ADRIAN MAYOR AND COUNCIL MEETING

MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 13, 2021

WORKSHOP: 5:30PM, MEETING 6:00PM

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

 

I. Call Meeting to Order: Mayor Smith called the meeting to order at 6:00pm.

 

II. Invocation by CM Yawn and Pledge of Allegiance: All in attendance stood for the pledge. Ed Brown resigned from the council on August 27th and was not in attendance.

 

III. Adoption of Agenda: CM Hutchinson made a motion to adopt the agenda. Motion seconded by CM Yawn. Motion carried by CM Love and CM Griffin. Motion passed. Agenda Adopted.

 

IV. Announcements: None

 

V. Public Speakers:

1. Judy Garman- Council: Judy Garman addressed CM Griffin asking about the newly elected training. Judy Garman then addressed the council that they should always take away personal issues when making decisions for the city, get to know the citizens, and that they represent the citizens of Adrian.

2. Debby Alfonso- Yard of the Month: Debby Alfonso spoke to the council about doing a yard of the month. She suggested that her, a council member, and the Mayor could pick a yard each month. They would receive a sign in their yard (that she would provide) and every 6 months a drawing will be held for the past 6 yards to receive a prize of $50. The council agreed that it was a good idea and that they would work on advertising it and deciding a time.

3. Nick Alfonso- Council Meetings: Nick Alfonso stated that he thought the council needed microphones for the meetings still and that the meetings should be live streamed. He then spoke about Ed Brown’s resignation and an article from the newspaper.

 

VI. Adoption of Minutes: CM Hutchinson made a motion to adopt the August 16th minutes and executive minutes. Motion seconded by CM Love. Motion carried by CM Griffin and CM Yawn. Motion passed. Minutes adopted.

 

VII. Reconciliations: Mayor Smith updated the council of the reconciliations. Up until February of 2020 has been completed and they are now working on March of 2020. After that they will plan the training for the clerk to go through. The Mayor explained that the process is taking so long due to the fact that they are only being worked on after hours and on weekends and there is a lot of information to process that was not entered into the computer correctly.*

 

VIII. Unfinished Business:

1. Weather alerts- Mayor Smith spoke with Johnson and Emanuel County about their code red alerts. They stated that any citizen of Adrian is welcome to sign up for them. Mayor Smith stated that the city would like to look into having on just for the city but it would be sometime.

2. 941 updates- Mayor Smith stated she has spoken with the IRS about the 941s and they suggested the city go ahead and pay the ones they have received as it will take a while for them to process the 843 requests. She stated that they also received a letter today saying that the IRS had received on of the 843s but it would take up to 90 days to process.

3. New Police Officer- Mayor Smith announced that the city has hired Andrew Morris for the Police Department. She said he seems like a good fit for Adrian and encouraged the council and citizens to introduce themselves to him if they see him.

4. Ordinances- Mayor Smith stated that after the charter is done that they city will be working on the ordinances next. She asked the council to send the attorney any ideas for ordinances that they had and listed the ones she has already spoke with him about.

5. Update on Knapp Building Demolition- Mayor Smith spoke with a citizen who is an engineer who looked at the building. He believes the lower half of the building should be able to be saved due to the support it receives from the neighboring building. He will be checking with a coworker about the building and getting back with her soon.

6. Update on Land Surveys- Mayor Smith stated that the surveyors are far behind and apologized and that they will get to the areas as soon as possible. CM Yawn made a motion to have the bank building surveyed as well. Motion seconded by CM Love. Motion carried by CM Hutchinson. CM Griffin opposed the motion. Motion passed in a 3-1 vote.

7. Update on Bank Building- Mayor Smith stated that they will be having someone look at the roof soon and seeing what temporarily can be done to stop the leaking for the roof.

8. Update on Bank Reconciliations- talked about above.*

9. Update on Safety Grant- CM Hutchinson spoke about the safety grant. She stated that the grant is due in October and they are getting ready to turn everything in and she spoke to the departments about what they needed. *

10. Hinton House- Mayor Smith encouraged everyone to continue to support the Hinton House. She stated that the Hinton House is important to the community and helps so many citizens here and the surrounding counties. Everything is free of charge but they will take donations.

IX.

1. New Business:

   1. LMIG Grant Application- Mayor Smith stated that they are in the process of applying for the LMIG for 2022.

   2. Council Resignation- spoken about later on.*

   3. Renovations to Hutcheson Building- Mayor Smith asked for anyone who knows any contractors in the area to contact City Hall to bid on the renovations for the Hutcheson building and Community Center.

   4. Renovations to Community Center- Spoken about above.

 

X. Recess Regular Meeting: CM Yawn made a motion to recess the regular session and go into executive session at 6:44pm. Motion seconded by CM Hutchinson. Motion carried by CM Love and CM Griffin. Motion passed.

 

XI. Executive Session:  Personnel and Litigation

 

XII. Call Regular Meeting to order: CM Yawn made a motion to go out of executive session and into regular session at 6:59pm. Motion seconded by CM Love. Motion carried by CM Griffin and CM Hutchinson. Motion passed.

 

Mayor Smith announced that Ed Brown submitted his resignation from council.

 

XIII. Reports:

Department Head Reports

1. Fire Department- Chief Yawn reported that everything with the department is going decent. The department had to help Swainsboro with a couple of structure fires.

2. Street/Water Department- CM Yawn reported that the department has installed a meter and repaired a water leak in the past week. Both projects took a full day to complete. They did have to turn off the city water for 5 minutes.

3. Police Department- Chief Strickland reported that the cameras have been installed at the red light on the telephone poles. Two of the cameras are currently down but the company will be back shortly to repair them. He stated that even with two of the cameras temporarily down they had issued 25 violations in 3 days. He reported that the charger was damaged in a chase. The charger has now been fixed and re-lettered. The department had 30 calls for the month of August. Lastly he stated that the department is now GCIC operational and will be e-ticketing soon.

4. Safety Department- Report done earlier. *

5. Recreation Department- CM Love stated that the department will be working on the upcoming Trunk-or-Treat. It will be held on Nora Blvd. on October 31st from 5pm-7pm. They are also trying to get the concession stands ready for the back the blue event on November 5th.

 

Council Members

1. Julie Griffin- Nothing to report.

2. Suzanne Hutchinson- Announced that the Christmas Parade will be on Saturday, December 4th at 6:00pm.

3. Jesse Yawn- Nothing to report.

4. Michelle Love- Nothing to report.

 

Mayor Wynola Smith asked everyone to continue to support the city departments and the current employees.

 

XIV. Adjournment: CM Yawn made a motion to adjourn the meeting at 7:24pm. Motion seconded by CM Hutchinson. Motion carried by CM Griffin and CM Love. Motion passed.