and methodology for a water/sewer rate increase.  Chemical and services we use are increasing in cost and we can no longer sustain services at the present cost structure. Although some years ago, a prior council voted to increase water rates 2.5% yearly, it was never enforced and did not make it into our codified ordinance.  She did not know why they chose 2.5% and is suggesting the Council consider changing the rates the amount that Social Security goes up (minimum of 1% and maximum of 5%) each July.  This would provide reasonable increases.  The average increase has been 1.9% over the last 10 years.  This will be done by resolution to change the consolidated fee schedule.

Council members Nancy Noblet, Amy Barrett and Anne Mitchell gave an update on the DDA retreat to Madison Georgia.  All felt the time spend was well worth the knowledge they gained.  They were impressed with the parks and housing the DDA has been able to offer the community.  The separation of the Council and the DDA was helpful knowledge and seeing how a Council and DDA can work in harmony was enlightening.

It is time to begin the renewal of the City of Ethics designation – it must be done every 4 years – and the Mayor has suggested that the Ethics Committee should have staggered terms.  She will work with Attorney Michell on how that works in practice.

In the Police report, Chief Paul Smith showed a FaceBook post that complimented Officer Murray for assisting a citizen who had run out of gas.  He also described the recovery of a vehicle that was stolen from Bartow County and had Methamphetamines in it.  The recovery was directly related to a tag reader.  Marcy Landau asked if there were any plans to put in a third tag reader coming in from North Carolina.  Chief Smith thought that was a good idea and Mayor Liz said that another citizen had offered to buy one for the City – she will follow up.  Chief Smith, Sergeant James and K-9 Officer Buddy participated in the Read Across America program.

In the Economic Development update, Director Denise McKay informed the Council that a Coffee Shop is coming to Hiawassee and will be in the old Community Cash location.  She also presented the fundraising update – the DDA has just started into the public phase of the fundraising – They have raised over $1 million toward the $1.5 Million goal for the Paris Building.  There was a recent anonymous donation of $152,000.00 and there is currently (for April and May) a matching donation offer of up $10,000.  Great strides have been made by the DDA.  The GICH meeting is tomorrow with the City, Young Harris and the County – 9 members will be attending.  The goal is to bring affordable housing to Towns County and will be a benefit all of us.

There being no need for executive session, motion to adjourn the meeting was made by Council member Amy Barrett seconded by Council member Nancy Noblet with all present in favor.  The meeting adjourned at 7:32pm.