College Park City Council
March 23, 2026

Good evening. Welcome to the regularly scheduled meeting of the mayor and city council of the city of College Park. I'm Mayor Bianca Mley Broom. We have a quorum present with council members Mackenzie Ka and Arnold. And so at 7:44 p.m. I'm calling the meeting to order. Our first item on the agenda is the pledge of allegiance. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and

justice for all. >> Chaplain Walker is doing our invocation this evening. Good evening. >> Good evening. >> And it's a pleasure to be here on part of the college department, police department. Let us pray.

Oh Holy Spirit, you who are above all spirits, as we gather together to participate in this meeting of mayor and city council, we are here to be with sworn representatives of College Park along with all other members of leadership and management to oversee, to witness, and to support the well meaningless as we struggle to incarnate

your spirit and brotherhood. College Park strives to be and become a city of fair laws, fair administration of those laws. As we do this, we can continue to become a city of dignity, honesty, fairness, and respect for one another, and to support all who strive to have

more of a city fellowship and respect for all who live here and all visitors. As we turn and observe and enact this invocation, we invite all every and everybody about having a religious representation in our city council matters. What does it mean to involve

the clergy in such important matters? We give thanks, oh God, for our mayor and our city council persons. Support them with clarity in their task. Assist them all in College Park to have and to become a vibrant and caring city. We also give thanks for all of those who serve our in city government and labor

on our behalf so we can have a safe, secure, and meaningful city. Assist us now, Lord, to enter into the conversations of tonight with one another to focus on our needs, our wants, our hopes for a more unified and caring city, a respectful city, a concerned city,

and a city striving to respect everybody. Some of us, oh Lord, will be talking and saying to one another. Some of us will witness the sharing of the other by video. We'll hear and share along with

everybody we can what we say here and now to become more of who we are as a city. We are thankful and authentically interested in support of freedom in these days in our city and in the world. To have a life possible,

to enjoy the fruits of freedom, so we can be proud of who we are, who we have been, and where we want to go, and to incarnate our values in the light of your spirit. So in the name of freedom, integrity, love, and one another. Amen. >> Amen. >> [clears throat]

[snorts] >> Good evening, mayor and council. >> Good evening, >> city manager, attorney, city clerk, wonderful citizens of College Park. I'm here to read the civility pledge. The way we govern ourselves is often as important as the positions we take. Our collective decisions will be better when differing views have had the opportunity to be fully vetted and considered. All people have the right to be treated with respect, courtesy, and openness. We value all input. We commit to conduct

ourselves at all times with civility and courtesy to each other. Thank you. >> Thank you, Chief. >> [snorts] >> Good evening, Mayor, [clears throat] Mayor Pro Tim, council members, city managers, citizens, and visitors. I'd like to share a brief fire safety message with you. In the event of a fire and emergency, please remain calm and proceed to the nearest exit. Exit signs are clearly marked throughout the

building, two to the front and two to the rear. Please follow the direction of College Park staff to designated assembly areas. Once outside, please remain at the assembly point until further instructions are given by city personnel. If you notice smoke or fire during the meeting, please al alert staff immediately and follow evacuation instructions. Your safety is our priority. Thank you for your attention. >> Thank you, Chief. >> Are there any additions, deletions, amendments, or changes to the agenda?

>> I have an addition. Council member K. >> And my addition is I just wanted to make everyone aware that this month is Women's History Month. And I would be remissed if I didn't take a moment out uh just to recognize and thank uh these young ladies that I have the honor of working with uh week in and week out. Uh, obviously I'm not a woman, but I was raised by women and I have

three daughters who have grown into very beautiful, wonderful women. And I have one granddaughter that sooner or later will be a woman. And uh, I just want to say that uh, uh, you all are doing a great job in representing this community very, very well. Uh it's a breath of fresh air from what I was used to up here. And [snorts] on behalf of all the men in College Park, I just want to uh thank y'all uh

for uh the camaraderie and for you all making remarkable achievements and we have been making progress uh with this new body here. And I just wanted to recognize y'all. As you all see, we have some flowers here. Mayor, I see you have yours hidden there, but I didn't leave the mayor out of course. >> No, no, no. They're right here. I appreciate it. Thank you. >> And uh I just wanted to uh let y'all know we're looking forward to a great year. City manager, uh I'm a kinder, gentler man.

>> We we're working on it. >> And we're going to have a good 26. So, thank y'all. >> Thank you, sir. Are there any addition any additional additions, deletions, amendments, or changes? We're keeping the roof on consent agenda. Okay. All right. All right. Is there a motion to approve the agenda? >> Motion. >> Thank you, Council Member Corn. Is there a second? >> Second. >> Thank you, Council Member Arnold. Any discussion? Hearing none, we'll move to a vote. All those in favor? >> That is unanimous.

>> Item 4 A, consideration of an action item to appoint Miss Jamaica Spencer as a Ward 4 sanitation ambassador. This item is sponsored by Councilman Rodrik Gay. >> Is there a motion? >> Motion. >> Thank you, Council Member Carn. Is there a second? Second. >> Thank you, Council Member Arnold. Any discussion? >> Hearing none, we'll move to a vote. All those in favor? >> I. >> That is unanimous. >> Item 4B, consideration of an action on a request approving 15 steering committee appointments for the comprehensive plan.

This item is requested by Michael Hicks, interim economic development director. >> Is there a motion? >> Motion. >> Thank you, Council Member Mackenzie. Is there a second? >> Second. >> Thank you, Council Member Card. All right, discussion. Go right ahead. >> Uh, now those that don't have a fourth city manager, we want to have an opportunity to add our four. >> Yes. >> Four is the maximum. >> Okay. >> According to my team here. >> So, do we need to make an adjustment to the number? >> Uh, if you'd like to have four. >> No, I'm just saying for the actual

motion. >> Oh, yes, we do. >> How about May May I make a suggestion that we we read who's been approved and then at the April 6th meeting there's the additions come? >> [snorts] >> But we could do that, too. Or we could just either take the number out so that we're not restricted because >> it's saying 15. >> That's That's cleaner to take the number out. >> Just take the number out. Yeah. >> Okay. >> Okay. >> So, who made the motion?

>> I do. >> All right. All right. Council member Mack Mackenzie, are you amendable to amending your motion to uh approving the steering committee appointments for the comp comprehensive plan and taking out 15? >> Yes. >> All right. And second was made by council member K. Is that right? >> Yes. >> All right. And and you is does your second still stand? >> Yes. All right. >> With the change. >> Yes, sir. All right. So, any further discussion? And the 11 appointees we've got are Yolanda Bell, James Walker, Ezron

McDaniels, Ranatada Goodidge, Spicita Jackson, Jason Phillip, Randy Godfrey, Julian Rezenover, Kelly Sutton, Kenny Anderson, and Betsy Wy. And there are a number that still need to be appointed. So all those in favor, >> I >> I >> That is unanimous. >> Item 5A, workshop session minutes dated March 2nd, 2026. Is there a motion to approve? >> Some moved. >> Thank you, Council Member Arnold. Is there a second? >> Second.

>> Thank you, Council Member Mackenzie. Any discussion? >> Hearing none, we'll move to a vote. All those in favor? I >> That is unanimous. >> Item 5B, regular session minutes dated March 2nd, 2026. >> Is there a motion to approve? >> Motion. >> Thank you, Council Member Mackenzie. Is there a second? >> Second. >> Thank you, Council Member Arnold. Any discussion? >> Hearing none, we'll move to a vote. All those in favor? I >> that is unanimous. >> Item 6A, consideration of an action authorizing the preparation

and presentation of a city of College Park proclamation recognizing the Southerner Online and journalists Lark McCormack and Khloe Loach for their thoughtful and unbiased reporting highlighting the approval of the Rodri Gay Botanical Garden Initiative in College Park. This item is sponsored by Councilman Rodrik Gay. Is there a motion? >> Motion. >> Thank you, Council Member Mackenzie. Is there a second? >> Second. >> Thank you, Council Member Arnold. Any discussion? Hearing none, we'll move to a vote. All those in favor? >> I. >> That is unanimous.

Next item is remarks of citizens. First public comment. Tanya Um actually correction that would be Shakita James. >> Thank you and good evening mayor and council. My name is Dr. Shakita James and I'm here tonight as a mother and a

resident of College Park. I'll start by saying I'm not on social media much and I don't nearly pay as much attention as I should to the politics of this city. However, what I do care about is what most moms care about, the safety and well-being of her children. I woke up this morning and was shared a post on Facebook that references my son and an AI generated image and his like list taken from my family photos. It was posted by adult or adults to use his name and photo to post something that has nothing to do with him and merely to use his name and likeness as clickbait.

He had nothing to do with the core content of the post. And I'm sure you all could agree to use a child as clickbait is irresponsible, immature, appalling, tacky, and quite sad. Actually, instead of keeping a disagreement where it belonged between adults, he was made into a mocking political post. Now, this sounds like a personal problem, something I need to deal with. But why am I speaking before council? What disturbs me is that in my opinion, it's bigger than this Facebook post. This is part of a larger pattern of connection or influence being led by the city of College Park and its

officients. And I read the city's official public announcement related to this game made by a private citizen and reminded me of another official public announcement released just a few weeks ago from the city of College Park again in response to a private citizen post. It's been since taken down. So that raises some questions for me. Why is this overreaction from the city communication using city resources and on a Sunday, might I add, what's the real reason who's really driving these public announcements and posts? Is there connection or influence? And for

context, I checked. The Facebook post promoting this game has modest engagement. So, in a city of this size and this stature, I think it's fair to ask, what made this rise to a level of official city communication? I looked at the city's trends of public announcements where I see things about road closures, filming, water advisory, public meetings, etc. So, these announcements stood out to me. They didn't feel routine. They didn't feel considered. They felt elevated. They felt overreaching. They felt directed. and they felt personal. And it makes it hard for me to not just ignore that these are just some random persons

online. The admins of these Facebook pages that perpetuate and allow children to be dragged, do business with the city of College Park, and regularly engage with a few council persons. One of the admins actively receives payment from the city of College Park to provide services. The other has been posted as a government strategist. So when I see these kinds of posts online and see a child used as clickbait in the same atmosphere, it's fair to ask whether this is truly independent commentary or part of a broader city or college park connected effort to shape, direct, or

amplify the response to private citizen commentary. It's the city's duty to govern, not retaliate, to serve, not personalize, and to keep personal grievance and hurt feelings out of policy, out of spending, and out of the use of public influence. that responsibility is owed to every citizen. So, it's deeply alarming to me as a mother and as a citizen. And I hope this community will ask the same questions I'm asking and hold this city and its elected officials accountable for how public power, public influence, and public spending are used. Because at

this point, it's not looking like the well-being of citizens. It's starting to look like the weight of city connected influence being brought to infringe on free speech. And when that climate reaches children and my child is gone too far, children should be off limit always. Thank you. >> Thank you, >> Tanya Austin.

Good evening everyone. >> Good evening. >> I'm wearing my shirt again. Integrity matters. And not to disrespect Mr. Webster, but I went on Google and AI to give an updated definition of integrity. Integrity, doing the right thing in a reliable way. At its core, it refers to the quality of being honest and having strong moral principles. Accountability,

trustworthiness, wholeness of character. Integrity matters. Another definition, karma. An individual's intentional actions, thoughts, words, and deeds that can determine their destiny in life. It implies that positive actions yield positive results while negative actions lead to negative consequences.

In other words, what you sow you shall reap. What and who do you represent? What will your legacy be in the city of College Park? I'm asking for the citizens and I'm asking you to ask yourselves, what will your legacy be? Did you leave the city and her people better off? Or will you be remembered for chaos, corruption, bullying,

disrespectful towards your colleagues and your constituents? Ask yourself each day, how can I be a better representative for the people of the city I serve? I'm elected to serve. Ask yourself, how can I do this better? I didn't ask, "What else can I put my name on? What other event can I have to get votes?" I asked, "How can you better

serve the people that you were elected to serve?" Ask yourself every day, what will my legacy be? The nation, the state, the county, and the city of College Park is in need of leaders that represent integrity. We all need that. You need it. We need it. This nation is bleeding. College Park doesn't have to bleed. It doesn't have

to bleed. You're responsible for how we're represented. And I'm asking you to serve the people of this city with integrity. We are absolutely exhausted from the negative press and the behavior of adults that we elected to serve. We're exhausted. Integrity matters, people. It matters. My war representative, I'm calling on you. >> Thank you, ma'am.

Eugene Turner. Good evening, mayor and council. My name is Eugene Turner. I'm coming to you as the president of the youth civic advisory board and the mayor of the youth council. First off, like to thank you all for approving our trip to to DC, Washington DC from J from I mean March the 12th to March the 15th. I just thank

you for allowing these funds to come to us so we can enjoy that experience. We're able to view the African-American um museum as well as even go to Miss Nikima Williams office which is one of our representatives over the trip. It allowed the youth of College Park of these two boards to bond and just experience what it life like in DC. So I like to thank you for that as well. And also I'd like to thank you all for giving the funds the 100,000 as well as approving the 6,000 for the youth civic advisory board college park care initiative that we will be having this Sunday at Keith James auditorium from

2:00 to 4 p.m. I just like to thank you all for investing in the youth and allowing the youth to make an impact in the city. Thank you. >> Thank you >> Dr. Chulo. >> Uh, greetings, mayor and council.

>> Um, I'm I'm here in behalf of uniforming the main street corridor. Uh John Duke has proposed and carried out many infrastructure improvements for the citizens of of the city of College Park. One of the most recent projects is the pedest pedestrian signs along Main Street. And now he is proposing

uniforming of the Main Street corridor. He needs the citizens, the mayor and the council to support his effort. He has a vision, a vision of the city becoming a model city in the south. and he too is demonstrating his love and work and how it can benefit all

citizens, businesses, pedestrian homeowners and visitors. Our city of College Park can be the chief benefactor from its citizens seeking to improve the plight of all citizens in College Park. So I ask you again to support uniforming of the Main Street corridor. Support us in becoming the model city that loves to bring value

to the people of College Park. Thank you. Grace Mc Phillips Lunsford. >> She's not here. >> She couldn't make it. >> Aaron

Lent, my apologies. Good evening. >> Good evening. >> Hi, I uh too am here in support of the effort to reconfigure the lanes on US 29. Um my name is Aaron. I live on Rugby Avenue. Um I frequently patronize the businesses that are right down the street from me. And uh the proposal that

John Duke has done or that John Duke has put forth to um reduce the lane number of lanes uh from two in each direction to one northbound and two southbound um would make the street safer and also make it a little bit easier for pedestrians and help the um businesses that that uh are set up there. And I'm not the only one that thinks this way. Um, I really do encourage the council to take a look at the proposal. The

thoroughess of the data um is I mean he just put a lot of work into it and it does make a lot of sense. So that's all I have and I hope you guys have a great evening. >> Thank you. Lorenzo White.

>> All right. >> Good evening, council, mayor, city officials. Uh, my name is Lorenzo White. I represent the breakfast boys property owner 3387 3389 and value league represents property owner at >> 3391 3393 3395 3397 >> and so we represent a nice chunk of what uh you what was mentioned earlier the proposal to create a more walkable main street and so we think it'll help our businesses because we want to attract more of the locals. We get a lot of

folks that come from all over. Uh, but we like to see folks walk from behind us to come up and sometimes it might be walking a dog or it might be just, you know, pushing a stroller and just that little bit of connectivity will help them come into our businesses and so we support it and we don't want to get a before the process. We respect the process. So, we just want to show our support, but we want to go through the process and whatever you decide is what it'll be. That's all I have. Thank you. >> Thank you.

Madame Mayor, that is all I have for public comment at this time. >> All right. If anyone wishes to speak and they did not get a chance to sign in, they can do so at this time. Seeing none, we will keep on moving forward. We don't have any public hearings, so we're on to the consent agenda. And before you sound that, madame clerk, I do believe it's my understanding that our city attorney told us we had to have a we had to bid out. Oh, I apologize, sir. Good evening.

>> Apology is accepted. >> Good evening, mayor and council. >> I'd like to greet you all tonight in the greetings of peace. My name is Larry Brady Evans. I reside at 2112 West Princeton Avenue, College Park, Georgia. I just like to comment on the city, the positive things that you all are trying to do.

And I thank J for her work, Joe for your work, mayor, and also you, Miss Tracy. Roger Gay, he's not here. But you guys are trying hard to bring the city together. I see a lot of egos that's clashing and it don't help because from what I hear from the city, they're not happy with the way things

are going in this city and they feel that you guys are representing us in a negative way to the world because the world is looking at this. It's not just local people. You guys represent College Park and this is where I was born in 1959 and I've never seen [snorts] such behavior outward. Now, they may have did it in the back

room, but when they came before the public, they conducted themselves with dignity, respect for each other, and tried to move forward. And I hope and pray that this is what we are setting out to do. And a special thanks to the the city workers, the waterworks department, sanitation,

um, couple of others for the hard work that I've seen these guys do throughout the winter when everybody else was in the house warmed. they was in the trenches trying to repair the streets, keep the lights on and so forth. So, with that being said, I hope and pray that you guys get it all together. And I feel like a lot of other citizens

here feel the streets do need to be widened. It's very congested going up through there. And me personally, I've had bad experiences in my vehicle. So, I do hope and pray that you all take in consideration what has been opposed to widen that street and do the proper things to bring peace, happiness, and joy. And for the record, this is where I live. This is

where I play. Thank you, sir. >> And this is where I stay. Have a blessed day. You, too. >> Thank you. >> Thank you. >> All right. So, uh, there's anyone else who wishes to speak? Seeing none, before you say the consent agenda, Mr. Denmark, you said we needed to bid out this project on the roof. Is that correct, >> Madam? I sent a memorandum to the to the

governing body uh this afternoon or this morning I can't remember which. Um my position is stated therein and I don't have anything further beyond that. >> Okay, madam cler. >> Well, question council member K. I'm I'm aware of the memorandum now, but uh now we've had contractual roof services in the past uh over at the convention center. I think it's something that needs to be done. Uh in terms of those past contractual

services, is that something that we could uh piggy back on from one of those for this this repair? >> In my opinion, no sir. I mean, we we are purporting to spend nearly $5 million on a construction project and we're constrained by both state law and our own polic. So, um, like I said, I set forth my position in my memorandum. That's my legal opinion and and so the council is free to make a decision that it feels appropriate, but I felt that it was my obligation to give you the benefit of my legal counsel.

>> Right. >> Point of um I don't know if it's point of order um on this. I >> Council Member McKenzie, >> I I see there was an email that was sent from the attorney. I'm just getting a chance to read it. Um, so if I had read it before, I would have asked to move this to the regular session agenda. Um, I do think that unless this is something I'm seeing this is supposed to be an emergency. I I I think we just need to discuss this. So, I know it's late uh in

terms of rem moving it, but I do think that um now with this information from attorney Denmark that we should consider um moving this to regular session. >> Is there a motion? >> I just made the motion. >> You said you were consider So, are you making the motion to remove the motion to remove move it to regular session? >> That'd be item 9 C. And so then it would become item 10 J. >> Is there a second?

>> Second. >> Thank you, Council Member Arnold. Any discussion? Council member K. >> City Manager, I just want to hear from you in terms of >> Yes. Thank you. That was that was the attorney's opinion. This has been bidded. The roof is leaking. It's been leaking for a while. They put in they put an emergency memo. We're having to give money back uh to our patients because the roof needs to be fixed. It was bidded. We have our purchasing director here can explain to you all how it was bidded.

>> Okay. >> And it was on the consent agenda. Okay. This >> Okay. Hold on. Hold on. Hold on. >> Okay. I didn't >> Hold on. Wait. Hold on. If there is discussion to be had on it, then let's just have the discussion and and move it to 10J because there's there needs to be an explanation. >> But Well, according to whom? >> Oh, council member K. >> I was actually speaking, so I would like to >> maintain and then I will come to you, council member. >> No, I apologize. Okay.

>> Um, I did not make >> Hold on. Wait. >> I'm going to clarify my motion. >> Okay. >> Okay. I did not make a motion to remove this from the meeting. The motion is simply to put it on the regular session so we can discuss it. That's all. 9C to 10J. Correct. Council member Carr. >> Okay. Uh uh city manager, I heard I thought I heard it was bidded out. >> Okay. Uh I'd like to hear from purchasing whether

we hear from purchasing now or or >> it be after >> later. Later. >> Okay. >> All right. All right. >> All right. Any further discussion? Hearing none. All those in favor? I >> that is unanimous. >> Item 9 I, consideration of an action on request to approve the purchase of two new chiller water pumps at the cost of $31,363 and the rental of two chillers water

pumps at the arena until the new pumps arrive under the city's emergency purchasing policy. This is necessary to ensure uninterrupted service to clients and maintain operational continuity. Due to the urgency of the issue, the city manager has approved the two-month rental of $38,419. The combined total of 69,782. This item is requested by executive director of the Gateway Campus, Giannis Barner. This is a budgeted item fund RMD DP equipment GL account number 556525360

and other equipment 556547640. for fiscal year 2025 to 2026. This will serve as W 2. 9B, consideration of an action on request to pay the contractual services invoices for NOVA Engineering and Envi Environmental LLC for the building department and plan review services in the amount of $19,69125 for February. This item is being requested by Sabrina Walters, inspections operations manager. This is a budgeted item. fund contractual services GL account number 172526170

fiscal year 2026 of services all citywide items. Is there a motion to approve your consent agenda? >> Motion. >> Thank you, Council Member Mackenzie. Is there a second? >> Second. >> Thank you, Council Member Arnold. All those in favor? >> I I >> That is unanimous. First item of regular business 10A, consideration of an action on our request for a special event permit from Foster Foundation to host Campaign College Park Community Day 2026 on

August 8th, 2026 at Badget Stadium. This item is requested by Queenie Brown, Deputy City Clerk. This item is located in Ward One. >> Is there a motion? >> Motion. >> Coun. Thank you, Council Member Mackenzie. Is there a second? >> Second. >> Thank you, Council Member Arnold. Any discussion? Hearing none, we'll move to a vote. All those in favor? I >> That is unanimous. Item 10B, consideration of an action or request to approve the professional services agreement for Ignite Resource Group for fiscal year beginning July 1st, 2026. This item is sponsored by

Councilwoman Dr. Jamal McKenzie. >> Is there a motion? >> Motion. >> Thank you, Council Member Mackenzie. Is there a second? >> Second. >> Thank you, Council Member Car. Any discussion hearing? None. We'll move to a vote. All those in favor? I >> I. >> That is unanimous. >> Item Tinsy, consideration of an action on a request to approve 2,500,000 from the hospitality fund to include projects funded by the tourist project development TPD account GL account number 2754975526300

fiscal year 2026. This item is sponsored by Mayor Pro Tim Joe Car. Is there a motion? >> Motion. >> Thank you, Council Member Car. Is there a second? >> Second. >> Thank you, Council Member Arnold. Any discussion? >> Hearing none, we'll move to a vote. All those in favor? I >> I >> that is unanimous. Item 10 D, consideration of an action on a request to approve, Apologies, a consideration of a

resolution authorizing the expenditure of tourism product development TBD funds for tourism related capital improvements. This item is sponsored by Mayor Pro Tim Joe K. Is there a motion? >> Motion. >> Thank you, Council Member Carney. Is there a second? >> Second. >> Thank you, Council Member Mackenzie. Any discussion? >> Hearing none, we'll move to a vote. All those in favor? >> I. >> That is unanimous. >> 10E. Consideration of an action on request to approve the allocation of 1,165,000

previously included in the fiscal year 2026 budget transfer for phase one of the Godby Road Park project. This item is being requested by Lance Terry, interim director of recreation and cultural arts. This item is budgeted in fiscal year 2026 shell account number 100 6122547920 and will serve all wards. Is there a motion? >> Motion. >> Thank you council member Arnold. Is there a second? >> Second. >> Thank council member Mackenzie. Any discussion >> hearing? None. We'll move to a vote. All those in favor. >> That is unanimous.

>> Madam clerk before you sound. This next one will remove opportunities from the planning commission to do to work on public land. And we may see the genesis of this with the Bill Evans Park project. >> Item 10 F, consideration of an action request to consider proposed revision to chapter 17 subdivision ordinance. This item is sponsored by Mayor Tro pro Tim Jo. >> Is there a motion? >> Motion. >> Thank you, Council Member K. Any Is there a second? >> Second.

>> Thank you, Council Member Mackenzie. Any discussion? >> Hearing none, we'll move forward to a vote. All those in favor? I >> I. >> That's unanimous. And prior to 10G, before you sound that one, we are we may be running into running our businesses out of business within a week if we can cite them one day at a time. First violation, second violation, third violation, they all start new every day. And it doesn't it doesn't say anything about giving

somebody an opportunity to cure. So, if we see a liquor store go out of business quickly after this, don't be surprised. Madam clerk 10g, consideration of an actional request to approve an ordinance amending chapter 3 alcoholic beverages article 2 licenses section 3-27 and 3-46 of the

city code to revise distance requirements applicable to the sale of malt beverages and wine by the drink to update minimum penalty provisions for alcoholic beverage license violation. >> Is there a motion? >> Motion. >> Thank you, Council Member Corn. Is there a second? >> Motion dies for lack of a second question.

>> Council member K. All right. So, your issue is the three strikes starting over again. Is that your is that your main issue with this? This needs discussion. This needs a workshop because someone could come in on Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday and issue the same citation. And that third violation means that that person loses their license and they may be in the process of trying to cure. That's not businessfriendly. That's not

that's not fair to the people who have invested in this community. If we've got a problem, we give them an opportunity to cure it and there's there's no discussion of that, but I think it needs further discussion, but it did not get a second to move forward for consideration. So, I think we I'd be happy to have a conversation about it. Um, you know, whether we put it on the next workshop to discuss, but in its current form, the way it reads, a a store could be out of business in three days and just get cited on Monday,

Tuesday, and Wednesday. >> I have a suggestion. >> Well, it's not It did not get a second. >> A point of order. I have a substitute motion. >> What is your substitute motion? U city attorney. Uh >> what is your substitute motion? What's your substitute motion? >> What I would recommend is >> council member, I'm I'm the chair. Please direct your comments toward me. What is your substitute motion? >> I'm trying to say it. I was interrupted. My substitute motion would be

reconsidering this uh with including an appeals process in the event that there are three consecutives uh that would come up for consideration based on the circumstances and uh I'd like you to put together some leg some some some additions there that would accommodate uh that process where it's not completely zero tolerance whe there is an appeals process,

>> but that's not in this right now. >> Again, this is my substitute motion to approve this with the addition >> of an appeals process uh to be codified into the language. >> Is there a second on that? So, someone could get shut down and then appeal >> again. The appeals process would not shut them down. it would come before us. They can either be shut down or they can appeal

and then the in the interim of the appeal uh we would allow them opportunity to operate obviously pending the result of the final appeals decision which would come to us the end of the day or or the alcohol license will be bought whichever one is y'all's pleasure. or it could come back next meeting with that information. And is there a second?

Motion dies for lack of a second. Item 10H, consideration of an action on a request to approve a resolution establishing guidelines for the city fund reserves and city bond policy. This item is sponsored by mayor prom Joe K. >> Is there a motion? >> Motion. >> Council member K. Uh can you speak specific about your motion? Does it include a financial policy that we shall

have 50% uh of our general fund budget in reserves and that our goal is to have 60% in reserves? >> That is correct. We have the addition that the minimum fund balance would be at 50%. However, we will set a goal for 60% fund balance reserve. Uh this uh would be implemented in the 2728 budget cycle as opposed to uh the 26 27.

>> Is there a second? >> Second. >> Thank you, Council Member Arnold. Any discussion? Hearing none, we'll move to a vote. All those in favor >> I >> I >> that is unanimous. >> Tonight, consideration of an action request approve an ordinance amending section 2-22 of the code of ordinances to establish unanimous voting requirements for certain financial actions. This item is sponsored by Bar Pro Joe K. Is there a motion? >> Motion. >> Thank you, Council Member Korn. Is there a second? >> Second. >> Thank you, Council Member Mackenzie. Any

discussion? >> Hearing none, we'll move to a vote. All those in favor? I. That is unanimous. Item 10J is consideration of an action on a request to approve a cooperative purchasing agreement with Tecta America in amount not to exceed $4,767200

for Joocc roofing services at GICC. This award will allow the city to procure roofing services under Omnia Cooperative Contract 04-29. This item is requested by Yiannis Barner, executive director, Global Gateway Campus. This is a fiscal year 2526 budgeted capital improvement funded item for fiscal year 26. This item will serve award two. Is there a motion? >> Uh, no motion. I'd like to discuss this item. Can can we we can

>> without before we vote. Point of order. I propose we discuss this item before there are any motions. I want to hear from the purchasing director and I want to hear from the city manager and the city attorney before we vote. >> Council member >> council member please I would ask that you not interrupt me. Thank you. Um we need a motion >> and then we can have the discussion and that's the >> motion for the discussion. >> Motion to discuss. Okay. So, you want to you want to supersede Robert's rules of order and and have a discussion?

>> We're following Robert's rules. This is a motion for discussion. It's in Robert's rules. That's my motion. >> Can you cite to specifics on that? I'm not I'm not familiar with that. >> That is my motion. >> All right. Is there a is there a second on the motion to have discussion without an item on the floor? >> Second. >> Thank you, Council Member McKenzie. All right. Um,

>> do we need to vote? >> Council, >> do we need to vote? You going to call for the vote? >> Is there any discussion? >> Motion a second. >> The motion was for discussion. >> Right. There's discussion with every motion. So, I ask if there's any discussion. Hearing none, we'll move to a vote. All those in favor? >> I. >> All right. That is unanimous. >> All right. Uh, >> council member, what would you like, >> city manager? >> Council member, >> I'd like

director. >> Okay. I'm But I would ask that you direct it toward me as the person who is who is chairing. >> May I'm directing that towards the city manager to bring his department head here to discuss this. Again, I ask for discussion. >> Council member, >> that did not mean discuss. >> Council member, I would ask that we we maintain civility. >> You gave me the floor, mayor. I appreciate not being interrupted. City manager, I'd like to hear from council member director. >> Council member, I would ask >> Mayor, you gave me the floor. >> Council member, I'm not here to get into an argument with you and I would hope that we could embrace some civility

here. >> I still have the floor. >> Council member, I would ask that when you are making a comment that you address them toward me. >> Mayor, no. No one else addresses comments towards you. If they have a comment for the city manager, the city attorney, or the city clerk, they address them towards those people. That has never happened here. City manager, I'd like to hear from the uh purchasing director. >> Council member, I would ask that you address them to me as the chair. I >> just did, mayor. >> I just did. >> That's all I'm asking. All right.

Please, would you do that? I >> already did that. You gave me the floor. >> Mr. Hicks, >> Mad, can I? >> Yes, sir. >> Okay. Cton and Yiannis, can you guys come down, please? Good evening, mayor and council. >> Good evening, >> city manager, city attorney. Yes. Um, this was also bidded out and it was

bidded twice and I'm going to let the purchasing manager explain the twice bidding. So, >> good [clears throat] afternoon, mayor and council. Um Carl Hall um procurement. Um so to kind of clarify um Omnia is a cooperative. So cooperatives are bidded out. So it went through Omnia Partners and it was competitively bidded out. So that project is has been bidded.

So um there was a bid that did go out on our platform. Um but after conversation with Mr. Giannis um I felt it was better to go through a cooperative. >> Could you make sure you're speaking into the microphone? Thank you. >> Sorry. Um I thought it was better to go through a cooperative agreement which is through Omnia Partners >> Mr. Hall. U was there a with Omnia? What is their process? So, for example, um a company or a

a school system may reach out to Omnia and says, "Hey, we have this JC um and we need to put this out for bid." >> So, J job ordering contract. So, um when that goes out, it's bidded uh nationally. So, they'll have the bids that receive nationally. then that entity will do the same RFP process, evaluations, and all of that. So, it still goes through a procurement process. It's just nationally. >> Mr. Denmark, does that assuage your

concerns? >> Somewhat, but I'm I'm not certain whether or not the specifics of our project uh was was big uh nationally or whether it was just projects in general. So, can you explain what the specific in the particulars of our project to replace our roof that was specifically bid out nationally? >> Um, no. So, that job ordering contract, that actual service was bidded out nationally. >> And so, we're just piggybacking off of that contract.

I guess my my concern is were was was the public aware that the city of College Park uh wanted to solicit bids uh so we can get the best competitive price for the roof repair at the GIC. Was that put out to the public such that they could competitively bid on that particular job? >> Initially, yes, it was put out to the public, but after discussions, I felt it was best to go to the cooperative. So, um, to answer your question, yes,

>> it was initially, but that's not what we are now. Correct. >> Correct. Correct. >> So, we're in a different place now. Okay. And that different place is what gives me concern because it's a lot of money. It's a huge construction project. And state law requires us to bid construction projects over $250,000, barring some circumstance, one of which being an emergency procurement or something along those lines. So, what what's my goal in sitting here? Not not to frustrate anybody's efforts, but if I

don't say these words, then I'm accountable for not having said these words. Now, you vote your pleasure, but I express my concerns in writing. Uh, and and that's kind of where I stand. I believe that we need to comply with both state law and our policy to bid this specific project to the public. >> Question. >> Council member K, >> city manager. Uh, I understand the uh this outfit is here. Tika Tekk

I'd like to hear from them just briefly on these bids. >> Hold on one second. >> Then I had a several other questions for uh purchasing. Um so whoever the principal person is uh >> Hold on one second. Hold on. Gentlemen, have have a seat. Um we'll we'll call you up in a sec. >> I I ask for you mayor, you gave me the floor. I would like to hear from this outfit regarding the bid Tika America. If they're here, I'd like you to come on

down, please. >> Sir, as a chair of the meeting, >> mayor, you gave me the floor. >> Not to not to direct other people to move. >> Mayor, everyone that has the floor directs other people and ask questions of other people. That's nothing unusual. >> Council member, I I'm not I'm not here to to to fight on this. I just just give me one second before these gentlemen come down. I'll make sure that they come down. >> Thank you, mayor. I appreciate that. [snorts] >> There there was no bid that went out for this particular time. We did it in the past, but it not

for this time. >> Correct. Correct. Yes. >> And state law says that for a public works project, Mr. Denmark, we have to bid that out if it is over $250,000. >> That's what state law says. Yes, Madam Mayor. >> Okay. All right. Gentlemen, if you'd like to come down,

>> could you introduce yourself, please? >> I'm with Tech to America. I I manage all the government contracts in all 50 states for the largest roofing company in America. >> Thank you, sir. And you are Hold on. I'm Jason Schaefer with Tech America here in Atlanta. >> Okay. >> Wade Lancaster with Tech in Atlanta. >> Okay. All right. Council member K. Go ahead if you'd like to ask questions. >> I'm assuming you're the principal. It looks like you're the oldest, so I guess you're the U. Now, now before you start, uh, unlike the mayor, I don't know what

bidded out or when it was bidded out or whatever have you. So if you can give us a little clarity on this and maybe that'll help >> you guys can speak more on the specifics of when it when it was bid out. >> All right. >> Out within the last >> how many months? >> The first time >> Mr. I'm sorry. I sorry. Can you come to the next? >> The first time was in November [laughter] when it was bid out. Okay. >> That was the first time. >> That was the first time it was bid out publicly. This specific project >> and I understand it was bidded out

twice. When was the second bid? >> Just just lately was the second. >> Okay. The first bid was in November. The second bid was put out when I purchasing. >> So technically this is the second bid or bidding process but through AMIA but this is the second time. >> Okay. Okay. I guess what happened the first time? I guess let me let me start there.

So, with the turnover, I'm not really sure what happened with that process. I know uh the last in I'm sorry, the last manager was doing the due diligence getting that project, but I don't know why it it stopped. >> Okay. I think I I think I got a little better understanding. This bid went out in November. Obviously, there were some things in limbo. We made some changes in purchasing. We made some changes in management. The bid was put out. Meanwhile, the roof keeps leaking. Uh,

now couple other questions I have. Uh, Mr. Barner, now correct me if I'm wrong, but we are moving into our high season, I would imagine. >> Yeah, we're moving into our busy season. >> Okay. >> Yes. >> All right. Uh, next question. It's my understanding that we have multiple major leaks throughout different areas of the building. Is that correct? >> That is correct. Yes. >> Okay. Third question.

>> I guess the gist of this is, is this an emergency repair? >> Is the roofing condition getting better or worse? >> The roofing condition is getting worse. And it is in repair. Okay. just spent over $67,000 in giving back refunds to our clients. >> Okay. Purchasing. I'm assuming this was a public bid process. >> Um, excuse me. [clears throat] More national bid process. >> National bid process. >> Okay. Now, I don't know everything about

the bidding rules and guidelines, but if a bid goes out and there changes administratively, that bid is still out. And if you if a new purchasing director comes in and receives the bids in for that bid, if there's still a need for the project, uh, I guess I'll put it like this. I would consider based on the questions that I've asked, and I'm not a roofer and I'm not a bidder, but here's what I do know.

If you've got a house and the roof is leaking, now is it an emergency? Well, most homeowners would say yes. But there's some legally that would say, "Well, no, it's not an emergency." However, if that home is a bed and breakfast, a B&B, then you darn well better believe it's an emergency because I'm going to lose my business and my customers are not going to rent. Is that right?

So, city manager and uh city attorney, I'm going to kind of I guess hand it over to you guys. I I I think I got an understanding of what happened. You you know, we we >> Hold on. Wait, wait, hold on. Wait. You can hand it back to me [laughter] and Mr. Hicks. >> Yeah. Thank you. So, uh Carton, why don't you explain Omni Omnia Cooperative Agreement? tell everybody exactly what that means and what the bidding process is like. >> So, Omnia Partners is a cooperative

purchasing and we can piggyback when I say we entities, local governments can piggyback off of that contract and utilize it for those services that are listed for JC. So, that's what cooperatives are set up for. >> Yeah. I'm not finish. and and the the the one of the reason I wanted him to explain that is is so that you all can understand the process of the cooperative contract agreement. Then secondly, this is not the first time that this roof has been brought before mayor and council. Mercedes Miller tried

for years to get this roof fixed and each time it came before the budget uh process, it was kicked out. And so now we're now we're at a place where we're in dire straits where it's leaking all over the place. 63,000 we had to refund. >> Yes. >> So according to Mr. Dmar and in the memo that he sent, he didn't think that what Giannis put in the memo constituted quote unquote an emergency. But that's where we are now. >> We giving money back

for for clients because the roof is leaking all over the place. All right. Thank you, Mr. Hicks. Mr. Mr. Denmark, does any of this change your thoughts about this? >> Ma'am, I just want to read because a lot of times there there's the perception that I'm taking a point of view, right? This is kind of just a straight recitation of the law. And when we talk about an emergency procurement and under OCGA 36 9122 subsection E, it

states that uh the emergency exception applies only where a project is necessitated by an emergency which is generally understood to mean a sudden unforeseen condition. Sudden and unforeseen. We've just said we've been talking about this for years. And so there's nothing about talking about a project for years that makes it sudden and unforeseen. Our own procurement policy uh uh speaks on it as well. U

they we say that sudden and unexpected uh which threatens life uh safety in the public necessity. failure to anticipate normal needs, project deadline dates uh or expanded uh or desire to expand the remaining budget funds does not constitute an emergency. So, you know, delayed maintenance um those types of things that doesn't constitute that's our own, not the state of Georgia, but the city of College Park's own manual

says that. So, again, I need to reemphasize what my goal is here. My goal is to say the words that I need to say to you because it's my job to say these words to you and you would hold me accountable if I don't say these words to you. And so we cannot call something that we've known about for years an emergency. Uh it may it may be and our policy even says that um you know the fact that we haven't planned or budgeted or we've delayed um um um repairs or our administrative lag in our own process.

Those things are real, but those things don't constitute an emergency. >> Question, >> Council Member K. And then I'll go to Council Member Mackenzie. >> Okay. City Manager, uh, City City attorney, I hear you loud and clear. Uh, and I hope you all understand that while while I may believe it's an emergency or she may [snorts] believe it's an emergency or whatever have you, at the same time, we have legal representation for a good good reason because there are a lot of state issues at play as well that we are looking at. Uh, I would

suggest two things here. Now, if we reconsidered this request not as an emergency repair, but just as accepting the most qualified bidder from a bid that was interrupted administratively with with the caveat, city attorney, uh, purch forget your name, man. Carl, [cough] >> you understand the city attorney has concerns? >> Yes.

>> Do you have documentation of exactly what was bidded? >> I'll have to look through some archives. I do have some I do have some um that I looked at this morning, but >> Okay. Well, they they may have their awarded bid. I I get I get that. >> No, >> you have all the biders. >> You mean you mean from the first bid, right? Are you talking about this this >> the first public bid that went out to everybody? >> You'll have all that information >> November. >> I have to I have to look look for it. >> Okay. >> Archive files. >> That's going to show exactly what was

bidded. >> Correct. And who and who bid it. >> Right. Again, I guess city attorney obviously this was interrupted in December due to the the change end of November or whatever have you. Uh if we again if we consider this request not as an emergency request but a continuation of a bid process that that was administratively interrupted. What's the continuum of the bid process in terms of if we're not ready for a bid to go and we we pick a bidder, we pick a

we select a contractor for the project, then the administrative changes happen. Does that invalidate a bid? >> No. the city can do whatever is advantageous um when it comes to bids. So, no. >> So, we can cancel >> the possibility of moving forward not as an emergency bid, but as a continuation of the bid process. Now, if the city attorney needs copies of that documentation of exactly what was bidded, I'd make that part of the motion. If if

if uh per city attorney um there's this if this is not an emergency bid, >> I I believe they've already indicated that we we the city of College Park initiated a bid process and then we pivoted and moved to something different. And so that now if we're going to go back to our original bid and and award somebody from that, then then that that might be okay. But when the

public bid requirements uh there are standards, things that we have to do, the way we have to publish it, the way we have to advertise it, we have to go through a process. And you know, a lot of times governments are sued often because they because of procurement issues because we could have someone say, "I would have loved to have bid on that. That's a really nice job. I didn't get to bid on that." Uh, and so and then we get bid protests and challenges and lawsuits and people might be motivated given this dollar amount. And so all I'm

trying to do is help us keep the car on in the road. And so I could look at what we've did what we did previously and we may be okay, but I I've not seen those those documents. So I'm not in a position as I sit here this evening to say that's fine. That's that would be okay. Uh, but I would be remiss in my responsibilities if I if I didn't tell you guys these things. >> Council member Mackenzie. >> Okay. So, um, I think we all can agree that the roof needs to be replaced. Okay. And we all can agree that it's

going to be done. I think with what we have going on right now, let's just make sure that we do it so that we are above reproach. So, um, whatever that looks like. So, if it's, um, I don't know, Winston, if you need to look at the prior bid to see or if it's just that we need to go back out, put it out again. And I mean, the roof has been in I mean, I want it. It's got to get fixed because we're getting ready to hit the rainy season again.

April showers bring May flowers, right? And when it rains, it it pours in College Park. And then we have graduations and all different things coming. This is in my opinion it is urgent but since it's not qualifying as an emergency if we have to take a three more weeks or four more weeks to get this done let's do it. So that's my opinion on that but let's let's move forward. >> Council member Kr >> I would I understand where we're coming from [snorts] and we definitely want to be precautious and make sure we're doing this correctly and legally. Um,

I would entertain recommending approving this contingent upon the city attorney's review of this bid to make sure that this is the same result of the fair of a fair bid process that that started in November. >> How about this? >> Is there a motion? I want to I want I want to offer a sub uh an amendment on his emotion. See if he will take this. >> Wait a minute. Hold on. Is Was that Is that a Hold on. Council member Kin. Is that a motion? Well, if the city attorney would be amanable because it involves the city attorney's office. >> Okay. Then since the city attorney would

be amanable to that, then it is a motion. >> Okay. Hold on. Hold on. Wait. Hold on. Hold on one second. Madam clerk, do you have that motion >> because we were still in discussion. So, I was going to try to add on to what he was saying. >> Wait, hold on. Let me just give me one second. Just give me one second. I'll be right with you. >> Contingent upon city attorney review. [laughter] I I would >> as the first bid process in November of 2025 >> essentially [clears throat] right approval contingent upon the city attorney and city manager's review of of this bid uh

in terms of the original bid uh to make sure that the uh this is the same results of a fair bid process that occurred prior to the administrative interruption. Well, I just want to make sure it's clear so you understand why we're doing it this way because there was a disruption, but we don't know if that disruption invalidates the uh the November bids in the process. Council McKenzie, >> I'd like to offer amendment on your motion because I don't want to see this

get stuck and if it goes to the city attorney and we find out that it needs to be done differently, I want you to have the approval from the council to move forward with the bid process. So, I would like to add and if the city attorney finds that this is not acceptable that you can move on with the bid process immediately. You got me, Joe? >> Fair enough. Okay. >> All right. Is there a second? >> Second.

>> All right. >> Can the clerk read the entire motion, please? >> Thank you, Council Member Arnold. >> Was that second by Council Member Mackenzie? >> Mackenzie.

Madame Mayor, I'll admit slightly confused here. Was the substitute motion made by >> the amendment to the motion was made by Mackenzie. >> Amendment was made by >> Councilwoman Mackenzie. >> McKenzie. >> [snorts] >> Okay, got it.

Read the original and substitute >> all together. I think that was her her her addendum. It was an addendum onto the motion. >> Okay. Mayor Pro Tim K moved to approve. Can you speak a lot little? >> Mayor Pro Tim K moved to approve the bid contingent upon city attorney and city manager re review in terms of the original bid process that occurred in November of 2025.

Councilwoman McKenzie motion to amend the original motion that if city attorney finds it is not acceptable to move along with the current bid process immediately. Seconded by Councilman K. Mackenzie. >> McKenzie. >> City attorney, is that acceptable language?

>> I'm not signing this. All right. Any discussion? >> City manager. Is that is that acceptable way to method to move forward here? >> Hold on. Wait. Hold on. Any discussion? >> I have a question. >> Council member Arnold. >> So, I want to make sure that the that the motion is achieving what both of my colleagues have said. And the goal the goal is for the attorney and city manager to review the original bid >> right

>> in all of the submissions to make sure that we have the same outcome with this particular organization. >> Right. >> And if not to rebid >> immediately. That's right. >> Is that correct? That's correct. >> Because that's not what I was hearing the clerk read. That's why I'm asking the question. >> Why did you clarify? That's That's what I meant. I Because I said I didn't want it to get stuck. If the attorney does

find that this has to be rebid, we want them to be able to do it >> and it goes back out. >> Right. Right. We don't want to have to wait till another meeting. Attorney could get the answer tomorrow and then we wait two weeks to come back again. I want us to be able to move forward >> with the bid. >> Can you reread it, please? >> Thank you. Thank you, Councilwoman Arnold. The amendment should state if the city attorney finds it not acceptable to move along with the current bid and the outcome >> to accept Oh, the outcome

>> or the current bid in general just right >> current [snorts] bid outcome >> is good. I've noted that with the current bid outcome. Thank you. Can you read the whole thing, please? Mayor Pro Tim. Mayor Pro Tim [snorts] Karn move to approve

this item contingent upon city attorney and city manager review in terms of the original bid process in November of 2025. Councilwoman McKenzie made amendment to the motion if city attorney finds it is not acceptable to move along with the current bid outcome

and it was seconded by Councilwoman McKenzie. >> No, you left down if I if he finds it's not then to go ahead and rebid if it's I don't think I heard you say that. If the attorney finds that the former bid process is not not acceptable that the our procurement manager will go forward with a new a rebid.

>> Procurement manager will move along >> immediately. Why don't we just put it out for bid tomorrow? [laughter] The reason we wouldn't put it out for bid tomorrow because if we find out that the bid is good, we already have selected the vendor. That's why >> noted. >> This is based off of the Omnia. This this this this package is based off of Omnia. Mr. Denmark has told us in his

legal opinion, Omnia is not sufficient on this size of a project to comply with Georgia law. Correct. >> Yes. >> All right. So, no. And so the I understand there was a bid process that happened in November. Was this same was this same company the selection at that time? >> There there hasn't been a selection made from the first initial bid. >> Okay.

>> That's what we're talking about that it's out there. It hasn't been closed. So, can we go back to what was done in November? This is what they're saying. Can we go back to what was done earlier and pick it up from there >> and make a selection? >> I think we got it. >> That's what we're talking about. She doesn't seem to understand. >> Mayor, we're legislating right now. We're in the legislative process right now. U Kelly, let's make sure that this understanding is that this new consideration is not an emergency bid.

>> Make sure he's comfortable with it because I'm not signing this. city attorney. You understand who? >> I'm good with it. I I'll take a look at it and um either we're good or we're not and and I'll let you know. >> All right. So, any further discussion? All those in favor of council member Arnold. >> There is further discussion because we don't have her reading the entire >> Yeah. >> I want her I want to make sure that the

language is clear. >> That's right. Exactly. >> Far from clear. >> City attorney, just make sure >> and and city manager. >> Well, you understand, but it's going to be put in these minutes and it'll be wrong. >> Okay. Mayor Pro Tim Joe K. Motion to approve this agenda item contingent upon city attorney and city manager review in terms of the original bid process that occurred in 2025.

Councilwoman McKenzie amended the motion to include if city manager finds it is not acceptable and attorney it's actually the attorney finds that it's not acceptable >> not acceptable to move along with your

with the new bid. >> No, with the pre-existing pre with the pre-existing bid process. >> Okay. If the city attorney finds that it's not acceptable for us to continue the bid process, the former bid process, >> the former bid process, >> then a new bid or a rebid will be done immediate with immediiacy

>> and that's the substitute motion. >> Correct. >> An amendment to the motion. >> Oh, it's an amendment to the motion. Winston, is that what we need? >> At this point, >> okay, I do want to just add that this sentence that this reconsideration is not an emergency bid. Just so that's clear. So there's a difference between the substitute was not an emergency. The one on the agenda was classified that

way. Okay. So it is a substitute motion. >> Yes. >> All right. Can someone state the full motion one more time? Mayor Pro Tim car motion to approve the agenda item contingent upon city

attorney and city manager review in terms of the original bid process in November of 2025. Councilwoman McKenzie amended the motion to include if city attorney and city manager find it is not acceptable to move along with the former process then a new bid

will occur immediately. Okay, that's that's one. >> And there's another sentence, right, that council member K just said >> this reconsideration is not an emergency would not be an emergency bid. >> Reconsideration is not an emergency. >> This this substitute motion will not be an emergency. Just so that's clear. [cough] >> The [clears throat] substitute motion is not an emergency. >> It's not an emergency bid,

which is what was on this agenda. Thank you, sir. One more time. Okay. [snorts] Mayor Pro Tim Joe K motion to approve this agenda item contingent upon city attorney and city manager review in terms of the original

bid process in November of 2025. Councilwoman McKenzie motion to amend this item. If the if the city manager and city attorney find it is not acceptable to move along with the former process, then a new bid will occur immediately. The second portion to include the substitute motion is not an emergency bid. All right.

So, Council Member McKenzie, does your second still stand? >> Yes. >> All right. Any further discussion? Hearing none, we'll move to a vote. All those in favor? >> I. >> That's unanimous.

Next item, city attorney's report. >> Mayor and councel, I sent you by email. I sent a bunch of emails today, but I sent you by email some proposed legislation um in terms of uh personnel matters, agenda setting matters, and I just commit those to your consideration. I'm going to reach out to uh to each of you individually over the next several days to discuss these proposed legislation. You know, sometimes when I identify areas of organizational weakness or ways that we can improve, I reluctantly draft

proposed legislation for your review and consideration. That's what I've done here. Uh and I I I hope that we can have um meaningful conversations about that legislation that will lead to them being placed on a future agenda. Um, that's all I have. >> City manager report. >> Uh, just a couple things. Um, I certainly want to see the same type of energy from the city attorney on some other things that I've seen on the agenda before that we didn't get any

kind of effort, memos, conversation. So in the future I hope that we get the same kind of energy on some other things that may be questionable when it comes to procurement. >> Thank you. [clears throat] The other thing I want to state for the record is I don't know tecta from Adam but when my team member tells me that the roof is in is in such dire straight that we need to get the roof fixed that I'm listening cuz eventually I'm responsible. So Yiannis we're going to get the roof fixed. We're going to get

it baited. We're going to get it right. Uh we're just going to do whatever we have to do to make sure we quarantine off those areas if and when we do get some rain. So, we'll work on that. Uh a couple things. Um oh, one of the things I wanted to uh [clears throat] got some great news. Uh just some highlights from my city manager report. Um in HR, want to give kudos to HR because in February we had no accidents.

citywide we had no accidents. So, that's a great thing. Thank you, Crystal, and your team. Uh Chris Wilson, your [applause] team for for uh uh Chris Wilson. Uh he he will show up in your department or he'll he'll ride around the city and you don't know he's there, but he's looking for those things that that could get us in trouble. So, thank you that for that, Crystal. Uh, also I understand from HR that we'll also do a refund because we had low loss prevention uh in the month

as well. So we'll find out what that number is going to be. Um, see almost there. Just kudos to what Council McC said earlier. Uh, National Women History Month. Just want to say kudos to our leaders uh here. Madame Mayor, uh thank you for being a leader. California McKenzie, thank you for being a leader. California Honor, thank you for being a great leader. I think uh you know, we've

got some powerful powerful leadership here and I'm honored to work for uh all three of you. And that concludes my report. Thank you. >> Thank you, sir. Next report of mayor and counsel. >> Well, I want to congratulate you, Mr. Hicks on being the sole finalist for the city manager uh position and [applause] looking forward to working with you uh

and keeping keeping up keeping it up and building the community that we deserve. So, thanks. So, congratulations to you. Um our first town hall of 2026 will be on Wednesday, March 25th at 6:30 in the College Park public safety complex. We've got a number of things to talk about. Looking forward to connecting with our neighbors, uh, sharing some updates on city priorities, and I believe Mr. Hicks will be making an appearance as well. So, we're looking forward to seeing you there. Um, and you'll also get some updates on

the particip participatory budgeting process. Uh we had to make some adjustments to the timeline um that were necessary due to some factors uh outside of our control, but we are actively partnering with city leadership to keep the initiative moving forward. And the transparent feasibility reviews are going to take place throughout April and then community voting will come after that. And so those winning projects will be announced in early May and move forward toward implementation. So looking forward to that as well. And if anybody knows me, they know that I love

reading. And so I've had opportunities past few days went to Harper Elementary School in recognition of women's history month in their media center and got to talk about some books that I love and talk to the Soore Club there of uh future female leaders and wanted to celebrate them and also celebrate women whose leadership continues to shape our community even at this moment. Um actually Harper Elementary School is in the city of Riverdale who and their mayor is a trailblazer in her own right.

Mayor Evelyn Win Dixon is someone that we all know and love and try to emulate with her leadership, grace, and wisdom that she brings to her city. And we had a great event here this morning. Uh thank you to Mr. Hicks and Council Member K for coming to College Park Elementary. Uh we partnered with Georgia Forward and First Readers to support early childhood literacy with the prek class over there. We read two books by

Malcolm Mitchell who is a Super Bowlinning uh football player, but has since his retirement devoted all of his time to making sure that Georgia's kids are reading on grade level, especially by third grade. because we know if kids are not reading on grade level by third grade their outcomes are diminished. Those positive outcomes are diminished. So first readers um and it's fer s uh bring brought books for every single

prek student. They got three books and they will continue to get books one a month and there were some really bright happy smiles in there and it was great to meet them all. And since she is still here, I want to thank Valerie Lee uh for hosting us for our International Women's Day celebration that we did earlier this month. We had USA Today bestselling author Marty McDonald for an audacious ask workshop that really dove deep uh encouraging participants to lead with

clarity, with confidence and purpose. And the event really reflected the strength and the vision of the women of College Park. And it was great because it was a space where everyone felt safe to share and felt supported. And I just want to thank Valerie and her team. Want to thank um Buttermilk Biscuit. Uh Lyanna for her uh support as well because everybody had to eat too. uh and Terita Terita Rogers from Amazon came by and we

were happy to see her as well. It was phenomenal. [snorts] And last week we were all in Washington DC at the National League of Cities Conference. I went up a little bit early as president of the Georgia Municipal Association and had the opportunity to meet with congressional leaders uh both in the House and the Senate and also got to speak with the White House Office of Intergovernmental Affairs. We talked about a number of things but the primary discussion was housing, housing, housing, housing. Uh a the 21st century

road to housing act uh passed the Senate 89 to10 actually while we were in the midst of discussions up on Capitol Hill. And that act will allow us to have greater flexibility to do infill housing, uh, greater support and fewer regulations to ensure that in the midst of this housing crisis that we have tools that actually allow people to get housed. And so there is a huge push at NLC to ensure that the House takes up

the measure. And the president has already said that he is supportive of it. and both of our Georgia senators are in support of it as well. And so it was a very good opportunity to talk with their staffers about uh all the things that we have priorities about here in Georgia and in College Park. So I thank everyone for their support in that. And as a board member of the National League of Cities, I participated in a number of policy discussions, spoke with about 15 mayors across the country regarding immigration and the impacts to their

community from coast to coast. And while the particular situations are different, we found a great group. We were there for about 4 hours talking about all the ways in which different communities are tackling some of the opportunities and the challenges that that they see in this particular climate. So, want to let everyone know um from April 10th to 11th there is a volunteer opportunity. The statewide line dance showcase and senior prneur expo is going to be at the GICC and we're certainly excited about that.

Um it is asso hosted by the Georgia Association of Senior Centers and it advocates active aging, entrepreneurship and community connection. And we need volunteers to support in a range of roles. And you can find out a little bit more about this. I sent this out in my newsletter, but we need registration and guest services, line dance floor coordination, stage support, vendor assistance, and hospitality. And in exchange, you get a fancy t-shirt and lunch. and and free parking too. So if

you are interested, please do not hesitate to reach out. Uh and you can reach you can email admincc.org with your name and phone number to sign up. That's all I have. Council member Mackenzie. >> Yes. Um before you play the video, and I know you're getting it ready, I do have a couple of [music] announcements to make. Um, I going to start on a sobering note and then hopefully we can make our way to some things that are a little bit more pleasant this morning, this evening. I want to uh send out con

condolences and our deepest sympathy to the families of the pilots that were uh succumbed to injuries in the Air Canada flight 8646, which was in La Laguadia this this morning. And in fact, the entire airport was shut down. The plane had approximately 72 passengers. We believe that all the passengers will survive, but there are at least 41 with serious in injuries. So, I want to um just let

those families know. And being the wife of a captain for Delta Airlines, I feel for those wives, those mothers, those children who may not see their parents come home this evening. So our thoughts and prayers are with you. I also want to uh address the one of the elephants in the room, which is that we were on the news again at 6:00 College Park. And we are on the news tonight because the

mayor rather than communicating with me about my state of the ward expenses did an open records request or I don't know if she got it from the clerk, however she got it, but she shared it with community members and they were given all of my financial spending for the month of February and left them to try to figure out what was spent on the state of the ward. Of course, the numbers are totally incorrect because the numbers are for the eight activities that I held in the month of February. But I think that the more pressing issue

is the fact that the residents of this city and ward 1 deserve, we talk about building a community we deserve. They deserve to be able to celebrate the accomplishments of the citizens of the city of College Park in Ward One. We have several residents that serve with the Ward One team and we have done amazing things including our youth. In fact, Eugene was there and did an amazing welcome. This was an opportunity

to showcase the city of College Park, not Jamal McKenzie, but Ward One, hardworking residents of Ward One and letting them know exactly how their community enhancement dollars are being spent. But beyond that, giving them an opportunity. In fact, I said to the news reporter, I said, "The same way Mr. James created a game to engage people to be able to look at boring things like numbers, I created with the W one team

an opportunity and a venue where we could get community engagement. Our average community town hall in this city may have 20 to 30 people. We had over 200 persons that night to include Sheriff Pat Patrick Labont, Shea Alexander, the Fulton County Clerk. We had the governor's office there. We had Nikima Williams office there. We had Commissioner Pitt's office there. We had our honor color guard there. And we had Bill Crane from WSB, Maria Boon from

V103, Jock and a young Jock and lots of people. But it wasn't just that. It was about the fact that we were overwhelmed the next day with residents making phone calls and I sent some the text messages even to the news so they could see saying we are so proud to be residents of Ward One. That is how we create the community we deserve. We give back to our residents. We spend our tax dollars on the people and we celebrate the

people and we and you know it's less than $15,000 and somebody would say, "Oh, you shouldn't have spent that much money." Look, I spent $45,000 on my 60th birthday. If I can't spend $15,000 to celebrate the people of the city of College Park in the amazing work that we have done, shame on me. Now, it's my hope that in the future as we look at Women's History Month, I'm grateful for the relationship that I share with my colleague Tracy Arnold. I'm glad that we

can talk and we can share and we can assist each other as colleagues and women and women of faith. I am praying that we can experience that with all three women and that by next March and Women's History Month, we'll be sitting up here as sisters who can communicate with each other, colleagues that understand that this work is not easy. And the last thing that we want to have is one of us attacking the other. The

world can be brutally cold and as an elected official we have very few rights and privileges. We have to deal with people saying whatever they want to say about us and we have no legal right to do anything about it. So the people that we depend on are each other. If I can't give my sister a compliment, if I can't support my sister, then who is there for me and who can I be there for? And I think last the le the the question that we should be

asking ourselves as a city. Is there a reason why we have not celebrated all four wards of the city of College Park through a state of the city? Union cities getting ready to have theirs. City of Atlanta just had theirs. Is there a reason why this city cannot come together and have one amazing, fantabulous state of the city event where we celebrate everything rather than operating in silos and and thriving on division

and and citizens? I heard the ladies come here tonight. It broke my heart. Now, I have no I I don't know what we can do, but the fact that we have citizens attacking other citizens on Facebook groups. We've got to change this narrative, folks. We've got to get rid of the division. I believe that by having a state of the city in 2027 that that will be an amazing way to begin to bring our

citizens together, our wards together because at the end of the day, it's one college park. Now, the last thing before the video, I feel like somebody else who's not here today is I have to give a big shout out to Charus McCra and the entire police department in the city of College Park for making that phenomenal $24,000 fentinel bust and having nine persons arrested over the weekend. Now, that's the kind of news [applause]

that we need to have in this city. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you, College Park Police. Because having that drug off the street makes all of us safer. It makes our children safer. It makes our families safer. It helps us to build College Park better. Thank you very much.

This is Dr. Jamal McKenzie with my March 23rd council report. You know, March is National Women's History Month, and it's been an amazing one. And one thing I can say about women making history, just speaking for myself and I believe for every single woman who's being honored here today, we don't do what we do to make history. We do it to make a difference. We see a need, we jump in, we make the difference, and that becomes

history. I want to thank City of Atlanta Council member Andrea Boone and Girl Boss Suites for honoring me along with several other history makingaking women at city hall in Atlanta on March 6. And on March 12th, I proudly represented the city of College Park at the Game Changer Award ceremony where Nikima Williams and several other great women were honored. It was great to be back again. And later

that day, I served as the moderator on the panel held by Hospital in Your Home for their Wise and Well nutrition and wellness event at the College Park Keith James Auditorium. A really great information sharing and uh even some great food as well for our seniors. And I want to thank the members of our community who have started the cleanup of the College Park Cemetery. Um they've

had two uh sessions so far and uh it's looking great. The highlight of the past few weeks has been taking our youth civic advisory board to Washington DC along with our city's youth council. We took our youth to the capital and they were able to actually um visit Congress and the Senate. We had uh time in in Nikima, Congresswoman Nikima Williams office and just lots of great

information was shared and and great experiences. I think one of the most sobering experience was actually visiting the AfricanAmerican History Museum uh by Smithonian. We learned a lot and carried a lot back home with us and we're looking forward to even next year and doing even more and attending the NLC conference along with our students during the time that we are in Washington DC.

[music] I attended the NLC congressional conference in Washington DC with my colleagues and it was a very informative conference. Uh we were able to celebrate women during that time. We attended the women in government lunch in and

valuable sessions with information that we're bringing back home. On the 17th, I served as a panelist for Promise Career Institute State of the Promised address. It was wonderful being able to share about how we can collaborate as a city with Promise Career Institute during this time. Richard Woods, who is our state superintendent for schools, shared so many valuable principles in his

address to us. What an awesome day. And this past Friday, Councilman Arnold and I were able to attend the Atlanta Airport Chambers Glass Ceilings to Glass Skies Women's Lunchon and uh where our very own Winston Denmark is now serving as the chairman of the board. It was great to be out and to network with so many phenomenal women. New business

alert. On Saturday, I had the privilege of speaking at and attending the ribbon cutting for Yaya's Botanica, which is one of the newest businesses in College Park located on Princeton Avenue. It was truly a momentous occasion. And on March 29th, our YCAB are joining hands with Julian Horton and Shaim Smith, Food in the City, Ignite, and several other organizations for our Together We Thrive

Feeding Hope experience. During this time, we will be giving out supplies and food to and lots of other things to our unhoused population. However, all are invited. Bring a neighbor, bring a friend, and we'll see you on Sunday. >> This is Dr. Jamal McKenzie, and we are building College Park better. >> Council. >> All right. Thank you, Mayor. Uh, I'm

going to talk a bit, I guess. Uh, Kelly, you can prepare that video uh while I'm going over some of these things here. All right. Uh [clears throat] uh I had an awesome community event a few days back uh uh in the Camp Creek Corridor uh where I took in quite a great event. Probably my first spring event. Hopefully the warm weather is here to stay by now, I would imagine. And uh I took in two requests, city

manager, uh that that that were really innovative stuff. When you listen to residents, I'm going to say it again. when you listen to your residents, um there a couple of requests that that may be part of uh 26 27 uh 27 uh 26 27 community enhancements. So, uh it's always good to hear uh uh right from the grapevine uh exactly, you know, from the source. Uh it's just so important. Uh the National League of Cities

Congressional Conference was very very productive. Um and it just reconfirms our responsibility that we have in terms of public service. Uh it was a very educational situation and uh uh we're looking at some amazing opportunities uh that I've taken back from that conference. Um, you know, folks, we have to debate, we have to discuss, we have to deliberate, uh, you know, as well as

legally, you know, to stay on the right side of the Georgia codes. Um, you know, one conference I attended this year, uh, it gave me some real insight in terms of, uh, some of the crime issues. And, uh, Chief McCraary, great job. uh big drug bust. That's what I'm talking about. And that's what that's that's that's where the rubber uh meets the road. Um and uh that's that's where that that's where that's what we need

more of at all times uh in this city. Um we're moving forward with crime. And speaking of crime, uh, one of the, uh, conferences I attended, uh, it gave me some really startling insight, uh, into a databased public safety initiative. And city manager, I know we spoke about it briefly, but I really think this could really be a gamecher in the city of College Park. Um and chief, we were going to sit down and kind of talk with

you about I think the idea and I think uh we're going to really be turning some corners and uh reducing crime uh in this city uh to record levels. We're making great progress now, but uh we're just getting warmed up for 26. Um, we're also looking at another amazing grant opportunity, uh, partnering, uh, with an organization for an additional playground project, uh, about $150,000 worth of new playground equipment and whatnot, uh, which is a good thing. Um,

parks and recreation, crime prevention, this is how we move this city forward. That bus was major, and I hope that sends a serious message to criminals. If you're looking to commit crime, stay out of College Park. This is not the place you want to do that. Um, couple of other things I'm going to close with here. Um, we talk about residents that need help. City manager, I want to see if there's a way we can find out

how many doctors or medical experts live in our city, sir. >> And how many attorneys uh live in our city? I I want to look at some kind of residential partnership and I'm thinking about in-house resources. Uh I think there's an inherent value in uh in a resident that has expertise, you know, uh you know, providing crucial advice. Maybe there's some kind of arrangement where a lot of our residents couldn't afford, you know,

advice directly from a professional doctor and so on and so forth. So, I'd like to look at something along those lines in the future here. I want to thank the council for support of the agenda items and uh what we're doing is very very important in this community. We're making good progress. Uh these fund reserve and city bond policy. Uh this is going to help and uh move us forward to financial stability. We voted for adherence to clear clear reserve and

debt policies. That signals to developers and lenders, rating agencies, and the residents that this city is going to be well-managed and financially stable from 26 and beyond. So, I want to thank city manager, I want to thank the finance director, I want to thank the city attorney and the whole team for pushing forward to make that type of stuff happens. Um, with this being our 30th 130th birthday celebration, uh, we had talked about and I thought that combining the BAE end of

the year celebration event with a citywide birthday celebration at the convention center, which is obviously the venue big enough to invite the public out. I think it'd be a great thing since we do that end of year Ber celebration uh, annually as well. I think we combine it, look to combine it possibly with uh the 130th birthday celebration. So, I'd like to discuss that maybe at the next meeting and see if uh there's interest in moving forward with that. Last thing. So, city clerk, I

wanted y'all to see a few minutes of this video so y'all could get an understanding of what's going on in and around the convention center campus, why it's so important and important to the entire region. Uh so, I want y'all to take a quick look and and quick listen here. Atlanta has never had a traffic problem. It has a traffic identity. Game day at MercedesBenz Stadium, a soldout show at State Farm Arena, a Braves weekend at the battery. Thousands of people all trying to move through the same

highways, the same exits, the same bottlenecks. And for decades, the options have been familiar. Drive yourself and sit in congestion or take Marta and transfer or call an Uber and hope surge pricing doesn't triple the fair. But what if Atlanta tried something different? Imagine a fully autonomous electric transit system running on its own dedicated guideway, quietly moving people in small ondemand pods. That's exactly what's now being piloted in South Metro Atlanta. A

halfmile automated transit corridor connecting the ATL Sky Train to the Gateway Center Arena built by Glideways designed as a proof of concept and potentially [snorts] the beginning of a new kind of urban transportation model. But here's the real question. Is this just a small airport shuttle experiment? Or could it eventually connect Atlanta's biggest event hubs, compete with MARTA, and even challenge Uber and Lyft on price and convenience? Today, we're

breaking down how Atlanta's autonomous transit pilot actually works, how you would use it for major events, what it costs compared to MARTA and ride share, and whether or not this is a glimpse of the city's transportation future. And if you enjoy deep dives into the infrastructure shaping major cities, make sure to subscribe. Before we talk about Mercedes-Benz Stadium or the battery, we need to zoom in on what the system actually is and what it isn't. The pilot system being

developed in South Metro Atlanta is an automated transit network built by Glideways. Think of it less like a train and more like a series of small electric pods running on a dedicated physically separated guideway. Each vehicle carries a small group of passengers, typically around four to six people, and operates on demand. Instead of waiting for a full train to fill up or a bus to complete a route, these pods are dispatched individually. That means less waiting, more direct routing, and potentially

smoother flow. The current pilot corridor is roughly half a mile long. It connects the ATL Sky Train system near Hartsfield Jackson Airport to the Gateway Center Arena area in College Park. That location is important. It's not downtown Atlanta. It's not Midtown. It's a controlled lower density environment chosen specifically to test the system without throwing it into the chaos of Peach Tree Street on day one. And that tells you something. This is a proof of concept phase. The system runs

on an elevated or separated track designed to eliminate interference from regular traffic. That's the key distinction from autonomous vehicles like Whimo. Whimo operates on public roads and has to deal with pedestrians, unpredictable drivers, stalled vehicles, and complex intersections. Glideways systems avoid most of that by controlling the environment completely. But here's the catch. Right now, access is limited. To use this pilot corridor, you would typically access it via the ATL Sky Train system, which connects to

the airport's domestic terminal and rental car center. That means if you're coming from downtown Atlanta, you'd first need to take Marta to the airport station, then transfer to the Sky Train, then access the automated corridor. So, [snorts] as of now, this is not a direct connection to Mercedes-Benz Stadium, State Farm Arena, or the battery. It's a contained demonstration project designed to prove that the technology works reliably. The bigger vision though is >> all right. I wanted residents to get an idea of why that is so important and I

want us to keep something in mind. That's a $10 million plus project and investment in the city of College Park. No taxpayer dollars, y'all. I want to make sure that that's clear. But we were selected out of numerous sites. This is why we want to make sure our convention center campus is up to snuff coming into this summer. This is why we worked and partnered with G dot to make the vegetation uh removal happen as well as the landscaping and things that we approved uh with this council meeting.

Uh, so we're going to be turning a corner and we're going to have a lot of company coming in in 26 and 27. And I'm very excited about the future, but we are preparing this city and we are making sure that we're going to be on the cutting edge of live, work, play environments. And this is nationwide showcase technology for College Park, y'all. So, we should really be proud of ourselves. That's all I got. Thank you, >> Council Member Ernold. >> Thank you. Okay, so I'm going to start. I'm going to go backward, I think. Yeah,

I'm going to start with this weekend. Uh, first, well, no, no, I'm not. First, I want to start with Chief, thank you. Thank you. We appreciate you and the entire force. Um, thank you for making our community safer. Now, I want to start with thanking Mr. Hicks, your staff. We have an amazing staff. We had an awesome weekend. uh this weekend with the senior health fair. We had well over 200 participants.

Uh the vendors that were there gave us accolades on how uh professional and organized the event was. And so I want to thank the entire staff. And if I start naming names, I'm I'm going to miss someone. So just know that I appreciate the entire staff. wreck, fire, police, everybody, everything that you've done. Um, I want to also thank our our partners, our community partners

and our sponsors. Um, first starting with the TA Epsilon Omega chapter of Alpha Kappa Alpha in um, sorority incorporated just to let them know that we appreciate all that they do for the College Park and East Point communities. We had two events going on at the exact same time, one in East Point and one in College Park serving our senior community by providing health screenings. Um, if if you have been in a

cave, you have missed the whole the the whole news flash that health care costs have gone up. There have been changes to ACA to the point where people cannot continue to afford to pay their premiums. Premiums have gone for single individuals from somewhere around $3 $600 to $1,300 a month because of changes at both the federal and state level. And so that affects our senior

citizens who are already struggling to make ends meet. So having the opportunity to partner with sponsors to offer and vendors to offer free health screenings, mammograms, glucose, uh cancer screenings, all of that, dental, I thank you. Thank you everyone who participated. And I have to make sure that I uh thank these sponsors

which include Coca-Cola, Walmart, Favor House, Big Daddy's, Morehouse School of Medicine, and Grady Hospital. All right. So now, um I also want to uh thank W Winston for uh inviting uh Councilwoman Dr. Jamal McKenzie and I to um the glass what is it? Glass

ceilings glass what whatever it was. Listen that was an awesome event to to participate in um to be able to celebrate women um and to hear some of the stories that were shared. And before I close out, I'm going to share something um a a comment that was made that I am uh I'm going to encourage that all women remember.

So, uh, NLC, we had the opportunity to participate, um, in the congressional conference, and as always, we always bring back or I always seem to bring back some pet projects, I'll say, some things that have sparked some interest, and it helps to uh, encourage our staff to take advantage of some of the federal veral priorities that are happening throughout

the nation. One in particular that I've already um shared with Mr. Hicks in finance um is centered around grants and some of the dollars that we may be leaving on the table. And so I've already brought back information where we may be able to leverage some of the federal grants that are available to m municipalities and hopefully we can uh take some of these projects that we have here in the city and move them forward. We mentioned earlier one thing that came

out of NLC. Um, one discussion the mayor mentioned it was centered around housing and how important housing is um throughout the nation and through and most of our federal delegation is looking at how we could make housing more afford affordable and bring more um options to our communities. And so I'm glad that she brought that uh particular item up because that is exactly what we'll be talking about on Wednesday the 25th at my town hall for W 3 where we

will bringing be bringing in developers um that are talking about new development that's coming to Ward 3 and also uh hearing from our new apartment developer on Gabby Road for U Blue Sky. And so I'm very excited about that. We also will be offering voter education information. Um we had voter registration uh at the event this weekend. We had uh individuals who updated their registration information, but it's

always important to educate people about why it's important to vote. Um we always hear um well, you know, it's not a presidential year. Um I don't think that it's that important. Yes, it's very important. Um, I was in an event a couple of weeks ago and actually it was at NLC and there were three Ps. They mentioned um the police, the prosecutor, and the principal. Remember the three Ps because that's why it's important for

you to vote and vote in your local elections. Next item that I have here is in reference to an upcoming mural dedication that we have for the city of College Park. Some of you have had the opportunity to ride up and down Riverdale Road. Maybe you haven't. Um if if you haven't, I encourage you to to ride through there. Um, we have a new mural that is going to be dedicated to

the city of College Park on the 30th at 5:00 pm. And I encourage all of my colleagues if you can join us to please uh join us on the 30th on Riverdale Road. Jada will be sending out more information. And so circling back to Women's History Month, as we sat in that um event on Friday, we heard from a very special individual who reminded us of the importance of women

supporting women especially and um Jamal [clears throat] mentioned this earlier, especially in an environment in which we sit right now. Ladies, if you [clears throat] need to step out, please. [clears throat] >> Okay. And so, um, the comment that, uh, was made by, uh, one of the speakers was

a quote specifically by Maline Alrebright on the importance of why women must support women. And the quote was Maline Maline Albbright said, "There is a special place in hell for women who don't help other women." >> Yes, she did. >> Right now. >> And so I'm going to leave that at that. Leave that right there, especially as we begin to close out Women's History Month

with that particular quote. And um I received a a note that Mr. Hicks uh failed to show his video earlier. And so I'm going to turn it back over to Mr. Hicks. >> Madame May, if you don't mind. >> Oh, please. Go ahead. So, uh you all know that we highlight one department each time I send out the city manager report. And so, we are honored to highlight our power department. Hugh Richardson. You're on the big stage. So, Kelly, if you can play the video in only a few minutes.

When you come into your house and cut on the light switch, you [music] expect the power to stay on. It's our job to make sure it stays on. Hey, I'm Hugh Richardson, director of College [music] Park Power, and we are one of 52 municipal owned uh power companies in the state [music] of Georgia. We have 8,800 customers. We have 152 miles of line and we serve it over a 10 square mile area. So, we got several projects going on. We have some highlights we [music] want to show you. So, come on out. Let's take a look. Blue Sky Apartments. We are [music] installing

underground service and lighting to this 180 unit apartment complex located off Cole National Parkway. This project is expected to be completed very soon. I know this is not an exciting looking device, but it is in place to provide [music] distribution automation. We will have at least 20 of these installed and operating by the [music] end of this year. When a power outages occurs, this device will operate to isolate damages [music] and restore power to some within a few seconds. We

have had electric vehicle charging in place since 2012, but we now have 22 chargers located at our public safety parking, our convention center and arena, and our parks. We're planning to install 12 more this year. Yes, we have a compressed natural gas fueling station which was started by the power department in 2008. This station located on Edison Drive now pumps over 90,000 gasoline gallon equivalents mostly

[music] for fueling airport shuttles. Inventory is important especially during a major storm. [music] This is our storage facility located on Forest Parkway where we keep all of our transformers, lighting, switches, poles, [music] and conductor. This inventory was particularly important during the pandemic. Our largest customer located on Garby Road is the Clean Spark Data Center. We have been serving them since 2018 and they consume as much power as the rest of the city. They will be expanding soon

at another [music] location on Edison Drive and will be our next major project. We contract about [music] 80% of our construction and maintenance. Our local crews handle services, lighting, maintenance, and power restoration. ProSource Utilities is our construction company that also assists with power restoration. Trees Unlimited is our [music] tree trimming team that clears 156 mi of power lines over a 3-year period. Hey, those are some of the highlights of the power department. [music] Now, we

got to get back to work and make sure we keep these on. >> [applause] >> Thank you. [clears throat] Awesome. Awesome. >> All righty. Uh sir, Madam Clerk, do you have council member Gay said that he had a statement, a report?

So, is it is it okay for >> I mean he's he he if he he he wants to send his report. >> Yeah. I'm asking about is it okay for her to read that or does send an email? What's what's your pleasure? >> I mean he has a report so let's go for it. Office of Council Member Rodri Day City of College Park, Georgia. City Council member Rodri Gay alleges harassment,

retaliation, and governance concerns. College Park, Georgia. Senior City Council member Rodri Day has issued a formal statement raising serious concerns regarding what he describes as harassment, intimidation, and threats of false allegations by fellow members of the city council. Councilman. Council member Gay further alleges that three council members have formed a block voting structure that allows them to assert control, avoid transparency, and limit accountability, resulting in an erosion of public trust in city

government. Council member Gay confirmed that he departed the regularly scheduled mayor and council meeting earlier this evening after tensions escalated and when he was advised not to return. He stated this decision was made out of concern for his personal and professional safety and not as as an abandonment of his duties. During a recent executive session, council member Gay states that he formally amended the official executive session record to include his allegations of self-interr governance concerns regarding a fellow council member. He asserts that these

concerns involve actions contributing to ongoing public scrutiny and diminished confidence in city leadership. During that same executive session, Council Member Gay acknowledges acknowledges using the phrase take him out, which he clearly qualified as professionally, referring to polit political accountability. Following the meeting, a complaint was made to police chief Charus McCra. However, according to Gay, both the mayor and city manager indicated the statement was not

interpreted as a physical threat. Council member Gay also raised concerns regarding prior administrative actions involving the Chelsea Gardens property, including code enforcement activity, tenant displacement under condemnation, and a disputed payment of approximately 631,000 to a real estate agent that he states has not been fully pursued. Additionally, Gay sites concerns regarding the termination of former employees, including Lindell Miller and former purchasing manager Jerel Jones, who he states refused to participate in actions they believed to

be improper. He notes that Mr. Jones is currently pursuing a retaliation claim. Council member Gay has also expressed concern regarding the appointment of interimm city manager Michael Hicks and alleges that certain administrative and financial directives have been influenced by the same council block. Gay further raised concerns about a proposed 4.5 million emergency procurement item related to the convention center improvement stating that the city attorney advised it must comply with competitive bidding requirements. After nearly 10 years of

service, I have never witnessed this level of coordinated action that undermines transparency and accountability, said Council Member Gaya. I remain committed to serving the citizens of College Park and ensuring ethical governance. Council member Gay stated he is consulting with legal counsel and appropriate stakeholders regarding these matters and is calling for increased transparency, accountability, and independent review where appropriate. >> All right. Is there a motion to enter into executive session for discussion of real estate litigation and personnel? So move. >> Thank you, Council Member Arnold. Is

there a second? >> Second. >> Thank you, Council Member K. Any discussion? Hearing none, we'll move to a vote. All those in favor? I. >> That is unanimous. [clears throat]