ADRIAN MAYOR AND COUNCIL MEETING

MONDAY, JANUARY 11, 2021 AT 6:00PM

ADRIAN ANNEX, NORA BLVD., ADRIAN, GA. 31002

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I. Call Meeting to Order: Mayor Smith called the meeting to order at 6:03pm.

 

II. Invocation and Pledge of Allegiance: All in attendance stood for the pledge.

 

III. Adoption of Agenda: CM Hutchinson made a motion to add Halei Lamb from The Crossroads Chronicle to the agenda. Motion seconded by CM Griffin. Motion carried by CM Love, CM Yawn, and CM Brown. Motion passed.

 

IV. Announcements: None

 

V. Public Speakers:

1. Halei Lamb- Introduced herself and The Crossroads Chronicle, a new newspaper in Emanuel County. She stated that they aim to cover smaller cities in the county like Adrian. The newspaper will publish on Wednesday and hopes to have their first issue out next week. There will be an online presence as well as a subscription or purchase newspaper individually.

 

VI. Executive Session: Mayor Smith stated there were a few things that needed to be talked about before the meeting could go on. CM Love made a motion to go out of regular session and into executive session at 6:12pm. Motion seconded by CM Yawn. Motion carried by CM Griffin, CM Hutchinson, and CM Brown. Motion passed.

CM Hutchinson made a motion to go out of executive session and into regular session. Motion seconded by CM Yawn. Motion carried by CM Brown, CM Griffin, and CM Love Motion passed.

 

VII. Adoption of Minutes:  CM Yawn made a motion to adopt the December 14, 2020 minutes and executive minutes. Motion seconded by CM Love. Motion carried by CM Griffin, CM Brown, and CM Hutchinson. Motion passed.

 

VIII. Reconciliations:  Mayor Smith stated that the reconciliations are not ready and they will be finished as soon as possible once training is complete.

 

IX. Unfinished Business:

1. Budget- The budget has now been ran in the paper for two weeks. Mayor Smith asked for the council to vote on the budget. CM Brown asked if the budget included bonuses and asked about an employee’s bonus.  Mayor Smith stated that they were included and that the employee should have been discussed in executive session. She stated that every employee who received a bonus had their name stipulated at the last meeting and their name was not included. CM Hutchinson voted to adopt the budget with amendments as needed. Motion seconded by CM Yawn. Motion carried by CM Love and CM Griffin. CM Brown voted against the motion. Motion passed.

2. Work sessions- CM Yawn made a motion to start having workshops again at 5:30pm every month the day of the council meeting. Motion seconded by CM Love. Motion carried by CM Brown, CM Griffin, and CM Hutchinson. Motion passed. The first one will be held in February.

3. Mayor Pro tem- Mayor Smith asked for the council to nominate a Mayor pro tem. The council discussed how charter states that it should be every 2 years and decided not vote. CM Yawn will be Mayor pro tem for one more year.

 

X. New Business:

1. Newly elected council training- Mayor Smith stated that the newly elected training will be March 30th-31st and will be virtual. Registration is not open yet.  CM Brown interrupted asking about the GBI investigation and why the city clerk was the only one on leave. The Mayor stated that the city clerk is the only one under formal investigation according to the GBI.  He asked who is finding discrepancies in the office and the Mayor stated the employees working in the office. He then asked about a discrepancy on water bills where the meter reading date was entered wrong on accident.  The council moved back to the topic of newly elected council training. CM Love asked if she could attend the training as well. Mayor Smith stated she would look into it since she was just elected the previous election the year before.

2. Department heads- Mayor Smith assigned new department heads. Department heads are as follows: CM Brown: Maintenance, CM Yawn: Police, CM Griffin & CM Love: Rec, CM Love & CM Hutchinson: Safety Dept.

3. Sweeper- Mayor Smith stated that the council needs to decide whether or not to have the street sweeper looked at to see if it can be repaired or not. She stated that for $500 Kyle Strickland could look at the sweeper to see if it could be repaired. CM Hutchinson made a motion to have the sweeper looked at for $500. Motion seconded by CM Yawn. Motion carried by CM Brown, CM Griffin, and CM Love. Motion passed.

4. Mosquito sprayer- The council discussed spraying for mosquitos again. The machine they had used before is broken. The council agreed to look at the cost of a new one and discuss it at the next meeting. 

5. Fire Department meetings- Mayor Smith asked Chief Yawn about a sign off form to go along with the fire department reimbursements. He stated he has one for every call and every meeting he just didn’t turn it into City Hall.

6. Policy and procedures- Mayor Smith stated that the attorney is working on the personnel handbook and updating ordinances which will later lead to being able to update the charter.

7. Update to charter- included above.

8. Employee Evaluations & Retirement (employees): Mayor Smith stated that the council discussed and agreed on giving Wardale, Johnny, Felicia, and Daniel a $.50 increase and Kyle a $1 increase during executive. CM Brown asked about the raise Kyle was given due to working during COVID. This raise would be in addition that. CM Hutchinson made a motion to give the employee the raises as stated earlier. Motion seconded by CM Griffin. Motion carried by CM Love, CM Brown, and CM Yawn. Motion passed.  The council then discussed retirement for the employees. The attorney advised getting a policy together before voting on a plan. The matter was postponed.

 

XI. Reports:

Department Head Reports

1. Fire Department- Chief Yawn reported that the department answered 108 calls for 2020. He then stated that the dept. was in need of 5-10 batteries for their radios for $75 each. The council agreed they could go ahead and order 10 batteries since they were in the budget.

2. Street/Water Department- CM Yawn stated that he talked to Johnny that morning and that everything was going well. The sign was fixed. The class they attended the Friday before the meeting went well.

3. Police Department- Chief Strickland welcomed CM Griffin. He stated that he wasn’t expecting the raise and he appreciated it. He stated that Police Department brought in $46,000 for the department for fines/fees in 2020 from traffic citations. He stated that this was all done while not writing citations for 7 months of the year due to COVID. He told the council about the local law enforcement dinner he held on New Year’s Day. He hosted the dinner himself and presented some officers with a plaque to thank them for helping him throughout the year. He updated the council on the price of the truck so far, $5,100. He does not expect to reach the $7,000 limit that was approved. Lastly he informed the council that he would be at the chief’s conference the new few days and that Sgt. Claxton would be on call.

4. Safety Department- Felicia Owen reported that the city received that safety grant for $3,000.

5. Recreation Department- CM Love reported that they are currently rearranging and plan to remodel the concession stand. After they will move to the other parts of the dept. to work on.

 

Council Members

1. Julie Griffin- stated that she is honored to be here. She asked about the street dept and whether or not they had a heavy duty edger and a citizen who had an issue with their street light.

2. Suzanne Hutchinson- stated that the phone line has been set up at the community center.

3. Jesse Yawn- nothing to report.

4. Michelle Love- nothing to report.

5. Ed Brown- stated that the McCoy property needs to be maintained.

 

Mayor- Wynola Smith- nothing to report.

 

A citizen asked to speak. The council informed them that they needed to sign up the Friday before the meeting by 12:00pm. The let him speaks briefly. Jason Bennett asked about limb pickup. The council stated they could not pickup limbs due to having nowhere to put them. The city has a dumpster out once a year where the citizens can dump their limbs. He made a comment about the paint at the park and said that the playground equipment needs to be replaced. CM Love stated she will be working on that soon.

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XII. Adjournment: CM Yawn made a motion to adjourn the meeting at 7:49pm. Motion seconded by CM Love. Motion carried by CM Hutchinson, CM Griffin, and CM Brown. Meeting adjourned.